An idea is a concept or mental impression. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images. Many philosophers consider ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place.

One view on the nature of ideas is that there exist some ideas (called innate ideas) which are so general and abstract, that they could not have arisen as a representation of any object of our perception, but rather were, in some sense, always in the mind before we could learn them. These are distinguished from adventitious ideas which are images or concepts which are accompanied by the judgment that they are caused by some object outside of the mind.

George Robert "Bob" Newhart (born September 5, 1929), is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide bestseller and reached #1 on the Billboard pop music charts—it remains the 20th best-selling comedy album in history. The follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! was also a massive success, and both albums held the Billboard #1 and #2 spots simultaneously, a feat unequaled until the 1991 release of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II by hard rock band Guns N' Roses.

Newhart later went into acting, starring in two long-running and prize-winning situation comedies, first as psychologist Dr. Robert "Bob" Hartley on the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show and then as innkeeper Dick Loudon on the 1980s sitcom Newhart. He also had a third, short-lived sitcom in the nineties titled Bob. Newhart also appeared in film roles such as Major Major in Catch-22, and Papa Elf in Elf. He provided the voice of Bernard in the Walt Disney animated films The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. One of his most recent roles is the library head Judson in The Librarian. In 2011, Newhart appeared in the film Horrible Bosses.

William Richard "Bill" Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician, the Member for Maribyrnong in the Australian Parliament, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation. He was Assistant Treasurer in the first Gillard Ministry and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disability and Children's Services in the Rudd/Gillard Government 2007–2010. He is a former Victorian State President of the Australian Labor Party, a long-time member of the right-wing Labor Unity faction, and a former Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union (AWU).

Bill Shorten was born in Melbourne, where his father was a waterside worker and union official. His mother was a lawyer and university academic. He was educated at Xavier College (a Roman Catholic school) and Monash University, where he graduated in arts and law. During his time at Monash, Shorten was a founding member of Young Labor Network, a right wing Labor youth caucus. He also holds an MBA from the Melbourne Business School, an unusual qualification for a trade union official.

NO PLAN is a Japanese konto style comedy group, and is also occasionally known for their music. The group is best known for appearing regularly on the late night owarai show, Uchimura Produce (内村プロデュース) until late 2005, when the show was cancelled. The group consists of 6 male members; Kazuki Ōtake and Masakazu Mimura of Summers, Red Yoshida and Golgo Matsumoto of TIM, Ryō Fukawa, and the leader of the group, the eminent Japanese comedian Teruyoshi Uchimura.

The origin of the group's name traces back to one of their first television appearances on the popular music show, Music Station in 2003. Having arrived to sing a song, but not having prepared any lyrics, a fellow guest—Morning Musume's Mari Yaguchi—commented on-air, "No plan, huh?", and the name stuck. Their first album was then named We are NO PLAN.

In 2004, NO PLAN was selected to perform the title song to the new Crayon Shin-chan movie, and they also managed to land their first live appearance. Although they released another single, Oh! Summer, and a new album, SUMMER PLAN, in 2005, their main TV outlet Uchimura Produce was cancelled on September 26, 2005.

Jason Silva (born February 6, 1982 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan-American television personality, filmmaker, gonzo journalist and founding producer/host for Current TV, the Emmy winning youth-oriented lifestyle cable network started by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, now the fastest growing network in TV history. He resides in Los Angeles, California.

Silva earned a degree in film and philosophy from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He, along with Max Lugavere, produced and starred in a video documentary/performance piece entitled "Textures of Selfhood"—an experimental film about hedonism and spirituality. "The Party-Philosophers" and "Intellectual Hedonists", aptly named by Angeleno Magazine, borrowed the name for the film from the Hedonistic Imperative, a website promoting the end to suffering by philosopher David Pearce.

"Max and Jason" have become a prolific hosting and producing duo on Current TV, with widely ranging stories- from illegal immigration and counterfeit IDs, to profiling a brave new singer songwriter right before signing a publishing deal, to a taped philosophical sit-down with director Darren Aronofsky. Their story on counterfeit IDs earned them a featured appearance and interview on Anderson Cooper 360. Their franchise, "Max and Jason Style" has become one of the hallmarks of their work on Current TV, denoting coverage of an issue in a voice that is distinctly unique- often juxtaposing telegenic images and a heightened filmmaking aesthetic with bold and intelligent content. The results are a compelling product, which as The Internet Examiner put it, is proof that "Current is getting it just right."