The most terrifying video you’ll ever see [on climate change]

“When faced with uncertainty about our future, the only responsible choice, the only defensible choice, is [to take action on climate change] in order to eliminate [catastrophic consequences] as a possibility. Because the risk of not acting far outweighs the risk of acting.”

“Because the only way we truly get into [making governments take action on climate change] is changes in public policy and those only change when enough people demand it”

- Greg Craven

Watch his youtube video:

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As a result of two years of debate with the youtube community on the argument presented in his video, Greg Craven wrote a book, ”What’s the Worst That Could Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate”:

“…superbly crafted…. A must read.”

-Gen. Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret.)

“This book trumps most of our accounts of the global warming crisis.”

-author Bill McKibben

“Al Gore should share his Nobel peace prize.”

-The “New Scientist”

“This is a tremendous book and well worth anyone’s time to read…. You’re in for a treat—Craven is funny as well as exceptionally clear, and wise.”

-Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Mars Trilogy and Science in the Capital

“This is a terrifically thoughtful book…. Cravens book shines an illuminating floodlight on how we think about global warming.”

-Ross Gelbspan, author, “The Heat Is On” and “Boiling Point”

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Questions:

Should the world act now to fight climate change?

“New media is a tool of paramount importance in today’s society”. Assess the validity of this statement.

“New media is empowerment”. Discuss.

Producers make reality TV exciting by overworking contestants and getting them drunk

“They locked me in a hotel room for three or four days” before production started, said Jen Yemola, a Pennsylvania pastry chef who was on the 2007 season of “Hell’s Kitchen,” a cooking competition. “They took all my books, my CDs, my phone, any newspapers. I was allowed to leave the room only with an escort. It was like I was in prison.”

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Most reality series have contestants sign nondisclosure agreements that include million-dollar penalties if they reveal what happened on set. But interviews with two dozen former contestants — most of whose agreements expired after three years — from half a dozen reality series suggest that the programs routinely use isolation, sleeplessness and alcohol to encourage wild behavior.

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“If you combine no sleep with alcohol and no food, emotions are going to run high and people are going to be acting crazy,” said Erica Rose, a contestant that year.

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“The bread and butter of reality television is to get people into a state where they are tired, stressed and emotionally vulnerable,” said Mark Andrejevic, an associate professor of communications studies at the University of Iowa and the author of “Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched.”

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Check out the full article here.

Question:

“Contestants of reality TV shows have nothing to complain about.” How valid is this statement?

The Day Facebook Changed: Messages to Become Public by Default

One of the most anticipated days in the history of social networking site Facebook has finally come: the company announced today that it has begun making status messages, photos and videos visible to the public at large by default instead of being visible only to a user’s approved friends.

- NYT

[Full article here]

Questions:

Has Facebook taken away our privacy? Or are we to blame for willingly putting our privacy into the hands of Facebook?

TV gameshow offers atheists ‘salvation’

(CNN) — A Turkish television show is offering contestants what it claims is the “biggest prize ever” — the chance for atheists to convert to one of the world’s major religions.

The show, called “Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor,” or “Penitents Compete,” features a Muslim imam, a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi and a Buddhist monk attempting to persuade 10 atheists of the merits of their religion, according to CNN Turk.

[see full article here]

Well this certainly adds another dimension to the world of reality TV.

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Another source reporting this story states that “the programme’s makers [...] want to promote religious belief while educating Turkey’s overwhelmingly Muslim population about other faiths.”

Question: Do you think this is a good/effective means of educating the public? Why?