“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” – Anonymous
Filed under: General
Now I know I said I would let you know when the blog has 500 visitors. Well, I didn’t; I forgot to.
But guess what…the blog has hit 2250. That’s 40 hits a week since its inception 14 months ago.
Isn’t that NIIIIIIIICE? (borat voice)
Randy Pausch PhD was a professor of computer science, human computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August of 2006 and passed away on the 25th of July 2008.
Randy delivered his “Last Lecture,” titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” at CMU on September 18, 2007. This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical “final talk,” that is “what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?”
See The Last Lecture below.
Hope is defined as “the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled”.
People will maintain hope in something, regardless of how irrational it is, mainly because they desperately desire the outcome. If the conditions are right that is. These conditions typically are:
1) The outcome concerns them, not others. There is a quote, I forget it exactly, but it’s something along the lines of: we deal with the facts, only when they concerns others. It’s easy to point out the obvious to someone else. Ever found yourself standing behind a person playing a poker machine, shaking your head in disbelief while they contemplate gambling just one more time. Ever felt like screaming out “take the win you fool, you’re going to lose it all!”. We all have. At the same time, it has worked the other way. YOU have been the gambler, thinking: “if I just get one more spin, I could win this!”
2) The outcome is something we value. No one takes chances over things that don’t matter. For any particular event, there appears to be an inversely proportional relationship between rationality and the significance of that outcome. In most cases, the realistic probability of the desired outcome is irrelevant. If it’s possible, if there is a chance – even a 1% chance – people are willing to ignore all evidence indicating the obvious. The probability of winning the first division prize in the lottery in Australia is 1 in 8,145,060 to be exact. Does this fact matter to the millions of people who spend $30 on a lotto ticket week in week out for 60 years? Not when the significance of that one HIGHLY improbable win is so high.
Most gamblers know they will, in the long term, lose money. So putting your money into a machine and expecting to win in the long term seems, to most people, irrational. In fact, every poker machine in the country is required by law to display a sign the reads: “Your chance of winning the maximum prize on a gaming machine is generally no better than one in a million”.
I use gambling as an example, because that is precisely what irrationality amounts to: gambling. Every time you ignore the facts in the hopes of acquiring the improbable, you are gambling. You are also forfeiting the probable. It may not be as pretty as your “vision”, but it’s reality. Perception is not always reality, sometimes reality is reality.
Everyone is irrational concerning one part of their lives or another. The question is: Why?
I’ll discuss that in the next post.
Mitch Hedberg was one of my favourite comedians. He was very clever and had a style that was quite unique. He was also very shy, often wearing sunglasses whilst performing. Unfortunately, Mitch passed away in March of 2005; offical cause of death being a heroin/cocaine overdose. See him below @ the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, Canada.
If you’re like me, you spent some time playing one version of this game or another. (or perhaps all of them)
The best “Ken” in the world is probably an asian man named Daigo. Watch him in action @ the Evolution gaming tournament, where he comes back to cliam victory in dramatic fashion. For those of you who are familiar with this game, you will be very impressed.
Check this out….HOT!
A company called Computer Choppers, who specialise in custom PC cases, produced this gold and diamond Macbook Pro.
“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.” – Vince Lombardi
Vince was right when he stated the above; you can have/be/do anything you heart desires. The only requirements are, simply, that you have appropriate goals and make the right choices.
TBC
“With all this extra stressin
The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath
When will I finaly get to rest? Through this supression
they punish the people that’s askin questions
And those that possess, steal from the ones without possesions
The message I stress: to make it stop study your lessons
Don’t settle for less – even the genius asks his questions
Be grateful for blessings
Don’t ever change, keep your essence
The power is in the people and politics we address
Always do your best, don’t let the pressure make you panic
And when you get stranded and things don’t go the way you planned it
Dreamin of riches, in a position of makin a difference
Politicians are hypocrites, they don’t wanna listen
If I’m insane, it’s the fame made a brother change
It wasn’t nuttin like the game
It’s just me against the world” – Tupac Shakur
Speech is something almost all of us have in common. However, if you think about it, speech is somewhat amazing.
Human beings have learnt to make sounds, many thousands of them in fact, to convey their thoughts and feelings to one another. In addition, a simple change in tone can totally alter the message. Consider also that each language is a different set of sounds and that some people, like myself, speak (associate, memorise and recite) more than one of these “sound sets”.
I think this is absolutely incredible. It demonstrates that even the most unintelligent human is, in fact, not without an amazing mind. Without a doubt, our ability to communicate is what sets the human race apart from all others. Our ability to share information, discuss thoughts and express our feelings is the fundemental component of our community.
It is also important to note that although humans use different “sound sets” across the globe, they are mostly conveying the same joys, fears, hopes and dreams.
