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I'm a geek working as a distance learning specialist for a large corporation.

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[caption id="attachment_893" align="alignright" width="253" caption="It's funnier when you hear the song."][/caption] Aquaman. Of all the Justice League characters, he is perhaps the most ignored. The most ridiculed. To be fair, he talks toAquaman: Lover, Fighter, or just all wet?

I've realized something about myself. I hate changing state. That's at the core of my being. I don't like the act of changing my current condition. It almost doesn't matterChanges of state

That is some seriously well-integrated CGI. I love it. The Stormtrooper's "Boo-ya" at the end kills me. To be a total geek, here, I gotta say that a beam meant to takeTuesday TubeWatch: Death Star Trek Wars

This week I had two days completely to myself. My wife took the girls with her to her sister's house early on Monday, and got back very late on TuesdayIt's official. I'm boring.

I learned at least two things from this movie: Bobby Darin sang a much wider range of songs than I thought Kevin Spacey can sing Actually, despite the unapologetic fictionalization of Darin's life,Review: Beyond the Sea

Note: Link contains profanity - Mel Gibson clears up that mystery about whether he's an anti-Semite. By Timothy Noah Well, this is really disappointing on a few levels. Gibson made someMel Gibson: man vs. movie star

My kids have been watching Signing Time on our local PBS station here for over a year now. They love the show so much that we got them one ofTuesday TubeWatch: Signing Time

The movie lived up to the hype. And that's saying quite a bit. Jamie Foxx did an unbelievably good Ray Charles. By the end there were literally a couple of scenesReview: Ray

...it helps to have good friends to let you know. Earlier today I was sitting at my work computer doing a seemingly endless series of mind-numbingly boring, repetitive tasks. I wasWhen you're being an idiot...

One of the things that surprised me most about Dr. Horrible was the quality of the music. I knew Joss Whedon had written a musical episode of Buffy The VampireHorrible music is really pretty good

Where do you fit? [caption id="attachment_1210" align="aligncenter" width="410" caption="Do you hit the tri-fecta?"][/caption] Come on, if you read this blog it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you're at least a geek.Geeknerddorkdweeb

First, sorry about the absence of new posts lately. Plenty has been going on, I've just been too tired to write about it. Anyway... on to the review! The Rocky seriesReview: Rocky II

Woo hoo! I called it! Afro-Blue was surprisingly bad, though, on Monday's R&B episode. I think they got too caught up in trying to take on the judges criticisms and lostThe Sing-Off: The Final Four

The main "event" around here lately is that this website was down for two days while we switched servers. Apparently there were issues with the process. I'm not convinced everythingThe Event

New York Times columnist David Pogue has had two extremely good posts lately. One is aimed squarely at general computer users, and both are of great use to technical writers. InTechnical writers, pay attention

Randy Pausch passes on

Back in January I wrote a bit about Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture”:

Everything about this recording is interesting to me:

  • From a technology standpoint, what he has achieved and set in motion
  • From a teaching standpoint, how he delivered the lecture – the design, “tech elements”, and presentation style
  • From an emotional standpoint, how he pulls it together in the end. Absolutely perfect.
  • From a personal standpoint, how he comes across as completely genuine and open. Someone you’d really like to get to know.

I never met the guy or heard of him before, but he is now one of the most impressive people I’m aware of.

Randy died yesterday, succumbing to the illness that informed his lecture and made it so poignant. It seems fitting to bring the lecture back again for those who may have missed it.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3115188410730134929" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

Another piece of his legacy is the groundbreaking “Alice” programming instructional tool. I wrote more detail about that in a previous post. The genius of it is that it entices kids (even more specifically, girls, an under-served demographic in that area) to learn how to program by introducing story-telling and fun into the learning process.

Take a few minutes to watch the lecture. It’s worth the investment. If you’re pressed for time, I have links to shorter versions on the original post – but I do encourage watching the longer version if you can.

2 comments to Randy Pausch passes on

  • Jonathan

    Unfortunately, like most videos on the internet, this one is not captioned.

    However, I was able to find a transcript of the lecture online. Well worth reading. Thanks for bringing my attention to this.

    Reply to this comment

  • You know, I hate to admit it, but that’s an issue that has never crossed my mind before. That must be a real pain in the neck. I don’t even know if most video software has a captioning option.

    I’m glad you found the transcript. Like I said, this guy really impressed me.

    Reply to this comment

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