Chennai bus terminus gets ISO certification

The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminal (CMBT) at Koyambedu, the biggest bus terminus in Asia, has added another feather to its cap by qualifying for the ISO 9001:2000 certification for quality management and maintenance

Complete story here

Agni Sakshi

Hindu version of 'I do' !

Tamil Nadu leads the way

"Last year, Laveesh Bhandari and I started an exercise of ranking Indian States on economic freedom. Such studies exist at the cross-country level. They are rarer at sub-regional levels and have not been attempted in India earlier.
This is about economic freedom. It is not about political freedom or social freedom. Had we attempted to capture these other categories, as opposed to economic freedom, we would have used different variables.
In the work that Laveesh and I do on Indian states, we have never used responses to questionnaires. Our rankings, including this one, are based on officially published government data. And because such data aren't always available for every state, we couldn't rank all 35 states and union territories last year."

Complete story here

Tax refunds to be credited through ECS

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will send tax refunds directly to the taxpayers' bank account from June 2006, provided the bank account number is furnished by an assessee for this purpose, M. S. Darda, CBDT Chairman, said here on Friday.

Read the full story here.

Lost in Translation

Have you ever tried to translate (or trans-literate) a sentence from one language to another ? If yes, chances are that you might have come across some funny translations ....

Check out this site for some phunny translation :)

This translated to

' it hated, lowed, ' ingualmenté, repartee followed! _ he verfluchtunder its breathing he, ' because, considers if he is ineffecient',any surprise! Thatz was the passed straw, he thought, is one more agreener grass here, he laughed! Well, it finished it, thought!Nothing, that one was pressed..., shook and considered small, anxiousgirl, a clogging in the relative shoulder, he creyó'. the person orthe careful thing of favoritó, ortografato he, ' forms of work theways getlteman', that she admits to girls according to the contentedthing, angel of the mine of thankses, like example the easy God! ' thelove of I usted', erwich he, ' también', repartee followed!

Some might say that it is far more meaningful that the original though :)

On the same note ... do you know what Engrish means ?

Check out some funny Engrish pictures here.

Travel Info : Amusing

Was searching for details on Angkor Wat temples. Landed up here. Check out the Travel Info section. I have not seen such a honest fact-sheet :) ever !

Oxymorons

I guess this just popped up from one of those top drawers in my memory archives.
Our English teacher in school was fanatic about oxymorons. The example that he gave us was 'Sweet Death'. Not a pretty one to start with.

Oxymorons.info defines Oxymorons thus

An Oxymoron is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words, such as 'Cruel Kindness' or 'Jumbo Shrimp' (Jumbo means 'large' while Shrimp means 'small').
It is a literary figure of speech in which opposite or contradictory words, terms, phrases or ideas are combined to create a rhetorical effect by paradoxical means.

Etymology

The word 'Oxymoron' is originally derived from the Greek elements: oxy = sharp and moros (moron) = dull (foolish). 'Oxymoron' is the singular form, and 'Oxymora' (or 'Oxymorons') is the plural form.

'Oxymoron' by itself, is an Oxymoron :)

Some of my favorites

Fuzzy Logic
Sure Bet
Beyond Infinity
Home Work
American English
Common Phenomenon

New satellite launched

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Dec22_2005.htm

The Amateur

He was going on and on ....

"With a short focal length, the distant objects are missed out",
"With a large focal length, the field depth is more",

They thought he was speaking nonsense .....
coz they thought it was about photography !!

The Chappell effect

Did you just say 'Job Satisfaction' ?

Often hear from friends and colleagues about lack of Job Satisfaction and Motivation. Most of the folks aged between 20 and 30 (especially girl/boy friend-less bachelors !) sound out that their job is very mundane. Well, evey job for that matter gets mundane after the dust settles. Think about the Operator on an Elevator (I tried hard to come up with factors that can be deemed 'Motivation' , but in vain). His/her job is outright mundane.

Itz up2 us to get around this and derive motivation (it is easy when you have beautiful girls around you !) out of our jobs.

I M possible

He stood there unable to comprehend the awe-struck looks that he was getting. Couldn't fathom the adulation and admiration that he noticed in the eyes of the jacks-in-office.

The 'Pro' blurted out 'How did you manage to accomplish that ? That was suppose to be impossible !'

He replied innocently, 'Well, I didn't know that it was impossible. Nobody told me that !'

Antanaclasis

This one is for the polyglots ... well, this does sound like a different language to me :)


Antanaclasis is a play on words in which a key word is repeated in a different, often contrary, sense. Some famous antanaclastic quotes :


1. Your argument is sound, nothing but sound. -Benjamin Franklin
2. If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. -Vince Lombardi
3. Learn some craft when young, that when old you may live without craft. -Anonymous
4. Our frequent fliers can frequent other fliers. (British Airways)

Stress Level Detectors

The pictures attached are used to test the level of stress a person can handle.

The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling stress.

One teacher said, "I felt like they were all moving...but slowly. Kinda like they were breathing."

Alleged criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly; however, senior citizens and kids see them standing still.

None of these images are animated - they are perfectly static.

So how fast are the images moving?? Be honest.

The Buffalo Theory

A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers. :)

Dry Wit

Some Tamil jokes doing the rounds ....
(WARNING : Some may sound like dialogues straight out of a Rajnikanth movie !)

1) "Train evlo vegama ponalum, kadaisi petty kadaisiyadhan pogum..."

2) "Arisi kotina vaera arisi vangalam
Paal kotina vaera pal vangalam aaana
Thael kotina vaera thael vanga mudiyadhu...."

3) Cellula balance illana call panna mudiyathu....
aaana....manushanukku call illana, balance panna mudiyathu....

4) 'Bus poita bus stand angayae thaan irukum
aana cycle poita cycle stand koodavae poogum.'

5) "FILES NA OKKANTHU PARKANUM AANA
PILES NA PARTHU OKKARANUM"

CAT on the Wall

An anecdote from the past ...

When my friend ambitiously tried his hand at CAT, I was expecting him to exit the hall with a Mona Lisa smile. He had been working against the clock and Success was the only expected outcome.

When he came out with a smile, I asked him how he had done. He gave me an impassive look. I asked him if was a case of 'CAT on the wall'. He replied with an impish grin .... "Wall on the CAT" (meaning that all hopes of pursuing CAT had now been deep-sixed)

:)

Cleanliness is ...

As the adage goes, for bachelors... Cleanliness is next to ................. impossible !!