February 28, 2010

Check it Out

1. The company started by Toyoda's grandfather did indeed have his name -- Tokyo Toyoda Motor Sales -- until 1936, when a stroke of the brush changed it to Toyota.

Writing "Toyoda" in Japanese requires 10 brush strokes

While "8" is considered an auspicious number, "10" is not. "Ten" consists of two strokes crossed against each other and resembles the "plus" symbol, or even a crossroads or an uncertain path. Not a good omen for a company.The name Toyoda consists of two characters, one meaning fertile and the other, rice paddy.

Source story


2. Puckman was the name coined by young Toru Iwatani, a designer with Japanese video game developer Namcoc, for the central character of an offbeat game he came up with in 1980. Iwatani game involved a yellow blob racing through a maze.

After lackluster adoption in Japan, the game headed out to the USA in 1981 through licensore Midway Games. Pac man scores became the de facto "currency of competitiveness during the 80;s in schools

3. Tony Fernandes had no experience in airlines industry till 9 years ago. He used to run a music business when he was introduced to the wily Malaysian Prime minister Mahatir Muhammad in 2001. Muhammad persuaded Fernandes to buy out governments stake in the struggling Air Asia for just one ringgit. Today Air Asia is Asia's leading low cost operator