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QUOTE

But we don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well.

- Dr. Randy Pausch, Brown '82, Dead at 47, His last (inspirational) lecture at Carnegie Mellon:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo]

The last lecture is a series of special lectures at CMU where professors are sometimes asked "to give a lectures on what wisdom they would impart if they knew it was their last chance. Soon after Dr. Pausch ...accepted that challenge, he learned he had months to live."

In the lecture, he mentions his childhood dream, among many other things, of playing professional football. A month after his above lecture, he was invited to a practice by the Pittsburgh Steelers:

Read more here.

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Q&A WITH GARFIELD MINUS GARFIELD CREATOR

Mother Jones (one of my favorite publications) had a short Q&A with Dan Walsh, creator of Garfield Minus Garfield (one of my favorite niche websites).

So, was I onto something with my whole theory that Garfield Minus Garfield is about identification with the "product" in a fractured late capitalist society, or was I full of crap?

Yeah I think you were on to something. It's Jon's inability to "fit in." It's about being a sad, bored, lonely nerd on a Saturday night. I can't imagine why it became so successful on the internet ;-)

Read more here.

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MY TKTS

After I see a show, event, or movie and I come home afterwards, I typically toss the ticket stub into a little bin I have as a memento. This evening I cleaned my room a bit and tried to organize that bin (In other words, I had an AWESOME Monday night! Woohoo!!). I took photos in no particular order of the random assortment of tickets I've kept: Pretty decent weighty, but popcorn affair. (Previously.)

A fairy tale not meant for children and not really the best choice on Valentine's Day either... (Previously.)

Thanks to Bearnot for the hook up on the ticket to the Yankees' last home opener in their current stadium before they relocate next year across the street to their new home. (Previously.)

Saw it this past weekend. Awesome. (Previously.)

It's no National Gallery or the Met, but I've never had as much fun as I did at this modern art museum thanks to the company of Erin and her groovy parents. (Previously.)

More after the jump.

I used to get hooked up with these Knicks tickets at my old job. I was just thinking the other day that it's an indictment on the sad affairs of the Knicks the past four years that in this city of stars I cannot think of any prominent billboard or signage advertising a single player on the Knicks. That is wrong.

As much as the Knicks sucked, I always had so much fun at these games, especially the time my friend and I sneaked down to the courtside seats.

A movie I enjoyed seeing, glad I saw it, but would never watch again.

A pretty decent museum. (Previously.)

I felt like I had more (I went to at least 5 Knicks games last year, but only kept two of them for example). Oh well.

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WINDOWS 95 ARCHITECT HEARTS APPLE

Satoshi Nakajima, the lead architect for Windows 95 and 98 as well as the project lead on Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0 at Microsoft, hooked up with a Mac a couple years ago and hasn't looked back at a PC since. He recently launched an iPhone software company and rolled out the first product, Photoshare, a photo sharing program for the iPhone. Sigh. I really want an iPhone now.  Although what I would be really stoked about would be something like an iPhone Nano or Mini (You know, what with my skinny jeans and all).

Wired sat down with Nakajima for an interesting Q&A:

Were there other aspects of developing for iPhone that you found attractive? The rest of the wireless world is so fragmented. We have 8 years of experience planning a business in mobile. I know that it’s so difficult to make money in the regular cell phone market because of this fragmentation, and the marketing costs, the channel costs of business development with wireless operators and then the porting costs to individual hardware way exceed the revenue, so a lot of developers lose money. With iPhone, it’s very unique because it’s one hardware, one channel, so the costs of distribution and the costs of developing for the hardware is a lot lower. And the addressable market is right now 6 million and its going to be 10 million by the end of the year, which is big enough for us.

So you’re OK with Apple’s 30% AppStore fee? I think that’s a fair number. A lot of people are complaining about that but compared to the other costs you’d have to bear to market for multiple hardware and also the complexity of provisioning for a lot of wireless operators are costs you avoid with iPhone, because it’s a one-time cost. So I think it’s fair, yes.

Nakajima, who admits that Steve Jobs's "reality distortion power is amazing," has completely swallowed the Apple Kool-Aid.

Read more here.

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HI

As you settle into the last work day of this week, I just want to remind you that

I HAVE NO WORK TODAY! AGAIN!

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KZAR IN TOWN

Ah, old regular Kzar is in town for a New York City minute.   Here is the guy who supposedly just ran 25 miles for his marathon training in San Francisco passed out on the smallest couch ever.

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CONVERSATION

Me: So what do you want to do today? Kzar: I mean, I would like to see Jeff Koons at the Met.

Me: You don't even like Jeff Koons!

Kzar:I know. I was going off about him last night.

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LAST NIGHT'S PARTY

A few crap-phone photos from last night's rooftop party, which I classed up by bringing a six pack of MGD. I thought it would go well with the wine and cheese. Over looking green Central Park.

Catching the firework show over Central Park. As some things go like Megan Fox, the IAC building, and your mom, it was more impressive in person than as seen here in its pixilated variation:

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CONVERSATION

Scene: Small crowd on rooftop party watching the firework show over Central Park. Lots of "oohs" and "aahs." Nate: I'm twittering this!

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BRB

Sorry about lack of updates last night/this morning ya'll. My excuse? I got drunk last night, came home, and then passed out.

Please feel free to e-mail (matthew [dot] rodriguez [at] gmail.com) me with anything of note.

[Thanks Jeff for the nice party yesterday.]

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WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP

Of course white men can jump. My title was just referring to a movie which is thinly related to this entry. Or not at all. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7p5PAHiiRE]

Similarly:

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THUMBER: SNAPSHOTS OF A MOVIE

For the OS X crowd, take a peek at Thumber which grabs a snapshot of a movie at one-second intervals and then stitches it all into one image. Oooh, artsy! Speaking of, thunder is what I did last night in the bathroom after I lactose intolerantly ate some ice cream.

Oh, thumber. Not thunder.

(Beat.)

Anyway.

This is a really cool looking program which is only adding fuel to my inchoate thoughts at teaching myself video editing and getting some appropriate (undoubtedly pricey) software and hardware...

First stop, Lotto-ville!

[Via]

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MODERN BIBLE

I don't want to be smited, but the Modern Day version of the Bible is hysterical:

Jesus and the Leper, Mark 1:40-47 …40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, if though wilt, thou canst make me clean. 41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and saith unto him, I will; dost thou have insurance? 42 And the leper saith unto him, Yes. I have Empire Blue Cross. 43 And Jesus asked of the leper, Dost thou have the PPO or the HMO? 44 And the leper saith unto him, I have the HMO. 45 And Jesus saith unto him, I am sorry, my child, but heal you I cannot, for I only accept Empire Blue Cross’ PPO plan. 46 And the leper wept, but Jesus saith unto him, Perhaps another messiah will be along who accepts your plan. 47 And he sent the leper away from him.

Read more here.

[Via]

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