A Peak at Peak Water

Water...if you live in the Southwest United States its hard not to at least think about it (even if it's to absently push its import out of your mind). A couple months back, Wired did a story on the emerging concept of peak water. But the also covered it in the short lived series Wired Science. Interesting stuff...


Wired Science: Peak Water segment


Lack of natural resources has always been a prime mover of civil unrest within and between societies. In the west, the history of water rights is pock-marked with violence so to hear that "the wars of the future" might be over water isn't so surprising. Here are a couple of video from the (admittedly left-leaning series) Democracy Now that address that topic.

Democracy Now: Water Wars (Part 1)


Democracy Now: Water Wars (Part 2)


Slightly more centrist CNN also covered the issue earlier this year as a part of their "Planet in Peril" special. Check out the clip featuring an interview with Dr. Peter Gleick (President of the Pacific Institute).

CNN Planet in Peril: World Water Crisis


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Bronco Roads

Sometimes you find cool videos because you're looking in the right place online, and sometimes you find cool videos because you meet cool people. This is a case of the latter. Check out this episode from a new series being created by Stacy Dean Campbell in Carlsbad, NM.



And while on the theme of the west, as I was trolling Hulu the other day I ran across the 1995 Imax film entitled The Great American West. In terms of information, it's no PBS doc, but it is a pretty beautiful piece of filmmaking.

The Great American West (1995)


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Of Crows and Ravens

I was recently watching this video lecture about crows and was amazed to learn how into learning they really are. Check out the following talk given by Josh Klein, inventor of a crow vending machine...





Thinking about crows got to thinking about ravens (both are species of corvidae), which (as any person who was goth in their youth would) made me think of Edgar Allen Poe. Check out this short performance of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" by Vincent Price. Looks like it was shot on the old set on which Price shot the intros to Mystery! back in the 1980s. Whether it was or not I don't know but it's a nice bit of PBS retro...





Then if you're feeling really brave check out this live version of "The Raven" performed by the Alan Parsons Project, taken from their tribute album to Poe. The video is poor but the audio is good, if you like mid-70s prog-rock.

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Web Worth Watching: Posh Nosh

After last week's climate change post I thought we'd skew a little more fun this week. I was trolling YouTube the other day and as it turns out episodes of one of my favorite BBC series are just hanging out there (until the BBC figures it out and has them taken down). It's a faux cooking show entitled Posh Nosh, starring Richard E. Grant and Arabella Weir. You can view all but episode 2 (couldn't find that one) here...for now...

...oh, the video is slightly better than the thumbnails suggest...

Episode 1: Fish & Chips



Episode 3: Paella



Episode 4: Beautiful Food



Episode 5: Bread and Butter Pudding



Episode 6: Leftovers



Episode 7: Sauces



Episode 8: Comfort Food


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Web Worth Watching: Climate Change

Welcome to a new blog series on KNME.org where we bring you some of the videos and sites that we're watching and visiting. It's true that the web is filled with a lot questionable video content. The goal of this series is to highlight videos that are thought provoking, insightful or just plain cool.

For the first installment, we're looking at climate change. I'm typing this in the Corrales Flying Star (giving a shout out both for the Mediterranean Nosh - try it with avocados - and for the free Wi-Fi) and watching a storm roll in from over the Sandias. There's been a lot of talk of the monsoons arriving early (or at least on time) this year. That inevitably leads to some discussion of our climate change. Most everyone knows Al Gore popularized the issues, but not many know he's been working on a sequel PowerPoint deck and presentation. He gave a conference in Cali a taste of it a couple months back. Give it a watch...





Of course Gore isn't the only one talking about climate change. New Mexico's Senator, Jeff Bingaman, gave a lecture at MIT on April 25 about this issue. It's definitely more of a wonkish presentation of the issue. You can watch that lecture here. (Note, you'll need Real Player...yes, it's still around...to see it.)

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