TEDTalks : James Geary, metaphorically speaking - James Geary (2009) 10:45 12/17/09 James Geary, metaphorically speaking 100
TEDTalks : Shaffi Mather: A new way to fight corruption - Shaffi Mather (2009) 13:13 12/21/09 Shaffi Mather: A new way to fight corruption 100
TEDTalks : Steven Cowley: Fusion is energy's future - Steven Cowley (2009) 12:27 12/22/09 Steven Cowley: Fusion is energy's future 80
TEDTalks : Asher Hasan's message of peace from Pakistan - Asher Hasan (2009) 4:59 12/23/09 Asher Hasan's message of peace from Pakistan 60
TEDTalks : Bertrand Piccard's solar-powered adventure - Bertrand Piccard (2009) 20:19 1/1/10 Bertrand Piccard's solar-powered adventure 40
TEDTalks : VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization - Vilayanur Ramachandran (2009) 8:54 1/4/10 VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization 100
TEDTalks : Nick Veasey: Exposing the invisible - Nick Veasey (2009) 15:50 1/5/10 Nick Veasey: Exposing the invisible 20
TEDTalks : Charles Anderson discovers dragonflies that cross oceans - Charles Anderson (2009) 19:10 12/17/09 - Since taking Zoology at Santa Barbara City College insect migration and the whole natural world had become fascinating to me. Every one of the classes I took to fulfill my G.E. credits has expanded my mind and my interests beyond what they would have been if I had been able to continute my single-minded focus on media, analysis, and development. ****
TEDTalks : Ryan Lobo: Photographing the hidden story - Ryan Lobo (2009) 11:51 12/15/09 The best TEDTalk that I had seen so far:
1. The 1st story, about a notorious warlord of child soldiers in Liberia who had become a preacher, asking forgiveness from people whose families he had murdered, willing to go to trial for his crimes, was amazing to me simply because I didn't expect to hear it at a TEDTalk. It jives with the US funding for "forgiveness" research which has been a hot topic in psychology over the last few years.
2. The 2nd story was my favorite by far: stories from an all-woman peacekeeping force from India in Liberia. They used non-confrontational practices, they seemed so much better-suited to peacekeeping operations than men: put people who do not have as strong an urge to dominate: give the power to those who will use it most responsibly - are women better at it then men? I am energized by possibilities, so the possibility of finding some solutions that will help keep peace in unstable situations is exciting to me.
3. The 3rd story, about firemen in India, was a simple story; the thing that I liked most was the story of the leaders of the fire department leading the fight against a large chemical fire, in a country where manual labor is looked down upon. Servant leadership seems to inspire, whether in the United States, South Africa, or India. I wonder if there are places where servant-leadership does not inspire as much, I wonder if it is a cultural thing. . . . in any case, ****** 6 stars out of 5 for Ryan Lobo's talk.
These reviews are not meant to be comprehensive, rather, they are meant to serve as a rough guide to which TED Talks were illuminating, which were entertaining, and which weren't worth watching, from the perspective of the majority of the people that I know.
It would be interesting at some later date to come back and look at what I said, to see if it was valid. It will be interesting to look at how I rate TED talks, to see how much I over-rate talks that agree with me vs. talks that don't agree with me. I find the psychological power that bias wields over me to be quite strong, and I need to sort out how that effects my analytical skills.
Ratings are "how much I would recommend that someone else watch the TED Talk" and are usually based on three metrics: 1) Says well what I would want to say to another person on a certain category, 2) Improves my mind with some crucial piece of information that I did not know before, or had forgotten, 3) Gives a balanced account of an issue I think is important.
1st Row: Date & Name; information from iTunes.
3rd Row: Category of Rating
4th Row: Description of why it was rated/ subjective thoughts.
2nd Row: Rating
*Copy & Paste would not work predictably with Google Sites tables, so data will be in a jumble; rows will be separated by dashes: " - "
TEDTalks : Charles Fleischer insists: All things are Moleeds - Charles Fleischer (2005) 18:20 1/15/10 - I didn't listen to this whole thing, because I couldn't figure out what it was about in the first few minutes. I watched the beginning and the end. - **
TEDTalks : Lalitesh Katragadda: Making maps to fight disaster, build economies - Lalitesh Katragadda (2009) 5:26 1/13/10 - Great stuff about the use of distributed computing when humans map things on Google Mapmaker. ****
TEDTalks : Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge - Kiran Sethi (2009) 12:04 - I couldn't find actionable content, so while this story was good, I couldn't figure out why it worked, and if it was sustainable, and what it's end benefit would be. I couldn't find a philosophy of betterment: I think work needs to be done in this area, to show how catering to Children's needs and desires can make better children, better society, and better futures. However, if you are looking to work with children, I would suggest you find out more fully what her practices are. **
TEDTalks : Kartick Satyanarayan: How we rescued the "dancing" bears - Kartick Satyanarayan (2009) 6:34 1/11/10 - This talk illustrated a holistic development program that benefits humans and other species: I was happy to see human needs and animal needs met together, rather than separating the two out and putting them at loggerheads with one another. ****
TEDTalks : Herbie Hancock's all-star set - Herbie Hancock (2009) 27:37 1/8/10 - All I did was listen to this one, but it was a welcome break from TEDTalks for some light world-music. ***
TEDTalks : Romulus Whitaker: The real danger lurking in the water - Romulus Whitaker (2009) 19:51 1/7/10 - Had some good pictures. **
TEDTalks : Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+ - Dan Buettner (2009) 22:11 1/6/10 - Great analysis of different cultures - only brings out three cultures, but collates the research well, and I took him to be saying "I don't know" when it was true. Start it at 15:40 to see the 9 common denominators that they've found in 5 "blue zone" expeditions.
1. Move Naturally: Set up lives so that you're constantly nudged into physical activity. Most have a garden. Most walk places.
2. Have Right Outlook: Have slow-down times (like Sabaths)
3. Eat Wisely, Plant Slant, 80% rle; strategies to keep from over-eating
4. Connect, Loved ones first, Belong to a faith based community, Belong to the right Tribe: either born into or proactively surround themselves with the right people.
Watched 2009-2-04
. . . more to come