ThoughtSpurs

I wrote about Prof Pausch a little while ago. His final lecture at Carnegie Mellon is Brilliant but and hour and a half of video. So here is his para-phrased and repackaged for a mass audience. It has lost some of its charm but it doesn't matter. He is a positive inspiration. I read that his cancer is responding well to treatment. Alright. Enough of that. Because I don't want you to think I've gone all wet… so here's some Charlie Brooker. It's been a while. Watch and weep. Don't show Randy Pausch though he'll stop taking his medicine. Though I suppose his work in virtual reality might have prepared him for it...

I really like this ad for the Discovery channel. Who said that things that are interesting and edifying have to be dull or worthy? Watch the news for long enough and you will begin to think everything is negative. Fear is the key that unlocks the compliance of the population. Short format news bites iterate and reiterate UnSpeak of the day. News reporting is devolving to converge with propaganda and advertising (at its worst - say something often enough and loudly enough and it becomes the 'truth'). Going back to the Discovery Channel, I was reminded once again of Randy Pausch, the author of the Last Lecture - based on his lecture at Carnegie Mellon which has become an internet phenomenon. (I am reviewing the book at the moment). Pausch says that people learn best when they think they are doing something else. In the case of the Discovery channel your own channels are open because you feel entertained. Thanks to the excellent Bad Banana Blog for the heads up - I haven't vis...

I just heard the news that Randy Pausch, the professor from Carnegie Mellon, famous for his inspirational 'Last Lecture' has passed away from the illness that propelled him to international fame. Obviously not unexpected, but sad all the same. His Last Lecture was intended as a legacy for his kids but I'm glad he shared it with the rest of us.

You may have heard of or seen the Prof. Randy Pausch final lecture. It has been getting a lot of cover (and is worth watching). My favourite part was when the terminally ill academic said that he wanted to address spirituality - 'here we go…' I thought to myself. He had, he said, "experienced a death bed conversion - I bought a Macintosh." View Pausch's home page (some useful resources - including links to the open source Alice programming model that teaches kids to learn 3D modelling and create virtual worlds - very cool). You can also download the transcript of his talk: Here are some of the highlights for me: On being refused a role at Disney's Imagineering department: "…Remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to sto...

I have been wearing glasses with a very old prescription for over two years. In that time my sight has changed. I can't see anything much close up to match the fact that I can't see any distant thing either. I won;t claim to be be blind as a bat because bat's faculties are quite different. Anyway I have new glasses. The graduated lens kind. In another time I would have had bi-focals. So I am going to spend the weekend reading as much as I can. Perfect timing because I have just got some review copies to read and, well, review. I am going to start with the book version of Randy Pausch's Last lecture. I have written about him on the blog before . It looks like a nice little book. A good looking package. I CAN SEE!