Canada was up for sale on eBay.ca for 5 days but the highest bid was by The Sun Newspaper - $2,000. There were 14 bids. The country of Canada…Item #2913179800 was for sale under the category of Everything Else: Weird Stuff: Totally Bizarre.
EBay has a policy of not allowing souls to be sold,but Burtle's offer wasundetected until after bidding closed. Burtle is suspended from the site
The first item sold was a broken laser pointer that sold for $14 1997 – AuctionWeb was incorporated
The most expensive object offered in an online auction was a oil refinery that was offered by eBay in February 2000. There was no bid.
Aug. 26, 1999: A human kidney is offered on eBay. Before the auction is taken down, bids reach $5.7 million
Source Article cube
April 30, 2007
Ransom E Olds
In 1899 Ransom. E.Olds opened the Olds Motor Works in Detroit. Olds Had been in the automobile business since the mid 1880's ,but with little success.After nearly closing down his company he convinced a financier named Samuel Smith to investing the company. Samuel Smith invested his entire fortune but the two din agreed on what the Olds Motor Works should be making. Smith argued for a high end market cars and Ransom Olds was intrigued by the possibility of building a car that could be marketed to the middle class Ransom Olds could not commit to one idea and finally prepared 11 different prototypes.
But fate decided something else his factory burned down in a fire accident and all the prototypes went up in the flames except one prototype which happened to be right near the door and to be light enough that a lone person could push it to safety.
The protype that survived was the low cost model that Ransom E Olds imagined could be sold to a large middle class market. Olds rushed that protype into production which became a huge sucess. That vehicle is known as "Curved Dash Olds", since the floor curved up to form the dashboard. Olds Motor works sold 4,000 vehicles in 1903 more than anyother manuf in USA
Ransom E Olds left the company soon following a fight with Samuel Smith's Sons and started a new company REO
But fate decided something else his factory burned down in a fire accident and all the prototypes went up in the flames except one prototype which happened to be right near the door and to be light enough that a lone person could push it to safety.
The protype that survived was the low cost model that Ransom E Olds imagined could be sold to a large middle class market. Olds rushed that protype into production which became a huge sucess. That vehicle is known as "Curved Dash Olds", since the floor curved up to form the dashboard. Olds Motor works sold 4,000 vehicles in 1903 more than anyother manuf in USA
Ransom E Olds left the company soon following a fight with Samuel Smith's Sons and started a new company REO
April 29, 2007
IceCreams trivia
Italo Marconi invented Icecream cone, because of some cranky buyers. He used to serve Icecreams in bowls but Buyers used to take glass bowls along with icecreams resulting in losses to Marconi
Haki Paki is the original name of ice creams. It originated in Italy as Ice cream vendors used to shout "Eno An Poko" which mean "please eat it"
Haki Paki is the original name of ice creams. It originated in Italy as Ice cream vendors used to shout "Eno An Poko" which mean "please eat it"
April 25, 2007
April 20, 2007
useless trivia
The word 'denim' comes from 'de Nimes', Nimes being the town the fabric was originally produced.
The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth
Many sailors used to wear gold earrings so that they could afford a proper burial when they died.
China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.
Before the Second World War, it was considered a sacrilege to even touch an Emperor of Japan.
The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.
Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in the world. The largest is petrol.
In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an 'ugly' potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man.
The magic word "Abracadabra" was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.
Queen Elizabeth I passed a law which forced everyone except for the rich to wear a flat cap on Sundays.
Sir Winston Churchill rationed himself to 15 cigars a day.
The childrens' nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses' actually refers to the Black Death which killed about 30 million people in the fourteenth-century.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax put on men's beards.
The active ingredient in Chinese Bird's nest soup is saliva.
It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on their testicles when taking an oath. The modern term 'testimony' is derived from this tradition.
The study of stupidity is called 'monology'.
Princess Ann was the only competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics that did not have to undergo a sex test.
Due to staggering inflation in the 1920's, 4,000,000,000,000,000,000 German marks were worth 1 US dollar.
The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth
Many sailors used to wear gold earrings so that they could afford a proper burial when they died.
China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.
Before the Second World War, it was considered a sacrilege to even touch an Emperor of Japan.
The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.
Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in the world. The largest is petrol.
In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an 'ugly' potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man.
The magic word "Abracadabra" was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.
Queen Elizabeth I passed a law which forced everyone except for the rich to wear a flat cap on Sundays.
Sir Winston Churchill rationed himself to 15 cigars a day.
The childrens' nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses' actually refers to the Black Death which killed about 30 million people in the fourteenth-century.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax put on men's beards.
The active ingredient in Chinese Bird's nest soup is saliva.
It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on their testicles when taking an oath. The modern term 'testimony' is derived from this tradition.
The study of stupidity is called 'monology'.
Princess Ann was the only competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics that did not have to undergo a sex test.
Due to staggering inflation in the 1920's, 4,000,000,000,000,000,000 German marks were worth 1 US dollar.
April 13, 2007
bgyan 6
Juss read a pretty good book on innovation, “How innovators Connect” by Rohit Agarwal, CEO, techtribe.com . The book gives an insight on how innovators connect with idea, environment, teams, time, partners, money, customers, failure etc.. and experiences of 40 odd innovators.
Good one gives a new perspective about entrepreneurship.
The questions are taken from the chapters of the book.Answers to only those who put some effort in replying.Send in your answers to praneeth82@gmail.com
1.After returning to Stanford Joe Karus started a “loft” business, where he used pieces of lumber to raise student’s beds off the floor to maximize floor space in cramped quarters. In the early days Kraus had a sort of motto on which he built his business “Unencumbered by reality”. He co-founded excite.com during dot com era, name the other successful start up Joe karus started which was acquired by Google in 2006
2.Identify this guy, who have been involved with Google from inception
3.Which company hosts “poster lunches”, where people write up ideas and at the end vote on their favorite one
4.“The Way to Market Leadership” is a book written by which company’s founder about there company’s success
5.Joe Kraus instituted a hiring philosophy that he called “No false Positives” at which company. It is a screening process that disqualified people who may have worked out, but would not be accepted by rest of the team
6.The primary strategy of Garage ventures is to find “Two guys or gals in a garage doing the next product or service that regular people will use”. Name the famous founder of this VC firm
7.Hack program, is an initiative by which company that encourages innovative input from all employees of the company. Once in a quarter everyone in the company is granted permission to stop business as usual and build something. At the end of 24 hours participants present their ideas in 90 seconds. After its resounding success the program is now open to outside customers. Hack Days are now conducted globally including one in India
8.Which company devised 1/1/1 model in which one percent of company’s equity was given to a philanthropic foundation, employees agreed to donate one percent of their paid time off to charities and the company will give one percent of their profits to ngo’s
9.Jan.B began his career as an administrative clerk at a Dutch meat packing company, after hours he learned about inventory control and stuff. He then started an accounting consultancy specializing in financial engineering. Jan spotted an opportunity for using software to automate the planning process for manufactures and founded which company in 1978
Good one gives a new perspective about entrepreneurship.
The questions are taken from the chapters of the book.Answers to only those who put some effort in replying.Send in your answers to praneeth82@gmail.com
1.After returning to Stanford Joe Karus started a “loft” business, where he used pieces of lumber to raise student’s beds off the floor to maximize floor space in cramped quarters. In the early days Kraus had a sort of motto on which he built his business “Unencumbered by reality”. He co-founded excite.com during dot com era, name the other successful start up Joe karus started which was acquired by Google in 2006
2.Identify this guy, who have been involved with Google from inception
3.Which company hosts “poster lunches”, where people write up ideas and at the end vote on their favorite one
4.“The Way to Market Leadership” is a book written by which company’s founder about there company’s success
5.Joe Kraus instituted a hiring philosophy that he called “No false Positives” at which company. It is a screening process that disqualified people who may have worked out, but would not be accepted by rest of the team
6.The primary strategy of Garage ventures is to find “Two guys or gals in a garage doing the next product or service that regular people will use”. Name the famous founder of this VC firm
7.Hack program, is an initiative by which company that encourages innovative input from all employees of the company. Once in a quarter everyone in the company is granted permission to stop business as usual and build something. At the end of 24 hours participants present their ideas in 90 seconds. After its resounding success the program is now open to outside customers. Hack Days are now conducted globally including one in India
8.Which company devised 1/1/1 model in which one percent of company’s equity was given to a philanthropic foundation, employees agreed to donate one percent of their paid time off to charities and the company will give one percent of their profits to ngo’s
9.Jan.B began his career as an administrative clerk at a Dutch meat packing company, after hours he learned about inventory control and stuff. He then started an accounting consultancy specializing in financial engineering. Jan spotted an opportunity for using software to automate the planning process for manufactures and founded which company in 1978
April 12, 2007
where have all leaders gone
In His new book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?,Lee Iacocca excoriates the Bush administration for its total failure to lead the country well, laying out the case that America has turned into a corrupt kleptocracy that is more concerned with lining the pockets of political donors than strengthening the nation and keeping it secure
We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car - Lee Iacocca
source kottke.org
April 07, 2007
Victoria Portrait Series
The first set of British India notes were the 'Victoria Portrait' Series issued in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000. These were unifaced, carried two language panels and were printed on hand-moulded paper manufactured at the Laverstock Paper Mills (Portals). The security features incorporated the watermark (GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, RUPEES, two signatures and wavy lines), the printed signature and the registration of the notes.
April 06, 2007
3 A's to 3 P's
Jack Trout writes
"Coca-Cola used to focus its strategy on the three A’s: availability, acceptability, and affordability. While these provided for tremendous growth, they also led to lowered entry barriers. Today, Coca-Cola’s mantra is the three P’s: preference, pervasive penetration, and price-related value ( yeah u can add one more P-Pesticides)"
A recent Coca-Cola annual report reported that the second most recognized expression in the world after “ok?” is “Coca-Cola.”
"Coca-Cola used to focus its strategy on the three A’s: availability, acceptability, and affordability. While these provided for tremendous growth, they also led to lowered entry barriers. Today, Coca-Cola’s mantra is the three P’s: preference, pervasive penetration, and price-related value ( yeah u can add one more P-Pesticides)"
A recent Coca-Cola annual report reported that the second most recognized expression in the world after “ok?” is “Coca-Cola.”
April 05, 2007
charles schwab
Charles Schwab was very strong in math, science, and sports (especially golf), which helped him get into Stanford. But anything involving English "was a disconnect." He couldn't write quickly enough to capture his thoughts. He couldn't listen to a lecture and take legible notes. He couldn't memorize four words in a row. He doesn't think he ever read a novel all the way through in high school. He was within one unit of flunking out of Stanford his freshman year. "God, I must just be really dumb in this stuff," he used to tell himself.Schwab and his wife, Helen, created a foundation to help parents of children with learning disorders.
Ticker Symbols
The term ticker refers to the noise made by the ticker tape machines once widely used by stock exchanges.The practice of using a Ticker symbol began in 1844 as a way to send stock prices over the telegraph system easily and efficiently. To save room, stocks with the highest volume got one-letter names -- many companies continue that practice today.H, I and M, however, still remain available. Many say M is reserved for Microsoft, I for Intel
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