The Space Shuttle: A Horizon Guide

Watch The Space Shuttle: A Horizon Guide

This one is about the space shuttle (there are a few of them). Highlights the history, different missions etc... There were two major disasters in the shuttles as well, which are dissected.

Oh and there's a sick part about the launch of the Hubble telescope, which almost ends in failure. Here is the writeup from the original website:

In 2011, after more than 30 years of service, America’s space shuttle Discovery will take to the skies for the last time. Its story has been characterized by incredible triumphs, but blighted by devastating tragedies – and the BBC and Horizon have chronicled every step of its career.

This unique and poignant Horizon Guide brings together coverage from three decades of programmes to present a biography of the shuttle and to ask what its legacy will be. Will it be remembered as an impressive chapter in human space exploration, or as a fatally flawed white elephant?

7.7/10

Deepwater Disaster: The Untold Story

This is a tight one about the 87 day battle to close the burst BP pipeline at the bottom of the god damn ocean. I never realized how many different things they tried... So many failures. Unfortunately it turned into one of the worst environmental disaster in US history.

It doesn't so much investigate BPs mistakes as it does document the events that unfolded after the pipeline burst. Decent.

7.5/10

In the Shadow of the Moon

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In the 1960s, US President John F. Kennedy proposed landing a man on the moon before the decade was finished. This film has interviews with most of the surviving astronauts of the Apollo program who were making ready to make that great voyage with an army of experts determined to make the endeavor possible. Through training, tragedy and triumph, we follow the greatest moments of one of Humanity's great achievements.

This is some high quality shit. They show, in depth, the personal triumphs and amazing moments that the astronauts went though while their asses were in space.

Seems like a lot of them didn't know 100% what they were doing.

Most of them were test pilots. Buzz Aldrin is clearly a thug.

8.8/10

Mars Rising

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This episode sets the stage for the entire human mission to Mars project, exploring a future Mars city, the physical and mental challenges of the trip to Mars and international efforts to reach the red planet.

All I have to say is this: holy shit this is gonna be hard as fuck, and expensive. I like this kind of stuff though because it stretches the imagination.

7.6/10

A: Head B: Body

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It sounds like bullshit but head transplants are a real thing. First, they take a monkey brain and keep it alive outside of the body for 12 hours by hooking it up to machines. Then, they figure they can chop off a monkey's head and pop it onto another monkey's body. Sew that shit back together and the monkey is good to go. The only problem is they can't hook the spinal cord up so the monkey is crippled. There's video of that shit and other questionable shit like multi-headed dogs. This is only 15 min,

9/10

The Ape that Took Over the World

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For years scientists searched for the first key characteristic which had allowed us to make the huge leap from ape to amazing human. At first they thought the development of our big brains was decisive. They even found the fossil that seemed to prove it, until along came the famous three million year old fossilised skeleton Lucy. This quashed the big brain theory, because here was a human ancestor which clearly walked on two legs, just as we do, but had the tiny brain of an ape. It seemed that the development of walking on two legs (bipedalism) was the first key human characteristic, the thing that set us on the road to becoming human.

Lucy soon became even more important. She seemed to defy the laws of evolution. Normally a major evolutionary adaptation like walking on two legs is followed by what scientists call an adaptive radiation. Many related species quickly evolve from an initial evolutionary innovation. It gives a very bushy evolutionary family tree, with many different but related species. Scientists knew that the human branch of the family tree had begun about six or seven million years ago, when the planet of the apes ended. And yet there was no sign of an adaptive radiation. The family tree showed just a straight line leading from the planet of the apes through to Lucy.

7.7/10

Dr. Money and the Boy with no Penis

Watch Dr. Money and the Boy with no Penis

This documentary is fucked. These twin boys went in for a standard circumcision and when the first one went in they decided to used an advanced electric circumcision machine. Bad call. The machine malfunctions over and over and burns off the kids penis. "It looked like a black pasta noodle" says the Mom.

You think thats fucked?

Well then they decide they should raise the boy as a girl because not having a penis would be too fucked. Well that totally backfires so now this kid is messed up.

He would't of been the cutest guy or girl anyways.

7/10

Killer Asteroids

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In the far corner of our solar system, orbiting quietly, lurks one of the biggest threats to the survival of the human species. Somewhere out there, there’s an asteroid with our name on it.

The Earth is under constant bombardment. Each year, many fragments of debris hit our planet. Fortunately for us, most are so small that they burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere.

However , there are hundreds of larger asteroids orbiting near the Earth. Many scientists now believe that one of these hit the Earth 65 million years ago, killing the dinosaurs, along with 90% of all life on the planet.

What is more, it is only a matter of time before the Earth is hit again. Experts warn that nuclear weapons might not destroy an approaching asteroid. But Jay Meloch thinks he can use the power of the Sun to nudge an asteroid away from the Earth.

Sick.

7.6/10

The Battle of Chernobyl

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This is an awesome one about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the Ukraine. Basically, this idiot wanted to do these tests at dangerously low power levels and fucked the whole thing up. More than 200 people died or were seriously injured by radiation exposure immediately after the explosion. 161,000 people had to be evacuated from a 30 kilometer radius of the reactor and 25,000 square km of land were contaminated. As time went on millions of people suffered radiation related health problems such as leukemia and thyroid cancer and around 4,000 people have died as a result of the long-term effects of the accident.

My heart goes out to the guys who had no idea how bad the radiation was and just started trying to clean up the place. Most of them died. Also, guys flying overhead in choppers that were trying to put out the fires died. If there is one thing that everyone should take away from this, it's that nuclear accidents are always human error, never the technology.

8.3/10

Visions of the Future

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Fascinating view of the future, hosted by Michio Kaku. This third installment is to me, the most interesting (nano-bots and futuristic material that bends light!) but i definitely recommend all three. This series showcases what some of the brightest minds predict our technology will bring us both physically and socially, while emphasizing that the most important question to ask is why and not how when dealing with emerging discoveries.

I give this film FOUR boners way up

8/10

Waste = Food

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Started watching this stuff after I watched "Food Inc." This one talks about two guys that basically rock the business world. Every day natural resources are being rapidly depleted, while production and consumption rise in nations like China and India. In response to this crisis, a new philosophy promoting a non-toxic or recyclable destiny for all man-made products has triggered a new industrial revolution among designers and manufacturers. Massive companies like Nike, Herman Miller and Ford are experimenting with completely clean and sustainable production methods and products following the concept that “waste=food.” Most businesses don't adopt these strategies because it cost too much money, and they're pussies. But these two guys do the same stuff and save the companies millions. 50 minutes, no problem.

7/10