Thursday, June 28, 2007

What the World Eats

Collection of photographs from around the world (surprisingly nothing from South Asia) featuring families and a list of their favorite food (including "pig's knuckles with carrots") plus weekly expenses.

Link

I'm Glad....

...this never happened to me....

If You Could Only See - Emerson Hart



Great acoustic version of an old favorite.

Sri Lanka's First Ever Porn Shop

I like the "Deshiya - Videshiya" part ;)

If Fire Was Made of Water

More pictures

Wis.dm - Questions, Questions and More Questions

I came across Wis.dm by accident and spent a good hour or so browsing the questions and comments. Very entertaining stuff and it certainly is a new version of "social networking".

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Sri Lankan Maid Sentenced to Death in Saudi Arabia

Rizana Nasik was 17 years old when she allegedly murdered a four-month-old infant in Saudi Arabia. Two years later (June 2007), she was sentenced to death by a Saudi court. Details about her trial are vague and as usual, not many people are interested in getting any further facts about her case.

Nasik, who was underage at the time she left Sri Lanka, had changed her age in her passport to gain employment in SA. As usual the embassy is going to appeal the death sentence but have passed the buck to local job agents for sending underage girls to work in the Middle East.

So many migrant workers have had their heads chopped off in SA that this news item is hardly surprising - what gets me is the attitude of the Sri Lankan embassy in SA with regard to the life of a young woman who was underage at the time of employment. Since when did life become so cheap? Oh wait - it's not "cheap" as long as the riyals keep rolling in.....

Please visit AHRC link

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Amazing Art

Link

Link

Calvin & Hobbes - God

Link (via reddit)

Cinderella - Amila Perera



Amila Perera performed two songs at Sirasa's 9th anniversary program - Cinderella(originally by Kithsiri Jayasekera) and "Sanda Hangila".

Monday, June 18, 2007

How To Properly Place People in Jobs:

1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.
2. Put people being assessed in the room and close the door.
3. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours.
4. Then analyze the situation:

* If they are counting the bricks, put them in the Accounting Department.
* If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.
* If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in Engineering.
* If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in Planning.
* If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in Operations.
* If they are sleeping, put them in Security.
* If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in Information Technology.
* If they are sitting idle, put them in Human Resources.
* If they say they have tried different combinations, they are looking for more, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in Sales.
* If they have already left for the day, put them in Marketing.
* If they are staring out of the window, put them in Strategic Planning.
* If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved, congratulate them and put them in Senior Management.
* Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Government.

Link

Friday, June 15, 2007

Paul Potts - Semi Final Perfomance



How did this man end up selling phones for a living when he has a voice like that??!!

Watch his audition on BGT where he sings "Nessun Dorma".

Monday, June 11, 2007

Physical Oxymoron


Absurd yet memorable.

Link

Paul Potts on "Britain Has Got Talent"



Paul Potts sells mobile phones for a living. And sings like....well, nothing like I have heard on a TV talent show before - ever.

Friday, June 08, 2007

How to Identify a Fascist Society

In an article titled "Fascism Anyone?," political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt identified 14 characteristics of fascism:

1.. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2.. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to ‘look the other way’ of even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3.. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe; racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists; terrorists, etc.

4.. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5.. Rampant Sexism – The government if fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

6.. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or through sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.

7.. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivation tool by the government over the masses.

8.. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9.. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders in power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10.. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely or are severely suppressed.

11.. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12.. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses, and even forego civil liberties, in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13.. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions, and who use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.

14.. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against (or even the assassination of) the opposition candidates, the use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and the manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Link

Thursday, June 07, 2007

The Zoomquil

An outstanding art project. This is really stunning - each picture has minute details and it takes several views to take it all in!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Power Cuts?

A delay in the May-August monsoon may result in mandatory power cuts, according to the CEB.

It all depends on a very simple formula: No Rain = Power Cuts

What's with this dependence on hydro-electricity anyway?! What happened to looking for alternatives?

Thanks to political interference and vicious opposition from religious groups and environmentalists, a much hyped construction of a coal plant on the West coast was delayed for several years. Now it's on track again. But it's not going to solve the impending power crisis anytime soon.

Life in Sri Lanka is tough enough with electricity - what with the war and all. In addition to the various security risks that would arise during power cuts, there's nothing worse than trying to sleep in a mosquito infested house without electricity. I should know - there was a time when power cuts lasted six hours in the night and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Yet Another Great Photo by National Geographic

Link

Monday, June 04, 2007

Road of Death - Bolivia



From : The Top 5 Most Dangerous Roads in the World

Beautiful Wildlife Photographs





Link

8 Year Old Serial Killer

I saw a brief news story on NDTV during the weekend that left me speechless. An eight year old boy in Bihar, India has confessed to killing three children (all under the age of one) during the past year.

"The police claim that Amardeep Sada has been charged with strangling and then smashing the child's head with a brick before burying her body at Manopurmusahari village in Begusarai district on Tuesday.

The boy's uncle admitted that he had earlier killed another infant sister of his six months ago and a cousin about a year ago." Link

What else can I say except - WTF??

Global Peace Index

So now there's an index for peace. Compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it comprises of 24 indicators which measure both internal and external "peacefulness" of nations. The moment I read that I knew Sri Lanka was not going to be in the top 50. Turns out SL way down on the index at No. 111. The US isn't all that "peaceful" either - at No. 96.

The Index is topped by Norway. No surprise there. The highest ranked Asian country Japan is 5th; Canada is No. 8 and Germany is outside the top ten (12th). Italy (33rd), France (34th), and the United Kingdom (49th) rank in the top half of the table.

The Global Peace Index reveals that countries that had a turbulent time for parts of the 20th century, such as Ireland (4th) and Austria (10th), have emerged as peace leaders in the 21st century.

Link