Here's one big salute to Moses Znaimer, who conceived IdeaCity as a conference to throw together interesting people with big ideas in all fields, and made it so. There's no podium, speakers get just 20 minutes with a big clock running down the time right in front of them. No questions. 500 people, it runs for three days, often 9 am to 8 pm with breaks for things like yoga. And there's a lavish party each night. Intense fun. Cost you about $3000, but like intellectual summer camp for rich people. To press your nose to the glass, try ideacityonline.com
Three writers did us proud on the history of Canada: Charlotte Gray her sharp, pithy, charming self. Jack Granatstein confronting a mostly left-liberal crowd with unfashionable thoughts about why we should support the U.S. And Noah Richler offering, without a note or a prompting, twenty minutes of deeply-thought reflection on how we construct stories and stories construct us.
Yeah, I talked to. Mostly on creativity on the digital world. Sweet for an historian, to be on a panel with cool kids talking about technology and sex. Think I held my own.
