By Robin Millard AFP - Saturday, June 28 06:08 pmLONDON (AFP) - Cultural values are stopping Africa's leaders from speaking out against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime, Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal says.
(Advertisement)
The soft-spoken hip-hop star and former child soldier said that because Mugabe, 84, is older and has been in power longer than most African leaders, his peers are reverential towards him.
"It's difficult. Mugabe is considered like a hero," Jal told AFP in London, where he appeared at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert in Hyde Park on Friday in support of the former South African president's global AIDS campaign.
"He made his country get independence and he has been leading for more than twenty years and he helped most of those African countries; helped anti-apartheid in South Africa, helped Angola," he said.
"He has been helping all those other leaders and he earned respect. The saying is: 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'. So now it's difficult. Even if he wrong, those leaders won't have a chance to force him."
Mugabe was set to remain in power after a presidential run-off election Friday in which he was the only candidate on the ballot, after Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change pulled out.
Mandela, 89, Africa's most respected elder statesman, has condemned the "tragic failure of leadership" in Zimbabwe, but held back from criticising Mugabe by name.
"Because he's one of the oldest, Mandela has the right according to African culture to speak," said the deep-thinking, dreadlocked singer, 28, who campaigns on a number of issues, including Darfur
"So with him doing that, Mugabe will have to listen. He's been given chances and he's not seeing them. I hope he's going to see. If Mugabe really loves the people of Zimbabwe then he has to come up with something to save the country."
Jal spent his childhood fighting in the Sudan People's Liberation Army in his native southern Sudan before going to Kenya in his early teens and embracing a career in music.
At the Mandela concert, Jal performed "Emma", a song from his latest album "Warchild", about late British aid worker Emma McCune -- the wife of an SPLA commander -- who freed him amongst 150 child soldiers and took him to Kenya.
Peter Gabriel introduced the rapper at the open-air gig, saying he had the "potential of a young Bob Marley".
Jal's other hits include "All We Need Is Jesus," and he has written a song, "50 Cent", taking the US rap star and others to task for sometimes glamourising crime in their lyrics.
He called the violence in Zimbabwe tragic and frustrating.
"That's how wars begin," he said.
"They begin with something small like that, you oppress the people. If you oppress somebody one day, they will start to try to react. It's hard to oppress somebody every day without them reacting back."
Jal called for neutral international negotiators to forge a solution as happened in Kenya following the disputed December 2007 election there.
"What I'm afraid of is if Mugabe is going to be isolated and put in a corner and we all pronounce negative stuff, we're going to make him into a monster," he said.
"If we do that, he's going to start cutting people and killing people: he's a soldier. It's scary. If they use force, then Zimbabwe will lose a lot."
Saturday, June 28, 2008
I was ready to be killed over a fence when we were building Ozumba Mbadiwe Road–Fashola
PUNCH NEWSPAPER
KUNLE ODEREMI, OBAFEMI OBADARE and OLAYINKA OYEBODE
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, who clocked 45 years on Saturday, shares some of his experiences and the challenges of being the chief executive of the cosmopolitan state with KUNLE ODEREMI, OBAFEMI OBADARE and OLAYINKA OYEBODE on the eve of his birthday
Looking back now, did you ever think you would one day become the governor of Lagos State?
Certainly, the answer is no. It was never an ambition for me and when you look at the state, and in contemporary time, probably since independence, only about 13 people, including myself, have been privileged to hold that very exalted office. It is a story that nobody could have written. My ambition 10 or 15 years ago was just to be a very successful lawyer.
Did you actually go all out to study law, or some circumstances conditioned you to do so?
I am particularly fascinated by the works that doctors do, and even till today, my doctor is the only professional, whose fees I don‘t negotiate. At one time, I wanted to be a medical practitioner. In those days, the curriculum was designed in such a way that if you were not good in mathematics, you could not do science and if you could not do science, then there is no way you could study medicine or other science-based courses like engineering. I think it was in my Form Three that I was advised to drop from the sciences and move to the social sciences and the arts. But I have always wanted to be a professional, and law appeared to be the only professional course that was available without demonstrating any serious competence in mathematics. But I still find out at the end of the day that I still have to do with mathematics; I cannot run away from it – I still have to go through budget figures, I have to watch revenue.
Growing up, who were the people you regarded as your role models?
There were many role models, but may be in terms of people who shaped my attitude to life, it is my parents – my father and my mother. I took away very simple principles from them and it has not failed me – contentment, purity of heart, fairness and justice at all times, and always speaking the truth, no matter what will happen. Professionally, I remain in reverence of the achievements of Chief F.R.A. Williams. Politically, I remain in awe of the achievements of people like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who in spite of his departure from this environment, still stares us in the face everywhere we go, for what he had done and for what we have failed to do to build on what he had done.
As a child growing up, could you recall occasions when you received cane lashes from your parents for some bad behaviours?
Oh, yes. I was never spared by my parents. There were two things I did not do as a youth- I did not do drugs. As a child, my mother terrified us so much that you would just go mad if someone sniffed Indian hemp near you. But any other pranks that you could probably imagine, I did and I got beaten for it real hard, but more by my mum than my dad. My mum was quicker to react correctively; my dad was more patient and educative. My dad only punished you for a mistake that you repeated. So that means, you can commit 10 different offences and you don’t get punished. He believed that, well, this one was a mistake, but any of them that repeats itself, you get thoroughly beaten.
Which would you consider the most challenging decision you ever took while growing up and as a governor?
Well, there are a few decisions; when you locate them in terms of what could have happened and what could not have happened. I think that when you look at my decision to go and study law at the University of Benin, at the time that I took the decision, it was monumental in terms of all of the consequences that later followed. I left Igbobi College in 1982 with a A Levels. I did well in two subjects; I did not do too well in the third subject. And I applied to study law. I was offered admission to study economics and I declined it that I wanted to study law. Then I got a politically motivated admission to the then Bendel State University, at Ekpoma. I had an uncle who was a strong member of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria, so I guessed he got across to the late Governor Ambrose Alli, and I was offered admission to study law. But it was a new university, so I said no. That was in 1983, which meant that I would have graduated in 1986.
So instead of entering for law or economics through Direct Entry in 1983 and finishing in 1986, I now came back (to Lagos) to write JAMB and came in as a prelim student in 1983. Of course, nobody could see the future, but it was very monumental for me, because by the year I graduated and finished the Law School, and went for the NYSC and came back to Lagos, I did not have a job. So I took up a temporary job in Apapa. But by December of that year, I resigned my appointment that this was not what I wanted to do; I wanted to practice law. That was the time the law firm that I later worked with was formed. One of the members of that law firm used to be with Chief Rotimi Williams, but that was the year that firm was formed. So it was as if they were waiting for me. And that was the Law firm that built all my professional knowledge as a Lawyer, and I think I have been most fortunate to have been a member of that law firm. Now, it was in that law firm that I met Wale Tinubu, who came in, I believe during his youth corps, and we just hit up like fish and water. We did not even know that our parents were childhood friends. Through him, I met his uncle, Governor Bola Tinubu, who then was working at Mobil.
And of course, you can tell the story today. That is how our paths crossed. So if I had graduated in 1986, I would not have been in that law firm, Wale and I would not have met at the time we did, and probably, I would not have met Governor Bola Tinubu at the time we did.
So far, as a governor, what is that most challenging decision?
It is difficult to identify the most challenging. But I think that there are quite a number, but I will take the decision to implement the BRT as one of them. Because I faced a lot of threats.
Threats, by who?
I don‘t think the sources of the threats are important, but they were there – that they would sabotage it, that it would fail. I think that is all that I want to say at this moment.
Did those threats come from opposition parties, or stakeholders?
As I said, I don‘t want to dwell on the source of the threats, but they were there. But I was persuaded by the vision behind the project. You see, I was part of the team that conceived the BRT under Governor Bola Tinubu, so I was persuaded by the logic. I was involved in very extensive debates in the exco then, as chief of staff.
Then, even the process of setting up LAGBUS, immediately Governor Tinubu envisioned it, he just said, ‘Look, Chief of Staff, this is what I want. Go and get at work.’ So the contract, the incorporation of the company and many other things, I was involved at every stage. So, the idea and the need for a mass transit system is something that I could not argue against. It is something that is a compelling need in Lagos State. So I just said well, in spite of the opposition, we would do it. And I once rationalised to myself
that, yes we are in a democracy and therefore you can never have unanimity. And when the majority of Lagosians will benefit from the project, that means it must be right. The decision making process for me, is always what is in the best interest of the majority, what is in the best interest of Lagos. And that is why till today, I have not left the BRT. Even in our exco, people raise all sorts of problems.
What if this happened, what if that happened, and I said to them that even the most successful bus systems in any part of the world today, did not start without problems. So we need to learn. We are still learning and as much as we are ready to learn from our mistakes and also learn from the mistakes of others, we should not have too much problem. Then at the time when we were constructing Ikorodu Road, the traffic was bad. Everyday people spent six hours, people spent seven hours. Remember we came in May and all of this was going on towards the end of the year, when there was Sallah, when there was Christmas, people were moving goods – hampers, sallah rams, in and out of Lagos. So everybody was moving and it was a chaotic situation. People were in pain, but I would not give up, because I was convinced that that would bring the solution. After that, there are still some problems, I still get text messages, people complaining that the buses were not clean, the buses were not washed. We got people to wash the buses and now we are now planning to build automated bus washing facility that can wash about 100 buses in an hour. Every week in this room, I hold meetings with officials of BRT, LASTMA, the security, every two weeks, Saturday by 3pm we are here. What problem did you see? What problems did you encounter. I bring out my own emails. I bring out copies of text messages and we analyse them one by one. What can we do, to make this project more painless? So, a lot of things are being done.
Any other challenge?
The other big decision, of course, is also transport-related and that is the construction of the Ozumba Mbadiwe Road. While we were trying to construct the road, everybody said the contractor was bad. I nearly fought the contractor, but the man told me: 50,000 vehicles pass through this road everyday, there is no alternative. I will finish it quicker if I have the approval of the governor to close it down for three months. Let everybody stay at home. So we had to work at night and almost every Saturday night I would drive there around 11pm to see how it was going. At that time, we wanted to move back people‘s fences on that road. Nine people took us to court to stop it. I was suffering quietly, thinking and praying. There was one property there; they put soldiers there so that we would not be able to take down the fence. I said you have to kill me. I have to take down this fence. I am not building this road for myself. Even your property will benefit from this road. But I thank the judiciary for the social awareness and the benefit of the road that they saw, they did not grant any injunction to stop us.
A lot of people believe that the BRT alone cannot solve the transportation problem of a mega city like Lagos. What is your government doing about the metro line and the much-talked-about Fourth Mainland Bridge?
By the time you see contactors working on site in a project, that means the work that is left is just about 30 per cent. Because projects start in meetings like this. You conceptualise it, the architects go to do the design. The physical planning authority provides the right of way. They enumerate which property would go. They begin to look at compensation issues. Is it in the budget for that year? If it is not in the budget, then you can’t move.
So, right now, we do not want to unreasonably raise the already high expectation of us. But we are working on rail. Just last week, we approved the final draft of the design. That is to tell you that, by the end of August, the full design and cost should be ready. From Okokomaiko to Eric Moore, about 27.5 km of rail. Simultaneously, we are dealing with Iddo to Ijoko on the outskirts of Ogun State. The design for that is being taken simultaneously with the one for Okokomaiko. And then, there is a link from Iddo that will bring the rail through a bridge to Marina. Now, that process is one where Lagos State, Federal Government and Ogun State have to jointly finance under the Lagos Mega city arrangement. But we have taken the responsibility to do the design. Because without the design you cannot plan. But we are moving towards the closure of the design. Then we can award it and hopefully, we will be able to break the ground.
What would you consider as the major problem of Lagos State?
I think it is still the population.
Why?
It is a huge responsibility. It is a problem and it is an asset. There are so many interests to serve, to protect and preserve and that is why when people talk about those glorious days of Lagos, that was when Lagos was 500,000 people. Now, it is about 18 million and it is growing at the rate of 1 million people per year. So the city does not sleep. That is what we want, a 24-hour city and that is a lot of responsibility for those of us at every level. When I open my phone in the morning, before evening I get at least 230 to 250 text messages. And I must respond to as many of them as I can.
What is the usual reasons for the messages?
A lot of things. I think it was on Monday, I left my phone on at around 5pm, because I was trying to catch up with my files, mails and all that. And when I checked by 9pm, I had 233 missed calls. Between 5pm and 8pm. Of course, these are calls that you also have to try and respond to. You don‘t know why they are calling you. It may be fire. It may be an accident. It may be disaster. Some call me to thank me for doing their roads. Some call me to say we can’t pay school fees we need help. So I send the adviser on education to see if they can grant them an education grant. Some call me to say the contractor doing their road work had abandoned the site for about three days. I have to send somebody to go and see what is happening there. Some have health issues. Those ones, I send my doctors to go and see them. It is a lot of issues.
In times past, local governments had a lot to do like tarring roads etc, but that seems not to be the case any more. What is the issue with the local government?
The first issue with the local government is funding. The second issue is the constitution. This is the only federation that I know that puts the local governments in the constitution; I may be wrong. But if you are talking about a federation, it is the states that are federating to create the federal government. Now, you put all the local governments inside the constitution. You now give them the same responsibilities. All of the 774 LGs have the same responsibility – parking, motor park, market, sanitation, primary school education, primary health. But they don‘t have the same problems; they don‘t have the same opportunities. So they cannot have the same responsibility. It is like somebody coming here now and saying all of us must wear size 10 shoe. It would be too small for some of us and it will be too big for some. If you are talking about market, Oshodi has a huge market. Ojoo has a huge market, and motor park and all of that. The Central Business District, Lagos Island, we give them benefit for advertising fees.
Most of the industries are down because the central government has the responsibility for companies and all of that and it can‘t give the support. If the revenue is located in the local government in a state, then, as you are providing the roads, you are providing the drainage and health care for the employees, the revenue you are getting from the profits of the companies you can use it to sustain the facilities. Now you give them responsibility for primary education. They pay school teachers. You give them responsibility over primary health care centres. Where are they supposed to get the money from?
But the money usually gets eaten up by corruption.
Wait a minute before we begin to talk about corruption. Now there is a revenue allocation bill, planning again to reduce the money to local government to 17 per cent. Is that not the government that is closest to the people? Why are we taking away money from the government that is closest to the people? Then let us look at in order of the pyramid. It is the local government that is closest to the people, followed by the states and the last is the federal because it is in Abuja. And that should be, for me, the order of allocation of revenue. Now you cannot say to me that because there are issues of corruption, you now take away the money. Why are companies not closed down? Are there no corrupt officials in the companies?
The answer is not to take the money away. The answer is to make people accountable for the money that comes to them and we have the processes: the police, ICPC, the court. But have we exercised the political will to make public officers accountable? The solution is not to take away the money. When you take away the money from the people, you have killed the economy, nationally. That simply is what happens.
What are the critical areas that you want to be addressed if we are going to have a truly workable constitution?
I think, first of all, there must be mutual understanding of where the problem lies and what democracy means. The government that is closer to the people should exercise more power, because only that government can respond to the need of the people promptly. The FG cannot do all the roads that all the states need. What it does at every point is to link one state to another by trunk roads. The FG cannot manage traffic in the state. The FG cannot clear refuse in the state. It does not have the capacity to manage all the health centres in all the 36 states. It does not have the capacity to manage all the primary schools in the federation.
You just spoke of the need to pay tax, but many Lagosians believe that they are being over taxed.
I don‘t think Lagosians believe that they are being over taxed. I cannot too often emphasise the fact that with the mandate of Lagosians. This government has been given a responsibility: Go and improve the quality of our lives, and for that we would build roads, we would clean the city. We would clear the refuse. We would provide schools. We would provide transportation. We would provide security. Where is the money going to come from? Today, all that Lagos State gets from the Federal Government as every month’s statutory allocation is in the region between N4bn and N5bn. Out of that the wage bill (because again, we are complaining of unemployment, so we are employing people into the public service. The population is growing, so you need more hands to respond to that population). The wage bill now is N2.8bn every month. So on a bad month when I have N4bn, I am left with N1.2bn. And it is from there I’m expected to do all of this: provide vehicles, provide allowances for police officers who don’t sleep, to keep you and I safe, fuel their vehicles, fuel the LASTMA vehicles and motorcycles, fuel public official cars, who are going to inspect this and that, fuel ambulances. Since when modern government was conceived, taxation has been with us.
Now in terms of multiple taxation, I don’t believe you can have multiple taxation unless different governments are taxing the same head of revenue. That is what is called multiple taxation. If I say you are paying income tax for example, if I collect the income tax and the local government also comes to collect the incomes tax and the federal government also comes for the incomes tax, that is what I understand as multiple taxation.
Once that does not happen then it is not multiple taxation, because don’t forget we have three levels of governments with different responsibilities.
Talking about the planned local government election in the state, many people believe that your administration is stirring another controversy with the issue of 57 local government.
Who are the many people?
The opposition parties.
Where is the opposition?
Are you saying we don‘t have opposition parties in Lagos?
Most of them are now in the Action Congress. Don‘t you see them coming to AC in their thousands?
The constitution recognises 20 LGs, but your administration is trying to organise election to fill the 20 councils and additional 37 LCDAs Why?
The constitution is not a perfect document. The Supreme Court has interpreted that. Yes, in black and white that is what you will get. The Supreme Court has said that the LGs that were created were validly created. The Supreme Court is the only organ in this federation that has the power to say a section of the constitution is void. Indeed and as far as I’m concerned, the Supreme Court has amended the constitution. Because if you say there are 774 LGs in the constitution, and in interpreting that constitution, you say 37 have been validly created, indeed it means that you have 774 lgs plus the 37 validly created ones. That is what it means, and only the Supreme Court can say this section of the constitution is null and that is what it has said. You will find some inconsistency in the constitution, because they were drafted by human beings and therefore subject to error.
KUNLE ODEREMI, OBAFEMI OBADARE and OLAYINKA OYEBODE
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, who clocked 45 years on Saturday, shares some of his experiences and the challenges of being the chief executive of the cosmopolitan state with KUNLE ODEREMI, OBAFEMI OBADARE and OLAYINKA OYEBODE on the eve of his birthday
Looking back now, did you ever think you would one day become the governor of Lagos State?
Certainly, the answer is no. It was never an ambition for me and when you look at the state, and in contemporary time, probably since independence, only about 13 people, including myself, have been privileged to hold that very exalted office. It is a story that nobody could have written. My ambition 10 or 15 years ago was just to be a very successful lawyer.
Did you actually go all out to study law, or some circumstances conditioned you to do so?
I am particularly fascinated by the works that doctors do, and even till today, my doctor is the only professional, whose fees I don‘t negotiate. At one time, I wanted to be a medical practitioner. In those days, the curriculum was designed in such a way that if you were not good in mathematics, you could not do science and if you could not do science, then there is no way you could study medicine or other science-based courses like engineering. I think it was in my Form Three that I was advised to drop from the sciences and move to the social sciences and the arts. But I have always wanted to be a professional, and law appeared to be the only professional course that was available without demonstrating any serious competence in mathematics. But I still find out at the end of the day that I still have to do with mathematics; I cannot run away from it – I still have to go through budget figures, I have to watch revenue.
Growing up, who were the people you regarded as your role models?
There were many role models, but may be in terms of people who shaped my attitude to life, it is my parents – my father and my mother. I took away very simple principles from them and it has not failed me – contentment, purity of heart, fairness and justice at all times, and always speaking the truth, no matter what will happen. Professionally, I remain in reverence of the achievements of Chief F.R.A. Williams. Politically, I remain in awe of the achievements of people like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who in spite of his departure from this environment, still stares us in the face everywhere we go, for what he had done and for what we have failed to do to build on what he had done.
As a child growing up, could you recall occasions when you received cane lashes from your parents for some bad behaviours?
Oh, yes. I was never spared by my parents. There were two things I did not do as a youth- I did not do drugs. As a child, my mother terrified us so much that you would just go mad if someone sniffed Indian hemp near you. But any other pranks that you could probably imagine, I did and I got beaten for it real hard, but more by my mum than my dad. My mum was quicker to react correctively; my dad was more patient and educative. My dad only punished you for a mistake that you repeated. So that means, you can commit 10 different offences and you don’t get punished. He believed that, well, this one was a mistake, but any of them that repeats itself, you get thoroughly beaten.
Which would you consider the most challenging decision you ever took while growing up and as a governor?
Well, there are a few decisions; when you locate them in terms of what could have happened and what could not have happened. I think that when you look at my decision to go and study law at the University of Benin, at the time that I took the decision, it was monumental in terms of all of the consequences that later followed. I left Igbobi College in 1982 with a A Levels. I did well in two subjects; I did not do too well in the third subject. And I applied to study law. I was offered admission to study economics and I declined it that I wanted to study law. Then I got a politically motivated admission to the then Bendel State University, at Ekpoma. I had an uncle who was a strong member of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria, so I guessed he got across to the late Governor Ambrose Alli, and I was offered admission to study law. But it was a new university, so I said no. That was in 1983, which meant that I would have graduated in 1986.
So instead of entering for law or economics through Direct Entry in 1983 and finishing in 1986, I now came back (to Lagos) to write JAMB and came in as a prelim student in 1983. Of course, nobody could see the future, but it was very monumental for me, because by the year I graduated and finished the Law School, and went for the NYSC and came back to Lagos, I did not have a job. So I took up a temporary job in Apapa. But by December of that year, I resigned my appointment that this was not what I wanted to do; I wanted to practice law. That was the time the law firm that I later worked with was formed. One of the members of that law firm used to be with Chief Rotimi Williams, but that was the year that firm was formed. So it was as if they were waiting for me. And that was the Law firm that built all my professional knowledge as a Lawyer, and I think I have been most fortunate to have been a member of that law firm. Now, it was in that law firm that I met Wale Tinubu, who came in, I believe during his youth corps, and we just hit up like fish and water. We did not even know that our parents were childhood friends. Through him, I met his uncle, Governor Bola Tinubu, who then was working at Mobil.
And of course, you can tell the story today. That is how our paths crossed. So if I had graduated in 1986, I would not have been in that law firm, Wale and I would not have met at the time we did, and probably, I would not have met Governor Bola Tinubu at the time we did.
So far, as a governor, what is that most challenging decision?
It is difficult to identify the most challenging. But I think that there are quite a number, but I will take the decision to implement the BRT as one of them. Because I faced a lot of threats.
Threats, by who?
I don‘t think the sources of the threats are important, but they were there – that they would sabotage it, that it would fail. I think that is all that I want to say at this moment.
Did those threats come from opposition parties, or stakeholders?
As I said, I don‘t want to dwell on the source of the threats, but they were there. But I was persuaded by the vision behind the project. You see, I was part of the team that conceived the BRT under Governor Bola Tinubu, so I was persuaded by the logic. I was involved in very extensive debates in the exco then, as chief of staff.
Then, even the process of setting up LAGBUS, immediately Governor Tinubu envisioned it, he just said, ‘Look, Chief of Staff, this is what I want. Go and get at work.’ So the contract, the incorporation of the company and many other things, I was involved at every stage. So, the idea and the need for a mass transit system is something that I could not argue against. It is something that is a compelling need in Lagos State. So I just said well, in spite of the opposition, we would do it. And I once rationalised to myself
that, yes we are in a democracy and therefore you can never have unanimity. And when the majority of Lagosians will benefit from the project, that means it must be right. The decision making process for me, is always what is in the best interest of the majority, what is in the best interest of Lagos. And that is why till today, I have not left the BRT. Even in our exco, people raise all sorts of problems.
What if this happened, what if that happened, and I said to them that even the most successful bus systems in any part of the world today, did not start without problems. So we need to learn. We are still learning and as much as we are ready to learn from our mistakes and also learn from the mistakes of others, we should not have too much problem. Then at the time when we were constructing Ikorodu Road, the traffic was bad. Everyday people spent six hours, people spent seven hours. Remember we came in May and all of this was going on towards the end of the year, when there was Sallah, when there was Christmas, people were moving goods – hampers, sallah rams, in and out of Lagos. So everybody was moving and it was a chaotic situation. People were in pain, but I would not give up, because I was convinced that that would bring the solution. After that, there are still some problems, I still get text messages, people complaining that the buses were not clean, the buses were not washed. We got people to wash the buses and now we are now planning to build automated bus washing facility that can wash about 100 buses in an hour. Every week in this room, I hold meetings with officials of BRT, LASTMA, the security, every two weeks, Saturday by 3pm we are here. What problem did you see? What problems did you encounter. I bring out my own emails. I bring out copies of text messages and we analyse them one by one. What can we do, to make this project more painless? So, a lot of things are being done.
Any other challenge?
The other big decision, of course, is also transport-related and that is the construction of the Ozumba Mbadiwe Road. While we were trying to construct the road, everybody said the contractor was bad. I nearly fought the contractor, but the man told me: 50,000 vehicles pass through this road everyday, there is no alternative. I will finish it quicker if I have the approval of the governor to close it down for three months. Let everybody stay at home. So we had to work at night and almost every Saturday night I would drive there around 11pm to see how it was going. At that time, we wanted to move back people‘s fences on that road. Nine people took us to court to stop it. I was suffering quietly, thinking and praying. There was one property there; they put soldiers there so that we would not be able to take down the fence. I said you have to kill me. I have to take down this fence. I am not building this road for myself. Even your property will benefit from this road. But I thank the judiciary for the social awareness and the benefit of the road that they saw, they did not grant any injunction to stop us.
A lot of people believe that the BRT alone cannot solve the transportation problem of a mega city like Lagos. What is your government doing about the metro line and the much-talked-about Fourth Mainland Bridge?
By the time you see contactors working on site in a project, that means the work that is left is just about 30 per cent. Because projects start in meetings like this. You conceptualise it, the architects go to do the design. The physical planning authority provides the right of way. They enumerate which property would go. They begin to look at compensation issues. Is it in the budget for that year? If it is not in the budget, then you can’t move.
So, right now, we do not want to unreasonably raise the already high expectation of us. But we are working on rail. Just last week, we approved the final draft of the design. That is to tell you that, by the end of August, the full design and cost should be ready. From Okokomaiko to Eric Moore, about 27.5 km of rail. Simultaneously, we are dealing with Iddo to Ijoko on the outskirts of Ogun State. The design for that is being taken simultaneously with the one for Okokomaiko. And then, there is a link from Iddo that will bring the rail through a bridge to Marina. Now, that process is one where Lagos State, Federal Government and Ogun State have to jointly finance under the Lagos Mega city arrangement. But we have taken the responsibility to do the design. Because without the design you cannot plan. But we are moving towards the closure of the design. Then we can award it and hopefully, we will be able to break the ground.
What would you consider as the major problem of Lagos State?
I think it is still the population.
Why?
It is a huge responsibility. It is a problem and it is an asset. There are so many interests to serve, to protect and preserve and that is why when people talk about those glorious days of Lagos, that was when Lagos was 500,000 people. Now, it is about 18 million and it is growing at the rate of 1 million people per year. So the city does not sleep. That is what we want, a 24-hour city and that is a lot of responsibility for those of us at every level. When I open my phone in the morning, before evening I get at least 230 to 250 text messages. And I must respond to as many of them as I can.
What is the usual reasons for the messages?
A lot of things. I think it was on Monday, I left my phone on at around 5pm, because I was trying to catch up with my files, mails and all that. And when I checked by 9pm, I had 233 missed calls. Between 5pm and 8pm. Of course, these are calls that you also have to try and respond to. You don‘t know why they are calling you. It may be fire. It may be an accident. It may be disaster. Some call me to thank me for doing their roads. Some call me to say we can’t pay school fees we need help. So I send the adviser on education to see if they can grant them an education grant. Some call me to say the contractor doing their road work had abandoned the site for about three days. I have to send somebody to go and see what is happening there. Some have health issues. Those ones, I send my doctors to go and see them. It is a lot of issues.
In times past, local governments had a lot to do like tarring roads etc, but that seems not to be the case any more. What is the issue with the local government?
The first issue with the local government is funding. The second issue is the constitution. This is the only federation that I know that puts the local governments in the constitution; I may be wrong. But if you are talking about a federation, it is the states that are federating to create the federal government. Now, you put all the local governments inside the constitution. You now give them the same responsibilities. All of the 774 LGs have the same responsibility – parking, motor park, market, sanitation, primary school education, primary health. But they don‘t have the same problems; they don‘t have the same opportunities. So they cannot have the same responsibility. It is like somebody coming here now and saying all of us must wear size 10 shoe. It would be too small for some of us and it will be too big for some. If you are talking about market, Oshodi has a huge market. Ojoo has a huge market, and motor park and all of that. The Central Business District, Lagos Island, we give them benefit for advertising fees.
Most of the industries are down because the central government has the responsibility for companies and all of that and it can‘t give the support. If the revenue is located in the local government in a state, then, as you are providing the roads, you are providing the drainage and health care for the employees, the revenue you are getting from the profits of the companies you can use it to sustain the facilities. Now you give them responsibility for primary education. They pay school teachers. You give them responsibility over primary health care centres. Where are they supposed to get the money from?
But the money usually gets eaten up by corruption.
Wait a minute before we begin to talk about corruption. Now there is a revenue allocation bill, planning again to reduce the money to local government to 17 per cent. Is that not the government that is closest to the people? Why are we taking away money from the government that is closest to the people? Then let us look at in order of the pyramid. It is the local government that is closest to the people, followed by the states and the last is the federal because it is in Abuja. And that should be, for me, the order of allocation of revenue. Now you cannot say to me that because there are issues of corruption, you now take away the money. Why are companies not closed down? Are there no corrupt officials in the companies?
The answer is not to take the money away. The answer is to make people accountable for the money that comes to them and we have the processes: the police, ICPC, the court. But have we exercised the political will to make public officers accountable? The solution is not to take away the money. When you take away the money from the people, you have killed the economy, nationally. That simply is what happens.
What are the critical areas that you want to be addressed if we are going to have a truly workable constitution?
I think, first of all, there must be mutual understanding of where the problem lies and what democracy means. The government that is closer to the people should exercise more power, because only that government can respond to the need of the people promptly. The FG cannot do all the roads that all the states need. What it does at every point is to link one state to another by trunk roads. The FG cannot manage traffic in the state. The FG cannot clear refuse in the state. It does not have the capacity to manage all the health centres in all the 36 states. It does not have the capacity to manage all the primary schools in the federation.
You just spoke of the need to pay tax, but many Lagosians believe that they are being over taxed.
I don‘t think Lagosians believe that they are being over taxed. I cannot too often emphasise the fact that with the mandate of Lagosians. This government has been given a responsibility: Go and improve the quality of our lives, and for that we would build roads, we would clean the city. We would clear the refuse. We would provide schools. We would provide transportation. We would provide security. Where is the money going to come from? Today, all that Lagos State gets from the Federal Government as every month’s statutory allocation is in the region between N4bn and N5bn. Out of that the wage bill (because again, we are complaining of unemployment, so we are employing people into the public service. The population is growing, so you need more hands to respond to that population). The wage bill now is N2.8bn every month. So on a bad month when I have N4bn, I am left with N1.2bn. And it is from there I’m expected to do all of this: provide vehicles, provide allowances for police officers who don’t sleep, to keep you and I safe, fuel their vehicles, fuel the LASTMA vehicles and motorcycles, fuel public official cars, who are going to inspect this and that, fuel ambulances. Since when modern government was conceived, taxation has been with us.
Now in terms of multiple taxation, I don’t believe you can have multiple taxation unless different governments are taxing the same head of revenue. That is what is called multiple taxation. If I say you are paying income tax for example, if I collect the income tax and the local government also comes to collect the incomes tax and the federal government also comes for the incomes tax, that is what I understand as multiple taxation.
Once that does not happen then it is not multiple taxation, because don’t forget we have three levels of governments with different responsibilities.
Talking about the planned local government election in the state, many people believe that your administration is stirring another controversy with the issue of 57 local government.
Who are the many people?
The opposition parties.
Where is the opposition?
Are you saying we don‘t have opposition parties in Lagos?
Most of them are now in the Action Congress. Don‘t you see them coming to AC in their thousands?
The constitution recognises 20 LGs, but your administration is trying to organise election to fill the 20 councils and additional 37 LCDAs Why?
The constitution is not a perfect document. The Supreme Court has interpreted that. Yes, in black and white that is what you will get. The Supreme Court has said that the LGs that were created were validly created. The Supreme Court is the only organ in this federation that has the power to say a section of the constitution is void. Indeed and as far as I’m concerned, the Supreme Court has amended the constitution. Because if you say there are 774 LGs in the constitution, and in interpreting that constitution, you say 37 have been validly created, indeed it means that you have 774 lgs plus the 37 validly created ones. That is what it means, and only the Supreme Court can say this section of the constitution is null and that is what it has said. You will find some inconsistency in the constitution, because they were drafted by human beings and therefore subject to error.
Gates to step down from Microsoft
Gates to step down from Microsoft
By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
George Clooney, Bono and Al Gore were in a humourous 'leaving' video
The chairman of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men, Bill Gates, is stepping down from his job running the world's largest software company.
Mr Gates, who made his fortune through developing software for the personal computer, plans to devote his time to charity work.
As a teenager Bill Gates had a vision of a personal computer on every desk in every home.
He says he caught sight of the future and based his career on what he saw.
Great responsibility
The son of a successful lawyer from Seattle, Mr Gates programmed his first computer at the age of 13.
During his two years at Harvard University, he spent much of his time finessing his programming skills as well as enjoying the occasional all-night poker session.
He eventually dropped out of college and moved to Albuquerque, in New Mexico, where he set up Microsoft with his childhood friend, Paul Allen.
Most of our competitors were very poorly run
Bill Gates
Their big break came in 1980 when Microsoft signed an agreement with IBM to build the operating system that became known as MS-DOS.
Microsoft went public in 1986 and within a year Bill Gates, at 31, had become the youngest self-made billionaire.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Gates explained that Microsoft benefitted because "most of our competitors were very poorly run".
"They did not understand how to bring in people with business experience and people with engineering experience and put them together. They did not understand how to go around the world."
New horizons
HAVE YOUR SAY He has made a machine that could have been a luxury item only for industrial use, accessible to all. M. Morgan, Ireland
Now 52, he still has boyish looks, but he is no longer the world's richest man. He has been overtaken by the investor Warren Buffett and the Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim.
But Mr Gates' fortune is at the root of his decision to leave his day job and concentrate on his charitable organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He will remain as Microsoft's chairman and work on special technology projects, but according to Mr Gates, great wealth brings great responsibility and his future work will include finding new vaccines and financing projects in the developing world.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7476720.stm
By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
George Clooney, Bono and Al Gore were in a humourous 'leaving' video
The chairman of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men, Bill Gates, is stepping down from his job running the world's largest software company.
Mr Gates, who made his fortune through developing software for the personal computer, plans to devote his time to charity work.
As a teenager Bill Gates had a vision of a personal computer on every desk in every home.
He says he caught sight of the future and based his career on what he saw.
Great responsibility
The son of a successful lawyer from Seattle, Mr Gates programmed his first computer at the age of 13.
During his two years at Harvard University, he spent much of his time finessing his programming skills as well as enjoying the occasional all-night poker session.
He eventually dropped out of college and moved to Albuquerque, in New Mexico, where he set up Microsoft with his childhood friend, Paul Allen.
Most of our competitors were very poorly run
Bill Gates
Their big break came in 1980 when Microsoft signed an agreement with IBM to build the operating system that became known as MS-DOS.
Microsoft went public in 1986 and within a year Bill Gates, at 31, had become the youngest self-made billionaire.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Gates explained that Microsoft benefitted because "most of our competitors were very poorly run".
"They did not understand how to bring in people with business experience and people with engineering experience and put them together. They did not understand how to go around the world."
New horizons
HAVE YOUR SAY He has made a machine that could have been a luxury item only for industrial use, accessible to all. M. Morgan, Ireland
Now 52, he still has boyish looks, but he is no longer the world's richest man. He has been overtaken by the investor Warren Buffett and the Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim.
But Mr Gates' fortune is at the root of his decision to leave his day job and concentrate on his charitable organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He will remain as Microsoft's chairman and work on special technology projects, but according to Mr Gates, great wealth brings great responsibility and his future work will include finding new vaccines and financing projects in the developing world.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7476720.stm
Timeline: Bill Gates and Microsoft
Timeline: Bill Gates and Microsoft
The history of the personal computer is inextricably linked to the life story of Bill Gates - the boy from Seattle who had the audacious vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home".
EARLY INTEREST IN COMPUTERS
28 October 1955
Bill Gates is born to a wealthy Seattle family. He is the second child of William H Gates II, an attorney, and Mary Gates, a leading charity volunteer.
1968
Gates starts at Lakeside, an exclusive private school. He is two years junior to fellow student Paul Allen.
The Lakeside Mothers' Club buys the school a Teletype machine - a special typewriter that can send electronic messages down a phone line to a primitive computer at the local university.
Gates and Allen develop a passion for the machine and frequently sneak into the school at night to write programmes on it.
1972
Gates uses the Teletype machine to devise the Lakeside School timetable. It is a complicated job but Gates ensures the girls he finds most attractive are scheduled to be in his classes.
DROPPING OUT
1973
Gates graduates from Lakeside and starts at Harvard. His primary subject is "Pre-Law" but he also takes classes in Mathematics and Economics. He becomes friends with a student living along the hall called Steve Ballmer.
December 1974
An article appears in Popular Electronics magazine about an exciting new "personal computer", the Altair 8800, which has been developed by a company called MITS.
It uses the Intel 8080 microprocessor, making it the world's first mass-produced microcomputer. MITS is inviting readers to develop a programming language for it.
Early 1975
Gates and his old school friend Allen call MITS and claim to have developed a BASIC language interpreter that will work with the Altair. MITS agrees to see it. Gates and Allen work night and day to get the programme ready in time.
Some two-and-a-half thousand miles away in Silicon Valley, California, a loose association of computer "hobbyists", called the Homebrew Computer Club, is also taking an interest in the Altair. Among its number are Stephen Wozniak and Steve Jobs.
Allen travels to Albuquerque in New Mexico where MITS is based and successfully demonstrates the version of the programming language BASIC that he and Gates have developed. MITS is delighted and makes Allen vice-president and director of software.
FOUNDING MICROSOFT
Summer 1975 - Spring 1976
Gates joins Allen in Albuquerque, developing BASIC for the Altair. During this time, they start to refer to their own venture as Micro Soft or Micro-Soft.
February 1976
Gates' "Open Letter to Hobbyists" is published in the Homebrew Computer Club newsletter. He makes the radical demand that computer enthusiasts respect the copyright of software developers.
Spring 1976
Gates returns to Harvard to resume his studies.
1 April 1976
Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, who have formed Apple Computer, launch their first product - the Apple I personal computer.
26 November 1976
Gates and Allen register the trademark "Microsoft". Their work has become independent of MITS. Gates has given up his Harvard studies altogether, and he and Allen are taking on staff.
December 1978
Microsoft's revenues exceed $1m.
1 January 1979
Gates and Allen move Microsoft from Albuquerque to their home state of Washington. They open offices in Bellevue, a few miles from where they grew up.
11 June 1980
Gates hires his old Harvard friend Steve Ballmer as the company's first business manager.
BREAKTHROUGH DEAL
Summer and Autumn 1980
Gates agrees to produce the operating system for the personal computer being developed by IBM, the world's leading computer company. Crucially, Microsoft retains the right to license the operating system (MS-DOS) to other computer manufacturers.
1 July 1981
Microsoft is incorporated. Gates gets 53% of the company; Allen 31% and Ballmer 8%. The initial stock price is 95 cents.
1981
Microsoft's revenues reach $16m. The company employs 128 people.
1983
Allen is diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. Although his treatment is successful, he never returns to full-time work at Microsoft.
1985
Microsoft's revenue reaches $140m. The company employs 910 staff.
OPENING WINDOWS
20 November 1985
Microsoft releases a graphical extension to its MS-DOS operating system. This is the first retail version of Windows.
February 1986
Microsoft moves to Redmond, a leafy suburb of Seattle. This is where the company's headquarters have been located ever since.
13 March 1986
Microsoft goes public. On the first day of trading, the share price rises from $21 to $28.
1987
A young Texan called Melinda French joins Microsoft as a marketing manager. She and Gates start dating.
18 March 1988
Apple files a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that the "look and feel" of Windows is too similar to the Apple "graphical user interface". The legal battle is to last six years and Apple eventually loses.
1989
Microsoft Office is released.
22 May 1990
Windows 3.0 is launched and sells 100 000 copies in two weeks. Microsoft had also been working with IBM on a similar product - called OS/2.
20 August 1990
Microsoft executives attending a special meeting at the Shumway Mansion decide to abandon OS/2 and focus on Windows 3.0. Headlines later declare that Microsoft and IBM had "divorced".
RIVALS HIT BACK
1992
Some of Microsoft's competitors start to meet to share concerns about the increasing dominance of Gates' company.
October 1992
Forbes declares Gates to be the richest man in America, worth $6.3bn.
20 January 1993
Microsoft's market value overtakes that of computer giant IBM.
5 February 1993
The Federal Trade Commission is deadlocked when it meets to rule on whether Microsoft has broken anti-trust rules. The matter is referred to the Justice Department in August.
20 March 1993
On his way back from Palm Springs with Melinda French, Gates diverts their private plane to Omaha. Gates' friend, billionaire Warren Buffet, takes them to a jewellery shop he owns. Gates buys French an engagement ring.
1 January 1994
Gates marries Melinda French.
9 June 1994
Gates' mother, Mary, dies of cancer at the age of 64.
14 October 1994
The company Netscape offers its Mosaic Navigator as a free download on the internet.
December 1994
Spoof stories start circulating that Microsoft has plans to buy the Catholic Church. Microsoft issues a press release denying the story.
5 July 1995
Forbes declares Gates the richest man in the world, a position he holds continuously until 2008.
INTERNET DAWNS
26 May 1995
Gates reveals the future direction in which he wants to take Microsoft. In his "Internet Tidal Wave" memo to senior staff, he says: "I now assign the internet the highest level of importance."
READ THE DOCUMENT
Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader
24 August 1995
With a lavish publicity drive, Windows 95 and Microsoft's online service MSN are launched.
September 1995
Gates takes his second proper holiday in 20 years when he travels to China with his family and close friends.
October 1995
With seven million copies of Windows 95 already sold, Microsoft's profits climb by 58% in a year.
7 December 1995
Gates announces Microsoft's internet strategy to the world's press. In his controversial "Pearl Harbor" speech, he reveals plans for Microsoft's own internet browser - Explorer.
August 1996
Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 3.0.
1996
Netscape asks the Department of Justice to investigate Microsoft's discount to computer manufacturers that install Internet Explorer 3.0.
May 1998
The Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of 20 states sue Microsoft for illegally thwarting competition.
25 June 1998
Microsoft launches Windows 98.
August 1998
Gates spends three days giving his deposition by video to the Department of Justice inquiry.
September 1998
Google is incorporated by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin
January 2000
Ballmer is appointed chief executive of Microsoft. He and Gates later acknowledge that they both had a difficult time adjusting to their new roles.
7 June 2000
Following the Department of Justice inquiry, Judge Jackson rules that Microsoft should be split into two units: one to produce operating systems, the other to make other software components. He calls Microsoft an "abusive monopoly".
2000
Microsoft's revenues reach $229bn. The dot-com crash does not affect it as badly as many other companies in the sector. The company's headcount climbs to over 39,000.
DIGITAL DECADE
2000
The Gates family launches the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable organisation intended to "reduce inequalities in the United States and around the world". They donate billions of dollars of their own money, and it soon becomes the world's biggest philanthropic organisation.
June 2001
The Court of Appeal overturns Judge Jackson's order to break up Microsoft into two corporations. However, it upholds his ruling that Microsoft illegally used licensing agreements with internet service providers and PC manufacturers to freeze out the Netscape internet browser.
25 October 2001
Microsoft launches Windows XP.
15 November 2001
Microsoft branches out into the gaming console market with its high-profile launch of the Xbox. This product is a direct competitor to Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube.
March 2004
The European Commission brings anti-trust action against Microsoft.
August 2004
Google's flotation paves the way for a dramatic acceleration in the company's growth: two months later it overtakes Yahoo!'s market capitalisation with a value of $50bn.
January 2005
The Gates' endowments to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reach almost $29bn.
NEW FRONTIERS
15 June 2006
Gates announces that he will step back from Microsoft in two years to concentrate on his philanthropic endeavours. He reveals he has a carefully thought-through "transition" period planned and that he hopes to remain chairman of the company for life.
January 2007
Windows Vista and Office 2007 are launched.
7 June 2007
Gates returns to Harvard to collect an Honorary degree.
1 Feb 2008
Microsoft makes a bid of $44.6bn for search engine company Yahoo!. For the first time in its history, Microsoft plans to borrow some of the necessary funds. Yahoo! rejects the bid.
27 February 2008
Microsoft is fined a record 899m euros by the European Commission because of the company's failure to comply with earlier anti-trust rulings. Microsoft is appealing against the fine.
Summer 2008
The Microsoft headcount is now almost 90,000 worldwide.
27 June 2008
Gates is leaving his full-time role at Microsoft to concentrate on the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7457191.stm
Published: 2008/06/18 18:50:55 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
The history of the personal computer is inextricably linked to the life story of Bill Gates - the boy from Seattle who had the audacious vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home".
EARLY INTEREST IN COMPUTERS
28 October 1955
Bill Gates is born to a wealthy Seattle family. He is the second child of William H Gates II, an attorney, and Mary Gates, a leading charity volunteer.
1968
Gates starts at Lakeside, an exclusive private school. He is two years junior to fellow student Paul Allen.
The Lakeside Mothers' Club buys the school a Teletype machine - a special typewriter that can send electronic messages down a phone line to a primitive computer at the local university.
Gates and Allen develop a passion for the machine and frequently sneak into the school at night to write programmes on it.
1972
Gates uses the Teletype machine to devise the Lakeside School timetable. It is a complicated job but Gates ensures the girls he finds most attractive are scheduled to be in his classes.
DROPPING OUT
1973
Gates graduates from Lakeside and starts at Harvard. His primary subject is "Pre-Law" but he also takes classes in Mathematics and Economics. He becomes friends with a student living along the hall called Steve Ballmer.
December 1974
An article appears in Popular Electronics magazine about an exciting new "personal computer", the Altair 8800, which has been developed by a company called MITS.
It uses the Intel 8080 microprocessor, making it the world's first mass-produced microcomputer. MITS is inviting readers to develop a programming language for it.
Early 1975
Gates and his old school friend Allen call MITS and claim to have developed a BASIC language interpreter that will work with the Altair. MITS agrees to see it. Gates and Allen work night and day to get the programme ready in time.
Some two-and-a-half thousand miles away in Silicon Valley, California, a loose association of computer "hobbyists", called the Homebrew Computer Club, is also taking an interest in the Altair. Among its number are Stephen Wozniak and Steve Jobs.
Allen travels to Albuquerque in New Mexico where MITS is based and successfully demonstrates the version of the programming language BASIC that he and Gates have developed. MITS is delighted and makes Allen vice-president and director of software.
FOUNDING MICROSOFT
Summer 1975 - Spring 1976
Gates joins Allen in Albuquerque, developing BASIC for the Altair. During this time, they start to refer to their own venture as Micro Soft or Micro-Soft.
February 1976
Gates' "Open Letter to Hobbyists" is published in the Homebrew Computer Club newsletter. He makes the radical demand that computer enthusiasts respect the copyright of software developers.
Spring 1976
Gates returns to Harvard to resume his studies.
1 April 1976
Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, who have formed Apple Computer, launch their first product - the Apple I personal computer.
26 November 1976
Gates and Allen register the trademark "Microsoft". Their work has become independent of MITS. Gates has given up his Harvard studies altogether, and he and Allen are taking on staff.
December 1978
Microsoft's revenues exceed $1m.
1 January 1979
Gates and Allen move Microsoft from Albuquerque to their home state of Washington. They open offices in Bellevue, a few miles from where they grew up.
11 June 1980
Gates hires his old Harvard friend Steve Ballmer as the company's first business manager.
BREAKTHROUGH DEAL
Summer and Autumn 1980
Gates agrees to produce the operating system for the personal computer being developed by IBM, the world's leading computer company. Crucially, Microsoft retains the right to license the operating system (MS-DOS) to other computer manufacturers.
1 July 1981
Microsoft is incorporated. Gates gets 53% of the company; Allen 31% and Ballmer 8%. The initial stock price is 95 cents.
1981
Microsoft's revenues reach $16m. The company employs 128 people.
1983
Allen is diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. Although his treatment is successful, he never returns to full-time work at Microsoft.
1985
Microsoft's revenue reaches $140m. The company employs 910 staff.
OPENING WINDOWS
20 November 1985
Microsoft releases a graphical extension to its MS-DOS operating system. This is the first retail version of Windows.
February 1986
Microsoft moves to Redmond, a leafy suburb of Seattle. This is where the company's headquarters have been located ever since.
13 March 1986
Microsoft goes public. On the first day of trading, the share price rises from $21 to $28.
1987
A young Texan called Melinda French joins Microsoft as a marketing manager. She and Gates start dating.
18 March 1988
Apple files a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that the "look and feel" of Windows is too similar to the Apple "graphical user interface". The legal battle is to last six years and Apple eventually loses.
1989
Microsoft Office is released.
22 May 1990
Windows 3.0 is launched and sells 100 000 copies in two weeks. Microsoft had also been working with IBM on a similar product - called OS/2.
20 August 1990
Microsoft executives attending a special meeting at the Shumway Mansion decide to abandon OS/2 and focus on Windows 3.0. Headlines later declare that Microsoft and IBM had "divorced".
RIVALS HIT BACK
1992
Some of Microsoft's competitors start to meet to share concerns about the increasing dominance of Gates' company.
October 1992
Forbes declares Gates to be the richest man in America, worth $6.3bn.
20 January 1993
Microsoft's market value overtakes that of computer giant IBM.
5 February 1993
The Federal Trade Commission is deadlocked when it meets to rule on whether Microsoft has broken anti-trust rules. The matter is referred to the Justice Department in August.
20 March 1993
On his way back from Palm Springs with Melinda French, Gates diverts their private plane to Omaha. Gates' friend, billionaire Warren Buffet, takes them to a jewellery shop he owns. Gates buys French an engagement ring.
1 January 1994
Gates marries Melinda French.
9 June 1994
Gates' mother, Mary, dies of cancer at the age of 64.
14 October 1994
The company Netscape offers its Mosaic Navigator as a free download on the internet.
December 1994
Spoof stories start circulating that Microsoft has plans to buy the Catholic Church. Microsoft issues a press release denying the story.
5 July 1995
Forbes declares Gates the richest man in the world, a position he holds continuously until 2008.
INTERNET DAWNS
26 May 1995
Gates reveals the future direction in which he wants to take Microsoft. In his "Internet Tidal Wave" memo to senior staff, he says: "I now assign the internet the highest level of importance."
READ THE DOCUMENT
Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader
24 August 1995
With a lavish publicity drive, Windows 95 and Microsoft's online service MSN are launched.
September 1995
Gates takes his second proper holiday in 20 years when he travels to China with his family and close friends.
October 1995
With seven million copies of Windows 95 already sold, Microsoft's profits climb by 58% in a year.
7 December 1995
Gates announces Microsoft's internet strategy to the world's press. In his controversial "Pearl Harbor" speech, he reveals plans for Microsoft's own internet browser - Explorer.
August 1996
Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 3.0.
1996
Netscape asks the Department of Justice to investigate Microsoft's discount to computer manufacturers that install Internet Explorer 3.0.
May 1998
The Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of 20 states sue Microsoft for illegally thwarting competition.
25 June 1998
Microsoft launches Windows 98.
August 1998
Gates spends three days giving his deposition by video to the Department of Justice inquiry.
September 1998
Google is incorporated by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin
January 2000
Ballmer is appointed chief executive of Microsoft. He and Gates later acknowledge that they both had a difficult time adjusting to their new roles.
7 June 2000
Following the Department of Justice inquiry, Judge Jackson rules that Microsoft should be split into two units: one to produce operating systems, the other to make other software components. He calls Microsoft an "abusive monopoly".
2000
Microsoft's revenues reach $229bn. The dot-com crash does not affect it as badly as many other companies in the sector. The company's headcount climbs to over 39,000.
DIGITAL DECADE
2000
The Gates family launches the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable organisation intended to "reduce inequalities in the United States and around the world". They donate billions of dollars of their own money, and it soon becomes the world's biggest philanthropic organisation.
June 2001
The Court of Appeal overturns Judge Jackson's order to break up Microsoft into two corporations. However, it upholds his ruling that Microsoft illegally used licensing agreements with internet service providers and PC manufacturers to freeze out the Netscape internet browser.
25 October 2001
Microsoft launches Windows XP.
15 November 2001
Microsoft branches out into the gaming console market with its high-profile launch of the Xbox. This product is a direct competitor to Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube.
March 2004
The European Commission brings anti-trust action against Microsoft.
August 2004
Google's flotation paves the way for a dramatic acceleration in the company's growth: two months later it overtakes Yahoo!'s market capitalisation with a value of $50bn.
January 2005
The Gates' endowments to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reach almost $29bn.
NEW FRONTIERS
15 June 2006
Gates announces that he will step back from Microsoft in two years to concentrate on his philanthropic endeavours. He reveals he has a carefully thought-through "transition" period planned and that he hopes to remain chairman of the company for life.
January 2007
Windows Vista and Office 2007 are launched.
7 June 2007
Gates returns to Harvard to collect an Honorary degree.
1 Feb 2008
Microsoft makes a bid of $44.6bn for search engine company Yahoo!. For the first time in its history, Microsoft plans to borrow some of the necessary funds. Yahoo! rejects the bid.
27 February 2008
Microsoft is fined a record 899m euros by the European Commission because of the company's failure to comply with earlier anti-trust rulings. Microsoft is appealing against the fine.
Summer 2008
The Microsoft headcount is now almost 90,000 worldwide.
27 June 2008
Gates is leaving his full-time role at Microsoft to concentrate on the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7457191.stm
Published: 2008/06/18 18:50:55 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Behind the golden Gates
Backstory: Behind the golden Gates
Melinda Gates has been called 'the most powerful woman you know next to nothing about.'
By Clayton Collins | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
For 20 years, Sundar Sundararaman has led a stream of well-intentioned Westerners into India's dark corners, bringing his often-wealthy guests face-to-face with AIDS-afflicted sex workers to drive home the depth of need.
"For many of them it's a big challenge to step out of the glass case," says Dr. Sundar, a mentor with Mysore and Mandya Direct Intervention, an organization that works to stem the spread of HIV.
About two months ago he welcomed Melinda French Gates, a woman whose own guest list - at the earth-sheltered lakefront mansion in Medina, Wash., that she shares with her husband, Microsoft multibillionaire Bill - has included the premier of China.
"As an onlooker, I was taken aback," says Sundar. Even away from the cameras Ms. Gates had an easy rapport with "the marginalized," he says, the drug-addicted and the transgendered. "She was engaged in asking very specific questions about whether this project was touching their lives.... There was a natural person in her, an individual who connects with people."
It is a selective kind of connectedness. The enigmatic Gates - her interviews famously rare, her close associates reticent, her three young children shielded - could be considered the anti-Angelina Jolie in her approach. Gates - by all accounts an active partner in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - is, as a Fort Worth, Texas, paper recently declared, "the most powerful woman you know next to nothing about."
Her clout has begun to swell of late, and along with it public curiosity about her. Philanthropist (and close family friend) Warren Buffett's recent record-setting $31 billion gift to the foundation heightened the mystery around the woman whose face recently was book-ended by those of Mr. Gates and rock star Bono on the cover of Time - but was unrecognizable to all but four of 20 Seattle-area residents shown her photo, without context, by the Monitor.
"There are many other people in Seattle who make sure they're seen at all the big events," says Dottie Simpson, wife of the late Seattle philanthropist W. Hunter Simpson and a longtime friend of Bill Gates's parents, William H. and Mary. "That's not Melinda's style."
A spokeswoman for Gates Foundation rules out an interview in a month largely set aside for family. "When they're off," says Amy Siegel, "it's very guarded time." A portrait emerges slowly from scattered clues among Gates's public statements and from tales coaxed from those just outside the formidable cone of silence.
A distance-runner and kayaker, she admits to bouts of stage fright. She considers the late independent and tenacious Washington Post grand dame Katharine Graham a role model. Gates reportedly had her activist's epiphany when, while on safari in Africa in 1993, she watched women trekking shoeless for miles in the dust to sell a few vegetables.
"Bill and I believe one life is worth no more or less than any other," Gates told the Times (London) last year. "That issue of equity is what the foundation stands for."
In another sense, greater equity could be key to the foundation's success. It could call for Gates to shed the relative anonymity she has nurtured since she met Bill Gates at a company event in New York in 1987. It's a step out that she indicated in a 2002 Newsweek interview she'd probably try if it would help advance the development of an AIDS vaccine.
"Women often do not claim their power and put their whole identity out there in the public so that they become the engine," observes Swanee Hunt, the former ambassador, philanthropist, and director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School. "I think it will be great as she increases her voice."
***
But Gates ispracticed at insularity. A Microsoft employee from 1987 to 1996 (developing multimedia products), she often ate alone in the company cafeteria after her 1993 engagement to the company's founder because she was too intimidating a lunch date, recalls a former Microsoft employee who worked under her at the time but asked not to be named.
"It was a tough spot to be in, an employee engaged to Bill Gates," says the ex-employee, who found her boss to be bright and pragmatic, if a little aloof. "When I say she reminded me of a Catholic schoolgirl, I mean it in the best possible way," she says. "She had a real sense of humanitarian virtue."
Not that her success hasn't rankled. Gates's e-mail announcing her departure from the firm cited the tug of war between family and work, says Rebecca Hughes, another co-worker of Gates at the time. "For me, I felt sad," says Ms. Hughes, "because I was playing that same tug of war with my son and my work, but I didn't have the luxury of quitting."
Gates still appears to wrestle with establishing normalcy. The Gateses occasionally venture out to movies and parks. Melinda is said to have softened a house some initially described as having the aura of a corporate retreat. As Bill Gates told Newsweek in 1999: "Melinda was saying 'Maybe we shouldn't move in, because [it may not] really feel like a home is supposed to feel.' "
***
Born in Dallas in 1964 to Raymond (an engineer) and Elaine Amerland French, Gates attended the all-girls Ursuline Academy - school motto, " Serviam." She often credits teacher Susan Bauer with putting her on a path to math and computers.
Gates earned a bachelor's degree at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., in 1986, and a Duke MBA the following year. Rich Burton, professor of management at Duke's Fuqua School of Business remembers Melinda French, a student in his management-control class, as reserved, "very serious" - and insightful.
"As an instructor you make up a key of model answers," Professor Burton says. "I was grading [exams] and I came to one on which the answers were better than mine," he says. "That was Melinda's. I started using it as a key."
Another professor, Alan Biermann, remembers being struck by Gates's ability to advise without flaunting her intellect. In the late 1990s, Gates visited his computer-science class. A student described the difficulty he was having making a tabletop robot "see" variations in shading of color-coded blocks it was programmed to move.
"Melinda was quite interested," he recalls. "And then exclaimed how she now understood why the robot lab at Stanford had the very uniform soft lighting that she had seen there."
Gates has been graceful, too, at the receiving end of guidance. Mary Gates reportedly wrote a letter to the couple before their 1994 wedding about the responsibilities that come with wealth. Today, the money is moving: more than $1.3 billion in grants in 2005. The pair has reportedly promised to give away 95 percent of their wealth in their lifetimes. "I'm so pleased with what the Gateses have done with their funds," says Mrs. Simpson, adding in reference to the Buffett bequest, "I think it's catching on."
Renowned for her arcane knowledge of diseases, Gates also exudes business savvy. "Although [international governments'] funding increased from $65 million in 2000 to $163 million in 2005," she wrote in a Newsweek article in May, "current spending is only about half of what is needed to advance the most common microbicide candidates." It is classic Melinda: specific, unflashy, quietly passionate.
"I have met with a lot of influential people," says Sundar. "[Gates] has a very unique ability to comprehend what she sees and hears." What sets her apart, he says, is that she responds to need in a way that is personal and direct. "That simplicity," he says, "is what is inside her."
• Dean Paton contributed from Seattle.
Melinda Gates has been called 'the most powerful woman you know next to nothing about.'
By Clayton Collins | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
For 20 years, Sundar Sundararaman has led a stream of well-intentioned Westerners into India's dark corners, bringing his often-wealthy guests face-to-face with AIDS-afflicted sex workers to drive home the depth of need.
"For many of them it's a big challenge to step out of the glass case," says Dr. Sundar, a mentor with Mysore and Mandya Direct Intervention, an organization that works to stem the spread of HIV.
About two months ago he welcomed Melinda French Gates, a woman whose own guest list - at the earth-sheltered lakefront mansion in Medina, Wash., that she shares with her husband, Microsoft multibillionaire Bill - has included the premier of China.
"As an onlooker, I was taken aback," says Sundar. Even away from the cameras Ms. Gates had an easy rapport with "the marginalized," he says, the drug-addicted and the transgendered. "She was engaged in asking very specific questions about whether this project was touching their lives.... There was a natural person in her, an individual who connects with people."
It is a selective kind of connectedness. The enigmatic Gates - her interviews famously rare, her close associates reticent, her three young children shielded - could be considered the anti-Angelina Jolie in her approach. Gates - by all accounts an active partner in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - is, as a Fort Worth, Texas, paper recently declared, "the most powerful woman you know next to nothing about."
Her clout has begun to swell of late, and along with it public curiosity about her. Philanthropist (and close family friend) Warren Buffett's recent record-setting $31 billion gift to the foundation heightened the mystery around the woman whose face recently was book-ended by those of Mr. Gates and rock star Bono on the cover of Time - but was unrecognizable to all but four of 20 Seattle-area residents shown her photo, without context, by the Monitor.
"There are many other people in Seattle who make sure they're seen at all the big events," says Dottie Simpson, wife of the late Seattle philanthropist W. Hunter Simpson and a longtime friend of Bill Gates's parents, William H. and Mary. "That's not Melinda's style."
A spokeswoman for Gates Foundation rules out an interview in a month largely set aside for family. "When they're off," says Amy Siegel, "it's very guarded time." A portrait emerges slowly from scattered clues among Gates's public statements and from tales coaxed from those just outside the formidable cone of silence.
A distance-runner and kayaker, she admits to bouts of stage fright. She considers the late independent and tenacious Washington Post grand dame Katharine Graham a role model. Gates reportedly had her activist's epiphany when, while on safari in Africa in 1993, she watched women trekking shoeless for miles in the dust to sell a few vegetables.
"Bill and I believe one life is worth no more or less than any other," Gates told the Times (London) last year. "That issue of equity is what the foundation stands for."
In another sense, greater equity could be key to the foundation's success. It could call for Gates to shed the relative anonymity she has nurtured since she met Bill Gates at a company event in New York in 1987. It's a step out that she indicated in a 2002 Newsweek interview she'd probably try if it would help advance the development of an AIDS vaccine.
"Women often do not claim their power and put their whole identity out there in the public so that they become the engine," observes Swanee Hunt, the former ambassador, philanthropist, and director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School. "I think it will be great as she increases her voice."
***
But Gates ispracticed at insularity. A Microsoft employee from 1987 to 1996 (developing multimedia products), she often ate alone in the company cafeteria after her 1993 engagement to the company's founder because she was too intimidating a lunch date, recalls a former Microsoft employee who worked under her at the time but asked not to be named.
"It was a tough spot to be in, an employee engaged to Bill Gates," says the ex-employee, who found her boss to be bright and pragmatic, if a little aloof. "When I say she reminded me of a Catholic schoolgirl, I mean it in the best possible way," she says. "She had a real sense of humanitarian virtue."
Not that her success hasn't rankled. Gates's e-mail announcing her departure from the firm cited the tug of war between family and work, says Rebecca Hughes, another co-worker of Gates at the time. "For me, I felt sad," says Ms. Hughes, "because I was playing that same tug of war with my son and my work, but I didn't have the luxury of quitting."
Gates still appears to wrestle with establishing normalcy. The Gateses occasionally venture out to movies and parks. Melinda is said to have softened a house some initially described as having the aura of a corporate retreat. As Bill Gates told Newsweek in 1999: "Melinda was saying 'Maybe we shouldn't move in, because [it may not] really feel like a home is supposed to feel.' "
***
Born in Dallas in 1964 to Raymond (an engineer) and Elaine Amerland French, Gates attended the all-girls Ursuline Academy - school motto, " Serviam." She often credits teacher Susan Bauer with putting her on a path to math and computers.
Gates earned a bachelor's degree at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., in 1986, and a Duke MBA the following year. Rich Burton, professor of management at Duke's Fuqua School of Business remembers Melinda French, a student in his management-control class, as reserved, "very serious" - and insightful.
"As an instructor you make up a key of model answers," Professor Burton says. "I was grading [exams] and I came to one on which the answers were better than mine," he says. "That was Melinda's. I started using it as a key."
Another professor, Alan Biermann, remembers being struck by Gates's ability to advise without flaunting her intellect. In the late 1990s, Gates visited his computer-science class. A student described the difficulty he was having making a tabletop robot "see" variations in shading of color-coded blocks it was programmed to move.
"Melinda was quite interested," he recalls. "And then exclaimed how she now understood why the robot lab at Stanford had the very uniform soft lighting that she had seen there."
Gates has been graceful, too, at the receiving end of guidance. Mary Gates reportedly wrote a letter to the couple before their 1994 wedding about the responsibilities that come with wealth. Today, the money is moving: more than $1.3 billion in grants in 2005. The pair has reportedly promised to give away 95 percent of their wealth in their lifetimes. "I'm so pleased with what the Gateses have done with their funds," says Mrs. Simpson, adding in reference to the Buffett bequest, "I think it's catching on."
Renowned for her arcane knowledge of diseases, Gates also exudes business savvy. "Although [international governments'] funding increased from $65 million in 2000 to $163 million in 2005," she wrote in a Newsweek article in May, "current spending is only about half of what is needed to advance the most common microbicide candidates." It is classic Melinda: specific, unflashy, quietly passionate.
"I have met with a lot of influential people," says Sundar. "[Gates] has a very unique ability to comprehend what she sees and hears." What sets her apart, he says, is that she responds to need in a way that is personal and direct. "That simplicity," he says, "is what is inside her."
• Dean Paton contributed from Seattle.
Melinda Gates Tops the List
THE JOURNAL REPORT: WOMEN TO WATCH
Melinda Gates Tops the List
By MARILYN CHASE
November 20, 2006; Page R3
One hot Sunday in October, the world's richest philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates, stood in a cassava field outside Abuja, Nigeria. They asked growers pulling up the tuber how to improve this bitter root that fills many African bellies but lacks vitamins and contains a natural form of cyanide.
After the technical questions came the moment of truth: A nearby table was laden with cassava flour, cassava bread and cassava cookies. Ms. Gates sampled the goods, then tactfully asked the baker, "How do you think it tastes?"
THE JOURNAL REPORT
See a sortable chart of the top 50 women. Plus, see the complete Women to Watch report.
As a colleague says of Ms. Gates: "She will happily roll up her sleeves to understand the real-world applications."
Going the distance to assess global health needs is one reason the 42-year-old Ms. Gates has emerged as a powerful force in the new philanthropy. As co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she logs air miles like a shuttle diplomat, touring project sites from Botswana to Bangladesh. Her mix of grace and gravitas has tempered the brash image of her tech-tycoon husband, and has eased acceptance of their ambitious agenda for ending health inequities.
The foundation -- whose $31.9 billion endowment is growing with a $30 billion pledge from investor Warren Buffett -- funds an array of efforts strategically focused on AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and childhood diseases abroad, along with education and homelessness in the U.S. Skeptics who initially were turned off by Mr. Gates's reputation for hubris in amassing his software fortune have warmed to Ms. Gates and her humility in helping him give it away.
MELINDA GATES
Co-Founder
THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
Striding onstage by her husband's side at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto in August, Ms. Gates acknowledged, "Bill and I are relative newcomers" to the war on an epidemic that many scientists have spent their lives fighting. While other speakers had been jeered by activists, the Gateses received a standing ovation.
Bucking stereotypes, the couple had decided as they worked on their AIDS Conference speeches that Ms. Gates would focus on science and Mr. Gates on ways to help women, who make up most new HIV cases world-wide. Ms. Gates presented the foundation's scientific agenda for AIDS prevention, funding research to develop a long-term vaccine, and short-term tools like a prevention pill and microbicide gels that women can use if their partner rejects condoms. Mr. Gates, meanwhile, issued a feminist-sounding credo. "No matter where she lives, who she is, or what she does, a woman should never need a man's permission to save her own life," he said, promoting female-controlled protection methods.
"It was music to [people's] ears," says Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women's Health Coalition, a New York-based nonprofit. But Ms. Germain was disappointed the Gateses didn't enlarge their $125 million funding for microbicides on the spot -- proof that big money raises even bigger expectations. (Rather than bankrolling projects in full, the foundation prefers to draw partners into networks of shared support.)
Smart Questions
Scientific skeptics long wondered whether the couple would flex their fiscal muscles wisely. But as the foundation tapped the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for seasoned staffers, and began rolling out grants with their help, it has started winning support.
Ms. Gates has been key to this conversion by studying the science, seeking expert counsel and respecting it.
"She asks smart questions," says David Heymann, a WHO veteran of drives to end smallpox and polio, who adds, "She's so humble in her interactions with others."
She's modest in dress as well, wearing a blue work shirt and slacks or long skirts. It's an image crafted to reflect the gravity of her mission.
Her persona has played a pivotal role in India, where the Gateses have invested $258 million to prevent HIV's spread, setting up -- among other things -- community centers with medical care for prostitutes, and a chain of clinics for long-haul truck drivers, another group seen as being highly at risk. At first, the Gateses' philanthropy provoked government sensitivity and press skepticism. New Delhi bristled at Mr. Gates's quoting of high AIDS projections by the Central Intelligence Agency. Newspapers asked whether the Microsoft Corp. founder's charity was sincere or a marketing ploy.
Enter Ms. Gates, who, on a well-planned visit to the country, soothed critics and earned new credibility for the foundation's efforts. Donning a marigold garland and clasping hands with women in Calcutta's red-light district, she praised their work to prevent AIDS and protect their children. She told the Times of India she was born middle-class to parents who found it a stretch to send her to college. She added that she tells her own children about such visits because "they need to know the problems of the world and their own responsibility in addressing them."
A Dallas native and daughter of an engineer and homemaker, Melinda Ann French attended the Ursuline Academy, a Catholic girls school whose motto, "Serviam," means "I will serve." She has credited its teacher Susan Bauer with encouraging her gift for math. The school declined to comment, as do other insiders, who respect a moat of privacy around her life.
At Duke University, she completed an accelerated B.A. and M.B.A. program in five years, earning a double major in economics and computer science and serving two internships at International Business Machines Corp. One of her teachers at the graduate school of business, Prof. Richard Burton, says he was correcting exams for his management class one day when the answers on one student's test leapt out.
"This one exam had better answers than my own," he says, "so I started using Melinda's paper." He should have hired her, he adds.
Ms. Gates, who earned her M.B.A. in 1987, fared well with a different suitor. Snapped up by Microsoft, she rose in the ranks of information-product managers, crisscrossing the country to speak to Microsoft user groups. She was a product manager on Word, then managed a diverse portfolio of businesses, including Microsoft's electronic encyclopedia Encarta and its travel service Expedia, which it later spun off.
"Melinda was a big-picture thinker, strategic and thoughtful," says Lisa Brummel, Microsoft's senior vice president of human resources. In a corporate culture that bristled with autonomous problem solvers, she also pushed for more collaborative decision making.
"We were smart people, [used to] working on our own," says Ms. Brummel. "Melinda brought people together to solve a problem." Did this tactic make her popular? "It made her respected," Ms. Brummel says, adding that it took time for co-workers to appreciate her style.
"We were not natural collaborators at the time," she says. "We've gotten better as a company in this. But originally that was a unique strength of Melinda's."
Bonding Over Puzzles
Later, a different sort of collaboration began. After she met Mr. Gates at an out-of-town corporate function, the two began dating. It was a time when office romance was rampant in the company, along with more than a few "Microsoft marriages."
But this was an atypical Cinderella story, in which the bride had more academic degrees than her fiancé (who left Harvard to launch his business). She is also a bigger jock. A runner and kayaker, she has climbed Washington's 14,411-foot Mount Rainier. Mr. Gates favors bridge and golf. The two bonded over puzzles.
Intellectually, she gave as good as she got. "Melinda is very smart," Mr. Gates says in an email. "For fun she brought some math type quizzes on an early trip we took and held her own quite well. When we do puzzles, she is much better than I am at parts of it." He says they began discussing giving away his wealth before they exchanged vows.
In the now-famous prologue to their 1994 Lanai wedding, a letter from Mr. Gates's mother, Mary, then terminally ill with cancer, urged her son's fiancée to share the fruits of their good fortune. Mr. Gates also took his fiancée not to Tiffany, but to Omaha, Neb., to choose an engagement ring at a jewelry store run by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. under its chairman and CEO, Mr. Buffett.
Kindred Spirit
Mr. Buffett -- besides sharing bridge and burgers with Bill -- also introduced Melinda to his friend, Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham. Associates of the Gateses credit the late Mrs. Graham and her autobiography -- detailing the rise of a reserved woman to lead a media giant -- with inspiring Ms. Gates to cultivate her own public voice thoughtfully.
Ms. Gates, who worked at Microsoft for nine years until after the birth of her first child in 1996, declined to be interviewed for this article. A foundation spokeswoman says the summer's storm of publicity following the Buffett gift raised concerns that spotlighting her could eclipse the foundation's work. Such wariness isn't surprising, given media and Web gossip about all things Gates from their courtship to their closet size.
Nor does Ms. Gates, born a Roman Catholic, publicly discuss her faith. Her speech in Toronto, though, challenged anyone who would put dogma ahead of AIDS prevention. "In the fight against AIDS, condoms save lives," she said. "If you oppose the distribution of condoms, something is more important to you than saving lives."
She also chided politicians who shrink from offering AIDS prevention to prostitutes. "Think about saving the life of a faithful mother of four whose husband visits sex workers," she said. "If you're turning your back on sex workers, you're turning your back on the mother of four."
In the Gateses' joint appearances this year, as well as in interviews, Mr. Gates showcases Ms. Gates as his full partner at the foundation, crediting both her strategic guidance in shaping its programs, and her social skills in connecting with people who need its services.
"Even before we were married, we talked about the challenge of giving wealth back to society in a way that would make a difference," he says in an email. "Our early discussions focused us on how the breakthrough advances that are doing so much for people who are well off could benefit everyone." Providing the poor with tools like conventional vaccines has expanded into a high-tech research agenda.
During a July 2006 trip to Durban, South Africa, to visit a microbicide test site, Ms. Gates broached issues such as how women liked the intimate gels. "Melinda was better at asking about, uh, some aspects," Mr. Gates laughed at a joint appearance with former President Clinton in Toronto.
"Melinda bonds with some constituencies more naturally than I do," Mr. Gates continues in his email. "We both love to visit sites to see what is going on," he writes, adding that she currently travels more than he can. When one of them travels solo, Mr. Gates writes, he or she shares "what surprised us [as] soon as we get a chance." If she reads a book he hasn't had time for, she's "fantastic" at conveying lessons learned.
Gates Foundation Chief Executive Patty Stonesifer, who has known Ms. Gates for 20 years, says "her gift" is seeing the everyday impact of science -- whether it be in Microsoft technical reviews, or in "smearing gels" on her hand to get a feel for how microbicide formulas perform.
Allan Golston, the foundation's president of U.S. programs, adds that Ms. Gates also pushed a forward-looking focus at Sound Families, the foundation's program for helping Seattle's homeless with housing and counseling. Mr. Golston says she challenged the program to be more strategic, and in response the group extended its focus to at-risk families, trying to help them from becoming homeless in the first place.
Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt, who served with Ms. Gates on the Duke Board of Trustees, says she was "astute" but approachable. "She has none of the habits of rich people," Mr. Reinhardt says.
Ms. Gates has relinquished her post as a Duke trustee and other outside directorships to focus on family and foundation. She remains on the Washington Post Co. board, where Mr. Buffett is also a director.
'Focused' and 'Thoughtful'
Washington Post Co. Chairman and CEO Donald Graham, the son of Mrs. Graham, says he prizes Ms. Gates's directorship because she's "focused, thoughtful, and knows tons about technology."
"I'm embarrassed by how often I call her asking her advice, and how available she is," Mr. Graham says in an interview.
Partnering with Melinda, Mr. Gates says in an email, gives the foundation work a synergy that is "greater than the sum of the parts." The two email each other constantly, he from his office at Microsoft, she from her office at home.
That home, a sprawling waterfront compound in Medina, Wash., is the domain where she is mother to Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe, three Gates heirs who share their legacy with millions whom they may never meet. Like Mr. Buffett, the couple elected not to pass a dynastic fortune to their children. As Ms. Gates told the Times of India, she's rearing her children to know that "they should give back."
--Ms. Chase is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau.
Write to Marilyn Chase at marilyn.chase@wsj.com
Melinda Gates Tops the List
By MARILYN CHASE
November 20, 2006; Page R3
One hot Sunday in October, the world's richest philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates, stood in a cassava field outside Abuja, Nigeria. They asked growers pulling up the tuber how to improve this bitter root that fills many African bellies but lacks vitamins and contains a natural form of cyanide.
After the technical questions came the moment of truth: A nearby table was laden with cassava flour, cassava bread and cassava cookies. Ms. Gates sampled the goods, then tactfully asked the baker, "How do you think it tastes?"
THE JOURNAL REPORT
See a sortable chart of the top 50 women. Plus, see the complete Women to Watch report.
As a colleague says of Ms. Gates: "She will happily roll up her sleeves to understand the real-world applications."
Going the distance to assess global health needs is one reason the 42-year-old Ms. Gates has emerged as a powerful force in the new philanthropy. As co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she logs air miles like a shuttle diplomat, touring project sites from Botswana to Bangladesh. Her mix of grace and gravitas has tempered the brash image of her tech-tycoon husband, and has eased acceptance of their ambitious agenda for ending health inequities.
The foundation -- whose $31.9 billion endowment is growing with a $30 billion pledge from investor Warren Buffett -- funds an array of efforts strategically focused on AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and childhood diseases abroad, along with education and homelessness in the U.S. Skeptics who initially were turned off by Mr. Gates's reputation for hubris in amassing his software fortune have warmed to Ms. Gates and her humility in helping him give it away.
MELINDA GATES
Co-Founder
THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
Striding onstage by her husband's side at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto in August, Ms. Gates acknowledged, "Bill and I are relative newcomers" to the war on an epidemic that many scientists have spent their lives fighting. While other speakers had been jeered by activists, the Gateses received a standing ovation.
Bucking stereotypes, the couple had decided as they worked on their AIDS Conference speeches that Ms. Gates would focus on science and Mr. Gates on ways to help women, who make up most new HIV cases world-wide. Ms. Gates presented the foundation's scientific agenda for AIDS prevention, funding research to develop a long-term vaccine, and short-term tools like a prevention pill and microbicide gels that women can use if their partner rejects condoms. Mr. Gates, meanwhile, issued a feminist-sounding credo. "No matter where she lives, who she is, or what she does, a woman should never need a man's permission to save her own life," he said, promoting female-controlled protection methods.
"It was music to [people's] ears," says Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women's Health Coalition, a New York-based nonprofit. But Ms. Germain was disappointed the Gateses didn't enlarge their $125 million funding for microbicides on the spot -- proof that big money raises even bigger expectations. (Rather than bankrolling projects in full, the foundation prefers to draw partners into networks of shared support.)
Smart Questions
Scientific skeptics long wondered whether the couple would flex their fiscal muscles wisely. But as the foundation tapped the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for seasoned staffers, and began rolling out grants with their help, it has started winning support.
Ms. Gates has been key to this conversion by studying the science, seeking expert counsel and respecting it.
"She asks smart questions," says David Heymann, a WHO veteran of drives to end smallpox and polio, who adds, "She's so humble in her interactions with others."
She's modest in dress as well, wearing a blue work shirt and slacks or long skirts. It's an image crafted to reflect the gravity of her mission.
Her persona has played a pivotal role in India, where the Gateses have invested $258 million to prevent HIV's spread, setting up -- among other things -- community centers with medical care for prostitutes, and a chain of clinics for long-haul truck drivers, another group seen as being highly at risk. At first, the Gateses' philanthropy provoked government sensitivity and press skepticism. New Delhi bristled at Mr. Gates's quoting of high AIDS projections by the Central Intelligence Agency. Newspapers asked whether the Microsoft Corp. founder's charity was sincere or a marketing ploy.
Enter Ms. Gates, who, on a well-planned visit to the country, soothed critics and earned new credibility for the foundation's efforts. Donning a marigold garland and clasping hands with women in Calcutta's red-light district, she praised their work to prevent AIDS and protect their children. She told the Times of India she was born middle-class to parents who found it a stretch to send her to college. She added that she tells her own children about such visits because "they need to know the problems of the world and their own responsibility in addressing them."
A Dallas native and daughter of an engineer and homemaker, Melinda Ann French attended the Ursuline Academy, a Catholic girls school whose motto, "Serviam," means "I will serve." She has credited its teacher Susan Bauer with encouraging her gift for math. The school declined to comment, as do other insiders, who respect a moat of privacy around her life.
At Duke University, she completed an accelerated B.A. and M.B.A. program in five years, earning a double major in economics and computer science and serving two internships at International Business Machines Corp. One of her teachers at the graduate school of business, Prof. Richard Burton, says he was correcting exams for his management class one day when the answers on one student's test leapt out.
"This one exam had better answers than my own," he says, "so I started using Melinda's paper." He should have hired her, he adds.
Ms. Gates, who earned her M.B.A. in 1987, fared well with a different suitor. Snapped up by Microsoft, she rose in the ranks of information-product managers, crisscrossing the country to speak to Microsoft user groups. She was a product manager on Word, then managed a diverse portfolio of businesses, including Microsoft's electronic encyclopedia Encarta and its travel service Expedia, which it later spun off.
"Melinda was a big-picture thinker, strategic and thoughtful," says Lisa Brummel, Microsoft's senior vice president of human resources. In a corporate culture that bristled with autonomous problem solvers, she also pushed for more collaborative decision making.
"We were smart people, [used to] working on our own," says Ms. Brummel. "Melinda brought people together to solve a problem." Did this tactic make her popular? "It made her respected," Ms. Brummel says, adding that it took time for co-workers to appreciate her style.
"We were not natural collaborators at the time," she says. "We've gotten better as a company in this. But originally that was a unique strength of Melinda's."
Bonding Over Puzzles
Later, a different sort of collaboration began. After she met Mr. Gates at an out-of-town corporate function, the two began dating. It was a time when office romance was rampant in the company, along with more than a few "Microsoft marriages."
But this was an atypical Cinderella story, in which the bride had more academic degrees than her fiancé (who left Harvard to launch his business). She is also a bigger jock. A runner and kayaker, she has climbed Washington's 14,411-foot Mount Rainier. Mr. Gates favors bridge and golf. The two bonded over puzzles.
Intellectually, she gave as good as she got. "Melinda is very smart," Mr. Gates says in an email. "For fun she brought some math type quizzes on an early trip we took and held her own quite well. When we do puzzles, she is much better than I am at parts of it." He says they began discussing giving away his wealth before they exchanged vows.
In the now-famous prologue to their 1994 Lanai wedding, a letter from Mr. Gates's mother, Mary, then terminally ill with cancer, urged her son's fiancée to share the fruits of their good fortune. Mr. Gates also took his fiancée not to Tiffany, but to Omaha, Neb., to choose an engagement ring at a jewelry store run by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. under its chairman and CEO, Mr. Buffett.
Kindred Spirit
Mr. Buffett -- besides sharing bridge and burgers with Bill -- also introduced Melinda to his friend, Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham. Associates of the Gateses credit the late Mrs. Graham and her autobiography -- detailing the rise of a reserved woman to lead a media giant -- with inspiring Ms. Gates to cultivate her own public voice thoughtfully.
Ms. Gates, who worked at Microsoft for nine years until after the birth of her first child in 1996, declined to be interviewed for this article. A foundation spokeswoman says the summer's storm of publicity following the Buffett gift raised concerns that spotlighting her could eclipse the foundation's work. Such wariness isn't surprising, given media and Web gossip about all things Gates from their courtship to their closet size.
Nor does Ms. Gates, born a Roman Catholic, publicly discuss her faith. Her speech in Toronto, though, challenged anyone who would put dogma ahead of AIDS prevention. "In the fight against AIDS, condoms save lives," she said. "If you oppose the distribution of condoms, something is more important to you than saving lives."
She also chided politicians who shrink from offering AIDS prevention to prostitutes. "Think about saving the life of a faithful mother of four whose husband visits sex workers," she said. "If you're turning your back on sex workers, you're turning your back on the mother of four."
In the Gateses' joint appearances this year, as well as in interviews, Mr. Gates showcases Ms. Gates as his full partner at the foundation, crediting both her strategic guidance in shaping its programs, and her social skills in connecting with people who need its services.
"Even before we were married, we talked about the challenge of giving wealth back to society in a way that would make a difference," he says in an email. "Our early discussions focused us on how the breakthrough advances that are doing so much for people who are well off could benefit everyone." Providing the poor with tools like conventional vaccines has expanded into a high-tech research agenda.
During a July 2006 trip to Durban, South Africa, to visit a microbicide test site, Ms. Gates broached issues such as how women liked the intimate gels. "Melinda was better at asking about, uh, some aspects," Mr. Gates laughed at a joint appearance with former President Clinton in Toronto.
"Melinda bonds with some constituencies more naturally than I do," Mr. Gates continues in his email. "We both love to visit sites to see what is going on," he writes, adding that she currently travels more than he can. When one of them travels solo, Mr. Gates writes, he or she shares "what surprised us [as] soon as we get a chance." If she reads a book he hasn't had time for, she's "fantastic" at conveying lessons learned.
Gates Foundation Chief Executive Patty Stonesifer, who has known Ms. Gates for 20 years, says "her gift" is seeing the everyday impact of science -- whether it be in Microsoft technical reviews, or in "smearing gels" on her hand to get a feel for how microbicide formulas perform.
Allan Golston, the foundation's president of U.S. programs, adds that Ms. Gates also pushed a forward-looking focus at Sound Families, the foundation's program for helping Seattle's homeless with housing and counseling. Mr. Golston says she challenged the program to be more strategic, and in response the group extended its focus to at-risk families, trying to help them from becoming homeless in the first place.
Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt, who served with Ms. Gates on the Duke Board of Trustees, says she was "astute" but approachable. "She has none of the habits of rich people," Mr. Reinhardt says.
Ms. Gates has relinquished her post as a Duke trustee and other outside directorships to focus on family and foundation. She remains on the Washington Post Co. board, where Mr. Buffett is also a director.
'Focused' and 'Thoughtful'
Washington Post Co. Chairman and CEO Donald Graham, the son of Mrs. Graham, says he prizes Ms. Gates's directorship because she's "focused, thoughtful, and knows tons about technology."
"I'm embarrassed by how often I call her asking her advice, and how available she is," Mr. Graham says in an interview.
Partnering with Melinda, Mr. Gates says in an email, gives the foundation work a synergy that is "greater than the sum of the parts." The two email each other constantly, he from his office at Microsoft, she from her office at home.
That home, a sprawling waterfront compound in Medina, Wash., is the domain where she is mother to Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe, three Gates heirs who share their legacy with millions whom they may never meet. Like Mr. Buffett, the couple elected not to pass a dynastic fortune to their children. As Ms. Gates told the Times of India, she's rearing her children to know that "they should give back."
--Ms. Chase is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau.
Write to Marilyn Chase at marilyn.chase@wsj.com
Friday, June 27, 2008
Bill Gates bids a teary farewell to Microsoft
Bill Gates bids a teary farewell to Microsoft
Reuters
By Daisuke Wakabayashi Reuters - Friday, June 27 07:02 pm
REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Bill Gates said a teary goodbye on Friday to Microsoft Corp, the software maker he built into the world's most valuable technology company based on the ambitious goal of placing a computer on every desk and in every home.
(Advertisement)
He leaves Microsoft, which he co-founded with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975, to focus on his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest charity, funded in part by his vast fortune.
At an employee event at Microsoft's scenic headquarters campus here, Gates joined Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on stage to deliver a short speech and field questions from employees.
"There won't be a day in my life when I won't be thinking about Microsoft, the great things that we're doing and wanting to help," said Gates, who wiped away tears as the group of employees rose to give him a standing ovation.
Ballmer, a Harvard University classmate who joined Microsoft at Gates' behest, got choked up as he tried to describe Gates' impact on the company and society at large.
"There's no way to say thanks to Bill. Bill's the founder. Bill's the leader," said Ballmer. "This is Bill's baby."
Gates will leave behind a life's work developing software to devote energy to finding new vaccines or to microfinance projects in the developing world. He will remain chairman of Microsoft and work on special technology projects.
Ballmer spoke about how he contemplated quitting Microsoft a month after joining the company and return to Stanford University business school. Bill passionately implored him to stay and laid out the vision of the company.
"This is what Bill said to me. 'You don't get it. You don't get it. We are going to put a computer on every desk and in every home,'" said Ballmer.
There are currently more than one billion PCs worldwide, according to research firm IDC.
Once the world's richest man, Gates' personal fortune has been estimated at about $58 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. He has slipped to third place, behind investor and good friend Warren Buffett and Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim.
(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Reuters
By Daisuke Wakabayashi Reuters - Friday, June 27 07:02 pm
REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Bill Gates said a teary goodbye on Friday to Microsoft Corp, the software maker he built into the world's most valuable technology company based on the ambitious goal of placing a computer on every desk and in every home.
(Advertisement)
He leaves Microsoft, which he co-founded with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975, to focus on his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest charity, funded in part by his vast fortune.
At an employee event at Microsoft's scenic headquarters campus here, Gates joined Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on stage to deliver a short speech and field questions from employees.
"There won't be a day in my life when I won't be thinking about Microsoft, the great things that we're doing and wanting to help," said Gates, who wiped away tears as the group of employees rose to give him a standing ovation.
Ballmer, a Harvard University classmate who joined Microsoft at Gates' behest, got choked up as he tried to describe Gates' impact on the company and society at large.
"There's no way to say thanks to Bill. Bill's the founder. Bill's the leader," said Ballmer. "This is Bill's baby."
Gates will leave behind a life's work developing software to devote energy to finding new vaccines or to microfinance projects in the developing world. He will remain chairman of Microsoft and work on special technology projects.
Ballmer spoke about how he contemplated quitting Microsoft a month after joining the company and return to Stanford University business school. Bill passionately implored him to stay and laid out the vision of the company.
"This is what Bill said to me. 'You don't get it. You don't get it. We are going to put a computer on every desk and in every home,'" said Ballmer.
There are currently more than one billion PCs worldwide, according to research firm IDC.
Once the world's richest man, Gates' personal fortune has been estimated at about $58 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. He has slipped to third place, behind investor and good friend Warren Buffett and Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim.
(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Frail Mandela marks 90th birthday with giant London concert
Yahoo! News
Frail Mandela marks 90th birthday with giant London concert
By Robin Millard AFP - 31 minutes agoLONDON (AFP) - A star-studded cast of artists helped Nelson Mandela celebrate his 90th birthday with a giant concert in London on Friday in support of his 46664 AIDS campaign.
(Advertisement)
Queen, Amy Winehouse, Will Smith and Annie Lennox were among the performers in Hyde Park for the gig, which was broadcast around the world.
The former South African president was received to rapturous applause from an emotional crowd, which fell silent when the global icon spoke.
"Where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all," said a visibly frail Mandela, who had to be helped slowly on stage.
"It is time for new hands to lift the burdens. It is in your hands now. I thank you," added Mandela, who turns 90 on July 18.
Mandela, who retired from public life nine years ago, is now expected to retreat further from the limelight.
Anglo-Swedish rockers Razorlight got the crowd going, before Scottish singer Lennox gave an impassioned speech about combating the virus.
"We must do something to prevent a virtual genocide upon your people," she said, speaking of Mandela's fellow South Africans.
She performed acapella with a choir from the Agape children's orphanage in South Africa, where most residents have lost their parents to AIDS.
Troubled British soul singer Winehouse, who has been battling drug and lung problems, was back on form with a powerful performance.
Topping the bill, Queen and Paul Rodgers rocked the audience with hits like "All Right Now" and "We Will Rock You".
To close the show, Winehouse led the ensemble in a rendition of "Free Nelson Mandela", with the anti-apartheid anthem's writer Jerry Dammers on keyboards.
Mandela did not repeat his comments on the Zimbabwe crisis, but Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, Ugandan artist Bebe Cool and Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell did mention the troubled situation.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told host broadcaster ITV that Mandela was an inspiration.
"You know when you go into a room and you meet Nelson Mandela you are in the presence of a great man -- the greatest man of our generation, the leader who ended apartheid and the man whose faith in the future was such that he risked execution, prison, intimidation, violence to serve the cause that he believed in," he said.
Ben Motsumi, 45, a nurse from Klerksdorp in South Africa, brought his wife and children.
"I'm here to see Nelson Mandela," he told AFP.
"He's a hero to me. I've got all pictures of him in my house. I've been in Britain for nine years. This is an incredible occasion for us. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here."
Other performers included Simple Minds, Josh Groban, Joan Baez, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Eddy Grant, Jamelia, the Sudanese "war child" rapper Emmanuel Jal and a host of other African artists.
Mandela said the giant 1988 concert in London's Wembley Stadium, which marked his 70th birthday and called for his release from jail, served to "inspire us in our prison cells."
Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr told reporters: "At the original one, there was anger involved because of the circumstances.
"This time, there's a lot more joy. It's a unique occasion."
Precisely 46,664 tickets -- after Mandela's prison number during his 27-year incarceration for trying to topple South Africa's apartheid regime -- went on sale for the three-and-a-half-hour concert.
The 46664 campaign, which has seen four previous multi-artist concerts, aims to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is rife in sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa is one of the countries worst-hit by HIV, with 5.41 million people living with the illness. Mandela lost a son to AIDS in January 2005 and has now made fighting the syndrome his main cause.
"I came to support a great man and a great cause," said Lisle Lewis, 34, from Cape Town.
"I came to say thank-you. Mandela means freedom, understanding and love. I'm going to start crying in a minute!" the dentist told AFP.
"He's taught me to be more appreciative and accepting of other races."
Tickets for "The 46664 Concert Honouring Nelson Mandela at 90" cost 65 pounds (128 dollars, 82 euros) each.
Frail Mandela marks 90th birthday with giant London concert
By Robin Millard AFP - 31 minutes agoLONDON (AFP) - A star-studded cast of artists helped Nelson Mandela celebrate his 90th birthday with a giant concert in London on Friday in support of his 46664 AIDS campaign.
(Advertisement)
Queen, Amy Winehouse, Will Smith and Annie Lennox were among the performers in Hyde Park for the gig, which was broadcast around the world.
The former South African president was received to rapturous applause from an emotional crowd, which fell silent when the global icon spoke.
"Where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all," said a visibly frail Mandela, who had to be helped slowly on stage.
"It is time for new hands to lift the burdens. It is in your hands now. I thank you," added Mandela, who turns 90 on July 18.
Mandela, who retired from public life nine years ago, is now expected to retreat further from the limelight.
Anglo-Swedish rockers Razorlight got the crowd going, before Scottish singer Lennox gave an impassioned speech about combating the virus.
"We must do something to prevent a virtual genocide upon your people," she said, speaking of Mandela's fellow South Africans.
She performed acapella with a choir from the Agape children's orphanage in South Africa, where most residents have lost their parents to AIDS.
Troubled British soul singer Winehouse, who has been battling drug and lung problems, was back on form with a powerful performance.
Topping the bill, Queen and Paul Rodgers rocked the audience with hits like "All Right Now" and "We Will Rock You".
To close the show, Winehouse led the ensemble in a rendition of "Free Nelson Mandela", with the anti-apartheid anthem's writer Jerry Dammers on keyboards.
Mandela did not repeat his comments on the Zimbabwe crisis, but Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, Ugandan artist Bebe Cool and Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell did mention the troubled situation.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told host broadcaster ITV that Mandela was an inspiration.
"You know when you go into a room and you meet Nelson Mandela you are in the presence of a great man -- the greatest man of our generation, the leader who ended apartheid and the man whose faith in the future was such that he risked execution, prison, intimidation, violence to serve the cause that he believed in," he said.
Ben Motsumi, 45, a nurse from Klerksdorp in South Africa, brought his wife and children.
"I'm here to see Nelson Mandela," he told AFP.
"He's a hero to me. I've got all pictures of him in my house. I've been in Britain for nine years. This is an incredible occasion for us. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here."
Other performers included Simple Minds, Josh Groban, Joan Baez, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Eddy Grant, Jamelia, the Sudanese "war child" rapper Emmanuel Jal and a host of other African artists.
Mandela said the giant 1988 concert in London's Wembley Stadium, which marked his 70th birthday and called for his release from jail, served to "inspire us in our prison cells."
Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr told reporters: "At the original one, there was anger involved because of the circumstances.
"This time, there's a lot more joy. It's a unique occasion."
Precisely 46,664 tickets -- after Mandela's prison number during his 27-year incarceration for trying to topple South Africa's apartheid regime -- went on sale for the three-and-a-half-hour concert.
The 46664 campaign, which has seen four previous multi-artist concerts, aims to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is rife in sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa is one of the countries worst-hit by HIV, with 5.41 million people living with the illness. Mandela lost a son to AIDS in January 2005 and has now made fighting the syndrome his main cause.
"I came to support a great man and a great cause," said Lisle Lewis, 34, from Cape Town.
"I came to say thank-you. Mandela means freedom, understanding and love. I'm going to start crying in a minute!" the dentist told AFP.
"He's taught me to be more appreciative and accepting of other races."
Tickets for "The 46664 Concert Honouring Nelson Mandela at 90" cost 65 pounds (128 dollars, 82 euros) each.
South African parliament honors Mandela's birthday
South African parliament honors Mandela's birthday
By CLARE NULLIS – 6 hours ago
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Tributes to Nelson Mandela's dignity, humanity and humor poured in at a special sitting of South Africa's Parliament on Friday to mark the anti-apartheid icon's 90th birthday.
South Africa's first black president will turn 90 on July 18. He is expected to spend the day quietly. But a series of events will celebrate the milestone, including a concert in London on Friday to raise funds for his AIDS charity.
Former opposition leader Tony Leon said some South Africans probably felt deprived because Mandela was holding the bash in Britain.
"But that perhaps is an appropriate metaphor, because South Africa shares Mandela with the world," Leon said. "His party shares him with the opposition and he rises above party and personality as the most powerful and potent and positive symbol of all that is good about our country."
In 1994, Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years. He was elected president in South Africa's first multiracial elections in 1994, ushering in an era of optimism and reconciliation after years of international isolation and internal brutality.
Since leaving the presidency in 1999, he has not commented on whether today's South Africa has lived up to his dreams.
The racial divide still runs deep; millions remain mired in poverty. Corruption is rife, crime rampant. AIDS kills 1,000 people a day. The recent anti-foreigner violence in which more than 60 people were killed dashed South Africa's reputation as a stable haven on a troubled continent.
Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, is isolated at home by his aloofness and discredited abroad because of his apparent appeasement of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. And Jacob Zuma, who is expected to become president next year, will go on trial this year for corruption, having already been acquitted of rape.
"We wish he was 30 years younger so he could tell the leaders of today how things are done," Kraai van Niekerk, a white Afrikaner who served in Mandela's government of national unity, said of the former president.
Judy Chalmers, labeled a traitor as a white supporter of the banned African National Congress, baked a huge cake for Mandela's 70th birthday. And though Mandela was in prison, she held a party for him in her office.
A few days later, the office was set alight. But Chalmers said she never lost hope.
"We knew that sooner rather than later the sun would rise on a South Africa where those heroes would walk the streets of the country in their rightful place as free men and women...," she said. "Each and every one of us owes him an enormous debt of gratitude."
Leon — the former leader of the white dominated Democratic Alliance, which incorporates the now defunct National Party responsible for apartheid — said Mandela combined compassion with humor.
In 1998, Leon was about to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. A few weeks earlier, in Parliament, Mandela called the opposition "Mickey Mouse parties." Leon retorted that Mandela "must head a Goofy government."
"On the eve of the operation, I awaited my fate with some anxiety," Leon said. "And there was a knock on the hospital door. The world famous voice announced, 'Is that Mickey Mouse in there? It's Goofy here. Can I come in and see you?'
"I have no doubt that his particular visit hastened my very speedy recovery."
Will Smith kick starts Mandela gig
Will Smith kick starts Mandela gig
Press Assoc.
Press Assoc. - 47 minutes ago
Will Smith kicked off Nelson Mandela's star-studded 90th birthday concert, saying: "The party begins now".
(Advertisement)
The Hollywood star came on stage with Jada Pinkett Smith at the event in London's Hyde Park.
He quoted Peter Gabriel as once saying: "If the world could only have one father, the man that we would choose to be our father would be Nelson Mandela."
He continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, the party begins now," before introducing Razorlight on stage.
The event takes place 20 years after a 70th birthday concert at Wembley Stadium galvanised momentum for the end of apartheid.
Mr Mandela was finally released from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars and elected President of a democratic South Africa in 1994.
The concert was set to climax with a performance by Amy Winehouse and Jerry Dammers of his song Free Nelson Mandela, joined by all the other artists.
The song became an anti-apartheid anthem in the 1980s.
Simple Minds were set to sing Mandela Day, a song they wrote for the Wembley event.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also at the concert. Stars performing include Leona Lewis and Queen.
Press Assoc.
Press Assoc. - 47 minutes ago
Will Smith kicked off Nelson Mandela's star-studded 90th birthday concert, saying: "The party begins now".
(Advertisement)
The Hollywood star came on stage with Jada Pinkett Smith at the event in London's Hyde Park.
He quoted Peter Gabriel as once saying: "If the world could only have one father, the man that we would choose to be our father would be Nelson Mandela."
He continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, the party begins now," before introducing Razorlight on stage.
The event takes place 20 years after a 70th birthday concert at Wembley Stadium galvanised momentum for the end of apartheid.
Mr Mandela was finally released from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars and elected President of a democratic South Africa in 1994.
The concert was set to climax with a performance by Amy Winehouse and Jerry Dammers of his song Free Nelson Mandela, joined by all the other artists.
The song became an anti-apartheid anthem in the 1980s.
Simple Minds were set to sing Mandela Day, a song they wrote for the Wembley event.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also at the concert. Stars performing include Leona Lewis and Queen.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Mandela charms Queen before hosting unparalled party
By hellomagazine.com hellomagazine.com - 49 minutes ago
Only an icon of Nelson Mandela's stature could have this effect on the glamorous and powerful. Superstars from every field imaginable, many of whom had crossed the Atlantic, turned out to honour the charismatic former South African leader at a dinner in a marquee in London's Hyde Park.
First though, the elder statesman had a private audience at Buckingham Palace with an old pal - the British monarch. As they shook hands warmly, Mr Mandela, showing a flash of his famous charm, told his royal host: "You look younger every time I see you".
Clearly delighted with the compliment, the Queen went on to joke: "It's very nice weather - arranged just for you."
What had been organised especially for the anti-apartheid hero was the evening gala he hosted, which packed more star power than the red carpet on Oscar night.
Hollywood was represented in abundance as Robert De Niro, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, Uma Thurman and Denzel Washington lined up to pay homage to the great man.
Elsewhere Elton John was seen catching up with Oprah Winfrey, while political figures among the guests included Bill Clinton, in town with his daughter Chelsea, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Having prepared the food for the evening Gordon Ramsay joined the party, mingling with the likes of Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton, who escorted American singer Nicole Scherzinger, and Bob Geldof.
Only an icon of Nelson Mandela's stature could have this effect on the glamorous and powerful. Superstars from every field imaginable, many of whom had crossed the Atlantic, turned out to honour the charismatic former South African leader at a dinner in a marquee in London's Hyde Park.
First though, the elder statesman had a private audience at Buckingham Palace with an old pal - the British monarch. As they shook hands warmly, Mr Mandela, showing a flash of his famous charm, told his royal host: "You look younger every time I see you".
Clearly delighted with the compliment, the Queen went on to joke: "It's very nice weather - arranged just for you."
What had been organised especially for the anti-apartheid hero was the evening gala he hosted, which packed more star power than the red carpet on Oscar night.
Hollywood was represented in abundance as Robert De Niro, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, Uma Thurman and Denzel Washington lined up to pay homage to the great man.
Elsewhere Elton John was seen catching up with Oprah Winfrey, while political figures among the guests included Bill Clinton, in town with his daughter Chelsea, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Having prepared the food for the evening Gordon Ramsay joined the party, mingling with the likes of Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton, who escorted American singer Nicole Scherzinger, and Bob Geldof.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Mandela condemns Mugabe 'failure'
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7474561.stm
Published: 2008/06/25 22:59:04 GMT
Nelson Mandela makes his first public remarks criticising Robert Mugabe
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has added his voice to the growing international condemnation of the political violence in Zimbabwe.
In his first public comments about the crisis, he noted "the tragic failure of leadership" of President Robert Mugabe.
Southern African leaders earlier called for Friday's run-off presidential vote to be postponed because conditions did not permit a free and fair election.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged foreign help to end the crisis.
Speaking at a dinner in London to mark his 90th birthday, Mr Mandela said:
"We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe."
Mr Mandela had held his silence until now, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, to avoid undermining South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki's efforts as chief mediator on Zimbabwe.
Mr Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" has been criticised for its failure to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Nelson Mandela spoke few words but they will carry immense weight simply because of who he is, says our correspondent.
I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process
Morgan Tsvangirai
Earlier on Wednesday, southern African leaders holding an emergency summit in Swaziland called for the run-off vote to be postponed.
The governments of Swaziland, Tanzania and Angola said conditions would not permit a free and fair election.
The three countries from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) are responsible for overseeing peace and security in the region.
The leaders said they were concerned and disappointed by Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal on Sunday from the vote.
But they said that holding the election under the present circumstances might undermine the credibility and legitimacy of its outcome.
They also said the people of Zimbabwe deserved a "cooling-off period".
Knighthood stripped
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party. The government blames the MDC for the violence.
Mr Tsvangirai said withdrew from the election over fears for the lives of his supporters.
The government and Zimbabwe's election authority insist Friday's vote will go ahead because Mr Tsvangirai's withdrawal came too late to prevent his name appearing on the ballot paper and was therefore invalid.
Mr Mugabe officially came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round in March.
The governing Zanu-PF party, led by Mr Mugabe, also lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980.
'Sham vote'
The crisis has drawn growing international condemnation of Mr Mugabe and his government.
Britain has said it will withdraw an honorary knighthood granted to President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mugabe is the first foreigner to be stripped of the award since Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, the day before his execution.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Morgan Tsvangirai speaking at a news conference at his home in Harare
US President George W Bush said Friday's vote appeared "to be a sham" because the opposition had not been able to campaign without fear of intimidation.
The US has said it will not recognise the results of the vote.
Mr Tsvangirai has appealed for the African Union and Zimbabwe's neighbouring states to intervene to resolve the situation.
"I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process," he said at a news conference in Harare.
Dismissing Friday's planned election as pointless, he said Zimbabwe should work out a political settlement based on genuine and honest dialogue.
Mr Mugabe has said his government was open to negotiations with "anyone" but only after the elections.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7474561.stm
Published: 2008/06/25 22:59:04 GMT
Nelson Mandela makes his first public remarks criticising Robert Mugabe
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has added his voice to the growing international condemnation of the political violence in Zimbabwe.
In his first public comments about the crisis, he noted "the tragic failure of leadership" of President Robert Mugabe.
Southern African leaders earlier called for Friday's run-off presidential vote to be postponed because conditions did not permit a free and fair election.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged foreign help to end the crisis.
Speaking at a dinner in London to mark his 90th birthday, Mr Mandela said:
"We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe."
Mr Mandela had held his silence until now, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, to avoid undermining South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki's efforts as chief mediator on Zimbabwe.
Mr Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" has been criticised for its failure to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Nelson Mandela spoke few words but they will carry immense weight simply because of who he is, says our correspondent.
I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process
Morgan Tsvangirai
Earlier on Wednesday, southern African leaders holding an emergency summit in Swaziland called for the run-off vote to be postponed.
The governments of Swaziland, Tanzania and Angola said conditions would not permit a free and fair election.
The three countries from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) are responsible for overseeing peace and security in the region.
The leaders said they were concerned and disappointed by Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal on Sunday from the vote.
But they said that holding the election under the present circumstances might undermine the credibility and legitimacy of its outcome.
They also said the people of Zimbabwe deserved a "cooling-off period".
Knighthood stripped
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party. The government blames the MDC for the violence.
Mr Tsvangirai said withdrew from the election over fears for the lives of his supporters.
The government and Zimbabwe's election authority insist Friday's vote will go ahead because Mr Tsvangirai's withdrawal came too late to prevent his name appearing on the ballot paper and was therefore invalid.
Mr Mugabe officially came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round in March.
The governing Zanu-PF party, led by Mr Mugabe, also lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980.
'Sham vote'
The crisis has drawn growing international condemnation of Mr Mugabe and his government.
Britain has said it will withdraw an honorary knighthood granted to President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mugabe is the first foreigner to be stripped of the award since Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, the day before his execution.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Morgan Tsvangirai speaking at a news conference at his home in Harare
US President George W Bush said Friday's vote appeared "to be a sham" because the opposition had not been able to campaign without fear of intimidation.
The US has said it will not recognise the results of the vote.
Mr Tsvangirai has appealed for the African Union and Zimbabwe's neighbouring states to intervene to resolve the situation.
"I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process," he said at a news conference in Harare.
Dismissing Friday's planned election as pointless, he said Zimbabwe should work out a political settlement based on genuine and honest dialogue.
Mr Mugabe has said his government was open to negotiations with "anyone" but only after the elections.
Friday, June 20, 2008
U.S. lawmakers want Mandela off terror list
U.S. lawmakers want Mandela off terror list Thu Jun 19, 3:37 PM ET
REUTERS
Some U.S. lawmakers are trying to pass legislation to remove former South African President Nelson Mandela from a U.S. list of terrorists by his 90th birthday next month, officials said on Thursday.
South African Ambassador to the United States Welile Nhlapo said he was in talks with the State Department and lawmakers to resolve the issue by Mandela's birthday on July 18.
Lawmakers in April introduced legislation in Congress to remove Mandela from the list, a step that is normally a government administrative matter, because they were frustrated by the time the process was taking.
The State Department has said it and the Justice Department fully support the bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 8 and is awaiting Senate approval.
"We have been able to clarify and resolve certain questions that were hanging in the minds of some people as to whether to support the process or not," Nhlapo said without elaborating.
"We are trying ourselves to talk to some of these people, clarify what else they may have on their mind ... so that we can get this over," he added.
The former South African president and some in the now-ruling African National Congress are still blacklisted under U.S. laws and need special permission to enter the United States more than a decade after the apartheid struggle ended.
No plan has been announced for Mandela to visit the United States once the bill passes. He last visited the United States in May 2005.
The ANC was banned by South Africa's white rulers in 1960, its leaders jailed or forced into exile until the ban on the movement was lifted 30 years later.
Strict security measures passed by Congress after the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States kept the ANC's "terrorist" label because it used armed force as part of its campaign against apartheid.
Nhlapo said he was worried the legislation would get delayed by Congress' summer recess. Congress takes a break over the July 4 week and then recesses for much of August.
"Certainly there is a lot of anxiety and interest in South Africa as to the resolution of this matter particularly by the time of Mandela's birthday," Nhlapo added.
Rep. Donald Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, told the Africa Society late on Wednesday that removing organizations from the terrorist list was an administrative matter that had taken too long, adding: "We're trying to make sure that he is not a terrorist when we celebrate his 90th birthday."
Mandela was jailed for 27 years for his struggle against apartheid, and has become a worldwide symbol of freedom. He was hailed for overseeing the peaceful transition from white to black rule as South Africa's first post-apartheid era president.
(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
REUTERS
Some U.S. lawmakers are trying to pass legislation to remove former South African President Nelson Mandela from a U.S. list of terrorists by his 90th birthday next month, officials said on Thursday.
South African Ambassador to the United States Welile Nhlapo said he was in talks with the State Department and lawmakers to resolve the issue by Mandela's birthday on July 18.
Lawmakers in April introduced legislation in Congress to remove Mandela from the list, a step that is normally a government administrative matter, because they were frustrated by the time the process was taking.
The State Department has said it and the Justice Department fully support the bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 8 and is awaiting Senate approval.
"We have been able to clarify and resolve certain questions that were hanging in the minds of some people as to whether to support the process or not," Nhlapo said without elaborating.
"We are trying ourselves to talk to some of these people, clarify what else they may have on their mind ... so that we can get this over," he added.
The former South African president and some in the now-ruling African National Congress are still blacklisted under U.S. laws and need special permission to enter the United States more than a decade after the apartheid struggle ended.
No plan has been announced for Mandela to visit the United States once the bill passes. He last visited the United States in May 2005.
The ANC was banned by South Africa's white rulers in 1960, its leaders jailed or forced into exile until the ban on the movement was lifted 30 years later.
Strict security measures passed by Congress after the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States kept the ANC's "terrorist" label because it used armed force as part of its campaign against apartheid.
Nhlapo said he was worried the legislation would get delayed by Congress' summer recess. Congress takes a break over the July 4 week and then recesses for much of August.
"Certainly there is a lot of anxiety and interest in South Africa as to the resolution of this matter particularly by the time of Mandela's birthday," Nhlapo added.
Rep. Donald Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, told the Africa Society late on Wednesday that removing organizations from the terrorist list was an administrative matter that had taken too long, adding: "We're trying to make sure that he is not a terrorist when we celebrate his 90th birthday."
Mandela was jailed for 27 years for his struggle against apartheid, and has become a worldwide symbol of freedom. He was hailed for overseeing the peaceful transition from white to black rule as South Africa's first post-apartheid era president.
(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Signs you two will click
Signs you two will click
By Jennifer Benjamin
So you’ve met someone online. This person seems fine… but you’re not sure. Should you go on a date? Will the two of you be in sync? You’re just not sure whether you have enough info to go on…
Well, here’s something to consider: Those initial emails with a new person are actually loaded with information that can help you decide, ahead of time, whether you two should go on that first date. You just have to know how to read the signs. Here, we break down the clues (both positive and negative) that will tell you if a potential date deserves a chance or if you should move on to those other interesting people turning up in your search results. [$MSN.ARTICLE.CTALINKS$] The positive signs
#1: The other person keeps the momentum going
With so much going on in our busy lives, it’s easy to get distracted or lose interest. That’s why it’s so refreshing to make contact with someone who actually returns emails, calls when promised, and keeps his or her word. “When it comes to those first interactions, consistency is huge,” says Yvonne Thomas, Los Angeles-based psychologist, specializing in relationships and self-esteem (www.yvonnethomasphd.com). “A man or woman who maintains the connection with you and keeps the momentum going until you meet is going to be reliable, considerate, and responsible.”
#2: The other person knows the value of a phone call
When you’ve been chatting with someone online, it often feels easiest just to ask him or her out via keypad. But the person who calls you to chat, or asks you out over the phone, rather than by email or text, is probably mature enough to understand that some traditional courting rules should still apply. “Rather than fall back on lazy dating habits, a person who phones sees the value in treating others with respect,” explains David Wygant, dating expert on www.davidwygant.com. “Also, just the fact that a person is calling indicates that he or she wants to get to know you better” and have a better sense of who you are, what you sound like… and what makes you tick.
#3: This person pays attention to details
Between the puplover212s and the dirtydog415s out there, it’s tough to keep track of all the people you’re talking to online. So isn’t it nice when someone you’ve been chatting with is able to reference in a later conversation your love of Cap’n Crunch or old movies? “When a person remembers the things you’ve spoken about, it shows that he or she has been listening and paying attention to you,” says Thomas. “Not only does it indicate interest, but it’s also a sign of someone who will be a giving partner.” Even if you don’t think he or she is your physical type or worry that you two don’t have enough in common, give it a chance. There’s some good stuff there!
And the not-so-positive signs…
#1: Your date keeps rescheduling
Hey, we’re all busy, but there’s no excuse for canceling a date more than once. “If someone keeps pushing the date off, then it may indicate a lack of certainty he or she is going to be attracted to you and is clearly not all that psyched about meeting you,” warns Wygant. “You should meet within a week of contact—otherwise, you’re not high on that person’s list of people to date.” Obviously, some things are unavoidable — like if he is going away on vacation or one of her children got sick — but in general, if someone can’t stick to a date, it’s not worth the trouble.
#2: Being too eager
While you obviously want a potential mate to show interest, a man or woman who is too pushy about meeting you can be a little creepy. “Some people force intimacy and relationships really quickly,” says Thomas. “A person who wants to meet the very next day, gives a lot of compliments, or asks too many personal questions before the first date may be needy.” Or caught up in the fantasy of who someone thinks you are and the great relationship you two are bound to have. Keep in mind that those people who get hot and heavy right away tend to fizzle out just as fast. If you do decide to date this kind of person, be sure to maintain some boundaries. Know that you don’t have to go along with everything the person suggests just because you don’t want to hurt his or her feelings.
#3: Evading questions
During your initial email exchanges, you obviously don’t want to bombard the other person with questions. Still, you should be able to get some basic queries answered. “If you’re asking straightforward, not-too-personal things, like if he or she lives alone, has children, or what kind of work your date does, and that person keeps ignoring the questions, that’s a really bad sign,” warns Bev Bacon, author of Meet Me, Don’t Delete Me. “It’s not like he or she didn’t see your question—rather, is avoiding answering it, which shows that this person may be closed-off and secretive, or possibly hiding something.” You’ll save yourself time, energy and possibly some heartache if you recognize the signs before you get in too deep.
Jennifer Benjamin has written for Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Allure and The Nest.
By Jennifer Benjamin
So you’ve met someone online. This person seems fine… but you’re not sure. Should you go on a date? Will the two of you be in sync? You’re just not sure whether you have enough info to go on…
Well, here’s something to consider: Those initial emails with a new person are actually loaded with information that can help you decide, ahead of time, whether you two should go on that first date. You just have to know how to read the signs. Here, we break down the clues (both positive and negative) that will tell you if a potential date deserves a chance or if you should move on to those other interesting people turning up in your search results. [$MSN.ARTICLE.CTALINKS$] The positive signs
#1: The other person keeps the momentum going
With so much going on in our busy lives, it’s easy to get distracted or lose interest. That’s why it’s so refreshing to make contact with someone who actually returns emails, calls when promised, and keeps his or her word. “When it comes to those first interactions, consistency is huge,” says Yvonne Thomas, Los Angeles-based psychologist, specializing in relationships and self-esteem (www.yvonnethomasphd.com). “A man or woman who maintains the connection with you and keeps the momentum going until you meet is going to be reliable, considerate, and responsible.”
#2: The other person knows the value of a phone call
When you’ve been chatting with someone online, it often feels easiest just to ask him or her out via keypad. But the person who calls you to chat, or asks you out over the phone, rather than by email or text, is probably mature enough to understand that some traditional courting rules should still apply. “Rather than fall back on lazy dating habits, a person who phones sees the value in treating others with respect,” explains David Wygant, dating expert on www.davidwygant.com. “Also, just the fact that a person is calling indicates that he or she wants to get to know you better” and have a better sense of who you are, what you sound like… and what makes you tick.
#3: This person pays attention to details
Between the puplover212s and the dirtydog415s out there, it’s tough to keep track of all the people you’re talking to online. So isn’t it nice when someone you’ve been chatting with is able to reference in a later conversation your love of Cap’n Crunch or old movies? “When a person remembers the things you’ve spoken about, it shows that he or she has been listening and paying attention to you,” says Thomas. “Not only does it indicate interest, but it’s also a sign of someone who will be a giving partner.” Even if you don’t think he or she is your physical type or worry that you two don’t have enough in common, give it a chance. There’s some good stuff there!
And the not-so-positive signs…
#1: Your date keeps rescheduling
Hey, we’re all busy, but there’s no excuse for canceling a date more than once. “If someone keeps pushing the date off, then it may indicate a lack of certainty he or she is going to be attracted to you and is clearly not all that psyched about meeting you,” warns Wygant. “You should meet within a week of contact—otherwise, you’re not high on that person’s list of people to date.” Obviously, some things are unavoidable — like if he is going away on vacation or one of her children got sick — but in general, if someone can’t stick to a date, it’s not worth the trouble.
#2: Being too eager
While you obviously want a potential mate to show interest, a man or woman who is too pushy about meeting you can be a little creepy. “Some people force intimacy and relationships really quickly,” says Thomas. “A person who wants to meet the very next day, gives a lot of compliments, or asks too many personal questions before the first date may be needy.” Or caught up in the fantasy of who someone thinks you are and the great relationship you two are bound to have. Keep in mind that those people who get hot and heavy right away tend to fizzle out just as fast. If you do decide to date this kind of person, be sure to maintain some boundaries. Know that you don’t have to go along with everything the person suggests just because you don’t want to hurt his or her feelings.
#3: Evading questions
During your initial email exchanges, you obviously don’t want to bombard the other person with questions. Still, you should be able to get some basic queries answered. “If you’re asking straightforward, not-too-personal things, like if he or she lives alone, has children, or what kind of work your date does, and that person keeps ignoring the questions, that’s a really bad sign,” warns Bev Bacon, author of Meet Me, Don’t Delete Me. “It’s not like he or she didn’t see your question—rather, is avoiding answering it, which shows that this person may be closed-off and secretive, or possibly hiding something.” You’ll save yourself time, energy and possibly some heartache if you recognize the signs before you get in too deep.
Jennifer Benjamin has written for Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Allure and The Nest.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Celtics smash Lakers, bring home 17th NBA championship
ESPN
Celtics Rout Lakers To Win Their 17th NBA Title
Team Stat Comparison
LOS ANGELES BOSTON
Points 92 131
FG Made-Attempted 27-64 (.422) 43-87 (.494)
3P Made-Attempted 10-27 (.370) 13-26 (.500)
FT Made-Attempted 28-38 (.737) 32-37 (.865)
Rebounds (Offensive-Total) 2-29 14-48
Assists 16 33
Turnovers 19 7
Steals 4 18
Blocks 0 4
Fast Break Points 2 16
Fouls (Tech/Flagrant) 25 (0/1) 25 (0/0)
Largest Lead 4 43
Top Performers
LOS ANGELES BOSTON
L. Odom
Points: 14
Reb: 10
Ast: 5
Stl: 0
Blk: 0
K. Garnett
Points: 26
Reb: 14
Ast: 4
Stl: 3
Blk: 1
Game Leaders
LOS ANGELES BOSTON
Points K. Bryant 22 R. Allen 26
Rebounds L. Odom 10 K. Garnett 14
Assists L. Odom 5 P. Pierce 10
Steals L. Walton 1 R. Rondo 6
Blocks L. Walton 0 K. Garnett 1
· Team stats: Los Angeles | Boston
Series
Boston leads 4-2
Thu 6/5 @BOS 98, LAL 88 Recap | Box Score
Sun 6/8 @BOS 108, LAL 102 Recap | Box Score
Tue 6/10 @LAL 87, BOS 81 Recap | Box Score
Thu 6/12 BOS 97, @ LAL 91 Recap | Box Score
Sun 6/15 @LAL 103, BOS 98 Recap | Box Score
» Tue 6/17 @BOS 131, LAL 92 Recap | Box Score
· Complete Schedule: Celtics | Lakers
BOSTON (AP) -- With Russell and Havlicek sitting courtside, and Red surely lighting up a victory cigar somewhere, these Boston Celtics returned to glory like the great teams before them.
Dominant in every way.
On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners hung in the rafters two decades back, the Celtics won their 17th NBA title and a first one -- at last -- for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen -- their Big Three for a new generation.
After 22 long years, the NBA has gone green.
Lifted by ear-splitting chants of "Beat L.A." early and cries of "Seven-teen" in the closing seconds by their adoring crowd, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Not Even Close
The Celtics have done something similar to the Lakers before. Here are the records for largest margin of victory in a title clinching game:
Team Opp. Margin
2008 Celtics Lakers 39
1965 Celtics Lakers 33
1949 Lakers Capitols 21
1960 Celtics Hawks 19
1986 Celtics Rockets 17
1952 Lakers Knicks 17
"It means so much more because these are the guys, the Havliceks, the Bill Russells, the Cousys," Pierce said. "These guys started what's going on with those banners. They don't hang up any other banners but championship ones.
"And now I'm a part of it."
With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.
Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the Finals MVP who shook off a sprained right knee sustained in Game 1, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first title since 1986.
Rajon Rondo had 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals as the Celtics, who built a 23-point halftime lead and obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
They didn't stand a chance.
Boston's 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA Finals.
In the final minute, Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth -- a tribute to Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise's first 16 titles.
Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court and then found Russell, the Hall of Famer who taught him the Celtic way, for a long embrace.
"I got my own. I got my own," Garnett said. "I hope we made you proud."
"You sure did," Russell said.
Rivers pulled Pierce, Garnett and Allen with 4:01 left and they shared a group hug with their coach, who was nearly run out of town last season. Rivers lost his father at the beginning of this remarkable run, a season no one expected.
By the time Rivers was handed the Larry O'Brien Trophy, it was June 18 -- his late father's birthday.
When the game clock reached zeros, Rivers reflected on his dad.
"My first thought was what would my dad say," Rivers said, "and honestly I started laughing because I thought he would probably say, if you knew my dad, 'It's about time. What have you been waiting for?'"
It's was Boston's first title since the passing of Auerbach, whose presence was the only thing missing on this night. Even Auerbach, who died in 2006, got some satisfaction. Led by Rivers, Auerbach's beloved team denied Lakers coach Phil Jackson from overtaking him with a 10th championship.
Fast Facts
• Of the previous 61 NBA title-clinching games in league history, the average margin of victory is 8.2 points.
• The last four runner-ups in NBA Finals have been done in by a combined 24 points in the clincher.
• The Celtics average margin of victory in their previous 16 clinchers is 9.9 points.
• The average margins in Finals clinchers: 1-3 points -- 17 times; 4-9 points -- 20; 10-19 points -- 21; 20+ points -- 4.
-- ESPN Research
The Boston-Los Angeles rivalry, nothing more than black-and-white footage from the 60s and TV highlights of players wearing short shorts in the 80s to young hoops fans, remains tilted toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Celtics are 9-2 against the Lakers in the Finals.
Boston missed its first crack at closing out the series in Game 5, but the Celtics didn't miss on their second swing, running the Lakers out of the gym.
Bryant, the regular season MVP, finished with 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting.
He started 4-of-5 from the field and seemed intent on forcing a Game 7. But he missed seven shots in a row and everywhere he went, L.A.'s No. 24 ran smack into a wall of Boston defense as high as the Green Monster.
"They were definitely the best defense I've seen the entire playoffs," Bryant said. "I've seen some pretty stiff ones and this was right up there with them. The goal was to win a championship, it wasn't to win MVP or anything like that, it was to win a championship."
Garnett and Allen were All-Stars in other cities, stuck in Minnesota and Seattle, respectively, on teams going nowhere. But brought together in trades last summer by Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, a member of the '86 Celtics champions, they joined Pierce and formed an unbreakable bond, a trio as tight as the club's lucky shamrock logo.
They resisted being called The Big Three, a nickname given to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish two decades ago.
"This is the reason we came here," Garnett said. "This is the reason we got together, and Danny made it go down. This is it right now."
With Garnett scoring 17 points and Pierce adding 10, Boston built a 58-35 halftime lead, and unlike Game 2 when they let the Lakers trim a 24-point lead to two in the fourth quarter before recovering, the Celtics never stopped.
They pushed their lead to 31 in the third, and with Boston still up by 29 after three, plastic sheets started going up in the Celtics' locker room in preparation for a champagne celebration.
No team had to work harder for a championship than these Celtics, who were playing in their record 26th postseason game after being pushed to seven games by Atlanta and Cleveland before taking care of Detroit in six to win the Eastern Conference title.
They entered Game 6 slowed by injuries as Pierce, Kendrick Perkins (shoulder) and Rondo (ankle) were less than 100 percent. There was also uncertainty surrounding Allen, who stayed behind in Los Angeles following Game 5 after his youngest son became ill and was diagnosed with diabetes. The Celtics needed three planes to get back from L.A. and didn't get home until late Monday night.
But there were no excuses, and just as they had while winning 66 games during the regular season, the Celtics got plenty of help from their bench as P.J. Brown, James Posey, Leon Powe and rookie Glen "Big Baby" Davis came in and contributed.
It was a group effort by this gang in green, which bonded behind Rivers, who borrowed an African word ubuntu (pronounced Ooh-BOON-too) and roughly means "I am, because we are" in English, as the Celtics' unifying team motto.
The Celtics gave the Lakers a 12-minute crash course of ubuntu in the second quarter.
Boston outscored Los Angeles 34-19, getting 11 field goals on 11 assists. The Celtics toyed with the Lakers, outworking the Western Conference's best inside and out and showing the same kind of heart that made Boston the center of pro basketball's universe in the '60s.
House and Posey made 3-pointers to put the Celtics ahead by 12 points and baskets by Pierce, Garnett and Rondo put Boston ahead by 18.
In the final minute, Garnett floated in the lane, banked in a one-handed runner and was fouled. His free throw made it 56-35, and after Perkins scored, the Celtics ran to the locker room leading by 23.
On his way off the floor, Garnett screamed, "That's that."
And so it was.
Game notes
The Lakers had won their previous eight straight Game 6s in the Finals. ... Since the Finals began in 1947, 16 have gone seven games, the most recent in 2005 when San Antonio had to go the distance to beat Detroit. ... It was the second biggest margin in Finals history behind Chicago's 96-54 win over Utah in 1998. ... The Celtics went 48-7 at home, including 13-1 in the postseason.
Celtics Rout Lakers To Win Their 17th NBA Title
Team Stat Comparison
LOS ANGELES BOSTON
Points 92 131
FG Made-Attempted 27-64 (.422) 43-87 (.494)
3P Made-Attempted 10-27 (.370) 13-26 (.500)
FT Made-Attempted 28-38 (.737) 32-37 (.865)
Rebounds (Offensive-Total) 2-29 14-48
Assists 16 33
Turnovers 19 7
Steals 4 18
Blocks 0 4
Fast Break Points 2 16
Fouls (Tech/Flagrant) 25 (0/1) 25 (0/0)
Largest Lead 4 43
Top Performers
LOS ANGELES BOSTON
L. Odom
Points: 14
Reb: 10
Ast: 5
Stl: 0
Blk: 0
K. Garnett
Points: 26
Reb: 14
Ast: 4
Stl: 3
Blk: 1
Game Leaders
LOS ANGELES BOSTON
Points K. Bryant 22 R. Allen 26
Rebounds L. Odom 10 K. Garnett 14
Assists L. Odom 5 P. Pierce 10
Steals L. Walton 1 R. Rondo 6
Blocks L. Walton 0 K. Garnett 1
· Team stats: Los Angeles | Boston
Series
Boston leads 4-2
Thu 6/5 @BOS 98, LAL 88 Recap | Box Score
Sun 6/8 @BOS 108, LAL 102 Recap | Box Score
Tue 6/10 @LAL 87, BOS 81 Recap | Box Score
Thu 6/12 BOS 97, @ LAL 91 Recap | Box Score
Sun 6/15 @LAL 103, BOS 98 Recap | Box Score
» Tue 6/17 @BOS 131, LAL 92 Recap | Box Score
· Complete Schedule: Celtics | Lakers
BOSTON (AP) -- With Russell and Havlicek sitting courtside, and Red surely lighting up a victory cigar somewhere, these Boston Celtics returned to glory like the great teams before them.
Dominant in every way.
On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners hung in the rafters two decades back, the Celtics won their 17th NBA title and a first one -- at last -- for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen -- their Big Three for a new generation.
After 22 long years, the NBA has gone green.
Lifted by ear-splitting chants of "Beat L.A." early and cries of "Seven-teen" in the closing seconds by their adoring crowd, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Not Even Close
The Celtics have done something similar to the Lakers before. Here are the records for largest margin of victory in a title clinching game:
Team Opp. Margin
2008 Celtics Lakers 39
1965 Celtics Lakers 33
1949 Lakers Capitols 21
1960 Celtics Hawks 19
1986 Celtics Rockets 17
1952 Lakers Knicks 17
"It means so much more because these are the guys, the Havliceks, the Bill Russells, the Cousys," Pierce said. "These guys started what's going on with those banners. They don't hang up any other banners but championship ones.
"And now I'm a part of it."
With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.
Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the Finals MVP who shook off a sprained right knee sustained in Game 1, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first title since 1986.
Rajon Rondo had 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals as the Celtics, who built a 23-point halftime lead and obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
They didn't stand a chance.
Boston's 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA Finals.
In the final minute, Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth -- a tribute to Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise's first 16 titles.
Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court and then found Russell, the Hall of Famer who taught him the Celtic way, for a long embrace.
"I got my own. I got my own," Garnett said. "I hope we made you proud."
"You sure did," Russell said.
Rivers pulled Pierce, Garnett and Allen with 4:01 left and they shared a group hug with their coach, who was nearly run out of town last season. Rivers lost his father at the beginning of this remarkable run, a season no one expected.
By the time Rivers was handed the Larry O'Brien Trophy, it was June 18 -- his late father's birthday.
When the game clock reached zeros, Rivers reflected on his dad.
"My first thought was what would my dad say," Rivers said, "and honestly I started laughing because I thought he would probably say, if you knew my dad, 'It's about time. What have you been waiting for?'"
It's was Boston's first title since the passing of Auerbach, whose presence was the only thing missing on this night. Even Auerbach, who died in 2006, got some satisfaction. Led by Rivers, Auerbach's beloved team denied Lakers coach Phil Jackson from overtaking him with a 10th championship.
Fast Facts
• Of the previous 61 NBA title-clinching games in league history, the average margin of victory is 8.2 points.
• The last four runner-ups in NBA Finals have been done in by a combined 24 points in the clincher.
• The Celtics average margin of victory in their previous 16 clinchers is 9.9 points.
• The average margins in Finals clinchers: 1-3 points -- 17 times; 4-9 points -- 20; 10-19 points -- 21; 20+ points -- 4.
-- ESPN Research
The Boston-Los Angeles rivalry, nothing more than black-and-white footage from the 60s and TV highlights of players wearing short shorts in the 80s to young hoops fans, remains tilted toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Celtics are 9-2 against the Lakers in the Finals.
Boston missed its first crack at closing out the series in Game 5, but the Celtics didn't miss on their second swing, running the Lakers out of the gym.
Bryant, the regular season MVP, finished with 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting.
He started 4-of-5 from the field and seemed intent on forcing a Game 7. But he missed seven shots in a row and everywhere he went, L.A.'s No. 24 ran smack into a wall of Boston defense as high as the Green Monster.
"They were definitely the best defense I've seen the entire playoffs," Bryant said. "I've seen some pretty stiff ones and this was right up there with them. The goal was to win a championship, it wasn't to win MVP or anything like that, it was to win a championship."
Garnett and Allen were All-Stars in other cities, stuck in Minnesota and Seattle, respectively, on teams going nowhere. But brought together in trades last summer by Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, a member of the '86 Celtics champions, they joined Pierce and formed an unbreakable bond, a trio as tight as the club's lucky shamrock logo.
They resisted being called The Big Three, a nickname given to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish two decades ago.
"This is the reason we came here," Garnett said. "This is the reason we got together, and Danny made it go down. This is it right now."
With Garnett scoring 17 points and Pierce adding 10, Boston built a 58-35 halftime lead, and unlike Game 2 when they let the Lakers trim a 24-point lead to two in the fourth quarter before recovering, the Celtics never stopped.
They pushed their lead to 31 in the third, and with Boston still up by 29 after three, plastic sheets started going up in the Celtics' locker room in preparation for a champagne celebration.
No team had to work harder for a championship than these Celtics, who were playing in their record 26th postseason game after being pushed to seven games by Atlanta and Cleveland before taking care of Detroit in six to win the Eastern Conference title.
They entered Game 6 slowed by injuries as Pierce, Kendrick Perkins (shoulder) and Rondo (ankle) were less than 100 percent. There was also uncertainty surrounding Allen, who stayed behind in Los Angeles following Game 5 after his youngest son became ill and was diagnosed with diabetes. The Celtics needed three planes to get back from L.A. and didn't get home until late Monday night.
But there were no excuses, and just as they had while winning 66 games during the regular season, the Celtics got plenty of help from their bench as P.J. Brown, James Posey, Leon Powe and rookie Glen "Big Baby" Davis came in and contributed.
It was a group effort by this gang in green, which bonded behind Rivers, who borrowed an African word ubuntu (pronounced Ooh-BOON-too) and roughly means "I am, because we are" in English, as the Celtics' unifying team motto.
The Celtics gave the Lakers a 12-minute crash course of ubuntu in the second quarter.
Boston outscored Los Angeles 34-19, getting 11 field goals on 11 assists. The Celtics toyed with the Lakers, outworking the Western Conference's best inside and out and showing the same kind of heart that made Boston the center of pro basketball's universe in the '60s.
House and Posey made 3-pointers to put the Celtics ahead by 12 points and baskets by Pierce, Garnett and Rondo put Boston ahead by 18.
In the final minute, Garnett floated in the lane, banked in a one-handed runner and was fouled. His free throw made it 56-35, and after Perkins scored, the Celtics ran to the locker room leading by 23.
On his way off the floor, Garnett screamed, "That's that."
And so it was.
Game notes
The Lakers had won their previous eight straight Game 6s in the Finals. ... Since the Finals began in 1947, 16 have gone seven games, the most recent in 2005 when San Antonio had to go the distance to beat Detroit. ... It was the second biggest margin in Finals history behind Chicago's 96-54 win over Utah in 1998. ... The Celtics went 48-7 at home, including 13-1 in the postseason.
Title No. 17 Has A Familiar Smell For Celtics
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By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
BOSTON -- Cigar smoke.
The smell was unmistakable, wafting through the air some 15 feet from the Celtics' bench as Paul Pierce joined in on the Gino dance and Kevin Garnett bounded up and down with joy.
There were still two minutes and 21 seconds remaining in a Game 6 that for all intents and purposes had been over for at least an hour, the fans were chanting "Se-ven-teen," and coach Doc Rivers was still a few moments away from being doused with a bucket of orange Gatorade.
Security guards were already lined up along the perimeter of the court, holding a long rope that would serve as a crowd control device for any ruffians who dared try to rush the celebration, and a fan nearby was holding up a sign that read: "Light One Up for Red."
Somebody had already lit one up, though the source of the cigar smoke could not be located. And to me, that was just as well, because I'd like to close this season with just the slightest belief that the source of that smell was a ghost, a ghost with nine championship rings who will be able to rest in peace a little longer knowing that the man chasing ring No. 10, Lakers coach Phil Jackson, would be flying back to Los Angeles without the record for most NBA championships by a coach.
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The game itself was extraordinary only for being so anticlimactic, the Lakers showing no urge to fight after Boston's lead grew from four at the end of one quarter to 23 at halftime to 29 at the end of three quarters and to 39 by the end -- making it the most lopsided Finals game since the Chicago Bulls destroyed the Utah Jazz by 42 in Game 3 of the 1998 Finals, and the most lopsided clincher ever.
"I thought we played on our heels from the get-go. They overran us," Jackson said. "Garnett knocked Pau [Gasol] down in the lane and scored an easy basket on one of the first four or five possessions, and it kind of set a tone that they were going to establish an aggressive form, and we never met that energy all night."
For a long time, the Celtics' steals total was keeping pace with the Lakers' field goal total. Rajon Rondo ended up with six of Boston's 18 thefts to go along with his 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and James Posey added three steals apiece, and Paul Pierce had a pair to go along with his 17 points and 10 assists (and the Finals MVP award).
The Celtics' 18 steals were a Finals record, Allen tied a Finals record by making seven 3-pointers (and 22 in the series, also a Finals record), and the championship came in Boston's 26th postseason game -- yet another NBA record. Let's also not forget that the Celtics won this title after making the biggest single-season turnaround ever, going from 24 victories a year ago (when fans were openly rooting against them, hoping to secure a better lottery pick) to 66 this season following the franchise-altering deals that brought Garnett and Allen aboard.
There was almost a sense of disbelief running through the building as the game got away from the Lakers in the second quarter, the signature stretch coming when Bryant threw away a pass and Garnett scored on a one-handed half-hook shot at the other end, drawing a foul and completing the three-point play to make it 56-35. Kendrick Perkins then blocked a shot at the other end, came downcourt and dunked off a fancy lookaway pass from the nether reaches of Garnett's repertoire.
Pierce, Allen and Garnett exited together with 4:01 left, the celebration already in full swing.
"I took a deep breath, looked up and said 'Hey, it finally happened, man,'" Pierce said. "So many things were running though our heads on the sidelines. We were just in awe over there, can't believe what was going on. I still can't believe right now that I've got a championship under my belt."
Every championship looks a little different, and not every title-clinching moment sounds the same.
But what's really different from time to time -- not every year, but often enough for it to strike me anew from time to time in the middle of each June, is the way a title can assault the one sense you wouldn't expect to be assaulted.
Two years ago in Dallas, the stinky-sweet odor of champagne emanating from the Miami Heat's locker room was so overwhelming it bordered on the repulsive, and that was just from outside the door. Once you got inside, the smell was so noxious you actually felt sorry for the poor cleaning people who were probably going to have to bathe the room in bleach to get rid of the stench and had to pick up the thousands of small pieces of paper bearing the words "15 Strong".
A year ago in Cleveland it wasn't champagne, it was beer. The visitors from San Antonio were flinging it around the place like it was a frat party, but their celebration was muted enough that you walked away not remembering one snapshot moment, but rather one snapshot smell.
This time, it was the cigar smoke.
And that smell stayed in my nostrils as the clock ticked down to 30 seconds and I made my way down an exit stairwell to the parking lot outside the new Garden, a parking lot that lies in the footprint of the old Garden, where the Celtics' first 16 championship banners were won. In that parking lot stood at least 100 police officers in riot gear, many carrying canisters of tear gas, all holding strips of plastic handcuffs and 4-foot long wooden billy clubs that thankfully they never needed to use.
There were a couple high-fives among the cops as the game ended, but the scene outside remained strangely quiet aside from the noise produced by two helicopters overhead, along with a "Se-ven-teen" chant that eventually went up from the bar patrons who emptied out of the pubs across the street but were kept behind metal barricades on the other side of Causeway Street.
Most of the fans stayed inside to take in the celebration and the cops ended up not having to push or shove anyone.
The same couldn't be said of referees Bennett Salvatore and Joey Crawford, who were forced to move cameramen and photographers off the court in front of the Celtics' bench with 2:21 remaining in order to clear up a certain corner of the parquet floor where the victory celebration had already begun.
I trailed Pierce as he left the locker room and made the walk to the post-game interview area, the unmistakable scent of champagne emanating from his soaked jersey and cap.
But that's not the smell I'll forever associate this night with.
Instead, it's the smell of a cigar -- the source of which I'll never truly know, even though a part of me will always suspect it came from an area just above the Celtics' end of the court, right where Red Auerbach's spirit was floating.
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