Google video: from the ridiculous to the sublime

Google Video is a great place to find the worst/silliest/most pointless/most offensive/most fun video clips, such as this 22-second ode to a cat on ice ("But those fish are right there. Why can't I get them???"). But in a nod to Meaning and Purpose, Google and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration have launched a pilot program to make NARA's video holdings available free. There's some really interesting stuff here: the newsreel showing the soldiers raising the flag over Iwo Jima, motion picture clips depicting the history of space flight, a 1933 film on "Rebuilding Indian Country" (love the sound track on that last one).

But wait, there's already a good dose of interesting documentary history scattered around the rest of the Google Video warehouse. Check out this TV commercial for what used to be the latest technology. Another case for why "recreational" web use shouldn't be prohibited in schools.