Friday TED Talks XV

Astrolabe - a device for taking measurements of the altitude of the sun/stars for navigation.



Technology is a wonderful thing... watch Tom Wujec & his astrolabe

Friday Ted Talks XIV

Becky Blanton gives a good but disturbing talk on how easy it was to become homeless, both in her mind and *almost* every one else's. The discussion under the video is almost just as interesting as people debate what is homelessness, why don't people think that she was homeless, and ultimately other people's mindset.
Right now, there is a large homeless population in Canada that are invisible. Except when they get on the news because the government is closing "the Tent City". What are effective measures that the Canadian and provincial governments could use to stop the problem?

The scary thing was she was employed and she decided to do this. What happens to people forced into this position without help from friends and family?

Friday TED Talks XIII: Nullius in verba

Friday Ted talks returns!

David Deutsch talks about explaining explanations. Highly recommended... and he gives talks just like me! Watch this (especially if you want to know what nullius in verba means).

Friday TED Talks XII

Cary Fowler talks about saving genetic diversity through cold storage of seeds.

He is the Executive Director of Global Crop Diversity Trust where their mission is to store their seeds in a safe remote place.

However good the message is (and I agree with keeping a seed bank to preserve genetic diversity for other reasons), I question the seeds' value if the temperature rises as "in many countries the coldest growing seasons are going to be hotter than anything those crops have seen in the past." If these crops have not seen these temperatures in the past, what good will they do if kept for the future because of systematic crop failure? They couldn't have evolved different mechanisms to live in the hotter climate.

Friday TED Talks XI

Snob, me???!!!

Listen/Watch/Read this fantastic TED Talk by Alain de Botton. Great speaker & very funny.

Also, what is true success by John Wooden.

Friday TED Talks X

Biomimicry as a blueprint for design...

Janine Benyus talks about using nature as a muse and to take advantage of millions of years of trial and error (aka evolution).

Friday TED Talks IX

So I apologise,
and yes, it will probably happen again (Soon, I think as my reg. classes start in 2 weeks!), but I took a little break while I was completing a summer course. Lets just say that cramming a 4 month class into 12 days is not fun.
Anyways, here is another installment of Friday Ted Talks. The video is a little old (gimme a break people!), but still and always relevant.

Micheal Pritchard invents a water filter...
(and he's got balls to drink it after too! Ewwwwww)

and a PRI podcast about science which also talks about water scarcity in parts of the world... Cambodia and the Middle East.

Friday Ted Talks VIII

Jayne Poynter about life in the Biosphere 2...

& Crows for Search & Rescue!? Joshua Klein explains...

Friday Ted Talks VII

Psychology and Evil;
Here are two great talks about how anyone can commit evil acts and how damage to the brain can make a normal person more susceptible to being psychotic. Evil is a combination of genes, nurture and circumstance.

Great Talks....
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/jim_fallon_exploring_the_mind_of_a_killer.html

Friday TED Talks VI

OK, so I'll be posting Most Fridays...
Here is another installment of the ever-popular Friday TED Talks.

Tom Wujec from Autodesk has my interactive wall....
(I just don't think he knows it yet)

and from watching the great new show on TV last night (The Philanthropist)

and Katherine Fulton talks about philanthropy.

I enjoyed this talk about empowering everyone to become a philanthropist. I just don't think that I will be saving a poor African orphan, or a trafficked woman in the sex trade like the one on TV.

Friday Ted Talks V

And speaking of cults from last week....

Diane Benscoter

Wiki Checklist on Cults

1. A movement that separates itself from society, either geographically or socially;
2. Adherents who become increasingly dependent on the movement for their view on reality;
3. Important decisions in the lives of the adherents are made by others;
4. Making sharp distinctions between us and them, divine and Satanic, good and evil, etc. that are not open for discussion;
5. Leaders who claim divine authority for their deeds and for their orders to their followers;
6. Leaders and movements who are unequivocally focused on achieving a certain goal.

Friday TED Talks IV

More great Friday TED Talks... even one from a Mythbuster!
Adam Savage on his obsessions

And one on plants in the workplace although I think this guy is crazier than me!
Kamal Meattle

Friday TED Talk III

Some more Great TED Talks for this Friday

Michael Pollan on Plants Ruling the World :)
Plants’ point of view

Robert Ballard on Exploring the Oceans
Exploring the oceans

Friday Ted Talk May 29th

This week, I have found an inspirational TED Talk for us botanists.
Why we are saving billions of seeds by Jonathan Drori.

It is regarding the Millennium Seed Bank run by Kew Gardens.

Wonderful talk....

Great TED Talks

I've been a regular listener/viewer to TED Talks for a while now. I think as a regular Friday post, I'll post a couple of links to some talks that I think all people should watch.

Here are my two for today:

Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral
(great talk & great fusion between art & science)


Au revoir!