Before TEDActive begins … it begins Before TEDActive sessions begin, Monday’s TEDActive-ists signed up for a slate of pre-conference sessions and fun. See more photos on TEDActive’s daily photo album. TED Prize Workshop with Insight Labs: A three-hour intensive TED Prize workshop, with Insight Labs, asked: How can we get better and better at working together on massive projects? (Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. The Integratron Trip: Attendees take a journey to the Integratron in Joshua Tree to cleanse their ears and minds with a sound bath. (Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Wind Farm Tour Hosted By TEDActive Urbanization Project: The TEDActive Urbanization Project visits the Windmill Farms in Palm Springs. Color Thrifting Excursion Hosted By TEDActive Color Project: Jessi Arrington leads the TEDActive Color Project on a bicycle tour to a series of second-hand stores in Palm Springs as they scavenge for vintage finds.
World War II "Time Capsule" Fighter Found in Sahara Photograph by Jakub Perka, BNPS Recently discovered in Egypt by an oil-exploration team, a World War II fighter plane called "the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's tomb" bears the scars of 70 years in the Sahara desert —but is nevertheless considered to be in "time capsule" condition. "I've never seen anything like it," said Ian Thirsk, head of collections at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Museum in London. The Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk is "the best preserved example of a Second World War aircraft I've seen for many, many years." The plane's pilot is thought to have been Flt. (Related pictures: "World War II 'Samurai Subs' Found-Carried Aircraft." ) — James Owen in London
Watch Documentaries Online. | Promote Documentary Films. Promote Consciousness. Promote Humanity | Online Film Festival Have you visited Inside Out Project lately? Since the Inside Out Project launched last year at TED, more than 70,000 individual photos have been shot and pasted in almost 9,000 locations around the world, sharing a vision of individual identity for the world to see. To house this astonishing collection of portraits online from around the world, Inside Out recently revamped their website — insideoutproject.net — so you can explore and browse the gallery and sign up to take part in a portrait pasting of your own. Visit insideoutproject.net >> Plus! Watch “Wrinkles of the City” >>
Gulf War The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991), for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War, or Iraq War[13][14][15][a] before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").[16] The Iraqi Army's occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the U.N. Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Etymology[edit] Operational names[edit]
Living for the city: Gospel for Teens and Mama Foundation for the Arts at TED2012 art A choir live and online: Eric Whitacre at TED2013 In an extraordinary finale for TED2013, Eric Whitacre stages a type of performance that has never been seen before, with a choir assembled to sing his composition, “Cloudburst.” Entertainment Trust people to pay for music: Amanda Palmer at TED2013 Amanda Fucking Palmer wants us to re-think how we think about paying for music. Ancient City Found in India, Irradiated from Atomic Blast Radiation still so intense, the area is highly dangerous. A heavy layer of radioactive ash in Rajasthan, India, covers a three-square mile area, ten miles west of Jodhpur. Scientists are investigating the site, where a housing development was being built. For some time it has been established that there is a very high rate of birth defects and cancer in the area under construction. The levels of radiation there have registered so high on investigators' gauges that the Indian government has now cordoned off the region. Scientists have unearthed an ancient city where evidence shows an atomic blast dating back thousands of years, from 8,000 to 12,000 years, destroyed most of the buildings and probably a half-million people. The Mahabharata clearly describes a catastrophic blast that rocked the continent. A Historian Comments "Instead of mushroom clouds, the writer describes a perpendicular explosion with its billowing smoke clouds as consecutive openings of giant parasols. Bibliography 1.
Robots that fly … and cooperate: Vijay Kumar on TED Technology Make your smartphone a personal robot: Keller Rinaudo at TED2013 Sometimes, it feels like your smartphone is your friend. But if Keller Rinaudo has his way, your phone may be more like a pet. Robots as part of daily life: Rodney Brooks at TED2013 We’ve heard a lot about robots at TED over the years. Gangrule - The History of the Mafia - StumbleUpon U.S. Adults: Most People Are Kind on Social Media [STUDY] Adults know how to play nice online, according to a recent survey that asked U.S. adults who use social networking sites how many of their interactions were positive. The survey showed 85% of U.S. adults say people are mostly kind online. Five percent of adults said people are mostly unkind and another 5% say it depends on the situation. These results differs from a Pew Research Center survey from last November that asked teenagers the same question. Like the adults, the majority of teens (69%) said people are mostly kind online. In the same Pew study about teens and online behavior, 12% reported being bullied online and nearly 9 in 10 teenagers said they'd witnessed online bullying. The recent study of adults' social media perceptions was compiled July 25 to August 26, 2011 by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International. What do you think about the results of these surveys? Image courtesy of iStockphoto, TPopova
5 Ancient Acts of War That Changed the Face of the Earth Nothing motivates people like war. That's how the Great Wall of China got built--they were protecting themselves against enemies who lived to the north. But that wall is hardly the only time we've changed the face of the planet in the name of winning a war. Some of the ass kickings unleashed with ancient empires on the line were so mind-boggling, the Earth still hasn't recovered. #5. You need a lot of impressive things on your resume to earn a title like "The Great," but Alexander the Great's most awesome accomplishment has to be when he conquered the unconquerable city of Tyre. Minas Tirith can suck it. Located off the Mediterranean coast of present-day Lebanon, Tyre was pretty much an ancient Phoenician Azkaban Prison. Alexander's solution to this dilemma: Simply change the map forever by making the island not be an island any more. Slowly, and while being pelted with arrows and bombarded by Tyre's navy, Alexander's men built their new land mass, one stone at a time. It's still there. #4.