Speeches by Obama and McCain on Election Night

I am an avid watcher of politics, and I was particularly excited this election cycle because I felt like I could vote for either of the candidates for President (unlike the last election where I felt like I couldn't vote for either). After two long years of watching the campaign I cast my vote proudly for Barack Obama. The night of the election both candidates gave inspiring speeches about unity and progress. In case you missed them, I have embedded them below:


Barack Obama



John McCain

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I recently came across a pretty cool little video on youtube that gives a summary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its kind of sad to think that there are many places throughout the world where these these basic rights can't be guaranteed. You could even argue that here in the United States some of these rights are violated.

Anyway, for those that are unfamiliar with it, here is the full text at the United Nation's website:

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

And here is the video I mentioned before:

Martin Luther King Jr.

I ran across a video of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech on youtube today, and I have to say I never get tired of it. I am just amazed and awed at the strength and drive of the people in the Civil Rights Movement, in the face of such adversity.

Noah Kalina - Picture a Day for Six Years

I know Noah Kalina has been around for a while, but I just stumbled across him on YouTube the other day. I must admit that many years ago as a teenager, I wondered what it would be like to take a picture of yourself every day and then compare them to see the differences. Well turns out several people on the internet have done it. Noah wasn't the first, but he compiled a video available on YouTube that is much more moving than the rest:

His video strings his daily self-photographs over the period of six years and presents them in the space of 5ish minutes. His video is haunting and moving to the core. I found myself at first watching his his hair grow and suddenly shorten, also watching for stubble or a beard (which never quite materialized) - but finally, I found myself looking at his eyes. I kept wondering what events he had recorded in his life between each frame of the video. How had his personality changed? How had his knowledge increased? Had anything disturbing happened to him? And then of course these questions turned inward - what events had I witnessed over the course of the last six years? (Noah and I are roughly the same age).

Noah vows to continue his daily pics until the day he dies. He has reminded me to take advantage of each day of my life and live it to the fullest. He has also reminded me that we are all going through the same experience and all trying to make sense of it.

Noah's wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Kalina

Noah's video: