Talk - Arundhati Roy and David Barsamian - Seattle 2004

Arundhati Roy was born in 1961 in Bengal, India, and grew up in Kerala. She got her degree in architecture from the Delhi School of Architecture, but became a screenwriter instead, writing scripts for movies and television in India. She lives in Delhi with her husband, film-maker Pradeep Kishen.

Her first novel, The God of Small Things (1997), won the prestigious Booker Prize and became an international best-seller. The book, which took Roy five years to write, is not strictly autobiographical, but she says “the sadness of the book” has stayed with her, and that she may never write another novel.

Janine Benyus: 12 sustainable design ideas from nature

In this inspiring talk about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus provides heartening examples of ways in which nature is already influencing the products and systems we build.



Janine Benyus has a message for inventors: When solving a design problem, look to nature first. There you'll find inspired designs for making things waterproof, aerodynamic, solar-powered and more. Here she reveals dozens of new products that take their cue from nature with spectacular results.
http://www.ted.com/

Kevin Danaher on Global Justice

Author, activist and Co-Founder of Global Exchange KEVIN DANAHER talks about goals and strategies for breaking the corporate hold on politics and economics.

Insurrection: Citizen Challenges to Corporate Power

Interview with Kevin Danaher co-founder of Global Exchange and author of "Insurection: Citizen Challenges to Corporate Power" recorded January 19, 2006 in Seattle.

Distinguished by his analytical expertise, sense of humor and blunt eloquence, Dr. Kevin Danaher is an exceptionally dynamic speaker. The New York Times calls him the "Paul Revere of globalization's woes."

Danaher is a co-founder of Global Exchange (1988), founder and Executive Co-Producer of the Green Festivals (2001), and Executive Director of the Global Citizen Center (2004). Dr. Danaher has spoken at universities and for community organizations throughout the U.S. He conducts workshops on issues ranging from the dynamics of the global economy to how we can replace the power of transnational corporations with local green economy networks.

A longtime critic of the so-called "free trade" agenda, Danaher explains how the U.S. must work harder than ever with other countries to reduce poverty and inequality if we want the cooperation of the world's people in ending terrorism. Having traveled worldwide, Danaher is familiar with the problems and prospects of economic development in many Third World countries.

Dr. Danaher is also the author and/or editor of numerous books, including his latest, Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grass Roots (withJason Mark and Shannon Biggs). Other titles include Insurrection: Citizen Challenges to Corporate Power (with Jason Mark), Ten Reasons to Abolish the World Bank and the IMF.
http://www.speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=41

10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF and the World Bank

Michael Parenti: Race, Gender and Class Struggle

Michael Parenti is one of America's most astute and engaging political analysts. In this talk, he describes how divisions of race and gender have played into -- and often against -- struggles for economic justice and human rights. He calls on progressive activists to focus on fighting the opprressive power structures that are at the base of wars and economic injustices rather than on differences among ourselves. Parenti also discusses and signs his new book, "The Culture Struggle". This special PPJC presentation was recorded on April 27, 2006. (89 minutes.)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4902958711956434701

Maria Joao Pires gives piano masterclass (1)


Maria Joao Pires gives piano masterclass (2)


A select group of European conservatoire piano students were invited to stay with Maria Joao Pires at her (former) farmhouse in Portugal.

Excerpts from an award-winning documentary.

Lies, War, and Empire - Part I


Part I of a talk by Dr. Michael Parenti on "Lies, War, and Empire" given May 12, 2007 at Antioch University in Seattle.

Lies, War, and Empire - Part II


Part II of a talk by Dr. Michael Parenti on "Lies, War, and Empire" given May 12, 2007 at Antioch University in Seattle

“Preparando a Sociedade e o Ambiente para a Sobrevivência Global” por Timothy O'Riordan na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Professor Timothy O’Riordan

Research Interests
Environmental policy analysis; environmental appraisal and evaluation, environmental governance and decision-making.

Biography
Before retiring in July 2005, I was Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. He has edited a large number of books on the institutional aspects of global environmental change policy and practice, and led two international research projects on the transition to sustainability in the European Union (1995-1999). My current research interests are focused on global-local relations and their implications for the transition to sustainability in Europe. I am also involved with user groups, in the practical application of deliberative and inclusionary processes for the reallocation of scarce water resources in Broadland, and in the management of the public private partnership for flood alleviation again in the Broads. I served as Chairman of the Environment Committee for the Broads Authority, was a member of Norfolk and Suffolk Local Flood Defence Committee, of advisory panels to Dow Chemical and Eastern Group PLC. I was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy in 1999 and continue to be an active member of the UK Sustainable Development Commission.
http://www1.uea.ac.uk/cm/home/schools/sci/env/people/facstaff/oriordant

Programa da Conferência PDF
http://www.gulbenkian.pt/media/files/fundacao/programas/programa_ambiente/pdf/Gulbenkian%20final%20version%2019th%20february%20200876090639.pdf

Programa Gulbenkian Ambiente
Informação e Documentação
Conferências, colóquios e seminários
http://www.gulbenkian.pt/index.php?section=21&artId=293

Michael Parenti Discusses Contrary Notions

Internationally acclaimed, award winning author Michael Parenti is one of America's most astute and engaging political analysts. Covering a wide range of subjects, Parenti's work has enlightened and enlivened readers for many years. Here is a rich buffet of his deep but lucid writings on real history, political life, empire, wealth, class power, technology, culture, ideology, media, environment, gender, and ethnicity - along with a few choice selections drawn from his own life experiences and political awakening.

Parenti serves on the board of judges for Project Censored, and on numerous advisory boards as well as the advisory editorial boards of New Political Science and Nature, Society and Thought. He is the author of twenty books
- Cody's Books

“If the test of patriotism comes only by reflexively falling into lockstep behind the leader whenever the flag is waved, then what we have is a formula for dictatorship, not democracy.”
- by Michael Parenti
http://www.michaelparenti.org/quotes.html

Michael Parenti - The Struggle for History

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5036518851434858037

An excellent lecture by the well-known American political scientist, historian, and media critic, Michael Parenti

Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson understood "The Monster". But to most Americans today, Federal Reserve is just a name on the dollar bill. They have no idea of what the central bank does to the economy, or to their own economic lives; of how and why it was founded and operates; or of the sound money and banking that could end the statism, inflation, and business cycles that the Fed generates.

Dedicated to Murray N. Rothbard, steeped in American history and Austrian economics, and featuring Ron Paul, Joseph Salerno, Hans Hoppe, and Lew Rockwell, this extraordinary new film is the clearest, most compelling explanation ever offered of the Fed, and why curbing it must be our first priority.

Alan Greenspan is not, we're told, happy about this 42-minute blockbuster. Watch it, and you'll understand why. This is economics and history as they are meant to be: fascinating, informative, and motivating. This movie could change America.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553

WTO: Why is it BAD for you?

David Cay Johnston Talks About Free Lunch

Since 1995 when David Cay Johnston turned his investigative reporting skills to explore the murky waters of tax law, Some tax policy officials now consider him, as one tax law professor put it, "the de facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States."

Johnston will detail how a strong and growing economy lends itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans. As tax season draws to a close, come find out who is getting a free lunch and who is picking up the bill
- The Commonwealth Club of California

Understanding Evolution

Understanding Evolution For Teachers

Welcome to the Understanding Evolution website for teachers.
This site is divided into the following areas:

Learning Evolution

Nature of Science: Review the essentials of how science works.
Evolution 101: Explore the central ideas of biological evolution.
Evidence: Examine the evidence relating to evolution.
Relevance of Evolution: Discover the importance of evolution in our daily lives.
Misconceptions: Delve into the misconceptions that cloud public understanding of evolution.
History of Evolutionary Thought: Trace the history of evolutionary concepts.

Teaching Evolution

Teaching Evolution: Focus on the basic concepts for teaching evolution and find lesson plans for your classroom.
Overcoming Roadblocks: Identify strategies to overcome potential roadblocks to the teaching of evolution.
Potential Pitfalls: Avoid common mistakes by reading this primer on pitfalls.
Understanding Evolution Home: Our one stop source for information on evolution. This site has content geared for all readers, not just teachers.

The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Author of Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind, New York University psychologist Gary Marcus argues that the mind is a "kluge" - a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption.

Marcus discusses the accidents of evolution that caused this structure and what we can do about it.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Death by Black Hole

Whether discussing the universe's origins as host of NOVA's "scienceNOW" or asserting that Pluto is a not a planet on "The Colbert Report," astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson translates the universe's complexities for a broad audience.

Known as the great explainer of all things cosmic, Tyson first became known in the astronomy community by lecturing on the subject at the age of fifteen. He is currently the director of New York's Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he also teaches. Tyson has written seven popular books including the bestselling Death by Black Hole and the memoir The Sky Is Not The Limit.

His professional research explores star formation, dwarf galaxies, exploding stars, and the structure of the Milky Way, topics which he writes about in his long running "Universe" column in Natural History magazine. Tyson's varied honors include the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and People Magazine's 2000 "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" - City Arts & Lectures

Richard Dawkins on our "queer" universe

Biologist Richard Dawkins makes a case for "thinking the improbable" by looking at how the human frame of reference limits our understanding of the universe.
http://www.ted.com/

Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren


Philosopher Dan Dennett calls for religion -- all religion -- to be taught in schools, so we can understand its nature as a natural phenomenon. Then he takes on The Purpose-Driven Life, disputing its claim that, to be moral, one must deny evolution.

Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?


Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us.
http://www.ted.com/

Richard Dawkins:The God Delusion

The Root of All Evil? Part 1: The God Delusion

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9002284641446868316

The Root of All Evil? Part 2: The Virus of Faith

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7619161192220036050

The Root of All Evil? is a television documentary, written and presented by Richard Dawkins, in which he argues that the world would be better off without religion. The documentary was first broadcast in January 2006, in the form of two 45-minute episodes (excluding advertisement breaks), on Channel 4 in the UK. Dawkins has said that the title "The Root of All Evil?" was not his preferred choice, but that Channel 4 had insisted on it to create controversy.[1] His sole concession from the producers on the title was the addition of the question mark. Dawkins has stated that the notion of anything being the root of all evil is ridiculous.[2] Dawkins's book The God Delusion, released in September 2006, goes on to examine the topics raised in the documentary in greater detail. In The Virus of Faith, Dawkins opines that the moral framework of religions is warped, and argues against the religious indoctrination of children. The title of this episode comes from The Selfish Gene, in which Dawkins discussed the concept of memes.

Brains R Us: The Science of Educating Video Archive

San Diego, CA, May 27, 2008-- As the nation struggles with issues facing its educational system, the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center at UC San Diego and The Science Network held a public discussion March 3 to examine the insights and solutions that neuroscience has to offer.

“Brains R Us” – a town hall meeting on the “science of educating, from synapse to schoolroom, neurons to neighborhoods” – brought together researchers, educators, policymakers, parents and students for an interactive, daylong discussion. The event wa s co-sponsored by the UCSD Office of Research Affairs, UCSD Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, Scientific Learning Corp., Crick-Jacobs Center at the Salk Institute, and the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2).

Watch Videos here

Slavery: A Global Investigation

True Vision of London produced this 80-minute documentary, inspired by Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales' award-winning book Disposable People, exposes cases of slavery around the world. Watch more documentary films on slavery here: http://www.freetheslaves.net/films/all Filmmakers Brian Edwards and Kate Blewett actually buy slaves in Africa and help free child slaves in India. The film exposes slavery in the rug-making sector of Northwest India, the cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast, and even the home of a World Bank official in Washington, D.C. Small, personal stories of slavery are woven together to tell the larger story of slavery in the global economy. Slavery won the Peabody Award in 2001.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8510275415580537193

Arundhati Roy - Come Septmeber Speech

theskeeboo

In this acclaimed Lannan foundation lecture from September 2002, Roy speaks poetically to power on the US' War on Terror, globalization, the misuses of nationalism, and the growing chasm between the rich and poor. With lyricism and passion, Roy combines her literary talents and encyclopedic knowledge to expose injustice and provide hope for a future world.

Antonio Damasio - Brain and mind: from medicine to society

Antonio Damasio-Brain and mind: from medicine to society 2/2


Conferència "Brain and mind: from medicine to society", a càrrec d'Antonio Damasio, catedràtic de Neurociència i de Psicologia i premi Príncep d'Astúries de Ciències l'any 2005. Primera part.

Acte organitzat per la UOC i per la Conselleria de Salut del Govern de la Generalitat.

24 de maig de 2007, auditori del Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona.

Greek Sculpture (BBC: How Art Made The World)

How greek art created something more human than human.

Excerpt from the BBC documentary "How Art Made The World" concerning greek sculpture.

Presented by Dr Nigel Spivey (University of Cambridge).
Music: "Enfer (La Double Vie De Veronique)" by Zbigniew Preisner.

John Pilger - The New rulers of The World

powertrans

The New Rulers Of The World (2001) analyses the new global economy and reveals that the divisions between the rich and poor have never been greater - two thirds of the world's children live in poverty - and the gulf is widening like never before.

The film turns the spotlight on the new rulers of the world - the great multinationals and the governments and institutions that back them such as the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation under whose rules millions of people throughout the world lose their jobs and livelihood.

The West, explains Pilger, has increased its stranglehold on poor countries by using the might of these powerful financial institutions to control their economies. "A small group of powerful individuals are now richer than most of the population of Africa," he says, "just 200 giant corporations dominate a quarter of the world’s economic activity. General Motors is now bigger than Denmark. Ford is bigger than South Africa. Enormously rich men like Bill Gates, have a wealth greater than all of Africa. Golfer Tiger Woods was paid more to promote Nike than the entire workforce making the company’s products in Indonesia received."

To examine the true effects of globalisation, Pilger travels to Indonesia - a country described by the World Bank as a model pupil until its globalised economy collapsed in 1998 - where high-street brands such as Nike, Adidas, Gap and Reebok are mass produced by cheap labour in 'sweatshops' and sold for up to 250 times the amount received by workers.

He films secretly in one of the biggest sweatshops in the capital, Jakarta. Over footage of hundreds of mostly women and children in the camp, with its open sewers and unsafe water, Pilger reports that workers are paid the equivalent of 72p a day - about one American dollar - which is the legal minimum wage in Indonesia but acknowledged by that country’s own government as only just over half a living wage. Many children there were undernourished and prone to disease. While filming, Pilger himself caught dengue fever.

He also recounts the previously untold story of how globalisation in Asia had begun in Indonesia and how Western politicians and businessmen sponsored the dictator General Suharto, who brutally seized power in the mid-1960s. "The great sweatshops and banks and luxury hotels in Indonesia were built on the mass murder of as many as one million people, an episode the West would prefer to forget," he reveals. "Within a year of the bloodbath, Indonesia’s economy was effectively redesigned in America, giving the West access to vast mineral wealth, markets and cheap labour - what President Nixon called the greatest prize in Asia."

'The New Rulers Of The World' is a collision of two of Pilger’s continuing themes - imperialism and the injustice of poverty. It observes the parallel between modern-day globalisation and old-world imperialism. "There’s no difference between the quite ruthless intervention of international capital into foreign markets these days than there was in the old days, when they were backed up by gunboats," says Pilger. "Much of my global view has come over years of seeing how imperialism works and how the world is divided between the rich, who get richer, and the poor, who get poorer, and the rich get richer on the backs of the poor. That division hasn’t changed for about 500 years, but there are new, deceptive ways of shoring it up and ensuring that most of the world’s resources are concentrated in as few hands as possible. What is different today is there is a worldwide movement that understands this deception and is gaining strength, especially among the young, many of whom are far better educated about the chameleon nature of capitalism than those in the 1960s. Moreover, if the intensity of Establishment propaganda is a guide, at times bordering on institutional panic, then the new movement is already succeeding."

The New Rulers Of The World was a Carlton Television production for ITV first broadcast on ITV1, 18 July 2001. Director: Alan Lowery. Producer: John Pilger. Associate Producers: Chris Martin and Laurelle Keough.

Awards: Gran Prix Leonardo Award, 2003; Certificate of Merit, Chicago International Television Awards, 2003.
http://www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-new-rulers-of-the-world

Paul Hawken: The New Great Transformation

The New Great Transformation with Paul Hawken speaking at a seminar hosted by The Long Now Foundation.

Paul Ehrlich: The Dominant Animal

Paul Ehrlich gives a seminar at the Long Now Foundation about the evolution of human culture and its effect on the environment.

Sam Harris, The View from the End of the World, SALT talk

"The end is at last near!" It's a tremendously appealing story, widely held now and in history. It has consequences, and that's the subject of this Seminar About Long-term Thinking by Sam Harris, author of the incendiary, reverse-apocalyptic book, THE END OF FAITH.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3975633975283704512

BONOBOS: Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man

Savage-Rumbaugh's work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology -- and how much by cultural exposure.
http://www.ted.com/

Richard Dawkins Public Lecture - Liverpool 08

Richard Dawkins'public lecture at the University of Liverpool on his book 'The God Delusion'. Date: Monday 25th February 2008
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7023586193707783714

John Pilger - Freedom Next Time

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4258131083758254736

Australian journalist, author, film maker John Pilger speaks about global media consolidation, war by journalism, US military's quest for domination/hegemony in the post 9/11 era, false history in the guise of 'objective' journalism. Filmed in Chicago at Socialism 2007: Socialism for the 21st Century by Paul Hubbard. June 16, 2007 Broadcast on Democracy Now - The War and Peace Report - August 7, 2007 http://www.haymarketbooks.org/
http://www.socialistworker.org/

The War On Democracy by John Pilger

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3739500579629840148

“The Story of Darwin & his Evolution Theory” – 3

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4320478340303198657

“The Story of Darwin & his Evolution Theory” – 2

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3893725233514939425

“The Story of Darwin & his Evolution Theory” – 1a

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7251254062208213462

Daniel Dennett - Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Daniel Dennett is Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. Here Professor Dennett lectures on the philosophical implications of the theory of evolution by natural selection. The lecture here includes topics covered in his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2393547403945995297

TalkingStickTV - Naomi Wolf - The End of America

talkingsticktv

Talk by Naomi Wolf author of "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.

Interview with Naomi Wolf discussing "The End of America" available at http://youtube.com/watch?v=aW9PulYpjGs

Jonathan Miller's Brief History of Disbelief

Part I - Shadows of Doubt


Jonathan Miller visits the absent Twin Towers to consider the religious implications of 9/11 and meets Arthur Miller and the philosopher Colin McGinn. He searches for evidence of the first 'unbelievers' in Ancient Greece and examines some of the modern theories around why people have always tended to believe in mythology and magic. --- Uploaded because this needs to be available as a shining light of the historicity of reason midst the depths and oceans of media absurdity and religious propaganda. So few representatives of atheism provide a compelling and earnest account for unbelief, let alone with the lucidity and intellectual vigor of Jonathan Miller. He is sincere and moving in this attempt to explain and understand the origins of the truth of disbelief of religious superstition and faith. --- Should the BBC or the producers find it inappropriate for me to have uploaded this video, I will gladly remove it upon their request.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2250104590805018608

The Oil Factor : Behind the War on Terror

Narrated by Ed Asner. Keywords: Persian Gulf War, United Nations, U.N., in violation of international law, bombings, illegal, marc garlasco, weaponry, iraqi leadership, mohamed assan, president george w. bush, administration, andrew shlapak, karen kwiatkowski, saddam hussein, zbigniew brzezinski, weapons of mass destruction, wmd, pnac, project for the new american century, vice president dick cheney, donald rumsfeld, paul wolfowitz, jeb bush, new world order, nwo, neocons, neo-cons, gary schmitt, randa habib, ahmed chalabi, george tenet, john negroponte, cia, covert operations, energy supplies, mike, michael c. ruppert, oil consumption, supply, demand, economy, economics, pierre-marie gallois, supplies, nepdg, noam chomsky, david mulholland, pipelines, price of oil, dathar al kahar, refinery, refineries, fields, drilling, radioactive, radioactivity, du, depleted uranium, uranium 238, 234, 235, toxicity, cancers, birth defects, contamination, paul bremer, dyncorp, halliburton, national security council, nsc, bechtel, guantanamo bay, defense contractors, kellogg, brown & root, detention concentration camps, elizabeth hodgkin, abu ghraib, governments covered up, osama bin laden, taliban, al qaeda, natural gas, ahmed rashid, mullah omar, enemy combatants, geneva convention, hamed karzai, opium poppies, heroin, anti coalition forces, resources, terrorism.

Source :  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1130731388742388243