Professor give his "Last Lecture" (amazing)

[xAgonyxScenex]

Randy Pausch is a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). In August 2007, he was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. This is his "Last Lecture".

It's an hour and a half long but holy crap is it good. A very motivating speech, and truly inspiring. I recommend it to everybody. Don't let the running time keep you from watching it. Most people are going to read the word 'lecture' and that it's an hour and half long and be swayed from watching. Your doing yourself a huge disservice. This is not a boring speech by any stretch of the imagination.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...46055184&hl=en

[xAgonyxScenex]

I laughed, and I made it all the way to the birthday cake before I had to get a tissue. Thanks for sharing.

no problem

[Beej]

Update:

Lasting Lesson - CBS news

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=57444

[uraydo]

Update:

Lasting Lesson - CBS news

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=57444

thanks for the update

[xAgonyxScenex]

Update:

Lasting Lesson - CBS news

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=57444

awesome...thanks for the update!

[Beej]

If you get a chance, check out Randy Pauch's home page... and check out his other lectures (Time Mgmt for all students is most excellent). Was glad to see another one from his list was crossed off:

http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Randy/
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Star Trek!!!
This is, by far, the coolest thing (okay, #2 behind the palliative chemo working). JJ Abrams (Hollywood producer/director who did the TV series "Lost," the movie "Mission Impossible III" and a bunch of other stuff) emailed me, out of the blue:


JJ Abrams wrote:
> Dear Randy --
>
> Hi there -- I'm JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek movie.
>
> I read about you and your condition, and ALSO your affinity for things
> Trek.
>
> So, I just wanted to put the invitation out there -- that if you had
> any desire to be in the film (can't promise you role as CAPTAIN,
> but... we could do SOMETHING!), it would be my honor and pleasure.
>
> The last thing I want to do is intrude, so feel free not to reply --
> but I wanted to make sure you knew that, if you are willing and able,
> the door is wide open.
>
> I hope that your treatments are going well and that we get to meet one
> day.
>
> Best,
>
> JJ

Naturally, I presumed this was one of my friends, playing a prank. But after a little sleuthing, it was clear it was for real. Jai & I hopped a plane to LA, where I got a custom-made Star Trek uniform and my own station on the bridge, where I had lots of buttons and controls. I even got a LINE!!!!

In addition to publicly thanking JJ Abrams, I just wanted to say what an incredibly egoless and cool guy he was. We chatted a little bit between takes, and he is so tech-savvy (and I'm not saying that *just* because he knew all about Alice!). Anyway, it was a truly magical experience. Speaking of Magic, I got to fulfill a long-standing wish of taking Jai to the Magic Castle on that trip, courtesy of Peter Farquar. MK Haley, who is herself quite magical, joined Peter and his wife and Jai & me for an incredible evening.

The "Star Trek" movie will be in theaters December 2008. Don't blink or you'll miss me, but at some point a guy walked across the bridge and says "Captain, we have visual!"

I'd *love* to show you my costume (which they let me keep), but I promised JJ Abrams "no photos". They're trying to keep things a secret; in fact, even on the Paramount lot, you have to walk around in a trenchcoat if you're in a Star Trek costume. It's kind of like being at a flasher's convention!

Oh, and if you think I'm making this up, here's a copy of my check from Paramount (they had to pay me due to some union rules or some such... I'll obviously be donating this to charity).

[Beej]

Randy Pausch
1960-2008

Randy's Notable quotes:

When there's an elephant in the room introduce him

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something.Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.

If there's anything I want to do so badly, I should have already done it.

We can't change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I'm not as depressed as you think I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Work and play well together.
- Tell The Truth. All The Time. No one is pure evil.
- Be willing to apologize. Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I'm sorry that I hurt you. 3) How do I make it better? It's the third part that people tend to forget…. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
- Show gratitude. Gratitude is a simple but powerful thing.
- Find the best in everybody…. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting.
- If you want to achieve your dreams, you better learn to work and play well with others…[you have] to live with integrity.

Collaboration, treating others with respect.
- Never found anger a way to make things better.
- How do you get people to help you? You can't get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person any day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.
- Loyalty is a two-way street.
- Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.

Persistence and hard work.
- When you are doing something badly and no one's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care.
- Don't bail: the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap
- Don't complain, Just work harder. [showing picture on screen] That's a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him. You can spend it complaining or playing the game hard. The latter is likely to be more effective.
- Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted…. I probably got more from that dream [of playing professional football] and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish.

Fun, wonder, living your dream.
- Decide if you're a Tigger or an Eyeore. I'm a Tigger.
- It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.
- Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day, because there's no other way to play it….Having fun for me is like a fish talking about the importance of water. I don't know how it is like not to have fun…
- Never lose the child-like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us. Help others.

[Chip]

I was sorry to hear of his passing. He was a remarkably gifted speaker and an incredible person. May his lessons continue to inspire and educate us all.

[sora]

It's sad to hear someone's passing. Especially of a thoughtful and cheerful person. But his messages give us hope that even the brevity of human life has its own meaning.

[xAgonyxScenex]

sad indeed