Useless Knowledge

2006-04-14T13:21:00.001-07:00

Will be irregular in posting stuff now. Real busy these days with end of term submissions coming up. You may send your contributions at rahulbhaskar1986@gmail.com to keep the blog alive. They will be acknowledged :)

5 Off the Last Ball!!

2006-04-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

The infamous underarm delivery of 1981 in the Australia-New Zealand Match was technically a no-ball, because Australia had one too many fielders outside the field restriction line.

Me and PSR have started a quizzing blog. Do visit.

The Prophet

2006-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

In 1937, Modern Review of Calcutta carried a letter, under the pen-name Chanakya, that warned members of the Congress Party against Nehru, then party president, declaring that he had "tendencies towards autocracy" and needed to be firmly checked before he "turns into Caesar". It emerged many years later that the letter was written by Nehru himself.

Quizzer's Block!!

2006-04-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Nothing worthwhile to post today.

Lucifer's Editor

2006-04-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Richard Stallman notably produced the Emacs editor; its popularity rivaled that of another editor vi, spawning the editor wars; Stallman's humorous take on this was to jokingly canonize himself as "St. Ignucius" / "St. IGNUcius" of the Church of Emacs.

The Church of Emacs formed by Richard Stallman is a joke, and it refers to vi vi vi (which is 666 in Roman numerals) as the "editor of the beast".

Outsourcing!!

2006-04-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

Bangalore Torpedoes or Bangalores are anti-personnel mine clearing charges originally used during WWII. Bangalores were first used extensively by invading Allied troops during the Normandy D-Day Invasion during WWII, and quickly got a reputation both for their tremendous explosive power, and for their danger to the troops who had to handle them! The torpedoes were developed by the Indian Army engineers at Bangalore, hence the name.

In 'Saving Private Ryan' you do hear the soldiers yelling "Bangalores".

The Best a Man can Get !!

2006-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Gillete was a unit described by Theodore Maiman as an early measure of laser output power. The measure was simply the number of razor blades through which the laser could burn a hole. Due to the relative uniformity of razor blades manufactured by The Gillette Company, it had some usefulness as a rough comparison.

For more of these weird measurement units, go here.

Home Delivery in 30 minutes. We'll pay a million dollars if late.

2006-04-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

Pizza hut delivered the first pizzas to the International Space Station in 2001. Taking much longer than the usual 30 minutes, the pizza rode aboard a Russian rocket used to resupply the ISS. The Pizza Hut chain said it paid the Russian space agency about $1m (£700,000) for the promotional stunt, including footage of Mr Usachov flashing a thumbs-up after eating the pizza, and for pasting the chain's logo on a rocket. And salami had to be used as pepperoni lacked the necessary shelf life, growing mouldy.
Source: BBC

Visitor Stats!!

2006-04-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

I installed the statcounter code yesterday on this blog and the visitor stats are surprising. Of the 10 hits, since yesterday, 7 are from North America and 1 from Germany. Only two Indians ahev visited till now. I would really appreciate if the visitors let me know how did they come to know of this blog.

Of Flowers, Badges and Partition Riots

2006-04-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Patiala, along with Nabha and Sangrur is called the Phulkari state after the founder Phool Singh. The Phulkari embroidery was pioneered in this region.

It's also famous for the zari badges made (for defence forces of many countries) at Malerkotla, the only town in Indian Punjab with an all-Muslim population. During the riots of 1947 the rampaging Sikhs spared them due to the protest made by the then Nawab of Malerkotla against the cruel killing of the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh, who were bricked alive by the then Governor of Sirhind.

Reference: The Tribune and Pankaj Mama who is right now eating, breathing and living in sand somewhere along the Rajasthan border.

Franklin W.Dixon

2006-04-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, the writer of Hardy Boys. It was actually a pseudonym used by different authors during the period 1927-79. And I didn't know about it until I came across this and did some research on the series. I fancy myself as a decent quizzer and this brought me crashing to the ground.

Jack's Steaming Latte

2006-04-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

David Fincher claimed in an interview in UK film magazine Empire, that there is a Starbucks coffee cup visible in every shot in the movie Fight Club.
Source: imdb.com.

I am not sure though. What is exactly meant by 'every shot'?

Adharon Par Ho Koi Bhi Ras...

2006-04-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

To the surprise of many, Harivansh Rai Bachchan never drank as much as a single drop of liquor. For the uninitiated, he is the creator of Madhushala (hindi for pub)