Blayne Sucks

Although I’m sure this is old news by now (I apologize – I have been extremely busy the last couple of months), I did want to post briefly to say that I was announced as the winner of Bruce Schneier’s Third Annual Movie-Plot Threat Contest. As I posted in that thread, I am surprised and pleased to have won. And honored. It’s nice to get a hat tip from people whom you respect and admire.

I encourage you to check out the other entries, which are extremely good. When the finalists were announced, the comment-based voting was very, very close. Here are the other entries:

• DNA adulteratometer
• SOS device
• Anti-laser-pointer eyeglasses
• “Alertness alert”

Lastly, my winning entry: Toothpaste test strips.

Ravan, one of the commenters in the announcement thread, pointed out that the FDA has a FAQ on toothpaste, which is rather interesting. Obviously, I based my entry on the fact that there was a recent scare and actually quite a few deaths related to contaminated toothpaste. I think these peripheral fears are exactly the kinds of things that can cause a lot of unnecessary terror on the part of the average person who simply doesn’t have time to keep up with the myriad of things out there that can cause harm. Even though no one in the United States died, the story about the contaminated toothpaste received extensive coverage.

The whole thing had a sort of Tylenol murders feel to it. What is it about human psychology that makes us so afraid of this type of threat when statistics can show other threats are far more dangerous? Bruce Scheier has been investigating this pretty regularly on his blog and I encourage you to read his essay on the topic if you are curious.

As I mentioned in my last post, Randy Pausch‘s book The Last Lecture has become a runaway success. (And Randy has was named to Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, which is an honor he absolutely deserves.) The day after Finals week ended I read the book cover to cover.

It is just over 200 pages and doesn’t take long to read. Despite the short length, there’s quite a bit of material packed into it. Randy has promoted the book as another medium for him to pass his life lessons on to his kids and it’s obvious that there’s a lot of material in the book that would be impossible for anyone with a terminal illness to talk about publicly without breaking down. He talks about how he met his wife, how they got engaged, and how his children were born.

There’s more to the book than just the stories. There’s an intimacy with the written word that is different than a speech, video or story. As a reader, you might be sitting in a comfortable chair in your house, on an airplane or in a waiting room, but the act of reading puts you in this separate world. Even if someone knows what book you’re reading they don’t know what part of that book. The only person who knows that is you. As a result of that magic and of Randy’s conversational style, this book absolutely seizes your attention.

The book’s message gets across loud and clear: Time is short. Live your life to the fullest. You truly can achieve your dreams. Never lose that optimism you had as a child.

A hard message to convey with authority, but Randy does so more than effectively. I sincerely urge you to consider getting this book. Don’t pick it up at the library. Go out and buy it. Read it every year. It’s short, and easily manageable in a day. Don’t let yourself get lost in life and forget the things that make it worth living in the first place.