I try, every once in a while, to make my way over to ted.com to watch one of the always inspirational talks. I must admit that it is hard to not watch one after the other but so far I’ve been good at rationing – I always want to make sure there is one more talk I haven’t yet seen.This evening I watched Bono speak. The recording was from 2005 and, of course, covered the cause emergency that he is now well known for – the plight in Africa. It’s somewhat ironic that I watched this now, in the fall of 2008, a time when the economy of (historically) one of the world’s major, superpowers is absolutely melting down. I couldn’t help but think about the blow that this movement will sustain because attentions are (necessarily) adverted elsewhere. That is not to say that this issue has to go on the back burner – no way – we just need to multitask!In any case, the talk was great! Bono is a gifted speaker with boatloads to coolness added in. For those of you who may not be familiar with the statistics – Bono tells that 6500 people die in Africa from Aids EVERY DAY. Today there are 11 million Aids orphans on the continent – by the end of the decade there will be 20 million.Woah.And furthermore, millions more are dieing simply because they don’t have enough to eat.Woah.One thing I particularly liked about Bono’s talk was his assertion that helping Africa is more than just a human rights issue but that it also just makes good business sense. Befriending people today that might otherwise be our enemies tomorrow – that is a very good investment. Can’t argue with that can we?But the coolest thing about his delivery is that the rock star spoke to the geeks in the room. He expressed his admiration for the work that they have done and the tremendous change it has brought to the world. And he then called on everyone to use that same ingenuity, and yes, even the technology, to change the world again.Rather than giving away any more of the talk I’ll encourage you all to view it yourselves, and afterward go sign up at www.one.org. I did.I’ll leave you with one final quote from Bono:

Where you live in the world should not determine whether you live in the world.