TEDBlog April, 2010 Archive
30 April 2010
One more TED stat: 250 million viewed
Sometime last week, TEDTalks notched our 250 millionth video view! Thanks to everyone who’s a part of this big round number. By watching, sharing and commenting on a TEDTalk since our launch in June 2006, by sparking new conversations in real life and online, you’re all part of spreading great ideas.
Looking for a lot more TED stats? Watch the talk immediately below this post: Sebastian Wernicke’s “Lies, damned lies and statistics (about TEDTalks).” The data is solid, the methods are top-notch, and the conclusions are … interesting.
30 April 2010
Lies, damned lies and statistics (about TEDTalks): Sebastian Wernicke on TED.com
In a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek analysis, Sebastian Wernicke turns the tools of statistical analysis on TEDTalks, to come up with a metric for creating “the optimum TEDTalk” based on user ratings. How do you rate it? “Jaw-dropping”? “Unconvincing”? Or just plain “Funny”? (Recorded at TEDActive 2010, February 2010 in Palm Springs, CA. Duration: 5:59)
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
Watch Sebastian Wernicke’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
29 April 2010
Rowing the Pacific: Q&A with Roz Savage
Roz Savage has just begun the third and final leg of her epic solo row across the Pacific. Yesterday we posted Roz’s TEDTalk from Mission Blue Voyage, where she attempts to answer the question: Why? In this email interview with the TED Blog, completed just days before she set out from Kiribati to row to Australia, Roz talks a bit more about her eco-motivations and about what she learned during the Mission Blue Voyage.
What about this voyage has had the greatest impact on you?
Before Mission Blue, I vaguely knew the oceans were in trouble, and I knew that this had big implications for the health of the entire planet, but the information had come to me in a steady drip-feed of bad news. To hear so many presentations in a concentrated span of time, and find out how many different aspects there are to the challenges, really brought it home to me how urgent is the need for us to take action. And if the presentations themselves were the bad news, the good news was that there are so many people, speakers and audience alike, who care passionately about the oceans and are firmly committed to protecting them from further destruction. So I left the conference cautiously optimistic about our chances of success.
What is your first or fondest ocean memory?
More beach than ocean, but … When I was about 18 months old, my family was on holiday in Filey, Yorkshire, in the north of England. I decided to go exploring, and set off to toddle determinedly along the beach. Knowing I was an independent little soul, my mother followed at a discreet distance, but became concerned when I showed no signs of tiring or wanting to turn back. When I paused to admire a shell, she seized her opportunity, and suggested that we go and show the pretty shell to my father. I might have hesitated, wanting to explore further but also wanting to show the shell to my father. The latter prevailed, and we returned to the family group. My attempt to become the first toddler to walk from Yorkshire to Scotland was thus thwarted. I think I would still make the same choice now — sharing the adventure is at least as important as the adventure itself.
One of the main goals of Mission-Blue.org, Sylvia Earle’s foundation, is to establish hope spots — marine protected areas where fishing is restricted or ended, to allow the oceans to rebuild and replenish. If you could establish a hope spot anywhere in the world, where would that be?
I’ve really enjoyed diving in the Maldives. In one particular dive we saw about twelve manta rays. The Maldives already has quite a number of marine protected areas, but one large one would be a lot more effective than lots of small ones. It is the connected ecosystem that needs protecting, not just individual spots that are particularly attractive to humans. Fish move around — and so do toxins and other threats to marine life. I feel desperately sad for the inhabitants of the beautiful Maldives that they may soon have to leave their homes due to rising sea levels, but if and when these islands become uninhabited by humans, maybe the ocean can become relatively pristine again.
If you could teach the people of the world one thing about the oceans, what would it be?
Everything is connected. Some people find it hard to care about the ocean, because they don’t live there and out of sight is out of mind. But this is a finite planet, and what goes around comes around. There is no “away” for things like toxins and plastic pollution. We have to look after the planet — oceans included — if we want it to look after us.
Follow Roz on her epic row with the RozTracker >>
For more wise words from Roz, check out this short video interview with Cody from National Lab Day.
Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson
29 April 2010
Toward a science of simplicity: George Whitesides on TED.com
Simplicity: We know it when we see it — but what is it, exactly? In this funny, philosophical talk, George Whitesides chisels out an answer. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 18:35)
Watch George Whitesides’ talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
28 April 2010
Why I'm rowing across the Pacific: Roz Savage on TED.com
Five years ago, Roz Savage quit her job to become an ocean rower. She’s crossed the Atlantic solo, and just started the third leg of a Pacific solo row, the first for a woman. Why does she do it? Hear her reasons, both deeply personal and urgently activist. (Recorded on the Mission Blue Voyage, April 2010 on the National Geographic Endeavor, the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Duration: 17:21)
Watch Roz Savage’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
27 April 2010
Computing a theory of everything: Stephen Wolfram on TED.com
Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica, talks about his quest to make all knowledge computational — able to be searched, processed and manipulated. His new search engine, Wolfram Alpha, has no lesser goal than to model and explain the physics underlying the universe. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 19:58)
Watch Stephen Wolfram’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
26 April 2010
Radical women, embracing tradition: Kavita Ramdas on TED.com
What does an empowered woman look like? Can she wear a burqa, a hijab, a sari? Kavita Ramdas talks about three remarkable women who celebrate their cultural heritage — while working to reform its oppressive traditions. (Recorded at TEDIndia, November 2009 in Mysore, India. Duration: 6:08)
Watch Kavita Ramdas’ talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
23 April 2010
Making political change with pen and paper: Omar Ahmad on TED.com
Politicians are strange creatures, says California politician Omar Ahmad. And the best way to engage them on your pet issue is a handwritten letter. He shows why old-fashioned correspondence is more effective than email, phone or even writing a check, and breaks down the four simple steps to writing a letter that works. (Recorded at TED University 2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 6:08)
Watch Omar Ahmad’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
22 April 2010
Build a tower, build a team: Tom Wujec on TED.com
Tom Wujec presents his research into the “marshmallow problem” — a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average? (Recorded at TED University 2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 6:52)
Watch Tom Wujec’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.
21 April 2010
World Bank opens their data to the world: Hans Rosling reports!
Hans Rosling writes: So it did happen! Just hours ago World Bank president did completely change the World Bank data policy.
This story shows the power of Ideas worth spreading. The story runs in 5 acts:
1. My TED2006 talk yielded Google’s acquisition of software from Gapminder.
2. Tim Berners-Lee add pressure for free data at TED2009
3. In 2010, Google launches Public data explorer with moving bubbles and a few of the free indicators from World Bank
4. On 20 April 2010, president Bob Zoellick of World Bank give up the old habit of selling public data. The change in policy is comprehensive and includes the right for institutions and companies to redistribute the data. In Zoellick’s YouTube video, at 1:46 min, the moving bubbles from my TED2006 talk in their new Google formate forms the background for the spread of ideas from the stage at TED in 2006 to World Bank in 2010.
Archimedes said: Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!
Rosling says: Give me a TED talk and I shall move the world!
Kind regards from a happy Hans.
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