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"Imagine" - A New Song Around the World, by Playing For Change

Here is something worth sharing for the holiday season and new year. It is a video of different musicians, playing around the globe, combining their talents to create a new version of of John Lennon's classic, "Imagine".  Here is the video.

 

Imagine from Playing For Change Foundation on Vimeo.

Here is a link to "Stand By Me".  And here are more Playing For Change videos. 

Song Around the World.

It toook almost a year for the Playing For Change crew to complete John Lennon's "Imagine." Like other Song Around the World productions, it is played by various musicians from around the world.

Creating this piece took the crew from the favelas of Brazil to the shrines of southern India, from villages in Nepal to the glittering urban landscape of Tokyo and New York, and beyond.

The filmmakers asked musicians to record their version of the song by themselves. The finished project combines these performances to create an a "music video" of these artists playing together.

The Playing For Change Foundation and Yoko Ono joined together to launch the Power to the People campaign. The campaign seeks to advance John Lennon’s vision of peace by engaging artists and audiences to contribute to music education programs worldwide. Proceeds raised will help build music schools, support teachers and music programs, purchase instruments, and connect schools for cross-cultural learning and conflict resolution across borders.  As they say "Music IS the power: Power to the People."

Find out more at Playing For Change.

Related Articles

• John Lennon's 10 Best Songs, as chosen by Yoko Ono (current.com)
• Playing for Change Connects the World Through Music (abcnews.go.com)
• Playing For Change Foundation and Theatre Within Advance John Lennon's Vision for Peace With POWER TO THE PEOPLE Campaign (prnewswire.com)
• Street Musicians From Across The World Play For Change (npr.org)

Remember the Good Old Days of Reagonomics (Funny)

This made me smile.

Ah, the good old days.  "We told them the wealth would 'trickle down'."

Now, watch video titled “Obama Kicks Door” spoofing the President’s reaction after extending the Bush Tax-Cuts.  While Jay Leno’s Tonight Show obviously faked the video, they probably nailed the President’s reaction to the compromise.  Here it is.

 

via RightPundits.com.

Related articles

• The Early Evidence: Quantitative Easing Does More Harm Than Good (pragcap.com)
• Inside Job: The Gravy Train started here (thestar.com)

Some New TSA Slogans to Brighten Your Holiday Travel

Holiday travel can pose challenges, and the new security requirements add to them.  The TSA is just doing their job.  Here are some humorous ways to look at it.

For more, click here.

Related articles

• TSA Skit: SNL's Parody of the Airport Security (VIDEO) (rightcelebrity.com)
• TSA Chief Asks Holiday Travelers for Patience - ABC News (news.google.com)
• Economics versus the TSA (blogs.forbes.com)

Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song Video

With Thanksgiving coming this week, I thought this would help you get in the holiday spirit.  In case you forgot, Thanksgiving is an annual tradition of observing how people used to communicate before the Internet.

Click the image below to watch "Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song".

 

 

This Thanksgiving, cherish the time spent with your family as a reminder of why you moved very far away from your family.

My belt is already unbuckled.

Related articles

• Anecdotal Evidence: Shoppers Out in Full Force (ritholtz.com)
• What Are You Thankful For? (lifehack.org)

An Explanation of Quantitative Easing You'll Enjoy Watching

This was funny. 

Even if you think you know what QE2 means, or don't believe that "'The printing money' is the last refuge of failed economic empires and banana republics, and the Fed doesn't want to admit this is their only idea" ...  Watch this humorous take on what the Federal Reserve is up to, and how we got here.

 

Like much humor, there is more than a grain of truth in it.

It was made with the Xtranormal text to movie engine.

An Angry America Gets What it Deserves (in pictures)

They say a country gets the politicians it deserves or perhaps it deserves the politicians it gets.

Rather than write a commentary on the politics of an angry electorate, I'll let pictures do the talking.

Here is the cover from this week's Economist.

Here is a chart from the NYTimes showing the historic shift away from Democrats.

Here is a political cartoon showing the pendulum swinging.

And here is a faux Sesame Street reminder of why it is important to play nicely with the other children.

Another Cool Change Blindness Video: The Color Changing Card Trick

This video shows how narrow your focus can be.  You'll have some fun, and what is revealed at the end is surprising. So pay attention as you watch the video. See what you notice.

 

It was done by pychologist, magician, and author Prof Richard Wiseman. Click here for background information about this video and the psychology behind it.

Professor Wiseman has more videos here.

In part 1 of this post, we examined Change Blindness and how we can miss incredibly obvious things (right in front of us) if our attention is focused elsewhere.

In an information-rich environment, attention is a scarce and essential resource.

Think how often your focus blinds you to the obvious.

Here are two books written by Professor Wiseman.  The first is called Quirkology, and it is about discoving big truths in small things.  The second is called 59 Seconds, and it is about little things that make big differences.

                         and      

Here is a link to a short video about 59 Seconds.

Related articles

• Richard Wiseman on the Psychology of Magic from TAM 6 (randi.org)
• Dangers of Driving Distracted.... (simoleonsense.com)
• Memory's Best Tricks (psychologytoday.com)

Awareness Test Video - Your Attention Span Is Smaller Than You Think

You look, but do you see?

Daniel Simons' experiments on visual awareness have become famous.  The primary conclusion drawn from his research is that we can miss incredibly obvious things, right in front of us, if our attention is focused elsewhere.

Test Your Awareness.

Watch this video and count how many passes the team in white makes. 

This is worth doing so you experience it yourself.

Try to ignore the black team.  Just focus on the white team, and see if you can accurately count how many times they pass the ball. 

OK, click the video to do it now.

 

Did you get the right answer?  Even though I knew what to expect, the result or effect was surprising.

By the way, there is a newer version of this video, here.

Think how often your focus blinds you to the obvious.

Change Blindness.

Missing an invisible gorilla or a moon-walking bear may seem strange.  However, the next experiment may be more surprising.

This video demonstrates "change blindness".  In an experiment, 75% of the participants didn't notice that the experimenter who bent under a counter was replaced by a different person.

 

If you liked that, here is a version done by Derrin Brown. It is quite clever and worth watching. It was even more surprising to me because it was done in public with "real people".   How did people not notice a white male switching with a black guy (or an asian female) in the middle of a conversation?

Warning: Objects In Your Attention Span Are Fewer Than You Perceive.

Moment by moment, the brain selectively processes information it deems most relevant. Experiments, like these, show the limits of our capacity to encode, retain, and compare visual information from one glance to the next. 

More importantly, this suggests that our awareness of our visual surroundings is far more sparse than most people intuitively believe.  Consequently, our intuition can deceive us far more often than we perceive.

Clearly, in an information-rich environment, attention is a scarce and essential resource. So, pay attention (or automate the things you know need to be done right, every time).

Related Resources.

• To read more about this, check-out the Invisible Gorilla book.
• Here is a link to the Invisible Gorilla website.
• Here are more fun video examples of Change Blindness.

Related articles

• The invisible gorilla returns to show us how often we miss the obvious (io9.com)
• A Must Read: The Invisible Gorilla (psychologytoday.com)
• Pay Attention - or Else (blogs.hbr.org)

Sesame Street Parodies the Old Spice Ad with Grover

Short, blue and furry could be the next tall, dark and handsome.

Once again proving it's not just a show for kids, Sesame Street spoofs the wildly popular Old Spice ad.

Grover preaches the importance of smelling like a monster and of using the word "on" correctly in the parody of the "Man Your Man Could Smell Like" ad featuring Isaiah Mustafa.

Have a look at the spoof, and the commercial that inspired it.

Here is the Sesame Street video.

 

Here is the original video.

 

Laurel and Hardy Meet Santana

This video has virtually nothing to do with business or trading, other than being creative.

Still, smiling is good  ... and laughing is better.  Hopefully, you will enjoy this as much as I did. 

Watch Laurel and Hardy dance with Santana's "Oye Como Va" as the music track.  It fits surprisingly well.