I don’t know what’s going on. General Sarath Fonseka may be running for President, or at least he’s playing footsie with the opposition under the table. There are rumours of strikes that aren’t strikes, and reports that the military will take over power, water and ports if necessary. In between the troops are kept busy with fireworks and parades.

We’ve got this big military and no war. We’ve got these war heroes and only so much political oxygen. We’ve got a media so restricted against external threats that we have no idea what’s going on inside our own country. At this point I just find it amusing. If I looked closer I suppose it might be terrifying. But I can’t.

What I can guess is that Sarath is considering a run. Otherwise I don’t think he’d let these stories go so far as the UNF (pooled opposition, equivalent to a damp squib) endorsing him as their candidate. I don’t know why he would want such a terrible fate.

Beyond that the man is a cipher. People project various things onto him including, strangely, that he’s a closet liberal. I’m pretty sure he’s not. Dude is hardcore and I suspect he remains so. However, he makes very little public pronouncements.

The UNP traditionally includes minorities (though the riots were under a UNP government). They would now give northern Tamils the choice between the guy who bombed them and they guy who ordered the bombing. But stranger things have happened.

Of course, none of this may happen. Perhaps Sarath is just angling for a better position at the Sports Ministry. It is an awful lot of fireworks over Colombo, though, now that the artillery has nowhere to fall.

The most famous king of that time was Parakramabahu. We saw the image of his statue everywhere, but not the thing itself. It’s him holding what looks like a book (or a papaya, as above). His tank still stands in inspiring largeness, and you can imagine the royal city from the ruins.

The ruins are the perfect size to cycle through on a bike. We saw the conference room, palace, bathing area, etc. It’s a striking contrast to the creeping concrete of the rest of the city and, indeed, any city. I don’t think we’ve really mastered concrete as an architectural tool. It’s really just a building material. I was repulsed by the bus town of Kaduruwela, but felt quite peaceful in Polonnaruwa itself. I suppose being largely reserved and uninhabited makes for a nice ambiance.

We stayed at the Manel Guest House for about Rs. 1000 for a triple (027 222 2481). It’s OK. I’d recommend perhaps eating elsewhere, bit mediocre. They’ll rent you some bikes and it’s a good way to see the sites.

We bike about 15 k to Panama, where there isn’t much. Bike another 10-15 through the scorching emptiness, protected only by youth and the motion breeze. I’m black as dirt now, but we didn’t notice. Then, after an eternity of barrenness, you get into the jungle. This is sorta where Yala East begins, I think.

Hidden away, there’s this rock monastery called Kudumbigala. After the heat and dust of the journey, it’s an oasis. Just to be in the shade. There were some STF (military/police) guys stationed at the bottom. They let us draw some water from the well. We poured a couple buckets over our heads and felt much better. The old monk up among the rocks and the caves was reading the newspaper. He said the place had been off limits and nobody visited anymore.

I saw some footholds on a rock and climbed it. There was a path leading to a jumble of rocks. Sadly, an overturned arrack bottle. I found a place in the shade to meditate. Halik is Muslim and asked the monk if he could locate Mecca and pray. That was cool. It was a really peaceful place.

I don’t know anything else to say. He was a man of whom I only knew a fraction, of whom other narratives reveal so much more. I just knew him from a time when I was ‘growing up’, and I remember he used to listen. I used to make him laugh sometimes and he’d tell me something pithy and useful. Near the end he couldn’t hear much of what I was saying but I could hear him, so I think the relationship worked out well.

When I woke up yesterday I heard he was dead. Not that it was unexpected. After a busy day of messing things up in a funk I ran through the cemetery to the crematorium, but he’d already gone to the dust. So that’s the last of my friend Mohan. It was a good life and I wish he was around to tell me stuff. I wish I could have seen him today. I wish a lot of things but this life is what it is. May he rest in peace.

On War

I think the relevant points in the Sri Lanka context was the need to establish our own army, to give political support to war and to get the bloody and brutal part done thoroughly and fast.

The prince will be able to take care of himself if he has a sufficient supply of men or of money to put an adequate army in the field, capable of engaging anyone likely to attack him. (Chapter X)

As long as the Sri Lankan Army didn’t control the island or even Colombo, our prince’s power was never secure. For Machiavelli holding this power was the point and, in a cruel world, it ultimately is.

Mercenary and auxiliary [supplied by foreign power] forces are useless and dangerous… With mercenaries the danger lies in their cowardice; with auxiliaries, it lies in their capability… No state, unless it have its own arms, is secure. (Chapter XIII)

Auxiliary Indian troops (the IPKF) didn’t work out in Sri Lanka. Karuna and Pillayan never fielded a fighting force. In the end Mahinda greatly enlarged the Sri Lankan armed forces, mainly army. Hence the state, under its own arms, is secure (moreso). This required a steady focus from Mahinda.

A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war, its methods and its discipline, for that is the only art expected of a ruler. (Chapter XIV)

Machiavelli also counseled, in times of war, to effectively rip the bandage off at once. To push forward, regardless of human cost.

In seizing a state one ought to consider all the injuries he will be obliged to inflict and then proceed to inflict them all at once. (Chapter VIII)

On Occupation

The Romans very carefully observed this policy in the provinces they conquered. They sent out colonies; they protected the lesser powers without increasing their strength; they reduced those who were strong, and they did not permit powerful foreigners to gain a footing. (Chapter III)

Mahinda’s done all these things with the exception of politically toxic colonies. Instead he’s setting up military occupation, which Machiavelli regarded as more expensive and less secure. In the other regards, however, it was essential to co-opt the Eastern Province through Pillayan. It was also prudent to pit Pillayan and Karuna against each other and make the former largely impotent by not devolving powers to the provincial level. Furthermore, keeping India and international NGOs and orgs on the sidelines was also essential.

He’s also followed the basic instruction to kill the opposing ‘prince’ (Prabhakaran) and his line. That plus dispersing and dividing the population is generally considered enough to pacify the place.

There is more on almost every subject, from power to appearance to foreign relations. I could go through it more later. What I like about Machiavelli is not that I agree with him, but that he’s realistic. Princedom has actually fallen the world over and I think there is a better democratic, Barackian way to govern, but in many cases – especially in warlike or developing countries – to paraphrase, there are so many men that do evil that a man who does good comes to ruin. When it comes to the practical truths of governing these unruly provinces, Mahinda has hemmed pretty close to a Machiavellian ideal.

I think these are interesting ideas in general, but I think people would also be wise to consider who Machiavelli addressed them to. Unlike HRW and UN reports which are directed to some vague conscience or benevolent organization deity, The Prince is addressed to the prince. It’s main concern is preserving his life and power. I don’t agree with all the prescriptions, but I think any policy recommendations would be wise to consider that ultimate, practical aim. Morality and ethics are great, but they’re only followed insomuch as they enable greater power and better performance than the opposite.

Whatever’s said and done, any recommendations for change may be better addressed not to Mahinda’s better nature but to his self-interest, and the self-preserving interest of the state.

Of course, Sarath Fonseka is a US Green Card holder and Gotabaya Rajapakse is a US Citizen. As such, the US can question them or generally do whatever. In exchange for the rights they get there are annoying responsibilities. On a personal level.

However, on a diplomatic level I don’t see how this really furthers US interests or improves the situation in Sri Lanka. From what I hear, the US actions are both bumbling and counterproductive. According to reports, when this Tarantino fellow called, he asked Sarath to talk about the Minister of Defence. What he meant was the Secretary of Defence. Mahinda holds the ministry and appointed his brother Secretary. This may seem like a little thing, but if you’re trying to investigate you might start by looking the stuff up on Wikipedia.

Furthermore, the US can’t actually do anything on a geopolitical level. They can basically kick Gota and Sarath out as individuals but that’s about it. They’re exposing themselves to diplomatic flak for no real pay-off. I don’t think that this really furthers US interests which should, ultimately, be the point.

Basically, I think the US should stop meddling like this. They can’t change things from there, and these foreign actions just make it harder for the local opposition. I’m no big fan of Gota and Sarath, but I still respect them and think that defeating the LTTE was a pretty big thing. I think there could have been a much more humane way to do it, but they did make some hard decisions and I do respect that. I don’t agree, but I do respect. As a Sri Lankan I would personally like to vote in more moderate people, but foreign interference gets us no closer to this or any other positive situation.

At some point the US needs to think what they want from Sri Lanka and how to get it. I’ve talked to Embassy chaps and I think they really don’t know. If they want to generally do good and be liked, this isn’t the way to go about it. I think this sorta thing unites most Sri Lankans in opposition to foreign interference.

They may want to take a page from their own hands-off policy during the fraudulent Iran elections. There Obama sat back because he didn’t want the opposition to be tarred as ‘foreign’. In Sri Lanka they don’t seem to care and random dudes are making phone calls without too much oversight. Which is, like, whatever – except I live here. If you can’t fix stuff you can at least not fuck it up even more.

I should note, however, that all this Sarath shit is a teledrama and I don’t know if these are tactical leaks or what. Maybe Gota is trying to make Sarath look bad or someone is trying to make it look like Gota is trying to make Sarath look bad. I really don’t know. At this point I understand the Sarath Saga about as much as Maha Gedera. The war was so much simpler.

I think Malinda has a reasoned column on this in the Daily News

The plan is basically simple. Colombo professionals and landed gentry pay for a holistic workout program. This includes physically running around Colombo delivering things, including wheelbarrow loads of goods and refuse. It also includes unloading containers in Pettah, digging roads and, like, drawing water from wells. This covers cardio, shoulders, back and triceps, etc. They pay for this, say Rs. 7,000 a month.

Then, in turn, you get paid by the guys in Pettah, the RDA and whoever needs well water, etc. Part of that money goes into compensation and vocational training for the displaced workers and the rest goes into pocket. A simple plan.

Not that the web has been untouched. A distant relative of mine is the editor of a Sirasa (MTV) website, the name of which I’ve forgotten. He was stabbed. Websites are not immune but this is the first time, I think, that someone’s been arrested for ‘web comments’. Now, I don’t know Gayan Rajapakse. I’ve heard of someone by that name being involved with Sinhala Unicode. I don’t know the site in question, nor the comments discussed. I say ‘Blogger Arrested?’ with a question mark because I don’t know. I’m not even sure if he is a blogger.

I do know that he’s a fellow web denizen of some sort and right now he’s in remand. Which sucks. I’ve been asking around but I can’t get any connection to him or his family. If you know of something or any more information please email me (indi@indi.ca). It is not good to be alone at these times and we web people should maybe stick together at times like these. Again, I’m not commenting on the case at hand because I don’t know. I’m just trying to find out.

Focus

Mahinda had a plan for the war. It was a simple plan, marketed, funded and executed ruthlessly. He has no such plan for the economy. The basic idea seems to be to ride the wave of post-war prosperity. Indeed, a secure nation has opened up opportunities for many people.

However, mega-projects aside, his developments haven’t created many jobs. They have made for good commissions and contracts for companies (including many Chinese) but the daily wages I’ve seen in Hambantota and along the east coast rarely exceed Rs. 400. These projects are good in the long term, but they’re not putting food in people’s mouths now.

Cost Of Living

And the people are hungry. We have sacrificed tremendously in terms of the direct cost of war and its collateral drag on the economy. Moreover, the increasing size and decreasing competence of government has also drained our earnings while money printing has impoverished us via inflation.

People were willing to tolerate these issues for a reason, but that reason is over. The war is over, conclusively. People were happy and they put the stickers on their buses, but once the petrol runs out they’re won’t be so supportive.

Strikes

If the power, petrol, water and transport staff strike at once it will shut down the entire country. Most of these people have already struck separately, plus the perennial parade of university students. They strike for the own reasons, some foolish some wise, but if they were united by a narrative they could actually change something.

Unfortunately, of course, there is no opposition to connect the dots. If they could, however, it wouldn’t be a pretty picture for Mahinda.

On the way back I was a hungry hungry hippo. We stopped at Logi’s kade where they were just putting the Kottu on. It came complete with big hunks of beef, one portion was enough to feed three. I highly recommend it. The shop is called Shalini. You literally cannot miss it. For now.

Logi said that Ranil Wickremasinghe and Anura Bandaranaike used to have hotels here, before the war. Gone now, bulldozed over for new developments. Now land has been given out to Gotabaya Rajapakse and Mahinda’s doctor. Among others. Apparently the entire coast we jogged along has been given out to developers.

Which is cool I guess. We’ve been roughing it something special, standing on the Valachchenai bus, smacking my head on the rail of the Batti bus as I dozed off in traffic. It’s not hard to get here but it’s not, like, easy. Once here we just got a room for Rs. 700 at The New Land Guesthouse (065 568 0440). That’s for a triple. Getting a cuttlefish dinner for like Rs. 150.

This place is still tough for girls, or older people used to more creature comforts. Roughing it is fun, but I suppose it gets old at some point, as one ages. If there was more development and, like, street lights that might be good. It just makes it a bit harder to see the stars.

We left Peanut Farm because it was getting dark and we’d been warned not once or twice but thrice about elephants. At least I had. I also ran into an elephant on the way to the bar once (in Yala) and he tried to kill me. I avoid wild elephants like Minister’s sons, and I’d heard they were causing trouble in Arugam Bay.

The Good Part

So we’re on the main road back, a few meters from the STF (military police) camp. We see an elephant in the distance, like 100 meters away. This is a safe distance for an elephant, plus we’re on bikes. We stop to look. The elephant looks back. Then, in an instance, he’s surrounded by a cloud of dust. He’s charging us.

This would be terrifying, but he’s also a hundred meters away. And closing fast. Halik and I turn our bikes around to pedal away. Jerry dropped his bike like a little girl and ran away from the elephant on foot. There was a flatbed truck with like 15 people on it passing by and he ran towards the truck. When we saw him he was trying to clamber inside. The people were very confused.

We biked a safe distance and laughed our asses off. The thing is, we were all safe, but the elephant was still there, stalking Jerry’s bike like a prize. We were terrified that he was plotting a second attack and hemmed and hawed for a while until some guys with guns passed by.

Luckily, every third guy in that area has an automatic weapon capable of felling an elephant. So we crossed as those guys crossed, picked up Jerry’s bike and sped off. He’d been consistently lagging behind but he led the rest of the way home.

Daily Show Goes to Iran from sahar sarshar on Vimeo.

Interpersonal Communication

Human language is an awesome and highly evolved thing. I think it’s actually the highest form of technology ever. When we have a conversation with someone we parse the grammar and syntax, but we also evaluate vocal tone, phonetics, facial signals, etc. In a conversation, you can immediately sense when you go to far or say something offensive, and you generally pull back. What we call ‘civility’ is really a highly complex social protocol.

International Communication

The language between states doesn’t have this subtle give. It’s basically a bunch of monkeys throwing poop at each other and occasionally sharing fruit. Hillary Clinton says some tone-deaf, offensive shit that you would never say to someone’s face. Sri Lankan politicians say ridiculous stuff about the west even though they send their kids there. If we were all in a room chatting we would have seen from the frowns and silence that these statements might be offensive, but there is no such feedback in a press release.

This is tragic because I think the people of the world are generally friends. Any tourist can visit any town in Sri Lanka and be treated like family. People in Sri Lanka are really hospitable and they like meeting new people and chatting and having tea and stuff. I lived in middle America for years and those people always treated me like family. Dudes were super nice. In the Iranian example, the guy cried when he just saw a normal playground and spent a day playing video games with a normal family. On a personal level, I think we really do get along.

However, internationally, this subtle give and take gets lost. We’re just like ‘you’re fucking up!’ and they’re like ‘no you’re fucking up!’ and nobody ever breaks for tea. Personally, if a friend is fucking up I’ll tell them, but I also tell them that I love them and I support them. I don’t sanction them or talk to everybody else about their problems, but that’s pretty much the default in international relations. I also always treat them with respect and I talk to them as friends, not wayward children.

The developing world isn’t a bunch of fuck-ups anymore. Maybe we were, but now the global south is now pulling its weight. By the same token, the west isn’t an evil colonial empire anymore. We can be friends. Rather than lecturing and demonizing each other we should just try to communicate with mutual respect. Our people can already do it, from village to city. If only our governments could be polite and hospitable too.

Free love gives you AIDS, diseases and destroys families. There is of course a time and a place, and a natural inclination. It can be controlled and the lifestyle can be managed, basically with sensible contraception and education. Generally, however, marriage is a good institution which serves a great social need. I believe in fair love. People should be free, but the institution of marriage generally improves quality of life. It nurtures and protects women and children, as well as men. That’s why everyone should be able to marry a person they love, including gay people. It makes life a lot less chaotic for everybody.

This is, of course, rich coming from me, or any man really. Sexual regulations generally fall upon women. ‘Boys will be boys you know’, even when this extends to harassment, abuse, exploitation and even casual rape. Sexual regulations need to apply equally to boys, but boys are not in any hurry to pass such laws. I think the best solution is to put more women in power.

Women In Power

I am blessed to have some powerful and brilliant women in my life. From my mother to my editor at the Sunday Leader. There are successful women running businesses, families, and empires. Not to mention the housemaids and brave migrant workers who keep our economy afloat. Women are entirely capable of managing power and regulating their own sexuality for the public good.

By this I mean that issues like abortion, marriage, divorce, contraception and general ‘family values’ should be regulated by the government. I agree with that ‘conservative’ value. I just think we need to be fair in implementing it. You can’t have regulation without representation, and women are being shafted. We need a lot more women in power. That’s the only way it’s fair.

There is more on this subject from Halik.

The storm drains of Colombo are full of love affairs, abortions, wedding rings, blood and tears. Beneath the veneer of civilization is the beating heart of lust. My heart, indeed, poor pilgrim, is taking a beating of its own. I wish for an arranged marriage. I wish for order in this world.

Scandal and intrigue pierce the space between our bodies. The stories, the innuendo, the rumors. Like radiation, those cell phone conversations, discreet text messages, they fill the airwaves, whispering. When the whispering voices become confession, the heart reels.

I sit humbled in my own body, weighed heavily by the moment. I feel a dreadful itch, to scratch away the time. Oh the tempests a heart makes, the teacups it overturns. They spill into the Colombo sewers, lost children and dreams.

Repatriation and Immigration

I am a dual citizen. This process took about 2 years and Rs. 200,000. I was new here and without my mother and grandmother helping (doing, really) I would have given up. For me it was relatively easy because my parents had registered my birth in Canada with the Sri Lankan government, the Ministry Of Defence I think. Under some act that gave me the right to assume citizenship by age 21.

However, if your birth is not registered you need a boatload of paperwork and accreditation, and the process is strangely biased towards men rather than women. It’s much easier if you have a Sri Lankan father than a mother, for some weird reason. If you are, god forbid, someone ‘foreign’ who wants to immigrate to Sri Lanka it’s well nigh impossible. It simply does not compute. We have a well established migration system, but almost nothing for immigration. It’s not like people are swimming across the Palk Strait to get here, but there are some chaps that want to immigrate and they can contribute.

Investment and Property Rights

We ask for foreign investment, but you simply cannot do business without property rights. Right now foreigners pay 100% tax on land. I guess that’s OK in some contexts, but there should be some procedure where foreigners that want to do business (rather than speculate) can do so on a competitive basis. If someone wants to come here, build a factory, shop, whatever and create jobs they should be able to do so with some assurance that they won’t get screwed by their local partner. Right now you can invest with a local partner or by forming a company or whatever, but that is fundamentally insecure from an investment perspective.

The biggest problem with getting foreign investment is offering them security, and some form of property right is the best way to do this. You are able to go through the BOI and I’ve talked to BOI guys in Trinco who say it’s easy. From a few investors, however, I hear that it’s not. Rajaratala discusses it in more detail, but I think the BOI is a sort of hack on the normal economy which actually causes a bit of problems. Rather than making a side door we may want to just fix the front.

Property rights in general are a mess. The courts are clogged with land disputes, squatting tenants, feuding families. I used to think property rights were something of an indulgence for rich people, but no small or medium business (foreign or local) can really grow without real estate to borrow against. We try to work around this with BOI zones and things, but at some point we need to actually work out property rights for everybody, so the economy can grow. Cases I know of personally is that the car park in the middle of Kandy is somehow a BOI zone (rare in a city center) and that dudes in Anuradhapura need to go through 48 steps and so many years to get deeds. Locals have problems and foreigners/expats have them double. At some point we need to straighten out property rights in general.

This is all boring shit, but it’s sorta a prerequisite for the repatriation the President has called for. People need to be able to A) live here and B) buy property. Right now these things are possible, but hair-pullingly painful. For many good people they are actually not humanly possible at all. I personally know many foreigners, half-breeds and people born abroad who want to live here and contribute to the country but don’t feel welcomed. In fact, they almost feel rejected. We’re asking people to come back. We should welcome them.

Note: This post started from an article on Foriegn Investment and Ownership by the ever insightful Rajaratala/Ratmale

Ah the three wheeler, trishaw, auto rickshaw, tuk tuk. Vehicle of many names and many curses. Personally, I hate three wheelers from the car but like them when I need one. I like them aesthetically but would never drive one. Three wheelers are, however, an innovative form of transportation and they may see some growth in the future. They are cheap, versatile, use minimal petrol and can be converted to environmentally friendly fuels quite easily. Pictured herein are some new designs for trishaws and comments on their development.

West

I shall start from the fantastic because it’s more interesting. Above is a BMW concept called the Clever (Compact Low Emissions Vehicle for Urban Transport). Come to think of it, that isn’t an accurate acronym at all. BMW says this thing does zero to 60k in around 7 seconds which is great because current trishaws do zero to 60, well, never. It has a top speed of 100k and safety features inside that go far beyond, well, cloth. To quote, “BMW says it emits just 60 grams of CO2 per 100 kilometers. Yes, that’s correct. The Toyota Prius, for the sake of comparison, emits 89 per kilometer.” This concept seems, however, stuck in an unsweet spot of being too dorky for the people that can afford it and too expensive for the people that would use it. At least in the subcontinent.

To go further afield, this aggressive beast is a two-wheels-in-front three wheeler of the type they’re developing in America. This effectively flips the Asian trishaw, which has one lame wheel in the front for steering and the engine and power in the back. This has the effect of looking actually cool (or space age, as per Tree Hugger) and being a bit more robust. The Canadian Silence PT2 is effectively a racer, though rather expensive at about $42,000 USD. The Volkswagen GX3 is another racer type which they said costs $17,000. Production, however, was dependent on consumer demand and I don’t think that happened.

These types, however, just got a boost because the US government approved Department Of Energy funding for them.

East

The real game, however, remains in Asia. This is where three wheelers are actually used, ubiquitous even. I’m not sure how much a three wheeler costs, but I think it’s less than $10,000 (Rs 1 million). Please let me know in the comments if you’re aware. [UPDATE: apparently it's more like less than $5,000] Meter taxis are now becoming available in Sri Lanka and the rate is Rs. 50 for the first kilometer and Rs. 30 thereafter, I hear. There’s a hotline for these meter chaps (0712500800) and even a decent website. Technology wise the Asian trishaw is usually a Bajaj or TVS. It is either a more polluting two-stroke engine (now banned in SL) or a more efficient four stroke, but it still runs on petrol. I think they also mix oil and petrol in there, I can’t find stuff online, please explain if you know. [UPDATE: only the two stroke mixes] There is an interesting discussion here involving the Executive Director of Bajaj India.

Though current trishaws use less petrol than cars, they still pollute, both in terms of carbon and noise. There are, however, clean alternatives and high fuel prices give them some market impetus. One currently active alternative is Clean Natural Gas. CNG trishaws currently operate in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and to a lesser extent Sri Lanka. These aren’t no emissions, but they are lower.

Mahindra has also introduced the first hydrogen powered three wheeler, called the Hy-Alfa. This is cool because hydrogen is basically zero-emissions, but not exactly workable cause hydrogen production and distribution isn’t really worked out yet. CNG is much more popular by comparison. Hydrogen, however, could reach a critical mass, but that would need some upfront investment (which could possibly come to naught).

One avenue which I think is more promising (and neglected) is solar powered trishaws. In the Asian context where there’s A) constant sun and B) low speed requirements it seems like an ideal power source. You basically just need to stick solar panels on top and connect it to a battery. However, I haven’t seen that much development on this far beyond a hobbyist level. There are working prototypes, but it seems like no major investment to make them saleable. Of all the possible trishaws I think this is the coolest and the one most worth developing.

In the future I guess I’ll post what I’m considering beforehand to see if A) the bloggers actually want those posts published and B) if there are any suggestions/objections. The alternatives are making it completely click based (misses a lot and manipulable) or setting up committee or something (meetings, organization, echh).

Some other ideas I had was presenting blog content to other publications, paper and magazines. They all seem to need filler and often they’re copy pasting irrelevant crap from the Internets. I could go and talk to some of these chaps. Kottu doesn’t necessarily need to be bound to one particular publisher. I personally think it’d be cooler if the content appeared in many different mediums. One issue here is proper licensing of content. I’d recommend a Creative Commons license for everyone, and working contacts on blogs, but I don’t even have a license posted here. If I did I guess it’d be an Attribution License, the most liberal one.

Anyways, the print version is out today. You can download a PDF as well, tho that’s not exactly how it appears. I’m working on InDesign CS4 on a Mac. I have to save that as an INX file which opens in CS3, on my netbook. Then I have to save that as another INX file that will open on the ancient CS2 they’re using at the Leader. So I’m never quite sure how the thing will print.

The printer has also been burnt down twice and their photo reproduction is not the best. Ahem.

Deepavali is basically a Tamil/Hindu festival here, but probably my favorite thing about diversity is that you get a lot of holidays. Sometimes food even. In Sri Lanka you get the full assortment of Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim holidays celebrated, with cultural and communist and global ones thrown in. Not a bad deal really.

This is a bit of flash fiction built around a few scientific discoveries and inventions. A few of the items, like the car, can be bought today. The rest is probably possible in a not so distant future. It’s set in the context of the Mexican drug war.

…

Carlos pulled out of the firefight, his right arm bloodied and mangled. Crouching behind the speckled concrete he tried not to panic. After the blunt force of impact he could feel the effects through his brain more than his body. He could feel the open wound, the cells dying like a browning apple. Got hit with some kind of calibre, he thought.

When the medic arrived the first thing he did was apply a breathing mask on Carlos. “Just breathe,” he asked. The hydrogen sulfide smelled like farts. Carlos was comforted and passed out.

The Python had a Corvette engine and it could really hammer on the water. The Rio Grande was perhaps not the best way to travel, but it cut the traffic and limited possible ambushes to RPGs fired from the banks. Frogmen, theoretically, but nah. Frida checked out Carlos. No pulse, no breath. Good. The hydrogen sulfide was working, binding is mitochondria in a controlled, healing sleep. The wound had stopped bleeding and Carlos was effectively dead. If they could get to the hospital on the El Paso side they could reanimate him in time.

Out of the corner of her eye Frida saw something moving on the river bank. ‘Stray dog or something’, she thought, but clutched her SCAR more resolutely. She saw the movement again. This thing was moving way too fast. ‘Oh shit,’ she thought. It was a fucking cheetah.

The Cartel had been using advanced robotics for a while to blow things up and generally cause havoc, but these cheetahs were much more terrifying that the usual rolly beasts. It was a robot built on a flexible spine of carbon fibre, capable of doing 35 MPH at a sprint. Which looked about right. They were still too far out for it to attack, but what was it doing out here? Frida checked the other bank for an ambush, but nothing. The cheetah stopped.

Just as quick a water skimmer jumped off its back and into the water, then another. ‘Double shit,’ she thought, and loaded a grenade onto her assault rifle. She cocked and waited for the things to get in range. At the first fire she realized this may cause problems. The thing was laden with some heavy explosive that both waked the boat and almost hit it with what looked and smelled like burning death. She quickly steadied, cocked and took out the last one, the recoil and violent rocking knocking her on her back.

As they pulled off she could see the residue still burning as the sun set on the Rio Grande. They were almost at the hospital and Carlos would be safe on the 7th floor, surrounded by armed guards and the secure elevator. Frida just didn’t count on the geckos.

To quote:

In addition to assorted bad breaks and pleasant surprises, opportunities and insults, life serves up the occasional pink unicorn. The three-dollar bill; the nun with a beard; the sentence, to borrow from the Lewis Carroll poem, that gyres and gimbles in the wabe.

An experience, in short, that violates all logic and expectation. The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote that such anomalies produced a profound “sensation of the absurd,” and he wasn’t the only one who took them seriously. Freud, in an essay called “The Uncanny,” traced the sensation to a fear of death, of castration or of “something that ought to have remained hidden but has come to light.”

At best, the feeling is disorienting. At worst, it’s creepy.

Now a study suggests that, paradoxically, this same sensation may prime the brain to sense patterns it would otherwise miss — in mathematical equations, in language, in the world at large.

“We’re so motivated to get rid of that feeling that we look for meaning and coherence elsewhere,” said Travis Proulx, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and lead author of the paper appearing in the journal Psychological Science. “We channel the feeling into some other project, and it appears to improve some kinds of learning.”

So I suppose that’s one reason I seek these things out. I also remember the earlier days of infinite Internet and the mind boggling links I used to find in Wired Magazine. I suspect that crazy gung-ho Internet is still out there, but my diet has become much more domesticated (Facebook, Twitter, New York Times, repeat). That’s why I like MetaFilter, for an occasional mental shuffle. I like to think that it’s good for me.

Photos

I’m selecting the photos from this search. It looks for anything with the word ‘Lanka’ under a Creative Commons License, uploaded within the last month. So far what’s caught my eye is this panorama of St. Clair’s Falls, this photo of a tourist in Habarana, this studio looking shot of cinnamon sticks, this photo of a fisherman, this jumping water, this dude in a boat, this burning flame. I also like the stuff this photo blogger U4j10 has been doing, may ask him. Tell me if you have any more suggestions. They just have to be CC licensed or with available permission from the photographer.

Posts

There’s a fair amount of discussion about how Sarath Fonseka is being treated, from killromeoproject and Halik among others. That might do for a page, with the comments and discussion. The Puppeteer ran last time, but I think here description of a Hooker On A Bus is really excellent. What Lesbians Do In Bed is an interesting and attention-getting poem. Gypsy’s Grace is a piece of short fiction that seems to be climbing. The 1/10th is an interesting poem about junkies by St. Fallen. Cerno’s Elephant Watching Makes Me Feel Dirty is a bit old but I think worth reproducing. BailaMan has been doing consistently good stuff, would like to select a piece from him.

That’s about all I can think of for now, but please suggest stuff. It’s getting sent off tomorrow, so speak now or hold your peace.

LBO (Lanka Business Online)

This is probably the highest quality news source online, though it is a particular niche. It’s not too hard business and it does cover general stuff, but there is an economic focus. I dig the Thrift column and my dad’s Choices column. LBO is also full of multiple, flashing seizure inducing ads and I think that it is one of the few online ventures that is profitable. It is, of course, cross-promoted and supported by a sister TV show.

dailymirror.lk

The Daily Mirror is the most visible and serious of the newspapers online. It also takes an aggressive interest in advertising (including houses) making it, I think, very profitable. I don’t read it too much because most of the story links turn out to be, effectively, Twitter posts but they are doing cool stuff like video interviews and polls and stuff.

WSO2

This is an Open Source ‘SOA’ company run by Sanjiva Weerawarana, formerly of IBM I believe. SOA is apparently Service-Oriented Architecture, some geeky business stuff. All I know is that it’s somehow linked with the Apache software that runs this and every website I’ve ever worked on. This business is cool in that they make a product which they basically give away free and make money through support and consulting.

anything.lk

This is a new venture launched by some friends of mine. There is a huge demand for an online classifieds space in Sri Lanka. I for example am looking for an old iPod shuffle. These guys have set up something to address that need. Personally, I’m not crazy about the interface, but in these things the interface doesn’t matter much. People will use whatever system once it reaches a critical mass. Anything.lk hasn’t reached that mass yet, but they still have listings for most categories. They are also promoting the thing in meatspace and I think they have a shot. I wish them luck.

Vesess

Vesess is a web design company that I’ve worked with extensively. They produce web standards stuff, which is actually incredibly rare among Sri Lankan web designers. They basically subscribe to the global geek ethos, whereas most designers are stuck in the Flash banners and loading pages of 1995. I’ve worked with them to produce everything from the database-driven dialog.lk site (including months of strategy and reorganization) as well as small sites for photographers and small business.

They’ve also recently launched their own web application called CurdBee (for freelancers to manage invoices) which already has a bunch of users, some paying. They do good, international quality work and I recommend them for web design.

And that’s all the Sri Lankan online businesses I know off the top of my head. Tell me if you know any more.

video from SlateV

There’s also an interesting discussion on how realistic the sexism is, for example:

I worked at a Fortune 500 company in the late 70s/early 80s, and everyone smoked wherever they wanted to, men smacked women on the behind regularly and made humiliating sexist remarks and nothing was ever done about it. The conference rooms had huge, fully stocked bars and it was routine for a lot of the executives and sales men to gather in there beginning at 5PM and drink for an hour or so “until traffic cleared.” Then they’d drive home drunk.

There’s also a well-written ‘confession‘ from someone who came up in that industry. Mad Men is very interesting stuff, and composed beautifully. I watch Mad Men on Fox FX on Dialog TV. You can download it here if you have BitTorrent.

People, however, never paid for content. Homer wrote the Odyssey for meals and a place to crash. Shakespeare became a prosperous land owner, but he never saw any bank from the Leonardo DiCaprio flick. The money is in the medium. Someone technical always comes into exploit the artist, and what they really sell is some medium. It’s a product, and the geeks selling the widgets make the real money.

The issue isn’t that the content is bad. It’s just that the old media product isn’t as good as, say, Apple or Google. Those are both ‘content’ businesses, but Apple’s sexy iWants and Google’s supercomputers are both much better products. A magazine or newspaper is a rich experience, but it’s not the best content delivery system. Which, if you want to be a content business, is the point.

This is not to say that newspapers or magazines are deprecated, like records. Or maybe they will be. Vinyl sales are growing and it’s quite a comfortable niche. It doesn’t really matter. The New York Times has 17.4 million readers per month online compared to 1.1 million subscribers (huge, basically opposite caveat). If they just released an innovative product around their content I’d buy it. Perhaps a pill that gives informative seizures every 3 hours, something new. If they have all those eyeballs they could push their classifieds section harder and sell ad space more aggressively, all through investments in technology.

Print still makes real money, but they should be smart about it. They need to move into India and China where there is growing demand for print. And not the vanilla International Herald Tribune, but real regional reporting. South America, Africa, those markets are still wide open and can be very profitable. Hell, a Mexican telecom tycoon is the one bailing the NYT out. The success of Al Jazeera shows that there’s still huge demand for news, but people don’t need to get it live from New York anymore.

Google and Apple are making investments and trying new markets and the media boys aren’t. I think that’s basically the difference. Content isn’t a tax and blaming the ungrateful consumer doesn’t make money. You have to improve the product. These guys are all in the content business. Google and Apple just package it better. All I’m saying is you wouldn’t wrap your fish in an iPhone. That’s basically where the business is right now.

This reminds me though, the future is becoming more and more Science Fiction every day. For example, I’ve been poking at this idea of a story about Spam Bots (artificial intelligences) beginning to dabble in piracy and international terrorism, and becoming somewhat self aware (and evil). This is one scene, which coincidentally involves exploding asses. Damn you Al Qaeda.

Malaccamax

Serang Ali looked out onto the Straits of Malacca and popped a Yaba. His eyes dilated and the night became more purple. The gang pushed the boat into the water and headed into the sea. He checked the text message tattoo on his muscled forearm as the boys doublechecked the folding machine guns. 2 AM, all’s well. Their inside man was on the watch.

A few hours later the pirates controlled the bridge. After delivering the butt end of a machete to an obligingly effusive nose the crew got the message. They were tied in a cabin, a bit smacked around. Ali felt the night prickly with violence and the hope of some all night Happy Happy with one of them Thai girls, dancing the zydeco. He popped another grape flavoured pill and flexed his elbows out in a little jig.

“Teman,” said a fellow pirate. “Risky bisnis. One missing,” he said, pointing to the ships log. Seventeen crew. Sixteen in the cabin. Ali went in to count but his concentration was shot.

“You, check again,” he said but went out to look anyways. There was no time for a life raft, he must have gone for their fibreglass boat moored offshore. They’d sail with signal jammers so the goaway would have to get a hundred meters out to call for help. If he could. He grabbed the FMG-9 Glock, which looked, for the moment, like an IBM smartbook with a flashlight on top. With a flick of the thumb, however, the shoulder brace swung out and the 9mm machine gun was ready to fire.

Serang Ali ran down the gangway to where they’d docked the fiberglass boat, the only quick way out. Sure enough, lucky Number 17 was ascending downwards. He strafed down with bullets, mostly stray, but enough to send the man crashing down, cracking his back across the side of the waiting boat with a sickening crack. Thankfully he flipped out and landed in the water. Ali didn’t want to waste an RPG sinking the skiff.

With everyone underwater or under control, one pirate changed course and another manned the engines. The rest were just muscle and they sat around popping Yaba and plugging from a bottle of pilfered Johnny Black.

“Job’s not over yet,” cautioned Ali, lighting a Marlboro Red.

They continued out into open sea. The ship was self-unloading, so it wasn’t that difficult to offload the armored BMW Series 15s to the Thai tanker. That was their cut. Meanwhile, Ali followed the encrypted RFID signal to the relevant container and loaded enough explosives to blast that and its neighbors beyond recognition. He did the same at three other spots, for randomness sake.

Serang Ali watched from the bridge as the charge went off and the offending cargo disappeared. With no small relief. Only then did the countdown on his arm disappear and he felt this cursed job to be over. Never again would he spend the night at a brothel. Woke up with a bomb in his ass and this mission in his Inbox. Ali still needed to get the explosives removed, but now he was at least sure that he wouldn’t blow up. Until, of course, he did.