Sinhala Numerals

I didn't know about this until today!

No non-sense science fiction

I paid the usual visit to the bookshop yesterday with my wife and baby. What I saw on the science fiction shelf was no coincidence. Among the mind boggling boring titles with probably equally boring contents that only my baby girl was interested in (probably because she is teething and she would pretty much chew on anything), were 4 titles that jumped at me off the shelf from the Grand Master of Science Fiction. Science "Fiction"?? I'll come back to the "Fiction" part later. The 4 titles were;

1. 2010 Odyssey Two
2. 2061 Odyssey Three
3. 3001 The Final Odyssey
4. The Sentinel

I never had a second thought - it was meant to be. I had to have them in my collection, I thought. Got myself my Christmas gift. I couldn't have wished for a better gift. Having said that, I must also confess that it was a little disappointing to not to have the first of the Odyssey series. Fortunately, the chap at the counter was good enough to reserve a copy of 2001: A Space Odyssey for me, which he said will arrive from Dubai in 2-3 days. And here I'm waiting for the call from the bookshop. Anyway, it's going to take a while for me to finish reading them or should I say re-reading them.

I said earlier that I'm going to come back to the "Fiction" part. The only plausible reason that I could give to the Fiction part in any Arthur C. Clarke novel is the fact that it's a novel. I've always found that the Science part is very plausible in that the sling shot technique described in A Space Odyssey was actually used by Nasa to get Neil Armstrong and the crew on to the moon. A day to day and ideal example would be the birds in the sky that bring us anything from movies, cricket matches, cartoons to internet. Arthur C. Clarke described satellite communication technology in such detail, 20 years before the first commercial satellite was launched,that the technology could not be patented when it actually arrived simmering hot!

More Modelling....

30 minutes of work added since the last post. This is what I have ended up with.

Modelling progress

Haven't been able to do much since my last post. I've already done a pre-viz. However, I don't want to give away anything yet. so stay tuned.

Something that I'm working on.....

unfortunately only about 5 mins a day! This is going to take me ages to finish!!

Digital Artwork

Brain Test

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (8) Right Brain Dominance: (15) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

A series that got away

The T20 match yesterday between Sri Lanka and New Zealand is a mixture of, on the one hand exemplary teamwork, application and persistence; and on the other hand disappointment, lack of application, chicken-heartedness and last but not least a good example of very poor team selection. You cross the “t”s and dot the “i”s and figure out which of the two teams should claim ownership to what traits. The shorter the version of the game, NZ have proven time and again that they are a force to reckon with. They have added emphasis to this notion yet again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist and a mouthful of statistical jargon to observe that there are no superstars in the NZ team. Then why are they 2-0 up in the series? The secret formula is good teamwork and as a result everyone “chipping-in”. The thing about the NZ team that never fails to surprise me is that they look really good when they are winning. Hey! What team doesn’t? Here’s the thing: they still look good when they lose. Please don’t get me wrong here. I’m a “down to the last bone” Sri Lankan. I love my country. The magic portion to looking good when losing is the “never say die” attitude. I’m sure that NZ and SA can teach us a lot on this subject area. Then there are the other little things that contribute towards “looking good”. That’s the difference between a Brendon McCullum and a Mahela Jayawardene. No, it’s not the tattoo! It’s the contrasting energy levels they emanate - something that spreads like an aura in the field. Brendon just romps like a horse on steroids when he gets the chance, and Mahela always seems like he is waiting for somebody to get him out. I’m not going to compare Kumar Sangakkara to another sole in that he is in a class of his own. He can be the finest captain that Sri Lanka has ever produced in my opinion. He has been given the reign at a tough and lean time in Sri Lankan cricket where talent and class seem to be hard to come by. No doubt the man was trying very hard to inspire the team only to see Mahela Udawatte play a nothing shot and Rupasinghe get out playing a less than inspiring outrageous stroke! I’m no cricket pundit. However, I strongly believe that our youngsters are watching something else and not the ball! We need all-rounders who can bowl as well as bat to play in T20s. Now it doesn’t take a pundit to realise this. I wonder why Maharoof was on the bench while two guys who don’t seem to even hold the bat firm in their hands play as batsmen? I can keep writing about the stuff I saw yesterday indefinitely. However, I have already spent three hours, which I’ll never get back, watching the match yesterday and I don’t want to add to that. So there it is. I sincerely hope that we’ll do better in the one day series.

Don't forget to drop a few comments below.

If not Quantity Surveying

What other field or profession suits us as Quantity Surveyors? I personally came into this profession by default i.e. I completed my degree in QS and here I'm working as a QS. What if I was put in a spot where QS was not an option?