Continue reading »]]> He’s experienced colossal failure; been shocked by 100,000 volts, “mythbusted” with President Obama, and made a living making stuff from dumpster dives. Adam Savage, the always entertaining and inspiring Mythbusters co-host once again gave a keynote address to an eager crowd at this year’s Maker Faire, speaking for over 45 minutes and taking a number of questions from the crowd. Watch the highlights below.

Addressing the practical reality facing young people in today’s competitive job market, Savage said simply, “work hard, work smart, and embrace every moment of it.”

Adam Savage: Young Makers, Embrace Numbingly Boring Work from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

On whether or not he considers himself to be an artist or a scientist, Savage gave a disarming answer– much to the delight of the Maker Faire crowd.

Does Adam Savage View Himself as an Artist or Scientist? from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

And finally, a young maker asked Savage what’s the “funnest” thing he’s ever done at work, to which the Mythbuster replied it was either a toss-up between getting a hickey from an octopus or blacking out at 500 mph and 7 Gs with the Blue Angels in a Navy F/A-18 Hornet.

Savage: Lovesick Octopuses & Vomiting with Blue Angels from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Closing arguments took place yesterday in a federal class action lawsuit regarding New York City’s highly controversial stop-and-frisk policy. In the trial that took place in Manhattan over the last two months, plaintiffs in Floyd v. City of New York argued that 88 percent of the stops in New York City disproportionately target black and Hispanic men under a quota that constitutes racial profiling.

Testimony by whistle-blowing police officers explained that the idea of stop-and-frisk isn’t used as an effective tool for law enforcement in city precincts, but was instead used by supervisors to meet NYPD quotas.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city defended the law, saying New York is now the safest big city in the United States– with a murder rate that last year reached its lowest point ever.

At the New York Ideas festival, NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly also defended stop-and-frisk, citing countless lives saved among people of color.

NYPD’s Raymond Kelly: Stop-and-Frisk Laws Save Lives from The Atlantic on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> A chance meeting at Venice Beach in 1965 between two film students, a mutual love of music, and a belief that they were “rock group” material led to the formation of The Doors– one of the most influential bands of the 1960s and 70s. Now one of its founding members, Ray Manzarek, is dead after a battle with cancer.

Manzarek formed The Doors with fellow UCLA student Jim Morrison after listening to a few rough versions of Morrison’s songs. He would later bring on guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore after meeting them at a Transcendental Meditation lecture, the concept of which helped shaped the band’s psychedelic-infused music and lyrics.

Instead of adding a bassist to The Doors, Manzarek simply played the bass parts on the keyboard. Manzarek’s Fender Rhodes piano and Vox Continental organ would become signatures in many of the band’s hits, such as “Light My Fire.”

In 2006, Manzarek joined the stage with music journalist Ben Fong-Torres in which he reflected on The Doors being the house band at the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles.

Ray Manzarek Remembers The Doors at the Whisky a Go Go from Book Passage on FORA.tv

Later, Manzarek would treat the audience to a once-in-a-lifetime rendition of “Riders on the Storm.”

Ray Manzarek & Ben Fong-Torres: Riders on the Storm from Book Passage on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> In a deal worth $1.1 billion, Yahoo!, the internet’s most venerable search giant, bought the social blogging service Tumblr at what was described as a “private party” on Sunday. The decision was announced today by Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, who convinced Tumblr founder David Karp that her company’s dive into the social media space would not harm the independence of a site that contains over 100 million blogs.

We’ve seen Yahoo! has gone down this road before, most notably when it paid a king’s ransom for the now largely-shuttered Geocities web hosting service. But Tumblr is a different prize altogether as the site’s highly-active users demonstrated its worth by immediately vocalizing their concerns (through Tumblr posts, of course.)  WIRED even reported the Tumblr purchase leaves Pinterest as the last great independent social business.

So what could possibly go wrong? Two former Tumblr editors weigh in on the right way and the wrong way to share content as well as the undeniable power of a reblog– something Yahoo! chiefs should consider going forward.

The Right and Wrong Ways to Use Tumblr from Adweek on FORA.tv

Rich Tong: Tumblr and the Power of the Reblog from L2 on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Here’s a look at what’s happening this week on FORA.tv.

In order to lessen the U.S. economy’s reliance on foreign oil, the government and the energy industry have worked in concert to develop new strategies for exploiting energy in North America. The result is diversified mixture of traditional sources such as oil, coal, natural gas and renewables such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric. This week, join the RealClearPolitics Energy Summit: Fueling America’s Future for an overview of the current energy landscape in the United States.

Watch RealClearPolitics Energy Summit: Fueling America’s Future starting at noon EDT (9:00am PDT) on May 21.

An accomplished investor, advisor, and entrepreneur, Chris Sacca manages a portfolio of over fifty consumer web, mobile, and wireless technology startups as well as an array of mature enterprises through his holding company, Lowercase Capital. Join the Media Council Breakfast with Chris Sacca, hosted by the Paley Center for Media, for a conversation about the Silicon Valley startup community.

Watch Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital presented by the Paley Center for Media at 8:30am PDT on May 22. 

Recent victories for same-sex marriage in Rhode Island and Minnesota are yet another example of a cultural and political shift in the American landscape regarding the LGBTQ community. But we can also look back to the 2012 general election, where the electorate in Maine, Maryland, and Washington voted to legalize gay marriage– victories that were secured through successful grass-roots organization. Join the Alliance for Justice for a reflection on how these action groups built coalitions, brought in new allies, and developed successful communication techniques and messages.

Watch Lessons from the 2012 State Victories for Marriage Equality presented by the Alliance for Justice at 1:30pm PDT on May 22.

Continue reading »]]> First to make an unassisted solo crossing of Antarctica? Check. First successful circumnavigation of the Arctic? Check. Adventure entrepreneur? Check. When it comes to modern polar exploration, Børge Ousland ranks the undisputed king. So devoted to the earth’s coldest regions, he even made it a point to get married at the North Pole in 2012.

The Norwegian-born explorer, photographer, and writer launched his career by crossing the Greenland ice sheet in 1986. In 1993, Ousland became a full-time explorer and dedicated himself to pushing boundaries that hadn’t been previously tested by others. Highly successful in most of his expeditions, Ousland relies on meticulous preparation that emphasizes training and teamwork as well as equipment development and design.

Far from being a stoic explorer hell-bent on breaking records, Ousland recounts his often-harrowing journeys by injecting humor and hyperbole, and makes polar exploration accessible to a large audience. Watch Børge Ousland share his stories of high adventure in both the Arctic and Antarctic in the following program from National Geographic Live.

Børge Ousland: Breaking Records in the Arctic from National Geographic Live on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield certainly made the most of his five month stay at the International Space Station as commander of Expedition 35. Not only did he become the first Canadian to command the ISS and walk in space, he also brought significant exposure to the program through a blend of self-made science and technology programming. For example, what happens to your tears when you cry in space?

Hadfield also became famous for his photographs of the Earth, which led to his creation of a tutorial on how to effectively take pictures from orbit.

However his crowning achievement as an internet personality was his tribute to David Bowie’s 1969 hit “Space Oddity” just before he headed back to terra firma in a Russian Soyuz capsule last Sunday.

It’s all marvelous enough to wonder how the rest of us can get into an astronaut training program. At Maker Faire 2009, Esther Dyson shared her experiences from a five month stay at the Yuri Gagarain Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow.

How Can I Get Into an Astronaut Training Program? from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

And at Maker Faire 2010, Bruce Pittman of NASA talked about how ordinary people can participate in ISS programs.

Bruce Pittman: Opening Up Space for You and Me from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

Be sure to check out this year’s Maker Faire, featuring 5-time space shuttle veteran Dr. John Grunsfeld who will discuss ongoing “maker” projects at NASA.

Continue reading »]]> Savior of the right and scourge of the left, firebrand publisher Andrew Breitbart once reveled in taking out liberal targets such as Anthony Weiner and ACORN while vociferously criticizing causes like Occupy Wall Street. Forget that his brand of muckraking journalism created controversy after controversy, Breitbart’s successes were seen in an ardent following that spread his conservative message via the power of the internet.

Then last March, Breitbart suddenly collapsed and died of heart failure at the age of 43. Though his torch is still carried by many, his death was a blow to conservative activists everywhere. So legendary was his rise, that even his one-time mentor Matt Drudge and editorial successor Ben Shapiro have been seemingly unable to galvanize the right-wing blogosphere in the same way Breitbart could.

But this week, Hating Breitbart, a new film on how he changed the media paradigm, is scheduled to screen in a handful of theaters across the country. Right-leaning news outlets say the movie will once again vindicate Breitbart’s message; while left-leaning commentators believe his message–and the conservative movement–are too far gone to be saved.

In order to put his legacy into context, consider this 2009 interview with Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution, where Breitbart discusses the dominance of leftist voices on the internet and compares them with the popularity of conservative talk radio.

Left or Right: Who Dominates the Blogosphere? from The Hoover Institution on FORA.tv

In the same interview, he also criticizes the anti-American sentiment found within the film industry. “Movies out of Hollywood are limited in their point of view,” explained Breitbart, “in which people of traditional values or corporations are portrayed as the bad guys.”

Andrew Breitbart Calls Hollywood Anti-American from The Hoover Institution on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> Annalee Newitz, editor-in-chief over at i09, just released Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction; a guide on how Homo sapiens have dodged extinction for over 250,000 years.

With all the apocalyptic thinking today, from doomsday preppers to melting icecaps, some suspect our species is doomed.  But Newitz argues that with the latest breakthroughs in science and a better understanding of our past, we can rethink the future and be optimistic about our odds of survival– even if survival takes a really, really long time.

At last year’s Maker Faire, Megan Tulac, former research director at the National Institute for Play, gave a talk on how play has shaped the brain and made us fitter, more curious, and–despite the risks–trained for the unexpected.

Who knows: we might just be ready when the next catastrophe (asteroid or pandemic or ice age or supervolcano or cosmic radiation) hits. Watch a clip from Tulac’s talk, “I Think Therefore I Play,” below.

The Role of Play in Evolution and Survival from Maker Faire on FORA.tv

Continue reading »]]> In the early 1960s, the Soviet government devised a plan to boost its agricultural output by irrigating large parcels of land that lay along two major rivers in Central Asia, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Along with growing food crops such as grains and fruits, the Soviets planned to drive their economic engine by becoming the world’s largest exporter of cotton, a crop they dubbed “white gold.”

From a central planning perspective, the project was a success. Uzbekistan, a former Soviet Socialist Republic that is sandwiched between both rivers, is now one of the largest producers of cotton in the world. However, from an environmental perspective the project caused a catastrophe of epic proportions. Diverting the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya caused the Aral Sea–once the world’s fourth largest lake with an surface area comparable to the state of West Virginia–to shrink dramatically beginning in the early 1970s. Here’s snapshot of what the Aral Sea looked like in 1984.

And here’s a look at what’s left of the Aral Sea today. Not only has the sea’s disappearance devastated the regional environment around Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, causing localized climate change, it has irrevocably impacted the human population– devastating a once-thriving fishing industry and causing widespread public health problems.

Our ability to visualize these changes are thanks to Landsat– a project launched in 1972 with the mission of acquiring imagery of the Earth’s surface. A recent collaboration between Google Maps and TIME magazine was able to create a “timelapse” of Landsat satellite images between 1984 and 2012 that offers a stunning view of the good, the bad, and the ugly side of the human footprint on earth.

The launch of Timelapse, which includes before and after images of the ongoing retreat of Alaska’s Columbia and Mendenhall Glaciers, coincides with news that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels recently surpassed a alarming milestone: an average daily level of 400 parts per million– passing a number that Bill McKibben says could cause ecological damage beyond our control.

The Feedback Loop: Ecological Damage Soon Beyond Control from Australian Broadcasting Corporation on FORA.tv

In the following video from National Geographic Live, scientist and conservationist Tim Flannery uses additional imagery to ask whether or not our species will survive.

Tim Flannery: Here on Earth from National Geographic Live on FORA.tv