Xin Ren

"They prosper who on virtue's aid depend; Who trust in vice reach an untimely end."
- Chinese Proverb

They say respect & trust is not given, it is earned. In a state of confusion as to what the "word" the title means? Xin Ren is the Chinese symbol for trust! See picture? That is how you write it. :)

And so....my train of thoughts derails. Nice tattoo that would make on me don't you think? ;-)

The world is materialized out of too many fragile things as far as I am concerned. It is amazing how it is able to withstands such a perpetual stream of shocks. Good shock absorbers the world is made out of I reckon. But then again, the world does know how to get rid of what she thinks she does not need. The wonder of it is that she never runs out of options of getting rid of debris. Maybe that theory ought to explain why the heavens pour down after most of the natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc.)

That is how The Grand Design works. The Grand Design works for the greater good!

Connections are made out of trust. You form a construction having faith upon the bricks, wood & cement that holds the whole thing together. Much as sturdy as the construction is when everything is in the right place, the right blow at the right place would make everything fall apart.

Keywords:- Create - Blow - Destroy.

You, me & everybody else: we are not indispensable. The Grand Design has placed immense trust in putting you where you are today. Be it a shit hole or heaven on earth, you are where you are not because you alone chose your location. It pays to realize The Grand Design can take you away from where you are if she feels that you are screwing things up. Why? Because you are NOT indispensable!!! :D

Funny how every paragraph I have jotted down ends in "destruction" ainnit?

Hold on dear to what you have at present. Going in search of change can prove to be deadly. We are all connected in The Grand Design. You mess you link means so many other links will also find themselves in precarious situations. Do not be selfish. You are not designed to survive alone.

Does The Grand Design sound to apocalyptic?

It should sound so, for The Grand Design is US.

Trails...

Let's face it, my travel chronicles are pretty mediocre. Apart from the off-the-shelf family trips I was dragged kicking & screaming, I have not traveled much. Now I see more than a few good reasons to uproot that habit & plant myself in the oasis of travelers, conditions permitting.

Just when you thought, you life has become incredibly safe & predictable, something good happens to you & you find yourself confronted by an assortment of possibilities....travel & otherwise. Sight seeing is fun. OK I admit, it is more fun when you are going with the right sidekick, but that is besides the point. Screw them all who claim you gotta get out of this country to start seeing things, screw them all who claim ours is not a happening country! Quit torturing yourselves with questions like, "aww where do we stay?", "aww....I need a comfy bed for the night", "aww what do we eat", "aww how much is it going to cost", "ohmigosh what do I wear..." so on & so forth. If you are not the planning type of a person, simply do what I do. Hook yourself up with a more methodical person. Do not waste vacations on villas & hotels & whatnot. Go & get lost in the trees; literally!!! My advice, if you have somebody who would drop everything & go off with you to get lost in some unknown corner right here in Sri Lanka, EXPLOIT the conditions.

And so begins my tips for the loonies:

Trail Tip #1
Should you be driving off for a considerable distance, it pays to make sure that your travel buddy talks less. If this seems impossible for some unknown twist in fate, at least make sure that he knows how to cork it long enough for you to quit worrying that he is going to blow his windpipe!

Trail Tip #2
Water. You can not simply have too much of a good thing. H2O & plenty of it is a definite yes yes! Worried about not having sufficient bladder control? Deal with it later! Do not let your bladder keep you from having fun.

Trail Tip #3
Enjoy sceneries. FYI scenaries are not all the time caused by trees & waterfalls & stones & rocks...hint hint

Trail Tip #4
I hate Galle Road & all cities that are associated with it. That is no way to have some quality fun while travelling!!

Trail Tip #5
Costs. If you are on a tight budget & think you need more loot, cast your fears away. I can personally recommend my travel guide for economical getaways. The guide himself is not so economical. You might want to be on the look out for that ;-) ;-)

Trail Tip #6
The places....umm well.........I think I am more a fan of hills than vallies. To getaway from everything & just relax, the hills is the way to go! Get close to trees. Trees do make you feel great, although I have no clear explanation as to how they manage to do that! Check out http://www.lakdasun.com/ for the most comprehensive collection of info on where you can go & wot you can do when you get there! It is sort of my tourguide's travelers' Bible, which I am sure you would also love to check out.

Traveler's Chronicles unfold...

Argh....April Just Went By....

If somebody asked me what I have been doing in the month of April I have a very simple answer.

Freaking out!

Yes! That is right!!!! Here I am perched on my chair on an average Wednesday afternoon, thinking what I have been doing in the month of April and what comes to my head? Zilch!!! The first half of the month I was busy with projects & assignments & what not. The second half of the month I wasted trying to get stuff into my brain which were so not meant to be there. Many a times I found myself wondering if my head had a leak at some place, but the lack of first-hand witnesses prevented me from further processing of that issue.

Avurudu just came & went. I think I was too engrossed in thinking about my semester exams, which I really doubt having any hope of passing. Maybe, this old age is finally getting to me, my intellectual capacities, (which were not much to start off anyway) and everything that demands psychological effort!

Exams have always freaked me out! It eludes me as to why I still go on looking for them. I would rather not waste lines in my blog trying to elaborate how the semester exams went, because it simply did NOT!

April ended in a funny note though! I wrapped the miserable month taking part in an Avurudu Uthsawaya organized by a friend of mine. Thanks goes out to Dillion & his crew for setting the stage for a day of fun & laughter! I have to say I kicked ass in the events I took part! Not only the events were superriffic, I also ended up being crowned as the "Avurudu Kumaraya" (male version)!!! Much to my awe I realized I rock at tug-of-war, simply cuz of the fact that my team lost the moment after I retired hurt on the grounds of having my palm cut! :D

Photos? Don't ask!

Cool Tool

For those who are dying to see an easier way of typing sinhala letters/words/sentences etc. here is a fun tool to get yourselves moving.

Real Time Unicode Converter, is a unicode translation service hosted by the Language Technology & Research Laboratory at University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC).

You just have to type the sinhala word as it is pronounced using English & the tool converts is to sinhala unicode real time.

This is how it is done.

The text you type - aayubowan! mei magei blog eka
Sinhala unicode converter output - ආයුබොවන්! මේ මගේ බ්ලොග් එක

Here's to seeing more sinhala letters on web pages!

Drive Smart - Save Loot

Driving in Sri Lankan roads is a nightmare at times! Heavy traffic, poor road conditions, little shopping malls on the pavements eating up one-third the road's width are a few of the many annoying things drivers have to run into. Of course driving comes at a cost, despite the comfort in travelling it brings. This little post is to tell y'all how to drive without burning too much deep a hole in your pockets.

Stay away from aggressive driving
I certainly could use this tip! ;-) I was like "oh-heck!", while reading an article about fuel efficient driving. Apparently, driving like a mad man & hard breaking eats up fuel as much as 40%. Plus it can also increase emission of greenhouse gasses by a considerable level. The right way of driving is to accelerate slowly & smoothly & hit the top gear as soon as possible. How feasible this is in SL roads remains a question though.

Stick to speed limits
Accelerating on highways always increases fuel consumption. It is reported that increasing your speed from 55mph(90 km/h) to 75mph(120km/h) can raise fuel consumption by as much as 20%. Driving at a constant 55mph can improve mileage by 10-15% under same conditions.

Avoid idling the vehicle
Not only does idling waste fuel, it also gets you no where & produces a lot of greenhouse gasses. If you are going to remain stationery for more than 30 seconds, except in traffic stop the vehicle.

Say no to poorly inflated tires
Make sure the tires are inflated properly. This prevents rolling resistance & in return can save fuel by as much as 6%. It is a good habit to check tire pressure at least once a month. Although it is not a good idea to inflate the tires to the "maximum allowed" level for that particular type of tire.

Drive in right gear
I think I am a little too lazy to change gears for some unknown reason. :-D. It is said that the best way to move about with stick driven vehicles is to accelerate smoothly & going up to the top gear as quickly as possible without accelerating too hard. Driving in a gear lower than you need wastes fuel; so does letting the engine labour in top gear on hills and corners.

Avoid the air-conditioner
Using the air-conditioner in a hot weather can increase fuel consumption by 10% in city driving. Rolling down shutters can help save fuel if you are driving at low speeds. But at high speeds driving with open windows may actually have an adverse effect due to the wind resistance.

Choose the right octane fuel
Most cars are designed for normal low octane fuel. Higher prices do not necessarily guarantee improved performance. Do not just blindly ask for higher-octane fuel unless you are certain that is indeed what your vehicle wants.

Service & Maintenance
Regular, timely service is indeed the way to go. A poorly tuned engine can use up to 50% more fuel and produces up to 50% more emissions than one that is running properly.

Turn off power accessories
Shutting off power consuming accessories, in your vehicle before turning off the ignition, can decrease the engine load the next time you start the vehicle up, hence saving fuel.

Park in the shade
Besides helping to keep your car cool, which reduces the need for air conditioning, parking in the shade also minimizes the loss of gas due to evaporation.

Tracking Tweets

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Oops! My Language Just Died!!!

The newest publication of UNESCO's Atlas of World Languages reads that about 6000 languages are facing some kind of threat that could eventually lead up to their extinction. 2500 of the 6000 languages are listed as endangered & 200 languages are completely dead & gone. The atlas ranks the 2,500 endangered languages by five levels of vitality: unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered and extinct.

"199 languages have fewer than ten speakers and 178 others have 10 to 50. Among the languages that have recently become extinct, it mentions Manx (Isle of Man), which died out in 1974 when Ned Maddrell fell forever silent, Aasax (Tanzania), which disappeared in 1976, Ubykh (Turkey) in 1992 with the demise of Tevfik Esenc, and Eyak (Alaska, United States of America), in 2008"
- Quoted From The Publication

What are the dangers of a language becoming instinct?

• A language encodes local knowledge on a community's traditions, culture & ways of life. Death of a language will prevent those outside that community from being aware of diverse sociological behaviors.
• Medicinal secrets will also be veiled forever.
  
• Threat of losing valuable pieces of Literature, poetry & other aesthetics

Many organizations, following the UNESCO's initiative have joined hands together in preserving the endangered languages. Although the dead languages are beyond resurrection, there is still hope for those are in threat of disappearing from the face of the earth thanks to such concerned individuals.