Great posts TED Blog

TED Blog

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• Lisa Bu gives the gift of TED
• TED News in Brief: A ruling on NSA phone surveillance, a beautiful essay from Rose George, and more
• Give me your fussy, your bored, your hard to buy for: the TED Fellows gift guide
• Kelly McGonigal gives the gift of TED

Lisa Bu gives the gift of TED Posted: 17 Dec 2013 11:54 AM PST The pressure to find great gifts is on. And rather than wait in a long line to purchase yet another sweater, we ask: why not give the gift of an idea? This week, we contacted incredible speakers from 2013 and asked them to gift three people in their life with a TED Talk that will amuse, amaze or inspire them. Below, see which talks Lisa Bu — TED’s own Content Distribution Manager who gave the moving talk “How books can open your mind” at TED2013 — would like to share with the people in her life. Pico Iyer: Where is home? The Talk: Pico Iyer: Where is home? For: My friend Emy Why she’ll love it: “For people like you and me — who moved to U.S. as adults and have friends from many countries — Pico Iyer’s words beautifully express how we feel: ‘Home has less to do with a piece of soil than, you could say, with a piece of soul.’” Steven Addis: A father-daughter bond, one photo at a time The Talk: Steven Addis: A father-daughter bond, one photo at a time For: My cousin Yexiang Why he’ll love it: “May this talk make you even more excited and prepared for being a father for the first time.” E.O. Wilson: Advice to young scientists The Talk: E.O. Wilson: Advice to young scientists For: My sister-in-spirit Wenjie Why: “I know you are having a tough time on the job market, but ‘the world needs you, badly,’ as E.O. Wilson said.” Want more ideas? See which talks speaker Kelly McGonigal gave as gifts » And you can give the gift of TED, too! Share a TED Talk with someone you adore via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #giveTED. We’re excited to see which talks you spread.

TED News in Brief: A ruling on NSA phone surveillance, a beautiful essay from Rose George, and more Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:15 PM PST Mikko Hypponen speaks at TEDxBrussels over his outrage at the NSA. This week, a US federal judge has given the first ruling against the agency. Behold, your weekly recap of TED-related news: Yesterday, a United States federal court ruled that the NSA’s surveillance of phone records is “likely” to be unconstitutional. The New York Times’ editorial board applauded the move today. TED speakers Mikko Hypponen (who gave the talk “How the NSA betrayed the world’s trust”) and Malte Spitz (who gave the talk “Your phone company is watching”), take note. Rose George (watch her TED Talk) wrote a heartbreaking account of her father’s diagnosis with dementia — and the British healthcare system’s inability to deal with him. Bring tissues. A big problem in math and science education, according to this interview with Freeman Hrabowski (watch his TED Talk): “We have a way of looking at kids when they don’t seem excited about the work, or when they seem bored, or it’s taking too long to solve a problem, and the look says this: ‘I’ll help you this year, but this is not really for you.’” Check out his thoughts on how to keep students engaged in these topics, even when the going gets tough. TEDster Peter Gabriel (watch his talk, and check out his playlist) will be initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May, along with Hall & Oates, Kiss and Nirvana, according to the AP. Gabriel’s previous band, Genesis, was inducted in 2010. Kevin Kelly has a new book out, and with it a Q&A in The New York Times. He describes Cool Tools as “a print blog, about the greatest tools on earth.” (See any of his three TED Talks.) TED fans and critics alike are reading David Brooks’ latest column, “The Thought Leader,” looking deeply within themselves, and sighing. And of course, you can watch his TED Talk. Meanwhile, a thoughtful critique of the popularization of ideas was given at TEDxSanDiego by a thought leader, Benjamin H. Bratton. Admittedly you need to get past his strawman idea of what “TED” is to read it, but he does raise a few good points about this form we love. We read this with interest, even if we very much disagree with his premise that ideas produce “little actual change.” Why do we need to document and record all of our experiences? In The New York Times, Sherry Turkle (watch her TED Talk) shares new thinking on the effects of mobile technology on how we think and act. Nathan Myhrvold (watch his TED Talk) is waving a flag about “serious errors and irregularities” in research on how quickly dinosaurs grew. Read about his objections. All Things D takes a look at the work of Rupal Patel, who shared how she’s creating personalized voices to match a person’s age, gender and location at TEDWomen. (Read about her talk.) And finally, Noreena Hertz (watch her TED Talk) has long been helping us make good decisions by not blindly listening to experts. Here, she talks on The Brian Lehrer Show about her new book, Eyes Wide Open.

Give me your fussy, your bored, your hard to buy for: the TED Fellows gift guide Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:04 PM PST Still hurting for gift ideas? Never fear. The inventive and iconoclastic TED Fellows are coming to the rescue with the recent fruit of their labors. These inspired and unusual items — from Chinese-inflected banjo music to a remote-controlled underwater vehicle — are sure to delight your loved ones. Just be gentle stuffing that all-terrain vehicle into the stocking, or Grandpa George into the mushroom burial suit. The gift: The littleBits Synth Kit Perfect for: Aspiring musicians and actual musicians The latest ingenious offering from Ayah Bdeir’s littleBits electronic building block company lets you snap together a modular synthesizer from 12 pieces. The product of a three-way partnership among littleBits, comedian-musician-anthropologist Reggie Watts (watch his TED Talk) and famed synth maker KORG, the littleBits SynthKit can be mixed and matched with any other littleBits kits to create all manner of musical artworks and toys with sound. Get it: Order it through the littleBits website ($159) The gift: The Muslims Are Coming! Perfect for: The social-justice-minded comedy fiend Comedian and filmmaker Negin Farsad‘s hilarious documentary follows a group of Muslim-American comedians as they tour Middle America on a mission to combat Islamophobia and convert it to Muslim love. Featuring Farsad, and co-produced by TED Fellow Andrew Mendelson, TMAC also features public interventions like the “Ask a Muslim” booth and the game show “Name That Religion” — not to mention special appearances by comedy heavyweights Jon Stewart, David Cross, Janeane Garofalo and Rachel Maddow. Get it: Order the DVD ($15), or purchase it via iTunes or Amazon ($9.99) The gift: OpenROV Kit Perfect for: Explorers, your resident Jacques Cousteau David Lang and his friend Eric Stackpole wanted to explore an underwater limestone cave in California, but they didn’t have the remote-controlled robot that would make it possible. So they decided to build one — opening up the process for instructions and advice from the public. In the process, they not only invented the OpenROV, the world’s first affordable, open-source, remote-controlled underwater robot, but formed a thriving global community of underwater explorers. Get it: Buy the latest iteration of OpenROV ($849) The gift: City of Refuge Perfect for: Fans of pop, folk and bluegrass, and folks with eclectic ears Singing, songwriting, Illinois-born, Nashville-based, Chinese-speaking clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn weaves together disparate musical traditions and genres from the past and present to create an exuberant and soulful sound. Features My Morning Jacket’s Carl Bromel, the Decemberists’ Chris Funk, Turtle Island String Quartet’s Jeremy Kittell, atmospheric jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and Mongolian string band Hanggai. Get it: Available via Amazon ($14) The gift: Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture Perfect for: Information junkies, data devotees, geeks Data scientist Jean-Baptiste Michel’s new book, co-authored with colleague Erez Aidan, tells how they teamed up with Google to create the Ngram Viewer, a groundbreaking tool that analyzes the data from millions of digitized books to offer an unprecedented means to analyze and interpret human history, society and culture. Get it: It’s being released on December 26, but is available for pre-order via Amazon ($20)  The gift: Mobius Two Perfect for: Residents of rural Africa who are ready to roll Across rural Africa, 320 million people lack access to transportation. Tough vehicles that can handle difficult road conditions are expensive, while more common forms of transport like rickshaws and motorcycles can’t easily carry cargo or a large group of people. So, car innovator Joel Jackson came up with the no-frills but hardy Mobius, with a robust steel frame and lighter aluminum/fiberglass body. The 8-seater Mobius Two is designed to be affordable for the middle-income market, and is excellent for small businesses like transport, delivery and medical care. Get it: Pre-order by subscription through Mobius Motors ($9,841) The gift: A class from Skillshare Perfect for: The young and the curious; lifelong learners Michael Karnjanaprakorn’s peer-to-peer education platform Skillshare hooks up people with skills to teach — whether it’s math, cooking, logo design, app design, website building or audio mixing — with those who want to learn. Skillshare started out facilitating offline, in-person local classes (still available throughout the United States), but now also offers online classes, which lets teachers and students connect from anywhere in the world and learn at their own pace. Get it: Order a gift card through Skillshare (price varies by class) The gift: Literary swag Perfect for: The bookworms in your life Say it with satire. Safwat Saleem’s posters, cards and animated shorts offer a twisted take on the absurdity of racism, politics, basic BS – and the holidays. For those of a bookish bent, Saleem has recently taken time out from his sharp satire to design a line of literary greeting cards, T-shirts, tote bags and art prints, inspired by classic stories but with a humorous spin, as part of an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for an independent bookstore in Phoenix, Arizona. Get it: Order through Safwat Saleem’s website ($9 and up) or support the Indiegogo campaign for Changing Hands Bookstore ($10 and up) The gift: MEJDI Tours Perfect for: The thoughtful globetrekker Founded by Middle Eastern American peace activist Aziz Abu Sarah, Mejdi Tours is a travel company that offers intercultural, bridge-building tours led by with two guides, each representing unique cultural, religious, political and ethnic narratives. Launched in Israel and Palestine with guides from each, Mejdi now offers the same in such destinations as Egypt, Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan. Cultural immersion and customized itineraries offer tourists otherwise hard-to-reach places, people and experiences, enriching both travelers and the communities they visit. Get it: Head to the Mejdi Tours website (prices vary) The gift: A mushroom burial suit Perfect for: Hard-core environmentalists, goths Anyone can be a “decompinaut,” by becoming an early adopter of the future of death (hopefully not too early, though). Jae Rhim Lee’s Mushroom Death Suit is a bodysuit infused with flesh-eating mushroom spores. It puts a personal spin on the cradle-to-grave concept. Her Infinity Burial Project – still being developed and refined — promotes an environmentally friendly alternative to the current embalming and cremation process, which is both energy intensive and toxic to the ecosystem. Get it: Lee is offering 1,000 memberships to the Inner Circle of her Decompiculture Society ($65), which includes an Inner Circle T-shirt and rights to the next iteration of the decomposition system — a burial pod. The gift: Tap dance lessons Perfect for: Closet hoofers Sometimes you’ve just gotta bust a move. New York City–based tap dancer, choreographer and dance historian Andrew Nemr – who studied under Gregory Hines — offers private tap lessons as well as webinars on subjects like how to build your very own approach for learning to tap. Not in New York? No problem. Nemr will coach you one-on-one over the internet. Get it: Contact Nemr about private coaching (from $50) The gift: A donation to help recovery in the Philippines Perfect for: Those with hearts of gold Filipino Fellows Xavier Alpasa and Susie Ibarra are working to support relief work in the Philippines after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the country, killing 6,033 to date, with 1,779 still missing. The best way to contribute is through their associated organization, the Philippine Jesuit Foundation. How to give: Head to the foundation’s website to donate (any amount is appreciated)

Kelly McGonigal gives the gift of TED Posted: 16 Dec 2013 06:02 PM PST Great gifts aren’t always tangible. Just think back to the last time someone made your holiday season by gifting you an experience, or by writing you a card that got you just a little choked up. And so we ask: why not give the gift of an idea? This week, we’ve asked some of our favorite speakers of 2013 to gift three people in their lives with a TED Talk that will amuse, amaze or inspire them. Kelly McGonigal’s talk from TEDGlobal 2013, “How to make stress your friend,” has inspired many people to stop thinking of stress as a terrifying thing — a big gift in itself. Here, the TED Talks she’d like to give for the holiday season. Gift #1 The talk: Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV — let’s get rational For: My friend and colleague, Sarah Ramirez, a public health advocate and activist Why she’ll love it: “Sarah is the most passionate and compassionate advocate for public health I know, and I think she will love Pisani’s spirited talk on politics, policy, and why people do ‘stupid’ things. Seeing things as they are, and meeting people where they are, is a powerful approach to service and activism.” Gift #2 The Talk: JK Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure For: My twin sister, Jane McGonigal Why she’ll love it: “Rowling explains how imagination, including children’s books, can be the basis for compassion. I think my sister will recognize her own work in this argument — that things that might be dismissed as a waste of time can create connection and help us feel our full humanity.” Gift #3 The talk: Leslie Morgan Steiner: Why domestic violence victims don’t leave For: The trainees entering the 2014 Stanford University Compassion Teacher Training program Why they’ll love it: “Leslie’s talk is a great example of how the willingness to be transparent and vulnerable can give people permission to be honest about their own experiences. There are few more powerful ways to inspire self-compassion and courage in others than to speak openly about your own mistakes and suffering.” You can give the gift of TED, too! Share a TED Talk with someone you adore via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #giveTED. We’re excited to see which talks you spread.