"Not the Maya, that's not how they rolled..."
July 11, 2024 5:11 PM Subscribe
Fascinating short videos from Wired. They are a series of videos presented by experts in different fields who answer questions from the internet.
- Dr. Kory Evans Answers Fish Questions from Twitter
- Dr. Ed Barnhart Answers Questions on the Maya
- Jonna Mendez, Former CIA Chief of Disguise Answers Spy Questions
- Dr. Dorsay Armstrong Answers Questions on the Middle Ages
- Dr. Laurel Bestock answers Questions on Ancient Egypt
- Dr. Lauren Ginsburg answers Questions on Ancient Rome
I loved the Jonna Mendez episode! Thank you for listing the others.
posted by seawallrunner at 6:37 PM on July 11 [2 favorites]
posted by seawallrunner at 6:37 PM on July 11 [2 favorites]
I want a YouTube channel with these kinds of shows.
And Zefrank. And Smarter Every Day. And probably a few others that are about educating people in a casual and interesting way.
Someone call Ryan Reynolds. He needs to get on this.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:38 PM on July 11 [3 favorites]
And Zefrank. And Smarter Every Day. And probably a few others that are about educating people in a casual and interesting way.
Someone call Ryan Reynolds. He needs to get on this.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:38 PM on July 11 [3 favorites]
Speaking as someone who for many years got the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Incas confused I was very happy to see it mentioned that the Maya were nowhere near as sacrifice-happy as the Aztecs were.
The Maya sacrificed high value warriors from enemy tribes, which honestly is not much different from what happens today. We just wrap a different ceremony around it.
(The Aztec numbers were inflated first by themselves and then by the Spanish, but even a couple of hundred people a year is too many.)
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:27 PM on July 11
The Maya sacrificed high value warriors from enemy tribes, which honestly is not much different from what happens today. We just wrap a different ceremony around it.
(The Aztec numbers were inflated first by themselves and then by the Spanish, but even a couple of hundred people a year is too many.)
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:27 PM on July 11
but even a couple of hundred people a year is too many
Now you tell me.
posted by maxwelton at 8:38 PM on July 11 [1 favorite]
Now you tell me.
posted by maxwelton at 8:38 PM on July 11 [1 favorite]
Remember when you are thinking of the Aztecs in the New World performing sacrifices, that around the same period Catholics were burning Jews at the stake in Spain. Don't tell me that wasn't a sacrifice. Every culture has its sins, and the religion of the Aztecs were no more brutal than the religion being practiced in Europe. There have been 1589 executions in the United States since 1976. Those are also a sacrifice of sorts. The reason why sacrifices are performed is different in different cultures, but they all do it.
posted by Xoc at 10:33 PM on July 11 [3 favorites]
posted by Xoc at 10:33 PM on July 11 [3 favorites]
Damn - that talk by Ed Barnhart on the Maya is impressive! Its amazing how many different fields you have to be on top of to talk authoritatively about them. - astronomy, linguistics, mathematics, sports, anthropology and corn - so much corn.
posted by rongorongo at 12:59 AM on July 12
posted by rongorongo at 12:59 AM on July 12
Expertise YouTube is my favorite corner of YouTube and the "This is _____ Support" segments are fantastic. Some recent favorites:
Arthur Brooks answers questions on the psychology of happiness
Nutritionist David Katz answers diet questions
Garbage Nerd Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli answers waste management questions
A similar knockoff series is History Hit's "Historians Answer The Most Googled Questions About X"
Medieval Historian Matt Lewis Answering Questions on Medieval Europe
Roel Konijnendijk Answers Questions on Ancient Sparta
(Roel has also gained some niche popularity for doing reaction videos on medieval warfare scenes in movies and pointing out how ditches and trenches are woefully underrated)
History Hit, in general, is a good follow if you're a history buff. Basically it's a British r/AskHistorians made into a YouTube Channel.
posted by bl1nk at 4:02 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
Arthur Brooks answers questions on the psychology of happiness
Nutritionist David Katz answers diet questions
Garbage Nerd Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli answers waste management questions
A similar knockoff series is History Hit's "Historians Answer The Most Googled Questions About X"
Medieval Historian Matt Lewis Answering Questions on Medieval Europe
Roel Konijnendijk Answers Questions on Ancient Sparta
(Roel has also gained some niche popularity for doing reaction videos on medieval warfare scenes in movies and pointing out how ditches and trenches are woefully underrated)
History Hit, in general, is a good follow if you're a history buff. Basically it's a British r/AskHistorians made into a YouTube Channel.
posted by bl1nk at 4:02 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
Oops just realized I pasted the wrong link for the Matt Lewis Medieval episode. Here's the right one
posted by bl1nk at 4:10 AM on July 12
posted by bl1nk at 4:10 AM on July 12
(On Medieval - and even earlier -I liked this explanation from Archaic Arms of just how effective slingshots firing stones were - basically nobody in the know would have placed on bet on Goliath against David - nor would they give much worth of those firing arrows versus those firing rocks)
posted by rongorongo at 5:11 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 5:11 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
Ed Barnhart also has lectures available through the Great Courses series on Kanopy - check your local library for free access!
posted by jb at 5:31 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
posted by jb at 5:31 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
Every culture has its sins, and the religion of the Aztecs were no more brutal than the religion being practiced in Europe.
I’m not sure how that in any way redeems the Aztecs. Especially as they were neighbors with the Maya, who didn’t feel the need.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:39 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
I’m not sure how that in any way redeems the Aztecs. Especially as they were neighbors with the Maya, who didn’t feel the need.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:39 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
More subjects:
I've liked all the Architectural Digest's architect narrated videos. I always thought of Architectural Digest as featuring stories like "tour this famous person's extremely expensive home". (They have lots of celebrity videos too). Channels I like:
The Blueprint Show.
For example, Architect Breaks Down 5 of the Most Common New York Apartments. Huh, "studio" apartments were originally fancy open space in-town apartments with good light for artists!
Every Detail. Only three videos in this older playlist, all very interesting. The hidden corners of the Plaza Hotel, NY Public Library, and Grand Central.
The Campbell Apartment was inside Grand Central! Now a fancy bar.
posted by jjj606 at 5:57 AM on July 12
I've liked all the Architectural Digest's architect narrated videos. I always thought of Architectural Digest as featuring stories like "tour this famous person's extremely expensive home". (They have lots of celebrity videos too). Channels I like:
The Blueprint Show.
For example, Architect Breaks Down 5 of the Most Common New York Apartments. Huh, "studio" apartments were originally fancy open space in-town apartments with good light for artists!
Every Detail. Only three videos in this older playlist, all very interesting. The hidden corners of the Plaza Hotel, NY Public Library, and Grand Central.
The Campbell Apartment was inside Grand Central! Now a fancy bar.
posted by jjj606 at 5:57 AM on July 12
Mod note: There's no question that this post belongs in the sidebar and on the Best Of blog!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:13 AM on July 12 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:13 AM on July 12 [2 favorites]
also a bit of beanplating and to get a little meta about this format, I do find it interesting how these Q&A videos and their cousin format, "Experts React to Movies/TV/etc" have partially displaced traditional documentaries as a popular form of pop academia.
I do think that, under the hood, good documentaries hew to similar tenets as these videos. Take a number of delightful insights. Explain each of them in a concise, digestible and entertaining way, and move on to the next insight, ideally with some connecting motif that ties it all together.
David Attenborough's nature docs like Planet Earth are all short segments of different parts of nature strung together under a theme like Rivers or Tundra. The old classic series, Connections is basically James Burke leapfrogging from one interesting scientific discovery to another, like how preserving substances in bottles leads to gunpowder, which leads to explosions, which leads to space travel.
Essentially, I think it could be easy to look at this format and tut about it being History/Science for Folks with ADD, but I honestly think all successful/accessible educational videos have this format of bite size serial knowledge delivery. The packaging for it has just evolved with our media ecosystem and our tastes.
posted by bl1nk at 6:44 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
I do think that, under the hood, good documentaries hew to similar tenets as these videos. Take a number of delightful insights. Explain each of them in a concise, digestible and entertaining way, and move on to the next insight, ideally with some connecting motif that ties it all together.
David Attenborough's nature docs like Planet Earth are all short segments of different parts of nature strung together under a theme like Rivers or Tundra. The old classic series, Connections is basically James Burke leapfrogging from one interesting scientific discovery to another, like how preserving substances in bottles leads to gunpowder, which leads to explosions, which leads to space travel.
Essentially, I think it could be easy to look at this format and tut about it being History/Science for Folks with ADD, but I honestly think all successful/accessible educational videos have this format of bite size serial knowledge delivery. The packaging for it has just evolved with our media ecosystem and our tastes.
posted by bl1nk at 6:44 AM on July 12 [1 favorite]
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posted by user92371 at 5:18 PM on July 11 [3 favorites]