Creativity

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work or a painting).

Scholarly interest in creativity involves many definitions and concepts pertaining to a number of disciplines: psychology, cognitive science, education, philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), technology, theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies, songwriting, and economics, covering the relations between creativity and general intelligence, mental and neurological processes, personality type and creative ability, creativity and mental health; the potential for fostering creativity through education and training, especially as augmented by technology; and the application of creative resources to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

Definition

In a summary of scientific research into creativity, Michael Mumford suggested: "Over the course of the last decade, however, we seem to have reached a general agreement that creativity involves the production of novel, useful products" (Mumford, 2003, p. 110), or, in Robert Sternberg's words, the production of "something original and worthwhile". Authors have diverged dramatically in their precise definitions beyond these general commonalities: Peter Meusburger reckons that over a hundred different analyses can be found in the literature. As an illustration, one definition given by Dr. E. Paul Torrance described it as "a process of becoming sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying the difficulty; searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the deficiencies:testing and retesting these hypotheses and possibly modifying and retesting them; and finally communicating the results."

Humour

Humour (in Commonwealth English), or humor (in American English) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: humor, "body fluid"), controlled human health and emotion.

People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. Most people are able to experience humour—be amused, smile or laugh at something funny—and thus are considered to have a sense of humour. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour induced by humour to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick such as Punch and Judy puppet shows or cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, whose physical nature makes it accessible to them. By contrast, sophisticated forms of humour such as satire require an understanding of its social meaning and context, and thus tend to appeal to the mature audience.

Funny People

Funny People is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann. The film was released on July 31, 2009 in North America, and on August 28, 2009 in the United Kingdom. It is Apatow's longest film, with its running time being 146 minutes. The film was co-produced by Apatow Productions and Mr. Madison 23 Productions, a subsidiary of Sandler's company Happy Madison. Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures co-financed the film and the former also served as a worldwide distributor. The film received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the script, the directing and the performances of Sandler and Rogen, although criticism was directed towards the film's excessive runtime. The supporting cast features Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill and Aubrey Plaza.

Plot

George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a middle-aged former stand-up comedian turned movie star. Despite his millions he is sad and lonely and most of his recent film work is low-brow and dumb. He is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and offered an experimental treatment that has only an eight-percent chance of therapeutic response. Believing he is about to die, he returns to his roots to do stand-up comedy.

Ken Jones (police officer)

Sir Kenneth Lloyd "Ken" Jones QPM is a British former police officer. He was a Deputy Commissioner of Victoria Police in Australia, former President of Association of Chief Police Officers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom and Senior Investigator of Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong. Sir Ken Jones is a former President of Association of Chief Police Officers and presently defence & security advisor at the British Embassy in Washington DC. He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2000 and was knighted for services to policing in 2009.

Early life & education

Jones was born in Wales and completed BA (Hons) in 1985. He did his MBA in 1992. In 1996, he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study policing in the United States and was an Associate Professor at UCLA.

Career

With South Yorkshire Police, Jones served in a number of cities including Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster gaining experience with community beat duties, specialist detective work and the use of firearms. Whilst there he received three Chief Constable's Commendations. He has commanded both rural and urban divisions. He gained experience abroad working as an anti corruption investigator in Hong Kong and as an election monitor in Zimbabwe. he visited the West Coast of the USA to study the growth of private policing.

Jason Silva

Jason Luis Silva (born February 6, 1982) is a television personality, filmmaker, and public speaker. The Atlantic describes Silva as "A Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age".

Personal life

Silva was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and now resides in Los Angeles, California, and New York City. His mother is Ashkenazi Jewish, and his father converted to Judaism.

Silva earned a degree in film and philosophy from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He, along with Max Lugavere, produced and starred in a video documentary/performance piece entitled "Textures of Selfhood"—an experimental film about hedonism and spirituality.

Career

Current TV

From 2005 to 2011, Silva was a presenter and producer on Al Gore's Emmy award winning cable network Current TV.

Public speaking

An active and prolific speaker, Silva has spoken at Google, The Economist Ideas Festival, the prestigious DLD Digital Life Design Conference in Munich, TEDGlobal, the Singularity Summit, the PSFK Conference, and the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.