Ted Talks Summary No. 5

Harald Haas
          Wireless Data From Every Lightbulb


The topic that Harald Haas talks about, is that simply we have 1.4 million wireless fidelity broadcast towers around the world transmitting data, through radio waves, to computers routers and smart phones around the world. Although this process can be simplified much easier by transmitting data through a newfound technology invented, to transmit wireless data through light waves, because the visible light scale is 10,000 times more potent than the radio wave scale. Therefore, 10,000 times 1.4 million is 14.4 billion, which is about how many lightbulbs we have around the world.

I have always been on the struggle with wireless technology, whenever I pull out my phone or mobile device I am wondering about wifi, and how I can get some when i'm out, or what position i have to be in to get the best signal. So for when a presenter comes to talk about an alternative to wireless fidelity, I really wanted to hear about this.

I think His point is very well said, and the idea is almost, very sound. Yet his original point of there being 14 billion lightbulbs in the world, it would seem very confusing still to think of how people would adapt to an alternative source of wireless fidelity. It may seem weird, instead trying to find a signal, trying to find a source of light. A lot of factors come from that, when I think about the sustainability of connection while using this "light fidelity". For instance when you are using wifi you find a strong hotspot and stick to it until you are done with it. But light varies all the time, day goes to night lights turn off cars drive by, it just seems like a work in progress at the moment.

I really liked the point near the end where he says " So, all what we need to do is, to fit a small micro chip to every potential illumination device. And this would then, combine two basic functionalities, wireless data transmission, and illumination. And it's this symbiosis, that I would personally believe could solve the four essential problems we face in wireless communication these days. And in the future you may not only have 14 billion lightbulbs, you may have 14 billion lifi's deployed worldwide, for a cleaner, greener, and even brighter future."

Ted Talks Summary No. 4

Hans Rosling
          New Insights on poverty


There are a few things that Hans starts to talk about, He begins to talk about how, the success rate of people living past the age of 2 on the rise, and on the run, being the average amount of money per household per year, and how the money and people are increasing, but then he points out Africa and how even though they are in a struggle.

I have never known much about why developing countries are so behind in the economic race, so I figured i might get a little educated on the subject, I like graphs, i'm a visual learner, and this really helped to shine some light on the subject.

I always used to think of africa as the unsuccessful younger brother of the rest of the world, but now I see them as the dedicated one-legged man running the marathon trying to keep up, he shows how africa is compared to parts of the world at certain times, like in an earlier time africa was compared to medieval europe, and that they are evolving, although the process might be slow they are getting by an pulling themselves out of poverty.

I loved the quote he said when, " I have a neighbour who knows 200 different types of wine. I only know 2 different types of wine, red, and white. And he said I only know 2 different types of countries, industrial, and developing, and I know 200 "

Ted Talks Summary No. 3

Anthony Atala
          Printing a human Kidney


In this presentation Anthony Atala is trying to get his point across, when he talks about his cry out in how the world is in a medical crisis because of the lack of human organ donors. In the past until the present, the number of organ donors has gone down, while the number of patients that require organs has gone up. Therefore, Anthony Atala has come up with a way to engineer artificial organs, using biological tissues that allow cells to use as if it was the original organic material.

I first flipped to this particular presentation on a hype from technology from my last summary, I was confused at what "Printing a Human Kidney" could be. and it was really interesting to see how the field of medicine is becoming so technological, for a greater good.

Anthony Atala's talk at the very start got me worried for the future and made me think of how fragile our bodies actually are, and that people may be waiting for a long, long time for donors for new organs, and that they might not get them before they parish of whatever sickness they are suffering from. I would've never imagined some technology as advanced as this coming into the near future, his vision of a world of people who could have access to organs at free disperse could save so many lives. Yet I thought of it as a      
visionary's dream, until I saw it applied to an actual person in need.

Continuing on my last paragraph, the most important little bit I got out of this was when the boy that they cured when he was young coming up on the stage 10 years later to talk about how this man saved his life, and how he will never be the same thanks to him, because he allowed him to live his life free of pain  and struggle heath-wise.

Ted Talks Summary No. 2

Pranav Mistry
          The thrilling potential of Sixth Sense technology

What the presenter is trying to prove in this video is why there are only certain reactions associated with the computer and everyday life. And how if possible we can break that barrier between man and machine and try to incorporate everyday interactions, with new innovative technology.

I am a big technology nut, and am always interested in the new and upcoming fields of technology, I had no idea what sixth sense technology was going into this video and in the first few minutes I didn't know if it was right for me, but later in I knew this was something I wanted to be interested about.

He has really made me think about our technology today and how it distracts us from our lives, being two separate things, life and machine. But he tries to break that barrier in which so few have even ventured, to incorporate technology with everyday interactions, and this performance he talks about trying to simplify life to keep us away from those distracting machines so, that our lives can become a little more human. 

The most moving line i got out of this was " So as a last thought, I think that, Integrating information to our everyday objects, will not only help us to get rid of the digital divide gap, between these two worlds. But it will also help us in our own way to stay human, to be more connected to our physical world. And it will actually help us not to be machines sitting in front of other machines"

Ted Talks Summary No. 1

Ken Robinson
          School Kills Creativity


what he is talking about in this presentation, is about the school system in our today squandering the arts all over the world, and it is turning us into very unpleasant people, who's lives lack fulfillment. He tries to prove that, we are all driven to become know it all's, who work for the economy and not ourselves.

I was first interested to see something about Ken Robinson, because he came to our school, and I didn't see him. I was wondering what all the exaggeration was about, so I decided to do one on him. I found an interesting subject I liked and went here. The applause from students was no exaggeration.

Ken Robinson in a way helped me to understand a topic that was before, sort of vague to me. The topic of how the arts are important and should never be frowned upon for being what they are, because creativity is of course what makes us human.

One part of this I am most likely to take out of this, is the deeply shocking part about the dancer and her mother. When it was in the early 1900's the doctor said she was a dancer, and insisted she be enrolled in dance school, and she went on to be in plays everywhere open her own studio and make millions, but a doctor today would've prescribed her with A.D.H.D and that would've been the end of it.

11. Charities

If I were given $30,000 dollars to give to 3 charities, these are the charities that I would pick.

Make A Wish Foundation

The make a wish foundation is an organization dedicated to granting the "wishes" of children with life threatening medical problems. I've always thought the make a wish foundation was a good charity, not because of the wish, but of the repercussions of the wish being granted. When a child is granted a wish, they are given a thing to remember, in what may or may not be their last days. If it even gets to that point, it is still a chance for that child to experience something they would normally not get the chance to, and that is not fair. But when people see how happy the children are when they see a charity really going to work in their own neighborhood, just the sound of it just makes you want to contribute to a worthy cause. Doesn't it?

Against Malaria Foundation

The against malaria foundation is a charity organization that deals with the purchasing of nets and antibiotics to treat and prevent malaria in less fortunate countries. Malaria causes symptoms such as, fever and headache, and in sever cases progressing into coma or even death. Malaria is hard to prevent, if one does not have the appropriate tools to deal with it. Mosquito's are more common in humid areas of the globe like rainforests, and can catch people by surprise as well all know. Yet 200,000,000 cases of malaria happen worldwide each year, and this charity is a great charity with a good track record dedicated to the purchase of nets, insecticide treated nets, and long lasting insecticide treated nets to prevent malaria in less fortunate countries, with the cost of nets being fairly cheap.

The British Columbia Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

More commonly known as the BC SPCA, these people can be lifesavers to animals everywhere and are one of the leading contributers to the rescue of abused animals. On one side, the people at SPCA rescue animals from their prosecuters and put them into shelters where they are treated well and then sold for fairly low prices to families who will adopt, love and care for them. As much as we need to repair people, we need to care for animals, and remember that we are not the only species on this planet, and nobody should treat animals as if we are.

When I was going over the structure of this I wanted to divide the charity money evenly between different causes, so the money is used in different ways. We need to remember that some less fortunate people are right next to us, so I chose the "Make A Wish" foundation, because when we have all the necessities of life in front of us, we need something to keep us moving forward. Although when we are even less fortunate and when we have to struggle to get the essentials of life, it takes 1 disease for you to be put out of work. Why I chose the "Against Malaria Foundation" to help those 200,000,000 people move forward and not have to worry about 1 more thing. And finally, animals are important as much as we are and I think are attitude as a species towards animals needs to take a change for the better, so I would donate this to the good people who saved my friends dog and my cat.

15. My Proudest Works.

I found that my proudest moments, are those brief, and happy moments, when you create something good, and others think it's beautiful. I found this feeling reflecting off my poetic works this year and last. I got a lot of positive feedback from peers and family member (not just my parents!). But it feels good when people appreciate something that you have put a lot of effort into, and that feeling of self satisfaction is just an overwhelmingly happy feeling. Especially when it is coming from your parents, because they will be proud of who you are becoming (or they could be faking it). Anyways This is one of the poems I wrote in English last year, that I though was mediocre, because it was my practice on using poetic devices, but when Carnrite handed it back to me in the hallway, she looked surprised and said it was really good. And your immediate reaction is always, "really!?".