Ten Videos to Change How You View the World

These are 20-minute videos that destroy a lot of our common misconceptions, especially those "we're all going to hell in a handbasket" ones. A good way to start the new year--with hope.
Ten Videos

And this YouTube video is perhaps the most humorous personal epitaph ever 'written.' It is not maudlin. It is not meant to be emo. It's fascinating and maybe even inspirational.

Dying Professor's Last Lecture
Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch expects to die from cancer in a couple of weeks, so he delivered a hopeful last lecture on his life's lessons.

Have a great holiday. js

Forget Presents--Transuming is the New Trend

Don't have a gift for your adult children. Not to worry. They don't want things; they want "experiences" --or of course the cash to buy the experiences.

"After all, in our Experience Economy, the temporary, the transient, is increasingly being valued if not worshipped on a daily basis."

Read this Trendwatchers article: Transumers
http://trendwatching.com/trends/transumers.htm

Christmas Without Snow

One of the listservs I read regularly is from the Poynter Institute's Peter Roy Clark, author of Writing Tools. He just sent this link from his blog--a YouTube video of his performance of a Christmas song from the heart of Florida. Might be something you want to forward to your Northern friends and relatives.
Christmas Without Snow.

Neuroeconomics--My brain made me buy that!

I always thought it was guilt that made me spend too much for Christmas. Maybe not according to this article:
http://www.docuticker.com/?p=18318

M-W #1 Word of the Year

Word of the Year and 9 others.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/07words.htm

I am shocked! How can the word of the year be one I have never heard or seen! Shocked!
The rest of the top ten are depressing as ever with a couple of good ones thrown in: quixotic, conundrum, blamestorming(love this one). js

A Few Games to Destress With Over the Weekend

Have a Snowball Fight

Chat Noir

Picto

Spendthrift or Tightwad: It's Genetic! and PNC

I thought this article to be most appropriate at this time of year if only to rationalize your holiday shopping habits.

Design of Desire
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/design/a1.html

and

Christmas Price Index--How much have the 12 gifts of Christmas increased since last year.
http://www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com/

"Is Pizza still Safe to eat if it sits out over night?"

Paula Webb, The Government Documents Librarian has posted a new HotDocs on Food Safety with the answer to this crucial question.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm

and

Science Animations
Checkout these science animations if want a visual way to understand science for a final: biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, anatomy, geology, astronomy and all the those inbetween.
http://science.nhmccd.edu/biol/animatio.htm