Yes, this is indeed a shameless plug for a video I helped produce with my colleagues in San Diego for the independent non-profit Alternate Focus. Since the major media outlets seem uninterested in tackling this issue, we felt a need to Flip the Media and take a stab at it ourselves…

Possessing one of the largest remaining oil resources on the planet, and one of the least developed, Iraq has been a tempting target for foreign intervention by powerful western oil interests, backed by military force. As an occupied country weakened by civil war, can Iraq retain its sovereignty over its oil wealth in the face of a bid to control it by US corporations?

Full Version:

Trailer:

According to The Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST):

“New technology solutions offer great promise to improve quality of care while reducing healthcare costs. Technology already has transformed our lives—from email to MP3s and from online shopping to cell phones. It is time now for technology to transform the experience of aging. Fortunately, exciting new technologies coming in the next 5-10 years offer the potential to dramatically improve the quality of care we can provide.”

What they mean is: You can rig up your elderly relatives’ homes, appliances, and bodies with sensors that transmit all manner of data to concerned relatives and friends, health care providers, and I assume, a central data aggregation computer. These sensors can allegedly prevent common deadly mishaps such as leaving gas stoves unattended and mismanaging medication use.  Additionally, they will offer simple gadgets to help seniors achieve the same social media benefits that young folks enjoy.

Imagine the Future of Aging

For the longer version of Imagine: The Future of Aging, including an introduction from Jeff Bridges, check out:

http://www.agingtech.org/imagine_video.aspx

See also: Metropolis (1926),  2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator II

Life Call Commercial \”I\’ve fallen and I can\’t get up!\”

And under the guise of educational fair use:

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XII

http://www.humorscore.com/videos/The_Simpsons_Videos/The_Simpsons_-_House_Of_Whacks

Clearly the Oompa Loompas in Pandora’s advertising generation department are working hard. Pandora’s music service cleverly matched my occasional fondness for Irish music both old and new with an ad for another occasional Irish favorite, Jameson Irish Whiskey. The ad claimed about 2/3rds of the screen with a lovely shadowed green that was far more pleasing to the eye than most Pandora ads. While the simply agreeable image increases my likelihood of ordering Jameson on my next trip to a pub, I’m curious if the currently unprofitable Pandora venture earns more from seemingly well-targeted ads than from ads that employ the Dick Cheney-style “blast anything that moves with a shotgun” approach?

Yet as much as I figure I’m in their target demographic and wouldn’t mind supporting two products I enjoy, Read more…