One of my friends sent me this video, about a professor and his last lecture...would like to share with everyone.

Randy Pausch, a 46-year-old Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, gave his last lecture last week after finding out he will be dying of pancreatic cancer.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/PersonOfWeek/story?id=3633945&page=1

I recommend taking time to view the full video lecture as well. Each part is ~20 min. long. If anything view part 1 at least.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3633956&affil=wabc (part 1)
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3633975&affil=wabc (part 2)
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3634000&affil=wabc (part 3)
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3634027&affil=wabc (part 4)

Some of you may have already seen this, but everytime i read this, it makes me wonder.

Someone sent this to me again today and i am posting it on here:

ONE BEDROOM FLAT... WRITTEN BY AN INDIAN SOFTWARE ENGINEER..- A Bitter Reality

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software Engineer and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and opportunity.

When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do something more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to select one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was time to return to USA, after giving some money to my parents and telling the neighbours to look after them, we returned to USA.

World Cup Cricket fever is sweeping criketing nations all over and just when it was about to take off in India, the Indian team had one of its disastrous showings which we are all aware and weary of.

My friends called me early in the morning (US time) to join them as they watch the Indian team's world cup opener against 'not-so regular' Bangladesh. I dont have to remind anyone of all the hype that the Indian team is carrying into the tournament, especially after the strong showing last time and the fact that this will be the last world cup for the big 3 of indian cricket. Bangladesh on the other hand came in a with a reputation of being an up and coming side with the ability to give any team a good fight.

When i saw the team when the game started, my thoughts were along the lines:

1. Why is Agarkar on the team and Kumble and Irfan rested?

2. Why is Sehwag playing in the 11 when he has been so horribly out of form?

My thoughts about Sehwag were amplified when he played one of his no footwork, wrong position shots on to his stumps in the 3rd over. Tendulkar and Dravid looked out of sorts too, but Ganguly and Yuvraj tried to consolidate, and a total of 225 seemed like it a possibility.

Considering the situation, positioned nicely at 157-4 in the 43rd over, came the 'collapse' every indian fan is so aware and afraid of. Before you could realise what happened, India was reduced to 159-9. I give credit to Zaheer and Munaf for hanging in there and adding some runs to the total. If only our top order realised that more often!

I was somewhat impressed by the Bangladesh team by the end of our innings, by their performance in the field and they way they bowled. It looked like they came in with a plan and stuck to it. They took all their catches and bowled a good line and length.

They impressed me even more in the way they batted. Even though the total wasnt that big, they came out with a positive attitude and it showed from the start. A couple of decisions did go in their favor, the Indian team helped them with a few dropped catches (4), it still doesnt take anything away from their batting.

The indian team looked sloppy in the field and looked like they were out of ideas. The bowling changes seemed like nothing was learnt from the effectiveness of the Bangladesh bowling. Only Harbhajan Singh was tried early on and the fast bowlers persisted with for a long time.

At the end, i believe when you have a combination of a questionable team composition, an experienced but inconsistent batting lineup, 4 dropped catches, bad fielding, and bad bowling changes, it is not possible to win any game.

I heard some people argue that it is not just the Indian team, a team like Pakistan lost to Ireland as well. But that is in no way related to how the Indian team played and cannot be any form of consolation.

Kudos to Bangladesh for sticking to their plan and executing it well, they just made an exit for the Indian team in the first round a REALITY!

First of all, wish you all a Happy New Year!

Today was the day when the long awaited announcement of the 'phone' from Apple (Computer) Inc was finally made. Apple has been an innovator right from its beginning - when it introduced the world to a MAC and thereby started the computer revolution. Then came the amazing variations of the MAC along the way. In 2001, Apple revolutionized the music and content industry with its iPOD and has the largest market share to this date. The next logical step for the 'cool' company was to enter the mobile phone industry which sold about 1 Billion phones in 2006. But this took longer than expected and when it finally came, it made everyone question 'Why is it always Apple?'

As Steve Jobs rightly pointed out - they want to introduce a leapfrog product. The initial demonstration has the analysts and consumers spellbound and the stocks flying - after Jobs made the announcement, Apple stock (AAPL) rose by about 8$ ($92.98), increasing Apple's market cap by 5 Billion dollars.

With the direction Apple is moving in, it is doing the right thing by changing its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc; strategically showing the world that it is no longer just a 'computer' company but more of a consumer electronics company. Jobs also indicated that about 50% of the MAC's sold in 2006 were bought by first time MAC users. This is a significant jump compared to previous years and is credited to the shift to Intel processors in the MAC. This number is only expected to grow in 2007 and along with the iPOD, the new AppleTV and the iPhone, Apple is expected to hit a Grand Slam in 2007.

Its only the second week of the new year and looks like Apple is already set to have a 'heck' of a year!

For more in iPhone, http://www.apple.com/iphone/