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Buffett , Bill Gates the top ranked billionaires of the world has   joined hands and have appealed to fellow Americans  to give half of their wealth to charity.

My first reaction  LOL!!!

According to Forbes Magazine,  Bill gates has USD 53 billion and Buffett total money comes around  USD 47 billion. Gentleman, why dont you start by giving half your share. I am very sure that using the money given by you  two alone can solve  75% of America financial crisis.

It seems that Bill Gates, his wife Melinda gates and Buffett  have  joined hands to commit their share to philanthropy.

“Now, Bill and Melinda Gates and I are asking hundreds of rich Americans to pledge at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity,” Buffett has written in a letter titled ‘My Philanthropic Pledge’.

Well known for his wise investment decisions, the 79-year-old Buffett is the chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway that has invested in diverse companies.

“More than 99 per cent of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day,” the billionaire investor said.

In 2006, Buffett had pledged to give all the stocks he owns in Berkshire Hathaway to philanthropic foundations.

Buffett said he has already distributed about 20 per cent of his Berkshire shares and would continue to “annually distribute about 4 per cent the shares I retain”.

“At the latest, the proceeds from all of my Berkshire shares will be expended for philanthropic purposes by 10 years after my estate is settled.

“Nothing will go to endowments; I want the money spent on current needs,” the letter noted.

This year, Gates and Buffett were ranked as the world’s second and third richest people, respectively, by the Forbes, which pegged Gates’ wealth at USD 53 billion and Buffett’s at USD 47 billion.

Buffett said the pledge to donate wealth would not affect this and his children’s lives. “They (children) have already received significant sums for their personal use and will receive more in the future….I will continue to live in a manner that gives me everything that I could possibly want in life,” he wrote in the letter.

Abby Sunderland may have just set the country on fire by being lost at sea. We all know how important it is for an AMERICAN like her to go missing. The 16-yr old is trying to become the youngest to ever sail around the world:

TV satellite trucks were beginning to gather outside the modest Thousand Oaks home…… where teen sailor Abby Sunderland lives with her parents. Occasionally, reporters would knock on the front door of the home covered with ivy and geranium. But no one answered.

Students from nearby Thousand Oaks high school walked down the street wondering why news trucks were here. Gage Guzman, 17, said he hoped that Abby would be found safe. “She’s younger than me and she’s sailing around the world, and by herself, that’s even crazier,” he said. “She’s brave, I don’t even go into the ocean by myself.”

Guzman’s younger brother, Shawn, 15, said he didn’t think her attempt to sail around the world was reckless. “If it’s her dream to sail, and she wants to follow her dream, that’s courageous. “

Sunderland, out of necessity, abandoned her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted. However, the 16-year-old was continuing her mission to become the youngest person to sail around the world.

Sailing experts said the Southern Indian Ocean where Sunderland was sailing when she apparently signaled emergency beacon locating devices on Thursday is known to be a difficult challenge. Charlie Nobles, executive director of the American Sailing Assn., said that winter storms in the Southern Hemisphere are fast approaching, creating rough waves that can reach dozens of feet high. He also said that there are fewer hours of light during the day, which can make navigating the waters difficult.

“There’s just not a lot of land in that part of the world,” Nobles said. “You have to follow certain patterns because you need the trade winds. Where she is right now is in between Australia and South Africa.”

Sailors had criticized Sunderland for leaving so late in the year for her journey. She departed from Marina del Rey on Jan. 23, later than she had wanted to because of equipment issues. She also had to make a stop in Mexico to make repairs, which wasted precious time before the approaching winter southern storms.

Nobles said that sailing around Cape Horn between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula was speculated to be Sunderland’s greatest challenge. But she rounded the cape in April without many issues, he said.

“A lot of people talk about the Horn because that’s what you hear about in National Geographic specials,” Nobles said. “But it wasn’t that big of a deal, fortunately, for her.”

Shortly after setting sail, Sunderland abandoned her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone, without any stops or assistance.

“I don’t know enough facts to know whether this is something she necessarily could have avoided or if it was a bad decision,” Nobles said. “My hope was that if she was at a certain point in her journey, she would say, ‘I’m less concerned about a record than to try to make it through safely.’ “

Abby Sunderland’s brother, Zac, last year completed his solo sail around the world at age 17.

Sunderland’s latest entry on her blog Wednesday described hitting rough weather and winds at 45 knots. “Wild Eyes was great through everything, but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do,” she wrote about her vessel.

Her parents have said in news reports that they had persuaded Abby to get to the nearest port in the event that dangerous conditions arose.

Someone better get Obama on the phone…

Source

American President Barrack Obama surrounded by the Secret Service during his short meet with supporters

I was Browsing online where i came across this interesting story that explains whats going on around the American President.

The  article reports that American President Barrack Obama receives atleast 30 death threats per day , making him unique on receiving the highest death threats for an American President.

The issue was under the cover by the  Secret Service fearing more threats. But its out on a new book mentioning the threats that Obama receive. The Secret Service is actually a well trained cops to guard the American President.The book was written by the President of Secret Service named Ronald Kessler.

The book reports that the death threats for Obama is  400 percent high than any other American President so far. The Secret Service who was in-charged for the Presidential Ceremony where Barrack Obama took Oath as the American President, reports that there were much threats from the local Somalian group trying to  kill the new president.

The  Book goes on to add  that, fearing for the safety of the incoming new President, the secret service deployment almost 40,000 agents and officers from some 94 police, military and security agencies.

According to The Telegraph, some of the threats issued against Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicized.

After Obama was elected president, his two children Malia, 11, codenamed Radiance, and Sasha, eight, codenamed Rosebud, began receiving Secret Service protection.

Obama’s wife Michelle is codenamed Renaissance. The Secret Service also started to protect Vice-President Joe Biden’s children, grandchildren, and mother.

The poor Secret Service agent who were less in number worked very hard for the safety of the President. One of the a Secret Service agent goes on to say

“We have half the number of agents we need, but requests for more agents have fallen on deaf ears at headquarters,”.

Well, all this is done for the safety of the first citizen of the states. And its worth the honor to serve the country and the President of  USA .

Zac sunderland on his world journey

Really great talent has been shown by an 17 year old American teenager Zac Sunderland who has circled the world taking a little more than a year time and now holds the record for Youngest Sailor to conquer the world.

Zac Sunderland  who started from Marina Del Rey, California last June has gone throughout the world with his Yatch, alone. Zac says he faced tough times in the middle of the journey with his Yatch breaking up, storms and also a threat from Pirates. He calls with Confidence that He never gave up on his journey.

So young but greatness achieved, this is what  said by people throughout the world on Zac sunderland’s journey.

He said he had learned a lot about the world during his travels.

“In other countries, 13 people are living in a dirt hut and when you meet them, they’re the kindest, most generous people,” he said.

Though he was on the journey alone, he had communication with his family through satellite links and also did meet up his father on his route places.

The sea route which he took to cover up is clearly mentioned on the image below

Ed McMahon the announcer of  NBC’s late night talk show, The Tonight Show dies due to health problems. He was well know for the word  “Here’s Jonny”.  During his death he was surrounded by his Family members.  Apart from NBC’s late night talk show  Ed McMahon also worked as a host  for TV talent search.

His publicist, Howard Bragman, said McMahon died on Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center .It was  reported that Ed McMahon died due to  Multitude of health problems. “He was a gifted artist and its  a sad mourning for us” reported by other celebrities.

McMahon was born in 1923 in Detroit, Michigan. After school he did graduation in Electrical Engineering. He went to attend National Duty for his country during world war II. McMahon was a Marine Corps fighter pilot but spent much of his service working as an instructor and test pilot. And again later he was called for the duty in Korean duty.

After the war, McMahon returned home and got his big break on ABC daytime show Who Do You Trust?. McMahon was the announcer alongside rising star and host, Johnny Carson.The pair teamed up again, four years later in 1962, this time on NBC’s late night talk show, The Tonight Show. Their on-screen partnership lasted 30 years.

Ed McMahon will be remembered by all the people in the world for his contribution towards Nation and Entertainment field.

USA president Barack Obama today warned the Americans about the decreasing Educational standards and emphasizing them to improve it cause indians and chinese are really coming hard on them. Obama in his speech particularly looked concerned with the falling Educational standards of his country.

Obama said “it was used to be head and shoulders difference between USA and other countries, but it is not anymore. We  are someway around middle of it”

“While our kids play video games more, Indians and Chinese kids spend more time in school learning things very fastly. The Chinese, the Indians are coming at us and they are coming at us very hard, they are hungry, focused and really buckling down at us”  Obama added.

He questioned that , Once America used to provide high number of college graduates, then why its standards in education fallen?

The US had ‘kind of settled into mediocrity when we compare ourselves to other advanced countries and wealthy countries,’ he said. ‘That’s a problem because the reason that America over the last hundred years has consistently been the wealthiest nation is because we’ve also been the most educated nation.’

‘It used to be by a pretty sizable factor we had the highest high school graduation rates, we had the highest college graduation rates, we had the highest number of Ph.D.s, the highest number of engineers and scientists,’ Obama said.

But now the Ph.D.s, engineers and scientist level  is no longer more when compared to other countries and finally he appealed the students to concentrate more on studies then video games.