TED Community » greg dahlen

More About Me

I'm passionate about

reducing noise pollution

An idea worth spreading

well, I live on milk. Every day I drink between one and two gallons of milk, and I don't eat or drink anything else. I've been doing this for about five years. I find it's a good way to keep my weight down, and I generally feel better than on any other diet I've tried.

Talk to me about

reducing noise pollution, or anything else

People don't know that I'm good at

people pretty much know what I'm good at

My TED Story

I can't remember for sure, I believe I found TED by entering the subject search "green talks" in Google. I was quite thrilled as I further looked at the website, as it seemed to offer a chance to publish both out-of-the-box ideas and more conventional ideas, and get a reaction to them. And react to other people's.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +26.20 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: Integrating music into our everyday lives.

  5 hours ago: What I'm looking for, Lizanne, is how I can make tongue exercises appeal to the gymnasium crowd, it's pretty obvious why a speaker or a singer would want to do them, but why might an athlete? Funny thing, I first got interested in the tongue because I would see photos of Michael Jordan, the great basketball player, with his tongue hanging out as he balled. I believe he actually used it to make himself a better ball player, for example when you're really hot, or when I am, I will let my tongue hang out and pant like a dog, it really cools off the inside of your mouth. Also letting your tongue hang out can help with your balance, like occasionally when I turn a corner too fast, I'll help catch myself from stumbling by sticking out my tongue, I believe Michael knew these things. Probably also it intimidated his opponents because it was flashy and unexpected.
  
  Another famous "tongue-hanger-outer" is Gene Simmons from KISS, right?
  
  I will say that when a fly is buzzing around my head, I often will dart out my tongue like a frog, try to catch him. But that might not have mass appeal. Sometimes I'll scratch little itches around the outside of my mouth with my tongue.
  
  Saliva is a wonderful substance. If you ever forget your sunscreen, saliva is a marvelous sunscreen, just put it on your fingers and coat your skin. But that might not have mass appeal either.

• A reply on Conversation: A contradiction within itself-New Age Spirituality

  5 hours ago: See if you like it, Kate, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfhZwbMqbkE

• A reply on Conversation: A contradiction within itself-New Age Spirituality

  5 hours ago: out of curiosity, Mat, do you write anywhere but TED about spirituality or psychology?
  
  Yes, one thing I value in my day is variety, I always try to put some variety in there.
  
  Yes, I probably don't care too much about spirituality, at least it's not my main focus. Probably I'm more interested in things in the physical world, I probably think if you can get life right in the very concrete, physical way, the spirituality will take care of itself.

• A reply on Conversation: Should Music be Free?

  8 hours ago: I'm kind of surprised, Kate. Here you are criticizing my expression, but you don't mind lancing into me and saying I make "gross" judgements. I was very soft in the way I expressed myself, you are being very harsh. If the soft criticism I directed toward Lizanne would make her stop making vids, she better never enter the public eye in any way whatsoever, cause she's going to get a heck of a lot worse than that.
  
  Lizanne seems like a special person to me, exceptionally smart and well-spoken. It's true, a lot of people are content not to go for too much in life, but I would tend to think Liz would have a better chance than most to really succeed big-time. I like to see people go for big-time success, what's wrong with being ambitious, as you attempt to fulfill your ambitions, you meet more interesting people, you have more adventures, you produce better product, you improve more people's lives. I was trying to analyze what might hold her back, and, I'm sorry, I noticed her figure. I don't see any way to say it except to say it. Why are people so sensitive about weight, when I was overweight people said I was fat and I didn't get bent out of shape about it. I would think they meant well. What would be wrong with going to a gym and getting into better shape, you'd feel better, be able to do more and better, meet new people, look better, probably feel better about yourself. It's no skin off my back if she doesn't want to, it's her life, it's just a suggestion. Personally if I could entertain millions of people and make millions of dollars and travel around the world, and all I had to do was spend some time in a gym, I think I'd do it. Would you?
  
  I'm not obsessed with fame or wealth, I simply think life is short, and you should go for as much success as possible.
  
  I don't have weight issues. I found a diet that helped me lose weight, and I guarantee you life is better when you're slimmer, so I mention the diet here and there.
  
  Thanks.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Should Americans be Doomsday Preppers or should they just spend their money and time on themselves and live in the moment?

  1 day ago: To me it seems like a sad way to live, but I could not tell them they can't do it if they want to. Maybe as they prepare, they get skills that they can use in this present world, in other words, as they store food for the catastrophe they imagine, they also learn about how they can better store food in this present, less dramatic world.

• A reply on Conversation: Have you ever went a full day without using electricity ?

  1 day ago: Thanks for your reply, Liz. You know, actually, I don't eat meat, for the last five years I've followed the most unusual diet, I've been living on skim milk. Every day I drink about two gallons of organic skim milk, and I don't eat or drink anything else. 365 days a year. For me, it's been great, lost about 80 pounds, energy up, high cholesterol gone. I always have three gallons of milk in my freezer for emergencies, plus two in my frig, and if I turned off my frig I'd do fine on those for a day, or more as the frozen ones would slowly melt and still have a lot of ice keeping them fresh.

• A reply on Conversation: Integrating music into our everyday lives.

  1 day ago: Nice. Those are all things that have to do with sound, Liz, and of course we use our tongues to make sound. Can you think of why it would be good to have a strong tongue for more "physical" activies, I mean, we don't pick things up with our tongue like we do with our hands and arms. I mean a stronger tongue might be good for guiding your food around in your mouth. Or if you entered a contest to see who could blow the biggest bubblegum bubble. Or for licking stamps. Anything else come to mind?

• A reply on Conversation: Should Music be Free?

  1 day ago: Thanks, Lizanne, so you were joking about the billionaire, you don't really want a billionaire to come up to you after your gigs and proffer some enormous sum for one of your songs.
  
  Know that I tend to be a hyper-critical person, if someone is happy doing what they're doing, I'll come along and criticize them and try to make them dislike what they're doing. With that said, I slightly wish you'd become more ambitious. I tend to think that ambition drives people to produce better productions, and it also makes them more interesting people. Don't get me wrong, you're already good and interesting. But if you were to say I want to make five million dollars off of music, and live in Beverly Hills (or the Dutch equivalent thereof), I think you might be even better and more interesting.
  
  You'll probably kill me, but in some of your vids you looked a little overweight. What if you got a gym membership, Liz, and really went, I mean when I think of the women making it big in music, most of them are a little trimmer. I know you have children and a husband, but these other women have many responsibilities, too, many of them have husbands and children as well.
  
  Watching one of your vids, something about screaming by will.i.am, reminded me of the movie "Screamers" by System of a Down, a fairly famous rock band. Actually System got their start right here in Glendale where I live, Glendale has a huge Armenian population. Screamers is about the Armenian genocide, the band's grandparents were affected or killed, the title of the movie means some people have to scream when they see something wrong. I saw it in Glendale, many older Armenian people in the audience.

• A reply on Conversation: What do you think about Islam?

  1 day ago: Excellent question, Z. I'm asking myself if I were a Christian and there were Christian terrorists, what would I do? I might be scared to denounce them, like they'll come after me. I might feel law enforcement is already working on them. I might feel like they are not Christian even though they call themselves Christians. I might feel like the thing to do is to emphasize the positive values of Christianity, rather than focusing on talking about the aberrations.

• A reply on Conversation: What do you Enjoy Making?

  1 day ago: Yeah, I'm somewhat passive, I guess like you. I only have a camera because my brother gave me one for Christmas. But it's not bad to think what you would make if you had the equipment.