Ted Tuesday - Kirk Citron "Long News"

Hey Everyone,

We return to Ted Tuesday with a short discussion by Kirk Citron. He raises an interesting philosophical question: How many of todays news headlines will be remembered for years to pass? Clearly there is a difference between how many sales the iPad broke and the recent leak by Wikileaks of a helicopter gun-cam capturing the murder of Iraqi civilians. The sad thing, I somehow feel the later will fall into the void and become forgotten. That, however, is a totally different discussion of what this blog is intended for...but if it goes there...so be it.

Look back into the history that you remember. Not what you have read in the history books, but that which you have lived yourself. Looking back, what do you remember?

"... they've started doing DNA tests on kids to choose their careers."

Our good friend, LINKY

I guess though, it should not come down to a certain organization trying to find the most memorable news, but more about whether you are happy with the news YOU remember?

The thing that bothers me about news and the flow of information, is that it has become to dysfunctional and easily manipulated. Sometimes it is hard to choose which side to trust. But, thats the problem with sides. We pick a side and automatically go for the assumption that "we" are right and the "you" are wrong.

To philosophy and a cup of the ol'* green, cheers,

Serg

Cheers,

Serg

*ol' green - (n) green tea that has been steeping till it reaches room temperature; cold green tea. Sentence: The ol' green tasted delightfully bitter after steeping for four hours.

TED Tuesday - Edward Burtynsky

In stunning large-format photographs, Edward Burtynsky follows the path of oil through modern society, from wellhead to pipeline to car engine -- and then beyond to the projected peak-oil endgame.


LINK: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/edward_burtynsky_photographs_the_landscape_of_oil.html

His Website

http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/

Thanks for stopping by,

Serg

Post Edit

Blood pumps through our viens in much the same way as, oil pumps through the viens of our society. Nearly everything in our lives is made from oil, made by machines dependent on oil and transported by oil. With the increasing prices of oil, and the debate of whether or not, we have reached our peak oil, this is something we need to be aware of.

The United States consumes an average of 20 million barrels of oil per day (bbl/d, according to the Department of Energy. Of that, about 45 percent is used for motor gasoline. The rest is used for distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, residual fuel and other oils. Each barrel of oil contains 42 gallons (159 L), which yields 19 to 20 gallons (75 L) of gasoline. So, in the United States, something like 178 million gallons of gasoline is consumed every day

Sort of a TED Tuesday - 4 Dimension

Many apologies about not sticking with the ever awesome theme, TED Tuesday, but I stumbled upon a video that I think TED Tuesday will be forgiving about letting me show you guys. Its a rather simple video of Carl Sagan describing the fourth dimension.



Enjoy this little mind bender. The Tessaract reminds of the Hellraiser cube....god I'm tired. Spent a nice chunk of my night working on something special. Hopefully, you will enjoy it tomorrow. Also started brainstorming for future vids. Simple educational ones that can tackle things like white balance, aperture, shutter speed, why my photographs always look like crap...to advance tips and techniques, photography laws and more?

TED Tuesday - Blaise Aguera y Arcas

Welcome to Ted Tuesday. Hopefully, for all you students, this will keep you preoccupied from the studying that you, oh so need to get done and for you all worker bees, may this give you a nice little break from the corporate queen. Grab a green tea, sit back and let your mind get a blast of intellectual inspiration and awe. Its pretty short then the usual videos I put up. Just 7 minutes, 45 seconds.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos augmented-reality maps - 7:45

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

Pretty nifty display on where we are headed when it comes to digital cartography. Its crazy to think about our current state when it comes to maps. I remember briefly living in a time without GPSs. I would use mapquest to print out directions to where I wanted to go. Go back a year from then and people were using road atlases and shudder....asking for directions. I remember back in my freshman college days, I would, for shits and giggles, drive around aimlessly for hours and then try to find my way back. Sometimes, I was able to find my way, and other times I caught myself begging the travel gods for assistance as I drove through dark, unpaved roads. Surrounded by trees and occasionally passing no trespassing signs written in a dark red color.

Its pretty cool to check back at some of the maps from the ancient times.

Post Edit:

While walking Xander through the park a thought crossed my mind about us being cartographers of our own lives. We start with a blank sheet, upon which, we can draw out the paths that we want to travel. For some, the map is marked with predetermined goals, for others there is nothing. The metaphor continues to grow as do we; our memories, experiences, choices, slowly start to fill the map out. An unexpected thing like a camera landing on your lap, suddenly pushes you towards a path that never once crossed your mind. We are cartographers of our souls. If you ever get stuck, pull out your map, that only you can see and pick where you want to go. Travel well, travel safe.

TED Tuesday - Jamie Oliver

Going back to TED Tuesday; I want to share a video with you about food eduction. Hopefully this motivates you to eat a little bit better if you aren't already. While watching this, an idea popped into my head: apple a day self-project. Just for no reason whatsoever, I am gonna pledge to eat at least one apple a day.

Its a little under 22 minutes long, but really easy to watch.

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

I am aware the I had done a TED video regarding food before, but some of the statistics mentioned here are amazing.

Feel free to discuss,
Serg

TED Tuesday - Carolyn Steel

So I was catching some breakfast at the airport and decided to watch one of the TED episodes on my iPhone. This one is about how food shapes the world. Hopefully it makes you think.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html

Thoughts: I have always wanted to improve the diet in my life: cut my sugar intake down, eat more fruits and veggies, create a proper eating schedule. This week has helped reiterate that idea. I'm about to get on the plane, but today let's talk food.

Inspired by Other/TED - James Nachtwey

Due to the crazy schedule I am merging Tuesday and Wednesday together. But I am also doing this because there is a photographer who appeared at TED that truly inspired me.

James Nachtway is famous for his photojournalism of third world countries. He has risked his life by documenting war, disease, poverty...life and death. His path in life is far different from mine, and yet I can't help but feel a connection as there are some things that I would like imitate. I admire him for his skill and respect him for his actions of capturing critical social issues.

"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated." - James Nachtwey

Warning the link takes you to quick presentation by James, followed by a video of his still photography as he documented the XDR-TB, a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis that's touching off a global medical crisis. Some photos may be graphic.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/james_nachtwey_fights_xdrtb.html
Length: 5:52

TED Tuesday's - Eric Giler - Wireless Electricity

We continue to TED Tuesday as we dive into the ever expanding world of technology. Watch as the future unfolds before your eyes. Next thing you know it we will be talk about having colonies on the moon.

About this talk:
Eric Giler wants to untangle our wired lives with cable-free electric power. Here, he covers what this sci-fi tech offers, and demos MIT's breakthrough version, WiTricity -- a near-to-market invention that may soon recharge your cell phone, car, pacemaker.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

Video Length: 10:13
_________________________________________________________________

On a side note: Thank you everyone for your feedback and comments regarding the Public Option blog. I appreciate everybody's opinions and thoughts about it. On that note, I am also going to go see Zombieland tonight. It's amazing how well its doing. I am such a sucker for zombie flicks. Its funny I haven't really put much thought in having a plan if the house is on fire...like what I would save, how I would get out... but I have schematics on my head in case of a zombie viral outbreak.

TED Tuesday's - Jonathan Zittrain

Good ideas are worth spreading. That is why I would like to start TED Tuesday's, a weekly blog discussion of videos from TED. TED is a conference that that was started in 1984 that brought people together from three different worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. The various videos posted on the site of different lectures have been so inspiring that I thought it would be great for us to discuss and learn from them and from one another.

About this talk: Feeling like the world is becoming less friendly? Social theorist Jonathan Zittrain begs to difffer. The Internet, he suggests, is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_zittrain_the_web_is_a_random_act_of_kindness.html

Video Length: 19:52
__________________________________________________________________

My thoughts: What a remarkably optimistic look at the internet where people work in unison. I know there are points that can be shown to disprove this statement. Hell, I have encountered this directly...sort of. I have heard about groups of people who, for instance, are not fans of the show and so choose to act out, not in kindness, but through malevolence. Creating photos, writing articles, lying about who my group, and me as a person really are. Personally I don't care. Because I know one thing; they can spend as much time as they want on spreading filth. But at the end of the day, when we look back at our lives, I know I will be happy with mine.
I know that if I choose to retaliate to every little comment made about me, I would be taking away from doing what makes me happy.

I have always been a fan with Random Acts of Kindness. Its kind of where the idea for "Do Something Positive" came about. Even the movie, Pay it Forward, although had a cheesy romance to it, had a great concept. Because when we choose to work together, the world can be a better place, and the internet can be a great tool to create that world.

So, we have a week. A week to talk, discuss and share this concept with one another. What can we do? Today I will take some time to think about something that I can do that can go along with the theme of this video. Be the bee.