01.04.2007

• What is handicap in golf? When we read a statement like “Jim Crane plays has a handicap of 0.8”, what does it mean?
• Handicap in golf is a system devised to make play between golfers of different standards an even match. Your handicap is the number of strokes over par (refer to my 24th March notes for what this term ‘par’ means) you average over four rounds at a golf course. For instance, if your average score is 88 on a par 72 course, you are given a handicap of 16. In strokeplay, if you play with a person that has a 2 handicap, you are allowed 14 strokes - the difference between your handicaps - extra strokes, one on each of the most difficult 14 holes. In matchplay, the longer handicap player would receive 11 shots - three quarters of the difference.
• Have stomach for more? Browse this glossary.
• Prof. Mohammad Yunus of Bangladesh has a novel program to improve the log of the beggars
• His Struggling (Beggar) Members Programme has reached out to 85,000 beggars in Bangladesh and taken 800 of them out of begging.
• The programme advances small sums of money -- $3 to beggars, to enable them to carry out petty trade.
• Though that number is miniscule, it is his conviction at improving their lot that sets him apart from the naysayers among us. It is this kind of worldview which has enabled his Grameen Bank to reach 80% of poor households in Bangladesh, less than 30 years after it began with a seed capital of $27.
• Vaishnodevi Temple
• It is located in the Trikuta mountains at a height of 5,200 ft, about 61 km north of Jammu.
• New Industrial Policy for North East announced -- North East Industrial and Investment Policy 2007
• It extended 100 per cent tax exemption. 100 per cent excise duty exemption will be continued on finished products made in the Northeast.
• Doubled the capital subsidy given on investment by new as well as existing units. Capital subsidy will be enhanced from 15 per cent of the investment in plant and machinery to 30 per cent.
• Included Sikkim in addition to the 7 NE states.
• The limit of automatic approval for capital subsidy has also been enhanced to Rs. 1.4 crore from Rs. 30 lakh.
• For grant of capital investment subsidy higher than Rs. 1.5 crore but up to a maximum of Rs. 30 crore, the decision would be taken by an empowered committee.
• The distinction between `thrust' and `non-thrust' industries as provided in the 1997 policy has been dispensed with since all industrial units located anywhere in the region would be covered under the new policy.
• Urban water projects under the PPP route
• Government has identified 6 cities – Vizag, Pune, Guwahati, Indore, Chennai and Jaipur – for implementing urban drinking water projects under the Public Private Partnership route.
• Border Trading Centres
• Government approved setting up 5 border trading centres along the Indo-Myanmar border in Nagaland to promote trade and commercial activities in the state.
• They will be set up at Lungwa, Pangsha, Mim, Mohe, and Avangkhu.
• First Indian to play the Golf Masters tournament
• Jeev Milkha Singh.
• Heard of Jean Paul Sartre?
• He was a leading French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic.
• What is existentialism by the way?
• It is a philosophical movement in which the individual human beings are understood as having full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. It is a reaction against more traditional philosophies and empiricism, which sought to discover an ultimate order in the structure of the observed world.
• Confusing? Confusing others helps sometimes. On a couple of occasions that I had a chance to participate in meetings with some of the high mighty economists of the country, I ended up with a feeling that some of them are ‘showing off’ their knowledge than trying to contribute anything meaningful for the discussion on the table.
• Is there a difference between snooker, billiards and pool?
• The main difference is with respect to the number of balls used.
• Snooker uses 22 balls, including the white coloured striker ball. It uses 15 red, 1 yellow, 1 brown, 1 blue, 1 pink, 1 black and 1 green balls.
• Billiards uses only three balls. White, yellow and red. White and yellow are used as striker balls.
• Pool uses 9 balls with numbers and stripes printed on them.
• People who won more than 1 Nobel prize
• Marie Curie: Physics (1903), Chemistry (1911)
• Linus Pauling: Chemistry (1954), Peace (1962)
• John Bardeen: Physics (1956 &1972)
• Frederick Sanger: Chemistry (1958 & 1980)
• International Red Cross: Peace (1917, 1944, 1963)
• UN High Commission for Refugees: Peace (1954, 1981)
• Iran gets observer status in SAARC
• The Foreign Secretaries of SAARC meeting in New Delhi approved this.
• I was asked a query on Ireland cricket team. As there is little more to Ireland than its cricket team, I wrote a separate piece in Discover It blog. Take a look.