TED Community » Mark Furst

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Energy efficiency, Hang gliding, Music that light my fire, Keeping my marriage fresh

Comments

• TEDCred score: 0.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Talk: Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of food

  Oct 6 2012: Glad to see someone is taking this seriously although I do agree with the commenters that say we need more "living" seed banks. This is not the entire solution, but is a well designed reaction to the a problem that most of us probably never think about. Most of us never get to participate in such a fulfilling way in the solutions we know need to be done.
  
  The overall work is Impressive but kinda depressing too. Reminds me of the (cheesy) sci-fi movie Silent Running. Cheesy because of being made in the '70's but it takes the theme in this talk to it's logical conclusion: in order to survive, the remaining life on Earth has to be taken elsewhere. The ending was sublimely.... sad.

• A comment on Conversation: What if the Cannabis plant was essential rather than illegal? Would prohibition of it be possible?

  Mar 16 2012: Nutrition, health and clothing benefits aside, ask an average news-consuming drone why one shouldn't smoke marijuana and they'll say "because it's illegal" and perhaps add some vague negative health effect study they heard about. But then ask them to discuss with you why it's illegal and the conversation often takes an interesting turn and actually can get folks to think more critically about how pointless and intrusive some laws can be into our daily lives and our ability to pursue our own happiness.
  Here's an interesting article that debunks one of my favorite myths about the outlawing of this plant but which brings up some other vey interesting points:
  http://moderate.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/debunking-the-hemp-conspiracy-theory/

• A comment on Talk: Morgan Spurlock: The greatest TED Talk ever sold

  Apr 16 2011: Fantastic talk. I love it when a speaker peels back layers of life and experience that we don't normally think twice about. It's also refreshing to see new definitions of what's considered "smart". Coincidentally, I had watched Exit Through the Gift Shop just before watching this. If you liked this talk and have not seen this movie about the Street Art movement I heartily recommend seeing it. Some of the same questions are posed and "answered".
• +3

  A comment on Talk: Ueli Gegenschatz soars in a wingsuit

  Apr 25 2009: For those who were intrigued by this but would not consider doing it, I would recommend taking up paragliding or hang gliding. Although these are termed "extreme" sports, once you learn the basics and fly in mellow conditions, the experience is very relaxing. In fact, when I teach people to fly, I always tell them that the secret is in being able to relax. Once you do that, everything else will fall into place. Besides, a wingsuit flight is over in a matter of minutes (seconds??), whereas in hang gliding / paragliding, flights can potentially last for hours - plenty of time to take in the scenery and marvel at the time we live in.