Punchi Kale Ape

A collection of children’s songs presented by the talented students of the R A Chandrasena Memorial Music Institute. It was officially launched on Saturday the 19th of January, with a live performance of the songs at the Elphinstone Theater.

Those who are not familiar with R A Chandrasena, he was a highly talented musician who did an invaluable service to Sri Lankan music. This was way back before FM radio stations, CD’s, MP3’s and before hip hop became infused into Sri Lankan music scene. It was the era of Radio Ceylon and vinyl records. If you are reading this, I doubt that you belong to that generation. Check with your grandparents, they were the party animals of that time.

R A Chandrasena was born in 1924 in Kandy, and passed away in 1980, after long years of service to the country. He played many roles during his lifetime. Among them, he was the leader of the musicians at Radio Ceylon. He was the music director for many Sinhalese films of the era. He was a producer of records under his own RAC label. In addition to these, he was teacher who taught and introduced to the world the next generation of Sri Lankan musician. His music academy was established in 1951, 57 years ago, where many great musician like Dharmadasa Walpola and Premasiri Khemadasa passed through its doors.

Today the institute carries out the work and the vision of it’s founder to create talented musicians to the country. Renamed as the R A Chandrasena Memorial Music Institute, the legacy is carried on by his daughter and son-in-law, Darshani Chandrasena and W D Ariyasinghe, prominent musicians of their own right.

This CD is a showcase of the talents of the young students of the academy. Lyrics for the songs were done by some of the leading songwriters of the country, such as Bandula Nanayakkarawasam and Saman Chandranatha Weerasinghe. The music, arrangements and music direction were all done by Darshani Chandrasena.

You will be able buy the CD from stores in near future. Also, you can always contact the institute for purchases. Please drop a mail.

R A Chandrasena Memorial Music Institute
140/ 31 D, Kalapura,
Templers Road,
Mount Lavinia

Email : info@lankamusicacademy.com / harshadewa@gmail.com

If you are outside Sri Lanka, you can always buy the CD through www.lanka.info / www.kapruka.com. Look for children's songs in the site.

Thinner the Better

If we (after we invent the time machine of course) had told the early pioneers of the computer that someday we’ll be carrying computers in our hand, they would’ve laughed so hard till they cried. Then they would’ve committed us to the loony bin for talking such crap. After all, the only computers they know of are the size of a building, and unless someone invents the shrink ray, hand held computers were never going to happen.

Well back in the present aren’t we all glad that things didn’t stay the same eh? The computer luckily has lost its weight and size down to something that we can carry in our hands. It’s like a super model on three different diets at the same time. The newest “thin model” to join these ranks is the Apple Macbook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook.

This newest product from Apple, which was introduced recently, has a thickness of 0.16 inches at the bottom and 0.76 inches at the top, with a 13.3 inch screen. It can support a normal hard drive, but it doesn’t have a CD or DVD drive. It’s designed so that everything needed is taken through wireless connectivity. Its weight is a mere 3 pounds with dimensions of 12.8 X 8.94 inches. It also seems that Apple has worked with Intel to make a smaller version of the Core2Duo Processor.

The Macbook Air is supposed to go on sale within two weeks and all of this can be your for a tidy little sum of US$ 1,799.00. No point in converting to LKR since after all the taxes add up it might be 4/5 times that price :D

Tech Specs:
• .16 to .75-inch thickness on top
• 12.8 x 8.94 inches
• 3 pounds
• 5 hours of battery life with everything running
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.6 or 1.8GHz, motherboard the length of a pencil.
• 800MHz frontside bus.
• 2GB RAM 667MHz DDR2 standard.
• 13.3-inch screen, LED backlit.
• 1,280 x 800 pixels
• Micro-DVI adapter (for DVI, VGA, composite and S-Video output)
• Intel GMA X3100 Graphics processor with 144MB RAM shared
• 1.8-inch 80GB HD or 64GB Solid State Drive
• Multitouch trackpad with gestures. Pans, zooms, rotates, etc.
• 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.
• Optional external HD for $99, USB-bus powered.
• Full backlit keyboard.
• One USB 2.0, one audio port, one Micro-DVI
Source: Gizmodo

More Links:
Apple
Gizmodo
Engadget




Pic source: Gizmodo

The Newest Cancer Fighting Drug…Pot

… or better known as Cannabis, Marijuana, Ganja, Mal and many other names. Apart from helping one get high, compounds in Cannabis is known to reduce pain from cancer and other illnesses. The latest research has found out that it may also help in stopping tumor cells from growing and getting out of control.

This study was done by Robert Ramer and Burkhard Hinz from the Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.

I’m not going to go into all the medically technically things, mainly because I don’t understand all of that stuff. Please check the links below if you really want to know more 

Inventor Spot Article
Article from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Wikipedia – Cannabis
Wikipedia – Cannabis Sativa
Wikipedia- Cannabis as a Drug

All I know is, with all these medicinal benefits, shouldn’t ‘Mal’ be legalized? Now there’s a thought he he :D

Life-size TV anyone?

Tired of looking at pint-sized figures when watching TV? Want a larger than life experience? Well no fear, the time is here.

Panasonic yesterday unveiled it’s latest product, called the “Life Screen”, during the Consumer Electronics Show, being held these days in Las Vegas. It’s the world’s largest Plasma HDTV. Naming it Life Screen is appropriate considering that this technology displays objects on screen in life size.

This giant of a TV has a diagonal screen width of 150 inches, or 12 feet and 6 inches. The width of it is 11 feet. Now that’s what I call big…Even though it is this big, the marvel of it is that it’s width is only 1 inch (No that is not a printing mistake :P ).

There are no pricing details, but according to experts, HDTV concepts like these sells for about $1000.00 per inch, which would place this in the range of $150,000.00. :(

Unfortunately you won’t be seeing in the stores in the near future. It’s still a concept design and probably won’t go for mass production for at least another 1 or 2 years.



Source: Inventorspot

MMVIII

Ah… a new year has dawned (I know I’m a bit late, but what the heck eh?), with a bang I might say. The good and the bad have already happened, and the year can only get better. (Hopefully :) )

Personally for me, the last few days of 2007 really sucked, but the New Year will hopefully change things. The best thing so far is that I started a new job in a new place. A total change over for the New Year, you might say. The only downside is the increase in travelling :( , knowing how our public transportation system works, it’s a headache.

Dear old 2008, or as the Romans might have said MMVIII. A long awaited leap year for all those unlucky folks born on the 29th of February. Well, you guys better a get ready to party, and I mean party hard, after all you only get to celebrate once every four years.

According to good old Wikipedia, 2008 has been designated as the following:

International Year of Planet Earth
European Year of Intercultural dialog
Australian Year of the Scout
International Year of the Potato
International Year of Sanitation

Chinese Astrology proclaims that 2008 is the year of the Rat. Well actually it’s the period starting from February 07th 2008 to January 25th 2009. According to this system, each year is assigned a zodiac animal out of twelve. The Rat is the first in a cycle, so it makes 2008 the beginning of a new cycle.

The characteristics of the Rat are as follows:
Rat (Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Water): Forthright, disciplined, systematic, meticulous, charismatic, hardworking, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, shrewd. Can be manipulative, cruel, dictatorial, rigid, selfish, obstinate, critical, over-ambitious, ruthless, intolerant, scheming.



In addition to the associated animal there is also an associated element, and for 2008 it is ‘Yang Earth’ The Yin or Yang is broken down into Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) on top of the cycle of animals. These are modifiers and affect the characteristics of each of the 12 animal signs. Thus, each of the 12 animals are governed by an element plus a Yin Yang Direction.

Characteristics of Earth are:
• Center
• Three Enclosures, Change of seasons
• The Yellow Dragon
• The Planet Saturn
• The Color Yellow
• Digestive system, Spleen and stomach
• Patient, Militaristic, Prudent, Stable, Reliable, Hard-working, Ambitious, Stubborn, and very energetic
• Disciplined, Tenacious, Logical, Governed by Service and Duty to Others

Earth Governs Dragon, Rat, and Ox. It is the central balance of the elements and can lend qualities to all 12 animals as well.

Check the links for more details if your interested...

Well here’s wishing y’all a great 2008!!!

Love & Peace

Cheers!!!