Leaking water and suit against Actress

Three decades ago, Chennai had sprawling bungalows and big, narrow houses which generally would extend to the next street almost.  Gone are those days and now you have only apartments of various hue – big, small, ordinary, luxury and more.  The flat culture have their own drawbacks and the worst to start with is the common wall, floor, ceiling etc., that you share with your neighbours with both not knowing what exactly is right and to what extent one can go………………….  ….

My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 American comedy film written and produced by Dale Launer, directed by Jonathan Lynn.  The film deals with two young New Yorkers traveling through rural Alabama who are put on trial for a murder they did not commit, and the comic attempts of a cousin, a newly minted lawyer, to defend them.  Marisa Tomei won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress for this film.  Marisa Tomei  is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987. After appearing in a few films, her breakthrough came in 1992 with the comedy My Cousin Vinny. 

She has appeared in many films after that and she is in news again, albeit for different reasons – a law suit by Insurance companies to be precise !!

There are reports that 3 Insurers – members of Chubb Group have reportedly filing a suit accusing her of negligence.  The cause of action reportedly is leakage from the actress’ apartment which had caused extensive water damage to the premises and properties of her Greenwich village apartment neighbours.   The affected persons had claimed compensation from their Insures and the present law suit appears to be one by the Insurance companies as subrogees.   The value is reportedly closer to $ 130000. 

Water leakage in an apartment or building affecting neighbour’s property is not uncommon – but in this part of the World, the Insurance penetration is low and not many would have Insurance coverage.  If they had one, they would claim from their Insurers.  Filing law suits against the person causing loss is not so common due to cumbersome process and the time that it might take.. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

An India Lanka Encounter at Perth and the bend of Ajmal

Today at Perth India play Sri Lanka in the CBS Tri Series – Perth may not be the ideal One day venue with its support for pacers.  Its in fact a re-match of the 2011 WC Finals and MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag are set to play their first ODI together since the World Cup final.  But after 10 months of the Indian hour of glory after  Wankhede finals, much has changed – the fortunes have nose-dived and the teams have been battered outside their dominion.

 

At a time when money flowed in IPL auction, Lankans are in disarray as the players are not even paid by their bankrupt board.  The battered and bruised Lankans have had other shocks as well – Geoff Marsh has been rudely taken off, Dilshan found the going too tough and relinquished captaincy !  so Mahela Jayawardene is back at the helm.   India has been playing Lanka rather frequently with  34 of their 129 clashes happening  between 2008 and 2010.

The dasher Virender Sehwag who was dropped against Australia in the inaugural game is most like to play.  Indians who lost time won the CB series is now struggling at the start of the series itself is not a welcome sign.  In the last match, in Australia, Dhoni played with 2 pacers – Vinay Kumar and Praveen and that speaks the volumes of the bench strength  though there is Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav and Zaheer.   Ravindra Jadeja who was sold for so many crores in the IPL 5 and who won the MoM in T20 primarily for his fielding, leaked 41 runs in 16 balls and is most likely to be dropped. 

So a clash of neighbours in a far away Perth.  Lankans would be led by Mahela of a pace centered attack of Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perara, Kulasekara, Malinga and possibly Welegadara trying to exploit the green pitch on a hot day.    India have a career 68-50 advantage, but One dayers are always games where the team that plays better on that day wins, rather than the form or the status of the players !!  Sachin besides that elusive 100^th ton is 18 away from 3000 runs against Lanka having made more than 3000 against Australia, a feat which no one else has achieved.  There is talk of India mulling rotation of openers -  Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Tendulkar which would be decent explanation of Sehwag being left out of ODI at MCG.   Despite the dismal performance the team did not change their batting line-up in the 4 test series. 

There are reports that the Sri Lanka Cricket Board  postponed the inaugural T 20 bash amid looming financial crunch and the withdrawal of BCCI from the league.  Without Indian support, SLC cannot organize the tournament as  Sri Lanka Cricket is reported to have  accumulated $69 million in debt after the World Cup. India last month barred its players from taking part in the Sri Lanka Premier League, saying the tournament was being organized by a private company.  In such a depressing scenario,  Sri Lanka’s national cricket board was elected uncontested  recently amid allegations that political pressure had forced favourites to withdraw from the first election in seven years.  Businessman Upali Dharmadasa became president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) unopposed as front-runner Thilanga Sumathipala withdrew at the last minute.  The sports ministry, which conducted the election among cricket clubs affiliated to Sri Lanka Cricket, dismissed allegations of irregularities.

Sri Lanka Cricket is facing a severe financial crisis over the cost of co-hosting the 2011 World Cup.  SLC has not been able to pay salaries to its staff for October and to around 100 contracted Sri Lankan cricketers since the island nation co-hosted the World Cup with India and Bangladesh in April earlier this year due to the debt that the country's Board is facing.  Some 263 employees of the Board and 94 contracted cricketers' payments remain outstanding to be settled, the officials confirmed.  It is stated that  SLC needs over 30 million rupees monthly to meet its contractual payment obligations and staff wages.  The number of staff has gone up from 12 in 1996 when Sri Lanka won the World Cup to over 260 now and the management is often criticised for its extravagance.

Elsewhere, after the whitewash handed to England there was fresh controversy after the interview of the Man of the Series – the spinner Saeed Ajmal.  There are reports that in the interview with the BBC, Ajmal volunteered the belief that the ICC had allowed him 23.5 degrees to compensate for an accident in which he injured his arm. The ICC, however, were quick to reject the suggestion.

Cricinfo quotes Ajmal as saying "Someone is telling me my action is bad because the ICC allowed me as a bowler 23.5 degrees, because my arm is not good. A few years ago I had an accident. Otherwise, no problem, the action was cleared by ICC."  An ICC spokeman denied that was the case. "There is no dispensation for anyone," he said. "It is worth remembering that his first language is not English and this may have been a slip of the tongue.".  David Richardson, the ICC's general manager of cricket, confirmed that Ajmal's arm is not naturally straight and that Ajmal's action does not fall outside the 15-degree tolerance limit.  "There is a big difference between the 'elbow carry angle' (elbow abduction) and the degree of elbow extension," he said. "There is nothing preventing a bowler bowling with a bent arm, provided he does not straighten it beyond the permitted degrees of tolerance."  In an interview on the ICC website, Richardson added: "In Saeed Ajmal's case he has a 15-degree angle of elbow abduction."  The PCB issued a statement attempting to clarify the situation although their claim that Ajmal's elbow has a natural angle of 23 degrees didn't match Richardson's explanation that it was 15 degrees, which also happens to be the ICC's tolerance limit.

Can you decipher that ?  - a tough rule understood by none and interpreted by everybody – Muralitharan was subjected to humiliation and torture, undergoing bio-mechanics test and more with multiple leads attached to his body and yet called a sinner by some Boards, taunted down-under, now Ajmal the leading wicket taker and the man who took 24 wickets in the present series at an average of 14.7 is under cloud.  The Britons led by Bob Willis had already raised concerns on his action. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

Holy Shrine of Tirumala - earns in carbon credit also

To the devout, Tirumala is the most sacred – housing the temple of Lord Srinivasa thronged by millions, yearning for a few seconds of darshan at Sanctum Sanctorum.  Tirumala is collection of Seven Peaks in the Eastern ghats and lies 3200 feet above seal level.  The seven peaks are named as Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri respectively.

the Gopuram and the greenery on way

Sure have heard of greenhouse gases – gases in atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be colder than at present. 

Now a days there is fancied talk about Carbon Credit – a generic term for a tradable certificate or Permit representing the right to emit 1 tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of  another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent.  Carbon credits and carbon markets are a component of national and international attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Carbon trading is an application of an emissions trading approach. The goal is to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes in the direction of low emissions or less carbon intensive approaches than those used when there is no cost to emitting carbon dioxide and other GHGs into the atmosphere. Since GHG mitigation projects generate credits, this approach can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners and around the world.

The optimal way should the reduction of greenhouse gases by adoption of technologies and restrict emission of gases.  The other easy way out made is tie up with developing nations and help them set up new technology that is eco-friendly, thereby helping developing country or its companies 'earn' credits.  In simple terms, making others carry your burden and pay for that.  Conveniently it is stated that India, China and some other Asian countries have the advantage because they are developing countries. Any company, factories or farm owner in India can get linked to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and know the 'standard' level of carbon emission allowed for its outfit or activity. The extent to which  the industry is emitting less carbon (as per standard fixed by UNFCCC), it becomes entitled to credit – the  carbon credit.  These credits are bought over by the companies of developed countries, read European Countries.  

the deer park on the way to Holy Hills

Now comes the Crowning Glory – the connection to the holy Tirumala.  Every day lakhs of devotees visit to pay obeisance at sacred Tirumala. More people also means usage of water, electricity and other energy resources.   The Temple reportedly is showing the way in conserving release of green house gases and is into earning carbon credits also.  Reserve forests have been developed around the Temple hills which act as carbon sinks and the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) is also promoting the use of sustainable technologies.  The EO is quoted as saying that "While we currently use a mix of conventional and non-conventional energy sources, our aim is make the place more reliant on sustainable sources of energy," he says.  "Most of our devotees are progressive. In a religious place like Tirumala, we can set the example by going green. Probably the impact will be much more than normal government advertisements or publicity."

The community kitchen feeds thousands of pilgrims every day.  Inside the temple complex, a large multi-storey building is dedicated to just one thing - cooking free meals for pilgrims.  Several cooks work in tandem stirring large pots of rice, curry and vegetables. Nearly 50,000 kilos of rice along with lentils are cooked here every day. Open all day, this community kitchen is the biggest green project for the temple. Located on the roof of this building are rows of solar dishes that automatically move with the angle of the sun, capturing the strong sunlight.   The solar panels on the roof of the temple power solar cookers, powering the community kitchen below.  Then the energy is used to convert water into high pressure steam, which cooks the food in the kitchen below.  Generating over 4,000kgs of steam a day at 180º C, this makes the cooking faster and cheaper. As a result, an average of 500 litres of diesel fuel is saved each day.  

By switching to green technologies, the temple cuts its carbon emissions and earns a carbon offset, or credit, which they can sell.

First Post reports that Badal Shaw is the managing director of Gadhia Solar Energy Systems, which has set up the solar cookers. He estimates that this has resulted in a reduction of more than 1,350kgs of green house gases in the atmosphere.  "This was the first project to get a gold standard certification - it's a registered project and it is issuing carbon credits," he says.  "From a monetary value, carbon being a tradable commodity - the prices keeps going up and down ... we sold the carbon credits of this and various other projects to the German government."  Besides the Sun, the Temple is also harnessing wind energy. Companies like Suzlon and Enercon have donated turbines which generate a combined total of 7.5 megawatts of power.

Devotees to the Holy Shrine make generous donations in cash and resources which include diamonds, gold and other forms including human hair as thousands tonsure their head in fulfillment of vows.  The temple city has been identified as a future 'low-carbon footprint city' by European Aid and Development, which works under the European Commission.  The cutting edge is that these  technologies cost money and authorities state that when  pilgrims use the water and learn that sustainable sources of energy are being tapped into make the water, food, power available to them, it inspires them. They too will want to learn more about the technology behind it.  According to a 2010 study by HSBC Research, India's share of the $2.2 trillion market for low carbon goods and services in 2020 could be as much as $135bn. The report further predicts that India's clean technology market could create 10.5m green jobs, and is likely to grow faster than any other country.  So at Tirumala, even as the pilgrims have darshan and enjoy the meals cooked using green sources of energy, there is possibility of these becoming investments, generating more money.

 Uthsavar Purappadu and Golden Ananda Vimanam 

One ponders to think whether the Temple need to do anything but the devotees would do everything if only the Religious Sanctity of Holy Tirumala is not disturbed and the traditional rites are continued in the same manner for thousands of years to come.

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at fighting global warming. The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol. The only remaining signatory not to have ratified the protocol is the United States. Other United Nations member states which did not ratify the protocol are Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan. In December 2011, Canada denounced the Protocol !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

PS :  Most of the statistical inputs on Tirumala carbon credit taken from  an article that appeared in www.firstpost.com

the 'kolaveri di' rage at IIM Ahmedabad - Believe it ?

It is one of the most prestigious Educational Institutions – IIM – the  Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad -  a business school located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.  It is the second Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to be established, after IIM Calcutta, in 1961.    They churn out highly paid Business Managers who come out not only with Graduation but with lot of knowledge imparted through various lectures by eminent personalities. 

Recently, His Holiness Dalai Lama lectured at IIM Calcutta on the subject ‘Peace’.   Amidst thunderous applause, he  was a person of humility and modesty and conveyed his message in his unique way.  He reportedly said he believed that everyone was the same by nature. He cited the merits of Indian culture and said he was a messenger of India to the world.  Despite being a religious head, he gives people the option of  being religious or otherwise, but stresses on the  inner values define our actions and the pursuit of inner beauty would lead to happiness.  Many great people including Azim Premzi, Harsha Bhogle have all lectured at IIM

Now there is news that  Managers-to-be at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) will learn the art of viral marketing from the man who has re-defined the concept.  It is reported that  the actor Dhanush will deliver a lecture and discuss the success story of the hyped ‘kolaveri di’ song  at the premier institute.   Reports speak of Dhanush along with cousin and music composer Anirudh Ravichander,  are to  address a class of about 130 students of Contemporary Film Industry (CFI) course atIIM-A., focusing on the success story of Kolaveri Di, perception and insights by Dhanush and Anirudh, viral marketing and social media.

The Cine industry itself is too unpredictable and what defines success is never clearly defined.  This is a song from the upcoming Tamil film '3' (Moondru),  which created mass hysteria on cyberspace since its digital release on November 16.  The song sung by Rajinikanth's son-in-law became a raging success online with over 10 million downloads. If you hear it, you will start wondering ‘how this song’ rather than pondering how success was achieved. 

Dhanush reportedly  tweeted, "Gearing up to make my speech at IIM institute ahmedabad tom. I don kno good english. but who cares, I'm an indian. not english."

To the Organisers at IIM,  the success of the song is a classic example of viral marketing. Most IIMs have screened the song in class to discuss how the same strategy can be used by companies to leverage their marketing activities. Students have also carried out case studies on Kolaveri Di.  The actor has always mocked his English and the reason why the Kolaveri song could have become a rage is that it is also mocking in nature.

Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awarenessor to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses.  It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.   The ultimate goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals and their competitors in their communications with others in a short period of time.

The kolaveri bug is smiting long even as one wonders how it could ever become a hit

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

Captain Ivan Vikulov catches fire at Azov Sea.

The Crimean Wars took place during 1853-56.  It was a naval and ground campaign pitting the Allied Navies of Britain and France against Russia.  In May 1855, allied forces captured Kerch and gained access to Azov sea and attacked Taganrog.  The sea port with stood all attempts to capture despite the vast superiority of the allied forces.  The main parties to the conflict were the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia - a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. The Crimean War is  considered to be one of the mostr modern wars.   It is also one of the wars to be documented extensively.  

The Sea of Azov is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow (about 4 km) Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded by Ukraine mainland, Russia and  Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. The Don and Kuban are the major rivers that flow into it. The Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world with the depth varying between 0.9 metres (2 ft 11 in) and 14 metres (46 ft).  There is a constant outflow of water from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.

The sea is largely affected by the inflow of numerous rivers, which bring sand, silt, and shells, forming numerous bays.  Because of these deposits, the sea bottom is relatively smooth and flat with the depth gradually increasing toward the sea centre. Also, due to the river inflow, water in the sea has low salinity and high content of biological matter, such as green algae that affects the water colour. Abundant plankton results in unusually high fish productivity. The shallowness and low salinity of the sea make it vulnerable to freezing during the winter. Under the present climate the sea no longer freezes over, although during the 18th and 19th centuries, and as recently as in the late 1970s, it was normally frozen over every year by early February. The ice is often unstable and piles up to the height of several metres. Before introduction of icebreakers, navigation was halted in the winter.

A ship getting struck in ice and seeking help of ice-breakers in this region is no news but a Maltese-flagged cargo ship caught fire on 5^th Feb 12, while  stuck in heavy ice in the Azov Sea.  The vessel, the M/V Captain Ivan Vikulov, sent a distress signal to maritime authorities in the Ukraine Sunday morning requesting assistance.  Reports state that  icebreaker, Kapitan Moshkin, along with a helicopter were dispatched to the scene to rescue 14 Russian crew members on board.  The fire reportedly stands extinguished, though smoldering continued for some time.  It is now reported that the vessel is  currently at anchor in the Sea of Azov 50 kilometers east of the village of Strilkove on the Arabat Spit. The ship owner  is to decide on the fate of the vessel.

Ship photo from www.vesseltracker.com

The  vessel Ivan Vikulov with Maltese flag was heading from Algeria to Rostov-on-Don  and was  blocked by ice since January 28, 2012.  Preliminary reports say that the fire was caused by an explosion; the assisting vessel  Russian ice-breaker Captain Moshkin  helped localize the fire.   Reports further state that 10 people have already been evacuated, with the captain and three more crew members still aboard the crippled ship which is currently tugged to a Russian port.  All those evacuated are in good condition, medics said.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

Ageing - Challenging one's age - Upper or lower ?!?!?

All of us advance with age – at least physiologically.  Passing of 365 days add a year to our age and we become aged to that extent.  Most of us mature with age – learn some wisdom – some practical – may or may not be useful.  Ageing is accumulation of changes in a person over a period of time.  Ageing is not only of advancement of years but could be multidimensional process of physical, psychological and social changes.  All movements are not forward and not all growth is wisdom ! Most humans would be too happy to have a natural death arising out of ageing……. 

In most offices, there is the age limit after which people are not permitted to work. This may not be applicable for Directors and others. There are institutions like Indian Parliament where there is no upper age limit.  Superannuation is the act of discharging someone because of age – causing to retire from service on a pension.

In earlier days, most did not possess Birth certificate and it was the date that was filled in the school records at the entry mostly would cast a die. For most earlier day people, it was the SSLC book (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) which remained a great reference material and establishing proof of one’s age.  There have been age related disputes at workplace, especially when one gets closer to retirement.  Earlier people were able to change their age by filing affidavits; later by challenging the age certificate in civil courts and Tribunals.  Much debate followed as a reaction to Army Chief General VK Singh’s moving the Supreme Court against the Govt on the age row.  It is a high profile post and a case against the Govt by the Military Chief is sort of unheard of.  In someways it has undermined the prestige of those great institutions.  The Govt. maintains that General VK Singh was born on 10^th May 1950 when the General contends that his DOB is 10^th May 1951. 

Way back the Constitution 43^rd Amendment in 1976 amended the Article  316(2)  of  the Constitution.    The age of  retirement   of  Government employees  was 55 originally but was later raised to 58.  Presently, I understand that, the age of retirement for Central Govt employees is 60 while it is 58 for the State Govt. personnel.

The age issue of the Chief is likely to disturb the succession plan in the Army and has put to unrest many issues of importance.  Age related issues have been to the fore many a times but in a totally different perspective !!!  Sure, when you studied in school there were various intra and inter-school competitions of Junior, Sub-junior, Senior and various other grades. –and in most you would find top-performers looking much beyond their age-group.  Physique, height, weight or mere looks cannot be any yardsticks but still, one was sure that over-aged people were trying to participate and beat their younger clan surreptiously or even overtly.  Their reported age and the standards they were studying would not match and the popular joke was that they would remain in the group, till they win the championship.  This is prevalent in U16, U19 tournaments in Cricket, football, Hockey, Athletics and more other games.  Sportspersons resort to many unacceptable practices including doping to win by hook or crook, and many a times, the Coaches and Academies are also to be blamed for being hand in glove. 

Brow-beating the system is no skill, it is just a reflection of evil sinister designs of the perpetrator.

Then there are people like Fauja Singh who on  Sunday, 5^th Feb 2012, completed  the 10 km in 94 minutes in Hong Kong Marathon.  He was born on April 1, 1911 and that makes him the World’s oldest marathoner.  But  has been denied entry into the Guinness World Records as he failed to produce his birth certificate.  He was able to produce a passport listing his date of birth as April 1, 1911, and a letter from Queen Elizabeth II congratulating him on his 100th birthday.  Guinness World Records  reportedly stated  "Although we appreciate the great running achievement of Mr Singh, we simply cannot acknowledge the title for the 'oldest marathon runner' until we have a copy of an original birth certificate”

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

Kochadaiyaan progressing rapidly and Motion Capture

I am no Cinema buff – but do read and write a lot of Cricket matches and its trivia.    Recently, the famous film Avatar was aired on TV and I occasioned to see most of it.  It was complex science fiction of James Cameron set on the story of humans mining precious mineral unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon in  Alpha Centauri – there were genetically engineered Navi human hybrid bodies and there was the usual love story !

When I was in school, the film Apporva Raagangal was much spoken of – a film of K Balachandar dwelling on controversial relationship between people with wide age gaps.  It was a film where Rajnikanth debuted in a negative role.  After a brief phase of such antagonistic characters, he rose to become an established actor and gained idol status – of the recent past, a hype surrounds his every move !

In tinseldom, they innovate reasons for celebrations – film running 4 weeks !; 50 days; 100 days; 100 shows – to the recent wisdom of song recording, release of audio, making of audio, preview and what not ? – still an advertisement that ‘progressing rapidly’ is perhaps another new !!

As usual there is much hype about “Kochadaiyaan” – the new venture of Rajni, to be directed by Soundarya R. Ashwin and written by K. S. Ravikumar.  The film,  is reported to be shot with motion capture in 3D, will have cinematography handled by Rajiv Menon. In the advertisement released in all prominent dailies today [6^th Feb 12] it claims to be “India’s first performance capture photorealistic film.”.  Sure more people will be writing on Rajnikanth playing a long-haired, eighth century Pandya king known for his legendary valour. 

The motion capture is reportedly an animation technique used by Steven Spielberg for The Adventures of Tintin. The producers of Kochadaiyaan call it “performance capture”.  In motion capture, the actors wear body suits with reflective magnetic markers which will plot their movements and expressions through several digital cameras and impart them to animated characters using high-end computers and software. This technique makes animation close to natural and captures even the subtle expressions and movements of body parts as one saw in Avatar or Tintin. I am not too sure whether the technology or adaptation of dance sequence in Sankar film ‘Jeans’ in which Aiswarya Rai would dance with skeleton  - shown as morphed by sensors to represent movements by another actor is one of motion tracking ?

Read that  Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model.  They are used in varied fields including military. In filmmaking, it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation. When it includes face and fingers or captures subtle expressions, it is often referred to as performance capture.  In the film Avtaar, there was the system for lighting massive areas like Pandora's jungle,  and an improved method of capturing facial expressions, enabling full performance capture. To achieve the face capturing, actors wore individually made skull caps fitted with a tiny camera positioned in front of the actors' faces; the information collected about their facial expressions and eyes is then transmitted to computers.   A technically challenging scene was near the end of the film when the computer-generated Neytiri held the live action Jake in human form, and attention was given to the details of the shadows and reflected light between them.

There have been some great films in the Hollywood using revolutionary computer graphics and Avtaar, Lord of Rings, Matrix would all sure rank amongst them – and perhaps the Star War series set the tone for all these.  Understand that in earlier times, they used to manipulate setting strategic frames and making computer interpolate in a process known as keyframing.  In contrast, the motion capture uses live action – a real performer acts out the scene as if they were the character to be animated.  That motion is recorded and applied to animated character. 

In Cine-field, most action is un-real – great fight scenes are enacted  by stuntmen masking and duping for the real hero and this is a different type of hero duping for the animated character, perhaps !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

Hail the spirit of World's oldest Marathoner - Fauja Singh

How fit are you and would you consider completing “10 km in 94 minutes” would be considered a great achievement ?  -  Never jump to any conclusion before you have full facts.  You have to perforce to know the age at least ?  His biography is titled "Turbaned Tornado", which was formally released in the Attlee Room of Britain's House of Lords on July 7, 2011 by Lord Anthony Young of Norwood Green and retired British Supreme Court judge Sir Mota Singh. The 114-page book, penned by journalist and writer Khushwant Singh, traces the runner's roots and tries to capture his life's journey, understanding the impact of Fauja on the world around him. 

There are Marathons and Half-marathons ! As you would know, a  half marathon is a road running event of 21.0975 kilometres (13.1094 mi).    The Eritrean long distance runner  Zersenay Tadese  currently holds the men's half marathon world record. His bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Athens.  He currently holds the World Record having the run the distance in 58:23 secs.   The women’s record is much lower at 65:50 held by Mary Jepkosgei Keitany  of Kenya. 

 Keitanya of Kenya

In 2004, he was 92 and age did not deter the  marathon runner Fauja Singh from signing a deal with Adidas for a major advertising campaign 'Impossible is Nothing'. On Sunday, 5^th Feb 2012, he lived up to the adage by completing the 10 km in 94 minutes in Hong Kong Marathon.

After charming scores of fans with his amazing feats, centenarian British-Indian athlete Fauja Singh, surprised Hong Kongers, completing a 10-km run. “The weather was very pleasant, I enjoyed the race very much,” Singh, popularly known as the “Turbaned Torpedo,” was quoted as saying   after crossing the finishing line in one hour and 34 minutes. He attributed his fitness to a healthy lifestyle totally insulated from cigarette and alcohol, raised 2,00,000 Hong Kong dollars (USD 25,800) for acharity through the event.

Ironically, even as Singh achieved the feat, a 26-year-old male runner fainted after completing the race and was declared “brought dead” in hospital.

Fauja Singh was born on  April 1, 1911. Singh has participated in various international events including the 2003 London Marathon, where he recorded his current personal best time of 6 hours and 2 minutes.  He is claimed as saying that he wont stop running until his death and at a time when people would even struggle to walk, he is running !   He has been running and at the age of 100 (and a half), Singh attempted and accomplished eight world age group records in one day, at the special Ontario Masters Association Fauja Singh Invitational Meet, held at Birchmount Stadium in Toronto, Ontario Canada. Timed by officials in Canada.  Three days later, on October 16, 2011, Singh became the first 100 year old to complete a marathon, running the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 8:11:06.  In October 2011, Singh, a vegetarian, also became the oldest man to be featured in a PETA campaign.

Singh claims to be the world's oldest marathoner but has been denied entry into the Guinness World Records as he failed to produce his birth certificate.  He was able to produce a passport listing his date of birth as April 1, 1911, and a letter from Queen Elizabeth II congratulating him on his 100th birthday.  Guinness World Records  reportedly stated  "Although we appreciate the great running achievement of Mr Singh, we simply cannot acknowledge the title for the 'oldest marathon runner' until we have a copy of an original birth certificate."  To them, passport could only be a supporting evidence, the key piece is birth  certificate.   A letter from the Indian government stating that no birth records were kept in 1911 was also submitted, as was a statement vouching for Singh's age from a former neighbour in India; but these, too, have failed to impress Guinness World Records.

Whether Guinness acknowledges or not, his feat of  10 km in 94 minutes in Hong Kong event at ripe age of  101 + 9 M is a very great achievement. 

Hail and salute the performance and indomitable spirit of Fauja Singh

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

SYMA Childfest Prize Distribution in The Hindu Downtown

The Hindu Downtown (supplement for Triplicane, Royapettah, Mylapore etc.,) had an article covering SYMA Child Fest 2012, and our Prize Distribution function held at Mylapore Fine Arts on 29^th Jan 2012.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

Melbourne Mess - yet another poor performance by India

A bowling attack spearheaded by Starc, Harris, Christian and Mckay backed up by Doherty – certainly not anything of a force to reckon with !

A rain affected match – it came down heavily after 11 overs when hosts were 35 for 2 – they made 217 – no adjustment of Duckworth & Lewis, India chased 217 hardly was there making 151.  Another sad tale again. 

It was a day when India took some harsh decisions thought not all were logical. First the man who recently made 219 in a Onedayer was dropped ! – Virender Sehwag has been struggling to make runs, he was dropped and Sachin was in.  Indian pace attack was manned by Pravin Kumar and Vinay Kumar – only 2 – backed by Virat Kohli and the spin of Ashwin, Rahul Sharma and Jadeja – not a wise move though Melbourne is known for the long boundaries. 

And there was another blunder at a time when technology reigns roost. There are laptops, and many other gadgets with support staff, coaches, Umpires, Third Umpire, Match Referee and more.  It is a simple ordinary rule that the total no. overs at play get divided by 5 and remaining are the extra for the no. of bowlers.  In a 55 overs contest, a bowler cannot bowl more than 11; in 50 overs a side, a bowler cannot bowl more than 10 and if it is 42 – two bowlers can bowl 9 while others can bowl only 8.  Simple ! In a 32 over scenario, if you employ only 5 bowlers 3 can bowl 6 while only 2 can bowl 7 !!

Nigel Llong who officiated represents ECB who earlier played for Kent.  He has been officiating from 2005.  Bruce Oxenford played first grade cricket with University of Queensland, and first officiated in Queensland v New Zealanders match at the Brisbane Cricket Gound in November 2001. In 2008 he stood in the match between  India and Sri Lanka at Manuka Oval.

At the end of 31 overs Australia were coasting along at 197/5 with David Jussey on 48 off 27 balls and Christian on 13.  Praveen just completed his 7 overs after Vinay’s 7 and Rahul Sharma who had bowled 6 overs conceding 42 and taking a wicket was given the ball.

31.1 – Rahul Sharma to Christian – no run; 31.2 – batsmen run a brace.  Umpires stopped the play, realizing only now that Rahul is the third bowler into his 7^th over.  So what would happen to those 2 ? – what would have happened if he had taken 2 wickets with them ??

Dhoni already with less bowling options had to call Jadeja for bowling those remaining 4 balls.  Generous, the boy who was the subject of millions showered in IPL instead chose to bowl 5 not all legal deliveries though and ended up donating more runs.  His first ball (31.3) went for 1; 4^th was hoisted for a six; 5^th produced a single; 6^th a no ball and a single and of the last – free hit – another six over deep mid wicket.

Earlier Warner and Ponting got out early but Matthew Wade was impressive with a half century on debut and David Hussey later tore into the bowling, finishing on 61 from 30 balls.

India had a long batting line-up with Sachin, Gambhir opening followed by Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni – but none clicked and it was another familiar story of loss.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar