IdeaFestival to Host Zombie Study Group. Lunch Not Provided

This is a repost of a blog entry from earlier this summer. You have been warned.

In case you were wondering, the United States DOES have an action plan for the zombie apocalypse, according to Foreign Policy magazine.

Buried on the military's secret computer network is an unclassified document, obtained by Foreign Policy, called 'CONOP 8888.' It's a zombie survival plan, a how-to guide for military planners trying to isolate the threat from a menu of the undead -- from chicken zombies to vegetarian zombies and even "evil magic zombies" -- and destroy them....

Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze, a spokeswoman for Strategic Command, acknowledged the document exists on a 'secure Internet site' but took pains to explain that the zombie survival guide is only a creative endeavor for training purposes. 'The document is identified as a training tool used in an in-house training exercise where students learn about the basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training scenario,' she wrote in an email. 'This document is not a U.S. Strategic Command plan.'

The IdeaFestival was caught off guard recently when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reached out to gauge the festival's interest in becoming a designated civilian training and planning center, tasked, among other duties, with understanding the adaptability and spread of harmful viral and beneficial organisms, and calculating the probabilities for human survival the future undead world. The federal agency, curiously, also asked for our thoughts on Sheldon Cooper's roommate agreement as a model for relationship between antagonistic parties with limited emotional range, a definitive statement on whether John Travolta's role in Battlefield Earth could be called acting and what the prospects for a reunion of the Fantastic Four might be. It was a serious conversation.

The expertise of the IdeaFestival in developing "fictional training scenarios" has also been recognized at the highest levels of the United States government. A joint statement from the White House and Congress said, "because of their unmatched commitment to imagining an alternate future, we find that the IdeaFestival and its attendees are uniquely suited to rebuild and expand economies following the outbreak of this virus. The old rules simply no longer apply. We commend them for having the foresight to draw from business, from the arts and from the sciences to think about what the future may hold," adding, "help us Obi Wan Kanobi, you're our only hope."

All of this is, of course, absolutely true with the exception of the part about cooperation between the White House and Congress, which deny ever working together.

Stay Curious.

Wayne

Festival Passes are on sale now, but please don't wait too long! We're expecting to sell out again this year, and the price for a pass will go up on Sept. 2. The complete agenda and speaker line-up is available on the IdeaFestival web site.

Image: Some rights reserved by eliduke

Tapping Eden

After ten years of space travel and multiple gravity assists to reach fantastic speeds, the European spacecraft Rosetta arrived at its destination, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, very early this morning.

The event was streamed live by the European Space Agency.

Comets offer scientists a time capsule, a look at the chemical and mineral composition of material present during the earliest periods of our solar system.

And that look will be close indeed. In November a small companion craft called Philae will gently land on the surface, which has very little gravity, lash itself to the streaking body, bore into the comet and relay its findings to the orbiting Rosetta.

If that interests you, make plans now to hear Lee Billings at IdeaFestival 2014! Author of Five Billion Years of Solitude, he'll discuss the current understanding of these ancient bodies, the recent discovery of hundreds of extrasolar planets and touch, I'm sure, on the very ancient questions of life and its place in the universe that inevitably accompany these finds.

Festival Passes are on sale now, but please don't wait too long! We're expecting to sell out again this year, and the price for a pass will go up on Sept. 2. The complete agenda and speaker line-up is available on the IdeaFestival web site!

Stay curious.

Wayne

Image: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The Neighborhood: Discarded, Tattoos, A New Start

Art is not about communication. It's about communion. - Raphael Lozano-Hemmer, IdeaFestival 2013

In this IdeaFestival story, Transylvania University professors and artists Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde talk about their work on "Discarded," say the Lexington Tattoo Project is a "love letter to the city," and share a quick story from their lives about what inspires them to make public art.

While not quite as dramatic as the encounter they describe in the first half of the video - really, just listen! - I've always been amazed at the fortuitous meetings and interesting ideas that people describe as having occurred at the IdeaFestival. Anne Shadle, for example, got rid of cable. One long time fan and supporter, Jan Winter, started a thriving non-profit focused on child health that reaches every elementary school student in the commonwealth.

In the workaday world where it's all too easy to fall into ruts and routines, and the media, sadly, affirms rather than informs, the IdeaFestival succeeds by going a different way. It emphasizes the new connections. It gently challenges. And as Kremena says near the end of the video, the first step toward any new idea or person takes an act of will. The goal of the IdeaFestival in particular and worthwhile art in general is to expand our sympathetic imagination. It's not to win any of us to a particular idea, but to ask, rather, if we can still be won.

Two-thirds of the way through the video, a loud crash, which Kurt and Kremena described as a telescope falling over, changed the space time continuum the lighting in the room they were in. I edited out the noise, but you may see what I mean when you watch.

I hope to see you at IdeaFestival 2014!

Wayne

Complete IdeaFestival 2014 Agenda and Speaker Lineup Released

The complete IdeaFestival 2014 agenda and speaker lineup has been released!

Featuring a multitude of incredible speakers, affiliate events like Thrivals and IF Water, brain-tingling, spine-straightening presentations on the nature of time, the allure of glamour, immortality, "the end of average," "moral tribes," the hunt for life beyond our solar system and the coming zombie apocalypse, IdeaFestival 2014 promises to be the best ever. 

Creative Capital will once again return with a lineup of artists who will make you think anew about the everyday.

You don't want to miss any of it! Festival Passes are available now.

Please don't forget to add your affiliate event tickets. The wonderful Janelle Monae will once again host Thrivals. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau, will present at IF Water.

Festival Pass prices will go up on September 2, so don't wait. Get you pass today.

I hope to see you there!

Stay curious.

Wayne

The Art of the Pitch: Explaining Change

Having a great idea and getting someone else to buy it are two completely different things. In this older essay that he identified as one of his favorites, Scott Berkun offers some useful advice on pitches.

He notes that buried in any pitch is the notion that something has to change. Berkun:

Ideas demand change. By definition, the application of an idea means that something different will take place in the universe. Even if your idea is undeniably and wonderfully brilliant, it will force someone, somewhere to change how they do something. And since many people do not like change, and fear change, the qualities of your idea that you find so appealing may be precisely what make your idea so difficult for people to accept.... So when your great idea comes into contact with a person who does not want change, you and your idea are at a disadvantage. Before you can begin the pitch, you have to make sure you’re talking to someone that’s interested in change, or has a clear need that your idea can satisfy.

Pitching is one of those skills useful to anybody, whether that person is summarizing the conceptual strength of a grant proposal, thinking anew about an art project or seeking funding from a roomful of venture capitalists. Berkun's post walks any would-be pitcher through the questions she might want to answer before trying to make the sale.

Have a great weekend!

Stay curious.

Wayne

Image: Some rights reserved by Waldo Jaquith