Sunday, November 22, 2009
Ambuluwawa
Ambuluwawa
At an elevation of 3567 feet, on the summit of Ambuluvava peak that rises just four kilometres from Gampola, a sapling of the sacred Bo Tree of Anuradhapura is carefully, lovingly tended. Acting Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, D.S.A. Wijesundera, has ensured a green shade cloth over and around it and told me that it was already putting out new leaves. I believe it is the only sacred Bo sapling to thrive at such a height.A fitting place indeed, for as Nandasena Mudiyanse tells us in his book, The Art and Architecture of the Gampola Period (1341-1415 AD ), the foot of this mountain holds the ruins of the Malati-mala-sailays, the dwelling place of Dharmakirtti Sthavira. Only the platform of this ancient edifice now remains in the embrace of a grove of araliya. It was here that Dharmakirtti composed the Pali poem Jananuragacarita. No ordinary monk was he. He was the thera Silavamsa. He also composed the Patami-Maha-Sataka and it was Bhuvanakabahu IV who built for him this Gampola abode. History has it that he was the brother of King Parakrama Bahu.
The Mayura Sandesaya also names Dharmakirtti as the Sangharaja of that period. The 1928 translation edited by W.F. Gunawardhana states: "The hierarch Dharmakirtti who is wise and who hoisted the flag of Dhamma as a symbol of victory over the world."
Sri Pada Mountain
The mountain of Sri Pada is one of the rare places that people of four major religions in the world worship. The mountain is situated in the Rathnapura district with a height of 7,360 feet (2,243 meters).Although this is only the second highest mountains, It rises alone majestically with a conical shape and offers an unobstructed view over land and sea. It is said that the mountain was the landmark of the ancient sea-faring Arabs, who came to Sri Lanka, to trade in gems, spices, ivory etc., and they, having sighted the conical mountain miles off shore, prayed to God for having brought them safely to the island.
According to the Sri Lanka's great chronicle, Mahawamsa, Buddha visited Sri Lanka three times. The last time he traveled from Kelaniya to Sri Pada, and then to Digavaphi. It is said that Buddha left his foot print on the rock at top of the mountain at the invitation of the Deity Saman (Saman Deviyo).
Deity Saman is recorded as having met the Buddha on his first visit to the island when he visited Mahiyangana to drive away the Tribe of Yakkas. Saman became a stream-entrant (sotapanna) after listening to the Buddha. Deity Saman then requested a object of worship , and Buddha gave him a handful of hairs with which he enshrined on a dagaba at Mahiyangana.
The FINGER controversy
he FINGER controversy, a debate over privacy on the Net, occurred in early 1979 and involved some of the worst flaming in the MsgGroup's experience. The fight was over the introduction, at Carnegie-Mellon University, of an electronic widget that allowed users to peek into the on-line habits of other users on the Net. The FINGER command had been created in the early 1970s by a computer scientist named Les Earnest at Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. "People generally worked long hours there, often with unpredictable schedules," Earnest said. "When you wanted to meet with some group, it was important to know who was there and when the others would likely reappear. It also was important to be able to locate potential volleyball players when you wanted to play, Chinese food freaks when you wanted to eat, and antisocial computer users when it appeared that something strange was happening on the system." FINGER didn't allow you to read someone else's messages, but you could tell the date and time of the person's last log-on and when he or she had last read mail. Some people had a problem with that.
In an effort to respect privacy, Carnegie-Mellon's Ivor Durham changed the FINGER default setting; he added a couple of bits that could be turned on or off, so the information could be concealed unless a user chose to reveal it. Durham was flamed without mercy. He was called everything from spineless to socially irresponsible to a petty politician, and worse -- but not for protecting privacy. He was criticized for monkeying with the openness of the network.
The debate began as an internal dialogue at Carnegie-Mellon but was leaked out onto the ARPANET by Dave Farber of the University of California at Irvine, who wanted to see what would happen if he revealed it to the outer world. The ensuing flame-fest consumed more than 400 messages.
At the height of the FINGER debate, one person quit the MsgGroup in disgust over the flaming. The controversy ended inconclusively. But it taught users a lesson about the medium they were using. The speed of electronic mail promoted flaming, some said; anyone hot could shoot off a retort on the spot, and without the moderating factor of having to look the target in the eye.
Smile When You Call Me That
On April 12, 1979, a rank newcomer to the MsgGroup named Kevin MacKenzie anguished on-line about the "loss of meaning" in this electronic, textually bound medium. Unquestionably, e-mail allowed a spontaneous verbal exchange, but he was troubled by its inability to convey human gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice -- all of which come naturally in conversation and express a whole vocabulary of nuances in speech and thought, including irony and sarcasm. Perhaps, he said, we could extend the set of punctuation in e-mail messages. In order to indicate that a particular sentence is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, he proposed inserting a hyphen and parenthesis at the end of the sentence, thus: -)
MacKenzie confessed that the idea wasn't entirely his; it had been sparked by something he had read on a different subject in an old copy of Reader's Digest. About an hour later, he was flamed, or rather, singed. He was told his suggestion was "naive but not stupid." He was given a short lecture on Shakespeare's mastery of the language without auxiliary notation. "Those who will not learn to use this instrument well cannot be saved by an expanded alphabet," the flamer wrote. "They will only afflict us with expanded gibberish."
Hah, what did Shakespeare know? Emoticons and smileys, a whole family of odd little sideways mimes, popularized by hoi polloi no doubt, arose in the medium of e-mail and went forth into the iconography of our times. :-)
Copyright 1996 by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon. From the book Where Wizards Stay Up Late, by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, to be published by Simon & Schuster Inc. Printed by permission. (Spesial Thank you published by Simon & Schuster Inc)
SRI LANKA JOB
Trainer - Commercial Cookery
Overseas assignment
Competitive remuneration package
Full time fixed term until Dec 2009 Box Hill Institute has been appointed by the Australian Government (AusAID) to implement the Australia-Pacific Technical College in Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji.
The APTC is an Australian Government initiative and has been established to deliver a range of courses from Certificate III to Certificate IV. The technical college is a centre of training excellence aimed at skilling and qualifying Pacific Islanders for a range of vocational occupations needed throughout the Pacific including hospitality and tourism, health and community services, automotive trades, manufacturing, construction and electrical trades.Located in Fiji, Samoa or Vanuatu, this teaching position will be responsible for the preparation, delivery and assessment of Certificate III Commercial Cookery and Patisserie to trainees enrolled in the college. Other aspects will see you participate in skills testing, selection, enrolment and induction of participants in the programs.Applicants should have relevant industry qualifications along with recent experience in the commercial cookery, baking and patisserie industry. Cert IV in TAA is also required for this role.Please note: this is an overseas assignment and the successful candidate will be required to relocate at short notice.Like to know more? Contact Kate McCubbin on (??) ???? ????Applications close: Friday 28th Aug 2009For position information and to apply online go to:mycareer.com.auApplicants must complete all aspects of the online application form including the key selection criteria.
Airplane
Airplane!" is, was and always shall be the master of spoof movies. It is single-handedly responsible for literally inventing a sub-genre of comedy. It is the ultimate Silly Movie. A satire of the disaster movies of the 1970s, particularly the "Airport" series, nothing makes sense and it doesn't need to. There's no real plot. Just laughs - and plenty of 'em.
It was helmed by the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker), whose dedication to making the audience laugh is surprisingly adamant. Recent spoofs may have left a bad aftertaste in your mouth, but it seems to be a universal agreement: "Airplane" is the funniest film of its genre ever made. (Closely followed by "The Naked Gun" - also penned by the ZAZ trio - perhaps.)
The plot: Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is a war veteran-turned-cab-driver who decides to chase after his girlfriend, an airline stewardess named Elaine (Julie Hagerty), who has dumped him in order to pursue a new life. Right before her plane takes off, Ted climbs aboard, hitching a ride in order to woo her back into a relationship again.
When the aircraft is in midflight, both pilots become very ill after eating their meals. Eventually many passengers begin to show symptoms of a rare disease, apparently transmitted by the food. Onboard, Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) takes care of the sick passengers as Ted - an ex-fighter pilot from the war - decides to try and land the plane. If he messes up they will all die, and in a particularly funny scene, the pressure becomes so unbearable that he begins to literally sweat gallons in the cockpit.
That is essentially all the film is about, but most of its duration is spent cracking jokes. Spoof films are entirely different from other movies because normally we would criticize a film if it considered its plot to be the least important element. Not so here. This is a truly brainless piece of celluloid - a movie that doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. From the opening credits - that cleverly spoof "JAWS" - to the closing we realize that this is an altogether unique film going experience.
The movie's biggest laughs come through unexpected flashbacks, such as when Ted remembers where he first met Elaine in a crummy bar ("...it was worse than Detroit..."), and begins to disco-dance a la John Travolta from "Saturday Night Fever" (complete with Bee Gees soundtrack blaring in the background and the famous Travolta pose). Then, later, we are taken back to when Ted was hospitalized after the war, and finds out that he was responsible for the death of six men. "Seven, actually," he is informed, which adds to the pain of the moment for him.
Though this movie is very funny, many jokes misfire. If you're not pop culture savvy and you don't remember Mrs. Cleaver from TV's "Leave it to Beaver", the humor is going to go over your head. But unlike many comedies, "Airplane!" offers something unique for each person. I know that as a
film lover, I picked up on many movie in-jokes that some people might not recognize. And then there were the gags that I first missed but picked up after a second viewing, or when someone explained them to me, or both. And I'm sure there are many yet that I'm not aware of. It seems that every time I watch it, there's something else to laugh at that I missed previously.
"Airplane!" not only was a huge success in 1980 (the year of its release), spinning off a horde of imitators and one sequel - it was also responsible for crowning Leslie Nielsen "The King of Spoof." Prior to "Airplane!" Nielsen had been a veteran of more serious productions, stemming back to playing cowboys on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and other embarrassing attempts at acting. However, Nielsen later claimed that he had always wanted to do a comedy, even when he first started acting seriously with projects such as the classic "Forbidden Planet" (one of the best science-fiction films ever made). He later reunited with the ZAZ trio for "The Naked Gun" trilogy, appeared in similar spoof films over the years such as "Wrongfully Accused" and "Scary Movie 3," and had his iconic comedy shtick ripped off by many screen veterans - most noticeably by George Gaynes in the unbearable "Police Academy" (1984).
When it comes down to a single evaluation, "Airplane" is simply the best spoof film ever made. It's like a MAD Magazine parody come to life. There are the occasional misfires, but unlike many other spoof film imitators, this one contains far more hits. The deadpan acting is genius and everything else fits into place, resulting in what may arguably be one of the absolute funniest films ever conceived and put on the big screen. And if you decide to watch the movie, don't blink - you might miss a gag or two. The "Police Academies" will come and go but "Airplane!" will never be forgotten.
It was helmed by the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker), whose dedication to making the audience laugh is surprisingly adamant. Recent spoofs may have left a bad aftertaste in your mouth, but it seems to be a universal agreement: "Airplane" is the funniest film of its genre ever made. (Closely followed by "The Naked Gun" - also penned by the ZAZ trio - perhaps.)
The plot: Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is a war veteran-turned-cab-driver who decides to chase after his girlfriend, an airline stewardess named Elaine (Julie Hagerty), who has dumped him in order to pursue a new life. Right before her plane takes off, Ted climbs aboard, hitching a ride in order to woo her back into a relationship again.
When the aircraft is in midflight, both pilots become very ill after eating their meals. Eventually many passengers begin to show symptoms of a rare disease, apparently transmitted by the food. Onboard, Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) takes care of the sick passengers as Ted - an ex-fighter pilot from the war - decides to try and land the plane. If he messes up they will all die, and in a particularly funny scene, the pressure becomes so unbearable that he begins to literally sweat gallons in the cockpit.
That is essentially all the film is about, but most of its duration is spent cracking jokes. Spoof films are entirely different from other movies because normally we would criticize a film if it considered its plot to be the least important element. Not so here. This is a truly brainless piece of celluloid - a movie that doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. From the opening credits - that cleverly spoof "JAWS" - to the closing we realize that this is an altogether unique film going experience.
The movie's biggest laughs come through unexpected flashbacks, such as when Ted remembers where he first met Elaine in a crummy bar ("...it was worse than Detroit..."), and begins to disco-dance a la John Travolta from "Saturday Night Fever" (complete with Bee Gees soundtrack blaring in the background and the famous Travolta pose). Then, later, we are taken back to when Ted was hospitalized after the war, and finds out that he was responsible for the death of six men. "Seven, actually," he is informed, which adds to the pain of the moment for him.
Though this movie is very funny, many jokes misfire. If you're not pop culture savvy and you don't remember Mrs. Cleaver from TV's "Leave it to Beaver", the humor is going to go over your head. But unlike many comedies, "Airplane!" offers something unique for each person. I know that as a
film lover, I picked up on many movie in-jokes that some people might not recognize. And then there were the gags that I first missed but picked up after a second viewing, or when someone explained them to me, or both. And I'm sure there are many yet that I'm not aware of. It seems that every time I watch it, there's something else to laugh at that I missed previously."Airplane!" not only was a huge success in 1980 (the year of its release), spinning off a horde of imitators and one sequel - it was also responsible for crowning Leslie Nielsen "The King of Spoof." Prior to "Airplane!" Nielsen had been a veteran of more serious productions, stemming back to playing cowboys on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and other embarrassing attempts at acting. However, Nielsen later claimed that he had always wanted to do a comedy, even when he first started acting seriously with projects such as the classic "Forbidden Planet" (one of the best science-fiction films ever made). He later reunited with the ZAZ trio for "The Naked Gun" trilogy, appeared in similar spoof films over the years such as "Wrongfully Accused" and "Scary Movie 3," and had his iconic comedy shtick ripped off by many screen veterans - most noticeably by George Gaynes in the unbearable "Police Academy" (1984).
When it comes down to a single evaluation, "Airplane" is simply the best spoof film ever made. It's like a MAD Magazine parody come to life. There are the occasional misfires, but unlike many other spoof film imitators, this one contains far more hits. The deadpan acting is genius and everything else fits into place, resulting in what may arguably be one of the absolute funniest films ever conceived and put on the big screen. And if you decide to watch the movie, don't blink - you might miss a gag or two. The "Police Academies" will come and go but "Airplane!" will never be forgotten.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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