Website of the Day – TED: Ideas worth spreading

Greetings everyone! Todays Website of the Day brings you http://www.ted.com/, a site devoted to spreading free, riveting talks by remarkable people around the world. From science to technology to magic tricks, TED regularly pumps out new content and lectures for you to enjoy. TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences curated by the Sapling Foundation, formed to expose “ideas worth spreading”. Since June 2006, the talks have been available online for free viewing. As of this post, there are over 700 free videos available to the masses. Upon entering the site you will immediately be presented with a pane of the newest released videos. Hovering over each thumbnail will reveal a more detailed description of the talk, and what category it falls under. Off to the side, you can refine your taste by selecting from the plethora of available topics.

And if that were not enough, you can also download each video (legally under the Creative Commons License), choose from available subtitles, and even view some videos translated into the language of your choice! TED is an amazing tool for expanding your knowledge  and learning new things, without the typical boredom generally associated in doing such things. For instance, playing a lecture and leaving it to run in the background while you go about your chores, or play online video games. Below are some of my favorite lectures:

Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard discusses happiness and how to attain it –

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html

Magician and stuntman David Blaine describes what it took to hold his breath underwater for 17 minutes –

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_blaine_how_i_held_my_breath_for_17_min.html

Arthur Benjamin does “Mathemagic”, and shows you how –

http://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_does_mathemagic.html

Cheers!