Watching videos online is usually considered fun, but generally a waste of time. Not so with TED videos, which are uniformly interesting, educational, inspiring, and enjoyable. If you haven't spent much time (or any) checking out TED videos, you should – and to help with that, I've compiled what seem to be the very best 10 TED videos of 2011.
It was a grueling task, combing through the cream of the crop on the TED site, but somebody had to do it.
Some of the talks may have been filmed prior to 2011 but all of the talks here were posted in 2011. Unless you were lucky enough to attend the TED event in question, it's still new to you. Enjoy!
You don't need to be an artist to appreciate Shea Hembrey's "How I became 100 artists," but if you are it's even more amazing. Hembrey talks about his experience staging an "international art show" with 100 different artists. That would be daunting, but Hembrey decided to invent the 100 artists and create their biographies, passions, and art himself. A fascinating and inspiring piece.
If music is more your thing, then the "Modern Take on Piano, Violin, Cello" entry from the Ahn Trio is a must-watch (and listen). The Ahn sisters (Maria, Lucia, and Angella) don't spend much time talking, but you won't be disappointed.
Learning experiences like this, I could do without. But Ric Elias' talk "3 things I learned while my plane crashed, details the experience of being on flight 1549 as it crash-landed in the Hudson River in January 2009.
If you've ever watched the show Lie to Me, you'll find this talk by Pamela Meyer fascinating. In "how to spot a liar," Meyer explains many of the tell-tale signs of lying and how people are often complicit in choosing to believe a lie.
Next page: More TED goodness