Did Bill Gates say this?

[StClone]

"Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone
with kids of any age, here's some advice. Bill Gates recently gave a speech at
a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He
talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation
of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure
in the real world.


Rule 1 : Life is not fair -- get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect
you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.


Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't
be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.


Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a
different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.


Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about
your mistakes, learn from them.


Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are
now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and
listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save
the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing
the closet in your own room.


Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS
NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you
as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.


Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and
very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your
own time.


Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to
leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.


Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this - Thank a teacher!
If you are reading it in English - Thank a soldier"

If he did say this does Bill realize that he came about his money through an invention for which the inventor got nothing? There are a lot of things Bill does realize but there is much left to chance. Millions work hard. Few succeed are their lives wasted? He took an idea that some one else came upon and made it his own and then controlled the fortune it produced. His product was the first but not always the best. India produces some really good nerds too Bill. Nuff said.

[NYCGirl]

1. No, he didn't. Charles J. Sykes did. From Snopes:

No, this list didn't originate with Microsoft head Bill Gates. (It's frequently cited on the Internet as having come from his book Business @ The Speed of Thought, but it didn't.) Why it's attributed to Gates is a mystery to us; it doesn't really sound the least bit like something he would write. Possibly, the item the Internet-circulated version of the list generally ends with ("Be nice to nerds") struck a chord with someone who views Gates as the ultimate successful nerd of all time.

One version that appeared on the Internet in June 2002 asserts this is the text of a commencement speech given by Bill Gates to the graduating class of Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, California. It isn't — he didn't give such a speech, and folks at that school are mystified as to why they've been dragged into this apocryphal story.

Nor is this list the work of Kurt Vonnegut, another person to whom authorship has been attributed. A clue found in those versions ("From a college graduation speech by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.") explains why folks want to lay these random words of wisdom on his doorstep: In 1998, the Internet was swept with a narrative that has come to be known as the Vonnegut sunscreen speech. That work of inventive fiction was actually the product of Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich, but Internet-circulated versions claimed it was a college graduation speech given by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut thus became associated in the minds of some people with pithy advice to young adults.

This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. (The list has appeared in newspapers, although not necessarily in this book.) Many versions omit the last three rules:

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm

[StClone]

4. As they say

Snopes is your friend! :hi:

[Az]

2. Snopes is your friend

This was not written by Bill Gates. http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm

[JDPriestly]

3. That does not sound to me like Bill Gates.

It just doesn't. Don't know why. Sounds more like an internet myth in the making. Sounds more like the thoughts of some simplistic right-wing type.

[freeplessinseattle]

14. yep. just can't see him saying "car phone"

being as he's mr. tech savvy and car phones are so 80's.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Sheesh - what abysmal laziness.

[StClone]

6. What's that

Of which you speak?

[BlooInBloo]

8. It required about 10 seconds of googling the first rule to come up with about...

... a jillion hits that answer your question. Unwilling to invest 10 seconds = abysmal laziness.

[StClone]

10. Certified

Now we know. Thanks for the pleasantry.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. The last 3 lines, tacked on almost as an afterthought on all these RW spams, are a dead giveaway.

If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this - Thank a teacher!
If you are reading it in English - Thank a soldier"

Very frequently these spams are attached to some famous person's name. Presumably the choice of Bill Gates is due to the fact that he's one of the world's most successful businessmen (like him or not), and the spammers no doubt felt this choice would lend "credibility" to the thing. The guy who supposedly wrote it according to snopes is no one I've ever heard of.

[StClone]

9. That may be poor editing

On my part.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. What?! I'm confused. Are you saying you might have ADDED those lines editing? Hmmm

[StClone]

12. No

This came in a longer e-mail and I couldn't identify where the quotes ended...it wasn't identified. The ending lines and intro appear most likely the sender's add-on.

[ThoughtCriminal]

13. I think I'll add "If you agree, pass it on" to my spam filter

That way I can filter certain in-laws without missing the family pictures.