True Facts About Girls (A MUST WATCH)

太极密码

許冠傑光榮引退匯群星 譚詠麟 天才白痴夢

My parents will like this.

The Animal Holocaust - Gary Yourofsky

Be a vegan, stop animal holocaust. Peace.

Website: Adaptt

Rights when stopped by Police (Hak Apabila Ditahan Polis)

Was stopped by 2 traffic policemen along Jalan Adda Utama at 11.30am today, they requested for my license which I displayed clearly to them, but did not hand it to them. One of them told me, " Kalau encik tidak bekerjasama, saya panggil orang gari kamu pergi balai!". Meaning, if I do not cooperate in the sense that I do not hand over my driving license, they will handcuff me and bring me to the police station. They even challenged me to call any "big shots" I knew in the police force to check.

Thanks for publicity by other Malaysians previously on the internet on our rights. I vividly knew my rights eventhough I could not remember every detail in the Redbook Pamphlet. I knew I have the right not to submit any ID to him. By displaying my license to the police officer, I have already obliged more than I have to.

Then I switched on voice memo on my phone to record my conversation with him, he suddenly softened and let me go.

Malaysians, know your rights!

1. 
   
   Note down the police officer's name and police number on his uniform.*


2. 
   
   He can ask for your identification, you can display to them so that they can take down the details, but you have the right NOT to hand it to them.


3. 
   
   If you hand over your IDs to the police, they MUST return it to you.


4. 
   
   You only need to provide 3 information to the police: Name, ID number and address. *


5. 
   
   If he request for further information, ask politely if you are under arrest. If yes, what is the reason. If not, you may walk away/refuse to follow him back to the police station.*


6. 
   
   If he insists you are under arrest with a reason, you have the right to call your friends/relatives/lawyer and Legal Aid Center and inform them the time, venue, reason of the arrest and the police station you are going to.*

*For more details, refer to the Redbook Pamphlet. Get a copy of the Redbook Pamphlet here. Pls read, it's only 2-page long.

As for me, I am going to print a copy and keep in the car, just in case. And I am blogging it here so that I can retrieve it any time, any place with my phone. Just in case.

Triumph Of The Nerds

Good history lesson about computers...gee

World's Greatest Money Maker, Warren Buffett - BBC Documentary - 1 of 6

Nasi Lemak Serai Kampung

Located at Jalan Austin Height 3, Serai Kampung's nasi lemak is second best to the one at Taman Puteri Skudai. The fried chicken is a must try!

Man U Cabby

When you get into a cab like this, it's better not to mention anything related to liver, pool or liverpool.

超级富豪们光环背后的隐秘生活 选择性的节约

在香港，亚洲首富李嘉诚总喜欢说自己是教师的儿子，其父1940年身无分文来到了香港。他的香港长江集团官方网站声称：“为了扛起维持家庭生计的责任，李先生不到15岁就辍学，在一家塑料贸易公司找了份工作，每天工作16小时。1950年，他的勤奋、谨慎以及追求完美的精神让他有了自己的公司——香港长江实业。”事实上，李嘉诚读过几年书，后来在一个富有的舅舅那里工作。舅舅的家族拥有香港中南钟表有限公司。后来他成为重要的二流大亨，他的事业得以继续发展，在某种程度上可说是因为他娶了老板的女儿。李的已故妻子庄月明，是他的表妹，就是那位有钱舅舅的女儿。李嘉诚所经营的企业事实上是属于他岳父的，李嘉诚只是进一步发展了企业。据李嘉诚的一位老朋友透露，李嘉诚的岳母也给了他额外的经济支持。在教父的发展阶段，和老板的女儿结婚是一个很普遍的现象。新加坡的李光前就是一个很着名的例子： 他在1920年和陈嘉庚的女儿结婚，之后在老丈人的公司当了七年的财务主管，事业一帆风顺，最后独立经营自己的公司。香港回归后首任行政长官董建华的父亲董浩云是东方海外航运公司的创始人，他与上海巨富顾家的女儿结婚，成了有钱人。在现在的一代人中，新世界集团的郑裕彤，因为婚姻关系而进入了香港着名的周大福珠宝业，这个公司至今仍是他重要的私人公司。对于那些不能依靠父业来为自己事业作辅垫的未来教父来说，另一个重要的资源就是妻子的家庭产业。在东南亚的社会里，这种事情并不稀奇，因为这种关系使人得到了高人一等的社会地位。但奇怪的是大亨们怎么与白手起家连在了一起。身为香港东亚银行主席的亿万富翁李国宝爵士是位敏锐的观察家，他坚持认为许多大亨是靠自己的奋斗创造了财富。他列举了影视巨头邵逸夫爵士、恒基地产的李兆基和霍英东。但是邵逸夫兄弟是上海纺织业巨头的儿子，李兆基出生在广东顺德县一个富有的从事银行业和黄金贸易的家庭，而霍英东尽管出生在一个名副其实的工薪阶层的家庭里，但他获得了英国政府奖学金，进入了一个精英学校，这使得他也与众不同。选择性的节约 使大亨们的公众形象进一步模煳不清的是他们的节俭名声。其中有些是合乎情理的，而有些则主要是为了公众的消遣。真正的节俭反映了一个企业家有强烈的保护财产的意识。一位亚洲投资银行企业家、大亨的老朋友评论说：“他们比一般银行企业家更善于克制自己接受直接的世俗回报。”例如，亚洲金融危机时，郭鹤年以8000万港币的低价在香港的深水湾道买了一所宅第。深水湾道有点像大亨巷，靠近九洞高尔夫球场，教父们喜欢每天早晨去那儿打高尔夫球。他试着住进那所房子，但是他的家人说，他认为即便对于一个亿万富翁，这样也太奢侈了。最终他拆掉了那所房子，在原房子的地基上建造了五座普通的住宅，一座他自己住，两座让他的家人住，另外两座租了出去。郭鹤年住的那种房子极为简朴，在欧洲和美国，只有平平常常的银行管理者才会住.教父们也很喜欢向雇员和提供服务者传递能够证明他们节俭的信息。马来西亚的一位投资银行家回忆了1999年在伦敦与博彩业的亿万富翁林梧桐的儿子林国泰的会谈，会谈讨论的是关于签订20亿美元的合同收购挪威游轮公司的事项。离开伦敦的律师事务所时，林国泰招上了一辆出租车，那个银行家认为这辆出租车会带他们去希斯罗机场搭乘到挪威的飞机，但是走了半英里后，那个亿万财产的继承人让司机停了下来，带着随行人员走进了伦敦地铁的入口。他们乘坐地铁去机场，节省了几英镑。到了希斯罗机场，那个本已惊讶不已的银行家又发现他们去奥斯陆的机票全是经济型的。李嘉诚(香港人称其为L.S.Li)，非常喜欢向人们展示他节约的嗜好，常常提起他那戴了好几年的廉价精工手表与西铁城手表。他的一位高级职员回忆说，他常听李嘉诚抱怨他戴的手表是“该死的手表”。这廉价的手表已经成了他的象征。在《财富》杂志一次难得的采访中，李嘉诚也没忘记搬出手表的主题。“你的表太奢侈了!”他对采访者说，“我的比你的便宜多了，不到50美元。”尽管有保护金钱的本能和向员工展示节俭的深思熟虑的商业手段，但人们所说的大多数教父生活节俭，却并非事实。让李嘉诚引以为豪的另一件事是，他从上市公司中获取的工资很少——2005年，从他的长江集团旗舰公司中只得到了10000港元的工资。但有一点却未被提及，即在香港工资要被征税，而股息却不被征税，所以大亨们利用后者来避税。香港摩根士丹利公司的前任总经理卓百德谈到李嘉诚的一位同僚时说：“李兆基，在20年内仅仅从恒基地产的旗舰公司得到的分红就有1.5亿~3亿美元。”李兆基用这些钱在美国买了3万套公寓，当然还有别的。归根到底，他们并不是靠微薄的工资收入生活的人。大亨真正的不为人知的挥霍是他们的高额赌博。大多数大亨宣称所有其他的大亨(当然不是他们自己)一直都在赌。一位香港亿万富翁说道：“他们都是大赌棍。唯一不是大赌棍的只有(博彩业教父)何鸿燊和霍英东。”无数传言说，香港和新加坡的投资银行家们的高尔夫赌博是进一个洞100万美元，也有传言说他们在澳大利亚和美国赌博，损失惨重。当然，没有任何人将这种事弄上媒体，因为大亨们没有公开赌博。父亲大人 关于教父有一点绝对不会引起争论，那就是在他们的家里，男性家长处于绝对统治地位。在管理家族企业中，他们要求所有亲属绝对的服从，并且用各种手段保证他们的绝对权威。让孩子和其他亲属忠诚于他们的最有效策略是，给予他们得到巨额遗产的希望，同时不让他们拥有太多的现金。在中国家庭里，家长权力得以确保的另一个原因是没有明文规定谁将接管家庭的哪部分财产。通常以为实行的是某种形式的长子继承制，但这只是错误的感觉。事实上，大儿子只是一个事业继承人，如果他被认为能胜任这个职位。选择其他子女也是十分正常的，虽然首先考虑的永远是男性。例如，马来西亚博彩业巨头林梧桐选择林国泰继承他的事业，而不是林国泰的哥哥。印度尼西亚的林绍良指定第三个儿子林逢生作为继承人，而不是长子林圣斌。霍英东让霍震寰而不是其长子霍震霆做了他的继承人。非长子们知道他们不一定没有机会继承父业时，很少会放弃竞争。家族企业的文化是非常沉闷的，且常常引起不幸，可它几乎从未遭到过挑战。此外，它涉及了各种各样的社会学，它不受家庭是不是多血统或教父是否上过殖民学校的影响。一家之主就是国王。在外面，它通过已故“船王”包玉刚的奥地利女婿苏海文所谓的“杰出人物的喜爱”表现出来。李嘉诚常把自己描述成“友好的狮子”，这里面可以捕捉到同样的意思。在这方面，东南亚大亨极力追求慈祥教父的形象。他们在公众的眼里可能是这个形象，但他们在家里，尤其在公司里，经常使用自己的权威震慑别人。李嘉诚、郭鹤年等主要大亨的孩子都已步入中年，但依然害怕他们的父亲发怒。李嘉诚的执行官回忆起李嘉诚的长子李泽鉅有一次在会议中打盹儿，被其父亲的尖叫声惊醒，好像遭到了电击一般。2003年2月，郭鹤年主持召开了由他控股的《南华早报》的董事会，一家之主的郭鹤年冲着48岁的儿子大发脾气，吼着叫他滚出去，那时与会的董事们都不知该朝哪儿看才好，那真是一个丢脸的董事会议。而另一个香港亿万富翁在行为治疗师的帮助下，努力学着控制自己的脾气。亿万富翁肯定非常繁忙，期望他们能够达到工作与生活的平衡未免有点要求过高。但一家之主的绝对权威以及他们对权力的滥用，对家庭关系造成了毁坏性的影响。李嘉诚的小儿子李泽楷就是半主动反叛的一个罕见例子。李泽楷在12岁时被送往寄宿学校，而且香港人普遍认为他母亲是自杀的。一部未经授权的中文版传记在2004年出版，里面的事情只有李泽楷的圈内人才知道。这部传记详述了李泽楷和母亲的亲密关系，他创立自己公司的过程，以及后来在未告知其父亲的情况下接管香港电信的过程，还讲述了为什么他心中的英雄是李光耀而不是他的父亲李嘉诚。中国读者非常清楚这则信息的含义： 这对父子的关系并不和谐。霍英东的长子霍震霆描述了16岁时的一段奇异的经历： 那年从英国公立学校回到家中度假，父亲派他去购买日立全浸式喷射水翼船，用于香港—澳门航运。他最后说道：“我想我的父亲更喜欢去夜总会。”从中不难体会出他心中的某种怨恨。同时，他的描述也泄露了关于大亨家庭生活实质的某些信息。 网编：蒲公英

Second award during my candidature

Think I can buy 2-month's food supply with these vouchers. As for the cert? Oh, that's good for wiping ass applying jobs in future.

Happy Malaysia Day.

对话华商领袖 - 郭鹤年

(Bruno Mars) Just The Way You Are - Sungha Jung

Somebody shared this in facebook and I marveled at his skills the entire morning:) What a pleasant way to start your Friday? Here is Jung Sungha playing Just the Way You Are, talented kid!

Penang Garden

Located along Jalan Austin Heights 3/1 in JB, Penang Garden serves authentic Penang food like char koay teow, penang laksa, prawn mee...etc.

Personally, I think the taste is not as original as eating at the Pearl Isle, but you still get the fix when one craves for Penang food.

http://www.penanggarden.com.my/

老豆的Joke

老师给小朋友解释：“乳”就是“小”的意思。

比如“乳猪”就是“小猪”，“乳鸽”就是“小鸽”。

老师：小明，请你用“乳”字造句。

小明：我家经济条件不太好，只能住40平米的乳房。

老师：（晕）。。。这个不行。换一个。

小明：我每天上学都要跳过我家门口的一条乳沟。

老师：（晕）。。。这个也不行。再换一个。

小明：。。。老师，我想破我的乳头也想不出来了。

Ancient Aliens

Ancient Aliens...mind boggling.

From today onwards, you two will have to sleep outside

We bought these plastic fences so that we can leave Thor & Tease out on the lawn long enough to get their daily fix of mutiara grass. And just in case we forget about them, they don't go wandering about and hide under our car and get squashed on our way out.

Splendid getaway from the bustling Lion City and the recent market crash...Pulau Bintan. A place to relax with friendly attendants, free foosball, affordable laser quest and pool, cheap spa and heavenly massages.

Once again, we witness the greatness of good governance as compared to tourism at home. This isle is jointly developed by the Indonesia and Singapore government.

燕窝的八大药理功效

1. 「美容(美容食品)基因」－－表皮生长因子
   



2. 能提高免疫功能的促有丝分裂原
   



3. 对呼吸系统疾病的治疗作用
   



4. 预防肿瘤、减少放化疗不良反应




5. 强心、降压作用




6. 抗氧化、防衰老




7. 抗疲劳作用




8. 孕产期保健之佳品

竟然不知道燕窝有那么多功效，之前还以为只是可以滋润养颜。原来还可以提高免疫能力和抗癌。老爸还跟我说我小时候得了呼吸系统有关的疾病，咳嗽了很久，看了医生吃了药都不会好。后来老爸忍痛买了燕窝让我试试，竟然根治了。

Fern in the Bathroom

Dear Mom & Dad, What's my future?

Proceeding of a Blossom

Day 1
Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

And many more to come, I hope...^_^

My Lawn Mower and Fertilizer Supplier

Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone Elegans)

Project Green @ Adda

Started going green 2 weeks ago...

CM has been watering the lawn daily and the SAJ bill hit double digit for the past two months. Pearl grass do require lots of attention and liquid. Due to her relentless effort, tender grass started to sprout from some bald or scorched patches.

Last weekend, we visited a plant nursery near our place after breakfast and spent some monies (other than our time) on some unknown plants, potential candidates to occupy our partition.

We brought this plant all the way from Kluang. It's called 滴水观音 or Dripping Guanyin...errr...my translation does not sound very decent:p [Anyway, the leaves collect moisture from the surrounding air. Condensed vapour forms droplet and drips when sufficient amount is collected at the tip of the leave.]

滴水观音

Erm, another UFO (Unknown Flora Ornament)

More to come...

Cute Little Girl on SQ878

She turned to me and showed me a sticker with the airlines logo on it. Made a mistake entertaining her and i missed almost a quarter of the movie.

Cute and bubbly and definitely not camera-shy.
I asked her to look into the camera and smile. And this is her smile, "RrroaaaRR!"

Changi Airport's Toilet

Clean, spacious, odour free...

A Tale of Two Cities: Broadband

Life is hard in Bolehland, not just monetarily.

I moved in to my fabulous mansion last December, got married, settled down for a while and decided to apply for broadband internet access, a necessity for each and every household in this era of information technology.

So I dropped by a TMpoint outlet (since the cable broadband service is monopolized by TMNET) one sunny morning only to hear the receptionist say, "Sorry lah, your housing area still do not have the "port", so you cannot apply now. But you can register with us, once we accumulate about 10 applicants, then we will set up a "port", then you can come and apply again."

"So how long do I need to wait for the "port" to be set up?"

"Not sure, maybe 3 months later."

Biasalah. This is the way things are run in Bolehland, and all Bolehlanders are used to it. So I registered.

In mid March this year, we saw a TM booth at our park and residents lined up to apply for broadband internet access. It seemed the port was set up. So I quickly joined the queue and when it was my turn, the sales lady named Jana asked if I had registered with any TMpoint outlet earlier.

"Yes, I registered 3 months back."

Jana flipped through her list and found my name.

"Do you want to apply with another name?" she asked.

Puzzled, "Why? Anything wrong with my name?"

"Oh no. You registered before the "port" was set up in this area, so now if you insist to apply with your name, you will need to wait for another 3 months before we can proceed with the installation. But if you apply via another name, you will get your internet access within a week." Jana explained patiently.

"WTF, what happened to "first come first serve basis"?" I thought. "Ok, let's use my wife's name then."

Forms filled, contractor to come on immediate Saturday, which to my expectation and dismay, he didn't show up and when I called, he told me he was on leave. Unwilling to wait for another week, I asked the contractor to come on Monday.

"What time can you come?"

"Depends lar. Maybe 11am to 5pm."

There was nothing I can do but to succumb to him because the government-linked giant telco only outsource jobs to certain ethnic group which unfortunately happens to be indolent.

He arrived at 2pm on Monday, just to installed and activate my phone line.

"What about my internet access?" I asked.

"Oh, you have to wait 3 more days before you can activate your broadband. Another contractor is suppose to handle this. My job is just to activate the phone line. Please pay me RM50, thank you."

I had waited 3 months, don't mind waiting 3 days more.

Again, the other contractor (from the slothful clan) promised to come on Saturday and failed to turn up, as usual. Yes, sudah biasa.

"Are you coming today?"

"Oh, today cannot!"

"But you promised to come today, didn't you?"

"Cannot lar, I am in KL now. Today I am on leave. Why not I come to your house on Monday night, 8pm?"

"Monday night is good. Please fulfill your promise."

We returned early from work on Monday and the contractor turned up as promised. He inserted the the cable, turned on the modem and was silent for a while.

"The light is not on." he referrred to the LED for the ADSL signal. "The TM guys didn't jump the cable properly. Well, there is nothing I can do now, just need to come back another day."

Another day? Unbelievable!

************************************

Sorry to bore you guys with this longwinded tale.

It will be a different story in Lion City, where I just walk into any Starhub outlet, fill up the forms and the sales person will hand me the modem, "Just connect to the TV cable socket and you can access the internet after 24 hours."

Unbelievable!

Warm Home Treasure's Visit

Reasons for this blunder? Let me guess...

• All Malaysian Chinese are dead?



• All Malaysian Chinese are like Indonesian Chinese where they now only know Malay and have long forsaken their mother tongue?



• The pro-Malay government is so racist that they wouldn't even let the Chinese do the translation, instead out-source the job to some UMNO backed consultant company for a fee of about 50 million ringgit?

Buzzer! Wrong!

"the Malay sentence was translated using Google Translate instead of consulting an official language interpreter."

Malaysia Boleh!

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20110429-276272.html

Creature of Fortune

This little creature dropped by my lawn last weekend and I am glad that I didn't step on it while watering the grass. Hope it will bring fortune to my home like the 3-legged toad :p

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

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.

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 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, 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 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.

Niamah!!!: Penang. A different planet?

Good one from Teoh on Penang.

Hope the Johorians will vote wisely in the coming General Election. We have given them 50 years, just like the Penangites had given Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan @ BN) his time to shine, and just like Koh Tsu Koon, they have failed us again and again.

Niamah!!!

我只說三個故事，不談大道理/Apple CEO Steve Jobs (賈伯斯)

今天，
很榮幸來到各位從世界上最好的學校之一畢業的畢業典禮上。
我從來沒從大學畢業過，說實話，這是我離大學畢業最近的一刻。
今天，我只說三個故事，不談大道理，三個故事就好。

第一個故事，是關於人生中的點點滴滴如何串連在一起。

我在里德學院（Reed College）待了六個月就辦休學了。
到我退學前，一共休學了十八個月。那麼，我為什麼休學？
（聽眾笑）這得從我出生前講起。

我的親生母親當時是個研究生，
年輕未婚媽媽，她決定讓別人收養我..

她強烈覺得應該讓有大學畢業的人收養我，
所以我出生時，她就準備讓我被一對律師夫婦收養。
但是這對夫妻到了最後一刻反悔了，他們想收養女孩。

所以在等待收養名單上的一對夫妻，我的養父母，
在一天半夜裡接到一通電話， 問他們
「有一名意外出生的男孩，你們要認養他嗎？」
而他們的回答是「當然要」。

後來，我的生母發現，我現在的媽媽從來沒有大學畢業，
我現在的爸爸則連高中畢業也沒有。
她拒絕在認養文件上做最後簽字。直到幾個月後，
我的養父母保證將來一定會讓我上大學，她的態度才軟化。

十七年後，我上大學了。但是當時我無知地選了一所
學費幾乎跟史丹佛一樣貴的大學（聽眾笑），
我那工人階級的父母將所有積蓄都花在我的學費上。

六個月後，我看不出唸這個書的價值何在。那時候，
我不知道這輩子要幹什麼，也不知道唸大學能對我有什麼幫助，
只知道我為了唸這個書，花光了我父母這輩子的所有積蓄。
所以，我決定休學，相信船到橋頭自然直。

當時這個決定看來相當可怕，可是現在看來，
那是我這輩子做過最好的決定之一。（聽眾笑）

當我休學之後，我再也不用上我沒興趣的必修課，
把時間拿去聽那些我有興趣的課。這一點也不浪漫。

我沒有宿舍，所以我睡在友人家裡的地板上，
靠著回收可樂空罐的退費五分錢買吃的。
每個星期天晚上得走七哩的路，
繞過大半個鎮 去印度教的 Hare Krishna 神廟吃頓好料，
我喜歡 Hare Krishna 神廟的好料。

就這樣追隨我的好奇與直覺，大部分我所投入過的事務，
後來看來都成了無比珍貴的經歷
（And much of what I stumbled into
by following my curiosity and intuition turned out
to be priceless later on ）。

舉個例來說。當時里德學院有著大概是全國最好的書寫教育。
校園內的每一張海報上，每個抽屜的標籤上，都是美麗的手寫字。

因為我休學了，可以不照正常選課程序來，
所以我跑去上書寫課。 我學了 serif 與 sanserif 字體，
學到在不同字母組合間變更字間距，學到活字印刷偉大的地方。

書寫的美好、歷史感與藝術感是科學所無法掌握的，
我覺得這很迷人。

我沒預期過學這些東西能在我生活中起些什麼實際作用，
不過十年後，當我在設計第一台麥金塔時，
我想起了當時所學的東西，所以把這些東西
都設計進了麥金塔裡，這是第一台能印刷出漂亮東西的電腦。

如果我沒沉溺於那樣一門課裡，
麥金塔可能就不會有多重字體跟等比例間距字體了。

又因為 Windows抄襲了麥金塔的使用方式（聽眾鼓掌大笑）。
因此，如果當年我沒有休學，沒有去上那門書寫課，
大概所有的個人電腦都不會有這些東西，
印不出現在我們看到的漂亮的字來了。

當然，當我還在大學裡時，
不可能把這些點點滴滴預先串連在一起，
但在十年後的今天回顧，一切就顯得非常清楚。

我再說一次，
你無法預先把點點滴滴串連起來,
只有在未來回顧時，
你才會明白那些點點滴滴是如何串在一起的
（you can't connect the dots look-ing forward;
you can only connect them looking backwards ）。

所以你得相信，眼前你經歷的種種，將來多少會連結在一起。
你得信任某個東西，直覺也好， 命運也好，生命也好，或者業力。

這種作法從來沒讓我失望，
我的人生因此變得完全不同。（ Jobs停下來喝水）

____________________________________________________

我的第二個故事，是有關愛與失去。

我很幸運－年輕時就發現自己愛做什麼事。我二十歲時，
跟 Steve Wozniak在我爸媽的車庫裡開始了蘋果電腦的事業。

我們拚命工作，
蘋果電腦在十年間從一間車庫裡的兩個小夥子擴展 !
成了一家員工超過四千人、市價二十億美金的公司。
在那事件之前一年推出了我們最棒的作品－
麥金塔電腦（ Macintosh），那時我才剛邁入三十歲；
然後，我被解僱了。

我怎麼會被自己創辦的公司給解僱了？（聽眾笑）

嗯，當蘋果電腦成長後，
我請了一個我以為在經營公司上很有才幹的傢伙來，
他在頭幾年也確實幹得不錯。
可是我們對未來的願景不同，最後只好分道揚鑣，
董事會站在他那邊，就這樣在我 30歲的時候，公開把我給解僱了。

我失去了整個生活的重心，我的人生就這樣被摧毀。

有幾個月，我不知道要做些什麼。
我覺得我令企業界的前輩們失望－
我把他們交給我的接力棒弄丟了。

我見了創辦 HP的 David Packard跟創辦Intel的 Bob Noyce，
跟他們說很抱歉我把事情給搞砸了。
我成了公眾眼中失敗的示範，我甚至想要離開矽谷。

但是漸漸的，我發現，我還是喜愛那些我做過的事情，
在蘋果電腦中經歷那些事絲毫沒有改變我愛做的事。

雖然我被否定了，可是我還是愛做那些事情，
所以我決定從頭來過。 當時我沒發現，
但現在看來，被蘋果電腦開除，是我所經歷過最好的事情。

成功的沉重被從頭來過的輕鬆所取代，
每件事情都不那麼確定，讓我自由進入這輩子最有創意的年代。

接下來五年，我開了一家叫做 NeXT 的公司，
又開一家叫做 Pixar 的公司，
也跟後來的老婆（Laurene）談起了戀愛。

Pixar接著製作了世界上第一部全電腦動畫電影，
玩具總動員（Toy Story），
現在是世界上最成功的動畫製作公司（聽眾鼓掌大笑）。

然後，蘋果電腦買下了 NeXT，我回到了蘋果，
我們在 NeXT發展的技術成了蘋果電腦後來復興的核心部份。
我也有了個美妙的家庭。
我很確定，如果當年蘋果電腦沒開除我，就不會發生這些事情。

這帖藥很苦口，可是我想蘋果電腦這個病人需要這帖藥。
有時候，人生會用磚頭打你的頭。不要喪失信心。

我確信我愛我所做的事情，
這就是這些年來支持我繼續走下去的唯一理由
（I'm convinced that the only thing
that kept me going was thatI loved what I did）。

你得找出你的最愛，
工作上是如此，人生伴侶也是如此。

你的工作將佔掉你人生的一大部分，
唯一真正獲得滿足的方法就是做你相信是偉大的工作，
而唯一做偉大工作的方法是 愛你所做的事
（ And the only way to do great work is
to love what you do ）。

如果你還沒找到這些事，繼續找，別停頓。盡你全心全力，
你知道你一定會找到。而且，如同任何偉大的事業，
事情只會隨著時間愈來愈好。所以，
在你找到之前，繼續找，別停頓。（聽眾鼓掌， Jobs喝水）

____________________________________________________

我的第三個故事，是關於死亡。

當我十七歲時，我讀到一則格言，
好像是
「把每一天都當成生命中的最後一天，你就會輕鬆自在。
（ If you live each day as if it was your last,
someday you'll most certainly be right ）」（聽眾笑）

這對我影響深遠， 在過去 33 年裡，我每天早上都會照鏡子，
自問：「如果今天是此生最後一日，我今天要做些什麼？」

每當我連續太多天都得到一個「沒事做」的答案時，
我就知道我必須有所改變了。 提醒自己快死了，
是我在人生中面臨重大決定時，所用過最重要的方法。

因為幾乎每件事－所有外界期望、所有的名聲、
所有對困窘或失敗的恐懼－在面對死亡時，都消失了，
只有最真實重要的東西才會留下
（ Remember-ing 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 ）。

提醒自己快死了，
是我所知避免掉入畏懼失去的陷阱裡最好的方法。
人生不帶來、死不帶去，沒理由不能順心而為。

一年前，我被診斷出癌症。我在早上七點半作斷層掃瞄，
在胰臟清楚出現一個腫瘤，我連胰臟是什麼都不知道。
醫生告訴我，那幾乎可以確定是一種不治之症，
預計我大概活不到三到六個月了。

醫生建議我回家，好好跟親人們聚一聚，
這是醫生對臨終病人的標準建議。
那代表你得試著在幾個月內把你將來十年想跟小孩講的話講完。
那代表你得把每件事情搞定，家人才會儘量輕鬆。
那代表你得跟人說再見了。

我整天想著那個診斷結果，那天晚上做了一次切片，
從喉嚨伸入一個內視鏡，穿過胃進到腸子，將探針伸進胰臟，
取了一些腫瘤細胞出來。

我打了鎮靜劑，不醒人事，但是我老婆在場。她後來跟我說，
當醫生們用顯微鏡看過那些細胞後，他們都哭了，
因為那是非常少見的一種胰臟癌，可以用手術治好。
所以我接受了手術，康復了。（聽眾鼓掌）

這是我最接近死亡的時候，我希望那會繼續是未來幾十年內
最接近的一次。

經歷此事後，我可以比先前死亡只是純粹想像時，
要能更肯定地告訴你們下面這些：
沒有人想死。即使那些想上天堂的人，也想活著上天堂。
（聽眾笑）

但是死亡是我們共同的終點，沒有人逃得過。
這是註定的，因為死亡很可能就是生命中最棒的發明，
是生命交替的媒介，送走老人們，給新生代開出道路。

現在你們是新生代，但是不久的將來，你們也會逐漸變老，
被送出人生的舞台。抱歉講得這麼戲劇化，但是這是真的。

你們的時間有限，所以不要浪費時間活在別人的生活裡。

不要被教條所侷限-- 盲從教條就是活在別人思考結果裡。

不要讓別人的意見淹沒了你內在的心聲。
最重要的，擁有追隨自己內心與直覺的勇氣，
你的內心與直覺多少已經知道你真正想要成為什麼樣的人
（have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know
what you truly want to become），
任何其他事物都是次要的。（聽眾鼓掌）

在我年輕時，有本神奇的雜誌叫做 《Whole Earth Catalog》，
當年這可是我們的經典讀物。
那是位住在離這不遠的 Menlo Park 的 Stewart Brand發行的，
他把雜誌辦得很有詩意。

那是 1960年代末期，個人電腦跟桌上出版還沒出現，
所有內容都是打字機、剪刀跟拍立得相機做出來的。
雜誌內容有點像印在紙上的平面 Google，
在Google 出現之前35年就有了：
這本雜誌很理想主義，充滿新奇工具與偉大的見解。

Stewart 跟他的團隊出版了好幾期的《Whole Earth Catalog》，
然後很自然的，最後出了停刊號。當時是 1970 年代中期，
我正是你們現在這個年齡的時候。在停刊號的封底，
有張清晨鄉間小路的照片，
那種你四處搭便車冒險旅行時會經過的鄉間小路。
在照片下印了行小字：

求知若飢，虛心若愚
（Stay Hungry , Stay Foolish）。

那是他們親筆寫下的告別訊息，我總是以此自許。
當你們畢業，展開新生活，我也以此祝福你們。

KNNMCCB Maybank!

Nearly a year after I abandoned the internet banking service of Maybank, today I wanted to log in to pay my utility bill (SAJ) and property tax as I couldn't pay via Public Bank (I strictly believe this is not due to protectionisme.). And in broad day light, the system is once again, down. Hail Maybank! Hail Maybank2u!

It's about time to reminisce the excellent track record of this Government Linked finance institution:

• http://gnustiy.blogspot.com/2009/10/malaysian-standard-of-customer-service.html
• http://gnustiy.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-middle-of-trading-day.html
• http://gnustiy.blogspot.com/2009/10/one-ire-maybank-customer.html
• http://gnustiy.blogspot.com/2010/01/1malaysia-way-i-see-it.html
• http://gnustiy.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-am-sorry.html

and finally my ultimatum:

http://gnustiy.blogspot.com/2010/04/ultimatum-as-promised.html

Was wondering if all GLCs are offering 5 stars services like Maybank, if so, Hail Malaysia!

Despite the stellar performances by Maybank, can I still pay my bills (Government or public) via the lousy Public Bank eBanking service, Please?

1st English Breakfast @ HoMe

Weeks after we settled down, finally we had the time and luxury of enjoying our homemade english breakfast at home. Yummy!

Hail Homecooked Food!