Catch Latest L.A. Fire Footage on YouTube

As fires continue to spread through the hills of Los Angeles and thousands are forced to evacuate the area, citizens are turning to YouTube to post footage of the blaze. For example, in this video, you can clearly see the flames over San Gabriel, while this one uses a time-lapse technique to show just how much smoke is being emitted into the air:



To support his footage, YouTube user cagwa writes in his video description: "Getting very hard to breathe already and it's going to be 104[F] today. The burning smell is extremely strong. Had to close all the windows at 7 a.m."

Other users are capturing the work of firefighters who are valiantly trying to put out the flames. This footage shows a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter refilling in the Verdugo mountains while fighting the fire in La Canada:



More content is being uploaded every hour -- we'll compile it and keep you posted on our CitizenTube channel.

Ramya Raghavan, News & Politics, is currently watching "Fire in La Crescenta."

Battle of the YouTube animators: socialized medicine

You've got no shortage of options if you feel like watching YouTube videos on the healthcare debate these days. But if you're looking for a particularly comprehensive, well-argued, and novel approach to the debate, you might want to spend a few minutes watching these 2 clips. The first, from YouTube user engio, animates a well-argued narrative for "socialized medicine." The second clip, from YouTube user HowtheWorldWorks (you've got to love the confidence that name inspires) uses engio's animation as its backboard, and inserts new animation on top of it to counter each of his points.

The argument for socialized medicine:



The counter-argument against socialized medicine:

Biden asks YouTubers to help bust healthcare myths

In the ongoing online battle over healthcare reform, the White House put their "Reality Check" series into 2nd gear today with a video from the Vice President. Biden is asking YouTubers to submit videos as a response to the call-out below, advocating for healthcare reform and, "bust[ing] the myth that it is not important to the American People." The user-generated make-over of the Reality Check site on whitehouse.gov, which originally featured only videos from Administration officials, also offers a quiz through which citizens can learn, "what's in reform for you?"

Vote on the No. 1 Video Vaccine

A month ago, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Katherine Sebelius put out a call asking you to raise awareness about how citizens can steel themselves against the H1N1 (aka, "swine flu") virus. Today, the HHS announced the 10 best citizen-created PSAs -- and you get to vote on the winner.

Take a look at the finalists' videos on the HHS YouTube channel or spin through this playlist:



Have your say about which ad you think is most effective in increasing knowledge and prevention of H1N1. The winner will receive $2500 and have his/her PSA aired on live television. Voting ends at midnight on September 8.

Lindsay Lohan Burglary Caught on Tape

Celebrity Lindsay Lohan's house was robbed earlier this week. In hopes of gathering more information about the crime, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPDONLINE1) posted this video, captured by a surveillance camera, of three hooded individuals loitering outside of Lohan's house. As of this posting, the video has over half a million views.

Canadians take to YouTube to defend "socialized medicine"

Posted by "Canadian Doctors for Medicare," this clip advocates for a single-payer healthcare system and defends the criticisms of "socialized medicine" coming from their neighbors to the south. Most memorable quote: "We take it as a sense of amusement and national pride that the Americans don't 'get it'," explains Dr. Steve Lewis a Candian health and policy researcher. "If they want to use our system as a whipping boy in their own propaganda wars, it's mildly irritating... we should hope for our American brothers and sisters that they get it right."

A tribute from across the aisle

Proving that bi-partisan friendships do exist on Capitol Hill, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently uploaded a few songs in honor of the late Senator Kennedy (D-MA). He penned this one for Senator Kennedy and his wife Vicki early in their marriage:



Senator Hatch describes this one as "a stirring tribute song to my good friend Senator Ted Kennedy":



In this video description, Hatch writes, "You don't have to agree with everyone's politics...none of us agree 100% of the time. But you have to admire a lifetime dedicated to public service and improving the lives of others -- and that is just one of the many things that made Ted great. I think this song captures a small part of Ted's legacy of service."

Fans clash at UK soccer game

Some of the most popular videos in the UK this week were of the confrontations that took place between supporters of London football (soccer) teams West Ham and Millwall at a cup game on Monday night.

Fans inside the stadium captured the action on their mobile phones. Take a look a this one, which shows West Ham fans clashing with police called in to calm the crowd.

Remembering Ted Kennedy on YouTube

Senator Ted Kennedy passed away last night at the age of 77 after battling a cancerous brain tumor for over a year. A priest who was at Kennedy's side when he died shared his reflections with WCVB-5, a local Boston news outlet in this video.

Ted Kennedy, the youngest of the four beloved Kennedy brothers - including John, Robert, and Joseph, leaves behind a giant legacy in the U.S. Senate, where he served for 46 years and helped to push many important bills through legislation, notably on issues around health care, education, and civil rights.

This morning, a flurry of videos have been uploaded to YouTube to commemorate the life of a man known fondly as "The Lion of the Senate." Here's a playlist featuring a selection:

From retrospectives and tributes to clips of his most memorable moments (like this showdown between him and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq), the site has become a rich repository of footage for those that want to learn more about Kennedy's life and family and his contributions to American history.

Since Kennedy fell ill in May 2008, the senator spent much of his time in treatment. But in his rousing endorsement of Barack Obama for president earlier that year, he made clear his dedication to seeing Obama elected, and he continued to stump for the candidate as best he could. His memorable, and unscheduled speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention moved many to tears and standing ovations.

Despite his great achievements, Kennedy's past was not without tragedy and blemish. He lived through the assassinations of two of his older brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy, and he himself almost died in a plane crash in 1964. This video from ABC News was taken of him in the hospital recovering after the accident.

In 1969, while serving as a United States Senator for the state of Massachusetts, he was responsible for the death of 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy crashed the car they were driving off of a bridge on the island of Chappaquiddick and did not report the accident until after Kopechne's body was found the next morning. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and went on national television to appeal to the people of Massachusetts and ask for their guidance in this speech.

The Chappquiddick incident posed a challenge for Kennedy when he decided to run, unsuccessfully, for President in 1980. However, he went on to become the "patriarch" of the Senate, with many friends on both sides of the aisle.

This is one of the last interviews Ted Kennedy gave before his death:

And be sure to check out The Boston Globe's fantastic series on the late Senator and Massachusetts-native, which covers each chapter of his life.

Promoting tolerance from every angle

Starting today, young people across Germany are invited to take part in a special film contest designed to fight discrimination and promote racial tolerance in Germany. YouTube, in partnership with the the Laut gegen Nazis ("Racism Can Hit Anyone") campaign, and the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, is launching "361 Grad Toleranz" ("361-degree tolerance"), a video competition open to German 13 to 18-year-olds.

Students have between now and October 16 to create short videos about the importance of treating others with tolerance and respect. Each submission should reflect on what it means to be open-minded in today's world and communicate the dangers of racism in original and creative ways.

The grand prize recipient will receive a special visit from the German rock band Silbermond, who will perform a private concert at his or her own school. Additionally, the winning student will get a "class trip" to Berlin and Toshiba camcorders for his or her classmates.

A long list of German celebrities, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are publicly demonstrating their support for this program. The star-studded cast of this video illustrates the unified resolve within German society to actively fight any and all types of discrimination.

To learn more and submit your video, visit the 361 Grad Toleranz YouTube channel here: www.youtube.de/361grad and watch Chancellor Merkel's call-out video:

What's Happening in Afghanistan? Ask the Chairman.

Today, the Hill reports that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has launched a YouTube channel to create a dialogue with members of the military and the public. Mullen is the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs to create a YouTube channel, providing an unprecedented public view into Pentagon affairs.

Last week, the office of the Joint Staff uploaded this YouTube video, which asks citizens to join a virtual townhall and submit their questions for Admiral Mullen:

The deadline for submitting your question is August 31st at midnight. Mullen will answer a selection of questions through another YouTube video on September 1.

Smarter searching in All for Good

[Cross-posted on Google Public Sector Blog. YouTube's Video Volunteers platform uses the All for Good gadget to connect nonprofit organizations with skilled video-makers.]

One of the top concerns we've been hearing from nonprofit organizations who list volunteer opportunities on All for Good is that their opportunities aren't updated on the site as frequently as they need. This happens because All for Good doesn't directly receive volunteer opportunities from nonprofits - we crawl feeds from partners like VolunteerMatch and Idealist just like Google web search crawls web pages. Crawlers don't immediately update, they take time to find new information.

Today, we're rolling out improvements to All for Good that will help solve this problem and improve search quality for users. The biggest change, which you won't see directly, is that our search engine is now powered by SOLR, an incredible open source project that will allow us to provide higher quality and more up-to-date opportunities. Nonprofits should start seeing their opportunities indexed faster, and users should see more relevant and complete results.

We're also making searching easier by launching categories. When you go to All for Good, you now have the option to search by categories of listings in addition to keywords, making it easier to find opportunities you're interested in. Categorization is just the first of several features we'll be adding in the coming months to help you find interesting ways to give back to your community.

We hope you'll try out All for Good and participate in a service activity this summer. If you're interested in helping others do good, you can get involved in All for Good by contributing to our source code, developing an application with our API, or embedding the All for Good gadget on your web site or blog.

Posted by Leon Palm and Eric Hysen, Public Sector Team