Shellie and I have decided to join the local gym. To keep ourselves focussed, we have set a target of 8 weeks to show some results. For me, tucking my tummy in will be the biggest task.
Here are my measurements:
Weight: 76 Kgs
Waist: 90 cms
Arms: 31.5 cms
I will update these every week, just as a record of progress (or lack of).
I may be a late comer to the world of interactive TV, but let me say it now.
I love my Foxtel Digital "Active" service.
I "liked" it when I saw it in action during the cricket matches. It seemed like a neat option, because I could see the day's highlights and wickets, when I wanted to, rather than wait for a canned version in the nightly news. I could check live stats, series stats and so on from the comfort of my couch with the help of my remote. And I could switch off the stadium sound and only hear the commentators, or vice versa. Nice, nice, nice.
But wait. My cup of happiness runeth over, when I saw the Australian Open. See this is what I have been waiting for all these years. Channel 7 transmits one game that they think is worth showing, but Foxtel's "Active" service shows me three screens with three different matches in progress. I can pick the game that I want to watch, maximize it and voila! I am seeing a completely different game! The ability to pick the game that you are interested in is a "killer app!"
I hear that during the telecast of footy, they allow you to pick the camera that you want. Interesting!
More than 20 years on, and they are still deciding who is to blame for the riots that engulfed India in 1984. If they can't decide who is to blame, how will they ever punish them? Isn't punishment supposed to act as a deterent?
As Hewitt says after hitting a cross court backhand in to the net, in utter frustation, "C' mmmmm ooo nnnn".
Yesterday was 26th January, the day that is of significance to both India and Australia.
On 26th January 1950, India's constitution was formally adopted and India became a republic.
On 26th January 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip officially claimed the eastern seaboard of Australia as a British Colony.
Different eras, yet still a a shared sense of history. One was become free of British rule, one was accepting British rule. How ironic!
It's a sad state of affairs in Bihar (a lawless state in India). Outlook India reports on the plight of doctors and patients here.
You know things are bad when a doctor treats a child patient with three security guards around him. This is not a war torn region where the doctors have to work under enemy gunfire, but for all intents and purposes, it may as well be.
And to think I spent 4 years in this state doing my engineering.
Update on 25-01-2005
And it gets worse...
In the last few weeks, a couple of fine actors have died.
First to go was Jerry Orbach, who played the very real, very human, Detective Lennie Briscoe on Law and Order. I will miss his (or his characters? I don't know him as anything else) one-liners, his wry sense of humor and his dedication to his work.
Next was Indian actor Amrish Puri, the biggest "Mogambo" of them all. He made playing the bad guy an art form. He was typecast as the bad guy in a number of movies before he played some strong character roles in movies like "DDLJ" and "Gardish".
Both these gentlemen will be sorely missed.
The entire Indian blogging world is quite worked up over a guy who has plagiarized contents from their own blogs. They are trying to take collective action against the guy but so far it seems that he is going to ignore them. Here is a link where you can read more about it.
Why does it happen? Why does it seem so easy for people to take credit for work that is not theirs? I think I know the answer. Because they think that they can get away with it.
What exactly can the blogger community, even collectively, do to this guy? Can they take legal action? Hardly. Bad mouth him in their own blogs and hope that he takes his blog down (or write original content)? Hardly.
I am not trying to belittle their efforts. However, I think that collective action will not achieve much against a guy who was shameless enough to do so in the first instance. Here are my thoughts on how to make this guy stop.
The first thing to do is to find out who hosts his site. (PHPWEBHOSTING.com, from Whois records.)
Email this hosting company and complain. Most hosting companies have terms related to copyrighted content and will take some sort of action.
Next, find out what software he uses for blogging. Even though this may not be useful, by complaining to company that makes this software will increase the pressure on him. (www.blogger.com/Google)
Finally, find out where he works and complain to his organization. How does complaining to his boss help? It doesn't directly, but fear of discovery by colleagues can do wonders.
Just some of the suggestions. I have dealt with plagiarism of my technical content (always, I am afraid to say, by an Indian) and luckily, in all cases, the matter was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, because of threat of discovery and legal action.
Only in Australia!
Picture this. You are standing at the checkout counter in your local supermarket, after a hard days work. You put your groceries on the counter and go through the process of paying for them. Just when you are about to pick your shopping bags, you glance at the guy behind you. You think the face looks familiar, in fact, very familiar! In an instant you recognize him to be a big sporting superstar. What do you do?
It happened to me today at about 6 PM. For those in Australia, I was at the Coles supermarket in Cannon-Hill, Brisbane. The guy behind me was Adam Gilchrist. Yes, I was standing in the checkout counter in front of Adam Gilchrist. The superstar wicket keeper of the Australian Cricket team.
I did not know what to do. What do you do? Replace Adam Gilchrist, with David Beckham in England, Michael Jordan in America and Sachin Tendulkar in India, and YOU are standing in front of him at the checkout counter. What would you do?
My wife, who was just outside along with her parents wanted me to stop Gilly, as he is known, and ask him for an autograph and a mobile snap. But I was not sure. Nobody else was bothering him. He was like any other guy buying some groceries. Was I right to intrude on his private space? If I were anywhere else, I would have mobbed him. But it almost seemed wrong to do so here.
Play the same scenario in your own place. Would these superstars be left alone? Would you even see these guys in public doing something as mundane as shopping for food?
That’s why I love Australia. It has such a laid back attitude that I am sure that Gilly wouldn’t have minded me coming over and sharing a snap. But for the same reason, it seemed stupid to interrupt him. Hmmmm……
For the past few weeks, I have been reading this book called "Holy Cow!" by Sarah Macdonald on her travel through India. What are the words that come to mind when reading such a book? Entertaining, funny, frustating, annoying, superficial, commercial. It has got everything that a foreign traveller to India would expect. Getting disgusted by the filth, exhilarated by the human conundrum and then if they stay long enough, going on a predictable and endless journey to "find" themselves. *sigh*. Is there ever a different experience for a foreigner in India?
The book is honest and yes, very funny at times. Some of the experiences hit close to home (my wife, like the author of the book, is an Australian). Some of the remarks are forcefully degrading to drive home a point and it gets annoying. How many times do we have to hear that New Delhi is heavily polluted and filthy?
But all in all, I like the book for it is candidness. That is refreshing. The author makes no assumptions, presents her feelings in a straightforward manner and admits when she is wrong and confused. I hope she gets rid of her confusion by the end of the book, because I know, even though I was born and brought up in India, I am still confused about a lot of things Indian.
Sania Mirza, from India, wins her first round match at the Australian Open 2005 and the Times Of India makes her a Grand Slam Winner already.
Talk about low expectations. The poor girl might as well pack her bags and leave now, for as per TOI she has already made history.
Thank God I am not the only one who thinks the same. Amit Varma at his blog chimes in with this.
Brilliant!
I don't want to prejudice you with what this is, click on the link and see for yourself. It's long (8 minutes) but it is worth the wait.
I have just posted a list of things that I want to do before I cannot do them anymore. As with most things in life, this list is a work in progress. Items may come and go from it depending on the phase of life I am in. Some of these things I have already done, but it's interesting to just put them on the list.
Here it is.
Well! I saw the movie Elektra last night. Wow! The movie is not exceptional but if you like Jennifer Garner kicking butt (a la Alias), then don't miss this one.
Last night I saw the first Twenty 20 game televised on the Nine network here in Australia. The game was between Australia A and Pakistan. For the record, Australia A won by a handsome margin.
I am hooked!
I can't wait for this version of the beloved game to become more popular and have regular contests between international sides. Cricket has long suffered the indignity of being called the "boring" game, and even the one day version is considered too long. After watching last night's game, I can see why.
In effect, the game is over in 3 hours. This is rapid fire version of the one-day game and is hugely entertaining. Some people say that this version has well and truly stamped the authority of the batsmen on the game, but I say they are far from the truth. You only have to look at Pakistan's batting innings to see how clever bowling changes and perfect line and length reduced them to 17/4 within the first 5 overs, effectively ending the game then and there.
A quick snapshot of the twenty20 (or is it twenty 20) rules.
Each side bats for 20 overs only.
Bowling side must finish their overs within 1 hour and 15 minutes. If they don't they are docked 6 runs per over.
At the fall of a wicket, the new batsman must arrive at the crease within 90 seconds or the umpire rules him out.
A No ball = 2 runs and earns an extra ball, where the batsman has a free hit. (I don't know what this means as I could not see it in action last night).
Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 4 overs only.
Fielding restrictions -
No more than 5 players on the leg side at any time.
1-6 overs, only 2 players allowed outside the circle.
7-13 overs, only 3 players allowed outside the circle.
13-20 overs, only 5 players allowed outside the circle.
All in all, highly entertaining and addictive. It's like the last 20 overs of any one day game. I can't wait for India to play Pakistan or Austalia in this version.