The big game of the week was ManU vs Arsenal on saturday, but it fizzled out to be a not-so-exciting one from footballing perspective, but eventful otherwise. Arsenal seems to be breaking up under little pressure despite all their heroics till this match. Despite all their talented players, they still miss a playmaker to dominate in the midfield. They lacked spirit and drive after they conceded an own goal. I thought they could have easily got a result from a struggling ManU with some strange team without Berbatov orOwen.
But Tottenham definitely had some spirit to salvage a win with a last gasp effort - they seem to have something on their sleeve this year! They would have lost or drawn such matches usually, but somehow they keep winning, which is a quality of a big team. They should have lost or at least drawn against both Hammers and Birmingham, but they won both! Crouch was really impressive in the air - he was really unlucky not to have scored at least a couple more. Defoe was off-color and may be too selfish to increase his tally. But Cudacinny at the goal looks suspect, he should have collected the ball instead of waiting for the defender to clear the ball. With all those initial hiccups that Gomes had last season, he seems to have some kind of solidity that was missing from Cudacinny. But Tottenham seems to be the hot team at the moment and let us see how long they can hold on!
Hammers survived a Blackburn onslaught, but Carton Cole had enough chances to get ahead earlier in the match. But it was a lucky escape for Hammers!
Mancity is not making waves with their expensive new signings, but winning them all - the 3 matches they played. Adabayor was on target in all the games and if he can stay motivated, he can create havoc with any defense with Tevez and Robinho to support. I am not a great fan of Mark Hughes - so I remain suspect about their ability to break in to the big four.
Liverpool finally showed some fighting qualities after their two defeats, but 10-man Bolton may have made it easy. But again it was a SteveG and Torres show - if you can rain them in like Spurs did, Liverpool becomes aimless! So I would wait for a matchup with a biggies before I place my verdict on Liverpool. Chelsea was indeed impressive in their demolition of Burnley and Everton finally won a match after their trashing from Arsenal and defeat from Burnley. I am a big fan of David Moyes and I was a bit disappointed with the way he handled Lescott - he should have got rid of him earlier than he did.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Chandrayan is finally over!
So it has been officially put under suspension, and it is a matter of time before ISRO abandon their famous chandrayan wasting significant amount of public money in this poor country.
What would have happened if ISRO had not attempted this ? Nothing! This was nothing innovative or not something no country has ever done or would have made the lives of the millions of poor in this country. This was just a me-too attempt from a Government space research organization to make the Indians proud at a significant cost.
One cannot really blame the people behind these efforts - they are trying to do their job and make some impact at least in the papers! The root cause of the problem is indeed the existence of an organization called ISRO - as long as it exists, they will keep wasting tax payers money with such projects. They have not become a world class space research organization by any standards, they remain a me-too organization funded by the Government. So the solution really is to close ISRO - but that is not any "patriotic" politician would dare to to do in this country.
One can understand the impact of closing some defence research organization - our perpetual enemy would attack us and we will not be able to defend our country(which is again questionable), there is indeed a perception of risk if we ignore the defense organizations of the country, but nobody will miss ISRO for sure!
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What would have happened if ISRO had not attempted this ? Nothing! This was nothing innovative or not something no country has ever done or would have made the lives of the millions of poor in this country. This was just a me-too attempt from a Government space research organization to make the Indians proud at a significant cost.
One cannot really blame the people behind these efforts - they are trying to do their job and make some impact at least in the papers! The root cause of the problem is indeed the existence of an organization called ISRO - as long as it exists, they will keep wasting tax payers money with such projects. They have not become a world class space research organization by any standards, they remain a me-too organization funded by the Government. So the solution really is to close ISRO - but that is not any "patriotic" politician would dare to to do in this country.
One can understand the impact of closing some defence research organization - our perpetual enemy would attack us and we will not be able to defend our country(which is again questionable), there is indeed a perception of risk if we ignore the defense organizations of the country, but nobody will miss ISRO for sure!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Garden update!
You can't slow this down or make it faster - the plants in our containers are growing up. The Ladies' Fingers seems to be in a hurry compared to tomatoes and carrots! Everyone has their own pace right ? So you can't really compare a ladies finger and tomato!
The ladies fingers are becoming visible from far and growing at a good pace. The tomatoes took time to settle down and I guess we were a bit too eager to let them out in the sunny weather in the containers. They wilted a bit before the new real leaves started to sprout, but still a bit wobbly.
Carrots looks very healthy, but they are going flat out on the ground. We weren't sure it was carrot or bell pepper(capsicum), it didn't look like a pepper variety. It looks like our bell peppers just didn't germinate at all. There are also some green peppers, which are also just about surviving it appears, but looks far better than the tomatoes.
So it is interesting times and everyone at home is involved including our 1.5yr old daughter, Nishka. She is interested in watering plants, but doesn't know when to stop. So we have given her our sprayer, which doesn't hurt even if she uses it a bit more. She did pluck one leaf of a ladies' finger plant, but now she fools around faking it.
We also found a garden store nearby, in fact the branch of Varsha Garden stores, on the Kothanur Dinne main road, which runs along Bannerghatta Road. So no worries about lack of supplies though we are waiting for the Lalbagh Flower show to get over before we pick up more pots and soil.
[ I haven't found a an aim and shoot camera yet to get some pics, we are indeed missing the growing time of the plants!]
The ladies fingers are becoming visible from far and growing at a good pace. The tomatoes took time to settle down and I guess we were a bit too eager to let them out in the sunny weather in the containers. They wilted a bit before the new real leaves started to sprout, but still a bit wobbly.
Carrots looks very healthy, but they are going flat out on the ground. We weren't sure it was carrot or bell pepper(capsicum), it didn't look like a pepper variety. It looks like our bell peppers just didn't germinate at all. There are also some green peppers, which are also just about surviving it appears, but looks far better than the tomatoes.
So it is interesting times and everyone at home is involved including our 1.5yr old daughter, Nishka. She is interested in watering plants, but doesn't know when to stop. So we have given her our sprayer, which doesn't hurt even if she uses it a bit more. She did pluck one leaf of a ladies' finger plant, but now she fools around faking it.
We also found a garden store nearby, in fact the branch of Varsha Garden stores, on the Kothanur Dinne main road, which runs along Bannerghatta Road. So no worries about lack of supplies though we are waiting for the Lalbagh Flower show to get over before we pick up more pots and soil.
[ I haven't found a an aim and shoot camera yet to get some pics, we are indeed missing the growing time of the plants!]
Monday, August 17, 2009
English Premier League(EPL) is back again!
It looked like ages since the last one finished though it has just been under 3 months! It is back again with the first round of matches last weekend. ESPN as usual is beaming it Asia-wide this time and with their quality analysis of the game, I am eagerly looking forward to the season.
While Arsenal seems to have started with a bang, thumping Everton 6-1, their challenge would be to do that consistently. Both ManU and Chelsea won their first round of matches as well, but Chelsea got away with a freakish goal from Drogba in the injury time though his first one was a real quality one. Hull City gave a descent fight, but the difference in quality was obvious. Birmingham did pretty well too, holding off ManU attacks and challenging them at times. I for one don't think the loss of Chrisiano Ronaldo would be a problem for them - there is enough quality in the side for others to step up. I am really interested in seeing if Michael Owen can seize the opportunity he has got at ManU - he didn't take the open chance he had coming on as a substitute which would have made it a great EPL debut with ManU. But his movements were pretty sharp and I for one thinks that Sir Alex Fergusson's move to get him was a pretty smart one. Hopefully one would see Owen as a regular along with Rooney in ManU first eleven.
It was a superb performance from Tottenham beating Liverpool 2-1 at home. Had Robbie Keane taken the couple of open chances he had, the game would have been over by the half time. But it was great display from Tottenham and hopefully Harry Redknapp can inspire them to keep it going. But it looks like they can challenge the big 4 with that kind of display. Redknapp is one of the best English managers on show inspiring his players to give the best day in day out. I don't rate Rafa that high as a manager - he seems to lack the finesse of a Rednapp or a Fergussion making best use of the resources at hand. Alonso may be a difficult gap to fill it appears at the first look of it and Rafa didn't have any clear strategy to counter it either.
Mancity had 3 points from an away game and a clean sheet, which is a good start, but I am doubtful of Mark Hughes' ability to make them a great team with all the stars upfront and a bit suspect in the back.
I was also very pleased with my team, Hammers, with a 2-0 win against newly promoted side Wolves. To be fair, Wolves had a good game as well, but Robert Green held on for a clean sheet and I don't see any other English goalkeeper challenging him for the England's #1 spot. He has been pretty consistent for couple of seasons and if he can keep up his form till the world cup, England will be difficult to beat as well. Hammers play a different type of pleasing but effective football since Zola took over and it was on display with some neat passing. The first goal was a superb effort from Mark Noble from outside the box, which should be one of the best of the weekend. In fact there were many good strikes from outside the box in the first weekend. While the club isn't really in great shape financially, Zola seems to have managed the resources well to make it a descent outfit. I am hoping that they can claim a Europa league spot this time at the least.
Needless to say, this is a long drawn out affair, early results are usually not the great indicators of the things to come in the next 9 months, but there is entertainment in store for sure!
While Arsenal seems to have started with a bang, thumping Everton 6-1, their challenge would be to do that consistently. Both ManU and Chelsea won their first round of matches as well, but Chelsea got away with a freakish goal from Drogba in the injury time though his first one was a real quality one. Hull City gave a descent fight, but the difference in quality was obvious. Birmingham did pretty well too, holding off ManU attacks and challenging them at times. I for one don't think the loss of Chrisiano Ronaldo would be a problem for them - there is enough quality in the side for others to step up. I am really interested in seeing if Michael Owen can seize the opportunity he has got at ManU - he didn't take the open chance he had coming on as a substitute which would have made it a great EPL debut with ManU. But his movements were pretty sharp and I for one thinks that Sir Alex Fergusson's move to get him was a pretty smart one. Hopefully one would see Owen as a regular along with Rooney in ManU first eleven.
It was a superb performance from Tottenham beating Liverpool 2-1 at home. Had Robbie Keane taken the couple of open chances he had, the game would have been over by the half time. But it was great display from Tottenham and hopefully Harry Redknapp can inspire them to keep it going. But it looks like they can challenge the big 4 with that kind of display. Redknapp is one of the best English managers on show inspiring his players to give the best day in day out. I don't rate Rafa that high as a manager - he seems to lack the finesse of a Rednapp or a Fergussion making best use of the resources at hand. Alonso may be a difficult gap to fill it appears at the first look of it and Rafa didn't have any clear strategy to counter it either.
Mancity had 3 points from an away game and a clean sheet, which is a good start, but I am doubtful of Mark Hughes' ability to make them a great team with all the stars upfront and a bit suspect in the back.
I was also very pleased with my team, Hammers, with a 2-0 win against newly promoted side Wolves. To be fair, Wolves had a good game as well, but Robert Green held on for a clean sheet and I don't see any other English goalkeeper challenging him for the England's #1 spot. He has been pretty consistent for couple of seasons and if he can keep up his form till the world cup, England will be difficult to beat as well. Hammers play a different type of pleasing but effective football since Zola took over and it was on display with some neat passing. The first goal was a superb effort from Mark Noble from outside the box, which should be one of the best of the weekend. In fact there were many good strikes from outside the box in the first weekend. While the club isn't really in great shape financially, Zola seems to have managed the resources well to make it a descent outfit. I am hoping that they can claim a Europa league spot this time at the least.
Needless to say, this is a long drawn out affair, early results are usually not the great indicators of the things to come in the next 9 months, but there is entertainment in store for sure!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
More wine and fish please!
The latest cholesterol readings looks good overall though the numbers have worsened a bit since the last review, but nothing to worry. But considering the fact that I have been eating a lot of fattier stuff than earlier, this is indeed fantastic. I have limited the diet only to natural stuff - no colas, no diary products(it is for the cow), no packaged juices or packaged meat. Coconut and fish are central to my diet and off late I have added cashew nuts which is considered a bad nut, but difficult to resist for someone who grew up with cashew trees around. I have been physically active running regularly and commuting by cycle, though it is a pretty short one to have any serious impact.
But the HDL(good) cholesterol is the only number that is out of bounds(44 - dropped from 46). On looking at things to improve HDL numbers, the key thing that seems missing in my diet is alcohol. Alcohol consumption has dropped drastically mainly because it does dehydrate you and can impact the runs the next morning. The only natural one that is available is wine though I would have preferred coconut toddy any day. So I picked up a wine bottle on my way home - Grover Shiraz, a local variety. Though fish is a major component of my diet, I need to up a bit on fish (of the omega-3 fatty acids variety) as well to improve HDL - may be make it part of the menu every day. There aren't too many other things in the list that could probably help out. May be the runs were shorter(less than an hour) during the last six months - I should probably stick to a longer routine and skip those 5K and 10K runs and stick to a 15-20K long runs in the weekend. Hopefully work at the garden should also add to my physical fitness.
But it is becoming very clear of the stupidity of controlling diet and tracking cholesterol readings(expensive - 600 INR at Wockhardt) instead of trying to be physically active and eating all natural stuff. So I will probably stop checking my Lipid Profile for a while unless I see any other issues. Getting back to a natural lifestyle is the real solution for all of these problems wrought by the unhealthy lifestyles that we are stuck in.
But the HDL(good) cholesterol is the only number that is out of bounds(44 - dropped from 46). On looking at things to improve HDL numbers, the key thing that seems missing in my diet is alcohol. Alcohol consumption has dropped drastically mainly because it does dehydrate you and can impact the runs the next morning. The only natural one that is available is wine though I would have preferred coconut toddy any day. So I picked up a wine bottle on my way home - Grover Shiraz, a local variety. Though fish is a major component of my diet, I need to up a bit on fish (of the omega-3 fatty acids variety) as well to improve HDL - may be make it part of the menu every day. There aren't too many other things in the list that could probably help out. May be the runs were shorter(less than an hour) during the last six months - I should probably stick to a longer routine and skip those 5K and 10K runs and stick to a 15-20K long runs in the weekend. Hopefully work at the garden should also add to my physical fitness.
But it is becoming very clear of the stupidity of controlling diet and tracking cholesterol readings(expensive - 600 INR at Wockhardt) instead of trying to be physically active and eating all natural stuff. So I will probably stop checking my Lipid Profile for a while unless I see any other issues. Getting back to a natural lifestyle is the real solution for all of these problems wrought by the unhealthy lifestyles that we are stuck in.
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