Reading through the news about the passing of Randy Pausch, the 47-year-old Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose "Last Lecture" video later became a worldwide phenomenon, I was compelled to go watch it again (like so many are today).
I remember my revelation after one of my friends forwarded me the link of Prof. Pausch's lecture after it was posted on YouTube. At the time he was struggling with Pancreatic cancer and his words were meant as a legacy for his children and family.
The lecture, which Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow helped promote, later turned into a book and has reportedly been translated into 30 languages after it grew so popular.
It was more than talking about the value of hard work. What stuck with me were his points about
living a life well -- and remembering those values throughout your day to day, no matter how mundane.
Some of the points were about:
The importance of letting children express their creativity
The importance of people vs. things
The importance of working and playing well with others.
In May, Dr. Pausch spoke at the Carnegie Mellon University commencement. He said a friend recently told him he was "beating the [Grim] Reaper" because it's now been nine months since his doctor told him he would die in six.
"But we don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well," said Dr. Pausch, who urged the graduates to find and pursue their passion. He put an exclamation point at the end of his remarks by kissing his wife, Jai, and carrying her off stage.
If you haven't checked out the video (there are many on YouTube), it's worth a few minutes out of your day.
Today's New York Times has an update on
the new laptop cases that airport security folks can X-ray while still in the case. Some of the bags that fit the TSA's specifications are expected on the market by September, such as by Pathfinder and Targus.
To make sure the cases are easily identifiable, the TSA said in its
request for proposals sent to manufacturers in March that bags should be
designed with "self-evident features," including an absence of buckles, pockets
or zippers.
The article later states:
Ron Davis, the executive vice president of Pathfinder Luggage, said that his
company had just started producing its two new cases at a plant in the Philippines. He
said both had been tested at checkpoints to ensure that they met government
specifications.
"They don't want anything obscuring the view of the laptop," he said. "In
our case, the material is nylon and foam, and the X-ray machine will see right
through that."
Before the Woo Hoos burst forth, a caveat:
The bags don't carry any special seal, such as "approved by the TSA." So you could still find yourself pulling your laptop out of your X-ray-friendly bag, and watching it go bumping down the conveyor belt in a scuffed-up plastic bin.
Still, if it gets you through just one checkout line faster at the airport, I'll be among the first lined up to buy one of these bags when they hit the market.
As for other travelers that might sneer at me for
being an early adopter of the bag, as one blogger put it, who actually cares what other travelers think? We're all just trying to get through the indignities of airport security checks.
