Posts filed under 'For the Mind'
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, by Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios)
This is the text of the commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University. We, the editors at The Smashing Life.com, hope that the following message will always serve as an inspiration to us all when life becomes tough.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?� They said: “Of course.� My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2-billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down — that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.� It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?� And whenever the answer has been “No� for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now. This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept : No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.� It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
Add comment November 15th, 2007
Juvenile Justice: Retributive or Restorative?
Juvenile justice is an issue that affects not only children involved in criminal activities but also child victims of poverty, abuse and exploitation. Throughout the world, children who come into conflict with the law are at the greatest risk of having their fundamental rights violated. For this reason, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) established the following as the core guiding principle for the treatment of children in conflict with the law:
State Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society.â€? 1
States are therefore required to establish laws, procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law. It is a legally binding instrument.
It is with this consideration that we seek to present relevant information on the trend of juvenile justice system in various countries, in relation to meeting these obligations. We will assess whether restorative or retributive forms of juvenile justice systems are being implemented in countries around the world. To this end, we will look into national juvenile justice systems, laws and practices based on the CRC and the UN guidelines on juvenile justice; the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (JDLs), the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (Riyadh Guidelines); and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules). We approached this by looking at the state of juvenile justice in the various regions and individual nations of the world.
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1 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Available online at www.unicef.org.crc. Last Accessed October 23, 2007.
Add comment November 9th, 2007
MUST Know about Shih Tzus
- Shih Tzu Name: The name “Shih Tzu” means lion dog in Chinese and they received the name because of their long, flowing mane-like coat.
- Shih Tzu Characteristics: The Shih Tzu is a sturdy, lively, toy dog with a long flowing double coat. They have a distinctively arrogant carriage with head well up and tail curved over the back.
- Colors: All colors.
- Coat: Long, dense, not curly with a good undercoat
- Shih Tzu Personality: They may display an arrogant personality, but are actually playful and gentle.
- Shih Tzus adapt well to any family situation and will enjoy a cuddle in your lap, doing tricks, or fetching a tennis ball. Shih Tzus are an intelligent dog who will make a good family addition.
- Shih Tzu Temperament: Shih Tzus are gentle, loyal, proud
- Shih Tzu Dogs With Children: Yes, loves children.
- Shih Tzu’s With Pets: Yes, gets along well with other animals.
- Shih Tzu Other Names: Chrysanthemum Dog
- Shih Tzu Size: Despite their small size the Shih Tuz is a confident and dignified breed.
- Height: 8 – 11 inches
- Weight: 8 – 15 lbs. Special Skills: Family pet Watch-dog: Very High Guard-dog: Very Low
- Shih Tzu Care and Exercise: Daily grooming is essential for the Shih Tzu. Bathing once a month. Clipping of matting on feet. Basic training when puppy is young. Minimal exercise is needed, but they will love to play outdoors.
- Shih Tzu Training: Shih Tzus may be obstinate but patience and consistency will help over come the problem and achieve a reasonable level of training. Learning Rate: High, Obedience – Medium, Problem Solving – Low
- Activity: Indoors – High, Outdoors – Low Living Environment: Apartment is adequate provided they receive some type of exercise.
- An owner of a Shih Tzu should be a consistent leader who desire an active, curious breed
Add comment November 6th, 2007
Citizen Joseph Ejercito Estrada
The life of Mr. Joseph Ejercito Estrada is full of surprises and the whole Philippines witnessed the ups and downs he went through in life. From being the famous action star, he entered the world of politics, which made him and broke him, at the same time. I, personally, pity the plight that he had to go through. Many believe that Estrada is, indeed, a good man but was too kind and gullible, thus, was swayed easily by people surrounding him.
He was born in April 19, 1937. His birthplace, Tondo, is one of the poorest parts of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Took up Engineering at Ateneo de Manila. He was expelled. His family was displeased with his dropping out of college and his involvement in a street gang that they forbade him from using his family name, thus, he adopted the surname “Estrada” (Spanish for ‘road’) as a last name.
He used to work as an ambulance driver before trying his hand on acting. When he entered the showbizness, he often played heroes of the downtrodden classes, which gained him the admiration of a lot of the nation’s many unschooled and impoverished citizens. This later proved advantageous to his political career. He was the first actor to be inducted in the FAMAS Best Actor Hall of Fame of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences in 1982. He also became a Hall of Fame awardee as a producer. A double feat that no one has ever achieved such so far. He played the lead role in more than 100 movies, and was producer of over 70 films.
Estrada entered politics in 1967 by running for mayor of San Juan. He came to be known as the ‘Man of the Mass’. He had a heart for the poor and the downtrodded loved him, making him win as the President of the Philippines in 1998. As a President, he faced a lot of criticisms. A lot of people questioned his capabilities to run the country, some even attacked his personal capacity and background, but one thing is for sure, he did really won the 1998 election with the mass support he got. Later in 2001, he was accused for corrupt practices with his involvement in some jueteng money and was imprisoned for six years until his final verdict, which affirmed his conviction last Sept. 12, 2007.
Sandiganbayan declared him not guilty on the count of perjury but was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt on his plunder case and was sentenced to reclusion perpetua (or imprisonment of 20 to 40 years, carrying with it the accessory penalty of civil interdiction for life or during the period of the sentence as the case may be, and that of perpetual absolute disqualification which the offender shall suffer even though pardoned as to the principal penalty, unless the same shall have been expressly remitted in the pardon ~ Art. 41 of RPC)
Upon the imposition of the final verdict against the former president, Estrada even told the AFP that he was resigned for the latest drama in his presidency, the last and best performance of all. While the prosecution’s lead counsel Dennis Villa-Ignacio (by beloved professor in Criminal Law 1 at the Ateneo Law School, Rockwell) proudly asserted: “It shows that our judicial system really works.This is the last chance for the state to show that we can do it, that we can charge, prosecute and convict a public official regardless of his stature.”
However, another episode arose from the supposed ending of Mr. Estrada’s story. He was recently granted pardon by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and again many people criticized the grant given to him. From the standpoint of SP Villa-Ignacio, he told us once, in class, that he has no problem with the grant of pardon if ever, it is up to the President. For them, they have proven that there is still justice and that what’s most important is that the money that Estrada got from illegal transactions be recovered and be given back to the the sovereign, where it truly belongs. After all things said and done, the end is yet to be uncovered. We all have to be part of this ending, not by doing protests and creating noise that put no end to controversies, but by starting peace within ourselves. If the real players in the battle can forgive and time can heal, who are we to play the judge. I am no Estrada fan nor a supporter. I was one among the first who condemned and hated him from the day he stepped his foot at Malacañang. But nothing has happened, and nothing will happen if we’ll all stay in one corner and gnashed our teeth in dismay for the government or for the people in the government. We’ll have to step up and take our own roles as part of this State. Mind you, but we all have a role to play (or at least a role not to play). Everyone simply wants peace and order for the nation.
Oppositions may play an important role at times but too much oppositions brings out nothing. Our government is being crippled by too much criticisms that it is no longer able to do its job, which the people elected are well capable of doing, but they can’t because of too much politicking, publicity, criticisms, etc. The People Power we had, indeed proved a lot about the sovereign’s capacity to oust an unwanted or improper official. But even that power, when put into abuse as a threat to all officials, becomes evin in itself. We scare away good servants. We drive away sincere public service. And worst of all, we throw justice away to the pit of greed and self-interest. I am not saying that we should all forgive Estrada and put behind the wrong things he has done to the country. But it might be helpful to look forward than backwards, and help each other to move on and sail the country back on its way. IT IS TIME TO GO! As the former Pres. Estrada has gone away from his jail. It is time for the Philippines to head on from the bad memories of the past. We must all take our role and take the lead…on our own little way.
Add comment October 30th, 2007
Sex Myths
I have read recently in Men’s Health a very interesting article that I want to share here…it’s about the top 10 myths on sex life, and whether they are true or not.. Here it is…
1) Uncircumcised men have better sex.
FALSE: Researchers studied men who underwent circumcision as adults had no significant difference in sex drive, erection, ejaculation, or overall satisfaction. So it doesn’t matter whether you’re cut or not…it’s the sex that counts!
2) Some women can orgasm through nipple stimulation alone.
TRUE: Every woman is different, but one study shows that the upper portion of the breast, from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock, is ultrasensitive enough to provide orgasm. So girls…be extra careful in bumping those boobies….might have some spontaneous orgasm…watch Grey’s anatomy to see how bad that illness could be.
3) The average erection measures 8 inches.
FALSE: In a recent study, 63 percent of men complained of having inferior hardware — but none of them was smaller than normal! Normal is between 5.5 and 6.2 inches long when erect and 4.7 to 5.1 inches around. So don’t worry too much…you’re fairly within the limit.
4) Oysters make you horny.
FALSE: Its YOU who make you horny. “There is no scientific evidence that oysters increase libido,” says Jon L. Pryor, M.D., a professor of urologic surgery at the University of Minnesota. So don’t blame it to the oysters ok!
5) Green M&Ms make you horny.
FALSE: It’s the green in you that makes you horny and not the M&Ms ok…
6) Semen is low-carb.
FALSE: Semen is mostly fruit sugar (fructose) and enzymes — not low-carb. So don’t even think of using it for your diet…
7) Cutting out broccoli will make your semen taste better.
TRUE: Semen is naturally bitter, and eating broccoli and drinking coffee can make it worse. A ray of hope for the Oral Sex Diet!
8 ) Men think about sex every 7 seconds.
FALSE: The truth is that only 23 percent of men claim to fantasize frequently. But maybe the rest are just too distracted to check the clock.
9) Some women can orgasm just from working out.
TRUE: A lot of women require a buildup of tension in their legs to achieve orgasm, so when they combine this with exercise (like a hanging knee rais) and the release of endorphins and dopamine, it can cause the clitoral stimulation that is needed. Oopss…take care when going to the gym…you wouldn’t want to do it there…unless…hmm…
10) Having sex in water (swimming pool, hot tub, shower) will kill sperm.
TRUE: Though a hot tub can overheat your testicles and kill sperm, there should be plenty left for the egg hunt. Some of your swimmers may die, but it isn’t an effective method of birth control.
(diclaimer: the above-text is an edited copy of the list from Men’s health with some personal comments)
Add comment October 30th, 2007
LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE AND PROBABLY THE CENTURY.
Charlotte , North Carolina .
A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and
expensive cigars, then insured them against, among
other things, fire.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile
of these great cigars and without yet having made
even his first premium payment on the policy the
lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were
lost “in a series of small fires.”
The insurance company refused to pay, citing the
obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars
in the normal fashion.
The lawyer sued and WON!
(Stay with me.)
Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the
insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The
judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a
policy from the company, which it had warranted that
the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would
insure them against fire, without defining what is
considered to be unacceptable “fire” and was
obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal
process, the insurance company accepted the ruling
and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the
cigars lost in the “fires”.
NOW FOR THE BEST PART..
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance
company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!
With his own insurance claim and testimony from
the previous case being used against him, the lawyer
was convicted of intentionally burning his insured
property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and
a $24,000 fine.
This is a true story and was the First Place
winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
Add comment October 24th, 2007
Shih Tzu Puppies For Sale
1 boy and 1 girl left
- good champ-line (15 red marks)
- tricolor (white, black, gold/dark brown)
- princess type
- complete with vaccines and papers
Contact Christine: 09174216701
visit shobeceo.multiply.com for more pictures
Add comment October 22nd, 2007
11th Commandment…Don’t be ugly!
May it be artificial, alternative, traditional, or whatsoever means, the important thing is you are always radiant inside out…^_^
Add comment October 6th, 2007
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