ted

[_Gadianton]

http://www.youtube.com/user/tedtalksdirector?ob=4

Many here probably already know about this, I'm always last to know anything, but if you haven't seen it, this is a great repository of video clips of entry-level short presentations on science topics (mostly) by experts including many famous (by science standards) people in science still alive (some barely). Besides the material itself which is sometimes fantastic and other times a little odd of fumbling, I had fun browsing through the list of names and clicking on some of these people that have come up in stuff I'd read a long time ago but with really no idea who they are. For example, Freeman Dyson, George Smoot, Marvin Minsky.

[_Sethbag]

Gad, check out the "queerer than we can suppose" TED talk by Richard Dawkins. It's awesome.

[_Mercury]

I like most of the talks but there is an aire of pretentiousness throughout the conference. Its highly exclusive, and exclusivity is itself a reason to find TED to be somewhat hyped.