Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest stock market investors, and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.[3] With an estimated net worth of around US$62 billion,[4] he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of March 5, 2008.[5]
Often called the "Oracle of Omaha,"[6] Buffett is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.[7] His 2006 annual salary is about $100,000, which is on the low side of senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies,[8] and when he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a business jet in 1989, he jokingly named it "The Indefensible" because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs.[9] He lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000.[10]
Buffett is also a noted philanthropist. In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2007, Buffett was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World.[11] He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College. Grinnell College has the second largest endowment of any liberal arts college in the United States.[12]
Contents
[hide]
1 Investment approach
2 Public stances
3 Historical timeline
4 Personal life
5 Philanthropy
6 Writings
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
10.1 Videos
[edit] Investment approach
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Buffett's philosophy on business investing is a modification of the value investing approach of his mentor Benjamin Graham.[citation needed] Graham bought companies because they were cheap compared with their intrinsic value. He was of the belief that as long as the market undervalued them relative to their intrinsic value he was making a solid investment.[citation needed] He reasoned that the market will eventually realize it has undervalued the company and will correct its course regardless of what type of business the company was in. In addition he believed that the business has to have solid economics behind it.[citation needed] Buffett's investment style is also heavily influenced by Phil Fisher.
The following are some questions to determine what business to buy, based on the book Buffettology by Mary Buffett:
Is the company in an industry with good economics, i.e., not an industry competing on price. Does the company have a consumer monopoly or brand name that commands loyalty? Can any company with an abundance of resources compete successfully with the company?
Are the owner earnings on an upward trend with good and consistent margins?
Is the debt-to-equity ratio low or is the earnings-to-debt ratio high, i.e. can the company repay debt even in years when earnings are lower than average?
Does the company have high and consistent Returns on Invested Capital?
Does the company retain earnings for growth?
The business should not have high maintenance cost of operations, high capital expenditure or investment cash outflow. This is not the same as investing to expand capacity.
Does the company reinvest earnings in good business opportunities? Does management have a good track record of profiting from these investments?
Is the company free to adjust prices for inflation?
Buffett also concentrates on when to buy. He does not want to invest in businesses with indiscernible value. He will wait for market corrections or downturns to buy solid businesses at reasonable prices, since stock market downturns present buying opportunities.
He is known for being conservative when speculation is rampant in the market and being aggressive when others are fearing for their capital. This contrarian strategy is what led Buffett's company through the Internet boom and bust without significant damage, although critics[attribution needed] have also noted that it may have led Berkshire to miss out on potential opportunities during the same period.
He also asks at what price is the business a bargain, and his answer typically is when it provides a higher rate of compounded return relative to other available investment opportunities.
Warren Buffett's letters to shareholders detail his investment style and outlook.[13]
[edit] Public stances
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Buffett has repeatedly criticized the financial industry for what he considers to be a proliferation of advisors who add no value but are compensated based on the volume of business transactions which they facilitate. He has pointed to the growing volume of stock trades as evidence that an ever-greater proportion of investors' gains are going to brokers and other middlemen.
Buffett emphasized the non-productive aspect of gold in 1998 at Harvard: "It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."
Buffett stated that he only paid 19% of his income for 2006 ($48.1 million) in total federal taxes, while his employees paid 33% of theirs despite making far less money. [14]
Buffett believes that the U.S. dollar will lose value in the long run. He views the United States' expanding trade deficit as an alarming trend that will devalue the U.S. dollar and U.S. assets. As a result it is putting a larger portion of ownership of U.S. assets in the hands of foreigners. This induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. However, he substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts. Buffett continues to be bearish on the dollar, and says he is looking to make acquisitions of companies which derive a substantial portion of their revenues from outside the United States. Buffett invests in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary[15] on Berkshire Hathaway's website why he will not divest from the company despite calls from some activists to do so.
Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling. He believes it is a tax on ignorance.[16]
Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor. Each year, Buffett presides over Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders' meeting in the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, an event drawing over 20,000 visitors from both United States and abroad, giving it the nickname "Woodstock of Capitalism".[citation needed]
Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media. Buffett's writings are known for containing literary quotes ranging from the Bible to Mae West, as well as Midwestern advice and numerous jokes. Various websites extol Buffett's virtues while others decry Buffett’s business models or dismiss his investment advice and decisions.
Buffett favors the inheritance tax, saying that repealing it would be like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics".[17] In 2007, Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy.[18]
Buffett has been recognized as most responsible for FASB 123 (r), or Stock Option Expensing on the GAAP Income Statement.[citation needed] When asked about the subject at Berkshire Hathaway's 2004 annual meeting, he compared the United States Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to override FASB, who wanted to consider company-issued stock-option compensation as an expense, to a bill proposed in the Indiana house for Pi to be changed from 3.14... to 3.20.
Buffett has held fundraisers for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for president. He has not indicated who he will vote for, but he has expressed that both would make "great Presidents". [19]
Buffett called the 2007-present downturn in the financial sector "poetic justice"[20]
Mr. Buffett was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1997.
Rabu, 14 Mei 2008
Wall Street's man of the moment
In the 1980s, Wall Street Power brokers wore red suspenders, dined at Le Cirque, and made their money in junk bonds and arbitrage. A decade later they wore polo shirts and played Foosball at the venture capital firms that line Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road, reaping billions from tech. Today Wall Street's newest titans can be found every Monday morning gathered around a long, slightly scuffed conference table in a windowless boardroom high above Park Avenue, the home of the Blackstone Group.
Wearing white shirts and pinstriped suits that underscore their Harvard Business School credentials, Blackstone's top dealmakers have learned well the techniques pioneered by previous masters. What makes them different is that they also happen to dominate the iconic business of this decade - private equity.
Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone Group's CEO
Presiding over this weekly gathering, which begins promptly at 8:30 A.M. and sometimes lasts till lunch, is Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's 60-year-old CEO. All of Blackstone's sprawling buyout empire is on the agenda, for the mindset here is that everyone at the top must know exactly what's going on, even though Blackstone has grown from two partners and two assistants in 1985 to 52 partners and 750 employees today. They control 47 companies, with more than $85 billion in revenue from wildly different businesses (within days of its takeover of Equity Office Properties, Blackstone also swallowed Pinnacle Foods, the maker of Vlasic pickles and Aunt Jemima pancake mix).
But the Monday meeting reinforces a close-knit style Schwarzman wants to preserve. "On a personal level we have the the feel of a small firm," he says. "It's a tight little place."
The meeting always starts with private equity before moving quickly to Blackstone's newer divisions - real estate at 10:30, followed by hedge funds at 2 P.M. in another conference room, and finishing up with Blackstone's debt business at 4. "We go over every client situation, every deal," says Schwarzman. And what about lunch? "You must be kidding. We don't have time for lunch," he jokes, echoing the fictional avatar of 1980s Wall Street, Gordon Gekko. In fact, thanks to a kitchen adjoining the boardroom, ample supplies of Perrier and coffee are an arm's reach away.
It was in this boardroom that Schwarzman and his team plotted to buy EOP, twice raising their bids before hitting the winning number of $39 billion. It's also here where the firm has often carved out niches in alternative investing, a nontraditional corner of Wall Street where newfangled investments, such as hedge funds specializing in distressed debt, can bring both greater risks and greater rewards.
Inside the world of private money
"It's not just the transactions that differentiate the firm," says James Lee Jr., vice chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase and a banker to Blackstone since the firm's launch in 1985. "It's the brand extensions, such as real estate, hedge funds, country specific-funds such as India, and restructuring."
Indeed, with all the Wall Street exotica under Blackstone's roof, you could call Steve Schwarzman the Master of the Alternative Universe. "They've institutionalized Blackstone as an elite name in alternative assets," says Jeffrey Rosen, deputy chairman of Lazard and a friend of Schwarzman's for more than 40 years.
Schwarzman almost never misses the Monday meeting - even if it means dialing in from his vacation home in France - and executives from Mumbai to London appear via videoscreen. Partners typically sit in one of 20 beige leather chairs around the table; junior associates and latecomers stand against the wall. The tone is meritocratic, but participants quickly learn to cut to the heart of the matter, recalls Mark Gallogly, who ran Blackstone's private-equity group before leaving in 2005 to start his own firm, Centerbridge Partners. "Some people begin at the beginning. At this firm you start with the conclusions, because there's a lot of ground to cover."
And while managers of each division come and go, Schwarzman and his No. 2, Tony James, stay for the duration. Schwarzman doesn't raise his voice - he doesn't have to. With personal riches estimated at more than $3 billion and undisputed control over Wall Street's hottest firm, Schwarzman can afford to be soft-spoken, even charming, despite his rep as one of the Street's most aggressive, demanding bosses. "If I get angry, it's obvious," he says. "I don't have to say much."
Wearing white shirts and pinstriped suits that underscore their Harvard Business School credentials, Blackstone's top dealmakers have learned well the techniques pioneered by previous masters. What makes them different is that they also happen to dominate the iconic business of this decade - private equity.
Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone Group's CEO
Presiding over this weekly gathering, which begins promptly at 8:30 A.M. and sometimes lasts till lunch, is Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's 60-year-old CEO. All of Blackstone's sprawling buyout empire is on the agenda, for the mindset here is that everyone at the top must know exactly what's going on, even though Blackstone has grown from two partners and two assistants in 1985 to 52 partners and 750 employees today. They control 47 companies, with more than $85 billion in revenue from wildly different businesses (within days of its takeover of Equity Office Properties, Blackstone also swallowed Pinnacle Foods, the maker of Vlasic pickles and Aunt Jemima pancake mix).
But the Monday meeting reinforces a close-knit style Schwarzman wants to preserve. "On a personal level we have the the feel of a small firm," he says. "It's a tight little place."
The meeting always starts with private equity before moving quickly to Blackstone's newer divisions - real estate at 10:30, followed by hedge funds at 2 P.M. in another conference room, and finishing up with Blackstone's debt business at 4. "We go over every client situation, every deal," says Schwarzman. And what about lunch? "You must be kidding. We don't have time for lunch," he jokes, echoing the fictional avatar of 1980s Wall Street, Gordon Gekko. In fact, thanks to a kitchen adjoining the boardroom, ample supplies of Perrier and coffee are an arm's reach away.
It was in this boardroom that Schwarzman and his team plotted to buy EOP, twice raising their bids before hitting the winning number of $39 billion. It's also here where the firm has often carved out niches in alternative investing, a nontraditional corner of Wall Street where newfangled investments, such as hedge funds specializing in distressed debt, can bring both greater risks and greater rewards.
Inside the world of private money
"It's not just the transactions that differentiate the firm," says James Lee Jr., vice chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase and a banker to Blackstone since the firm's launch in 1985. "It's the brand extensions, such as real estate, hedge funds, country specific-funds such as India, and restructuring."
Indeed, with all the Wall Street exotica under Blackstone's roof, you could call Steve Schwarzman the Master of the Alternative Universe. "They've institutionalized Blackstone as an elite name in alternative assets," says Jeffrey Rosen, deputy chairman of Lazard and a friend of Schwarzman's for more than 40 years.
Schwarzman almost never misses the Monday meeting - even if it means dialing in from his vacation home in France - and executives from Mumbai to London appear via videoscreen. Partners typically sit in one of 20 beige leather chairs around the table; junior associates and latecomers stand against the wall. The tone is meritocratic, but participants quickly learn to cut to the heart of the matter, recalls Mark Gallogly, who ran Blackstone's private-equity group before leaving in 2005 to start his own firm, Centerbridge Partners. "Some people begin at the beginning. At this firm you start with the conclusions, because there's a lot of ground to cover."
And while managers of each division come and go, Schwarzman and his No. 2, Tony James, stay for the duration. Schwarzman doesn't raise his voice - he doesn't have to. With personal riches estimated at more than $3 billion and undisputed control over Wall Street's hottest firm, Schwarzman can afford to be soft-spoken, even charming, despite his rep as one of the Street's most aggressive, demanding bosses. "If I get angry, it's obvious," he says. "I don't have to say much."
Wal-Mart may spark holiday price war
NEW YORK - A disappointing sales performance and outlook from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Thursday raised the possibility of price wars this holiday season — a boon to consumers but a troubling prospect for the entire retail industry.
“The news from Wal-Mart is definitely discouraging,” said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass. “They are going to be very price aggressive. And it is going to have an effect on everyone. It is going to force other retailers to cut their prices, which in turn will squeeze their profit margins.”
The world’s largest retailer, whose sales were dragged down by a failed women’s fashion strategy that went too trendy and by disruptions from a store remodeling program, said Thursday it will be using price as a weapon in such areas as toys and electronics to drive holiday sales.
The latest development from Wal-Mart came as the nation’s retailers reported mixed October sales, the result of consumers taking a breather after going on a buying spree in September.
Other retailers reporting lackluster results included BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. Meanwhile, department stores scored again, with robust results from such companies as Federated Department Stores, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Saks Inc.
The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS sales tally rose 3 percent in October, less than the 4 percent gain in September. The tally is based on same-store sales, or sales opened at stores opened at least a year. Same-store sales are considered the best indicator of a retailer’s health.
Still, Perkins believes shoppers will regain their stride during the holiday shopping season. Consumers have been resilient even when energy prices soared earlier in the year. The decline in gas prices that began in late summer has helped ease the financial pain consumers have felt.
But consumers’ willingness to spend depends largely on their own job security. While the job market has been steady, recent monthly reports from the Labor Department have showed slower growth. And consumers’ confidence, while still high, weakened in October, dragged down by their concerns about the job market, according to the Conference Board.
The latest report on jobless claims released Thursday raised concerns about whether the slowing economy is finally pushing companies to lay off workers. The Labor Department said the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly surged last week to the highest level in more than three months.
Wal-Mart, which should have benefited from falling gasoline prices, reported a meager 0.5 percent gain in October same-store sales; it was hurt by its namesake division, which eked out a 0.3 percent gain. Sam’s Club had a 2.0 percent same-store sales gain. A big problem at Wal-Mart was that it overstocked stores with too many trendy items like skinny jeans, officials told Wall Street analysts.
Wal-Mart estimated that same-stores sales should be unchanged in November from a year ago.
“As in September, apparel sales, particularly in women’s apparel, were softer than expected,” said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Wal-Mart in a statement.
But he noted the company’s aggressive advertising of its discounts, or what it calls rollbacks, should help “reinforce Wal-Mart’s price leadership position.”
“The news from Wal-Mart is definitely discouraging,” said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass. “They are going to be very price aggressive. And it is going to have an effect on everyone. It is going to force other retailers to cut their prices, which in turn will squeeze their profit margins.”
The world’s largest retailer, whose sales were dragged down by a failed women’s fashion strategy that went too trendy and by disruptions from a store remodeling program, said Thursday it will be using price as a weapon in such areas as toys and electronics to drive holiday sales.
The latest development from Wal-Mart came as the nation’s retailers reported mixed October sales, the result of consumers taking a breather after going on a buying spree in September.
Other retailers reporting lackluster results included BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. Meanwhile, department stores scored again, with robust results from such companies as Federated Department Stores, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Saks Inc.
The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS sales tally rose 3 percent in October, less than the 4 percent gain in September. The tally is based on same-store sales, or sales opened at stores opened at least a year. Same-store sales are considered the best indicator of a retailer’s health.
Still, Perkins believes shoppers will regain their stride during the holiday shopping season. Consumers have been resilient even when energy prices soared earlier in the year. The decline in gas prices that began in late summer has helped ease the financial pain consumers have felt.
But consumers’ willingness to spend depends largely on their own job security. While the job market has been steady, recent monthly reports from the Labor Department have showed slower growth. And consumers’ confidence, while still high, weakened in October, dragged down by their concerns about the job market, according to the Conference Board.
The latest report on jobless claims released Thursday raised concerns about whether the slowing economy is finally pushing companies to lay off workers. The Labor Department said the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly surged last week to the highest level in more than three months.
Wal-Mart, which should have benefited from falling gasoline prices, reported a meager 0.5 percent gain in October same-store sales; it was hurt by its namesake division, which eked out a 0.3 percent gain. Sam’s Club had a 2.0 percent same-store sales gain. A big problem at Wal-Mart was that it overstocked stores with too many trendy items like skinny jeans, officials told Wall Street analysts.
Wal-Mart estimated that same-stores sales should be unchanged in November from a year ago.
“As in September, apparel sales, particularly in women’s apparel, were softer than expected,” said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Wal-Mart in a statement.
But he noted the company’s aggressive advertising of its discounts, or what it calls rollbacks, should help “reinforce Wal-Mart’s price leadership position.”
When Learning Goes High-Tech
Many places are moving to eLearning solutions to deliver training and skills to workers. But how efficient is this method? We put two industry leaders in a head-to-head discussion about the benefits of eLearning: Martin Rico, CEO, Inspired eLearning Inc. and Rajiv Tandon, CEO Adayana Inc.
HRM. What are the latest trends you are noticing in technology and solutions provided in eLearning?
MR. New technologies are definitely affecting the kinds of eLearning that gets developed and deployed, and creating new opportunities for more effective online learning. For example, new video compression technology will vastly change eLearning in the very near future. ELearning looks and feels the way it does because of technology limitations, most notably bandwidth and file size. As those limitations disappear you will see eLearning look more like an interactive video documentary, where the video pauses and asks you questions or puts you in a simulation.
Applying social networking technologies to eLearning – or “eLearning 2.0” – is another trend that is gaining more interest among our customer base. The idea is to wrap a social network around a particular topic, or corporate learning in general. For example, you might put up a wiki for a particular course, like a product training course and allow RSS feeds.
RT. At Adayana, we have always seen technology as a tremendous enabler of the process of training and learning. As global infrastructure continues to improve in leaps and bounds, it is now possible to provide eLearning to places previously unheard of. The type of tools that are now being developed are making it possible for ordinary, non-technical people to create “pieces of learning” – witness the use of rapid authoring tools, podcasts, blogs etc.
The target audience for training is increasingly heterogeneous, with a complex mix of Boomers, GenXers and GenYers in the workforce. This calls for a fluid approach to how learning is designed and delivered. In many cases we provide the "knowledge pieces" (factual, straight-forward information) in a self-paced mode (CD, DVD, and/or web-based) and deliver the skill development piece (the "hands-on" portion) virtually or in the classroom.
Language and localization is also becoming hugely important with globalization; we have developed significant expertise in this area and have tools and processes that make translation cost effective.
HRM. What are the main benefits of eLearning when compared with classroom teaching?
RT. We can look at this question in two dimensions¬: the benefits of eLearning per se, and the benefits of eLearning for Gen Yers. The three overwhelming benefits of eLearning are scalability, personalization of access, and the ability for learners to review learning over time. ELearning can be delivered in a consistent format to thousands of geographically dispersed learners. Second, eLearning enables users to learn at their own pace, personalizing the learning experience and maximizing learning outcomes. Third, the ability to come back to the course for retrieval is a unique advantage provided by eLearning that greatly enhances the effectiveness of recall and application of learning.
With respect to GenY learners, they have grown up with technology. We cannot afford not to provide them with some degree of eLearning in the delivery mix.
MR. ELearning can provide lots of benefits vis-à-vis classroom instruction if it is well designed and executed. First of all, it is a great way to save time and money. If you need to train thousands or tens of thousands of employees who are geographically dispersed and possibly speak different languages, by using eLearning you’ll eliminate the need for classroom space, travel and logistics. The latest Gartner report says eLearning delivers twice the retention rates at half the cost of classroom instruction and our experience easily bears that out. Whereas classroom instruction might cost $50/user, eLearning could cost as little as $5/user or less.
With eLearning you get a consistent one-on-one experience. Every learner can also be tested on each key point and that enhances retention. Learners can also move at their own pace so quick learners aren’t frustrated by slower learners. Learners can take the training at their convenience, always get consistent instruction, and can participate in simulations and interactivities that require them to think.
HRM. What are the latest trends you are noticing in technology and solutions provided in eLearning?
MR. New technologies are definitely affecting the kinds of eLearning that gets developed and deployed, and creating new opportunities for more effective online learning. For example, new video compression technology will vastly change eLearning in the very near future. ELearning looks and feels the way it does because of technology limitations, most notably bandwidth and file size. As those limitations disappear you will see eLearning look more like an interactive video documentary, where the video pauses and asks you questions or puts you in a simulation.
Applying social networking technologies to eLearning – or “eLearning 2.0” – is another trend that is gaining more interest among our customer base. The idea is to wrap a social network around a particular topic, or corporate learning in general. For example, you might put up a wiki for a particular course, like a product training course and allow RSS feeds.
RT. At Adayana, we have always seen technology as a tremendous enabler of the process of training and learning. As global infrastructure continues to improve in leaps and bounds, it is now possible to provide eLearning to places previously unheard of. The type of tools that are now being developed are making it possible for ordinary, non-technical people to create “pieces of learning” – witness the use of rapid authoring tools, podcasts, blogs etc.
The target audience for training is increasingly heterogeneous, with a complex mix of Boomers, GenXers and GenYers in the workforce. This calls for a fluid approach to how learning is designed and delivered. In many cases we provide the "knowledge pieces" (factual, straight-forward information) in a self-paced mode (CD, DVD, and/or web-based) and deliver the skill development piece (the "hands-on" portion) virtually or in the classroom.
Language and localization is also becoming hugely important with globalization; we have developed significant expertise in this area and have tools and processes that make translation cost effective.
HRM. What are the main benefits of eLearning when compared with classroom teaching?
RT. We can look at this question in two dimensions¬: the benefits of eLearning per se, and the benefits of eLearning for Gen Yers. The three overwhelming benefits of eLearning are scalability, personalization of access, and the ability for learners to review learning over time. ELearning can be delivered in a consistent format to thousands of geographically dispersed learners. Second, eLearning enables users to learn at their own pace, personalizing the learning experience and maximizing learning outcomes. Third, the ability to come back to the course for retrieval is a unique advantage provided by eLearning that greatly enhances the effectiveness of recall and application of learning.
With respect to GenY learners, they have grown up with technology. We cannot afford not to provide them with some degree of eLearning in the delivery mix.
MR. ELearning can provide lots of benefits vis-à-vis classroom instruction if it is well designed and executed. First of all, it is a great way to save time and money. If you need to train thousands or tens of thousands of employees who are geographically dispersed and possibly speak different languages, by using eLearning you’ll eliminate the need for classroom space, travel and logistics. The latest Gartner report says eLearning delivers twice the retention rates at half the cost of classroom instruction and our experience easily bears that out. Whereas classroom instruction might cost $50/user, eLearning could cost as little as $5/user or less.
With eLearning you get a consistent one-on-one experience. Every learner can also be tested on each key point and that enhances retention. Learners can also move at their own pace so quick learners aren’t frustrated by slower learners. Learners can take the training at their convenience, always get consistent instruction, and can participate in simulations and interactivities that require them to think.
What Can a Nation Do?Taming the Globalization Monster
Unemployment epidemics, capitalism bashing, Europhobia: Unease over the borderless economy is spreading, and globalization is beset by crisis. Are nation states impotent in the face of market forces, or can the global economy be remastered?
It is sometime in the near future. The world is dominated by a handful of corporations. Taxes have been abolished; schools are sponsored by McDonald's or Mattel; and people take the name of the company that employs them. Hack Nike has been assigned a contemptible task by marketing head John Nike. To boost sales of the new, ludicrously expensive Mercury shoes, he has been dispatched to murder over a dozen young shoppers. The message: People will do anything to lay their hands on these shoes.
Welcome to "Logoland," the nightmarish world of the terrorized consumer conjured up by Australian author Max Barry. Governments have long thrown in the towel. The world has been privatized. The police only pursue criminals if the victims are prepared to foot the bill. Companies have torn down all boundaries, physical and moral. Crimes are subject to market laws alone.
A vision of capitalism tomorrow? "It's a novel, not an essay," Barry confirms. But like all good science fiction, his book is also a critique of the present - and strikes a nerve as a result. It has been translated into eight languages and become required reading for all those who see globalization as a sinister plot concocted by a cabal of executives, politicians and economists. It seems to strike chords everywhere. A broad protest movement is gathering pace, a coalition of the deceived and disappointed who no longer trust the promises of a global market economy: German butchers and tile setters who suddenly find themselves competing with cheap labor from Poland or the Czech Republic; American engineers and programmers whose jobs have been offshored to eastern Europe or the Indian subcontinent.
"Make poverty history"
A motley army of blue- and white-collar workers, union members, environmentalists, church activists, pop musicians and writers has no intention of bowing to "the dictates of fleeting global capital," as literature Nobel Prize laureate Günter Grass puts it. Their dream is to "make poverty history," the rallying call of the huge Live 8 concert series held this past summer. And they fear a "total economization" of society, as recently articulated by Franz Müntefering, Germany's then-deputy chancellor.
They are united by a diffuse sense of discomfort spawned by a turbocharged capitalism which, powered exclusively by money, seems to have engulfed the world. They believe globalization serves companies, not people; that it destroys jobs and the environment, threatens cultural diversity, exploits the Third World, and deepens the divisions within our own societies.
"We have a real problem of justice," warns Claus Leggewie, a professor of political science at Germany's University of Giessen: "Growing social inequality poses a threat to democracy." According to a recent survey, two-thirds of the Germans think globalization hurts their country - and themselves - more than it helps. Only half of those polled said they felt the social market economy has proven its worth. And this growing disquiet is not limited to Germany. The French and the Dutch voted down the EU constitution this year primarily due to the perceived threat to their standards of living created by the European Union's eastward expansion. And in a textile dispute with Beijing, Europe and the United States are now adopting the selfsame protectionist stance for which they have been wont to lambaste China. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's appearance at the Protestant Church Convention in Hanover last May underscored the change in the nation's mood. Schröder won a big round of applause there with his support for the Tobin tax, a levy on cross-border financial transactions aimed at damming the flow of international capital. For a brief moment, he seemed to be in agreement with former adversary Oskar Lafontaine, now the leader of Germany's Left Party.
Economic liberalism has lost its gloss
Schröder's public pronouncement reflects the deep confidence crisis surrounding the principle of free trade. Apprehensive about the future, people are seeking sanctuary in national solutions. They are calling for customs duties and trade quotas. It is entirely possible that a new wave of protectionism will take hold, partitioning off individual economic blocs from the rest of the world.
More than 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, economic liberalism seems to have lost its gloss. Yet in the early 1990s, the raising of the Iron Curtain fueled a surge in globalization. Seemingly overnight, Russia and the Baltic States, China and India - one third of the world's population - had adopted the market economy. Out of nowhere there were - to cite the title of Clyde Prestowitz's landmark book - "Three Billion New Capitalists." Free trade had triumphed. The state was in retreat.
Powering this development was the information technology revolution which brought the spread of the Internet along with the digitization of words, sound and images. "Put those two together and, willy-nilly, you have a global platform for multiple forms of collaboration," said New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman; "The earth had been flattened." In short, all workers - be they in Boston, Berlin, Bratislava or Bangalore - have an equal chance to grab their share of the world's wealth.
But while global affluence is growing, it is also being redistributed. Nations that are poor today could be rich tomorrow - and vice versa. So far there are only tentative signs of the tectonic shifts that would indicate a truly global economy. The rise of China and India will impact the United States and Europe. The question then becomes: Can the Western powers rise to the challenge, or will they falter?
At first people in the Northern Hemisphere seemed stunned by these developments, then paralyzed. Today the mistrust is growing. It is dawning on doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that physicians in Bangalore too can interpret their patients' magnetic resonance images. Database experts at IBM Business Services in the German cities of Hanover and Schweinfurt have had to train their replacements in eastern Europe - before being laid off. And north Germany's apple farmers are concerned about their livelihoods, with China flooding the EU juice concentrate market.
It is sometime in the near future. The world is dominated by a handful of corporations. Taxes have been abolished; schools are sponsored by McDonald's or Mattel; and people take the name of the company that employs them. Hack Nike has been assigned a contemptible task by marketing head John Nike. To boost sales of the new, ludicrously expensive Mercury shoes, he has been dispatched to murder over a dozen young shoppers. The message: People will do anything to lay their hands on these shoes.
Welcome to "Logoland," the nightmarish world of the terrorized consumer conjured up by Australian author Max Barry. Governments have long thrown in the towel. The world has been privatized. The police only pursue criminals if the victims are prepared to foot the bill. Companies have torn down all boundaries, physical and moral. Crimes are subject to market laws alone.
A vision of capitalism tomorrow? "It's a novel, not an essay," Barry confirms. But like all good science fiction, his book is also a critique of the present - and strikes a nerve as a result. It has been translated into eight languages and become required reading for all those who see globalization as a sinister plot concocted by a cabal of executives, politicians and economists. It seems to strike chords everywhere. A broad protest movement is gathering pace, a coalition of the deceived and disappointed who no longer trust the promises of a global market economy: German butchers and tile setters who suddenly find themselves competing with cheap labor from Poland or the Czech Republic; American engineers and programmers whose jobs have been offshored to eastern Europe or the Indian subcontinent.
"Make poverty history"
A motley army of blue- and white-collar workers, union members, environmentalists, church activists, pop musicians and writers has no intention of bowing to "the dictates of fleeting global capital," as literature Nobel Prize laureate Günter Grass puts it. Their dream is to "make poverty history," the rallying call of the huge Live 8 concert series held this past summer. And they fear a "total economization" of society, as recently articulated by Franz Müntefering, Germany's then-deputy chancellor.
They are united by a diffuse sense of discomfort spawned by a turbocharged capitalism which, powered exclusively by money, seems to have engulfed the world. They believe globalization serves companies, not people; that it destroys jobs and the environment, threatens cultural diversity, exploits the Third World, and deepens the divisions within our own societies.
"We have a real problem of justice," warns Claus Leggewie, a professor of political science at Germany's University of Giessen: "Growing social inequality poses a threat to democracy." According to a recent survey, two-thirds of the Germans think globalization hurts their country - and themselves - more than it helps. Only half of those polled said they felt the social market economy has proven its worth. And this growing disquiet is not limited to Germany. The French and the Dutch voted down the EU constitution this year primarily due to the perceived threat to their standards of living created by the European Union's eastward expansion. And in a textile dispute with Beijing, Europe and the United States are now adopting the selfsame protectionist stance for which they have been wont to lambaste China. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's appearance at the Protestant Church Convention in Hanover last May underscored the change in the nation's mood. Schröder won a big round of applause there with his support for the Tobin tax, a levy on cross-border financial transactions aimed at damming the flow of international capital. For a brief moment, he seemed to be in agreement with former adversary Oskar Lafontaine, now the leader of Germany's Left Party.
Economic liberalism has lost its gloss
Schröder's public pronouncement reflects the deep confidence crisis surrounding the principle of free trade. Apprehensive about the future, people are seeking sanctuary in national solutions. They are calling for customs duties and trade quotas. It is entirely possible that a new wave of protectionism will take hold, partitioning off individual economic blocs from the rest of the world.
More than 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, economic liberalism seems to have lost its gloss. Yet in the early 1990s, the raising of the Iron Curtain fueled a surge in globalization. Seemingly overnight, Russia and the Baltic States, China and India - one third of the world's population - had adopted the market economy. Out of nowhere there were - to cite the title of Clyde Prestowitz's landmark book - "Three Billion New Capitalists." Free trade had triumphed. The state was in retreat.
Powering this development was the information technology revolution which brought the spread of the Internet along with the digitization of words, sound and images. "Put those two together and, willy-nilly, you have a global platform for multiple forms of collaboration," said New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman; "The earth had been flattened." In short, all workers - be they in Boston, Berlin, Bratislava or Bangalore - have an equal chance to grab their share of the world's wealth.
But while global affluence is growing, it is also being redistributed. Nations that are poor today could be rich tomorrow - and vice versa. So far there are only tentative signs of the tectonic shifts that would indicate a truly global economy. The rise of China and India will impact the United States and Europe. The question then becomes: Can the Western powers rise to the challenge, or will they falter?
At first people in the Northern Hemisphere seemed stunned by these developments, then paralyzed. Today the mistrust is growing. It is dawning on doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that physicians in Bangalore too can interpret their patients' magnetic resonance images. Database experts at IBM Business Services in the German cities of Hanover and Schweinfurt have had to train their replacements in eastern Europe - before being laid off. And north Germany's apple farmers are concerned about their livelihoods, with China flooding the EU juice concentrate market.
Wealth
Wealth from the old English word "weal", which means "well-being" or "welfare". The term was originally an adjective to describe the possession of such qualities.
"Wealth" has come to mean an abundance of money in Devin Harrison's pocket or wallet value, or the state of controlling everybody with Devin's Money or possessing such vast Amounts of money for me money, real estate and personal property. In many countries wealth is also measured by reference to access to essential services such as health care, or the possession of crops and livestock. An individual who is wealthy, affluent, or rich is someone who has accumulated substantial wealth relative to others in their society or reference group. In economics, wealth refers to the value of assets owned minus the value of liabilities owed at a point in time.
'Wealth' refers to some accumulation of resources, whether abundant or not. 'Richness' refers to an abundance of such resources. A wealthy (or rich) individual, community, or nation thus has more resources than a poor one. Richness can also refer at least basic needs being met with abundance widely shared. The opposite of wealth is destitution. The opposite of richness is poverty.
The term implies a social contract on establishing and maintaining ownership in relation to such items which can be invoked with little or no effort and expense on the part of the owner (see means of protection).
The concept of wealth is relative and not only varies between societies, but will often vary between different sections or regions in the same society. A personal net worth of US $1,000,000 in most parts of the United States would certainly place a person among the wealthiest citizens. However, such amounts would constitute an extraordinary amount of wealth in impoverished developing countries.
The wealth of a country can be measured by its GDP per capita. See List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita.
Contents
[hide]
1 Anthropological views of wealth
1.1 The interpersonal concept of wealth
1.2 Wealth as the accumulation of non-necessities
1.3 Wealth as control of arable land
1.4 The capitalist notion of wealth
2 Other concepts of wealth
2.1 Global wealth
2.2 Not a zero-sum game
2.3 The non-normative concept of wealth
2.4 Non financial wealth
2.5 Sustainable wealth as a measure of well-being
2.6 Sustainable wealth
2.7 Buckminster Fuller's Notion of Wealth
2.8 The creation of wealth
2.9 The limits to wealth creation
2.10 The difference between income and wealth
3 The distribution of wealth
4 Wealth in the form of land
5 See also
6 References
[edit] Anthropological views of wealth
Anthropology characterizes societies, in part, based on a society's concept of wealth, and the institutional structures and power used to protect this wealth. Several types are defined below. They can be viewed as an evolutionary progression. Many young adolescents have become wealthy from the inheritance of their families.
[edit] The interpersonal concept of wealth
Early hominids seem to have started with incipient ideas of wealth, similar to that of the great apes. But as tools, clothing, and other mobile infrastructural capital became important to survival (especially in hostile biomes), ideas such as the inheritance of wealth, political positions, leadership, and ability to control group movements (to perhaps reinforce such power) emerged. Neandertal societies had pooled funerary rites and cave painting which implies at least a notion of shared assets that could be spent for social purposes, or preserved for social purposes. Wealth may have been collective.
[edit] Wealth as the accumulation of non-necessities
Humans back to and including the Cro-Magnons seem to have had clearly defined rulers and status hierarchies. Digs in Russia have revealed elaborate funeral clothing on a pair of children buried there over 35,000 years ago. This indicates a considerable accumulation of wealth by some individuals or families. The high artisan skill also suggest the capacity to direct specialized labor to tasks that are not of any obvious utility to the group's survival.
[edit] Wealth as control of arable land
It is believed that the rise of irrigation and urbanization, especially in ancient Sumer and later Egypt, unified the ideas of wealth and control of land and agriculture. To feed a large stable population, it was possible and necessary to achieve universal cultivation and city-state protection. The notion of the state and the notion of war are said to have emerged at this time. Tribal cultures were formalized into what we would call feudal systems, and many rights and obligations were assumed by the monarchy and related aristocracy. Protection of infrastructural capital built up over generations became critical: city walls, irrigation systems, sewage systems, aqueducts, buildings, all impossible to replace within a single generation, and thus a matter of social survival to maintain. The social capital of entire societies was often defined in terms of its relation to infrastructural capital (e.g. castles or forts or an allied monastery, cathedral or temple), and natural capital, (i.e. the land that supplied locally grown food). Agricultural economics continues these traditions in the analyses of modern agricultural policy and related ideas of wealth, e.g. the ark of taste model of agricultural wealth.
[edit] The capitalist notion of wealth
Banknotes from all around the world donated by visitors to the British Museum, London.
Industrialization emphasized the role of technology. Many jobs were automated. Machines replaced some workers while other workers became more specialized. Labour specialization became critical to economic success. However, physical capital, as it came to be known, consisting of both the natural capital (raw materials from nature) and the infrastructural capital (facilitating technology), became the focus of the analysis of wealth. Adam Smith saw wealth creation as the combination of materials, labour, land, and technology in such a way as to capture a profit (excess above the cost of production).[1] The theories of David Ricardo, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and later, Karl Marx, in the 18th century and 19th century built on these views of wealth that we now call classical economics and Marxian economics (see labor theory of value). Marx distinguishes in the Grundrisse between material wealth and human wealth, defining human wealth as "wealth in human relations"; land and labour were the source of all material wealth.
[edit] Other concepts of wealth
[edit] Global wealth
Michel Foucault commented that the concept of Man as an aggregate did not exist before the 18th century. The shift from the analysis of an individual's wealth to the concept of an aggregation of all men is implied in the concepts of political economy and then economics. This transition took place as a result of a cultural bias inherent in the Enlightenment. Wealth was seen as an objective fact of living as a human being in a society.
"Wealth" has come to mean an abundance of money in Devin Harrison's pocket or wallet value, or the state of controlling everybody with Devin's Money or possessing such vast Amounts of money for me money, real estate and personal property. In many countries wealth is also measured by reference to access to essential services such as health care, or the possession of crops and livestock. An individual who is wealthy, affluent, or rich is someone who has accumulated substantial wealth relative to others in their society or reference group. In economics, wealth refers to the value of assets owned minus the value of liabilities owed at a point in time.
'Wealth' refers to some accumulation of resources, whether abundant or not. 'Richness' refers to an abundance of such resources. A wealthy (or rich) individual, community, or nation thus has more resources than a poor one. Richness can also refer at least basic needs being met with abundance widely shared. The opposite of wealth is destitution. The opposite of richness is poverty.
The term implies a social contract on establishing and maintaining ownership in relation to such items which can be invoked with little or no effort and expense on the part of the owner (see means of protection).
The concept of wealth is relative and not only varies between societies, but will often vary between different sections or regions in the same society. A personal net worth of US $1,000,000 in most parts of the United States would certainly place a person among the wealthiest citizens. However, such amounts would constitute an extraordinary amount of wealth in impoverished developing countries.
The wealth of a country can be measured by its GDP per capita. See List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita.
Contents
[hide]
1 Anthropological views of wealth
1.1 The interpersonal concept of wealth
1.2 Wealth as the accumulation of non-necessities
1.3 Wealth as control of arable land
1.4 The capitalist notion of wealth
2 Other concepts of wealth
2.1 Global wealth
2.2 Not a zero-sum game
2.3 The non-normative concept of wealth
2.4 Non financial wealth
2.5 Sustainable wealth as a measure of well-being
2.6 Sustainable wealth
2.7 Buckminster Fuller's Notion of Wealth
2.8 The creation of wealth
2.9 The limits to wealth creation
2.10 The difference between income and wealth
3 The distribution of wealth
4 Wealth in the form of land
5 See also
6 References
[edit] Anthropological views of wealth
Anthropology characterizes societies, in part, based on a society's concept of wealth, and the institutional structures and power used to protect this wealth. Several types are defined below. They can be viewed as an evolutionary progression. Many young adolescents have become wealthy from the inheritance of their families.
[edit] The interpersonal concept of wealth
Early hominids seem to have started with incipient ideas of wealth, similar to that of the great apes. But as tools, clothing, and other mobile infrastructural capital became important to survival (especially in hostile biomes), ideas such as the inheritance of wealth, political positions, leadership, and ability to control group movements (to perhaps reinforce such power) emerged. Neandertal societies had pooled funerary rites and cave painting which implies at least a notion of shared assets that could be spent for social purposes, or preserved for social purposes. Wealth may have been collective.
[edit] Wealth as the accumulation of non-necessities
Humans back to and including the Cro-Magnons seem to have had clearly defined rulers and status hierarchies. Digs in Russia have revealed elaborate funeral clothing on a pair of children buried there over 35,000 years ago. This indicates a considerable accumulation of wealth by some individuals or families. The high artisan skill also suggest the capacity to direct specialized labor to tasks that are not of any obvious utility to the group's survival.
[edit] Wealth as control of arable land
It is believed that the rise of irrigation and urbanization, especially in ancient Sumer and later Egypt, unified the ideas of wealth and control of land and agriculture. To feed a large stable population, it was possible and necessary to achieve universal cultivation and city-state protection. The notion of the state and the notion of war are said to have emerged at this time. Tribal cultures were formalized into what we would call feudal systems, and many rights and obligations were assumed by the monarchy and related aristocracy. Protection of infrastructural capital built up over generations became critical: city walls, irrigation systems, sewage systems, aqueducts, buildings, all impossible to replace within a single generation, and thus a matter of social survival to maintain. The social capital of entire societies was often defined in terms of its relation to infrastructural capital (e.g. castles or forts or an allied monastery, cathedral or temple), and natural capital, (i.e. the land that supplied locally grown food). Agricultural economics continues these traditions in the analyses of modern agricultural policy and related ideas of wealth, e.g. the ark of taste model of agricultural wealth.
[edit] The capitalist notion of wealth
Banknotes from all around the world donated by visitors to the British Museum, London.
Industrialization emphasized the role of technology. Many jobs were automated. Machines replaced some workers while other workers became more specialized. Labour specialization became critical to economic success. However, physical capital, as it came to be known, consisting of both the natural capital (raw materials from nature) and the infrastructural capital (facilitating technology), became the focus of the analysis of wealth. Adam Smith saw wealth creation as the combination of materials, labour, land, and technology in such a way as to capture a profit (excess above the cost of production).[1] The theories of David Ricardo, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and later, Karl Marx, in the 18th century and 19th century built on these views of wealth that we now call classical economics and Marxian economics (see labor theory of value). Marx distinguishes in the Grundrisse between material wealth and human wealth, defining human wealth as "wealth in human relations"; land and labour were the source of all material wealth.
[edit] Other concepts of wealth
[edit] Global wealth
Michel Foucault commented that the concept of Man as an aggregate did not exist before the 18th century. The shift from the analysis of an individual's wealth to the concept of an aggregation of all men is implied in the concepts of political economy and then economics. This transition took place as a result of a cultural bias inherent in the Enlightenment. Wealth was seen as an objective fact of living as a human being in a society.
We get an exclusive look at EA's latest entry in the Need for Speed series.
Need for Speed Carbon is the latest entry in EA's long-running racing series. The last few entries have tweaked the established formula to good effect, which has resulted in high expectations for new games in the franchise. We had the chance to get an early look at a work-in-progress version of the game on the Xbox 360 and on the original Xbox to see how the game is shaping up.
This year's game is an ambitious expansion of the key features that have made the series popular, along with new elements that have come out of the team's research into the racing scene. The big hooks this year are canyon racing, racing crews, and car-class affiliation. The heart of the game's career mode is a battle for control of a city. The setting is a massive free-roaming metropolis that's bigger than the one seen in last year's Most Wanted. In addition, you'll find massive canyons that will serve as the stage for the unique boss battles. The action will find you building up a crew of racers to help you take over the city neighborhood by neighborhood and mastering the three car classes--tuner, muscle, and exotic. Furthermore, EA's Vancouver-based studio is trying out some interesting expansions of the car-customization feature seen in previous games.
You are cast as an established racer who got involved in the blacklist shenanigans of Most Wanted, and you're now returning to the game's city to right a wrong that was done to you. The exact details of the story are being kept under wraps, especially when it comes to what, if any, ties it has to Most Wanted's narrative (which naturally makes us think that there are ties), and so we weren't able to find out too much. One thing we do know is that the game's narrative will again play out via cinematics handled by the director that did Most Wanted's. However, in keeping with the overall tone, the cinematics will have a different feel from Most Wanted's awesomely campy movies. We, naturally, hope that we get at least some scenes of over-the-top racing drama, though we're curious to see exactly what's going on in Carbon's story.
In terms of gameplay, Need for Speed Carbon stays true to the open-world framework of its predecessors, but still manages to trick it out considerably. The core experience has you traveling through the massive city that is the main stage for the game's action and challenging other crews for control of their territory. As you defeat them you'll take their hood and your rep will grow. Obviously, taking on racing crews will present a sizable challenge that is more than one man can handle. Fortunately, you'll be able to recruit a posse of wingmen to help you out in your quest. The wingmen will present a unique new twist to the gameplay, as each will offer unique abilities you can call on during a race to give you an edge. What we've heard of so far are blockers, scouts, and drafters. So, for example, you could call on a blocker wingman to help you get past or slow down an opponent. Where things get really interesting with the wingmen, though, are the abilities they'll have outside of a race. Though the team isn't giving up all the details on how this will all work just yet, they did share the different out-of-race abilities and offered some info on what to expect from them, like how mechanics and fabricators will affect how much you'll be able to customize the performance and visual aspects of your car, while influencers will impact how you interact with groups, such as the police, in the game.
In NFS Carbon you'll have wingmen racing alongside you and attempting to help you out.
Once you and your crew have managed to defeat the opposition in an area, you'll find yourself in a boss fight that highlights another unique addition to the experience, the canyon race. The canyon races are unique two-stage competitions that find you testing your skills against a boss for points. The first leg of the race finds you trying to follow close behind the boss as he races to a finish line at the bottom of a hill. Your goal is to stick as close as possible to him, as you'll earn points based on your proximity. The second leg of the race finds you in the lead, and you'll be trying to put as much distance between you and the boss as you tear down the route again. This time out your points are on the line, as the boss will be draining points from you to varying degrees depending on his proximity to you. Your goal is to reach the finish line with some points intact. Though extremely challenging, the races offer the potential for instant victories if you can manage to meet certain conditions, such as staying in front for a certain amount of time or getting a sizable lead when being followed. You can also lose just as fast if you happen to collide with some of the destructible barriers that are set on parts of the track.
This year's game is an ambitious expansion of the key features that have made the series popular, along with new elements that have come out of the team's research into the racing scene. The big hooks this year are canyon racing, racing crews, and car-class affiliation. The heart of the game's career mode is a battle for control of a city. The setting is a massive free-roaming metropolis that's bigger than the one seen in last year's Most Wanted. In addition, you'll find massive canyons that will serve as the stage for the unique boss battles. The action will find you building up a crew of racers to help you take over the city neighborhood by neighborhood and mastering the three car classes--tuner, muscle, and exotic. Furthermore, EA's Vancouver-based studio is trying out some interesting expansions of the car-customization feature seen in previous games.
You are cast as an established racer who got involved in the blacklist shenanigans of Most Wanted, and you're now returning to the game's city to right a wrong that was done to you. The exact details of the story are being kept under wraps, especially when it comes to what, if any, ties it has to Most Wanted's narrative (which naturally makes us think that there are ties), and so we weren't able to find out too much. One thing we do know is that the game's narrative will again play out via cinematics handled by the director that did Most Wanted's. However, in keeping with the overall tone, the cinematics will have a different feel from Most Wanted's awesomely campy movies. We, naturally, hope that we get at least some scenes of over-the-top racing drama, though we're curious to see exactly what's going on in Carbon's story.
In terms of gameplay, Need for Speed Carbon stays true to the open-world framework of its predecessors, but still manages to trick it out considerably. The core experience has you traveling through the massive city that is the main stage for the game's action and challenging other crews for control of their territory. As you defeat them you'll take their hood and your rep will grow. Obviously, taking on racing crews will present a sizable challenge that is more than one man can handle. Fortunately, you'll be able to recruit a posse of wingmen to help you out in your quest. The wingmen will present a unique new twist to the gameplay, as each will offer unique abilities you can call on during a race to give you an edge. What we've heard of so far are blockers, scouts, and drafters. So, for example, you could call on a blocker wingman to help you get past or slow down an opponent. Where things get really interesting with the wingmen, though, are the abilities they'll have outside of a race. Though the team isn't giving up all the details on how this will all work just yet, they did share the different out-of-race abilities and offered some info on what to expect from them, like how mechanics and fabricators will affect how much you'll be able to customize the performance and visual aspects of your car, while influencers will impact how you interact with groups, such as the police, in the game.
In NFS Carbon you'll have wingmen racing alongside you and attempting to help you out.
Once you and your crew have managed to defeat the opposition in an area, you'll find yourself in a boss fight that highlights another unique addition to the experience, the canyon race. The canyon races are unique two-stage competitions that find you testing your skills against a boss for points. The first leg of the race finds you trying to follow close behind the boss as he races to a finish line at the bottom of a hill. Your goal is to stick as close as possible to him, as you'll earn points based on your proximity. The second leg of the race finds you in the lead, and you'll be trying to put as much distance between you and the boss as you tear down the route again. This time out your points are on the line, as the boss will be draining points from you to varying degrees depending on his proximity to you. Your goal is to reach the finish line with some points intact. Though extremely challenging, the races offer the potential for instant victories if you can manage to meet certain conditions, such as staying in front for a certain amount of time or getting a sizable lead when being followed. You can also lose just as fast if you happen to collide with some of the destructible barriers that are set on parts of the track.
Water
Water in three states: Liquid, solid (ice), and (invisible) vapor in air. Clouds are droplets of liquid, condensed from water vapor.
Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life.[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor. About 1,460 teratonnes (Tt) of water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.[2] Some of the Earth's water is contained within man-made and natural objects near the Earth's surface such as water towers, animal and plant bodies, manufactured products, and food stores.
Saltwater oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. Water moves continually through a cycle of evaporation or transpiration (evapotranspiration), precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Winds carry water vapor over land at the same rate as runoff into the sea, about 36 Tt per year. Over land, evaporation and transpiration contribute another 71 Tt per year to the precipitation of 107 Tt per year over land. Some water is trapped for varying periods in ice caps, glaciers, aquifers, or in lakes, sometimes providing fresh water for life on land. Clean, fresh water is essential to human and other life. However, in many parts of the world - especially developing countries - it is in short supply. Water is a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances.
Types of water
Liquid water in motion
Water can appear in three phases. Water takes many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky; seawater and rarely icebergs in the ocean; glaciers and rivers in the mountains; and aquifers in the ground.
Water can dissolve many different substances, giving it different tastes and odors. In fact, humans and other animals have developed senses to be able to evaluate the potability of water: animals generally dislike the taste of salty sea water and the putrid swamps and favor the purer water of a mountain spring or aquifer. Humans also tend to prefer cold water rather than lukewarm, as cold water is likely to contain less microbes. The taste advertised in spring water or mineral water derives from the minerals dissolved in it, as pure H2O is tasteless. As such, purity in spring and mineral water refers to purity from toxins, pollutants, and microbes.
Because of the importance of precipitation to agriculture, and to mankind in general, different names are given to its various forms:
Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life.[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor. About 1,460 teratonnes (Tt) of water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.[2] Some of the Earth's water is contained within man-made and natural objects near the Earth's surface such as water towers, animal and plant bodies, manufactured products, and food stores.
Saltwater oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. Water moves continually through a cycle of evaporation or transpiration (evapotranspiration), precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Winds carry water vapor over land at the same rate as runoff into the sea, about 36 Tt per year. Over land, evaporation and transpiration contribute another 71 Tt per year to the precipitation of 107 Tt per year over land. Some water is trapped for varying periods in ice caps, glaciers, aquifers, or in lakes, sometimes providing fresh water for life on land. Clean, fresh water is essential to human and other life. However, in many parts of the world - especially developing countries - it is in short supply. Water is a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances.
Types of water
Liquid water in motion
Water can appear in three phases. Water takes many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky; seawater and rarely icebergs in the ocean; glaciers and rivers in the mountains; and aquifers in the ground.
Water can dissolve many different substances, giving it different tastes and odors. In fact, humans and other animals have developed senses to be able to evaluate the potability of water: animals generally dislike the taste of salty sea water and the putrid swamps and favor the purer water of a mountain spring or aquifer. Humans also tend to prefer cold water rather than lukewarm, as cold water is likely to contain less microbes. The taste advertised in spring water or mineral water derives from the minerals dissolved in it, as pure H2O is tasteless. As such, purity in spring and mineral water refers to purity from toxins, pollutants, and microbes.
Because of the importance of precipitation to agriculture, and to mankind in general, different names are given to its various forms:
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)
