A video I'm worried about, and the worst wind instrument ever.

22nd November 2021

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Hello!

So this week's video is the first one that I've been worried about posting for a while. Finding a balance between "accidentally promoting alternative medicine" and "writing off something that could potentially help people" was incredibly difficult, and in the end I had to make a meta-video: I don't know how to talk about this radon tunnel.

Other videos I've found and enjoyed this week:

It's Time To Break Up With Our Gas Stoves is brilliant: it covers something I had no idea about (the gas industry is paying influencers to post about gas stoves?!) but splits up the serious parts with jokes, self-deprecation, and getting thrown out of an IKEA.
Nicolas Bras tries to make the worst wind instrument ever, and probably succeeds.
How To Cook That takes on "healthy desserts" and faddy sugar-alternatives: it's great to see a qualified, knowledgeable dietitian break down food science myths.
Lots of people have made a monowheel: the bizarre mode of transport where you pedal while balancing inside one big wheel. Sam Barker went one better: he made the strangest e-bike, an e-monowheel, which combines the danger of a monowheel with the danger of a throttle. He's not the first, but with only beginner metalworking skills, he might be the bravest.

Elsewhere around the internet this week:

The timeline of the human condition starts at the beginning of the universe and ends today, and gives an incredible sense of scale despite just being text.
When the traffic firehose is pointed at you: analysing why the most viral page on Facebook was just... one person in Utah.
Drama in the medieval castle historian community as one person attempts to debunk the myth about why spiral staircases go clockwise.
And finally, the French flag quietly changed a few months ago and no-one noticed. (I should change my red brand-colour one day and see if anyone notices.)

That's it for this week! I am physically exhausted, and have a few bruises, from filming a second-channel video that'll come out at Christmas: but I'm still just about keeping up. Next week, main-channel videos come back to the UK properly — and explosively!

All the best,

— Tom

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