You've Got to Find What You Love

STANFORD, California Republic -- On the 12^th of June 2005, a balding man clad in jeans and sandals under his black robe delivered the Commencement address at Stanford University, eliciting a standing ovation. This is what he had to say:

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 returned 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 others' 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.

The speaker was Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios. More information here.

The Mercat Cross

The Mercat Cross (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

INVERNESS, Scotland -- The Falcon Square Mercat Cross is a sandstone pillar 37 feet high, with a rearing unicorn on top and the sides adorned by a falcon spiralling down in the four successive stages of its attacking manoeuvre. The third and forth stage can be seen in the photograph, which was cropped slightly to eliminate the roof of a nearby Marks and Spencer. The sculpture was designed by Gerald Laing and unveiled in June 2003.

Historically, a Mercat Cross is a monument found in Scottish cities, at the center of commerce where merchants used to gather. The Old Mercat Cross in Inverness is located opposite the town hall. At its base is the Clachnacudainn or Stone of Tubs. This is where women used to rest their washing tubs when they climbed up from the river Ness. The name Inverness means at the mouth of the Ness in Scots Gaelic.

Captured on 13^th September 2005 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on aperture priority (f/3.2) and a millisecond shutter. 

Unicorn Rampant

Unicorn Rampant (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

INVERNESS, Scotland -- A unicorn rears atop the Falcon Square Mercat Cross in Inverness, against an overcast sky.

Captured on 13^th September 2005 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on aperture priority (f/4) and a shutter speed of one millisecond. 

Avoiding Google Mapping

PANADURA, Sri Lanka -- Here's an interesting post written by Itai Lahan on protecting strategic installations from Google Mapping. Makes hilarious reading. Read the rest of his blog, Online Circus, which has also been added to the sidebar.

Götterdämmerung

Götterdämmerung (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- Night falls over the Valhalla anchored in Kyleakin bay, reminding Kahuna of Odin's hall in Asgard where the slain are gloriously welcomed. Götterdämmerung^[1], the Twilight of the Gods.

Captured on 11^th September 2005 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on aperture priority (f/3.2) and 1/3^rd of a second shutter.

^[1] Last of the four operas comprising Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).  

Skye Bridge at Dusk

Sky Bridge at Dusk (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- Dusk washes over the controversial Skye Bridge linking Kyleakin with the mainland. Eilean Bàn, the White Island can be seen to the right. The lighthouse can be seen under the bridge between the two rightmost support pillars.

Captured on 11^th September 2005 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on aperture priority (f/3.2) and 1/3^rd of a second shutter, balanced on the wall of the King Haakon Bar. 

Streets of London

Have you seen the old man
In the closed down market
Kicking up the papers with his worn out shoes
In his eyes you see no pride
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper, telling yesterday's news.

So how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something
To make you change your mind.

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags
She's no time for talking
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.

So how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something
To make you change your mind.

In the all night cafe at a quarter past eleven
The same old man sitting there on his own
Looking at the world over the rim of his teacup
Each tea lasts an hour, and he wanders home alone.

So how can you tell me that you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something
To make you change your mind.

Have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with the medal ribbons that he wears
In our winter city the rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care.

So how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something
To make you change your mind.

- Streets of London, Ralph McTell (Spiral Staircase, 1969).

While we're on the subject, a rendition of Ralph McTell's greatest success would only be appropriate. The MP3 is available here and the Wikipedia also has some interesting facts about the song.

Kahuna Double Seen in London

LONDON, United Kingdom (ENN) -- Reliable reports from London indicate a Kahuna double has been seen on the streets of London. The double, identical to the Real Kahuna (i.e., Real Big Kahuna not to be mistaken for Real Real Kahuna) was seen walking along the Oxford street contemplating as does the better known Kahuna of Panadura. The spotting further strengthens the theory that Kahuna was cloned as an infant and distributed around the world. While it is believed that these Kahunas were cloned as a result of a scientific experiment conducted by Korean scientist, Hwang Woo Suk, the reason for the dissemination of the resulting specimens is still not clear.

Unquotable Quotes - Part 17

What’s the loopback IP?

- Vandoofus, fourteen years and two degrees later.

I’m well aware of your sieve-like mind.

- Kahuna, providing the Regulator with the URL to the Circus for the N^th time.

Yeah, it only holds the important bits.

- The Regulator, revealing a fetish for the most significant bits.

So yours is a nominal banana republic?

- Kahuna to the Regulator, questioning the lack of indigenous bananas in her republic.

However, I can airdrop a container load of rotten fish.

- The Regulator, proposing to fish in troubled waters.

Dare I ask whether you ever consider tying the knot?

- The Regulator to Kahuna, on marriage.

And have my wife ruin the Balance of Ma'at?

- Kahuna to the Regulator, taking a controversial view on marriage.

Wait, wait, I am trying to configure the Linksys.

- Vandoofus, about to do battle with a wireless router.

Finally I am connected! Wahaha! Secure network!

- Vandoofus, declaring victory after a grim, daylong mêlée to seize the WEP key.

I see we are discussing religious topics now.

- The Monster, taking a biblical view of proceedings in the Circus.

Are you proposing a separation of church and state?

- Kahuna, questioning the Monster’s biblical view.

No, I am proposing the marriage.

- The Monster, proposing the unholy wedlock of church and state.

Bill was with Monica Lewinsky when the rights were established, hence they are void.

- The Monster, raising a point of law on being told his proposal to merge church and state would violate the establishment clause of the Bill of Rights.

It looks like a radical theocracy.

- Kahuna, on the Monster’s plan to form a government and declare himself pope.

The tub is about to overflow!

- The Monster, declaring an impending buffer overrun.

I intend to wash behind a lot of things.

- The Monster to Kahuna, on being told to wash behind the ears.

Is thermonuclear fission imminent?

- Gordon, on learning that Kahuna was running a temperature.

A lot of problems could have been solved if a mongoose was introduced into said garden.

- Kahuna to Gordon, proposing radical serpentectomy in Eden.

Nonsense, I’m up at dawn to make the sun rise.

- Kahuna to the Monster, dismissing accusations of late rising.

Teko the Otter

Teko the Otter (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- A sculpture of Teko the Otter by Laurence Broderick, the Otter Man of Skye, stands before the Bright Water Visitor Centre, overlooking the sea.

Commissioned by the Born Free Foundation, the sculpture was donated to the Eilean Bàn Trust for the Bright Water Visitor Centre. Eilean Bàn, which means White Island in Gaelic refers to a six acre island between Kyleakin and the mainland. The Skye road bridge spans the island, which was originally the home to the lighthouse keeper and his family. It later became the residence of Gavin Maxwell, author and naturalist.

Today, the island is home to a wealth of wildlife, the Maxwell museum and Teko the Otter's memorial stone.

Captured on 10^th September 2005 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on aperture priority (f/3.2) and a resulting shutter speed of 1/400^th of a second. 

The Kahuna-Gordon Messages: Part 6 – The Way of the Asp

ROME, Roman Republic -- We now present yet another episode in the continuing Kahuna-Gordon messages. The following sordid exchange took place on the Ides of March.

Kahuna : One JC[1] was bumped off on a day like this.
Gordon : X-(
Kahuna : Would you like a replay with yourself in
         the starring role?
Gordon : Only if I get to do Cleopatra[2] first.
Kahuna : This can be arranged, but the asp may
         interfere.
Gordon : ASP?
Kahuna : Asp[3]
Kahuna : "With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
         Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
         Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
         That I might hear thee call great Caesar asp
         Unpolicied!"[4]
Gordon : "Fuck you"[5] might have been more concise X-(
Kahuna : X-(
Kahuna : "According to Plutarch (quoted by Ussher),
         Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on
         condemned persons and animals for daily
         entertainment. She concluded that the bite of
         the asp was the best way to die. It brought a
         sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of
         pain. Later she used this method to kill
         herself."[3]
Kahuna : The bitch X-(
Gordon : Kinky.
Kahuna : Application of the asp is shown X-(
Gordon : If it interests you, I'm dabbling with ASP.NET
         as we speak X-(
Kahuna : Do you apply this to your breast à la
         Cleopatra?
Gordon : Er no, however it is a pain in the ass
         sometimes.
Kahuna : It is not documented if Cleopatra
         investigated this route.
Gordon : I'm sure JC did, though.
Kahuna : This is a serious allegation.
Gordon : Nonsense, JC was a kinky bastard.
Kahuna : Said JC was stabbed 23 times according to
         reports[6].
Gordon : He probably stabbed Cleo much more :-p
Kahuna : @#$@$#$@#$@$@#$@!#!@#!@#!@#
Kahuna : This is quite a perverse view.
Gordon : You're entitled to your opinion.

No asps were harmed in the course of this production. However, Gordon may have botched some ASP.NET code. In hindsight, it may well have botched itself.

^[1] Gaius Julius Caesar.
^[2] Cleopatra VII Philopator.
^[3] Asp.
^[4] Cleopatra, Act V, Scene II, Antony & Cleopatra by William Shakespeare.
^[5] William Smith.
^[6] Ides of March.

Cordless in Ganemulla

GANEMULLA, Sri Lanka -- Crackpot inventor Professor Gordon has been spotted in the vast grounds of his Ganemulla hideout testing Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT). Sources close to the situation said that Gordon was calling all and sundry using a cordless phone while traversing his estate in what appeared to be a directed graph, attempting to discover the limit of his transmission equipment.

Industry insiders termed this a Travelling Crackpot Problem and called for immediate steps to curtail Gordon’s dynamic range and consequently pollution in the 1.8 GHz waveband.

Kahuna admitted that His afternoon siesta had been disturbed by Gordon calling to measure the signal-to-noise ratio from underneath a coconut tree. He added that Gordon’s test case was flawed as it only operated in two dimensions. Kahuna suggested that the arch-zoologist climb his coconut trees to determine the altitude limit of his base station. He conceded that a Newtonian solution to the Travelling Crackpot Problem might be found if Gordon were to fall off such a tree. He dismissed the potential loss saying it was all in the name of science.

Attempts to contact Gordon resulted in a busy signal. KNN will continue to monitor this developing situation.

Today is Pi Day!

PANADURA, Sri Lanka -- It is now 1:59pm (GMT+6) on 14^th March 2006. Hence, 3.14159 or Pi Day. Apparently, this is enough of an excuse for mathematicians to throw a party.

Kahuna, however, is at rest owing to the full moon. Professor Gordon was last heard baying at the moon and the rest of the Circus have vanished without a trace. Peace reigns.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve (Copyright © 2006 Vandoofus)

The Arch-Pyrotechnologist

 
The Arch-Pyrotechnologist (Copyright © 2006 B Kahuna)

MOUNT LAVINIA, Sri Lanka -- Arch-pyrotechnologist Ebenezer Gordon, Director of the Ali Dong Propulsion Institute, armed to the teeth with high explosives in the Garden of Huggles.

Having studied explosives from an early age, be it while plugging in polarity-reversed capacitors into the national grid or fabricating incendiary devices with joss sticks as fuses, Gordon is a considered to be a big bang in the industry.

Captured on 1^st January 2006 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on shutter priority (2.5 seconds) with a resulting aperture of f/8. 

Pyrotechnics in the Garden of Huggles

Pyrotechnics in the Garden of Huggles (Copyright © 2006 B Kahuna)

MOUNT LAVINIA, Sri Lanka -- A plastic bottle primed with a firework ruptures, discharging threads of fire in the Garden of Huggles. Yet another explosive masterpiece by Gunti the Curious and Timmy the Menace.

Captured on 1^st January 2006 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on shutter priority (2.5 seconds) with a resulting aperture of f/8. 

Dance of Fire and Light

Dance of Fire and Light (Copyright © 2006 B Kahuna)

MOUNT LAVINIA, Sri Lanka -- A pinwheel lit by master pyrotechnologist, Gunti the Curious spins in a brilliant yet fleeting dance of fire and light, a few hours past midnight in the Garden of Huggles. An empty Pringles can used for purposes not recommended by the manufacturer bears silent witness.

Captured on 1^st January 2006 with a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on shutter priority (2.5 seconds) with a resulting aperture of f/8. 

I Wish I Knew

Living in time and feeling every moment
Do I walk into tomorrow and never look behind
In a perfect world
Everyone's dreams would all come true
How will it all unfold
I wish I knew

Look at all the ways the mystery unravels
Try to find a pattern--is there one to find
Though the sky is stormy
I see reflections of gold and blue
Will the true story ever be told
I wish I knew

As I try to learn the answer
And I stumble along the way
I am powered by the love in my heart
By the thoughts in my mind
By the dreams I dream each day

It isn't always easy
But I gotta believe I'll make it through
What will the future hold
I wonder what will the future hold
How will it all unfold
I wish I knew

- I Wish I Knew, Carole King. Copyright © 1990 Lushmole Music (BMI), Rosie Tunes (BMI).

This was the theme song from the Golden Globe winning drama, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill. Originally performed by Melissa Manchester during the first season and instrumental thereafter, the full version of the song was performed by guest star Carole King in the episode Reunion in 1991.

It has never been released as a single or part of an album to this day.

Unquotable Quotes - Part 16

Must be quite a view from the judges’ chair.

- Gordon, on learning that Anna Nicole Smith had argued her way up to the supreme court.

No, just grass.

- Gordon, on being asked if he was organizing a grassroots campaign.

For a cow, you're quite well armed.

- Gordon to Kahuna, after an exchange consisting of moo(), slaughter() and Uzi() function calls.

Why of course, you have to name a vehicle. Otherwise you tend to just think of them as objects. You have to understand that they have feelings.

- Huggles’s Vehicular Naming Monologue.

Can you explain why the blasted DB2 client needs so much space?

- Gordon’s DB2 Lament.

Because the installer has determined that you have way too much free space on your local disk.

- Kahuna’s Corollary to Gordon’s DB2 Lament.

I am paying the gym dues. Does that count?

- Vandoofus to Kahuna, on being asked if he exercised.

You buy condoms as well, right? Does that mean you have sex?

- Kahuna to Vandoofus, attempting Rebuttal by Dubious Analogy.

I think you touch up your pictures.

- Vandoofus, taking a grim view of Kahuna’s photography.

Lets see… The winner of the Vandoofus [Prize for] Best Photographer… With 4 votes… The Real Kahuna! Clap clap clap clap clap.

- Vandoofus, announcing the winner of the controversial prize bearing his name.

This is rigged! I demand that Jimmy Carter [be] an independent observer!

- Kahuna, calling for free and fair elections with international moderation after learning the outcome of the Vandoofus Prize competition.

Why does my monster get so angry when you say something?

- Vandoofus, musing on the behaviour of his MSN avatar in the presence of Kahuna.

He's probably realigned a whole set of cruise missiles to point at cricket fields now.

- Gordon, pondering the consequences of George W Bush being hit in the head with a cricket ball, and surviving.

This is a direct consequence of bungling a lens cleaning operation.

- Kahuna to Gordon, on having to visit the Mumbler after catastrophic failure of surface-mount optics.

So, under the guise of a terrible breakdown, I kept it for a week.

- Her Royal Highness, confessing to laptop repair encroaching on eternity.

Beware of the porcupines of March!

- Kahuna, issuing a cryptic warning to Gordon.

Mirror

Mirror (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- An incredibly calm sea mirrors a 2-stroke 8 hp Mercury outboard motor.

Captured on 10^th September 2005 using a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 with an aperture of f/4 and shutter speed of 1/200^th of a second. 

Pebbles

Pebbles (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- Colorful pebbles rounded by centuries of erosion decorate the rocky beach of Kyleakin bay.

Captured on 10^th September 2005 using a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 on aperture priority (f/3.5) and a resultant shutter speed of 1/80^th of a second. 

The Dawn of Aquarius

The Dawn of Aquarius (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- The Dawn of Aquarius at anchor in the sheltered bay of Kyleakin, with another unidentified vessel in the foreground.

The name of the vessel seems to be a reference to the Age of Aquarius, one of the twelve astrological ages, the date of entry into which is under debate.

Captured on 10^th September 2005 using a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 with an aperture of f/7.1 and shutter speed of 1/250^th of a second. 

Castle Moil

Castle Moil (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- A view of the 14^th century fortress Castle Moil (Caisteal Maol in Gaelic), once occupied by Clan MacKinnon.

Captured on 10^th September 2005 using a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 with an aperture of f/7.1 and shutter speed of 1/250^th of a second.  

Kyleakin Harbor

Kyleakin Harbor (Copyright © 2005 B Kahuna)

KYLEAKIN, Isle of Skye -- The ruins of Castle Moil in silent watch over Kyleakin^[1] harbor. The town called Caol Acain in Gaelic, meaning the Strait of Haakon, is named after King Haakon IV of Norway.

Interestingly, an open wireless network encountered here during a routine security scan was made use of by Kahuna and the Teddybear.

Captured on 10^th September 2005 using a Sony CyberShot DSC-V1 with an aperture of f/7.1 and shutter speed of 1/250^th of a second.

^[1] Pronounced Kyle-AH-Kin.