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16:30Civil Forfeiture: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
15.9M views • 12 years ago
LastWeekTonight
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on civil asset forfeiture, the process by which police can seize property they suspect is tied to crime. It explains how the property itself is put on trial and how departments profit.
52:11string theory lied to us and now science communication is hard
1.5M views • 3 years ago
Angela Collier
Physicist Angela Collier's roughly hour-long video on how string theory was hyped to the public and what that did to science communication. She traces the history of the theory as a narrative and argues it is interesting but was oversold.
1:31Penn and Teller on Vaccinations
7.3M views • 16 years ago
UltraMiraculous
A short clip of Penn and Teller arguing, in blunt and profane language, for vaccination and against anti-vaccine claims. It covers risk versus benefit and herd immunity.
27:15Vaccines: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
27.4M views • 9 years ago
LastWeekTonight
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on vaccines, arguing that the benefits far outweigh the minuscule risks and discussing why some parents still doubt their safety.
21:24The CIA is a Terrorist Organization
794K views • 5 years ago
Second Thought
A Second Thought video arguing that the CIA is responsible for serious crimes, coups and unrest around the world, with historical examples and further reading.
18:51Forensic Science: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
10.6M views • 9 years ago
LastWeekTonight
A John Oliver Last Week Tonight segment on how forensic science used in criminal trials is often unscientific. It looks at unreliable methods and lab malpractice, and ends with a joke about a TV procedural that might change public perception.
3:00How To Tell Someone They Sound Racist
1.5M views • 18 years ago
Jay Smooth
Jay Smooth's short video on how to tell someone their words sound racist. He argues for focusing on what the person said or did rather than labeling who they are.
25:08Cities Without People
1.7M views • 6 years ago
Jacob Geller
Jacob Geller's video essay on empty cities and what they say about our relationship to places, using games, literature and aerial imagery. It touches on works such as Invisible Cities.
16:05Expert breakdown of NYC's overpriced commercial vacancies.
324K views • 6 years ago
Louis Rossmann
Louis Rossmann explains why NYC commercial landlords keep storefronts vacant rather than lowering rents. He points to commercial mortgage-backed security loan terms and inflated property valuations.
27:54Former CIA Chief of Disguise Breaks Down 30 Spy Scenes From Film & TV | WIRED
24.1M views • 7 years ago
WIRED
Former CIA Chief of Disguise Jonna Mendez reviews spy scenes from film and TV and explains how realistic they are, including disguise techniques and masks.
23:22Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder Screws up on Trans Kids' Care
203K views • 3 years ago
Rebecca Watson (Skepchick)
Rebecca Watson's video critiquing physicist Sabine Hossenfelder's earlier video on gender care for transgender minors, arguing it mishandled the evidence.
54:37How Self-Driving Cars will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it)
2.4M views • 1 year ago
Not Just Bikes
Not Just Bikes argues that self-driving cars will worsen sprawl and car dependence and harm cities. The video compares car-centered and people-centered urban design and weighs what cities should do instead.
13:26Cicret Bracelet DEBUNK
12.2M views • 10 years ago
Captain Disillusion
Captain Disillusion debunks the Cicret Bracelet, a crowdfunded wearable that claimed to project a touchscreen onto the wrist. He looks at the concept, design, execution and fundraising.
2:27Fauci in the Hall of the Mountain King
128K views • 5 years ago
A Dishwasher at Google
A two-minute remix-style video set to Hall of the Mountain King that mocks Anthony Fauci's Covid pandemic statements. It circulated widely among vaccine and mandate skeptics.
20:53Pentagon officially released 'UFO' videos: BUSTED (Part 1)
395K views • 6 years ago
Thunderf00t
Thunderf00t argues that the Pentagon's officially released 'UFO' videos have mundane explanations such as birds, parallax and sensor artifacts.
54:27I Watched Ancient Apocalypse So You Don't Have To (Part 1)
8M views • 3 years ago
Miniminuteman
Miniminuteman begins a long, humorous point-by-point debunking of Graham Hancock's Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse and its claims of a lost ice-age civilization. It is part one of a multi-part critique.
17:55Municipal Violations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
11.5M views • 11 years ago
LastWeekTonight
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on municipal violations. It shows how small fines and fees escalate for people who cannot pay and how private probation and ticket revenue can ruin lives.
1:18:07PAW Patrol's Dark Secret, Explained
944K views • 4 years ago
Skip Intro
A long video essay by Skip Intro asking what vision of policing the kids' show PAW Patrol suggests. It mixes comedy with serious critique and features guest voices.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
29:37The Really Dark Truth About Bots
947K views • 1 year ago
Benn Jordan
Benn Jordan examines the role of bots and propaganda accounts on X and other social platforms, including the platform's decline and the influence of Russian operations. It covers more than bots, discussing bias and how the platform changed.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
24:13How Kurzgesagt Cooks Propaganda For Billionaires
1.9M views • 3 years ago
The Hated One
The Hated One argues that Kurzgesagt acts as a propaganda vehicle for its billionaire-linked sponsors, citing funding it received. The video prompted a response from Kurzgesagt.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
15:50Flat Earth "Science" -- Wrong, but not Stupid
2.1M views • 6 years ago
Sabine Hossenfelder
Sabine Hossenfelder explains what flat earthers believe and why, arguing that their reasoning is wrong but not stupid. She suggests scientists should take such believers more seriously.
25:28Homeowners Associations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
8.5M views • 3 years ago
LastWeekTonight
A John Oliver Last Week Tonight segment on homeowners associations, covering the surprising power they hold over residents and how arbitrary their rules can be. It mixes investigative comedy with examples of HOA overreach.
12:28What kids really do on Musical.ly
5.1M views • 8 years ago
PaymoneyWubby
A commentary video by YouTuber PaymoneyWubby reacting to children's content on the Musical.ly app, which became TikTok. It highlights the child-safety concerns of young kids dancing on a public social platform.
Topic match · Internet culture & memes
15:21The Story Behind Audacity
517K views • 5 years ago
Tantacrul
Tantacrul tells the story of Audacity, the widely used free audio editor, and announces his involvement in the project. It includes an interview with the original developers and a look at the software's usability.
18:3556 High Speed Rail Links We Should've Built Already
527K views • 2 years ago
Ray Delahanty | CityNerd
CityNerd lays out a data-driven method for deciding where high-speed rail should be built in North America and identifies 56 city pairs that justify it, based on population and distance.
Topic match · Transit, cities & urban planning
12:52My Gift To Climate Alarmists
795K views • 7 years ago
Tony Heller
Tony Heller presents a short video arguing that climate science relies on data truncation, cherry-picking and selective presentation of statistics. It is a one-sided polemic against mainstream climate claims.
Topic match · Climate policy, solutions & debate
26:27GitHub Actions Feels Bad
118K views • 2 years ago
fasterthanlime
A fasterthanlime video essay arguing that GitHub Actions is a poorly designed system, with a history of personal computing and CI, and a look at how it works behind the scenes. It is sponsored by Brilliant.
Topic match · Testing, debugging & developer tools
50:06Gell-Mann Amnesia and Michio Kaku
481K views • 3 years ago
Angela Collier
Physicist Angela Collier uses Gell-Mann amnesia to critique pop-science figures, especially Michio Kaku, and works through an eigenvalue problem along the way. It is a long, rambling commentary on how experts see simplified explanations of their own field.
Topic match · Scientific method & science communication
35:52Pentagon officially released 'UFO' videos: BUSTED (Part 3)
331K views • 6 years ago
Thunderf00t
Thunderf00t goes through the three UFO videos released by the Pentagon and offers mundane explanations for each. He treats the footage as sensor artifacts, parallax and camera effects rather than alien craft.
6:03CNN treats politics like sports — and it’s making us all dumber
1.7M views • 9 years ago
Vox
A Vox Strikethrough video arguing that CNN models its political coverage on sports shows like First Take, pitting pundits against each other. It claims this favors drama over truth and degrades public understanding.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
3:21Why Do You Make People Look Stupid?
2.1M views • 14 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium answers criticism that his videos make people look stupid, explaining that teaching must address learners' misconceptions and that holding common beliefs inconsistent with science is not stupidity.
Topic match · Scientific method & science communication
32:55Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City.
3.2M views • 2 years ago
Patrick Boyle
Patrick Boyle's deadpan account of Saudi Arabia's Neom and The Line megaproject, a planned 170 km linear city that has been scaled back to a fraction of its size. He covers the feasibility problems and the financing.
8:38Jon Stewart On Vaccine Science And The Wuhan Lab Theory
8.6M views • 5 years ago
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Jon Stewart appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and discusses the pandemic, vaccine science and the Wuhan lab origin theory. He jokes that the disease shares its name with the lab.
14:08The Secret Chinese War for Your Opinion!
368K views • 7 years ago
serpentza
Serpentza, a Westerner living in China, describes Chinese influence efforts abroad and the cultural conflict between Shen Yun and Confucius Institutes. It is a commentary from his personal perspective.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
51:36Veritasium: A Story of YouTube Propaganda
2.7M views • 5 years ago
Tom Nicholas
Tom Nicholas critiques Veritasium's sponsored video on driverless cars, using it to examine YouTube sponsorships, science-channel credibility and how statistics and misinformation can be used in branded content.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
19:08Stadiums: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
16.1M views • 11 years ago
LastWeekTonight
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on cities spending public money on privately owned sports stadiums, including how tax-exempt municipal bonds subsidize them.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
10:08Naive empiricism, terrorism & Ebola.
52K views • 9 years ago
N N Taleb's Probability Questions
Nassim Taleb argues that evidence on terrorism risk presented in media is statistically naive, using extreme value theory without math to separate fat-tailed risks like Ebola and terrorism from thin-tailed ones.
13:11U.S. Territories: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
10.9M views • 11 years ago
LastWeekTonight
A Last Week Tonight segment on how century-old Supreme Court decisions left U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa without meaningful representation. It mixes comedy with a history of their legal status.
Topic match · Media, journalism & propaganda
15:10Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
13.2M views • 12 years ago
LastWeekTonight
A Last Week Tonight segment on the Ferguson shooting, racial inequality in policing, and the militarization of local police forces in the US.
Topic match · Law, policing & justice
13:41My dream died, and now I'm here
3.5M views • 2 years ago
Sabine Hossenfelder
Sabine Hossenfelder explains why she left academia, criticizing its incentives, funding and career structure. She gives a personal account of the social problems in science.
Topic match · Scientific method & science communication