Imaginary Potential

This week I discovered the short videos of talks from the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences at www.ted.com . As a consequence, internet “timewasting” has turned into internet “time-well-spent”. The organisers say this about the aims of the conference:

“The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).”

It’s brilliant. 18 minutes (and many are shorter) is a great way of making these amazing people convey the point of their thinking without all the fluff. There are jugglers, writers, politicians, scientists… such a variety of stuff. And it’s all available as audio or video podcasts.

However, my favourite bit was some video of ocean creatures, which entirely justifies (as far as I’m concerned) my recent leap into the ocean sciences (even though I’m doing the physical bits and not the biological bits). Below is the link to the coolest underwater video footage I have ever seen. Watch it. Now. The best bits are after the first minute or two, so keep going through those.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/206

How could anyone eat octopus after seeing that? I never have, and I think it’ll stay that way. Let the amazing things roam the ocean, undisturbed.