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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The lost cause 


This is the most interesting thing I've seen on YouTube in a month of Sundays, the American Civil War in four minutes.




Looked at this way, the Confederacy seems almost alive, an organism fighting for survival against another pounding it, strangling it, finally killing it.

UPDATE: YouTube is taking it down soon, and has now forbidden embeds. Click here, and do so quickly.


8 Comments:

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed May 23, 08:55:00 AM:

Very cool visual Cliff's Notes.

Any idea how to save these to disk?  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed May 23, 12:29:00 PM:

Anonymous, there are tons of download software you can use, I've been using Download Helper a Firefox extension and it has done the job.
As for the video, it seems disrespectful the way the comments at youtube devolved into a flame war and unfortunately the guy is thinking of removing the video because of the hateful words exchanged.  

By Blogger Miss Ladybug, at Wed May 23, 03:01:00 PM:

I sent the link to my dad, who teaches U.S. history at a local high school.  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed May 23, 05:13:00 PM:

If you go to The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum site at: http://www.lincolnlibraryandmuseum.com/m5.htm
you will see where this great educational multimedia presentation came from.

Even more interesting at the same site: http://www.lincolnlibraryandmuseum.com/m6.htm
is an exhibit called "The Whispering Room" with the text: "Even before they moved into the White House, the Lincolns were criticized and attacked from all sides – personally and politically. They were seen as uncouth Westerners who had no business being in Washington. Lincoln was elected with only 39% of the vote and generally remained unpopular throughout his presidency."

Sound familiar?

After hearing the "Bumper Sticker" comments today from the most opportunistic (IMHO) Democratic candidate, John Edwards, perhaps he should be given a personal tour of The Whispering Room.

By my calculation he could visit the museum 53 times ($7.50 per admission), for the price of one haircut.  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed May 23, 05:38:00 PM:

A quick correction for accuracy, out of respect for Shelby Foote, the exhibit is "Whispering Gallery," not "The Whispering Room."

Also, to learn more about a great man who held an office that Mr. Edwards will never occupy (IMHO again), a generous donor could sponsor 1 adult and 112 children (ages 5-15 at $3.50 admission) for the cost of "One Edwards Haircut." May I write the first check?  

By Blogger Snake Oil Baron, at Wed May 23, 09:27:00 PM:

I wish this would not be taken down but you can see where someone probably put a lot of time into making it. It is a very good tool for capturing interest in the period. I wish there would be some coordinated effort between national governments and corporate sponsors to create compelling yet free educational resources for history, science, math economics and such. (No, Wikipedia does not count.)  

By Blogger Hector Owen, at Fri May 25, 06:05:00 AM:

Still available at Yikers, without the annoying Youtube watermark. (The rest of the site surrounding the video is not entirely SFW)  

By Blogger Hector Owen, at Sun May 27, 05:07:00 PM:

Gone from there too, now.  

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