English Language Trivia - Part 1

As per Guiness World Records, the English word with the most meanings is the verb 'set', with 430 senses listed in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989. The word commands the longest entry in the dictionary at 60,000 words, or 326,000 characters.

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"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence. It is unpunctuated and uses 3 distinct readings of the word "buffalo" :

1) City of Buffalo, New York, United States
2) The noun buffalo (American bison), an animal
3) The verb "buffalo" meaning to outwit, confuse, deceive, intimidate or baffle.

Now read the below sentence, keeping the above words in mind :
The buffalo from Buffalo who are buffaloed by buffalo from Buffalo, buffalo (verb) other buffalo from Buffalo.

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The sentence " Are you as bored as I am? " can be read backwards and still make sense.

Longest English word without any vowel is "twyndyllyngs", which means "twins"

The division sign "÷" is technically called an Obelus.

Troubleshoot 1 -- Skype Connectivity Issue

While launching Skype, I suddenly came across this message, which was quite surprising :
"Sorry,we couldn't connect to Skype. Please check your internet connection and try again"

Going by the look of it,I thought there must be a problem with the internet connection but then
when I confirmed that there was nothing wrong with connectivity, then I was intrigued.

Finally, after Googling for some time, I came across this simple troubleshooting method :

1. Go to Control Panel of your system.
2. Click on Internet Options link. An Internet Properties popup would appear.
3. Click on Advanced menu tab.
4. Click on Restore advanced settings button. And click OK.
5. Launch your Skype instance again.

And Voila !!! You are ready to launch your Skype instance and talk or chat to your near and dear ones.

Challenger Deep - Oblivion Expedition

Our world is full of surprises and eye popping or brain tickling facts and figures are quite galore everywhere around us. I had always been intrigued by one quite famous general knowledge factoid about the deepest part of the world's oceans. It is called Mariana Trench and is located in the Western Pacific Ocean. It has been named Mariana because of its proximity to Mariana Islands.

The Mariana Trench is said to be about 2550 kms long and has a width of only 69 kms. However, the lowest recorded depth point recorded here is at 10.994 kms below the surface and is named as Challenger Deep.

We can compare the distance by many comparison factors. It is said that if we can somehow put the Mount Everest inside it, we would still have some good half a mile empty space. Also, it is said that the pressure of any material thing reaching this deepest point would be like sustaining the pressure of being squeezed from all sides by around 50 jumbo jets.

Challenger Deep got its name from the British survey ship Challenger II which pinpointed the location first. On January 23, 1960, US Navy sent a submersible, called Trieste, to touch down the deepest part with 2 people on it, Don Walsh (a US Navy Lieutenant) and Jacques Piccard (son of the boat's designer).

The whole descent took around 4 hours 47 minutes at a speed of 3 feet/sec. After passing 30000 feet, one of the outer window panes cracked which shook the whole boat. However, there was another inner protective layer of window pane which was still intact. The two men decided to descend further and spent almost 20 minutes in the ocean floor. The temperature in the cabin was recorded as 7º C at the lowest point.

The two men further recorded that they could view fishes swimming beside the submersible which brought forth the theory that there are aquatic life which could withstand and survive immense pressure at such depths of oceans. The ascent took 3 hours 15 min.

Excel Tips And Tricks - Transpose And Worksheet Navigation Shortcut

Most of our job profiles require us to use Excel features in the most comprehensive ways which would give us meaningful yet effective results as soon as possible.

I had many such situations which required me to find out the easiest and the most effective ways to do our tasks in Excel 2007. I would be henceforth giving a step by step approach for few such features :

Requirement : How to change columns cell values into row cell values ? (It is called transpose)

How to Do ?

Select the full range of column cell values.

 

Right click and select Copy menu option.

Place the focus on any blank cell where you want the range of cell values to be pasted in the form of row cell values.

Right click and choose “Paste Special” menu option. In the Paste Special dialog box that appears, select the checkbox, Transpose, and click on OK button.

Note that the column cell values has been pasted into row cell values

Requirement : To traverse through the Excel worksheets tabs via Keyboard shortcut key ?

How to do ?

Most of us would use the mouse for traversing through the Excel Worksheets tabs. Keep focus on any of the Excel worksheet cell and then use the following keyboard shortcuts :

Ctrl + PageUp (Key) - Move left of the Excel Worksheets tabs from the current active worksheet
Ctrl + PageDown (Key) - Move right of the Excel Worksheets tabs from the current active worksheet

Sachin Tendulkar - The Name Says It All

 

The man who has engulfed the whole nations sports lovers life and who is no where less than an enigma, in himself. Sachin Tendulkar, the No. 10 jersey guy, who has shouldered one billion people's hopes and aspirations every single instance he went out to play in the middle.

Words are quite less and few to say about his achievements. I have collected some of the quotes told by the sports celebrities spanning different countries and eras which speaks volumes about him but alas still fall short to explain his greatness and magnanimity.

“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their lives."

                                                                -British broadcasting corporation (BBC)

"He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also."

 -Waqar Younis

"On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!"

                                                                  -Peter Rebouck, Australian journalist.

"To Sachin, the man we all want to be."

                  -Andrew Symonds signing a T shirt specially for Sachin.

"Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal."

-Brian Lara.

"The number of innings of his (Tendulkar's) I have been able to sit back and watch, I think he is an amazing player. Look at his stats and records and it's quite incredible for someone to have stayed in the game for more than 20 years.. He has set benchmarks for guys like me to chase him and get as close as we can. If I had to last 20 years, I would probably be batting in a wheelchair!!"

-Ricky Ponting

I'll see god when I die but till then I'll see Sachin.

                                                           -A banner during a match in Sharjah.

"I have seen god. he bats at no.4 for India."

-Mathew Hayden

"Commit all your sins when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the lord is watching!"

-A banner in UK.

"The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility - all make for a one-in-a-billion individual".

-Glenn McGrath

There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricketers were invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan. Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the genius!!

-Shahrukh Khan

Sachin was so focused. He never looked like getting out. He was batting with single-minded devotion. It was truly remarkable. It was a lesson."

                                      -Martina Navratilova after watching Tendulkar bat at Sydney.

He is 99.5% Perfect...I think he is marvellous. He can play in any era and at any level.

- Viv Richards

I was fielding in the covers Tendulkar came out to bat in his debut test at Karachi. I still remember Waqar Younis was at his peak form at that time. Tendulkar tried to drive Waqar through the covers off his very first ball in Test cricket but was beaten all ends up. But I walked to captain Imran Khan and told him that this kid looks very good and Imran agreed with me.

- Abdul Qadir

During one Bangalore Test, Michael Kasprowicz frustrated went to Dennis Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses ?". Lilee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do".

 

Shakuntala Devi - Human Calculator

One person who had been widely regarded as the human calculator, the one who stunned the world with her split second answering ability to mathematical questions, involving gigantic numbers was none other than Shakuntala Devi. It is said that there were no umm's and no urr's while she answered and certainly no errors.

Shakuntala Devi was born in Bangalore to a Brahmin family in 1929, where her father used to work in circus as a gymnast. She went to school uptil Class III after which her parents could not afford the school fees. It is said that by the age of 3, she was solving University Level Mathematics book. Age 6 - she held a Masters degree in Mathematics from University of Mysore. Age 8 - she had completed her Doctorate in Maths from Annamalai University.

Some famous happenings that took her to fame was when she was asked to derive 23rd root of a 201 digit number at Harvard University. She took 50 seconds to answer while for the same calculation, UNIVAC 1108 computer took 1 minute i.e. 10 seconds longer.

On June 18, 1980, Computer Department of University of Oxford asked her randomly to multiply 2 13-digit numbers. (7686369774870 X 2465099745779). She answered in 2 seconds flat , which was correct and the answer was : 18947668177995426462773730. This event was however mentioned in the 1995 Guiness Book of Records.

She believed that hers was a God's gift and hence she had opened an institute in Bangalore which teaches Vedic Mathematics which according to her had the correct ways of learning and loving the numbers. She has authored several maths and cookery books too and was a noted astrologist and numerologist.

Shri Ashtavinayaka Tour - Mahaganapati Temple

The eighth among the Ashtavinayaka's revered shrines is the Mahaganapati, located at Ranjangaon, some 50 Km from Pune.

The idol faces the east with its trunk pointing to the left. The temple is designed in such a way that during the apparent movement of the sun to the south, the sun rays fall directly on the deity. The Lord is flanked by his consorts, Ridhi and Sidhi on both sides

It is said that the temple was built by Shiva, where he worshipped Ganesha in order to fight the demon Tripurasura. Tripurasura had built 3 powerful citadels (or forts) with a boon of invincibility given by Shiva himself. Howeever, as his atrocities in the universe grew, he had to be killed. So, Shiva prayed Ganesha and shot an arrow which pierced through the citadels and killed the demon.