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April 6, 2020 1:15 PM Subscribe
This Video Has X Views The title of this video should change with the times. But nothing lasts forever: here's the story of how I made it work, why it used to be easier to make that work, and how it all ties in to the White Cliffs of Dover and the end of the universe.
Nice to see Tom Scott making Mastodon, it must have happened before, but I've not seen it. Also a great example of why so many things are now broken.
posted by Canageek at 3:06 PM on April 6, 2020
posted by Canageek at 3:06 PM on April 6, 2020
It has been x days since we had nice things on the internet.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:46 PM on April 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:46 PM on April 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
There's a rickroll easteregg buried in there when he flashes his code on screen.
posted by zachlipton at 8:29 PM on April 6, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 8:29 PM on April 6, 2020 [4 favorites]
This video had me really, really wistful for Web 2.0. I was never skilled enough to make the fun web toys (though I did play with Yahoo Pipes), but I sure enjoyed the heck out of them. I suppose he's right that it couldn't last.
posted by Glier's Goetta at 1:14 AM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Glier's Goetta at 1:14 AM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's an interesting video, as always wth Tom Scott and the Y views is a cute angle (168K when I started watching it yesterday, 215k when I finished and over 3m now..) but I can't say I agree with the conclusion, at least not compared to the White Cliffs of Dover.
I get that a video about a fairly dry, techie, subject needs a visual hook, but the erosion of cliffs is something that we literally cannot stop, whereas Yahoo pulling the plug on Pipes or Google changing a part of their Maps API is really not the same thing at all - they were business decisions, not the inevitable, natural decay and erosion of the natural world.
posted by jontyjago at 8:27 AM on April 7, 2020
I get that a video about a fairly dry, techie, subject needs a visual hook, but the erosion of cliffs is something that we literally cannot stop, whereas Yahoo pulling the plug on Pipes or Google changing a part of their Maps API is really not the same thing at all - they were business decisions, not the inevitable, natural decay and erosion of the natural world.
posted by jontyjago at 8:27 AM on April 7, 2020
Yes jontyjago, those are business decisions, but the eventual end of the human race, and this planet in particular, that's not a business decision.
posted by Xoder at 8:58 AM on April 7, 2020
posted by Xoder at 8:58 AM on April 7, 2020
There's also a pretty good argument to be made that a commercial service nobody knows how to monetize is indeed the business equivalent of an eroding shoreline, and that making plans that depend on the ongoing availability of such a service is indeed about as unsound as building a house on the edge of a chalk cliff.
Tom Scott is an amusing fellow and I quite enjoy his taste in metaphors.
posted by flabdablet at 10:24 AM on April 7, 2020 [6 favorites]
Tom Scott is an amusing fellow and I quite enjoy his taste in metaphors.
posted by flabdablet at 10:24 AM on April 7, 2020 [6 favorites]
I <3 Tom Scott and Matt Gray just in general as a great set of YouTubers. People who haven't checked out some of their projects probably should take a peek and see if they like it.
Citation Needed, from the Technical Difficulties.
Two Of These People Are Lying | The Technical Difficulties.
Both of these are a group of people sitting around riffing off of Wikipedia articles about slightly interesting things. In a sort of game show comedy format.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:36 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Citation Needed, from the Technical Difficulties.
Two Of These People Are Lying | The Technical Difficulties.
Both of these are a group of people sitting around riffing off of Wikipedia articles about slightly interesting things. In a sort of game show comedy format.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:36 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
...but the eventual end of the human race, and this planet in particular, that's not a business decision.
“As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.”
posted by Acey at 12:01 PM on April 7, 2020 [4 favorites]
“As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.”
posted by Acey at 12:01 PM on April 7, 2020 [4 favorites]
#11 ON TRENDINGHuh, I wonder if lightning struck or if it hit a point where the updates to the view count are slow enough for the title script to stay mostly in sync.
This Video Has 5,060,662 Views
5,060,662 views
•6 Apr 2020
Anyway, I am here for Tom Scott's gaffer tape over the logo on the left breast of his anorak, but wondering why he didn't do the same to the one on his left sleeve.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:52 AM on April 8, 2020
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posted by Obscure Reference at 2:03 PM on April 6, 2020 [1 favorite]