Tom Elwood -best of the internet.

What makes streaming services so show to load

2026-11-09T19:51:52.035-08:00

What Actually Causes the Load Time?

The delay you experience comes from technical constraints inherent to video streaming over the internet:

1. Manifest Retrieval & DRM Handshake: The TV app must request streaming manifests, authenticate user entitlement (subscription status), and establish digital rights management (DRM) decryption keys before playing protected content.

2. Buffer Building: Streaming platforms fetch several seconds of video into temporary memory (buffering) to ensure smooth playback even if network speeds fluctuate.

3. Adaptive Bitrate Selection: The app tests connection speed to select the optimal resolution stream (e.g., 1080p vs. 4K) before rendering the first frame.

4. Hardware & Hardware Decoding: Smart TV processors—especially on low-cost or built-in TV platforms—often have limited RAM and CPU resources, slowing down app execution and video decoding compared to dedicated streaming sticks or phones.

How to decrease 911 calls by 99%

2026-11-09T17:57:03.794-08:00

https://youtu.be/ZoB91jIyG8Q?is=wcJ3FKZ0PDbs7ekI

People in crisis had nowhere to turn for simple services like helping someone get up off the floor, or getting a walker to prevent falls, that they were calling 911 almost 100 times a month. Instituting a social services division in their 911 system to follow up with callers dramatically decreased this overuse of 911

Zapping weeds

2026-11-08T11:22:14.316-08:00

https://youtu.be/PpnCu8SUGCU?is=CFxBe1FW5WZXCnDt

Zapping weeds one at a time can cut weeding costs per acre in half. Unfortunately, some hand weeding is still needed (within that reduced cost.)

Further reduced farming costs come from more efficient use of water and avoiding herbicides.

Healthier plants, healthier soil, healthier farmers.

This company is selling hundreds of units a year, planning to scale up to thousands.

% of population that are farmers

2026-11-08T05:19:07.315-08:00

Early 1800s Agrarian Economy: Over 80% of workers were engaged in manual subsistence and small-scale commercial farming, requiring dense rural labor forces to feed the population.

1860–1900: The advent of steam-powered machinery, mechanical harvesters, and expanded rail distribution allowed fewer farmworkers to manage vastly larger crop yields.

1920–1960: Internal combustion tractors replaced draft animals, while synthetic fertilizers (Haber-Bosch process), hybrid seed stocks, and electrification augmented output per worker hour. Farm labor fell from 27% of the population in 1920 to under 7% by 1960.

Present: Commercial consolidation, GPS-guided precision agriculture, automated irrigation, and high-yield crop genetics reduced direct farm labor to approximately 1.3% of total workforce, even as total agricultural output is reaching historical highs.

Looking beyond USA, on a global scale, the percentage continues to decline and is now around 26%, as developing nations modernize their economies.

Finding a precise time and location from a random video clip. Clever, but it takes a huge amount of compute.

2026-11-07T21:47:01.057-08:00

https://youtu.be/UytYrhYLOKI?is=FxbJBEhaOoc-kcwF

Very interesting deep dive of determining exact location from the airplane sounds. With massive amounts of public flight data and massive amounts of computing, you can cleverly narrow down how close the airplane was and how fast it was going, to narrow down from thought of possible times and places to a unique one.

The AI-powered tool every independent creator needs in 2025

2026-11-07T21:34:12.823-08:00

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/how-ltx-studio-is-simplifying-the-video-editing-workflow-for-solo-creators

LTX studios uses AI to generate video content and voice-over, find relevant B-roll background video and stamping the entire solo content creator process.

Tallest turbine ever

2026-11-07T20:46:02.189-08:00

https://youtu.be/GDsDAUV7N8M?is=uHNvhTsVBp-_HzKW

They lifted the turbine and blades with the tallest possible mobile crane, then used @4:30 strand jacks inside the tower🗼 to hoist the inner section of the tower skyward.

6:01 the blades bend towards the tower in high winds and would strike the tower. That's why turbines shut down in high winds. Even if they feather the blades so they don't spin as fast, the bending blade can't be remedied without a massive increase in construction - either to cantilever the nacelle and blade further from the tower or make the blades stiffer, the extra weight requires a stronger tower. Stress on the gearbox or centrifugal forces bending the blade can't be overcome with feathering the blades or braking to limit speed, but the bending of blades that then strike the tower is the limiting factor that shuts down turbines usually above 55 mph winds, depending on the design.

Tallest turbine ever

2026-11-07T20:44:21.556-08:00

https://youtu.be/GDsDAUV7N8M?is=uHNvhTsVBp-_HzKW

They lifted the turbine and blades with the tallest possible mobile crane, then used @4:30 strand jacks inside the tower🗼 to hoist the inner section of the tower skyward.

Useful video about fire escapes in buildings and why it may be safer to stay in place than to evacuate.

2026-11-03T11:43:47.185-08:00

https://youtu.be/RvnufWZIk_I?is=wLSQD2drKSVlwhhq

Steam the soil before planting to kill off weeds.

2026-11-03T11:04:47.321-08:00

https://youtu.be/Jdx-eYnwp9A?is=1IMdfTRo9mIu3JZ9

0:35 "steam kills the weed seeds and fungi without harming the beneficial microbes" - that sure sounds like a delicate balance:

Heating soil to about 140°F to 160°F (60°C to 70°C) for a targeted duration (typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the depth) is hot enough to kill most weed seeds and harmful pathogens, ref and such temperatures prevent total sterilization. While some surface-level microbes are temporarily reduced, beneficial soil organisms and bacteria frequently recover within 30 days. ref Steam treatment was first used in greenhouses in the 1880's.

Notice the dramatic difference between the control side and the steam-treated side in the photo. (I'm thinking there some other differences between the two sides of the field, given that the control side is almost devoid of plants.)

AI can't teach you a new language.

2026-11-02T22:34:58.153-08:00

https://youtu.be/A3fHWl6hiFE?is=Emm7kAMYV3czs4cn

Ludicrously bad fails. Surely AI language instruction is better than this with AI - were these developers trying to save money on compute and had poor models?

Tunnel warfare in Ukraine

2026-11-02T21:51:32.286-08:00

https://youtu.be/iGyuC3xHPiA?is=MfHqQ0IKd1N9V3Vh

There are many aspects of this war that are dishearteningly tough on soldiers, but this is a particularly difficult one.

Solar panels over irrigation canals

2026-11-02T21:50:20.497-08:00

https://youtu.be/89uDjx32BQY?is=M-rMxokXz-u-ptZ5

Putting solar panels over irrigation canals is a win-win: covering the canals prevents huge evaporative losses, and the underlying water keeps solar panels cooler so they're more efficient.

But, a simple sensible idea turns out to be difficult to carry out in real life as multiple governmental agencies have to sign off on it.

Using meta glasses to recognize strangers

2026-11-02T21:43:10.147-08:00

https://youtu.be/gHrSXe1cElI?is=cSn3nczXETm1k6ex

The creators emphasized they did not release the code or software to the public. Their primary goal was to raise awareness about accessibility of public data using consumer hardware and off-the-shelf AI tools, acting as a "warning shot" regarding privacy risks.

The user wore the Meta glasses and streamed live video to a private Instagram account.

Facial Recognition: A computer program monitored the live stream, detected faces, and sent cropped photos of target individuals to reverse image search tools (such as PimEyes or FaceCheck.id). Once a matching image or name was found on public web pages, news articles, or social media, the software queried public data broker databases (like FastPeopleSearch). An LLM parsed the returned search results to extract key details—including the person's full name, home address, phone number, work history, and names of relatives—and pushed this "dossier" directly to the wearer's phone via an app within seconds.

Do microplastics or plasticizers cause autism/ADHD

2026-10-31T12:22:14.819-07:00

This may be no more than a conspiracy theory at this point, because there's no causal link between the two. But it struck me that increases in autism and ADHD are coincident with the increase in plastics in the environment. Here's what I found.

There is currently no direct causal evidence proving that microplastics cause autism or ADHD in humans, though emerging animal and observational studies suggest that plastic particles and associated chemical additives may act as environmental risk factors. Scientific focus has been on chemical plasticizers and additives that leach from plastics rather than the solid plastic particles themselves.

"Studies on exposure to microplastics indicate an increase in oxidative stress and inflammation as well as a decline in attention and memory...no evidence [yet] for a causal relationship between microplastic particles and ASD [though it may be an] environmental factor influencing neurodevelopment" ref

Nanoplastics can cross biological barriers—including the blood-brain barrier—potentially inducing oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.

Mouse models show prenatal exposure to synthetic plastics like polyethylene can trigger gut microbiome shifts, brain metabolite changes, and autism-like behavioral traits.

Children with ASD or ADHD often show reduced efficiency in detoxifying common plastic chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) through a liver clearance process called glucuronidation. ref

Observational human studies (such as infant cohort analyses) have linked prenatal exposure to plasticizers like DEHP or BPA with higher rates of autism- and ADHD-related traits or altered epigenetic markers (DNA methylation) in early childhood.

Is the timing of the rise in ADHD and autism closely correlate in the rise of plastic production and use around the world?

Proponents of this view argue that the parallel timeline isn't a coincidence. The sheer volume of global plastic production means that children born over the last 25 years have experienced unprecedented, continuous, in-utero and early-life exposure to microplastics and leached endocrine-disrupting chemicals (like BPA, phthalates, and DEHP). Because these chemicals actively disrupt fetal neurodevelopment and hormone pathways, the massive surge in plastic production is viewed as a highly probable environmental driver fueling a genuine increase in these conditions. ref

However, a confiunding factor here is the broader definition and recognition of these disorders within the same timeframe as the rise of plastics.

The medical definitions of both autism and ADHD were fundamentally rewritten during this timeline, most notably in 1994. Conditions like Asperger’s and milder sensory or behavioral traits were folded under the broader "Autism Spectrum Disorder" umbrella, instantly capturing millions of children who wouldn’t have qualified for a diagnosis in the 1970s. Decades ago, mild or moderate neurodivergence went entirely unnoticed or unlabeled.

Exploding Head Syndrome

2026-10-31T08:34:15.406-07:00

What is Exploding Head Syndrome?

• An internal sound: Despite the terrifying name, EHS is a harmless type of parasomnia (an unusual sensory experience during sleep transitions). The noise is an internal auditory hallucination—no actual sound or explosion is happening in the room.

• Common descriptions: People often compare the sound to a loud pop, a gunshot, a door slamming, a firework, or crashing waves.

• Painless: Episodes typically last less than a second and do not cause physical pain, though they frequently trigger a jolt of panic, a racing heart, or a sudden muscle spasm.

Why Does the Brain Do This?

• Sleep-transition glitch: As you drift off to sleep, different parts of the brain normally shut down in a coordinated sequence.

• Misfiring circuits: In EHS, a brief sensory or electrical misfire happens in the brain's auditory processing centers or the reticular activating system (the brainstem network managing wakefulness) as those systems try to power down.

Medications are considered if episodes are frequent and very distressing but there haven’t been any large clinical trials that can guide treatment. Some sufferers have benefited from medications such as such as clomipramine but the evidence is limited,

https://theconversation.com/exploding-head-syndrome-the-surprisingly-common-condition-with-a-terrifying-name-276273

Innovative seed planting.

2026-10-30T12:05:15.942-07:00

https://youtube.com/shorts/WlH1HVoWBrw?is=42pEwVCuCCzRYeFZ

Clever innovation to prevent over-seeding.

Beautifully captured flight

2026-10-29T09:22:01.425-07:00

https://youtu.be/7fyZuJX3CbE?is=NarQBBDEbKoPugbO

Wow - the third pass is a beautiful display of its flying prowess, and expertly tracked by this wildlife photographer. I've seen his photos and videos before, but this was particularly good.

How data centers are powered

2026-10-28T12:09:47.983-07:00

https://youtu.be/Wh1zlJXKy1M?is=FGyYvg0mQOQRnWLv

Their point: AI companies investing heavily in the power infrastructure will in the end benefit everybody with a better power grid.

0:49 currently 70% of our power grid is over 25 years old.

2:07 days centers are building backup "behind the meter"

2:39 all of a sudden, days centers are using 2 orders of magnitude more power

6:24 "a shockingly large percentage of the costs of running an electricity grid are for the four hours a year [of maximal usage.]"

Argentina ant supercolonies

2026-10-28T06:30:17.606-07:00

https://youtu.be/LJyusL5LaxE?is=epdJAqBpb2oyFAQo

Argentine ants that escaped from native South America were small populations that are therefore generically identical, and don't fight with other neighboring colonies but instead form huge supercolonies.

Southern Europe Supercolony: The largest recorded contiguous supercolony spans approximately 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, running from northern Italy through the south of France to Spain. It contains billions of worker ants and millions of individual, cooperating nests. [1, 2, 3]
Melbourne, Australia Supercolony: Another major supercolony discovered there measured roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) across and later spread thousands of kilometers via jump-dispersal to other parts of Australia. [1, 2]
Intercontinental Network: Genetic and behavioral studies suggest that some introduced Argentine ant supercolonies across the globe share a unified chemical identity, functioning as a massive intercontinental network. In their native South American habitats, however, colonies are much smaller and kept in check (typically 10 to 100 meters) by territorial rivals. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Structural carbon-fiber batteries for electric vehicles.

2026-10-27T10:07:11.835-07:00

Recent advances in battery materials allow the battery to be formed into the shape of the vehicle structure, so that the battery contributes less weight to the vehicle (since the battery itself can be formd into the frame.)

At 24 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) it's roughly 20% of the capacity of a standard, dedicated lithium-ion battery by weight. So, it would take a lot of this product to provide adequate range.

A typical SUV has 200kg of frame and 300 kg of passenger cage structure, while a typical electric SUV needs a 450 to 700 kg battery pack; at 20% of the efficiency of lithium batteries, this 500kg would replace 100 kg of lithium batteries, so you wouldn't have enough structure weight in the entire vehicle to match the capacity of a typical battery pack. A vehicle made with this material would still need a regular battery pack to achieve a range expected by the market.

https://youtu.be/EldbUSe2cgA?is=UVrNTszbOvY-z3Kk

Why do zebras have stripes?

2026-10-27T08:23:35.884-07:00

Maybe this is why.

https://youtu.be/6EeYhG_r9yI?is=sQlnxKr88HASMXm5

-Tom

Jet engines run hotter than metal's melting point

2026-10-27T01:37:04.599-07:00

How can a jet engine operate at temperatures higher than the melting point of the alloy parts?

Jet engines operate above the melting point of their alloy parts through a combination of active internal air cooling, ceramic thermal barrier coatings, and nickel-based superalloys.

Key Technologies Preventing Melt-Down

• Internal Blade Cooling: Cold air is bled from the engine's compressor (before fuel is added) and routed through a complex network of tiny internal channels inside each hollow turbine blade.
• Film Cooling: This compressed air escapes through microscopic holes on the surface of the blades, forming a thin, continuous cushion of cool air that insulates the metal from the hot combustion gases (similar to a "Baked Alaska" where insulation protects the inside).
• Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs): Blades are coated with a specialized ceramic layer that drops the actual temperature of the underlying metal by roughly 150°C to 450°C.
• Nickel Superalloys & Single-Crystal Structures: The parts are cast as a single crystal of nickel-based superalloy rather than standard polycrystalline metal, which eliminates grain boundaries and drastically increases resistance to high-temperature deformation (creep).

https://youtu.be/QtxVdC7pBQM?is=1HL9-ls_nCzagBde

https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/s/jRWYLAHiy0

Shoplifter arrest goes bad, very bad.

2026-10-26T07:58:30.854-07:00

Watch this guy when he's first detained - "I didn't do anything. Why are you arresting me? I didn't do nothing!!" So chilling.

https://youtu.be/XCLiJ9JetSQ?is=Q5ajsGATYIWTugpX

Catalog of every humanoid robot and parts' sources

2026-10-25T21:44:54.970-07:00

https://youtu.be/r7U0rbkrBxQ?is=ThatdWy1YlIXjB-s

Am incredibly detailed index of parts, their origin, the origin of the raw materials, and an interactive display of how shortages affect manufacturing.