Sachin Tendulkar has decided to retire from ODI cricket. I'll always remember him for his impeccable placement of shots -- it seemed that not a single player was on the field when the cameras followed the balls to the boundary.
Favorite moment? His audacious assault on the Pakistani bowlers, Akhtar in particular, during the 2003 World Cup.
Before and after here is quite amusing.
Unfortunately, I can't take any credit for this development.
Those disconnections are so annoying. Also, what a fantastic ending.
One French actor has had enough:
The French actor whose eccentric personality has come to symbolise a certain, old fashioned form of Gallic love for good food and the pleasures in life, also known as a "bon vivant," said he is finished with the country, in a letter published in the Journal du Dimanche.
Take a look at these staggering numbers:
He said he paid 85 per cent of his income in taxes in 2012, and over 45 years, has paid 145 million Euros – or £118 million – in taxes.
Still, the socialist politicians scold this burdened fellow:
However the minister of culture, Aurelie Filippetti, joined her Socialist colleagues who criticised the actor's decision on Sunday. She said he was "deserting the field in the middle of a war against the [economic] crisis," and that "French citizenship is an honour, and includes rights and also duties, which include the ability to pay taxes."
Ability! He paid 85% tax this year. He's practically a slave of the French state. There's no "honour" in that.
Fantastic images submitted by readers to the Fro.
This photo reminds of The Return of the King in which Gandalf walks towards the steward of Gondor. It has that majestic, epic feel.
But I need feminism too. I need feminism because I need humor in my life and feminism never ceases to supply an ample quantity of it.
Indeed.
A nice photo pick by the Fro.
Tambi Dude provides this link to an article which describes the history of anti-Ahmadi sentiment in Pakistan.
It's strange to meet non-Pakistani people in Canada who used to live and work in Pakistan in the 1960s and the 1970s. During that time, relatively speaking, Pakistan was doing better than India. Why? Religious hatred in Pakistan hadn't been fully ignited and India was being economically broken through dumb socialist policies.
It seems that Pakistan has been on a frightening downward trajectory since I was born: more religious oppression and less economic freedom. So much so that Pakistan started exporting its hatred; The Taliban in Afghanistan being the prime example.
The leader of the Ahmadis isn't doing himself any favors. After years and years of subjugation in Muslim lands around the world, he stands up and diplomatically lectures the West (!) for hurting the feelings of Muslims. To make matters worse, he showcases his totalitarian streak by calling for the criminalization of speech that wounds Muslims. What a hypocritical ass. Only in the West, can he stand in front of a crowd and freely speak his mind. The Saudis won't even let him enter the heart of Islam.
Why does it seem that people have to pay more for essentials? This article provides the two reasons: inflation and falling incomes.
Link via Instapundit.
That's what I see here. Sadly, the movie was awful.
Moon Tae-Hwa stares at his computer, dizzy and nauseous from the hours of porn he's viewed online while his wife and children slept. He feels no shame — only a righteous sense of mission.
"I feel like I'm cleaning up dirty things," the devout Christian and family counselor said.
Moon is among the most successful members of the "Nuri Cops" (roughly "net cops"), a squad of nearly 800 volunteers who help government censors by patrolling the Internet for pornography in their spare time.
It's a hard job but somebody's got to do it!
The new trailer for the Man of Steel is up.
The music and the imagery is very nicely done.
In writing “A Throne of Bones,” I had two objectives of modest ambition. The first was to write a better epic fantasy than George R. R. Martin, or at least a better one than “A Dance with Dragons” turned out to be. The second is to demonstrate that by relying upon historical verisimilitude, conventional literary archetypes and traditional patterns of human behavior instead of modern secular ideologies and the current assumptions of the cultural zeitgeist, an author can expect to produce a work of literary quality that is observably superior to the vast quantity of sewage being published today.
I've read Summa Elvetica which is thoroughly entertaining but ends too soon. I'm glad to see that more books, set in the same world, will follow. I do wonder, is Vox writing a trilogy or does he have a greater series in mind?
Marvel has been hammering DC with their movies in the last few years. DC, it seems, is gearing up their Justice League for the big screen to face off against The Avengers 2 in the summer of 2015.
This site has got information about the main bad "guy" in the movie. If true, then finally we'll get to see an unleashed Superman.
The Innocent Prophet is due to be released on the 14th of December in Madrid, Spain. Our representative for Stand Up America Now, Imran Firasat, has received word from the Spanish government informing him that if he or Stand Up America Now continue on and release the film on December 14 in Madrid Spain, then his residency status will be revoked. He will be detained, locked in prison under the excuse of being a danger to national security, then deported back to Pakistan where he would be killed because he is facing a death sentence due to his criticism of Islam.
Muslims don't need to reconquer Spain. It seems that sharia already rules there.
Update
Tambi Dude provided this link in the comments.
The result is devastating.
Alpha Game:
[...] suppose that Cersei was cut from the Brienne mode. Let's make just one simple change in favor of the modern equalitarian perspective. Instead of being a conniving bitch working within the confines of a traditional female role, she's grown up to be a Strong, Independent Warrior Woman every bit as skilled with the sword as her twin and every bit as uninterested in propagating the species in the customary manner.
Tambi Dude provides this link:
Anti-Ahmadi sentiment is so pervasive among Pakistanis that even members of the community who should be hailed as national heroes are vilified. Extremists deleted the word “Muslim” from the gravestone of Abdus Salam, an Ahmadi and theoretical physicist whose work provided evidence of the Higgs boson’s existence; his family had had it inscribed with “the first Muslim Nobel laureate.” Salam had been systematically shunned and eventually banned from lecturing at public universities because of his religious beliefs.
Think about that. This guy becomes the first Muslim, Nobel prize winner in a scientific field. There are more than a billion Muslims in the world and yet none of them can claim an honor or accolade greater than what was earned by Abdus Salam.
Is he celebrated? Is he held up as a role model? Not even close. Muslims in Pakistan don't even learn his name in history books. Thugs go out and vandalize his grave. Even in death, he doesn't find peace.
Cricinfo on the incredibly young Alastair Cook:
It was Cook's 23rd Test century and his third in successive Tests this series. Not only did that make him the leading century maker for England in their Test history but it also made him the youngest man from any country to pass the milestone of 7,000 Test runs.
He's almost 28 years old. If his body lasts another decade, then he'll likely become the greatest cricket player England has ever produced.
A 22-year-old youth, accused of burning a copy of the Holy Quran, died in police custody at Warburton police station on Sunday, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The youth, Nadeem, was detained without an FIR by the Nankana Sahib police seven days ago. Police say he was being kept in protective custody. He was later shifted to Warburton police station, 20km for Nankana Sahib.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Nankana Sahib district police officer (DPO) Ghulam Mubashar Maken said the youth fell severely ill while in custody at Warburton police station and subsequently died.
One does wonder: What is the survival rate of those who're accused of blasphemy in Pakistan?
Muslims have been, er, unkind to each other since the very beginning of Islam.
the largest forced displacement of Palestinians from an Arab state took place in 1991 when Kuwait expelled most of its Palestinian residents in retaliation for the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) endorsement of Iraq's brutal occupation of the emirate (August 1990-February 1991). It mattered little that this population, most of which had resided in Kuwait for decades, was not supportive of the PLO's reckless move: From March to September 1991, about 200,000 Palestinians were expelled from the emirate in a systematic campaign of terror, violence, and economic pressure while another 200,000 who fled during the Iraqi occupation were denied return. By September 1991, Kuwait's Palestinian community had dwindled to some 20,000.
So, who's responsible for this misery? THE JOOS, of course.
Link via Kathy Shaidle who has awesome post titles.
John Hawkins selects the 50 best conservative columnists of 2012. Victor Davis Hanson should be at the #1 spot.
At first there were three and now there's only one. For around a decade Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting were the dominant batsmen in world cricket, but following Ponting's retirement announcement, the Indian maestro will now stand alone. While Tendulkar might still be upright, he's no longer dominating attacks.
I thought that he would retire after the World Cup victory last year. No matter, it'll be some time soon. Though, can't imagine the pressure on the player who "replaces" Tendulkar in the batting line up.