Part scathing critique, part call to action, Independent Media In A Time Of War is a hard-hitting new documentary by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center. This film is composed of a speech given by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy.
Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is, says Amy Goodman, to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent. She makes a compelling argument that the commercial news media have failed to represent the true face of war.
Ancient Astronaut theorists believe aliens have been visiting earth for thousands of years. If so, might we find evidence of this even in the stories of America’s Old West? In Aurora, Texas, the local cemetery claims to hold the body of an alien whose ship crashed there in 1897.
In Utah, petroglyphs depict strange beings wearing what look like space suits. In southern California, 19th century ranchers reported seeing an otherworldly creature emerge from Elizabeth Lake.
And even in Tombstone, Arizona, the home of Wyatt Earp and the site of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, cowboys claimed to have shot at a giant, metallic bird Are these simply campfire tales, or did the cowboys and native people of America’s Wild West actually come in contact with alien beings from another – much more distant – frontier?
Hindu scripture describes an enormous flying creature called a Garuda that shook the ground when it landed on Earth. Is it possible that this monster was actually a misinterpreted alien craft? Are hybrids like the Centaur, the Minotaur and Medusa just mythical creatures of fantasy – or could these ancient depictions of terrifying monsters have been the result of advanced extraterrestrial transplantation procedures?
Are sacred places the product of man’s reverence for God – or the result of contact with ancient space travelers? Jerusalem’s Temple Mount has been called a heavenly gateway. Islam’s shrine at Mecca displays a Black Stone believed to have fallen from heaven. And the temple at Baalbek, Lebanon was built on a massive stone structure resembling a landing pad. Did man encounter divine beings at these holy places, or might they have met ancient extraterrestrials?
The playlist bellow includes 8 episodes from the series: 1. Aliens and the Old West, 2. Aliens and Monsters, 3. Aliens and Sacred Places, 4. Aliens and Temples of Gold, 5. Aliens and Mysterious Rituals, 6. Aliens and Ancient Engineers, 7. Aliens, Plagues and Epidemics, and 8. Aliens and Lost Worlds. Here you can watch Ancient Aliens: Season 1and Ancient Aliens: Season 2.
Never before has a time in history been so significant to so many cultures, religions, scientists and governments.
Beyond 2012 looks past the apocalyptic world view of 2012 and presents a wide variety of evolving perspectives on the next age of global consciousness and techniques for social and ecological transformation.
Topics include Shamanism, Sustainability, Ecological Design, Green Technologies, Alternative Energy Systems, the Mayan Calendar, Psychic Evolution, Synchronicity, and a host of other subjects that deal with the mysteries, wonders and challenges facing all of humankind during this unprecedented age of transformation.
The Large Hadron Collider promises to recreate the conditions right after the Big Bang. By revisiting the beginning of time, scientists hope to unravel some of the deepest secrets of our Universe.
Within these first few moments the building blocks of the Universe were created. The search for these fundamental particles has occupied scientists for decades but there remains one particle that has stubbornly refused to appear in any experiment.
The Higgs Boson is so crucial to our understanding of the Universe that it has been dubbed the God particle. It explains how fundamental particles acquire mass, or as one scientist plainly states: It is what makes stuff stuff…
Catch a first-time glimpse at smart technology that will put android helpers in the home, network commuters and entire cities to the Web, and bring us entertainment systems that can virtually make dreams come true.
Advances in artificial intelligence are creating machines with near human-like mental agility. Intelligence will be embedded everywhere – even in our clothing, thanks to smaller, more powerful computers.
Soon, we will be able to build computers with artificial intelligence and processing power that rivals the human brain.
Intelligence will be everywhere, in our clothing, our vehicles and homes. Intelligent robots will serve us – until they don’t feel like doing so anymore. And what happens then…?
This is the story behind the fiendishly addictive game, a tale of high stakes, intimidation and legal feuds set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions between East and West.
Blocks of different sizes fall from the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen they settle and, if you can make a whole line then they vanish – of course if you don’t then they keep building up until you run out of room and the game ends. It is incredibly simple but fiendishly addictive and once you played it, you were pretty much owned by Tetris.
This documentary takes us back to the origins of the game in Russia as systems at the Moscow Computing School were being developed and pushed as to what they could do and one programme starts experimenting with falling shapes based on a famous jigsaw puzzle.
Computer games are made every week in the world and although Tetris was a phenomenon, a documentary that looks at the business dealings and negotiations that took it from a Moscow computer into homes and hands around the world.
However the story behind the business moves, political complications and such is a fascinating one that is delivered in an accessible and succinct manner in this documentary. The talking heads approach works really well because the contributions are focused and interesting – presenting the history while also managing to bring their characters out well.
The presentation is professional and respectful while the whole thing is very easy to follow and understand. Overall an enjoyable and interesting documentary that despite sounding a bit dull and corporate, will easily engage those who are familiar with the game.
This is the story behind the fiendishly addictive game, a tale of high stakes, intimidation and legal feuds set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions between East and West.
Blocks of different sizes fall from the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen they settle and, if you can make a whole line then they vanish – of course if you don’t then they keep building up until you run out of room and the game ends. It is incredibly simple but fiendishly addictive and once you played it, you were pretty much owned by Tetris.
This documentary takes us back to the origins of the game in Russia as systems at the Moscow Computing School were being developed and pushed as to what they could do and one programme starts experimenting with falling shapes based on a famous jigsaw puzzle.
Computer games are made every week in the world and although Tetris was a phenomenon, a documentary that looks at the business dealings and negotiations that took it from a Moscow computer into homes and hands around the world.
However the story behind the business moves, political complications and such is a fascinating one that is delivered in an accessible and succinct manner in this documentary. The talking heads approach works really well because the contributions are focused and interesting – presenting the history while also managing to bring their characters out well.
The presentation is professional and respectful while the whole thing is very easy to follow and understand. Overall an enjoyable and interesting documentary that despite sounding a bit dull and corporate, will easily engage those who are familiar with the game.
At midnight, travel to the tiny country of Monaco and watch residents riding on a gondola on a beautiful summer night.
By 12:05 a.m. you are transported to Canada to watch a gaggle of geese forage for food on a grassy knoll. Seem impossible? Not when the photographs are provided by the International Space Station as it orbits the Earth.
Around the World in 90 Minutes tells the spectacular story of what happens around the globe during one 90-minute voyage through a series of high definition images broadcast from thousands of miles away.
Internet Rising is a labor of love comprising a rapid fire mashup stream of live webcam interviews all conducted within the web sphere.
Internet Rising is a digi-documentary investigating the evolving relationships between the Internet and collective consciousness of humanity.
It provokes many questions about ancient and modern paradoxes of life, its pleasures and pains… and the gray area contrasts in between – but most of all it is meant to be an inspiring conversation starter.
The film’s participants include many profound personalities and key Internet influencers ranging from professors, corporate academics, futurists, researchers, writers, bloggers, media creators, activists, gamers, educators, scientists, artists, innovators – real humans, all of whom provide amazing insights into how our state of the world is changing and transforming via various forces of economic, social, geographic, political, philosophical development… all centered around technology’s transformative and generative power.
I Lost My Job is a documentary film which sets out to explore the phenomenon which is affecting and due to affect many people’s lives – namely, technological unemployment.
The documentary also examines what we can do about it as a society through the analysis of a transitional direction.
Particular questions need to be raised about this subject. What are the social consequences of ongoing technological unemployment within our current economic system?
How do we handle such a situation when this process is inevitable with the ongoing emergence of machine automation and new technologies taking over repetitive jobs?
Beginning with the death of Socrates in 399 BC, and following the story through the centuries to recent figures such as Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein, Bryan Magee’s conversations with fifteen contemporary writers and philosophers provide an accessible and exciting account of Western philosophy and its greatest thinkers.
The contributors include A.J. Ayer, Bernard Williams, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, and John Searle, so that the documentary is not only an introduction to the philosophers of the past, but gives an invaluable insight into the view and personalities of some of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.
The series are little bit dated but I think they’re real treasure and food for thought.
This documentary goes over many philosophical concepts that inspired, and are presented in, the trilogy. They spend the first half on the original film, and the rest of the time then goes over parts 2 and 3, with a couple of things on the Animatrix shorts.
It consists of clips of aforementioned releases and interviews. It does a good job of informing the audience about the various thoughts, although it would obviously take far longer to go over all the symbolism in them, and one can ask the very appropriate question if something anywhere near that definite and final is even desired, by viewers or the Wachowskis alike.
That does mean that this is limited, but it is likely enough to enlighten and provide food for thought. In line with the series, this may provoke debate, rather than give answers set in stone. Whether one cares for this or not may depend on the extent of their knowledge on the subject, the old ideas, as well as how much they’ve thought about the presence of such in these three silver screen efforts.
Obviously, it also makes a difference if one particularly wants to think about the meanings one could possibly take out of them.
This documentary goes over many philosophical concepts that inspired, and are presented in, the trilogy. They spend the first half on the original film, and the rest of the time then goes over parts 2 and 3, with a couple of things on the Animatrix shorts.
It consists of clips of aforementioned releases and interviews. It does a good job of informing the audience about the various thoughts, although it would obviously take far longer to go over all the symbolism in them, and one can ask the very appropriate question if something anywhere near that definite and final is even desired, by viewers or the Wachowskis alike.
That does mean that this is limited, but it is likely enough to enlighten and provide food for thought. In line with the series, this may provoke debate, rather than give answers set in stone. Whether one cares for this or not may depend on the extent of their knowledge on the subject, the old ideas, as well as how much they’ve thought about the presence of such in these three silver screen efforts.
Obviously, it also makes a difference if one particularly wants to think about the meanings one could possibly take out of them.
Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, akaThe Elvis of cultural theory, is given the floor to show of his polemic style and whirlwind-like performance.
The Giant of Ljubljana is bombarded with clips of popular media images and quotes by modern-day thinkers revolving around four major issues: the economical crisis, environment, Afghanistan and the end of democracy.
Zizek grabs the opportunity to ruthlessly criticize modern capitalism and to give his view on our common future. We communists are back! is the closing remark of Slavoj Zizeks provocative performance.
Our current capitalist system, that everyone believed would be smoothly spread around the globe, is untenable. We find ourselves on the brink of big problems that call for big solutions.
Whatever is left of the left, has been hedged in by western liberal democracy and seems to lack the energy to come up with radical solutions. Not Zizek.
Presented by Robert Winston, How to Sleep Better is a practical guide to the world of sleep. The programme explores the common problems, dangers and the mysteries that have puzzled scientists for years.
One in five motorway accidents are attributed to a lack of sleep, which was also a contributory factor in disasters such as Chernobyl and the Challenger shuttle explosion.
This programme looks at the dangers of poor sleep, how people perceive their sleep and provides real solutions.
Viewers can find out about practical tools to help them get a good night’s sleep rather than resorting to over the counter drugs. Most people have suffered the torment of a sleepless night at some point in their lives – for some it’s an ongoing misery. How to Sleep Better follows a group of self-professed poor sleepers as they take part in a ‘sleep lab’ to pinpoint what is keeping them awake.
By pressing the red button as these tests happen on air, viewers can get their own sleep profile by taking part in an interactive questionnaire. The profile has tips on what areas to look at, and as the programme continues, provides advice tailored to your specific sleep profile.
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are both excellent sources of entertainment, but they also offer a complex and interesting dissection of a man who learned to use his own fear against criminals.
Delve into the world of Batman and the vigilante justice that he brought to the city of Gotham. Batman is a man who, after experiencing great tragedy, devotes his life to an ideal – but what happens when one man takes on the evil underworld alone?
Examine why Batman is who he is – and explore how a boy scarred by tragedy becomes a symbol of hope to everyone else.
Not only does this documentary investigate the mental attitude of the mysterious caped crusader along with selective interviews from various expert, but also put some brilliant resemblances between the Batman and Theodore Roosevelt.
Additionally, the filmmakers shows how spiritual iconography greatly influenced the development of the Batman character.
Aside from that, it includes a short insight inside the motivating force that drives other infamous figures such as the Catwoman and the Joker. Explore why the history of the Cape Crusader and discover how a kid scarred by traumatic event turns into a symbol of hope for City of Gotham.
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services,wearing of green attireand the lifting of Lenten restrictions oneating, and drinking alcohol which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,Northern Ireland,Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.
Ireland's spectacular coastline, castle-topped hills, rich literary history, and legendary hospitality make the destination a perennial favorite for American travelers. (That, and the fact that nearly 40 million U.S. citizens claim some Irish ancestry.)
Think you know a wee bit about this popular spot? Find out just how much with this quiz. If you score 10 to 15 right, you'll be right at home in the Land of Saints and Scholars. Get between 5 and 9 right, and you’ve earned yourself a pint of Guinness. Score any lower, and you might need to hole up in one of Ireland's historic hotels and start studying.
A gunman shot to death an American teacher in the city of Taiz, Yemen
A gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle shot to death an American teacher in the city of Taiz, Yemen, on Sunday, a high-ranking government official there told NBC News.
The official said the teacher, an adviser at a Swedish-affiliated institute, died immediately after he was struck by gunfire Sunday morning. Taiz is about 50 miles south of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
Taiz has been a hotbed of opposition during Yemen's revolution. Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the security vacuum in Yemen during the revoltion and extended its presence and authority in the country. Al-Qaida is in control of two cities in the south and have staged attacks on the Yemeni police and military, the latest killing more than 150 soldiers.
L'anonymat proscrit des réseaux sociaux à Pékin
Avant de s'enregistrer sur les sites de micromessagerie, les internautes chinois, doivent, depuis vendredi 16 mars, indiquer leur vrai noms. Cette fin de l'anonymat sur les réseaux sociaux avait été annoncée à la fin de l'année 2011 par les autorités chinoises.
Pour l'heure, la mesure, appliquée par arrêté municipal, ne concerne que les services hébergés à Pékin, mais d'autres villes, comme Shanghaï et Guangzhou devraient suivre. 'Les sites Internet gérant des microblogs doivent mettre en place et améliorer le système de censure de leurs contenus', selon les nouvelles règles publiées par le site officiel de la municipalité de Pékin. Le nombre d'utilisateurs de ce genre de site, qui permet de mettre en ligne des micromessages sur le modèle de Twitter ont explosé.
Si la Chine compte un peu plus de 500 millions d'internautes, Sina Weibo revendique à lui seul 300 millions de comptes ouverts. A la fin 2010, ils n'étaient que 63 millions d'utilisateurs. Les services chinois bénéficient de l'interdiction sur le territoire de concurrents américains, comme Twitter. D'après les analystes, Sina Weibo est valorisé à près de 5 milliards de dollars (3,8 milliards d'euros), sur l'indice américain du Nasdaq.
Ce n'est pas la première fois que les autorités chinoises marquent leur défiance à propos des réseaux sociaux et des sites de micromessagerie. Fin octobre, les autorités avaient déjà ordonné un renforcement du contrôle de l'Internet afin d'empêcher la publication de 'rumeurs' et de matériel 'vulgaire'.
LIEU DE CONTESTATION
Ces sites sont de plus en plus souvent utilisés par les Chinois pour se plaindre d'abus de pouvoir de fonctionnaires corrompus ou dénoncer de nombreux scandales, allant des aliments frelatés aux dangers de la pollution atmosphérique. A la fin du mois de juillet, la collision de deux TGV près de la ville de Wenzhou, qui a fait 40 morts, a ainsi été signalée en (...) Lire la suite sur lemonde.fr
Une agence de location parcourt 3400km pour récupérer son camping-car oublié !
En France, une agence de location de véhicule a dû parcourir 3400 km pour récupérer un camping-car oublié en Russie par un de ses clients.
L'agence Ambiance Loisirs, spécialisée dans la vente et location de camping-car se souviendra longtemps de ce fameux client. En novembre 2011, un homme fait une réservation afin de louer un camping-car. Avec ce dernier il compte parcourir l'Europe de l'Est et plus précisément la Russie. Dix jours passent, et ce client sexagénaire revient récupérer son véhicule laissé sur le parking de l'agence. Rien d'anormal... si l'homme n'était pas rentré de Russie par avion ! Laissant le véhicule sur place, peut-être a t-il trouvé le voyage aller bien trop fatigant... Reste que Marie-Claude Genevois et Marc François, les responsables de l'agence, sont choqués devant un tel comportement.
Dans un premier temps, Ambiance Loisirs a déposé plainte pour abus et détournement de bien, puis très vite, les questions concernant le rapatriement du véhicule se sont posées. La solution la moins onéreuse était de se rendre sur place. Marc François et un employé de la société ont donc décidé de faire le périple qui restera gravé à jamais dans leurs mémoires.
Un périple routier de cinq jours et de 3 450 kilomètres
Tout commence le 27 février 2012, lorsque les deux compères arrivent dans la banlieue de Moscou 3h45 après leur départ de Marseille. En retrouvant le véhicule, ils découvrent avec soulagement qu'il est en état de marche malgré le froid. Le principal problème était de faire sortir de Russie le camping-car, car comme le précise Six-Fours.net, les véhicules ont besoin d'un visa tout comme les personnes dans ce pays. Or, comme l'homme par qui le véhicule est entré est différent de ceux qui veulent le faire sortir, cela coince.
On leur conseille alors de passer par la Biélorussie, la douane étant inexistante. Problème, ce pays est situé à environ 1 000 kilomètres de leur point de départ. Arrivés en Pologne, (...) Lire la suite sur Gentside.com
L'ex-gardien de camp nazi John Demjanjuk est mort
John Demjanjuk, condamné en mai dernier par la justice allemande à cinq ans de prison pour complicité dans la mort de 28.000 Juifs en 1943 dans le camp nazi de Sobibor (Pologne), est mort samedi à 91 ans dans une maison de retraite du sud de l'Allemagne, a annoncé un porte-parole de la police.
Juste après sa condamnation, il avait été remis en liberté en raison de son âge.
Extradé des Etats-Unis vers l'Allemagne en 2009, Demjanjuk a toujours clamé son innocence.
Né en 1920 en Ukraine, John Demjanjuk, enrôlé dans l'Armée rouge en 1941, avait été fait prisonnier par les troupes allemandes un an plus tard.
Il aurait ensuite été gardien au camp de Sobibor, où l'on estime que 250.000 Juifs sont morts.
John Demjanjuk a émigré aux Etats-Unis au début des années 1950 et obtenu la nationalité américaine en 1958. Déchu de sa nationalité, il a été extradé en 1981 vers Israël, où la justice l'a condamné à mort en 1988 après que des survivants de l'Holocauste l'eurent identifié comme étant le garde surnommé "Ivan le Terrible" au camp de Treblinka, où ont péri 870.000 personnes.
Cinq ans plus tard, la Cour suprême israélienne cassait ce jugement et le libérait à la lumière de nouveaux documents issus de l'ancienne URSS. Ces documents indiquaient qu'un autre homme, Ivan Marchenko, était probablement "Ivan le Terrible".
Revenu à Cleveland, John Demjanjuk a recouvré sa nationalité américaine en 1998. Un an plus tard, le département de la Justice rouvrait son dossier en le soupçonnant d'avoir été gardien dans trois camps nazis et de l'avoir caché aux services de l'immigration lors de son arrivée aux Etats-Unis.
En 2002, il perdait de nouveau sa nationalité américaine et, après l'échec de divers recours, il finissait par être extradé vers l'Allemagne en mai 2009 après l'émission d'un mandat d'arrêt par la justice allemande.
Lors du procès, l'accusation a été fragilisée par l'absence de témoins directs des faits reprochés à Demjanjuk. Elle s'est essentiellement appuyée sur des documents datant de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, dont une carte d'identité nazie.
Pour la défense, ce document est un faux fabriqué par les Soviétiques. Elle a ajouté que, en supposant que Demjanjuk ait bien été gardien de camp, il n'en a pas eu le choix: en tant que prisonnier de guerre, il risquait soit d'être abattu, soit de mourir de faim.
Gareth Jones, Guy Kerivel pour le service français
George Clooney arrêté et menotté avec son père
Rien ne stoppe le militant George Clooney ! Après s'être exprimé au Sénat sur la situation catastrophique du Soudan, l'acteur a été arrêté à Washington alors qu'il manifestait devant l'ambassade du Soudan pour mettre en lumière les crimes de guerre commis selon lui par Khartoum dans le sud du pays, comme l'explique l'AFP.
Le compagnon de la belle Stacy Keibler s'est adressé aux nombreux médias venus couvrir cette manifestation et a demandé au gouvernement du Soudan d'autoriser la communauté internationale à envoyer une aide humanitaire, "avant que cela ne devienne la pire crise humanitaire à la surface du globe". La semaine dernière, le comédien était encore sur le terrain au Soudan où il est allé au contact des populations locales.
De retour à New York pour une conférence de réflexion sur la politique étrangère lors du Council on Foreign Relations, l'acteur avait d'ailleurs raconté son périple. En compagnie du militant John Prendergast, l'acteur a frôlé la mort... Alors qu'ils marchaient vers les civils, les deux compères ont été sommés de se mettre à l'abri. Et pendant que, sans se presser, ils allaient se protéger, une explosion a eu lieu : "C'était une roquette et ça a fait boum. Nous voulions aller dans cette zone et nous y avons été, mais nous ne nous attendions pas à des roquettes."
George Clooney a été menotté et emmené au poste de police en compagnie de plusieurs membres de la Chambre des représentants et des militants associatifs, ainsi que son père présent lors de la manifestation. Les photos sont disponibles sur le site de nos confrères du DailyMail.
