Erik T.'s Blog

When I first discovered the Crash Course last summer, only the first 15 chapters had been completed, but I was still awestruck. I'd never seen anyone do a better job than Chris had done at organizing so many seemingly disparate topics into a single, cohesive message. And frankly, I was a bit envious. My favorite part of my business career was the public speaking I used to do - giving keynote talks at professional conferences and trade shows in the software industry. When I first watched the Crash Course, I thought "Boy, would I love to present this material myself!" Of course I would never try to steal or plagiarize Chris' material, and assured him of this when I first met him. But Chris was quick to say "Wait a minute, this is about promoting the cause, and if you want to help, I'm all for it!". Chris' selflessness and commitment to doing the right thing for society never ceases to amaze me. I was elated to have the opportunity to use Chris' presentation materials myself.

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I'm writing today to introduce a new product that we're introducing this week, The Chris Martenson Podcast Series. The new audio podcast format will give paid subscribers the opportunity to ask Chris questions and get them answered in a regular program that will follow the format of a radio talk show.

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This is the first of a new series of Heroes in Action articles, which will recognize the efforts of people in the Crash Course community who have gone beyond the call of duty and contributed to promoting the messages of the Crash Course in unique or special ways.

Michael Höhne is a businessman living in southern Germany, near Munich. He's a recognized expert on a part of the software industry known as Customer Relationship Management Systems, or CRM. While Michael has had a very successful career, he's not a person of extraordinary wealth. (more...)  read more »

If you are located in North America, the best way to get the Crash Course on DVD is to place an order for as many copies as you need at www.crashcoursedvd.com. As described in an earlier post, they are very inexpensive in quantity and will begin shipping on Monday Dec. 8th.

If you need the PAL version of the DVD (which works in Europe, Africa, and much of Asia), or if you prefer to download and burn your own NTSC version (which works in North America, western South America, Japan, South Korea, etc.), you can use BitTorrent to download the master file for the DVD (called a .ISO file) and make your own DVD using your computer's DVD burner. Instructions follow:

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UPDATED Dec. 9th 2:00pm Eastern Time

Our initial order with our fulfillment partner was for 10,000 DVDs, but All 10,000 discs sold out in the first 36 hours! As of this morning (12/9), we have orders for more than 14,000 DVDs! The first 10,000 discs were shipped from Texas today, Dec. 9th. The vendor is now producing another 7,500 DVDs and expects to ship the remaining orders on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, still in plenty of time for Christmas.

If you have not yet placed your order, I recommend you do so immediately. There are about 3,000 more DVDs in the 2nd production run that can be shipped in time for Christmas. Once they're gone, subsequent orders won't arrive until after the holiday.

The vendor is still saying that regular ground orders placed before 12/12 "should" make it well before Christmas, provided that the remaining 3,000 DVDs don't sell out. However, I know FedEx ground has had problems with the holiday rush in past years. If you place new orders for ground shipment, they "probably" will arrive before Christmas, but you should be aware of the risk that they might not.

Ordering info is repeated below:

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3-26-08 An update for anyone who might have encountered this old blog entry:  If you are interested in ordering DVDs, please click here. The old links (below) are outdated.  Thanks!

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Six weeks ago, I posted a note to this blog introducing myself as the site's volunteer Business Manager, and describing my decision to add advertising to the site to recover some of the site's operating costs. 

That announcement led to some lively discussion, and suggestions from members that we should also consider other options such as an easier-to-use mechanism for direct donations, and an affiliation with Amazon.com. I'm writing today to update you on our progress, and to report that overwhelmingly, direct donations have been of crucial importance to keeping the site just barely running in the black.  read more »

We're about a week away from releasing the master for the DVD version of the Crash Course. At the same time, we'll be announcing our new overall plan for spreading the messages of the Crash Course far and wide. The thrust of this plan is to make it really easy for everyone in the community to help spread the word, and we've even included a way for those of you who are so inclined to make money by distributing the Crash Course DVD.

Here's a glimpse of what will be contained in our new Crash Course promotion plan that will be announced next week when the Crash Course DVD is complete: (more...)

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Chris Martenson Fans,

We're working as fast as we can behind the scenes, hoping to get the Crash Course DVD done in time for the holiday gift-giving season. We'd love to have a really great-looking graphic label for the DVD, so we decided to invite the growing community to help us through a design contest! Here are the details:

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Chris Martenson fans,

Okay, okay! We got the message loud and clear that you want the Crash Course on DVD. In fact, in the few days since the Crash Course was completed, we’ve been inundated with requests for a DVD version. I’m writing today to describe our plans to release the Crash Course on DVD and to distribute that DVD through a grassroots community effort. Here's the deal:  read more »