World's 20 most powerful women 2012

A couple of days ago, the Forbes came out with the list of 100 most powerful women in the world.

The magazine ranked them according to the traditional classifications of power, such as political and economic might, and for being outstanding in social and cultural scene.


Who are they

• 8 heads of state, 
• 25 chief executive officers (CEOs) - together they controls $984billion in revenues,
• 11 billionaires - worth nearly $80billion,
• 12 entrepreneurs,
• 10 celebrities, and
• many others

The following is the list of the top 20, and if you feel like reading, click on the Forbes link I have provided above.

Angela Merkel (Germany) and Hillary Clinton (United States) head the pack.

Oprah still sit pretty well up there long after her last TV talkshow end.

Kudos and thank you each and everyone of you ladies for being such an inspiration.

Source: The Forbes (link above)

Pilot embarks on first solar-powered inter-continental trip

This is very interesting and it goes to show that where there is a will there is a way. The aircraft can fly without a single drop of fuel. It is powered by the sun. Each of the motors on the carbon-fiber craft charges 400-kilogramme (880-pound) lithium polymer batteries during the day, allowing the aircraft to carry on flying after dark.

The Swiss solar-powered aircraft takes off on 24 May 012 in Payerne and travel through Madrid , destined for Rabat in Morocco. AFP photo.

The Solar Impulse plane, a giant as big as an Airbus A340 but as light as an average family car, is piloted by Bertrand Piccard, 54-year-old psychiatrist and balloonist, on the daring voyage from Europe to Africa.


The solar-powered Impulse plane specs:

Wingspan: 63.40 m
Length: 21.85 m
Height: 6.40 m
Weight: 1,600 kgk
Average speed: 70 km/h
Altitude max: 8,500 m
Propulsion: 4 electric motors (10 HP each)
Solar cell: 12,000 cells on wing & 880 cells on horizontal stabiliser

As Piccard guided the experimental plane almost silently aloft from Madrid-Barajas airport at 5:22 am (0322 GMT), a red light could be seen disappearing into the moon-lit sky.

An onboard camera relayed pictures of the Spanish capital's quiet streets stretched out below the aircraft, which has 12,000 solar cells in the wings turning four electrical motors.

Helped by a tailwind, Piccard gradually piloted the plane towards 3,600 metres (11,800 feet) as he headed to Seville in southern Spain. He was then to cross the Gibraltar Strait at 8,500 metres (28,000 feet), enter Moroccan airspace over Tangiers and land in Rabat-Sale some time after 11 pm (2200 GMT).

Piccard, who made the world's first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight in 1999 together with Briton Brian Jones, took over the controls from project co-founder Andre Borschberg, a 59-year-old Swiss executive and pilot. Borschberg flew a first leg from Payerne in Switzerland, landing in Madrid on May 25.

Organisers said the trip, 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) overall, is timed to coincide with the launch of construction on the largest ever solar thermal plant in Morocco's southern Ouarzazate region.

The voyage also is intended as a rehearsal for the plane's round-the-world flight planned for 2014. The aircraft made history in July 2010 as the first manned plane to fly around the clock on the sun's energy.

It holds the record for the longest flight by a manned solar-powered aeroplane after staying aloft for 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds above Switzerland, also setting a record for altitude by flying at 9,235 metres (30,298 feet).

The Green Mechanics: Very interesting prospect if you are an investor. Inspiring, if you are an inventor. Motivating, if you like learning new things.

Source: MSN News

Who speaks the most languages

People may want to learn other languages because they want to learn about others and their cultures. Some for self gratification and some for recognition. I speak 3 languages - English, Malay, Kadazan/Dusun - and a couple of other dialects, if you can call those languages.

I read an article recently that there are people who speak and understand more than 100 languages, and it got me thinking how'd they do it, and what drove them to take the trouble to learn those languages. Anyway, to answer the question of  who rather that why, here it is:

There may be more that are not documented, and depending on how how high we set the bar of fluency, Ziad Youseff Fazah is the man. Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, brought up in Beirut and now living in Brazil, claims to be the world's greatest living polyglot (multilingual) with a total of 59 languages (the wikipedia's figure of 58 is a bit outdated).

He has been 'tested' on Spanish television, and was reported to have failed to understand beginner-level phrases in some widely spoken languages. [image from: Languages@Lighthouse]

However, there are others (people no longer living) with more languages and dialects such as Cardinal Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti. Cardinal Mezzofanti, born in 1774, spoke 38 languages and 40 dialects. Meanwhile, the 10th-century Muslim polymath Al-Farabi was said to know 70 languages. The German Hans Conon von der Gabelentz, born in 1807, was cited to have researched and published grammars of 80 languages.

The record, though, probably belongs to Sir John Bowring, Governor of Hong Kong from 1854 to 1859, who was said to know 200 languages, and capable of speaking 100. Bowring was an English political economist, traveller, miscellaneous writer, polyglot, and the 4th Governor of Hong Kong.

Now, I want to hear him (Ziad Fazah) speaking in Malay and Indonesian languages.

Passing of an enormous talent

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I was contemplating posting my disappointment over the 4^th October 2011 release of the not-so-impressive 5^th generation iPhone 4S in Cupertino, California when I read first thing today on MarketWatch of the passing of Steve Jobs. Little did we know that the day the 5^th iPhone was launched was the very day that this great man last breathed air.

Steve Jobs was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, and the board of directors offered a statement acknowledging his passing on Wednesday:

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

“His greatest love was his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”

Image from MarketWatch

Goodbye, and rest in peace Steve. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for improving the quality of so many lives. You will be deeply missed.

Let's dedicate the S in the new iPhone 4S to Steve.

Passing of an Unparalleled Talent

Michael Jackson, a powerful music icon during his era passed away on 25-6-2009. He may have been a very controversial figure, but I, for one will honour him not for the way he lived his life but rather for his incomparable talent. Regardless of whatever human mistakes and weaknesses, his passing is a big loss of an invaluable talent.

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AFP summarised his story as follows:-

I wasn't a big fan of his but I grew up having to inevitably listen to his music. Not that I had his CDs and tapes but those days, the radio stations were all filled with his music. Some of his songs are really nice and I'll honour them by refreshing their good tunes and noble intentions here:

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And a message about not looking at others by the colour of their skin:
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