TOP 10 RICHEST PERSON IN THE WORLD

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the richest person in the world for the second year in a row, Forbes said on Wednesday.

Here is the Forbes 2011 ranking of the top 10:

1. Carlos Slim (Mexico) - $74 billion, telecommunications

Slim, 71, first showed a business talent as a 10-year-old selling drinks and snacks to his family. After studying engineering, he founded a real estate company and worked as a trader on the Mexican stock exchange. Cigar-smoking Slim is known for a "Midas touch" in acquiring struggling firms and turning them into cash cows.

His enormous wealth contrasts starkly with his frugal lifestyle. He has lived in the same house for about 40 years and drives an aging Mercedes Benz, although it is armored and trailed by bodyguards.

He has become involved in combating poverty, illiteracy and poor healthcare in Latin America and promotes sports projects for the poor, but has never voiced plans to give away large chunks of his wealth to charity.

2. Bill Gates (USA) - $56 billion, Microsoft

Sensing the start of a personal computer revolution, Gates, 55, dropped out of Harvard University in 1975 to start Microsoft and pursue a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home. Microsoft went public in 1986 and by the next year, the soaring stock made Gates, at age 31, the youngest self-made billionaire.

In 2008 he stepped down from  what is now the world's largest software firm to work at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has given $28 billion to it.

Together with his wife Melinda and Warren Buffett, he has also convinced 57 U.S. billionaires to sign up to the Giving Pledge and publicly vow to give away at least 50 percent of their fortune during their lifetime or upon their death.

3. Warren Buffett (USA) - $50 billion, Berkshire Hathaway

Buffett, 80, has run his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate since 1965. Its interests run from railroads to ice cream.

In 2006 he pledged to give away 99 percent of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities. So far he has given $8 billion to the Gates Foundation.

4. Bernard Arnault (France) - $41 billion, LVMH

Arnault, 62, a friend of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was educated at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique and joined his father's construction company at 25. He earned the reputation of a ruthless corporate raider after pushing out shareholder rivals when he started building the LVMH group in the 1990s with the Louis Vuitton, Moet and Hennessy brands.

It is now the world's biggest luxury goods group. His image as a predator stuck to him afterward when he fought in vain to acquire Gucci in 1999 and 2000. Then this week he snapped up Roman jeweler Bulgari for $5.18 billion.

5. Larry Ellison (USA) - $39.5 billion, Oracle Corp

Ellison, the flamboyant Oracle founder and CEO, is known for his free, public outbursts against rivals such as German software maker SAP AG. The executive, supposedly a model for the "Iron Man" movie character Tony Stark, late last year attacked Hewlett Packard and its board for the abrupt and -- he said -- unfair sacking of longtime friend Mark Hurd. Ellison then hired him.

Ellison, who won yachting's America's Cup last year, is considered one of the "old guard" of Silicon Valley.

6. Lakshmi Mittal (India) - $31.1 billion, steel

London-based steel tycoon Mittal, 60, runs ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel manufacturer.

Mittal's firm is largely funding a $29 million spiraling red tower, designed by Turner prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor and taller than New York's Statue of Liberty, that will soar over London's Olympic Park for the 2012 games.

In 2005 he spent $10 million to promote sporting talent and encourage potential Olympians in his homeland after he was disappointed by India's lone medal at the Athens Games.

7. Amancio Ortega (Spain) - $31 billion, retail

Amancio Ortega, 74, started his clothing business in the 1960s making dressing gowns in his garage in La Coruna. His company Inditex owns the Zara fashion house and is now the world's biggest clothing retailer. Ortega closely guards his privacy and does not give media interviews. He announced in January that he plans to step down as chairman of the company.

8. Eike Batista (Brazil) - $30 billion, mining, oil

A half-German college dropout who for years struggled to emerge from the shadow of his well-known father, Batista has long said he wants nothing less than to be Brazil's and the world's richest person. Everything about the 53-year-old -- from the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren sports car he keeps as decoration in his parlor to the "X" in the name of all his companies that represents wealth multiplication -- screams of unashamed ambition.

A top-class speedboat racer who was married to a famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival queen, Batista dined with U.S. pop star Madonna in Rio last year and, according to local reports, handed her a check over dinner for $7 million as a donation for her social projects.

He has a burning ambition to transform Rio into a modern, thriving city. Just before Rio was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games, he bought up a nearby marina that will be a hub of the games -- an example of his eye for a well timed deal.

9. Mukesh Ambani (India) - $27 billion, petrochemicals, oil and gas

A chemical engineer by training, Mukesh, 53, dropped out of an MBA from Stanford University and joined Reliance in 1981.

Mukesh, who said in 2009 he would take a two-thirds pay cut after the Indian prime minister's comments on "vulgar salaries," gave his wife a private jet on her birthday. He also splashed out $1 billion on a 27-story home. He has a volatile relationship with his younger brother Anil, and they have fought over interests from oil and gas, retail, telecoms, entertainment, financial services to infrastructure.

10. Christy Walton & family (USA) - $26.5 billion, Wal-Mart

Christy Walton is the widow of John Walton, who was the son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Sam Walton built the global Wal-Mart empire from a single dime store in Arkansas. It is now the world's largest retailer.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Gary Hill)

Creativity matters

... (:

Statue of Liberty

Famous monument Statue of Liberty was first made to be placed in Egypt to
celebrate the finalization of Suez Canal.

AWESOME JAPAN

The country of Japan is made up of 8,652
islands.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling was the first person to become a billionaire by writing books!!


She's also one of only 14 self-made female billionaires - in contrast, there are 665 males who’ve earned a billion on their own (fortunately the list of females has more than doubled within the past six years). The Harry Potter author is currently worth an estimated $1.1 billion, and get this - she is strongly considering releasing digital versions of the book series, a move which could net her an additional $100 million!

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Wanna hug meee??? :D

F*CK

'F*ck' can be used as a verb, adverb, adjective, command,
interjection, noun, and can logically be used as virtually any word in a sentence!

Mr. Narayanaswamy

First Rank in State in Secondary School Examination
First Rank in University in Plus Two
First Rank in IIT Entrance Examination
First Rank in All India IIT Computer Science
First Rank in IAS Entrance Examination
First Rank in IAS Training Institute
On passing out from IIT Chennai Mr. Narayanaswamy was offered scholarship by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology , USA .. He who came from a
middle class family believed that he had a moral obligation to give something in return for the lakhs of rupees the government spent on him as an IIT student. He had the intelligence and conviction to realize that this money came also from the poorest of the poor - who pay up the excise duty on textiles when they buy cloth, who pay up customs, excise and sales tax on diesel when they travel in a bus, and in numerous other ways indirectly pay the government. So he decided to join IAS hoping he could do something for the people of this country. How many young men have the will power to resist such an offer from USA ?
Narayanaswamy did never look at IAS as a black money spinner as his later life bears testimony to this fact.
After a decade of meritorious service in IAS, today, Narayanaswamy is being forced out of the IAS profession.
Do you know why?
A real estate agent wanted to fill up a paddy field which is banned under law.
An application came up before Narayanaswamy who was sub collector for an exemption from this rule for the plot of land. Upon visiting the site he found that complaint from 60 poor families that they will face water logging due to the waste water from a nearby Government Medical College if this paddy field was filled up, was correct. Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what he felt was right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field.
That was his first confrontation with politicians.
Soon after his marriage his father-in-law closed down a public road to build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached Narayanaswamy with complaint.
When talking with his own father-in-law did not help, he removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result, his marriage broke up.
As district Collector he raided the house of a liquor baron who had defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment to government and carried out revenue recovery. A Minister directly telephoned him and ordered to return the forfeited articles to the house of the liquor baron.
Narayanswamy politely replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy will suffer.
In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for earthen bunds meant for poor farmers, but which were never constructed. A bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy.
He inspected the bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after the rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected the earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the rain. But he created a lot of enemies for saving 8 crores public money.
The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to go on leave by the government.
Later such an illustrious officer was posted as "State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools".
This is what the politician will do to a honest officer with backbone - post him in the most powerless position to teach him a lesson. Since he found that nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State Service he opted for central service. But that too was denied on some technical ground.
What will you do when you have a brilliant computer career anywhere in the world you choose with the backing of several advanced technical papers too published in international journals to your credit?
When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why should you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme?
Mr. Narayanaswamy is on the verge of leaving IAS to go to Paris to take up a well paid United Nations assignment.
The politicians can laugh thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless people of this country who will lose - not Narayanaswamy. But you have the power to support capable and honest bureaucrats like Narayaswamy, G.R.Khairnar and Alphons Kannamthanam who have suffered a lot under self seeking politicians who rule us. You have even the power to replace such politicians with these kind of people dedicated to the country. The question is will you do the little you can do NOW? At least a vote or word in support of such personalities?
THINK ABOUT IT , Ladies and Gentlemen , and PLEASE DO SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS !
[via: Rockiiee Nan]

— with Rj Nitin and 34 others.

HISSSSS

Snakes cannot hear sounds. However, they can detect vibrations. The sense of smell is very advanced. This King Cobra tastes the air for chemical signals.

incredible

There’s an office building in Fukushima with a highway running through it!

The building is in downtown Osaka, Japan and was finished in 1992. It has 16 above ground floors and another 2 below ground. The highway passes through the fifth an d seventh floors of the building.

The reason the road was constructed like this is because there were 2 different groups that had permits to build. One had a permit for the actual building, and there was another that had already planned the highway. After much negotiation, they decided on this alternative so that they could both get something out of the land.

'Brookesia micra' chameleon

'Brookesia micra' chameleon on a matchstick in Madagascar. The so-called 'Brookesia micra' chameleon, believed to be the world smallest, has been discovered on the island of Madagascar. The lizard, with a 16-millimetre body, measures 29 millimetres with its tail full extended. Picture taken March 16, 2007.

Admit it :D

Japan’s Indoor Man-Made Beach.

Ocean Dome (world’s only indoor beach) has its own flame-spitting volcano, crushed white marble "sand", and it also boasts the world’s largest retractable roof, providing a permanently blue sky. Temperature, wind and humidity are closely controlled to provide an ultra-safe "sea-side" experience. Every hour, the volcano erupts and the hi-tech wave machines start up, starting a few minutes of sanitised surfing.

Entrance costs US$50, which seems especially expensive given that there is a free, natural beach only 300 metres away.

GOOGLE GLASS

MUST WATCH TO KNOW WHATS COMING NEXT FOR OUR GENERATION