Thursday, March 24, 2011

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine | Video on TED.com

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.
Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine | Video on TED.com

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Street Light: The Yen and the Earthquake

The Street Light: The Yen and the Earthquake: "Dramatic events in currency markets this week. First, the value of the dollar vs the yen fell substantially on Monday through Wednesday. T..."

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-03-15

Deb Roy: The birth of a word


MIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language -- so he wired up his house with videocameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son's life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch "gaaaa" slowly turn into "water." Astonishing, data-rich research with deep implications for how we learn.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

David Brooks: The social animal

Tapping into the findings of his latest book, NYTimes columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences -- insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can't hope to understand humans as separate individuals making choices based on their conscious awareness

David Brooks: The social animal | Video on TED.com

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) works to make the online world safer for kids and their families. We do this by identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods in the field of online safety that also respect free expression


GRID & The State of Online Safety

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Macro and Growth Policies in the Wake of the Crisis

A conference on the theme Macro and Growth Policies in the Wake of the Crisis will take place at the IMF’s Headquarters in Washington, DC on March 7-8. The conference will be hosted by four of the world’s most noted economists, including two Nobel laureates: Michael Spence (Stanford University), Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University), Olivier Blanchard (Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the IMF), and David Romer (University of California, Berkeley). The event will bring together leading policymakers and academics from both advanced and emerging countries, as well as representatives from civil society, the private sector, and the media. 

MIT+150 Infinite History project: Interviews with great economists

Over the past few years, the MIT150 Infinite History project team has collected the first-person recollections of more than one hundred people who have shaped — or been shaped by — MIT. Interviews with the late Professor Paul Samuelson, along with Professors Peter Diamond, James Poterba , Robert Solow and Lester Thorow.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The Globalization Paradox

Dani Rodrik offers a new narrative, one that embraces an ineluctable tension: we cannot simultaneously pursue democracy, national self-determination, and economic globalization. When the social arrangements of democracies inevitably clash with the international demands of globalization, national priorities should take precedence. Rodrik's case for a customizable globalization supported by a light frame of international rules shows the way to a balanced prosperity as we confront today's global challenges in trade, finance, and labor markets
See the video here

The End of Poverty

Global poverty did not just happen. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, the problem persists because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies — in other words, wealthy countries taking advantage of poor, developing countries. Renowned actor and activist, Martin Sheen, narrates THE END OF POVERTY?, a feature-length documentary directed by award-winning director, Philippe Diaz, which explains how today's financial crisis is a direct consequence of these unchallenged policies that have lasted centuries. Consider that 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate. At this rate, to maintain our lifestyle means more and more people will sink below the poverty line. Filmed in the slums of Africa and the barrios of Latin America, THE END OF POVERTY? features expert insights from: Nobel prize winners in Economics, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; acclaimed authors Susan George, Eric Toussaint, John Perkins, Chalmers Johnson; university professors William Easterly and Michael Watts; government ministers such as Bolivia's Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and the leaders of social movements in Brazil, Venezuela, Kenya and Tanzania. It is produced by Cinema Libre Studio in collaboration with the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. Can we really end poverty within our current economic system? Think again.

SEE THE VIDEO HERE