Category Archives: performance
For Sri Lankans: Dr David Young Honoured for His Medical Work
Item in the Sunday Times, 1 September 2019
His many friends across Sri Lanka hailed the Presidential award of the ‘Sri Lanka Ranjana’ to distinguished Australian orthopaedic surgeon Dr. David Alexander Young for his services to the country describing it as ‘well deserved’. The Presidential Awards ceremony was held at the BMICH on August 19. The Sri Lanka Ranjana is the second highest honour awarded to non-nationals for ‘praiseworthy services’ to the nation.
Lankan cricketing great Kumar Sangakkara said, “I am delighted that the efforts of Dr. David Young in his charitable endeavours in Sri Lanka are being recognized nationally. It has been a long time coming and to say it is well deserved is an understatement.” Continue reading
Sri Lankan Pageant in Los Angeles
Nandasiri (Nandi) Jasentuliyana, in Sunday Times, 24 August 2019 …. with pictorial illustrations due to Moran Perera
When the annual Sri Lanka Day was celebrated in the historic city of Pasadena this year, Sri Lanka took its rightful place among the ethnic festivals held in America. The featured event of the day was the ‘Pageant of Lanka’, a miniature Kandy Perahera. It took the breath away of the onlookers who filed along the historic route of the annual New Year’s Day Rose Parade, the most prestigious parade in America.
Sri Lankan Astronomers at the Cutting Edge of Space research
Meera Srinivasan, of The Hindu, 24 August 2019,, with this title ” Sri Lanka on an astronomical high”
In Sri Lanka’s political terrain, national security and the presidential race are the main talking points this season, both bringing a measure of anxiety for many. Almost lost in that buzz is the quiet achievement of a team of Sri Lankan scientists in outer space.
Astronomers from the country have sighted two new ‘exoplanets’, or planets outside the solar system, a rare feat in the study of stars and galaxies that puts Sri Lanka in a special league. The effort involved mining through several thousand files of data captured by the NASA Kepler/K2 mission over the last decade. “It was both effort and chance,” says Mahesh Herath, the 28-year-old scientist who led the team.
The Peradeniya Theatre Set in the Mid-1950s
When vising Francis Pietersz and his daughter Coralie about two years back I was given access to his photo album containing old photographs of play presented at one of the residence halls at Peradeniya Campus in the mid-1950s. I believe that one can identify Revd Fr. Pinto in the front row of the audience.
Michel Nugawela’s Brand Strategy via the Pathways of Outstanding Innovators
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, power politics, psychological urges, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Terrorist Suspects Arrested … Three Items of Interest
ONE: Item in Daily News, 17 August 2017, entitled “CID Director: 12 hard core terrorists, 63 suspects detained”
CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekara yesterday disclosed that 63 suspects are currently held in custody over their links to Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, including 12 hard core terrorists. He said among them are about 4 to 5 suicide attackers who had not detonated their bombs on the Easter Sunday.
Army Chief Mahesh Senanayake cannot claim he had no knowledge about the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), the CID Director argued yesterday. Abeysekara told the media at a press briefing held at the CID yesterday that Army Intelligence officials had attended the initial investigations when CID sleuths initially discovered a haul of explosives of the NTJ in Wanathawilluwa on January 17, 2019.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
“Bonfire of the Vanities” in Screeching Crescendo in Sri Lanka Today
Elmo Jayawardena, in Island, 15 August 2019, … http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=209019
The phrase BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES took life more than 500 years ago, 1497 to be precise, in the Italian city of Florence. The unusual practice was started by the followers of Franciscan priest Girolamo Savonarola. He denounced corruption, despotic rule and the exploitation of the poor. These were un-abated traits of Florentine rule, which were evenly spread among the rich and the powerful. Friar Savonarola waged war on vanity and preached to his followers to discard anything that was vain for a simple life of a man or woman who sought lasting contentment and happiness. To this end, he encouraged people to bring all their items of vanity and burn them. The bonfires of the vanities became a rallying call of the followers of Padre Savanarola so much so the Pope excommunicated the rebel priest and imprisoned him. He was later hanged along with two of his assistants and their bodies were burned. So ended the Bonfires of the Vanities, and Florence went back to abusing power.
Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, disparagement, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, Left politics, life stories, parliamentary elections, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, pulling the leg, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes
Nish Duraiappah appointed Police Chief in Peel Region, Canada
News Item in
Mainstream print media in Toronto including News Agencies and television broadcasting stations were quick to break the story that Halton Region police deputy chief Nish Duraiappah has been named Chief of Police of the Peel Region. Duraiappah, who has been a member of the force for 25 years, will take over from interim chief Chris McCord in October.
Displaying Lionel Wendt: Seeking Archival Material
THE COMPILATION OF AN ARCHIVE OF LIONEL WENDT & THE ART CENTRE …. AN APPEAL TO HIS FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS FOR RELEVANT MATERIAL
The Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund (LWMF) is presently engaged in creating an archive of Lionel Wendt, his work and the Centre for the Arts built in his memory. The LWMF is the only officially appointed organisation in the world established with the purpose of perpetuating the legacy of Lionel Wendt.
