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1937 film explains how a car differential works

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Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#31

Post by huffmsa »

nabla9 wrote: post #14

The style in those old films is so relaxing and pedagogically great. Has anyone else noticed that today's educational content intended for adults increasingly uses a format that was regionally only used for very young children? There is almost always personality emoting and doing accidentally on purpose funny things and laughing, exaggerating everything to keep people engaged.

That "Now This" or whatever it is drivel that trickles out a 250 word article over the span of a 3 minute slideshow is mind numbingly bad.

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#32

Post by neogodless »

djbebs wrote: post #25
kumarsw wrote: post #13

Suggest changing the title to reflect that this is a General Motors documentary. They are still around! Why not credit them?

The general motors today is not the same company that made this video. In 2008 the original general motors was effectively dissolved, the current GM simply purchased some of their assets, which happened to include their names and trademarks.

Do you have a source to explains how you're describing this?

I'm aware of government (financial) aid, as well as appointing government officials to "consult" and direct restructuring, but it's much less clear that it was "effectively dissolved" or that a "new" General Motors purchased assets from the old one.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/19/bush-bails-out-us-...

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#33

Post by adamjb »

jpswade wrote: post #4

I remember the video being posted here a few years back, interesting stuff. Original discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15122031

also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513209 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1103156

It's worth going through the previous discussions for the recommendations of similar films

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#34

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

CraneWorm wrote: post #30
nabla9 wrote: post #14

The style in those old films is so relaxing and pedagogically great. Has anyone else noticed that today's educational content intended for adults increasingly uses a format that was regionally only used for very young children? There is almost always personality emoting and doing accidentally on purpose funny things and laughing, exaggerating everything to keep people engaged.

I was expecting explanations to begin shortly, got bored after the second stunt. The format is, frankly, horrible. This must be the analog of the "You want a tutorial to do X? Lemme record myself writing painfully slowly in "New Document.txt to explain it." style of tutorials.

Yeah the stunts and music are slow by our standards, but skip past them and you may find it interesting? It's a great video if you don't know about car differentials.

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#36

Post by Shivetya »

ape4 wrote: post #35

And now differentials are basically obsolete - not needed in electric cars.

Not true, only if you have each wheel powered can you dispense with a differential. Since that is not efficient (granted it sounds cool - that old pen/paper car wars game cool) most BEVs run one or two engines.

Remember, the idea is to handle the situation when torque on one wheel is not the same as the opposite wheel. Now it can be done with an electronic LSD which applies braking force

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#37

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #26
nabla9 wrote: post #14

The style in those old films is so relaxing and pedagogically great. Has anyone else noticed that today's educational content intended for adults increasingly uses a format that was regionally only used for very young children? There is almost always personality emoting and doing accidentally on purpose funny things and laughing, exaggerating everything to keep people engaged.

This is the subject of an entire book by Neil Postman called "Amusing Ourselves To Death" (1985), including a chapter called "Teaching as an Amusing Activity". Some excerpts from the book: > “Dr. Ruth Westheimer is a psychologist who has a popular radio program and a nightclub act in which she informs her audiences about sex in all of its infinite variety and in language once reserved for the bedroom and street corne…

> She is almost as entertaining as the Reverend Billy Graham

Can someone explain this to me? Billy Graham is... the last person I’d think of as an amusing figure.

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#38

Post by Pieg »

bluetomcat wrote: post #19
nabla9 wrote: post #14

The style in those old films is so relaxing and pedagogically great. Has anyone else noticed that today's educational content intended for adults increasingly uses a format that was regionally only used for very young children? There is almost always personality emoting and doing accidentally on purpose funny things and laughing, exaggerating everything to keep people engaged.

Person-to-person interactions have changed dramatically since those days. Western culture had a sense of duty and progress that is now questioned by the postmodern intellectual elites. The emphasis today is on "enjoying yourself" in your own bubble, and debating "grand moral standards" is even ridiculed.

> postmodern intellectual elites

Please spare us from the far-right dog whistle

Re: 1937 film explains how a car differential works

#40

Post by 420codebro »

Pieg wrote: post #38
bluetomcat wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person-to-person interactions have changed dramatically since those days. Western culture had a sense of duty and progress that is now questioned by the postmodern intellectual elites. The emphasis today is on "enjoying yourself" in your own bubble, and debating "grand moral standards" is even ridiculed.

> postmodern intellectual elites Please spare us from the far-right dog whistle

Created an account just to say that. So brave.
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