The Technology, Environment and Design talks (google sponsored) were recently pointed out to me. The talks range from the African AIDs crisis to the present and future direction of space travel. There are webcast videos of all the talks up, and new ones every week or so.

Among my favorite talks thus far are Emily Oster’s challenge to the statistical portrayal the AIDs epidemic in Africa , Carolyn Porco’s description of NASA’s Cassini mission major findings, Bill Stone’s rally for space exploration, and Hans Rosling’s great ’07 lecture on geopolitical trends in health and statistics.

ps, along the lines of generosity: mexican food style, and certainly worth checking out is FreeRice, which quizzes you on your vocab as you donate rice through the UN’s World Food Program; aggrandize argotistically!