13thMonkey

Cartoon fame for Indian tech school

The world famous Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have made their way into Dilbert, the enormously popular comic strip about the corporate world.

IIT graduates occupy a prominent position in the US economy.

Researchers say that some 10% of infotech start-ups in California's Silicon Valley have been founded or co-founded by IIT engineers.

Dilbert, written and drawn by Scott Adams, is syndicated in more than 2000 publications and generates $200 million every year.

The satirical strip dwells on the corporate world and high-pressure work places.

There are seven IITs in India offering undergraduate and post-graduate degrees.

The rising corporate status of the IIT alumni in the US prompted Mr Adams to feature the celebrated engineering college.

In Dilbert, a comic character called Asok claims he is from IIT and therefore "mentally superior to most people on Earth".

In one strip, Asok says: "At the Indian Institute of Technology, I learned to use my huge brain."

"But I try not to frighten ordinary people with any gratuitous displays of mental superiority.

"For example," says Asok, "I no longer reheat my tea by holding it to my forehead and imagining fire."

Mr Adams, who began drawing cartoons in the 1980s while working in a telecommunications company, said he has several friends who graduated from IIT.

"I have known several IIT graduates over the years. The character Asok is named after an ex co-worker from my days in the tech world," he told BBC News Online.

"I thought it would be a funny contrast to have Asok come from the most competitive school system in the world only to find out that intelligence doesn't always help in the workplace."

Asked how IIT graduates differed from engineering graduates from all over the world, Mr Adams said: "They are smarter."

'Friends like it'

There were mixed reactions from IIT alumni to the cartoon strips.

Amit Pamecha, an IIT Delhi graduate and chief of Webrizen, an US-based networking company, said: "[it] was too stereotyped and this is not true for most of us."

But he agreed that IIT's reference in a Dilbert cartoon was a recognition of the colleges' fame.

"Everyone knew Harvard, MIT, Oxford. Not much was known about IITs outside India other than in certain special fields," Mr Pamecha said.

"But this has put IIT and us right in the centre of happening things."

Scott Adams's friends from IIT inspired him to mention the school

IIT alumnus and senior vice president of a New York-based investment bank, Jetendra Swarup, said that IIT's mention in a Dilbert strip added to the college's reputation and "brand building."

Mr Adams said his IIT friends liked the strips.

"They like the attention, especially in the US where most people have never heard of the IITs," he said.

Mr Adams is not sure whether he will mention IIT again in his strip.

"Asok is a regular character. I am not sure whether I will mention IIT again - but I might," he said.

Top Ten Ways California Would Be Different If I, Gary Coleman, Had Been Elected Governor

10. "Pretty much the same as Schwarzenegger, but less body oil"

9. "Three words: Lieutenant Governor Urkel"

8. "Thanks to my innocent charm, I'd get away with 60% more groping"

7. "I guess I'd have to quit my job as a security guard"

6. "You may not agree with me, but at least you could understand me"

5. "Inaugural address would have a laugh track"

4. "Television viewers wouldn't know if they were watching C-Span or Nick at Nite"

3. "Wouldn't have to worry about me having to take time off to do movies"

2. "I would form a task force to find out exactly what Willis was talking about"

1. "Unlike Schwarzenegger, I would admit I'm not qualified"

Top Ten Pieces Of Advice Gray Davis Has For Arnold Schwarzenegger

10. "Governor, when you realize you don't know what you're doing, give me a call"

9. "Body-building oil will stain the mansion's Italian silk sofa"

8. "Listen to your constituents -- except Michael Jackson"

7. "(Sorry, joke number 7 was recalled)"

6. "To improve your approval rating, go on Leno -- when you get kicked out, go on Letterman"

5. "Study the master -- George W. Bush" (laughs) "Ah, I"m just kidding"

4. "You could solve the deficit problem by donating your salary from 'Terminator 3'"

3. "If things are bad, just yell, 'Save us, Superman!'"

2. "While giving speech, never say, 'Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara...same thing'"

1. "It's pronounced 'California'"

The Social Security Administration has a fascinating Web page where it publishes data on popular baby names from 1880 to the present, and blogger Matt Evans has conducted a fascinating analysis of one famous name:

According to data published by the Social Security Administration, the name Hillary is the most severely poisoned baby name in history. Hillary had been steadily climbing the baby name charts since the 1960s, when it first graced the Top 1000, becoming the 136th most common name for baby girls in 1992. But the name sharply reversed course in 1993, smashing several longstanding records for name contamination in its plunge from the Top 1000 girl names last year.

The title for the most rapid case of name contamination had been held by Ebenezer and then Adolph, names that were shunned by parents after they became associated with Dickens's miserly banker and the Nazi dictator Hitler. But while Ebenezer and Adolph each took over 30 years to fall from the Top 1000 after they were negatively associated with their prominent name sakes, Hillary dropped off the charts in just 10 years, upsetting the prior records in less than 30% of the time. Besides this achievement, Hillary also set records for largest drop in a single year (295 places in 1994), two years (420 places in 1993-1994) and ten years (>864 from 1993 to 2002). These titles taken together represent the grand slam of name poisoning.

Evans adds: "The largest one-year drop of another tarnished name from the same period, Monica, was 53 places in 1999; the two-year drop was 73 (1998-1999). Monica's dip was short-lived as well, ending with an uptick in popularity in 2002."

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?

Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff." --Mariah Carey

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life," --Brooke Shields, during an interview to become Spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign. (the scary thing is, they DID choose her as their spokesperson!)

"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"—Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.

"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country," --Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.

"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it," --A congressional candidate in Texas.

"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves." --John Wayne

"Half this game is ninety percent mental." --Philadelphia Phillies manager,Danny Ozark

"I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the truth. I assisted in furthering that version." --Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony.

"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." --Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback &sports analyst.

"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people."--Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." --Bill Clinton, President

"Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas." --Keppel Enderbery

"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances." --Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record."--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

Klingon Interpreter Needed for Ore. Mental Patients

Sunday, May 11, 2003

PORTLAND, Ore. — Position Available: Interpreter, must be fluent in Klingon (search).

The language created for the Star Trek (search) TV series and movies is one of about 55 needed by the office that treats mental health patients in metropolitan Multnomah County.

"We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak," said Jerry Jelusich, a procurement specialist for the county Department of Human Services, which serves about 60,000 mental health clients.

Although created for works of fiction, Klingon was designed to have a consistent grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

And now Multnomah County (search) research has found that many people — and not just fans — consider it a complete language.

"There are some cases where we've had mental health patients where this was all they would speak," said the county's purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway.

County officials said that obligates them to respond with a Klingon-English interpreter, putting the language of starship Enterprise officer Worf and other Klingon characters on a par with common languages such as Russian and Vietnamese, and less common tongues including Dari and Tongan.

With Epcot Center the Disney corporation has accomplished something I didn't think possible in today's world. They have created a land of make-believe that's worse than regular life.

P. J. O'Rourke

One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license.

P.J. O'Rourke

Three golfing partners died in a car wreck and went to heaven. Upon arrival they discover the most beautiful golf course they have ever seen. St. Peter tells them that they are all welcome to play the course, but he cautions them that there is only one rule:

Don't hit the ducks.

The men all have blank expressions, and finally one of them asks "The ducks?"

"Yes", St. Peter replies, "There are millions of ducks walking around the course and if one gets hit, he squawks then the one next to him squawks and soon they're all squawkin to beat the band, and it really breaks the tranquility. If you hit the ducks, you'll be punished, otherwise everything is yours to enjoy."

After entering the course, the men noted that there was indeed a gaggle of ducks everywhere.

Within fifteen minutes, one of the guys hit one of them. The duck squawked, the one next to it squawked and soon there was a deafening roar of duck quacks.

St. Peter walked up with an extremely homely woman in tow and asked "Who hit the duck?"

The one who had done it admitted "I did."

Immediately, St. Peter pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed the man's right hand to the homely woman's left hand. "I told you not to hit the ducks," he said.

"Now you'll be handcuffed together for eternity.

The other two men were very cautious not to hit any ducks, but a couple of weeks later, one of them accidentally did. The quacks were as deafening as before and within minutes St. Peter walked up with an even uglier woman than before. St. Peter determined which one had hit the duck by the fear in his face, and cuffed the man's right hand to the homely woman's left hand.

"I told you not to hit the ducks", he said. "Now you'll be handcuffed together for eternity."

The third man was extremely careful. Some days he wouldn't even move for fear of even nudging a duck. After three months of this he still hadn't hit a duck. St. Peter walked up to the man at the end of the three months and had with him a knock-out gorgeous woman, the most beautiful woman the man had ever seen. St. Peter smiled to the man and then, without a word, handcuffed him to the beautiful woman and walked off.

The man, knowing that he would be handcuffed to this woman for eternity, let out a sigh and said "What have I done to deserve this?"

The woman responded "I don't know about you, but I hit a duck."

www.beeguys.com (remove period and it works)

Honey NEVER EVER goes bad (even after hundreds of years). Is this true? or just a myth.

It's a spiral, right?

No, it’s a bunch of independent circles.

Is the left center circle bigger?

Do you see the face? Or an Eskimo?

How many legs does this elephant have?

Are the horizontal lines parallel or do they slope?

Count the black dots.

India Sex Imbalance Grows as Rich, Poor Want Boys

Mon December 9, 2002 01:39 PM ET

By Penny MacRae

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Workers cleaning drains in a northern Indian town recently discovered two aborted female fetuses, a find that highlights the country's bias against girls.

A few weeks later, a bag turned up in the same town of Alwar in Rajasthan state containing a dozen female fetuses and dead baby girls police believe was dumped by a nursing home.

The discoveries were stark evidence of the preference for boys over girls among many parents that has skewed the sex ratio in this country of more than a billion and been exploited by money-hungry doctors using ultrasound machines to detect the sex of fetuses.

"It's an unholy alliance of tradition and technology. Ultrasound was not meant for sex selection," said demographer Ashish Bose. "It's a quick way for greedy doctors to make money."

The result of the quest for sons was clear in the 2001 census. From the ages of birth to 6, there were 927 girls for 1,000 boys, down from 945 girls a decade earlier.

But that national figure masked big local variations. In northern Punjab state, for instance, there were 793 girls for 1,000 boys, down from 875 girls in 1991. The global ratio is about 1,005 females to 1,000 males.

India has had a long history of female infanticide--of girls poisoned, suffocated, drowned or left to die.

In the early 19th century, British Col. Alexander Walker recorded his horror at seeing a mother drowning her newborn girl in a trough of milk in the western Gujarat region.

But now abortion of female fetuses or "female feticide" has become common with the easy availability of ultrasound sex tests.

While such tests, costing as little as 600 rupees ($12.42), are illegal across India, the law is regularly flouted and clinics offering sex tests abound. Portable ultrasound machines mean the tests can be done even in remote areas.

"It's illegal but it's happening all over. It's available at an affordable price," New Delhi social worker Mira Shiva of the Voluntary Health Association told Reuters.

The yearning for a son is deep-rooted social phenomenon.

"A lot of it is economically based. If you have children you're better off having boys because the sons will take care of you in your old age," Bose said.

DAUGHTERS LEAVE HOME

Daughters, on the other hand, leave home when they wed and a dowry--which can range from $100 to a new car, jewelry, apartment or more--can prove crippling for a family.

Social activists say many who seek to find out the sex of their unborn child are poor, rural and illiterate.

The prejudice against girls also stretches into urban centers such as the capital, New Delhi, where the census showed about 850 girls per 1,000 boys in some affluent neighborhoods.

"Often a woman who gives birth to a daughter gets treated much worse than one who gives birth to a son," Shiva said.

"Some commit suicide they're so worried about how they'll be treated by their husband's family. The family may be educated, have money. This discrimination is across-the-board," she said.

"Girls are seen as a burden and the fact educated women are willing to abort their girls shows their social conditioning."

Shiva says the government's push for two-child families to slow population growth has only worsened the situation.

"With the small family norm, many people want boys so they have abortions and keep trying when it's a girl," she said.

In neighboring China where there is a similar traditional preference for boys and a controversial one-child rule to keep the population down, there is also a big sex imbalance.

Social workers in India say the trend will mean major social problems ahead and make it harder for young men to wed.

"People won't be able to find girls to marry for their sons. People in some places are already finding it hard. There will be more prostitution, social instability, wife buying," Shiva said.

The government, alarmed by the number of "missing females," has introduced legislation to ban routine ultrasounds on women below the age of 35 but the measure still has to be passed.

In Alwar, to tackle the problem, municipal officials have launched a poster drive with the message: "Killing a female fetus is a sin for which no one can atone."

Elsewhere, authorities have used other approaches. In southern Tamil Nadu state, for instance, authorities run a program for parents of unwanted girls to leave them in cradles outside hospitals.

At a public meeting in Salem in Tamil Nadu where officials say female infanticide is common, the program chief was shocked when two mothers gave him their babies and showed no emotion.

"But then I realized this is a positive development," J. Radakrishnan told The Indian Express newspaper. "It shows people are thinking twice about killing their baby girls."