World's Most Interesting Places Vol. 8 | 60 Minutes Full Episodes
10 Nov 2024 (12 days ago)
Market Street (11s)
- A film made over a hundred years ago on Market Street, San Francisco's main thoroughfare, shows how people lived, traveled, and dressed in the city, also known as the Golden City of the American West (13s).
- The film is well-known to historians, but its creator and exact date of creation were unknown for a century, until now (31s).
- A San Francisco street car built in 1895, which still operates today, is a glimpse into the past and was used as a tour guide by Rick LaBure of the Market Street Railway, a nonprofit group that keeps the city's vintage trolleys rolling (1m2s).
- Market Street is 3 miles long, 120 ft wide, and has been the beating heart of the city since the days of the Gold Rush (1m32s).
- The original film started at 8th Street, where a camera mounted on the front of a cable car caught glimpses of fashion, faces, and city traffic, including horses, trolley cars, and motorcars (1m43s).
- People's reactions to the camera were a mix of shock and curiosity, as seen in their turning to look at the camera (2m6s).
- The cameraman had the good sense to simply turn the camera on and leave it on, capturing the chaos of city life (2m24s).
- Historians and film archivists, such as Rick Prelinger, have restored and preserved the film, which is now available in high-definition (4m8s).
- The film is an astonishing record of life in San Francisco over a century ago, showing people's daily lives, fashion, and transportation (3m54s).
- The film's quality is excellent, despite being over 100 years old, and its restoration has allowed it to be seen on television for the first time (4m10s).
- The film's ability to move audiences is due to its uncanny portrayal of a bygone era, almost like an alternate universe (4m31s).
- The film ends at the ferry building, where news boys can be seen looking at the camera and waving (5m1s).
- The movie "A Trip Down Market Street" is a small gem about San Francisco, but it's also a mystery that has been solved by movie historian David Kean, who spent days, weeks, and months researching the film at the San Francisco library (5m5s).
- Kean wasn't convinced by the Library of Congress's dating of the film to September 1905, as the film showed puddles from a recent rain, but the San Francisco newspapers from that time showed no rain at all (6m5s).
- Further clues came from the number of cars in the film, which suggested that the drivers were recruited to fill up the screen, and Kean was able to identify the registration numbers of some of the cars, including one belonging to chauffeur Jay Barry Anway (6m26s).
- Kean discovered that the car numbers were registered in January and February 1906, suggesting that the film was made sometime after that, and further research found that there was a significant amount of rain in mid-March to the end of the month, which would have accounted for the puddles in the film (6m58s).
- Kean concluded that the film was likely made in April 1906, just before the great San Francisco earthquake and fire that killed thousands of people (7m33s).
- The earthquake struck on April 18th, 1906, and the subsequent fire destroyed many buildings, including the offices of the Miles Brothers, who made the film (7m35s).
- Kean found a series of ads from the Miles Brothers in the New York Clipper, a showbiz paper, which suggested that the film was made just before the earthquake, and one ad from April 28th, 1906, stated that the film was the only pictures of any value ever made in San Francisco before the catastrophe (8m25s).
- The film takes on a powerful significance when viewed in the context of the impending disaster, and it's a poignant reminder of the people and buildings that were lost in the earthquake and fire (9m28s).
- The film barely survived the earthquake and fire, as it was shipped to New York by train just the night before the quake, and it's a testament to the Miles Brothers' work that it has been preserved for future generations (10m4s).
- Scott Miles and his uncle Dwayne are descendants of Earl Miles, one of the Miles Brothers, and they are proud of their relatives' work in preserving the film (10m15s).
- The Miles Brothers took a family album of still pictures and footage of the damage and city's refugees, but the existence of their Market Street film was unknown until David Kean uncovered the story (10m25s).
- David Kean, who produced information about the trip down Market Street, believes people are moved by it because they can see the people's vulnerability and not knowing what's about to hit them (10m48s).
- The man who figured out the story, David Kean, was armed with a computer, the internet, and an incurable curiosity (11m1s).
- David Kean runs a theater in Niles, California, devoted to silent films, where Charlie Chaplin made movies and watched them in the same room (11m23s).
- The film "A Trip Through Market Street" is a star attraction at the theater, capturing something that nobody today is seeing anymore and making a connection between young and old (11m41s).
- The film still amazes people today, with audiences reacting with amazement to it (11m52s).
- The Ferry Building in San Francisco Bay still welcomes travelers, and Market Street continues to thrive a century later (12m8s).
- Ever since the Communist Party won China's Civil War in 1949, Beijing has insisted that Taiwan is an integral part of the mainland, while the US has maintained a special relationship with Taiwan, a progressive and thriving democracy, while respecting the one-China policy (12m31s).
- Last year, President Biden vowed to protect Taiwan, but China has increased its pressure on the island, including launching its largest military drill ever after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan (13m0s).
- China subjected Taiwan to three days of continuous sorties with over 100 war planes, a barrage of ballistic missiles, and warships that encircled the island, delivering a message that China could choke Taiwan anytime it wanted to (13m29s).
- Admiral Lee Shi Min, who used to head Taiwan's Armed Forces, believes that China's military might and Taiwan's shrinking military make an invasion a matter of when, not if (13m53s).
- Admiral Lee complains that the Taiwanese government has been buying the wrong weapons, such as tanks and jets from the US, instead of smaller portable missiles like stingers and javelins (14m26s).
- Taiwan receives little US military aid, mostly buying its own weapons, but the manufacturers can't keep up with demand, and the Taiwanese have already purchased about $4 billion worth of weapons that they are just starting to receive (15m30s).
- Despite the threat from China, life in Taiwan goes on uninterrupted, with people in the capital going about their daily lives, and a majority of Taiwanese thinking that an invasion is unlikely anytime soon (16m9s).
- Wong Ding Yu, a parliamentarian from Southern Taiwan, says that a kind of war has already started, with China trying to annex Taiwan for the past 50 years through various means, including cyber attacks, with Taiwan experiencing 20 million cyber attacks per day (16m46s).
- Wong took a team to a high-security lab where engineers track the cyber attacks from China in real-time, showing the close proximity of the attacks to Taiwan (17m12s).
- China hopes to defeat Taiwan without firing a single shot, but Wong believes that Taiwan is proud of its small island and will defend it (17m34s).
- China is attempting to sabotage Taiwan's economy and intimidate powerful groups, such as farmers and fishermen, through export bans and other means, including a ban on grouper exports that devastated the fishing industry (17m40s).
- China also banned Taiwanese pineapples, causing significant losses for farmers, but the Taiwanese government responded with a "freedom pineapple" campaign to promote local consumption (18m33s).
- Taiwan is a leading exporter of bicycles, sports gear, and technology, including semiconductors, with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) being the world's primary source of thin microchips (19m17s).
- TSMC's founder, Morris Chang, believes that the company's importance to the global economy may serve as a "silicon shield" or "chip shield" to protect Taiwan from Chinese aggression (19m51s).
- However, Chang acknowledges that if China's priority is to nationalize TSMC, the company would likely be destroyed, and he fears that reunification would lead to his own demise (20m38s).
- Beijing has sanctioned Taiwanese politician Wong Yu-ting for his pro-independence views, and he passionately defends Taiwan's progressive democracy and commitment to clean elections and freedom of speech (21m39s).
- The Taiwanese people are aware of the threat from China, but many remain stoic, with some comparing the situation to global warming – a looming threat that people acknowledge but largely go about their daily lives despite (22m44s).
- A Taiwanese coffee vendor, Jack Yao, was inspired by the Ukrainians standing up to the Russians and decided to go to Ukraine to help with the fight, drawing a connection between the Ukrainian situation and Taiwan's own situation with China. (23m4s)
- Jack Yao believes that if he fights for Ukraine, others will come to fight for Taiwan, and the Ukrainians' actions have raised questions in Taiwan about whether they can also stand up to their menacing neighbor, China. (23m40s)
- In response, civil defense classes have started sprouting up in Taiwan, teaching people how to identify Chinese fake news during an attack and how to operate two-way radios in Morse code in case the internet is knocked out. (24m0s)
- Enoch Woo, a former Special Forces soldier, is running training workshops on how to treat bullet and shrapnel wounds, conduct search and rescue, and other skills. (24m24s)
- Admiral Lee is calling on the government to arm Taiwan citizens and create a volunteer force like Ukraine's, citing the Ukraine model as a symbol of deterrence and determination. (24m37s)
- Admiral Lee believes that Taiwanese people have the same kind of determination as Ukrainians, cherishing their democracy and way of life, and are willing to fight to protect it. (25m19s)
- Since the broadcast last fall, the length of mandatory military service in Taiwan has been extended from 4 months to a year. (25m40s)
Elephant Orphanage (25m57s)
- An orphanage in Kenya, outside Nairobi, is dedicated to caring for orphaned elephants whose parents have been killed by poachers, and it has been successful in nursing them back to health and happiness (26m0s).
- The orphanage, founded by Dame Daphne Sheldrick, has been working with elephants for 50 years and is currently caring for a record number of orphans due to the legalization of ivory sales in some African countries (26m54s).
- The orphanage's first priority is to find and feed the orphaned elephants, as they can only survive for a day or two without milk, and they have a special feeding regimen to help them recover (26m41s).
- Poachers are killing more and more elephants for their tusks, creating more orphans, and conservationists point out that the legalization of ivory sales has led to an increase in poaching (27m18s).
- The price paid to poachers for illegal ivory has increased from 300 Shillings a kilo to 5,000, and in Kenya, the number of elephants killed by poachers has increased by 45% this year alone (28m5s).
- The orphanage has a unique approach to caring for the elephants, with a focus on providing a nurturing environment, including a dining area, dormitories, and a playground (29m6s).
- The regimen at the orphanage is designed to provide the elephants with everything they need to thrive, and the staff are dedicated to giving them the care and attention they require (29m24s).
- Dame Daphne Sheldrick believes that elephants have a tremendous capacity for caring and forgiveness, and that they possess many of the best attributes of humans (29m42s).
- The orphanage is staffed by dedicated and caring individuals who are passionate about helping the elephants, and Dame Daphne Sheldrick believes that they are among the best people she has ever met (30m4s).
- At the elephant orphanage, each elephant has a dedicated keeper who spends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with the animal, feeding it every 3 hours and keeping it warm with a blanket at night (30m9s).
- The keepers are rotated periodically to prevent the elephants from becoming too attached to any one of them, and at dawn, the elephants are taken out to the bush to play and socialize (30m47s).
- On Fridays, the orphanage becomes a spa, where the keepers give the elephants coconut oil massages to mimic the care they would receive from their mothers (31m10s).
- Edwin Lucii is the head of the keepers and is known as the chief elephant man, and he oversees the care of the elephants, including Leni, the oldest female, and Makna, the youngest (31m30s).
- The elephants are orphans, often because their mothers have been killed by poachers, and they are brought to the orphanage, where they receive care and attention from the keepers (32m33s).
- The orphanage was founded by Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who has been running it for almost 30 years, and her mission is to save as many elephants as possible, although she loses half of the elephants that arrive due to pneumonia, trauma, or grief (33m4s).
- The elephants have excellent memories and can remember their mothers and their deaths, which can cause them to grieve and become distressed, and the keepers use tender loving care to try and turn their psyche around (33m37s).
- The elephants are in charge at the orphanage, and they decide whether or not to accept a new keeper, who is on probation for 3 months before being hired permanently (34m18s).
- At an elephant orphanage, the keepers teach the young elephants important survival skills, such as obeying one another and respecting others, as their mothers are not present to teach them (34m30s).
- The keepers also teach the elephants how to cover themselves in dust to prevent sunburn, using shovels until the elephants learn to do it themselves (34m51s).
- The orphanage has an infirmary where a doctor and keepers care for a sick elephant, but unfortunately, the elephant dies despite their best efforts (35m4s).
- The keepers and doctor have to cope with the emotional toll of losing an elephant, but they focus on caring for the other elephants and find joy in seeing them thrive (35m37s).
- The orphanage prepares the elephants for life in the wild, and one of the elephants, Impenzi, was released back into the wild and had a baby, but unfortunately, the baby was killed by a pride of lions (36m28s).
- Impenzi learned a lesson from the experience and when she had another baby, she made sure to keep the baby safe by surrounding it with other members of the family (37m27s).
- The keepers were happy to see Impenzi's new baby, whom they named Asanti, which means "thank you" in Swahili, and they were relieved to see that Impenzi had learned to keep her baby safe (37m31s).
- A story about contemporary art, which was initially broadcast nearly 20 years ago, sparked controversy and led to the author being accused of lacking aesthetic sensibility (38m20s).
- In the past 20 years, contemporary art has become a global commodity, with some pieces increasing in value from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars (38m47s).
- The art market has attracted billionaires who invest in art as a haven for their cash, a symbol of their love for art, or as a status symbol (39m5s).
- To cater to this demand, art fairs are held almost every weekend around the globe, with Miami Beach hosting at least 30 art fairs annually, including the prominent Art Basel (39m37s).
- The most important art fair in Miami, Art Basel, attracts 50,000 people, including billionaires, collectors, and enthusiasts, who come to celebrate the contemporary art bonanza (39m49s).
- The art fair features an upscale flea market where prices range from thousands to millions of dollars, with little emphasis on the aesthetic experience (40m26s).
- The fair showcases a wide range of art, including timeless gems, kitsch, and incomprehensible pieces, with some artists performing or creating video art (41m5s).
- The value of art is determined by what a willing buyer will pay to a willing seller, with prices fluctuating quickly, especially for young artists (41m47s).
- Longtime collectors Dennis Scha and his wife Deborah are familiar with the unwritten rules of the art market and acknowledge that they have made mistakes in their purchases (41m42s).
- The art fair features 265 dealers who pay up to $150,000 to showcase their art, raising questions about the value and significance of some of the pieces on display (42m19s).
- The contemporary art market is a multi-billion dollar industry, with sales totaling around $5.5 billion last year, not including private sales, which could be worth billions more (42m58s).
- Tim Blum, a partner in the Los Angeles gallery Blum and Poe, specializes in cutting-edge art and often has to explain the value of difficult pieces to potential buyers, who may be purchasing for status or speculative reasons (43m21s).
- Blum acknowledges that the art world is "theater" and that he and his team are skilled at making sales, even if they don't always believe in the art themselves (44m5s).
- There are different types of collectors, including those who collect art in an organic and autobiographical way, pure speculators, and those who have so much money that art is just another thing to buy (44m15s).
- Eli Broad, a prominent collector, has thousands of artworks and has built his own museum, and collectors like him get first dibs on the best pieces (44m48s).
- Collectors like Broad often buy art by emerging artists, such as Kara Walker, and can see a significant increase in value over time, as seen with Cindy Sherman's photographs, which Broad bought in 1982 for $250 and now sell for nearly $4 million (44m52s).
- For dealers, selling to a major museum is the gold standard, and having a piece in a museum retrospective can increase its value, as seen with Cindy Sherman's current retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (45m43s).
- Dealers and curators, such as Jennifer Stockman and Alexandra Monroe, attend art fairs to discover new artists and pieces, and can get excited about works that they think will be valuable or important, such as a sculpture by Anish Kapoor (45m49s).
- The language of contemporary art can be opaque, but it is understood by those in the industry, such as Jeffrey Deitch, former dealer and now director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (47m0s).
- The art fair provides a context for understanding the language and value of contemporary art, and can be a place where dealers, curators, and collectors come together to buy, sell, and discover new art (46m58s).
- The art market has seen significant changes since 1993, with artists like Jeff Koons experiencing a substantial increase in market value, from $250,000 to $25 million and more (47m35s).
- Larry Gagosian, a prominent art dealer with 11 galleries worldwide, views art fairs as a place to sell art and make money, and notes that China and Russia have dramatically changed the art market due to the wealth generated in these countries (48m23s).
- The Contemporary Art market has outperformed the S&P stock index, with much of the dramatic rise attributed to new billionaires from China and Russia investing in art (48m47s).
- Victor Maria Babakova, a 26-year-old Russian oligarch's daughter, is an example of a young collector spending large sums on Contemporary Art, with a particular interest in the works of German artist Georg Herold (48m58s).
- The art market is described as the "wild west," an unregulated and utterly bizarre place to conduct business, with great competition and a lack of rules (49m29s).
- The art trade's carefully constructed mask of high culture begins to crack, revealing a booming, cutthroat commodities market without regulation or oversight, where price fixing and control of supply are commonplace (50m6s).
- The sustainability of the art market boom is inexplicable, and many choose not to discuss it, as it seems to be going against the odds, with prices continuing to rise and collectors remaining unaffected by potential market fluctuations (50m22s).
- Collectors are often "bubble-proof," spending their "mad money" on art, which they can still enjoy even if the market crashes (50m55s).