In the end
these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you live?
How deeply did you let go?
But often, in the world’s most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
-from “The Buried Life” (1852) by Matthew Arnold
(via The Buried Life / marchustvedt)
Via marc hustvedtWe live in a society today that loves a soap opera,” NBC chief Jeff Zucker told the Times, trying to shrug off his current troubles, but he’s exactly wrong. This is no Tigergate, which we follow out of prurient interest. This has evolved into a national passion play about greed, betrayal, stupidity, incompetence, and corporate cluelessness. In other words, the late night fiasco has become the perfect allegory for the Great Recession
– Adam Sternbergh | Vulture (via ericmortensen) Via worship the glitchPS22 Chorus “EMPIRE STATE OF MIND Pt. XXII”
These kids are great, as always. Watching PS22 videos always makes me miss NYC… especially the diversity. People from all over the world on a small island. Miss that. A lot.
Smashface, Crew and Sir Patrick Stewart (via Lan Bui)
Can I just say: ya’ll are badasses. YA’LL ARE BADASSES. Can’t wait to hug each and everyone of you on Thursday.
Friends: Steve and Zadi are relaunching the best web show in the universe, EPIC FU, this Thursday with a special event. I will be at the party to show my support, and depending on traffic from San Diego, I’ll be attending the panel too! Join me and all these fun people - RSVP here.
Hey, did someone say free drinks? Say yeaaaaaah! :)
Thanks Annie! Pretty excited for Thursday… and the I think we may just frame this photo. :)
Yesterday’s Geek-Out: Meeting and interviewing Sir Patrick Stewart for PBS. He mentioned that he doesn’t use Twitter and that he used to have a Google alert for his name, but it began flooding his inbox, so he turned it off.
Afterward, we realized we should have pulled out the laptop to get his reaction on all of the ytmnd fan creations. I think he would have gotten a chuckle. :)
The Shawshank Redemption: Music Scene
During tonight’s research, I came across one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies. It illustrates the profound impact music can have on people in highly stressed environments. It’s also beautifully written and acted.
moth:
Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Numerous members of the TED community have sought to find a way to help victims of the Haiti quake. We believe one of the organizations best placed to make an immediate difference is Partners in Health. They have operated medical facilities in Haiti for more than two decades and have numerous people on the ground. (We had the honor of working with them as part of President Clinton’s TED Prize wish. They’re trustable and effective.)
We asked how best the TED community could help and this was their response. Do join us in making a donation here.
- Help us track down helicopters! That’s our #1 need right now is transport. There are thousands of badly injured ppl in Port-au-Prince, and there are PIH hospitals, supplies and teams standing ready to treat them in the central plateau. It’s a long, difficult drive over uncertain roads — OR a 10-min helo ride.
- Satellite phones! Cell communications are mostly down and we can’t send docs out into PAP with no way to be in touch
- Donate medicine, food, blankets, supplies … anyone with in-kind products to donate can write to procurement@pih.org
- Lend your time and skills — we need experienced trauma surgeons, pediatric trauma surgeons, burn specialists, nurse anesthetists, trauma nurses
- We need solar chargers, generators, fuel for generators
- Water purification that does not require electricity — so massive quanitities of water purification tablets or a system that is standalone
- Transport — we have had a few offers of private planes plus a big Air Canada jet — we are filling them with doctors and supplies and mobilizing
- Donate at http://www.pih.org/home.html.
— Chris Anderson, TED Curator
Wow. This was an unexpected laugh. Thanks for that. :)
I just spent way too much time making this…I hope it was worth it.
Thoughts going out to family of friends in Haiti and extended family in DR.
To donate to the ongoing emergency relief efforts in Haiti and the Caribbean region, please visit:www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake or call 1-800-4UNICEF.
First images of destruction in Haiti emerge via twitter (via @marvinady)
To Friends Who are Doing Human Rights Activist Work in China
Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident—albeit a significant one—was something quite different.
…
Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.
Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.
The Madness of Crowds and an Internet Delusion
Story by John Tierney / Photo by Jeffery A. Salter / New York Times
“Mr. Lanier was once an advocate himself for piracy, arguing that his fellow musicians would make up for the lost revenue in other ways. Sure enough, some musicians have done well selling T-shirts and concert tickets, but it is striking how many of the top-grossing acts began in the predigital era, and how much of today’s music is a mash-up of the old.
“It’s as if culture froze just before it became digitally open, and all we can do now is mine the past like salvagers picking over a garbage dump,” Mr. Lanier writes. Or, to use another of his grim metaphors: “Creative people — the new peasants — come to resemble animals converging on shrinking oases of old media in a depleted desert.”
(via: @dealfatigue on Twitter)
