เคล็ดรับการแสวงหาพระสมเด็จที่ดีสุดยอด (โดย ม. โชคชัย)

เคล็ดรับการแสวงหาพระสมเด็จที่ดีสุดยอด (โดย ม. โชคชัย)

๑.ดูจากพิมพ์ทรงที่เขานิยมกัน  คือห้า พ(พอ) ซึ่งมี พิมพ์ใหญ่ พิมพ์ทรงเจดีย์ พิมพ์ฐานแซม พิมพ์เกศบัวตูม และพิมพ์ปกโพธิ์ คงใช้เวลาไม่เกินสามสิบวินาที เพราะการดูพิมพ์เก่งช่วยอ่านพระได้เร็ว ถ้าพิมพ์ไม่ใช่วางเลย ไม่ต้องส่องพระอีก เพราะมัวแต่ส่องโอกาสจะเก็บพระนั้นไว้ใช้เองมีสูงมาก

๒.จับพระลูบพระดูเบาๆ ต้องรับรู้ความต่ำสูงไม่เท่ากันของชิ้นพระอันนี้สำคัญ เพราะเกิดจากการปราดเนื้อพระด้านหลังออก และการยุปตัวของแผ่นพระเป็นต้นเหตุ

๓.สังเกตด้านหน้า พื้นผนังพระต้องยุปอันนี้สำคัญ ตัวพระต้องไม่สูงเกินเส้นครอบแก้วอันนี้สำคัญมากๆ สังเกตลอยฝุ่นเกาะ เพราะพระร้อยกว่าปีต้องมีลอยฝุ่นเกาะ เหมือนกับพื้นบ้านที่ไม่เคยถู บางคนเรียกเม็ดผดซึ่งจะเกาะแน่น

๔.ดูขอบพระ ขอบพระต้องไม่แน่นปึกตลอดทั้งสี่ด้าน จะต้องมีลอยยุป มีล่อง รู เห็นลอยฝุ่นเกาะ เห็นมวลสารบ้าง ขอบต้องไม่คม มีลอยสึกกร่อน หงิกๆ ขอบสี่เหลี่ยมด้านหน้าต้องไม่ใหญ่กว่าด้านหลัง อาจมองเห็นลอยตัดขอบพระ/เส้นครอบแก้วพระต้องเป็นสันเด่น พระบางองค์อาจติดไม่ตลอด

๕.ดูเนื้อพระ เนื้อพระต้องยุป/แยก/ย่น/เหี่ยว/แยก ทั้งห้า ย(ยอ)นี้สำคัญมากๆ ต้องศึกษาดูให้ดี ลอยน้ำลดต้องปรากฎให้เห็นเพราะน้ำระเหยไปหมดแล้ว ถ้าไปเที่ยวชายทะเลจะรู้ว่าลอยน้ำลดเป็นเช่นไร /มีมวลสารบ้างอันนี้ก็สำคัญแต่ไม่จำเป็นต้องเยอะเพราะมวลสารทำให้พระศักสิทธิ์  เพราะถือเป็นหลักการใหญ่ในการผสมสร้างพระเครื่องเพื่อให้เกิดพุทธคุณตามวัตถุประสงค์

๖.ถ้าเนื้อพระหลุด/กระเทาะไป เนื้อพระข้างในต้องสีไม่เหมือนข้างนอก ส่องดูจะเนื้อพรุน และให้สังเกตคราบแป้งโรยพิมพ์ด้วย ถ้าหลงเหลืออยู่ก็ช่วยดูง่ายขึ้น

๗.ด้านหลังพระช่วยทำให้ดูง่ายขึ้น คือต้องมีลอยปราด/มีลอยเป็นเส้นๆ/มีลอยยุป/แยกเปรียบเหมือนถนนลูกรังเพื่อให้เข้าใจง่าย และต้องอาศัยหลักห้ายอช่วยพิจารณาด้วย (บางคนเรียกลอยกราบหมาก/สังขยา/แผ่นกระดาน/หลังเรียบ)

๘.ต้องเข้าใจการผสมของเนื้อพระกับน้ำมันตังอิ้วให้ดีๆ พระบางองค์ผสมน้ำมันตังอิ้วมาก เนื้อพระจะแน่นแต่มีลอยแบบตารางใยแมงมุมไปทั่วลักษณะห้ายอจะไม่เด่นชัด  พระบางองค์น้ำมันตั้งอิ้วน้อยมวลสารเยอะ พระจะดูแห้งมากๆดูเปราะแต่ไม่แตกหักง่าย  ลักษณะห้ายอ จะเห็นชัด พระบางองค์แก่ปูนเปลือกหอยเนื้อพระจะออกเป็นเกล็ดๆแห้งเหมือนตกสะเก็ดมีคราบระเปิดของแคลเซี่ยมแห้ง พระบางองค์แก่ดินสอพองเนื้อพระจะเงางามแบบเนื้องาสวยพระแบบนี้มีมากเพราะดินสอพองเป็นหลัก  อีกอย่างสีของพระก็ไม่เหมือนกันทั้งนี้ขึ้นอยู่กับส่วนผสมของมวสารและน้ำมันตังอิ้ว  แต่ทั้งหมดนั้นลองเอาพระเคาะดูกับฟันจะมีเสียงกังวาลเหตุเพราะภายในอนูมวลสารโปร่งไม่เกาะติดกันแน่น เพราะไม่มีความชื้นหลงอยู่ พระที่แตกลายงาส่วนมากด้านหน้าจะถูกความร้อนมากกว่าด้านหลังอันเนื่องมาจากที่อยู่ของพระเป็นเหตุ ถ้าท่านเคยกินกาแฟใช้ถ้วยดินเผาธรรมดาที่ราคาไม่แพงใบเดิมๆกินประจำ ท่านจะเห็นว่าเนื้อด้านในถ้วยแก้วแตกลายงาเพราะความร้อน การดูเนื้อพระนี้สำคัญมากหลังจากดูพิมพ์ว่าใช่แล้ว   เพราะพระเนื้อมวลสารดีจะมีอานุภาพดีมากกว่า ไม่งั้นท่านจะแสวงหามวลสารมาทำพระทำไม และพระสมเด็จวัดระฆังนั้นดีกว่า/แพงกว่าของบางขุนพรหมมากๆ ก็เนื่องมาจากมวลสารนี้เอง (มวลสารต้องเลือก/ทำ/แสวงหา/เก็บสะสม)

๙.ถ้าหากเนื้อพระติดแบบพิมพ์ได้ดีทั้งหมด พระสมเด็จนั้นจะมีราคาแพงและควรเก็บรักษาไว้อย่าปล่อยไปง่ายๆเพราะทั้งพิมพ์และเนื้อจะชัดเจนไร้ข้อกังขา ศึกษาง่ายใครเห็นก็ชอบ

๑๐.พยายามหาพระที่เป็นธรรมชาติ พระแตกหักไม่เป็นไรขอให้ซ่อมให้ดีก็แล้วกัน  อย่าเอาพระไปปราดเหงื่อ/ไม่ดีเลยอย่าทำ เพราะอานุภาพจากพระจะถูกปิดกั้นมากจากเหงื่อสกปรกของเราอันเนื่องมาจากเจตนาไม่ดีของเรา  ปล่อยให้เป็นธรรมชาติของกาลเวลา อย่าเอาพระไปล้างเพราะจะดูยากข้อมูลหายเยอะ

๑๑.พระเครื่องนั้นตามธรรมดาแล้วคนสมัยก่อนเขาจะเก็บไว้ที่หิ้งพระ/หรือกล่องพระมาแต่โปราณ/หรือห่อไว้ ถ้าได้พระแบบนี้จะดีมากๆ หมั่นแสวงหาแล้วคงพบเองในที่สุด เก๊ไม่กลัวกลัวแพง

๑๒.หมั่นสวดคาถาชินบัญชรถ้าอยากได้พระสมเด็จ  เพราะผู้สร้างจะเป็นผู้ให้เรา นี่คือความจริงแท้แน่นอน

๑๓.บทสรุปการแสวงหาพระสมเด็จคือ พิมพ์ถูก เนื้อใช่ ธรรมชาติถึง นี่คือหนทางสู่การได้พระสมเด็จจากผู้สร้างเหตุเพราะทุกอย่างในโลกนี้ย่อมสืบไปหาต้นตอได้ เหมือนการเรียนรู้เรื่องลายนิ้วมือ เราย่อมหาตัวตนคนคนนั้นได้ในที่สุด ถ้ามีการบันทึกและศึกษาไว้

๑๔.พระสมเด็จนั้นทั่วๆไปไม่ควรมีราคาแพงเกินไป โดยทั่วไปแล้วควร ราคาหลักหมื่นต้นๆถึงไม่เกินแสนจะดีที่สุด  ยกเว้นองค์ที่สุดยอดสมบูรณ์แบบจริงๆจึงราคาหลักล้าน

๑๕.พระสมเด็จนั้นคงมีหลายหมื่น ลองคิดดูแบบง่ายๆ ถ้าเดือนหนึ่งทำพระสักสิบวัน/ครั้งละร้อยองค์/เดือนหนึ่งก็ได้พันองค์/ปีหนึ่งก็ได้ ๑๒,๐๐๐ องค์ ถ้าทำสี่ปีก็จะได้ ๔๘,๐๐๐ องค์ ถ้าหลายปีก็ยิ่งมาก เพราะฉะนั้นพระสมเด็จคงมีให้สำหรับผู้ที่แสวงหาแน่นอน แต่คงไม่มีสำหรับทุกๆคนเป็นแน่แท้

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9 things you didn’t know about the life of Steve Jobs

By Taylor Hatmaker

For all of his years in the spotlight at the helm of Apple, Steve Jobs in many ways remains an inscrutable figure — even in his death. Fiercely private, Jobs concealed most specifics about his personal life, from his curious family life to the details of his battle with pancreatic cancer — a disease that ultimately claimed him on Wednesday, at the age of 56.

While the CEO and co-founder of Apple steered most interviews away from the public fascination with his private life, there's plenty we know about Jobs the person, beyond the Mac and the iPhone. If anything, the obscure details of his interior life paint a subtler, more nuanced portrait of how one of the finest technology minds of our time grew into the dynamo that we remember him as today.

1. Early life and childhood
Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955. He was adopted shortly after his birth and reared near Mountain View, California by a couple named Clara and Paul Jobs. His adoptive father — a term that Jobs openly objected to — was a machinist for a laser company and his mother worked as an accountant.

Later in life, Jobs discovered the identities of his estranged parents. His birth mother, Joanne Simpson, was a graduate student at the time and later a speech pathologist; his biological father, Abdulfattah John Jandali, was a Syrian Muslim who left the country at age 18 and reportedly now serves as the vice president of a Reno, Nevada casino. While Jobs reconnected with Simpson in later years, he and his biological father remained estranged.

Reed College

2. College dropout
The lead mind behind the most successful company on the planet never graduated from college, in fact, he didn't even get close. After graduating from high school in Cupertino, California — a town now synonymous with 1 Infinite Loop, Apple's headquarters — Jobs enrolled in Reed College in 1972. Jobs stayed at Reed (a liberal arts university in Portland, Oregon) for only one semester, dropping out quickly due to the financial burden the private school's steep tuition placed on his parents.

In his famous 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University, Jobs said of his time at Reed: "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 cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple."

Breakout for the Atari

3. Fibbed to his Apple co-founder about a job at Atari
Jobs is well known for his innovations in personal computing, mobile tech, and software, but he also helped create one of the best known video games of all-time. In 1975, Jobs was tapped by Atari to work on the Pong-like game Breakout.

He was reportedly offered $750 for his development work, with the possibility of an extra $100 for each chip eliminated from the game's final design. Jobs recruited Steve Wozniak (later one of Apple's other founders) to help him with the challenge. Wozniak managed to whittle the prototype's design down so much that Atari paid out a $5,000 bonus — but Jobs kept the bonus for himself, and paid his unsuspecting friend only $375, according to Wozniak's own autobiography.

4. The wife he leaves behind
Like the rest of his family life, Jobs kept his marriage out of the public eye. Thinking back on his legacy conjures images of him commanding the stage in his trademark black turtleneck and jeans, and those solo moments are his most iconic. But at home in Palo Alto, Jobs was raising a family with his wife, Laurene, an entrepreneur who attended the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton business school and later received her MBA at Stanford, where she first met her future husband.

For all of his single-minded dedication to the company he built from the ground up, Jobs actually skipped a meeting to take Laurene on their first date: "I was in the parking lot with the key in the car, and I thought to myself, 'If this is my last night on earth, would I rather spend it at a business meeting or with this woman?' I ran across the parking lot, asked her if she'd have dinner with me. She said yes, we walked into town and we've been together ever since."

In 1991, Jobs and Powell were married in the Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park, and the marriage was officiated by Kobin Chino, a Zen Buddhist monk.

5. His sister is a famous author
later in his life, Jobs crossed paths with his biological sister while seeking the identity of his birth parents. His sister, Mona Simpson (born Mona Jandali), is the well-known author of anywhere But Here — a story about a mother and daughter that was later adapted into a film starring Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon.

After reuniting, Jobs and Simpson developed a close relationship. Of his sister, he told a New York Times interviewer: "We're family. She's one of my best friends in the world. I call her and talk to her every couple of days.'' Anywhere But Here is dedicated to "my brother Steve."

Joan Baez

6. Celebrity romances
In The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, an unauthorized biography, a friend from Reed reveals that Jobs had a brief fling with folk singer Joan Baez. Baez confirmed the two were close "briefly," though her romantic connection with Bob Dylan is much better known (Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). The biography also notes that Jobs went out with actress Diane Keaton briefly.

7. His first daughter
When he was 23, Jobs and his high school girlfriend Chris Ann Brennan conceived a daughter, Lisa Brennan Jobs. She was born in 1978, just as Apple began picking up steam in the tech world. He and Brennan never married, and Jobs reportedly denied paternity for some time, going as far as stating that he was sterile in court documents. He went on to father three more children with Laurene Powell. After later mending their relationship, Jobs paid for his first daughter's education at Harvard. She graduated in 2000 and now works as a magazine writer.

8. Alternative lifestyle
In a few interviews, Jobs hinted at his early experience with the psychedelic drug LSD. Of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Jobs said: "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."

The connection has enough weight that Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who first synthesized (and took) LSD, appealed to Jobs for funding for research about the drug's therapeutic use.

In a book interview, Jobs called his experience with the drug "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." As Jobs himself has suggested, LSD may have contributed to the "think different" approach that still puts Apple's designs a head above the competition.

Jobs will forever be a visionary, and his personal life also reflects the forward-thinking, alternative approach that vaulted Apple to success. During a trip to India, Jobs visited a well-known ashram and returned to the U.S. as a Zen Buddhist.

Jobs was also a pescetarian who didn't consume most animal products, and didn't eat meat other than fish. A strong believer in Eastern medicine, he sought to treat his own cancer through alternative approaches and specialized diets before reluctantly seeking his first surgery for a cancerous tumor in 2004.

9. His fortune
As the CEO of the world's most valuable brand, Jobs pulled in a comically low annual salary of just $1. While the gesture isn't unheard of in the corporate world  — Google's Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt all pocketed the same 100 penny salary annually — Jobs has kept his salary at $1 since 1997, the year he became Apple's lead executive. Of his salary, Jobs joked in 2007: "I get 50 cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance."

In early 2011, Jobs owned 5.5 million shares of Apple. After his death, Apple shares were valued at $377.64 — a roughly 43-fold growth in valuation over the last 10 years that shows no signs of slowing down.

He may only have taken in a single dollar per year, but Jobs leaves behind a vast fortune. The largest chunk of that wealth is the roughly $7 billion from the sale of Pixar to Disney in 2006. In 2011, with an estimated net worth of $8.3 billion, he was the 110th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. If Jobs hadn't sold his shares upon leaving Apple in 1985 (before returning to the company in 1996), he would be the world's fifth richest individual.

While there's no word yet on plans for his estate, Jobs leaves behind three children from his marriage to Laurene Jobs (Reed, Erin, and Eve), as well as his first daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.

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Idiom Collecting ช่วงที่ ๓ โดย ม. โชคชัย

1.      The joke fell flat (caused no amusement).

2.      It is a far cry (a long way off) from Delhi to New York.

3.      The scheme appears worthless at the first blush (at first sight).

4.      He was at his wit’s end (quite puzzled).

5.      I am sure he won’t go back on (fail to keep) his word.

6.      He is falling foul of (quarrelling with) everybody.

7.      Do not give ear to (listen to) a tale bearer.

8.      A spirit of unrest is in the air (found everywhere).

9.      He was murdered in cold blood (deliberately).

10.  On the approach of a policeman the bully showed a clean pair of heels (ran away).

11.  What you purpose is out of the question (impossible).

12.  The performance was not up to the mark (quite satisfactory).

13.  He stuck to his guns (remained faithful to the cause).

14.  I smell a rat (have reason to suspect something).

15.  I nipped his scheme in the bud (made it fail before it could mature).

16.  Let us have your term in black and white (in writing).

17.  The election campaign is just now in full swing (very active).

18.  He is not wise enough to keep his own counsel (to be reticent about his opinions).

19.  The long and short of it (the simple fact) is that I do not want to deal with that new firm.

20.  He insisted on his orders being carried out to the letter (with adherence to every detail).

21.  I did not notice in him anything out of the way (strange).

22.  They are at draggers drawn (their relations are strained) ever since the dissolution of the partnership between them.

23.  De. Di did yeoman service (excellent work).

24.  He is a man of his words (a trustworthy man).

25.  Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing (hypocrite)!

26.  I should like to have that matter settled immediately, because it keeps a man on the tenterhooks (in a state of suspense and anxiety).

27.  He is under the thumb of (completely under the influence of) his wife.

28.  I sent him about his business (dismissed him permanently) as I could stand his insolence no longer.

29.  He appears to have an old head on young shoulders (be wise beyond his years).

30.  People who talk shop (talk exclusively about their business) are generally unbearable.

31.  There are black sheep in (bad characters, scoundrels) in every community.

32.   He claims to have rubbed shoulders (come into close contact) with people of all sorts and conditions.

33.   It will be at a pinch (in case of emergency, if hard pressed).

34.  All his schemes end in smoke (came to nothing).

35.  The dog is as good as (practically) dead.

36.  He kicked up a row (made great noise).

37.  I can make neither head nor tail (nothing) of it.

38.  He is every inch (entirely) a gentle man.

39.  He is over head and ears (deeply) in love/in debt.

40.  He went out of his way (took special trouble) to oblige me.

Sun Yat-sen suits. (Chinese News, editor An)

BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A massive gray Sun Yat-sen suit was unveiled earlier this month in east China's Zhejiang Province to mark the centennial anniversary of the 1911 Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen that ended more than 2,000 years of imperial rule in China.

The suit took tailor Jiang Jiming and four other tailors five months to produce. "We made the suit to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat-sen and to showcase the skills of the Hong tailors," Jiang said.

The 78-year-old Jiang is the sixth generation of the Hong tailors, a group of tailors from Zhejiang's city of Ningbo who made their name by producing the first suit ever made in China, as well as the first Sun Yat-sen suit.

In 1911, protests and armed uprisings took place all over China, protesting the rule of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). These events led to the overthrow of the country's last emperor and the founding of the Republic of China on Jan. 1, 1912.

After the 1911 Revolution, Sun Yat-sen felt that the Chinese people needed a new style to match their newfound freedom. He asked the Hong tailors to make a new suit based on his own personal design, according to Chen Wanfeng, vice chairman of the Yinzhou District Museum Association.

With buttons up the neck, a turned-down collar and four symmetrical pockets, the suit was later dubbed as the "Sun Yat-sen suit" in 1925 after Sun's death.

On Oct. 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong wore a Sun Yat-sen suit while announcing the founding of the People's Republic of China, thrusting the suit into the global spotlight.

In the 1950s, the popularity of Sun Yat-sen suits peaked, with people from all walks of life wearing clothes adapted from the style, including the "Mao suit."

The Hong tailors redesigned the Sun Yat-sen suit for Chairman Mao in 1957 with a bigger collar to make it more comfortable. The suit was selected by British newspaper The Independent in 2007 as one of 10 suits that shook the world, along with the wartime flannel suit worn by Winston Churchill and the Beatles' mod-era suits.

In China, the Sun Yat-sen suit has long been a symbol of progress and revolutionary spirit. Even after Western-style suits and jeans became popular after China's reform and opening-up period, Sun Yat-sen suits were still worn by many Chinese for special occasions.

Chinese Ambassador to France Kong Quan worn a dark Sun Yat-sen suit while presenting his credentials to French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris in April 2008.

"There are many occasions that require formal dress, but what is the best formal outfit for Chinese people? I believe the Sun Yat-sen suit is the best choice," said Tang Mingxin, vice chairman of the Association of Former Diplomats.

Celebrities and ordinary citizens have also been known to sport Sun Yat-sen suits. Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan wore one of the suits during an episode of the CNN TalkAsia program in April 2008.

Chan also wore a white Sun Yat-sen suit at the Descendants of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and Friends concert held in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium on May 1, the first large-scale concert to be held in the stadium after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Newlywed grooms have also taken to wearing the suits in their wedding photos, with their brides often sporting "cheongsam," a body-hugging one-piece dress that became popular with Chinese women in the 1920s.

"With the diverse styles of clothing available today, it is hard for Sun Yat-sen suits to reclaim their past dominance. However, their aesthetic value and revolutionary spirit still live on," said Xie Ping, head of the department of fashion design at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.

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Chinese language schools mushrooming in Cambodia

 

Chinese language schools mushrooming in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodia's senior education official said Wednesday that Chinese language schools have been mushrooming throughout Cambodia and the language becomes the second most popular foreign one in the country after English.

"I observe that more and more Cambodian children flock to study Chinese language nowadays," Chey Chab, secretary of state for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, said Wednesday during the inauguration of the Beijing International Academy (BIA) in Phnom Penh.

"I see that Chinese language has been broadly used internationally now and it looks more important, especially among business communities," he said.

Chab said that in Cambodia, the language has gradually been gaining popularity as China is the country's largest investor and a leading trade partner with Cambodia.

According to the Chinese Association in Cambodia, there are 56 Chinese schools with more than 30,000 students throughout Cambodia. The figure does not include local private schools that offer part- time Chinese language courses.

Diana Liu, the BIA's director, said the BIA was the first academy in Cambodia that offered Chinese and English programs with complete combined programs including arts, cultures, sciences, music, dance and martial arts.

"We are committed to building an excellent quality of Chinese and English education in the country," she said. "Our presence here will also help the government of Cambodia to develop human resources."

Editor: Wang Guanqu

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Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs, the visionary in the black turtleneck who co-founded Apple in a Silicon Valley garage, built it into the world's leading tech company and led a mobile-computing revolution with wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, died Wednesday. He was 56.

The hard-driving executive pioneered the concept of the personal computer and of navigating them by clicking onscreen images with a mouse. In more recent years, he introduced the iPod portable music player, the iPhone and the iPad tablet -- all of which changed how we consume content in the digital age.

His friends and Apple fans on Wednesday night mourned the passing of a tech titan.

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

More than one pundit, praising Jobs' ability to transform entire industries with his inventions, called him a modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci.

"Steve Jobs is one of the great innovators in the history of modern capitalism," New York Times columnist Joe Nocera said in August. "His intuition has been phenomenal over the years."

Jobs' death, while dreaded by Apple's legions of fans, was not unexpected. He had battled cancer for years, took a medical leave from Apple in January and stepped down as chief executive in August because he could "no longer meet (his) duties and expectations."

Born February 24, 1955, and then adopted, Jobs grew up in Cupertino, California -- which would become home to Apple's headquarters -- and showed an early interest in electronics. As a teenager, he phoned William Hewlett, president of Hewlett-Packard, to request parts for a school project. He got them, along with an offer of a summer job at HP.

Jobs dropped out of Oregon's Reed College after one semester, although he returned to audit a class in calligraphy, which he says influenced Apple's graceful, minimalist aesthetic. He quit one of his first jobs, designing video games for Atari, to backpack across India and take psychedelic drugs. Those experiences, Jobs said later, shaped his creative vision.

"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," he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. "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."

While at HP, Jobs befriended Steve Wozniak, who impressed him with his skill at assembling electronic components. The two later joined a Silicon Valley computer hobbyists club, and when he was 21, Jobs teamed with Wozniak and two other men to launch Apple Computer Inc.

It's long been Silicon Valley legend: Jobs and Wozniak built their first commercial product, the Apple 1, in Jobs' parents' garage in 1976. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van to help finance the venture. The primitive computer, priced at $666.66, had no keyboard or display, and customers had to assemble it themselves.

The following year, Apple unveiled the Apple II computer at the inaugural West Coast Computer Faire. The machine was a hit, and the personal computing revolution was under way.

Jobs was among the first computer engineers to recognize the appeal of the mouse and the graphical interface, which let users operate computers by clicking on images instead of writing text.

Apple's pioneering Macintosh computer launched in early 1984 with a now-iconic, Orwellian-themed Super Bowl ad. The boxy beige Macintosh sold well, but the demanding Jobs clashed frequently with colleagues and in 1986, he was ousted from Apple after a power struggle.

Then came a 10-year hiatus during which he founded NeXT Computer, whose pricey, cube-shaped computer workstations never caught on with consumers.

Jobs had more success when he bought Pixar Animation Studios from George Lucas before the company made it big with "Toy Story." Jobs brought the same marketing skill to Pixar that he became known for at Apple. His brief but emotional pitch for "Finding Nemo," for example, was a masterful bit of succinct storytelling.

In 1996, Apple bought NeXT, returning Jobs to the then-struggling company he had co-founded. Within a year, he was running Apple again -- older and perhaps wiser but no less of a perfectionist. And in 2001, he took the stage to introduce the original iPod, the little white device that transformed portable music and kick-started Apple's furious comeback.

Thus began one of the most remarkable second acts in the history of business. Over the next decade, Jobs wowed launch-event audiences, and consumers, with one game-changing hit after another: iTunes (2003), the iPhone (2007), the App Store (2008), and the iPad (2010).

Observers marveled at Jobs' skills as a pitchman, his ability to inspire godlike devotion among Apple "fanboys" (and scorn from PC fans) and his "one more thing" surprise announcements. Time after time, he sold people on a product they didn't know they needed until he invented it. And all this on an official annual salary of $1.

He also built a reputation as a hard-driving, mercurial and sometimes difficult boss who oversaw almost every detail of Apple's products and rejected prototypes that didn't meet his exacting standards.

By the late 2000s, his once-renegade tech company, the David to Microsoft's Goliath, was entrenched at the uppermost tier of American business. Apple now operates more than 300 retail stores in 11 countries. The company has sold more than 275 million iPods, 100 million iPhones and 25 million iPads worldwide.

Jobs' climb to the top was complete in summer 2011, when Apple listed more cash reserves than the U.S. Treasury and even briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the world's most valuable company.

But Jobs' health problems sometimes cast a shadow over his company's success. In 2004, he announced to his employees that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer. He lost weight and appeared unusually gaunt at keynote speeches to Apple developers, spurring concerns about his health and fluctuations in the company's stock price. One wire service accidentally published Jobs' obituary.

Jobs had a secret liver transplant in 2009 in Tennessee during a six-month medical leave of absence from Apple. He took another medical leave in January this year. Perhaps mindful of his legacy, he cooperated on his first authorized biography, scheduled to be published by Simon & Schuster in November.

Jobs is survived by his wife of 20 years, Laurene, and four children, including one from a prior relationship.

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Idiom Collecting ช่วง ๒ (ม. โชคชัย)

1.      I am sure he means business (is in earnest).

2.      I cannot give you a definite reply on the spur of the moment (at once, without deliberation).

3.      I see you know a thing or two (are wise or cunning).

4.      He took his failure to hear (felt it deeply).

5.      It goes to his heart (touches him deeply) to see so much misery.

6.      He is leaving Cambodia for good (permanently).

7.      It will go hard with him (prove a serious matter for him) if his partner retires from business.

8.      Do you expect me to be at your beck and call (under your absolute control)?

9.      I am afraid he is burning the candles at both ends (overtaxing his energy).

10.  Let us now bury the hatchet (cease fighting) and work for the advance of the country.

11.  Mr. James one of the trustees of a certain big charity, is suspected of feathering his own nest (making money unfairly).

12.  It is reported that some ruffians laid hands on (assaulted) him while he was returning home.

13.  It is suspected that he had a hand in (was concerned) the plot.

14.  As usual he is blowing his own trumpet (praising himself).

15.  The foolish young man made ducks and drakes of (squandered) his patrimony.

16.  She knows French after a fashion (to a certain degree, not satisfactorily).

17.  It is all Greek to me (something which I do not understand).

18.  The thief was caught red-handed (in the very act of committing a theft).

19.  Late in life he tried his hand (made an attempt) at farming.

20.  His friend gave him the cold shoulder (treated him in a cold and distant manner).

21.  While he spoke, the audience on their lips (listened eagerly to his words).

22.  He stands well with (is well thought of by) his master.

23.  She is accused of giving a false coloring to (misrepresenting) the incident.

24.  Throughout his speech the boys were all ears (deeply attentive).

25.  I was all eyes (eagerly watching) to see what he would do.

26.  With a small income and a large family to maintain, he finds it rather difficult to keep his head above water (to keep out of debt).

27.  You will come to grief (be ruined) if you follow his advice.

28.  I keep that fellow at arm’s length (at a distance).

29.  Don’t trust those men; they are villains to the backbone (in every way).