Internet Vs Ocean: the essential wires we never think about

as a radio host who struggles to fight through a monologue when something funny happens, I have the deepest respect for you both managing to hold your composure when the globes fell 😂

Small correction. The “America to America” example cable mentioned at 7:34 doesn’t exist because it’s cheaper or faster to send data from Texas to Mississippi with an undersea cable. This cable is called the “Gulf of Mexico Fiber Optic Network” and it exists to provide internet to offshore drilling rigs along the path of the cable. Because of this, it’s probably one of the more interesting cables on the map! Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.

When describing the distance between the UK and the USA and how long the first transatlantic telegraph cable needed to be, at 3:33 Jay says the word "very" 8 times (the subtitles say it 10 times). Then, at 3:46, Cyrus figured out that he needs to repeat the word "very" 7 times (the subs again say something different, this time going for 9). Afterwards it's back to Jay, who says "very" 9 times (the subtitles go for 12 for some reason). According to Wikipedia, the length of the cable was 2,500 nautical miles. Therefore, one "very" in the Map Men universe equals between 277.77 nautical miles (319.65 regular ol' miles) and 357.14 nautical miles (410.98 miles).

8:44 I appreciate that the list of 'pink suit cases, teddy bears, funny hats or basket balls' are all things in the shop window behind him

Can't believe Samuel Morse named himself after the Morse code and took all the credit. Surprised there's been no backlash against Dave Internet yet.

A "human garden hose" implies Jay is aware of garden hoses made by other species.

Thanks Map Men,fibre optic engineer checking in :) If you’d like to see a map of your local network let me know, it’s not as boring as you might think!

i love how all of your videos feel like they were made 6 years ago. they're great

If I could do what Jay does when those globes fall off the wall, my entire life would have played out differently.

The fact the entire internet has been through a layer of Vaseline actually explains quite a bit of the modern world.

I absolutely love the bit at 1:36 with the olden version of Google Maps. This kind of unnecessary and funny attention to detail is exactly why everyone loves to watch this channel. Thanks Jay!

Love these videos. Binged all of "Unfinished London" before my first ever trip to the capital a few weeks ago. Second day there, walking to Piccadilly via Regent Street, and I see the man himself in his impecable suit rushing towards Soho. It made my trip even if I could not stop you for a photo, Jay!

Honestly didn’t realise how much I loved Map Men, until the time between episodes seemed so long Edit: Hello Chris

The way Jay controls the slight smirk on his face to straight deadpan after the globes fall is the mark of a professional comedian.

The Chappe telegraph system did indeed have issues, as it featured one of the first instances of network manipulation. François and Louis Blanc, bond traders in Bordeaux, had a friend in Paris send a package to Tours indicating the Paris stock trends, which a bribed operator then added to messages passing though with a "wait sorry, erase that character" right after. At Bordeaux the brothers had a former telegraph operator spy on the tower to see the single character, but in official transcriptions the "backspace" meant that the alleged error would never be logged. This allowed the Blanc brothers to know how the Paris stocks would affect their bonds in Bordeaux far in advance of anyone else in the city. This worked until the operator at Tours got ill and tried to recruit a friend to replace him, who reported it. But they couldn't convinct the brothers, because there weren't any laws against what they were doing!

This is one of the best YouTube channels out there. Even at 1.4M subs I'd still say it is very underrated. The content is fascinating, concise and funny. The bit about "I need to get those globes up that fell off the wall "without even blinking, is a testimony to your skills as performers. So glad I found this channel.

I love the running gag about "the beginning of the internet", because it highlights how technologies build and improve on one another, and which should be counted as the true "beginning" of some modern technology is largely subjective, down to the personal views of the presenter and which technological features they consider to be important.

I do miss the funny variations on the map men theme, I don't know why they don't do them anymore. It was the beginning of the internet.

I work for the engineering company responsible for the machinery which has installed roughly 90% of these cables and this was incredibly insightful to me. Thanks for making.

What a brilliant idea for an episode, so glad you guys are back and challenging how we look at things. The ‘why is North Up’ really blew my mind.