Tuesday 23 January 2007
War Trivia
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.
Business Trivia
In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it is smiling).
Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself."
Yahoo! - The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.
Xerox - The Greek root "xer" means dry. The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product Xerox as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying.
SUN Microsystems - Founded by four Stanford University buddies, Sun is the acronym for Stanford University Network.
Sony - From the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.
SAP - "Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by four ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone!
Oracle - Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or something such).
Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.
Microsoft - It was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.
Lotus - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from the lotus position or 'padmasana.' Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.
Hewlett-Packard - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing email via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for Hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casings.
Google - The name started as a jockey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google
Cisco - The name is not an acronym but an abbreviation of San Francisco. The company's logo reflects its San Francisco name heritage. It represents a stylized Golden Gate Bridge.
Apache - It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy' server - thus, the name Apache.
Adobe - The name came from the river Adobe Creek that ran behind
Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself."
Yahoo! - The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.
Xerox - The Greek root "xer" means dry. The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product Xerox as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying.
SUN Microsystems - Founded by four Stanford University buddies, Sun is the acronym for Stanford University Network.
Sony - From the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.
SAP - "Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by four ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone!
Oracle - Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or something such).
Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.
Microsoft - It was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.
Lotus - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from the lotus position or 'padmasana.' Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.
Hewlett-Packard - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing email via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for Hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casings.
Google - The name started as a jockey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google
Cisco - The name is not an acronym but an abbreviation of San Francisco. The company's logo reflects its San Francisco name heritage. It represents a stylized Golden Gate Bridge.
Apache - It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy' server - thus, the name Apache.
Adobe - The name came from the river Adobe Creek that ran behind
Movie Trivia
The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney
It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it
It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it
Language Trivia
The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate
Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan
Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan
Fashion Trivia
Men's shirts have the buttons on the right, but women's shirts have the buttons on the left
Legal Trivia
The 'v' in the name of a court case does not stand for 'versus', but for 'and' (in civil proceedings) or 'against' (in criminal proceedings)
Animal Trivia
Dalmatians are born without spots.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids
The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it's already been digested by a bee
Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks
When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red
The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot
Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids
The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it's already been digested by a bee
Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks
When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red
The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot
Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump
Automobile Trivia
The Mercedes-Benz motto is 'Das Beste oder Nichts' meaning 'the best or nothing'.
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor
Human body Trivia
If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.
The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.
The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones
When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red
Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die
Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples
The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting
Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body
The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air
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