Dilluns passat les nostres companyes del Bloc de la Biblioteca del Pavelló de la República se sumaven, amb un interessant post, a les celebracions pel 20è aniversari de la caiguda del mur de Berlín. Nosaltres, per suposat, també ho fem i aplaudim que ja hagin passat 20 anys d’aquest esdeveniment històric.

Malgrat tot, dues dècades després de la caiguda del mur berlinès, el món continua ple de barreres que divideixen països, pobles i famílies, des del Brasil a Xipre, o des de Cisjordània a Mèxic.

Les raons que els govern esgrimeixen són múltiples: combatre la violència, la immigració il·legal, defensar l’economia o fins i tot evitar la propagació de la febre aftosa, però el resultat és sempre el mateix: separar i atemorir.

Bussejant per la web hem descobert com la pàgina de la BBC World presenta una panoràmica de 14 murs que encara segueixen dempeus. Molts d’ells són poc coneguts, i la majoria estan silenciats pels governs i pels mitjans de comunicació. Si no són notícia no existeixen, i si no existeixen no cal combatre’ls. Però la realitat és que hi són, i milions de persones els pateixen.

Quan molts de nosaltres celebren que el 9 de novembre de 1989 el més simbòlic de tots els murs va caure a la capital alemanya, no està de més fer un repàs a tots els maons que resten per enderrocar i tots els filats que encara s’han de tallar. Teniu a mà els martells i les cisalles?

Com sempre, recordeu que si cerqueu al nostre Catàleg trobareu un bon grapat de llibres que tracten tots aquest temes.

I també, perquè no, una recomanació: visiteu les pàgines especials que sobre el mur de Berlín han fet la gent de TV3. Hi ha de tot: un bloc especialitzat, un bon grapat d’imatges d’arxiu i dels programes informatius que us podeu descarregar o visualitzar, un especial sobre cinema i el mur, etc. Fins i tot tenen un mur virtual on podeu traslladar-vos 20 anys enrere i grafitejar-lo.

Sanity will prevail. One day. Perhaps.

It’s been obvious for a very long time that the fervent “belief” some people have in human-induced climate change is closer to religion than science. Now a court has ruled that climate change is indeed a religion with its believers able to claim legal protection for their faith.

In a landmark decision in London, Justice Sir Michael Burton has declared that redundant worker Tim Nicholson’s views on global warming are so deeply held that they are worthy of the same protection as religious beliefs.

“A belief in man-made climate change, and the alleged resulting moral imperatives, is capable if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations,” His Honour said in a written decision.

Nicholson claimed he was sacked by Grainger, the UK’s largest listed residential property company, because of his views on the company’s attitude to climate change. The company said he was made redundant because of the economic downturn.

Justice Burton’s decision will enable Nicholson to take Grainger to an employment tribunal to claim he was sacked because of his religious beliefs.

The case comes as the proponents of global warming are mounting a hysterical propaganda war around the world in the countdown to the UN’s climate change summit in Copenhagen next month.

Hysterical, because the “scientific” basis for their economy-wrecking cause collapses further by the week, leaving them to demand everyone “believe” their mantras.

The most-read post on this blog was the April 2008 revelation that average world temperatures had not increased since 1998 despite continued growth in carbon dioxide emissions. This post continues to get dozens of hits every day and has now been read twice as many times as the next most popular post.

The post was about a BBC news story that quoted temperature data from the UN’s very own World Meteorological Organisation. Both the BBC and the WMO are ardent believers in global warming. Until their revelation, I had actually believed the propaganda that temperatures were going constantly up. The BBC story was such dynamite that the Global Warming Thought Police put heavy pressure on the BBC to recant it.

It is becoming ever clearer that the inconvenient scientific truth is somewhat different from the shrill propaganda. The world’s climate is always changing. A thousand years ago, temperatures were warmer than now as the world basked in the Medieval Warm Period, during which the Vikings settled Greenland and grapes were grown in the north of England. But temperatures gradually fell again, until the Little Ice Age of the mid-1700s, in which the Thames froze, glaciers advanced across Europe and Greenland had become so covered in snow and ice that the Viking settlements lay long abandoned.

There were no SUVs in the Medieval Warm Period, nor for 200 years after the Little Ice Age, but after the latter, the world gradually began warming again, with ebbs and flows about every 40 or 50 years that led to the same alarmists who today claim we are going to cook claiming in 1975 that we were entering a new ice age, because of global cooling from 1940 and then.

Of course, once that claim was made, another warming cycle began.

The BBC recently updated last year’s story, again having to concede that average world temperatures have still not risen since 1998, in complete contravention of the computer climate models the warmists use to push their religious beliefs.

After 11 years now without global warming, and with temperatures actually falling in many places, it seems about time for the Warmers to confront the fact we just may be entering another cyclical cooling phase. That might allow time to conduct some actual rather than computerised work on the human effect on the climate before rushing in to Copenhagen’s religious indulgences, pardon, emissions trading scams, sorry, schemes, that will greatly enrich the same money merchants who wrecked the global economy last year, while doing nothing actually to reduce the supposedly dangerous emissions.

There are two delicious ironies to Justice Burton’s declaration that climate change is a religious belief.

First, Justice Burton is the very same High Court judge who ruled in 2007 that warmist cardinal Al Gore’s propaganda film An Inconvenient Truth included nine serious scientific errors, one of them that the South Pacific ocean was rising and island-dwellers had been forced to evacuate to New Zealand. The judge ruled this arch-work of mass deception could only be shown in schools if accompanied by a countering viewpoint.

The second irony is that it comes at the same time as the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italian schools must remove the crucifixes that have adorned their walls for decades, as crucifixes represent an ancient religion, Christianity, which is apparently now frowned upon by the courts in Europe just as the new religion, Climate Change, is welcomed.

Jesus wept.

10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Whee!

Well, you have heard the chimes, and this is it. A very happy new year, 2009.

So the end, then, of the first sequence, and the Thames is about to erupt. This firework display has been designed by Christophe Berthonneau, the world’s most talked about firework prodegy. A French Firewizard.

Well, this is the fifth year that the London Eye has been the centrepiece of this display. Previously, it was Trafalgar Square.

Well all the crowds here, along the embankment, transfixed at this display.

And the London Eye lit up by lighting designer, Durham Marenghi. Great collaboration, this firework display.

Well the 32 capsules represent all the London boroughs. Each capsule is a lighting pod which is remotely controlled.

All of these fireworks were set out at 4PM this afternoon. They could only be got up there after the London Eye had closed. 12 months of planning; just a few hours to get them up into position.

So there’s no music here; the rhythm is created by the sound of the fireworks. Christophe has worked so hard to get these fireworks up at height, away from the river, so that so many people can enjoy this spectacular sight.

Rhythm is at the heart of this display.

Big Ben, you can see at the right of the screen. The clock and the bell, chimed the first time together in 1859, so 2009 marks its 150th anniversary. What a way to celebrate.

I tell ya, from where we’re standing now, it is raining glitter. An incredible sight. Such power, going up, above your head.

Well this firework display is going out on BBC World, so this is being seen from Beijing to Brazil, from New York to New Delhi. So, Happy New Year, wherever you are.

Well, this really is a firework display for the community, put on by the community. I mentioned 12 months of planning; everybody has been involved in this, from St John Ambulance, through to the police. Every public service going, to make sure that this happens; and what a spectacle.

Salve a tutti!!!!

Oggi vi parlo della campagna pubblicitaria per la rete televisiva BBC.

L’idea creativa di disegnare mediante i cavi della corrente è stata davvero efficace. Infatti l’illustratrice Elizabeth Berrien in arte “WIRE LADY” (LA DONNA DEI FILI ELETTRICI) si è inventata un sistema per attirare l’attenzione del pubblico (in questo caso i passanti) realizzando delle vere e proprie sculture d’autore.

L’headline della nuova campagna BBC WORLD recita: “CONNECT WITH THE WORLD.”

Il collegamento alle pseudo illustrazioni è presto fatto. Riproponendo scene quotidiane tratte da storie di conflitti sociali, politico-religiosi l’artista vuole sensibilizzare il target di riferimento e covincere la televisione via cavo riguardo l’inserimento dell’omonimo canale televisivo all’interno delle quotidiane programmazioni.

Il motivo c’è ed è uno solo: La BBC è un canale completo, costantemente aperto alle notizie di tutto il mondo. Una ragione in più per scegliere un emittente davvero globale.

Ma passiamo alle immagini:

01. ARMI

02. PROTESTA

03. CIBO – MEDICINALI

Ever wonder who’s going to obliterate planet Earth with nuclear hailfire?

North Korea has named Kim Jong-un the successor to Kim Jong-il. Which means that whenever the world ends as planned in 2012, Kim Jong-un will be the one to blame for destroying the planet Earth.

Technically, he has not taken power yet as far as I can tell, but with Il having had a stroke, I think it’s pretty damn obvious that he will be in power pretty soon.

This is not the time for petty details, like how North Korea has only one or two nukes at most, and would assuredly be destroyed by the fallout that would occur from their detonation. Oh yeah, and if it ever did launch one everybody dies, because then America would launch theirs, Europe following, and… you get the idea. Meh. Silly details. Rest easy planet Earth! We now know who will destroy you!

(Source: The Something Awful forums, BBC World)

My homie TOY SELECTAH just passed a link to some wicked music! This is an awesome mix with the high speed CUMBIA and TRIBAL GUARACHA taht is driving all the peeps in MEXICO mad right now. Chck this:

GRAB THE MIX HERE

TRACKLIST:

BBC EXCLUSIVE TOY SELECTAH MIX APRIL 2009

1- Africa Emerge / FISHERSPOONER vs HOLLERTRONIX
2- La Vida Vale la Pena / PETRONA MARTINEZ vs UPROOT ANDY
3- Merengue / BOLIVAR
4- Echonawana / DJ ARMIRAZ & DJ RIPA
5- Mundo Querido (Toy Selectah Raverton Remix) / DJ NEGRO
6- Jandinha (Juan Magan Remix) / VICTOR MAGAN & JASON TREGOV
7- Breathe (Toy Selectah Raverton Refix) / PRODIGY
8- Bucky done Gone (Bachata Plantain Mash Ezra Factory) / M.I.A.
9- Arcade Roboton / Toy Selectah vs Boys Noize
10- Mabebeza / DJ CLEO
11- Waracha (Toy Selectah Edit) / DJ MOUSE
12- Touch my Horn (Remix) / Jesse Rose vs Toy Selectah
13- Love is Gone (Toy Selectah Raverton Remix) / David Ghetta
14- Sexy Boy (Raverton Remix) AIR vs TOY SELECTAH
15- Tigeraso / MALUCA
16- Para Bailar Cumbia / EL HIJO DE LA CUMBIA vs ALIKA
17- Cumbia de las Estrellas / JORGE MEZA
18- Mexican Radio (Villero Quick Refix) / WALL OF VOODO

Record it Live at estudiotrece Monterrey, NL

That’s what Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto says in this BBC documentary on how giving poor people the titles to their “illegal” property helps in the reduction of poverty. Watch it.

BBC forteller blant annet at mer enn 90 000 serbere er utsatt for gjenværende klasebomber.

BBC melder at valget i Makedonia har foregått under strenge sikkerhetstiltak, fordi landet som EU-søker er avhengig av å vise at det kan gjennomføre sivilserte, demokratiske valg. Og nevner at Hellas har sagt at det kommer til å blokkere Makedonias medlemsskap i både EU og NATO hvis de ikke bestemmer seg for å hete noe annet enn Makedonia. Som kjent heter deler av nordre Hellas også Makedonia, og det vil de ha for seg selv, kom ikke her.

Presidentembetet i Makedonia er i følge BBC largely ceremonial, og kampen ser ut til å stå mellom konservative Gjorgje Ivanov og sosialdemokratiske Ljubomir Frckoski.

Serbiske B92 forteller at 53 av valglokalene i Makedonia var stengt i dag tidlig på grunn av snø og dårlig vær (BBC har samme melding, men hevder at det er hele 134 valglokaler det gjelder), at valget så langt har forløpt uten problemer, og at 7000 hjemlige og 550 utenlandske valgobservatører følger valget.

Former BBC Chairman Sir Christopher Bland has said that is was “by no means clear” that the UK could afford one properly funded public service broadcaster-let alone two- and that it would make more sense to privatise Channel 4.

Bland was part of a Royal Television Society roundtable discussion on the future of public service broadcasting and digital Britain. He said the privatisation of Channel 4 was the “least worst alternative and makes more sense than trying to create a second-class public service broadcaster when there isn’t room for more than one”

He highlighted that no country in the world has more than one public service broadcast and that some countries can’t even afford one.

He also said that Channel 4 brings nothing to BBC Worldwide. ” they have by virtue of their structure almost no international programme rights and that’s ind of baked into the way they commission programmes.”

So if no country in the world have more than one PSB how does Britain think they can afford to employ another? and can a collaboration of BBC Worldwide and Channel 4 work?[gallery]

Again, excellent work team. Think we all did a competent job in delivering a subject that’s not too exciting and engaging the audience. You could tell we captivated the audience from the enthusiastic crowd load of questions at the end.

The below website, which was posted just before our presentation, highlights everything we covered.

Ed Richards appears in a video outlining the importance of PSB and a blueprint reinforcing PSB for the next decade- indicating priorities and familiar institutions involved.

Ofcom unveils public service broadcasting blueprint for the digital decade

For this week’s assignment, I found a series of billboard ads created by the BBDO New York ad agency for the BBC.

The billboards were put up all over New York City a couple years ago to advertise the BBC World news channel FINALLY entering the U.S. market after more than 10 years of having been available worldwide.

The ad campaign, called “See Both Sides Of The Story,” tied with another BBC ad campaign for the 2008 ADDY Award for best outdoor advertisement. Here is an example of one of the ads:

What’s stunning about the billboard is how simple it is, yet has such a powerful and effective message.

The billboard is comprised of one photo, in this example, a photo presumably of an Iraqi landscape. It’s always placed strategically on a street corner, usually at street level. Passersby would probably see half the ad first and then the other half to see the whole picture and get the message.

The ad campaign emphasizes the fact that when it comes to any news story/occurrence, there are always at least two points of view and that BBC World will always show you both sides of the story. Basically, the REAL version of “fair and balanced.”

Here are some other examples of the ad campaign:

BBDO New York for BBC World

BBDO New York for BBC World

BBDO New York for BBC World

Hi team,

I want to thank everyone for all the effort and time spent on the presentation and for a job well done. I hope you had as much fun presenting as I did!

Just some of my thoughts on what we did well and what we could have reasearched on a little more.

Since I always look on the positive side, I’ll begin with what I think we did well. Our strongest point, I feel, was our understanding of the subject and the way we handled all the questions in the Q&A session. We also had an excellent and interactive presentation with lots of pictures and a good mix of audio and video. Out timing was also perfect.

I think, in hindsight, we could have done a little more research on the Channel 4 and BBC World’s proposed merger and could have brought in a little more on ethnic minorities during the diversity slide. Also, I hope everyone understood why we did that little role play in the beginning.

Other than the above, I think we did a really good job and I had a lot of fun once I got into it. Thanks for all the team work, it has been a pleasure working with all of you.

We have to somehow get the powerpoint presentation on our blog so I will give it a shot tommorow or next week and would appreciate it if you could do the same.

Arianna Huffington calling Hark! DaButt.

Last June, Huffington gave an interesting interview on old/ mainstream media vs. new media. Watch Stephen Sackur interviewing her on BBC’s HARDtalk-

Sackur: Of course, the vast majority of blogs on your site aren’t about factual reporting at all. They are about opinion, aren’t they? And they are about opinion which…
Huffington: Blogs are opinion.
Sackur: which is deeply…Blogs are opinion?
Huffington: Yeah.

BBC World is running a documentary series this month – The Story of Maths – which was made in collaboration with The Open University. Its a four part series-

1. The Language of the Universe
2. The Genius of the East
3. The Frontiers of Space
4. To Infinity and Beyond

The first part was telecast this week and you can get the programming schedule here.

Just how funny was that ? This roving reporter wasn’t in Baghdad yesterday but what a hoot. The Press core must have been wetting themselves. I firsts saw it thanks to Yahoo, but when i saw it in full broadcast quality on good old BBC World…it was even funnier..what a star.
It sort of sums up the Bush years so eloquently….8 miserable years all condensed into a few seconds of parody….but I must say he move quick for an old ‘un.

Here is to all the news reporters world wide who had to read that particular item whilst bottling up what must have been the widest grin or belly laugh. Professionals one and all