TWIL - Week #50

This Week I Learned:

• Sean Parker, who founded Napster and became Facebook’s first president has no college education to speak of. Thiel Fellowships, financed by the PayPal co-founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel, give $100,000 to people under 20 to forgo college and work on projects of their choosing.
• The TED in TED conference stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Add "/transcript" to a TED.com video session URL to read the transcript
• Harland Sanders started KFC at 65 years of age. John Pemberton invented Coca Cola at 55 and Ray Croc started McDonald's at 52. Craig Newmark  founded CraigsList at 42 and Robert Noyce founded Intel at 41. Source - Funders and Founders
• Though christened Mother of all grains, quinoa is technically not a grain but a seed
• Cancer is usually caused by gene mutations that occur randomly in one or a few cells of the body. Such gene changes, called somatic mutations, may arise as a natural consequence of aging or when a cell’s DNA has been damaged. Acquired mutations are only present in some of the body’s cells, and they are not passed on from parents to their children. According to this Datar Genetics ad there are 15 types of hereditary cancers. 
  
• 70% of internet users in India are in urban areas. There are 213m internet users and 110m mobile internet users.
• Since 1993, there is 27% reservation in  Central Government jobs and education. Since then, number of backward castes have been increased from 1,352 to 2,404. Section 11(1) of National Commission of Backward Classes Act says government should, every ten years, purge the OBC list of communities that have ceased to be backward. In 20 years since Mandal came into force, the purge has not happened even once. Source - Times of India
• 90 percent of the new Telangana state's population comprises BCs, SCs, STs and minorities. The population of Backward Castes, according to Sri Krishna Committee Report, is 51%, SCs 16%, Muslims 12%, STs 9% and other minorities about 2%. The remaining 10% comprises Reddys, Brahmins, Velmas, Kammas and others. Source - Times of India
• The premium collected by Life Insurance Corporation of India is about 5 times the premium collected by all the 23 private players put together.