Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus

THE ORIGINAL (FULL-VERSION) OF THIS FILM HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM GOOGLE...PERHAPS THE WORK OF THE CREATIONISTS?

IN ANY CASE, TAKING THE FIGHT TO THE CREATIONIST MOVEMENT IS SO VERY IMPORTANT THAT COPIES OF THIS FILM WILL CONTINUE TO APPEAR ON THE WEB...EVEN IF THEY ONLY LAST A FEW WEEKS.

WITH THIS IN MIND, I HAVE EMBEDDED HERE THE LATEST SPLIT VERSION FROM YOUTUBE. I GENERALLY ONLY PUT FULL VERSION LINKS ON THIS SITE, BUT AGAIN, THIS MATERIAL IS SO IMPORTANT THAT I'LL MAKE AN EXCEPTION HERE.

SHOULD YOU FIND THESE LINKS DEAD, SIMPLY GOOGLE OR YOUTUBE THE TITLE AND I HAVE A FUNNY FEELING THAT A NEW LINK WILL BE AVAILABLE.

LONG LIVE EVOLUTION...LONG LIVE ATHEISM...DAWKINS-AKBA...DEATH TO ALL RELIGIONS!!!

Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus is the first feature length documentary (85 mins) to explore the Darwin vs. intelligent design controversy. Filmmaker/evolutionary ecologist/surfer Dr. Randy Olson pokes fun at both sides of this debate and eventually uses his own mother, Muffy Moose, to make sense out of the issue that both Time and Newsweek recently featured on their covers. He travels to his home state of Kansas, the top battle ground for evolution, where he sits down with his mothers neighbor, John Calvert, one of the top lawyers backing intelligent design, for a confrontation that leaves audiences squirming in their seats.



School districts are now grappling with the new efforts to introduce intelligent design, the movement evolutionists prefer to call, creationism in a cheap tuxedo. However, Olson, in a surprising turn given his evolution background, also paints an unflattering portrait of his fellow scientists. Pulling together eight evolutionists for a night of poker, he reveals them to be arrogant, condescending, and self-certain until they eventually turn on themselves in a spat that sounds like a flock of dodos.

From the opening statistic (a pie chart in the form of an apple pie) the film provides equal amounts of laughter, guffaws, and eventually enough serious thought to prompt hours of discussion.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

PART SEVEN

PART EIGHT

PART NINE

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Inside Mecca

For over 1400 years, Mecca has been one of the most important cities in the Arabian Peninsula. By the middle of the 6th century, there were three major settlements in northern Arabia, all along the southwestern coast that borders the Red Sea, in a habitable region between the sea and the great desert to the east. This area, known as the Hejaz, featured three settlements that had grown around oasis, where water was available. In the center of the Hejaz was Yathrib, later renamed as Medina. 250 miles (400 km) south of Yathrib was Taif, a mountain town, and northwest of Taif was Mecca.

Though the area around Mecca was completely barren, Mecca was the wealthiest and most important of the three settlements. Islamic histories state that it had abundant water via the Zamzam Well, which was the site of the holiest shrine in Arabia, the Kaaba, and was also at the crossroads of major caravan routes. In actual fact the well of Zamzam was barely sufficient to support the small community there, the Kaaba was but one of many such Arabian Polytheistic temple found in the peninsula, and the city was the terminus for a single caravan route which ran from Mecca to Syria.


The Meccan economy is almost entirely dependent on money spent by people attending the Hajj. The city takes in more than $100 million during the Hajj. The Saudi government spends about $50 million on services for the Hajj. There are some industries and factories in the city, but Mecca no longer plays a major role in Saudi Arabia's economy, which is mainly based on oil exports. The few industries operating in Mecca include textiles, furniture, and utensils. The majority of the economy is service oriented. Water is scarce and food must be imported via Shu'eyba water plant and Jeddah.

The cultural environment of today's Mecca has been influenced by a religious movement that began in central Arabia in the mid-eighteenth century. This movement is commonly known as the Wahhabi movement. It has been also influenced by the Shafi`i school. Also, the conflict between liberals and religious scholars made a major impact on the Society of Mecca.

As one might expect, the existence of cities closed to non-Muslims and the mystery of the Hajj aroused intense curiosity in people from around the world. Some have disguised themselves as Muslims and entered the city of Mecca and then the Grand Mosque to experience the Hajj for themselves. The most famous account of a foreigner's journey to Mecca is A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, written by Sir Richard Francis Burton. Burton traveled as a Qadiriyyah Sufi from Afghanistan; his name, as he signed it in Arabic below his frontispiece portrait for "The Jew, The Gypsy and al-Islam," was al-Hajj 'Abdullah.

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Stupidity

Note: a 30 second delay appears before the video. The film has been checked for completeness.




Stupidity by Albert Nerenberg Features Bill Maher, Noam Chomsky, George W. Bush, Mark Crispin Miller and many others. A humorous examination of stupidity in contemporary American culture, covering: the effects of television and mass media on the American intellect; the "dumbing down" of American culture; the popularity of Steve-O and Jackass; role of religion in willful stupidity; the identifaction of many Americans with George W. Bush; the evolution of such concepts as "idiot" and "moron."

The DVD edition contains extra interviews commentaries and readings. The film is not connected to Matthijs van Boxsel's book called Encyclopaedia of Stupidity -- also 2003- but recommended.

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Building Gods

Beginning in 2002, American filmmaker Ken Gumbs began traveling the globe interviewing some of the world's leading technological, religious and philosophical theorists. He went out in the hopes of discovering how our quickly evolving technology may someday challenge who we are and what our world will become.


Robots. Cyborgs. God. Souls. Immortality. Building Gods investigates the world of technology to reveal some of humanity's biggest questions. What is life? Where do we come from? Where is humanity heading? What are souls?

For the first time anywhere, some of the world's leading theorists are allowed to openly debate the technological future of the human race: a future that may involve paradise or war, immortality or extinction.

Building Gods stands as a testament for future generations to understand what the world's greatest thinkers believed at the beginning of this new century. Their worst fears and greatest hopes may soon become a reality.

Human 2.0

Meet the scientific prophets who claim we are on the verge of creating a new type of human - a human v2.0.

It's predicted that by 2029 computer intelligence will equal the power of the human brain. Some believe this will revolutionise humanity - we will be able to download our minds to computers extending our lives indefinitely. Others fear this will lead to oblivion by giving rise to destructive ultra intelligent machines.

One thing they all agree on is that the coming of this moment - and whatever it brings - is inevitable.

The Deception of Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was a Peruvian-born American author. Starting with The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that describe his purported training in traditional Mesoamerican shamanism. His 12 books have sold more than 8 million copies in 17 languages. The books and Castaneda, who rarely spoke in public about his work, have been controversial for many years. Supporters claim the books are either true or at least valuable works of philosophy and descriptions of practices which enable an increased awareness. Academic critics claim the books are works of fiction, citing the books' internal contradictions, discrepancies between the books and anthropological data, alternate sources for Castaneda's detailed knowledge of shamanic practices and lack of corroborating evidence.

In his books, Carlos Castaneda narrates in first person what he claims were his experiences under the tutelage of a Yaqui shaman named don Juan Matus whom he met in 1960. Castaneda reports that he was identified by don Juan Matus as having the energetic configuration of a "nagual", who, if the spirit chose, could become a leader of a party of seers.

He also used the term "nagual" to signify that part of perception which is in the realm of the unknown yet still reachable by man, implying that, for his party of seers, don Juan was a connection in some way to that unknown. Carlos Castaneda often referred to this unknown realm as nonordinary reality, which indicated that this realm was indeed a reality, but radically different from the ordinary reality experienced by human beings who are well engaged in everyday activities as part of their social conditioning.