In seventh grade, after school let out, Humaira Mohammed Bachal opened her home in Thatta (Pakistan) to 10-12 friends who weren't allowed to go to school, and taught them what she was learning. By the time she was 16 and ready to take her 9th grade exams, (over her father's objections,) she and four other girls were teaching more than 100 students. Now, her sister Tahira, (age 18,)
is principal of the school Humaira founded: with 22 teachers serving more than 1,000 kids in a Karachi slum (yt). All in a country where if you are a young girl in a rural area,
you are unlikely ever to see the inside of a classroom, and advocating education for young girls can be life-threatening. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jan 6, 2013 -
14 comments
Numberphile is a website containing short videos (approx. 5-10 min.) about numbers and stuff. Mathematicians and physicists play around with the tools of their trade and explain things in simple, clear language. Learn things you didn't know you were interested in! Find out why
493-7775 is a pretty cool phone number! What's the significance of
42, anyway? What the heck is a
vampire number? Why does Pac-Man have only
255 screens?
Suitable for viewing by everyone from intelligent and curious middle-schoolers to math-impaired adults. Browse their YouTube channel
here. (
Via)
posted by BitterOldPunk
on Dec 29, 2012 -
20 comments
Computer Boy! (also available
here): Abe Forsythe made the movie
Computer Boy when he was just 18. It's a 50 min. spoof of The Matrix that was filmed in less than two weeks at actual Matrix shooting locations in Australia and cost just over $2000 to make.
* It became a cult hit when it was released online in 2000 & was one of the first internet films to hit 500,000 views.
* (wikipedia, imdb) [more inside]
posted by flex
on Dec 21, 2012 -
11 comments
This past August, producer Bryan Singer (
The Usual Suspects,
X-Men) launched a new digital series:
H+. The premise: in the near future, 33% of humanity has retired their smartphones, tablets and computers in favor of an implanted computer system,
H+, which connects them directly to the internet 24/7. The story begins as a computer virus attacks the implants, killing billions. In intersecting storylines across four continents (told in part through flashbacks,) the series then unravels what happened, who caused it and why.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Dec 19, 2012 -
66 comments
Slow motion video from the 2011 Czech Flyball Championship: Athleticism, speed, caught balls, missed balls, clean passes, misjudged passes, and really astonishing streamers of drool. If you're wondering "What is flyball?", the short documentary
What Is Flyball? might address that question.
[more inside]
posted by Wolfdog
on Dec 17, 2012 -
11 comments
'It's probably easy today to dismiss
Negativland's activities as trifle, banal or plain stupid. They probably wouldn't be too uncomfortable with that, as they rarely claimed to go beyond the softest platitudes of the entertainment biz.
No Other Possibility (1989, 58 mins,
.avi d/l link), their first video work, showcases the band at a career threshold, before their
U2ploitation move and just after their
Christianity hoax. It typically explores the debris of American pop culture, dealing with automobile fetishism, televised preaching, halloween traditions, Marlboro masculinity, soft drinks and MTV.'
[more inside]
posted by item
on Nov 30, 2012 -
31 comments
American paratrooper Arthur Boorman suffered debilitating injuries during the first Gulf War. Doctors told him he'd never walk unassisted again.
15 years later.... [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Nov 27, 2012 -
16 comments
![[Image 1]](http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/giant-squid-filmed.jpg?w=940){kind=link}
![[Image 2]](http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/japan_giant_squid.jpg?w=940&h=529){kind=link}
