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Methuselah: A Bristlecone Pine (Oldest)
The bristlecone pines of White mountains (western US) are among the oldest trees. One, Methuselah, is 4,800 years old.

Giant Sequoia: General Sherman (Most Massive)
General Sherman, a giant sequoia in California is as tall as 95m and has a total volume of 1,500 cubic metres.

Lignum Vitae: Wood of Life (Hardest Wood)
In pulleys, casters and thrust blocks for propeller drive shafts, the lignum vitae can actually wear better than iron.

On the face of it: A study of cricket in the West Indies.

Actually: Uses cricket as a metaphor for possibly the best socio-cultural analysis of emerging democratic ideas in the developing world.

Only failing: Tough reading for the clueless on cricket. Has therefore mystified generations of US liberal arts academics.

He’s a testament to what weight-loss can do to talent. What’s not right here about today’s best all-rounder?

A. Even partisan English commentators scoff at his comparison with Ian Botham.

B. Since 2003 he has averaged 51.8 (batting) and 20.6 (ball) in odis.

C. His nickname, Freddie, comes from the cartoon character, Fred Flintstone.

D. Through 1998-2002 he averaged 19.5 (batting) and 47.2 (bowling) in Tests. Since, he’s at 48.9 and 31.4.

E. In one-dayers, he’s a poor second to Botham.

Answer E. Freddie’s far better: 75 matches at 34.2 (batting) and 25.1 (bowling) vs Botham’s 123 games at 23.2 and 28.5.

A person who registers sites like outlokindia.com. A typo, or an error in keying in the desired website’s name, will lead net users on to their site. Nuisance value in the heyday of the dotcom boom, but now used by cybercrooks to upload spyware, and worse, on to unprotected PCs.