As Arthur C. Clarke told us, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” So think of Irish magician Keith Barry as a technologist, an elite software engineer of the human brain. Witty and direct, he celebrates human cleverness even while he’s hacking it.

In this 2004 TED presentation in Monterey, California, Barry shows us how our brains can fool our bodies. Then he involves the audience in some jaw-dropping (and even a bit dangerous) feats of brain magic.

At just under 20 minutes, you may think it a bit long. But I believe, once you get into it, you’ll be hooked. Enjoy!

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It began in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). The TED website makes the best of these available to the public. Free.

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor and alumnus Randy Pausch spoke before a packed McConomy Auditorium at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver his last lecture, a moving talk called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Within that context, he talked about the cancer that was devouring his pancreas and that would claim his life in a matter of months.

On the stage that day, he was youthful, energetic, cheerful and darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But that was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged. With equal parts humor and heart, he delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture that moved the overflow crowd at the university and went on to move audiences around the globe.

Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has his best selling book, The Last Lecture based on the same principles; celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, he lost his battle to pancreatic cancer a week ago today, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all for generations to come.

I urge you to take the time - make the time (1 hour 16 minutes) - to watch Randy’s last lecture this weekend. If you’ve already seen it, watch it again. I guarantee you’ll be inspired. More

“Almost all of us have childhood dreams; for example, being an astronaut, or making movies or video games for a living. Sadly, most people don’t achieve theirs, and I think that’s a shame. I had several specific childhood dreams, and I’ve actually achieved most of them.” - Randy Pausch, Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008

Are you ready to kiss - or be kissed? Is there a special someone that you’d like to kiss? If you haven’t yet experienced that first kiss, it can be a daunting challenge! Is it the right time? Is anyone watching? Does your partner even want to? Is your breath fresh? And the big question: Should you use some tongue?

There’s lots of advise available, often conflicting. Many advise that, assuming your prospective kissee is willing, you just “go for it”…

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For the mathematicians among you…

Cousin Mike sent this a couple weeks ago, along with what I think is someone’s incorrect mathematical explanation, under the title, “How You Can Tell You’ve Ticked Off an Engineer”. It works as a pretty good joke on its own but, to bring it full circle, you need to know a little history.

Seems engineer George Vaccaro took issue with Verizon for quoting him “.002 cents per kilobyte” for air time prior to his visit to Canada but billing him “.002 dollars per kilobyte” upon his return. After several unsuccessful attempts to explain the hundred-fold difference to Verizon, he recorded a twenty-six minute conversation with a Verizon manager which became famous on YouTube with more than a million hits. YouTube has since taken it down, but you can still listen to the original recorded exchange on Putfile or read the transcript on Verizonmath.

Enter my favorite physicist/cartoonist, Randall Munroe, who wrote the above check to satirize the whole comical issue. It’s funny all right, especially in view of its genesis, but for how much was the check actually written? Well, based on my very rusty high school calculus, and meaning no disrespect to whomever produced the above explanation, I think it’s a check for essentially “nothing”:

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An old friend of mine sent me this Calvin comic and reminded me, well, of me back in our high school “Honors English” days too many years ago to even think about. Yes, that was me, all right - long, complex sentences, exaggerated vocabulary, confusing twists and odd angles - yet my writing style, if you can call it that, impressed my teachers, winning me frequent accolades and a dependable stream of “A”s in written communication.

But my aspiring novelist bubble was about to burst. Fast forward to my first college English class. Focusing on literature and writing, it carried steep prerequisites. I foolishly thought it would be four easy credits given my stellar academic credentials, especially with two years of high school debate team experience tossed in for good measure. So I wasn’t worried when our first assignment, intended to ensure that enrollees possessed the necessary skills to succeed in the class, was to write a short essay on a favorite novel.

I decided on a comparison of Melvile’s Moby Dick and Conrad’s Billy Budd, contrasting the authors’ writing styles. I’d read and discussed both in high school and believed I was sufficiently well versed to dazzle my professor. So confident was I in my writing skills that I hastily cranked out five double spaced pages late Tuesday night for my Wednesday morning class.

The essays were returned Friday morning as the professor began her verbal assessment. All were interesting, she told us, some even quite good. I was certain mine had impressed. Continuing, she explained her cryptic notations at the top of each paper. A “check” mark indicated you were in the right class and she looked forward to helping improve your writing skills. An “X”, however, meant the class would likely prove too challenging and you should immediately transfer to a lower English. The latter group, about a quarter of the class, quietly gathered their materials and left the classroom as the professor returned to her desk. I sat in stunned silence. There was no mark on my paper.

Had she forgotten to mark it? Had she even read it? Finally, I mustered the courage to raise my hand and asked what the lack of any notation meant. “Ah, Mr. Arrington,” she replied with a blank expression I later learned to recognize as a smile. “That’s to let you know it’s harder to bullshit a college English professor than a high school teacher!”

There it was. I’d been put on notice, outed, called out. My days of skating through writing assignments had come to an abrupt conclusion. For the remainder of the semester she challenged, blue penciled and embarrassed me into producing some of my best written work. I was glad when the semester ended, but I’ll remain forever grateful to her for showing me a better way to weave the written word.

I should mention something else my high school friend, Alex, noted in his email after reading my blog: “I see you haven’t changed.”

I know, Alex. Thanks for remembering.

This story in yesterday’s paper made me smile. For 27 years, people have been walking past a display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, not paying any attention to the fact that it refers to Precambrian as an “era” when it’s actually a dimensionless unit of time (as we all know, right?) Anyway, 11-year-old Kenton Stufflebeam of Allegan, Michigan, noticed the glaring error during his vacation to Washington and alerted museum officials. The museum responded with a letter of gratitude to Kenton (although they misspelled his name and city - sigh) and promised to fix the problem.

It seems Kenton knew the period was misnamed because his fifth-grade teacher, John Chapman, had nearly made the same mistake in a classroom earth-science lesson before catching himself. “I knew Mr. Chapman wouldn’t tell all these students bad information,” he told reporters covering the story… Full story

If you think iPods are just for listening to music, you haven’t been keeping up with technology. The Apple-developed music player features all manner of accessories to help you study and developers are rushing to adapt their offerings to the ubiquitous device. Pre-teens to adults are taking advantage of the educational benefits an iPod affords them, from downloadable podcasts to just-for-iPod study guides and applications. Learning on the go has never been easier.

To help you discover the myriad ways to transform your iPod into a learning device, The iPod Hacker has compiled a list of 100 ways to use your iPod for education. Pretty impressive for what appears to be a first post on a new site!