Dear old Hans Rosling can always be depended upon to teach while making the lesson interesting and fun. I am confident that one day everyone will realize what an amazing machine the world wide web is and how it can be the answer to our educational problems. But for now, sit back, and watch this amazing man do what he does best — lift the veil of ignorance and reveal a little bit of what lies beneath. And most of all, remind us to mind the gap. The video is …

Hans Rosling is a favorite academic/activist of mine. He is delightful to watch because of his infectious enthusiasm for his subject — that the world is getting better. Here’s a brief video that presents the evidence for that proposition. (Thanks JP for the link.) Enjoy.

One of these days I will get around to replying to some of the comments that do need a response. Now though is time for an open thread. Say what’s on your mind.

Go check out the videos shortlisted for playing at YouTube Play celebration event at the Guggenheim Museum. What’s that?

Richard Feynman (1908 – 1988) is one of my great heroes. Here’s a short video of his.

[via Fantasising Zombies.]

Cities are the engines of growth. Therefore, a policy that promotes urbanization of the population is an indispensible instrument for economic growth and development. In the following TED Talk, Paul Romer, a world-class growth economist at Stanford, makes the case.

As a comment on YouTube puts it, “What a fantastic work of art and horology.”

I hold firmly to the conviction expressed in John McCarthy’s signature quote that “those who refuse to do arithmetic are doomed to speak nonsense.” Today I came across a set of videos which graphically illustrates the concept: Dr Albert Bartlett’s 8-part series on “Arithmetic, Population and Energy.” (See video below the fold).

Jon Stewart cracks me up.

If you needed more convincing on the matter of why India needs to build cities (and not futz around in villages), here’s a video of a TED presentation by Jaime Lerner. A video made more delightful by the way he wanders all over the place.

Thanks to Sudipta Chatterjee for the link.

Richard Baraniuk: Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open-source learning. (Filmed Feb 2006)

Jonathan Drori: Why we don’t understand as much as we think we do. (Filmed Feb 2007)

[Thanks to Manish Dharod for the links.}

On March 8th, 2008, Richard Dawkins spoke at the Wheeler Auditorium on the UC Berkeley campus during his US book tour for his book “The God Delusion.” I am an absolute admirer of Prof Dawkins.
You could see the google video of Richard in Berkeley (56 mins) or you could see it in six parts on YouTube. Here’s YouTube part 1/6 of Richard at Berkeley:

Part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6.
Related post: Darwin’s Big Idea

An ordinary Joe at the gas station (note the car license plate at the start of the video.)

I admire Penn and Teller. They are sensible, forthright, articulate, and most of all very entertaining. So here’s an episode of their “Bullshit” series from 2003. It is about the hysterical reactions of some to the matter of global warming and climate change.

Penn and Teller – Bullshit! – Environmental Hysteria

Here’s Jeff Dunham with Achmed, the dead terrorist. Is it work safe, you ask? Most certainly not. And besides, you should not be watching YouTube at work. Nor reading this blog, come to think of it. It is a waste of your employer’s money.

That video has had an astounding over 52,000,000 views and has a 5-star rating from over 200,000 reviewers.

Penn and Teller are pretty amazing. I especially like their debunking videos. They are iconoclasts and have a lot of fun letting the air out of some of the high and mighty. They have done the usual ones. YouTube has a lot of their stuff. Here’s a video of one great illusion by Teller: Shadows

The following is a 1-minute video of a contestant in the Miss Teen USA 2007 contest. The video has been viewed around 22 million times on YouTube and accumulated over 65 thousand comments, and hundreds of video responses. Here’s Miss South Carolina attempting to answer a question which explores why many Americans are ignorant of basic geography:

Obviously she’s in the spotlight because she is pretty, and most certainly better looking than 99.99 percent of the population. But nature perhaps balances it out in her case by making her dumber …