We're all in this together

My newest favorite site it TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design, and it is AWESOME.  My friend Marianna told me about it, and I guess a lot of people know about it already, but it was new to me and it's blowing my mind.  It's kind of like poptech in that has a bunch of videos of presentations by all sorts of exciting and interesting people, but they're really nicely done and the site is beautifully organized.

This is one of Clay Shirky is fantastic.  It's incredibly relevant, given the events in Iran, and really mind-blowing.  He's talking about the transformation of media from 20th century norms to what is happening now, and he does it ways that are cogent, surprising and totally paradigm shifting.  He flows from the 2008 election, to the 2007 elections in Nigeria to the Chinese earthquake, and lays out a clear explanation of the way that new media are both completely new, and completely here to stay.  It is well worth the 17 minutes it takes to watch.

On lighter note, check out this one.  It's a close magic master doing amazing and hilarious things with cards.  Watch him seem to drop, fumble and futz a big messy pile of playing cards and miraculous deal 5 winning poker hands from it.  If you don't have a lot of time, I recommend skipping to about minute 18, and watch him deal cards that disappear right before your eyes.