I See Four Lights!!

Fans of Star Trek TNG will undoubtedly remember the episode where an alien captures the captain (Cpt. Picard played by Patrick Stewart) and attempts to break him by torture. The simple test used to determine if Picard’s will has been broken, is to ask him if he sees 5 lights when there are actually 4.

Even against increasing physical pain and mental torture he maintains, “There are FOUR lights!!”. To this day this is one of the only episodes I remember, because Stewart’s incredible acting, and because of his comment to his rescuers at the end (paraphrasing): “Just for a moment, I could see five lights”.  This indicated to me that even the best amoung us can be convinced of something false, given enough mis-information under duress.

Politics today has way too many layers. I think politicians are trying to convince us there are 5 lights on one side, and sometimes 3 by the other side. If one side uses rhetoric, the other side must reply with the same, like two sides trying to barter to a final price. Trouble is, what comes out from both sides is only so much crap, and sometimes people actually are listening.

I choose to see 4 lights regardless of what crap they throw my way.

Transit Strike: A Silver Lining

I saw Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien in the Starbucks today, and I almost went up to him to say ‘Hi Larry, I know you are probably taking a lot of flack for the length of the transit strike, but I for one am quite happy about it!’.

I decided not to, for the same reason that I leave other celebrities I see alone:  I am sure they get quite enough of people coming up to talk to then when they are trying to enjoy some down time.

Before I get into my rationale for this statement about the transit strike, and draw the ire of those significantly inconvenienced by it (who I feel for), I want to state that I am pro-public transit, as long as it isn’t me that is using it! 

Some reasons why I am enjoying the transit strike:

• Route 151, which runs right past my house every half hour, no longer ruins the peace and quiet with the loud roar of the bus engine (why do they have to be so damn loud??)
• Lanes previously reserved for buses only, are now opened up to all traffic, allowing much greater flow of car traffic during off-peak hours
• I haven’t noticed any change to my morning commute in terms of more traffic, or longer transit time
• In a time when city budgets are getting strained, and tax hikes are imminent, it seems that one way to save money is not to run buses!
• The taxi drivers, who until recently were under duress due to high gas prices, now have gas prices halved and more business than they can handle!  They should be happy with this as well!

Anyway, that is my take on the silver lining of this… may the flames commence…

TED: A Great Resource for New Ideas!

Want an opportunity to see videos by some of the biggest thinkers in the world for free?  My friend Catherine tipped me off to the website TED.com.  “TED” stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment & Design’ which was the original scope of the conference when it started in 1984, but since has become much broader.

The concept of the talks is that each speaker is given 18 minutes to give the talk of their lives.  Here is a description of the conference from TED:

The TED Conference, held annually in Long Beach, is still the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend — indeed, the event sells out a year in advance — and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite videos so far:

Malcolm Gladwell on why you can’t just listen to your customers (or where chunky spaghetti sauce comes from):

Stephen Levitt on why crack dealers still live with their moms:

Tony Robbins on ‘Why We Do What We Do” (he actually steals an extra few minutes):

Martin Seligman on positive psychology:

Finally, Sir Ken Robinson asks “Do Schools Kills Creativity?”:

And there are 100′s of others! Enjoy!