My wife was traveling to Europe on a Schengen visa, it is usual for the airport staff to check the visa before anyone boards the plane. Well the sad thing is the IDIOTS at the Katunayake International airport who check the Schengen visa at the Gate to the flight don't know the different types of visas. They simply did not know that if the stay is longer than 3 months the visa issued by the Schengen states is a temporary residency permit and not a tourist visa.
May be the airport authorities need to check this and not put donkeys to do a humans job. These donkeys had taken 45 minutes to just verify this facts. Ultimately a blasting from my wife had got the thing done. Trust me if you ever travel, be firm, treat these buggers like s**t and assert yourself, that will get the thing done, that's the trick I use (sadly I forgot to tell her this).
This is the most likely situation to occur when one gets political boot lickers' joining the service showing a letter from ministers. Just because they "hosh posh" a little in English they think they are I.T. it, they fellows don't have the brain of a jellyfish. This is the reason why Sri Lanka stagnates if not deteriorates day by day. Wrong person in the wrong job, these buggers should be put to clean the toilets in the airport.
Friday 28 December 2007
Thursday 27 December 2007
Long Live the Free Media Movement!
I was reading the loud "Jing Bang" created in the local media and specially by our most beloved Free Media Movement about the arrest of the two France 24 journalist filming a "road block" (a.k.a the Boosa detention camp - LOL!) for allegedly 5 seconds (a photograph can give a lot of information, 5 seconds of video may give even more info).
Well any way I watch France 24 on MyEasyTV but to my amusement they did not care to mention this and make a big "Jing Bang" like our FMM NGO. I also did a couple of searches for it on the France 24 website but zipp about the arrest or release of these journalist (btw their web search is pretty accurate).
So WTF is the agenda of the FMM? What is in it for them? More money? Pleasing their foreign Masters? Or simply pacifying the Tiger Pussy?
"Long live the FMM" is probably what Prabakaran is chanting!
Well any way I watch France 24 on MyEasyTV but to my amusement they did not care to mention this and make a big "Jing Bang" like our FMM NGO. I also did a couple of searches for it on the France 24 website but zipp about the arrest or release of these journalist (btw their web search is pretty accurate).
So WTF is the agenda of the FMM? What is in it for them? More money? Pleasing their foreign Masters? Or simply pacifying the Tiger Pussy?
"Long live the FMM" is probably what Prabakaran is chanting!
Friday 21 December 2007
Sinhala, English and Tiger Terrorists?
It is a sad situation we have to face today with the Web 2.0 bringing to forefront the issue of accuracy of information. With anyone being able to put up anything on the web, there are more lies than truths out there today. Even worse is the fact that people still lack the skills of judging truth from fiction. Blogs have become one of those sources of misinformation and are being increasingly misused. It is not something ethical for one blogger to write against another, but once in a while you have to break the rules for the sake of the "better good".
Terrorist not only exit bearing kalashnikovs or a belt of explosives strapped on to their chest, but they exist bearing pens (now keyboards), peace doves, and humanitarian and human rights symbols. They conduct their propaganda war, while their brothers in arms blow up building and kill innocent civilians. Each mutually supporting the other for survival. One could not exist and profit without the other, a good "business model" with plenty of money involved no doubt and as the saying goes, I scratch your back - you scratch mine.
I have been reading some so called "bloggs", one of them started in English and then branched out into Sinhala and Tamil, all blowing the trumpet of the Tiger terrorists and their supporting power-hungry puppet politicians. I think the Sri lankan blogosphere are not that stupid as these terrorist think we are. Just because they right in Sinhala or Englis it does not mean they are not terrorist supporters (What about the Sinhala Terrorists and some SL politicians - they are Sinhala speaking right, and the Canadian and British parliamentarians who attend LTTE rallies - they are English speaking right - so language, race or religion does not in anyway give a new face to terrorists). Let me ask you, if Tamilnet starts a site in Sinhala or Tamil we know that they are still the mouthpiece of the LTTE, right? So I'm not going to beat around the bush anymore, and the winner in the terrorist blog category is... "grounviews" and its sibling Sinhala terror sites "vikalpa" and their Tamil site "Marru wali" (sorry but I have forgotten my Tamil - read it as best as I could). Everybody know what "groundviews" agenda is and what terrorist group they support - and how they published a disagreeing commenter's IP info and bocked and moderated comments from others who had different opinions (they promote human rights and support free speech?). And now "vikalpa" meaning "alternate" and we all know who's alternative policies they are and who makes money through that NGO and which terror group they say "Ai Ai Captain" to.
The runners-up in the terrorist blog category is.... "transcurrants". If that bloke post something it is a fabricated piece of rubbish. I was wondering why famous defense analyst like B.Ramana and other eminent people only write to this website. These specific articles on "transcurrents" were never published anywhere else on the web not in any other news or defense site. Could it be because they are not the actual writers? Likely that some joker is impersonating these experts to give a moral boost so that the Tiger Terrorist may pump out more money from the Tamil diaspora and pacify the power hungry SL politicians and peacenics? B Ramanan publishes all his material on Rediff but where are these articles that praise the LTTE and rundown the SL government? The most horrifying thing was when I read one of these fabricated articles on the Island of the 25th of October 2007. They had simply done a "copy and paste" without verifying facts. One must say, now that is a dangerous trend, because we still believe that the Paper bought at the local boutique is a little bit more valid than what we might find on the Internet (because of the process that it SHOULD go through)!
So please keep your eyes and ears and most importantly your minds open, since this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many other blogs, youtube videos etc. etc. wait in line to do the bidding of the Tiger Terrorist to achieve their "virtual" Eelam (it just occurred to me that may be the Tiger Terrorist and their entourage could actually buy some space on SecondLife and create their own virtual Eelam and Prabahakaran can be their king LOL!).
Wish you all PEACE, LOVE AND HARMONY this Christmas and the New Year to come.
Terrorist not only exit bearing kalashnikovs or a belt of explosives strapped on to their chest, but they exist bearing pens (now keyboards), peace doves, and humanitarian and human rights symbols. They conduct their propaganda war, while their brothers in arms blow up building and kill innocent civilians. Each mutually supporting the other for survival. One could not exist and profit without the other, a good "business model" with plenty of money involved no doubt and as the saying goes, I scratch your back - you scratch mine.
I have been reading some so called "bloggs", one of them started in English and then branched out into Sinhala and Tamil, all blowing the trumpet of the Tiger terrorists and their supporting power-hungry puppet politicians. I think the Sri lankan blogosphere are not that stupid as these terrorist think we are. Just because they right in Sinhala or Englis it does not mean they are not terrorist supporters (What about the Sinhala Terrorists and some SL politicians - they are Sinhala speaking right, and the Canadian and British parliamentarians who attend LTTE rallies - they are English speaking right - so language, race or religion does not in anyway give a new face to terrorists). Let me ask you, if Tamilnet starts a site in Sinhala or Tamil we know that they are still the mouthpiece of the LTTE, right? So I'm not going to beat around the bush anymore, and the winner in the terrorist blog category is... "grounviews" and its sibling Sinhala terror sites "vikalpa" and their Tamil site "Marru wali" (sorry but I have forgotten my Tamil - read it as best as I could). Everybody know what "groundviews" agenda is and what terrorist group they support - and how they published a disagreeing commenter's IP info and bocked and moderated comments from others who had different opinions (they promote human rights and support free speech?). And now "vikalpa" meaning "alternate" and we all know who's alternative policies they are and who makes money through that NGO and which terror group they say "Ai Ai Captain" to.
The runners-up in the terrorist blog category is.... "transcurrants". If that bloke post something it is a fabricated piece of rubbish. I was wondering why famous defense analyst like B.Ramana and other eminent people only write to this website. These specific articles on "transcurrents" were never published anywhere else on the web not in any other news or defense site. Could it be because they are not the actual writers? Likely that some joker is impersonating these experts to give a moral boost so that the Tiger Terrorist may pump out more money from the Tamil diaspora and pacify the power hungry SL politicians and peacenics? B Ramanan publishes all his material on Rediff but where are these articles that praise the LTTE and rundown the SL government? The most horrifying thing was when I read one of these fabricated articles on the Island of the 25th of October 2007. They had simply done a "copy and paste" without verifying facts. One must say, now that is a dangerous trend, because we still believe that the Paper bought at the local boutique is a little bit more valid than what we might find on the Internet (because of the process that it SHOULD go through)!
So please keep your eyes and ears and most importantly your minds open, since this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many other blogs, youtube videos etc. etc. wait in line to do the bidding of the Tiger Terrorist to achieve their "virtual" Eelam (it just occurred to me that may be the Tiger Terrorist and their entourage could actually buy some space on SecondLife and create their own virtual Eelam and Prabahakaran can be their king LOL!).
Wish you all PEACE, LOVE AND HARMONY this Christmas and the New Year to come.
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Little help for our little VBloggers
VBloggers, as I like to call our little Village Bolg community.
I have been receiving essays numbering in the tens, for corrections and feedback before they are posted on them web. I was reading through them and saw that some of the shortcomings were very common or were across the board. So I just thought I'd make up a list and have these little check boxes that they could go through before they are posted, and may be that will help them to improve their writing. May be you could suggest some tips too.
One of the most disturbing things I found when going through these essays was that many were using the spell checker and the grammar correction option, but they were simply doing it in a blind fashion. What ever the word or phrase that was suggested first was used to replace the mistake. I remembered what one of my colleagues said when asked about the "One laptop per child program", he said "If I give my son a calculator he will learn to use it to add and subtract and multiply, but will he learn adding, subtracting or multiplying? I don't think so. It is not about giving a laptop to a child, but how it is used to learn". Similarly these little bloggers and many others don't use the spell checker and the grammar correction option as a learning too, they simply use it to correct mistakes and they keep on repeating the same mistake over and over again. In an instance when they do not have access to a computer and need to write something, they are going to be in deep trouble.
So hope that the people who donate computers and conduct programs also point out the importance of using them as tools of learning rather than just tools for doing tasks.
Click to view
I have been receiving essays numbering in the tens, for corrections and feedback before they are posted on them web. I was reading through them and saw that some of the shortcomings were very common or were across the board. So I just thought I'd make up a list and have these little check boxes that they could go through before they are posted, and may be that will help them to improve their writing. May be you could suggest some tips too.
One of the most disturbing things I found when going through these essays was that many were using the spell checker and the grammar correction option, but they were simply doing it in a blind fashion. What ever the word or phrase that was suggested first was used to replace the mistake. I remembered what one of my colleagues said when asked about the "One laptop per child program", he said "If I give my son a calculator he will learn to use it to add and subtract and multiply, but will he learn adding, subtracting or multiplying? I don't think so. It is not about giving a laptop to a child, but how it is used to learn". Similarly these little bloggers and many others don't use the spell checker and the grammar correction option as a learning too, they simply use it to correct mistakes and they keep on repeating the same mistake over and over again. In an instance when they do not have access to a computer and need to write something, they are going to be in deep trouble.
So hope that the people who donate computers and conduct programs also point out the importance of using them as tools of learning rather than just tools for doing tasks.
Click to viewFriday 2 November 2007
Tamilselvan killed in Sri Lanka Air Force aerial bombardment
Well that is the cost of pissing off the Air Force, with their so called "daring" Attack. Rest in Pieces!
At 6.00am today, Friday 2nd November 2007, Head of teh LTTE Political Division, S P Tamilselvan (no more false smiles) was killed by the Sri Lankan Air Force aerial bombing. With him the self appointed jackasses "Lt Col" Anpumani (Alex), "Major" Mihuthan, "Capt" Nethagy, "Lt" Adchgivel, and "Lt " Vahaikumaran were also killed.
At 6.00am today, Friday 2nd November 2007, Head of teh LTTE Political Division, S P Tamilselvan (no more false smiles) was killed by the Sri Lankan Air Force aerial bombing. With him the self appointed jackasses "Lt Col" Anpumani (Alex), "Major" Mihuthan, "Capt" Nethagy, "Lt" Adchgivel, and "Lt " Vahaikumaran were also killed.
Thursday 1 November 2007
Boom of "Village Bloggers"
Been visiting some blogs of village kids lately, and each day I search for these kids I find more and more popping of from all corners of the country. While the kids in Colombo and the big cities play WarCraft living in the world of avatars or browsing porn, the kids in the village seem to be making better use of technology for a much more productive purpose.
It is amazing how confidently they express their views and that too in their second language. May be not in perfect English, but then again who says there is perfect English, you speak to an English kid and he will make a mistake or two in five the sentences he speaks, so what the heck it's his first language and only our second language. It really does not matter whether it is "an apple" or "a apple", all that matters is the communication and getting your ideas through. We used to call people from remote parts "Bayya" or "Godaya" (now now don't deny you said it at least once) but there is no such thing today, there in no place called remote, technology has broken the barriers of distance and remoteness, now everybody is a neighbor on the Internet.
Each time I visit a blog of one of these kids I try to leave an encouraging comment, since blogging is no easy task if others don't read and comment on your blog. Blogging needs motivation (specially for the new comers and the kids), it's not simple as "dear diary" where you did not want anyone to read, but now you want someone to read and also comment. I don't try to comment on their language or some mistakes they make, but I give them time to get their confidence. May be after several months of posting I might just give them some "constructive" criticism for them to improve both their communication skills and language.
So people if you find some free time do visit the blogs of these kids and take a minute to leave a comment. They may seem to be uninteresting with titles like; "my mother", "my village", "my school", "my teacher", "Sigirya", "king Dutugamunu" etc. etc., but think of it as you playing your part in helping the next generation to beat the world.
Remember "A Smile and a kind words goes a long way".
PEACE!
It is amazing how confidently they express their views and that too in their second language. May be not in perfect English, but then again who says there is perfect English, you speak to an English kid and he will make a mistake or two in five the sentences he speaks, so what the heck it's his first language and only our second language. It really does not matter whether it is "an apple" or "a apple", all that matters is the communication and getting your ideas through. We used to call people from remote parts "Bayya" or "Godaya" (now now don't deny you said it at least once) but there is no such thing today, there in no place called remote, technology has broken the barriers of distance and remoteness, now everybody is a neighbor on the Internet.
Each time I visit a blog of one of these kids I try to leave an encouraging comment, since blogging is no easy task if others don't read and comment on your blog. Blogging needs motivation (specially for the new comers and the kids), it's not simple as "dear diary" where you did not want anyone to read, but now you want someone to read and also comment. I don't try to comment on their language or some mistakes they make, but I give them time to get their confidence. May be after several months of posting I might just give them some "constructive" criticism for them to improve both their communication skills and language.
So people if you find some free time do visit the blogs of these kids and take a minute to leave a comment. They may seem to be uninteresting with titles like; "my mother", "my village", "my school", "my teacher", "Sigirya", "king Dutugamunu" etc. etc., but think of it as you playing your part in helping the next generation to beat the world.
Remember "A Smile and a kind words goes a long way".
PEACE!
The new Apple MacBooks and Pros are out?
I want to buy an apple MacBook and have been keeping an eye on things. I just heard this rumor that apple would be releasing the new MacBook and a MacBook Pro with the Santa Rosa architecture with a bus speed of 800MHz, and tomorrow is Friday (if apple keeps to the tradition of launching stuff on Friday) the new Macs should be out tomorrow. I noticed on the Apple websites too that 1st they had the new spec, but now they have taken away the whole Product Bar so that visitors cannot see the new Mac specs. Still if you search hard enough, you can find a link they forgot to take off, so here are the new spec,
The MacBook
The MacBook Pro
So I might wait another day or two to get my new MacBook. If you bought it recently, me deepest sympathies :-(
The MacBook
- 2.0GHz or 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 4MB shared L2 cache running at full processor speed
- 800MHz frontside bus
- 1GB (two 512MB SO-DIMMs) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300); two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
The MacBook Pro
- 15-inch MacBook Pro
- 2.2GHz, 2.4GHz, or 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
- 17-inch MacBook Pro
- 2.4GHz or 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
- 2GB (two SO-DIMMs) of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB
- 800MHz frontside bus
So I might wait another day or two to get my new MacBook. If you bought it recently, me deepest sympathies :-(
Friday 26 October 2007
Child monk... Girl or Boy?
News Item in the Island paper of 26th Oct 2007
------------
Rape and killing of six-year-old child Monk,teacher arrested
by Neminda Samarajeewa
A monk and a womanteacher of a day care centre in Naiwala in Minuwangoda were arrested over the suspected rape and killing of a six year old girl. Following complaints by the mother of the child that she suspected foul play, Attanagalle Magistrate ordered the body be exhumed.
The body of the child was brought to the Ragama Hospital yesterday and a team of medical specialist's are expected to perform a post-mortem on the body today (26), Ragama Hospital sources said.
It was earlier said that the child fell ill and died and was buried at the Vigada cemetery.
The boy's grave at the Vigada cemetery was kept under police guard until the exhumation.
--------------
The headline can be interpreted as a "Child monk", I though so at first
Then it says the child was a girl,
Finally it says the child was a boy?
WTF how do these things miss the Editors eyes, is he/she doing the job properly? Just irresponsible like the article by an impostor of B.Raman (which was a blog post of a LTTE supporter, not from a reliable source) making news on the Island paper of the 25th Oct. Talk about "responsible" journalism and media freedom...! These fellows need a good "Ass Whopping"!
------------
Rape and killing of six-year-old child Monk,teacher arrested
by Neminda Samarajeewa
A monk and a womanteacher of a day care centre in Naiwala in Minuwangoda were arrested over the suspected rape and killing of a six year old girl. Following complaints by the mother of the child that she suspected foul play, Attanagalle Magistrate ordered the body be exhumed.
The body of the child was brought to the Ragama Hospital yesterday and a team of medical specialist's are expected to perform a post-mortem on the body today (26), Ragama Hospital sources said.
It was earlier said that the child fell ill and died and was buried at the Vigada cemetery.
The boy's grave at the Vigada cemetery was kept under police guard until the exhumation.
--------------
The headline can be interpreted as a "Child monk", I though so at first
Then it says the child was a girl,
Finally it says the child was a boy?
WTF how do these things miss the Editors eyes, is he/she doing the job properly? Just irresponsible like the article by an impostor of B.Raman (which was a blog post of a LTTE supporter, not from a reliable source) making news on the Island paper of the 25th Oct. Talk about "responsible" journalism and media freedom...! These fellows need a good "Ass Whopping"!
Rubbish on the "Island"
Felt like breaking the long silence of not blogging, even though I am really busy. I thought I just needed to speak out my mind, to let them know. I was probably the first in the world to read the online version of the Island news paper today (25th Oct - but it's still 24th here). I respected the Island paper, so I even went and payed US$ 10 to read the paper online. Well any! way I just read the article with the heading "Ex-Indian Addl. Cabinet Secy details attack on air base - (supposedly) by B.Raman" and remembered that I read this article on kottu yesterday. I knew it was a posting by "someone" with a sympathetic eye for the terrorist, and the wording and the respect shown to the LTTE barbarians and the amount of misinformation published was so obvious that I knew it was some S-o-B impersonating B.Raman. I thought of letting the editor of the Island newspaper know, that he had published something with no truth and not from and authentic source and baring the name of a "reputed" intelligence expert from India. So I filled this form for opinion and clicked send, but it gave me an error. So I thought I'll put it out like this;
To the Editor Island Newspaper: Your article with heading "Ex-Indian Addl. Cabinet Secy details attack on air base" is not an authentic article by B.Raman. It is a blog post (intellibriefs.blogspot.com) by some LTTE supporter and impersonator of the "reputed" intelligence expert from India. We the truth loving people would appreciate that next time you publish something, you look at your sources and facts and verify their authenticity. I have bought subscription to the Island and don't expect to read rubbish like this and see irresponsible information on your paper. Please act more responsibly and apologize to my Sri Lanka and the armed forces for publishing this rubbish. As an Editor; can't you read between the lines and see this is an attempt by an LTTE supporter not B.Raman to mislead the world community and the Sri Lankan public to puff up the LTTE terrorist's image?
I would say if Island does not correct their mistake and apologize they should refund my US$ 10, cause I have no intention of paying to read rubbish on "Yellow Media".
To the Editor Island Newspaper: Your article with heading "Ex-Indian Addl. Cabinet Secy details attack on air base" is not an authentic article by B.Raman. It is a blog post (intellibriefs.blogspot.com) by some LTTE supporter and impersonator of the "reputed" intelligence expert from India. We the truth loving people would appreciate that next time you publish something, you look at your sources and facts and verify their authenticity. I have bought subscription to the Island and don't expect to read rubbish like this and see irresponsible information on your paper. Please act more responsibly and apologize to my Sri Lanka and the armed forces for publishing this rubbish. As an Editor; can't you read between the lines and see this is an attempt by an LTTE supporter not B.Raman to mislead the world community and the Sri Lankan public to puff up the LTTE terrorist's image?
I would say if Island does not correct their mistake and apologize they should refund my US$ 10, cause I have no intention of paying to read rubbish on "Yellow Media".
Friday 1 June 2007
REAL front line footage.... WOW
Its an Al-Jazeera news report I found on YouTube, which is 18 hours old. Not my favorite job posting up YouTube clips, but thought I'd post it up for majority viewing since one can really feel the rush of adrenalin and imagine what it is like out there. How come our journalists and cameramen don't provide coverage like this?
Wednesday 30 May 2007
A story in 5 pics..!
Open for your own interpretation! I got this through a mail, and thought I'd share it.
My friend's wife's revealing photo on the net...!
There is a famous Sri Lankan saying "වඳුරා ට දැලි-පිහිය ලැබුනා වගේ", (like a monkey got hold of a razor knife), indiscriminate chopping and slashing with no care about what its doing or who gets hurt, or whether it hurts itself.
With the age of Information and Communication Technology dawning in Sri Lanka it seems that, now we have to modify this old Sri Lankan saying as "වඳුරට ICT ලැබුනා වගේ" .
Let me take a few examples;
My first example refers to kottu. I am a frequent to kottu.org, and it simply amazes me how "monkeys" (thank god that the majority of the kottu bloggers are NOT "monkeys") (mis)use this freedom of expression to the extreme. Probably anyone with a little bit of brains who sees theses blogs can clearly identify that some of these blogs are written by "monkeys" and are intended for the sole purpose of slinging mud, spreading disinformation and sledging any one or any thing that they simply don't like or don't agree with. No productive or creative initiative but a simple destructive one. Sometime I find it ironic that I have to scroll right down to read the good blogs, because the top of the kottu page is full of "monkey poop". (Wonder whether kottu can come up with a blog ranking? hmm but may be the monkeys might rig that as well).
My next example is the abuse of "Anonymous". I have seen a lot of posts and comments about it on kottu. To me it does not matter if a comment is Anonymous as long as it is productive (why bother logging in, when only your productive opinion or ideas matter). If it is not productive and is simply used to abuse, well then there again you have to replace the "Anonymous" with "monkey" and discard the post.
Another example is; I have seen a pic of my friend's wife on the net (no! not naked, but somewhat revealing). Well I know that she did not put in there, nor did he, but some "monkey" who got hold of it has put it up on a forum or somewhere and it's spread like a wild fire! The funny thing about this is a "monkey" who usually sends me 'OWC' emails, sends me an email saying "see what you can do to take our friend's wife's photo off the net". (It's good for him to spread it about, but when it happens to his friend. Ahhh! now he's worried). I am not concerned about this issue just because it's my friend's wife, but who knows, where the next time someone manages to take a photo it might be my wife or my sister or may be someday my daughter (I still don't have a daughter, and neither my wife nor sisters wears reveling dresses). But who knows whether there are peeping Toms, who could be peeping through the windows of your home, the changing room of the dress boutique or the ceiling of the ladies wash room (no I'm not paranoid yet). Hmm, think of your own self and family.
My last example has to do with camera phones. The newest headache, specially for girls these days are "monkeys" carrying a phone with a camera. It has become so risky for girls to just let their guard down (my wife always complains that she has to always frown and growl at monkeys who try taking photos). I remember about six months back I was traveling on the Intercity train from Kandy to Colombo. The frequent travelers usually knew each other and were pretty much friends. On this particular day there was this girl who walked up to me and said that the lady next to her had told her that the "monkey" in front of her had taken her photo. I went up to this guy and asked him weather he took her photo or not, he politely but nervously replied "no" (just like a gutless "monkey" - no spine to admit or take responsibility), I asked for the phone and since he did not give it I grabbed it off his hand and looked through and there is was, I deleted the photos and had to give him a warning (well I'm no macho man, but nowadays very few people stand up against injustice).
My opinion about "monkeys" is that they are people who have not a single cell in their body that has a gene called "civic responsibility" and also that they are the type that does not have even a single vertebra.
Finally I have no idea how to finish this post....! So I anyone who stumbled upon this can reflect on the fact of how to deal with ICT in the hands of "monkeys". Personally when it comes to kottu, I have earmarked blogs of "monkeys" NOT to be visited (why increase their hit rates?).
PS: I knew that, this heading was going to get your attention (my initial heading was "Monkeys and ICT").
Disclaimer : No insult to the to Platyrrhini and Catarrhini (the type that usually have tails at the rear end).
With the age of Information and Communication Technology dawning in Sri Lanka it seems that, now we have to modify this old Sri Lankan saying as "වඳුරට ICT ලැබුනා වගේ" .
Let me take a few examples;
My first example refers to kottu. I am a frequent to kottu.org, and it simply amazes me how "monkeys" (thank god that the majority of the kottu bloggers are NOT "monkeys") (mis)use this freedom of expression to the extreme. Probably anyone with a little bit of brains who sees theses blogs can clearly identify that some of these blogs are written by "monkeys" and are intended for the sole purpose of slinging mud, spreading disinformation and sledging any one or any thing that they simply don't like or don't agree with. No productive or creative initiative but a simple destructive one. Sometime I find it ironic that I have to scroll right down to read the good blogs, because the top of the kottu page is full of "monkey poop". (Wonder whether kottu can come up with a blog ranking? hmm but may be the monkeys might rig that as well).
My next example is the abuse of "Anonymous". I have seen a lot of posts and comments about it on kottu. To me it does not matter if a comment is Anonymous as long as it is productive (why bother logging in, when only your productive opinion or ideas matter). If it is not productive and is simply used to abuse, well then there again you have to replace the "Anonymous" with "monkey" and discard the post.
Another example is; I have seen a pic of my friend's wife on the net (no! not naked, but somewhat revealing). Well I know that she did not put in there, nor did he, but some "monkey" who got hold of it has put it up on a forum or somewhere and it's spread like a wild fire! The funny thing about this is a "monkey" who usually sends me 'OWC' emails, sends me an email saying "see what you can do to take our friend's wife's photo off the net". (It's good for him to spread it about, but when it happens to his friend. Ahhh! now he's worried). I am not concerned about this issue just because it's my friend's wife, but who knows, where the next time someone manages to take a photo it might be my wife or my sister or may be someday my daughter (I still don't have a daughter, and neither my wife nor sisters wears reveling dresses). But who knows whether there are peeping Toms, who could be peeping through the windows of your home, the changing room of the dress boutique or the ceiling of the ladies wash room (no I'm not paranoid yet). Hmm, think of your own self and family.
My last example has to do with camera phones. The newest headache, specially for girls these days are "monkeys" carrying a phone with a camera. It has become so risky for girls to just let their guard down (my wife always complains that she has to always frown and growl at monkeys who try taking photos). I remember about six months back I was traveling on the Intercity train from Kandy to Colombo. The frequent travelers usually knew each other and were pretty much friends. On this particular day there was this girl who walked up to me and said that the lady next to her had told her that the "monkey" in front of her had taken her photo. I went up to this guy and asked him weather he took her photo or not, he politely but nervously replied "no" (just like a gutless "monkey" - no spine to admit or take responsibility), I asked for the phone and since he did not give it I grabbed it off his hand and looked through and there is was, I deleted the photos and had to give him a warning (well I'm no macho man, but nowadays very few people stand up against injustice).
My opinion about "monkeys" is that they are people who have not a single cell in their body that has a gene called "civic responsibility" and also that they are the type that does not have even a single vertebra.
Finally I have no idea how to finish this post....! So I anyone who stumbled upon this can reflect on the fact of how to deal with ICT in the hands of "monkeys". Personally when it comes to kottu, I have earmarked blogs of "monkeys" NOT to be visited (why increase their hit rates?).
PS: I knew that, this heading was going to get your attention (my initial heading was "Monkeys and ICT").
Disclaimer : No insult to the to Platyrrhini and Catarrhini (the type that usually have tails at the rear end).
Friday 18 May 2007
Research vs. Ego
Research which is supposed to lead to new discoveries, new knowledge and a better world, comes to conflict with the researchers ego.
Why I am writing this? May seem of no relevance to anyone, but to me it has a great deal of importance. When I'm old and gray up there (already a few) and my memory tends to fail me (it already does) it would be nice to refer to what I went through before I give advice to someone else. We human being tend to forget what we faced when we went through some process. Once you complete something it seems sooooo easy. Achievement and good memories tend to drown the hardships and the bad. A roller-coaster ride probably illustrates this fact really well; you are not sure whether you wanna get on it, but then you make yourself, it's still scary but now it's too late you're already strapped in (still you can make a big fuss and get off), then it starts off (now you have no options left), the ride is windy with a lot of ups and downs and sometime it stops and next minute your life is turned upside down, it does not seem to end, and finally when you come to the end of it all, you tell everybody who asks you "Maaan! (excuse me womaaan!)... you have to get on it, it was fun... (what a lie)".
Beyond this point it may be boring.. but read on if you please.
It's not long; just 2 1/2 months since I started my doctoral studies. I had this clear idea what I wanted to do when I came over here. My first meeting was with my supervisor was 2 weeks after I arrived in a cold cold frozen land in the northern part of Sweden (just 500 km south of the arctic circle). I had a research plan .. this this this.. is what I wanted to do, but then suddenly there were flaws in it. My research is based on two totally different science and now there was this conflict brewing between the two. Any way it was realized that I needed to make this transition from this "IF-THEN-ELSE positivist" person to a more "INTERPRETIVE" person. Well with 20+ years of "positivist" way of thinking it was like picking me up by my legs, turning me up side down and shaking me till all the loose change in my pockets fell out. But since I knew my goals it was not too hard (but in no way easy) for me to get over the shock. In fact I had to call my wife, and three or four friend to get over it.
Well anyway did manage that, and after weeks of reading and brushing up came up with this nice research plan which my supervisor and of course myself agreed upon and also was very happy with.
Research is a lot about reading and coming up with ideas (and sometimes just tucking your head under the pillow and trying to sleep, hoping your mind would stop thinking) and seeing how they fit into the bigger picture. I think this is where the researchers ego come into play;
Why I am writing this? May seem of no relevance to anyone, but to me it has a great deal of importance. When I'm old and gray up there (already a few) and my memory tends to fail me (it already does) it would be nice to refer to what I went through before I give advice to someone else. We human being tend to forget what we faced when we went through some process. Once you complete something it seems sooooo easy. Achievement and good memories tend to drown the hardships and the bad. A roller-coaster ride probably illustrates this fact really well; you are not sure whether you wanna get on it, but then you make yourself, it's still scary but now it's too late you're already strapped in (still you can make a big fuss and get off), then it starts off (now you have no options left), the ride is windy with a lot of ups and downs and sometime it stops and next minute your life is turned upside down, it does not seem to end, and finally when you come to the end of it all, you tell everybody who asks you "Maaan! (excuse me womaaan!)... you have to get on it, it was fun... (what a lie)".
Beyond this point it may be boring.. but read on if you please.
It's not long; just 2 1/2 months since I started my doctoral studies. I had this clear idea what I wanted to do when I came over here. My first meeting was with my supervisor was 2 weeks after I arrived in a cold cold frozen land in the northern part of Sweden (just 500 km south of the arctic circle). I had a research plan .. this this this.. is what I wanted to do, but then suddenly there were flaws in it. My research is based on two totally different science and now there was this conflict brewing between the two. Any way it was realized that I needed to make this transition from this "IF-THEN-ELSE positivist" person to a more "INTERPRETIVE" person. Well with 20+ years of "positivist" way of thinking it was like picking me up by my legs, turning me up side down and shaking me till all the loose change in my pockets fell out. But since I knew my goals it was not too hard (but in no way easy) for me to get over the shock. In fact I had to call my wife, and three or four friend to get over it.
Well anyway did manage that, and after weeks of reading and brushing up came up with this nice research plan which my supervisor and of course myself agreed upon and also was very happy with.
Research is a lot about reading and coming up with ideas (and sometimes just tucking your head under the pillow and trying to sleep, hoping your mind would stop thinking) and seeing how they fit into the bigger picture. I think this is where the researchers ego come into play;
- Sometimes there were parts of my research already being investigated by someone else. That is not very fun, since I was feeling that someone was stealing my research away from me. And trust me male ego (I don't know to comment about female ego - and I usually keep far far away form gender issues) does not like that very much. I was wanting that research to go away, disappear, but then reality strikes and ok! "so it is not going to go away, so live with it".
- Then there were time I needed to change my approach since someone else found that the approach I was using was not the best. Well to be honest I don't know weather this is what I felt, the first time I had a discussion with my supervisor. Hmmm! I think so, but then there were so many emotions and stuff going through my mind, and a total change to my approach and way of thinking; I can't be certain. Any way when it comes form your supervisor it is not so hard to take, but when in it comes form someone you do not know 5000 miles away, you do not want that person to exists and you wish and try to find ways to prove them wrong. But if you fail it strikes you again. Ok! "so it is not going to go away, so live with it"
- Next there is this battle, which I don't think I have still faced. I just thought about this and found that there may be a possibility that I may need to change or at least deviate from my initial deliverables since someone proved they were not the best or there were better ones already. Probably this happens when you have a pet project or something you are bias towards and requires change or needs to be gotten rid of. Thank god I still did not have to, and I hope I never have to :-).
- Finally the most nagging issue is when I needed to change my goals and approaches, when my own reflections and thoughts were proving that my goals were wrong or not the best (notice the "not the best" - see my point? my ego does not give up easily). This is the worst case scenario. Here is were my uphill battle is the hardest. My ego does not fight someone else, but it fights me. This is when I can catch a syndrome called "excuscitis" (no don't look it up, it's not in any medical journal, it is decease that make people give excuses). I try to give excuses to keep my research plan unchanged and alive. I think I'm going through this phase, so will sort myself out and keep you posted.
Thursday 17 May 2007
Difference between Pity & Humanity
I was having a chat with one of my friend who sent me over this link to a video (I thought I'd post it here but then decided against it) since I did not want to promote such a video. The video has a title like "Gods, Allah, Buddha. what a bunch of nice guys". Personally I recent the title, since it is the case that many of us blame karma or god when things go wrong, but rarely are thankful when it works out in our favor. Any way the video showed people and animals with deformities.
Well what does it have to do with Pity and Humanity?
Here goes; I started watching the video and I started feeling pity for them, but then I started to see something in them that I don't see in 90% of the people I know; "resiliency", "true courage" and "a smile" overcoming their plight (I call it plight because I have no better word and it's better than calling it suffering, but I know I'm wrong - please suggest). I could see the love they were having in their big hearts and of course their families and loved-ones were equally resilient, strong and loving. It was an eye opener for me and I realized that they were stronger and had more love in their hearts than a thousand hearts put together.
This made me realize that I was now seeing inside the person or animal, beyond his/her/its external appearance. This is when I realized the difference between pity and humanity. Pity made me see the person outside, humanity made me see the person inside.
Just wanted to share this with "someone", so that the next time one give money or offer ones seat to a less fortunate, one might do it because of humanity and not because of pity.
PEACE 2 YA ALL!
PS: Don't waste time it was not on google or youtube.
Well what does it have to do with Pity and Humanity?
Here goes; I started watching the video and I started feeling pity for them, but then I started to see something in them that I don't see in 90% of the people I know; "resiliency", "true courage" and "a smile" overcoming their plight (I call it plight because I have no better word and it's better than calling it suffering, but I know I'm wrong - please suggest). I could see the love they were having in their big hearts and of course their families and loved-ones were equally resilient, strong and loving. It was an eye opener for me and I realized that they were stronger and had more love in their hearts than a thousand hearts put together.
This made me realize that I was now seeing inside the person or animal, beyond his/her/its external appearance. This is when I realized the difference between pity and humanity. Pity made me see the person outside, humanity made me see the person inside.
Just wanted to share this with "someone", so that the next time one give money or offer ones seat to a less fortunate, one might do it because of humanity and not because of pity.
PEACE 2 YA ALL!
PS: Don't waste time it was not on google or youtube.
Tuesday 15 May 2007
Reflection in the window
Have you ever tried to look out the window while traveling to enjoy the scenery but always found the reflection in the window a distraction? Have you noticed that the more you try to ignore it the more prominent it becomes? Isn't it that the more effort you put into focusing your vision away from it the harder it is for your eyes to look beyond it? But when you look away and let your mind forget about the reflection and suddenly you look through the window your eyes can easily focus on the scenery outside, and to your eyes there does not exist a reflection.
I think this is true to many aspects of life, specially things that tend you bother you and take all your attention and focus it narrowly on this one tiny issue. The more you try to ignore it the more you tend to get rapped up inti. Some people look to the bottle, some take up other things. But no matter what you do if you do it with the intension of getting rid of this nagging issue, it is always with you.
I think that one should just let the issue be and create a distance for this nagging issue (some might say it's easier said that done - yep it is easier said than done - trust me I've tried and failed, but now I am better at it). One should just do what ever comes in to head (no not killing some one or committing suicide or driving your car into a wall.. nothing destructive pls). Get to doing something that you enjoy, preferably something that makes you body tired (preferably makes you body ache). Something that will make your body too tired to keep awake to think of anything and will make you sleep like a baby (basically give you REM sleep). REM sleep lets your mind sleep too. And probably when you wake up the next day you should be at least a few thoughts away from that nagging issue (at least it won't be the first thought on your mind), and if you keep on doing this, in no time you will be far away from the issue and you will be able to focus beyond this nagging problem. Once again it is easier said than done, but try it if it works out; say a prayer for me, if it does not try something else :-).
Wednesday 9 May 2007
Sinhala-Tamil-English Traslator that works
I was one day looking for Sinhala translation for the word "delivery" during the translation of an Information technology article from English to Sinhala. I found this online site and type my word in. It was a hilarious surprise, for the translation it gave me was "prasuthya" (deliver a baby).
I have found it hard to find a good service which would help me find a meaning of an English word in Sinhala, or a Sinhala word in Tamil or.. what ever the combinations I could come up with these three languages.
It's ironic that sometimes you don't see what's under your own nose. I found this free service hosted by the University of Colombo School of Computing, Language Technology Research Laboratory. It is a lexicon not a dictionary. It has a huge collection of words and most of the time it offers the translations to the other language(s) or else, it at leasts offers the meaning. I think they are still working on it since I still can't find the meaning for "delivery", but it is much better than anything I have come across.
Visit http://www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk/ltrl/services/lexicon/
I have found it hard to find a good service which would help me find a meaning of an English word in Sinhala, or a Sinhala word in Tamil or.. what ever the combinations I could come up with these three languages.
It's ironic that sometimes you don't see what's under your own nose. I found this free service hosted by the University of Colombo School of Computing, Language Technology Research Laboratory. It is a lexicon not a dictionary. It has a huge collection of words and most of the time it offers the translations to the other language(s) or else, it at leasts offers the meaning. I think they are still working on it since I still can't find the meaning for "delivery", but it is much better than anything I have come across.
Visit http://www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk/ltrl/services/lexicon/
Flying the Tigers
The Sri Lankan Air force from March 2002 (yep the start of the love affair between the LTTE and so and so) till the tattering of the ceasefire, spent 160 million rupees on 507 flights amounting to 1200 flying hours transporting the LTTE terrorists agents and Norwegian peace mongers to and from various parts of the island.
These transports most likely carried the unchecked baggage of Tamiselvan (a.k.a falls-smile) and his band of brothers, which probably included night vision goggles, GPS and navigation systems the Flying Tigers now use to attempt bombing raids during the night.
Analysts say that the Air force could have bought much needed night vision equipment for the amount spent of baby sitting the LTTE.
No I don't blame the Air Force, they were only carrying out orders of you know who.
These transports most likely carried the unchecked baggage of Tamiselvan (a.k.a falls-smile) and his band of brothers, which probably included night vision goggles, GPS and navigation systems the Flying Tigers now use to attempt bombing raids during the night.
Analysts say that the Air force could have bought much needed night vision equipment for the amount spent of baby sitting the LTTE.
No I don't blame the Air Force, they were only carrying out orders of you know who.
Tuesday 8 May 2007
Ugly Australians & The infamous Underarm
Corrected post: (Thanks for the anonymous comment pointing out my mistake)
Can we expect anything more ... from the "1973-74 Ugly Australians" captained by non other than Ian Chappell, who ironically called for an ICC inquiry into corruption and bringing the game to disrepute by Sri Lanka for resting key bowlers for the "dead rubber" semifinal against the Aussys.
Also watch the video of Greg Chappell another Australian, in an unsportsmanlike manner instructing his brother Trevor to controversially bowl underarm in a match against New Zealand.
With such a history, wonder who Ponting and the rest of the hooligan gang takes after. Is it now the "2006-07 Cheating Ugly Australians". Wonder if we can have a YouTube video. Yep we do ... the commentaries are very interesting.
Any way can you expect anything more form the offspring of convict, murderers, rapist, outlaws, and anti-socio retards banished from Britain in the late 1780. May be it runs in their blood.
Wann read more, Thank god for Wiki
Can we expect anything more ... from the "1973-74 Ugly Australians" captained by non other than Ian Chappell, who ironically called for an ICC inquiry into corruption and bringing the game to disrepute by Sri Lanka for resting key bowlers for the "dead rubber" semifinal against the Aussys.
Also watch the video of Greg Chappell another Australian, in an unsportsmanlike manner instructing his brother Trevor to controversially bowl underarm in a match against New Zealand.
With such a history, wonder who Ponting and the rest of the hooligan gang takes after. Is it now the "2006-07 Cheating Ugly Australians". Wonder if we can have a YouTube video. Yep we do ... the commentaries are very interesting.
Any way can you expect anything more form the offspring of convict, murderers, rapist, outlaws, and anti-socio retards banished from Britain in the late 1780. May be it runs in their blood.
Wann read more, Thank god for Wiki
Monday 7 May 2007
Trying to blow away Gilchrist's squash ball
It is pretty amazing the sportsmanship of the Sri Lankan players. Even after being unfairly treated in the Cricket World Cup 2007 Final;
But let us look at the other side of the story. Let us leave out issues 1,2 and 3 and consider 4; the squash ball scandal. Let alone the players, I admire them keeping it tight lipped about the whole thing (since they are sportsman), but what the hell is Sri Lanka Cricket doing about it. Like the ICC executives, the SLC executives take home thumping salaries without doing anything. The boys break bones, tare ligaments, get baked in the sun to put luxurious cuisine on the tables of the SLC executives. Cricket fans around the world are shouting foul, but SLC seems to dumbstruck and sleeping. There was an article by an Indian (mind you and Indian whom SL evicted form the WC07) questioning, "Is it fair to use a foreign object not listed in Law 42?". He further suggests that "If Gilchrist was allowed a squash ball, fielders should be allowed buckets to catch the ball". He uses the bucket example not as a stupid suggestion or a joke, but to show the scale of the impact it had on the game - take away 53 runs off Gilli's score and Sri Lanka would have lifted the cup. If non Sri Lankans are so concerned about this issue of cheating, should not SLC be standing up for our players, who were wrongly done in the WC final?
I was somewhat glad to see an article today, where Kangadaran Mathivanan the SLC secretary was commenting that "SLC has to decide whether they will take up the matter at the next ICC meeting". But then I ask "what the hell is there to decide?", you damn well should take it up at the next ICC meeting. If the Sri Lankan cricketers were cheated, does SLC expect the England Cricket Board to bring up the issue. And if world cricket was cheated by any individual, team or country, they should take the matter up at the ICC. I say, they don't have to ask the Aussys to give up the cup, the Aussys can keep the cup for all I care, it doesn't matter since the whole world, except the arrogant Aussys (I think even they know it deep inside, but don't like to admit it) know that Sri Lanka is the best team on and off the field. The Sri Lankans follow the rule "Win or loose it's how you play the game". Not so with the Aussys who follow the rule "Win! Hook or by crook". Sri Lankan players uphold the game of cricket and don't bring disrepute to it like the Aussys do by bending rules, sledging, brawling in bars and of course last but not least cheating.
But mind you if SLC brings this matter up, they will have to fight a lot of opposition. I was reading an answer session by Steven Lynch (No I don't know who the hell he is or where he came form - probably some couch potato who thinks he knows cricket) says that, and I quote " My feeling was that it was legal, as I didn't think you could distinguish between a squash ball - which Gilchrist admitted he used to improve his grip during his amazing innings in the World Cup final - and the inner gloves many batsmen wear". Doesn't this pundit know that a squash ball has a diameter of 4.3 cm. Can anybody imagine an inner glove with 4.3 cm of padding, probably will be bigger than a baseball glove. Just imagine if we had people amending laws according to their feelings, and people using what ever equipment they felt like. Probably payers could bring a stun gun and shock the fielder who is going to take their catch, since it is no where mentioned that you can't use a stun gun (close you eyes an imagine, a player going to take a catch and grrr.. he's stunned! Isn't it hilarious?).
Any way getting serious now I come to the our beloved Tony Greg's show. I am not going to insult him, since he is very, I mean very knowledgeable about the game of cricket. But suddenly he too seems to think that "It is is OK, since he can't see how it made a difference". He just has to open his eyes and ears. Tony should take a moment to look at the Aussy score card and listen to the brags of Gilli. All other Aussy batsman were struggling to keep pace. The WC07's worshiped Matt Hayden managed a strike rate of 69%. But Gilli managed a strike rate of 143%. What more Gilli kept on bragging about his squash ball. If the thief confesses, does a judge need anything more for a conviction? (unless the confession was tortured out of him). Tony further goes on to say that "when it happens for the first time it does not draw much attention". He also goes on to say that "It will be an issue when a lot more players start using squash balls". Well when it happens in the most important game in four years, is it not an issue? May be Tony could answer this in his next "Tony Greg Show".
It seems that there is a big effort in all corners to sweep this under the carpet. Probably everybody likes to be in the "good-books" of the ICC, just like Tony himself admits in the same Tony Greg show. May be the ICC has got enough crap this world cup, they don't want anymore. Most likely that many pundits might be scared that getting in the "bad-books" of ICC might not be too good for their pay cheque. The ICC is a mafia who hunts down it's critiques (Tony says so - not me)
Tony Greg Show (Listen)
I see a lot of posts on forums and comment pages, some for, team Sri Lanka (mind you not only by Sri Lankans) and other accusing Sri Lanka as shouting "sour grapes" (most probably arrogant Aussys). Well there is no sour grapes here, but there is an issue of Cheated or Not. ICC WC07 can be kept by the Aussys since all who love the game of cricket know that Sri Lanka is the best team around right now! And any way the ICC has lost all credibility, so what respect does the ICC World Cup have? It is just a metal ball on three stilts plated in gold. Finally I hope that the Sri Lankan Cricket Executives and the World's cricket pundits take some action against such cheaters, so that cricket can be enjoyed and celebrated once again.
- With a 38 over match which favored the Aussy batting and nullified the terrific bowling attack of the Lions (mind you with the spare day not taken into consideration)
- Being sent back to bat on a soaked pitch after 16 overs
- Then sent back in again to bat out 3 over in the dark
- And the most controversial squash ball thumping against them
But let us look at the other side of the story. Let us leave out issues 1,2 and 3 and consider 4; the squash ball scandal. Let alone the players, I admire them keeping it tight lipped about the whole thing (since they are sportsman), but what the hell is Sri Lanka Cricket doing about it. Like the ICC executives, the SLC executives take home thumping salaries without doing anything. The boys break bones, tare ligaments, get baked in the sun to put luxurious cuisine on the tables of the SLC executives. Cricket fans around the world are shouting foul, but SLC seems to dumbstruck and sleeping. There was an article by an Indian (mind you and Indian whom SL evicted form the WC07) questioning, "Is it fair to use a foreign object not listed in Law 42?". He further suggests that "If Gilchrist was allowed a squash ball, fielders should be allowed buckets to catch the ball". He uses the bucket example not as a stupid suggestion or a joke, but to show the scale of the impact it had on the game - take away 53 runs off Gilli's score and Sri Lanka would have lifted the cup. If non Sri Lankans are so concerned about this issue of cheating, should not SLC be standing up for our players, who were wrongly done in the WC final?
I was somewhat glad to see an article today, where Kangadaran Mathivanan the SLC secretary was commenting that "SLC has to decide whether they will take up the matter at the next ICC meeting". But then I ask "what the hell is there to decide?", you damn well should take it up at the next ICC meeting. If the Sri Lankan cricketers were cheated, does SLC expect the England Cricket Board to bring up the issue. And if world cricket was cheated by any individual, team or country, they should take the matter up at the ICC. I say, they don't have to ask the Aussys to give up the cup, the Aussys can keep the cup for all I care, it doesn't matter since the whole world, except the arrogant Aussys (I think even they know it deep inside, but don't like to admit it) know that Sri Lanka is the best team on and off the field. The Sri Lankans follow the rule "Win or loose it's how you play the game". Not so with the Aussys who follow the rule "Win! Hook or by crook". Sri Lankan players uphold the game of cricket and don't bring disrepute to it like the Aussys do by bending rules, sledging, brawling in bars and of course last but not least cheating.
But mind you if SLC brings this matter up, they will have to fight a lot of opposition. I was reading an answer session by Steven Lynch (No I don't know who the hell he is or where he came form - probably some couch potato who thinks he knows cricket) says that, and I quote " My feeling was that it was legal, as I didn't think you could distinguish between a squash ball - which Gilchrist admitted he used to improve his grip during his amazing innings in the World Cup final - and the inner gloves many batsmen wear". Doesn't this pundit know that a squash ball has a diameter of 4.3 cm. Can anybody imagine an inner glove with 4.3 cm of padding, probably will be bigger than a baseball glove. Just imagine if we had people amending laws according to their feelings, and people using what ever equipment they felt like. Probably payers could bring a stun gun and shock the fielder who is going to take their catch, since it is no where mentioned that you can't use a stun gun (close you eyes an imagine, a player going to take a catch and grrr.. he's stunned! Isn't it hilarious?).
Any way getting serious now I come to the our beloved Tony Greg's show. I am not going to insult him, since he is very, I mean very knowledgeable about the game of cricket. But suddenly he too seems to think that "It is is OK, since he can't see how it made a difference". He just has to open his eyes and ears. Tony should take a moment to look at the Aussy score card and listen to the brags of Gilli. All other Aussy batsman were struggling to keep pace. The WC07's worshiped Matt Hayden managed a strike rate of 69%. But Gilli managed a strike rate of 143%. What more Gilli kept on bragging about his squash ball. If the thief confesses, does a judge need anything more for a conviction? (unless the confession was tortured out of him). Tony further goes on to say that "when it happens for the first time it does not draw much attention". He also goes on to say that "It will be an issue when a lot more players start using squash balls". Well when it happens in the most important game in four years, is it not an issue? May be Tony could answer this in his next "Tony Greg Show".
It seems that there is a big effort in all corners to sweep this under the carpet. Probably everybody likes to be in the "good-books" of the ICC, just like Tony himself admits in the same Tony Greg show. May be the ICC has got enough crap this world cup, they don't want anymore. Most likely that many pundits might be scared that getting in the "bad-books" of ICC might not be too good for their pay cheque. The ICC is a mafia who hunts down it's critiques (Tony says so - not me)
Tony Greg Show (Listen)
I see a lot of posts on forums and comment pages, some for, team Sri Lanka (mind you not only by Sri Lankans) and other accusing Sri Lanka as shouting "sour grapes" (most probably arrogant Aussys). Well there is no sour grapes here, but there is an issue of Cheated or Not. ICC WC07 can be kept by the Aussys since all who love the game of cricket know that Sri Lanka is the best team around right now! And any way the ICC has lost all credibility, so what respect does the ICC World Cup have? It is just a metal ball on three stilts plated in gold. Finally I hope that the Sri Lankan Cricket Executives and the World's cricket pundits take some action against such cheaters, so that cricket can be enjoyed and celebrated once again.
Sunday 6 May 2007
Should not they be "Threatened" & even MORE?
Just an example of the responsibility, professionalism and quality of Sri Lankan journalist and media. I refer to a Sunday news paper article with headline "President seeks India’s support".
The article starts off by stating that Lalith Weerathungs has made a trip to India to meet the Indian Prime minister. Reasonable, and it goes on to explain when, why and for what.
Then with no relevance to the title a paragraph appears out of the blues, and I quote "The last guerrilla air raid on Sunday led to panic with several members of the public being injured. This is particularly from firing by Security Forces and the Police. In fire, directed at suspected guerrilla aircraft from the Air Force base at Ratmalana, homes in Nugegoda, Nawinna and Maharagama were damaged. At least one resident in Nugegoda is now under Intensive Care whilst another member of the same household regained consciousness in hospital after an hour.".
This reminds me of the famous Sinhala saying "Kohida Yanne? Malle Pol" ("Where are you going?" and the reply "I have coconuts in my bag"). Probably any blooming idiot (except the writer and the editor) can understand that this paragraph should be in another article with a heading like "Air raids cause panic among security forces..." or what ever. It is most likely that this so called journalist who wrote this, though of cramming all what he had in his pea-sized brain into the article, or likely that the so called editor does not know how to edit, or was half a sleep, drunk or had a brawl with his wife last night.
Question! "Are these media men/women toying with the moral of the armed forces and Sri Lankan people?". I agree that all citizens have a right to know. But at what cost should they know? If it depletes the moral of the armed forces and the citizens and boosts-up moral of the terrorist, is that a price we the Sri Lankan public are willing to pay, just to "know"?
Should not these so called media men/women be kicked out. Don't they deserve being threatened, assaulted and harassed for being irresponsible and unprofessional. They hide behind a curtain called "media" and they consider themselves above the law, above righteous and above all. They look for a story just to get a rating, or just to fill up their pages. They stir-up a honest nest so they can write about each innocent sting victim for weeks and weeks. They don't write about news, but they create news and then write about it. They are scum on earth who thrive on the suffering of others.
I say they deserve what they get, and the so called terrorist supporting free media movement and all those media NGOs should be banished form this world.
We can only hope that someday form somewhere a media culture of professionalism, responsibility and nationalism will emerge to make our Sri Lanka a better place, where you can read a paper, listen to the radio and watch TV without cursing their dead parents.
The article starts off by stating that Lalith Weerathungs has made a trip to India to meet the Indian Prime minister. Reasonable, and it goes on to explain when, why and for what.
Then with no relevance to the title a paragraph appears out of the blues, and I quote "The last guerrilla air raid on Sunday led to panic with several members of the public being injured. This is particularly from firing by Security Forces and the Police. In fire, directed at suspected guerrilla aircraft from the Air Force base at Ratmalana, homes in Nugegoda, Nawinna and Maharagama were damaged. At least one resident in Nugegoda is now under Intensive Care whilst another member of the same household regained consciousness in hospital after an hour.".
This reminds me of the famous Sinhala saying "Kohida Yanne? Malle Pol" ("Where are you going?" and the reply "I have coconuts in my bag"). Probably any blooming idiot (except the writer and the editor) can understand that this paragraph should be in another article with a heading like "Air raids cause panic among security forces..." or what ever. It is most likely that this so called journalist who wrote this, though of cramming all what he had in his pea-sized brain into the article, or likely that the so called editor does not know how to edit, or was half a sleep, drunk or had a brawl with his wife last night.
Question! "Are these media men/women toying with the moral of the armed forces and Sri Lankan people?". I agree that all citizens have a right to know. But at what cost should they know? If it depletes the moral of the armed forces and the citizens and boosts-up moral of the terrorist, is that a price we the Sri Lankan public are willing to pay, just to "know"?
Should not these so called media men/women be kicked out. Don't they deserve being threatened, assaulted and harassed for being irresponsible and unprofessional. They hide behind a curtain called "media" and they consider themselves above the law, above righteous and above all. They look for a story just to get a rating, or just to fill up their pages. They stir-up a honest nest so they can write about each innocent sting victim for weeks and weeks. They don't write about news, but they create news and then write about it. They are scum on earth who thrive on the suffering of others.
I say they deserve what they get, and the so called terrorist supporting free media movement and all those media NGOs should be banished form this world.
We can only hope that someday form somewhere a media culture of professionalism, responsibility and nationalism will emerge to make our Sri Lanka a better place, where you can read a paper, listen to the radio and watch TV without cursing their dead parents.
Tuesday 24 April 2007
Friday 20 April 2007
How not to Fly
I thought I should share this story with the world (or at least someone who would by mistake step into my blog instead of the other 100million+ blogs out there).
It was a workshop in Shellefteå about a two hour bus ride form Umeå, Sweden. It was the session after evening fika (coffee break). Ah.. so it was a speaker form US, Wayne Hodgins, a gray haired person on this big screen. Ok, so it will be a video conference, or rather video talk. The talk was on Web 2.0. Gosh! another repetition of Web 2.0? "This is going to be boring!" and "How can it be fun to watch someone yap yap yap.. on a big-screen" were the thoughts rumbling in my head.
Well YES it was another talk about Web 2.0, the exact topic "Wassup with Web 2.0" and YES it was a a gray haired someone yapping on a big-screen. But 2 minutes into the talk, whoosh! like magic the boredom ended. No more was this someone on a big-screen and yapping about "this is what make up Web 2.0...", he was among us and tweaking our brain cells. Yes it was true that he was still in US and we were in Sweden, but he had made contact and the barrier was broken. Wow! can a speaker be this good, I thought to myself? It was so so so GOOD!
He was talking about concepts behind Web 2.0 and not how Web 2.0 could be used for education, which everybody talks about. In fact most of his examples were related to business and entertainment. It was these concepts that made it so interesting. It was a lot of concepts to be exact but each of them made sense and each of them were an eye opener.
This image was one of my favorites of all the concepts he talked about. "Many of man's first attempts of flight, failed miserably and most of the time in broken bones or worse in death. The pioneers tried imitating the birds and other flying animals. So what does it have to do with web 2.0. Exactly! I could not figure it out. Anyway if we look at what the Wright brother did right, they did not try to imitate birds, dragonflies, bees and the gang, but they thought different. They looked beyond, and they succeeded. Simply take our own usage of software, if we used version 1.0 of software X and now we use version 10.0 of software X, is there a lot of difference in what we do except for may be a few new features and some new fancy icons and cool new looks. Can't we still do what we do with version 10.0 with version 1.0? Probably I think at least 90% of us will answer in the affirmative. The concept Wayne talks about here is "learning to un-learn". The Wright brothers knew how animals flew, but they simply thought beyond that an decided to fix an engine and come up with the concept of lift by moving wings... wow! I and many other would call it "Thinking out of the Box", but "learning to unlearn" has a little bit more complicated concept, which I find difficult to explain so I would advice you to listen to Wayne's PodCasts.
I am not going to repeat all what Wayne said word to word, since probably he does it much better. Wayne conveyed his ideas to me through a noisy channel and there was data loss, and for me to convey those ideas to a third person would be through even a more noisier channel.. so more data loss and probably data corruption :-).
So I'll just list a few more concepts you might want to lookup if you visit Wayne's blog.
It was a workshop in Shellefteå about a two hour bus ride form Umeå, Sweden. It was the session after evening fika (coffee break). Ah.. so it was a speaker form US, Wayne Hodgins, a gray haired person on this big screen. Ok, so it will be a video conference, or rather video talk. The talk was on Web 2.0. Gosh! another repetition of Web 2.0? "This is going to be boring!" and "How can it be fun to watch someone yap yap yap.. on a big-screen" were the thoughts rumbling in my head.
Well YES it was another talk about Web 2.0, the exact topic "Wassup with Web 2.0" and YES it was a a gray haired someone yapping on a big-screen. But 2 minutes into the talk, whoosh! like magic the boredom ended. No more was this someone on a big-screen and yapping about "this is what make up Web 2.0...", he was among us and tweaking our brain cells. Yes it was true that he was still in US and we were in Sweden, but he had made contact and the barrier was broken. Wow! can a speaker be this good, I thought to myself? It was so so so GOOD!
He was talking about concepts behind Web 2.0 and not how Web 2.0 could be used for education, which everybody talks about. In fact most of his examples were related to business and entertainment. It was these concepts that made it so interesting. It was a lot of concepts to be exact but each of them made sense and each of them were an eye opener.
 |
This image was one of my favorites of all the concepts he talked about. "Many of man's first attempts of flight, failed miserably and most of the time in broken bones or worse in death. The pioneers tried imitating the birds and other flying animals. So what does it have to do with web 2.0. Exactly! I could not figure it out. Anyway if we look at what the Wright brother did right, they did not try to imitate birds, dragonflies, bees and the gang, but they thought different. They looked beyond, and they succeeded. Simply take our own usage of software, if we used version 1.0 of software X and now we use version 10.0 of software X, is there a lot of difference in what we do except for may be a few new features and some new fancy icons and cool new looks. Can't we still do what we do with version 10.0 with version 1.0? Probably I think at least 90% of us will answer in the affirmative. The concept Wayne talks about here is "learning to un-learn". The Wright brothers knew how animals flew, but they simply thought beyond that an decided to fix an engine and come up with the concept of lift by moving wings... wow! I and many other would call it "Thinking out of the Box", but "learning to unlearn" has a little bit more complicated concept, which I find difficult to explain so I would advice you to listen to Wayne's PodCasts.
I am not going to repeat all what Wayne said word to word, since probably he does it much better. Wayne conveyed his ideas to me through a noisy channel and there was data loss, and for me to convey those ideas to a third person would be through even a more noisier channel.. so more data loss and probably data corruption :-).
So I'll just list a few more concepts you might want to lookup if you visit Wayne's blog.
- Perfecting the irrelevant
- Long tail
- Mashup
- The snowflakes effect
- and of course my favorite learning to un-learn
Wednesday 18 April 2007
Första Flykt
Blogs! Blogs? "Blogs", yep knew they existed but never did find the time, interest or a fast enough Internet connection to try them out. It's been a month and a half after arriving in Umeå in Sweden. Even with a 100MB Internet connection and some time of my own, it never ever crossed my mind that NOW I can maintain a blog.
So the day had arrived, when the almighty decided “You shall be blog-lightened” a Crash and a Bang of Thunder...!.
It was a run a round the country side to locate where "HumLab" was, it was in an underground location, which to me seemed like a posh place in a basement. I walked into a seminar, already 15 minutes passed and felt totally lost for a few moments, grabbed a chair and settled in (thanks to Dög who lent me his computer). Well trying to get what this lady in a dark-gray suit was yapping about, Ahhh! alas some familiar words, Internet, Web, Wiki, Flikr, Blogs, Web 2.0.... blah blah blah. Ah! OK so she was talking about how Web 2.0 can be used for education.... or rather how she used it for education....! Great! A new way of looking at the new (hmm Old?) web stuff, how they could be used in education. That was cool.
Finally a coffee break! A chance to get a one-on-one with this lady, get more insight into the usage of these new apps. “Aagnah” WRONG! this woman seemed like a person with a not so good attitude! Snobbish as Homo sapiens sapiens from the "Land of the Free" could be. With no success for me and the break over... she went on "I", "me" and "mine"... in a marathon of a MPHOT!
Haaa any way, what is good must be appreciated, even a “rotten tomato” may serve a good purpose, sooo… thank you Barb G, I appreciate the fact that you opened my eyes and gave me a reminder about the power of blogs. Tack så Mycket
And so my journey begins…!
So the day had arrived, when the almighty decided “You shall be blog-lightened” a Crash and a Bang of Thunder...!.
It was a run a round the country side to locate where "HumLab" was, it was in an underground location, which to me seemed like a posh place in a basement. I walked into a seminar, already 15 minutes passed and felt totally lost for a few moments, grabbed a chair and settled in (thanks to Dög who lent me his computer). Well trying to get what this lady in a dark-gray suit was yapping about, Ahhh! alas some familiar words, Internet, Web, Wiki, Flikr, Blogs, Web 2.0.... blah blah blah. Ah! OK so she was talking about how Web 2.0 can be used for education.... or rather how she used it for education....! Great! A new way of looking at the new (hmm Old?) web stuff, how they could be used in education. That was cool.
Finally a coffee break! A chance to get a one-on-one with this lady, get more insight into the usage of these new apps. “Aagnah” WRONG! this woman seemed like a person with a not so good attitude! Snobbish as Homo sapiens sapiens from the "Land of the Free" could be. With no success for me and the break over... she went on "I", "me" and "mine"... in a marathon of a MPHOT!
Haaa any way, what is good must be appreciated, even a “rotten tomato” may serve a good purpose, sooo… thank you Barb G, I appreciate the fact that you opened my eyes and gave me a reminder about the power of blogs. Tack så Mycket
And so my journey begins…!
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