The Untold Story of Planned Obsolescence

The Lightbulb Conspiracy: The Untold Story of Planned Obsolescence is a documentary about how our economic system based on consumerism is really breaking our planet down.


It uses investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance among ordinary consumers.


Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand. As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: “The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business “ – and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.


Despite the annoying subtitles, this is a must-watch documentary.




Hat Tip to Ralph Roberts on G+ who linked to the story of the Centennial Bulb this morning.

Read More

The Smokies: Punished into Ecstasy

Here is a delightful little documentary of a hike in the Smokies by a couple of brothers and friends.


From the video description:

In the first week of April, 2011, I joined my older brother for a five-day trek along the Appalachian Trail through the Smokies. We were also joined by Ben's two friends, Jason and Casey. What ensued was an adventure and a trial that included numerous physical meltdowns, one hellacious storm, unexpected snow, and many good memories. This is a short document of that journey and of my relationship with my brother. I hope you enjoy it.

- Chris

Find out more at the Horizonline Pictures website.

Read More

Rob on the Road: National Parks

Rob Stewart (KVIE) of Rob on the Road discovers national parks in California. Rob explores the worlds tallest trees and amazing cavernous caves at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, hikes the stunning Lassen Volcanic National Park, captures the beauty of Yosemite Valley and delves into the personal journals of John Muir. For more visit Ron on the Road


One of these days, I'd like to visit these places...but for now, this is as close as I can get.


I'd love to spend a month shooting video and photos of Yosemite.

Read More

KPRC News Documentary

This is a documentary filmed in 1966 and is a fascinating look at how a news station in Houston went about gathering the news in the 60s.


Many of the jobs that once took several people now take only one or two people to accomplish. I got a kick out of seeing the old-style film editors at work.


It makes me consider the routines and methods I employ when gathering information for a blog post or when I prepare to cover a live event, or when I have the rare opportunity to webcast a live event.


One thing that is apparent to me is that most news organizations seem to still operate with the view that their conventional channel is the main target of their news gathering operations. That is to say, that TV Stations seem overly focused on items for broadcast, Radio Stations and Newspapers seems focused on their conventional distribution channel. Many of them have websites that are either afterthoughts or are very poorly designed advertisement platforms. WWNC-AM is one obvious example that comes to mind, especially after looking at the source code. Nearly every Clear Channel radio station website looks the same and isn't designed with standard SEO practices in mind that would help in making their material searchable on the web. 


They have neglected to change with the times and to take advantage of the new opportunities presented by the Internet and the multiple channels of distribution that have become available to them.


One of the few examples I can think of that don't fall into this mold is the Mountain Xpress in Asheville. It is a weekly paper that is mostly filled with entertainment news and some news stories of local interest. Their website is a much better source of information because they have used crowd sourcing techniques that allow people in the community to participate in the news gathering process.


This is something that the Asheville Citizen-Times has tried to do over the years and has failed miserably with each attempt, usually through no fault of their reporters. I place the blame with a very poor management style that seems to take a top-down approach to news gathering that reminds me of the old Soviet Politburo method of Command and Control and centralized decision making.


WLOS-TV is more of the same in regard to web design and news distribution, although it is a step above the Citizen-Times.  One glaring omission from the website is the ability to watch the newscast live or on demand. They have individual stories, but not the whole product.

Read More

Coming in 2010: Pat Dollard's "Young Americans"

I will be carrying episodes of Pat Dollard's documentary "Young Americans" in 2010. This is the trailer for the series...

Read More

Snowball Earth

In honor of our brief flurry of winter weather today, I have embedded the Snowball Earth special from the BBC:

Read More

Pearl Harbor Bombed 67 Years Ago Today

Here is how the listeners of WCCO heard it during the Sunday New York Philharmonic...

And here are some more places where you can read more of what happened on that day, and what followed after...

Pearl Harbor Raid

Eyewitness to History

And here is a John Ford Documentary about the Pearl harbor Raid:

Read More

Gas Panic in Jackson County North Carolina !!!

My posse and I had stopped by Wal Mart in Sylva to pick up a few things...when it became apparent that all was not as it should be...

The parking lot was nearly empty. We celebrated our good luck in avoiding the long lines and running children in the store.

Our celebration was short-lived, however...

...rumors were flying around that the supply of gasoline from the Gulf of Mexico had been shut off, and gas stations were running out of gasoline, and others were raising the prices before they ran out!!!

Here is a video I slapped together of photos and video I shot while driving back to Macon County from the madhouse that was Jackson County.


It was crazy, people were honking their horns and yelling at each other, and in a state of hysteria!

The last time I remember seeing something like this was when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the supply of fuel was disrupted for a short time.

I am sure glad that I don't have to go out on Fridays any more...I bet tomorrow will be worse...that is unless all the idiots got teir tanks filled this evening.

So...anybody notice anything similar in their area, or was this an isolated outbreak of stupid?

Read More

Celebrating Nikwasi 2008

I hope I witnessed the beginning of an annual event in Franklin this past Saturday.

The designation of the Nikwasi mound as a Cherokee Heritage Trail is an important step toward preserving this important historical site for future generations of Maconians, Cherokee, and passerby to enjoy and ponder the past.

I took a great many photos, some of which can be found in this previous post where I embedded a Slide Show, and an excellent adjunct can be found at Ruminations From the Distant Hills.

Here is the promised video of my witness of the events on Saturday. I missed the Story Tellers and most of the Gospel Singing because I was in line waiting on food...maybe I can catch them next year.



The video took over 2 hours to mixdown on my machine, and it has been processing at blip.tv for over an hour. Click the link above to view it on the show page. I'll edit this post to include the embed once it has finished transcoding to .flv format.

The video is just under an hour and 38 minutes.

Read More

Battle at Kruger Documentary On National Geographic Sunday Night

A battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and a crocodile at a watering hole in South Africa's Kruger National Park while on safari:


You can watch it tonight on the National Geographic Channel Sunday, May 11th (Mother's Day) at 9pm, and hear the story behind the story.

More at the National Geographic Channel

Read More