TED

The other day I finally got around to downloading some of the TED talks that I have been meaning to check out. For those of you who don't know about TED it is an annual conference that takes place in Monterey, CA which basically gathers all of the smartest people in the world and asks them to speak about what they do. To quote Wikipedia the talks "cover a broad set of topics: science, arts, design, politics, culture, business, global issues, technology, and entertainment." Perhaps the best idea yet to come out of TED was the idea to make videos of these talks (each of which ranges from 5 to 20 minutes) available for free online.
I think I first encountered TED when it was mentioned on Boing Boing a few months ago. Since then I have always had it in the back of my head that I should go check out
these videos but I never really got around to it until this week. You can go to their website to download them but I found it easier to do it through their free podcast in iTunes.
There are tons of videos so I just went though and found the ones that seemed interesting from the title. A few of my favorites have been as follows:

Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen - Hans Rosling (2006)<--- Once you check this one out you should go play around with Gapminder. It is really something else.
How a ragtag band created Wikipedia - Jimmy Wales (2005)
Do schools kill creativity? - Ken Robinson (2006)
Why do crack dealers still live with their moms? - Steven Levitt (2004) <--- Adam, I think you will like this one. I can't remember what you said about Freakonomics.
The amazing intelligence of crows - Joshua Klein (2008)

I know Seth has a few to add to this list. Have you guys already seen these? If so, which talks do you recommend? I'm sure I'll be adding more in the near future.

Matt

"Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight"

You can't make this shit up.
Did they?

Matt

Nothing Short Of Brilliant

If there are a billion things I love more than stupid fucking hipsters, one of them is getting, dirty dirty.  People in Mississippi are doin' it right with some Mud Volleyball.  Check out this great photo series of the event.

Link

- Seth

Stupid Fucking Hipsters

If there's one thing that I hate more than the Lord of the Rings, it's inane hipsters who spend immeasurable amounts of energy on looking like they put no energy into their vapid look.  There's no need to reinvent the wheel, so here's a fantastic article that says everything on my mind.  For those of you who only need the climax:

“So… this is a hipster party?” I ask the girl sitting next to me. She’s wearing big dangling earrings, an American Apparel V-neck tee, non-prescription eyeglasses and an inappropriately warm wool coat.

“Yeah, just look around you, 99 percent of the people here are total hipsters!”

“Are you a hipster?”

“Fuck no,” she says, laughing back the last of her glass before she hops off to the dance floor.

Stupid fucking hipsters ...

Link

- Seth

...

These People Conquered The World

Maybe y'all already saw this, but it was just too precious to pass up.  This is the original Microsoft family in 1978.  Check out Bill Gates in the lower left.

Link (from Engadget)

- Seth

Wovel

I think I saw this on Boing Boing a few weeks back. Maybe you guys saw it there too. In case you didn't I'm mentioning it here.

There's this novel being written online in which the author writes about a chapter a week and at the end of each chapter there is a choice to be made. Once you read it you vote on which choice you prefer and the next week the choice with the most votes is where the author picks up for the next chapter. I've always thought a wikifiction concept would be cool. It turns out they tried it already and it didn't work out as well as I would have hoped. This idea is less free form and so far the book is pretty good. It seems to be well within the category "zombie book." Anyway, if you like choose your own adventure books, like dark stories and like zombies you should go read this from the start so you can keep up as it gets longer.

link

Matt

p.s. They call it a "wovel" which I think is a stupid name.

Sounds Like A Winner

This posting just came up on my "Wanted in Chicago" Craigs List RSS feed. This guy seems like a real winner. You gotta love the fact that he sees inviting a stranger to this wedding as a real alternative to his wife. "I'll just take someone else and by the time I get back she'll be over it."

link

Matt

Counterpoint

...