Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch died today of pancreatic cancer, aged 48. In his memory, here is his last lecture he gave September 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium.
In his moving presentation, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.
Download a transcript of this talk or see his site for his book.
Famous for his extremely black humour, American comedian George Carlin died Sunday, aged 71. Here is what he thought of death, and more.
A blear eyed driver takes an unexpected detour through a small town. When he searches for help in this strange and desolate place, he finds the inhabitants somehow unmoved by his appearance.
This is a brilliantly surreal shortfilm by Canadian director Jon Knautz.
In this one hour Google TechTalk, psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at one of the central dogmas in our modern civilisation: freedom of choice. He argues that, contrary to intuition, more choice does not make you freer but more paralysed, more choice does not make you happier but actually more dissatisfied.
If you liked his talk, read his book The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less
The Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California has designed a convincing, low-cost 3D display system. The display is
The system works by projecting high-speed video onto a rapidly spinning mirror. As the mirror turns, it reflects a different and accurate image to each potential viewer.
This 8 minute animation realistically shows the major parts of the molecular machinery within cells: DNA coiling, replication, transcription, translation. Made by Drew Berry of The Walter And Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia.
Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist who is renowned for his work in behavioral economics and hedonic psychology.
In this one hour lecture he gave at UC Berkeley in August 2007, he explores the idea of intuition. He distinguishes two modes of thinking, what he calls System 1 and System 2.
Jehane Noujaim, writer and director of Control Room won the TED Prize in 2006, an award granted annually at the TED Conference. She was granted a wish to change the world and $100,000. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film. Pangea Day is her wish coming true. See her acceptance speech below.
Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.
The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person’s eyes.
There are no embed links at pangeaday.org so here is a link to a list of short films featured on Pangea Day. To get an overview, watch some highlights.
I can recommend the beautifully surreal, rather brazilesque film L’Homme Sans Tete (The Man Without a Head) by the Argentinian director Juan Diego Solanas.
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