Notes Design

After one too many flashing red cocktails at the Target party last night (seriously, one was too many), a first glimpse of master of ceremonies John Hockenberry was just the caffeinated jolt the crowd needed this morning. In his signature opening video, Hock asked his kids (two sets of twins--adorable!) to give us conference-goers some advice about how to play seriously. Short answer: "You can't! It's playing! It's not supposed to be serious!" Kids say the darndest things.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist George Smoot (who was totally jump roping last night at the party) is wearing a seriously playful tie to kick off the morning. He's going to begin at the beginning. The very beginning, like the beginning of the universe, and he brought with him some perspective, as in, Hubble Telescope-perspective. It's CSI: Universe, examining the design principle the universe used to assemble itself. Lots of Big Bang "trashcans," pretty hyperspace fly bys and "billions and billions"-speak.