oh my gosh! vw just quoted an anonymous source. And they didn't even bother to point out that they had an anonymous source. suh-weet. New York Times - we're gunning for you, baby!

and, to boot, that comment was so insightful. really. it's not something you hear every day of the week from the entire Right side of the blogosphere or anything.

dude - sign me up to that anonymous source's personal rss feed, please. so hizzy!

The source is spot on. As a long-time TEDster, I too am giving up. There was much grumbling this year from other long-timers who are feeling that $6k and four days can be much better spent. It's also gotten so hyper-militantly left wing that even the generally left-leaning crowd feels disconnected. It used to be that TED went out of its way to challenge the existing views of the audience. Now it's just preaching to the choir.

Oh, and a conference that used to be about real disciplines like technology/science, entertainment and design now features a lot of anti-rational spiritual and metaphysical silliness like a real live Indian swami taking our time to tell us that *breathing* through your nostrils is not only important, it's the key to enlightenment (sigh). I saw one attendee keeping a score card this year marking off each talk and whether it was actually about technology, entertainment or design.

Sometimes a session can seem like it'll be about science but then go off the deep end yet again. This year there was a brain scientist who had a stroke that impaired her brain function as it was happening. She told an interesting story about how it slowly changed her perception/abilities (like an acid trip) and the challenges this presented in calling for medical help. All good until she spent the last half discussing how this experience revealed to her a metaphysical reality she had never been aware of and that it shows we are actually all *one* with the universe (never once mentioning the fascinating scientific fact that an oxygen-starved brain having a stroke can hallucinate metaphysical feelings that seem incredibly real). At TED you can't even tell the scientists from the swamis anymore.

Maybe Arrington can have his spot?

@Bobberly: Wow, Obama works in mysterious ways!