Prologue of a Prince: added knowledge

Showing posts with label added knowledge. Show all posts

Friday, July 25, 2008

Unnecessary knowledge you don’t really need to know

1. the average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

2. It would take 1.2 million mosquitoes biting you simultaneously to drain all your blood.

3. There is One AK-47 for every Nine people on Earth.

4. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles.

5. Americans, on average, spend 18% of his or her income on transportation as compared to only 13% spent on food.

6. There is 293 different ways to give back change on a dollar.

7. Squirrels cannot contract rabies.

8. 1 out of 350,000 Americans get electrocuted in their life.

9. Close to 73% of girls in Bangladesh are married by age 18.

10. 50% of female polar bears also have a penis.

11. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

12. There are more pigs than humans in Denmark.

13. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

14. The brain continues sending electrical wave signals for 37 hours after death.

15. The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs,
CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios,
Delivered at Stanford on June 12, 2005

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 5cents deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 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, its 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 retuned 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 other's 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 1960's, 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.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Know me more

Last thing you burned while cooking?

Popcorn, I always leave them in too long…

Describe yourself in 3 words:

Casual, friendly, Straight-forward

How long does it take you to get ready for your day?

60 minutes

Are you a health freak?

Not by any means…

How many people have you thought were the one?

What turns you off about other people?

Being outlandishly stupid to get attention

What celebrity would you have coffee with?

Paris Hilton

What celebrity(s) would you have sex with?

Natalie Portman and Channing Tatum

What is the main ring tone on your cell?

Old Phone

What were you doing at midnight last night?

Watching PrisonBreak and eating cheetos

Last TV show you watched?

KC, from Paris to Pinas... hehehe

Who is your best friend?

Debbie Ann

Who in your family do you get along with?

My little brother

Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?

Matthew

How many times have you been in love?

How old will you be in 10 years?

10 years older than I am today.

What did the last text message you received on your cell say?

Good night from a friend.

What is a saying you say a lot?

Well, we’re not going to live forever ya know.

Favorite chocolates?

White Toblerone

Worse date ever?

Don’t remember, I blocked it from memory.

What would you do if you could be the opposite sex for a day?

I would go up to all my friends and scare the hell out of them.

In your cd player right now?

I don’t even own a CD player anymore. That is SO 1998.

Something you believe?

That God has control of my life.

What is something you fear?

Losing my job and having to start over again.

Best time to catch you in a good mood?

When I’m not in a bad mood.

Most prized possession?

My pride. hahaha... My house I guess.

Would you ever sell them?

Hell no.

What is one of your pet peeves?

People that talk to much about off-topic subjects during a conversation.

Unhealthy addictions?

Smoking, Internet.

Unhealthy fascinations?

Um…I guess none…

Favorite sexual position?

Any, I’m a guy… I’m happy just getting some…

What physical part would you change about yourself?

Bigger….. hands. LOL

Soft sensual sex or porn star sex?

Again… see 2 questions up…

Would you go on a date with someone you met online?

It depends on the Guy, the location and the situation.

Work attire?

Jeans and Tee

What is your best physical feature?

Don’t think I’ve got a good physical feature. Fine... my smile...

Do you think anyone has actually read this far?

Nope…

Monday, September 10, 2007

PENIS FACTS

Actual amount of semen per ejaculation: 1-2 teaspoons
Wait just a damn minute! You mean he breathes that damn hard for 2 teaspoons?? Oh and I gotta be down there THAT long just for that?! damn!

Average number of times a man will ejaculate in his lifetime: 7,200
He must be working on that 2 teaspoon thingy

Average # of times he will ejaculate from masturbation: 2,000
...a week maybe, LOL

Average total amount of lifetime ejaculate: 14 gallons

Average speed of ejaculation: 28 miles per hour
Ok.... like I'd kill to see the speedometer they used for this test. Hahaha. That’s funny and fast.

Average # of calories in a teaspoon of semen: 7
Quick! Someone call Oprah!! Here’s a fat free diet I bet she hasn't tried!

Average length of penis when not erect: 3.5 inches
Well well well...Mr... Happy ain't looking so damn happy right now is he??

Average length when erect: 5.1
Damn!!that's not very encouraging! Why there has to be a mistake here ... cause all the guys on G4M say theirs is 10 inches! Someboooooodys lying!!!!!

Smallest natural penis recorded: 5/8 of an inch
I think I've dated him... LAUGHS LOUDLY:

Largest natural penis recorded: 11 inches
Wonder where I can write to this guy?? Like just what exactly is a "natural" penis??

Percentage of men who say they masturbate: 60%
Well.... we know they didn't take this poll on Multiply... now did they? LOL.

Percentage of men who say they masturbate at least once a day: 54%
This is the percentage of men NOT on G4M… LOL

Percentage of men who say they feel guilty masturbating that often: 41%
Guilt??? WTF is that? Honey your dewin it wrong.

Amount of time needed for a man to regain erection: from 2 minutes to 2 weeks
2 weeks? Guess he needs VIAGRA!! Ackkkkk 2 weeks??? 2 weeks?? You don't need Viagra you need a transplant!

Average # of erections per day for a man: 11
....during one hour of Queer As Folk… LOL

Average # of erections during the night: 9
....I wanna know who stayed awake and counted! Hahahaha…

Distance sperm travels to fertilize an egg: 3-4 inches
Does this including the dude with the 5/8 inch pee pee too? Hehehe

The human equivalent: 26 miles
26 miles and they can still make a baby, damn I am impressed

Odors that increase blood flow to the penis: lavender, licorice, chocolate, doughnuts, pumpkin pie
And to think I thought it was that cute little Victoria Secrets number

Yes, the penis does shrink in the shower...
...unless its showering with a Friend!! Like who the hell is chasing all these penis's around with a ruler?

*wink*

Thursday, July 19, 2007