Another Pale Blue Dot: 2007

Documentary about Stupidity in today's society

Documentary_-_Stupidity.avi

Paramount Newsreels On Iwo Jima

'Growing Up in the Universe' - Richard Dawkins Lectures on Science

Ep 1: Waking Up in the Universe

'Growing Up in the Universe' Ep 2: Designed and Designoid Objects

'Growing Up in the Universe' Ep 3: Climbing Mount Improbable

'Growing Up in the Universe' Ep 4: The Ultraviolet Garden

'Growing Up in the Universe' Ep 5: The Genesis of Purpose

'Growing Up in the Universe' Ep 1: Waking Up in the Universe

The Four Horsemen - Dawkins,Dennett,Harris and Hitchens

The Four Horsemen - 2 hours
58 min 4 sec - Dec 14, 2007

On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and ... all » Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen.
All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion - some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public’s reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations. They discuss the tough questions about religion that face to world today, and propose new strategies for going forward.
Authors’ Recommended Books: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins Breaking the Spell by Daniel C. Dennett Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris The End of Faith by Sam Harris God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens

The Four Horsemen - Hour 1

Evolution of Climate Models

Mid 1970s
Early climate models were limited. They only included carbon dioxide, heat from the sun (radiation) and rain, but not clouds.

Mid 1980s
Clouds, land surface and ice were added into the mix in the 1980s. Different types of land behave differently; deserts and ice are more likely to reflect radiation, and forests are more likely to absorb it.

1990 - IPCC’s first report
A simple model of the oceans now joins the picture, as the first IPCC report comes out. To begin with, only the top layer of the sea was modelled.

1996 Second Assessment Report
More sophisticated models of the ocean are added. Volcanoes are also shown. Their eruptions throw particles into the atmosphere, which can block sunlight and temporarily reduce global temperatures.

2001 Third Assessment Report
By bringing the carbon cycle into the picture, the different ways C02 is stored and released into the atmosphere gives greater realism to climate models. Understanding of the oceans is deepened.

2007 Fourth Assessment Report
Chemical reactions in the atmosphere join the climate models; they are now produced using computing power 256 times more powerful than that available in the 1970s.

Movie Documentary - The Story of Stuff - Consumption, money, nature, environment

Movie Documentary - The Story of Stuff - Consumption, money, nature, environment
21 min 7 sec - 4-Dec-07

What is the Story of Stuff? ... From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Movie Documentary - The Story of Stuff - Consumption, money, nature, environment

Murray Gell-Mann: Why pretty theories get all the attention - TED Talks video

About this Talk
Wielding laypeople's terms and a sense of humor, Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann drops some knowledge about particle physics, asking questions like, Are elegant equations more likely to be right than inelegant ones? Can the fundamental law, the so-called "theory of everything," really explain everything? His answers will surprise you.

About Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann brings visibility to a crucial aspect of our existence that we can't actually see: elemental particles. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for introducing quarks, one of two fundamental ingredients for all matter in the universe.

1900 - What wil happen in the next 100 years - John E Watkings.jpg

Quotes About Money

"Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money."(Jackie Mason)

"In God we trust. All others must pay cash."(American Saying)

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."(Woody Allen)

"Sex is like money; only too much is enough."(John Updike)

"If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem"(JP Getty)

"It doesn't matter if you're black or white... the only color that really matters is green."(Family Guy)

"The only way not to think about money... is to have a great deal of it."(Edith Wharton)

"If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He gives it to."(Old Irish saying)

"Be rich to yourself... and poor to your friends."(Juvenal)

"If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some."(Benjamin Franklin)

"Bart, with $10000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like... love!"(Homer Simpson)

"The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any."(Katharine Whitehorn)

"Finance is the art of passing money from hand to hand until it finally disappears."(Robert W. Sarnoff)

"All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy."(Spike Milligan)

"What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money."(Henry Youngman)

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like"(Will Smith)

"If God only gave me a clear sign... like making a large deposit in my name at a swiss bank."(Woody Allen)

"I was so poor growing up ... if I wasn't a boy ...I'd have nothing to play with"(Rodney Dangerfield)

"He who marries for love without money has good nights and sorry days."(Anonymous)

"Between work and family, I'm really not spending enough quality time with my money"(Anonymous)

"The difference between a divorce and a legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money"(Johnny Carson)

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it"(Bob Hope)

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping"(Bo Derek)

"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is"(Oscar Wilde)

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore"(Yogi Berra)

"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work."(Robert Orben)

"Always borrow money from a pessimist... he doesn't expect to be paid back"(Anonymous)

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments."(Earl Wilson)

"Don't tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what they are."(James W. Frick)

"Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune."(Jim Rohn)

The Philosophy of Money

Sigmund Freud’s priorities test

Sigmund Freud’s priorities
Five things are happening in your house at the same time. In which sequence would you solve them?

1. The telephone is ringing!
2. The baby is crying!
3. Someone’s knocking or calling you from the front door!
4. You hung the clothes out to dry and it is beginning to rain!
5. You left the tap on in the kitchen and the water is already overflowing!

In which sequence would you solve these problems?
Answer: Every individual point represents something in your life.
On the list you can see which meaning every point has:

1. Telephone represents Work
2. Baby represents Family
3. Door represents Friends
4. Clothes represent Money
5. Tap represents Sex

Your chosen sequence determines the priorities in your life.

Sigmund Freud’s priorities | haha.nu - a lifestyle blogzine

The Atom: The Illusion of Reality

THE ILLUSION OF REALITY
58 min 58 sec - 29-Sep-07

In the last in the series Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores how studying the atom forced us to rethink the nature of reality itself. He discovers that there might be parallel universes in which different versions of us exist, finds out that empty space isn't empty at all, and investigates the differences in our perception of the world in the universe and the reality.

THE ILLUSION OF REALITY

The Mongol empire - Google Video

The Mongol empire
47 min 12 sec
Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, founded his dynasty by conquering China. Unlike his infamous ancestor, he was known for his mercy to the conquered.

The Mongol empire - Google Video

Defining STUPIDITY - Documentary

Definition of STUPIDITY
1 hr 10 min 43 sec - Sep 18, 2007
Note: a 30 second delay appears before the video.
Stupidity by Albert Nerenberg
Features Bill Maher, Noam Chomsky, George W. Bush, Mark Crispin Miller and many others.
A humorous examination of stupidity in contemporary American culture, covering: the effects of television and mass media on the American intellect; the "dumbing down" of American culture; the popularity of Steve-O and Jackass; role of religion in willful stupidity; the identifaction of many Americans with George W. Bush; the evolution of such concepts as "idiot" and "moron."

Definition of STUPIDITY

Baghdad: A doctor story - Documentary

Baghdad A doctor story
38 min 53 sec - Nov 5, 2007
Filmed exclusively by an Iraqi doctor, This World reveals the terrible conditions of a civilian emergency room in Baghdad Al Yarmouk Hospital is in the most dangerous area of Baghdad. Sectarian violence is tearing the city apart and ambulance crews go from one dangerous mission to another.
Talking on camera is dangerous, but here patients and doctors speak out. Wherever they go, the doctor is there with his camera. "People don't know what is going on in Iraq," he says, "they can't hear the Iraqi people screaming." In the constant stream of news reports from Iraq, the voice of ordinary people seems to have been lost. In this film, we hear from them directly... and get a harrowing insight into everyday life in Baghdad.

Baghdad A doctor story

Money As Debt - Documentary

Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it ... all » is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its "Duncan Initiative" received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as a painless but hard-hitting educational tool and encourage the widest distribution and use by all groups concerned with the present unsustainable monetary system in Canada and the United States.

Money As Debt

Traveler IQ

Test Geo questions

This Traveler IQ
challenge is brought to you by the Web's Original Travel Blog

NASA's "Beyond Einstein" Program: Exploration at the Limits of Space & Time

NASA's "Beyond Einstein" Program: Exploration at the Limits of Space & Time
52 min 54 sec - Aug 30, 2007
www.google.com

Google Tech Talks August, 30 2007

ABSTRACT
Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity predicted results that were so incredible that even he did not accept them: space is expanding from a Big Bang, space itself contains an energy that is pulling the Universe apart from within, and deep chasms of gravity called black holes actually exist. Astonishingly, all of these wild ideas are now known to be true. But now we need to build on Einstein's work to take the next step -- to study the underlying physics of the very phenomena that came out of his theories. NASA's Beyond Einstein program consists of a series of space missions, large and small, that push Einstein's theories to their limits, using increasingly more sensitive probes. The two flagship missions now in development, Constellation-X and LISA, will explore extremes of space, measuring X-rays and gravitational waves. The smaller missions, the Einstein probes, will target specific science questions such as "What is Dark Energy?" and "What powered the Big Bang?"
Speaker: Randall Smith Randall Smith is an X-ray Astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University and NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. He worked at the Chandra X-ray Center for six years after the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory before moving to JHU & NASA to work with the Suzaku X-ray Telescope.

NASA's "Beyond Einstein" Program: Exploration at the Limits of Space & Time

Searching For Evil in the Web

Searching For Evil
1 hr 0 min 6 sec - Aug 23, 2007
Google Tech Talks August 23, 2007

ABSTRACT
Computer security has recently imported a lot of ideas from economics, psychology and sociology, leading to fresh insights and new tools. I will describe one thread of research that draws together techniques from fields as diverse as signals intelligence and sociology to search for artificial communities.
Evildoers online divide roughly into two categories - those who don't want their websites to be found, such as phishermen, and those who do. The latter category runs from fake escrow sites through dodgy stores to postmodern Ponzi schemes. A few of them buy ads, but many set up fake communities in the hope of having victims driven to their sites for free. How can these reputation thieves be detected?
Some of our work in security economics and social networking may give an insight into the practical effects of network topology. These tie up in various ways with traffic analysis, long used by the signals intelligence agencies which trawl the airwaves and networks looking for interesting targets. I'll describe a number of dubious business enterprises we've unearthed. Recent advances in algorithms, such as Newman's modularity matrix, have increased the robustness of covert community detection. But much scope remains for wrongdoers to hide themselves better as they become topologically aware; we can expect attack and defence to go through several rounds of coevolution. I'll therefore end up by talking about some strategic issues, such as the extent to which search engines and other service providers could, or should, share information in the interests of wickedness detection.
Speaker: Ross Anderson Ross Anderson is one of the top security researchers in the world.

Searching For Evil

Thinking Beyond Borders - video

Thinking Beyond Borders
Google engEDU
32 min 44 sec - Sep 27, 2007

Google Tech Talks September 27, 2007

ABSTRACT
Our global society faces great challenges such as Global Warming, HIV/AIDS in ... all » sub-Saharan Africa, wide-spread hunger, and poverty. To effectively address these issues in years to come, we must re-envision how we prepare our next great leaders to be conscious agents of change. Thinking Beyond Borders is a 35-week program to educate Gap Year students about the economic, political, and cultural realities of our world while empowering them with the tools to create proactive social change. Through varied service learning opportunities, the itinerary immerses students in cultures and communities around the world to provide experiences with various issues of International Development. The curriculum challenges students to synthesize academic research and their collected observations into powerful conclusions about the nature of globalization, world hunger, human rights, cultural change, and political systems. The most unique aspect of this program is that students return to the US to meet with international policy makers and share their conclusions with student and philanthropy groups to raise awareness and funds for the NGOs they worked with abroad. In these ways, Thinking Beyond Borders seeks to create a community of conscious agents of proactive change, equipped to tackle our world's greatest challenges.

Thinking Beyond Borders

Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences

Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences
Google engEDU
1 hr 2 min 31 sec - Aug 8, 2006

Google TechTalks August 8, 2006

B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D. has been a scholar and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970. He is currently seeking ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices and Western science to advance the study of the mind. He is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies ( http://sbinstitute.com ).

ABSTRACT Galileo took a seminal role in launching the first revolution in the physical sciences, and a key element in this revolution was the rigorous, sophisticated observation of physical phenomena. Darwin likewise launched a revolution in the life sciences on the basis of decades of meticulous observation of biological phenomena. Although scientists have been studying the mind for more than a century, no comparable revolution has taken place in the mind sciences, and the missing element that may account for this delayed revolution is the absence of rigorous, precise observations of mental phenomena. By integrating the third-person methodologies of the cognitive sciences with the first-person methods for examining the mind that have been developed in Buddhism and other contemplative traditions, our present generation may bring about the first revolution in the mind sciences.

Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences

1963 - World The Future

Google: "I'm feeling lucky" button costs Google $110 million per year

Google: "I'm feeling lucky" button costs Google $110 million per year:

Google 'I'm feeling lucky' button costs Google $110 million per year Google cofounder Sergey Brin told public radio's Marketplace that around one percent of all Google searches go through the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button. Because the button takes users directly to the top search result, Google doesn't get to show search ads on one percent of all its searches. That costs the company around $110 million in annual revenue, according to Rapt's Tom Chavez. So why does Google keep such a costly button around? 'It's possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here,' Google exec Marissa Mayer explained, or at least tried to."

1944 - V2 lanch Von Braun-Color Footage

1944 Peenemunde, Germany. Testing of the new V2 missiles. Color footage with original captured sound.This is a clip from the Collection "1919-1947 Between two post-wars: steps in the fate of Germany".

YouTube - 1944 V2 and young Von Braun-Color Footage-Original Sound

Playlist: Rocket Launches from on-board camera

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Playlist: NASA International Space Station

1946 - First Movie Taken in Space. V-2 rocket

Historic movie taken from rocket as it goes from the ground into space. Original soundtrack.
On Oct. 24, 1946, a Nazi designed V-2 rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico, USA. Its 35mm movie camera recorded its ascent by snapping a new frame every second and a half. The rocket reached an altitude of 64.94 miles (103.67 kilometers). Then, as planned, it fell back to Earth at 500 feet per second and slammed into the ground. The metal cassette which held the film remained intact.
The launch was made possible because the US military and intelligence services had smuggled hundreds of Nazi scientists into the country in an project codenamed "Operation Paperclip." At the time, the Russians were also grabbing up as many Nazi scientists as they could. It was the beginning of the space race. Some of the German scientist gained recognition and honors in America until their pasts were discovered.

YouTube - First Movie Taken in Space. V-2 rocket - 1946.

Cruise Missile launches from nuclear submarine in Florida!

Cruise missile launches from nuclear sub in Pan... (more)
Added: November 27, 2006
Cruise missile launches from nuclear sub in Panama City, Florida's Bay area

YouTube - Cruise Missile launches from nuclear sub in Florida!

Alfred Hitchcock Documentary on the Nazi Holocaust

An Alfred Hitchcock documentary on the Nazi Holocaust
52 min 59 sec - Apr 17, 2007

A film the British Government deemed too grisly for release after World War II - has received its public debut on British television. Fifteen minutes of the black-and- white film, which was shot by the armed forces after the war, were televised Tuesday night by the Independent Television News.

An Alfred Hitchcock documentary on the Nazi Holocaust

Thomas Jefferson on the role of religion in politics

Thomas Jefferson on the role of religion in politics
"As for America being founded on Christian principles, perhaps we should look at a few quotes from Thomas Jefferson, arguably one of the greatest of our Founding Fathers. These are just a few, extracted from a collection of many, many more: The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82 (capitalization of the word god is retained per original; see Positive Atheism's Historical Section) [N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. -- Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779), quoted from Merrill D Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings (1984), p. 347 I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others. -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803 The 'Wall of Separation,' Again: Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. State churches that use government power to"

Friedrich Nietzsche - 1895- THE ANTICHRIST

THE ANTICHRIST

SPACE SHUTTLE BASICS

Everest Summit Panorama

The view from the summit is awesome and stretches 100 miles where the horizon is curved. This panorama was filmed at about 8.10am after spending 30 mins on the summit and then descending 1800m to the relative safety of Camp 1 at 7100m. You can just see 3 climbers from the south col route about 100m below, approaching the summmit at the end of the clip.

YouTube - Everest Summit Panorama

Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Zeitgeist '07

Robert Wright interviews Robert Pollack

48 min 56 sec - Jul 1, 2002
Robert Pollack is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University.
Dr. Robert Pollack is an American biologist who studies the intersections between science and religion. He currently works at Columbia University, where he serves as the director of the university's Center for the Study of Science and Religion and lectures for its Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Additionally, he is a professor of religion at the Union Theological Seminary. From 1982 to 1989 he served as Dean of Columbia College. In addition to teaching, Pollack has authored more than one hundred reviews, articles, and opinion pieces on molecular biology, medical ethics and science education.

Robert Pollack

Robert Wright interview Freeman Dyson

Freeman Dyson

Freeman Dyson - Charlie Rose Talk

Freeman Dyson, Physicist Princeton University, Author of "The Sun, Genome and the Internet"

YouTube - Charlie Rose - DYSON / PETIT

Helen Fisher, The science of love, and the future of women

Anthropologist Helen Fisher studies love: its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its vital importance to human society. She outlines the three stages of love (lust, infatuation and long-term attachment), shedding light on eternal questions like why we love, and why we cheat. She also discusses the natural talents of women, and their new significance in the modern world. She ends with a warning about the widespread use of antidepressants -- and a truly hilarious story of romantic pursuit.

1932 Histomap of Evolution

1932 evolution chart. 10 billion years of history

Paleo-Future: Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)

Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)

These illustrations by Fred Freeman show Wernher von Braun's concept for a space shuttle in the 1950s. The illustrations can be found in the book Visions of Spaceflight: Images from the Ordway Collection.

To provide safety in case of a malfunction of the reusable upper stage - von Braun's 1950s shuttle concept - crew and passengers press buttons on their chair arms. Contour seats straighten automatically and enclosures snap shut forming sealed escape capsules. To abandon ship, the crew and passengers push another button and the capsules, guided by rails, are ejected by explosive powder charges. The arrangement is seen in cross-section.

After ejection, the capsules' descent is controlled by four-foot steel mesh parachutes. At about 150 above the ground or water, a proximity fuse sets off a small rocket that further slows the rate of fall.

Paleo-Future: Wernher von Braun's Space Shuttle (1950s)

SETI Verification Protocols

Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities
Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Note: By resolution of the Board of Trustees on 17 August 1997, The SETI League, Inc. officially endorses the following Protocols, and respectfully requests that our members embrace them.
Adopted by the International Academy of Astronautics, 1989
We, the institutions and individuals participating in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence,
Recognizing that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is an integral part of space exploration and is being undertaken for peaceful purposes and for the common interest of all mankind,
Inspired by the profound significance for mankind of detecting evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, even though the probability of detection may be low,
Recalling the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, which commits States Parties to that Treaty "to inform the Secretary General of the United Nations as well as the public and the international scientific community, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations and results" of their space exploration activities (Article XI),
Recognizing that any initial detection may be incomplete or ambiguous and thus require careful examination as well as confirmation, and that it is essential to maintain the highest standards of scientific responsibility and credibility,

Agree to observe the following principles for disseminating information about the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence:

1. Any individual, public or private research institution, or governmental agency that believes it has detected a signal from or other evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence (the discoverer) should seek to verify that the most plausible explanation for the evidence is the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence rather than some other natural phenomenon or anthropogenic phenomenon before making any public announcement. If the evidence cannot be confirmed as indicating the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, the discoverer may disseminate the information as appropriate to the discovery of any unknown phenomenon.

2. Prior to making a public announcement that evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence has been detected, the discoverer should promptly inform all other observers or research organizations that are parties to this declaration, so that those other parties may seek to confirm the discovery by independent observations at other sites and so that a network can be established to enable continuous monitoring of the signal or phenomenon. Parties to this declaration should not make any public announcement of this information until it is determined whether this information is or is not credible evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. The discoverer should inform his/her or its relevant national authorities.

3. After concluding that the discovery appears to be credible evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, and after informing other parties to this declaration, the discoverer should inform observers throughout the world through the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams of the International Astronomical Union, and should inform the Secretary General of the United Nations in accordance with Article XI of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Bodies. Because of their demonstrated interest in and expertise concerning the question of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, the discoverer should simultaneously inform the following international institutions of the discovery and should provide them with all pertinent data and recorded information concerning the evidence: the International Telecommunication Union, the Committee on Space Research, of the International Council of Scientific Unions, the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, the International Institute of Space Law, Commission 51 of the International Astronomical Union and Commission J of the International Radio Science Union.

5. A confirmed detection of extraterrestrial intelligence should be disseminated promptly, openly, and widely through scientific channels and public media, observing the procedures in this declaration. The discoverer should have the privilege of making the first public announcement.

6. All data necessary for confirmation of detection should be made available to the international scientific community through publications, meetings, conferences, and other appropriate means.

7. The discovery should be confirmed and monitored and any data bearing on the evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence should be recorded and stored permanently to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, in a form that will make it available for further analysis and interpretation. These recordings should be made available to the international institutions listed above and to members of the scientific community for further objective analysis and interpretation.

8. If the evidence of detection is in the form of electromagnetic signals, the parties to this declaration should seek international agreement to protect the appropriate frequencies by exercising procedures available through the International Telecommunication Union. Immediate notice should be sent to the Secretary General of the ITU in Geneva, who may include a request to minimize transmissions on the relevant frequencies in the Weekly Circular. The Secretariat, in conjunction with advice of the Union's Administrative Council, should explore the feasibility and utility of convening an Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference to deal with the matter, subject to the opinions of the member Administrations of the ITU.

9. No response to a signal or other evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence should be sent until appropriate international consultations have taken place. The procedures for such consultations will be the subject of a separate agreement, declaration or arrangement.

The SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics, in coordination with Commission 51 of the International Astronomical Union, will conduct a continuing review of procedures for the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence and the subsequent handling of the data. Should credible evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence be discovered, an international committee of scientists and other experts should be established to serve as a focal point for continuing analysis of all observational evidence collected in the aftermath of the discovery, and also to provide advice on the release of information to the public. This committee should be constituted from representatives of each of the international institutions listed above and such other members as the committee may deem necessary. To facilitate the convocation of such a committee at some unknown time in the future, the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics should initiate and maintain a current list of willing representatives from each of the international institutions listed above, as well as other individuals with relevant skills, and should make that list continuously available through the Secretariat of the International Academy of Astronautics. The International Academy of Astronautics will act as the Depository for this declaration and will annually provide a current list of parties to all the parties to this declaration.

SETI Verification Protocols

Playlist: McMurdo Base Antarctica

Playlist: Emergency Landings

Scientology: The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard

1967 - Important documentary about the founder of Scientology. A rarecase where Hubbard was interviewed by an outside news crew.

Playlist: Y2K

Playlist: Tenerife Disaster

Nike Y2K Commercial - fears of Y2K.

Playlist: Enschede Disaster - Fireworks Factory

Playlist: Mt. Etna Eruptions

Playlist: London Terrorist Attacks

Playlist: Attacks in Nature's Wild

Piranhas Attack

YouTube - when piranhas attack

Playlist: Nevado del Ruiz and the Armero Tragedy

Who Has the Oil

Playlist: Inside Chernobyl

Playlist: Chernobyl Heart Documentary

The theory of cognitive dissonance

Unfulfilled Religious Prophecies and Messiah Claimants

The Great Disappointment - The 1844 Return of Jesus

The Great Disappointment

The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th century American Christian sect. William Miller, the preacher from whom the movement took its name, prophesied that Jesus, the savior of the Christian religion, would return to Earth on October 22, 1844. When Jesus did not appear on the appointed day, great numbers of Millerites abandoned the sect, clearing the path for its eventual dissolution. However other Christian groups would spawn from it, and still others were influenced.

Overview Between 1831 and 1844, William Miller, a Baptist preacher, played a notable role in what historians have called the Second Great Awakening. The Millerite movement, named for William Miller, had significant influence on popular views of biblical prophecy, including upon the movement that later consolidated as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Miller preached a set of fourteen rules for the interpretation of the Bible.^[1] Based on his study of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to Earth sometime between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844.^[2] Around 50,000 to 100,000 Christians waited in hope. After the latter date came and went, the date was revised and set as October 22, 1844 based on the yearly Day of Atonement in Karaite Judaism

When Jesus did not appear, Miller's followers experienced what came to be called "the Great Disappointment". Most of the thousands of followers left the movement. A group of the remaining followers concluded after biblical study that the prophecy predicted not that Jesus would return in 1844, but that the investigative judgment in heaven would begin in that year.

Miller recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: "Were I to live my life over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and man, I should have to do as I have done. I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment."^[3] Miller continued to wait for the second coming until his death in 1849.

Repercussions

Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventist Church historians writing about the morning of 23 October refer to a vision said to have been received by Hiram Edson, an early Adventist.^[4] Edson claimed he had a vision that indicated the date predicted by Miller was in fact correct. Later Bible study and visions led to the belief by the early Seventh-day Adventists that Christ went into the second compartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 to begin the investigative judgment of both righteous and wicked to see who is worthy of going to heaven.^[5] This investigative judgment is said to take place prior to his second coming, which they believed to be very soon. Numerous issues related to the doctrine of this investigative judgement were raised by Adventist theologian Desmond Ford in the 1970s.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jonas Wendell, an Adventist preacher, experienced periods of weak faith after 1844. After studying Bible chronology, he came to the conclusion that the Second Coming would be in 1868, and in 1870 he published a booklet concluding it was to be in 1873.

Charles Taze Russell was in turn influenced by Jonas Wendell (as well as by the Millerites in general). One-time Millerite ministers George Storrs, George Stetson, and Nelson H. Barbour were also influential in Russell's doctrinal development. Like Wendell, Barbour had also predicted Christ's return in 1873, and when that failed, he revised the prediction for 1874. Soon after that disappointment, Barbour's group came to believe that Christ had returned in 1874 but invisibly. Russell met Barbour in 1876 and accepted the teaching of an invisible presence of Christ from Barbour. Russell developed an elaborate chronology with 1914 being viewed as the end of a forty year "harvest period." A schism in the movement occurred after Russell's death. In the early 1930s, the leadership changed the date of the Second Coming to 1914. The main branch of that movement came to be known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, while many members refused the change; Bible Students today still hold that the Second Coming was in 1874.

Psychological Perspective

The Great Disappointment is viewedas an example of how the psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance manifests itself through failed prophecies which often arise in a religious context.^[6] The theory was proposed by Leon Festinger to describe the formation of new beliefs and increased proselytizing in order to reduce the tension, or dissonance, that results from failed prophecies. According to the theory, believers experienced tension following the failure of Jesus' reappearance in 1844 which led to a variety of new explanations. The various solutions form a part of the teachings of the different groups that outlived the disappointment.

Great Disappointment -

1883 -Inquiry into Human Faculty and its Development - Sir Francis Galron -

Sir Francis Galron - 1883 - Human Faculty

Authors@Google: John Searle " Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and Political Power."

John Searle visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book " Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and Political Power." This event took place on October 30, 2007 as part of the Authors@Google series.

YouTube - Authors@Google: John Searle

Authors@Google: Will Self, "Psychogeography."

Will Self visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book, "Psychogeography." This event took place on October 29, 2007 as part of the Authors@Google program.

YouTube - Authors@Google: Will Self

Authors@Google: Daniel Goleman "Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships"

Daniel Goleman discusses his book "Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships" as a part of the Authors@Google series. For more from Daniel Goleman, visit http://www.morethansound.net. This event took place on August 3, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

YouTube - Authors@Google: Daniel Goleman

Innovators@Google: Peter Diamadis X PRIZE Foundation

Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, Peter
Diamandis, speaks about our newly announced Google Lunar X
PRIZE, the international competition in which privately funded teams will
build robotic explorers and race them to the Moon for a $20M Grand Prize.
This revolutionary challenge will incentivize innovation in space
exploration, and has the potential to inspire parallel discovery across many
areas of technology for the benefit of all mankind.
The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit whose mission is to
create radical scientific breakthroughs for the good of humanity. The Google
Lunar X PRIZE is the third prize the Foundation has announced since its
inception in 1995.
This event took place September 19, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA

YouTube - Innovators@Google: Peter Diamadis

Authors@Google: Joseph Stiglitz, "Making Globalization Work."

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz speaks about his book, "Making Globalization Work." This event took place on October 13, 2006, at Google's Mountain View, CA, headquarters as part of the Authors@Google series.

YouTube - Authors@Google: Joseph Stiglitz

Christopher Hitchens - "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"

Author Christopher Hitchens discusses his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" as a part of the Authors@Google series. The author of Why Orwell Matters and Letters to a Young Contrarian, Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair contributing editor, a Slate columnist, and a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly. He has also written for The Nation, Granta, Harper's, The Washington Post, and is a frequent television and radio guest. Born in England, Hitchens was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. He now lives in Washington, D.C., and he became a U.S. citizen in 2007. This event took place on August 16, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

YouTube - Authors@Google: Christopher Hitchens

Playlist: Sea Monsters - Nat Geo

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Conversations with History: Scientific and the Information Age, Zhores Alferov

Conversations with History: Scientific and the Information Age, Zhores Alferov
UCTV: UC Berkeley
58 min 58 sec - Oct 5, 2007

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Russian Nobel Prize Laureate Zhores Alferov for a discussion of the influences that shaped his scientific career, the interplay between theory and experimentation in his own scientific discovery, and the impact of the global science community on discovery and policy. He offers insights on the education of the next generation of scientists and describes the complicated relationship between scientists and the state. Series: Conversations with History

Conversations with History: Scientific and the Information Age, Zhores Alferov

Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine (Britannica.com)

YouTube - Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine (Britannica.com)

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 1

Beyond Belief 2006
1 hr 48 min 5 sec - Nov 26, 2006
www.rationalresponders.com

This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an ... all » extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006. This session features: Steven Weinberg, Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, Michael Shermer

Beyond Belief 2006 #1

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 2

The Science Network
1 hr 15 min 46 sec - Nov 5, 2006
beyondbelief2006.org

Session 2 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 3

The Science Network
1 hr 53 min 29 sec - Nov 5, 2006
beyondbelief2006.org

Session 3 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 4

The Science Network
1 hr 48 min 38 sec - Nov 5, 2006
beyondbelief2006.org

Session 4 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 5

The Science Network
1 hr 54 min 5 sec - Nov 6, 2006
beyondbelief2006.org

Session 5 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 6

The Science Network
1 hr 58 min 38 sec - Nov 6, 2006
beyondbelief2006.org

Session 6 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 7

The Science Network
1 hr 53 min 45 sec - Nov 6, 2006
beyondbelief2006.org

Session 7 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 8

The Science Network
2 hr 12 min 2 sec - Nov 6, 2006

Session 8 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 9

The Science Network
2 hr 44 min 6 sec - Nov 7, 2006

Session 9 - Beyond Belief 2006

Beyond Belief 2006 - Session 10

The Science Network
1 hr 36 min 16 sec - Nov 7, 2006

Session 10 - Beyond Belief 2006

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Cien años de soledad

Millionaire Households by Countries - Swivel

BBC - Dangerous Knowledge - Mathematics

Dangerous Knowledge
1 hr 29 min 1 sec - Sep 3, 2007

In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, ... all » Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.
The film begins with Georg Cantor, the great mathematician whose work proved to be the foundation for much of the 20th-century mathematics. He believed he was God's messenger and was eventually driven insane trying to prove his theories of infinity. Ludwig Boltzmann's struggle to prove the existence of atoms and probability eventually drove him to suicide. Kurt Gödel, the introverted confidant of Einstein, proved that there would always be problems which were outside human logic. His life ended in a sanatorium where he starved himself to death.
Finally, Alan Turing, the great Bletchley Park code breaker, father of computer science and homosexual, died trying to prove that some things are fundamentally unprovable.
The film also talks to the latest in the line of thinkers who have continued to pursue the question of whether there are things that mathematics and the human mind cannot know. They include Greg Chaitin, mathematician at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center, New York, and Roger Penrose.
Dangerous Knowledge tackles some of the profound questions about the true nature of reality that mathematical thinkers are still trying to answer today.

Dangerous Knowledge

Playlist: Things Mt. Everest

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Everest Emergency

Clips from BBC/Indus Films production Everest ER (Sept 2006) about the nonprofit medical clinic at Mt Everest Base Camp, Nepal. For more info and to purchase this 52 min documentary, visit www.BaseCampMD.com.

YouTube - Everest ER

Playlist: The E - F5 - 'the Finger of God'

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Hypothetical F5 tornado hitting Ameriquest Field

Google Talks - The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less. Barry Schwartz

The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less
1 hr 4 min 7 sec - Apr 27, 2006

Google TechTalks April 27, 2006 Barry Schwartz

The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less

Making Great Decisions - Google Talks

Making Great Decisions
59 min 19 sec - Sep 24, 2007

Google Tech Talks September, 24 2007

ABSTRACT

The phrase "work smarter, not harder" has been repeatedly ridiculed in Dilbert and ... all » elsewhere, not because it is a poor idea, but because it is thrown like a brick lifesaver to drowning employees. It's like telling someone to be happier, healthier, and richer. What people need is a plan for doing so.
In "Making Great Decisions" the authors show readers how to achieve their objectives. They offer a better way to look at problems so that solutions are easier to find.
Speaker: David R. Henderson, Ph.D. David R. Henderson is an economics professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford. He was a senior economist with President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers.
Speaker: Charles L. Hooper Charles L. Hooper is President and co-founder of Objective Insights, Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to providing health care companies with marketing and financial analysis to help them make informed decisions about their business opportunities.

Making Great Decisions

Thinking Beyond Borders - Google Talks

Thinking Beyond Borders
32 min 44 sec - Sep 27, 2007

Google Tech Talks September 27, 2007

ABSTRACT
Our global society faces great challenges such as Global Warming, HIV/AIDS in ... all » sub-Saharan Africa, wide-spread hunger, and poverty. To effectively address these issues in years to come, we must re-envision how we prepare our next great leaders to be conscious agents of change. Thinking Beyond Borders is a 35-week program to educate Gap Year students about the economic, political, and cultural realities of our world while empowering them with the tools to create proactive social change. Through varied service learning opportunities, the itinerary immerses students in cultures and communities around the world to provide experiences with various issues of International Development. The curriculum challenges students to synthesize academic research and their collected observations into powerful conclusions about the nature of globalization, world hunger, human rights, cultural change, and political systems. The most unique aspect of this program is that students return to the US to meet with international policy makers and share their conclusions with student and philanthropy groups to raise awareness and funds for the NGOs they worked with abroad. In these ways, Thinking Beyond Borders seeks to create a community of conscious agents of proactive change, equipped to tackle our world's greatest challenges.

Thinking Beyond Borders

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