TED Talks

TED talks are highly addictive and the most welcome, educational and inspiring time sink I can think of.  Last weekend I indulged and revisited some old friends and found some new ones I wanted to share. 

 

For those of you who are new to TED, TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment and Design.  Since, TED talks have spread in many directions and in particular onto their amazing website onto which all TED talk videos are uploaded. 

Giving Thanks

Every year has its highs and its lows and even the lows tend to have silver-linings. Superstorm Sandy hit hard, even if we, as a company, had no hardship. We didn't lose power, had no property damage or major work disruptions and we are very thankful for that.

 

But it does hit home hard to see so many people and small to medium sized business owners and employees lose everything and see their life's work slip from their grip in a few hours. No amount of government support and insurance money will give anybody the hard work, time, worry, planning and love back, lost when a catastrophe - man-made or natural - strikes.

 

We wish all of those affected by Sandy no matter how lightly or gravely the strength, perseverance and tenacity to rebuild even better and stronger than before.  And mostly we wish them the strength to see a silver-lining and be able to give thanks this Thanksgiving. 

 

And on a lighter note:

Photo "borrowed" from Bar Sepia Thanksgiving mail - thank you!

 

Megatrends

I came across megatrends repeatedly doing research for my next documentary Identity and the Other and decided to do a bit of further digging. I found different definitions for different countries and cultures, no surprise there. The following seemed the most comprehensive. 

 

Megatrends are defined as forces (i.e. trends) affecting all aspects of our lives over a long period of time. Factors are:

Giving and Volunteering



Far Rockaway, NY: "U Loot. We Shoot"!

This weekend I volunteered for the disaster recovery of Sandy, and I’ll be brutally honest (when am I not): I did it because I felt survivor’s guilt, I wanted to see what devastation looked like other than on TV and yes, I wanted to help as much as I could.  The bottom line is: why you volunteer is irrelevant as long as you do.  

 

Spending a waaaay long time in various buses to and from the Far Rockaway’s I had two very interesting conversations about disasters, giving and cultural differences.