Response #7: Mark Bittman

1. What are your take-aways from this video? The TED talk is centered around what food is really healthy for you. This is extremely important to me because what you eat really does greatly affect your life span, your bodily functions, and many other things in your life. Bittman says that meat and carbs do not make us healthy, but plants. I have heard this before because my dad is somewhat of a health nut. Mark says, "it's not the ingredients in plants, it's the plants. It's not the beta-carotene, it's the carrot." My dad always said that there's an order of how important you get your vegetables and fruit. The best way of getting it is through eating the plant - the pulp. The second way you can get the nutrients is from the juice. Eating the plant is the best way to get the best out of a plant because of what Bittman says, it's just "the plant". Something that really shocked me was that the U.S. alone currently slaughters 10,000,000,000 animals per year for food. This is a ridiculous amount and it, in all honesty, makes me stop wanting to eat meat... One person at a time helps. Livestock is also more polluting than automobiles - that's the methane from their farts. In other words, cow farts are more influencing on the global air pollution problem than automobiles. Methane is 10x more polluting than CO2. If everybody watched this video, I'm sure most of them would cut down their meat consumption levels, which would lead to a reduced number of livestock. Another interesting fact that Bittman mentioned was that when margarine was first invented, several states passed laws that it had to be dyed pink so that we'd know it is fake. Obviously that made margarine come across as not appealing anymore to me.
2. What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques? Mark Bittman has a heavy New York accent. This is kind of annoying because he says his 't's and 'd's in a weird way. He doesn't tell many jokes, and that is one of the things that I am most critical about in TED talks. This is the first TED however that I have been interested in that doesn't have jokes in it; in fact, the speaker is very serious. He tells a joke at the beginning - "I'm not a vegetarian -- this is the old Nixon line, right?" at which I laughed, along with slight laughter from the audience. He also says, "The cornflake hadn't been invented.(Laughter) The Pop-Tart, the Pringle, Cheez Whiz, none of that stuff. Goldfish swam." This joke about processed and artificial food is funny because it is witty and appealing to the audience too. 
3. What is his/her presentation style? He doesn't bring may images along with him, but the ones that he does bring give good visual pictures to a watcher. At the beginning, he shows a cow and relates it to how it's beautiful, but not at all coveted by the people because it is just considered food. During his part where he talks about how snacks, frozen food, and margarine were invented, he shows pictures of those things which do help me develop a mental picture. I like his presentation style because it is semi-casual... He is definitely well-prepared for talking. He has a great rhythm to his speech like he has rehearsed his speech many times and like he is reading off of a sheet of paper or notecards. I wish I had such an excellent memory as these guys because they memorize a whole speech without even stuttering or getting help from a cheat sheet.
4. What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world? As with most other TED talks, this video has a special significance to everyone because people, especially Americans, are exposed to such a large meat consumption level in their diets. He calls it the "western diet", which doesn't surprise me. The USDA food pyramid just recently declared the vegetables or plants in a diet what makes you "healthy" - not the meat. Americans drink too much soda, eat too many refined carbs, and too much sugar. I only drink water, and it has really helped with my health because I feel better and have more energy, last longer throughout the day, and don't really get sick, ever. The last time I got sick was one whole year ago. People should be educated about this because it is critical for so many people to live a long life, and healthy eating is the key to do so. This is one of my favorite topics because it always brings about a good debate and makes people think critically - some even make a large change to their diet. I wish that most people would watch this video to realize the importance of a healthy diet with the right components in it. The world would be changed by it.

Response #6: Dave Eggers

1. What are your take-aways from this video? This is the best TED talk I have seen yet because how engaged the speaker is. I took away a lot from this video. I learned that I should be more involved with helping other schools, mostly lower class or white minority schools with language. I learned that I should bring pictures to my presentation because that was one of the most significant influences on the audience because, then, they can have a visual of what the speaker is talking about. He is sort of spastic when he talks because he talks really fast and throws out ideas, but they all relate to his point. I learned how amazing it can be for children to be in an intimate, supportive, and yet fun learning environment. 
2. What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques? He uses very effective speaking techniques. My favorite is that he makes the audience laugh. I heavily stress the importance of comic relief during TED talks because it is one of the most important things that one can do to keep the audience's focus. It makes the speaker appeal to the audience and refreshes their brain while at the same time somehow affirming the information they have received. He does talk fast, which threw me off and I found myself reading the script instead of watching the video because he was talking too fast at fast than I could process.
3. What is his/her presentation style? He presentation style is too very effective mainly because of the media he brings with him to his presentation. I found it the major reason that I took in and visualized his speech because he used pictures to illustrate his sentences. He spoke loud and articulated most of his pronunciation. Again, he talks pretty fast and some people might have needed a recap of the information before he went on with more information. He is easy when talking and comes casually to match the audience's attire and attitude. I know that I will present in a casual manner because it is an effective technique for inviting the audience in to try your idea presented because they believe that if someone as casual as you can, they can too.
4. What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world? This video is significant because it marks the start of a new era of learning intimacy outside of the classroom. It is amazing how kids can leave their suspicions or judgements outside and just go into such a loving environment and learn because it's their choice to do so. I really wish I had that opportunity as a child. I think it's funny how the shop is also a pirate store. It surprised me that kids didn't go in at first because my first thoughts were, "Pirate paraphernalia must really appeal to the kids!" It is beneficial how more and more of these type of tutoring centers that are interactive with kids' wants are popping up all over the country. It is especially clever how the Super-hero store was opened. The idea like the cape fitting platform and the vow at checkout spark interest in the kids and parents. This matters to the world the most because it is obviously changing the lives of people who experience it. It educates kids for the better and gives them a passion and a focus.