Do say

In the fall of 2001, while a freshman in college, I attended a lecture inside Marvel theater at SUNY Fredonia presented by James Burke. He was speaking about innovations in education, specifically about his proposed "K-Web" or knowledge web (a primitive version of Wikipedia). Since that time I have periodically come back to his Connections television series for inspiration in communicating big ideas. While listening to Garrison Keillor's "the Writer's Almanac" this morning I was reminded of Burke's episode of Connections where he explains how René Descartes died of pneumonia while teaching the matriarch of Sweden - Christina - how to think. Garrison Keillor refered to her as Queen Christina, but I recall Burke reporting that she was known as King Kristina, as sex did not affect the title or power of the head royalty in Sweden at the time. This particular memory of "King Christina" caused a particular resonance within me. A good friend of mine recently had the idea to begin a series of dinners called "Kings' Dinners" where small groups of interesting people gather for dinner, talk about their own big ideas, and record the dialog for for postage on You Tube. The premise being that in reality every person, big, small, young, or old is a king and entitled to breathe their spirit out into the world. Though this idea has not yet manifested, the memory of King Kristina channeling through Garrison Keillor and subsequently triggering my memories of James Burke brings us one step closer to having one of these King's Dinners. So stay on the lookout for a Kings' Dinner coming via you tube to Tom Paine's Ghost. Please feel free to preempt us and record your own Kings' Dinner. 

Though I could not find the clip from Connections where Burke Discusses "King Christina" the following clip illustrates nicely that we are all in fact approaching this Burke's predicted realm of "Saying." 

This web site has almost 3 years of testimony verifying his prediction.

 

 Here is the writer's almanac for Wednesday March 31st, 2010

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