3D printing: Will the world end or will it be better?

Objects made using 3D Printer

This is 2020. I am about to board my plane for Tokyo. I am at the concourse waiting with other passengers when suddenly a man appears out of nowhere brandishing a weapon, white in color but looking like an assault rifle. Before anyone can react, he starts shooting. There is no fire coming out of the nozzle but bullets do fly past me. Before anyone is seriously wounded, the man is subdued by the authorities and taken away. We are later told that the man was a terrorist who used a “printed version” of an assault rifle which made it impossible to be detected by the airport’s electronic security systems.

This is 2013 and I am not boarding any plane but this does not mean that I am not living in fear anticipating a similar incident in the future because that is very much likely because of a particular technology that has sparked concerns across the world.

A seemingly harmless but era-redefining technology, in existence since 1981, appears to be taking the shape of a formidable threat to the future of the world itself. The severity of the threat can be gauged from the fact that the US Department of Homeland Security published a bulletin highlighting one of the most dangerous uses of the technology – undetectable and unstoppable guns.

Read how 3D printing will impact our world here:

http://www.newsyaps.com/3d-printing-will-the-world-end-or-will-it-be-better/24323/

David Beckham and Sreesanth: A hero we hail and a villain we hate

Like any other world, the world of sports, too, has its own heroes and villains. And the heroes and villains in the world of sports do what the heroes and villains of other worlds do. They are expected to perform in accordance to their conventional behavior. The heroes, therefore, overcome obstacles; fight for honor; keep hopes alive; and, win the right way. The villains, on the other hand, employ deceitful methods for victory; cheat; dash expectations; and, above all, betray the very game they play. On May 16, the world of sports was shaken by two huge revelations. One was about a hero announcing his retirement and the other was about a villain caught tarnishing the reputation of sports.

David Beckham and Sreesanth are two different individuals, with sports as the only common thread joining them. But even here, the two are vastly dissimilar because of the games they play. While Beckham is a world famous footballer, Sreesanth is a cricketer who is now been accused of spot-fixing in IPL. As Beckham ended his magnificent career on May 18, the fate of Sreesanth (and those arrested with him) is yet to be seen.

Beckham (the hero) is a man whose contribution to English football is immense. He may not be having an enviable goal-scoring record or any Ballon d’Or to his credit but Beckham is one of the principal reasons behind the rise of football fans the world over. He is the poster boy of the beautiful game and has been so for years now. Throughout Beckham’s illustrious career no one has ever raised a finger on his integrity as a footballer. He may have sometimes faced scathing criticisms for his form but his devotion to whichever team he has played with stands unquestionable to this day. He has had his own highs and lows in his career but the highs are so high that the lows just fade away.

Such was Beckham’s fame that his mere arrival with a particular club boosted its popularity like never before. For instance Real Madrid already had a strong fan following in East Asia but their tour in 2003 with Beckham was a financial windfall for the Spanish club. Every club he has played for in his career has financially benefitted because of his presence, including Paris Saint Germain (PSG) – his last club. One cannot help but wonder in amazement at the charisma this English footballer carried all throughout the 22 years of his professional career.

Some football fans are of the opinion that David Beckham was not as magical on the field as he was off it. I cannot argue with hardcore football fans but experts agree that Beckham’s long pass – the 50 yard shot – stands unmatched in execution to date at least in English football. Beckham is also the only English footballer to have won the league cups of four countries having won the Premier League title six times for Manchester United in England, the La Liga once for Real Madrid in Spain, MLS cup twice for LA Galaxy in USA and Ligue 1 for PSG in France. Besides this he also has a Spanish Super Cup and the Champions League title under his belt. To top it all, Beckham won the last match of his career, for which he was made the honorary captain by his club.

The name of David Beckham is also synonymous with the world of fashion and glamour. His face sells a wide array of products, usually high-end fashion accessories. Such is his fame that in February 2012 the bodyguards of Xi Jinping, who was in line to become the next Chinese President, left the leader unguarded to grab an autograph of the footballer at a meeting held between the two.

He is one of the richest sportspersons on earth and undoubtedly one of the most influential, too, but his humility makes him appealing to all classes. Unlike many other footballers, Beckham is the perfect example of a devoted family man. Of course, a few doubts on his character have been raised in the past but David Beckham has braved all of them and stands tall with dignity. Anyone with some knowledge about the world of football should be aware of the numerous distractions that threaten the career of an otherwise splendid player. David did not succumb to those Goliaths. 

He is a brand worth millions of dollars; is a doting husband and an ideal father to four children; is a devoted countryman (it was he who secured the 2012 Olympics for London), and has always behaved in a manner Englishmen should be proud of. He is the gallant knight in shining armor for football clubs because of his crowd pulling abilities, and the ideal icon for millions of sportsmen and common people because of the unusual modesty which he continues to display. He is the hero who has given back more to the game he played than the game to him.

Thousands of miles away in India people are wondering what went wrong with the men they ‘prefer’ to see as gods. There is no need to revisit the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal because there is nothing worth ‘discussing’ about it. Such things will continue as long as India remains a hotbed of corruption. That’s the sad truth! But this, however, does not mean that ‘gods’ take the gullible devotees for a ride and start abusing their faith. Unfortunately, Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Anket Chavan allegedly did just that.

Almost no one in this country would have been fully aware of the names of the other two players were it not for this revelation but Sreesanth was too famous a name not to elicit an expression of shock. The common cricket fan might wonder what went wrong with Sreesanth. He had everything going for him. He has played 25 Test matches and 53 ODIs scalping 87 and 75 wickets, respectively. Not a bad statistics! With persistence and focus, perhaps Sreesanth could have achieved more but he squandered away all the chances BCCI, the media and the fans kept on giving him. 

He could have, perhaps, got back into the national squad and enjoy many more years of play. The BCCI is already the richest of all cricket bodies in the world and continues to grow richer each day. The IPL, too, is a cash-cow. The only thing a cricketer needs to do is to perform well and even Midas would turn in his grave if he sees the wealth of a successful Indian cricketer. But it is sad to see that instead of working hard to get it all, Sreesanth lost them by running down the wrong way.

Over the past few days the Indian media, as usual, has carried out its own trial and blames Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Anket Chavan for everything that is wrong in the game. Today, the media is calling Sreesanth a “boy who never grew up”. It is the same media which sang praises for Sreesanth when he danced around Andre Nel swinging his bat in the air after slamming him for a six in what is still one of the ugliest displays of arrogance and unsportsmanlike behavior. Today, the media recalls many of Sreesanth’s similar previous aggressions calling them “ugly” but back then this very media painted those aggressions in different colors. The Indian media has a habit of hailing any Indian cricketer who badmouths or stares down a cricketer of foreign origin as a champion. It did the same back then, it does the same even now.

This media had sympathized with him when he was slapped by Harbhajan Singh during the 2008 IPL. Today, people are talking about that incident in jest calling it Harbahajan Singh’s foresightedness of things to come. Whether or not Sreesanth is guilty of the crime he is been accused of, it is beyond doubt that he is one of the bad boys of Indian cricket whose conduct both on the field and off it has been despicable to say the least. 

A little dignity and humility goes a long way in furthering a player’s career; no one can deny this simple fact. A player can have the liberty of acting arrogantly on the field only if he is exceptionally gifted – someone like Diego Maradona or John McEnroe. A player with a bad performance record is called a fool if he behaves like an egomaniac on the field. But he becomes a villain the moment he decides to cheat the game he plays. He becomes a villain in the eyes of the devoted worshippers of the game. Unlike the legendary hero who is hailed wherever he goes, the villain is rebuked, scoffed at; and, relegated to the darkest corners of public memory, forever.

Karnataka case: How Congress wins and BJP loses elections

The war horn has been sounded. The Congress has won Karnataka and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is left biting the dust. Few defeats can be more demoralizing for BJP than this, especially considering the pre-election canvassing by the man who many believe is the strongest contender from the party for the PM’s post during campaign phase – Narendra Modi. Yes, the Karnataka Assembly election was one of the many showdowns on the way to the grand battle of 2014 General Elections between NaMo, as Modi is fondly referred to in the media, and Rahul Gandhi. The princeling’s party has won it and, quite surprisingly, our ever silent Prime Minister, too, is quick to point that out.

Even the BJP admits that it expected defeat in Karnataka after misruling over one of the most developed states in a 5-year-long period exaggerated with their own strategic mistakes in realpolitik. Whatever may have led to BJP’s defeat in their only South Indian bastion, the fact that it is a big blow to the main opposition party cannot be overlooked.

Adding to the insult was Narendra Modi’s failure in using the multiple charges of corruption against the Congress-led UPA II government at the Center to his party’s advantage in the polls. He may have tried his best to counter his party’s own failures in the state but the defeat speaks a lot about the Gujarat Chief Minister’s chances of transforming into a national-level leader. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was more interested in Modi than China as is evident from his comment: “Karnataka’s message for Modi is that there is no Modi.” Of course, those who chant the name of Modi may have taken a blow on the throat but no one can tell how things will turn up in 2014.

But the defeat proves once again that BJP is toothless and the teeth we occasionally see are false dentures. The scams and the blunders which the ruling government at the Center has involved itself neck deep in is not – to borrow PM Manmohan Singh’s view of the Chinese incursion – a “localized problem”.  It is also not a problem of New Delhi or Uttar Pradesh or Haryana alone; the Congress-led UPA II government has put the whole country in a perilous situation where the only developments that happen are in stories of rising prices, bigger scams and border intrusions. If under such circumstances Karnataka votes in favour of the Congress, how can then we not expect the grand old party to come to power a third consecutive time?

Read the rest of my argument as to why BJP has no chance in 2014 here:

http://www.newsyaps.com/karnataka-case-how-congress-wins-and-bjp-loses-elections/20521/

On Virat Kohli's anger and Indian fan's shifting attitudes

Virat Kohli is the man in the deep end of the pool ever since he displayed an aggressive retort never before seen by Indians. Before we go any further let me present the entire case.

On Sunday, April 28, 2013, Royal Challengers Bangalore was playing Mumbai Indians at the latter’s home ground of Wankhede Stadium. While stealing a run, MI batsman Ambati Rayudu found the crease but was controversially adjudged out after Kohli’s throw took the bails off in the very moment when his bat went in the air following a collision with RCB bowler Vinay Kumar. It was Kohli’s decision to seek the third-umpire’s intervention that Rayudu was given out. Later, RCB lost the match by 58 runs.  All through the match after the incident and during the time of the award ceremony, the crowd in the stadium continued jeering at Kohli while unanimously chanting “cheater-cheater”. This pissed off Kohli and he did not mince any words in criticizing the Mumbai crowd.

This was Kohli’s response to the booing he faced from the Wankhede crowd:

“As far as the crowd is concerned, it has happened to a few players in the past as well. I don’t know why they get so worked up during IPL. IPL is not the end of the world. And they forget that the players they are booing for also play for their country. It is only creating hatred among the players. When I come back and play for India, they are going to cheer for me. It doesn’t work that way. You come to Bangalore and you see how Indian players are appreciated…I don’t know what is wrong with people in this venue. It feels a bit weird because at the end of the day you play for India and you don’t come here to be hated…People appreciate good cricket. I don’t know why people have so much aggression and so much hatred towards other teams in this particular venue.”

Virat Kohli is being severely criticised for showing an inflated ego and an arrogance level higher than the entire Australian team. But, above everything else, it is clear that Kohli is delusional and is living under an old-world belief. He is delusional because he thinks that the crowd should behave in a way he expects it to. He is living an old-world belief because he thinks that the crowds must respect every Indian player just because he plays for the country.

To know the actual reason behind his outburst click here:

http://www.newsyaps.com/on-virat-kohlis-anger-and-indian-fans-shifting-attitudes/17639/