This is a class about the acquisition of knowledge. Our resource is youtube.com. Not just a web site to view cat videos, Youtube is a kind of video library of the visual arts. An astonishingly rich, varied and vast video library. A library that has recently been enriched by the addition of more than a million minutes of historical footage from the Associated Press.
There are complete college courses including the twentieth century novel, Roman architecture, the history of Europe and molecular biology. If you want to see a clip from a 1950's TV series or hear the sound of Teddy Roosevelt's voice you can find it on Youtube.
I hope that this class will introduce you to people and subjects that you either hadn't heard of or didn't think would interest you. I can't guarantee that everyone will be enthralled by every presentation. To paraphrase Lincoln (and Rick Nelson), you can't please everyone all the time but you can please everyone some of the time. My hope is that many, even most of the sessions will entertain, educate and challenge you.
Each line of text that changes color and/or becomes underlined when you pass over it with the mouse is a link to either a web site or video. Left click on the link to go to the referenced web page.
If you have a Smart TV from 2013 or later it's likely that you have the Youtube app on your TV. Here's a link to the Youtube help page explaining you to get Youtube on your Smart TV.
Skeptical Web Sites:
Science Blogs: Respectful Insolence
Science-Based Medicine
Acupuncture Doesn't Work
Other videos about alternative medicine:
BBC Horizon Homeopathy The Test Part 1
Simon Singh - Trick or Treatment?
Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS in Scotland
Homeopathy: Cure or Con? Marketplace CBC
The Psychology of Pseudoscience in Medicine
Enemies of Reason - Part 2 - The Irrational Health Service
Testing Therapeutic Touch
The Power of the Placebo
Web sites about alternative medicine:
History of Acupuncture in China
What is Homeopathy?
Reiki -- History, Theory, Practice
Therapeutic Touch -- History & Philosophy
Eleven-Year-Old Debunks Therapeutic Touch: The Case of Emily Rosa
Subluxation Theory: A Belief System That Continues to Define the Practice of Chiropractic
Psychospiritual aspects of Herbal Medicine
The History of Acupuncture
Veterinary Acupuncture and Claims for the Antiquity of Acupuncture
About Richard Alley:
From the program's web site:
Dr. Richard Alley is Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences and Associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, where he has worked since 1988. His experience includes three field seasons in Antarctica, eight in Greenland, and three in Alaska. Dr. Alley teaches, and conducts research on the climatic records, flow behavior, and sedimentary deposits of large ice sheets, to aid in prediction of future changes in climate and sea level.
Episode One Of The Series
Episode Two Of The Series
Episode Three Of The Series
About Climate Change:
Climate Change: Where We Are Now and Where We're Going
Each line of text that changes color and/or becomes underlined when you pass over it with the mouse is a link to either a web site or video. Left click on the link to go to the referenced web page.
If you have a Smart TV from 2013 or later it's likely that you have the Youtube app on your TV. Here's a link to the Youtube help page explaining you to get Youtube on your Smart TV.
The Schedule
September 11
Stephen Fry - The Machine That Made Us
The Machine That Made Us is a documentary in which Stephen Fry examines the story behind the first media entrepreneur, printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg, to find out why he did it and how, a story which involves both historical inquiry and hands-on craft and technology.
Stephen Fry Bibliography and Filmography:
From Wikipedia.com:
Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian, author and television presenter. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also played the title roles in Jeeves and Wooster. Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the Blackadder television series and is the host of celebrity comedy trivia show, QI. He has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, and has written four novels and two autobiographies, Moab Is My Washpot and The Fry Chronicles.
The Making of QI
The Secret Life of a Manic-Depressive (1 of 2)
Stephen Fry in America (1 of 6)
Wagner and Me
Stephen Fry Bibliography and Filmography:
From Wikipedia.com:
Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian, author and television presenter. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also played the title roles in Jeeves and Wooster. Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the Blackadder television series and is the host of celebrity comedy trivia show, QI. He has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, and has written four novels and two autobiographies, Moab Is My Washpot and The Fry Chronicles.
Some other Stephen Fry videos:
Who Do You Think You Are? -- Stephen FryThe Making of QI
The Secret Life of a Manic-Depressive (1 of 2)
Stephen Fry in America (1 of 6)
Wagner and Me
About Books and Printing
Books Before and After The Gutenberg Bible -- Text
The Secret Life of Books (6-part series)
Printing and Movable Type in 9th-Century China -- Text
The Making Of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts - text
The History of Printing -- text
The History of Printing and Ink -- text
Books Before and After The Gutenberg Bible -- Text
The Secret Life of Books (6-part series)
Printing and Movable Type in 9th-Century China -- Text
The Making Of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts - text
The History of Printing -- text
The History of Printing and Ink -- text
September 18
Simon Winchester: The Meaning of Everything
A lecture about the history of the Oxford Dictionary and the colorful characters involved in its creation.
About Simon Winchester:
From Wikipedia.com: Simon Winchester, OBE (born 28 September 1944), is a British author and journalist who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and theWatergate Scandal. As an author, Winchester has written or contributed to more than a dozen nonfiction books, has written one novel, and his articles have appeared in several travel publications, including Condé Nast Traveler,Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
Bibliography
Other Simon Winchester Videos:
Crack in the Edge of the World: The 1906 California Earthquake
The Men Who United the States
The Man Who Loved China
The Atlantic
Other Word-Related Videos
Samuel Johnson -- The Dictionary Man
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Defining the English Language
English: Birth of a Language
The Story of English
A Two-Word Related Article
Like, Uh, You Know: Why Do Americans Say 'You Know' . . . So Often?
About Simon Winchester:
From Wikipedia.com: Simon Winchester, OBE (born 28 September 1944), is a British author and journalist who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and theWatergate Scandal. As an author, Winchester has written or contributed to more than a dozen nonfiction books, has written one novel, and his articles have appeared in several travel publications, including Condé Nast Traveler,Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
Bibliography
Other Simon Winchester Videos:
Crack in the Edge of the World: The 1906 California Earthquake
The Men Who United the States
The Man Who Loved China
The Atlantic
Other Word-Related Videos
Samuel Johnson -- The Dictionary Man
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Defining the English Language
English: Birth of a Language
The Story of English
A Two-Word Related Article
Like, Uh, You Know: Why Do Americans Say 'You Know' . . . So Often?
September 25
Radical Lives: Thomas Paine
An illuminating program examining the life and works of Thomas Paine, one of the most influential political figures in the late 18th century who continues to influence modern politics.
About Thomas Paine:
From Biography.com: Thomas Paine was an influential 18th-century writer of essays and pamphlets. Among them were "The Age of Reason" regarding the place of religion in society; "Rights of Man," a piece defending the French Revolution; and "Common Sense" which was published during the American Revolution. "Common Sense" Paine's most influential piece, brought his ideas to a vast audience, swaying (the otherwise undecided) public opinion to the view that independence from the British was a necessity.
ThomasPaine.org -- text
The Writings of Thomas Paine on gutenberg.org 1 of 4
Other Videos About Thomas Paine:
Thomas Paine The Most Valuable Englishman Ever Part 1 of 2
Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason
The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, And the Birth of Right and Left
Other Melvyn Bragg Videos:
Radical Lives: John Ball
Melvyn Bragg: Wigton to Westminster
The King James Bible
From Biography.com: Thomas Paine was an influential 18th-century writer of essays and pamphlets. Among them were "The Age of Reason" regarding the place of religion in society; "Rights of Man," a piece defending the French Revolution; and "Common Sense" which was published during the American Revolution. "Common Sense" Paine's most influential piece, brought his ideas to a vast audience, swaying (the otherwise undecided) public opinion to the view that independence from the British was a necessity.
ThomasPaine.org -- text
The Writings of Thomas Paine on gutenberg.org 1 of 4
Other Videos About Thomas Paine:
Thomas Paine The Most Valuable Englishman Ever Part 1 of 2
Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason
The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, And the Birth of Right and Left
Other Melvyn Bragg Videos:
Radical Lives: John Ball
Melvyn Bragg: Wigton to Westminster
The King James Bible
October 2
Darwin's Struggle:
The Evolution of On The Origin of Species
A documentary about Charles Darwin's twenty-year struggle to produce his masterpiece which presents evidence for the fact of evolution and the theory of how all species have descended from common ancestors primarily by natural selection.
Charles Darwin Web Sites:
Darwin's Works on Gutenberg.org
Darwin Videos:
Darwin Videos:
What Darwin Never Knew NOVA PBS Documentary
Evolution: Frequently Asked Questions
Five Major Misconceptions About Evolution
Fossils
Design
Deep Time
Evolution Videos:
The Nature of Evolution: Selection, Inheritance, and History: Yale University Online Course
Darwin's Theory Of Evolution - Discovery History Science Documentary
What Is the Evidence for Evolution Found in the Fossil Record? -- Book TV
Why Evolution is True (2012 Jerry Coyne Lecture)
Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial - PBS Documentary
Evolution: How We Know it Happened & Why it Matters
How Eyes Evolved
Evolution: Frequently Asked Questions
Five Major Misconceptions About Evolution
Fossils
Design
Deep Time
Evolution Videos:
The Nature of Evolution: Selection, Inheritance, and History: Yale University Online Course
Darwin's Theory Of Evolution - Discovery History Science Documentary
What Is the Evidence for Evolution Found in the Fossil Record? -- Book TV
Why Evolution is True (2012 Jerry Coyne Lecture)
Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial - PBS Documentary
Evolution: How We Know it Happened & Why it Matters
How Eyes Evolved
October 9
Men of Rock: Deep Time
The first in a three-part series of programs focusing on the beginnings of the science of geology. The first program features a look at the life of James Hutton whose discoveries led to an understanding of the true age of the earth. As we trace Hutton's career we're treated to some spectacular views of the Scottish landscape.
About Iain Stewart:
Iain Simpson Stewart (born 1964) is a Scottish geologist. As well as being professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth he has presented a number of television and radio series such as Journeys From the Centre of the Earth; Earth: The Power of the Planet; Hot Rocks; The Climate Wars; How Earth Made Us; and How to Grow a Planet.
Other Iain Stewart Videos:
About Iain Stewart:
Iain Simpson Stewart (born 1964) is a Scottish geologist. As well as being professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth he has presented a number of television and radio series such as Journeys From the Centre of the Earth; Earth: The Power of the Planet; Hot Rocks; The Climate Wars; How Earth Made Us; and How to Grow a Planet.
Other Iain Stewart Videos:
The Challenges Facing Science Communicators
Earth The Power Of The Planet: Part One
How To Grow A Planet: Part One
Making Scotland's Landscape: Part One
Men of Rock Part Two: Moving Mountains
Men of Rock Part Three: The Big Freeze
Geology Web Sites:
Geology of Edinburgh
About James Hutton
Earth The Power Of The Planet: Part One
How To Grow A Planet: Part One
Making Scotland's Landscape: Part One
Men of Rock Part Two: Moving Mountains
Men of Rock Part Three: The Big Freeze
Geology Web Sites:
Geology of Edinburgh
About James Hutton
October 16
Purpose and the Universe - Sean M. Carroll
An engaging, understandable and surprisingly humorous lecture about the state of knowledge about our interaction with the sub-atomic world, the nature of the universe and our place in it presented by one of the world's leading physicists.
About Sean M. Carroll
From his web site:
Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1993, and worked at MIT, the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Chicago before moving to Caltech. His research involves theoretical physics and astrophysics, focusing on issues in cosmology, field theory, and gravitation. He is the author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, a popular book on cosmology and the arrow of time, and Spacetime and Geometry, a graduate-level textbook on general relativity. He has produced a set of introductory lectures for The Teaching Company entitled Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe; and blogs regularly at Cosmic Variance.
Books by Sean M. Carroll
About Sean M. Carroll
From his web site:
Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1993, and worked at MIT, the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Chicago before moving to Caltech. His research involves theoretical physics and astrophysics, focusing on issues in cosmology, field theory, and gravitation. He is the author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, a popular book on cosmology and the arrow of time, and Spacetime and Geometry, a graduate-level textbook on general relativity. He has produced a set of introductory lectures for The Teaching Company entitled Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe; and blogs regularly at Cosmic Variance.
Books by Sean M. Carroll
Other Sean M. Carroll videos:
The Particle at the End of the Universe
Dark Energy, or Worse: Was Einstein Wrong?
Particles, Fields and The Future of Physics - A Lecture by Sean Carroll
God is not a Good Theory
Other Physics Videos:
Lawrence Krauss - The Secret Life of Physicists
Richard P Feynman - Fun To Imagine
Richard P. Feynman -- The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
Albert Einstein -- The Quantum Theory
Atom with Jim Al-Khalili
The Particle at the End of the Universe
Dark Energy, or Worse: Was Einstein Wrong?
Particles, Fields and The Future of Physics - A Lecture by Sean Carroll
God is not a Good Theory
Other Physics Videos:
Lawrence Krauss - The Secret Life of Physicists
Richard P Feynman - Fun To Imagine
Richard P. Feynman -- The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
Albert Einstein -- The Quantum Theory
Atom with Jim Al-Khalili
October 23
Discovery Science: Alternative Medicine
An examination of the claims for and the evidence against such methods of healing as therapeutic touch, reiki, magnet and gem therapy, acupuncture and homeopathy. You're invited to apply what you learned from Sean Carroll to the subjects presented in this program.
Skeptical Web Sites:
Science Blogs: Respectful Insolence
Science-Based Medicine
Acupuncture Doesn't Work
Other videos about alternative medicine:
BBC Horizon Homeopathy The Test Part 1
Simon Singh - Trick or Treatment?
Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS in Scotland
Homeopathy: Cure or Con? Marketplace CBC
The Psychology of Pseudoscience in Medicine
Enemies of Reason - Part 2 - The Irrational Health Service
Testing Therapeutic Touch
The Power of the Placebo
Web sites about alternative medicine:
History of Acupuncture in China
What is Homeopathy?
Reiki -- History, Theory, Practice
Therapeutic Touch -- History & Philosophy
Eleven-Year-Old Debunks Therapeutic Touch: The Case of Emily Rosa
Subluxation Theory: A Belief System That Continues to Define the Practice of Chiropractic
Psychospiritual aspects of Herbal Medicine
The History of Acupuncture
Veterinary Acupuncture and Claims for the Antiquity of Acupuncture
October 30
Earth: The Operator's Manual
A brisk and informative tour through the highlights of the mountain of information available about climate change featuring an examination of the practicality of alternative sources of energy.
About Richard Alley:
From the program's web site:
Dr. Richard Alley is Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences and Associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, where he has worked since 1988. His experience includes three field seasons in Antarctica, eight in Greenland, and three in Alaska. Dr. Alley teaches, and conducts research on the climatic records, flow behavior, and sedimentary deposits of large ice sheets, to aid in prediction of future changes in climate and sea level.
Episode One Of The Series
Episode Two Of The Series
Episode Three Of The Series
About Climate Change:
Global Warming & Climate Change Myths
Climate Progress
Climate Change Videos:Climate Change: Where We Are Now and Where We're Going
PBS Global Warming The Signs and the Science
David Attenborough: The Truth About Climate Change
Fate of Antarctica
Greenland is Melting
Pure Science Specials - Chasing El Niño
What We KNOW About Climate Change
Earth From Space PBS NOVA Documentary
Snowball Earth
Climate Change Skeptics:
Watts Up With That?
It's the Data, Stupid: What's Wrong with Global Warming. Richard Alan Keen, Ph.D.
Richard Muller: I Was Wrong on Climate Change
Earth From Space PBS NOVA Documentary
Snowball Earth
Climate Change Skeptics:
Watts Up With That?
It's the Data, Stupid: What's Wrong with Global Warming. Richard Alan Keen, Ph.D.
Richard Muller: I Was Wrong on Climate Change
November 6
Secrets of the Castle
In the heart of Puisaye, in Yonne, Burgundy, a team of fifty people have taken on an extraordinary feat: to build a castle using the same techniques and materials used in the Middle Ages. A team of two archaeologists and a historian join the team at Guedelon Castle to learn how a castle was built in the 13th century and to speculate about how the workers lived in this first part of a five-part series.
Guedelon Castle Web Site
The Rest of the Series
Interview With A Guedelon Worker
Mastercrafts: Blacksmithing
Mastercrafts -- Stonemasonry
The DVD available from the BBC in the UK
Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga Youtube Video Tour
Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga Website
Guedelon Castle Web Site
The Rest of the Series
Interview With A Guedelon Worker
Mastercrafts: Blacksmithing
Mastercrafts -- Stonemasonry
The DVD available from the BBC in the UK
Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga Youtube Video Tour
Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga Website
November 13
The Restaurant Man -- The Salt Bar
In this episode from a six-part BBC series Russell Norman, one of the U.K.'s most successful restaurateurs, advises first-time restaurant owners about the basics of opening and running a restaurant. From coming up with the concept to designing the space to hiring staff to printing a menu we get a look behind the scenes of a small neighborhood restaurant featuring Scandinavian cuisine.
Restaurant Man -- Additional Episode
Coffee Shop Documentary
Behind the Counter: Inside Chipotle
Michelin Stars The Madness of Perfection
Modern Marvels -- Fast Food Restaurants
Chefs on Trial
Restaurant Man -- Additional Episode
Coffee Shop Documentary
Behind the Counter: Inside Chipotle
Michelin Stars The Madness of Perfection
Modern Marvels -- Fast Food Restaurants
Chefs on Trial
In the art world there is a process to authenticate works of art. In this program, inherited paintings are thought to be the work of LS Lowry, a popular 20th century British artist. A team of art experts attempt to establish the provenance of the paintings through historical detective work and forensic science.
Fake or Fortune -- Renoir
Fake or Fortune -- Van Dyck
Orson Welles -- F For Fake
The Forger's Masterclass -- Edward Hopper
Eric Hebborn - Portrait of a Master Forger
Fake or Fortune -- Renoir
Fake or Fortune -- Van Dyck
Orson Welles -- F For Fake
The Forger's Masterclass -- Edward Hopper
Eric Hebborn - Portrait of a Master Forger
December 4
Keeping Score: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
The premiere of Stravinksy's Rite of Spring caused a near riot when it was presented in Paris. Michael Tilson Thomas demonstrates what was so unique and so threatening to a sophisticated Parisian audience in 1913.
Riot at the Rite
Rite of Spring - Joffrey Ballet 1987
Igor Stravinsky Documentary
Leonard Bernstein Conducting a Rehearsal of The Rite of Spring
Riot at the Rite
Rite of Spring - Joffrey Ballet 1987
Igor Stravinsky Documentary
Leonard Bernstein Conducting a Rehearsal of The Rite of Spring
December 11
Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman
A conversation between two legendary comedians mostly about a web-based series created by Seinfeld. Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee is a self-explanatory series of encounters between Seinfeld and his comedian guests. The shows when aired run between twelve and twenty minutes but there are usually several hours of film to edit. A unique look at the creative process.
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee -- All Episodes
Jerry Seinfeld "I'm Telling You For The Last Time"
Jerry Seinfeld Interview
David Letterman Interview
David Letterman as Local TV Weatherman
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee -- All Episodes
Jerry Seinfeld "I'm Telling You For The Last Time"
Jerry Seinfeld Interview
David Letterman Interview
David Letterman as Local TV Weatherman
