An interesting overview of various forms of government throughout history, focusing on what our nation’s founders created and what we have today.
A woman asked Benjamin Franklin what the writers of the constitution had given them to which he responded, “A republic, Ma’am, if you can keep it.” Current events may suggest that we are losing (or perhaps have already lost?) that form of government. Watch the video and see what you think.
Link credit goes to my dad, who is often passing along such videos and other web links. 🙂
Jen and I stumbled upon this show last night when we were looking for something else at Hulu and decided to watch it… we’re sports fans – especially football – and actually really enjoyed the show! Perhaps you will too…47
I came across this documentary while browsing that category at Netflix. Having lived in Venezuela for three years as a kid, I do notice anything pertaining to that country, and this one intrigued me. I didn’t know much about Hugo Chávez, just that he doesn’t like America. This is still true (although he is buddies with his socialist friend, Obama – per his own comments) but this documentary showed a side of Chávez that I didn’t know. He kind of comes off as a bumbling fool … yet with just enough smarts to definitely play (read:manipulate) the system.
It’s a fascinating look at Venezuela (loved hearing the Venezuelan music and the people speaking, and seeing a view of Caracas that looked similar to the view I remember from our apartment building!) and the her history since Hugo Chávez has been involved.
(For example, did you know that years before he was elected, he was part of a military coup attempt … that failed miserably? Then that he was removed from the office of president (by the military) after he was elected … only to return two days later? Crazy stuff.)
Also, the title of the documentary (and title of this post) is from his weekly Sunday TV show (by the same title). Chávez does a live show from various locations around Venezuela (and of random durations) every week to connect with the people. Much like our own president Obama, he certainly knows the power of the media. He is very similarly a “information age” political leader.
I believe this documentary was produced by a media guy from Venezuela, and I thought it was well done. If you’re interested in such things, the video embedded above is the first segment. The entire documentary is available online here.
I saw this video online yesterday (it’s actually kind of long) and just thought it was… weird. The events that precipitated this investigative report were quite weird as well. Talk show guy Glenn Beck was accused of being a “lying sack of dog mess” by Whoopi Goldberg on her TV show, The View. And, the crazy part, it’s all about a meaningless event.
These guys are hilarious! Spotted this video in the “highlights” column on Facebook today and had to share here. Not sure if you’ve heard of these guys, but they are quite good at what they do. 🙂
I mentioned Twitter here a few posts ago. I think I also mentioned that it’s not a technology I’ve found much of a use for. There is definitely a place for it. It’s a pretty good way for a business to handle things like press releases. By creating a Twitter account, and then advertising that on your website, email, and other avenues, people can subscribe to any updates you send out over the service (updates which are often viewed by the receiver on their mobile phone, so you can catch them anywhere) and if there is a related link, you can even include that.
The concept is decent, but the implementation has been … well, almost to the point of annoying.
It started in 2006, and I, being a fan of tech podcasts have followed it from its infancy. The tech show hosts were (almost) all infatuated with it at first. All they talked about was Twitter! It was crazy! But then it died down, and they referenced it on a more normal scale… probably using it for what it is best used for – short, to the point, news bulletins. (Some even use it as a resource. For example, they are traveling, in a city they don’t know, and they ask a question on Twitter, and then anyone “following” them who has an answer replies back. The downside is, people who check their Twitter feed less frequently reply many days later.) 🙂
I signed up for an account sometime in 2007, just to see what all the tech buzz was about. I had also created a Facebook account that year, as that was another thing the tech shows could not stop talking about! I took a look around both and found that, basically, Twitter was a one-function service that was nearly identical to one of many that Facebook provided. Facebook allows you to “broadcast” a status message – much like Twitter’s “tweets” – that anyone who is on your list of friends can see and interact with. But as I mentioned, Facebook has much more to offer. Much easier to share information, photos, videos… you can even play virtual games with friends. (I like to play Scrabble…) 🙂
So, with much more “real” interaction with people on Facebook, and no need to duplicate that using Twitter, I chose to use Facebook. (I need to also say that I do not have a cell phone. Twitter might have more draw to someone sharing info over a mobile device.)
Now, sometime last year, Twitter “hit the mainstream”. Not only are more people using it, but it’s becoming popular, and even a “credible” source of information. (See more about Twitter here.) It’s even gotten so popular late last year that Hollywood celebrities are now “Tweeting” their every move.
Fascinating.
I’ve definitely never caught on, as you have probably guessed. But, a client of mine joined the Twitter community last year and has really had some interesting adventures using their service. (You can find his Twitter info and “follow” him at his website: acemarketingagency.com.) I added his Twitter feed to my RSS folder and follow along. There are some extraneous comments directed to other people, but his general posts are often links to articles or other web content worth viewing. Today he posted a link to the following video that I thought did a pretty good job of summarizing the Twitter experience. 🙂
Hulu has over a dozen of the most recent presidential inauguration speeches uploaded to their site (Eisenhower’s was the oldest one). Pretty cool to watch history like that. Unedited, uninterpreted. But looking back after we know the outcome. It was the present – speaking of the future – when they were giving those speeches. Pretty fascinating.
