SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka is an island state in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of India. In the early 16th century, the island was invaded and colonized by the Portuguese. However, the Sinhalese managed to maintain an independent kingdom around Kandy. The Portuguese were later removed forcibly by the Dutch. In 1796, it was named Ceylon by the British.

Ceylon became an independent state in 1948 and was governed by the United National Party (UNP). In the 1956 elections, the Sinhalese nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) defeated the UNP. The leader of SLFP, Solomon Bandaranaike was later assassinated. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, his widow, stood for the election in 1960 and became the world ¡ ¯s first woman prime minister.

Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. Throughout the 1980s Tamil opposition to Sinhalese rule increased. The Tamils began to fight for an independent homeland in the north and east of the island. Violence continued in the 1990s. In 1993, the president was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

The population in Sri Lanka was about 17.3 million. The majority of the population is Sinhalese, but Tamils form a minority. The Sinhalese are Buddhists while the Tamils are Hindus. There were two types of Tamils in Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils. The Indian Tamils are the descendents of the tea plantation workers brought to the country by the British.

In the year 1948, Sri Lanka gained independence from the British. The conflicts therefore started because the Tamils were unhappy with the Sinhalese-dominated government as they had been unfair to them in several ways.

In 1948, Sri Lanka granted citizenship to those who were born in Sri Lanka. Most of the Indian Tamils living there found themselves stateless. It meant that they were not citizens of any country. They even lost the right to vote in Sri Lanka. In 1964, India decided to help its fellow Indian Tamils who were neither citizens

TSUNAMI

The movie “The Impossible” starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts documents an event that was rare, tragic, devastating – but far from impossible. The movie is a dramatization of a real event that shocked the entire world. In 2004, fourteen countries were effected by a powerful natural event that launched a 98 foot tidal wave and killed 230, 000 people. Countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia were devastated. But what was this powerful natural event? A tsunami. And not just any tsunami, but the worst single tsunami in recorded history. Tsunamis, or “seismic sea waves”, as they are sometimes called, can be devastating. But what causes these extreme weather phenomena? And how do they affect the world?

Tsunamis can be caused by landslides or volcanic eruptions that occur on the ocean floor. Rarely, they can be triggered by large meteorite impacts. But most tsunamis are caused by an earthquake. Luckily, not all earthquakes cause tsunamis. They must be large earthquakes that occur under or near the ocean, and create movement under the sea floor. Earthquakes themselves are caused by the meeting of the earth’s tectonic plates along ‘faults’ or ‘fault lines’. When these earthquakes occur at a submarine level, the vibrations cause the ocean water to ripple and move. And the bigger the earthquake.. the larger the results.

A tsunami is, in essence, an enormous wave. Or, to be more specific, a series of giant waves. They most often occur in the Pacific Ocean due to the amount of ocean trenches, mountain chains, and volcanoes that line the ocean floor. There are a total of 452 volcanoes in this titled, “Ring of Fire” that can erupt at any time.

The problem with tsunamis is the fact that their effects are somewhat unpredictable. They can strike hundreds of kilometers away from where the initial earthquake took place. Generally, places such as Alaska, Japan, the Philippines, and the west coast of the United States are at the greatest risk. Tsunamis reach coastal areas the quickest, landing enormous waves on the shore in a manner that can tear buildings apart and sweep people and vehicles away. They flood areas quickly and have an energy that is often equivocated to the energy from multiple blasts of TNT. Tsunamis cause many people to lose their homes and places of business, and cost governments millions of dollars in repairs and assistance. Contaminated water needs to be dealt with and people need food and medical care.

Earthquakes in themselves are devastating. But for coastal areas, a far greater danger can strike later: the dreaded tsunami. With the speed of a tornado and the blast of a volcano eruption, a tsunami can displace people, elements of nature, and monuments of human construction. More effort needs to be put into detection systems so that people can better prepare for the impact that a tsunami can have.

NATURAL DISASTER--- EARTHQUAKE

This Essay is written after the 921 earthquake in Taiwan. I was in Australia at that time, and can only see the report about it on the news. I borrowed a few books about earthquakes, and wrote this article.

There are many natural disasters in the world.  Earthquakes are one of the most dangerous, over a million earthquakes occurs each year.  Although some are too small to be noticed, others may cause damages, death and destruction. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of the Earth's crust.  The crust is made up of plates floating on mantle.  When two plates push against each other, it causes earthquakes which may destroys towns or form new climates. If an earthquake happens under the sea and causes huge waves, it is called a "tsunami".  A tsunami can sweep across oceans at the speed of 800 kilometers per hour.  When an earthquake happens out in the open seas, the wave can only be about 1 meter high, but when it meets land, it may grow up to 30 meters high and can lead to enormous damage.  For instance, a harbor on Okushiri Island, Japan, was destroyed by a tsunami in 1993.  When an earthquake happens on land, it may cause more damage to buildings, harm, and death to humans.   Described below is how an earthquake usually happens:   1.   Barely felt but hanging objects may swing.    2.   Felt by all and windows shatter and buildings collapse.    3.   Serious damage, cracks open in the ground.    4.   May cause death, and landscape changes.        The San Andreas Fault in California is one of the biggest fault lines in the world.   Fault lines are along the edge of a moving plate.   Most earthquakes happen at fault lines.   This is how and what an earthquake does.   At first, the focus (centre) of an earthquake sends out shock waves along fault lines through layers of rocks.   On land, it causes damage to buildings.   An earthquake which struck Turkey was quite large, many people died and many buildings were destroyed.   Another earthquake happened in Taiwan.   The earthquake in Taiwan was bigger than the earthquake in Turkey but fewer people died; it was strange.   Another one was in Mexico and it was after the earthquake in Taiwan.   The Rescue Team doesn't know exactly how many people died.   It happened in the ocean so it was not too bad.   It was about 7 point something on the Richter scale we don't know exactly.   Earthquakes may cause volcanic eruptions, and that makes the disaster worse because people have to run to an open space and hide from the volcano too.   Some may even cause fires from the damaged kitchens.    Scientists use the "Richter Scale" to measure how big an earthquake is and try to be ready for an earthquake but they didn't know how to yet.   There are earthquake-proof buildings.   Earthquake-proof buildings are built on rubber springs so when an earthquake come, it will sway gently and people will be safe inside.   Other buildings break apart and inside, people are injured or harmed.   In some schools, they teach what to do in an earthquake.   Scientists are also learning about earthquakes.   They study equipment on earthquakes and many other things.   They study equipment that measures movements in rocks but they don't always get it right.   When a big earthquake came, the only good thing from it is that it changes landscapes, so we can have new different landscape that we will never get used to; however, we lose many people and much property unfortunately.   Earthquakes are natural disasters and cannot be controlled by human beings now but maybe in the unknown future.

THOMAS ALVA EDISON

Thomas Alva Edison
1847-1931

     Thomas Alva Edison is one of Americas most famous inventors. He invented the sound recording device, motion picture, and the light bulb. Thomas Edison was an amazing man who accomplished many historically important successes during his lifetime. Edison obtained 1,o93 United States Patents in telegraphy, phonography, electric lighting and photography. Some of the inventions that Edison Discovered were improvements of other inventions, some were things that he invented himself, some things with other peoples help and some he just stumbled onto. Edison was most proud of his invention of the phonography. Edison tried to invent things that everyone could use. Edison created the first invention factory to invent things.

     Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio in February 11, 1847 and died on October 18, 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey. Edison was the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. His parents had no special background. His mother was a former school teacher and his father was a jack-of-all trades. He ran grocery stores to real estate to carpenting. Edison was a very curios child who asked lots of questions. His brother’s and sister’s were Marion, William, Calie, Harriet, Samuel, and Eliza.
     At the age of seven Edison’s family moved to Port Haron, Michigan. This is were Edison Began School. After 3 months of going to school Edison’s teacher consider him a dull student. Edison’s mom pulled him out of school and starting to teach him herself at home. His parents didn’t force him to learn things that he didn’t enjoy. They encouraged him to learn on his own. They were dedicated in teaching him. They wanted him to learn about things that interested him most. When he was nine years old his mom gave him a elementary science book. It explained how to chemistry experiments at home. Edison did every experiment in the book. Soon he loved chemistry and started spending all of his spare time and money buying and doing chemistry experiments. At the age of ten he had a science lab in his basement. His parents didn’t like this. He spent to much time doing this.
     Edison was always out working to help support his family and for his experiments. Edison got his first job at the age of twelve as a train boy on the Grand Trunk Railway. Edison sold newspapers and candy to passengers. He also printed a newspaper every week called the Grand Trunk Herald. After about a year he got permission to move his science labatory to an empty train car. One day the train jerked really hard spilling chemicals everywhere and catching them on fire. The train conductor through him off the train. Then he got a job at the train station selling newspapers. Edison had many ear problems throughout his childhood. When he was fifteen he was grabed by the ear really hard and almost became totally deaf. It could of been fixed with an operation but, he would rather be deaf. It would help him concentrate he said. He started reading a lot after this, he went through shelf by shelf reading every book in the Detriot Free Library. He like reading the science books the best. After reading lots of books he realized his future would be in finding ways to make our lives better instead of just learning how something works.
     One day while Edison was selling newspapers at the train station something happened that changed his life forever. Edison saved the life of a station officials child. The child had fell onto the tracks of an oncoming train. The child’s dad thanked Edison by teaching him how to use the telegraph. This is were it all began, after this Edison started inventing and discovering things all the time.
     Edison made a telegraph out of scrap metal to practice the morse code. At the age of sixteen he moved to Toronto, Canada to be a telegraph assistant. His job was to report to Toronto every hour by telegraph signal. He made a transmitter and reciever for the automatic telegraph. This way he could send signals while he was sleeping. This was his first invention. He moved back to the United States later in his teens and went city to city working with different telegraph offices. He was fascinated with the telegraph and he was also an expert at it. In his early 20's he made it possible for the telegraph to send more than on message at a time. One day he decided to quit his job. He borrowed some money from a friend and lived in his basement. He decided to become a inventor and devote all of his time to it. The first invention he tried to sell and make money on didn’t succeed right away. It was the electric vote recorder, which is used today to count votes. Once he fixed a broken stock ticker so well he was hired to build new ones. Within the next year he invented the universal stock printer. He sold the rights for the stock ticker for $40,000. With all this money he started a business in Newark, New Jersey. He built stock tickers and high speed printing telegraphs and he also improved the typewriter. After six years at doing this he became a poor financial manager. He began to have money problems. He asked his father to help him build a new invention factory. He built this new building in the village of Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison promised that he would build a small invention every ten days and a big one every six months. Sixty people could work in the new factory. The first invention that came out of the factory was the carbon telephone transmitter which is still used today. Edison achieved his greatest success in the new factory. Shortly after this Edison invented the phonograph. This was his favorite invention. This machine was a talking machine and a sound writing. Then his next big invention was the light bulb. This invention was a huge success in the world. People have been trying to make this forever and now it was possible. After all these great invention just came more. He made the first power station. This power station powered New York City. Then he discovered the electron tube. Without this ther might not have radios, T.V.’s, cd’s, computers, x-ray machines, or space travel. The inventions go on and on. In 1887 he moved from his labatory in Menlo Park to a bigger and better invention factory. This factory was ten times bigger and could hold up to five hundred workers. This is were he discovered lots more inventions. Thomas Edison had a huge impact on the United States. He never stopped, he just kept going and going. Thomas Edison never inventing until he died at the age of eithyfour on Sunday, October 18, 1931. Three days after is death the United States dimmed there lights to honor his memory for a minute. Where would be without Thomas Edison?

FOOTBALL

A game is an activity involving one or more players. Games are played primarily for entertainment or enjoyment, but may also serve as exercise. Everyone in this world has their own favorite games, so do I. My favorite game is football. I often play this with my friend in the evening. I like this game because it is exciting and challenging. 

Football is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players each. It is a ball game played on a rectangular grass field with a goal at each end. The objective of the game is to score by maneuvering the ball into the opposing goal. The winner is the team which has scored most goals at the end of the match.
Football is played at a professional level all over the world, and millions of people regularly go to football stadium to follow their favorite team, whilst millions more avidly watch the game on television. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level. In many parts of the world football evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual fans, local communities, and even nations; it is therefore often claimed to be the most popular sport in the world.
There are many worldwide international competition of football. One of the major international competitions in football is the World Cup organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Over 190 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, which is held every four years, now involves 32 national teams competing. The next World Cup takes place in Germany 2006.
The star I admired most in football is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, nicknamed Pelé, is a former Brazilian football player and thought by many to be the finest player of all time. Often considered the complete attacking player, he was completely two-footed, a prolific finisher, exceptional at dribbling and passing, and was a remarkably good tackler for a forward. He was also famed for his speed and strength on the ball. Since his full retirement he has served as an ambassador for the sport.
There is many reason football is my favorite game. I wish to become a professional football player. I learnt teambuilding, discipline as well as teamwork through playing football.
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BRAIN DRAIN

BRAIN DRAIN

 

According to a UN definition, the flight of talent that is required for a country’s development to another country is called brain drain.  We have been experiencing this problem ever since we won out freedom.  It was with great effort and high hopes that we set up our institutes of higher education. It is unfortunate that thousands of our doctors and engineers are leaving the country every year.  More recently, the malady has affected the field of oil exploration, nuclear energy and agriculture also.  A poor and developing country like India cannot afford this big brain drain.

                A very high proportion of the migrating engineers is of those trained in the five Indian Institutes of Technology.  Apparently, nearly 35 per cent of the engineering graduates from the IITs go abroad as soon as they get their degrees.  The percentage is even higher in the key areas such as computer science, physics, aeronautics and operational research.

                The main reason for this brain drain is that our man power planning has not kept pace with employment opportunities.  We have a large pool of scientific and technical manpower that is waiting for respectable assignments.  Several thousand engineering graduates are waiting for employment.  Some feel that they are under-employed, so they migrate to countries wherever they find better opportunities.  It is also the grievance of some of them that they do not have adequate facilities and a congenial environment for work or research in this country.  In fact, the situation is no different in many other countries too.  They are the victims of academic colonialism which is an aspect of today’s neo-colonialism.

                The government has every reason to feel concerned about this problem because the number of scientific and technical personnel leaving India has increased in recent years.  Measures taken to persuade our scientific and technical man power to return have not yielded results.  The fact is that even now it is difficult to find suitable jobs for those who would like to return.  Whenever some of them return and are given higher placements in an organisation on account of their qualifications and experience, the locals in the organization resent it and make the working environment for them uncongenial and hostile.  They also complain or lack of job satisfaction due to the near absence of innovative research.  We do hear of the government toying with the ideas of science cities, pool scientists and technological parks to attract talent, but a lot of all this remains on paper or in files only.

                Indian workers, scientists, doctors and engineers have already made their mark in several countries.  In America alone, more than 25 per cent of the doctors, engineers and technical personnel are from India.  Big part of the economy of this richest country in the world depends upon those who have migrated to this country from India only.  Indians working in fields, factories, hospitals and commercial units are known for their sense of duty and dedication.  They form the back bone of the whole economic system in that country.

                The human resources department of the government has laid stress on the evolution of suitable mechanism to bring back and woo talent from other countries.  It has proposed that lecture assignments, consultancy in industry and assistance in setting up of pilot projects in India should be considered.  The administrative procedures should be made more flexible.  The areas of bio-technology, micro-electronics etc. offer significant potential for our technical personnel.

                In fact what we require is a proper planning of our requirements.  Students should pursue only those fields that are called for.  They should not run after highly specialized courses which have no relevance in the country’s economic development.  An awareness should be brought amongst those intending to go abroad that it is their moral duty and sacred obligation towards their country to serve their motherland first and foremost.

The government must think in terms of instituting a compulsory national service for a limited period of time for those science, engineering and medicine graduates who are desirous of going abroad.

The basic facilities congenial for research and education should be provided in the institutions so that our technical graduates do not feel ill-at-ease in their own set-up.  Let every graduate realize that he has a duty towards the country that educated him and that his leaving the country in a lurch is nothing short of a treacherous betrayal