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2:01:18GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary
244K views • 15 years ago
Google TechTalks
Jason Scott discusses making his documentary GET LAMP at a Google Tech Talk and screens part of the film. It covers the history of text adventures and interactive fiction, with interviews of Infocom developers and others.
49:22Douglas Adams - Hyperland
55K views • 12 years ago
UJ ObscureMedia
Hyperland is a 1990 BBC documentary written by and starring Douglas Adams, who tours an imagined future of hypertext and software agents. It features Ted Nelson among others.
18:09Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop
7M views • 20 years ago
Landon Proctor
Nate Harrison's 2004 video history of the Amen Break, a six-second drum sample from a 1969 b-side that became the basis of hip-hop sampling, jungle and drum and bass. It is also a meditation on cultural ownership and creativity.
14:44The Insane Battle To Sabotage a New Apartment Building Explains San Francisco's Housing Crisis
1.5M views • 7 years ago
ReasonTV
ReasonTV tells the story of Bob Tillman, who spent nearly five years and $1.4 million trying to convert his San Francisco laundromat into apartments. It walks through the permitting, appeals and neighborhood opposition he faced.
5:087 Minutes of Terror: The Challenges of Getting to Mars
3.2M views • 14 years ago
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA JPL engineers explain the final minutes of the Curiosity rover's entry, descent and landing on Mars, which combined aerobraking, a parachute and a skycrane. It lays out the tight sequence of events that all had to work automatically.
9:57How Music Works 1 - Melody - Part 1
810K views • 18 years ago
timegrinder
The first part of a four-part Channel 4 (UK) documentary series presented by Howard Goodall, this episode covers melody and why tunes affect us so deeply. It explains how melody works in Western music with historical background and music theory.
23:49Nuclear Propulsion in Space
192K views • 9 years ago
US National Archives
A 1968 NASA film from the US National Archives explaining why the US needed a nuclear rocket and how the engine works. It also shows combined nuclear and chemical stages for a manned Mars mission.
41:53Mechanical Computer (All Parts) - Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers
483K views • 15 years ago
Excelsior10000
A 1953 US Navy training film explaining the basic mechanisms in mechanical fire control computers aboard ships. It shows how gears, differentials and cams solved mathematical problems in permanent mechanical form.
37:50The Art of Making a Nixie Tube
6.3M views • 10 years ago
Dalibor Farný
Dalibor Farny documents the hand manufacture of a nixie tube, from glassblowing to evacuation, with text notes rather than narration. He revived the lost craft of nixie tube making.
1:29:59Moleman 2 - Demoscene - The Art of the Algorithms (2012)
329K views • 14 years ago
Vakondok (Moleman)
Moleman 2 is a feature-length documentary about the demoscene, tracing its rise from 1980s Commodore 64 culture to modern real-time art. It explains the algorithms and creative process behind demos and intros.
1:16:21Notation Must Die: The Battle For How We Read Music
1.8M views • 3 years ago
Tantacrul
Tantacrul's 76-minute deep dive into the history of western music notation and the many proposed replacements, such as piano rolls, colored notes and the jubilate. He explains why none have displaced the current system.
42:30The man who almost faked his way to a Nobel Prize
4.2M views • 6 years ago
BobbyBroccoli
BobbyBroccoli's first of three parts on Jan Hendrik Schon, the Bell Labs postdoc whose fabricated organic semiconductor results nearly won a Nobel Prize. It covers his rise and the context around Bell Labs.
1:13:54RetroAhoy: The Secret of Monkey Island
3.2M views • 8 years ago
Ahoy
A roughly 75-minute video essay from Ahoy's RetroAhoy series on the making and history of The Secret of Monkey Island. It covers the small LucasArts team, the game's development and its sequel.
46:21Money as Debt I - Revised Edition 2009 (Full Movie)
291K views • 11 years ago
Ethaniel RockX
An animated documentary by Paul Grignon explaining how modern money is created through bank lending as debt. This is a combined upload of the revised 2009 edition.
1:28:28The Company that Broke Canada
4.1M views • 3 years ago
BobbyBroccoli
BobbyBroccoli documentary on the rise of Nortel Networks, once the dominant Canadian telecom giant, during the dot-com era. It is part one of a two-part story.
31:44WLW's 500,000 Watt Transmitter
646K views • 13 years ago
K7AGE
A tour of the historic WLW transmitter facility in Mason, Ohio, recorded at Hamvention 2013. It shows the surviving equipment from the 500,000 watt AM era, when WLW was the only US station at that power, and explains the history.
32:23ARROWS vs ARMOUR - Medieval Myth Busting
9.1M views • 7 years ago
Tod's Workshop
Tod's Workshop fires full-weight medieval arrows from a 160lb English warbow at reproduced medieval armour. Armour curator Dr Tobias Capwell, an archer and bowyer give historical context and discuss the results.
21:57Toxic Propellant Hazards In Rocketry 1966 NASA
27K views • 9 years ago
markdcatlin
A 1966 NASA safety film teaching workers how to handle toxic rocket propellants such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. It explains the hazards of these corrosive, flammable and toxic chemicals and what to do after contamination.
25:52Secret Life Of Machines 104 The Washing Machine
84K views • 12 years ago
Retrotv
An episode of Tim Hunkin's The Secret Life of Machines that explains how a washing machine works, using models, cut-aways and animations. It was first aired in 1988.
33:40The Man Who Took LSD and Changed The World
11.1M views • 1 year ago
Veritasium
Veritasium tells the story of Kary Mullis, the surfer and LSD user who invented PCR and won a Nobel Prize. It explains how PCR works and how it was developed at Cetus.
13:44The Story of Another World on the Amiga | MVG
350K views • 4 years ago
Modern Vintage Gamer
Modern Vintage Gamer explains how Eric Chahi built Another World on the Amiga 500, using 2D polygons, rotoscoping and clever techniques to run well on a stock 7MHz machine.
37:36Making Sense of VRChat, the "Metaverse" People Actually Like
511K views • 4 years ago
People Make Games
People Make Games explores VRChat, the social virtual world that many consider the metaverse people actually like, interviewing users and covering its communities and uncertain future.
7:21Walt Disney's MultiPlane Camera (Filmed: Feb. 13, 1957)
1.8M views • 18 years ago
fireurgunz
A 1957 Walt Disney film in which he explains and demonstrates the multiplane camera, the animation tool that gave 2D films depth. It is a short behind-the-scenes piece from Disney's archives.
23:49How I Made My Own iPhone - in China
26.3M views • 9 years ago
Strange Parts
Strange Parts builds a working refurbished iPhone 6S entirely from components bought in the Huaqiangbei phone parts markets in Shenzhen. The video explains how the markets work and what the parts cost.
1:35McNamara meets with Castro (Fog of War)
52K views • 14 years ago
8bitRicky
A two-minute clip from the documentary The Fog of War in which Robert McNamara recalls Fidel Castro explaining how close the world came to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
8:40Why Every Japanese Criminal is Guilty
2.4M views • 6 years ago
Rare Earth
A Rare Earth explainer on Japan's criminal justice system and its extremely high conviction rate. It outlines the system's idiosyncrasies and how suspects are treated.
19:48The Story of Al Baydha: A Regenerative Agriculture in the Saudi Desert. قصة مشروع البيضاء
1.2M views • 6 years ago
Al Baydha
Al Baydha project co-founder Neal Spackman gives a final update nine years in, explaining how desertification followed the loss of indigenous land management and how the land has changed since inputs stopped in 2016. It lists which species worked best.
1:33:47Ukraine on Fire
1.3M views • 5 years ago
Global Tree Pictures
A 2016 documentary by Igor Lopatonok that gives a historical perspective on Ukraine's divisions, the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Maidan uprising. It argues that Western media painted Russia as the sole perpetrator.
12:29Why Evangelical Christians Love Israel | VICE on HBO
4.3M views • 8 years ago
VICE News
A VICE on HBO segment in which Thomas Morton joins a tour of born-again Christians in the Holy Land. It examines the end-times beliefs behind evangelical support for Israel.
4:52Killer Whales Working Together to Hunt Seals on Ice | BBC Earth
2.8M views • 9 years ago
BBC Earth
BBC Earth shows killer whales working as a pod to create waves that wash seals off ice floes, with the producer explaining how the crew captured behavior once thought a myth.
50:00Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism | VPRO Documentary
4.7M views • 6 years ago
vpro documentary
A VPRO documentary in which Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff explains her book on surveillance capitalism. It covers how Google and Facebook turn personal data into raw material for prediction and behavioral influence.
20:41Cuba's Underground Gaming Network
1.5M views • 8 years ago
Cloth Map
Cloth Map documents Havana's SNET, a community-built private network that Cubans created because internet prices were high. It is used for gaming and sharing.