An excellent elevator! And: just text.

18th August 2025

Heads up! This newsletter is more than four months old. Links may be out of date or lead to unexpected places, or the context may have changed. Please handle with care.

Hello! By the time you read this, I should be filming things for the New Project. It feels like tempting fate to write this, because the results won't be out for many months, and it could all still go wrong yet. Here's hoping.

More immediately: it's the last in this run of the Technical Difficulties! Thanks for all the kind comments, it's been a joy. This week: I've got three hydrogens. And Lateral continues! Karen Chu and Colin Felton from Good Job, Brain! are joined by Daniel Peake for questions about fame films, right-angled rails and bountiful births.

Here's the good stuff I've found on YouTube this week. Or rather, again, that you all have found! If I'm honest, I did have one of these suggestions on my list already, but technically all these were again sent in by readers, so thank you:

Polymatt made a floppy disk from scratch. Slight spoiler: it only sort-of works at the end, but the process to get there is fascinating. As someone who's terrible at any craft that doesn't include an "undo" option, the effort and skill put into replicating the technology astonished me. I'd never heard of a Meyer rod before! (Thanks to the many readers who sent this over!)
A last ride in New York City's disappearing horse elevators. No, not an elevator for disappearing horses: a tribute to, and documentation of, an old design that no longer meets code, filmed as a professional documentary. Do stick around to the end: there's one unexpected moment here, and one lovely button at the end. (Thanks to Liam for the suggestion!)
Okooptics examines light transport and constructs an image from a projector's point of view. There are parts of this video where the mathematics required get a bit beyond me, but if that's true for you as well, stick with it: the explanations and final effects are worth it. Full marks here for referencing and citing the source paper, too. (Thanks to an anonymous reader!)

Here's some good stuff from around the rest of the web:

The story about AOL finally discontinuing dial-up internet was well referenced by various news sites this week, but I have to mark its passing here too. I presume that there were a few people out there still using it: while they won't be able to load most web sites over a connection at that speed, e-mail and some older protocols would still be fine.
Searching all the text on every public Street View image of New York City leads to some interesting discoveries. (Very strong language; thanks Thomas for sending this over!)
Helsinki has gone a full year without a traffic death.

And finally: just text.

All the best,

— Tom

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