I recently got a forwarded email titled "Longest initials'. Only in Sri Lanka would there be a guy who has 15 initials to his name. I know what each of those initials stand for too.

It’s just another email forward right? Wrong!

This email contained scanned copy of a National Identity Card and a scanned pre-paid mobile connection application form of Dialog Telecom. Therefor I also know what he looks like, his date of birth, place of birth, address, mobile number along with his SIM number, and I also have a scanned copy of his NIC! That’s just disturbing on so many levels. I certainly would not like even the idea of my NIC or any other confidential document being scanned and sent out as email forwards.

It seems most likely that this happened at the place where this dude went to get his phone connection. If not, it’s certainly a good place to start looking for the place/person that had the bright idea of circulating these documents. Since the agent ID's are also on the form they won’t be too difficult to find either

Now that this has happened, who should be responsible for this? What should happen next? What should be done to make this not happen again?

What's likely to happen?

Jayasuriya with the bat and Mendis with the ball. The result? Defending champions Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup yesterday at Karachi. For the fourth time! Woohoo!! Way to go guys!! Congratulations!!

Its that time of the year again. Good times..

 

Its a sad day today as I got to know that Sci-fi guru Sir Arthur C. Clarke had passed away.

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."  -Arthur C. Clarke

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka celebrated its 60th anniversary since regaining its independence. During the period of 1505 to 1948 Sri Lanka was invaded and was under the rule of the Portuguese, Dutch and then British.

The President's Independence Day Message
"Sixty years is a small interlude to a country with a history and civilization dating back more than 2500 years. Yet, this 60th anniversary of Independence has its own significance as it marks the period since we achieved freedom after nearly half a millennium of colonial rule, and made our mark as a free people in the community of nations." ...

 

Since Merill has migrated to Australia, it looks like he wont be positing his usual "Add 200x Sri Lanka Holidays" to Outlook post this year. So this year I've compiled the list of holidays, and copied the instructions on how to add them into Outlook. Hope this helps.

Holidays

– – – – – – – – –  Start Copy – – – – – – – – –

[Sri Lanka] 25
Tamil Thai Pongal Day (BPM),2008/1/15
Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/1/22
National Day (BPM),2008/2/4
Navam Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/2/20
Mahasivarathri Day (BP),2008/3/6
Milad-Un-Nabi (Holy Prophet’s Birthday) (BPM),2008/3/20
Medin Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/3/21
Good Friday (BP),2008/3/21
Day Prior to Sinhala & Tamil New Year Day (BPM),2008/4/12
Sinhala & Tamil New Year Day (BPM),2008/4/13
Bak Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/4/19
May Day (BPM),2008/5/1
Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/5/19
Day following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/5/20
Poson Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/6/18
Esala Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/7/17
Nikini Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/8/16
Binara Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/9/14
Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan Festival Day) (BP),2008/10/01
Vap Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/10/14
Deepavali Festival Day (BP),2008/11/27
Il Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/11/12
Id-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day) (BP),2008/12/9
Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day (BPM),2008/12/12
Christmas Day (BPM),2008/12/25

– – – – – – End Copy – – – – – – –

Instructions

A) Backup the existing Holiday file
   1. Exit Outlook if it is running.
   2. Locate Outlook.hol file and create a backup of it.
 Outlook 2007: drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\1033\Outlook.hol
 Outlook 2003: drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\1033\Outlook.hol

B) Update the Outlook Holiday file
   1. Exit Outlook if it is running.
   2. Open the Outlook.hol file in a text editor, such as Notepad.
   3. If you're doing this for the first time, copy and paste the above section between "Start Copy" and "End Copy" to the end of the Outlook.hol file. Update your existing list with the above if you've already have a section for the Sri Lanka Holidays.
   4. Save and close Outlook.hol.

C) To update the Outlook calendar
   1. Start Outlook.
   2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
   3. On the Preferences tab, under Calendar, click Calendar Options.
   4. In the Calendar Options dialog box, under Calendar options, click Add Holidays.
   5. Select the check box "Sri Lanka" and click OK.

Note: If a set of holidays or events observed has already been selected in the Add Holidays to Calendar dialog box and you try to add the same again, you see the message, "Holidays for country are already installed. Do you want to install them again?" Click No. If you click Yes, the holidays and events are installed a second time, and you will see duplicate holiday and event entries in your calendar.
  
  
Links:
 Customize the Outlook calendar
 2006 Sri Lanka Holidays
 2007 Sri Lanka Holidays

The Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) website www.slt.lk has been infected with a Trojan Virus Trojan.Maliframe!html. If you don't believe that the telecoms giant is compromised, here is a screen-shot showing the Trojan virus infected web page.

The risk level of this particular virus has been rated as a very low by Symantec, however considering the number of Internet users in Sri Lanka that visit the SLT website the risk may be a little bit higher than that for us Sri Lankans. I hope SLT doesn't think otherwise. I've emailed them, lets see.

This incident reminded me of something I had read sometime ago. It was about Google notifying its users of potentially dangerous websites on its search results page. I had to find out if it worked; so I typed "Sri Lanka Telecom" on Google. Surely enough Google was on the ball. 

What about Microsoft's live search or Yahoo!, will they do the same? I typed in the same search in them; sadly they were still unaware of the danger.

However this problem of preventing websites from harming its visitors isn't fully solved yet. Although the search results indicate the potential harm, almost all Internet users in Sri Lanka know the SLT Telecom website URL by heart and don't need to search for it. They will never see this warning. Virus guards are good. But they will only let you know only after something tries to harm you.

This is where something like the Google toolbar could improve. Google can take it to the next level by improving its "Safe Browsing" feature to not only warns us against Phishing attacks but to also warn against potentially dangerous websites by alerting us before taking us to the website.

First of all, congratulations to the Australian Cricket team on winning the Cricket World Cup 2007. They were the dominant team in the tournament, so it was in fact a deserving win for Ricky Ponting and his team. Australia has now won the cup for the third time in a row which is really quite amazing.

That said, I’m very proud to say that the Sri Lankan Cricket team led by Mahela Jayawardana did exceptionally well in this tournament from the start, right up to the finals held yesterday at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados . They were looking a really good side with a lot of talent and confidence. It seemed that Sri Lanka was going to be the only team that had what it takes to bring down the Aussies from where they were; but of course Adam Gilchrist's amazing batting display of 149 off just 104 saw that none of that was to happen yesterday.

So the Aussies got off hook easily yesterday, but Sri Lanka is going to be right back at you come the next Cricket World Cup in 2011, so be prepared! You’ve been warned.

Labuwavu aluth avurudda saamaya, sathuta, nirogee suwaya pri suba nawa vasarak ma vewa! [Roughly translated to - Wishing you peace, happiness and good health for the New Year.]

In April, the month of Bak, when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya to the Mesha Rashiya (House of Pisces to the House of Aries); Sri Lankans begin celebrating their New Year or Aluth Avurudhu (or Puththandu in Tamil). The history of this Sinhala & Hindu Aluth Avrudha dates back to primitive period in Sri Lankan history. However, with Sri Lanka embracing Buddhism in the third century BC, the existing New Year activities were adjusted and aligned along a more Buddhist way, thereby transforming the New Year rites and rituals to what they are today. Hinduism, on the other hand, existed side by side with Buddhism, in medieval times and New Year practices interpreted in the Hinduistic way developed among the Hindus. Because of that Sri Lankans often confuse this New Year to Buddhist/Hindu New Year, whereas it is actually not.

National festival of Sri Lanka
W.T.A. Leslie Fernando [Retired High Court Judge] says in his essay in his essay titled ‘New Year could be the national festival of Sri Lanka’ says:

 “Since New Year is not a religious festival confined exclusively to a particular faith, it could be celebrated by all the religious and ethnic groups in Sri Lanka as a common national festival. Its unique features could be made use of to promote friendship and mutual understanding among people. “

On the day I finally got my SLT ADSL connection, after dozens of calls to the SLT "Hotline" 1243, Google announces a better way of taking your home on to the information super highway. What’s ingenious about this is that it uses the already available infrastructure of every home.

Google TiSP (BETA) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines.

Why should I switch to Google TiSP?
* It's fast. In our testing, TiSP delivers a 10x higher flow rate than basic DSL.
* It's FREE. No more paying hundreds of dollars a year for Internet service that doesn't even necessarily extend to your bathroom!
* It's good for you. Your FREE TiSP service includes a Google Toolbar-based analysis of your dietary habits and genetic predispositions, along with recommendations for healthier living.

Along With professional installation service, you can also have your Google Checkout purchases delivered directly through the sewage network into your bathroom.

So, dont wait for SLT ADSL; get your free TiSP system installed today!