Friday The 13th

Today is Friday the 13th. Here are some 13 facts about Friday the 13th which some people believe as a bad day.

1. More than 60 million people worldwide claim to be affected by a fear of Friday 13th. Some of them won’t go to work, drive cars or get out of bed on this day.
2. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.
3. According to the British Medical Journal there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents when the date is Friday 13th.
4. Every year has at least one and at most three Friday the 13th.
5. Famous people born on Friday the 13th include Samuel Beckett (13 April 1906), Margaret Thatcher (13 October 1923), Fidel Castro (13 August 1926) and Steve Buscemi (13 December 1957).
6. Tupac Shakur died on Friday, September 13, 1996.
7. The Uruguayan rugby team’s plane crashed in the Andes mountain range on Friday, 13 October, 1972.
8. Many hospitals have no room 13, while airports don't have a Gate 13.
9. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were said to be sufferers.
10. The Athens Olympic Games opened on Friday 13th of August, 2004.
11. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.
12. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12." Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.
13. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number — 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.

Queen Band - Probably the Kings of Rock

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works, incorporating more diverse and innovative styles in their music.

Queen formed in 1971 and in 1973 signed their first recording contract for EMI. That year they released their first album, QUEEN. The same year saw their first major UK tour, and in 1974 they released QUEEN II as well as making their first UK headlining tour. They made their first US tour, and in November released SHEER HEART ATTACK which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bohemian Rhapsody is considered as the best rock song in the history. "We are the champions" and "We will rock you"some of their other hits which have been very popular. More information about the band can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band). 

Bohemian Rhapsody

We are the Champions

We will Rock You

Love of my life

"So Close No Matter How Far" - Six Degrees of Separation

What if you have to send a message to some person you don't know directly and communication mediums such as email, mail or telephone were unavailable? Then the only method of communication will be via personal contacts. We can search for a friend of us who directly know the intended the recipient. But what if, none of our friends know the recipient directly? Then probably we have to depend on some other intermediate person who can connect one of our friends to the intended recipient. What if there is no such person. Then another intermediate person is required. 

This gives the rise to an interesting question , "What is the maximum number of such intermediate people needed to make sure that we can send a message to anyone in the world ? " or in other words "What is the minimum number of people between any two people in the world ?".

In six degrees of separation concept it says that this value is 6. This concept was introduced by the

The Film

Hungarian Author Frigyes Karinthy in one of his short stories in the year 1929 named "Chains". This was later popularized by a play named "Six Degrees of Separation" written by John Guare. There is also a film titled "Six Degrees of Separation" based on the same story (Will Smith is the main actor.Yet this film is boring) .

So there are at most only five intermediate persons between any two people in the world. I can personally send a mail to Barrack Obama via five intermediate persons. I can contact Chuck Norris via five people. I can connect with Mr.ABC from country XYZ through just five persons. It sounds so amazing and fascinating. So the real question is "is it true ?" Though this was initially introduced as a concept many people have tried to prove it mathematically and practically and amazingly most of those attempts have been somewhat successful. 

In 1967, American sociologist Stanley Milgram devised a way to test the theory, which he called "the small-world problem." He randomly selected people in the mid-West to send packages to a stranger located in Massachusetts. The senders knew the recipient's name, occupation, and general location. They were instructed to send the package to a person they knew on a first-name basis who they thought was most likely, out of all their friends, to know the target personally. That person would do the same, and so on, until the package was personally delivered to its target recipient.Although the participants expected the chain to include at least a hundred intermediaries, it only took (on average) between five and seven intermediaries to get each package delivered. Milgram's findings were published in Psychology Today. This has confirmed the number of links is actually close to six.

Apart from that experiment there were many other experiments and theories. Some of them used mathematical derivations and assumptions as well. With the advancement of technology there are several internet experiments which have tried to check the validity of this concept. One of the interesting experiments is the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" which was invented as a play on the concept. The goal is to link any actor to Kevin Bacon through no more than six connections, where two actors are connected if they have appeared in a movie or commercial together. It was created by four students at Albright College in Pennsylvania, who came up with the concept while watching Footloose. On the 13th of September, 2012, Google made it possible to search for any given actor's 'Bacon Number' through their search engine. The "Oracle of Bacon" gives a version of this game based on the IMDB database. Using this we can search for the connection between any two actors. Even the Sri Lankan Actors are connected with Kevin Bacon or any other International actors with a very small degree of connection. As an example "Kamal Addaraarchchi" is connected with "Kevin Bacon" via just three intermediate actors. 

There may be tribal groups in the world who have never encountered other civilizations. Thus finding a connection with them will be an impossible thing. In that case this concept will not be true. Apart from that fact all other improvements in technology has resulted in a well connected world. Thus the six degrees of freedom will most probably be true for most of the people in the world. And it is expected that this value of six will be further reduced with the development of the communication technology, transportation facilities and multimedia . Thus the connectivity in the world is so tight and as humans we are "So Close No Matter How far" .

Wind of Change

I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_of_Change_(song)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

"O Holy Night," also known as Minuit, Chrétiens (Midnight, Christians) or Cantique de Noël.The original French lyrics were written by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877) and the melody was composed by Adolphe Adam (1803-1856) who composed the score for the ballet Giselle. The song was first performed in 1847 during a Christmas Eve mass in Roquemaure. It was later translated from French to English by John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893).

This Christmas carol was played live over the radio on December 24, 1906. The Christmas radio show was broadcasted by Reginald Fessenden from Brant Rock, Massachusetts.

Source: www.christmas-lyrics.org

Oh holy night, the stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till He appeared and the soul felt it's worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees

Oh, hear the angel voices

Oh, night divine

Oh, night when Christ was born

Oh, night divine

Oh night, oh night divine

Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains, shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we

Let all within us praise His holy name

Christ is the Lord

Their name, forever praise we

Noel, Noel

Oh night, oh, night divine

Noel, Noel

Oh night, oh, night divine

Noel, Noel

Oh, oh, holy night

Merry Christmas  and a Happy New Year !

SLPL - Sri Lanka Premier League

The inaugural session of SLPL finished yesterday with "Uva Next" crowning as the champions in a rain shortened match.  Although the final was highly affected with rain the thrill of a final was never lost mostly due to the unbelievable batting cameos by Mathews and Dilshan Munaweera. Probably the use of the "Duckworth-Lewis Method" in this match would not that fair to both the teams. But as per the performances of the teams I believe "Uva Next" deserved to be the champions after beating in form "Wayamba" convincingly in the semifinals. As in the half way stage it is also important to look at the performances of the teams and individual players. 

• The main target behind the SLPL was to improve the cricketing skills of the local players and giving them a chance to perform with international players. Some of the players performed very well and some failed to take the maximum use of their chance. Some senior players such as T.M. Dilshan and Mahela regained their form through SLPL while players like Ajantha Mendis gained their way to the national team once again through SLPL. Mathews showcased his captaincy skills and his improved consistency as a finisher. 
• Akila Dananjaya and Dilshan Munaweera have been the finds of the tournament. Both of them earned a place in the squad for the World T20.  Munaweera surpassed Mathews as the highest run-getter in the tournament by 1 run in the final. Probably this should earn him a place in the starting 11 in the T20 world cup. Though Akila Dananjaya performed well in the early stages he was attacked severly in the final matches he played. Thus I think he should improve more before getting a Sri Lankan cap.

• Dinesh Chandimal and Thissara Perera were among the disappointments of the tournament. As the next generation of the Sri Lankan cricket a lot were expected from them. Also Bhanuka Rajapaksha failed miserably during the SLPL. The performance of local bowlers were also below par. 

• Undoubtedly Pakistan players are the most benefited international players from this tournament. Most of the Pakistan players took part in this SLPL and they performed well in their respective SLPL teams and most of them got the chance to be in the playing 11. Players like Kamran Akmal made this a chance to regain their form and earn a place in their national teams. Also the experience they got from playing in World T20 venues will be very useful.

• Another disappointment was the failure of retired players. Jayasuriya and Muralitharan was totally out of form. Surprisingly Muralitharan remains at the bottom of the best bowlers list. He failed to take a wicket in his four appearances for Uthura Rudras and leaked 8 runs per over. His performance probably affected Uthura and they lost their first four games in a row. 

• The most disturbing thing about SLPL is not the failures of upcoming players nor the success of foreign players, but the success of Sri Lankan players who have failed repeatedly at the international level. Their success induce a fear in the minds of Sri Lankan supporters. Fortunately despite the  cameo played by Kapugedara against Ruhuna , he failed to secure a place on national team for the T20 world cup.

• Basnahira and Uthura were the main disappointments of the tournament. Although they had good teams the performance was well below par. And Wayamba was the chokers of the tournament.They outplayed all other teams in the league stage but choked in the semifinal. They had a very good team balance which can play on par with any other club team in the world and they would have a realistic chance to win the Champions League if they got selected. Missing Kamran Akmal in the semi finals due to national duty dented their chance of winning the semifinal.    

• The SLPL started with lot of controversies. This was expected to start last year. But due to intervention of India it was postponed. Even in this edition no Indian players took part. Also the expected foreign stars decided to stay away from it at the last moment. And some players leaved SLPL at the halfway stage citing different reasons. But yet I think it helped Sri Lanka to uncover the next generation of cricketers. Also Hope that "UVA NEXT" will perform well at the upcoming Champions League in October.

It's Left Handers Day - some facts about left handers

Today (August 13) is International Left Handers day. Here are some interesting facts about left handers.

Transit of Venus

The last Venus transit for this century will be visible to Sri Lanka Tomorrow (June 6th). This will be a great opportunity to us.Following details may help to observe the transit safely and correctly.

Viewing Safely

It is very important to use the safety procedures while observing the transit.Inappropriate viewing methods may result in blindness and other eye problems. Following link contains some safe viewing methods.

http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/viewing.php

http://www.transitofvenus.org/june2012/eye-safety

 

Useful Links

• NASA - http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/index.php

• Transit of Venus - http://www.transitofvenus.org/

• Wikipeadia -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus,_2012

• Webcasts -  http://www.livescience.com/20747-venus-transit-webcasts-watch-live.html

THEN THEY CAME FOR ME..........

First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

 A famous statement attributed to pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)