These Are HAI’s Worst Mistakes of the Year | Half as Interesting

The Gist

Half as Interesting highlights its own worst factual errors, bad maps, math mistakes, and cartography blunders from the past year. The annual Whoopsie Awards honor the most embarrassing mistakes made by writers Amy, Christine, Sam, Kate, and Mikaila.

Quick Overview

Half as Interesting reviews its most embarrassing errors of the year through a satirical awards show format called the Whoopsie Awards. The video breaks down the worst footage, literacy failures, math errors, cartography blunders, bad instincts, and double whoopsies committed by the writing team over the past year.

Key Points: The worst footage award went to a Swiss banknote video for showing the 50-franc note with a mountain instead of the correct 100-franc holographic Zurich waterways note. The worst literacy award went to the 911 dispatch video for incorrectly referring to time difference of arrival method as triangulation instead of trilateration. The worst math award went to a military fast food video for stating that 4,000 people live at Camp Humphreys instead of the correct 40,000. The worst cartography award went to a Seawise Giant ship video for mapping a crude oil route directly across North Africa and the Atlantic Ocean through impossible terrain. The 89-degree award went to an ancient coding language video because writer Amy made a functional COBOL script with incorrect indentation and extra spaces. The worst instinct award went to a conveyor belt video for stating that the UK is hanging onto the Pitcairn Islands split off Argentina. The double whoopsie award went to a recap of last year's mistakes because the channel repeated previous text errors and mislabeled video sources.

Context: Half as Interesting is a YouTube channel known for fast-paced mini-documentaries on geography, aviation, history, and miscellaneous trivia. Despite rigorous research, the team occasionally makes factual errors, spelling blunders, and map mistakes, which they humorously acknowledge and celebrate in an annual recap video.