Ranking | Records | All the World

Most Liberal Senator In 2007

2008-05-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was the most liberal senator in 2007, according to National Journal's 27th annual vote ratings. The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries, after ranking as the 16th- and 10th-most-liberal during his first two years in the Senate.

by Brian Friel, Richard E. Cohen and Kirk Victor
Source : www.nj.nationaljournal.com

The World's Most Influential People- Builders & Titans

2008-05-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

The most appropriate way to describe Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, is "world class leader." Her sharp strategic mind, tremendous market insight and humanitarian contributions all combine to make her a rare executive among the global corporate giants. PepsiCo's international business grew 22% last year, and she is showing the way for American companies trying to do well overseas. (These days, that's everybody.) Indra, 52, was also way ahead of her competitors in moving the company toward healthier products. She pushed for PepsiCo to buy Quaker Oats and Tropicana, and I wasn't surprised when PepsiCo removed trans fats from its products well before most other companies did.

I've known Indra for the past 10 years or so, ever since Starbucks and PepsiCo began a joint-venture partnership to market and distribute ready-to-drink Starbucks products. I have been particularly impressed by her willingness to do the right thing for her employees and consumers. As someone who has always aspired to build a company committed to its people and to the world, I admire her determination to achieve sustainability at an established company like PepsiCo. And I believe that all socially responsible companies could learn from Indra Nooyi's style of leadership. She welcomes hearing from people who disagree with her, but she is single-minded about following the path she believes is best for her company and its shareholders. Under her direction, I expect that we will see PepsiCo do even more in the future to excite consumers and create a better global community.

By Howard Schultz
Source : www.time.com

The World's Most Influential People- Artist and Entertainer

2008-05-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

Lorne Michaels has the life you want: a beautiful family. Funny, intelligent friends. And a job—creator and producer of Saturday Night Live—that puts him at the center of American culture while still giving him summers off.

Now in its 33rd season (he also has the job security you want), SNL has bombarded us with jokes and ideas that have permeated culture so deeply, you forget where they came from. Only Hamlet has as many rock-solid catchphrases:

To be, or not to be./I'm all verklempt.
Jane, you ignorant slut./Get thee to a nunnery.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be./Strategery!

Studies show that the average American high school student could not identify which of those quotes came from which source.*

SNL is most influential during an election year. Lorne would tell you that the show's job is to attack whoever is in power. But the show's portrayals of politicians actually seem to generate affection for them, regardless of their politics. Chevy Chase's Gerald Ford was adorably clumsy. Dana Carvey's Bush Senior was wiggly and goofy. Darrell Hammond's Bill Clinton may have been more charming than the real thing, and Will Ferrell turned George W. into a harmless, hapless "brocephus."

This blend of news and silliness comes from Lorne, the master of high/low. In the fashion world, high/low means a chic blend of expensive pieces with colorful cheap items. At 63, Lorne has been doing this for almost half his life. By mixing Harvard-educated writers with sweaty Chicago performers. By following a 9-min. C-Span parody with the song D___ in a Box. Lorne is stylish, and so is his show. He has flourished as a producer using one unthinkable rule: he makes movies and shows that he himself would want to watch.

As Theodoric of York once said, "To thine own self be true."

by Tina Fey
Source : www.time.com

The World's Most Influential People- Scientists & Thinkers

2008-05-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've long argued that one of our most critical environmental issues is the challenge of making our cities attractive, enriching and safe places to live. The best cure for destructive sprawl is to build cities people don't want to abandon, places where they can live healthy, fulfilling lives in densities that don't devour our landscapes, pave our wilderness and pollute our watersheds, air and wildlife. To achieve this, we need to invest in urban schools, transportation, parks, health care, police protection, and infrastructure that makes cities great magnets with gravity sufficient to draw back the creeping suburbs.

There is a moral as well as an environmental imperative to attend to landscapes that are home to so many. For more than 8 million New York City residents, the environment is not a Rocky Mountain meadow with pronghorns grazing beside an alpine stream. It's their transit system and office buildings, the parks where their children play.

No one understands this better than New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, 66, who has not only worked to make his city livable but has also promised to make it a global model of sustainability. Mayor Bloomberg realizes that a better future for New York will not be constructed on jobs or housing alone. It must also include cleaner air, safer drinking water, more green spaces and a healthy, accessible Hudson River.

In addition to protecting the local environment, he has promised to make New York a paradigm in the fight against global warming. His visionary PlaNYC commits New York to plant 1 million trees, slash greenhouse gases 30% by 2030 and achieve the cleanest air of any big city on the continent. Mayor Bloomberg has stepped into the breach left by a Federal Government that has abdicated all leadership on global warming. With his pragmatism and boundless energy, he has shown that a city can be both great and green. If that idea can make it here, it can make it anywhere.

by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Source : www.time.com

The World's Most Influential People- Heroes and Pinoneer

2008-05-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

It is one thing to talk about the problems of the world and quite another to actually try to change things.

As a team, actors Brad Pitt, 44, and Angelina Jolie, 32, have served as our goodwill ambassadors worldwide. They brought help to Pakistan in 2005, after a catastrophic earthquake killed tens of thousands of people and left millions homeless. They have tended to the poor and sick in Africa. And they've raised global awareness—and contributed $1 million of their own money—for the victims of atrocities in Darfur. Brad co-founded Not on Our Watch, an organization set up to focus global attention on Darfur and other hot spots.

In the U.S., Brad and Angelina didn't just talk about, or even just throw money at, the tragic fallout from Hurricane Katrina. They actually moved to New Orleans and have set about trying to make right what so many have made wrong. Brad established a project to finance and build 150 new homes in the Ninth Ward.

Angelina has worked tirelessly through the United Nations on behalf of refugees around the world, touring border camps in Africa, Asia and Latin America and lobbying on Capitol Hill. The couple cares for three adopted children, from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam, in addition to their biological daughter.

There are hundreds of people who could be honored for their good works, but I've seen Brad and Angelina firsthand, and their commitment together is truly impressive.

by George Clooney
Source : www.time.com

The Most Influental People in Leader and Revolutionaries

2008-05-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Millions of people turn to the Dalai Lama for inspiration, but to whom does he turn? He and his people have struggled all their lives with the audacity of hopelessness. Oppression and exile are their daily bread. Yet the Dalai Lama, 72, remains calm in the face of cruelty. What does he think of the human race? "We are the superior species on Earth but also the biggest troublemakers," he once told me.

China's rulers aren't like the British masters of colonial India, and the Dalai Lama's Gandhiesque nonviolent struggle won't give them twinges of conscience, leading to Tibet's freedom. If anything, Beijing has grown more ruthless in suppressing Tibetan aspirations, as we've seen this Olympic year. And yet he has found a way to think kindly of those who oppress his people and vilify his name. I found him unwilling to show any harshness. He said to me, "I don't dislike the Chinese, only their actions."

To me, the most mystical thing about him is also the most ordinary: the Dalai Lama is happy. He's happy in the midst of chaos and turmoil. The most inspiring thing he ever told me was to ignore all organized faiths and keep to the road of higher consciousness. "Without relying on religion, we look to common sense, common experience and the findings of science for understanding," he said. I do the same thing, but I still marvel at this model of calm and compassion. I'm sure neuroscientists would love to know what's going on inside that brain.

To whom, then, does the Dalai Lama turn for inspiration? It's not a person but a place—beyond I and thou, beyond self and nonself. The wonder isn't that such a place can be found. The wonder is that one man makes it look so easy.

by Deepak Chopra
Source : www.time.com

The World's largest sleeping Buddha

2008-05-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Sculptors work on world's largest sleeping Buddha statue Wednesday in Yiyang County of East China's Jiangxi Province. The gigantic rock work, whose construction started on May 1st,2002, measures 68-meter-high and 416-meter-long.

Source : www.chinadaily.com

The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle

2008-05-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Number of pieces 24,000
Finished Puzzle Size : 428cm x 157cm (4.28 x 1.57) - 168.5 in x 61.8 in (14ft 0.5 in x 5ft 1.8in)

Source :www.worldslargestpuzzle.com

World's Biggest Church Building

2008-05-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Winners` Chapel at Canaanland, Otta, Nigeria
Inside Sitting Capacity 50,000 Outside Overflow Capacity 250,000

World's Biggest Hotel

2008-05-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

MGM Grand Hotel at Las Vegas capacity 6, 276 rooms

Most Complex Interchange

2008-05-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Interstate 10 Highways Interchange at Houston, Texas.

World Costliest Stadium

2008-05-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

NEW WEMBLEY STADIUM, London 90, 000 capacities, cost $1.6 billion

World's Biggest Stadium

2008-05-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

MARACANA STADIUM at RIO D.J,BRAZIL.CAPACITY 199,000

World's Largest Palace

2008-05-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

Palace of the Parliament at Bucharest, Romania. More than 500 bedrooms, 55 kitchens,120 sitting rooms

World's Tallest Building

2008-05-23T05:53:00.001-07:00

Burj Dubai, 900 meters high.

World's Highest Statue

2008-05-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE at RIO.D.J, BRAZIL

World's Biggest Plane

2008-05-23T05:47:00.001-07:00

Airbus A380 with capacity 555 Passengers

World's Biggest Passenger- Ship

2008-05-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

MS Freedom of the Seas with 4300 passenger Capacity Inside

World's Widest ridge

2008-05-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

Sydney harbor bridge, Australia.16 lanes of car traffic,8 lanes in the upper floor, 8 in the lower floor.

World's Busiest Airport

2008-05-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

J.F.K International Airport , New York,USA

World's Biggest Shopping Mall

2008-05-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

South China Mall, Dongguan, China 892,000 meter-square, Shops on 6 floors

World's Biggest Office Complex

2008-05-23T03:49:00.000-07:00

Chicago Merchandise Mart…..Illinois, USA

WORLD'S BIGGEST INDOOR SWIMMING POOL

2008-05-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

World's Biggest Indoor Swimming Pool at World Water Park , Edmonton , Albert , Canada , size 5 acres.

World's Oldest Man

2008-05-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

A Cuban man, who claims to be 126 years old, making him the world's oldest person, has died Thursday at a hospital.

Benito Martinez claims to have been born in Haiti in 1880 although this was never proven.

He credits his longevity to hard work, fresh vegetables, not too many cigars, a little alcohol - and never marrying.

When he was still alive, Martinez was the star of the Cuban government's campaign to promote healthy lives for its oldest citizen. He was the leading light of Cuba's 120 club, an organization which aims to promote healthy living for the elderly.

Surprisingly, he was still active until last month, tending plants outside his one-bedroom house, visiting the local old people's home and even going dancing. His neighbors describe him as the man with the broad toothless grin as always being very old.

Martinez claims he was born in Haiti and arrived in Cuba in 1925 at the age of 45 to work as a farm worker.

The Cuban government tried but failed to uncover baptism records or a birth certificate in Haiti so he was never officially on record as the world's oldest man.

Source : www.wayodd.com

The Oldest Woman

2008-05-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Maria do Carmo Jeronimo, a former slave whose lack of a birth certificate prevented her recognition as the world's oldest woman, has died. Church records list her age as 129. Jeronimo died of a stroke late Wednesday at the University Hospital in Itajuba, 200 miles northwest of Rio, hospital officials said Thursday.

According to baptismal records, Jeronimo was born on March 5, 1871 in the southeastern town of Carmo de Minas, in Minas Gerais state. Brazil then was a monarchy under Emperor Pedro II, and Jeronimo, who was black, was born into slavery

She was 17 when Brazil finally abolished slavery, but never left Minas Gerais. For six decades she worked as a housemaid for the Guimaraes family, which in recent years tried unsuccessfully to have her recognized by the Guinness Book of Records.

The oldest person ever with authenticated records was Jeanne Calment of France, who died Aug. 4, 1997 at age 122.

Source : www.english.peopledaily.com