This Article discusses the artic facility that has the potential of holding up to 100million seeds from all around the world. This...is an interesting topic...they are holidng the seeds in the artic incase of global warming or nuclear fallout. This way, the seeds will be protected for up to 200 years. The facility looks like something out of the x-files. This bunker thing is inthe middle of a mountain in the arctic circle, this ensures that the seeds will remain naturally frozen. There was a comment section at the end of the article, and it asks "is this a good idea?" First of all, who is keeping the seeds protected, and will this influence any political confrontations if something were to happen. This one place holds 100 million seeds from nearly every nation on the earth. Would fighting erupt if we really needed those seeds. This may be more trouble than it is worth. And...If we see that it is impossible to make these crops naturally, how would we be able to grow them? If our Climate isn't able to sustain the life of these crops, what good is a vault of them in the artic circle?
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2210505/arctic-vault-opens-doors-100
Robert Jaques
An "unprecedented effort" to protect global agricultural diversity has led to the creation of a facility 130m inside a frozen Arctic mountain that can store 100 million seeds.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds from over 100 countries.
The deposits range from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea and sorghum, to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley and potato.
Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg unlocked the vault at the opening ceremony and placed the first seeds in the vault together with African Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai.
José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and dignitaries and agriculture experts from around the globe also deposited seeds during the ceremony.
Built near Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, the vault contains 268,000 distinct samples of seeds, each originating from a different farm or field. Each sample may contain hundreds or more seeds.
The shipments of seeds secured in the vault today weighed approximately 10 tonnes and filled 676 boxes.
The vault is part of an effort to protect the planet's rapidly diminishing biodiversity.
"This 'fail-safe' facility deep in the frozen rock of an Arctic mountain will secure for centuries, or longer, hundreds of millions of seeds representing every important crop variety available in the world today," the project's creators stated.
"The vault could prove indispensable for restarting agricultural production at the regional or global level in the wake of a natural or man-made disaster."
Contingencies for climate change have been worked into the plan, and the vault rooms will remain naturally frozen for up to 200 years even in the worst case of global warming.
"Climate change and other forces threaten the diversity of life that sustains our planet," said Stoltenberg.
"Norway is proud to be playing a central role in creating a facility capable of protecting the fundamental building blocks of human civilization."
Wag the Dog is a film on the influence of a secret political strategist/consultant on a presidential election.
In order to put a halt on a sex scandal in the White House (sound familiar?) and save the presidents chances of re-election, the White House hires a secret political strategist/consultant to rectify the situation. The consultant, Conrad Brean (Robert DiNero) decides that in order for the president to be re-elected, they need to create a fake war to rally Americans behind the president and America. The team went as far as to "film" an "Albanian attack."
There was a particular emphasis on music in this film. They create a song (in the movie) that is full of freedom "bullpuppies." This song was supposed to get Americans to be all patriotic and stuff. Then, when the CIA ends the war on Albania prematurely, the political team creates a song that becomes the theme song of a "soldier left behind." The music in that was created in the movie is used to influence the public. They make a song called "Good 'Ol Shoe" to symbolize the soldier left behind. This influences the public to put all these shoes into the trees around the country.
Camera angles are used in this film to empower the people the camera is looking at. When we look up at Robert DiNero's character before he has the film producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) killed, wensee that ultimately, Conrad Brean is the all powerful influence on everything political. The angle looks up at Brean through the window.
