10 of the Best Cocktail Party and Everyday Rings (Fashion Jewelry)

All the latest and hottest designs in wholesale fashion jewelry will be showcased in this blog post. "This are my top 10 fashion rings which is divided into the everyday casual wear rings and the attention grabbing cocktail rings you usually see in the movies, events, even in magazines. The list composes of my subjective view as to what amazed me most. I really find these rings to be astoundingly charming and will definitely be a sure fire hit to the fashionable girls out there."

This post will only talk about fashion rings and will be followed by the top bracelet, necklaces, brooches, and earring designs. They all came from one source which is Cerijewelry.com who happens to sell wholesale fashion jewelry. As part of the fashion jewelry category, I will be detailing each subtype in separate posts. This post listed the fashion rings in no particular order. They’re just included in my ten most outstanding jewelry design. Enjoy reading and get ready to be mesmerized!

First stop would be the oh so lovely cocktail rings which as you can see are very audacious. You can spot them immediately for they are designed to be bigger and more histrionic. They are cute and as charming as any baby can be!

1 - Black Genuine Nature Stone Butterfly Ring

Black Genuine Nature Stone Butterfly Ring

Combine boldness and femininity in this fashion ring. Black genuine nature stone surrounds a rhodium plated band accented with a dazzling butterfly on top, exuding style and drama in a fashion ring. Totally unique, absolutely gorgeous.

2 - Gold Plated Lemon Drop Cocktail Ring

Gold Plated Lemon Drop Cocktail Ring

Accent your outfit with this lemon colored fashion ring. Ring features high quality clear CZ stones that surrounds the center synthetic gemstone perfectly.

3 - Black Epoxy Sterling Silver Ring

Black Epoxy Sterling Silver Ring

Be fashionably forward with this chic and stylish fashion ring. A striped pattern of black epoxy and sterling silver decorates this sterling silver ring making it perfect for the young at heart. Truly gorgeous, truly in vogue.

4 - White Rose Cocktail Ring

White Rose Cocktail Ring

Exhibit your love of flowers with this fashion cocktail ring. This lovely ring features an epoxy style ring that is shaped into a white colored rose and accented with champagne colored CZ stones, which is placed atop 14K gold plating. Get this beautiful ring for your amazing fashion jewelry collection.

5 - White Heart Gold Cocktail Ring

White Heart Gold Cocktail Ring

This adorable heart shaped fashion ring is perfect to show your fashionable style. Featuring a heart-cut white synthetic stone surrounded by CZ stones. In addition, the band is plated with 14K gold. Show off your style with this heart ring.


And now, its time for the everyday casual fashion rings. They complete our everyday get-up and accentuate our already beautiful physique. They are the lovely ornaments you usually see in the beautiful ladies in the subway, bus, and on the street.

6 - Rhodium Plated Black Rope Ring

Rhodium Plated Black Rope Ring

This stoneless ring features a rhodium plated band. The center of the ring creates links of black ropes that gives it a modern look.

7 - Rhodium Plated Faux Sapphire Heart & Clear CZ Ring

Rhodium Plated Faux Sapphire Heart & Clear CZ Ring

Exhibit your amazing elegant sophisticated style with this dazzling fashion ring. This ring magnificently features a sapphire stone, which is placed atop a beautifully rendered rhodium plated band. The person wearing this ring will surely be the talk of the evening.

8 - Rhodium Plated Cubic Zirconia Bow Ring

Rhodium Plated Cubic Zirconia Bow Ring

Ribbons have never been this sweet! This rhodium silver finish ring design features a ribbon bow design. The ring is set with high quality clear CZ stones that add youth to a luxurious look.

9 - Rhodium Plated Black Epoxy & CZ Heart Ring

Rhodium Plated Black Epoxy & CZ Heart Ring

10 - Rhodium Plated Multicolor Cubic Zirconia Ring

Rhodium Plated Multicolor Cubic Zirconia Ring

This eye-catching ring features mutli- CZ stones lined side by side atop a rhodium-plated ring. Two lines of clear CZ stones are embedded on each side to add sparkle and elegance. Be fashion forward with this piece of jewelry.

• Reference/Source: Images courtesy of Cerijewelry.com

About Amanda Kru, the author
I'm a fashion jewelry blogger who loves to explore different fashion jewelry that catches my attention. I have keen eyes for beauty and sophistication and considers myself a fashion jewelry expert. Follow me on twitter!

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10 of the Most Interesting Disney Princess Facts

The Disney Princesses are loved by all generations. Their popularity can be, in part, attributed by the time and dedication put in by the Disney team. The Disney Princesses are a controversial bunch in spite of seeming rather mild and have been attributed to causing many a psychological issue! Love them or hate them, they're still fascinating.

Here are some interesting facts about some of the Disney Princess films.

1 - You may notice in all Disney Princess merchandise, when pictured together, the princesses don’t acknowledge one another — they’re always looking away from one another or directly at the camera.

Apparently Roy Disney, nephew to Walt Disney, was against the mass marketing of the Disney Princesses outside of their own stories. Eventually, Roy consented as long as they weren't aware of each other.

2 - Although Pocohontas' age was not mentioned in the film she is thought to have been around 17.

In reality, Pocahontas met John Smith, aged around 12 although her exact date of birth is unknown. She is thought to have died when she was just 21.

3 - Rapunzel's hair is reportedly 70ft long and was created by a team of more than 30 animators and software engineers were assigned to the task of animating it.

4 - In The Princess and The Frog, there are various tributes to previous films. During the song “Down in New Orleans”, the carpet from Aladdin is being shaken up on a balcony and Mama Odie comes across the lamp from Aladdin. A Mardi Gras parade float is modeled after King Triton from The Little Mermaid.

5 - Walt Disney took a huge gamble with Cinderella.

He had not had a hit film since Snow White and Cinderella cost nearly $3,000,000 to make. To save money when animating the pumpkin coach, the animators drew the coach to float on air so that they would not have to animate the turning wheels. Thankfully it was a huge success.

6 - In The Princess and The Frog the star Ray calls "Evangeline" is in fact the planet Venus. Venus is known as the Roman goddess of love.

7 - In Sleeping Beauty a flame thrower was used to create the dragon breath sound effect for the climax of the movie (I hope they did this outside!). Castanets were used for the sound of its snapping jaws.

8 - We all know Robin Williams' talent for talking. In fact, in the first scene from Aladdin it was totally unscripted. Unfortunately, because Robin Williams ad-libbed so many of his lines, the script was turned down for a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination.

9 - In Snow White, Dopey was originally meant to have a voice. They made him mute when they couldn't find a suitable voice.

10 - In the Little Mermaid, Sebastian the Crab's full name is Horatio Thelonius Ignatius Crustatious Sebastian. Quite a mouthful!

• Reference/Source: Princess Delights

About Princess Delights "Providing Princess children's entertainers across the UK." Princess Delights was started in 2009 when my twin daughters wanted a princess party. The creator couldn't find any children's entertainers that did Disney princesses in their area so she decided to take on the role herself. Since then, she have been impersonating Sleeping Beauty for young girls all over Warwickshire.
About Samantha Sidwell, the author
She's a mummy to her beautiful twin girls born in 2006, wife to John and owner and manager of Princess Delights. Find out more about behind the scenes at Princess Delights, share tips about hosting the perfect princess party and join in with my musings on mummyhood.

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10 of the Best Mike (Michael) in History I know

“What’s in name that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, wrote William Shakespeare in his immortal tragedy “Romeo and Juliet.” This dramatizes hints of negative spin on the significance of a name, although this is not what this top 10 list is all about. What I want to bring you instead is a moniker that over the ages has stood the test of time and, more importantly proven to be respected, most valuable, not to mention superlatively popular.

Michael, a Hebrew term which means “who is like God”, a name that boosts variations in a multitude of major languages around the world – from Irish to Swedish, German to Spanish.

Speaking of famous Mikes, here are ten (10) of the most famous and prominent in history. This is a subjective list, and admittedly you may have your own.

1 – Saint Michael, the Archangel

One of the seven angels in Hebrew tradition and feared by Satan as the leader of God’s army in the New Testament’s “Book of Revelations.” (Who did follow the Fallen TV Series *Guilty, I do…) the biblical account told of some angels turned against God in Heaven. They thus became the devils and demons. Archangel Michael led the good angels in a furious battle, beating the evil ones and throwing them down to earth as punishment. Michael has four positions – warrior against the devil and other demons, protector of righteous souls at the time of their deaths, transporter of soul for judgement, and champion of God’s people. In the Koran too, Michael is regarded as one of the principal angles in Islamic tradition and is known as the field commander of the army of God.

2 – Michael Fred Phelps, the Swimmer

He is without doubt one of the most famous athletes in the Olympic history, most especially at the Beijing Olympics where he hauled in seven world records in swimming. He has won 14 career Olympic gold medals, the most by any Olympian, and holds the record for the most gold’s won at a single Olympics with the eight he won at the 2008 Olympic Games – surpassing fellow American Mark Spitz’s total of seven at the 1972 Munich Games.

3 – Michael Kirk Douglas

The Hollywood is an actor and producer who have on numerous accolades, including Oscar awards, one for the Best Picture in 1979 as producer of the film “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and the other for the Best Actor in 1987 for his role as a businessman Gordon Geko in the movie “Wall Street.” He is currently married to voluptuous Hollywood actress Catherine Zeta Jones.

4 – Michael Schumacher

Germany’s “god of Formula One (F1) Racing” is seven-time world champion and current advisor and occasional test driver for Team Ferrari. Official F1 website cited him as “statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen.” The only German to win F1 World championship, he has singlehandedly popularized the sport in Germany, and was voted the most popular driver among F1 fans in recent survey.

5 – Michael Jordan

Acclaimed as the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan “flies” to dunk or lay the ball up – and was thus called “Air Jordan.” He is easily most recognizable name in sports and was instrumental in popularizing NBA around the world in 1980’s and 1990’s.

6 – Mikhail Servgeyevich Gorbachev

Only a few in politics reached the prominence that this Soviet leader achieved. He was the very last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and head of state of the USSR, serving from1985 until its collapse in 1991. He initiated Glasnost and Perestroika, a plan for reconstruction and reforms in the former Soviet Republic.

7 – Michael Joseph Jackson

The king of pop is undoubtedly the most prolific men in the music industry. He debuted on the music scene at the age of 11 as the lead vocalist of the family band The Jackson 5. Starting his solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group, five of his albums have been some of the world’s best selling records – “Off the wall” (1979), “thriller” (1982), “Bad” (1987), “Dangerous” (1991), and “History” (1995).

8 – Michelangelo

One of the greatest artist of all time, he was an Italian renaissance sculptor who was also versatile as a painter, architect and engineer. Michelangelo di Lodovico Bounarroti Simoni is the best documented artist of the 6th century, with his famous masterpiece the Pieta, the David, Scenes from Genesis on the ceiling, as well as the last judgement on the altar wall, both Sistine Chapel in Rome; and, the architectural design for St. Peter’s Basilica dome.

9 – Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

Known as El Adelantado (The Governor) and El Viejo (The Elder), he was a Basque Spanish conquistador (Colonizer) who established one of the first European settlements in East Indies and Pacific Islands way back 1565. he is a history textbook subject here (Philippines) as the Spanish colonizer who made a blood compact on March 16, 1565 with a native Bohol Chieftain, Datu Sikatuna, as a sign of friendship, as well as establishing settlement in Manila on June 24,1571, ordering the construction of Intramuros, and proclaiming the town as the island’s capital as well as the seat of the Spanish government in East Indies.

10 – Michel Legrand

Michel (February 24, 1932 Paris, France) is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist of Armenian Decent. He composed more than 200 film and television scores and several other musicals, and has made well over a hundred albums. He won 3 Oscars (out of 13 nominations) and five Grammys. His first album, “I love Paris,” became one of the best selling instrumental albums ever released. Amongst his best are “What are you doing the Rest of your Life?” “Watch what Happens,” “The Summer Knows” (theme from the 1971 movie “Summer of 42”), and the hit song “The Windmills of your Mind,” (theme from the 1968 film “The Thomas Crown Affair”).

Is it any wonder then that the name Michael has enjoyed massive following for over a century now? From it’s biblical roots to its association with world-famous achievers, it is simply spells magnificence and great success.

Stated crisply, Michael’s best! This is me, signing off. Ciao!

• Reference/Source: Wikipedia

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10 Things they Cook on The Kitchen Musical Series

Do you remember how many musical shows you enjoyed on theatre stage, TV or movies? From Disney’s fairytale stories to Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens of High School musical and the Jonas Brothers of Camp Rock, not to mention Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux), Miss Saigon (Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil) and TV series Glee (Yes, of course) are musically successful and famous around the world. What is it with musical shows that hype us on and we can’t get enough of?

According to Wiki, Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole.

Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms such as opera, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements of the works. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, "musicals".

Hey, hold up… wonder why I’m talking about blah, blah, blah musical stuff? Isn’t it supposed to be top 10 lists or something? Well, I was just curious about this Pan Asian musical drama television series – The Kitchen Musical. The series is set to premiere in October 2011 in 19 countries across Asia and Europe. The show features a pool of Asia's talented casts comprising both veteran and upcoming new faces from around the region.

So here’s the 10 list of things they cooked for us.

1 – The Characters (Cast)

The cast are all amazing talents from different countries in Asia. Who knows? The next big thing in Emmy's will be from Asia?

Here's the list of the full cast:

Main characters

Karylle as Maddie Avilon
Stephen Rahman Hughes as Alex Marcus
Christian Bautista as Daniel Ray
Arthur Acuña as Harry Shaw
Rosemary Vandenbroucke as Selena Argon

Supporting characters

Juan Jackson as Juan - Line Cook
Thou Reyes as Thou - Line Cook
Carla Dunareanu - Line Cook
Erwin Shah Ismail as Rico - Dishwasher
Ikey Canoy as Winston - Pastry Chef
Juwanda Hassim as Nelson - Bartender
Nadiah M. Din as Britney - Receptionist
Oon Shu An as Paula - Receptionist
Gayle Nerva as Gayle - Waitress
Rebecca Spykerman as Bec - Waitress
Debra Teng as Leslie - Head Waitress

2 - Maddie Avilon, Ms. Chief - Wanna Be

Maddie Avilon (Karylle) is a fresh graduate of Le Cordon Bleu. She lands a job as the sous chef in her father's restaurant. She struggles to show her individuality and creativity in the hands of the head chef.

In real life, Ana Karylle Padilla Tatlonghari (March 22, 1981 Philippines), better known as simply Karylle, has established herself as one of the most talented showbiz personalities in the Philippines. She is a respected singer, actress, TV host, athlete, and a writer/blogger.

3 - Alex Marcus, Mr. Perfectionist

Alex Marcus (Stephen Rahman Hughes) is the executive chef of The Avilon, known for his notoriety for perfection.

Stephen Rahman Hughes is an English actor who currently stars as DCI Vikesh Dasari in ITV's Emmerdale. He has previously starred in Bad Girls, Doctors and Sky One Dream Team. Stephen is a half English/Welsh and a half Malay.

4 - Daniel Ray, Supportive Best friend

Daniel Ray (Christian Bautista) is a supportive childhood friend of Maddie and the other sous chef of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Christian Joseph Morata Bautista is a Filipino singer, actor, host, and model. He was a finalist of Star in a Million, a Philippine reality show aired on ABS-CBN channel, winning the 4th place in the competition in 2003. After the contest, he signed a recording contract with Warner Music Philippines and released his self-titled debut album, Christian Bautista. The multi-platinum album established his name as an OPM artist with songs such as "The Way You Look at Me", "Invincible" and "Hands to Heaven" topping the charts. The singer gained popularity not only in the Philippines but in other countries in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

5 - Harry Shaw, Mr. GM

Harry Shaw (Arthur Acuña) is the general manager of The Avilon. He keeps secrets from Maddie on her father's motives for letting her work in the restaurant.

6 - Selena Argon, Vicious and Gorgeous Sommelier

Selena Argon (Rosemary Vandenbroucke) is the sommelier of The Avilon who will do everything to get what she wants. She has a deep desire to get rid of Maddie and win Alex's heart.

Rosemary Vandenbroucke is one of the hottest Asian-American supermodels. At age 14 she participated in 2nd Elite Model Look and won the championship. In 1996 she became a model. She was appointed Saint Laurent Ambassador 1998 by French apparel brand Yves Saint Laurent. She has gained exposure in fashion shows, advertisements and from 2001 in films. She has starred in several movies including ‘Martial Angels’ (2001), ‘La Brassiere’ (2001), ‘Mighty Baby’ (2002), and ‘The Spy Dad’ (2003). Rosemary was born to a Russian-French father and a Chinese mother, Julie, who now acts as Rosemary's manager.

7 – The Production

Prior to production, Filipino celebrities Karylle, Christian Bautista, Arthur Acuña, Ikey Canoy, and Thou Reyes left Singapore to join in a boot camp training to behave, think and act like chefs. The main cast Karylle stayed in Singapore for four months to finish the 13 episodes of season 1 of the series. According to the Studio 23's (ABS-CBN, Philippines) program head Vince Rodriguez, the second season of the series is already in the process.

8 – The Plot

The story revolves around a rich young girl who goes to work at her father's famous restaurant The Avilon after graduating from the culinary school Le Cordon Blue in Paris.

9 – Love Teams

I’m expecting that stuff here with Maddie and Alex in differences as well as vicious Selena roaming around. I’m wondering where to put Daniel on the scene? I'm so excited about the scenes.

10 – Singing and more singing...

Here’s a sneak peak on what to expect on The Kitchen Musical premiere.

• Reference/Source: TheKitchenMusical.com

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Steve Jobs (The Apple Guy): His Best Top 10 Quotes [His Chronicles...]

I encountered this article from the site bspcn.com which I say thank you for posting such good article. It's really inspiring and quite funny. So Check it out!

Now, why didn’t I do this before! A perfect way to combine my love of management philosophy and all things Apple, by churning out a playlist of Jobs’ Top 10 quotes.


What started it all, was this recent article in Fortune Magazine that comes on the heels of Apple being selected as America’s Most Admired Company.

Steve Jobs Rocks! And, so does Apple!

unearthed there was a slew of golden quotes from Jobs himself, who has quickly replaced Jack Welch as the one business celebrity I’d like to meet (although I came pretty close to that in the past).
To make it easier to consume, I’ve broken down the quotes into two sets of five each (one set on Management and the other on Leadership). Read and Learn, my friends!

Steve Jobs’ Top 10 Quotes (after the jump)

First are his 5 Management Mantras

10. On Management

My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects.
And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.

9. On Hiring

Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview.
So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data.

8. On Firing

We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place – the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.

7. On Product Strategy

It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.
We just want to make great products. (I think he means “insanely great products!“)

His 5 Leadership Mantras

6. On Leadership

So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.

5. On Evangelism

When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.
They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else. (this actually reiterates my oft-repeated mantra of “ubiquitous evangelism” in companies)

4. On Focus

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.

3. On the User Experience

Our DNA is as a consumer company – for that inpidual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.

2. On Creativity

That happens more than you think, because this is not just engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of one of these crises, you’re not sure you’re going to make it to the other end. But we’ve always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder.

I think the key thing is that we’re not all terrified at the same time. I mean, we do put our heart and soul into these things.

And, my favorite, which nails the ethos of living the dream at your job (that I’ve written about here)

1. We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.
Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.

• Reference/Source: bspcn.com by Mario Sundar

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10 Bizarre things about Steve Jobs you might not know [Memoir]

Steve Jobs died Wednesday [10/06/2011]. He was 56. "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the Apple company said in a brief statement.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

[* 8/27/11] Today, I would like to share with you this post from Huffingtonpost.com in connection with the headline news this week about Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple's CEO. How far do you know Steve Jobs aside from the man posing at the stage for new updates about iPhone, iPod, iPad or anything Apple?

James Altucher quoted"... I was standing right next to Steve Jobs in 1989 and it was the closest thing I ever felt to being gay. The guy was incredibly wealthy, good looking enough to get any girl, a nerd super-rockstar who had just convinced my school to buy a bunch of NeXT machines (which, btw, were in fact the best machines to program on at the time) and I just wanted to be him. I wanted to be him ever since I had the Apple II+ as a kid. Ever since I shoplifted Ultima II, Castle Wolfenstein, and half a dozen other games that my friends and I would then rip from each other and pretend to be sick so we could stay home and play all day.

I don't care about Apple stock. (Well, I do think it will be the first trillion dollar company). Or about his business successes. That's boring. The only thing that matters to me is how Steve Jobs became the greatest artist that ever lived. You only get to be an artist like that by turning everything in your life upside down, by making horrible, ugly, mistakes, by doing things so differently that people will never be able to figure you out. By failing, cheating, lying, having everyone hate you, and coming out the other side with a little bit more wisdom than the rest."

1 - Nature versus Nurture

His sister is Mona Simpson but he didn't know it until he was an adult. Mona Simpson was one of my favorite novelists from the late 80s. Her first novel, Anywhere but Here, was about her relationship with her parents. Which, ironically, were Steve Jobs' parents. But since Steve Jobs was adopted (see below), they didn't know they were brother-sister until the 90s when he tracked her down. It's proof (to an extent) of the nature versus nurture argument. Two kids, without knowing they were brother and sister, both having a unique sensibility of life on this planet to become among the best artists in the world in completely different endeavors. And, to me it was great that I was a fan of both without realizing (even before they realized) that they were related.

2 - His father's name is Abdulfattah Jandali

If you had to ask me what Steve Jobs' father's name was I never in one zillion years would've guessed that and that Steve Jobs biologically was half Syrian Muslim. For some reason I thought he was Jewish. Maybe it's because I wanted to be him so I projected my own background onto him. His parents were two graduate students who I guess weren't sure if they were ready for a kid so put him up for adoption and then a few years later had another kid (see above). So I didn't know he was adopted. The one requirement his biological parents had was that he be adopted by two college-educated people. But the couple that adopted him lied at first and turned out not to be college educated (the mom was not a high school graduate), so the deal almost fell through until they promised to send Steve to college. A promise they couldn't keep (see below). So despite many layers of lies and promises broken, it all worked out in the end. People can save a lot of hassle by not having such high expectations and overly ambitious worries in the first place.

3 - He made the game "Breakout"

If there was one thing I loved almost as much as the games on the Apple II+, it was playing Breakout on my first-generation Atari (I can't remember, was that the Atari 2600?). And then Breakout on every version of my Blackberry since 2000. If he had never done anything else in life and I had met him and he said, "I'm the guy who made Breakout," I would've said, "you are the greatest genius of the past 100 years." Funny how things turn out. He went on from Atari to form Apple. Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, went to form the greatest restaurant chain in the history of mankind: Chuck E. Cheese.

4 - He denied paternity on his first child, claiming he was sterile

The mother had to initially raise the kid using welfare checks. I have no judgment on this at all. Raising kids is hard. And when you have a kid you feel like this enormous energy and creativity you have for the world is going to get misdirected into a... little baby (Jobs' parents must've felt that way as well. Like father, like son). Heck, I originally wanted my first kid to be aborted. But people change, mature, grow up. Eventually Jobs became a good father. And that's what counts in the end. Much worse if it was the reverse. I didn't know this either: that the Lisa computer (the "Apple III") was named after this first child.

5 - He's a pescetarian

In other words, he eats fish but no other meat. And he eats anything else a vegetarian eats (including eggs and dairy). I think from now on I'm going to be a pescetarian, just because Steve Jobs is one. Except when I'm in Argentina. In Argentina you have to eat steak. Ted Danson and Mary Tyler Moore consider themselves pescetarians. Somehow, even the world "pescetarian" seems like it was invented in California.

6 - He doesn't give any money to charity

Yes and when he became Apple's CEO he stopped all of their philanthropic programs. He said, "wait until we are profitable". Now they are profitable, and sitting on $40b cash, and still not corporate philanthropy. I actually think Jobs is probably the most charitable guy on the planet. Rather than focus on which mosquitoes to kill in Africa (Bill Gates is already focusing on that), Jobs has put his energy into massively improving quality of life with all of his inventions. People think that entrepreneurs have to some day "give back". This is not true. They already gave at the office. Look at the entire iPod/Mac/iPhone/Disney ecosystem and ask how many lives have benefited directly (because they've been hired) or indirectly (because they use the products to improve their quality of life). As far as I know, Jobs has never even commented about his thoughts on charity. Good for him. As one CEO of a (currently) Fortune 10 company once told me when I had my hand out for a charitable website, "Screw charity!"

7 - He lied to Steve Wozniak

When they made Breakout for Atari, Wozniak and Jobs were going to split the pay 50-50. Atari gave Jobs $5000 to do the job. He told Wozniak he got $700 so Wozniak took home $350. Again, no judgment. Young people do things. Show me someone who says he's been honest from the day he was born and I'll show you a liar. It's by making mistakes, having fights, finding out where your real boundaries in life are, that allow you to truly know where the boundaries are.

8 - He's a Zen Buddhist

He even thought about joining a monastery and becoming a monk. His guru, a Zen monk, married him and his wife. When I was going through some of my hardest times my only relief was sitting with a Zen group. Trying to quiet the mind to deal with the onrush of non-stop pain that was trying to invade there. The interesting thing about Jobs being a a Zen Buddhist is that most people would think that serious Buddhism and being one of the wealthiest people in the world come into conflict with each other. Isn't Buddhism about non-attachment? Didn't Buddha himself leave his riches and family behind?

But the answer is "no". It's normal to pursue passions and outcomes, but just not to become overly attached to those outcomes. Being happy regardless of the outcome. A great story is the Zen master and his student walking by a river. A prostitute was there and needed to be carried over the river. The Zen master picked her up and carried her across the river and then put her down. Then the master and student kept walking. A few hours later the student was so agitated he finally had to ask, "Master, how could you touch and help that prostitute! That's against what we believe in!" And the Master said, "I left her by the river. Why are you still carrying her?"

9 - He didn't go to college

I actually didn't know this initially. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are the famous college dropouts that I knew about. But apparently Steve Jobs went to Reed College for one semester and then dropped out. I guess you don't need college to program computers, make computers, build businesses, make movies, manage people, etc. (Of course, you can see all my other posts on why kids should not go to college.)

10 - Psychedelics. Steve Jobs used LSD at least once when he was younger. In fact, he said about the experience, it was "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." Apple's slogan for many years was "Think Different". Maybe using a drug which tore him from the normal frame of reference taught him how to look at problems from such a unique perspective. I don't think LSD is for everyone, but when you combine it with the innate genius the man had, plus the many ups and downs that he experienced, plus the Zen Buddhism and all of the other things above, it's quite possible it all adds up to the many inventions he's been able to produce.

Steve Jobs' story is filled with nuance and ambiguity. People study Steve Jobs by looking at his straightforward business successes. Yes, he started Apple in a garage. Yes, he started Pixar and almost went broke with it. Yes, he started and sold Next and he was fired as CEO of Apple, and blah blah blah. But none of that will ever explain the man behind the genius. None of that will explain all the products he invented that we use today. None of that will tell us about the iPad, Toy Story, the MacBook Air, the Apple II+, etc. A man's successes can be truly understood only if we can count his tears. And unfortunately in the case of Steve Jobs, that is one task that's impossible.

Man, You may REST in peace. Thanks for sharing your brilliant creation to us.

• Reference/Source: Huffingtonpost.com by James Altucher [8/24/11]
About

James Altucher

James Altucher is the managing director of Formula Capital, an asset management firm and fund of hedge funds. He's written a bunch of boring books on investing and one book that he loves: How to be the Luckiest Person Alive.



Mr. Altucher is the founder of Stockpickr.com, a social network for finance that had millions of unique visitors per month when it was sold to TheStreet.com in 2007. He has written over 200 columns for The Financial Times and has written for TheStreet.com, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fidelity.com, and other publications. He was also the founder of a web services firm, Reset Inc, which he sold in 1998, at which time he became a partner at VC firm, 212 Ventures/Investcorp. Mr. Altucher regularly appears on CNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, and CNN Radio, and is also in his spare time a nationally ranked chess master. Mr. Altucher received his BA at Cornell University and attended graduate school for computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

James Altucher

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10 Fascinating Oil Paintings by Ana Teresa Fernandez

Like everyone else, I’m easily drawn to the world of arts and visuals. When I see galleries of paintings in public like malls and bazaar – I can’t help but stop and take a look at some art piece which usually amazed me and feels like I’m content of just looking at them. Recently, I was scanning (I mean surfing) across the web when I stumble a picture showing a swimming woman in pool.

I didn’t hesitate to research who’s the photographer then what makes me feel like a fool is that, it’s actually a painting by a great painter from Mexico - Ana Teresa Fernandez. Let’s talk about her, she holds a master’s degree in Fine Arts at San Francisco Art Institute and has exhibited internationally in Mexico and South Africa. Her paintings attack the double standard imposed on women, showing them performing menial tasks like laundry and sweeping. (Oh, how fool am I becoming…*LOL)

So I decided to add her painting to our list. Here, take a look at some of her paintings which makes me teary eye. Thanks Ana for showing your talents to us.

• Reference/Source: Anateresafernandez.com

About Ana Teresa Fernandez
She was born in Tampico, Mexico. She holds a master’s degree in Fine Arts at San Francisco Art Institute and has exhibited internationally in Mexico and South Africa.

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