Monthly Archives: July 2013

Music is alive and well at the Jersey shore

Music is alive and well at the Jersey shore

Ride your bicycle through Asbury Park on a summer evening and succumb to the siren song of this musical seaside city. Whether it’s an Energizer Bunny- like drummer boy who pulls long shifts on the boardwalk for tips, the melodic duo Uke and Drum at The Beach Bar, or a Sublime concert on the summer […]

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A pioneer in suburban agriculture

A pioneer in suburban agriculture

On a winding street tucked away in the woods is a quaint little farm. Here one can skirt past a coop of chickens and goats and end up under an apple tree for an afternoon nap. No, this is not western New York or rural Vermont, although at first glance you might think you were […]

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Are you experienced? Exploration in the digital age

Are you experienced? Exploration in the digital age

Technology, namely the Internet, has both its benefits and cons. As Ben Saunders says in his TED talk, we are now able to retrieve information about the world around us at an incredible speed and with minimal effort. Checking the weather doesn’t mean stepping outside, it means pulling out your smartphone. Discovering a new book doesn’t mean meeting a friend for coffee, but relying on an algorithm. What effect is this easy access having on our sense of fulfillment in life? To paraphrase something a certain musician once said: Are you experienced?

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How do you slow down high-speed trading?

How do you slow down high-speed trading?

The State of New Jersey shares a unique relationship with Wall Street. In fact, it might be argued that much of New Jersey’s wealth is derived from the financial services industry, with most of that work confined to Lower and Midtown-Manattan.

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How I Discovered TED

How I Discovered TED

My name is Linnea Hjelm, and I’m going to be a senior at Biotechnology High School in Freehold, NJ. I discovered TED probably around my freshman or sophomore year at school, but I feel like I’ve had the greatest exposure to TED talks in the past year or so. My teachers were the ones who […]

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Export Nat Gas off Sandy Hook?

Export Nat Gas off Sandy Hook?

Truth is often stranger than fiction. That’s at the core of TED talks and TEDx events. Ever since we started planning TEDxNavesink: The Next Wave which is about the next generation of shore life, we uncover stranger and sometimes unbelievable stories. Port Ambrose, the planned Natural Gas Exports terminal a few miles off Sandy Hook […]

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MOOC’s and the future of education

MOOC’s and the future of education

I recently read a great article in the Sunday Review section of the Times about the pros and cons of MOOCs, massive online open courses.  I feel the discussion about the value of this way of learning and what it means to education in general will be heating up in a big way in the […]

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Roddy Wildeman lights up the shore

Roddy Wildeman lights up the shore

A natural disaster like superstorm Sandy can trigger several emotions. One can wax nostalgic and settle for an over-glorified past when “things were better in the good ol’ days”. Or you can press on, embrace uncertainty with an open mind and open heart. Out of darkness comes light. No where is this better expressed than in Roddy Wildeman’s art.

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Slacktivists and their children

Slacktivists and their children

About a year ago when I was walking my 6 year old daughter, Charlie, home from school, she said to me: “Dad, me and my friend Molly want to create posters that say ‘No polluting’ and post them all over town, and we want a website so we can show our posters to friends who don’t live here!” “What made you think of this?” I asked. “Look around! There is trash everywhere!” she said while collecting any litter she could find in her tiny hands.

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From Adversity to Aesthetic

I stumbled upon her TED talk from 2009, switching through television channels one late evening. I had missed the set up and stopped because this lovely woman was talking about the art and function of prosthetics. Dying to find out what she had overcome, I waited, never realizing that the beautiful legs in high-heeled pumps were prosthetic.

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