Nisadas

Sunshine over the jungle by Walter Saporiti

Not too long after my post on LED lighting, it seems that Sri Lanka has commissioned its first solar power plant in the week ending 13 August 2011.

The state media has publicized the commissioning of the 500kw plant, as has LankaBusinessOnline.

While the economics may still be debatable, it’s good to see that Sri Lanka is moving in the direction of independence from oil-based power generation.

At a presentation during the recent CIMA Leadership Conference, the Minister for Power & Energy talked about other things in the pipeline – including Net Metering.

I first read about Net Metering in Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat and Crowded. In the book, Friedman discussed an energy-net, much like the Internet.

In this scenario, homes can have their own solar panels and generate electricity to be fed to the national grid. As a result, ho me consumers can enjoy a reduction in their usage at the end of the month, which would be the net of their actual usage and units fed to the grid. A great way to reduce electricity bills, methinks.

Friedman also discussed “Petropolitics” (or the power that comes from being an oil-producing nation) and how turning to alternative power sources was also a means of creating national power.

In this background, it’s heartening to note that Sri Lanka is making some progress. Even more so, since we have the advantage of being smaller and having a monopoly situation with electrification – which could allow us to adopt the key strategies towards a greener nation faster than other countries.

The Youtube video embedded below is a news clip (in Sinhalese) of the ceremony marking the commissioning of the plant. Unfortunately, the images show a cloudy day in Hambantota, where the plant is situated. Given how much sunlight they are supposed to get in Hambantota, that’s quite ironic.

Nevertheless, I hope this works out well and that we are able to see more alternative energy generation in action in Sri Lanka.

Passing along the highlevel road, I thanked my stars that the tank was full. Although, I might’ve just as well been better off with a diesel vehicle…

The vehicles belonging to these good people were probably the same ones parked along the road right upto Police Park.

Clearly, LIOC was doing better off than these guys…

I know I really shouldn’t get hung up over this, but it just beggars belief.

See my post on how Daily Mirror has no clue about copyright, or even the Creative Commons licensing terms.

Now read what they have to say about the PTI allegedly copying their stuff:

The Colombo based reporter for the Press Trust of India (PTI), not for the first time has copied a story off the Daily Mirror website and published the same content with his byline without giving due courtesy to the original source. Not only is this unprofessional but also takes away the due credit that the original reporter deserves. Below is part of the PTI story while the original Daily Mirror story also appears on this page.

(Emphasis mine).

Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

UPDATE Cerno was the victim of a similar issue long ago. By the looks of it, no one in Sri Lanka actually gives a damn about copyright, or even the more liberal licenses.

So there I was feeling all upset that my crappy photo made it to the front page of Ada Derana without my being credited.

But why stop there? Turns out the people at the Daily Mirror (http://www.dailymirror.lk) aren’t very original either.

Barely a coupla days after my photo turns up on Ada Derana, it turns up on Daily Mirror as well, which at the time I took the screenshot below, was right next to their own copyright notice.

As of September 24, 2009 their article on the subject at http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=61811 still carries the photo, despite an email informing them of their unauthorised use in violation of the licensing terms.

What occurs to me however, is that these guys probably stole the photo off the Ada Derana site and therefore don’t even know the licensing terms in the first place.

O tempora o mores!

The Island recently published an apology for stealing David Blacker’s interview with Dayan Jayatillake, misspelling the URL from where they had purloined it.

In the same paper, there was a Reply from a high ranking official in the police (I forget the rank) calling into question the authenticity of one of their articles on Sri Lankan cops. While I haven’t seen the article in question, it seems that it is very much the same thing that did its rounds via email and even ended up on Sigma’s blog (http://taurus19lk.blogspot.com/2009/07/sri-lankan-cops-useful-tips-to-up-date.html) Of course, Sigma had the sense to put a disclaimer on the authenticity of the whole thing.

All this from the same paper behind the Adult content  in the Kiddies paper? Why am I not surprised?

Then there are the various stories of theft of Intellectual Property – be it images uploaded on the net, or even complete posts – by the nefarious staff of the local newspapers.

I’m no journalist, but in my younger days I harboured some delusions of being one some day. The lack of any creative skill meant that my only ventures in writing would be limited to interviews (which nevertheless were a fantastic opportunity to meet some truly amazing people) and the occasional write-up. Therefore, the world has generally been spared the words of Dulan, apart from this blog.

Therefore, I am (like so many others) under the impression that this gives me the full right to criticise journalists writing to the newspapers. Which can sometimes be unfair – my wages don’t depend on my writing.

However, what I cannot understand is, why are there newspapers paying people to plagiarize? I’m no expert, but I’m fairly sure that Content is King. Be it a humble blog, a revered sports site or a national newspaper, you’re not getting very far if you don’t have something to fill the pages. As of late (I rarely read the newspapers, so perhaps I’m wrong) there’s been a large amount of internet content finding its way into the local papers, with IMHO very little quality control or fact checking. This just means that the paper in question loses credibility with those people who know what its been up to, while also developing a reputation for being poor in content.

This situation nevertheless covers up a fantastic opportunity. Instead of simply adding a circulated email to the newspaper, why not get someone to meet with an official in the Police to verify the situation and getting the whole truth? With the amount of absolute rubbish that circulates in our email systems, just debunking the myths could be a full time job, but what about creating a discussion based on the ideas they bring about?

The next time there’s an email on how forwarding it could result in a donation from AOL/Bill Gates, maybe some research on email methods could be employed? Perhaps an article on the unethical address harvesting by Email Marketing companies in Sri Lanka?

I guess the timeliness is what matters most. Why bother researching or interviewing someone when a simple Google search can yield so much information? Saves time and money, No?

Well, that’s for the journalists in Sri Lanka to figure out. I’ll stick to my rare and random thoughts (and the occasional rant) for the time being.

Right above that Nalaka wheel alignment/tyre merchants joint in Colombo 02 is another branch of the famous Food Waves restaurant. This one’s called “Thiru Kumaran’s Food Waves” and it’s a vegetarian restaurant that serves South Indian food. Good food for good prices – enough reason to like it.

The reason that I wanted to blog about it was to put up their phone number on the net. After searching online in vain for the number (don’t get me started on how fun it was trying to find it on the SLT online directory), I ended up going there to place my order, which was thankfully ready in ten minutes. Of course, my order wasn’t a full meal, so that shouldn’t be a benchmark – take away should ideally still be called in advance.

The lunch buffet is priced at Rs. 130/- and is supposed to be good, although I don’t know this from experience. I can recommend the Naan, Paneer Butter Masala, Malaysian Kottu and Chilli Parota (my favourite). Very nice.

Recently, six of us dropped in for dinner, had the main dishes that I just noted plus soup (one portion is generally enough for two people), some starters and dessert, all for around Rs. 500/- per head. I’m not too familiar with the restaurants in Colombo, but I think that’s pretty good value for money.

Their flyer reads that they’re open 365 days of the year, 11:00am to 10:30pm. Lunch available from 10:30am and Dinner from 4:00pm.

The Address:

Thiru Kumaran’s Food Waves

55, Hyde Park Corner, Colombo 02.

Tel: 471 8709 / 471 9522

So recently I get a photograph in my mail of President Barack Obama checking out a young lady’s behind. While I’d normally shrug this off as instinct getting the better of the man, a friend also sends me the link where the situation behind it all is cleared through a youtube video, which proves Sarkozy to be a true frenchman.

Okay, so it’s old news but you can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbifTbJtgJA.

Seeing world leaders’ little indiscretions caught on tape for the world to see reminded me of a good friend of mine doing a (impromptu and with only a little egging on by the compere) funky dance right out of an American Pie kinda movie on stage at an Interact function many years ago. No cameras (in phones or otherwise) to record this strange occurence or the shocked fascination of the crowd; just human memory in all its fallibility to carry those images for posterity, to be brought up at get-togethers and laughed about.

Nowadays, you can bet that any incident of that nature will be recorded and found on a social network. With any luck, the poor soul will end up tagged and watched by millions of people who never knew he existed until they saw the video.

This simply means that today, we need to be far more careful about what we say and do; especially the moments of spontaneous craziness (see the part about the Star Wars Kid in the article at Scientific American on social networks and privacy).

This point was driven home extra hard when I took part in a training recently. When the guy doing the training pointed out that my Outlook calendar was easily visible to my superiors at office – something that I understood was possible, but something that I never really thought about. I got a little bothered about this and asked him “Where’s the privacy in that?”

The response was simple – “What privacy? Your system adminstrators have full access to the information on your computer – you just need to make sure that you don’t do anything unnecessary with it.”

And then it struck me – all those personal details on Facebook? All those emails in my “personal” mailboxes hosted by big “free email” companies? Just how private are those emails? Or my events in Google Calendar?

The main argument presented in this case is that “Good people have nothing to hide”. But what if I’m just a private person? Okay, not so private that I blog under my real name, but private in the sense that I like having control of how much information about myself is revealed?

There are so many facebook photos that get saved on to folders and forwarded via email that you might wonder if being in touch is worth the price. It just means that you have to be careful about what the world sees. What used to be the private pain of celebrities the world over has now become a far more common problem. Sure, you can try and sue the moron from the photo studio who decided to share all those interesting photos of your girlfriends off your digital camera with his friends, but how do you intend on proving it?

It seems that privacy as we used to know it died quite sometime ago, around the same time that it became possible to fish out old “personal” emails and forward them to people who weren’t in the loop. All that can be done now is to watch your step – and hope that if anything about you is on the net, you know about it.

Anyone who’s taken the Galle road will know how much fun Dehiwala can be. Used to be (haven’t taken the route in some time) that the traffic would extend somewhere upto Ratmalana in the mornings (to Colombo). Evenings are no better on the way back. The best advertisement for travel by train could’ve included photos of morning/evening traffic in Dehiwala.

Now it would seem that there’s change in the air. I saw some guys with “Access” on their luminous vests along the roads at Dehiwala junction, which is also now missing some pavement.

Apparently, a flyover will be under construction soon. Hopefully, construction will be in 2-4 month range similar to the Kelaniya and Nugegoda flyovers which means some short term pain for long term gain.

However, there’s still the question of this will ease traffic out of Colombo, since there’s still plenty of that in the evenings, but I guess time will tell.

A fruitful day of voting to all of you voting in the Western Provincial elections today!

Just make sure you know who you’re voting for, what symbol to vote and wear your glasses!

A few years back a friend of mine listened intently to my impassioned speech on why the JHU should be voted into power. Entirely missing the sarcasm and irony in said speech, she went to the booth firmly convinced that she should vote for them. Unfortunately, not having worn her spectacles the young lady ended up voting for the “Pol Gediya” (Coconut) instead of the “Hak Gediya” (Conch Shell) – something that went unrealised until she overheard an old lady talking about how the two are incredibly similar on the ballot.

Ah well, at least that party got another vote.

Isn’t democracy a wonderful thing?

I was reading Seth Godin recently on Demonization. Whilst he writes  what would be interpreted as a marketing-centric post, he makes a very valid point.

The closer you get to someone, something, some brand, some organization… the harder it is to demonize it, objectify it or hate it.

Reading through Achcharu today, I also came across some interesting posts – Indi’s rant against the diaspora in Canada and Rajaratarala’s innovative suggestion for reconciliation.

My socio-political views have and will be private, and are unlikely to be published. However, in all three cases above, one point is common – isolation from each other contributes most to the rifts in society. Seth talks about (or at least I interpret it to be) how being isolated from an issue makes it easier to demonize it; Indi talks about the Diaspora and how they talk to themselves in the comfort of Canada about the war in Sri Lanka; Rajaratarala talks about how giving the opportunity for the internally displaced to live normal lives again will help heal the wounds of war.

During my studies in secondary school, I had the opportunity to be part of the Interact movement (of which perhaps the less said now, the better). Through this I was able to make friends from different schools and different ethnic and religious backgrounds. The single biggest lesson I learnt from this was that there was just so much we all had in common. Teenagers the world over will have the same issues, albeit in different languages and different settings. Why else was Dawson’s Creek so popular amongst TV viewing Sri Lankan teenagers?

Closeted away in their own little enclaves, it’s easier for people to demonize others and act all morally superior. But then again, it takes a lot of confidence and courage to buck the trend and actually treat others as human beings and not as the labels they choose to stick themselves with.

But it all comes down to the fact that you’re no different from me or the person next to you. You didn’t choose the race you were born in to. You didn’t choose the country you were born in to. You can choose who you are – what your actions will mean in the greater scheme of things, no matter how small.

I only hope that the future holds for all of us the freedom to live our lives in relative normalcy and worry about stuff like learning new things, holding a job, raising a family and such-like – problems that have been around as long as civilisation.

In conclusion, I’d like to share something that Terry Pratchett wrote in his book Interesting Times, where the wizard Rincewind while running away from a major battle, finds himself in a field criss-crossed with drainage ditches (I’m hoping that this excerpt falls within fair-use, please notify me if it doesn’t – I can’t afford a lawsuit ):

Someone was watching him.

It was a water buffalo.

It would be wrong to say it watched him with interest. It just watched him, because its eyes were open and had to be facing in some direction, and it had randomly chosen one which included Rincewind.

Its face held the completely serene expression of a creature that had long ago realized that it was, fundamentally, a tube on legs and had been installed in the universe to, broadly speaking, achieve throughput.

At the other end of the string was a man, ankle-deep in the mud of the field. He had a broad straw hat, like every other buffalo holder. He had the basic pyjama suit of the Agatean man-in-the-field. And he had an expression not of idiocy, but of preoccupation. He was looking at Rincewind. As with the buffalo, this was only because his eyes had to be doing something.

Despite the pressing dangers, Rincewind found himself overcome by a sudden curiosity.

‘Er. Good morning,’ he said.

The man gave him a nod. The water buffalo made the sound of regurgitating cud.

‘Er. Sorry if this is a personal question,’ said Rincewind, ‘but . . . I can’t help wondering . . . why do you stand out in the fields all day with the water buffalo?’

The man thought about it.

‘Good for soil,’ he said eventually.

‘But doesn’t it waste a lot of time?’ said Rincewind.

The man gave this due appraisal also.

‘What’s time to a cow?’ he said.

Rincewind reversed back on to the highway of reality.

‘You see those armies over there?’ he said.

The buffalo holder concentrated his gaze.

‘Yes,’ he decided.

‘They’re fighting for you.’

The man did not appear moved by this. The water buffalo burped gently.

‘Some want to see you enslaved and some want you to run the country, or at least to let them run the country while telling you it’s you doing it really,’ said Rincewind. There’s going to be a terrible battle. I can’t help wondering . . . What do you want?’

The buffalo holder absorbed this one for consideration, too. And it seemed to Rincewind that the slowness of the thought process wasn’t due to native stupidity, but more to do with the sheer size of the question. He could feel it spreading out so that it incorporated the soil and the grass and the sun and headed on out into the universe.

Finally the man said:

‘A longer piece of string would be nice.’

Before you point it out, Yes, I’m an apolitical idealist who is quite possibly out of touch with the world around him.

Or maybe not. I’ll fill you in once I’ve figured it out.