Sunday, March 11, 2007
Everyman: 'The End of the World'
"Everyman: 'The End of the World' looks at various groups who believe the end of the world is coming as the 20th century draws to a close (the programme was shown in 1996).
"It's an interesting documentary examining what and why they believe. Contained within the 'end of the world' myth are the 'damned' and the 'saved' - those who are 'chosen' and those who are not. At the end of the world is a decisive and dramatic confrontation where good faces evil. In this understanding of time, believers find a world that finally makes sense to them and vindicates their belief. Some groups prepare for conflict and create safe houses preparing for 'show time' while for others the end is merely a period of transition where there is a 'new age' after the appearance of a 'powerful being' or a 'second coming'.
"The people who believe in the end of the world are both Christian and Non-Christian, some are US Militias who think the UN wants to form a world government (news stories on such groups appears to have faded since Sept 11 2001) and others believe in extra terrestrial entities coming to the Earth in UFOs. It's interesting to note the defensive psychology of these groups and the dominant ideologies of our current age of anxiety.
"Notable contributions include Noam Chomsky."
It should be noted that such beliefs are systematically rife at the end of every century and millenium.
"It's an interesting documentary examining what and why they believe. Contained within the 'end of the world' myth are the 'damned' and the 'saved' - those who are 'chosen' and those who are not. At the end of the world is a decisive and dramatic confrontation where good faces evil. In this understanding of time, believers find a world that finally makes sense to them and vindicates their belief. Some groups prepare for conflict and create safe houses preparing for 'show time' while for others the end is merely a period of transition where there is a 'new age' after the appearance of a 'powerful being' or a 'second coming'.
"The people who believe in the end of the world are both Christian and Non-Christian, some are US Militias who think the UN wants to form a world government (news stories on such groups appears to have faded since Sept 11 2001) and others believe in extra terrestrial entities coming to the Earth in UFOs. It's interesting to note the defensive psychology of these groups and the dominant ideologies of our current age of anxiety.
"Notable contributions include Noam Chomsky."
It should be noted that such beliefs are systematically rife at the end of every century and millenium.
Meerkats Unmasked - Part 1
"Join Simon King, a wild life film-maker, on a year long study of "Digger" and "Momma" and their small gang of meerkats as he follows and documents their everyday lives."
Life on Earth - Episode 05 - The Conquest of the Waters
"The fifth episode looks at the evolution of fish. They have developed a multitude of shapes, sizes and methods of propulsion and navigation. The sea quirt, the lancelet and the lamprey are given as examples of the earliest, simplest types. Then, about 400 million years ago, the first back-boned fish appeared. The Kimberley Ranges of Western Australia are, in fact, the remnants of a coral reef and the ancient seabed. There, Attenborough discovers fossils of the earliest fish to have developed jaws. These evolved into two shapes of creature with cartilaginous skeletons: wide ones (like rays and skates) and long ones (like sharks). However, it is the fully boned species that were most successful, and spread from the oceans to rivers and lakes. To adapt to these environments, they had by now acquired gills for breathing, a lateral line to detect movement and a swim bladder to aid buoyancy. Coral reefs contain the greatest variety of species, many of which are conspicuously coloured to ward off predators or attract mates. Their habitat, with its many hiding places within easy reach, allows them to remain so visible. However, the open ocean offers no such refuge, so there is safety in numbers — both hunters and hunted swim in shoals and have streamlined bodies for pursuit or escape. Most species that live below the thermocline, in the freezing depths of the ocean, have never been filmed, and these are largely represented by still photographs."
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