SEE http://www.greatmirror.com/index.cfm?countryid=376
There is a marvellous range here though there are still some places up north and elsewhere that need to be covered. I begin by reproducing three pictures from my beloved home town of the Fort Galle and then insert one from Trinco and then a homely scene of an old fashioned house inKandy.
Filed under citizen journalism, island economy
A……….Lee Harvey Oswald Employed at the Texas School Book Depository
There may be literally thousands of people out there at any given moment who would like to kill the President of the United States. Of these, only a tiny fraction actually possess the means to do so (skilled with a firearm or explosives, etc.) and of these, almost none of them will ever be afforded the opportunity to do so. This is what makes Oswald’s case so remarkable; consider that here is an ex-Marine sniper with Marxist leanings and a desire to make himself famous by killing a world leader, who purchases a high powered rifle through the mail for fifteen bucks, and then somehow gets a job at the one place the President of the United States’ motorcade is going to pass within fifty yards of just a month beforehand. Quite a remarkable coincidence that was to provide Oswald, who already had the means and the motive, with the opportunity to commit one of the most heinous crimes in history, and one that remains controversial to this day. What if he hadn’t gotten the job at the Schoolbook Depository Buildingo n October 16, 1963? Impossible to say for certain, but it’s a near certainty he would not have had nearly the fine perch the City of Dallas was to provide him that sunny November afternoon.
B. The Kennedy-Lincoln Link
This one is an old story, but worth recounting because it is so unusual. It revolves around an unusual number of coincidences that occurred between Presidents Kennedy and Lincoln in regards to their assassination. For example, both men were elected 100 years apart (Lincoln in 1860, Kennedy in 1960); they were both succeeded by Southerners named Johnson, and the two Johnsons were born 100 years apart (Andrew in 1808, Lyndon in 1908). Both Continue reading
Filed under unusual people, world events & processes
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence with Ian Sample, science correspondent — Guardian, 16 May 2011, courtesy of Before its News.
A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said. In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts,Britain’s most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time. Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, shares his thoughts on death, human purpose and our chance existence in an exclusive interview with the Guardian today. The incurable illness was expected to kill Hawking within a few years of its symptoms arising, an outlook that turned the young scientist to Wagner, but ultimately led him to enjoy life more, he has said, despite the cloud hanging over his future. Continue reading
Filed under life stories, unusual people, world events & processes
” While the action was taking place on the pitch, outside the ground there was a protest by the Tamil Youth Organisation who wantSri Lankacricket boycotted until the country agrees to an investigation of war crimes in 2009. They chanted throughout the session from a cordoned off area and are expected to be a presence at various stages throughout the tour” — Andrew McGlashan reporting for cricinfo in describing the first day’s play in the warm-up game between Sri Lanka and Middlesex. As most followers of the game know, a few Tamil Australians, supported by a few White Australian fellow-travellers, distributed anti-Sri Lankan pamphlets outside the MCG during the ODI match between Australia and Sri Lanka in November 2010. Some leaflets targeted Ajantha Mendis in particular –even though he was not part of the touring squad. But he is very much part of the England tour. 
Scenes at Uxbridge from http://www.tamilnet.com/pic.html?path=/img/publish/2011/05/uxb04.jpg&width=2361&height=1574&caption=Tamilnet.com
For virulent demonstrations on the streets outside the cricket grounds in Toronto on 12 October 2008 which also targeted Mendis, see http://cricketique.wordpress.com/photo-shots/ as well as the book INCURSIONS. (Colombo, 1911). Continue reading
Janith Aranze, from the Sunday Leader, 15 May 2011
Dual Citizenship Put On HoldThe current review of the system of dual citizenship could deprive thousands of expatriate Sri Lankans the right to a Sri Lankan identity. With many choosing to live abroad due to work commitments or family reasons, dual citizenship is seen as the ideal way to integrate into a new community while still keeping an allegiance to your country of birth. With dual citizenship currently suspended, 
It is almost impossible for travellers heading North with foreign passports to get past checkpoints — Photo by B.A.Perera
the new system is expected to be a lot tighter for those wishing to obtain it. Continue reading
Aya Lowe, in the Gulf News, 6 May 2011
Pic shows travel agents striving to give clients the best deals. Following a year of peace, Sri Lanka is looking to bring back the tourists that were frightened away by the internal conflict.
Dubai: Investors are pouring in to snap up land onSri Lanka’s east coast which has only recently been opened up to tourists following 30 years of civil war. “Around 100 acres have been given to 13 investors under 99 year leases so we should have another 100 rooms by the end of next year. We have three hotels already operating in that area. “There are also 13 hotel projects in the pipeline,” said Chandra Wickeramasinghe, chairman and managing director of Connaissance de Ceylon, a destination management company.
Following a year of peace,Sri Lankais looking to bring back the tourists that were frightened away by the internal conflict.
More hotels
“The government wants to have more hotels in the east. The area was abandoned for so many years because of the terrorist problem, but it has tremendous potential,” said Anura Lokuhetty, president of Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka. According to Sorath Wijesinghe, ambassador of Sri Lankato the UAE, the biggest number of tourists visiting Jaffna are those in the diaspora, the Sri Lankans who fled during the conflict. “A lot of the affluent people who have been living in Europefor the last 20 years are going back to see their own country,” he said. Continue reading
Filed under Indian Ocean politics, island economy, world events & processes
Beyond sweet words and never-ending talks with the TNA and others, on the political front the government has done little so far to indicate concrete movement towards some form of power-sharing. The gradual reduction of lands delimited as High Security Zone is a welcome development albeit rather belated. On the development front, however, there are some very encouraging steps and ventures. Several are identified here through reiteration of news items in print and web sources. Michael Roberts.
R. K. Radhakrishnan, from The Hindu
With an Indian de-mining team clearing the 107-km stretch of a railway alignment from Medawachchiya to Talaimannar in record time, the Indian Railway Construction Corporation (Ircon) has shifted gears on the construction of a railway line. Ircon is aiming to complete the sections allocated to it in a year-and-a-half. When the ISO-certified de-mining team, Horizon, began its work about eight months ago, it faced a host of obstacles. “We did not know where the alignment was,” said Shashikant Pitre, chairman, Horizon Group. The LTTE had destroyed the alignment and bridges and had taken away the railway track. “The ground was heavily compacted with gravel making the raking to a depth of 15 cm quite difficult,” he added. Continue reading
Greg Sheridan, in The Australian, 14 May 2011
CONSIDER these three passages about our aims in Afghanistan. The first is a statement of intent by an Afghan government official: “Our aim was, no less, than to give an example to all the backward countries of the world of how to jump from feudalism straight to a prosperous, just society . . . Our very first proclamation declared that food and shelter are the basic needs and rights of a human being. . . . Our program was clear: land for the peasants, food for the hungry, free education for all . . . For the first time inAfghanistan’s history, women would be given the right to education. We told them that they owned their bodies, they could marry whom they liked, they shouldn’t have to live shut up in houses like pets.”
The second is a reflection by an intelligent, if idealistic, young journalist, sent to cover the foreign intervention. He witnesses a display of parachute jumping, by Afghan women, in the main stadium in Kabul, and writes: “There is a striking contrast which is only possible here: many of the women on the terraces conceal their faces under the chador – a primitive, medieval superstition; but parachutists are landing in the stadium and they are women too, who grew up in this country. The chador and the parachute. You don’t have to be a prophet to foretell the victory of the parachute.” Continue reading
Amanda Hodge, in The Australian, 14 May 2011, under a different title
FROM his father’s front porch, where he insists on sitting so as not to share a room with a woman, the self-described Taliban disciple explains patiently how Osama bin Laden was funded by the US and India. “Osama bin Laden is a CIA person,” says the 41-year-old son of a retired Pakistan army major. “He had direct connection with the Indians. Evil people have connections all over the world.”
From where I sit, half behind the lounge room curtain as directed, I can just make out Shujar ur-Rehman’s bearded face and white-turbaned head through a screened window. Released from prison four months back and living less than 1km from bin Laden’s compound, Shujar is the extreme face of the conspiracy theories flourishing inPakistan. His brother, a personable bin Laden look alike with fluent English and a masters degree in electrical engineering, laughs off Shujar’s theories as those of a man unhinged, before referencing Chuck Norris and Charlie Sheen as authorities on the 9/11 attacks being an Israeli plot. Continue reading
thuppahi
