Let me introduce you to TED

I can't believe I've never talked about TED before now. Its a website that should be on everyone's favourites list. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). Now the talks are being made available to the public on the website. They span almost every conceivable subject from art, music, design, to psychology, philosophy, technology, medicine. And every talk is fascinating and enlightening.

The wonderful thing is that TED is not just a forum for intellectuals to get together and talk about how to make the world a better place there is also a TED Prize awarded annually to three individuals to assist with whatever projects they are working on to make a difference in the world.

It is hugely inspiring to listen to some of these talks. I may post more over time but for now I leave you with an amazing talk by architect William McDonough who practices green architecture on a massive scale. He wrote the book Cradle to Cradle and believes that the way we design could prevent environmental disaster.