Posts by Samantha

Randy Pausch was a young, intelligent, healthy, and successful professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University. At the age of only 46 he was diagnosed with a terminal case of pancreatic cancer. Instead of just giving up he continued to fight and live life to the fullest. Pausch wrote and spoke to people turning the devastating news into a learning experience and a chance to help others. Randy had many philosophies, one of my favorite things he would say is, “luck is where preparation meets opportunity”. Obviously Randy Pausch had not planned on having pancreatic cancer and only living to 48 years old but after he found out he prepared for the future and took advantage of the time he had left. Some may say that it was just luck that turned this professor into such an inspirational and famous writer and speaker but if you were to ask me I’d say it wasn’t luck at all. He worked hard and searched for opportunities to get where he wanted to be. I've really enjoyed listening to some of his lectures and reading his book The Last Lecture and I hope you will too.

Even during the recession Google business has not missed a beat. The google cooperation continues to thieve employing 20,223 people worldwide and receiving a resume every 25 seconds and hiring at least nine people per day. The google offices supply an array of high class amenities for its employees such as a state of the art solar powered office building, gym offering weight-training and a host of exercise machines, rowing machines, lockers and shower rooms, and two swim-in-place wave pools.  They even offer free haircuts, dry cleaning, laundry, childcare, car services, chiropractors and five on-site doctors available for employee check-ups all free of charge. Google workers are even allowed to bring their dogs with them to work. If an employee gets too stressed out they may use one of the decompression (stress) capsules that are impermeable to sound and light allowing them to alleviate their stress.

     Many reports have been saying that this year is going to be the hardest year to get in to college because the class of 2010 is the largest class theres ever been. However with the economy the way it is I dissagree. I think that the number of applicants to the private schools will be down because the cost of the Universities are so high. I think that most people will be applying in state this year. Also getting a scholarship will be much more competitive. Some have also said that more people because of the economic crisis are going back to school because there are no jobs available for them. These are some of the statistics taken from The U.S. News & World Report

Do you think our society would better now if we weren't so dependent on technology? Technology has made our lives so much easier but it has also made our lives so much more complicated. Now instead of a simple telegram or visit we are constantly being contacted through millions of different devices, email, fax, pagers, cell phones, text, etc. Life never seems to slow down and enjoy life anymore because we don't haver anymore barriers. There isn't really any 9 to 5 jobs anymore as soon as you leave the office you get a call from one of your clients or business associates. As a society we have become dependent on technology and we don't know how to deal if something isn't working. Overall we have become lazy instead of walking a few blocks to your friends house we hop in the car and drive. Are environment has also reaped both the benefits and the effects of technology.

"The actuality of this situation remains that technology is by no means detrimental to our society here in the United States, civilization throughout the world, or to the greater humanity of the human race; instead, it is vital to its survival."