Michael Roberts
The Dias Jayasinghes are etched deeply in memory as sons of Galle who were committed to schooling its generations in cricket and in history, while yet aiding all and sundry. At St Aloysius College in the mid-1950s I had the good fortune to have Marcus Dias-Jayasinghe as my coach – a gentleman figure who nurtured all of us. I then encountered DD Jayasinghe as an opponent on cricket-field playing for the Education Department against University of Ceylon teams.
George Yeo in Global Times, 16 June 2021, where the title is “China is a democracy by Lincoln’s definition: former Singaporean FM”
Editor’s Note: As tensions between China and the West continue to heat up, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has become the target of myriad attacks of the US-led Western countries. George Yeo, former Singaporean minister of foreign affairs, thinks this is because many in the West perceive China as a threat to American dominance in the world. Yet Yeo believes the nature of China’s rise is very different from that of the US – and hopefully Americans will eventually realize this. What does Yeo think of the development the CPC over the past 100 years? What are its challenges in the future? Why is China constantly being labeled as conducting “wolf warrior diplomacy?” Yeo shared his insights with Global Times (GT) reporters Li Aixin and Bai Yunyi.
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, education, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, transport and communications, unusual people, world events & processes
H.L. Seneviratne,** Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, USA, in Social Affairs: A Journal for the Social Sciences, ISSN 2478-107X (online) …. www.socialaffairsjournal.com
This paper is an account of the Department of Sociology of the University of Ceylon in approximately the first decade of its existence. The most significant development during this period was the transition of the department from one that provided courses for other departments, in particular Economics, to one that awarded its own degrees, making it a full-fledged and autonomous entity. The inability to grant its own degrees was not a plight rooted in any statutory limitation but a limitation of resources, in particular the want of adequate teaching staff. This may partly have been due to the ‘late comer’ status of Sociology in relation to other disciplines, and a related vicious circle of inadequate resources and low enrollments. Being a subordinate partner of Economics was also a part of the legacy of the department’s structural origin in the model of British universities. The oldest Department of Sociology in the UK was at the London School of Economics (LSE) and only goes back to the beginning of the 20th century; and it started as a subsidiary of the Economics Department. This paper makes an attempt to assess the relative contribution of the two major figures that strived in their own ways to secure the progress of the department towards achieving full-fledged status as a department that granted its own degrees.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam (Priya) and Nadesalingam Murugappan (Nades)[1] are two Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum in Australia. The couple married in Australia and have two Australian-born children. Until their detention by Australian Border Force in March 2018, the family was resident in the central Queensland town of Biloela, and consequently referred to as the Biloela family by some media.[2][3] The cause of the couple and their children has been supported by some residents of Biloela as well as asylum-seeker advocates.[4]
Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, Australian culture, australian media, charitable outreach, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, education, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, medical puzzles, meditations, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Times Obituary, 9 June 2021 …. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bernard-ziegler-obituary-lhzx5txbc
Ziegler oversaw the advance of technology on aircraft such as the Airbus A320. In 1993 Bernard Ziegler flew what was then the longest recorded flight by a civil aircraft when he piloted an Airbus 340-200 around the world in 48 hours, stopping once in Auckland. Yet the veteran French fighter pilot and director of the multinational aircraft manufacturer Airbus was self-deprecating about his abilities in the cockpit, attributing most of the skill involved to the automated systems he had developed. “After all, airline pilots are no more than taxi drivers,” he said.
Rajiva Wijesinha, reviewing the book People Inbetween in the Sunday Observer of 24 March 1991 **
“In this review of the book by three Sri Lankans – Michael Roberts, Percy Colin-Thome and Ismeth Raheem, Rajiva Wijesinha discusses some interesting aspects that go to make People In Between a ‘fascinating social history’.” — The Observer’s Introduction
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
Katrina Kramer of The Chemistry World, 11 May 2021, where the title is … “Bamboo bats could beat traditional willow at affordable cricket” …. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Cricket bats made from bamboo might help batters hit farther and faster, researchers have discovered. While willow has been the bat wood of choice for nearly 200 years, bamboo could deliver more energy to the ball during impact, though at the price of being much heavier. But bamboo’s fast growth could help make the sport more affordable to its rapidly growing fanbase.
Source: © Tom Almeroth-Williams
Dr Gamani Goonetilleke, whose chosen title is “Treating war victims: a learning experience” ….. https://drgamini.org/2020/07/13/first-exposure-to-war-injuries/
As a medical student or as a doctor, I was never taught about War injuries, their implications or the principles of their management. Nor did I study the topic. We grew up and learnt medicine and surgery during peaceful times when these were not seen. The initial exposure to these gruesome circumstances was dreadful and horrendous. It was my duty to attend to these casualties as they were brought to hospital.
Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, education, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, medical puzzles, meditations, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes
Daily News Item, 5 June 2021 ………….. http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/06/05/local/250945/covid-19-cases-surpasses-200000-mark-sri-lanka
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country surpasses 200,000. It is at 201,534 and 166,132 of them have made complete recoveries. There are only 31,466 active cases being treated in various hospitals across the country.The country has also witnessed 1656 deaths from the virus.
A NOTE: i have no means of confirming the accuracy of these statistics ….and the figures are presented here to encourage reports from personnel who can documenttheir presentations. Editor EThuppahi
From the Department of English, with this heading “In Memoriam: Professor Qadri Ismail: Brilliant thinker, inspiring teacher, loyal friend”
With deep sorrow, we note the death of our esteemed colleague Professor Qadri Ismail, who died in May at home of natural causes. He was 59. A noted scholar of cultural studies, postcolonial literature, literary theory, and gender and sexuality, Ismail joined English at Minnesota as Assistant Professor in 1997 and served the department in numerous capacities, including Chair of the department’s first Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee and Director of Graduate Studies.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
thuppahi
