First, there was the original TED Talk in 2006, about Creativity and Education. (highly recommended)
Then there was a followup about Changing Paradigms in Education.
Now comes Ken Robinson’s new TED Talk. If you haven’t already seen it, you really should watch the 2006 TEDTalk first.
My initial impressions are: The talk was pretty good, he’s a great speaker. He did rehash a lot of points from his 2006 talk though. Still a great Talk.
If you:
- Loved the original Boom-de-yadda video from the Discovery channel
- Like xkcd
- Are a geek, nerd, or a nerd-sympathizer
then read on, you might like this.
The world and the universe truly is an extremely beautiful place, and the more I understand it the more beautiful it appears.
xkcd came up with with cool geeky lyrics for the song: Here.
Here is an animated xkcd version of the song, based on the xkcd comic:
Now, a bunch of well known geeks, bloggers and nerds got together to make a tribute video, using xkcd’s lyrics. The video stars, in no particular order: Neil Gaiman, Wil Wheaton, Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Lessig, Bruce Schneier, Jason Kottke, Google Zurich, Hank Green, MC Frontalot, Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Mr. Toast, Miss Cellania, Team Genius, Phil Plait, Allan Amato, Maddy Gaiman, Charissa Gilreath, Belinda Casas, Chuck Martinez, Jeremy James, Joanna Gaunder, Lee Israel & Octavio Coleman Esq. of The Jejune Institute.
Here you go. Enjoy.
via Bad Astronomy
Jim Kakalios was a science advisor for the Watchmen movie, and wrote a book called The Physics of Superheroes
I think the United Nations spends way too much time, effort and money on having meetings, feel-good days of awareness that accomplish nothing, and obstructionism.
All we really need them for is to do this:
(Via Gavin Atkins)
Pat Robertson, a conservative christian american televangelist with a large following, recently implied that legalizing gay marriage would be a slippery slope to legalized bestiality. Notably sex with ducks.
I think as a society we’ve gone beyond the point where bigotry should be treated with respect. It deserves to be treated with derision. Most people will come round, once they realize that its not acceptable to be a bigot any more.
With that in mind, check out this great response to Pat Robertson.
Warning: Probably NSFW (unless you have a really cool boss)
If we really were intelligently designed, this version of the process makes sense.
Why is god preoccupied with useless stuff?
Why does the prayers she answers always involve something that might have fixed itself? Why won’t she cure amputees?
When she chooses to reveal herself, why does she give us “revelations” that are about as useless as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest?
This very funny video asks these questions, and more.
(Safe for viewing at work)
A few years before his death, Douglas Adams traveled the world with photographer Mark Cawardine, photographing and filming many of the world’s endangered species, including the komodo dragon, Rwandan mountain gorilla, kakapo, and the baiji dolphin, while trying to raise awareness by doing things like climbing Kilimanjaro dressed in a rhino costume. He wrote about his adventures and the challenges faced in an extremely hilarious and well-written book called “Last Chance to See
The title of the book is morbidly appropriate for this talk as well. The month he died, Douglas Adams gave a very funny and edifying talk at the University of California - Santa Barbara, where he tells some of the stories from his travels.
I’m a fan of Ken Robinson and his outlook on education. I’ve blogged about his TED Talk here.
Now comes a new lecture by him about Changing Paradigms in education. If you haven’t already done so I suggest you watch his TED Talk first.
Ken Robinson on Changing Paradigms.
In case the link to the embedded video breaks, try this: http://www.thersa.org/events/vision/vision-videos/sir-ken-robinson
by Gaddis
by Harris
by Sachs