Watch Steve Jobs Inspirational 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech

With the passing of Steve Jobs this afternoon, I thought it would be appropriate to post the following.  On June 12, 2005, he gave the commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University.  Months before, he publicly battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer.  That day, however, this billionaire who had never himself benefited from a college degree, revealed three personal stories from his life.  These stories make you think about yourself and your place in the world, and inspire you to do great things.

If you haven't seen this video, I encourage you to take the next 15 minutes to view it.  It will be the best 15 minutes you have spent today.  I must warn you though, there is a segment of the speech where Jobs talks about facing death.  In light of today's events, it made watching the video somewhat hard to watch.



One final note:  Steve Jobs was notoriously famous for keeping his private life private.  It is unknown as to the true nature of the latest illness that caused him to resign as Apple's CEO in August.  Many speculate that he had a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer, but it was never disclosed.  His cause of death may ultimately never be known.

His family did release the following statement this evening,

"Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family. 

"In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve's illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories. 

"We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve.   We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

Apple.com on October 5, 2011.

Remembering Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze died earlier this afternoon after a nearly two year battle with pancreatic cancer. He will mostly be remembered for his legendary roles in such hits as 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Ghost'. But even in his "lesser known" movie roles, he was an actor that put everything into his characters. Perhaps his most memorable roles to me was as the troubled motivational speaker, Jim Cunningham, in 2001's 'Donnie Darko'. It was quite a haunting performance. There were some of his movies that were, let's be honest, hated by the critics ('Point Break', 'Road House'). He made them cult classics. He had a way of stealing the scene; of bringing the focus on him. Case in point:

Chris Farley - Chippendales


Anyone......ANYONE!!!!....that can go through that six minute plus skit.....ON LIVE TELEVISION...and keep a straight face is a true professional. He may not be with us anymore but he'll live on through DVD, the internet, and all forms of digital media. Rest in peace Patrick.