About Valmiki
Maharishi (the great sage) claims the distinction of being the author of the holy epic 'Ramayana', consisting of 24,000 verses. He is also believed to be the author of Yoga Vasistha, a text that elaborates on a range of philosophical issues. Written approximately 500 years ago, it was taught to Lord Rama when He lost all the hopes in life. Read on this biography to know more about Maharishi Valmiki and his life history.
Early Life
Maharishi Valmiki was born as Ratnakara to sage Prachetasa. At a very young age, Ratnakara went into the forest and got lost. A hunter, who was passing by, saw Ratnakara and took him under his own care. Under the love and care of his foster parents, Ratnakara forgot his original parents. Under his father's guidance, Ratnakara turned out to be an excellent hunter. As he approached marriageable age, Ratnakara was married to a beautiful girl from hunter's family.
Turning into a Robber
As his family grew larger, Ratnakara found it next to impossible to feed them. As a result, he took to robbery and began looting people passing from one village to another.
Meeting with Narada and Transformation
One day, the great sage Narada, while passing through the jungle, was attacked by Ratnakara. As Narada played his Veena and sang praises of the Lord, he saw a transformation coming over Ratnakara. Then, he asked Ratnakara whether the family, for whom he was robbing others, will partake in his sins also. Ratnakara went to ask the same question to his family and on being refused by all his family members, he went back to sage Narada. Narada taught him the sacred name of 'Rama' and asked him to sit in meditation, chanting the name of Rama, till the time Narada came back.
Ratnakara followed the instructions and kept sitting in a meditative posture for years, during which his body got completely covered by an anthill. At last, Narada came to see him and removed all the anthills from his body. Then, he told Ratnakara that his tapasya (meditation) paid off and the God was pleased with him. Ratnakara was bestowed with the honor of a Brahmarshi and given the name of Valmiki, since he was reborn from the Valmika (the ant-hill). Sage Valmiki founded his ashram at the banks of River Ganga.
Receiving Lord Rama
One day, Valmiki had the fortuity of receiving Lord Rama, His wife Sita and brother Lakshman at his ashram. On Valmiki's suggestion, Lord Rama built his hut on Chitrakuta hill, near the ashram.
Writing Ramayana
Narada visited Maharishi Valmiki in his ashram once and there, he narrated the story of Lord Rama. Thereafter he received a vision from Brahma in which the Lord instructed him to write Ramayana in slokas, which the sage readily followed.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
India, the world's second most populous nation and its 10th largest economy, is on the rise and bidding for superpower status.
After years of having a virtually closed economy, the world's largest democracy flung open its doors to the world in 1991.
IT hubs, Mercedes cars and a burgeoning middle class have taken over from the popular image of saris, snake-charmers and slums.
But many in the countryside have become mere spectators to the drama unfolding in the cities, with 390 million living on less than $1 a day.
Since independence from Britain, the nuclear power has also had a testy relationship with arch-rival Pakistan, leading to three wars between them, and a tense standoff in 2001.
Within its own borders -- which stretch from the Himalayas in the north, the Thar Desert in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south -- caste, religion and communal tensions simmer, at times threatening to disrupt the secular state.
India's soaring population is proving a challenge as leaders seek to protect the land that is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, and which has seen the invasions of Aryan tribes, Arab incursions and European traders.
Below are the key facts behind the chaotic, colorful and always memorable India of today:
The people
Population: 1,080,264,388 (July 2005 estimate)
Sex ratio: 1.05 male/female at birth
Median age: 24.66 years, 24.64 years for males, 24.67 years for females (2005 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.4 percent (2005 estimate)
Religions: Hindu 80.5 percent, Muslim 13.4 percent, Christian 2.3 percent, Sikh 1.9 percent, other 1.8 percent, unspecified 0.1 percent (2001 census)
Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72 percent; Dravidian 25 percent; Mongoloid and other 3 percent (2000 estimate)
Infant mortality rate: Estimates vary from 56 to 65 deaths per 1,000 live births
Total fertility rate: 2.78 children children born per female (2005 est.)
Life expectancy: Estimates place overall figure at about 64 years; male 63.57; female 65.16 (2005 estimate)
People living with HIV/AIDS: 5.1 million (2001 estimate)
Major infectious diseases: Floodwater diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hep A and E, typhoid fever
Vector borne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
Languages: English is used for national, political and commercial Communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages
Literacy: Defined as age 15+ and can read and write - total population: 59.5 percent; male: 70.2 percent, female: 48.3 percent (2003 est.)
The land
Border countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan
Coastline: 7,000 kilometers (4,349.8 miles)
Climate: Tropical monsoon in south, temperate in north
Lowest point: Indian Ocean, sea level
Highest point: Kanchenjunga, 8,598 meters (26,246 feet)
Natural resources: Coal (Fourth-largest reserve in world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable lands
Land use: Arable lands 54.4 percent; permanent crops 2.74 percent; other 42.86 percent
Natural hazards: Droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoon rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes
The economy
GDP real growth rate: 6.2 percent (2004 estimate)
GDP per capita: Purchasing power parity - $3,100 (2004 EST.)
Public debt: 59.7 percent of GDP (federal debt only; state debt not included) (2004 EST.)
Labor force: 482 million (2004 estimate)
Labor force by occupation: Agriculture 60 percent; industry 17 percent; services 23 percent (1999 estimate)
Unemployment rate: 9.2 percent (2004 estimate)
Population below poverty line: Estimates range between 25 percent and 29 percent
Oil production: 780,000 bbl/day (2004 estimate)
Oil consumption: 2.13 million bbl/day (2001 estimate)
Export partners: U.S. 18.4 percent; China 7.8 percent; UAE 6.7 percent; UK 4.8 percent; Hong Kong 4.3 percent; Germany 4 percent (2004 estimate)
Import partners: U.S. 7 percent; Belgium 6.1 percent; China 5.9 percent; Singapore 4.8 percent; Australia 4.6 percent; UK 4.6 percent; Germany 4.5 percent (2004 percent)
The networks
Phone lines in use: 48.9 million (2003)
Mobile/cellular phones: 26,154,400 (2003)
Radio broadcast stations: 153 AM; 91 FM; 68 shortwave (1998)
TV broadcast stations: 562 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (1997)
Internet country code: .in
Internet hosts: 86,871 (2003)
Internet users: 18.5 million (2003)
The government
Country name: Conventional long form: Republic of India, short form: India
Government type: Federal republic
Capital: New Delhi
Administrative divisions: 28 states and 7 union territories
Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK)
National holiday: Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
Constitution: 26 January 1950; amended many times
Legal system: Based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Military manpower: Fit for military service: males age 16-49: 219,471,999 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures: $17 billion (2004)
After years of having a virtually closed economy, the world's largest democracy flung open its doors to the world in 1991.
IT hubs, Mercedes cars and a burgeoning middle class have taken over from the popular image of saris, snake-charmers and slums.
But many in the countryside have become mere spectators to the drama unfolding in the cities, with 390 million living on less than $1 a day.
Since independence from Britain, the nuclear power has also had a testy relationship with arch-rival Pakistan, leading to three wars between them, and a tense standoff in 2001.
Within its own borders -- which stretch from the Himalayas in the north, the Thar Desert in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south -- caste, religion and communal tensions simmer, at times threatening to disrupt the secular state.
India's soaring population is proving a challenge as leaders seek to protect the land that is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, and which has seen the invasions of Aryan tribes, Arab incursions and European traders.
Below are the key facts behind the chaotic, colorful and always memorable India of today:
The people
Population: 1,080,264,388 (July 2005 estimate)
Sex ratio: 1.05 male/female at birth
Median age: 24.66 years, 24.64 years for males, 24.67 years for females (2005 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.4 percent (2005 estimate)
Religions: Hindu 80.5 percent, Muslim 13.4 percent, Christian 2.3 percent, Sikh 1.9 percent, other 1.8 percent, unspecified 0.1 percent (2001 census)
Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72 percent; Dravidian 25 percent; Mongoloid and other 3 percent (2000 estimate)
Infant mortality rate: Estimates vary from 56 to 65 deaths per 1,000 live births
Total fertility rate: 2.78 children children born per female (2005 est.)
Life expectancy: Estimates place overall figure at about 64 years; male 63.57; female 65.16 (2005 estimate)
People living with HIV/AIDS: 5.1 million (2001 estimate)
Major infectious diseases: Floodwater diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hep A and E, typhoid fever
Vector borne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations animal contact disease: rabies (2004)
Languages: English is used for national, political and commercial Communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages
Literacy: Defined as age 15+ and can read and write - total population: 59.5 percent; male: 70.2 percent, female: 48.3 percent (2003 est.)
The land
Border countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan
Coastline: 7,000 kilometers (4,349.8 miles)
Climate: Tropical monsoon in south, temperate in north
Lowest point: Indian Ocean, sea level
Highest point: Kanchenjunga, 8,598 meters (26,246 feet)
Natural resources: Coal (Fourth-largest reserve in world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable lands
Land use: Arable lands 54.4 percent; permanent crops 2.74 percent; other 42.86 percent
Natural hazards: Droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoon rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes
The economy
GDP real growth rate: 6.2 percent (2004 estimate)
GDP per capita: Purchasing power parity - $3,100 (2004 EST.)
Public debt: 59.7 percent of GDP (federal debt only; state debt not included) (2004 EST.)
Labor force: 482 million (2004 estimate)
Labor force by occupation: Agriculture 60 percent; industry 17 percent; services 23 percent (1999 estimate)
Unemployment rate: 9.2 percent (2004 estimate)
Population below poverty line: Estimates range between 25 percent and 29 percent
Oil production: 780,000 bbl/day (2004 estimate)
Oil consumption: 2.13 million bbl/day (2001 estimate)
Export partners: U.S. 18.4 percent; China 7.8 percent; UAE 6.7 percent; UK 4.8 percent; Hong Kong 4.3 percent; Germany 4 percent (2004 estimate)
Import partners: U.S. 7 percent; Belgium 6.1 percent; China 5.9 percent; Singapore 4.8 percent; Australia 4.6 percent; UK 4.6 percent; Germany 4.5 percent (2004 percent)
The networks
Phone lines in use: 48.9 million (2003)
Mobile/cellular phones: 26,154,400 (2003)
Radio broadcast stations: 153 AM; 91 FM; 68 shortwave (1998)
TV broadcast stations: 562 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (1997)
Internet country code: .in
Internet hosts: 86,871 (2003)
Internet users: 18.5 million (2003)
The government
Country name: Conventional long form: Republic of India, short form: India
Government type: Federal republic
Capital: New Delhi
Administrative divisions: 28 states and 7 union territories
Independence: 15 August 1947 (from UK)
National holiday: Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
Constitution: 26 January 1950; amended many times
Legal system: Based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Military manpower: Fit for military service: males age 16-49: 219,471,999 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures: $17 billion (2004)
Friday, August 31, 2007
How they named
ABN AMRO - In the 1960s, the Nederlandse Handelmaatschappij (Dutch Trading Society; 1824) and the Twentsche Bank merged to form the Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN; General Bank of the Netherlands). In 1966, the Amsterdamsche Bank and the Rotterdamsche Bank merged to form the Amro Bank. In 1991, ABN and Amro Bank merged to form ABN AMRO.
Accenture - Accent on the Future. Greater-than 'accent' over the logo's t points forward towards the future. The name Accenture was proposed by a company employee in Norwayas part of a internal name finding process (BrandStorming). Prior to January 1, 2001 the company was called Andersen Consulting.
Adidas - from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler.
Adobe - came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the houses of founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke .
AltaVista - Spanish for "high view".
Amazon.com - Founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company to Amazon (from the earlier name of Cadabra.com) after the world's most voluminous river, the Amazon. He saw the potential for a larger volume of sales in an online bookstore as opposed to the then prevalent bookstores. (Alternative: It is said that Jeff Bezos named his book store Amazon simply to cash in on the popularity of Yahoo at the time. Yahoo listed entries alphabetically, and thus Amazon would always appear above its competitors in the relevant categories it was listed in.)
AMD - Advanced Micro Devices.
Apache - The name was chosen from respect for the Native American Indian tribe of Apache (Indé), well-known for their superior skills in warfare strategy and their inexhaustible endurance. Secondarily, and more popularly (though incorrectly) accepted, it's considered a cute name that stuck: its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'a patchy' server â€" thus the name Apache.
Apple - for the favourite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computer if his colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 p.m. Apple's Macintosh is named after a popular variety of apple sold in the US. Apple also wanted to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort and Tesseract. The new company sought to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They looked for a name that was unlike the names of traditional computer companies, a name that also supported a brand positioning strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different. Note: Apple had to get approval from the Beatle's Apple Corps to use the name 'Apple' and paid a one-time royalty of $100,000 to McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., a maker of high-end audio equipment, to use the derivative name 'Macintosh', known now as just 'Mac'.
AT&T - American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s.
Bauknecht- Founded as an electrotechnical workshop in 1919 by Gottlob Bauknecht .
BBC- Stands for British Broadcasting Corporation.
BenQ - Bringing ENjoyment and Quality to life
Blaupunkt- Blaupunkt (Blue dot) was founded in 1923 under the name Ideal. Their core business was the manufacturing of headphones. If the headphones came through quality tests, the company would give the headphones a blue dot. The headphones quickly became known as the blue dots or blaue Punkte. The quality symbol would become a trademark, and the trademark would become the company name in 1938.
BMW- abbreviation of Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Factories)
Borealis - The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis, is the celestial phenomenon that features bursts of light in colourful patterns dancing across the night skies of the north. Borealis, inspired from the shining brilliance of the Northern Lights, was formed in 1994 out of the merger between two northern oil companies, Norway's Statoil and Finland's Neste.
BP - formerly British Petroleum, now "BP" (The slogan "Beyond Petroleum" has incorrectly been taken to refer to the company's new name following its rebranding effort in 2000).
BRAC - abbreviation for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, world's largest NGO (non governmental organization). It works in development programs around the world.
Bridgestone - named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi (??) means "stone bridge", i.e. "bridge of stone".
Bull - Compagnie des machines Bull was founded in Paristo exploit the patents for punched card machines taken out by a Norwegian engineer, Fredrik Rosing Bull.
Cadillac - Cadillac was named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe , sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France.
Canon - Originally (1933) Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company's first camera, the Kwannon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.
CGI - from the first letter of Information Management Consultant in french (Conseiller en Gestion et Informatique).
Cisco - short for San Francisco. It has also been suggested that it was "CIS-co" -- Computer Information Services was the department at StanfordUniversitythat the founders worked in.
COBRA - Computadores Brasileiros, "Brazilian Computers", electronics and services company, was the first state-owned designer and producer of computers in the 1970s, later acquired by the Banco do Brasil.
Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola's name is derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' for the name to look better.
Colgate-Palmolive - formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York Cityin 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture.
Compaq - from "comp" for computer, and "pack" to denote a small integral object; or: Compatibility And Quality; or: from the company's first product, the very compact Compaq Portable.
Comsat - an American digital telecommunications and satellite company, founded during the President Kennedy era to develop the technology. Contraction of Communications Satellites.
Daewoo - the company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great Universe" in Korean.
Dell - named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003.
DHL - the company was founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom , and Robert Lynn , whose last initials form the company's moniker.
eBay - Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. " EchoBay" didn't refer to the town in Nevada, the nature area close to Lake Mead, or any real place. "It just sounded cool," Omidyar reportedly said. When he tried to register EchoBay.com, though, he found that Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, had gotten it first. So, Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com.
Epson - Epson Seiko Corporation, the Japanese printer and peripheral manufacturer, was named from "Son of Electronic Printer"
Fanta - was originally invented by Max Keith in Germanyin 1940 when World War II made it difficult to get the Coca-Cola syrup to Nazi Germany. Fanta was originally made from byproducts of cheese and jam production. The name comes from the German word for imagination (Fantasie or Phantasie), because the inventors thought that imagination was needed to taste oranges from the strange mix.
Fazer - named after its founder, Karl Fazer.
Fiat- acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Factory of Cars of Turin).
Fuji - from the highest Japanese mountain Mount Fuji.
Google - the name is an intentional misspelling of the word googol, reflecting the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available online.
Haier - Chinese ? "sea" and ? (a transliteration character; also means "you" in Literary Chinese)
HP - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Hitachi - old place name, literally "sunrise"
Honda - from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda
Honeywell- from the name of Mark Honeywell founder of Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. It later merged with Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and was finally called Honeywell Inc. in 1963.
Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail 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 markup language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. (If you click on Hotmail's 'mail' tab, you will still find "HoTMaiL" in the URL.)
HSBC - The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Hyundai - connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean.
IBM- named by Tom Watson, an ex-employee of National Cash Register. To one-up them in all respects, he called his company International Business Machines.
ICL - abbreviation for International Computers Ltd, once the UK's largest computer company, but now a service arm of Fujitsu, of Japan.
IKON - copier company name derived from I Know One Name.
Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore initially incorporated their company as N M Electronics. Someone suggested Moore Noyce Electronics but it sounded too close to "more noise" -- not a good choice for an electronics company! Later, Integrated Electronics was proposed but it had been taken by somebody else. Then, using initial syllables from INTegrated ELectronics, Noyce and Moore came up with Intel. To avoid potential conflicts with other companies of similar names, Intel purchased the name rights for $15,000 from a company called Intelco. (Source: Intel 15 Years Corporate Anniversary Brochure)
Interland - a web hosting provider formally known as Micron Computer, Inc. which was named either after InternetLandor the combination of the largest acqusition it performed, Interliant with the word Land.
Kawasaki - from the name of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki
Kodak - Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman . The letter "K" was a favourite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with "K". He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera.
Konica - it was earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s.
Korg - Formed from the surnames of the founders, Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, combined with the letters "rg" from the word organ.
LG - combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar. (In Mexicopublicists explained the name change to the public as an abbreviation to Lìnea Goldstar Spanish for Goldstar Line)
Lotus Software - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Lucent Technologies - a spin-off from AT&T, it was named Lucent (meaning "luminous" or "glowing with light") because "light as a metaphor for visionary thinking reflected the company's operating and guiding business philosophy," according to the Landor Associates staff who chose the name. Source: Design Management Journal 8:1 (Winter 1997).
Lycos - from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders.
Mazda Motor - from the company's first president, Jujiro Matsuda . In Japanese, no syllables are ever stressed and some inner syllables are virtually skipped. Thus, Matsuda is pronounced "Matsda". To make the name fly better outside of Japan, the spelling was changed to Mazda.
McDonald's - from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonald, who founded the first McDonald 's restaurant in 1940.
Mercedes - This is the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who worked for the early Daimler company around 1900.
MGM - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed by the merger of three picture houses Metro Picture Corporation, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Goldwyn Picture Corporation in turn was named after the last names of Samuel Goldfish and Edgar and Archibald Selwyn.
Micron - computer memory producer named after the microscopic parts of its products. The official name was Micron Computer, Inc. Since, the company has become Interland, a web hosting provider, after selling/spinning off its RAM division and closing down its computer division, licensing the name. The company is now headquartered in Atlanta.
Microsoft - coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.
midPhase - the post-dotcom era gave using the .com in a companies official name untrendy. A new dotcom company may be named traditionally, in midPhase's case it was named midPhase Services, Inc., the midPhase stands for Middle Phase, or middle of the road.
Mitsubishi - The name Mitsubishi (??) has two parts: mitsu means three and hishi (changing to bishi in the middle of the word) means water chestnut, and from here rhombus, which is reflected in the company's logo.
Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company (at the time, Galvin Manufacturing Company) started manufacturing radios for cars. Many audio equipment makers of the era used the " ola" ending for their products, most famously the "Victrola" phonograph made by the Victor Talking Machine Company. The name was meant to convey the idea of "sound" and "motion". The name became so recognized that the company later adopted it as the company name.
Mozilla Foundation - from the name of the web-browser that preceded Netscape Navigator. When Marc Andreesen , founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace the Mosaic browser, it was internally named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla) by Jamie Zawinski.
MRF - Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946. He started with a toy balloon-manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur, Chennai (then called Madras). In 1952, he began manufacturing tread-rubber, and in 1961, tyres.
Nero - Nero Burning ROM named after Nero burning Rome .
Netscape - named by first marketing employee Greg Sands, in a panic when the Universityof Illinoisthreatened to sue the new company for its original name, Mosaic. Netscape then paid Landor $50,000 to design a logo.
Nike - named for the Greek goddess of victory.
Nikon - the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning "Japanese Optical".
Nissan- the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means "Japanese industry".
Nokia - started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia. The company later adopted the city's name.
Nortel - The Nortel Networks name came from Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bay Networks. The company was originally spun off from the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd in 1895 as Northern Electric and Manufacturing, and traded as Northern Electric from 1914 to 1976.
Novartis - after the Latin expression "novae artes" which means something like "new skills".
Oracle - Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or some such). The project was designed to help use the newly written SQL database language from IBM. The project eventually was terminated but they decided to finish what they started and bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine. Later they changed the name of the company, Relational Technology Inc, to the name of the product.
Pepsi - Pepsi derives its name from (treatment of) dyspepsia, an intestinal ailment.
Philips - Royal Philips Electronics was founded in 1891, by brothers Gerard (the engineer) and Anton (the entrepreneur) Philips .
Qantas - From its original name, Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services.
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. People would turn to him to solve their problems, and he was referred to as 'that guy in the red hat'. He lost the cap 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.
Reebok - another spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope.
SAAB - founded in 1937 in Swedenas "Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolaget" (Swedish Aeroplane Company) abbreviated SAAB.
Samsonite - Samsonite was launched as a brand in 1941, receiving its name from the Biblical character Samson, renowned for his strength.
Samsung - meaning three stars in Korean.
Sanyo - The Japanese translation is disputed, although the Chinese name is "??" (literally, "Three Oceans")
SAP - "Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formerly "SystemAnalyse und Programmentwicklung" (German for "System analysis and program development"), formed by 4 ex- IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
SEGA - "Service Games of Japan" (SeGa) Founded by Marty Bromley (an American) to import pinball games to Japanfor use on American military bases.
Sharp - Japanese consumer Electronics Company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil.
Shell - Royal Dutch Shell was established in 1907, when the Royal Netherlands Petrol Society Plc. and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd. merged. The Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd. had been established at the end of the 19th century, by commercial firm Samuel & Co (founded in 1830). Samuel & Co were already successfully importing Japanese shells when they set up an oil company, so the oil company was named after the shells Samuel & Co were importing.
Siemens - founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske: the company was originally called Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske.
Sprint - from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal Communications. Back in the day, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned.
Sun Microsystems - its founders designed their first workstation in their dorm at StanfordUniversity, and chose the name Stanford University Network for their product, hoping to sell it to the college. They didn't.
Suzuki - from the name of its founder, Michio Suzuki
Tesco - Founder Jack Cohen, who from 1919 sold groceries in the markets of the London East End, acquired a large shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell and made new labels by using the first three letters of the supplier's name and the first two letters of his surname forming the word "TESCO".
Toshiba - was founded by the merger of consumer goods company Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co) and electrical firm Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura Engineering Works).
Toyota - from the founder's name Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan.
Unisys - made-up name for the company that resulted from the combination of two old mainframe computer companies, Burroughs and Sperry [Sperry Univac/Sperry Rand]. It "united" two incompatible ranges. Unisys was briefly the world's second-largest computer company, after IBM.
Verizon - A portmanteau of veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon.
Vodafone - is a multinational mobile phone operator with headquarters in the United Kingdom . Its name is made up of VOice, DAta, TeleFONE. Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call at a few minutes past midnight on the 1 January 1985.
Volvo - From the Latin word "volvo", which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF.
Xerox - The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product trying to say `dry' (as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying). The Greek root `xer' means dry.
Accenture - Accent on the Future. Greater-than 'accent' over the logo's t points forward towards the future. The name Accenture was proposed by a company employee in Norwayas part of a internal name finding process (BrandStorming). Prior to January 1, 2001 the company was called Andersen Consulting.
Adidas - from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler.
Adobe - came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the houses of founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke .
AltaVista - Spanish for "high view".
Amazon.com - Founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company to Amazon (from the earlier name of Cadabra.com) after the world's most voluminous river, the Amazon. He saw the potential for a larger volume of sales in an online bookstore as opposed to the then prevalent bookstores. (Alternative: It is said that Jeff Bezos named his book store Amazon simply to cash in on the popularity of Yahoo at the time. Yahoo listed entries alphabetically, and thus Amazon would always appear above its competitors in the relevant categories it was listed in.)
AMD - Advanced Micro Devices.
Apache - The name was chosen from respect for the Native American Indian tribe of Apache (Indé), well-known for their superior skills in warfare strategy and their inexhaustible endurance. Secondarily, and more popularly (though incorrectly) accepted, it's considered a cute name that stuck: its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'a patchy' server â€" thus the name Apache.
Apple - for the favourite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computer if his colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 p.m. Apple's Macintosh is named after a popular variety of apple sold in the US. Apple also wanted to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort and Tesseract. The new company sought to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They looked for a name that was unlike the names of traditional computer companies, a name that also supported a brand positioning strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different. Note: Apple had to get approval from the Beatle's Apple Corps to use the name 'Apple' and paid a one-time royalty of $100,000 to McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., a maker of high-end audio equipment, to use the derivative name 'Macintosh', known now as just 'Mac'.
AT&T - American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s.
Bauknecht- Founded as an electrotechnical workshop in 1919 by Gottlob Bauknecht .
BBC- Stands for British Broadcasting Corporation.
BenQ - Bringing ENjoyment and Quality to life
Blaupunkt- Blaupunkt (Blue dot) was founded in 1923 under the name Ideal. Their core business was the manufacturing of headphones. If the headphones came through quality tests, the company would give the headphones a blue dot. The headphones quickly became known as the blue dots or blaue Punkte. The quality symbol would become a trademark, and the trademark would become the company name in 1938.
BMW- abbreviation of Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Factories)
Borealis - The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis, is the celestial phenomenon that features bursts of light in colourful patterns dancing across the night skies of the north. Borealis, inspired from the shining brilliance of the Northern Lights, was formed in 1994 out of the merger between two northern oil companies, Norway's Statoil and Finland's Neste.
BP - formerly British Petroleum, now "BP" (The slogan "Beyond Petroleum" has incorrectly been taken to refer to the company's new name following its rebranding effort in 2000).
BRAC - abbreviation for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, world's largest NGO (non governmental organization). It works in development programs around the world.
Bridgestone - named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi (??) means "stone bridge", i.e. "bridge of stone".
Bull - Compagnie des machines Bull was founded in Paristo exploit the patents for punched card machines taken out by a Norwegian engineer, Fredrik Rosing Bull.
Cadillac - Cadillac was named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe , sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France.
Canon - Originally (1933) Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company's first camera, the Kwannon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.
CGI - from the first letter of Information Management Consultant in french (Conseiller en Gestion et Informatique).
Cisco - short for San Francisco. It has also been suggested that it was "CIS-co" -- Computer Information Services was the department at StanfordUniversitythat the founders worked in.
COBRA - Computadores Brasileiros, "Brazilian Computers", electronics and services company, was the first state-owned designer and producer of computers in the 1970s, later acquired by the Banco do Brasil.
Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola's name is derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' for the name to look better.
Colgate-Palmolive - formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York Cityin 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture.
Compaq - from "comp" for computer, and "pack" to denote a small integral object; or: Compatibility And Quality; or: from the company's first product, the very compact Compaq Portable.
Comsat - an American digital telecommunications and satellite company, founded during the President Kennedy era to develop the technology. Contraction of Communications Satellites.
Daewoo - the company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great Universe" in Korean.
Dell - named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003.
DHL - the company was founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom , and Robert Lynn , whose last initials form the company's moniker.
eBay - Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. " EchoBay" didn't refer to the town in Nevada, the nature area close to Lake Mead, or any real place. "It just sounded cool," Omidyar reportedly said. When he tried to register EchoBay.com, though, he found that Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, had gotten it first. So, Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com.
Epson - Epson Seiko Corporation, the Japanese printer and peripheral manufacturer, was named from "Son of Electronic Printer"
Fanta - was originally invented by Max Keith in Germanyin 1940 when World War II made it difficult to get the Coca-Cola syrup to Nazi Germany. Fanta was originally made from byproducts of cheese and jam production. The name comes from the German word for imagination (Fantasie or Phantasie), because the inventors thought that imagination was needed to taste oranges from the strange mix.
Fazer - named after its founder, Karl Fazer.
Fiat- acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Factory of Cars of Turin).
Fuji - from the highest Japanese mountain Mount Fuji.
Google - the name is an intentional misspelling of the word googol, reflecting the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available online.
Haier - Chinese ? "sea" and ? (a transliteration character; also means "you" in Literary Chinese)
HP - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Hitachi - old place name, literally "sunrise"
Honda - from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda
Honeywell- from the name of Mark Honeywell founder of Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. It later merged with Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and was finally called Honeywell Inc. in 1963.
Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail 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 markup language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. (If you click on Hotmail's 'mail' tab, you will still find "HoTMaiL" in the URL.)
HSBC - The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Hyundai - connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean.
IBM- named by Tom Watson, an ex-employee of National Cash Register. To one-up them in all respects, he called his company International Business Machines.
ICL - abbreviation for International Computers Ltd, once the UK's largest computer company, but now a service arm of Fujitsu, of Japan.
IKON - copier company name derived from I Know One Name.
Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore initially incorporated their company as N M Electronics. Someone suggested Moore Noyce Electronics but it sounded too close to "more noise" -- not a good choice for an electronics company! Later, Integrated Electronics was proposed but it had been taken by somebody else. Then, using initial syllables from INTegrated ELectronics, Noyce and Moore came up with Intel. To avoid potential conflicts with other companies of similar names, Intel purchased the name rights for $15,000 from a company called Intelco. (Source: Intel 15 Years Corporate Anniversary Brochure)
Interland - a web hosting provider formally known as Micron Computer, Inc. which was named either after InternetLandor the combination of the largest acqusition it performed, Interliant with the word Land.
Kawasaki - from the name of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki
Kodak - Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman . The letter "K" was a favourite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with "K". He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera.
Konica - it was earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s.
Korg - Formed from the surnames of the founders, Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, combined with the letters "rg" from the word organ.
LG - combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar. (In Mexicopublicists explained the name change to the public as an abbreviation to Lìnea Goldstar Spanish for Goldstar Line)
Lotus Software - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Lucent Technologies - a spin-off from AT&T, it was named Lucent (meaning "luminous" or "glowing with light") because "light as a metaphor for visionary thinking reflected the company's operating and guiding business philosophy," according to the Landor Associates staff who chose the name. Source: Design Management Journal 8:1 (Winter 1997).
Lycos - from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders.
Mazda Motor - from the company's first president, Jujiro Matsuda . In Japanese, no syllables are ever stressed and some inner syllables are virtually skipped. Thus, Matsuda is pronounced "Matsda". To make the name fly better outside of Japan, the spelling was changed to Mazda.
McDonald's - from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonald, who founded the first McDonald 's restaurant in 1940.
Mercedes - This is the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who worked for the early Daimler company around 1900.
MGM - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed by the merger of three picture houses Metro Picture Corporation, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Goldwyn Picture Corporation in turn was named after the last names of Samuel Goldfish and Edgar and Archibald Selwyn.
Micron - computer memory producer named after the microscopic parts of its products. The official name was Micron Computer, Inc. Since, the company has become Interland, a web hosting provider, after selling/spinning off its RAM division and closing down its computer division, licensing the name. The company is now headquartered in Atlanta.
Microsoft - coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.
midPhase - the post-dotcom era gave using the .com in a companies official name untrendy. A new dotcom company may be named traditionally, in midPhase's case it was named midPhase Services, Inc., the midPhase stands for Middle Phase, or middle of the road.
Mitsubishi - The name Mitsubishi (??) has two parts: mitsu means three and hishi (changing to bishi in the middle of the word) means water chestnut, and from here rhombus, which is reflected in the company's logo.
Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company (at the time, Galvin Manufacturing Company) started manufacturing radios for cars. Many audio equipment makers of the era used the " ola" ending for their products, most famously the "Victrola" phonograph made by the Victor Talking Machine Company. The name was meant to convey the idea of "sound" and "motion". The name became so recognized that the company later adopted it as the company name.
Mozilla Foundation - from the name of the web-browser that preceded Netscape Navigator. When Marc Andreesen , founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace the Mosaic browser, it was internally named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla) by Jamie Zawinski.
MRF - Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946. He started with a toy balloon-manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur, Chennai (then called Madras). In 1952, he began manufacturing tread-rubber, and in 1961, tyres.
Nero - Nero Burning ROM named after Nero burning Rome .
Netscape - named by first marketing employee Greg Sands, in a panic when the Universityof Illinoisthreatened to sue the new company for its original name, Mosaic. Netscape then paid Landor $50,000 to design a logo.
Nike - named for the Greek goddess of victory.
Nikon - the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning "Japanese Optical".
Nissan- the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means "Japanese industry".
Nokia - started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia. The company later adopted the city's name.
Nortel - The Nortel Networks name came from Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bay Networks. The company was originally spun off from the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd in 1895 as Northern Electric and Manufacturing, and traded as Northern Electric from 1914 to 1976.
Novartis - after the Latin expression "novae artes" which means something like "new skills".
Oracle - Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or some such). The project was designed to help use the newly written SQL database language from IBM. The project eventually was terminated but they decided to finish what they started and bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine. Later they changed the name of the company, Relational Technology Inc, to the name of the product.
Pepsi - Pepsi derives its name from (treatment of) dyspepsia, an intestinal ailment.
Philips - Royal Philips Electronics was founded in 1891, by brothers Gerard (the engineer) and Anton (the entrepreneur) Philips .
Qantas - From its original name, Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services.
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. People would turn to him to solve their problems, and he was referred to as 'that guy in the red hat'. He lost the cap 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.
Reebok - another spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope.
SAAB - founded in 1937 in Swedenas "Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolaget" (Swedish Aeroplane Company) abbreviated SAAB.
Samsonite - Samsonite was launched as a brand in 1941, receiving its name from the Biblical character Samson, renowned for his strength.
Samsung - meaning three stars in Korean.
Sanyo - The Japanese translation is disputed, although the Chinese name is "??" (literally, "Three Oceans")
SAP - "Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formerly "SystemAnalyse und Programmentwicklung" (German for "System analysis and program development"), formed by 4 ex- IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
SEGA - "Service Games of Japan" (SeGa) Founded by Marty Bromley (an American) to import pinball games to Japanfor use on American military bases.
Sharp - Japanese consumer Electronics Company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil.
Shell - Royal Dutch Shell was established in 1907, when the Royal Netherlands Petrol Society Plc. and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd. merged. The Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd. had been established at the end of the 19th century, by commercial firm Samuel & Co (founded in 1830). Samuel & Co were already successfully importing Japanese shells when they set up an oil company, so the oil company was named after the shells Samuel & Co were importing.
Siemens - founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske: the company was originally called Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske.
Sprint - from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal Communications. Back in the day, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned.
Sun Microsystems - its founders designed their first workstation in their dorm at StanfordUniversity, and chose the name Stanford University Network for their product, hoping to sell it to the college. They didn't.
Suzuki - from the name of its founder, Michio Suzuki
Tesco - Founder Jack Cohen, who from 1919 sold groceries in the markets of the London East End, acquired a large shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell and made new labels by using the first three letters of the supplier's name and the first two letters of his surname forming the word "TESCO".
Toshiba - was founded by the merger of consumer goods company Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co) and electrical firm Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura Engineering Works).
Toyota - from the founder's name Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan.
Unisys - made-up name for the company that resulted from the combination of two old mainframe computer companies, Burroughs and Sperry [Sperry Univac/Sperry Rand]. It "united" two incompatible ranges. Unisys was briefly the world's second-largest computer company, after IBM.
Verizon - A portmanteau of veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon.
Vodafone - is a multinational mobile phone operator with headquarters in the United Kingdom . Its name is made up of VOice, DAta, TeleFONE. Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call at a few minutes past midnight on the 1 January 1985.
Volvo - From the Latin word "volvo", which means "I roll". It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF.
Xerox - The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product trying to say `dry' (as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying). The Greek root `xer' means dry.
The muscles in your heart have the strength to shoot your blood 10 meters in the air
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump
The body’s strongest muscle is out tongue
Statistically, people are more afraid of spiders than they are of dying
All polar bears are left handed
Crocodiles cannot stick out their tongue
Butterflies taste with their feet
A cockroach can live 9 day without its head. It only dies because it cannot eat
A duck’s quack has no echoes, and nobody knows why
Each King on plating cards represents a King in real history,
Spades: King David.
Clubs: Alexander The Great
Hearts: Charlemagne
Diamonds: Julius Cesar.
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
Multiplying 111,111,111 X 111,111,111=12,345,678,987,654,321
Starfish have no brains
A statue in a park with a soldier on a horse with its 2 feet the air means the soldier died in combat. If the horse has only 1 foot in the air, the soldier died of injuries from combat. If the horse has all 4 feet on the ground, the soldier died of natural causes.
Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark
The word “cemetery” comes from the Greek koimetirion which means dormitory
When the English settlers landed in Australia, the notice a strange animal that jumped extremely high and far. They asked the aboriginal people using body language and signs trying to ask them about this animal. They respond with “Kan Ghu Ru” the English the adopted the word kangaroo. What the aboriginal people were really trying to say was “We don’t understand you”, “Kan Ghu Ru”.
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump
The body’s strongest muscle is out tongue
Statistically, people are more afraid of spiders than they are of dying
All polar bears are left handed
Crocodiles cannot stick out their tongue
Butterflies taste with their feet
A cockroach can live 9 day without its head. It only dies because it cannot eat
A duck’s quack has no echoes, and nobody knows why
Each King on plating cards represents a King in real history,
Spades: King David.
Clubs: Alexander The Great
Hearts: Charlemagne
Diamonds: Julius Cesar.
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
Multiplying 111,111,111 X 111,111,111=12,345,678,987,654,321
Starfish have no brains
A statue in a park with a soldier on a horse with its 2 feet the air means the soldier died in combat. If the horse has only 1 foot in the air, the soldier died of injuries from combat. If the horse has all 4 feet on the ground, the soldier died of natural causes.
Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark
The word “cemetery” comes from the Greek koimetirion which means dormitory
When the English settlers landed in Australia, the notice a strange animal that jumped extremely high and far. They asked the aboriginal people using body language and signs trying to ask them about this animal. They respond with “Kan Ghu Ru” the English the adopted the word kangaroo. What the aboriginal people were really trying to say was “We don’t understand you”, “Kan Ghu Ru”.
Do You Know
Charminar
Falaknuma palace
Chowmahalla palace
Kilwat Palace
Purani haveli (The Picture you are seeing is the longest Wardrobe in the Whole world.The sixth nizam never used to wear a dress twice :) )
Mummy in Archeaological Museum
Asurkhana
Durgam Cheruvu
Golconda Fort
High Court
Himayat Sagar
NTR Gardens
Osmania Hospital
Osmania University
Qutubshahi Tombs
Ramoji Film city
Salarjung Museum
Shilpa Ramam
Toyland
And Finally the One and Only
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Hyderabadi biryani
Tell me how many people in INDIA know that Hyderabad has:
- The IMAX Theatre with Worlds Largest screen and the only true 3D screen in INDIA
- Asia’s biggest and one of the Worlds' biggest and best Convention centers 'HICC'
- World's biggest Film Studio complex ' Ramoji Film City’
- Country's best Animation and art work studios
- Country's best and biggest Exhibition centre so far 'HITEX'
- Country's biggest single real estate venture at the cost of US $2.2Billion by ICICI Ventures and Tishman of New York!
- Hyderabad is leading in Hospital Tourism, now trying to lead also in Echo Tourism
- Hyderabad is the best place to start any new retail business or Mall: This was from a study on how Malls are fuelling sales in India and the max amount of Sales happened in the Malls in Hyderabad despite the huge number of very big malls in Delhi and Mumbai.. Many biggest of the kind malls are being constructed here. You can also see, Reliance group, Tata's, Heritage group and many more venturing their first retail units starting from Hyderabad!
- Hyderabad is the only place where complete restructuring is happening by even demolishing lot of buildings within the city! Delhi is the other only City, which followed this model.
- In fact Infosys has planned its world's Largest Campus near to Shamshabad Airport in an area of 500acres of land! However its pending.. it may take of soon. Else some other campus would come up there.
- Fab City would be the Ultimate answer for the Electronic and chip making industry from India!
- How many know about ISB
- IIT is being setup now in Hyderabad.
- Birla has already setup Bits in Hyderabad
- Country's largest number of Colleges for Engineering Medicines and largest number of Universities are in AP!
- Just the colleges in and around Hyderabad produce much more Engineering graduates than any other city in INDIA!
- Country's most expensive Residential only venture has started in Hyderabad, with 250 villas where each Villa will be in 1 Acre of land and at the cost of Rs.14crores each! Why only in Hyderabad? Because people are ready to buy and live there
- The most connected city in INDIA with highest Teledensity
.....and lot more like this!
Can you expect Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, The 2 Google Champions, CSC, GE and all these people pour huge investments and expand their campuses just based on Hype?
Hyderabad is now a tri-city: CYBERABAD-HYDERABAD-SECUNDERABAD! You must be knowing the Fact: US has chosen Hyderabad over Bangalore for setting up its New Consulate and it is already in process! This is because there are more VISA applicants from AP hitting Chennai Consulate! For that matter, always the biggest number of Travellers to US is from AP
Meditation Proven to Boost Brain Efficiency
Meditation was once the domain of fringe groups bent on instilling life-changing attitudes into their inductees by getting them to slow down, take deep breaths and let the stress melt away. Unproven until now, Chinese and U.S. researchers claim to have scientific evidence that guided meditation introduces positive structural changes in the brain, which help people regulate goal-oriented behaviors without all the stress.
The research team led by professor Yi-Yuan Tang of Dalian University of Technology, working in collaboration with University of Oregon psychologist Michael I. Posner, found that just 11 hours of guided meditation is all you need to make positive structural changes in your brain. Their technique, called integrative body-mind training (IBMT), has been developed in China over the last two decades, but finally its positive benefits have been measured with the help of brain-imaging technology at the University of Oregon.
The research project, sanctioned by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, trained 45 University of Oregon students, half in IBMT and half in traditional stress-reducing "relaxation" training. Before and after each training session, the subjects' brain functions were measured with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called diffusion tensor imaging. By examining the fibers that connect neurons together in the brain, the researchers were able to observe positive changes in the portion of the brain that regulates emotions and behaviors, called the anterior cingulate cortex. Changes in connectivity were observed in the test group, but not in the control group, after just 6 hours of IBMT and became statistically significant after just 11 hours.
After just 11 hours of guided meditation, increases in fiber strength (colored) can be measured in the anterior cingulate cortex.
*Story of Appreciation**
One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.
He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, to make the last decision.
The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic
achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.
The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".
The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.
The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as a clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.
The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.
The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*
The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.
The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.
This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.
After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.
Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.
The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"
The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'
The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."
The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not be the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.
The director said, " This is what I am looking for, to be my manager.
I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*
You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.
One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.
He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, to make the last decision.
The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic
achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.
The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".
The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.
The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as a clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.
The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.
The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*
The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.
The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.
This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.
After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.
Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.
The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"
The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'
The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."
The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not be the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.
The director said, " This is what I am looking for, to be my manager.
I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*
You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.
Hydrogen for lighting
Lighting via the use of hydrogen can be accomplished by the phenomenon of CONDOLUMINESCENCE, a cold process. A phosphor is spread on the inside of a tube similar to the conventional fluorescent lamp. Upon coming in contact with the phosphor, small amounts of hydrogen combine with the oxygen in the air to excite bright luminescence in the phosphor. (Is this the secret of the mysterious "perpetual lamps" as found in ancient tombs?)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Helpful Tips on Eye Care - FunOnTheNet
Helpful Tips on Eye Care
With so many of us spending lots of time in front of the computer every day it comes to no surprise that research is showing a rise in visual problems. What can one do? First, it’s important to find out how you can protect your eyes through eye health exams and by making a few minor changes in your computer viewing habits.
Here are some helpful Eye Care Tips -
Positioning is everything
Correct positioning of your computer, keyboard and typing copy is essential. Your screen should be positioned about an arm’s length from your eyes and 20 degrees below eye level. Consider foot and wrist rests for added comfort.
Lighting can make all the difference
Room lighting should be diffuse, not direct, to reduce glare and reflections from your screen. Look into an internal or external glare screen and be sure to set your colour, contrast and brightness levels to suit you.
A little extra help for your glasses
Anti-reflective coatings on the lenses of your glasses can be applied by your optometrist to reduce discomfort and to ease reduced vision from bright and/or flickering light sources such as VDTs and fluorescent lights. And don’t forget, your doctor of optometry can talk to you about eyeglasses designed specifically for people who use computers a lot.
Step I :-
After every 20 minutes of looking into the computer screen, turn your
head and try to look at any object placed at least 20 feet away. This
changes the focal length of your eyes, a must-do for the tired eyes.
Step II :-
Try and blink your eyes for 20 times in succession, to moisten them.
Step III :-
Time permitting of course, one should walk 20 paces after every 20 minutes
of sitting in one particular posture. Helps blood circulation for the entire body.
It’s all in the blinking
Did you know that on average we blink 12 times per minute? But wait, did you know that when we’re on the computer we only blink 5 times per minute? That can add up to dry eyes. Relieve the discomfort by using artificial tear drops or gels and remember to blink!
Palming
Sit straight at your workstation and rub your palms against each other till you feel them warm. The warmth of your palms helps soothe and relax tired eyes. Then, lightly cup your eyes with your palms and relax for 60 seconds. Count the seconds in your mind. Repeat this exercise two to three times whenever your eyes feel tired, or as often as you want. While palming, you can either rest your elbows on your desk or keep away from the desk and cup your eyes. Both ways are fine.
Splash water on your face
During breaks, splash water on your face while closing your eyes. This has an overall relaxing effect and helps you feel refreshed.
Use tea bags
Keep two used tea bags in the refrigerator before you leave for work. Once you are home, place the tea bags on your eyes for a few minutes as you relax. This not only soothes tired eyes, but also reduces puffiness.
Eat healthy
Incorporate Vitamins A, C, and E on a daily basis; eat citrus fruits, green leafy veggies, tomatoes, spinach, poultry and dairy products. Pack a box of chopped carrots, cucumber and fresh fruits and munch in-between meals at the office.
Read more: http://www.funonthenet.in/articles/tips-on-eye-care.html#ixzz18CZ7h2e8Helpful Tips on Eye Care - FunOnTheNet
Monday, December 13, 2010
SRI MADHWA ACHARYA'S PHILOSOPHY- "DVAITA VEDANTA"The basic tenet of Madhwa Acharya's philosophy popularly known as "Dvaita Vedanta" is that God is the Supreme Reality. He is the highest form of perfection , full of infinete auspicious attributes free from all limitations or defects and overlord of everything else in the universe. In support of this basic tenet God is looked upon as an absolutely independent being, quite different from the finite individual souls and material entities created by Him.The term Dvaita is employed to indicate this difference between God's infinite perfection and the finiteness of everything else. Further more , this universe real and the finite beings comprising the universe are subject to a sytem of gradation, beginning with the Goddess Laxmi( the creatrix of the universe and the consort of the Supreme God called Narayana ) followed by other minor gods, seers, human beings and undivine beings.The rank of any soul in this scheme of gradation depends on the degree of its devotion to God. Sincere devotion to God aided by a critical and dispassionate understanding of His Supremacy through incessant study of sciptures and other spiritual disciplines is the path of salvation to individual souls.
Sankaracharya
Who is Sankaracharya?
Jagadguru Sri Adi Sankaracharya was the greatest exponent of the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta and a savior of Vedic Dharma. Salutations to Sankara, who is an ever shining star on the sky of Indian philosophy.
The existence of Vedic Dharma in India today is due to Sankara. The forces opposed to Vedic religion were more numerous and powerful at the time of Sankara than they are today. Still, single-handed, within a very short time, Sankara overpowered them all and restored the Vedic Dharma and Advaita Vedanta to its pristine purity in the land pure knowledge and spirituality.
Sankaracharya occupies a very important position in the history of Indian philosophy. It can be affirmed, without any fear of contradiction, that Bharata Varsha would have ceased to be Bharata Varsha several centuries ago and would never have survived the murderous sword, the devastating fire and the religious intolerance of the successive invaders, if Sankara had not lived the life he lived and taught the lessons he taught. And those lessons are still pulsating in every cell and in every protoplasm of the true aspirant and the true Hindu.
Sankaracharya occupies a very important position in the history of Indian philosophy. It can be affirmed, without any fear of contradiction, that Bharata Varsha would have ceased to be Bharata Varsha several centuries ago and would never have survived the murderous sword, the devastating fire and the religious intolerance of the successive invaders, if Sankara had not lived the life he lived and taught the lessons he taught. And those lessons are still pulsating in every cell and in every protoplasm of the true aspirant and the true Hindu.
(excerpts taken from http://dlshq.org/saints/sankara.htm)
What is Advaita Vedanta?
The doctrine of advaita vedanta as expounded by Sankara can be summed up in half a verse: “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya Jivo Brahmaiva Na Aparah" — Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or the individual soul is non-different from Brahman. This is the quintessence of his philosophy.
According to Sri Sankara, whatever is, is Brahman. Brahman Itself is absolutely homogeneous. All difference and plurality are illusory.
Tenets of Advaita Vedanta
According to Sri Sankara, whatever is, is Brahman. Brahman Itself is absolutely homogeneous. All difference and plurality are illusory.
Tenets of Advaita Vedanta
- Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or the individual soul is non-different from Brahman.
- The Atman is self-evident (Svatah-siddha). It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny the Atman, because It is the very essence of the one who denies It.
- Brahman is not an object, as It is Adrisya, beyond the reach of senses, mind or intellect. It is not another. It is all-full, infinite, changeless, self-existent, self-delight, self-knowledge and self-bliss. It is Svarupa, essence. It is the essence of the knower. It is the Seer (Drashta), Transcendent (Turiya) and Silent Witness (Sakshi). It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as It is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other beside It.
- Sat-Chit-Ananda constitute the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes.
- The world is not an illusion according to Sankara. The world is relatively real (Vyavaharika Satta), while Brahman is absolutely real (Paramarthika Satta). The unchanging Brahman appears as the changing world because of a superimposition of non-Self (objects) on Self (subject - Brahman). This is called Avidya.
- The Jiva or the individual soul is only relatively real. Its individuality lasts only so long as it is subject to unreal Upadhis or limiting conditions due to Avidya. The Jiva identifies itself with the body, mind and the senses, when it is deluded by Avidya or ignorance. Just as the bubble becomes one with the ocean when it bursts, so also the Jiva or the empirical self becomes one with Brahman when it gets knowledge of Brahman. When knowledge dawns in it through annihilation of Avidya, it is freed from its individuality and finitude and realizes its essential Satchidananda nature. It merges itself in the ocean of bliss. The river of life joins the ocean of existence. This is the Truth.
- Because samsara (or duality) exists due to ignorance or Avidya, Knowledge (Jnana) alone can make an individual realize his true nature. Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga etc., are necessary only to purify the individual and to help remove this Avidya. All other paths culminate in Jnana.
- Brahma Jnana is not about acquiring any external knowledge (as Brahman can't be an object of knowledge), it just about removing the Avidya or Maya.
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