The deeper message in the Icarus myth is ignored because it’s a powerful social control tool. It applies to you, me and all the other humans on this ball of rock going around the sun. The common understanding of “don’t fly too high” demands conformity. Makes virtues out of being “average”, celebrates giving up, and … Continue reading Icarus Myth : it applies to you →
From their actions, I doubt it. My scepticism is based on a single broad fact: the brutality of history. Take your pick. Whether it’s the last 50 years or the previous 500, it doesn’t matter. The litany is impossible to ignore. You can choose to ignore it, but its consequences won’t ignore you. That’s the … Continue reading Do Sri ...
I started this 17 years ago today. I’m aiming to avoid making my 18th the quietest yet. The idea of using AI to spew words for me is silly. What you see here will always be what I typed. The writing now is not bloggable anymore. It’s practical, logistical and personal for the exhibitionism required. The … Continue reading 17 years of blogging →
I didn’t wish him a happy new year. How rude of me. In Sri Lankan culture, every mess and mishap is someone else’s fault. The natural thing to do is blame the culprit. Sneer and yell at their face. It feels good. So here goes. He failed to persuade people around me to stop repeatedly … Continue reading Person responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic collapse →
Airport security, customs and immigration rituals are great levellers. It doesn’t matter whether you travel first or cattle class. You are at the mercies of bored officialdom and the humiliations they can inflict. Colombo Airport’S Silk Route “service” claims to spare those who can pay. The idea is you just hand your bags and documents […]
What you read says a lot of unsaid things about you. So I tend to snoop on people’s bookshelves. This post covers some of the critical points. That was pre-COVID. Now I have to rely on Zoom backgrounds. It’s distracting in a meeting. Not the fake Zoom backgrounds – the real thing behind the person. The … Continue reading Books in the background →
What follows is a direct copy paste (not the American spelling) of the Chat GPT out of the question “Explains why Entrepreneurship is not valued in Sri Lankan culture”. It does a nice job of summing up things I’ve heard people rant about for years. Not bad no? But no good as well.
I loved my ultra minimal Edin wordpress.com theme while I used it. Now it’s time for a change. So I’m shifting the focus from showing the full text of the post on the front page. Instead a “magazine”. After 700+ post I feel I should give the old stuff an airing. The new theme is the […]
You are one of the fortunate few. The elite who have access to food. Where you can do your job through a web browser. Thus stay employed – at least for a while. Whining about the “drawbacks” of “working from home” is an act of high minded insolence. So it’s worth while taking a hard … Continue reading Working from home : what you will miss →
I started this blog 13 years ago today. It remains a transformative experience. There’s a social element to it – this is social media after all. Yet the biggest change is in the head. It’s made putting the output of mental activity into words a common practice. Which in turn makes you self aware of … Continue reading 13th year blogging →
It’s an inauspicious start to the Sinhala-Tamil new year for Sri Lanka’s astrologers. Sri Lankans are lashing out at their astrologers for failing to raise the alarm about the COVID-19 crisis. The rage of a nation entering its first month under an indefinite curfew is growing. Curfew defying mobs outside the offices of prominent astrologers … Continue reading Astrologers blamed ...
Secret Colombo Short Cuts (SCSC) are complicated curries. Used with wisdom, they will get you from A to B via Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O, and P faster than any direct route. While everyone else rots in the city’s many parking lots (the naive mistake these for roads). Yet that wisdom must to be acquired. Either by gruelling ordeals […]
I hear Sri Lankan ingenuity marvelled at a lot these days. It comes up when discussing the various complex supply “arrangements” relatives, friends, friends of relatives, and relatives of friends have organised. Through such arrangements, we get Thambili plucked, beds in ICUs, leaks fixed, curfew passes, rubbish collected, vaccinated, and applications processed through government departments. … Continue reading Sri Lanka’s ...
I stopped watching television somewhere in 2018. In 2019 I unplugged short-form social media from my life. Books and podcasts filled the gaps. Of the two, the podcasts have a direct visceral impact. They changed how I see the world. By contrast, books feed the subconscious. Their effect on my mental landscape happens at a … Continue reading Long form podcasts →
Sri Lanka’s vaccine rollout is sabotaged by the founding core purpose of the Sri Lankan state: looting and killing. The fact that any vaccinating is happening is an act of defiance against its original DNA. It was created by its various parents – Império Português, Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie, British Empire – to facilitate looting. The looting … Continue reading Re-purposing a ...
Long forgotten Sri Lankan blog aggregator kottu.org went live 15 years ago (details at the end of this post). For most of the handful of people who are reading this, the previous sentence will read as an irrelevance. kottu.org is an artefact of Sri Lanka’s early 21st century “Digital Culture”. I had the privilege of … Continue reading Kottu.org turns 15 today →