Inside 9/11: War on America

Inside 9/11 (Episode 1: War on America) - 1:44:51

National Geographic -

"War on America" opens with the dramatic 1993 World Trade Center bombing and tracks terrorist activities aimed at U.S. targets throughout the 1990s leading up to the horrific morning of September 11, 2001. With each successful attack, terrorist networks become more emboldened. The organization and the legend of Osama bin Laden grow. Meet Osama bin Laden as a young Saudi businessman who arrives in Afghanistan to raise funds to help those hurt by the war. Follow this wealthy and privileged son of a self-made billionaire as he rises through the ranks of Islamic terrorist society and remakes himself into a mujahedeen warrior. Hear how bin Laden is schooled in the teachings of radical Palestinian leader Dr. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam as Azzam calls for violent jihad, or holy war, against all enemies of the Islamic state, including the United States, most Western nations and Israel. The extreme hatred for those outside the Islamic faith becomes the cornerstone of al Qaeda's ideology from the mid 1990s until today and is the basis of bin Laden's power. As terrorist activities and organizations continue to increase in power and strength, "War on America" charts the response of the U.S. intelligence community and details the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Council, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and at least two U.S. presidents. Featured in the program are interviews with terrorism experts from the intelligence community, including former CIA and FBI agents who witnessed the growing threat. Listen as U.S. government whistleblower Bodgan Dzakovic recounts how he—as part of the FAA'S "Red Team"—was able to breach airport security almost 90% of the time with very little problem in the months prior to 9/11. Feel the frustration mount as bin Laden, time and time again, keeps a step ahead of U.S. intelligence efforts to capture him. With each new attack—the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S.S. Cole—the numbers of dead and wounded grow. It becomes obvious that al Qaeda's goal is to stay under the radar, attack with small numbers and kill on a large scale. Follow the trail and review the evidence that led former CIA Director George Tenet to remark in hindsight, "The system was blinking red… [the danger] could not get any worse."«

Inside 9/11(Episode 2: Zero Hour) - 1:44:54 -
National Geographic - www.myspace.com/pchoutx

It is a beautiful morning. Nathan Goldwasser is starting his usual day at work in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, as are Ed Nichols and Stanley Praimnath in the South Tower. Sheila Moody arrives at her office at the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the 19 terrorists are boarding planes in Boston, Newark and Dulles, Virginia. They monitor the flight crews, waiting for the right moment to execute their evil plan. At 8:14 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 is hijacked. Relive the last precious moments as flight attendants call their supervisors on the ground to report the murders of fellow crew members. Listen as they describe the scene on board. Then go back to the North Tower as Nathan Goldwasser hears an enormous explosion when American Airlines Flight 11 crashes just a few floors above him. The building sways. Listen as Ed Nichols watches the tragedy unfold at the North Tower from sky lobby on the 78th floor of the South Tower. Firefighters are dispatched to the scene. But this is not a case of fighting fire; this is a mission to save as many lives as possible. Evacuations begin in the North Tower, but, in the confusion, people in the South Tower don't know whether to leave the building or return to their desks. Stanley Praimnath makes it down to the ground lobby of the South Tower, only to be told by security that it is safe and he can return to his office. Then in what seems to be the blink of an eye, United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower. Praimnath sees the plane as it heads toward his office. There's no longer any doubt-this is an attack on America. "Zero Hour" then takes viewers to the Pentagon as Sheila Moody hears the roar of a plane rapidly descending. American Airlines Flight 77 hits the Pentagon and bursts into a ball of fire. A fourth hijacking is taking place on United Airlines Flight 93. Likely targets include the White House or the Capitol building. Listen as Lyz Glick retells how her husband Jeremy and three other men planned to overtake the hijackers. "Zero Hour" captures the horror and the heroism witnessed on September 11, 2001, and takes viewers into the last moments of those who died that day and the thousands of others who survived the tragedy.

Inside 9/11 (Epilogue) - 42:50 -
National Geographic -

The final part of the Inside 9/11 series that focuses on the events of 9/11, alternating between the various hijacked aircraft and the ground targets. It also includes interviews with survivors and relatives of victims, and has a narrated still-photo gallery.

A Summary of News Coverage from September 11, 2001 - 27:04 - Jun 30, 2008

TV Archive - www.myspace.com/pctx
(5 Ratings) Rate:
This is a summary video from many of the channels recorded by the Television Archive. It's ordered by time with clips from the following channels. NBC (USA) - 0:00:00-0:02:48 The Today Show pre-events CBS (USA) - 0:02:49-0:04:24 As they break into news of the impact into the North Tower CNN (USA) - 0:04:25-0:06:24 As they cut into a commercial to go live from NYC to cover the North Tower TV Azteca (Mexico) - 0:06:25-0:07:44 Coverage of the North Tower on the morning show "Hechos" ABC (USA) - 0:07:45-0:09:14 The impact into the South Tower live ABC (USA) - 0:09:15-0:10:31 Presidential statement from Florida WUSA (CBS affiliate in Washington DC) - 0:10:32-0:12:37 Breaks into CBS network coverage to report on the Pentagon impact WTTG (Fox affiliate in Washington DC) - 0:13:38-0:14:33 Coverage of the collapse of the South Tower NBC (USA) - 0:14:34-0:15:31 Live coverage of the South Tower collapse NTVi (Russia) - 0:15:32-0:17:14 A news bulletin relating to the collapse of the South Tower CCTV4 (China) - 0:17:15-0:18:18 A news bulletin with both Tower collapses. Video is from CNN CBC Newsworld (Canada) - 0:18:18-0:20:16 Live coverage of the collapse of the North Tower CNN (USA) - 0:20:17-0:21:42 First video from the Pennsylvania crash Iraqi Satellite Channel (Iraq) - 0:21:43-0:23:12 New program with information about the attacks in America. This was the second news item in their program - the first was news of an Iraqi shoot-down of an unmanned US aircraft. BBC World (UK) - 0:23:13-0:25:23 Summary of the day's events NHK World (Japan) - 0:25:24-0:26:08 NYC coverage with very close South Tower shots VOA Worldnet (USA) - 0:26:09-0:27:04

1950 Movie - Destination Moon

The first sci fi film made in the u.s. and first attempt at technical accuracy in manned rocketship launch to the moon.

Einstein's Equation of Life and Death

In the summer of 1939 Albert Einstein was on holiday in a small resort town on the tip of Long Island. His peaceful summer, however, was about to be shattered by a visit from an old friend and colleague from his years in Berlin. The visitor was the physicist Leo Szilard. He had come to tell Einstein that he feared the Nazis could soon be in possession of a terrible new weapon and that something had to be done.

Szilard believed that recent scientific breakthroughs meant it was now possible to convert mass into energy. And that this could be used to make a bomb. If this were to happen, it would be a terrible realisation of the law of nature Einstein had discovered some 34 years earlier.

September 1905 was Einstein's 'miracle year'. While working as a patents clerk in the Swiss capital Berne Einstein submitted a three-page supplement to his special theory of relativity, published earlier that year. In those pages he derived the most famous equation of all time; e=mc², energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared.

The equation showed that mass and energy were related and that one could, in theory, be transformed into the other. But because the speed of light squared is such a huge number, it meant that even a small amount of mass could potentially be converted into a huge amount of energy. Ever since the discovery of radioactivity in the late 19th century, scientists had realised that the atomic nucleus could contain a large amount of energy. Einstein's revolutionary equation showed them, for the first time, just how much there was.

However, at the time Einstein doubted whether that energy could ever be released. By 1935 he was convinced it would never be practical. At the Winter Session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Pittsburgh, he is quoted as telling journalists: "The likelihood of transforming matter into energy is something akin to shooting birds in the dark in a country where there are only a few birds."

Einstein was so sceptical because attempts to break open the atomic nucleus always required more far energy be put in than was ever released. Nuclear physicists like Ernest Rutherford were exploring the structure of the atom by bombarding atomic nuclei with alpha particles. Even when machines were built to accelerate the alpha particles to ever higher speeds they had only limited success in breaking apart the nucleus. In 1933 Rutherford dismissed talk of atomic power as 'moonshine'.

One morning in September 1933 Szilard read Rutherford's comments in The Times. Leaving his hotel and crossing the street, he had a brainwave. Alpha particles and the other particles that physicists had been using to bombard the nucleus were simply the wrong tool for the job, because he realised that they, like the nucleus, had a positive charge.

Since like charges repel, Szilard thought, no matter how hard you fire them in, the majority would simply be deflected away. That morning he was one of the first to realise that the recently discovered neutron might be what was needed. The neutron, a subatomic particle like a proton but with no electric charge was discovered in 1932. With no charge, Szilard believed the neutron would simply slip into the heart of the atom undeflected.

But he didn't stop there. Szilard thought that if an atom could be found that is split open by neutrons, not only would it release some of its huge store of energy, it might also release further neutrons, which could then go on and split further atoms, setting up a chain reaction leading to a truly vast release of energy. Szilard immediately saw the possible military applications and sought to patent the idea and have it made an official secret. But in 1933, the chain reaction only existed in Szilard's head. No one had yet found an atom that could be split by neutrons.

These developments were happening against a background of extraordinary political turmoil in Europe. Hitler had come to power in Germany in January 1933. In 1938, less than a year before the outbreak of World War II, just such an atom was found, uranium.

Working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, the nuclear chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman found that when bombarded with neutrons, uranium split into two nuclei of roughly half the size. Not only that, but further calculations showed that a large amount of energy was also released - enough from a single nucleus to move a grain of sand. The first stage of Szilard's chain reaction had been achieved.

When he heard the news Szilard, now in New York and working at Columbia University with Enrico Fermi, set about showing whether, as well as energy, further 'secondary' neutrons were released. By July 1939, when he first knocked on Einstein's door, he knew that they were and so the chain reaction was possible. Also, he and Fermi had settled on a design for the first nuclear reactor.

During the course of their conversations in the summer of 1939, Szilard explained these new developments to Einstein and his fear that the Nazis might use them to create a nuclear bomb. Together they drafted a letter, signed by Einstein, to the American President, Franklin Roosevelt. The letter was delivered to the President on the 11 October 1939 and after reading it the President provided funding for research that would pave the way for the Manhattan Project and lead, ultimately to the construction of the first atomic bomb. After signing the letter, Einstein played no further part in the development of the bomb.

With the first atomic explosion over Hiroshima, the power of e=mc² had been graphically demonstrated to the world. Just 0.6 grams of mass, converted into energy, had been enough to destroy an entire city.

Einstein was horrified when he heard that the bomb had been dropped. When they, wrote to the President, Szilard and Einstein advocated the development of an American bomb purely as a deterrent against the threat of a Nazi weapon. They had not conceived of its use as an offensive weapon, especially after the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Einstein always saw e=mc² as a purely theoretical insight and refuted any responsibility for the bomb but he did feel some responsibility for the letter he'd written to Roosevelt. A letter he would come to describe as "the one mistake" of his life. Einstein saw nuclear weapons and the nuclear arms race as a threat to the future of civilisation. In his final years he devoted much of his time and energy to issues dealing with the world's future - advocating pacifism and campaigning for the control of nuclear weapons, not by individual nations, but by a world government. The last document he signed, just a week before he died, was a manifesto drawn up by Bertrand Russell, renouncing war and nuclear weapons. As Russell said: ""Einstein was not only a great scientist he was a great man. He stood for peace in a world drifting towards war..."

But while the bomb proved e=mc² to be the ultimate equation of destruction, only after his death has the role of Einstein's equation in the creation of the universe become clear. Just as mass can be turned into energy in a bomb, the pure energy generated in the Big Bang condensed into the matter that makes up our world. Almost a hundred years ago, with just six short pen stokes Einstein unlocked one of the most powerful truths about the universe. A truth that would change our world, both for good and ill.

BBC - “The Destruction of Hiroshima & Nagasaki”

BBC Documentary

The Cold War

CNN
Cold War Episode 1: Comrades (1917-1945).



2. Iron Curtain -
3. Marshall Plan -
4. Berlin -
5. Korea -
6. Reds -
7. After Stalin -
8. Sputnik -
9. The Wall -
10. Cuba -
11. Vietnam -
12. MAD -
13. Make Love, Not War -
14. Red Spring -
15. China -
16. Détente -
17. Good Guys, Bad Guys -
18. Backyard -
19. Freeze -
20. Soldiers of God -
21. Spies -
22. Star Wars -
23. The Wall Comes Down -
24. Conclusions -

Michael Dobbs - "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War".

Author Michael Dobbs visits Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, to discuss his book "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War". This event took place on October 8, 2008, as part of the Authors@google series.
In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be sliding inexorably toward a nuclear conflict over the placement of missiles in Cuba. In One Minute to Midnight, Veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has pored over previously untapped American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to produce the most authoritative book yet on the Cuban missile crisis. In his hour-by-hour chronicle of those near-fatal days, Dobbs reveals some startling new incidents that illustrate how close we came to Armageddon.
Michael Dobbs was born in Belfast, Ireland, and educated at the University of York, with fellowships at Princeton and Harvard. He is a reporter for The Washington Post, where he spent much of his career as a foreign correspondent covering the collapse of communism. His Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire was a finalist for a 1997 PEN award. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.



YouTube - Authors@Google: Michael Dobbs

The 20th Century on Trial: Gunter Grass

The New York Public Library
New York, NY
Jun 27th, 2007

The New York Public Library presents The 20th Century on Trial with Gunter Grass. This portion of the event includes Gunter Grass in conversation with Andrew O'Hagan followed by a Q&A session with Gunter Grass and Norman Mailer.
Born in the 1920s, Gunter Grass and Norman Mailer went on to become grand men of letters. They witnessed the 20th century at close quarters. At the center of each writer's consciousness is the role of their respective countries in World War II and the legacy of violence and guilt that created the Cold War. Yet as stylists these two novelists appeared to internalize the great forces of their times: the appeal of totalitarianism and the cult of celebrity, the struggle for national definition and the psychology of sex.
Mailer and Grass set out to create revolutions in the consciousness of their times, and now might be the moment to ask how the 20th century itself emerges from their work. What was that century? What would they write for its epitaph? Nobel Prize-Winner Gunter Grass's memoir Peeling the Onion takes him back to his wartime childhood and adolescence - it is a searing book that provides evidence on behalf of the self-accusing. Norman Mailer's latest novel, The Castle in the Forest, is his take on Hitler's own youth. These two great writers have come full circle, to the same place and time, and their creativity puts the 20th century itself on trial - The New York Public Library







FORA.tv - The 20th Century on Trial: Gunter Grass

Earth - 1930 - video

YouTube - LIFE ON EARTH 1930

Historical Photographs

Historical Photographs

1919 New York Times Confirmation of Einstein Relativity

1919 New York Times Confirmation of Einstein Relativity

San Francisco 1905 footage

In 1905, an unknown cameraman filmed a streetcar trip along San Francisco's Market Street. The following year, the Great Earthquake struck, and he filmed the trip again. This is a five-minute silent film that edits together excerpts of his two films. Footage from the Prelinger Archives, edited by Matt Lake.

San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, 1906 footage

The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time. Today, its importance comes more from the wealth of scientific knowledge derived from it than from its sheer size. Rupturing the northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault from northwest of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino, the earthquake confounded contemporary geologists with its large, horizontal displacements and great rupture length. Indeed, the significance of the fault and recognition of its large cumulative offset would not be fully appreciated until the advent of plate tectonics more than half a century later. Analysis of the 1906 displacements and strain in the surrounding crust led Reid (1910) to formulate his elastic-rebound theory of the earthquake source, which remains today the principal model of the earthquake cycle.

This footage is some of the earliest known from a natural disaster. Edison newsreels of San Francisco earthquake / falling buildings / taking away the hurt / troops marching along Van Ness Avenue with relief supplies / pan views of the destruction 1906 Earthquake.

First Movies ever made, Late 1800

These are some of the very first movies ever made. These came from the Library of Congress. "I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion ...."
--Thomas A. Edison, 1888
Edison's laboratory was responsible for the invention of the Kinetograph (a motion picture camera) and the Kinetoscope (a peep-hole motion picture viewer). Motion pictures became a successful entertainment industry in less than a decade, with single-viewer Kinetoscopes giving way to films projected for mass audiences.

BBC - Nuclear Secrets, Pakistan

1896 New York Fire Department alarm

Brighton Beach 1896

Montreal Fire Dept. - 1901

The Montreal Fire Department off to a fire in the middle of winter. 1901

1901 Women boxing, The Thomas Edison Company

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1903-1904

Short films of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, or 1904 World's Fair, held in St. Louis, Mo. Includes President Theodore Roosevelt at the Dedication Ceremonies, Opening Ceremonies, Asia in America, Princess Rajah Dance, and Parade of Floats. Films are by the Selig Polyscope Company, American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, and Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

Coney Island 1903-1904

Three short films of Coney Island: Children in the Surf, Shooting the Shoots in Luna Park, and Part 1 of Rube and Mandy at Coney Island, showing their adventures in Steeplechase Park. Films by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. and American Mutoscope and Biograph Co., 1903-1904.