Charlottetown, PEI—Maritime Canada is the most impoverished area of the country. Most of the people here have seasonal work—fishing, agriculture, tourism—and spent the rest of the year figuring out how to scrape by.

I only knew Prince Edward Island from oysters and Anne of Green Gables (which, admittedly, I never finished). It is rolling red farmland dotted with Irving gas stations. The handmade sweaters at Northern Watters Knitwear run about $200—or, a quarter of the average monthly salary. The locals, many of whom work in the nearby French fry factory, worry about the possible closure of the government dialysis center and cutbacks in unemployment insurance.

These are the people who gave ten dollars to aid organizations after the Haiti earthquake, and they grumbled and shifted in their seats in St. Pauls’ Church as they watched the film. They wore windbreakers and shorts. Their idea of “cold” was clearly different than mine. I shivered in a wool sweater that a former nun made. I was staying at her small apartment, and she took pity on a first-timer’s visit and gave it to me. She also gave me a small jar of wine jelly (“I don’t drink wine,” she said, “I eat it”) and introduced me to a hermit—a real hermit—who broke his solitude to come to the screening.

I was talking to the hermit when a man persistently tugged at my sleeve. He talked very fast. His name was Leo, he was 60, and he was a “people-first person,” he said. He had spent his life in foster homes. Now he was an old man, in the poorest area of the country, suspicious of dogs (“some dogs aren’t very nice”) but less so of people. He asked the most questions after the film.

The former nun poured me a giant wine glassful of Bailey’s Irish Cream later that night. I began wondering a lot about former nuns. And the next day, when I left at five in the morning to head out to New Brunswick, I would find out that Leo, living alone in a boarding house, had bought a copy of the film. It would take him two months on his limited income to buy it, but once he did, he told the organizers, he wanted to donate it to the local library. “So as many people as possible can see it,” he said.

Ian Birrell wrote this article on the Haiti relief effort.

Excerpt:

“The reality is rather different — and shines a stark light on the assumptions, arrogance and deficiencies of the ever-growing global relief industry. As promises were broken, mistakes were made and money was wasted, prices of food and basic supplies for local people soared, sanitation deteriorated, there was less safe water to drink and well-meaning interventions made matters infinitely worse.”

Read the Full Article!

It has been two years since the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.
Maybe you gave money.
Maybe you volunteered time.
Maybe you expected more than this…

Help spread the word and contact your local public broadcasting stations. You need to know what’s happening in Haiti! You can help schedule a broadcast of “Haiti: Where did the money go?” on WNET (New York), WETA (Washington), WGBH (Boston), WTTW (Chicago), WGPB (Atlanta) & KQED (San Francisco)

The New York Times published an article on Haiti’s slow recover and points to the commission created to help rebuild and create sustainable programs.The New York Times recently published an article on Haiti’s slow recovery and points to the commission created to help the country rebuild and create sustainable job programs. A United Nations analysis showed that while many donor nations have been generous–particularly the United States, Brazil, Canada, Spain and France–almost all the money has gone to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)and private contractors.

This is not how aid works only in Haiti. The same situation has happened in disaster zones all over the world, which is just one reason why donations don’t always reach the intended destination.

We urge you to follow your donations that you give to relief efforts, and what they are used for. Read more about how you can hold NGO’s accountable and what political movements surrounding relief efforts.

In the fourth episode of our new series “The Zeroes,” it’s all about volatility.

From the markets to–yes–the boxing ring, traders bet on volatility in a way that “was clearly delusional.” If you’ve ever wanted to see a couple of traders literally beating each other’s brains out, here’s your chance:

To really understand why Wall Street went bonkers in the early 2000s, it helps to understand…men.

A specific type, to be exact. The “alpha male” led to a new saying: “alpha is the currency.” Alpha firms, alpha deals. You get the idea. In the third episode of our series, “The Zeroes,” we delve into the mindset–and what happened to the people covering the industry at Trader Monthly as the magazine began to run out of money.

And here is the seduction episode of our five-part series, “The Zeroes.”

It’s easy to say now that the culture of consumptive mayhem that exploded with the markets was all about greed. But as you’ll see, when 28-year-olds start making $10 million, they act…like 28-year-olds making $10 million a year. And the people watching from the sidelines caught a few crumbs, too.

We wanted to know what made smart people, people who should have known better, buy into the financial madness that turned a staid industry into an orgy.

There are a lot of books and movies out there that beautifully describe the mechanics and motivations of the big players. But what about the traders themselves? Why did those guys believe what they were doing was right?

We turned to the cautionary tale of Randall Lane, former editor in chief of Trader Monthly (now, he’s got a nifty new job), whose book The Zeroes is the basis for our new five-part series.

As producer Ivan Weiss found out, the good times were, well, pretty damn good.

A Decade of Insanity

BROOKLYN, NY—Film at 11 TV, a company based in Brooklyn, NY that produces video news features, documentaries and weekly series for multiple platforms has partnered with Irvine-based media company, KoldCast Entertainment Media, to distribute its new documentary program “The Zeroes,” which will be featured on the KoldCast TV network beginning today, Wednesday, October 12, 2011.

“Our partnership with KoldCast is an important step in licensing our content around the globe,” said Edward Head, Senior VP, Business Development.  “We are excited to be one of the first documentary programs to be featured as KoldCast expands its original programming to documentaries and short films.”

“The Zeroes” is a fresh examination of the 2008 financial collapse from the perspective of a key witness who says he should have known better–Randall Lane, then the founder and editor-in-chief of Trader Monthly and currently editor of Forbes Magazine. Why did smart people get sucked into the financial bubble? Through footage from trader parties, boxing matches, interviews with the players themselves as well as their psychics and therapists, we see how risk came to be rewarded, and how a veteran financial and political editor like Lane got caught up in it.

But Lane made a mistake that they didn’t – instead of using other people’s money like Wall Street did, Lane used his own…and lost. Summing up the situation, Lane says, “When the figures were tallied at the end of 2009, there would be zero increase in household net worth for the decade. Zero net job creation, zero median income growth, zero stock market appreciation.”

“I think this story is even more relevant and important now than when I wrote the book.” – Randall Lane, Editor of Forbes.

“Why did smart people suspend logic like that in 2008? When I saw some of the footage of the parties they went to, the lifestyle they led, it was easy to see why,” said producer Ivan Weiss. “And it’s easy to see why it could happen again.”

“Given the Occupy Wall Street movement, which started in Manhattan, the timing could not be better to share the story of “The Zeroes” using a global internet based platform,” said Edward Head.

Watch Episode 1 of the five-part documentary series “The Zeroes”: http://onkc.tv/tz1

Note: News media download link to 30-second excerpt from “The Zeroes”: http://onkc.tv/tz2

Film at 11 TV is a media company based in New York that produces video news features, documentaries and weekly series for multiple platforms, focusing on keeping the audience ahead of the news narrative. Bullshit-Free Since 2008 (the tagline suggested by the company’s Facebook community), Film@11’s news is cheeky and irreverent but non-partisan, smart.

FOR ALL MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:

Jennie Walker, VP Business Development, Film at 11 TV

Jennie.walker@filmat11.tv

MEDIA CONTACT – KOLDCAST TV:

KoldCast Entertainment Media, LLC

Mediainquiries@koldcast.TV

When the East Coast sweltered last summer (remember last summer–it was just as hot as this one), we checked in with David Easterling of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. For those of you thinking that a Europe-size hurricane like Irene is an unusual event, we thought we’d bring back this little item for you.

Because according to Easterling, dramatic weather like major heat waves or hurricanes in odd places is going to become more frequent as the world’s weather changes.