Have you met TED? (Day Twentyfour, Paragraph 25)

I spy with my little eye: nifty looking messenger bag, panda bear, bliss Spa travel size sampler, name badge,books, a spiral bound book with an "Hello My Name is Not Ted" imprint on the cover, a journal and the maybes: chocolate bar, a travel umbrella or mug, travel pillow, mints, workout or outdoor gear, towel.* Although I have posted somewhat disparagingly about Flickr photos of bag contents in the past, it appears that this is not just any bag. This is a goody bag - a loot bag - a swag bag. TED related swag. But who is TED? First, TED is not a who. TED stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design." TED began as a conference for the exchange of ideas in the 1980s and has since expanded to web "talks" and a whole host of other events and grants. The mission of TED is to spread ideas. TED aspires to be a global community and welcomes individuals from a broad range of disciplines: science, business, the arts and those with a handle on other global issues. For instance, Al Gore spoke at the annual conference in 2006. All of the recent talks are online at the TED website - free. Some of the subjects from the top ten TED talks of all time -

Jeff Han: "Touchscreen demo foreshadows the iPhone"


Blaise Aguera y Arcas: "Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo"


Sir Ken Robinson: "Do schools kill creativity?"


Johnny Lee: "Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote"


I, for one, am intrigued. I was also intrigued to see what kind of person is attending TED and I found the (English language) blog of today's lens man. I spy there is much more to the contents of the TED bag - and TED - than meets this little eye.

*To see what is really in the bag look here.

Photo credit: loiclemeur on Flickr