# Help me find this particular YouTube series on skepticism **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209 "2010-02-24T01:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/1 "2010-02-24T01:33:47Z")
I watched it a year or two ago, but my memory is already hazy, so apologies if I mess up the details. It’s a series of perhaps a dozen videos, each ten minutes long, on skepticism, with a focus on atheism. They were clearly made especially for YouTube, and are narrated by an unseen youngish man (probably younger than Richard Dawkins) with a standard American accent. The videos are mostly still pictures illustrating what the narrator is discussing, with the occasional video clip thrown in. The particular bit I remember from one of the videos goes something like this: > [@](#): > > "Imagine you walk out your front door one day and see a fully-grown long-necked dinosaur in the street. You walk up to it and touch its skin, noting its warm leathery roughness. You can hear the noise its footsteps make as it grazes on the trees by the road, and you can hear the soft gurgles of its digestive system. You can smell its distinctive dinosaur odor. You observe this incredible sight for ten minutes before the creature walks away. All your senses tell you it was real, and you have no reason to doubt it. > "But as you discuss this with your neighbors, you learn that none of them noticed anything unusual in the neighborhood that afternoon. There is nothing on the local news regarding it. When you go to reexamine the scene, you can find no footprints, broken branches, large droppings, or any other physical indicia that the dinosaur was there. > “If you are a credulous person, you will never accept that there was no dinosaur. But if you subscribe to the rationalist school of thought, you will look at all the evidence as a whole, and will have to concede that – despite the amazingly detailed perceptions you had that day – you were mistaken. There was no dinosaur.” Of course, the actual video itself probably puts this much more artfully than I do. In fact, typing that out, I guess it’s possible that the narrator is just reading something written long ago by some renowned skeptic, and simply adding his own visuals. Whereas I had assumed that the text was an original composition by the narrator. Did anyone else watch these? I seem to remember that they were pretty good and would like to take another peek at them. This seems like the sort of thing that I could google for hours (and I have spent a couple days searching YouTube fruitlessly), but someone on the SDMB will link to within five minutes of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/2 "2010-02-24T03:06:26Z")
Are they the ones (semi-secretly) made by HowStuffWorks’ Marshall Brain? [http://www.youtube.com/user/GIIVideo#p/u](http://www.youtube.com/user/GIIVideo#p/u) ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/3 "2010-02-24T03:29:45Z")
I don’t think so. While that fellow’s voice sounds pretty familiar, and the message of those is similar to the message of the ones I’m seeking, there are a few differences (if my oft-fallible memory serves). First, the tone is different. I especially liked my mystery videos because they seemed quite respectful believers, even while systematically tearing down their arguments. Whereas the GIIVideo videos you link to are a bit condescending. The one I watched concluded by repeating “the people who believe these things are **delusional**!” Second, I believe my mystery videos were numbered. The GIIVideos don’t seem to be done in any particular order. Third, I didn’t spot my dinosaur analogy in the quick bits I watched. Fourth, I also seem to remember that my mystery videos were a little more history-oriented. Maybe there was a section in one of them about failed religious prophecies? About Catholic atrocities? Something like that. If nobody can come up with any evidence of these things, I may just have to accept the fact that I imagined the whole incident. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/4 "2010-02-24T03:43:02Z")
I’m fairly sure I remember that video, but I’ll to fish around in my subscriptions/favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/5 "2010-02-24T04:00:28Z")
Was it this guy? He’s made hours of stuff, so I can’t check it all. > **[potholer54](https://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54)** > > The purpose of this channel is to explain in simple terms the conclusions of scientific research, and correct some of the unsourced crap we hear from bloggers, politicians and the media. I am a former science journalist (see the "Who I am" video)... ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/6 "2010-02-24T04:16:27Z")
What about that young Russian chick who rants against the religious right and creationists. Anybody remember her? Sorry **Randy** for the hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/7 "2010-02-24T04:23:26Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Was it this guy? He’s made hours of stuff, so I can’t check it all. > > [http://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54](http://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54) It’s possible. His visual style is a lot closer to what I remember. However, I don’t remember my mystery videos’ narrator having a UK accent. I’m looking through them a bit to see if I recognize anything. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/8 "2010-02-24T04:38:41Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > However, I don’t remember my mystery videos’ narrator having a UK accent. And, yes, someday, I will learn to differentiate between a UK and an Australian accent. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/9 "2010-02-24T14:35:11Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > What about that young Russian chick who rants against the religious right and creationists. Anybody remember her? > Sorry **Randy** for the hijack. I don’t think she’s Russian, but you mean ZOMGitsCriss: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmyAFHcF07Y](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmyAFHcF07Y) ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/10 "2010-02-24T21:36:38Z")
Well, she’s Russian in my fantasies. But that’s the girl. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/11 "2010-02-25T06:28:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Help me find this particular YouTube series on skepticism I could tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-particular-youtube-series-on-skepticism/530209/12 "2010-02-28T23:42:29Z")
Miss [ZOMGitsCriss](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viw7MpXU4GU&feature=related) is the person I was going to recommend also. She isn’t who you were looking for, but maybe she should be. She’s posted a lot of stuff, and a lot of it is worth watching. Purely for the intellectual stimulation, you understand.