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5:29How to Fix America's Corrupt Political System
479K views • 10 years ago
RepresentUs
A short RepresentUs explainer on how money corrupts American politics and what an anti-corruption act could do about it. It covers lobbying, super PACs and campaign finance, and pitches the group's proposed reforms. The video was later superseded by an updated version.
5:28Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity
4.7M views • 5 years ago
Sprouts
An animated Sprouts video presenting Dietrich Bonhoeffer's argument that stupidity is more dangerous than evil, because reason cannot reach stupid people. It frames stupidity as a social and moral phenomenon.
4:11Laniakea: Our home supercluster
8.3M views • 12 years ago
nature video
A short Nature video on the discovery that our home supercluster is Laniakea, redefined by mapping the flow of galaxies rather than their density. It names the structure with a Hawaiian word meaning 'immeasurable heaven'.
12:31The Superheterodyne Radio: No really, that's its name
987K views • 7 years ago
Technology Connections
Technology Connections explains why the superheterodyne radio has its name and how mixing frequencies lets it tune stations well. It walks through the underlying wave phenomena and algebra and why the design solved a hard tuning problem.
7:42Triangle of Power
812K views • 10 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown presents the Triangle of Power, an alternate notation that unifies powers, logarithms and roots in a single triangular symbol. The video shows how the inverse operations relate and how the notation could help.
9:16Graham's Number - Numberphile
3M views • 14 years ago
Numberphile
Numberphile's Tony Padilla and Matt Parker discuss Graham's number, once the largest number used in a mathematical proof, and how enormous it is.
11:55Super Mario World Credits Warp Explained
638K views • 11 years ago
Frieze
A speedrunner-made explanation of the Super Mario World credits warp, an arbitrary code execution glitch that jumps the game straight to the ending. It simplifies the underlying assembly and memory behavior with animations so non-experts can follow.
18:46A COMPLETELY Upgradeable Laptop? - Framework Laptop Review
6.2M views • 5 years ago
Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips reviews the first Framework Laptop, a fully repairable and upgradeable machine. The reviewer expected a flimsy chunky device and was happily surprised.
5:43Design Club - Super Mario Bros: Level 1-1 - How Super Mario Mastered Level Design
1.2M views • 12 years ago
Extra History
A Design Club episode that analyzes how Super Mario Bros. level 1-1 teaches players to play through level design alone, without text tutorials.
5:31Superblocks: How Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars
7.9M views • 10 years ago
Vox
A short Vox video on Barcelona's superblocks, an urban design approach that closes interior streets to through traffic to return space to pedestrians.
9:29The Most Extreme Explosion in the Universe
11.6M views • 3 years ago
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
A Kurzgesagt animation on supernovae, the most powerful explosions in the universe. It explains their role in creating elements and what would happen to Earth if one occurred nearby.
19:40How I Designed a Free Music Font for 5 Million Musicians (MuseScore 3.6)
608K views • 5 years ago
Tantacrul
Tantacrul explains how he and engraver Simon Smith designed the free music notation font for MuseScore 3.6. It draws on the history of the SCORE notation application by Leland Smith.
5:51Corruption is Legal in America
2.3M views • 11 years ago
RepresentUs
A short RepresentUs explainer arguing that US politics is shaped by money, citing the Gilens and Page Princeton study on how little average citizens influence policy.
19:47Why There are Now So Many Shortages (It's Not COVID)
7.8M views • 5 years ago
Wendover Productions
Wendover Productions explains the wave of supply shortages in 2021, arguing the causes go beyond COVID. It covers how just-in-time manufacturing was applied, container imbalances and the chip shortage.
14:27Why is TV 29.97 frames per second?
2.2M views • 10 years ago
Stand-up Maths
Matt Parker explains the history behind NTSC television running at 29.97 frames per second rather than 30, tracing it to the backward-compatible addition of color. He walks through the arithmetic behind the odd ratio.
19:55Why was Biden's win calculated to be ONE IN A QUADRILLION?
1.3M views • 5 years ago
Stand-up Maths
Matt Parker of Stand-up Maths examines the Texas Supreme Court filing claiming Biden's 2020 win had a one-in-a-quadrillion chance. He walks through why the statistical argument is flawed.
12:04Why Being Delusional is a Superpower
15.2M views • 6 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium examines the role of luck in success, with simulations and examples showing how small advantages and chance can compound. It argues that top outcomes are disproportionately luck-driven while still crediting effort.
13:03Intelligence and Stupidity: The Orthogonality Thesis
710K views • 8 years ago
Robert Miles AI Safety
Robert Miles explains the orthogonality thesis: how an agent can be highly intelligent while pursuing goals that seem stupid or alien to humans. He separates intelligence from goals and touches on the stamp-collector example.
12:24Am I still lactose tolerant? - Lactose Gene Therapy Update
765K views • 6 years ago
The Thought Emporium
The Thought Emporium's update on the home-brewed gene therapy he took to cure his lactose intolerance. It reports how the effect held up over two years and what future versions might look like.
11:32Why Planes Don't Fly Faster
7.5M views • 9 years ago
Wendover Productions
Wendover Productions explains why modern airliners fly no faster than they did decades ago, covering the economics of speed and fuel efficiency, and why supersonic travel faded.
7:41Why Life Seems to Speed Up as We Age
8M views • 10 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explores why time seems to speed up as we age, covering chronoception and several competing explanations beyond the common proportional-theory argument.
11:21How does a whip break the sound barrier? (Slow Motion Shockwave formation) - Smarter Every Day 207
6.5M views • 7 years ago
SmarterEveryDay
Smarter Every Day uses high-speed and Schlieren photography to show how a whip crack is a supersonic shockwave formed at the tip. It references academic papers on whip physics.
7:53Sand Castle Holds Up A Car! - Mechanically Stabilized Earth
5M views • 10 years ago
Practical Engineering
Practical Engineering explains Mechanically Stabilized Earth, where layers of reinforcement make soil strong enough to hold heavy loads, shown with a sand structure supporting a car. It notes that MSE walls are everywhere in infrastructure.
11:48Superluminal Time Travel + Time Warp Challenge Answer
1M views • 9 years ago
PBS Space Time
A PBS Space Time episode explaining why faster-than-light travel is equivalent to travelling back in time, using relativity and Minkowski diagrams for different observers.
11:53Where The Real Chip Shortage Is
624K views • 4 years ago
Asianometry
Asianometry explains that the worst of the 2021-22 chip shortage sits in trailing-edge semiconductors, not the leading-edge chips usually covered. It covers why those older-node fabs are so hard to expand and fix.
4:14Experiment! How Does An Owl Fly So Silently? | Super Powered Owls | BBC
25.7M views • 10 years ago
BBC Earth
A BBC Earth clip from Super Powered Owls in which the team uses sensitive sound equipment to compare owl flight with other birds. It shows why owls fly almost silently.
5:51Europe Is Actually Five Different Groups of Countries
14.9M views • 13 years ago
CGP Grey
A short CGP Grey explainer on the overlapping and inconsistent membership arrangements of European countries across the EU, Schengen, the euro and the EEA. It shows why "the EU" is full of exceptions.
4:21An elevator that actually goes sideways
4.3M views • 9 years ago
Tom Scott
Tom Scott visits ThyssenKrupp's test tower in Rottweil to see the Multi, a rope-free elevator that uses linear motors to move cabins sideways as well as vertically.
10:56Tesla Is Lightyears Ahead Of... Tesla
1.4M views • 5 years ago
SuperfastMatt
SuperfastMatt looks at how the Tesla Model S retracting door handles were redesigned over time, from many parts to a motor plus sensor, with a focus on engineering and reliability.
18:20FIXING the ENTIRE SM64 Source Code (INSANE N64 performance)
3.2M views • 4 years ago
Kaze Emanuar
Kaze Emanuar explains how he rewrote and optimized the Super Mario 64 source code so it runs far faster on real N64 hardware. He covers performance bottlenecks and fixes in detail for his ROM hacks.
11:01How Bankrupt American Cities Stay Alive - Debt [ST04]
2M views • 5 years ago
Not Just Bikes
Not Just Bikes explains how many American suburbs, built all at once rather than incrementally, cannot cover their infrastructure costs and survive on growing debt. It draws on Strong Towns' work on the growth Ponzi scheme.
15:09Mouse Cursor History (and why I made my own)
3M views • 8 years ago
Posy
Posy gives a short history of the computer mouse cursor, from early straight pointers to the tilted arrow, comparing Apple and Windows designs. He then explains why he designed his own cursor set and offers it as a free download.
15:27Why Not Just: Think of AGI Like a Corporation?
163K views • 7 years ago
Robert Miles AI Safety
Robert Miles asks whether corporations can be thought of as artificial general superintelligences and how far the analogy holds. He argues the differences, such as being limited by employees' capabilities, matter for AI safety.
8:21The Grille Trend that Kills 509 People per Year
1.3M views • 2 years ago
FortNine
FortNine looks at the data on why newer pickup trucks with tall, blunt grilles kill so many pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. It argues that lowering hood height would substantially cut fatalities.
13:30Cities: Skylines | Power, Politics, & Planning: Episode 1: Parking
136K views • 8 years ago
donoteat01
The first episode of a Cities: Skylines series on urban politics and planning, focused on parking. It uses the game to show how parking minimums shape cities, drawing on Donald Shoup's book The High Cost of Free Parking.
6:00Super Pointy Sprint Missile - 0 to Mach 10 in 15 Seconds - 100Gs & 6000°F
459K views • 6 years ago
Dark Footage
A short video on the US Sprint anti-ballistic missile, which accelerated to around Mach 10 in seconds under extreme g-forces and heat. It includes striking launch footage and a brief development history.
18:40Drone Delivery Was Supposed to be the Future. What Went Wrong?
2.8M views • 4 years ago
Wendover Productions
Wendover Productions explains why drone delivery has not become the future once promised. It covers no-fly zones, costs and the difficulty of the final drop-off.
11:14How Overnight Shipping Works
7.6M views • 8 years ago
Wendover Productions
Wendover Productions explains how overnight shipping works, covering the hub-and-spoke logistics of companies like FedEx and UPS and the use of cargo aircraft. It touches on the economics that make next-day delivery possible.
14:28Superpositions, Sudoku, the Wave Function Collapse algorithm.
764K views • 6 years ago
Martin Donald
Martin Donald explains the Wave Function Collapse algorithm using Sudoku-like constraint solving and shows how he implemented it with Blender and Godot. It links demos and reference articles.
18:01How the Fed's "Money Printer" Really Works
438K views • 6 years ago
Ben Felix
Ben Felix explains how central bank money creation and quantitative easing actually work, and what they do and do not imply for asset prices and currency. He addresses the common belief that the Fed prints unlimited money and props up markets.