I love the running gag about "the beginning of the internet", because it highlights how technologies build and improve on one another, and which should be counted as the true "beginning" of some modern technology is largely subjective, down to the personal views of the presenter and which technological features they consider to be important.
So was, naturally, the automatic telephone switch, listed as invented around 1915 by Western Electric. The Wikipedia article on that company instead discusses how over 800 people died at a company picnic that year.
@@0LoneTech might be wrong attribution. First automated switch was Stowger switch, invented at 1891 by a stingy undertaker who was pissed about the quality of his telephone service that he created a device specifically to erase switchboard operator's job; out of spite. The story itself is as bizzare as it is funny: The local manager who managed Stowger's service explained the real reason why the service is so terrible: Because he put his old, rusty shop sign over his phone. The sign, which was made from tin plate, caused short circuit when the door to the room opened and the wind from the door's swing shifted its placement, touching both exposed cable. The phone would be dead until the door opened again and the wind blew the sign back to its place. But by the time he found the root cause of the problem by visiting the place, Stowger already had a drawing of a new kind of switchboard. Stowger promised the manager a share of his company if he help "redraw" the schematic for patent application, since apparently the drawing was "very crude". He sold his undertaker business to fund the patent application, rent an office space, and create a working prototype. When the manager later got invited to saw the prototype at work, he laugh at the shoddy soldering, which pissed Stowger even more. He reneged the deal and found Automatic Electric with other investor, which last for half a century until it was bought by GTE in 1955, which later became subsidiary of Verizon. Western Electric was instead credited for 1st electronic switchboard (1ESS) , and later 1st digital one (4ESS). At the time when Stowger switch already popular, WE produce automatic switch which use different mechanism (rotary instead of stepper). They later bought by AT&T.
8:43 I just noticed the gag where the random items you list that would be impossible to buy without the internet, ARE ALL ACTUALLY IN THE SHOP FRONT WINDOW. "Pink Suitcases, Teddy Bears, Funny Hats, and Basketballs" This is why this channel is so rewatchable and awesome.
Small correction. The “America to America” example cable mentioned at 7:34 doesn’t exist because it’s cheaper or faster to send data from Texas to Mississippi with an undersea cable. This cable is called the “Gulf of Mexico Fiber Optic Network” and it exists to provide internet to offshore drilling rigs along the path of the cable. Because of this, it’s probably one of the more interesting cables on the map! Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.
Really?! How does that even work? Tapping a fiber line in the middle of the Gulf seems like it'd be incredibly challenging. I suppose if the platforms were expected to be stationary for 20 years and there were enough of them then yeah, it'd probably be cheaper. That's crazy.
I thought Mark's resigned face (even though I'm pretty sure he wanted to laugh as well), and then getting up was good too, whether it was genuine or playing along with the fact that Jay had just referenced them putting the globes back up so he thought someone better get up at that point.
I've rewatched this a number of times and I still don't know if that was pre-planned or purely an accident. Either way, his reaction to it is top-notch.
I replayed it 4 times to see that a) no it wasn't scripted b) Jay's ability to seamlessly address it is phenomenal c) the dead pan and self control of Mark is absolutely perfect. that's absolute comedy gold.
@@Etienne.6329While it would be possible to very lightly tape it, then do several takes until it actually falls, their reaction tells me it wasn't scripted. Which makes the moment all the better. That he absolutely seamlessly went off script to address the matter.
When describing the distance between the UK and the USA and how long the first transatlantic telegraph cable needed to be, at 3:33 Jay says the word "very" 8 times (the subtitles say it 10 times). Then, at 3:46, Cyrus figured out that he needs to repeat the word "very" 7 times (the subs again say something different, this time going for 9). Afterwards it's back to Jay, who says "very" 9 times (the subtitles go for 12 for some reason). According to Wikipedia, the length of the cable was 2,500 nautical miles. Therefore, one "very" in the Map Men universe equals between 277.77 nautical miles (319.65 regular ol' miles) and 357.14 nautical miles (410.98 miles).
as a radio host who struggles to fight through a monologue when something funny happens, I have the deepest respect for you both managing to hold your composure when the globes fell 😂
I absolutely love the bit at 1:36 with the olden version of Google Maps. This kind of unnecessary and funny attention to detail is exactly why everyone loves to watch this channel. Thanks Jay!
In the mid/late 90's, we needed to send a build of a game across from the UK to the publisher in New York. This involved me burning it on disks, getting on a plane, flying to New York, getting a (nice) stretch Limo to the Publishers offices, and handing over the disks to their QA (testers) team..... This was an enjoyable experience that now can be done in about 2 minutes via the power of the internet. This was the beginning of the internet!!!
Love these videos. Binged all of "Unfinished London" before my first ever trip to the capital a few weeks ago. Second day there, walking to Piccadilly via Regent Street, and I see the man himself in his impecable suit rushing towards Soho. It made my trip even if I could not stop you for a photo, Jay!
Hello!!! Sorry I rushed past you. That was the day we filmed the sketch of me walking through Oxford Street doing Morse Code on the phone (hence the suit). And, a few minutes later, Mark at the cash machine. I was running because the sun was about to set!
@@JayForeman That makes it even better. No need to apologise at all! Keep up with these videos, you two, you truly instruct others while never failing to get a laugh out of it.
I always find comments like this baffling. Partly because six years ago is, like, five minutes ago! What has changed in six years? And partly because my videos are supposed to look like they’re from about 1998.
@@JayForeman i meant that as they feel old, since i wasn't alive 1998 i wouldn't know whether or not they feel like that, all of your videos feel like they were made around the same time.
As someone who works in IT, I can say that this was actually very well researched and communicated, with a great critical thinking message of what those who "provide us the internet" may be asking for in return. Plus, all the visual gags were the best! Map Men is seriously one of the best UA-cam series out there!
@@TweenkPL If the GCHQ and NSA thought it was worth doing, I'm sure "not possible" is a slight exaggeration. Encryption can and will be broken. It's just a matter of effort, money and time.
@@TweenkPL That's unfortunately not the case. Neither TLS nor S-BGP are universally deployed. Sure, a decent chunk of traffic is encrypted, but definitely not all of it (plus that still won't necessarily prevent snooping on where the traffic goes to and from).
@@OLBastholm okay but if you believe that, but why be worried about Google snooping via the cable? Sure there are other organisations to be more worried about, not to mention many points between your computer and the cable, any of which may be used to gather your data.
Tell me the globes falling wasn't a planned bit. If it isn't, Jay's ability to effortlessly work it into the take as if it was part of the video is commendable.
@@woodfur00They probably had a monitor facing them so they could see themselves from the camera's perspective and see what had happened behind them. Amazing safe from Jay
It looked like it was held on with blue tack or something similar and I'm sure one of them would've asked when setting it up "do you think this will hold"
This is one of the best UA-cam channels out there. Even at 1.4M subs I'd still say it is very underrated. The content is fascinating, concise and funny. The bit about "I need to get those globes up that fell off the wall "without even blinking, is a testimony to your skills as performers. So glad I found this channel.
This is the only show where I sit down to watch everything, the intro the ad break the episode itself and the credits. I even watch everything multiple times. Only Jay and Mark could make something this entertaining.
I watched this the first time while eating breakfast, then went back to catch all the bits that I'd been unable to pause in time, such as the treasure trove of jokes at 1:37
This video felt like a long-lost Monty Python sketch. Thank you for reminding me of the happy childhood hours I whiled away watching Monty Python video tapes from my local library. You have no idea how much I needed cheering up tonight. I appreciate you, Map Men.
The writing for Map Men is *always* top notch. I don't think I've ever heard a more strange, yet so perfectly fitting, sign-off than "it's been through a layer of vaseline."
Hey guys, great video! As someone who works in this field monitoring subsea cables, you did a pretty good job! ( the shark biting cables is a bit of a myth though…) if you ever do a follow up and would like some comment from somebody who directly deals with cable systems every day, please feel free to reach out and I’ll tell you what I am allowed to :D
These are a work of art. The nostalgia I received from the cut to black before/after the advert alone just goes to show the level of attention to detail you put into every video. Such a small little detail from old British broadcasting rules but it fits perfectly.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cue_mark - not sure if there's enough there for someone to make an episode, but as part of another one, perhaps. Ours are "cue dots", the BBC has ( had ) them too.
Thanks Map Men,fibre optic engineer checking in :) If you’d like to see a map of your local network let me know, it’s not as boring as you might think!
Honestly, I just hope companies are paying you a truck load of money for the ads, as you're the only channel that can manage to avoid me skipping them... 😊
I have at least two more channels that work for me. Julie Nolke and Ryan George. And they don't even sneak the ads into the middle of the sketches, but put them at the end.
@@mk_rexx Once upon a time, birds and mammals began to communicate simple messages to each other using clicks, chirps, and chitters. It was the beginning of the Internet.
@@carltonleboss Dude, you skipped right over the evolution of electro-chemical nervous systems! We had a nice progression going backwards through time, and you got greedy. Now my whole day is ruined! ;-)
Nobody has yet mentioned how very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very informative and how very, very, very, very, very, very, very entertaining this video was.
Many moons ago (early 1980's) networking wasn't big, even for the computer company I worked for. We did finally get a link between the factory where I worked and the HQ about 45 miles away. (way before fibre optics - probably norrmal phone lines). However, when it came to sending a software update from one system to another, the calculated transfer time was6 or 7 hours. It was actually faster to dump it onto a few reels of magnetic tape and hire a courier to take it by motorbike (about 90 mins). As somebody observed, if there was other data to be sent, we just dumped onto an additional tape and for minimal extra cost, sent that at the same time. Slower byte transfer speed, but inifinite bandwith.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a 747 full of [current storage technology]. For many years the Jodrell Bank radio telescope's main data link to the university was a van loaded with magnetic tapes.
@@nowster It used to be never underestimate the bandwidth of a car trunk filled with DLT (Digital Linear Tape) when each smaller than a VHS tape sized cartridge could hold 10 GB's. Though it was a saying used more when needing to transfer data between offices in different states.
@@nowster A train full of [current storage technology] can have even more bandwidth. A 747 can only do ~130 tonnes at 1000km/h, with more accurate numbers coming out to 126958 kmT/h, and a train pulled by a Big Boy steam locomotive can do around 7200 tonnes at around 130 km/h, coming out to 936000 kmT/h - almost 10 times as much bandwidth as a 747, although yeah, it is THE biggest locomotive and this does assume its top speed. A more realistic number would be something around 2x the kmT/h (kilometer Tons per hour) a 747 can do easily.
This is still occasionally done when the data being moved is considered to be very sensitive for whatever reason, although obviously it would be on a hard drive rather than tapes.
pretty sure they film these videos in bulk. maybe they met up for the first time in a year to film like 10 episodes and then thats it until they both find time in their assumably busy time schedule to meet up and film some more
In the US, overland maps of internet connectivity look similar to railroad line maps; it was way easier to get right-of-way along existing infrastructure (ie trains) than to just plow through and go directly point to point
I love that you guys call yourself the map men because when I was young, my brother and I came up with a super hero called map man who would just point people in the right direction at national parks.
You should have been in on that sketch from Key and Peale where one superhero is a BMX trick-rider and the other one can summon a hoard of Angels whenever he wants.
7:33 The one that arcs out into the Gulf of Mexico provides connectivity to deep water offshore oil platforms along the Sigsbee escarpment… it was put in place to provide uninterrupted connectivity and control to the platform systems from shore even during major hurricanes, when the entire crew may have evacuated ahead of the storm. It also allows weather data, etc, to be streamed back from far offshore in real time.
I, as part of my degree program, did a research paper on the lines, the vehicles laying the cables, the companies that were the access points, and the efforts to expand more cables to compete with the growing needs. This was 15 years ago, but, it was very interesting to meet the people behind the work.
I had to pause this video at least 4 separate times because I was laughing too hard at a joke to pay attention to what else was being said, but I didn’t want to miss anything because it was so interesting. Highest marks 👏
One of the most endearing and wholesome lessons about this whole series/channel is how clumsy humam development has been. It's easy to take history for granted as monolithic and inerrant but it's not. If anything, it's monolithic in its disarray.
@@Zraknul That makes me sad if that is not the core definition of history. It seems to imply history is fluid and without facts. A rock is a rock. A bone is a bone, a town existed during this timeframe....etc. etc. etc. Will always be that way. A good historian evaluates the facts as best can be determined, and then puts forth a plausible theory of what that history was like in the subject studied. President JFK died on November 22, 1963. Maybe a future historian might advocate that JFK died on December 22, 1961. But that wouldn't be history, would it? History is being undermined by various contemporary "historians" and my comment was more directed at the cryptic OP response. In which I think the OP was confusing innovation advancement with the word "history".
I work for the company that designed the first Subsea cable plough to bury internet cable, I find this industry so interesting, really happy to see it on map men!
Your ability to maintain the exact same composure and improvise when the globes fell off the wall just shows why i personally consider you a comedic genius
I work for the engineering company responsible for the machinery which has installed roughly 90% of these cables and this was incredibly insightful to me. Thanks for making.
This is my first time discovering this channel, and wow, what a rollercoaster this video was. Am I learning, am I laughing, or am I questioning mine and the Map Men's sanity? The answer is yes.
"...which by the way, would be an awesome clue in an escape room..." Funny thing is, that telegraph machine does show up as a puzzle in the point-and-click adventure game "The Room 3", so that's certainly a start.
Let it be known that I, a Frenchman living in Paris, watched this video full screen in 1080p, thoroughly enjoying every last iteration of the beginning for the internet.
I watched this video with my class this afternoon as they have been learning about how the internet works. Very informative and entertaining! Warm wishes from Sweden :)
@@DasParedes you do not have to read the discworld books in order - going postal is as close to standalone as you can get, and it's one of the best starter books for getting hooked into the worldbuilding of the series. You won't be missing out by reading it first, I promise.
This is absolutely fascinating. I can't believe that I'd never even considered the sheer volume of cables needed to make the internet a thing. Bravo, as always
The perfect improvisation with the globes falling, on its own is worth a like on this video 😂😂 you guys are entertaining and so talented to say the least
I imagine your videos being played in high school classes all over the UK and being thoroughly enjoyed. It just has that vibe somehow. As a teacher myself I am always impressed by informative, well-but-fast-paced, witty content!
The Chappe telegraph system did indeed have issues, as it featured one of the first instances of network manipulation. François and Louis Blanc, bond traders in Bordeaux, had a friend in Paris send a package to Tours indicating the Paris stock trends, which a bribed operator then added to messages passing though with a "wait sorry, erase that character" right after. At Bordeaux the brothers had a former telegraph operator spy on the tower to see the single character, but in official transcriptions the "backspace" meant that the alleged error would never be logged. This allowed the Blanc brothers to know how the Paris stocks would affect their bonds in Bordeaux far in advance of anyone else in the city. This worked until the operator at Tours got ill and tried to recruit a friend to replace him, who reported it. But they couldn't convinct the brothers, because there weren't any laws against what they were doing!
@@TypicallyThomas Honestly I had this foggy memory that I knew some sort of scam and looked up the details for the comment, but now I know where I first heard about it!
"171777" 😄 Also I loved the clever (cheeky) description of things you wouldn't be able to buy if Atlantic undersea cables went down. Love the content you guys put out.
Fun fact: the fourth attempts' cable actually couldn't be connected because the twist direction of the copper wires didn't match. Apparently noone had thought about the fact that one of the ships needed to start out with a differently twisted cable (i.e. just coiled up in different direction) for it to match in the middle. It was an absolute rookie mistake.
That's my all time favourite fact about the history of information technology, the massive skipping rope it created at the bottom of the ocean. It must have confused the heck out of some sharks and jellyfishes. I learnt if from a university lecturer who brought a piece of the very first transatlantic cable for us to see. It looked like... well, a piece of an old, thick cable. But it was still pretty cool.
Your content is the most English thing ever and being English myself, I have absolutely no bias when I say, this video proves that Map Men is the greatest channel in the world, and that England is the bestest, smartest, and biggerest Continent in the world. Thanks to the internet, I learnt all that from Map Men. Love your videos.
Morse's code only covered numerals and not letters or other characters. Morse expected users to look up the words by looking up their reference numbers. Alfred Vail is the one responsible for the letters and punctuation marks.
I'm just rewatching an episode of QI where they cover this and strictly speaking its not even a 'code', it should be called Vail's 'Cypher' as the dots and dashes represent letters directly without having to convert numbers into letters/words as you did with Morse's code.
Also, no mention of Baudot when throwing around "the beginning of the Internet?" I humbly suggest we immediately riot. Baudot telegraphs used what we'd now call binary signaling. The alternative to Morse code became ITA, which led very directly to ASCII which is a version of ITA. Baudot telegraph systems were used for things like old automatic paper stock tickers, and eventually teletypes. Teletypes in WWII allowed, basically, IRC text chat without computers. When interactive electronic digital computers were eventually invented, those WWII style teletypes using baudot style serialized telegraph codes were used as terminals in the era before CRT monitors were used in computer terminals, and were then eventually used for actual IRC text chat with computers. You can literally wire a late 1800's Baudot telegraph machine to a modern Linux computer with a serial port and some passives for character set and voltage handling, and use stty to use the (still supported!) upper case only terminal mode (which still exists because WWII era baudot style teletypes didn't support lower case letters) and chat using a text mode Slack or Discord client. But apparently that doesn't get a mention as one of the beginnings of the Internet because it's not good enough for Jay or something. I resubmit the humble request that we violently riot and destroy as much as we are reasonably able.
@@sandy_knightThat must be strictly according to some specifically selected definitions of both words code and cipher, then. After all, it is an encoding but not designed to be secretive.
My girlfriend's dad used to work for a company responsible for laying and maintaining these cables around the North Sea. He has a bit of old cable in his living room. Apparently, dealing with the French was a nightmare
I hope you guys find deep satisfaction in knowing that pretty much all the tiny superb/ hilarious details you include ABSOLUTELY PAY OFF 🎉🎉🎉 that morse code mobile phone B Roll was absolutely priceless 😂😂😂🙌🙌🙌🙏
8:45 I absolutely love the detail that all the silly things he lists are displayed in the shop‘s window in the background. PS: I think I‘ll decode it when I have time.
I just found this channel and I love it. It's humor is so unapologetically British in the best way. Looks like I have a lot of videos to churn through so I can avoid doing anything productive.
2:21 It's funny that Jay says, "A contraption like this would be an awesome clue in an escape room" because it is a clue in the game "The Room 2" which is basically an escape room puzzle game. Which is why seeing that contraption in this video made me go "WTF that thing is real?!" upon seeing it. Glad to know it is real and now will adventure on a Wikipedia rabbit hole learning about it, thanks Jay! Do recommend the "The Room" series of games by Fireproof Studios, super high quality games with a fantastic supernatural atmosphere
This was super interesting, and as a telecommunications geek, I approve :D Or like we say in the Free Software community - there's no cloud. There's just other people's computers.
Yeah, in 2009 I set about to actually understand what the Internet was, and I was told so much mystical non-material ignorant crap. Then I got hired to do tech support for a web hosting company and learned more than I really wanted to.
That bit at the end about companies listening in on their undersea cables - they almost certainly aren't. Almost all internet traffic is encrypted, so most data they can't even see, and the data they do see would be so much theyd have to build a new datacenter every week. It is concerning that so much internet infra is privately owned, but privacy is not one of the concerns in this case.
All the intelligence agencies are currently hoarding the encrypted data for the time in the near future where quantum computers are fast enough to brute force decrypt these messages.
The maps of the early telegraph networks are fascinating. I pulled up the US map on the Library of Congress website to look at my particular region, and many of the stations were located in towns that are all but disappeared now. I’d really love to run or bike that route to explore these little towns I’ve never had the chance to see before and understand their significance before urbanization and the Rust Belt era left them so depopulated!
It’d be interesting to see which places have towers still, which still bear scars in the ground, and which you’d never know had anything ever been there.
Mother Earth Mother Board from Neal Stephenson was the most captivating piece of work I've ever read in my life, and it is about undersea cables. I literally can't recommend it enough, it's amazing.
As always, I found this video both informative and entertaining! In only around 10 minutes, I learned about the multiple "beginning[s] of the internet" (the original telegraph, the electric telegraph, cross-ocean cables) and about how essential the "layer of Vaseline" (in a cable the size of a "human garden hose") is to modern society. Also, the jokes in the video are quite funny! For example, I find it remarkable that even as the globes fall off the walls, you were still able to deadpan about this rather unexpectedly comedic event. Speaking of comedic events, I found your illustrations of predecessors to the internet (including Napoleon's Google Maps message at 1:36, offering directions by balloon, telegraph, horse, and foot), as well as the scenes of people speaking in Morse code, quite funny! Thanks for making this! Also, congratulations on being #35 on Trending!
The big thing missing is the development of duplex and quadragraphs. Which allowed multiple signals down a single telegraph line. And in turn developed similar signal equipment for telephones and later the internet.
The first time i watched a video from this channel it was back in april 2020.just when covid had the world in its grip..this channel will always be a comfort watch for me..❤️
I love the running gag about "the beginning of the internet", because it highlights how technologies build and improve on one another, and which should be counted as the true "beginning" of some modern technology is largely subjective, down to the personal views of the presenter and which technological features they consider to be important.
And it was the beginning of the Internet.
So was, naturally, the automatic telephone switch, listed as invented around 1915 by Western Electric. The Wikipedia article on that company instead discusses how over 800 people died at a company picnic that year.
the exact moment Walter White became the internet
@@0LoneTech might be wrong attribution. First automated switch was Stowger switch, invented at 1891 by a stingy undertaker who was pissed about the quality of his telephone service that he created a device specifically to erase switchboard operator's job; out of spite. The story itself is as bizzare as it is funny:
The local manager who managed Stowger's service explained the real reason why the service is so terrible: Because he put his old, rusty shop sign over his phone. The sign, which was made from tin plate, caused short circuit when the door to the room opened and the wind from the door's swing shifted its placement, touching both exposed cable. The phone would be dead until the door opened again and the wind blew the sign back to its place. But by the time he found the root cause of the problem by visiting the place, Stowger already had a drawing of a new kind of switchboard.
Stowger promised the manager a share of his company if he help "redraw" the schematic for patent application, since apparently the drawing was "very crude". He sold his undertaker business to fund the patent application, rent an office space, and create a working prototype. When the manager later got invited to saw the prototype at work, he laugh at the shoddy soldering, which pissed Stowger even more. He reneged the deal and found Automatic Electric with other investor, which last for half a century until it was bought by GTE in 1955, which later became subsidiary of Verizon.
Western Electric was instead credited for 1st electronic switchboard (1ESS) , and later 1st digital one (4ESS). At the time when Stowger switch already popular, WE produce automatic switch which use different mechanism (rotary instead of stepper). They later bought by AT&T.
it was the beginning of the internet
Honestly didn’t realise how much I loved Map Men, until the time between episodes seemed so long
Edit: Hello Chris
Fr
Though recently we've had a veritable flood of videos. One a month for the past 3 months? Tremendous
It was the beginning of the internet
Need more cables
That's how they get you
8:43 I just noticed the gag where the random items you list that would be impossible to buy without the internet, ARE ALL ACTUALLY IN THE SHOP FRONT WINDOW. "Pink Suitcases, Teddy Bears, Funny Hats, and Basketballs"
This is why this channel is so rewatchable and awesome.
Small correction. The “America to America” example cable mentioned at 7:34 doesn’t exist because it’s cheaper or faster to send data from Texas to Mississippi with an undersea cable. This cable is called the “Gulf of Mexico Fiber Optic Network” and it exists to provide internet to offshore drilling rigs along the path of the cable. Because of this, it’s probably one of the more interesting cables on the map!
Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.
That is interesting!
Neat. It was the beginning of the internet.
Really?! How does that even work? Tapping a fiber line in the middle of the Gulf seems like it'd be incredibly challenging. I suppose if the platforms were expected to be stationary for 20 years and there were enough of them then yeah, it'd probably be cheaper. That's crazy.
Guess what it is used for?! Lots of Men going there own way so to say :-)
I just assumed that Louisiana was like "Nah".
The way Jay controls the slight smirk on his face to straight deadpan after the globes fall is the mark of a professional comedian.
It was the beginning of the internet.
I thought Mark's resigned face (even though I'm pretty sure he wanted to laugh as well), and then getting up was good too, whether it was genuine or playing along with the fact that Jay had just referenced them putting the globes back up so he thought someone better get up at that point.
I've rewatched this a number of times and I still don't know if that was pre-planned or purely an accident. Either way, his reaction to it is top-notch.
I replayed it 4 times to see that a) no it wasn't scripted b) Jay's ability to seamlessly address it is phenomenal c) the dead pan and self control of Mark is absolutely perfect.
that's absolute comedy gold.
@@Etienne.6329While it would be possible to very lightly tape it, then do several takes until it actually falls, their reaction tells me it wasn't scripted. Which makes the moment all the better. That he absolutely seamlessly went off script to address the matter.
When describing the distance between the UK and the USA and how long the first transatlantic telegraph cable needed to be, at 3:33 Jay says the word "very" 8 times (the subtitles say it 10 times). Then, at 3:46, Cyrus figured out that he needs to repeat the word "very" 7 times (the subs again say something different, this time going for 9). Afterwards it's back to Jay, who says "very" 9 times (the subtitles go for 12 for some reason).
According to Wikipedia, the length of the cable was 2,500 nautical miles.
Therefore, one "very" in the Map Men universe equals between 277.77 nautical miles (319.65 regular ol' miles) and 357.14 nautical miles (410.98 miles).
I strongly approve of this comment.
@@JayForeman Thank you very much, Jay! :) I did all the calculations myself.
Now we need someone to do a second ‘Jay says very very very very very very very very very for 10 hours’, like that one with Chile
Please, matey. Do you got a diagnosis or what?
@@adrianmalmstrom6968 erm... what?
as a radio host who struggles to fight through a monologue when something funny happens, I have the deepest respect for you both managing to hold your composure when the globes fell 😂
i totally did too and it was the beginning of the internet
It was scripted before the beginning of the internet.
I choose to believe that they did not plan that and left it in because their reaction was funny.
I genuinely thought it was scripted
@@JackpodyDK 😂😂😂
Can't believe Samuel Morse named himself after the Morse code and took all the credit. Surprised there's been no backlash against Dave Internet yet.
I wonder whether the telegraph was actually named after someone called Terry Graf.
@@zoid9969 No it was named by little Suzan.She named it after her donkey. Tely Gray
It was the beginning of the Internet
AlGorternet
Wasn't his original choice of first name 'Inspector' before he changed it to Samuel?
I absolutely love the bit at 1:36 with the olden version of Google Maps. This kind of unnecessary and funny attention to detail is exactly why everyone loves to watch this channel. Thanks Jay!
and napoleon’s using it lol
If I could do what Jay does when those globes fall off the wall, my entire life would have played out differently.
It would indeed be the beginning of the internet.
We’ve got clips of Jay being quite injured and still delivering the line perfectly.
@@jadeforeman131I want to see these clips
Wait--so the globes falling off the wall wasn't planned? WOOOOOOOOW.
@@jadeforeman131What are you to him?
In the mid/late 90's, we needed to send a build of a game across from the UK to the publisher in New York. This involved me burning it on disks, getting on a plane, flying to New York, getting a (nice) stretch Limo to the Publishers offices, and handing over the disks to their QA (testers) team.....
This was an enjoyable experience that now can be done in about 2 minutes via the power of the internet.
This was the beginning of the internet!!!
What game was that? If I may ask.
It was the middle of the sneakernet.
@@paolagrando5079 a 3D RTS game called “Machines”. Delivered to Acclaim.
AIT via Delta Dash. I only had to go as far as the airport.
@@variousthings6470 Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of backup tapes hurtling down the freeway.
Love these videos. Binged all of "Unfinished London" before my first ever trip to the capital a few weeks ago. Second day there, walking to Piccadilly via Regent Street, and I see the man himself in his impecable suit rushing towards Soho. It made my trip even if I could not stop you for a photo, Jay!
Hello!!! Sorry I rushed past you. That was the day we filmed the sketch of me walking through Oxford Street doing Morse Code on the phone (hence the suit). And, a few minutes later, Mark at the cash machine. I was running because the sun was about to set!
@@JayForeman That makes it even better. No need to apologise at all! Keep up with these videos, you two, you truly instruct others while never failing to get a laugh out of it.
@@FedeGuiancehang on, if you saw him filming, does that mean there might be a chance you've made a cameo?
@@antimatterg Oh no, no chance sadly! I checked already. I saw him on his way to filming, not during filming :)
@@FedeGuiance ohhhhhhh
0:41 That slight quiver makes me think the globes falling was not scripted.
I really hope it wasn't
It was, indeed, NOT scripted! :)
thats what a very very very good script writer would say... @@JayForeman
Now their balls have dropped they can truly be called Map Men, not Map Boys.
@@JayForeman Cool guys don't look at globes falling off a wall.
8:44 I appreciate that the list of 'pink suit cases, teddy bears, funny hats or basket balls' are all things in the shop window behind him
Finally, somebody noticed! :)
amazing
@@JayForeman I couldn't tell all of the items, but the pink suitcases were definitely in view.
I thought the list was random, but now, I know why!
Thanks for the comment!
i love how all of your videos feel like they were made 6 years ago. they're great
I always find comments like this baffling. Partly because six years ago is, like, five minutes ago! What has changed in six years? And partly because my videos are supposed to look like they’re from about 1998.
@@JayForeman i meant that as they feel old, since i wasn't alive 1998 i wouldn't know whether or not they feel like that, all of your videos feel like they were made around the same time.
I must be so old. I find it so hard to get my head around the idea of “six years ago” being a long time ago.
Oddly specific
@JayForeman Hard agree. "Six years ago" was the pre-Br*xit panic just before the p*ndemic began.
As someone who works in IT, I can say that this was actually very well researched and communicated, with a great critical thinking message of what those who "provide us the internet" may be asking for in return. Plus, all the visual gags were the best! Map Men is seriously one of the best UA-cam series out there!
If you work in IT, why don't you know that eavesdropping in these cables is not possible because all of the data is encrypted?
It was the beginning of the internet
@@TweenkPL If the GCHQ and NSA thought it was worth doing, I'm sure "not possible" is a slight exaggeration. Encryption can and will be broken. It's just a matter of effort, money and time.
@@TweenkPL That's unfortunately not the case. Neither TLS nor S-BGP are universally deployed. Sure, a decent chunk of traffic is encrypted, but definitely not all of it (plus that still won't necessarily prevent snooping on where the traffic goes to and from).
@@OLBastholm okay but if you believe that, but why be worried about Google snooping via the cable? Sure there are other organisations to be more worried about, not to mention many points between your computer and the cable, any of which may be used to gather your data.
Tell me the globes falling wasn't a planned bit. If it isn't, Jay's ability to effortlessly work it into the take as if it was part of the video is commendable.
Not to mention knowing exactly what had fallen without looking
@@woodfur00They probably had a monitor facing them so they could see themselves from the camera's perspective and see what had happened behind them. Amazing safe from Jay
@@woodfur00 I bet those globes regularly fall down.
@@woodfur00 They did make a noise when they hit the floor, and not much else on that wall would do.
It looked like it was held on with blue tack or something similar and I'm sure one of them would've asked when setting it up "do you think this will hold"
This is one of the best UA-cam channels out there. Even at 1.4M subs I'd still say it is very underrated. The content is fascinating, concise and funny. The bit about "I need to get those globes up that fell off the wall "without even blinking, is a testimony to your skills as performers. So glad I found this channel.
I do miss the funny variations on the map men theme, I don't know why they don't do them anymore.
It was the beginning of the internet.
they ran out of variations. It was the beginning of the end of the internet.
✨Internet✨
Maybe it was a variation but changed so slightly you didn’t even notice. It was the beginning of the internet.
They’re coming back, don’t worry. Just keeping yous on your toes. It was the beginning of the internet.
Please reference the second sentence in this comment in some future video. It was the beginning of the internet.
This is the only show where I sit down to watch everything, the intro the ad break the episode itself and the credits. I even watch everything multiple times.
Only Jay and Mark could make something this entertaining.
It was the beginning of the internet.
Ryan George with his Adstranaut is pretty entertaining to.
Came for the show, stayed for the commercials... 😂
I watched this the first time while eating breakfast, then went back to catch all the bits that I'd been unable to pause in time, such as the treasure trove of jokes at 1:37
Tom Ska also keeps me there for the ad read.
This video felt like a long-lost Monty Python sketch. Thank you for reminding me of the happy childhood hours I whiled away watching Monty Python video tapes from my local library. You have no idea how much I needed cheering up tonight. I appreciate you, Map Men.
A "human garden hose" implies Jay is aware of garden hoses made by other species.
I love when they put the adjective "human" in silly places. "Human" dollars, Jay? DO YOU HAVE ALIEN DOLLARS, JAY?
*of
Or hoses made from things other than humans.
Also "Humans dollars" in the end
You know too much
The fact the entire internet has been through a layer of Vaseline actually explains quite a bit of the modern world.
It was the beginning of the internet
It's the worst stuff to get off of your hands.. much worse then regular Vaseline. Until you know, you don't really know.
And thus, upon the seventh day, it was completed. And it was the beginning of the internet.
It doesn't go through the vaseline. If it does, that is loss.
@@rogerroger5255 it's a joke
The writing for Map Men is *always* top notch.
I don't think I've ever heard a more strange, yet so perfectly fitting, sign-off than "it's been through a layer of vaseline."
Was the falling globe thing improvised? Because it was perfect.
No it's not! And it was entirely unscripted, thankfully Jay never stops talking
@@riplumiare you just trolling? 💀
@@markcooper-jones7494😂
@@KelsomaticPDXare you? 🧐
@markcooper-jones7494 WAIT ITS ACTUALLY YOU
I've had an awful day today, and I'd just like to tell you that this really cheered me up :)
Glad to be of service!
It was the beginning of the internet
Me too man, just read that comment and seen 8 hours ago. Just about to go to sleep after a shiyte day so me too made me chuckle and interesting too!
I feel much better about my cabling life now that I saw the back panel shot where all the cabling mess at 9:38
@@JayForemantruly the service the internet was created for :)
Hey guys, great video! As someone who works in this field monitoring subsea cables, you did a pretty good job! ( the shark biting cables is a bit of a myth though…) if you ever do a follow up and would like some comment from somebody who directly deals with cable systems every day, please feel free to reach out and I’ll tell you what I am allowed to :D
😂😅 Haven't you seen JAWS? Clearly sharks have been eating cables since at least 1977.
It has become less of a problem in later iterations as technology evolved but it definitely has been a thing.
Of course sharks don't bite cables. Didn't you see the footage? The shark was clearly eating the cable with a knife and fork.
These are a work of art. The nostalgia I received from the cut to black before/after the advert alone just goes to show the level of attention to detail you put into every video. Such a small little detail from old British broadcasting rules but it fits perfectly.
Don’t forget the little barber pole squiggly thing before the ad break! Check the top right corner!
I love it
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cue_mark - not sure if there's enough there for someone to make an episode, but as part of another one, perhaps. Ours are "cue dots", the BBC has ( had ) them too.
It was the beginning of the Internet
Jay saying “It was the beginning of the Internet” every 2 minutes to describe things is like John Hammond saying “Spared no expense” in Jurassic Park.
I loved that, since it is such a hotly debated question as there are multiple definitions one can use!
This video was the beginning of the internet
I read that as Richard Hammond for some reason
@@TypicallyThomassame, my brain lagged for some reason
It took me a while to understand it was a running gag and he wasn't being serious
Hilarious video as always guys, learned a lot, keep up the great work
Thanks Map Men,fibre optic engineer checking in :) If you’d like to see a map of your local network let me know, it’s not as boring as you might think!
I genuinely would actually!
Shouldn't be too difficult. I'll email you and we can sort something out @@JayForeman
@@liamdownes1475is there any way someone random like me could see my own of a website or something
@@liamdownes1475if you work for who I think you work for you will be breaching both commercial confidentiality and the official secrets act
@@liamdownes1475 it was the begining of the internet
Honestly, I just hope companies are paying you a truck load of money for the ads, as you're the only channel that can manage to avoid me skipping them... 😊
Same
snap
I have at least two more channels that work for me. Julie Nolke and Ryan George. And they don't even sneak the ads into the middle of the sketches, but put them at the end.
Hi there, hello
yep!!!
I saw you guys on page 3 of the Sunday Times dated 15 October 2023. Congrats 🎉
Once upon a time, the Phoenicians invented letters. It was the beginning of the internet.
Once upon a time, Indian mathematicians invented the zero. It was the beginning of the Internet.
Once upon a time, human ancestors developed what we know to day as spoken language. It was the beginning of the internet.
@@mk_rexx Once upon a time, birds and mammals began to communicate simple messages to each other using clicks, chirps, and chitters. It was the beginning of the Internet.
13.7 billion years ago, the Big Bang occurred, forming the Universe. This was the beginning of the Internet.
@@carltonleboss Dude, you skipped right over the evolution of electro-chemical nervous systems! We had a nice progression going backwards through time, and you got greedy. Now my whole day is ruined!
;-)
Nobody has yet mentioned how very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very informative and how very, very, very, very, very, very, very entertaining this video was.
It was the beginning of the internet.
Your comment is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very accurate.
It was the begi--- **gets shot**
I appreciate their sense of humour in their videos, even the ads.
Clearly very Monty Python-inspired.
Many moons ago (early 1980's) networking wasn't big, even for the computer company I worked for. We did finally get a link between the factory where I worked and the HQ about 45 miles away. (way before fibre optics - probably norrmal phone lines). However, when it came to sending a software update from one system to another, the calculated transfer time was6 or 7 hours. It was actually faster to dump it onto a few reels of magnetic tape and hire a courier to take it by motorbike (about 90 mins). As somebody observed, if there was other data to be sent, we just dumped onto an additional tape and for minimal extra cost, sent that at the same time. Slower byte transfer speed, but inifinite bandwith.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a 747 full of [current storage technology].
For many years the Jodrell Bank radio telescope's main data link to the university was a van loaded with magnetic tapes.
Remember it well. Old IT fogeys of the pre-internet days unite!
@@nowster It used to be never underestimate the bandwidth of a car trunk filled with DLT (Digital Linear Tape) when each smaller than a VHS tape sized cartridge could hold 10 GB's.
Though it was a saying used more when needing to transfer data between offices in different states.
@@nowster A train full of [current storage technology] can have even more bandwidth. A 747 can only do ~130 tonnes at 1000km/h, with more accurate numbers coming out to 126958 kmT/h, and a train pulled by a Big Boy steam locomotive can do around 7200 tonnes at around 130 km/h, coming out to 936000 kmT/h - almost 10 times as much bandwidth as a 747, although yeah, it is THE biggest locomotive and this does assume its top speed. A more realistic number would be something around 2x the kmT/h (kilometer Tons per hour) a 747 can do easily.
This is still occasionally done when the data being moved is considered to be very sensitive for whatever reason, although obviously it would be on a hard drive rather than tapes.
From 7 months of no uploads to 3 uploads in 2 months is an upload schedule improvement I support
its thanks to the internet
I agree! Map Men is great!!!
how are you here.
@@Tom3kkk it was the start of the internet
pretty sure they film these videos in bulk. maybe they met up for the first time in a year to film like 10 episodes and then thats it until they both find time in their assumably busy time schedule to meet up and film some more
In the US, overland maps of internet connectivity look similar to railroad line maps; it was way easier to get right-of-way along existing infrastructure (ie trains) than to just plow through and go directly point to point
I love that you guys call yourself the map men because when I was young, my brother and I came up with a super hero called map man who would just point people in the right direction at national parks.
You should have been in on that sketch from Key and Peale where one superhero is a BMX trick-rider and the other one can summon a hoard of Angels whenever he wants.
I actually kind of like that idea. Would be a fun addition to park signage.
1:37 The attention to detail and bonus elements like these are what keep me coming back to Map Men. I can't get enough of you guys!
The black and white image that signifies an imminent commercial break at the top-right from 05:24 is just like watching ITV!
@@zoid9969 And the regulation to cut to black before/after a commercial as well. Such an instant nostalgia hit :D
It was the beginning of the internet
Danke!
8:45 The things listed are all in the shop window
7:33 The one that arcs out into the Gulf of Mexico provides connectivity to deep water offshore oil platforms along the Sigsbee escarpment… it was put in place to provide uninterrupted connectivity and control to the platform systems from shore even during major hurricanes, when the entire crew may have evacuated ahead of the storm. It also allows weather data, etc, to be streamed back from far offshore in real time.
I, as part of my degree program, did a research paper on the lines, the vehicles laying the cables, the companies that were the access points, and the efforts to expand more cables to compete with the growing needs. This was 15 years ago, but, it was very interesting to meet the people behind the work.
I had to pause this video at least 4 separate times because I was laughing too hard at a joke to pay attention to what else was being said, but I didn’t want to miss anything because it was so interesting. Highest marks 👏
It is nigh impossible to get through the first watch of a Map Men episode without stopping for this exact reason
One of the most endearing and wholesome lessons about this whole series/channel is how clumsy humam development has been. It's easy to take history for granted as monolithic and inerrant but it's not. If anything, it's monolithic in its disarray.
Rather apt I have that typo haha
How can history be wrong? Isn't "history" merely a collection of past facts.
Nice work humam.
@@pavelow235 History is not merely a collection of past facts.
@@Zraknul That makes me sad if that is not the core definition of history. It seems to imply history is fluid and without facts. A rock is a rock. A bone is a bone, a town existed during this timeframe....etc. etc. etc. Will always be that way. A good historian evaluates the facts as best can be determined, and then puts forth a plausible theory of what that history was like in the subject studied. President JFK died on November 22, 1963. Maybe a future historian might advocate that JFK died on December 22, 1961. But that wouldn't be history, would it? History is being undermined by various contemporary "historians" and my comment was more directed at the cryptic OP response. In which I think the OP was confusing innovation advancement with the word "history".
Video was worth watching even just for the humour and great visuals. Go map men!
@7:47 - LOVE how you have James Cordon going from the UK to America and then back to the UK.
We had ordered a British comedian, but he wasn't funny so we sent him back to the manufacturer as a defect.
Sorry, no refunds!
As a person studying network engineering this is a satisfying video to watch.
It was the beginning of the internet
What a brilliant idea for an episode, so glad you guys are back and challenging how we look at things. The ‘why is North Up’ really blew my mind.
You guys are the only creators out there that make watching the sponsor segment worth while.
internet historian has some good ad reads
I also like Ginny Di for that
It's a good sentiment for sure although Internet Comment Etiquette is firmly in this category as well.
Well, maybe Tomska…
There are quite a few channels with interesting sponsor reels. Arlo for example has a whole series of Raycon ad skits with a plotline
I work for the company that designed the first Subsea cable plough to bury internet cable, I find this industry so interesting, really happy to see it on map men!
It was the beginning of the internet.
Why are there so many bots on this channel?
@@letsgococo288 I… don’t know?
Your ability to maintain the exact same composure and improvise when the globes fell off the wall just shows why i personally consider you a comedic genius
I always watch Jay's ad reads. He puts more effort into them than anyone else, and they are actually funny.
And he puts the little black and white thingy in the top right corner just like the olden days.
Between him and the "ad-stronaught out here in ad-space"
I work for the engineering company responsible for the machinery which has installed roughly 90% of these cables and this was incredibly insightful to me. Thanks for making.
This is my first time discovering this channel, and wow, what a rollercoaster this video was.
Am I learning, am I laughing, or am I questioning mine and the Map Men's sanity? The answer is yes.
"...which by the way, would be an awesome clue in an escape room..."
Funny thing is, that telegraph machine does show up as a puzzle in the point-and-click adventure game "The Room 3", so that's certainly a start.
It shows up in the Room 3? I don't remember that part...
@@IlyenaIt appears at the start of the tower segment of the game, where starting up a mechanism requires using it to input the name of the tower.
Let it be known that I, a Frenchman living in Paris, watched this video full screen in 1080p, thoroughly enjoying every last iteration of the beginning for the internet.
I watched this video with my class this afternoon as they have been learning about how the internet works. Very informative and entertaining! Warm wishes from Sweden :)
the brilliant writer Terry Pratchett wrote a book on the pre-pre-pre-pre internet, calling it The Clacks. it's one of his best books about Discworld
Going Postal, brilliant book.
Ah yes, that was ‘Going Postal’ - one of my favourites!
I never read anything about that ..... oh, it's 15 more books down the line, nevermind
I’m currently reading Going Postal, but the Clacks are first introduced in The Fifth Elephant.
@@DasParedes you do not have to read the discworld books in order - going postal is as close to standalone as you can get, and it's one of the best starter books for getting hooked into the worldbuilding of the series. You won't be missing out by reading it first, I promise.
This is absolutely fascinating. I can't believe that I'd never even considered the sheer volume of cables needed to make the internet a thing. Bravo, as always
Some of them are not even for the internet but carry internal traffic between data centers!
The perfect improvisation with the globes falling, on its own is worth a like on this video 😂😂 you guys are entertaining and so talented to say the least
I love the part where Jay said: "It was the beginning of the Internet." 😃
I must have missed that. Do you have a time stamp?
@@OLBastholm I think that would be around the beginning of the Internet.
So you love the whole vid.
I imagine your videos being played in high school classes all over the UK and being thoroughly enjoyed. It just has that vibe somehow. As a teacher myself I am always impressed by informative, well-but-fast-paced, witty content!
Map Men is to geography as Horrible Histories is to history
Even though we only get these videos every once in a blue moon they never fail to entertain!
Absolutely, they're the epitome of "quality over quantity" 🙂
For those curious the Morse code at 2:48 says VRI- -bk adec. The - is for a letter that doesn’t exist.
Map Men, one of the few shows where I don't absolutely despise the sponsored section in the middle. 😊
I'd like to add that, although I knew theoretically what the Clacks system was based on, I'd never seen it demonstrated before. Thank you!
GNU Terry Pratchett
The Chappe telegraph system did indeed have issues, as it featured one of the first instances of network manipulation. François and Louis Blanc, bond traders in Bordeaux, had a friend in Paris send a package to Tours indicating the Paris stock trends, which a bribed operator then added to messages passing though with a "wait sorry, erase that character" right after. At Bordeaux the brothers had a former telegraph operator spy on the tower to see the single character, but in official transcriptions the "backspace" meant that the alleged error would never be logged. This allowed the Blanc brothers to know how the Paris stocks would affect their bonds in Bordeaux far in advance of anyone else in the city. This worked until the operator at Tours got ill and tried to recruit a friend to replace him, who reported it. But they couldn't convinct the brothers, because there weren't any laws against what they were doing!
I see you're a Tom Scott fan as well
@@TypicallyThomas Honestly I had this foggy memory that I knew some sort of scam and looked up the details for the comment, but now I know where I first heard about it!
@@TypicallyThomas Another excellent creator!
I very rarely laugh at loud while watching youtube, but this channel manages that a couple of times an episode. I love you guys.
"171777" 😄 Also I loved the clever (cheeky) description of things you wouldn't be able to buy if Atlantic undersea cables went down. Love the content you guys put out.
I'll have you know, Map Men is one of the only channels I actually *watch* because your visual gags are lots of work and excellent.
Learning that Mr Morse was named after the code makes so much sense! I don't know why I didn't realize that before this video.
I didnt know there were so many beginnings of the internet, truly marvellous
Fun fact: the fourth attempts' cable actually couldn't be connected because the twist direction of the copper wires didn't match. Apparently noone had thought about the fact that one of the ships needed to start out with a differently twisted cable (i.e. just coiled up in different direction) for it to match in the middle. It was an absolute rookie mistake.
You can't blame them
The cable was very very very very very very very long :(
I think I would like to see the reactions on the ships and on land when they realised the mistake.
This is why you test a model first!
That's my all time favourite fact about the history of information technology, the massive skipping rope it created at the bottom of the ocean. It must have confused the heck out of some sharks and jellyfishes. I learnt if from a university lecturer who brought a piece of the very first transatlantic cable for us to see. It looked like... well, a piece of an old, thick cable. But it was still pretty cool.
It was the beginning of the Internet!
The globes falling and them just charging ahead was a whole thing. Damn I loves me some Map Men. Men. Men...
Your content is the most English thing ever and being English myself, I have absolutely no bias when I say, this video proves that Map Men is the greatest channel in the world, and that England is the bestest, smartest, and biggerest Continent in the world. Thanks to the internet, I learnt all that from Map Men.
Love your videos.
8:42 I love how the items he lists are the ones you can see in the shop window in the background
The good part is that we actually learn new things. When I get home I will use electrolysis to convert amps to volts.
Make sure you allow the bad Internet to escape as steam though - you wouldn't want that building up, let me tell you
It was the beginning of the internet
@@jamesmatthews291That's what the bitbucket is for.
honestly one of the best series on youtube
lol I love how you just kept rolling when the globe lights fell off the wall.
Morse's code only covered numerals and not letters or other characters. Morse expected users to look up the words by looking up their reference numbers. Alfred Vail is the one responsible for the letters and punctuation marks.
There's a fact I didn't know!
I'm just rewatching an episode of QI where they cover this and strictly speaking its not even a 'code', it should be called Vail's 'Cypher' as the dots and dashes represent letters directly without having to convert numbers into letters/words as you did with Morse's code.
Also, no mention of Baudot when throwing around "the beginning of the Internet?" I humbly suggest we immediately riot. Baudot telegraphs used what we'd now call binary signaling. The alternative to Morse code became ITA, which led very directly to ASCII which is a version of ITA. Baudot telegraph systems were used for things like old automatic paper stock tickers, and eventually teletypes. Teletypes in WWII allowed, basically, IRC text chat without computers. When interactive electronic digital computers were eventually invented, those WWII style teletypes using baudot style serialized telegraph codes were used as terminals in the era before CRT monitors were used in computer terminals, and were then eventually used for actual IRC text chat with computers.
You can literally wire a late 1800's Baudot telegraph machine to a modern Linux computer with a serial port and some passives for character set and voltage handling, and use stty to use the (still supported!) upper case only terminal mode (which still exists because WWII era baudot style teletypes didn't support lower case letters) and chat using a text mode Slack or Discord client.
But apparently that doesn't get a mention as one of the beginnings of the Internet because it's not good enough for Jay or something. I resubmit the humble request that we violently riot and destroy as much as we are reasonably able.
@@sandy_knightThat must be strictly according to some specifically selected definitions of both words code and cipher, then. After all, it is an encoding but not designed to be secretive.
@@0LoneTechYou're probably right, I'm just going by what they said on QI. I guess as soon as you publish a cypher it's no longer a cypher.
Thanks
My girlfriend's dad used to work for a company responsible for laying and maintaining these cables around the North Sea. He has a bit of old cable in his living room. Apparently, dealing with the French was a nightmare
Family history and a summary of 36% of British history all in one post. Bravo!
I am French, I find dealing with the French a nightmare. Your girlfriend’s dad has all my sympathy 💐
french? or just parisians?
Did you tell him you like to lay pipe also? Guess he was not amused :)
@@coobkYeah, I've heard that the closer you get to the center of France, the worse they become😉
I hope you guys find deep satisfaction in knowing that pretty much all the tiny superb/ hilarious details you include ABSOLUTELY PAY OFF 🎉🎉🎉 that morse code mobile phone B Roll was absolutely priceless 😂😂😂🙌🙌🙌🙏
I bet you didn't even decode what it said, before gushing about the small details.
I didn't either. Nobody has time for that.
8:45 I absolutely love the detail that all the silly things he lists are displayed in the shop‘s window in the background.
PS: I think I‘ll decode it when I have time.
i think it says
vriw
wbk
arece
The problem that we all know that the morse code is something funny, but none of us understand morse code!
@@haldir108 nope. Already wetting my panties over the blocking if that's ok by you of course
lol, Map Men really has that Sheldon Coopers Fun with Flags feel. Its glorious
7:48 I laughed so hard at the James Cordon joke! Nice little jab
They took James Corden and then they returned him back to the UK. It was like they were saying: "You can have this one back."
Never stop making MapMen. It's one of my joys of life.
I just found this channel and I love it. It's humor is so unapologetically British in the best way. Looks like I have a lot of videos to churn through so I can avoid doing anything productive.
Goddamnit I’m glad this show’s back
2:21 It's funny that Jay says, "A contraption like this would be an awesome clue in an escape room" because it is a clue in the game "The Room 2" which is basically an escape room puzzle game.
Which is why seeing that contraption in this video made me go "WTF that thing is real?!" upon seeing it. Glad to know it is real and now will adventure on a Wikipedia rabbit hole learning about it, thanks Jay!
Do recommend the "The Room" series of games by Fireproof Studios, super high quality games with a fantastic supernatural atmosphere
"The Room" series of games were so good and I also had that immediate thought. I wonder how their next game is doing
This was super interesting, and as a telecommunications geek, I approve :D Or like we say in the Free Software community - there's no cloud. There's just other people's computers.
Yeah, in 2009 I set about to actually understand what the Internet was, and I was told so much mystical non-material ignorant crap.
Then I got hired to do tech support for a web hosting company and learned more than I really wanted to.
You know its gonna be a fantastic day if Jay release a Map Men video that day
That bit at the end about companies listening in on their undersea cables - they almost certainly aren't. Almost all internet traffic is encrypted, so most data they can't even see, and the data they do see would be so much theyd have to build a new datacenter every week. It is concerning that so much internet infra is privately owned, but privacy is not one of the concerns in this case.
Of course that’s what they want you to think!
All the intelligence agencies are currently hoarding the encrypted data for the time in the near future where quantum computers are fast enough to brute force decrypt these messages.
That's exactly what *checks notes* companies listening in on their undersea cables would say!
They see who you are sending requests to, how often, from where and at what times, which is more than enough for law enforcement to use.
I thought the same.
net neutrality and censorship ( both 'good' and 'bad') are the problems that pop in mind with private unregulated networks.
The maps of the early telegraph networks are fascinating. I pulled up the US map on the Library of Congress website to look at my particular region, and many of the stations were located in towns that are all but disappeared now. I’d really love to run or bike that route to explore these little towns I’ve never had the chance to see before and understand their significance before urbanization and the Rust Belt era left them so depopulated!
You might have more fun with AT&T long-lines
It’d be interesting to see which places have towers still, which still bear scars in the ground, and which you’d never know had anything ever been there.
Mother Earth Mother Board from Neal Stephenson was the most captivating piece of work I've ever read in my life, and it is about undersea cables. I literally can't recommend it enough, it's amazing.
Ok Neal
@@mikeyreza I'll sell you patent for "Metaverse" for a dollar
As always, I found this video both informative and entertaining! In only around 10 minutes, I learned about the multiple "beginning[s] of the internet" (the original telegraph, the electric telegraph, cross-ocean cables) and about how essential the "layer of Vaseline" (in a cable the size of a "human garden hose") is to modern society.
Also, the jokes in the video are quite funny! For example, I find it remarkable that even as the globes fall off the walls, you were still able to deadpan about this rather unexpectedly comedic event. Speaking of comedic events, I found your illustrations of predecessors to the internet (including Napoleon's Google Maps message at 1:36, offering directions by balloon, telegraph, horse, and foot), as well as the scenes of people speaking in Morse code, quite funny!
Thanks for making this! Also, congratulations on being #35 on Trending!
The big thing missing is the development of duplex and quadragraphs. Which allowed multiple signals down a single telegraph line. And in turn developed similar signal equipment for telephones and later the internet.
It was the beginning of the internet
The first time i watched a video from this channel it was back in april 2020.just when covid had the world in its grip..this channel will always be a comfort watch for me..❤️