Without Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Americans wouldn’t have the Declaration of Independence (listen to a reading here). Rather strangely, both men died on the same day, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration - July 4, 1826. Quite the factoid. Below, we have a clip from HBO’s excellent mini series “John Adams,” and here you can see the two men at work on the Declaration.

Al Franken, the former SNL comedian, the Harvard graduate, and now US Senator, has a special talent. He can draw the map of America, state-by-state, while chatting up a crowd. Almost makes me feel the 4th of July spirit…

Thanks for Eric for this one.

The title says it all. Lots of science lectures from leading thinkers. Some scientists (Dawkins, Hawking, etc.) listed here are household names. Others are not. Note that most lectures come from broader video collections that we were mentioned in our popular piece: Intelligent Video: The Top Cultural & Educational Video Sites.

via @acourosa. Also check out @openculture

This conversation, both funny and a little informative, is worth your time. This will hopefully whet your appetite, and give you good reason to watch Oliver Sack’s new program on NOVA. It’s called Musical Minds and you can watch it here starting on July 1.

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If you have problems watching the clip above, you can find a link to the video here.

“In 2009 Ben Folds released a greatest hits record, of sorts, sung entirely in a cappella. The album, Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! features two tracks performed by Ben himself, but the bulk of the material was performed by various university a cappella groups.” You can catch a documentary version above.

Leonard Susskind, a Stanford physicist who helped conceptualize string theory and has waged a long-running “Black Hole War” with Stephen Hawking (see his newish book on that subject) offers a course on Cosmology, which studies the origin and development of the universe. It’s actually the fifth course in a larger six-course introduction to Modern Physics (find them in our collection of Free University Courses). But the course stands on its own, and, along the way, it takes a close look at the Big Bang, the geometry of space-time, inflationary cosmology, dark matter, dark energy, the string theory landscape and more. You can access the full course on YouTube here, and also on iTunes here. Finally, the course comes out of Stanford’s Continuing Studies program, which brings engaging classes to the broader public. If you happen to live in the San Francisco Bay Area (0r want to take top-notch writing courses online), give the program a look.

PS We’ve got a new custom url for our Facebook page. Check us out at facebook.com/openculture.

IFC.com (the web site of the Independent Film Channel) has worked up a list of the all-time best movie trailers — or, as they put it, the films that promote the actual films. The list cuts across different eras and features many older classics (Psycho, Citizen Kane, Dr. Strangelove, etc.) as well as more recent films. Above, we’ve included their number one pick, Ridley Scott’s Alien. And below, we’ve added IFC’s description, which sets the stage for viewing the trailer:

Masterfully cut and artful to boot, the first glimpse of Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-horror classic features not a single word of dialogue and begins in abstract: a ride through a star field, a hover above some sort of moon rock, blocky shapes that slowly materialize into the letters of the title, craggy landscape traversed with a macro lens before pulling back to clarify what lies on that cratered surface — the egg of an alien life form. It cracks open, releasing an ill-omened white light and the high-pitched alarm (an animalistic squeal?) that unnerves throughout the rest of the trailer.

According to Netflix’s CEO, the DVD is done, and the future is all about streaming movies online. (Read the Wall Street Journal piece on that.) This segues nicely to a list published by Salon last week, which features a series of web sites where you’ll find quality movies streamed online. Some of the services are free; others are not (The Auteurs, IndiePix). And some sites (Snagfilms) have already appeared in our Intelligent Video Collection, while others (Babelgum) were entirely new to me. Worth giving a look.

Yes, Jacko had undeniable talent. And, yes, Thriller drove more sales than any other album ever. But, Jacko released Thriller back in 1982 — roughly 27 years ago. And, what has he accomplished since? Creatively very little, and the personal story is very mixed. Despite that, his death is the big news story everywhere, both in America and abroad. The King of Pop is Dead. For the major media outlets, this is a much bigger story than what’s happening in Iran. Yesterday’s pop star is getting far more ink than the potential liberalization of the Middle East. That’s sad in concept, but even more so in practice. The success of Iran’s protest movement depends on keeping the world’s attention. Hence, the signs written in English. Today, that attention is somewhere else. We’re already saying, Neda who? Stick a fork in this protest movement. It’s feeling done. Sad how the trivial can change history.

PS A reader sent along an article that talks about the risk of the MJ story derailing the important media coverage of the Iran protests. It’s something, the article notes, that policy experts are apparently concerned about. Worth a read.

File under Literature & Life…

Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of France’s leading intellectuals (you can tell by the way he buttons his shirt) pays dramatic homage to the uprising in Iran. The rhythm of the speech is vaguely MLK’esque. But the content is distinctly French intello. (Somehow Michel Foucault gets worked into an analysis of what’s happening on the streets of Tehran.)

via TELOS

Looking to learn a new language this summer? Then give this list a good look. The folks at Universitiesandcolleges.org have created “The Master List of Free Language Learning Resources,” which pulls together materials found across a range of different media. Here, you’ll find podcasts, open courses, iphone apps, and more. And the list notably includes our ever-popular collection of Free Foreign Language Lesson Podcasts, which will teach you about 40 different languages. Just download the podcasts to your computer or mp3 player and you’ll be learning new languages on the go, at no cost.

Another helpful primer that does a good job of explaining what’s happening with the Iranian protests, who the cast of characters are, and where things might be headed. Produced by NPR’s Fresh Air, the interview features Karim Sadjadpour, a political analyst from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The conversation gets quite informative, especially during the second half. It runs 45 minutes in total. Listen here: mp3 - iTunes - Feed.

Also, for good measure, I’m throwing in a piece that Jon Stewart aired Monday night. As some of you may know, The Daily Show had a staff member (Jason Jones) go to Iran in recent weeks, and he happened to interview some progressive Iranian minds who have since been imprisoned. It’s rather timely and oddly insightful in its own way.

Steve Carson, one of the senior members of MIT’s OpenCourseWare team, has put together a handy list of educational materials that contextualizes what’s happening in Iran right now. The materials come from various opencourseware collections (actually the bulk are from MIT’s collection) and they’re organized by the following headings — Iranian History, Democracy & Political Theory, Women and Politics, and New Media and Politics. If the list is missing important items, please let Steve know. And if you’re familiar with an informative video or podcast (related to Iran) that would work well for this site, please feel free to send us a note. See email address above.

All credit to Jason Kottke on this one. Perfect for our readers. From the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents’ Dinner. Give it a little time. Here it goes:

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The Open Video Conference, which promotes free expression and innovation in online video (learn more about the mission here), went down on June 19 & 20 in NYC. And, Peter Kaufman reports, 700 people attended and it was all “nuts and wonderful.” You can find video goodness from the conference here.

For those interested in more video goodness, see our recent (and since updated) collection: Intelligent Video: The Top Cultural & Educational Video Sites

Andrew Sullivan continues to provide the most up-to-the-minute coverage of what’s happening inside Iran. Today, this page offers a running account of the Iranian government’s crackdown on the democratic movement . The details — the tactics of the government — are simply sickening. (If you can stomach it, here’s footage of two cold-blooded murders by the Bassij here and here. The clips are graphic, but there’s no way to sugar coat what’s happening there.) You should know what’s happening there, see how theocracy deals with peaceful protests, and make sure the rest of the world sees it too. Be informed. Spread the news. Keep shining a strong light on this. And may the protestors have the strength to tear down this regime.

If you’re looking to get more context for what’s happening right now in Iran, let me direct you to two pieces of media. First, you’ll find above a talk by Abbas Milani, the director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. It was given last August at Google’s HQ in Mountain View, CA, and it overviews how power is structured in Iran and what drives President Ahmadinejad and the ruling clerics. Then, about 15 minutes into the talk, Milani addresses the presidential election and underscores Ahmadinejad’s declining popularity and poor electoral chances. Milani also reflects on the emerging democratic movement and its ability to get traction. As you’ll see, many of his comments (democracy will come on its own — if we don’t start a war over nukes) are starting to look rather prophetic. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Next, you can listen to a talk recorded this morning, which brings together Milani, Juan Cole (the historian of the Middle East who writes the Informed Comment blog) and Scott Peterson (Istanbul bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor). This hour long conversation (MP3 - iTunes) delves into the election and its aftermath and examines what’s at stake for Iran, the Middle East and the US.

On Bloomsday (June 16), BoingBoing featured a rare audio recording of James Joyce reading from Finnegans Wake (mp3). It’s a bit intriguing to hear his voice and accent. Also, we came across another Joyce recording, where, this time, he’s reading Anna Livia Plurabelle, another section of the same novel. For kicks, you can catch an animated version of the same recording on YouTube here.

via Pratham Books

Voila, the 1899 precursor to this amazing 2009 bike stunt video originally found on the @courosa Twitter stream. And who can doubt that we’re making progress?

via Andrew Sullivan

Throughout this year, my program at Stanford has been celebrating its 20th anniversary, and we’ve put together some special courses for the occasion. This spring, we offered a class featuring some of the finest American historians in the country, and together, they looked back at “The American Founders and Their World.” (Get it free on iTunes here; sorry that it’s not also available via other means.) Directed by Jack Rakove (the Stanford historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Original Meanings), this short course brought to campus Gordon Wood (who received the Pulitzer Prize for The Radicalism of the American Revolution); Annette Gordon-Reed (who won the National Book Award for The Hemingses of Monticello); and Alan Taylor, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning William Cooper’s Town.

You can find this course listed in our large collection of Free University Courses, and below I have included a fuller course description that ran in our catalogues. Enjoy learning more about Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Washington, the Federalists, anti-Federalists and the rest:

By all accounts, popular interest in the American Revolutionary era has never been higher. Books on Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, and other founders roll off the presses, make the bestseller lists, and provide clear evidence that Americans remain deeply fascinated by the remarkable generation that secured independence, formed a national union, created the first modern system of political parties—and espoused ideals of liberty and equality while maintaining a system of racial slavery.

How should we think about the Founders and their legacy? How can we account for the emergence of this group of leaders in the provincial isolation of 18th-century British North America? To answer these questions, Continuing Studies invited Jack Rakove, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and W.R. Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford, to recruit an “A Team” of fellow scholars from across the country to discuss the individual lives and collective acts that turned the thirteen colonies into a national republic. Presenters will not lecture formally; instead, in each class meeting Professor Rakove will engage in conversation with his guests to explore their subject in dialogue.

When you’re reading The New York Times and stumble upon a word you don’t know, you can highlight it and the Times will give you the definition. Naturally, the Times keeps track of the definitions it provides. So what are the most commonly looked up words? You can find the top ten below. (Get a longer list here.) So, smart readers, did you know all of them?

1. sui generis
2. solipsistic
3. louche
4. laconic
5. saturnine
6. antediluvian
7. epistemological
8. shibboleths
9. penury
10. sumptuary

via @aknopf

Thanks to George Smyth of the One Minute How-To Podcast, I bring you this quick discussion of how to build an online author fan base. This is a quick breakdown of the method that’s worked for me. If you’re looking for more quick how-to’s, visit: www.oneminutehowto.com

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Back when I was at the now defunct Alliance for Lifelong Learning (an e-learning venture put together by Stanford, Oxford and Yale), we did a religion course that keyed off of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. No one thought highly of the book, but the dean of the Yale Divinity School believed that the book’s popularity (and the questions it raised about religion) created a good teaching opportunity. And he was right. Fast forward several years, and we now have Dan Brown’s other book, Angels & Demons, getting released as a major film too. So, why not use this as an occasion to talk about the science invoked by the film? UC Berkeley has done just that. (Watch here). And so has Carnegie Mellon. CM prefaces the video featured above as follows: 

Could you really destroy the Vatican using a small amount of antimatter made in the Large Hadron Collider? Thats the question Carnegie Mellons Manfred Paulini seeks to answer in the lecture Angels and Demons: The Science Revealed. Dr. Paulini, an experimental particle physicist and member of the CMS experiment at CERNs Large Hadron Collider, discusses the science facts and fiction in the movie Angels and Demons, based on Dan Browns best-selling novel.

Dr. Paulini talks about the physics at the heart of Angels and Demons, which focuses on what happens when matter and antimatter meet. The absence of practically any antimatter in the universe is crucial to our existence, and understanding that absence is one of the big challenges of particle physics.