via TED2024:
"When playwright David Finnigan launched a new play in 2014, controversially titled "Kill Climate Deniers," he was not prepared for the blowback.
But the conversations with climate skeptics of all stripes ultimately taught him a fascinating lesson about how many of us think about — and act upon — the climate crisis. (Recorded at TED2024 on April 17, 2024)
 |
| the Dunning-Kruger effect |
Via Adam Grant & The Re: Thinking podcast:
"The Dunning-Kruger effect is a rare psychological concept that has achieved pop culture fame.
David Dunning -- the lead author and one of the world’s most-cited psychologists -- joins Adam to discuss his famous findings about the arrogance of ignorance, the challenges of knowing what you don’t know, and the dangers of “doing your own research.”
Then David and Adam uncover strategies for overcoming overconfidence among amateurs as well as experts."
Via TED Talks
"In a scorching talk, marketing professor and podcaster Scott Galloway dissects the data showing that, by many measures, young people in the US are worse off financially than ever before. He unpacks the root causes and effects of this "great intergenerational theft," asking why we let it continue and showing how we could make it end. (Note: This talk contains mature language.)"
Adam Grant's ReThinking podcast is a regular listen for me. In this episode, the discussion around "justice" and "peace" was one of several good shareworthy points.
"Yuval Noah Harari is a historian best known for his book Sapiens, which has sold more than 25 million copies and been translated into 65 languages. Adam and Yuval examine the power of stories in shaping humanity’s success, discuss the tension between justice and peace, and reconsider the true purpose of studying history. Yuval’s latest book, Unstoppable Us, Volume 2: Why The World Isn’t Fair, is for young readers and it’s out now.
Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts"
Spend #starwarsday celebrating #graphicnovels with !
Join us for Pen to Picture May 4 at 1 PM.
Thanks to a grant from this event is free and open to the public!
 |
| From the Crazy Reading Ladies - Save the Date - May 4 for "Pen to Picture" with Jarrett Krosoczka |
Jarrett Krosoczka, author, illustrator, and graphic novelist will be at the Franklin Library for an author talk, drawing demos, photo ops, and more
Watch Jarrett's TED Talk -> https://www.ted.com/talks/jarrett_j_krosoczka_how_a_boy_became_an_artist
"Let’s Begin…
By the end of the 19th century, nearly 40% of American cars were electric. But these vehicles had a few major problems — early car batteries were expensive and inefficient, and the vehicles were twice the price of a gas-powered car.
And so for the next several decades, gas-powered cars dominated the market.
Can electric cars reclaim their place on the road? Daniel Sperling and Gil Tal investigate."
video link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EG6rqA2vvA
"Based on her work for a CIA task force aimed at predicting civil wars, political scientist Barbara F. Walter examines the rise in extremism and threats to democracies around the globe -- and paints an unsettling picture of the increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States. If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas: https://ted.com/membership"Video link -> https://t.co/sxLSSAfEmk
"In 2011, when medical doctor and epidemiologist Mark Smolinski was working as a science advisor for the blockbuster film “Contagion,” the film ran a campaign that asked communities: “What are you gonna do to prepare for the next pandemic?”
A decade later, as the president of Ending Pandemics–a social venture that aims to predict, detect, and prevent disease outbreaks on our planet– Mark is still thinking about how we can rid the world of pandemic disease.
In this episode, Mark shares why we use big data to track disease, explains how our interconnected ecosystems shape public health, talks about why ending pandemics is an achievable goal, and argues that local communities are the ones who can lead the way in understanding–and preventing–the spread of illness."
| The TED Interview: "A future without pandemics? with Mark Smolinski" |
Thursday = 10:00a/1:00p/7:00p Frank’s Music – Frank FalveyThe show repeats on Saturday at 10:00 AM
Frank explores a range of music genres and artists
 |
| Rhiannon Giddens By Schorle - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41615331 |
"To get out of the mess we're in, we need a new story that explains the present and guides the future, says author George Monbiot. Drawing on findings from psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology, he offers a new vision for society built around our fundamental capacity for altruism and cooperation. This contagiously optimistic talk will make you rethink the possibilities for our shared future."https://www.ted.com/talks/george_monbiot_the_new_political_story_that_could_change_everything
"Now we're almost at the end of my talk, and this is where people usually start talking about hope, solar panels, wind power, circular economy, and so on, but I'm not going to do that. We've had 30 years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas. And I'm sorry, but it doesn't work. Because if it would have, the emissions would have gone down by now. They haven't. And yes, we do need hope, of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.
So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come."
"I think these results seem very realistic and intriguing, but at the same time frightening, even to me. Our goal was to build an accurate model of a person, not to misrepresent them. But one thing that concerns me is its potential for misuse.
People have been thinking about this problem for a long time, since the days when Photoshop first hit the market. As a researcher, I'm also working on countermeasure technology, and I'm part of an ongoing effort at AI Foundation, which uses a combination of machine learning and human moderators to detect fake images and videos, fighting against my own work.
And one of the tools we plan to release is called Reality Defender, which is a web-browser plug-in that can flag potentially fake content automatically, right in the browser."
"Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness."https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory
"Hacking, fake news, information bubbles ... all these and more have become part of the vernacular in recent years. But as cyberspace analyst Laura Galante describes in this alarming talk, the real target of anyone looking to influence geopolitics is dastardly simple: it's you."
"Rhiannon Giddens pours the emotional weight of American history into her music. Listen as she performs traditional folk ballads — including "Waterboy," "Up Above My Head," and "Lonesome Road" by Sister Rosetta Tharp — and one glorious original song, "Come Love Come," inspired by Civil War-era slave narratives.
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more."
"As we move more and more into cities, the city flag will become not just a symbol of that city as a place, but also it could become a symbol of how that city considers design itself, especially today, as the populace is becoming more design-aware. And I think design awareness is at an all-time high. A well-designed flag could be seen as an indicator of how a city considers all of its design systems: its public transit, its parks, its signage. It might seem frivolous, but it's not.
16:08 - TK: Often when city leaders say, "We have more important things to do than worry about a city flag," my response is, "If you had a great city flag, you would have a banner for people to rally under to face those more important things."
"Roman Mars is obsessed with flags — and after you watch this talk, you might be, too. These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don't have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology — the study of flags — Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about anything."
 |
| more on flag design |
"When you hear the word "drone," you probably think of something either very useful or very scary. But could they have aesthetic value? Autonomous systems expert Raffaello D'Andrea develops flying machines, and his latest projects are pushing the boundaries of autonomous flight — from a flying wing that can hover and recover from disturbance to an eight-propeller craft that's ambivalent to orientation ... to a swarm of tiny coordinated micro-quadcopters. Prepare to be dazzled by a dreamy, swirling array of flying machines as they dance like fireflies above the TED stage."
 |
| TED Talks |
"At the Harbour School in Hong Kong, TED Senior Fellow Cesar Harada teaches citizen science and invention to the next generation of environmentalists.
He's moved his classroom into an industrial mega-space where imaginative kids work with wood, metal, chemistry, biology, optics and, occasionally, power tools to create solutions to the threats facing the world's oceans.
There, he instills a universal lesson that his own parents taught him at a young age: "You can make a mess, but you have to clean up after yourself."
When a young woman texted DoSomething.org with a heartbreaking cry for help, the organization responded by opening a nationwide Crisis Text Line to provide an outlet for people in pain.
Nearly 10 million text messages later, the organization is using the privacy and power of text messaging to help people with issues such as addiction, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, sexual abuse and more.
The data collected in the process is reshaping policy and preparing schools and law enforcement to better handle spikes in crises.
 |
| Top 50 words in a text message from some one seeking help with substance abuse |
