Protest in Melbourne against Channel 4 video.

Protest in Melbourne against Channel 4 video.

Lanka to get WiFi zones

Courtesy The Sunday Times By Damith Wickremasekara

Identified locations in the country are to be converted into WiFi zones where persons will be able to have free internet access, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRC) Director General Anusha Palpita told the Sunday Times yesterday. He said that already the areas which would be turned into ‘WiFi zones’ have been identified and will be in operation shortly. Mostly public areas including railway stations, bus stands, government buildings and schools will be covered. “We have identified the Colombo City, the area around the Bandaranaike International Airport as well as the routes to Colombo, the coastal areas between Beruwala and Hambantota, and Arugam Bay and Trincomalee for the project”, Mr. Palpita said. He said the objective would be to attract tourists as well while helping the locals to access internet services while they are travelling. However there would limitations imposed on downloading large files or documents as the main purpose was to allow visitors to have fast access to their e-mails, he added. Mr. Palpita said discussions with the broadband service providers have already been held. Currently, an estimated five million persons in the country use internet services via broadband and through their mobile phones. The project is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

National Breastfeeding Week August 1 to 4: Breastfeeding brings the best benefits

Courtesy Sunday Observer  By Nilma Dole

Breastfeed points

There are three important ways to hold your baby. The cradle position is popular where you put your baby’s head on the side of your arm. Then support your baby’s back and bottom with your arm and hand like a cradle and your baby will now be lying sideways with baby’s face to your breast. The football position consists of tucking your baby under your arm like a football resting on your hand. Support your baby’s body with your forearm. This may be a good position if you’re recovering from a caesarean section or if your baby is very small. You can also lie on your side with your baby facing you.

?The signs that your baby is getting enough milk is that the baby acts satisfied after each feeding, gains weight constantly after the first three to seven days after birth, has about six to eight wet nappies a day, has about two to five or more stools a day at first and then may have two or less a day.

? Feed your baby as often as he or she wants to be fed as this may be eight to 12 times a day or more. How often your baby wants to feed may change over time as he or she goes through growth spurts. Growth spurts occur at about 2 weeks and six weeks of age and again at about three months and six months of age.

? Let your baby nurse until he or she is satisfied. This may be for about 15 minutes to 20 minutes at each breast. Try to have your baby nurse from both breasts at each feeding. The box lists the signs to watch for so you’ll know your baby is getting enough milk. If you’re nursing fewer than eight times a day, be especially aware of these signs.

Courtesy : www.babycenter.com

Sri Lanka is a leader in promoting breastfeeding awareness not only within the region but outside as well, said UNICEF Country Representative, Reza Hossaini at an event to mark National Breastfeeding Week at the Castle Hospital.

Even though Sri Lanka has been maintaining high figures in breastfeeding statistics, it is imperative that these figures are maintained. He said: “Sri Lanka should be proud of achieving MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) ahead of others in the region but this does not mean they should take it for granted but keep working at these figures.”

Education Minister tells students: Make better use of TV

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardana called upon the 4.2 million schoolchildren in the country to use the television in a meaningful manner by watching only high quality social and educationally valued programs.

The Minister made these remarks at a school function attended by teachers, parents and children.

He said the television has become a common household item today and the younger generation could get the maximum use from it.

The Minister also referred to a recent speech made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the use of television by schoolchildren and said that children must know how to select programs that will help improve their knowledge.

FILM REVIEW: The Ward…The Return Of John Carpenter

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

Ten years after directing his last feature film  Ghost of Mars,  which was both a critical and commercial disaster, cult director John Carpenter is once again back behind the camera.

His latest film The Ward takes place in 1966 at the North Bend Psychiatric Hospital and begins with the gruesome death of a young patient named Tammy. Some unseen force seems to enter her cell and the next thing we hear is her neck snapping.

In the morning,a bruised and beautiful young blonde woman is running through a forest with a police car trailing her. She finds herself in front of an abandoned farmhouse and burns it down. The police catch her and take her to North Bend.
Her name is Kristen; she is troubled and suffers from amnesia. The young woman is institutionalised and is roughly led to a special ward by an orderly. There she is given Tammy’s old room and meets the other patients; Iris the artist who does her best to befriend her, Sarah who keeps trying to seduce the male staff members, Zoey the youngest who behaves like a child and keeps hugging a toy bunny and Emily who initially seems hostile but ends up being Kristen’s closest ally.

Denzil Kobbekaduwa

Denzil left us on Saturday August 8, 1992, with a number of others who were in that vehicle which was land-mined at Araly Point. This is one of the many tragedies of our times. My connection with him dates back to our school days at Kandy.

Since Father Neil will not be available on August 8 this year, Lali and the family had the 19th death anniversary mass at her parish church, St Theresa’s, Thimbrigasyaya, on July 18. Seated there that evening, my mind went back to that Saturday on which Denzil died.

It was at a seminar that the late founder of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Ashraff who announced that Denzil had died. This appreciation is also a reflection of our times.

Denzil was one of those who wanted to solve our national problem as soon as it was possible. He, being mindful of his men defending the nation in fighting with perhaps with one of the most powerful terrorist organizations in the world, wanted to negotiate with the other side from the position of strength. However, there were those who even in the 1990s were against a political solution.

නුඹේ හිත හිස් අහසක්

නුඹේ හිත හිස් අහසක්
මගේ හිත කවි දහසක්
ළං නොවෙයි අප දෙදෙනා
කවදාක හෝ සංසාරයේ

නුවරඑළි සිසිලයි නුඹේ රිය ඇතුළේ
අඳුරු වීදුරුවෙන් ඇතුළ පිට නොපෙනේ
මේ අනඟ රැඟුමේ අවසානදි මා
වේද ගොදුරක්...

නුඹ මට සෙනෙහේ නම් ඇයි ලොවට රහසින්
අසම්මත විලසින් ඇරයුම් කරන්නේ
මේ අනඟ රැඟුම් අවසානදි මා
වේද ගොදුරක්...

* පද රචනය සහ සංගීතය - ශාන්ත ජයලත් තිසේරා

* ගායනය - ශෂිකා නිසංසලා

”නිර්මාණකරුවාට සමාජ වගකීමක් තිබේ. මානව දෘෂ්ටියකින් යුක්තව නිර්මාණ ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් ජනතාව ඥානනය කිරීම එහි වගකීමයි”

එසේ පවසමින් මෙවර “ගී මිහිර” විශේෂාංගයට අප හා එක්වූවේ නූතන සංගීත ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ අඩුවෙන්ම කතාබහට එක්වෙන වැඩියෙන්ම නිර්මාණ කටයුතුවල නියුතු වී සිටින නිර්මාණකරුවෙකි. ගී පද රචකයකු, සංගීතවේදියකු මෙන්ම ගායන ශිල්පියකු ද ලෙස දේශීය සුභාවිත ගීතයට නැවුම් බලාපොරොත්තු ඇති කරමින් ගීතලෝලී ප්‍රජාවට සමීප වී ඇති ඔහු ශාන්ත ජයලත් තිසේරා ය. මේ දිනවල ඔබ නරඹන රූපවාහිනී නාට්‍ය පහකම එනම් “ඕලු” – “බොඳ මීදුම්” – “සවීණා” – “ආදරණීය චංචලා” සහ “කප් සුවහස් කල්” යන ටෙලි නාට්‍ය පහේම සංගීත අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා ද වන ශාන්ත අද කතාබහ කරන “නුඹේ හිත හිස් අහසක්” ගී මුතුහර හිමිකරු ය.

ප්‍රේමය සහ රාත්‍රිය

මාඅද තෝරාගත්තේ නිතරම ජනමාධ්‍ය තුළින් කනට ඇසෙන හුරුපුරුදු ගීයක් නොවේ. ඉඳහිට හෝ නව පරපුරේ රචනයක් පාඨකයා හමුවේ තැබීම යුතුකමක් ලෙස හැඟී යන බැවිනි. උපාලි මල්දෙණිය මා දන්නා පරිදි ගීතය වෙනුවෙන් බොහෝ කැපකිරීම් කරන්නෙකි. ‘සඳකැන් ඇවිදින්’ යනුවෙන් අමරසිරි පීරිස් ගේ ගායනා රැගත් සංයුක්ත තැටියක් ඔහු නිර්මාණය කළේය. මිහිරි ගී පද මාලා රාශියක් එහි අන්තර්ගත නමුත් ඒ පිළිබඳව කතිකාවතක් ගොඩනොනැඟීම කනගාටුදායකය. මා මෙම ගී පදමාලාව තෝරාගත්තේ ඔහු ගීත කලාව වෙනුවෙන් කරන අපරිමිත කැපකිරීම් කෙරෙහි උපදින ආදරයෙනි.

ප්‍රේමය රාත්‍රිය සමඟ බද්ධ වූ කල්හි හටගන්නේ අපරිමිත වූ ශෘංගාරයකි. මේ ශෘංගාරයෙන් මඟහැරිම කවියකුට ලෙහෙසි නොවේ. එබඳු අපූර්වතම නිර්මාණ රාශියකින් සිංහල ගීත සාහිත්‍ය පිරී පවතී. මට ඩෝල්ටන් අල්විස් කිවිඳුන්ගේ ඉපැරැණි පදමාලාවක් සිහිපත් වේ. ගුවන්විදුලි තරංගනී සඟරාවක මේ නිර්මාණය නම්කර තිබුණේ ප්‍රේමය හා සඳඑළිය” යන නාමයෙනි.

”සඳරැස් වැටී මිදුලේ දියවිය අඳුර

සුළඟට වැනේ වැට අද්දර උණ පඳුර

අද ගෙයි නිදනු බෑ ඇහුණ ද ප්‍රිය සොඳුර

පිල උඩ එළා දෙනු මගෙ 

බොරු පන් පැදුර”

එහිදී ගැමි පරිසරයකට උදාවන රාත්‍රිය සමඟ රචකයා මැනැවින් ප්‍රේමය මුසු කරයි. එසේම කුලරත්න ආරියවංශයන් රචනා කළ “සඳ හොරෙන්” නැමැති ගීතය තුළ ද ප්‍රේමය හා රාත්‍රිය මනාව සම්මිශ්‍රණය වේ. එය සම්භෝග ශෘංගාරය මනාව තැන්පත් වූ නිර්මාණයකි.

කඳුළු බිඳු ගලා සඳේ

තුරුලතා පුරා

සියොළඟ සැලේ මගේ

නොහිම් හීතලේ

ඔබේ නෙත යදී

මහත් වියරුවෙන්

එසේම මේ මොහොතේ මගේ මතකයට දිව එන තවත් අපූරු නිර්මාණයක් අමතක කළ නොහැකිය. තිස්සසිරි පෙරේරා ගේ තනුවක් ප්‍රමුඛ කොට ගෙන, අජන්තා රණසිංහයන් මේ පදමාලාව රචනා කර තිබීම මෙහි ඇති විශේෂත්වයයි.

මා ළඟටම තව ළංවෙලා

ඉඳින්න නිහඬ නුවන් පියා

මා සීතාවෝ සැනසෙන නින්දේ

නූපුර හෝ ප්‍රියේ

පා සුළැඟිල්ලේ අද නම් අවදි නොවේ

කුසුම් කැකුළ නිදනා තුරා

දරුවාගේ අනාගතය ඔබේ කරගන්න එපා

පුතා ලොකු වුණාම මොකද කරන්නේ. මමද? රේෂාන් ඇහුවා. 

ඔව්. මගෙ පුතා තමයි. අම්මා ආදරෙන් කිව්වා. මම කැමති රඟපාන්න හැබැයි පෝසත් චරිත ඒ මොකද? අම්මට පුදුම හිතුනා. 

පෝසත් චරිතයක රඟපාන කොට ඉන්න ලස්‌සන ගෙවල්. කන්න ආස කෑම ලැබෙනවා. පුතුගෙ උත්තරය ගැන අම්මට දුක හිතුනා. අම්මට දුක හිතුනේ වෙන මොකුත් නිසා නොවෙයි. අනාගතය ගැන පුතු ගොඩනගා ගෙන සිටින මනෝ ලෝකය ගැනයි. 

අම්මා මොකුත් කතා කළේ නෑ. පුතුගෙ අනාගතය පුතුටම භාර කළා. 

දරුවන් අනාගතයේදී නියෑලෙන වෘත්තීය ගැන තීරණයක්‌ ගැනීමේ අයිතිය ඔවුන්ටම ලබාදෙන්න ඕන. නමුත් අද බොහෝ මව්පිය වරුන්ගේ ඉලක්‌කය වී තිබෙන්නේ තමන්ට අවශ්‍ය තැන දරුවා මතු දවසක ස්‌ථානගත කිරීමයි. මේ තත්ත්වය නිසා දරුවන් හෙම්බත් වීම සමඟම තමන්ගේ දිනුම් කණුව වෙත දරුවා හදා යෑවීමට අපහසු වීම තුළ උපදින සංකූලතාවයෙන් පීඩා විඳිනවා.

අඩ අඳුරේ සිත වැළපේ සිහිවී ඔබේ ආදරේ

ඔබ මා හමු වූ අවසන් දිනේ
තාම මා සිතේ රැඳී තියේ
කඳුළින් බොඳවූ දෙනුවන් ඔබේ
ආදරේක වේදනා දැනේ
කොතරම් දවසක්‌ මා ඉන්නදො
මේ වගේ දුකක්‌ සිතේ දරා
සුළඟේ සැඟවී මා යන්නදො
මාගේ ප්‍රියා වී සොයා...

මේ විසල් පුරේ ඉන්න රූ ළඳුන් සොයා
මා ළඟින් රැඳී උන්න යාලුවන් ගියා
මට හොරා වගේ මගේ සිත කොහේ ගියා
මාව හැරදමා මසිත ඔබ සොයා ගියා
අඩ අඳුරේ සිත වැළපේ
සිහිවී ඔබේ ආදරේ...

වැලුකා තලේ සිත දිය බිඳක්‌ වගේ
ඈත සිතිජයේ ඔබේ රූ මැවී පෙනේ
මාසිතේ පුරා සුමුදු සිසිලසක්‌ දැනේ
ඔබ සොයා දුවන් එන්න මට නැතේ පිනේ
අඩ අඳුරේ සිත වැළපේ 
සිහිවී ඔබේ ආදරේ...


ගායනය - කීර්ති පැස්‌කුවල්
සංගීතය - රූකාන්ත ගුණතිලක
පද රචනය - ඩොනල්ඩ් අයිවන්

පෙම්වතුන්ගේ හිත්වල ඔවුනොවුන් ගැන මැවෙන ආදරය... ප්‍රේමාන්විත සිතිවිලි... අනන්තයි.... අප්‍රමාණයි.... එකිනෙකා නොදැක ඉන්න කාලය තුළදී ඉපදෙන ආදර හැඟුම්.. තවත් ඉහළයි.... මේ වෙන්ව සිටිනා කාලය මාසයක්‌... අවුරුද්දක්‌... දෙකක්‌ නම්... හිතන්නත් අමාරුයි... ඇය ගැන... ඔහු ගැන ඇතිවන ආදරය වගේම හිත් තුළ ජනිත වන දුක... ඒත් ඒ දෙදෙනා හමුවෙන තුරාවට විතරයි... ඒ දුක ඉන්පස්‌සේ සතුටක්‌... ආදරය... මිහිර... නිම්හිම් නැහැ....

Humanism for peace: A Buddhist Perspective

Courtesy The Island By Sudharshan Seneviratne,

Professor of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya Cornell Visiting Professor, Swarthmore College. Pennsylvania, USA

Text of the speech delivered at the Inter Faith Dialogue on International Peace, Harmony and Co-existence celebrating Wesak at the UN General Assembly on May 16th 2011

I am most honoured to share my sentiments on peace and harmony with an august gathering which represents the world community at this universally celebrated occasion. I was born to a culture nurtured by the sobering thoughts of an enlightened thinker, who expressed sentiments of compassion, equality, inclusiveness, contentment and the development of the intellectual personality liberating the mind. Some two thousand six hundred odd years ago, Siddhartha Gautama, or the Buddha, unfolded the sublime message of liberation, peace of mind, new culture dynamics and intellectual ethos that moved from sub continental to transcontinental spaces. We are gathered here today not only to revere the memory of a compassionate and intellectual sage, but also to look at ourselves in the light of peace, harmony and co existence as a universal truth juxtaposed with injustice, conflict, discrimination and discord. It is my endeavour to place before you the environment within which the Buddha resolved mental and social conflict as well as the spirit of that very philosophical and cultural idiom understanding peace and harmony through concepts of shared culture, peace education and heritage for conflict resolution in the present world, especially in Sri Lanka.

PCCSL to set ethics code for news websites

The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) said that they were planning to introduce a set of guidelines (Code of Ethics) for news websites that were currently operating in the country.

PCCSL English Complaints Officer, Sukumar Rockwood, speaking to Daily Mirror yesterday, said that discussions with editors and managers of several news websites concerning the introduction of a common set of guidelines for all the news websites operating in the country had been held. “The plan is still at an infant stage. During the initial round of discussions some of the editors and managers came up with the thought that the Code of Professional Practice (Code of Ethics) of the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka could also be applied to the web content, although it was not printed material that was being regulated,” Mr. Rockwood said.

Eighth Wonder regains life !

A distant view of Sigiriya heritage

Sigiriya or the lion’s rock fortress, is a legendary monument which depicts the glorious past of our ancestors. This archaeological site with all its enchanters, now attracts incessant crowds consisting of both local and foreign tourists more than ever before.

Sigiriya which is located in Matale District is discernible even at a distance since it soars 1,214 feet above sea level with nothing to stand above its height on Sri Lanka’s central plains. According to the famous legend Sigiriya rock fortress was built by King Kashyapa during his reign from 477 BC to 495 BC. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site and also considered as the eighth wonder of the world.

Television and Children

By Dr. B. J. C. Perera

MBBS(Ceylon), DCH(Ceylon), DCH(England), MD(Paediatrics), FRCP(Edinburgh), FRCP(London), FRCPCH(United Kingdom), FSLCPaed, FCCP, FCGP(Sri Lanka) Consultant Paediatrician

KEY POINTS

* Television sets are around in most places including homes, shops, clubs, schools etc.

* There are certain advantages and disadvantages of television viewing for children.

* The "box" certainly has positive effects in education and exposure to different countries, nations and cultures.

* Suitable TV programmes could be entertaining as well.

* There are several important negative effects of TV as well.

* Parental control is a key factor in limiting the undesirable effects of television on children.

* Quite a few things could be done to ensure that the negative effects are minimised

The vast amount of scholarly work on the role of the media in the lives of children and adolescents suggest that media serve as one of the most powerful socializing agents of our times. They are excellent teaching tools. Generally, there are grand hopes and expectations that the media would enrich children’s lives. However, on the other hand, there is great anxiety associated with the ability of the media to numb the senses together with encouraging undesirable, destructive and unhealthy behaviours. In short there are positive and negative effects of the media on the lives of children and young people.

Television or TV is an ubiquitous presence in virtually every home, commercial establishment, many a shop and in perhaps every imaginable location. Children are exposed to this medium at every turn and the implications are that one needs to critically assess the impact of the "box" on them. It is well known that most children plug into the world of television long before they enter school. It has been said that two-thirds of even infants and toddlers watch a television screen on an average of 2 hours a day, children under the age of 6 do watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day and older children spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen. In fact it is most likely that children do spend more time watching television every day than on any other single activity, apart perhaps from sleeping.

Be realistic when you want to look younger

When we make an effort to look younger than we really are, sometimes we dress up in a manner inappropriate for our age.  Certain clothes may make us look younger than we really are and certain other clothes may make us look as if we are trying hard to be young.  Therefore it is advisable to dress appropriately. 

Most of us like to keep in touch with fashion at all times although some of us prefer just wearing what we think looks good on them.  Also keep in mind that you don’t make the mistake that many women do and wear something totally old fashioned.  Wear something that is classy or current though it may not be the latest trend. Wearing clothes that are hopelessly old-fashioned does make you look older than you really are.

Even, if you feel as though you are in your teens when you are in your thirties, try not to dress like a teenager.  You don’t need to try to look young if you are in your thirties since you are young!  Just strive to look your best.

Severe hairstyles make you look older than softer ones.  When you tie up all your hair in a tight bun, you will look older than if you leave your hair loose.  But if the ends of your hair are not proper you better make it shorter.

If you are getting rid of excessive weight it will not only make you look and feel better, it will also make you look and feel younger.  Sometimes although if a person of your age  is slimmer, that person will definitely look younger than you, the overweight person.

You can also make sure that you go to a spa once a month in order to freshen yourself.   It is appropriate to make a note of the things you want to get done at a spa.  Budget it and see whether it is affordable.  Then you can get in to a routine where you have time for yourself to look smarter.

Be careful, when you use make-up.  Read books on how to do make-up and get yourself trained in this area since you might look older than you are by using make-up inappropriately.  For example the size of the eye-brow, colour of your eye-shadow, the lipstick colour, lip liner, creams you use, etc. should be applied properly to give you a better look.  If not you’ll look unnatural and you’ll look older than your age.

We’re dying to look younger.  Be careful, with your choice.

Courtesy - Daily Mirror

Monk in line UC chairmanship

For the first time in history a Buddhist monk is certain to be elected as the Chairman of the Embilipitiya Urban Council. He is Ven. Wewelduwe Gnanapraha thera, Chief Incumbent of the Walawegama Viharaya. He has obtained the highest number of preferential votes with 5,895.

During the previous election he was shot at and his posters and cut outs destroyed by the supporters of the opposition as well as members of the ruling party as they were against a monk taking to party politics.

By Prageeth Janaka, Omalpe Correspondent - The Island

අම්මේ හෘද සාක්‍ෂිය අවදි කරමු ද!

කවර ජාතියකට... ආගමකට... සංස්‌කෘතියකට අයත් වුවද කාන්තාවනට ඇත්තේ සියුමැලි සිත් සතන් යෑයි කවුරු කවුරුත් අදහති. ඉදින්, එවන් වූ සියුමැලි චිත්ත සන්තානයෝ මෙපමණකටම වියරු වැටී ගිය තත්ත්වයකට පත්වුණේ කෙලෙසද...? ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්න... සමාජ ප්‍රශ්න... නොසලකා හැරීම්... අඩන්තේට්‌ටම්... නිසාද...? aනැතහොත් තම උත්තරීතර බව... වන්දනීය බව... හරිහමන් ලෙස අවබෝධ කොට නොගත් නිසාද....?ඒ මීට වසරකට පමණ ඉහතදී කවර හෝ දිනෙක. ගුවන් විදුලි නාලිකා.... රූපවාහිනී නාලිකා... මෙන්ම දිනපතා හා සති අන්ත පුවත්පත් ගණනාවක්‌ද අතිශයෝක්‌තියෙන් යුතුව එකී සිද්ධිය වාර්තා කළ අයුරු මගේ සිහියට නැගෙයි. කළුතර පාලම මත සිට කවර හෝ මවක විසින් සිය දරුවා කළු ගඟට වීසි කරනු ලැබූ පුවත සංවේදී චිත්ත සන්තාන ඇත්තවුන්ගේ දෙනෙතට කඳුළු කැට එක්‌ කළාට කිසිත් සැක සංකා නැත. ඒ දිනවල කවුරු කවුරුත් මේ මැය ගැන කතා කළේ තරගයට මෙනි. එකිනෙකා අභිභවා යමිනි. "ඒ කාලකණ්‌නි පාහර ගෑණි..." යෑයි සැහැසි ලෙස තෙපලමින් දරුවාගේ මවට දෙස්‌ දෙවොල් තැබූවෝ බොහෝ වූ බව අමුතුවෙන් නොකිවමනා ය. "ඔව් ඉතින්... බඩු මිල අහස උසට... කිරි පැකට්‌ එකක්‌ කීයද.....? හාල් සේරුවක්‌ කීයද....? එහෙව් රටක දරුවෝ ගඟට වීසි කරනවා කියන එක අහන්ටත් දෙයක්‌ යෑ...." යනුවෙන් තෙපලමින් මේ සිද්ධිය සාධාරණීකරණය කළ අමනයෝද නොසිටියාම නොවේ. රට සංවර්ධනය කිරීම පල රහිත බවත්,.. තනන ලද පාලම් මතට විත් අම්මලා සිය දරුවෝ ගඟට වීසි කරන්නේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්න නිසා බවත්... ඒ මරණයට ආණ්‌ඩුව වගකිව යුතු බවත් වක්‍රෝත්තියෙන් යුතුව සඳහන් කරමින් පත්තරවලට ලිපි ලියූ "කුහක දේශපාලන විශ්ලේෂකයෝ" එතුළින් හෝ තම "දේශපාලන සරණාගත භාවය" වසන් කර ගැනීමට දත කෑ යුරු ද ජුගුප්සාජනකමය.

Goodbye, space shuttle!

Courtesy - Daily News by Nalaka GUNAWARDENE and Vindana ARIYAWANSA

The US space agency NASA’s Space Shuttle programme has just ended after 30 years. Space Shuttle Atlantis performed STS-135 mission which was the final flight by a Space Shuttle: it lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on July 8, 2011, and landed at the same facility on 21 July after 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles. Thus ended three decades of exploration that taught humanity much about how people can live, work and thrive in near orbital space. The space shuttle was developed in the 1970s as a reusable launch system and orbital spacecraft for human space flights.

The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, and operational flights commenced in 1982. Starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the space shuttles have carried people into orbit repeatedly; launched, recovered and repaired satellites; conducted cutting-edge research; and built the largest structure in space todate - the International Space Station. The winged Space Shuttle could be launched vertically, usually carrying four to seven astronauts (although eight have been carried) and up to 50,000 lb (22,700 kg) of payload into low earth orbit.

The shuttle is the only winged manned spacecraft to achieve orbit and land, and the only reusable space vehicle that has ever made multiple flights into orbit.

Marriage and sex in the Christian family

Courtesy - Daily News by Lenard Maharachchi

The companionship between man and woman, the differences between the sexes is frequently mentioned in the Holy Bible. Much of the subjects mentioned in the Old Testament acquires full meaning only in the New Testament and that too after Jesus’s arrival on planet earth. ‘Male and female he made them’ - This is the first mention of the sexes in the scripture. (Gen. 1/27). The Holy Bible tells us that man was made in the image of God., man meaning here both species. After the creation, but before the making of woman, God found that everything he had created was good.

But God, who saw that everything He created was ‘good’, found that it is ‘not good’ for man to be alone. He thought, “I will make a helpmate for man.” Then came Eve, made from Adam, by removing the re productery part of Adam’s body. Then God gave the duo the power to continue His creation of man through sex. So sex is Holy because it was created by God Himself, as “it is not good for a man to be alone sans a partner.” Sex, therefore is not something indecent as many Christians think today. Sex is a sacrament since Jesus made it, a sacrament by attending the marriage at Cana, (where according to a strand of legend, the shy groom is supported to be Nathaniel who is a native of Cana).

Sanga's speech was 'very good'

Following are excerpts from an interview given by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Hindu Editor, N Ram on July 22.

Q: Mr. President, what is your view of Kumar Sangakkara's MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture?

A: It's a very good lecture. I appreciate it.

Q: About both cricket and country?

A: On cricket, it's what he feels about it. There are others who don't agree with him, on that part. But he can express his views. About the country, he has said it. Now, no one has taken that part of it where he criticised the LTTE as terrorists. He spoke about the terrorists of Sri Lanka whereas some locals are trying to show the LTTE as our freedom-fighters!

Q: And he spoke about the equality of all Sri Lankans, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher.

A: Yes, we treat them all alike; that's what he said. It was a very good speech. I appreciate it. (Sangakkara's The 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture can be heard at www.thehindu.com)

The Hindu / Daily News

Maldivian Journalists’ delegation visits SLPI

A delegation from the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) visited the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) recently. The delegation which comprised Ahmad Zahir, President MJA, Ali Shamaan, Vice President and Midhath Adam, Treasurer, exchanged views and suggestions on topics of interest with the CEO of SLPI, Imran Furkan, Act. CEO of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL), Kamal Liyanarachhi, Director of the Sri Lanka College of Journalism, Anuradha Herath and the Tamil Complaints Officer of the PCCSL, Ameen Hussain on media freedom, training of new and mid-career Journalists as well as implementing a self-regulation regime for the Maldives.

The Maldives Journalist Association was formed in 2009 to advocate for the rights and protection of journalists as well as promoting cooperation and professionalism among journalists and to work towards establishing free and independent journalism in the Maldives. It has over 100 members and the MJA is also affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists.

The SLPI and PCCSL have agreed to consider a request from the MJA to assist them with technical assistance in setting up a Press Complaints Commission as well as assisting them in finding new donors for various projects.

The MJA has also requested that the Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ) to provide part scholarships to Maldivian Students to study at the SLCJ considering the high standards maintained by the College and the need to increase professionalism in new entrants to the Maldivian media industry.

The SLPI agreed to explore the possibility of procuring the services of Sri Lankan and international experts to conduct short workshops for mid-career Maldivian Journalists to further increase the professionalism of Maldivian journalists already in the media industry.

කුරුටු ගෑ ගී පොත - Samanala Wawa Purawannata...............................

X-Men First Class… The Best Film From A Franchise Tiring Out

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader  By Sumaya Samarasinghe

X-Men First Class is the prequel to the X-Men trilogy and one of the best of the series which was sadly losing its appeal and slowly sinking into ridiculous plots and characters – this being often the fate of sequels and prequels.

The movie, which is set mainly during 1962, probably one of the loveliest eras to film, also has the most absurdly good looking cast one could imagine and for the viewers luck, they happen to be excellent actors, starting with Michael Fassbender as a young and troubled Magneto, James Mc Avoy as the idealistic Charles Xavier and future Professor X who is great, but has to, for script purposes spend too much time with his hand on his temple summoning telepathic signals, Jennifer Lawrence whose amazing performance in her first film Winter’s bone” won her an Oscar nomination comes as Mystique, Rose Byrne who became known to a large audience by holding her own against Glenn Close in the mini series Damages and has since then appeared in several successful features is a CIA agent and finally Kevin Bacon needs no introduction since he starred in Footloose in 1984, is excellent as a former Nazi Dr. Schmidt and later as the power hungry Sebastian Shaw.

The film begins during World War II, when a young Erik Lehnsherr, who will later become Magneto watches his parents be taken away by Nazi guards. Terrified at the idea of being separated from his mother and father, Erik seems to be able to, from the power of his mind only filled with anger and anxiety, bend the metal gates that are keeping him away from his loved ones. This attracts the attention of the evil and sadistic Dr. Schmidt who decides to use Erik’s power for his malicious needs. Meanwhile, we see young Charles, living a lonely life in a huge castle until he meets Raven, a mutant whom he raises as his sister.

රූපට්‌ මර්ඩොක්‌ගේ මාධ්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යයේ බිඳවැටීම

ඔත්තුව දුන් මාධ්‍යවේදියාත් මළවුන් අතර...

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනගහනයෙන් සියයට එකක්‌වත් රූපට්‌ මර්ඩොක්‌ (Rupert Murdoch) නමැති ලොව අංක එකේ පුවත්පත්, රූපවාහිනී මාධ්‍ය හිමිකරුවා පිළිබඳව අසා ඇතැයි මා සිතන්නේ නැත. තවද බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ අවුරුදු එකසිය හැටඅටක්‌ එක දිගට පළවී පිටපත් මිලියන දෙකහමාරක අලෙවියක්‌ තිබූ ඉරිදා පුවත්පත වන "නිව්ස්‌ ඔෆ් ද වර්ල්ඩ්" (News of the World) පිළිබඳව වැඩි දෙනෙක්‌ දන්නවා යෑයි සිතන්නටද ඒ හැටි හැකියාවක්‌ නැත. එහෙත් ඒ පිළිබඳව දැන ගන්නටද පෙර එම පුවත්පත වසා දමා ඇති බව හුදී ජනයාගේ පහන් සංවේගය පිණිසත් යුරෝපයේ, ඇමරිකාවේ, එංගලන්තයේ වෙසෙන දේශපාලකයින් ඇතුළු ප්‍රභූ පැලැන්තියේ සතුට පිණිසත් හේතුවූ බව මෙසේ දන්වා සිටිමි.

රූපට්‌ මර්ඩොක්‌ යනු 1931 දී ඕස්‌ටේ්‍රලියාවේ මෙල්බර්න් නුවර උපත ලැබ දැනට ඇමරිකානු පුරවැසියකු වන ලෝකයේ ප්‍රධානතම මාධ්‍ය ආයතනයේ ආරම්භක අයිතිකරුයි. ඔහුගේ ආයතනයේ නම නිව්ස්‌ කෝපරේෂන්ය. (News Corpartion) පුවත්පත් ආයතන පාලකයෙකු වූ පියාගේ අභාවයෙන් පසුව එම ව්‍යාපාර අතට ගන්නා විට ඔහුගේ වයස විසි දෙකක්‌ විය. ඉතා කෙටි කාලයකදී ඕස්‌ටේ්‍රලියාවේ ප්‍රමුඛ පුවත්පත් ගණනාවක්‌ මිලදී ගත් ඔහු නවසීලන්තයේ "ද ඩොමිනියන්" පත්තර කොම්පැනියද මිලදී ගත්තේය.

The Mystery Behind the Siva Lingam

Courtesy The Island by K. S. Sivakumaran

A friend of mine asked me why the Hindus worship the Sivalingam enshrined in Hindu Siva Temples.  I couldn’t give her a satisfying answer although the phallic symbol represents Lord Siva. I merely told her this as a response to her poser. Reading on the subject I gathered from the Internet some information which I shall share with you.

While some say "the Sivalingam symbol is not a sex symbol and it is an image of Pineal gland in human head", others say:

"Cosmic form of Fire is God. Shiva is worshipped in egg shaped form (Sath, the eternal) better known as Shiva-lingam, which is having egg-shape of a cosmos or the cosmos itself as Vishvamuthi."

Here are few more gleanings on the subject culled from different links on the web:

Worship of the Phallus

Record entries for Journalism Awards for Excellence 2010

Courtesy By Daily News

A record 250 entries were received this year for the annual Journalism Awards for Excellence Programme jointly organized by The Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI)

This year will be the 12th edition of the industry driven awards programme, which was first begun by The Editors' Guild in 1998.

The programme aims at recognizing and rewarding excellence in the field of journalism.

This year's awards night will be held on July 26, 2011 at the Empire Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel.

This year entries were received for 14 categories. They are Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year, Scoop of the Year, Investigative Journalist of the Year, Best Environmental Reporter of the Year, Subramaniyam Chettiar Award for Reporting on Social Issues, Sports Journalist of the Year, Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year (Under 26 years), Photojournalist of the Year, Best Designed Newspaper of the Year, Business Journalist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English), Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English), Cartoonist of the Year, B. A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English) and Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances.

The Editors' Guild also selects senior journalists for Lifetime Achievement Awards and the recipients of the D.R. Wijewardene Award for Recognition of Peers and the Public and the Sepala Gunasena Award for Press Freedom.

This year, four veteran journalists join the distinguished list of men and women who have received the Life Time Achievement Award.

They are: Lloyd Rajaratnam Devarajah, Sarath Cooray, S. M. Gopalaratnam and Bandula Harischandra.

අවිනිශ්චිත ප්‍රේමයක සුබ ප්‍රාර්ථනාව

ආදරය සැලසුම් සහගත ව හටගන්නක් නොවේ. එය කොහේ කොතැනදී හටගනීදැයි අපි නොදනිමු. එහෙත් එය කොතැනදී හෝ හට ගනී. ආලය රාගයෙන් වෙනස් වන්නේ එය තාවකාලික උවමනාවක් නොවන බැවිනි. රාගය රාගයෙන් නැසිය හැකිය. එහෙත් ආලය ආලයෙන් නැසිය නොහැකි ය. ඒ නිසා ආලය හටගත්තේ කොතැනවක වුවද එය ඇට මස් නහර සිසාරා ගමන් කරයි. ඒ නිසාම ආලය අරඹන තැනදීම ආලවන්ත සිත් බියට පත්වෙයි. ඒ ආලය අහිමිවී යාවිය යන බියයි. එය සාධාරණ බියකි. ඒ සාධාරණ බිය විපුල ධර්මපි‍්‍රය ඉතා ම අපූර්වත්වයෙන් ප්‍රති නිර්මාණය කරයි.

”සඟවන්න එපා හසරැල්

දල්වන්න එපා ගිනි දැල්

ඔබම කෙරේ සිත බැඳුණු දිනේ සිට

මගෙම හැඟෙයි ඔබ නම්”

මේ හසරැල් සැඟවීයාවිද, ගිනිදැල් දැල්වී යාවිද යන බිය ඔහුගේ සිතේ හොල්මන් කරයි. එහෙත් ඔහුට දැනෙන්නේ ඇය ඔහුගේ බවයි. ඇයට එවැනි හැඟීමක් නොමැති දැයි යන සැකය ඔහු තුළ හටගනී.

”මගෙම හැඟේ ඔබ නම්”

නැමැති යෙදුම කදිම භාවාතිශය යෙදුමකි. ප්‍රේමයේ සංවේදනා පෞද්ගලිකව නොවිඳි රචකයෙකුට එබඳු යෙදුමක් භාවිතා කළ නොහැකිය.

මේ සංකාව පෙම්වතාගේ සිතුවිලි දිගින් දිගට ම පීඩාවට පත්කරයි. මේ ප්‍රේමයේ ඇරඹුම ඔහු සිහිපත් කරයි. එය අනපේක්‍ෂිත ඇරඹුමකි.

”සඳ එළිය වගේ ඇවිදින්

හද නොපැතු දිනෙක රහසින්

බැස නොයන් මසිත් අහසින්

අත පොවනු නොහැකි දුරකින්”

මට මිල්ටන් පෙරේරා ශූරින් ගේ පද මාලාවක් සිහිවේ.

”දෙපිය නගා යන්නට බැරි

කටු අකුල් කැලේ

සසර වසන තුරු නුඹ නොපිපියන්

සුදු මලේ”