We Didn't Start the Fire

So, you know the Billy Joel song, "We Didn't Start the Fire"? That came out 30-ish years ago. So, Fall Out Boy thought it was time for an update: 

Just in case you missed this. (I'm kinda obsessed with this new version.) 

Anyway, now the challenge has been issued. In 30-ish years, someone else has to do an update...

(Billy Joel was asked what he thought of the cover/update. He doesn't seem too upset over it.)

A Walking Tour

Is it too late for Christmas stuff? It's too late for Christmas stuff, isn't it. Well, I'm going to do it anyway. 

Last Thursday I posted a bunch of pictures from some walking around I did. Christmas lights. After I'd set the post, I ran across this video on YouTube. The same night that I walked a place called Naples Island, this YouTuber by the handle of Wind Walk Travel Videos also walked Naples Island, and took a video.

I've looked. We didn't cross paths, so I'm not in the video. But as some of the places they walked were places I'd been that night, it was possible. 

This person has a bunch of videos on their channel. Las Vegas. New York. But the ones that caught my eye are local to me, like this one of Naples Island in Long Beach, CA. (Long Beach has several neighborhoods.) 

Enjoy.

Airwolf for 8 Cellos

I'm keeping this week light for me as school started back up on Tuesday. (Stories about my first week will appear next week.) I am continuing to cover the class I covered in July for summer school, with my end date being at the beginning of September. (As a sub on a sub credential, I can only cover the same class for 30 days total.) 

A couple months back I shared Samara Ginsberg's rendition of the theme from Knight Rider. She's continued to post a new video about once a week since then. (If you're as enchanted by these as I am, you might want to subscribe to her channel.) 

This week I'm sharing her video from July 5th, the theme from Airwolf. 

Enjoy.

History's Mysteries

There's a treasure trove of programming on YouTube. Many shows I remember fondly have ended up there. On subbing-free Wednesdays, I'll present a random video that I loved back in the day. Some of these may not have aged all that well. If you have some time, come on and take a trip down memory lane with me.

You think you know history? Maybe not as much as you would think. 

History's Mysteries was a show that aired on the History Channel from 1998 to 2011. (Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they still aired some episodes from time to time.) What was it about? Weird stuff you may not have heard of before. Or, if you were familiar with the topic, you would still learn something new. 

Like, did you know that the Titanic had two sister ships that also had disasters at sea? And did you know that one woman survived all three? "Doomed Sisters of Titanic".

Or, was Marco Polo an explorer, or were the tales of his travels fake? "The True Story of Marco Polo". 

The episodes were an hour with commercials, so on YouTube they're about 45 minutes. Just by doing a cursory search, I'm finding dozens of episodes, most of which I haven't seen. (Now I know what I'm going to be streaming this summer.) 

For today's embedded video, I'm presenting one that blew my mind when I first saw it. It's about Area 51. The thing that dropped my jaw on the floor, which happens towards the end of the show, gave a fascinating reason why there were all sorts of rumors about aliens. I've never looked at reports out of Area 51 without some incredulity since. 

Have you ever seen History's Mysteries before? If you get a chance to watch the video, I'd love to hear your reaction to the bombshell at about 30ish minutes. 

Survival in the Sky

There's a treasure trove of programming on YouTube. Many shows I remember fondly have ended up there. On subbing-free Wednesdays, I'll present a random video that I loved back in the day. Some of these may not have aged all that well. If you have some time, come on and take a trip down memory lane with me.

I'm not a big disaster junkie. I don't like seeing things about people getting hurt. But, I found myself glued to the show Survival in the Sky when it aired on TLC back in the '90s. 

It was a show about plane crashes. But its focus was on the investigations afterward and what the industry learned from each disaster. 

I suppose that's what I liked about it. It was a puzzle. What happened? Why did it happen? How did the industry make sure it didn't happen again? 

For today, I have the first episode here. If you search YouTube, you'll find the other parts as well. 

Great Books

There's a treasure trove of programming on YouTube. Many shows I remember fondly have ended up there. On subbing-free Wednesdays, I'll present a random video that I loved back in the day. Some of these may not have aged all that well. If you have some time, come on and take a trip down memory lane with me.

I have officially exhausted my TV show recommendations. So, it's time to check out YouTube and see if I can find some shows I loved back in the day. And sure enough, Great Books is there. 

Great Books was a show that aired on TLC in the '90s. It was about various celebrated books. Each hour-long episode gave a basic outline of the book, a brief look into the author's life, and a run down of how the book was influenced by its time and how it influenced its time. 

If you haven't read the book, you'll feel like you have. If you have read the book, you'll gain a bit more perspective about it. This can be good or not so good. For example, I can't look at Alice's Adventures in Wonderland the same after hearing some background about Lewis Carroll. (I do encourage you to check that episode out all the same.) 

If you go to YouTube and search "great books" various episodes will come up. Today I'm linking to a favorite book of mine, Pride and Prejudice. Enjoy... 

Replacement YouTube Wednesday (Previous Post's Video Removed)

Whoops, it appears the video from my post earlier today has been taken down by YouTube. Until I find a replacement for it (I may not be able to), I'll entertain you with John Oliver's Last Week Tonight from Sunday... 

Hopefully this one works *fingers crossed*

Help BLM with a Video

I don't do a lot of current events here on the blog. It's not because I'm not political. It's because I don't generally have much to say. 

There are so many people out there with more informed opinions. They have something new to contribute to the conversation. Me, I'd spend more time sputtering in anger or restating something you all have heard numerous times. 

So, I spend my blog time writing more personal snippets, talking about my day to day. And I'm fine with that. 

Last week went a bit sideways here in the U.S. Protests erupted all across the nation (and the world). (See, I told you all I do is restate the obvious.) This has been a long time coming, and perhaps our nation will finally deal with the systemic issues that allow racism to flourish. 

For YouTube Wednesday, I'm doing one small part. There's a video that's been making the rounds. Its stated purpose: 

This video project was created to offer people a way to donate and financially contribute to #blacklivesmatter without having any actual money or going out to protest themselves. Investing in our future can be difficult for young people, so 100% of the advertisement revenue this video makes through AdSense will be donated to the associations that offer protester bail funds, help pay for family funerals, and advocacy listed in the beginning of the video. 

PLEASE share this video, make sure to leave the ads running, repeat the video, and let people know about this easy way to help.

Or watch it on YouTube here. Make sure to watch the ads. It goes to a good cause. 

It's music and art. It is almost an hour long, so it's a good background while you're doing other things. Check it out. Black Lives Matter.

Edit: It appears YouTube has taken the video down. 

For Eight Cellos

The other night I stumbled upon this video on Twitter, and I was enchanted. Obsessed? Perhaps. 

Anyway, I had to share. It went viral on Twitter, so you might have already seen it. If not, enjoy: 

Uh oh. From my end it's not looking like it embedded. If the above isn't working, try this link.)

Time Warp

It's a holiday week, so that means I'm on "summer schedule" here on the blog. (My subbing stories from the week before break will appear next week.) Wednesdays are all about TV, and in this case we're talking streaming TV.

I was introduced to this show by a science teacher. (The full explanation of how I met him I will save for tomorrow's post.) I couldn't recall what it was called or if I could even access it online. But it came to mind because I needed a little something to keep middle schoolers entertained after they'd finished their finals. (Spoiler alert: it didn't work.)

Turns out, it's still live on Discovery Channel's website. It took me way less time to come up with the title Time Warp than I expected. I Googled something like "two guys slow motion video". I seriously lucked out.

Anyway, the show is about two guys filming interesting things using a high speed camera so they can slow it way, way down. It appears that it only had two seasons, but that'll be enough to keep you busy until our normal shows start up again.

Alas, the streaming online does contain commercials. But otherwise it's a fun watch.

You can find it here. I don't think you need to watch them in any particular order. Each episode explains who the guys are and what they do. There are 34 episodes available on the site.

The Adventure of English

There's a treasure trove of programming on YouTube. Many shows I remember fondly have ended up there. On subbing-free Wednesdays, I'll present a random video that I loved back in the day. Some of these may not have aged all that well. If you have some time, come on and take a trip down memory lane with me.

Today's YouTube offering is of much more recent vintage than the last one. This was a ITV series that aired in 2003. I think I must have seen it a year or so after on Discovery or TLC.

The Adventure of English is a history of the English language, from its earliest development through its current use all over the world. If you find any of this interesting, I would urge you to seek out and watch the whole series. It's not a long series; there are only eight episodes.

The episode I'm linking to is called "Speaking Proper", and it's about the fight to keep English from becoming some sort of unwieldy language and to keep it from changing. Yeah, they failed. It's just over 50 minutes long, but definitely worth your time.

The Day the Universe Changed

There's a treasure trove of programming on YouTube. Many shows I remember fondly have ended up there. On subbing-free Wednesdays, I'll present a random video that I loved back in the day. Some of these may not have aged all that well. If you have some time, come on and take a trip down memory lane with me.

The Day the Universe Changed. When I saw various episodes on PBS as a teen, I remembered how much I had enjoyed science back when I was a kid. It's one of the reasons I majored in physics in college.

It's a show about the history of science. It takes some "modern" concept (the show came out in 1985, so now their modern is 30 years out of date) and traces how it came to our understanding. Many times, it's almost a miracle that we know anything at all.

What I loved about this show was how funny it was. At least, I found it funny in how various ironies played out. James Burke had a way of describing things (in that very British way) to highlight how very human the scientific process can be.

Once upon a time I wanted to get all of these episodes on video, then DVD. Now, some are on YouTube.

(Turns out that I can buy this now. Isn't the internet grand?)

This episode is titled "Infinitely Reasonable", and it's one of the reasons that my blog title resonated with me. (I can't say it's why I started calling my blog Laws of Gravity, but it was definitely a contributing factor.) It's 45 minutes, but it passes fast if you enjoy this sort of thing.