Ullyses C. Grant Receives Yet Another Award

A NOTE from Retd Group Capt. Kumar Kirinde, 15 January 2023, with highlighting being his work

It’s about a man who embarked on a military career and went on to become the Commanding General (CG) of the US Army and US President (demonstrates his strategic skills and competencies). When being the CG of the army, the  president has been almost impeached as a result of falling out with him (demonstrating his power). 1.5 million people have attended his funeral and his funeral procession has been 7 miles (11km) long (demonstrates acceptance by the people as a true national leader i.e. one who worked towards fulfilling their needs and aspirations). His image has appeared on the front of the US fifty-dollar bill since 1913 (demonstrates his value to the future generations) .

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From Rural Poverty to Peradeniya Professorship: Vale for Prof. N. D. Samarawickreme (1943-2022)

Sachchitra Samarawickreme, in The Island, 7 January 2023 

We owe our existence to a string of unforeseeable events, repeated arbitrary fortune. My father was born in a rural part of the country. He was the eldest of ten siblings, who survived the circumstances and transitioned out of the village. The privileged upbringing and opportunities I had stand in stark contrast to his experience. That I exist is a tribute to his journey.

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United Kingdom Condemned by HRW

A Statement from Human Rights Watch, 12 January 2023: “Human Rights Watch Issues Damning Verdict for UK. World Report 2023 Says UK Policies Raise ‘Grave Human Rights Concerns”

The United Kingdom government repeatedly sought to damage and undermine human rights protections in 2022, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2023.   “In 2022, we saw the most significant assault on human rights protections in the UK in decades,” said Yasmine Ahmed, UK director at Human Rights Watch. “From your right to protest to your ability to hold institutions to account, fundamental and hard-won rights are being systematically dismantled.”

Volunteers sort food into food parcels at the Rumney Forum community charity on November 8, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. © 2022 Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

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Murali’s Ordeal in Pictures, 1995-2005

Michael Roberts

Looking back in retrospect, my respect for the resilence and strength of character shown by Muttiah Muralitharan has expanded by ‘metres’ these last few days. The story –involving numerous episodes — has been set out in my old essay “Saving Murali: Action On-Field and Off-Field, 1995-2005″ which has been presented as Chapter 5  in the book Incursions & Excursions in and Aound Sri Lankan Cricket, printed by Vijitha Yapa Publications in 2011 (ISBN 978-955-53198-0-5).

 

 

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Murali’s Epic History: Facing Many Powers …. A Bibliography

Compiled by Michael Roberts  …

  Murali is ’embraced’ by Tamil fans in Jaffna in 2004

 

Dr. Barclay “Buddy” Reid 2022 “Muralitharan: the arm that did not chuck,” 21 December 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2022/12/21/muralitharan-the-arm-that-did-not-chuck/

School of Human Movement, UWA 2004 “The Murali Report,” 15 May 2004, https://www.rediff.com/cricket/2004/may/15murali.htm …. signed by Daryl Foster

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Peculiar Cricketing Moments and Statistics in Pictorial Mode

Peculiar ‘Performances’ …. Statistical and Otherwise …. involving Famous Guys

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Hiring Murali for Australia! …. An Aussie Diehard in His Dungeon

Malcolm Conn in/for NewsCorp Australia, 22 December 2022, where the title reads “Hiring suspect spin king Muttiah Muralitharan a huge philosophy shift for Australian cricket”

THE appointment of Muttiah Muralitharan as a spin bowling consultant by the Australian cricket team shows a huge philosophical shift in Australian cricket and the ruthless pragmatism of Darren Lehmann.

Previous Australian spin bowling coaches such as Terry Jenner and Ashley Mallett have refused to teach the doosra to their understudies in the belief it cannot be bowled legally.

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Female Attire in Sri Lanka and AK Coomaraswamy

Laleen Jayamanne, in The Island, 28 December 2022, reviewing Ayesha Wickramasinghe’s ‘The Dress of Women in Sri Lanka’

Dr. Ayesha Wickramasinghe, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Textile and Apparel Engineering, at the University of Moratuwa, has recently published her doctoral research on sartorial styles, The Dress of Women in Sri Lanka (2021), in a handsomely designed hardcover book. The historical information, which spans the colonial and the postcolonial periods, with glances at the ancient past, is presented as a cultural survey, in an engaging manner, with a large number of photographs embedded, in the text, as illustrations. It has been published by The National Science Foundation and has recently received a national award as well.

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Babo: Blind Ice-Skater or Western Media Con-Trick?

Courtesy of elanka,  …..   https://www.elanka.com.au/babo-the-male-dancer-has-been-blind-since-childhood-doing-the-famous-tango-la-cumparsita-with-his-partner-at-the-world-figure-skating-championships-in-helsinki/

Babo, the male dancer, has been blind since childhood – doing the famous tango “La Cumparsita” with his partner at the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki

This is one of the most amazing performance in the history of skating, which brought tears to the 10,000 spectators present. Babo, the male dancer, has been blind since childhood. In a fire accident, his mother held him tightly in her arms and jumped from the 7th floor. His mother died, the little Babo became blind due to hemorrhage in his eyes and survived multiple bone fracture. His mother was an ice skater and Babo inherited that gene. Although he couldn’t see anything, he still pursued his passion enthusiastically. Here he is doing the famous tango “La Cumparsita” with his partner at the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki! His ears could measure the surrounding sound and distance like a bat. His female dancing partner is equally amazing. She danced with him so elegantly giving the sense of orientation and movements to her partner as if through telepathy so that even the most difficult synchronised movements kept perfect rhythm.

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Playing with Puns

From Lakshman & Sanath Jayatilaka: To all connoisseurs of good puns

“My ex-wife still misses me. But her aim is starting to improve”

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