La dirompente diffusione dell’AIDS, secondo le Nazioni Unite, porterà ad una catastrofe economica e sociale degli stati africani più colpiti. Come si può ascoltare da uno studio, solo nello scorso anno, circa 5,4 milioni di persone sono HIV positive. Dalla comparsa della malattia, secondo gli studiosi, 19 milioni di persone sono morti a causa dell’AIDS. Il culmine non è ancora stato raggiunto. “Se non si rafforzano drasticamente le misure di lotta all’epidemia, i danni già verificati, sono una nullità rispetto a ciò che ci attende”, affermano gli studi fatti. In sedici nazioni, tutte a sud del sahara, più di un decimo della popolazione, d’età compresa fra i 15 ed i 49 anni, è sieropositivo. In Sudafrica, un quinto di tale fascia è portatore del virus. In totale, sono stati infettati 4,2 milioni di persone, più che in ogni altra nazione. Secondo alcune stime, in tutto il mondo sarebbero presenti 32,3 milioni di sieropositivi e di casi di AIDS conclamata, di cui 1,3 milioni sono bambini. Con la diffusione dell’AIDS, secondo lo studio, anche nell’ambito dell’istruzione e in molti settori economici. Cari amici oggi si parla molto di AIDS, nei giorni che la rapresenta, e se ne parla poco anzi mai negli altri giorni trascurando che questa malattia sta sterminando l’umanità, esso sta uccidendo l’essere umano peggio di qualsiasi epidemia, del passato e del presente. Non esiste un Vaccino per Distruggere il Virus. Non c’è da scherzare anche una semplice malattia virale puo diventare pericolosa, esiste anche un virus chiamato HPV o PAPILLOMA, la maggior parte viene curato con antibiotici che si revela inefficace visto che parliamo di virus e non ci sono cure. nelle donne potrà rivelarsi micidiale, perchè annitandosi nell’utero, diventerà un tumore all’utero.

À ceux et celles qui aiment réaliser de bonnes affaires sur Mac, je me permets cette semaine de partager avec vous deux excellentes nouvelles. Les fins d’année sont généralement l’occasion pour les entreprises développant des software de fidéliser leurs clientèles ou d’en attirer de nouvelles à l’aide de promotions fort intéressantes.

Cette fois-ci, je vous en propose 2 que vous ne devriez absolument pas manquer.

La première est disponible via le site Macfriendly et propose 12 applications…pour le prix d’une!!! (PROMOTION TERMINÉE!)

De plus, il est mentionné que si l’objectif de ventes des programmes est atteint, 2 applications supplémentaires seront offertes gratuitement!

La promotion se termine dans 11 jours pour Macfriendly.

Les logiciels offerts sont (clic sur le lien pour être redirigé sur les sites respectifs): Mac Journal (journal prise de notes), Pagico (planificateur de projets et d’événements), 3D Image Commander (retouche photos), Cross FTP Pro (client FTP), Cocktail (maintenance), Iris (logiciel de retouche photos porfessionnel), Mac DVD Ripper Pro (gravure DVD), Sleep Blaster (alarme), Super Flexible File Synchronizer Pro (synchroniseur de données), MacSnapper (annotation de documents en tous genres), Data Guardian (protecteur de données), TranslateIt! Deluxe (traducteur).

En supplément: Hear (gestion de l’audio) + Flash Decompiler Trillix 4 (traitement de fichiers video Flash)

Le lien:

Macfriendly

Le second «bundle» (paquet d’applications réunies) est offert par MacPromo. Le site propose pour sa part une application gratuite (valant 30$) aux 100 000 premiers acheteurs.

La promotion se termine le 31 octobre 2009 pour MacPromo.

Les logiciels offerts sont (clic sur le lien pour être redirigé sur les sites respectifs): Virus Barrier X5 (antivirus), TechTools Pro 5 (maintenance), Computrace LoJack (repérage d’ordis volés),Webghost (masqueur d’adresses IP), Klix (retouche de photos détériorées), Personal BackUp 5 (sauvegarde de données), Content Barrier 5 (filtres internet), NetBarrier 5 (protection internet), Personal Antispam 5 (antispam), MyWallet (protecteur de données), Spring Cleaning (maintenance et nettoyage des fichiers, dossiers, caches), FileGuard X 5 (protecteur de données)

Pour la description complète de toutes ces applications, je vous renvoie à ce lien:

Description Bundle Macpromo

Le lien:

Macpromo

Les deux sites offrent un tarif similaire pour l’acquisition de leurs 12 applications respectives, soit 49.99$ (US)

Je n’hésiterais nullement à vous les recommander, en étant sûr que chacun y trouvera son compte!!!

Sleep Blaster

Meat never tasted so effing good.

There can be no to ways about it.

Sehwag is a friggin bear-man. Nothing else needs to be said about him. He feasts on opening bowlers for breakfast, spinners for lunch, and part-timers for dinner. He once had a one-night stand which lasted 2 weeks.

In the ongoing CL, he decided announce his return to form treating the Wayamba side like an evil red-headed stepchild.  His 66 off 42 deliveries strangely contained only 1 six, which comes as a bit of a surprise, as we’ll shortly see. What was even more worriesome for opposition in future is that he’s equally agressive along the ground. Some of his strokes, especially the wristy on-side ones are turning out to be things of beauty.

Oh, and about that one 6, sample this from a recent cricinfo interview:

Once Gary Kirsten asked me, “What would you do if there is a long-off, long-on and deep midwicket?” I asked, “Gary sir, do fielders matter to me?“

Enough said.  Let’s clear the damn ropes next time. Bowlers, say your prayers.

On the other hand, the way Ross Taylor goes about abusing and molesting the opposition bowlers is reaching near censorship levels. Just to prove last game wasn’t a fluke, he did it again today. In the last over of the innings, Taylor decided to go apeshit on Otago. If there’s such a thing called painfully beautiful, this must have been it. Taylor proceeded to decleat Butler first. After 3 deliveries , Butler decided that he had enough of this, and came off with an injury (injured pride perhaps). Poor McSkimming wasn’t spared either, with Taylor pulling off 3 incredible hits, especially one which he almost swept for six just a few inches of the ground.  Dude’s blessed with extreme quickness of hand and field awareness.

When these 2 predators are on, it can really get ugly, in a good way.

During the course of late last week and the weekend, I had the fortune of watching 2 teams I support crawling into new depths of despair. Both often threaten to achieve greatness, but when the lights are on, when the world’s watching, both teams excel at laying wonderfully polished and competent turds.

I’m talking about the Indian Cricket Team and Liverpool. As India crashed and burned out of the CT with  crapistic bowling performances against Pakistan and then Australia,  Liverpool embarassed themselves not once, but twice.  Fiorentina first abused them, and then it was Chelsea’s turn to ride the village bicycle.

It was quite a shocker to watch all around, more so when rival teams put up more commanding performances. As I watched Fabragas (what a player!) weave through the Blackburn defense like an accomplished tailor, or Watson absolutely OWNING the English, I just wanted to throw up in my mouth a little because both the teams neither win, nor even lose in style.

After anger gave way to sympathy, and self pity, apathy , compulsive fantasy , and finally some introspection, I managed to conjure up some striking similarities in the teams and the players. I’m pretty sure that it’s my imagination trying to force-fit these, but who cares? I award myself 5 stars, a pat on my back , and a  date with Megan Fox for coming up with these.

1. Both teams rely on past glories. India still fantasize of the 83 world cup, while Liverpool’s last League win was the 1989-1990 season.  If you think that it wasn’t way too long back, ponder over these:
a. Coolie was released in 1983. Amitabh who starred in it,  has since then gone on conduct a Miss world contest, star in 15423 more movies, go bankrupt and grow rich again,  father 2 children, one of whom sucks balls at acting and is living on the glories of his wife and dad.
b. Tracy Chapman won the best Newcomer at the 89 grammy.
c. Berlin wall ceased to exist (yeah it was mid-way through)
d. Bell-bottoms and mo-hawks went out of fashion.

You get the picture.

2. Both achieved little orgasms in the not-too distant past, India with the inaugural T20 world cup, and Pool with the C-League 2005 at Istambul.

3. And now, player similarities:

Mr. I-generally-don’t-suck-but-I-don’t-matter-in-the-final-outcome

Reina, Gambhir, Zaheer

Mr. I’m-so-cool-and-new-but-still-aint-there-yet

Johnson, Insua,  Raina, Rohit

Mr.I’m-generally-injured-but-otherwise-I-might-be-useful

Skrtel, Nehra

Mr.I’m-a-friggin-wall-but-a–porous-one-these-days

Carragher, Dravid

Mr. I’m-just-a–sub-till-the-others-show-up

Aurelio, Praveen Kumar

Mr.I-run-more-than-the-road-runner-but-do-very-little

Kuyt, Ishant

Mr. I-don’t-even-know-why-I’m-in-the-team-because-I-actually-blow-but-oh-that’s-right-I-sleep-with-the-manager/coach

Babel, Kohli

Mr. I’m-the-cheap-whore-who-gets-used-all-over-the-place

Benayoun, Karthik

Mr. I’m-the-big-tuna-but-if-I-don’t-show-up-we-lose

Gerrad,Torres, Sachin,  Yuvi

Mr.I’m Missing-in-action-wait-till-I-get-back

Aqualini, Viru

Mr. I’m-so-overrated-and-I’m-still-in-the-team!

Lucas, Bhajji

Mr. It’s-not-my-fault-we-lost-but-yeah-I-make-bad-decisions-and-give-fans-fits

Benetiz , Dhoni

It’s official.   In an attempt to take over the internet, MTJAG has decided to follow Gary Kirsten’s  now infamous dossier , and taken matters into their own “hands”.   Joining for this noble cause are the bright folks at  Stani Army , an excellent blog  on all things Cricket, Pakistani Cricket, and brotherly love. Follow them if you aren’t already, their views are quite insightful and addictive, bordering on soft porn.

Other than stroking each others egos, what the idea was to do was a Q & A exchange, where we post questions on the very dangerous Pak team and get their viewpoints , and they do just the same with respect to Team BCCI.    The idea was to put both the segments up before the India vs Pak match, but thanks to the immense tension and trauma preceeding and “SUCKceeding” the game itself, and Sujith injuring his hand in a “mysterious” accident,  it got delayed. However, the questions are generic enough to cherish for all seasons. Here they are. You can check our answers to Stani Army’s questions here .

————————————————————————————————-

1.
17,16,2,17,20,23,35,6
In case you’re wondering, that’s not the number of ladies that Shane Warne got laid with in the last few months, but Imran Nazir’s scores in his last 8 innings. Combine this with yet another fizzled out 20 against India in this current game.  What’s the deal with him, and why the love? Isn’t there anyone else around? Perhaps you can pad up…

I thought that was Warne’s weight fluctuations in stones…although the last one must be a mistake. I know what you mean. I doubt Nazir would make it into any of the other established teams with those scores but that’s just us, we’re crazy. This same craziness sticks a 17 year old in a t20 world cup. I’d be happy if Nazir got 20 every innings because I know he’d have faced half the balls and the guy at the other end would have contributed to a first wicket score of 35. This for us is a good start! Then there’s the chance that he may stay in for a while and then the game will truly be over for the opposition.

Interesting question. I think Younis will soon retire from ODIs too leaving Afridi in charge of both short forms. As for Test matches, I suspect that when Younis eventually goes so will Yousuf. I think Shoaib Malik will then be given the captaincy again as I have always thought they would return to him. Should Afridi play in the longer form, they may consider him too which will lead to 3 day Test wins and losses. But of course, we cannot account for the fact that someone may burst onto the scene from nowhere and take up the reins. I heard Salim Malik still harbours hopes of a return.

3. What’s up with Rana Naved’s hair-tales? Methink’s he’s spending a little too much time with Harsha Bhogle in the off-season. Doesn’t he know that only the Indian cricketers have the license to get laid ?

Rana has discovered a new lease of life. Where as in the past, the case used to be hair one day and gone tomorrow (see what I did there?) today we have hair transplants! (http://www.staniarmy.com/pakistan-cricket/the-new-rana-naved/) I think he’s trying to bring sexy back but MS Dhoni may not take too kindly to this.

It’s me, but I have to be a world changing scientist first and only then I can take up cricket – mum and dad say so. To be honest, the versatility of our attack means we don’t really need a toe crusher. Fear not though, I think Aamer will get there as he’s still just 17. I’m certain that some couple somewhere in Pakistan are consummating a fast bowler as we speak. If not, I’ll get onto it as soon as possible. I rate Ajmal as highly as Murali. I think he’s got the best doosra in cricket…or football?, anyway, and it’s legal!

We would like to make an official donation of Shoaib Akhtar to you guys. Take him, I said take him! Cricket, films, sexually transmitted disease spreader, use him how you wish.

This is easy, it would have to be Viru…..closely followed by Sree Santh, of course. Seriously, it would be Viru or Rohit.

Shaid Afridi is not born yet. Actually, his age is an official government secret. I suppose does anyone know how old they are? Really? People ask me my date of birth and my reply is the date followed by ‘apparently’. They ask me why ‘apparently’ and I tell them I was too young to know for sure.

Ghambir The Groin, what a name. The coincidence is Gary Kirsten’s dossier and then these injuries.

Actually, you make a really good link but I doubt many of the injuries were the direct result of fast bowling. The problem has more to do with our Asian sub-continent care free attitude to fitness, both obtaining and keeping it.

————————————————————————————————-

That’s about it.  We look forward to your answers to these questions at the comments section.  Visit  Stani Army for your dose of  cricket and strange genital wart growths.

Look for more such stuff coming your way!

Suomen ja viron ääntäminen on hyvin samanlaista. On kuitenkin tiettyjä äänteitä, joihin tulee kiinnittää huomiota.  Tärkeimmät näistä ovat viron kielen kirjaimet

B D G ja P T K

B, D ja G äännetään kuten suomen P, T ja K.

Esim: (suluissa ääntämys)

Andrus (antrus) – Virolainen nimi

sadam (satam) – satama

tuba (tupa) – huone

saba (sapa) – häntä

Helsingi (helsinki) -  Helsinki

Vabaduse väljak (vapatuse väljak) – Vapauden aukio (Tallinnassa)

Viron kielen kirjainten P, T ja K ääntäminen riippuu niitä ympäröivistä kirjaimista. Perussääntönä on, että vokaalien välissä ne ääntyvät kaksinkertaisena äänteenä.

Esim.

aasta (aasta) – vuosi

alati (alatti) – aina

väike (väikke) – pieni

matus (mattus) – hautajaiset

Huom virolaiset nimet:

Anti (antti)

Erki (erkki)

Vokaalisointu

Virossa ei ole suomen kielessä esiintyvää vokaalisointua. Tämä hankaloittaa hieman ääntämistä:

esim.

küsimus (kysimus) – kysymys

ü –äänne

Viron ü –äänne lausutaan kuten suomen ”y”.

üks (yks) – yksi

sügav (sykav) – syvä

küsimus (kysimus) – kysymys

süda (syta) – sydän

Jos sanassa on kaksi ”ü” –tä peräkkäin ääntämys muuttuu. ”üü” lausutaan ”yi”.

esim.

süüa (syia) – syödä

müüa (myia) – myydä

õ –äänne

Viron õ –äänne puuttuu suomen kielestä. Kun haluat ääntää tämän kirjaimen laita huulet siten, kun lausuisit e-äänteen ja kieli u-asentoon. Sitten sanot hymyillen ”u”. Hyvää harjoittelua! Jos ei onnistu, voit lausua õ –äänteen öö-ksi. Silloin saatetaan luulla, että olet tullut Saarenmaalta, jonka murtessa õ –äänne lausutaan ”ö”.

Tässä muutama harjoitussana

sõna (sõna) – sana

Põltsamaa (Põltsamaa) – kaupunki Virossa (kokeilepas sanoa tämän kaupungin nimi siten, että sanot ”Pltsamaa”, ja hupsis, virolainen ”õ” saattaa tulla automaattisesti P:n ja L:n väliin, kun pidät sanapainon ensimmäisellä tavulla! Pltsamaa!

Põlva (Põlva) – kaupunki Virossa. Kokeile samaa kuin edellä. Huom. paino ensimmäiselle tavulle.(Plva)

õpetaja (õppettaja) – opettaja

Hyvää kielen verryttelyä.

Vinkki:

Tallinnan matkalla kannattaa lukea erilaisia katukylttejä ja mainoksia pitäen näitä ohjeita mielessä.

Enemmän viron kielen opiskeluaineistoa löydät sivuiltani.

Viron kielen persoonapronominit ovat suomalaiselle helppoja:

mina/ ma

sina / sa

tema / ta

meie /me

teie / te

nemad / nad

Vain yksikön ja monikon kolmannet muodot eroavat olennaisesti suomen kielestä (hän = tema, ta; he = nemad, nad).

Ääntämisessä on muistettava, että d-kirjain sanan lopussa ääntyy kuin suomen t-kirjain. Eli nemad äännetään “nemat” ja nad äännetään “nat”.

Enemmän viron kielen opiskeluaineistoa löytyy sivuiltani täältä.

wowowowo mi 1º camiseta y espero sacar este año muchos diseños para vender ^^

un saludo a todos gracias por mirar mi diseño ^^ aunke los tag pongan otra cosa , uno aveces kiere darse a conocer y pone cosas ke no son ..

PD:en la camiseta pone BISHO.

Allright folks, the party’s over. The players are headed to join their IPL teams. That means time for us to nitpick India’s tour of New Zealand.

Nitpick #1: The pitches. Ok, well, just the Basin pitch. It wasn’t typical Basin at all. That was perhaps the most disappointing feature of the tour of New Zealand. While the 02-03 tour was replete with ridiculously unbattable pitches, which embarrassed even the host batsmen, the pitches we saw here were mostly batsmen friendly. There was no shocker pitch, denying us of an opportunity of ruing an Indian batting collapse.

Nitpick#2: Ishant Sharma’s inability to use the breeze and Munaf’s to bag more wickets. Yes, this is a bit harsh. Ishant received some harsh ones from the umpires, but didn’t live up to the expectations in terms of wickets. There were some exceptional spells and there were some ordinary ones, thereby cause for some thought. Munaf’s bowling was fair. To me, he lived up to the standard of a “filling-up-the-overs” bowler, but not to that of a third seamer. The third seamer needs to consistently pick up wickets. Bowling in Tests isn’t only about economy. You can’t win matches with an economy of 2-odd, as beautiful as it might seem.

Nitpick #3: VVS Laxman and Sehwag’s inconsistency. Again, this is harsh and almost atrocious that Laxman and “careless” Sehwag are being blamed for the same thing, but there is more to this. VVS is expected to deliver. When he scores 30 we get upset because he’s capable of 40-60 every innings. Laxman’s scores read 30, DNB, 76, 124*, 4 and  61. That’s 295 @ 73.75 avg. Not something we should be grumbling about, but the issues are with the 30 and the 4. The 124 was priceless and came in a time when India needed it most. Sehwag on the other hand, truly disappointed. His scores read 24, DNB, 34, 22, 48, and 12. That’s 140 @ 28. Makes one wonder if it’s the same man who hits triple centuries at will. Sehwag played a classic innings at Galle. We all know he’s capable. It’s just about that application. We’re not asking him to turn into a Wall.

Nitpick #4: Yuvraj Singh – fielding and batting. Seriously what is he doing in a Test team, especially, a touring Test team. I see the logic in keeping him for the home series, but not on tours. He had his chance in Australia – a change which involved a needless shuffling in batting order to “acomodate” him. His fielding has also been below par this series. If you ask me, I’ll swap Murali Vijay for Yuvraj in overseas Tests. It will be worthy investment.

Nitpick #5: Dravid not making a century. Ok, this is more of a  nitpick. Dravid was the third highest run getter of the series with 314 runs @ 62.8. Given that this came in the wake of a year long run drought, it’s great. That he couldn’t turn the 83 in the first Test into a century giving it up to an uncharecteristic shot was very disappointing. Also disappointing was the dismissal for 35 at Wellington after all the hard work.

Nitpick #6: Collective lack on initiative at Wellington on Days 4 and 5 deprived us of a 2-0 victory. Should we have declared earlier? Maybe 20-30 runs earlier, not too much earlier. But the question as to whether we could have got those wickets in that time is another question altogether. Honestly, I’m fairly happy with 1-0 victory, maybe that’s the conservative Indian in me speaking. Just would have been nicer, that’s all. That’s why this is #6 and not #1.

Nitpick #7: Sehwag’s captaincy. After all the experience, we expected better from him didn’t we. This isn’t about the way he batted in that Test, though that would also count for “inappropriate” from a captain. There was something missing when he captained – maybe he know he’ll forever be 2nd choice. That X-factor that Dhoni brings was missing. Sehwag’s definitely got it. He just needs to find it.
it.

Nitpicks done. Do weigh in with yours.

What a couple of days of Test cricket. Nowadays, it’s more satisfying to see a team save a match while chasing a mammoth total than it is to see a match with a result.

This was the occasion to show grit, and it was very satisfying to the hyped Indian batting line-up live up to their statistics. While Sehwag threw away an opportunity to show his captaincy prowess and give Dhoni some competition, Gambhir has taken a huge stride forward in his Test career. It will be sometime before we can truly bank on such innings from him for it takes more than just a few gritty innings to be called the Wall, even if it is Wall version 2. That said, credit needs to be given where it is due. He’s definitely a class apart from the other youngsters, Yuvraj included. Way to go Gambhir! I will not call you just a dumb slogger riding on form anymore.

Speaking of thrown away opportunities, add Dinesh Karthik to the list: his wicket keeping, from what I saw, left a lot to be desired. Looks like all of Dhoni’s competitors (for captaincy and keeping) have either given up or have no hope or intention. On to Yuvraj “I’m either a Prince or a rabbit” Singh. I think it is about time we replace him at Test level with some other promising talent. Where is Vijay who debuted against Australia? Now that would be a talent to nurture for the future.

Our good old Dravid once again did the job that only he does best, except this time, it was cut short by an umpiring error. Fellow blogger Soulberry has also ranted about this evil that cricketing has been plagued with of late. The newly elite Ian Gould has robbed us of what could have been another golden Dravid innings. Like Soulberry says, with such a sweetly timed six that one would wonder why there weren’t many more of those in his Test career. For the nth time, Dravid’s defence was serene and sublime. Brush me aside for being a fan-girl, but this innings of Dravs was definitely special. And some of us wanted him to retire. To me he looks good for another three years. I cannot stop marveling at the patience and grit. Go Draivd, you rock! Moving on, VVS and Sachin were vintage adding to the job that needed completion; nothing less.

So we think we battled it out. But not everyone agrees. This article by Kiwi journalist Paul Lewis had me thinking, and bit offended. True, we did in the past produced dust bowls in India, thanks to our internal pan-BCCI squabbles, we’ve often offered a green top to a side with exceptional fast bowlers. If there is a doubt on the ability of this Indian line up, which I think is probably the best one to deal with the green top on windy conditions (only I would replace Yuvraj with either a promising youngster like Vijay, or with good old fiesty Sourav) in over two decades. So, give us the green top and challenge us. Then we shall see who has conquered.

No, I’m not a NZ supporter in case you were wondering. But today’s T20 match between India and New Zealand at Christchurch could make many an Indian supporter emote in such a way.

It’s nothing but arrogance and over-confidence that many Indian batsmen displayed today. While there is some leeway to be given since this was a T20 and that success or failure in T20 doesn’t tell you much, many questions- old ones which were asked when an uninteresting Indian side landed in South Africa for the first T20 World Cup – come to mind. I will excuse Sehwag, for he plays the same way whether it is a Test, ODI or T20, and has been doing so from his debut. Just the same arrogance throughout, which comes with skill and a load of runs to back it. As for the other folk – Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni and the Pathans – the true test begins now. Can Gambhir adjust to the NZ conditions? Can Yuvraj/Dhoni bat when the pitch isn’t flat and the opposition isn’t England or a meek Sri Lanka? Raina escaped today and played a decent innings. I would have bet (for an expensive lunch at a fancy restaurant) when Raina came to the crease that he wouldn’t last 2 overs. He proved me wrong and fortunately for me I don’t owe anyone a fancy lunch. Harbhajan is becoming a very sensible batsman – maybe the IPL ban did the trick. I hope I didn’t speak too early on this.

The Indian bowling seemed fairly decent. It would have been hard to defend a total of 160 odd on a small ground. The score only gave us a chance.

What is most heartening about this match is that it gives us feeling that this series might be fun, not as one sided as some of the hype-inspired folk prophesied. Take it from me people, there will be failures, batting failures. The better batsmen will gain and the great, prevail. The bowlers might end up better than the batsman (given the quality of batsmen we have on tour).

Meanwhile, somebody called Manoj Tiwary might be pondering if his debut in T20 against Australia wasn’t so bad after all.

Well played, New Zealand!

Way too long past UFC 92 to write masses about it, so will just comment briefly. The big three fights of the night didn’t disappoint, obviously the big story was Rashad Evans defeating Forrest Griffin to win the light-heavyweight title, which came as a bit of a surprise given how the fight was going (had Griffin up 20-18 before the third round stoppage), but not majorly as most informed viewers recognised that it was an evenly-matched fight. It’ll be interesting to see how Evans does in his first defence, and I’m not sure who a good opponent would be. It’d be nice to see Machida not continually get jobbed but I really wouldn’t be surprised to see the winner of Rampage/Jardine get the shot, although that’ll be a way off. Elsewhere, Frank Mir shocked everyone by defeating a horribly out of sorts Nog to set up a rematch against Brock Lesnar which more or less sells itself, although I’m not sure that Mir can actually win a second time, Lesnar should have learned enough by then (if not already) to avoid cheap submissions. Rampage also knocked out Silva in somewhat of a grudge match, fairly entertaining unlike the rest of the card, although the quick finishes allowed some of the decent undercard to get promoted.

As for Affliction, it was another all-round decent card, although they still need to work on their production (although the comms, including Tito who was useful enough, were good, the backstage guys were morons who should be fired). Lauzon-Green was all-action although marred by frequent groin strikes, preventing any real rhythm to develop in the fight. Paul Buentello laid the smackdown on Kirill Sidelnikov, who would have lost a decision very comfortably (easily 30-27, not sure you can argue any round 10-8, maybe the last?) were it not stopped late in the third. Sokoudjou really needs to work on either his gastank, his fight planning, or both, as he looked to use up most of what he had against Babalu Sobral in the first (which, imo, he edged), but offered little in the second, eventually tapping to a choke. Maybe he’s just one of those that needs to finish a fight early, at least he has time on his side but there’s a lack of obvious fights outside the UFC apart from perhaps little Nog/Matyushenko from the undercard to this. Belfort’s quick KO of Lindland was brutal and a bit of a surprise, definitely one to catch if you’ve just watched the main event and that’s it. Barnett-Yvel was a mismatch, notable only for Yvel’s ability to defend from submissions and absorb a lot of punishment before eventually tapping in the third, and Barnett’s inability to finish the thing, instead just being content to work dominant ground positions (had the first 10-8 to him) and not really look to finish a clearly inferior opponent after the first round. Fedor-Arlovski was a weird one, Andrei looking to be a bit better in striking exchanges before oddly going in for a flying knee and being hit with a one-punch KO.

With Zuffa looking for any reason to chop fighters, and other organisations looking less than secure if not folded already, there’s enough talent out there for them to be able to put on a third card, whether they will isn’t something I’ll believe until I actually see it.

Will slot in a couple of beers from the Christmas period:

108 – A. Le Coq Viru (5.0%) – 6.5, distinctive slanted octahedral bottle. Rather light, malty but lacking as full a flavour as you might expect from this strength of beer.

109 – Okocim Jasne Pehe (5.5%) – 7, may have the style typoed or incorrect, slightly cloudy, crisp flavour, solid but not spectacular, typical Polish beer.

And from the festival itself, which had a nice setup, two largish rooms on different levels was a bit annoying but probably necessary, reasonably priced, food queues too long though.

110 – Sharps Doom Bar (4.0%) – 7, a standard, well balanced bitter.

111 – Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild (6.0%) – 9, very dark, fruity and well balanced.

112 – Nethergate Priory Mild (3.5%) – 6, dark, heavy, smoky, overpowering.

113 – Bryncelyn Holly Hop (3.9%) – 6.5, noticable initial sourness, gives way to solid, light hoppiness.

114 – Hesket Newmarket Old Carrock (6.0%) – 7, sharpish bitter taste, bit malty, becomes slightly sweet later.

115 – Wells & Youngs Winter Warmer (5.0%) – 7, slightly sweet and a bit nutty.

116 – Kelham Island Pride of Sheffield (4.0%) – 6.5, very light, very hoppy.

117 – Beartown Black Bear (5.0%) – 8, fruity and heavy, very dark.

118 – Spire Darkside of the Moon (4.3%) – 6.5, deep, smokyish but subtle.

119 – JW Lees John Willies (4.5%) – 6, ok but a bit bland and watery.

And some other randoms from out and about:

120 – Naylor’s On Target (3.7%) – 7, decent bitter but unremarkable.

121 – 1648 Triple Champion (4.0%) – 6.5, smooth, full, balanced, average.

122 – Wye Valley Butty Back (4.5%) – 6, light and hoppy, but too sour and thin to really recommend it.

123 – Purity Mad Goose (4.2%) – 7, slightly hoppy but otherwise very well balanced.

124 – St Austell Tribute (4.2%) – 6.5, little bit malty but otherwise decent if unimaginative.

And up to date finally. Just in time for GSP/Penn 2

Indian opener Virender Sehwag

Greg Chappell betrayed the trust of players but Gary Kirsten, his successor as Indian cricket coach, is the “best I have ever seen”, India’s dashing opening batsman Virender Sehwag said on Monday (January 19, 2009). The former South African batting star, Kirsten “doesn’t force things on you”, Sehwag said.

Comparing the two coaches, Sehwag indicated that Chappell had tried to get him to change his batting style.

“He had his view on my front-foot play, my footwork. The thing with him (Chappell) was that whatever you shared with him, it was promptly disclosed to media and selectors. He talked and that hurt the trust. I wasn’t comfortable with him,” Sehwag said.

Calling current coach Gary Kirsten as the best coach he has ever seen, Sehwag said, “He is the best coach I have ever seen. He doesn’t force things on you. His basic premise is: you all are international cricketers and you know how to succeed and how important it is to succeed. So I won’t thrust myself on you. But whenever you need me, for practice, throwing balls, sharing ideas, worries, I am always there.”

“During Test matches, there are days when he doesn’t force you to follow you a similar routine in warm ups. If he senses a day when it can be an easy one for the lads, he allows you to do no warm ups. When an intense day is ahead, we all come together to bring that required intensity,” added Viru.

The Delhi-opener also praised former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who encouraged him to take on the mantle of an opener in the Test side.

“Yes, Dada made me an opener in Sri Lanka, where I hit gold in the third match with that blistering century off 69 balls (against New Zealand). A lot of youngsters, including me, came to the fore under Dada,” Viru said.

Praising Dada’s captaincy skills, Sehwag said, “Remember, when he took over world cricket was reeling under the impact of match-fixing. He always backed us. For instance when I was Man of the Match against Australia early in my career, he assured me that I would play in at least next 30 one-day matches. Even when he promoted me as an opener, he told me to bat without worry as he wouldn’t touch me for the next 30-35 games.”

“When your captains back you in this manner, your confidence is sky-high. He was also an extremely aggressive captain,” he added.

Viru, however, said that his current skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is doing what Dada used to do, but just that Mahi give more space to everyone.

He said, “In many ways he is doing what Ganguly used to do. He is also aggressive. But he also knows how to be defensive if a game is to be saved. The thing with Dhoni is that he gives all of us a lot of space. He doesn’t want to control everyone.”

“The optional practice rule has really gained ground under him. Now it’s not mandatory to turn up for practice everyday. There is so much of travelling, so many matches. He knows the importance of rest and allows everyone their own recovery period,” added the opener.

Finally, commenting on his Test career revival after the Adelaide Test in Australia in 2007-08, Sehwag went on to say that the century in the Test was very special.

“Yes it is. It was a knock when I was determined to spend time at the crease. In the first two hours on the final day, I made only 27 runs in the first session. In the afternoon, Tendulkar kept telling me that we had to keep going. Or Australians could use the final 30-35 overs to chase down the target. It was very, very special,” he said.

Church Sign Generator

Former England captain Michael Vaughan

Former captain Michael Vaughan has backed England to bounce back from the bitter loss in  Chennai, saying that Kevin Pietersen and his men have the “bulldog spirit” to square the Test series against India in Mohali.

“One thing with the England team is we do have a ‘bulldog spirit’, a fighting spirit. We proved that in this game,” Vaughan said ahead of the second and final Test in Mohali starting December 19, 2008.

England dominated the first three days of the Chennai Test before losing the plot on the fourth day when Indian opener Virender Sehwag went on a rampage to snatch the match away from the visitors.

“It was a great game of cricket. Both teams played to an incredible standard in terms of what they’d gone through in the previous two weeks,” Vaughan was quoted as saying by ‘The Daily Telegraph’.

“The England team can be very proud of the way they played. For three-and-three-quarter days they dominated the Test and that is something which is very difficult to do in India,” he added.

Vaughan admitted that the six-wicket loss was a bitter pill to swallow, considering the way England dominated most part of the match. ”The defining moment was that middle session (on day four) when we probably let the momentum sway back towards India when we could have nailed home the game.”

However, Vaughan, who is currently on a sabbatical from international cricket, said the task would be tough test of England’s mental strength. ”We’ve just lost a real big game, a game that all the
lads would have expected to win on that fourth evening,” he said.

“It’s going to be a real task of mental strength. The boys are pretty drained and emotionally tired from what they’ve been through in the last few weeks. But if they win the toss, and bat, and get put runs on the board they can put India under a lot of pressure,” he added.

The right-hander, training with the England’s elite performance squad, said he is working towards his international comeback. ”My mind is very refreshed and of course after such a great game of cricket I’m desperate to get out there and make decisions, play and score runs,” he said.

Sport is Life and Test Cricket is probably the only sport that mimics life thoroughly. Everyone who has even been remotely associated with some Sport or the other knows how Mental toughness is much more important than physical excellence and Test Cricket is the ultimate Test of mental strength with the ability to stay focused even when it makes you yawn ,and hence the name.

One would certainly be hard-pressed to find another game that stretches on for five continuous days with so much physical skill and temperament involved. Which other game can bring out the exuberance of patient batting by Andrew Strauss and the flamboyance of Virender Sehwag in one single package?

George Bernard Shaw once said “The English are not very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity” and yes, the game meanders along for a really long time but so does life. The English in this match showed us what boredom really is! And I had the misfortune of seeing every ball they faced with zero aggression. They were so slow that Viru and even Mishra were gesturing to the crowd that they were dying in all the blade the English were putting without Manasatchi!

Life gives you shit, then everything that comes after it even if only slightly better feels like heaven and after two really gritty, patient and defensive innings from England and one totally insipid performance from India where we collapsed to a bowling attack with an off colour Monty and debutant Swann, came the awesome stuff. When it rains it pours and when Viru unleashed those breathtaking shots, the white buggers didn’t know what the hell hit them. You should have seen the English faces going wtf!! Lol !

And then, came God. Football gave us Maradonna, Basketball gave us Jordan and Cricket has given us Sachin Tendulkar. What commitment, skill, determination and love for the game even after all these years! The final day was just plain fucking legendary. Never will so many dot balls from Yuvi be cheered with such ferocity as he stopped eating away the runs that would allow God to score yet another hundred. Never will the entire stadium stand up for an hour and watch him play and erupt with joy for every run the legend scores. Never will so many plastic bottles be hit on the chairs to make so much noise. Never will the Barmy Army be surrounded by such freaked out Indians and stand in awe at the Chepauk’s amazing Crowd. And never will my throat be this sore after screaming the hell out for five days of amazing Cricket.

God..

Another thing that I realized during this match is how awesome a bowler Freddie is. Man, he was the best with a line and length that rivaled McGrath and every time he ran in hard to bowl you cannot help but feel tensed at how the batsman is going to negotiate such fine bowling. And his stamina, phew, is he on steroids? When will our thayir sadham fast bowlers reach such levels of fitness ? And Strauss was amazing with two hundreds, a Dravid like performance that was so awesome that we did not know when he had scored a hundred runs because all I saw was dot balls when he faced, test cricket at its patient best. But the match was rightfully ours, for taking our chances; for Viru’s magnificent batting, for Sachin cause well, he is God; for Yuvi , for his ability to come up with such a fine innings after the most abysmal batting performance by him in the previous day and for Dhoni, man he is one lucky guy. Everything he does, he seems to nail it. Engaeyo machham da avannukku.

And I missed Kumble a lot, and we are gonna struggle when we go abroad because he was only guy consistently taking wickets for us away from home, lets hope Dhoni’s moles help us with this one too.

Anyway final words, Sehwag weightu! Sachin God! Chennai, Namma Ooru Ultimate!

Test Cricket is the ultimate test simply because it remains the only sport where men like Inzi and Viru, the Thondhi fellows with a nonexistent fitness program who cannot even see their toes compete against the fit and athletic men like Yuvi and Freddie. Well actually there is another thing that pits men of such contrasting natures and abilities against each other, it is called Life.

Free…

I don’t get it . Why is the media hounding Rahul “The Wall” Dravid all the time? Sure.. he is having some major problems in scoring .So what ?

He is the same guy who was the toast of the media when he won matched for India in both forms of the game. In fact , he is the most successful player in Indian cricket history for playing test matches abroad. scores of budding cricket players have watched an learnt from him – stability,concentration and technique. He is not called “The Wall” for nothing.

R.Dravid is not the lord of offside like Saurav , nor is he swashbuckling player like Viru, a brilliant genius like tendulkar or the “sweet timer” of the ball like Laxman. But none of the mentioned players has the power of concentration, technique and stability like Dravid has. period. He was the guy who on numerous occasions held a partnership together from the other. He kept the ball running and scores ticking . He did it in his own way. He enjoyed the game for how he played. He done all that he can for his team. So , it would be really nice if the media left him alone. He is going through a lean patch . if so .. then so be it.  Instead of predicting or calling for his retirement . Let him leave when he wants at his own pace. It is so easy for us to sit on the fences and criticise him on how he plays . Let us not do that anymore..

Let him play his game .

As days proceed in my life , the attraction and curiosity towards viru is increasing at an exponential rate. No one can explain his dazzling game with few words and he is the world’s best entertaining sportsperson in cricket. The Indian dasher is always famous for aggressive batting and once he start hitting the ball, No one can stop this attacker. Viru is the only Indian player to make 2 triple centuries and he equals this record with Brain lara and Don Bradman. Sehwag has been pouring with cracking titles . Viru started his cricketing career from the dusty lanes of najafgarh and reached several epic proportions around the world. Sultan of Multan, Chenai cheetah, Delhi dasher, Nawab of najafgarh and his achievement titles are increasing. The perfect role model in my life is  “VIRU – THE LIVING LEGEND”