billmonitor presents: The wrong contract problem

BBC Life Episode 01 (Challenges of Life)

Redwoods: The Tallest Trees

competetion

莉莎·唐納利（Liza Donnelly）：借助幽默繪畫求改變

(Laughter)

I was afraid of womanhood. Not that I'm not afraid now, but I've learned to pretend. I've learned to be flexible. In fact, I've developed some interesting tools to help me deal with this fear. Let me explain. Back in the '50s and '60s, when I was growing up, little girls were supposed to be kind and thoughtful and pretty and gentle and soft. And we were supposed to fit into roles that were sort of shadowy. Really not quite clear what we were supposed to be.

(Laughter)

There were plenty of role models all around us. We had our mothers, our aunts, our cousins, our sisters, and of course, the ever-present media bombarding us with images and words, telling us how to be. Now my mother was different. She was a homemaker, but she and I didn't go out and do girlie things together. And she didn't buy me pink outfits. Instead, she knew what I needed, and she bought me a book of cartoons. And I just ate it up. I drew, and I drew, and since I knew that humor was acceptable in my family, I could draw, do what I wanted to do, and not have to perform, not have to speak -- I was very shy -- and I could still get approval. I was launched as a cartoonist. Now when we're young, we don't always know -- we know there are rules out there, but we don't always know -- we don't perform them right, even though we are imprinted at birth with these things, and we're told what the most important color in the world is. We're told what shape we're supposed to be in. (Laughter) We're told what to wear -- (Laughter) -- and how to do our hair -- (Laughter) -- and how to behave.

Now the rules that I'm talking about are constantly being monitored by the culture. We're being corrected. And the primary policemen are women, because we are the carriers of the tradition. We pass it down from generation to generation. Not only, we always have this vague notion that something's expected of us. And on top of all off these rules, they keep changing. (Laughter) We don't know what's going on half the time, so it puts us in a very tenuous position.

(Laughter)

Now if you don't like these rules, and many of us don't -- I know I didn't, and I still don't, even though I follow them half the time, not quite aware that I'm following them -- what better way than to change them with humor? Humor relies on the traditions of a society. It takes what we know, and it twists it. It takes the codes of behavior and the codes of dress, and it makes it unexpected, and that's what elicits a laugh. Now what if you put together women and humor? I think you can get change. Because women are on the ground floor, and we know the traditions so well, we can bring a different voice to the table.

Now I started drawing in the middle of a lot of chaos. I grew up not far from here in Washington D.C. during the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations, the Watergate hearings and then the feminist movement. And I think I was drawing, trying to figure out what was going on. And then also my family was in chaos. And I drew to try to bring my family together -- (Laughter) -- try to bring my family together with laughter. It didn't work. My parents got divorced, and my sister was arrested. But I found my place. I found that I didn't have to wear high heels, I didn't have to wear pink, and I could feel like I fit in.

Now when I was a little older in my 20s, I realized there are not many women in cartooning. And I thought, "Well, maybe I can break the little glass ceiling of cartooning." And so I did; I became a cartoonist. And then I thought, in my 40s I started thinking, "Well, why don't I do something? I always loved political cartoons, so why don't I do something with the content of my cartoons to make people think about the stupid rules that we're following as well as laugh?"

Now my perspective is a particularly -- (Laughter) -- my perspective is a particularly American perspective. I can't help it. I live here. Even though I've traveled a lot, I still think like an American woman. But I believe that the rules that I'm talking about are universal, of course -- that each culture has its different codes of behavior and dress and traditions, and each woman has to deal with these same things that we do here in the U.S. Consequently, we have -- women, because we're on the ground, we know the tradition -- we have amazing antenna.

Now my work lately has been to collaborate with international cartoonists, which I so enjoy. And it's given me a greater appreciation for the power of cartoons to get at the truth, to get at the issues quickly and succinctly. And not only that, it can get to the viewer through, not only the intellect, but through the heart. My work also has allowed me to collaborate with women cartoonists from across the world -- countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Argentina, France -- and we have sat together and laughed and talked and shared our difficulties. And these women are working so hard to get their voices heard in some very difficult circumstances. But I feel blessed to be able to work with them.

And we talk about how women have such strong perceptions, because of our tenuous position and our role as tradition-keepers, that we can have the great potential to be change-agents. And I think, I truly believe, that we change this thing one laugh at a time.

Thank you.

(Applause)

（眾笑）

我曾經很怕女性特質。 我不能說我現在不害怕了， 但我已經學會了偽裝。 我已經學會了靈活。 事實上，我已經開發了一些有趣的工具 來幫助我對付這種恐懼。 讓我解釋一下。 早在50年代和60年代，就是我成長的年代， 小女孩應該是善良、體貼、 漂亮、溫婉和輕柔的。 而我們應該適應角色 是有點朦朧。 真的不是很清楚什麼應該是我們。

（眾笑）

我們周圍有很多榜樣。 我們有我們的母親、我們的阿姨、我們的堂表姐妹、姐妹， 以及，當然，永遠存在的媒體 用圖像和文字轟炸我們， 告訴我們應該如何做。 而我的母親是不同的。 她是一個家庭主婦， 但她和我沒有出去一起做娘娘腔的東西。 她並沒有給我買粉紅色的衣服。 相反，她知道我需要什麼，她給我買了漫畫書。 而我對它愛不釋手。 我畫了又畫， 因為我知道在我家是可以接受幽默的， 我可以畫畫，做我想做的事， 而不用表演、不用說話 -- 我曾經很害羞 -- 而我仍然可以得到認同。 我被推為一個漫畫家。 正當我們年輕的時候， 我們並不總是知道 -- 我們知道外面有規則， 但我們並不總是知道 -- 我們沒有正確執行它們， 儘管在我們出生時就存在 有這些東西， 我們被告知 什麼是世界上最重要的顏色。 我們被告知我們應該是什麼形狀。 （眾笑） 我們被告知應該穿什麼衣服 -- （笑） -- 和我們的頭髮應該怎麼辦 -- （笑） -- 還有如何行為舉止。

現在我在說的規則 是不斷地被文化監測的。 我們被糾正。 而這些基層民警是女性， 因為我們正是這傳統的繼承者。 我們將它傳遞了一代又一代。 此外， 我們總是有種模糊的概念 有些什麼東西在期望著我們。 而在所有這些規則之上， 他們不斷發生變化。 （眾笑） 我們在一半的時間裡不知道發生了什麼事， 所以這讓我們置身於一個非常脆弱的位置。

（眾笑）

現在，如果你不喜歡這些規則， 而我們很多人都不喜歡 -- 我知道我之前不喜歡，我仍然不喜歡， 雖然有一半時間我遵守著它們， 而並不清楚我在遵守它們 -- 還有什麼比幽默更好的辦法去改變他們？ 幽默依賴於社會的傳統。 它將我們所知道的，做了些扭曲。 它隱身於行為守則和社會規範， 而製造出意外效(笑)果， 而這正是如此 能讓人會心一笑。 現在，如果你把婦女和幽默放在一起會怎樣？ 我想你可以得到改變。 因為婦女就是基層， 而且我們最了解傳統， 我們可以把不同的聲音帶上檯面。

現在我開始在 混亂之中畫畫。 我在離這裡不遠的華盛頓特區長大。 歷經民權運動，暗殺事件， 水門事件聽證會，然後到女權運動。 而我覺得我是在透過繪畫， 試圖找出到底發生了什麼事。 然後我的家人也是在一片混亂之中。 而我用繪畫設法把我的家人放在一起 -- （眾笑） -- 用笑聲盡量把我的家人放在一起。 它沒有成功。 我的父母離婚了，妹妹被逮捕。 但是我找到屬於我的地方。 我發現我不需要穿高跟鞋， 我不需要穿粉紅色， 而我能感覺到自己很自在。

當我年紀大一點的時候，20多歲， 我意識到沒有太多的婦女在畫漫畫。 我想，“嗯，也許我可以打破 漫畫界的小小玻璃天花板。” 而我就這樣做了；我成為了一個漫畫家。 後來我又想到，在我40多歲的時候，我開始想， “哦，為什麼我不做些什麼呢？ 我一直喜歡政治漫畫， 為什麼我不用我的漫畫做一些有關的內容 使人們在思考的那些我們一直遵循的愚蠢規則的同時， 也會心一笑？“

現在我的觀點 是一個特別 - （眾笑） -- 我的觀點是特別美國的觀點。 我不能擺脫它。我住在這裡。 儘管我經常旅遊， 我仍然像一個美國女人般思考。 但我相信，那些我說的規則 是普遍的，當然 -- 這每一種文化都有其不同的行為模式 和服飾和傳統， 而每個女人都要處理同樣的這些事， 像我們在美國這裡做的。 因此，我們 -- 婦女，因為我們就是基層，我們知道傳統 -- 我們有驚人的敏銳度。

我最近的工作 與國際漫畫家合作， 這個我很享受。 而它讓我更欣賞 用漫畫的力量 來獲得真相， 迅速和簡潔的獲得問題關鍵。 不僅如此，它可以傳達給觀眾， 不只是經由智識，也同時能深入人心。 我的工作也使我與 來自世界各地的女漫畫家合作 -- 國家，如沙特阿拉伯、 伊朗、土耳其、 阿根廷、法國 -- 我們坐在一起，笑著聊天， 共享我們的困難。 而這些婦女很努力的工作讓她們的聲音 在一些非常困難的情況下被聽見。 但能夠與她們合作我覺得很幸運。

我們還談到 為何婦女有如此強烈的看法， 因為我們脆弱的地位 和我們作為傳統保持者的角色， 我們可以有很大的潛力 成為可變革推動者。 我認為，我真的相信， 我們可以改變這種事情， 每次一笑。

謝謝。

（鼓掌）

my custom made gopro 360 swivel mount

Wake Up Everybody

Wake up everybody
No more sleepin' in bed
No more backward thinkin'
Time for thinkin' ahead

The world has changed
So very much
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred
War and poverty, whoa, oh

Wake up, all the teachers
Time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen
To what'cha have to say

'Cause they're the ones who's coming up
And the world is in their hands
When you teach the children
Teach 'em the very best you can

The world won't get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

Wake up, all the doctors
Make the old people well
They're the ones who suffer
And who catch all the hell

But they don't have so very long
Before the Judgment Day
So wont'cha make them happy
Before they pass away

Wake up, all the builders
Time to build a new land
I know we can do it
If we all lend a hand



The only thing we have to do
Is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out
They do it every time

The world won't get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

It's the god hour
The morning I wake up
Just for the breath of life I thank my maker
My mom say I come from hustlers and shakers
My mom built it on skyscrapers and acres
He said take us back to where we belong
I try to write a song
As sweet as these arms the one the type to bare arms
And wear my heart on my sleeve
Even when I fell in God I believe
Read the days that weave through the maze
The seasons so amazing
Feed them and raised them
Seasons are aging
Earthquakes, wars, and rumors
I want us to get by but
We're more than consumers
We more than shooters, more than looters
Created in this image so God live through us
And even in this generation, living through computers
Only love love love can reboot u

Wake up, everybody
Wake up, everybody
Need a little help, y'all
Yes I do, need a little help

Need a little help, y'all ay
Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody

Finally! Twitter-Tax Story Explained in Cartoon Form

Camp Rock 1 - This is me (HD with lyrics)

Lyrics to This Is Me :
I've always been the kind of girl
That hid my face
So afraid to tell the world
What I've got to say
But I have this dream
Right inside of me
I'm gonna let it show, it's time
To let you know
To let you know

This is real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now
Gonna let the light, shine on me
Now I've found, who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me

Do you know what it's like
To feel so in the dark
To dream about a life
Where you're the shining star
Even though it seems
Like it's too far away
I have to believe in myself
It's the only way

This is real, This is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now
Gonna let the light, shine on me
Now I've found, who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me

You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
I need to find you, I gotta find you
You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me
I need to find you, I gotta find you

This is real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now
Gonna let the light, shine on me
Now I've found, who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me
You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me (this is me)
You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
Now I've found, who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me

The Day You Went Away

The Day You Went Away

Well I wonder could it be
When I was dreaming 'bout you baby you were dreaming of me
Call me crazy call me blind
To still be suffering is stupid after all of this time

Did I lose my love to someone better
And does she love you like I do
I do you know I really really do

Well hey so much I need to say
Been lonely since the day
The day you went away
So sad but true
For me there's only you
Been crying since the day
The day you went away

I remember date and time
September twenty-second Sunday twenty-five after nine
In the doorway with your case
No longer shouting at each other
There were tears on our faces

And we were letting go of something special
Something we'll never have again
I know, I guess I really really know

Well hey so much I need to say
Been lonely since the day
The day you went away
So sad but true
For me there's only you
Been crying since the day
The day you went away

The day you went away
The day you went away

Did I lose my love to someone better
And does she love you like I do
I do you know I really really do

Well hey so much I need to say
Been lonely since the day
The day you went away
So sad but true
For me there's only you
Been crying since the day
The day you went away

Why do we never know what we've got till it's gone
How could I carry on
The day you went away
Cause I've been missing you so much I had to say
Been crying since the day
The day you went away

The day you went away
The day you went away

Caroline Casey: Looking past limits

About this talk

Activist Caroline Casey tells the story of her extraordinary life, starting with a revelation (no spoilers). In a talk that challenges perceptions, Casey asks us all to move beyond the limits we may think we have.

Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves

Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves

The tsunami 24foot high reached Sendai airport runway after the 8.9 quak...

Scary footage: Tsunami waves raging, buildings burn after 8.9 Japan eart...

TEDxObserver talk on kids and privacy

Here's a video of my talk on kids, privacy and social media ("A Skinner box that trains you to under-value your privacy: how do we make kids care about online privacy?") at last month's TEDxObserver event in London. It was a great day and there were a ton of interesting talks

學校教育扼殺創意嗎？(中文)

Now you can watch it again with transcript (Chinese)

GoPro HD: Arlington Monster Energy Supercross 2011

Supercross takes over Arlington! Check out the awesome footage from Peick, Catanzaro, Sipes, Hewitt, Thomas, Larsen and Byrne.

GoPro HD: 2010 Teva Mountain Games Highlights

SOS from Mayor of Minami Soma City, next to the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan

camera cube

a trip

video of the day?

RC track

Bike riding

RAID DES LIONS 2011 - Team Les IRAIDUCTIBLES by maxym2911

Let your mind relax, and wander........... Aloha from Hawaii

The Tree of Life Movie Trailer Official (HD)

GoPro's 3D camera

Whether through footage from the miners' rescue in Chili, a heli-skier blazing through virgin snow or a surfer gliding through a barrel of water, chances are you've seen images captured by a GoPro camera.


Whether through footage from the miners' rescue in Chile, a heli-skier blazing through virgin snow or a surfer gliding through a barrel of water, chances are you've seen images captured by a GoPro camera. Today, we're going to learn more about the company and get a sneak peak at their new, 3D camera scheduled for release April 4th.

"I started GoPro back in 2002 originally to make it easier for surfers to shoot photos while they're surfing [via GoPro's] wrist camera," explains Nicholas Woodman, Founder and CEO of GoPro. "Now, almost 9 years later, GoPro is the world leader in wearable cameras for sports."

GoPro's original, waterproof camera was designed to be strapped to the user's wrist. The thinking behind it was to have a camera readily available to capture those perfect shots in a way that didn't impede on the user's enjoyment of his/her sport. That philosophy continues to drive innovation today as GoPro is set to release its 3D Hero System, which uses innovative housing and synchronization cables to combine two HD Hero cameras in a way that produces 3D video and photos. The housing will be available this week for $99, which includes the synchronization cables and associated software.

"One of our goals is to build the world's most versatile camera," says Woodman. "There are so many sports, activities and passions that people have that we wanted to make a camera that you can use for anythinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif but that works really, really well for anything."http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

More info:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

GoPro web site: http://gopro.com/
GoPro on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/goprocamera
GoPro on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GoPro_News
GoPro on CrunchBase: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/gopro

Roxette - No One Makes it on Her Own

No One Makes It On Her Own

Have you ever had the feeling
You take it all for granted
You wake up every morning
And expect to rise
Have you ever had a moment
To look into the mirror
To find a person
Who won't open her eyes
Have you ever felt a presence
(or is it all in the past, dear?)
So mesmerizing
It chills you to the bone
Have you ever been in love
And overcome that first fear
Well, then you know
No one makes it on her own

Did you ever catch a sunset
Right across the ocean
The universe revealed
And it didn't make sense at all
When you came into my world

Causing quite a commotion
I could have sworn I've met you
Many times before
Cos there's something in your eyes
That links us together
Something 'bout your face your lips
Your smile looks so alone
Have you ever been in love
And thought it'd last forever
Well, then you know
No one makes it on her own

Hey, there's something in your eyes
That links us together
Something 'bout your face your lips
Your smile looks so alone
Have you ever been in love
And thought it'd last forever
Then you know
No one makes it on her own

AnnMarie Thomas: Hands-on science with squishy circuits

About this talk

In a zippy demo at TED U, AnnMarie Thomas shows how two different flavors of homemade play dough can be used to demonstrate electrical properties -- by lighting up LEDs, spinning motors, and turning little kids into circuit designers.

Through a lens, Brightly :

Hubble Space Telescope - In preparation for our Facebook discussion with Dr. Summers on April 6th, we're posting some Hubble's Universe "classics." Be sure to leave your questions for Dr. Summers on our Discussion page!

Ai Weiwei detained. Here is his TED film

TED - Concerned at detention of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, we're releasing the film he sent to TED2011. The film, which was shown as Ai Weiwei himself watched live over the web in the middle of the night, prompted a huge standing ovation from the TED audience.

Instagram Founders: Instagram Is A “New Entertainment Platform” (TCTV)

Beatles - A day in the life

I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph.

He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.

I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book.

I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

I'd love to turn you on

Lux Aurumque Virtual Choir Conducting Track

Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car

About this talk

Sebastian Thrun helped build Google's amazing driverless car, powered by a very personal quest to save lives and reduce traffic accidents. Jawdropping video shows the DARPA Challenge-winning car motoring through busy city traffic with no one behind the wheel, and dramatic test drive footage from TED2011 demonstrates how fast the thing can really go.

Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitaker led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, "Sleep," which premieres April 7 on YouTube.

Jupiter Gets the Measles: Hubble's Universe Unfiltered

Hubble Space Telescope - In preparation for our Facebook discussion with Dr. Summers on April 6th, we'll be posting some Hubble's Universe "classics." Be sure to leave your questions for Dr. Summers on our Discussion page. Enjoy!

The GoPano: A Panoramic Lens System For The iPhone

Our Goal

Imagine watching a football game broadcast and being able to follow your favorite player all the time. Imagine a bride being able to "turn around" in her wedding video and see her parents' faces the moment the officiant says, "I now pronounce you husband and wife"!

GoPano's technology brings a new angle to making videos. By freeing the video from the single perspective of a conventional camera, you can interact with the video in a way never before possible. We strongly believe that 360º video will become as important in broadcasting as sound was to silent movies or color television was to black & white.

While we've offered 360º video products for years to professionals, GoPano micro is our first step in making panoramic video technology accessible to the masses.

With Your Help.

We want your help to make GoPano micro a reality. We have a working prototype and the essential software ready. A web platform to host 360º interactive movies is on its way. We are requesting your support to make this product a commercial reality. Support us on Kickstarter, tell your friends and spread this idea. And yes, you don't have to stick to the tiers, please feel free to contribute any amount.

We are very thrilled with this new project. We hope with your support we can make this technology- The technology of the future!

* Today, the GoPano micro optic is compatible with the iPhone 4 only. With the success of this project, we will broaden this technology to include more smart phones, mobile devices and cameras.


Project location: Pittsburgh, PA





There are quite a few panoramic apps for the iPhone but they all require a steady hand, lots of patience and, most important, you can only take still photos. The GoPano aims to solve that by adding a panoramic mirror to the iPhone’s video camera, thereby allowing you to take panoramic video in real time.
The GoPano simply snaps onto your iPhone and the included app does the rest. As you record, you can turn the panorama by swiping the screen to shoot what you want as it happens.

The lad who made it, Michael Rondinelli, filmed much of the footage on the green fields of Carnegie Mellon University, my alma mater, so I have a special place in my heart for this charming young nerd and his panoramic lens – for I was once like him. He needs $20,000 to Kickstart it and for a $50 pledge you get one of your very own. It’s a clever idea for artistic types and folks who, like me, may want to shoot panoramic before and after shots of their Dexter-esque “fun” rooms.

“Hey, you’re okay. You’ll be fine. Just breathe.”

I’m going to do something different on the blog today. I’m going to ask you for a favor. Nay, I’m going to beg you for a favor. It’s simple. It’s a little time consuming, but other than that it will cost you nothing. Watch this TED video featuring Ze Frank. It will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and will have you singing, “Hey, you’re okay. You’ll be fine. Just breathe.”

Google’s Music Search Engine Quietly Vanishes From The Web

A tipster pointed out the disappearance of the old Google Music Search landing page to us, which doesn’t necessarily mean it vanished recently, but I’ve searched everywhere for mentions of Google officially or unofficially retiring the service and have been unable to find any reports about it. I wonder if simply nobody noticed it was gone, or that my search skills or simply not what they used to be.

The last update I can find it when SearchEngineLand’s Danny Sullivan spoke with Google spokesperson Jason Freidenfelds about the future of the service and was told that it was firmly tied in with Google’s search group, and that people would continue to develop it even after Apple shut down Lala. That conversation dates back to April 2010, so obviously things have changed somewhere along the way.

One more reason I think things have changed rather recently is because Google linked to its own blog post announcing Music Search back in December 2010.

Now, as I’m sure you’re well aware, Google has bigger plans when it comes to digital music than mere search, so perhaps the Google.com/music link to the former Music Search product landing page was quietly removed to make way for another, more appropriate landing page? Or did someone just quietly pull the plug hoping no one would notice?

I’ve asked Google for comment and will update when I hear back.

Meanwhile, according to Cnet’s Greg Sandoval, Google has begun testing internally its much-anticipated music locker and subscription service , which will simply be named Google Music.

Google had hoped that the service would launch to the public in 2010, but it has failed to sign licensing agreements with copyright holders fast enough to launch a digital music download store and cloud-based locker service for that to happen.

Google may, however, unveil Google Music at its I/O conference in May. As for its loudly-trumpeted-upon-launch music search engine: rest in peace, I guess.

Skype In The Classroom: An International Social Network For Teachers

How to create a profile and find a teacher from Skype in the classroom on Vimeo.

Skype realizes full well its software is used by many school teachers and students from around the globe, and today announced that it has built a dedicated social network to help them connect, collaborate and exchange knowledge and teaching resources over the Web.

This morning, the company launched a free international community site dubbed Skype in the Classroom, an online platform designed to help teachers find each other and relevant projects according to search criteria such as the age groups they teach, location and subjects of interest.

The platform, which has been in beta since the end of December, already has a community of more than 4,000 teachers, across 99 countries.

Teachers need only sign up with their Skype account at the website, create a profile with their interests, location and the age groups they teach and start connecting with other teachers by exploring the directory, where they can also find projects and resources that match their skills, needs or interests.

A members-only community, Skype in the Classroom lets teachers easily add each other to their Skype contact lists or message one another.

It’s a wonderful idea, and I sincerely hope it takes off (without hurting but instead hopefully inspiring many of the existing social networks and collaboration networks for teachers).

Google Chooses Its Fiber-Networked City Of The Future: Kansas City

Back in February 2010, Google announced its plans to build out a fiber-optic network for a city in the United States, promising connection speeds around 1Gb/s — 100 times faster than the broadband most people are used to. The announcement led 1,100 cities to apply, and today Google has just announced the winning city: Kansas City, Kansas.

For you lucky Kansas City residents, Google has launched an informational page outlining what their plans are (it also provides some background about Google itself). The site’s FAQ says that Google hopes to begin building the network by the end of the year and that service should begin in the first quarter of 2012, with plans to roll out to all communities in Kansas City. Once the service is live pricing will be “competitive to what people are paying for Internet access today” though Google hasn’t yet named the plans.

Dont be too depressed if you happen to live somewhere outside of Kansas City, though. In the video below announcing the news, Sergey Brin says, “That’s why we’re rolling out to communities, starting with Kansas City, that are going to give one gigabit of access to every home.” So it sounds like we’ll be hearing about more community launches in the future. And hopefully Google’s roll-out will put pressure on major broadband providers to speed up their fiber roll-outs.

Bronx Zoo’s Escaped Egyptian Cobra Found

The Wackiest Watch in the World

An extremely complex case stages the show. The three overlapping cylinders on three levels are configured to deconstruct time. The main circle is the hour’s domain, flanked by two pavilions. One shows the minutes on a jumping disk for the tens and a running disk for the units. The other, slightly lower, displays the regular beat of a big titanium balance-wheel.

Anarchy takes hold of the hours indication beneath the sapphire-crystal dome every 60 minutes. The numeral of the hour, assembled in the center of the circle, explodes into chaos before instantly reassembling as the new hour. It then remains still until the next disintegration. Instead of a hand, 24 placards revolve and rotate on a complicated system of gears mounted on an epicycloidal gear-train.

Tesla Sues Top Gear

Interacting Galaxies Galore: Hubble's Universe Unfiltered

Hubble Space Telescope - In preparation for our Facebook discussion with Dr. Summers on April 6th, we'll be posting some Hubble's Universe "classics." Be sure to leave your questions for Dr. Summers on our Discussion page. Enjoy!

The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out (Part 1-5)

Richard Feynman - The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out 1981 (Part 1-5)

Authors@Google: Trey Ratcliff

High dynamic range (HDR) photography lets you capture the myriad colors and levels of light that you can see in the real world, and the results are amazing photographs that run the gamut from super real to surreal. Explore this fantastic realm of photography through the unique vision of renowned travel photographer Trey Ratcliff. In this book, Treyshares his phenomenal HDR photographs as well as all the backstory on the adventurous circumstances of their origin. He also reveals the techniques he used to get the final shot. The breathtaking images gracing these pages and the author's real-world advice for capturing and manipulating images will inspire you to create your own HDR magic. So Trey also includes his simple and straightforward tutorial that teaches you everything you need to know to make your own HDR photographs, whether you?re a beginner, amateur, or professional. A unique blend of practical and inspirational, this book features:

- a breathtaking collection of HDR photographs
- engaging explanations of how the author achieved the image
- expert tips for achieving stunning results (and avoiding common mistakes)
- a foolproof HDR tutorial and software recommendations

About the Author
Trey Ratcliff is best known for his website, StuckInCustoms.com, which is the #1 travel photography blog in the world. His photography has been featured in numerous shows around the world, as well as on ABC, NBC, FOX, and the BBC. In addition, one of his HDR photographs was the first of its kind to hang in the Smithsonian. Having grown up blind in one eye, Trey has a unique way of navigating and capturing the world around him. That vision, combined with an educational background in computer science and mathematics, leads him in an algorithm-like approach to photography that can evoke palpable memories.http://www.blogger.com/img/blahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnk.gif
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
View the "HDR Tutorial" at http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/
Subscribe to Trey's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/stuckincustoms/
Visit "Stuck In Customs" at http://www.stuckincustoms.com
Learn more about "A World in HDR" at http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-book/

"Behind the Lines" at WAR HORSE - Episode 1

Matt Doyle takes you backstage at WAR HORSE during tech week and introduces a few cast members. Stay tuned for additional episodes of "Behind the Lines"!

WAR HORSE is now in previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center Theater. Visit www.WarHorseonBroadway.com for more info and to purchase tickets.

Video filmed/edited by Matt Doyle.

Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War Horse

The Story of War Horse

At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France.

He's soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man's land.

But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to the trenches to find him and bring him home.

Actors, working with astonishing, life-sized puppets, lead us on this emotionally-charged journey through history.





About this talk

"Puppets always have to try to be alive," says Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company, a gloriously ambitious troupe of human and wooden actors. Beginning with the tale of a hyena's subtle paw, puppeteers Kohler and Basil Jones build to the story of their latest astonishment: the wonderfully life-like Joey, the War Horse, who trots (and gallops) convincingly onto the TED stage.

Seeing clearly with silicone

School children in developing countries who have poor vision could soon see clearly thanks to cheap self-adjustable glasses that use silicone fluid to control the lens power. The glasses are being developed as part of an initiative called Child ViSion, a collaboration between the Centre of Vision for the Developing World (CVDW) in Oxford, UK, and Dow Corning - a global leader in silicone technology.


Improving the design of the self-adjustable glasses will allow manufacturing to be scaled up, while keeping costs down

© CVDW
The first fluid-filled adjustable eyeglasses were invented in the 1990s by Josh Silver, a physicist at the University of Oxford, and now director of CVDW. To date, over 30,000 pairs of the glasses, have been distributed to adults in several developing nations.
Around 100 million children require corrective eyewear in order to fully benefit from classroom education, but the developing world suffers from a lack of eye specialists needed to prescribe glasses. The CVDW, with the help of $3 million (£1.8 million) and support from Dow Corning, is now trying to address this problem.

'We haven't got the child specific device yet. That's something we're working on now,' says Silver. Currently, the glasses cost around $20 a pair, but Silver explains: 'The aim is to get the cost of this eyewear down to around a dollar in order to really make them accessible to large numbers of people.' The partnership reckons that improving the design will allow the manufacturing process to be scaled up while keeping costs down.

The glasses comprise tough polycarbonate lenses which each contain a silicone filled membrane. Each membrane is connected to a small syringe on each arm of the eyewear. All the user has to do to create their own prescription glasses is control a dial on each syringe which increases or reduces the amount of silicone fluid in the membranes, altering the power of each lens. Once the wearer is satisfied with the settings, the membrane can be sealed and the syringes removed.

'It's a very strong concept,' comments Bruce Moore at the New England College of Optometry in Boston, US. 'A large segment of the eye care professions believe that the only approach we ought to be utilising to provide universal care, for example in Africa, would be to produce a vast numbers of highly trained professionals,' he says. 'I have no problem with that, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen next year. I see this [adaptable eyewear] as at least a possibility of an interim solution.'

'This project is very much in its infancy and a lot of what we need to work out and move through is still to be developed,' says James Stevenson, Dow Corning's global healthcare marketing manager. 'A key part of this initiative is to create a business plan which will allow all the parties involved to understand both the technical and economic hurdles of scaling this to the hundred million pairs level.'

The initial goal is to design, manufacture and distribute 50,000 pairs of self-adjustable glasses to teenagers aged 12-18 in the developing world, primarily through and in support of education programmes.

James Urquhart

Tonight's Sky: April 2011 Highlights

Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

About this talk

At TEDxDubai, longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan asks a provocative question: Is the world's focus on English preventing the spread of great ideas in other languages? (For instance: what if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL?) It's a passionate defense of translating and sharing ideas.

The Accidental Innovator: Blendtec's Tom Dickson

Warning: Text Message Scams

有事嗎?(DEMO) | R.chord

啥啥都別說 啥啥都別做 快快靠進我 抱一抱我 大大的世界 常常很幽默 讓人超激的不爽 我全都懂 你心事藏太多 包袱背太重 看看你的臭臉 媲美臭水溝 悶什麼 在龜什麼 反正今天我就是要陪你 挺你夠夠 你到底哪裡不舒服 就儘管衝著我說 我遇過的鳥事 絕對比你吃過的飯還要多 我就是看不下去 誰叫你是我的朋友 你快給我一個笑容！ ＊舉起你的手 讓我給你加油 你要加九二 九五 我這裡都提供 你要喝個夠 你要哭個夠 我都不會say no 只要請你記住 我當你是朋友 We wont let you down！

I, For One, Welcome Our New Dancing Android Overlords

Little known (and completely false) fact: once upon a time, the Android Robot (the platform’s lovable lil’ green logo) entered a dance contest. First place was a lucrative dance contract with one of the world’s finest agencies, with dancing gigs from Paris to Rome. Second place meant you got to dance next to a Sony Ericsson stand in Taiwan. Needless to say, Android didn’t get first.

Also, I find it amazing that a guy in a massive inflatable rubber suit can still dance considerably better than I can.

Total Immersion Raises $5.5M From Intel, Others For Augmented Reality Platform

Augmented reality software company Total Immersion this morning announced that it has secured $5.5 million in a funding round led by Intel Capital, with existing backers Partech, iSource and Elaia Partners participating. The company has now raised more than $11 million in funding.

The additional capital will be used to step up development of its D’Fusion software platform and to expand operations in Asia and the United States, grow its community of developers and explore new consumer markets.

Founded in 1999, Total Immersion provides a commercial augmented reality platform that enables developers to blurs the line between the virtual and the real world by integrating realtime interactive 3D graphics into live video streams. See demo video below.

Intel says it will work together with Total Immersion to develop new usage experiences for its own platforms. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time the chip maker’s venture capital arm invests in an augmented reality software company – it also took the lead in a $14 million financing round for Layar announced back in November 2010.

Jack Dorsey & The Golden Gate Bridge (Exclusive Video)

Transcript

I want to talk about how we build things here, a little bit about the product, the work we do and the work we need to do. So, this is something I put on our Wiki a long time ago [shows slide], as one of our principles is to delight our users. But then I realized it’s more important to delight their users, which are their customers and payers. And the more we focus on that payer experience, the more we focus on really making that magical — and designing it. We win, our users win, and we get more users.

So, going back to a lot of Brian’s points, this is a big focus for us, we’re the only payments company in the world that’s concerned with design. We are all designers in this room, and that’s how we’re leading this company, through design.

So, how many of you have walked or driven across the Golden Gate Bridge? Almost everyone in the room. This is one of my favorite parts of living in San Francisco. This is astoundingly beautiful, and it’s not just beautiful because it looks pretty, it’s beautiful because of the challenge that everyone who built this bridge overcame.

So, if you go back and you look at how this bridge was built, this is what San Francisco looked like before the bridge. This was the Golden Gate. We called it the Golden Gate because San Francisco was known for gold rushes. People would come here, explore and risk everything they had to live in an environment where they might find gold, or might find work, or might open a store of some kind.

So, this is the Golden Gate, this is the fort, right on the point in the Presidio, and there’s this big divide between this fort and Marin, and a lot of people living in Tiburon and Sausalito would have to go all the way around the Bay, all the way up here to get around across the river, up by Richmond.

So, they needed something that was a little bit faster. The war was over, they weren’t using this fort much anymore, so, they decided to build a bridge. So, very simply they said we need to build a bridge here, and they got an architect. The architect had a vision, actually there are a few architects, but one person has incredibly taken credit for most of the work, which was recently rectified — it’s a fascinating Wikipedia article if you have the chance to read it.

So the architects designed this gorgeous bridge, but the problem with the Golden Gate is that this is an extremely tumultuous area, if you’ve ever sailed through this or taken a boat through this, the waves are immense. Or surfed through it, which is more dangerous. It’s a disaster, I mean all the weather of the Bay is being forced through this one single point. So, all these elements create this perfect storm of turbulence. It’s extremely deep in the middle and it’s an epic span, so this was not an easy challenge.

They got a bunch of amazing engineers, and they took it step by step and iterated and iterated and iterated. There was a lot of back and forth between the architects to make this beautiful opening into this gorgeous city that we live in. And what is possible? What is beautiful? What is possible? And that’s really what it comes down to … we want to design the beautiful and build the impossible.

And a lot of people think of design, when they hear the word design as visual, something that looks pretty. Design is not just visual, design is efficiency. Design is making something simple. Design is epic. Design is making it easy for a user to get from point A to point B.

Engineering is design. Every engineer in this room, every operator in this room, every customer service agent in this room, is a designer. Because you’re designing constantly the interaction that you have with your tools or with your users or with your customers, and you’re trying to bring efficiency and take all the thinking out of that process.

So, everything we do here is design. We always want to make the beautiful — to this point — Keith, two minutes before I was supposed to start this Town Square, told me, stop. I’ve got a mistake in my slides, I forgot to capitalize an “S”. I swear. That level of perfection is what we wanna achieve, because if we achieve that level of perfection — it’s gonna take a long time to do that, a lot of hours — but then our users see it immediately, without thinking. And that’s the important part. That’s what design is.

And look at this, this is gorgeous. I mean, just look at this bridge, it’s amazing what was achieved with resources they had in the time these folks had. Millions and millions of people go over this bridge, and one of the features of this bridge is it doesn’t fall down. Reliability is a feature. This is what Brian said earlier, availability, reliability, and staying up, that’s a feature and that’s a product, and it has to be well-designed and thought after and considered, and that’s what we’re doing.

I’ve often spoken to the editorial nature of what I think my job is, I think I’m just an editor, and I think every CEO is an editor. I think every leader in any company is an editor. Taking all of these ideas and you’re editing them down to one cohesive story, and in my case, my job is to edit the team, so we have a great team that can produce the great work and that means bringing people on and in some cases having to let people go. That means editing the support for the company, which means having money in the bank, or making money, and that means editing what the vision and the communication of the company is, so that’s internal and external, what we’re saying internally and what we’re saying to the world — that’s my job. And that’s what every person in this company is also doing. We have all these inputs, we have all these places that we could go — all these things that we could do — but we need to present one cohesive story to the world.

Brian said something very interesting to me a few weeks ago, he said, support and feedback is what our customers are telling us, and product is what we’re telling our customers. I think that’s an amazing, amazing statement. We have feedback loops, and then we speak something back, the product, this company, is what we’re telling the world.

So, on this point, ideas can come from anyone, and they can come anytime. So, we all have various directions that we want to take the company and sometimes those ideas come during a shower, sometimes they come when we’re walking, sometimes they come when we’re talking with other employees at the coffee store, and sometimes you just wanna build it — you just wanna get it done — and we want to support that.

If I want to go and create a screen saver that shows all the signatures that are coming into Square in realtime, and I’m gonna go spend the weekend doing that, and I’m gonna finish it to my satisfaction so that when I go back to the company and say look at what I did, this is amazing, this is beautiful and I’ve had a lot of fun building this. And instead of saying, you know, that’s cool but we didn’t do it as a team so let’s not use it right now. Instead, let’s figure out how to say, that’s awesome, now let’s figure out how to put it into production.

So, allowing folks to work on what they want and the strong ideas that they have at any point, and then figuring out how to build it into production, and speaking to that point of reliability as a feature. Ideas happen to individuals, they happen to groups, we should allow for all of it. We should take them all in and consider them. If we don’t act on an idea, then let’s put in on the shelf, don’t throw it away, just put it in the shelf, because we may use it later in a different way then what was originally intended. This gets us to become good storytellers, and that’s what we want to do. This is about the editorial.

As a lot of you know, this is one of my favorite magazines. [Shows The Economist] This magazine is very interesting. It’s actually a newspaper — out of London. If you look through this magazine, you’ll notice a few things. First, it has a beautiful unfolding. You open the first few pages, you get all the news around the world in brief, little, 140-character news bytes of what’s happening. You want to commit some more time, then you page through and you’ll see the briefings in half pages or pages, a little bit more on what’s going on in the world, about what you just read. If you want to commit even more to any direction or any topic that you find interesting, you can read the full articles, which are multiple pages. And then at the very back are the indicators, the economic indicators, of what various aspects of the economy are doing.

The other thing you notice about this is that there are no bylines at all, there are no names in here, not even the editor has a name, it’s The Economist, they’re building The Economist, they’re writing articles for The Economist.

The editor says, I want to write about Obama, and how he needs to step it up, it’s time. He gets 5 or 6 articles, edits them into one thing that he thinks, or she thinks, will sell the magazine and tell the best story, and that becomes the magazine. This is done with every single article that’s in the magazine. And effectively every single product and feature and aspect that we’re building to our company.

So, my point here is, this company is not going to be known by one person or by five people or by multiple people. It’s going to be known by the product that we put out. We, in the Valley, think that Steve Jobs is Apple. We see Apple and we think Steve Jobs. But the mainstream audience doesn’t know who the hell Steve Jobs is. They don’t really care. They know that the Nano works, they love it, and they want to buy the next one. They could care less what this old guy in the black turtle neck does. Square is not going to be known by me, it’s not going to be known as Keith’s company, it’s not gonna be known as any other individual’s company in here, it’s going to be known as Square.

That’s what we want people to care about, and that’s what we’re trying to push, we’re trying to push, we’re trying to push the products and the brand and our story above everything else. And if you ever see that not happening, then let’s fix it. Tell me about it, we’ll fix it. Kay will help.

So, building beautiful things, it’s not easy. You can give up easily. It’s not 9 to 5 job. This is a 9 to 5 bridge [shows new slide]. Everything about this bridge says do not cross me. First of all, I don’t trust that it’s going to stay up. It’s forcing me into these narrow lanes. It’s got this mile-per-hour limit. This does not inspire. This is not aspirational to anyone. This is not something I want to cross. This is not something I want to use. It’s not something that I look at and say, wow, that’s amazing, I mean wow, What the hell were they thinking?

And a lot of people in our industry, this is what they’re building. It’s terrible. This is the bridge I want to cross. [Shows Golden Gate] This is how I want to arrive at a destination. This is classy. This is limitless. This is inspiring. This is gorgeous. Every single aspect of this is gorgeous.

Think about all of the engineers and all of the architects and all of the people that drove rock to this bridge and their families and how happy and proud they are when they walk over this bridge and when they see this bridge in newspapers and they see it in movies and they are part of this bridge. That’s what we all want to feel. That’s what I want to feel, and I know everyone in this room wants to feel.

So, this is why design is important and this is why this coordination is important, and this is how we’re leading and building this company. So, your homework for the weekend is to cross this bridge, think about that, and then also think about how we take those lessons into doing what we want do, which is carry every single transaction in the world.

造林紀事_走過後山莫拉克完整版

Lockheed Martin Unveils Orion Spacecraft

Forging a new path forward to ensure safe, affordable and sustainable human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, Lockheed Martin today unveiled the first Orion spacecraft and a spacious state-of-the-art Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC). These two major projects, located at Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Facility near Denver, Colo., showcase the NASA-industry teams’ progress for human space flight, the Orion Project and NASA’s Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine

About this talk

What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading.

Remarkable technology lets you check into TV

Foursquare for TV is how many people define new company IntoNow. But it really has some wild technology behind it which will change how I view TV forever. They compete with a few other companies like Miso, Philo, and GetGlue, but I like their technology approach much better. Check this company out! Here's the executive team showing it off and explaining how it works. http://www.intonow.com/ is where you get it.