text:
Go Shuck An Oyster
Or, go eat some oysters.
Bentley's Rock Oysters and London's Summer Olympic Games
By Rand Hoch, Travel Editor
With the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and 2012 Summer Olympic Games underway, this is the summer to be in London. So, after a few weeks visiting with friends in Italy, I headed to London – to preview what the Olympians will no doubt be enjoying oysterwise.
Native (wild) oysters in the British Isles date back to the Jurassic period and became popular in Britain since Roman times. They grow in the shallow coastal waters and estuaries around the British Isles.
In 1916 Londoners were treated to the perfect place to enjoy native oysters: Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill, an only slightly tucked away place on Swallow Street in Mayfair, near Piccadilly Circus.
Oyster lovers have been making their pilgrimages to this same location to enjoy the best oysters from around the British Isles for close to a century.
When the restaurant went on the market in 2005, renowned chef Richard Corrigan purchased and personalized Bentley's. The perfect touch.
British native oysters are not generally available until the end of September – or whenever the first cold spell sets in. Bentley's marks the beginning of each native season with shucking contests. (No doubt Josh will be competing some time soon!)
In contrast to the UK's native oysters, rock (farmed) oysters, which were introduced commercially in the 1960s, are enjoyed year round. The rocks, have rough shells and are tear-dropped shaped. I was told, rocks are sweeter, saltier and meatier than natives, but I have no frame of reference, since by law, natives cannot be fished between May and August.
So, here at Bentley's in the Summertime, rock oysters from the British Isles is all they feature.
Bentley's has several options for dining. You can relax at The Terrace outside in front of the restaurant. Tables with garden chairs and umbrellas make it a great place to take a break from touring around London. The Grill inside offers formal dining – a great place to fully enjoy Richard's amazing menu. And of course there is my destination: The Oyster Bar.
Entering the wood-paneled room, I found a comfortable stool at the marble-topped bar. At mid afternoon, I was joined by a trio of locals who obviously had ducked out of work for a while. At a red leather banquette nearby, a young couple was engaged in some covert conversation, enjoying their oysters and champagne.
When the white jacketed barman approached, he knew I was here to write about the oysters. He described his oysters with great pride, all the while effortlessly shucking oysters drawn from an ice filled basin.
At his excellent suggestion, I started with a Château de la Mirande Picpoul de Pinet, from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. An excellent recommendation, which I ended up sticking to for the rest of my visit.
The barman smiled as I told him I preferred my oysters "naked", perhaps with just a squeeze of lemon or a touch of shallot vinegar. He told me that many Americans request their oysters fully dressed - masking the wonderful flavors of his amazing mollusks. The more we chatted, the more we found we had in common. (It could have been the wine).
Shucking the entire time we talked, he told me that the key to the best in oysters is this: The colder the water, the better the oyster. Despite having enjoyed Gulf oysters in years past, I had to agree with him.
Within minutes, he had arranged a great platter of rocks for me. A plate of sourdough Irish soda bread, along with Lincolnshire butter and herb butter with seaweed was all I needed as an accompaniment. Well, except for the wine.
I began by tasting the cupped shelled rock oysters harvested from the Jersey Island off the coast of Normandy. Firm, crispy, salty and savory.
Next I sampled the Maldon rock oysters from Essex. Firm, meaty and creamy - and a bit saltier. Inhaling the oysters, I could almost smell the sea air.
The West Mersea Pearls which followed were plump, yet delicate. Smooth and silky, with a slight hint of the seaweed from the comfortable beds they had been nestled in just a day earlier. The perfect balance between sweet and salt, with sort of a organic lettuce flavor.
Intending to wrap it up, I slurped a few sweet oysters from Dorset were nice and meaty with hints of both lemon and cucumber. I was duly impressed with the selection, the wine, and the service
Although we had talked about our mutual preference for naked oysters, the barman had the chef make me a dressed platter "just for contrast." I sampled those wonderful oysters topped with a tangy Vietnamese sauce, followed by some with a spicy Catalan sauce. To round off the selection, I had two Oysters Rockefeller. The Vietnamese were my favorite.
With all of these great oysters, I could only imagine just how great the natives would taste. I visit London every other year to see great plays and musical's in London's West End. I now know my nest trip will be in the Fall – after the first cold spell sets in. The barman assured me I would truly enjoy the natives from Loch Ryan in Southwest Scotland.
Rand Hoch
I trust his judgement implicitly.
Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill
11-15 Swallow Street
London W1B 4DG
www.bentleys.org/
Shaved Ice for your at home Oysters
I finally came across a great product for making shaved ice, the Igloo Snow Cone Maker.
While the Igloo Snow Cone Maker is intended to make shaved ice for snow cones, it makes great shaved ice for your plate of oysters.
Behemoth Orleans lobster to get reprieve
ORLEANS, MA – A 21-pound lobster caught off Nauset Beach and currently on display at Capt'n Elmer's restaurant will be released back into Cape Cod waters.
After public outcry, the restaurant's board of directors concluded it would "be contrary to the personal ethics of the individual board members as well as the business principles of the company" to hold the lobster, according to a statement the company.
Michelle Costa, secretary at Capt'n Elmer's, said the restaurant received a number of emails and calls in defense of the lobster.
"It's a majestic creature, it's lived for over 100 years, it deserves to live," Costa said, summarizing some of the opinions expressed by the public.
The lobster will still be raffled off, but instead of receiving the monster lobster, the winner can choose to receive 21 pounds of retail lobster or join the release team to liberate the lobster. Costa said it's "better to be discreet" about the location of where the crustacean will be freed, to prevent it from being recaptured.
The drawing will take place at noon on Sunday. Tickets are available for $5 each or three for $10, with all the proceeds from the drawing going toward the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Reprinted with permission.
Original article By JASON COOK
jcook@capecodonline.com
Twenty-one pound lobster caught off shore of Orleans, MA
There may be an abundance of lobsters in New England this summer, but nothing like this.
WBZ first reported this week that a 21-pound lobster was caught off the shore of Nauset Beach in Orleans. The lobster is currently on display at Capt'n Elmers in Orleans, where manager Elise Costa told WBZ that the lobster's claws are measured at about a foot long.
"Usually, for every four and a half pounds of live lobster, once you cook it and clean it, you get one pound of meat. So 21 divided by four and a half, that would give you about five pounds of meat," Costa said.
Don't go rushing to the Cape just yet though for any weekend bake plans. Costa plans to display the lobster for a period of time before selling it or raffling it off for charity.
Outdoor Life Magazine posted the photo of the lobster on its Facebook page Wednesday night and got people wondering just how old a 21-pound lobster might be, with a few commenters opining that it might be some 147 years old.
The largest lobster on record was a 44-pounder caught in Nova Scotia.
For the original story, see twenty-one pound lobster caught off shore of Orleans
Support ICOF at Friends for Haiti - September 8, 2012 in Duxbury, MA
Go Shuck An Oyster staff will be at the Island Creek Oysters Foundation - Friends for Haiti Benefit, Saturday, September 8, 2012 at Duxbury Beach. We hope to see you there supporting a great cause and enjoying Island Creek Oysters, hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, a cigar lounge and much more!
This is an event not to miss.
"This all-inclusive event will take place under a spacious tent situated between the dunes of Duxbury Beach. The evening will begin with ICO's iconic raw bars loaded with unlimited oysters as well as passed hors d'oeuvres and cocktails created by Boston's favorite barkeep, The Hawthorne's Jackson Cannon. Cocktails will be followed by sunset over the Back River and short plates created by some of the the best chefs in the country. Our food lines are renowned for their brevity, but queuing up with renowned chefs, winemakers, farmers, musicians and philanthropists ensures our lines are one of the night's best forms of entertainment. Other highlights include live music, and a cigar lounge under the stars. All proceeds from Friends for Haiti directly benefit our collaboration with Dr. Valentin Abe of Caribbean Harvest to purchase Tilapia Fish Farming Kits and related supplies for Haitian families in Lake Azeui."
Tickets are available online by clicking here.
More information will be posted on this blog as it becomes available.
Learn more about the Island Creek Oysters Foundation and follow them on Twitter and friend them on Facebook.
See you in Duxbury.
Labels: Island Creek
Cirque De Sea - A Theatre Arts and Media Initiative
Will Oysters Save the World?
A Theatre Arts and Media Initiative Featuring
Cirque de Sea: A Multifarious Tale of Delightful Prospect
Written by Kahren Dowcett
Directed by Judith Partelow
To Deepen Our Understanding and Love for the Ocean And The Oyster
The "Brita" of Coastal Waters World Wide
Cirque de Sea: A Multifarious Tale With Delightful Prospect is a scientifically based comedy about sea creatures written for adults and suitable for children 10+. The story's central character is an oyster named Sammy Spat, a super hero water-filtering machine! Through the play, program notes, and audience talk-backs with marine biologists, aqua culturists/farmers, and the theatre artists, the audience will learn key scientific features about marine ecology, the oyster's roll as a keystone species, and the creative process. The play also touches on other socially relevant thematic material; bullying, self-acceptance, friendship and loyalty, and personal empowerment.
The staging of the play is done with "Lion King like" giant and life size puppets and masks, and combines music, dance, and poetry in a show that is as educational as it is entertaining. There is a workshop element that precedes the production to creatively engage the community and/or schools offered in collaboration with scientists.
The show is a shucking good comedy for young and old alike. And like Sammy Spat, it's one in a million!
Call Kahren Dowcett at 508-737-4220 to discuss how your organization, business, or school curriculum can benefit by becoming involved. Donations to advance the work are gratefully accepted and are tax deductible.
Will Oysters Save the World is intended for community, economic, and environmental betterment.
Playing in Provincetown, MA as follows:
Sunday July 29, 2012 at 7:00 PM - Opening night gala extravaganza with Oyster Tasting, Bubbly, Dignitaries, and Surprises
(Family shows at 7:00 PM and Burlesque shows at 9:00 PM)
Monday, July 30, 2012 at 7:00PM and 9:00 PM
Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 7:00PM and 9:00 PM
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 7:00PM and 9:00 PM
Sunday, August 5, 2012 at 7:00PM and 9:00 PM
Sunday, August 12, 2012 at 7:00PM and 9:00 PM
Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 7:00PM and 9:00 PM
Tickets are available online at by clicking here.
Follow @GoShuckAnOyster
Would you like us to try your oysters, review your product or write about what you're doing with oysters? Contact us.
Popular and Safe Glove
Upcoming Oyster Festivals
2019 - 2020 Oyster Festivals and Events - Click here
Email us your festival dates and we will add them to our list.
Safest Oyster Glove
Friends Greg and Leslie
Best Oyster Glove
Lobster Roll!
Oyster Restoration
Oyster Recycling and Restoration Program South Carolina
Oyster Restoration Images
South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement Program (SCORE)
Lynnhaven River NOW
Chesapeake Bay Foundation, MD
Native Oyster Restoration video
Oyster Restoration Workgroup
Massachusetts' Wellfleet Oyster Restoration Project video
Oyster Links
Amazon.com - Buy a glove, knife or book.
Massachusetts Oyster Project - Blog
Massachusetts Oyster Project - Website
In A Half Shell
The SF Oyster Nerd
Farm-2-Market
Oyster Information
Shucked
H.M. Terry Co., Inc.
Island Creek Oyster Bar
The Inn at Bay Fortune
Colville Bay Oyster Company
Five Minute Guide to Oysters
Oyster Guide
Eel Lake Oyster Farm
Matunuck Oyster Farm
East Dennis Oyster Farm
Glidden Point Oyster Company
East Coast Shellfish Growers Association
Island Creek Oyster
Buying My First Cryptocurrency
Great Oyster Opening Knife
Oyster Shucking Gloves
The Best Oyster Shucking Gloves
Books about Oysters
Awesome books about oysters
Buy a Glove or Oyster Shucking Knife
Oyster Gloves
Bentley's Rock Oysters and London's Olympics
Rome's Tuna
Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington, DC
Spoto's in Florida
Oyster Happy Hour at Five Fisherman
The Halifax Waterfront
Charlottetown, PEI and Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
John Bil's Quintessential Oyster
Colville Bay Oysters
Onward to PEI
Cape George and Cabot
Inn at Bay Fortune and Colville
So Many PEI Oysters
Summer Road Trip Plans
Bentley's Rock Oysters and London's Summer Olympic...
Twenty-one pound lobster caught off shore of Orlea...
Support ICOF at Friends for Haiti - September 8, 2...
Cirque De Sea - A Theatre Arts and Media Initiativ...
Purchase an Oyster Knife
Copyright 2007 - 2019 GoShuckAnOyster. Picture Window theme. Theme images by MichaelJay. Powered by Blogger.


text:
Building a Cafe Racer
Workshop Map
Cafe Racers +
Reviews +
Submit a Bike
Unexpected Places – Defined Yamaha XS250
For most people, a small capacity Japanese bike probably doesn't sound like an ideal trade-off for a classic Triumph TR6, but for 'Defined Motorcycles' owner Mick Scott it was a means to an end. While his TR6 sat in pieces he needed a runabout to keep him on the road. Wanting to keep costs down he sourced a bike that could fulfill his needs without breaking the bank and it came to him in the form of a Yamaha XS250. What he never planned for though was just how much fun rebuilding and riding that little bike would be.
Mike, who is a designer by trade, takes pleasure in finding lemons online. Not because he likes to own basket cases, but because of what they can potentially become and the XS was the perfect candidate. After taking a liking to its lines he decided the bike would make an ideal café racer conversion so he set off to seal a deal. "I purchased the bike for nothing short of 700 bones through Gumtree" (an Australian classifieds website), recalls Mick. "During the sale, the test ride was less than eventful with a heavy knock coming from the right cylinder." Despite the Yamaha's unappealing first impression, Mike loaded it into the back of his ute, along with a spare XS400 engine to sweeten the deal, and he headed home.
Leveraging his training as a designer Mick starts every build by penning a concept that uses the Golden Ratio. "Hold on" I hear you say…"What's the Golden Ratio?" Well putting it simply the Golden Ratio is a mathematical ratio commonly found in nature. If you use it when designing it creates a more natural or organic looking composition that tends to be more pleasing to the eye (more on that here) and it can be applied to pretty much anything. In Mick's case it's the bikes he builds.
"I started with the framework. Nutting out ways of fixing the things I hated about the stock setup. Beneath all that junk was an exceptional skeleton." Revising the bike's proportions necessitated trimming the rear end so after cutting away the stock subframe he set about fabricating its replacement. By cleverly using the curved sections from a pair of '69 BSA handlebars Mick "Frankensteined" a new rear loop. A custom seat pan soon followed with a hand shaped foam core that was covered in black Alcantara.
"The XS soon took all my attention when I realized its potential. It now had sick lines and just needed some TLC to get it running again." Up front, Mick continued to change things up by swapping out the stock bars for a set of alloy Pro-Taper clip ons he got off a mate. Unhappy with how the tank sat on the frame he chopped it down and added his own hand formed side panels. The rear fender was also trimmed down to better suit the revised back end.
Electrics were given a complete overhaul by fitting a custom loom and Pamco ignition. Rubber has been replaced by leather for the grips and kicker grip and the pipes have been clad in graphite pipe wrap to make them less conspicuous beside the blackened frame. Happy with how everything was coming together Mick turned his attention to performance. The 250s top end was well and truly dead but thanks to the forward-thinking engineers at Yamaha, a 400cc top end can be bolted straight on, and Mick just so happened to have one.
With the help of the crew at Milton Engine Developments, the engine was torn down and rebuilt using the 400cc top end. During the rebuild, the barrels were overhauled and stock carbs replaced with a pair of Mikuni VM32s. The exterior was also given an overhaul with fresh black paint and plenty of polishing.
The final result is a tightly proportion café racer that suits Mick's proportions (his words not mine) and runs faster than it ever has before. As for his TR6, its now got his full attention and we're hoping to showcase it here in the not too distant future.
DEFINED MOTORCYCLES
DEI GRATIA TRX – YAMAHA TRX850 RACER
We love cafe racers trimmed to perfection. Bikes built for a narrow purpose. A ride with lights removed, brackets cut back and an impossible back-breaking, wrist-aching, groin-punching riding position. But there's something…
Ride Review – Yamaha XSR900
My dog doesn't care for the Yamaha XSR900. When I arrive home on any other motorcycle the small ball of fur masquerading as a canine runs to the window to stare out…
Motor Bike Expo Yamaha XJR1300
When you are the organiser of what is arguably the biggest custom motorcycle event in the world it goes without saying you should be riding a custom bike of your own. Federico…
CAFE RACERS IN YOUR INBOX
Get all the latest features, special offers and products in your inbox.
Est. 2006 Return of the Cafe Racers is the world's premier cafe racer focused website. We publish regular features on custom motorcycle builds, riding gear reviews, how to guides and event coverage from around the globe. If you're a fan of cafe racer motorcycles and style then you've come to the right place!
© 2019 Return of the Cafe Racers Site by Space Studio & Tom MB
© 2019 Return of the Cafe Racers
Site by Space Studio & Tom MB

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Our personalities of the year: Charles Fournier
By Isabela Simonon January 2, 2020 in Art
A few years ago, Charles Fournier worked far from the stage, on construction sites. Confronted with the disease, then with the death of his father, he reinvented himself by becoming an actor, then an author. With his first play, "Foreman", the text of which he signs and in which he plays the main role, he offers a sharp, impactful, funny and benevolent reflection on masculinity. The show won honors at the Arts and Culture Excellence Awards, where it was crowned "work of the year in the Capitale-Nationale". The Quebec Theater Critics Association also awarded Charles Fournier the prize for the best original text in 2019.
Q What was your best memory of 2019?
A The last representation of Foreman . All my construction buddies were there. It was almost half the room, a nasty gang . In addition to them, there were all my actor friends. We went for a drink afterwards. It was to see these guys, in this context, asking a million questions … There was one in there that had inspired one of the characters. He was leaning against the bar and the actor [who played the character] was perhaps three or four benches away. My friend asked another of my buddies to go tell the actor he is really good. I said to him, "Go ahead, you!" He replied that he was not capable. Finally, the actor came to speak to him. My boyfrienddidn't say anything. He patted him on the shoulder, chocked his beer, and left. I had managed to get these sores, but not to hurt him. He understood this suffering and he saw the link that the actor had with the character. It is as if he was telling him that he understands his suffering. But the actor did not experience that! It was a great moment. And to receive the prize for the work of the year, it was the icing on the cake .
Q What was your artistic or cultural favorite in 2019?
R The re-reading of Antigone [in a staging by Olivier Arteau at Le Trident]. This is the definition of a show . That was all. It was rock 'n' roll. With the lighting, it almost felt like being in a movie. Succeeding in putting on scenes of war from that era is not easy. And it was updated.
There was also Les murailles by Erika Soucy [at Périscope in a staging by Maxime Carbonneau]. I talk a lot about the father-son bond. To see the same universe from a woman's point of view was a big crush. Even if I come a little from this milieu, the North Shore, the fly-in fly-out , it's something that I didn't know at all.
Q A disappointment in 2019?
A That my father didn't see Foreman is the biggest disappointment of my life. It's starting to date, the time he died, and I'm starting to have trouble imagining how he would have reacted. This is harder. For not having been able to see his face. The world may tell me that it would be proud of me, not to have seen it, it will always stay. Beyond all the other projects I do, [it touches] really this one. At the same time, it's contradictory, because if my father hadn't died, Foreman wouldn't exist. And I probably wouldn't be in theater either.
Q What does 2020 have in store for you?
A I'm going to act in Premier Act in À L'ffiche in a staging by Angelique Patterson. It's a show that talks about obsolescence and the whole digitization of work, but also of art. There is also Foreman who returns to Périscope and we are going to play in Montreal. And I'm writing for a next show.
Q What do you want for 2020?
A I hope that the artistic community of Quebec appreciates itself at its fair value. I think that by doing so, it will allow us to be recognized at our fair value. There are extraordinary artists in Quebec, in all fields. From the world that can radiate very strongly. Often, we position ourselves or accept to be positioned in relation to Montreal or Toronto. If we allied, among other things for film productions or series … We are able to make series here. He releases 12 actors per year from the Conservatoire, he releases a handful of directors and screenwriters. I want us to take our place.
"On poster" will be presented at Premier Acte from February 25 to March 14. "Foreman" will be shown at the Periscope from September 15 to October 3.
Isabela Simon
Isabela Simon has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Nizh Telegram, Isabela Simon worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my isabella@ntelegram.com 1-800-268-7116
Previous ArticleNoah's Ark according to Claude Lafortune: fragile species
Next ArticleEmile Schneider: a passionate and unifying actor
Copyright © 2020 The Nizh Telegram. All Rights Reserved. Theme by


All Pre-Entries Must be Received No Later Than MIDNIGHT FRIDAY (for a Sunday Race) MIDNIGHT THURSDAY (for a Saturday Race) Before the KRA Race! Any entries received after the cut off time will be charged the full rate.
"ON FILE" IS NOT A NUMBER!


In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829–88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, later Liberal MP, satirical novelist, and, for a time, adherent of the religious mystic Thomas Harris, became private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811–63), accompanying him to China, and thence to Japan, on a mission to protect and extend British trading interests in the region. Oliphant's 1859 account of the trip was published in two volumes. Volume 1 deals with the events of the Second Opium War, and Volume 2 with the negotiation of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Yedo, and the legalisation of the Chinese opium trade. The work is a mixture of travel narrative - Oliphant had previously written about his travels in the Crimea (also reissued in this series) - and political analysis. It provides both an informative account of the war from a privileged vantage point and a window upon Oliphant's colourful career.


Up-and-coming Cincinnati indie rock band Ohio Knife is led by vocalist/guitarist Jason Snell, drummer Joe Suer, and keyboardist Andrew Higley - all formerly of indie favorites The Chocolate Horse and Readymaid - along with bassist Scotty Wood. Together they create a grease-smeared brand of blues-soaked garage rock with Snell's raw and soulful howl on their promising debut EP, Ohio Knife Is OK! released in early 2012 via the Detroit-based imprint Fountain Records.
Since then they have performed at such high-profile events as SXSW and the Bunbury Music Festival and this weekend they will bring their rumbling rock-and-roll show to the MidPoint Music Festival in Cincinnati - playing Thursday night at the Mainstay Rock Bar on 301 W. 5th St.
In anticipation of their upcoming performance at MPMF, Snell and Suer were kind enough to chat with me about the band's lofty yet attainable future plans, their festival experiences and more.
The Chocolate Horse were the darlings of the Cincinnati scene but disappeared after three albums - when Higley moved to Nashville and played with Ben Folds and Brendan Benson – during which you formed Ohio Knife. What signaled the change in style and moniker?
You have played some of the big outdoor festivals like SXSW and recently, the Bunbury Music Festival in your hometown. How was that experience and how did the crowd respond?
Your debut EP has garnered great praise, are you currently working on new material for a full-length album?
What does the future hold for Ohio Knife?


text:
Centris metathoracica är en biart som beskrevs av Heinrich Friese 1912. Centris metathoracica ingår i släktet Centris och familjen långtungebin. Inga underarter finns listade.

Källor

Långtungebin
metathoracica

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Memorex to ship 185MB/21 minute 'Pocket' CD-R
"...Memtek Products, Inc., the U.S. distributor of the well-known Memorex branded media products announced today that it is expanding its offerings in the 185MB/21min "Pocket" CD-R/CD-RW category later this month. The leader in retail digital media, Memorex has enjoyed tremendous response from the initial release of Pocket CD-R in their 5-packs of discs in jewel cases. The 185MB/21 minute audio, 16X write speed discs will now be available in 10- and 50-pack configurations. Memorex will also offer a 10-Pack of Pocket CD-RW. Each package of the new 10-Pack Pocket CD-RW will include FileCD 2.0 by NTI. The FileCD 2.0 program developed by NTI (NewTech InfoSystems) will allow the user to format a CD-RW in about 8 minutes at 4x speed. The new Pocket CD-RW will now be as easy as a floppy and as powerful as a CD. The user can now use the CD-RW to perform drag and drop functions just like a floppy disk.
The 10-disc Pocket CD-R version will be offered in a blister/spindle package and carry a suggested retail price of $14.99. The blister/spindle package has been designed to allow retailers to display the product standing up on shelves or on pegboard displays. The new 10 Pack CD-RW will be offered in the same blister/spindle package and carry a suggested retail price of $19.99. The 50-disc Pocket CD-R version will be available in a spindle package configuration and have a suggested retail price of $39.99..." NULL
Tags: Memorex
Profilo Telr and C3D Sign Preliminary Agreement for the Incorporation of C3D's FMD Technology Into Profilo's Television Sets and Digital Video Recorders
AOpen announces CRW1632
Memorex Adds New Models To Its Fun Series Line of USB Flash Drives
Memorex Debuts New Portable Audio Products
Memorex Introduces Blu-ray Player for Under $270
Memorex DVDs Come With Embedded Burning Software
Memorex Announces New Labelflash Discs
Memorex MRX-525GE
Memorex Introduces Inkjet Printable Media with Quick-Drying, Water-Resistant Surface
Memorex Doubles the Recording Time of Mini DVD-R Media


The government has made great strides in redressing past imbalances in education through the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF) policy that focuses on equity in school funding. This NNSSF model compels the state to fund public schools according to a poverty quintile system, where poor schools are allocated much more funding for resources than affluent schools. Using qualitative research, school management teams, school governing bodies and principals of six public schools located within the Gauteng West District were interviewed to determine their views of how the NNSSF policy had been implemented. One of the findings revealed that equity in public schools has not been fully achieved since funding provided by the state is insufficient to address the backlog in educational resources. It is recommended that the state abandons the policy of funding schools according to quintile rankings but instead, fund schools based on resource needs.


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
International Plant Names Index

#### Published in
null

#### Original name
Senecio plumbeus Griseb.

### Remarks
null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


An Indian women no matter which part of the India or world she is in will always look her best in Indian Ethnic Wear only. Indian women's prefer wearing saree when it comes to social gatherings. It is also referred as a Sariz, Sareez, Said, Shadi saaree and Shari. Generally saree consists of a 5.5 meters (6 yards / Gaj) to 9 Meters of fabric. There are various styles of draping popular in different states and each one gives a unique look. The various number of fabrics such as silk, cotton, brocade and Georgette go into the making. The work can be either embroidered or printed or both. There are different processes and ways to enhance the beauty of the saree. Those are sequins, patch, butta, stones, mirror work and zari.
One should consider the season at the time of buying of saree. Shopping Sarees Online is now the easiest way to buy desired stuff that you are planning to wear it. You should consider the property of fabric at the time of buying. Every fabric has its own property and it depends on the property of its raw materials. Nylon and polyester are suitable to wear during winter. Natural yarns like cotton and viscose / rayon will be more comfortable in summer.
One must wear a sari made from the cotton fabric during summer time. It is a preferred choice as it soaks the sweat and being a lighter fabric there is hardly any sweat. Nowadays many a variety of fabrics has seen an increase in demand. For monsoon season, you can also buy silk, Georgette or chiffon Sarees online. These kind of fabrics are suitable because if you get wet in rains they dry up pretty quick.
1.) Silk Saarees: Luster is a primary property of silk fabric. It gives a look that is more glamorous than any other fabric. It resembles the symbol of royalty and is preferable for big functions such as marriages. It is mostly preferred by women's of south India. There are 2 main centers which produce silk sarees. Banglori silk is produced in the southern part of India and banarasi silk in northern India. These Outfits represent a form of Indian traditional Sarees style.
2.) Banarasi: This is specially made of various beautifully woven patterns called jacquard silk fabric. It is a traditional Moghul pattern found in Varanasi / Banaras area known as a Banaras Sari.
Style Tip: Go for a Silk Saaree made of golden, maroon or green color. Beautify it with a matching sleeveless blouse and a golden clutch.
3.) Chiffon Saarees: As compared to the silk fabric it is much lighter in weight and is mostly preferred for a get-together. It gives a touch of elegance making it suitable for the evenings also known as kitty parties. The touch and feel of this fabric are soft and smooth making it suitable as an evening party Saree giving a slimmer look to the wearer.
4.) Georgette Sarees: Georgette has quite a few similarities with chiffon. In fact, it originally made from silk having a much dull finish. And it also lacks the luster that is found in chiffon.
Style Tip: Go for a magenta Georgette Sari. Pair it up with a deep neck blouse which can be green, silver, royal blue or yellow. A perfect match of bangles and earrings will beautify the outfit and make you look stunning.
5.) Bandhni: Bandhni also referred to as Bandhej. It is limited to only Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is manufactured in natural or dark colors giving a sparkling look to the wearer.
Style Tip: Team it up with a solid blouse available in either black or white, and add up a contrast tote. It will lift up your mood during the summer season.
6.) Chanderi: It is especially made in Madhya Pradesh. The printing pattern name is chanderi and is also referred to as chanderi Sari.
7.) Maheswari: This is another type of special design from Madhya Pradesh State.
8.) Kosa: Kosa is a special kind of silk produced in Chhattisgarh state and that's why the name given kosa Sari.
9.) Samblpuri: This is a Traditional Indian Sari blouse design which originated in Orissa. It is made using silk or cotton. It is especially designed with shell wheel and flower called shanka, chakra, phula.
10.) Ikkat: Ikkat is a unique and traditional dying and tying style of Orissa. It is popular in neighbor states too.
11.) Tangail: Tangail is a type of special cotton weaved in Bengal State and Bangladesh. Hence it is famous by the name Tangail Saaree.
12.) Jamdani: This high neck Saree blouse design is a traditional bridal wears of Bangladesh. This style is a symbol of prosperity in Bangladesh.
14.) Tant: Tant is a type of Hand woven cotton fabric mainly weaved in west Bengal. It is regular wear Saree of Bengali women. They wrap it in such a different manner without blouse.
15.) Tussar silk: This variation of silk is produced in Bihar Tussar Saaree made out of that silk yarn.
16.) Mooga: This is a special type of silk produced in Assam, The product made out of this silk are called Mooga. Various type of patterns of collar Saree blouse designs are known with this name.
17.) Dhaniakhali: Fabric produced in west Bengal on hand-looms consuming cotton Yarn.
18.) Kantha: This is a special kind of stitching style called kantha invented in west Bengal. It is produced from silk and cotton fabric, popular for long sleeve Saree blouse designs.
19.) Ponchampaaly: This princess cut Saree blouse designs is fashioned with ikkat dying in Andhra-Pradesh. It is also a popular design in AP.
20.) Venkatgiri: It is known for its famous zari work and considered as bridal wears in Andhra Pradesh.
21.) Gadwal: This is famous zari work Saree produced In Gadwal district.
22.) Puttapaka: This style made in the Putta-paka village of Andhra Pradesh state. Puttapaka. Saaree has become a popular brand because of with its producing town name.
This special sari is made mainly in South India especially Tamilnadu. Some weavers in a small town named Anakaputhur make it using the extract that is produced from banana tree trunk. The process of making one is not simple and required some hard work to be carried out. In the first stage, simple bleaching method is used to wash the raw fibre. In the second stage, each filament is then dyed and weaved back together. The best thing about it is the cooling effect that it provides. Currently, its market rate is as low as Rs. 500 that leads to a heavy demand. However, there is always scarcity in the market due to less number of manufacturers.
Something that is very easily accessible and promotes green mission are the jute saris. It is often mixed with various fabrics like silk or cotton which makes them more durable and also softer. One of the best qualities being it absorbs moisture. This makes it suitable to wear during summers. Currently, they are available in bulk only in Varanasi.
As the name suggests the sari here is made from sugarcane. In this type, the juice is first extracted from sugarcane and the leftover, pulp or bagasse is then used to produce the required fiber. The making of this style is complex and thus they are sold at higher price. It gives a lustrous effect that sets it apart from other eco-friendly ones.
We are sure after reading this you would have got a very good idea of the diverse patterns available in India depending on the region, fabric, style etc.
You will find something for everyone here so do browse our collection and in case you do not get what you are looking for then contact us.


text:
Kimberly Ribble (born 11 August 1974) is a Canadian judoka. She competed in the women's half-heavyweight event at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

References

External links

1974 births
Living people
Canadian female judoka
Olympic judoka of Canada
Judoka at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ontario


Find Citroen paint by clicking the year or model.
We sell Citroen touch up paint pens, Citroen spray paint and other Citroen touch up paint products.
Often, you can call Citroen and see if they can tell you where to look for your Citroen color code. Ask them if they know the PPG or Dupont paint formula number if there is no color code. If you have any paint information, please fill out our contact form with your Citroen paint information.
Sometimes the Citroen color code is well hidden! Some vehicles do not have color codes so contact us with as much information as you can. We often can make these Citroen colors.
By following these Citroen paint repair directions, you can make your Citroen paint shine again! For more detailed instructions, including how to use Citroen spray paint, see our Directions for How To Apply Touch Up Paint.
Make sure the temperature is over 50 degrees F, then wash the damaged paint on your Citroen with soap and water. Use a wax and grease remover on the area. Placing masking tape around your scratched Citroen paint will help protect the surrounding auto paint.
Remove all traces of rust from your Citroen with 220 grit sandpaper or a wire brush. Then use rust converter and apply it to the rusted area of your Citroen.
If you have an unpainted surface on your Citroen, like bare metal or plastic, apply primer before Citroen touch up paint! Apply several thin coats of primer to the Citroen paint you are going to repair. Only apply a small amount of primer to your Citroen at time. Let the primer dry, overnight if possible, before applying the Citroen touch up paint. Once dry, lightly sand the primed Citroen paint area with #220 grit sandpaper followed by #600 wet and dry sandpaper.
You are now ready to apply Citroen touch up paint to your car. Apply several thin coats of Citroen touch up paint to build up the damaged paint area to the same depth as the surrounding surface. Let the Citroen paint dry for ten to twenty minutes between coats. After the final coat, let the paint dry thoroughly before applying a clearcoat layer. Usually if you let the Citroen paint dry overnight, it will be dry. If temperatures are below 70 degrees F, allow additional time for the Citroen touch up paint to dry.
Make sure the Citroen touch up paint you applied earlier is dry. Apply several thin coats of clearcoat over the touched up Citroen paint, drying for ten to twenty minutes between each coat. Let the clearcoat dry overnight, or longer if temperatures are less than 70 degrees F.
Rubbing compound will help your Citroen touch up paint repair become smooth and shiny like the original paint. Let the clearcoat dry for at least three days, then use rubbing compound on your Citroen. Apply rubbing compound to your Citroen paint with a clean, soft cloth like an old tee shirt, but not wood products like paper towels. Place a small quantity of rubbing compound on the area where you applied Citroen touch up paint. Use circular strokes while applying even pressure to the surface. Buff with a clean cloth to a high gloss. For best Citroen touch up paint results, let your Citroen's finish dry for thirty days and then apply a good quality automotive wax.
Once you are ready to repair your Citroen with touch up paint, you need to decide which Citroen paint repair products to order. Citroen touch up paint pens are great for small and quick Citroen paint jobs, while Citroen spray paint is better for repairing larger areas. 2 oz. Citroen basecoat paint bottles work well if you have many Citroen paint chips to fix.


text:
INFO FOR CUSTOMERS
INFO FOR DONORS
CONTACT HRF
Q: What tests are performed on your plasma?
A: All HRF plasma collected is tested and must be found negative for HIV 1 & 2 & HCV PCR, HIVPCR, HBsAg before release. Units are also tested for HCV antibodies. *HRF, Inc. holds a variance to plasmapheresis donors that are positive for HCV antibodies.
Q: Are samples available?
A: Yes. Samples are available from individual donors. We will also sample specific collection units, and will sequester either pending your approval.
Q: What is the cut-off time for shipping?
A: We ship via Federal Express Priority Overnight, so the order should be placed before 12:00PM eastern standard time the day before the shipment.
Q: What days do you ship?
A: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday barring any US holiday.
Q: How do I become a donor?
A: If you have a special coagulation disorder and meet the criteria, please call us at 1-800-356-8123 or click on donate now link to discuss our compensation plan
Q: Where are you located?
A: We are located 9 miles east of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Raleigh, NC.
Q: How did HRF get started?
A: Our company was started by four individuals with Hemophilia who wanted to provide a clean, safe, and local establishment for others with coagulation disorders to market their plasma. Additionally, to ensure plasma from various disorders would be available to those performing research for cures and new clotting product development.
Q: What does the initials HRF, Inc. stand for?
A: Legally nothing. The name was originally conceived from the first letter of "Hemophilia Relief Fund".
Q: Who regulates source Plasma Centers?
A: Source Plasma Centers are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Care Finance Administration, who oversees the Clinical Lab Improvement Act (CLIA), Department of Transportation (DOT), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as the primary agencies.
Q: Is the company still owned and operated by people with coagulation disorders?
A: Yes. Since the inception of the company in 1985, HRF, Inc. is primally owned and operated by people with coagulation disorders, including hemophilia and other bleeding or clotting disorders.
Q: What is plasmapheresis?
A: Plasmapheresis is a process in which the fluid part of whole blood, called plasma is seperated in a refrigerated centrifuge. The red cells are returned to the person undergoing plasmapheresis while the plasma is collected and processed for its intended use.
Q: How much do you pay donors?
A: It depends on your coagulation disorder, plus "supply and demand" variables in the market. We offer a very generous rate of pay plus a travel allowance for those who travel by automobile more than 150 miles round trip. For longer distance travel based on supply and demand factors for the product, we may also pay for a commercial flight and transportation expenses into and out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).
HRF, Inc.
5108 Oak Park Road Unit A
info@hrfinc.com
2016 © HRF, Inc.


text:
Rohana R. Wasala
Rohana R. Wasala retired from government service and is a regular columnist for Sri Lanka Guardian.
by Rohana R. Wasala
History/Sri Lanka Guardian Essays
First of all, let me express my sincere respects to Mr D.L. Sirimanne, the writer of the interesting article entitled 'Celebrating 75th Anniversary of Independence' (The Island/Opinion/January 18, 2023). He struck me as a venerable old man, who, at 103 years of age, still thinks about the welfare of his fellow Sri Lankans. It is rare for a person of that age to be so clear-headed and lucid in his writing. His generous spirit and his literary activity may be one reason for his healthy longevity, I think. His mention of retired aviator turned writer Elmo Jayawardana, whom I highly admire for the same altruistism of character and the same literary gifts that Mr Sirimanne displays, made me check out whatever other information is available about him online. Actually, I had never come across the name D.L. Sirimanne before I read his Sat Mag feature in The Island 'An epic Air Ceylon charter flight…….' on October 24, 2020, which I re-visited today and which enabled me to relive the delightful experience of reading it. I also watched an old TV interview uploaded to the You Tube, featuring him. We have very few unsung heroes like Mr Sirimanne. It was time well spent, I thought, although I do not share his views about the history of Sri Lanka, the hallowed and historic homeland of the Sinhalese, their inalienable Motherland, or his opinion about the primary cause of the economic mess that Sri Lanka is currently undergoing. But the old ghosts he recalls in the otherwise excellent essay that he's written had better be exorcized once and for all, for denigrating the majority Sinhalese community and belittling their history which is synonymous with that of their island home, based entirely on wrong assumptions, will definitely undermine all attempts to bring political stability, economic prosperity, and intercommunal harmony to Sri Lanka.
Please rest assured, Mr Sirimanne, my writing this will not detract in the least from my deepest admiration for you. You are not wrong in holding the views that you are sharing with the readers, given the time that you spent your youth, the most vibrant years of your life. It is only that times have changed, new discoveries have been made in science leading to the emergence of new technologies, and corresponding advances in the ever expanding universe of human knowledge, including such domains as astronomy, psychology, social sciences, art, culture, politics, history and archaeology and so on, in the light of which we are developing a better, more accurate idea of our past among other things. Something that has not changed, though, as far as our country is concerned, is the interfering ghost of departed Western colonialism, that is largely responsible for our problems.
The fact that we are surrounded by the ocean has determined the nature of our evolution as an independent civilization, and the character of our commercial, cultural and political/diplomatic relations we have had with the outside world. As island dwellers, quite naturally, we have always been wary of foreigners though we have always treated them hospitably; we have been always independent spirited, and protective of our land, and our Buddhist culture. Before the depredations of European occupation, we, as an island nation had an extensive global reach on account of trade and our Buddhist spiritual culture. Groups of people and individuals travelled into as well as out of the island in connection with the last mentioned. The main body of the original inhabitants of the island were saved from being numerically overwhelmed by the influx of large numbers of immigrants from the relatively less hospitable or less inhabitable lands around, due to the sea barrier. Foreign commercial-cum-military powers that made incursions into the island from the legendary Vijaya to the British mercantile/imperial power at the end of the 18th century had first come as traders, attracted by the natural riches of the country. (According to new scientific findings in historiography and archaeology, the legendary Vijaya and the later invader Elara who ruled at Anuradhapura (205-161 BCE) were actually connected with trade.)
Mr Sirimanne seems to come from the minuscule Westernized,English speaking, Christian 'elite' society, the comprador class of the native population, that lived in relative comfort and probably didn't worry too much about independence from the British.They were akin to the 'mimic men' in Trinidad-born English novelist V.S. Naivpaul's novel by that name, who tried to be what the imperial British did not allow them to be. But this was at the expense of the vast mass of the downtrodden colonized 'natives', who were subjected to flagrant exploitation and relentless dehumanization, something that reminds me of what journalist and novelist Robert McCrum says about the lack of moral justification for the comfortable lifestyle of the rich upper crust of the Anglo-American society today: "No one dwelling in comfort on the higher ground of Anglo-American society should ever forget that a brutal trade in human lives was a motor of the British and American economies throughout the eighteenth and part of the nineteenth century….". (Globish, Viking, 2010). McCrum, of course, is referring to the slave trade.
In the case of Sri Lanka and its large northern neighbour India, this period of European imperial exploitation became most virulent for the two centuries from around the mid-18th to the mid-20th century. (It looks as if, in the West dominated global media, this history is being fast sanitized.) Former Indian diplomat and writer Dr Shashi Tharoor (who served at the UN for twenty-nine years, ending his stint there as Under Secretary General), in his 'INGLORIOUS EMPIRE: What the British did to India' (Scribe, Melbourne and London, 2018) tells the thoroughly researched true story of the British in India – from the arrival of the East India Company to the end of the Raj – and reveals how Britain's rise was built upon its plunder of India. However, the careful reader understands that Tharoor's purpose is not to narrate a sequence of events and tell a story as such, but to critically study the legacy the British left in India and to demolish arguments that try to support claims for alleged benefits of colonial rule. (However, Tharoor does not deny that the British did leave, incidentally though, a few treasures, such as a democratic form of government, and the English language.) Delhi-based historian William Dalrymple's 'THE ANARCHY: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company' (Bloomsbury Publishing Company, London, 2019) is a riveting narrative that tells the story of how the (British) East India Company transformed itself from an international trading corporation into something quite different: an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business run by English merchants collecting taxes from the impoverished natives using a ruthless private army.
Sri Lanka is very small compared to India in terms of area. India is roughly 46 times the size of Sri Lanka and its population roughly 64 times. But internationally, we are accepted as an independent sovereign state similar to India that enjoys full fledged membership of the United Nations. There is nothing unusual about this. There are dozens of countries with even smaller populations than ours, such as Burkino Faso, Chile, Malavi, Mali, Romania, Zambia, etc., that stand as independent sovereign states. We are not, by any means, inferior to India as a sovereign nation.
To liken Ceylon (or Sri Lanka) to 'a brilliant emerald on the beautiful pendant of Mother India' is to imply that our country is/was an appendage of India! It never was, but present day Indian politicians appear to wish it was, and even to behave as if it already is, and some of our own worthless unpatriotic politicians seem to agree! How can a Sri Lankan celebrate a 'Mother India', instead of Mother Lanka? To be colonized by foreign invaders is not an experience that can be or should be forgotten with glib talk. No self-respecting nation in the world will relish that humiliating experience. We are a people with an honourable history. Our country has been called Sihele or Sivhela or Sinhale or Sinhaladipa (the europeanized 'Ceylon' is a derivative of Sihele), or Lanka, as it is often referred to in the 5th century CE Mahavansa or the Great Chronicle and as it is usually called in colloquial Sinhala even today, and Tamilized as Ilankei. (Incidentally, all the quotations from the Mahavansa and its continuation the Cuavansa found in this essay are from Mudaliyar L. C. Wijesinghe's translation of 1889.)
Sri Lanka had survived 17 invasions from South India before the European phase of colonization actually started at the beginning of the 17th century (1602), though the fortuitous arrival of the Portuguese happened almost a century earlier in 1505. The Portuguese were in Sri Lanka till they were driven away in 1658 by the Dutch, who in their turn gave way to the British in 1796. The British helped themselves to the maritime provinces of the country previously occupied by the other two European powers. All these invasions and occupations met with the fiercest resistance from the native Sinhalese population. They did not bring Tamils from South India to fight these wars. Jayantha Somasundaram claimed in an article published in The Island a couple of months ago that the Sinhalese did not go to war against invaders because as Buddhists they did not want to kill. This is a deliberate falsehood. Of course, it is true that when there was internecine strife, Sinhalese kings sometimes brought in mercenaries from South India as when Mugalan did in order to challenge his half-brother Kasyapa of Sigiriya in the 5th century CE. Invader Magha of Kalinga brought an army of Kerala mercenaries (according to Chapter 80 of the Mahavansa (in the form of Culavansa written in the 13th century CE by a Buddhist Bhikkhu named Dhammakitti) to fight against the ruler of Lanka at the time Parakrama Pandyan of Polonnaruwa in 1215 CE. By the time of the British advent at the end of the 18th century, the interior part of the island formed the Kandyan kingdom or the diminished kingdom of Sinhale hemmed in all sides by occupied territories; but it had itself repeatedly and heroically foiled European military occupation. It was only through subtle diplomatic intrigue that it was annexed to the British Empire in 1815.
Even my father (who was of Mr D.L. Sirimanne's generation), though he was no historian, scoffed at the implausibility of the Mahavansa story about prince Vijaya. "How could we be descendants of a lion, an animal, and still be humans?" he used to say. He also ridiculed the Aryan claim in the Hitlerian sense. He only believed in the word 'Arya' as it is used in Buddhism, that is, to refer to a spiritually advanced person. But Mr Sirimanne seems to have no issue with the 'Aryan' identity of the Sinhalese, who had allegedly come from Sinhapura in North India. Mr Sirimanne believes that the tribes that inhabited the place when prince Vijaya landed at Tambapanni, known as Yakkas and Nagas, were 'probably Hindus from South India'. He has left out the Devas and the Rakshas, the other two of the four indigenous tribes who are believed to have inhabited the island then.
However, the Vijaya legend must have a nucleus of historical truth in it. It might be based on an actual invasion by a north Indian prince, who initiated a dynasty that imported princes from the mythical Sinhapura to rule at Tambapanni. The subject Yakkas' Sinhalese identity must have derived from the natural admixture at that stage of the native Yakkas with the members of the invading north indian 'Aryan' clan. There definitely had developed a struggle between the invaders and the local elite over sovereignty by the time of the death of king Panduvasudeva (who reigned at Tambapanni from 504 to 474 BCE). In fact, Pandukabhaya (born in 474 BCE, the year his grandfather died) who ascended the throne at Anuradhapura after a protracted military struggle against his uncles is considered the first truly Lankan monarch (but the 6th king overall) since Vijaya. The Mahavansa story (found in Ch. 10) about the emergence of Pandukabhaya features a number of real Yakkhas and Yakkhinis, who are shown to be as much human as those who had come from Sinhapura (though they are presented with a supernatural touch.)
But today we know for sure that the Yakkas were the real ancestors of the Sinhalese (Kuveni was a Yakka princess), and that they were also contemporaneous with the Veddas. The fake classification of the Veddas as 'aadivasin' (aborigines) by Western anthropologists was probably meant to deny the Sinhalese their autochthonous origin in this island. Yakka language inscriptions have been found and deciphered, one of which, according to archaeology Professor Raj Somadeva, declares "api yakku" we are yakkas. The Mahavansa says that the missionary Mahinda Thera preached Buddhism 'in the language of the islanders', which was undoubtedly, the Yakka language, the ancient version of Sinhala, that was in circulation then.
The most powerful factor, next to genetics, that distinguishes one race from another is its language. In the case of the Sinhalese it is the Sinhala language with its unique vocal sound system, its own grammar and vocabulary. (Words like vatura for water, vee for rice paddy, haal/sahal for(rice, bath for cooked rice, kamata for threshing floor, gala for rock, and so on are original Sinhala words, not borrowed from any other language; another original Sinhala word is 'wewa' (turned into Pali form in the chronicles as waapi)), meaning an artificial water reservoir constructed by building a dam across a valley for storing water for agricultural irrigation during rainless months. However, down the ages, contact with the North Indian languages of Pali or Magadi and Sanskrit has heavily hybridized the Sinhala vocabulary. This is the reason why Sanskrit-derived Hindi and Bengali languages sound more familiar and are more easily intelligible to the Sinhalese than the Dravidian languages of South India such as Tamil or Malayalam (a few elements from the last two can also be detected, particularly in spoken (non-formal, non-literary) Sinhala…
Source: The Island
Whatever it is, equipped with his education, native intelligence and acquired political wisdom, he will be able to hold the country whole until it passes lawfully into the hands of the uncorrupt patriotic young generation that is waiting in the wings in patient silence (not into those of the ignorant noisy buffoons in the 'aragalaya').
A number of sacrilegious attacks have been made in recent times on the Sri Dalada (the Sacred Tooth Relic) in Kandy, astonishingly by some Buddhists. The two most recent instances are: Sepala Amerasinghe, an elderly YouTuber, committing repeated verbal sacrilege by calling the Tooth Relic a 'labba' (an impolite word implying a pendant male sexual organ) in his videos; the other instance may be described as a form of desecration of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy where the the Tooth Relic is housed: a kind of faith-healing veda mahattaya/native physician (a notorious charlatan and a crooked businessman according to social media accounts) by the name of Janaka C. Senadhipathi is building at Potuhera, Kurunegala, an unauthorized replica of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, claiming that the sacred relic will be miraculously transported to his new shrine from the Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa, which according to him, is polluted by the materialistic corruption of its present custodians). It is ironic that these acts take place (by design or coincidence) only a few days after president Ranil Wickremesinghe showed his desire to have a special exposition of the Dalada ahead of the next independence day due to be held in February. The president is obviously hoping to achieve something of tremendous importance for the nation that he seems to think is significant enough to be celebrated with a Dalada exhibition. What this epoch making development probably is not a mystery to adult Sri Lankans who have some idea about the dynamics of post-independence politics in Sri Lanka. It must be something to do with the final settlement of the so-called Tamil national problem or the implementation of 13A+.
This confronts the nation with a dilemma concerning Ranil Wickremesinghe as everybody's (225 in parliament's and the general public's) refuge/saviour: it is the general public perception that, at this moment, there is no political leader who can at least try to bring about some sort of economic stability to the country except Ranil Wickremasinghe. But will he be able to garner enough parliamentary support to implement 13A+? To compound the confusion, there is the problem of holding the lawfully scheduled local government elections, the likely result of which will not strengthen the mutually dependent parliament+president combine, nor benefit the nation economically or politically. The people will question: Why are you so particular about sticking to the electoral laws at this critical juncture where the flagrant violation of other existing vital laws such as the antiquities ordinances has introduced a previously non-existent religious and racial dimension to the country's political divisions? But be that as it may. Let's return to our present topic.
Since the arrival of the Tooth Relic in Sri Lanka in the 4th century CE (this is well recorded in the Mahavamsa and other chronicles), a tradition evolved according to which the ruler of the island acquired the legitimacy of his sovereignty by virtue of the possession of the sacred relic. The Dalada was held in a shrine within the palace complex. The shrine itself later came to be called 'Maligawa' or palace, the residence of the king, because of this connection between sovereignty and the sacred relic. Due to this reason, the Dalada was subject to changing hands between external invaders or internal rivals and the reigning monarchs in troublous times, as happened several times before the European advent in the island and after. The desacralization of the sacred relic and the attempted dilution of the sanctity of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy could be premeditated. Though it is well known that the Dalada has neither any connection with, nor bears any responsibility for, the current economic and political crises, it has become a target for attack concerning even natural disasters. Sepala Amerasinghe mentioned above, before calling the Dalada a 'labba' for which offence he has been arrested and remanded till January 17, blamed the recent floods in Kandy caused by heavy rain on the 'kunu datha' (rotten tooth) in one of his videos. This was an oblique reference to the traditionally held belief among Buddhists that the Dalada has rain making powers. Such beliefs (and relic worship itself for that matter) are not found in Theravada Buddhism, but are imports from the Mahayana tradition which are now part of the local Buddhist religious culture.
So there seems to be a deliberate attempt by certain inimical forces to dilute or totally negate the symbolic power of the Sacred Tooth Relic for the majority Sinhalese Buddhist polity. It is the bounden duty of the government on behalf of all concerned citizens to investigate what sinister force is behind these incidents and take remedial action. But there are no blasphemy laws in Buddhism. When a TouTuber brought the 'kunu data' insult to their notice by phone, the Anu Nayake Theras of both Malwatte showed little concern about it. It was when several concerned lay Buddhists complained to them again about Sepala Amerasinghe repeatedly making sacrilegious statements that the Mahanayake Theras and the Diyawadana Nilame, the guardian of the Maligawa, wrote to the president about it.
Incidentally, Mahinda Rajapaksa seems to be lurking protectively behind Senadhipathi. The former's erstwhile sidekick Mervin Silva visited Potuhera, and ordered the demolition of the front part of the building in question, declaring that there should be only one Dalada Maligawa, the one in Kandy and that the rest of structures in the place must remain. Mervin Silva was reported to have threatened with death social activist Nilantha Ranasinghe who had raised the issue in public and exposed Senadhipathi's questionable activities with audio, video and print evidence. Mervin Silva told another YouTuber (named Chaturanga Bandara) that Mahinda Rajapaksa phoned him to thank him for what he did.) Mahinda exploited the nationalist groundswell to sweep the 2019 presidential and 2020 parliamentary elections against the previous infamous yahapalanaya led by prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and president Maithripala Sirisena; but he totally betrayed that victory through the entrenched corruption he supported among his stooges and his own obsession with dynastic rule, which ultimately brought repeatedly rejected Ranil Wickremasinghe to the helm. Mahinda seems to have so morally weakened in parallel with his obvious physical degeneration as to make a futile attempt to salvage his lost popularity among the Buddhist voters by championing fake 'Bosath' Janaka Senadhipathi, with the help of thuggish Mervin.
To return to the beginning, the media reported (December 24, 2022) that a request that president Ranil Wickremasinghe made for a special exposition of the Sacred Tooth Relic before February 2023 when Sri Lanka completes seventy-five years of independence did not get a positive response from either of the two Ven. Mahanayake Theras of the Siam Nikaya, Malwatte and Asgiriya, in Kandy, who are joint custodians of the Sri Dalada Maligawa. The president's request was conveyed to the prelates in a letter from him personally delivered to them by prime minister Dinesh Gunawardane, who expressly called on them for the purpose. The Malwatte prelate, according to the news reports, suggested that the PM should approach the Asgiriya Mahanayake Thera about this as it is the latter's turn at the moment to be in charge of the service at the Dalada Maligawa. When the premier visited the Asgiriya Mahanayake Thera with the president's proposal or appeal, the latter wonderingly asked him if a Tooth Relic exposition at this juncture wasn't a difficult task to perform.
With hindsight one would hazard a guess that the two Buddhist prelates of the Siam Nikaya, namely the Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera of the Malwatte Chapter and the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter, especially the former, might accommodate the presidential wish, if Buddhist public opinion also favours it. There are two other nikayas, Ramanna and Amarapura, which signed an agreement to merge in August 2019; the expected merger was a step in the right direction, for the Maha Sangha unity is indispensable for the survival of the Buddhasasanaya as a religious cultural establishment. The living component of the Buddhasasanaya is the 'sivvanak pirisa' or the fourfold community of male and female bhikshus and male and female lay Buddhists. This is not a political entity, but a religious one, though it needs state protection (just as it enjoyed full royal patronage under Sinhala kings before the time of foreign invasions); in this, the Sinhala Buddhist community is not different from other religious communities. (In Sri Lanka, 70% of the ethnically and religiously diverse total population comprise Buddhists.) No religion is more compatible with the best form of government evolved to date, democracy than Buddhism, though it is not your average religion. Bhikkhus and Bhikshunis may personally hold different political views, and even exercise their voting rights as they please, as citizens, but it is not proper for them to engage in partisan politics, because that would definitely cause divisions within the fourfold community of Buddhists. The clergy must leave active politics involving campaigning and electioneering entirely to the lay Buddhists. May the Mahanayakes have the wisdom to tell the president not to desecrate the Sri Dalada by dragging it into politics.
However, traditionally and historically, Buddhist monks have wielded great power over the Buddhist community including the rulers. Currently though, they are becoming increasingly powerless, mainly because of their meddling in politics, patronizing corrupt politicians, and also because of the Mahanayake Theras' incomprehensible inaction and disunity. President Wickremesinghe's seemingly cynical suggestion must be viewed in this context. Is he, through having a special Tooth Relic exposition held to coincide with the implementation of whatever solution he proposes to the Tamil ethnic problem, trying to make palatable to the Sinhala Buddhist majority something they would not normally look upon with favour. Is he bringing back an earlier unpopular deal that sent him and his party home at the hustings? But Ranil is too intelligent to repeat past errors.
I am tempted to say this because Ranil Wickremesinghe, unlike his predecessors Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena, does not usually make a show of unfelt religious piety for hoodwinking the masses. If he wants, he uses religion in a more street-smart way. Unlike the latter duo again, he is no religious hypocrite; he doesn't even care to show if he is really a Buddhist (which of course is right, and befits a genuine Buddhist). The important thing, I think, is that he seems to know that ordinary Buddhist voters, true to their faith, do not worry too much about whether he is a Buddhist or a non-Buddhist. (Unfortunately, however, global scale media distortion against them demonizes Sinhalese Buddhists as racist chauvinists and religious fanatics simply because circumstances force them to raise their voice when their human rights are violated by others (such as unethical conversion of Buddhists, encroachment or vandalizing or desecration of Buddhist archaeological sites, deliberate distortion of historical and Buddhist doctrinal facts).
What is happening in Sri Lanka in this respect, hardly recognized or taken seriously by the global powers that be, is doubtlessly a crime against humanity carried out by an externally well funded medley of subversive organizations and individuals, that is getting more and more explicit and more and more overpowering in the Sri Lanka's present economically and politically debilitated situation. It can be argued that the same forces that are behind this insidious barbarity are at least partly responsible for worsening the political and economic maelstrom that is currently engulfing Sri Lanka, despite the abundance of rich natural resources and the high quality of the human resources locally available, both of which its citizens can be justly proud of.
For president Wickremasinghe to want a special Dalada exposition he must be contemplating to consecrate, as it were, something momentous like a nationally important historic event concurrently with government celebrations that will mark the completion of seventy-five years of independence (whatever the last word is held to mean) from British colonial occupation. When it comes to true freedom from Britain, we believe that the 1948 independence was eclipsed by the promulgation of the republican constitution in 1972 under the United Front government of Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike. Yet, it looks like that Wickremasinghe wants to return to the Western fold by ignoring the 1972 change, which was not supported by the Illankei Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Lanka Tamil Kingdom/State Party/or misleadingly called the Federal Party in English) founded in 1949 by S.J.V. Chelvanayagam, an immigrant Tamil from Malaysia. (The clamour for a separate state for Tamils started soon after the grant of so-called independence, which was actually nothing more than dominion status. The 1972 declaration of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was until then known among foreigners and English speaking locals) as a republic severed that last link with the British empire.
Sri Lankans are a democratic people. Ranil Wickremesinghe or any other political leader could easily accommodate the legitimate interests of the global and regional superpowers that the country's geographical location makes it obligatory for it to satisfy, if he did it with the people's full democratic approval, while at the same time preserving their national dignity, sovereignty and independence.
When in 2019 Wickremesinghe and the UNP that he still leads got kicked out of parliament, he had spent forty-two years in that august body as elected member serving repeatedly in responsible senior positions over that long period as cabinet minister, opposition leader, and prime minister, and now as president at least by default. Ranil Wickremasinghe the politician has nothing more to win or lose in his life; he has nothing to look forward to, except perhaps a dignified obituary. But he suddenly finds 'greatness thrust upon him' by a strange turn of events in a context where Sri Lankans of all religious and political persuasions are up against the wall economically and politically. The Sinhalese Buddhists, in addition to this adverse global predicament experienced, not only in Sri Lanka, but across most of the world outside, are simply facing a form of cultural genocide as argued above. It is expediently connived at by our corrupt traitorous self-seeking politicians and blithely indulged by an apparently unconcerned, blissfully ignorant Maha Sangha.
Ranil Wickremasinghe can still use his intellectual superiority and political acumen to rescue our nation.
Sri Lanka: The Sacred and the Profane
"A tangle within, a tangle without…" ~ Jata Sutta – Samyutta Nikaya In July 2020, Indika Rathnayake, a non-theistic online
Rectifying history to vandalize it: Pujya K. Ariyamagga's pain
Culture/History
A Youtube video (uploaded December 27, 2022) with the alarmist caption බුදුන් ඉපදුණු මේ ලංකාවට සිදු වු අපරාදෙ අපිත් දැන ගනිමුද (Let's be aware of the enormity of the injustice perpetrated on Sri Lanka where the Buddha was born) captured my attention this morning (January 1, 2023), both because of the sensationalism of the title and its association with the popular youtuber Harindra Jayalal who presents its content as an important news bulletin from a so-called 'We Rectify Our History' organization (presumably based in the UK). Five days after uploading, the video has got about 8,500 views, and only 301 subscribers. Though Harindra Jayalal presents it as a newsflash under 'Breaking News', the maker of the video is someone who chooses to obscure their identity by describing it as a DANAPALA VIDEO. While watching the video, though, I felt that Harindra himself made this video as a strong believer in the controversial new hypothesis that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka. But again, I thought 'could a person like Harindra subscribe to such an improbable concoction'? In terms of my experience, Harindra is far too rational, educated, cultured and knowledgeable to embrace such a harebrained ideology. I believe that he is too honest to prostitute his journalism for mercenary ends.
Lucidity, idiomaticity, and precision of expression characterize Harindra Jayalal's Sinhala. Such linguistic elegance is not common among ordinary Sinhala language Youtubers. His professionalism and sophistication as a journalist are hard to match. However, the emphatic positive tone of voice that he adopts right through to the end of the presentation cannot be due to any real personal commitment to the authenticity of the 'Buddha was born in Sri Lanka' claim. Instead, by lending his patronage to this video, he may be helping out a struggling new youtuber through his own established fame. Yet, Harindra seems to be here overdoing his generosity because, his apparent espousal of that extremely anti-national heresy, might only provide some justification for the insidious process of cultural genocide that is being carried out, unknown to most ordinary Sri Lankans of diverse ethnicities, against the country's innocent Sinhala Buddhist majority, something that has been going for decades now.
Be that as it may, according to this 'news flash', "…. The Ariya Kammattahna Sanvidhanaya/Ariya Kammattahna Organization led by a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk named Ariyamagga, resident in Europe, is going to sue the British government. He has taken steps to institute legal action against government officials who served during British colonial times. He charges that Britain has distorted historical information relating to the subcontinent of India and that his fundamental rights are being violated by officials serving today in their place by intentionally failing to rectify those distortions. ……. The case names the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs, the State Secretary for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, Secretary of State for Tourism Zones and National Heritage, and the Secretary of State for Education as respondents……the court action will go ahead as the violations are continuing……". (This is from the opening of the spoken text of the video as roughly translated by me from Sinhala as other relevant parts of the same spoken script found in the rest of this essay; details such as names of ministries may not exactly tally with the real ones. – RRW)
The 'We Rectify Our History' organization argues that Britain has violated provisions of various legal statutes that it cites such as Britain's 1998 Human Rights Act, the 1988 Copyrights, Designs, and Patents Act, and the 1907 Hague Convention. It demands that at least certified photocopies of the ancient ola leaf books stashed away in British libraries and museums be made available (to it on behalf of Sri Lankans) free of charge without reserving copyrights and that steps be taken to provide funds for new archaeological excavations needed to correct those (deliberately introduced) errors in our country's history.
The plaintiff organization pleads that (the British government) acknowledge that the school education system established under the colonial administration disseminated for public consumption false information without any foundation in Sri Lankans' (collective) national and religious identity, and also that (the British government) tender an apology to the general public of the world for the crimes committed.
In Sri Lanka's ancient chronicles, Buddhist literature and even in colloquial parlance in Buddhist religious contexts today the name Jambudipa (Pali) or Dambadiva (Sinhala) refers to the subcontinent of India. But according to the 'Buddha was born in Sri Lanka' theorists, Jambudeepa was in the eastern part of Sri Lanka (if we imagine the map of the country as vertically divided with a line into east and west). A central claim made in the aforementioned plea for justice is that the true location of the Jambudipa where the founder of Theravada Buddhism, Gotama Samana, was born and lived and the locations of its cities and Buddhist holy sites were conspiratorially concealed from the world and that these venues were substituted by those in India by deliberately altering the maps of Sri Lanka and India. This is alleged to have misled the Theravada Buddhist adherents and deprived them of their right to know the truth about their spiritual master. (By 'Theravada Buddhists' the petitioner 'We Rectify Our History' organization means Sinhalese Buddhists.) What does it aim to achieve for them by asserting the following harmful falsehood?
"Having been misled (by false information) as explained above, the Buddhists of today mistake Hindu and Jain holy places to be Buddhist ones and go to worship at them. This is a tragic state of affairs" according to the plaint. But we know it is not. What is there tragic about it, even if the alleged fraudulent deed actually happened? On the contrary, it would be a happy state of affairs. Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists have much in common (tolerance, nonviolence, compassion, humility, mind culture, inner search for truth, etc.) and have no problem visiting each other's shrines without being challenged as impure infidels or non-believers. Community of basics makes for intercommunal peace and peaceful coexistence, as has always been the case in Sri Lanka between Hindus and Buddhists. However, this ludicrous complaint lets the cat out of the bag.
The 'Buddha was born in Sri Lanka' idea is obviously a piece of fiction carefully thought up by some evil minded individual or group to confuse the credulous unsophisticated, grievously ill informed (embarrassingly large) section of the Sinhalese Buddhist community about their religion as well as their history for some political and/or religious advantage. Those who stand to gain by this may be having a field day at present. They must be laughing their heads off in private at the silliness of those Buddhists who have swallowed this and other similar fabrications (such as the mythical Ravana being their progenitor) hook line and sinker.
Believers in the 'Buddha was born in Sri Lanka' myth might be induced to sever even their sentimental links with places that they correctly believed to be historic Buddhist places of worship in Sri Lanka later built over by invaders. The misguided adherents of the fiction will forget the Sacred Buddha Gaya/Bodh Gaya in India, which our indefatigable Anagarika Dharmapala did much to reclaim for the world Buddhists as he knew it was his historic responsibility as a 'Sinhale' Buddhist to do so. (This is because after the missionary Mahinda Thera introduced Theravada Buddhism to Sri Lanka, its scriptures that had been until then transmitted orally was committed to writing there in the 1st century BCE and was preserved for posterity, making the island the repository of Theravada Buddhism. By the end of the 19th century CE, Buddhism had almost entirely disappeared from India due to Muslim invasions and anti-Buddhism Hinduist influence.) Dharmapala met with limited success, no doubt, but it was a great achievement, even an epoch making one, considering his smallness when pitted against the powerful opponents he had to face in that Hindu dominated religious environment during the British Raj at the turn of the 20th century. Anagarika Dharmapala, in association with activists like journalist and poet Sir Edwin Arnold from the British intelligentsia, laid the foundation for the current Buddhist revival in India. Today India is rediscovering and restoring its lost Buddhist heritage, for example in the form of rebuilding the ancient Buddhist monastic University of Nalanda (427-1197 CE) burned down by Muslim invaders in the 12th century. This made it possible for Prime Minister Modi to shout out to the world not long ago: "India gave to the world the Buddha, not yuddha (war)". India honoured Anagarika Dharmapala by issuing a postage stamp commemorating him in 2014.
I came across a book written in Sinhala about this 'Buddha was born in Sri Lanka' argument. Its title translates as "Evidence to prove that the land of the Buddhas is none other than this 'Heladiva' or Sri Lanka: Debunking myths" (2018) by a writer named S. Ariyaratne. It is full of information drawn from authentic sources, but garbled by him through misinterpretation. The book contains a lot of interesting but, scientifically unauthenticated details both about the dhamma and history, but without any serious supporting evidence or rational elucidation. In some instances Ariyaratne quotes from the Mahavansa, which he seems to modify in his interpretation to suit his thesis that the Buddha was born, lived, and died in Sri Lanka. One example: in Mudaliyar L.C. Wijesinghe's translation (1889) of the Mahavansa the last verse of Chapter VI is as follows: "This prince named Vijaya, who had then attained the wisdom of experience, landed in the division Tambapanni of this land Lanka, on the day that the successor (of former Buddhas) reclined in the arbour of the two delightful sal trees, to attain nibbana". Ariyaratne interprets the same Pali verse in Sinhala; his version can be rendered into English thus: "Prince Vijaya of steady wisdom arrived the day that the Tathagata lay down to attain nibbana (in the shade) between two sal trees in Lanka or Tamraparni whose branches were intertwined" (Page 210 of Ariyaratne's book).
Between pages 112-132, Ariyaratne looks at Anagarika Dharmapala's work in India from his own uninformed jaundiced point of view. His unconvincing, idiosyncratic argument is that the Lankan Buddhist missionary, misled by the suddas (Whites/Europeans), mistakenly identified Bodh Gaya in India as the birthplace of the Buddha, but that towards the end of his life, he showed signs that he realized his mistake. But it is only an unsubstantiated assumption on Ariyaratne's part. He points out that the Bodhi tree found there is not the Bodhi tree under which ascetic Gotama attained enlightenment, which should true for the original probably disappeared during foreign invasions. He thinks Alexander Cunningham (the pioneer of what later became the Archaeological Survey of India) planted the extant Bodhi tree in 1870. Concerning this he mentions 'Relighting the Lamp' by Australian monk Bhante S. Dhammika (no stranger to English language newspaper readers in Sri Lanka). But Ariyaratne doesn't seem to have carefully read what he makes reference to. Actually, 'Relighting the Lamp' is only the last (or 4th) section of that monk's 241 page book 'The Navel of the Earth: The History and Significance of Bodh Gaya' (BPS, Kandy, 1996)' between pp. 119-171. In that part of the book, Bhante Dhammika has included a fairly detailed account of Dharmapala's legitimate heroic struggle to acquire the sacred place for Buddhists. Dharmapala played a key role in 'relighting the lamp' in India.
Bhante Shravasti Dhammika outlines the historical importance of Bodh Gaya in his preface to 'The Navel of the Earth…..':
"…..Bodh Gayā's historical significance is due to it having a longer and more complete history than almost any other place in the subcontinent, a history supplemented by epigraphical and literary sources from China and Tibet, Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Nor is this history merely an outline of events or a list of doubtful dates, as so often encountered in the study of India's past. Rather, it includes detailed descriptions of Bodh Gayā's now vanished temples and shrines, accounts of the elaborate ceremonies and doctrinal disputes that once took place there, and even details of how time was kept in its monasteries. This history is also made more interesting by the participation of some of Asia's greatest personalities, from Asoka to Curzon, from Xuanzang to Anāgārika Dharmapāla….."
The book also supplies information about the conspicuous presence of Buddhist monks from Simhale (Sri Lanka) and the construction of religious buildings in Jambudipa including Bodh Gaya under Sinhalese royal patronage. In the 4th century, Sinhalese king Meghavanne (304-332 CE) built a special monastery at the place of Buddha's Enlightenment – the Bodh Gaya Monastery. It survived there for a millennium, functioning as a major monastic university complex. It operated along with two other Buddhist universities,the famous Nalanda and Vikramashila monastic universities, which came into existence later.
The author of "The Navel of the Earth…" is an extremely more reliable authority on the history of the Buddha's birthplace than Ariyaratne. In fact, the erudite Bhante S. Dhammika, who is additionally an alumnus of the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, has devoted many years of his life for researching the subject, even traveling on foot where Buddha walked across that part of north India to and fro, preaching his message. He has written and published over a dozen books. A book by Bhante Dhammika published last year (2022) is 'Lumbini', which gives a short history of Lumbini "the first of the four major holy places of Buddhism, being where the person who was born to become Buddha was born".
The truth is that, in my opinion, Ariyaratne is not at all worthy of comparison with Bhante Dhammika in this context. He has had no worthwhile academic training in either Buddhism or the history of Buddhism, not to speak about anything else that is ancillary such as the secular history of Sri Lanka and India. What may be taken as an autobiographical note on pp. 12-14 of Ariyaratne's book mentioned above says that he was born in a small impoverished village in Nivitigala in 1972. At age 14, he was admitted to the Sangha order as a novice. He studied at a pirivena in Ratnapura, where he became a kind of loner allegedly trying to learn the dhamma in an unorthodox way, which meant that he read material outside the prescribed syllabuses. Disgusted with the Sangha order at age 19 (i.e., before higher ordination), he disrobed, and became a layman again, reverting to his birth name Ariyaratne. But he claims that he continued his search in which he followed in the footsteps of such 'Arya utuman' (Arhants) as the infamous and totally ignorant Waharaka (Abhayarathanalankara) and Meewanapalane (Siri Dhammalankara)!! Meewanapalane has been officially excommunicated by the Malwatte Nikaya, but he continues to preach to a dwindled audience. Waharaka died in 2017 and his death was described as 'Parinibbana'!, a term used only in the case of the passing away of an Arhant, most usually in referring to the death of the Buddha. It is an abomination to abuse that terminology to apply to the death of a sinful fake Arhant. (There is a great possibility, nay probability, that these are plants intended to destroy the Buddha Sasanaya, which is the breath and being of our over 2500 year old Lankan/Heladiva civilization. Those who bristle at this, please listen to the advice of the Buddha in the Kalama Sutta, and independently find out their hollowness by studying samples of their preachings.)
Ariyamagga Thera who is the main motivator of the 'We Rectify Our History' project as well as the leader of the so-called Ariya Kammattahna Organization may belong to the same group of rogues in robes. (I googled the name Ariyamagga Thero, but failed to find any monk by that name or an organization he heads, except the name in Sinhala characters 'Pujya K. Ariyamagga'.) The theme 'We Rectify Our History' probably comes from Ariyaratne's book, p. 116, where the author writes "Let's rectify mistakes in our history by ourselves". Isn't it possible that some eccentric uneducated zealots have also been recruited or are simply being used as ownerless donkeys by the prime movers of a global conspiracy against the Sinhalese and their Buddhist culture?
It is true that the British stole many archaeological treasures including ola leaf manuscripts of inestimable value from Sri Lanka. At least some of them are being preserved in British libraries and museums. They are waiting to be reclaimed by us through proper channels. This is not the time to get them, as we can understand, given the debilitating economic and political difficulties Sri Lanka is experiencing. This task should actually be left to present and future young generations. Ariyamagga's silly move could be a preemptive strike meant to foil such an attempt being made by young Sri Lankans even before it is initiated.
Harindra's video ends with a glowing eulogy to Ariyamagga: "The intrepid step that this monk has taken, daring Britain's 'White Crown' is a courageous and heroic move made against the British Empire by a citizen of Sihale ever since the defeat of the (armed) liberation struggle of Uva Wellassa of 1818". I hear the chuckle of the conspirators behind this mock tribute to Pujya K. Ariyamagga. (END)


text:
PEN America launches campaign to free Ukrainian writer Oleh Sentsov
Monday, May 15, 2017 - 00:12 (EEST) Section: Crimea Crisis, International, Latest news, Top stories, War & conflict
Authors, television hosts, and other creative allies joined PEN America in a letter calling on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to press for the immediate release of Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian writer and filmmaker imprisoned in Russia`s Siberia on terrorism charges widely considered to be a groundless attempt to silence his criticism of Russia`s annexation of Crimea.
See also: Johnny Depp supports Oleh Sentsov illegally imprisoned in Russia
Sentsov, who is the writer and director of two short films as well as the 2011 feature film Gamer, which screened at the 2012 International Film Festival Rotterdam, was active in protesting Russian incursions in Crimea and Ukraine more broadly. Sentsov`s "voice of opposition in Ukraine made him a ripe target for Russian stifling of dissent," the letter reads.
"Given President Putin`s brazen willingness to flout human rights norms and the rule of law, and his relentless targeting of dissenting writers, artists, activists, and politicians, it would be irresponsible to ignore Sentsov`s plight."
PEN America`s letter comes on the third anniversary of Oleh Sentsov`s arrest and disappearance from Crimea on May 10, 2014. Sentsov surfaced in Moscow and later said he had been tortured in an unsuccessful effort to extract a confession. His trial was riddled with irregularities, and the lead prosecution witness later recanted his testimony, saying it had been made under duress. Sentsov is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony.
See also: "Green light for torture": Sentsov transferred to punishment cell
The charges against him have been decried by human rights groups worldwide as fabrications intended to shut down and intimidate opponents of Russia`s intervention in Ukraine. Sentsov is the father of two young children.
"Oleh Sentsov put his artistic career at risk to take a stand for his country and against Russian invasion," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America. "The baselessness of the charges against him and President Putin`s refusal to face up to the injustice are marks of the cruelty and indifference that characterizes this regime. Sentsov should be freed, reunited with his young children, and allowed to continue his creative work as a filmmaker."
Sentsov was honored with the 2017 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award at the annual PEN America Literary Gala on April 25. The award was accepted by Sentsov`s cousin, Natalya Kaplan, who was joined in New York by Ukrainian Parliamentarian Mustafa Nayyem and human rights expert Halya Coynash. After learning of the award, Sentsov sent a letter from prison that was read at the event by actor Alan Cumming. Dozens of writers, artists, and activists — including actress Meryl Streep and composer Stephen Sondheim — have since joined the campaign for Senstov`s freedom, launching online May 11 with the hashtag #FreeSentsov.
See also: Oleg Sentsov, Ukrainian writer and filmmaker, imprisoned in Russia, wins Freedom to Write Award
Poland is negotiating with partners to create a "tank coalition" for Ukraine: photo 29 January, 2023 - 11:03 (EET)
General Staff operational report January 28, 2023 on the Russian invasion of Ukraine 28 January, 2023 - 21:17 (EET)