NASA's venerable Mars rover Spirit is starting a second career as an explorer of the Martian core--but first it must survive the deadly Martian winter.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory amazed onlookers last week when it flew past a sundog and destroyed it. Must-see videos of the event captured shock waves from the rocket billowing through the sundog, eliciting cries of delight and amazement from the crowd below.

Imagine holding the entire sun in the palm of your hand. Now you can. A new iPhone app developed by NASA-supported programmers delivers a live global view of the sun directly to your cell phone.

Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) surge through thunderstorms at about the same altitude where commercial airliners fly. Do these blasts of gamma-radiation pose a hazard to air travelers?

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), slated for liftoff on Feb. 9th, will make IMAX-quality movies of solar explosions, peer beneath the stellar surface to see the sun's inner dynamo, and--researchers hope--unravel the mysteries of solar variability.

So I know I’ve been a bit of a jerk since I’ve not been writing much these days on my FB notes or blog. In the case of my FB notes, you know I have poorly substituted my original works with those little quiz like things people put on their usual FB notes. Yes yes I’m totally at fault for this. I’ve just not been myself lately you know?

Hmm so let me start up with the updates. The cook at our place went nuts. By nuts I mean crazy. She’s only been here for about two months. Turns out she had been sick earlier. It was quite a spectacle albeit a little scary. But I wasn’t too phased since I’m slightly crazy myself, although I do not strip and run around naked like she did. In any case, she was taken to the famous Angoda Asylum where she is now under professional care. I’m happy for her, because she is a nice lady and she should get her sanity back. I was worried that my family may have shipped me along with her to Angoda, but fortunately I have been overlooked.

Madness aside, I got FL Studio 8, a nice little software used to make music… and like my earlier days of musicness, I spend time making random loops and beats… This particular version has a voice recording capability so I tried my hand at some freestyle rapping which was hilarious… and will be up on youtube soon enough. The problem with the recording is that the output kinda bleeds into the input, which is a bit of a hassle. I’m working on fixing it but as far as I see, the fault is with the ASIO4ALL drivers that I installed. Hmm….

Anyway back to the main point of this note: I have decided to name this week my personal “JUNK RIDDANCE” week, where I shall be getting rid of large amounts of junk. I’ve already given out most of my toys to random kids and will be doing the same to my little plastic dinosaurs which I found yesterday.

And the sheer amount of junk I have collected is insane! It ranges from random pieces of metal, to rocks, bones (including a shin bone of a buffalo and jaws of a shark), to various little brass trinkets and ancient motherboards. I shall be getting rid of all these things during this week.

If any of you want my ancient motherboards and 386, 486 and Celeron processor, please let me know. I hope they are in working condition. You can just take ‘em. I’m not selling anything.

I also found some of my old books… that I just don’t read anymore. I plan to donate these to a local library or to the IIT library if they take books on philosophy etc.

So if any of you need any old stuff, check with me. I just may have it. I will be putting up a list of stuff I plan to give out soon (once I have everything listed out).

Need to live a simple life. There’re just too many things to take care of and it’s just not worth it sometimes. Sometimes you just need to throw away all that junk, including the junk in your head. And that is the hardest bit.

If you met me, you would like me. If you did not like me, I would make you like me. It is simple as that.

The people I meet are simple minded idiots. They like to pretend that they are in charge of their lives and that all the thoughts that they run through their flimsy minds are theirs alone. Little do they know that I am watching them and making them do what they do. Little do they know ANYTHING for that matter…

It started when I was very young of course. I was a good baby they say, quite obedient. And as a result, they bought me many things. It was easy to impress the adults. They had rigid expectations. They never suspected anything and never even bothered to look at the possibilities of events that would unfold in the future. To them, a baby is merely a baby and nothing more. It wants love, food and diaper changes. And sleep. That’s all they thought. I know this because I know what they think.

When I was older they sent me to preschool. It was fun to be in preschool. So many other kids to interact with. Their minds were fresh slates for me to write upon, for they have not been tainted by thoughts of the adults as much at that time. Yet, I was naive. I merely perceived their thoughts and did nothing more.

When I entered middle school, I excelled as a student. I knew all the answers to all the questions, be it in the class or the examination hall. It was so easy to absorb the thoughts of the teachers. It was much easier to do so than actually listening to them trying to communicate their ideas verbally. The others were too dumb to understand it. Then again, maybe it is the teachers who failed at communication. Either way, it was never a problem for me.

Then one day, for entertainment, I told a friend to go jump in a lake. Unable to find one, he jumped into a pond and nearly drowned. He was afraid of water anyway, and now is afraid of it even more so. He wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the month. They then started whispering about me, the students. He told them what I told him. They were calling me all sorts of names in their minds. I was very upset about this.

However, one day I just asked him why he is not my friend anymore, to which he replied that it is because he finds me “creepy”. To this I automatically said that I am not so, more with my mind than my mouth. Then he said that I was actually not “creepy” at all. So I stood up in the class and exclaimed that I am a very good person and very likeable.

Everyone was my friend after that. It was that simple really.

Later on in life I mastered my ways. If I told someone something, they would do it. If someone thought something, I would know it; sometimes even more clearly than they knew it.

I was the president of many clubs and societies, and everyone would do whatever I wanted them to do. I got large sponsorships for events and claimed most of it for myself.

I fornicated with the most attractive girls in the city, and yes, sometimes I sodomised the boys as well. I orchestrated wild orgies and engaged in so many perversions that would make the simple mind shudder in disgust (only until I told such simple minds not to!).

If I did not like someone, I would change their ways. If I was still unsatisfied, I would tell them to die. And they did die at my bidding, their methods most creative and entertaining. And my entourage would clap and cheer. Then they would clean up the mess.

For me, people were playthings. I loved no one, for my love was pleasure alone. Pleasure and control.

But one day, I woke up and could not perceive. It was a strange experience. I told my favourite slave (a nice girl from the countryside who I now keep at home) to get me a sandwich, to which she did not respond. She merely stood there like a statue. Impatiently, I poked her and told her to get on with it, to which I got no response. I pushed her roughly and she merely fell over like a plastic mannequin. Baffled, I stormed out of my room intended on getting another maid to replace this useless husk.

I walked out of my large house to find no one in the streets. I peered through the windows and the doors of various houses but was met with blank stares of more statue-people. Nothing moved in the city.

I sat down and closed my eyes, hoping to hear, see, smell, taste or feel a vagrant thought; but to my dismay I found none.

Something hit me on the back of my shoulder, piercing the skin and tearing into my flesh. I felt numbness spreading from the intrusion. I reached around myself and pulled the accursed metallic thing out of my back, screaming as I did so. I was not used to pain.

It was a dart of some sort, and I began to wonder where it came from or who was behind it. But I was cut short as the numbness overwhelmed me. Men in strange suits and visored helmets appeared from the periphery of my vision. They had small compact looking rifles, and they pointed them at me. All faded into blackness.

Now it is quite black. I do not perceive anything, except for the knowledge that I am still alive and am held captive. By who or where, I do not know.

But I do long for the day that I may bend the minds of man again.

When Lawrence tall bot cbenicio del toroj re turns.To black moor to find find out what happened to his brother he puickly nucovers a mystyrejf secret in the form of a creative caLLED,WOLFMAN

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The 2010 JungleWalk Animal Art Calendar is here. GET IT NOW!

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I like photography. Not that I am good at it or know much about it, but I just like taking pictures. I always had a camera with me since I was a kid. Not a fancy one, just a regular auto-focus thing. This post is about how I purchased the camera that I am using now. It’s an old story. I dedicate this post to my H3, for surviving almost a year (still alive) with probably the worst camera user alive. This happened in 2008 April. To be specific, it was the poya-day, just after new year holidays. By the end of new year holidays I was sick of staying home. So I decided to go to work even though it was a holiday. But once I got to office, it turned to be a bad idea. There was no power to workstations, and no one was around to fix it. Then I decided to go on window shopping only to find out that most of the shops are still closed after new year.

In the present world the new fashion is smoking.The youth mens are like to smoking.But it makes us in cancer.After the school age of man he took foot on win of his life.But he no about the dangearous of the smoking.They are get there body to poison gas and they quickly to be patient.There have a Nicotin kabon monokside.They are killed the mans who was smoking.The tobacco companies are spent in a day more than one million.Now this smoking is more problem to the present world.Because the get their pavement and he got a smoking.as they returned home he know the others are to be patient in the smoking.But he do it so far.Now his family like a flood.Their family havent peace.Always they are troubles.His brain system is now broken.We all of can the smoking is stopped toand prohibited in this world.After we can took a good place in our country good environment.

ලංකාවේ බොහෝ පරිගණක වැඩසටහන් සම්පාදකයන් අදටද භාවිත කරනු ලබන පරිගණක භාෂාව කුමක්දැයි විමසුවොත් උත්තරය ලෙස  ලැබෙනුයේ විෂුවල් බේසික් යන්නය. බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ජාවා හෝ සී වැනි භාෂා ඉගෙන ගත්තද ඉතා පහසුවෙන් පරිගණක වැඩසටහනක් සකසා ගැනීමට විෂුවල් බේසික් පරිගණක භාෂාව භාවිත කළ හැකිය. ලෝකය කාලයත් සමඟ වෙනස් වුවද මෙහි ඇති පහසුකම් භාවිතයෙන් හෙටටද පරිගණක වැඩසටහන් සැකසිය හැකිය. ඉතා අඩු පහසුකම් සහිත පරිගණකයක වුව විෂුවල් බේසික් ස්ථාපිත කොට පරිගණක වැඩසටහන් සැකසීමේ හැකියාව ඇති නිසාම තවත් වසර ගණනාවක් මෙම පරිගණක භාෂාව ලෝකයේ භාවිත වනු ඇත.
නමුත් ලෝකය වෙනස් වී ඇත. අපගේ පරිගණකද වේගවත් වී ඇත. පරිගණක වැඩසටහන් අන්තර්ජාලය ඔස්සේද  ක්‍රියාත්මක විය යුතුව ඇත. කාලය ඉතා වැදගත් වී ඇත. ඉතා පහසුවෙන් වේගවත්ව වැඩසටහන් සැකසීමේ හැකියාව අප ලබාගත යුතුය. එසේනම් අප ඩොටි නෙට් 2010 වෙත පිවිසෙමු.  
ඔබ වෙනුවෙන් විෂුවල් බේසික් ඩොඩි නෙට් 2010 පන්තිය ආරම්භ කිරීමට මා සූදානමින් සිටිමි.
ඔබට කැමති වේලාවක් මිතුරන් කිහිපදෙනෙක් සමඟ එකඟව තීරණය කරන්න. එම වේලාව kotuwegedaraඇටිgmail.com  ගිනුම වෙත යොමු කරන්න. වැඩි පිරිසක් කැමති වේලාවක නොමිළයේ අන්තර්ජාලය උපයෝගී කොට ඔබගේ පාඩම් මාලාව මෙහෙයවනු ඇත.

 

එතෙක්  ඩොඩි නෙට් 2010 මුහුණත් බලමින් එහි ආනන්දය විදින්න. ඇති ගැටළු කමෙන්ට් මගින් දන්වන්න.

 

 

Coming up in another 2 hours !

 

Atop a hill, under the crimson sky where the great sun began to set, stood a lone figure mounted on a great horse. Spear in hand, it surveyed the land below, eyeing the forces that lay waiting below. Tomorrow, at dawn they would strike, targeting the city of wonders itself. Such a thing would not be permitted, and hence its king had sent it here, today, for this purpose.

Today, this pitiful horde of soft fleshly beings would die. They would no more feel pleasure nor pain. The rider did not smile, for it could not do so. But if it were able to, it surely would have.

Like lighting, it rode down the hill, charging at the surprised horde, its spear shining in the evening light. Taking aim, it threw the glinting weapon into the reddened sky above. For a moment, they laughed. But they stopped short, for the throw itself surpassed that of the best thrower in their regiment. The spear rose into the sky, flying above the great army, with a trail of strange flame behind it. Slowly, it pointed towards the very midst of their forces, and plummeted down like a thunderbolt of a long-dead god.

And in the next, all was aflame. The raging inferno exploded from within the great ranks, turning them into standing piles of ash. The screams of agony echoed through the valley as a thousand men bade goodbye to the miracle that was life.

The lone rider stood still with its horse, caught in the fire. Yet neither it nor its steed uttered a single cry, even through the very cloak it wore was incinerated in an instant. The armoured horse and rider merely looked on at the dying enemy. Death meant nothing to the rider nor the horse. For they neither lived nor died.

A call from its king was answered as it turned the steed back towards the shining city it came from. Like the wind itself, they returned to the gates of the shining city, which lay open for them and only them. As it rode through the shining gates, they began to close and the great shining city rose to the sky, never to land upon the barren earth again.

From the army that burned on that day, only a handful survived. They returned to their great city to tell the people of their defeat and the strange retreat of the victorious.

And they found that the city was empty, and not a soul remained.

If you are one of those guys who are unable to attend to big match, either because of being out of the country or stuck at work. You can follow it on cricinfo.  Here is the link.

I searched all over the place to see if I can find an online streaming feed of  Big Match, but no luck so far. There is a link called “Live Online Video Broadcast” on “Battle of the Blues” page in stcpta.org. But that leads to a website which is on sale. No video there :S.

If you know a place where you can watch the Big Match online, please comment.

/Rakhitha

Filed under: Royal College, Sri Lanka Tagged: Big Match, cricinfo, Cricket, Live Score, Online, Royal College, Royal-Thomian, St. Thomas' College

Indi Samarajiva texted me, 
"You turn me on." 
Followed by "Sorry that was meant for Lefroy"

Our new product has finally launched! The pilot issue was a huge hit! This week alone we have over 150,000 subscribers online for the Insider Guide! That's a phenomenal jump from just 357 last week. The print circulation is climbing steadily too. I'm so proud of my team! Issue # 1 comes out tomorrow! (12th March 2010)

So what is The Insider Guide?

The Insider Guide is the ONLY FREE print guide in Sri Lanka that informs everyone of the wealth of events and promotions in and around Colombo. From movies, music and theatre, to fetes and festivals; and from sports and markets to deals and bargains The Insider Guide will keep you updated first thing Friday morning, every week of every month!

Organizers of events and promotions have the rare chance to advertise for free with us. There are an enormous amount of family and public events, promotions and activities that receive scarce support because of the lack of publicity. Too often the posters and/or notices on notice boards and in shop windows are not seen by enough people, and many, who may be keenly interested, are not even aware of what they have missed. That’s where we come in!

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The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) is now well into several projects for implementing the “Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma”. This was possible since the Vision Ahead is an Extended Version of the “Mahinda Vision”. Among these several projects is the National e-Literacy Project aiming to ensure that 100,000 citizens [...]

අද මම දෙන්නේ ටිකක් පරණ ඒත් ලස්සන බයිස්කෝප් 1ක්.මෙ බයිස්කෝප් 1කේ ඇනිමේෂන් සමග සැබැ චරිතත් රගපානවා.කථාවේ එන විදිහට රාජකීය පෙන්ගුයින් විශාල පිරිසක් පෘතුවියේ උතුරු ප්‍රදේශයේ වාසය කරනවා.
ඔවුන් ගේ අදහස් හුවමාරු කරගන්නේ සංගීතය මගින්. නමුත් Norma Jeanට සහ Memphisට ඉපදුනMumble නම් පැට්යාට සිංදු නං කියන්න බෑ. එයාට පුලුවන් ඕනම සිංදුවකට කකුල් වලින් තාලය දෙන්න විතරයි .
මේ හැකියාව හැම පෙන්ගුයින්ටම තිබුනත් කිසිම කෙනෙක් විශ්වාස කරන්නේ නෑ.මේ නිසා සිංදු කියන්න බැරි Mumble ව රෑලේ නායකයා එලවා දමනවා.විවිද හැල හැප්පිම් මැද ජීවිතය ජය ගැනිමට Mumble හැකි වෙයිද ?
එක දැනගන්න බාගන්න ම වෙනවා

මෙන්න මෙතනින් බාගන්න! මේ ලිපියේ සම්පූර්ණ අයිතිය අකිල සොහොයුරා සතු වන අතර උපුටාගැනීම් සියල්ලම ඔහුගේ අවසරය මතම සිදුවිය යුතුය..

You, as in the Wordpress blogging, Facebook socializing, Twitter updating and EBay shopping, you. In other words, what happens to the Internet You?

With the advent of the Internet, a good portion of humanity leads two separate lives. One, in the offline world where you are like the mild mannered reporter who is cut off from everyone else and doesn’t have access to the collective knowledge  of humanity. And one in the real world where you wear colorful underwear on the outside, are connected to everyone everywhere and have access to the collective knowledge of humanity while at the same time being about as smart as your average pumpkin.

Everyone knows what happens to you when you die in the offline world. But what happens to your identity on the Internet? What if you had no siblings who could inform your four thousand two hundred and twenty one friends on Facebook that you had died? What if you were and only child and you only had parents who used the Web only as a transport layer to access their emails? Would Facebook still be sending you emails to your old email address telling you what your friends got up to? Shouldn’t someone update your current status to “Dead”?

Facebook - You're Dead

What about your email address? Who’s going to reply to all those Nigerian princes/presidents/dictators /CEOs asking you for help to move their inheritance/kickbacks/ill gotten gains/shares? They’ll never be able to give you your 10% share now!

And let’s not even talk about the forums and blogs we hang out on.

Bloke 1 : Dude, what happened to jomanlk? I haven’t seen any of his well written, thoughtful and altogether praiseworthy posts in awhile.

Bloke 2: I don’t know, I haven’t seen him around either. If this was the offline world I’d have thought he died. But we all know that people don’t die on the internet.

Bloke 1: Word. Here, take a look at my cat – http://i.imgur.com/7yOSV.jpg

(This conversation contains only blokes because we all know that there are no girls on the Internet. Only 40 year old men pretending to be girls)

Maybe it’s for the best that your online presence lives on while you die. Usernames and profiles could be valuable family heirlooms. I mean think of it, a Facebook url like http://www.facebook.com/john.n.pereira is worth way more and less stupid than something like http://www.facebook.com/john.da.dawg.2023. The same goes for Email IDs, usernames and domain names. Not to mention reputation earning profiles like Ebay, Amazon, RentACoder profiles. A high value profile on one of those services could be worth a lot of money.

Dying father: And to my eldest son, I bequeath www.pereira.com and all its sub domains and email addresses.

Eldest son: Booyah!

Others: coughsonofabitch!cough

Dying father: And to my programmer daughter, I bequeath my grandfathers RentACoder account with 99.8% acceptance rating and 2143 completed jobs.

Anyway, you get the drift.

All these Web 2.0 people need to come up with ideas on how to address this issue. It’s an important issue. It’s not as if it’s even a rare or borderline issue, people die all the time. And their dying only partially! Their souls might not even be going to the rest they deserve because Google is still indexing all the tweets an app made on behalf of you, therefore trapping your online identity in their capacious servers.

Yes, it’s a chilling thought. Everlasting half-aliveness in some database server or webserver. And for company you’ll have all those Internet memes (we all know they don’t die, they just go away for awhile, waiting to trap some innocent internet newb) of yesteryear playing on a loop, rick rolling the crap out of you. It’s enough to make me shudder.