Stephen Colbert: Yahweh or No Way - IHOP & Antonio Federici Ad

The International House of Pancakes sues the International House of Prayer, and the UK bans a pregnant nun ad for Antonio Federici ice cream.

Intelligence Squared: Freedom of the Press Does Not Extend to State Secrets - Debate

DEBATE: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DOES NOT EXTEND TO STATE SECRETS 
by Intelligence Squared U.S.
(iq2us.org)

 
DEBATE: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DOES NOT EXTEND TO STATE SECRETS (iq2us.org) from Intelligence Squared U.S. on Vimeo.

TEDxSF - Jaron Lanier - You Are Not a Gadget



Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. His book You Are Not a Gadget was released in early 2010 by Knopf in the USA and Penguin in the UK. He writes and speaks on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technological practices, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Discover (where he has been a columnist), The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Harpers Magazine, The Sciences, Wired Magazine (where he was a founding contributing editor), and Scientific American. He has edited special "future" issues of SPIN and Civilization magazines. He is one of the 100 "remarkable people" of the Global Business Network. In 2005 Lanier was selected as one of the top one hundred public intellectuals in the world by readers of Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines. 

 Jaron begins this talk by playing an 8000 year old Laotian instrument called a Can (sp), and asserts that is it the first binary code technology: an orderly row of objects that are either on or off. He moves into his first hand account of his lab's invention of avatars, and where they might be going. He stands by his 30 year prediction that virtual reality will mature in 2020 or 2025. Jaron's wide ranging talk goes into the potential of leveraging the human motor cortex, avatars and virtual reality to explore new equations, and as a great educational platform (predicts that it will succeed because having a kid virtually "be a molecule" "leverages narcissism" and that suddenly makes molecule study self study). He closes his talk with a profound rebuttal to Kevin Kelly's recent work What Technology Wants- says he respects Kevin's work tremendously but that his own thesis stands in opposition to Kelly's. Shares concerns about algorithms disconnecting us from each others, about our models of working with each other online, the rewrite of social rules. Beautiful.

The Intelligence War - Programmes - Al Jazeera English

Link to video:
The Intelligence War - Programmes - Al Jazeera English


Immediately after 9/11, the US announced that 'the gloves were coming off' in the fight against al-Qaeda. A unique Presidential Finding gave the CIA greater powers than it had enjoyed at any point in its history.

Electronic eavesdropping, kidnap, rendition and water-boarding were the results.

This film explores how the CIA fought al-Qaeda in the shadows, focusing on the monitoring of its communications, the group's escape from Tora Bora and the problems this raised.

We examine the highs and lows of the intelligence war, revealing how the US nearly lost outright in 2003 and how al-Qaeda negated its own advances through a bloody campaign to eliminate Iraq's Shias.

This is the story of the secret war behind the 'war on terror'.

Imelda and Me - Crime and impunity in the Philippines - Al Jazeera Correspondent

Link to Video:
Imelda and Me - Al Jazeera Correspondent - Al Jazeera English

The question of impunity in the Philippines has a special meaning for Al Jazeera's Veronica Pedrosa. In 1971 she and her family were forced into exile by the Marcos regime after her mother, also a journalist, wrote an unauthorised biography of the then first lady Imelda Marcos.

Imelda has never been successfully convicted despite hundreds of cases of corruption and human rights abuses being brought against her. A commission that was formed to find the missing millions allegedly stolen by the Marcoses will soon be abolished, partly because past commissioners themselves are said to have profited from their positions.

Recently, Imelda was elected to Congress and her son, Ferdinand Jr, is tipped to run for the presidency in 2016. With the Marcoses rising again in Philippine politics, Veronica Pedrosa tells the story of her family's exile and their campaign against Marcos rule. She examines the Philippine authorities' failure to bring the powerful to account for their alleged misdeeds and confronts Imelda herself about her past and her future political ambitions.

The programme will also examine the actual impact of relative freedom of expression in the Philippines. It is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work. The media have not strengthened democracy; instead they have become political instruments and pawns.

18 Things You Should Know About Genetics by David Murawsky

18 Things You Should Know About Genetics is an animated film that presents fundamental background information about genetics, as well as offering some quirky but interesting facts about DNA, genes and genetics. It was created to be an upbeat, fun educational short film to initiate and draw interest to this sometimes daunting and seemingly complex subject matter. 

 Narration: Sarah Henriques

Dr. Francis Collins in the Colbert Report talks about Personalized Medicine and Stem Cell Research

Francis Collins informs Stephen that it's going to take time for stem cell research to give him crab claws.

Dr. Francis Collins in the Colbert Report talks about Evolution and Genetics

Dr. Francis Collins tries to convince Stephen that evolution is God's plan for giving upgrades.

Žižek! - Full Documentary

ZIZEK! trails the eminent and intrepid thinker as he crisscrosses the globe—racing from New York City lecture halls, traversing the streets of Buenos Aires, pit-stopping at his home in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In transit, Zizek obsessively reveals the invisible workings of ideology through a unique blend of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Marxism and pop culture critique. He is also unafraid to turn his critical gaze on himself, offering cutting commentary on his personality, private life and growing inter-national celebrity.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V


The author of works on subjects as wide-ranging as Alfred Hitchcock, 9/11, opera, Christianity, Lenin and David Lynch, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek is one of the most important—and outrageous—cultural theorists working today. This captivating, erudite documentary explores the eccentric personality and esoteric work of this incomparable academic and writer who has been called everything from "the Elvis of cultural theory" to "a one person culture mulcher".

Ask Michael Shermer Anything

Buy Michael Shermer's newest book here: http://amzn.to/oTOiTW


Michael Shermer is the author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. He is also the founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine, the executive director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech and an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University.

Michael has written 15 books, including Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time; How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God; The Mind of the Market: How Biology and Psychology Shape Our Economic Lives; and Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins, Illustrated by Dave McKean


What are things made of?
What is the sun?
Why do bad things happen?

Throughout history people all over the world have invented stories to answer profound questions such as these. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu's egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? These fantastical myths are fun -- but what is the real answer to such questions?

The Magic of Reality presents the real story of the world around us, taking us on an enthralling journey through scientific reality, and showing that it has an awe-inspiring beauty and thrilling magic which far exceed those of the ancient myths.

We encounter rainbows, our genetic ancestors, tsunamis, shooting stars, plants, animals, and an intriguing cast of characters in this extraordinary scientific voyage of discovery.

Richard Dawkins and Dave McKean have created a dazzling celebration of our planet that will inspire and amaze readers of all ages, and will entertain and inform for years to come.

Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark

The story of the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world.

Link to video:
Bahrain: Shouting in the dark - Programmes - Al Jazeera English

Bahrain: An island kingdom in the Arabian Gulf where the Shia Muslim majority are ruled by a family from the Sunni minority. Where people fighting for democratic rights broke the barriers of fear, only to find themselves alone and crushed.

This is their story and Al Jazeera is their witness - the only TV journalists who remained to follow their journey of hope to the carnage that followed.

This is the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world.


Noam Chomsky: 'As long they get the backing of dictators, it doesn't matter to western governments what Arab populations think'

The 19th century ... 2001 ... today. Noam Chomsky sees hegemonic powers showing extreme contempt for democracy – and acting in ways they know will increase terrorism



Rationalism Breeds Atheism (Part 2)

The more scientifically literate, intellectually honest and objectively sceptical a person is, the more likely they are to disbelieve in anything supernatural, including god. This is a compilation of some of the best examples of such individuals with their thoughts on the divine.


They include in order of appearance:

Professor Sir Harold Kroto is a British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996.

Steven Pinker is Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.

John Smythies is a neuropsychiatrist and neuroscientist. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatric Research at the University of Alabama Medical Center.

Sir Richard Friend is Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge. His research concerns the physics and engineering of carbon-based semiconductors.

Peter Atkins is a British Chemist and was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks.

Marcus du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

Sir Patrick Bateson is an English biologist and science writer. Bateson is emeritus professor of ethology at Cambridge University and president of the Zoological Society of London since 2004.

Professor AC Grayling is a British philosopher, supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, and first master of New College of the Humanities in London. He was previously Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.

Brian Cox OBE is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Alan Macfarlane is a renowned social anthropologist and a Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China.

Alan Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history.

Quentin Skinner is Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London, and was previously Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge. The author or co-author of more than 20 books, his works have been very widely translated.

Rationalism Breeds Atheism (Part 1)

The more scientifically literate, intellectually honest and objectively sceptical a person is, the more likely they are to disbelieve in anything supernatural, including god. This is a compilation of some of the best examples of such individuals with their thoughts on the divine.

Part I

They include in order of appearance:

Professor Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for 30 years.

Lord Martin Rees is the Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010.

Dr Sam Harris is an American author, neuroscientist and CEO of Project Reason. He holds a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, and a BA in philosophy from Stanford University.

Professor Richard Feynman was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Professor Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT and well known as one of the fathers of modern linguistics.

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director.

Professor Leonard Susskind is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Stanford University, and widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory.

Sir Bertrand Russell was an English philosopher who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.

Dr Richard Carrier is an American historian who received his PhD in ancient history from Columbia University.

Sir David Attenborough is a broadcaster and naturalist. He studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge, and his distinguished career in broadcasting now spans more than 50 years.

Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and Visiting Research Scientist and Lecturer at Princeton University. He attended Harvard College (B.A), University of Texas (M.A.) and Columbia University (M.Phil.), (Ph.D.).

Professor Vilayanur Ramachandran is a neuroscientist, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neurosciences Graduate Program at the University of California, San Diego. He obtained his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge.


It seems plainly obvious in the 21st century that rational thought inevitably breeds atheism.

The Intelligence War - Programmes - Al Jazeera English

Link to Video:
The Intelligence War - Programmes - Al Jazeera English

Immediately after 9/11, the US announced that 'the gloves were coming off' in the fight against al-Qaeda. A unique Presidential Finding gave the CIA greater powers than it had enjoyed at any point in its history.

Electronic eavesdropping, kidnap, rendition and water-boarding were the results.

This film explores how the CIA fought al-Qaeda in the shadows, focusing on the monitoring of its communications, the group's escape from Tora Bora and the problems this raised.

We examine the highs and lows of the intelligence war, revealing how the US nearly lost outright in 2003 and how al-Qaeda negated its own advances through a bloody campaign to eliminate Iraq's Shias.

This is the story of the secret war behind the 'war on terror'.


Hans Rosling on global population growth

The world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years -- and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils at TED@Cannes using colorful new data display technology (you'll see).

The Believing Brain - Presented by Dr Michael Shermer

Recorded at the Copland Theatre, University of Melbourne on 19 September 2011.


In this talk, Dr Michael Shermer presents his comprehensive and provocative theory on how humans form beliefs about the world. He answers the questions of how and why we believe what we do in all aspects of our lives, from our suspicions and superstitions to our politics, economics and social beliefs.

Christopher Hitchens debates Barry Brummett

Debate between renowned journalist and author Christopher Hitchens and Dr. Barry Brummett (Chair, Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas at Austin) on the resolution "Religion has been a positive force in culture," June 4, 2011. Organized by the Department of English Language and Literature, University of Waterloo (http://www.english.uwaterloo.ca/), as part of the Literature, Rhetoric, and Values Conference, 3-5 June 2011.

Moderated by Jian Ghomeshi, an award-winning broadcaster, writer, musician and producer. He is the host and co-creator of the national daily talk program, Q, on CBC Radio One and CBC TV (http://www.cbc.ca/q/). Since its inception in 2007, Q has garnered the largest audience of any cultural affairs program in Canada and has become the highest-rated show in its morning time slot in CBC history.

Part I - Introduction

Part II - Debate

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII



Preliminary video-editing by Ken Cooper. Final edits by MetaMedia Productions, Waterloo, Ontario.

The Department gratefully acknowledges the support of a Social Sciences and Humanities Council Aid to Conferences Grant for the Conference on Literature, Rhetoric, and Values.

Sasha Dichter: The Generosity Experiment

In this inspiring talk from the NextGen:Charity conference, Sasha Dichter of the Acumen Fund shares the results of his month-long "Generosity Experiment" where he said "Yes" to every request for help.




Richard Dawkins Interview with Charlie Rose on Evolution, Religion and Science

A conversation with Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins about evolution, intelligent design and his book "The Ancestor's Tale".



Purchase Richard Dawkins' books at Amazon:

Stephen Colbert: Yahweh or No Way - Legislation Prayers & Fake Shroud of Turin

Special interest groups pray on issues like health care, and an Italian scientist makes a fake Shroud of Turin look like Cher with a mustache.


Purchase Stephen Colbert's books at Amazon:
   

Stephen Colbert: Yahweh or No Way - Christianity Is Fattening

Jesus is totally cut, but unfortunately the same cannot be said of his followers.


Buy Stephen Colbert's books at Amazon:
   

Zev Chafets on the Colbert Report discusses the alliance between Evangelicals and Jews

Also, Stephen and author Zev Chafets get to the bottom of which of the two of them is the most Jewish.



Purchase Zev Chafets' and Stephen Colbert's books at Amazon:
         

The Way of the Mister, Vol. 1: Reparative Therapy

Reporter, David Steel, investigates a new and growing branch of the "reparative therapy" movement.



http://mrdeity.com/donate.html
http://mrdeity.com/newsletter.html
http://mrdeity.com/dvd-season3.html
http://www.cafepress.com/mr_deity

This is the first of what will be a series of videos on differing topics. "The Way of the Mister" videos continue the ethos of the Mr. Deity worldview, but branch out in ways that would not work within the the Deity cosmography or with the Deity characters. Our desire is to do more videos like this, and the ideas are pouring out of me. But many of them require bigger budgets than we currently have. We're hoping to rectify that with a non-profit organization which will focus on this broader mission -- to educate with humor and satire.

George Carlin - Euphemistic Language


A euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; such as using "eliminate" as a euphemism for "kill," or using "post-traumatic stress disorder" as a euphemism for "shell shock." The favorite tool of the high priests of political correctness, besides suppression of free speech, intimidation tactics through insinuations to "hatred" or "racism" or "xenophobia" if you dare resist their control.

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 -- June 22, 2008)... may he rest in peace.

Purchase George Carlin's  DVDs at Amazon:
        

Penn and Teller: Bullshit! - Holier Than Thou

To most of the world, highly revered figures such as Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama are larger-than-life symbols of love, peace and charity. But how much of our perception of "sainthood" is built on hype and not facts? This episode reveals the dark side of the so-called enlightened ones and delves into why we're so susceptible to buying into their bullshit.


Puchase all "Penn and Teller: Bullshit!" TV series at Amazon:
          

RSA Animate - The Empathic Civilisation

Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.


Note: As one of the comments on the Youtube video rightly states:
"It's kind of misinformative to say we all have the same common ancestors and then refer to "Y-chromosomal Adam" and "Mitochondrial Eve" without saying that they were alive tens of thousands of years apart:
Mitochondrial Eve: 200.000 years ago
Y-chromosomal Adam: 60.000 - 142.000 years ago"

Source:
http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg

Purchase Jeremy Rifkin's books at Amazon:
       

TED Talks - Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences

Every new invention changes the world -- in ways both intentional and unexpected. Historian Edward Tenner tells stories that illustrate the under-appreciated gap between our ability to innovate and our ability to foresee the consequences.


For further reading on Edward Tenner's ideas:
  

Slavoj Žižek on Robespierre and the Terror

Slavoj Žižek discusses Robespierre's ideals and the social and political ideologies during a revolutionary process.


Purchase Slavoj Žižek's books at Amazon:
       

RSA Animate - The Secret Powers of Time

Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.

Robert Wright on the Colbert Report discusses the evolution of the idea of god

Robert Wright believes that the three major religions can help God move toward a level of tolerance and compassion.


Purchase Robert Wright's and Stephen Colbert's books at Amazon:
   

Bart Ehrman on the Colbert Report explains why the Bible is a big lie

Stephen questions Bart Ehrman on why the Bible is a big fat lie and Stephen's an idiot for believing it.


Purchase Stephen Colbert's and Bart Ehrman's books at Amazon:
              

Bart Ehrman on the Colbert Report discusses the mistakes in the Bible

Bart Ehrman discusses the history of the word of Jesus and Stephen offers him irrefutable logic.


Purchase Stephen Colbert's and Barth Ehrman's books at Amazon: