To assign a text and background color combination to a Gmail label:
No wonder the English language is so very difficult to learn.
I sometimes wonder how we manage to communicate at all!
We'll begin with a box and the plural is boxes.
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
The one fowl is a goose but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may found a lone mouse or a whole set of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why should not the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural wouldn't be hose.
And the plural of cat is cats and not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say Mother, we never say Methren,
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,
So English, I fancy you will all agree,
Is the funniest language you ever did see.
Popular television actor Prachi Desai was declared winner of Jhalak Dikhalaja 2, the celebrity dance show, on Sony Television last night.
The 18-year-old beat Sandhya Mridul and Jay Bhanushali to win the title.
The winner's name was declared by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar who was present on the show along with Welcome co-star Katrina KaifFollowing is the timeline on the rise and rise of the Sensex through Indian stock market history.
1000, July 25, 1990
On July 25, 1990, the Sensex touched the magical four-digit figure for the first time and closed at 1,001 in the wake of a good monsoon and excellent corporate results.
2000, January 15, 1992
On January 15, 1992, the Sensex crossed the 2,000-mark and closed at 2,020 followed by the liberal economic policy initiatives undertaken by the then finance minister and current Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
3000, February 29, 1992
On February 29, 1992, the Sensex surged past the 3000 mark in the wake of the market-friendly Budget announced by the then Finance Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.
4000, March 30, 1992
On March 30, 1992, the Sensex crossed the 4,000-mark and closed at 4,091 on the expectations of a liberal export-import policy. It was then that the Harshad Mehta scam hit the markets and Sensex witnessed unabated selling.
5000, October 8, 1999
On October 8, 1999, the Sensex crossed the 5,000-mark as the BJP-led coalition won the majority in the 13th Lok Sabha election.
6000, February 11, 2000
On February 11, 2000, the infotech boom helped the Sensex to cross the 6,000-mark and hit and all time high of 6,006.
7000, June 20, 2005
On June 20, 2005, the news of the settlement between the Ambani brothers boosted investor sentiments and the scrips of RIL [Get Quote], Reliance Energy [Get Quote] [Get Quote], Reliance Capital [Get Quote] [Get Quote], and IPCL [Get Quote] [Get Quote] made huge gains. This helped the Sensex crossed 7,000 points for the first time.
8000, September 8, 2005
On September 8, 2005, the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-share index -- the Sensex -- crossed the 8000 level following brisk buying by foreign and domestic funds in early trading.
9000, November 28, 2005
The Sensex on November 28, 2005 crossed the magical figure of 9000 to touch 9000.32 points during mid-session at the Bombay Stock Exchange on the back of frantic buying spree by foreign institutional investors and well supported by local operators as well as retail investors.
10,000, February 6, 2006
The Sensex on February 6, 2006 touched 10,003 points during mid-session. The Sensex finally closed above the 10K-mark on February 7, 2006.
11,000, March 21, 2006
The Sensex on March 21, 2006 crossed the magical figure of 11,000 and touched a life-time peak of 11,001 points during mid-session at the Bombay Stock Exchange for the first time. However, it was on March 27, 2006 that the Sensex first closed at over 11,000 points.
12,000, April 20, 2006
The Sensex on April 20, 2006 crossed the 12,000-mark and closed at a peak of 12,040 points for the first time.
13,000, October 30, 2006
The Sensex on October 30, 2006 crossed the magical figure of 13,000 and closed at 13,024.26 points, up 117.45 points or 0.9%. It took 135 days for the Sensex to move from 12,000 to 13,000 and 123 days to move from 12,500 to 13,000.
14,000, December 5, 2006
The Sensex on December 5, 2006 crossed the 14,000-mark to touch 14,028 points. It took 36 days for the Sensex to move from 13,000 to the 14,000 mark.
15,000, July 6, 2007
The Sensex on July 6, 2007 crossed the magical figure of 15,000 to touch 15,005 points in afternoon trade. It took seven months for the Sensex to move from 14,000 to 15,000 points.
16,000, September 19, 2007
The Sensex scaled yet another milestone during early morning trade on September 19, 2007. Within minutes after trading began, the Sensex crossed 16,000, rising by 450 points from the previous close. The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange's sensitive index took 53 days to reach 16,000 from 15,000. Nifty also touched a new high at 4659, up 113 points.
The Sensex finally ended with its biggest-ever single day gain of 654 points at 16,323. The NSE Nifty gained 186 points to close at 4,732.
17,000, September 26, 2007
The Sensex scaled yet another height during early morning trade on September 26, 2007. Within minutes after trading began, the Sensex crossed the 17,000-mark . Some profit taking towards the end, saw the index slip into red to 16,887 - down 187 points from the day's high. The Sensex ended with a gain of 22 points at 16,921.
18,000, October 09, 2007
The BSE Sensex crossed the 18,000-mark on October 09, 2007. It took just 8 days to cross 18,000 points from the 17,000 mark. The index zoomed to a new all-time intra-day high of 18,327. It finally gained 789 points to close at an all-time high of 18,280. The market set several new records including the biggest single day gain of 789 points at close, as well as the largest intra-day gains of 993 points in absolute term backed by frenzied buying after the news of the UPA and Left meeting on October 22 put an end to the worries of an impending election.
19,000, October 15, 2007
The Sensex crossed the 19,000-mark backed by revival of funds-based buying in blue chip stocks in metal, capital goods and refinery sectors. The index gained the last 1,000 points in just four trading days. The index touched a fresh all-time intra-day high of 19,096, and finally ended with a smart gain of 640 points at 19,059.The Nifty gained 242 points to close at 5,670.
20,000, December 11, 2007
The Sensex actually crossed the 20,000-mark on October 29, 2007 during intra-day trading but closed at 19,977.67 points. However, it was on December 11, 2007 that it finally closed at a figure above 20,000 points on the back of aggressive buying by funds. The 30-share index spurted 360.21 points to fly-past the crucial level and closed at 20,290.89. The NSE Nifty closed at a record high of 6,097.25 points, up 136.65.Abhishek Tyagi, a class VIII student of Euro International School in Sector 45, was shot five times from close range on his forehead, chest and shoulder inside the campus. The 14-year-old was declared dead at a private hospital.
Police identified the two boys as Akash Yadav, 14, and Vikas Yadav, 13. They said Akash had brought his father’s licensed foreign-made pistol and both boys took turns to shoot Abhishek.You login into your computer, send e-mails, open attachments from friends and strangers, shop online, transfer money using your banks secured payment gateway, chat with friends and upload personal information on social networking sites.
But have you ever given a thought to someone who is keeping a close watch on all your online activities. Someone, somewhere in some corner of this planet trying to get inside your computer and filch one of the most important resources of information age: personal data.
Data that can be abused to make purchases online, send malicious programmes to all those on your contact list and many such things to harm you. Welcome to the age of hackers (these are people who try to gain access to your computer using various hacking tools and misuse your personal data) and spies lurking on the vast Internet highway. But don't worry. There are ways in which you can beat the hackers.However, when it comes to security nothing is 100 per cent secure. Loads of exploits are developed everyday. Updating the knowledgebase should be a regular process. Following could be few of the many measures that could be taken to protect your computer and all things that you do online: ~ Install the latest antivirus software (I recommend Kaspersky, Eset Nod32, Quickheal, F-Secure) on the computer and never ever disable or turn it off. Install a personal firewall (www.sygate.com and www.zonelabs.com offer free versions) and Spyware Checker (I recommend Spybot Search & Destroy). ~ Keep updating antivirus/anti spywares at least every 15 days. Use separate Trojan removers like anti Trojan shield if possible. Full system scan with your anti virus at least once in a week or better set it to scan periodically and give a small interval say every Friday (the day may vary according to your choice). ~ There are a few free online scanners available at http://housecall.trendmicro.com or http://www.kaspersky.com/kos/eng/partner/us/kavwebscan.html, and http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml. ~ Get System's health checked regularly at http://www.pcpitstop.com/. The site checks the overall system health, tunes up the system and finds out the vulnerabilities. It's a free service. ~ Don't ever download or open attachments whose source you are not certain about. Even if the source is trusted, see if the content is relevant. Even non-executable files like *.Doc files can contain macro viruses and Trojans. There are some special sort of programmes called worms, which don't need human interaction. You just open a mail or visit any website and that's it. So always stay alert. Avoid opening e-mail attachments that contain '.vbs', '.scr', '.exe', or '.pif' file extensions. Files that end in these extensions are most likely to contain some sort of virus. ~ Web browsers like Fire Fox, IE 7 & Opera offer good security features. Test your Web Bro wser for Vulnerability at http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/. ~ Never download any files specially executables over P2P (peer-to-peer) sharing networks, because you cannot be absolutely certain what they are. P2P file sharing programmes can lead to the installation of a lot of adware and spyware. Try downloading executables from authentic and well-known sites; don't just download files from anywhere. ~ Try not to visit porn sites, Warez, sites of cracks and serials because most of them have hell lot of latest spywares, Trojans and viruses .One visit and you are gone if your virus definitions are not up to date. ~ Be familiar with the installed programmes on your computer. If you notice a new programme installed, which you didn't in the first place, possibilities are that it might be something malicious. ~ Read the installation agreements carefully when you download something from the Internet. Pay attention to the terms and conditions or EULA (end-user license agreements) of the program being installed. Reference to third party installation should be given more attention. Some EULA's tell you that, if you install the program, you have also agreed to install some spyware with the software. Do check the independent sources as some EULA's do not mention about the Spywares. ~ Back up your computer data on a regular basis, at least weekly. Copy your important documents and files onto a floppy disk, removable drives, CD or a DVD for safekeeping. Don't wait for the disaster to happen, take the precaution before hand. Create system restore points periodically ~ Use e-mail encryption like PGP to send important information via emails. Don't send important information in plain text. ~ Never respond to unsolicited e-mail. To those who send spam, one response or 'hit' from thousands of e-mails is enough to justify the practice. Additionally, it validates your email address as active, which makes it more valuable, and therefore opens the door to more spam. ~ Beware of phishing attacks. Sites like www.antiphishing.org offer latest updates on phishing along with good security tips ~Don't chat with strangers just for fun. Don't ever accept any file, especially executables from an unknown person on chat. Don't click on any links given by someone you don't know. ~ Do not accept links or downloads from strangers even if it is tempting. There have been cases where spywares like Trojans, keyloggers etc. have been hidden in simple picture files with '.jpg' extensions. You never really know what is contained inside a file which looks attractive. Today people use binders to club two different files and send you the mixture. Once you click on the file both file gets executed. ~ Be cautious while displaying your profile, especially your personal details, photographs, videos and contacts on social networking sites. Your profiles and contacts may be misused by other people. ~ Install parental control softwares like netnanny that helps you choose what the kids see on the Internet and monitor the activities of children. For more details visit http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children. Wireless security ~ If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP/WPA/WPA2 with the biggest key you can get. Online shopping safety tips ~ While purchasing online, look for signs that online purchases are secure (SSL secured sites or 128 bit encryption) like Ebay.co.in. At the point that you are providing your payment information a golden coloured lock appears (for SSL secured sites) or the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating that the information is being encrypted -- turned into code that can only be read by the seller. Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes. ~ Carefully use credit card and online banking for online shopping. Check your credit card and bank statements at regular intervals. Notify the bank immediately if there are unauthorised charges or debits. Avoid using credit card details and online banking on public computers and in cyber cafes. It is very unsafe because most of them are infected with viruses, Trojans and key stroke loggers. Banks such as HDFC [Get Quote] have launched their services like Net Safe to create temporary credit cards with a limited value to transact online. This way, in the worst case scenario, your damages are limited. Password security ~ Use two different passwords. One for mail, work and other important access and other for routine purposes like subscribing to websites or public viewing. But remember to switch between them when you start doing transactions after mere browsing. Create another e-mail ID providing false information and crazy usernames like 'whitecat_4u', 'kkk320' etc. which you use exclusively for subscription to sites. That will prevent spam from coming to your main ID. ~ Create a difficult-to-guess password by taking the first alphabet from each word of a phrase. What is a good password? It is a password which is at least 8 characters long, not easily guessable, contains mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers, and preferably contains special characters like $, *, %, !, * etc. Some examples of a good password are: &(^.1234*cRack&.^). ~ Always use alphanumeric password with special characters and try to adopt phrasing technique to construct passwords which are easy to remember, hard to guess and impossible to crack. Create a unique acronym. Never use a dictionary based password like guest, home etc. It takes little time for a good cracker to crack the password.
