Ramblings of an Insane Mind

Random Drivel

2009-12-04T19:51:00.002+05:30

Well, I managed to get through the exams without turning my brain into mush. Was a bit stressed out since I only had a few days to study, thanks to this little thing called work. Oh well, hopefully have gotten through. Free for couple of weeks, till classes start again.

The goings on of the country are quite depressing don’t you think. Difficult to imagine where we are heading to. The future is unpredictable and it is scary. I blame the game of politics, politicians and their non-exhaustive greed for money and power. To me politics, especially Sri Lankan politics, is like a bunch of rabid monkeys fighting over a basket of rotten mangoes. How i wish all assholes would just vanish into thin air. *poof*. It would solve a lot of problems. I want my paradise isle back...

Anyway, don’t want to clutter my blog with drivel. Been catching up on my reading these days. Currently on a spree of Stephen King (All Hail!) titles. Finished Cujo couple of days back and now going through Duma Key. Get my mind off the shit that is happening. There must be sales in bookstores now, this being the season and all. Must take a look and get my hands on some new books.

Speaking of the seasons, feel a little guilty about celebrating, since saying I’m religious is an understatement. Haven’t been to a church for a long time, makes an appearance on Christmas day to make the parents happy, but other than that...nada.

This post is a bunch of nonsense :P

Sometimes i wish i could trade places with this bugger. Funny, still haven't named him. no point really, since he never listens to me.

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

2009-11-04T21:34:00.002+05:30

Wow... a post after long time. Well sort of a post. I haven’t had some free time for couple of weeks now. Swamped at work, classes, several assignments to finish before the 15th and exams in 2 weeks. Still haven’t even touched a book. Officially starting to go on panic mode, something that rarely happens to me. AAAARRRGH....

The reason for this appearance is to wish Sesame Street a happy fortieth birthday. I found out about only when I saw the Google Sesame Street logo today. So Happy Birthday to Big Bird and the gang...

Image from here: http://amerginaccounting.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/sesamestreet-group.jpg

Sesame Street

I’ll make another appearance if my brain doesn’t turn in to mush by the end of the month.
Take care all

Cheers

Habarana and Trinco...

2009-10-02T16:40:00.006+05:30

It was the first time I’ve been to The Cinnamon Lodge at Habarana, and I must say I was pretty impressed. Not by the hotel buildings or the service or anything, but just by the environment. The abundant trees and the cool breeze blowing in from the lake is more than enough to refresh a weary soul. In truth, it’s not what I expected. I thought it’d be hot and dusty, but because of the amount of trees, you don’t feel the heat. I don’t know who designed the place, but they’ve done a great job. Man, how I wish I could build a house somewhere like that.

Trinco is booming with tourists these days, very much beneficial for the people in the area. Nilaweli beach was jam packed. During the two months since I first went to Tinco and last week, I think there is a noticeable increase in the amount of visitors. The boat operators to Pigeon Island are raking in the dough these days.

Coincidently, I came across this article in the Sunday Times about how the increased invasion of visitors is having an adverse effect on the coral population. Truthfully I also didn’t think about the effect of the visitors to the eco system till I read the article.

“This area was full of live corals three months ago, before the current tourist frenzy started at Nilaveli. Visitors who come to the island often walk on the corals and some of them even break the live corals to take home as souvenirs,” Eric said. A diving instructor who operates from Nilaveli Beach Hotel, Eric does several dives around the Pigeon Island reef daily.
Pigeon Island is one of the two marine national parks in SL, the other being Hikkaduwa, which from what I hear is not in a great state. What the marine biologists fear is that the same thing will happen at Pigeon Island.

I personally don’t see the attraction in bathing there, mainly because you can’t. The corals are razor sharp, and almost all who go in come out with several cuts. Sure, you can see the fish, but I prefer to have another way, rather than being covered with scrapes. I’ll take a sandy beach for a rocky one any day.

The other thing is the taking of corals as souvenirs. I don’t see the attraction in that either. It’s just adds more clutter to the house, which I already have a problem keeping clean. Then again maybe it’s just me.

Luckily the Navy is keeping an eye on things to make sure people behave. I saw several being advised by the soldiers to leave the corals they were carrying.

I’m not saying that I’m 100% environmentally conscious, but I try to be at least 80% whenever possible. I always try to stick to the mantra “Take only pictures and leave only footprints” where ever I go.

We are blessed with a naturally beautiful country, whatever the state of other things may be. That is why we have a great advantage in attracting visitors and promoting tourism. If we locals set an example of being environmentally conscious, and respecting our land, then the visitors will also learn to do likewise.

The work week was extremely busy, with tons of work, made maddeningly frustrating by network issues at office, gah… Looking forward for a relaxing weekend at home, well at least the Saturday. Its back to classes on Sunday. Gah…Gah…
Have a fun filled weekend all!

Little porky, has a funny expression. @ the Cinnamon Lodge farm

Trinco Beach

Like my sexy pose?

This bugger fell to the ground with a thud and was feeling woozy i guess :)

Selamat Siang

2009-09-25T07:55:00.003+05:30

...means “Good Day” in Malay, which forms the basis for Bahasa Malaysia. Interestingly enough, it is most commonly written using the Latin alphabet.

Why am I talking about the Malay language? Well, last week I joined some friends on a short trip to Malaysia. Short, because it was only for 3 1/2 days. The main reason for the trip was that a friend was attending her convocation from RMIT, and it was decided to make it a holiday as well. Hey, you live only once, so might as well take every opportunity to see how the rest of the world lives.

There’s a homely feeling there since environment and climate wise, Malaysia is like Sri Lanka. The main difference being the level of development they have achieved. It is a glimpse of what Sri Lanka can become. The other nice thing is the level of cleanliness. That is something I really wish we have, more than even development.

The Kuala Lampur International Airport is situated in a district called Sepang, about 50km from KL city. The whole area is covered with Palm plantations, which at first I thought were Coconuts. Apparently Palm oil is the second biggest export after petroleum. From above it basically looks like somebody took a strip out of a green carpet so that planes can land. The airport has two terminals, where the main one houses immigration, customs and etc, and to get from one terminal to the other, there is a pair of automated trains.

KL city is basically a concrete jungle, but it doesn’t feel like it because there are lot of trees. Somehow they’ve managed to create a balance between the concrete and natural greenery.

The Corus Hotel in which we stayed is right smack in the middle of the city and just a few buildings away from the famous Petronas twin towers. Unfortunately we kept putting off visiting the towers till the last moment, only to find out on Saturday that it was closed during that weekend because of the festival. So we missed the chance to go up to the sky-bridge. Tough luck I’d say.

There are more than enough shopping malls in the city to keep the shopaholics in a permanent state of ecstasy. The largest one we went to was the Times Square Mall. It has about 12 floors with about 100 shops in each floor. You do the math on that one. Most of them are designer clothes and fashion accessories. Seriously, once you go inside, you don’t feel the time moving. Have you noticed that most malls are built in a way that you don’t see the outside when you are in? When you don’t see the daylight changing, you feel like time has stopped. It’s a sneaky, clever way to keep the shoppers inside. Because of the festival season, all the shops were having some sort of sale. Otherwise, I don’t think the prices are that cheap. Food on the other hand is quite cheap, and tasty.

Being huge wasn’t enough for the Time Square mall people. They wanted more excitement, so why not put an amusement park inside it. Yep, it has an amusement park, complete with thrill rides and a twisting, looping roller coaster. It was my first time on a roller coaster and it was scary yet exciting. I guess it has an added scare factor than the outdoor one’s, because it goes twisting around the other rides so closely that you think that you are going to hit them. If it gets too hot to handle, the easiest remedy is to keep your eyes closed.

We did have a good time though; the only damper was that it was raining most of the time. I also would have loved to go visiting some other sites as well, but there is so much that you can do in 3 ½ days. Who knows, maybe another time perhaps?

On a separate note, I don’t know about other airlines, but compared to Emirates, our Sri Lankan has a long way to go. You’d think it would fall apart the way it was shuddering during taxing. The return flight had a weird engine noise as well. Oh well, guess we have to keep our faith with the engineers.

Annual office trip is coming up this weekend, so I’ll be off to Habarana and Trinco, again, and sponsored too :D Yay... lucky me.

Have a good weekend all.

Cheers

Random street shot - KL city

Petronas Twin Towers @ night

Random street shot - KL city

Reaching for the clouds

Random street shot - KL city

Inside Suria KLCC Mall

Cosmo World, indoor amusement park in Times Square Mall

Random...stuff :)

2009-09-14T15:04:00.003+05:30

I have been neglecting the bloggie for a while now. It’s been a bit busy these past weeks, what with some exams and work and stuff...you know. The good news is that the exams are over, at least for another two months. Bah...I have no life...

In an admirable move, the Indian government has stepped up its austerity drive, mainly because of the effects of the global recession and the severe drought in some parts, which is taking its toll on the Indian economy. Austerity is defined in economics as when governments reduce its spending. The foreign ministry has advised the ministers to limit expenses on travel, furnishing for ministers' offices and residences, publicity work, as well as seminars and workshops in luxury hotels. It has also been suggested that the ministers travel on economy class when flying. Most of them are adhering to the cut backs, except the flying in economy class. It’s is very commendable that they are mindful when spending public funds. I can think of a lot of people who should take an example for the Indian minsters.

Looks like another would be Sakvithi was arrested for allegedly defaulting LKR 430million. It’s sad to see that values such as honesty and integrity are becoming mere words. Soon they will have no value. Why can’t people do an honest day’s work without hurting other people? Hah...If there was an answer to that question, there would be a lot less problems in this world.

A female British rower named Rosalind “Roz” Savage is rowing across the Pacific Ocean, to become the first female rower to do so. Earlier in 2006, she became the 5th woman to row solo across the Atlantic, East to West. Now she is crossing the Pacific, and on the 6th of September 2009, has reached Tarawa, in the Republic of Kiribati. Kiribati is a small island nation in the middle of the Pacific, composed of 32 coral atolls. By arriving in Tarawa, Roz has completed the second stage of her journey.

She started the first stage in May 25, 2008 from San Francisco and arrived in Waikiki, Hawaii in September 1, 2008. The second stage was started from Hawaii in May 24, 2009 and completed after 104 days at sea, covering some 2500+ miles (about 4000Km)

Stage three will start in 2010, heading to Australia. When she finishes the crossing, she will cover about 9500 miles. Man, that’s a lot of rowing. More info can be found on her home page.

You have to admire the guts of some of these “adventurers”. They are not satisfied with having a mediocre life. They take risks and go for the kill. How many of us can say that we would do something like this? I am definitely not one of them :)

Roz Savage, Pic from Wikipedia

Have a good week everyone!

Dangerous Celebs Online!

2009-08-26T14:24:00.004+05:30

Jeassica Biel

(Pic courtesy of IMDB and Getty Images)

You might want to stop searching for those naughty pics of Jessica Biel online... oh wait; I forgot we can’t do that here anymore...

Anyway, you still might want to be careful when you Google her. In a new report released on Tuesday by McAfee, it says that names of Hollywood actors are in the top ten search terms that lead to websites with a security threat. Not surprisingly, Jessica Biel tops the list. The company named her the “most dangerous celebrity in cyberspace” because one in five searches with the term “Jessica Biel” leads to a security threat, with risk being annoying to devastating. Others in the top five include Beyonce, Jennifer Anniston, footballer Tom Brady, and Jessica Simpson. Apparently Brad Pitt led this list last year, but has been bumped out to #10. Technically there is no Brad Pitt anymore is there? It’s the Brangelina Clan now.

The validity of the report is criticised by some, since it was presented by a leading manufacturer of Anti-virus software, who supposedly just wants to trump up some publicity and sell more products. What a bunch of pessimists. Can’t a company, out of the goodness of their hearts present some information that can be beneficial to the society at large? Of course if it does lead to more sales, that is unfortunate.

The only important thing to take from this is that GEEKS DO HAVE TASTE, and that they are fully aware of pop culture trends. This will help to dispel rumours that geeks are demon creatures living in dark rooms, tapping at keyboards 24 hours a day, plotting to take over the world. The reality is far from it. They conquered the world a long time ago, and they are looking into mind control these days.

I do applaud their choice of celebrity though. Oh common, she was the only reason that I tortured myself to watch 7th Heaven :P. Justin Timberlake is one lucky bastard.

Oh yeah, the moral of the story is to be careful when your surfing cyberspace...

Geeks Rule

Courtesy of henryjenkins.org
Click in the image to see in full

“Life is what you make of it”

2009-08-25T08:11:00.003+05:30

There was a very inspiring story in this month’s Reader’s Digest. Unfortunately couldn’t find an online article, so I thought I’d do a summary of it.

Her name is Daniela Garcia, born in Santiago, Chile. Both her parents are doctors and she is also an excellent student who was accepted to one of Chile’s toughest medical schools. Not only was she good at studies, she was also a good soccer player.

In October of 2002, at the age of 22, she was in her final month of the fourth year of studies, and some of her friends had wanted her to go to another city to participate in some inter university games. Although she had agreed, she had a persisting uneasiness about the trip. Those feelings were even stronger as she got on the trains, especially since the train carriages were not in the best of condition. Her gut feeling told her that something was wrong. It’s funny that most of us dismiss gut feelings as silly, but sometimes it pays to listen to it. Is it intuition? sixth sense?, psychic phenomena?, guardian angels?, who knows? But whatever it is, I think it should be paid attention.

The carriage was in a dilapidated state and apparently the floor of the section connecting two carriages was broken. For those who haven’t been on trains, there is a gangway to go from one carriage to the other when two carriages are connected. It’s basically two steel parts from each carriage resting on each other, not fixed together. She was trying to cross from one carriage to the other when she fell from this gap. Apparently the gangplank was not there, it was night and the inside lights were not working properly, and the train was taking a bend, which, unfortunately for her, made the gap wider. As fate would have it, three determining factors became true at the exact same time she decided cross the carriages. As a frequent traveler by train, this is a scary. I sometimes even stand on this gangplank when the train is crowded. Yikes…

Anyway, she fell through the gap, but survived. She even regained conscious after awhile. It was then she realized that the train had gone over her limbs and amputated them. Both her forearms and hands had been severed, her right leg below and knee, and her left leg from above the knee. I can’t even begin to imagine what she must have felt. The shock of that must have been immense. Even with her injuries, she managed to lift herself up and roll away from the tracks, and managed to lie in the gap between the up and down tracks. Luck then played another part, because a farm worker was close by having a smoke, since his wife didn’t allow him to smoke inside the house. He heard Daniela’s yelling and came to her rescue.

As for her friends in the train, they had raised the alarm, but the crew had refused to believe that anyone could fall from the gap and had refused to stop the train. Unbelievable. She later sued the train company, but had settled out of court.

Given the nature of the injuries the paramedics didn’t give much hope that she would still be alive when they came, but to their surprise, not only was she alive, she was conscious and coherent. She managed to give all details about herself and her parents. At the hospital, during a three hour operations, the surgeons cleaned the wounds to give them the best chance of healing. Because of the crushing done by the wheels, it was impossible to reattach her limbs.

The inspirational part about her is that she didn’t give up, and spend the time moping about what she had lost. After her wounds were healed, she spent nearly a year in physical therapy and mastering prosthetic limbs. By the end of the year she was even able to drive a car and ride a bicycle. Also as part of her therapeutic process, she took to writing and eventually wrote a book about her accident and the process of physical therapy, which became a best seller in Chile. Within a year of the accident she entered medical school again. Long story short, she is the world’s first quadrilateral amputee physician. Her specialty is rehabilitation, like the doctors who helped her get back her life after the accident.

There are many people who overcome great adversity, especially physical disabilities to succeed in life. I choose this story because I came across it recently, and for the fact that it was a crazy accident. It is amazing what the human mind can endure, and the strength it has to overcome adversity. Comparatively, the problems we “normal” people have seem pretty inconsequential, and our whining silly.

Given half the chance, disable people can be totally independent, especially with the proper support from the society. Unfortunately, we are still lagging behind in this regards, but I think we will improve. IMO It’s more important in here because of our war heroes. Most supermarket chains do offer wheelchair ramps, but sometimes the insides are so cramped that there’s no room for even normal people to move, let alone a wheelchair. Wheelchair access means not just entering the building, but movement inside as well. I saw one small roadside cafe that not only had wheelchair ramps, but had done their inside layout with enough space for movement. It’s simply not about spending big bucks, but about putting thought into it. Things can’t change overnight, but hopefully they will.

Daniela in the middle with the Doctor's from the rehab clinic
Pic courtesy of Reader's Digest - http://www.rdselecciones.cl/contenido/a411_La-historia-de-una-chica-que-elegió-vivir

රතු පාට, දම් පාට, පාට පාට මල්...

2009-08-19T07:55:00.003+05:30

Why do we torture ourselves with higher education?

මන් අහන්නෙ, පෑත්තකට වෙලා එළවලු කොටුවක් වවාගෙන ඉන්නෙ නතුව ඈයි මෙච්චර දුක් ව්දින්නෙ? අර සුද්දන්ට වගා කරන්න බෑරිව බාර්න් බඩී ගහනව, අපේ උන් වගා කරන්න පුලුවන්කම තිබිලත් බාන් බඩී ගහනව.

If they show the same dedication to doing some actual farming as they do to playing barn buddy, we'll be highly self sufficient.

BTW i'm @ level 4 with 20,000 coins. I know, very low compared to some others :P

Bah, don't mind me, exam stress, brain turning to mush.

Very badly in need of අරක්කු therapy :(

Autobots Rule!!! - A Comic

2009-08-10T12:43:00.002+05:30

(click on image for larger view)

Yes, yes, I know, I'm weird. Wut to do no... It's not like i have free time to waste either :( *sigh*

West Meets East

2009-07-28T08:05:00.007+05:30

Known as Tirukōṇamalai in Tamil, this is a natural deep-water harbor that has been a port since the time of the ancient kings, and it still plays a major role in maritime trade in Sri Lanka. So it is fitting that one should try to visit this culturally enriched land even once in their lifetime. With that in mind, my team at office decided that this was the ideal time to get away from the hectic work schedules and enjoy life, at least for three days, doing a bit of recharging of the body batteries.

We started out Friday morning around 10.00 am. Could have gone earlier but, some of us have leave problems. By popular vote, it was decided to make the journey there through Puttlam and Anuradhapura, and come back through Habarana. The road from Puttlam onwards is not that great, narrow and bumpy, and it just adds more distance and time to the journey. However, I think it’s good to try each road at least once, hence my vote for the two routes. In my opinion, the Habarana route is much better and scenic. Arrived in Trinco around 8.00 in the night, to a strangely quiet and sleeping city. A change from the non-stop hustle and bustle of Colombo. It seems like a lot of people are visiting Trinco these days and the hotels are packed during the weekends, which is good in a sense.

Got up early Saturday morning and headed for the Konesvaram Temple, which is situated inside the Dutch Fort, now home to the security forces. After that, it was straight to Nilaweli. Most of the road to Nilaweli is under reconstruction to widen it, so at the moment it is a wide dirt road. Only a section of it is finished and going by that, it would be a street racer’s dream road once finished. The area is your typical dry-zone, very much like going through Hambantota. In contrast, the hotel grounds are filled with trees. It’s like they planted the trees first and built the hotel around it. This gives the whole compound a cool atmosphere.

Saturday afternoon arranged a jaunt to Pigeon Island, which is straight across from the area in which the hotel is located. The hotel has a launch as well, but there are locals who operate boat services, which costs LKR 1500.00 for 8 people. The island is a big rock with a coral beach all around it. There is a small shallow bay on one side full of fish. You have to be careful if you’re swimming there because the seabed is covered with sharp corals. Several of the guys have very painful mementos that vouch for there razor sharpness. You can definitely see plenty of coral fish here, if you don’t make a big splash and scare them away.

Three days are definitely not enough to enjoy everything, but alas, the chains of our mundane lives drag us back to reality. Unwillingly we packed our bags and started back home on Sunday.

Posted some pics here, and the rest is available on my flickr.

Try Wikipedia for more info on Trinco.

Cheers, have a good week all!

Under the Shade

View of Trinco from near Koneshwaram Temple

Temple Procession

Koneshwaram Temple

View from the rear of the Temple

Koneshwaram Temple

Entrance of Nilaweli Beach Hotel

The Beach

Cool Waters

Walk this way

Ideal place for a nap

Pigeon Island

Corals

Pigeon Island

Reflections

The beach early in the morn

Waiting for passengers

Araliya mal

Secret Squirrel

Guardians of the lake

Kantale Wewa

Yawn… the damn clock is slow

2009-07-02T15:06:00.003+05:30

It sucks to come early to work only to find out that you don’t have any work assigned for the day, which means you get to sit around doing nothing. What to do but surf the net while making a half-hearted attempt to ramp up on various tools. It also sucks that your seated in such a way that everybody else can see your monitors. These are the times I wish I had a workstation tucked nicely into a darkened corner. No, I don’t mean anything NSFW, :P just watching some plain old movies. In any case, after going through all my usual sites, here I am, reading mindless trivia to fill up the hours.

Came across some interesting cat facts on a site. Yes, I’m reduced to reading cat facts now.

• 95% of cat owners admit they talk to their cats.

• A cat can be either right-pawed or left-pawed.

• A cat can jump as much as seven times its height.

• A cat can sprint at about thirty-one miles per hour.

• A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.

• A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human only has 206 bones.

• A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.

• A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The whiskers act as feelers or antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage.

• A cat will almost never meow at another cat. Cats use this sound for humans.

• A cat will never break a sweat because it has no sweat glands.

• A cat's brain is more similar to a human's brain than that of a dog.

• A cat's brain is more similar to a man's brain than that of a dog.

• A cat's ear pivots 180 degrees.

• A cat’s field of vision is about 185 degrees.

• A group of adult cats is called a clowder.

• A group of kittens is called a kindle.

• Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion.

You can find the whole list here.

Found another site that also has a collection of cool cat pics. These pics courtesy of them.

Tic Toc, Tic Toc… *sigh* C’mon clock move your arse :D

Sleepy Heads

2009-06-23T19:51:00.003+05:30

Nope, this is not LOL Catz, this is ZZZ Catz. :D

These guys can easily get the gold medal at the World Sleeping Championships. But when they are awake, never seem to stay in one place for a second. Not the easiest to photograph when they are awake.

ZZZZzzzzz........

ZZZzzzzz....... contd.

Duude!!! do you mind?

Getting ready for more Zzz...

Mama...Will sleep through an earthquake

The pics are a couple of weeks old. Unfortunately one guy went to kitty heaven couple of days back. Got the nasty cat flue and was too weak to fight it, even with medicine. RIP little buddy :(

Cheers y'all, have a good week.

The Return of Puss

2009-06-19T12:26:00.000+05:30

His Honourable Excellency Chaminda Pusswedilla is again addressing his beloved public at the Lionel Wendt, from the 18th to the 28th of this month. Whatever the great man has to say, it must be important, and I fully intend to be present at this great occasion that will bring milk and honey flowing to the country.

For those who missed the announcement, checkout Hon. Puss’s Facebook page. Yes, he’s a learned man who is very tech savy.

I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I loved the first one, so I’m hoping that Puss 2 will be better. The actor playing the character role has changed, but I’m sure that the spirit of Puss will be alive.

Weird Marvel Characters and What Nots

2009-06-17T16:05:00.003+05:30

I have neglected ze old bloggie for awhile, being literally out of words. Couldn’t even come up with comments for other people’s blogs :(.

Anywhoo, one of the sites I enjoy going through when I, er... need a break from work is the Marvel Universe Character bios. Yes, call me strange, but that is me :P There are some very strange characters in there, but this one certainly deserves a double WTF.

Meet Bessie, the HellCow.

A three hundred year old, cow who was bitten by Dracula, roams the earth hunting for blood. Oh did I mention that she/it, or whatever you want to call it wears a cape. Yes, a cow with a cape. Wonder how the heck she got it on with her hoofs and all. Did someone tie it for her? If they did, who was it?

What’s more funny is the profile info they have one the site.

Bessie was born three hundred years ago and was owned by a local Switzerland farmer named Hans. One night Dracula searched through the local Swiss town, but could find no one to feast upon, (What about Hans the Farmer?) so he drank Bessies blood. The next morning Hans discovered Bessies lifeless body and buried her. Three nights after she was buried she rose from her grave and swore vengeance on Dracula and his kind. Three hundred years later Bessie found herself in Cleveland, Ohio (How exactly does a cow, albeit the vampire kind get from Switzerland to Cleveland, Ohio, in USA?) where she encountered Howard the Duck (Yes, there is another character, who is a Duck. Looks like an older more evil brother of Donald and Daffy. But atleast he’s an alien from the planet Duckworld. No, they don’t quack, they speak English) who she confused with Dracula and attacked him. (Why doesn’t it surprise me that an undead bovine would in fact mistake a 3 foot talking duck with a flat beak and feet for a full grown human with long canines) Despite Bessies powers Howard managed to gain the upper hand during the battle when Bessie became stuck in a local store. Desperately Howard found a wooden stake and a mallet and drove the stake through Bessies heart, killing her.

Real Name
Bessie
Too sweet name for a Vampire)

Aliases
Bovine Blood-Beast, Cowled Cow, Farm Killer, Recreant Ruminant
(oooh, creepeh)

Identity
Secret
(Didn’t even know that cows had an identity)

Occupation
Former milking cow
(Didn’t know that it was considered an occupation)

Citizenship
Inapplicable
(Swiss?)

Place of Birth
Unrevealed
(A barn belonging to Hans the Farmer?)

Known Relatives
Dracula (transformed her into vampire)
(Just because he drank you blood, it doesn’t make Dracula you relative. What about the other cows? Wouldn’t they feel left out?)

Group Affiliation
None
(Barnyard Cronies?)

Education
None
(Grassology)

Height
4'6" at shoulder

Weight
575 lbs.

Eyes
Red

Hair
Brown

Powers
Bessie is a vampire and has the ability to fly and could turn into mist. She also has apparently strength and durability far above those of any normal cow. However being a vampire she must suck blood from victims in order to sustain her immortality. She has the basic vulnerablities as other vampires such as religious items, sunlight, wooden stakes, garlic, and other vampire weaknesses.
(Seriously????)

Bessie

Seriously, were the writers of Marvel so deprived of talent they had to come up with this?

First of all, Dracula would never stoop so low as to bite a cow, that’s what humans are for. It’s very unlikely that Dracula couldn’t find a human victim to suck upon. It’s a disgrace on the noble vampire nation.

But I guess that someone must've loved her enough to publish the comic. Each unto their own I say. I'm pretty certain that somewhere out there is a kid with a Bessie the HellCow poster hanging on his/her wall

Let the weird ones rule

(Profile info and images thanks to Marvel.com)

Cheers y'all :)

Feeling Optimistic

2009-05-29T13:44:00.003+05:30

With all the happening during the past few weeks, I haven’t been blogging much. Then again, a lot of the blogs have been saying what I’ve been feeling. It’s a feeling of optimism that good things are coming our way.

People have asked me in the past whether I have any plans to migrate to greener pastures, and truthfully there have been times when I’ve thought about it. But then again, I’ve always hoped for things in SL to change.

After all that has happened, it’s sad that some people still want to migrate. Notably, most of them are well off and living comfortable lives here. Then again, it’s their lives and their choices. One thing to remember though, not all pastures on the other side is green.

Adios amigos!

An Article Well Worth Reading

2009-05-13T12:00:00.003+05:30

I'm not sure whether someone else has already posted this link, but I found it very interesting, and timely. It's an article written by D. B. S. Jeyraj, entitled: Tigers, Tamil Diaspora and the Tamil civilian plight

Found it originally through a link shared by a friend on FB.

Some excerpts:

---
The demonstrations were shown as being expressions of concern about the civilian plight. That this humanitarian concern was only a facade was exposed by four factors.

First, no such concern was shown when civilians in the Eastern province were in distress owing to the military campaign or even when civilians in the north-western regions of Wanni were affected. It was only when the LTTE-dominated north-eastern enclave was under threat that this cacophony for civilian concern increased in volume.

Secondly, these voices were stridently loud about the damage and destruction caused by artillery shelling and aerial bombardment by the armed forces but were conspicuously silent on the atrocities committed by the LTTE against its own people. There was no condemnation of the Tigers endangering civilian life, limb and property by locating their artillery and mortars in thickly populated places and engaging the enemy, thus bringing about inevitable retaliatory attacks.

Thirdly, there was no criticism of the LTTE for preventing sections of the people fleeing its territory for safety reasons. The LTTE has killed and injured several civilians for daring to escape its clutches and seek Army protection. Only the armed forces were blamed by these sections of the diaspora.

Fourthly, these sections wanted a permanent ceasefire. The United Nations has called for a temporary ceasefire to help facilitate the humanitarian exercise of evacuating entrapped civilians. But the pro-Tiger elements agitating for civilian protection are not responsive.

---

He ends the article with:

---
This short-sighted conduct of the LTTE within the diaspora is just one more instance of the irreparable damage inflicted upon the Tamil people by the Tigers. After having brought Tamils to the precipice of disaster in Sri Lanka, the LTTE is now compelling the diaspora to embark upon a confrontational course with Western governments and law-enforcement authorities.

Unless saner elements among the Tamil diaspora are willing and able to protest against the monstrous activities of the LTTE in their midst, this trend is likely to continue. Apart from being totally counterproductive to their own interests, this conduct of the LTTE will in the long run stigmatise the Tamil diaspora as being supporters of terrorism.

This certainly is not in the best interests of the global Tamil diaspora in the long run.

---

Worth reading the comments as well. All 305 of them :)

I Fail to Understand These Double Standards

2009-05-07T09:26:00.003+05:30

Latest in world news

Red Cross: Dozens of Afghans Killed in US Airstrike

Al Jazeera

BBC

CNN

Earlier, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said in Washington that the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of innocent life, calling such incidents as the reported killing of the 100 people "particularly painful".

But neither Obama nor Clinton specifically accepted US blame for the deaths.

Yes, how dare the world suggest that US planes did this? It must have been those bad Gremlins, stealing their fighters and dropping those bombs. Bad Gremlins.

Not surprisingly, all the countries that shout as champions of HR are silent. Of course, when their Big Brother does these things, it is acceptable. They don’t want to be on the bad side of the Big Brother do they?

Argh...This whole worlds is nuts.

Hot Summer Days

2009-05-02T18:36:00.002+05:30

...are fun, but this is a bit too much. Is it me or is it just freakishly hot these day?. I'm sitting at home sweating buckets :(

I didn't notice the heat much during the weekdays since I'm stuck inside an AC office during the day, and I usually get to office early and leave late. So I try to have minimum contact with Mr. Sun.

Went out with some friends yesterday and even the car AC wasn't powerful enough to cool us up. And no, it's not broken :P. You leave the car for awhile and get back in again, it's like getting into a hot oven. yikes...

Took the bike around today, and coz of the wind, you don't feel the heat...only until you stop. I'm now also sporting a two tone color scheme, since I was wearing a short sleeved T.

Even though the sun is gone now, it's still hot. No wind at all, and the trees are like frozen.

Oh ye all powerful weather gods, deliver us from this misery. Let there be rain...

No? not even a measly drop? :(

Oh well, I think I'll poke my head inside the freezer for awhile.

Cheers!!!

May Day

2009-04-30T21:37:00.002+05:30

...when workers around the world stick it to the man. Translated, it just means another day at home where you can sleep till the sun shines on your bum. If you get it on a Friday, it means a 3 day long weekend. The floodgates are open, adventure awaits you.

Unfortunately I’ll be home bound. No plans at all. Maybe a three day nap will be good. Hopefully lots of people will be going out of Colombo and Colombo will be empty.

The beginnings of May day dates back to 1886, when the Haymarket riots happened in Haymarket Square, Chicago, Illinois. This is the general strike which eventually gets workers in the US an eight hour workday. Thank heavens for those pioneers, for winning all those right we enjoy as workers.

On a more loving note, May 1st is also the Global Love day. The Love Foundation celebrates each May 1st as a symbolic day of unconditional love and invites all people and nations around the world to gather together in the wisdom of peace and love.

Apart from the historical Haymarket riots, and the love fest, other interesting things that happened on this day in the past include:

1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence ends with the Treaty of Edinburg-Northampton, whereby the kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.

1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1751 – The first cricket match is played in America.

1753 – Publication of the Species Plantarum by Linneaus

1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati, by Adam Weishaupt in Ingolstadt.

1786 – Opening night of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro

1834 – British colony’s abolish slavery

1930 – Dwarf planet Pluto is named

1931 – The Empire State building is dedicated in New York

1948 – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is established with Kim Il-Sung as the president.

1950 – Guam becomes an United States commonwealth

1956 – Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.

1961 – Fidel Castro declares Cuba as a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1978 – Japanese Naomi Uemura becomes the first person to reach the North pole alone by dog sled

2003 – GBW ignores reality and declares major combat operations over in Iraq

I heard that many of the political parties are not organizing any rallies or marches this time around. There’s no point since the elections are over anyway. Well atleast Colombo will be quiet tomorrow.

Yep, power to the people...

If you don’t have anything better to do, atleast go spread some Luuuuv...

Cheers y’all, enjoy the long weekend.

Giant Bunny’s Anyone?

2009-04-28T12:48:00.002+05:30

I came across this news story while trawling through some odd news sites.

There is a breed of Rabbits known as the German Grey, which can weigh up to 10kg. A German breeder by the name of Karl Szmolinsky bred in 2006, a 23 pound, (10kg) Giant Grey Rabbit named Robert. According to reports, he had made a deal with the North Koreans to supply several breeding pairs of these Rabbits to help with the food crisis. Seemed like sensible solution, as we all know, bunny’s love to procreate... a lot. Unfortunately all news of the bunny’s halted when they entered North Korea and it’s is suspected that they ended up in some rich official’s dinner table.

There are around 50 different breeds of rabbits apparently, mostly created by various breeders from around the world, through selective breeding or natural selection. From what I can gather, the smallest would be the Dwarf Hotot, weighing around 3lb, and the largest the above mentioned German Grey. Another close contender for the biggest is the Flemish Giant, which can also reach around 10kg’s.

Sounds yummy don’t they?.... Yes...Yes... I know, I’m evil. Wot to do ne?

Giants Rabbits to NK 1

Giants Rabbits to NK 2

List of Bunny Breeds

Robert the Giant German Gery Rabbit

Dwarf Hotot

Flemish Giant

Pics off the Net...

Chilling

2009-04-15T08:17:00.005+05:30

First of all, I hope that everyone had a good time this avurudu. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will bring about a lot of positive changes to us, as a country and as individuals.

As mentioned, yours truly and three of the old gang went down south to celebrate avurudu, and had a blast of a time. Left home around 8am on Monday morning, and thanks to clear roads, made it to Unawatuna at around 10.30. Holidays like these are the best to travel since many people are out of the roads. We managed to find couple of rooms in a small place that we’ve stayed before, good comfy rooms for a reasonable price. Actually the place was built with people like us on mind, not your ideal family inn, I dare say. The place used to have good food, but not so much this time around. Either they have a new cook, or the regular guy has gone on leave for avurudu.

Times they are changing though. Earlier when we planned a trip, we had about 10 people in the gang, but now, it’s a tough job to find four people. Some have gone out of the country, and some are just plain busy, and the end result is less amigos for our adventures. Another thing I noticed is that our level of alcohol consumption has gone down markedly, when compared to what we used to do earlier. Is this a sign of growing old? O the horror.

It’s also a bit weird to be the only single guy in the lot and listen to the others talking about their wedding plans, something I never imagined that we’d be talking while getting wasted. :O It’s funny how the world turns isn’t it. How things evolve in a short time. I mean, around a year ago, wedding plans were the furthest from anyone’s mind. I think they now consider me a “Special Project” to get off the singles list. Yikes...Scary thought :O.

Getting wasted and soaking in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, ah the good life. Great while it lasted, but now back to the daily grind. Half the people in my team is off for the remainder of the week, so these couple of days are going to a bit hectic.

Cheers y’all have a good week.

Some pics for your enjoyment :)

Through the looking glass

King Coconuts

Where buildings meets the sea

The sea, rocks and a Tree

Grounded

Put me to water please

The Beach

A tree top perch

Green and Blue

A Lot of Leaves

He Shoots, He Scores

Old Crock

Stoned Elephant

Antiques

Old Woman

Elephants

Antiques

Old Jewellery

Wonder who ate from these?

A dressing table with some great woodwork

The antiques are from one of those antiques shops inside the Fort.

Oba Samata Suba Aluth Avurudak Wewa!

2009-04-10T13:03:00.002+05:30

A new year filled with happiness, health and wealth...

With every bubbling pot of milk, may our little island be filled with blessings from all the gods and goddesses...

Enjoy a tasty piece of Kiribath with those close to you...

Forget about weight watchers and cholesterol, eat all the kevum, kokis, mung-kevum, Aluwa, etc, etc, that you can get your hands on...

Forget all those little grudges with your family members and neighbours, and enjoy the season...

My family background is not Buddhist, so they’ve never been much into observing nekath and all that, frankly I’m not a big believer in all those things. We just enjoy the fun side of it :)

I also want to wish all Christians a very happy Easter!

Three friends and I are planning to go down south on the 13th and 14th, for some fun in the sun and sand. There are two bottles of Absolut, just begging to go down our throats, so who are we to disappoint them? :P

Cheers y’all, have a good Avurudu, and may it bring you health, wealth and happiness.

Pic Source: http://byfiles.storage.live.com

Where have all the Kohas gone?

2009-04-07T15:14:00.002+05:30

No, seriously where are they? Haven’t heard a peep out of them this season, except maybe one or two lone rangers. Oh sweet song bird, have you forsaken us also?

I asked the same thing two years back, but this time, I’ve heard them less than that time. Well I guess it’s no surprise. What can the concrete jungles of Colombo offer them? They too must have packed up their bags and gone in search of greener pastures, literally.

Who can blame them? Trees are becoming a rarity in Colombo now, with concrete pillars replacing them. The air saturated with dust and smog, the sweet smell of diesel and garbage wafting around. Even if the Koha’s do sing, how can they even compete with the constant tooting of horns? It’s enough to drive anyone nuts.

Unfortunately, Colombo is a necessary evil. It is the engine that runs the country. An engine which provides good returns to its minions who toil for her.

Call me old fashioned, but I yearn for a beautiful little place somewhere in the hills. My other favourite is somewhere down south with a beach front, but then again, I already live close to the beach and I’m not a big fan of the heat. The hills win by a considerable margin. It won’t happen in the near future, since I’m broke, but it will happen someday. I too will follow the Kohas to greener pastures.

I guess this Avurudu is going to be low key, with all this economic woes hanging over our heads.

Image Credit: www.imagelanka.com

Santa Clause Diaries – Case of the Missing Easter Bunny.

2009-04-02T11:40:00.002+05:30

It was a balmy March afternoon in the Caribbean, where my little yacht “Bootylicious” was moored in a lovely little secluded cove, away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. It is also a great little spot for some swimming too. The warm waters are so inviting. I was throwing a little party in honour of Ms. Tootsie, the newly crowned Bunny of the Year. She is a beauty, that girl. We were having a jolly good time, Tootsie and I, toasting her success.

Then suddenly out of nowhere, something comes flying out of the sky and plonks right into my punch bowl, splattering juice everywhere. Scared the shit out of everyone. They thought they were under attack from one of those terrorist buggers. These humans are paranoid as hell. After calming them down, I managed to fish out whatever it was from what remained of my punch. It turned out to be one of those darned Owls Mother Nature, or Minnie as I like to call her, uses to deliver messages. I mean, she really should keep up with the times. Sometime I feel like I’ve lost my right hand when I don’t have my Blackberry with me. I gave her one for last Christmas, but she just keeps it on her mantelpiece. Ah, some people never change. Anyway, she said it was urgent that I meet with her, so I had to cut short the party and go see her.

She was agitated as hell when i got there. It’s been like that ever since these global warming problems cropped up, but today, she was hyper. It seems that the Easter Bunny has gone missing, and she wants me to find the bugger. You know, that really get’s on my nerves. Just because I stalk little kids and maintain a naughty and nice list, why does everybody think that I can find their missing stuff? Death loses his scythe and it’s “ooh Santa can you find it?” The Sandman loses his sand pouch and it’s the same thing. Bah, what am I? Sam Spade. I was about to say no to her, which is not exactly an easy thing to do, when I remembered that Easter is just around the corner, and if the silly little Bunny isn’t found by then, somebody else has got to do his rounds, and the way Minnie’s brain works, that unlucky bastard would have be me. I am definitely not doing that silly little Bunny’s Easter rounds, so I thought I might as well investigate, before I’m forced to something that I’ll regret for the rest of my life.

Off I went to the scene of the crime, to check the Bunny’s lair. If you thought the bugger lives in a hole in the ground, then you’d be very wrong. The Bunny knows how to live life to the fullest. It’s an old manor house built to Victorian architecture, with hundreds of rooms. Unfortunately he got it onto his head to do some interior decorating and made it into an eyesore. So typical. The silly bugger just loves to live it large, but doesn’t have a creative bone in his body. Don’t ask me where he gets the money from, but supposedly he’s a genius when it comes to investing.

I thought I’d start out by questioning the house staff first. According to the butler, the Bunny went to bed that night, and by morning had completely vanished. In my opinion, the Bunny must have eloped with some chick and probably having a merry old time on some private beach somewhere, but, nobody seems to be interested in that theory. Checked out the master bedroom and couldn’t find anything suspicious. However there was a strong smell of Jasmine in the room. There was something familiar about the smell, but I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time. Checked with the butler, but he says that “sire never used jasmine scent”. It just adds weight to my theory that a chick was involved. The only other unusual incident was that everybody in the house had slept late in the morning.

After a bit more rummaging in the bedroom I came across the best clue of the day. A little bit of sand spread between the bed sheets. This was not your normal everyday sand, but the magical kind. So now I had a suspect. Only one person uses sand like that and that’s the Sandman. Makes sense too. What better way to guarantee stealth, than putting everyone to sleep. No wonder the staff had trouble getting up in the morning. This was going to be easier than I thought.

Next in line was a visit to the Sandman, and I could see immediately that he was a nervous cat, like someone trying to keeping a big secret. He’s not exactly the brightest of the bunch, so planning out a kidnapping is not his forte. I mean, he’s only awake four hours a day, and even then he’s not fully there. Then it hit me. Everything was falling into place and I kind of figured out who the mastermind was. The Sandman was a lackey of non other than the Tooth Fairy. It also explained the Jasmine Perfume, which is her favourite kind. I wanted to confirm my suspicions before I told Minnie, and I was in no mood to entangle with a hot tempered, tooth hurling nut case, so I thought I’d better interrogate the Sandman first, and get all the details from him. I knew he’d be easy to crack. Sleep deprivation, that’s the key. There’s nothing to it if the person tends to fall asleep every 5 minutes. I kept him awake for 1 hour straight, and he began to spill all the beans. These guys may know magic, and act tough, but when it comes to crime, and holding under pressure, they suck.

It seems that the Bunny has been up to no good. He had started out this investment scheme and convinced both the Sandman and the Tooth fairy to invest in it, offering high interest rates. When will people learn that there is no such thing as easy money? He had taken the money and invested in an alleged Diamond mine, which turned out to be full of dirt. Stupid long eared rodent. He got scammed himself. They should have known better than to trust that Bunny. And then they are surprised when he lost the money? What more can you expect from a playboy who loves to paint Chocolate eggs all day long eh?

Now, if you screw the Sandman, nothing much to worry about, because he’s not really the type to come after you for revenge. But the Tooth Fairy? Oh boy, she’s a completely different story. She’ sexy as hell, but her temper is like an erupting volcano. Many a times that the Sandman had to use memory spells on little kids after she scared the shit out of them. Several years of anger management therapy, but I still don’t see any improvement. She’s someone that you do not want to mess with. You screw with her and she’ll rip open several new holes in your nether regions. According to the Sandman, she was really pissed with the Bunny for losing her money and had come up with the plan to teach the Bunny a lesson. They had sneaked into the mansion that night and the Sandman had used his sand to put the Bunny and the rest of the household to sleep, and the Tooth Fairy had whisked him away to her place, and put inside one of her dungeons to rot forever. I can tell you this, I was not the one going over to her place to rescue the bunny, and face her wrath. Let Mother Nature handle her, after all, she’s her daughter. I gave all the details to Minnie and told her where she could find the Bunny. If she wants him, she can bloody well go and get him.

Well another case is closed, and I’m back where I ought to be. On board my little yacht, cruising around the Caribbean. Come to think of it I’m getting quite good at this sleuthing business. Maybe I should think about starting a PI business. Hell, I keep doing it anyway so why shouldn’t I get paid for it. No more freebies. Last I heard, Minnie intervened and got the Bunny released from the clutches of the Tooth Fairy. However, it was under agreement that the Bunny will pay all the money he owes, even if he has to sell of everything he owns. Oh well, a happy ending I guess. The Bunny will do his Easter rounds and I’ll be partying with my other Bunnies, wink wink. Ho Ho Ho...

Image from www.iclipart.com/

Long Live Hela Metal

2009-03-30T08:23:00.002+05:30

Throbbing drums, screeching guitars, and screaming vocals, mixed together with the volume level set to stun, are the essential ingredients that makes for a very exciting heavy metal gig. It’s been some time since I went one of these and so decided to make a date last night (29th ) for the Siv Hela Renaissance, a showcase for the great bands of the Sri Lankan heavy metal scene. Four+ solid hours of pure SL metal and loved every freaking minute of it, and you know it was a good show if your ears are still ringing the next morning.

Although in true Hela fashion, it started one hour later than advertised. Oh well, some things never change. There wasn’t a big crowd at the beginning, so was kind of disappointing, but as the night went on, the place became somewhat packed. It was held at (formely) Clancy’s, so as you can imagine, it doesn’t take a lot to fill that place up. BTW since when did Clancy’s become Shine? Sri Lankan metal heads are a rare breed. Well, I wouldn’t call myself a typical metal head either, not the head banging type. I’m more of a sit in a corner and let the music make me numb kind, he he. I’m pretty sure that lot of those guys are having cramped necks this morning :)

The six bands featured were, Funeral in Heaven, Fallen Grace, Merlock, Karmic Sulphur, and Siblings of Hatred. There was also a guy who did some great unplugged set as well. All are great bands, but I especially loved the last two sets by Fallen Grace and Funeral In Heaven. I think that our guys are ready to kick some butt in the world Metal scene.

To all the bands, freaking awesome gig! Looking very much forward to another one.

Metal Rulez!

Long Live Hela Metal!

Ramblings of an Insane Mind

Random Drivel

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

Habarana and Trinco...

Selamat Siang

Random...stuff :)

Dangerous Celebs Online!

“Life is what you make of it”

රතු පාට, දම් පාට, පාට පාට මල්...

Autobots Rule!!! - A Comic

West Meets East

*Yawn…* the damn clock is slow

Sleepy Heads

The Return of Puss

Weird Marvel Characters and What Nots

Feeling Optimistic

An Article Well Worth Reading

I Fail to Understand These Double Standards

Hot Summer Days

May Day

Giant Bunny’s Anyone?

Chilling

Oba Samata Suba Aluth Avurudak Wewa!

Where have all the Kohas gone?

Santa Clause Diaries – Case of the Missing Easter Bunny.

Long Live Hela Metal

Yawn… the damn clock is slow