Recently in Family Category

Randy Paush is dying but he wants to tell you what he's learned about living.

Randy is a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University. In September, he delivered his "Last Public Lecture", entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"

In Randy's case it wasn't hypothetical -- in August he was told he had 3-6 months left to live a "normal" life.

Since giving his lecture, the video has been downloaded over 1 million times. It runs about 90 minutes (the first 8:30 are introductions and testimonials). Settle in and watch it -- it is deeply moving but, at the same time, upbeat and inspirational.

On October 22, he appeared on Oprah's show and delivered a 10 minute version of the lecture.

Take some time out of your busy schedule right now and listen to what Randy has to say. It will stay with you far longer than anything else you'll hear or see today.

What shocked me most about Elizabeth Edwards' statement today was that her cancer is now considered "treatable" but not "curable." Being the son of a cancer victim myself, I remember that it was chiefly the hope (and belief) that my father was going to pull out of it that kept me going; when he died it was a double shock. Hearing that Mrs. Edwards will live with cancer for the rest of her life was especially discouraging. All the more impressive, then, is her public attitude of en(courage)ment. Not to mention that she is the 57 year old mother of 6- and 8-year old children.

Here's a short anecdote from Ana Marie Cox about what it was like meeting Elizabeth Edwards for the first time:

She was, as most will tell you, animated and interested, very knowledgeable about blogs and quick to laugh. After a bit, she asked if we'd "like to meet John." (Husband and I had hung back, as Edwards was receiving a long line of admirers.) We at first demurred but she sort of pulled us to the head of the informal line and said, "John, I'd like you to meet..." and introduced us.

Anyone who's been around politicians when they're on the job would have recognized the somewhat frozen smile and half-glassy eyes that Edwards then turned on us. He's got charisma, but he's human, and you can't get through years of shaking hands with strangers without developing the ability to do it by rote. But Elizabeth saw that same automatic gesture and she cut him off mid-"how do you do?"

She hit him gently on the arm in a loving, spousal way. "No, John," she said, "I want you to meet them." He looked at her, a little surprised I think, and then broke into a genuine smile as she re-introduced us. It was the difference between shaking hands with a stranger and shaking hands with a friend of a friend. I feel very lucky to have met someone with such heartfelt charm, and I don't mean John.

Doesn't that just make you want to be friends with her? Doesn't it make you feel like you already are?

When I was growing up, our family always had at least one dog and at least one cat at all times. Now, I consider myself a cat person, but I do love dogs too. So I was interested to read this from John Kaltz:

Psychologist Brian Hare of Harvard has also studied the human-animal bond and reports that dogs are astonishingly skilled at reading humans' patterns of social behavior, especially behaviors related to food and care. They figure out our moods and what makes us happy, what moves us. Then they act accordingly, and we tell ourselves that they're crazy about us.

"It appears that dogs have evolved specialized skills for reading human social and communicative behavior," Hare concludes...

In other words, dogs obey our wishes; cats take a message and get back to us. Dogs have owners; cats have staff.

Note: The dog in the picture showed up to watch the Mystic Krewe of Mutts at the Mardi Gras Dog Parade in Baton Rouge on Sunday.

Hope you and yours have a great holiday!

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• By the time you read this, the Iraq Survey Group will have released their report. But, really, is there any incentive for their recommendations to be taken seriously? Matt Taibbi:

  [W]ith the midterm elections over, and George Bush already a lame duck, the Iraq war is no longer an urgent problem to anyone on the Hill who matters...The Baker-Hamilton report is being praised for its cautious, sensible, bipartisan approach to the Iraq problem (Time magazine even called it "genius") but actually all it is is a tacit recognition of this pass-the-buck dynamic in Washington.

• Al Gore has some advice for Bush: "[T]ry to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for [the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States] and instead recognize it’s not about [you]." Ouch.

• Speaking of waking up to reality, the Wall Street Journal editorial page recently ran a short paean to John Bolton. [Sorry no link -- I got this out of the newspaper.] What a bunch of wankers:

  The announcement that Mr. Bolton will resign as US Ambassador to the UN...was no doubt cheered in Tehran, Damscus, Caracas, Pyongyang, and Christopher Dodd's Senate office.

  Right. Because it really is us against the rest of the world and if you're against John Bolton, you're a terrorist sympathiser. Whatever. Actually, what caught my eye and made me laugh was this statement about Bolton: "He has understood that the essence of realism is, or ought to be, to see the world as it is." Well then, this might come as a rude surprise to, say, George W. Bush. After all, the world changes all the time whereas we know that Bush's opinion of the world is as constant as the Northern star.

• Holy crap -- Mary Cheney is pregnant. And, just to make things more interesting, she and her partner live in Virginia:

  The [newly enacted anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution] ensures that Mary's partner has no legal rights whatsoever in their child, or in what happens to Mary (or vice versa), such as if one partner has to go the hospital, the other can't visit. The law may even nullify any wills that Mary and Heather write regarding each other...

(Click for a larger image)

David Catrow, Springfield, Ohio - The News-Sun

Karen Breitweiser responds to Ann Coulter.

(HT to John Amato)

1. Always shop the periphery. Don't go into the center aisles.

2. If you do go into the center aisles, don't buy anything with more than five ingredients.

3. If you can't pronounce the ingredients on the package label, don't buy it.

4. Don't buy anything with a cartoon on it.

5. If you don't want your kids eating junk food, don't have it in the home.

But wait...

See if you can spot the dolphins at the very beginning; hang around for the punchline at the end.

That's New Slang by The Shins on the soundtrack.