Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Below is a brief video history highlighting the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall.
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Construction of the Berlin Wall began in August 1961. The wall was fully erected and patrolled by November of the same year.
The Berlin Wall separated East Berlin and West Berlin for 28 years. During that time there were around 5,000 successful escapes to West Berlin.
In December 1964, Communist Berlin briefly opened the Berlin Wall to allow families to visit during the holiday season. Over one million West Berlin citizens visited East Berlin during the 17-day pass agreement.
November 9, 1989 is considered the day the Wall fell even though the wall was still patrolled for some time after, though with decreasing intensity. June 13, 1990 marked the beginning of the official dismantling of the wall.
In November 1989, an East Berliner states that it is the first time he saw the Berlin Wall from the West Side.
New York’s Guggenheim Museum first opened its doors on October 21, 1959. To celebrate their anniversary, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed museum offered free admission today.
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The Guggenheim Museum was Frank Lloyd Wright’s last major architectural work.
When the museum first opened, the architecture received criticism as some thought the building itself would distract from the art.
The museum was registered as a National Historic Landmark on October 6, 2008. During 2008, 1.1 million people visited the Guggenheim.
Just announced today, Thought Equity Motion’s new strategic relationship with BBC Motion Gallery significantly expands Thought Equity Motion’s global presence and solidifies the company’s position as the world’s leading provider of motion content. Additionally, this agreement is a testament to our leading-edge technology and rights development expertise.
For more information, please refer to the press release.
Look out in the coming months for more news about our strategic relationship with the BBC—stay tuned!
President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Obama joins the ranks of remarkable world leaders and peace ambassadors including Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.
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President Barack Obama has been focused on mending strained relations between the United States and the rest of the world.
In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end racial segregation and discrimination through non-violent means.
In 1979, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian efforts and advocacy of the poor and helpless. A year later, she won the Baharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor, for her humanitarian work.
In 1993, Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in response to his work to end apartheid. Mandela was elected President of South Africa a year later. For his work, Mandela has received more than one hundred awards over four decades.
This week, two powerful earthquakes hit Indonesia within a matter of days. The death toll has risen above 500 and thousands more are feared dead under collapsed buildings. Officials fear when all is said and done, the death toll will be in the thousands.
The latest earthquake was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and tsunami. Below is video of the subsequent damage and recovery efforts.
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The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and resulting tsunami killed 229,866, making it the 2nd most deadly earthquake in recorded history.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit by the earthquake, though a total of 11 countries were affected.
Families living in poor villages and shanty towns don’t have the money and resources to rebuild what little they had before a natural disaster.
After earthquakes, damage to infrastructure can make relief efforts even more difficult.
This week, it was announced by NASA that Arctic ice is melting at a quickening pace. Is this part of earth’s natural cycle or is this warming accelerated by human interference? Regardless of your beliefs on global warming, the footage below is concurrently beautiful and heartbreaking.
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Polar bears are a threatened species due to a loss of their sea ice habitat. As more ice melts, they are drowning because they are unable to swim the great distances between ice floes and land.
The melting along the edges of the ice sheets is accelerating, causing a cycle of further ice melting. The more the ice melts, the more water surrounds and eats away at the remaining ice.
New satellite information show that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are shrinking faster than scientists originally thought.
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On September 19, 1901, President William McKinley was laid to rest after being killed by an assassin’s bullet. The footage above is from his funeral procession, which is pretty remarkable considering it was filmed over 100 years ago.
Myles Brand passed away yesterday after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He worked in higher education for 35 years before he was appointed as NCAA President in 2002. Brand made an unequivocal impact on NCAA and collegiate sports with his focus on academics before athletics.
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While serving as President of Indiana University, Brand famously spoke of the need to focus on the mission of higher education. Above, Harvard University president Derek Bok talks about how student athletes put their sports over their academics.
Brand may be best known for firing Indiana University’s controversial men’s basketball coach Bob Knight in 2000. Above, Knight wins his 3rd NCAA Championship.
Under Brand’s tenure the NCAA Executive Committee put in place a practice of not conducting championships on campuses where the use of nicknames and mascots representing American Indians is considered hostile and abusive. Above, Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders at the 2001 basketball tournament.
This Saturday, September 12, Thought Equity Motion CEO Kevin Schaff will speak at IBC, the leading international forum for the electronic media industry. The conference attracts more than 1,000 exhibitors from 130+ countries, and covers everything related to content creation, management and delivery.
Kevin will participate in the panel “Archiving: A Perfect Storm?” and will discuss ways to unlock archives to create a richer broadband video experience. This blog, for instance, uses archival content to provide context to current news and events. See earlier blog posts for examples.
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