There was some powerful news last week. After thinking about it, I wanted to recap and connect some dots:

• 39 years ago, on July 20th, man first walked on the moon with the success of the Apollo 11 mission.  The journey began at the height of the cold war with the challenge issued by John F. Kennedy.  Not only was the program a success, but it inspired a nation to invest in educational resources in science and math.  Truly, one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.
• The educators and students that were the beneficiaries of the science and math investments of Apollo 11 have gone on to inspire the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Andreesson and Mark Zuckerberg.  Last week Zuckerberg announced Facebook Connect, a powerful development environment that connects the Facebook social graph to any site.  Hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide are now contemplating their own one small step that could possibly be a giant leap for mankind.
• Another beneficiary of the science investments of Apollo 11 was Dr. Randy Pausch. Professor Pausch made incredible contributions in the field of virtual reality, but Pausch is perhaps best known for his ‘Last Lecture’ speech on achieving your childhood dreams.  Pausch died of pancreatic cancer last week, but the impact of his ‘Last Lecture’ speech has been made popular through YouTube and spread worldwide.  If you have not listened to the speech – stop what you are doing, and listen now.

I have reviewed three pieces of news from last week, so 'what's the head fake?' A sincere thank you for the inspiration from Randy Pausch for myself and millions that he has inpired to make their own one one giant leap.  May he rest in peace.

-Colin