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Thursday, September 01, 2005

Biz Buzz - 2

1. Which automobile brand is named after the Spanish word for `grace’?
### Mercedes; It was named after the daughter of Emil Jellinek, an Austrian businessman who promised to buy a fleet of cars if they were named after his daughter whose name `Mercedes' translated to `grace' in Spanish.

2. Which Indian company identifies itself with the Italian mindset of precision engineering?
### PRICOL- Premier Instruments and Controls.

3.What does the number 4,810 on the nib of a Mont Blanc pen signify?
### The height of Mount Blanc in meters and the limited edition pens. Every Year, Mont Blanc produces only 4,810 pens. Once the 4,810 is made, the dyes are destroyed and to show its lineage, every nib of the line has 4,810 inscribed on it.

4. Long time back, Colgate introduced toothpaste under some brand name in France. Though the quality and performance of the product were very good, it ended up as a cropper. What was the brand and why did it fail?
### The brand name was `CUE'. It failed because CUE also happened to be the name of a notorious porno magazine in France.

5. I am around 47. Until 1971, I used to look to my right. But from 1971, I have been looking only straight ahead. Who am I?
### Barbie Doll. Until 1971, Barbie's eyes looked to the right. Beginning in 1971, they looked straight ahead.

7. Everyone knows that a bullish trend is when the stock markets are rising and the bearish is when the markets are on a downward spiral. But what do you call a stock market trend that is neither bullish nor bearish - just flat? (Don't tell me it's a Flat Market)
### Chicken Market

8. When India, Inc. sought investment from abroad, some of the heavyweights in the Indian business came together to protest what they perceived as an imminent takeover of Indian business by transnational companies. What was the result?
### Formation of the Bombay Club.

9. What does the age recorded on a whiskey bottle refer to?
### The number of years it is aged prior to being bottled. Once in the bottle, whiskey does not improve.

10. During the second world war, why there was a sudden increase in the consumption of pop corn in the united states?
### Sugar was sent overseas for the U.S. troops. This caused scarcity of sugar in the states to produce candy. Because of this unusual situation, Americans consumed three times as much popcorn as usual.

Biz Buzz - 1

1. In Levi's 501, what does `01' represent?
### The Cone Mills fabric supplied exclusively to Levi's.

2. `Dole' and `Chiquita' are two famous global brands. What product category do these brands belong to?
### Bananas

3. Which aftershave allows its users to experience the brand even if they cannot afford a bike?
### Harley Davidson.

4. According to Dilbert comic strips, what is the most used management lie?
### “Our Employees Are Our Greatest Asset.”

5. Which optical networking company is named after a tree that lives for more than 500 years?
### Sycamore Networks.

6. What do the three stripes on Adidas' logo represent?
###The three sons of Adi Dassler, the company's founder.

7. Which brand of watches is named after a highly popular Mexican car race event of the 60's and is meant for those who dream to be inside the cockpit of a F1 car some day?
### Carrera.

8. When McDonald's began its operations, what did it call the small conference room where the top management used to conduct meetings?( the name depicts how seriously the company plays the hamburger game)
### War Room.

9. In stock market jargon, what is the name given to a scrip that can be picked up at almost nothing but where you can find substantial value?
### Cigar Butt.

10. What did Percy Shaw invent while driving late at night down a steep hill and when he was worried that he might come off the road because there were no road markings?
### Cat's Eyes.

Crusade against BS continues

My crusade against Business Standard gathered momentum with many members of Quinkie and IBQ joining me. Though I never wanted to sensationalize issues, my umpteen mails to the newspaper requesting them to stop publishing the plagiarized material, fell on the deaf ears. At last, I felt like bringing the plagiarism to the notice of everyone.

Well, if you are not able to understand what I’m talking about, let me throw some light. Business Standard, a leading newspaper in India, has been carrying a fortnightly quiz column. The columnist is supposed to spend some time and energy researching for questions and compile the quiz. Instead of doing their own research and compiling the quiz, the columnists have been resorting to plagiarism by copying the content for the column from various quiz groups. The columnists never bothered to acknowledge the source for their questions.

The plagiarism has taken disgusting levels since Jaspreet Bindra started writing the column. This quizzer did a sort of redefining plagiarism by lifting almost the entire content for his quiz column from quizzing groups like Quinkie, IBQ, QFI, and Quiznet. I felt the urge to put an end to this diabolical act and wrote marathon missives of communication to Business Standard with the threads from where Mr Bindra took the content. Though the Editor of the Strategist section (where the quiz appears every fortnight) of the newspaper gave me a written assurance that she would take action, her assurance remained a mere assurance when Bindra lifted questions en masse for the nth time.

I didn’t see any point in wasting time, and posted a message about the sordid act of plagiarism in Quinkie and IBQ. Many people from the quizzing fraternity chipped in supporting my move. A member even went a step ahead and launched a signature campaign sending a strong signal to Business Standard.

This evening I received a mail from Mr T N Ninan, the editor of Business Standard. Mr Ninan wrote that he would have it checked and revert. Now I’m confident that Business Standard will wake up from slumber and do something to save its face.