Bridal Shoot

Government vs. Scholars vs. The Opposition.

So, every political party, except for the ruling party is walking with FUTA, saying they'd have done the right thing and given more funds to education... but the government is like hell bent over on not even having an intelligent discussions...

I'm willing to bet, those politicians who are walking with FUTA too are with the government on this one; this is the next big frontier for them to fight with the government and they really don't want this resolved until they come in to power - even if they really want it resolved - which again, I'm in doubt.

FUTA needs to be politically independent and gain more support from the general public. When there's political affiliations, it is easy for the government to portray to the public that this is politically motivated. Because, at the end, this would be about with whom the masses stand with.

It should be government vs. scholars and not government vs. the opposition.

What if scholars become an independent political movement and the public stand with them? Having educated people in power would be really nice for a change IMO.

My take on current issues in local educational system

1. Teachers and Lecturers of government schools and universities should get salaries in par with leading schools and universities of the world.
2. Government Universities and Schools should charge at least a nominal fee, so that students and their parents would value the education they receive
3. Student loans and partial scholarships should be provided by the government for those who can't afford education
4. Scholarships should be granted for students who excel in sports and research
5. Students should look positively at part time work
6. Standards of the lecturers and university facilities should be constantly validated and updated
7. Private educational institutes should be established with proper standards and a framework to validate the standards
8. Schools and Universities (government owned) should be financially independent - i. e. They should operate with funds they earn
9. Government's involvement should be to maintain uniform standards across universities and to provide scholarships and educational loans - universities could grant their own scholarships and loans too
10. People should stop expecting politicians - who are often uneducated and incompetent - to solve every problem of this country
11. People should accept the fact that politicians are a representation of the general public - including in general competency and education, we cannot expect either party to improve over-night
12. People should understand the dyversity of university lecturers from competant, upto-date people who are truly committed to educating our next generation to those scum bags who haven't updated their syllabuses from the last century and are there only so that they could get involved in lucrative side projects.
13. There's no free lunch.
14. No one party could change the system
15. No one is perfect
16. Excellence should be achieved one step at a time
17. Much of the things going on right now is more politics and less problem solving - from all the camps
18. Solution should come from these exact people - everyone involved should put their ego and political agendas behind
19. If everyone commit to this, we'd have a proper system in less than a decade
20. But it would never happen in my lifetime.

දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදනයෙන් 6% තිබ්බොත් අධ්‍යාපණේ ගොඩ ගන්න පුලුවන් ද?

සීයට 6න් නම් බෑ... ලංකාවේ තියෙන ප්‍රධාන පාසල් එකක් වත් ආණ්ඩුවේ සල්ලි වලින් නඩත්තු වෙන්නෙ නෑ... ඒ ඉස්කෝල වල ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් ගේ සහ දරුවන් ගේ දෙමාපියන් දෙන පරිත්‍යග වලින් තමය් ඒ ඉස්කෝල ඉදිරියට ඇවිත් තියෙන්නේ.

නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනේ ඇත්තටම ඕනේ අයට විතරක් දීලා, මුදල් අය කරන්න පුලුවන් අයගෙන් මුදල් අය කරන ක්‍රමයක් ඕනේ අධ්‍යාපනේ ඇත්තටම ගොඩ ගන්න නම්.

ටික දෙනෙකුට දෙන නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපණේට වඩා, හැමෝටම අධ්‍යාපණේ ලබන්න අයිතිය දෙන එක වැදගත්.

හැමෝටම නොමිලේ උගන්නන්න පුලුවන් නම් ඒක තමයි හොඳම. ඒත්, අපේ රටේ ආර්ථිකේ එක්ක, තියෙන ගසා කෑම් එක්ක ඒක කරන්න බෑ කියන එක පිලිගන්න ඕනේ.

අධ්‍යාපණේ වෙනුවෙන් වියදම් කරන්න පුලුවන්, වියදම් කරන මධ්‍යම පංතියක් අපේ රටේ ඉන්නවා. මම කතා කරන්නේ රට යවලා ලමයින්ට උගන්වන ධනපතියෝ ගැන නෙවෙයි. ශාන්ත තෝමස්, රෝයල්, ආනන්ද, මියුසියස් වගේ ඉස්කෝල ගැන. ඒවගෙන් සමහර ඉස්කෝල පෞද්ගලික ඉස්කෝල, ආණ්ඩුවේ විෂය නිර්දේෂ උගන්වන. සමහර ඒවා ආණ්ඩුවේ ඉස්කෝල. ඒත් ඒවා ගමේ ගොඩේ ඉස්කෝල වගේ නෙවෙයි. ඒවට යන්න මිනිස්සු කැමැත්තෙන් විශාල ආධාර දෙනවා පාසල් අරමුදලට.

හැබැයි ඒ සල්ලි ගුරුවරුන්ට ලැබෙන්නේ නෑ. අයතා ක්‍රමේකට ගත්තේ නැත්තම්. වෙනත් පාසල් වලට ලැබෙන්නෙත් නෑ. ඉතින් ඔය ක්‍රමේ වෙනුවට, ඒ ඒ පාසලේ තියෙන පහසුකම් අනූව හරි, දිස්ත්‍රික්කේ අනූව හරි කොහොම හරි, එක් ආර්ථික මට්ටමකට වඩා උඩින් ඉන්න පවුල් වල දරුවන් ගෙන් මුදලක් අය කරලා ඉගැන්නුවොත්, ඒ මුදල දුෂ්කර පාසල් දියුණු කරන්නත්, ගුරුවරුන්ගේ පඩි වැඩි කරන්නත් යොදවන්න පුලුවන් නේද?

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල පද්ධතියටත් මේ ක්‍රමේට සමාන දෙයක් කරන්න පුලුවන්. විශ්ව විද්‍යාල සිසුන්ට අර්ධ කාලීන රැකියා කරන්නත්, අධ්‍යාපණ වියදම් සඳහා අඩු පොලී ණය ලබා ගන්නත් ආණ්ඩුව පහසුකම් සපයා දෙන්න ඕනේ... ඒ ණය රැකියා කරන කාලේක ගෙවන්න. එහෙම කරලා, විශ්ව විද්‍යාල අධ්‍යාපණේට සාධාරණ මුදලක් අය කරාට කමක් නෑ. දැනටත් ආණ්ඩුවේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල හැම එකකම පශ්චාත් උපාධි සඳහා අයකිරීම් කරනවා - ඒක සාධාරණ අය කිරීමක්.

එහෙම කරොත්, විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රවේශයට සුදුසු කම් ලබන හැමෝටම ඒ සඳහා අවකාශ සලසන්න පුලුවන් වේවි. දැනට ඒ සඳහා අවකාශ ලැබෙන්නේ 16% විතර පමණයි.

මේ 6% ඉල්ලීම, දැනට තියෙන මඩ ගොහොරුව තවත් මඩ කිරීමක් මිසක් අධ්‍යාපණ ප්‍රශ්නෙට විසඳුමක් විදිහට මම දකින්නේ නෑ.

මේ 1800 ගනන් වල රුසියාව නොවෙයි, සමාජයේ දුප්පතුන් සහ පොහොසතුන් පමණක් සිටිය.. මේ සමාජයේ සැලකිය යුතු ප්‍රමාණයක් මධ්‍යම පාණ්තිකයින්, භාණ්ඩ හා සේවා සඳහා සාධාරණ මිලක් ගෙවිය හැකි සහ එසේ ගෙවීමට කැමති...

Some recent photos

What's on the news?

Couple of years ago news was on banning internet porn, raided porn rental joints, busted happy ending massage parlors and prostitution rigs etc.

Now, the news is on pedophiles, rapists, molesters and generally sexual crimes being on the high.

I’m just saying…

nah… no point in wasting my time writing this...

http://blog.icloneable.com/2010/11/prostitution-and-porn.html

Thoughts, dreams and consciousness of self

What we perceive as self is essentially a continuous flow of thoughts, leading from one to another, and awareness of stimuli that come through the senses... that includes senses within as well, on top of the five external. (i. e. things like hunger, sex drive, need to pee etc. etc.)

In different beliefs, this is called soul, spirit (chi?) etc. and is thought to be independent of the body itself. Thus, we hear out of body experiences, life after death, re-incarnation, going to hell or heaven and all that... that’s believing that our consciousness of self, would survive after death.

I believe that is not the case. There’s so much evidence in front of us, which supports that to be a fact. But we simply ignore them and go out looking for proof of life after death and re-incarnation. Because that’s what we really want to believe. We don’t want to die and that to be the end. We need to live beyond the death of out body; find an answer to the ultimate questions of life, suffering and universe.

A simple observation would show you weakened or lost awareness of self of those who have suffered brain damage or got Alzheimer's decease or other conditions that weakens or kills the brain. A patient under anesthesia doesn’t feel a thing even when doctors open the rib cage; patient only start to suffer, when his brain is awake again. When we are in deep sleep, we don’t have a flow of thoughts going on, nor are we aware of stimuli of the senses.

Another good point is that if our consciousness really is independent of the body, we should be able to think even while our body is sleeping. But as we fall asleep, we lose our awareness of self, because the brain sleeps too.

People argue that dreams are proof of our consciousness being active while we sleep. But firstly, if that’s the case, instead of experiencing nightmares and fantasy we should really be thinking, the same way we think while we are awake.

Secondly and most importantly, studies show that we dream only when we are close to being awake, not when we are in deep sleep. During a night’s sleep, we pass several dreaming stages, when the brain come closer to be awake, but goes back to sleep. When we wake up, we only remember the last dream we were having, not any between. Unless we were waken, and fell back in to sleep.

It may be disheartening to believe that when the brain is dead, that’s the end of being; given that all of our culture is developed around the idea of karma, samsara and re-incarnation. But, I simply think, we’ve been ignoring the facts much too long, and death really is the end of everything.

So, what then of moral values, happiness and other feelings? I'd write about them too in my next post, and explain why meditation still is a good idea...

Consciousness of self, death and religion

Consciousness of self is a manifestation of the brain, brain weakens – your awareness of self weakens, brain dies – you die. Period. There’s nothing going to hell or heaven, nor gets re-born. Accept that and you don’t need a religion to pamper you.


But, your brain wouldn’t want you believing that would it? It’s, much like any other organism, wants to last for as long as possible so that it could re-produce its kind as much as possible.


It tells you that YOU are independent of YOUR body. It’s about YOU… YOU!


...and then; you get the question, when you die, you lose your body… what will happen to YOU then? (Because you believe that you exists independent of your brain!)


There’s no way of knowing… you are scared of the unknown (This is a survival strategy BTW..., not really meant for this particular problem, but unavoidably it comes to this.). You freak out.


And there comes someone, who has no clue of the fact any more than you do, telling you some bullshit of a creator or stopping of a cycle or that kind of a story, which gives you an answer to the question "what happens to ME after I die?"… and some other baggage along with that. If you take for granted that you exist independent of your physical body and refuse to believe that your consciousness is a result of bio chemical / magnetic reaction (or whatever the shit that goes in the brain, I'm no medical doctor) then, you really need an answer to calm yourself down of the fear of death. So, you'd buy whatever the story is most accessible or sounds most plausible to you.


Either way is fine; but the problem is… most religions don’t stop at explaining what happens after death. Probably because those who’ve been preaching them realized that once they have a good grip of the masses with the explanation of death, they could get them to do anything for them.


Some chose to kill their enemies, some chose to earn more money, and some very few actually chose to do good to the man kind...


Anyways,


If you really have to find answers, the most important question to ask should be, why the fuck does every fucking organism re-produce and want to live as long as possible? I mean, even the smallest organism without brains do that right? So, that for me is the most mysterious question.


Really… why? They die eventually, and leaving behind offspring doesn’t serve them any good after that.


(Don’t get me started on having kids so that they would look after you when you are old – that’s just bullshit - I'll write something on that later)

Entrance

I always wanted to capture this entrance passage without any person in it, but given that I don't visit the temple of tooth often enough and it's always crowded, it wasn't easy getting the shot.

On the day of Sinhala avurudu though, I had my chance - for about 10 seconds. Wish the two people at the end of the passage were family, but they are not.

I'm speaking at CSSL next month about SOLID principles

Dul

Clean up your Island first!

[This was received through email, addressed to all Sri Lankans]


I am a regular visitor to Sri Lanka and for the past 10 years I have enjoyed coming here for both work and leisure; currently I am here on holiday and have covered quite a sizeable chunk of the Island in my pursuit of the stunning landscapes and fascinating wildlife that Sri Lanka has to offer, but I now feel I need to criticise your attitude towards tourism. Firstly, why don’t you clean up your Island – it’s beautiful as nature intended, it doesn’t need pink and blue plastic lunch wraps, plastic bags, cans, rags and packaging strewn all over the beaches and carried wherever the wind or rain chooses. It looks so unsightly and the biggest culprits of disseminating the litter are the day trippers from Colombo and the big cities who come to spend a day on the beach with friends and family. Perhaps they should take their rubbish home with them or better still, decent rubbish bins should be provided and regularly cleared. Why are there large and small chunks of concrete rubble on walkways and beach paths each piece acting as a trap for more litter? In the West, garbage is big business. We spend billions on disposal of rubbish. Householders need to divide their garbage into three or four different containers, ready for re-cycling so we are very aware, we’ve been brainwashed and it offends. Do you really want to be known as a dirty Island? I am generalizing. Some areas are absolutely pristine, there is no trash anywhere, there is obviously a system in place in some areas; compare the popular beach of MIrissa which looks like a garbage dump (the locals should be ashamed of themselves), with the spotless main road past Unawatuna.

The other complaint is your dogs; I know I’m not the first, but is it really so difficult to keep your dog population healthy and happy? Nobody takes responsibility for the street dogs, but they do get fed and so enjoy a fairly happy and sociable existence, but why can’t there be regular neutering? Why do your dogs have to walk around with limps and mange? Why are they always scratching? You have no idea what a turn-off this is for the foreign tourist, who probably comes from a country where dogs enjoy the same medical perks as humans and irresponsible owners are taken to court - we do notice but we are polite and say nothing. There is no need for culling, just a realistic attitude to the status quo.

I usually travel with my partner or with a group of tourists but a few times recently I have been on my own and was unhappy about the number of men who approached me asking inane questions regarding my marital status and where I was staying, do Sri Lankan women have this experience? One of Sri Lanka’s big attractions for all visitors is the friendliness of the inhabitants - they make you feel welcome - but there is a fine line between friendliness and imposition.

On reading this, you may well say, well don’t come if you don’t like it. Of course that is true, but do you want more tourists or don’t you?

The decision is yours.

W. S. Bryden,
UK.