Tag Archives: hope

A Prophetic Film from 1940

It’s title: To New Horizons. The logic is sunny and simple, but it has proven (thus far) to be pretty much dead on.

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Salman Khan’s TED Talk and Website

______ And here’s his exciting website.

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2012 On the Brink: Our Networked Human Future

We live in interesting times: the end of the “dumb society.” A great short documentary on our collective (and hopeful) future:

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The Passion of the Christopher: Hitchens’s Death Eerily Enacts That of Jesus’s

When I read the following portion of an account in the New York Times, by Ian McEwan, of Christopher Hitchens’s last days, I find myself in jaw-dropping awe: [T]his was a man in constant pain. Denied drinking or eating, he sucked on … Continue reading

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The Grand Rapids LipDub: Russian Ark, American Style

The following film, as a single tracking shot, put me in mind of Russian Ark. It was filmed on May 22nd in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Roger Ebert calls it “The greatest music video ever made.” I wouldn’t go anywhere near that far. Has … Continue reading

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“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Think Mind Wells, Not Oil Wells: Is Where You Live a Brain Drain or a Brain Collector?

If you want to be hopeful about the human future (including America’s), think about this: free minds and strong exchange economies are positively correlated. It’s not that there is a one-to-one relationship between them, but wherever you have free minds the odds are good, … Continue reading

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Three Fascinating Near Death Experiences: A Homemaker, a Businessman, and a Blind Woman

Three near death experiences (NDEs) from a BBC documentary on the subject: Oops. It doesn’t embed. You have to watch it on YouTube. It’s worth clicking over. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsV2oWL0bK0

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Thoreau 2.1: Jay Shafer’s 100 Sq. Ft. Home

I find Jay Shafer’s Thoreau-like experiment elegant and inspiring. Who needs a mortgage if you have creativity?

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Pam Reynold’s Near Death Experience

I’ve long found this the most intriguing near death experience that I’ve ever come across. The clip here is from a BBC documentary titled The Day I Died:

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The dispiriting cultural politics of shallowness transformed into the cultural politics of humanity

A stunning ad if you watch it to the end. It will completely blow you away: Press rewind on despair. I felt like the first half of this ad I was watching Fox News and the second half I had come … Continue reading

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Carpe Diem: Bobby Darin, in 1973, Singing “If I Were a Carpenter” 9 Months Before His Death

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21st Century Bohemian Hippie Joy

The liberated body and free-flowing consciousness. The hope of the world: When I watch this I think of John Keats’s famous lines from “Ode on a Grecian Urn”: Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all … Continue reading

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Some Lines from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”

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Judy Garland Singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

And with heartbreaking power:

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War is Over

If you want it. A nice holiday song if you’re worried (as I am) about 2010 and the prospects for war between Iran and Israel: 

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Love, Dignity, Freedom, and Hope

Make way.

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This Man’s Near Death Experience Has a Moving Turn at the End

From my vantage, people who have had near death experiences have a certain “street cred” when they claim that death is nothing to be frightened of. We believe human testimony in many other matters, and unless we are philosophically committed … Continue reading

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Papa Bear (Bill O’Reilly) Makes Some Kind Remarks about President Barack Obama

Pinch me. Bill O’Reilly said something nice  about Barack Obama! Three ghosts must have visited him last night, but credit where credit’s due: What he has achieved in his 48 years is simply astounding. Consider the odds. The United States … Continue reading

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Some Things to Think About if You are an Evangelical Atheist

Are you an atheist, and are you evangelical about it? In other words, do you want other people to become atheists too? I’m an agnostic myself, but I’m not sure whether I can really recommend it. It seems like a … Continue reading

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