Jack and TED

Sunny morning in Calgary. This guy lives in and around my sister's lawn, though this is a picture from the last chilly time I was here. When I saw him on Friday, only the very tips of his ears were black -- the rest pure white. He scratches a little depression in the ground beside the rocks you can see in the picture and will sleep there in the coldest of weather -- remarkable.

February here might mean white jackrabbits and frozen toes, but down in the balmy south it's TED time again.

The TED lectures have been an annual event since...well, the date 1984 springs to mind, but that might be wrong, so I suggest you hie on over to the site and look it up for yourself.

TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design and the talks that come out of this remarkable conference each year are astonishing in their scope. The TED folks are starting to put up this year's talks on-line right now, and if you go to the site, you can troll through more than 200 from previous years. To me, this is the best use of the internet -- the spreading of knowledge in its purest form, and the chance to hear thoughtful, reasoned and scientific ideas emerging from some of the most brilliant minds of our time. So the next time you read about how the internet is a waste of time, just smile quietly to yourself, crack open a diet coke and enjoy John or Natalie or Bill...at TED.

~kc