Aminul Islam Bulbul's Cricket Journey To China

Those who are familiar with Bangladesh cricket must know Aminul Islam Bulbul. He is one of the successful spinners of Bangladesh and has played for Bangladesh for 15 years since his debut in 1988 in the Asian Youth Cup cricket tournament.

Ever wondered what he is doing now? He is working as the ACC Development Officer for China, Brunei and Myanmar. And from this video you will notice that he speaks decent Chinese to do his job to spread the game in China:

Talent From Bangladesh

This September when I was in Dhaka, I met some netizens from Dhaka whom I know from blogs and other online activities. One of them was Mehdi hasan. He is a young Bangladeshi in his mid twenties and keeps a low profile. I was surprised to learn that he is the one who wrote the Avro software, the versatile and open source Bangla typing software which is used by thousands of Bangladeshis because its free and supports multiple platforms including Mac OS and Linux. It was first released in 2003 by Omicronlab (Mehdi is the CEO) and since than it had many updates which makes it a perfect Bangla typing software.

The remarkable thing is that he is medical student (Mymensingh Medical College) and IT is his passion, not business.

And it turns out that he is a damn good photographer too. Check out his photographs at Flickr. I am sure you will be immersed into the photographic depiction of Bangladesh, its people and nature.

Image by Mehdi Hasan.

Learning Indonesian (Bahasa) - Online Resources

I have started to learn Indonesian with the help of some great online resources. I scrapped the idea of taking classes after I found them. But self learning is sometimes more time consuming as you don't have deadlines and exams. So I haven't had much progress. But hope I will be able to speak decent Bahasa in three months time.

Here are the online resources for learning Indonesian.

Learning Indonesian - It is a product of a small family business run by Shaun and Cici. It has free resources like great audio guides for downloading and paid program with study texts.

Indonesian in 7 days - Michel Bordt & Liswati Serum

Flirting In Indonesian - Great online language resource even if you're not in the game of flirting.

Learn Indonesian - Language Guide

Beginning Indonesian - For practicing online

Indonesian Tutorial - by Vremita Desectia

Bahasa Indonesia study aid

Podcast: Indonesian Language Guide for your iPod

Indonesian Language Course at Wikibooks

Learn To Speak Indonesian - Free audio courses

Indonesian reading and Conversation materials

More links for online dictionaries and vocabulary aids

Hope these help those who want to learn Indonesian.

Digital vs. Analog TV

What happens to your old TV when you switch to digital (LCD/Plasma) TV?

"The major digital TV switchover in north-west England has coincided with a huge increase in dumped analogue TVs" - reports The Guardian:

This year, the council has recycled 50,000 analogue TVs thrown away by households, of which 30,000 could have been upgraded to receive digital TV signals with a simple £20 set-top box.

The e-waste dumps in developing nations are piling up. US government is even thinking about asking electronics manufacturers to offer free door-to-door pick-up service of used devices. Tree Hugger reports:

In the US, only about 18% of the 23.9 million toxic CRT TVs thrown out in 2008 were recycled. And Sarah Westervelt, a Basel Action Network official, said about 80% will actually be shipped abroad to be "recycled" in China and Africa - and that is a violation of provisions of the Basel treaty that ban the shipment of toxic waste from the rich countries to poor ones.

Over the long run, it is likely better to have an extra set-top box and not a new TV. It's just a matter of actually telling people this, and encouraging them to keep what isn't broken.

Image via Jaymi Heimbuch, Tree Hugger

Timeline of Withdrawal of US Forces From Iraq

(click on image to enlarge)

The draw-down from Iraq includes the withdrawal of approximately 128,700 U.S. troops, over 115,000 contractor personnel, the closure or transfer of 295 bases, and the retrograde of over 3.3 million pieces of equipment.

U.S. Government Accountability Office has this excellent report on the progress of this draw-down.

Via Raed Jarrar.

A Thrilling Match

"They are going to be talking about those three consecutive sixes for a long time in Chittagong."  - Cricinfo

The match situation was like this:

End of over 47 (3 runs) Bangladesh 198/9 (24 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 4.21, RRR: 8.00)

Then something happened:

47.2 Chibhabha to Naeem Islam, SIX, Naeem dances down the track and launches that on over long-on for a six to bring up his half-century, that was a length ball

47.3 Chibhabha to Naeem Islam, SIX, wow, what a shot that is, another length ball, Naeem gets under it and whacks it over the bowler's head for another six

47.4 Chibhabha to Naeem Islam, SIX, A hat-trick of sixes, Naeem Islam is going berserk here, Chibhabha not learning his lessons, offers a length ball again, Naeem smashes it over wide long-on for another six

 And Bangladesh went on to win the match clinching the series against Zimbabwe 4-1. All hail Naeem Islam. A hero was born today.

Determinism

Trailer for Determinism, the movie by Sanjit Majumder from New York.

Its a drama about a South Asian in Pennsylvania, USA financially cut off from his family who plans a heist that goes horribly wrong.

Synopsis:

Alec, the film’s anti-hero, is an alienated South Asian. He’s always been an outsider, and he certainly doesn’t fit in here. New York is his Mecca.

Broke and cut off from his family after he flunks out of school, Alec sets off to free himself from the stereotypical role of “South Asian Geek” imposed upon him from birth. So opposed to typecasting that he can barely use a computer, he is determined to transcend Determinism — by any means necessary.