(A) French and Chinese national anthems
March of the PLA
Military anthem of the Chinese People's Liberation Army .
(B) Song for Resistance fighters in World War II
(C) Music pieces lasting 10 to 15 mn
(D) Music pieces lasting about 3 mn
(E) Films explaining scientific experiments
(F) Milton Friedman, neoliberalism and the shock doctrine
The film lasts over one hour but as it involves many episodes
taking place in various countries, each of them is outlined
fairly briefly which means that in order to get a real
understanding one needs some prior knowledge.
For instance, at one point, there are a few pictures of
a meeting of the ``Mount Pelerin Society''.
This society was indeed highly instrumental in spreading
the neoliberal gospel, in particular through its action
on the Committee awarding the Nobel prize in economics
(actually created by the Bank of Sweden, not by Alfred Nobel).
However, to explain this point comprehensively would have
required about 10 or 15 minutes instead of the 20 seconds
devoted to it in the film.
The film made by Michael Winterbottom
is available on the following website:
Who was he?
Together with Swedish Count Axel de Fersen (friend
and most probably lover of the queen), the Marquis Francois de
Bouille (1739-1800) had planned the flight
out of France of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette.
It took place on 20 June 1791 that is to say
two years after the French Revolution of 1789.
The objective of the conspirators was to cross the border into
Belgium which, at that time, was a possession of Austria.
In May 1791 the Queen had passed to her brother Leopold II,
the Emperor
of the German Holly Roman Empire (which included Austria,
it should be remembered that the
Austrian Empire came into existence only in 1804),
the information about her imminent flight.
After the flight had been discovered not far from the
border, Bouille
and Fersen, under threat of being arrested,
were nevertheless
able to leave France. In the following years Bouille assisted Prussia
and England in the wars of the First Coalition
against Revolutionary France.
That is how his character became the
embodiment of sedition and betrayal.
The ``Marseillaise'' was written in April 1792 that is to say not long
after the failed flight of June 1791,
and at a time when Bouille's name
was still on everybody's mind because the king's flight was
one of the main reasons which, on 20 April 1792, led to the war between
France on the one hand and Austria, Germany and Prussia on the other
hand.
This video presents two ``mysteries'': the magical ball
and the magical chain. The video comes from
a French weekly scientific TV program entitled
``Les cobayes'' (guinea pigs) which is shown every Friday night
and also available on the Internet.
This is an adaptation for Chinese students of the
magical ball experiment
shown in the previous video. It was done in early November 2015
by a group of students of Beijing Normal University
for the benefit of
physics students of other Chinese universities. The
pedagogical purpose is to promote the experimental methodology
in science.
As many other ``Cobaye'' videos are available online,
it is hoped that similar adaptations will be made in other
institutions of higher learning
throughout China.
The BNU group comprised the following students:
Kaixin Wang, Hongzhong Xu, Jieping Yu, Fanqi Zeng.
Pictures of three group members can be seen in
the next video.
In this video made in early November 2015 the same students
from Beijing Normal University perform the previous
magical ball experiment in an alternative way.
This is the report in which
the Chinese students who made the adaptation describe their
work.
This is a translation into English of the French dialogues of the
video (1a).
This video presents several hypnosis experiments.
As the previous gravity experiments, it comes
from a French weekly scientific TV program entitled ``Les cobayes''
(guinea pigs). Its interest lies in the fact that,
so far, there is no clear scientific explanation of this effect.
For instance, we do not know why some persons
are more susceptible to being hypnotized than others.
In contrast with the magic ball experiment for which there was
an easy explanation, this experiment raises a challenging scientific
question.
The hydra is a little (about 15mm in length) and fairly primitive
animal which lives in fresh water. Similarly to
some other animals
(e.g. worms) but to a greater degree, it has a regenerative capacity
which means that if it is cut into two parts
two complete organisms will be reconstituted.
This ability gives it a life span of
several years that is to say much longer than other animals
of that size. Needless to say, it may not be the only
organism possessing this property.
The present animation was made by Robert Krulwich and it is
available on several websites.
``The shock doctrine'' is the title of a book by Canadian
author Naomi Klein. The film provides an illustration
of how this doctrine was used between the end of World War II and 2008.
It explains how the neoliberal economic agenda
promoted by Milton Friedman and the Chicago school was introduced
into various countries. This was usually done by taking
advantage of the destabilization which came in the wake of
dramatic circumstances such as:
* During a time of military dictatorship as in Chile and Argentina.
* Under the umbrella of military occupation as in Iraq
or Afghanistan
* By taking advantage of the disintegration
of a country as in former Yugoslavia or in the Soviet Union.
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