Some good TED talks

TED TED Talks
TED Talks


Sixth Sense Technology

http://blog.ted.com/2009/03/sixth_sense_demo.php

Great technology of the future. Why take a mobile device out of your pocket when your environment is constantly able to take input and interface with all the world knowledge.


Stumbling on Happiness

(The 21 min summary version)

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

Read and loved his book, “Stumbling on Happiness” which gives perspective on the science behind what lead to sadness, happiness, imagination and how poor/amazing those things work.


Sir Ken Robinson on Education

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

What IS smart? DO we reward all sorts of talent or have we progressively become a society that our bodies are simply a transport device for our big brains. Sir Ken gives a humorous take on our recognition of education.

And his follow up years later if you like him:  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html


Physics meets life

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html

This van bound Hawaiian finds the balance in quantum physics and  life.

Hilarious or Just Douchee?

Dear Blank Please Blank

Was just introduced to me by a friend. At first I thought it was just another try to be funny blog — and in most ways it is, but there are some things about it that I thought were clever. One, they set up the forum in an interesting way — you must form your comments in the form of Dear ___, ___, sincerely ____. It is designed nicely and instead of ordering comments up and down you tag them with one of the following sentiments (alot like the yelp tag comments options)

  • HOW DARE THEY
  • YOU’RE A DOUCHE
  • HILARIOUS
  • I LIKE THIS
  • UMM, WTF?!

Which actually covers the initial emotions of each comment accurately. I laughed so its worth a shout.

Check it out at http://www.dearblankpleaseblank.com/

Some more good documentries

Art & Copy
Art & Copy

Art & Copy

The moment I saw the previews for this movie I wanted to see it. In your face PR and Marketing that stands up in the face of have-to’s and mediocrity. You will not watch this movie an feel uninspired, especially if you have an idea or two bouncing around in your head.


Crips & Bloods
Crips & Bloods

Crips and Bloods

An etymological look at the notorious gangs formed in LA known as the Bloods and Crips. It was interesting to see the movie’s point of view on how slavery, civil rights and unrest and racism slowly and with little stabs at this south LA community created resentment and hate the bubbled up into an uncontrollable burst of violence. It was also interesting to see the physiological introspection and consciousness that the gangsters in this movie possessed. They are able to self reflect even with a low education, low income and low social awareness communities which makes for an interesting view. Honestly they made some pretty good points about the one-sided nature of history related to south LA and gangs. Another interesting moment is how 3 boys described how they wanted to be in the Boy Scouts of America and were not allowed because they were black and how it turned out to be the 3 creators of what ended up being the seed to what grew into the Bloods and Crips and LA gangs as we know it in its stead. Yes, this movie is pretty one-sided from the view point of the gangster as a victim but walking through the history I would be pretty pissed too.


Afghan Star
Afghan Star

Afghan Star

Pretty maddening Movie. This movie tracks the stars of the new show Afghan Star (An Afghan rip-off of American idol) after Afghanistan had recently softened its stance on singing, TV and entertainment being banned from the country. The maddening part is watching people praise their new found freedom and love for the ability to finally express themselves as being “an empty house finally filled in their soul” and then having to watch those same people shake their head in disgust when a woman on the show decides to dance on TV to express her joy and passion for music. Watch this movie and step back and think how often are we so short-sided with freedom, vs real freedom. (Bloods and Crips also has a — when is freedom freedom aspect to it as well in a very different way).


Helvetica
Helvetica

Helvetica

Okay, when I saw this movie I was really intrigued so I was looking forward to watching it. For one, how much can a movie dive into one font? Secondly, these people are passionate about design. In all honesty it was kind of long and it got old halfway through but the first half was full of info and good tidbits on design, business and how a font can be so influential and have such history. To be honest I never finished it.

Fun sites to waste time

Out of the thousands of junk emails and sites I hear about on a weekly basis, here are some of the ones that actually left an impression on me one way or another. (Not in any particular order)

xkcd
xkcd

xkcd.com

A site of short shorts. These comic strips are based on, as they put it,  “romance, sarcasm, math, and language”. My friend Anuja turned me onto this lil’ doozy.

DontEvenReply
DontEvenReply

dontevenreply.com

Isaac turned me onto this one.  At first I wasn’t too impressed by the site as I read a few to myself. For some reason I ended up readng a couple good ones out loud to my mom and I couldn’t finish reading a post without laughing. This site may be a bit of an acquired taste. I would describe it as a mix between Ali G and spam mail. The author chooses to describe the site more simply as “E-mails from an asshole.”

SomeEcards
SomeEcards

someecards.com

An introduction to this site was made by an ex-girlfriend so I find visiting it to be a bit bitter sweet at times, but it really is a great way to communicate some of the more blunt and edgy sentiments to people you know that you won’t find at Hallmark.

FailBlog
FailBlog

failblog.org

This blog is sort of an institution, lots of followers and plenty of updates and pics. The blog chronicles mankind’s stupidity from everyday pictures of signs that lack proof reading to videos that can only be described as “a fail”.

Awkard
Awkard

awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Peek into the word of the “others”. Somehow these families took some shots of themselves that in their mind were cute and fun but the rest of us can’t help but recoil as we browse through these awkward purposeful family moments.

PeopleofWalMart
PeopleofWalMart

http://peopleofwalmart.com/

The name says it all. Tagged by store location here is an assortment of local yokels visiting their adored Walmart. Dressed to the nine’s these moments caught on camera are priceless, and I mean devoid of all that could be deemed as valuable in anyway.

Willard Wiggen: The something in nothing

Have you heard of this guy? He creates sculptures that are microscopic to the naked eye. The end result looks so great it hard to put ut all together and realize he is using materials like eye lashes to create these works of art.

His work and physical capabilities to produc such work “has baffled medical science and has been the subject of many discussions among micro-surgeons, nano-technologists and at universities worldwide. His work is both inspirational and ground breaking in both artistic and scientific spheres.”

You can see him on Conan O’brian here »

The middle

im in the corner
sitting is easy
thinking of the things i wanted to be
math is upon us
and lisp is he speaking
the brightes of sky but the darkest of day

tight lips do catch us
and whispeirng is easy
fooling your slef as to what yo should be
tango and dancing
the steps are the thinking
but the music has challace and cheers on thier way

trash and the heaps of it
scattered inside me
the in-dig-a-nation to inspire the fame
confidnce is weekness
and what is the measure
and chasing perfection when its perfectly sain

seek with a caution
get carried away
beutiful what nots the most desprate of things
balanced in chaos
intimite mieetings
closing the night and then opening the day

Liu Bolin: Artist

My friend Ryan turned me on to this cool Chinese artist that has made a name for himself with intriguing sculptures that incorporate human figures within common settings or objects. More predominantly and most intriguing to me is his Camouflage art where he paints himself as the setting he stands in front of creating this transparent looking effect. The image on the left is an example of this all natural no Photoshop used camouflage transparency art.

Camoflague
Camoflague
dafasf
Outdoors
dafasf
Leader
dafasf
Handshake

Blogging can help center the mind

Centering The Mind
Centering The Mind

With all the fast paced abstract thoughts that can transpire throughout the modern mans workweek I have found yet another reason to continue blogging. I think it has forced me to take my abstract thoughts, that come and go so quickly and have a tendency to linger and repeat in my consciousness, into constructing full thoughts and letting them pass when a blog is posted. It has forced me to train myself to finish thoughts out and take ideas from a very nebulous form into one that is less so by me needing to focus enough on those thoughts and attempt to put them down on paper in some legible format. The fact that these messages will be public forces me to even further examine my thoughts into legible writings so as to not look too crazy. Man it is so much harder then I thought it would be to translate all the things swirling around in my head as some written topic. I am not a good writer but that wont stop me — My fear of writing poorly is what has probably made me such a bad writer today.

I asked an uncle of mine one day to tell m the top three things he thinks made him successful  and one of his top three things was “always write what your thinking down”. As he explained it,  “it exposes all the holes that your imagination so easily covers up”. So true, I so often propose things verbally and for the most part the propositions work out but since I started catching myself and writing  every small to large idea down, and not just as notes. I mean I stop and draw diagrams or spreadsheets and fill in all the holes that end up revealing themselves as concepts become physical structures on paper. I have found so many mistakes or holes so much earlier then usual as a result.  I have noticed that the ideas seem to evolve a few times before I present them to my peers and allows me to think about more angles since I have a full system to look at in front of me, let my mind wonder around the core of the idea instead of just try to retain the core itself in my head.

For example, this post has been swirling in my head for weeks. Without this new found hobbie of blogging I would probably have to deal with these thoughts conciously or unconsciously and they never would feel complete. You bring it up on conversation and let others know about your perspective on things but its always just a thought. Now i know the thought has been completed and exists in time and space, almost indefinitely; I can now move on completely. This realization gives me a whole new appreciation for writing that was not impressed upon me as a child. I never really saw the point other then emails, letters and books to write well. But man not being able to construct your thoughts into a written form leaves you feeling incomplete. Your legacy, your feelings are all just inside you if you cant express them in some sort of infinite format like the written word. My kids are going to write a page about something everyday while they are under my house and the will thank me for it later….

BTW another great tip for obsessively ideas swirling around in your head…put a white board up in your room or a notepad next to your bed. You may have heard it before but do it if you find yourself going to bed with sleep or tossing and turning. and just expunge every thought weather its good or bad on paper or as graphics on a boar dand you get so much better sleep. Even just having the board or notepad sitting there eases the mind.