Sunday, April 13, 2008

Warren Buffet

Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest stock market investors, and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. With an estimated net worth of around US$62 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of March 5, 2008.

There was a one-hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

  • He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
  • He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
  • He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
  • He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
  • He never travel by private jet, although he owns the world’s largest private jet company.
  • His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given his CEO’s only two rules:
  • Rule number 1: do not lose any of your shareholder’s money.
  • Rule number 2: do not forget rule number 1.
  • He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
  • Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
  • Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
  • His advice to young people: “Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and remember:
  • Money doesn’t create man but it is the man who created money.
  • Live your life as simple as you are.
  • Don’t do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel good.
  • Don’t go on brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
  • Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on them who really in need rather.
  • After all it’s your life then why give chance to others to rule our life.”
I like and very respect with Warren Buffet because he is smart and low profile eventough he is the richest person in the world. Nobody can be like him.


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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Wilma Rudolf : Sport Hero

Wilma Rudolph was an exceptional American track and field athlete who overcame debilitating childhood illnesses and went on to become the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics.

Wilma Rudolph was born in 1940 in Bethlehem, Tenn. The twentieth of 22 children, she was born with polio and suffered from serious bouts of pneumonia and scarlet fever as a young child. All these ailments contributed to a bad leg that some said would prevent her from ever walking. But Wilma had a loving and devoted family who made sure she got medical attention and who provided physical therapy themselves four times a day. She wore a leg brace from the time she was five until she was 11 years old. Then, one Sunday, she removed it and walked down the aisle of her church.

When Wilma was 13, she got involved in organized sports at school, including basketball and track. Soon she was running and winning races. She was invited to a training camp at Tennessee State University by coach Ed Temple, who coached numerous track and field athletes and became Wilma's most important professional influence.

In 1956, when she was still a sophomore in high school, she participated in the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. She lost the 200 meter race, but her relay team took home the bronze medal.

Wilma became more determined than ever. In 1958, she began college at Tennessee State University and became a member of Ed Temple's "Tigerbelles" track team. In 1960, she set a world record for the 200 meter dash during the Olympic trials. Then during the Olympic games in Rome, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash and the 400 meter relay. When she returned to Tennessee, she was honored with her hometown's first racially integrated parade.

The next year she received a Sullivan Award, which is given annually to the top amateur athlete in the United States. Subsequent honors included the Black Sports Hall of Fame, the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1993, she became the first recipient of President Clinton's National Sports Award.

Wilma had worked her way through school and later became a coach and teacher. Her autobiography, "Wilma Rudolph on Track", was a bestseller, and in 1977 it became a television movie, starring Cicely Tyson. Wilma's greatest pride was her four children.

On Nov. 12, 1994, Wilma Rudolph died of a brain tumor at the age of 54. The Olympic flag covered her casket at her funeral. She will always be remembered for her inspirational determination to overcome her physical disabilities. Through the love of her family and her religious convictions she rose above the racism and segregation of her time. She recognized the importance of good teachers in her own life, and later became a teacher herself. Wilma Rudolph was not only a sports hero, she was also a family hero and a teacher hero.

Written by Nancy Nickerson


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