tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323233602024-03-13T07:13:46.617+05:30Udendra's BlogUdendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-56525417066630672132024-02-29T11:24:00.011+05:302024-02-29T11:29:48.218+05:30360° view of the Parliament Chamber<p> </p>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://www.parliament.lk/components/com_virtual_tour/app-files/index.html" width="700" height="400"></iframe>
<p> </p>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-48467546121170033972017-12-28T13:48:00.000+05:302019-01-04T11:54:50.044+05:30Social Detox<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The year is coming to an end and it’s been a while since I last wrote on this blog. In fact not once during the last couple of years! I wasn’t taking a break from the “web” or from my daily work. And I did miss writing to this, besides it was a bit frustrating. But what I intend in writing today is to enlighten how the opposite of it could be rewarding and is sought after by an increasing number of individuals. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Social Detox” (reduced from Social Media Detoxification) is what I’m referring to. The word social has an interesting meaning in this day and age. It’s often perceived as social media and the interactions thereof, especially in internet jargon. The widespread use and penetration of social networks to all spheres of society is a somewhat remarkable phenomenon, even in less developed countries. I have personal experiences to attest this fact. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Social networking has always been entwined with its pros and cons, although they aren’t a problem for everyone, always. But there are terms being coined like F.A.D. (Facebook Addiction Disorder), “echo chambers” and the inevitable distractions and consumption of time. So, the affected, started seeking a way out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QzbMjR9zczU/XCXb9IWAJnI/AAAAAAAAAuY/HuPPvmcxexUCUKAGaA_yUC6WizzzWcQhACEwYBhgL/s1600/99daysoffreedom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="123" data-original-width="123" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QzbMjR9zczU/XCXb9IWAJnI/AAAAAAAAAuY/HuPPvmcxexUCUKAGaA_yUC6WizzzWcQhACEwYBhgL/s1600/99daysoffreedom.jpg" /></a>You’d probably heard of the “<a href="http://99daysoffreedom.com/" target="_blank">99 days of freedom</a>” campaign. It’s basically a pledge you make to not visit Facebook for 99 days, while informing others of your decision in advance. I’ve seen several of my friends adopting the practice in recent times. Some even did it regularly. When they are back, they usually express a feeling which encompasses a high degree of satisfaction. I of course haven’t done it, but thought of how it would have felt to them. Then my thoughts stumbled across a few parallels.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Have you lived/camped in the middle of a jungle for a few days with no mobile phone connectivity? Have you been on a spiritual retreat with no interactions with the world outside? If yes, then you should understand what I’m implying. These are even considered as <a href="https://udendra.blogspot.com/2010/04/need-to-recreate.html">recreational activities</a>. In fact, camping in a jungle - with no artificial light sources - is prescribed by some psychologists as a remedy for sleeping disorders, because it “resets” our biological clock. All this only endorses the essence of programs like the “99 days” experiment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What’s special is how the withdrawal from an addiction or a frequent habit could lead to an elated level of mind. The abstinence affects a change in our psyche. That’s where the detox part really makes sense, since it cleanses you of the distractions or non-benefits. It also breaks the chain and the monotonous routine, giving us real change.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-55627763257665328242014-08-25T01:15:00.000+05:302014-08-25T01:29:30.683+05:30“No Fly Zone”<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In general this hasn’t been a good year for the field of aviation. Starting from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370" target="_blank">Flight 370</a>, then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17" target="_blank">Flight 17</a>, then a couple of crashes in Brazil and Iraq, it’s been bad news one after the other. Causes of the afore-mentioned tragedies vary, with the exception of “MH370” which basically disappeared. Hence it’s rather coincidental that I came to hear an aviation-related mobile announcement in my neighborhood of Boralesgamuwa a fortnight ago. A van was airing a notice which gave a meaning similar to the following:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“We request you to avoid flying any kites in this area as it may cause a threat to aircrafts and passengers onboard.”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A fair enough request, given that the Ratmalana Airport is only about 2km away. But this was the first time I heard such a statement from the authorities. So I did some searching to see if kites are that hazardous as portrayed. And was surprised with the <a href="http://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/396818/helicopter-crash-caused-kite" target="_blank">first article I stumbled upon</a>. Apparently a nylon thread seemed to be the cause of a helicopter crash in the Philippines which killed two crew members and seven people on the ground! <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8CjqsFon6E/U_pCKpuUPfI/AAAAAAAAAa8/G5_B8PN95Ls/s1600/kites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8CjqsFon6E/U_pCKpuUPfI/AAAAAAAAAa8/G5_B8PN95Ls/s1600/kites.jpg" /></a> An important piece of information in that article is regarding the regulations and distance prohibiting kite-flying. I wondered if there were similar regulations in our country as well. Therefore I phoned the airport and inquired. According to the officer who answered me, there were no such specific laws or regulations which prohibited the leisure-time activity, but they will request the relevant local police stations to take action to clear the “sky paths” if needed. When I inquired of the height and distance from the airport that might be acceptable to fly a kite, he didn’t give any numbers. But explained to me how aeroplanes and low-flying helicopters encounter difficulties while approaching or departing the airport. August being the kite-season was a reason for the announcement to go out.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Further searching on regulations, I came across a couple: <a href="http://www.cad.gov.hk/english/faq.html#kite" target="_blank">Hong Kong</a> and the <a href="http://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_development/omp/FAQ/General_Concerns/#q8" target="_blank">US</a>. Notice the height/distance factors which are clearly mentioned and also the word “balloon” in the FAA page. The ATC of Netherlands has a more <a href="http://www.lvnl-ohd.nl/content/bijzondere_activiteiten/en_kabelvliegers/kabelvliegers_map.html" target="_blank">detailed page</a> with maps highlighting prohibited areas in different colors along with a descriptive legend. May be our local authorities also should improve on this aspect. Enact regulations if there aren’t any and publish them on the official websites.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Still whatever the law may be, we as responsible and thoughtful citizens need to think of this stuff pretty seriously. And if you or your child needs to fly a kite, Galle Face Green is always there.☺</span></span></div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-86127907514406448822013-05-06T15:56:00.000+05:302014-06-13T14:16:43.166+05:30Volunteering in an Internet Age<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
As Wikipedia puts it (partly) volunteering is: <i>“An altruistic activity and is intended to promote good or improve human quality of life. In return, this activity produces a feeling of self-worth and respect; however, there is no financial gain”</i>. But the most fascinating thing about this definition is that it holds true for this age too. Many verbs have received different definitions in contemporary times, but some have adopted accordingly. <i>“Volunteer”</i> is one.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
A couple or a decade ago, it was all about charity related work where you would offer your effort and/or skills for a social event. But now there are many other activities that one could perform on the internet, which upholds the same values. It’s mainly two-fold as skills & effort, but eventually the same thing. As with offline volunteering, these are mainly performed for proprietary entities or non-profit organisations. At the end of the day, the world benefits, the online community benefits.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Although the topmost activity in this sphere is devoted to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_movement" target="_blank">Open-source movement</a>, I wish to focus on a few popular products/websites that rely on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing" target="_blank">Crowdsourcing</a>. Crowdsourcing itself is a new-age term, which could be broadly defined as, <i>“obtaining the efforts of a crowd (volunteers)”</i>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> is the best and most popular example. What more, even this article has a couple of hyperlinks to it already. This online encyclopaedia is almost totally built on the efforts of thousands of contributing volunteers. Not only the submissions, but moderations too are handled in a similar nature by ‘administrators’ who are chosen from the previously mentioned fervent contributors. That helps in maintaining the credibility, which is always a common question raised against crowd-sourced content.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
My next focus is a company, and a popular one in Google Inc. Google’s products have now become necessary platforms for thousands of other products and services both online & offline. For example, <a href="http://maps.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Maps</a> is one such platform. The fact that people are able to contribute to it has resulted in the rapid expansion and improvement of the product itself. Anyone could contribute to “GMaps” through the <a href="http://www.google.com/mapmaker" target="_blank">Map Maker</a> tool which was launched about 5 years ago. Talking about maps, a special mention of a non-commercial/non-profit counterpart in <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/" target="_blank">OpenStreetMap</a> also needs to be made. There may be differences in content and quality between the two, but they both acquire and deliver the same kind of service.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Apart from maps and among many others, there were other programmes such as (now suspended) “Google in Your Language”, where they obtained the contributions from volunteers in order to localize their products.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Even though there is no guarantee on the numerous types of ways your contributions could be used in a final output, the age old saying of <i>“volunteer to make a better world”</i> still stands, even in this day and age with a sense of self-satisfaction.<br />
</div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-45913894068590413832013-02-12T13:34:00.000+05:302013-02-22T11:34:27.684+05:30Base64 encoding and its proper use<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
A friend of mine recently unveiled a new version of his website. Given that I too had worked on it sometime back, I decided to check it out. The main points I looked out for was security holes, since there were numerous such flaws which I fixed years ago. Rather unsurprisingly the password reset feature of the site had one such ‘vulnerability’. It was done anew and the method used was not the most recommended although many developers opt for it. It wasn’t a bug, but a bad implementation ready to be exploited.<br />
<br />
The culprit was an incorrect use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64" target="_blank">base64 encoding</a>. For me, the main uses of base64 are storage and transmission of non-secret data. Although in the case of storage it’s something like hashing binary data etc. The last part ‘non-secret’ is very important. Because if one was to use the same for ‘secret’ information, then again it’s a non-recommended use. In the above scenario that was the exact thing that happened. A piece of data which was meant to be secret and easily non-readable was sent publicly after encoding with base64. And as most developers know, it’s just a jiffy to decode base64. So what I did was decode the string value, only to find out that two values were concatenated. One value was the victim’s email and the other a randomly generated string which wasn’t that hard to identify. Then it was merely to modify the above value with a known user’s email. And voila! I could reset his/her password.<br />
<br />
Mentioned above was how a badly implemented encoding could make your web application vulnerable. And this is not something associated with low-profile companies, but even Facebook had a similar situation which was revealed in <a href="http://thehackernews.com/2013/01/how-facebook-employees-secure-files.html" target="_blank">this article at 'Hacker News'</a>.<br />
<br />
The remedies are many, depending on how far you’d be content with given that security isn’t a 100% achievable thing. One solution is to make the random ‘salt’ a highly cryptic value. Another is to use a well-recognized encryption mechanism. Or you could even develop your own encrypt function although security experts warn against this. A rather straightforward and often used method is to implement one-way hashing such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD5" target="_blank">MD5</a>. All this methods have their advantages and perils. It’s up to the developer to decide which is best depending on factors such as performance, importance, accessibility, etc.</div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-81192622032558740922012-12-05T18:47:00.001+05:302013-01-08T20:33:03.303+05:30Floating for lifesaving<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
I’m sure most of you would have read/heard/watched the story of <a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/video/23958-im-happy-that-all-of-us-are-alive.html" target="_blank">four divers getting swept away</a> by a current in the sea off Mount Lavinia recently. Rather miraculously, all four were found nearly after 24 hours. When interviewed, the divers told the media how they <u>kept</u> floating for more than a day at sea.<br />
<br />
There are few important lessons that could be learned thanks to these individuals' endurance. One, don’t swim against a current. It’s a waste of energy and you’ll ultimately end up tiring yourself and get cramped (and eventually drown, if no help arrives). Two, stay calm. Because you are in the middle of nowhere and panicking will not help. Three, float. Don’t swim. Why? Again because you’re in unknown territory and not sure whether you’ll reach a land or a safe place. Hopefully, your endurance holds-up and help arrives. But since it’s not a very energy-consuming exercise, you may even swim slowly towards a marked direction.<br />
<br />
What do they mean by float? Do we just float like that? Answer is no. You’ve got to learn, relax & practice it. Technique-wise you’ll need to master the kicks and build-up endurance. This is where basic lifesaving lessons could help. I often see swimming classes advertised in papers, websites etc., stating all the strokes in the world. But in a scenario as above, all the swimming in the world may not be the most needed or appropriate. So I propose that every coach should stress on teaching floating techniques to their students. I’m not rejecting the need of actual swimming. But lifesaving methods should be treated as a life skill as far as I’m concerned.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-43205503439047461862012-11-01T14:50:00.000+05:302024-01-11T16:58:03.132+05:30Witnessing a Radio frequency migration <span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">All FM radio channels in Sri Lanka underwent a frequency migration from November 1st 2012. Bear in mind, few channels were lucky to retain their previous frequencies. The reason is to have only one frequency (maximum two) for any channel throughout the island. According to the TRC, the policy of new frequency allocation in short is: ‘every channel receives a maximum of two frequencies separated by 200 kHz, and every channel is separated from another by 300 kHz’. Although practically there were a few exceptions, given factors like ownership of multiple channels, etc., this was the base. One downside I observed was that the entire 87.5 – 108 MHz range has now been allocated and sneaking-in new channels will be a tricky scenario, unless we adopt/implement a new technology.</span><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, I kept awake till the dawn of November 1st in order to witness how radio channels will handle this occasion. By 11.30 p.m. (October 31st) most channels were ‘out’ in the sense that either nothing or a long continuous irritating noise was heard. Some channels were promoting their would-be new frequencies. These ads were even seen on TV stations owned by the same media companies. A few had already migrated (e.g. Yes FM). The guys at FM Derana had a mini countdown to midnight and the frequency swapped at sharp 0000 Hrs. When I re-tuned, they were celebrating the migration with auspicious activities. Some channels were still blank and they were back live (obviously) in the morning. As I remember, a couple of channels were having parallel broadcasts before midnight while later switching to the new frequency only. It seems there was no uniform migration plan, but may be ‘overlapping’ channels decided on informal strategies within them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;">On a final note, I think this should have happened long ago, but better late than never. It was also fun to experience such a (hopefully) rare occurrence.</span><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></div> Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-59018023941370847152012-07-24T11:19:00.001+05:302012-07-24T11:20:42.914+05:30A layered Transport Model<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Traffic seems to be growing in the country, especially in the capital and suburbs. Increasing number of vehicles and roads that are unable to accommodate them are the main reasons. The inevitable factor of undisciplined drivers & pedestrians does exist too. But the lack of infrastructure stands out. There ought to be short-term and long-term policy brainstorming being performed somewhere out there, but with unseen results. So, I have visualised a transport model, if anyone's interested in taking my 'five cents'.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The best way is to study how some countries have successfully curbed traffic congestion. Once, I met a person who worked in Italy, and he was telling me that they had planned their cities a long time ago as a 'layered' plan. I don't know whether this is correct as a fact, but some evidence can be seen. What I propose is something on the same lines, because widening existing roads or building new ones aren't always feasible, given that we are a developing nation and rely highly on foreign monetary assistance. Not to mention the scarcity of available lands. Well, we do need financial assistance, but whatever infrastructure built needs to be sustainable or else we'll end up in a similar situation a few years down the line.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
When the Dutch built a canal system in Colombo, it couldn't have been a part of a long-term plan, but may be because they thought of it as the most viable transportation system suitable for the geography of the area. After all this was an era with no fuel-driven vehicles. In my plan I propose these existing waterways be utilised for transport. <a href="http://sundaytimes.lk/100321/Plus/plus_13.html" target="_blank">A project was kicked-off two years ago</a>, but hasn't lasted long. I think the publicity and popularity it received was not enough, for otherwise the system was a very low-cost transportation method. Mind you, safety and health matters need to be taken care of too. But these type of waterways are utilised immensely in developed countries.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The other issues are with roads and railroads. I propose a merge. How? There are two ways: subways under the existing roads or elevated railway lines over the existing roads. This provides for maximum utilisation of land and infrastructure since what we are talking is a 'vertical' approach as opposed to the orthodox 'horizontal' approach.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-srTq5GebDak/UA4xrFsChNI/AAAAAAAAAIE/XLjJHGJvIuk/s1600/beijing-subway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img align="left" border="0" height="242" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-srTq5GebDak/UA4xrFsChNI/AAAAAAAAAIE/XLjJHGJvIuk/s320/beijing-subway.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<i>A subway</i></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w36nb6SeNOc/UA4x9q8jpEI/AAAAAAAAAIM/CEDW1Yccqzk/s1600/overhead-railway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img align="left" border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w36nb6SeNOc/UA4x9q8jpEI/AAAAAAAAAIM/CEDW1Yccqzk/s320/overhead-railway.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<i>An overhead (elevated) railway</i><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
This of course has been implemented in many countries as seen in the pictures above. If all three layers (subway, highway, overhead) could be implemented in one alignment that would be an ultimate solution. I even propose that overhead railways or roads be built over existing waterways, thereby making use of them both. If the costs involved are deemed to be high, still it is much sustainable than our current solutions. My point is a layered approach and not necessarily everything what I've highlighted here. But if any decision-maker is willing to extract something of this that seems to be practical and feasible, be my guest.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MLSbhoM-QcM/UA4yPopRqEI/AAAAAAAAAIU/gKSI4F7ar3g/s1600/layered-transport-model.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MLSbhoM-QcM/UA4yPopRqEI/AAAAAAAAAIU/gKSI4F7ar3g/s320/layered-transport-model.png" width="245" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<i>The model - illustrated</i></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image sources:<br /><a href="http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=93434522" target="_blank">http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=93434522</a><br /><a href="http://blog.beijingholiday.com/travel-tips/beijing-subway-line-2/" target="_blank">http://blog.beijingholiday.com/travel-tips/beijing-subway-line-2/</a></span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-31037017200662615382012-05-10T17:10:00.000+05:302012-07-24T11:33:15.979+05:30Sri Lankan 'rebel' players' tour to South Africa (1982) (a quick recap)<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
It was 18 years ago on a day like today that Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa's first democratically elected black president, thereby officially ending the apartheid. During the apartheid, South Africa was banned from international sport and any team or players who travelled to play in that country were severely penalized, often with long durations of bans.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Towards the end of 1982, 14 Sri Lankan cricketers (some of them national players) made a 'rebel' tour to South Africa. The result was a 25 year ban to each of them. But, the most damaging impact was that our cricket-crazy island nation lost some of the most talented Sri Lankan cricketers and their services for the future. Hence, some experts believe that it would have retracted the country's cricketing prowess by a few good years.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Stats and records of the above-mentioned 'Arosa SL' tour are very scarce. But Cricinfo has a somewhat comprehensive (if one may regard it as such) <a href="http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1982-83/OTHERS+ICC/AROSA-SL_IN_RSA/" target="_blank">record in their archives</a>. I happened to stumble upon it and found the figures and scorecards pretty interesting. Although 12 matches were played, the archives have the scores of only 11 matches. The scorecard of an ODI is missing. Sri Lanka lost all matches with the exception of two, which were drawn against Western Province & Eastern Province teams. The tour comprised of four ODIs, six First-class matches & two 'Test' matches. Even though the Lankan players were beaten well and truly, there were some exceptional & consistent performances from a few of our talented players of yesteryear.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
In order to discover these 'jewels' of both teams, and to obtain a hitherto unknown and a more relevant picture of these unseen (by me) players, I performed a very simple analysis noting down the best performances of players from the two teams. What I found have been listed below (format-wise).</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<u>First-class matches</u></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
For Sri Lanka, the most consistent batsmen were <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/50082.html" target="_blank">Bernard Perera</a> & <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/50241.html" target="_blank">Anura Ranasinghe</a>, both scoring more than 300 runs throughout the series. The highest score by a Lankan batsman was 96 by Perera. <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/48549.html" target="_blank">Bandula De Silva</a> & <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/netherlands/content/player/24857.html" target="_blank">Flavian Aponso</a> too had made decent contributions. The standout bowler was <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49849.html" target="_blank">Tony Opatha</a>, while Ranasinghe & <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49487.html" target="_blank">Lalith Kaluperuma</a> had chipped in with a few wickets. Ranasinghe's all-round capabilities had left a prominent mark throughout these matches. I was also amazed to find out that <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/50991.html" target="_blank">Jerry Woutersz</a> was a pretty good batter.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
One thing I noted was that a few South African national players represented the Western Province team, including <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/45815.html" target="_blank">Peter Kirsten</a>. There were altogether five centuries - two from Transvaal players (<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/47726.html" target="_blank">Mark Venter</a> & <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/45066.html" target="_blank">Henry Fotheringham</a>), another couple from Western Province players (<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46510.html" target="_blank">Ken McEwan</a> & <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/47174.html" target="_blank">Lawrence Seeff</a>) and one from an Eastern Province batsman (<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46978.html" target="_blank">Dave Richardson</a>) - the highest being 159 runs made by Fotheringham. Bowlers such as <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/43995.html" target="_blank">Pienaar Anker</a>, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/47939.html" target="_blank">Kenny Watson</a>, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/44539.html" target="_blank">Kenneth Cooper</a> & <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/44514.html" target="_blank">Michael Clare</a> seemed to have had good spells capturing more than 5 wickets in matches they played.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<u>Test matches</u></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Though only two matches were played, six SL batsmen were able to score half centuries, while Bernard Perera was the sole centurion (102). Flavian Aponso and Jerry Woutersz were the most consistent batsmen. There is nothing much to talk about the Sri Lankan bowling in test matches, but Lalith Kaluperuma had managed to secure a 5-wicket haul. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
While it wouldn't take rocket science to understand that the SA batsmen would have had a run feast, three of them stood out. Namely, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/44465.html" target="_blank">Jimmy Cook</a>, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46772.html" target="_blank">Graeme Pollock</a> & Lawrence Seeff. All three of them had scored a 150+ score, the highest being a 197 by Pollock. <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/45975.html" target="_blank">Garth Le Roux</a>'s performance was the best for a SA bowler which included a 6-wicket haul as well.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<u>ODI matches</u></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The only Lankan batsman to score a century is Anura Ranasinghe (100). None of the others were able to surpass the half-century mark. This may sound a bit startling, given that each innings was played for 55 overs unlike nowadays. But then again, that might be attributed to good South African bowling. Bowling-wise too there isn't much to talk, except that <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49463.html" target="_blank">Susantha Karunaratne</a> had picked up a couple of wickets twice.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
For South Africa, three batsmen made centuries: Jimmy Cook, Peter Kirsten & Lawrence Seeff; Seeff and Cook displaying their capabilities in the shorter format too. <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46982.html" target="_blank">Barry Richards</a> was also consistent making a couple of half centuries. <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/47683.html" target="_blank">Vince van der Bijl</a> was the best bowler for the South Africans.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
So that brings to an end my short recap/analysis of a long-forgotten and (in)famous series of the past. If you are interested in going through the scores and figures of each match, you may do so by visiting the link provided at the beginning of this article.</div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-33428729327674726732012-01-31T09:52:00.000+05:302012-07-24T11:32:34.744+05:30A week of tech meet-ups<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It's not often that you find yourself attending several tech-related meet-ups during a week, especially in Sri Lanka (let alone happening). But, last week turned out to be exactly that. If there is a trend building as such, then that's great and I hope for more. These provide an opportunity to share, learn and network with people offline as oppose to Googling or Social Networking. It also reminds some that they are humans!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">First was at Coco Veranda on Monday 23rd January. This was arranged through <a href="http://meetup.com/" target="_blank">Meetup.com</a> by a bunch of guys from a company called <a href="http://www.webgurus.lk/" target="_blank">WebGurus</a> and was meant for PHP developers only. Being the first of its kind I attended, (and probably the first in Colombo) there were about 15 - 20 PHP developers gathered that evening. The session commenced with each person introducing him/herself while the main feature of the evening was a presentation by Jayawi Perera on the security aspects of PHP development, which was pretty good. Afterwards, it was more chatter within the gathering to go along with Coco's delicacies (there were many). It was agreed to hold a similar meet-up every month to discuss PHP related stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UY8deXs2s7U/TyoTEbuVmZI/AAAAAAAAAHA/13yJjavf19I/s1600/php-meetup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UY8deXs2s7U/TyoTEbuVmZI/AAAAAAAAAHA/13yJjavf19I/s320/php-meetup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Come Thursday, and it was time for <a href="http://www.refreshcolombo.org/" target="_blank">Refresh Colombo</a>. This was the first 'Refresh' for 2012, and two talks and an inaugural networking session were lined-up for the evening. Needless to say, there were about or probably more than 100 people attending this time around. Personally I was glad to meet an old friend Dilshan Kathriarachchi after about seven years. One of the talks scheduled for the evening was by him. The first presentation was an SEO audit of a local website by <a href="http://www.shaadhamid.com/" target="_blank">Shaad Hamid</a>. He discussed a few SEO points and shared some tips in between too - which SEOs normally wouldn’t do. Then it was Dilshan. He talked on his experiences with start-ups and the journey so far. I had stuff to reminisce during the talk too, because it was he and his first start-up that I first worked with eight years ago. Those were crazy and fun times. Lastly it was a networking session, where we got to know others that we hadn't met or talked before and discussed what they were up to.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VR6Zny2UF-I/TyoTz3s-_BI/AAAAAAAAAHI/XGrSRpJL2f4/s1600/refresh-cmb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VR6Zny2UF-I/TyoTz3s-_BI/AAAAAAAAAHI/XGrSRpJL2f4/s400/refresh-cmb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">From two-digit attendance to three-digit attendance, and the last for the week was easily a four-digit one. The second 'Android Forum', organised by Etisalat Sri Lanka, it was. This was held at the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel on the 27th of January. The morning programme was meant for Android developers, whereas the evening session was aimed at explaining the ABCs of Android. There were some fine presentations in-between and a useful panel discussion as well. The guy from Google Israel was something special too.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M8S1-xSgf1A/TyoUIAvOHxI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/RytPNc-sk5Q/s1600/android-forum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M8S1-xSgf1A/TyoUIAvOHxI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/RytPNc-sk5Q/s400/android-forum.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">All-in-all it was a week full of knowledge to harness, people to connect and stuff to share. One thing unique about all these functions was that they were free of charge. So it is only proper to sincerely thank all the wonderful people behind the sponsoring & organising of these events.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image sources: -<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meetup-of-PHP-Developers-Sri-Lanka/342319939125675" target="_blank">Meetup of PHP Developers, Sri Lanka Facebook page</a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/refresh.colombo" target="_blank">Refresh Colombo Facebook page</a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/336791796342052/" target="_blank">Android Forums Sri Lanka Facebook group</a></span><br />
</span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-17023593288979780402011-11-02T11:00:00.002+05:302022-11-11T11:17:45.459+05:30Bearing 7 Billion<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The world's population exceeded seven billion yesterday <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111104190135/https://www.unfpa.org/public/home/news/pid/8709" target="_blank">according to the UNFPA</a> (United Nations Population Fund). It seems to have been taken in a celebrative notion. Although the joy a baby brings to its parents and family is something immense, this is not about celebrating the birth of a one or two or few '7 billionth' children. It's about the world's population reaching a substantial rounded figure. This is a mark that needs to be considered seriously or else a mark that should change how we perceive the future of the earth.<br />
<br />
How many billion people walk on earth is not the real issue. Can the earth bear them all and if so for how long is the issue. If you've watched the '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU" target="_blank">HOME</a>' documentary which by far is the best of its kind when it comes to enlightening us on 'earthly' issues, then you'd probably have a good idea of what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, I strongly suggest you do.<br />
<br />
We eat everyday. We eat many things. Most of them are either produce which are grown on soil or based on such sources. Then, we drink. The base being that wonderful and amazing liquid made up of two Hydrogen atoms and an Oxygen atom; namely water. But, drinking-water is sparse. So sparse that it accounts to less than 1% of the planet's entire hydrosphere. Apart from this, we consume water for many other activities too. We inhale, we burn, and we make use of the Oxygen in the atmosphere. We produce. We produce all kinds of artificial material using elements extracted from the earth. These don't get back to their normal forms or places in a hurry. In fact, some would never in a time we could comprehend. While consuming all this, we release harmful substances back to the eco-system; often referred to as pollution.<br />
<br />
What ungrateful masterminds we are. We suck the cream out of the earth, gulp it up, or convert it to an artificial state that would never enter a natural cycle, and pollute it! How could we expect the situation to get better with an increasing population? How could we expect 'Mother Earth' to bear all this indefinitely? Most people don't seem to be bothered, or (to put it in another way) are ignorant.<br />
<br />
You and I, we need to understand, acknowledge, and act sooner or later. Because there's a limit to everything. Even Mother Earth has her limits. Once limits exceed, her wrath will be upon us. Mankind may opt to call it 'end of the world' not knowing that he is the one who caused it.</div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-8552737367726005182011-08-10T16:47:00.000+05:302012-06-08T17:17:29.199+05:30Towards a generation of e-Socials<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Humans by default are social animals, not in the modern meaning but as a fact. This comes with their dependence on others to grow, to learn, to find food, to mate, to bear & raise offspring, and in short to LIVE. Initially I was a bit reluctant to proceed writing this article after a <a href="http://udendra.blogspot.com/2010/09/e-literate-or-illiterate.html">previous one</a> on orthodoxy versus modernisation drew some criticism but continues to rank high in page views. If you think the same, then it accounts to another who's misread (with no pun) the whole thing. I try remaining moderate on most things I've come across in life and still am. The aforementioned article is no exception to that rule, where it stresses on the concept of 'balance'.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Continuing on this, I wish to highlight a new breed of human beings who could be termed 'e-Socials'. Simply this means people who socialise online and maintain a rather (in)different attitude offline - consider offline as the antonym of online. Personally, this inconsistent behaviour has put me off several times and I have all the reason to believe & assume that few more people find it rather irritating or confusing. My understanding has done away with the confusion part, since I now realise this to be a psychological trait, which in turn may characterise the behavioural aspect of an individual.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Interaction and implicit communication are imperative components of socialising. In today's web and networked life this has been achieved in other ways. Take for example a person in a chat room. They interact by typing, scream (by capitalising letters), show emotions via emoticons, and appear to be of a certain gender where in reality the person(s) is (are) not inclined to act as such. To elaborate, think of an individual in a grumpy state being able to express the complete opposite by typing in a smiling face (emoticon). The digital/virtual interface has facilitated the above merrily and successfully. I have met many people offline and have found them to be extremely different than they appear to be online. Some who appear very outgoing and cheerful online are surprisingly introverted and timid when encountered in normal day-to-day life. How could this happen? Is it a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder" target="_blank">Multiple Personality Disorder</a> or a distortion caused by living an extreme online life thereby ignoring to associate in REAL life? I'm not aware of any psychological analysis or study conducted on these lines but there couldn't be none either.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The arrival of social networking web sites has only assisted the above. Facebook, Google+, Hi5, Twitter, etc provide a bag of virtual substitutes for the online social being. People chat, share their thoughts, share photos, 'like' things, play games (as oppose to sports), find & make friends, entertain themselves, learn stuff and many many more by just sitting in front of a computer or by the use of a mobile gadget. Some even opt for the now rather conventional medium of email. What I think is, this is pretty alright if the whole world is connected and there's no need of offline interaction. But, (un)fortunately that's not the case. Hence, when there are two types the latest and uncommon become eccentric leading to confusion, irritation, agitation (in society) and you name it! So, we either wait for the transformation to happen imagining that this is a transitional phase and expect ourselves to be guzzled up by the tide. If there are no signs of it happening in the near future, then I say: GET A LIFE, and by that I mean a real one, not a forged one!</div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-59292981068809715742011-07-23T19:25:00.000+05:302015-04-01T10:42:53.870+05:30Some special freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
My interest on fish started at a very young age. Initially it was a few Guppies borrowed from a friend in school and which I kept in a huge toffee bottle. But then, to a bigger fish tank and another. Joining <a href="http://www.yzasrilanka.lk/" target="_blank">YZA</a> was the climax of this. There, I was able to scientifically learn & study about all the freshwater fish species in Sri Lanka.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
In this aspect too, our country is a blessed region, since we are very rich and diverse in fauna & flora. Sri Lanka is currently home to 80 odd indigenous freshwater fish species. (I'm a bit confused on the exact figure due to a few rapid changes and additions that have recently taken place in this sphere). Most people are startled to hear this fact and are also utterly unaware of the array of species our country possesses. Hence, on the positive, awareness through whichever means would benefit the conservation of our fauna & flora for generations to come. On these lines, I thought of sharing some acquired knowledge of freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka with you. And as it's difficult to provide information on each and every fish, I've chosen a few special species - although there are more - for this blog post.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>1. Hora dandiya</b> - <i>Rasboroides atukorali</i> - හොර දණ්ඩියා</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vf0_z1VYmVo/TirJfLL37BI/AAAAAAAAAE8/JmsJRqpxG_M/s1600/horadandiya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vf0_z1VYmVo/TirJfLL37BI/AAAAAAAAAE8/JmsJRqpxG_M/s1600/horadandiya.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'll start from the two extremes. Previously known as <i>Horadandia atukorali</i>, this little fellow is the smallest freshwater fish in Sri Lanka growing to an average length of 2 cm or less. It belongs to the Cyprinidae family which accounts to the most number of species in the country. This fish has no lateral line and is transparent in colour with a light green hue. They often live in large schools close to the surface while feeding on planktons. It is a somewhat weak fish compared to other Cyprinids. Has been reported from the wet zone (locations such as Diyawanna Oya, Attidiya, Matugama) and Yala in the dry zone. Not an endemic species.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>2. Shark catfish</b> - <i>Wallago attu</i> - වලයා</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0y7nEUN1QbU/TirKCw9mumI/AAAAAAAAAFA/fJJX3lWhWk4/s1600/walaya_kitulgala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0y7nEUN1QbU/TirKCw9mumI/AAAAAAAAAFA/fJJX3lWhWk4/s320/walaya_kitulgala.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span id="goog_1725295643"></span><span id="goog_1725295644"></span>A Walaya caught at Kitulgala - from Rohan Pethiyagoda's 'Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka'</i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span id="goog_1725295643"></span><span id="goog_1725295644"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ns6yPcQT0b4/TirK5MOnnXI/AAAAAAAAAFE/lnG3_9ZH-w0/s1600/walaya_head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ns6yPcQT0b4/TirK5MOnnXI/AAAAAAAAAFE/lnG3_9ZH-w0/s320/walaya_head.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From the smallest now it's to the biggest. The Wallago is the largest freshwater fish in the country which measures to a maximum length of 5 feet, although individuals of this magnitude are very rare. Since its rarity in recent times, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle had once requested to report any sightings of the fish as part of a survey carried out by them. This species belongs to the Siluridae family which boasts of many large individuals.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The Shark catfish is blackish brown in colour and white underneath. It has two pairs of barbels out of which the maxillary is very long. The mouth which extends beyond the eye, suits its nature of being a voracious carnivore. Mostly active at night, its diet includes small fish, reptiles, birds and even mammals! This is a solitary creature that lives in deep pits in large rivers or tanks. It has been mainly reported from areas such as Kitulgala, Mahaweli River and tanks in the dry zone. Harmful means of fishing such as dynamiting is believed to have contributed towards the diminished numbers of this species and resulted in being extinct from some of the previously inhabited locations. It is not endemic to Sri Lanka and is also recorded from India.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Now I move onto a couple of fishes with unusual habits.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>3. Archer fish</b> - <i>Toxotes chatareus</i> - දුමිත්තා</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5h-vYwES68/TirM21iB_FI/AAAAAAAAAFI/VV2DNJxN7r0/s1600/archer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5h-vYwES68/TirM21iB_FI/AAAAAAAAAFI/VV2DNJxN7r0/s320/archer.jpg" height="205" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Uhx-en0apbU/TirNDf-RuMI/AAAAAAAAAFM/SJCofPBaQVM/s1600/archer_spit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Uhx-en0apbU/TirNDf-RuMI/AAAAAAAAAFM/SJCofPBaQVM/s320/archer_spit.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> An Archerfish shoots at a target</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Ever heard of a fish that spits? Well, this one certainly can. In fact, that's a way it hunts for food. And as its name implies this fish is a skilled shooter, which channels a jet of water towards a target over the surface thereby hitting the pray and causing it to fall. The younger ones are not very accurate, but they eventually develop and learn to deal with the angles concerning the refraction from air to water. This species is an average sized fish and shows a distribution from India to Northern Australia. It is found in both fresh and brackish waters and often in lagoons too.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>4. Upside down sleeper</b> - <i>Butis butis</i> - නිදිමතයා</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ataCfN5n8Q/TirN5F4RiSI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/KhcMpbbXKMk/s1600/butis_upside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ataCfN5n8Q/TirN5F4RiSI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/KhcMpbbXKMk/s320/butis_upside.jpg" height="219" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> Laying upside down</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ho-NC477VxM/TirOKcJMoKI/AAAAAAAAAFU/DnMaCdso9Ho/s1600/butis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ho-NC477VxM/TirOKcJMoKI/AAAAAAAAAFU/DnMaCdso9Ho/s1600/butis.jpg" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
Although called a 'sleeper', it's just a position that this species is sometimes found lazing around, not that they actually sleep (even its Sinhala name presents the same meaning). They are often found lying in one place on a surface. Due to this weird behaviour, it's sometimes even referred to as 'crazy fish'. This species belongs to the Eleotridae family which has another individual - <i>Eleotris fusca</i> - in Sri Lanka. It is carnivorous and feeds on smaller fish or crustaceans. Lives in fresh and brackish water while commonly found in lagoons, estuaries, swamps and lower reaches of freshwater streams.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
The last two I've chosen are a bit unusual in appearance.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<b>5. Freshwater garfish</b> - <i>Xenentodon cancila</i> - යොන්නා</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K6imdatyt3Y/TirPEjxBGiI/AAAAAAAAAFY/ldkl0zo1EOU/s1600/garfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K6imdatyt3Y/TirPEjxBGiI/AAAAAAAAAFY/ldkl0zo1EOU/s400/garfish.jpg" height="146" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
The Freshwater garfish is a 'needle fish' - because of its shape - and belongs to the Belonidae family. It grows to a maximum length of one foot although most reported are about 8 inches. Has big eyes and long jaws, and teeth of the bottom jaw protrude out while the upper ones don't. Length of its head is almost half the total body length. A dark band with a margin runs along the side of its body. They prefer to stay in one place, close to the surface in wide streams or large rivers. It's not the best-known swimmer and usually are found in packs of 7 or more. As a carnivorous individual, it feeds mostly on small fish & frogs, tadpoles or crustaceans and hunts mostly at night. The Garfish has been reported from areas such as Waga and Kithulgala while I once observed it in a tributary of the Magal Ganga at Deraniyagala. It's at times mistaken for the 'Halfbeak' known as මොරැල්ලා in Sinhala.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>6. Ocellated pipefish</b> - <i>Microphis ocellatus</i> - නැට්ටා</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TV66cI5tFv0/TirPwB2UcII/AAAAAAAAAFc/ycwsYeCAVfM/s1600/pipefish.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TV66cI5tFv0/TirPwB2UcII/AAAAAAAAAFc/ycwsYeCAVfM/s200/pipefish.gif" height="63" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLRbSzqul9Y/TirQAd9LXHI/AAAAAAAAAFg/danAUtk3X1Q/s1600/pipefish2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLRbSzqul9Y/TirQAd9LXHI/AAAAAAAAAFg/danAUtk3X1Q/s1600/pipefish2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This fish belongs to the family Syngnathidae which includes Sea Horses too; the major difference being that sea horses hang about vertically (yes, they are fish. Not horses, or for that matter mammals!). These fish have a series of bony rings that encloses their body and have no scales. They feed by sucking into a tubular snout. Males have a brood pouch in which the eggs are laid, fertilized and incubated. It grows to a maximum 6 - 7 inches in length and is a VERY slow swimmer. It's also a very rare species and has been recorded only from a few locations in the wet zone. (e.g.: Avissawella, Agalawatta). Mainly occupies slow flowing habitats although may exist in fast flowing locales as well.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Images from:-<br />
<a href="http://www.fishbase.org/" target="_blank">www.fishbase.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/" target="_blank">www.aqualandpetsplus.com</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-2989523291207603312011-06-03T14:37:00.000+05:302011-06-03T14:58:13.129+05:30They know you more than you<div style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Privacy is one of the most talked about topics of the information age. With more and more information generated it's bound to aggravate. As I see it privacy is two fold in our usage. One is the derived form (non-voluntary). The other is more straightforward where we submit our information to another party (voluntary). Many people are knowledgeable on what they submit to the World Wide Web or at least intrinsically think twice before doing so. If not, at least a bit of commonsense would do. This is of course assuming that you're really bothered about your personal information and hence privacy. But what about the other form, where someone else derives certain information on you based on various data? Additionally, you may think on the lines of a personality test. The first (and the last) time I sat for one, I scored pretty well. But a web based company could be in a better position of judging you with the amount of information gathered throughout the years. I intend of giving you some goose bumps largely based on these.<br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">When we upload photos to Facebook, or post crazy status updates we are well aware of who could see them and the fact that Facebook stores it on their servers. Furthermore these sites have their own 'Terms of Use' & 'Privacy Policy' posted publicly although more often than not people really don't care reading them. As per internet statistics, the most popular, used and visited websites are Google, Facebook, Youtube, Yahoo, Live, etc. and are run by US based companies. This eventually creates a certain web centricity towards a certain geopolitical location as well. This blog is no exception either. Privacy when coupled with politics can be a <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/summary-zdnets-usa-patriot-act-series/9233" target="_blank">tricky issue</a>, where it's sometimes even referred to as intelligence. But the gravity of infiltration, harnessing and action taken upon depends on the country's laws and regulations.<br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Just imagine the amount of information your Gmail or Yahoo mailbox contains. From passwords & bank/credit card account information to communication with crushes, your fetishes and even porn are only a few to mention. Not excluding religious and political stuff as well. And it's not only free web mail services, but chat software such as Gtalk, Yahoo, MSN, etc might record your chat history although you may have opted to go-off the record. If you think that's all, just consider the amount of searching you'd done throughout the years using all those popular search engines. What's the assurance that these companies wouldn't store your search queries or for that matter any personally identifiable information including location data. Google even has a function that allows you to delete/manage your search history termed '<a href="http://www.google.com/history/" target="_blank">Google Web History</a>'. So if you're still the kind of person who thinks that Google doesn't know anything about your multiple accounts, I say wakeup! that's such an insignificant thing.<br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Data mining technologies are the most used in deriving information or patterns from this data. In fact, our search & browsing patterns, Facebook likes, email contents and anything similar is sufficient of determining our personality and interests. This helps in creating a somewhat virtual personality of you. The integration or interconnection of social and other major web platforms have only helped it.<br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Then there are the types who say, "So what? I don't care what any web company or country knows about me, I feel totally OK with it". Actually I myself belong in that category. The purpose of this post was to enlighten the extra-cautious individuals who aren't very comfortable with this issue and not to drive you off the web. Who knows, someday we might just have to admit that's how it is. After all, wouldn't it be nice to see Google predict what you'd be up to this coming weekend? <span style="font-size:180%;">☺</span><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Now why do I hear someone mutter "creepy…".</span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-17815091610191960222011-04-23T16:18:00.000+05:302012-06-08T17:41:01.984+05:30Few tips on how to save your internet quota<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;">Is your workplace one of those places where restrictions on internet browsing has been imposed? And, is there a restriction on the amount of bandwidth you consume per day or week? Then better get yourself accustomed to using it [bandwidth] thriftily and wisely. Apart from that, it could be very useful for people with limited broadband packages. This article gives a few tips that would help your cause.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Look out for:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">'Heavy' sites! Websites with loads of graphics, flash animations, streaming video/audio are the ones to lookout for. Sites classified as entertainment, news, gossip, etc often fit into this category. Occasionally, web sites with pages that refresh automatically every few seconds, such as </span><a href="http://www.cricinfo.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Cricinfo</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> could consume a lot of data although not necessarily identified as 'heavy'. Richly developed/designed web sites like </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> too transmit more information between the user and the web server although unnoticed, in order to provide the user with a better browsing experience.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">When browsing:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">At times, our ignorance itself could be a reason. One such example is the </span><a href="http://images.google.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Google Image Search</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. If you search for a certain term which yields hundreds of results and scroll down to the end of the result page, this will end up loading all the images in the result. But, if you were to scroll down page by page, images below are loaded only upon scrolling. Another instance is clicking on audio/video links which are linked or hosted on an external site, although embedded in a not-so-heavy web page which you are viewing. Streaming audio & video relatively consume much more data irrelevant of where it's played; in a flash player window or a popped-up media player. People who use web based free email services – Yahoo, Gmail, etc – tend to download large attachments in their emails without further thinking. But be aware that this could gobble up your quota, as any download of this nature is done over HTTP. A cheeky little solution is given below ;)</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Exemptions:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Of course, intranet web applications and your company's / organisation's website and web based email will be excluded from quota usage if hosted internally.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">What you could do:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Most content on a web page is not needed especially if you're reading an article. The flashy graphics and irritating advertisements are not the kind you'd often like viewing. So, you could stop the web page loading further once the content needed has been loaded. To do this, simply hit the 'Esc' key or click on the </span><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tMOJKtWKqtY/TbANQzcEltI/AAAAAAAAACY/LwEQuwEVdpw/s200/X.png" style="font-family: arial; height: 15px; width: 15px;" /><span style="font-family: arial;"> button next to the address bar. Later if there's an image you need to see, right click on the empty image box and click 'Show Image / Show Picture'. You might find this operation to be much quicker in Firefox than Internet Explorer. Disabling the loading of images on a web page will save a heap of quota, but you could view only the textual content of a web page. To disable image loading in Firefox, go to </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Tools -> Options -> Content</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and uncheck "</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Load images automatically</span><span style="font-family: arial;">". In Internet Explorer 8, go to </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and uncheck "</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Show pictures</span><span style="font-family: arial;">" under "</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Multimedia</span><span style="font-family: arial;">". The paths and/or option names will slightly differ and vary depending on the browser versions.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">If you're the type of person who checks the latest news and events happening around, visiting the relevant website(s) periodically might not be the best idea. Instead, you could subscribe to the relevant web site's RSS feed and manage it as a bookmark in your browser. These RSS feeds will display summarised lists of content (such as the titles of news stories) and you may view the entire article by clicking on the link to the related web page. View images below.</span></div>
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hksUsZWFhfo/TbAN6wssoCI/AAAAAAAAACo/O74k2nDcIMo/s1600/bookmark-ff.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597989639977476130" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hksUsZWFhfo/TbAN6wssoCI/AAAAAAAAACo/O74k2nDcIMo/s400/bookmark-ff.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 85px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Bookmarks in Firefox</span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ViA9rJgvzFk/TbAOIsx_zoI/AAAAAAAAACw/WyypRCTIHQA/s1600/feed-ie.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597989879444131458" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ViA9rJgvzFk/TbAOIsx_zoI/AAAAAAAAACw/WyypRCTIHQA/s400/feed-ie.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 96px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 271px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Feeds in IE</span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Remember me mentioning about rich websites consuming more data? Well, a neat but not so user friendly alternative is to use the mobile versions of such sites if available. Most of the frequently accessed websites on the net have their mobile versions. Some examples are </span><a href="http://m.gmail.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Gmail</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, </span><a href="http://m.yahoo.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Yahoo</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, </span><a href="http://m.cricinfo.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Cricinfo</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, </span><a href="http://m.facebook.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> & </span><a href="http://mobile.twitter.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. These versions are designed for use on mobile devices and hence are very light-weight although with lesser functionality.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">And the 'cheeky' solution for downloading big attachments; forward your email to your office email account if it’s hosted internally and save the attachment to your PC from there. This will cost you nothing except for the bandwidth consumed during the usage of the web mail service. Staying in the topic of web mail, in case you need to check your Gmail or Yahoo mail accounts frequently, better install the relevant toolbar. This way (given that you're logged in), you could get notified of any new mails along with the subjects.</span></div>
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0vHvHirrm8o/TbAOZ_etIGI/AAAAAAAAAC4/ejxh6Ev7USs/s1600/gmail-notify.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597990176521265250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0vHvHirrm8o/TbAOZ_etIGI/AAAAAAAAAC4/ejxh6Ev7USs/s400/gmail-notify.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 83px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Gmail notifications in Google toolbar</span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
Obviously this is not everything and there are many more workarounds and practices you could adopt. While some might find this an added burden to their [internet] surfing behaviours, once got used, it will be negligible. Same as turning off the light before you go to sleep. After all it's your choice.</div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-54966545738735640512011-01-18T13:49:00.000+05:302012-06-08T17:43:39.012+05:30Who are the 'Isurumuni Lovers'?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FldJq3q4eTk/TTVSmqcTvyI/AAAAAAAAABw/BbK6TM8jiN4/s1600/isurumuni-lovers.jpg"><img alt="Isurumuni Lovers" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563443738867646242" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FldJq3q4eTk/TTVSmqcTvyI/AAAAAAAAABw/BbK6TM8jiN4/s320/isurumuni-lovers.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 215px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 150px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to folklore </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Namalpura </span><span style="font-family: arial;">near </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Vijithapura </span><span style="font-family: arial;">during 455 - 473 A.D. (the reign of </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">King Dhatusena</span><span style="font-family: arial;">) was ruled by a commander named </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Namal</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. This commander was executed by </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">King Kashyapa</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> due to his allegiance towards King Dhatusena and his elder son </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Mugalan</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. Commander Namal's only son, who was also known as </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Namal</span><span style="font-family: arial;">, was spared by Kashyapa. Young Namal's mother too passed away grieving over her husband's death. Hence, the young prince lost both his parents.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Prince Namal was a charming, talented and strong young man. His life was majorly devoted towards agriculture and religious activities.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One Vesak full moon poya day, this prince was attending religious activities at the Vijithapura monastery. Suddenly he couldn't believe his eyes with what he saw. She was the most beautiful damsel he had seen and he would ever see. He couldn't take his eyes of her, and so was she. They both grew close and talked with each other. While this conversation was going on the prince realized that the girl had heard about him and was longing to meet him. She was </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Chithra</span><span style="font-family: arial;">, a granddaughter of King Dhatusena. King Dhatusena had a brother named </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Kumarasena</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. Kumarasena had a son named </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Guptasena</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. Chithra was his daughter. She had a brother named </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Bandusena</span><span style="font-family: arial;">, who was a commander of King Kashyapa. Prince Namal knew Guptasena quite well.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Because of this friendship Prince Namal was invited the next day to Chithra's palace in the vicinity of '</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Kala Wewa</span><span style="font-family: arial;">'. Chithra's parents gave Namal a warm welcome and their marriage was confirmed. The wedding had to be delayed since Chithra's brother Bandusena was abroad at that time. He was spying on Mugalan who escaped to India, according to the orders given by King Kashyapa. So it was decided that the wedding would be held once he returns back home.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During this time Namal and Chithra used to meet every evening and go for a walk. It was a well known fact to everyone in the area that the couple was engaged.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile commander Bandusena returned back home from duty with a friend of his, named </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Mahanaga</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. Mahanaga was a deputy of Bandusena. Seeing Chithra, he told his friend Bandusena of his intentions of marrying her. Replying to him Bandusena said he may marry Chithra with her consent. Though this wasn't the time for Mahanaga to ask Chithra, he had high hopes that he'll be married to her.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Few days later Bandusena and Mahanaga were coming back from the palace when Mahanaga couldn't believe what he saw. It was prince Namal and princess Chithra seated on the bank of 'Kala Wewa' chatting with each other in a world of their own. Mahanaga couldn't bear it and his jealousy ended up in verbal abuse towards prince Namal. Being the calm character he is Namal wasn't intimidated. In fact he explained to Mahanaga and Bandusena about his relationship with Chithra and that he got her parents approval.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Bandusena's response it seemed as if he was totally unaware about the whole situation, because he was on a busy schedule since returning from India. But Mahanaga didn't want to give in, and it was decided that both of them resolute this matter with a 'Duel' (sword fight) between them. This was much to the comfort of Bandusena who didn't seem to have a solution. Though Mahanaga was in no position of denying the challenge, he insisted that someone like Namal was no match for him. Anyway according to the guidance of Bandusena, a venue and time was scheduled for the fight.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As expected the fight began amidst a huge gathering. Facing the first swing of sword from Namal, Mahanaga quickly learned that he had underestimated his opponent. It took another couple of swings for Namal to disarm Mahanaga. The third not only disarmed him but also ended his life. Namal emerged victorious!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hearing about prince Namal's feat, King Kashyapa appointed him as a commander in chief. Prince Namal and Princess Chithra were married amidst celebrations. But their marriage wasn't to be a long lasting one.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A few months after their wedding came the rainy season. 'Kala wewa' was overflowing due to the heavy rains. And many people gathered towards the lake to watch this scenery. Among them were Namal and Chithra as well. When Chithra was approaching the left canal of 'Kala Wewa', in came a gust of wind and she was thrown in to the gushing water. Namal who jumped in to the water was able to save her life initially but the currents were too strong even for him, and they both were washed away and drowned. Their bodies were found lately and the funeral was held with state honour.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By this time, King Kashyapa had commenced renovation work at '</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Isurumuniya</span><span style="font-family: arial;">'. It was done under the supervision of Kashyapa's elder daughter, princess </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Bodhi</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. She was also an expert architect. It is said and believed that the carving of the '</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Isurumuni Lovers</span><span style="font-family: arial;">' was done by herself in remembrance of prince Namal and princess Chithra.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">* This is a translation of an original Sinhala article published in the 'Divaina' newspaper of 04-09-2005. Its online version can be reached at: </span><a href="http://www.divaina.com/2005/09/04/scholast01.html" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.divaina.com/2005/09/04/scholast01.html</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-28260192293862172232010-09-25T15:28:00.000+05:302011-04-20T09:24:12.943+05:30e-Literate or illiterate?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Definitions for literacy are many. The ability to read and write is the conventional definition. Most countries measure their literacy levels based on this aspect. But, with the advent of an electronic era, the convergence of new media, etc, contemporary and somewhat multifaceted meanings prevail. This is not to debate over the traditional and modern contexts but to assess where we are or for that matter our future generation could be heading vis-à-vis literacy.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I still remember how I was denied of using a calculator by my parents when I was very young, although I knew all the multiplication tables (up to 15) by heart, and there were a couple available at home. This somehow improved my mind maths skills and I’m still good at it (not bragging). We weren’t even provided with pens until grade four or five unless our writing had minimal erasures. In a way it may seem ineffective given the number of times I had to type and delete words of this article, but it certainly had its say on the score of my essays during school and university examinations. Nowadays kids do insist on using calculators and pens at a very early stage and if you’d deprive them, they still know where to get it. After all every computer OS has its calculator! Wait, I’m not being conservative but am concerned of the consequences. Just ask a random kid in his/her early teens (except the bright ones) what is 12*11+7 and you’ll figure out what I’m trying to say.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Another mind related diminution is caused by e-organisers. You get them everywhere; on the web, as PC apps and even in your mobile phone. Every little piece of work to do could be saved in them, which eventually eliminates the need to remember any, but also effects long-term memory, ultimately ending up with a short-term version. Our hectic lifestyles will always welcome these electronic solutions, but if the gravity of use is frequent and the level of use extends to the minute then there is an issue in the lurking to be addressed. Remember, the law of evolution advocates depreciation of idle organs!</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Ok, now enough of mind boggling stuff (no pun). Let’s get into things which are further aligned towards the topic. Once I remember reading an article in a daily newspaper, which stated how a report disclosed that the quality of writing at the O/L exams had deteriorated. Many teachers had revealed that the handwriting was below satisfactory and hard to read while grammar plus spelling mistakes were on the rise. Now this situation cannot solely be attributed towards typing and texting alone which explains youngster’s preference for keys over pens, but the SMS & chatting lexis has a serious role to play in erroneous spellings (especially english as <span style="font-style: italic;">singlish </span>is not considered or taught as a language). Imagine a student writing a sentence in a formal letter for an exam paper in the following manner: <span style="font-style: italic;">“... I hv noticed the situ, and there4 am fwding this 4 ur perusal ...”</span>. This could very well happen more frequently and cause many a problem in the future unless of course it’s not considered an issue if authorities decide to absorb the said defiled lexicon into the prevailing one! Please note that how a language evolves is a separate topic of discussion for those who might want to spring up an argument in favour of the hypothesis I mentioned at the end of the previous sentence.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">As stated earlier, reading is the other main component of the customary definition of literacy. Reading (hardcopies) too has lessened to some extent although you may read more on the World Wide Web. However the experience is very different. Apart from physical constraints added by when reading a softcopy, it always fails to deliver the character and essence a physical book may offer. And because of these issues, extensive reading of an electronic edition is a definite discourager. Hence, there are now books that offer you the audio to listen. Instead of reading the book you could sit down and listen to the entire thing! All these mean that the skill of reading is possibly on its way to extinction.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">On a final note, I must emphasise that the purpose of this article is not to condemn or discredit anything contemporary or electronic as I myself use them to great effect, but to make you think of something hitherto unthought-of, that is whether we are on a path of hampering literacy or improving it, in this modern era.</span></span><br /></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-27378838298545006962010-04-19T12:52:00.000+05:302012-07-24T11:29:27.909+05:30The need to recreate<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Wake up, morning chores, go to work, come back home, evening chores, dine and sleep seems to be the customary routine for many individuals these days. One could settle for this, given that we are machines and not ‘<i>Homo sapiens</i>’. But our origins have a great effect that guides our physical and mental intuitiveness although suppressed by the aforesaid lifestyle.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The consequences are not so lovely. From stress to Gastritis, Cholesterol to Diabetes, failed marriages to suicides, etc., a very lengthy list can be compiled. So what’s the solution? Back to the Stone Age? Or is there a compromise? In fact, there’s more than a compromise if one thinks of it as a necessity. We need to find a way to balance our way of life with these hectic routines. This is how the concept of <i>recreation</i> has come about.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As the term implies, it’s all about re-creating a ‘demolished’ or ‘damaged’ person. Recreation is mainly two-fold; physical and mental. But the trend and usage is more towards the physical aspect. This although shouldn’t be misinterpreted, because one’s physical vigour effects his/her state of mind and vice-versa. The physical approach is more popular and easily cultivated as it has always been throughout the history of mankind. For example, a layperson will often prefer listening to a meditative melody instead of actually meditating; even though the latter’s result is direct and much rewarding.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><br /><span lang="EN-GB"></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Recreational activities are multi-pronged which includes sports (individuals/teams), gym workouts, jogging, indoor/outdoor activities, and even less considered areas such as aesthetics, yoga, massage therapy, etc. The list is diverse and extensive. If you are into sports it could either be individualistic such as swimming or a team sport or both. While the former improves self-confidence greatly, the latter will enhance team skills. Moreover, some sports could be played indoors or outdoors as well (i.e. Carom, Table Tennis). Your choice of sport can be chosen depending on your schedule, available partners, access to equipment and facilities etc. For the loner who prefers minimalism a daily jogging session is ideal, if not he/she could always opt for a gym.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Another form of recreation is the outdoor activities such as travelling, hiking/mountaineering, boat riding, etc. These are extremely popular among westerners too. Some even go for extreme adventure such as bungee jumping or white-water rafting. Travelling in general is a hugely appreciated way of seeking the much looked-for difference in our everyday life, but should be combined with another since of its less frequency and the time needed. Currently, more and more people are in search of spiritual techniques for the easing and healing of conditions such as stress and anxiety. The popularity of Yoga is a result of this. It has the ability of affecting one’s physique and mental well-being.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">There are numerous other ways of engaging yourself in recreational activity other than what’s stated here. An important thing that needs mentioning is, if you are new to any of this or planning to start on any, make sure to learn, train, or be accompanied by trained and experienced individuals since otherwise you could end up in a great mess.</span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The inevitable question most of us have is, ‘Ok, I see & know the importance. BUT how am I going to find time for this?’ I have a question as the answer for this. Do you want to live a healthy and satisfactory life? If the answer is yes, I’m sure you’ll find the time. It takes only a bit of will and skilful time management.</span></p>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-63036310639641421082009-03-13T09:58:00.000+05:302011-04-20T09:28:39.052+05:30Mind Blowing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It's not difficult to notice that a (eastern) bamboo flute is a much uncomplicated-looking instrument. Apart from the calculations used in carving the holes and the rare Assamese bamboos used for manufacturing, the appearance seems amazingly simple. Little would one know that playing this aero phone (blowing instrument) takes much more than you ever think, unless you'd tried to before.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">These flutes come in different sizes, different pitches and some even with different numbers of holes. A North Indian flute, which is the most popular variety, has six fingering holes compared to its Karnatic counterpart with eight. All seven notes of the octave are produced by fingering these outlets.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: arial;" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FldJq3q4eTk/Sbnhl_OIq5I/AAAAAAAAABU/TNkfagxIeXQ/s1600-h/flutes.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 104px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FldJq3q4eTk/Sbnhl_OIq5I/AAAAAAAAABU/TNkfagxIeXQ/s400/flutes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312525278202342290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Initially a player would have to hold the instrument properly and position his lips correctly at the blowing hole maintaining body composure. Then while blowing and controlling his/her breath, the player has to open and close the holes using his/her fingers in order to produce the desired notes. To obtain some notes such as flat notes, the holes should be closed partly. Even the amount of closure of a hole may vary the tone of a note. In addition, blowing needs to be controlled accordingly to play a lower or higher octave note. Hence at times moving between notes of two octaves in quick succession is a task which requires skilled control of breath and blow. A flute player must also learn to manage his breath carefully in order to play long continuous melodies and notes without choking himself. When playing many notes at a rapid pace (higher tempo) the fingers should move quickly and accurately, whilst precise and rhythmic finger movements are very much needed to produce 'touch notes' and oscillating notes. All this needs to be done while breathing and controlling breath.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Although it's a very complex situation playing this 'simple-looking' instrument, the outcome is definitely mind blowing (no pun intended). It creates one of the most meditative sounds to be discovered by human beings, and that too a very long ago. Great flutists are able to produce haunting melodies that bind listeners to an inescapable trance. Some folk even believe that if played in a particular way, a flute is able to make the heavens pour or in other words to make it rain! 'Vas Danda', which is a Sinhala synonym for the flute meaning 'rain rod', probably would have been derived from the above belief.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">There is much more to be said about flutes, but I stop here leaving the rest to be learnt by the enthusiasts out there. And finally, no, I wouldn't mind blowing. ;-)</span></span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-13198444785674253892008-10-18T23:04:00.000+05:302011-04-20T09:29:25.846+05:30In search of tranquillity<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Each day shares something in common; adds to monotony; stress is a by-product. Many a thought runs through my head; past incidents, future expectations, hates, desires, etc. This reminds me why Lord Buddha has preached <strong>mindfulness</strong> as an essential element in attaining eternal bliss. It implies and necessitates the need of living in the present, neither the future nor the past. ‘Present’ here is not a lengthy time span but instead a very subtle moment. One needs to observe each of these moments which ultimately are stringed together. As a result peace of mind could be attained.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Is tranquillity a requirement for gaining tranquillity? In other words, are tranquil environs a definite need for a meditator? For example, have we got to choose a calm and lonely place to meditate? It depends on what kind of a character you are. In the <em>Maha Sati Pattana Sutta</em> six types of persons (<em>charitha</em>) are mentioned: <em>Raga, Dvesha, Moha, Saddha, Buddhi </em>& <em>Vitakka.</em> I remember once in a forest hermitage close to the precincts of <em>Yala</em>, we (me and a friend) were at the apex of a rock where one could view the surrounding scenery for several miles. There, the chief monk with many a meditating experience, told us that the summit was suited for ‘Vitakka personalities’ in meditating. Not that it wasn’t suited for others, but was mentioned as an example of the effect environment has on an individual. It’s true for an individual not only in a spiritual state but also mundane, as I comprehend. Quoting Lord Buddha’s words once again, you could find many instances in the <em>Tipitaka</em> where he advices monks to meditate in a forest hermitage, under a tree or an empty enclosure. The fact discussed above is therefore acknowledged.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Many of us seek mental relief from our hectic lifestyles by departing the city for a much peaceful locality. But it’s not many who utilise that element as it should be. I refrain on commenting on others and continue to concentrate on myself. Importantly it’s not only the calmness, peacefulness, serenity or any other thing of a given location that would make my mind content. Though I have visited many such places, only a few did really have an effect on my seeked spiritual development. How would one explain this?</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Once again, the <em>Tipitaka</em> has several answers. A prominent explanation is ‘samsaric behaviour’. A site which is a forest at present could have been a place of living on several occasions during our journey in this infinite <em>samsara</em>. If for example, we had encountered many pleasuring acts at a specific location, most probably a similar feeling will have an effect on our subliminal activity when visiting that area. Therefore, how tranquil or calm the spot may be, a meditator’s cause is most likely to be affected by thoughts congruent to the aforementioned. One needs to note that surroundings are just one factor which has an effect on a mundane individual in this way. Other aspects such as weather, people, etc. too have been sermonized. Need mentioning that these factors vary from one person to another.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Given the amount of locations I’ve visited, this makes me feel no surprise at the amazingly sparse number of places figured out (or discovered) which I could really make use of in search for tranquillity. Hence, at times the home bedroom seems more appropriate than a serene forest setting although I’d personally like to blend with nature. However, through <strong>perseverance</strong> our mind would adopt even to a previously detested location. This, Lord Buddha preaches as another essential element for the one who seeks eternal freedom.</span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-50773175157740943322008-03-21T15:18:00.000+05:302013-02-22T11:36:25.998+05:30My AI (Artificial Individuals) Connections<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">10 years ago I got my first PC. I was still schooling. As most teenagers would do, I spent most of my time playing computer games. However after awhile, I was very good at discovering cheat codes which resulted in almost every game finishing very quickly. This was boring.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Then one day, I received a little program named “Billy” which ran in DOS mode. It would easily fit into a floppy diskette and is one of those quickly executable types. What was it? An artificially intelligent (AI) computer program that I could chat with (in text mode). Billy was an exciting experience for me. I would type-in something to him, and he would respond, not intelligent always. The guy sounded dumb after a few chats because his response was more or less the same for a similar question or phrase by me. But, to my delight I was able to discover and download Billy’s female version – “Daisy”.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Daisy was much intelligent than Billy, this is because the program and its “brain files” had evolved by then. So, it became a habit of me to chat with these two AI bots daily. In the process, they learnt from me more than I did from them. While all this was going on, the creator of Billy & Daisy had mentioned a method of connecting 2 or more bots together so that they could communicate between them autonomously. Therefore, I decided of linking Billy & Daisy to see what happens.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">All I had to do is connect the two programs and watch them chat. It was fascinating. They were talking on their own and every now and then I would see knowledge snippets learnt from me being thrown at each other. Guess what? I even got to know that Daisy was in love with me!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Sometime later my hard disk crashed and all my software/data were gone, including these two programs. They were no longer available to be downloaded, hence I lost them. (Please email me if buy any chance you have it). So that marked an end of an escapade.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Two years later, I got my first job. As a web developer I was more often than not spending time on the internet. This is when I came across a Sri Lankan chat room. Soon I was a regular member of this community and the owner of the site (who was now a good friend of mine) was kind enough to present me a moderatorship of the chat. He also offered me the opportunity to play around & develop modifications or additions to the site.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">By this time my PHP skills had greatly improved together with the knowledge of this Open Source chat system which was pretty popular at that time. Unsurprisingly, I was experimenting of a way of creating an artificial user who would respond to others in the chat room. And so this is how “Ecila” was created. Ecila if pronounced reversely is Alice, and that wasn’t unintentional thanks to some amateur naming skills ;-). After all, ‘Alice’ seems to be the most popular name used for chatter bots. Read till the end and you’ll see why.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">This was early 2004 as I remember. Ecila would occasionally log into the chat even as Alice, thanks to a “cronjob” setup by me. Thereafter she would have a brief stint (about ½ hour) with the guys in the room and exit gracefully. However, regular visitors to the chat found her to be weird; a person who answers similarly more often. Why? That’s because she was only about 150 lines of code in length recognising only a limited number of phrase patterns together with their related answers.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Then around June that year, the chat was facing moderation problems due to an increase of swearing. We needed an ‘automated’ moderator who’d keep an eye throughout the day (24 hours) by detecting these mischievous users and consequently warning or banning them. So I decided of revamping Ecila by augmenting her already available functionality and adding a few other dimensions. These included the ability of being active all the time, dealing on multiple users, tracking user history and decision making based on factors such as history, gravity of harm caused and spontaneity of misbehaviour. After all was ok, this new bot was named “No Hellụm” (meaning immovable in Sinhala) and was logged into the chat as a moderator. It was a totally new concept and was a very productive idea. Although after quite sometime users figured out that he (in fact No Hellụm has no gender) was non-human, the occasional loner would always converse with him as well. This version was revised again in 2006 and now No Hellụm acts as the chat-keeper and has the ability of providing real-time score updates of cricket matches too!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">It was the latter part of 2005 when my next endeavour commenced. A chatter bot named “Alice” was plugged into my friend’s website’s homepage. However we had no access to its source code as the scripts were hosted elsewhere while we just provided the interface through an ‘iframe’. This Alice was pretty good and intelligent. So I began searching for her and discovered that it was an open source project downloadable at ‘SourceForge’.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">The bot uses a set of AIML files to initially populate its database with ‘knowledge’ (patterns & templates); more the patterns, more intelligent it becomes. Hence, I began searching for more AIML files too. AIML is an XML based standard which maps linguistic patterns to how they need to be dealt with, and in no time I was modifying Alice’s personality and writing a few of my own patterns & templates in AIML which I eventually fed to her. Currently the version I have is enriched with almost 45,000 templates. Furthermore, I developed a couple of new tags for my needs. One which added the capability of outputting emoticons in the response and the other enabled simple administrative functions.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Enable administrative functions? Gave it a thought? This is the first of its kind and most probably the first time you are hearing of it. What I did was, by modifying the code I was able to use her as a virtual login interface which would permit me to execute simple admin (database) queries on her and virtually logout when I’m finished. For example, I would chat to her as follows:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Me: login me<br />Alice: What’s your username?<br />Me: Udendra<br />Alice: Udendra, what’s the password?<br />Me: ********<br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Now I’m virtually logged in, and Alice knows it for sure, cos if I’m not she wouldn’t allow me to perform the following queries:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Me: show users (who are connected)<br />Alice: <<displays a neat user list>><br />Me: show previous chat 10<br />Alice: <<displays the last 10 records in history>><br />…………<br />…………<br /><br />When I’m done, I could logout:<br /><br />Me: logout<br />Alice: You have been logged out. :-)<br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">This in fact pushes the limits of interaction between a computer program and a user. The beauty of it is that one could chat to the bot in layman’s language in order to login to it, perform various functions, and logout.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">I guess by now its clear why my title reads as ‘Artificial Individuals’ rather than ‘Artificially Intelligent’ that most people would expect. Simply, this is because none of these programs were/are fully artificially intelligent. To become a truly AI entity is a great achievement that illustrates signs of intelligent behaviour which are thinking, reasoning, envisioning/perceiving, human performance, rationality, learning and adapting. However, what’s important is that the aforementioned programs had varying intensity of AI features such as searching, knowledge representation and learning and at times were extremely impressive in several areas.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">So the next time you feel lonely and there’s no one to chat with, don’t give up hopes. Who knows, an ‘artificial individual’ may fulfil your need.</span></div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-18951039546762230182007-12-13T10:39:00.000+05:302013-02-22T11:54:54.962+05:30You have a new text message (email)!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;">Few months ago I was having a requirement of getting notified whenever my office mail box received an email. The preferred notification-media was SMS. So basically whenever there was a new email to my official email account, I would get notified with its subject and sender via sms.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;"></span> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Now then, there were several obstacles I had to conquer in order to accomplish this task.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<ol start="1" style="font-family: arial; margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Accessing & Reading my email inbox hosted at the place I work.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Accessing it frequently (at least every few minutes).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Hosting the program (script) that would do the above, on a server that’s available throughout the day.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Protecting sensitive/personal data from third parties (in this case it was my password). </span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Our office uses a Microsoft Exchange Server as its mail server. Performing programmatic tasks on MS Exchange using PHP was a very rar</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">e occurrence. So I had to rely on Mr. Google in seeking a suitable code snippet that would help me in this endeavour. And guess what, I did stumble upon a blog on how to use XML-formatted WebDAV requests to fulfil my requirement.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Building on it I developed a modified version of that script, which would send an XML request to the server, read the response (it was XML too), process it, check for new mail messages, log it (because I need to keep track of what’s new & old), and sms it to my mobile. An sms was sent for each email in case of many.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">I could see the inquisitive mind wondering… ;-)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">A facility called ‘email2sms’ provided by my network operator was utilised in delivering the sms to my handset. This whole process was carried out every 5 minutes and the scripts that were responsible of performing this fun</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">ction were hosted on two web servers hosted elsewhere. That’s because my office PC is powered on during office hours only and email relaying to external destinations aren’t allowed. Moreover I don’t have permission of using the office web server for this purpose. Keep in mind that these weren’t mentioned as obstacles at the beginning of this article, as this doesn’t serve any official purpose but one of my ‘private’ needs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Hence, I had to host the scripts on two web servers situated in different places, they both belonging to a couple of my friends (thanks guys). These servers are operational 24*7 and the every-five-minute request was handled by a simple Linux cron job.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Did you notice me mentioning <b>2</b> web servers? Wondered why? This is to overcome obstacle no. 4. In the aforesaid script there arose a need of hard-coding my email account’s password into it. This is required for the script to access my inbox since credentials need to be given. But if anyone was to open up and read the script (this wouldn’t normally happen, but my contentment of information security wouldn’t</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> be satisfied otherwise) my password was there for his/her taking. To avoid this happening, I considered the use of cryptography.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 100%;">Using the MCRYPT_CAST_256 cipher I was able to generate the encoded (cipher) text and a relevant key. The key was hosted on the server that initiates the request while the decrypt function and cipher text were on the second. The latter would perform the core activities mentioned earlier. Splitting these elements was necessary as it would make no sense to have the key, cipher text and decryption algorithm in the same place. If anyone was to try fetching the password on the second server by performing a ‘cipher text only’ attack, still they would need an extensive amount of brute-forcing to be performed. However this was evaluated by me as computationally secure for a long time.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FldJq3q4eTk/R4G9I_mVvLI/AAAAAAAAAAU/EWyw4Y4-NVg/s1600-h/between-servers.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5152607410897403058" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FldJq3q4eTk/R4G9I_mVvLI/AAAAAAAAAAU/EWyw4Y4-NVg/s400/between-servers.png" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">
Something worth mentioning is the disguising of the key when it’s transmitted from the first server to the second; care was taken to avoid any logging on the latter’s part so that no readable trace of it was leftover.<br />
<br />
Although I’m not using this service these days (cos spammers occupy a decent share of my inbox ultimately filling up my sms inbox too!), the learning and application of learned theory was something to admire in solitude.<br />
<br /></div>
Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-17974193535533875862007-08-02T16:06:00.000+05:302011-04-20T09:33:58.807+05:30Me the numismatist<p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Almost every one has some sort of hobby that keeps them accommodated during leisure time. Collecting coins is one such orthodox pastime that many people engage in. Although I used to have and maintain a ‘decent’ coin collection, time dedicated towards it has been a minimum since late.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Therefore, last week I decided to open my box of collected coins, which contains a little more than 250 coins. One thing noticeable was that I needed to do a recount and regroup of the collection, since it becomes a tedious task if a new member joins. Same as philately a properly analysed coin collection could offer you immense knowledge. After all knowledge is wealth, they say. My collection accompanies coins from more than 35 countries, spanning over 5 centuries, as I believe. Of course, there are a few unidentified pieces in it as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Coins of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ceylon</st1:place></st1:country-region> include a few ‘VOC’ ones (now that’s not <b>V</b>ery <b>O</b>ld <b>C</b>oins) as well as ¼ and ½ cents coins too. Then there are the old British and Indian stuff as well. The filter on my collection is rather simple: foreign coins & local oldies. In addition, I have a couple of ‘token’ coins which are rather strange in the sense that they look a like tokens but seem to have been used for monetary purposes. Hmm… weird eh?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Some coins are on the verge of being ‘flattened out’ because of extensive decay. So how do I protect them or at least delay the decay? Neither am I an archaeologist nor do I have a high tech lab with protective equipment. Hence, I opted for a homemade tissue wrapping sealed with a piece of sellotape. Hopefully it would keep things in place until someone offers me some expert advice. Give it away? Where? The museum? Well, that could be considered in the future may be.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Remember me telling about the amount of information a coin collection could offer. I found it to be quite immense. From politics to botany & zoology, geography, building architecture, language, monuments, arts, history & culture, emblems, etc, the list just continues. Oh, and last but not the least hair styles too. They’re pretty old but gives us an insight towards yesteryear’s fashions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">In a way, a coin collection also teaches us a fair amount of economics. Just think of the early 1900’s 1 cent coin of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ceylon</st1:place></st1:country-region> (the one with the palm tree in it) being bigger in size than the present 1 rupee! By the way, 1 rupee equals 100 cents in case you were wondering.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Coin collecting could offer you some great challenges that if won, could turn out to be pleasant surprises. I had to cross-reference details in coins with stamps or notes at times in order to figure out which country they belong to. Also, intuition, logic and a bit of common sense could be a handful in such situations.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" ><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:100%;">Currently I’m thinking of a better way of storing the coins and documenting them methodically so that I could keep track and quickly refer them in the future. As an invitation, I’d like to exchange my ‘extras’ with you if interested. So till again, happy collecting!<o:p></o:p></span></p>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-55471769706278207942007-04-02T16:00:00.000+05:302011-04-20T09:34:34.473+05:30... Loving Kindness ...<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This is an effort to express the meditation of 'loving kindness' (maithree bhavana) in a poetic form : </span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Love to others</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">begin with me</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">well & happy</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">may I be</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Yes, my parents</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Mom and Dad</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">be well & happy</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm so glad</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">All my siblings</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">brother & sis</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">wish you all</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">a mind at peace</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">All my friends</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">and my peers</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">be well & happy</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">no more tears</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">All you people</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">dear to me</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">and you all</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">not dear to me</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">they who think</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">indifferently</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">may you all be</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">well & happy</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Country men,</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">and neighbours</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">be well & happy</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">no more fears</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">All those beings</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">that we see</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">all those beings</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">we do not see</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">take my merits</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">with all glee</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">well & happy</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">may all be</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Close to me or,</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">far from me</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">well & happy</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">may you be</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">North or South</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">East or West</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Top or Bottom</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">wherever you rest,</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Loving kindness,</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Compassion we gain</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">eternal bliss</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">may you attain...<br /><br /></span></span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32323360.post-26931666595010652522006-12-17T00:22:00.000+05:302012-07-24T11:27:41.348+05:30To translate or not?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Gaalla, Kaali, Galle,</i> all three terms refer to the same location which is of course the city of <i>Galle</i> in its Sinhala, Tamil and English representations respectively. Hence it’s a proper noun. Now wonder if someone was to tell you; whatever the language may be, we should use only one of the above mentioned 3 terms! What would you think? Keep on thinking, but let me continue…</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">The origin of this scenario is due to a couple of view points which I’ve come across in the recent past while dealing with people who are engaged in content translation. The issue seems to be more aggravated when it comes to translating Technical terms such as ones used in the field of Computing or IT. Basically there are folks who say that we should translate each English term into Sinhala (or Tamil), while some others say that we need not do so and should continue using the English terms in our language which are now common. Examples are <i>mouse, computer, bus</i> or their subtle variations (in Sinhala) such as <i>mavusaya, computer eka, bus eka,</i> etc. There is a subgroup of this sect saying we should only translate the pronouns while the proper nouns aren’t to be touched!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">I do agree with the latter to a certain extent, since a main objective of translating is to increase the normal person’s understanding and grasp of the term that is hindered by the unfamiliar language. Just imagine having to figure out what does <i>mooshikaya</i> (a term used for ‘mouse’) or <i>daththa sanghithawa</i> (a term used for ‘database’) really mean? But then the more sensitive arguments creep in. Isn’t this harmful to our language? Aren’t we compromising the unique identity of our language? (Consider Sinhala as an example) My answer is; yes, to a certain extent we do. The thing to remember here is that our language has evolved throughout centuries with many lexical additions to it; examples are <i>sapaththu, kussiya, almaariya,</i> etc. Note that I’m certainly not promoting something similar to the immature ‘FM channel vocabularies’ which are a garble beyond tolerance!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">There are many practical problems when dealing with one-to-one translations where you need to invent certain new words, since the other language hasn’t got anything similar that could be used as an alternative. This situation itself is a bit tricky if you consider some inventions done so far. Two examples are <i>Guwan Viduliya</i> (Radio) and <i>Roopavahiniya</i> (Television). Neither is a radio similar to an airborne current nor does a TV let pictures flow of it, since it emits sounds as well. Let that be as it is since its common usage now which any person understands. This could also be referred to as a kind of ‘normalization’ where a term becomes common and comes into general use after some time, although resistance is to be expected when it’s introduced initially.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">If this trend is to be followed in future, I suggest setting up a common entity or mechanism in order to regulate and/or moderate these newly invented terms, as otherwise it would add to more confusion with each inventor trying to promote their own as the correct term. For example, I can mention about a half-a-dozen Sinhala terms used for the word ‘Database’. I'd bet it wasn't the same at that time when the term <i>'Roopavahiniya'</i> was introduced.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">What I find to be most interesting out of these perspectives is that ‘proper nouns shouldn’t be translated’. Ok, so I’m alright with that theory yet again to a certain extent only. As I’ve mentioned at the start of this article, a name of a location is a proper noun as well, but many of them are already ‘translated’ (there exists representations in other languages).</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">The reformists suggest that only one name be used for such locations. How are we to find the most appropriate name in that case? As an example, <i>Galle</i> may be called <i>Gaalla</i> in all three languages since it’s used by the majority. But for instance, can the same be applied to <i>Jaffna</i> as <i>Yaalpaanam</i>. Wouldn’t history have to be traced in that case? One may argue that it should be called <i>Dambakolapatuna</i> or something since that’s the oldest known name, although it’s in Sinhala. It would be the same for places like <i>Trincomalee, Mannar,</i> etc. Aren’t we inviting more trouble if we had to adopt this strategy? This applies to any other language or place in the world, not only Sri Lanka and the Sinhala/Tamil languages. We may perceive names such as <i>Colombo, Batticaloa, Negombo</i> to be English whereas the origin of these date back to the colonial era and languages used at that time, which were not necessarily English.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Personally, I prefer accepting these names as they are, instead of referring to <i>Germany</i> as <i>Deutschland</i> compared to <i>Germaniya</i> in Sinhala! It also adds variety and uniqueness to a language, culture or society. Best is to strike a balance, with neither extreme reached.</span></div>Udendra / උදේන්ද්රhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922571953069498279noreply@blogger.com0