Tabletop Explainer

Tabletop Explainer, now with Captioning

by David Colarusso - December 5th, 2009

Recently I caught this video describing some of the new captioning features on YouTube, and it spurred me into finally captioning all of the Tabletop Explainer videos. One of the coolest things was a new “automatic timing” feature. To produce captioning, all you need is a transcript. You just upload the transcript, and Google will synchronize the text with your video’s audio–no need to enter time codes. To see it in action, watch the video below.

How to Navigate by the Sun

by David Colarusso - August 13th, 2008

For those of you interested in such things, “Yes” I will be finishing the relativity series. It’s just that the animation will take a little time, and I’ve had other priorities. Until then, however, enjoy this latest Explainer.

Now you can find out where you are even if you don’t have GPS. Learn how to find south along with your latitude and longitude using only a few household items. I should note, that in using the home-made quadrant cited, the precision of your findings will be rather low. Don’t worry, you’ll be within a few hundred miles. ;)

Transcript: (more…)

Now with dotSUB

by David Colarusso - June 10th, 2007

A few months ago a pretty cool site was brought to my attention–dotSUB. It’s a video sharing site that allows registered users to transcribe and translate shared videos. That’s right. It means your videos can be made accessible to both the hearing impaired and those who don’t speak your language. The process is pretty simple, and I’m currently uploading and transcribing the Tabletop Explainer. You’ll start to see “dotSUB” buttons below embedded videos.

So if you speak two or more languages, head over for some translating fun. Here’s an example of a subtitled video. As of this posting, it’s only available in English. Want to change that? Register. View this link; then choose a language under “Translate This Film.”

Nomenclature — Special Relativity (2 of 5)

by David Colarusso - April 21st, 2007

Last time we covered the two postulates of special relativity, and next time we’ll use geometry to derive some of its consequences, but first we need to learn some nomenclature. It’s not exciting, but it will prove helpful in the long run.

Transcript: (more…)

Two Postulates — Special Relativity (1 of 5)

by David Colarusso - April 11th, 2007

Sorry for the delay, but it’s spring break. ;)

The bizarre consequences of special relativity arise from two postulates, two things which once accepted lead to Einstein’s space-time. In this series of five episodes, we will introduce and build upon these postulates to derive the consequences of special relativity.

Transcript: (more…)