Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Shahid Afridi Equals Sanath Jaysuria's Record
Adam Gilchrist : Retiring!
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Adam Gilchrist, who revolutionized the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman, has retired from Tests barely 24 hours after taking the world record for dismissals. The shock news means Gilchrist will depart on a global high at the end of the fourth match against India on Monday and his last ODI appearances will come in the CB Series, which finishes in March.
Over the past couple of years Gilchrist has been worn down by the grind of international touring and has been desperate to spend more time with his wife Mel and their three children. Despite his family circumstances, Gilchrist's announcement at the end of the third day came as a surprise after he had spent much of the previous evening denying he was close to walking away.
He told the team in the morning that he was leaving. "I've come to this decision after much thought and discussion with those most important to me," Gilchrist said before boarding the team bus. "My family and I have been fortunate to have had an amazing journey full of rich experiences throughout my career."
Gilchrist played 96 Tests, the same number as Rod Marsh, and has collected 414 dismissals, currently one more than South Africa's Mark Boucher. However, his glovework, which has diminished over the past month, will not be why he is remembered as one of Australia's most significant players.
Matthew Hayden, who has been a team-mate of Gilchrist for the past eight years, called it "massive news" and said he would be "deeply, deeply missed". "He is one of the greatest to have ever played the game," Hayden said. "He was incredibly positive and his flamboyant nature equals the greats of Viv Richards and other calypso characters over the years.
"He entertained everyone globally and has done it in a statesman-like way. He changed cricketers throughout the world and is a tremendous individual."
Gilchrist brought a limited-overs approach to Tests, becoming the first man to launch 100 sixes in the format, and scoring at a phenomenal strike-rate in the low 80s. Apart from posting almost 6000 runs, he was also responsible for the more aggressive approach to a game where three runs an over was previously considered reckless.
Growing up in New South Wales, he moved to Western Australia to collect a first-class opportunity and made his Test debut to a chorus of boos after replacing Ian Healy in Brisbane. He scored 81 against Pakistan and brought up his first century in the following match in a miracle chase in Hobart. From 1999 the Australia team was never the same, winning 16 Tests in a row under Steve Waugh, a streak that was matched by Ricky Ponting's outfit over the past three years.
One of only three players to have won a trio of World Cup titles, Gilchrist was picked to open on a Waugh hunch over a bowl of ice-cream and quickly became one of the most threatening limited-overs players of all time. Others have tried to adopt his style but none has managed it for a decade, which is a tribute to the traits developed by a country boy from northern New South Wales.
"I am now ready and excited to move into the next phase of my life, which will include much more time with Mel, Harrison, Annie and Archie," Gilchrist said. He thanked his state and country associations and his team-mates for the "most enjoyable, fun career anyone could hope for". Brad Haddin, the New South Wales wicketkeeper, has spent the past couple of years with the limited-overs team and should get his first taste of Test action if the March tour to Pakistan goes ahead.
Two more wickets need to fall before Gilchrist will appear at Adelaide Oval and he will be celebrated like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer were last year. Adelaide has not been the normal place for farewells over the past decade, but Gilchrist has not been a traditional player.
Toy Story 3 Goes 3D
The Walt Disney Studios is taking the latest advances in digital 3-D technology "to infinity and beyond" with ambitious plans to debut new Disney Digital 3-D(TM) versions of Disney-Pixar's Toy Story on October 2nd, 2009, and Toy Story 2 on February 12th, 2010, it was announced by Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. Both of these beloved animated features are being newly converted to 3-D in advance of the June 18th, 2010 release of Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 3, which is being produced as a 3-D motion picture and will represent the state-of-the-art for the genre. Veteran Pixar filmmaker Lee Unkrich (co-director Toy Story 2) is directing.
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker John Lasseter (director of the first two "Toy Story" films and chief creative officer for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios) will personally oversee the creative side of the 3-D conversions for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 with his acclaimed team of technical wizards handling all the necessary steps in the conversion process.
Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, "We are committed to bringing moviegoers the best and most exciting 3-D movie experience, and we think they're going to love seeing Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and all the wonderful 'Toy Story' cast of characters in an eye popping and dazzling way. John Lasseter and the animation team are putting all their passion and hard work into making this the greatest 3-D experience yet, and we're excited to share their efforts with audiences everywhere."
Lasseter added, "The 'Toy Story' films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we're so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way thanks to the latest in 3-D technology. I am sure that this is going to be nothing short of fantastic and people are going to be blown away by the experience. With 'Toy Story 3' shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way. 3-D offers lots of great new possibilities for the art of animation and we will continue to use this new technology to tell our stories in the best possible way."
In converting Toy Story and Toy Story 2 to state-of-the-art 3-D films, the technical team is retrieving all of the original digital elements and rebuilding them in 3-D.
Originally released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1995, Toy Story was the first feature film from Pixar Animation Studios and director John Lasseter. The film went on to receive Oscar® nominations for Original Score, Original Song, and Screenplay, and earned Lasseter a Special Achievement Award "for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film." Toy Story 2 was released in 1999, and reunited voice talents Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, in their roles as Woody and Buzz. The film became one of the most popular animated features of all time, and received an Academy Award® nomination for Original Song.
Female Figure on Mars Just a Rock
SPACE.com
The idea that there may be life on Mars has been around for centuries, but the theory got a dubious boost from recently released photos of the surface of Mars (taken by the NASA robot Spirit) apparently showing a human-like figure. Several Internet sites have glommed onto the image and suggested the figure could be alive.
But what is it? Just a rock, astronomers say.
It's hard enough to accurately recognize figures and faces across the room. Mars, depending on when you measure it, is about 35 million miles away. The best telescopes aren't of much help in determining surface features, and that's why NASA sent robots with cameras to Mars.
The reason many people see a figure on the Martian landscape is the same reason that people see faces in clouds, Rorschach blots, and coffee stains. This phenomenon, called pareidolia, is well known in psychology, and it is the cause of many supposedly mysterious and miraculous events (including the famous "Jesus in the Tortilla"). Examples are all around us; in fact if you have a New Hampshire state quarter, you have pareidolia in your pocket or purse (take a look).
Strong evidence for this psychological explanation lies in the fact that the Spirit image does not look like Martian life (since we don't know what life on Mars looks like), but instead resembles life here on Earth, specifically human life. The image is the result of human interpretation. If you look around the full image of the area (not just the close-up), you will find several rocks and features that resemble non-human Earth life, such as armadillos and snakes. In the right bottom corner, emerging from the sand, there is what looks like a lizard face wearing goggles and an airman's helmet.
This is of course not the first time that NASA images have been claimed to show evidence of Martian life. A man named Richard Hoagland claimed that 1976 photographs of the Cydonia region of Mars showed a human-like face and was clear evidence of aliens.
According to astronomer Phil Plait of the Bad Astronomy Web site, if the image really is of a man on Mars, he's awfully small: "Talk about a tempest in a teacup!" Plait said. "The rock on Mars is actually just a few inches high and a few yards from the camera. A few million years of Martian winds sculpted it into an odd shape, which happens to look like, well, a Bigfoot! It's just our natural tendency to see familiar shapes in random objects."
Even though logic and science suggest that the image is of a rock and not an animal, UFO buffs and conspiracy theorists will continue to speculate.
In fact, it will actually be pretty easy to determine whether or not the image is of alien life. In later photographs of the area, either the same shape will be there or it won't. If it is, it's a rock (unless, of course, little Martian men can hold the same pose for weeks or months at a time).
This is exactly how the "Face on Mars" was eventually disproven. On April 5, 1998, the Mars Global Surveyor took photographs of the same region in far higher resolution than was possible in 1976. The new images clearly showed an area heavily eroded, and that the "face" was simply the result of low image quality, pareidolia, and tricks of light and shadow. Hoagland's theory was discredited.
Just don't tell that to the creepy, goggle-wearing Martian sand lizard.
Benjamin Radford is managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. He is author or co-author of three books on skepticism and science literacy. They can be found on his website.
- Video: Looking for Life in All the Right Places
- Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena
- 10 Alien Encounters Debunked
- Original Story: Female Figure on Mars Just a Rock
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Trio Not Offered New Contracts
Shoaib - not offered a new contract.
The Pakistan Cricket Board have decided not to renew Shoaib Akhtar's central contract.
Shoaib, 32, has paid the price for fitness and discipline problems during the last 12 months.
Fellow fast bowler Mohammad Sami and opening batsman Imran Nazir have also lost their central contracts.
PCB chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf offered the axed trio hope by saying the national team will not exclusively be drawn from the list of contracted players.
"The players not given central contracts have been given special retainers and if they show commitment and form they can come back into the team after a year," he said.
"We want it to be an elite contract. So that players fight and compete to get the contracts.
"It should also serve as an incentive for younger players.
"Not being in the central contracts list does not mean you cannot be selected for the national team. Selectors can consider any player."
There are three categories of central contracts, introduced by the PCB in 2005, with a total of 15 players handed deals.
The main beneficiary of the shake-up is batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, who has been promoted to the A category and appointed vice-captain until the end of 2008.
Pakistan central contracts:
Category A: Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Yousuf
Category B: Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt,Umar Gul
Category C: Abdul Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Rao Iftikhar, Danish Kaneria, Fawad Alam.
