Video: Old West Ghost Town Of Bodie, California

by Sean McLachlan on


Here’s a double dose of American nostalgia for you. Back in the 1950s, Maxwell House coffee had an “American Scene” series of TV shorts. This episode takes us to the ghost town of Bodie, California.

Gold was discovered in Bodie in 1859 and soon it became a boomtown with more than a dozen large mines and countless smaller claims. Some $80 million in gold was extracted from the surrounding hills, a huge amount for the 19th century.

Bodie is a popular destination these days and is lovingly preserved by the California State Parks. Back when Maxwell House filmed there, it was still not quite a ghost town. It had a population of nine, and one rugged miner was still looking for a big strike. The few diehards hoped that Bodie would become a boomtown once again. It was not to be.

So sit back and enjoy this show from the early days of television, talking about the early days of the Old West.

Video Of The Day: ‘Samsara’ Captures Imagery From Across The Globe

by Libby Zay on

Today’s Video of the Day is an exclusive clip from “Samsara,” a new movie featuring mesmerizing scenes from more than 20 countries. Filmed over a period of five years, the footage covers sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial sites and natural wonders, demonstrating that human’s life cycle mirrors that of the rest of the planet. The film’s title is a Sanskrit word meaning “the ever turning wheel of life.”

Although it is a documentary, Samsara has no dialogue or descriptive text. Instead, the viewer is encouraged to find inspiration from the images on screen and musical score in order to make their own interpretations. Director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson sought out to make the film in order to capture the “elusive current of interconnection that runs through our lives.” In other words, the filmmakers hoped to encapsulate the essence of a subject, not just its physical presence. They traveled across the globe in order to make the film, including the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, a village in Ethiopia, Chateau de Versailles in France, and a doll factory in Japan.

Samsara will be shown on the big screen in select cities starting Friday, August 24. For a full schedule of screenings in the United States, click here. You can also watch the theatrical trailer after the jump.

VietJet Air Fined For Having Bikini-Clad Dancers Onboard

by McLean Robbins on




The Vietnam-based VietJet Air has been fined by the Civil Aviation Administration after allowing bikini-clad models to perform a Hawaiian Dance Show while passengers watched and recorded, the New York Daily News reported.

The budget airline hired models to walk the aisles of the plane and hand out teddy bears to passengers en route to Nha Trang, a popular tourist destination.

The models were competing for a beauty pageant called “Miss Ngoi Sao,” according to local reports, and were clad only in tiny red bikinis.

The Daily News reports that the airline was fined 20 million Vietnamese dong, about $1,000 USD.

Thoughts? Would this fly in the U.S.?

Windowless Hybrid Wing Plane Successfully Tested By NASA And Boeing

by Jessica Festa on




Passengers may need to wave goodbye to window seats on the planes of the future. However, although your view may not be as nice, there will be many other perks. NASA and Boeing have teamed up and created a hybrid wing plane. A scale model of the X-48C plane prototype was successfully tested in California.

According to news.com.au, the windowless plane has been designed to be more fuel-efficient, seat more passengers and potentially bring down the cost of flights. Moreover, with only two engines and nose-shielding vertical fins, the aircraft is said to provide a quieter trip for fliers.

NASA’s goal is for the design to be universally adopted by the military and potentially consumer flights within the next two decades.

Zoo Chimpanzee Begs Man To Set Him Free

by Jessica Festa on




This video is a true testament to the brainpower of chimpanzees. At Welsh Mountain Zoo in the United Kingdom, one chimpanzee tried to convince visitor Alex Bailey of Manchester to set him free. In fact, the primate even demonstrated how to open the enclosure. The chimp first got the man’s attention by going up to the glass and showing him how to unlock the door trapping him inside. I’m not going to lie, I don’t think I would have been able to resist trying to help this persuasive little guy.

To see the encounter for yourself, check out the video above.