The Indian Premier League (IPL)

So the Rajasthan Royals beat the Deccan Chargers in a close match today in Hyderabad, India.

Y'know, I will be the first to admit that I was pining for Shane Warne's side to win...and they did!! Warnie himself brought the match to a sensational close. Although as the Captain of the Rajasthan Royals -- he is the only non-Indian skipper in the newly formed Indian Premier League (IPL) -- I had expected him to come in to bat earlier. Afridi claimed 3 important wickets for the Deccan Chargers. That was a bit ironic since it was Afridi who had earlier complained that American cheerleaders out on the boundary were being a distraction. I guess the girls weren't distracting him that time. Still his team, the Chargers, lost.

Too bad for the magnanimous Laxman's side: the Deccan Chargers. Today's loss is their 3rd consecutive one in the IPL's debut season. Wait a minute! Being from Madurai, should I be supporting the Chennai Super Kings who have so far won both the matches they have played?! Well, the Super Kings are gonna be playing Kolkata on Saturday. But I likely will be down in the Cape...

Speaking of cheerleaders, the Washington Redskins cheerleaders who are currently in India to train Indian women on the sport of cheerleading will be returning home next week. Yay! I miss them already. I can't predict the future of cheerleading in India but it will likely remain in a much more conservative version rather than the "bare, heaving, alabaster buxoms" version evident so far.

Any which way you look, it looks like non-Indians are the ones making the biggest impact in the actual games, primarily the Australian players (no wonder there)...and Brendon McCullum. I will tell you: that McCullum kid is something. But then, for only six weeks of play, these guys are being paid big money by the IPL, the likes of which have only been seen in Football and Rugby so far. No wonder McCullum's national teammates, now recently arrived in England for a clash with the Brits and the Scots, are being rueful about not being in India.

I am not sure of the long-term outlook for the IPL. I will tell you this: India certainly has surpassed herself in introducing such a league to professional Cricket!

How the Earth was Made (A brief DVD review)

I first watched this show on the History channel at the beginning of last winter and liked it immediately. So I pre-ordered the DVD on amazon right away. It arrived last week and is currently making the rounds in my office!

Many a time, I have visualized how our precocious planet formed and evolved based on paleobiological evidence. I always get a feeling of euphoria whenever I imagine a pristine Earth with dynamics that have been changing over mind-numbing time scales. Well, the graphics in this show come pretty close to my own imagination.

The playback, divided by mostly uneven time segments, starts at around 4.4 billion years ago and eventually works its way to the last ice age before briefly dwelling on the planet's future. There is a time slider that briefly appears at the start of each time segment. Yes, dinosaurs are mentioned and shown but only briefly. Yup, stromatalites are in there as well along with Trilobites. It should be noted that the Cambrian Explosion and the Carboniferous are mentioned. For some reason, I was surprised to learn that granite first formed several billion years ago.

Other subjects discussed in depth include plate tectonics (continents, mountains, etc.), land inhabitation by flora and marine animals and super-volcanoes. The DVD ends with a bunch of scientists dwelling on the future of Earth. I decided not to read too much into their predictions as I won't be around if/when what they predict happens.

Further Reading: Paleobiology with evolutionary milestones across geological time