Because Steve Jobs was Afraid of Dying: No On-Off Switches On of Apple’s Devices

“Ever since I’ve had cancer, I’ve been thinking about (God) more. And I find myself believing a bit more. Maybe it’s because I want to believe in an afterlife. That when you die, it doesn’t just all disappear,” Isaacson quoted Jobs as saying.

“Then he paused for a second and he said ‘yeah, but sometimes I think it’s just like an on-off switch. Click and you’re gone,” Isaacson said of Jobs. “He paused again, and he said: And that’s why I don’t like putting on-off switches on Apple devices.”

(HT)

The Telegraph also has the report:

Steve Jobs’s hope that there might be an afterlife led him to avoid putting simple “on/off” switches on Apple’s best-known devices, his   biographer has disclosed.

The late Apple chief executive said that despite being only “50/50″ about the existence of God, he found himself “believing a bit more” in life after death after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In the past, Mr Jobs told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, “I saw my life as an arc and that it would end and compared to that, nothing mattered.

“You’re born alone, you’re going to die alone,” he said. “And does anything else really matter? I mean what is it exactly is it that you have to lose Steve? You know? There’s nothing.”

However Mr Jobs’s views softened after he became ill, Mr Isaacson told a CBS 60 Minutes programme marking the release of the book ‘Steve Jobs’ on Monday.

“Maybe it’s ‘cos I want to believe in an afterlife,” he recalled Mr Jobs saying. “That when you die, it doesn’t just all disappear. The wisdom you’ve accumulated. Somehow it lives on.

But sometimes I think it’s just like an on-off switch. Click and you’re gone.

“And that’s why I don’t like putting on-off switches on Apple devices.”

Many Apple products, such as the iPhone and the MacBook, were designed to be put on standby or “to sleep” when not in use, some feature a pulsating light to signal that they can quickly be revived…

Well Mr Jobs, there is an afterlife and you’re experiencing it as I type these words. Hopefully you discovered this Truth and the Source of that life, before you left this temporary earthly existence.

 

Earthquake: Turkey Declines Israel’s Offer of Aid

Being a stubborn neighbour will cost:

Turkey was hit by a powerful earthquake Sunday morning, leaving hundreds dead and many more injured. The 7.2 strength quake struck the Van Province region in Eastern Turkey, which is home to a large population of Kurds and is near the Turkish border with Iran.

Many neighboring countries, including Israel, offered to send assistance to the battered region, however theTurkish authorities have so far declined all offers and have opted to deal with the crisis on their own.

In 1999, when Turkey was hit with a devastating earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people, Israel sent teams to help the Turkish authorities in search-and-rescue operations. Those were much better times in Turkish-Israeli relations; nonetheless Israel was fully prepared to send an aid mission to Turkey earlier today in order to help with the victims of the earthquake.

In recent years Turkey has also come to Israel’s aid, such as when catastrophic fires devastated northern Israel in 2010. Immediately upon seeing the urgent need, Turkey sent two firefighting aircrafts which helped stop the fires engulfing the area. Israel accepted Turkey’s help, as well as the assistance offered by many European countries.

Over the years Israel has sent aid worldwide to help with disaster relief, and has been a leader in first-response rescue missions. When Haiti was struck by an earthquake in 2010, Israel set up the first functional emergency medical center equipped with a full staff of doctors and nurses as well as sterilized operating rooms. During the Asian tsunami in 2004, Israel rescue teams operated for weeks on end to help the victims.

We Israelis fully support our government’s offer to send assistance to Turkey in their time of need, despite the Turkish government’s current animosity toward us. While the Turkish government declined the help, we would have been genuinely happy to send it because we cherish life. Israel and her people will forever protect the innocent victims of natural or terror disasters around the world, regardless of the political relationship between the two countries. I believe that is what God meant when He told us to be a light unto the nations.

 

Catholic Church Statistics

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – As every year, on the occasion of World Mission Sunday, October 23 this year, Fides News Service offers some statistics chosen to give a panorama of the missionary Church all over the world. The tables are taken from the lastest edition of  the “Church’s Book of Statistics” published (updated to December 31, 2009) regarding members of the Church, church structures in the field of  pastoral care, healthcare, welfare and education. Please note that variations, increase or decrease, emerging from our own comparison with last year’s figures, are marked increase (+) or decrease (-).

World Population To December 31, 2009 the world population was equal to 6.777.599.000 people, with an increase of 79.246 million units compared with the previous year. Population growth was registered on every  continent: Africa (+19,983,000); America (+8,744,000); Asia (+47,702, 000); Oceania (+967,000); Europe (+1,850,000) .

Catholics. On the same date Catholics in the world numbered 1,180,665,000 units with an overall increase of 14,951,000 units more than the previous year. The increase affects all continents: Africa (+6,530,000); America (+5,863,000); Asia (+1,814,000); Europe (+597,000), Oceania (+147,000). The World percentage of Catholics increased by 0.02%, settling at 17.42%. By continent: increases were registered in Africa (+0.3); America (+0.04) and Asia (+ 0.01), a drop in numbers was registered, like last year, in Europe (- 0.02) and Oceania (- 0.3).

Persons and Catholics per priest: This year again the number of persons per priest in the world increased by 139 units, average 13,154. The distribution by continent: increase in America (+70), Europe (+42) and Oceania (+181), and a drop in numbers in Africa (-313) and Asia (-628). The number of Catholics per priest in the world increased by 27 units, average 2,876. We have increases on every continent except Asia: Africa (+25); America (+32); Asia (-30); Europe (+16); Oceania (+25)…

Bishops: The total number of Bishops in the world increased by 63 units, to 5,065. Overall the increase in numbers regard both diocesan and religious Bishops. Diocesan Bishops number 3,828 (42 more than in the previous year); Religious Bishops number 1,237 (21 more). The increase in diocesan Bishops is registered on every continent: Africa (+2), America (+19), Asia (+1), Europe (+17), Oceania (+3). The only decrease in religious Bishops was registered in Oceania (-1), the increase was registered in Africa (+10), America (+4), Asia (+5) and Europe (+3).

Priests: The total number of priests in the world increased by 1,427 units more than in the previous year, to 410,593. The only continent which registered a decrease was once again Europe (-1,674), wheras figures grew in Africa (+1155), America (+413), Asia (+1519) and Oceania (+14). Diocesan priests increased by 1,535 units, reaching a total of +275,542, with increases in Africa (+888), America (+946), Asia (+780) and Oceania (+26) but numbers dropped in Europe (-1105). The number of Religious priests decreased by 108 units to a total of 135,051. Increases, following the trend of recent years are Africa (+267) and Asia (+739), but decreases affect America (-533), Europe (-569) and Oceania (-12) …

There’s more statistics here.

 

Girl Set Alight in ‘Satanic Ritual’

UPDATE:  Sadly Kirsty Theologo has died after having been burnt in satanic ritual. RIP.
Satan’s way:

The girls, one 18 and the other 16, were among eight youngsters who went to a koppie behind the Linmeyer pool in Johannesburg on Friday night.

According to Samantha Theologo, her 18-year-old sister Kirsty has 75 percent burns to her body from the waist up.

Doctors had told them, she said, that they were worried about her sister’s recovery because her lungs and throat were damaged.

Kirsty was scheduled to have surgery today.

Samantha said the group of five boys and three girls knew one another well and her sister would hang out with them often. One of the boys was a neighbour and one of the girls lived on the same street.

Kirsty Theologo , 18, of Joburg, had petrol poured over her by friends. She was then set alight in what appears to be a satanic ritual. Kirsty suffered 75 percent burns mostly above her waist.

Teenagers say the koppie is a well-known spot for youngsters to sit at weekends to look at the view and drink.

The Theologo family heard from the other victim – Kirsty’s friend, who is recovering in a private hospital – that the boys had decided that the two would be sacrificed in some sort of satanic ritual.

“We don’t know exactly what happened. We heard they were tied up, but we don’t know,” said Samantha.

The boys are said to have poured petrol over her sister and set her alight.

Her friend then tried to put out the flames, rolling Kirsty in the sand. In the process she was also burnt.

The rest of the group ran away, leaving the two girls to climb down the hill on their own.

“In the state she was in, my sister made sure they walked to safety,” said Samantha. “She walked all the way to Rosettenville – about 2km away.

“I wasn’t home, but my mom told me she found my sister in the bathroom washing her face. My mom said it was horrific.”

According to a medical source, speaking to The Star, sister newspaper of the Daily News, on condition of anonymity, the teenagers were driven to South Rand Hospital by their pastor, then transferred to other hospitals.

“It was impressive that they walked all that way in their condition.”

The source said a third girl told them that the boys cut her hand and held it over a Bible so that the blood could soak it, while Kirsty was burnt.

Provincial police spokeswoman Captain Pinky Tsingane said the girls were tied up and there was speculation the attack was a satanic ritual, but they still needed to investigate.

A case of attempted murder was opened.

By late yesterday, two boys, aged 19 and 21, had handed themselves in at the Booysens police station, said Tsingane.

Meanwhile, Kirsty’s family are extremely shocked.

“It’s horrible, it’s scary and just horrific what happened to my sister,” said Samantha.

“My mom is in a state and can’t talk. Friends are breaking down. Kirsty is in Grade 11 and is loved by so many people. This is a nightmare.”

Izabella Little, from the teenage advice forum Lifetalk, said Satanism was not spoken about.

A mother contacted her last year to seek advice after her teenage daughter was kidnapped in Cape Town and brought to a type of church where another teenager was murdered. She escaped, but was very traumatised.

Straight out of the pit of hell!

UPDATE: News 24 (as above)

Johannesburg – The young woman who was doused in petrol and set alight in a suspected satanic ritual in Linmeyer died on Friday morning, Johannesburg police said.

“Kirsty Theologo passed away due to her injuries,” Warrant Officer Lorraine Van Emmerik said.

The 18-year-old was in a coma at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital with 75% burns to her body from her waist up. She died shortly after 04:00 on Friday.

Murder charge

Van Emmerik said one of the attempted murder charges against the four men who allegedly set Theologo and her friend alight would now be changed to murder.

The four appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

They are Lindon Wagner, 21, Robin Harwood, 18, Lester Moody, 18, and Jeremy King, 18.

Magistrate Lucas van der Schyff postponed the matter to November 1 for further investigation.

The young men would be held at the Booysens police station for DNA tests to be completed, public prosecutor Colleen Ryan said.

Theologo and her friend were among eight youngsters who reportedly went to a koppie behind the Linmeyer swimming pool in Julius Street last Friday night.

The two girls reportedly were tied up before they were set alight in what has been described as a Satanic ritual.

Vatican Calls for Radical Economic Reform of World’s Financial Systems

In the Huffington Post:

The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world’s financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy.

A proposal by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace calls for a new world economic order based on ethics and the “achievement of a universal common good.” It follows Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 economic encyclical that denounced a profit-at-all-cost mentality as responsible for the global financial meltdown.

The proposal acknowledges, however, that a “long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction” and suggests the reform process begin with the United Nations as a point of reference.

Vatican pronouncements on the economy are meant to guide world leaders as well as the global church. United States Roman Catholic bishops, for example, have released a voter guide for the 2012 election that highlights social concerns such as ending poverty.

“It is an exercise of responsibility not only toward the current but above all toward future generations, so that hope for a better future and confidence in human dignity and capacity for good may never be extinguished,” the document said.

It highlights that reforms must assure that financial and monetary policies will not damage the weakest economies while also achieving fair distribution of the world’s wealth.

The proposal also called for a “minimum, shared body of rules to manage the global financial market,” lamenting the “overall abrogation of controls” on capital movements.

While past Vatican pronouncements have condemned unfettered capitalism, the latest criticized “an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls.”

It also attacked “utilitarian thinking,” saying what is useful to the individual does not always favor the common good.