Dick Costolo Michigan Commencement: An Amazing Speech For the Class Of 2013

It’s the time of year where all successful alumni return to their alma-mater to give commencement addresses to the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youth about hard work and perseverance.

The University of Michigan is home to many notable alumni, and as they celebrated their 2013 spring commencement they invited one of them to return to speak to graduating seniors. 

Dick Costolo is not a man that many may know by name, but you’ve probably heard about the company he is the CEO of, Twitter.

Dick tried to sum up his speech in a Tweet:

That’s true Dick. There’s no way the internet could have possibly fit in your pants back in your day. Dick is 49 years-of-age. So assuming he graduated at the age of 21, my hand-dandy calculator tells me he probably graduated at some point in the mid-1980s. Oh wait, I have the internet. He graduated in 1985 with a degree in computer science. The modern internet as we know it gained support through the National Science Foundation whose initial transfer of data was 56 kilobits. That was a substantial increase from ARPAnets first data transfer. You would need a really large pair of pants to fit a computer from 1985, never mind the internet, which wasn't commercially used until 1991 (but really didn't gain wide commercial use until 1995).  

Artistic Rendering of Computer Pants From 1985:

I mean, they'd have to be that big in order to fit the Amiga 1000. (Though Zubaz win an honorable mention).

Commodore Amiga 1000 Personal Computing System Introduced in July 1985 

Of course, Dick wasn't serious about that tweet. He's a comedian, not an idiot. His tweet, was just part of his altogether humorous speech about how he ended up as the CEO of Twitter. You should definitely watch it, it's a lot better than a lot of the dry boring crap you usually hear at commencements. Costolo, unlike some, gave graduates some truly helpful advice, “You cannot draw any of your paths looking forward, so you have to decide what you love.”  

Here is video of the speech: