ada yang buat tulisan seperti ini:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
IND ONE SIA
teringat dengan salah satu pameran anak2 SR di CC ITB kira2 satu setengah tahun yang lalu...
ada yang buat tulisan seperti ini:
ada yang buat tulisan seperti ini:
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Jangan Berjanji,,
....
Jangan berjanji kalau merasa tidak akan pernah bisa menepati.
...
... :: Jakarta, 09 Sept 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Neocortical Warfare: Operasi Cuci Otak
Sudah lama pengen nulis tentang artikel ini, tapi belum sempat karena ada dua kendala, yaitu bahan2 yang ada di otak saya masih berantakan (belum terstruktur) dan juga referensi yang mendukung pemikiran saya belum ketemu.
Saya menemukan artikel ini di gatra.com dan kebetulan hampir sama persis dengan apa yang saya pikirkan, kemudian saya copy-paste aja ke blog ini.
Kebetulan sang penulis artikel ini, Budiono Kartohadiprodjo, adalah salah satu guru saya, maka tidak heran kalau tulisan beliau hampir sama dengan apa yang saya pikirkan.
Selamat membaca!
____________________________
Merdeka atau mati! Sejarah Indonesia mencatat, semboyan itu bukanlah omong kosong. Ia pernah muncul sebagai kesadaran kolektif yang menimbulkan kekuatan yang dahsyat. Semboyan itu lahir dari nasionalisme yang telah mengkristal sebagai persepsi umum. Nasionalisme mengobarkan perlawanan yang amat fanatik oleh mereka yang terjajah terhadap penjajah. Semangat itu pula yang melahirkan bangsa Indonesia.
Pergerakan kebangsaan Indonesia memperoleh momentum pada akhir Perang Pasifik. Proklamasi kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia pun berkumandang pada 17 Agustus 1945. Keyakinan bahwa kemerdekaan itu adalah hak segala bangsa tak bisa ditawar-tawar lagi. Ia tak bisa pula diintimidasi oleh kekuatan bersenjata seberapa pun besarnya. Kekuatan senjata tak efektif lagi untuk pembenaran sebuah bangsa berhak memperlakukan bangsa lain sebagai jongos dan babu.
Maka, ketika dianggap hendak merampas kemerdekaan yang telah diraih, kekuatan Inggris dan Belanda menghadapi perlawanan sengit bangsa Indonesia. Bangsa-bangsa Barat mencatat pengalaman pahit ketika vis a vis harus menghadapi semangat nasionalisme ini. Di luar Belanda, Amerika Serikat dan Prancis punya kenangan buruk di Vietnam. Rusia mencatat sejarah kelam di Afghanistan.
Tatanan dunia memang telah banyak berubah sejak 63 tahun silam, ketika bangsa ini lahir. Globalisasi yang menafikan batas-batas wilayah negara kini menjadi mantra baru. Muncul paham baru bahwa peran negara harus ditarik ke belakang, dan biarkan korporasi multinasional mengelola hubungan kepentingan bangsa. Kedaulatan negara, nasionalisme, dan kebangsaan dianggap urusan jadul, jaman dulu, yang tidak relevan.
Kita sering tersihir oleh mantra globalisasi itu, seraya melupakan nasionalisme. Kenyataan bahwa terjadi proses pemiskinan negara-negara tertentu di tengah globalisasi cukup dijelaskan bahwa itu hanya lantaran mismanajemen pembangunan. Kita menafikan pula bahwa agenda korporasi multinasional dan badan-badan dunia itu bekerja sejalan dengan kepentingan negara maju, yang sesungguhnya tidak terlalu peduli terhadap kesenjangan global dan eksploitasi bumi.
Dalam konteks inilah nasionalisme Indonesia bisa dianggap sebagai gangguan. Apa yang terjadi jika RI mengatur lalu lintas 50.000 kapal kargo dan tanker yang melintas Selat Malaka per tahun. Lalu lalang tanker di perairan ini mengangkut 10,5 juta barel minyak per hari. Sulit dibayangkan tragedi yang akan menimpa bila tanker satu juta barel bertabrakan di selat yang padat itu. Kalau saja Indonesia ini negara kuat, dengan rakyatnya yang teguh memegang nasionalisme, bisa kita paksa tanker-tanker raksasa itu melewati Selat Lombok atau Selat Sunda. Selain menghasilkan keuntungan, ini menekan risiko lingkungan.
Tindakan sepihak itu tentu akan menghadapi perlawanan korporasi multinasional dan negara-negara yang ada di belakang mereka. Di tempat lain (baca: negara maju), nasionalisme tetap dijaga untuk mengamankan kepentingan mereka sendiri. Pemuda-pemuda Amerika terus dibangkitkan nasionalismenya agar bersedia menjadi serdadu yang ditempatkan di Jepang, Korea, Timur Tengah, atau Afghanistan. Bagi mereka, yang tidak boleh adalah nasionalisme di tempat lain. Bagi mereka, ancaman perang tak akan pernah berakhir.
Kekuatan militer Amerika Serikat adalah perangkat keras untuk menjaga kepentingan mereka, selain untuk mengintimidasi nasionalisme orang lain yang mengusik kepentingan mereka. Tapi itu senjata pamungkas. Yang didahulukan ialah melumpuhkan nasionalisme dan semangat persatuan-kesatuan di tempat orang lain.
Dengan pengalamannya di pelbagai kawasan, mereka tahu, daripada mereka menekan nasionalisme dengan senjata yang perlu ongkos besar, mengapa tak melakukan operasi cuci otak saja yang lebih murah.
***
Menurut evolusinya, otak itu tersegmentasi dalam tiga organ: bagian batang atau otak reptilia (primitif), sistem limbic (otak mamalia), dan neokorteks. Hasil evolusi pertama adalah otak reptil yang terkait insting hidup, bernapas, mencari makan, dan dorongan untuk reproduksi. Manusia memiliki bagian otak reptil, yang menyumbang daya kecerdasan paling rendah.
Di sekeliling otak reptil terdapat sistem limbic, yang membungkus batang otak seperti kerah baju. Bagian ini sering disebut paleo mamalian. Otak ini berkaitan dengan perasaan atau emosi, memori, bioritmik, dan sistem kekebalan. Sistem limbic memungkinkan untuk merekam suatu kejadian yang menyenangkan.
Sistem limbic memberikan kontribusi yang mendasar terhadap proses belajar, yaitu meneruskan informasi ke dalam memori. Ia juga terkait dengan peran thalamus dan hypothalamus yang berperan dalam mengatur suhu tubuh, keseimbangan kimia, debar jantung, tekanan darah, dan dorongan seks. Segmen ini pula yang mengontrol marah, senang, lapar, haus, kenyang, misalnya, selain terlibat dalam bekerjanya sistem ingatan. Terkait dengan perilaku makhluk hidup, peran sistem imbic besar dalam pengendalian emosi.
Bagian ketiga adalah neokorteks atau otak neomamalian. Organ ini terbungkus di bagian atas dan kedua sistem limbic. Dia memberi kita kemampuan belajar, bicara, kreativitas, memahami angka, memecahkan masalah, dan dapat menentukan perilaku dalam berhubungan dengan lingkungan alam dan sosialnya. Karena itu, ia juga disebut the thinking cap atau otak rasional, sekaligus menjadi bagian terluar yang menutupi sistem limbic. Neokorteks yang meliputi 80% dari seluruh volume otak memberikan kemampuan berpikir, berpersepsi, berbicara, berperilaku, dan sebagainya.
Di era globalisasi ini, terus dikembangkan teknik-teknik baru untuk mengendalikan persepsi dan perilaku atas kelompok sasaran. Targetnya, mengontrol perilaku mereka sesuai dengan yang diprogram, dengan mengubah secara perlahan persepsinya. Karena areal target otak, maka senjatanya adalah pesan-pesan rasional dalam bentuk verbal (suara), visual (gambar), dan tulisan (teks). Pesan-pesan itu menjadi senjata penaklukan. Itu perang yang disebut neocortical warfare (perang neokortikal) atau perang tanpo bolo (tanpa tentara).
Dalam konteks ini, pesan-pesan tadi harus terartikulasikan dan dikemas sebagai sebuah pengetahuan yang rasional, kritis, akademis, selain juga seksi bagi pers, bahkan terkesan heroik: membela lingkungan atau HAM. Aktor yang dipilih bisa para cendekiawan, aktivis, tokoh karismatis, tapi yang tak bisa dilupakan, para praktisi media pula. Dengan strategi perang neokortikal, kepentingan sebuah negara bisa masuk tanpa harus dikawal tank atau pesawat tempur.
Dalam konteks globalisasi, boleh jadi, yang terpilih sebagai target salah satunya adalah Pancasila. Nilai-nilai yang berasaskan kekeluargaan, gotong royong, dan musyawarah-mufakat harus didekonstruksi, lalu ditempatkan sebagai hal yang irasional. Yang rasional ialah kompetisi individu, debat, dan voting. Masalah hak individu pun dibenturkan dengan hak kolektif. BUMN harus diidentifikasikan dengan KKN, tidak efisien.
Pokoknya, harus terjadi kontroversi, hal yang membuat bangsa ini cerai-berai dan loyo. Ujung-ujungnya, rasa kebangsaan melemah dan kecintaan pada tanah air berubah menjadi kecintaan atas materi serta aset. Itukah cita-cita bangsa ini? Kalau itu yang dikehendaki, harus diakui, kita telah memasuki area cortical warfare.
***
Pengalaman kegagalan Belanda dan Inggris di Indonesia (1945-1949) boleh jadi juga memberi referensi sejarah cortical warfare. Awalnya, Inggris yang datang dengan misi melucuti Jepang dan mengevakuasi interniran orang Eropa itu membiarkan NICA dan KNIL memboncenginya ketika mendarat di kota-kota besar Indonesia. Sikapnya berubah setelah pasukannya mendapat perlawanan keras, terutama di Surabaya. Divisi Mansergh berhasil menguasai kota itu, tapi menghadapi perlawanan dan pengorbanan yang luar biasa dari arek-arek Surabaya itu, November 1945.
David Wehl, perwira staf yang diperbantukan pada Divisi Mansergh, menuliskan laporan kepada atasannya dengan rasa miris: “Sekiranya pertempuran seperti ini berlangsung di seluruh Jawa, baik Republik Indonesia atau Hindia Timur akan tenggelam dalam lautan darah.” Wehl mengakui adanya gelegak nasionalisme rakyat yang begitu kuat. Maka, Inggris mendorong Belanda menyelesaikan urusannya secara diplomatik. Boleh jadi, pengalaman buruk di Indonesia itu ikut mendorong Inggris memerdekaan India dan Pakistan (1947) secara damai.
Mematahkan semangat juang yang tertanam di otak memang tidak bisa dilakukan dengan tank dan rudal. Bahwa negara-negara maju tetap perlu memegang hegemoni. Itu bisa dilakukan melalui keunggulan teknologi, politik, dan kebudayaannya. Penaklukan akan lebih elegan. Yang diperlukan adalah bagaimana hegemoni itu bisa ditancapkan tanpa perlawanan. Di situlah peran cortical warfare.
Target-target hegemoni itu sendiri umumnya empat sektor. Yang pertama adalah sektor perbankan, yang menguasai arus uang --serupa dengan peran aliran darah pada manusia. Kedua, sektor komunikasi dan media yang serupa dengan impuls listrik pada saraf manusia. Tak terlihat tapi menentukan perilaku kelompok target. Yang ketiga, penguasaan sektor infrastruktur, utamanya energi --otot penggerak pada tubuh manusia. Keempat, sektor retail bahan pokok hajat kehidupan orang banyak, utamanya bahan kebutuhan pokok makanan. Bila keempat sektor ini terkuasai, maka terkuasai pulalah kedaulatan suatu bangsa oleh bangsa lain, tanpa letusan senjata dan tanpa kerusakan fisik.
Untuk membentengi dampak perang neokortikal itu, agaknya bidang keilmuan psikologi dan komunikasi massa bisa menjadi salah satu tumpuan, setelah diintegrasikan dalam pusat kesenjataan maya pada tingkat nasional. Tapi, di luar itu, kita mesti lebih tegas mengartikulasikan prinsip-prinsip kehidupan kita dalam bernegara.
Budiono Kartohadiprodjo
Pengamat geopolitik
Saya menemukan artikel ini di gatra.com dan kebetulan hampir sama persis dengan apa yang saya pikirkan, kemudian saya copy-paste aja ke blog ini.
Kebetulan sang penulis artikel ini, Budiono Kartohadiprodjo, adalah salah satu guru saya, maka tidak heran kalau tulisan beliau hampir sama dengan apa yang saya pikirkan.
Selamat membaca!
____________________________
Pergerakan kebangsaan Indonesia memperoleh momentum pada akhir Perang Pasifik. Proklamasi kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia pun berkumandang pada 17 Agustus 1945. Keyakinan bahwa kemerdekaan itu adalah hak segala bangsa tak bisa ditawar-tawar lagi. Ia tak bisa pula diintimidasi oleh kekuatan bersenjata seberapa pun besarnya. Kekuatan senjata tak efektif lagi untuk pembenaran sebuah bangsa berhak memperlakukan bangsa lain sebagai jongos dan babu.
Maka, ketika dianggap hendak merampas kemerdekaan yang telah diraih, kekuatan Inggris dan Belanda menghadapi perlawanan sengit bangsa Indonesia. Bangsa-bangsa Barat mencatat pengalaman pahit ketika vis a vis harus menghadapi semangat nasionalisme ini. Di luar Belanda, Amerika Serikat dan Prancis punya kenangan buruk di Vietnam. Rusia mencatat sejarah kelam di Afghanistan.
Tatanan dunia memang telah banyak berubah sejak 63 tahun silam, ketika bangsa ini lahir. Globalisasi yang menafikan batas-batas wilayah negara kini menjadi mantra baru. Muncul paham baru bahwa peran negara harus ditarik ke belakang, dan biarkan korporasi multinasional mengelola hubungan kepentingan bangsa. Kedaulatan negara, nasionalisme, dan kebangsaan dianggap urusan jadul, jaman dulu, yang tidak relevan.
Kita sering tersihir oleh mantra globalisasi itu, seraya melupakan nasionalisme. Kenyataan bahwa terjadi proses pemiskinan negara-negara tertentu di tengah globalisasi cukup dijelaskan bahwa itu hanya lantaran mismanajemen pembangunan. Kita menafikan pula bahwa agenda korporasi multinasional dan badan-badan dunia itu bekerja sejalan dengan kepentingan negara maju, yang sesungguhnya tidak terlalu peduli terhadap kesenjangan global dan eksploitasi bumi.
Dalam konteks inilah nasionalisme Indonesia bisa dianggap sebagai gangguan. Apa yang terjadi jika RI mengatur lalu lintas 50.000 kapal kargo dan tanker yang melintas Selat Malaka per tahun. Lalu lalang tanker di perairan ini mengangkut 10,5 juta barel minyak per hari. Sulit dibayangkan tragedi yang akan menimpa bila tanker satu juta barel bertabrakan di selat yang padat itu. Kalau saja Indonesia ini negara kuat, dengan rakyatnya yang teguh memegang nasionalisme, bisa kita paksa tanker-tanker raksasa itu melewati Selat Lombok atau Selat Sunda. Selain menghasilkan keuntungan, ini menekan risiko lingkungan.
Tindakan sepihak itu tentu akan menghadapi perlawanan korporasi multinasional dan negara-negara yang ada di belakang mereka. Di tempat lain (baca: negara maju), nasionalisme tetap dijaga untuk mengamankan kepentingan mereka sendiri. Pemuda-pemuda Amerika terus dibangkitkan nasionalismenya agar bersedia menjadi serdadu yang ditempatkan di Jepang, Korea, Timur Tengah, atau Afghanistan. Bagi mereka, yang tidak boleh adalah nasionalisme di tempat lain. Bagi mereka, ancaman perang tak akan pernah berakhir.
Kekuatan militer Amerika Serikat adalah perangkat keras untuk menjaga kepentingan mereka, selain untuk mengintimidasi nasionalisme orang lain yang mengusik kepentingan mereka. Tapi itu senjata pamungkas. Yang didahulukan ialah melumpuhkan nasionalisme dan semangat persatuan-kesatuan di tempat orang lain.
Dengan pengalamannya di pelbagai kawasan, mereka tahu, daripada mereka menekan nasionalisme dengan senjata yang perlu ongkos besar, mengapa tak melakukan operasi cuci otak saja yang lebih murah.
***
Menurut evolusinya, otak itu tersegmentasi dalam tiga organ: bagian batang atau otak reptilia (primitif), sistem limbic (otak mamalia), dan neokorteks. Hasil evolusi pertama adalah otak reptil yang terkait insting hidup, bernapas, mencari makan, dan dorongan untuk reproduksi. Manusia memiliki bagian otak reptil, yang menyumbang daya kecerdasan paling rendah.
Di sekeliling otak reptil terdapat sistem limbic, yang membungkus batang otak seperti kerah baju. Bagian ini sering disebut paleo mamalian. Otak ini berkaitan dengan perasaan atau emosi, memori, bioritmik, dan sistem kekebalan. Sistem limbic memungkinkan untuk merekam suatu kejadian yang menyenangkan.
Sistem limbic memberikan kontribusi yang mendasar terhadap proses belajar, yaitu meneruskan informasi ke dalam memori. Ia juga terkait dengan peran thalamus dan hypothalamus yang berperan dalam mengatur suhu tubuh, keseimbangan kimia, debar jantung, tekanan darah, dan dorongan seks. Segmen ini pula yang mengontrol marah, senang, lapar, haus, kenyang, misalnya, selain terlibat dalam bekerjanya sistem ingatan. Terkait dengan perilaku makhluk hidup, peran sistem imbic besar dalam pengendalian emosi.
Bagian ketiga adalah neokorteks atau otak neomamalian. Organ ini terbungkus di bagian atas dan kedua sistem limbic. Dia memberi kita kemampuan belajar, bicara, kreativitas, memahami angka, memecahkan masalah, dan dapat menentukan perilaku dalam berhubungan dengan lingkungan alam dan sosialnya. Karena itu, ia juga disebut the thinking cap atau otak rasional, sekaligus menjadi bagian terluar yang menutupi sistem limbic. Neokorteks yang meliputi 80% dari seluruh volume otak memberikan kemampuan berpikir, berpersepsi, berbicara, berperilaku, dan sebagainya.
Di era globalisasi ini, terus dikembangkan teknik-teknik baru untuk mengendalikan persepsi dan perilaku atas kelompok sasaran. Targetnya, mengontrol perilaku mereka sesuai dengan yang diprogram, dengan mengubah secara perlahan persepsinya. Karena areal target otak, maka senjatanya adalah pesan-pesan rasional dalam bentuk verbal (suara), visual (gambar), dan tulisan (teks). Pesan-pesan itu menjadi senjata penaklukan. Itu perang yang disebut neocortical warfare (perang neokortikal) atau perang tanpo bolo (tanpa tentara).
Dalam konteks ini, pesan-pesan tadi harus terartikulasikan dan dikemas sebagai sebuah pengetahuan yang rasional, kritis, akademis, selain juga seksi bagi pers, bahkan terkesan heroik: membela lingkungan atau HAM. Aktor yang dipilih bisa para cendekiawan, aktivis, tokoh karismatis, tapi yang tak bisa dilupakan, para praktisi media pula. Dengan strategi perang neokortikal, kepentingan sebuah negara bisa masuk tanpa harus dikawal tank atau pesawat tempur.
Dalam konteks globalisasi, boleh jadi, yang terpilih sebagai target salah satunya adalah Pancasila. Nilai-nilai yang berasaskan kekeluargaan, gotong royong, dan musyawarah-mufakat harus didekonstruksi, lalu ditempatkan sebagai hal yang irasional. Yang rasional ialah kompetisi individu, debat, dan voting. Masalah hak individu pun dibenturkan dengan hak kolektif. BUMN harus diidentifikasikan dengan KKN, tidak efisien.
Pokoknya, harus terjadi kontroversi, hal yang membuat bangsa ini cerai-berai dan loyo. Ujung-ujungnya, rasa kebangsaan melemah dan kecintaan pada tanah air berubah menjadi kecintaan atas materi serta aset. Itukah cita-cita bangsa ini? Kalau itu yang dikehendaki, harus diakui, kita telah memasuki area cortical warfare.
***
Pengalaman kegagalan Belanda dan Inggris di Indonesia (1945-1949) boleh jadi juga memberi referensi sejarah cortical warfare. Awalnya, Inggris yang datang dengan misi melucuti Jepang dan mengevakuasi interniran orang Eropa itu membiarkan NICA dan KNIL memboncenginya ketika mendarat di kota-kota besar Indonesia. Sikapnya berubah setelah pasukannya mendapat perlawanan keras, terutama di Surabaya. Divisi Mansergh berhasil menguasai kota itu, tapi menghadapi perlawanan dan pengorbanan yang luar biasa dari arek-arek Surabaya itu, November 1945.
David Wehl, perwira staf yang diperbantukan pada Divisi Mansergh, menuliskan laporan kepada atasannya dengan rasa miris: “Sekiranya pertempuran seperti ini berlangsung di seluruh Jawa, baik Republik Indonesia atau Hindia Timur akan tenggelam dalam lautan darah.” Wehl mengakui adanya gelegak nasionalisme rakyat yang begitu kuat. Maka, Inggris mendorong Belanda menyelesaikan urusannya secara diplomatik. Boleh jadi, pengalaman buruk di Indonesia itu ikut mendorong Inggris memerdekaan India dan Pakistan (1947) secara damai.
Mematahkan semangat juang yang tertanam di otak memang tidak bisa dilakukan dengan tank dan rudal. Bahwa negara-negara maju tetap perlu memegang hegemoni. Itu bisa dilakukan melalui keunggulan teknologi, politik, dan kebudayaannya. Penaklukan akan lebih elegan. Yang diperlukan adalah bagaimana hegemoni itu bisa ditancapkan tanpa perlawanan. Di situlah peran cortical warfare.
Target-target hegemoni itu sendiri umumnya empat sektor. Yang pertama adalah sektor perbankan, yang menguasai arus uang --serupa dengan peran aliran darah pada manusia. Kedua, sektor komunikasi dan media yang serupa dengan impuls listrik pada saraf manusia. Tak terlihat tapi menentukan perilaku kelompok target. Yang ketiga, penguasaan sektor infrastruktur, utamanya energi --otot penggerak pada tubuh manusia. Keempat, sektor retail bahan pokok hajat kehidupan orang banyak, utamanya bahan kebutuhan pokok makanan. Bila keempat sektor ini terkuasai, maka terkuasai pulalah kedaulatan suatu bangsa oleh bangsa lain, tanpa letusan senjata dan tanpa kerusakan fisik.
Untuk membentengi dampak perang neokortikal itu, agaknya bidang keilmuan psikologi dan komunikasi massa bisa menjadi salah satu tumpuan, setelah diintegrasikan dalam pusat kesenjataan maya pada tingkat nasional. Tapi, di luar itu, kita mesti lebih tegas mengartikulasikan prinsip-prinsip kehidupan kita dalam bernegara.
Budiono Kartohadiprodjo
Pengamat geopolitik
Monday, July 28, 2008
Hobi Baru : Fotografi
haha.. udah lama bgt gw sebenernya pengen nulis ini..
Sejak beberapa bulan lalu gw dijangkiti hobi fotografi.
Awalnya karena ad temen gw bawa Canon 30D ke nikahan temen gw, eh gw jadi deh jatuh cinta ma fotografi.
Lagi pengen beli kamera, nikon D60 sadja lah, yang terjangkau.
Ntar kalo ad rejeki pengen punya lensa tele Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF ED (19 jeti boo...) soalnya interest gw adalah candid photography, intinya memfoto ekspresi orang gitu.. jadinya butuh lensa tele biar gw bisa lancar curi2 foto..heuheu..
Salah satu hasilnya adalah ini (*pake kamera pinjeman) :
Jadi, si cewe ini biasanya selalu senyam-senyum ma semua orang, ramah pisan lah pokoknya, tapi di suatu ketika tiba2 dia jadi galak betul..
(piss ya bu...) hewhew...
Monday, March 17, 2008
Steve Jobs Speaks at Stanford Commencement on June 12, 2005.
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
....
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, 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 retuned 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 Ð 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 other's 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.
....
text source
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 retuned 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 Ð 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 other's 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.
....
text source
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Sang Legenda, Susi Susanti,,
Dalam keadaan apapun, Susi Susanti selalu tenang.. Ketika merasa dirugikan oleh tim wasit, yang dilakukan adalah memandang wasit tersebut dengan senyuman, tidak ada ekspresi kekecewaan apapun... Selalu memandang semuanya serba positif… Kehilangan satu angka ”gara-gara wasit” tidak lantas membuatnya marah, karena dia berpandangan bisa ”membuat angka” di game selanjutnya... Sikap tenang dan besar hati seperti inilah yang saat ini tidak terlihat di dunia olahraga kita... Hanya karena kesalahan sedikit, sudah marah besar.. Hanya karena kalah, bukannya berintrospeksi dan memperbaiki diri, tapi malah langsung mencari kambing hitam...
2. Tak kenal menyerah
Salah satu hal yang paling berkesan saat Susi Susanti bertanding adalah ketika dia tertinggal jauh dari lawan yang memimpin dengan match point, maka nilai maksimal yang didapat lawannya ya "match point" itu.. Artinya, ketika lawan sudah match point sedangkan Susi Susan tertinggal, pihak lawan merasa di atas angin... Yang terjadi adalah pihak lawan tidak bisa menambah satu angka yang dibutuhkan untuk mencapai kemenangan dan akhirnya adalah Susi Susanti berhasil menang... Ada pepatah Jerman yang mengatakan ”Seorang masinis bekerja sampai stasiun terakhir”, artinya bahwa ketika pertandingan belum selesai, maka belum saatnya bagi pemain untuk berhenti bertanding atau menyerah... Lebih ekstrim lagi, Robert Strauss mengatakan bahwa ”Sukses adalah seperti berkelahi dengan seekor buaya”, yang artinya mirip dengan ungkapan 50 cents ”Get rich or die tryin’ ”... Berikan yang terbaik, untuk mendapatkan hasil terbaik,, Meskipun di balik hasil terbaik biasanya ada resiko yang sangat besar...
3. Rendah hati
Ada satu kalimat Susi Susanti yang masih teringat sampai sekarang ”Saya tuh kadang-kadang pengen merasakan kalah”. Buat gw, kata-kata ini mengandung arti, bahwa dengan kekalahan kita akan ”dipaksa” untuk memperbaiki diri dan menghindarkan dari sikap sombong yang akan menghancurkan kemampuan dan talenta seperti apapun... Rendah hati berarti bahwa kita sebagai manusia pasti mempunyai keterbatasan yang akan menghambat laju kita, selain itu kita juga mempunyai kelebihan-kelebihan yang akan membawa kita ke puncak prestasi..
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
my life,, time line - journey - friends..
22 tahun 6 bulan 27 hari yang lalu gw lahir di magelang, 4 bulan kemudian sampe umur 4,5 tahun gw pindah ke bogor di gang Raden Saleh.. Disana gw memulai hidup sebagai anak kecil. Belajar jalan, belajar ngomong, dan punya seorang teman namanya Endang ('E'=elang)..Biasanya pagi-pagi si Endang ini udah manggil-manggil gw "A'an sini dong..", dan kalo gw lagi ga mau maen gw jawab "Ga mau..." (dengan suara cadel dan lucu, kata ibu gw)..sekarang gimana kabar ya Endang? kalau entar gw maen ke Bogor, gw mau maen ke rumahnya Endang ah..Umur 4,5 tahun, gw balik lagi ke magelang..Harusnya gw waktu itu sekolah TK, tapi karena belum bisa bahasa jawa, gw jadi males..dan langsung SD..
di SD ini gw bertemu dengan kegiatan bolos dan kelahi dengan teman..kalo pulang sekolah, gw melewati sekolah MI (Madrasah Ibtidaiyah), dan biasanya kita saling mengejek dan ga jarang ada yang kelahi.. what a day!
Pulang sekolah, gw sering maen dulu, mandi di sungai, nonton filem di rumah temen, maen layang-layang, maen kelereng, maen, maen, maen, dan maen...
Di SD ini, ada guru favorit gw, namanya Bu Sri (guru kls 1 & 2 di jaman gw) yang ngajarin nyanyi, nembang, dan bagaimana bersopan santun.. selain itu ada Pak Marsudi (kls 6) yang ngajarin untuk bersikap...
Kemudian gw SMP.. pertama kali jatuh cinta (heuheu), tp ga kesampaian walo sampe semester 7 masih ngejar.. temen2 maen gw waktu itu ada Fitra, Arif, Anton, Eri, dan yang paling berkesan adalah dengan Gigih yang dengannya gw suka nonton filem di bioskop padahal dari SMP gw ke bioskop jaraknya 15 km dan kita cuman punya duit yang hanya cukup untuk bayar tiket dan ongkos pulang pergi.. kita sering maen ke Dept Store, dan suka ngutil pulpen, stiker, buku, dan barang2 laennya..
Kemudian, ga disangka gw bisa sekolah di SMA 1 Magelang, yang konon tempatnya anak2 pinter, eh ternyata gitu2 aja.. disini malah ga ada cerita2 cinta yang terjadi, aneh sih, tp itu kenyataan.. suka ada cewe2 kelas sebelah yang manggil2 dan 'suit-suitin' gw (beneran ini mah), hehe.. gw kelas 2-1 tapi lebih sering maen ma anak 2-4, yaitu Dhanu, Ami, Arif, Sule, Ita, Lia, Lina, dan banyak lagi, selain itu gw banyak berteman dengan anak2 2002 kaya Kuncung, Joko, Somad, Sokip, dll..Gw ikutan Glacial (Gladiool Pecinta Alam) yang banyak mengubah pandangan hidup gw, thanks a lot! ..
Di kelas 2 ini, ayah gw meninggal karena kecelakaan.. hal itu benar2 membuat gw frustasi, akan tetapi gw beruntung banget punya teman2 gw yang selalu mendukung gw.. Dan akhirnya gw kelas 3, kelas yang paling berkesan buat gw karena di kelas ini gw berteman dengan teman2 yang amazing bgt kaya Evi, Dhimas, Encep, Yudha, Anto, Mufid, Timo, Imam, dan.. banyaklah gw lupa, hehe...
Dengan modal nekad, baik duit maupun otak, gw mendaftar di ITB.. selama persiapan SPMB gw selalu bareng Eko W Hadi dan kemudian Imron Malra muncul, dan kita bertiga hidup bersama di sebuah kamar milik Acung..
Diterima di Teknik Fisika ITB, kemudian gw ikut OSKM dan ospek himpunan.. Kuliah di ITB benar2 membuka mata gw tentang potensi dan harapan dari seorang anak manusia (cieeee...)...Di FT gw banyak ketemu teman2 ajaib,, selaen itu gw ikut berbagai aktivitas di kampus dan menemukan teman2 terbaik gw di Punggawa OSKM kaya Ei, Dion, Riska, Iwe, Irni, Meyuy, Odiq, Adis, Adam, Putra, Wildan, Lucky, dan banyak lagi... selaen itu, di OHU gw ketemu teman ter-terbaik gw, Loli, hahaha... untuk pertama kalinya gw menemukan orang yang 'gw banget', serasa ketemu sodara kembar.. Ga kerasa, udah semester 8 dan gw harus menyelesaikan kuliah,, dengan pembimbing Pak Joko dan Pak Harijono, serta partner Adib, gw bisa menyelesaikan TA gw yang berjudul "Pembentukan Kesan Ruang Pada Sistem Wave Field Synthesis (WFS)"..
my life is my friends,, gw ga bisa hidup tanpa teman,, 4 bulan pertama hidup di jakarta sempat stress karena ga ada teman,,
temans... gw kangen neh... kangen banget... kapan2 kita harus ketemu.... harus!... cukup diem dan ga usah ngapa-ngapain.. biarkan nafas kita menggema melepas rindu.. biarkan jiwa kita bersatu mengenang waktu-waktu yang terlewatkan tentang sebuah persahabatan...
sori kalau ada nama2 yang ga sempet kesebut,, gw ga bermaksud melupakan kalian kok,,
if today is the last day, I'm not regret because I've passing through a greatest time with my friends,,
and if my life is a dream, it must be a wonderful dream, coz I have it with my best friends,,
Monday, March 03, 2008
How to Wow 'Em Like Steve Jobs
By Carmine Gallo
The Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, is well known for his electrifying presentations. Anyone who has watched a Jobs keynote will tell you he is one of the most extraordinary speakers in Corporate America. Jobs learned a long time ago that a leader must be a company evangelist and brand spokesperson.
Here are Jobs' five keys to a dazzling presentation. :
1. Sell the Benefit
Steve Jobs does not sell bits of metal; he sells an experience. Instead of focusing on mind-numbing statistics, as most technologists tend to do, Jobs sells the benefit. For example, when introducing a 30 GB iPod, he clearly explains what it means to the consumer -- users can carry 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos, or up to 75 hours of video. In January when Jobs introduced the first Intel (INTC)-based Mac notebook he began by saying, "What does this mean?"
He went on to explain the notebook had two processors, making the new product four to five times faster than the Powerbook G4, a "screamer" as he called it. He said it was Apple's thinnest notebook and comes packed with "amazing" new features like a brighter wide-screen display and a built-in camera for video conferencing. It's not about the technology, but what the technology can do for you.
2. Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More
Jobs takes nothing for granted during product launches. He reviews and rehearses his material. According to a Business Week article on February 6, 2006, "Jobs unveils Apple's latest products as if he were a particularly hip and plugged-in friend showing off inventions in your living room. Truth is, the sense of informality comes only after grueling hours of practice." The article goes on to say that it's not unusual for Jobs to prepare for four hours as he reviews every slide and demonstration.
3. Keep It Visual
Speaking of slides, there are very few bullet points in a Jobs presentation. Each slide is highly visual. If he's discussing the new chip inside a computer, a slide in the background will show a colorful image of the chip itself alongside the product. That's it. Simple and visual.
Apple's presentations are not created on PowerPoint, as the vast majority of presentations are. But PowerPoint slides can be made visual as well. It's a matter of thinking about the content visually instead of falling into the habit of creating slide after slide with headlines and bullet points. I once worked with the vice-president of a public company who planned to show more than 80 data-heavy slides in a 40-minute presentation. Imagine how quickly his audience would have tuned out.
After I showed him just how visual his message could be, he went back to the drawing board, dismantled his existing presentation, and reduced it to about 10 image-rich slides. The next day a newspaper reporter wrote that my client had "wowed" analysts and investors. The stock rose 17% in the days that followed. Take a cue from Jobs and help your listeners visualize the message.
4. Exude Passion, Energy, and Enthusiasm
Jobs has an infectious enthusiasm. When launching the video iPod, Jobs said, "It's the best music player we've made," "It has a gorgeous screen," "The color is fantastic," and "The video quality is amazing."
The first time I watch my clients present, I often have to stop them to ask if they are sincerely passionate about their message. They usually assure me they are, but they tend to lose energy and enthusiasm when they fall into "presentation mode." Jobs carries his enthusiasm into his presentations.
There is no better example of Jobs' passion than the famous story of how he convinced John Sculley to lead Apple in the mid '80s by asking him, "Do you want to sell sugared water all your life or do you want to change the world?" The former Pepsi executive chose the latter and, although the pairing ultimately failed to work out, it reflects Jobs' sense of mission -- a mission that he conveyed consistently in the early years of Apple and continues to today.
5. "And One More Thing..."
At the end of each presentation Jobs adds to the drama by saying, "and one more thing." He then adds a new product, new feature, or sometimes introduces a band. He approaches each presentation as an event, a production with a strong opening, product demonstrations in the middle, a strong conclusion, and an encore -- that "one more thing!"
you can see this article here
How Cars (Movie) Teach Us About Life
dedicated to my very best friend and very close close friend
who will have a job interview tomorrow,,
Have you see Cars? It's a Pixar’s movie released in 2006, but I'm just having a chance to see it yesterday (?) after accidentally I found it’s VCD in Gramedia.
A story about hotshot rookie race car, Lightning McQueen, is living in the fast lane until he hits a detour on his way to the most important race of his life. Stranded in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town on the old route 66, he meets Sally, Mater, Doc Hudson, and a variety of quirky character who helps him discover that there’s more to life than trophies and fame.
These the quotes are and my interpretation,,
"Look at them driving right by, they don't even know what they're missing!" (Lightning McQueen)
To live in this age is about to get faster and faster coz our life has been controlled by our target, so we didn't figure out what we've just passed and even we forget that we're alive.
"Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time.” (Sally).
To live is about to enjoy every second of our life.
“Hah! This grumpy old race car I know now once told me something. Its just a empty cup." (Hudson Hornet).
Glories are nothing if you feel all alone.
"Lightning, there's a whole lot more to racing, than just winning." (Dinoco).
Achievements are nothing if you get no honor. Life is not about to win, but to make your self better day by day. A champion is not a best racer refers to other racers, but a better racer refers to his own.
..........
Have you ask yourself: “Am I alive?”
"I had a great time. It's kinda nice to slow down every once in a while". (Lightning McQueen)
Some say that we'll feel that we're alive when we’re sick. It means that when we get sick, beside a pain feeling, it's a chance to have a little rest and then we're have introspection about: what am I doing all this time? where will I go? and why am I still here in this world?.
Do you miss somethin’ today? Bird's fly, green trees, smell of morning haze, warmth of sunshine, bird's chirp, cold soil in the morning, wind’s blowing, and so on. If you aware of those things, you'll see this world much better, a wonderful world.
Life is a mission accomplishment. Steve Jobs ever said : "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."
......
Cars OST,,
Brad Paisley - Find Yourself
When you find yourself
In some far off place
And it causes you to rethink some things
You start to sense that slowly
You're becoming someone else
And then you find yourself
When you make new friends in a brand new town
And you start to think about settlin' down
The things that would have been lost on you
Are now clear as a bell
And you find yourself
Yeah that's when you find yourself
Where you go through life
So sure of where you’re headin'
And you wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that’s when you find yourself
When you meet the one
That you've been waitin' for
And she's everything that you want and more
You look at her and you finally start to live for some one else
And then you find yourself
That’s when you find yourself
When we go through life
So sure of where we're headin'
And we wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that's when you find yourself
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
quote's lover
Gw adalah seorang penggemar dan pembaca setia quote. Hampir tiap hari mampir ke http://en.wikiquote.org hanya untuk membaca beberapa quote.Beberapa quote favorit gw adalah :
"Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are." (Paulo Coelho - Alchemist)
"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." (Paulo Coelho - Alchemist)
dan
"The race is interesting. The finish line is boring." (Frank Unibaum)
Sebenernya masih ada banyak lagi yang gw suka, tapi tiga itu yang bener2 "nendang" buat gw.
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