Susan notes: I've copied and pasted this biographical information and talk unabashedly from the TED website.

Susan further notes: I am a pacifist; and I try to be apolitical. But I'm for compassion and care for everyone. I published this TED Talk today, November 11, 2009, three years after it was released, to honour all the soldiers past present and future, of all nationaliities, who put their lives at risk fighting for things they believe in, and trying to protect innocent people from evil and harm.

They horrors they experience are unimaginable to the rest of us, who aren't forced to suffer the physical, psychological and emotional traumas they do. Today is one day to honour soldiers. Thank you to Deborah Scranton for this amazing project and this TED Talk.

Filmmaker Deborah Scranton helps real people tell compelling, honest stories. Her 2006 documentary The War Tapes put cameras in the hands of National Guard troops stationed in Camp Anaconda, in Iraq.

Through their raw footage and diaries, they brought home a truth that we at home would never otherwise know about what one soldier calls "the war for cheese."

Deborah has also created the TV documentary Stories from Silence, Witness to War, which tells the stories of World War II veterans in living New Hampshire.

Susan notes: Thanks to TED for making TED Talks downloadable and embeddable, and for providing the biographical information that goes along with them.

What do you think of people in poverty? Maybe what Jessica Jackley once did: "they" need "our" help, in the form of a few coins in a jar.

The co-founder of Kiva.org talks about how her attitude changed -- and how her work with microloans has brought new power to people who live on a few dollars a day.

Jessica Jackley is the co-founder of Kiva.org, an online community that helps individuals loan small amounts of money, called microloans, to entrepreneurs throughout the world.

Seven years ago, Jessica Jackley heard a speech by Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, an economist from Bangladesh who had developed the idea of microcredit: loans offered to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

Susan notes: definitely one of my favourite tunes...

Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880–June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become known worldwide through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker.

A prolific author, Keller was well traveled, and was outspoken in her opposition to war. A member of the Socialist Party USA and the Wobblies, she campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and socialism, as well as many other leftist causes.