Facebook Hits One Billion Active Users

Facebook has officially reached one billion active users, Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced.

In an official blog post, he writes:

This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month. If you’re reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.

Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life. I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.

Facebook had 955 million active users in July 2012, and though gaining 45 million users is not a small task, it seems as if the world’s biggest online social network took a little bit more time than expected reaching the 1 billion milestone.

Still, it’s an enormous number, dwarfing most other players in the social networking space by orders of magnitude. It took Facebook several years to reach the magical 100 million number back in 2008, but from then on it seemed like Mark Zuckerberg’s baby could not be stopped.

However, despite its ever-expanding user base, Facebook started looking vulnerable after its stock plummeted following the less-than-stellar initial public offering in May 2012.

source: mashable.com

Chefs reveal eating secrets of world leaders

PARIS -- Barack Obama can't stand beetroot, artichokes are off the menu at France's presidential palace and Vladimir Putin does not take any chances with dishes that emerge from the Kremlin kitchens.

Those were just a few of the culinary tidbits to emerge from the latest reunion of the select club of chefs who ply their trade on behalf of some of the most powerful men and women on the planet.

The "club des chefs des chefs," which now counts some 20 members, was formed 35 years ago by Gilles Bragard, who revealed that Putin continues the tradition of medieval monarchs who, for fear of poisoning, were reluctant to eat anything that had not been tried first by someone else.

"Tasters still exist but only in the Kremlin, where a doctor checks every dish with the chef," Bragard told reporters this week ahead of a reception for the chefs hosted by new French President Francois Hollande.

Bragard's comments were confirmed by Putin's head chef, Vakhtang Abushidi, and it seems he is not the only modern-day leader who harbors a fear of what they may find on the plates put in front of them.

Anton Mosimann, a regular cook for the British royal family, recalled that a visit by a former US president resulted in him being "constantly followed around by two FBI guys who wanted to taste absolutely everything I was proposing to cook."

More recent interference in the palace kitchen has come from Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, the wife of Prince William, who asked the Swiss chef to lighten one of his sauces.

Mosimann also revealed that, long after her retirement, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher harbored warm memories of the quality of the beef that was served during her time in Downing Street.

Typically, the grocer's daughter could also remember just how much it cost. "It was delicious, but, oh, it was expensive!" Mosimann recalled the Iron Lady exclaiming.

Bernard Vaussion, who has cooked for French Presidents and their guests for 40 years, confirmed that his new boss Hollande would gladly give artichokes a wide berth.

But he is delighted that cheese is back on the Elysee menu after being banished from the table during the term of Hollande's chocaholic predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Cristeta Comerford, the head chef at the White House, would not be drawn on US President Obama's aversion to beetroot (also revealed by Bragard), perhaps anxious not to undermine Michelle Obama's drive to get American kids to eat more fruit and vegetables.

By way of example, the first lady has established a vegetable plot and an orchard in the White House grounds.

Monaco's Prince Albert II -- a "fine gourmet" according to his chef Christian Garcia -- is another fan of home-grown cuisine, with much of what he eats drawn from his organic kitchen garden.

Offal is the only no-go area for Garcia, who has recently added the South African specialty bobotie -- a spiced minced meat dish baked with an egg-based topping -- to his repertoire of recipes following Albert's marriage to Princess Charlene.

source: interaksyon.com

Knicks guard Jeremy Lin named to Time’s 100 Most Influential list

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who captured the world’s imagination earlier this season with his Cinderella run for the struggling NBA team, has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Lin, an Asian-American product of Harvard University, overcame long odds to become a cult hero for fans of the struggling Knicks. United Stated education secretary Arne Duncan, a fellow Harvard alumnus and also a former Crimson basketball player, wrote Lin’s profile for Time.

“He’s dispelled the idea that Asian-American guards somehow couldn’t hack it in the NBA,” Duncan said, “and that being a world-class athlete on the court is somehow at odds with being an excellent student off the court.”

Left undrafted by NBA teams last season, Lin was signed to a two-year deal by the Golden State Warriors after an impressive performance in summer camp. But he was unable to get any significant playing time with the Warriors, and was cut twice in his second season — first by Golden State and then by the Houston Rockets — before being picked up by the Knicks.

Lin was on the verge of being cut by the Knicks when former coach Mike D’Antoni took a flyer on the untested guard, and he responded by stringing along several memorable performances, leading the team to wins without stars Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.

But Lin’s amazing year was cut abruptly after he suffered a knee injury. He underwent surgery in April for a lateral meniscus tear, which rendered him out for the season.

source: interaksyon.com