2010 Champions League T20

The 2010 Champions League Twenty20 will see two groups of five teams each competing in a round-robin format, with the top two sides from each group going through to the semi finals.

The set-up is a departure from the 2009 edition, which had four groups of three teams, with the two teams from each group advancing to another league stage which determined the semi-finalists. Despite the change, the tournament features the same number of matches - 23 - as last year. The matches have been evenly distributed across four venues, with each stadium hosting at least five games.

The Mumbai Indians open the event on September 10th against the South African side Lions at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, which also hosts the final on September 26. Mumbai and Lions are part of Group B, along with South Australia, Royal Challengers Bangalore and a team from the West Indies that will be determined in late July.

The teams drawn in Group A are the 2010 IPL champions Chennai Super Kings, Australia's Big Bash champions Victoria, South Africa's Pro Series champions Warriors, which is a combination of the Eastern Province and Border first-class teams, as well as Sri Lanka's Wayamba, which represents the North Western Province, and New Zealand's Central Districts.

2010 Airtel Champions League Twenty20 Competing Teams

Chennai Super Kings (DLF Indian Premier League – India)

Mumbai Indians (DLF Indian Premier League – India)

Royal Challengers Bangalore (DLF Indian Premier League – India)

Victorian Bushrangers (KFC Twenty20 Big Bash – Australia)

South Australian Redbacks (KFC Twenty20 Big Bash – Australia)

Warriors (Standard Bank Pro 20 Series – South Africa)

Highveld Lions (Standard Bank Pro 20 Series – South Africa)

Central Stags (HRV Cup Twenty20 – New Zealand)

Wayamba Elevens (Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Cup – Sri Lanka)

TBC (West Indies Domestic Twenty20 Champions)

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Facebook Doubles the Size of Its First Data Center

Facebook has decided to double the size of its planned data center in Oregon before the first part of the project is even built, the latest sign of the company's rapid growth.

Facebook said in January that it was building its first wholly owned data center in Prineville, Oregon, a 147,000-square-foot facility that's due for completion early next year. It's now decided to add another 160,000 square feet of data center space on the same site.

"To meet the needs of our growing business, we have decided to go ahead with the second phase of the project, which was an option we put in place when we broke ground earlier this year. The second phase should be finished by early 2012," Tom Furlong, Facebook director of site operations, said on the company's website Friday.

Facebook was approaching 400 million users when it announced the data center in January. Last month it crossed the 500 million mark.

Twitter said recently that it too will soon have its own data center. Like Facebook, its servers today are housed in data centers managed by other companies. Having its own facility will give Twitter more control over its infrastructure and, it hopes, reduce its outages.

Facebook said it employs 150 to 200 workers each day at the construction site. The data center itself will create 35 long-term jobs.

Greenpeace won't be thrilled at the expansion plans. The environmental group has criticized Facebook for choosing a site where the local power company gets most of its electricity from coal-fired plants. Greenpeace says Facebook should have chosen a site near a source of renewable energy.

Facebook has countered that it picked Oregon because of its dry and temperate climate. That allows it to use a technique called evaporative cooling to keep its servers cool, instead of a heavy mechanical chiller. Facebook says the data center will be one of the most energy-efficient in the world.

Monsoon to be normal this year : Weather office

The monsoon will be normal this year and will pick up in August and September, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Friday.

'The monsoon season (June to September) rainfall for the country as a whole is likely to be within the normal limits as predicted by the weather office earlier. The monsoon in June and July has been 95 percent,' IMD director general A.K. Tyagi told reporters here.

Rainfall over the country for the second half (August to September) of the 2010 southwest monsoon season is likely to be normal. The rainfall is expected to be 107 percent of the average during the second phase.

According to the weather office, the season's rainfall over the three geographical regions (Northwest India, Central India and South Peninsula) is also likely to be within the normal limits. However, the season's rainfall over Northeast India is likely to be below normal.

'There has been no depression over the Bay of Bengal in the first two months of monsoon, which is an anomalous feature reported this time. This has led to scanty rainfall in northeast country. Rainfall is likely to be deficit in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand,' said Tyagi.

The monsoon was delayed this year by a week and reached Kerala by the end of May.

Tsunami & Tidal Waves

Tsunami & Tidal Waves: From the previous topics on the potential for a “magnetic” pole shift, a “geographic” pole shift and the resulting shift in Earth’s crust, you can see that our oceans may present the greatest threat of natural disaster to all forms of life. The extent of this potential is even visible now as floods, tsunamis, and torrential rains cause the majority of fatalities from natural disaster around the world.

We’ve discussed the potential for a geological cataclysmic event from either type of pole shift as Earth’s crust moves across the magma until settling into a new state of equilibrium. Now let’s discuss the difference between the motions of Earth’s crust versus the motion of the oceans during such an event.

To do this, we must first consider the difference between the rigidity of a shift in Earth’s crust and the fluidity of its oceans. Dirt is more dense than water and does not flow as freely unless it is either saturated with water or a large enough force is applied that creates substantial momentum. A landslide is an example of how earth moves under extreme conditions. A landslide can only occur if one or more conditions are met including: steep incline, weak substructure, moisture, and the application of vertical or horizontal forces. If any one of these conditions is large enough, a landslide is possible, but is still much more limited in the distance it can travel than with water. In fact, due to the friction created as earth moves across earth, the distance of motion is extremely limited without a continuous application of force.

Water, on the other hand, moves freely when force is applied. In fact, even the slightest disturbance of water creates motion and the only conditions you need to create this motion include: displacement, vertical, or horizontal forces. Motion of water can be created from a variety of sources including: changes in altitude such as a river, wind blowing across its surface, or the gravitation forces from the Moon. And once water begins to move it continues until enough energy is removed over time to slow or stop the motion. In the case of a lake or ocean, this means that waves can literally move from one shore to the other, and back again.

Approximately 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water. Of course, 100% of Earth is covered by land; it’s just that only 30% of that land is above the water. As we discussed earlier, when Earth’s crust moves violently, it’s generally a short period of time before it settles into a new state of equilibrium. Good examples of this concept are earthquakes. Earthquakes can be very violent, but generally occur for only short durations with recordings generally only in the few seconds, but in extreme cases up to about 10 minutes.

The fluidity of water is what makes it so devastating. Once water starts moving, it doesn’t just stop until it generally hits something. It may slow down gradually, but it literally keeps moving across lakes and even oceans until it reaches a shoreline. And it doesn’t simply stop when it hits shore, but actually bounces off the shoreline, losing some of its momentum in the process, and starts back in the direction it came from. The cataclysm affects from these waves will probably last for weeks or months as these waves circle the globe before dissipating completely.

Weather Chart For Major Indian Cities

Weather Chart For Major Indian Cities
[ R=Rainfall (mm) ]

City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Agra T. Max 23 26 32 38 42 41 35 33 34 34 29 24 min. 7 10 16 22 27 29 27 26 25 19 12 8 R avg. 16 9 11 5 10 60 2 10 26 31 51 23 Amritsar T.max. 19 23 28 34 39 40 36 34 34 32 27 21 min. 5 7 12 16 21 25 26 25 23 17 9 5 R.avg. 38 11 26 9 11 32 169 168 106 54 10 15 Aurangabad T. max. 29 32 36 38 40 35 29 29 30 31 30 29 min. 14 16 20 24 25 23 22 21 21> 20 16 14 R.avg. 3 3 4 7 17 141 189 146 179 62 32 9 Bangalore T. max. 28 31 33 34 33 30 28 29 28 28 27 27 min. 15 16 19 21 21 20 19 19 19 19 17 15 R.avg. 4 14 63 71 19 65 93 95 129 195 46 16 Calcutta T. max. 26 29 34 36 36 34 32 32 32 31 29 27 min. 12 15 20 24 26 26 26 26 26 24 18 13 R.avg. 13 22 30 50 135 263 320 318 253 134 29 4 Chennai T. max. 29 31 33 35 38 37 35 35 34 32 29 28 min. 20 21 23 26 28 28 26 26 25 24 23 21 R.avg. 24 7 15 25 52 53 83 124 118 267 309 139 Chandigarh T. max. 20 23 29 32 38 39 34 33 32 32 31 27 min. 7 8 14 19 23 26 24 23 22 17 10 8 R.avg. 52 9 26 10 11 71 269 253 188 52 8 24 Cochin T. max. 31 31 31 31 31 29 28 28 28 29 30 30 min. 23 24 26 26 26 24 24 24 24 24 24 23 R.avg. 9 34 50 139 364 756 572 386 235 333 184 37 Darjeeling T. max. 9 1 15 18 19 19 20 20 20 19 15 12 min. 3 4 8 11 13 15 15 15 15 11 7 4 R.avg. 22 27 52 109 167 522 713 573 419 116 14 5 Delhi T. max. 21 24 30 36 41 40 35 34 34 35 29 23 min. 7 10 15 21 27 29 27 26 25 19 12 8 R.avg. 25 22 17 7 8 65 211 173 150 31 1 5 Gangtok T. max. 14 15 19 22 22 23 23 23 23 22 19 15 min. 4 5 9 12 14 16 17 17 16 12 9 6 R.avg. 44 56 142 222 493 644 63 588 476 152 35 15 Goa T. max. 31 31 31 32 32 30 28 29 29 31 32 32 min. 19 16 23 25 27 24 23 24 23 24 23 21 R.avg. 2 0 4 11 18 180 190 185 276 122 20 37 Gwalior T. max. 23 27 33 39 43 41 34 32 32 33 29 25 min. 7 10 16 22 28 30 27 25 34 18 11 7 R.avg. 18 7 8 3 9 83 274 259 192 35 2 8 Hyderabad T. max. 30 32 36 38 40 35 31 30 3 031 29 29 min. 15 17 20 24 25 24 22 22 22 20 16 14 R.avg. 8 9 12 30 28 112 152 134 164 62 29 8 Jaipur T. max. 22 25 31 37 41 39 34 32 33 33 29 24 min. 8 11 15 21 26 27 26 24 23 18 12 9 R.avg. 14 8 9 4 10 54 193 239 90 19 3 4 Jaisalmer T. max. 24 28 33 38 42 41 38 36 36 36 31 25 min. 8 11 17 21 25 27 27 25 25 20 13 9 R.avg. 2 1 3 1 5 7 89 86 14 1 5 2 Jodhpur T. max. 25 28 33 38 42 40 36 33 35 36 31 27 min. 9 12 17 22 27 29 27 25 24 20 14 11 R.avg. 7 5 2 2 6 31 122 145 47 7 3 1 Lucknow T. max. 23 22 33 39 41 38 34 32 33 33 29 24 min. 8 11 16 22 26 28 26 25 25 19 12 8 R.avg. 19 19 19 6 20 113 305 292 185 32 6 8 Madurai T. max. 30 32 35 36 37 37 36 35 35 33 31 30 min. 21 22 23 25 26 26 26 25 25 24 23 22 R.avg. 26 16 21 81 59 31 48 117 123 179 161 43 Mumbai T. max. 31 32 33 33 33 32 30 29 30 32 33 32 min. 16 17 20 24 26 26 26 26 26 24 18 13 R.avg. 0 1 0 0 20 647 945 660 309 117 7 1 Patna T. max. 24 26 33 38 39 37 33 32 32 32 29 25 min. 11 13 19 23 26 27 27 27 26 23 16 12 R.avg. 2 20 7 8 28 139 266 307 243 63 6 2 Srinagar T. max. 5 7 14 19 25 30 31 30 29 23 17 9 min. 4 1 3 7 10 14 18 17 12 5 1 2 R.avg. 74 72 93 92 16 36 59 61 39 30 11 33 Trivandrum T. max. 31 32 33 32 31 29 29 29 30 30 30 31 min. 22 23 24 25 25 24 23 22 23 23 23 23 R.avg. 20 20 33 122 249 331 215 164 123 271 207 73 Udaipur T. max. 24 28 32 36 38 36 31 29 31 32 29 26 min. 8 10 15 20 25 25 24 23 22 19 11 8 R.avg. 9 4 3 3 5 87 197 207 120 16 6 3 Varanasi T. max. 23 27 33 39 41 39 33 32 32 32 29 25 min. 9 11 17 22 27 28 26 26 25 21 13 9 R.avg. 23 8 14 1 8 102 346 240 261 38 15 2