Randy Pausch The Last Lecture tonight on ABC

[murphy1]

I just saw this on TV and it's last minute, but in case anyone wants to watch, Diane Sawyer will be interviewing Randy Pausch, the incredible man who has pancreatic cancer, on ABC (tonight April 9) at 10 pm EST. He formerly worked with Disney on some Imagineering projects and is one of the most inspirational people you will ever see.

[popsareno]

That was the most touching show I have seen in a long time. I must go buy his book tomorrow! I just hope his children do not find out about him dying before they need to. That should be a special time between parent and child.

[MNNHFLTX]

I had seen "The Last Lecture" before and found it inspiring, but last night's show was definitely very moving and bittersweet. Eleven years after the death of my mother from pancreatic cancer, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that we still have made so little headway in the medical field in prevention and treatment of it. So sad that so many wonderful people have to face this journey. :(

[sgdisney]

Very inspirational story, indeed. I'll buy this book too. I wondered last night what the Disney connection was since he was wearing a Disney name tag and Imagineering shirt. Did he ever actually work for Disney, or just contract work on some projects?

[offwego]

:mickey:I missed the last 15-20 minutes of it..but it was very very well done. Thanks for the heads up!

[MNNHFLTX]

Very inspirational story, indeed. I'll buy this book too. I wondered last night what the Disney connection was since he was wearing a Disney name tag and Imagineering shirt. Did he ever actually work for Disney, or just contract work on some projects?I didn't catch that on the show last night. I do remember they did some coverage of he and his family going to Disney World, so maybe those were items given to him when he was there?

[DisneyWhirled]

I DVR'd it and only got to watch half. I'll finish tonight. What an inspirational man!

I saw the Disney connection, too. I caught the name tag and the numerous times he referred to himself as "Tigger" as opposed to "Eyeore".

[MNNHFLTX]

I got curious about the name tag and shirt and found this reference from the Pittsburgh Times-Gazette (which was echoed by many other publications):

"Known for his flamboyance and showmanship as a teacher and mentor, Dr. Pausch talked Disney officials into letting him work on sabbatical at the company, helping design such virtual reality rides as the Magic Carpet and Pirates of the Caribbean."

So it looks like he did become an Imagineer for a while.

[Mufasa]

Professor Pausch arranged a 6-month sabbatical with Imagineering in 1995 when he learned that WDI was at work on an Aladdin based Virtual Reality project (which was being featured as part of a WDI Labs exhibit at Epcot and later became a highlight attraction at DisneyQuest).

The terms of the sabbatical meant that Disney would get input from Dr. Pausch, and in exchange Disney would publish a research paper which they titled "Disney's Aladdin: First Steps Towards Storytelling in Virtual Reality" which was presented at the ACM SIGGRAPH 96 Conference.

After his sabbatical, Dr. Pausch was offered a full time position with Imagineering, but did not want to give up teaching however he remained a consultant to WDI over the next 10 years.

[jrkcr]

Totally bummed I do not own a TV in Nevada! (we do OWN tv's, just did not move them with us)