The Good Brand

INTRODUCTION

Brands are less and less about what we buy, and more and more about who we are. That means your cola can’t just taste good. It has to feel good, too.

It has been a tumultuous year in the wonderful world of branding. Exciting new brands, such as iPod, hit their stride; respected older brand, such as Martha Stewart, faltered; and classic brands, such as Mustang, proved they still have juice. Destination branding, from Las Vegas to Jordan, took off. A brand called Mark Burnett teamed with a brand called Trump to produce the season’s hottest TV show, which turned out to be as much a paean to brands as it was a celebration of cutthroat American capitalism.

But perhaps the most significant and ominous development in recent branding history is the emergence of Mecca-Cola, the ideologically driven brainchild of rabidly anti-Zionist French entrepreneur Tawfik Mathlouthi. With its red can adorned with white script, the soda is clearly designed as a challenge to the world’s number-one brand. And as if its packaging weren’t explicit enough, its tagline, “No more drinking stupid, drink with commitment,” is an in-your-face repudiation of the American icon.

While Mecca’s message was the most strident dispatch in the branding wars, it also, ironically, summed up some of the most potent themes currently roiling the waters: the debate over global versus local messaging and control; the power of brands to create and reflect social and cultural values; the pressure for brands to be authentic; and the need for companies to recognize a brand’s stakeholders (beyond its customers).

Carried aloft by the Internet, and reinforced by the echo chamber of a million always-on consumers, brands have seen their power expand and grow. But that growth has also spawned problems and opportunities that brand managers a decade ago could never have envisioned. Indeed, there may be no more challenging time to figure out a brand strategy than today.

To get a sense of trends shaping the current branding landscape, we talked with experts from New York to New Zealand, and tagged along at a meeting organized by futurist think tank Global Business Network. We identified seven trends that are likely to influence the conversation for the year to come.

1. Brand will be authentic.
Long before Enron and WorldCom were exposed as frauds, consumers had begun scrutinizing brands to find the truth behind the image. Did Nike use sweatshop labor to make its shoes? Did McDonald’s lard its products with fat? Aided by the internet, consumers can now know almost everything about a company. Chris Riley, founder and chief strategist of Studioriley, a company that specializes in creating economically, socially, and environmentally “healthy” brands, says companies must now reckon with an increasingly visible value chain. He tells of a teenager in a Nike focus group in Los Angeles picking an Air Jordan shoe out of a pile and identifying the exact factory in Vietnam where it had been made. “Branding is a way of articulating the core values of the corporation,” says Riley. “Companies need to project into the world who they really are.”

With cynicism about corporations at an all-time high, companies are under pressure to prove that what they stand for is something more than better, faster, newer, more. A company that can demonstrate it’s doing good and doing well – think Ben & Jerry’s, or Aveda (see page 50) – will find its brand image enhanced, Riley says. But comsumer must sense that the actions are sincere and a PR stunt that will evaporate as soon as the cameras are turned off.

2. The experience will be the expression of the brand.
Ten years ago, it would have been hard to imagine building a national brand with little of no advertising. Then along came Krispy Kreme, Google, and Amazon.com. They’re among a small group of hugely powerful brands that gained prominence without once appearing on. Brian Collins, executive creative director of the Brand Integration Group at Oglivy & Mather, says brands are moving from a marketing models that says, “I’m going to talk to you and you better listen up” to an experiential model. “Marketers need to focus on the way a brand gets brought to life tangibly, where it really lives,” says Collins. Whether it’s the folksy humor of Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants. The boudoir-like ambiance of a Victoria’s Secret shop, or the Zen-like simplicity of TiVo’s remote control, the experience conveys the essence of the brand. And often, it’s design that creates the experience.

That design message must now be distinctive enough to hold its energy in a vast array of places: in a magazine, on a T-shirt, on a coffee mug, at a skate park, on the subway, or blown up 10 stories high on a billboard in Times Square. “It’s a lot of work,” Collin says, “and you must sweat the details.”

3. Brands will be hard-wired in our brains.
Neuroscience has now confirmed what we had suspected all along: If you like Coke over Pepsi, its’ all in your head. For that branding breakthrough, we can thank Read Montague, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, who cooked up an experiment to keep his teenage daughter occupied as she helped out in his lab last summer. Montague wired up a group of volunteers and re-created the Pepsi challenge while monitoring their brain activity on an MRI. The results were astonishing. In blind taste test, subjects’ brains indicated a clear preference for Pepsi. But when they were told which of the samples was which, their brains switched brands. “The brand image of Coke in the nervous systems of the people we tested engaged systems in charged of cognitive control and commandeered their behavior,” Montague says. In short, the power of the Coke brands was enough to override an objective preference.

A commercial application of the kind of work Montagues is doing is already in play at BrightHouse, an Atlanta consulting firm. It offers clients the services of its Neurostrategies group, a team that “uses neuroscience to influences higher-order strategic business decisions,” such as identifying which brand benefits might prompt a consumer to buy. The company, which has done work for such clients as home Depot, Pepperidge Farm, and Kmart, maintains that is projects are designed to give companies a better perspective on how people develop relationships with products, brands, and companies, not to help them design products or test ad campaigns. But scientists at BrightHouse recently identified the region of the brain that responds to products that most resonate with a consumer’s self-image – the space that lights up, for example, if a Chevy guy is shown in a picture of a Silverado Half-Ton Crew. Montague thinks it’s only a matter of time before neuromarketing finds a way to commercialize that discovery. Imagine, he says, a neural focus group where brand manager could test messages to see if they resonated with a target audience. “Bringing a new product to market is a huge risk for company,” he says. “If nothing else, this would add another quantitative data point to what you know about your demographic.”

4. The line between entertainment and brands will blur.
When Beverly Hills hairstylist Jonathan Antin, the diva of Bravo’s hit show, Blow Out, flicks his AmEx card to make business happen, are we watching entertainment or advertising? The reality-TV show is one of the more exotic hybrids of a hot subspecies of branding dubbed “advertainment.” Alarmed by the defection of viewers from the network TV, particularly those 18- to 34-year-olds who compromise advertising’s demographic sweet spot, marketers are seeking ever more creative ways to connect. American Express’s chief marketing officer, John Hayes, has been at the forefront of the trend, experimenting with an array of new approaches, including “Web-isodes” featuring Jerry Seinfeld, Superman and an AmEx card; art exhibits with photographer Annie Liebowitz; a concert with Sheryl Crow; and club events in which the L.A. Houseof Blues morphed into the “House of Blue” for AmEx’s Blue card. The company also sponsored last year’s reality-TV show The Restaurant on NBC, and has favored-brand status on Blow Out. The implications for network TV loom large. In 1994, AmEx spent 80% of its marketing budget on TV; by 2003, that number had fallen to 35%. The change, Hayes says, was driven by the defection of audiences to other outlets – DVDs, the Web, cable, video games – and technologies, such as TiVo that let viewers skip commercials. “We need to be where people are and involved in things they value,” Hayes says. But, as with any new venture, he concedes there are still a few kinks to be worked out. AmEx’s presence on The Restaurant was, he admits, occasionally ham-handed, as chef Rocco paused, mid crisis, to extol the virtues of the company’s small-business service. That’s a gaffe he hopes to avoid in Blow Out. “The critical part is finding the fine line between entertainment that can have commerce within it and feeling like it’s too much of an intrusion,” he says. “That’s the art.”

5. Increasingly complex brands will require new organizational structures.
In most organizations, corporate brand management is the purview of the chief marketing officer. That’s a dangerously narrow view of a brand’s universe, says Bob Lurie, CEO of M2C, the marketing strategy division of Monitor Group. “Companies get a license to operate from society,” he says. “If you think about your brand as something that [only] your customers care about, you’ll get whacked upside the head.” Today’s brands operate in a global environment and touch many constituencies, lots of whom will never buy the product. They may range from environmental groups and regulatory agencies to unions, activist, and the media.

“Constituents are much more aggressive that in the past,” Lurie says. “More people are policing social goods, and technology enables them to share information quickly and easily.” While the Sierra Club and local union may not usually have much in common, they now have the ability to snap into tight focus and connection the instant they discover shared goals. The problems, Lurie says, is that the task of managing these various groups tends to be spread throughout the organization: The legal department has one piece, the government-affaris folks another and the marketing department yet another. That non-integrated approach can be dangerous when trouble happens. Instead, Lurie suggests, companies should decide who gets responsibility for the brand’s reputation by determining which function is most important. In some industries, such as oil and gas, it may be the government-affairs department. In packaged goods, it might be marketing. The company should then map its relevant constituencies as social network, figuring out whose interest are likely to be aligned with whose and then reach out to them. It’s a big job, says Lurie, but it’s an investment that will more than pay for itself in a crisis. “The more you’re out in front, the less likely is that they’ll torch you when something goes wrong,” he says.

6. Brands will create social and cultural values.
In 2000, Naomi Klein, antiglobalism activist and author of No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs (Picador), predicted that consumers would rise up against corporations whose brands had infiltrated their homes, their schools, and their public spaces. Whoops. While antibrand activism has waned since the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle, people affection for brands seems to have grown. Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, recently launched as site called Lovemarks.com, where people can write mash notes about their favorite brands. At last count, there were more than 1,800 postings, expressing admiration fir everything from OshKosh overalls to Zeiss camera lenses.

That king of passion has prompted a shift from brands as mere product identifiers to brands as personal identifiers – a development that threatens to confound the notion of a corporation as a brand’s sole proprietor. “Companies have treated their brands as intellectual property that needs to be controlled, managed, and leveraged, not cultural property to be shared, remixed, and re-construed,” says design strategist Andrew Zolli, founder of Z+ Partners, a New York trend-analysis and foresight firm. Zolli notes that brands increasingly make a cultural and political statement about their adherents. In Karachi, the act of drinking a Coke instead of Mecca-Cola is now an ideological gesture. So, too, are consumers making statements about themselves when they choose to stop at Whole Foods versus Safeway, drive a Toyota Prius instead of a Ford Expedition, or purchase an Apple computer instead of a PC.

Smart companies are reaching out their customers, encouraging participation in their brands – allowing fan sites and Meetup groups – even is that means letting go of the strings of control a bit. Lucasfilm, for example, didn’t call in the lawyers when fans began creating their own Star Wars videos. Indeed, it posted sounds (like Darth Vaer breathing) and other digital material on its Web site for fans to play with. “People are going to do things with brands because of these personal identity issues that brand managers need to tolerate and not try to shut down,” Zolli says.

7. America will be reborn as more culturally sensitive brand.
It’s hard to imagine a time when America’s image was so tarnished abroad. Between long-standing complaints about America’s cultural imperialism as expressed by everything from Microsoft to EuroDisney, to the fierce anti-Americanism spawned by the war in Iraq, it’s not an easy time to be an American multinational. Indeed, a recent study of 30,000 people outside the United States by the global market-research company NOP world found that the total number of consumers worldwide who use American brands had fallen to 27% from 30% over the past 12 months, a trend NOP managing director Tom Miller called a “warning sign for brands.”

But some optimists in advertising think it’s still possible for America to get its groove back. “People still love Americans. They just don’t like our policies and our government,” says Claude Singer, senior VP of branding firm Siegel & Gale. Recently, he says, a new group has risen to try to put forward the best side of American business. Business for Diplomatic Action, headed by DDB chairman Keith Reinhard, aims to help fight anti-Americanism by teaching businesspeople to be more sensitive and responsive to local needs. The idea is not to advertise how great America is, but to get U.S. companies and their employees to act more as ambassadors for the brand called America. Cynics would point to previous failed efforts, most notably Charlotte Beers’s campaign for the State Department of burnish America’s image in the Muslim world. But this effort is based on action, not slick advertising. And nobody says it’s going to be easy. Indeed, Singer allows that it may take some future Reaganesque figure to articulate this vision. But the brand’s strength, he says, is that it’s authentic. “There’s an idea there of liberty, and once upon a time, our country did stand for it, “he says.” At some point in the future, there will be an understanding again of who we are and what we stand for. And at that point, we will have a real brand and not just a fake Madison Avenue concept.”

Photography: Coca-Cola Light packshot, George E. Bitar, Copyright 2005

Fit to Race

Staying in shape for Formula One success

Just because Formula One drivers do their work sitting down doesn't mean they are not among the fittest athletes on the planet - far from it. While he may not be running, jumping or swimming, an F1 driver nevertheless needs immense physical strength and stamina to survive the rigors of a 350 km/h racing car.

To drive a modern Formula One car is not only down to a driver's reflexes and natural talent; without supreme fitness it would be virtually impossible to race flat-out for a Grand Prix distance due to the immense forces faced on every lap.

The highly-efficient carbon brakes slow a car down so rapidly and the downforce generated by current aerodynamics is such that a driver experiences a peak of around 5Gs under braking and in high-speed corners. This affects the whole body but has its most dramatic consequence on the neck and chest.

For a typical person, these forces are almost unimaginable and the nearest most will come is on the most extreme, white-knuckle rollercoaster. But on a rollercoaster you are a passenger for a minute or so; in a Formula One car a driver must be focused and push to the very limit for up to two hours at a time.

The result is a heart rate higher than almost any other kind of athlete, with an average rate of around 170 beats per minute (bpm) during a race and peaks as high as 190. Contrast that to a typical healthy man of similar age, whose heart rate is closer to 60bpm.

Naturally, like all the rivals, Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock take fitness very seriously and rigorous daily workouts mean they are always in peak condition whenever they get behind the wheel.

"I would say it's completely different to any other sport because you have a heartbeat average of 170 over an hour and a half and you never see that in another sport," Glock says. "That makes it completely different. That's the reason why you have to be really fit as a Formula One driver."

Demands like that on the body require specially-tailored training plans, as Toyota team doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli explains: "The heart-rate is amazing so they need aerobic fitness to a very high level. They go jogging, cycling, all sports that involve aerobic area. The second part of the training is specific for the neck. They need a very strong neck because every corner puts a load of around 20-25kgs on the neck, and obviously a strong upper body and forearms."

But it is not just physical fitness that is important in Formula One racing. To drive a 350km/h car at the very limit for a race distance requires immense concentration and mental strength.

"The brain is just like a muscle and you can train it," according to Ceccarelli and he offers Toyota drivers the chance to stay sharp by using computer programs. He has developed simulations, which can test - and improve - reaction times, multi tasking and spatial awareness.

Trulli uses these techniques to ensure he is mentally ready for each Grand Prix, as he explains: "We do mental preparation with some of these simulations which have been developed through the years. I can easily do them at home or even during the Grand Prix weekend using my computer. It's all about keeping concentration and trying to be fit and concentrated for a race distance, which is not so easy in a Formula One car because obviously it's very quick."

Studies show a marked difference in how a racing driver responds to these challenges. For example, the reaction time test simulates the start of a Grand Prix and the user is required to press a button as soon as the lights go out. In general a Formula One driver and an ordinary person have similar reaction times, but the driver uses significantly less energy in his brain to achieve this.

"The difference is that the driver is much more economical in managing this performance, so his brain is working in an economical way compared to a normal person," says Dr Ceccarelli. "That means he is able to carry on this performance for a longer time compared to a normal person. That is the important point we have to consider in the training."

More surprisingly, since the elimination of traction control and engine braking, drivers are facing more strain on their bodies as they battle to keep the 700bhp car under complete control.

Dr Ceccarelli reveals: "From the beginning of this season compared to last year, we have seen the heart rate is from five to 10 beats more and the sweating is more, which means the driver is more involved in driving. We consider this is not on the physical side but the mental side, which consumes a lot of energy."

So, there is more reason than ever for Toyota's drivers to stay fighting fit as they search for the vital edge which will help the team move closer to its ambitious targets.

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Gibran K. Gibran: Pain

Listen to GIBRAN KHALIL GIBRAN in his Masterpiece, THE PROPHET:

And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain."

And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

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This is Lebanon - Part II

Beirut's oft-invoked Paris of the East designation is certainly well deserved, with plenty of sightseeing, shopping, cuisine, and a night life to keep any fast-moving bon viveur within the city limits for the duration of your stay.

However, consider also the fabulous countryside beyond Beirut if you're looking for a true taste of Lebanon, an experience best found through a more lengthy exploration of the country's mountain villages, small seaside towns, and vibrant agricultural hamlets.

Start your tour by visiting Harissa, the Virgin Mary statue overlooking the bay of Jounieh from its 600-meter-high mountain perch. The Basilica and statue are accessible via the Telepherique (suspended cable car), which is open all year round. During the summer season, a night time ascent and descent gives you a remarkable sparkling view. During the spring and early months of summer, you can leave a balmy sunny day on the cost and arrive to a fog enshrouded terminal building at the top.

Take the breathtaking Qadisha Valley (or Holy Valley), once a refuge for Maronite Christian followers, which now provides sanctuaries of a different kind: serpentine hiking trails, fast-flowing mountain streams, and beautiful alpine views offer a natural escape for Lebanese and tourists alike.

In fact, Lebanon's outdoor adventure scene is increasingly popular, and a growing number of small, local enterprises and outfitters are fueling something of an ecotourism boom. An extensive network of trails service single- and multi-day hikes, while ecotour operators can arrange for supplies and accommodation in a mix of campsites, B&Bs, and hotels along the way.

Snowmelt-fed rivers come to life in spring while the Mediterranean coast boasts the usual array of water sports, from snorkeling and diving to windsurfing and sailing. Clearly, whatever your outdoor persuasion, Lebanon appeals naturally to the spirit of any adventure traveler.

Lebanon beyond Beirut caters to more than just high-octane thrill-seekers. In a landscape reminiscent at times of Tuscany or the hilly terrain of coastal California, leisurely walks in the beautiful mountain gorges, through red-roofed villages and past 1,000-year-old cedars, will certainly provide a tranquil alternative to Beirut's many cosmopolitan delights. Historical and cultural escapes are also close at hand. Tour the country's many archaeological and religious sites in the south, and spend the next day learning about organic farming with lunch at the farm.

Discover high-quality traditional crafts such as olive oil soap, blown glass, or pottery made in the tradition of the Phoenicians. Spend your day picking fruit in the Bekaa Valley, and round it off with a glass of wine fashioned from grapes plucked from those same orchards. Whatever off-the-beaten-path activity you seek, one thing's for sure: your Lebanon itinerary can be as action-packed, culturally decadent, or whimsical as you choose.

Photography: The Bay of Jounieh, George E. Bitar, Copyright 2001

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Boost Your Energy on the Job

Leaders have the ability to energize their employees, customers, and colleagues by the way they communicate. But in addition to the specific language they use, the most inspiring leaders have an unusually high level of energy. Where do they find the energy to work 12 hours a day, travel around the globe, and still knock a one-hour presentation out of the park? Here are the three common factors that they share.

Energized leaders get sleep. On the eve of his Presidential inauguration, Ronald Reagan gave explicit instructions to his staff that he not be awakened before a certain time. President Jimmy Carter called at 07:00 to discuss some issues prior to handing over power and was told Reagan was sleeping and could not be disturbed. Carter was incredulous, but Reagan had a point. He wanted to be fully rested for the most important speech -- or presentation -- of his life.

The right amount of sleep for your body (whether it's 4 hours or 8 hours; not everyone's the same) can make the difference in how you come across. Be honest with yourself, find out how many hours are ideal for you and guard that time as best you can. Don't compare yourself to others. If you hear that Oprah only needs four 4 of sleep, don't think you'll be successful by getting by on less just like her. You'll probably get the opposite result.

It's critical in a presentation to exceed the audience's energy level slightly. It might be fine for the guy across the conference table to be dragging a bit because he stayed up later than usual, but it's not fine for the presenter. You owe it yourself to avoid sleep deprivation. According to brain research scientist, John Medina: "Loss of sleep hurts attention, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and even motor dexterity." In his book Brain Rules, Medina highlighted a NASA study that showed a 26-minute nap improved a pilot's performance by 34%. Sleep on it.

Energized leaders get off their behinds. In 2003, CBS hired a gentleman to cover the first 100 days of the Schwarzenegger administration in California. He had a front row seat to many of the Governor's speeches and presentations. Schwarzenegger had more energy than many on his staff half his age. The guy learned that, despite putting his bodybuilding days long behind him, Schwarzenegger still worked out 90 minutes a day, 6 days a week, combining aerobic activity and strength training. It was a turning point for him. Although he has always been committed to physical fitness, he found excuses for skipping a jog or workout -- like many people. The observation forced him to ask himself, if Schwarzenegger could work out for 90 minutes a day and still find time to run the world's 5th largest economy, what excuse does he have?

The guy soon found that most of the successful leaders he interviewed were fanatical about exercise. When to spoke to Google Vice-President Marissa Mayer, he learned that she hits the Google gym after a very long day, usually after 20:00. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz takes a bike ride before getting into the office at 06:00, and Cisco CEO John Chambers is an avid jogger, usually getting in a long run while rehearsing a presentation in his mind. Exercise sends oxygen rich blood to the brain, promoting clarity and energy. Inspiring leaders cannot afford not to work out.

Energized leaders have a relentlessly positive outlook. When Norman Vincent Peal wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, he couldn't have known that a sports marvel by the name of Tiger Woods would take a positive mental attitude to the nth degree. "The road to failure is paved with negativity," Woods wrote in How I Play Golf. "If you think you can't do something, chances are you won't be able to. Conversely, the power of positive thinking can turn an adverse situation into a prime opportunity for heroism."

Find a successful and energetic leader in any field and you'll see a person who is relentlessly positive. Emotional stress -- which is often self-imposed -- takes a toll on your energy, filling your mind with clutter that interferes with your pitch or presentation.

The positive psychology movement has taught us that thinking optimistically has a dramatic effect on our moods. A positive mood will raise your energy, give power to your words, and boost your professional presence. Using positive language when talking to yourself releases powerful endorphins, or feel-good chemicals, in your brain. These are same type of chemicals released during exercise. Do you see the connection? By getting more sleep, more exercise, and thinking more uplifting thoughts, your energy will soar. Your colleagues and customers will notice.

The Art of Creative Thinking

New ideas help businesses gain an advantage over their rivals. Employees who generate these new ideas -- who practice the art of creative thinking -- are one of a company's greatest assets. The Art of Creative Thinking shows the reader practical ways of becoming a more creative thinker. Each succinct chapter is built around one core idea which is then developed and illustrated. End-of-chapter key points summarize the main points. The Art of Creative Thinking shows you how to: develop your understanding of the creative process; overcome barriers to creating new ideas; broaden your vision; build on new ideas; develop a creative attitude; become more confident as a creative thinker.

The Olive Tree - Part III

CULTIVARS

Over the centuries mankind has produced and propagated a myriad of olive varieties. Today several dozen varieties are grown commercially around the world. Five commercially important varieties are grown in California: Manzanillo, Sevillano, Mission, Ascolano and Barouni, listed in descending order of crop size. Some representative olive cultivars including the commercial California varieties are listed below.

Ascolano
Very large, ellipsoidal fruit. Skin color very light even when ripe, pit very small. Fruit is tender and must be handled carefully. Contains very little bitterness and requires only moderate lye treatment. Excellent for pickles, but needs proper aeration during pickling to develop "ripe" color. Tree a heavy bearer, widely adapted.

Barouni
Large fruit, almost as large as Sevillano. Trees spreading and easy to harvest. Withstands extremely high temperatures. The variety usually shipped to the East Coast for making home-cured olives. Originally from Tunisia.

Gordal
Medium to large, plump fruit, ripening early. Resembles Sevillano. A popular pickling olive and principal cultivar in Spain, producer of most of the world's table olives.

Manzanillo
Large, rounded-oval fruit. Skin brilliant purple, changing to deep blue-black when mature. Resists bruising. Ripens early, several weeks earlier than Mission. The pulp parts readily with its bitterness and is exceedingly rich when pickled. Excellent for oil and pickles. Tree spreading, vigorous, a prolific bearer.

Mission
Medium-sized, oval fruit. Skin deep purple changing to jet-black when ripe. Flesh very bitter but firm, freestone. Ripens rather late. Good for pickling and oil, specially ripe pickles. Most widely used for cold-pressed olive oil in California. Tree vigorous, heavy-bearing. More cold resistant than other cultivars. Grown at the old missions in California.

Picholine
Small, elongated fruit. Skin light green, changing to wine red, then red-black when ripe. Pulp fleshy, firm-textured. Tree vigorous, medium-sized, bears heavy crops regularly. Cured olives have a delicate, subtle, lightly salty, nut-like flavor. Usually salt-brine cured. Popular in gourmet and specialty markets.

Rubra
Medium-small, ovate fruit. Skin jet-black when ripe. Ripens 3 to 4 weeks earlier than Mission. Best suited for oil, but is also used for pickling. Tree large, precocious, often producing fruit the second year. An exceptionally prolific bearer. Very hardy and reliable even in dry situations. Originated in France.

Sevillano
Very large fruit, bluish-black when ripe. The largest California commercial variety. Stone large, clinging. Ripens early. Low oil content, only useful in pickling. Used for making Sicilian style salt brine cured olives, also the leading canning cultivar. Tree a strong grower and regular bearer. Require deep, rich, well drained soil. Will not stand much cold.

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The Olive Tree - Part II

CULTURE

Location: Plant olive trees in full sun and away from sidewalks to avoid stains from fallen ripe fruit. Non-fruiting trees are available which can be planted in areas where fruit may be a problem. Strong winds will "sculpt" the trees, but otherwise they are quite wind-tolerant.

Soils: Olives will grow well on almost any well-drained soil up to pH 8.5 and are tolerant of mild saline conditions.

Irrigation: Irrigation is a necessity in California with its dry summers. A monthly deep watering of home grown trees is normally adequate. Because of its small leaves, with their protective cuticle and slow transpiration, the olive tree survives even extended dry periods.

Fertilization: Fertilizing olive trees with additional supplies of nitrogen has proved beneficial. In California farmers systematically apply fertilizers well ahead of the time flowers develop so the trees can absorb the nitrogen before fruit set. Many growers in Mediterranean countries apply organic fertilizers every other year.

Pruning: Proper pruning is important for the olive. Pruning both regulates production and shapes the tree for easier harvest. The trees can withstand radical pruning, so it is relatively easy to keep them at a desired height. The problem of alternate bearing can also be avoided with careful pruning every year. It should be kept in mind that the olive never bears fruit in the same place twice, and usually bears on the previous year's growth. For a single trunk, prune suckers and any branches growing below the point where branching is desired. For the gnarled effect of several trunks, stake out basal suckers and lower branches at the desired angle. Prune flowering branches in early summer to prevent olives from forming. Olive trees can also be pruned to espaliers.

Propagation: None of the cultivated varieties can be propagated by seed. Seed propagated trees revert to the original small-fruited wild variety. The seedlings can, of course, be grafted or chip budded with material from desired cultivars. The variety of an olive tree can also be changed by bark grafting or top working. Another method of propagation is transplanting suckers that grow at the base of mature trees. However, these would have to be grafted if the suckers grew from the seedling rootstock.
A commonly practiced method is propagation from cuttings. Twelve to fourteen inch long, one to three inch wide cuttings from the two year old wood of a mature tree is treated with a rooting hormone, planted in a light rooting medium and kept moist. Trees grown from such cuttings can be further grafted with wood from another cultivar. Cutting grown trees bear fruit in about four years.

Pests and diseases: The olive tree is affected by some pests and diseases, although it has fewer problems than most fruit trees. Around the Mediterranean the major pests are medfly and the olive fruit fly, Dacus oleae. In California, verticillium wilt is a serious fungal disease. There is no effective treatment other than avoiding planting on infested soils and removing damaged trees and branches. A bacterial disease known as olive knot is spread by pruning with infected tools during rainy months. Because the olive has fewer natural enemies than other crops, and because the oil in olives retains the odor of chemical treatments, the olive is one of the least sprayed crops.

Harvest: Olive fruits that are to be processed as green olives are picked while they are still green but have reached full size. They can also be picked for processing at any later stage up through full ripeness. Ripe olives bruise easily and should be handled with care. Mold is also a problem for the fruit between picking and curing. There are several classical ways of curing olives. A common method is the lye-cure process in which green or near-ripe olives are soaked in a series of lye solutions for a period of time to remove the bitter principle and then transferred to water and finally a mild saline solution. Other processing methods include water curing, salt curing and Greek-style curing. Explicit directions for various curing and marinating methods can be found in several publications including Maggie Blyth Klein's book, Feast of the Olives, and the University of California Agricultural Sciences Publications Leaflet 21131. Both green-cured and ripe-cured olives are popular as a relish or snack. For California canned commercial olives, black olives are identical to green olives. The black color is obtained by exposure to air after lye extraction and has nothing to do with ripeness. Home production of olive oil is not recommended. The equipment required and the sheer mass of fruit needed are beyond most households.

Commercial Potential: Commercial olive production is a multimillion dollar business in California. In the Mediterranean region olives and olive oil are common ingredients of everyday foods. Raw olives are sometimes sold in speciality produce stores, and home growers in California often sell their excess crop to others interested in home curing. There is also a growing interest in specialty olive oils, often produced commercially from small groves of olive trees.

Gibran K. Gibran: Reason & Passion

Listen to GIBRAN KHALIL GIBRAN in his Masterpiece, THE PROPHET:

And the priestess spoke again and said: "Speak to us of Reason and Passion."

And he answered saying:

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your appetite.

Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.

But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or our rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion; that it may sing;

And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house.

Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both.

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows - then let your heart say in silence, "God rests in reason."

And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky, - then let your heart say in awe, "God moves in passion."

And since you are a breath In God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

The Olive Tree - Part I

Oleaceae, Common Name: Olive.

Origin: The olive is native to the Mediterranean region, tropical and central Asia and various parts of Africa. The olive has a history almost as long as that of Western civilization, its development being one of civilized man's first accomplishments. At a site in Spain, carbon-dating has shown olive seed found there to be eight thousand years old. O. europaea may have been cultivated independently in two places, Crete and Lebanon. Archeological evidence suggests that olives were being grown in Crete as long ago as 2,500 B.C. From Crete and Lebanon olives spread to Greece, Rome and other parts of the Mediterranean area. Olives are also grown commercially in California, Australia and South Africa. There is some disagreement over when the trees first appeared in California. Some say they were introduced in 1769 when seeds brought from Mexico were planted. Others site the date 1785 when trees were brought in to make olive oil.

Adaptation: The olive requires a long, hot growing season to properly ripen the fruit, no late spring frosts to kill the blossoms and sufficient winter chill to insure fruit set. Home grown olives generally fruit satisfactorily in the warmer coastal valleys of California. Virtually all U.S. commercial olive production is concentrated in California's Central Valley, with a small pocket of olive acreage outside Phoenix. The tree may be grown as an ornamental where winter temperatures do not drop below 12° F. Green fruit is damaged at about 28°, but ripe fruit will withstand somewhat lower temperatures. Hot, dry winds may be harmful during the period when the flowers are open and the young fruits are setting. The trees survive and fruit well even with considerable neglect. Olives can also be grown in a large container, and has even appeared in shows as a bonsai.

DESCRIPTION

Growth Habits: The olive is an evergreen tree growing to 50 ft. in height with a spread of about 30 ft. The tree can be kept to about 20 ft. with regular pruning. The graceful, billowing appearance of the olive tree can be rather attractive. In an all-green garden its grayish foliage serves as an interesting accent. The attractive, gnarled branching pattern is also quite distinctive. Olives are long-lived with a life expectancy of 500 years. The trees are also tenacious, easily sprouting back even when chopped to the ground.

Foliage: The olive's feather-shaped leaves grow opposite one another. Their skin is rich in tannin, giving the mature leaf its gray-green appearance. The leaves are replaced every two or three years, leaf-fall usually occurring at the same time new growth appears in the spring.

Flowers: The small, fragrant, cream-colored olive flowers are largely hidden by the evergreen leaves and grow on a long stem arising from the leaf axils. The olive produces two kinds of flowers: a perfect flower containing both male and female parts, and a staminate flower with stamens only. The flowers are largely wind pollinated with most olive varieties being self-pollinating, although fruit set is usually improved by cross pollination with other varieties. There are self-incompatible varieties that do not set fruit without other varieties nearby, and there are varieties that are incompatible with certain others. Incompatibility can also occur for environmental reasons such as high temperatures.

Fruit: The olive fruit is a green drupe, becoming generally blackish-purple when fully ripe. A few varieties are green when ripe and some turn a shade of copper brown. The cultivars vary considerably in size, shape, oil-content and flavor. The shapes range from almost round to oval or elongated with pointed ends. Raw olives contain an alkaloid that makes them bitter and unpalatable. A few varieties are sweet enough to be eaten after sun drying. Thinning the crop will give larger fruit size. This should be done as soon as possible after fruit set. Thin until remaining fruit average about 2 or 3 per foot of twig. The trees reach bearing age in about 4 years.

Joke of the Week

An elderly Italian man who lived in the outskirts of Monte Carlo went to the local church for confession.
He said: "Father, during WWII a beautiful woman knocked on my door and asked me to hide her from the Enemy. So I hid her in my attic."
The priest replied: "That was a wonderful thing you did, my son, and you have no need to confess that."
"It's worse than that, Father. She started to repay me with physical favors."
The priest said: "By doing that you were both in great danger. However, two people together under those circumstances are greatly tempted to act that way. But if you are truly sorry for your actions, you are forgiven."
"Thank you, Father. That's a great load off my mind. But I have one more question."
"And that is?" asked the priest.
"Father, should I tell her the war is over?"

Cedars of Lebanon, Cedars of the Lord

The Cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus Libani, is an evergreen of the family Panaceas. This coniferous plant was first found in Lebanon, on the Mount Lebanon range at Sannine, Barrouk, and the eastern and western mountain chains. The Mount Lebanon chain used to be almost completely covered with Cedars.

These trees are the most renowned natural monuments in the universe; religion, poetry and history have all equally celebrated them. The Arabs entertain a traditional veneration for these trees, attributing to them a vegetative power which enable them to live eternally, and an 'intelligence' which causes them to manifest signs of wisdom and foresight they are said to understand the changes of the seasons as they stir their vast branches, inclining them towards heaven or earth accordingly as the snow proposes to fall or melt. It is said that the snows have no sooner begun to fall then these Cedars turn their branches to rise insensibly, gathering their points upwards, forming, as it were, a pyramid or parasol. Assuming this new shape, they can sustain the immense weight of snow remaining upon them for so long.

The importance of the Cedar of Lebanon to the various civilizations is conveyed through its uses. The Egyptians used its resin to mummify their dead and thus called it the "life of death", and Cedar sawdust was found in the tombs of the Pharaohs as well. Pharaohs and Pagans had the tradition of burning the Cedar coming from Lebanon with their offerings and in their ceremonies. Jew priests however, were ordered by Moses to use the peel of the Lebanese Cedar in circumcision and treatment of leprosy. According to the Talmud, Jews used to burn Lebanese Cedar wood on the mountain of olives announcing the beginning of the new year.

The superb qualities of the Cedar wood as beautiful color, hardness, exquisite fragrance, resistance to insects humidity and temperature, incited Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks and many others to use it extensively. The Phoenicians built their trade ship and military fleets from Cedar wood as well as the roofs of their temples, houses and doorsills. Kings of neighboring and distant countries asked for this wood to build their religious and civil constructs; the most famous of which are the temple of Jerusalem and David's and Solomon's Palaces. It was also used in the temples and furniture works of the Assyrians and Babylonians. Greeks, Latins and Romans had their share of Cedar wood which they praise and have pride in.

Cedrus Libani possesses an imposing trunk that may attain a height of 120 feet and a diameter of 9 feet. Such a trunk is often branching and having a dense crown with an inclined dark green head of characteristic flat growth in adult trees. Secondary branchlets are often ramified like a candelabra. Warberton, in his "Crescent and Cross", described a Cedar of Lebanon with a trunk of 45 feet in circumference. Burckhardt speaks of twelve very ancient trees called the "Saints". These had four, five, and even seven gigantic trunks" springing from the same base", bearing, like American Sequoias, leaves only at their very tops.

The bark of the Cedar of Lebanon is dark gray and exudes a gum of balsam which makes the wound so fragrant that to walk in a grove of Cedars is an utmost delight. The wood is astonishingly decay resistant and it is never eaten by insect larvae. Unlike the red tone of the American Cedar, it is of a beautiful light tone, solid, and free from knots.

The terminal shoots are erect or slightly inclined. The tree blossoms in September or October, which is peculiar to the genus Cedrus among the conifers. It bears cones that require three years to mature. The cones is initially tiny and pale green. The second year it reaches its full size that ranges between 3-4.5 inches in height and has a characteristic violet purple color. In the third season it turns into a rich brown and scatters its seeds, which are minute, considering the size of the tree. The cones are born upright on the upper side of the branches.

The Cedar of Lebanon is a plant of cold high mountainous regions. It flourishes and easily regenerates its forests where the average rainfall ranges between 800 and 190 mm. The average temperatures that occur in the land of the Cedar are as follows: as low as -4.5 to 5.4 C on the coldest month i.e. January, and as high as 21.8 to 34.3 C in the warmest month i.e. August. Growing Cedars from seeds or seedlings is an incredibly easy task provided that favorable conditions for growth be available. These conditions can be limited to two: water and soil nutriments. Cedars favor rich soils with high organic matter; so poor soils must be enriched simply by adding livestock manure and ploughing it into the soil. This procedure can be repeated every year. Water on the other hand is the second critical growth factor, if limited growth will halt and dryness would occur leading to the death of branches or the whole tree. So water must be sufficiently supplied especially during the hot season. Sufficient watering means that water should reach the deep layers of soil where Cedar roots reside and this can be accomplished by watering slowly for long periods of time. In conclusion, and contrary to the common beliefs, Cedars can grow significantly fast but only when their water and nutrient requirements are answered.

Throughout history, Cedar wood, and such by-products as Cedar oil, have proven to be worth far more money than living trees, however beautiful they were. At the time of Gilgamesh, Egypt has already cut (without replanting) large amounts of Cedar for ship construction and for export. They continued the same tradition. Cedar cutting prevailed under various administrations, up through the time of the Ottomans. They finished off most of the remaining forests by using Cedar wood as fuel for railway engines. They generally bypassed more easily obtainable oak wood, since Cedar (because of its oil content) burned much better. The presently remaining Cedar groves were spared mainly because their regions were relatively difficult to reach.

Cedrus Libani has been famous in Lebanon since early written history. Many writers throughout history have been highly impressed with the majestic aspects of the Cedars, and have referred to them metaphorically to indicate such qualities as strength, beauty, endurance, grandeur, majesty, dignity, lofty stature and noblesse. For instance, in the beautiful "Song of Songs" in the Bible, the poetic description that begins "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand ...," finishes with "... His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the Cedars." Cedar is mentioned 75 times in the Bible, and all are included in the old testament -Torah- distributed among 18 books. Some of these statements are: "The Cedar in the heaven of God is unmatched by cypress and un-resembling in its branches...", "the trees of God resemble the Cedars of Lebanon which he planted", "the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grows like the Cedar in Lebanon", "my love is white and red... bright as Lebanon and young as the Cedars". The Cedar of Lebanon is also the main tool in the oldest epic ever written by man -The Epic of Gilgamesh- a story from the Mesopotamia. The earliest reference is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates back at least four thousand years (Leonard Translation, slightly modernized):
"On the Mountain the Cedars uplift their abundance. Their shadow is beautiful, is all delight. Thistles hide under them, and the dark prick-thorn, sweet smelling flowers hide under the Cedars ... In all directions, ten thousand miles stretches that forest ..."

From the above, one gets the impression that the Cedar forests were extensive at that time. One reason for this might be found in the description of the monster that guards the forest:

"Who could dare enter? Khimbaba's below is storm wind, His mouth is fire, his snort is death! Enlil has placed him there to the terror of men, for warding the Cedars. And whoever enters the forest is suddenly faint".

Gilgamesh, of course, kills the monster commenting in passing: "I will set my hands to it and fell the Cedars, I will make myself a sounding name"

The Scriptures by Ezekiel illustrate beautifully how these lofty kings of the forest were used by prophet orators to symbolize and typify worldly might, power, and glory. Thus one obtains a fair idea of the crowning insolence of Sennacherib, the invader, when he boasted in the year 700 B.C.: "I will come up the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall Cedars thereof".

In his book, "The Natural History of the Bible", Tristan says of the Cedars: "... Everyone who has seen these noble trees recognizes the force of the majestic imagery of the prophets. With their gnarled and contorted stems and scaly bark, with their massive branches, with their dark green leaves shot with silver in the sunlight, as they stand a lovely group in the stupendous mountain amphitheater, the assert their title to the monarchs of the forests".

To end this unfulfilling account of Cedrus Libani, it seems only right to refer to Khalil Gibran's book "A tear and a smile" where he says: "My love is as the Cedars, beloved, and the elements shall not conquer it."

For many hundreds of years the Cedar of Lebanon has been the national emblem of Lebanon.

Picture of the Week

Vote Lebanon Now

"My Fellow Countrymen,
Go now to this website and vote to Jeita Grotto & the Cedars of Lebanon to be between the new Wonders of the World: http://www.new7wonders.com or http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/nominees/asia/

Live ranking: http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/liveranking/

At this moment, Jeita Grotto is the 47th and the Cedars is the 78th. Vote to make them between the first 7th Wonders of the World.
Please spread the word".

S†MoN®

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

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 to graduating students of Stanford University.

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 - 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.

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Gibran K. Gibran: Pleasure

Listen to GIBRAN KHALIL GIBRAN in his Masterpiece, THE PROPHET:

Then a hermit, who visited the city once a year, came forth and said, "Speak to us of Pleasure."

And he answered, saying:

Pleasure is a freedom song, but it is not freedom.

It is the blossoming of your desires, but it is not their fruit.

It is a depth calling unto a height, but it is not the deep nor the high.

It is the caged taking wing, but it is not space encompassed.

Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.

And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.

I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.

For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone:

Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.

Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.

But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.

They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.

Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;

And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.

But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.

And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.

But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?

Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?

And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?

Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.

Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?

Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.

And your body is the harp of your soul,

And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,

But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.