Thursday, January 9, 2020
Heart ♥ reacts
Do you remember when people were afraid to display affection, to express love was taboo and the FB HEART REACT changed everything?
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
2030
Nancy woke up on a weekday, perfectly rested, refreshed and ready to start her day. She woke up to a gentle nudge on her wrist by her newest smartwatch. Ever since she started using the perfect sleep time prediction application that mined data from her schedule, health monitoring devices -- her smartwatch, shoes and the whole lot, she has lost count of how many times she has experienced a perfect sleep. Humans sleep in cycles of time periods characterized by a lot of physical and mental attributes. Sleeping at the perfect moment to gain an integer number of sleep cycles. People wake up from this perfect sleep with a minimum disturbance. Waking up has never been this "easy" or "perfect" ever before. Waking up is the best when she did not have any reason to wake up in the morning before she had to go to school. Every kid has to wake up to leave for school for more than a decade. Waking up for school is torture! Looking back, it was not all torture. There was mother's love waking her up, mother's tea "really" waking her up and sometimes her cat’s soft purrs near her ears. Then there were alarm clocks. The sonorous beating of metallic drums beeps in digital clocks and artificial rooster sounds on mobile phones. Clocks have sounds, but that was all. She bought her first smart band a little before a decade. It could nudge her wrist rather without the rooster in the mobile phone having to shout -- not irritating, but not perfect either.
This seemed like the best waking up that could be. But things changed with the sleep monitoring feature update. The application let her know if she has slept enough last day, or if she has had deep sleep and what is not. She tried her best to sleep early so that the app will show "enough sleep" the next day. Three other smart bands and millions of scientific breakthroughs in health sensing and pattern recognition later -- sleep was perfect now! So perfect that she no longer missed her mother nor the cat. Given the choice, no one would have chosen the messy, late waking up. Almost no one would. Nancy would. Or would not. It did not matter because there was no choice. Perfect sleep was there. Her mother nor the cat was needed. Her mother, back at a faraway nursing home with the best health facilities and the cat, in the infamous barn where all cats go to spend their eternal lives once the veterinary surgeon decides to. At least when the prediction algorithm in the veterinary surgeon’s workstation decides to. Sometimes, Nancy wonders if her mother's doctor's workstation will be able to calculate the exact break event point of life's worth and suffering to decide a perfect time as to when she should go knocking on pearly gates. She wishes it would not happen in her mother's natural lifetime. Just like she sometimes wished the veterinary workstation was at least a little late so she could have woken up to the soft purrs of her cat for a few more times, neither perfectly rested nor full of energy to face the new day.
This seemed like the best waking up that could be. But things changed with the sleep monitoring feature update. The application let her know if she has slept enough last day, or if she has had deep sleep and what is not. She tried her best to sleep early so that the app will show "enough sleep" the next day. Three other smart bands and millions of scientific breakthroughs in health sensing and pattern recognition later -- sleep was perfect now! So perfect that she no longer missed her mother nor the cat. Given the choice, no one would have chosen the messy, late waking up. Almost no one would. Nancy would. Or would not. It did not matter because there was no choice. Perfect sleep was there. Her mother nor the cat was needed. Her mother, back at a faraway nursing home with the best health facilities and the cat, in the infamous barn where all cats go to spend their eternal lives once the veterinary surgeon decides to. At least when the prediction algorithm in the veterinary surgeon’s workstation decides to. Sometimes, Nancy wonders if her mother's doctor's workstation will be able to calculate the exact break event point of life's worth and suffering to decide a perfect time as to when she should go knocking on pearly gates. She wishes it would not happen in her mother's natural lifetime. Just like she sometimes wished the veterinary workstation was at least a little late so she could have woken up to the soft purrs of her cat for a few more times, neither perfectly rested nor full of energy to face the new day.
Not knowing GCP
A few days back, a friend of mine asked my help in getting a speech-to-text Google cloud service up and running. Trying to do that, I figured out how I know nothing that a Com.eng student is supposed to know. I have no idea about compiling a project with maven, setting up GCP authentication or sessions!
This opens doors for two possibilities:
(1) Jobless future!
(2) I will always work in big teams with people of various skills and background (because I don't know shit). The work will be collaborative and co-dependent! I will work with interesting people and their ideas as much as I will be writing code.
50% chance of this interesting CS career ahead is a decade worth looking forward for!
This opens doors for two possibilities:
(1) Jobless future!
(2) I will always work in big teams with people of various skills and background (because I don't know shit). The work will be collaborative and co-dependent! I will work with interesting people and their ideas as much as I will be writing code.
50% chance of this interesting CS career ahead is a decade worth looking forward for!
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Internship predictions
This post is to archive a set of hilarious hypothetical scenario where a few students in our batch will go for internship, will piss off all the coworkers and be scolded in the following words!
Harshana
මේ පණ්ඩිත කතා කිය කිය ඉන්නේ නැතුව මොනවා හරි කරපන්කෝ!
Podi rama
දෙයියනේ දැන්වත් ඔය බොරු කිය කිය ඉන්නේ නැතුව මොනවා හරි කරපන්කෝ!
Rahal
ඔය කෙල්ලෝ කොහෙවත් යන්නේ නෑ. වැඩක් කරපන්කෝ උන්ට පාඩුවේ ඉන්ඩ දීලා!
Punky
යකෝ දැන් දවස් 5ක් මොනවාද ඔය පොඩි වැඩේ කරන්නේ. උඹට කිව්වේ printf එක හදන්ඩ කියලා නෙමෙයි තියන එක ගහන්ඩ කියලා.
Chandima
මැනේජර් මහත්තයා මාරු වෙලාද?
Harshana
මේ පණ්ඩිත කතා කිය කිය ඉන්නේ නැතුව මොනවා හරි කරපන්කෝ!
Podi rama
දෙයියනේ දැන්වත් ඔය බොරු කිය කිය ඉන්නේ නැතුව මොනවා හරි කරපන්කෝ!
Rahal
ඔය කෙල්ලෝ කොහෙවත් යන්නේ නෑ. වැඩක් කරපන්කෝ උන්ට පාඩුවේ ඉන්ඩ දීලා!
Punky
යකෝ දැන් දවස් 5ක් මොනවාද ඔය පොඩි වැඩේ කරන්නේ. උඹට කිව්වේ printf එක හදන්ඩ කියලා නෙමෙයි තියන එක ගහන්ඩ කියලා.
Chandima
මැනේජර් මහත්තයා මාරු වෙලාද?
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Sentimental inclinations
Operating systems lecture:
Lecturer: Are there any advantages of writing threaded programs for a single core computer with no hyper-threading capability?
Me: There is! We humans have a sentimental inclination to implement the human thinking as if the problem could be solved in parts and threaded programs satisfy this sentimental need.
Lecturer: I don't think the compiler writers thought about the sentimental needs of people.
Me: But why didn't they leave computers at machine code? That was the sentimental attraction towards human like languages.
Some random discussion with pure mathematics lecturer:
Lecturer: Patterns within integer sequences exist in the universe. Humans have a special ability to find these patterns than any machine.
Me: Are integers or their patterns that important to the universe?
Lectuer: Must be. We can use the integer set to extend up to the rational set and probably the reals.
Me: But don't you think that integers looks important to us because of our sentimental attraction towards them?
L: How come?
Me: We developed this sentimental need to interpret everything based on integers because we were a counting civilization. Think about corals! if not for fish they would not have any reason to count integers. Corals are not individuals. The water around them is continuous. They would not have fallen in love with integers the way we did. For them, integers would not be something important out of reals. There are two books by Arthur C Clerk and Ian Stewart discussing this.
L: Interesting.
Lecturer: Are there any advantages of writing threaded programs for a single core computer with no hyper-threading capability?
Me: There is! We humans have a sentimental inclination to implement the human thinking as if the problem could be solved in parts and threaded programs satisfy this sentimental need.
Lecturer: I don't think the compiler writers thought about the sentimental needs of people.
Me: But why didn't they leave computers at machine code? That was the sentimental attraction towards human like languages.
Some random discussion with pure mathematics lecturer:
Lecturer: Patterns within integer sequences exist in the universe. Humans have a special ability to find these patterns than any machine.
Me: Are integers or their patterns that important to the universe?
Lectuer: Must be. We can use the integer set to extend up to the rational set and probably the reals.
Me: But don't you think that integers looks important to us because of our sentimental attraction towards them?
L: How come?
Me: We developed this sentimental need to interpret everything based on integers because we were a counting civilization. Think about corals! if not for fish they would not have any reason to count integers. Corals are not individuals. The water around them is continuous. They would not have fallen in love with integers the way we did. For them, integers would not be something important out of reals. There are two books by Arthur C Clerk and Ian Stewart discussing this.
L: Interesting.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
ආදර වස්තු
I have been to stage dama's at Prof. Ediriweera Sarathchandra open air theater at University of Peradeniya only for only a very small number of dramas. Despite the "wala" being all that prestigious and everything I find the 2 hour buffering period (have to stay there from 5-7 until the drama starts) and the 30 min non-skip-able advertisement period too much for a 90 min drama.
But this week was special because the drama had Thumindu Dodanthenna in it! (and the drama was staged on 14th February).
Notable lines :-)
"ඔයා ඇතුලේ හිටපු රැඩිකල් කෙල්ලට නම් මම තාම ආදරෙයි. ඒත් ඒ දවස් වලත් ඔයා ඇතුලේ හිටපු සාමාන්යය ගැහැණිය මතු වෙද්දී නම්, මම කියන්නේ නෑ එපා උනා කියලම. ඒත්..."
I have a lot of friends who claim to be /seem to be /are out of the box thinkers -- The misfits, radicals, revolutionists, poets, writers and all sorts of cool ones. And this is the story of most of them!
Most of these people are in love with the idea of being in love with a special person or having an "unusual" relationship. But when it comes to the actual person they are with, they ignore the not-so-interesting parts. They fail to notice how the radical girl (or boy, or the relationship) is intertwined with the usual/average parts -- and how they should accept both parts equally; if they are to ever make it work. Best case, they consider the relationship with the not-so-interesting personality as the "price" they pay for the interesting bits. Sad! Isn't it?
But this week was special because the drama had Thumindu Dodanthenna in it! (and the drama was staged on 14th February).
Notable lines :-)
"ඔයා ඇතුලේ හිටපු රැඩිකල් කෙල්ලට නම් මම තාම ආදරෙයි. ඒත් ඒ දවස් වලත් ඔයා ඇතුලේ හිටපු සාමාන්යය ගැහැණිය මතු වෙද්දී නම්, මම කියන්නේ නෑ එපා උනා කියලම. ඒත්..."
I have a lot of friends who claim to be /seem to be /are out of the box thinkers -- The misfits, radicals, revolutionists, poets, writers and all sorts of cool ones. And this is the story of most of them!
Most of these people are in love with the idea of being in love with a special person or having an "unusual" relationship. But when it comes to the actual person they are with, they ignore the not-so-interesting parts. They fail to notice how the radical girl (or boy, or the relationship) is intertwined with the usual/average parts -- and how they should accept both parts equally; if they are to ever make it work. Best case, they consider the relationship with the not-so-interesting personality as the "price" they pay for the interesting bits. Sad! Isn't it?
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
My stance on SL Local Authority Elections 2018
SL Local Authority Elections 2018
Given that there is no party which,
0. Has not compromised their long term principles for the sake of short term benefits (benefits including ones for their party and the country).
1. Is not maintaining it's vote base on racism and religious differences.
2. Accepts the need for a secular constitution.
3. Wants to drift the country to a centralized economy (at least as a long term goal)
6. Believes in gradual administrative changes to attain that state instead of armed struggles.
4. Will take steps against corruption for real (including bringing out the past cases and taking steps to avoid future cases).
5. Will take steps against the government agency violence for real (including bringing out the past cases and taking steps to avoid future cases).
Given that there is no party which,
0. Has not compromised their long term principles for the sake of short term benefits (benefits including ones for their party and the country).
1. Is not maintaining it's vote base on racism and religious differences.
2. Accepts the need for a secular constitution.
3. Wants to drift the country to a centralized economy (at least as a long term goal)
6. Believes in gradual administrative changes to attain that state instead of armed struggles.
4. Will take steps against corruption for real (including bringing out the past cases and taking steps to avoid future cases).
5. Will take steps against the government agency violence for real (including bringing out the past cases and taking steps to avoid future cases).
NSSP was all fine.
They never compromised their principles on economy or society. I
personally believe in with their right to question the SL military
conduct as well. Given that SL "peace keeping forces" have never come
clean out of brutally suppressing the uprisings in the past(1971,89) it
is anyone's right to question them in a future case. But NSSP is making
way too much weird accusations as to what happened in international
stages without actual facts and seems to be overselling minority
matters.
In a recent interview Dr.Bahu is saying "we should let go of this central bank corruption since the present government is taking good steps support minorities in the country." which is a way too much of a COMPROMISE for a party with a history of staying true to their values.
Therefore, I will no longer accept them as a suitable party to vote for. (even if I did, it is not like they are competing on every place)
I would most probably stay home instead of going to vote. (I know it is bad,selfish or whatever. But I have severe issues when it comes to compromising)
Foe everyone, do not vote for racist parties. We don't need them to create civil unrest once again so their vote bases would consolidate in long term.
For those who are not as sticking to ideals and those who believes these election as all about practical solutions for practical problems in local authorities for the next 4 years or so, obviously JVP!
In a recent interview Dr.Bahu is saying "we should let go of this central bank corruption since the present government is taking good steps support minorities in the country." which is a way too much of a COMPROMISE for a party with a history of staying true to their values.
Therefore, I will no longer accept them as a suitable party to vote for. (even if I did, it is not like they are competing on every place)
I would most probably stay home instead of going to vote. (I know it is bad,selfish or whatever. But I have severe issues when it comes to compromising)
Foe everyone, do not vote for racist parties. We don't need them to create civil unrest once again so their vote bases would consolidate in long term.
For those who are not as sticking to ideals and those who believes these election as all about practical solutions for practical problems in local authorities for the next 4 years or so, obviously JVP!
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