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Conflicted Cities

8/25/2014

Just heard this CBC radio program about 'Conflicted Cities', about cities becoming conflict zones, and the last minute really stuck out to me. Here is what was said:

"If you look at all of these situations, they all have something in common, young men who have been marginalized, young men who are desperate, who don't see what the future holds. As much as they yern for freedom from want, they also yern for political justice, social justice, political representation. And these things must be addressed. I think that is the challenge of this century actually. How do we fight radicalism, terrorism? How do we give hope to our youth? It has to be a battle, as much as it is a battle about security, it's a battle of economics, it's a battle of politics, it's a battle of education. It's a battle of the mind."

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/08/25/conflicted-cities-1/

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Mom knows best, and rewrote the book on Autism care

8/16/2014

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After watching this TED Talk given by an autistic teen that said he was written off by the doctors I had to read the book his mother wrote about how he was able to be giving that talk, The Spark.

This is an amazing story, and another example of people not giving up when experts told them there was no hope. Experts are good, but if one tells you something is impossible and you don't believe them, keep trying because experts can be wrong. Rather than just doing the exercises the doctors told her to do with Jacob, she made time to do things that she saw he liked. She saw a spark and she fanned it to make a flame, and I am in awe of her and her family.
Here' s the TEDx talk by Jacob.

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6 Recent TED Talks That We Should All Watch

8/16/2014

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First Elizabeth Gilbert reminds us that we all have something we love doing more than we love ourselves, and that we need to recognize it, and keep doing it, through good times and bad. For me it's this blog, I love it, but it often seems pointless. Rather than give up on it I'm going to look at how to make it relevant rather than give up on it.

Next is Lawrence Lessig and his quest for political reform. His dream is to end corruption, my dream is to build a framework for cooperation that will help him do that. I love how he is using the motto if you can't beat them join them. He is fighting special interest groups with lots of money by raising lots of money. And it seems to be going well. I want to do something similar in the fight against corporations, start a corporation to end problems caused by corporations.

If you're still here you're probably wondering which video to choose next because you're running out of time. Choosing what to do is one of the things I struggle with the most. All day, everyday I am asking myself 'what should I be doing?', 'what is worth doing?'. Most of us have so many options in front of us it can be paralyzing. This is a great insight into how we make choices and how irrational they are. If you're only going to watch one of these 6 I'd pick this one.

Now a couple great insights from the military.
First a case for sharing knowledge. It might seem like we're going to expose ourselves to danger by letting information out, but if done right it can lead to solutions which wouldn't have been realized without sharing.
Secondly, there is an insight into the brotherhood soldiers feel, something I wish we saw outside of war, so people could feel that way about their workplace or community.

And finally one that looks at living for yourself or for others. I don't get why we can't do both. Is it that cooperating is too risky?
Do we open ourselves up to be taken advantage of, or is it that our culture is so focused on material wealth as an indicator of success that people choose a life of chasing things just to fit in, rather than doing something more altruistic which might make them an outcast?

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Conflicted Cities

Mom knows best, and rewrote the book on Autism care

6 Recent TED Talks That We Should All Watch

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