James Burke : Connections, Episode 2, "Death In The Morning", 4 of 5 (CC)

[TheLastBrainLeft]

2 people didn't want to get wet taking the commemorative photograph.

[iaeolan]

"Interests centered on the unfortunate church bell-ringers who, now you mentioned it, did tend to get electrocuted with monotonous regularity."

Oh my, I laughed so hard at this line.

[jaymoe67]

A romantic sail in a baloon w/ sheep and husky women... sounds like Montana... oh, or Scotland.

[jaymoe67]

A romantic sail in a baloon w/ sheep and husky women...COOL.

[ChurchOfKali66619]

I wonder how many Victorian Scots caught pneumonia and/or died after inaugurating that weather station in 1883? BRRR!!!

[randomcitizen]

@MeatPopsicleHomey 

[hourlynewscaster]

Why do people assume that when something is said that can be taken two ways it was done on purpose?

[ghughesarch]

@hourlynewscaster Because in this case, James Burke is deliberately making double entendres that are almost single entendres. It is definitely deliberate, and one of the things that made this series (on first viewing, at the time, c.1980) so much of a breath of fresh air. Today it almost seems restrained, and a breath of fresh air still. The best history of scientific discovery ever broadcast, even if it is partial.

[dzspdref]

That "look" at 4:47; priceless..... lol

[ryoushii]

@MeatPopsicleHomey Ben Nevis is the mountain, not the man

[KevinByrne2]

If they became this excited about the opening of a new weather station, what happened when a new post office opened ?

[rtrainqu]

What is the "horrifying" invention he alludes to at 00:13? Did I miss it or did he not talk about it yet?

[ryoushii]

@rtrainqu The horrifying invention is the end of the chain of inventions he is following. In this case, an invention which caused an event on a pleasant partly cloudy workday morning which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of humans, in the middle of the 20th century.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Haha, yes there's a lot of ... how shall I say ... "semi-sexual innuendo" that I never noticed the first time around ;). I get all the insiders now (at least I hope I do!).

- JBW

[JamesBurkeWeb]

There's another groaner in the episode about the discovery of static electricity and the madness that followed (is it this episode?)

Anyway at one point he's talking about someone experimenting with rotating glass spheres and the text is something like : "He kept rubbing his balls, waiting for something to happen" ;) [it works better in context]

- JBW

[PaxMasterTaskForce]

Got you to the front page of "read it" today.

[klaptongroovemaster]

"It wasn't just costing lives -- it was costing MONEY!!!"

[JamesBurkeWeb]

And that too!

[rampantandroid]

"Everything going remarkably well!" - James Burke is so awesome. I actually have the Connections PC game from the mid 90s lying around still. I think it even works on Win7...

It's a shame Connections 2 & 3 did not measure up to the first.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Take another look at Connections³ ... it starts out slowly, but once it gets going it's really great entertainment. Especially the one with Lord Byron and the American Revolution. I nearly died laughing!

- JBW

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Oh! About that game. What is it? Where did you get it? Could you legally share it? I mean... was it a product for sale, or instead a type of promotional gimmick?

- JBW

[rampantandroid]

Not really sure on the game, it probably qualifies as abandonware...no longer produced, but still under copyright (copyright is 1995.) It was made for the Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel by "Some Interactive."

It was a relatively primative game, and had segments from the third connections series in it, as well as the second and first series. It was a sort of "point and click" game with plenty of videos.

If it is legal to share, I will. I need to see if it is 16 or 32 bit code...

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Well a screenshot anyway would be cool ;)

[paradiddle1]

"...almost as good a forecast as you get today.." his little snicker is priceless @ 4:46

[timeblind]

james burke is such a muppet.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Forgive my ignorance, but what's a "muppet"?

- JBW

[JamesBurkeWeb]

AHA! JB-A @4:57 "pause ... or champaign..."