YouTube from 1903

Today marks the official day that I have come to expect that YouTube will have any video clip that I would ever want to see. I had a similar moment with Google a few years ago when I came to expect that I should be able to find the answer to any question that pops in my head in less than 5 minutes. If Google doesn't deliver I am sorely disappointed. Now YouTube has raised its game to such a level that I am putting it in the same league.

I was reading this article on Tesla, and it mentioned:

If AC power supplanted DC, however, Edison was poised to lose fortunes in patents. Thus the battle was begun, with Edison electrocuting animals–mostly stray dogs and cats–to show the “dangerous nature” of AC. He even electrocuted an ill-tempered elephant named Topsy from Coney Island’s Luna Park, and filmed the execution for posterity.

So my first thought was, damn, that's messed up. He electrocutes an elephant and wants to film it. My second thought was, I totally have to watch that. After a quick search I found it on YouTube. This has to be one of the earliest films ever made. If YouTube has this, I see no reason why it shouldn't have all other video clips that has been made since then that I would want to see.

And if you haven't checked this out yet, Digg has a cool video section where you can find some gems every day. I guess for some reason you have to have an account with Digg to check that out while it is in Beta, but it is worth it.