Jeff Bezos speech at Princeton graduation ceremony

Great people have a simple way of saying something important. Something valuable. Something everyone can learn from.

The speech that I've been most impressed by, is Warren Buffet's speech at the Univ. of Florida graduation. That's one speech I don't think I'll ever forget in my life.

I recently read a script of the speech that Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) delivered at the Princeton graduation ceremony. A couple of lines just stood out stark in my face. They were almost on the same lines as what Warren Buffet said.

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they're given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices.

Brilliantly said. And he gives one of the most amazing examples that even a 5th grade student would understand!

You can find the full speech at the link below

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S27/52/51O99/index.xml

The geek in me - Part 2 :-P

Someone recently suggested that I try a Google search on my own name. I never thought much about it, until I tried it this morning.
Lo and behold, I found that one of my research papers back from NC State days actually was presented and published at a conference. I was pleasantly surprised when one of the links took me to the page of my research guide Dr. Ram from NC State. This was 2 years of hard work as a Research Assistant during my Masters. It was during the dot com bust days, and I had to leave NC in a hurry when I found a job in Colorado. I got caught up with settling down there, and focusing on my new job, and completely lost track of all that I did at NC State. I actually dug up this paper from somewhere in my archives this morning and read it! :-). I don't know if they ever productized the Lignin sensor!

“Mechatronic Design and Control of a Waste Paper Sorting System for Efficient Recycling”, M. K. Ramasubramanian, Richard Venditti, Manukaran Karunakaran, Tappi Fall Technical Conference, Chicago, IL, Oct 27-29, 2003

http://legacy.mae.ncsu.edu/homepages/ram/pub/conference.html