podcast of the week

Being a photographer is a job with two parts. There is the glamorous part: traveling to new places, meeting new people and experiencing new things. But for every hour I spend behind the camera there is 1-3 hours spent in front of the computer editing, color-correcting, designing wedding albums and ordering prints. While I don't like spending all day starring at my computer screen, one of the great things that I have discovered are web-based audio broadcasts called podcasts. These are free programs available on the Internet and through iTunes on virtually every subject imaginable. And since I spend 8-10 hours a day listening to them each day, I figured I would pick one of my favorites each week to tell you about. I have spent most of the last three days listening to podcasts from an organization called TED. TED stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design" and describes itself as a, "group of remarkable people that gather to exchange ideas of incalculable value." Their podcasts are all from their annual conference that, "brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)." There is something about an organization that has both best selling Christian author Rick Warren and leading atheist Richard Dawkins as key speakers. One of the most notable speeches is by anthropologist Wade Davis, who is National Geographic's "Explorer in Residence". Davis talks about disappearing indigenous cultures and languages, noting that of the 6000 languages spoken today, 3000 are not being taught to the next generation. Every two weeks, the last speaker of an indigenous language dies and the language, heritage and traditions of that culture dies with him. These thoughts have given me a new appreciated for learning Faroese. Even though it is a language that I will never interact with outside of this country, the people who speak it and the culture that is an important part of my heritage make it a worthwhile pursuit. Here is a link to their blog and to their podcasts. -b