Video review: nuclear series 3

These two videos show just how much taxpayers money was around for war research.

IBM and Bell (AT&T) got in on the action. In many cases, the rate of return on investment in war industries became too good to resist. Many companies that started out as manufacturers of civilian goods soon became full time defence contractors. An example of this is collins radio. The military-industrial complex was born.

A happy little missile. For a happy little war.

Here is a cartoon that explains how guidance systems for missiles work. Why a cartoon? I hope this wasn't for showing in a school classroom.

a missile named mac-bell telephone (from 1962)

IBM and militarism

on guard SAGE (1956)

Note the first few lines about protecting resources, and showing an example of "resources" children, as in future workers. We see the corporate mentality of this film.

This movie is interesting in how government can spend a huge amount of resources on military technology and also as a snapshot of the latest and greatest in computers in 1956. Remember a laptop one uses to play war simulation games today is more powerful than the machine shown here. But the SAGE is as big a humvee, if not as big as a parking lot of humvees, and probably consumed as much power.

Can we spend resources to create green technologies?

As far as post war investment in education is concerned, that came partly in response to Sputnik in 1957. Fearing falling behind in the space race, and especially what that meant for the ballistic missile arms race, the American government became concerned in a perceived lack of engineers and physicists. More emphasis in math and science became the call in children's education.

There was even a National Defense Student Loan program, and those with loans under the program were required to "complete an affidavit disclaiming belief in the overthrow of the U.S. government." -wikipedia

So education can and is very politicized.

Video review-nuclear series 2

operation cue 1964 revision

Operation Teapot, was named "Operation Cue" for this film and most recently, elements of it were used in the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Watch for the refrigerator.

A review of this short film points out that it was "... hilarious that the male narrator would ... narrate the piece, and the woman would come on with silly female asides as 'being a mother and a house wife, I was quite interested about the food tests". Along with stating that there is a "simultaneously calming and menacing tone of the film", reviews shows that this film is a product of cold war propaganda and a male dominated society of 1955.

They seemed well prepared for nuclear war, but how about Hurricane Katrina?

the house in the middle (1954)

This film is produced by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. This film's goal is to scare us into painting. And to buy more paint. How low can one go to sell a product?

Among reviews for this film include such quips as:

• Just keep a clean, well painted house, and remember to put a newspaper over your head when under the table."
• "If it takes an orderly house to survive a nuclear blast, looks like I'll be dead."
• "I am thinking that if the white paint is good to protect the house, why don't I just pour a bucket of white paint over my head???... the answer to continuing life as we know it is in a Jones-Blair paint can!"
• "An alternative title for this film might be "Dr Stangelove... Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Repainted My House Instead."

Bored and want to see other films related to this one ? An megaton of them exist at the prelinger archives.

Video review-imperialism series 1-cola

I didn't know that "sugar is a highly nutritious food"! This video is a good example of why corporations need to stay out of the classroom.



This is a fine example of Imperialism. Coca-Cola presents the Philippines as if it were a colonial possession and a market full of cola drinkers. The industrial processes are of interest. However that is not the main interest to this film. It is the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a Coca-Cola shareholder or board member. Packed with half truths and outright lies, this travelogue is actually funny to watch. Those workers just look so happy! Of course the anti-union death squads that are major parts of Coca-Cola's history are not mentioned.

Films such as this one were weapons used in the battle of ideas during the Cold War, promoting Capitalism, and by extension, consumerism. These days films such as this one have come to haunt those who have made them.

Boycott Coca-Cola. You can learn more at the Killer Coke website