TEDxNewYork 12/15/09 Andrew Mwenda (2007)

TEDxNewYork 12/08/09 William McDonough (2005)

John Forté

TEDxNewYork 11/17/09 Rives (all)

Rives (March 2007)

Rives (February 2008)

Rives (November 2006)

Rives (February 2006)

TEDxNewYork 11/10/09 Dan Ariely (2009)

And a call to action by one of our fellow conversationalists:


"The TEDx conversation this morning was very inspiring.

We looked deeply into human behavior, coupled it with climate-change problems,
and concluded that humans can change things in small steps.

I request that we actually take a small-step this week, to complete what we got out of the meeting.

One small step, to turn our words into actions.

TED is a group of doers, not just talkers, and if we stood behind our words, our meeting will become much more valuable.

So if you wish to play the game, make just a small step this week out of your ordinary practice, whatever that means to you.

Change a light bulb, compost, have a family conversation or create your own unique step...

Hey, if we wear the right sweatshirts on. . . wouldn't that be a TEDx to remember? ;-) "

-Vico Sharabani

TEDxEast 11/06/09 report on a TEDx we didn't have a hand in creating

***Please note that while people from TEDxNewYork attended, we were not part of the creation of TEDxEast. We merely attended, as the "x" in TEDx means "independently organized event".

We're very, very grateful to the work of Julianne Wurm for making TEDxEast such an awesome event.

Rock on.

PS She'll be doing it again in 2010...

TEDxNewYork 10/6/9 Michael Pollan (2008)

TEDxNewYork 9/29/9 Tierny Thys (2003)

TEDxNewYork 9/22/9 Richard Preston (2008)

TEDxNEWYORK 9/15/09 Willie Smitts (2009)

TEDxNEWYORK 9/1/09 Nate Silver (2009)

TEDxNEWYORK 8/25/09 Anna Deavere Smith (2005)

Ok, so this one has some ups & downs to start our day....

TEDxNEWYORK 8/18/09 Aubrey de Grey (2006)

In keeping with TED's penchant for out-of-the-box thinkers and iconoclasts (the nice kind of iconoclasts), here's Aubrey. If the accent is a little difficult, there's the transcript at this link (and the transcriptions are open-source, interactive... and translatable if you're multi-lingual, willing & able to help, btw.

TEDxNEWYORK 8/11/09 Deborah Scranton (2007)

Oh boy, did I not mean to start the morning on such a terrifically serious note. Next time we'll get a little more lighthearted ...

TEDxNewYork 7/28/2009 Robert Ballard

Today we sat in an austere conference room instead of on the couches in the lounge . Eh, sometimes the screen you get is the screen you get. At least there chairs were green. And the people were nice. I really wish y'all would argue sometimes. Everyone's got such good communication skills...

-chel

TEDxNewYork 7/21/2009 J. J. Abrams

Low turnout today, but it was raining and the streets looked sad, so we went with the light-hearted, excited Abrams. Good call.

TEDxNEWYORK 6/30/09 Samantha Power (2008)

TEDxNEWYORK 6/23/09 Juan Enriquez (2003)

The video we watched isn't available online (thank you Don & your magical TED DVD library...) The video was great (and sent me to the bookstore- twice) as was the conversation.  Watch/read anything by Enriquez you can get your hands on.  His input is worth it.  In my humble but assertive opinion.

TEDxNEWYORK 6/16/09 Dan Dennett (2009) & guest Robert Leslie

Today's discussion was pretty much pure content as opposed to verbal intercourse but here's a wrap up for you... First, Dennett's talk. It's fun (and short), watch it. Next, we had TED photographer Robert Leslie (his popular photograph, above, taken at TED in Monteray will lead you to one of his websites) as our guest for the hour. Robert Leslie came to be the TED photographer through his regular work with musicians and one in particular who pointed him towards TED Susheela Raman. Robert's photographs are enlightening, sometimes humorous and very comprehensive when it comes to TED- a little peak behind the curtain.

Robert blew past the celebrity and rock-n-roll photographs to give us a brief tour of the US post-election and more broadly, the development of one of China's new cities. And there will be more details on that shortly, but this blog needs posting and emails need replying. More soon--

I'm going to break in with a little new about Twitter for a moment, not because I want to tell a hundred random followers about my breakfast but because of its immediate relevance in the media at the moment.  Namely: what the heck is up with elections in Iran, explained here in painstaking statistical analysis by Nate Silver (he was also fastidious with his hyperlinks, so don't make a superficial pass at his page if you want real insight. 

First, the Twitter Apocalypse happened last Friday (can you say y2k in 140 char or less?), what that actually was, and yes, there's an explanation in quasi-layman's terms for you. I crowd-sourced the explanation using Tweeter (my Facebook/Twitter aggregate) and got an answer or two that helped me well enough. Here's that for you if you want it. 

Next, the reason it came to the fore today is because of the news from Iran being covered so quickly by text messages before an A/P reporter can get to their keyboard. (There's also a conference based on Twitter in town this week, but we didn't dive into that. Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, spoke at TED this year about what has become of it too. At any rate: Iran, Twitter, mainstream media, find out what's going on in short form, long form, quickly or slowly, the interwebs are shouting, as are the people.

TEDxNEWYORK 6/9/09 Seth Godin (2009)

Usually I try not to repeat what is stated in the video, because, um, the video it's right there, see? Subtitled and everything. Of course if you want to go contribute to the TED open translation project, feel free to pitch in your multi-lingual talents if you have 'em. I will pull out a few of Seth's quotes from this talk that are worth highlighting.

Firstly, Godin is an excellent public speaker- more of a didactic storyteller than a lecturer. His tips on giving a compelling presentation can be found on his blog. He's also a great thinker, this year he presents a vein of thought on what "tribes" are in the modern world and how we can function with them.

With the death of the "tv-industrial complex", Godin wasn't just talking about advertising, but of a shift from medium to message, and how to communicate a compelling idea. Our conversation hovered around advertising (hey, we were sitting on the creative floor of Grey), but not only.

The role of the media was to populate the world with images that become cultural points of reference. The idea of spreading ideas through tribes is that instead of having to shout loudly to the whole world, you can reach out to communities and seed ideas there. Then the tribes will carry forth the messages that they care about.

A problem, or as some of us call them, opportunity, is that things like TV used to be a closed circle... but if we leave a gap then there's room for the audience to join in, be part of the mystery or creation of a story.

chel

TEDxNEWYORK 6/2/09 Shai Agassi (2009)

Today's TED Tuesday selection probably had something to do with GreyNY's own Don McKinney sharing on a panel with Shai at WBSCC last week (see prior posts). Also, Shai's insight is highly relevant to... the everywhere, right now. Don's additional insightful adds to our conversation came from working in the ad world in Detriot for several years as well. Oh and GM is in the news today (sorry I really couldn't decide which news source to use for that announcement).

Of course it's not just the Associated Press that's all a-buzz over GM- the blogosphere is all a-twittering. (Can we use twittering by its Merriam-Webster definition anymore?) So instead of quoting co-workers, and myself here with our frustrated, inflammatory comments, we'll let some of writers of the day take the stand (and thanks Huffington Post for being the repository of such great thoughts):

TEDster Cameron Sinclair's editorial asks What If GM Were Run Like A Non-profit? His article provides some great additional information too, so follow his links....

A surprisingly insightful criticism that a problem with the heads of American automobile manufacturers didn't spend sleepless nights trying to improve their product but focused their energy on lobby government to avoid mandating seatbelts and airbags. The source surprised me.

And of course, it wouldn't be a TED Tuesday if I didn't leave the conversation with an addition to my reading list. At the top: Internal Combustion, by Edwin Black. (That web page could be sexier, but of course Mr. Black wasn't writing a website, he was writing a book.) (Go ahead, buy it green.)

But let's bring this back around- it's too easy to trail off on the line of thinking "what were the big three thinking?!" Instead let's go back to the top of this post, the solution-oriented Shai Agassi who is thinking, hard, and coming up with some pretty damn viable solutions. Rock on with those electrons.

-chel

THE PANEL ON COMMUNICATIONS

Click here to watch all the speakers and panels of the summit. Our panel is on day three.

GREAT PANEL AT THE WBSCC

I'll post more as they become available.

TEDxNEWYORK 5/28/09 Jacqueline Novogratz (2003)

This week's TED Tuesday was, of course, on Thursday as the holiday weekend threw everything a little off schedule. We watched what I believe was Jacqueline Novogratz's first TED talk, from 2003-- not available online, but thanks Don for loaning us the dvd. On the TED website you can find her talks from 2005, 2007 & 2009 and I recommend all of them.

I'm currently reading her book The Blue Sweater, which is far more compelling than I expected (and I was expecting it to be good anyway) and I recommend that as well.

A few small, quick notes from the post-talk conversation:

Ms. Novogratz is always pushing to make philanthropy as empowering and effective as possible; she learned about course-correcting-- methods that are tried, but not always true. We talked about that on many scales: life at large, small projects, large organizations, these happen in many ways. When you stop to assess how you're progressing on the road towards a goal, you may change how you're going to get there. It's important to not become paralyzed by how overwhelming a situation might be. Interestingly enough, a few hours later Cameron Sinclair's article The Tugboat & The Tanker showed up on the Huffington Post with an excellent analogy on the hows/whys of course-correction.

The conversation didn't exactly meander, but somehow we do find ways to include a lot of topics in what was ultimately about 40 minutes of talk time... Come, see what we mean by that.

til next week,
chel

PS check out the news of the world in the posts below from Don's trip to the World Business Summit on Climate Change!

SPEAKING AT WBSCC

Presented Climacide and the need to re-brand global warming to the World Business Summit on Climate Change today. Great response. We'll see going forward if the world business leaders are serious. Stay tuned.


Thanks to Daniel for the photo.

WE ARRIVE IN AN ELECTRIC CAR

Oddly enough, we were the only ones.

P.S. Yes, we are giants.

TIME FOR TOUGH TALK, TOUGH ACTION

The panel this morning is getting serious.

On stage is:
Anders Eldrup, CEO and President, DONG Energy
Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO, Better Place
Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr., CEO, PricewaterhouseCoopers
James E. Rodgers, Chairman, President, and CEO, Duke Energy
David Blood, Senior Partner, Generation Investment Management
Anders Eldrup, CEO and President, DONG Energy
Yoichi Funabashi, Editor-in-Chief, The Asahi Shimbun
Sir Crispin Tickell, Director of the Policy Foresight Programme, James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, Oxford University
Moderated by Nik Gowing

These CEOs are calling for a higher global price on carbon to push innovation. However, there is little faith that politicians will ratify anything that makes life uncomfortable.

Shai Aggassi: "A $200 tax per ton of carbon would raise the price of oil $2 per gallon. That price increase results in a 0.4% reduction in driving." In other words, a tax, in Shai's opinion is not going to get it done.

Sir Crispin Tickell: "People have to be told that there is a price for the carbon they put in the air."

David Blood: "We must expose the organizations and people who are lobbying against regulation." He continues, "Investing in companies that do not address these issues are bad investments. They are sub-prime assets."

James Rogers: "I had a shareholder meeting this year that said I was wasting money by going out and talking about this issue."

Shai Aggassi: If you emit tons and tons of carbon and you cut that by 10%, you get a lot of credit. If I go out with cars that don't emit any carbon, I don't get any credit. What I need to do is buy up all the emitting cars and replace them with non-emitting cars, just so we can get the credit."

Interjection from the audience: "I'm very disappointed in this conference. We aren't talking about the effects. I'm from South Africa. We're the canary in the coal mine. Next year we will be out of water. There will be six million people with no water. Do you want to put that on the agenda?"

Another from the audience: "We must get back to business leadership. There are parties in Australia who are willing to say 'if you regulate us we will leave' that isn't leadership, that's fear."

Sir Crispin Tickell: "The fundamentals of economics are broken. We have to re-examine economics if we want to fix this."

David Blood: "Business owners understand the problems. Investors and asset managers do not. Investors are lagging behind."

James Rogers: "What we think of energy conservation now will be seen as very primitive soon. We need to break away from short-term thinking."

David Blood: The best way to run a company is long term. Asset managers must get back to long-term thinking. We need to realize that climate issues have been seen as an issue from the left. This is not a liberal issue. That thinking has caused a lot of cynicism. We need to look at this from an economic standpoint not as a partisan issue.

Shai Aggasi: Capital is hard to get. If you wait till tomorrow, you'll get a better price per share. As long as they see the market going down, they will hesitate.

James Rogers: You can give investors a speech about the long-term, but investment terms have gone from five years to 18 months.

David Blood: We must include the developing world. If we do not engage them we will fail in December.

The final question: "Have we been bold enough?" The panel was split.

"THE PLANET DOES NOT ANSWER TO SHAREHOLDERS"

Harish Hande, co-founder and managing director of SELCO Solar Light, came out swinging with the declaration that most businesses have no clue because most businesses have not been affected by global warming.

"We make products for the rich, packaged for the rich."

Harish broke it down simply. 1.5 billion people do not have a voice. They cannot make choices because another 1.5 billion have the money to move the market in their direction. Most decisions, Harish contends, are made from glass offices at the top of buildings removed from the poor.

Giovanni Bisignani CEO, IATA

We all know aviation is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Here are some numbers given by Giovanni Bisignani:

2.3B people flew last year with just 900 fatalities.
Fuel efficiency has improved by 70% in the last decade
32M tons of CO2 has been saved through best practices in the last 4 years

Mr. Bisignani set several goals he would like see hit:
25% improvement in fuel efficiency by 2020
70% use of alternative fuels such as biofuels by 2020
50% carbon reduction by 2020

Mr. Bisignani went on to say that while we must ensure positive economic outcome, we must have regulations to add structure to the voluntary actions currently being taken by the airlines to "link government targets with the good work of the airlines".

Biofuels were mentioned several times as an important part of meeting the above goals. Biofue;ls can reduce the carbon footprint in the aviation industry by 80%.

WORLD BUSINESS SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE

GREYnyc is in Copenhagen for the Summit this week. I will be posting from the conference.

http://www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com/

TEDxNewYork 5/14/09

TEDxNewYork 4/28/09 Vik Muniz (2007)

TEDxNewYork 4/23/09 Helen Fisher (2006)

Love.


Love hurts,
love scars,
love wounds
and mars.
Any heart
not tough
or strong enough
to take a lot of pain,
take a lot of pain.
Love is like a cloud,
holds a lot of rain.

Love hurts
Oooh oooh love hurts

I'm young,
I know
but even so,
I know a thing or two,
I've learned from you.
I've really learned a lot
really learned a lot.
Love is like a stove,
burns you when it's hot.

Love hurts
Oooh oooh love hurts

Some fools think of happiness,
blissfullness,
togetherness,
Some fools fool themselves I guess,
but they're not fooling me.
I know it isn't true,
know it isn't true.
Love is just a lie
made to make you blue.

Love hurts
Oooh oooh love hurts

-B. & F. Bryant

TEDxNewYork 4/16/09 Bonnie Bassler

TEDxNewYork 3/16/09 Sherwin Nuland

From TED.com: Surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland discusses the development of electroshock therapy as a cure for severe, life-threatening depression -- including his own. It’s a moving and heartfelt talk about relief, redemption and second chances.

TEDxNewYork 2/16/09 Joshua Klein

Amazing crows.

THE FIRST TEDxNEWYORK SINCE TED 2009 David Merrill & Juan Enriquez

Two from TED 2009 I couldn't wait to share.





Every time I hear Juan Enriquez, I'm inspired.

It makes me wonder if the question posed below will be much harder to answer in our lifetimes.

TED TUESDAY 12/16/08 Dan Gilbert, Malcolm Gladwell & Ben Zander

The final TED Tuesday of the year and the topic is happiness. I must say this is probably the best single TED Tuesday yet. By the time we had all sung "Ode to Joy," we all had shining eyes.

Anyway, my holiday wish for everyone this year is happiness. It may be elusive. It may not be where you thought it would be, but whether you find it or synthesize it, I hope you supersize it.

Cheers,
Don

TED TUESDAY 12/9/08 Julia Sweeney & Dan Dennett

God.

TED TUESDAY 12/2/08 Wade Davis & Janine Benyus

This week, the worlds we ignore, but should be learning from.


Next Janine Benyus opens a window on the natural world.

TED TUESDAY 11/18/08 Ben Saunders & John Francis

This week incredible journeys.

TWO-FER TUESDAY! 10/6/08 Jill Bolte Taylor & Vilayanur Ramachandran

At the risk of sounding like a DJ on circa 1979 KMET (bonus points for anyone who can correctly sing the KMET jingle), I'm trying out a new format and, as the name suggests, it's double your pleasure, double your TED. Two...two...two treats in one. OK, I'll Stop.

Great TED Tuesday this week as we explore the brain. First Jill Bolte Taylor then Vilayanur Ramachandran.

TED TUESDAY 10/23/08 Paul Stamets

This week Paul Stamets.



Mycillium? I hardly knew 'em.

TED TUESDAY 10/16/08 Susan Blackmore (2008)

This week, Susan Blackmore.


Will our ability to grasp ideas ultimately kill us? Imagine if our existence was only biological. What if ideas did not catch on and transfer from person to person? What if we were never able to duplicate an action such as making fire? What would the world be like?

This talk made me totally re-access my idea of intelligence. By suggesting that ideas act like genes, Susan Blackmore brings a high level of chance into the equation of evolution and opens up immense variability in what intelligence is. Imagine other life forms suddenly showing up from outer space. We always think of aliens as having a similar intelligence as ourselves. Sure they would be more or less advanced than us, but intelligence would take the same form. However, according to Blackmore, our intelligence is based on imitation and replication with variation. And, she says, that is an incredibly dicey equation for two reasons. First, it isn't easy for brains to do. Ideas had to be had by the first replicators, they had to find special brains. Blackmore referenced Louise Leakey who pointed out earlier that there were several branches in our family tree that didn't make it. Second, big brains are dangerous. They are hard to give birth to and it isn't in our best interest, physically speaking, to have big brains. Big brains are not efficient. Big brains are two percent of our body weight and take 20 percent of our energy to run. Does that make memes more dominate than genes given the right replicator?

So, back to the original question. I think our ability to replicate ideas with variations has had a profound effect on every other species on the planet. We have recreated the Earth in our image. We have created a place specifically for creatures with big brains – a place where ideas shape the landscape, allocate resources, form cultures and create wealth. Ideas have forced the rest of the world to adapt.

Finally, Blackmore brings us to temes and says technology is the next replicator (the t in temes). I wonder if the recent stock market crash is an example of machines blurring the lines – computers set to sell stock at a certain price trigger a cataclysmic melt-down of the global economy. Sounds like sci-fi and there is a decidedly Matrixy feel to the whole thing.

TED TUESDAY 8/19/08 Steven Levitt

This week Steven Levitt.

TED TUESDAY 8/12/08 Bill Stone

Bill Stone's stunning announcement wowed the crowd this week and sparked a discussion about the lack of global enthusiasm over exploration. We came up with a number of possible reasons for this this. My favorite was along the lines of Al Gore's comment that we live in an age of mass distraction. I'd be curious to see what everyone else thinks about this. Why are we so apathetic about exploration? Is it because the definition of an explorer is not as focused as it was in Shackleton's time or even in Neil Armstrong's time? Being an explorer once had a rugged, devil-may-care image attached to it, mostly, I believe because of the things that were being explored (dangerous new territories for instance). Now there are a lot of different kind of things being explored and a lot of different kind of explorers.

Also, if anyone from TED is reading this blog and has info on what Bill is doing now, please share.

TED TUESDAY 7/2/08 Juan Enriquez

This talk by Juan Enriquez was my introduction to TED. I find the insight about language to be the most fascinating part of this talk.

TED TUESDAY 6/10/08 Sir Ken Robinson

This week, Sir Ken Robinson.

TED TUESDAY 6/20/08 James Howard Kunstler (2004)

One of my all-time favorites, the angriest man to ever speak at TED: James Howard Kunstler


Also check out his five-part series on the end of peak oil.

The discussion was varied on this our first go out of the gate. A lot of it surrounded the end of peak oil and the demise of Walmart (an event Kunstler predicts). But we soon shifted to urbanism and the culture suburbia forces on us, which seemed to some in our group to be more hype than reality.

The question what can we do right now to stave off the "long period of pain" Kunstler talks about as a result of the end of peak oil came up and led us to a discussion of living locally (buying locally, working locally, finding ways to have more value to our neighbors).

Here's a question (or two) to everyone – what can we do to move the conversation from consumerism to living locally? What kind of tools can we build to facilitate that behavior? For instance, what about a craigslist-style message board where local growers can connect with local customers? A co-op message board. Any ideas?

LAWRENCE LESSIG, RIVES

Everyone, this is the first talk we watched today. Feel free to comment.




And here's the poet Rives.


Found @ TED.com

A NEW ROLE FOR THIS BLOG

We are proud to announce that in addition to being TED's agency partner, GREYnyc is the home of TEDxNewYork. TEDxNewYork will replace TED Tuesdays and this blog will replace kingsofsimulcast. Read below this post for Chel's wonderful live blogging from TED 2009 in Palm Springs. For those of you searching for something blogged about from TED 2008, I will keep kingsofsimulcast live for awhile longer.

ENGAGE

The last session of TED was called ENGAGE.

I hearken back to the parting words I learned when I was young:

"Go in peace to love and serve."

Session 12: Engage- Liz Coleman

Liberal Arts: An education designed to foster a student's broadest intellectual and deepest ethical potential.

Liberal Arts no longer exists.

Technical skills are celebrated but these are viewed warily:

What kind of a world...
are we making?
should we be making?
can we be making?


Civic mindedness is treated as outside, not the core.


This nation with all its resources seems utterly helpless to stop the fall of all the major problems of society.

How is it that so many

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson

[Note how many people here at TED have quoted good ole TJ... I think I need to re-read everything I ever read of his and kick myself for not reading all of it. Are these books at the TED bookstore? They need to be!]

The Reality:
None as the answers
Everyone has the responsibility.

The new cirriculum- my favorite, Venn diagram (!) to show that all of these things must be seen in combination of each other.
*equity
*education
*the environment
*governance
*the uses of force
*health

History provides a laboratory in which we see the actual and as well as the intended consequences of our actions.

The NEW liberal arts:
rhetoric
design
mediation
improvisation
quantitative reasoning
technology (which merges from these in concert)

"This new wine needs a new bottle."
Freshman Course Schedule becomes A Medieval Fair

The challenge for Bennington is to execute these values she's outlined here.

"We intend to turn the intellectual and imaginative power, passion and boldness of our students, faculty, and stoff on the developing strategies for acting on the most critical challenges of our time."

"We cannot have a viable democracy made up of experts, zealots, politicians and spectators."

"Being overwhelmed is the first step if you are serious about trying to get at things that really matter on a scale that makes a difference." [thank you Anonymous for helping complete that quote]

I'm going to write her an email and request a full transcription now...

interstitial - Darius from Darius Goes West

* I’m not a disabled person, I’m a person with a disability.
* I’m not suffering. But you’re going to die. So is everyone else!
* It’s not a rare disease. It’s the number one genetic killer of children in the world

What stereotype are you comfortable with? Well it’s a Sony…

Session 12: Engage- Barry Schwartz

Title Slide: a collaboration with Ken Sharp for a book that someday... he hopes to finish

Obama appealed to each of us at his inauguration:
"The time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation..."

Barry's goals of this talk:
• Why Obama was right about virtue
• Practical wisdom (Aristotle) is the key virtue
• Nonetheless, we're making a war on wisdom (in the US and it's unwittingly
• But there are sources of hope

Example: the long list of a janitor's duties. Nothing on it involves other human beings. BUT janitors reported that their attitudes and actions in their jobs were purposefully a result of their relationships and respect for people at the hospital.

Practical wisdom is Moral Skill plus Moral Wisdom: A wise person knows when and how to improvise, a moral jazz to accommodate situations and this person is made, not born. you need to have/be mentors.

"Rules and procedures may be done, but they prevent you from having to think" -Scott Simon

Rules: we need better ones if we're going to use them. But they don't make things better in the long run. Moral skill is chipped away as the effects come down the line. They don't allow the wisdom of the people trying to convey the

Incentives the war on moral will: motivational competition. they don't promote peoples interest in doing the "right thing", but a moral drive alone causes people to

people lose morale and morality.

Good news: You don't need to be brilliant to be wise
Bad news: But brilliance doesn't mean you are wise

"We must ask, not just is it profitable, but is it right?" -Obama 12/18/08
people become addicted to and focused on the wrong thing.

We must re-moralize work: it's not about teaching ethics courses. it's about celebrating moral heroes. acknowledge and be proud of these people.

Aaron Feurrstein and Malden Mills had a devistating fire but he kept all employees at a profit loss because it was right. Ray Anderson turned his "evil empire" into a green company AND learned it made a greater profit too! Morality should be "ordinary" if not "extraordinary" so that when we do right it shouldn't be against the tide.

Ethics as lived, not as taught [KIPP]

As teachers must remember we're always teaching, the camera is always on. And we must always be an example of morality.

Kids need to respect themselves, their teachers, others and to respect learning. Teachers must always embody it. Kipp is great as a teacher because of it.

Honesty, kindness and courage are a natural follow to morality.
And hope is wanting to do the right thing in the right way for the right reasons. We must pay attention to what we do, how we do it, why we do it.

Standing O.

interstitial- Gever Tulley

If you haven't seen it- there was a TED talk online that became a surprise hit last year and it was Gever Tulley's

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/gever_tulley_on_5_dangerous_things_for_kids.html

Now, carefully read that link...

quotable: "decoration of an unfinished project is sort of a gestational incubation"

He showed many things his kids did as a team and individuals... For the finale of this show of kids' works: "The things that kids build amaze even themselves, like a roller coaster by 7-year-olds."