Time's Top 100 Most Influential People

My top ten from the Times Top 100 Most Influential People:

1) Pope Benedict the XVI

(Joseph Ratzinger)- Pope Benedict the XVI is the current Pope, who inspires Christians to do the right things with their lives. He was born on 16 April 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Germany. He is also the Founder of the Ratzinger Foundation. On April 19 2005 Cardinal Ratzinger was elected the successor of Pope John Paul II by becoming Pope Benedict the XVI

www.popebenedictthe16th.com

2) Bill Gates- Born in Seattle, Washington on 28 October 1955 He is one of the richest men in the world. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard freshmen year to create Microsoft in 1975. He donates $1 billion to charity every year and founded the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. He has received an honorary knighthood by the queen of England in 2005 for improving health condition and reducing poverty in developing countries.

http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Default.aspx

3) Warren Buffet- Born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, Warren Buffett interested in money and business at a very early age. When kids his age were playing around, Warren was making money. At 11 he was purchasing stocks. A 1947 he made what $5,000, which is equivalent of $42,610 today from delivering newspapers. He went onto the University of Pennsylvania but transferred to University of Nebraska. He donates money annually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

4) Nick Vujicic- Born limbless without any medical condition, he inspires disabled people to not lose hope, Born 4 December 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, he started the Life without Limbs Foundationwhich helps preach hope to those who are disabled.

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

5) JK Rowling- Writer of Harry Potter, she inspires people to read. Born 31 July 1965, she supports such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Societry of Great Britain, and the Children’s High Level Group. JK Rowling was a runner-up for the Times Person of the Year 2007. Writing the Harry Potter Series showing how good prospers over evil with courage and determination

http://www.jkrowling.com/

6) Tiger Woods- Eldrick Tont Woods or Tiger Woods is a professional golfer with more career major wins than any other competitive golfer. Woods has recently been disgraced when more than a dozen women admitted to having relationships with him. Tiger Woods took a hiatus from golf lasting 20 weeks and returned to golf on April 8, 2010. Tiger Woods inspires people to be the best at whatever they do.

http://web.tigerwoods.com/index

7) Mark Zuckerberg- Creator of Facebook, he inspires people to stay connected with old friends. Born May 14, 1984 in White Plains, New York, USA, he went to Harvard, and founded Facebook in 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg

8) Steven Hawking- Born 8 January 9142 in Oxford, England. Showed brilliance at an early age. Went to a high school for girls at age 8. At 20 Hawking went to Cambridge to study Cosmology. That was when he was diagnosed with ALS. (Amyotrophic Lateral Clerosis). At the time he didn’t have any reason to live, then he found the women that would become his wife. (Jane Wilde). Studied mostly about Black Holes. Got pneumonia and lost his voice forever but they installed a voice synthesizer into his wheelchair but they made the mistake of giving him an American accent. He inspires people to not lose hope.

www.hawking.org.uk/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

9)Dalai Lama- The Dalai Lama is a Buddhist leader whose name means “chief” or “high priest”. All Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be a reincarnated form of their spiritual leaders who choose to enlighten others instead of passing on. The current Dalai Lama’s name is Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, birth name being Lhamo Döndrub.

http://www.dalailama.com/

10) David Beckham- Most famous soccer player in the world, he is currenty working on bringing soccer to America. He has donated over $15 million for malaria nets. Victoria and David Beckham’s Children charity has donated over a million pounds since they started in 2005. David Beckham is also Ambassador of the Unicef

http://www.davidbeckham.com/

Pic source: http://www.google.com.my/imglanding?q=times%20100&imgurl=http://www.gawker.com/assets/resources/2007/05/TIME%2520100%2520issue%25205_14_07.jpg&imgrefurl=http://gawker.com/257442/time-100-john-mayer-shaped-our-world&usg=__2BNLLd6OpXT1C9xCRknftTkizDs=&h=1005&w=756&sz=123&hl=en&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=TXlXzKOQ6wdTIM:&tbnh=149&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtimes%2B100%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den-us%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en-us&tbs=isch:1&start=3#tbnid=TXlXzKOQ6wdTIM&start=7

Haiti In The Past (2006) And Present

Pre-Earthquake Conditions:

Many of the human rights are broken regularly in Haiti, locking the country into a cycle of endless poverty. 1 out of every 4 children will not make it past their first birthday. Haitians without anyway to make consistent money have the children forced onto the street to do low, menial odd jobs. They often join gangs, which lead to continuous abuse, violence, and prostitution. The street children are promised work, care, and food, in which they never receive. Others are sent to the Dominican Republic through trafficking, in which the conditions worsen. Without any rest the children have no time for an education, which is needed to be successful throughout life. Without the education, 2 out of every 3 Haitians live below the poverty line. Education and healthcare are also difficult to obtain, as most places are rundown, overcrowded, poorly maintained, and under-resourced. Healthcare is also barely available due to distance and cost. Only 41 percent of children under 5 with diarrhea get rehydration and properly fed. Haiti is one of the world’s leading countries with HIV/AIDS. With the low amount of healthcare comes inadequately sanitation. With an improved government , president Preval will ensure a new future for Haiti.

Post-Earthquake Conditions:

In 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck devastation into Haiti. This was one of the worst natural disasters in over 200 years. Do to the poor building requirements and poor building safety, the quake killed tens of thousands. After the earthquake the problems such as poverty and inadequate services such have intensified. Many buildings lay in rubble as well as thousands of bodies. Although many countries have tried to help Haiti recover in its time of crisis, Haiti still remains struggling in its financial and health problems. With the majority of Haitians not receiving proper care, the 1% french speaking minority population control about half of all of the money in Haiti. Because of deforestation in Haiti, its is prone to regular flooding. Haiti also lies in a region where earthquakes occur frequently, causing Haiti to fall further into the poverty trap, after trying to rebuild.

Pic sources:

http://www.collegeofidaho.edu/administration/campusministries/media/images/haiti.jpg

http://www.2secondsfaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/HaitiEarthquake14.jpg

In Kenya

In Kenya, poverty has improved greatly over the past 5 years. Organizations have been helping the agriculture and education flourish. Sauri, Kenya, one of the 80-Millennium villages, has become successful, as they’ve leaned how to work independently. Sachs, a world-renown economist, has focused on using simple programs to make Sauri an independent village, such as fighting against malaria. Communication has saved lives, letting people have instant access to the outside world. Sachs dreams to make his millennium villages go worldwide. Some criticize Sachs’ techniques because of the idea of poverty being linked to terrorism.

Pic source: http://practicalactionconsulting.org/images/slum-16696.jpg

New York Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/world/africa/09kenya.html

World Bank, Universal Problem

I feel that poverty shouldn't exist because it can easily solved by sharing the resources of the world. We discovered through this article of Jeffrey Sachs, that extreme poverty still exist in the world, about 1.4 billion people live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. Though there are many organizations helping those who affected by poverty, such as the World Bank, who loan money to those countries affected by devastation, there should be a international effort to end poverty. The World Bank collects data from over 70 countries in order to form a global opinion of poverty. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as "not only having unsatisfied material needs. Its is often accompanied by a degrading state of powerlessness." (world bank definition) People who are in poverty fall into a poverty trap in which the people cannot escape the pull of poverty, and thus is inherited into the newer generations. The difference between poverty and extreme poverty is that extreme poverty includes not having enough income to meet your most basic needs. These people have nothing to show for their lives but bare survival. In 2005 13,500 people were infected with AIDS everyday, 22,000 die from extreme poverty/ preventable diseases, and about 850 million people go to bed hungry everyday. Many of these things are preventable such as malaria by buying bednets for about $7 that last for about 5 years. As a global community we can solve the universal crisis called poverty.

Pic source: http://www.developing8.org/wp-content/uploads/010709-3.jpg
Info from Singer,P The life you can save

Children Have Rights

Universal Responsibility

"If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

The world will come of nothing if we cannot cooperate. There are 30 human rights, and 54 children rights. These rights are often ignored and abused, but there could be a different way. As a global community it is our duty to ensure that the rights of a human are enacted and established in all countries in our world. I have chosen this quote to represent this blog, as it talks of the world only being functional if all nations get along and all people work towards the one goal of global peace. To live in a world with peace, we can accomplish the impossible. Having the world work under one united nation allows the world to prosper as the world's wealth is shared and the wealthier countries can ensure human rights are recognized and respected all over the world. Another reason I chose this quote was because of the speaker. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. He was an example of how one person can change the world for a better and how the world could unite for a better. I have chosen the image above to represent this quote because it shows how the would should unite and peace should herald to all. Everyone should unite despite race or gender, and that human rights should be applied to all.


Pic Source: http://www.skillspace.com/LearningSystem/PortalHome/preDefault.asp?Resource=0CE0D5B1-1529-46EF-BE45-99FD6605779F&ResourceID=7230