MetaFilter posts tagged with speech

Harvey Weinstein. The most thanked person through the years.

unliteral — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:37:25 -0800

I'd like to thank the Academy — "More than 200 Oscar speeches were pulled from the Margaret Herrick Library database and surveyed." Find out who has done the two-hand clutch, who thanked their male partner - all with linked YouTube goodness. You can even roll-your-own and find out who it most matches.

Just In Time For The Equinox

The Whelk — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:47:07 -0800

About a week ago a series of tweets began to appear promoting a new TEDx conference taking place with all the normal social media bluster and back-patting - but was it? The event's isolated location should've set off warning bells (previously) when the tweets from "TedxSummerisle" because increasingly worrisome as the conference tumblr began posting videos with titles like "Our Friends the Bees, and Nanotech" and "The Secret Science of the Ancients". (via)

It’s adorably charming, but only because you’re British actor Hugh Grant

davidjmcgee — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:59:36 -0800

Focus on one person in the middle of the crowd throughout your speech. Afterward, trail him home. Knock on his door. Offer an introduction like, "Hi. I’m from the speech. Earlier." He’ll reply with something along the lines of, "I know. Um…what are you doing here?" "I thought"—you’ll stammer, searching for the right words—"I just thought we could hang out, maybe, and be friends." "I have friends," he’ll probably say. "And I’m with my family now." Blurt out, too quickly, "I’m not trying to replace your family!" He’ll close the door in your face, gently, more out of pity than fear. Don’t use him as a crowd-focusing person for the next speech, because it would be weird.

Tips for Public Speaking, from Teddy Wayne in the New York Times.

Get your hi-hat on.

iamkimiam — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:30:59 -0800

Real-time MRI study of human beatboxing, with lots of videos. See what snares, kick drum effects, cymbals and more look and sound like as they happen inside the head. Here's a BBC radio segment on the project.

Today Indian Country Is Strong. I could not always ... tell you that"

hippybear — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:34:56 -0800

Only about 36 hours after the State Of the Union Address, National Congress Of American Indians president Jefferson Keel gave today the 2013 State Of The Indian Nations address before the NCAI. The address was followed by a response from Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who was recently appointed the new Chairwoman for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The entire program runs for 1h13m. Text of the speech. NCAI's Securing Our Futures report [pdf]. Native America Calling provides an audio only version [mp3 link].

Academic freedom under attack in NYC

mek — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 17:42:42 -0800

The Political Science Department at Brooklyn College is co-sponsoring a panel discussion about the BDS Movement (boycott, divestment, sanctions) against Israel this Thursday Feburary 7th. The event features Omar Barghouti, BDS co-founder and Judith Butler, prominent philosopher. The college has come under widespread attack for its hosting of the event, with a coalition of New York City councillors threatening to defund the school. Green Greenwald has posted an exhaustive analysis of the controversy and identifies Alan Dershowitz as its orchestrator. Chris Hayes discussed it this morning (starts at 1:30). Corey Robin, professor at Brooklyn College, compares the current controversy to the historically prominent anti-zionism of BC professor Hannah Arendt way back in 1942. Brooklyn College president Karen L. Gould insists the event will go forward.

Annyong, anja, nuo, aniya, choah, very choah

elgilito — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:24:38 -0800

We document a male Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) that imitates human speech, matching Korean formants and fundamental frequency in such detail that Korean native speakers can readily understand and transcribe the imitations. (full text, PDF, video and sound files) (Previously: the belugas NOC and Lagosi, Hoover the talking seal, unfortunately paywalled) (via Homunculus)

"I began to believe voices in my head -- that I was a freak, that I am broken, that there is something wrong with me, that I will never be lovable."

zarq — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:10:30 -0800

"I am here because when I was young, I wanted very badly to be a writer, I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I couldn’t find anyone like me in the world and it felt like my dreams were foreclosed simply because my gender was less typical than others."
On Saturday, Lana Wachowski (co-director of the "Matrix" franchise and "Cloud Atlas") received a "Visibility Award" from the Human Rights Campaign for her recent decision to publicly come out as transgender. In a powerful 25-minute acceptance speech, Lana spoke about the pain she went through growing up and how she developed self-acceptance. Video. Transcript. Q&A with the Hollywood Reporter.

Parrots of the Sea

barnacles — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:34:52 -0800

Researchers think that the late beluga whale named NOC had been trying to speak with a human accent – or at least talk to its keepers. Current Biology has more (PDF link).

No Homo, No Mo

ChrisR — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:55:13 -0800

Sadly, despite the growing acceptance of variable sexuality in western culture, there's still widespread acceptance of casual homophobia. NoHomophobes.com seeks to shine a bright light on this, in the hopes of rendering this speech as socially unacceptable as racist slurs.

FWIW

morganannie — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:24:23 -0800

What your crutch word says about you

Vice President Biden on 9/11

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 12:39:27 -0800

Joe Biden commemorates 9/11 - tear-inducing

Bill Clinton's remarkable skill

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:54:49 -0800

What are the secrets of former American President Bill Clinton noted oratory? Is it the writing, the body language or his unique human touch? Whatever it is, his gift for speeches was on full display at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Text of the prepared speech here, note that it differs greatly from what he ad libbed. Andrew Sullivan has a round up of reactions to Clinton's speech.

Whitey on the moon

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:18:28 -0800

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney just took his case to the NAACP. This satirical look at Mitt's prep session.

Don't Eat Fortune's Cookie

vidur — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:42:20 -0800

"My case illustrates how success is always rationalized. People really don’t like to hear success explained away as luck—especially successful people. As they age, and succeed, people feel their success was somehow inevitable. They don’t want to acknowledge the role played by accident in their lives. There is a reason for this: the world does not want to acknowledge it either." Michael Lewis's address to the Princeton Class of 2012.

Your Congressperson Is So Dumb, He Speaks at a Ninth-Grade Level

Etrigan — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:02:55 -0800

The Sunlight Foundation, an organization dedicated to transparency in government, has analyzed 17 years of Congressional speech (per the Congressional Record) and found that the Flesch-Kincaid grade level of speech on the floor of the House and Senate has dropped by nearly a full year in the last decade. While Republicans spoke at a slightly higher grade level than Democrats in the late 1990s, they plunged half a grade between 2006 and 2007, while the Democrats rose after retaking both houses of Congress. Democrats dropped almost as much in 2010, but both parties bounced up the next year for the first time since 2005. The highest Flesch-Kincaid score of any member of Congress was Rep. Dan Lungren (R-California) at a whopping 20.5, crushing his nearest rival by nearly five years. In the Senate, highest honors went to Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) at 15.1. The lowest in Congress was Rep. Connie Mack at 6.7, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) at the bottom of the upper house at 8.0.

"Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt."

zarq — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:20:07 -0800

"Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character. You're too good for schadenfreude, you're too good for gossip and snark, you're too good for intolerance—and since you're walking into the middle of a presidential election, it's worth mentioning that you're too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy.... Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. It's the only thing that ever has."

On May 13th, Aaron Sorkin gave the commencement address to the graduating class at Syracuse University, a speech that has been mildly criticized for recycling some lines from his shows West Wing and Sports Night. Video. (Via.)

Career Implies I Had A Career Plan

The Whelk — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:41:58 -0800

Novelist Neil Gaiman tells the graduating 2012 class of the University Of The Arts everything he wishes he knew starting out and all the best advice he failed to follow. (Vimeo 19:55)

Like it or not

notme — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:28:27 -0800

Is liking a post on Facebook protected by the First Amendment? A US District Court says no. The ruling came about through a wrongful termination case in Virginia, where six people say a sheriff fired them for supporting an opponent in 2009 during his re-election bid. The workers liked the opponent's Facebook page. The workers sued, saying they'd had their First Amendment rights violated. Even though other cases have held that writing on Facebook is a form of protected speech, this ruling holds that pushing the like button does not involve words, so it is not covered by this earlier precedent.

A patent on speech

jeffburdges — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:07:16 -0800

Dana Nieder explains how an ACC patent fight may substantially delay her daughter learning to speak. The iPad app Speak for Yourself developer is being sued by their larger competitors, Semantic Compaction Systems and Prentke Romich Company. Dana Nieder explains SCS and PRC aren't interested in selling software without bundling expensive specialized hardware, which isn't currently usable by her daughter.

Holder Explains Some Of It For You

Trurl — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:40:25 -0800

... it was notable for the nation’s top law enforcement official to declare that it is constitutional for the government to kill citizens without any judicial review under certain circumstances. ... “Some have argued that the president is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of Al Qaeda or associated forces,” Mr. Holder said. “This is simply not accurate. ‘Due process’ and ‘judicial process’ are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.” In the continuing effort to keep our people secure, this Administration will remain true to those values that inspired our nation’s founding and, over the course of two centuries, have made America an example of strength and a beacon of justice for all the world.

Anatomy of a Stump Speech

Cool Papa Bell — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:54:31 -0800

Anatomy of a Stump Speech. The NY Times has been killing it of late with interactive features. This one is particularly good -- an annotated breakdown of the text and video of Republican stump speeches by four candidates. "Revisionist history alert: Mr. Gingrich is recasting his tempestuous tenure as House speaker..."

MIC CHECK!

finite — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:55:44 -0800

Scott Walker, Michele Bachmann, Robin Vos, Karl Rove, Joe Moore, Ron Paul, Scott Serota, Newt Gingrich, Rahm Emanuel, Eric Cantor, and, today, Barack Obama

How Leonard Cohen got his song.

myopicman — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:16:38 -0800

Leonard Cohen's speech from his acceptance of the Prince Of Asturias Award for Letters, whereby he details a moving yet previously untold story about where he received his inspiration. [transcript]

"Not if anything to say about it I have."

Fizz — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:06:43 -0800

Speak like Yoda, did you? May have we. [HuffPo] "New research published in the the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the "proto-human languages" of 50,000 years ago resembled the speaking patterns of a certain wise, green Star Wars character."