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FORA.tv - Video Program of the Week
A weekly full-length video podcast from FORA.tv.News , Society & Culture
Video Episodes:
83 Views
20:16:03 12/03/10
Michael Krasny's Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic's Quest
[LESS INFO] 83 VIEWS | ADDED 20:16:03 12/03/10
Award-winning radio host Michael Krasny discusses his book, Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic's Quest. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California, on October 20, 2010.
Unlike recent authors who emphatically say No! or Yes! to God, Michael Krasny joins the millions who know they don't know. As a radio host, college professor, and literary scholar, he has spent decades leading conversations on every imaginable topic. He has discussed life's most important questions with the foremost thinkers in virtually every discipline. And yet answers to some questions -- the big, three-o'clock-in-the-morning questions -- elude him. Despite this, Krasny does not discount belief systems or ridicule faith. Instead, he seeks. He explores morality, eternal life, why we do good, and why evil sometimes triumphs, and his quest is informed by artists, scientists, world events, and even films. Personal and universal, timely and timeless, Spiritual Envy is a deeply wise yet warmly welcoming conversation, an invitation to ask one's own questions -- no matter how inconclusive the answers.
Michael Krasny, PhD, hosts the nation's most listened to locally produced public radio talk show, Forum with Michael Krasny. Forum is heard weekdays on KQED-FM in San Francisco, an affiliate of National Public Radio, as well as on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio. An award-winning broadcaster who has interviewed many of the great cultural icons of our era, he is the author of Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life (Stanford University Press) and coauthor of Sound Ideas (McGraw-Hill). Krasny is also an English professor at San Francisco State University.
Michael Krasny, Ph.D., is host of KQED's award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program that concentrates on the arts, culture, health, business and technology.
Before coming to KQED Public Radio in 1993, Dr. Krasny hosted a night-time talk program for KGO Radio and co-anchored the weekly KGO television show Nightfocus. He hosted Bay TV's Take Issue, a nightly news analysis show, programs for KQED Public Televison, KRON television and National Public Radio, and did news commentary for KTVU television.
Since 1970 he has been a professor of English at San Francisco State University and is a widely published scholar and critic as well as a former regular contributor to Mother Jones magazine and a fiction writer. He has also worked widely as a facilitator and host in the corporate sector and as moderator for a host of major non-profit events.
58 Views
00:03:31 11/20/10
Jonathan Safran Foer: Eating Animals
[LESS INFO] 58 VIEWS | ADDED 00:03:31 11/20/10
Jonathan Safran Foer talks about his book, Eating Animals, in a conversation with Raj Patel. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California, on September 21, 2010.
Jonathan Safran Foer looks at our dining habits, insatiable appetites and the cultural meaning of food. He explores the ethical, environmental and health risks behind commercial fishing and factory farming and discusses his journey from carnivore to vegetarian.
Hear from the man that actress Natalie Portman claims changed her from a "20-year vegetarian to a vegan activist."
Jonathan Safran Foer is a novelist and short story writer whose works have appeared in the Paris Review, Conjunctions, The New York Times and The New Yorker. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel, Everything Is Illuminated.
Raj Patel holds a doctorate in Sociology from Cornell University and has worked at the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations. He is a writer and activist concerned with land reform politics, development studies, and food sovereignty. He authored Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.
97 Views
00:03:31 11/20/10
Jonathan Safran Foer: Eating Animals
[LESS INFO] 97 VIEWS | ADDED 00:03:31 11/20/10
Jonathan Safran Foer talks about his book, Eating Animals, in a conversation with Raj Patel. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California, on September 21, 2010.
Jonathan Safran Foer looks at our dining habits, insatiable appetites and the cultural meaning of food. He explores the ethical, environmental and health risks behind commercial fishing and factory farming and discusses his journey from carnivore to vegetarian.
Hear from the man that actress Natalie Portman claims changed her from a "20-year vegetarian to a vegan activist."
Jonathan Safran Foer is a novelist and short story writer whose works have appeared in the Paris Review, Conjunctions, The New York Times and The New Yorker. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel, Everything Is Illuminated.
Raj Patel holds a doctorate in Sociology from Cornell University and has worked at the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations. He is a writer and activist concerned with land reform politics, development studies, and food sovereignty. He authored Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.
49 Views
02:07:04 11/13/10
Daniel Ellsberg on Howard Zinn's 'The Bomb'
[LESS INFO] 49 VIEWS | ADDED 02:07:04 11/13/10
Daniel Ellsberg, progressive activist and famed leaker of the Pentagon Papers, discusses the late Howard Zinn's final original book, The Bomb. This program was recorded in collaboration with City Lights bookstore, on September 29, 2010.
As an active WWII bombardier returning from the end of the war in Europe and preparing for combat in Japan, Howard Zinn read the headline Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan and was glad—the war would be over. "Like other Americans," writes Zinn, "I had no idea what was going on at the higher levels, and had no idea what that 'atomic bomb' had done to men, women, children in Hiroshima, any more than I ever really understood what the bombs I dropped on European cities were doing to human flesh and blood."
During the war, Zinn had taken part in the aerial bombing of Royan, France, and in 1966, he went to Hiroshima, where he was invited to a "house of rest" where survivors of the bombing gathered. In this short and powerful book, the backstory of the making and use of the bomb, Zinn offers his deep personal reflections and political analysis of these events, and the profound influence they had in transforming him from an order-taking combat soldier to one of our greatest anti-authoritarian, anti-war historians. - City Lights Bookstore
Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation, sparked a national controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.
The Pentagon Papers revealed that the government knew early on that the Vietnam War was not likely winnable and would lead to many times more casualties than ever admitted. After failing to persuade a few U.S. Senators to release the papers on the Senate floor, Ellsberg decided to risk prison and leaked the documents to the New York Times. Ellsberg went underground for 16 days before turning himself in. Fortunately, the charges against him were eventually dropped due to gross government misconduct and illegal evidence gathering by the Nixon administration and the notorious White House "Plumbers Unit."
These efforts included breaking into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and were undertaken directly by the Nixon White House to smear and discredit Ellsberg in the news media in retaliation for his Pentagon Papers whistleblowing.
104 Views
02:07:04 11/13/10
Daniel Ellsberg on Howard Zinn's 'The Bomb'
[LESS INFO] 104 VIEWS | ADDED 02:07:04 11/13/10
Daniel Ellsberg, progressive activist and famed leaker of the Pentagon Papers, discusses the late Howard Zinn's final original book, The Bomb. This program was recorded in collaboration with City Lights bookstore, on September 29, 2010.
As an active WWII bombardier returning from the end of the war in Europe and preparing for combat in Japan, Howard Zinn read the headline Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan and was glad—the war would be over. "Like other Americans," writes Zinn, "I had no idea what was going on at the higher levels, and had no idea what that 'atomic bomb' had done to men, women, children in Hiroshima, any more than I ever really understood what the bombs I dropped on European cities were doing to human flesh and blood."
During the war, Zinn had taken part in the aerial bombing of Royan, France, and in 1966, he went to Hiroshima, where he was invited to a "house of rest" where survivors of the bombing gathered. In this short and powerful book, the backstory of the making and use of the bomb, Zinn offers his deep personal reflections and political analysis of these events, and the profound influence they had in transforming him from an order-taking combat soldier to one of our greatest anti-authoritarian, anti-war historians. - City Lights Bookstore
Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation, sparked a national controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.
The Pentagon Papers revealed that the government knew early on that the Vietnam War was not likely winnable and would lead to many times more casualties than ever admitted. After failing to persuade a few U.S. Senators to release the papers on the Senate floor, Ellsberg decided to risk prison and leaked the documents to the New York Times. Ellsberg went underground for 16 days before turning himself in. Fortunately, the charges against him were eventually dropped due to gross government misconduct and illegal evidence gathering by the Nixon administration and the notorious White House "Plumbers Unit."
These efforts included breaking into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and were undertaken directly by the Nixon White House to smear and discredit Ellsberg in the news media in retaliation for his Pentagon Papers whistleblowing.
46 Views
22:26:32 11/05/10
Condoleezza Rice: Extraordinary, Ordinary People
[LESS INFO] 46 VIEWS | ADDED 22:26:32 11/05/10
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses her memoir, Extraordinary, Ordinary People. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California, on October 18, 2010.
In her first public appearance since the publication of her new family memoir, Secretary Rice provides a rare glimpse at the experiences that have shaped her world outlook and discusses her views on current issues. Rice details her remarkable childhood, which began in the late 1950s, when Birmingham blacks lived in segregation, and continued through the '60s, when Rice saw her girlhood friends lose their lives to the bloodshed of the era. Rice was the 66th U.S. secretary of state and the first black woman to hold that office. She talks about the people and experiences that have guided her on her path to occupying one of the nation's highest offices. Prior to serving as secretary of state, she was the first woman ever to serve as national security advisor, was provost of Stanford from 1993 to 1999, and served as the Soviet and East European Affairs advisor during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. - Commonwealth Club of California
Dr. Condoleezza Rice became Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. Prior to this, she was the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, since January, 2001.
In June 1999, she completed a six-year tenure as Stanford University's Provost, during which she was the institution's chief budget and academic officer. As provost, she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students.
As professor of political science, Dr. Rice has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the highest teaching honors -- the 1984 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1993 School of Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Mary Cranston is Senior Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Commonwealth Club Board of Governors.
195 Views
22:26:32 11/05/10
Condoleezza Rice: Extraordinary, Ordinary People
[LESS INFO] 195 VIEWS | ADDED 22:26:32 11/05/10
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses her memoir, Extraordinary, Ordinary People. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California, on October 18, 2010.
In her first public appearance since the publication of her new family memoir, Secretary Rice provides a rare glimpse at the experiences that have shaped her world outlook and discusses her views on current issues. Rice details her remarkable childhood, which began in the late 1950s, when Birmingham blacks lived in segregation, and continued through the '60s, when Rice saw her girlhood friends lose their lives to the bloodshed of the era. Rice was the 66th U.S. secretary of state and the first black woman to hold that office. She talks about the people and experiences that have guided her on her path to occupying one of the nation's highest offices. Prior to serving as secretary of state, she was the first woman ever to serve as national security advisor, was provost of Stanford from 1993 to 1999, and served as the Soviet and East European Affairs advisor during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. - Commonwealth Club of California
Dr. Condoleezza Rice became Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. Prior to this, she was the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, since January, 2001.
In June 1999, she completed a six-year tenure as Stanford University's Provost, during which she was the institution's chief budget and academic officer. As provost, she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students.
As professor of political science, Dr. Rice has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the highest teaching honors -- the 1984 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1993 School of Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Mary Cranston is Senior Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Commonwealth Club Board of Governors.
47 Views
19:43:04 10/29/10
Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From
[LESS INFO] 47 VIEWS | ADDED 19:43:04 10/29/10
Acclaimed author Steven Johnson talks about his latest book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Booksmith, on October 11, 2010.
How and why do world-changing ideas surface? Johnson writes, "The argument of this book is that a series of shared properties and patterns recur again and again in unusually fertile environments. I have distilled them down into seven patterns: the adjacent possible; liquid networks; the slow hunch; serendipity; error; exaptation; and emergent platforms. The more we embrace these patterns – in our private work habits and hobbies, in our office environments, in the design of new software tools – the better we will be at tapping our extraordinary capacity for innovative thinking."
Johnson traces these patterns across centuries and disciplines, from the FBI's tragic failure to grasp the importance of information that might have prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks to Gutenberg's use of wine-press technology to build the world's first printing press with moveable type to the founding of Google on a Net-transforming hunch. But the relevant question, Johnson insists, is not how these guys got to be so clever (or not). Rather, what we need to ask is: What kind of environment fosters remarkable innovation?
With four critically acclaimed books, the two most recent being New York Times Notable Books, Steven Johnson has demonstrated that he can pinpoint an urgent cultural issue and illuminate it with dazzling cross-disciplinary insights. Whether tweaking conventional wisdom in Everything Bad is Good for You, offering captivating new perspectives on the conflict between science and religion in The Invention of Air, or debunking skepticism about the significance of Twitter in a cover story for Time magazine, Johnson has commanded a prominent perch in the public discourse. Now Johnson bridges natural science, intellectual history, urban sociology, and cutting-edge technology to explore one of our most pressing cultural questions, and to offer persuasive, inspiring, and practical answers that readers can use to propel their lives and careers forward.
Steven Johnson is the founder of a variety of influential websites – most recently, outside.in – and writes for Time, Wired, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. With 1.5 million Twitter followers, he is widely regarded as one of the world's most perceptive and thought-provoking thinkers on new media and the evolution of information technology. His previous books are The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, Everything Bad is Good for You, Mind Wide Open, Emergence, and Interface Culture.
73 Views
19:43:04 10/29/10
Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From
[LESS INFO] 73 VIEWS | ADDED 19:43:04 10/29/10
Acclaimed author Steven Johnson talks about his latest book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Booksmith, on October 11, 2010.
How and why do world-changing ideas surface? Johnson writes, "The argument of this book is that a series of shared properties and patterns recur again and again in unusually fertile environments. I have distilled them down into seven patterns: the adjacent possible; liquid networks; the slow hunch; serendipity; error; exaptation; and emergent platforms. The more we embrace these patterns – in our private work habits and hobbies, in our office environments, in the design of new software tools – the better we will be at tapping our extraordinary capacity for innovative thinking."
Johnson traces these patterns across centuries and disciplines, from the FBI's tragic failure to grasp the importance of information that might have prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks to Gutenberg's use of wine-press technology to build the world's first printing press with moveable type to the founding of Google on a Net-transforming hunch. But the relevant question, Johnson insists, is not how these guys got to be so clever (or not). Rather, what we need to ask is: What kind of environment fosters remarkable innovation?
With four critically acclaimed books, the two most recent being New York Times Notable Books, Steven Johnson has demonstrated that he can pinpoint an urgent cultural issue and illuminate it with dazzling cross-disciplinary insights. Whether tweaking conventional wisdom in Everything Bad is Good for You, offering captivating new perspectives on the conflict between science and religion in The Invention of Air, or debunking skepticism about the significance of Twitter in a cover story for Time magazine, Johnson has commanded a prominent perch in the public discourse. Now Johnson bridges natural science, intellectual history, urban sociology, and cutting-edge technology to explore one of our most pressing cultural questions, and to offer persuasive, inspiring, and practical answers that readers can use to propel their lives and careers forward.
Steven Johnson is the founder of a variety of influential websites – most recently, outside.in – and writes for Time, Wired, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. With 1.5 million Twitter followers, he is widely regarded as one of the world's most perceptive and thought-provoking thinkers on new media and the evolution of information technology. His previous books are The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, Everything Bad is Good for You, Mind Wide Open, Emergence, and Interface Culture.
44 Views
22:45:52 10/22/10
John Nichols: The Death and Life of American Journalism
[LESS INFO] 44 VIEWS | ADDED 22:45:52 10/22/10
This program was recorded in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, on August 10, 2010.
In a time when thousands of newspapers are shedding staff, being closed, sold off or swallowed, John Nichols reasserts the importance of fierce and independent political journalism.
Nichols is a noted U.S. commentator who writes for The Nation and was a visiting guest at the 2010 Walkley Media Conference. He warns his Australian audience that the dip in quantity and quality of American television and print media could spread, if Australia fails to value the institutions and outlets that act as our critical "fourth estate." - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
73 Views
22:45:52 10/22/10
John Nichols: The Death and Life of American Journalism
[LESS INFO] 73 VIEWS | ADDED 22:45:52 10/22/10
This program was recorded in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, on August 10, 2010.
In a time when thousands of newspapers are shedding staff, being closed, sold off or swallowed, John Nichols reasserts the importance of fierce and independent political journalism.
Nichols is a noted U.S. commentator who writes for The Nation and was a visiting guest at the 2010 Walkley Media Conference. He warns his Australian audience that the dip in quantity and quality of American television and print media could spread, if Australia fails to value the institutions and outlets that act as our critical "fourth estate." - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
62 Views
20:56:30 10/15/10
Peter Gleick - Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
[LESS INFO] 62 VIEWS | ADDED 20:56:30 10/15/10
Peter Gleick, scientist and freshwater expert, talks about his latest book: Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. This program was recorded in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, on September 30, 2010.
Tap water is safe almost everywhere in the U.S. It takes far more water to make the plastic bottle than it even holds. Most bottled water is simply water from somebody else's tap! Why on earth does this industry continue to thrive? - California Academy of Sciences
Peter H. Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California. Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognized water expert and in 2003 was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for his science and policy work on water issues worldwide. In 2006 he was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the human right to water, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization and international conflicts over water resources.
He serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations and was elected an Academician of the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway in 1999. Dr. Gleick is the author of many scientific papers and five books, including the biennial water report The World's Water.
86 Views
20:56:30 10/15/10
Peter Gleick - Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
[LESS INFO] 86 VIEWS | ADDED 20:56:30 10/15/10
Peter Gleick, scientist and freshwater expert, talks about his latest book: Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. This program was recorded in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, on September 30, 2010.
Tap water is safe almost everywhere in the U.S. It takes far more water to make the plastic bottle than it even holds. Most bottled water is simply water from somebody else's tap! Why on earth does this industry continue to thrive? - California Academy of Sciences
Peter H. Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California. Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognized water expert and in 2003 was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for his science and policy work on water issues worldwide. In 2006 he was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the human right to water, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization and international conflicts over water resources.
He serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations and was elected an Academician of the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway in 1999. Dr. Gleick is the author of many scientific papers and five books, including the biennial water report The World's Water.
69 Views
22:01:18 10/08/10
Patil Armenian on Poisons, Venoms and Pills: Toxicology 101
[LESS INFO] 69 VIEWS | ADDED 22:01:18 10/08/10
This program features visual aids. A complete video of this event is available for free at http://fora.tv/2010/07/01/Poisons_Venoms_and_Pills_Toxicology_101
Join Patil Armenian, MD of the California Poison Control System for Poisons, Venoms and Pills: Toxicology 101, an uninhibited interactive presentation and talk about all the various toxic substances you can ingest, inject, drink, get stung by, or be bitten with: from pills in your medicine chest to a viper in the wilderness.
This talk includes shocking visuals from the Poison Control Center's vast archives of curiosities in accidental and intentional poisonings and overdoses. - California Academy of Sciences
87 Views
22:01:18 10/08/10
Patil Armenian on Poisons, Venoms and Pills: Toxicology 101
[LESS INFO] 87 VIEWS | ADDED 22:01:18 10/08/10
This program features visual aids. A complete video of this event is available for free at http://fora.tv/2010/07/01/Poisons_Venoms_and_Pills_Toxicology_101
Join Patil Armenian, MD of the California Poison Control System for Poisons, Venoms and Pills: Toxicology 101, an uninhibited interactive presentation and talk about all the various toxic substances you can ingest, inject, drink, get stung by, or be bitten with: from pills in your medicine chest to a viper in the wilderness.
This talk includes shocking visuals from the Poison Control Center's vast archives of curiosities in accidental and intentional poisonings and overdoses. - California Academy of Sciences
84 Views
23:58:19 10/01/10
Niall Ferguson - Empires on the Edge of Chaos
[LESS INFO] 84 VIEWS | ADDED 23:58:19 10/01/10
Harvard historian Niall Ferguson attempts to give context to America's ongoing debt crisis. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, on July 28, 2010.
Throughout history the rise and fall of empires isn't slow or cyclical, as we like to think, but arrhythmic...it mostly happens very, very suddenly. America is a superpower on the edge of chaos, according to economic historian and author Niall Ferguson. U.S. debt levels, he says, and its unwillingness to address the problem, has put it in the same category as other great empires which have collapsed throughout the ages.
Ferguson argues the world is changing. There's the rise of authoritarian China as a super-power; a Keynesian president leading a weakened United States; the re-emergence of democratic India as a great power; the continued decline of Japan; and the probability of continued global economic instability ahead.
Is the rise and fall of empires cyclical or arrhythmic? How does economic profligacy -- whether the result of arrogance or naivety -- contribute to the downfall of civilizations? Not to be missed, the address will offer a timely review of primacy, leadership, and the complex factors behind the rise and fall of great powers and civilizations. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University. He is a resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. He is also a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
12/03/10