Random Thought #169

Its time again for the round-up of interesting TED videos. I've been saving these up over the past couple of weeks. I hope you find each one interesting, inspiring, and unique in their own way.

A 3-D Printed Jumbo Jet
http://www.ted.com/talks/bastian_schaefer_a_3d_printed_jumbo_jet.html

Designing for all 5 senses
http://www.ted.com/talks/jinsop_lee_design_for_all_5_senses.html

A talented pianist
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_paravicini_and_adam_ockelford_in_the_key_of_genius.html

A creative and thoughtful architect
http://www.ted.com/talks/shigeru_ban_emergency_shelters_made_from_paper.html

Manipulating Memories
http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_ramirez_and_xu_liu_a_mouse_a_laser_beam_a_manipulated_memory.html

Random Thought #168

We live in the Information Age and as such are bombarded with tons of information every day. How do we filter that deluge? How do we cope and still retain some semblance of sanity? Just a tiny example today. I was on my way home and saw a bumper sticker on the back of the vehicle in front of me for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. I immediately thought to myself. What the heck is that? How would someone go about deciding if they wanted to train to be in the Coast Guard? My next thought was ...eh, not interesting to me. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the U.S. Coast Guard and I'm sure they do a lot of very important work but it just doesn't interest me so I immediately filter it out and don't think further about it. But that very filtering mechanism is likely what is adding to the deluge of information we receive each day. It seems like everyone has got a "thing" that they are passionate about and technology has allowed everyone to share that thing with everyone else around them. I watched a video yesterday about a person who heard voices in their head and was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and now she is part of a group that is all about hearing voices in your head. I saw another video about a guy who formed a group about clouds. I think this is great as it allows like-minded individuals to connect and share but it has also led to the chaotic world we live in today where every special groups seems to think they need to push their views onto the world stage and get fair treatment. This has gone to an extreme and has caused chaotic warfare amongst the common people. If we all have special interests, that's great and we should recreationalize with others who share our view. That's shows our great uniqueness and subtle commonalities but we should do it for our enjoyment and leave others to do the same. In case you're wondering, my thing is nature and biotechnology. Anybody else share my passion?

Random Thought #167

As I've been driving along the freeways here in Houston, I've seen billboards for the Houston Museum of Natural Science's new Egypt exhibit. I'm not Egyptologist but I've read a bit about ancient Egypt and the billboards are quite clever. One of them read "Not your average pyramid scheme" and the other one actually made me laugh. It said "Ankh if you love your mummy". In english this would say "Honk if you love your mom" but ankh is the word for life in ancient Egyptian so I thought it was a clever play on words. I wonder how many people actually understand that billboard. Anyways, they have one fan who is appreciative.

Random Thought #166

Have you ever wondered why the Lamanites that Ammon converted called themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies? That seems like such an odd name. After all, these people were converted Lamanites. I don't know the answer but here is a guess. The Lamanites and Lemuelites hated Nephi because even though they were older, it seemed like Nephi was the favored child and wanted to usurp power from them. This tradition carried down over the generations and that's why the Lamanites were always wanting to go to war and kill of the Nephites. So there was a lot of animosity between Laman and Lemuel and Nephi and Lehi and the rest of the family. Well this group of Ammon's converts didn't want to be called Lamanites anymore so that they could distinguish themselves from the Lamanites and they weren't exactly Nephites by virtue of their heritage so they had to come up with something. It could be that they still resented Lehi and Nephi for what happened back then but they had reformed now so they just called themselves The Anti-Nephi-Lehies. I guess its a good descriptive name for a group that isn't Lamanites or Nephites, hated the forefathers but since reformed. Not very catchy though. Perhaps they could have chosen the Reorganized Lamanites or something like that :P

Random Thought #165

What time is it? Time is such an interesting thing isn't it? There never seems to be enough of it unless of course you're doing something you hate or are bored stiff, then it seems to creep along like molasses. According to Einstein, time is relative and is another dimension through which we experience reality. But like it or not, time is always with us. I read an interesting line in my book yesterday about Christ coming in the "Meridian of Time". What does that mean? What kind of implications does that have? Many people think it is the middle point in history. That's why we divide time up between BC and AD. A lot of people estimate that Adam lived about 4000 years before Christ so if time was measured since the first man appeared, then we've got about 1986 or so years left. (Sometimes I wonder if I can last another day). But what about Pre-Adamites? I mean dinosaurs supposedly roamed the earth 65+ millions years ago and there were creatures here before them (let's not get into the biological support system conversation here). Did time exist for them? When did time start? Who measures it? Did the people living before Christ count down? How could they? They didn't know that time was gonna start counting upwards after Christ was born. So how did they measure time? Why are we so preoccupied with time? Heavenly Father doesn't seem to think in terms of time. After all, when everything is eternal, time kinda loses its pizzaz. He obviously is aware of our time or how we measure it because he taught Abraham somewhat of how time on Earth relates to time where He lives. Before we get too far down the rabbit hole, let's return to the Meridian of Time question. For those of you who hated math in school, the middle point is called the "median" not the "meridian"....just sayin. The common definition for meridian is "a point or period of highest development, greatest prosperity, or the like" or "of or indicating a period of greatest prosperity, splendor, success, etc." I think the birth of the Savior of the world probably meets this definition fairly well. So why is it that we started counting time differently around this time? Does it really have anything to do with time? Or is it just a marker of a miraculous and wonderful event that we chose to mark and reference all other time in relation to it? I guess time will tell ;)

Random Thought #164

This guy tackle probably one of the most complicated topics in philosophy, science, or religion; that of consciousness. I must admit that he oversimplifies quite a bit and rushes through his explanations and expects you to take them at face value but he does make a few good points. For a more in depth approach to this difficult issue, I recommend reading the book that I'm currently engaged in reading "Define Universe and Give Two Examples" by Barton E Dahneke. Its a very good read and treats this subject in a more thorough manner but perhaps this talk will at least spark your interest and get your noodle cookin'

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

Random Thought #163

This guy is very talented and quite entertaining. I love his sense of humor and sense of joy in what he does. Enjoy!

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