Weird News

Ransom tax deduction

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1 month ago
by siva in

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has come to our rescue! Now any money paid towards ransom is tax deductible! This is indeed good news for all businesses operating in the country that is subject to kidnappings of executives.

This story brought to us by the hardworking Hindu Business Line. The taxman noted that the finance minister had stated that he “propose[s] to explicitly provide retrospectively since the inception of Income Tax Act, 1961 that any money paid by way of extortion will not qualify for deduction as a business expense.”

Instant billionaire

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1 month ago
by siva in

BBC reports of a teacher in West Bengal earning about $700 per month (₹ 35,000 per month) who was shocked to discover that his bank, State Bank of India, had credited his account with something close to $9 billion (₹ 495 billion).

Perhaps that’s where all the money has disappeared to & why the Indian money market conditions are so tight these days?

P.S. If you see a box with 20B9 written in it, it is time to update your computer’s fonts. That is the new unicode character for the Indian Rupee.

Anti Motor Vehicle Theft Day

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1 month ago
by siva in

Hilarious poster by Mumbai Police for an anti motor vehicle theft day from 2006. Saw this in an office at Nariman Point in a glass announcement case. Do they even recognize it is already 2012?
And what’s up with declaring July 1, 2006 as Anti Motor-Vehicle Theft Day? Does it mean it is alright to steal motor vehicles on all other days?

TV tiff

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1 month ago
by siva in

A fight between a grandmother and her granddaughter over what TV show to watch ended in tragedy as the grandma set herself on fire.

No comment.

Follow up story on rat killers

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3 months ago
by siva in

Earlier this year, I had this story up on rat catchers. So what has happened to these intrepid rat killers? Well, DNA newspaper has the story (I am not sure if they themselves realize it is a follow up. Old media sadly cannot hyperlink to the past.) on how rat killers are finding the going tough because of noise. Apparently they have to kill 30 rats a night at a minimum and deliver the carcasses as proof. Talk about cats dragging in their kill.

The “city that never sleeps” makes noise at all times of day and night. And especially during the festival season around Diwali it must be a frustrating period for rats and the rat killers.

34 fingers and toes

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7 months ago
by siva in

Not sure what to make of this story in The Sun. Apparently a world record, but not one that one would really want. Kid is going to figure out math before his classmates.

FDA: Walnuts are drugs

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7 months ago
by siva in

From the You-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up department:

The Food and Drugs Administration in the US sent Diamond Foods a letter declaring “Walnuts are drugs” and going on to say: “We have determined that your walnut products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease.” Furthermore, the products are also “misbranded” because they “are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners; therefore, adequate directions for use cannot be written so that a layperson can use these drugs safely for their intended purposes.” Who knew you had to have directions to eat walnuts?

Kolkata student sues to fail her exam

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7 months ago
by siva in

It only happens in India! No, the headline is not incorrect. A story on ndtv.com has the details including this wonderful quote from her lawyer: “Like a student has the right to pass, similarly he or she has the right to fail.”

Isn’t it wonderful to cross out all the answers in the exam and still get marks of 54 out of 100. Grade inflation indeed!

TrainVac

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1 year ago
by siva in

A train engine that is also a vacuum cleaner. The most logical thing in the world. Anyone would have thought of it.

Difference between your ass and elbow

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1 year ago
by siva in

There are some updates to the Dubai-Pune Air India flight which had a near plunge into the Arabian Sea. This seems to be literally a case of not knowing one’s ass from one’s elbow.

The co-pilot of an Air India Express 737 sent the jetliner into a terrifying 7,000-foot plunge in May when he accidentally hit the control column while adjusting his seat, investigators report.

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