Video links (archive.org samples, for example; Youtube.com; others...)

Although I can't remember where I saw "play with duct tape" on the list of learning objectives, I figured it would be cool to make a paper pinball machine with the kids - it's kind of "educational." (right?). Anyway, this ended up being a lot of fun, and (if I do say so myself) our pinball machine is FREAKING AWESOME! Here are some pictures, and the video at the end is where Hannah and Ben demonstrate its awesomeness. VIEW FROM FRONT VIEW FROM TOP And the video... (Follow David at @dnghub)
@dnghub Twitter Feed This video of a talk I gave at Northern Voice got completed whilst I was away. Anyway, if I remember (I'm one of those people who can't stand seeing themselves on video or hearing themselves on audio!), it's a pretty decent overview of what the Phylo project is all about, as well as general thoughts on things of that nature worth pursuing. Here's the byline that was given with my speaker profile: David Ng describes Phylo, a cool trading card game to teach biodiversity. A study showed that children could easily identify and describe a large number of Pokemon characters,…
... You should go outside. Seriously. And if, for today, you've forgotten how graceful our planet can be, I'd invite you to take a mental break, put some headphones on, and watch these three lovely videos. Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo. - - - - - -
In this video, I'm actually speaking (as oppose to dancing silly), since it looks like TEDx has released the mini talks we gave on our experiences hosting a TEDx conference. Anyway, it only confirms my theory that most people on TV have huge heads (this is data gathered from interacting with the odd TV host in my time). My head is somewhat normal sized, but doesn't it look kind of small in the video? But I digress, really the point of this video is to check out the actual talks that were given at the TEDxTerrytalks. You can check them out here (they really did deliver). And the orchestra of…
Recently, I was on Australian radio doing a bit about the phylomon project and one of the creatures that the host brought up was the Kakapo. As well, an article at the Escapist was just published (again on the phylomon project), and within the comments there, the Kakapo was highlighted once again. What is it with this bird that delights the imagination of biology enthusiasts? Well, first you have to check out this video, which is maybe one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Anyway, I think Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine describe the kakapo best in their wonderful book, "Last Chance…
Wherein the toughest part was trying to edit down 56 minutes of great stuff into a 20 minute clip (as required by his office). Some great anecdotes here, so do pass on if you enjoy this (p.s. He gave another great talk at TED2010, so am also looking forward to that one). (From terry.ubc.ca)
Seems like TED.com is releasing videos on my list of favourites. Sit back and enjoy! As an aside, I'm curious what she thinks of this vaccine nonsense - as someone who relishes in the details, she would have been a great spokesperson in setting the Jenny McCarthys of the world straight.
I just noticed talks are up from the TEDxVancouver event I attended a little while back. At the time, I mainly focused on one particular speaker who was a Climate Change denialist, but now that the talks are up, I thought it fitting to highlight what I thought was one of the strongest talk (sort of the one where folks kind of went, "whoa - that's cool"). Of course, this had to do with video games, specifically a show and tell of some of the remarkable software mechanics behind the sport game titles produced by Electronic Arts. Anyway, the fellow talking is one Henry LaBounta, who happens…
This was one of my favourite talks at TED2010. Worth a viewing - Mr. Howard makes a lot of good sense.
O.K. Now that we're back in the swing of things - Here is talk number five from the TEDx Terry talks event I helped organize. This might seem like a talk about science, but if you think about it, there's a lot of the humanities when it comes to fully appreciating something as magical as wonder. - - - Name: Jennifer Kaban Talk Title: "Sharing Wonder" Notes: Unclassified Student Topic: Jennifer believes that the most precious gift we can give each other is a sense of wonder. And she believes that the best way to achieve this is to share the world of science with non-scientists. She thinks…
I actually mentioned this video earlier, but you know, I don't think I did the pitch justice. So... Basically a TEDx talk by Jennifer Gardy, who outlines just how freaking fast that H1N1 information has been obtained. And all because of the open source and open access nature of the research work. For example, when SARS hit the fan in 2003, it took 19 days for its genome to be sequenced. This year with the H1N1 swine flu, in that same 19 day timeframe, over 100 viral genomes had been sequenced, analysis had been done (and published) that worked out the origin and timeframe of the virus, and…
Carl is currently in Vancouver, and he was gracious enough to come out for drinks with us last night. This was after a great talk he gave on the how scientists have been following the evolutionary tracks of the H1N1 flu, so that folks can get a sense of (1) what it is, (2) how it's been moving, and (3) where exactly it may have come from in the first place. The talk was apparently filmed, so I'll try and remember to pass on the link when it's up, but I thought it was worth reshowing a great little video from NPR that he highlighted. As well, I double checked my notes and noticed that I…
Alex does a great job here on this topic. This would also, I suspect, take a lot of guts to do which is both inspiring and commendable. (If you want to leave a comment about the talk, please do so here). - - - Topic: Alex discusses the influence of gender in his own life in this TEDx talk, describing both medical and social perspectives of gender in our daily lives and the impact and consequences these perspectives bring to every individual. Links:Transgender Health Program, VCH, TEDxTt09 Filmed by Craig Ross at TEDx Terry talks 2009 (October 3rd, 2009). Video edited by David Ng. See more…
Let me explain... First take a peek at this: I actually posted this earlier, but basically, what you're seeing here is the promotional video for a student conference, called TEDx Terry talks. This, we just finished up the other day (it was amazing and you can see the synopsis here). Anyway, we actually launched the video way back in early September - the first day of school to be exact. We even had a booth and stuff where the video was playing, and had quite a few spritely 1st year university students walk by, look at it curiously, watch it, chuckle at it, etc. You'll note that…
Believe it or not, this is the second post at the World's Fair which just has the word "chicken" three times in the title. Anyway, this went viral a few years ago, but for some reason I find it really really funny. Plus, it's on my mind because it relates a little to an event I'm involved in coming up, which is all about presentation and speaking opportunities. Here's the paper (front page shown and link to pdf here) And here is the video: How he handles the question at the end is particularly inspired.
This is up (I'm sure) everywhere, but I can't resist also showing it off, especially since I've played around with the science song genre myself. And you can buy the CD/DVD set for yourself (or your kids) at Amazon.
It's that time of year again, where I need to make a goofy video to promote a student conference. Last year, I did one on Things to Avoid When Speaking Publicly; this year I had to make sure Chewbacca was figured prominently. Do spread the word about TEDxTerrytalks 2009 (especially if you're from UBC), and hope you enjoy the video (you can spread that too). - - - As a side note, I'm sure I forgot some notable characters that could've also given a stellar talk on something or other. Pass on your extra ideas in the comment section - maybe I'll make a sequel.
A William Blake quatrain, from "Auguries of Innocence": To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. In a short film hosted at the Radiolab "Pipes" site, William Hoffman captures something like infinity in the palm of his hand: If this embedded version doesn't work on your browser, use this link and watch it as full screen.
This is nicely done. Andre was one of our Terry talk speakers last November and he did a great job. In essence, he described current practices in the classroom setting, and tried to make a case that education could be greatly enhanced when certain technologies are brought into the learning process (particularly as social networking and gadgets continue to progress). Anyway, he describes his talk as: I would like to talk about the potential for technology to change the way that education works, specifically at the University level. This will take off where Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk…