Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (Randy Pausch Lecture)

[Darren Dirt]

I suspect this should include a "don't read this/visit the links unless you are willing to really challenge yourself..." warning.







http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/RandySept18TalkPoster.jpg

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950

Randy Pausch reprising his inspirational and moving "Last Lecture" (Oct 22, 2007). See the full-length CMU version at
www.cs.virginia.edu/robins/Randy_Last_Lecture.html and the full-length version of this reprise at www.cs.virginia.edu/robins/Randy_Oprah.html

Randy Pausch (www.randypausch.com) is a virtual reality pioneer, human-computer interaction researcher, co-founder of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (www.etc.cmu.edu), and creator of the Alice (www.alice.org) software project.

High-resolution downloadable versions of Randy's videos, including a longer version of this TV appearance, can be found at www.cs.virginia.edu/robins/Randy
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8577255250907450469


Randy Pausch set the tone early on yesterday at his farewell lecture at Carnegie Mellon University.

"If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you," said Dr. Pausch.




It is probably the last public speech Dr. Pausch will give anywhere. The 46-year-old computer science professor and father of three preschoolers has incurable pancreatic cancer. Doctors have given him months to live.

Yet, standing at the podium in McConomy Auditorium on the campus yesterday, Randy Pausch did not focus on impending death. Instead, he celebrated the chance he had been given to live the life he always had dreamed of.

[Darren Dirt]

This amazing guy is still alive and kicking (his blog is here) and the book version of his lecture went on sale yesterday.

Here is a summary/update, including a brief video from WSJ that might encourage some of us to actually set aside the time to WATCH the entire damn thing.




Also, some have compared the Pausch speech to that given by Jim_Valvano in 1993.

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives.

Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day.

Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought.

And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy.

But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

PS: sorry for the "mortality" theme, folks, but my son is pretty much a teenager now, and it's hard not to think about this stuff now... Plus Pausch is damny *funny* to hear.