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Things that happened since I last blogged

Jagadish — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:22:28 +0000

As always, there are too many things to write and too less time. I really enjoy teaching a lot and I love it when I teach these kids new things and they are just amazed like I did some magic trick. The thing I hate about teaching is that it takes up a lot of time. It really does not allow me to do other things. I spend a lot of time making homework problems, solutions for them and grading. The grading part of teaching is probably the most aggravating aspect. You see the kind of blunders they make in homeworks after going through all the trouble of explaining things, it really pisses me off.

Anyway, a lot of things happened since I last blogged. A few things I really hated and a very few things I enjoyed. Just thought I’d make a list in no particular order.

Nadal lost
Federer won French Open. I kinda expected this would happen though
Deccan chargers have won the IPL. Chennai kings lost in semis.
My girlfriend bought me a macbook. I don’t know if I should cheer about this or not. I am a windows guy, not a great fan of Mac. But I will have to try to use it and see I guess.
Apple released a new iPhone which I really wanted to get. I even planned to get out of my contract with Sprint but really not a wise move considering AT&T has really bad network. Coming from a Sprint customer that is a huge insult.
Palm pre, the most loved phone since the original iPhone has finally been realeased, it is another phone I still want but I might not get it because I just don’t want to spend all that money and change my existing $30 SERO plan.
E3 has come and gone and soo much to cheer about .
Microsoft – great show, highly impressed with Project Natal but I doubt it would work as well as they showed it would. It is not going to be an easy task pulling it off. And honestly, Peter Molyneux should shut the fuck up. He has a big mouth and I doubt if Milo would work as well he touted he would. Artificial intelligence is a still thing of science fiction and we are far from it. This is coming from a guy who does programming for a living, you better believe it .
Nintendo – probably the most boring show of all three. I am a rabid Nintendo fanboy and even I couldn’t help but yawn a few times but the announcement of Metroid: Other M has completely offset everything. Also I heard that there is a new Zelda in the making, there was a trailor for Super Mario Galaxy 2 and finally Little Big Planet Mario style. All exciting things but Nintendo is still missing that one puzzle piece, Wii-HD. Get it done, Nintendo. Give us HD.
Sony – Sony came up with the regular stuff. They had a brilliant show and very entertaining as well. God of War 3 was amazing, the Last Guardian trailer was awesome as well. Have to say, their motion controller seemed very interesting too. But they only showed a bunch of tech demos and no games yet. This kinda proves that MS and Sony have finally adopted the Nintendo philosophy and they jumped on the bandwagon a little too late. It might still take them a year or two to pull it off but HD is one thing Nintendo is far behind, so unless Nintendo comes up with Wii-HD, MS and Sony will be moving ahead this generation.
India lost the T20 World cup. They didn’t even qualify for the semis. They have been winning a lot lately, so this was expected to happen one day. I had no interest to start with anyway.
Lakers WON!! Enough said!

I guess that covers everything. Maybe I will blog often now that I have gotten that off my chest

IPL Update

Jagadish — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:42:49 +0000

Surely this is no place for cricket updates but my team, Chennai Super Kings, have won their second match comprehensively. The match was completely one sided with Hayden and Patel giving a brilliant start to the team. They made 106 in the first 10 overs and looked poised for a big total before Pietersen came in and took two wickets in one over (one of them was a runout). Chennai still had some brilliant players to bat but they eventually ended at 179 for the loss of 5 wickets. In reply to that total Banglore Royals never really looked like they were gonna chase down the huge total. They lost wickets regularly and were bundled out for 87 runs in 15.2 overs.

Although, its good to see my team winning, this year’s IPL has been quite a dull affair with all the matches being one-sided. I hope the trend changes and maybe we will get to see some good close matches that will increase the interest in the crowd.

Indian Premier League – Season 2

Jagadish — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:12:29 +0000

For the uninitiated, Indian Premier League or IPL is cricket’s equivalent of soccer’s English Premier League. This started in India last year and drew large crowds. The country is divided into 8 zones with each zone being allowed to bid for foreign players. Each team has its own brand ambassador, coach and all the support stuff. The concept is not new for soccer fans obviously but it was completely new for all the cricket fans. It was pure entertainment as the “instant cricket” ruled the television during the evenings and the crowds loved rooting for their own local team. The addition of overseas players spiced up things as traditional rivals like played in the same team and players from the same team played against each other somtimes.

The tournament had to be moved to South Africa this year due to security reasons. The fact that IPL and the national elections were starting during the same time of the year was the prime reason for the move. The security agencies in India were not in a position to offer their services to both the ministers and the sportsmen. Considering the magnitude of the event, a move abroad was sensible. This meant the tournament could be conducted in its entirety. My team is the Chennai Kings, who were the runner-up last year, because I am a big fan of Dhoni (the captaiin of the Indian team) and I also live there (so its my local team). Unfortunately, they lost their first game today. But I am really hoping they would come back strongly in the coming matches.

Cricinfo – Dravid not commanding enough, says Kapil

Jagadish — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 04:15:00 +0000

Cricinfo – Dravid not commanding enough, says Kapil

Kapil Dev, the former allrounder and captain of India, has said that though Rahul Dravid is a brilliant batsman, he is not commanding enough, adding that he tends to “go with the flow”. Kapil felt that on the field Dravid looked like a captain from an altogether different era.

I am not sure where Mr Kapil Dev is going with this kind of talk. I agree he was the only captain who won us the world cup against all odds but was also one of the coaches who failed miserably. Inspite of his superlative credentials, he was pretty bad at coaching. The team never got going under him. And now he is bad mouthing the coach saying his experimental techniques will not work for Indians. Well Mr. Kapil Dev if you were so good and all knowing about the Indian psyche, we wonder why you were never able to get the team to win matches. If anything, you are remembered for shedding tears on BBC during that time. Well for your information, Dravid may not be the shirt waving captain like Ganguly but he is an acute strategist as was seen in several occasions in the way he used the power plays. Aggression is not all about waving shirts or bad mouthing opponents, its all about how you approach a given situation and how you deal with pressure. For the past few days, Kapil Dev has only talked trash, bad mouthing the coach and now the captain. This is highly immature coming from a someone who was considered a great player by everyone.

Its easy to be an arm chair critic. When things are not working, people always find mistakes. The same people who have been praising India’s methods about bringing in the young and grooming them for world cup are now going back to the old ways by bringing back the tried and tested old players in the name of experience. Irfan Pathan who has been the darling of the masses a few months before (when Sachin Tendulkar was showered with praises for pushing him up to No.3) is back to his No. 6 position. It is an interesting turn around. Lets see if the old horses bring some glory back to the beleaguered team.

Dhoni jumps to second in rankings

Jagadish — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 13:03:00 +0000

Dhoni jumps to second in rankings
Dhoni began the series in fifth position in the listings but 177 runs at an average of 59, including 96 in Jamshedpur, has pushed him up the list and he is now just seven points behind Australia’s Ricky Ponting, who tops the rankings.

After bearing the brunt of burning effigies of their Coach and the Ganguly saga, team India has finally begun moving in the right direction. Winning 17 of their last 22 matches, the team seems to be playing well. Good for us