Video Noise and Health

After sitting in a Starbucks on my day off and sitting next to one of their industrial strength grinders for about 10 minutes, I think this talk does resonate with me (OK, bad pun the grinder is still echoing in my head).

The veritable onslaught of noise in our environs is astounding. How can we stand it all? Just sitting quietly seems impossible these days. Try an experiment, find the quietest place in your house and sit there for 10 minutes. Can you stand the silence?

Julian Treasure says our increasingly noisy world is gnawing away at our mental health — even costing lives. He lays out an 8-step plan to soften this sonic assault (starting with those cheap earbuds) and restore our relationship with sound.

Other Ted Talks

• Barry Schwartz asks why have we lost our financial wisdom? Darn good question.
• Julian Treasure talks about how Noise Affects our Health and 8 steps to keep sound health.
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• TED’s Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation
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• Mandlebrot wishes to talk to you about the roughness of shapes. He has written about Turbulence in Financial Markets
• Philip Zombardo talks about the psychology of time, which is always interesting.
• Measure What Makes Life Worthwhile, Chip Conley may have some ideas for you.
• Billy Graham talking about technology and theology? Pastor Graham is a strong orator, not sure I buy into all his messages.
• What happens on losing everything in a fire ? A very interesting question answered in this very interesting Ted series chat by David Hoffman.
• A former salesman tells you that sometimes the Simple Answers are the right answers.
• The Canadian Medical System can take its time on some surgeries, but two years for a hip?
• Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics is a typical theme but in this case with a bit of tongue in cheek.
• Can Money buy happiness? According to Benjamin Wallace not really, but your misery might be more enjoyable?
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• James Randi’s skepticism helped debunk a lot of hokum that arose in the 20th century.
• With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves.
• The Spectre of Denial of vaccines and medical solutions is now the normal view of things, and that is quite worrying.