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hussaini787
A very inspiring speech by STEVE JOBS (CEO of APPLE & P
Posted January 25, 2009 by hussaini787
Three Stories From My Life
 
As delivered by Steve Jobs
 
 
 
 This is the very inspirational speech given by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, to the graduating class of Stanford University 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, 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 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 its 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.
Tags: a, speech, is, given, by, JOBS, in, stanford, university
rizwan_musavi
The Birth of the Great Baby
Posted November 10, 2008 by rizwan_musavi

Introduction
Imam Ali bin Mousa al-Reza (PBUH), the eighth Imam of Shiites , is of the progeny of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) and his eighth successor. At age 35 he became the leader of the Islamic union. His life was contemporary to the Abbasid reign and therefore, he suffered great difficulties made by the Abbasids. Finally, he was martyred by Ma"moon (the contemporary Abbasid Caliph) at the age of 55.

His name, title and honorary name
His name is Ali, his title is Abu al-Hassan, and his most famous honorary name is Reza, meaning Satisfaction.

According to his son, Imam Muhammad Taqi (PBUH), the ninth Imam, The glorious and mighty Lord named him Reza because Allah was pleased with him in the heavens and the Prophet of Allah and the Imams of guidance were pleased with him on earth. Also, his friends and relatives and even his enemies were satisfied with him because of his great moral qualities.
One of his famous titles is Alim Al Muhammad (scholar of Prophet"s progeny). His success in the different disputes with the scholars of various religions indicates his high knowledge. We will discuss some incidents in this article. This ability and superiority in knowledge is a proof for his Imamat, as it can be inferred from his sayings.

His father and mother
<His father was Imam Mousa al-Kadhim (PBUH), the seventh Imam. He was martyred by Haroon on 138 (AH). His mother was Najmah.

His birth
Imam Reza (PBUH) was born on in the year 148 on the 11th of Ziqadah in Medina. It is narrated from his mother that:
When I was pregnant, I didn't feel overweighed. When I was asleep, I heard the sound of praising Allah and the word of La Ilaha Illa Allah from my womb, but when I got up, I heard nothing.

Biography

Name: Ali
Title: Ar-Reza, Imam-e-Zamin
Designation: 8th Imam
Kunyat: Abul Hasan
Father: Musa Ibne Ja"far
Mother: Bibi Suttana/Umul Baneen
Born: 11th Dhul-Qida 148AH/765AD
Died: 17/29th Safar 203 AH/818AD
Martyred: Poisoned by Mamoon
Buried: Mashhad, Khorasan
Lived: 55 years


When Imam Reza, peace be on him, was born, the earth shined; waves of delight and happiness spread through the Household of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his Household. As for Imam al-Kazim, he received with more delight the news of the birth of his blessed baby, so he hurried to his wife and congratulated her on her baby, saying:
“I congratulate you, Najma. It is a mark of nobility for you from your Lord!"
Imam al-Kazim took his blessed baby, folded it with a white piece of cloth, and performed the religious rites for it. He said the adhan in its right ear, said the iqama in its left ear, called for sweet water and rubbed its lower jaw with it, and then he returned it to its mother and said to her: “Take it, for it is the rest (baqiyat) of Allah on His earth."
The first picture which the Prophet’s grandson (Imam Reza, peace be on him) saw in the world of existence was that of his father, the Imam of the Allah-fearing and leader of the monotheists; and the first voice which he heard was:
“Allah is Great!"
“There is no god but Allah!"
These brilliant words are the secret of existence and song of the Allah-fearing.
Imam al-Kazim, peace be on him, named his blessed baby with the name of his grandfather Imam ‘Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, that he might get blessing seek good omen in this name, which stood for the greatest personality created in the world of Islam and had all good qualities of the world.

arif_zaidi
Wiladat of IMAM ALI RAZA(AS).
Posted November 10, 2008 by arif_zaidi

11 Ziqa'ad
Wiladat of IMAM ALI RAZA(AS).


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

Iran ki Sarhad pe he ABBAS ka Charcha
SHABBIR ka wo Bakht Rasa Jaag raha hai
Is Waaste Sukh Chain se sote hein Musafir
Mashhad me mera MOLA RAZA Jaag raha hai

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


Zahoor'e IMAM-e-ZAMIN,
IMAM ALI RAZA(A.S) tamam momin o mominaat k bohut Mubarak ho.

Khuda Hum sub ko Panjetan-e-Pak aur Hamshera-e-IMAM RAZA(A.S) BIBI(S.A) k Sadqe Mashhad me IMAM ALI RAZA(A.S) k Roze per Hazri aur Qum me In ki Hamshera BIBI(S.A) k Roze per Hazri naseeb farmaye. {ameen}

Iltimas e Dua.
S. M.Arif Zaidi
sheeza
Secret of Success
Posted November 9, 2008 by sheeza
A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning and they met.

Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue.

The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath. Socrates asked "What you wanted the most when you were there?" The young man replied 'Air.'

Socrates said that's the most secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret. Hence, it takes efforts more than little, by keeping mind - body unison to be successful.

Also Remember:

  • Life is a test.
  • Islam is the best.
  • Namaz is a must.
  • Aakhirat is for rest.
  • World is only dust.
  • If Quran is in chest,
  • nothing needed next.
  • Obey Allah (SWT) first,
  • Success will be next.
sheeza
Hereafter in Islam (Dream Interpretation)
Posted November 9, 2008 by sheeza
Once a man saw in his dream, that a lion was chasing him.

The man ran to a tree, climbed on to it and sat on a branch. He looked down and saw that the lion was still there waiting for him.

The man then looked to his side where the branch he was sitting on was attached to the tree and saw that two rats were circling around and eating the branch. One rat was black and the other one was white. The branch would fall on the ground very soon.

Dream InterpretationThe man then looked below again with fear and discovered that a big black snake had come and settled directly under him. The snake opened its mouth right under the man so that he will fall into it.

The man then looked up to see if there was anything that he could hold on to. He saw another branch with a honeycomb. Drops of honey were falling from it.

The man wanted to taste one of the drops. So, he put his tongue out and tasted one of the fallen drops of honey. The honey was amazing in taste. So, he wanted to taste another drop. As he did, he got lost into the sweetness of the honey.

REAL LIFE STORYMeanwhile, he forgot about the two rats eating his branch away, the lion on the ground and the snake that is sitting right under him.

After a while, he woke up from his sleep.

To get the meaning behind this dream, the man went to a pious scholar of Islam. The Islamic scholar who interpret the dream said, the lion you saw is your death. It always chases you and goes wherever you go.

The two rats, one black and one white, are the night and the day. Black one is the night and the white one is the day. They circle around, coming one after another, to eat your time as they take you closer to death.

HoneyThe big black snake with a dark mouth is your grave. It's there, just waiting for you to fall into it.

The honeycomb is this world and the sweet honey is the luxuries of this world. We like to taste a drop of the luxuries of this world but it's very sweet. Then we taste another drop and yet another.

Meanwhile, we get lost into it and we forget about our time, we forget about our death and we forget about our graves.

This Life is Material, and the Hereafter is Far Better:

According to Islam, this life is very short and full of material things that can get in the way of our submission to Almighty God. It's not wrong to have these material possessions as long as we remember our obligations to Almighty God and thank Him for those things. We shouldn't get preoccupied with this temporary worldly life and forget Hereafter.

It is narrated that the Holy Prophet (saw) has said: "Most intellectual of man is he remembers the death most."

It is narrated that the Holy Prophet (saw) has said: "One who gains the love and grace of Allah, always end (Ajal) will be before his eyes and he will be always worried about his death. But the one who take Satan (Shaitan) as a friend and becomes Bad-Bakht. Shaitan overpowers him and indulge (Giraftaar) him in long long desires and them he never remember death."

The famous poet Longfellow calls human footprints sublime on the 'sands of time' while writer Margaret Mitchell declares generations will be 'gone with the wind'. The Ancient Greeks believed that the human race was like a bird, that came from a dark passage and flew away in another dark tunnel, with a momentary stay in a bright room, which they believed was our world.

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