Over a million people have viewed the lecture online.

The Wall Street Journal calls it “the lecture of a lifetime“,
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119024238402033039.html

For those who don’t know (or haven’t yet gone through the links above), Professor Randy Pausch’s was until recently a Computer Science Professor at the Carnegie Mellon University. Last month, on Sept 18, he gave his “last lecture”. He has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few more months.

I have been watching (and re-watching certain sections) the video for the last 3 hours. I couldn’t help but take notes of a few “take home points” I gathered from his lecture.

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted

I particularly like this one.

Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things.

Brick walls are there to stop the “other” people, those that don’t want it badly enough.

Brick walls let us show our dedication.

He talked about his childhood dreams. And they were just not dreams, he actually achieved most of them. From being able to float in zero gravity, to designing rides for DisneyLand, to writing an entry in an encyclopedia, to being a part of a professional (Amercian) footbal team. And in so many of those dreams, he faced the “brick walls“, not just once, but many times. Its this thing about “brick walls let us prove how badly we want things” which really inspires me.

Another “never giveup“-style quote,

Dont bail; the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap.

In relation to his ever worsening medical condition,

In the face of adversity, don’t complain, just work harder. Your patience, will eventually be rewarded.

He is undergoing chemotherapy, but is still able to ride his bike an hour a day. As of last week, his cancer update page said his chemotherapy helped him gain an extra 2-4 months of good health.

About people, (in context of when we are really angry or annoyed at someone

Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.

Get a feedback loop; and listen to it.

So inspirational are his efforts in bridging computer science with the arts, that the Carnegie Mellon University (in recognition) is (at the cost of US$ 100 million) building two new buildings, one for the arts and one for computer science and actually connecting the two buildings with a footbridge, the Randy Pausch Memorial Footbridge.

My descriptions of how inspiring his lecture is, are mere words. Watch the video.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

Update [28-Jul-2008],
Professor Randy Pausch passed away on the 25th of July, 2008.

Update [30-Jul-2008],
Bought a copy of the “Last Lecture”. You can find it on Amazon,
at http://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=last+lecture+by+randy+pausch

The sport is played by 6 players to a team on an indoor court, the size of a basketball court. It started off being called “Murderball” because of the potentially violent nature of the sport. Players are allowed physical contact, but only between wheelchairs (read crashing into each others’ wheelchairs will full force is allowed and is very much a major part of the game). Players have been known to break their necks, with rods and screws placed inside, to support their neck!

Murderball, the movie
starts of with a very fast-paced finals at the 2002 World Championships, held in Gothenburg, in Sweden and ends at the 2004 Paralympics at Athens, with backgorunds on the players, their lives, their accidents, their life interspersed in between. Played by real people playing their real selves.

Mark Zupan

Broke his neck at age 18, when he was flung from the back of his friend’s pickup during a collision, into a canal, where he held onto a branch for 14 hours, which resulted in him going into hypothermia and becoming a quadriplegic as a result [1]. He is now the captain of the U.S. quadriplegic rugby team and refers to the accident as

“the best thing that’s ever happened to me”

His autobiography, GIMP : When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold—or You Can Play is out in October this year.

You can read more about his personality here.

Bob Lujano lost limbs below the elbow and above the knee, due to a rare blood disease called Meningococcemia, a rare form of Meningitis. Motto in life, “No arms, no legs, no problem!”
Others..
The impact, The movie has been out over a year, buy only recently did I get a chance to watch this movie. I can’t think of any other movie that moved me as much, filled me with as much awe, got me involved with the characters as much, a movie that surpasses any other I have seen so far. In a strange way gave me a sort of high that I haven’t experienced before.When you see someone in a wheelchair, what goes through your mind? Anything at all? Do you feel pity for that person? It doesn’t matter what you think or thought, you should try and watch this film.Amongst the take home points I got from the movie, they don’t want pity/sympathy, they don’t want to be asked something along the lines “Do you need help with…?” .. they hate it. Infact one of the stars in the movie made a comment about how much he hated it when someone came up to him at a supermarket when he was loading his bags on to his car (yes, he and the others can drive) .. his point being “if I can drive myself to the supermarket, I sure F***** can load my own grocery bags onto my car“ If you’d like to download the full story, you can do so from here. If you’d like, there’s also a donation site, which helps athletes with disabilities.