Thanks to the Photoshop Bomber for these tributes.

McCombs sponsored the live feed of Austin’s first TEDx event and I’m a bit of a TED nut — frequently cueing up a TED talk during lunch or while I bounce the baby — so when I was offered a spot through work I was thrilled. Here below is the info from the TEDxAustin speaker’s page, along with my sketches and a few notes.

To use any of these images, just click the pic to goto Flickr where you’ll find multiple sizes and the embed code to make it easy.

Nancy Giordana was MC.

Morning Session: WHY Play Big

Rip Esselstyn Firefighter, Author, Nutrition Guru

An Austin fire fighter and former UT athlete, Rip transformed the health & wellness of the entire Austin Fire Dept through his Engine 2 Diet program and book of the same name. Currently a consultant with Whole Foods, he’s spreading his message on a national media tour, including a stop to see Dr Oz, of course. He’s a true sage from the streets with a big message to share. www.theengine2diet.com

Doug Ulman President/CEO the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Founder of the Ulman Foundation for Young Adults

A three time cancer survivor by the age of 20 and a nationally recognized cancer advocate, Doug is determined to fight the #1 killer in the world by making cancer issues a global priority. Especially attuned to the toll the disease takes on the young, he and his LIVESTRONG team are raising awareness of the warning signs and finding ways to leverage “yellow” at the political and policy level, inspiring a social movement along the way and raising over $325 million to date. Oh, and he’s run a 100 mile marathon and been the face on 15 million Wheaties boxes. livestrong.org ulmanfund.org

Steven Tomlinson Business educator & coach, theatre artist, co-founder of Acton School of Business.

Steven’s inspiring career blends economics, theatre and ministry. Oh, and he’s also an award-winning playwright who has performed off-Broadway. Whether from the pulpit, onstage or in the classroom, he’s always chipping away at the wall that separates us from what we’re trying to become. www.actonmba.org/people/e-teachers/steven-tomlinson/

Tomlinson ended  with a nice commission saying, Find what the world wants to make through you.

Christopher E. Mueller Ph.D. Scientist, Life Technologies Inc.

With a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D. in computer science, Chris is well armed to take on the vast task of creating automated data systems that acquire and process public genomic content. However, as we contemplate all the advances genome science will bring, Chris is facing a big obstacle: the computer industry isn’t prepared to handle the accompanying avalanche of new information. Sounds like a big, fresh challenge! www.lifetechnologies.com

Chris Shipley Chairman and CEO, Guidewire Group, Inc.

Chris Shipley is a leading technology and product analyst and has helped technology companies bring more than 1,000 new products to market. She consults with emerging tech companies in the U.S. and around the world and Fortune Small Business Magazine placed her on its “Top 10 Minds in Small Business”. If it’s there, Chris is on it. guidewiregroup.com

Chris talked about the strategic flexibility of a small company as being like a peleton.

Suzanne + David Armistead Parents, Artists, Producers

After the death of her son Davis, Suzanne prayed to turn only to love, beginning a journey with her husband David in which choosing love has lifted them in grief from darkness to light in love’s discovery that relationships have no end. In collaboration with their son and other generous and dedicated artists, Suzanne sourced and performed ‘Moving Love,’ an art-for-healing performance, and David contributed as scriptwriter and narrator. www.movingloveproductions.com www.justindavisarmistead.com

Early Afternoon Session: HOW to Play Big

Janet Maykus Principal/College of Pastoral Leaders.

Janet deftly weaves curiosity, compassion and leadership in her roles as theologian, spiritual care and bereavement services specialist. Founding principal of the Seminary’s College of Pastoral Leaders, she was recently awarded two grants from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.,is currently is studying the dramatic shift in well-being among pastoral leaders and has a theory on what that could mean to each of us. staging.faithandleadership.duke.edu/features/articles/youve-come-the-right-place

Dr. William Merrell Professor, Texas A&M Galveston

Chairman and chief scientist at the Institute for Oceans and Coasts, Bill saw first-hand the devastation left by Hurricane Ike and has since been a tireless evangelist for a “coastal spine” in the Galveston/Houston area: a regional ocean water surge suppression barrier that will save lives and prevent billions in property damage. Say hello to the “Ike Dike”. www.tamug.edu/Mars/new/facultypage/Merrell.htm

Mark Rolston, Chief Creative Officer, frog design

An early web pioneer, Mark was founder of frog’s digital media group back in 1996 and now orchestrates strategists, technologists, designers and information architects to produce groundbreaking work for Fortune 500 companies. His work focuses on the intersection of product, digital, and strategic design. Just like a real frog, he can see in all directions. frogdesign.com

John Pointer Musician, Actor, Cultural Entrepreneur

A vibrant “one man band” for the 21st Century who can energize any venue. Although music is his first language, John is as innovative off stage as he is in front of a crowd. And he’s got some big ideas on the future of the industry and just how to amp it up in surprising and generous ways. In addition to his live performances all over the world, John shares his time and talent with Austin Music Foundation, the SIMS Foundation and Save Austin Music. www.johnpointer.com

Carrie Conte, Ph.D. Prenatal + Perinatal Psychologist,

A nationally recognized early parenting coach, consultant, speaker, educator and author who has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Radio, NPR and in publications such as Time Magazine, Carrie’s passion is providing parents with the support, information and tools to create conscious, connected and balanced lives in all stages of early parenting, starting even before conception. http://www.earlyparenting.com/media/

Turk + Christy Pipkin Founders of The Nobelity Project. Author & Filmmaker. Producer.

A couple with a wide range of talents, Christy and Turk have worked in the world of books, television and film, and are the founders of the global education nonprofit, The Nobelity Project. Their latest film, One Peace at a Time, looks at the possibility of providing basic rights to every child, and has inspired viewers around the world to pick an issue and take action for a better future. www.nobelity.org

Late Afternoon Session: NOW is the time to Play Big

Robert D. Hunt Theoretical Physicist, Inventor, Clean energy pioneer.

Bob is a man difficult to summarize: he helped designed the nuclear reactor for U.S.S. Nimitz, invented the Gravity Plane that flies without fuel, revolutionized the aquaculture industry and created a large chain of successful music stores. Now, he’s found a very clever way to generate energy from existing holes in the ground: clean, geothermal energy directly from old abandoned oil wells, coming soon to an electric grid near you. http://smu.edu/geothermal/oil&gas/2007/speaker_hunt.htm

Richard Garriott Astronaut, Entrepreneur, Space Visionary

After a successful career in video game development, Richard now sits on the NASA advisory committee and is actively working with his peers at the forefront of the space economy. One of a handful of privately funded astronauts to actually go into space and the second in his family (his father was an astronaut, too), he has a front row seat to the future and is boldly going where no one has gone before (oh, we just couldn’t resist.) richardgarriott.com

John Phillip Santos Filmmaker, Journalist, Author

The first Latino Rhodes Scholar, a recipient of the Academy of American Poets’ Prize at Notre Dame, the Oxford Prize for fiction and a 2009 National Book Award finalist for non-fiction. In his new book, The Farthest Home is in an Empire of Fire, he ponders how new identities emerge at the intersection of culture, genetics and information technology. He says it‘s the oldest story of ourselves never told before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Phillip_Santos

Ruby Jane “A great picker, fiddler, songwriter, and singer with an amazing career in front of her.” – -Willie Nelson

One of the finest fiddlers you’ll ever want to hear, and she’s all of 15 years old. A fast-rising star in country and bluegrass-Americana music, Ruby Jane has played with Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett Asleep at the Wheel, Rhonda Vincent and many others. She is also the youngest to fiddle at the Grand Ole Opry. www.therubyjaneshow.com

Philip Berber Founder, (with his wife, Donna) The Glimmer of Hope Foundation

An entrepreneur turned venture philanthropist commando, Philip is changing the way international aid and development are implemented and was recently ranked the 6thmost effective philanthropist in the world. He made his fortune cutting out the middleman for day traders and now is bypassing traditional aid inefficiencies to fund projects directly led and implemented by those most in need — thus creating more immediate, relevant and sustainable solutions in the places that need it most. glimmerofhope.org

Mark McKinnon Vice Chairman, Public Strategies, Inc.

Solving complex strategic challenges for causes, companies and candidates, Mark has helped engineer five winning presidential primary and general elections and is the co-chair of Arts + Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities. He was also a songwriter for Kris Kristofferson. We’re sure Mark could have gotten him elected to something if Kris had just asked. www.pstrategies.com

Mark counted out the days he figured he had left by current longevity standards and put as many beads into a jar. Every day he takes a bead from the days he’s got left and puts it into the jar of days he’s since spent as a way to remain conscious and thankful for each one.

TED Talks

In addition to all the live speakers, we watched a few TED talks from the archive like this one, which I really liked and agreed with.

Click for bigger pic.

With Sara, Guy, Lance, and Gray beside Homeslice for Family Time Rocks! I’ll post the best from Lance’s camera asap.

Family Time Rocks! Flipnotics from Jason Molin on Vimeo.

This post is from my phone. I just installed Wordpress for Android and am feeling my paradigm shifting as it is now much easier for me to take pics of my baby girl and post from my phone than taking having to upload to computer>Flickr/Vimeo>blog.

Now, when Maile snaps a pic os Anais and IMs it to me, I can phone it up to the blog. That makes daily pics and post possible and that’s a big shift.

My last job was teaching guitar, mostly to kids. There was this magic cul-de-sac full of wonderful kids where I worked with almost every kid on the block, nine students on one street. The neighborhood called The Overlook, so they were Overlookers.

We’d frequently write songs using the old I-write-a-line you-write-a-line method. That’s how Beginner’s Mind was written, me and Kyle, Ian, or Abby, picking some chords, making up a progression, taking turns writing lines.

Eight-year-old Ian and I wrote some crazy songs. Check out the sci-fi thriller Flea-Bee about getting sucked into the TV and landing in a future where men look like cockroaches or flea-bees. Or the redneck narrative of Hillbilly,

I’m a hillbilly
No really?
Yes silly!
I’m a hillbilly

I recorded these songs in 2006, as an album of the best songs written with students, but have never released it till now. I just discovered Bandcamp and the simplicity and ease of the interface for showing off music inspired me to dust off the old .wav files and share.

The other inspiration is Family Time Rocks!, the kids band I’m in with Sara Hickman and Gray Parsons, where these songs have new ears. Thanks to Susan Sermoneta for the cover photo.

Here are two sites full of Wordpress resources.

• Lorelle on Wordpress Resources
• Dawud’s Ultimate WordPress Resource Guide

And a few Essential Plugins Lists.

• List of the Best and Must Use WordPress Plugins
• 10 Essential Wordpress Plugins For New Wordpress Installation
• The 13 Most Essential Plugins for WordPress
• 11 Essential Wordpress Plug-ins
• 10 Essential WordPress Plugins

Here are most of the plugins from the above lists, with the ones that are listed by each at the top, along with how many times they are listed.

• 5 – Akismet
• 5 – Google XML Sitemaps
• 4 – WP Database Backup
• 3 – Contact Form 7
• 2 – Feedburner FeedSmith
• 2 – All in One SEO Pack
• 2 – Google Analytics for Wordpress
• 2 – Share This
• 2 – WP Related posts
• 2 – No Self Pings
• 2 – WP Super Cache
• 2 – Subscribe to Comments
• LoginLockDown
• cForms
• Sociable
• Simple Tags
• Broken Link Checker
• StatPress Reloaded
• Antivirus for Wordpress
• WP Popular Posts
• Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
• Add to Any
• Custom More Links
• Category Specific RSS Menu
• Wordpress eMember
• Executable PHP Widget
• WP Newsletter Subscription
• WP-Polls
• WP Smush.it
• Different Posts Per Page
• Redirection
• Search Unleashed
• WP-PageNavi
• WP Security Scan
• WP AJAX Edit Comments
• Full Text Feed
• Cleaner Gallery
• Search and Replace
• WP.com Stats
• Audio Player

I started out just trying to figure out the best Analytics plugin and am left trying to decide between one of these.

• Ultimate Google Analytics
• Google Analytics for Wordpress
• Google Analytics and Feedburner Reports

At the end of the day, there are still a lot of resources out there I couldn’t get to but would like to at some point.

• Mashable’s 20+ Must-Have WordPress 2.5 Compatible Plugins
• Most Popular Plugins at Wordpress.org

I discovered Bandcamp lastnight and am amazed at how well they’ve nailed the essentials of the interface design for an artist’s music site. I’m uploading my stuff there now. Here’s one of their little players that’s embeddable.

FTR! Video Shoot At Flipnotics – take 1.mp3

FTR! Video Shoot At Flipnotics – take 2.mp3