Great Sports Pics

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Tagged

Jim tagged me, so here goes.

Five people on my shit list:
1. Bigot #1
2. Bigot #2
3. Dick Cheney
4. Criminals against children
5. Bigot # 3

Close brushes with death/danger:
Hard to say if I was close... at different times, I've been hit by a car and a bus. I've has one spectacular crash on my motorbike (which I live to tell). And I almost fell through a deep crevice hidden by seemingly sure snow on the surface - in the Himalayas.

Five preferable modes of suicide:
1. On a manned long-term mission to space. I'd die over a looong time, but it would be such an awesome experience.
2, 3, 4 and 5: I'd like to say I do not condone suicide in any fashion. But I am still unclear about my stand on assisted suicide. It's hard to be judgemental when you hear them make their case. Yet, there is so much to experience. Have to think more on this.

Five guilty pleasures:
1. Sports
2. Goofing off in the face of deadlines.
3. Dessert
4. Good Pinot Noir
5. Fried, crispy snacks

Five things you never want to forget:
1. That there are people out there better than me.
2.That there are people out there who are worse off than me.
3. Pride is good.
4. Too much pride is bad.
5. My happy memories - the ones that keep me going.

Five things you wish to forget:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5: I have been fortunate in that I don't have any memories that I wish to forget. Unpleasant? Sure... but those are part of what made me who I am.

Five exotic dishes you've tried:
1. Crocodile Fritters in Mauritius: They were fried. Tasted like chicken.
2. Daube Ourite (Octopus stew) in Mauritius.
3. Yellowtail sashimi with Jalapeno - at Next Door Nobu (NYC).
4. The Sirloin at Austin Land & Cattle Co.
5. Lobster Roll at Scales in Portland, ME

Five loves of your life (not in order):
Freedom, Sports, Food, Books and my wife.

Strangest Dream:
(off the top of my head)
Being eaten alive.

Five most valued posessions:
Freedom, clarity of thought, memories, health, my sporting experiences. Everything else can be replaced.

Five favorite superheroes:
1. Diego Maradona
2. Batman
3. Obelix (does he count?)
4. Spaceman Spiff
5. Superman

Ok. Done.
Now...
Supps, Shom, PK, Sundar, Naveen - s'il vous plait.

Lok Paritran

Admirable work. I will put up more on this new political party soon. Until then, please visit this website, and I urge you to give it a good read before you come to a conclusion on your views regarding them and their work.

Players to watch in Germany '06 - Part 1

Here are a few of the players (mostly young and rising - the obvious stars are .. well.... obvious). I hope to add to this list periodically - till the World Cup.
Cheers!

Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona)

All pictures courtesy fifaworldcup.com

It is a fair argument to say that Messi probably deserves to be in the 'stars' list and not in the 'to be watched' list (I absolutely love this guy!). But he is still a fantastic talent who has proven himself for Barcelona and Argentina Jrs. but not yet had an opportunity in the national team - to really show us that he is a class apart. Until we see magic fom him - in the Argentine national colors, he remains on this list of mine.

Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal)

Arsenal's been doing great in Europe of late. They may be languishing in the upper-mid table at EPL... but this kid's form of late has been great. Peaking at just the right time, maybe? He was considered an outside shot for the squad at best - but his recent showing might improve his chances.

Pablo Zabaleta (Argentina, Espanyol)

The powerful right-winger could be the perfect foil to Messi's magic up front. If he makes the team, he'll probably be rotated in for Javier Zanetti. He is (IMO) quick, powerful and very mature in midfield.

Bootstrapping at its best

Here's this really interesting real estate scheme from Kyle MacDonald.

My name is Kyle MacDonald and I am trying to trade one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12th, 2005 and I am making a series of trades for bigger or better things. My current item up for trade is one year in Phoenix. Do you want one year of FREE rent in Phoenix? Pop your offer over to me at (oneredpaperclip@gmail.com)... You can see the current offers here. I live in Montreal Canada but will go anywhere in the world for the right offer.

None of his claims are verified, but seem credible enough. Questions I have concern the valuation of his trades. His claim of bootstrapping 'bigger and better' things from a trivial red clip doesn't account for other claims.
(1) He travels to these places to make the trades and pays for the items. Also, he blogs or talks about these trades and includes traders' pictures in his website.
(2) There is value in a "good story" that people get out of this. This value might exceed the residual value of the goods the average person is trading out.
(3) He tosses in extras (for the truck, he was willing to drive it and deliver it in person and toss in a tank of gas too), that he pays for. This is not accounted for.

In any case, a very interesting read and a fascinating story.

Cheers, Kyle.

Trading books, DVDs, CDs...

Here's this good site that's popped up. Zunafish is a trading site where you can trade in your CDs, DVDs, VHS, books, etc. for others that people want to get rid of. Got an old copy of 'Jurassic Park' that you don't care to watch again? Maybe you can trade it for a copy of the 'Da Vinci code' that someone's read but doesn't want anymore!
It borrows the concept of ebay, and extends it to a craigslist-like community board - formalizing it into clearly defined OTC trades.
It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

Mouthwatering clash

April 18, 2006








Hope it's good.

Sad

It's really sad that 5 people died "grieving" the death of one (really old) film actor. Where's our sense of perspective?

shock?

This is what the Prime Minister had to say about Dr. Raj's death.
Shock?
Grief, I can understand.
But, he was 77 years old. Various health problems. Died of a cardiac arrest.
Shock?
Morons riot in Bangalore and stone cars, buses and buildings - even Microsoft Research's office in M.G. Road. What did they do? Kill him? Or cause him a cardiac arrest?
I am baffled! Angered. And deeply disappointed that Darwinism hasn't eradicated these undesirable and dangerous pieces of trash from society.

Flippin' out

Where would you like your next fast food order to be taken? Interesting read.

Americans moving to India for work

How much of this is genuine interest in the Indian economy as a sustained growth opportunity, and how much of it is a quest for the average college grad to do something 'different'? Get 'international experience for the coming globalization of the world economy'? If this were indeed the start of a pattern, then what are the implications of this to minimizing start-up costs for entrepreneurs?

Ad this.

In her post, Usha questions the validity of claims in advertisements/commercials. I think that ads/commercials are now more brand placement media. It brings to our attention the existence of a product that claims to do certain things. In an ideal world, we would be able to trust them. As it stands, the consumer has no excuse for not researching/reviewing a product before purchase. Of course, there are the early-adopters who suffer... but they also have the potential upside of having bragging rights to a potentially great product.

Ugly!

picture from news.bbc.co.uk

The new AIG sponsored ManU strip. Ugly.

Go Bangalore!

Robin Uthappa is in the team. :)

Street Cricket

Pitch-catch, Baby Over, Bet match, Automatic Wicketkeeper, and tons of other 'street cricket' terms - all cataloged here.
A must-read. Great fun.