Add
Private Notes
TWL is back, but not exactly. 'Half as Interesting', the brand new channel by Wendover Productions, premieres today with videos half as long, and hopefully half as good. New episodes every Thursdays at 10:30 EST at 'Half as Interesting'.
In 2019, 1.2 million people stepped off a cruise ship into the small, south-east Alaskan town of Ketchikan. The next year, in 2020, zero did. After decades of diligent work building a sleepy fishing, mining, and logging town into one of the most sought after cruise destinations in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed Ketchikan into an empty shell—lined with restaurants, shops, and attractions for the visitors who no longer come. Now, the town must find a way to survive without its key economy until the day arrives when cruise visitors once again pour into its docks.
The Colorado River is the foundation of the American Southwest. But the confluence of a once-in-a-millennium drought, a hundred-year-old mistake, and a generations-old conflict have put the river-–and the civilization built atop it––in crisis, and at a crossroads. As the southwest continues to grow, and the river continues to shrink, time is running out to solve the problem of the Colorado.
An epilogue to "Alaska's Silent Summer."
Skiing is predictable, right? Snow falls, people slide down it. But running a ski resort is full of variables that can make or break a season. From lifts and snow machines to avalanche control, resorts operate year-round to deliver an exceptional experience worth its price of admission.
From ship to plate, the fish you eat is the result of a global, controlled process. Fishing’s not the local, cottage industry it once was—it’s a multibillion-dollar industry shaped by massive logistical and financial forces that allow products to travel around the world, seamlessly.
How Tesla Supercharging works--a very detailed guide filmed at my local Tesla Supercharger. Make sure to watch the full-video this is a companion to--"The Electric Vehicle Charging Problem."
Watch the full video on the coming renaissance of supersonic planes here: https://nebula.app/videos/wendover-productions-supersonic-planes-are-coming-back-and-this-time-they-might-work
Companion video to Why Electric Planes are Inevitably Coming
Companion video to The Incredible Logistics of the Tokyo Olympics
Companion video to The Simple Genius of the Interstate Highway System
Companion video to The Logistics of Evacuating Afghanistan
Companion video to The Art Market is a Scam (And Rich People Run It)
When a person gets lost, hurt or goes missing in the wilderness, it’s up to a team of trained volunteers to help them. It’s a carefully organized process where one mistake puts people’s lives on the line—for both rescuers and those being rescued.
Behind the scenes of the world’s largest religious pilgrimage is a strategically designed system of places to stay, things to eat, and ways to get around in order to get millions of Muslims moving safely in the same direction.
Coal has powered the world through its biggest changes by transforming a simple piece of carbon into power for billions of people. But what happens when its internal logistics become so intricate that they threaten its profit margins?
Being the largest producer of weapons in the world depends on a complex, interdependent defense network that transforms raw materials into lethal munitions, using facilities across the United States that are sometimes hiding in plain sight.
From ship to plate, the fish you eat is the result of a global, controlled process. Fishing’s not the local, cottage industry it once was—it’s a multibillion-dollar industry shaped by massive logistical and financial forces that allow products to travel around the world, seamlessly.
Have you ever wondered why some advertisements are so simplistic, or why companies even bother with some marketing techniques? Watch this video to learn about all the ways that marketers use psychology to maximize their success.
No need to panic, but our world is shrinking.
The intermodal container changed our world. We would never have the interconnected and global economy of today without Malcolm McLean and his system of containerization.
What's the easternmost point in the US? Well, it's not Maine; it's not even the US Virgin Islands!
The development of self-driving cars presents one of the greatest ethical conundrums in history. Because of these inventions, which will save thousands of lives every year, we will have to decide how to kill people.
A tour of the world, presented by a map geek. From 11 hour domestic flights to strange borders, learn about our world from a different perspective.
Every wondered how to create your very own country? Well here's your step by step guide to doing just that! If any of you go on to create a country after this I fully expect lordship.
Did you know that the way a grocery store is arranged is calculated to make you spend the most money profitable? In fact, the way the aisles are arranged can be the difference between a successful and failing grocery store.
A tour of the world, presented by a map geek. From West Virginia's that aren't really that west to pieces of Scotland in the Netherlands, learn about our world from a different perspective.
No country owns space, so are there laws there? Spoiler alert: yes. What laws are there? Well watch this video to find out. (It's complicated)
Time has a fascinating history. Much of our modern world wouldn't be what it is today without the development of better and better clocks. From clocks that use pendulums, to those that use cesium, this video covers the complete history of one of humanity's greatest inventions.
About 10% of humans are lefties, but 46% of American presidents are lefties. Why is this?
Pretty much every piece of land on earth is part of a Country, except, of course, Bir Tawil.
Map makers have been putting fake places on maps for decades in order to catch copyright thieves. In this video I explain just a few of those paper towns.
People around the world argue about it--Which way should toilet paper face? There are advantages for each side, but in the end, there is an undisputable answer.
Mars...the Final Frontier. Or wait, isn't that space? Or Alaska? Anyways, time systems work on Mars in a somewhat similar but still unique way to timekeeping on earth. This video has a little bit of history, a little bit of astrology, a little bit of horology, a little bit of everything.
Big Macs: delicious (kinda), cheap (kinda), and educational (absolutely). In this episode, we look at how the economist magazine used burger prices to teach about purchasing power parity.
85650789657397829 + 1402 more digits is an illegal number. To understand why this is, we need to learn a little bit of cryptology, a little bit of math, and a little bit of programming.
Flying is expensive, really expensive, but only kinda, and it's only partially the airlines' fault.
Immortality sounds, uhh... kinda awful, but there is a theory on how to achieve it by using quantum mechanics.
Flying is an expensive endeavor, but somehow certain budget airline are able to sell tickets for less than 10 euros. This is how they work.
You can’t copy money. Like really, it’s not just illegal, you just can’t do it on a photocopier.
In 1967 Sweden decided to change which side of the road they drove on... all in one day.
College is expensive. Here's why.
Maritime law is confusing, but interesting (I hope.)
Trains, well, just aren't that great in America. Here's why.
Aired August 30, 2016 Guam is an island 7,936 miles away from Washington, DC, and yet it's part of the US (in most ways at least.)
Over the North Atlantic, where there is no radar coverage, planes don't fly like they normally fly. They follow a set of daily tracks that act like highways in the sky.
Living on the moon would be very, very expensive, but let's take nine minutes to calculate just how expensive it would be.
I travelled to Argleton to show why I'm getting a Patreon.
Airbus made an enormous plane, Boeing made an efficient plane. They both had different ideas on how the airline industry would work in the future, and only one was right.
Rich Americans live in the Suburbs; Rich Europeans live downtown. Why do cities on the two continents have different structures?
Chances are if you make a chicken sandwich yourself it will cost less than $5, but Andy George's chicken sandwich cost $1,500 because he made everything from scratch. What causes this huge difference in cost between chicken sandwiches made from scratch and bought at the grocery store?
Behind any commercial flight is centuries of political negotiations and accords that dictate who, how, and where airlines can fly.
This is every country in the world, or at least the first 98 since part two of this video will come out Tuesday December 13th.
This is the second part of every country in the world.
Here you will find out if the European Union is a Country. Go check out Real Life Lore's video on "Is the United States a Country?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NZwK63tf60
Cities are one of the fundamental aspects of human society, but they are not spawned randomly. In this video you will learn the reasons why cities are located where they are.
The discussion of the existence of extraterrestrial life is interesting, but today we will discuss how to make first contact if this encounter happens.
In this episode, we will travel across every single state of The United States of America.
The President of The Unites States of America is the most powerful human on Earth, and, as such, he or she has to travel. But how does this traveling happen, and how much does it cost?
Planes are on of the fastest ways to travel, but there was a time when they flew faster, even on supersonic speeds. Why did this era end?
Airlines sell different tickets for the same flight based on a number of reasons, and Airline Class is one of them. So, how does Airline Class work and why some airlines opt-out of them?
Russia is the biggest country in the world, but the reasons of its territorial greatness are far from random. Today, with the help of AlternateHistoryHub and RealLifeLore we will discuss Russia's Geographic Problem. Check out their episodes into Russia as well. AlternateHistoryHub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU6UBXOHhDw RealLifeLore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-TFENSuJ5U
Trains are on the the backbones of transportation in Europe, even though they are really expensive. Today we will discuss what raises its costs so much.
A discussion related to the recent United Airlines overbooking incident.
The Northwest passage is opening up for commercial passage for the first time, but what exactly is the Northwest passage?
The ability of a place to cross long distances over enormous bodies of water is determined by a large number of factor, that will be explained on this episode.
The Post Office made America. It's an ambitious claim, but without it the Unites States as we know it today would not exist. In this video you will know why.
International airports are areas where immigration law work differently, so which country are international airports in?
Barrow, Alaska, is so remote that its existence challenge our imagination. Today, we will learn why does it exist.
The US Government is full of procedures about a unimaginable number of events, and today, we will speculate what will happen during Doomsday.
Traffic is one of the main urban problems of the century, but the solutions that have been being taken doesn't seem to be working. So how to fix traffic forever, and where good solutions are being found?
Running an airline is a very difficult and thorough activity. But how does this running happen and how much does it differ from a full carrier to a low budget airline. In this episode, you will learn more about it.
China is one of the largest manufacturing countries in the world, producing a great portion of the goods that we use in the Western World. But how and why China thrives in this area? In this episode, this is discussed.
The United States and its entire history can be largely explained by its geography. Since its inception, the fundamental factor influencing and guiding the country's development is that is far from everything else. On this video, we will see how this and other geographic feature contributed to the empowerment of the US.
Two weeks ago Charlottesville erupted into chaos. Violence met the streets as groups of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and far -right demonstrators clashed with counter-protesters. Some have criticized and blamed the violence on the police response. But to better understand why the demonstration ended up the way it did, you have to understand how riot control works.
Supersonic speed, modular cabin design, all electric power, transparent cabin walls, pilotless planes, personal jets for everyone - that all sounds great, but what's actually the plane of the future?
This is Indiana and this is Scotland. Both have a similar number of inhabitants, a similar size and similar population density. But Scotland's public transportation system is far more developed than Indiana's. In this video you will see the reason behind it.
China is a country both blessed and cursed by its geography. In this episode you will understand why.
Imagine a $2,000 car... or a $1,000 laptop... or a $70 iPhone... or imagine any product ten times cheaper than it was. Imagine the fundamental market change that would bring. Elon Musk imagined it 15 years ago. Today you'll learn more about iy.
In the US there's Boeing - the long successful manufacturer known for its iconic 747 - and in Europe there's Airbus - the more recent entrant formed as a consortium of various European manufacturers - and that's pretty much it. These manufacturers make most of the big planes, but they don't make the smaller ones.In this episode we will dive deeper on this fact and much others.
Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest, most efficient, and most available sources of power on Earth. But why it is not the best choice long term? Find out on this episode of Wendover Productions.
India is a bit of an anomaly in the world stage. In this episode you will understand why.
Imagine a patented apple. Just like only Nabisco can sell Oreos and only Unilever can sell Marmite, imagine there was only one company worldwide with the rights to harvest apples. In this episode of Wendover Productions, you will see the consequences of this.
Airline ticket pricing probably seems like a crapshoot. Today, we will discuss about how airlines price their flights.
In this episode you will learn why cities exist and what are their impacts on the world.
Overnight shipping is an absolute masterpiece of logistics that happens every single night. Today you will learn more about this process.
Antarctica is the earth's coldest, most desolate, most isolate, windiest, driest, and southernmost continent. Today you will learn what would it take to permanently live in this continent.
In this video you will discover why space is the industry of the future.
In this episode you will learn how we can improve airport security by designing an impenetrable airport security system.
In this episode of Wendover productions we will discuss the history behind Guam's, the most isolated United States Territory, existence.
Today you will learn why the Siberian flight corridor is the most valuable airspace in the world.
Of all the lines that can be arbitrarily drawn in the Globe, the Equator is the most influential of them. Only 800 million people live south of it, and nearly a quarter of them live in Brazil, so today we are going to explore Brazil's geography problems.
No sport is as logistically challenging as motorsports. In this episode of Wendover Productions you will learn abou the logistical challenges of Formula 1.
In this episode of Wendover Productions you will learn how airports make money from their operations.
In this episode of Wendover Productions you will learn how China is changind the dynamics on Africa and how it is affecting this continent.
In this episode you will learn how to build a $100 million satellite.
In this episode of Wendover Productions, we will discuss what it takes to stop a wildfire.
