New Andrew Lam Video: Why Millions of Smoke Alarms are Deadly

Hey there! 👋 You signed up for this newsletter after my car crash safety video I released six months ago. It’s been a hot minute eh?

I'm finally back with a new one on smoke alarms, why 87% of them have a dangerous flaw, and how engineers fixed it. Check it out.

I thought it would only take two months…but no, once again I underestimated how much work it would take to fully understand a topic and deliver with the quality you and I expect. I also spent the last week fixing various things, including my website and title/thumbnail which is why this newsletter is so late coming out.

Behind the Scenes

Speaking of thumbnails, I thought it would be fun to share my producer’s BRUTAL yet HILLARIOUS feedback on an early thumbnail concept.

The Offending Thumbnail

BTW, he was completely right. In an A/B test it did not do as well as the eventual winner.  I also took his advice on workflow and Google Docs has been banished and now I’m using Frame.IO. Happy outcome for all!

Future Content Ideas

I’ve been thinking deeply about where this channel will go. I knew I wanted to do explainers but didn’t have a concrete direction. At first it was to help people appreciate the world around them by contrasting before and now.

With this video I think I have a good formula: explainers on topics that are under-explored and help you make decisions to improve your life. Some ideas on what that could look like:

Auto / Home Theft Series

I’ve been interested in physical security for years watching Deviant Ollam / Lockpicking Lawyer.

I thought with the rise of auto thefts in my home city (Toronto), along with more brazen techniques to break into your home, steal your keys, that a 3-part series covering car security, high-security locks and forced entry prevention would be interesting.

For example: Under Door Attacks. Recently they’ve been featured in a bunch of videos, some fake, others potentially more real.

There’s a webbing strap that can be used to stop this (and anyone else trying to get inside). I’ve been thinking of getting one myself, and gifts for friends and family who travel. Here’s a video explaining what it does and whether you might need one.

Water Filters & Forever Chemicals

I think “Forever Chemicals” - aka PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are the new issue in drinking water. These chemicals are used in the creation of stain/water resistant and non-stick products, and can enter your water supply through various means.

In the US and Canada new federal standards have been created and some places have been proactive and built massive filtration systems (video) to tackle this issue.

I became interested after learning my Pur Water Filter which I bought for it’s lead filtering capabilities was no longer being certified for lead. This led me down a research rabbit hole about PFAS reduction.

There is a full ANSI standard and filters that are already certified to do this. Zero Water appears to the most readily available counter-top solution. But with a service life of 17 gallons - 64L, gawd damn, this feels expensive.

Additional Car Crash Safety Details

I left out some information while producing my video on how we made cars safer. Hope you enjoy some tidbits I found interesting:

Seat Restraint Systems

• Some luxury vehicles have pre-crash tech that uses electrical motors to tighten your seatbelt and use headrests that in a crash pop forward to reduce whiplash.

Airbags:

• How the Bernoulli principle is used to make larger airbags that can deploy under low-speed situations without injuring the occupant.

• Lesics has a fantastic in-depth “How Airbags Work” animated video

Structural Improvements

• How manufacturers now weld patches called Tailored Blanks of ultra high strength steel into your car’s frame to strengthen it without adding a ton of weight

• Nerdy article on the developmental milestone of high strength steel and a Volvo video on how that’s actually made today which requires ovens to keep the metal continuously hot as it’s stamped.

Other

• Thousands of cadavers are used in testing. It’s not publicized for obvious reasons.

Thanks for Your Eyeballs and Support!

I’m still in the ideation phase on my next videos, hopefully with everything I’ve learned I’ll have videos coming out faster. Let me know if you have any suggestions, ideas or questions! See you in the next one.