#2: TED

I discovered TED during the summer of 2008 and it made my summer all the more memorable. According to their website,

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.

The video above was my first encounter with TED (courtesy of my undergrad philosophy professor, Stephen Parise). If you have not yet heard of TED or aren’t sure where to start, the following links are among my favorite TED lectures:

Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert: Nurturing Creativity

Jill Bolte Taylor: Stroke of Insight

Clay Shirky: How Social Media Can Make History

Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. Collaboration

#1: Letterpress

I am a serious sucker for letterpress pieces. This is “The Planetarium Project” CD, recently featured on FPO, a blog about printed projects over at UnderConsideration. Designed by Erik Carlson a.k.a. Area C, the CD features music recorded during a performance at the Cormack Planetarium in Providence, RI.

For more information, check out Area C and FPO.

(Image from FPO)