Time Magazine: Lula the “most influential leader of 2010″

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with a remarkable title and: according to the turnout of the voting the online site of the United States magazine unveiled, the former 2009 Man of the Year for Le Monde is now the “most influential leader of 2010,” according to one of the lists belonging to the Time 100 issue covering “the people who most affect our world.”

“Leaders,” “Artists,” “Heroes,” “Thinkers,” among other lists are the ones featured in the site. Bill Clinton is the number one at the “Heroes” list; Lady Gaga appears at the top artist and Zaha Hadid is the number one thinker.

This year’s is the seventh annual “The Most Influential People” list in Time magazine. People had been allowed to vote for days in order to form the ranking. Lula, 64 years old and two terms of office as Brazil’s Head of State, was placer over United States President Barack Obama, who was the fourth leader in the list.

According to the article that portraits a Lula picture, “when Brazilians first elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva President in 2002, the country’s robber barons nervously checked the fuel gauges on their private jets. They had turned Brazil into one of the most inequitable places on earth, and now it looked like payback time. Lula, 64, was a genuine son of Latin America’s working class – in fact, a founding member of the Workers’ Party – who’d once been jailed for leading a strike.”

The three failed attempts that Lula had to face in order to be a first-time president were also mentioned in the Time review: they are used to justify the Brazilian leader for being “a familiar figure in Brazilian national life.”

from: http://www.theamericaspostes.com/1448/time-magazine-lula-the-most-influential-leader-of-2010/

Ten Breathtaking Platforms from Around the World

Aurland Lookout

Architects Todd Saunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen were commissioned to design a scenic rest-stop 2000ft above Aurland fjord in Norway and came up with this beauty wining the first prize in Norwegian tourist routes competition. The outermost end of the horizontal platform – which curves to form the structure’s support – is closed off by a sheet of glass, offering an incredible view towards the ground for all those with the guts to make the trip to the end.

Top Ten Conspiracy Theories

07. The Roswell Crash Cover-Up

There is one fact that almost all skeptics and believers agree on: Something crashed on a remote ranch outside of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The government at first claimed it was some sort of saucer, then retracted the statement and claimed it was really a weather balloon. Yet the best evidence suggests that it was neither a flying saucer nor a weather balloon, but instead a high-altitude, top-secret military balloon dubbed Project Mogul. The stories about crashed alien bodies did not surface until decades later and in fact no one considered the Roswell crash as anything extraterrestrial or unusual until thirty years later, when a book on the topic was published. There was indeed a cover-up, but it did not hide a crashed saucer, instead it hid a Cold War-era spying program.

World’s Worst Predictions02

We don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.
– Hewlett-Packard’s rejection of Steve Jobs, who went on to found Apple Computers

Airplanes are interesting toys, but they have no military value.
– Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1911

But what … is it good for?

– Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

– Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face not Gary Cooper.”

– Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With The Wind.”

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.”

– Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

Loan words

Here’s a list of words in English that are “borrowed” from other languages.

Assassin (Ancient Arabic) hired killer -originally ‘hashshshin’ meaning ‘addicted to marijuana’ and applied to warriors who would smoke the drug before battle.

Avalanche (Switzerland Romansh) a major snow slide on the side of a mountain -originally meaning ‘descend’.

Avocado (Native South American) a green fruit -originally from ‘awa guatl’ meaning testicle.

Bizarre (Spain Basque) strange -originally ‘bizar’ meaning beard, the meaning of the word later changing to ‘handsome’ and then ‘brave’ before acquiring its current meaning.

Cigarette (Ancient Yucatan and Guatemala Mayan) from Mayan ‘cigar’ -originally meaning ‘smoke’, via French ‘cigarette’ meaning ‘little cigar’.

Ketchup (China Amoy) a spicy sauce -originally ‘ke-tsiap’ made from pickled fish and spices.

Robot (Czechoslovakia Czech) an intelligent machine -originally meaning ‘worker’.

Zombie (Congo and Angola Kongo) dead-but-still-alive -originally the name of a snake-god.

Nice T-shirt

Ten Breathtaking Platforms from Around the World

01) Dachstein Sky Walk ( Austria )

Nicknamed the “balcony of the alps,” the Dachstein Sky Walk is formally enthroned at 2,700 m above sea-level, high up on the 250 m vertical rock face of the Hunerkogel. A 360 degree panorama allows the visitor a view of Slovenia in the south to the Czech Republic in the north. The Sky Walk is distinctly higher than the platforms of the Niagara Falls or even the one at the Iguazu waterfalls in Brazil .

World’s Worst Predictions

It doesn’t matter what he does, he will never do anything important.
– Albert Einstein’s teacher to his father, 1895

It will be years – not in my time – before a woman will become Prime Minister.
– Margaret Thatcher, 1974

Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
– H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927

Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
– Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

Top Ten Conspiracy Theories

08. Protocols of the Elders of Zion

“The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” is a hoaxed book that purported to reveal a Jewish conspiracy to achieve world domination. It first appeared in Russia in 1905, and described how Christians’ morality, finances, and health would be targeted by a small group of powerful Jews. The idea that there is a Jewish conspiracy is nothing new, of course, and has been repeated by many prominent people including Henry Ford and Mel Gibson. In 1920, Henry Ford paid to have half a million copies of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” published, and in the 1930s, the book was used by the Nazis as justification for its genocide against Jews (in fact, Adolph Hitler referred to the “Protocols” in his book “Mein Kampf”). Though the book has been completely discredited as a hoax and forgery, it is still in print and remains widely circulated around the world.

George Clooney Dies (Well, almost…)