oaded by bigthink on Jun 3, 2011
http://bit.ly/if0Jax - For 40 years academics were duped into idolizing the idea of unfettered markets, says Cornel West, and now our society is paying a terrible price.
The Joy of Trump
Thursday, February 16, 2012
How Intellectuals Betrayed the Poor - YouTube
How Intellectuals Betrayed the Poor - YouTube
oaded by bigthink on Jun 3, 2011
oaded by bigthink on Jun 3, 2011
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
George Bernard Shaw
"He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."
- George Bernard Shaw, 1856 - 1950
Erse dramatist, author and Nobel Prize Laureate
"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few."
-- George Bernard Shaw
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."
-- George Bernard Shaw
"You see things; and you say: "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say: "Why not?""
-- George Bernard Shaw
"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship."
--- George Bernard Shaw
"Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children."
-- George Bernard Shaw
Shaw was born in Dublin, where his father was an unsuccessful grain merchant and sometime civil servant and his mother was a professional singer.
Shaw was as an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays.
Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.
He was most angered by what he perceived as the exploitation of the working class. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society, a middle class organization established in 1884 to promote the gradual spread of socialism by peaceful means
-gaining equal rights for men and women,
-alleviating abuses of the working class,
-rescinding private ownership of productive land, and
-promoting healthy lifestyles.
An explanatory note appearing on the title page of the Fabian group's first pamphlet declared:
"For the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did most patiently*, when warring against Hannibal, though many censured his delays; but when the time comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or your waiting will be in vain, and fruitless."*
Today, the society functions primarily as a think tank and is one of 15 socialist societies affiliated with the Labour Party. Similar societies exist in Australia (the Australian Fabian Society), Canada (the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation and in the past the League for Social Reconstruction) and in New Zealand.
He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively.
Shaw wanted to refuse his Nobel Prize outright because he had no desire for public honours, but accepted it at his wife's behest: she considered it a tribute to Ireland. He did reject the monetary award, requesting it be used to finance translation of Swedish books into English.
Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries he incurred by falling from a ladder.
P.S. His wife was a wealthy Heiress which critics might say allowed him the luxury of indulging in his hobby of Socialist Speech Making.
...............................................................................................................................................
*The Fabian strategy is a military strategy where pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favor of wearing down an opponent through a war of attrition and indirection. While avoiding decisive battles, the side employing this strategy harasses its enemy through skirmishes to cause attrition, disrupt supply and affect morale. Employment of this strategy implies that the weaker side believes time is on its side, but it may also be adopted when no feasible alternative strategy can be devised.
This strategy derives its name from Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, the dictator of the Roman Republic given the task of defeating the great Carthaginian general Hannibal in southern Italy during the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). At the start of the war, Hannibal boldly crossed the Alps in wintertime and invaded Italy. Due to Hannibal's skill as a general, he repeatedly inflicted devastating losses on the Romans despite the numerical inferiority of his army...
Source:
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Celebrate the 200th Birthday of Charles Dickens with Free Movies, eBooks and Audio Books
Dickens on Screen - YouTube
ded by trailer710 on Dec 28, 2011
Great Expectations is a 1946 British film which won two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography) and was nominated for three others (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay). It was directed by David Lean, based on the novel by Charles Dickens and stars John Mills, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness and Valerie Hobson.
The script, a slimmed-down version of Dickens' novel that had been inspired after seeing an abridged stage version of the novel, in which Guinness (responsible for the adaptation) played Herbert Pocket and Martita Hunt was Miss Havisham, was written by David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Cecil McGivern, Ronald Neame and Kay Walsh. Guinness and Hunt reprised their roles in the film, but the film was not a strict adaptation of the stage version. The film was produced by Ronald Neame and photographed by Guy Green. It was the first of two films Lean directed based on Dickens' novels, the other being his 1948 adaptation of Oliver Twist.
Apart from a general compression of time and detail necessary to adopt any novel to film, the major changes from the novel to the screenplay include the following:
The happy ending of the film differs greatly from the novel, which takes place 11 years after most of the events and is slightly more ambiguous.
The characters of Orlick, Matthew and Belinda Pocket, Startop, Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard, Mr. Creppock, Mrs. Wopsle, Mr. Barley, The Society of the Finches and Miss Skiffins are omitted.
The convict who is Magwitch's nemesis is not named in the film. It is revealed in the novel that he is Compeyson, the man who jilted Miss Havisham.
Pip's sister's assault at the hands of Orlick is deleted; instead she dies of illness earlier than she does in the novel.
Biddy is portrayed as being closer to Joe's age than Pip's, and Pip never intends to marry her as he does in the book.
Drummle does not appear until after Estella arrives in London, and he does in fact marry her in the novel.
In the novel, Miss Havisham's immolation happens later, after Estella is married, and is not immediately fatal. She instead passes away during Pip's illness.
Estella's true parentage is never revealed to her in the novel.
John Mills as Pip as an adult
Jean Simmons as Estella as a girl. Simmons later played Miss Havisham in a 1989 miniseries directed by Kevin Connor.
Valerie Hobson as Estella as an adult, and as Molly
Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham
Finlay Currie as Abel Magwitch
Francis L. Sullivan as Mr. Jaggers
Bernard Miles as Joe Gargery
Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket as an adult
Anthony Wager as Pip as a boy
John Forrest as Herbert Pocket as a boy
Freda Jackson as Mrs. Joe Gargery
Ivor Barnard as Mr. Wemmick
Torin Thatcher as Bentley Drummle
O. B. Clarence as The Aged Parent
The film won critical praise upon release, with many of them hailing it as the finest film yet made from a Dickens novel. In 1999, it came fifth in a BFI poll of the top 100 British films, while in 2004, Total Film named it the fourteenth greatest British film of all time. It was the first British film to win an Oscar for its cinematography.
[edit]Awards
Great Expectations won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (John Bryan, Wilfred Shingleton) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, and was nominated for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.
[edit]
Category:
Film & Animation
Tags:
* GreatExpectations1946
* Academy Award
* Winning
* Awards
* Film
* Best
License:
Standard YouTube License
*
7 likes, 0 dislikes
Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. He was born in Portsmouth, England on February 7, 1812, the second of eight children. When he was 12 years old his father was sent to debtors’ prison, along with most of his family, and Charles went to live with a friend of the family, an impoverished old lady. He was forced to quit school and work in a blacking factory, where he pasted labels on jars of shoe polish.
Dickens never forgot those early traumas. He incorporated his experiences and observations of social injustice into his works, including David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. (Find free novels below.) He was the most popular writer of Victorian England, a virtual rock star in the days before recorded music and movies. His stories, published serially in magazines, were eagerly awaited by the public. Most have remained in print ever since.
The Dickens bicentenary is being celebrated with special events around the world, including a wreath-laying ceremony this morning at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, where actor and filmmaker Ralph Fiennes, author Claire Tomalin, and two of Dickens’s descendants are scheduled to give readings. For a listing of events today and throughout the year, go to Dickens2012.org. Also take a look at the short retrospective of Dickens-inspired movies (above) from the British Film Institute.
To help celebrate, we have gathered together some of the best Dickens material from across the Web:
Films (see our complete list of Free Movies):
Source:
http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/celebrate_the_200th_birthday_of_charles_dickens_with_free_movies_ebooks_and_audio_books.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29&utm_content=Google+International
ded by trailer710 on Dec 28, 2011
Great Expectations is a 1946 British film which won two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography) and was nominated for three others (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay). It was directed by David Lean, based on the novel by Charles Dickens and stars John Mills, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness and Valerie Hobson.
The script, a slimmed-down version of Dickens' novel that had been inspired after seeing an abridged stage version of the novel, in which Guinness (responsible for the adaptation) played Herbert Pocket and Martita Hunt was Miss Havisham, was written by David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Cecil McGivern, Ronald Neame and Kay Walsh. Guinness and Hunt reprised their roles in the film, but the film was not a strict adaptation of the stage version. The film was produced by Ronald Neame and photographed by Guy Green. It was the first of two films Lean directed based on Dickens' novels, the other being his 1948 adaptation of Oliver Twist.
Apart from a general compression of time and detail necessary to adopt any novel to film, the major changes from the novel to the screenplay include the following:
The happy ending of the film differs greatly from the novel, which takes place 11 years after most of the events and is slightly more ambiguous.
The characters of Orlick, Matthew and Belinda Pocket, Startop, Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard, Mr. Creppock, Mrs. Wopsle, Mr. Barley, The Society of the Finches and Miss Skiffins are omitted.
The convict who is Magwitch's nemesis is not named in the film. It is revealed in the novel that he is Compeyson, the man who jilted Miss Havisham.
Pip's sister's assault at the hands of Orlick is deleted; instead she dies of illness earlier than she does in the novel.
Biddy is portrayed as being closer to Joe's age than Pip's, and Pip never intends to marry her as he does in the book.
Drummle does not appear until after Estella arrives in London, and he does in fact marry her in the novel.
In the novel, Miss Havisham's immolation happens later, after Estella is married, and is not immediately fatal. She instead passes away during Pip's illness.
Estella's true parentage is never revealed to her in the novel.
John Mills as Pip as an adult
Jean Simmons as Estella as a girl. Simmons later played Miss Havisham in a 1989 miniseries directed by Kevin Connor.
Valerie Hobson as Estella as an adult, and as Molly
Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham
Finlay Currie as Abel Magwitch
Francis L. Sullivan as Mr. Jaggers
Bernard Miles as Joe Gargery
Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket as an adult
Anthony Wager as Pip as a boy
John Forrest as Herbert Pocket as a boy
Freda Jackson as Mrs. Joe Gargery
Ivor Barnard as Mr. Wemmick
Torin Thatcher as Bentley Drummle
O. B. Clarence as The Aged Parent
The film won critical praise upon release, with many of them hailing it as the finest film yet made from a Dickens novel. In 1999, it came fifth in a BFI poll of the top 100 British films, while in 2004, Total Film named it the fourteenth greatest British film of all time. It was the first British film to win an Oscar for its cinematography.
[edit]Awards
Great Expectations won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (John Bryan, Wilfred Shingleton) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, and was nominated for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.
[edit]
Category:
Film & Animation
Tags:
* GreatExpectations1946
* Academy Award
* Winning
* Awards
* Film
* Best
License:
Standard YouTube License
*
7 likes, 0 dislikes
12 134
Dickens never forgot those early traumas. He incorporated his experiences and observations of social injustice into his works, including David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. (Find free novels below.) He was the most popular writer of Victorian England, a virtual rock star in the days before recorded music and movies. His stories, published serially in magazines, were eagerly awaited by the public. Most have remained in print ever since.
The Dickens bicentenary is being celebrated with special events around the world, including a wreath-laying ceremony this morning at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, where actor and filmmaker Ralph Fiennes, author Claire Tomalin, and two of Dickens’s descendants are scheduled to give readings. For a listing of events today and throughout the year, go to Dickens2012.org. Also take a look at the short retrospective of Dickens-inspired movies (above) from the British Film Institute.
To help celebrate, we have gathered together some of the best Dickens material from across the Web:
Films (see our complete list of Free Movies):
- Great Expectations: The classic 1946 version directed by David Lean and starring John Mills, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness. The film won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.
- Oliver Twist: Another classic by David Lean, this 1948 film stars John Howard Davies as Oliver and Alec Guinness as Fagin. In 1999 it was ranked 46th on the BFI’s list of the top 100 British films of all time.
- A Tale of Two Cities: The 1958 film by Ralph Thomas, starring Dirk Bogarde as Sydney Carton and Dorothy Tutin as Lucie Manette. The film was shot in France’s Loire Valley, with several thousand U.S. soldiers, posted in nearby Orleans, cast as extras.
- A Christmas Carol: George C. Scott gives an excellent performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in this critically acclaimed 1984 film directed by Clive Donner. It premiered in America on CBS television, and was released theatrically in Great Britain.
- David Copperfield: A 2000 U.S.-Irish television adaptation starring Hugh Dancy as David Copperfield, Michael Richards as Wilkins Micawber and Sally Field as Betsey Trotwood.
- The Pickwick Papers: A 1952 film, adapted and directed by Noel Langley and starring James Hayter as Samuel Pickwick.
- A Christmas Carol – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats - Kindle
- A Tale of Two Cities – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats
- Bleak House – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats – Kindle
- David Copperfield – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats
- Great Expectations – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats –Kindle
- Hard Times – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats
- Mystery of Edwin Drood – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats
- Oliver Twist – Read Online – Download Multiple Formats - Kindle
- A Christmas Carol – Free iTunes – Free MP3 Zip File
- A Tale of Two Cities – Free iTunes - Free MP3 Zip File
- A Collection of Christmas Stories - Free iTunes
- Bleak House – Free iTunes – Free MP3 Zip File
- David Copperfield – Free iTunes – Free MP3
- Great Expectations – Free iTunes – Free MP3 Zip File
- Hard Times – Free iTunes – Free MP3 Zip File
- Oliver Twist – Free iTunes – Free MP3
Source:
http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/celebrate_the_200th_birthday_of_charles_dickens_with_free_movies_ebooks_and_audio_books.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29&utm_content=Google+International
Brilliant Teacher
My learning about many things has been greatly advanced by watching the many wonderful TED Speeches. Sometimes watching favorite speeches many times over. Mike deGruy generated enthusiasm for the oceans with his passionate presentation and he was a pleasure to watch.
In this talk, as in his photography and his many films, you can sense Mike’s infectious humor, his passion for the oceans — and his example of a life well and richly lived.
We are saddened by the news that ocean photographer, filmmaker and storyteller Mike deGruy died yesterday in a helicopter crash in Australia. Mike was truly one of the great teachers and advocates for the oceans, as you can see in his TEDTalk, filmed aboard Mission Blue in 2010:
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
About "Take Care" Program
Conservation & Communities
Africa loses more than 10 million acres of forest every year -- twice the world’s deforestation rate. Global demand for forest and extractive industry products is growing, with competition for Africa’s natural resources at an all-time high. Meanwhile population growth in Africa is faster than anywhere else, with accompanying poverty, and basic needs unmet. To be effective, forest and species conservation must address the deeply rooted human problems associated with poverty. As Jane says, “How can we even try to save the chimpanzees and forests if the people are so obviously struggling to survive?”
JGI’s community-centered conservation approach provides local communities the tools needed to manage their natural resources for long-term economic gain and environmental prosperity. With increased local capacity, responsibility, and participation in the sustainable management of natural resources, communities are much better positioned to effectively preserve the natural environment and wildlife of their area.
We do not "parachute in" with defined solutions. Rather, we support communities as they identify priority development and conservation goals. As a result, our projects set is eclectic – reflecting the diversity of communities in Africa and the myriad problems they face.
Here’s an idea of what our activities look like on the ground:
- We educate farmers on sustainable farming methods such as rotating crops for soil fertility and re-cropping rather than clearing forest to make new fields
- We promote the use of fuel-efficient stoves that reduce the need for fuel wood by two-thirds and are made from local materials – saving time, money and trees
- We organize micro-credit programs that allow villagers – especially women – to obtain capital for small business ventures by pooling their own money seeded by JGI funds. The payback rate is impressive – over 85 percent.
- We work with villages to improve health through training and infrastructure development, including spring protection, shallow and bore wells, and ventilated improved pit latrines
- We place a special emphasis on girls’ education, providing scholarships that have help girls in Tanzania complete secondary school and beyond.
These sample projects are part of JGI’s conservation and community programming, which falls into four broad areas:
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