Moderation in all things

Provocative thought for the day:

Change is coming from the WRONG set of ideas. It's coming from both the positive and negative "exciting" stuff like wars and conflict, concerts and rich people. Change SHOULD be coming from a careful examination of what is working the middle class mundane lives that most people in the developed world lead - the tried and true stuff. How do we bring this boring but workable stuff to the rest of the world?

*Bringing mediocrity to the world* is going to require great thinking and great innovation - wild and speculative innovation included. I sure like projects like Dean Kamen's power/water devices which are a great way to make boring mundane but ESSENTIAL change happen in the 3rd world.

.... jeez, he introduced it at the TED conference a few years back... maybe I'm WRONG about TED. If it's spreading this kind of innovation I'm....WRONG.

FOCUS defines a LOT of the world. What we as people, nations, groups, businesses choose to focus on defines a lot about us.

It's much easier to focus on big controversies or big positive events than it is to focus on the mundane, daily grind events. YET, it's our own mundane daily grinds where the stuff is happening that we need to pass along to those for whom the daily grind is .... life threatening.

Have I been *a bit* too hard on the TED Conference? I've been reading more. It's certainly great to see discussion of the project to document human rights abuses with digital cameras (Peter Gabriel), see the history of TED includes awards to luminaries in smart, scalable development like Bono, and much much more. TED conference blog

But there's still a HUGE problem with such events which provide economic barriers to entry that are so great they insulate the TED community from....the real community. Sure these guys have mechanisms to hear from and about AIDS children in the Congo, poor Chinese factory workers and Indian farmers, but the voices of these folks are absent as conferences like TED set the agenda for what some would call progressive change. (yes they have some free spots but they appear to be tightly controlled and very limited. This is a choir who likes to hear themselves preach).

I'm always amazed how well intentioned wealthly people often create microclimates of compassion that miss the big picture. TED is better than that, but certainly we need to find ways to have the most influential discussions about critical global issues take place on the global stage, not the 1000- at-$4400-per-person-half-caf-cappucino crowd.
(no offense to the full caf cappucino folks)

You say Bobsleigh tomato, I say Bobsled

Bobsleigh vs Bobsled

You learn something every day. As with Soccer vs Football, we Americans like to name things differently from the rest of the world. Olympic Bobsledding is, for most in the world, Olympic Bobsleigh".