Ever wonder what TED stands for? Who decides what TED Talks to accept? Well wonder no more.

What began somewhat modestly in 1984 when the architect and designer Richard Saul Wurman summoned 300 friends and colleagues to Monterey, Calif., to discuss Technology, Entertainment and Design, now has more angles to it than a Mandelbrot set. Part of Mr. Anderson’s nonprofit Sapling Foundation, the organization has two annual conferences (this month’s includes 1,200 attendees from 42 countries), the free online collection of more than 1,600 TED Talks viewed nearly two billion times, a $100,000 TED Prize, a TED Fellows program and global education initiative, TED digital books, the TED Radio Hour and thousands of TEDx events in more than 150 countries (talks are translated into more than 104 languages).

Great article.