TED 2013 (day 3, part 1)

After breakfast, we started day 3 in the unusual position of laying on the floor in the theater. Two of the "seating" areas had beds on the floor and television screens positioned above for easy viewing. This seemed like a brilliant idea, but the execution was poor. The screens were poorly placed, resulting in eye strain that caused us to move in the middle of the session. Here's a video of us watching:



The morning started with two people presenting computer-assisted-speech technology. One was Ajit Narayanan and the other was Mohamed Jemni. Here's the problem: I loved one and hated the other...and I can't remember which was which. (I couldn't take notes because I was laying flat on my back, another drawback to our seating choice.) I was fascinated by the tablet-based app that could be used for speech-challenged children, adults with various disorders, and even learning a second language. The applications were intriguing.

The other speaker presented a computer program that translated written word into sign. I was frustrated because the speaker said the program interpreted typed words into ASL (American Sign Language), but all it was doing was a direct word-for-sign translation. That's not ASL; it is, at best, SEE (Signing Exact English). He had interesting figures for the problems facing deaf individuals, but his solution ran counter to everything I've learned about deaf culture.

I had mixed feelings about John McWhorter, also. He theorized that teens texting aren't using poor English, they are using a second language. The entire thing reminded me of the Ebonics controversy when I was in high school. (I just looked up Ebonics on wikipedia to make sure I was spelling it properly and would you like to know who was named in the article? Right.)

I enjoyed James Lyne, though he had some scary statistics. He told us that 60% of the pictures posted on dating sites include GPS information. You wouldn't list your home address on a dating site, but you'd post a picture with GPS coordinates that can pinpoint your location to within 50 meters? Brilliant. He also put up funny statistics about the audience by capturing the list of other networks our phones had been connected to recently.

Rose George presented disturbing statistics on sanitation around the world. She argued that the money spent on clean water is wasted if those people do not also have access to a toilet.

TED 2013 (day 2)

Day 2 started with Craig and I skipping breakfast to find something on our own. I'm sure the food provided by TED Active was good, but it was impossible to find ingredient information. So we tended to do a walk-by of the meals, talk to a few people, and escape to get food I could eat at a restaurant at the resort. Handily, there were plenty of options. We took a picture of the flags hanging in the quad:



The talks started with Alastair Parvin. I was really inspired by his talk, which was about the future of building being driven by individuals instead of corporations. I am fascinated by his wikihouse project and by CDC machines (which cut materials following a computer produced pattern). This would have made Wood Shop so much more accessible (I never mastered that "measure twice, cut once" thing.)

Yo-Yo Performer Black was surprising. His talk was a slow-start for me, I just wasn't feeling it when he started. But his performance was pretty awesome!

When Amanda Palmer spoke [Note: that's a link to the talk, not just a blog about it], I jotted down only "share with Dave". I was unfamiliar with her and her music, so the discussion was far too esoteric for me. But she was talking about music rights, record labels, the music industry, and how music is supported and paid for - things I knew Dave would find interesting. She performed two days later, at which point her talk made a great deal more sense to me.

Larry Lessig gave an interesting talk about what is wrong with American politics and how to fix it. He presented some fascinating figures regarding the percentage of Americans (0.5%) who fund our elections.

Another talk I wanted to share with Dave - Mary Lou Jepsen talked about recent research and experimentation with creating images from brain scans. Hopefully I'll remember to update with a link to that talk when it's available.



The morning sessions were not as inspiring to me as the first day's sessions. I attribute part of that to TED-fatigue. I decided to skip the first afternoon session to work on something I've been wanting to write for some time. I finished a credible first draft, which I hope to edit into something by mom's birthday.

Then real exhaustion set in, so I skipped the second afternoon session to take a nap. I'm sure I missed some good stuff that afternoon, but I'm happy to have that draft finished and the nap was necessary. We finished the evening off-site in a search for food I could eat.

TED 2013 (day 1)

Nearly all the TED talks were amazing in one way or another. The guidebook, with a page for each speaker, had these rating at the top: jaw-dropping, persuasive, courageous, ingenious, fascinating, inspiring, beautiful, funny, informative, ok, unconvincing, confusing, longwinded, obnoxious. I found that most of the talks fit into the earlier categories. I took notes of my favorites. Right now, I mostly have links to the TED blog, which gives a short summary of the talk. I hope eventually to have links to the actual talks.



For the engineers in my life, and those interested in robotics, Rodney Brooks had an interesting take on the role of robots in our future.

Bono was inspiring as he talked about eradicating extreme poverty.

Stuart Firestein was funny, and he presented some interesting ideas about what makes good science.

I was fascinated by Saskia Sassen, who talked about high tech cities and the complexity of cities. Just like my favorite wines, I loved this talk and Craig had an opposite view.

Beardyman performed - that guy can make some incredibly odd noises. I thought he was incredible. The equipment he showed us though, was less inspiring.

I loved Phil Hansen's "embrace the shake" talk. His theory that our limitations are the force behind our creativity resonated with me. A bit like procrastination can inspire incredible feats in short amounts of time, any other limitation forces us to a more creative, and often better, solution. (Craig missed this talk. And I blame this talk for missing one session the next day, but more about that later.)

Freeman Hrabowski presented an interesting talk about innovative teaching. I wanted to share this talk with Ann and JB, in particular.

Meg Jay was quite inspiring, even if she did make me wonder if I had wasted my 20's. Certainly something to share with any young person in your life.

This 13-year-old boy, Richard Turere, was one of the young presenters I enjoyed. (His talk made me cry, what can I say?)

The first day ended with the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. These kids were pretty fantastic!

TED 2013 (intro)

Despite the impending move, Craig and I escaped for a week to Palm Springs for TED Active. Craig was so excited to take me to TED, he was even more goofy than usual (he's pointing at his name badge, I don't know why). You can see our goodie bags (the backpacks at the end of the bed) and our room in this picture as well:



I should start with the check-in procedure, actually. At the check-in area, everyone had an iPad. Our names were passed from one person to the next, making check-in simple. After getting our room, we went to pick up our gift bag. Craig had pictures of the goodies, but I seem to have only taken a picture of the list of goodies. You can look for his picture on Facebook. We got Foodie bags, because our choices were limited by the time we checked in.



Our room had a fireplace, which we used, alongside a television, which we did not use:



And a private patio, which we also did not use:



I wish I had taken more pictures of the resort, because it was incredible. It would make an amazing family trip - the rooms are in small buildings, clustered around pool areas. There must be over a dozen pools at this place! I could see our family filling the rooms in a building or two and taking over the adjoining pool and hot tub. We should look into it! This is one of those pool areas: