Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, virtual reality pioneer in the realm of virtual reality, human computer interaction, and design, died today. He was 47.

Aside from being a passionate advocate for the commingling of computer engineering and the arts — a topic that I hold dear — Randy movingly spoke about both living and dying well in his Last Lecture at CMU. His speech had in some ways pushed me on a slightly different course in life. The themes he talks about are the same ones that come up when we talk about how to succeed in our new world of openness. He will be remembered as a man who stood up and spoke directly to the inner desire in all of us to be better tomorrow than we are today.

There’s no better person from whom to hear it then Randy himself. The video is over an hour long, but it’s worth it.

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don’t seem as depressed or as morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you.

Even as a child I resonated with George Carlin’s comedy, specifically about the English language. His comedy introduced me to the power of language, whether it was about the seven dirty words:

euphemism:

or just talking about stuff:

Carlin was a master of rhetoric, its place in and its effect on our culture, and the humor in how it corrupts. His voice will be missed, at least by me.

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died today. He was 90 years old.

Clarke’s 3 Laws of Prediction:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

He’ll be missed, Dave.