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Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90 in Sri Lanka
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gchula99
Joined: Oct 2006
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 19 Mar 2008 20:28:27 GMT Report for Abuse
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Shakti,
Come with facts and figures.
What I said was he is not a great scientist.We had and have many great scientists thousand times better than Clarke.What were his academic achievements.He was a good writer and a novelist.First to do in this line.
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kiora
Joined: May 2006
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 19 Mar 2008 22:25:54 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Sri Lanka as a Buddhist nation showed the world how the countries tolerance to a man who preferred boys and young men for his sexual gratification.This is is a open secret. Even in his inner circle of friend's on interview's laugh off how ironic that only young men are seen with him even at his home.When you have notoriety and money to boot people seems to see achievement's as the important quality that matters. Question is would he got away with this in a another country. |
StephenJones
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 33
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 20 Mar 2008 11:49:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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Clarke wasn't a scientist he was a writer. He did receive the honor. The libel about young boys was supposedly contained in an interview with a British newspaper the journalist hadn't even kept a tape-record of the interview.
Still, it's nice for gchula99 and kiora to remind us that Sri Lanka does have its fair quota of donkeys in human guise.
Edited By - StephenJones - 20 Mar 2008 12:01:46 G |
StephenJones
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20 Mar 2008 11:57:48 GMT Report for Abuse
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----'Mahinda did the correct thing by setting the clock to normal.Chandrika's stupidity coats us many million dollars of foreign exchange!'----
What on earth do you mean by 'setting the clock back to normal'? There are very few countries in the world whose time zones are not offset by a whole hour from GMT. One of them is India, and there are reasons for Lanka to have the same time zone as India, considering the trade and other links between the two nations.
Nevertheless, I would say the millions of Lankans living abroad tip the balance in favour of a whole hour offset, as does the fact that so much of Lanka's trade is with countries outside the sub-continent.
As for losing 'millions of dollars' of foreign exchange, perhaps you could provide some sources for that statement. As far as I can tell, there was not a single rupee lost, as a result of her decision. |
gchula99
Joined: Oct 2006
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21 Mar 2008 03:02:08 GMT Report for Abuse
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Many countries offset time zones with good reasons.I hope you all understand that.
Chandrika did it in Sri Lanka as a solution to the power ( electricity ) crisis.It was a failure.Just because it is done in other countries she believed it could be done in Sri Lanka too.
So Mahinda did the correct thing by neutralizing the off set.Somebody tried to hail Chandrika while insulting Mahinda.My exaggerated statement was a protest to that statement. sorry
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StephenJones
Joined: Oct 2006
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21 Mar 2008 08:43:42 GMT Report for Abuse
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You're not talking about offsetting time zones, you're talking about daylight saving time. Very few countries actually have a half-hour offset from GMT (and nearly all are in the Indian sub-continent) Obviously advancing the Time zone by thirty minutes will have a small effect the idea is that people use lights half-an-hour less in the evening. Certainly cheap CFT lights have made a much bigger difference.
I don't understand why you claim it lost money or was a failure. It didn't solve the electricity crisis, but didn't do any harm either. The only class of people harmed were the astrologers, who had to rejig all their calculations possibly they are the ones you are thinking of they certainly are the industry pressure group most favoured by Lankan politicians.
The main reason Mahinda put the time back however wasn't to appease the astrologers. It was to appease the anti-western nutters in the JVP who would even claim smoking bidis and chewing paan are western innovations if they ever became popular in the US or EU. |
gchula99
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21 Mar 2008 11:59:20 GMT Report for Abuse
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I request to read Ceylon Electricity board's auditor's annual reports of 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005.. This shows that demand for electricity increased each year irrespective to day saving strategy ofChandrik's. Thousands of people had to wake up early in the morning and used more electricity than saved from the day light saving!!It is said that CEB running at a loss of Rs 50 millions per day.Mahinda is targeting consumers to cover the losses.
What Chandrika should have done was at her time
Promote solar power , Eco and LED lighting Carbon offset wind turbine etc.
We are wasting electricity lighting in Government local government buildings parliament and also lighting Christmas ,wesak festivals etc.
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StephenJones
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21 Mar 2008 17:30:58 GMT Report for Abuse
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Electricity demand in Sri Lanka has been increasing at 8% per annum, so the audits you suggest will reveal nothing.
I agree the change in the time zone would not bring significant savings, though there's not a shred of evidence that it did the opposite. Getting rid of the half hour offset would still have some advantages regarding communications with trading partners and the three million Lankans living abroad, though
The problem with the CEB came when Chandrika tried to use it for political purposes. Until the end of the nineties it paid its way now its pretty well bankrupt, having helped to bankrupt the government as well.
What has been necessary for at least the last fifteen years has been a couple of coal-fired generating stations. The diesel powered small standby mini-stations that now provide nearly 60% of electricity were hopelessly uneconomic, even before the massive hike in the cost of diesel. The problem has been where to put it the obvious site, Trinco, was out until last year because of political and military instability. Norocholai seems to have been chosen because the inhabitants,unlike the inhabitants of the much more suitable Mawella who had the Buddhist clergy on their side, were poor, disempowered and voted UNP anyway . The latter consideration of course meant the kiss of death for the project when the UNP got into the government.
The objection to Norocholai that I have never seen answered is that it will only be possible to unload coal 130-140 days a year. A power plant that goes out of service for weeks during the monsoon season isn't going to be that useful. If you read the press you will see there have been warnings about depending on one mega source of energy (in the 1980s hydro from the Mahaweli scheme), but little was done to diversify.
Mahinda's plan to get middle-class domestic consumers to cover the losses won't work. Punitive rates for electricity (and Lankan electricity was for a middle-class consumer already the most expensive in the world before this month's price rise) will serve to limit demand, but the problem is that the CEB needs middle-class consumers to pay two to four times the going rate to cross-subsidize the others and it won't happen. Anybody with an A/C is going to go off and buy a generator, and a large number of dwellings with A/Cs are government housing for the political elite anyway.
The losses last year were in the region of 41 billion rupees. Income was 107 billion rupees, which didn't cover the generating costs, let alone distribution costs. As there is no intention of charging either industry or even five-star hotels a price that covers costs, the cross-subsidy is not going to happen. |
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