School Closings

School Closings: Officials of the Chicago Public Schools began the public on Wednesday what could come in December, when they decide which schools will be closed or consolidated. At the meeting of the Board of Education, Oliver Sicat, the new chief district officer portfolio, said there is a correlation between poor performance of schools and school buildings underused. CPS officials said they will rely on school performance as the primary factor in determining which schools to overhaul, but facility usage will also be taken into account. “What that could mean is that our parents are voting with their feet,” Sicat said. A school’s “performance level” is tallied by a complex calculation that awards points based on state test scores, student growth measures and attendance rates, among other factors. The lowest ranking, Level 3, is for schools the district has placed on probation because of poor performance. Most CPS schools on probation are concentrated on the city’s South and West Sides, where underutilized buildings were also high, according to Sicat. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis dismissed Sicat’s presentation as an attempt to create a smoother reception for the always controversial annual school overhauls. “They’re just dragging it out and dressing it up under a different name,” Lewis said. Last year, the district announced plans to consolidate 16 schools. After public protests, four schools were spared. All new school closures or mergers are announced on December 1 as part of the law signed last month, Gov. Pat Quinn. School Closings

Fashion for bridal useful tips for bridal and Skin Care Tips

Latest Fashion for bridal useful tips for bridal and Skin Care Tips The hands do not lie, and lie about your beauty routine, age or condition. If you work hard and not sleeping well shows his hands full when the time comes. Dry skin of the hands is not very pleasant to the touch, not only for you but for those who meet and greet. In addition to its winter and needs two to protect your skin against dryness and cracking. The hands play an important role in communication. Imagine what life would be without hands. It's a body part most often used to cook with them,

Moisturize your hands as many times as you can in one day. Dry skin looks wrinkled and can be easily damaged. Wear gloves when washing dishes, dealing with chemicals and gardening. Protect your skin with your hands against the sun. Use a hand lotion with sunscreen whenever you're outside or in the sun through a window more than a few minutes (you may not be protected if you are behind glass: the cars are one of places people get sun damage over the day to day.) Most skin damage occurs from day trips here and there. It is all people! Try not to use anti-bacterial gel too, because it contains alcohol, which dries hands. Wash with warm water and soap is as effective and less likely to cause a strain of bacteria to rise up against us and kill us all. If you use one, you can try some of them are actually an anti-bacterial lotion things in them, since the essence of beauty CVS to strengthen brittle nails than a cup of warm milk, then soak your hands in milk for a couple of minutes. The calcium in milk will really help strengthen brittle nails.Fashion for bridal useful tips for bridal and Skin Care Tips

The Latest Evening Dresses2011

The Latest Evening Dresses2011: Whether your own style is classic and simple or trendy & fun, there are tons of hot evening dresses this year to fit all personality. A few designs stay faithful the classical gown design while other people feature a much sleeker, hip look. We have compiled a list of our top 7 favorite evening dress fashions for today’s modern, chic young woman. This season’s modern fashions are a lot trendier, more cutting-edge, and considered revolutionary over the classical evening gown; current designs are sexier than always, delivering the ultimate hot evening dresses for 2011.  Today, evening dresses have a lot of personality, fashion, and sass than always earlier. Let’s look at the best eveningwear in plus size options. How do you go about finding the right fashion for you? As you decide your social calendar for the holiday season, you may ascertain yourself in need of a flirty cocktail dress, a ball-gown, or a chic evening suit. We can now rejoice that a lot of options are usable, and you can select a sexy, sophisticated, or glamorous evening dress in plus size. Not too long ago, the only evening dress in plus size was a blousy, dowdy number.  With the vacations approaching, you may soon be in need of a glamorous look for those especial events and parties. Short cocktail dresses carried on to gain popularity as well. There was also an exploration into even more abstract printed designs, often in bright pastels. Final season, we saw a myriad of vivid colors and a continuation of sassy animal prints. With prom 2010 now a distant memory, young women all over the world eagerly ponder what fashions and colors of prom dresses that 2011 will hold in store for them.

The best Evening Gown

The best Evening Gown : Evening parties are of various types and similarly various sorts of dresses up are set for them. Strapless evening dresses are diverse in numbers, fashions, colors, lengths and designs. Wearing a dress that suits body type is without doubt essential but real essence of dress comes out only when it's worn agreeing to the type of occasion. The best Evening Gown gown Dress complementary with occasion is must to look the finest. The most spectacular attribute of evening dress is that it should suit the formality of occasion you're going to attend. Strapless evening dresses are fantastic inspiration sources for style artists. It’s magic to hear that all time when they see a black strapless prom dress, they'll feel amazed with something singular and alluring on the gown. How can they bring out so a lot of strapless feast dresses in different fashions, necklines, lengths and with various accessories? Besides the mysterious sense on black, a displayed strapless evening gown forever becomes the finest power house for their thoughts. Strapless evening dresses fit most figures. Due to the especial feature on this color, it forever creates an illusion on vision. Slimmer silhouettes are a lot of easy made. A sexy & popular fashion on a serene and elegant color makes your evening dress complete accentuation for your personality. Be confident to go for a high-end feast with it. The best Evening Gown

Apple unveils iPhone 4 update

Apple unveils iPhone 4 update : CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple Inc. unveiled afresh iPhone on Tuesday i.e. faster and more powerful but stops short of a more radical upgrade. It said Sprint customers now will be able to use one. The new iPhone 4S has an improved camera with a higher-resolution sensor. The processor is faster, which helps run smoother, more realistic action games. It's also a “global phone,” which means that Verizon iPhones will be available overseas, just as AT&T iPhones already are. There had been speculation that Apple would reveal a more radical revision of the telephone, an “iPhone five.” The no-show leaves room for speculation that Apple will reveal a new model in less than a year, maybe one equipped to take advantage of Verizon's and AT&T's new high-speed data networks. There had also been speculation that Apple would admit a chip that could talk to payment terminals at retail stores, turning the iPhone into a “mobile wallet.” Competitors are beginning to include this capability in their phones, though the payment systems are still immature. Apple made no mention of such a feature in the iPhone 4S. ‘Personal assistant' Apple is admitting a “personal assistant” application called Siri in the iPhone 4S. It responds to spoken questions and commands such as “Do I need an umbrella today?” It's an advanced version of speech-recognition apps found on other phones. The new iPhone also comes with new mobile software that admits such features as the ability to sync content wirelessly, without having to plug the device to a Mac or Windows machine. The iPhone announcement came during Apple's 1st major product event in years without Steve Jobs presiding. New CEO Tim Cook led the show later Jobs, who has been battling health problems, resigned from the post in August. Cook, wearing a navy blue button-down shirt and jeans, opened by calling his nearly 14-year tenure at Apple “the privilege of a lifetime Those in the audience clapped as he entered, but the reaction seemed more muted than what Jobs had lately received. Cook said the latest iPhone, which came out in June 2010, sold a lot of rapidly than previous models, but the iPhone still has just five percent of the global handset market. Apple is hoping to grow that with the new model. Apple's new mobile software, iOS 5, will also be available on October. 12 for existing devices the iPhone 4 and 3GS, both iPad models and later versions of the iPod Touch. Apple said October. 12 also will mark the launch of its new iCloud service, which will store content such as music, documents, apps and photos on Apple's servers and let people access them wirelessly on numerous devices. Apple said the new telephone will come in black or white. It will cost $199 for a sixteen gigabyte-version, $299 for 32 GB and $399 for 64 GB all with a two-year service contract requirement. It now will be available through Sprint Nextel Corp., besides the existing carriers, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless. Pre-orders will begin Friday with availability October. 14. The previous version, iPhone 4, now will cost $99 for eight GB. The 2009 model, the iPhone 3GS, will be given away for free with 8 GB. Both also require a two-year service contract. Apple also touted the popularity of its products and unveiled a new line of iPods, admitting a Nano model with a multi-touch display that promises to be easier to navigate. Apple made no mention of its Classic model, which a lot of people had speculated the company might discontinue. The iPhone has gained millions of fans, thanks to its slick looks, high-resolution screen and intuitive software. There were 39 million iPhones sold in the 1st 6 months of this year. Apple's stock fell $2.10 to $372.50 in trading Tuesday. It had been down as much as about $17 in earlier trading.

David Koch beats Mayor Bloomberg

David Koch beats Mayor Bloomberg: Wealthy New Yorkers are getting richer. Businessman David Koch retained his title at the big top of the list of rich New Yorkers as his chance grew to $25 billion to edge out Mayor Bloomberg once more, agreeing to the yearly list of the four hundred richest Americans put together by Forbes magazine. The list showed that while Bloomberg's fortune rose $1.5 billion to $19.5 billion since last year, it was not enough to catch the 71-year-old Koch, an oilman who's a big supporter of conservative causes and the Tea Party. Koch's chance was listed at $21.5 by Forbes in 2010. Mayor Bloomberg is the 2nd richest New Yorker, agreeing to Forbes magazine. REUTERS Mayor Bloomberg is the 2nd richest New Yorker, according to Forbes magazine. Forbes said the mayor's company, Bloomberg LP, has been very successful over the past year and "keeps adding office space and employees."At the same time, Donald Trump, who's flirted with running for president next year, also saw his chance rise $500 million this year to $2.9 billion. With seventy percent of the billionaires on the list being self-made, this year is all about the social media. The year’s greatest dollar gainer is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg with a gain of $10.6 billion putting him at No.14 on the overall list with $17.5 billion.Zuckerberg was joined on the list with Facebook buddies Dustin Moskovitz (No. 91 with $3.5 billion), Eduardo Saverin (No. 212 with $2 billion) and Sean Parker (No. 200 with $2.1 billion). Meanwhile, Bill Gates retained his spot at the top of the list with $59 billion, followed by Warren Buffett (No. 2 with $39 billion) and Larry Ellison (No. 3 with $33 billion). While most Americans are feeling the effects of the ongoing recession, rich Americans are not. Collectively, Forbes found that all member of the Top twenty gained wealth this year -- with the exception of Buffett, who was down $6 billion compared to last year. Overall, net worth increased for 262 members -- almost two-thirds of the list. Net worth decreased for just seventy-two members.David Koch beats Mayor Bloomberg:

Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle

Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle: Seattle's masked superhero crime fighter "Phoenix Jones" is now fighting an assault charge for allegedly spraying pepper spray on folks who he claims were fighting. Seattle police force claim the folks were dancing. Phoenix Jones, who has been unmasked by police force as Benjamin Francis, was caught about 2:30 a.m. Sunday while still wearing his black and gold superhero costume, a bullet-proof vest and carrying 2 cans of pepper spray. Jones is a member of Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of self-proclaimed superheroes who say they patrol the streets to fight crime. He was charged with assaulting 2 folks who police force said were "dancing and having a good time" as they walked to their car. In this particular case, he perceived that this group was fighting and when we contacted them, they said they were not fighting," said Det. Mark Jamieson, a Seattle police force section public information officer. "Unluckily, he used force. He committed a crime, an assault versus these individuals. That's versus the law. The police force report by Officer Hosea Crumpton said cited a woman who was sprayed saying the four victims "began dancing and frolicking with each other. Suddenly she observed a human running full sprint towards her group. The human sprayed all 4 victims with pepper spray, the report stated. Francis, who was being filmed by a journalist at the time, told police he "ran into the crowd to break up the fight. Seattle Superhero Phoenix Jones Now Fighting Assault Charges He saw 2 white males fighting, but could not explain why 4 folks, including women, had been sprayed," the police force report said. In a video taken by a journalist who was with Jones when he was arrested and posted on Jones' Facebook page shows Jones rushing towards commotion and a crowd in a road beneath an underpass in downtown Seattle. It's unclear from the video whether the group is fighting or just messing around, as police force said. The police report said that Francis "has had a history of injecting himself in these incidents. Recently there has been increased reports of citizens being pepper sprayed by [Francis] and his group." Earlier that night several other nightclub patrons told police they had also been pepper sprayed by Phoenix Jones, but left the area before police arrived. Peter Tangen, a photographer and spokesman for Phoenix Jones, questioned how police can say the group was dancing and joking around when Jones was on-scene as an eyewitness and police were not when the situation occurred. The first thing Phoenix did was to scream out to call 911," Tangen said. "He's been doing this four or five nights a week this entire year and he has never been charged with a crime. To assert that he ran into a bunch of people dancing and pepper sprayed them is entirely inconsistent with what he has done consistently this entire year." Jones, the husband and father of two, is a self-proclaimed superhero who roams the streets of Seattle late at night allegedly protecting his fellow citizens. "I'm definitely not going to let my fellow citizens be assaulted and not do anything," Jones told "Good Morning America" in January. "It's a pretty simple message. Citizens need to be more accountable. Calling 911 is a great start, but it's not the end all to end all," Jones said. "Criminals feel free to just run wild in my city, and I'm not going to stand for it." Jones isn't the only one who feels this way. He is just one of many citizen superheroes around the country with similar groups in Orlando, New York and Salt Lake City among other places. Over the years, the citizen superheroes have grown more organized, with websites popping up to help them organize themselves such as Superheroes Anonymous and Real Life Superheroes. On these websites, participants can do everything from share their crime-fighting stories to learn about patenting their looks and names. The Salt Lake City group, called the Black Monday Society, is made up of 9 members that go out to patrol downtown Salt Lake City some times a month. They meet up at the Salt Lake City Library and fan out from there, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. While the group does break up fights, they also deliver meals to the homeless and balance their superhero lives with families and day jobs.Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle

Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers: Some things to keep an eye on the Rangers and Tigers set for things ALCS: Who playgrounds of two for the Rangers? We know that CJ Wilson and Justin Verlander are expected to become entangled in what should be fun. But what about Game 2! The Rangers could keep their same rotation and go with Derek Holland in Game 2 at home and send Colby Lewis, whose road splits were much better than his home ones, in Game 3 at Comerica Park. Lewis is coming off a solid outing in Tampa in a pivotal Game 3. Holland was able to grind out a solid start as well in Game 2, so the Rangers may elect to just leave things the way they had it. That would include Matt Harrison in Game 4, also on the road. Wilson and Verlander would likely go at it again in Game 5 in Detroit, if both stay on normal rest. Jim Leyland decision Verlander threw a side session of more than 50 pitches before Game 5 at Yankee Stadium a few people raise their eyebrows. But he sent a clear message to Doug Fister this game was the party of 5. And the Tigers got the win without having to use their ace. Game 2 starting for the Tigers, Max Scherzer, who started 1 1 / 3 innings in Game 5 probably could. That would leave Doug Fister, which began in Game 5 for Game 3 on Tuesday in Detroit rest. Look at the large gardens in the area of ​​Comerica. Craig Gentry said Thursday that he's ready for that area to cover a lot of ground and Josh Hamilton said he'd be fine, but noted there was plenty of room in center out there. The Rangers must decide whether to carry an extra pitcher. It seems likely they'll do that, but which one? Darren O'Day and Yoshinori Tateyama threw side sessions on Thursday and they seem to be the leading candidates. Michael Kirkman could also be considered. Both Texas and Detroit benefited from great bullpens in the ALDS. Joaquin Benoit pitched in and out of a jam in the seventh on Thursday and Jose Valverde didn't blow a save all season. The Rangers have Alexi Ogando, Mike Adams and Neftali Feliz for the final three innings. Watching these two bullpens work should be fun -- and you better score some runs early. Ogando started in all three of the Rangers' wins vs. Detroit and posted a 1.29 ERA and the Tigers batted just .205 against him. He allowed three runs on 18 hits in 21 innings 18 strikeouts, three walks. Regular season results aren't necessarily a great gauge of how a postseason series will go. That's especially true for the Rangers against the Tigers. Why? For starters, they weren't particularly healthy when playing Detroit (after all, Hamilton got hurt in the first series up there) and many of the players that found their way into games aren't even on the roster anymore. Dave Bush started one game against the Tigers with bullpen pieces coming in that won't be on the postseason roster. Plus, the bullpen let some games get away early in the season vs. Detroit and it's not the same bullpen in Texas now. The last time the two teams played was Aug. 4. A lot has happened for both teams since then. Is Verlander to the Tigers like Cliff Lee was to the Rangers in last year's ALCS? Lee pitched only once in the ALCS in 2010.
But he hung over the series. The Yankees knew they had the pressure on them to win the first two on the road knowing Lee was waiting. Verlander will pitch at least twice in this series. If he wins those games, it gives the Tigers a big edge. But if Wilson gets the better of Verlander, it's a huge boost for Texas. So those games should be fun and big for momentum. Of course, the Tigers could decide to go with Verlander on short rest and he's said he's willing and pitches him in Game 4 and Game 7. Remains to be seen Rangers hit .275 as a team against the Tigers, but the part that was a very good game. They need to Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus hit them better than they did in the regular season.

Jorge Posada’s final At Bat: Yankees big set to retire

Jorge Posada’s final At Bat: Yankees big set to retire: Share in a hare-mail on Facebook Share on Twitter Stumble Upon hare hare RedditShare on DiggSubscribe Yes, but this spacer articleybh Print By John Romano, "YBH" - I'll go ahead and say something the Yankees have yet to say!: Thank you Jorge Posada and good luck!  Tonight, Jorge Posada ended his career with the New York Yankees.  Mr. Posada’s last at bat was a ground out to Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta in the bottom of the 8th inning.  An anti- climactic end to a great career, Mr. Posada had a disappointing season this year, during his first and only at the designated hitter spot, after serving as the Yankees starting catcher for 14 years.  He hit .235 for the season and batted in 44 runs over 115 games.   Mr. Posada did, however, have a great post season in five games against Detroit in the ALDS batting .429. Posada’s late season surge and Robinson Cano’s post season home run prowess were not enough to get the Yankees past a resilient Tigers club.  Detroit’s two first inning home runs last night put the Yankees on the defense and the team simply could not recover.   Detroit bested the Yankees 3-2 in a thrilling game 5 which sent the Tigers to the ALCS for the first time since 2006.  The Tigers face the Texas Rangers in a best-of-seven series that begins on Saturday. La Posada 40 years has hit 275 homers and struck in 1065 operates in a sixteen-year career with the New York Yankees. His lifetime batting average is .273. He will be missed.Jorge Posada’s final At Bat: Yankees big set to retire:

Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptist Church: Whatever your thoughts are about the "God Hates Fags" mantra of the Westboro Baptist Church, it can't be said that the organization doesn't know its rights and how to defend them in court. Once again the controversial, Kansas-based church has won a legal decision in Missouri. The newest came yesterday when the America Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit affirmed last summer's decision striking down the City of Manchester's funeral protest ordinance. In so doing, the court reaffirmed that peaceful pickets on world sidewalks near funerals are entitled to the protection of the 1st Amendment. In recent years Westboro Baptist Church has taken to protesting outside military funerals under their opinion that God is punishing America. Soldiers for their nation tolerance of homosexuality Manchester modeled its ordinance later an Ohio funeral protest statute that was found to be constitutional by a court in 2008. Yesterday's decision disagreed with that conclusion. Manchester's ordinance criminalized speech in a manner the 1st Amendment can't tolerate," said Anthony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, which represented the church. "Allowing speech we find offensive in public forums is one cost of the freedoms that define U.S.A.." Last year a federal court also threw out a Missouri state law restricting protests near funerals.Westboro Baptist Church

Joan Baez, And Amnesty

Joan Baez, And Amnesty: The following is a special message for a long time supporter of Amnesty Joan Baez during our annual membership drive in September: Support Amnesty Dear, All my life I felt humbled by the suffering of others. It's just that I have by accident of birth, was born at the right place at the right time and another Huddle, not me, in a prison cell, tortured and face the unbearable consequences of being born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, as the legendary Phil Ochs song says, there but for fortune, go you or I. Happily for me, I discovered early on that, in the words of Swedish Ambassador Harold Edelstam, “I cannot tolerate injustice.” This inability to tolerate injustice brought me to the roots of human misery; he called to join the fight for rights, freedoms and dignity of others. And in so doing, helped me maintain my own dignity, In 1972, he was inspired to dedicate a year of my life to helping Amnesty launched its first U.S. office in the West Coast and around the world years later, when the organization had reached epidemic proportions to carry out both a conspiracy of the Human Rights of Hope and now! Visits, Today I stand with Amnesty and their Death Penalty Abolition Campaign to fight for the life of Troy Davis, who within weeks could be executed for a crime he may not have committed. There remain serious doubts of his guilt. His death sentence defies all logic and morality. In matters of life and death, there is no room for doubt. With their death penalty campaign work, Amnesty has long been a leader in the struggle to abolish the death penalty in every corner of the world. In honor of Amnesty’s 50th birthday, please join me in this life-saving work. Become a member during Amnesty’s September membership drive and a generous donor will match your gift dollar-for-dollar. It used to be that human rights abuses weren’t on anyone’s agenda. Today, when human rights prevail, it happens thanks to organizations like Amnesty. Amnesty has grown into the most powerful human rights movement in history, winning freedom for tens of thousands of individuals jailed for expressing their beliefs, shutting down torture chambers and halting executions. At the heart of these victories for human rights Amnesty members are dedicated feed envelopes, signs, petitions, is visible in marches and rallies, recruit friends, tweets, and Amnesty support with financial contributions. I have a special place in my heart for Amnesty. I hope you will too. We need an amnesty, Amnesty and need us. Please join me as a member today.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates: In his reflections on the status of Steve Jobs at Apple, it is impossible to separate the role of Microsoft. Enterprises, as well as employment and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a pioneer in the industry and to define an era. The two leaders and at different times, competing all the time and competed in ways that helped shape the landscape of techno. It's a complex relationship. In the early days of computing, Apple depended on software from Microsoft for its Macintosh computer. There's a charming 1983 video, aired in an edited form for the D: All Things Digital Conference in 2007, in which Jobs hosts a "Dating Game" with software execs including Gates. It is a celebration of love with Gates comments on the Mac "really captures the imagination of people" and the use of the decision in the end, all the needs of support frameworks, including Gates. Because Microsoft got to the top of the computer industry, Apple has become more marginalized in the 1980s, the gloves came out. In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft for infringing on the patents regarding the look and feel of its operating system. Over years of litigation, Microsoft won rulings that whittled away almost all of Apple's claims. By 1997, Apple's fortunes had sunk so low that it reached out to its sometime partner, sometime nemesis for a hand. Gates appeared via satellite at the MacWorld conference have agreed to invest $ 150 million of Apple as well as to develop and ship future versions of Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and development tools for the Macintosh. The companies also settled the claims remaining in dispute over patents. That investment, which will surely be rewarded for Microsoft over the years, also helped Apple once again the economic base. And it helped Jobs move forward on the job of turning around Apple and ultimately making it the most valuable company in technology. Along the way, Jobs often sparred with Microsoft, criticizing the company's lack of creativity. "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste," Jobs said in the 1996 public television documentary "Triumph of the Nerds." "They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products." In a New York Times article that ran after the documentary aired, Jobs disclosed that he called Gates afterward to apologize. But only to a degree, ‘I told him I believed every word of what I'd said but that I never should have said it in public,'' Jobs told the Times. ''I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.'' At the time, and for many years after, those words often seemed like sour grapes from an executive whose company had been surpassed in so many ways by Microsoft. But in the end, Jobs demonstrated his vision on the right. The muzzle of the design and vision helped launch the iPod, iPhone and iPad and revolutionary Apple products business became more profitable and more valuable than Microsoft.

Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

Steve Jobs Commencement Speech: I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the best universities in the global. I ne'er graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've always gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just 3 stories The 1st story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College later the 1st 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so earlier I really quit. So why did I drop out? It began earlier 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 actually desired a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the nighttime 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 ne'er graduated from college and that my father had ne'er graduated from high school. She refused to sign the last adoption papers. She only relented a few months after when my parents promised that I'd someday go to college and seventeen years after 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. Later 6 months, I could not see the value in it. I had no idea what I desired 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 jolly scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the finest decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that did not interest me, and start dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It was not all romantic. I did not have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I came back coke bottles for the five¢ deposits to buy food with, and I'd walk the seven miles across town every Sunday nighttime to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I enjoyed 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 maybe the finest calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on all drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and did not 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 other letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science cannot capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the 1st Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the 1st computer with attractive typography. If I had never dropped in on that exclusive course in college, the Mac would have ne'er 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 ne'er 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 10 years after. Again, you cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you've to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You've to trust in something your gut, destiny, life, and karma, whatever. This approach has ne'er 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 parent’s 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 what had been my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really do not know what to do for some months. I felt I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was over for me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing so bad. 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 five years I started a company named neXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would be my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer animated film, Toy Story, and now the most successful animation studio in the world. A significant turnaround, Apple bought NEXT, I returned to Apple and the technology we have developed the first renaissance in the center of Apple. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family. I'm sure none of this would have happened if I had not been fired from Apple. It awful tasted 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 in all matters of the heart, you know when it was found. And like any good relationship, it is getting better and better as the years roll. So we're looking until you find it. Do not settle. The third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like this: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll certainly be right." I was impressed, and from that moment, the past 33 years, I looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, I would like to do, what I'm about to do today?" And whenever the answer is "No" too many days in a row, I know that 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 take the right things, which is the code of medical Prepare to die. It means everything to try to tell your children that you thought you'd be in the next 10 years to tell them just a few months. This means ensuring that all the buttons so that it is as easy as possible for your family. It means saying goodbye really. Living the diagnosis all day, later that evening I had a biopsy, which stuck an endoscope down the throat, through my stomach and 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 do not waste it living someone else's life. Do not be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Do not let the noise of the opinions of others to cover their own inner voice and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Somehow already know what you really want to become. Everything else is secondary. When I was young, 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. Underneath were the words: "Stay Hungry Stay foolish." It was their farewell message to his signature. Stay Hungry. Stay foolish. And I've always wanted for myself. And now, when you go to start over, I hope for you.