He’s also a magician, but it’s the commentary and delivery that makes it worth watching…
Humour: mental asylum
During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.
“Well,” said Director Epstein, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.”
“Oh, I understand,” said the visitor. “A normal person would use the bucket because it’s bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”
“No.” said the director, “A normal person would pull the plug.”
Experiments that point to a new understanding of cancer. By Mina Bissell
TALKS
For decades, researcher Mina Bissell pursued a revolutionary idea — that a cancer cell doesn’t automatically become a tumor, but rather, depends on surrounding cells (its microenvironment) for cues on how to develop. She shares the two key experiments that proved the prevailing wisdom about cancer growth was wrong.
Mina Bissell studies how cancer interacts with our bodies, searching for clues to how cancer’s microenvironment influences its growth. Full bio »
TALKS | TEDX
Rory Sutherland: Perspective is everything
The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness.
Rory Sutherland stands at the center of an advertising revolution in brand identities, designing cutting-edge, interactive campaigns that blur the line between ad and entertainment. Full bio »
TALKS
JP Rangaswami: Information is food
How do we consume data? At TED@SXSWi, technologist JP Rangaswami muses on our relationship to information, and offers a surprising and sharp insight: we treat it like food.
JP Rangaswami thinks deeply (and hilariously) about disruptive data. Full bio »
Gary Larson cartoon incident
One of cartoonist Gary Larson’s more famous cartoons shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a blonde human hair on the other and inquires, “Conducting a little more ‘research’ with that Jane Goodall tramp?” The Jane Goodall Institute thought this was in bad taste, and had their lawyers draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate, in which they described the cartoon as an “atrocity”. They were stymied by Goodall herself, who revealed that she found the cartoon amusing. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon go to the Jane Goodall Institute. Goodall wrote a preface to The Far Side Gallery 5, detailing her version of the controversy. She praised Larson’s creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behavior of humans and animals. In 1988, Larson visited Gombe.
Princess Bride in Silicon Valley: When G-Male — the imagined Google version of the perfect boyfriend — meets Siri — the imagined Apple version of the perfect girlfriend — data flies.
[thanks, andrea! comediva]
Together, Avaaz members are changing the way the world works — bringing people-powered politics to pressing issues around the world.
This is your chance to create and share a petition about the issue that matters most to you — and win. It can be in your backyard, neighbourhood, city, state or beyond: no idea is too big or small.
And you don’t need experience, or expertise. You only need to know why it’s important — everything else we can help you learn along the way.
Computer Humour: No Sound Support
Bill Stebbins tells of his experience as a customer:
I recently purchased a new PC from one of the major computer manufacturers. I placed my order via the web but asked for them to call me for my credit card information.
So, after a couple days of phone tag, I got in touch with the saleswoman handling my account. I was thinking I’d just give her my credit card number and be on my way.
Almost.
Saleswoman: “Do you realize that the modem you’ve chosen doesn’t have sound support?”
Customer: “What exactly does a ‘modem with no sound support’ mean?”
Saleswoman: “It means that if you go to a web page that has a movie or sound file, you won’t be able to hear it.”
Customer: “What does the modem have to do with that?”
Saleswoman: “Well, sir, the modem is what connects your computer to the Internet.”
Customer: “So, you’re telling me that this particular modem scans the TCP/IP packets passing through it for those belonging to any sound application and filters them out?”
Saleswoman: “Yes.”
Customer: “How does it accomplish this feat?”
Saleswoman: “I’m not technical enough to answer that. Please hold.”
I stayed on hold for five minutes and hung up.
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.
“
| — |
President John F. Kennedy (at a dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners, April 29, 1962) |
Death Star Construction Costs
Economics blog Centives devoted a recent post to one of the most important questions facing the global marketplace today: how much would it cost to build a Death Star?
Basing their calculations on the density of a modern warship, they estimate that the first Death Star would have required 1.08×1015 tons of steel. That would use up all the iron in the Earth’s crust, and quite a bit from the Earth’s core, which might not be the most advisable place for a mining operation.
Assuming we could gather and refine all that iron — a process that would take 833,000 years at today’s production rates — the value of the steel at current market prices would be around $852 quadrillion.
That’s 13,000 times the world’s GDP for the steel alone. We’re not even talking weaponry, wiring, and trips to Ikea.
So, rest easy. Even with a sizable loan from a certain Hutt crimelord, there’s no practical possibility that any government in 2012 could construct an operational Death Star.
[centives]
