How big was Mayor Bob Foster’s announcement Tuesday at his State of the City address that Long Beach will be the host city for the 2009 TED Conference? Not too. The annual gathering is by invitation only, and organizers only send out 1,000 invitations.

But how important was Foster’s announcement? Pretty darn — which I learned a few hours later by Netflixing (and instant viewing) the 2007 documentary film, The Future We Will Create: Inside The World Of TED. Then, I felt like a stupid idiot.

TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and the four-day conference brings together an eclectic collection of some of the world’s deepest and most-creative thinkers — basically, luring them out of their individual holes and into the fresh air for a few days so they can learn about one another are doing and perhaps combine their efforts for the betterment of the planet. It sounds idealistic, but it’s much better than that — it’s practical.

Beyond that, the documentary was put together by actress Daphne Zuniga — the long-ago Jo Reynolds of Melrose Place – who turns out to be real smart, which for some reason made me feel even stupider and idioter until Googling her revealed that her father is a philosophy professor orginally from Guatemala and her mother is a Unitarian minister. Then I couldn’t decide whether I envied or pitied her. I’ve got issues.

To learn even more about TED via its website, click [here].

Tags: Daphne Zuniga, Dave Wielenga, Design, Entertainment, Long Beach, Mayor Bob Foster, Netflix instant viewing, State of the City, technology, TED, The Future We Will Create: Inside The World Of Ted