Who Killed the Electric Car?

I thought this was a great program.  But it made me even more cynical about big money's negative influence on the world's societies.

"This film investigates the events leading to the quiet destruction of thousands of new, radically efficient electric vehicles. Through interviews and narrative, the film paints a picture of an industrial culture whose aversion to change and reliance on oil may be deeper than its ability to embrace ready solutions." -http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/

 

Amazon Crude

This program focuses on on the class action lawsuit against Chevron for deliberately contaminating the Ecuadorian Amazon and causing a wave of cancer and miscarriages in the region.
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China Rises (Part 2)

This last installment deals with the crisis concerning China's food supply, then the social inequalities of China.  The clips aren't the best in terms of quality, but they are not too bad.
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China Rises (Part 1)

This documentary examines the many changes the People's Republic of China is undergoing, its rapid economic development and its hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games.
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Space Mysteries: Comets - Target Earth? (National Geographic) HD

I haven't watched this one yet, but the narration seems good.
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The Incredible Human Journey - Out of Africa HD

I downloaded and watched this one a couple of months ago. It was good. This one is part of a whole series called The Incredible Human Journey.  There are others on human origins in Asia, Europe, Australia etc.  I may post them as well,  but I haven't seen them so I will have to preview them first.

"How did we get here? Following a trail of clues from the latest scientific research, Dr Alice Roberts re-traces the greatest ever journey taken by our ancestors. Thousands of years ago one small group of our species, Homo sapiens, crossed out of Africa and into the unknown. Their descendants faced baking deserts, sweat-soaked jungles and frozen wildernesses and risked everything on the vast empty ocean.

Within 60,000 years they colonized the whole world... How did they do it? Why do we, their descendants all look so different? And what did we have that meant we were the only human species to survive?

Using the evidence from genetics, fossils, archaeology and climatology, Dr Alice Roberts uncovers five epic routes our ancestors took across the globe and the obstacles and brutal challenges they encountered along the way. It reveals how our family tree grew and spread out across the world, producing all the variety we see in the human species today - but despite all that diversity, Alice reveals how astonishingly closely related we all are.

Out of Africa.

Alice travels to Africa in search of the birthplace of the first people. They were so few in number and so vulnerable that today they would probably be considered an endangered species. So what allowed them to survive at all? The Bushmen of the Kalahari have some answers - the unique design of the human body made them efficient hunters and the ancient click language of the Bushmen points to an early ability to organize and plan.
Humans survived there, but Africa was to all intents and purposes a sealed continent. So how and by what route did humans make it out of Africa? Astonishing genetic evidence reveals that everyone alive today who is not African descends from just one successful, tiny group which left the continent in a single crossing, an event that may have happened around 70 thousand years ago. But how did they do it? Alice goes searching for clues in the remote Arabian Desert."

NASA HD Tour of the International Space Station

This clip is only ten minutes long, but it has some good footage and a lot of information about the ISS.
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National Geographic: Inside Undercover In North Korea

Here is another one on North Korea. It's good, but a little depressing.
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North Korea: A day in the life

This documentary does a better job in highlighting the present state of social retardation after decades of brainwashing and poverty in North Korea.







I'm not happy with this last clip. It has no subtitles, and I think they have been omitted on purpose due to all the talk about killing Americans. No point in watching this last one really.

State of Mind: Life in North Korea - BBC

This paints a rather rosy picture. I wonder how much worse things are now since the recent government currency devaluation. Strange that I don't hear South Koreans discuss this topic much.

BBC Presents - Natural World - Ant Attack

A great one on ants.
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BBC GALAPAGOS Episode 1 Born Of Fire

Excellent nature documentary, in high definition.
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The Dark Side of Everest

The film by National Geographic
narrator Paul Boucher.

"For some mountaineers, the top of the world also represents the peak of human ambition. But when things go badly high on Everest, as they will sooner or later, difficult moral dilemmas play out in dramatic fashion on a global stage.

National Geographic Channels International takes viewers to The Dark Side of Everest through the eyes and minds of those who've struggled with the mountain's powerful and potentially fatal allure. Everest veterans discuss how the mountain's hostile environment can affect the human values of those who dare to challenge its heights."

The Universe - The Search for Cosmic Clusters

Another great space documentary; this one deals with star formation.

They are the one-stop-shopping places for learning all about the nature and variety of stars in the Universe. They're unique, because in clusters, all the stars were born at about the same time, from the same material and all are at the same approximate distance from Earth. This means we can be sure that any differences among them are due to their true natures and not distorted by different distances from Earth and other factors. In this episode, two kinds of star clusters in the galaxy are explored. "Open Clusters" are young, live in the spiral arms of the galaxy and give us insight into the birth and formation of stars. "Globular Clusters" are old, live in the outskirts of the galaxy and could be nearly as old as the Universe itself. In addition, explore Galaxy clusters to reveal the large-scale structure of the Universe, which is expanding so fast that eventually all other galaxies, except for our own, will literally disappear from our sight.

The Universe - The Hunt for Ringed Planets

A very good, high quality, documentary on ringed planets. Those who don't have a great net connection may have to wait for the clips to download before watching them, although my connection has no problem keeping pace.
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Doomsday 2012. The End Of Days

Well, I don't place any stock in the end of days stuff, to be honest. I'm including this one just because mom mentioned the 2012 thing on the phone the other day. Other than that I probably wouldn't have. There is a proper Nostradamus documentary from the History Channel as well, but it isn't great, and the clips I found were not great quality. This one covers much the same material anyway.

The Moment in Time: The Manhattan Project

Here is another show on the Manhattan Project. This one focuses more on the political climate in which the project took place, rather than just on the project itself. Just one long clip this time.

The Manhattan Project

A good summary of the Manhattan Project. It is well narrated and the clips are of pretty good quality. The scale of the project itself and the speed in which it was put together are amazing.

Ancient Aliens

I liked this one too. It raises some interesting points. I wouldn't say I'm sold on the whole ancient alien visitation theory, but it is food for thought.
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The True Story of the Philadelphia Experiment

This story has always fascinated me. Some claim that the US military actually succeeded in making a ship invisible for a short time--I can't make up my mind as whether there might be anything to it. I does seem a little far fetched, but nobody can say it isn't interesting.

Journey to the edge of the universe.

This documentary is a must see for space enthusiasts. It provides some good perspective on the scales of distance involved in interstellar and intergalactic space travel. It also has great computer-generated imagery. Unfortunately the narration is a bit lame, but it is tolerable.

(Part 1)


(Part 2)


(Part 3)


(Part 4)


(Part 5)


(Part 6)


(Part 7)


(Part 8)


(Part 9)


(Part 10)

Atom - The Illusion of Reality

This is the last part of the Atom series, as promised. You should watch the previous one that I posted first (Atom - key to the cosmos) if you haven't already, because you will have more of a background in what is being discussed. I have also found the first part in this series, but I haven't watched it all yet, and I may not post it because what I have seen so far isn't all that interesting. This part certainly is though.













It kind of boggles the mind when you think about how these physicists worked out that there had to have been a big bang to account for the amount of helium in the sun...that's just crazy I think. But they pieced it together, and it is an impressive story, I'll say that much.

Atom - The Key to the Cosmos

This is part 2 of a 3 part documentary.  I haven't been able to find the first but all 3 of them stand alone and make sense by themselves, and I was lucky to find good quality clips this time.  I'll prepare another post for the third and final part tomorrow. 

This one explains how atoms come to exist, how many different kinds there are (elements) and how elements can change into other elements, etc.  It also introduces us to some of the big names in physics, and mankind's journey towards a general understanding of the atom.  Enjoy.













For me, this documentary tied some things together. I didn't really understand how elements were different before, or exactly how they were made. The next part expands on this and encompasses all of the advances in physics and its various theories over the past 100 years.