Sunday, November 11, 2018

Quark Science


I found this documentary series quite fascinating and totally trans formative views of our world through the eyes of science.  I like how they include the mathematical equations that lead to the conclusions the the theories are based on and ultimately proven. Then leading to the next. Now one of my favorite science documentary series next to Cosmos and NOVA's 'Great Math Mystery', 'Life's Rocky Start'. All totally interrelate. 

Amazon Prime:

'Quark Science is a collection of episodes that answer some of humankind's most complicated questions: Where did we come from? What is the smallest particle? What actually drives the universe? Team up with the world's leading scientists to uncover the answers to these complex yet fascinating questions.'

Episode 1: The Amazing World of Gravity
Episode 2: Everything and Nothing
Episode 3: Order and Disorder
Episode 4: The Secret Life of Chaos (my favorite)

Friday, October 12, 2018

Frontline: The Facebook Dilemma


PBS.org

Frontline SEASON 37: EPISODE 4

The promise of Facebook was to create a more open and connected world. But from the company’s failure to protect millions of users’ data, to the proliferation of “fake news” and disinformation, mounting crises have raised the question: Is Facebook more harmful than helpful? On Monday, Oct. 29, and Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, FRONTLINE presents The Facebook Dilemma. This major, two-night event investigates a series of warnings to Facebook as the company grew from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room to a global empire. With dozens of original interviews and rare footage, The Facebook Dilemma examines the powerful social media platform’s impact on privacy and democracy in the U.S. and around the world.


Do You Trust This Computer?


IMDB: 

"Science fiction has long anticipated the rise of machine intelligence. Today, a new generation of self-learning computers is reshaping every aspect of our lives. Incomprehensible amounts of data are being collected, interpreted, and fed back to us in a tsunami of apps, smart devices, and targeted advertisements. Virtually every industry on earth is feeling this transformation, from job automation to medical diagnostics, from elections to battlefield weapons. Do You Trust This Computer? explores the promises and perils of this developing era. Will A.I. usher in an age of unprecedented potential, or prove to be our final invention?"


Wednesday, September 26, 2018

The Power of Gold - The History of an Obsession


Google Books: Incorporating myth, history and contemporary investigation, Bernstein tells the story of how human beings have become intoxicated, obsessed, enriched, impoverished, humbled and proud for the sake of gold. From the past to the future, Bernstein's portrayal of gold is intimately linked to the character of humankind. 





Wednesday, September 05, 2018

Mankind - The Story of All of Us


Mankind: The Story of All of Us tells how humans have evolved and survived over thousands of years. While climate has played a role in determining where people set up civilisations, people have developed tools and technology to overcome the obstacles that nature has presented. The story of human existence is complex, but it turns out all humans have a connection based on shared ancestry and the inner will to continue surviving.

Forces of nature have shaped the foods people eat. Physical forces have presented limitations to the movement of humans, but the shared desire of all humans to grow and expand has led to populations sprouting all over the globe. Civilisations have risen from the collective efforts of every living being that has ever existed. People that are born now are forever linked to those who came before them and those who have yet to be born.

Tuesday, June 05, 2018

The Story of China with Michael Wood



Amazon.com:

"A portrait of a nation, from the makers of the award-winning The Story of India.

Home to over a billion people, China is the new superpower, a country we all want to understand now – and Wood argues that to do so we have to look at its history. Travelling across the country, he explores the landscapes, peoples, stories and cultures that have helped create China’s distinctive character and genius over more than four thousand years. he meets people from all walks of life, explores ancient cities and traces some of the great moments in Chinese history – from their extraordinary voyages of exploration to their amazing scientific inventions. Full of big ideas and surprises, the series shows how the Chinese created their own distinctive vision of the world: a vision that is still alive in the 21st century and, Wood argues, is the real motor behind the incredible and growing success of China today."

Saturday, June 02, 2018

American Experience: The Chinese Exclusion Act


American Experience: The Chinese Exclusion Act
2 hours

The 1882 law that made it illegal for Chinese workers to come to America and for Chinese nationals already here ever to become U.S. citizens.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Kim Jong-un crosses border into South Korea for historic peace talks


Kim Jong-un has become the first North Korean leader to cross into the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953 for a historic summit with his southern counterpart. South Korean President Moon Jae-in personally greeted Kim with a hand shake at the border truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the countries.

Monday, April 23, 2018

Bob Dorough - School House Rock



Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, videos) that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The series' original run lasted from 1973 to 1985; it was later revived with both old and new episodes airing from 1993 to 1999.


The first song recorded was "Three Is a Magic Number", written by Bob Dorough, and a children's record was compiled and released. Tom Yohe listened to the first song, and began to doodle pictures to go with the lyrics. He told McCall that the songs would make good animation.

3 Is a Magic Number



To coincide with the upcoming United States bicentennial, a third series, titled "America Rock", airing in 1975 and 1976, had episodes covering the structure of the United States government (such as "I'm Just a Bill") along with important moments in American history (examples include "The Preamble" and "Mother Necessity").

I'm Just a Bill



Bob Dorough
1923 - 2018

Sunday, April 22, 2018

The Golden Ratio: Fibonacci numbers and nature


In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence, called the Fibonacci sequence, and characterized by the fact that every number after the first two is the sum of the two preceding ones:
{\displaystyle 1,\;1,\;2,\;3,\;5,\;8,\;13,\;21,\;34,\;55,\;89,\;144,\;\ldots }

The sequence Fn of Fibonacci numbers is defined by the recurrence relation:

{\displaystyle F_{n}=F_{n-1}+F_{n-2},}




Saturday, April 21, 2018

Arlington Street Church - ASC Tiffany Education Center



The Arlington Street Church is a Unitarian Universalist church across from the Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Because of its geographic prominence and the notable ministers who have served the congregation, the church is considered to be among the most historically important in American Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism. Completed in 1861, it was designed by Arthur Gilman and Gridley James Fox Bryant to resemble James Gibbs' St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.


In the 1960s, the congregation became active in the Civil Rights Movement. James Reeb, a minister active in the congregation, was murdered during a march in Selma, Alabama. Under the ministry of Jack Mendelsohn, the church became a center for protests against the Vietnam War. In the 1980s, the church led AIDS awareness programs and support for the homeless.

The main sanctuary space has 16 large-scale stained-glass windows installed by Tiffany Studios from 1899 to 1929. Originally, all of the sanctuary windows were glazed with clear glass. In 1898, the congregation voted to start installation of memorial stained glass windows created by the studios of Louis C. Tiffany, and commissioned a set of designs for all 20 windows. The last of 16 Tiffany windows was installed in 1929, just before the Great Depression dried up available funds. By the time the economic crisis had eased, Tiffany Studios had been liquidated (in 1937), and new Tiffany windows were unobtainable.


The Tiffany windows were designed by Frederick Wilson (1858–1932), Tiffany's chief designer for ecclesiastical windows. He made extensive use of Tiffany's special glassmaking technologies, including confetti glass, iridescent glass, 3D-textured "drapery glass", pastel colors for "painting in glass", and the trademark opalescent “Favrile” glass. There are as many as six or seven layers of glass in a Tiffany window, producing visual textures that would otherwise have to be painted in. Only some fine details impractical to produce in glass were hand-painted, in permanent enamel.

Friday, April 20, 2018

The Ascent of Money


In the four-hour version of THE ASCENT OF MONEY, historian and author Niall Ferguson seeks to explain the financial history of the world, exploring how our complex system of global finance evolved over the centuries, how money has shaped the course of human affairs and how the mechanics of this economic system work to create seemingly unlimited wealth or catastrophic loss.