Super Pool

New version of pool played with 8 ball setup. Game is played for a certain amount of time, total points of each player are calculated to decide winner

Rack

Regular 8 ball rack with 8 in the middle!

Break

Regular 8 ball break legalities apply.

Points

Every solid 1 point

Every stripe 1 point

8 ball = 10 points (last ball)

9 ball is super ball (Every ball potted after 9 ball on the same turn is double points)

Every foul(including scratch is 4 points to your opponent)

Gameplay

Break off on the regular 8 ball rack. You continue if you pot at least 1 ball. If 8 is potted, it gets spotted, no foul.

Pot balls of opposite type on each successive shot. (eg: solid stripe, solid, stripe ...) until the last ball remaining is 8 ball

On a scratch or foul, cue ball is in hand, every shot on the table is open.

If the table is cleared on the same turn as the super ball, you get an additional 50 points

Fouls

Cue has to contact the type of ball which is up next. (ex: If you just potted a solid, the next shot is a stripe, if you touch a solid first, it's a foul)

If the wrong type is potted under any scenario it is a foul, and that ball is spotted back up on the spot

BatPool

Combination of 8 ball pool and Power Snooker. Game is played for a certain amount of time, total points of each player are calculated to decide winner

Rack

It is setup like so:

We start with a 9 ball rack and surround it with the other stripes as shown above.

Break

Power snooker break rules. At least 2 solids have to hit the cushion for turn to continue, Ball potting isn’t compulsory on break

Points

Every solid is worth 5 points

Every stripe is worth the number on the ball

9 ball is the Bat Ball. It is worth 9 points

Every ball made in the same turn as the Bat Ball is worth double its initial points

If the table is cleared in the same turn as the Bat Ball, you get an additional 100 points

Fouls award 10 points to your opponent

Gameplay

On all shots after break, it is necessary to pot a legal ball in order to continue your turn

Just like the colors in snooker, the stripes in BatPool have to be called (balls not pockets)

In case of a scratch or foul, the cue ball is in hand and all shots on the table are open

Fouls

Snooker fouls apply

Have a great day, she said

Just yesterday I was out getting groceries for myself at a superstore. I finish shopping, pay and collect my stuff and the cashier very sweetly says "Have a great day, Happy Thanksgiving"

Now I know everyone says it all the time, and they all mean well, but it sort of got me thinking.

Thinking of a man, far away from a safe place like ours. Just like us, he kisses his baby goodnight, takes his wife in his arms and goes to sleep every night, hoping this isn't their last. But he isn't right this time. He wakes up to the sound of an explosion, a ringing noise and then his baby crying. He frantically searches for his wife, instead finds a hole where his living room used to be, and his wife's lifeless corpse. He rushes to get his baby, takes whatever little of his belongings he can find, his phone and all the cash he can scrounge and runs out with his baby, walks for miles evading guns on the ground, bombs in the air and drone missiles from the heavens and somehow reaches a port where someone takes all his money for a 10% chance of surviving the ocean to reach a place where he may not die.

He takes the chance, says a quiet prayer and hops onto the boat with his baby, hungry, thirsty and scared. He doesn't make a sound the entire trip, but the baby can't take any more. The baby starts crying. As the boat nears the port, for the fear of being caught by the noise and sent back, the others throw the baby overboard.

The man goes silent, he breathes, but he doesn't feel anything.

They somehow reach land, are hauled into overcrowded rooms where they're barely fed, or given water, have their luggage searched, repeatedly questioned to confirm they aren't terrorists and still not given a place to live since they have enough to own "expensive" phones, they don't need our help. Because the extreme cold weather is tougher to survive than a place where everything that moves wants to kill you, because they don't believe in the same god!

They say everyone gets their fair share of good and bad luck. How about this man?
How about a child who was born in such a place 3 years ago, barely gets to eat once a day, raises his hands when he sees a camera because he thinks it's a gun and doesn't want to die, and yet, gets killed in an explosion anyway?

Thanksgiving is celebrated so we can be thankful for everything we have, but we never stop to think there is so much so many others don't. We can't wait for any God or Angel to solve our issues for us.

We created these issues, God won't fix them. We must!

"Happy Thanksgiving", she said.

"Have a great day", she said.

10 things Indians say to Americans

Hello People,
I've lived in America now for about a year and half and in that time I have met quite a few extremely unique*cough* people. It's interesting when people from different cultures speak to each other, to see the assumptions that are inherently made, the cultural differences and most of all, the accents. The belief system is so different, things that shock Indians, Americans find okay.

That, in a nutshell is what I wanted to talk about. And since I don't remember the last time I was serious about something, I thought the best way to show it is to laugh a little at the expense of my people

So, here we go

   1.) Our spicy is a lot spicier than your spicy

   We are proud to a level of arrogance about this. For us, there is no spicy food, only food that contains spice, which WE can eat.

      

   2.) Why are you actually stopping at stop signs? Did you see traffic police?

   Yeah, so, in India, traffic rules aren’t mandatory, only suggestions, which one may choose to follow, or not; until “mamu” shows up.

   3.) Wait, refills are free?

   You know how refills of drinks are free almost everywhere here!!! Yeah, that doesn't happen in India, and frankly, it’s about god damn time.

                               

    

   4.) Where is the petrol pump?

   We call gas stations petrol pumps. I’m actually with India on this one. They technically are petrol pumps!!! Sooooo, 1 point to India, I guess

                                   

   5.) No I won't talk in the Indian accent

   You know how people think we have that funny accent we don’t have? Yeah, we don’t have it! (Cue Russell Peters’ music here!)

                                   

   6.) So there aren't separate sections for guys and girls on this metro/bus! Sweet

   We do. We have separate sections. I mean, it’s honestly our fault!

                                   

   7.) My son is a doctor

   Seriously, when is it too many doctors?

                                   

   8.) How can you not know who Sachin is?

   He is GOD (to half of India anyway; which by the way is still twice the American population). Seriously, look it up if you don’t believe me. “Indian God of cricket”

                                   

   9.) So I'm not supposed to ask you how much money your ex-husbands neighbor's son makes?

The mighty society,

with a unique psyche,

acting like Aphrodite,

wanting to know everything known by almighty…

Good rhymes.. No? Okay, moving on

   10.)     What’s your good name?

   This last one is special. Not only is this a classic example of what is called Indianism or Indian English but it’s also superlatively, extremely hilarious. Personally, I hold that sort of information close to my heart and only divulge my evil pseudonym.

   I’m sure I've missed some. Leave your Indianisms in the comments!

   Cheers,
   Dhiraj

What's your password? Hollywood boulevard vs RSA Conference

So,

Cyber security is suddenly a pretty big deal. But nothing much can be done as long as morons such as these exist.

On the other hand, check out what happened when the same experiment was run by tripwire at an RSA Conference!

Remember, this was in 2012, long before the infamous Sony hack that suddenly made everyone wary of the threat of hackers.

Please take a cue from these professionals and be safe! 

P.S: My Password? #becauseImBatman

Cheers,
Dhiraj

A Scandal in Sherlock

Hello People,

I guess this time I'l skip the obligatory "Why my posts have no link with one another" explanation and just say that's who I am. I think of a lot of things, all together, some thoughts stick, some don't.

So, I have a theory I'd like to bounce off you guys. Almost everyone I know is a huge Sherlock fan. I am too, but as much as I like Sherlock, I like Moriarty. He's probably the second most enigmatic villain after the Joker! The most awesome scene for me is the end of season 1 and beginning of Season 2. The absolutely EPIC Sherlock Moriarty standoff at the pool.

My theory is about the part after it. So, in a Scandal In Belgravia; Moriarty gets a call (presumably from Irene Adler that she has a code that she needs decrypted? Some plans she needs to find out about?? Something that will need Sherlock to be kept alive). So, Moriarty decides against killing him.

We fast forward a few weeks, and Sherlock has become a bit of a celebrity.

Now, here's the extremely funny, vague and trademark bad guy I'm super intelligent and I'm going to make an extremely complicated plot, with a million loop hopes, which will work out untill the very last moment and then dramatically fall apart because we live in a perfect world where the good guy always wins.

The following was Adler's (with help from Moriarty, she says so herself in the end) plan:
Irene Adler clicks incriminating photos with someone in the British royalty, probably someone related to the queen??? In the hopes that they will ask Sherlock to help, and she will know about it, because Moriarty will tell him. Then, she will make an impression be being naked(adding a little Sexy in the mix! In that case they should've chosen someone more beautiful), some american goons(from the CIA!!!!!!) will walk in forcing Sherlock to have to open the safe (that's how he got the clue from Adler), she very conveniently will have booby trapped the safe, which Sherlock will figure from the sound, but trained CIA spies will not, they kill ./ incapaciate them all, he will take the phone, she will drug him, take the phone back only to return it to him again. Sherlock will overhear a conversation that Mycroft is obviously smart enough not to let Sherlock overhear (he pulled of that stupid call all the pay phones to talk to Watson trick, the dumbness of which can be explained simply by Watson saying, "You could've just phoned me, on my phone" ). Then after 6 months of letting Sherlock have the phone (to apparently prove it can't be broken into? I know enough about digital forensics to know they can easily get all the data they need) she comes back and asks Sherlock to figure out a code she obviously knew nothing about, but the code conveniently turns out to be the flight of the NEXT day, and because he overheard his brother, he puts together the Coventry conundrum, hence letting Moriarty know about it which somehow makes them have a meeting, bash on Sherlock a little bit. This entire thing has no link to the value of the phone which Mycroft knew anyway was very valuable.

Then the obvious "SHERlocked" nonsence proving that love is stupid, but somehow stupid makes her more desirable for some reason to Sherlock he goes all the way to pakistan and saves her, which by the way we have to belive he was able to pull of becaussseeee, SHERLOCK!!!

Once convenient plot twist after another. A Scandal In Sherlock!

P.S: Hence proved: What you see mainly depends on what you look for!

A lesson in lingustics

Hello Citizens of the world,

We truly are living is some of the most horrific (not officially war) times in the history of humanity. There are, currently 15 armed conflicts going on all around the world. That sounds like a small number, until you count the casualties.

Unknown Civilians Killed, 200,000+ Displaced/Refugee in the Siekka Rebellion in Central Africa, 1600+ civilians killed in Boko Haram jihadist Insurgency in Nigeria, the hundreds killed in Burma, and of course there never will be an official count in the never ending disputes in the middle east, the current situation in Ukraine, the unceasing N and S Korea feud.

In addition to this, there are 21 active insurgencies in the world. That is a total of 36 pairs of organizations fighting each other and killing millions of people in the process.
A recent report says in Syria alone, more than 140,000 people are dead in the 2 year long dispute. Think about that number for a second, in 1 country (which is 0.63% of their entire population). Compare that to worldwide Cancer deaths 8.2 Million (which is 0.12% of the worlds population).

Some of these numbers are staggering, absolutely staggering.

People are dying in wars and rebellions more than due to diseases (which are sometimes caused due to these wars in the first place) and natural disasters.

No reason, genuine as it may sound to the parties involved, is good enough to explain this.

The apparent "leaders" of the free (and not so free) world are childish idiots. Have you ever seen a couple kids in school who can't stand each other, they seem to fight every time they are even remotely around each other. These presidents and Prime Ministers are behaving like those kids. But THEY AREN'T KIDS!!!! A few million people die directly due to acts of war and then a at least a few thousand more because whats left of their life is basically some concrete blocks, a jar full of ashes and eyes full of tears. The fight goes from I can kick your ass to my friends can kick your friends asses to my army can annihilate you to the most unfortunate "My God can kick your Gods ass"

So, after reading all of that, you're probably thinking, how does any of this relate to any language study. The answer is simple. The world needs to learn the real meanings of words/phrases it uses.

Word	Actual Meaning	Fake Meaning
Self defense	You’re on the phone with your mom and your friends start shouting “That’s a hot chick in your room”, and you kick them in the groin to save yourself	Israel meaning - I can throw 17000 tons work of bombs and rockets on the Gaza strip killing almost 2000 people because you people say you want to obliterate us, but are horrifically inept at doing so
Being prepared	When you know you’re going home after a long time and you carry all your loose fitting clothes so that you can eat everything your mom cooks for you	America Meaning – Owning over 4800 (terribly under protected) nuclear warheads that can destroy the Earth a few times over in case a nuclear war starts somewhere in the world
Feminism	Believing that a girl can actually kick your ass just as hard as a man can	Media view – A socialist anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands and children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians
Act of terror	A bomb being thrown anywhere to kill people	Obama Definition- Pretty much the same, but as soon as he says it, he turns around and bombs Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan
Mutual benefit	A bro doesn’t tell a mutual bro the first bro likes him, and the first bro doesn’t tell the mutual bro that the said bro went bare pickle in front of the first bro*	I will occupy your land, own a Jewish country, limit all resources from entering your land, and in return, you WILL STOP BOMBING US. Deal?

And finally

Religious person

A person who trusts in God even though he may never see actual proof of his existance

A person willing to kill another because he thinks he has the better imaginary friend

So in summary, "We kill people who kill people, because killing people is wrong!"

*Excerpt from HIMYM. Quid pro bro, please watch the episode!

Sigh, the Irony!

PS: To get a real sense of the fight, apparently "for humanity", please check out this link. The truth won't set us free, it will keep us up for nights!!!