YouTube Pop Science.

I like both text and video, the latter mostly in the mode of lectures by skilled teachers - these can help make some text sources more accessible and intelligible. I see the two types of media as working together - a good lecture can often help you understand a big picture, what's important, and how to then approach text sources. I sort of chuckle at the notion of Einstein Field Equations "for beginners", but yes there has to be a starting point where, even though you have some formal math and basic physics knowledge, you're still a beginner WRT to GR. While I can read about GR and how the EFE relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter-energy within it, it can help to have a lecture also walking me through that.

Just as they've learned that writing longhand and with a keyboard can actually stimulate different creative results and somewhat change parts of the brain which are activated, so too can reading text and then hearing explanations of abstract concepts. Sort of a basic premise of our educational systems.
 
TheVat said:
I like both text and video, the latter mostly in the mode of lectures by skilled teachers - these can help make some text sources more accessible and intelligible. I see the two types of media as working together - a good lecture can often help you understand a big picture, what's important, and how to then approach text sources. I sort of chuckle at the notion of Einstein Field Equations "for beginners", but yes there has to be a starting point where, even though you have some formal math and basic physics knowledge, you're still a beginner WRT to GR. While I can read about GR and how the EFE relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter-energy within it, it can help to have a lecture also walking me through that.

Just as they've learned that writing longhand and with a keyboard can actually stimulate different creative results and somewhat change parts of the brain which are activated, so too can reading text and then hearing explanations of abstract concepts. Sort of a basic premise of our educational systems.
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With GR it is best to go through all the classical mechanics lectures first and tone up on whatever he suggests at the beginning. Linear algebra, calculus etc.
It is a "simplified" version.
I was ok till ISH I hit the christoffel symbol notation proper.
Can you start from scratch and go through all the steps? Without reference to the notes? If yes you get it, I could not get through Christoffel section without checking notes.
I will go through the whole lot tonight, over two hours of it, I find his voice relaxing.
Will I pass second year University level exams on the subject? No, but I will know what they are talking about, to a point!

These videos give you a glimpse, Dr Physics goes further and goes through lots of exam type questions as revision aids for students.
 
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Pinball1970 said:
How do I tag you? C C does not work.
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I honestly don't know what's going on there, PB. Can't find anything in Preferences that was accidentally checked or unchecked that would disable it. Or anywhere else.
_
 
foghorn said:
Speak up Pinball, I can't hear you.
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I absolutely know this is more my bag than the learned members on the site, so I will not beat it into the ground.

Hey, if Monty Hall can yield 200 posts, then my little thread should be ok to generate a meagre 60 or 70?

Also:

I will not continually repeat myself.
If a poster points out a flaw, mistake or contradiction in my argument I will address it.
I will not veer off into a vapid irrelevancy suddenly, for no reason.
I will not continually repeat myself.
 
C C said:
I honestly don't know what's going on there, PB. Can't find anything in Preferences that was accidentally checked or unchecked that would disable it. Or anywhere else.
_
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C C

Ok, that worked when I typed your full name including space, normally I put two characters and the poster comes up. I have it now.
 
Pinball1970 said:
I absolutely know this is more my bag than the learned members on the site, so I will not beat it into the ground.

Hey, if Monty Hall can yield 200 posts, then my little thread should be ok to generate a meagre 60 or 70?

Also:

I will not continually repeat myself.
If a poster points out a flaw, mistake or contradiction in my argument I will address it.
I will not veer off into a vapid irrelevancy suddenly, for no reason.
I will not continually repeat myself.
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Pinball, I was not making any comment about this thread. It was a reply to your post #42, in which there was no text from you, just a quote from The Vat.
You have now added your text to that post, at the time it looked funny.
When you watch these clips, are you running backwards and forwards, stopping and starting with the clips?
 
foghorn said:
Pinball, I was not making any comment about this thread. It was a reply to your post #42, in which there was no text from you, just a quote from The Vat.
You have now added your text to that post, at the time it looked funny.
When you watch these clips, are you running backwards and forwards, stopping and starting with the clips?
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Yeah I am having to check clips to make sure I have the correct one.
Dr Physics A and Physics explained are done. Dr Becky is next, she has had a mention but I want to put her in context.
 
foghorn said:
Pinball, I was not making any comment about this thread. It was a reply to your post #42, in which there was no text from you, just a quote from The Vat.
You have now added your text to that post, at the time it looked funny.
When you watch these clips, are you running backwards and forwards, stopping and starting with the clips?
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Post #42 is a reply from me but I think I pressed reply by mistake. I went back and edited.
I hope that makes sense now.
 
Pinball1970 said:
Apologies yes, the thread has gone like that a little bit. Once I have done Becky, I may get some feedback, I will reply, then move on to a few Yanks.
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No need for an apology, I’m not moaning about anything on the thread.
What I mean about ‘backwards and forwards’ when watching a video, is I find myself doing that in order to remember something said earlier in the video.
I find not all videos on Youtube have the option of making a transcript. And having a transcript to cut and paste helps with what has been said earlier in the video, and also a reference for when away from a screen.
 
foghorn said:
No need for an apology, I’m not moaning about anything on the thread.
What I mean about ‘backwards and forwards’ when watching a video, is I find myself doing that in order to remember something said earlier in the video.
I find not all videos on Youtube have the option of making a transcript. And having a transcript to cut and paste helps with what has been said earlier in the video, and also a reference for when away from a screen.
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That is one of my chief complaints about video as a medium for teaching. One almost always wants to revisit points one has not grasped correctly at first. With text that is almost instant but with video it means buggering about and wasting time listening to the bits you don’t need while trying to find the segment of interest. And of course one is forced to go at the pace of the lecturer, which is often terribly slow for a viewer with a decent science background. I tend to find myself muttering “Get on with it”, through gritted teeth.

It can have its place, especially when a visual aid is helpful to understanding, but for most topics reading is far more efficient. But a transcript helps a lot, certainly.
 
exchemist said:
almost always wants to revisit points one has not grasped correctly at first.
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You can time stamp them if they are not already. You can also drag your curser along and see where they are up to, easy if the video is equation based.

exchemist said:
And of course one is forced to go at the pace of the lecturer
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Click on the video, a cog will appear top right, settings. This has a play speed from 0.25 - 2.0, IE quarter speed to double with all in-between. I did one hour of Dr Physics A GR last night, he was 1.4 at the beginning slowed to 1.2 when the indices started to kick in and by Christoffel I was 0.8. listening to Buddy Rich I get down to 0.4.
exchemist said:
It can have its place
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Wow! 31 posts and one like (unrelated to OP) in a thread, means this is not grooving your truffles granted.
I have a couple more to run by you, different styles, characters, subject matters and all Yanks.
 
Pinball1970 said:
You can time stamp them if they are not already. You can also drag your curser along and see where they are up to, easy if the video is equation based.


Click on the video, a cog will appear top right, settings. This has a play speed from 0.25 - 2.0, IE quarter speed to double with all in-between. I did one hour of Dr Physics A GR last night, he was 1.4 at the beginning slowed to 1.2 when the indices started to kick in and by Christoffel I was 0.8. listening to Buddy Rich I get down to 0.4.


Wow! 31 posts and one like (unrelated to OP) in a thread, means this is not grooving your truffles granted.
I have a couple more to run by you, different styles, characters, subject matters and all Yanks.
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Thanks for describing exactly the buggering about required. :) With text you simply turn a page.
 
exchemist said:
Thanks for describing exactly the buggering about required. :) With text you simply turn a page.
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I know what you can do with text, text is great, I love books.
This is different, something thing that has the potential to bring sunshine into your life.
If you let it.

Think of it like this, if books are classical music then YouTube posters are jazz.
Put down your Mozart for one second and click onto some Buddy Rich live at Ronnie Scott's!
 
Again, it might help pessimists greatly if YouTube would just add a decent AI to scrub and correct those horribly sloppy transcriptions that their outdated TTS software generates. And restore the option to automatically remove the cluttering timestamps (for if a person has to copy a segment to quote it in a post). There are free YouTube transcript tools out there that supposedly do a better job, but the minor(?) inconvenience of having to employ a second party is probably offputting. (Plus, there is surely a limit to the free usage.)
_
 
C C said:
Again, it might help pessimists greatly if YouTube would just add a decent AI to scrub and correct those horribly sloppy transcriptions that their outdated TTS software generates. And restore the option to automatically remove the cluttering timestamps (for if a person has to copy a segment to quote it in a post). There are free YouTube transcript tools out there that supposedly do a better job, but the minor(?) inconvenience of having to employ a second party is probably offputting. (Plus, there is surely a limit to the free usage.)
_
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You guys....
 
Pinball1970 said:
Becky, she's another Brit, an astrophysics researcher, one of your lot exchemist.
She is a personality now unlike Dr Physics and Physics explained.

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And lacks the controversy surrounding Hossenfelder, whose ratings given to physics papers and criticism of physics research seem to trigger more attention (usually backlash from that community) than her communicator to the public role or educational endeavors.
_
 
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