Watch a hydraulic press crush another press inside yet another press - CNET

The Hydraulic Press Channel on YouTube was a quiet, sleepy place until social news networking site Reddit got ahold of it and rocketed it the stratosphere of video popularity. It's now racking up millions of views for footage of a huge press squishing everything from a hockey puck to a Lego car. Early on, fans asked for the press operator to film the ultimate press stunt: crushing another hydraulic press. And today he delivered.

The "Pressception" video brings to mind the brain-bending dreams-within-dreams movie "Inception." The press operator starts by loading a red hydraulic press into a bigger blue press and sets a mini model of yet another press in to ramp up the absurdity factor. But that's not all. Once the blue press flattens a bit of the red press, the whole shebang goes into a giant hydraulic press for a final dramatic crush-fest.

The Hydraulic Press Channel may be a mode Inteet star, but flattening weird objects in a press dates back at least as far as an early David Letterman show. A Letterman clip shows him visiting a machine shop and smooshing a six-pack of beer, a lamp, some squash and a bowling ball with an 80-ton hydraulic press. Some things never go out of style.