Author Archives: thuppahi

APOYI !!  ….. 

NOW …. NAME THEM …. without removing ….

their footwear!!

From Left to  Right: Amir Sohail, Russel Arnold, David Gower, Roshan Abesysinhe and Tim Bresnan

Ifham Nizam

Sri Lanka has moved to strengthen the financial backbone of its marine conservation efforts with the establishment of the country’s first CORALL Conservation Trust Fund, a landmark initiative that positions coral reef protection firmly within the framework of sustainable finance and long-term economic value creation.

The Trust Deed establishing the CORALL (Conservation of Reefs for All Lives and Livelihoods) Conservation Trust Fund was signed on December 31, 2025, by Environment Foundation (Guarantee) Limited (EFL) as Settlor together with the inaugural Board of Trustees. The Fund is designed to support the conservation of Pigeon Island National Park, Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary and Kayankerni Marine Sanctuary, along with their associated seascapes—areas that are central not only to marine biodiversity but also to fisheries, tourism and coastal protection.

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Sarath  Withana

Dear Yasantha,

Thank you for your thought-provoking lecture on Artificial Intelligence as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its progression toward Agentic AI beyond Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The depth of your analysis and clarity of explanation were intellectually stimulating and profoundly insightful.
I was particularly engaged by your comparison between AI hallucinations and the schizophrenic hallucinations experienced by Brian. As a student of cognitive psychoneurology, I appreciated how you described Brian as a multimodal prediction engine capable of generating internal models without external stimuli, and how this mechanism can malfunction in schizophrenia, leading to hallucinations. The analogy to AI hallucinations was both creative and intellectually compelling.

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A “LankaLions” Post in FACEBOOK

Whenever DDS comes into the conversation, it’s never just about form. It’s always where he should bat and what exactly his role is. And as usual, there are plenty of fan theories floating around. So instead of arguing in circles, let’s see what the numbers actually say.

First up, the No.4 debate. A fair chunk of fans want Pavan Rathnayake locked in at four and given a proper run. The reasoning is simple: he looks like someone who can bat time once he gets in. In comparison, DDS’s ODI average of 25.87 doesn’t exactly scream “long-term No.4 at international level.” Pavan averages 43.77 in List A cricket, and yes, the immediate counter is that List A numbers don’t always translate internationally. Fair enough. But then, if that’s the argument, what do DDS’s List A numbers look like? We’ll come back to that.

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Michael Roberts

I have not kept track of the cricketing scenario in Sri Lanka and the personnel who take the selectorial decisions. Nor did I watch the Third ODI match at the P-Sara Stadium live on web [though I tracked it for a while [on ESPN Web-script].

Joe Root batting

From this position of an ignoramus. I would like to know (A) whether Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera & Dasun Shanaka are not considered 50-over players; and (B) whether Angelo Matthews and Chandimal are regarded as old and fading.

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Madushka Balasuriya, in ESPNcricinfo, 24 January 2025, where the title runs thus: “Root 75 sets up series-levelling win after spin-heavy England limit Sri Lanka” …and ADDs “Partnership between Root and Brook key as visitors knock off requirement on slow surface” …. England 223 for 5 (Root 75, Brook 42, Dhananjaya 2-37, Vandersay 2-45) beat Sri Lanka 219 (Asalanka 45, De Silva 40, Root 2-12, Overton 2-21, Rashid 2-34) by five wickets

Joe Root struck his 45th ODI fifty and with it helped England snap an 11-match losing streak away from home, as they won the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo by five wickets and with it levelled the three-match series at 1-1.

Root was unable to see the game to a close, falling to an Asitha Fernando yorker with just 42 to get off 57 deliveries, but by that point – with England batting all the way down – it would have required a collapse of epic proportions for Sri Lanka overturn the result.

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Asiff Hussein, at this digital site, …. A WALK DOWN THE MEMORY LANE OF COLOMBO IN PICTURES ….

A motley recollection of fond memories of that generation born in the carefree decades of the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s and survived in one piece through the 1980s when things were pretty much the same but had slowly begun to change….

Early morn saw folks take their tea with PERAKUM or COW & GATE condensed milk while kids had their milk with Marie or Nice biscuits from MALIBAN. Children back then got their fill of breakfasts with MD JAMS with fancy names like Golden Melon spread on bread. The sweet-toothed relished ZELLERS nut milk chocolates or went for a cool milkshake at Alerics PICADILLY CAFÉ on Galle Road, Wellawatte or a refreshing Faluda at BOMBAY SWEET HOUSE on Turret Road, Colpetty.

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Earlson Forbes’s EPITAPH ..……….[see  https://thuppahis.com/2020/04/19/mr-wjf-labrooy-a-historian-teacher-from-the-top-drawer/%5D …. succinctly pinpointing a “lesson for meaningful life” that he received from his Peradeniya guru, Mr JFK Labrooy, prompts me to present a set of personal recollections that display the encouragement and support that I and my family received from Justin Labrooy and his wife Erica.

When I entered Peradeniya University in 1957 in pursuit of an Arts-Degree and chose History as one subject [and eventually followed a Honours course in that field] I found myself in a first-year tutorial group under Mr Labrooy that included Ananda Wickremeratne, Russel Forbes, Trevor Roosmale-Cocq and Jayantha Dhanapala. On reflection I conjecture that this selection was no accident. It was Mr Labrooy’s foster-parent manipulation.

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INVITATION 

This Sunday, 25 January 2026, we warmly invite you to join a special and timely discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI)—a topic already shaping our lives and influencing our future in many ways.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Yasantha, a Sri Lankan–American AI expert, physicist, computer scientist, researcher, professor, and data scientist. He will share his insights and, more importantly, answer your questions in Sinhala or English during a relaxed, friendly Zoom discussion.

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