AV Geeks Lunch 3-31-2023

foreign hi everybody I'm skip bellsheimer welcome to the AV Geeks lunchtime streaming show where we watch old 16 millimeter films and that was a private life of a cat by Alexander Hamid and Maya Darren um who my Darren was an experimental filmmaker uh who collaborated with her husband Alexander Hamid Alexander Hamid also did a series of other films uh that were not experimental uh which we have in our collection but uh uh yeah it's fascinating it's it's not truly a private life of a cat in that we are all seeing it and we're all seeing it um many many years later uh it's almost 70 years later uh so but people man you guys love the cat videos or the cat films um I wanted to say this old radios uh reminded me of a toe tapping tournament candidate that we excuse me showed while we were doing the last show tapping uh tournament um last year and uh emailed me and said hey don't forget about this so I want to show this because I don't want to forget about it this is run from the film run for your life enjoy about 6 30 in the morning and the race begins [Music] [Music] much looser when you run run away [Music] oh 6 30 in yeah so did you think that was a toe Tapper uh I was looking in the comments to see what you said and I realized wow you guys uh really like cat videos and cat films so I have set up on the um tell us any or the scanner back here a film just for you enjoy [Music] all right I wonder I wonder what do you wonder wonder cat I wonder what's the biggest living thing [Music] what's the biggest living thing well first you have to find out what big means big how can I find that out [Music] you can find that out by being curious well all right thinking about big [Music] I'm bigger than that squirrel and I'm still growing but even when I'm all grown up I won't be as big as that cat how is that tiger bigger than you are well it's longer and sure weighs a lot more tigers are the biggest animals in the cat family they're the longest and the heaviest but I guess you can be the biggest of one kind of animal and still not be the biggest animal that's right the biggest member of the bear family is bigger than the biggest member of the cat family it weighs more but the tiger is longer than the bear so which one is really the biggest the one that weighs the most or the one that's the longest I guess big can mean different things good thinking you see we don't measure something called bigness but you can see some of the things we do measure if you look over there that's a young elephant they're finding out how tall it is and how long it is later they'll measure how big a round it is now if we wanted to know which is bigger this young elephant or this young giraffe for instance we'd have a way of comparing them the young giraffe is bigger in height it's taller but a young elephant is bigger in other ways it's longer heavier and bigger around and bigger around than I am too I'll get bigger but not as big as a tiger I mean not as long or as heavy or as big around so now you've discovered that big can mean several things in this Zoo you can't say which animal is biggest but you can say for instance that the elephant is the heaviest and the giraffe the tallest so the elephant and the giraffe are the heaviest and the tallest living things right no the elephant is the heaviest and the giraffe the tallest here in this Zoo [Music] oh then the really biggest living thing must be an animal that isn't in this Zoo [Music] now you're thinking in the right direction keep going here's a hint the elephant and the giraffe are the heaviest and the tallest animals that live on the land oh I get it the really biggest living thing doesn't live on the land so it must live in the water probably in the ocean right right I think I know what that must be a whale no animal grows to be heavier or longer than a whale in any way you can measure big the whale is the biggest [Music] if you stood the biggest whale on its tail it would be taller than about eight giraffes standing on each other's backs if you put a whale on one end of a giant seesaw you'd need about 30 elephants on the other end to balance it the biggest whale is 30 times as heavy as the biggest elephant wow that's big [Music] all kinds of ways so now I guess I finally know whales are the biggest I mean the longest and the heaviest living things there are right well not really you see you figured out what big means what you have to do now is think about what living thing means a living thing well well that's anything that's alive isn't it something is alive well it eats and grows and it'll change foreign [Music] that person is planting flower seeds grow too well they should if they're taken care of they're living things too that's right plants are alive too flowers are plants and bushes are plants [Music] and what about these trees trees oh yeah they're alive but are they plants Yes trees are plants too green plants oh sure I forgot I know that green plants have roots stems and leaves trees have leaves like other plants but do trees have stems a tree's trunk is its main stem and its branches or stems too and I can see that a tree has roots so trees have leaves stems and Roots just like other green plants and trees grow just like other plants do trees are living things just like giraffes are foreign the tallest plants yes they are hey those trees are taller than the giraffes are and since those trees live here in the zoo that means giraffes aren't the tallest living things in the zoo are they trees are that's right many trees are taller than giraffes in fact trees are the tallest living things and even though these trees grow very tall evergreen trees the trees that are green all year round grow even taller they're the tallest trees of all [Music] but what's the biggest Evergreen biggest well tallest the tallest evergreens are redwoods wow those are really tall these are called Coast redwoods because they grow near the ocean these redwoods can grow as tall as skyscrapers how tall is the tallest one the tallest Coast redwood tree is taller than three whales or 30 giraffes standing on each other's back wow that's tall now these redwoods are almost as tall as the coast redwoods but they don't grow near the coast they grow in a mountainous area they're called Sierra redwoods Sierra means Mountain while Sierra redwoods aren't quite as tall as the coast redwoods they have much bigger trunks and they weigh much more as much as 10 whales put together wow the biggest plants are much bigger in every way than the biggest animals so now I know what the biggest I mean what the tallest and heaviest living thing is a tree [Music] I wonder how long it'll take me to climb it [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] ER cat go back to start oh well [Music] I wonder I wonder what do you under Wonder cat I wonder what's the brightest star in the sky what is the brightest star in the sky if you're curious enough you can find out look over there are those Stars they seem to be getting brighter and brighter and brighter oh they're not stars at all they're airplane lights they look even brighter than the Stars but that must be because I'm closer to them than I am to the Stars but there's a bright star that looks like the brightest star in the sky it does but it doesn't twinkle like the stars do that's because it's not a star it's a planet it's the planet Venus part of our solar system you need a telescope to see that it's not really a star it's bright because the clouds all around it are lit up by the Light of the Sun but it's so far away that it looks like a star but it's not as far away as the stars are the brightest objects in the night sky aren't stars at all the moon for instance isn't a star it's lit up by the Light of the sun too that's why it's so bright it doesn't give off any light of its own when the astronauts were there the sun lit them just the same as it lit up the Moon [Music] even the Earth is bright when the astronauts see it from space because it's lit up by the Light of the Sun the moon and the earth and the other planets are lit by the Sun but the sun is a star and the stars are bright because they're hot enough to give off their own light [Music] Wonder long [Music] the brightest star in the sky is on its way it may not be the brightest star in the whole universe but it's the brightest star to us on Earth because it's our nearest star is it the Sun is the sun a star that's right the sun is a star it's so bright it makes the whole Sky bright but where are the other stars now the sun makes the sky so bright you can't see the other stars when the sun is shining it's so bright you should never look directly at it I put my sunglasses on I can look at it no even with sunglasses on you should never look directly at the Sun [Music] scientists who work here know that this is a place where astronomers study the Sun a solar Observatory [Music] astronomers don't look at the sun directly when they study it they use mirrors that reflect the light of the Sun and let them look at its image instead of at the sun itself foreign the Sun's light is reflected down a long tunnel into the place where the astronomers work and even then they wear very dark glasses to protect their eyes even though the image they look at isn't nearly as bright as the sun itself the bright Sun lights our world and keeps it warm in the daytime [Music] even when it's cloudy or at night or when you can't see it we still get its warmth because the sun is shining on the Earth all the time [Music] thank you if the sun's always out there Shining how does it get to be night [Music] these Shadows move a lot faster than they usually do maybe you'll be able to figure it out yourself hey clouds are making those Shadows [Music] in the sunlight things are bright but in a cloud Shadow things are darker there's less light [Music] the cloud keeps some of the Sun's light from shining through but the clouds moving and in the place where the shadow was things are brighter and warmer again now the sun is shining here again so now I know the Shadows are places where the Sun's light is blocked but I still don't know what they have to do with day and night you will just remember whenever you see a shadow you can always be sure that something is blocking some light I just noticed something else thing that makes a shadow has a bright side and a dark side and the dark side of the tree is part of the Shadow remember anytime something blocks the light we get a shadow you said that yourself [Music] sunlight Shines on this part of the tree but the sunlight can't get through the tree to the ground where the sunlight doesn't come through we say it's a shadow [Music] of the tree also blocks the light from the back of the tree the back of the tree is in the shadow of the tree too see whenever a part of something is in the sunlight another part of it is in its own shadow like my head now one of my eyes is in the sunlight the other eye is in the shade but you're not looking at the sun good I can just turn my head and now both of my eyes are in the shadow my head makes [Music] in the shadow Out of The Shadow just by turning my head and do you know what else turns what the world it turns around and around in space as the Earth turns everything on the earth you for instance turns with it when the Earth turns and you go into its shadow then it's night where you are and then when you come out of the Shadow it's daytime Where You Are now I see why knowing about Shadows helps me understand why we have day and night I thought you'd see so when the sun seems to be setting it's not really moving at all it's the Earth that's moving our part of the world is moving into the Earth's Shadow as it turns away from the Sun night is coming night time is the time for me to rest but now I know [Music] that the sun is the brightest star in the sky and I'll have a lot more to wonder about tomorrow when the Turning Earth moves me into the sunlight again [Music] foreign skip plays Wonder cat go back to start and lose three turns [Music] oh man [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] ER cat I wonder where does the rain go after it falls where does the rain go after it falls well if you're curious enough you can find out seems to have stopped raining so you can look around outside you can see what happens to some of the rain can't you well I can see that some of it is still around there are water drops on that leaf on a lot of leaves and it collects in other places too there's even some rain water in that flower and a lot of flowers like a lot of little cups where the water collects and can't run out Hey There Are Places on the land where water's collected too puddles little ones and bigger ones the waters collected in places where there usually isn't any water yes good thinking and good observing too see when rain falls much of it collects wherever there's a place that can hold it and whenever water collects living things can use it [Music] looks like more rain is going to fall now when it stops maybe you'll be able to find out some other places the rain goes after it falls thank you [Music] the water didn't stay in a puddle here [Music] it's running somewhere down to a little stream and that's what happens to some rain when it falls it runs off into streams and then the streams run together and form Rivers and small rivers run together and form larger Rivers [Music] and then most rivers flow into the oceans so rain goes into the oceans after it falls actually most of it falls into the oceans to begin with most of our world is covered with oceans I know that but the ocean and ponds and puddles aren't the only places the rain goes after it falls if we could speed up what happens in a puddle it would look like this some of the rain water seems to be disappearing into the ground that's right some of the rain that falls on the ground doesn't stay there it sinks into the soil where plant roots are the soil holds the rain water the way a sponge holds water in the many tiny spaces that are in the soil some of the water is taken up by plant roots plants like other living things need water to live Down Deeper under the soil rainwater collects in tiny spaces between grains of sand or bits of gravel we can get some of this water by pumping it out of the ground I guess rain goes lots of places after it falls but it goes one more place that's very important look there at that puddle yes the one on the asphalt pavement is that puddle from the rain yes the water can't soak into the ground there can't no because it can't get through the asphalt but something is happening to the water if we could make it happen faster it would look like this the puddle is drying up it's evaporating which means the water is really disappearing into the air liquid water that you can see changes into water vapor that you can't see it's invisible like the air and the water doesn't evaporate just from rain puddles water evaporates wherever it is [Music] rivers from ponds and lakes but mostly from the oceans water evaporates anytime anything that's wet gets dry like wet sails on a boat even though you can't see it there's always some water vapor in the air the sun warms the air in the water and makes the water evaporate faster the air rises and gets cooler then sometimes the invisible water vapor in the air changes back to water that you can see clouds are water yes they may not look like water but clouds are really made up of tiny droplets of water floating in the air we could see clouds forming faster than they really do it would look like this foreign as more and more water droplets become part of a cloud a white cloud May grow bigger and bigger and might get darker and the droplets may get so big and heavy that they can't float in the air anymore and and it rains and now I know where the rain goes after it falls some of it sinks into the ground some of the rain collects in puddles and ponds some of it runs into rivers and oceans and then the sun will help the water go back into the air again from the land and the water and from me to [Music] foreign [Music] damn it [Music] foreign [Music] I wonder I wonder what do you wonder wonder cat I wonder can I sit on a cloud can you sit on a cloud well you can answer that question if you know what clouds are made of what are clouds made of if you're curious enough you can find out I'd need an airplane for that clouds are too high clouds are high all right but sometimes mountains are even higher let's go to the mountains hey that's a cloud if we could get there I could find out what it's made of and then I could find out if I can sit on it here's your cloud and it's like a fog right a fog is just a cloud that's close to the ground and the fog feels wet doesn't it so the cloud or the fog must be made of water yes that's right well if a cloud is just like a fog then I guess I can't sit on it but if a cloud is made of water like a lake is could I float on it boats float on water so do people so can I so can I float on a cloud well the water that's in a lake is different from the water that's in a cloud water in a lake can spray up into the air and separate into drops that fall back into the lake water in a cloud is always in drops but not nearly as big as the drops in the spray water drops in a cloud are so tiny and weighs so little that the moving air can hold them up they seem to float in the air does that mean that I can't float in a cloud that's right but I wonder where does cloud water come from most Cloud water comes from the oceans [Music] it does how well look on the Rocks over there at those puddles that the waves made yes what do you think will happen if no more ocean water falls into them well I guess after a while they'll dry up sort of disappear that's right if we could speed up what happens it would look like this where does the water go it goes into the air the water changes into invisible water vapor it evaporates but not just the water from the puddles evaporates into the air water from the ocean and lakes and rivers and everything that's wet does this all the time including me that's right you'll get dry because the water will evaporate from you the warm sun helps to make the water evaporate I think I understand the warm sun helps water evaporate into the air it changes into invisible water vapor very good but how does that water vapor change back to water and get into the clouds well water doesn't get into the clouds the clouds are water then how does the water vapor we can't see become a cloud we can see why you've made it happen many times we have when on cold days with the warm moist air you breathe out of your body out when the water vapor in your warm breath is cooled some of it changes into a cloud of tiny water droplets so that's what must happen with clouds that's right you see high up where the clouds are the air is cooler than it is near the ground when moist air gets cool enough the invisible water vapor in it changes to Tiny droplets that make clouds but I wonder why are there different kinds of clouds some clouds are fluffy and white and some are dark gray almost black well it all has to do with those tiny droplets That clouds are made of the clouds that first form when the droplets come out of the air are white clouds like the clouds your breath makes the white clouds are fair weather clouds but if more and more of the tiny water drops come out of the air and the cloud gets bigger the drops bump together and get bigger too now the clouds get darker and darker these are rain clouds and finally when the drops are much bigger and much heavier than they were when the cloud first formed of water are heavy enough to fall to the ground and do you know what you get rain exactly right but I was just wondering if a cloud is water how can it snow I know snow is frozen water but how do we get snowflakes well if the temperature of the air is below freezing the water vapor doesn't change in the tiny water droplets instead the water vapor changes into tiny crystals of ice these ice crystals make snow clouds the crystals are the beginnings of snowflakes [Music] bigger in the cloud and after a while if they get heavy enough they gently fall to the ground but if the air that they fall through is warm enough the snowflakes May melt on the way down and change to rain rain and snow are just different forms of water falling from the clouds then why are there still clouds after it rains for the same reason there are clouds before it rains the water drops in the clouds aren't heavy enough to fall but clouds are changing all the time whether it rains or not and if we could speed up how they change it would look like this their shapes change the wind blows them from one place to another place they bump together and break apart the clouds are always changing but what they are doesn't change I know they're all made of some kind of water and I can't sit on a cloud but I can sit on what used to be a cloud when it's frozen and on the ground and made into a Snowman like this but not for very long it's cold [Music] thank you Okay so foreign [Applause] [Music] what do you wonder wonder cat I wonder where do lost balloons go where do lost balloons go if you're curious enough you can find out well lost balloons start getting lost when they go up into the air lots of things go up into the air some things that go up into the air get moved by the air too [Music] air moves lots of things but as hard as I try and my eyes are very good I still can't see air [Music] sometimes I can feel it moving and pushing you can feel it when it's moving because air is real you just can't see it you can't reach out and touch it like you can touch a rock for instance because air isn't a solid thing like a rock is it's a gas air is more like water than it is like rock here is a gas a gas you can't see but you can see things through it it's an invisible gas that's all around us well all this invisible gas is all around us it's a lot like when something goes through water [Music] looks like the boat pushes the water aside while it moves through [Music] I see the boat does push the water aside that's how it can move through the water the water is pushed aside as the boat goes through the space where the water was [Music] then the water comes back into that space as the boat moves out of it so things that move through the air must push the air aside except I can't see it because the air is invisible but I still wonder what do you still wonder I wonder when lost balloons go through the invisible air where do they go but I'm curious I'll find out foreign look there are two lost balloons but they're not going through the air in the same way that's right one is just being blown along the ground by the wind but the other one seems to keep going higher and higher what's different about them maybe finding out where they came from will help you find out what's different about them people are blowing up these balloons [Music] balloon air blew away this balloon and air also fills these balloons it comes from inside the children who are blowing them up and people get the air for blowing up the balloons from the air all around them they breathe it in they blow it out you put more and more air into a balloon and it gets bigger and bigger the air must be stretching it that's right here inside things pushes too the air inside this balloon and inside these balloons too is like the air that's outside them is the air inside these balloons different look how they pull on their strings the air inside these balloons is different in fact it really isn't Air at all it's a gas like areas but it's a different kind of gas [Music] this gas is called helium it's lighter than air balloons filled with helium float in the air fact if you don't hold them down they go up up up through the air like this lost balloon I wonder I wonder what do you wonder I wonder what will happen to the Lost balloon as it goes up through the invisible air if I'm curious enough can I find out yes but you need a way to go up into the air let's imagine you were being carried by a balloon filled with helium up up through the air let's see what it would be like foreign are you comfortable so far but as you go up it gets colder and colder does that mean that the higher you go the colder it gets that's right thanks the winds blow hard up here wind is air that moves oh now I see why balloons can travel so far and something else is happening it's getting harder for you to breathe you need your own supply of air up here is that because there's less and less air the higher you go that's right now sometimes as a balloon goes higher the helium leaks out of it and it slowly falls back to Earth but your balloon doesn't leak and it's getting bigger and bigger remember there's less air up here so it's easier for the gas inside the balloon to push on the balloon and stretch it and if you go high enough and if some of the gas inside the balloon doesn't leak out or if it isn't let out then a balloon bursts oh the fall is slower with a parachute its shape makes it hard for the air to get out of its way and so the air slows you down so you see all lost balloons and cats attached to them eventually fall back to the Earth and now you're back in your favorite tree again and you know many things about lost balloons yes now I know where lost balloons go but there's a lot more for me to wonder about [Music] foreign [Music] I get it too much it's it's too much we've done it's gone too far um but some of you asked for it and uh I gotta say like you you invoke Wonder cat you don't know what you're playing around with um and I guess it's uh uh Happy April Fool's Day and a day early um but anyways if you like what you saw uh at least you were uh intrigued by it I know that many of you didn't like what you saw but uh you can certainly donate to the uh um Avi Geeks by hitting the super thanks button uh which Nathan did thank you so much and Rick K did maybe to teach me a lesson um you can also go to patreon.com AV Geeks you can also go to uh ko-fi.com AV Geeks and you can watch um other videos that we have online those are great ways to uh support us because of the ad Revenue that is generated so anyways [Music] thank you [Music] all right I wonder I wonder what do you wonder wonder cat I wonder spider spin webs [Music] why do spiders spin webs if you're curious enough you can find out by watching spiders look at that one over there wow that spider is sure busy isn't it yes it is takes only about half an hour for a spider to build a web like this one most spiders build their webs at night well it's morning now so I guess this one is probably hurrying to finish up watch how the spider shapes its web the web is like a silken net I see but where do the threads come from if you look carefully at the spider maybe you can find out well it looks like the thread is coming right out of the spider's body you're right the threads a spider uses to make a web do come out of its body they come out of special Parts called spinnerets there they are those tiny brown bumps on the underside of the spider those are the spider's spinnerets a liquid inside the spider's body hardens when it comes out through the spinnerets into the air it forms the threads of silk that the spider uses to build its web the spinnerets make different kinds of silk threads that most of the spider's web is made of are strong and sticky after the web is finished the spider will hide and wait ER has woven a hiding place in the center of its web what's it waiting for look there at that fly in the leaf yes it flew away and now it's on the spider's web it's trying to fly away but it can't it looks like it's stuck to the web spider feels the web move and knows an insect has landed on it spiders crawling over to the fly it's biting the fly bit the bit the fly that's right the spider bites the fly to kill it now see what the spider is doing wow the spider is using its thread to wrap up the fly the spider is going to eat the fly later oh Soul flies and maybe other insects too must be Foo Fighters that's right and spiders must spin webs so they can catch insects now I know yes now you know what a web does for a spider a web helps a spider get its food insects get caught in the sticky threads of a web and once an insect is caught a spider knows what to do but what you may not know is that a spider is not an insect spiders are called arachnids arachnids I'll try to remember that good of course there are all sorts of spiders and many kinds of webs wow there sure are but I'm still wondering what do you wonder now well I wonder why don't spiders get stuck in their own webs nobody knows for sure but some scientists think that special oils May cover the tips of the spider's legs and keep them from sticking when they touch the sticky threads of the web but spiders sometimes use their silk threads for other things besides making webs and wrapping food they can also use them as safety lines to get away from an enemy like this wasp watch it's over the spider's web spider will jump off but spin a threat as it falls watch and then when the WASP flies away the Spider goes back up the thread the spider will wait now for another small insect to be caught in its sticky web then it will wrap the insects in silk and maybe even line them up as this spider is done while all spiders make threads of silk not all spiders make webs I guess this big one goes looking for food on the ground yes it does [Music] and I guess this one must wait for its food on plant leaves all four of those it's eyes yes I wonder how things look when you see with eyes like that that's the spider's mouth under the eyes maybe it sees some food it does that caterpillar foreign [Music] wow that spider didn't need sticky threads to catch its food some spiders use their threads to make egg cases like the one this spider mother is carrying those babies riding on her back just hatched here are many more baby spiders they're called spiderlings they hatched out of their tiny eggs just a short time ago even newborn spiders make silicon threads they leave a trail of them wherever they go sometimes all the baby spiders stay together after hatching and build a web that they all live on [Music] but before long all the baby spiders will be gone from this web many will leave the web blown by the wind that catches the silken threads they're attached to each baby will find a new place to live and spin webs of its own [Music] now I know why spiders spin webs and a lot more about spiders too arachnids see I remembered [Music] thank you [Music] right so I know that you hate me uh and that is why I'm showing this cute drawing of me holding the field and saying that I love films um April fools everybody uh thank you for letting me indulge and uh either tickle your brains or uh punch you in the gut kind of depending on uh your take on it uh we will be back on Monday and we won't be watching Wonder cat um we'll be watching something else so everybody have a great rest of your weekend uh well the start of your weekend everybody have a great weekend and uh we will see you on Monday Everybody Take Care thank you