2013 was a heck of a year. A lot has happened, for good and bad. We’ve said goodbye to some people that have shaped our world, have seen destruction and devestation by both nature and humans, and have seen some major changes take place in the world arena. All in all, a year heavy with significance, and here’s a short summary by Google to click it into place.
source:::::you tube
natarajan
People suffer from two types of agony – the first one can be allayed through others’ intercession and the second can be allayed only by your own effort. For instance, hunger and thirst can be overcome only when you eat or drink. However much others may eat, will it abate even an iota of your hunger? So too, if your wife, mother or son offers to take an injection on your behalf, can your illness be cured? The hunger and illness of your soul is also the same. You must help yourself. The illness you face today is due to some infection. Your illness is caused by the viruses of desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride, jealousy (Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Madha and Mathsarya). These viruses prevent your Divinity from shining forth; they cause discontent, worry, grief and pain. You can overcome them by manifesting your inner strength. Do not yield, fight them with the faith that you are eternal and unconquerable.
Riddles are a great way to use your rational thinking skills that may need some dusting off. Here are 10 difficult, but not impossible, riddles that may stump or surprise you!
1. Tom’s father has five children. Their names are John, Bill, Mary, and Sally. Who is his fifth child?
Tom
2. How can you make the number one disappear by adding to it?
By adding the letter ‘G’ to make the word ‘Gone’
3. Two girls ate dinner together. They both ordered ice tea. One girl drank the tea very fast and ordered five in the time it took the other to drink one. The girl who drank one died while the other survived. All of the drinks were poisoned. Why did the girl that drank more ice tea survive?
The poison was in the middle of the ice.
4. A criminal is brought to prison for major crimes. The warden informs him that he will be shot in the middle of the prison by 20 of his men. The prisoner is fine with that but he asks for some conditions “All of your men must stand 20 feet away from me, and I must be able to select where each one of them stands. If I survive, I get to leave”. The warden things this over long and hard and knows that all of his men will still have an open shot at the criminal, so he agrees. The next day immediately after the firing squad is positioned, the criminal walks away untouched. How did he survive?
He set up all of the warden’s men so that they are standing directly across from each other. None of them could fire at the criminal because they would risk hitting another man.
5. If it’s information you seek, come and see me. If it’s paird of letters you need, I have consecutively three. Who am I?
A bookkeeper.
6. Two men find an old gold coin and want to have a coin toss with it to decide who gets it. The only problem is that the coin is heavier on one side so it comes up heads more than tails. What is a fair way for the men to toss the coin and decide who gets the coin?
They just have to slip it twice. They call the first toss either heads or tails, then the next toss they automatically pick the opposite. If they both win one toss out of the two, they have to repeat it until one of them wins both tosses.
7. A town only has one barber, who is a male The barber only shaves all of the people who do not shave themselves. Who shaves the barber?
He doesn’t shave. Since he is only one to shave people but not people who shave themselves, it is impossible for him to be shaven.
8. We hurt without moving. we poison without touching. We bear the truth and the lies. We are not to be judged by our size. What are we?.
Words.
9. A smart landscaper is given the task of placing 4 trees so that they are all the same distance away from each other. How does he do this?
He puts the trees in a triangle then one on a hill in the middle (forming a tetrahedron).
10. There are six glasses in a row. The first three are filled with milk and the last three are empty. By moving only one glass, can you arrange them so that the full and the empty glasses alternate?
Pour one of the glasses of milk into an empty glass.
What’s Your Score?
0: Back to riddle school with you! Next time, try and think a bit more outside the box, we know you can do it!
1-3: You’re a novice riddler, who still misses most but is starting to grasp the basics of riddling.
4-6: You’re a riddler in the making, no doubt about it! Your ability to think outside the conventional answers is quite impressive, good for you!
7-10: Are you some kind of super riddler? How did you DO that?? We take our respective hats off before your mighty riddling powers, and can only hope you can teach us your clever, clever ways.
source::::: baba mail net
natarajan
1. Who won the Ramon Magsaysay award for Eminent Leadership in 2006?
2. Which cricketer’s nickname is “Hash”?
3. Name the new retail trade platform developed by Infosys in association with Proctor & Gamble.
4. Which popular tourist island would you be visiting if you land at the capital town of Denpasar, bargain for paintings at Ubud, play at the Kuta beach and while away the evening watching a Legong dance performance?
5. When Potti Sriramulu undertook a fast-unto-death for the creation of a separate Andhra state, which city did he demand be made the capital of the Andhra state?
6. In the 1920s, new airplanes allowed people to fly higher and farther. Many US Army Air Service pilots reported that the glare from the sun was causing headaches and altitude sickness. In 1929, a US Army Air Corps, Lieutenant General John MacCready, asked New York-based medical equipment manufacturer Bausch & Lomb to find a solution. What was it?
7. There have been only three recipients, all artistes, honoured with all the four civilian awards of India —Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shri. Two of them are Bismillah Khan and Bhimsen Joshi who was the third?
8. Which opening in chess is named after a 16th Century Spanish Monk who also wrote one of the first definitive books on modern chess?
Answers:
1. Arvind Kejriwal
2. Hashim Amla (full name: Memon Hashim Mohammad Amla)
3. TradeEdge
4. Bali
5. Madras
6. The Ray Ban Aviator sun-glasses
7. Satyajit Ray
8. Ruy Lopez Opening, named after Ruy Lopez De Segura
Tailpiece !!!!
Do you know how the company we know as Mahindra and Mahindra got its name?” Of course, I do not. The answer is: The company was originally Mahindra and Muhammed. But with Partition, Malik Ghulam Muhammed moved to Pakistan where he became its first finance minister. Back home Mahindra was left with heaps of stationery with M&M on it. Rather than throwing it all away, they decided to call themselves Mahindra and Mahindra!
source:::: Pankaja Srinivasan… in The Hindu… on Quiz Enthusiast couple from Coimbatore
Keywords: Priya Bhansali, Sheilendra Bhansali, quiz enthusiasts, Quiz Foundation, Coimbatore Quiz circle, quiz constests
natarajan
You must develop a sense of spiritual oneness. Out of that sense of oneness, love will grow. Love alone can bind the whole of humanity into one unit. What do you see in the precincts of Prashanthi Nilayam? People gather from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and all parts of the world. What has brought them together in this small village? It is only love and the sense of oneness shared with others. The bliss of life is embedded in love, and it gives you pure bliss. When your life dances on the waves of this love, it attains fulfillment. Love and Sacrifice (Prema and Thyaga) are the two most important ideals in life. Love all, even those who hate you. That is the index of your devotion. Peace, truth and love are inherent in every being. Why do you search for them outside? Manifest these qualities which are within you. Cultivate forbearance and compassion. This is the way to foster the love principle
Myth: French toast was invented in France.
French toast was not invented in France. In fact, French toast was around long before France even existed as a country. The exact origins of French toast are unknown, but it isn’t surprising that humans seem to have come up with the recipe quickly, given that French toast is traditionally made out of stale bread. Bread has been a staple food for most cultures since food first began being prepared and, up until very recently, the vast majority of humans would have never dreamed of wasting any food; thus, one has to find a way to make stale bread palatable. Soaking it in milk and egg and then cooking it, seems logical enough, making a good tasty meal while not wasting any bread.
The earliest reference to doing just this dates all the way back to 4th century Rome, in a cookbook attributed to Apicius, and it is thought to predate this work by a good margin. This style of “French” toast was called Pan Dulcis. The Romans would take the bread and soak it in a milk and egg mixture, and then cook it, typically frying it in oil or butter, pretty much just like it’s made today in many countries in the world.
This practice became common throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, including making it primarily out of stale bread. Indeed, the name for French toast in France itself is “pain perdu”, which literally means “lost bread” (it is also called this in Belgium, New Orleans, Acadiana, Newfoundland, and the Congo, among other places). It’s interesting to note, for the naysayers who like to cling to the belief that it came from France, that before the French called it pain perdu, they called it “pain a la Romaine” (Roman bread).
Another popular myth as to the origins of the name “French toast”, perpetuated in such publications asWhy Do Donuts Have Holes, is that French toast actually came from America, specifically, being created in 1724. The name “French” came from the chef who first made it, Joseph French. Supposedly, Mr. French was bad at grammar and when he named it, simply forgot the apostrophe, as in: Frenchs toast, instead of French’s toast. Alas, if only the Grammar Nazis of the day would have correct him.
This story, of course, is pure fiction as there are numerous references throughout history of what is now called, in North America, French toast. Indeed, there are numerous cookbooks from the middle ages throughout Europe that even give the classical recipes for French toast. Further, the name “French toast” pre-dates the 18th century, with the earliest references popping up in the mid-17th century, before the story of the grammatically inept Joesph French. Before that time, it was also known as German toast, Spanish toast, and a variety of other names, only some of which had anything to do with the name of a country.
North Americans call it French toast for very similar reasons as to why they call fried potato strips “French fries”. Simply that they were popularized in America by French immigrants. Note: for more on the fascinating history of the French Fry, check out Misconception Junction’s companion site Today I Found Out: The History of French Fries
source::::today i found out .com
natarajan
Today I found out what the “bee” in “spelling bee” means.
While no one knows exactly where the word derives from, the “bee” in “spelling bee” simply means something to the effect of “gathering” or “get together”. The earliest documented case of this word appearing with this meaning was in 1769, referring to a “spinning bee”, where people would gather to protest purchasing goods from Britain due to the high taxes on those items.
Other gatherings that were commonly labeled with “bee” were: apple bee, logging bee, quilting bee, barn bee, hanging bee, sewing bee, field bee, and corn husking bee, among others. Basically, any sort of major competition or work gathering, with a specific task in mind tended to get the “bee” label added on the end. With many of these bees being tedious work events, it was also customary to serve refreshments and provide entertainment at the end of the task.
The first documented case of a spelling bee called such was in 1825. However, it is likely that there were spelling bees before this date. This was simply the first time someone seems to have written down in print that has survived to today “spelling bee”.
There are a variety of theories as to where this word derives from. It was long thought that it simply came from the similarity between insect bees working together towards a specific task and a gathering of people to accomplish some task. However, this etymology has no specific documented evidence to support it; rather, simply stems from making a logical leap.
The popular theory among etymologists today is that it is more likely that the actual origin of “bee”, in the sense of “gathering”, derives from the Old English bēn (prayer / favor). This, in turn, gave rise to the Middle English “bene”, which had more or less the same meaning as bēn except now adding “an extra service by a tenant to his lord”. Finally, this resulted in “bean” meaning “help given by neighbors”. The British dialectic version of this word is then “bee”.
source:::: today i foundout .com
natarajan
The Riddle That 80% of Kindergartners Answered Correctly, but Only 17% of Stanford Seniors Got Right-Fiction!
e rumor…
A simple riddle with a simple answer that was allegedly reported on Paul Harvey…and that Kindergartners answered more correctly than university seniors.
The Truth
The riddle has been around for a long time, but there is no evidence that research was ever conducted on the comparative answers of Kindergartners and Stanford University seniors.
There is also no evidence that this was reported on Paul Harvey.
The riddle:
What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it,
The rich don’t need it, And if you eat it, you’ll die?
The answer to the riddle is “nothing.”
Nothing is greater than God.
Nothing is more evil than the Devil.
The poor have nothing.
The rich need nothing.
And if you eat nothing, you’ll die.
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:
Paul Harvey RIDDLE:
When asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer,
compared to 17% of Stanford University seniors.
What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it,
The rich need it, And if you eat it, you’ll die?
source ::::truth or fiction.com
natarajan
The word geek, once used as a slurto describe a person with unfashionable interests or a social misfit, has now been declared the ‘word of the year’ by the Collins online dictionary.
The dictionary has also changed the definition of geek to “a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a specific subject.”
Collins has already added ‘geekery’, ‘geek chic’ and ‘geekdom’ to the dictionary’s fold.
While ‘geek chic’ refers to a fashion style believed to be characteristic of geeks, ‘geekery’ means preoccupation with, or great knowledge about, a subject, according to the the dictionary.
“For those of us born into a pre-internet world ‘geek’ meant ‘a boring and unattractive social misfit – who tends to smell slightly gamey at close quarters,” the dictionary said on its website.
“But times change, even if we don’t change with them and what Collins first included as a secondary definition in 2003 – ‘A person who is preoccupied with or very knowledgeable about computing’ – has long since overtaken the original.
“Now the meaning has changed again and the new definition will read ‘a person who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a specific subject’,” Collins said on its website.
Last month, Oxford Dictionaries named selfie – “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website” as the word of the year.
Geek has seen an interesting transformation in meaning over the last couple of decades.
According to Oxford Dictionaries, the word used to be a cruel and critical label attached to clever, but socially awkward, people – such as computer or science geeks.
However, in the 1990s, the computer industry helped many geeks to achieve great success, and the wider perception of geeks began to shift.
Source: silicon india net
natarajan
|
Man can learn any number of good qualities from animals, birds, insects and worms. The animal, donkey is viewed with contempt. But the quality of patience to be found in a donkey is not found even in man. Whatever burdens may be heaped on its back, it bears them all with forbearance. Even when it is starved of food and water, it presents a calm face. Man has thus to learn the quality of forbearance from the donkey. The ant is one of the tiniest among insects. But the ant has a capacity for foresight; with foreknowledge of the rainy season ahead, it starts storing food from three months in advance. Then, there is the spider – Determination is one of its traits. How many times its web may be destroyed or broken, the spider will go on remaking it with relentless determination.
|
Take off with Natarajan 