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2:26Milton Friedman - I, Pencil
802K views • 14 years ago
Free To Choose Network
A two-minute clip in which Milton Friedman uses a humble pencil to show how thousands of strangers across many countries cooperate, without central direction, to make a simple product. It is a short visual version of the 'I, Pencil' essay's argument about free markets and dispersed knowledge.
2:42Power of the Market - The Pencil
551K views • 18 years ago
LibertyPen
A three-minute excerpt from Milton Friedman's Free to Choose in which he uses a pencil to show that no single person knows how to make it. He argues that the free market coordinates countless strangers peacefully.
2:58First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy
8.8M views • 16 years ago
Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers annotates a short clip of a lone dancer at a festival, showing how a first follower turns a ridiculous act into a movement. He draws out lessons about leadership and making it easy to follow.
3:39(1/4) Intro/History: Introducing a 100-year-old mechanical computer
476K views • 12 years ago
engineerguy
The first of four short videos from Bill Hammack (engineerguy) introducing and giving the history of a 100-year-old mechanical computer, Michelson's harmonic analyzer. The series goes on to explain Fourier synthesis, analysis and operation of the machine.
3:47Why Grocery Shopping is Better in Amsterdam
1.3M views • 7 years ago
Not Just Bikes
A four-minute Not Just Bikes comparison of grocery shopping in Amsterdam versus car-centric North America, arguing that frequent small fresh-food trips beat bulk shopping. It ties this to land use and reduced food waste.
Topic match · Transit, cities & urban planning
3:34Complete Solution To The Twins Paradox
2.3M views • 10 years ago
minutephysics
A minutephysics explainer on the twins paradox in special relativity. It shows why the traveling twin ends up younger and how acceleration resolves the paradox.
Topic match · Everyday physics & science demos
3:52Are You Eating a Credit Card Every Week?
256K views • 4 years ago
vlogbrothers
A vlogbrothers video tracing how the claim that people eat a credit card of plastic every week spread. It walks through the funded talking point, the misleading amplification, and the peer review that missed it.
Topic match · Scientific method & science communication
3:35How our voting system (and IRV) betrays your favourite candidate
35K views • 12 years ago
The Center for Election Science
The Center for Election Science explains favorite betrayal in instant-runoff voting: in some elections, ranking your favorite first can cause your least favorite to win. It contrasts this with plurality voting's spoiler problem.
Topic match · Probability & game theory
3:26How Highways Almost Destroyed Amsterdam - Plan Jokinen
408K views • 7 years ago
Not Just Bikes
A short Not Just Bikes video on the 1960s plans (Plan Jokinen) to cut highways through Amsterdam to accommodate cars. It shows how radically different the city would look had they succeeded.
Topic match · Transit, cities & urban planning
3:49The Trinity Hall Prime - Numberphile
322K views • 9 years ago
Numberphile
Numberphile with Tadashi Tokieda on the Trinity Hall Prime, a prime number whose digits form a picture of the college's coat of arms, left as a gift by a departing mathematician.
Topic match · Recreational & visual math
1:20Paul Otlet, visioning a web in 1934
102K views • 18 years ago
Attila Gárdos
A one-minute clip about Paul Otlet, the Belgian bibliographer who in 1934 imagined users accessing a remote database through an electric telescope over a phone line. It presents his vision as a precursor of the web.
Topic match · Internet culture & memes
3:58The 'duck curve' is solar energy's greatest challenge
2.7M views • 8 years ago
Vox
A short Vox explainer on the duck curve, the shape electricity demand takes in California as solar output grows. It explains why grid operators struggle to balance supply and demand with lots of solar.
Topic match · Renewables, batteries & storage
2:53Brené Brown on Empathy
24.1M views • 12 years ago
Royal Society of Arts
A short animated RSA piece with Dr Brene Brown's voiceover on the difference between empathy and sympathy. She argues that real connection requires getting in touch with your own vulnerability, rather than trying to fix someone's pain.
Topic match · Psychology & human behavior
2:27What keeps a train on the track?
191K views • 17 years ago
BoreMeScience
A short clip of Richard Feynman explaining how a train stays on its tracks, through the conical shape of wheels and how it handles curves without differentials.
Topic match · Transit, cities & urban planning
2:54Explained: New Navy UFO Videos
284K views • 6 years ago
Mick West
Mick West explains the three Navy UFO videos (FLIR, GIMBAL and GOFAST) released in 2020, giving mundane explanations such as a distant plane and camera artifacts. He notes the videos were not new and had been circulating since 2017.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
1:45Why Do Reversing Trucks Not Beep Any More?
1.6M views • 12 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott stands by a construction site and explains why reversing vehicles now use a white-noise hiss instead of beeping. The sound is easier to locate directionally and less annoying to neighbours.
Topic match · Everyday physics & science demos
3:16Feynman: Mirrors FUN TO IMAGINE 6
600K views • 18 years ago
Christopher Sykes
Richard Feynman, in a clip from the BBC series Fun to Imagine, takes on the puzzle of why mirrors seem to swap left and right but not top and bottom.
Topic match · Everyday physics & science demos
2:16Andreas Antonopoulos - 51% Bitcoin Attack
72K views • 11 years ago
Rodolfo Díaz
A two-minute clip of Andreas Antonopoulos explaining why a 51% attack on Bitcoin would not destroy it and what such an attack would cost. It is a succinct take on mining security.
Topic match · Cryptography
3:01Why I Cook With Induction
383K views • 5 years ago
Jon Kung
Chef Jon Kung explains why he cooks almost exclusively on induction, citing fast heating, cleanliness and precise temperature control. He shows a rounded induction wok burner.
Topic match · Cooking & food
3:51Why “No Problem” Can Seem Rude: Phatic Expressions
5M views • 7 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott explains phatic expressions such as hello, thank you and how are you, which carry social meaning rather than information, and why replies like no problem can seem rude to some people.
Topic match · Language & linguistics
2:58Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps
6.8M views • 12 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott explains why Britain historically has separate hot and cold taps rather than mixer taps, tracing it to how water was stored in tanks. He notes why the hot tap is not safe to drink from.
Topic match · World history
3:47Your Coffee Addiction Is Probably Good for You
9.6M views • 15 years ago
CGP Grey
CGP Grey's short explainer arguing that caffeine addiction is mostly harmless and may even be beneficial. It covers what caffeine does in the body.
Topic match · Nutrition & diet science
2:27What is a rocket mass heater?
508K views • 9 years ago
paul wheaton
A two-minute explanation of what a rocket mass heater is, starting from how a conventional wood stove works and why creosote and chimney fires occur. It shows how burning hot and storing the heat in thermal mass makes for an efficient heater.
Topic match · Power grid, heating & buildings
3:59The Lava Lamps That Help Keep The Internet Secure
4.3M views • 9 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott visits Cloudflare's San Francisco office to show the wall of lava lamps whose camera feed is used as a source of entropy for random number generation. It is a short explainer on how this helps secure internet encryption.
Topic match · Cryptography
1:53Buy, Borrow, Die: How America's Ultrawealthy Stay That Way
475K views • 5 years ago
ProPublica
A short ProPublica video explaining the "Buy, Borrow, Die" strategy wealthy Americans use to cut taxes. They borrow against appreciating assets instead of selling, and the gains are never taxed at death.
Topic match · Investing & personal finance
3:31Trusted Computing? Yes or No
47K views • 20 years ago
Robin Good
A four-minute 2006 explainer on trusted computing, describing what it is and whether users should support it, with a skeptical DRM angle.
Topic match · Privacy, surveillance & cybercrime
3:58The centuries-old debt that's still paying interest
9.3M views • 9 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott visits Yale's archives to look at a 367-year-old bond from a Dutch water authority that is still paying interest. Finance professor Geert Rouwenhorst explains how it works.
Topic match · Investing & personal finance
3:34Making an international standard cup of tea
2.7M views • 8 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott follows the ISO 3103 / BS 6008 standard to make an international standard cup of tea, using specialist tasting equipment. The video shows how precisely the standard is specified.
Topic match · Cooking & food
2:28Lies on the London Underground
4.6M views • 13 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott and Matt Parker investigate some of the small deceptions and oddities of the London Underground, such as misleading signage and map distortions.
Topic match · Transit, cities & urban planning
3:01Inequality: Why are the rich getting richer?
130K views • 13 years ago
Positive Money UK
A three-minute Positive Money UK explainer arguing that the commercial banking system, where banks create most money as debt, redistributes income from the bottom 90 percent to the top 10 percent through interest.
Topic match · Macroeconomics & financial crises
3:52I can't show you how pink this pink is.
9.7M views • 9 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott explains why a vivid pink pigment by artist Stuart Semple cannot be fully shown on a screen, and touches on the dispute over exclusive rights to the blackest black pigment. It is a short explainer on color gamuts and pigment politics.
Topic match · Visual arts, photography & architecture
1:47The Counterintuitive Physics of Turning a Bike
855K views • 11 years ago
minutephysics
A two-minute minutephysics video explaining why turning a bicycle requires first steering briefly the other way. It covers counter-steering and balance with slow-motion footage and 3D animation.
Topic match · Everyday physics & science demos
2:23Music and Life - Alan Watts
2.6M views • 19 years ago
seandulac
A two-minute animation of an Alan Watts talk arguing that life is like music: it is meant to be danced to in the moment, not rushed toward a final goal. It is a short, accessible take on living in the present.
Topic match · Philosophy & ethics
3:05IBM Selectric Typewriter & its digital to analogue converter
1.1M views • 16 years ago
engineerguy
Bill Hammack of engineerguy uses slow motion video to show how the IBM Selectric typewriter works. He focuses on its fully mechanical digital-to-analog converter, which turns key presses into rotation of the type ball.
Topic match · Mechanical & precision engineering
3:55Why Tipping Should Be Banned - Adam Ruins Everything
15.8M views • 11 years ago
Dropout
An Adam Ruins Everything segment arguing that tipping should be banned. It covers the history of tipping, its weak link to service quality, and why employers should pay a fair wage.
Topic match · Microeconomics & behavioral economics
3:45The Dutch Solution for Safer Sidewalks - Continuous Sidewalks
452K views • 6 years ago
Not Just Bikes
A short Not Just Bikes video on continuous sidewalks in the Netherlands, where the sidewalk runs unbroken across side streets so cars must visibly cross pedestrian space. It places them within Dutch sustainable safety and Vision Zero efforts.
Topic match · Transit, cities & urban planning
3:49Gender Neutral Pronouns: They're Here, Get Used To Them
4.6M views • 13 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott argues that grammatical gender is a silly concept and that the singular 'they' is an established gender-neutral pronoun. The description carries later corrections and reflections he added in 2019.
Topic match · Language & linguistics
2:123D Gaussian Splatting - Why Graphics Will Never Be The Same
2M views • 3 years ago
IndividualKex
A two-minute explainer of 3D Gaussian Splatting, the rendering technique from a 2023 research paper. It outlines why it could change how 3D graphics are made.
Topic match · Computer graphics & rendering
2:51Tea Consent
12.4M views • 11 years ago
Blue Seat Studios
A three-minute animated video that explains sexual consent through the analogy of offering someone a cup of tea. It is based on a blog post by Emmeline May.
Topic match · Social issues & culture
2:44Two Monkeys Were Paid Unequally: Excerpt from Frans de Waal's TED Talk
25.4M views • 13 years ago
TED Blog Video
A short excerpt from Frans de Waal's TED talk showing a capuchin monkey fairness experiment in which two monkeys are paid unequally, one with cucumber and one with grapes. The shortchanged monkey reacts angrily.
Topic match · Psychology & human behavior