Author: JP

The power of TED

Right now there’s a lot of buzz about Davos, both pro- as well as anti. Part of the anti-buzz is generated by the “artificial scarcity” of the event, its inaccessibility.  And talking about inaccessible events, that brings me on to TED.

I love TED. Even though I’ve never been. [I have actually paid out of my personal pocket to go to TED, it was TED Africa last year, but a heart attack made sure I couldn’t do it].

So. My experience of TED has been restricted to watching the videos. Which I do, religiously. I would encourage everyone to take a walk around the videos, they’re excellent; easily accessible, appropriately short, superbly produced.

It will give you an idea as to why TED is such a hot ticket. Which might explain this: a TED main hall pass is available for purchase on eBay; the auction price is currently $32,100; with nine days to go, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pass $100,000, somewhat too rich for my blood.

It’s for a good cause, Architecture for Humanity, so if you can afford it, go for it. If you’re not sure, sample the videos, available here. There are over 180 of them so far, I’ve personally watched over 170 of them; it’s easy to get them on to your iPod and to watch the videos while you travel.

Doing something different with Desert Island Discs

I guess I’m slightly fanatical about music made in the late 1960s and early 1970s. There was so much wonderful music made during those days. So I thought I’d try constraining things differently in a pretend Desert Island DIscs selection.

I decided to choose exactly 50 albums from my collection.
Too difficult.
Still too many.
So I decided to choose only those albums that had a Wikipedia entry.
Still too many.
So then I said to myself, how about if I restrict myself to albums released in 1971?

Which is what I did. And then stopped when I got to 50. I could probably do 50 more. But here’s the list below, in no particular order:

Four Way Street: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Who’s Next: The Who
Aqualung: Jethro Tull
LA Woman: The Doors
The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys: Traffic

Blue: Joni Mitchell
Tupelo Honey: Van Morrison
At Fillmore East: Allman Brothers
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour: Moody Blues
Fog On The Tyne: Lindisfarne

New Riders of the Purple Sage: New Riders of the Purple Sage
Stones: Neil Diamond
Welcome to the Canteen: Traffic
The Yes Album: Yes
Weather Report: Weather Report

Teaser and the Firecat: Cat Stevens
Stephen Stills 2: Stephen Stills
Songs for Beginners: Graham Nash
Rainbow Bridge: Jimi Hendrix
Nilsson Schmilsson: Nilsson

Mud Slide Slim and The Blue Horizon: James Taylor
Pearl: Janis Joplin
Hunky Dory: David Bowie
Tumbleweed Connection: Elton John
Every Picture Tells A Story: Rod Stewart and the Faces
Led Zeppelin IV: Led Zeppelin
Songs Of Love and Hate: Leonard Cohen
Imagine: John Lennon
Santana (3): Santana
Surf’s Up: The Beach Boys

A Nod is as good as a Wink: Rod Stewart and The Faces
Cahoots: The Band
Little Feat: Little Feat
Tapestry: Carole King
American Pie: Don McLean

Sticky Fingers: The Rolling Stones
Meddle: Pink Floyd
The Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers
Fragile: Yes
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Poems, Prayers and Promises: John Denver
There’s A Riot Going On: Sly and the Family Stone
Wildlife: Mott the Hoople
What’s Going On: Marvin Gaye
The Concert for Bangla Desh: George Harrison and Friends

Madman Across The Water: Elton John
Electric Warrior: T.Rex
Chicago III: Chicago
Blessed Are… Joan Baez
Fireball: Deep Purple

There’s a lot I left out. 1971. What a year.

musing about spam and recession

Noticed a cartoon in today’s Wall Street Journal suggesting that with the credit crunch and the stock market slide, we weren’t going to be inundated with credit card applications in the post.

And it made me wonder. Is spam recession proof? Will it fragment? Will I continue to get Nigerian begging letters and pharmaceutical offers but no more loans and cards? Or shall I get even more credit repair offers?

I wonder.

A leading indicator for growing old?

We all get stuck in our ruts, do our habitual haunting of our comfort zones. Take music for example. I spend most of my time listening to music made between 1964 and 1973; probably half my music is from the period 1966-1971. I enjoy my jazz and blues and classical; I do listen to music made after 1973, but just not that much. And, with children aged 21, 16 and 9, I get a vicarious feel for modern music.

Or so I thought.

Until I looked at this list at Debanter, a blog I found via twitter. And I couldn’t recall hearing of any of the bands or albums, much less actually hearing any of them.

Maybe this is the kind of stuff Casablanca listens to while pooh-poohing Jermolene’s taste? One way or the other, I have to try them out. Because.

Talking of life and laughing

I’ve known Tom Ilube for a couple of decades now, amazing just how quickly the time’s gone. We used to work together in the late 1980s, sharing an office in Farringdon Road, and our paths have criss-crossed regularly since; when he was at Goldmans and I was at DrKW, then at the BCS and, more recently, at WCIT.  He’s a start-up kind of guy, and clever as well, so I tend to track what he does. For the last couple of years he’s been at Garlik, an interesting start-up in the identity space.

We also share a passion for education; when I last heard, Tom was involved in a very exciting project in West London. Watch this space.

But that’s not why I’m writing this. Tom has finally done the decent thing and started his own blog. Here. He’s always been open, forthright and engaging, so I look forward to reading him. Especially when he promises to “talk of life, and laugh”. Welcome, Tom. [And by the way, I prefer the Neil Diamond version….]