International Bus to TEDx Workshop

Before TED 2011 opens on Monday, there was a workshop up in Palm Desert for people who had organized a TEDx event.  It brought together an amazing array of people from all over the world. 

The bus ride from Long Beach, where several of us are staying, was an adventure in itself.  The people broke out like this - a lady from San Francisco who had organized a TEDxYouth conference , a guy from Connecticut who runs a series of TEDx events within Pfizer, the woman who masterminded TEDxAcademy in Athens (named after Plato's Academy), the people who organized TEDxIstanbul, TEDxSantiago and TEDx HongKong, and of course yours truly of TEDxIBYork. 

What I found rather amazing, though, was that there were three Canadians on the bus.  You wouldn't think so from the above description, huh?  Well, Leo from Santiago was a Chilean who took refuge in Canada during the military dictatorship in Chile.  He became a Canadian citizen, before he and his parents returned to Chile where he now lives.  And Jose who runs TEDxHongKong (yup - you got it, Jose from HongKong) was born in Mexico.  He came to Canada and became a citizen and still owns his home in Winnipeg while teaching at unversity in Hong Kong.

At the evening party, Jose and Leo and I got to talking about Canada's cultural mosaic and how proud we all were of that culture.  Leo told a funny story.  When he was living in Montreal, he was a fervent left-winger, having fled a country run by a right-wing dictatorship supported by American imperialists.  His best friend was a Pole who was an ardent rightist, having fled a left-wing dictatorship supported by Russian imperialists.  He believed that only in Canada would they have ended up best friends.

TED 2011

Each year, before the conference, TED sends out a booklet with attendee names, titles and pictures.  I just skimmed the this year's book and I got fascinated with the titles.  There was a plethora of CEOs, Founders and Investors, Artists, Designers, Scientists, and Philanthropists. As you would expect. 

And there were a few titles that were somewhat unexpected.  Well, maybe not entirely unexpected at TED, maybe more whimsical.  Would you like to be the CEO and Chief Old Person at your company?  Or maybe you're more of a Former Overachiever.  Of course you could be a Prima Dreamer or maybe a Poet, Wonder-er and Wanderer.  Being an Attitude Co-ordinator sounds a bit like being a Marine!  Is the Chief Logic Bomber from another branch of the military?  Would you rather be a Troublemaker at Google, or a Disruptor at Troublemaker Inc.?  I think I'd enjoy being an Itinerant Mentor.  Or maybe an In-house Philosopher would be more rewarding.  Some stressful days, I'd just like to be the Chief Clock Winder.  But, in the end, many of us probably just wish we were just plain Expert, John Hodgman's title (the actor who plays the PC in Mac/PC commercials).

TED Book Club

Another TED book club mailing has arrived.  It's exciting to get the new books, but a bit frustrating since I haven't finished the previous batch.  I've been dipping into several of the books and loving them all but not quite finished any of them.  This batch includes:

• Karen Armstrong's Twleve Steps to a Compassionate Life.  Armstrong won the TED prize a few years ago and completed her with to launch a Charter for Compassion, which would encompass the precepts shared by world religions, emphasizing their similarities rather than their differences.  This book apparently states what has always seemed to me ot be rather obvious, namely that 'compassion is a human quality that lives outside religious beliefs'.  This should be an interesting read.
• John Brockman's Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?  This book brings together thoughts from a variety of contributors writing on the role the Internet plays in shaping the way humans think and behave.  Clearly the Internet has changed us; I look forward to reading what these people have to say about it.
• Evgeny Morozov's The Net Delusion.  This book apparently challenges us to more past 'cyberutopianism' to a more realistic view of the Net.  As much as we may celebrate Twitter revolutions, the Net can be used just as effectively by ruthless leaders to quell such uprisings.

I hope to have time to read these books after TED!

Biutiful

This seems to be the week for Oscar-nominated foreign-language films for me.  And this is another film I would recommend.   I had seen and liked Babel by Mexican Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. And I enjoyed this latest one.

The movies takes place in Barcelona, but not the Barcelona I know as a tourist.  This Barcelona was gritty, with all sorts of people scrabbling for a living.  At times depressing, this move again uplifted because of the strength of the character played by Javier Bardem. 

I'd recommend this film.