Steve Wozniak Defines Passion Through Deeds

The most overused word today is “passion.”

The last season of MasterChef had contestants saying cooking was their “passion” in every interview. How could so many people have that “passion” yet be so bad at doing it?

It’s because they confuse “passion” with “something I really like to do.”

This, from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, illustrates what passion really is:

One accident that happened to me was that I taught myself, with no books, how to design computers in high school. I loved doing it and designed computers all the time, from descriptions of them in manuals by the companies that made them. I designed the same computers over and over and made a game out of trying to use fewer and fewer parts, coming up with tricks to accomplish my task that could never be in a book. They were ’tricks‘ in my own head. I felt that some of these tricks would be used by probably no other computer designer in the world. In my game world, on paper, where I could never afford to build my designs, I felt I was one of the best in the world.

How many of those MasterChef contestants could cook without affording the food?

Wozniak could.

That is passion.

Quote: Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Business Rusch: The Death of Publishing

You’re a rotating group of widgets that might make the publisher some money.

That’s the truth.

And she also explains why the print bastards haven’t yet died — and nearly convinces me.

Reference: iOS 6 Jailbreaking

Some day, the cats will let me have an iPad Mini. And I will jailbreak it.

Cydia Blog

iPadOS blog

iPadOS Cydia Apps List [2012-2013]

Complete List of FREE iOS 6 Cydia Tweaks/Apps For All Jailbroken Devices [UPDATED]

The best Cydia apps

List Of iOS 6 Compatible Essential Cydia Tweaks And Apps

Full List of Cydia Sources – 2012

Here’s the List of iOS 6 Compatible Jailbreak Apps & Tweaks

120+ of the Best Sydia Apps

Update:

25 Best Cydia Apps for iOS 6

Also, leave Comments if you know of any particular blogs I should follow that have information about iOS jailbreak apps.

Recommended: Toogles

Toogles is an alternative interface to YouTube.

It is wicked fast, even on my crap PC.

I’ve found it so useful for quickly searching YouTube that it’s now a bookmark right next to YouTube on my browser bar and I go to it first for searching.

Jesus Christ And The Dog-Woman

Just imagine being insulted face-to-face by Jesus, Son of God! Would you feel so worthless that you would hang yourself, throw yourself off a cliff, drown yourself?

Or would you stand your ground?

What kind of a man are you? That doesn’t matter. What kind of woman could you be?

Matthew 15:26-28 (King James Version)

26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.

27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

This post sheds new light on that encounter (one which “Christian” after “Christian” I have asked about never seems to have read or heard of!):

Women Cynics and Dinner Conversation

One Year Later: Cancer Cure?

This is a robopost that was scheduled a year ago for January 24, 2013.

One year ago today:

Roswell Park Makes Major Announcement on Cancer Vaccine

Roswell Park Cancer Institute held a press conference this morning to announce the development of an investigational cancer vaccine.

Officials from Roswell were on hand to highlight what the vaccine can do. They say the NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine has the potential to “eradicate cancer cells and prevent disease relapse.”

The new NY-ESO-1 dendritic cell vaccine is expected to show great promise in patients with bladder, brain, breast, esophageal, gastrointestinal, hepatocellular, kidney, lung, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, sarcoma and uterine tumors.

It will be interesting to see if announcements of success have been made.

Update: What I hadn’t counted on a year ago when scheduling this post is that the link to the article would be dead!

Second update: Original source is Roswell Park Launches Landmark Immunotherapy Vaccine Trial

South Of Normal

Having missed most of the series when it originally aired, I’ve been catching up on House, M.D. every now and then.

Tonight the episode “DNR” aired and it contained this brilliant little speech from a paralyzed musician who thinks he’s played his final note, given to House:

I know that limp. I know the empty ring finger. And that obsessive nature of yours, that’s a big secret. You don’t risk jail and your career to save somebody doesn’t want to be saved unless you got something, anything… one thing. The reason normal people got wives and kids and hobbies, whatever, that’s because they ain’t got that one thing that, that hits them that hard and that true. I got music. You got this. The thing you think about all the time. Thing that keeps you south of normal. Yeah, makes us great. Makes us the best. All we miss out on is everything else. No woman waiting at home after work with a drink and a kiss; that ain’t gonna happen for us.

It’s more effective as video, but no one has posted it to YouTube.

John Kitto

From the 1905 book, The Making of a Man by Orison Swett Marden:

Wikipedia: John Kitto

Here’s the prelude:

Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.

Before going off to read his entry, see the punchline after the break.

Worth Reading

Become intelligent and successful in 30 days (or years) — I thought one item was missing, so I left a Comment.

Rejection Therapy: A Hundred Days of ‘No’ — and this is linked to the above although it’s not mentioned. And see his website: Hope From Nope, which contained this gem:

When asking someone to do something, there is a big difference between a favor and a challenge.

A favor requires the requested to invest time and effort on behalf of someone else. When it comes from a stranger, its success tabs into the altruistic side of the request recipient.

He might not know it (yet?), but he just explained to everyone why business-speak is drowning in the word “challenge.” It’s disguised and manipulative begging that absolves the “challenger” from being accountable for a failed goal.

2013: What To Focus On

This is the trend of abundance (and the real financial crisis), and it’s making it a lot harder every year to stand out. It’s no longer just a question of having an interesting product for people to buy. You have to outcompete all the other things people buy as well.

What would you rather have?

• One full-year subscription to the New York Times = $455
• Or… an XBOX ($99), a Netflix subscription ($99), and a Nexus 4 phone ($299) = $497

This is the real challenge the younger generation is faced with today. And since random general purpose news is freely available somewhere else, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guess which choice they make.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

What Did The Founders Mean?

Having experienced tyranny firsthand and having freed themselves from it, I think what they meant was very clear.

Previously here:

Mix, Then Shake Well For Disaster