Raj Bhavsar: Indian American in Olympics

From USA Today:

Gymnast Raj Bhavsar can wake up today and know he is no longer an Olympic alternate.

Finally.

Bhavsar, an alternate on the 2004 Olympic team, was also an alternate on the 2008 team until Monday. He said he was with his coach Kevin Mazeika when he got the call that he would be Paul Hamm's replacement at the Beijing Games.

"The first thing that comes to mind is that dreams can come true," said Bhavsar, 27.

Read more about that and watch a video profile @ Sepia Mutiny.

Also, on the -ve side, Guess who topped the list of 'World's Worst Olympians' by Foreign Policy. Go ahead, give it a shot.

Tirumala Temple Satellite Picture

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THE MYTH OF A TOSS-UP ELECTION, Crystal Ball, U.Va.

THE MYTH OF A TOSS-UP ELECTION, Crystal Ball, U.Va.

Barack Obama is not a national hero like Dwight Eisenhower, and George Bush is no Harry Truman. But if history is any guide, and absent a dramatic change in election fundamentals or an utter collapse of the Obama candidacy, John McCain is likely to suffer the same fate as Adlai Stevenson.

Abramowitz is a professor of political science at Emory University. Mann is a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. Sabato is a professor of politics at the University of Virginia and director of its Center for Politics.

Top 10 Records broken by 'The Dark Knight'

From 'The Numbers':

1. The film opened in 4,366 theaters, which is the widest opening ever breaking At World's End's previous record.
2. 3,040 theaters held midnight showings where the film earned $18.49 million, breaking Revenge of the Sith's record.
3. In total on Friday the film made $67.17 million, setting the opening day in history topping Spider-man 3, as well as...
4. Biggest single day, and...
5. Biggest Friday.
6. Tying the record for fastest to $100 million at just two days.
7. On Sunday it made $43.60 million, which was the biggest Sunday ever (also beating Spider-man 3) and...
8. The biggest third day of release.
9. Over the weekend it made $158.41 which is the new record for biggest weekend.
10. While its per theater average of $36,283 was the largest per theater average for any wide release topping Spider-man 3. (However, it lost out to Miley Cyrus for best per theater average for a number one film.)

Top 10 Highest Grossing Bollywood Movies in 2008

Top 10 Highest Grossing Bollywood Movies in 2007

It's time for some Campaigning

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India's contribution to UN Peacekeeping Forces

India right now is the 3rd largest contributor for the UN peacekeeping operations behind Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Acorn's Nitin Pai and Sushant K Singh argue in Indian Express, that India should reconsider being such a high contributor.

Anit Mukherjee of Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC argues against it in the same paper.

And Nitin's response to Anit.

Thought provoking and Interesting reads for the weekend.

So You Think You Can Dance - Bollywood Edition

From Nirali:

Katee and Joshua performed the first ever Bollywood number on "So You Think You Can Dance" to "Dhoom Taana" from "Om Shanti Om" last night and KILLED it. I absolutely loved this number and the choreographer, Nakul Dev Mahajan, did an amazing job teaching these two the specifics of proper bhangra and classical dance technique.

MSM VS Wesley Clark

What Wes Clark Said on Face the Nation:

Bob Schieffer: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.

MSM's reaction to that:



Just plain WOW!!

12 deaths per day

Thanks to Mumbai's local trains. Read abt that here.

Chronotopic Anamorphosis

Pretty cool video. Watch till the end. You won't regret it.


Chronotopic Anamorphosis from Marginalia Project on Vimeo.