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Biggest surprise about getting Rich:

Earlier this week, Sylvester Stallone listed one of his houses on the market for $130,000,000.00. That’s not surprising. When you mostly write, direct, produce and star in seven sequels to one of the most popular movies in history, money comes with the territory. Lots of it.

At the age of thirty, Stallone was an unemployed actor. No one was interested in hiring him. An accident at birth cut a facial nerve, leaving one side of his face droopy. It also affected his speech, making him look and sound like Fred Flintstone, minus a few dozen IQ points. He sold his wife’s jewelry without her consent. Still broke, he sold his purebred Mastiff for $50 to buy some food.

Sylvester Stallone, the man with no education, no prospects, and no dog hated his life. He thought about the thirteen schools that expelled him for behavior problems, shooting arrows out of classroom windows, hacking the Santa display to pieces with a pipe, painting the neighbor’s house black… He relived the shame when, at the age of 15, he was informed by the school administration that his brain was “dormant”. All his life he had been bullied. Just one opportunity; that’s all he wanted. To prove to himself and the world that he wasn’t “just another bum from the neighborhood”. Several days passed. As he wallowed in his misery, sulking and feeling sorry for himself, Stallone heard about Chuck “The Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner, going fifteen rounds with the heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali. He later watched the fight on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. This was not possible. Wepner, a mediocre fighter, known for his blood splattering in the faces of people seated in the first three rows rather than his boxing skills, was supposed to lose..badly. Instead, he almost beat the man often considered the greatest boxer of all time. Stallone was inspired. Although, not a writer, he drafted a script based on a fighter, who against all odds fights the champ. It took him less than a day. Tweaking it took another three or four days. He gave it to his agent who passed it around. It was great; everybody agreed. A hundred-thousand dollars was offered. James Caan, who had recently played Sonny in The Godfather, would play the lead. Dead broke, Stallone turned it down. Three-hundred thousand dollars was offered. Again, Stallone turned it down. He knew that this was his opportunity. He just wanted to play the part of Rocky. That’s all. Everything else was secondary. Finally, MGM accepted the offer, giving the unknown Stallone $35,000.00 for the script and the lead. Bets were off. It was doomed for failure, but the risks were insignificant. The entire cost for the making of Rocky came out to less than one-million dollars. Stallone took the money and bought back his dog, Butkus, to “co-star” with him in the movie.

Rocky ended up grossing over $220,000,000.00. It would turn into a money-making franchise - seven sequels, written, directed and starring Sylvester Stallone. A string of blockbusters, including Rambo, would make Stallone the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.

The biggest surprise about getting rich? Opportunity is everywhere. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams. Get off your butt, and achieve your greatness. It’s there for the taking. Just ask Sylvester Stallone, the real-life Rocky.

Xo,

MG

#inspiration #real life #celebs #success #movies

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A great example of turning lemons into lemonade...

Gas Lamps!

Before the mid-1800s, London had a growing problem with sewage. Or rather, from a lack of it. Historically, people’s waste was left to accumulate in cesspits and privies. Then, when full, it was the job of night soil men to collect the waste and dump it into the River Thames. This ‘basic’ system rapidly became insufficient to meet the demands of the industrial age, and a mixture of overflowing waste that seeped into the streets and miasma meant that not only was the city bathed in a highly unpleasant stench, but contagious diseases like cholera were allowed to thrive and spread throughout its inhabitants.

The problem came to a head with the Great Stink of 1858, when a particularly hot summer exacerbated the effects, enough to drive the government to act. The solution, spearheaded by Joseph Bazalgette:

…was over a thousand miles of new sewers:

The project was understandably a behemoth task, requiring 318 million bricks, 670,000 cubic metres of concrete and 2.7 million cubic metres of earth to excavated. Needless to say though, the project overall was a great success, and even allowed new roads, public gardens and the Underground’s Circle Line to be built as byproducts.

However, there was one problem — biogas.

Anaerobic digestion of the waste in the sewers proved to be a potential issue in itself. The resulting build-up of biogas, which is mostly methane, is not only foul-smelling but also an explosive hazard. After all this work and great achievement, and that pesky thing called life still managed to throw a few lemons into the mix.

Human creativity won out though, when one Joseph Edmund Webb invented the ‘sewer gas destructor lamp’, as pictured at the top. This inspired idea saw the dangerous gas removed by recycling it, using it as fuel to power extra street lights. Because of the height of the lamps too, it was burnt well above people’s heads and therefore the smell issue was also negated. Thus, he had turned negatives into an advantage — extra street lighting.

Today, only one still stands and functions just as it did over a hundred years ago. It stands on a side street of the Savoy, one called Carting Lane, but known by the locals as ‘Farting Lane’:

Xo,

MG.

#interesting info #trivia #london #solution #city/town #architecture

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this is Classic.

“Go and stand in the economy class queue. This line is for business class travellers,” a well-heeled lady told Sudha Murty at the International Heathrow airport in London.

Sudha Murty, as you probably must be knowing is a well known writer and also, The chairman of Infosys Foundation.

She has written in her book, “Three Thousand Stitches”.

The excerpt is indeed an interesting read.

[EXCERPT]

Last year, I was at the Heathrow International Airport in London about to board a flight. Usually, I wear a sari even when I am abroad, but I prefer wearing a salwar kameez while travelling. So there I was—a senior citizen dressed in typical Indian apparel at the terminal gate.

Since the boarding hadn’t started, I sat down and began to observe my surroundings. The flight was bound for Bengaluru and so I could hear people around me chatting in Kannada. I saw many old married couples of my age—they were most likely coming back from the US or UK after helping their children either through childbirth or a new home. I saw some British business executives talking to each other about India’s progress. Some teenagers were busy with the gadgets in their hands while the younger children were crying or running about the gate.

After a few minutes, the boarding announcement was made and I joined the queue. The woman in front of me was a well-groomed lady in an Indo-Western silk outfit, a Gucci handbag and high heels. Every single strand of her hair was in place and a friend stood next to her in an expensive silk sari, pearl necklace, matching earrings and delicate diamond bangles.

I looked at the vending machine nearby and wondered if I should leave the queue to get some water.

Suddenly, the woman in front of me turned sideways and looked at me with what seemed like pity in her eyes. Extending her hand, she asked, ‘May I see your boarding pass, please?’ I was about to hand over my pass to her, but since she didn’t seem like an airline employee, I asked, ‘Why?’

‘Well, this line is meant for business class travellers only,’ she said confidently and pointed her finger towards the economy class queue. ‘You should go and stand there,’ she said.

I was about to tell her that I had a business class ticket but on second thoughts, held back. I wanted to know why she had thought that I wasn’t worthy of being in the business class. So I repeated, ‘Why should I stand there?’

She sighed. ‘Let me explain. There is a big difference in the price of an economy and a business class ticket. The latter costs almost two and a half times more than . . .’

‘Exactly,’ said the woman. ‘So there are certain privileges that are associated with a business class ticket.’

‘Really?’ I decided to be mischievous and pretended not to know.

‘What kind of privileges are you talking about?’

She seemed annoyed. ‘We are allowed to bring two bags but you can only take one. We can board the flight from another, less-crowded queue. We are given better meals and seats. We can extend the seats and lie down flat on them. We always have television screens and there are four washrooms for a small number of passengers.’

Her friend added, ‘A priority check-in facility is available for our bags, which means they will come first upon arrival and we get more frequent flyer miles for the same flight.’

‘Now that you know the difference, you can go to the economy line,’ insisted the woman.

‘But I don’t want to go there.’ I was firm.

The lady turned to her friend. ‘It is hard to argue with these cattle-class people. Let the staff come and instruct her where to go. She isn’t going to listen to us.’

I didn’t get angry. The word ‘cattle class’ was like a blast from the past and reminded me of another incident.

One day, I had gone to an upscale dinner party in my home city of Bengaluru. Plenty of local celebrities and socialites were in attendance. I was speaking to some guests in Kannada, when a man came to me and said very slowly and clearly in English, ‘May I introduce myself ? I am . . .’

It was obvious that he thought that I might have a problem understanding the language.

I smiled. ‘You can speak to me in English.’

‘Oh,’ he said, slightly flabbergasted. ‘I’m sorry. I thought you weren’t comfortable with English because I heard you speaking in Kannada.’

‘There’s nothing shameful in knowing one’s native language. It is, in fact, my right and my privilege. I only speak in English when somebody can’t understand Kannada.’

The line in front of me at the airport began moving forward and I came out of my reverie. The two women ahead were whispering among themselves, ‘Now she will be sent to the other line. It is so long now! We tried to tell her but she refused to listen to us.’

When it was my turn to show my boarding pass to the attendant, I saw them stop and wait a short distance away, waiting to see what would happen. The attendant took my boarding pass and said brightly, ‘Welcome back! We met last week, didn’t we?’

‘Yes,’ I replied.

She smiled and moved on to the next traveller.

I walked a few steps ahead of the women intending to let this go, but then I changed my mind and came back.

‘Please tell me—what made you think that I couldn’t afford a business class ticket? Even if I didn’t have one, was it really your prerogative to tell me where I should stand? Did I ask you for help?’

The women stared at me in silence.

‘You refer to the term “cattle class”. Class does not mean possession of a huge amount of money,’ I continued, unable to stop myself from giving them a piece of my mind.

‘There are plenty of wrong ways to earn money in this world. You may be rich enough to buy comfort and luxuries, but the same money doesn’t define class or give you the ability to purchase it. Mother Teresa was a classy woman. So is Manjul Bhargava, a great mathematician of Indian origin. The concept that you automatically gain class by acquiring money is an outdated thought process.’

I left without waiting for a reply.

“Class does not mean huge possession of money. ”

‘There’s nothing shameful in knowing one’s native language. It is, in fact, my right and my privilege. I only speak in English when somebody can’t understand Kannada.’

[EXCERPT]

Humility shines on her face.

Source: “Three thousand Stitches” by Sudha Murty.

XO!

#excerpt from a book i'll never write

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History

A historical event sounds like it came straight out of a movie?

A 10 year old girl wrote a letter to the new leader of USSR, Yuri Andropov in 1982.

Samantha Smith, seeing the news about nuclear arms race and high tensions between the US and USSR, decided to ask the leader of Soviet Union himself about his intentions.

She didn't get a reply immediately. Her letter was published in Russian newspaper Pravda. Later she was invited to USSR by Andropov!

The two week journey of Samantha was covered in not only American, but also the Soviet newspapers. Although it didn't have any real impact on the cold war (as expected) and both leaders continued to use harsh rhetoric against each other, the incident showed that at least ordinary people were in favor of peace.

After returning home, Samantha appeared on numerous interviews, actively advocating peace, and becoming a goodwill ambassador!

But her life was cut short when she was killed in a plane crash with her father in 1985.

Peace!

#history

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The Rich Guest Paradox

There is a very poor quaint little town where everyone is in a huge debt with someone but with no money to pay for it.

There is hotel which is hardly seeing any business anymore. They are to soon shut it down.

One day a very wealthy American guest shows up and he wants to spend a night there. However before he confirms he asks for a tour of the hotel.

The receptionist asks for a security deposit which the American can take back in case he doesn’t like the rooms. The guest obliges.

It turns out by matter of luck this is the exact amount that the hotel owed to the chef as salary for three months which they hadn’t been able to pay. They gave the cash to the chef.

The chef saw that this was the exact amount of cash he owed the grocer for months of groceries he hadn’t been able to pay for. He paid the grocer.

The grocer realized it was the exact amount he owed the doctor for treating his wife’s arthritis.

The doctor paid the money to the nurse for two months of service he couldn’t pay for.

The nurse was new to the town so she had been staying in the hotel for a few days before she found a house to rent. She too was poor and couldn’t pay the hotel at that time. The money she received from the doctor was exactly what she owed the hotel so she paid.

Now the hotel had got back the exact amount it had paid the chef. Now the guest has finished his tour of the rooms. Turns out he doesn’t like it. He takes back his security deposit from the hotel and leaves, never to be seen again.

So everyone's debt has been paid, but nothing is different from before.

No one has earned anything. But now everyone is happy.

Did the debt really exist at all?

And therein lies the paradox.!

peace!

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On Martyrs' Day of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh -23 March

The way we should remember Shaheed Bhagat Singh in 2021..

For all those who are reading this, and are in their 30s or above, what were you doing at the age of 21?

Suppose, when one of us was a 21 year old, most of his earnings, a few lunch boxes, a laptop, few books and a couple of barely used phones went to the Autorickshaw wallahs of Mumbai.

The reason - he was never able to learn the art of getting inside a Mumbai Local.

Being from a city where everyone would often get down from a tram, do some marketing (yah, that’s our word for shopping), perhaps have some puchkas , watch a Bumba da starrer, argue with a complete stranger on the Argentinian economy, and still hop back on the still slowly moving beauty on rails, to occupy the same seat - The experience of the Mumbai Locals was overwhelming for him.

This is one of us’s story - when he was 21 years of age- A CONTEMPORARY COMMON MAN.

But, At 21 years of age, Bhagat Singh along with a friend, pumped 8 bullets into a British Officer, he thought was responsible for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a leading ideologue and freedom fighter of India.

4 months later, he along with another friend - exploded two non-lethal smoke bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly of New Delhi - shouted slogans - distributed pamphlets and courted an arrest.

He was 21.

While in Jail, he went on a 116 day satyagraha and hunger strike to demand better conditions for the Indian prisoners.

The British jail authorities tried hard to break the strike. They even filled the water pitchers in the jail cell with Milk, hoping that either the strikers would die of thirst, or break their hunger strike. They failed.

His hunger strike was broken only after the death of fellow satyagrahi, Jatindra Nath Das

and an emotional appeal made by his father.

He utilised his ongoing trials to become the voice of a subjugated nation - ready to break the chains of the British Raj.

A whole nation sat up to take notice - Nehru went to Jail, just to meet him - Jinnah dedicated his speeches to him - he became a national symbol of the Indian resistance to British Colonialism.

There was a noose hanging above his head, and he wanted the Britishers to deliver latest newspapers, pen and paper in his jail cell.

He was 22.

The then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin had to declare an emergency in India on 1st May 1930, just to quell the nationwide demonstrations and to bring in an ordinance to set up a fast track court to prosecute him.

During the 1 year 11 month period, when his trial was on - He along with his associates, became a torch of light - inspiring a nation, which had long given up the idea of self respect - He was as much a hero for an Afridi making illegal weapons and bombs for our freedom in Darra Adam Khel, as he was for an Iyer Lady in Coimbatore, secretly donating all the little jewellery she had, for the cause of the Indian freedom struggle.

The British Raj was rattled - Mahatma Gandhi realised that he wasn’t the most popular Indian anymore - the Lords in the British Parliament lodged protests - the regular Indians poured on the streets despite the beating and humiliations - The Indian poets, thinkers and writers caught the tailwind of an idea whose time had finally come.

At 7:30 PM, on 23rd march 1931, he was secretly hanged by the British, a day (11 hours actually) before the announced schedule, for waging a war on the King.

He was 23.

He had written:

“Generally a wrong meaning is attributed to the word revolution… Our understanding is that BOMBS AND PISTOLS DO NOT MAKE REVOLUTION. THE SWORD OF REVOLUTION IS SHARPENED ON THE WHETTING-STONE OF IDEAS.”

He was not from a poor family- he wasn’t someone who had ‘nothing to lose’. He wasn’t an undereducated brain washed emotionalist. He wrote in and edited newspapers - won competitions of scholarships at a very young age - started a youth organisation in his teens - he too could have chosen to lead a comfortable life like the others - he was well aware of the consequences of his actions - he still chose to do, what he did.

He did not become a hero when he shot a British officer - He became one when he courted a voluntary arrest.

He did not become a national icon for his act of violence - he became one for challenging the British Raj with the power of an Idea and a voice which was just and right.

It has been 90 years since, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh still lives - not because he picked up a gun - He lives because he picked up the sagging spirits of a nation and taught us all the true value of our freedom.

Jai Hind. Inqalab Zindabad. (Translation: Hail the motherland. Long live the revolution)

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The Most Disappointing Experiment Ever...

In 1927 Professor Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland started what is known as the longest continuous laboratory experiment in history.

The pitch drop experiment.

He wanted to prove to his students that bitumen, although it has the appearance of a solid, is, in fact, a highly viscous liquid. So he filled a funnel with some hot asphalt and waited 3 years to let it stabilize and subsequently opened the funnel.

And he waited and waited

And waited.

Very, very slowly a drop was forming…

And waited.

After waiting for more than 8 years the first drop fell.

Unfortunately, nobody saw it, so the professor waited for the second drop.

And waited.

When the prof died in 1948 the second drop was completed, but he never saw a drop fall. His successor, Professor John Mainstone, was determined to be the first person that actually would see a drop fall.

With the emergence of new technology, he installed a webcam to make sure the event was recorded, but due to an unfortunate power failure, the camera did not record the occurrence when, in November 2000, the eighth drop fell.

Prof Mainstone died in 2013.

Needless to say that the next prof, Andrew White, was even more determined to see, or at least record, the next drop. A time-lapse camera was set up, with continuous video of the four most recent days, and two additional video cameras. Nothing was left to a chance.

On 17 April 2014, the 9th drop was about to fall: The drop touched the previous drops that were still in the beaker below the experiment, but it was still attached to the funnel. The previous drops were supporting the drop and it wasn't gonna fall.

Prof White decided to put an empty beaker below the experiment to make room for the drop. He carefully lifted the bell jar that protected the experiment. But he didn't know that there was a degraded seal between the glass bell jar and the wooden platform below the experiment. The wooden base wobbled and disaster struck: the 9th drop came loose.

We are now 2018, more than 90 years after the start of the experiment and nobody ever witnessed or recorded a drop.

It really must be the most unfortunate experiment in history.

Peace!

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This lady’s death saved literally billions of people from becoming crippled, limbless and dead.

In 1951 Henrietta Lacks, a poor African American farmer and mother to five visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the few places in Maryland willing to treat African American patients. Henrietta Lacks complained to the doctors about random bleedings and pain in her groin and how she was worried it was going to affect her work.

Upon examination by gynecologist Dr. Howard Jones, the doctors found a massive malignant tumor on her cervix, because of this Henrietta started undergoing radium treatments for her cervical cancer (which back then was the best medical treatment available for this terrible disease).

Alongside the treatment, a sample of her cancer cells was sent to Dr. George Gey's nearby tissue lab. For years, Dr. Gey, a cancer and virus researcher, had been collecting cells from patients who came to The Johns Hopkins Hospital with cervical cancer, but each sample taken quickly died in Dr. Gey’s lab, all apart from Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks cells did not die, in fact they would replicate every 24 hours.

This was an amazing medical breakthrough, for decades whenever anyone tried to experiment on human cells to find a cure for a disease they would simply die within hours, but with Henrietta Lacks cells, they survived and could grow again and again meaning that there was now nearly an infinite amount of these perfect cells alive if used correctly.

The first things these cells were tested on was polio, and instead of dying straight away like most cells they survived. This allowed scientists to experiment on Henrietta cells until they found a vaccine for one of the biggest children killers of the early 20th century, polio.

Curing polio was only the beginning of Henrietta Lacks cells career, by the end of the century her cells were used to create the first human-animal hybrids in 1965

, Human Papillomavirus

vaccines (also saving millions of lives), better hygiene improvements and better understanding of cells in general. Today scientists have grown as much as 50 million metric tons of her cells and they are being used to find cures/vaccines to things such as ebola, cancer and Typhoid.

Henrietta Lacks unfortunately never found out about her contribution to science as she died only a couple of weeks after her treatment, her cells were also taken without her knowledge and her family only found out about what she did for medicine and science 20 years later.

#history #medicine

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That’s How To Survive During Chaos: Covid-19

In California there are these giant Sequoia trees that not just survive giant forest fires, but also thrive in them. The forest fires don’t affect these giant trees, but kill the small bushes that compete with the giant trees for water and other resources.

Great companies are like that. They not only survive recessions, but also thrive in that as their weaker competitors get killed and suppliers squeezed.

During the Long Depression in the US (1873–96) were founded the great companies including the precursors of GE, IBM and AT&T. Standard Oil [the mother of major oil companies of the present] thrived in that era.

Walt Disney, HP and many other great companies were founded in the Great Depression (1930s).

FedEx, Apple and Microsoft were founded the great oil crisis of the 1970s when inflation was at the peak in most of the world.

Salesforce, Google were founded around the dotcom burst that killed most of their competitors.

Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox and a lot of the thriving startups were founded around the 2008 financial crisis.

Crisis brings up a great discipline in spending. In times of prosperity, companies tend to overspend to misery.

Crisis helps companies hire top talent - the rocket fuel for great progress. In times of prosperity hiring talent is hard as everyone throws money at them.

Crisis kills a lot of weak companies resulting in a consolidation of the market and better pricing power for the stronger companies. Google in search and Amazon in ecommerce survived the 2000 dotcom crash and were able to have near monopolies in their respective markets.

Crisis forces customers to break their status quo and look for alternatives. Good times are not the times to make a company change what they do. Thus, in good times companies tend to buy from large, secure enterprises. In desperate times, customers tend to experiment cheaper alternatives to cut costs — this is how PC manufacturers lured companies that were facing massive inflation in the late 1970s-early 80s. Netflix thrived in the post-2008 financial crisis when consumers cut on movie theater visits and opted for a cheaper option for entertainment at home.

While funding is hard during the crisis, capital has to find home somehow and the world is still flush with a lot of money. While the investors might stay on the sidelines for a few months to a year, sooner or later they bite the bullet and the few standing companies will be the only options left for them to flood their capital.

XOXO!

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And that’s why Rolls-Royce 🚘 is expensive...

Meet Mark Court

His job is to paint the fine line down the side of your Rolls Royce. Rolls call it a coach line, but to the rest of us it’s a pinstripe.

Mark is the only person employed by Rolls Royce to do this job. No one else is skilled or experienced enough to do this. Mark is it.

The only one in the world!

He paints each stripe by hand, using a long bristled brush made of squirrel hair…

The process takes him up to 3 hours.

If you buy a Rolls Royce and decide after delivery that you want to have a coach line, Rolls Royce will fly Mark to you, wherever you are in the world, just to apply that stripe for you.

That’s the kind of fanatical attention to detail that Rolls Royce puts into every single one of the thousand upon thousands of parts that make up each car.

And that? Well, that gets exorbitant.

Source

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Save your life, in case of Airplane ✈️ Emergency:

Count the seats to the emergency exit

Not exactly a hack, but it may save your life. When you are in the airplane, count the number of seats between you and an exit. Even with emergency lighting, people have no idea how hard it will be to see if the airplane is filled with smoke, screaming people, noise, even water perhaps. Counting the number of headrests between you and the emergency exit (in front and behind you) may just save your life.

The ultimate 'hack' is to climb over the seats rather than trying to escape down the aisle. People will naturally go to the aisle in an emergency. Grab your kids if they are with you, and climb over the seat backs next to the window. Try and help others of course, but help yourself first.

Life’s Precious.🙏

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-FACEBOOK’s famous ‘Like’ button was initially considered as the ‘Awesome’ button, but the name idea was ultimately rejected by Zuckerberg.

-Initially named “Cadabra”, the owner Jeff Bezos changed the name to “AMAZON” after a lawyer misheard its original name as “cadaver” (meaning: a corpse).

-In its early days, ALIBABA staff would pretend they were not Chinese when sending emails to American customers.

-Five IBM employees have won the Nobel Prize for their technical excellence in Research & Science.

-BARBIE’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

-RED BULL created the Energy Drink product category.

-IKEA names sofas, coffee tables and bookshelves after places in Sweden; beds & wardrobes after places in Norway; carpets after places in Denmark and dining tables & chairs after places in Finland.

-STARBUCKS spends more on healthcare insurance for its employees than on coffee beans.

-In 1985, COCA-COLA became the first soft drink to go to space. Astronauts tested the Coca-Cola Space Can aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Here’s the cans:

-PEPSI was originally launched in 1898 to offer a cure for stomach aches.

-TWITTER’s bird is called Larry, named after basketball legend Larry Bird, a famous former Boston Celtics forward.

-NIKE was named after the Greek goddess of victory. The company also takes your old shoes and turns them into tracks and playgrounds for kids. The recycled material is called "Nike Grind."

-The first FERRARI wasn’t even called a Ferrari. It was actually called the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 and this was later shortened to Tipo 815 when the design was complete.

-BMW Owns Rolls-Royce and the Mini Brands.

-The first APPLE Computer logo depicts Isaac Newton under an apple tree.

-The name NOKIA is derived from the river Nokianvirta, on the banks of which the company was established.

-To create the Street View of a desert, GOOGLE hired a camel.

-Queen Elizabeth II owns a branch of MCDONALD’S which is located 80 miles outside of London.

-When Napoleon III assumed the title of Emperor of the French in 1852, his wife hired the designer LOUIS VUITTON as her personal box-maker and packer.

-The Guinness Book of World Records named TUPPERWARE as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

Happy Reading😊

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The Passport Exception:

The British passports are issued in her name. In turn, she doesn’t actually need a passport.

Her royal coat of arms are shown on all passports as well.

The other members of the royal family do need passports in turn.

Considering that when she arrives somewhere she is frequently with hordes of handlers, security, vehicles and cops, it’s likely that most people aren’t questioning who she actually is.

It would be a cool way of pushing back on airport security:

“No, no, dear boy. I don’t need a passport. I only issue passports in my name.”

XO!

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7 Wisdoms Buddha Left to this World 🌎

1: "What is the SHARPEST thing in this world?"

His people replied simultaneously: " Sword."

Buddha: The sharpest is the "human tongue" Because through the tongue, humans easily slander people, hurt the heart, hurt people's feelings, etc ...

2: What is the MOST distant from us in this world?

Some replied: " Space, the moon, the sun."

Buddha: The most distant is the " Past". Whoever we are, however rich we may be, we can NOT go back in time. Therefore, we must make good use of today & days that will come.

3: What is the BIGGEST thing in this world?

Someone replied:"Mountain, Earth, Sun”.

Buddha:The biggest one in the world is " Lust". Many humans are wretched because they indulge in their lusts. All modes are justified in order to realize the dream and lust of the world. Therefore careful with lust ..!

4: "What has the MOST WEIGHT in this world? "

Someone replied:" Steel, iron, elephant."

Buddha: The hardest is "Promise". It's easy to say but hard to do.

5: "What is the LIGHTEST thing in this world? "

Someone replied: " Cotton, wind, dust, leaves."

Buddha: The lightest in the world is " Forgetting Me & Leaving Me". Look at the many people who are chasing wealth and position, some simply leave Me.

6: What is CLOSEST to us in this world?

Someone replied:" Parents, Friends, Friends, Relatives."

Buddha: The closest to us is " DEATH". Because death is SURE and can happen any second.

7: Last question:"What's the Easiest thing to do in this world?"

They replied:" Eating, sleeping, hanging out"

Buddha: The easiest is "SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHERS".

Peace🙏

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Find your purpose in life by using ancient Japanese Technique of Ikigai.

XOXO!

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The Breast Tax System

Yes, its real and was practiced once in Indian state of Kerala.

Until 1920’s lower caste women on travancore Kingdom, present Kerala are not allowed to wear upper body clothes or any dress that covers their breast. They need to walk around the city by flashing their half naked body to everyone.

If any women doesn't want to show their bosom in public or any men in the kingdom who doesn't want their house women to be half naked then they must pay taxes to the king to get permission to cover their upper body.

The tax amount varies for every women, the tax is evaluated on basis of the Breast Size. The tax collector will come to the house or Street and evaluate it by touching it with bare hands and calculate the tax depend upon the size.

This is applicable only for lower caste women, Upper caste women were allowed to wear clothes that covers both their breast . Only Lower caste women were humiliated by this just to make sure that they are below them.

Rebellion of lower caste:-

Lower caste men and women who were unhappy and uncomfortable with this kept on protesting against it.

In 1859, their vehemence reached a whole new level when two lower caste women were stripped in public by travancore officials for wearing upper body clothes. The two women then hung on a tree in front of everyone.

Enough is enough, said the women named Nangeli. This women took the expression of anger to different level by not hurting others but herself.

Nangeli sliced her own breast and gave it in Palm leaves to officer who came to collect breast tax. She soon died from loss of blood. And her husband who couldn't accept the fact that his wife is dead, jumped into her funeral pyre and made a male version of Sati.

Her death result in huge protest by locals in Travancore kingdom and with the pressure of governer of Madras presidency the king of Travancore kingdom granted rights for all women to wear upper body clothes in 1924, under certain condition like not to wear it in styles of upper class women.

And that was the end of an evil practice!

Footnote: The woman who cut off her breasts to protest a tax.

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