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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Hyderabad remain on track

HYDERABAD: A fantastic victory from a hopeless position allowed Sunrisers Hyderabad to stay well and alive in the Indian Premier League and emerge as genuine contenders for a place in the last-four in the seasonal skirmish.
Sunrisers first resurrected themselves from a precarious 5/3 to post a challenging 136/9 on a slow pitch, and followed it up with a brilliant show in the field as they restricted the controversy-hit and master chasers, Rajasthan Royals, to 113/9 in the chase.
This means Sunrisers are now No.4 with 18 points, Kings XI Punjab are out of contention, and Royal Challengers Bangalore have to win their last match against Chennai Super Kings to have any hope of finishing as the fourth-placed team.
On Friday, if it was Biplab Samantray who came to the fore with the bat with a responsible 55, almost all Sunrisers bowlers excelled: Dale Steyn was a terror up front, Amit Mishra was super economical and picked up a couple; while Thisara Perera scalped two in a over - including Shane Watson - to scupper with finality the Royals' pursuit.
Quick wicketsRoyals looked on course at 33/0 after six, with Rahul Dravid resolute and Ajinkya Rahane wary. But a series of tight overs from Darren Sammy, Ishant Sharma and Mishra led to the skipper being run-out as he tried to cash in on a misfield. Rahane sliced leggie Karan Sharma to cover for the second wicket, as the run-rate commenced its steep ascent.
This season's find, Sanju Samson, lost his poise and was caught off Mishra with 86 needed from 48 balls, and the exercise effectively ended when Perera removed Watson and Stuart Binny in the same over, the supreme chasing side finding the required rate impossible to meet.
Faulkner sizzlesCameron White was earlier quite forthright in his decision to bat, which begs one to wonder where the resolve dissipated to once the batsmen trooped in - and promptly out - leaving Sunrisers reeling at 5/3 after Faulkner struck twice in an over. The left-arm paceman first got Parthiv Patel to play on, and then induced the in-form Shikhar Dhawan to hit straight into the hands of point.
White casually pulled the first ball he faced, of Shane Watson, to Siddharth Trivedi at fine-leg as Hyderabad crawled to 21/3 at the end of the Powerplay: the joint lowest tally this season.
--> The fate of the home team now rested on their local boys, Hanuma Vihari and Biplab Samantray.
Mixing caution with streaks of watchful aggression, the pair took the score to 48/3 at the halfway mark, when Siddharth Trivedi ended the 44-run association. Vihari's attempted flick was botched by lack of pace on the ball, and the soaring leading edge taken comfortably by Sachin Baby.

Fighting fiftySamantray, meanwhile, had ticked along productively, pasting Cooper for six over mid-wicket and reaching his maiden IPL half-century in 43 balls. Darren Sammy then displayed his much-needed skills of accelaration.
The West Indian drove Kevon Cooper hazardously past the bowler's head, before bringing up the team hundred with a savage pulled maximum off Watson.
Faulker returned to great success. His third wicket - Sammy, holed out to long-off - also brought him the Purple Cap with 24 scalps from 14 games. The Aussie speedster added two more - Samantray and Steyn - finishing with five for 16, the best figures of the season, but not enough to prevent Hyderabad from getting 46 from their last five overs.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Don't Let Your Kids Study These Majors

Beware These Five MajorsIs your kid's senior year right around the corner? Well, now's the time to sit down and craft a short list of desirable majors to take into consideration for college. Why so early, you might ask? Because all college disciplines aren't created equal, and it can be hard for students to carefully consider majors during one of the biggest transitional periods in their lives.
"It can be difficult for some students because we're naturally inclined to resist change and ambiguity," says David Reynaldo, the California-based founder and owner of College Zoom, a college admissions consulting and major matching business. "But the key with majors is to find something that you're good at with skills that have market value."
And the truth is, there are certain majors that are lacking in the market value department, according to a report by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce titled "Hard Times: Not all College Degrees Are Created Equal." So keep reading to first find out which majors you should caution your young one against, and which majors you can green light with confidence.

My title page contents

Proceed With Caution

Unemployment rates for recent college graduates* of the following majors are anywhere from 10 to almost 14 percent,  which means you could expect to see a lot of your kid around the house after they graduate. Why? Because without a job, they'll likely still be living with you.

Major #1: Architecture

Did your son or daughter gravitate toward Legos as a kid and find skyscrapers endlessly fascinating? Sure, toying with building blocks and forts may have been fun, but nailing down steady work as an architect these days is no cake walk for a recent grad.
According to the Georgetown report, the unemployment rate for recent architecture graduates is about 13.9 percent. Essentially, the report blames this figure on the collapse of the construction industry during the recession. 
Reynaldo agrees. "Companies just aren't building in tough financial times," he says. So in terms of architecture jobs, the current low demand may mean fewer jobs.

Major #2: Fine Arts

Imagine your son creating magnificent pieces of art that are featured in well-known galleries. It's a nice fantasy - right up until your newly-minted college graduate realizes how broke he is because he isn't selling work, exhibiting in a gallery, or getting commissions.
The sad truth, is that this isn't 15th-century Renaissance Italy when artists were paid by kings and queens to create artwork. In fact,  according to the Georgetown report, there's a 12.6 percent rate of unemployment amongst recent graduates who majored in fine arts.
Here's why: In these tough economic times, there just aren't a lot of people buying expensive pieces of art, Reynaldo says. So it can be tough to be a self-sustained, financially-stable artist.
All things considered, your kid is probably better off relegating this field of study to a hobby.

Major #3: Philosophy and Religious Studies

I think, therefore I am. Too bad Descartes' famous little ditty doesn't carry as much weight when it comes to snagging a job with a degree in philosophy or religious studies. Get ready to sweat if your son or daughter chooses one of these heady courses of study.
Why? It turns out recent grads in philosophy and religious studies face a 10.8 percent unemployment rate, says the Georgetown report.
And unless you plan on continuing on to grad school and working as a philosophy professor, Reynaldo says that the problem with philosophy is that the principles behind it - questioning existence, thinking about knowledge - are perceived as "useless" in the workforce.
"The question becomes how do I articulate the value of all the deep thinking I do to an employer." Not exactly an easy question to tackle. The same limitations are true of majoring in religious studies, he says.

Major #4: Anthropology and Archaeology

Indiana Jones may have looked cool on the big screen, but going into the fields of anthropology or archaeology won't be a blockbuster hit for your kid in the job department. The reality, according to the Georgetown report, is that recent anthropology and archaeology graduates report a 10.5 percent unemployment rate.
Why is this number so high? It all goes back to the same problem of having skills that are perceived as valuable in the working world - assuming you're not trying to get a job as an anthropologist or archaeologist. While you'll likely pick up skills during your course of study that could be applied to other jobs outside of these majors, good luck getting that across in a job application or interview when you say you studied anthropology, says Reynaldo.
"Again, like other liberal arts majors, you're being taught how to think but it's just not perceived that way by employers," says Reynaldo. "So these majors often end up getting shafted."

Major #5: Film, Video, and Photographic Arts

Do you have a budding Spielberg or Ansel Adams on your hands? While filmmaking and photography can be great artistic outlets, they might not be the best choices for your son or daughter's college major.
Recent graduates with these types of degrees experience about a 12.9 percent unemployment rate, says the Georgetown report.
Reynaldo likens this figure to the fact that while film and photography have the skill of story creation at their core, they might not be the most lucrative fields for monetizing those storytelling skills.
And if you're not using those storytelling skills, you need to make money somehow. But it can be difficult, according to Reynaldo, to convince employers that those skills translate into a practical approach to an office job or otherwise because your field of study is often pigeonholed as artistic and outside the "real" world.