Author Archives: robotchampion

The 2012 Environmental Film Festival – 180 movies, 30,000 attendees

Welcome to the 20th Anniversary Environmental Film Festival! While 1,200 people attended the inaugural Festival, today the Festival has expanded to become the world’s largest showcase of environmental film, attracting an audience of over 30,000 (in Washington D.C.). The 20th anniversary Festival, our largest and most ambitious yet, presents 180 engaging and thought-provoking films, including 93 Washington, D.C., United States …

Continue reading “The 2012 Environmental Film Festival – 180 movies, 30,000 attendees”

The Reunification of Korea – a brief history

1910 – Japan forcibly “annexes” Korea and ravages the country. Often banning the language, forcing Japanese names, labor camps, and, during World War II, a sex-slave trade. 1945 – World War II ends and Korea is split into two governing zones, the North by the Soviet Union and the South by the U.S. A problem …

Continue reading “The Reunification of Korea – a brief history”

University 2.0 – Sebastian Thrun, Stanford, and free online knowledge

Thrun engaged his audience with the heartwarming story about how an initial idea of offering his renowned Stanford classes for free to students online evolved into an education project touching hundreds of thousands of students across the world. “I hoped for 500 students. We got 160,000,” Thrun said. Thrun’s approach is more than “just” offering …

Continue reading “University 2.0 – Sebastian Thrun, Stanford, and free online knowledge”

Fun facts of the Oscars…nineteen nominations for playing the king/queen of England?

19 Nominations for actors playing kings and queens of England   $325,000 – Cost of It Happened One Night (Best Picture, 1935)   $237 million – Cost of Avatar (Best Picture nomination, 2010—it lost)   23 – Best Picture nominees in which Bess Flowers appeared, the most of any actor (and she was an extra in all 23 …

Continue reading “Fun facts of the Oscars…nineteen nominations for playing the king/queen of England?”

Bringing alternative medicine into hospitals with Donna Karan and UCLA

A new consciousness in health care is spreading through the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Take nurse Katie Anderson who is participating in the Donna Karan Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program, the newest effort to integrate holistic eastern modalities into Western medicine at UCLA. The modalities used in the program include yoga therapy, nutrition, aromatherapy, …

Continue reading “Bringing alternative medicine into hospitals with Donna Karan and UCLA”

Apple, changing its ways after Steve via private product briefings

“We’re starting to do some things differently,” Phil Schiller said to me. We were sitting in a comfortable hotel suite in Manhattan just over a week ago. I’d been summoned a few days earlier by Apple PR with the offer of a private “product briefing”. I had no idea heading into the meeting what it …

Continue reading “Apple, changing its ways after Steve via private product briefings”

Anonymous hacktivism – exposing the evil of the Syrian Assad dictatorship

Hackers aligned with Anonymous have exposed hundreds of e-mail messages from the webmail server of Syria’s Ministry of Presidential Affairs, the support ministry for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Among the exposed e-mail messages was a set of talking points for Assad’s interview with Barbara Walters in December 2011. A translation of the e-mail sent by …

Continue reading “Anonymous hacktivism – exposing the evil of the Syrian Assad dictatorship”

Test your fear of sharks… is it necessary?

  Do these pictures make your heart beat fast? Do you feel a terror?       Or, do you feel like getting a closer look? Like, it’s nothing more than a big fish?   For they are just that, and gentle as well, called Basking Sharks – they are 40-foot long docile giants. Take …

Continue reading “Test your fear of sharks… is it necessary?”

Trying to foster a recovery in Basking Sharks – the 40-foot docile giants

An electronic ID tag from a rare shark spotted off the (San Diego) county coast in June has popped to the surface near Hawaii, providing local marine researchers with an unprecedented look into the long-distance movements of the second-largest known fish. “I would characterize it as an avalanche of data,” said Van Sommeran said Monday. …

Continue reading “Trying to foster a recovery in Basking Sharks – the 40-foot docile giants”