Smarter Every Day: Coast Guard Series

[LoudMusic]

There is an incredible YouTube channel called Smarter Every Day where Destin spends a few minutes on something he found interesting attempting to educate his viewers on the topic. Lately he's been doing longer format and even multi-episode stuff.

The most recent publication was Inside a Coast Guard Command Center, which is the first in a six part (I think he said six?) series on the Coast Guard.

Since much of our community rely on the United States Coast Guard to keep us safe as we adventure in our peculiar lifestyle I figured it would be good for people here to have some fun education about the Coast Guard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=**_pilTk624

Previously he did a series aboard a US Navy arctic submarine. Dig through his video list for that - it's very good.

[Capt Clark]

Destin does GREAT videos. Do yourself a favor and check out his videos regarding social media. They are not short videos but are very eye opening. He also has a slew of fun videos that highlight his curiosity and his access to high end equipment.

Capt Clark

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by Capt Clark

Destin does GREAT videos. Do yourself a favor and check out his videos regarding social media. They are not short videos but are very eye opening. He also has a slew of fun videos that highlight his curiosity and his access to high end equipment.

Capt Clark

SNATCHBLOCK!

I also liked the videos he did about how helicopters work.

The ones he's done with a few other guys about their super sonic baseball canon are pretty amazing too.

[SeanPatrick]

One of my favorite channels. The guy is actually a rocket scientist.


If you like his channel, you might also like Vsauce, Veritasium, Tom Scott, Steve Mould, ElectroBOOM for all things electrical, NileRed for chemistry ...


I watch a lot of science videos.

[CaptTom]

Thanks! I'm always looking for tips on good content. It's so hard to find real, in-depth science, technology and history videos in that cesspool of click-bait that is YouTube these days. Content creators have found a way to spam the index such that searches for things like "Science" or "PBS Documentary" result in all kinds of fluff pieces trying to look like the real thing.

I notice there's not much new on the VSauce channels. Some of their stuff is very old. But they made a few which really forced me to me think!

[Chotu]

This is a little bit of a thread drift. I apologize. I’m sure the videos in this thread are great.

Does anyone else have trouble with the format? I can’t bring myself to devote time to watching videos. It takes so much longer than reading and looking at a picture.

I am really disappointed when I’m looking something up, especially something I’m repairing, and instead of a one page write up with a few pictures, it’s like 20 minutes of listening to somebody yammer on about nothing. Takes a lot of bandwidth and it’s difficult to actually get the information you want, while not spending half an hour doing it.

I’m thinking of, say, looking up how to gap of spark plug. That’s about a paragraph. With one picture. Maybe a couple extra pictures to help people figure out if their plug is dirty or fouled.

But no. Instead, we have a half hour rambling session about the same topic. 5 minutes of that is the person yapping about nothing while ratcheting the plug out.

I’m just curious if I am one of the only people that thinks like this, or if there are others that share my frustration.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Chotu

This is a little bit of a thread drift. I apologize. I’m sure the videos in this thread are great.

Does anyone else have trouble with the format? I can’t bring myself to devote time to watching videos. It takes so much longer than reading and looking at a picture.

I am really disappointed when I’m looking something up, especially something I’m repairing, and instead of a one page write up with a few pictures, it’s like 20 minutes of listening to somebody yammer on about nothing. Takes a lot of bandwidth and it’s difficult to actually get the information you want, while not spending half an hour doing it.

I’m thinking of, say, looking up how to gap of spark plug. That’s about a paragraph. With one picture. Maybe a couple extra pictures to help people figure out if their plug is dirty or fouled.

But no. Instead, we have a half hour rambling session about the same topic. 5 minutes of that is the person yapping about nothing while ratcheting the plug out.

I’m just curious if I am one of the only people that thinks like this, or if there are others that share my frustration.

I absolutely agree. Videos are good for some stuff, but if I'm looking for instructions on how to do something, I don't want a video. I want a writeup that I can skim through quickly and find the relevant parts (then look back at it 5 times while I'm working).

[Be Free]

Big Clive is a great place to learn about electronics (mostly by taking things apart and reverse engineering them). It's always fun when something just won't come apart and he has to resort to the "vise of knowledge" or his "X-ray hammer" to see what is inside. If you are interested in malted adult beverages you can check out his brother Ralphy.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Bigclive
https://www.youtube.com/c/ralfystuff

Combine Smarter Every Day with a 3-D printer and a bit of mad scientist and you have Integza. Always fun (unless you are a tomato).

https://www.youtube.com/c/Integza

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

Thanks! I'm always looking for tips on good content. It's so hard to find real, in-depth science, technology and history videos in that cesspool of click-bait that is YouTube these days. Content creators have found a way to spam the index such that searches for things like "Science" or "PBS Documentary" result in all kinds of fluff pieces trying to look like the real thing.

I notice there's not much new on the VSauce channels. Some of their stuff is very old. But they made a few which really forced me to me think!

My channel subscriptions for "science / documentary" stuff, "edutainment" are the following.

Fully Charged Show
Integza
Joe Scott
Marius Hornberger
Matthias Wandel
MinuteEarth
Objectivity
Practical Engineering
SmarterEveryDay
SpaceX
Steve Mould
Tom Scott
City Beautiful
Emily Graslie
Engineering Explained
Frank Howarth
Jay Bates
Kris Harbour Natural Building
rctestflight
Simone Giertz
Stand-up Maths
Stuff Made Here
Technology Connections
The Slow Mo Guys
Tom Stanton
Wintergatan


Some of those are more entertainment than education, but they're all "doing stuff" rather than just goofing off in front of the camera, and for the most part they've all got reasonably good video production.

I recommend going to their video list and sorting by most popular in order to get to the good stuff quickly.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I’m just curious if I am one of the only people that thinks like this, or if there are others that share my frustration.

You wrote exactly what I think of the so-called "pivot to video" which seems to be so in fashion these days.

Maybe I'm just a dinosaur. But it's also possible that many people would rather not listen to someone talk on for 5 minutes before getting to the point of whatever it is they're trying to demonstrate. Maybe it's just the marketers and content creators who think this is a good idea. For now, I can still usually skip the videos and scroll down to some written documents which answer my question.

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

My channel subscriptions for "science / documentary" stuff, "edutainment" are the following.

Thanks!! Adding these to my list.

[LittleWing77]

I loved his How Does a Carbuetor Work? and follow-up visit to the Holley manufacturing plant. Especially love Destin's dad.

How Does a Carburetor Work? Transparent Carbuertor
https://youtu.be/toVfvRhWbj8

How to Build a Carburetor - Visit to Holley Plant
https://youtu.be/1_hFKRDDP_o

LittleWing77

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by Chotu

This is a little bit of a thread drift. I apologize. I’m sure the videos in this thread are great.

Does anyone else have trouble with the format? I can’t bring myself to devote time to watching videos. It takes so much longer than reading and looking at a picture.

I am really disappointed when I’m looking something up, especially something I’m repairing, and instead of a one page write up with a few pictures, it’s like 20 minutes of listening to somebody yammer on about nothing. Takes a lot of bandwidth and it’s difficult to actually get the information you want, while not spending half an hour doing it.

I’m thinking of, say, looking up how to gap of spark plug. That’s about a paragraph. With one picture. Maybe a couple extra pictures to help people figure out if their plug is dirty or fouled.

But no. Instead, we have a half hour rambling session about the same topic. 5 minutes of that is the person yapping about nothing while ratcheting the plug out.

I’m just curious if I am one of the only people that thinks like this, or if there are others that share my frustration.

I completely agree! I always find it frustrating when all I can find is a long video on a subject when all I want is a couple of paragraphs of text information.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[LoudMusic]

Well, to reference another YouTuber regarding the off-topic topic here, there are different ways people learn, and it's not necessarily about the receiver of information, but the information itself.

Some information is better delivered in video. Some information is better delivered in charts and graphs. And some information is best delivered in text.

And some people just suck at delivering information and are more concerned with the "look at me! I'm on the internet!" aspect of making videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhgwIhB58PA

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Chotu

This is a little bit of a thread drift. I apologize. I’m sure the videos in this thread are great.

Does anyone else have trouble with the format? I can’t bring myself to devote time to watching videos. It takes so much longer than reading and looking at a picture.

I am really disappointed when I’m looking something up, especially something I’m repairing, and instead of a one page write up with a few pictures, it’s like 20 minutes of listening to somebody yammer on about nothing. Takes a lot of bandwidth and it’s difficult to actually get the information you want, while not spending half an hour doing it.

I’m thinking of, say, looking up how to gap of spark plug. That’s about a paragraph. With one picture. Maybe a couple extra pictures to help people figure out if their plug is dirty or fouled.

But no. Instead, we have a half hour rambling session about the same topic. 5 minutes of that is the person yapping about nothing while ratcheting the plug out.

I’m just curious if I am one of the only people that thinks like this, or if there are others that share my frustration.

Depends on the subject. Somethings I just want a quick text look up and go, not a 20 min video, but some things are better demonstrated. But the ubiquity of instructional videos can be frustrating. It can make it less convenient just to google a quick text reference. Of course, you can fast forward in YouTube and some videos are even indexed by the maker.

Ive also taken to watching YouTube as I drift off to sleep at night.

[leboyd]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

My channel subscriptions for "science / documentary" stuff, "edutainment" are the following.

Fully Charged Show…

Nice list. When do you have time for boat maintenance?