I think eventually what it all boils down to is money. How to keep the wheel turning. It's the "sick care" industry in action. Sad, but true. A revolution is needed.

The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall
 

Caught this on the History Channel 2 today.

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"Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? And how does the design of our cities affect our lives?

By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects in dozens of cities around the world, from massive infrastructure initiatives to temporary interventions, Urbanized frames a global discussion on the future of cities."

I really enjoy getting to see how different cultures address these issues. There is much to learn from others.

Feb 2012

currently watching the GALAPAGOS:Beyond Darwin
excellent so far

Becoming Chaz
 

By Chaz Bono
The book Transition The Story of How I Became a Man was a pretty good read.
The Documentary Becoming Chaz was good as well.
"Transition is a deeply personal, honest, and ultimately triumphant story. It tells of the physical and emotional process that brought him to come out to the world for a second time and finally claim his life as the one he always wanted...as a man."

Here's something I learned not long ago. Birds in Central Park (and presumably other urban centers, but the study was done in Central Park), are changing the frequency and other aspects of their song, in order to be heard over traffic, radios, and other forms of human racket. The male birds who are most easily heard are most likely to find mates, so there's a biologicial advantage in doing so.

Absolutely fabulous film.
 

1.Dear Zachary- Mind=Blown.
2.Lockdown-Pelican Bay State Prison-A look inside America's toughest prison.
3.Welcome To North Korea- The world's most F*****up country.
4.The Bridge- A camera set up to record goings on with suicides on the Golden Gate.
5.Inside 911-Zero Hour-Imo the best.
6.Nikola Tesla-The Genius Who Lit The World
7.Ghosts Of Rwanda-The most rapid genicide in history.
8.The House Of Rothschild-The money prophets.
9.Griseld Blanco
10.Auschwitz: The Nazi Final Solution
11.Survival Documentaries
12. WoodStock
13. America, the illuminati, the masons, etc.

In no particular order:

Cosmos -- Dated graphics but still a classic

The Elegant Universe -- If you want to know what quantum mechanics really is, what relativity really is and what string theory really is you can do absolutely no better than this.

The Fabric of the Cosmos -- If you want to know what space-time really is and where physics is, at present, this is where to go.

Inside North Korea

Kimjongilia -- More about North Korea

The God Who Wasn't There

Becoming Human -- If you want a better understanding of how Homo sapiens became what we are, this is a great place to start.

Guns, Germs and Steel -- Fantastic overview of why some societies are rich and some are not.

The Ascent of Money -- Fascinating look at how banking was invented. Also, one gets a treatment of the Rothchilds that is blissfully absent either the conspiracy theories or anti-Semitism that usually rears its head whenever this family is mentioned.

Science of Dogs

Dogs Decoded

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

The Crash of Flight 447 -- If for no other reason than there's the coolest demonstration of a phenomena called super-cooled air. A pitot tube in a wind tunnel is hit with air where the water vapor is cooled below freezing. No ice forms on the pitot tube. Then a tiny bit of dust is introduced and ice forms *instantly*. My writing does not do justice to how insanely cool this phenomena is.

Gunner Palace -- Fascinating look at the Iraq War.

Cheers
Aj

Darfur Now (2007)

The struggles and achievements of six individuals bring to light the situation in Darfur and the need to get involved. From a UCLA graduate in Los Angeles, California, to a Darfurian woman who joins rebel forces, to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to a United Nations humanitarian on the ground in Sudan, to an internationally known actor and activist, and finally to a community leader in a West Darfur refugee camp, the film portrays the efforts of six people responding to a humanitarian tragedy unfolding before our eyes. The film explores the Darfur conflict through the first-hand experiences of Don Cheadle, Hejewa Adam, Pablo Recalde, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and Adam Sterling.

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Rebuilding Hope (2009)

Three 'Lost Boys' return home to South Sudan for the first time since they fled as small children, twenty years ago. 'Rebuilding Hope' is their journey of discovery; of what happened to their families and villages after they fled, of the state of a precarious peace agreement signed in Sudan, and about how they can contribute back to the communities they left behind.

"Wish me away" the story of Chely Wright

Fambul Tok: A Documentary Film About the Power of Forgiveness


Victims and perpetrators of Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war come together for the first time in an unprecedented program of tradition-based truth-telling and forgiveness ceremonies. Through reviving their ancient practice of fambul tok (family talk), Sierra Leoneans are building sustainable peace at the grass-roots level – succeeding where the international community’s post-conflict efforts failed. Filled with lessons for the West, this film explores the depths of a culture that believes that true justice lies in redemption and healing for individuals – and that forgiveness is the surest path to restoring dignity and building strong communities.

Henry Ford

Well known for the Ford Motor Company, developing the assembly line, being the father of workplace efficiency, using higher wages to stop worker turnover, and for basically transforming American life and culture during its development from an agricultural society to an industrial society.

Less well known for being a brilliant yet uneducated farm boy, a tyrannical boss who had a sociology dept at Ford to help Americanize his immigrant workforce i.e. make sure they were legally married, not drinking, not problems in the community etc. He even held ceremonies where workers dressed in their traditional clothing, walked into a large pot like structure, were literally stirred by management, and exited dressed in suits and ties. Seriously.

He was also fond of anti-Semitic rants in a newspaper he owned and distributed at his dealerships. And, believed his investors were like leaches, draining the company without adding anything (except capital) to the process.

What a brilliant yet oddly weird man.