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How to tie your shoes | Terry Moore

BeginnerAmerican accentTED talk3 min

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Transcript: 35 sentences

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  1. 0:16 I'm used to thinking of the TED audience as a wonderful collection of some of the most effective, intelligent, intellectual, savvy, worldly and innovative people in the world.
  2. 0:25 And I think that's true.
  3. 0:27 However, I also have reason to believe that many, if not most, of you are actually tying your shoes incorrectly.
  4. 0:35 Now I know that seems ludicrous.
  5. 0:38 I know that seems ludicrous.
  6. 0:40 And believe me, I lived the same sad life until about three years ago.
  7. 0:44 And what happened to me was I bought, what was for me, a very expensive pair of shoes.
  8. 0:49 But those shoes came with round nylon laces, and I couldn't keep them tied.
  9. 0:53 So I went back to the store and said to the owner, "I love the shoes, but I hate the laces."
  10. 0:58 He took a look and said, "Oh, you're tying them wrong."
  11. 1:01 Now up until that moment, I would have thought that, by age 50, one of the life skills that I had really nailed was tying my shoes.
  12. 1:11 But not so -- let me demonstrate.
  13. 1:15 This is the way that most of us were taught to tie our shoes.
  14. 1:23 Now as it turns out -- thank you.
  15. 1:26 Wait, there's more.
  16. 1:28 As it turns out --
  17. 1:30 there's a strong form and a weak form of this knot, and we were taught the weak form.
  18. 1:35 And here's how to tell.
  19. 1:36 If you pull the strands at the base of the knot, you will see that the bow will orient itself down the long axis of the shoe.
  20. 1:44 That's the weak form of the knot.
  21. 1:46 But not to worry.
  22. 1:48 If we start over and simply go the other direction around the bow, we get this, the strong form of the knot.
  23. 1:57 And if you pull the cords under the knot, you will see that the bow orients itself along the transverse axis of the shoe.
  24. 2:05 This is a stronger knot.
  25. 2:06 It will come untied less often.
  26. 2:08 It will let you down less, and not only that, it looks better.
  27. 2:13 We're going to do this one more time.
  28. 2:18 Start as usual --
  29. 2:22 go the other way around the loop.
  30. 2:24 This is a little hard for children, but I think you can handle it.
  31. 2:29 Pull the knot.
  32. 2:31 There it is: the strong form of the shoe knot.
  33. 2:34 Now, in keeping with today's theme, I'd like to point out -- something you already know -- that sometimes a small advantage someplace in life
  34. 2:45 can yield tremendous results someplace else.
  35. 2:49 Live long and prosper.

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