Latest History Talk Posts at VideoSift.com

Top 10 Game-Show Moments [Videos]

ant (http://history.videosift.com/member/ant) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:27:32 -0800

(0 comments - 76 views)
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1933556_1933557,00.html from http://digg.com/television/Top_10_Game_Show_Moments_Videos ...

- ant

15 Best 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' Moments

ant (http://history.videosift.com/member/ant) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:33:57 -0700

(2 comments - 120 views)
http://www.dailyfill.com/15-Most-Memorable-Fresh-Prince-of-Bel-Air-Moments-of-All-Time-39879/ from http://digg.com/television/15_Best_Fresh_Prince_of_Bel_Air_Moments_vids ...

- ant

Vote for the best Sesame Street segments

ant (http://history.videosift.com/member/ant) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:32:36 -0700

(1 comment - 105 views)
http://www.sesamestreet.org/onair/history/vote from http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/30/vote-for-the-best-se.html ...

- ant

My, How the Sift Has Changed

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:10:02 -0700

(11 comments - 309 views)
I know this has been brought up a few times over the years, but something spurred me to go check out what VideoSift originally looked like and I got a chuckle when I was reminded how far our user interface has come. For your viewing pleasure, I give you ancient VideoSift of March 2006:

Front Page - http://web.archive.org/web/20060315170025/http://www.videosift.com/
The then newly launched Blog (now known as Sift Talk) where James Roe wonders if "the ukulele video" will ever be surpassed in the #1 position - http://web.archive.org/web/20060315170651/www.videosift.com/blog/

It's not a complete picture because all the graphics are missing, but it's worth a look in any case... Ahh, the old, old days of brown and green.

[edit]
Hmm. I'm not sure what happened in the past day but when I posted this, those links were showing the proper page layout (with colors and positioning etc.) but now it's just plain text. Is everyone seeing no styles at all like I am?

- lucky760

Amazing collection of color photographs from Nazi Germany

Ornthoron (http://ornthoron.videosift.com) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:51:16 -0700

(4 comments - 226 views)
I just discovered this collection of about 100 photographs from WW2: http://saturnic.livejournal.com/174828.html
There are a few from after the war as well, but mostly it documents the events between 1934 and 1945. History seems so much more alive and closer when it comes in color.

It's a very diverse collection, with photos of all kinds: Of war and peace, happiness and sadness, love and hate, pride and shame, horrors and festivals. But most of all it's a collection of people of all kinds. A majority of the nazis were not so unlike you and me. This is important to remember if we don't want to repeat history.

- Ornthoron

Gore Vidal Criticizes The USA

marinara (http://history.videosift.com/member/marinara) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:34:18 -0700

(3 comments - 206 views)
If you don't respect Gore Vidal, one of the giants of commentary, you won't like this.
Gore Vidal is a hyper-educated anti-academic, and also controversial. He would be in America's brain trust, if we had one, and ....
I hope reading Gore Vidal bashing the USA resonates with you as well as it did with me.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/obama-is-incompetent-and_b_311796.html

- marinara

The Life of Python - 20 Greatest Monty Python Sketches

ant (http://history.videosift.com/member/ant) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:19:49 -0700

(0 comments - 146 views)
http://gnews.com/entertainment/The-Life-of-Python-20-Greatest-Monty-Python-Sketches-110424014489.html from http://digg.com/television/40th_Anniversary_Special_20_Greatest_Clips_of_Monty_Python ...

- ant

BreaksTheEarth and GOLD discovered on Easter Island

rasch187 (http://rasch187.videosift.com) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:59:40 -0700

(26 comments - 283 views)

B to the T to the motherfu**kin E got his gold star! He describes himself as "an American archaeologist in London", which sounds like a Sting remix or something. But don't hold that against him, BTE is a helluva guy! He's constantly excavating unsifted videos and helps send them on permanent display in Her Majesty Dag's Sift Museum. On his free time he posts some excellent videos, everything from the best of British comedy to fascinating scientific stuff.

America better watch out before Ye Olde England steals all her best citizens! Congrats, BreaksTheEarth, you're a quality member of this ~~secret society of terrorists~~ website! Have a look through his pqueue when you're done congratulating the man.

- rasch187

Brainz's 15 Weirdest Music Videos Of All Time List

ant (http://history.videosift.com/member/ant) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:50:03 -0700

(1 comment - 244 views)
http://brainz.org/15-weirdest-music-videos-all-time/ (has embedded videos) from http://www.neatorama.com/2009/09/17/the-15-weirdest-music-videos-of-all-time/ ...

"Music videos changed the music industry completely. Artists were finally given a "visual voice" and fans were able to put faces with names. Musicians are often a little quirky however, resulting in many truly bizarre videos. In honor of these 'out of this world' artists, we've put together a list of the 15 Weirdest Music Videos. Enjoy! ..."

- ant

Treatment of Alan Turing was "appalling" - Gordon Brown, PM

radx (http://history.videosift.com/member/radx) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:56:49 -0700

(12 comments - 368 views)
The campaign to get a government apology for the prosecution of Alan Turing for homosexuality in 1952 was successful.

The Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the “appalling” way he was treated for being gay.

Alan Turing, a mathematician most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes, was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in 1952 and sentenced to chemical castration.

Gordon Brown’s statement came in response to a petition posted on the Number 10 website which has received thousands of signatures in recent months.

Statement:

2009 has been a year of deep reflection - a chance for Britain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who came before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred in us that sense of pride and gratitude which characterise the British experience. Earlier this year I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to honour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which have passed since the British government declared its willingness to take up arms against Fascism and declared the outbreak of World War Two. So I am both pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain’s fight against the darkness of dictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.

Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.

Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.

I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue.

But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.

Source: Number 10 web site

- radx