Being crazy is cool

via http://sciblogs.co.nz/molecular-matters/2012/02/25/an-insight-into-mental-illness/

- we don't shun people for diabetes, why do we do so for the brain-chemical equivalent?

Last of the Wilds [Nightwish]

I really like Nightwish as a group (at least the early stuff, to be honest I haven't heard much of their recent, but I'm getting there). I wouldn't have found this compilation on YouTube if it wasn't set to their music. I can see why Scottish ancestors might have felt at home here in the NZ South Island high country where they settled and generations later I grew up.

Rewriting the Impact equation, Tomorrows child

(Ray Anderson, a green business leader, died on Monday from cancer.)

Up There

UP THERE from Jon on Vimeo.

Take away

• Don't be afraid to start from the bottom
• Be in it for the long haul

What motivates people?

Via http://sciblogs.co.nz/code-for-life/2010/05/18/career-motivations-video/

x-posted

What are you doing? - Gabrielle Bouliane

It's cancer again. People with definitively limited time have such a focus. I don't think I'd trade though.

RIP, thanks.

Something happier next time, I promise.

Randy Paush on time management

The last* in the series, from Randy, a later lecture given at the University of Virginia. The irony of how long it has taken me to get around to this is not lost.

Randy takes a little while to actually get into the talk. After that it's pretty solid. There's likely not a lot you haven't heard before, but it's nicely collected in one place and presented with his usual panache.

*I purchased the book of The Last Lecture today. I'll probably post a review.

Points to take away

• Do the important, not urgent stuff before the not important, urgent stuff. That stops it becoming important, urgent stuff, which is where the stress comes in.
• Be prepared to change your plans, it's OK, but you can't change your plan if you didn't have one to start with.
• Delegate, including to technology. You don't need to waste brainpower remembering where you need to be next Thursday, your calendar can do that.
• Time is all we really have, and you never know how much you have left so make it count. You can never get it back.

Nearly there...

Remembering Dr Randy Paush - a memorial service. Worth watching just to contrast Don Martinelli with the string of computer scientists.

Point to take away:

• You can do more than you think.

What Teachers Make

Slight divergence because I'm having trouble finding the hour & 1/2 to watch the next video (Randy Pausch's lecture on time management beckons).

Not thematically unrelated though. Via Seth Godin, this time.

More from Randy Pausch

After a while trawling youtube I think this will be a 4 or 5 part series. In this post I wrap up some of the interviews from after he became a celebrity. I've just linked to most of them, but one or two are embedded. Links will open in new windows.

For more, just search youtube.

Diane Sawyer interview with Randy Pausch part 1:

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

 

Good Morning America, May 19, 2008

Interviewed by TIME

 

Addressing Congress:

Achieving your childhood dreams

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 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.

Points to take away:

• "Brick Walls" are there to stop the people who don't want something enough - other people
• helping other people achieve their dreams can be just as rewarding as achieving your own

There are a lot of related videos on Youtube - interviews, follow ups and other recorded lectures presented by Randy, and I'll be working through those over the next little while.

Douglas Adams on Lemurs, the mating habits of the Kakapo,

Douglas Adams on Lemurs, the mating habits of the Kakapo, sundry other critters and our place in the world. Filmed in 2001 at the University of California

via http://www.ted.com/talks/douglas_adams_parrots_the_universe_and_everything.html

Point to take away:

• Just because we seem to fit into the world so well, doesn't mean it was made for us

We spend all our lives learning to be unhappy

Starting with the presentation which sparked the inspiration for this series, via the Chief Happiness Officer's blog - Dr. Srikumar S. Rao's presentation on finding happiness.

Points to take away

• the if - then mental model is broken
• invest in the process, not the outcome
• choose the journey you are on