TED talk for the kids - 3

I did a summary presentation of today's TED talk for my oldest daughter and spouse. The talk was by Charity Tillemann-Dick. Her story was that she had a two-lung transplant, which is uncommon, but for her it impacted her talent (and job) as an opera singer. She talked in a way that sounded like gasping, but she was active and engaging. The part of her story that I wanted my daughter to hear is how she overcame odds to sing again. Quite uplifting story. I didn't share this in its entirety because her descriptions of her illness and her operations were quite graphic - enough, I believe, to cause my youngest daughter bad dreams. So they got the abridged version from my and then they saw the final few minutes of the talk. I was disappointed that it didn't get the kids to talk right afterwards, but this one was one that might require some thought.

TED talk for the kids - 2

Another TED talk that I have played for my oldest daughter (14) is the one by Kiva.org founder Jessica Jackley. Jessica talks about her history with charity and learning about investing in people. She was a poetry major in college that went into finance and made a huge impact in the third world with microfinance, and is aiming to do something similar enabling finance of companies in the developed world. While the description of the new venture was a bit over my daughters head (and makes the video a bit long), I wanted her to watch this video for a few reasons. First, I wanted my daughter to see a young female entrepreneur - someone who has had success while young and who has made an impact on the world. If you watch the video, at about the16:30 point, she actually breaks down with emotion tied to her story. I wanted my daughter to see that some people really, really care about changing the world, and that showing some emotion is not necessarily a bad thing. The video is at http://www.ted.com/search?q=jackley

TED talk for the kids - 1

I really enjoy watching TED talks on the internet. I find the variety and depth of topics really talk to me - almost always interesting. I watch these for a number of reasons - to relate to my work work, my library work, and to provide lessons for my kids, sort of like "The Last Lecture" (yes, I played parts of this audiobook for my kids). A recent talk, The 3 A's of Awesome, is a great example of the latter. I will be sitting with my kids to watch this one and to talk about it. It suggests being aware of your world and having a great attitude. Great food story at the end. And the speaker is excellent. The video is at http://www.ted.com/search?q=awesome

Library DVD rental fees eliminated - good or bad?

The local library board has decided to drop an existing fee for borrowing DVDs. Previously, the fee was $1 for a 2 night rental with additional cost for additional nights. The new arrangement eliminates the fees to check out the DVD while increasing the late fees. Note that this only corresponds to DVDs and VHS tapes that are listed as "fiction", meaning big hits movies. Other movies, such as "kids" movies, educational movies and documentaries are loaned without checkout fees.

The location of the library is a midsize suburb. Two of three neighboring libraries do not charge fees for checking out their DVDs, and many patrons have stated that they have used these other libraries for this purpose.

Until two years ago, the suburb had three or more large video rental stores. Currently one chain video store remains. Redbox is available in multiple locations within the suburb and neighboring areas.

DVD fees have provided roughly 1% of revenues for the library, which I believe covered the cost of the videos.

The case for removing the fee was to provide patrons with a "free" service similar to our neighboring libraries. The case against is the loss of revenue, the possibility of increased costs to maintain a collection of popular titles, and the possible impact on the local video store business.

Discuss