Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Interesting Info

'Dreamt' is the only English word that ends in the letters 'mt'. ? (Are you doubting this?)

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

The sentence: 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' uses every letter of the alphabet. (Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right?)

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes) .. (Yep, I knew you were going to 'do' this one.)

There are only four words in the English language which end in 'dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. (You're not doubting this, are you?)

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.' (Yes, admit it, you are going to say, a e i o u)

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. (All you typists are going to test this out)

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. (Some days that's about what my memory span is.)

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years. (I know some people that could do this too.!)

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that also)

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. (Good thing he did that.)

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Standardized Charger

An employee of Japanese electronics giant Toshiba displays the company's Portege smart phone (right) and prototype of an external battery at the Wireless Japan exhibition in Tokyo, July 2007. Leading mobile phone makers had good news for anyone with a drawer or cupboard full of old phone chargers on Tuesday: the industry plans to standardise the device to make a one-size-fits-all.

Leading mobile phone makers had good news for anyone with a drawer or cupboard full of old phone chargers on Tuesday: the industry plans to standardise the device to make a one-size-fits-all.

In a move set to reduce waste and increase convenience, 17 leading handset makers and operators including Nokia, Samsung and Motorola said they would move towards adopting a small USB charger as the standard across all models.

"The group has set an ambitious target that by 2012 a universal charging solution will be widely available in the market worldwide," said a statement from industry body the GSM Association.

Currently, each mobile phone maker has its own charger design, sometimes using several different ones across its range of models, which increases replacement costs for users and leads to piles of unwanted cables.

"I have dozens of chargers in my closet," admitted the chief executive of the GSMA, Rob Conway, who said an agreement was finally reached last Friday. "Our closets will no longer be so full."

The manufacturers had been under pressure from the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, which had threatened to legislate unless the industry came up with its own solution.

"We have not officially been told, but if the industry confirms it, we would welcome it," said a spokesman for EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen in Brussels.

Verheugen had told German radio station Deutsche Welle last week that with over 30 different kinds of charger in use across the 27-nation European Union, his "patience is now at an end," according to local reports.

The GSMA also stressed the environmental advantages of the new standard, saying the new charger would be more energy efficient and would reduce waste from unwanted or obsolete chargers.

"A universal charger will also make life much simpler for the consumer, who will be able to use the same charger for future handsets, as well as being able to charge their mobile phone anywhere from any available charger," it said in a statement.

The GSMA listed the leading groups in its initiative as 3 Group, AT&T, KTF, LG, mobilkom austria, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

Mitti Storckovius, director of environment for Nokia handsets, said the company had already integrated functions to save energy in its chargers, including a message to unplug the phone when it is fully charged.

"By supporting this industry initiative ... we can contribute further in improving the industrys environmental footprint," he said in a statement.

At the Mobile World Congress, the industry's biggest trade show, several mobile phone makers are taking the opportunity to gauge consumer interest in "green" products.

South Korean handset maker Samsung unveiled the world's first solar-powered mobile phone on Monday called the "Blue Earth" which it put on display in front of curious crowds here.

The device, made from recycled materials and including a pedometer to measure a user's walking, is to be launched initially in Europe in the second half of 2009.

A full charge taking 10-14 hours in the sun would offer about four hours of talk time, according to company salesman, but it can also be charged by plug. 


Source: MSN News by Agence France-Presse

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Warren Buffet's New Year Letter

We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism.

Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organisations and nations.

Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health.

They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.

Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future.

This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older.

This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

  • Hard work - All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to poverty.
  • Laziness - A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.
  • Earnings - Never depend on a single source of income.
  • Spending - If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.
  • Savings - Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.
  • Borrowings - The borrower becomes the lender's slave.
  • Accounting - It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.
  • Auditing - Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.
  • Risk-taking - Never test the depth of the river with both feet.
  • Investment - Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
I'm certain that those who have already been practising these principles remain financially healthy.

I'm equally confident that  those who resolve to start practising these principles will quickly regain their financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Warren Buffet

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Rubik 360



The man who invented Rubik's Cube almost 30 years ago has come up with a maddening new challenge, the Rubik's 360. A new game by Professor Erno Rubik, inventor of the legendary Cube, is tipped to become a best-seller when it goes on sale later this year. After the Rubik's cube great success in 1974, Professor Erno Rubik has been working on the Rubik's 360 for 26 years. The Rubik's 360 confronts users with the same frustrating challenge. A task that is simple to understand, but extremely difficult to solve.

The objective is players must get the coloured balls from an inner sphere into matching slots on the outer sphere by shaking them through a middle sphere that has only two holes.

This toy is newly launched, so there's no video of how to play this rubik 360 actually. Maybe in a week or two, there will be the first rubik's 360 champion. :D

Rubik's Cube Fact




  • It has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations on its six faces

  • It has only one solution

  • More than 350,000,000 Cubes sold worldwide

  • Invented in 1974 but not exported from Hungary until 1980

  • A standard 3x3 Rubik’s cube measures 2¼ inches (5.7cm) on each side

  • It has 39,600 entries on YouTube

  • The first international 'speedcubing’ championship was held in Hungary in 1982 and was won by Los Angeles student Minh Thai with a time of 22.95 seconds.

  • The current British 'speedcubing’ champion is Breandan McElhill, 16, from Ayrshire with an unofficial personal best time of 7.9 seconds.

  • The current world 'speedcubing’ champion is Dutch teenager Eric Akkersdijk with an official time of 7.08 seconds.

  • Variations on 'speedcubing’ include solving the cube with a single hand, with feet, blindfolded or underwater in a single breath. The British blindfold 'speedcube’ champion is Joey Gouly, 17, from Leeds with a time of 48 seconds.

  • The slowest solver is thought to be Graham Parker, 45, a builder from Portchester, Hants, who finished his Cube earlier this month 26 years after he bought it. “When I clicked that last bit into place and each face was a solid colour I wept,” he said.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

9 Words Women Use!

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
 
(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
 
(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
 
(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
  ;
(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
 
(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').
 
(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying  *&^%$  YOU!
 

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it:  Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.
 
* Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology.
 
* Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh, cause they know it's true!!!