A Video For Sunday

Here is a beautiful time lapse video of the starts with a guide to the different constilations in the sky.  Enjoy!

A Video for Sunday

The great Richard Dawkins give us a brief lesson on our ancestors while promoting his book, The Magic of Reality.

A Video For Sunday

The great Bill Maher talks about the fact that Atheism is NOT A RELIGION, and then performs an un-baptism on Mitt Romney's father in law (who was a fellow nonbeliever).

What Teachers Make

I just watched this video and felt the immediate urge to post it.  It inspires me and reminds me of some of the reasons why I originally became a teacher.  And as much as I enjoy my job as a para, I cannot wait to have my own classroom and be called a "teacher" again.

A Video for the New Year

This one is primarily inspired by Cee Lo's butchering of John Lennon's classic "Imagine" on New Years Eve.  I think Cee Lo is a musical genius, and I love his songs otherwise, but I was very disappointed in his decision.  As someone on Twitter recently wrote:

The whole point of that lyric is that religion causes harm. If "all relgion's true" it would be a pretty bleak place.

In addition to that, this is one of the greatest songs ever written, and it's message (while perhaps overly optimistic to someone with a more realist view of the world) is something that we as the human race should always be trying to strive for.  May Lennon's words live on in the hearts of good people everywhere, and may you have a wonderful 2012.

Videos for Suday: Hitchens Edition

Since the passing of Christopher Hitchens Friday, I have engulfed myself in his writings and words via YouTube, Vanity Fair, Slate, and other websites.  It is entirely way too easy to start looking up his material, and spend several hours getting lost.  Whether it is reading one of his columns or listening to him in a debate, one can feel simultaneously smarter and dumber.  Smarter, because the level of elegance and erudition he brings to the conversation.  Dumber, because of the awe-inspiring nature with which he uses his words and attacks against opponents.  One get's the feeling they could never be a match for the great Hitchens.  As a writer, I don't think I could ever match the wit, sophistication or learned-spirit that Hitchens does in his writing.  But the benchmark that he set, while ridiculously high, seems like a challengingly fun one to reach (although I will be using a thesaurus quite frequently).

I knew I wanted to use material from Hitchens for this week's video, because there is plenty of good material to use.  There is just one problem: there is too much good material out there to use.  So, I have picked a few of my favorites.  Sit back with your Sunday morning coffee (or cocktail if you prefer in the spirit of Hitch), and enjoy.

Video for Sunday

Soldiers returning home to their dogs.  If this doesn't put a smile on your face nothing will.  I originally found this on The Daily Dish.




I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A video for Sunday II

Just found this video on PZ Myer's blog.  The band They Might Be Giants sings a song about something obvious: science is real.



If I were a Science teacher, I would show this to my class.

A Video for Sunday

An amazing time-lapse video of earth via NASA and the International Space Station.  Absolutely breathtaking!

A Video for Sunday

Here is another beautiful nature, time-lapse video. Absolutely breathtaking:

A video for Sunday II

Here is a gorgeous time-lapse nature video filmed in Iceland. Absolutely breathtaking!


Midnight Sun | Iceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.

A Video for Sunday: More Occupy Wall Street

One can never go wrong with the great Bill Maher. Here, Maher defends the Occupy Wall Street, and discusses the reality of the movement that so many of it's detractors don't want to admit: Occupy Wall Street is not a bunch of hippies.

There may be a few hippies there, but the reality is that the overwhelming majority of the movement are filled with everyday people who are either hard-working, or who can't work because of our shitty economy. Maher is as witty and poignant as ever in this video.



Remember, we are the 99% (hippies and non-hippies alike)

Video for Sunday

Recently, I have been watching episodes of The Cosby Show.  In addition to being a comedic and artistic genius, Bill Cosby is also freaking smart (he has a education doctorate).  Here is perhaps the most famous scene from his show, when he is talking to his son Theo about the importance of going to college.



In addition to learning lessons from my own parents, I know I will be borrowing parenting strategies from Dr. Cosby whenever I become a Dad.

A Video for Sunday: Socialism/Occupy Wall Street Edition

 

Picture from Crain's New York Business

This week, I am providing a double dose of videos.

I recently had the immense pleasure of listening to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle on audio book.  It's a novel about a Lithuanian family that moves to Chicago trying to find the American dream at the beginning of the 20th century.  What they actually find is personal and economic hardships not to be wished upon anyone.  Numerous events of a devastating nature crush the family into the lowest depths of despondency and poverty.  By the end of the novel, the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, realizes that evils of American capitalism and finds grace in supporting the socialist movement.  The novel was Sinclair's attempt for the American people to look at the evils of American economic system, and realize that socialism is the direction the country needed to head in.  Here is a video, originally posted on TeacherTube, that talks about the book a little more in depth, and what the real legacy of the book actually came to be after it was published. 



This book, as well as the the ever-growing Occupy Wall Street protests, provides a good opportunity to re-look at socialism.  For the longest time, the word "socialism" has had a dirty connotation to it in the United States, and even more so from the American right ever since Obama took office.  When people hear the term, they equate it with communism.  Images of the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and Che Guevera come to many American's minds.  But the reality is that most developed countries around the world, including the United States, have socialism in their economic system to a certain point.  Except unlike other countries in the world, socialism is generally not the evil, dirty word that it is in the United States.  And truth be told, many of us who do call ourselves socialists wouldn't advocate government takeover of all industries and private property (like some claim).  Most socialists (including myself) would probably prefer a type of mixed economic system: a capitalist/socialist hybrid where great emphasis is placed on economic equality, worker's right, and protections in case something bad happens to one of it's citizens (e.g. health care, unemployment benefits, etc.)  Here is a clip from a while ago by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on the the use of the word "socialist" to describe himself.



It should be noted that not all those who support the Occupy Wall Street movement are socialists.  What those of us who do support these demonstrations agree upon is that damage that the banks and corporations have done to our economy, and that something needs to be done about the way they do business.  It is a grave injustice that in this economy, corporations are receiving record profits, CEOs and other corporate executives are receiving bonuses, and more corporate cash than ever is being filtered into our political system (among so many other things).  All the while, no new jobs are being added to our economy, and millions of American's are suffering economic hardship, and are worried that they will never be financially secure again.  I won't say we have it as rough as Jurgis and his family did in the early 20th Century, but it is still quite bad, and we deserve better.

Photo from rrstar.com

There are those (myself included) who support the movement, but have expressed criticism to protesters on a couple of different points.  First, the protest needs to broaden it's marchers so that it will be more than just "hippie-types".  While it is perhaps unfair to classify all of those involved with such a stereotype (and we should be grateful to those "hippie-types" for getting the protest off the ground), this is a movement that has grown into something big.  If we really are the "99ers", and we really want to make a significant change in our system, our movement must go mainstream, and try to bring in more than those from the activist left.  We need to bring in average citizens who may normally not be involved with political issues  These can be liberals, socialists, fed up capitalists, moderates, maybe even some conservatives.  We need to grow and unify.

A second criticism is that, while those who are protesting are clearly angry at the actions of Wall Street, they must also be able to come up with some specific, concrete ideas for policy change.  Hopefully, this movement is young, and when it comes to the potential to create change, the sky is the limit.  However, Eric Stetson at Daily Kos has some good ideas for short term changes:

1. A bailout for homeowners who are facing foreclosure and unemployed people with student loan debt -- of equal or greater value as the bank bailouts. Give these people a fresh start by forgiving their debts and keeping them in their homes, and thus improving the economy for all.
2. The "Buffett Tax" (i.e. taxing capital gains at the same rate as income earned from a job, so that working people won't pay higher taxes than the idle rich). It's only fair! And this will help to fund #1.
3. A short-term trading transaction tax for people and financial institutions who use Wall Street as a casino. Such a tax could raise huge amounts of money to fund #1, and would likely reduce the volatility in the markets by making computerized "high frequency auto-trading" by large investment companies less profitable. Such a tax would also make it harder for already-wealthy institutions to "vacuum up" more and more money from the productive sectors of the economy into the black hole of their own coffers.

A Video for Sunday

Recently, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell has allowed gay and lesbian active members of the military to come out of the closet.  Here is a video that has become a YouTube sensation.  It is a soldier stationed in Germany calling his father and telling him he was gay.  You may have already seen this video.  But if you haven't it is worth a watch.  It is both moving and coragous.




By the way, if you are someone who still thinks repealling Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a bad idea (I'm looking at you Republican debate audiences), you might want to not only take a look at yourself as a human being, but also who also supports it's repeal.  Two Words: TOBY. KEITH.

A Video for Sunday

This Sunday's video come from Christopher Hitchens at a debate on religion.  He has been battling cancer for the past year and a half.  Here, he discuses how Christians go around to hospital rooms of sick and dying patients and convert so their souls can be saved.

A Video for Sunday

One of the things I have missed posting the most since my hiatus were my Sunday videos.  Allow me to explain why I post videos for Sunday, because I'm not sure I ever have.

 I am an Atheist, but I grew up in a Christian Protestant denomination.  I no longer have a belief in God or the supernatural because, as rational individual, belief in such things does not make sense.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of church growing up.  I would be lying if I said I didn't miss it a little bit.  In addition to a sense of community that church provided, I enjoyed the lessons and stories that I learned, as well as the opportunities for mediation on life that my church provided.  I could never get past the superstitions and a lot of the Christian dogma of Christianity or any religion (hence, me becoming an Atheist).  But I took away so many other life lessons from my church. This included the importance of treating people with love and compassion (even those you may not like), the importance for standing up for the poor and weak, and standing up for what is just and right.  These are values and simple traditions I have tried my best to hold onto, even though I am no longer a person of faith.  Sunday videos are my own attempts to recapture those traditions and lessons of life that I received growing up, but in a more secular (and hopefully, entertaining) fashion.  Sometimes, my videos may deal with helping others.  Sometimes they may deal with issues of social justice.  Sometimes they may deal with the origins of existence and our place as human beings in the world.  Sometimes it may be just a fun video that hopefully gives you something to think about.

This week's video comes from Carl Sagan's series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.  Over the past year, I have grown to be a huge Carl Sagan fan, and am currently in the middle of watching the whole Cosmos series on YouTube.  This particular clip has to do with the evolution of human beings. The special effects are far from spectacular by today's standards, but the video still gives viewers something amazing to ponder.



I am happy that they are making a new Cosmos series, produced by Seth MacFarlane, and hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson (perfect Choice).

A Video for Sunday

With the passing of the great Elizabeth Taylor this past week, I wanted to showcase some of her talent.  Here is a scene from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which she earned a Best Actress Academy Award.

A Video for Sunday . . . I mean, Monday

Yep, I forgot my Video for Sunday while on vacation.  But as I said in my previous post, I have been dealing with some personal things going on lately (and I do plan on writing about it eventually).  So, I am doing my video a day late, and it is on something that I have been trying to do a lot of lately.  This week's video comes from the greatest comedy troop of all time (and I am a big fan of comedy troops).  Just remember, when life gets you down . . .

A Video for Sunday

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin