自強街87號

My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found out what I love to do early in life. Wozniak and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard. In 10 years, Apple arose from two of us in the garage into a 2-billion-dollar company with 4ooo employees. We just released the finest creation, the McIntosh, a year earlier, and I just turned 30. And then, I got fired. How can you get fired from the 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 years or so, thing’s run well. But then our visions to the future began diverged and eventually we had falling-out. When we did, our board of directors decided to be with him. So at 30, I was out, and very publicly out. If I’ve been focused on the entire adult life that has gone, it was devastating. I really didn’t know what do to for a few months. I felt that I left my previous generation of entrepreneurs down, and I dropped the betongue that was passed to me. I met with David Packer and Bob Moyes and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. It was 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 tune of Apple did not change one bit. I’ve been rejected, but I was still in love. So I decided to start over. I didn’t see at then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple has been the best thing that could ever happen to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. I’m sure about it every day. It freed me to end one of my most creative period in my life. During the next 5 years, I started a company named Next and another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman that lately becomes my wife. Pixar went on the world’s first computer-animated feature film --- Toy Story, and now it’s the most successful animated film studio in the world. In our remarkable turn of advance, Apple bought Next and I returned to Apple. With technology we developed Next into the heart of Apple’s core renaissance. And Irene and I had a wonderful family again. I’m pretty sure none of this would’ve happened if I had not been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life would hit you in the head with bricks. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced the only thing that kept me going was I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love and that is true for work as it is true for lovers. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_ptbiPoXM&feature=related

2005 年，蘋果總裁賈伯斯於史丹佛大學畢業典禮致詞時，說了三個意味深長的故事，值得記錄下來，順便考考聽力測驗。以下為該演講全部內容，擬分三次刊出：
I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement of one of the finest universities in the world. Truth to be told, I've never graduated from college, and this is the closest I've gotten to the college graduation. Today, I wanna tell you three stories of my life. That's it, no big deal, just three stories.

How To Know The Purpose Of My Life?
By Krystyan Chiou

Dear professors and my fellow classmates,

As the last assignment, the following composition is according to a 3-framed comic for JCEE, a 'monkey story':

1. Royne was in the kitchen, ready to set up for a romantic dinner later when her husband, Chris, rushed home after work. As a newly-wed housewife, she seldom had some fantastic ideas about anything for a perfect cuisine, not to mention conjuring up a decent tasty cuisine minceur with choicy cut veal and seasonal vegetables. Her husband didn't expect too much about her cooking talent anyway.

The main caracter of the following story is called Ben, who was suffered poverty and treated worse in his childhood, more than Ben. Ben really should read this:

Benjamin S. Carson Sr., M.D., had a childhood dream of becoming a physician. But he grew up in a single-parent home, with dire poverty, poor grades, a horrible temper and low self-esteem. While that appeared to preclude the realization of his dream, his mother, with only a third-grade education, challenged both of her sons to strive for excellence. Carson persevered and today is a full professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and he has directed pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for nearly a quarter of a century. He became the inaugural recipient of a professorship dedicated in his name in May 2008. He is now the Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D. and Dr. Evelyn Spiro, R.N. Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

Carson’s career highlights include the first separation of craniopagus (Siamese) twins joined at the back of the head in 1987, the first completely successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins in 1997 in South Africa and the first successful placement of an intrauterine shunt for a hydrocephalic twin. Although he has been involved in many newsworthy operations, Carson feels that every case deserves maximum attention. He is interested in all aspects of pediatric neurosurgery and has a special interest in trigeminal neuralgia (severe facial pain) in adults.

The first time I was told to have an English composition was in my elementary school days, when Mrs. Gluttons, our English teacher, a mild-tempered but stalwart lady in her mid-twenties, asked  me to write down what had been my most unforgettable moment in my life, to which I should owe my dedication, or, relatively conservatively speaking, at least I might consider worth keeping in my diary as one of my own precious moment, also as a moment to remember myself as an acronym of embarrassment, excitement of others, eccentric mischief made by some good fellows, an eddy, in which I would rather be effeminate at the pantry than be whirled, absorbed and decomposed, effete and lachrymose, still with which almost everyone would easily associate and share, a moment of truth proper, a truth to comprehend my gaunt ego yet with inflated vanity, through which one can perceive my endless covetousness for delicacies, gulping and slurping the most choicely cut of fattest slices of raw salmon and devouring other fresh seasonal seafood in desperation --- at San Wei Shii Tan. (180 words)

一篇古白話 十年閱讀功 - 考生蔣昕捷滿分作文《赤兔之死》
【大紀元7月22日訊】 以一篇《赤兔之死》贏得作文滿分的蔣昕捷是南京13中理科班的學生，高考考完後，他就和幾個好朋友結伴去泰山玩了，昨天夜裏才趕回南京。今天上午，他在家中接受了記者的專訪。揚子晚報消息，蔣昕捷是在媽媽的電話中得知自己的作文得了滿分，他說，當時很難形容自己的心情，因為用古白話書寫高考作文，能否得到閱卷老師的認同，心裏也沒個底，但他堅持認為， 寫這樣的故事用古白話更恰當，表現歷史人物更生動，當然自己運用起來也更自如。剛拿到題目時，他覺得這次作文題目入手比較容易，但要寫好很難，當做到現代文閱讀時，文章中恰好提到了赤兔馬，他一下子像見到了老朋友，隨之呂布和關羽的形象也浮現在腦海中，他聯想到這兩個人物都與“誠信”相關，可以用到作文上，但如果單純做成人物評論，作文就缺乏感染力。接著他想到赤兔馬早年跟從呂布，後來又追隨關羽，關於“誠信”的話題，它應該是最有發言權的，於是就編撰出赤兔之死的故事。整個寫作花了50分鐘的時間。

一位閱卷老師在作文評語中寫到“明白曉暢，文采飛揚，這種老到的語言功夫是眾多考生無法望其項背的”，作為一名高中學生在高考臨場作文時如何能發揮得如此自如？蔣昕捷告訴記者這要歸功於平時的積累。從5歲的時候，他就迷上了聽袁闊成的《三國演義》，小小的半導體成了他最親密的夥伴，一天要聽七八場書。上小學後，他開始讀古典名著，《水滸》、《西遊記》、《紅樓夢》，尤其是《三國演義》，他酷愛文中描寫的那個猛將如雲、謀事如雨的時代，讀了至少三四十遍，很多章節都能熟讀成誦。除了古典文學，他還喜歡讀魯迅的雜文、錢鐘書的小說和一些名人傳記。也許是因為閱讀廣泛的原因，他的語文成績一向不錯。高中開始，老師要求他們寫日記、周記，文體不限，他就最喜歡用自己擅長的古白話抒寫，偶爾也作詩、填詞。但蔣昕捷也坦率地承認，自己的議論文常寫不好。

The Difference between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis
organized and transcribed by pollinikrys

The term arthritis refers to over 100 joint, muscle, or cartilage disease. The two most common forms of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA), are major causes of work disability in the US, which we also should pay attention to here in Taiwan under such sultry and humid weather. Can you know how different they are?

OK, before knowing the differences in between, we should define the joint, in which arthritis could develop. A joint is formed at the junction of two bones. Joints help smooth movement and absorb weight and force. Movement at a joint occurs when muscles contract and pull on tendons around the joints. A capsule surrounds the joint. Surrounding ligaments, tendons, and muscles add support and stability to the joint. Synovial fluid surrounds a moveable joint and provides lubrication the joint, allowing smooth movements. Cartilage covers the articular end of the bone, providing a cushion for the bone. Since cartilage has no blood or nerves, it cannot heal or repair itself. It receives its nourishment from the synovial fluid. (Swann, 2007; Harvard Medical School, 2006)

Danny was wheeled into the surgery room, where his spirit got out of him, meaning his body could no longer hold his poor heart arrest and the exhausting work overtime. As usual, like last death experience, Danny floated at the ceilings, watching the medical assistants doing the routine prep work: a nurse draped him with a clean sheet, getting IV for anesthesia and then a man with a scalpel and bone saw had his rib cage pried open.

There Danny went to the tunnel again. At the end of it he met the Being of Light, the same one that greeted him the first time, and still as usual, Danny was, though reluctantly, made to watch those early life reviews again. But this time he saw the good that he had accomplished with his life. He watched himself volunteering in nursing homes, performing even small duties, like helping someone stand up or comb her hair. Several times he watched as he did jobs no one else wanted to do, like clipping toenails and changing diapers. In short, the life review that came with this second near-death experience was wonderful. Unlike his first, which was filled with mayhem, anger, and even death, this one was a pyrotechnic display of good deeds.

After the review was over, the Being of Light gave him the chance to forgive everyone who had ever crossed him. The Being told him he had to forgive them. If he didn’t, he then would be stuck at the spiritual level that he now occupied. What else could Danny do? Next to spiritual advancement, these earthly trespasses seemed trivial. Forgiveness flooded his heart, along with a strong sense of humility. It was only then that they began to move upward.

They flew through a range of majestic mountains and dipped down on a plateau. There was a massive building that looked like a greenhouse, which was constructed of large panes of glass that were filled with liquid in all the colors of the rainbow. Inside were four rows of flowers, long-stemmed beauties with cup-shaped petals the consistency of silk. Among these flowers were spirit beings wearing silver robes. They were not Beings of Light. To be best described, they were rather radiant earthlings. Danny found this environment to be tremendously relaxing. The colors and surroundings combined with the humming vibration of the Being to erase stress. He felt just relaxed and great there, no matter whether he was died or dying. The Being moved closed to him and said, ‘This is the feeling you are supposed to create in the centers.’

After struck by lightning, Danny had recovered from his damaged physical condition stride by stride, from a ‘broken heart’ that was made about 30% useless by the lightning, cramped muscles, and blackout spells, to a normal, at least by his own standards, status, so good enough to work again as a salesman dealing with electronics pertaining to his long-existing vision --- to build the centers.

Danny also went back to work for the government, manufacturing and installing electronic anti-bugging devices in government buildings around the world. He also made business involving the manufacture of a piece of equipment that was shown to him in one of his visions --- an electronic anti-fouling device designed to keep barnacles off the hulls of ships, thereby cutting down on added fuel consumption caused by drag.

He helped the deaf with better hearing too by inventing a piece of equipment called an audio transducer to convert speech into sound wave vibration, which can be attached to any surface, including human bodies. Therefore, the deaf may hear again with an aid of such device.

Likewise, Danny’s visions about the centers were all about the same to understand the human body. When one reaches the point where one can control this energy and transform it into a positive force, then one could found the part of them that is God. And this was exactly the goal of his building the centers, which was to redirect human energy, yet Danny wasn’t quite aware of that at that time.

Danny discovered that he got a power to read people’s mind. Through many conversations with friends, Danny always upstaged his friends by telling them what they would like to say later, which was still held in their mouths. This made his friend’s jaws dropped. Danny often answered the questions even before they asked. He just ‘heard’ what they were going to say. It was just as much a shock to him as to those baffled to whom he was talking.

His ability to read minds improved rapidly; so rapidly that it almost ruined negotiations on a business deal. Danny had three partners who engaged in the sale of some electronic equipment with members of a Norwegian shipping company. As they sat with the Norwegians at a conference table, they began to speak to one another in Norwegian. They were agreeing on the questions they were going to ask Danny and his partners before asking in English. Though they spoke in Norwegian, Danny understood them perfectly by reading their minds. After telling them the truth, the partners began that such condition would ruin the deal for no one wanted their minds to be read. From then on, Danny would not reveal his extrasensory to others, but that didn’t mean he didn’t use such power to keep others from taking advantage of him. Once, Danny found through mind reading that a new vendor was trying to upload defective electronic parts to them.

During this period, Danny gained another extraordinary power as to see ‘movies’, namely, Danny would look at someone and suddenly see snippets from one’s life as if he was looking a home video. Or he would pick up an object that someone owned and see scenes from the life of the owner. Sometimes he touched something old and would have a vision of that object’s history.

In 1985, Danny took a business trip via London. As he stepped in front of the Parliament house, he stopped to adjust his shoes. He put his hand on the handrail and he suddenly smelled horses, saw people playing croquet in spring clothes, gentlemen wearing derbies walking by. It was a scene of 1800’s! Danny was awestruck and could not get out of the surroundings till his friend pulled his hand loose from the rail for he saw Danny was in some kind of trance.

After the book ‘Life After Life’ was published, Moody seemed to be busier with those deluges of journalistic interviews, academic lectures, and other more statements and researches of NDE cases. So his ex-wife Louise called Danny if he would help Moody with some of his organizational skill that he had neither time nor patience for. In the year of 1976, the health condition of Danny was much better though his heart detriment hindered him from a longer life expectancy. During that time, Danny has also learned many social and communicational skills from Moody such as not keeping thinking himself as Jesus Christ and preaching to people only when they want to listen to him.

Danny went to Charlottesville to give Moody a hand. There he answered phones, fielded requests for media interviews, and set up speaking schedules that had Moody travel far corners in the world. Through the work there, Danny came across many others like him who had also NDE and learned a lot from those stories that scientists now agree that NDE is not a dream.

Although Danny had collected many NDE cases, he found few had his own kind, that is, one of a kind, which covered so complete and detailed experiences. Some might be close, but not so comprehensive. Meeting these people also convinced he that he was not insane. Like other people who had NDE, he began to realize that he was special, not insane. Instead of feeling ashamed or humiliated, they suddenly felt good about themselves. Still, along with confidence in his sanity, Danny gained an even stronger feeling and appeal for his mission: to build the centers. This mission was, in essence, his message. Though he never wanted to do the job, yet only a fool would resist a mandate from God.

Then Danny made a discovery that truly jolted him.

Through the interview, Moody seemed not to be so gaping in awe as Danny recounted what happened. Sitting in a rock chair with a straight face, he just showed no alarm or surprise when Danny told him about the cathedrals of light. ‘Yes, I’ve heard of those things before.’ Even hearing about the halls of knowledge didn’t cause him to lift an eyebrow. Danny told him about what the Beings of Light had conveyed, the boxes, his missions, everything he remembered. Moody stopped rocking and leaned forward, telling him that Danny was not crazy, and his story was the most detailed he had ever heard. Danny felt so comforted and relaxed. At least this time he was not taken as some creepy cranky, like a insane fundamentalist. From then on, he was improving even faster, psychologically.

Danny began to read the Bible, studying the nature of the visions that take place in the scriptures. He talked to Moody almost daily.

One night, Danny shocked him by telling him a vision he had seen. Moody would be together with Danny on the day when the world began to ‘collapse’, that is, they would be in the Soviet Union when it falls apart! Of course, Moody seemed not to buy it, neither did Danny himself for it was just too incredible to believe. At that time, the condition of the USSR was quite sturdy and found, and traveling to such country, the No.1 antagonist to the US as an American tourist was out of question also. But it was one of the very visions what Danny saw in the boxes. It came true in 1992 when Danny and Moody visited Moscow, just after the collapse of communism, and witnessed downtrodden Russians line up around the block in scant hope of entering stores and buying whatever was available.

Danny felt more and more relaxing with Moody, who also shared similar near-death experiences with one another as he did with Danny, though Moody took a special liking to him.

The article in the newspaper was no more than four paragraphs, but it did change Danny’s life as the lightning bolt. It said that a Dr. Raymond Moody would be speaking at the University of South Carolina on ‘What Happens to Some People Who Have Been Declared Clinically Dead but Survive’. Moody, once a Georgia psychiatrist, has been analyzing case studies of people who have almost died, only to return from their brush with death to talk about seeing dead relatives, Beings of Light and having their life pass before them in review, which was called ‘the near-death experience’ and happened to thousands of people.

Danny was excited because he was no longer alone. In the year of 1975, such experience was still of Dark Age period. People knew little about ‘near-death’ and even clergymen could do little help, usually considering it as the work of the devil.

In the speech, Danny heard many stories like his. One of them was very impressive to Danny: It was about a soldier in Korean War, whose head suffered concussion by an enemy artillery barrage. He once left his body and had a journey to a place full of bright light. After the soldier experienced being ‘soaked in good feelings’, he got a message from a special voice which uttered ‘Just love everybody’. Then he came back to life. In fact, there were also several episodes in the Bible which were considered such experiences; Paul once was stoned nearly dead at the gates of Damascus.

It was not until 1960’s did Dr. Moody began gathering the near-death cases in full force into medical realm. He found that the experience was common and general, which could be obtained by many, if not most, people who survived a brush with death. He found 15 common elements in the cases, but no single person who reported all of the them, although a few reported as many as 12. Since the book Dr. Moody published ‘Life After Life’ these elements have been combined and reduced to 9 common traits:

Instructions
Anonymous author; rearranged and transcribed by pollinikrys

One day I asked God for instructions on how to live on this earth.

Life was so sketchy for Danny after being home for his nerves were shorted out. Reality came into pieces, like jigsaw puzzle. After a couple of days, for instance, Danny talked with a woman and listened her chattering away about people and events he didn’t know. He liked this woman. She had a familiar way about her and was very pleasant.

'Excuse me’, Danny interrupted, 'But who are you?’

There was a shock on the woman’s face. ‘Why, Dannion, I’m you mother.’

So depleted was his stamina. He could at most stand for 15 minutes; sometimes he could walk for 10 steps, then he had to sleep at least 20 hours.

Staying in the Crystal City just then, Danny flashed back to his burnt body for the next moment, when two orderlies along with Tommy rolled him to the morgue with a cigarette on one’s lips. Danny could only blow the sheet covered over him to let know that he was back to live. Tommy found the sheet moving up and down and called the doctors for the first aid. All were astounded at this almost impossible miracle.

In spite of being back, Danny still could have coherent contact with the Crystal City when he was asleep. He had dreams for the next days at rehabilitation, and they were wonderful. His waking world was filled with pain and irritation while his sleeping world was with freedom, knowledge, and excitement. Awake, people around him were waiting for him to die, for his condition was just too critical to be expected to be healed. Asleep, he was shown how to live a fruitful life.

Eight days have passed. Danny could barely move his left hand. He continued to commune with the Beings of Light. Night after night his dreams showed him the future, circuitry, building plans, and component parts. He got a deadline to working on the model of the center, the 7 healing rooms, which was supposed to be completed by 1992.

Thirteen days later, by the end of September, 1975, he was released from the hospital. His eyes became so sensitive that he had to wear welder’s goggles outside. He was able to crawl out of bed and drop into a wheelchair, which would take him 30 minutes to do.

Box 7: The environmental religion
Nothing new but all environmental destructions, the world glowed like a radium watch face. Telepathically Danny heard a voice for a need to clean up our world. These voices came at first from Russia, then South America, probably from Uruguay or Paraguay. A speaker emerged from Russia and talked with zeal to heal the environment. He soon was elected one of the leaders of UN. Danny saw this man riding on a white horse, and he knew that the Russian could come before the year 2000.

Boxes 8 and 9: China battles Russia