Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hVzWOCsbAYA
You might already have seen the Fulton Recovery System in action in, of all places, a James Bond movie. At the end of Thunderball, 007 and his companion are retrieved using a modified version of the system.
<... 2022-12-30 11:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
This was a surprisingly enjoyable story to research. Not that the event was enjoyable, at all, but there are lots of vivid and interesting accounts available online to draw from. Here are two sources that I found particularly interesting.
The wedding reception
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mGNRIjWW4yo
I came across plenty of stories about people getting lost or doing strange things in the Paris catacombs while I was researching this short. Here are two that I found quite interesting.
As always, here are just a few of the notes and errata I accumulated while researching this story...
Naming the Sunshine Skyway
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was very nearly given a different name. I mention in the video that it was named by a competition... and some of the entries give the bridge a rather different character.
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3whwLfg1Bi0
Although her time was brief, Laika really did capture the hearts of people all over the world. You can still find her today in comics, in prints and pictures, mentioned in songs, and even referenced in films and on television. 2022-12-16 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
There’s a lot to this story, and I couldn’t by any means fit everything into the video. Here are two of the stranger tangents I found while researching.
Piper Alpha Monopoly
Back in 2018, a PR firm came up with the idea of releasing a Piper Alpha monopoly set, with individual squares on the board sponsored by various gas and oil companies. All the profits from s...
2022-12-13 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YWVEmEoX-lg
The idea of lucid decapitation has fascinated and horrified me for quite a long time. Even though we have more answers today than we did back in the 1700s, it's still not entirely certain whether it's real or not.
Her...
2022-12-09 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
While researching this video, I came across some interesting errata about the way this disaster is remembered.
The grave markers
In the video I showed an image of the graveyard where many of the victims of this disaster are buried. There is some controversy surrounding this place, which you can read about in 2022-12-06 11:15:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BL7OwRMAK9E
Here's an image I found that I didn't end up including in the video. It shows some of the contents of the kit and what could be done with them.
2022-12-02 11:15:01 +0000 UTC
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Here are a couple of extra notes from my research into this story.
Memorial services
It's been many years since this disaster took place, but there are still often memorial services each year in the town closest to where the plane crashed down. Here's a video of one of them.
Th...
2022-11-29 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UTqs2cJLus4
It's odd to think about Britain experimenting with biological weapons during World War II, but this story shows that it was very much something that was on the table.
There is actually some footage from the experiment. I di...
2022-11-25 11:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Here are a couple of interesting notes on this story, including an extra photo from the NTSB report.
The escape hatch
In the video I show a couple of pictures of the escape hatch on board the Conception - one taken from the passenger bunk room, and one taken from the salon which the hatch exited to.
One photo I didn't have the chance to include was th...
2022-11-22 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/otfoaRZJLyc
This was a story that particularly resonated with me when I first came across it while researching my video about falls into the Grand Canyon. 2022-11-18 11:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
It was quite difficult to find information on this relatively forgotten disaster, but nonetheless I came across some interesting errata while reading up on it.
The Story of TJ Parker
This old Google site has a nu...
2022-11-15 11:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CdNzlDcUoz8
A seed surviving and sprouting inside the human lung is an extraordinarily rare occurrence. In fact, I could find only one other remotely credible story about it.
In 2009 Artyom Sidorkin made international news when surgeon...
2022-11-11 11:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
While making this video, I read Juliane's autobiography, When I Fell From The Sky. It contains a wealth of details that I couldn't fit into the video. Here are two of the most interesting.
Werner Herzog
Even before he decided to make a documentary about Juliane's survival story, Werner Herzog had a strange connection to the fateful LANSA flight. When it dep...
2022-11-08 11:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CUf1ua6NWbg
The medical name for mad hatter disease is erethism, and thankfully it's very rare today. The harmful properties of mercury are well-known, and so people who have to work with it take suitable precautions.
Not so during the...
2022-11-04 11:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a video I've been wanting to make ever since I read about the KDND Hold Your Wee for a Wii accident, which included a reference to a hazing death. Here are some of my notes from the video.
The Hazing Deaths Database
During the video I show the 2022-11-01 11:16:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/E--rA9mAoUk
I really can't recommend Threads highly enough. It's an incredibly powerful, incredibly raw and realistic film about nuclear war. It was made on a shoestring budget more than 30 years ago, and it still hits hard...
2022-10-28 10:15:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Here are a couple of side notes from this story, including a bit more on "Dayshift Education".
"Dayshift Education"
Some reports of things that went on as part of JR West's re-education program are really quite shocking. It was totally commonplace for drivers to be fined, humiliated, and taken away from their regular work as a punishment for making a small mistake.<...
2022-10-25 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JVKFSNYCcg8
Russian mountains were every bit as popular with the aristocracy as they were with regular citizens. In fact, many of the richest people in Europe had slides of their own built to their specifications.
Some were inside, and...
2022-10-21 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
There were a few interesting errata for this story. Here's a little bit about each of them.
Student risk assessment
In the video I mention that risk assessments were carried out... but missed the hazard of the buried pipes. One interesting detail that some sources mention is that at least one of these assessments was carried out by a student who had never done one b...
2022-10-18 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wStH9jDk5aA
One of the best resources on the Elephant's Foot of Chernobyl is this website, which has a wealth of information and media, including a s...
2022-10-14 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Here are a couple of footnotes from this episode, concerning the Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters
I thought it would be worth mentioning some of the other work of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Their connection to this fire is one of the darker things from their long and storied history. But they've done some tru...
2022-10-11 10:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-aGmcAAPHiA
Like many of Disneyland's older rides, Pirates of the Caribbean has had an interesting life. Actual human skeletons aside, it started out with rather darker tone that it has today.
In the original ride (2022-10-07 10:15:00 +0000 UTC View Post
There are a couple of sources I have to highlight when it comes to this strange and fascinating story.
The statement of Tomáš Sládek
Archived on an old website dedicated to diving, you can find 2022-10-04 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AAJ7rVlVkZk
It probably doesn't come as a surprise that crows are my favourite animal, given that I picked one to represent my channel. There are lots of reasons to love crows.
For one, they're amazingly smart. Some sources co...
2022-09-30 10:16:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Here are a few notes on things I couldn't quite find space for in the video, but which truly fascinated me nonetheless...
The recovery operation
I mention the recovery operation that took place on the slopes of Mount Erebus... but the story of what was done there could almost be a video in and of itself.
Volunteers, police officers and other rescuers had to de...
2022-09-27 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dLezJB8LU8U
Hunger stones aren't the only thing which recent severe droughts have revealed. Shipwrecks, broken bridges and other structures have also come to light as water levels drop. In Waldeck in Germany 2022-09-23 10:16:00 +0000 UTC View Post
There's a wealth of information available about this historic accident, and so it was inevitable that I couldn't fit everything into the video. Here are a couple of my favourite errata...
What happened to Gilbert Powell?
In the video I mention that 14-year-old Gilbert Powell (very conscientiously) asked for a note to excuse his absence from school before leaving the...
2022-09-20 10:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post