Short Video Clips (from Youtube, etc)

[nex]

Briliant

[Dweller_Benthos]

Connections was a great show. Up there with Sagan's Cosmos, they don't make them like that anymore.

[fragger]

I could be wrong, but I don't think we ever saw this show in Australia. I'd never heard of it until I stumbled across this video. Now I'd like to check out the whole series - somehow.

Agreed, D_B. I love Sagan's Cosmos. I've had that on a boxed set of DVDs for years, watched it again not all that long ago, in fact. It's still well worth a watch!

There was that sort of remake a few years back which was hosted be Neil DeGrasse Tyson, but I thought it was meh. Sagan's was way better.

[mandru]

Wow!    James Burke is at the top of my favorites list in his genre.  I still remember how breath taking that shot was when it first aired on one of his series.

It was quite a while back (maybe 15 years ago) Mrs. mandru and I were lucky enough to catch a rumor that James Burke was coming to our city library to present a lecture about a project that he was very exited about.  As it was a small venue (less than 120 seats) attendance was permitted by preregistration.  We were lucky enough to get on the list quickly and secure seating.

James Burke spent about an hour and a half presenting an open (online available) visually displayed data base of historically famous people with ever expanding spider web like links of the people or events that affected had them and the people and events they in turn influenced.

The project was called "The Knowledge Web" and can be found here:

https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/C6015FA0-82BF-F1FA-9D05-0EA9FD7F845E#-2751  (note this may be a link to the entry port created by my personal experimentations - but should still give access)

On the opening screen either select Burke's favorite trails to explore under "? Mystery Tours", select the "Gateways" option,  or you can enter a person or subject matter of interest in the search box in the lower left corner of the page.

I will admit that navigating the connective links will take some time to learn how to gain the most out of the massive amount of information available.  It would appear that this link connects to a sampler model of the entire project that would be massively expanded if someone were to download the official webbrain(dot)com program through the actual entry port (home page) and become part of the world wide community.

I suspect the way that data is presented in this example might be considered to be somewhat of a parallel to the way James Burke's mind works as he conceptualizes how to lay out the information has presented in his various TV series.

So if you like spend some time getting lost. 

[Dweller_Benthos]

An interesting site for sure, you could spend a lot of time there. It reminds me of Burke's book "The Pinball Effect" where he discusses various events and people in history, and has in the margins the page numbers of other connected events and people in the book. You can read it in order as presented or skip around following the margin numbers to trace the connections between them.

[mandru]

I'm not sure which came first.  The Pinball Effect or the start of his working on the Knowledge Web project (K-Web).  There's no doubt that Burke recycles his intellectual energy from one project to the next.

Here is a Youtube video featuring James Burke to visualize the K-Web as Burke puts it in his in words which are far better than I could explain it. 

[fragger]

Have any of you American gents ever heard of the Lustron homes of the late 1940s? Being an Aussie, I certainly never had until I came across this video. I think it would be of interest to all here, but particularly Fallout 4 fans.

Now I clearly see the inspiration for the unconventional appearances of the houses in Sanctuary Hills.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Interesting, it does seem to be what the houses in FO4 are based on.

[PZ]

That video looks like something one might find in the game