Things to read, or listen to, that aren’t politically motivated.

[fingerpuk]

I need a new source of things to read. I am on no social media, I don’t read the news. It’s all just too much bollocks and politics and mind rot.

I need a few new sources of inspiration or interest. Science, tech, creative thinkers, engineering. Just stuff to read that isn’t blaming me for being a man, talking about a housing crisis, telling me I am a bad boy for eating the occasional sausage roll, or yelling at me for using an internal combustion engine.

What keeps you sane, in this insane world of stuff designed to drive you nuts? What do you watch, read, listen to, as a small daily invest of interest?

Thanks.

[Noggin]

I recently listened to a series of podcasts by Louis Theroux called Grounded - not everyones taste to be fair, I didn't think I'd stick with it. But they were recorded in lockdown and he spoke to a really eclectic group of peeps

Another one I really liked was TLDR - Too Long Didn't Read - but I guess that's quite newsy/annoying/political commentary - so maybe not so good for you

Not sure you'd be up for a listen to "The Orgasm Cult" - and also, it kinda finished on a cliff hanger, well, didn't really finish FFS !!


Currently started on a series by Mark Wogan called Spooning - first one was pretty interesting so I'm now on the second one !!


I'm quite new to podcasts but needed something to actually listen to until the News Quiz starts again, rather than music where I kind of ignore it and my brain goes into overdrive

[Count Steer]

I read a fair few books (inc much sci fi) and have drifted towards more non-fiction - have a look at the books thread, there's a few readers around and I've picked up some ideas from there.

Might be getting close to politics in places but for 'thinkers' the Amol Rajan BBC series/podcast 'Radicals' is worth a look/listen. Easy enough to filter out the more obviously political ones but at least they aren't the usual 'two people having an argument geed on by a presenter'.

[MrLongbeard]

YouTube;
Cutting Edge Engineering
Linus Tech Tips
DiagnoseDan
SouthMainAuto
JerryRigEverything
ProjectFarm
BlackTailStudios
Adam Savage
Fireball Tool
TA Outdoors
Mark Rober
Mark Novac
Cowboy Kent
Clickspin
Techmoan
MrMobile

etc etc etc, just pick a subject a go diving down the rabbit hole

[Taipan]

If you're interested in cars, thsi guy has had a pretty incredible journey...

https://www.youtube.com/@MatArmstrongbmx

[weeksy]

There's a decent motorbike forum here.

Well, sorta

[Mr. Dazzle]

There's a decent motorbike forum here.

Well, sorta

Think you forgot to post a link?

There's loads on YouTube which isn't mind rot or politics.

- Scott Manley (space)
-Tom Scott (he's not doing anything at the moment but has a massive archive)
- The Art of Storytelling
- Business Insider (does have politics but also some interesting stuff about small artisan business, or how certain crimes work told by ex cons etc)
- Minute Physics
- 3Blue1Brown (maffs)
- The Lock Picking Lawyer
- The British Museum's channel has some interesting meet the curator stuff.
- Rick Beato (music)…his 'what makes this song great?' vids in particular
- Fermilab
- PBS Space-time
- Objectivity



Errr...loads and loads and loads. I recently watched all the old Roux Brothers series that was originally on BBC2

[demographic]

YouTube;
Cutting Edge Engineering
Linus Tech Tips
DiagnoseDan
SouthMainAuto
JerryRigEverything
ProjectFarm
BlackTailStudios
Adam Savage
Fireball Tool
TA Outdoors
Mark Rober
Mark Novac
Cowboy Kent
Clickspin
Techmoan
MrMobile

etc etc etc, just pick a subject a go diving down the rabbit hole

Do you mean Clickspring?
Bloke who makes clocks the Antikithera (sp?) mechanism copy and so on?
Beautifully shot, really interesting and informative.


Blacktail studio blokes good, Matt Rissinger does good stuff about building technology also.

[Mr. Dazzle]

If you wanna really invest some time in a rabbit hole, watch Ben Eater's series on building an entire computer on breadboards. He starts from the most basic 'this is a computer clock' and builds every single component from scratch.

It's something daft like 45 hours total but I found it super satisfying I've asked so many IT experts how a computer actually works and realised none of them actually have a clue. Their understanding starts with 'well it has an OS' which is about 5 layers above the "how does it actually work?" level I wanted to know.

[v8-powered]

Podcast wise, I listen to Joe Marler (ex-England RFU prop) and his show 'Things people do' - keeps.me.occupied when bored and YouTube doesnt feed me.

[MrLongbeard]

Do you mean Clickspring?

That's the badger

[MrLongbeard]

-Tom Scott (he's not doing anything at the moment but has a massive archive)

Until he decides on what he's doing next give https://www.youtube.com/@TheTimTraveller/videos a try

[Skub]

There's any god's amount of stuff you can read,or do instead of ingesting the endless tidal wave of negativity shitting from the arseholes peddling 'news'. I stopped subscribing to the garbage some time ago and it's very easy to avoid. They sell nothing that will make my world a better place.

[Horse]

Also on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@everyframeapainting

Taylor & Tony are gone again! Thanks for watching!

We returned in late 2024 for a limited series featuring brand new video essays, followed by a short film – "The Second," starring Paul Sun-Hyung Lee & Ethan Hwang.

The original "Every Frame a Painting" was a series of video essays about film form, made from April 2014 to September 2016. We officially announced the end of the channel in December 2017. Nothing sinister, we just felt it was time. This post explains it all:

[Count Steer]

Also on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@everyframeapainting

Taylor & Tony are gone again! Thanks for watching!

We returned in late 2024 for a limited series featuring brand new video essays, followed by a short film – "The Second," starring Paul Sun-Hyung Lee & Ethan Hwang.

The original "Every Frame a Painting" was a series of video essays about film form, made from April 2014 to September 2016. We officially announced the end of the channel in December 2017. Nothing sinister, we just felt it was time. This post explains it all:

Haven't watched the YouTube thing yet but, on the topic, a mate said that every opening shot in each sequence of 'Paris, Texas' was framed/arranged like a painting.

(Great Ry Cooder soundtrack too ).

[Horse]

Also on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@everyframeapainting

Taylor & Tony are gone again! Thanks for watching!

We returned in late 2024 for a limited series featuring brand new video essays, followed by a short film – "The Second," starring Paul Sun-Hyung Lee & Ethan Hwang.

The original "Every Frame a Painting" was a series of video essays about film form, made from April 2014 to September 2016. We officially announced the end of the channel in December 2017. Nothing sinister, we just felt it was time. This post explains it all:

Haven't watched the YouTube thing yet but, on the topic, a mate said that every opening shot in each sequence of 'Paris, Texas' was framed/arranged like a painting.

(Great Ry Cooder soundtrack too ).

I haven't watched the new vids (didn't know they existed until copying the description).

The originals each have a theme, and dissect how a scene or genre is created.

Try this one:

.

[fingerpuk]

Thank you everyone. I now have a hugely long list of things saved to watch and read and listen to that isn’t main stream bollocks.

My old 696 is finally about to be finished after a long time being sick (me, not the bike) and this’ll keep me entertained in the garage as I do it.

I’ll post updates.

[Buckaroo]

Use Libby app and read some of the New Scientist collection. Some top stuff to read, learn from and be amazed at. It's probably been mentioned, but in case not: Veritasium on YouTube.

[Count Steer]

See this thread for info on the Libby app.

viewtopic.php?t=10517&hilit=Libby

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If you wanna really invest some time in a rabbit hole, watch Ben Eater's series on building an entire computer on breadboards. He starts from the most basic 'this is a computer clock' and builds every single component from scratch.

It's something daft like 45 hours total but I found it super satisfying I've asked so many IT experts how a computer actually works and realised none of them actually have a clue. Their understanding starts with 'well it has an OS' which is about 5 layers above the "how does it actually work?" level I wanted to know.

A computer is a very large number of very small on/off switches, associated power supply and cooling, from a hardware perspective they're not as complicated as a Strowger Telephone Exchange, though God knows how big a Strowger exchange would have to be to achieve the same computing power as a low end smart phone.