Links posted on September 27, 2007
The awesomest thing I saw at this year's ACLFest? Certainly, it was Batman. I haven't been able to find much about him online, apart from a few passing references and a 6th-street sighting by Natedogg, but I have the pictures to prove it... see [more inside]
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture CMU's 'Last Lecture' series asked speakers: "If you knew you were about to deliver the last lecture you'd ever give, what would you say?" Last week, 47-year old Virtual Reality pioneer Randy Pausch, dying of pancreatic cancer and with only few months to live, gave his last lecture as a Last Lecture (5 minute video).
Highlights:
- "Brick Walls [artificial obstacles] 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.
- "Wait long enough and people will surprise you. When you're pissed off and angry at someone, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time, and they'll almost always impress you."
- "I thought this was the coolest environment I'd ever been in, and instead of saying 'I want to experience this' I said 'I want to make stuff like this."
- "I had a deathbed conversion: I just bought a Mac"
- Once you've achieved your childhood dreams it's time to start helping other people achieve theirs.
The lecture is stirring, poignant and inspirational. I streamed the full 1.5-hr lecture yesterday, and I can't recommend it highly enough. [more inside]
Two articles about Roger Federer:
Both start off talking about tennis but wind up discussing something much deeper.
Cracked Magazine's 8 Most Needlessly Wordy Wikipedia Entries - commentary is pretty funny.
Halo3 + MIT = way nerdy hack. Can this man save us from the Covenant?