Who cares?

Why should anyone care if Saif Ali Khan's tatoo of Kareena Kapoor is real or not? Leave me alone!

Sherlock Holmes of Human Brain

Vilayanur S Ramachnadran MD PhD

Vilayanur S. "Rama" Ramachandran (born 1951) is a neurologist best known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and psychophysics. He is currently the Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, Professor in the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

This alumnus of Stanley Medical College, Madras is a fantastic speaker. He can describe the most complicated topics on neurosciences and inner workings of the brain in simple terms. Even I could understand!

After watching and listening to his Ted talk and BBC Reith lectures (Simply Fantastic) I wish I was his student. No wonder he is called “Sherlock Holmes of Human Brain”.

After numerous international awards and Padma Bhushan, I hope the Nobel Prize is next in line for him.

Just play the game

Now what? Cricket administrators are getting into trash talk !

"Graeme Smith and his boys are going to thump Anil Kumble and his charges."
Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa's chief executive, flags off the pre-tour mind games

Who is it going to be next? Groundskeeper, equipment person?

What’s next for IPL and ICL

Before 1960’s there were two Professional football leagues National Football league (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). The NFL has been in existence since 1870’s whereas AFL started only in 1961. The NFL and AFL fought for players in the 1960’s. They had their independent drafts. The AFL- NFL war reached its peak in 19966 before cooler heads prevailed and a merger agreement was completed. Key roles were played by Kansas City Chief’s Founder Lamar Hunt and Tex Schramm of Dallas Cowboys. Since then the AFL-NFL championship has been termed as Super Bowl, even though in 1967 it was still played as AFL-NFL championship game.

Why this American Football knowledge, you might wonder.

Indian cricket specifically BCCI can learn a lot from this and try to be smart about this IPL and ICL. The first thing they have to do is not treat ICL as a rebel unit. It is a fair competitor in the market place that offers cricket and entertainment. BCCI has to stop bullying the growth of ICL. BCCI cannot be the monopoly as far as promoting cricket in India and the world. The world is flat and it is very fair to expect competition even though BCCI may not embrace that easily. As Freidman says in “The World is Flat” either embrace globalization and competition or get left behind completely.

In a couple of years, if both leagues survive financially, they should consider merging. If not, the market may force them to do so. The merger could create a bigger league with up to 20 teams that might be more global. The combined league would be even more powerful with broader audience spread across the world and it has the potential to succeed in USA as well, if packaged correctly. Why USA? If you have an entertaining product in Twenty20 cricket run very professionally, it could open up TV deals, which means more money for the league. ICC should play an active role with this league and come up with revenue sharing business models that will promote the game and its financial growth. The league then becomes completely driven and managed by team owners and not by cricket associations of test playing countries. Once the league becomes professional and run like a business, the goal for the league would be to earn more revenue. To earn more revenue, they have to offer a valuable product on the field.

With respect to the recent IPL drafts or auction, the teams will find out soon that not all big names are worth the money spent. Some teams will find out that they can get the best out of young player signed for a cheaper price. The auction system will not survive for long. The system must provide a mechanism for weaker teams to get better by signing bigger (if they are better) and better players. It is only a matter of time before the business owners and team management professionals will have to adopt “Money ball” tactics (how to get maximum performance from players signed cheap consistently) to finalize their rosters and not blindly sign them based on their legacy in tests and ODI cricket.

RIP Writer Sujatha

Writer Sujatha (Srirangam Rangarajan (1935-2008)) - one of the greatest and versatile Tamil writers passed away on Feb 27, 2008.

Please check this article written by him after he turned 70. Looks like he sort of knew that his end was near.

May his soul rest in peace.

Aadhalinaal Kaadhal Seyveer is one of my favorites. I read this for the first time about 20 years ago. I still remember this incident from that novel written in his inimitable style - one of the character has to explain how to use an Indian toilet to a visiting American Professor who had a little too much of Molagapodi with dosai :-)). Of course, how can any fan forget his "Srirangaththu Devadhaigal"?

Sujatha's famous "mexico salavaikari joke" remains untold !

Picture courtesy: www.desikan.com

Comb that stores oil

Wouldn't it be just easier to use the hair cream or traditional oiling techniques than this.

Oil has to be poured into the hole, he said.

When a person holds the comb between the angles of 70 and 110 degrees, the oil comes out.

Too much work for me and I am not at good at trigonometry either.

I even look sexy in salwar-kameej: Neha Dhupia

I have read some of the "best" interviews by Neha Dhupia. I don't think she thinks a moment before uttering anything. If you are intrigued, you can check out the rest of the interview here.

Q: Do you think that your last two films “Sheesha’ and ‘Julie’ has had a role in projecting you as a sexy actress?
A: No, I don’t think so. Today even if I wear a salwar-kameej people say that I look sexy. However, like many others, I don’t take this as a compliment.

I have received a compliment that is unique. During the
question-answer session after ‘Mithya’ was screened at the ‘Osian Film Festival’, a female critic came up to me and openly said, ‘Neha, I have watched many of your films, but I feel that after this movie, you have emerged as an excellent actress’.

Q: On what basis do you select your roles?
A: When the story of a film makes me feel bore, I don’t accept
the film. And to a large extent, I depend on my experience while selecting films and roles. After all, I am also a human being who has learnt from her mistakes.

I don’t regret making mistakes as I have learnt a lot from
them. I can assure one thing to the audience and that is from Mithya’ they would be seeing me in good and meaningful
cinema only.

Q: On what basis did you choose your last film ‘Rama Rama Kya Hai Drama’?
A: Actually, when I had read the story of the film, it attracted me. Unfortunately, the final product did not turn out that way. Moreover, I am not responsible nor do I have a hand in a film being good or bad.

There are many times when I have to accept films for friendship sake, but now I have realized that it is often wise to say ‘no’ to some offers.

Where can you find?

Where can you find the most important events that happened in a year along with Nobel, Oscar, Pulitzer, Wimbledon, Super bowl winners, etc. all in one place?

The whole millennium snippets available here.

Pretty Cool almanac. Isn't it?

Patriots Blew it !

3 non-football reasons why Giants pulled out the great upset against the 18-1 Patriots

1. Bill Belichik's new red sweat shirt
The moment Bill Belichick came out in his brand new red sweat shirt and not in his usual cut grey hoodie, you know he angered the Superbowl Gods. If ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

2. Belichik's eff you attitude towards rest of the world

You can only be mean to so many people so many times. All those running up scores, not shaking hands with opponent coaches, not being a civil - eventually caught up. And he lived upto his standards by not staying back until the game ended (clock turn zero) to shake hands with opponent coaches and players.

Reminds me of Thalaivar Rajnikanth's "Aandavan nallavangala sodhippan, aana kai vida maatan ..." dialog from Baadsha.

3. Tom Brady's super model girl friend Gisele Bundchen
God cannot be that cruel to all the men in the world. He cannot award a super bowl and a super hot girl friend to the super hot person in the world. Hey, ask Tony Romo (Jessica Simson).

Its all Karma !

Other than that Giants outplayed, outcoached the Patriots.

Coolidge Effect

Some general knowledge folks from Wikipedia...

Coolidge Effect:

In biology and psychology, the term Coolidge effect describes phenomena seen in nearly every species that it has been tested in whereby males show continuously high sexual performance given the introduction of new receptive females.

Origin of the term

The term comes from an old joke according to which President Calvin Coolidge and his wife allegedly visited a poultry farm one day. During the tour, Mrs. Coolidge inquired of the farmer how his farm managed to produce so many fertile eggs with such a small number of roosters. The farmer proudly explained that his roosters performed their duty dozens of times each day.

"Perhaps you could point that out to Mr. Coolidge," replied the First Lady in a pointedly loud voice.

The President, overhearing the remark, asked the farmer, "Does each rooster service the same hen each time?"

"No," replied the farmer, "there are many hens for each rooster."

"Perhaps you could point that out to Mrs. Coolidge," replied the President.

More here