This is my result. little shamed, but this is the truth
Let us know your geek level too
(click on the pic)
"organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. We believe that the most effective, and ultimately the most profitable, way to accomplish our mission is to put the needs of our users first. We have found that offering a high-quality user experience leads to increased traffic and strong word-of-mouth promotion.
(Source: Form 10-K of Google Inc)
Note: if you are wondering what is Form 10-k click here
Who will not be interested in reading the annual report of such a company for the year 2008?

I got a new phone , ADSL is back and after a long time.... deeps is back into the blogging business!
So, as any person (like me) would do I was showing off my phone to the uni friends through out the last week.!!
Some were amazed at the way I manage email free or almost for a very small fee like 50 cents with the mobile phone.
This post goes to all of them who wondered seeing my phone's message inbox full of emails
Its a simple task. (The required settings may change according to your phone model. I'm referring to Nokia 6120 classic. However, if you need any help, add a comment stating your problem)
1. Set the MMS settings of your phone
Mobitel MMS Settings :
*Connection Name - Mobitel MMS
*Data Bearer - Packet Data
*Access Point Name - wapmms
*User Name - Leave it blank
*Password - Leave it blank
*Authentication - Normal
*Homepage - http://192.168.50.165
2.Set the Access Point for MMS as Mobitel MMS
3. Change the MMS settings of your phone to Automatically Receive MMS
4. Go to Gmail--> Settings --> Forwarding and POP/IMAP
5. In the Forwarding section select "Forward a copy of incoming mail to" and set the Forwarding Email Address as @mms.mobitel.lk --Example-->> +9471637****@mms.mobitel.lk
6. Select what you want Gmail to do after forwarding the Email. My advice is to select keep Gmail's copy in the inbox
That's it...a simple plan...now your Mobitel phone is a free real time Email receiver!
Some of you might wonder why i was referring to Mobitel and Gmail particulary. The reason is that Mobitel Incoming MMS messages are free and Gmail provides us the facility to forward all the Incoming Emails to another email address. So you can receive your emails free of charge on Mobitel whereas Dialog charges for the packet data usage of Incoming MMS's.
I have been using this for about 2 years and until now, I only Found two cons.
1. It's hard to read forward mails Because most of them have long list of email addresses before the actual email message. Most of the phones say that it cannot open such messages and sometimes my old Nokia 6020 gets stuck. So my advice is not to try to open Forward emails. After all most of the forward mails are of no use right? So, you have the option to filter the messages that you want to be sent to the phone in Gmail To set a filter, go to Gmail--> Settings-->Filters
2. The second short coming is that mobitel does not store your emails in their servers more than 6 hours which means that, you have the possibility of receiving the email as MMS within 6hours from the time which the email originally was dropped in your email inbox. For example, suppose you turn off the phone at 12 am and you receive Mail A to your Email inbox at 12.15am. the Mail B comes to your Email inbox at 7.00 am. You turn on the phone at 8.00am. Then you do not receive the Mail A to your phone because your message is considered to be expired by Mobitel.
But if your phone has a built-in email client (If you have an option called Email in your messages menu, you probably have a built-in-email client), then you can send/receive email without facing the second shortcoming I mentioned. However, the email client method requires lot of data transfers and hense cost money. What I do is receive the mails in the above manner and reply the important mails in the following way which costs about 50 cents (Mobitel)for a text email.
First , you have to get the GPRS/WAP settings from your Service Provider
Mobitel WAP settings:
*Connection Name - Mobitel WAP
*Data Bearer - Packet Data
*Access point Name - mobitel3g or wap depending on your phone
*User Name - None
*Password - None
*Authentication - Normal
*Homepage - http://wap.mobitel.lk (If you wish you can have another one too)
Dialog WAP settings:
*Connection Name - Dialog WAP
*Data Bearer - Packet Data
*Access point Name - www.dialogsl.com
*User Name - None
*Password - None
*Authentication - Normal
*Homepage - http://www.dialogwap.com (If you wish you can have another one too)
Then you have to change the Email settings
1. Go to the Email Menu on the phone--> Add new mail box (The wording might change from phone to phone)
2. Add the mail box settings
For Gmail users:
Incoming Email Settings:
*User name - your email address
*Password - Your Email password
*Incoming Mail Server - pop.gmail.com
*Access Point in Use - Mobitel WAP
*Mailbox Type - POP3
*Security Ports - SSL/TLS
Outgoing Email Settings:
*User name - your email address
*Password - Your Email password
*Outgoing Mail Server - smtp.gmail.com
*Access Point in Use - Mobitel WAP
*Mailbox Type - POP3
*Security Ports - SSL/TLS
3. Add the User Settings
*My Name : The name you give here will appear as the senders name in the mails you
send using the phone
*Send Message : Immediately
*Send Copy to self : if yes, sends a copy of the sent mails to your email
inbox(ie.Google,Yahoo etc)
*Include Signature : activate if you wish
4. Add Retrieval settings (For Mobitel users no need to retrieve mails this way because now we are getting all the emails as MMS to the phone free of charge.However, if you wish,you can activate this too)
Email to Retrieve: Usually there are options to select from. Choose the option which suits you the best
*Headers only - retrieves only the headings of the emails
*Messages and Attachments - Retrieves the full email to the phone
*Size Limit - you can limit the size of the emails to download
Retrieval Amount: The number of emails that you want to download per one
session
5. Automatic retrieval settings: If you are using Mobitel, disable Automatic retrieval. That is how I do and it's fine as you receive emails as MMS. But for Dialog and other users change the settings as you wish
6. Go to Gmail--> Settings-->Forwarding and POP/IMAP
In the POP Download Section-->
*Select Enable POP for all mail(even mail that's already been downloaded)
*Select Keep Gmail's copy in the inbox @ When messages are accessed with POP
In the IMAP Access Section-->
* Select Enable IMAP(see the screen shot above)
when you want to compose a mail, go to the email sub menu on the Messages Menu of the phone, compose the mail and press send..
...enjoy email on the go!!!...
Image taken from here
This post goes out to all the people who think that ARTS degrees are of no value. For the Information of you guys, I will tell you of the subjects that I have to follow this semester, and had to follow last semester. I'm doing Sociology, Management and Western Classical Culture(WCC) as main subjects and apart from them we have follow two foundation courses per the requirements of the university(I'm referring to the faculty of Arts in Peradeniya University)
For Sociology, we had to study all sorts of theories and introductions to the subject and this term, we are dealing with Sri Lankan Society from Vijaya to the modern period.(well some thing similar to the O/L history part but more in detail)
For Management, we had to learn about the theories and the four major functions of Management, planning, organizing, leading and controlling and this time, we have to Accounting with a nice young lecturer
For WCC the syllabus for this term can be found here and for the last term, we had to do Odyssey and Argonautica. Yes, two big books
For the foundation Courses, we had to do Maths and Writing Skills and Computer last term. Now I must tell you something of these three subjects.
Maths was hard because apparently, it used to have elements from the the syllabus of the Engineering guys at UoM.
Writing skills was harder because, we had to write research papers and critical arguments just after setting the foot in to the university.
Computer was hard because it was soooo hard to find a free computer in our lab.(other than that, for me, it was OK. I do not know about others. Just the history and introduction to networking and hardware stuff. No programming at all. Instead we had some advanced work to be done with Office package)
And this term, the foundation courses include basics of the following subject areas.
Human Mind
World Religion
Law and Ethics
Art and Aesthetic Subjects
Environment
Society and Culture
International Relationships
History of Science
According to Prof Desmond Mallikarachchi who had designed the course, the above subject makes a qualified undergraduate. To be called an real graduate, you should at least know basics of the other subject ares as well
Now,One question for you Engineers, Scientists, Financial Experts and Doctors....
What do you know about Art and Aesthetic? International Relationships?Society and culture? Of course, if you are exceptional engineer or a doctor, you will say yes to at least for one question. But for many, it is a “big no”.
Any way, on the contrary, the Arts graduates have the opportunity to learn something out of their subject matter, which in my idea, is a great achievement.(here in pera, we are given the chance to attend lectures in any faculty but the students hardly do it. It is another problem)
But still, in the long run, they(not Arts graduates) get jobs and a good salary while the “real graduates” sleep in the pavements.
So, the public think that doing Arts is useless. Children choose Maths and Bio science for the Advanced level examination and when they get screwed up for several times, they learn the so called useless arts subjects to get into the university. For many think, arts is the easiest of all the streams in the Advanced level. But it is not and I have the right to say so because I have experienced how it is to do English, French and Greek and Roman Civilization to get into the University.
I have deliberately put in my A/L subjects because they too belong into the category of Arts. Well but many think those subjects belong to a new category called languages. No it is not, they are same as Sinhalese,Logic and Political Science. The only difference is the medium of instruction.
However, there is a general idea among the public that doing Languages worth it than doing Arts. There is little truth hidden in the statement because the competency in English language always matter a lot in getting a job in Sri Lanka.
But knowing English itself is not enough to get a good job. You should have the knowledge in the subject matter the way the world demands. For example, learning how to draw a graph using Microsoft Word 95 is considered nothing these days.
Unfortunately, the knowledge of the students who learn in Sinhalese has ultimately fallen into that category today. I m not asking all the students to offer courses in English medium After all it is our mother tongue. But they should have a working knowledge of English so that they can apply what they learned into big companies.
And that is exactly what most of the Sinhalese Medium students lack. There are many reasons for that but I would not like to deal about them further because Prof. Shantha K. Hennayake has already done that here. ( Refer to the section on ragging)For your information, I would quote his article here.
"Students should not speak in English as it’s the "para bhasawa". (meaning not only a foreign but also oppressive). Generally the union leaders are English illiterate English."
With such practices, I wonder whether the efforts of the ELTU are fruitful. But they are doing a good job in the university. Hats off to you nice ladies and gentlemen!!
Another thing is the lack of computer knowledge. Some times, even a simple thing like formatting a USB Drive. The most common reason given by such students is their inability and the fear. There can be other reason like the ones I explained in one of my earlier posts. Anyway, such things are unforgivable at the University level. You have a computer lab where you can do anything(I mean not changing the OS, but simple things that are vital in day today's life.) So you can practice and learn, After all if we do not make use of the facilities who would?
English medium students too have this problem but at least they have English; something very very important for a good carrier like computer knowledge.
So, due to the lack of those simple two facts we ARTS students are considered to be the lower class in the hierarchy of the Faculties in Sri Lanka.
But in the reality, we are taught about the humanity so that we should have the ability understand it ,to be flexible and adopt to any situation easily. We have the best knowledge base in Sri Lanakan students; I mean, with regard to the breadth of it.
Earlier, an Arts degree was something to do with Sinhalese, Political Science and Sanskrit. But these days, the trend is changing. You have the access to many fields such as management, computing ., law and many things. (Well, I'm not talking about the private universities)
And if you have the means, doing another degree or a diploma in a private institution to is possible. But if you make the best use of University of Peradeniya, you can have an Arts degree as well as a part of the Engineering Degree(cz you can go for the lectures in the Eng fac if you wish. I do not know about the other universities)
My dear sisters and brothers who are planning to enter into the university, why don't you give a heed to these thoughts and decide your University life today it self?
After all, ARTS is not shit if you manage it properly!!
(Will talk about my point of view about this in the future)
You Are Influential and Skilled |
You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people. Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems. Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. |

PS: I Found out how to fix these two errors. If you are interested in click here




I had to get up at 6.30 and have a bath (it was cold, dread cold. But had to do it cz if not, I would smell like a rotten rat). Ok, guys, this is the typical me going to the university.
Gulp a plate of rice and curry down the throat and off I run to catch a bus. I was at Galaha Junction by 7.40, almost ten minutes late and to my dismay, the one who should be waiting for me was missing. Waited for another 5 minutes and texted her( you guys thought it was my BF right?? heh hee nope, it was my friend—a girl) that I would be going and meet you under the senate and stuff.
Ah, it was too late,walking to the faculty was impossible. So boarded a bus. Guys you know, that conductor took only 6 rupees from Galaha Junction to the Faculty of Arts. Good start, isn't it?
Then the “gal kanu yata sangame” aka our gossip corner. It was fun to check out how each and everybody was doing during the vacation. Well for the first time in my life, I got to know the important of the “pacha bankuawas” in the village boutique. It is a good place to pass your time when there is nothing to do and a good source of information about the things happening around. Not to mention, it is a bond developer too, well I mean not like Harcobond, it helps you to strengthen the friendship between the batch mates. In our case, we had no time table, any information on the additional courses that we have to follow this semester. so, gossiping was the only activity which kept us busy.
When, the mouths were tired of talking and the ears were tired of listening, some went to the gym and some just walked around to say hi to departments and the much loved stair cases in the library and the Sociology Department building. My bloody phone vibrates at this moment. A SMS, the one that my friend had sent in the morning to say not to wait for her in Galaha Junction. Mobitel, you really rock my world!! Rs6/= for an incoming text message and yet you have the guts to say you care always..bus conductors may be..
People who went to the gym were missing but all the dudes who went to say hi to the departments were returning in minutes as if they were bound by an elastic to the stone pillars. The Departments were all closed or either, not in function properly. We were lost, we had nothing to do, some had got hold of the course schedule for English and WCC but we didn't know whether we had the lectures that day or not.
We were hopeless, but as usual, we find hope in the hopelessness. The hope of having a fun!! no need to explain, you know the fun right? For the university students, imagine how you feel a two hour boring lecture is canceled without no cover up. For the school goers, imagine how you feel when this all hated and all insulted teacher doesn't come to the class due to a meeting with a principal.
All of a sudden, the corridor in front of the Deans' Office gets crowded as if SRK had visited the office. Then we know that the time table was out. We were used to that nice little time tables in the school but this one was horrible. Imagine all the courses offered to all the years in one big thing. If you really want to imagine how big it was multiply 9 by 5(number of hours in one day into number of days)and again multiply the result by number of lecture halls available in the faculty(more than twenty I suppose) so approximately, the time table has 900 cages!! you have to search for the relevant 15 cages to decipher out your proper time table from that “thing”. Oh, it was tiresome. Hope we had an on line system to check out the time tables( heard such a program is being developed. Hope it would come out before I pas out)
Another notice is then seen in the notice board of our Department of ********
“All the students who do **** come to meet Mrs********** with a copy of ******* by*****( Penguin edition, translated by*****)” but that was not what the schedule said. We were supposed to do something else in the first two weeks of the semester!! but what to do, they rule the world you know.
Off I ran to the library to get a book and as usual there was no book to be found. To be exact, no Penguin Edition. There was a Oxford University Press Edition available, but hell, it was not what the lecturer wanted. Hopeless again, went to the department to say that the book is not in the library. we met the lecturer only to hear her say that what ever, she is going to do the lecture( with or without books)..mm uni is cool right? This is just the beginning of the tragedy. Last time I screwed up the **** paper because I didn't read much. But this time, I took the course schedule in advance and read for the first play that we have to do. But alas, I was again yawning in the class for 2 hours with no clue on what is being said.
Hmm...This is what do you call the university life in Sri Lanka.
Only one girl in the class had a copy of the play (not the required version, she had burrowed the Oxford University Press Edition from the library) but that was only our problem, she finished a two third of it. That is why people say that university is all about self studying, do you get it guys and girls? That is it.
It was yesterday.
Today was no better. We were to have a lecture from 8-10. we were nicely seated in the lecture hall by 8 but not even a shadow of a lecturer was in the vicinity. So we had our own lectures on gossiping, emailing, texting and cheating in the exams etc etc.
the most interesting gossip I heard was that even the lecturer had been using the Oxford University Edition in yesterdays lecture. So why bother about penguins, hoping get a photocopy of the Oxford Edition, came out of the lecture hall and that was the second day of the second semester. Hope the third will be better!
This post is dedicated to my dear computer system, OpenOffice.Org writer and the Electricity Board of Sri Lanka.
hi!!
After a long time ha?
You may wonder why I was not active during the last few days.
When I was typing hard to quench your thirst, the monitor went suddenly off. Power failure again. I have a UPS but it is not connected to the monitor.
So the monitor went off but the system was still running.
“ctrl+s”ed several times and pushed the power button. But the familiar beeps were not heard. Instead the red bulb in the casing was running as if it was normally working.
I was not very sure whether I saved my document. So I typed in “ftrrergihoo” and pressed enter but no reaction. (I really do not know what has happened at this time)
Time to experiment. Pressed all the funny looking keys on the keyboard. One key made the machine sleep and at once I thought it was shut down. But wait, I heard a noise which means that machine was just sleeping.
Pressed the re start button cz I know something was going wrong. The machine restarted and the monitor is still off. The UPS was hooting his mouth off and my brother was shouting his*** off.
The UPS gave a really fine hoot and went silent. hi there all the Electricity people, I love you more than my life! This is the second time (for today) you made me hear the lovely songs of the rocking UPS.
Everything silent, a moment gone and the UPS shows the Green light.
The machine boots again. No worries, no scan disks and all the play things. It just came into the welcome screen. On launching the Writer, there comes a message saying that I have to recover a document, in another words, my next blog post. While recovering, it says that my document is not saved and therefore is an error recovering the document. I was nuts. As you all know I pressed ctrl+s so many times right?(I love OpenOffice too) however, I was given the choice to save the recovered part of the document. I did save it and opened the document, what do you thinkI saw?
Another blank document!! ( you know how I love myself right?)
What to do. Back to experiments. First, opened a blank document and pressed ctrl+S and got to know how to save a document even if my monitor was off. Then tried pushing all the funky keys on the key board. One made it shut down.
Now I know, pressing that button makes it shut down. I was in a mood for experiments. Turned on the computer again to write about my experience to the fellow bloggers.
I mean to ask all of them to practice some blind computing as I did.
And guess what, I opened the blank document I had saved in the recovery process to type in the post and it was there!!Without missing a single letter(oh how I love open office!) OMG, at last, i have got everything back.
I think this had happened cz of one thing. Simply, I have set the auto recovery information to be saved after each one minute. Seems OpenOffice had done his job property even though I had not done it.
(in another words OpenOffice had saved a auto recovery details so that i could get my original document back even though i had not saved it manually. try it yourself and see.)I do not know if MS word offers such cool features as I have not being using word for a long time.
Whatever,East or West
OpenOffice is the best!

you will come across a page where you have the ability to listen, add the song to your play list or to get the embedded code to be put in your website or blog (not to mention, you can report the broken links too).
can nicely let it play and do your work.


and it will
