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Sunday, October 26, 2014

Writing Better Emails

In 2013, there were 3.9 billion email accounts, and more than 100 billion emails sent each day are mostly business correspondence. We all find ourselves reading or writing emails and they often convey a lot about ourselves, whether we like it or not. So it makes sense to write emails sensible and professionally, to project a positive image.

Here are some helpful tips to writing better emails.

1. Stick to the same email address and use a standard email address from Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo.

2. If you have a cheesy email address, (e.g. namerox101!) then it is best you move along with the times.

3. Use logical subject lines - Convey the message in a single line and use names and dates. For example, if you are writing to inquire about an appointment the following subject line may help: Appointment for Dr. Smith on October 25th.

4. Write to the point - People increasingly read their emails on their mobile devices. In fact, 69% of Gmail and Yahoo mail was read on a mobile device. Meanwhile, 30% of consumers say they read their email exclusively on mobile devices. These screens are generally smaller than those of PCs, so there is less space available to convey the message. As a rule of thumb, say what you have to say in about 150 words. If you want to check your email, you could use a service like five.sentenc.es to make sure you are not going above the limit.

5. Write concisely with proper grammar (activate spell-check!).

6. Use a clear email signature.
a. Name
b. Positive
c. Contact information
i. Address
ii. Phone Number
iii. Office Hours

7. Social Media Contact Information

8. Use the 24-hour rule - Read quickly and aim to send out a response within 24 hours. If you need more time, send out a quick email informing the sender that you are looking into the email. e.g., “I received your email. I shall look into it in detail and respond later. Thanks!"

9. Re-read before sending - read your emails at-least twice before sending. A spell check alone is not enough. If you are the impatient type, activate an email delay function (available on Gmail).


10. Write with a respectful tone - This means that unless you personally know the person, emoticons (e.g. =D) are not allowed.

11. Be careful of using features like Reply All, CC, and BCC

a. Reply all - do not use this unless you absolutely have to as many people find this extremely annoying. This is best used to set up meetings or perhaps discuss an important concept but not for casual conversations of office banter.

b. CC - this is the FYI function of your email. Keeping someone else up to date on the proceedings.

c. BCC - this is for sending bulk email and you do not want everyone's email address to be visible in the To or CC line. This is best for those forwards you just need to send or risk death. If you are Bcc’d on an email, then never use the Reply All function.

12. Sometimes emails may get lost or accidently deleted. So it's okay to send a quick reminder if the person has not responded within a reasonable amount of time (generally +24 hours).

If your conversation thread gets too long, you may want to edit the subject line to keep things fresh.

dailymirror.lk

Thursday, October 16, 2014

How you can learn to love exercise

We all know that exercise is good for us. We join gyms, start running, buy home workout DVDs, all in the quest for a fitter, slimmer, more toned body and improved health. But after a few weeks our interest wanes, we skip a session or two, life gets in the way and then we stop altogether. After a while we tell ourselves we really should do some exercise and then the cycle starts all over again. Regular, long term exercise feels like an elusive goal.

If this sounds all too familiar and you wish you could fit regular exercise into your life without it feeling like a chore, Joanne Henson, author of ‘What's your excuse for not getting fit?’ has some advice: Understand that exercise doesn't have to be unpleasant Many fitness professionals talk about workouts as if they're of no value unless they leave you gasping for air, covered in sweat and sore for the next few days.

For example, Crossfit, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and obstacle races like Tough Mudder - are all about how hard you can work and what you can endure. But absolutely any exercise is better than no exercise - even at a moderate level.

Also, exercise is not a punishment! If you use exercise to punish yourself for what you've eaten, you're never going to enjoy it or feel motivated to do it.

If you love it, you'll do it. So what do you enjoy? Do you like exercising with a friend or do you need to exercise alone? Do you like being outdoors, or do you hate being cold and wet? Do you need variety or do you like the familiar? Do you like high energy activities or something more calming? Keep trying different forms of exercise until you find something which you enjoy - how about hiking, belly dancing, martial arts, ballet, yoga, rowing, boxing, climbing, swimming? Exercise doesn't have to involve joining a gym or running. There'll be something out there which you'll find more fun, more satisfying and more motivating than what you've done before.

Ease yourself into it

If you're new to exercise, or starting again after a long period of inactivity, there's no need to go all-out straight away. Your body won't thank you for going too hard too soon, and the pain, struggle and post-workout soreness will just reinforce any belief that exercise is unpleasant. Take it easy for the first few times - you can always work a bit harder next time, and the next time, and the time after that...

Make it a habit

What do fit people have in common? They exercise regularly and consistently. So make it your priority to establish the habit first - you can concentrate on increasing your level of fitness later. If that means getting yourself to a gym but doing only ten minutes’ exercise per session for the first month, that's fine.

If you get there three or four times each week, you're establishing a routine. Then you can turn your attention to improving your performance.

Pick the right exercise for your goal

One of the reasons people go so hard and give up so quickly is that they are looking for a quick fix, and when they don't get one, they become disillusioned.

Be patient, give it some time, and remember that exercise has long term, ongoing health benefits beyond body shape. If you have a specific goal, and you're going to invest time and effort in exercising, make sure that time and effort is well spent.

What is it you want to achieve? Be honest with yourself, and if necessary get some advice on what would be most effective.

For instance, if you want to tone up your bingo wings, target that area with resistance training rather than go running.

Track your progress

One of the positives of regular exercise is experiencing improvement and progress. If you didn't see any improvement, you'd eventually get disheartened.

So track each small improvement to keep your motivation levels high. For example, if you do your usual run today, and do it fifteen seconds faster than three days ago you wouldn't be aware of this unless you had a stopwatch, or used an app on your smart phone to time your run accurately.

If you knew you'd knocked off 15 seconds you'd be more likely to go out again in two days’ time to try to knock another 15 seconds off.

Exercise does take time and effort, but if you find something you enjoy, establish a habit and track your progress, you'll find it will get easier to stick with it and your body will reward you. You'll look better, feel better (mentally and physically) and be better able to live a happy and active life. What once felt like a chore will feel like a pleasure.
- MNT

Saturday, October 04, 2014

සංසාර සිහිනේ...


නෙළාගනු බැඳි හන්තාන සිහිනේ
දරා නෙත් අග දොවා සිත් මල්
ගොතනු මැන ළඳුනේ
සංසාර සිහිනේ...

වැහි පබළු යට රගමඬල මැද
ඔබේ දෑතේ තුරුලු වන්නට
බිසෝ හැර ගිය ළසෝ රගහල
අමාවක අඳුරේ
නොයනු මැන ළඳුනේ...

වඩින තුරු සද දුරින් ඉන්නම්
තරු ඇදුරු පෙම් ගී අහන්නම්
සොඳුරු ඒ සද දියේ එන්නම්
ඉඳිනු මැන සොඳුරේ
හන්තාන අරණේ...


ගායනය - පණ්‌ඩිත් අමරදේව සහ උමාරියා
පද රචනය - ජානක සිරිවර්ධන සංගීතය - අරුණ ගුණවර්ධන

ඇසෙන්නේ අප්‍රමාණ මිහිරකි. ඒ මිහිර උපදවනා සුසංයෝගයේ අරුමය විටෙක අප මවිත කරවයි. සිංහල ගේය සාහිත්‍යයේ අප්‍රමාණ සලකුණ වූ පණ්‌ඩිත් අමරදේවයෝ වෙණ නද සරි ස්‌වකීය මියුරුසර පුබුදුවා ලති. ඒ උමාරියා නම් යොවුන් ගායිකාව සමඟය. මුලින්ම මේ සුගායන සංයෝගය පිළිබද යමක්‌ ලියා තබනු වටී.

අමරදේවයන් ඇසුරු කිරීම, ඔවුන් හා ගැයුමක්‌ ගැයීම, ඔවුන් වෙත තනුවක්‌ නිර්මාණය කිරීම, ඔවුන් වෙනුවෙන් පද පෙළක්‌ ලිවීම මේ රටේ ගී කව් රස විඳිනා ඒ ඇසුරෙහි නිර්මාණකරණයේ යෙදෙනා සෑම සහෘදයෙකුගේම සිsහිනයකි. එවන් වූ අමරදේවයෝ නූතන ගී ගැයුම් රැල්ලේ පා වී එන උමාරියා නම් යොවුන් ගායිකාවගේ ප්‍රතිභාව පිළිබද පමණක්‌ සලකා, අතිශය මියුරු ස්‌වර රටා තුළ සුසර වන මහා බරසාර පද පෙළක්‌ ඇය හා ගැයුමට එක්‌වෙති. පණ්‌ඩිත් අමරදේවයන් විෂයෙහි අප තුළ අප්‍රමාණ ගෞරවනීය හැගීමක්‌ උපදවන්නේ මේ ප්‍රවේශය ය. අපේ නිර්මාණ සාහිත්‍යයේ යුගපුරුෂයෙක්‌ ලෙස සම්භාවනාවට ලක්‌වන ජීවමාන මහා ගාන්ධර්වයා වූ හේ ප්‍රකට කරනා මේ ප්‍රගතිගාමී චින්තන විලාසය, එහි ගැබ්වී ඇති ගැඹුර ඇත්තේ අපටත් වටහා ගත නොහැකි දුරකය.

අනෙක්‌ පසින් ස්‌වකීය ප්‍රමාණය හඳුනනා තරුණ නිර්මාණකරුවෝ යම් නිර්මාණයක්‌ සදහා අමරදේවයන් හා එක්‌වීමට ලද අවස්‌ථාව ස්‌වකීය නිර්මාණ ජීවිතයේ ලද අපමණ වු භාග්‍යයක්‌ කොට සලකති. උමාරියා නම් යොවුන් ගායිකාව එය ගනු ඇත්තේ කෙසේදැයි යන්න පිළිබදව අපට වැටහීමක්‌ නොවේ. එහෙත් උත්පත්තියෙන් ලද දුලන ප්‍රතිභාවේ යහ භාවිතය පිළිබද මුල්ම උත්කෘෂ්ට අත්දැකීම ඇය ලබා ඇත්තේ අමරදේවයන් හා ගැයූ මේ ගැයුමෙන් බව අපගේ හැගීමය. ඒ ගැයුම එපමණම රමණීයය. සහෘද රසවතුන් ආනන්දයෙන් පුරවා ලන්නේය.

මේ පද පෙළ ජානක සිරිවර්ධන නමැති කාව්‍යක්‌කාර රසවතාගේය. ඔහු තරම් සුකර ලෙස මානව සම්බන්ධතාවන්හි ගැබ් වූ අතිශය සියුම් වූත් ගැඹුරු වූත් විචිත්‍රත්වය රසාලිප්ත පදපෙළකට හසුකරගන්නා කවියෙක්‌ අපේ කාලයේදී හමුවේ නම් ඒ ඉතා විරලවය. 

ජානක සිරිවර්ධනයෝ කවියෙක්‌ වූ මියුරු කතාකාරයෙකි. විටෙක හේ අපේ මියුරුම කතාකාරයා වන්නේය. මලී, අත්තම්මා වැනි රටක්‌ රසවත් කළ දීර්ඝ රෑපවාහිනී මාලා නාටකයන්හි නිෂ්පාදකවරයා ඔහුය. මේ වෘත්තීය කතාකරුවාගේ විචිත්‍රත්වය වනුයේ ගීයක පදපෙළක්‌ නිර්මාණය කිරීමෙහිද ද ඊට පාදක වන කතාවක්‌ සොයා යැමය. ඒ ඇසුරෙහි චිත්ත රූප මැවීමය. ඒ මියුරු කතාවේ මානුෂික සංවේදනයන්හි චමත්කාරය උකහාගෙන රූපවාහිනි මාලා නාට්‍යාවලියකින් කිවයුතු කතාවක්‌ අතිශය දැනුවත් භාවයකින් තෝරාගත් පද තුළ ගැබ් කර කාව්‍යයක්‌ නිර්මාණය කිරීමය. "හන්තාන හීනේ" පද පෙළෙහි යටිපෙළේ ගැබ් කළ එවැනි විචිත්‍ර කතාවක්‌ තිබේ. ජානක සිරිවර්ධනයෝම ඒ රසපූර්ණ කතාව අපට කියති.

"අමරදේවයන් වෙනුවෙන් ගීයක්‌ නිර්මාණය කරන්නට හැකිවීම අතිශය භාග්‍යයක්‌. අමරදේවයන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම මත ඔහු වෙනුවෙන් ගීයක්‌ නිර්මාණය කරන්නට ඉඩ ලැබීම සැබෑ ලෙසම අප්‍රමාණ භාග්‍යයක්‌. අරුණ ගුණවර්ධන කියන මා කල්‍යාණ මිත්‍ර යොවුන් සංගීතඥයා මාර්ගයෙන් මේ යෝජනාව මා වෙත එනවා. අමරදේවයන් ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරන්නේ නව ගී පද රචකයෙක්‌, ප්‍රභාන්විත යොවුන් සංගීතඥයෙක්‌ හා ගායිකාවක්‌ සමග එක්‌ව ජව සම්පන්න නිර්මාණ කාර්යයක යෙදීම. යුග ගීතයේ ගායිකාව ලෙස අප යෝජනා කළේ උමාරියා නැමැති යොවුන් ගායිකාව. "

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

CHILDREN PORTRAY INNOCENCE AND PURITY

Children’s and Elders Day 2014:

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” 
- James A. Baldwin

Children and elders are innocent. They should be treated with love and affection. Elders are the carriers of knowledge and experience. Elders are first and foremost teachers and role models. They are vital in the teaching process from infancy to adulthood.

Every child is regarded as a treasure. They make this world beautiful. Children are so valuable. They are pure and innocent. Children are said to be like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression. They are the future of a country and it is only by taking care of them and guiding them on the correct path that discipline can be instilled in a country.

In Sri Lanka, International Elders Day and Children’s Day are both celebrated on October 1. The United Nations General Assembly voted to establish October 1 as the International Day of Elders from October 1, 1991 on December 14, 1990.

Elders’ Day is celebrated by raising awareness about issues affecting the elderly, such as senility and elder abuse. It is also a day to appreciate the contributions that older people make to society.

Togetherness

The United Nations’ (UN) Universal Children’s Day was established in 1954. Universal Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20 each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, promotes and coordinates this special day, which also works towards improving children’s welfare.

Children’s Day is an event celebrated on various days in many places around the world. International Children’s Day is celebrated on June 1 and Universal Children’s Day is on November 20. The International Children’s Day had its origin in Turkey in 1920 and later in the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland in 1925.

On December 14, 1954, the UN General Assembly recommended that all countries should introduce an annual event from 1956 known as Universal Children’s Day to encourage fraternity and understanding between children all over the world and promoting the welfare of children. It was recommended that individual countries should choose an appropriate date for this occasion.

At the time, the UN General Assembly recommended that all countries should establish a Children’s Day on an “appropriate” date. Many countries respected this recommendation and the Universal Children’s Day has since been annually observed on November 20.

On November 20, 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and on November 20, 1989, it adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 1990, Universal Children’s Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN General Assembly adopted both the declaration and the convention on children’s rights.

Universal Children’s Day is part of the work carried out by UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. UNICEF’s logo consists of an image of a mother and child, a globe, olive branches and the word “UNICEF”. All parts of the logo are in UN’s blue color, although it may be presented in white on a blue background.

Rights

Many schools and other educational institutions make a special effort to inform children of their rights according to the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Teachers stimulate their pupils to think about the differences between themselves and others and explain the idea of “rights”. In countries where the rights of children are generally well-respected, teachers may draw attention to situations in countries where this is not the case.

In some areas UNICEF holds events to draw particular attention to children’s rights. These may be to stimulate interest in the media around the world or to start nationwide campaigns, for instance on the importance of immunisations or breastfeeding.

Abuse takes place at home, in school, in institutions, at work, in the community, in armed conflict and natural disasters. Much violence against children, such as corporal punishment and sexual abuse, remains legal and socially approved in many countries.

The violence children face takes many forms, such as exploitation and abuse, trafficking, physical and humiliating punishment, harmful traditional practices and recruitment into armed forces and groups. Growing up with violence and abuse seriously affects a child’s development, dignity, and physical and psychological integrity.

It is the responsibility of every single person to safeguard children while taking care of the elders in society.

By Husna Inayathullah - Sunday Observer