lasith malinga pwnage!!!

am i a traitor?

my brother had this posted in his blog sometime back
and since i've been pounded by 5 kiloton thermo nukes several times by several ppl.... i thought i'd talk about it...

i've been accused of being a traitor to my race because i don't know a word of tamil or practice their culture

my brother says:

It’s not easy being a “Sinhalised Tamil”. The Sinhalese would always look at you with a sense of cynicism - “yeah … but he’s Tamil.” And if you dare espouse the Tamil “cause” you’d be asked “so what are you complaining about? You’re better off than most of us …” Tamils on the other hand would look at you as a traitor, although deep inside I am sure they feel “whatever it is, he’s Tamil.”

The positive side of being a “Sinhalised Tamil” is that you get an intimate view of the fears, hopes and feelings of both sides. So actually you could help to clear up some of the prejudices each side holds about the other as long as you can walk a tight rope. As you can see this cross mixing of culture and identity could help promote ethnic harmony.

I think the problem is that people think that identity is a congenital attribute and that you have to stick with your “clan” whatever happens. I do not subscribe to such primitive thinking. I think culture and personal identity must be, as much as possible, a voluntary choice.


1. languages
ppl accuse me of the same thing... and i tell them... i speak sinhalese, english, php, html, javascript/css, a bit of C, xslt/xpath and director lingo. btw i find it easier to learn a programming language (like php) than a human language (like... japanese or something)

2. mother tongue
noun
the language that a person has grown up speaking from early childhood.

so its not the language the mother speaks :) hehe
apparently my brother had been speaking tamil 'cos his nanny used to speak tamil and thats how she communicated with her...
but i've never spoken tamil... and its shit hard to learn a language... i've tried... its just not in me... i mean my sinhalese is bad... and my english sucks as well... (but my php is good :) hehe)... i found calculus, analysis etc easier than learning a human language... like japanese or something... some ppl find it easy to learn new languages... i know so many who know hindi just by watching hindi movies...

3. my mother's decision
well like any mother... she thought that it was more important to protect the children than anything else...
my dad is from jafna... but we never spoke tamil at home... i guess my dad was wiped or something hehe... my mom was determined that we didnt learn any tamil... i've been compared to jews who turned traitor during wwii... i'm not blaming her... what would you have done?
it is not easy resist discrimination of that sort... but she did what she thought was right to protect the children... expecting that some day in the future... things would be better... but its like 30 years... and the its still on...
its not the strongest or the bravest of species that survive.. it is the most adoptable... charles darwin

4. culture
i agree with my brother on this one... (there are issues we disagree on like eating habits)... i dont see why i should embrace the tamil culture for the mere fact that i am a tamil... its not that i dont respect the tamil culture (or any other culture for that matter...)
in that sense i dont practice any sinhalese customs other than having kiribath on the first day of the month and on birthdays :)

5. betrayal
am i a traitor? who (or what) have i betrayed? my people? tamil ppl?

ppl are ppl... dogs are dogs... cats are cats... well there are various dog breeds but they are still dogs to me... they shit and have sex when and where ever they want... wag their tail when you yell at them... dogs are dogs!!!!
people are people... we eat meat/fish (except for peta worshiping pussy vegetarians :P)... get drunk (except for cats, dogs and pussies)...
i dont see race... color... religion... etc... i really dont discriminate ppl like that... i mean i dont go asking "hey are you a tamil?"

although i've been asked by my friends (who are mostly sinhalese who communicate with computers using MS Word :) )... they've never discriminated me... they make fun of me saying i'm fat and that i'm ugly (but they agree that my brother is uglier)... i dunno if they discriminate others... but i know that they are nice people... they dont have issues with getting along people with other cultures... hmmm... but thats not the point here... nevermind...

so if i'm a traitor go ahead and throw the first stone! i dont care....
i value my freedom more than anything (other than food - 'cos thats #1 in my list)

25/4

this is where i live

this was taken off my 1.3 megapixel phone camera

crab

i had baked crab at beach wadiya today
was nice
another tasty animal had to die to satisfy me

First EU Commercial Concentrating Solar Power Tower Opens in Spain

First EU Commercial Concentrating Solar Power Tower Opens in Spain

SEVILLE, Spain, March 30, 2007 (ENS) - Europe's first commercial concentrating solar power plant was inaugurated today near the sunny southern Spanish city of Seville.

The 11 megawatt, MW, plant was inaugurated in the presence of the heads of the regional government of Andalusia and executives of the solar company Abengoa, whose parent company, Solucar, built the power plant.

The power plant in the municipality of Sanlucar la Mayor, 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Seville, took more than four years to build, from July 1, 2001 to December 31, 2005.

Known as PS10, the project produces electricity with 624 large movable mirrors called heliostats.

Each of the mirrors has a surface measuring 120 square meters (1,290 square feet) that concentrates the Sun's rays to the top of a 115 meter (377 foot) high tower where a solar receiver and a steam turbine are located. The turbine drives a generator, producing electricity.

PS10 is the first of a set of solar electric power generation plants to be constructed in the same area that will total more than 300 MW by 2013. Power generation will be accomplished using a variety of technologies.

The first two power plants to be brought into operation at Sanlucar la Mayor are the PS10, the world's first tower technology solar thermoelectric power plant constructed for commercial operation, and Sevilla PV, the largest low concentration system photovoltaic plant in Europe.

The EU's first commercial concentrating solar power tower near Seville, Spain (Photo courtesy Abengoa)

When completed in the year 2013, the Sanlucar la Mayor Solar Platform will produce enough energy to cover the consumption of some 180,000 homes, equivalent to the needs of the city of Seville, using the concentrating solar power plant and other technologies.

Partly financed with European Union funds, the entire project requires an investment of 1.2 billion euro. The investment required to build the concentrating solar power plant amounted to €35 million, with a contribution of €5 million from the EU's Fifth Framework Programme for research, awarded for the project's innovative approach.

"These new technologies give Europe a new option to combat climate change and increase energy security while strengthening the competitiveness of the European industrial sector and creating jobs and growth," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

Concentrating solar power plants have few environmental impacts other than land use. They produce no environmental contaminants or greenhouse gases.

When complete, the Sanlucar la Mayor Solar Platform will prevent the emission of more than 600,000 metric tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. These emissions would have resulted from burning fossil fuels to supply electricity to the 180,000 homes that will be served by the Solar Platform.

The need for concentrating solar power technology like PS10 arises because solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface with a density that is adequate for heating systems but not for an efficient thermodynamic cycle for electricity production, Piebalgs explains.

The potential contribution of concentrating solar power plants to a more sustainable energy system has still to be fully exploited.

The EU has been supporting the concentrating solar power sector for more than 10 years, spending some €25 million to research projects working to develop this technology.

Piebalgs says this contribution has had a multiplying effect by leveraging a large amount of additional private investment worth several hundred million euro, in a ratio of about €10 for each euro invested by the European Union research program.

Also today, the European Commission published a map of the solar power potential of Europe. The map is produced by the Photovoltaic Geographical Information System of the Joint Research Centre which also includes an interactive service allowing users to calculate the solar power potential of any location in Europe.

The information in the map shows that an identical solar system will generate twice as much energy in sunny areas of Europe, such as Malta and Southern Spain, than in areas such as Scotland or northern Scandinavia.

The interactive information service map allows very specific calculation of the amount of energy that can be generated in any given location in Europe and its neighboring regions. This calculation is based on knowledge of the Sun's energy, geographic distribution, the different terrain across Europe and detailed technological analysis of the available photovoltaic technologies.

The map shows that considerable potential exists in Europe for greater use of solar energy. The EU is seeking to increase the share of renewable energies in its consumption to 20 percent in 2020.

Abengoa now is open for business in the United States. The $3 billion diversified energy company responsible for the Sanlucar la Mayor solar platform has created Solucar Power, Inc., a new U.S. subsidiary that will handle market development in solar energy.

Solucar Power Inc. will respond to utility requests for electricity using concentrating solar power technologies.