Double, double toil and trouble

More than 60 experts on witchcraft from across the world are gathering in a tiny Arctic town in northern Norway.

For three days in Vardo they will have discussions, lectures and the odd film show on ancient and modern sorcery.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6248470.stm

Strange Xbox bug

I was looking at one my friends’ gamertag on xbox.com, when I noticed this..

hmmm.. wonder what calendar they are using?!

PS: apparently it’s related to their recent website redesign..
http://forums.xbox.com/13506053/ShowPost.aspx

Its just a small problem they had when they launched they new design of Xbox.com. I know that they are aware of it and are in the process of fixing it, so it shouldn’t be too long.

How much do F1 drivers earn?

The real salaries are never revealed, but that wouldn’t stop us from speculating, now would it? Here’s one estimate, reportedly from the F1 Racing mag, March issue:

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, US$51 million
2. Ralf Schumacher, Toyota, US$25 million.
3. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, US$22 million.
4. Jenson Button, Honda, US$18 million.
5. Rubens Barrichello, Honda, US$12 million.
6. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, US$10 million.
7. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, US$8 million.
8. Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault, US$7 million.
9. Mark Webber, Red Bull, US$5 million.
10. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri, US$4.5 million.

For comparison, here are the estimates from last year:

1. Michael Schumacher – $62.4m
2. Ralf Schumacher – $20.4m
3. Kimi Raikkonen – $14.4m
4. Juan Pablo Montoya – $13.2m
5. Rubens Barrichello – $12m
6. Jarno Trulli – $9.6m
7. Fernando Alonso – $7.2m
8. Mark Webber – $7.2m
9. David Coulthard – $7.2m
10. Jenson Button – $7.2m
11. Giancarlo Fisichella – $6m
12. Nick Heidfeld – $6m
13. Jacques Villeneuve – $3.6m
14. Nico Rosberg – $1.8m
15. Christian Klien – $1.8m

Both these lists don’t include any sponsorship or endorsment deals. Schumi Sr. ended his career at the end of last year as the highest paid F1 driver in the history! And second only to Tiger Woods as the top earner in professional sport. Of course, for a 7 times world champion, that is quite justified!

In terms of difference from last year, there is clearly a huge jump for Raikkonen and Alonso, which is expected because of their team switch. In fact I’m a little surprised by Alonso’s salary.. For a 2 times world champion and a strong contender again this year, he’s surely worth more than that! Maybe he needs a new manager!?

Also surprising is Massa’s low salary, especially in contrast with Raikkonen’s, but that is presumably because of Massa’s long contract with Ferrari, and could change drastically for the next season. And I really hope Raikkonen starts performing according to the salary he’s getting!!

A couple of other suprises are Button and Schumi Jr. Button has won the grand total of one race, and looking at how Honda is performing this year, I don’t think he is going to improve upon that figure any time soon! Ralfie has won a few more, but his last win was almost 4 years ago when he was still at Williams. So why are these two among the top 4? It might have something to do with long multi-year contracts signed when both of them were in better stages of their respective careers.. or it may have something to do with the fact that despite their poor F1 record, they are still major celebrities in their countries, which is still quite valuable for Honda and Toyota and their other sponsors..

Schumi Jr’s contract runs out at the end of this season, I think.. would be interesting to see if he still manages to hang on to his seat! Also would be interseting to see what kind of a raise Hamilton gets next year. And even Rosberg.. he’s one of my favourite new drivers, just wait till he makes it to a better team!

Nascar’s driver number Juan

In other news, Juan Pablo Montoya has won his first stock car race. No, it’s not enough to make me watch Nascar, but it’s definitely good to see him winning!

He became only the third foreign-born driver to win a Cup race… The others were Italian-born Mario Andretti at the 1967 Daytona 500 and Canadian Earl Ross at Martinsville, Va., in 1974.

Is Federer the greatest?!

Comparisons between players of different generations is almost never fair.. and yet we always do that. Is Tendulkar a better batsman than Bradman? Was Schumacher a better driver than Fangio? Is Messi better than Maradona?

For the last three years or so, Federer has dominated men’s tennis as if he was playing school kids.. Roddick will definitely concur. And nowhere has his domination been more complete than in the grass courts of Wimbledon. He’s been unbeaten there for the last 4 years, and losing only 4 sets during that time, I think. In about 4 hours or so, he’ll step into the Center Court again to start the 2 week long journey again.. Hoping that by the end of it, a few more records will have his name stamped on them.

If he does win The Championship, and it’s not going to be easy if Roddick or Nadal or Hewitt can help it, he will become only the second man, after Borg, to win 5 consecutive Wimbledon singles titles. It will also be his 11th Grand Slam title, bringing him level with Borg and Laver, with only Emerson and Sampras left ahead of him. Comparisons are inevitable, I guess!

BBC has this very nice article about Borg and Federer. If Federer does go on to win the cup two Sundays from now, he would not only equal Borg, but do so at the same time in his career as Borg.

Borg was just 25 when he retired in the prime of his career, the same age as Federer is now.

Borg retired soon after his Wimbledon streak was broken by McEnroe in the ‘81 final, at the age of 26. When you dominate the field like that, Borg had an incredible 141-16 record in Grand Slam singles, there is little motivation left. Thankfully, unlike what BBC thinks, Federer has no plans of quitting anytime soon. Bad news for Roddick and Nadal and Hewitt and Murray..

And here’s another rather long article on why Federer is the best ever, even ahead of Laver. I never saw Laver play, except for this clip, so I can’t say about him, but I _have_ seen Federer play and if there was ever a God of Tennis, he’ll be the one!

Will he make it 5 in a row? We won’t have to wait too long to find out..

It’s been so long that I lost that of course you start to feel particularly strong on it. But it is a very dangerous surface. You can be upset by almost anybody, any round. Many probably cannot win the tournament here, but can upset the best. That’s the most dangerous part in the early rounds here.

RIP Shaktimaan

As an Xbox player, there are few things as sad as having to let go of over 3000 achievement points patiently accumulated over the last 8 months. And yet, that’s probably what I’ll have to do..

I’m trying to move all my stuff to my new Windows Live ID but Xbox doesn’t allow changing the account associated with a gamertag . Ah well, time to start (and hopefully finish) Oblivion again!

Time running out for Ferrari?

Another race, another win for McLaren.. Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of making history. Actually, he is already making history.. Just 7 races into his F1 career, he has finished every single one of them on podium, with a couple of victories as well.

What this means for Ferrari is that their star recruit Kimi Räikkönen is now 26 points behind the leader. And Massa is only slightly better. On the constructors’ side, Ferrari now trail McLaren by 35 points.. If you look at it differently, McLaren have scored 50% more points than Ferrari in as many races.

With 10 races still left in the season, this is not the end of the world for the Italian team, but it _is_ getting close! Can Räikkönen find his mojo?

Shut up, Kitty!

Just found the new Karamchand episodes on the web.. Saw the first episode and it was really stupid and boring. Now if only I can find the original episodes somewhere!

Rafa reveals the secret of his success

An exclusive report from Onion talks about the phenomenal success Rafael Nadal has had in the world of clay court tennis.

… it is partially because I have embraced the fundamental, life-giving clay—the substance from which God formed all men—and taken it into the deepest aspects of my very being.

Nadal is the most successful clay court player in the tennis history. His run of 81 consecutive wins on clay was only recently broken by Federer.

Clay, as everyone knows, punishes the over-precise player and brings a player’s instinct into play … This instinct for how the serve will move, how the volley will progress, even how the break point must be played—this instinct cannot be taught, only shaped as by the potter’s hand.

Even the unmatchable Swiss, however, cannot figure out a way to beat Rafa at Roland Garros, having lost to him for the last 3 years, including twice in finals.

If I am second in the world, it is because so many matches are played on the non-traditional and decadent surface of grass.

Lendl would, no doubt, agree.

… playing well upon clay, upon the very stuff of life, upon the breast of the Earth itself…that is not a trick. That is the very deepest alluvial layer of tennis itself.

Putting an unused road to good use..

Full story here. Now can someone tell me why we have those weird overpasses?