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I love all the conferences from TED bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. But some TED shows stands out from other and so In my today's post i thought of Sharing some of the BEST TED talks I have seen, which bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less)
Arthur Benjamin does "Mathemagic"
In a lively show, mathemagician Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators to figure out 3-digit squares, solves another massive mental equation and guesses a few birthdays. How does he do it? He'll tell you.
Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight
Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions — motion, speech, self-awareness — shut down one by one. An astonishing story.
Al Gore on averting climate crisis
With the same humor and humanity he exuded in An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore spells out 15 ways that individuals can address climate change immediately, from buying a hybrid to inventing a new, hotter "brand name" for global warming.
Jeff Han demos his breakthrough touchscreen
Jeff Han shows off a cheap, scalable multi-touch and pressure-sensitive computer screen interface that may spell the end of point-and-click.
David Gallo shows underwater astonishments
David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square's worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean.
Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth
Blaise Aguera y Arcas leads a dazzling demo of Photosynth, software that could transform the way we look at digital images. Using still photos culled from the Web, Photosynth builds breathtaking dreamscapes and lets us navigate them.
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen
You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."
Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do
Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone's actions — and high-fives Al Gore in the front row.
Craig Venter is on the verge of creating synthetic life
"Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" Craig Venter asks. His answer is "yes" — and pretty soon. He walks through his latest research and promises that we'll soon be able to build and boot up a synthetic chromosome.
Wade Davis on the worldwide web of belief and ritual
Anthropologist Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance.
One TED talk is better than other, so do you have any in your list, leave it in the comments section so we can watch it..


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This, Gentle Reader, is a truly righteous rant. Power to that lady's elbow, I say!
The background, however, is sadly much less inspiring:
Nestled in a quiet street in South London is a small GP practice mostly offering mother-and-baby clinic services. But it could soon be the first clinic in British history to withdraw abortion services after facing intimidating protests from anti-abortion activists.
Unlike the US, Canada or France, Britain does not offer legal protection to women's health services from anti-abortion activists. A group called Abort67 has exploited this gap in the law and, over the last few weeks, confronted women going into the GP surgery with graphic posters and leaflets with pictures of dismembered foetuses. They have also been filming patients coming in and out of the practice without asking for their consent.
The GP practice is now considering withdrawing the abortion service. That isn't just unprecedented, it would also be a big boost to such groups and likely trigger a wave of more such protests that intimidate women across the country.
Note: Anyone thinking of using the word 'holocaust' or of just generally making allusions to Nazi death-camps and suchlike in comments on this subject: please don't. You may quite well disagree with my idea of what consititutes civilised discourse, but this is my house. Please be good-mannered enough to abide by my idea of civility while you are a guest here.
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Today's Turkey is a cautionary tale for the West. But Western leaders are loath to consider its lessons.Interestingly enough, notice how some of the victims of this sharia process in Turkey have been leftists, yet at the same time, they and the military made serious mistakes of acting against each other. But does the left in western countries care? Apparently not.
Ever since Turkey's Islamist Justice and Peace AKP party under Recip Tayip Erdogan won the November 2002 elections, Western officials have upheld the AKP, Erdogan and his colleagues as proof that political Islam is consonant with democratic values. During Erdogan's June 2005 visit to the White House for instance, then president George W. Bush praised Turkish democracy as "an important example for the people in the broader Middle East."
Unfortunately, nine years into the AKP's "democratic" regime it is clear that Erdogan and his colleagues' embrace of the language and tools of democracy was a mile wide and an inch thick. They used democracy to gain power. Now that they have power, they are systematically destroying freedom in their country.
Turkey ranks 138th in the international media freedom group Reporters Sans Frontiers country index on press freedom. 68 journalists are languishing in Turkish jails for the crime of doing their job. The most recent round-up of reporters occurred in early March. And it is demonstrative of Turkey's Islamist leaders' exploitation of democratic freedoms in the service of their tyrannical ends.
As Der Spiegel reported last week, veteran journalists Ahmet Sik from the far left Radikal newspaper and Nedim Sener from the highbrow Milliyet journal were among those rounded up. As radical leftists, both men oppose the AKP's Islamist politics. But they shared its interest in weakening the Turkish military.
The Left opposed the military's constitutional role as the overseer of Turkish democracy because the military used that role to persecute leftists. The AKP party opposed the military's power because it blocked the party's path to Islamizing Turkish society and politics. When the AKP turned its guns on the military it used leftist journalists to support its actions.
This collusion came to a head in 2007. In a bid to destroy the legitimacy of the military, the AKP regime has engaged in unprecedented levels of wiretapping of the communications of senior serving and retired generals.
This wiretapping operation preceded the exposure in 2007 of the so-called Ergenekon conspiracy in which senior military commanders, journalists, television personalities, entertainers and businesspeople have been implicated in an alleged attempt to topple the AKP government. As part of the Ergenekon investigation, over the past four years, hundreds of non-Islamist leaders from generals to journalists have been arrested and held without trial.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Caroline Glick wrote that there's a lesson to be learned in how Recip Tayyip Erdogan's so-called political party cunningly exploited democracy for the sake of autocracy:
Posted by Avi Green at 1:17 PM
1 comment:
- Juniper in the Desert said...
An interesting and telling comment about the two "radical leftist" journalists who are in Turkish jails. You never hear a call for their release by other RL's across the world. The silence is deafening. Apparently it was the same for Western supporters of Stalin, when their friends disappeared: no one ever mentioned their names again!
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The Borough Council are required to produce and maintain a Local Development Framework which puts in place a positive framework for planning in Erewash Borough.
Since 2004, when the production of an LDF became compulsory for local planning authorities, Erewash has regularly added to (and periodically updated) its suite of LDF documents. This has helped ensure the timely availability of planning policy and useful guidance that spans a wide range of matters enabling the Council to be clear on its approach to the development and use of land within the Borough.
The LDF contains a number of Development Plan Documents (DPDs) - some of which the Council are legally required to produce whilst others are optional. Each element of the Erewash LDF can be accessed from this page; with other important background information also made available to help clearly explain the role and purpose of each document.
Erewash Core Strategy:
The Borough's key planning policy document is the Erewash Core Strategy. This was adopted in March 2014 and contains 20 strategic policies which, through their implementation, will assist the Borough to achieve its long-term growth requirements out to 2028.
Erewash Saved Policies document:
This document accompanies the Erewash Core Strategy and contains a wide range of non-strategic localised policies helping to ensure new development is sustainable. Together with the Core Strategy, the policies represent the Council's Development Plan and provide a robust framework against which all local planning decisions are taken.
Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD):
Whilst the production of SPD's is not compulsory, such documents are extremely useful in offering additional guidance of a more specialised nature which covers a range of issues, both thematic and site-specific in scope. Erewash's portfolio of SPDs positively address a number of local planning matters, complementing a number of policies in its Local Plan.
Erewash Statement of Community Involvement (SCI):
Erewash's SCI establishes when, how and with whom the Council will engage and consult with in respect of the production of planning policy documents, while also establishing how the Council goes about publicising the planning applications it receives.
Erewash Local Development Scheme (LDS):
The Borough Council are required to produce a LDS in accordance with Section 15 of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as Amended). The LDS enable the Council to transparently make stakeholders aware of which local development documents (i.e. documents containing policies which influence the development and use of land) are to be produced, in what order and when.
Authorities Monitoring Report (AMR):
AMRs are produced on an annual basis by the Borough Council and help us to understand whether our Local Plan policies are achieving their intended objectives in delivering sustainable development across Erewash.


text: The Jeeva family were in Cape Town for the weekend and decided to have a family photo shoot and use our beautiful sea and mountains as a backdrop. Can't say I blame them. We couldn't of had a better autumn sunset in Camps Bay that evening. What an incredible city I am fortunate enough to call home.


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By Rachelle Norman, Soundscaping Source - Guest Blogger
I've written several posts now about connecting as caregivers with older adults who are from different cultural backgrounds than our own. This is a big task, and as I wrote before, we must take one bite at a time.
As I was researching this topic, I came across a term that describes something just as important as cultural competence. That term is cultural humility. But, let's back up a step.
What is cultural competence again?
Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, religious and social groups. Working towards cultural competence is an ongoing process, one often tackled by learning about the patterns of behavior, beliefs, language, values, and customs of particular groups. That has been the goal of my posts on Vietnamese and Latino older adults, for example.
As we've noted, though, there is A LOT to learn. Eldercare professionals cannot learn every language and understand every custom in the world, even while we valiantly refuse to give up trying.
That's where cultural humility comes into the picture.
Cultural humility involves an ongoing process of self-exploration and self-critique combined with a willingness to learn from others. It means entering a relationship with another person with the intention of honoring their beliefs, customs, and values. It means acknowledging differences and accepting that person for who they are.
Cultural humility involves listening: to yourself and to the people you care for.
The self-exploration part of this is critical. Our brains like patterns and putting things into groups, to the extent that we're not aware of it most of the time. That's why we need to ask ourselves questions like these:
- How do I describe my own ethnicity? Race? Religion? Gender? Sexual Orientation?
- What are my most closely-held values?
- What would I want health care workers to know about me?
And like these:
- Am I just assuming she speaks Spanish because she looks Mexican?
- I know he's Muslim, so would he be accepting of a female caregiver?
- She's a 90 year old white lady, so she was probably married for a few decades, right?
- His chart says he's Chinese, so should I assume that he came to the U.S. fleeing Communism?
Every time we ask questions like this, we help to disarm our personal biases. By making a practice of self-reflection, open-minded listening, and a posture of humility, we will truly be in the best position to serve all people effectively, no matter what their cultural background is.


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L'Etoile St.-Petersburg, Russia
L'Etoile is Russia's leading beauty retailer with more than 1000 stores in 200 cities all over Russia. The company owns and operates beauty products retail stores under the names L'Etoile, Bon Joli, and Sephora, offering perfumery and cosmetic products. For the flagship store in
St.-Petersburg OneSpace luminous ceiling prefab panels are integrated in the design. It was important to have a daylight situation instore, so that the products can be seen in their true colours. As the panels deliver bright uniform glare-free LED light that eliminates shadows completely you can see more clearly and the products are shown in their true light. A perfect solution for the beauty products sold at l'Etoile. Furthermore, prefab helped them as a solution for the high ceilings and open building MEP infrastructure that needed to be hidden but still remain accessible for maintenance. Thanks to the size of the panels it was possible to hide the main part. Another
add-on was that OneSpace prefab helps to reduce the noise level significantly, creating a nice and pleasant environment to work and be under. The result is a clutter-free ceiling that feels as good as it looks.
- Client
- L'Etoile (Alkor Co.)
- Designer
Where to buy OneSpace prefab?
See in which countries OneSpace pefab is available.
Availability of OneSpace on request...
OneSpace downloads
Interested in the OneSpace specifications? Find your downloads here!


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Praveen Kapur is a young professional who moved to Bengaluru to start work as an IT professional.
As he worked in Electronic City, he selected a house nearby. However, while he could afford the rent, Rs 25,000 per month for the 3BHK, he was just not able to rustle up the money for the regulation three months' security deposit.
For Kapur and thousands of youngsters like him who are part of the mobile workforce that frequently shifts from city to city according to job needs, LoanTap has an innovative rental deposit loan.
The minute a tenant finalizes the rent with the landlord, LoanTap extends rental deposit loans to make the security deposit on behalf of the tenant. The loan amount ranges from Rs 1-5 lakh, for 11 to 33 months, depending upon the lease rental agreement.
Satayam Kumar, co-founder of LoanTap, says, "The borrower has to pay only the interest till the termination of the lease, after which the landlord returns the principal amount (security deposit)."
The tenant has only to fill an online application and upload relevant documents on LoanTap's website. The documents are verified and the loan – if approved – is disbursed within 24 hours.
All salaried professionals with a monthly salary of Rs 30,000 and above in 12 cities are eligible for the loan. Also keeping in mind the profile of the borrowers, the loans are free from any collateral.
The cities where this service is available are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Indore, Jaipur, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Raipur, and Vadodara.
The rental deposit loan amount is completely based on the security deposit mentioned in the lease agreement.
"Generally, it is seen that cities like Mumbai and Pune have much higher rental deposit amount charged by the landlord than compared to the Delhi NCR," Kumar says.
The deal is entirely between LoanTap and its consumer. "It's the customer's responsibility to pay back the money," says Kumar. "A legal agreement is signed by the customer that he is bound to pay back the loan amount. For security purpose, we collect post-dated cheques from the customer."
The tenant simply must pay the monthly interest till the end of the lease or when the tenant decides to vacate the house. That is when the landlord repays the entire amount, which can be used to close the loan. "Thus, this loan is very convenient for tenants," Kumar says.
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Think you might have struck gold and found yourself a true gentleman? Any man can claim he's a gentleman, but if these behaviours come second-nature to him, he's a total, bonafide catch.
Chivalry is absolutely not dead - you heard it here first. And there is nothing wrong with being a gentleman.
In fact, gentlemanly behaviour is oh so attractive, so if your man is displaying any of the following 10 characteristics, you're a lucky woman.
1. Gentlemen open doors for women
2. Gentlemen walk closest to the kerb
3. Gentlemen give women their coats
4. Gentlemen are always on time
5. Gentlemen compliment often
6. Gentlemen have excellent table manners
7. Gentlemen always pay the bill
8. Gentlemen make sure ladies get home safe
9. Gentlemen love to dance with women
10. Gentlemen go out of their way to make sure their women know they care
Like this? Why not try...
What to do when your friend is dating a fool
Men tell the stories of how they married their first loves


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It was Mexi-night…whenever we arrived at Sarasungu camp…getting off course from our directions a bit…in the pitch black Namibian night, last July. After checking in at the office and being escorted by the attendant down a narrow dirt road through groves of trees, we had a campsite for the night. We were about 200 feet from the edge of the Kavango river. We were the only people in this area of the campsite and it was eerie with a subtle ground fog rising from the temperature difference between the river and the land.
As my eyes adjusted to the dark I realized that I could see small buildings with dimly lit squares of light peering out. Intermittent flashes from the ground sent trails of sparks up into the night – cooking fires – just across the river – Angola! Their lives…village-dwellers and those who lived in the small towns dotting the river bank…whoever they were – our lives – so different, but we both had parallel and similar tasks. They cook their food over a fire…we were about to make a fire to cook our dinner.
Donning our headlamps we moved quietly and deliberately – setting up camp in the dark…which, in spite of our good intentions to arrive earlier, became the norm on our trip. It couldn't be helped. We were compelled to squeeze every minute out of the shorter winter days…out in the landscape – on the road – and this night…add the Kavango sunset river boat ride!
We built our fire in the braai pit, which was a waist-high stand made of metal…set up our aluminum camping table and chopped vegetables, sliced cheese, opened cans and packages. We successfully prepared our Mexi-night dinner…a bit of a challenge in a place where ingredients for Mexican cuisine have not made the import leap. But really, that's part of being somewhere else…explorations can happen even at the grocery stores. The canned beans are different. Salsa? – forget it. Avacados – yes! And we found some tortillas in Windhoek , the capitol city, before we left. We each took our turn, setting our tortilla, layered with cheese on the grate over the fire. Piling on some onions, cabbage and beans, we sat around the fire eating and talking about this place and where we had been that day and…Cecil, my brother-in-law, finished our conversation, reminding us to watch out for black mamba snakes when we went to the bathroom!
Awakened several times during the night…each time I slid up into the state between sleep and wakefulness. Twice awakened with a start! Singing! I flashed the nightlight on my watch…2am. Loud, unfamiliar voices talking…now 4am. What was going on? Where were these sounds coming from? I sat up in my sleeping bag and really listened, unzipped the tent door to look. Across the river…Angola! People were up all night…I even heard them singing in harmony. Sparks dancing up from large bonfires, to mingle with the stars. Again…another world.
Mystery at night, illuminated at daybreak. Where were we? Morning came early after a less than sound sleep. The funniest thing, when we arrived in the dark…we never quite knew what we were going to find…what were our surroundings, until daylight. It was our own continuous little joke on ourselves! Sarasungu was a grassy camp on the Kavango river with nice trees and some common-use buildings interspersed around. There were simple concrete cabins and a small restaurant a quarter of a mile away. The ablution blocks (bathrooms) were rustic, with thatch rooftops and lots of cracks in which black mambas could hide, but we survived without incident. Cecil had camped there a year earlier and he and his film crew had found and killed a black mamba in one of the ablution blocks, so we weren't overreacting!
I descended the ladder from the roof tent on the 4×4 just as the first long rays of sunrise were crossing the grass. I made a beeline for the fresh press coffee that Cecil and John had prepared. Cecil had lit one of our big propane burners and was stirring the pap into the boiling water…talking to it and encouraging it along. Soon it was ready for our additions of dried fruit and nuts and milk from our cooler. (Pap is ground white corn, used for savory and sweet dishes. A staple in the Namibian diet). No time to waste after breakfast – break camp and drive thirty minutes upriver.
We had an appointment at a very special place!
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Kevin M. Carr graduated from the University of Baltimore's School of Law in 2003. He served as a law clerk and Assistant State's Attorney with the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office for five years, helping victims of crime in Baltimore County obtain justice. During his tenure, Mr. Carr saw first-hand how intimidating and overwhelming the criminal justice system can be to those uneducated or unfamiliar with it. Currently, Mr. Carr practices criminal defense in Towson, Maryland, where he helps individuals protect and enforce their rights. Mr. Carr is experienced in district, circuit, and juvenile courts. Kevin has also had experience since 2007 with all different types of personal injury and worker's compensation cases.
Mr. Carr is a member of:


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Uniting Business and Charity
Charities are an important part of our society as they provide a vehicle for us to help those more in need than ourselves. As one of the world's most developed countries we are always offering support to those less fortunate. Businesses also raise money for charity but normally within their own business. This can mean that how many employees they have limits how much money they can raise.
This year we have partnered with #GivingTuesday to help raise money for charity. At CUB® we have some avid cooks and bakers and we are always having internal bake offs amongst employees. The Chairwoman Jaqui Fairfax and I noticed this and wanted to do it for charity. However, we soon realised that even selling the cakes at 50p a slice wouldn't raise as much as we wanted to.
We thought about how we could make this event bigger than ourselves. This led to the idea of the Fenland Business Bake Off. We want to get all local businesses together to help raise money for their chosen charity.
This will focus on employees baking home-made goodies to bring into work on 2nd December to sell at 50p a slice or per cake. This way they help raise money within their organisation. At the end of the day each company will chose their Baker of the Day, who will then come to the CUB office for the final judging.
Each Baker of the Day will bring a few of their cakes for Sue Dougan from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to judge and the best baker will be crowned Fenland Business Bake Off Champion of 2014. This is a completely new idea to involve the whole local Fenland business community in raising money for a great cause.
We are hoping that the first year of this will be a big success so that this event can become an annual local fundraiser. We are urging companies from all over the Fens to take part and raise money for their chosen charity on 2nd December.
If you are interested in the being part of the Fenland Business Bake Off then please contact Jaqui for further details: [email protected]
Read the Full Story Here: Trading for Good