The Several Pathways to Hellish Bliss
Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, energy resources, life stories, performance
Penny Wong Ties Australia’s Strings to USA’s ‘Cavalrymen’
Mary Kostakidis, in https://johnmenadue.com/wong-defines-australias-foreign-policy/ …. where the title reads “Wong defines Australia’s foreign policy … all the way with the USA”
It was an extraordinary feel-good speech that nevertheless sent a very clear message to the region: the vehicle through which Australia will ensure we participate in shaping in the region, is AUKUS – an Anglosphere alliance to steer the Asia Pacific.
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Penny Wong addresses the National Press Club in Canberra, Monday, April 17, 2023. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING
Regardless of reassurances and pledges regarding respect, inclusiveness and sovereignty, Asian leaders will understand well the essence of her message, in spite of the dulcet tones, the dignity and gravitas.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, Australian culture, australian media, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, life stories, military strategy, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, world events & processes
The Galle Fort: Its Southern Rampart ‘Fronts’ Multi-faceted Ambience
Michael Roberts
As I walked along the Galle Fort’s ramparts on several occasions in early April this year 2023, not only did pleasant memories flood back: the intriguing present lay before me (literally in some cases) …;
while a regular ‘little tide’ of tourists (perhaps Ukrainian or Russian?) passed me every now and then. The ambience and power of setting and nostalgia enveloped me at every stage. As a youngster the ramparts were not my only passageway. The rocks at the bottom edge of the walls and/or the sea provided adventurous routes this way or that…. familair routes because one knew where the thorny corals and dangerous spots were.
Artificial Intelligence: Humankind’s Master or Servant?
Chandre Dharmawardana, in The Island, 17 April 2023 , ….. whose preferred title is “The relevant and irrelevant fear of Artificial Intelligence”
The oracle-like power of the ‘large-language’ Chatbot named chatGPT has frightened rational techies and mystic mullahs alike. Elon Musk, Steve Wozniac who co-founded Apple Inc., historians like Yuval Harari, and academics like the Turing-prize winner Yoshua Bengio of Montreal University called for a six-month pause for developing AI beyond GPT-4, the latest technology released by OpenAI.
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Galle Fort Today: Its Western Ramparts in the Sun
Amateur Camerawork by Michael Roberts, in Early April 2023
I was fortunate to benefit from the hospitality of Moninna and Gamini Goonewardena of Parawa Street and took the opportunity to record some of the work with autistic teenagers & children that was conducted at ECSAT in Wakwella Rd on the Friday (easily the most vital event during my stay).
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Fidel & Danny ‘String Together’ Melodious Accounts of Day One at the Galle Test Match
Andrew Fidel Fernando, in ESPNcricinfo, 16 April 2023,
Dimuth Karunaratne struck an assured 179, Kusal Mendis amassed 140, and Sri Lanka took firm grip of the Test, as that pair’s 281-run partnership for the second wicket formed the centrepiece of the hosts’ dominant day one. Not only were Karunaratne and Mendis largely untroubled by the Ireland bowlers on a flat Galle deck, they also ensured that their progress was brisk, hitting 33 fours and a six between them.
Ireland’s Prospects vs Sri Lanka at Galle appraised by A Soccer Fan
Daniel Byrne, whose chosen title is “The Irish arrive in Galle; A preview of the Test Series“+
When you have spent the previous four months following the fortunes of Queens Park Rangers no idea when your team may chalk up the next victory. Hence, my decision to come to Sri LFootball Club, two wins from 26 games, there comes a time when you simply have anka to follow the Test Series between Ireland and the hosts. There may even be a better chance of Ireland winning a game in th.e next two weeks than QPR.
David Pocock: From Rugby Scrums to Parliamentary ‘Scrummaging’
Christine Middap in The Weekend Australian, 15/16 April 2023, where the title is “Pocock’s Progress”
He tries to start the day with some quiet contemplation.
David Pocock in the Senate.….Pix by Martin Ollman
Pocock with a redneck rock wallaby , …. Pix by Rohan Thomson
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The Hill Country Tamils of Sri Lanka …. & Their Travails
Shamara Wettimuny in Financial Times, 12 April 2023 … with highlighting added by The Editor, Thuppahi
On a muggy Friday afternoon, the auditorium of the National Library of Sri Lanka slowly filled with an eager audience from Colombo, the Hill Country and beyond. It was the launch of a book by Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Mythri Jegathesan, of Santa Clara University.
Mythri Jegathesan
Her book, a work on and of solidarity with the Hill Country Tamils of Sri Lanka, ‘Tea and Solidarity: Tamil Women and Work in Post-war Sri Lanka’ was originally published by the University of Washington Press in 2019 to widespread acclaim. It was awarded the 2020 Diane Forsyth Prize for the best book featuring feminist anthropology research and in 2021, it won the Michelle Z. Rosaldo Book Prize for its significant contribution to feminist anthropology.
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Discernment: The Tulana Resource Centre at Kelaniya Fostering Discernment
TULANA is a Sri Lanka Jesuit Province Apostolate mandated by the Superiors and founded in 1974 by its current Director, the Asian Jesuit Theologian, Indologist and Buddhist Scholar, Fr. Aloysius Pieris, s.j.
“The name TULANA has its roots in Sanskrit and means four things taken together: elevation, weighing, comparing and deciding for the weightier things – in short DISCERNMENT.”
Revd Aloysius Peiris, s.j.
Its primary founding motivation was as a response to two challenges – the challenge of the spirituality and philosophy of Sri Lanka’s major religion, Buddhism, and the challenge of the socio-political aspirations of the highly educated but marginalised rural youth.
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