edinburghmsc: via @flittleton: "investing in digital play for children's learning" report (US based) http://bit.ly/b2AD4 (thanks denny)
In the Emmy Award winning documentary, "Home," young Dubliner, Alan Cooke reflects on his recent immigration to New York City, contemplating the concept of home and the ever changing cosmopolis, along with a host of celebrities, native New Yorkers and immigrants. BUY THE DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JCSO7S?ie=UTF8&tag=cinemedi-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B002JCSO7S
Money Talks exposes the questionable tactics that big drug companies use to make record profits by playing with the safety of our family's health care.
Affluenza is a 1997 one-hour television special that explores the high social and environmental costs of materialism and overconsumption.
In Debt We Trust shows how the mall replaced the factory as America's dominant economic engine and how big banks and credit card companies buy our Congress and drive us into what a former major bank economist calls modern serfdom. Americans and our government owe trillions in consumer debt and the national debt, a large amount of it to big banks and billions to Communist China.
edinburghmsc: via @sbayne: Virtual Knowledge Studio looking for a postdoc and a scientific programmer. www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl/vacancies.php
A devastating investigation into the pedophilia scandals tearing apart the Catholic Church, Deliver Us From Evil begins by looking into one priest, Father Oliver O'Grady, who agreed to be interviewed by journalist/filmmaker Amy Berg. O'Grady's genial calm is at first ingratiating, until he begins to describe his crimes with an unsettling sociopathic detachment.
Future Life on Earth unveils technologies that will usher in a whole new way of life: we will live in floating cities, teleport to work and travel the world with a push of a button.
For the first time ever, KPBS teams up with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to compare American privatized medicine with government funded, universal health care in Canada. In the end, which system would make us healthier? In which country would we live longer? And is basic health care a right or a privilege? [San Diego Week broadcasts this Envision San Diego episode called "Right to Health" Friday July 3, 2009]
What is the true story of the history-altering murder of the Romanov family?
Back in 2002 Professor Rusi Taleyarkhan - who was then based in the United States' Oak Ridge National Laboratory - claimed that he had discovered a way of re-creating natural Nuclear Fusion here on earth, with a device called the 'star in the jar'. For decades scientists have been trying to achieve this because, unlike conventional nuclear power, nuclear fusion would have no waste and the fuel required is hydrogen, something our world is covered in, in the form of water. This would truly be a big step for mankind if it were true, but Taleyarkhan's detractors shot holes in his science from the word go, and this film does the same.
Idi Amin Dada is a name that is familiar to many over the age of 35, but is almost unknown to those younger than that. The story of Idi Amin is an example the potential of humanity to carry out the most grave atrocities and offers a lesson for us all. This self proclaimed leader of Uganda came to power via a coup, but was eventually challenged by armed exile group. How Uncle Idi chose to deal with this threat makes him one of the most notorious genocidal dictators of the previous century.
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.
Herzog's Encounters is a somewhat meandering trip to the Southernmost place on Earth, inspired by footage of Antarctica's marine world taken by a friend of his. From the early images of crammed passengers on a cargo plane to the buckethead testing of what to do to get to the outhouse in a blinding blizzard to absolutely stunning footage of underwater life to a wayward penguin's seemingly suicidal venturing into mountainous country, Herzog has fashioned together a commentary on life in one of our harshest environments and the quality and experience of what it is like. An ethereal, primal musical score accompanies the picture, which is narrated by Herzog, like his fabulous Grizzly Man, but more muted and ponderous.
The plot follows Blake, an alienated and disenchanted rock star who is escaping his turbulent life by isolating himself at his mansion. He eludes a private detective looking for him and ignores his ex-wife's demands that he should come home. Blake spends much of the film walking around, muttering to himself. He sometimes wears a dress and plays music. At one point, he goes out to a seedy rock club, then returns home, where he dies, presumably by suicide. His friends and associates flee to avoid suspicion. Much like the real-life Kurt Cobain case, the ending is left ambiguous. A mysterious figure in red can be seen wandering around the greenhouse Blake dies in before and after he dies.
It is January 1954. The Korean War is over. Captured UN soldiers held in POW camps are free to return home. Those who refuse repatriation to their homeland are transferred to a neutral zone and given 90 days to reconsider their decision. Among them are 21 American soldiers who decide defiantly to stay in China. Back in the United States, McCarthyism is at its height. Many Americans believe these young men have been brainwashed by Chinese communists through a new form of thought control. But what really happened? Featuring never-before-seen footage from the Chinese camps as well as interviews with former POWs and their families, They Chose China tells the fascinating stories of these forgotten American dissidents. With the Cold War fading into memory, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Shuibo Wang (Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square) aims his camera on this astonishing story. In They Chose China, we meet and begin to understand a group of courageous men who fought for and then cut ties with the USA.
Alex Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest wars ? creating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. * Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. * Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. * Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. * View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Support the makers of this documentary and get the DVD with all the extras at http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/endgamedvd.html or signup at www.prisonplanet.tv and watch more documentaries and special reports Spread the word!
July 2009 The Hells Angels illicit drug trade has reached every corner of the city of Vancouver. This organised crime has successfully become a multi billion-dollar business based on their fierce reputation. Local communities are lacking faith in their government, blaming them for allowing these thugs to become so powerful. Why is it that the most open, known, brazen criminal gangs can't be put away? With no dedicated policing, the families of victims feel that the criminals are prioritised over them, a feeling fuelled by claims that these thugs- turned-police informants have made deals with the law. We have promises for secret deals says former drug dealer Jim Boivine. Journalist and activist Julian Sher has followed the rise of the Angels for over 10 years and believes a tougher more direct approach should be used: You can't strut around wearing your biker vests and your bikie patches and think you control our cities. Over 100 members of the Hells Angels gang are now behind bars. Produced by SBS, distributed by Journeyman Pictures
Official NASA footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. Generally speaking, works created by U.S. Government employees are not eligible for copyright protection in the United States. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" from the U.S. Copyright Office. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
July 2009 The Taliban are on the move in Pakistan, and control of the country is now clearly in their sights. Despite a recent military offensive in Swat, bombing missions are being run in all major cities. The Koran tells me to turn myself into pieces states the driven voice of one of the new wave of suicide bombers, targeting Pakistans major cities. This is the Talibans response to the governments offensive into Swat and every aspect of Pakistani culture is affected. They're against show business. They want it removed from Pakistan says Sayed. His actress friend was beheaded at a major intersection. Sayeds experience in Swat made him ready for civil war. Yet others only saw it as confirmation of the governments slow and failing system. We didn't know if we were being shot at by the Taliban or by government forces says one government official. Theres an enormous increase in conservatism comments Professor Pervez. Eighty per cent of Pakistanis are prepared to accept Sharia Law. The Pakistani Taliban now leads an alliance of over 40 extremist groups. The Talibanisation of the whole of Pakistan is not only very dangerous but also closer to reality than the situation in Afghanistan says author Ahmer Rashid. How long can a moderate, secular Pakistan, withstand rising extremism? Made by SBS Dateline
Its cheap, highly addictive and ultra-powerful. "Ice", or crystal methamphetamine, is now more popular than heroin. It plays havoc with the minds and the bodies of addicts, filling emergency wards with dangerous, psychotic patients. But little is known about the long term effects of the drug or even how to treat the addiction. And health services are not prepared for the chaos ice has just started to unleash. This weeks documentary reports on the hidden epidemic. These are the most out of control, most violent human beings Ive seen in my whole life and Ive been around a long time, despairs Dr Gordian Fulde, Head of the Emergency Unit at St Vincents hospital. It makes heroin seem like the good old days. His hospital has seen a five-fold increase in patients admitted with ice psychosis since 2000. Theyve had to build a special security cell to contain them. Almost one in four ice users will experience at least one debilitating psychotic episode. It alters the functions of the brain, explains Professor Iain McGregor. Heavy users have a reduced brain volume basically they have brain damage. The ice epidemic has pushed hospitals and mental health units to their limits. Many of their resources have had to be diverted. But doctors are hampered by lack of knowledge about the drug, which appeared on the scene less than ten years ago. John suffers from Ekboms Syndrome, brought on by chronic addiction. He is covered in scabs and picks obsessively at his skin, desperately trying to pull out the "ice bugs" he believes live inside him. They live about three layers down and feed on the fat layer, he explains. His delusion is common among ice addicts. His friend, "Lenore", has 23 personalities, each with their own name. She obsessively sorts through rubbish for days on end when shes on ice. Its her way of making order out of her chaos. John and Leonore are part of a tribe of junkies who roam the inner cities, scoring and shooting up. They stay manically high for up to a week, without food or sleep. Finally, they crash and eat, before the welfare cheque arrives and the cycle starts all over again. "Were the fringe-dwellers," boasts "Mick", whose veins are so wrecked he can barely find a place to inject. But ice isnt only a cheap drug for hardcore addicts. Its also big on the party circuit, where its regarded as sociable and affordable. And because it lacks the stigma of heroin, its used at all levels of society, in the gay community, among students and nightclubbers, shiftworkers and the career minded. Jason" used to be a computer engineer earning good money. He started out as a recreational user but now hes an addict determined to kick the habit. Its going to be hard, he readily acknowledges. As yet, there is no dedicated treatment programme or legal substitute for ice in Australia. Funding for research into withdrawal problems is scarce, meaning the problem looks set to worsen. This confronting documentary will challenge and unsettle the most hardened of viewers.