Hrvatski

Being in Zagreb, Croatia for the last few weeks, I have been listening to and reading a bit of Croatian (or Hrvatski) - This was necessary to travel around the city!!

The language is almost similar to English - with only a few words different!! Its the national language of a few countries - Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina among them.

Learn the basics of Hrvatski here!! This site is quite useful!!

And a brief snapshot of some of the Croatian alphabets and tips for pronouncing them!!

Adriatic Sea

Looking for Croatia on the world map, it was a pleasant surprise to know that it was bordered by the Adriatic Sea!! 

Now, I had never heard of Adriatic Sea... neither did they teach us about her in the geography classes!!

Probably, thats because the Adriatic Sea is considered as an extension of the Mediterranean Sea!! It surrounded by Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania!!

The word Adria probably derives from the Illyrian word adur meaning "water" or "sea"!!

As it is with all seas, its extremely beautiful!!

Visiting the beautiful beaches of the Adriatic Sea is considered as a good holiday by many Italians and Croats!!

Croatia - Neckties and Ball-point Pens

Well, I wear a necktie at least 2 days a week - at work!! But never in the last 5 years did I wonder when and where did these neckties originate!!

Being in Zagreb now, came across an interesting piece of Croatian history.

Croatia is the birth place of the Necktie (Cravat in Hrvatski) !! Now that was a real surprise!!

Catch a small excerpt from Wiki

The necktie traces back to the time of Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) when Croatian mercenaries from the Military Frontier in French service, wearing their traditional small, knotted neckerchiefs, aroused the interest of the Parisians. Due to the slight difference between the Croatian word for Croats, Hrvati, and the French word, Croates, the garment gained the name "Cravat". The new article of clothing started a fashion craze in Europe where both men and women wore pieces of fabric around their necks. In the late seventeenth century, the men wore lace cravats that took a large amount of time and effort to arrange. These cravats were often tied in place by cravat strings, arranged neatly and tied in a bow.

And the ball point pen was also invented by Slavoljub Penkala in Zagreb back in 1906.

Makes me wonder - how these 2 small things have changed the way we work!!

Barcodes

Well, Google is a website which I visit almost daily.

On 6th October, 2009 - I was in for a surprise - the Google website logo was unreadable!!

Or shall I say - machine readable!!

Google was celebrating the 57th anniversary of Barcode!!

And for the last many years, bar-codes have become an integral part of our lives!! 

Most commonly and universally, they are used for checking out goods at supermarkets. 

They make the process simple - reading the commodity being sold, the cost etc etc. This automation helps the quicken up the selling process and also helps in maintaining upto date inventory!!

 

The name of my blog - in the long and thin lines - would look like this.!! 

Check out the free bar code generator below - its interesting!!

by Barcodes Inc

Being Busy

An interesting picture from the recently concluded London Fashion Week!!

( Picture courtesy - BBC © )

People are so busy back stage preparing for the super-models for a cat walk!! And the news article said that almost 6 people are dedicated towards preparation for a single model!!

Just shows the kind of hard work that goes into the glorious world of fashion!!

60 Years of China

On 1st of October 2009, China celebrated it's 60th Anniversary of nationhood. 60 years back, the iconic Chinese leader - Mao Zedong - founded the People's Republic of China!!

China is one of the biggest country in the world in terms of area. Approx. 1.3 billion people call China their Home - thats almost 19% of the world population!!Needless to say, the celebrations of such an event were really big.

Catch some interesting pictures as China prepared for the celebrations!!

This one - The National Grand Theater in Central Beijing - caught my eye!!

And a bird's eye view of the actual celebration on 1st October, 2009!!

First Wives

Well, all of us have heard of this quote.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman!!

And this picture conveys the very essence of it!! The men are grabbing all the attention while the wives are quietly staying backstage!!

While Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America, Michelle Obama is a lawyer. She played a key role in Obama's presidential campaign in 2008!!

Nicholas Sarkozy is the president of France, while his wife Carla Bruni is a ex-supermodel. She has played a key role in enhancing the Sarkozy's public image in his presidency!!

Well, in the next pictures - the first wives take center stage!!