conference

“In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.”

via TEDtalk

His talk from 2006 where I got to hang out with him quite a bit after the jump.

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I’ve been incredibly busy helping organize the TEDxCambridge event occurring May 16th at the MIT Stata Center. The theme “How do you eat”  is based off of this year TED prize winner Jamie Oliver in regards to Food and education. If you are in Boston May 16th, apply to get an invite and let me know. We can only invite 300 attendees and registration will close soon. You can learn more on tedxcambridge.com

Also, if you are in a position to sponsor any food, funding, or gifts for the event, please contact me asap. (now! =) ).
We will have 2 break sessions followed by an evening event in eating, drinking, and idea sharing!

Lots of awesome speakers in the line up!
– Wylie Dufresne: WD 50
– Chandler Burr: Times Scent critic
– Dan Ariely: Behavioral Economist
– Richard Chisolm: Filmmaker
– John Gertsen: Mixologist
–  many more!

update: Photos on flickr, via eddric(350),Tino(40), JB (60), millie(16)

I’m off to nyc for the rest of the week for the wonderful GEL (Good experience Live) conference.  Let me know if your there.

Right after that I’ll be scurrying off back to Boston for ROFLcon II for a rather fun 2nd day of the web in a room!
Several posts to follow, otherwise, lots of extra mini links on the facebook fanpage.


Back in January, EG conference attendees experienced the premiere screening of Life, a new series by Discovery and the BBC on nature after their Planet Earth film! On March 21st at 8pm EST, LIFE will premiere on TV and I highly suggest watching it.

From water running lizards, to frogs that bounce like rubber balls as a defense, an intense new understanding in frog tongues, to the most beautiful bird gestures I’ve ever seen. Get a glimpse of the film on the LIFE site, or on a few video clips below:

The Bouncing Pebble Toad
Queer Eye for the Straight Vogelkop Bowerbird
In Love with Weedy Seadragons
The Jesus Christ Lizard


By far my favorite talk at this years TED was cell biologist Mark Roth talk about Suspended Animation! Unbelievable! TEDsters were running around the bar asking for Hydrogen Sulfide after the talk.

“Mark Roth studies suspended animation: the art of shutting down life processes and then starting them up again. It’s wild stuff, but it’s not science fiction. Induced by careful use of an otherwise toxic gas, suspended animation can potentially help trauma and heart attack victims survive long enough to be treated.”

Watch the video above or here.


One of my favorite talks at TED this year was Dan Barber talking about ecology in food, and in this talk, the amazing eco system of a fish farm. Watch it above or here.

“Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu. With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles his pursuit of a sustainable fish he could love, and the foodie’s honeymoon he’s enjoyed since discovering an outrageously delicious fish raised using a revolutionary farming method in Spain.”

Also while watching this talk, I twittered out about his amazing talk on humane foie gras which is a pretty amazing story behind the history to foie gras and that it isn’t a French discovery… it’s Jewish. Watch the talk here.


A few weeks back James Cameron spoke at the TED conference about the very successful movie Avatar and a few influences to the movie. At the time I had not seen Avatar, but this week right before it left theaters I finally watched it (twice) and understand his lecture a great deal more.. It’s pretty amazing how much influence Abyss the movie had to Avatar and how Titanic was the fund raiser for it.
Watch the video above or on TEDtalks.

“James Cameron’s big-budget (and even bigger-grossing) films create unreal worlds all their own. In this personal talk, he reveals his childhood fascination with the fantastic — from reading science fiction to deep-sea diving — and how it ultimately drove the success of his blockbuster hits “Aliens,” “The Terminator,” “Titanic” and “Avatar.””

Incredible talk by Bill Gates about his vision to solve the worlds energy crisis at TED2010:
“At TED2010, Bill Gates unveils his vision for the world’s energy future, describing the need for “miracles” to avoid planetary catastrophe and explaining why he’s backing a dramatically different type of nuclear reactor. The necessary goal? Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050.”

via TEDtalks


“The leader of Britain’s Conservative Party says we’re entering a new era — where governments themselves have less power (and less money) and people empowered by technology have more. Tapping into new ideas on behavioral economics, he explores how these trends could be turned into smarter policy.”

Watch the video above… some inspirational points!