January 2009 Archives

Stacy Boots and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Former Under Secretary of Homeland Security of Science and Technology Jay Cohen to a talk about, among other things, his job at Homeland Security, the risks that we face as a country and about the Nat Geo Channel documentary High Tech-Terror that was filmed along side members of Homeland Security. Take a listen...

On February 8th, beginning at 7p e/p, I'll be gathering scholars, professors, and theologians to talk about the topic of evolution and its importance in today's society right here on the Inside NGC Blog. We will be discussing not only the topic, but also the progression of the theory, the role it currently has in science and its role in teaching science to students.

Now I understand that there is some controversy surrounding this topic, and that's ok. We welcome all participation in this discussion, so please think of the topic and submit a question to us.

Please join us in what should be an interesting and enlightening conversation. Submit a question, or for you passionate types, comment here for the chance for it to be responded to by these experts on the night of February 8th.

A blog not your thing? Start the conversation before it starts in our Evolution Forum

By the way its Charles Darwin's 200th birthday on February 12th.  For more on Evolution you can also check out PBS' documentary Evolution

Paper Planes are as fun as ever. And no i'm not talking about the ones that M.I.A. sings about on the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. I'm talking about the ones we all used to build as kids. The ones that would make your teacher's face redder than a marachino cherry.

Now is your chance to re-visit those wonder years like Kevin Arnold.  Build your own detailed paper model or for the arts-and-crafts-inept, (such as myself), build the much simpler version of the classic model.

Click for a printer-ready version:

- Detailed Model

- Classic Model

For more information go On Board Air Force One

So admittedly, I'm obsessed with our parent network FOX's show Bones.

I was thrilled when our very own Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, got to assist Brennan and Booth in solving a case in the episode "The Finger in the Nest"!

In this week's upcoming episode Thursday, the remains of conjoined twins are found! This is one phenomenon that I've learned a lot about from our own shows "Science of Conjoined Twins" and "The Girl With Eight Limbs". It's fascinating to learn about the science behind why two human beings develop and in some cases become literally inseparable. I'm excited to see if that science plays a role in the solving of this upcoming case, and maybe with the extra knowledge I have from watching these shows, I'll even figure out the mystery before Brennan and Booth!

Rob Kerr
Producer - World's Toughest Fixes

The 38 ton engine was our first WTF shoot and really set the tone for the rest of the series. We headed out into the gulf of Mexico by chopper... cameraman, sound recordist, safety diver, producer, associate producer, and of course Sean - our brand new host (who had never been in front of the camera) and landed on the DCV Balder. The Balder is this huge industrial vessel. Everything about it is massive. Its deck is about two football fields in size, and its completely overshadowed by two gigantic cranes that seem to be working 24/7. The fix was a routine thruster replacement. The Balder has seven huge 38 ton thrusters that provide the vessels power. And they're taken out and given a complete overhaul on a regular basis.

It was only when we had a look around the Balder that the scope of the story struck me... and the dangers. The actual thruster exchange was daunting. The operation required the vessel's entire propulsion system to be shut down - always a risky thing for a vessel, but particularly in the high traffic area of the Gulf. A team of engineers had to disconnect the thruster from inside the Balder's hull, a job that was a huge challenge in itself. A team of industrial divers had to connect the crane to the thruster and monitor the entire operation from sixty feet down. And another vessel had to pull alongside, standing with the replacement thruster, also serving as a landing post for our old thruster.

Sean Riley
Host - World's Toughest Fixes

The 38 ton engine was a bit freaky for a bunch of reasons.

Here I was about a month after answering National Geographic's ad on Craigslist.... flying out with a bunch of people I'd just barely met, with a ton of gear, headed to an enormous floating crane ship out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

And this was my first shoot! I'd never been in front of the camera before - well, at least not a real camera. I had no idea know what to expect. What sold me on the gig to be host of World's Toughest Fixes was the idea of seeing these amazing projects in extreme conditions.

The 38 ton engine story had it all. I mean how many people on the planet ever get the chance to see something as crazy as a mid ocean "Thruster" swap? This project involved industrial diving - in very murky water about sixty feet down. At night.

April 19th. It's a date that's never really held any great significance for me. In fact, as our video crew gathered on the national mall that spring morning our first thought was to try and get some b-roll of tourists hanging out in the warm weather, walking their dogs and playing Frisbee in front of the Washington Monument. It was just like any other pleasant day in the nation's capital. But, as the police buses began arriving on the mall, and the officers took up their positions lining the streets in SWAT gear, the idyllic scene started taking on a menacing tone. April 19th, is the day before Hitler's birthday. Our camera crew was there that morning because we were doing a story exploring the causes of the rise in membership among neo-Nazi organizations. The police were there because a group of American Nazis were coming to town to celebrate the birth of their Fuhrer. They planned to use the occasion to protest immigration and what they called the "browning of America." Their message was a simple one. They believe America should be a nation for whites only. On this day, they planned to march from the Washington Monument to the steps of the U.S. Capital to shout their message of hate to the world.

"He looked me in the eye and said 'Somebody has to stand up to these thugs and tell them that their hate is not welcome here... no matter what the consequences.' "

In the end over a 1000 police showed up to protect just over two dozen Nazis freedom of speech. It is America after all, and everyone, even Nazis, are free to say what they want. But, the police were on hand to make certain the Nazis' violent rhetoric didn't spark violent action. Nazi marches had incited violence before.

Full Battle Rattle is the story of a village, Medina Wasl, perched on the brink of civil war. The outcome of this story - the fate of Medina Wasl - was not scripted. Lt. Col. McLaughlin and his soldiers could achieve victory and win the "hearts and minds" of the people, or they could lose, and send the town spiraling downward. It became apparent to us, as we edited the film, that the story of Medina Wasl was a striking allegory of the real Iraq War, mirroring nearly every phase of the conflict, from occupation, through the rise of the insurgency, collateral damage, reconstruction and civil war.

In August 2006, the war was going badly, but some, including President Bush and his war cabinet, remained optimistic. Would the fate of Medina Wasl foretell the future? Or, more modestly, yield curious insight into the military missteps and the cultural and religious differences that confound America's efforts in Iraq. We choose to let the viewer decide whether the outcome of the simulation (withdrawal) is an accurate indicator of the future.

The Army resisted our initial efforts to film inside the simulation. As independent documentary filmmakers, we were not affiliated with any broadcast network or news agency. After persisting for several months and demonstrating our professional qualifications, we were invited to visit the simulation for two days.

On this initial trip we visited Medina Wasl, one of several Iraqi villages in the simulation, and observed an Army Combat Brigade involved in a role-playing exercise. This was fascinating and utterly surreal. It looked like Iraq (desert). It felt like Iraq (120 degrees). The townsfolk were all Arabic speaking Iraqis. Yet the village looked like a B movie set. Odder still were the American soldiers cast as insurgents lounging around town in dishdashah - a form of traditional Iraqi dress - BBQing hamburgers as if they were relaxing on the front porch of a fraternity house.

"Our movements were never monitored, our questions were never screened, and we were able to move freely within the simulated battle-space."

It was like walking into the middle of the world's largest, most expensive, most complex stage play. And it was immediately apparent to us that the play itself - as enacted by soldiers and role players - could serve the film in two ways: as both the dramatic framework of our story; and as a distorted mirror reflecting - in strange but revealing ways - the many challenges facing America in Iraq.

In California's Mojave Desert, the US Army has built a "virtual Iraq" to train Army recruits in the act of urban warfare. The camp is populated hundreds of Iraqi role-players and its purpose to simulate an experience almost identical to what new recruits would face heading in to battle in Iraq.

Airing on Monday, January 12 at 9p et/pt, Full Battle Rattle follows an Army Battalion through the training simulation, as they attempt to quell an insurgency and prepare to head in to the war zone. Over the next week, the Inside NGC Blog will be taking you inside the filmmaking process and what it took to complete an exhausting look at a revolutionary wartime tactic.

In May 2006, we asked the Army for permission to film inside their Iraq Simulation in California's Mojave Desert. Formally known as the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, the simulation had been the subject of several news reports. These reports piqued our curiosity.

We learned that the Army had - in order to adapt to the changing nature of the war in Iraq - constructed a number of mock villages in Mojave Desert and populated them with Iraqi American role players. Combat Brigades deploying to Iraq were sent through the simulation for two weeks and subjected to an immersive training exercise designed to prepare them for the military, cultural, political and humanitarian challenges awaiting them in the real war zone.

On one hand, this effort struck us as a perfectly sensible. On the other hand, there was something disturbingly odd about the exercise. Could war really be simulated? Who were these Iraqi American role players who lived for weeks inside the simulation? Aspects of the simulation seemed utterly fake. Yet the stakes were very real. Soldiers and civilians were dying in Iraq. Could this training save lives? This tension - between the fake and the real - is what drew us to the story as documentary filmmakers. It was our hope that by living inside the simulation we might answer these questions and gain valuable insight into the war itself.

Emboldened by the belief that the best films about war are often the least conventional (Altman's Mash, Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, David O. Russell's Three Kings, Peter Davis's Heart and Minds), we approached the Army about access.