… it’s fair to say that the Taliban employ the world’s worst suicide bombers [in Afghanistan]: one in two manages to kill only himself. And this success rate hasn’t improved at all in the five years they’ve been using suicide bombers, despite the experience of hundreds of attacks—or attempted attacks. In Afghanistan, as in many cultures, a manly embrace is a time-honored tradition for warriors before they go off to face death. Thus, many suicide bombers never even make it out of their training camp or safe house, as the pressure from these group hugs triggers the explosives in suicide vests. [The Atlantic]

Of course, a bullet fired from a nitwit’s gun would be just as deadly as one from (say) Sheldon Cooper’s gun.

He has scored about 27% of the runs scored by MI, and is the highest run scorer in the tournament so far (512, strike rate 139.5). In 11 outings, he has been Player of the Match 4 times. And while he is leading the tally in the number of 4s hit (71), he has only hit 3 sixes (2 of them came in the last over of the 11th match).

The numbers are amazing enough but, what is really astounding is that he shows no sign whatsoever of the slightest dip in his hunger for more.

On April 24, he will turn 37. And 2010 is turning out to be one of his best years. Except for winning an ODI World Cup, he has no other real milestone left to cross. So, what is it that not only keeps him going but going like this?

I don’t have an answer to that, of course. Perhaps, as he has said several times, it is simply his love for the game. I just hope that this love stays exactly as it is.

The most common thing is the count of notes. Usually, when people are making stacks of 100 notes, they mark the count on the topmost note. In my wallet right now, I have 7, 49, 84 and 100 marked on notes. Another common thing is names and/or phone numbers.

But it is a rare note that is blessed by a poetic verse or a shopping list. I got this one as change a couple of days ago:

I didn’t even know there was such a deodorant on the market!

I have edited out the mobile number scribbled on the note. Also check out the serial number – a pretty good hand to hold while playing Liar’s Poker.

Now, what do you have in your wallet right now?

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Now, my question is: what the heck is it called? Can someone point me to a Wikipedia entry on this creature? The only other information I can give you is that this thing is about the size of a housefly (Musca domestica). They have been invading our house for several days now, and not knowing their identity is bugging me a lot.

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On Cricinfo Gopal Rangachary talks of how he became a cricket fan. Strikes me, though we are all fans of the game, each of us acquired our fanboy status in different ways. Chikodi and Gopal have their stories; what’s yours? [Smoke Signals]

It reminded me of of my own entry into Cricket-fandom.

I was a voracious reader from an early age, and reading a newspaper was part of my daily routine by the time I was 7-8 years old. At the time, it was just the regional Hindi newspaper. I especially liked to read the op-ed page and the serialized comic-strip that this paper published. A lot of this reading was beyond my intellectual grasp, but I read it all anyway because there was something new to read every day – something that was not possible with books, though they had their own place in my reading scheme.

It must have been either around the time Tendulkar and Kambli created a new world record, or when Tendulkar played his first series in Pakistan (or was selected for it – my memory is fuzzy on the exact details). There was a newspaper article about Tendulkar, and what a phenomenal talent he was at such an early age. The article also carried a photo of Tendulkar.

It was that photo that made me think – if that young kid (just a few years older than me) can do it, then so can I. Parents were urged to purchase a bat and a ball, cousin sister was recruited to play against me (“one more thing for you to better me at“), stumps were drawn on a wall with a piece of red brick, and a new Cricket fan was born.

A few years down the line, and I was setting 3:00 AM alarms to watch the action in Australia (also triggering my English-learning in order to understand the commentary). A while later, I bunked school for the first (and last, I swear) time to watch a game, which turned out to be the game in which Tendulkar hit his first ODI century.

I could go on and on, but perhaps this should be kept to a personal story about one’s initiation to the game. The longer story of being obsessed with Cricket (going to the extent of watching Bangladesh-Zimbabwe Test matches) is for another day.

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Pandora’s Gearbox is puzzle game where you’re trying to get a ball though a machine to the finish area. You can’t see into the machine, so you have to guess what’s inside. You have several tools that help you in your task. You can move objects that are red directly. You also have a robot with built-in sonar that can explore the inside of the puzzle. [IndieBird]

Once you solve a level, the black curtain will come off and you’d be able to see the entire set-up for that level. The puzzles are just hard enough to be challenging, but not so hard that they aren’t fun. While the levels go from 1 to 10, I don’t think you’ll find them as being of increasing difficulty. I found Level 9 to be the toughest, and a couple of other levels had their own “aha” moments.

The game has a nice background music, and the graphics are pretty neat too. A really enjoyable game, and totally worth one’s time.

Go get it now! If you get stuck at a level, play another level and come back to it later. Have fun!

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Now, I am just guessing, but one or more of these had to be factors in the decision:

1. Award ceremony’s TV ratings were falling.

2. Nobel committee wanted to get photographed with Obama.

3. Obama is so handsome, the Committee wants to take him behind a middle school and get him pregnant [Ref].

4. Will award anyone who quotes Gandhi. Yeah, still making amends for that one.

5. Committee chairman’s daughter wanted Obama’s autograph.

6. Just making sure that America doesn’t start another war.

Readers, feel free to add your own.

Update (Oct 14): Not that there is anything new about it, but I was pretty much on the mark here. It was a variation of (1), (2), and (5) above.

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Dear Sheeple,

In what universe is the Indian “common man” privileged enough to travel “cattle class” by air? Given the extent of poverty in India, any Indian who travels by air is not “common man” in any sense. He is middle class, of course.

And while you create a brouhaha about nothing, the real “common man” is struggling for “do waqt ki roti“. He has no time to waste on appreciating your austerity drives.

Do everyone a favour and shut up. That’s an austerity drive we can all support.

Yours truly,

Overlord

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BJP trounced Congress winning five out of seven seats – including Congress bastions like Jasdan and Chotila – raising its tally in the 182-member assembly from 117 to 121. The saffron party, however, lost Kodinar and Dhoraji. What makes BJP’s revenge sweeter is the fact that Congress had won six out of these seven seats in 2007. [TOI]

Please note that out of the 7 seats for which polls were held, as many as 6 were with Congress just a couple of years ago.

Of course, if you are a committed conspiracy nut, you could also just assume that the Congress did not rig these elections precisely so that they could neutralise people like you (the world revolves arounds you, isn’t that how you’ve always felt?) – and then rig the next election – the one that really matters!

Related posts: May 17, May 19 (long post on EVMs), September 9