Wendover Productions
This week I wanted to share a few videos from one of my favorite YouTube channels - Wendover Productions. They produce excellent 20-30 min videos on a broad range of topics that don't get the attention it deserves.
Here are a few that I wanted to highlight:
Why Everywhere in the US is Starting to Look the Same
This is a great look into why many of the cities in the U.S. (and Canada in my opinion) look the same. The focus on cars vs. people/architecture and the benefits of scale has pushed builders to emphasize consistency when it comes to designing today's cities. Outside of older cities, many of the towns/mid-sized cities in North America look and feel the same. Even at a smaller scale, it's not uncommon for houses (e.g. McMansions) and subdivisions to have identical designs. This is particularly unfortunate when you consider the geographical diversity that countries like Canada and the U.S. enjoy. I've written about the need to relook at the way cities are designed a few times. This video helps explain how we got into our current state today.
How Amazon's Super Complex Shipping System Works
Amazon's resiliency through the pandemic to handle the uptick in demand was probably one of the more understated stores for 2020/2021. This video goes through how Amazon's distribution centers work in great detail. The level of customization that Amazon gone through to serve its broad range of categories (small sortable, large sortable, and large non-sortable) and the introduction of robotics into its core process is a big reason why other retailers will struggle to compete Amazon's scale (quite similar to how Walmart and Costco's big box concept was tough to compete with small/mid-sized retail stores).
How to Beat the Casino, and How They'll Stop You
Prior to watching this video, I hadn't fully appreciated 1) the scale of casinos globally and the amount of money that circulates the system and 2) how card counting actually works and the lengths that casinos go to reduce this risk. For those interested in exploring casino math, this appears to be a really interesting course to explore.