IPL Final

In the fascinating inaugural IPL final, on one side it will be the test of character of Shane Warne's tactics and MS Dhoni's calmness while on the other there will be an intriguing tussle between Shane Watson's willow and Makhaya Nitini's ball.

A keen cricketing contest will unfold at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday. At stake are Rs 5 crore kitty, the IPL champions tag and a place in the cricketing history.

Chennai Super Kings thumped Kings XI Punjab to register a resounding nine-wicket victory in the second semi-final of the IPL to set up Sunday title clash with Rajasthan Royals.

Super Kings' achieved the scanty target of 113 with consummate ease after losing just one-wicket. Southpaws' Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina slammed unbeaten half-centuries to guide their team into the IPL final.

Earlier on Friday, Rajasthan Royals made it to the IPL finals by drubbing Delhi Daredevils with a massive margin of 105 runs in a one-sided first IPL semi-final.

Both Shane Warne and MS Dhoni have been great team leaders. Warne has turned around a team of raw Indian cricketers and a few international players, into a match-winning combination, and Dhoni’s captaincy skills with the Indian team and his IPL team speak for themselves.

In the IPL though, Warne has stolen a march even as Dhoni has quietly slipped in. Suddenly, Chennai’s investment of Rs 6 crore in the dashing wicketkeeper-batsman seems to have been a good business strategy.

It is a different story that Team Chennai have lost twice to Team Jaipur in as many meetings but the manner in which Dhoni and Co upstaged Mohali on Saturday night proves that two of the best teams have made it to the final.

Warne was all confidence personified on the eve of the final. It didn’t matter to him which team he would be facing. ‘‘We sent out a strong message last night that we are peaking. We are saving the best for the final,’’ he remarked on Saturday afternoon. Warne’s team proved its mettle by thrashing Delhi Daredevils in the IPL semifinals as Rajasthan carried out a 105-run demolition job at the Wankhede on Friday night.

The only cause for concern in the RR is the absence of opener Graeme Smith, who has been ruled out of the final with a torn hamstring. The South African captain and Asnodkar have been amongst the most successful opening pair in the IPL. Though Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal is an able replacement, the new combo at the top could be an area that the opposition would be looking to make exploit.

The IPL Final is going to be a great climax to a fantastic IPL tournament which has captured the imagination of cricket lovers the world over.

Chennai win the Second Semifinal by nine wickets

Chennai Super kings won the second IPL semifinals by nine wickets at Mumbai tonight.

Chennai Super Kings went through to the IPL Finals after defeating the Punjab Kings' XI easily in the Second IPL Semifinal by 9 wickets.





The Punjab team and their owner Priety Zinta looked really dejected, the usual pep was missing altogether.


Punjab Team did not perform at all and gave no fight in the match. Their batting collapsed and their bowlers could not make a match of it. CSKs had beaten the Punjab team in the league matches also.

The CSK had hundred up on the scoreboard in the fourteenth over at the loss of only one wicket. They were scoring with ease, with no pressure from the Punjab bowlers.

Both Parthiv Patel and Raina scored a fifty each in their partnership of 102 runs off 75 balls for Chennai.

Raina scored his fifty in 32 balls with three fours and four sixes.

Now Chennai Super Kings will be facing Jaipur Royals in the IPL Final tommorow

Chennai on top in Second IPL Semifinal

The Punjab Kings XI cracked under pressure in the second IPL semifinal match against Chennai. The Punjab team could score only 113 runs in the twenty overs in their IPL semifinal against Chennai.

The Punjab team reached its fifty in 11 overs after the loss of six wickets. The team's top order batting really let them down. Running between the wickets was a total disaster.

Priety Zinta was seen furiously fanning herself. It was difficult to tell if it was the Mumbai heat or the heat generated by Chennai team's bowling.

Chawla was clean bowled by a beauty from Murlitharan in the thirteenth over when the score was at 63.

Punjab never got the momentum going as they lost their eighth wicket in the 19th over and Priety Zinta was seen hitting her hand her head and not without a reason. The Punjab performance was way below par.



Sreesanth almost ran himself out in the very first ball he faced.

Punjab reached their hundred in the twentieth over. Powar hit three consecutive fours in the last over and became the top scorer for Punjab XI by scoring 29 runs off 21 balls.

Punjab bowlers have their task cut out for them and their chances of wining the second IPL semifinals seem bleak and remote at the moment. The Chennai Super Kings' batsman

Chennai Super Kings grabbed the last available semifinal spot in the Indian Premier League after beating Deccan Chargers by seven wickets in their last league match.

Chennai has caused some real heart breaks on their journey to the semifinals as they also broke the heart of Sachin Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians team, which is now out of the tournament.

As for now it looks like we will have an IPL final between Chennai super Kings and Jaipur Royals, Unless the Punjab team can pull off a miracle.

Bookies betting on Punjab and Rajasthan IPL Final Clash

The result of the first IPL semifinal were on expected lines when Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils with ease. The books are highly in favor of a Punjab King's XI and Rajasthan Royals IPL Final clash in Mumbai's D Y Patil Stadium.

Earlier in the first IPL semifinal Australian Shane Watson guided the Rajasthan Royals to a 105-run win over the Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai and a place in the inaugural IPL final. Watson top-scored for the Royals with 52 off 29 deliveries and also dominated with the ball, dismissing the dangerous Virender Sehwag and Gautam Ghambir in quick succession to leave the Daredevils reeling.

And when Dinesh Karthik and Tillakaratne Dilshan departed cheaply, it was virtually all over for the shambolic Daredevils.

Earlier Watson built impressively on the platform provided by openers Graeme Smith (25) and Swapnil Asnodkar (39) as the Royals finished with a competitive 192-9 after being asked to bat first.

Asnodkar had stifled nerves at the start in typically explosive style as he put on 65 runs for the opening wicket with Smith.

Delhi never recovered from this early body blows and lost wickets at regular intervals while the asking rate kept climbing before they were shot out for a paltry 87 in 16.1 overs.

Rajasthan Royals now await the winners of the second semifinal, to be played at the same venue tomorrow between Punjab King's XI and Chennai Super Kings, in the IPL final to be played at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on June 1.

If Watson stole the major honours of the day, teammate Yusuf Pathan hit a whirlwind 45 in 21 balls with four sixes and three fours.

The hard-hitting Pathan, named in the Indian 15 for next month's tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup in Pakistan earlier in the day, creamed the hapless Delhi attack, which included Glenn McGrath, to hit four sixes and three fours in his 21-ball knock.

The outcome if the second IPL semifinal today will decide who will play against the Rajasthan IPL team in the IPL finals.

First IPL Semifinal Details

The first semi final of the Indian Premier League will be played between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai today (Friday, May 30).

The irony of the Indian Premier League's first semi-final is that Delhi have Rajasthan to thank for their place in the final four. Stuck on 15 points after 14 matches, Delhi needed Rajasthan to beat Mumbai in Jaipur and only after Mumbai's final-ball choke was Delhi's spot secured.

Ironic again because Rajasthan have lost to only three teams in the IPL - Punjab, in a dead rubber; Mumbai; and Delhi, their IPL semi-final opponents, in their first match of the tournament. Rajasthan were crushed in that encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla by nine wickets and 29 balls to spare. They settled scores with Delhi during the home game , but that victory too looked improbable until Shane Watson blitzed 74 off 40 balls.

Rajasthan Royals, led by former Australian Shane Warne entered the IPL semi final with 11 wins and three defeats in 14 matches while Virender Sehwag's Delhi Daredevils qualified for the last four with seven wins, six defeats in 14 matches.

The two teams have won one match each when they met in the league stage. Delhi Daredevils thrashed Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in a disappointingly one-sided game at Delhi on April 19.

Rajasthan Royals didn't have a chance after their batsmen had floundered badly, putting up a dismal 129 on the board.

Gautam Gambhir's unbeaten 58, and his 112-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan - who helped himself to a half-century as well - finished off the run-chase in a mere 15.1 overs.
Shane Watson scored a blistering 74 off 40 balls with five fours and same number of sixes to ensure Rajasthan Royals a three-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on May 11. Chasing 157 to win in 20 overs, Rajasthan made 159 for seven and won with five balls to spare.

Delhi Daredevils made 156 for seven in 20 overs. Maharoof who top scored for the Delhi team (39) , hit Shane Warne for 26 runs in the penultimate over with the help of four sixes, lifting the spirits of a dejected Delhi team.

ROAD TO SEMI FINAL:

DELHI DAREDEVILS:

** Beat Rajasthan Royals by 9 wickets at Delhi
** Beat Deccan Chargers by 9 wickets at Hyderabad
** Lost to Kings XI Punjab by 4 wickets at Mohali
** Beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 10 runs at Delhi
** Beat Chennai Super KIngs by 8 wickets at Chennai
** Lost to Mumbai Indians by 29 runs at Mumbai
** Lost to Chennai Super Kings by 4 wickets at Delhi
** Lost to Rajasthan Royals by 3 wickets at Jaipur
** Lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs at Kolkata
** Beat Deccan Chargers by 12 runs at Delhi
** Lost to Kings XI Punjab by 6 runs (D/L method) at Delhi
** Beat Bangalore Royals Challengers by 5 wickets at Bangalore
** Match abandoned with Kolkata Knight Riders at Delhi
** Beat Mumbai Indian by 5 wickets at Delhi

RAJASTHAN ROYALS:

** Lost to Delhi Daredevils by 9 wickets at Delhi
** Beat Kings XI Punjab by 6 wickets at Jaipur
** Beat Deccan Chargers by 3 wickets at Hyderabad
** Beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets at Bangalore
** Beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 45 runs at Jaipur
** Beat Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets at Jaipur
** Lost to Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets at Mumbai
** Beat Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets at Jaipur
** Beat Delhi Daredevils by 3 wickets at Jaipur
** Beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 65 runs at Jaipur
** Beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets at Kolkata
** Beat Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs at Chennai
** Beat Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets at Jaipur
** Lost to Kings XI Punjab by 41 runs at Mohali

MEETING IN IPL LEAGUE PHASE:

** Played on April 19,2008 at Delhi
Toss: Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals: 129-8 in 20 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 29, Dinesh Salunkhe 26 not out)
Delhi Daredevils: 132-1 in 15.1 overs (Gautam Gambhir 58 not out, Shikhar Dhawan 52 not out)
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by nine wickets
Man of the Match: Farveez Maharoof (Delhi Daredevils)
** Played on May 11,2008 at Jaipur
Toss: Rajasthan Royals
Delhi Daredevils: 156 for seven in 20 overs (Farveez Maharoof 39, Gautam Gambhir 31)
Rajasthan Royals: 159 for seven in 19.1 overs (Shane Watson 74)
Result: Rajasthan Royals won by three wickets
Man of the Match: Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals)

Broken Toilet craps the Space Station

I know you crib and holler every time your toilet gets blocked, but wait till you read this. If you thought you had a problem with your toilet what about the people in the space station who have a broken down toilet! Where are they to go to answer the call of nature!

But relax, help is at hand. Space shuttle Discovery will play the role of your friendly neighborhood plumber as it carries a pump and other spare parts for the toilet, which is still disposing of solid waste.

Astronauts aboard the NASA space shuttle Discovery will be carrying an extra piece of cargo when they launch on Saturday -- a new toilet pump. (boy! are they going to be happy to see this piece of equipment. I know how you feel like hugging your plumber when he arrives to fix it)

Crew members aboard the International Space Station have been fumbling with plastic bags since their zero-gravity toilet vent made "a loud noise" ( are you sure it is the toilet that made that loud noise!!!) and stopped working properly last week.

"We will be taking some spare parts up," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

The three station crew members want the toilet working properly for obvious reasons -- but on Saturday they will be sharing facilities with seven space shuttle astronauts.

"You can imagine you are having guests over and your one and only bathroom is broken. Clearly this is something you want to have working," Beutel said.

The seven Discovery crew members will carry out other handyman tasks after they dock on Monday, including fixing a paddle wheel that turns one of the station's solar wing panels and replacing nitrogen tanks needed to pressurize the station's ammonia cooling system.

A second toilet is also planned (about time too I say). The space toilets vent waste matter into space and work using carefully designed vacuums so nothing unpleasant escapes into the gravity-free station. (Close your umbrella dude, it does not fall on earth)

They are helping prepare the station for an expanded permanent six-member crew.

NASA has two years to complete the space station before retiring the shuttle fleet.

So any aliens who are reading this, eat ****, now we are a two toilet space station.

The best among the best in IPL matches so far

Lot of statistics have been churned out in the IPL league matches so far and here are some of the best among them.

Highest Total Score in IPL League Matches
Shaun Marsh has the orange cap for being the leading run getter in IPL. The maximum runs in IPL League matches have been scored by Shaun Marsh of Kings XI Punjab. Shaun scored a total of 593 runs in ten league matches at an average of 74.12. He scored one century and five fifties in all. Shaun hit an amazing 56 fours and 25 sixes to become the highest scorer in IPL League matches.

Highest Runs in an Innings of IPL:

Brendon McCullum if Kolkata Knight Riders scored the highest runs in an innings. He scored 158 runs off 73 balls versus the Royal Challangers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Apr 18 , 2008. Brendon hit ten fours and thirteen sixes in his maiden century.

Highest Average Score in IPL:

Niraj Patel of Rajasthan Royals with the highest average of 101 tops the table of highest average score in IPL League Matches.

Highest Strike Rate in IPL:

Umar Gul of Kolkata Knight Riders lead the IPL table with the astounding strike rate of 205.26 closely followed by Brendon McCullum if Kolkata Knight Riders 204.35.

Maximum Hundreds in IPL Matches:

So far six players have a ton in the IPL mathces. This could change with the Semifinals and the finals yet to be played. Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Brendon McCullum, Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Marsh have scored a hundred each in IPL matches.

Maximum Fifties in IPL Matches:

Shaun Marsh of Kings XI Punjab and Gautam Ghambir of Delhi Daredevils have both scored five fifties each.

Maximum Sixes and Fours in IPL matches:

S. Jayasurya of Mumbai Indians has hit 57 fours and 31 sixes in IPL matches to hit the highest number of fours and sixes in IPL matches.

Best Bowling Figures in IPL Matches:

Sohail Tanvir of Rajasthan Royals took six wickets for 14 runs in 4 overs against Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur to return the best bowling figures in IPL matches so far.

Highest and Lowest Innings Total in IPL:

Chennai Super Kings posted the highest total by a team in IPL by scoring 240/5 in an innings against Kings XI Punjab at the PCA stadium , Mohali.

Chennai Super Kings posted the lowest score by an IPL team by scoring 55 runs while playing against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Highest Partnership in IPL :

Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman scored 155 runs while playing for Deccan Chargers against Mumbai Indians to record the highest partnership score in IPL.

Highest Batting Averages in IPL League

Here are the top ten amongst the highest batting averages in IPL League Matches

Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s
Niraj Patel	4	3	101	101	72	140.28	0	1	13	1
Simon Katich	2	2	96	96	72	133.33	0	1	11	2
Michael Hussey	4	3	168	84	101	166.34	1	0	12	11
Andrew Symonds	4	3	161	80.5	111	145.05	1	0	15	9
Luke Pomersbach	5	5	152	76	102	149.02	0	1	13	9
Shaun Marsh	10	10	593	74.12	433	136.95	1	5	56	25
Matthew Hayden	4	4	189	63	134	141.04	0	3	24	6
Brendon McCullum	4	4	188	62.67	92	204.35	1	0	13	15
Graeme Smith	10	10	416	52	342	121.64	0	3	49	8
Gautam Gambhir	13	13	523	43.58	366	142.9	0	5	66	8

Top Ten run scorers in the IPL League matches.

Shaun Marsh of Kings XI Punjab leads the table of highest run scorers in the IPL League matches.

Here is a list of the top ten run getters in IPL Matches.

Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s
Shaun Marsh	10	10	593	74.12	433	136.95	1	5	56	25
Gautam Gambhir	13	13	523	43.58	366	142.9	0	5	66	8
Sanath Jayasuriya	14	14	514	36.71	320	160.62	1	2	57	32
Adam Gilchrist	14	14	436	33.54	319	136.68	1	3	51	19
Graeme Smith	10	10	416	52	342	121.64	0	3	49	8
Rohit Sharma	13	12	404	36.73	274	147.45	0	4	38	19
Virender Sehwag	13	13	403	36.64	216	186.57	0	3	46	21
Shane Watson	13	13	392	43.56	264	148.48	0	3	39	16
MS Dhoni	14	13	385	35	303	127.06	0	2	37	13
Rahul Dravid	14	14	371	28.54	300	123.67	0	2	35	11

Profile of four IPL semifinal teams

Speculation is over. We finally know which four teams are going to play in the IPL semifinals.

Chennai Super Kings dashed the last hope of Mumbai to reach the IPL semifinals as they staked their claim on the last available IPL semifinal spot in the Indian Premier League after beating Deccan Chargers by seven wickets in their last IPL league match here today.

The Chennai team not only sealed a IPL semifinal place for themselves they also broke the heart of Sachin Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians team, which is now out of the IPL tournament.

Here is a brief profile of all the four IPL semifinalists and the Points Table of all the IPL Teams.

(Note: The odds given for the IPL teams were at the start of the tournament)

Name: Rajasthan Royals

Owner: Emerging Media

Ground: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Coach: Shane Warne

Captain: Shane Warne

Star player: Graeme Smith

Most expensive player: Mohammad Kaif, $675,000

Squad: Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel, (South Africa),

Justin Langer, Shane Watson, Shane Warne (Australia),

Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan),

Dimitri Mascarenhas (England),

Mohammad Kaif, Anoop Revandkar, Taruwar Kohli, Niraj Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Siddharth Trivedi, Swapnil Asnodkar, Sumit Khatri, Munaf Patel, Pankaj Singh (India).

Total cost: $3,610,000

Odds: 12/1

Name: King's XI, Punjab

Owner: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman

Ground: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali

Coach: Tom Moody

Captain: Yuvraj Singh

Star player: Brett Lee

Most expensive player: Yuvraj Singh, $1,063,750 (ICON PLAYER)

Squad: Simon Katich, Luke Pomersbach, Brett Lee, James Hopes, Shaun Marsh (Australia),

Kyle Mills (New Zealand),

Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies),

Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka),

Yuvraj Singh, Sree Santh, Piyush Chawla, Karan Goel, Uday Kaul, Tanmay Srivastava, Sahil Kukreja, Sunny Sohal, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Pankaj Dharmani, Nitin Saini, Wilkin Mota (India).

Total cost: $6,503,750

Odds: 13/2

Name: Delhi Daredevils

Owner: GMR Holdings

Ground: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Coach: Greg Shipperd

Captain: Virender Sehwag

Star player: Virender Sehwag

Most expensive player: Virender Sehwag, $833,750 (ICON PLAYER)

Squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka),

Daniel Vettori (New Zealand),

Glenn McGrath, Brett Geeves (Australia),

Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Malik (Pakistan),

AB de Villiers (South Africa),

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas, Mayank Tehlan, Pradeep Sangwan, Yo Mahesh (India).

Total cost: $6,372,500

Odds: 7/1

Name: Chennai Super Kings

Owner: India Cements

Ground: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Coach: Keppler Wessels

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Star player: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Most expensive player: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, $1.5m

Squad: Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey (Australia),

Stephen Fleming, Jacob Oram (New Zealand),

Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel (South Africa),

Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka),

Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Parthiv Patel, Joginder Sharma, Lakshmipathi Balaji, Napolean Einstein, Abhinav Mukund, Sudeep Tyagi, Rashwin, Viraj Kadbe, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Anirudha Srikkanth, P Amarnath, S Sresh Kumar, Arun Karthik and Shadab Jakati (India).

Total cost: $6,225,000

Odds: 10/3 favourites

IPL Team Standings

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	13	11	2	22
IPL MOHALI	13	9	4	18
IPL DELHI	14	7	6	15
IPL CHENNAI	13	7	6	14
IPL KOLKATA	14	6	7	13
IPL MUMBAI	13	6	7	12
IPL BANGLORE	13	4	9	8
IPL HYDRABAD	13	2	11	4

Man leaps between 1 mile high towering ledges in Grand Canyon

Did you say you love a beautiful sunset! How far are you willing to go to take a picture of the sunset? A mile! In which direction?

This is what an unidentified man did. He jumped a one mile deep canyon from cliff ledge to another to get a good shot of the sunset.

This unidentified man was pictured leaping between two towering rocky ledges in the Grand Canyon carrying his camera and tripod under his arm. Now thats what I call capturing your sunset. It is a different matter that one slip and the sun would have set forever for this man.

An amateur photographer Hans van de Vorst recorded the moment as the man jumped the gap of about 8 feet (less than 3 meter) wearing just a pair of slippers. (eat that rock climbing and trekking gear sellers)

According to a crowd of onlookers, at first it seemed the man, wearing a white T-shirt, jeans and flip-flops, risked his life to take a picture of the sunset.

Vorst said that those onlookers were discussing how he managed to get on there in the first place and no one bothered with the sunset -- everyone's eyes were on this man and how he was going to get off the rock.

"He didn't grab the rock properly the first time and slipped back about half a meter before clinging on to it. Even then he didn't look fazed," Vorst added.

Although parts of the Canyon are very deep the photographer actually landed on a ledge between the two outcrops and steadied himself when he landed.

Warning: Don't try this at home :) and if you do, don't look down.

World's First Pregnant Man

Move over ladies, Men are coming to one exclusive field you had total control over, Child Birth!

Women have been participating in virtually every field supposed to be the exclusive male domain at one time or another, be it the corporate world, sports, politics, Armed forces, you name it and women had come and made their mark in once "men only" arenas.

This is the picture of Thomas Beatie, the transgender man of Oregon who got pregnant by artificial insemination, as he mows the lawn at his home May 18, 2008.

Beatie, the world's first pregnant man, has been photographed doing his domestic chores six weeks from giving birth.

Thomas and his wife Nancy have been married for five years, and have been trying to have children for two years, but Nancy is unable to bear children due to endometriosis. He has decided to carry his child as he has said, "Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire. (we have been telling that to the ladies for ages but they never believed us man! Way to go dude and good luck).

source ic.eastday.com

Delhi Go Through To IPL Semifinals

Mumbai might have to miss the party in their own home when IPL finals are played in Mumbai. Mumbai lost to Jaipur on Monday and might have made their entry into IPL Semifinals a remote possibility.

Jaipur cut down Mumbai on Monday and confirmed that Delhi, on 15 points, entered the IPL semifinals.

Mumbai's fortunes have been swinging with Sachin Tendulkar’s forced absence, and were further compounded Harbhajan Singh’s ouster after ‘Slapgate’. The return of the Little Master raised hopes of a final-four showing. And in the end, an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand between Ravinder Jadeja and Niraj Patel took Jaipur to a last-ball win.

Mumbai now have to win their final IPL match (on Wednesday) and hope that, in the interim, Chennai lose their last game against Hyderabad on Tuesday — and badly — so that net-run rate carries them through. If Chennai beat Hyderabad, they’re through as the third placed team on 16 points irrespective of what Mumbai do in their final game.

Jaipur chose to bowl first and they stuck to their guns, with Sohail Tanvir cutting through Mumbai, taking 4 for 14. On a pitch that was not the best to bat on, with the ball not coming onto the bat, only Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar got past 30, with the rest falling away. In a crunch game, this was never likely to be enough.

Virender Sehwag and his merry men will celebrate as they go through to the IPL semifinals, but not for long, for they know the team that helped them into the semis is the one most likely to stop them in their tracks.

The opening combination of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya was the one to watch out for even before the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced. And the duo --- despite making the crowds wait for half the tournament before eventually walking out to open the Mumbai innings together --- has lived up to its reputation.

Mumbai are hosting the final of the inaugural IPL tournament but they’ve been shut out of their own party.

Latest Points of IPL T20

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	13	11	2	22
IPL MOHALI	12	9	3	18
IPL DELHI	14	7	6	15
IPL CHENNAI	13	7	6	14
IPL MUMBAI	13	6	7	12
IPL KOLKATA	13	5	7	11
IPL BANGLORE	13	4	9	8
IPL HYDRABAD	13	2	11	4

Mars Pictures Sent by Phoenix Probe

The Phoenix has landed and is sending back Mars pictures to Earth.

The Mars Phoenix lander touched down in the far north of the Red Planet, after a 680 million-km (423 million-mile) journey from Earth.

The first Mars pictures, which the lander began taking shortly after touching down near Mars' north pole -- the end of a 422 million-mile trek -- showed a pattern of brown polygons as far as the camera could see.

The Mars Phoenix landers journey took it 296 days to cover the distance of 680 million-km (423 million-mile) from Earth .

The probe has sent back Mars photos of a flat landscape with few rocks

A Nasa spacecraft has sent back historic first Mars pictures of an unexplored region of Mars.

The probe is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface.

It will begin examining the site for evidence of the building blocks of life in the next few days.

It released a parachute, used pulsed thrusters to slow to a fast walking speed, and then descended the last few metres to the Martian soil to land on three legs.


Nasa found out more about the landing when Mars pictures from the probe reached the Earth.

The first Mars images showed the "Arctic plain" where Phoenix came to rest - a region of Mars that has never been seen up close before.

Other Mars pics confirmed that the probe's solar arrays had unfurled successfully, and that it had landed safely on its legs.

Earlier Mars Pictures from NASA Probes:















Mars Photo











The intriguing Mars image captured by earlier Nasa Probe

IPL Semifinals Lineup

Two of the IPL's chart toppers Jaipur and Mohali qualified for the semifinals with 20 and 18 points respectively. The remaining two slots in IPL semifinals are still undecided.

The three IPL teams still in contention are Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

Delhi now has to play the waiting game. They have done their job and the rest is out of their hands and depends on the outcome of matches Mumbai and Chennai Teams play.

Both Mumbai and Chennai are within striking distance of a slot on the IPL Semifinals. However, Mumbai (13)have two games to play as of now, and can qualify if they win both the matches. Chennai, with 14 points and one games to play, also need to win to enter the IPL Semis.

If either Mumbai or Chennai lose a match, Delhi IPL teams gets a place in the IPL Semifinals.

One thing is for sure, unlike the Jaipur team we will not be going to Goa for a break," said Virender Sehwag when asked how his team planned to spend the next few days given that their playing time in the league phase of the IPL had come to an end. Delhi have 15 points from their full set of 14 matches.

All Delhi can do now is wait and see if either Mumbai, who have two matches left, or Chennai, who have one game in hand, can play themselves out of a IPL semifinal spot. Sehwag, who admitted that all his team could do now was "pray" that things went their way after it seemed like luck had finally turned for his team - they had lost more than one tight game and struggled with rain and Duckworth-Lewis - was not beyond looking for some help from above.

There are going to be some tense and nail biting matches in IPL now irrespective of which ever teams qualify for the remaining two slots in the IPL semifinals.

Latest IPL Team Points

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	12	10	2	20
IPL MOHALI	12	9	3	18
IPL DELHI	14	7	6	15
IPL CHENNAI	13	7	6	14
IPL MUMBAI	12	6	6	12
IPL KOLKATA	13	5	7	11
IPL BANGLORE	13	4	9	8
IPL HYDRABAD	13	2	11	4

IPL's Ness in Mess with Punjab Police

Panga with police anywhere can get you in a jam, but Panga with Punjab Police and you are the jam. Some one should have warned Ness not to mess with Punjab Police (PP).

His recent spat with the Local SSP Khatra is has set the clash of egos rolling. The local interest has shifted from the IPL match to the match between the SSP and Ness. Although the result will probably be a draw but lot of boundaries will be broken before the dust settles.

Wadia who owns the Mohali IPL team along with Bollywood actress Preity Zinta and two others, had a spat with Khatra Friday.

"I want to talk to you" said Ness to the SSP and then all hell broke loose. The two had a heated argument when Wadia leveled serious allegations against the police. He had alleged that the police was marketing tickets in black and had stolen T- shirts and liquor. He had also alleged that the police were terrorising his men deployed in the stadium.

Objecting to the allegations Khatra tried to reason with Wadia. (if Ness was in a police station he would have discovered how Punjab Police reasons with people)

SSP said Wadia used derogatory language against him and against Punjab police, in particular charging the police of selling tickets for the IPL matches in the grey market and also ignoring unauthorized entry of people into the stadium.

Khatra said Wadia not only shouted at him but also said he(Ness) would not 'speak to small and mean people like him'.

The police official said Wadia insulted him in the presence of several people even as he tried to reason out the issue with him.

Now Punjab Police has opened its IPL innings with sending a bill of Rs. 1.8 crore for providing security for IPL T20 Tournament. This bill has to be settled before the last IPL match to be played on May 28.

The Punjab Police have raised the amount for providing security for the IPL matches at the PCA Stadium in Mohali and the Deputy Commissioner has been asked to ensure that security is provided only if the organisers pay the amount since it is a commercial venture.

A letter written by Khatra to his seniors (Punjab Home Secretary, Punjab DGP, IG (Zone) Patiala, DIG (Patiala Range) states, “The IPL has been engaged in a cross commercial activity, therefore, it is inevitable that they have to be charged for the services rendered by the Punjab Police.

On April 25, Modi, IPL Commissioner, was allegedly smoking in the lounge room in the stadium, which is considered to be a public place. At this SHO requested him not to smoke at the public place, since it is banned. Later a DDR was lodged by police against Modi for smoking in a public place.

Accordingly, a Daily Dairy Report (DDR) dated April 26 was recorded in Phase VIII Police Station which also stated that Ness was found smoking.

According to the DDR, when Khatra entered the stadium to supervise the security arrangements, Ness was present at the reception. He (Ness) said, “He wanted to talk to me regarding an earlier match. He alleged that the Mohali police were selling the IPL tickets in black and some people were allowed entry in the stadium without tickets.”

“However, I emphatically contradicted the allegations and said that only 50 per cent tickets were sold and the tickets for the match were being sold from the counters, so how can police black market the tickets and who will buy them? As for the entry without ticket is concerned, private security of 300 personnel is deployed at the gates, so how can any lapses take place. The police is only to maintain law and order,” stated the DDR.

Khatra alleged, “It has been closely observed during the IPL matches that these were not played with the spirit to boost sports, however, it is established that the people connected with this tournament i.e. players, owners and BCCI have engaged to have pecuniary gains,” said the SSP adding that IPL had engaged in a cross-commercial activities.

When contacted the Deputy Commissioner confirmed that he had received the letter from the SSP. “Suitable action would be taken after the panchayat elections,” he said. Ness Wadia could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

The SSP has sent a copy of the letter to the Punjab home secretary, the DGP, the IG Zone and the DIG range.

Whats a little booze here n there when Punjab police is around, Ness should consider himself lucky they did not take Priety Zinta away. I think Ness should start looking for an alternate venue for next years IPL matches since Mohali police will play a different ball game from now on.

6 Tips To Save Fuel

If you think high crude oil prices do not affect you directly, think again. With crude over $130 a barrel you are going to feel the pinch when you top up your gas tank next time.

With all the worry over fuel prices, drivers should do whatever they can to save gas. But look around and you'll see lots of them driving around as if they owned their own oil well. Are you one of them?

Here are six ways drivers typically waste gas every on every trip:

1. Don't Race away from green lights

Believe me, the other drivers at the stop light are not there to race with you and no points are given for a quick start. If you leave them behind, standing still while you burn rubber, they will catch up with you at the next red light making you feel pretty stupid.

When the light turns green, you don't have to take off as quickly as possible. That pedal under your right foot is called the "gas pedal" for a good reason. The more you press down on it, the more gas you're pumping into the engine.

Press lightly on the gas pedal, and you'll still accelerate, and you'll still get where you're going. You might be surprised at how little pressure it takes to get your car up to speed in a reasonable time.

2. Don't Race up to red lights

The first one to reach the red lights does not get any brownie points. If you are the first one in the queue at the red light, believe me you will do exactly what we talked in the above paragraph.

When you're driving down the street, and you see a yellow or red light or stop sign up ahead, you should lay off the gas sooner rather than later.

There's no point in keeping your foot on the gas until just before you reach the intersection. Let off the pedal sooner and give your engine a rest as you coast to the stop while braking gently. As an added benefit, your brake pads will last longer, too.

By themselves, these first two tips can improve your fuel economy around town by as much as 35 percent(nope, not joking), according to tests conducted by experts.

3. Don't Race on the highway

The faster you drive, the more gas you consume. Unless you have an emergency, do not create one by racing.

Even if it doesn't involve hard acceleration, speeding wastes gas. The faster you go, the more air your vehicle has to push out of the way. It's like moving your hand through water. The faster you try to move your hand, the harder the water pushes back.

In tests by Consumer Reports, driving at 75 miles per hour instead of 65 miles per hour reduced fuel economy by between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, depending on the vehicle.

4. Do not Tailgating

Why would you want to follow the butt of a stranger? You don't like it when someone is bumper buzzing you,right! Whether you are the culprit or the victim of tailgating, it causes stress in both situations, so avoid.

Tailgating wastes not only fuel it is outright unsafe. You reduce your ability to react if the car in front of you slows or stops. It also means you have to pay ultra-close attention to that car which reduces your ability to scan for other hazards ahead of you and to the sides.

And tailgating wastes gas. Every time the driver ahead taps his brakes, you have to slow down even more than he did. (That's because you can't react immediately so you have to slow even more because you're slowing down later.) Then you accelerate again to get back up to speed and resume your bumper-buzzing routine.

Hang back and you'll be safer - plus you'll be able to drive more smoothly and use less fuel. A good rule of thumb is to allow two seconds of space between your car and the one ahead. You can figure that out by counting off two seconds after the car in front of you passes an obvious landmark like an overpass.

5. Turn off the Engine

You've probably heard that it takes more gas to restart a car than to let it run. Maybe that used to be true, but it isn't anymore. With modern fuel-injection engines, it takes very little extra gas to restart a car once it's warmed up.

Idling, meanwhile, burns about a half-mile worth of gas every minute, according to the California Energy Commission. That's why hybrid cars shut down their gasoline engines whenever they stop, even for a moment.

Now you don't want to shut your engine down for every little stop in your regular, non-hybrid car - it's not designed for that - but if you're waiting for someone to run in and out of a convenience store, turn off the engine.

And don't go through the drive-through at fast food restaurants. You're already paying enough for the oil in those chicken nuggets.

Bonus tip: Don't idle your engine to let it warm up before driving. It does your engine no good and it wastes gas. Instead, start driving right away, but drive gently until the engine is warm.

6. Take a Hike

When was the last time you took a leisurely stroll to the corner store? Is the bicycle rusting away in the garage?

For really short trips, take advantage of the opportunity to get some exercise. Try walking to the store instead of driving. You can save gas and burn a few calories instead and live longer and healthier.

If you can't hoof it, save up your errands. A lot of short hops that let the engine cool down at home between trips can use twice as much gas as starting the car once and making a big sweep to all your stops, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Go to your farthest destination first so your engine has a chance to reach its optimal operating temperature. Then make your other stops on the way back. With the engine warmed up, the car will restart easily and run efficiently all the way home.

Jannat actress Sonal slapped at airport

All’s not heaven (Jannat’) for Sonal Chauhan . Model turned actress Sonal Chauhan who has recently co-starred with actor Emran Hashmi in ‘Jannat’ is reported to have been manhandled at the Mumbai airport. Sources claim that the actress was slapped on her face by Zaroo in full view of public.

Chauhan, who was at the airport with her father, was going to collect her boarding pass for her 8 pm Jet Airways flight to Hyderabad, when Zaroo forcibly entered the airport terminal and slapped her in front of everyone. He even verbally abused and threatened her.

According to the police, the two had had a fight earlier in the day, which could be the reason why Zaroo allegedly assaulted her.

Sonal was later whisked away from another exit. She flew with another airlines to her destination.

According to sources, the duo share an intimate relationship. They were neighbors in Delhi and have been seeing each other since then.

Sahil Zaroo, scion of one of Srinagar’s richest families was linked in Rahul Mahajan’s drug overdose case and in a Shahtoosh shawls theft case.

Chauhan gave her career preference over Zaroo, which probably annoyed him.

After Chauhan filed a complaint against Zaroo at the domestic airport police station, he was arrested and booked under IPC sections 354 (molestation), 323 (assault), 504 (verbal abuse), 506 (issuing threats), 448 and 427 (unauthorised entry without a valid ticket)

All About American Idol David Archuleta

With his performance in the finals of American Idol David Archuleta has impressed the judges and now the jury is out for the Public Vote. Unless there is some major upset in the voting it seems David has got it made. Here are some brief facts about this American Idol finalist.

David Archuleta was born in Miami, Florida to James Jeffrey Archuleta and Lupe Marie Archuleta. He has three younger siblings, Amber, Daniel and Jazzy, and an older sister, Claudia. Archuleta's family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when Archuleta was thirteen and currently lives in Murray, Utah, where Archuleta is a student at Murray High School. The only regular job he has had was over the summer of 2007 as a sound "techie" at a park amphitheater. He once suffered partial vocal paralysis but refrained from risky surgery and feels he is almost fully recovered.

Archuleta started singing when he was six because he was inspired by a Les Misérables video. "That musical is what started all of this," he said. He started performing publicly at ten years old when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he received a standing ovation, and won the kid division.

Musical influences

Archuleta's mother is from Honduras, and much of the music he listened to as a child, according to an interview aired on American Idol, was Latin-influenced. She also "was big on dancing" according to Archuleta, and would "make" him dance to traditional music with his older sister. He also listened to jazz music, he said, from his father's collection as well as gospel, pop, rock and "soulful music." In a later interview he also revealed that his dad was a jazz musician. Archuleta also enjoys Broadway musicals.

On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, Archuleta cites his musical influences as Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams. When asked to list his top pop artists, he cites Natasha Bedingfield, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, Kirk Franklin, and Robbie Williams. He also cites Tamyra Gray and Elliott Yamin as his favorite former American Idol contestants. Like Yamin and another singer he admires, John Mayer, Archuleta aspires to infuse his pop selections with a soulful vibe.

Star Search

In 2003, at the age of 12, Archuleta sang on several episodes of the television show Star Search. He ended up as the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2. On one episode, he sang against then 13-year-old Alexandréa Lushington, who also became a "top 20" semi-finalist on American Idol alongside Archuleta. Archuleta's competing on Star Search led to appearances on The Jenny Jones Show and CBS' The Early Show, and meeting the finalists from American Idol's first season, for whom he performed a spontaneous a cappella rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.

American Idol

Archuleta won his ticket to the Hollywood final auditions (with a performance of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change") at the San Diego tryouts held at Qualcomm Stadium - July 30 and July 31, 2007. He was 16 during the Hollywood auditions (where he sang Bryan Adams' "Heaven" to unanimous praise) and, along with other contestants not yet 18, will have to go to school ("doing schoolwork in the morning and then come onto the stage and then go back to the schoolwork") while a part of American Idol's seventh season. His parents have been on hand, because he is a minor. Archuleta has also taken advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments; he has accompanied himself on piano for his performances of "Another Day in Paradise" and "Angels."

The Los Angeles Times suspected that Archuleta avoided singing the first verse of "Imagine" because, "as a Mormon, he's unlikely to espouse the song's agnostic ideal . . . with the line about 'no religion too.' Archuleta did, however, sing the entire song on Good Things Utah when he was 13.

Fans

Archuleta's fans have been dubbed "the Archies" and the "Arch Angels" with his "cultlike appeal" nurtured by his work on American Idol attracting a wide demographic including "grandmothers and teenage girls." Archuleta was labeled the front-runner by both the judges and the media because of his good looks and his "pure, pop voice," which have helped him build a huge fan base during the competition. David Archuleta seems to be sympathetic with his audience, as since his performance of "Angels" he has been responding to requests of his fans on the American Idol Forums to signal them by putting his hand over his heart. Rushfield commented on some of the girls who were standing in the front of the audience: "An hour after the show, they were still shaking, sobbing and screeching about their encounter with the Chosen One. Teen-based entertainment is "surging" and the teenage voters may have accounted for the teenaged

Idol. Referring to American Idol's system of popular voting for the remainder of the competition, Rushfield said, "No demographic can match the voting power of hysterically excited teen girls."

Controversy with father

After the performance of "We Can Work It Out," which judge Simon Cowell called "a mess," Entertainment Tonight reported that Archuleta was feeling pressure from his father, Jeff Archuleta, who "reportedly yelled at" his son after a recording session the previous night. Naomi Judd, who was a judge while David was on Star Search, called Jeff the "worst stage dad" on the Today show, and said that as a measure against Jeff's meddling he had had to be sequestered away in a security booth. Judd also announced to the audience that Jeff should "leave [David] alone." In the same interview, however, the Today show hosts stated that American Idol contestant Chikezie, who was Archuleta's roommate, did not see Archuleta's father interfering with him much at all. Jeff Archuleta, in an interview with Us Magazine, denied the claim he had yelled at David. However, a May 2008 Associated Press article reported that Jeff Archuleta had his son add lyrics of another song into a rendition of "Stand by Me", increasing the costs for licensing, and that this had resulted in Jeff's being banned from remaining American Idol rehearsals.

Latest on American Idol Final

Simon called the night a knockout, scoring all three rounds for Archuleta. The other judges also indicated that Archuleta was the better performer. If this were actually decided like a boxing match, there would be no reason to stay up to watch the end of the Wednesday results show.

But that’s not the case, and therefore what’s been one of the most evenly matched final pairings in “Idol” history will continue to leave fans guessing up until the moment Ryan Seacrest reveals the winner.

Archuleta chose a more conventional path. After starting off strong with Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” he selected “In This Moment,” by Ryan Gillmor from the list of original “Idol” songs. Unlike Cook’s selection, Archuleta chose a song that was the usual sappy “I’m so happy to be here!!!!!” treacle, and as the lyrics said, it was a moment no one could take away from him.

“Right now, you could sing the phone book and it would be good. You’re in the zone,” Randy said.

He finished by going back to the beginning of the season, singing “Imagine.” That won him universal praise back in March, and it did the trick again on Tuesday in the finale.

“Dude, you are so good tonight. You are exactly what the show is about,” Randy said. “The best singer of Season 7 is right there.”

“It’s the culmination, David, and you’ve left me speechless like I was when you first sang the song,” Paula Abdul gushed.

And Simon pronounced their verdict. “At the end of the day, the show is about finding a star. In my opinion, David, you came out here tonight to win, and what we have witnessed is a knockout,” he said.

It might seem like we have an American Idol right there but if the fans don’t like what the judges think, they can overrule them. The “Idol” super delegates made it clear at the end of the night that in their minds Archuleta was their winner, but don’t be surprised if the voters ultimately declare their independence and give the title to Cook anyway.

IPL Trophy

The diamond-studded Indian Premier League (IPL) winner's trophy, encrusted with other precious gems like rubies and yellow and blue sapphires, was unveiled on Monday by IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi.

"It's a handcrafted and very expensive rotating trophy, the value of which, I will not reveal. It has been crafted by ORRA's design team," said Modi at the trophy unveiling function.

Refusing to disclose the value of the IPL trophy, Modi said, the winning team, who would be richer by $12,00,000, would get to keep the replica of the IPL trophy as the original one was a rotating trophy.

"With ORRA’s big reputation, it was an obvious choice for us to commission ORRA for creating a truly distinct and exquisite work of art, one befitting the stature and success of the IPL.

"Needless to say that the trophy that has been unveiled now, will definitely take pride of place in the trophy showcase of one of our franchises after the grand final on June 1," he said.

The IPL Trophy, which has a player in gold leafing, holding a bat adjacent to a map of the country with the names of the IPL teams engraved in it and symbolised by eight rubies, was crafted by 14 artisans, said chief designer Mona Mehta.

IPL Team Points

Latest IPL T20 Team Rankings as on 20.5.08

How IPL teams stand

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	10	8	2	16
IPL MOHALI	10	7	3	14
IPL CHENNAI	11	7	4	14
IPL MUMBAI	10	6	4	12
IPL DELHI	11	5	6	10
IPL KOLKATA	11	5	6	10
IPL HYDRABAD	11	2	9	4
IPL BANGLORE	10	2	8	4

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Indiana Jones returns to battle a group of evil Russians hunting for a lost artifact with supposed psychic powers. The star cast includes Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett and Karen Allen.

The Crystal Skull has all the tried and tested ingredients like ancient riddles, rumbling stone technology, a precious artifact with supernatural powers. And Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, still dashing in leather bomber jacket or professorial tweed.

The film is fast-moving, fun and occasionally inventive (the man-eating ants are a nice touch). But its success rides almost entirely on Ford, who brightens the action - always improbable, occasionally ludicrous - with physical humor and rascally charm. He wears the role so naturally that his supporting actors often seem to be faking it.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL opens Thursday at area theaters, with some screening it at midnight Wednesday. The film hints that another sequel might come our way.

Reviews

DAVID GRITTEN, TELEGRAPH

It's not that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, exhumed after 19 years to be the fourth in this series, is bad, exactly. But it's undeniably creaky.

What made the Indiana Jones series so fresh and amusing back in the '80s was its lightness of touch and its tongue-in-cheek, 'ripping yarns' spirit.

That hasn't quite disappeared, but there's an awful lot of long-winded explanations of myths, legend and hieroglyphics in this story about Indy's mission to Peru for a crystal skull that's allegedly the fount of all knowledge.

Thus, between a series of stunt-driven set pieces, many of them implausibly linked, the film gets bogged down in wearying talk.

JAMES CHRISTOPHER, THE TIMES

A spontaneous cheer went up when Indiana Jones was pulled out of the boot of a car in the Nevada desert.

Nineteen long years have done nothing for his dress sense, and nor have they withered his appetite for trouble.

This fantastic Steven Spielberg adventure is a marvellous return to form for Professor Henry Jones Jr. There are Mayan riddles to solve, KGB agents to biff, and one of the greatest - and longest - action chases through the Amazon jungle in the history of cinema.

RICHARD MOWE, THE SCOTSMAN

One of cinema's most enduring action heroes has returned to the global arena, famous fedora and cracking bullwhip intact and showing few signs of a creaky physique.

Can Harrison Ford, 65, who was in his 30s when he made Raiders of the Lost Ark, still hack it as an action hero, when his mentor, Sir Sean Connery, declined an invitation from the franchise's creators, the director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas?

The answer is a cautious 'Yes', even if the script leaves him floundering in places, especially a rather slow and unnecessarily convoluted start.

PETER HOWELL, TORONTO STAR
Moviegoers will likely find, as many critics did, that Indy IV is great fun without necessarily being great cinema.

It's a solid summer blockbuster, in other words, just like its three predecessors.

All involved in it are working at the top of their game. Think of Indy IV as a toy crafted by expert jewellers and you won't be far off the mark, even if its theme is - on the face of it - anything but child's play.

PETER BRADSHAW, THE GUARDIAN

Despite the genuine excitement, and one blinding flash of the old genius, this new Indy film looks like it's going through the motions.

The third film was called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, after all - perhaps, like the first Star Wars film, that will need a change of title, with the word 'penultimate' added to all new DVDs.

Unlike the calamitous Star Wars prequel trilogy, this film doesn't trash our treasured memories, but it doesn't add anything either.

RAFER GUZMAN, NEWSDAY

There are two ways to manage a film franchise. One is to continually reinvent and update it, which has worked pretty well for James Bond. The other method is to simply stick with what worked the first time.

That's what director Steven Spielberg and creator-producer George Lucas have done with Raiders of the Lost Ark, their 1981 adventure classic. There's no recapturing Ark's innocent magic, so the filmmakers, through two middling but popcorn-worthy sequels - 1984's Temple of Doom and 1989's The Last Crusade - basically reworked the original while taking care not to sully our memories of it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull manages the same balancing act, though with some major wobbles as usual.

The film is fast-moving, fun and occasionally inventive. But its success rides almost entirely on Ford, who brightens the action - always improbable, occasionally ludicrous - with physical humour and rascally charm.

First Kiss Tells it All

If you were working on your kissing skills just to impress the girls, think again, it can be much more important than that for her. It is the quality of the first kiss that matters the most to her. So, stop piling on and smooching her behind every tree and corner, work on how to do it right the first time dude.

You should now start working on your kissing skills, for a new study has found that a kiss is all it takes for a woman to decide which man she wants to hook up with.

The study, by researchers at New York's University at Albany, found that the fairer sex has developed kissing as an evolutionary tool to find the right father for their children, and that they often judge men exclusively on the quality of the first kiss that they share. (Be careful if you are not planning to have kids with her)

The study, based on the questions put to 1,000 students about their views on kissing, found that women "place more emphasis on a kiss and are more reliant on kissing as a mate assessment technique" than men. (hey, when do these students do some actual studying. I mean either they seem to be kissing, which is good, or they are taking these stupid surveys!)

Psychologist Gordon Gallup, who led the study, said that for many men, the first kiss can be the one that makes or breaks the deal. "While many forces lead two people to connect romantically, the kiss, particularly the first one, can be a deal-breaker,"

"Kissing is part of an evolved courtship ritual. This may activate mechanisms that function to discourage reproduction among individuals who are genetically incompatible," he added.

The researchers found that bad breath( told ya to brush, didn't I?), and being generally unpleasant are also important factors, for women can interpret them as a sign of health problems. Tongue contact (ooooooooooooo....French mooching, in case you didn't know already)and the exchange of saliva were found to help both sexes make subconscious assessments about each other.

Women's breath can indicate hormone levels and fertility( do you even notice her breath guys, or even , if she is breathing at all!!!), while male saliva will have traces of the sex hormone testosterone.

IPL Points Table

IPL Team Rankings as on 17.5.2008

IPL Ranking Table

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	9	7	2	14
IPL MOHALI	9	6	3	12
IPL CHENNAI	10	6	4	12
IPL MUMBAI	9	5	4	10
IPL DELHI	10	5	5	10
IPL KOLKATA	10	5	5	10
IPL HYDRABAD	10	2	8	4
IPL BANGLORE	9	2	7	4

IPL gives 6 Crore for the victims of Jaipur blasts

IPL owners and sponsors are showing their more humane side. We know that these people are in the IPL not for charity but to make money. Whats the use of money if it can not be help some good cause. This is exactly what the IPL owners and sponsors have done.

The owners and sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have decided to donate Rs 6 crore for the victims of the serial bombings that rocked the city on Tuesday.This warm gesture from them and would help the families of victims of Jaipur blasts.

"The eight franchisees and five sponsors of the league would come together to donate Rs 6 crores towards the Rajasthan chief minister's relief fund, as aid towards the victims of the terror attacks in Jaipur. This contribution will go towards the rehabilitation of the affected families of the victims," IPL chairman and commissioner said in a statement on Friday.

A cheque would be handed over to the Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje during Saturday's game between Rajasthan and the Bangalore team.

The eight IPL franchises have donated Rs 50 Lakh each, while the five IPL sponsors namely have contributed Rs 40 Lakh each, the statement said.

As a mark of respect to the victims of the terror attacks, both the teams will wear black armbands during the game on Saturday.

This goes a long way to show that India Stands together in the face of tragedy and terror. I hope the unifying spirit of IPL prevails and brings peace and harmony in the nation which is melting pot of all religions, races and cultures, just like the IPL. In this lies the strength and uniqueness of India.

Indian Wins Miss Transvestite 2008

Shinata Sangha made history as the first Indian to win a major trans gender beauty pageant.
"I made history. I am the world's first ever South Asian transgender beauty queen and supermodel,' proudly declares 19-yr-old Shinata Sangha from London in an exclusive chat with us. Shinata was declared Miss Transvestite 2008 in UK & became the first ever South Asian transgender beauty queen.

Born to Indian parents who migrated to England when Shinata was a child, Shinata says she always wanted to be famous. "I've watched pageants since I was four. They were everything I wanted to be a part of. Then I'd tell my family I wanted to be Miss India & then win Miss World crown. They'd laugh it off thinking it a phase." Little did they know that 13 yrs later, their boy would become the first ever South Asian person of transgender to win beauty pageants. Winning style: "I was crowned the winner of Miss Glamour Queen UK 2006 at 17; then won Miss UK Transvestite 2006. I won the International Queen of Nations in 2007, was 2nd runner-up at Miss Mango Tree International Lady-Boy Pageant 2007, Miss Alternative London 2007 & finally T-Girl of 2008".

"I have faced death threats, hatred, abuse and been been disowned by my own community ," says Shinata of her determination to pursue this route to fame.

Breaking out of a male body to her present female form was also not easy though her parents stood , by her. "I decided to tell my family & friends the way I felt at age 15. I knew I stood the risk of being rejected, abused & kicked out. But no, my family supported me & still do. But my Asian community in UK, did everything to humiliate, harass and even kill me."

Shinata, is a successful model & stage artist, set to feature in a film & earns enough to support her family "I too am human, a child of God . & have the right to live with dignity & grace just like others."

Bank robbers Execute 8 Bank Employees

In a bizarre and inhuman criminal act, at least eight bank employees and a security guard were lined up and shot in the head on Friday in one of the bloodiest bank robberies in the Philippines.

The victims were found sprawled on the floor of a branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in Cabuyao town in Laguna province, south of Manila, after the bank failed to open as scheduled at 9 a.m. and suspicious customers alerted authorities, Chief Superintendent of Police Ricardo Padilla said.

"This is the handiwork of the devil and we will not let this pass," Padilla said. "They were killed in a gangland-style execution. Each of the victims shot in the head while lined up."

Padilla said the robbers could have used silencers because residents in the area heard no gunshots coming from the bank.

He said two security guards were missing, leading authorities to suspect they were involved in the robbery. Another police officer, speaking on local radio, said there was no sign of forceful entry.

Padilla said another security guard was among the dead. It wasn't clear how much money was stolen.

Bank Vice President Edwin Ermita told The Associated Press the assailants tried to hide the body of the security guard under a tarpaulin in the rear of the bank.

Laguna provincial police chief Felipe Rojas said a vehicle owned by one of the bank employees was used by the robbers to escape. It was later recovered several miles away and will be checked for fingerprints, he said.

He said the bank employees, including two inside the open bank vault, were shot point-blank.

Empty handgun shells were recovered on the bank floor and a shotgun believed owned by the slain security guard was found outside, he said.

Bank robberies are common but rarely as bloody. Rojas said this was the worst in the country's history.

Blade Runner

He had to fight to run. After being banned by IAAF from running against able bodied runners in the Beijing Olympics, he appealed his case and has finally won.

A double amputee sprinter has won the right to be eligible to compete at this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing after sport's highest court backed his appeal against a ban imposed by athletics authorities.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that South African Oscar Pistorius, who runs on prosthetic blades, is eligible to compete against able-bodied athletes.

Pistorius was born without fibulas -- the long, thin outer bone between the knee and ankle -- and was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee

Pistorius, 21,, runs on shock-absorbing carbon-fiber prosthetics that resemble bent skis -- earning him the nickname "Blade Runner."

Pistorius, a Paralympic Games champion and world record holder, had lobbied the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to allow him to compete at the Olympics this August, but after extensive tests the IAAF ruled in January that his J-shaped prosthetics qualify as technical aids, which are banned in IAAF-governed sports.

The IAAF does allow athletes with prosthetics to compete in able-bodied sports, as long as the IAAF believes they do not give the athlete an unfair edge.

But Friday's ruling by the CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland, overturned that verdict. Appeals of court decisions are allowed, but on very limited grounds.

The South African won gold in the 200 meters, and bronze in the 100 meters at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. He holds the Paralympic world records in the 100, 200, and 400 meters.

Since Athens, he has competed in two able-bodied races in which he finished second and last, respectively.

Pistorius will have emphasized to the court the disadvantages he feels he has by running with prosthetics.

"There are disadvantages when it's windy, when its raining, (and) it takes him longer to get up to speed at the start," Riddell said. "He will be hoping that they take everything into consideration and not just rule on how much spring his prosthetic limbs give him."

In November, the IAAF carried out tests on Pistorius over two days at the German Sport University in Cologne to determine if his prosthetics, known as Cheetah limbs, could be considered a technical aid.

A team of more than 10 scientists used high-speed cameras, special equipment to measure ground-reaction forces, and a three-dimensional scanner to record body mass.

The scientists concluded Pistorius was able to run with his prosthetic blades at the same speed as able-bodied sprinters with about 25 percent less energy expenditure. Pistorius' blades gave him an energy return nearly three times higher than the human ankle joint offers in maximum sprinting, they said.

Riddell described Friday's ruling in Pistorius' favor as "groundbreaking," and said it raised questions about the future of paralympic sports.

"What does this do to the future of the Paralympics if he's allowed to run in the able-bodied Olympics? Is he actually doing a disservice to other Paralympic athletes? Does it cheapen the Paralympic Games?" Riddell posed the questions.

US Marine Guilty for Raping 14-year old Japanese Girl

A U.S. Marine Charged with rape and other violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in the alleged sexual assault of 14-year old girl in Okinawa pleaded guilty.

The U.S. Marine pleaded guilty Friday to abusive sexual contact with a child under 16, bringing to a close a criminal case that caused outrage in Japan.

The Offender Staff. Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott was sentenced to four years of confinement, said First Lt. Judd Wilson, a Marine spokesman in Okinawa, Japan.

The Marine Corps withdrew several other charges, including rape of a child, kidnapping and making a false official statement, Wilson said.

Japanese police arrested Hadnott in February on charges alleging that he raped a 14-year-old junior-high school student. He saw her while riding his motorcycle, offered to give her a ride and later assaulted her at a park, the police said then.

The case stirred outrage at the highest levels of the Japanese government.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda deplored the incident as "unforgivable." The Japanese Foreign Ministry lodged an official protest with the U.S. government. And Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said the offense "violates the rights of women" and that "this is a crime that we should not accept."

The Japanese authorities released Hadnott after the girl withdrew her allegations, but the Marine Corps conducted its own investigation. The Marines charged Hadnott with rape of a child, abusive sexual contact, making a false official statement, adultery and kidnapping.

The U.S. military presence has at times bred resentment among locals, who have long complained about crime, noise and accidents. Anti-American sentiments boiled over in 1995, after three American servicemen kidnapped and gang-raped a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl. Two years ago, a U.S. civilian military employee was jailed for nine years for raping two women.

The Marine Corps said in a statement on Friday that it does not tolerate sexual assault.

"We remain committed to maintaining an environment that rejects sexual assault and attitudes that promote such behaviors," the statement said.

Cherie did Tony Blair on top of a double decker in London

Don't you guys just love it when the Ex Prime Ministers or their spouses get down and dirty in a show and tell memoirs. Cherie Blair is a case in point. She calls herself a "good catholic girl" and then goes on to reveal all that a "good catholic girl" probably would not do. We are not complaining, we just hope there are more good girls like her around so everyone can have some fun.

Cherie Blair revealed on Thursday how she found love (and more) with her husband-to-be Tony on a London double-decker bus .

The personal anecdotes were from a forthcoming autobiography in which she has also discussed how she three-timed Tony , and she calls herself a “good Catholic girl”. (wonder where we can find more "good catholic girls" ? They must be fun!)

In her memoirs Cherie tells how, when the couple were young lawyers, they ended up on a late-night bus together after a party at their legal chambers. “It was a double-decker and we went upstairs. It was completely empty and by the time we got off(they did get off) we knew each other better than when we’d got on(isn't it obvious, if you are able to get off). And even better the next morning(Now thats a good Catholic girl, no wonder they all go to heaven or 10 Downing Street),” she writes in her book, Speaking for Myself.

The trouble was, she was already linked with two other men (Don't you just love good catholic girls).

“Tony knew about John, but not about David (we got that one). John knew about David but not about Tony (errr..who knew about who and who did not know about who!!), and poor David fondly imagined I was living a quiet life of hard work in dreary London,” she wrote.

Within a year he had proposed to her, leading to married life and a growing family as Tony worked his way up the political ladder, becoming Labour Party leader and eventually sweeping into Downing Street in 1997.

Critics have noted how the revelations pose questions given her description of herself as a “good Catholic girl”. (Critics be damned, We think she is a good girl...imagine three timing...I just love good girls)
The former British premier angrily scolded her on their last day in Downing Street, when Cherie — whose relations with the press had long been strained — told photographers she would not miss them as she left Downing Street — the last words of their time at number 10.

Once in the car, Tony was livid. “‘You can’t resist it, can you?’ Tony said through clenched teeth as the door closed behind me. ‘For God’s sake, you’re supposed to be dignified, you’re supposed to be gracious’,” (Hey man, she is the same dignified girl you did on top of the double decker)

“We had discussed it so often: leaving was to be on his terms and was to be done with dignity and grace.... It was not my day, it was Tony’s day(not John or David's last day). I knew it, and he knew it,(John and David did not know it) and I sat beside him feeling both foolish and small.”
Don't fret lady, you are getting paid £1.5 million for sharing the down and dirty with the public.

Cherie Blair's says Clinton was Bloody Stupid

The episode of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky is an old saga. We all know the President had some fun on the side (room) and then denied it and then admitted it and then...never mind. Point is some people just don’t let dead dogs alone; they have to rake up the past to sell their book.

Bill (Clinton) was just bloody stupid, Cherie Blair felt on hearing his exploits with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval office. (So what’s new lady, We all know that)

Writing in Speaking for Myself, Cherie says: “In January 1998 the Monica Lewinsky scandal finally broke and my heart bled for Hillary, coming on top, as it did, of the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit. (It made all the first ladies of the world feel that way)

“Inevitably I thought back to all those young interns, and our guided tour of the West Wing by the President himself, of the Oval Office and the little room off it with the photocopier. My reaction was basically, Oh Bill, how could you?” (she sure has some vivid imagination)

Hillary was furious and hurt but stood by Bill, reveals Cherie in the book, extracts from which are being published in the Times. (Hey! Bill is standing by her side in this election, so that squares up the thing)

Just a few weeks after the scandal broke out, the Blairs due in Washington for Tony Blair’s first formal visit as head of government.

“If I had been impressed by Hillary before, I was doubly impressed by her now.” (all women side with the wife, and men with Monica )

Dignity is not the word, Cherie writes about her impression after meeting the US First Lady.

“I could see how angry she was with him…. And I could see how desperate she was to win (her) back…”. She also notes that it was the daughter Chelsea who kept the Clintons together through the scandal.

“I think that the fact that she was supportive of her mum and understood how her mum was feeling, yet at the same time was able to forgive her dad, was a very important part of why they stayed together.”

On what she would have done if Tony Blair did something like Clinton she writes: “ People have wondered whether Tony or I felt ourselves placed in a difficult situation, given our Christian beliefs. The same thing had been asked a few months earlier when Robin Cook, Tony’s foreign secretary, was outed by the press as being involved in an extramarital affair. The answer in both cases is no. Obviously we both believe in marriage. Once that ring is on your finger and the promises are made before God, then fidelity should be a given.” (Hey! bill was not infidel, he used Fidel Castro cigar!)

Cherie Blair shows her emotive side when she says the idea that Queen Elizabeth would not be at the Olympics in 2012 is quite upsetting. (Was the Queen Britain’s only medal hope!) She recalls when at a G8 Summit dinner hosted by the Queen news broke out that London had won the Olympic bid, both the queen and Prince Philip said to her how marvellous the news was. But the prince also added that he being “so old” he would not be there. The Queen said: “It will be for Cherie and the boys, not for us”.

Cherie notes: “How terrible, I suddenly thought. How can we have Olympics without the Queen?” (Darn! I still can't figure out what competition Queen was participating in?)

She sure wishes they are there in 2012.

Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor engaged to be married

All you Deepika fans can take a cold shower and heave a deep sigh. Sorry dudes, the Babes taken and it is official now. Bollywood's hottest couple Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone are engaged to be married.

Deepika, whose debut movie Om Shanti Om turned her into a household name, chatted exclusively to newspaper yesterday via telephone from Bangkok, confirming that she and Ranbir are engaged to be married. She spoke about their marriage plans, squashed rumours of a rift and declared that, in five years, she hoped to be "Mrs Kapoor and the leading lady of Bollywood".

Deepika confessed that Ranbir proposed to her at the time of their debut releases in November last year. "And I happily said yes. (Some guys have all the luck)

" The couple met a few months earlier. She said she accepted because she was happy, deeply in love and the couple had the blessings of their parents.

"Our parents are happy with our relationship." With their parents blessings it looks like history may just be repeating itself. (I am sure your parents would have agreed too dude, Tough luck)

Ranbir's parents Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh met in 1975 on a film set and were married five years later. She laughed off rumours that her schedule had put a strain on their love.

The two squeezed in quality time a few days ago when Ranbir flew to Bangkok where she was shooting Chandni Chowk to China. "We read about the rumours of our split and had a gala time laughing. (Stop your Sobbing man, There are other girls out there)

" She said some of the rumours had been hurtful. "At times it can be really upsetting.

As we are open about our relationship, people should give some amount of respect to our relationship by not cooking up rumours," she said. The latest gossip is that raunchy pictures of her with actor Upen Patel, aired on television recently, had deeply upset Ranbir.

Not so, said Deepika, "Ranbir has already seen my portfolio and that was a shoot for designer Wendell Rodricks two years back when I was modelling. I am not ashamed of it. (Neither are we)

" The star said the couple had learned not to allow such talk to affect them: "It's ridiculous and now it has stopped affecting us also. We will decide how to conduct our relationship and nobody has a right to take us for granted and write any rubbish about us.

" Deepika said while it was tough being away from him, Ranbir had been supportive and loving while she completed back to back movies. "Ranbir understands as he is a part of the fraternity.

The gelling force of our relationship is that we understand each other really well." She said they worked at staying in touch.

"We respect each other's (commitments) and fly down to meet whenever we find time.

"We had a great time in Australia working together for Bachna Ae Haseeno. We spent some quality time together.

" They met through mutual friends when Ranbir was shooting Saawariya and Deepika was filming Om Shanti Om. "It was love at first sight.

We were introduced by a mutual friend and we liked each other but we needed time for our love to grow before we could make a commitment." She said they still had a ways to go before they tie the knot.

"We are on the threshold of our careers and have a long way to go.".

O hope you Romeos have is that the wedding of Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor is still a long way away as Deepika wants to establish herself in the big league. You will get to see her in lot more movies and we hope in sexy avtars. All I have for you at presnt are a few sexy pic of Deepika to ogle at. You are getting late for work man. Wipe those tears and get going, there will be other like her, I Promise.

Latest IPL T20 Points

IPLT20 Team rankings based on points on 14.5.2008

POINTS TABLE

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	8	6	2	12
IPL MOHALI	9	6	3	12
IPL CHENNAI	9	6	3	12
IPL KOLKATA	9	5	4	10
IPL DELHI	9	4	5	8
IPL MUMBAI	7	3	4	6
IPL HYDRABAD	8	2	6	4
IPL BANGLORE	9	2	7	4

Sohaib Akhtar makes a memorable IPL debut.

It was worth the wait for Sohaib Akhtar Fans. Playing his first IPL match since the ban on him was lifted; Sohaib did what he does best, he ripped through the top order of Delhi Daredevils.

Shoaib Akhtar produced a magical three-over opening spell to demolish the Delhi Daredevils top-order, as Kolkata Knight Riders scripted a sensational 23-run win in the DLF-Indian Premier League encounter at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.

For Akhtar, who had to miss two matches on fitness grounds and was doubtful even for this tie, it was a memorable IPL debut. He began in spectacular fashion, sending back Delhi Daredevil skipper Virender Sehwag in the second ball of the opening over.

He removed Gautam Gambhir in his next over and dismissed A.B. de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary off successive balls in his third over to be on a hat-trick. Tillekeratne Dilshan, however, denied Akhtar a hat-trick.

Shukla polished off the tail with a haul of three of six in five balls. He was also on a hat-trick but Yomahesh denied him the feat.

An elated Ganguly said it was one of the fantastic victories in his career. “It was not easy to come back and win the match after setting such a small target on this pitch,” he said.

Earlier, Knight Riders posted a small total against a disciplined Daredevils attack.

The man of the match Sohaib Akhtar proved once again why he is one of the best pace bowler in the world. His IPL debut raises hopes for Kolkata team. They were able to defend a small total ,thanks to Akhtar.

Sachin Debuts in IPL

Sohaib Akhtar made a dream debut in IPL for the Kolkata team; can Sachin do the same for the Mumbai Indians?

Mumbai Indians currently ranked seventh in the IPL T20 points table. They desperately need to win if they want to stay in reckoning for the IPL semifinals.

Mumbai Indians will value Sachin Tendulkar’s presence more than his contribution with the bat or ball in Wednesday’s tie against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium. He is the team’s third captain in eight games; his match fitness is a grey area.

Tweny20 can be cruel on seniors depending on reputation to assert themselves, instead of winning a place on the basis of their utility to the team. Time has come that they prove themselves.

Chennai Super Kings bowlers will not allow Tendulkar the breathing space to get into groove in Wednesday’s tie at the Wankhede Stadium. Time has come to for his to claim his reputation.

The batting legend can be useful in a holding role at the crease, allowing the stroke players from opener Sanath Jayasuriya to number six Abhishek Nayar to push up the scoring rate.

Tendulkar, the skipper, making an entry into the IPL at the halfway stage is a different issue. T20 captaincy requires quick decision making to change the fortunes of a game.

Shaun Pollock slipped into that role smoothly and is best placed to carry the momentum forward, building on the experience of last four matches, winning three of them. The South African’s all-round ability helped him assume leadership in the bowling department and backed it up with valuable knocks lower down the order.

The players knew he was in control and responded to his way of getting things done. Now after a working relationship has been established, Mumbai Indians players are being asked to follow a new leader.

Tendulkar is getting used to the dynamics of T20 cricket from the dugout, watching the team come through a trial by fire under Pollock, winning home ties against Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals to develop into a side worthy of respect. Chennai Super Kings coach Kepler Wessels, asked about the prospect of facing Tendulkar in an away game, said: “Our team is looking forward to the game. It is a privilege playing against one of the game’s greats.”

Stressing on the value of captaincy in T20, the coach explained: “Captaincy plays a very important part in Twenty20 cricket. Sachin is a very experienced player and should be able to handle the situation.”

Its crunch time for Mumbai IPL team. Only time will tell if Sachin comes through in the Twenty Twenty format and makes his mark in the Indian Premier League (IPL)

Freud's overweight Nude Woman for $35 Million

A picture of an overweight woman lying naked on a couch, painted by the British artist Lucian Freud, is expected to set a record for any work by a living artist when it goes up for auction Tuesday night.

Christie's auction house in New York expects the life-size 1995 portrait to sell for between $25 and $35 million.

"Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" depicts Sue Tilley, a manager of a government-run job center in London, lying on her side on a worn-out couch with nothing to hide her folds of flesh.

Christie's calls it a "bold and imposing example of the stark power of Lucian Freud's realism," depicting "the forceful and undeniable physical presence of people and things."

Tilley, now 51, told CNN she was initially embarrassed to pose naked for the artist but they soon grew comfortable in the studio -- so comfortable, in fact, that she confessed to falling asleep while posing.

"I didn't mind if he noticed," she said.

The painting challenges modern notions of beauty and elicits a reaction from everyone who sees it. That may have been precisely the aim of Freud, who told London's Tate Gallery in 2002 that he wanted his paintings to "astonish, disturb, seduce, convince."


Though some regard the painting as shocking -- ugly, even -- that is also the appeal for collectors, said Michael Hall, editor of Apollo Magazine in London.

"There's a reaction against art that's regarded as too pretty," he said.

Hall said he is not surprised at the sales expectations and thinks a more conventionally beautiful painting would not be able to fetch such a large amount.

"It's the sort of thing that everyone immediately wants to voice an opinion about," he said of the painting. "It challenges conventional taste ... and people do find that rather exciting and interesting to talk about."

Collectors may also view this as a rare chance to buy something by a prolific artist painted at the peak of his work, he said.

Freud, 85, has been described as Britain's greatest living realist painter. He is the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and came to London from Germany when he was a child.

With Tilley, Freud said he was "very aware of all kinds of spectacular things to do with her size, like amazing craters and things one's never seen before," according to the 2002 interview with the Tate. He added, "I have perhaps a predilection towards people of unusual or strange proportions, which I don't want to over-indulge."

Freud painted the portrait of Tilley over nine months in 1995. Tilley said she posed for eight hours a day, two or three days a week.

She had been introduced to the artist through a mutual friend, Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery, who also posed for Freud. It was Bowery's idea for Tilley to pose for Freud, so he arranged a meeting.

Tilley knew the meeting was more of an interview for the job of Freud's muse, and she didn't find out until later -- through Bowery -- that she'd gotten the job, she said.

"Lucian just said to Leigh, 'Oh, tell Sue she can start next week," Tilley said.

Tilley still works full time at the job center in London's West End and calls her new-found fame "a bit bizarre." She laughs as she describes how she now has to arrange her schedule to accommodate media interviews.

She said she's excited to find out how much the painting will sell for, but knowing it could set a record is "a bit scary."

"It's hard to put your head around it, really," she said. "But it's all good."

Source : Melissa Gray, CNN

Shayne Lamas Gets Bachelor Matt Grant

Shayne Lamas, 22, who has appeared on “General Hospital” and three unheard-of movies - most recently as “red bikini girl” in “Endless Bummer” -is the winner of the dating show, which this season will featured the first British bachelor, Matt Grant.

The 22-year-old actress from Los Angeles and daughter of actor Lorenzo Lamas said she is not too young to get married but is not rushing to the altar, either.

"We will not tie the knot until I am mentally and physically prepared as well as Matt," said Shayne Lamas.

After sending Chelsea home, Bachelor Matt Grant got down on one knee and popped the question to Lamas with a 2.85-carat Tacori platinum and diamond eternity ring on Monday night’s season finale of ABC’s The Bachelor: London Calling.

Grant, 27, a global financier from England, simply described the moment as “incredible. It was a beautiful setting, a beautiful day. Shayne looked absolutely exquisite.

According to Shayne “It was a fairytale proposal like I’ve always dreamed about. I forgot that there were cameras around. In that moment, it was just Matt and I and it was the most amazing moment of my entire life.”

“My knees gave out and I started shaking,” said Lamas.

The 22-year-old Shayne Lamas, whose father, actor Lorenzo Lamas, previously told Grant his daughter might not be prepared for marriage, said she’s not too young but also isn’t rushing into anything just yet. “There’s still a lot of growing to do in our relationship. We will not tie the knot until I am mentally and physically prepared as well as Matt,” she said.

One thing they don’t have to worry about is meeting the in-laws, which both have already done. “I think both of our families have welcomed one another with open arms,” Lamas said. “And they’re both very excited for us, for our new lives and for us to be part of the big family.”

The couple has yet to set a date. In fact, they say wedding talk is a bit premature since they haven’t been able to publicly see each other for the past few months while the show aired.

To keep their relationship under wraps, Grant and Lamas secretly met on various occasions at a house in Palm Springs, California, where they relaxed, playing board games and watching TV. “Shayne is absolutely terrible at Trivial Pursuit,” Grant joked. “I love her very much. I would die for this woman but she cannot play!”

They’ve also had some near-misses in Los Angeles, where Lamas currently resides. On one shopping trip, she had to bolt out of Barneys New York after calling Grant and discovering he was eating in the department store’s café at the exact time.

As for where the two will settle down, “We'll be going across the Atlantic and spending time in London and maybe New York and L.A.,” Grant said.

“The key is giving it the right time and not rushing into anything,” he said. “We’re just starting our relationship,” Lamas added. “We’re not putting any pressure on ourselves…but we’re 100 percent in this relationship right now.

Man jailed for Daughter's Flunking

Are your kids flunking their class? You better worry because a man ordered by a judge to make sure his daughter hit the books and passed her grades, has found himself in jail because she failed to earn a high school diploma.

Brian Gegner, of Fairfield, was sentenced last week to 180 days in jail for contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor.

He was ordered months ago to make sure his 18-year-old daughter Brittany Gegner, who has a history of truancy, received her GED - something that hasn't happened yet.

Brittany Gegner, who said Monday that she plans to take a required GED test this month, said her father shouldn't be blamed for her failure because she has been living with her mother.

"It was my wrongdoing, not his," said Brittany Gegner, whose fiance and 18-month-old daughter also live at her mother's home in nearby Hamilton. "He shouldn't have to go to jail for something I did."

Her mother agrees. "Brittany is almost 19 years old now and I think it's unfair to put her father in jail," said Shana Roach. "She's an adult now, and it's not right to rip an innocent man from his home."

Butler County Juvenile Court administrator Rob Clevenger Jr. said Monday that the court still has jurisdiction in the case because Brittany Gegner was a juvenile when the truancy problems began and when the charge against Brian Gegner was filed in 2007.

A hearing on a motion filed by Brian Gegner's attorney to reconsider the sentence is scheduled for Friday. Messages seeking comment were not returned Monday at the offices of defense attorney Tamara Sack and the Butler County prosecutor.

Brian Gegner's wife, Stephanie Gegner, said she and her husband are afraid he will lose his job if he remains in jail. She said they tried to keep his daughter in school.

"You'd take her to school and she'd go out the other door," Stephanie Gegner said.

Sex Mistakes Women Make

You can keep your man and have fun too. Most women push away the men in their lives by making simple silly mistakes in the sack. A little effort can go a long way in keeping your man and you very happy. Here are a few of the tricks. Avoid these mistakes and you can still make him drool and pant after you.


1. Be a Hot Mama

Who said Motherhood should make you celibate? Instead, you need to see yourself as a hot mama, switching on your hot babe persona the second you get your lover alone. For your sake, for your family’s sake, you need to temporarily forget that you’re known as an asexual “mommy” most of the day. You need to nurture your sex life with as much zest as you put into your childcare. Happy parents make for happy families.

2. Playing dead in the sack

Most of us don’t like to have sex with a corpse. Don’t just lie there ... Move! Make noise. Do anything but play dead! If you want your lover to keep coming back, you need to go beyond the missionary position. You need to communicate your needs — give instructions. Even better, check in with him: Is this O.K.? Do you want more? Be eager to please and to be pleased!

3. Stay feminine

Between major weight gain, bodily functions, and divulging daily care habits, a lot of women fail to remain branded in their men's brains as sexy. While self-care and what we do in the loo is nothing to be ashamed of, keep it in the bathroom. Don’t talk about shaving, your period, your last bowel movement, etc. Strive to stay trim and look your best, and apparently effortlessly at that. While he wants you to be the girl-next-door in so many ways, he also wants to eternally see you as his sex goddess.

4. Don't Judge his porn pleasuring

Unless you’ve been replaced by his passion for pornography, don’t give him a guilt trip for it. Many men enjoy different forms of erotica, often using such visuals to become aroused and, quite frankly, to remain sexually interested in their current partner. Instead of seeing his Playboy or Penthouse as a threat, see it as an enhancement — possibly even one you can share. Such visuals are meant to keep the relationship riveting. Don’t let them create a rift.

5. Talking dirty

The occasional potty mouth can be a passion-inducer. So don’t be shy! Learn to talk dirty. I’m not saying sound like a trucker (unless that’s your thing). But don’t be afraid to get a little filthy. Who knows? You might deserve a good spanking for talking like that.

6. Own your body

Big or small, short or tall, what men find a turn-on more than anything is how a woman carries herself — her confidence. If you’re not owning your body, if you’re not embracing your figure and sexual nature, you fail to flaunt one of your biggest assets — you. So walk around naked. Have sex with the lights on. Learn to embrace the skin you’re in. This will help you boost your sex comfort and his.

7. Bitching other women

Sure, you think she looks like a prostitute. But guess what? He does too — and is most likely loving it. Putting down other women in front of him serves as no more than a sign of insecurity. And that makes you unattractive. Rather than worry about what another gal looks like, focus your energies on keeping his eyes on you.

8. No Head Games

You’re not monogamous till you have the talk. Having sex is no guarantee of anything, including reciprocal feelings, love, and a future. So don’t make any assumptions. Be honest about what you want. Don’t use sex manipulatively. Head games should stay below the belt.

Finally, Don't make these mistakes:

9. Ignoring his nipples

While known as a "girl-thing," nipples can be his thing too. Many men have sensitive nipples. In fact, some men have nipples that are more sensitive than their lovers'. So practice some amorous affirmative action. Go ahead and explore the erotic potential this hot spot holds for him.

10. Using too much teeth

When it comes to oral fixations, this feast should not involve fangs. Teeth scraping is not allowed.

Sex News ...

— Dangerous drinking for better sex. An international study published by BMC Public Health has found that one-third of European men and 23 percent of women admitted to drinking to improve their sex life. Young adults are deliberately using alcohol mixed with drugs to supposedly enhance sex, increasing risks.

— Online flirting is tough. A survey by WooMe is reporting that 72 percent of adults online find e-flirting tougher than wooing in person. Reasons for such: the inability to gauge body language, true chemistry, and physical appearance. Over 60 percent of single adults state that looks are the most likely asset to attract them to someone within minutes of a first introduction.

1840 in Austria pose for nude picture

Over 1,800 men and women posed nude for a U.S. photographer in Austria's Ernst Happel stadium on Sunday.

Spencer Tunick, notorious for his works featuring hundreds of naked people at unusual venues, requested his 1,840 participants to wear no sunglasses, no smiling, and no underwear.

The participants were not paid, but were promised to receive signed pictures of the photo-shoot.

The stadium will host seven of the Euro 2008 soccer championship matches being staged by Austria and Switzerland, including the June 29 final.

New York-born Tunick described Sunday's shooting on his website as combining "the spirit of sports, the grand sweeping waves of stadium architecture and the abstract relation of the human form to modern structures."

The number of participants still fell short of the symbolic "at least 2,008" Tunick had hoped to get, ahead of the Euro 2008 tournament.

Tunick had created several installations of large-scale nude projects from Mexico City to the Netherlands, Barcelona and Newcastle.

900 Students Buried in China Earthquake

A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. Monday, the State Seismological Bureau (SSB) said.

Nearly 900 students in southwest China's Sichuan Province were feared buried when a high school building collapsed here in the earthquake. At least four third-graders -- two boys and two girls -- were confirmed dead at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter in Wenchuan County, parents and witnesses said.

Reporters saw a three-story school building had partially collapsed. Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help.

Grieved parents watched as five cranes were excavating at the site and an ambulance was waiting.

China's Chengdu Military Area Command has dispatched 5,000 troops and armed police to help with disaster relief work in earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County, in the southwestern Sichuan Province.

The Military Area Command sent two helicopters to Wenchuan on Monday afternoon. Armed police forces stationed in Sichuan province has dispatched 2,900 personnel, while regular army personnel made up the rest of the detachment.

Another person was killed when a water tower fell in the city of Mianyang, the news agency reported.

A provincial government spokesman said they feared more dead and injured in collapsed houses in Dujiangyan City in Wenchuan County, Xinhua reported.

The news agency also quoted a driver for the seismological bureau saying he saw "rows of houses collapsed" in Dujiangyan.

Chinese President Hu Jintao immediately ordered an all-out effort to help victims of the earthquakes, Xinhua reported. It said Premier Wen Jiabao would go there to direct the rescue work. Video See workers in Chengdu hiding under their desks during the quake.

"This is a very dangerous earthquake," said Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake has the potential to cause major damage because of its strength and proximity to major population centers, he said. In addition, the earthquake was relatively shallow, Presgrave said, and those kinds of quakes tend to do more damage near the epicenter than deeper ones.
Don't Miss

After the first quake struck Monday, the ground shook as far away as Beijing, which is 950 miles (1,528 km) from the epicenter.

Thousands of people were evacuated from Beijing high-rises immediately after the earthquake.

At least six more earthquakes -- measuring between 4.0 and 6.0 magnitudes -- happened nearby over the three hours after the initial quake at at 2:28 p.m. local time

A spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Committee said no Olympic venues were affected by the earthquake. The massive Three Gorges Dam -- roughly 400 miles east of the epicenter -- was not damaged, a spokesman said.

The earthquake was also felt in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, and as far away as Hanoi, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand, according to the Hong Kong-based Mandarin-language channel Phoenix TV.

Latest IPL T20 Points

IPLT20 Team rankings based on points on 12.5.2008

POINTS TABLE

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL JAIPUR	8	6	2	12
IPL CHENNAI	9	6	3	12
IPL MOHALI	8	5	3	10
IPL DELHI	7	4	3	8
IPL KOLKATA	8	4	4	8
IPL MUMBAI	7	3	4	6
IPL HYDRABAD	9	2	7	4
IPL BANGLORE	8	2	6	4

IPL final Venue shifted

The Indian Premier League organizers have shifted the June 1 final venue. Originally the IPL T20 final was to be held at the Wankhede Stadium in South Mumbai. The new venue is  DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

"The IPL t20 final has been shifted and will now be held at DY Patil Stadium. One of the main reasons is that the TV production crew is not happy with the makeshift arrangements at the Wankhede Stadium which is under repairs  and there is lack of space for keeping their  equipment," the sources told PTI.

The arrangements for the TV production crew includes temporary location of their equipment adjacent to the makeshift restaurant located just behind the Garware Stadium stands, the sources added. Another reason is that the DY Patil Stadium can hold 55,000 spectators as compared to 40,000 by Wankhede, which increases the revenue of the IPL home team owners -- Reliance Industries.

But the decision has not yet been communicated to the franchise owners of Mumbai Indians, the home team, by the IPL authorities who make the final call though the team owners have a say on the matter, said a spokesperson of the franchisee.

"There have been talks about one of the semifinals or the final being shifted to DY Patil, but we have not heard anything officially on the matter," he said.

The shift of the venue for the summit contest of the 44-day twenty20 tournament is the second alteration made by the IPL authorities after the announcement of the schedule of the tournament as two league stage matches were shifted from DY Patil Stadium to Wankhede.

The May 14 and 16 home ties of Mumbai Indians, against Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders and slated to be held in the Navi Mumbai venue, are to be held at the Wankhede Stadium instead of the originally scheduled DY Patil Stadium.

Reasons given when these matches were shifted included the reluctance of the IPL teams to travel long distances from their hotel in Central Mumbai to DY Patil Stadium and the lack of proper practice wickets at the Navi Mumbai venue.

Lindsay Lohan Nude Pics

Recently, when there were rumors of a 15-minute film of Marilyn Monroe engaging in an oral sex people searched the web for more information and pictures. Most people did not realize that some of the steamy nude pictures they were watching on the net were not actully of Marlyn Monroe but of Lindsay Lohan.
Since then Lindsay Lohan's racy nude photo shoot mimicking Marilyn Monroe have become a worldwide Web sensation.
New York magazine, which commissioned the photographs, is now threatening cease and desist orders on big name Web sites including major newspapers who are using the images without permission.
Meanwhile, the magazine's own Web traffic soared 2,000 percent.
"When you put up beautiful photos of a celebrity like this, you expect this kind of reaction," said a New York Magazine spokesperson. "But we try to be vigilant to protect our content."
But the actress' father is not one of the millions swooping to ogle the pix of her with only a sheer silk scraf covering her modesty.
Lohan's father has reportedly refused to look at the pictures. He told Us Weekly: "I'm not going to look at the photos - that's my daughter!"
"I pray there are no parallels to her and Marilyn Monroe's destiny."
Mother Dina Lohan, however, backed her daughter's exposure, believing it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
The magazine reported 20 million page views on Monday and Tuesday for its Lindsay Lohan photo gallery, compared to between two and three million for other content.
The 21-year-old actress, who has had a dark history of arrests and rehabilitation, stripped for photographer Bert Stern to recreate one of Monroe's most famous photo shoots, done shortly before she died.
Stern famously shot Monroe in 1962, six weeks before her death, in what is now known as "The Last Sitting." He photographed Monroe in 1962 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California, six weeks before she was found dead from an overdose of barbiturates. Those images for Vogue magazine feature Monroe in next to nothing, posing nude with some scarves and jewelry as her accessories and sipping champagne.
Almost 50 years later, Stern re-creates his iconic photographs, pose for pose with his new muse, Lindsay Lohan, at the same hotel. Though the star of "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" is rarely compared to the screen legend, Stern told the magazine he agreed to do the recreation because he suspected Lohan "had a lot more depth to her" than one might assume from "those teenage movies."

say

Khali becomes the highest paid Bollywood Star

A giant former road worker from India who has become an international wrestling sensation is now a star in his homeland too and soon people will see The Great Khali in Bollywood flicks.

The Atlanta-based Dalip Singh Rana, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, stands over 7ft 3 in tall and weighs nearly 200kg. Nicknamed the "Great Khali", Rana is a top draw at the hugely popular World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He is the first Indian to be signed up by WWE, and enjoys top billing in the famous American showbiz circus alongside fighters such as Hulk Hogan and The Rock.

Like many WWE stars - such as The Rock, aka Dwayne Douglas Johnson - Khali has done a few odd Hollywood roles, including a 2005 film called The Longest Yard.

On the set of another film, called Get Smart, the wrestler surprised Hollywood actor Steve Carell. "Literally, you shake his hand and you are shaking the inner part of his palm. He could put his hand over your entire head and crush you," Carell told a reporter later.

Rana got his nick name The Great Khali from the war cry he utters in his wrestling bouts.He says the Indian Godess Kali which has been distorted in Khali and hence the nick name.

With some Hollywood work under his belt, Khali is now looking at offers from Bollywood.

Khali has jumped on the bandwagon of international artistes who are swarming to India and making it big in Bollywood.The wrestler will make his Bollywood debut with Sahil Khan’s ‘Rama – The Saviour’. And interestingly the wrestler has charged Rs. 2 crore for his shoot which extends only upto four days.

After signing his debut film, it is believed that Khali has increased his fees to Rs.1 crore per day’s shoot. If this is true, then it means that Khali has ahead of SRK and Amitabh Bachhan to become Bollywood’s highest paid actor.

Meanwhile, Khali’s other project is with director David Dhawan for an untitled film that will also star John Abraham. For his Indian fans who haven’t been able to get their due share of the wrestler, Khali will also be seen in ‘Khusti’, a Venus production and an Ashtavinayak flick that will be directed by Neeraj Vohra.

With four projects already lined up and many more offers pouring in, Bollywood might soon become a second home for the wrestler.

Khali says he is a vegetarian and abhors alcohol and tobacco. He says he lives a "simple life" with his homemaker wife Harminder Kaur .

Khali have no complaints as his popularity is now soaring in his homeland. "Great Khali" is going to soak in all the attention and fame now coming his way in the land of his birth.

Randy Pausch Delivers Lecture of a Lifetime

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor, was about to give a lecture Tuesday afternoon, but before he said a word, he received a standing ovation from 400 students and colleagues.

He motioned to them to sit down. "Make me earn it," he said.

They had come to see him give what was billed as his "last lecture." This is a common title for talks on college campuses today. Schools such as Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted "Last Lecture Series," in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to give hypothetical final talks. For the audience, the question to be mulled is this: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?

It can be an intriguing hour, watching healthy professors consider their demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them. At the University of Northern Iowa, instructor Penny O'Connor recently titled her lecture "Get Over Yourself." At Cornell, Ellis Hanson, who teaches a course titled "Desire," spoke about sex and technology.

At Carnegie Mellon, however, Dr. Pausch's speech was more than just an academic exercise. The 46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few months. His lecture, using images on a giant screen, turned out to be a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life.

He began by showing his CT scans, revealing 10 tumors on his liver. But after that, he talked about living. If anyone expected him to be morose, he said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you." He then dropped to the floor and did one-handed pushups.

Clicking through photos of himself as a boy, he talked about his childhood dreams: to win giant stuffed animals at carnivals, to walk in zero gravity, to design Disney rides, to write a World Book entry. By adulthood, he had achieved each goal. As proof, he had students carry out all the huge stuffed animals he'd won in his life, which he gave to audience members. After all, he doesn't need them anymore.

He paid tribute to his techie background. "I've experienced a deathbed conversion," he said, smiling. "I just bought a Macintosh." Flashing his rejection letters on the screen, he talked about setbacks in his career, repeating: "Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things." He encouraged us to be patient with others. "Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you." After showing photos of his childhood bedroom, decorated with mathematical notations he'd drawn on the walls, he said: "If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let 'em do it."

While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the years, he said that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more fun than achieving your own. He talked of requiring his students to create videogames without sex and violence. "You'd be surprised how many 19-year-old boys run out of ideas when you take those possibilities away," he said, but they all rose to the challenge.

He also saluted his parents, who let him make his childhood bedroom his domain, even if his wall etchings hurt the home's resale value. He knew his mom was proud of him when he got his Ph.D, he said, despite how she'd introduce him: "This is my son. He's a doctor, but not the kind who helps people."

He then spoke about his legacy. Considered one of the nation's foremost teachers of video game and virtual-reality technology, he helped develop "Alice," a Carnegie Mellon software project that allows people to easily create 3-D animations. It had one million downloads in the past year, and usage is expected to soar.

"Like Moses, I get to see the Promised Land, but I don't get to step foot in it," Dr. Pausch said. "That's OK. I will live on in Alice."
DISCUSS


Many people have given last speeches without realizing it. The day before he was killed, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke prophetically: "Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place." He talked of how he had seen the Promised Land, even though "I may not get there with you."

Dr. Pausch's lecture, in the same way, became a call to his colleagues and students to go on without him and do great things. But he was also addressing those closer to his heart.

Near the end of his talk, he had a cake brought out for his wife, whose birthday was the day before. As she cried and they embraced on stage, the audience sang "Happy Birthday," many wiping away their own tears.

Dr. Pausch's speech was taped so his children, ages 5, 2 and 1, can watch it when they're older. His last words in his last lecture were simple: "This was for my kids." Then those of us in the audience rose for one last standing ovation.

Source : in wsj by Jeffrey Zaslow

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-1

The "Last Lecture"

On September 18, 2007, an unknown computer science expert delivered a lecture to students at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, USA. The hour long speech by Randy Pausch has become a phenomenon since. The transcript of this speech by Randy Pausch is reproduced below.

I am flattered and embarassed by all the recent attention to my "Last Lecture." I am told that, including abridged versions, over six million people have viewed the lecture online. The lecture really was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful. But rest assured; I'm hardly unique. Send your kids to Carnegie Mellon and the other professors here will teach them valuable life lessons long after I'm gone.

-- Randy

Randy Pausch: [Responding to a standing ovation] Make me earn it. [laughter] It's wonderful to be here. What Indira didn't tell you is that this lecture series used to be called the Last Lecture. If you had one last lecture to give before you died, what would it be? I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it. [laughter]

So, you know, in case there's anybody who wandered in and doesn't know the back story, my dad always taught me that when there's an elephant in the room, introduce them. If you look at my CAT scans, there are approximately 10 tumors in my liver, and the doctors told me I had -6 months of good health left. That was a month ago, so you can do the math. I have some of the best doctors in the world. Microphone's not working? Then I'll just have to talk louder. [Adjusts mic] Is that good? All right.

So that is what it is. We can't change it, and we just have to decide how we're going to respond to that. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you. [laughter] And I assure you I am not in denial. It's not like I'm not aware of what's going on. My family, my three kids, my wife, we just decamped. We bought a lovely house in Virginia, and we're doing that because that's a better place for the family to be, down the road.

And the other thing is I am in phenomenally good health right now. I mean it's the greatest thing of cognitive dissonance you will ever see is the fact that I am in really good shape. In fact, I am in better shape than most of you. [Randy gets on the ground and starts doing pushups] [Applause] So anybody who wants to cry or pity me can down and do a few of those, and then you may pity me. [laughter]

All right, so what we're not talking about today, we are not talking about cancer, because I spent a lot of time talking about that and I'm really not interested. If you have any herbal supplements or remedies, please stay away from me. [laughter] And we're not going to talk about things that are even more important than achieving your childhood dreams. We're not going to talk about my wife, we're not talking about my kids. Because I'm good, but I'm not good enough to talk about that without tearing up. So, we're just going to take that off the table. That's much more important.

And we're not going to talk about spirituality and religion, although I will tell you that I have achieved a deathbed conversion. [dramatic pause] ... I just bought a Macintosh. [laughter and clapping] Now I knew I'd get 9% of the audience with that ....

All right, so what is today's talk about then? It's about my childhood dreams and how I have achieved them. I've been very fortunate that way. How I believe I've been able to enable the dreams of others, and to some degree, lessons learned. I'm a professor, there should be some lessons learned and how you can use the stuff you hear today to achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older, you may find that "enabling the dreams of others" thing is even more fun.

So what were my childhood dreams? Well, you know, I had a really good childhood. I mean, no kidding around. I was going back through the family archives, and what was really amazing was, I couldn't find any pictures of me as a kid where I wasn't smiling. And that was just a very gratifying thing. There was our dog, right? Aww, thank you. And there I actually have a picture of me dreaming. I did a lot of that. You know, there's a lot of wake up's!

I was born in 1960. When you are 8 or 9 years old and you look at the TV set, men are landing on the moon, anything's possible. And that's something we should not lose sight of, is that the inspiration and the permission to dream is huge.

So what were my childhood dreams? You may not agree with this list, but I was there. [laughter] Being in zero gravity, playing in the National Football League, authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia

I guess you can tell the nerds early. [laughter] Being Captain Kirk, anybody here have that childhood dream? Not at CMU, nooooo. I wanted to become one of the guys who won the big stuffed animals in the amusement park, and I wanted to be an Imagineer with Disney. These are not sorted in any particular order, although I think they do get harder, except for maybe the first one.

OK, so being in zero gravity. Now it's important to have specific dreams. I did not dream of being an astronaut, because when I was a little kid, I wore glasses and they told me oh, astronauts can't have glasses. And I was like, mmm, I didn't really want the whole astronaut gig, I just wanted the floating.

So, and as a child [laughter], prototype 0.0. [slide shown of Randy as a child lying in floatingformation on a table top] But that didn't work so well, and it turns out that NASA has something called the Vomit Comet that they used to train the astronauts. And this thing does parabolic arcs, and at the top of each arc you get about 25 seconds where you're ballistic and you get about, a rough equivalent of weightlessness for about 25 seconds. And there is a program where college students can submit proposals and if they win the competition, they get to fly. And I thought that was really cool, and we had a team and we put a team together and they won and they got to fly.

And I was all excited because I was going to go with them. And then I hit the first brick wall, because they made it very clear that under no circumstances were faculty members allowed to fly with the teams. I know, I was heartbroken. I was like, I worked so hard! And so I read the literature very carefully and it turns out that NASA, it's part of their outreach and publicity program, and it turns out that the students were allowed to bring a local media journalist from their home town.

[laughter] And, [deep voice] Randy Pausch, web journalist. [regular voice] It's really easy to get a press pass! [laughter] So I called up the guys at NASA and I said, I need to know where to fax some documents. And they said, what documents are you going to fax us? And I said my resignation as the faculty advisor and my application as the journalist. And he said, that's a little transparent, don't you think? And I said, yeah, but our project is virtual reality, and we're going to bring down a whole bunch of VR headsets and all the students from all the teams are going to experience it and all those other real journalists are going to get to film it.

Jim Foley's [who is nodding in the audience] going oh you bastard, yes. And the guy said, here's the fax number. So, indeed, we kept our end of the bargain, and that's one of the themes that you'll hear later on in the talk, is have something to bring to the table, right, because that will make you more welcome. And if you're curious about what zero gravity looks like, hopefully the sound will be working here. [slide shows videotape from Randy's zero gravity experience] There I am. [laughter] You do pay the piper at the bottom. [laugher, as the people in the video crash to the floor of the plane on the video] So, childhood dream number one, check.

READ THE NEXT PART>>>>

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-2

Randy Pausch: OK, let's talk about football. My dream was to play in the National Football League. And most of you don't know that I actually -- no. [laughter] No, I did not make it to the National Football League, but I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish. I had a coach, I signed up when I was nine years old. I was the smallest kid in the league, by far.

And I had a coach, Jim Graham, who was six-foot-four, he had played linebacker at Penn State. He was just this hulk of a guy and he was old school. And I mean really old school. Like he thought the forward pass was a trick play. [laughter] And he showed up for practice the first day, and you know, there's big hulking guy, we were all scared to death of him. And he hadn't brought any footballs. How are we going to have practice without any footballs?

And one of the other kids said, excuse me coach, but there's no football. And Coach Graham said, right, how many men are on a football field at a time? Eleven on a team, twenty-two. Coach Graham said, all right, and how many people are touching the football at any given time? One of them. And he said, right, so we're going to work on what those other twenty-one guys are doing. And that's a really good story because it's all about fundamentals. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You've got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn't going to work.

And the other Jim Graham story I have is there was one practice where he just rode me all practice. You're doing this wrong, you're doing this wrong, go back and do it again, you owe me, you're doing push-ups after practice. And when it was all over, one of the other assistant coaches came over and said, yeah, Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn't he? I said, yeah. He said, that's a good thing. He said, when you're screwing up and nobody's saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up. And that's a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.

After Coach Graham, I had another coach, Coach Setliff, and he taught me a lot about the power of enthusiasm. He did this one thing where only for one play at a time he would put people in at like the most horrifically wrong position for them. Like all the short guys would become receivers, right? It was just laughable. But we only went in for one play, right? And boy, the other team just never knew what hit 'em. Because when you're only doing it for one play and you're just not where you're supposed to be, and freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, boy are you going to clean somebody's clock for that one play. And that kind of enthusiasm was great.

And to this day, I am most comfortable on a football field. I mean, it's just one of those things where, you know, [pulls out a football] if I'm working a hard problem, people will see me wandering the halls with one of these things, and that's just because, you know, when you do something young enough and you train for it, it just becomes a part of you. And I'm very glad that football was a part of my life. And if I didn't get the dream of playing in the NFL, that's OK. I've probably got stuff more valuable. Because looking at what's going on in the NFL, I'm not sure those guys are doing so great right now.

OK, and so one of the expressions I learned at Electronic Arts, which I love, which pertains to this, is experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And I think that's absolutely lovely. And the other thing about football is we send our kids out to play football or soccer or swimming or whatever it is, and it's the first example of what I'm going to call a head fake, or indirect learning. We actually don't want our kids to learn football. I mean, yeah, it's really nice that I have a wonderful three-point stance and that I know how to do a chop block and all this kind of stuff.

But we send our kids out to learn much more important things. Teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, etcetera, etcetera. And these kinds of head fake learning are absolutely important. And you should keep your eye out for them because they're everywhere.

All right. A simple one, being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia. When I was a kid, we had the World Book Encyclopedia on the shelf. For the freshman, this is paper. ...We used to have these things called books. [laughter] And after I had become somewhat of an authority on virtual reality, but not like a really important one, so I was at the level of people the World Book would badger.

They called me up and I wrote an article, and this is Caitlin Kelleher [shows slide of Caitlin wearing virtual reality headset manipulating a 3D world], and there's an article if you go to your local library where they still have copies of the World Book. Look under V for Virtual Reality, and there it is. And all I have to say is that having been selected to be an author in the World Book Encyclopedia, I now believe that Wikipedia is a perfectly fine source for your information because I know what the quality control is for real encyclopedias. They let me in.

All right, next one. [laughter] [shows slide "Being like Meeting Captain Kirk"] At a certain point you just realize there are some things you are not going to do, so maybe you just want to stand close to the people. And I mean, my god, what a role model for young people. [laughter] [shows slide of Captain Kirk sitting at his control station on the Starship Enterprise] I mean, this is everything you want to be, and what I learned that carried me forward in leadership later is that, you know, he wasn't the smartest guy on the ship. I mean, Spock was pretty smart and McCoy was the doctor and Scotty was the engineer.

And you sort of go, and what skill set did he have to get on this damn thing and run it? And, you know, clearly there is this skill set called leadership, and, you know, whether or not you like the series, there's no doubt that there was a lot to be learned about how to lead people by watching this guy in action. And he just had the coolest damn toys! [laughter] [shows slide of Star Trek gadgets] I mean, my god, I just thought it was fascinating as a kid that he had this thing [Takes out Star Trek Communicator] and he could talk to the ship with it. I just thought that was just spectacular, and of course now I own one and it's smaller. [takes out cell phone] So that's kind of cool.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-3

Randy Pausch: So I got to achieve this dream. James T. Kirk, and his alter ego William Shatner, wrote a book, which I think was actually a pretty cool book. It was with Chip Walter who is a Pittsburgh-based author who is quite good, and they wrote a book on basically the science of Star Trek, you know, what has come true. And they went around to the top places around the country and looked at various things and they came here to study our virtual reality setup. And so we build a virtual reality for him, it looks something like that. [shows slide of virtual Star Trek bridge from the 1960's TV show] We put it in, put it to red alert. He was a very good sport. [sarcastically] It's not like he saw that one coming. [laughter] And it's really cool to meet your boyhood idol, but it's even cooler when he comes to you to see what cool stuff you're doing in your lab. And that was just a great moment.

All right, winning stuffed animals. This may seem mundane to you, but when you're a little kid and you see the big buff guys walking around the amusement park and they've got all these big stuffed animals, right? And this is my lovely wife, and I have a lot of pictures of stuffed animals I've won. [laughter] [shows slides of several large stuffed animals] That's my dad posing with one that I won. I've won a lot of these animals. There's my dad, he did win that one, to his credit.

And this was just a big part of my life and my family's life. But you know, I can hear the cynics. In this age of digitally manipulated images, maybe those bears really aren't in the pictures with me, or maybe I paid somebody five bucks to take a picture in the theme park next to the bear. And I said, how, in this age of cynicism can I convince people? And I said, I know, I can show them the bears! Bring them out. [several large stuffed animals are brought onto the stage] [laughter and clapping] Just put them back against the wall.

Jai Pausch (Randy's wife): It's hard to hear you. [adjusts Randy's microphone]

Randy Pausch: Thanks honey. [laughter] So here are some bears. We didn't have quite enough room in the moving truck, and anybody who would like a little piece of me at the end of this, feel free to come up and take a bear, first come, first served.

All right, my next one. Being an Imagineer. This was the hard one. Believe me, getting to zero gravity is easier than becoming an Imagineer. When I was a kid, I was eight years old and our family took a trip cross-country to see Disneyland. And if you've ever seen the movie National Lampoon's Vacation, it was a lot like that! [laughter] It was a quest. [shows slides of family at Disneyland] And these are real vintage photographs, and there I am in front of the castle.

And there I am, and for those of you who are into foreshadowing, this is the Alice ride. [laughter] And I just thought this was just the coolest environment I had ever been in, and instead of saying, gee, I want to experience this, I said, I want to make stuff like this. And so I bided my time and then I graduated with my Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon, thinking that meant me infinitely qualified to do anything. And I dashed off my letters of applications to Walt Disney Imagineering, and they sent me some of the damned nicest go-to-hell letters I have ever gotten. [laughter] I mean it was just, we have carefully reviewed your application and presently we do not have any positions available which require your particular qualifications.

Now think about the fact that you're getting this from a place that's famous for guys who sweep the street. [laughter] So that was a bit of a setback. But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people.

All right, fast forward to 1991. We did a system back at the University of Virginia called Virtual Reality on Five Dollars a Day. Just one of those unbelievable spectacular things. I was so scared back in those days as a junior academic. Jim Foley's here, and I just love to tell this story. He knew my undergraduate advisor, Andy Van Dam, and I'm at my first conference and I'm just scared to death. And this icon in the user interface community walks up to me and just out of nowhere just gives me this huge bear hug and he says, that was from Andy. And that was when I thought, OK, maybe I can make it. Maybe I do belong.

And a similar story is that this was just this unbelievable hit because at the time, everybody needed a half a million [dollars] to do virtual reality. And everybody felt frustrated. And we literally hacked together a system for about five thousand dollars in parts and made a working VR system. And people were just like, oh my god, you know, the Hewlett Packard garage thing. This is so awesome. And so I'm giving this talk and the room has just gone wild, and during the Q and A, a guy named Tom Furness, who was one of the big names in virtual reality at the time, he goes up to the microphone and he introduces himself.

I didn't know what he looked like but I sure as hell knew the name. And he asked a question. And I was like, I'm sorry did you say you were Tom Furness? And he said yes. I said, then I would love to answer your question, but first, will you have lunch with me tomorrow? [laughter] And there's a lot in that little moment, there's a lot of humility but also asking a person where he can't possibly say no. [laughter]

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-4

Randy Pausch: And so Imagineering a couple of years later was working on a virtual reality project. This was top secret. They were denying the existence of a virtual reality attraction after the time that the publicity department was running the TV commercials. So Imagineering really had nailed this one tight. And it was the Aladdin attraction where you would fly a magic carpet, and the head mounted display, sometimes known as gator vision. And so I had an in. As soon as the project had just, you know they start running the TV commercials, and I had been asked to brief the Secretary of Defense on the state of virtual reality. OK, Fred Brooks and I had been asked to brief the Secretary of Defense, and that gave me an excuse. So I called them. I called Imagineering and I said, look, I'm briefing the Secretary of Defense. I'd like some materials on what you have because it's one of the best VR systems in the world.

And they kind of pushed back. And I said, look, is all this patriotism stuff in the parks a farce? And they're like, hmm, ok. [laughter] But they said this is so new the PR department doesn't have any footage for you, so I'm going to have to connect you straight through to the team who did the work. Jackpot! So I find myself on the phone with a guy named Jon Snoddy who is one of the most impressive guys I have ever met, and he was the guy running this team, and it's not surprising they had done impressive things. And so he sent me some stuff, we talked briefly and he sent me some stuff, and I said, hey, I'm going to be out in the area for a conference shortly,would you like to get together and have lunch? Translation: I'm going to lie to you and say that I have an excuse to be in the area so I don't look too anxious, but I would go to Neptune to have lunch with you! [laughter]

And so Jon said sure, and I spent something like 80 hours talking with all the VR experts in the world, saying if you had access to this one unbelievable project, what wouldyou ask? And then I compiled all of that and I had to memorize it, which anybody that knows me knows that I have no memory at all, because I couldn't go in looking like a dweeb with, you know, [in dweeby voice] Hi, Question 72. So, I went in, and this was like a two hour lunch, and Jon must have thought he was talking to some phenomenal person, because all I was doing was channeling Fred Brooks and Ivan Sutherland and Andy Van Dam and people like that. And Henry Fuchs. So it's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people.

And at the end of the lunch with Jon, I sort of, as we say in the business, made "the ask." And I said, you know, I have a sabbatical coming up. And he said, what's that? [laughter] The beginnings of the culture clash. And so I talked with him about the possibility of coming there and working with him. And he said, well that's really good except, you know, you're in the business of telling people stuff and we're in the business of keeping secrets. And then what made Jon Snoddy Jon Snoddy was he said, but we'll work it out, which I really loved.

The other thing that I learned from Jon Snoddy -- I could do easily an hour long talk just on what have I learned from Jon Snoddy. One of the things he told me was that wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you. He said, when you're pissed off at somebody and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time and they'll almost always impress you. And that really stuck with me. I think he's absolutely right on that one.

So to make a long story short, we negotiated a legal contract. It was going to be the first -- some people referred to it as the first and last paper ever published by Imagineering. That the deal was I go, I provide my own funding, I go for six months, I work with a project, we publish a paper. And then we meet our villain. [shows slide of a picture of a former dean of Randy's] I can't be all sweetness and light, because I have no credibility. Somebody's head's going to go on a stick. Turns out that the person who gets his head on a stick is a dean back at the University of Virginia. His name is not important. Let's call him Dean Wormer. [laughter]

And Dean Wormer has a meeting with me where I say I want to do this sabbatical thing and I've actually got the Imagineering guys to let an academic in, which is insane. I mean if Jon hadn't gone nuts, this would never have been a possibility. This is a very secretive organization. And Dean Wormer looks at the paperwork and he says, well it says they're going to own your intellectual property. And I said, yeah, we got the agreement to publish the paper. There is no other IP. I don't do patentable stuff. And says, yeah, but you might.

And so deal's off. Just go and get them to change that little clause there and then come back to me. I'm like, excuse me? And then I said to him, I want you to understand how important this is. If we can't work this out, I'm going to take an unpaid leave of absence and I'm just going to go there and I'm going to do this thing. And he said, hey, I might not even let you do that. I mean you've got the IP in your head already and maybe they're going to suck it out of you, so that's not going to fly either. [laughter]

It's very important to know when you're in a pissing match. And it's very important to get out of it as quickly as possible. So I said to him, well, let's back off on this. Do we think this is a good idea at all? He said, I have no idea if this is a good idea. I was like, [sarcastically] OK, well we've got common ground there. Then I said, well is this really your call? Isn't this the call of the Dean of Sponsored Research if it's an IP issue? And he said, yeah, that's true.

I said, but so if he's happy you're happy? [So he says] Yeah, then I'd be fine. Whoosh! Like Wile E. Coyote, I'm gone in a big ball of dust. And I find myself in Gene Block's office, who is the most fantastic man in the world. And I start talking to Gene Block and I say let's start at the high level, since I don't want to have to back out again. So let's start at the high level. Do you think this is a good idea? He said, well if you're asking me if it's a good idea, I don't have very much information. All I know is that one of my star faculty members is in my office and he's really excited, so tell me more.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-5

Randy Pausch: Here's a lesson for everybody in administration. They both said the same thing. But think about how they said it, right? [In a loud, barking voice] I don't know! [In a pleasant voice] Well, I don't have much information, but one of my star faculty members is here and he's all excited so I want to learn more. They're both ways of saying I don't know, but boy there's a good way and a bad way. So anyway, we got it all worked out. I went to Imagineering. Sweetness and light. And all's well that ends well.

Some brick walls are made of flesh. So I worked on the Aladdin Project. It was absolutely spectacular, I mean just unbelievable. Here's my nephew Christopher. [Shows slide of Christopher on Aladdin apparatus] This was the apparatus. You would sit on this sort of motorcycle-type thing. And you would steer your magic carpet and you would put on the head-mounted display.

The headmounted display is very interesting because it had two parts, and it was a very clever design. To get through put up, the only part that touched the guest's head was this little cap and everything else clicked onto it -- all the expensive hardware. So you could replicate the caps because they were basically free to manufacture. [Showing slide of Randy cleaning a cap] And this is what I really did is I was a cap cleaner during the sabbatical. [laughter]

I loved Imagineering. It was just a spectacular place. Just spectacular. Everything that I had dreamed. I loved the model shop. People crawling around on things the size of this room that are just big physical models. It was just an incredible place to walk around and be inspired. I'm always reminded of when I went there and people said, do you think your expectations are too high? And I said, you ever see the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory? Where Gene Wilder says to the little boy Charlie, he's about to give him the chocolate factory. He says "Well Charlie, did anybody ever tell you the story of the little boy who suddenly got everything he ever wanted?" Charlie's eyes get like saucers and he says, "No, what happened to him?" Gene Wilder says, "He lived happily ever after." [laughter]

OK, so working on the Aladdin VR, I described it as a once in every five careers opportunity, and I stand by that assessment. And it forever changed me. It wasn't just that it was good work and I got to be a part of it. But it got me into the place of working with real people and real HCI user interface issues. Most HCI people live in this fantasy world of white collar laborers with Ph.D.s and masters degrees. And you know, until you got ice cream spilled on you, you're not doing field work. And more than anything else, from Jon Snoddy I learned how to put artists and engineers together, and that's been the real legacy.

We published a paper. Just a nice academic cultural scandal. When we wrote the paper, the guys at Imagineering said, well let's do a nice big picture. Like you would in a magazine. [Showing slide of first page of the paper, with a photo at the top that spans two columns]. And the SIGGRAPH committee, which accepted the paper, it was like this big scandal. Are they allowed to do that? [laughter] There was no rule! So we published the paper and amazingly since then there's a tradition of SIGGRAPH papers having color figures on the first page. So I've changed the world in a small way. [laughter]

And then at the end of my six months, they came to me and they said, you want to do it for real? You can stay. And I said no. One of the only times in my life I have surprised my father. He was like, you're what? He said, since you were, you know [gesturing to height of a child's head],this is all you wanted, and now that you got it, and you're... huh?

There was a bottle of Maalox in my desk drawer. Be careful what you wish for. It was a particularly stressful place. Imagineering in general is actually not so Maalox-laden, but the lab I was in -- oh, Jon left in the middle. And it was a lot like the Soviet Union. It was a little dicey for awhile. But it worked out OK. And if they had said, stay here or never walk in the building again, I would have done it. I would have walked away from tenure, I would have just done it. But they made it easy on me. They said you can have your cake and eat it too. And I basically became a day-a-week consultant for Imagineering, and I did that for about ten years.

And that's one of the reasons you should all become professors. Because you can have your cake and eat it too. I went and consulted on things like DisneyQuest. So there was the Virtual Jungle Cruise. And the best interactive experience I think ever done, and Jesse Schell gets the credit for this, Pirates of the Caribbean. Wonderful at DisneyQuest. And so those are my childhood dreams. And that's pretty good. I felt good about that.

So then the question becomes, how can I enable the childhood dreams of others. And again, boy am I glad I became a professor. What better place to enable childhood dreams? Eh, maybe working at EA, I don't know. That'd probably be a good close second. And this started in a very concrete realization that I could do this, because a young man named Tommy Burnett, when I was at the University of Virginia, came to me, was interested in joining my research group. And we talked about it, and he said, oh, and I have a childhood dream. It gets pretty easy to recognize them when they tell you.

And I said, yes, Tommy, what is your childhood dream? He said, I want to work on the next Star Wars film. Now you got to remember the timing on this. Where is Tommy, Tommy is here today. What year would this have been? Your sophomore year.

Tommy: It was around '93.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-6

Randy Pausch: Are you breaking anything back there young man? OK, all right, so in 1993. And I said to Tommy, you know they're probably not going to make those next movies. [laughter] And he said, no, THEY ARE. And Tommy worked with me for a number of years as an undergraduate and then as a staff member, and then I moved to Carnegie Mellon, every single member of my team came from Virginia to Carnegie Mellon except for Tommy because he got a better offer. And he did indeed work on all three of those films.

And then I said, well that's nice, but you know, one at a time is kind of inefficient. And people who know me know that I'm an efficiency freak. So I said, can I do this in mass? Can I get people turned in such a way that they can be turned onto their childhood dreams? And I created a course, I came to Carnegie Mellon and I created a course called Building Virtual Worlds. It's a very simple course. How many people here have ever been to any of the shows?

[Some people from audience raise hands] OK, so some of you have an idea. For those of you who don't, the course is very simple. There are 50 students drawn from all the different departments of the university. There are randomly chosen teams, four people per team, and they change every project. A project only lasts two weeks, so you do something, you make something, you show something, then I shuffle the teams, you get three new playmates and you do it again. And it's every two weeks, and so you get five projects during the semester.

The first year we taught this course, it is impossible to describe how much of a tiger by the tail we had. I was just running the course because I wanted to see if we could do it. We had just learned how to do texture mapping on 3D graphics, and we could make stuff that looked half decent. But you know, we were running on really weak computers, by current standards. But I said I'll give it a try. And at my new university [Carnegie Mellon] I made a couple of phone calls, and I said I want to cross-list this course to get all these other people. And within 24 hours it was cross-listed in five departments. I love this university. I mean it's the most amazing place.

And the kids said, well what content do we make? I said, hell, I don't know. You make whatever you want. Two rules: no shooting violence and no pornography. Not because I'm opposed to those in particular, but you know, that's been done with VR, right? [laughter] And you'd be amazed how many 19-year-old boys are completely out of ideas when you take those off the table. [laughter and clapping]

Anyway, so I taught the course. The first assignment, I gave it to them, they came back in two weeks and they just blew me away. I mean the work was so beyond, literally, my imagination, because I had copied the process from Imagineering's VR lab, but I had no idea what they could or couldn't do with it as undergraduates, and their tools were weaker, and they came back on the first assignment, and they did something that was so spectacular that I literally didn't, ten years as a professor and I had no idea what to do next.

So I called up my mentor, and I called up Andy Van Dam. And I said, Andy, I just gave a two-week assignment, and they came back and did stuff that if I had given them a whole semester I would have given them all As. Sensei, what do I do? [laughter]

And Andy thought for a minute and he said, you go back into class tomorrow and you look them in the eye and you say, "Guys, that was pretty good, but I know you can do better." [laughter] And that was exactly the right advice. Because what he said was, you obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere.

And boy was that good advice because they just kept going. And during that semester it became this underground thing. I'd walk into a class with 50 students in it and there were 95 people in the room. Because it was the day we were showing work. And people's roommates and friends and parents -- I'd never had parents come to class before! It was flattering and somewhat scary.

And so it snowballed and we had this bizarre thing of, well we've got to share this. If there's anything I've been raised to do, it's to share, and I said, we've got to show this at the end of the semester. We've got to have a big show. And we booked this room, McConomy. I have a lot of good memories in this room. And we booked it not because we thought we could fill it, but because it had the only AV setup that would work, because this was a zoo. Computers and everything. And then we filled it. And we more than filled it. We had people standing in the aisle.

I will never forget the dean at the time, Jim Morris was sitting on the stage right about there. We had to kind of scoot him out of the way. And the energy in the room was like nothing I had ever experienced before. And President Cohen, Jerry Cohen was there, and he sensed the same thing. He later described it as like an Ohio State football pep rally. Except for academics. And he came over and he asked exactly the right question. He said, before you start, he said, where are these people from? He said, the audience, what departments are they from? And we polled them and it was all the departments.

And I felt very good because I had just come to campus, he had just come to campus, and my new boss had seen in a very corporal way that this is the university that puts everybody together. And that made me feel just tremendous.

So we did this campus-wide exhibition. People performed down here. They're in costume, and we projected just like this and you can see what's going on. You can see what they're seeing in the head mount. There's a lot of big props, so there's a guy white water rafting. [shows slides of a BVW show]

This is Ben in E.T. And yes, I did tell them if they didn't do the shot of the kids biking across the moon I would fail him. That is a true story. And I thought I'd show you just one world, and if we can get the lights down if that's at all possible. No, ok, that means no. All right. All right we'll just do our best then. [Shows "Hello.world" world done in the BVW class, audience applauds at the end.]

It was an unusual course. With some of the most brilliant, creative students from all across the campus. It just was a joy to be involved. And they took the whole stage performance aspect of this way too seriously [shows pictures of very strange costumes students wore]. And it became this campus phenomenon every year. People would line up for it. It was very flattering. And it gave kids a sense of excitement of putting on a show for people who were excited about it. And I think that that's one of the best things you can give somebody -- the chance to show them what it feels like to make other people get excited and happy. I mean that's a tremendous gift. We always try to involve the audience. Whether it was people with glow sticks or batting a beach ball around... or driving [shows photo of audience members leaning in their seats to steer a car]. This is really cool.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-7

This technology actually got used at the Spiderman 3 premiere in L.A., so the audience was controlling something on the screen, so that's kind of nice. And I don't have a class picture from every year, but I dredged all the ones that I do have, and all I can say is that what a privilege and an honor it was to teach that course for something like ten years.

And all good things come to an end. And I stopped teaching that course about a year ago. People always ask me what was my favorite moment. I don't know if you could have a favorite moment. But boy there is one I'll never forget. This was a world with, I believe a roller skating ninja. And one of the rules was that we perform these things live and they all had to really work. And the moment it stopped working, we went to your backup videotape. And this was very embarrassing. [Shows image of Roller Ninja world presentation]

So we have this ninja on stage and he's doing this roller skating thing and the world, it did not crash gently. Whoosh. And I come out, and I believe it was Steve, Audia, wasn't it? Where is he? OK, where is Steve? Ah, my man. Steve Audia. And talk about quick on your feet. I say, Steve, I'm sorry but your world has crashed and we're going to go to videotape. And he pulls out his ninja sword and says, I am dishonored! Whaaa! And just drops! [applause and laughter]

And so I think it's very telling that my very favorite moment in ten years of this high technology course was a brilliant ad lib. And then when the videotape is done and the lights come up, he's lying there lifeless and his teammates drag him off! [laughter] It really was a fantastic moment.

And the course was all about bonding. People used to say, you know, what's going to make for a good world? I said, I can't tell you beforehand, but right before they present it I can tell you if the world's good just by the body language. If they're standing close to each other, the world is good.

And BVW was a pioneering course [Randy puts on vest with arrows poking out of the back], and I won't bore you with all the details, but it wasn't easy to do, and I was given this when I stepped down from the ETC and I think it's emblematic. If you're going to do anything that pioneering you will get those arrows in the back, and you just have to put up with it. I mean everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But at the end of the day, a whole lot of people had a whole lot of fun.

When you've had something for ten years that you hold so precious, it's the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. And the only advice I can give you is, find somebody better than you to hand it to. And that's what I did. There was this kid at the VR studios way back when, and you didn't have to spend very long in Jesse Schell's orbit to go, the force is strong in this one. And one of my greatest my two greatest accomplishments I think for Carnegie Mellon was that I got Jessica Hodgins and Jesse Schell to come here and join our faculty.

And I was thrilled when I could hand this over to Jesse, and to no one's surprise, he has really taken it up to the next notch. And the course is in more than good hands -- it's in better hands. But it was just one course. And then we really took it up a notch. And we created what I would call the dream fulfillment factory. Don Marinelli and I got together and with the university's blessing and encouragement, we made this thing out of whole cloth that was absolutely insane. Should never have been tried. All the sane universities didn't go near this kind of stuff. Creating a tremendous opportunistic void.

So the Entertainment Technology Center was all about artists and technologists working in small teams to make things. It was a two year professional master's degree. And Don and I were two kindred spirits. We're very different -- anybody who knows us knows that we are very different people. And we liked to do things in a new way, and the truth of the matter is that we are both a little uncomfortable in academia.

I used to say that I am uncomfortable as an academic because I come from a long line of people who actually worked for a living, so. [Nervous laughter] I detect nervous laughter! And I want to stress, Carnegie Mellon is the only place in the world that the ETC could have happened. By far the only place.

[Shows slide of Don Marinelli in tye-dyed shirt, shades and an electric guitar, sitting on a desk next to Randy, wearing nerd glasses, button-up shirt, staring at a laptop. Above their heads were the labels "Right brain/Left brain"] [laughter] OK, this picture was Don's idea, OK? And we like to refer to this picture as Don Marinelli on guitar and Randy Pausch on keyboards. [laughter] But we really did play up the left brain, right brain and it worked out really well that way.

[Shows slide of Don looking intense] Don is an intense guy. And Don and I shared an office, and at first it was a small office. We shared an office for six years. You know, those of you who know Don know he's an intense guy. And you know, given my current condition, somebody was asking me ... this is a terrible joke, but I'm going to use it anyway. Because I know Don will forgive me. Somebody said, given your current condition, have you thought about whether you're going to go to heaven or hell? And I said, I don't know, but if I'm going to hell, I'm due six years for time served! [laughter] I kid.

Sharing an office with Don was really like sharing an office with a tornado. There was just so much energy and you never knew which trailer was next, right? But you know something exciting was going to happen. And there was so much energy, and I do believe in giving credit where credit is due. So in my typically visual way, if Don and I were to split the success for the ETC, he clearly gets the lion's share of it. [Shows image of a pie chart divided 70/30 (Don/Randy) ] He did the lion's share of the work, ok, he had the lion's share of the ideas.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-8

It was a great teamwork. I think it was a great yin and a yang, but it was more like YIN and yang. And he deserves that credit and I give it to him because the ETC is a wonderful place. And he's now running it and he's taking it global. We'll talk about that in a second.

Describing the ETC is really hard, and I finally found a metaphor. Telling people about the ETC is like describing Cirque du Soleil if they've never seen it. Sooner or later you're going to make the mistake. You're going to say, well it's like a circus. And then you're dragged into this conversation about oh, how many tigers, how many lions, how many trapeze acts? And that misses the whole point. So when we say we're a master's degree, we're really not like any master's degree you've ever seen.

Here's the curriculum [Shows slide of ETC curriculum, listing "Project Course" as the only course each semester; audience laughs] The curriculum ended up looking like this. [shows slightly more detailed slide]. All I want to do is visually communicate to you that you do five projects in Building Virtual Worlds, then you do three more. All of your time is spent in small teams making stuff. None of that book learning thing. Don and I had no patience for the book learning thing. It's a master's degree. They already spent four years doing book learning. By now they should have read all the books.

The keys to success were that Carnegie Mellon gave us the reins. Completely gave us the reins. We had no deans to report to. We reported directly to the provost, which is great because the provost is way too busy to watch you carefully. [laughter] We were given explicit license to break the mold.

It was all project based. It was intense, it was fun, and we took field trips! Every spring semester in January, we took all 50 students in the first year class and we'd take them out to Pixar, Industrial Light and Magic, and of course when you've got guys like Tommy there acting as host, right, it's pretty easy to get entrée to these places. So we did things very, very differently. The kind of projects students would do, we did a lot of what we'd call edutainment.

We developed a bunch of things with the Fire Department of New York, a network simulator for training firefighters, using video game-ish type technology to teach people useful things. That's not bad. Companies did this strange thing. They put in writing, we promise to hire your students. I've got the EA and Activision ones here. I think there are now, how many, five? Drew knows I bet.

[Drew Davison, head of ETC-Pittsburgh, gestures with five fingers]. So there are five written agreements. I don't know of any other school that has this kind of written agreement with any company. And so that's a real statement. And these are multiple year things, so they're agreeing to hire people for summer internships that we have not admitted yet. That's a pretty strong statement about the quality of the program.

And Don, as I said, he's now, he's crazy. In a wonderful complimentary way. He's doing these things where I'm like, oh my god. He's not here tonight because he's in Singapore because there's going to be an ETC campus in Singapore. There's already one in Australia and there's going to be on in Korea. So this is becoming a global phenomenon. So I think this really speaks volumes about all the other universities. It's really true that Carnegie Mellon is the only university that can do this. We just have to do it all over the world now.

One other big success about the ETC is teaching people about feedback [puts up bar chart where students are (anonymous) listed on a scale labeled "how easy to work with" ] -- oh I hear the nervous laughter from the students. I had forgotten the delayed shock therapy effect of these bar charts. When you're taking Building Virtual Worlds, every two weeks we get peer feedback. We put that all into a big spreadsheet and at the end of the semester, you had three teammates per project, five projects, that's 15 data points, that's statistically valid.

And you get a bar chart telling you on a ranking of how easy you are to work with, where you stacked up against your peers. Boy that's hard feedback to ignore. Some still managed. [laughter] But for the most part, people looked at that and went, wow, I've got to take it up a notch. I better start thinking about what I'm saying to people in these meetings. And that is the best gift an educator can give is to get somebody to become self reflective.

So the ETC was wonderful, but even the ETC and even as Don scales it around the globe, it's still very labor intensive, you know. It's not Tommy one-at-a-time. It's not a research group ten at a time. It's 50 or 100 at a time per campus times four campuses. But I wanted something infinitely scalable. Scalable to the point where millions or tens of millions of people could chase their dreams with something. And you know, I guess that kind of a goal really does make me the Mad Hatter. [Puts on a Mad Hatter's green top hat].

So Alice is a project that we worked on for a long, long time. It's a novel way to teach computer programming. Kids make movies and games. The head fake -- again, we're back to the head fakes. The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else. I've done it my whole career. And the head fake here is that they're learning to program but they just think they're making movies and video games.

This thing has already been downloaded well over a million times. There are eight textbooks that have been written about it. Ten percent of U.S. colleges are using it now. And it's not the good stuff yet. The good stuff is coming in the next version. I, like Moses, get to see the promised land, but I won't get to set foot in it. And that's OK, because I can see it. And the vision is clear. Millions of kids having fun while learning something hard. That's pretty cool. I can deal with that as a legacy.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-9

The next version's going to come out in 2008. It's going to be teaching the Java language if you want them to know they're learning Java. Otherwise they'll just think that they're writing movie scripts. And we're getting the characters from the bestselling PC video game in history, The Sims. And this is already working in the lab, so there's no real technological risk. I don't have time to thank and mention everybody in the Alice team, but I just want to say that Dennis Cosgrove is going to be building this, has been building this. He is the designer. This is his baby. And for those of you who are wondering, well, in some number of months who should I be emailing about the Alice project, where's Wanda Dann? Oh, there you are. Stand up, let them all see you. Everybody say, Hi Wanda.

Audience: Hi, Wanda.

Randy Pausch: Send her the email. And I'll talk a little bit more about Caitlin Kelleher, but she's graduated with her Ph.D., and she's at Washington University, and she's going to be taking this up a notch and going to middle schools with it. So, grand vision and to the extent that you can live on in something, I will live on in Alice.

All right, so now the third part of the talk. Lessons learned. We've talked about my dreams. We've talked about helping other people enable their dreams. Somewhere along the way there's got to be some aspect of what lets you get to achieve your dreams.

First one is the rule of parents, mentors and students. I was blessed to have been born to two incredible people. This is my mother on her 70th birthday. [Shows slide of Randy's mom driving a race car on an amusement park race course] [laughter] I am back here. I have just been lapped. [laughter]

This is my dad riding a roller coaster on his 80th birthday. [Shows slide of dad] And he points out that he's not only brave, he's talented because he did win that big bear the same day. My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an adventure. [Shows picture of his Dad holding a brown paper bag.] I don't know what's in that bag, but I know it's cool. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus, but he also did very, very significant things to help lots of people.

This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every year about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn't have otherwise. This is something my wife and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others.

But the best story I have about my dad -- unfortunately my dad passed away a little over a year ago -- and when we were going through his things, he had fought in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge, and when we were going through his things, we found out he had been awarded the Bronze Star for Valor. My mom didn't know it. In 50 years of marriage it had just never come up.

My mom. [Shows picture of Randy as a young child, pulling his Mom's hair]. Mothers are people who love even when you pull their hair. And I have two great mom stories. When I was here studying to get my Ph.D. and I was taking something called the theory qualifier, which I can definitively say is the second worst thing in my life after chemotherapy. [laughter] And I was complaining to my mother about how hard this test was and how awful it was, and she just leaned over and she patted me on the arm and she said, we know how you feel honey, and remember when your father was your age he was fighting the Germans. [laugher] After I got my Ph.D., my mother took great relish in introducing me as, this is my son, he's a doctor but not the kind that helps people. [laughter] These slides are a little bit dark [meaning "hard to see"], but when I was in high school I decided to paint my bedroom. [shows slides of bedroom] I always wanted a submarine and an elevator. And the great thing about this [shows slide of quadratic formula painted on wall] [interrupted by laughter] -- what can I say?

And the great thing about this is they let me do it. And they didn't get upset about it. And it's still there. If you go to my parent's house it's still there. And anybody who is out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me let them do it. It'll be OK. Don't worry about resale value on the house.

Other people who help us besides our parents: our teachers, our mentors, our friends, our colleagues. God, what is there to say about Andy Van Dam? When I was a freshman at Brown, he was on leave. And all I heard about was this Andy Van Dam. He was like a mythical creature. Like a centaur, but like a really pissed off centaur.

And everybody was like really sad that he was gone, but kind of more relaxed? And I found out why. Because I started working for Andy. I was a teaching assistant for him as a sophomore. And I was quite an arrogant young man. And I came in to some office hours and of course it was nine o'clock at night and Andy was there at office hours, which is your first clue as to what kind of professor he was. And I come bounding in and you know, I'm just I'm going to save the world. There're all these kids waiting for help, da da, da da, da da, da da, da da.

And afterwards, Andy literally Dutch-uncled -- he's Dutch, right? He Dutch-uncled me. And he put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it's such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it's going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word "you're being a jerk." [laughter] Right? He doesn't say you're a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it's going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish.

When I got to know Andy better, the beatings became more direct, but. [laughter] I could tell you Andy stories for a month, but the one I will tell you is that when it came time to start thinking about what to do about graduating from Brown, it had never occurred to me in a million years to go to graduate school. Just out of my imagination. It wasn't the kind of thing people from my family did. We got, say, what do you call them? …. jobs.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-10

And Andy said, no, don't go do that. Go get a Ph.D. Become a professor. And I said, why? And he said, because you're such a good salesman that any company that gets you is going to use you as a salesman. And you might as well be selling something worthwhile like education. [long pause, looks directly at Andy van Dam] Thanks. Andy was my first boss, so to speak. I was lucky enough to have a lot of bosses.

[shows slide of various bosses] That red circle is way off. Al is over here. [laughter] I don't know what the hell happened there. He's probably watching this on the webcast going, my god he's targeting and he still can't aim! [laughter] I don't want to say much about the great bosses I've had except that they were great. And I know a lot of people in the world that have had bad bosses, and I haven't had to endure that experience and I'm very grateful to all the people that I ever had to have worked for. They have just been incredible.

But it's not just our bosses, we learn from our students. I think the best head fake of all time comes from Caitlin Kelleher. Excuse me, Doctor Caitlin Kelleher, who just finished up here and is starting at Washington University, and she looked at Alice when it was an easier way to learn to program, and she said, yeah, but why is that fun? I was like, 'cause uh, I'm a compulsive male... I like to make the little toy soldiers move around by my command, and that's fun.

She's like, hmm. And she was the one who said, no, we'll just approach it all as a storytelling activity. And she's done wonderful work showing that, particularly with middle school girls, if you present it as a storytelling activity, they're perfectly willing to learn how to write computer software. So all-time best head fake award goes to Caitlin Kelleher's dissertation.

President Cohen, when I told him I was going to do this talk, he said, please tell them about having fun, because that's what I remember you for. And I said, I can do that, but it's kind of like a fish talking about the importance of water. I mean I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it.

So my next piece of advice is, you just have to decide if you're a Tigger or and Eeyore. [shows slide with an image of Tigger and Eeyore with the phrase "Decide if you're Tigger or Eeyore"] I think I'm clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate. [laughter]

Never lose the childlike wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us. Help others. Denny Proffitt knows more about helping other people. He's forgotten more than I'll ever know. He's taught me by example how to run a group, how to care about people. M.K. Haley -- I have a theory that people who come from large families are better people because they've just had to learn to get along. M.K. Haley comes from a family with 20 kids. [audience collectively "aaahs"] Yeah. Unbelievable.

And she always says it's kind of fun to do the impossible. When I first got to Imagineering, she was one of the people who dressed me down, and she said, I understand you've joined the Aladdin Project. What can you do? And I said, well I'm a tenured professor of computer science. And she said, well that's very nice Professor Boy, but that's not what I asked. I said what can you do? [laughter]

And you know I mentioned sort of my working class roots. We keep what is valuable to us, what we cherish. And I've kept my [high school] letterman's jacket all these years. [Puts on letterman's jacket] I used to like wearing it in grad school, and one of my friends, Jessica Hodgins would say, why do you wear this letterman's jacket? And I looked around at all the non-athletic guys around me who were much smarter than me. And I said, because I can. [laughter]

And so she thought that was a real hoot so one year she made for me this little Raggedy Randy doll. [takes out Raggedy Randy] [laughter] He's got a little letterman's jacket too. That's my all-time favorite. It's the perfect gift for the egomaniac in your life.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-10

And Andy said, no, don't go do that. Go get a Ph.D. Become a professor. And I said, why? And he said, because you're such a good salesman that any company that gets you is going to use you as a salesman. And you might as well be selling something worthwhile like education. [long pause, looks directly at Andy van Dam] Thanks. Andy was my first boss, so to speak. I was lucky enough to have a lot of bosses.

[shows slide of various bosses] That red circle is way off. Al is over here. [laughter] I don't know what the hell happened there. He's probably watching this on the webcast going, my god he's targeting and he still can't aim! [laughter] I don't want to say much about the great bosses I've had except that they were great. And I know a lot of people in the world that have had bad bosses, and I haven't had to endure that experience and I'm very grateful to all the people that I ever had to have worked for. They have just been incredible.

But it's not just our bosses, we learn from our students. I think the best head fake of all time comes from Caitlin Kelleher. Excuse me, Doctor Caitlin Kelleher, who just finished up here and is starting at Washington University, and she looked at Alice when it was an easier way to learn to program, and she said, yeah, but why is that fun? I was like, 'cause uh, I'm a compulsive male... I like to make the little toy soldiers move around by my command, and that's fun.

She's like, hmm. And she was the one who said, no, we'll just approach it all as a storytelling activity. And she's done wonderful work showing that, particularly with middle school girls, if you present it as a storytelling activity, they're perfectly willing to learn how to write computer software. So all-time best head fake award goes to Caitlin Kelleher's dissertation.

President Cohen, when I told him I was going to do this talk, he said, please tell them about having fun, because that's what I remember you for. And I said, I can do that, but it's kind of like a fish talking about the importance of water. I mean I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it.

So my next piece of advice is, you just have to decide if you're a Tigger or and Eeyore. [shows slide with an image of Tigger and Eeyore with the phrase "Decide if you're Tigger or Eeyore"] I think I'm clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate. [laughter]

Never lose the childlike wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us. Help others. Denny Proffitt knows more about helping other people. He's forgotten more than I'll ever know. He's taught me by example how to run a group, how to care about people. M.K. Haley -- I have a theory that people who come from large families are better people because they've just had to learn to get along. M.K. Haley comes from a family with 20 kids. [audience collectively "aaahs"] Yeah. Unbelievable.

And she always says it's kind of fun to do the impossible. When I first got to Imagineering, she was one of the people who dressed me down, and she said, I understand you've joined the Aladdin Project. What can you do? And I said, well I'm a tenured professor of computer science. And she said, well that's very nice Professor Boy, but that's not what I asked. I said what can you do? [laughter]

And you know I mentioned sort of my working class roots. We keep what is valuable to us, what we cherish. And I've kept my [high school] letterman's jacket all these years. [Puts on letterman's jacket] I used to like wearing it in grad school, and one of my friends, Jessica Hodgins would say, why do you wear this letterman's jacket? And I looked around at all the non-athletic guys around me who were much smarter than me. And I said, because I can. [laughter]

And so she thought that was a real hoot so one year she made for me this little Raggedy Randy doll. [takes out Raggedy Randy] [laughter] He's got a little letterman's jacket too. That's my all-time favorite. It's the perfect gift for the egomaniac in your life.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-11

So, I've met so many wonderful people along the way. Loyalty is a two way street. There was a young man named Dennis Cosgrove at the University of Virginia, and when he was a young man, let's just say things happened. And I found myself talking to a dean. No, not that dean. And anyway, this dean really had it in for Dennis, and I could never figure out why because Dennis was a fine fellow. But for some reason this Dean really had it in for him. And I ended up basically saying, no, I vouch for Dennis.

And the guy says, you're not even tenured yet and you're telling me you're going to vouch for this sophomore or junior or whatever? I think he was a junior at the time. I said, yeah, I'm going to vouch for him because I believe in him. And the dean said, and I'm going to remember this when your tenure case comes up. And I said, deal. I went back to talk to Dennis and I said, I would really appreciate you...that would be good.

But loyalty is a two-way street. That was god knows how many years ago, but that's the same Dennis Cosgrove who's carrying Alice forward. He's been with me all these years. And if we only had one person to send in a space probe to meet an alien species, I'm picking Dennis. [laughter]

You can't give a talk at Carnegie Mellon without acknowledging one very special person. And that would be Sharon Burks. I joked with her, I said, well look, if you're retiring, it's just not worth living anymore. Sharon is so wonderful it's beyond description, and for all of us who have been helped by her, it's just indescribable.

I love this picture because it puts here together with Syl, and Syl is great because Syl gave the best piece of advice pound-for-pound that I have ever heard. And I think all young ladies should hear this. Syl said, it took me a long time but I've finally figured it out. When it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do. It's that simple. It's that easy. And I thought back to my bachelor days and I said, damn. [laughter]

Never give up. I didn't get into Brown University. I was on the wait list. I called them up and they eventually decided that it was getting really annoying to have me call everyday so they let me in. At Carnegie Mellon I didn't get into graduate school. Andy had mentored me. He said, go to graduate school, you're going to Carnegie Mellon. All my good students go to Carnegie Mellon. Yeah, you know what's coming.

And so he said, you're going to go to Carnegie Mellon no problem. What he had kind of forgotten was that the difficulty of getting to the top Ph.D. program in the country had really gone up. And he also didn't know I was going to tank my GRE's because he believed in me. Which, based on my board scores was a really stupid idea. And so I didn't get into Carnegie Mellon.

No one knows this. 'Til today I'm telling the story. I was declined admission to Carnegie Mellon. And I was a bit of an obnoxious little kid. I went into Andy's office and I dropped the rejection letter on his desk. And I said, I just want you to know what your letter of recommendation goes for at Carnegie Mellon. [laughter]

And before the letter had hit his desk, his hand was on the phone and he said, I will fix this. [laughter] And I said, no no no, I don't want to do it that way. That's not the way I was raised. [In a sad voice] Maybe some other graduate schools will see fit to admit me. [laughter] And he said, look, Carnegie Mellon's where you're going to be.

He said, I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal. Go visit the other schools. Because I did get into all the other schools. He said, go visit the other schools and if you really don't feel comfortable at any of them, then will you let me call Nico? Nico being Nico Habermann [the head of Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science Dept.] and I said, OK deal. I went to the other schools. Without naming them by name -- [in a coughing voice] Berkeley, Cornell. They managed to be so unwelcoming that I found myself saying to Andy, you know, I'm going to get a job. And he said, no, you're not. And he picked up the phone and he talked in Dutch. [laughter] And he hung up the phone and he said, Nico says if you're serious, be in his office tomorrow morning at eight a.m.

And for those of you who know Nico, this is really scary. So I'm in Nico Habermann's office the next morning at eight a.m. and he's talking with me, and frankly I don't think he's that keen on this meeting. I don't think he's that keen at all. And he says, Randy, why are we here? And I said, because Andy phoned you? Heh-heh. [laughter]

And I said, well, since you admitted me, I have won a fellowship. The Office of Naval Research is a very prestigious fellowship. I've won this fellowship and that wasn't in my file when I applied. And Nico said, a fellowship, money, we have plenty of money. That was back then. He said, we have plenty of money. Why do you think having a fellowship makes any difference to us? And he looked at me.

There are moments that change your life. And ten years later if you know in retrospect it was one of those moments, you're blessed. But to know it at the moment ... with Nico staring through your soul. [laughter] And I said, I didn't mean to imply anything about the money. It's just that it was an honor. There were only 15 given nationwide. And I did think it was an honor that would be something that would be meritorious. And I apologize if that was presumptuous.

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Randy Pausch's Last Lecture Part-12

And he smiled. And that was good. So. How do you get people to help you? You can't get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.

Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself. And I thought, how do I possibly make a concrete example of that? [Speaking to stage hand] Do we have a concrete example of focusing on somebody else over there? Could we bring it out?

[Speaking to audience] See, yesterday was my wife's birthday. If there was ever a time I might be entitled to have the focus on me, it might be the last lecture. But no, I feel very badly that my wife didn't really get a proper birthday, and I thought it would be very nice if 500 people -- [an oversized birthday cake is wheeled onto the stage] [applause] Happy...

Everyone: ...birthday to you [Randy: her name is Jai], happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jai, happy birthday to you! [applause]

[Jai walks on stage, teary-eyed. She walks with Randy to the cake. Randy: You gotta blow it out. The audience goes quiet. Jai blows out the candle on the cake. Randy: All right. Massive applause.]

Randy Pausch: And now you all have an extra reason to come to the reception. [laughter] Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don't really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don't bail. The best of the gold's at the bottom of barrels of crap.

[Shows slide of Steve Seabolt next to a picture of The Sims] [laughter] What Steve didn't tell you was the big sabbatical at EA, I had been there for 48 hours and they loved the ETC, we were the best, we were the favorites, and then somebody pulled me aside and said, oh, by the way, we're about to give eight million dollars to USC to build a program just like yours. We're hoping you can help them get it off the ground. [laughter] And then Steve came along and said, they said what? Oh god. And to quote a famous man, I will fix this. And he did. Steve has been an incredible partner. And we have a great relationship, personal and professional. And he has certainly been point man on getting a gaming asset to help teach millions of kids and that's just incredible. But, you know, it certainly would have been reasonable for me to leave 48 hours after that sabbatical, but it wouldn't have been the right thing to do, and when you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.

Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.

Anybody can get chewed out. It's the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right. As opposed to, no wait, the real reason is...We've all heard that. When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.

Show gratitude. When I got tenure I took all of my research team down to Disneyworld for a week. And one of the other professors at Virginia said, how can you do that? I said these people just busted their ass and got me the best job in the world for life. How could I not do that?

Don't complain. Just work harder. [shows slide of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player] That's a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.

Be good at something, it makes you valuable. Work hard. I got tenure a year early as Steve mentioned. Junior faculty members used to say to me, wow, you got tenure early. What's your secret? I said, it's pretty simple. Call my any Friday night in my office at ten o'clock and I'll tell you.

Find the best in everybody. One of the things that Jon Snoddy as I said told me, is that you might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.

And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.

So today's talk was about my childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and some lessons learned. But did you figure out the head fake? [dramatic pause] It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

Have you figured out the second head fake? The talk's not for you, it's for my kids. Thank you all, good night.

Amazing Crop Circles Appear

What are Crop Circles?

Crop circles is a term used to describe patterns created by the flattening of crops such as wheat, barley, rapeseed, rye, corn, linseed and soy. The term was first used by researcher Colin Andrews to describe simple circles he was researching.

Since 1990 the crop circles evolved into complex geometries, but by then the term had stuck. Examples can be found worldwide. Various hypotheses have been offered to explain their formation, ranging from the naturalistic to the paranormal. Naturalistic explanations include man-made hoaxes or geological anomalies, while paranormal explanations include formation by UFOs. Many circles are known to be man-made, as those created by Doug Bower, Dave Chorley, and John Lundberg, and a 2000 study into circle hoaxing concluded that 80 percent of UK circles were definitely man-made

Tennessee Crop Circles

Man-made or alien-aligned? For the second time in two years, a crop circle's appeared in Monroe County.
Does anyone know what made this? Not just yet, but everyone has their own theory. This new designs just down the road from the first crop circle. That appeared last May also in a wheat field. Neighbors say whoever, or whatever did it worked quickly and quietly. Beyond still-standing blades, there are others pushed in a perfect pattern.

"I don't know whether it's man-made or not," resident Johnnie Helm said.

It's the second Monroe County Crop Circle in two years. These lines and curves appeared in Johnnie Helm's 50-acre wheat field Monday morning.

"I didn't hear nothing. And I'm up and down all night," Helm said.

Her neighbor, Jean Merrell first spotted the bent blades.

"I always look out the window, and I thought, my goodness, what's in the field? What's happened?" resident Jean Merrell said.

The "what"? Well, the crushed crops form a triangle. At each corner a pair of circles, but "how" and "who" wilted the wheat is a crop quandary.

"I really don't think it's man-made. I don't believe anyone could do that, that quick and so perfect," Merrell said.

These thin lines are the only paths in and out. Helms says they're from crop fertilization and they've been here months. The new field phenomena's less than a half mile from last May's Crop Circle just outside Madisonville. Investigators ruled that design "non man-made." Crop circle researches came to investigate last year's design. As for this one, they want to come back.

"They'd have to be very careful, cause I ain't talked to the man I rent it to," Helm said.

"I think it's something fantastic myself," Merrell said.

"If it's aliens and they want me, they'll come and get me. Will you put up a fight? No. Why? I'll talk to them. What if you don't speak Alien? They better speak English," Helm said.

And Helm wants to know...why her backyard?

Investigators with the independent crop circle researchers organizations plan to scientifically test this design next week, but they still have to get helm's permission.


We've haven't revealed the exact location on purpose. Her land's private property. She doesn't want strangers trampling the crops. So public visits are off-limits, for now.

Olympics | China 'to top Games medal table'

 

BBC SPORT | Olympics | China 'to top Games medal table'

 

China is being tipped to end the reign of the United States as the leading Olympic nation at the Beijing Games.

Research undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University predicts the hosts will win 46 gold medals in the Chinese capital.

"China has set its stall out to become the number one nation in sport and to top the table in its host event," Professor Simon Shibli told BBC Sport.

"We are forecasting China will win 46 gold medals, which probably exceeds most other people's forecasts."

China is the most populous country in the world, with approximately 1.33 billion people, compared with the 305.8 million of the US.

Professor Shibli analysed past Olympic performances, China's record in turning bronze and silver medals into gold ones, and recent success on the international stage to reach his conclusions.

He also plotted the likely effect, the considerable sums of money and resources being pumped into its sporting development programme by the Chinese government would have on the country's medal haul in Beijing.

Professor Shibli said conservative estimates indicated the Chinese government had spent billions of pounds ensuring its Olympians were in the best possible shape when the Games start.

"Value for money and costs per medal become of secondary importance to actually winning," he said.

China first entered the Summer Olympic arena in 1984, winning 15 gold medals in the heavily boycotted Games in Los Angeles.

For a nation to be continually improving, in the case of China to double its gold medals from 16 in Barcelona to 32 in Athens, is really quite unprecedented

Professor Simon Shibli

At the 1988 Games in Seoul, China won just five golds - the same number as Great Britain - but since then its performances have improved dramatically.

China won 16 golds in both Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996) to finish fourth overall, before moving up to third in Sydney with 28 and second in Athens with 32.

"Its improvement from the Seoul Olympics in 1988 to second place and 32 gold medals in Athens is unprecedented," said Professor Shibli.

"For most nations, it is a great achievement to hang on to what you already have.

"So for a nation to be continually improving - in the case of China to double its gold medals from 16 in Barcelona to 32 in Athens - is really quite unprecedented."

Professor Shibli's research actually indicated China would win 39 gold medals in Beijing, but his team felt home support would secure the host nation a further seven.

Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia took gold in the 3m synchronised final

"It is a top-end estimate, but that is what the data is telling us," he added.

"If China were to achieve 46 gold medals, then, in the current climate, that would be more than enough to top the table."

But not everyone agrees with the results of the research.

The highly respected Luciano Barra, the former head of the Italian Olympic Committee, has predicted the US will win 45 gold medals in Beijing to top the table ahead of China, who would get 40.

As for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), it said it had not made any predictions for Beijing but admitted the host nation was favourite to top the medals table.

"The USOC has not made medal projections or set medal goals for this Olympic Games," a spokesman told BBC Sport.

"That said, America's athletes recognise just how challenging the competitive environment will be, and they are preparing with this in mind.

"While China is clearly the favourite, the USOC is confident Team USA will rise to meet the competitive challenges in Beijing."

The US has finished top of the medals table at the last three Olympics, thanks chiefly to the dominance of its athletes and swimmers.

What China is trying to do is broaden the base of sports in which it wins medals

Professor Simon Shibli

"China and the USA achieve their success in radically different sports," explained Professor Shibli.

"The USA typically does very well on the track and very well in the pool - and these are two areas in which China, traditionally, has not done very well.

"What China is trying to do is broaden the base of sports in which it wins medals. Quite often these are sports which are not particularly high profile."

China has been investing heavily in most of the Olympic disciplines ahead of Beijing and already boasts a strong record in diving, having won six golds in Athens.

It also picked up five in weightlifting, four in shooting and three in both badminton and table tennis.

Kelly Holmes won two of GB's nine gold medals at the Athens Games

In contrast, the US claimed 12 golds in the pool alone, with another eight coming from its athletes.

The Americans finished up winning 36 golds in Athens, just four ahead of China, with Russia third on 27.

As for Great Britain, they were 10th with nine, two less than they won in Sydney.

However, Professor Shibli thinks Team GB could reach double figures again in Beijing thanks to National Lottery funding and the London 2012 factor.

"All of the evidence suggests we have reasons to be positive," he said.

"We've been investing since the changes in National Lottery funding regulations to support athletes and national governing bodies.

"The evidence we have indicates that in the run-up to being the host nation, the would-be host tends to do better than it has in previous editions

"Given that we won nine gold medals in Athens it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume we'd do something like 10 to 12 and easily get a place in the top 10."

Booze and Sex

If you thought people drink to loosen up and relax a bit to be more social think again. According to a recent research report young adults in Europe deliberately binge on drink and drugs to improve their sex lives, research suggests.

The UK has one of the worst reputations for binge drinking and underage sex but there are striking similarities between countries, a study found.

A third of 16 to 35-year-old men and 23% of women questioned said they drank to increase their chance of sex.Hmmm...maybe when you are drunk it does not matter who you are doing it with!

The study - of 1,341 young people in nine countries including the UK - is published in BMC Public Health.

Young people were also more at risk of unsafe sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the study found.

The researchers said although it was well known that use of alcohol and drugs was linked to risky sexual behaviour, this study showed many young people were "strategically" binge drinking or abusing drugs to improve their sex lives.

They questioned young people in nine cities, one each in the UK, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia - who all routinely went to pubs, bars and nightclubs.

Early use of alcohol and other drugs was closely linked to having sex under the age of 16 years, in all countries, especially in girls.

Almost half of participants in Vienna, Austria had drunk alcohol and had sex by the time they were 16 compared with 36% in Venice, Italy, 37% in Palma, Spain and 30% in Liverpool.

The same was true for those who took drugs under the age of 16 but there were variations in popularity of different drugs among different countries.

More than a quarter of youngsters taking cocaine said they used it to prolong sex and drug use in general was linked to having multiple partners.

Drunkenness and drug use were found to be strongly associated with an increase in risk taking behavior and feeling regretful about having sex. That is if they remembered who they had sex with when they were high!

Those who had been drunk in the past four weeks were more likely to have had five or more partners, sex without a condom and to have regretted sex after drink or drugs in the past 12 months.

Cannabis, cocaine or ecstasy use was linked to similar consequences.

Study leader Professor Mark Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moore's University said: "Millions of young Europeans now take drugs and drink in ways which alter their sexual decisions and increase their chances of unsafe sex or sex that is later regretted.

"Yet despite the negative consequences, we found many are deliberately taking these substances to achieve quite specific sexual effects."

He added that strategies to reduce substance abuse and encourage safe sexual behaviour need to take into account the fact two are inextricably linked.

Simon Blake, chief executive of Brook, said: "When it comes to drugs and alcohol young people learn from us, the adults who help determine the culture in which young people are learning about sex, and learning about drugs and alcohol. "Sex and relationships education also needs to include more discussion about the association between alcohol, drugs and unsafe sex."

Frank Sodeen from Alcohol Concern said: "The report is a good reminder of the multiple dimensions of drink-related harm."

He added local authorities need to think as broadly as possible about projects to reduce alcohol use and incorporate issues such as sexual health.
Hey, use the protection next time, better still do it when you are sober.

Latest IPL T20 Points

IPLT20 Team rankings based on points on 5.5.2008

POINTS TABLE

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Points
IPL MOHALI	7	5	2	10
IPL JAIPUR	7