This blog entry has nothing to do with China or with smog. I've stumbled across the most amazing website, and it has lit the light of obsession in my eye. I think everyone should know about it. It is called www.ted.com – the acronym has something to do with technology and design. Apparently – who knew? – there are TED conferences every year at which artists and designers and scientists are invited to speak. Their lectures are posted online on this website. This morning I watched neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor describe her own brain haemorrage. That was after Isabel Allende got stuck buffering, but in general these talks play smoothly and seamlessly. Perhaps if you're living in Britain with the BBC and Channel Four, or in the US with NPR, then this wouldn't be such a big deal. And of course it may be that to everyone living in Britain or the US, Ted itself is old hat. (What? You mean no one's heard of Ted in Beijing?) But if you live on a diet of pirated DVDs (which we don't, of course) then Ted is a breath of fresh air. Which brings us back to the subject of smog….