Monday, July 20, 2009
Hartson still critical but stable
The doctors say that critically-ill former footballer John Hartson remains in a stable condition. The 34-year-old was told he had testicular cancer just over a week ago and doctors had also found that the disease had spread to his brain and lungs. He had surgery on Tuesday to relieve pressure on his brain and was reported to have resumed radiotherapy treatment on Friday. His family said they were overwhelmed by the messages of support for the ex-Wales, Arsenal and Celtic striker. On Friday, Hartson was seen to have been transferred from Morriston Hospital in Swansea to the city's Singleton Hospital to receive radiotherapy to treat the disease. But the player who is a father-of-three has since returned to Morriston's intensive care unit. In a statement, his family said that they want to acknowledge the outstanding care and skill that has been given to John by the medical and nursing staff at both Morriston and Singleton Hospitals. They also want to acknowledge the professionalism of the ambulance service. The family continues to ask for John's privacy and that of his family and the many hundreds of other patients at the hospital to be respected. They said that they continue to be overwhelmed by the many thousands of messages of support and goodwill that continue to come in from football supporters, ordinary people, clubs, and sporting figures from around the world.
Jackie Chan praises kung fu of Will Smith's son
Jackie Chan says 'Kung Fu Kid' co-star Jaden Smith's dedication to martial arts puts his own son to shame. The 11-year-old son of Hollywood stars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith has been training under Chan's stunt coordinator for his role in the China Film Group-Columbia Pictures remake of the 1984 hit 'The Karate Kid', which kicked off filming in Beijing on July 11. In a diary entry on his official Web site, Chan said he was deeply impressed by the younger Smith's progress when he visited Los Angeles last month. The veteran Hong Kong action star said Jaden Smith learned the Chinese phrases for different kung fu moves, responded to orders in Mandarin, and treated his teacher, Wu Gang, according to traditional Chinese custom. When he was thirsty, he gave the traditional hand gesture, putting one fist into the palm of the other, bowed and asked permission to drink some water," Chan said. Chan said Smith even learned the drunken fighter routine he made famous in his 1978 film 'Drunken Master'. "He put my son to shame! I provided my son with the best martial artists in the world, and he could not be persuaded to try it. In just two months, Jaden had learned so much. He is truly a talented boy," he said, adding he felt Smith was ready to perform his own stunts in 'Kung Fu Kid'.
Wenger feared for Rosicky future
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits that at one stage during Tomas Rosicky's rehabilitation he feared the midfielder's career was over. The 28-year-old Czech made his first appearance in 18 months on Saturday after hamstring and knee injuries. "There was a time when I was worried Tomas wouldn't play football again and he felt the same," said Wenger. "You have to ask and hope if he will ever get back to where we want him to be and the answer looks like yes." Rosicky, whose last appearance came in an FA Cup tie against Newcastle in January 2008, made his comeback by playing the first 45 minutes of the Gunners' pre-season game against Barnet. But, with Emmanuel Adebayor having moved to Manchester City, Wenger is confident the Czech international will still be the same player and hopes he could be available for the Premier League opener against Everton on 15 August. "Tomas had always led a healthy and dedicated life. Mentally he's also very strong," he added. "We have to manage him well and prepare him well. If we come through pre-season well he could start the season. "We must trust the players we have. It's a very important season for us and I believe we are in a very strong position."
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Don't buy PETROL on 24TH JAN 2008!
Petrol in Pakistan Rs 17 per liter
Malaysia Rs 18 per liter
In India it's 51 per liter
Why this difference in Asia itself? World Market CRUDE Oil is not the reason for
this. It's all Gain for private owners. As we are the general public, or Common
Man as R.K. Laxman would have said, we have to raise our voice, let's rise thru
Emails.
Forward this to all Indians who care.
IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF
PETROL FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON
THEIR STOCKPILES.
AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OVER 4.6
BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.
THEREFORE '24th JANUARY ' HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED 'STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND
'DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL THAT
DAY.
THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS
YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT. WAITING ON THE GOVERNMENT
TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE
REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?
REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF PETROL GOING UP BUT
AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES,
TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH AFFECTS
PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING
SUPPLIES MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!
WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO
IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE 24 JANUARY A DAY THAT THE
CITIZENS SAY 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'.
REMEMBER: JANUARY 24, 2008 .... NO Petrol Day...!
Please 'Think Of It ...............
Malaysia Rs 18 per liter
In India it's 51 per liter
Why this difference in Asia itself? World Market CRUDE Oil is not the reason for
this. It's all Gain for private owners. As we are the general public, or Common
Man as R.K. Laxman would have said, we have to raise our voice, let's rise thru
Emails.
Forward this to all Indians who care.
IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF
PETROL FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON
THEIR STOCKPILES.
AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OVER 4.6
BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.
THEREFORE '24th JANUARY ' HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED 'STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND
'DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL THAT
DAY.
THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS
YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT. WAITING ON THE GOVERNMENT
TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE
REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?
REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF PETROL GOING UP BUT
AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES,
TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH AFFECTS
PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING
SUPPLIES MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!
WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO
IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE 24 JANUARY A DAY THAT THE
CITIZENS SAY 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'.
REMEMBER: JANUARY 24, 2008 .... NO Petrol Day...!
Please 'Think Of It ...............
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Why does techsupport go crazy???
1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to"Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.
2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.
3. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "Send" key.
4. Yet another, Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.
5. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses ..... shouldn't be taken personally.
6. A confused caller to IBM was having trouble printing documents He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find printer." The user had also tried turning the computer screen to face the printer -- but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.
7. An exasperated caller to Dell omputer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed o! n this f oot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
8. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked, "What power switch?"
9. Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and had some problems with the disk. When it said to put in the third disk, I couldn't even fit it in." The user hadn't realized that "Insert Disk 2" implied to- remove Disk 1 first.
10. A story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:
CALLER: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
TECH: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
CALLER: "The cup holder on my PC is broken, and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"
TECH: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
CALLER: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
TECH: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
CALLER: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it."
At this point, the Tech Rep had to mute the caller because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and snapped it off the drive.
11. A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his printer is working fine."
12! . And last but not least:
TECH SUPPORT: "O.K. Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter P to bring up the Program Manager."
CUSTOMER: "I don't have a P."
TECH SUPPORT: "On your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "What do you mean?"
TECH SUPPORT: "P on your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "I ain't gonna do that!" "
2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.
3. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "Send" key.
4. Yet another, Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.
5. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses ..... shouldn't be taken personally.
6. A confused caller to IBM was having trouble printing documents He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find printer." The user had also tried turning the computer screen to face the printer -- but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.
7. An exasperated caller to Dell omputer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed o! n this f oot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
8. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked, "What power switch?"
9. Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and had some problems with the disk. When it said to put in the third disk, I couldn't even fit it in." The user hadn't realized that "Insert Disk 2" implied to- remove Disk 1 first.
10. A story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:
CALLER: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
TECH: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
CALLER: "The cup holder on my PC is broken, and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"
TECH: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
CALLER: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
TECH: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
CALLER: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it."
At this point, the Tech Rep had to mute the caller because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and snapped it off the drive.
11. A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his printer is working fine."
12! . And last but not least:
TECH SUPPORT: "O.K. Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter P to bring up the Program Manager."
CUSTOMER: "I don't have a P."
TECH SUPPORT: "On your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "What do you mean?"
TECH SUPPORT: "P on your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "I ain't gonna do that!" "
Proverbs From all Countries
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
Arab Proverb
A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush.
English Proverb
A broken hand works, but not a broken heart.
Persian Proverb
A cat has nine lives.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A closed mouth catches no flies.
Italian Proverb
A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.
German Proverb
A courtyard common to all will be swept by none.
Proverb, Chinese
A dog is wiser than a woman; it does not bark at its master.
Russian Proverb
A drink precedes a story.
Irish Proverb
A drowning man is not troubled by rain.
Persian Proverb
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
William Blake "Proverbs of Hell" (1790)
A forest is in an acorn.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A friend in need is a friend indeed
English Proverb
A friend's eye is a good mirror.
Irish Proverb
A good denial, the best point in law.
Irish Proverb
A good husband is healthy and absent.
Japanese Proverb
A hard beginning maketh a good ending.
John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)
A healthy man is a successful man.
French Proverb
A hedge between keeps friendship green.
French Proverb
A hen is heavy when carried far.
Irish Proverb
A hound's food is in its legs.
Irish Proverb
A house without a dog or a cat is the house of a scoundrel.
Portuguese Proverb
A hungry man is an angry man.
English Proverb
A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on.
French Proverb
A little too late, is much too late.
German Proverb
A loan though old is not gift.
Hungarian Proverb
A lock is better than suspicion.
Irish Proverb
A man does not seek his luck, luck seeks its man.
Turkish Proverb
A man is not honest simply because he never had a chance to steal.
Yiddish Proverb
A man may well bring a horse to the water, but he cannot make him drink.
John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)
A man should live if only to satisfy his curiosity.
Yiddish Proverb
A monkey never thinks her baby's ugly.
Haitian Proverb
A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners.
Irish Proverb
A penny for your thoughts.
John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)
A penny saved is a penny gained.
Scottish Proverb
A poor beauty finds more lovers than husbands.
English Proverb
A prudent man does not make the goat his gardener.
Hungarian Proverb
A rumor goes in one ear and out many mouths.
Chinese proverb
A silent mouth is melodious.
Irish Proverb
A single Russian hair outweighs half a Pole.
Traditional Russian Saying
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
Greek Proverb
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Bible - Proverbs 15:1.
A son is a son till he gets him a wife,
But a daughter's a daughter the rest of your life.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
Welsh Proverb
A table is not blessed if it has fed no scholars.
Yiddish Proverb
A teacher is better than two books.
German Proverb
A thief believes everybody steals.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.
Chinese proverb
A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
French Proverb
A trade not properly learned is an enemy.
Irish Proverb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quotes on Drinking
"The hard part about being a bartender is figuring out who is drunk and who is just stupid." - Richard Braunstein
"If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue." - Samuel Butler
"I envy people who drink -- at least they know what to blame everything on." - Oscar Levant
Arab Proverb
A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush.
English Proverb
A broken hand works, but not a broken heart.
Persian Proverb
A cat has nine lives.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A closed mouth catches no flies.
Italian Proverb
A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.
German Proverb
A courtyard common to all will be swept by none.
Proverb, Chinese
A dog is wiser than a woman; it does not bark at its master.
Russian Proverb
A drink precedes a story.
Irish Proverb
A drowning man is not troubled by rain.
Persian Proverb
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
William Blake "Proverbs of Hell" (1790)
A forest is in an acorn.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A friend in need is a friend indeed
English Proverb
A friend's eye is a good mirror.
Irish Proverb
A good denial, the best point in law.
Irish Proverb
A good husband is healthy and absent.
Japanese Proverb
A hard beginning maketh a good ending.
John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)
A healthy man is a successful man.
French Proverb
A hedge between keeps friendship green.
French Proverb
A hen is heavy when carried far.
Irish Proverb
A hound's food is in its legs.
Irish Proverb
A house without a dog or a cat is the house of a scoundrel.
Portuguese Proverb
A hungry man is an angry man.
English Proverb
A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on.
French Proverb
A little too late, is much too late.
German Proverb
A loan though old is not gift.
Hungarian Proverb
A lock is better than suspicion.
Irish Proverb
A man does not seek his luck, luck seeks its man.
Turkish Proverb
A man is not honest simply because he never had a chance to steal.
Yiddish Proverb
A man may well bring a horse to the water, but he cannot make him drink.
John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)
A man should live if only to satisfy his curiosity.
Yiddish Proverb
A monkey never thinks her baby's ugly.
Haitian Proverb
A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners.
Irish Proverb
A penny for your thoughts.
John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)
A penny saved is a penny gained.
Scottish Proverb
A poor beauty finds more lovers than husbands.
English Proverb
A prudent man does not make the goat his gardener.
Hungarian Proverb
A rumor goes in one ear and out many mouths.
Chinese proverb
A silent mouth is melodious.
Irish Proverb
A single Russian hair outweighs half a Pole.
Traditional Russian Saying
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
Greek Proverb
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Bible - Proverbs 15:1.
A son is a son till he gets him a wife,
But a daughter's a daughter the rest of your life.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
Welsh Proverb
A table is not blessed if it has fed no scholars.
Yiddish Proverb
A teacher is better than two books.
German Proverb
A thief believes everybody steals.
Proverb of Unknown Origin
A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.
Chinese proverb
A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
French Proverb
A trade not properly learned is an enemy.
Irish Proverb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quotes on Drinking
"The hard part about being a bartender is figuring out who is drunk and who is just stupid." - Richard Braunstein
"If the headache would only precede the intoxication, alcoholism would be a virtue." - Samuel Butler
"I envy people who drink -- at least they know what to blame everything on." - Oscar Levant
History behind brand names
Apache:
It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches
to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy'
server - thus, the name Apache.
Jakarta (project from Apache):
A project constituted by SUN and Apache to create a web server
handling servlets and JSPs. Jakarta was name of the conference room at
SUN where most of the meetings between SUN and Apache took place.
Tomcat:
The servlet part of the Jakarta project. Tomcat was the code name for
the JSDK 2.1 project inside SUN.
C :
Dennis Ritchie improved on the B programming language and called it
'New B'. He later called it C. Earlier B was created by Ken Thompson
as a revision of the Bon programming language (named after his wife
Bonnie).
C++ :
Bjarne Stroustrup called his new language 'C with Classes' and then
'new C'. Because of which the original C began to be called 'old C'
which was considered insulting to the C community. At this time Rick
Mascitti suggested the name C++ as a successor to C.
GNU :
A species of African antelope. Founder of the GNU project Richard
Stallman liked the name because of the humor associated with its
pronunciation and was also influenced by the children's song 'The Gnu
Song' which is a song sung by a gnu. Also it fitted into the recursive
acronym culture with 'GNU's Not Unix'.
Java:
Originally called Oak by creator James Gosling, from the tree that
stood outside his window, the programming team had to look for a
substitute, as there was no other language with the same name. Java
was selected from a list of suggestions. It came from the name of the
coffee that the programmers drank.
LG:
Combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar.
Linux:
Linus Torvalds originally used the Minix OS on his system, which he
replaced by his OS. Hence the working name was Linux (Linus' Minix).
He thought the name to be too egotistical and planned to name it Freax
(free + freak + x). His friend Ari Lemmke encouraged Linus to upload
it to a network so it could be easily downloaded. Ari gave Linus a
directory called Linux on his FTP server, as he did not like the name
Freax. (Linus's parents named him after two-time Nobel Prize winner
Linus Pauling).
Mozilla:
When Marc Andreesen, founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace
Mosaic (also developed by him), it was named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer
Godzilla). The marketing guys didn't like the name however and it was
re-christened Netscape Navigator.
Red Hat:
Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap
(with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He
lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta
version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red
Hat if found by anyone!
SAP:
"Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by 4
ex-IBM employees who used to work in the
'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
SCO (UNIX) :
From Santa Cruz Operation. The company's office was in Santa Cruz.
UNIX :
When Bell Labs pulled out of MULTICS (MULTiplexed Information and
Computing System), which was originally a joint Bell/GE/MIT project,
Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie of Bell Labs wrote a simpler version
of the OS. They needed the OS to run the game Space War that was
compiled under MULTICS. It was called UNICS - UNIplexed operating and
Computing System by Brian Kernighan. It was later shortened to UNIX.
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.
3M:
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company started off by mining the
material corundum used to make sandpaper.
Interesting facts behind some of the most famous brands.
There are many companies / brands / products whose
names were derived from strange circumstances.
Mercedes:
This was actually the financier's daughter's name.
Adobe:
This came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran
behind the house of founder John Warnock.
Apple Computers:
It was the favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months
late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his
company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a
better name by 5 O'clock.
CISCO:
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco.
Compaq:
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a
small integral object.
Corel:
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr. Michael Cowpland. It
stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.
Google:
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information
the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named
'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100
zeros. After founders Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry
Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a
cheque made out to 'Google'
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 programming language used to write web pages. It was
initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.
Hewlett Packard:
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the
company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or
Packard-Hewlett.
Intel:
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore
Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain so they had
to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.
Lotus (Notes):
Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or
'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation
of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Microsoft:
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to
MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft! , the '-'
was removed later on.
Motorola:
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started
manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time
was called Victrola.
ORACLE:
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for
the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project
was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to
all questions or something such). The project was designed to help use
the newly written SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was
terminated but Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and
bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS
engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.
Sony:
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a
slang used ! by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.
SUN:
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for
Stanford University Network. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a
microcomputer; Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy to
manufacture computers based on it, and Bill Joy to develop a
UNIX-based OS for the computer.
Yahoo!:
The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book
'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in
appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang
and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves
yahoos.
It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches
to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy'
server - thus, the name Apache.
Jakarta (project from Apache):
A project constituted by SUN and Apache to create a web server
handling servlets and JSPs. Jakarta was name of the conference room at
SUN where most of the meetings between SUN and Apache took place.
Tomcat:
The servlet part of the Jakarta project. Tomcat was the code name for
the JSDK 2.1 project inside SUN.
C :
Dennis Ritchie improved on the B programming language and called it
'New B'. He later called it C. Earlier B was created by Ken Thompson
as a revision of the Bon programming language (named after his wife
Bonnie).
C++ :
Bjarne Stroustrup called his new language 'C with Classes' and then
'new C'. Because of which the original C began to be called 'old C'
which was considered insulting to the C community. At this time Rick
Mascitti suggested the name C++ as a successor to C.
GNU :
A species of African antelope. Founder of the GNU project Richard
Stallman liked the name because of the humor associated with its
pronunciation and was also influenced by the children's song 'The Gnu
Song' which is a song sung by a gnu. Also it fitted into the recursive
acronym culture with 'GNU's Not Unix'.
Java:
Originally called Oak by creator James Gosling, from the tree that
stood outside his window, the programming team had to look for a
substitute, as there was no other language with the same name. Java
was selected from a list of suggestions. It came from the name of the
coffee that the programmers drank.
LG:
Combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar.
Linux:
Linus Torvalds originally used the Minix OS on his system, which he
replaced by his OS. Hence the working name was Linux (Linus' Minix).
He thought the name to be too egotistical and planned to name it Freax
(free + freak + x). His friend Ari Lemmke encouraged Linus to upload
it to a network so it could be easily downloaded. Ari gave Linus a
directory called Linux on his FTP server, as he did not like the name
Freax. (Linus's parents named him after two-time Nobel Prize winner
Linus Pauling).
Mozilla:
When Marc Andreesen, founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace
Mosaic (also developed by him), it was named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer
Godzilla). The marketing guys didn't like the name however and it was
re-christened Netscape Navigator.
Red Hat:
Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap
(with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He
lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta
version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red
Hat if found by anyone!
SAP:
"Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by 4
ex-IBM employees who used to work in the
'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.
SCO (UNIX) :
From Santa Cruz Operation. The company's office was in Santa Cruz.
UNIX :
When Bell Labs pulled out of MULTICS (MULTiplexed Information and
Computing System), which was originally a joint Bell/GE/MIT project,
Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie of Bell Labs wrote a simpler version
of the OS. They needed the OS to run the game Space War that was
compiled under MULTICS. It was called UNICS - UNIplexed operating and
Computing System by Brian Kernighan. It was later shortened to UNIX.
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.
3M:
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company started off by mining the
material corundum used to make sandpaper.
Interesting facts behind some of the most famous brands.
There are many companies / brands / products whose
names were derived from strange circumstances.
Mercedes:
This was actually the financier's daughter's name.
Adobe:
This came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran
behind the house of founder John Warnock.
Apple Computers:
It was the favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months
late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his
company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a
better name by 5 O'clock.
CISCO:
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco.
Compaq:
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a
small integral object.
Corel:
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr. Michael Cowpland. It
stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.
Google:
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information
the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named
'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100
zeros. After founders Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry
Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a
cheque made out to 'Google'
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 programming language used to write web pages. It was
initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.
Hewlett Packard:
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the
company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or
Packard-Hewlett.
Intel:
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore
Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain so they had
to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.
Lotus (Notes):
Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or
'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation
of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Microsoft:
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to
MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft! , the '-'
was removed later on.
Motorola:
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started
manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time
was called Victrola.
ORACLE:
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for
the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project
was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to
all questions or something such). The project was designed to help use
the newly written SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was
terminated but Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and
bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS
engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.
Sony:
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a
slang used ! by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.
SUN:
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for
Stanford University Network. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a
microcomputer; Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy to
manufacture computers based on it, and Bill Joy to develop a
UNIX-based OS for the computer.
Yahoo!:
The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book
'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in
appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang
and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves
yahoos.
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