Michael Shermer on Charlie Rose on Pseudoscience

Michael Shermer discusses Carl Sagan, science, pseudoscience, and the paranormal on PBS's Charlie Rose, during his book tour for Why People Believe Weird Things. (...)

Michael Shermer is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating and debunking pseudoscientific and supernatural claims.

Shermer is also the producer and co-host of the 13-hour Fox Family television series Exploring the Unknown and since April 2004 has been a monthly columnist for Scientific American magazine with his Skeptic column.

The Greatest Action Story Ever Told

MADtv parody of The Terminator series featuring Jesus Christ.

Star Trek Moments: Best of Both Worlds Cliffhanger

"The Best of Both Worlds" is a two-part episode from the third/fourth seasons of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. (...)

"The Best of Both Worlds" is a significant and highly regarded two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that was written by Michael Piller and directed by Cliff Bole. Part I first aired during the week of June 18, 1990 as the third season finale and ended as a cliffhanger and fandom speculation began to mount about the fate of Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D (...)

Borg drones start attacking them, but just before the away team is beamed back, they are horrified to see an assimilated Picard.

Although unable to save Picard, their actions force the Borg to drop to impulse and give the Enterprise a chance to use their weapon. Riker asks if the weapon is ready, and Geordi confirms. Shelby, though, wants to try to save Picard, though there are only minutes left and the Borg appear ready to return to warp. Suddenly they are hailed by the Borg ship. "Picard", now Locutus, appears on the viewscreen, and delivers an ultimatum:

"I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service us."

Faced with the prospect of losing his captain or risking the future of humanity, Riker orders Worf to destroy the cube - "Fire."

Silicon Valley Linux Users Group - Kernel Walkthrough

The Silicon Valley Linux Users Group hosts weekly sessions to walk through the code for the Linux Kernel, allowing newer users and developers to better understanding the operating system.

Rowan Atkinson LIVE: Fatal Beatings

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is an English comedian, actor and writer, famous for his title roles in the British television comedies Blackadder and Mr. Bean.

Atkinson has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.

(...)

A father of a child had been called for a meeting with a teacher who is about to tell a
tragic news regarding his son.

Milton Friedman - Greed

Milton Friedman was an American Nobel Laureate economist and public intellectual. An advocate of economic freedom and personal liberty, Friedman made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history and statistics. In 1976, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy.

In this excerpt from an interview with Phil Donahue in 1979, Friedman discusses greed and capitalism.

Authors@Google: Phillip Zimbardo

What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Where is the line separating good from evil, and who is in danger of crossing it? Renow-ned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo has the answers, and in The Lucifer Effect he explains how---and the myriad reasons why---we are all susceptible to the lure of "the dark side." Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women.

Zimbardo, professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, is perhaps best known as the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment. For the first time, he tells the full story of this landmark study, in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into "guards" and "inmates" and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners.

Steven Pinker: A brief history of violence

In a preview of his next book, Steven Pinker takes on violence. We live in violent times, an era of heightened warfare, genocide and senseless crime. Or so we've come to believe. Pinker charts a history of violence from Biblical times through the present, and says modern society has a little less to feel guilty about.

Steven Pinker is a prominent Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and popular science writer known for his spirited and wide-ranging advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.

Authors@Google: Bjorn Lomborg

In Cool It, Bjørn Lomborg argues that many of the elaborate and expensive actions now being considered to stop global warming will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, are often based on emotional rather than strictly scientific assumptions, and may very well have little impact on the world's temperature for hundreds of years. Rather than starting with the most radical procedures, Lomborg argues that we should first focus our resources on more immediate concerns, such as fighting malaria and HIV/AIDS and assuring and maintaining a safe, fresh water supply—which can be addressed at a fraction of the cost and save millions of lives within our lifetime. He asks why the debate over climate change has stifled rational dialogue and killed meaningful dissent.

Bjørn Lomborg is the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2004 and has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. He is presently an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, and in 2004 he started the Copenhagen Consensus, a conference of top economists who come together to prioritize the best solutions for the world's greatest challenges.

John Stossel's 'Stupid in America'

"Stupid in America" is a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America's public schools and it's about time we face up to it.

Kids at New York's Abraham Lincoln High School told me their teachers are so dull students fall asleep in class. One student said, "You see kids all the time walking in the school smoking weed, you know. It's a normal thing here."

We tried to bring "20/20" cameras into New York City schools to see for ourselves and show you what's going on in the schools, but officials wouldn't allow it.

I, Pencil

I, Pencil is Leonard Read's most famous essay. The full title is "I, Pencil. My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read" and it was first published in the December, 1958 issue of The Freeman. It was reprinted in The Freeman in May 1996 and as a pamphlet entitled "I...Pencil" in May 1998. In the reprint, Milton Friedman wrote the introduction and Donald J. Boudreaux wrote the afterword. Friedman (the 1976 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics) used the essay in his 1980 PBS television show Free to Choose and the accompanying book of the same name.

"I, Pencil" is written in the first person from the point of view of an Eberhard Faber pencil. The pencil details the complexity of its own creation, listing its components (cedar, lacquer, graphite, ferrule, factice, pumice, wax, glue) and the numerous people involved, down to the sweeper in the factory and the lighthouse keeper guiding the shipment into port.

Debunking myths about the "Third World"

You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world" using extraordinary animation software developed by his Gapminder Foundation. The Trendalyzer software (recently acquired by Google) turns complex global trends into lively animations, making decades of data pop. Asian countries, as colorful bubbles, float across the grid -- toward better national health and wealth. Animated bell curves representing national income distribution squish and flatten. In Rosling's hands, global trends -- life expectancy, child mortality, poverty rates -- become clear, intuitive and even playful.

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog is a fictional beast from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. According to Tim the Enchanter, it "[has] a vicious streak a mile wide!", as well as "nasty, big, pointy teeth!" The creature has become known as the vorpal bunny, although this name does not appear in the film.

The Cave of Caerbannog ("Caer bannog" being Welsh for "turreted castle") is the home of the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh, and is ostensibly guarded by a fearsome predator of an unknown description, because no one who attempts to enter the Cave or face the monster has ever lived to tell the tale.

The beast appears to be a cute, fluffy white rabbit, surrounded by the bones of the fallen. Despite Tim's warnings, King Arthur orders one of his knights, Bors, to decapitate the rabbit. Bors approaches it, sword drawn, and is immediately decapitated by the rabbit to the sound of a can opener. The knights attack in force, but are driven into retreat as the rabbit leaps and attacks, killing Gawain and Ector.

Principles of economics, translated

Yoram Bauman has appeared at venues ranging from the New York Improv to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting. He is a regular at the Comedy Underground in Seattle, where he runs Non-Profit Comedy, a political-ish comedy benefit show (featured in the Seattle P-I). When not performing stand-up he consults on climate change and other environmental economics issues and teaches at the University of Washington.

Comedian movie trailer

Hal Douglas is an American voice actor best known for his work on movie trailers and television commercials.

Douglas is known in the film industry as the "In a world …" guy because many of his trailers have begun with these words, and his voice has immortalized them (although Don LaFontaine claims to have actually created the catchphrase). In addition, Douglas has been the promotional voice for the former WB, A&E and The History Channel. As of 2007, Douglas records promotional narrations for ABC along with theatrical trailers, but no longer does voice overs for the CW, the merger of The WB and UPN. His voice can also be heard as the "trailer announcer" in the 2006 movie, The Holiday. He can be seen parodying himself in the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's film Comedian.

Authors@Google: Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics and director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He writes for MarginalRevolution.com, the #1 economics blog according to blogpulse.com. Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics, called this blog "awesomely good, every day." Cowen also writes a monthly column for the business section of The New York Times, and contributes to many other publications.

In DISCOVER YOUR INNER ECONOMIST: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist , economics professor Tyler Cowen shows how many of our needs, whims, and wants can be understood through markets. Want to vent some anger? A bar in China lets you pay to beat up the staff. Want to talk to aliens? For $3.99 a minute a company will broadcast your phone call directly into space.

This event happened September 14, 2007 at the Google NY office.

Asimo Commercial

ASIMO (アシモ, ashimo?) is a humanoid robot created by Honda Motor Company. Standing at 130 centimeters (4 feet 3 inches) and weighing 52 kilograms (119 lbs.), the robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk on two feet at speeds up to 6 km/h (3.7 mph). ASIMO was created at Honda's Research & Development Wako Fundamental Technical Research Center in Japan. It is the current model in a line of eleven that began in 1986 with E0.

Officially, the name is an acronym for "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility". As of 2007, there are 46 ASIMO units in existence. Each one costs less than $1 million to manufacture, and some units are available to be hired out for $166,000 per year.

Authors@Google: Robert Frank

Author Robert Frank discusses his book "The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas" as a part of the Authors@Google series. This event took place on July 23, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA. (...)

Robert Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management Professor of Economics at Cornell University's S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. He is a monthly contributor to the "Economic Scene" column in The New York Times.

Creationism with Ricky Gervais

Animals is a stand-up show written and performed by the comedian Ricky Gervais. As the title suggests Gervais uses aspects of the animal kingdom as his central theme. The show toured in 2003 and is now available on DVD.

Animals is one of three stand-up shows that Gervais has performed: the other two being Politics and Fame.

Metallica - Unforgiven II

"The Unforgiven II" is a song performed by Metallica. It was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett, and appears in the album ReLoad, as a sequel to "The Unforgiven" (which appears on Metallica).

It has been performed live only once: at a 1997 Billboard Awards when Metallica received the Artist of the Year award.

The Lord of the Rings - Through the Mines of Moria

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson. It is the opening installment of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, based on the similarly titled first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic literary fantasy, The Lord of the Rings. Jackson began the project in 1995 as a two-part adaptation of Tolkien's work. (...)

The Fellowship set out and try to pass the mountain Caradhras, but they are stopped by Saruman's wizardry. They are forced to travel under the mountain through the Mines of Moria. After journeying partway through the Mines, Pippin accidentally gives away their presence to a band of orcs. The Fellowship then encounter a Balrog, an ancient demon of fire and shadow, at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Gandalf confronts the Balrog on the bridge, allowing the others to escape the mines, while he falls with the creature into the abyss below.

Singing Tesla Coil at Duckon 2007

This is a solid-state Tesla coil. The primary runs at its resonant frequency in the 41 KHz range, and is modulated from the control unit in order to generate the tones you hear. So just to explain a little further, yes, it is the actual high voltage sparks that are making the noise. Every cycle of the music is a burst of sparks at 41 KHz, triggered by digital circuitry at the end of a "long" piece of fiber optics.

What's not immediately obvious in this video is how loud this is. Many people were covering their ears, dogs were barking. In the sections where the crowd is cheering and the coils is starting and stopping, you can hear the the crowd is drowned out by the coil when it's firing.

This Tesla coil was built and is owned by Steve Ward. Steve is a EE student at U of I Urbana-Champaign. He and Jeff have been going to Teslathons, which is where they met. It's been suggested that a good name for this coil would be the "Zeusaphone". "Thoremin" has also been mentioned, though personally I think we need Theramin type inputs for that.

Neverwinter Nights 2 Trailer

Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2) is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights (NWN), a successful game based on the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Where NWN was based on the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition rules, NWN2 is based on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules (also known as the Revised 3rd Edition), changed to adapt to real-time gameplay.

The Court Jester - The Pellet With The Poison

The Court Jester is a 1956 comedy film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, and Angela Lansbury. The movie is co-written, co-directed, and co-produced by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. The film was released by Paramount Pictures in the VistaVision widescreen format. Danny Kaye received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy/Musical. The film contains the famous exchange: "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true" (mainly between Kaye and Mildred Natwick as Griselda) (...)

Immediately upon being knighted, Hawkins is challenged to a duel to the death by Griswold, who appears to truly love the princess. Help is given to Hawkins in the form of a poisonous potion made by Griselda, but Sir Griswold is also told of it by a courtier who overhears of the plot. In a scene full of tongue twisting English, both combatants approach the King, each trying desperately to remember which cup contains the poison, with the result that the king decides to abandon the ritual of drinking a toast before the joust and get straight on to the fight. But a storm is rising, and Hawkins' armor, struck by lightning, has become magnetized. Griswold is pulled from his horse by his morning star which sticks to Hubert's armor, and Hubert wins the joust.

Charlie Rose - An hour with Milton Friedman

An hour conversation with Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman about his life, his contributions to economics, the Republican Party and his view on the direction of the United States and the world.

Enya - Caribbean Blue

Enya, birth name Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin, was born in Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland, and is a four-time Grammy Award-winning singer, an Academy Award-nominated songwriter, and Ireland's best-selling solo artist and one of that nation's best known musicians. As a musical group, Enya represents a partnership between three people: Enya herself, who composes and performs the music; Nicky Ryan, who produces the albums, and Roma Ryan, who writes the lyrics in various languages. Enya is an approximate transcription of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish, in the Donegal dialect. (...)

Caribbean Blue is a hit song from her 1991 album Shepherd Moons.

Deep Space Homer

"Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' fifth season. It is also the source of the Overlord meme. The episode was written by David Mirkin, who was an experienced producer of the show, with "Deep Space Homer" being his freshman writing credit for the series.

In spite of Homer being chosen to go into space, he is very nervous about going. He runs from the space shuttle and talks with Marge on the phone, and she says that Homer ought to take advantage of going into space. He agrees and gets into the Corvair space shuttle, with its name a reference to the car that was widely considered to be unsafe. The launch is also a Nielsen ratings smash. When on the shuttle, Homer smuggles potato chips ("Careful! They're ruffled!") on board. He opens the bag, but is unaware that they will clog the instruments. His appetite seems to save the day as he floats after the chips in zero-G to the tune of The Blue Danube, but he flies into an ant farm, destroying it, sowing panic across the world as the ants are set free thanks to Kent Brockman's rather premature assessment of the situation.

Although James Taylor comes in to make a modified adaptation of "You've Got a Friend", the disaster continues on board, with Kent Brockman reporting that the space shuttle has been taken over by giant space ants. The ants destroy the navigation system but, luckily, James Taylor suggests that they blow the bugs out the front hatch. The astronauts do, but Homer fails to put on his "shuttle belt" and is sucked out of the hatch. Buzz pulls him inside but due to the vacuums' sheer force, Homer breaks the handle. He inadvertently uses the carbon rod to seal the door shut. They return to Earth, landing at a journalist convention.

Metallica - The Unforgiven

"The Unforgiven" is one of the slower songs on the self-titled album, Metallica (also known as the Black Album). It also has a sequel, in the form of "The Unforgiven II", from the album ReLoad. (...)

The drum & horn intro was essentially taken from an un-identified Western movie and then reversed so its source would be hidden, as Hetfield later explained on "Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album". The band has never disclosed what movie the sound was taken from, although it is strongly reminiscent of a segment of Ennio Morricone's "The showdown" from the movie "For a few dollars more".

"The Unforgiven" was played live as part of Metallica's Nowhere Else To Roam world tour which lasted from 1991-1993, in support of the Black Album. It was played again on the Madly in Anger with the World world tour in 2003-2004 and the Escape from the Studio '06 tour. It has most recently been played as part of the 'Sick of the Studio' tour.

Authors@Google: James Randi

James Randi is an internationally known magician (as The Amazing Randi), psychic debunker, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." He was a founding fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is perhaps best known for offering $1,000,000 (via the James Randi Educational Foundation) to anyone who can successfully demonstrate psychic powers under conditions mutually agreed on by the challenger and himself. Starting with a $10,000 prize over 25 years ago, no claimant to psychic powers has ever won the money.

Randi has pursued "psychic" spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water "with a memory," and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural.

The Bastiat Collection

In this Mises Institute thirty-minute interview, Dr. Mark Thornton, the compiler and general editor of "The Bastiat Collection," explains Bastiat's significance, and tells the fascinating story of how this definitive collection came to be. He further explains its significance for the future of liberty. Frédéric Bastiat was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly.

Opeth - Harvest

Blackwater Park is the fifth full-length studio album from the Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. It was originally released on February 27, 2001 under Music For Nations and Koch Records. The album is a further continuation of the styles explored on Still Life, incorporating and further expanding on the band's signature sound, which features the merger of death metal, progressive metal and folk music elements.

Blackwater Park was the first Opeth album to be produced by Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who also provided backing vocals in some of the album's songs. The album was a critical and commercial success for the band, introducing them to a new range of fans. Many Opeth fans and critics alike consider Blackwater Park to be Opeth's magnum opus.

A special edition was later issued in 2002 with a second disc consisting of two bonus tracks (which were also released separately on the limited edition Still Day Beneath the Sun vinyl record single) and a music video for the song "Harvest". The release was limited to only 2000 copies.

Mercedes-Benz commercial - Alonso, Hamilton and Häkkinen

Taking a tongue-in-cheek approach, the TV commercial shows the two Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 drivers engaging in ‘fierce daily competition’. In the spot, the current Formula 1 front-runner, Lewis Hamilton, wins a race just seconds ahead of the current second-place driver, Fernando Alonso. He celebrates his triumph while he’s still sitting in the cockpit, with a broad grin and a wave of his hand. But only a short time later, as the two racers are driving back to their hotel in a Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG and a CLK 63 AMG Black Series, Hamilton is momentarily distracted by an attractive woman who happens to be passing by. Alonso quickly takes advantage of the situation and leaves his surprised colleague behind at a traffic light. The game continues when they arrive at the hotel reception desk, on the way to and from their hotel rooms, in the gym, and in the sauna. In all of these arenas, neither of the two is prepared to give way. Despite the blistering heat and their exhaustion in the sauna, each of them wants to be the winner. In the end, the driver who steals the show is the experienced professional Mika Häkkinen, who comes from Finland and therefore knows everything there is to know about saunas. But these outstanding sportsmen would not be the champions they are if they didn’t know how to “lose” with a smile once in a while - even if it’s only at a sauna.

Blind Date - Olde English Sketch Comedy

Pi or π is a mathematical constant and a transcendental (and therefore irrational) real number, approximately equal to 3.14159, which is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, and has many uses in mathematics, physics, and engineering. (...)

The mathematical constant e is the unique real number such that the value of the derivative (slope of the tangent line) of f(x) = e^x at the point x = 0 is exactly 1. The function e^x so defined is called the exponential function, and its inverse is the natural logarithm, or logarithm to base e. The number e is occasionally called Euler's number after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, or Napier's constant in honor of the Scottish mathematician John Napier who introduced logarithms.

"Tribute to Brandon Lee" edited to "Saliva"

The Crow is a 1994 American film adaptation of the comic book of the same name by James O'Barr (who himself makes a cameo in the film).

It was directed by Alex Proyas and starred Brandon Lee, and gained instant notoriety even before its release, when Lee was accidentally killed during filming. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), the film has gained a cult following over the years.

Candidates@Google: Ron Paul

2008 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul in discussion with Google executive Elliot Schrage as part of the company's Candidates@Google series. (...)

Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is a 10th-term Congressman from Lake Jackson, Texas, a member of the Republican Party, a physician, and a candidate for the 2008 presidential election. He has represented Texas's 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997 and represented Texas's 22nd district in 1976 and from 1979 to 1985. He earned the nickname "Dr. No" because he is a medical doctor who votes against any bill he believes violates the Constitution.[1] On March 12, 2007, Paul announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election seeking the nomination of the Republican Party.

James Randi exposes Uri Geller and Peter Popoff

James Randi, stage name The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. (...)

Uri Geller, an Israeli-British performer and celebrity famous for his claimed psychic powers, was unable to bend any tableware during a 1973 appearance on The Tonight Show where the spoons he was to bend had been preselected by Johnny Carson. Earlier in his career, Carson had been an amateur stage magician, as had James Randi who advised Carson on how to thwart potential trickery. Randi explained in a 1993 Secrets of the Psychics for the NOVA television series: "I was asked to prevent any trickery. I told them to provide their own props and not to let Geller or his people anywhere near them." (...)

Peter Popoff, is a German-born U.S. televangelist who has spent most of his adult life claiming to treat physical ailments through the use of faith healing. These claims were debunked in 1987 when noted skeptic James Randi and his assistant, Steve Shaw, researched Popoff attending shows across the country for months to discover radio transmissions of Popoff's wife. The transmissions were made by his wife, Elizabeth Popoff, off-stage reading information which she and her aides (Volmer Thrane, the brother of his manager Nancy Thrane, and Reeford Sherrill) had gathered from earlier conversation with members of the audience. Popoff would simply listen to these promptings with his in-ear receiver and repeat what he heard to the crowd. After tapes of these transmissions were played on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Popoff's popularity and viewing audiences declined sharply, and his ministry declared bankruptcy later that year

James Randi exposes James Hydrick

James Hydrick was a self-described psychic who claimed to be able to perform telekinesis. Following a nationally televised demonstration of his abilities, he was exposed as a fraud on a subsequent show and eventually Hydrick confessed to an investigative reporter. (...)

Magician and paranormal skeptic James Randi demonstrated the pencil trick on the television program That's My Line, hosted by Bob Barker. In a follow-up episode, Randi and Hydrick both appeared. When Randi performed the simple control of placing small pieces of styrofoam "peanuts" on the table around the phone book (to show if Hydrick was actually turning the pages by blowing on them), Hydrick's "powers" suddenly failed him. Hydrick attempted to explain that when the foam was heated by the stage lights they developed a static electric charge which, when added to the weight of the page, required more force than he was able to generate to turn the page. Randi and the judges, though, declared that this theory had no scientific basis. After an hour and a half of Hydrick staring at the pages (the show was edited for time) without any results, and indignantly claiming that his powers were real, he finally admitted being unable to complete the challenge. The judging panel (which included a parapsychologist) stated that, in their opinion, no supernatural phenomenon had taken place. The failed stunt resulted in the television show That's Incredible receiving a Pigasus Award, and effectively ended Hydrick's television career in a humiliating fashion.

Lego Millenium Falcon Stop Motion

Animated lego pieces putting together the Millenium Falcon (...)

The Millennium Falcon is a fictional spacecraft in the Star Wars universe commanded by smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his Wookiee firstmate, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). The highly modified YT-1300 light freighter first appears in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and subsequently in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The Falcon also appears in a variety of Star Wars expanded universe materials, including books, comics, and games.

Massive Attack - Special Cases

"Special Cases" is a song on English trip-hop collective Massive Attack's fourth full-length album, 100th Window. It was released as the first single from this album on February 24, 2003. Featuring Sinéad O'Connor on vocals, it was for many fans of the band their first exposure to the new album.

In addition to a radio-edit mix of the original song, the single release contains a remix by Canadian electronica artist Akufen, as well as "I Against I", a song performed with Mos Def that appeared on the soundtrack for the 2002 movie Blade II. 12" vinyl releases contained an additional remix of "Special Cases" by Vladislav Delay, who is credited as "Luomo" for this release.

The song was also made into two separate videos. The Enhanced CD contains one of these, and the other video is on a rare DVD release of the single.

National Lampoon's 72 Virgins

Two idiot college students unwittingly join an Al Qaeda cell in order to get the 72 virgins promised to terrorists when they die. From the makers of Animal House, Van Wilder, and the Vacation movies; National Lampoon's 72 Virgins!

The return of the Soviet Union

"Simpson Tide" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' ninth season. The episode first aired on March 29, 1998. The episode title puns on the film Crimson Tide. Guest starring Rod Steiger as Captain Tenille, Bob Denver as himself and Michael Carrington as the Drill Sargeant. This was the last episode Al Jean and Mike Reiss show-ran together, both would return in season 13 with Jean as show runner and Reiss as produce (...)

Homer fails to find his way back to Springfield, and ends up going entirely the wrong way, ending up in Russian waters. This is interpreted by the United States government as an attempt to hi-jack the sub, and the media brands Homer a traitor. This event creates a political schism between the USA and Russia; the Russian government reveals that the Soviet Union still exists, and that its fall was merely a ruse. As such, the diplomat switches his name plate to "Soviet Union" mode, and curious changes occur in Russia. Tanks emerge from within floats depicting teddy bears in a parade in front of the Kremlin, goosestepping troops parade, the Berlin Wall reappears from nowhere (still with guards and dogs on it) and Lenin returns from the dead saying as he comes back "Must... crush... capitalism!".

The Call of the Entrepreneur

The trailer for a new documentary being released by the Acton Institute that focuses on the stories of three entrepreneurs. A study of the call to create wealth and the benefit of business and free markets to society.

A merchant banker. A failing dairy farmer. A refugee from Communist China. One risked his savings. One risked his farm. One risked his life.

Why do their stories matter? Because how we view entrepreneurs—as greedy or altruistic, as virtuous or vicious—shapes the destinies of individuals and nations.

The Boy With The Incredible Brain

This is the breathtaking story of Daniel Tammet. A twenty-something with extraordinary mental abilities, Daniel is one of the world’s few savants. He can do calculations to 100 decimal places in his head, and learn a language in a week. This documentary follows Daniel as he travels to America to meet the scientists who are convinced he may hold the key to unlocking similar abilities in everyone. He also meets the world’s most famous savant, the man who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in the Oscar winning film ‘Rain Man’ (2005).

Milton Friedman on Icelandic State Television in 1984

Professor Milton Friedman came to Iceland in 1984 to give a lecture at The University of Iceland.

This is an interview with him on Icelandic State Television. The setup is interesting, with Friedman are three radically left-wing scholars who criticize him each at a time for everything from monetary policy to drug policy. One of them, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, is the current president of Iceland

Battle at Kruger

"Battle at Kruger" is a viral video posted on YouTube in 2007 which was widely praised for its dramatic depiction of life on the African savannah. It is one of YouTube's most popular videos, with more than 5,800,000 views and 7300 comments as of June 2007. It was also the subject of an article in the June 25, 2007, issue of Time Magazine. Taken by a group of safari-goers at a watering hole in Kruger National Park, South Africa, the video depicts a confrontation between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and a pair of crocodiles. Taken from a vehicle on the opposite side of the watering hole, the video begins with the herd of buffalo approaching the spring, unaware of the lions resting nearby. The lions charge and disperse the herd, picking off a young buffalo and knocking it into the water. While trying to drag the buffalo out of the water, it is grabbed by a pair of crocodiles, who fight strenuously for it before giving up and leaving it to the lions. The lions sit down and prepare to eat, but are quickly surrounded by the reorganized buffalo, who move in and start kicking at the lions. After a battle which includes one lion being tossed through the air, the baby buffalo (who is miraculously still alive) escapes into the herd. The emboldened buffalo chase the remainder of the lions away.

Kitarō - Silk Road Suite

Kitarō (喜多郎) (born Masanori Takahashi (高橋正則 Takahashi Masanori) on February 4, 1953, in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. His stage name was given later by friends because of a Japanese television cartoon character named Kitarō, from Ge Ge Ge no Kitarō. He is the son of shintoistic farmers. (...)

Back in Japan Kitarō started his solo career in 1977. The first two albums Ten Kai and From the Full Moon Story became cult favorites of fans of the nascent New Age movement. He performed his first symphonic concert at the 'Small Hall' of the Kosei Nenkin Kaikan in Shinjuku, Toyko. During this concert Kitaro used a synthesizer to recreate the sounds of 40 different instruments, a world's first. But it was his famous soundtrack for the NHK series "Silk Road" which brought him the international attention.

Mine Your Own Business

Mine Your Own Business exposes the dark side of environmentalism. The documentary hacks away at the cosy image of environmentalists' as well meaning, harmless activists. It talks to some of the world's poorest people about how western environmentalists are campaigning to keep them in poverty because they think their way of life is quaint. It is the first documentary to ask hard questions of the environmental movement.

Scene from American History X

American History X is a 1998 crime drama film directed by Tony Kaye and written by David McKenna. It stars Edward Norton in the lead role and co-stars Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks, Elliott Gould, Stacy Keach, and Guy Torry. Norton was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. As of June 2007, it is ranked 43rd on the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 with a rating of 8.5 out of 10. (...)

Reformed neo-Nazi Derek Vinyard is released from prison after serving three years for killing two young black men he caught breaking into his car. Upon being released, he finds that his younger brother, Danny (the narrator), has embraced his old ways in his absence and has become an active white supremacist in the group Derek led before his arrest. The film centers on Derek's decision to sever ties with his racist past whilst trying to keep his brother from following in his footsteps. The film also centers on events that lead him to change his views about other races.

Damon Scott and Bubbles

Damon Scott is a british male entertainer made famous for his appearence in the first series of the ITV variety talent show Britain's Got Talent. Although Damon has an extensive range of acts, he is best known for his performances with monkey puppets, earning him the nickname The Monkey Man which became the title of a BBC documentary based on Damon’s achievements to date. (...)

In the early summer of 2007, ITV broadcast the first series of Britain's Got Talent which was to become a hit variety talent show. Damon entered the auditions with his unique act with a monkey puppet, named Bubbles, lipsyncing to Michael Jackson songs. Receiving positive reactions from the judges enabled Damon to proceed to the Semi-finals.

Futurama - The Un-Freeze of a Lifetime

"Anthology of Interest I" is episode sixteen in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three out-of-canon "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of Matt Groening's other animated series The Simpsons. (...)

Fry narrowly misses falling into the cryogenic tube, and a rift in the space-time continuum appears, which shows the Planet Express crew in the future. The next day, after talking to Mr. Panucci, he came to the attention of Stephen Hawking who arranges for Fry to be abducted.He is introduced to the "Vice Presidential Action Rangers", whose task is to protect the space-time continuum.

Fry explains what happened the previous night at the cryogenic facility and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers determine that Fry was supposed to die and try to kill him. Another rift appears during the attempted murder and Nichelle Nichols suggests that Fry be frozen and Gary Gygax gives Fry his +1 mace for protection in the future. Just before Fry is frozen, he smashes the cryogenic tube, causing the universe to collapse into a space-time rift. This results in Fry and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers appearing at some other indeterminate dimension which is not part of the universe. The scenario ends with them playing Dungeons and Dragons for the rest of eternity.

Charlie Rose and Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels by J. R. R. Tolkien. He is also known for his remake of King Kong.

Jackson first gained attention with his "splatstick" horror comedies, and came to prominence with success and critical acclaim for Heavenly Creatures, for which he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen with Walsh.

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters (S&M)

S&M is American heavy metal band Metallica's ninth album, recorded live with the San Francisco Symphony on April 21-22 of 1999. The set list contains songs from Ride the Lightning through ReLoad, as well as two new songs: "− Human" and "No Leaf Clover". "− Human" ("Minus Human") has never been performed without the symphony, but "No Leaf Clover" has been played live with a recording of the orchestral prelude. Composer Michael Kamen scored the symphonic arrangements, and conducted the orchestra during the concert. (...) "Nothing Else Matters" was first released in 1991 on the self-titled Black Album.

Quantum Cryptography: A Tale of Secrets Revealed Through the Laws of Physics

Perimeter Institute brings great thinkers from around the world to Canada to share their ideas on a wide variety of interesting and topical subjects. These lectures and debates are aimed at non-specialists. No mathematical or scientific knowledge is necessary or assumed. Each event is explicitly tailored for the general public and everyone is welcome to attend. (...)

Daniel Gottesman - Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Sensitive information can be valuable to others - from your personal credit card numbers to state and military secrets. Throughout history, sophisticated codes have been developed in an attempt to keep important data from prying eyes. But now, new technologies are emerging based on the surprising laws of quantum physics that govern the atomic scale. These powerful techniques threaten to crack some secret codes in widespread use today and, at the same time, offer new quantum cryptographic protocols which could one day profoundly alter the way we safeguard critical information.

Are Civil Liberties at Risk in the War on Terror?

Are Civil Liberties at Risk in the War on Terror? - Featuring Bruce Fein, Chairman, American Freedom Agenda; Andrew C. McCarthy, Director, Center for Law & Counterterrorism Foundation for Defense of Democracies; and Moderated by Timothy Lynch, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute

The conservative authors of the new American Freedom Agenda charge that since 9/11 the Bush administration has chronically usurped legislative or judicial power and has repeatedly claimed that the president is the law. Others argue that the administration has responded appropriately to the nature of the threat. For 18 years, Andrew McCarthy was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York where he led the terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. Bruce Fein served as associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. Please join us for a vigorous discussion of a crucial topic.

Laika

Laika (from Russian: Лайка, a breed of dog, literally: "Barker") was a Russian space dog who became the first living creature from Earth to enter orbit. At one time a stray wandering the streets of Moscow, she was selected from an animal shelter. Originally named Kudryavka (Russian: кудрявка), she was renamed Laika after her breed type. After undergoing training with two other dogs, she was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 and was launched into space on 3 November 1957.

Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating, probably due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. The true cause of her death was not made public until decades after the flight.

Although Laika did not survive the trip, the experiment proved that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure weightlessness. It paved the way for human spaceflight and provided scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments.

Women In Art

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art.

Evanescence - My Immortal

"My Immortal" is the third single from rock band Evanescence's major label debut album, Fallen. Due to popularity at concerts, a new version of the song was recorded and released to radio. At the 47th Annual Grammy Awards the song was nominated in the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group category.

The song reached number seven in the United States and the United Kingdom and number one in Portugal; in Canada it debuted at number one and spent over twenty weeks in the top five. In Latin America the song was at #10 the week when the chart was created, it's presumed that the song reached #1.

Basshunter - Boten Anna

"Boten Anna" ("Anna, the bot") is a song by Swedish dance musician Basshunter, which appears on his second studio album LOL <(^^,)>. Due to the song, Basshunter became a noted artist in his native Sweden, as well as Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands after the release of the single in 2006. The song topped hit charts and – on the 3rd of May 2006 – was named Norway's official Russ-song. It was also the most popular song at The Gathering demo party 2006.

The Swedish lyrics of Boten Anna tell the story of a female IRC user mistaken for an IRC bot by the vocalist who later finds out the truth; subsequently, however, he states that she will always remain a bot in his eyes. The song is based on an actual experience of Jonas Altberg (a.k.a. Basshunter), who explained the situation in an interview with the Finnish website Stara.fi. His friend said he would create a bot with administrative capabilities to keep order in his channel, #BassHunter.se; when this happened Jonas saw a new user with administrative capabilities named Anna enter the channel, and naturally thought this was the bot. Months later, he learned that Anna was actually not a bot, but was his friend's girlfriend; the embarrassment, he says, inspired him to create the song.

Placebo - Special K

Special K is a single by British alternative rock band Placebo. It is taken from their third album. The song has many drug references. The "K" in the title is likely to be ketamine. Other lines in the song such as, "I swallowed half my stash," and, "I fall down... hit the ground," give references to crashes or down as well as drug stashes.

Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober

"Call Me When You're Sober" is an alternative rock song recorded by the American band Evanescence. It was released on September 25, 2006 on the radio as the first single from the band's second studio album, The Open Door.

In late July of that year, the song and the music video were leaked on to the internet before their official release dates. "Call Me When You're Sober" has reached the Top 5 on the Canadian BDS Airplay charts and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top 10, where it first debuted at number 25 marking the band's highest Hot 100 debut to date. On August 28, it reached number one on MTV's TRL, marking the first time an Evanescence single has reached the TRL top spot.

iPod Revolution

Discovery Channel documentary 'The iPod Revolution' goes behind the scenes to uncover how Steve Jobs brought Apple back from the grave to create one of the most popular electronics devices ever made: the iPod.

Putting Weirdness to Work: Quantum Information Science

KITP Public Lecture Series: Putting Weirdness to Work: Quantum Information Science

Quantum physics, information theory, and computer science are among the crowning intellectual achievements of the 20th century. Now, a new synthesis of these themes is underway. The emerging field of quantum information science is providing important insights into fundamental issues at the interface of computation and physical science, and may guide the way to revolutionary technological advances.

The quantum laws that govern atoms and other tiny objects differ radically from the classical laws that govern our ordinary experience. In particular, quantum information (information encoded in a quantum system) has weird properties that contrast sharply with the familiar properties of classical information. Physicists, who for many years have relished this weirdness, have begun to recognize in recent years that we can put the weirdness to work: There are tasks involving the acquisition, transmission, and processing of information that are achievable in principle because Nature is quantum mechanical, but that would be impossible in a less weird classical world. John Preskill will describe the properties of quantum bits ("qubits"), the indivisible units of quantum infor- mation, and explain the essential ways in which qubits differ from classical bits. For one thing, it is impossible to read or copy the state of a qubit without disturbing it. This property is the basis of "quantum cryptography," wherein the privacy of secret information can be founded on principles of fundamental physics.

Revolution OS

Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary film made in the United States, directed by J.T.S. Moore, which traces the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, and the open source and free software movements. It features interviews with prominent hackers and entrepreneurs (and hackers-cum-entrepreneurs), including Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann, Linus Torvalds, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, Frank Hecker and Brian Behlendorf.

The film begins in medias res with glimpses of Raymond, a Linux IPO, Torvalds, the idea of Open Source, Perens, Stallman, then sets the historical stage in the early days of hackers and computer hobbyists when code was shared freely. Change came soon in 1978 as Bill Gates, in his Open Letter to Hobbyists, pointedly prodded hobbyists to pay up. Stallman relates his struggles with closed-source vendors at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, leading to his departure to focus on the development of free software, and the GNU project.

The First 1000 Days: Cassini Explores The Saturn System

Carolyn Porco Carolyn, leader of the imaging science team on the Cassini mission at the Google Tech Talks in May 23, 2007

A glistening spaceship, with seven lonely years and billions of miles behind it, glides into orbit around a ringed, softly-hued planet. A flying-saucer shaped machine descends through a hazy atmosphere and lands on the surface of an alien moon, ten times farther from the Sun than the Earth.

Fantastic though they seem, these visions are not a dream. For seven years, the Cassini spacecraft and its Huygens probe traveled invisible interplanetary roads to the place we call Saturn. Their successful entry into orbit a thousand days ago, the mythic landing of Huygens on the cold, dark equatorial plains of Titan, and Cassini's subsequent explorations of the saturnian environment are already the stuff of legend. What they have shown us thus far, and the images they have collected, are being closely examined in the pursuit of precise scientific information on the nature of this very alien planetary system.

This presentation will highlight the findings returned by these emissaries from Earth to the enchanting realm of Saturn.

Hubble: 15 Years of Discovery

On April 24th, 2005 the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will have been in orbit around the Earth for 15 years. In many ways Hubble is the most successful scientific project in the World, and this event is not likely to go unnoticed. The European Space Agency, ESA, has decided to celebrate this anniversary with the production of a Hubble 15th Anniversary movie called Hubble - 15 Years Of Discovery. The movie covers all aspects of the Hubble Space Telescope project: a journey through the history, the trouble and the scientific successes of Hubble.

This portrait of one of the biggest scientific projects of all time contains large amounts of previously unpublished footage in uncompromised quality. With the beautiful backdrop of Hubble’s visual image treasures running as a red line through the movie, the light and dreaming style tells the most interesting stories about our fascinating Universe and about the change of vision that Hubble has brought us. The movie is accompanied by custom-made music that is second to none in quality and aesthetic expression.

The Nature of Space

KITP Public Lecture Series: The Nature of Space

For more than two thousand years philosophers, mathematicians and physicists have struggled to understand the nature of space. Kant studied the role of the human mind, mathematicians examined the logical ramifications of space and physicists investigated experimental phenomena. Einstein showed how space and time are inextricably linked. The story continues to the present day, with increasingly exotic scenarios of vibrating strings in ten dimensional space-time. Michael Atiyah will review the history and present status of the great philosophical controversies in the light of modern developments.

Facing a Challenge of the Current Era: Environmentalism

Facing a Challenge of the Current Era: Environmentalism - Featuring Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic.

President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, one of the leading market reformers of the post socialist era, will be speaking at the Cato Institute about contemporary environmental issues facing Europe and the world. Please join us for what will surely be a timely and thought-provoking address.

The Economics and Ethics of the Welfare State

The Economics and Ethics of the Welfare State - Featuring Leszek Balcerowicz, Former President of the National Bank of Poland and Former Minister of Finance, Poland.

Welfare states in rich and poor countries should be judged by their results, not their intentions. Leszek Balcerowicz will review the experiences of countries around the world and explain what he believes to be the economic and moral failings of welfare states. In developing countries, for example, there are huge gaps between ideology and practice; large welfare states in rich countries have crowded out non state social assistance and contributed to various types of inequality including high unemployment among the young. Please join us to hear reform proposals from Poland's main architect of its transition to the market.

On the Wealth of Nations

On the Wealth of Nations - P.J. O’Rourke will give a modern-day spin on The Wealth of Nations and Adam Smith’s revolutionary theories on liberty: pursuit of self-interest, division of labor, and freedom of trade. Employing Smith’s insights, P. J. will tackle such present day topics as outsourcing, blogs, central banks, and lobbyists, to name just a few. As P. J. puts it, he read The Wealth of Nations "so you don’t have to".

Global Warming: Some Convenient Facts

Global Warming: Some Convenient Facts - Featuring Patrick J. Michaels, Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Cato Institute, Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia and Jerry Taylor, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute. (...)

Michaels and Taylor will respond to Vice President Gore's documentary and recent congressional presentations. Michaels will discuss the artificial polarization of views on this issue into one camp of vocal alarmists and another camp that simply does not accept the notion that human activity is warming surface temperatures. The truth lies in between, which makes it politically unpopular to both poles of the discussion. Michaels will discuss the real state of the science, showing that an objective reading of both climate history and climate projections leads to the inescapable conclusion that global warming will be modest and that calls to "do something" immediately are likely to be counterproductive.

Craig Ferguson's Tribute to Sean Connery

Craig Ferguson talking (from 7:00) at the American Film Institute's tribute to Sean Connery, where he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement.

Agent Smith: "Humans Are A Virus"

Agent Smith (later merely "Smith") is a fictional character featured in the Matrix film series, played by actor Hugo Weaving. The struggle between Neo and Smith ends up becoming the main plot underlying the events of The Matrix, making him the primary antagonist. (...) Agent Smith complains at one point that the Matrix and its inhabitants smell disgusting, "if there is such a thing [as smell]". Smith has a strong hatred of humans and their weakness of the flesh. He compares humanity to a virus, a disease organism that would replicate uncontrollably and eventually destroy their environment were it not for the machine intelligences keeping them in check. (...)

"I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you aren’t actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we... are the cure."

When Sean Connery Met Michael Caine

The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety show currently hosted by Craig Ferguson on CBS. It immediately follows Late Show with David Letterman and is produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated in CBS Television City. The program dates to 1995, and has had three permanent hosts. (...)

A scene from "When Harry Met Sally" featuring Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

You Can't Handle The Truth

A Few Good Men, a play by Aaron Sorkin, was acclaimed on Broadway and was subsequently made into a successful film in 1992. It tells the story of military lawyers at a court-martial who uncover a high-level conspiracy in the course of defending their clients, United States Marines accused of murder. (...) The line "You can't handle the truth!" was voted the twenty-ninth greatest American movie quote of all-time by the American Film Institute.

Fundamental Physics in 2010

Perimeter Institute brings great thinkers from around the world to Canada to share their ideas on a wide variety of interesting and topical subjects. These lectures and debates are aimed at non-specialists. No mathematical or scientific knowledge is necessary or assumed. Each event is explicitly tailored for the general public and everyone is welcome to attend. (...)

Will big questions be answered when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) switches on in 2007? What will scientists find? Where might the research lead? Nima Arkani-Hamed, a noted particle theorist, is a Professor of Physics at Harvard University. He investigates a number of mysteries and interactions in nature – puzzles that are likely to have experimental consequences in the next few years via particle accelerators, like the LHC, as well as cosmological observations.

BBC Horizon - The Six Billion Dollar Experiment

In the coming months the most complex scientific instrument ever built will be switched on. 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..."

BBC Horizon - Parallel Universes

Scientists now believe there may really be a parallel universe - in fact, there may be an infinite number of parallel universes, and we just happen to live in one of them. These other universes contain space, time and strange forms of exotic matter. Some of them may even contain you, in a slightly different form. Astonishingly, scientists believe that these parallel universes exist less than one millimetre away from us. In fact, our gravity is just a weak signal leaking out of another universe into ours.

For years parallel universes were a staple of the Twilight Zone. Science fiction writers loved to speculate on the possible other universes which might exist. In one, they said, Elvis Presley might still be alive or in another the British Empire might still be going strong. Serious scientists dismissed all this speculation as absurd. But now it seems the speculation wasn't absurd enough. Parallel universes really do exist and they are much stranger than even the science fiction writers dared to imagine.

Notebook PC Explodes

We intentionally created conditions in which the Li-ON battery pack would explode inside a generic portable. The results are dramatic. There are numerous conditions where these fires can occur in real life. Faulty battery packs (driving the recalls), faulty protection circuits inside the PC, exposure to excessive heat, and blunt force are some of the major ways that this could happen to you.

James Watson: The double helix and today's DNA mysteries

Nobel laureate James Watson opens TED2005 with the frank and funny story of how he and his partner, Francis Crick, discovered the structure of DNA. The tale is full of colorful details: How Watson had planned to be an ornithologist until Schroedinger's book What Is Life? transformed him into a geneticist. The painful rejections he suffered along the way, first from Caltech and then from a certain girl. And finally, how the basic DNA model ultimately came together in just a few hours. Watson finishes with one of the topics currently making him tick: the search for genetic bases for major illnesses.

Salvador Dali on "What's My Line?"

This ten minute clip is drawn from the famous 1950s game show, and it's quite surreal. I don't use the word surreal loosely: the special guest is Salvador Dalí.

Doll Face

A machine with a doll face mimics images on television screen in search of a satisfactory visage. Doll Face presents a visual account of desires misplaced and identities fractured by our technological extension into the future.