This guy is Nabil Shaban - Writer, Director, Actor and Film maker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabil_Shaban
http://uk.geocities.com/jinghiz53/

Nabil Shaban was born in 1953 in Amman, Jordan and arrived in England when he was three for treatment for his osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle-bone disease). In 1980, he and Richard Tomlinson founded Graeae (pronounced Grey Eye), a professional theatre company of disabled performers.

A writer and performer with many film and television credits, he is probably best known to television viewers for his role as ruthless intergalactic businessman Sil in the Doctor Who stories 'Vengeance on Varos' and 'Trial of a Timelord' (BBC, 1985 and 1986).

Nabil Shaban is a political actor and has worked in Theatre Workshop plays about Palestine, and about the State murder of Northern Ireland lawyer, Rosemary Nelson. He also acted and collaborated in Ghazi Hussein’s 'One Hour Before Sun Rise' in 2006, about the journey of a young poet named Moneer and his torture in a Syrian prison.

Shaban, who has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy, was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1997 from the University of Surrey for the achievements of his career and his work to change public perceptions of disabled people.
http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/drama/features/archive/profilenabilshaban.aspx

Since you're so curious, Schmawy, it's called "free plate tuning", and it was developed by the recently departed Carleen Hutchins...

Carleen Maley Hutchins (May 24, 1911 – August 7, 2009) was an American former high school science teacher, violinmaker and researcher, best-known for her creation, in the 1950s/60s, of a family of eight proportionally-sized violins now known as the violin octet (e.g., the vertical viola) and for a considerable body of research into the acoustics of violins. She was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Hutchins’s greatest innovation, still used by many violinmakers, was a technique known as free-plate tuning. When not attached to a violin, the top and back are called free plates. Her technique gives makers a precise way to refine these plates before a violin is assembled.

From 2002 to 2003, Hutchins’s octet was the subject of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Titled “The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section.” Hutchins was the founder of the New Violin Family Association[1], creator-in-chief of the Violin Octet, author of more than 100 technical publications, editor of two volumes of collected papers in violin acoustics, four grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, an Honorary Fellowship from the Acoustical Society of America, and four honorary doctorates. In 1963, Hutchins co-founded the Catgut Acoustical Society, which develops scientific insights into the construction of new and conventional instruments of the violin family.

The Hutchins Consort, named after Hutchins, is a California ensemble featuring all eight instruments.[2]

In 1974, Hutchins and Daniel W. Haines, using materials supplied by the Hercules Materials Company, Inc. (Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory) of Cumberland, Maryland, developed a graphite-epoxy composite top that was determined to be a successful alternative to the traditional use of spruce for the violin belly.[3]

Soutce

Interesting anecdote about her is that she once stole a piece of perfect maple from a university phonebooth, replacing it with a replica. Cool lady.

Anyway, nice Sift there schawmy, keep up the good work.

*promote

quantumushroom: watch http://www.videosift.com/video/A-wake-up-call-from-the-US-Government-Accountability-Office

This clip was produced by David Walker, US Comptroller General (a position most people don't even know exists), head of the US Government Accountability Office. He has an outstanding professional record, and honorary doctorates from several universities. Here's his Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Walker_(U.S._Comptroller_General)

He has given multiple interviews explaining how the US is bankrupt, and how agencies and politicians neglect to mention this fact. International bankers are also aware of this, and a lot of people outside the US don't doubt this fact, but Americans typically acquire a very distorted picture of how their economy actually runs.

Unless there's a radical policy change like the one Ron Paul advocates, it's a matter of time until the US economy collapses. It may take a month, a year or even more. The longer it takes, the worse the crash will be. It won't be a correction or a mild recession. It will be the crash that destroys American purchasing power as we know it.

I agree with you that people don't tolerate rapid change. Most don't understand what's at stake, and also want submit to a welfare state. Ron Paul understands this, and for the last 30 years he's worked to educate people and talk about this message of financial discipline, civil liberties and upholding the constitution. He was reluctant to run again for president, because he was afraid that the nation wasn't ready.

Ron Paul's supporters are fervorous because they're desperately trying to change the United States' course before it's too late. I applaud their efforts, and I hope they succeed to get him elected. But even if they don't, they will have educated millions of people in the process, and this gives me hope that Americans will be able to pull themselves up from financial disaster, and resist the fascist ideologies that will undoubtly flourish.

"Dr." Falwell. What a load of bullshit.

From Wiki:

Although he sometimes used the title "Doctor," Falwell held no earned doctorate. He held three honorary degrees: an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Tennessee Temple Theological Seminary, an honorary Doctor of Letters from California Graduate School of Theology (an unaccredited institution), and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Central University in Seoul, South Korea (an unaccredited institution).

"Doctor of Divinity". That's like having majored in the bogyman except that he didn't have to actually go to school for it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson , the new host of the PBS-TV program "NOVA scienceNOW", is director of the Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center For Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.

Another video of his - Stupid Design: God Is A Lousy Engineer

Neil deGrasse Tyson , the new host of the PBS-TV program "NOVA scienceNOW", is director of the Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center For Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.

http://beyondbelief2006.org/

("An entertainment complex in the middle of a sewage system" made me LOL.)

There's not much more insulting to college graduates than putting pseudo-celebrities in front of them on the most important day of their educational lives. The only thing worse is when they then give the idiots "honorary" doctorates. The grads must be thinking, "Why the hell did I just pay you $100,000 over 4 years to get what you just gave this loser for nothing?"