This clock was famous, but the internet ruined it.

[@TomScottGo]

Sometimes I don't get the story I expected, and this is one of those times. ■ AD: 👨‍💻 NordVPN's best deal is here: nordvpn.com/tomscott - with a 30-day money-back guarantee!

[@NetroxSM]

You upload videos three weeks in advance??

[@b30wulffz]

o_O

[@kitma9]

@@NetroxSM apparently

[@skibidi1231]

woahhh

[@lacrak27]

Huh, a VPN advertising in a tom scott vid, *interesting*

[@Brave_Sir_Robin]

I find the fact that there is a warehouse the size of a small country devoted only to flowers with entire roadways inside it, more believable than the fact that Tom took a sponsor.

[@ElchiKing]

A (smaller scaled) example is thomann, who started as a small shop for instruments (in a house they still use as a show room/store) but now mostly consists of a huge warehouse and logistics center in the middle of nowhere (the village in which they are located has about 200 inhabitants, while the company has 1400 employees)

[@ditsomusic]

I am really shocked people would set up such an operation just to sell flowers

[@barryjames3747]

Times are hard for everyone I guess.

[@Dr.Fluffles]

He went into detail on why he's okay with them now in his robot double video, as they've fixed themselves up enough that he'll trust them for the legitimate uses of VPNs.

[@mareksicinski3726]

well not the size of a country, the size of a microstate, tiny country

[@hiitsaria]

Before watching the video, I thought this might've been a case of internet people ruining something just for the sake of it, but it is actually the mere existence of the internet that ruined the clocks. Ironic, considering I've never heard of them until being on the internet.

[@BodyMusicification]

So the internet killed the clocks but the internet is also keeping their memory alive

[@kirbles2035]

@@BodyMusicification I think that's true for a lot of things.

[@idkhow2type322]

thats how clickbait works

[@OurCumrade]

Ya

[@screamqueensfan288]

@@idkhow2type322 how? It's true though? The Internet makes it possible to order it from far away. So, no Kore clocks!

[@WackoMcGoose]

Biking around in a warehouse full of flowers is the most aggressively Dutch thing I've ever heard.

[@steefberg9042]

Funnily enough, most on floor workers are actually from Poland.

[@WackoMcGoose]

@@steefberg9042 As someone who is learning Polish and has poked at the duolingo course for Dutch before, I just briefly tried to imagine what _niderlandzki-polski_ (nederlands-pools?) would sound like. I'm scared now.

[@marshmelows]

Indeed

[@lenwax]

@@WackoMcGoose As somebody who speaks both languages alot everyday i aprove

[@Xezlec]

@@lenwax Do you work with Poles in the Netherlands? Or is there some other reason why you speak both every day?

[@grobacz]

Tom, this is the most truthful add for a VPN with no misleading info and honest thoughts. I love it.All in-video commercials should be done this way instead of repeating like zombie what the sponsor wants.

[@kid_missive]

Seems like they've made a zombie out of u.

[@Kosa647]

I wanted to write the same thing. The amount of BS that VPN providers say to sell their product doesn't bother me that much, I've seen worse. But, everybody repeats it like a damn parrot. Its nice to see, somebody is just presenting the actual safe and legal use of affordable VPN services.

[@fIayff]

@@Kosa647 Internet Historian though has probably one of the most funniest way to advert his VPN sponsors on youtube. I really recommend taking a look, the amount of effort he puts into the advert is insanse edit: I just looked up, and there are videos with more than 100k views which are literally "All Internet Historian adverts in chronological order". If this doesnt speak for itself than i dont know what does

[@RFX01]

Sometimes it's not necessarily them repeating what the sponsor wants. Michael Reeves did a VPN ad where he went out of his way to be misleading by setting up an unencrypted webserver, running a packet capture and pretending like data is always transmitted in plain text if you don't use a VPN, even though any remotely reputable site would force you to use encryption. If that's not intentionally misleading I don't know what is.

[@fantomp1773]

@@RFX01 I always thought of it more as a jokey exaggerated ad, like it’s about as misleading as having someone dress up as a file and being taken away by a “hacker”

[@ArchOfWinter]

The auction clock would be a fun interactive experience for the tourists. Instead of betting on a whole lot of flowers, tourists can bet on just one flower, a bouquet, or even a limited daily supply of special souvenirs. Doesn't even need to be paid in real money, it can be part of a paid tour and end in the auction clock room with a friendly competition for a special prize.

[@jesperomsf816]

I don't think a multibillion dollar factory cares

[@nate3274]

For the very few tourists that are interested in going to a flower factory. Doesn’t sound worth it for the company.

[@erik7647]

Sometimes at least they still let you look in the auction rooms at least. When my brother went on his honeymoon they let him sit in one of the chairs so he could imagine "how buying flowers would feel" and check out through the door the flowers used to come out through.

[@co-starluma4496]

If there's no actual money involved in the auction then it just becomes a game of "who can press the button the fastest"...

[@OzixiThrill]

@@co-starluma4496 Except you can always have digital pseudo-currencies. Give each tourist the same amount, and then have them bid for those souvenirs. If you press the button the fastest, you might not be able to get another souvenir until the last few pieces which time out because nobody else has any fantasy money left either.

[@somehau]

Hey Tom! While this clock may not be in use anymore as far as flowers go, there is still a fully functional (analog!) version in the BroekerVeiling museum. They do a practical demonstration involving the pressing of the buttons and such as well, super interesting and fun to see how auctions used to be held.

[@juulm2309]

There is also a functioning analog one in aalsmeer, at de historische tuinen. They still hold auctions of fruit, flowers and plants.

[@harmharm3490]

Was about to suggest this. The "Museum Broeker Veiling" in Broek op Langedijk has an action clock and there are demonstrations where you can actually participate in (not for a whole shipload of vegatables but a more managable quatity for a person).

[@RichardRenes]

And... the old clock of the veiling Barendrecht still hangs in the building of Jabaay, Gebroken Meeldijk 68 in Barendrecht.

[@gruffen2222]

Tom Scott has the best commenters

[@Uryendel]

There also still exist in most of fish market in france

[@KilleRoy_NL]

Did you just rickroll us during the sponsor part? "Oh, ik zal je nooit opgeven", "Oh I'm never gonna give you up?" It's a funny feeling, being educated about something in your own country (let alone something you pass by whenever you commute to the office) by someone that is from abroad, but if it's anyone, I'm glad it's you. Your videos are always interesting!

[@rielmarqz]

Tom Scott stealthily rickrolling us by learning the phrase in Dutch (and pronouncing it properly?) is so incredibly on-brand for him.

[@FlexDark]

@@rielmarqz His pronunciation is indeed proper, just where he put the emphasis was a bit off.

[@radio_marco]

If it is so, that would be a very smart Easteregg.

[@elektr1x7881]

@@rielmarqz well he's a linguist. of course he knows how to pronounce it properly

[@RotaryMarx]

grappig

[@ValueNetwork]

i like how tom is VERY careful with how he words his advert, everything he criticised in his anti VPN Ad video was sidestepped, mainly because his use for the VPN is a practical use for researching the Video your watching. he does not mention the Privacy or the security of Nord VPN once, removing the VPNs main selling point whilst still making it work

[@ve2dmn]

That's the idea. It doesn't contradict his old video. He's selling the usecase that worked for him. He knows his audience would lose respect from him if did otherwise.

[@zealous404]

Also he snuck in a Rick roll

[@TheKz262]

@@zealous404 is it that sentence in Deutch he said? I feel like it is

[@quarkonium3795]

@@TheKz262 Yes, the rough translation is “Oh, I’m never going to give you up” from Dutch

[@IstasPumaNevada]

@@ve2dmn I think he'd avoid doing it even if his audience didn't care. But of course I can't be sure.

[@djdewaal289]

Dear Tom, while this clock (sadly) isn’t quite there anymore there still exists one. In the Broekerveiling museum in Broek op Langedijk. That’s also coincidentally the only auction where the products are transported through the room by boat. Might be cool for you to cover that.

[@Libithina]

You were way ahead of me, but I second this opinion and advice. :)

[@FrozenBusChannel]

I'll third this

[@joeplitjens4336]

There’s also one in Aalsmeer in the ‘Historische Tuin’

[@johnnz4375]

Sad to see that those auction rooms are gone, I used to repair and maintain those clocks and those rooms and the people had a special atmosphere . That were good times.

[@ExperimentIV]

holy crap i never expected such massive infrastructure/elaborate logistics for flowers

[@VagabondTE]

I know right!?

[@WlatPziupp]

Would have thought the Dutch quit the flower market, but apparently they bounced back from the previous disaster

[@PinHeadSupliciumwtf]

The scale of it was much more mind-blowing hundreds of years ago.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

the livestock market is just as complicated, but less centralized

[@NStripleseven]

The Dutch are crazy

[@Deadl0ck]

As a Dutch person... I got smarter today. I would've sworn it still worked the old way. Also, getting rickrolled in Dutch by Tom Scott is such a mindf*ck... (He said: Never gonna give you up, in Dutch.)

[@Jesse-de7dw]

Was looking if anyone else caught it

[@mastermohit]

Wait when?

[@simskii.]

@@mastermohit 6:13 "Ik zal je nooit opgeven", which is a very rough translation of "I am never gonne give you up"

[@glenngriffon8032]

Just as a curious American, how was his pronunciation?

[@teundebruin5934]

@@glenngriffon8032 Very good actually!

[@TheMightyZwom]

So Tom thought he would never advertise for Nord VPN. And I thought I would never see an honest VPN ad without fearmongering. And yet, here we are :D

[@griffinrupe]

and a rickroll for good measure

[@bobsquaredme]

he did it before with the robot head video

[@connormccloy9399]

He did write the book on VPN ads being terrible, so I'd expect no less from him.

[@otto8158]

*Reads terms and conditions* *Circumventing Location blocks is not allowed* *Turns on VPN* Am I doing this right?

[@Blackadder75]

if it annoys you (or any other viewer, who reads this) these days browsers also have extensions that autoskip these 'in-video' ads. works like a charm, I hardly ever see any anymore.

[@Libithina]

Fun fact: If you do wish to see an auction clock in the Netherlands in action. I advise you to go to the Museum Broekerveiling. It's an old boat auction building that was used for selling vegetables (and fruit I suppose). The boats would pass through the auction hall, and the clock would go down just like the one in Aalsmeer would.

[@faranocks]

My Japanese grandparents own/owned a flower business. They would buy flowers from an auction in the exact manner shown above. I went there a few years ago (2019?) and it was still displayed on a digital clock counting down, with many varieties of flowers. They would buy thousands of flowers a week, more common varieties were purchased in bulk orders, but more limited(from a special region, rare color or species) or seasonal flowers were almost always bid on. Unfortunately the parent company to their business has started taking larger and larger cuts. Their business used to take ~70% of commissions, and buy, arrange, and deliver all the flowers, pay the 50+ employees etc, with the parent company using the remaining 30% to rent the venue and pay their employees. In the recent 10 years (following the passing of my grandfather) they have increased their cut to 45%, and during the pandemic they raised their cut to over 65%. It's quite sad that their business of over 40 years is coming to a close due to predatory practices.

[@BobKerns4111]

My wife's parents were in the flower business in Tokyo as well. I wish I had learned more about it; unfortunately, between language and not knowing what questions to ask, I know very little. It was a much smaller operation; I don't know if it involved the exchange. It was inherited from my father-in-law's parents post-war; there was a lot of hardship, in part due to the loss of young men, leaving widows and children to do the work, and that shaped that generation.

[@differentlyabledmuslimjewi4475]

this is the threat of globalisation of things. everything gets the soul drained from it, and you can't carry on with local business like you once could.

[@adamofblastworks1517]

OVER 65%?! Also, if you saw my spam of laughing emojis replies, that wasn't intentional. It was thanks to the KZbin app breaking my phone's keyboard, and I use the emoji to test if it will let me type yet, and for some reason it sent and repeated like 3-4 times.

[@garretdyel]

the most dutch thing is them biking around in the warehouse haha

[@actualatom]

verified moment

[@Kohl293]

Hate to “well actually”, but you’ll find this super common at big factories.

[@burgerpommes2001]

That is normal in every railway depot

[@jonnywips]

using bikes like that is very common when you get to buildings of that size, the Boeing factory in Everett Washington does the same thing (although they use trikes instead of bikes)

[@andrewmacham5383]

@@jonnywips the ropewalk at Chatham dockyards is 1/4 mile long (about 5 metres wide, and a bike is used these days

[@NotJustBikes]

I'm not sure what surprises me the most: that the clock is gone or that Tom Scott is running a VPN ad. But I'm not a stickler for tradition, and I loved every minute of it. Also, my Dutch is good enough that I didn't need the subtitles at all. Nice.

[@hmwat1623]

Heyy congrats!

[@pedrobrunodeandrade]

It's almost like, in a warehouse full of flowers, NJB could smell the bikes!

[@BudgiePanic]

Like your videos, real eye opener to how poor the rest of the world plans it’s urban developments

[@DangoNetwork]

Hey. Like your video. Any plan to make a video relate to Chinese city?

[@BlackHayateTheThird]

I honestly would love a Not Just Bikes and Tom Scott cross-over

[@EdenLippmann]

I still can't get over how Tom completely changed how VPNs as a whole are advertised, with that video. I can remember before and after, and there was an almost seismic shift away from cybersecurity scaremongering and towards the actual (legally acceptable) benefit of location-hopping.

[@Diggnuts]

I would not know. I run sponsorblock.

[@OmegaRejectz]

@@redcuillin it’s a shame indeed

[@1uPUIKbDF8Wjv0eq3CtJSn7tkwjJce]

They were originally advertised mostly for changing your region and things like that, then they discovered how much money they could make by fearmongering 🙂

[@whuzzzup]

What do you mean with "legally acceptable"?

[@1uPUIKbDF8Wjv0eq3CtJSn7tkwjJce]

@@whuzzzup they probably meant morally

[@valeriepark9444]

I appreciate that Tom found the perfect narrative location - in front of a windmill.

[@FireVixen164]

I genuinely love this ad. It feels honest, rather than buzzword-y ad-speak

[@laratheplanespotter]

You can always count on Tom Scott to educate you on something you never knew you wanted to be educated on or need to. I’ve seen tulip fields and farms but I never knew it was such a huge logistical thing with selling/buying flowers.

[@RudyBleeker]

Good farmers/growers care about their product and the quality at which it reaches the consumer. This is true all around the world I would hope but it certainly is in the Netherlands. So that's why the people who grow these flowers started this marketplace and made it as efficient as possible with the technology available to them at the time, and as Tom points out in his video it is still updated whenever the need arises. This means that a perishable product like a flower that's cut from it's roots can be sold and shipped so fast, internationally even, that it will still stand fresh in a vase in your living room for a week or more.

[@Candisa]

As a dutch speaking Belgian, it was a nice change to just hear a dutch guy speak dutch and seeing subtitles for everyone who doesn't understand dutch, instead of somebody trying to explain things in broken English with a hilarious dutch accent oversimplifying things because they are working with the English vocabulary readily available in their brain at the moment, or being annoyingly dubbed.

[@Diggnuts]

Now if only you Belgians would stop speaking broken Dutch, we'd all be happy.

[@Kwpolska]

On the other hand, if you don’t speak Dutch, then you can’t consume this video without seeing it. That’s unfortunate for vision-impaired folks (especially since the subtitles are burned in and are not visible to text-to-speech software), and for people who put KZbin in the background while doing something else.

[@metallsnubben]

Only a little annoying for me who was listening in the background while playing a game, had to tab out to read. But I could understand a surprising amount! (I'm a swede)

[@bernds6587]

@@Kwpolska I fully agree. I would prefer if there are no burnt in subs at all, so if you don't speak dutch (or any other non-english language) you have to turn on subs. It would be a wonderuful way (and maybe slightly forced) to emphasize the work which went in the subtitles (Tom hires a company to make these, they are really well done - like the last video where he cooks - the subs are at the top, not covering the ingredients he is working on. Or others, where every person got its own color). Or at least add the same burnt in subs as regular subs aswell. That subtitle company will most certainly do that if it gets told to do so.

[@GameyCat]

speaking "Belgian"? Do you just mean "Flemish, Flamish? idk" or can you educate me what "Belgian" is

[@regularcoffee9007]

as a florist, seeing where my flowers come from and the absolute scale of the place is insane! amazing video

[@pazcatapano5258]

Where do you work from? Interesting

[@regularcoffee9007]

@@pazcatapano5258 i am based in the UK

[@pazcatapano5258]

@@regularcoffee9007 sorry for the weird question, I just wanted to know how far all these flowers travel! And thanks for answering ☺️

[@ObviouslyBenHughes]

The fact that this entire production was one big in-joke about NordVPN - and the end of Tom’s storied saga with Nord specifically - made the experience that much more thrilling. 🤣

[@elliotw.888]

what was the saga?

[@WarriorofCathar]

@@elliotw.888 I think he made video a while back about having to reject a nice bit of sponsor money from ****VPN. Because of what he considered to be "false advertising"(i.e. their usual bs about being more secure and private). But money finds a way and this is actually a very truthful and accurate take on the advantage of using a VPN service

[@brianstryker4536]

When I read this as "The internet ruined it" I thought someone on twitter complained about the "unfairness of the clock"

[@istvanlovasz1221]

Bless you for this sponsor spot, especially after your video about VPNs and honesty. As someone with mild understanding of the inner workings of computers and the internet, I'm happy how the sponsor was not about security claims, but rather examples of real-world use by average people. Also thank you for calling out US sites not even bothering to comply with GDPR, they deserve a mention in negative light.

[@panda4247]

Well, to be honest, the EU sites, that conply in a way that they force you ro accept everything, or decline 200 things one by one, are even worse imho. It's like a giant F.U. for the user

[@haxney]

Complying with GDPR is not a trivial cost. If you can save on a cost without affecting the number of customers you have, then great!

[@panda4247]

@@haxney it would be easy (-ier), if companies did not try to find ways how to get people agree to collect and sell their data... that was supposed to be the whole point of the legislation.

[@Spoonishpls]

@@haxney Thank you, I agreed with OP until he hit this point. Even more so if the sites aren't even expecting lots of European traffic, why go out of your way?

[@1uPUIKbDF8Wjv0eq3CtJSn7tkwjJce]

if only companies would not do bad things without being forced to 😔

[@sarahlizzieful]

Here for the ongoing 'will-they-won't-they' love story between Tom and NordVPN.

[@openperspective]

Right?! It's been an interesting transition from "don't trust them all the time" to creepy Tombot's date with Nord, and now even real Tom is starting to see it in a different light. What's that song from Beauty and the Beast? "I think there's something there that wasn't there before"

[@DrDingsGaster]

@@openperspective You hit the nail on the head and now that song is stuck in my head.

[@camillechauve1352]

This feels like either a badly-written Wattpad fanfic or a well-written Ao3 fic.

[@user-ko3tv7jl2r]

Kinda sad to see the selling out tbh.

[@Gameboygenius]

Doesn't beat when TomSka tried to get "fired" by SurfShark though...

[@julienvanderniet5058]

I think it very much speaks to Dutch culture that we (most of the time) have no problem replacing or changing traditions if it means getting more efficient.

[@ohiasdxfcghbljokasdjhnfvaw4ehr]

so dutch tradition is ditching old traditions?

[@bartbatenburg]

They haven't broken down the rooms for the sake of nostalgia I'm guessing.

[@cameroncampbell2564]

@@bartbatenburg Maybe they just haven't found another use for them yet. Maybe they can start a concert series.

[@adamcharman8726]

@@ohiasdxfcghbljokasdjhnfvaw4ehr emphasis on the ditch :D

[@ErikB605]

"Tradition is about nurturing the flame, not worshipping the ashes."

[@willjohnsonjohnson]

You're one of the few people who are honest about your sponsor. You use the product and speak from experience rather than spew out whatever their marketing team asks you to say.

[@freshrockpapa-e7799]

You do realize that they are obligated to say that they personally use it, right? Doesn't make it true.

[@HenryLand]

As a Dutch person I was like: "Huh... 'ik zal je nooit opgeven'..? Wait what does he mean?" Until I realised it was Tom rickrolling us 😅 ('Ik zal je nooit opgeven' is 'never gonna give you up' in Dutch.)

[@_artemystical7796]

Was it a rickroll? I think he needs to train his G sound. ;)

[@Project_Slagharen]

OH KOM OP!!! 😂😭

[@KoploperMau]

Interesting fun fact if you ever visit Schiphol Airport: The train tunnel to the airport houses a never used branch to this flower auction! Its called the 'flower tunnel' (geez, aren't we original here) but it never got finished or used for its desired purpose. Its located if you travel from Hoofddorp to Schiphol Airport on the right side. Its not that special, but its something... You might not have known. ^_^

[@mariuskreuder]

This abandoned railway track would have been a perfect approach for @TheTimTraveller to deal with the same video topic, just from another perspective. :D

[@mark2529]

Dat wist ik nait

[@puikepuck]

Wow, never knew that! Thanks for this info, will definitely try to spot it next time I travel on the Schiphol Line!

[@lifewithastrid]

I work at RFH but I really never know that the tunnel was never finished? Everyone always told me it was in use hahaha. (Note to co-workers: STOP TELLING ME LIES!!

[@manlikeangus]

@@mariuskreuder Hi @TheTimTraveller this is an incredible idea!

[@wrnrt]

Thanks for letting my fellow Dutchie speak in Dutch. IMHO having your guest speak their native language always works best to capture nuances and get a story without stuttering.

[@pseydtonne]

I liked hearing "Vatikanstad". I'm also a sucker for those diphthongs you can only get in Dutch, such as 'ij' and 'ui'.

[@cavaleriedesmarresetdesguetres]

When he did the video about the french guy flying with birds it was so pleasant that I did not have to read the subs at all and could just listen to everyone talk 😄 Also I'd like to ask you a question about dutch, I wanted to know if the guy from the interview had kind of an accent or if that could be considered standard dutch ? Because to my french ears he sounded like a french-belgian guy (or very north French) and i wondered if that was an accent or just the regular way to talk ! Thanks 😄

[@hetgenie]

@@cavaleriedesmarresetdesguetres About the accent of the interviewed person. If I had to guess as a native speaker I'd say he's somewhere from the province South-Holland, judging the way he pronounces his R's mostly. But other than that, he spoke nearly without any accent at all.

[@kellymccarthy7109]

i like onions

[@janaepting8940]

A hundred percent!!

[@femboygayming]

This idea I like, please make this tom

[@axsaaxsa9232]

Tom Scott's Guide To The Galaxy

[@Veerlejf]

There is already a fan made map of Tom Scott video locations, have a look!

[@robertk2194]

@@Veerlejf how do i find it?

[@mr.kittysavestheworld695]

2:56 Their word for "flower" is "bloomin," that is fantastic.

[@dion6634]

Had such a blast shooting this together with you! I think it turned out great 🔥

[@meoka2368]

That Nord plug was nice. I like how you took what you discussed about that kind of thing in a video a while back about things like "end to end encryption" just being a selling tactic because everything already does that, and didn't mention it here. The review comes across as honest and personal, and I appreciate that :)

[@thikim7056]

ok

[@radiocasterfull62]

@@thikim7056 ok

[@Simowl]

No hate to Tom for this, but dude that's how corporations get you... Tom is a youtuber making a living and he did this because it gets him money. He may be genuine with it, but starting to think that KZbinrs are your friends advertising things because they're being honest and personal is... not good.

[@DaedalusYoung]

I usually skip these sponsors, but occasionally one is well made, so I do watch it (Jay Foreman does good ads). It appears they don't say this anymore anyway. I guess because it is nowadays well known that encryption is not a problem without VPN. The only real advantage of a VPN is spoofing your location, but you have to trust yet another company that you don't know all the details about.

[@Jojje94]

I absolutely hate ads, I think it's disgusting, but this is more in the wheelhouse of recommending something that you personally use which I'm more okay with.

[@JohnBCurtix]

Worked here for a few years when I was a teenager, getting rid of cardboard waste, getting empty carts all over the place and working in the fridges were some of the thing we did mostly. Really had a lot of fun there and on days when it rained a lot (and I wasn't working there) I often also cycled from one end to the other because no wind and rain in there. Really great seeing a video, wish I knew you were visiting Tom!

[@marijnvandenberg6760]

I love that you found the most stereotypical Dutch backdrop to film against! I love your videos about The Netherlands, just something about the Dutch and logistics I guess. And of course special appearance by a bicycle.

[@TheJubess]

And because you are Dutch, and we love to hear and see foreigners talk about our country. It's something I've been seeing for years now on youtube. There are entire channels that 'exploit' this fact. "American reacts to poffertjes" or similar titled videos :D Anyway, same here .

[@wfmg7235]

Dutch people are interesting.

[@landsgevaer]

Not just stereotypical; also typical, frankly.

[@Mastercraft-ym9by]

@@wfmg7235 dankje

[@ccreutzig]

5:08 “If tradition gets in the way of that, then tradition had to go.” Showing a cart ignoring the tradition of adhering to the arrow direction. Well played!

[@katiekat4457]

Only Tom Scott can arrive where he's going fully prepared and then find out what he came to see was no more AND still be able to make an interesting video about it anyways.

[@johnjeffreys6440]

This guy can make ‘watching paint dry’ sound interesting.

[@wohao_gaster7434]

Did pointcrow not?

[@euansmith3699]

"Next, on Tom Scott; Observing the dehydration of chromatic emulsions".

[@johnjeffreys6440]

@@euansmith3699 aww sweet!

[@alicearaujo2030]

like rtgame

[@kshadehyaena]

Large R&D facility of a paint/varnish company would probably be quite interesting.

[@esquilax5563]

A funnier version of this was when they had a monarch changeover, and simultaneously changed their Queen's Day national celebration, on 30/04, to King's Day on the 27th. For a couple of years, sad groups of tourists could be seen on the 30th, all dressed up in orange and wondering where the party was

[@sundhaug92]

> This clock was famous, but the internet ruined it. Man, that must've gotten the owners ticked, good thing you got all the minute details

[@NickiRusin]

it's time to stop

[@wohao_gaster7434]

@@NickiRusin LVOVOPVOJFOVHEIOUJ HIOUH G

[@RowanB6]

@@NickiRusin don't be so alarmist

[@brazilian_oak]

I second this notion

[@simsim4910]

@@NickiRusin No, keep the gears turning

[@TaronTT]

Thanks for having a section of the video in Dutch, most of us speak English (as you probably knew already) so having our own language out there online is a nice thing to see! My opinion on the video will be in Dutch this time: Zeer interessante video, hij geeft een goed kijkje binnen de veiling. En zelfs ik als Nederlander wist niet dat de klok weg was... Jammer :(

[@ghosthin3012]

Tom Scott maybe the only person able to make a video bashing about a service and then STILL hire by that service to run ad on it. Amazing is an understatement.

[@Yotanido]

THAT is how you do a VPN ad. Thank you. I have been annoyed at VPN ads for the longest time, even before Tom's video on it. People say VPN ads have changed since then, but if they didn't continue outright lying, they still lied plenty by omission. This, however, does not imply anything false. (Very common: Hackers can easily steal your data unless you use a VPN. False. Or the internet provider can see everything you do on the internet without a VPN. Also false - not nearly everything - but it is true your provider will see less if you use a VPN - instead, the VPN provider gets to see that now.)

[@jammin023]

And that last point is the kicker, and is *never* mentioned in the ads, even this one. Can you trust a VPN company more than you trust your ISP? What country are they storing your data in, and are their laws about privacy, and providing backdoors to government agencies, laxer than your own?

[@CarthagoMike]

You mean by rickrolling people halfway through the ad? ;)

[@joshuapearson2153]

agree

[@Diggnuts]

Psst.. Sponsor block!

[@iulioh]

@@jammin023 well, nord had external auditors inspect the system they have in place and found thst no logs were saved And if anything if a government wants information on you it gets it.

[@zeerob9516]

That Rickroll in Dutch though, well played! Hope you had a good time in The Netherlands and would love to see more stuff filmed here if you ever get the chance to visit again.

[@paulvansommeren]

So that's what that was!

[@user-cp9id1mj8b]

6:13

[@MsEgwene]

Oh hahaha! I thought I heard "Ik zal je nooit hoop geven" and felt like I was missing a joke, but this makes way more sense 😂

[@thithi8793]

ok

[@penguinpingu3807]

Confirm after translating it.

[@codex4046]

As Dutch person I've visited another flower auction over here (another location of Flora Holland) when I was 10 and they reserved one of the auction rooms for a few groups of students and we had to play as if we were buying flowers etc. It was such a fun experience as a kid. I believe they still use the rooms as educational room.

[@steemlenn8797]

That was probably the admins testing a new system version. Nobody finds programming errors and oversights like a bunch of kids with their mothers.

[@pannenkoekspek]

You are DUTCH???!!! HOW INTERESSANT!!!....

[@jliller]

I've never heard of the clock nor the flower auction house nor a Dutch auction. I knew there was a lot of flower growing in the Low Countries, but that was about it. Thanks for the education.

[@yoearth]

This video reminds me of Queen's Day. A national holiday on which we celebrate the current royal's birthday. Except we now have a king and he moved the date. So every year a few tourists show up on the wrong date, expecting an orange-themed extravaganza... Only to be disappointed it's a normal day.

[@JYD2020]

You know it's a good vid when Tom said he had to throw out his script because everything changed

[@Vanguardkl]

What changed?

[@Ruzzky_Bly4t]

@@Vanguardkl There is no auction in the building. Did you watch the video?

[@zelly4914]

The "stop the clock" thing reminds me of that circle of lights game in arcades where you try to land on just the right one.

[@Kanbei11]

Did you see Marc Rober's video on those? It's a few years old now but to the surprise of nobody it's not as random as it appears

[@bigclivedotcom]

In a way the video was more interesting because of the evolution of the market into the digital age.

[@bobbio100]

I did appreciate that you didn't have to lie about data protection which was an issue you brought up in your "won't be sponsored by ___VPN" vid, so that's cool

[@ODISeth]

Tom Scott getting sponsored by a VPN is quite surprising given that he single-handedly changed how VPN sponsorships are handled. Thought they’d be too upset at him to allow that

[@tomer4566]

The VPN always wins

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

They also know that if, after watching that video, we see Tom accepting a sponsorship, it's a legitimately good product. An endorsement from a famous critic is worth more than a thousand endorsements from anyone else.

[@ODISeth]

@@HALLish-jl5mo that is quite true

[@Minchandre]

If I remember correctly, it was N__VPN that was going to sponsor his original video, right? If so, this is extra ironic.

[@midgetwars1]

@@Minchandre Looks like they both won? Nord gets the sponsorship but Tom gets to make it right.

[@Aiika__]

Ok but i am REALLY interested in how they "solved" the latency issue. How the heck did they do that?!

[@c.a.7058]

A sort of standard way is to standardise ping. Like, everyone gets 50ms ping no matter what, the "delay" is artificial adding time to the real ping that is perceived.

[@ShimmeringSpectrum]

If I had to guess, the system tracks how long from the moment the clock started on the customer's computer until that customer hits the button. Then, network latency is irrelevant. It's all about the nanoseconds from when your computer said start and you said stop.

[@randomizednamme]

Maybe bids are placed in advance? From what they showed the digital clock moved really fast

[@euansmith3699]

I assume that they buffer all the bids and compare them to pick a winner; hold off on picking a winner long enough for everyone to place a bid. Either that, or Time Machines.

[@thomasr730]

I think the latency doesn't matter. your client sends the price when you clicked and the system checks the highest price that someone clicked for because that person clicked the earliest from the moment the clock started running

[@graham1034]

I worked in the technical end of the auction industry as it was all moving online in the 2000s and learned about the Dutch auction style, though it is rarely used. Had no idea it comes from the flower auctions but it totally makes sense.

[@riannap973]

It's true. There are traditions that have to be kept and maintained but there are also traditions that you have to let go for efficiency and sustainability.

[@fivewd]

I met one of the auctioneers several years ago. While it's true that you can bid from wherever in the world, being closer to the "source" can save you lots of money. All comes down to the clocks and the latency of your connection with the auction system. Just physically being closer to the auction servers can save you some miliseconds, which on larger scale means €€€. Of course the quality of your internet connection matters even more, so a lot of effort is put info getting the best option available. This is similar to the connections to the stock markets. NYSE has a long fibre cable installed on their local network to delay the packets, so that trading from the "inside" does not have the advantage over traders from the "outside". I believe Tom made a video about that some time ago.

[@GambitsEnd]

latency is part of why they have 35 different clocks now.

[@mbux14]

Tom did make a video about that, but I don't think it was NYSE. It was a much smaller market. Same principle in many video games.

[@Aaron_hindle]

Tom: "I need it to look professional and it to look good with me in frame" also Tom: "OoO windmill"

[@CrashperM]

Always fun to see a video in The Netherlands

[@reneg8]

Tom SCott endorsing a VPN service... my my, I think thats more of the moral of the story here, than a flower auction clock going away. Parallels can be drawn!

[@GayIncel]

care to elaborate

[@kiix]

I've seen so many creators criticize VPNs recently, I feel like I've missed a memo?

[@impiaaa]

@@kiix They don't really solve any of the privacy problems that they often claim to solve. The ISP might not see your internet traffic, but they can see you using the VPN, and the VPN provider can see your internet traffic, and it can be subpoenaed just as easily as the ISP. Tom's use case of "I just need an overseas IP address" is probably the most realistic, but even then it's often against the ToS of those visited sites to use a VPN or proxy.

[@Dusto9]

@@GayIncel In the video he explains how the auction clock disappeared because in business traditions are broken with when efficiency can be improved. Followed by tom breaking with his tradition of disliking VPN sponsor deals because for his business it actually helps his efficiency.

[@rcvmouriktransport9785]

I work here, and believe me. We use real full size big rigs for internal transport. And we drive those little carts u see inside, with about 22 carts behind it per drive. We do per person per day about 30 drives around the veiling. So think about 660 carts per person per day. Do that times... probably around 300 to mabye more then 600 people. Thats about how much goes around , internal, per day!

[@SadGirlNoceda]

im more impressed by the fact that this is all based on flowers. why do the dutch like flowers so much

[@DanTheCaptain]

The sight of those employees driving around forklifts in the warehouse, in a seemingly unorganized fashion looks just as chaotic as regular everyday Dutch bicycle traffic. Never change Netherlands, never change

[@jamesflameson]

I'm Dutch and I love how at 0:30 you can hear that Tom took the time to practice the Dutch pronunciation of Aalsmeer. It's not necessary for the video but shows he cares about the language and culture and I love it!

[@GRAYgauss]

I was able to pronounce it just as he did with one try. Probably just asked someone and did the same. That's kinda how we learn languages anyways, nothing strange about it...

[@jamesflameson]

@@GRAYgauss many occurences of English people trying to pronounce words I said to them very slowly have shown it's not that easy. You must be lucky being able to do it

[@jamesflameson]

@@GRAYgauss also, you hear it as an englishman trying to pronounce it as a dutchman. I hear it as a dutchman listening to an enhlishman tryin to pronounce it as a dutchman. There is an incredible world of difference between the speaker of the language and the foreigner in terms of sound recognition so I suggest returning to your research :)

[@FlotsamCarnage]

He's so good about language. Probably due to his degree in linguistics. Or are linguistic credentials due to his being good with languages 🤔

[@pannenkoekspek]

You are DUTCH??!!! HOW INTERESSANT!!!....

[@thecookieeater]

Having the clocks account for latency like he claims they do seems like a really interesting distributed systems problem.

[@stefansynths]

I want to know if you can make it look like your packets are coming from the other side of the world, when they're actually coming from next door. Seems possible, but not my area of expertise.

[@Laura-hl3hg]

@@stefansynths I think for that to bypass any security they might have implemented you'd actually have to send your packets there, which would then again but you at a disadvantage. But I don't think they even did it that way at all.

[@hecko-yes]

can't they just have the client send whatever number was displayed locally (so no calibration needed) and have the server wait for half a second before picking the highest bid then lower ping couldn't benefit anyone because the only time the server sends something is when the bid is already over

[@callak_9974]

Just having it send certain bits of information, like the amount that was bid with and comparing it to everyone else would be enough. Whichever one pushed it at a higher number will be the purchaser at that point, latency wouldn't be a huge deal with that.

[@jacksoncoay517]

“In the business world, tradition is rarely more important than money.” Well said. Couldn’t be closer to the truth.

[@akawilly]

Kind of sad seeing this tradition ended, but it makes sense. Thanks for the update!

[@JeroenFallsUp]

I can't believe I got rickrolled in Dutch

[@Rompler_Rocco]

I miss *real* auction marketplaces where you bid in person, paid in cash, destroyed the item with your bare hands, and then drove to the seller for your full refund.

[@supernenechi]

There was an episode of the old Dutch TV show "Bassie en Adriaan" where they visited one of those clocks and showed how it worked. It was actually in a series "Reis door Europa" (Trip through Europe), where they visited every country of the (at the time, not yet formed and therefore future) European Union. To any Dutch person who didn't grow up watching them, you missed something. To any Dutch kid reading this: please look it up, it's so good.

[@weeardguy]

@@GreatLordEli En de regenjas van B100 is ook nog steeds niet van een gat voorzien voor de antenne ;)

[@CreepersNeedHugs]

Tom is the guy who always reads the terms and conditions

[@Vawltt]

I really admire toms integrity and not taking money to say the typical VPN advert stuff. He made a video about it so i suppose he didn't have a choice other than to be called a hypocrite. Again, amazing integrity :)

[@0h0h0h0]

I'm Dutch and I'm sad to learn this has changed without me knowing, even though I didn't know that much about it to begin with. Edit: AND SO GREAT that you kept the language in Dutch, I always love it when there are two languages (with the subtitles) because they both add a different nuance. :D

[@Burning_Dwarf]

For any language Subs > Dubs

[@weeardguy]

I could've told him already ;) even as an eighties kid, I only know the electronic LED-based clocks (with rotating LED-lights instead of a physical clock) from the Klokhuis episodes in the nineties, when they would explain about the flower-auction.

[@Ramotttholl]

Im glad they did, usuall ppl who are pushed to speak in english here get in a painfull habbit of mixing and messing up words and just quickly drop the word in dutch and move on. Started seeing that years ago on discovery and as a fellow dutchman i hated it.

[@weeardguy]

@@Ramotttholl On the other hand I'm always surprised how bad Dutch people from big international operating countries are at speaking English...

[@klausfischer3079]

Unfortunately, subtitles don’t help blind people, like I am… and sadly, when I was young, our neighbors language wasn’t taught in school… Greetings from Düsseldorf!

[@wathc7722]

2:08 even in the giant buildings, the dutch still bike

[@thomsendk123]

Having been inside the FloraHolland myself i can only agree with the camera not being able to pick up proper scale. It's like an ant hill with all the packing going on when it's busy and how well optimized people are at driving the picking trucks in there.

[@Gojiro7]

I find it very refreshing to hear Tom be someone who level headedly reminds us that the word is ever changing and you cant hold onto everything of the past, things have to change because the world is a great big business and we have to pick and choose what traditions to keep alive but they can't be things that actively get in the way of our daily infrastructure and way of life and you can't be selfish demanding that something has to stay around just because you like it or it looks cool, that just isn't how the world works.

[@Ninjalectual]

The underground flower auction in Bob's Burgers must be based on this

[@fableagain]

It always makes me happy when someone makes a video about my country hehe. Also: there are actually still small auctions that use a clock, or auction houses that do re-enactments. I went to one as a kid once. I ended up accidentally forcing my mom to pay €5 for an apple hahaha!

[@Ban00]

What language do you guys speak there

[@SaltyMikan]

@@Ban00 Dutch

[@guususus]

@@Ban00 Nederlands :) (Dutch in Dutch)

[@cloverandanais]

That ending might be the best variant for that I've ever seen. More than any, i think it might convince me to give it a try.

[@CarthagoMike]

You know it is good when you get rickrolled in another language.

[@Jehty_]

If you get a VPN one thing I would recommend: all the big VPN-services have 30-days money back guarantee. So that's already more than half a year of VPN for free.

[@Dusterisp]

You had me slack-jawed at "I'm surprised too"

[@Scyth3934]

Holy crap! So why do they need it- other countries are able to survive without huge flower auction warehouses, right?

[@JoRdi-ul4xg]

how about you let people buy flowers?

[@Ori_Ovadia]

I was there, in that warehouse, 22 years ago when i was 12, as part of a group tour :) I didnt understand what was going on, it was so overwhelming, but the flowers were very nice to look at, we even took a picture of this!

[@TorzyTheJer]

This is amazing. I didn't know about this clock and auction. It looks like a great warehouse to have work experience at, honestly, you got some great shots of how massive the scale is and the need for vehicles everywhere. Also props for you using actual footage of your Nord VPN usage; I saw the "not stock footage" disclaimer and rewatched the segment to what the service really is. It worked!

[@jmabry62]

Very cheeky, Tom. He says tradition very rarely stays around when confronted with money, has his second-ever ad break, and talks about breaking tradition by doing so. He was talking about himself too!

[@jmabry62]

@@ragnkja Interesting, I only came to my conclusion based on what he said in the robot double video from a bit ago. I realize I misinpreted what he meant in that video after rewatching now. I still think he did have a bit of a double meaning there in this video with regard to money and traditions though.

[@pietapfel6923]

The NordVPN ad was the best part😂😂 who would have thought that any VPN provider would ever talk to Tom again

[@yce2698]

It's cool seeing the place i deliver to on a daily basis in a video. I can confirm that it's truly massive. Funny that you even included that stupid inverted speedbump down on the flowerfloor. 🤣

[@Intrests]

I did not just open google translate to get rick rolled...

[@alexcreem7394]

It wouldn't be a true Tom Scott video if it didn't open with "the script and all the research I did ahead of time for this got flushed down the toilet when I got here."

[@theplinko9840]

As someone who works in a factory, using bikes to get around is a lot mote common than you think, even in smaller buildings.

[@JMPDev]

Love you actually sharing very legitimate uses for the VPN! :)

[@c0d3_m0nk3y]

As a software engineer, I'd be interested how they have managed to solve the latency issue of their online auctions.

[@Qaatloz]

Last that I know of (information from 2016&2017) is that they did not compensate for latency in Aalsmeer but they had done a test in Naaldwijk where the client on the buyer side communicated the price on which the buyer had pressed the button. If multiple buyers had pressed the button in say 30ms the buyer which client reported the highest price would get the buy. So you might see the clock jump back up if an buyer with a high latency had pressed. That was one way they (at that time) intended to compensate for latency. I'm actually not quite sure if this has been implemented because of the rivalry within Royal FloraHolland between the Aalsmeer and Naaldwijk locations.

[@ezekielmartin4323]

At 6:13 I opened subtitles, looked at "ik zal je nooit opgeven," and went _I swear to god if that means what I think it means..._ Tom, you mad bastard. Well done.

[@royalninja2823]

I expected 'the internet ruined it' to be like, influencers and tourists destroyed it somehow. This is a lot more interesting and less depressing.

[@soundscape26]

I got the same feeling. Glad I was wrong.

[@macoud12]

As far as I know, the auction clock at Museum BroekerVeiling in Broek op Langedijk still is being used. Still an analog clock too.

[@jameskovacs8825]

I'm glad you were able to work out a deal with Nord that didn't include anything about how "now hackers can't get your info lolololol". It feels true to form and genuine from you Tom, and we love to see someone get paid for being genuine.

[@harrypjotr4987]

that ''now hackers can't get your info lolololol'' made me lmao.

[@Sunny91169]

It is ok tom , you can do ads. It pays your bills. We will support you regardless ❤️

[@paulrandig]

I have seen it in 1990. This building is so huge that the misty air - caused by the moisture of millions of flowers indeed covers the distant walls because they are so far away.