James Burke : Connections, Episode 1, "The Trigger Effect", 2 of 5 (CC)

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Episode 1 of James Burke's most well-known series "Connections" which explores the surprising and unexpected ways that our modern technological world came into existence. Each episode investigates the background of usually one particular modern invention and how it came into being. These explorations are an attempt to locate the "connections" between various historical figures who seemingly had nothing to do with each other in their own times, however once connected, these same figures combined to produce some of the most profound impacts on our modern day world; in a "1+1=3" type of way.

It is this type of investigation that is the main idea behind the Knowledge Web project; whereby sophisticated software is used to attempt to discover these subtle connections automatically. See http://k-web.org.

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[xkamuelax]

how do telephones still manage to work if the power is all shut off?

=/

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes (Bebdarr2) is correct. The communications network is considered more vital than the power network (and consumes much less energy).

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Bendarr2

[mrpossibilities]

Aside from the incalculable importance of the material in this documentary, I'm amazed at how it is put together. Notice at minute 1:13, going to minute 1:14 how James Burke continues the sentence, cut in mid-way, by raising the pitch of his voice so it can go over the sound of the engines in the following cut scene. This was carefully done on purpose to increase the dramatic tone of the documentary. Truly remarkable.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

And literally on a shoe-string budget. See "re-connections"

[drav1dan]

Shows how fragile & unreliable the so called "civilization" is. We are already seeing a preview of how the world economy is based on myths, hopes, dreams & rumors without anything of substance beneath it.

Human DNA is 94% similar to chimpanzee DNA. So, nothing better can be expected.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Agree with the 1st not with the 2nd ;)

The "economy", or rather the system behind it, is surely akin to counting angels on heads of pins. There's rarely anything behind any of it. Take the current "crisis" for instance: NOTHING HAPPENED!

And yet we're in a state of panic, homes being vacated, banks going bust, everyone is out of work, the "mighty" USA crying out to China to uh, "would ya mind to stop producing stuff?" etc. Even this website; paid-for entirely on hope (stocks). Dividend? Nu uh.

[Bendarr2]

The telephone system (back then, I dunno about now) has it's own separate power system so that in the case of a power failure the phones would still work.

[UppruniTegundanna]

Storytelling in documentaries was so much better 30-40 years ago. This, Cosmos and the Ascent of Man are all milestones.

[EJ160E]

go to 7:13 for a stupid cunt

[0cujo0]

@xkamuelax landline phones operate on a separate 48V electrical system(in the US).

[Rickyrab]

This brings back memories for me (I was also stuck on a train due to a great blackout, but it was the one in 2003, and that train got going after an hour or two b/c it was in NJ. I hated it at the time b/c it was a hot day and all I wanted was to get home so I could go swimming.)

[Rickyrab]

Oh, so it had nothing to do with a Quantum Leaper plugging in a thousand watt electric doohicky near Niagara Falls on the bad advice of "Ziggy" the computer. Glad we cleared that up.

[forallpurposesonly]

04:34 "What the hell was going on?!" Like that quote!

[vyudh]

@TheRuggedSoldier : I am sure there would many people who would be happy to sing happy birthday today. Myself included....

[Shoknifeman]

I remember that blackout, I was 41/2 years old and we were so glad we had a gas stove we listened to the (battery powered) radio and had Chef Boyardee pizza (it used to come in a kind of kit, with a really thin crust and powdered cheese from a sprinkle can)

[person025]

@xkamuelax the "old" telephones work on a different electrical system. The only electronics that needed to be powered in those units could be powered by simply being connected into the telephone network. It's always a good idea to have an old phone in your home. They will always work in a power outage. =)

[richintalent]

@xkamuelax telephone lines are DC current

[oker59]

Nobody has really done the twentieth century physics justice in video form imo.