tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85273459616190440522023-11-16T02:51:07.816-08:00Fundamentally PreRandom thoughts, rambling musings, a life being lived.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-5163014838886858122020-07-21T23:51:00.002-07:002020-07-23T21:37:29.426-07:00Wireless Technology in PhotographyReminiscing about articles I wrote back in 2013 (like that previous article I reproduced here) I came across this one too, I've been preaching this wireless gospel for quite some time. So, just in case the site goes down, here are those thoughts once more. <div><br /></div><div>Originally at - <a href="https://techwire.lk/wireless-technology-in-photography/">https://techwire.lk/wireless-technology-in-photography/</a></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">Wireless tech is steadily invading all facets of life, from the office, to the home, and now even onto non-traditional applications. Anywhere Digital Data needs to be transmitted, people are finding new and innovative ways to use wireless tech. The scope keeps increasing as data speeds becomes faster and more reliable.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">Digital data transfer has a long history in photography. Starting with things like unhooking the studio lights and flashes from long trailing cords, todays sophisticated systems transmit even information like distance and colour temperature between cameras and flash units. Pro photogs benefited by using what was referred as tethering, where pictures taken on the camera was instantly transmitted to a computer with a high quality display, meaning parties involved with shoots, such as clients or models can immediately see the images being produced and provide feedback if it is meeting expectations. Early systems were cumbersome and expensive, and more importantly, wired, which created lots of clutter. Early wireless adapters provided by camera makers were expensive, and functionality was limited to transferring the image files only.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">Last year, Canon released the EOS 6D, aimed at providing a “cheap” way for new users to enter the Full Frame market. I say “cheap”, as the camera still costs US$2000. However, the 6D represents a very important step in Digital Photography. It is the first, and at the time of writing, the only camera to provide onboard GPS and Wifi. And the capabilities provided are more than just transferring the files back to a server, it provides mobile apps that allow the photographer to use a tablet or smartphone to connect directly to the camera (using WiFi Direct, no need for a WiFi Router), and control functionality on the camera. This means not just viewing the results, but the full functionality of changing focus, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and many other functions will be controlled by the app, and the photographer will have a live view of the image that the camera is seeing even when physically away from the camera.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">But again, as exciting as these capabilities are, the startup cost is quite large. Even in this country, with its ridiculous price structures, one can buy a functioning car for that kind of money. So what kind of options exist that are less severe on the wallet? At the low end of the range, a photographer can buy something like an Eye-Fi card. This will allow image backup from any camera that can use a SD card to a computer, and the computer software will allow the image to be viewed immediately. Limited, but something, and the price point can range between $40 and $100. Some cameras have adapters that will allow the same functionality, Canon’s latest offerings even coming in the form of a grip with additional shutter buttons and some remote functionality, but costing $700 or thereabouts. Also, they tend to limited to certain camera models only.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">This brings us to the device I want to focus on. Its called the CameraMator. The website can be found at <a href="http://www.cameramator.com/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e73be; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.cameramator.com</a> and the kickstarter page from which they raised the funding which has a pretty full description of its capabilities are right here – <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/urashid/cameramator-wireless-tethered-photography" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e73be; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/urashid/cameramator-wireless-tethered-photography</a></p><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_537" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 30px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 630px;"><img alt="Camera Mator Unit" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-537" class="size-full wp-image-537" height="451" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" src="https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cameramator.jpg" srcset="https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cameramator.jpg 700w, https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cameramator-300x218.jpg 300w" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 630px;" width="620" /><p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-537" style="background: rgb(30, 115, 190); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">Camera Mator Unit</p></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"> </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">I’ll just summarize the highlights here. The main functionality is the ability control aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance remotely, and instant photo review. In addition, it will allow a self timer, an Intervalometer and HDR Bracketing capabilities. It works with a wide range of cameras, a distinct point in its favour. And so is the price, at a mere $300, it costs less than ½ of what a unit produced by the camera manufacturers will cost. Its certainly running very close to providing the WiFi functionality in the $2000 Canon 6D.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">Earlier, I pointed out why photographers shoot tethered. Instant feedback on larger, better quality screens than those on the backs of DSLRs, client feedback, model interaction, the ability to show what is happening over what you want without moving the camera. The remote capability could be useful for wildlife, leaving the camera covering a remote scene and shooting from far so as not to spook the animals. It would allow the photographer to minimize risk to himself by keeping the camera somewhere risky why shooting it from a safe distance, like keeping the camera right near the track at a motor racing event. However this kind of work is typically the province of professionals who get paid big bucks to shoot. The ability to get the camera into all kinds of angles and still compose the images accurately. Hold the tripod over your head for a shot looking down from 10 feet, shoot at ground level without having to lie on the ground to look through the viewfinder. Shoot from the next room, if that suits your fancy.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">Why would an average DSLR user want to buy something like this? With this kind of capability, lets see what we can add. Self portraits, accurate framing, and accurate timing for the picture. Its a lot more cost effective for experiments than hiring a professional model. No more guessing if there is enough space once you put the timer on and run to be included in a group shot. Much better image quality for live blogging. no need for blurry grainy photos from a Mobile, use the high ISO and wide apertures available and upload directly to the web. Have a team of photographers sending pictures straight to a laptop for instant review and upload to the net. Share pictures instantly with attendees at parties, sending pictures direct to their smartphones. This kind of technology certainly increases the business potential of your DSLR. The possibilities seem limited only by imagination.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 25px;">(Images courtesy of www.cameramator.com)</p></div>Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-81625885506171704122020-07-21T23:36:00.000-07:002020-07-21T23:36:36.284-07:00Samsung Galaxy CameraBack in 2013 I wrote an article for TechWire on the Samsung Galaxy Camera. With the launch of the Canon R5 and R6 I wanted to revist it, but it appears the site has been hijacked - So had to retrieve it from the Google Cache<br />
<a href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Sl2trNwg3rsJ:https://techwire.lk/samsung-galaxy-camera-in-focus/+&cd=19&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=lk">https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Sl2trNwg3rsJ:https://techwire.lk/samsung-galaxy-camera-in-focus/+&cd=19&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=lk</a><br />
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However, since I don't want to the article to be lost in case the site can't be recovered, I wanted to publish it here.<br />
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The Samsung Galaxy Camera is an interesting product. It’s not a particularly revolutionary device, by which I mean, its not going to claim first to market on its head line features. It is not the first Android powered pure camera (Nikon holds that title) and its also not the first pure camera with wifi/wireless data connectivity. Even Samsung has several models in its stable with wifi connectivity. It is probably the first camera to feature 3G/4G connectivity on board, but phone cameras have been doing that for years. There are also plenty of cameras on the market with GPS sensors onboard.</div>
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What the Galaxy Camera does have is a compelling mix of features. Android as an Operating System has a pretty powerful set of applications for image editing, such as Photoshop Touch. Samsung already has experience in this arena, Photoshop Touch is one of the pre-loaded apps on the Galaxy Note 10, which is a pretty formidable mobile editing platform with its 10 inch screen and S-Pen, which has Wacom technology.</div>
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<img alt="Galaxy Camera Editing" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-731" height="310" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" src="https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/galaxycamera3.jpg" srcset="https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/galaxycamera3.jpg 620w, https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/galaxycamera3-300x150.jpg 300w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 30px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 3px; vertical-align: middle;" width="620" /></div>
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The device on the Hardware side is pretty much equivalent to the Galaxy SIII, using the same screens, CPUs and graphics processors. What this means in real world terms, is that any software development on the SIII (currently Samsung’s flagship, so commanding the maximum support from Samsung’s development resources) will technically be portable to the Camera with little effort. So it should be in line for updates right at the top of the tree. It beats the Nikon S800C Android camera in having Android 4 on board as shipped, compared to the Nikon’s 2.3 Gingerbread flavour.</div>
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On the Camera side, the sensor used is larger than a standard phone camera sensor, the lens is pretty decent with a f2.8 aperture at its widest, and covering a zoom range that covers the 35mm equivalent of 23mm to well over 400mm. This is a lot more than what was classed as superzoom compacts just a few short years ago. (Not currently, Canon’s current superzoom is a 50x zoom, 24-1200mm equivalent). The camera controls offer a decent amount of manual control. It has some innovative smart modes which will makes things easier for photo enthusiasts who want a certain effect, but don’t know manual controls get that effect manually.</div>
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Along with the good, there is a couple of bad. First up, lag. Rather than a snappy response, the camera app is reported to be a bit on the slow side. Now, this might be no worse than many of the current crop of point and shoot cameras, but this is what we have from the reviews. The other issue is the small battery. The battery is a rather small 1650mAh unit, quite a bit smaller than the battery on the Galaxy SIII phone. The battery is rated for 350 shots. Not too impressive by DSLR standards, but 300-400 shots is pretty normal for point and shoots. However, this camera also uses GPS, has a data transmission capability that, as experience with camera phones has shown, can kill a battery pretty quickly. Also, that big touchscreen can be used for things other than just as a viewfinder for taking pictures. It can be used for editing the pictures that have just been taken, and image manipulation is a rather processor intensive task, which in turn, drains battery.</div>
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But this is not just a picture and video tool, but a fully fledged Android device. Using Google Maps to find your way to what you are shooting, checking in with Latitude /Foursquare/Facebook, and then killing some time with Angry Birds, or watching a movie or listening to some music, there are many ways this camera can drain this small battery very y quickly.</div>
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<img alt="Samsung Galaxy Sharing" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-733" height="310" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" src="https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/samsung_galaxy4.jpg" srcset="https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/samsung_galaxy4.jpg 620w, https://techwire.lk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/samsung_galaxy4-300x150.jpg 300w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 30px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 3px; vertical-align: middle;" width="620" /></div>
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On the pure camera front. the Galaxy Camera is equipped with a 16mp sensor. All well and good, but don’t expect this to be replacing a DSLR any time soon. As is typical from a high megapixel, tiny sensor camera, viewing images at 100% is pretty dismal. However,checking things out on the LCD, things look good, and for smaller images and just sharing online, it seems great.</div>
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And this really is the whole point of this device. Its not a professional’s tool, its a social tool. Why choose it over a regular smartphone? Well, the zoom range and pop up flash is much, much better than any smartphone. And with that comes the opportunity to get more done than with a smartphone. It is a trade off between the money you spend and the money you can earn. There are people that do live blogging and live video streams using iPhones, and this device can aim right at that market segment. As a bonus, you don’t use up your phone battery, so you can still keep in contact with people.</div>
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But do what, exactly? These things don’t come cheap. Costing over $600, it comes in at about the same price point as a base level SLR. So the trade off for losing the image quality is the ability to post instagrammed pictures on facebook immediately? Not to mention the system is pretty much stuck in a WYSIWYG mode. There aren’t any more extensions like you would have with an SLR, no external flashes, no filter systems, nothing like that. Like I said, this is not a professional’s tool, although it can be used to provide some services in certain situations.</div>
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In my last article, I looked into the CameraMator system. On the surface, it does seem to offer similar functionality, but it means adding a $300 price tag on top of the cost of a DSLR and accessories. However, its not just about sharing pictures on FB when looking at business opportunities. With something like the Galaxy Camera, simple social media is where it stops. With a DSLR, you can add a immediate high quality printing service. Follow up prints, blown up pictures. RAW control. External lights. Professional tools simply allow you to do more, and do it faster.</div>
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So in summary, the big question is, why should you get one? Why indeed? The thing is, it depends as much on your personality as it does on your requirements. As it currently stands, I would have bought one, since it does suit my requirements, but, not at this price point. For me, its too much money for what I am getting, so this generation, I’ll give it a pass. However, it is a segment that I would keep a close eye on for future developments.</div>
Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-70928302586337182202019-02-27T04:11:00.002-08:002019-10-22T10:32:12.968-07:00Cafe KaiCafe Kai, at the Hilton, is fast becoming one of my favoured haunts. It's located quite conveniently, the pricing is actually not too bad, seats are comfy and it has a nice relaxed atmosphere. But mostly, it's about the roast beef sandwich.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvx7Ykt0ocHFYbW5V3KsXloNxV3ZaKnZWKsAg218rfxNKkQQg2g_odVAEEL68vMSMAA0wX7w2rtqzEXir7dbx7Wavwz5rJtChWxQ2XWj38ZpGFYoTEU_kYNkDvVK8PzZQtG-vejb8THw/s1600/IMG_6346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvx7Ykt0ocHFYbW5V3KsXloNxV3ZaKnZWKsAg218rfxNKkQQg2g_odVAEEL68vMSMAA0wX7w2rtqzEXir7dbx7Wavwz5rJtChWxQ2XWj38ZpGFYoTEU_kYNkDvVK8PzZQtG-vejb8THw/s320/IMG_6346.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, what is special about this sandwich? The plentiful roast beef? The gherkins? The cheese layer? The brown bread? Actually, for me, all of the above, coupled with a generous serving size and a cost of Rs. 488. The nice thing about Cafe Kai, what you see is what you get. No additional taxes and charges, the price displayed is what you pay, all other costs inclusive. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-nzW7medI_n_8sfssXnf2bN3ixPTz42SFbIWDuD836LWtfVIZI8N9LEJQEu9Dxf5yaEjseOeMmU-LfxcyG1mm-EVmxoGS9y3XB4fQ-0QeWmSVyQgOaP-Sg62dVnGfHBOhBOcS3xFvc2Q/s1600/IMG_6350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-nzW7medI_n_8sfssXnf2bN3ixPTz42SFbIWDuD836LWtfVIZI8N9LEJQEu9Dxf5yaEjseOeMmU-LfxcyG1mm-EVmxoGS9y3XB4fQ-0QeWmSVyQgOaP-Sg62dVnGfHBOhBOcS3xFvc2Q/s320/IMG_6350.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This particular visit, I paired it with a Sweet Iced Tea, with sugarcane, part of their monthly promotional range. Unfortunately it won't be available after February. But fingers crossed for next month's specials, hopefully it will be as good.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigH6no57vJ30TSmD-pCvQAHiYRm514GJoH8V48d7PkFaDPhubtz-KvQ8F9EXwQNDvLCne-Oj3QmhmkCmDej9zIr-09fyo2fsHhD2WxZRzV9TWJbK-k6bH1d5Y3QkEtEj_NO59Bo7KVvkU/s1600/IMG_6347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigH6no57vJ30TSmD-pCvQAHiYRm514GJoH8V48d7PkFaDPhubtz-KvQ8F9EXwQNDvLCne-Oj3QmhmkCmDej9zIr-09fyo2fsHhD2WxZRzV9TWJbK-k6bH1d5Y3QkEtEj_NO59Bo7KVvkU/s320/IMG_6347.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-66479811427613893432019-01-04T21:19:00.000-08:002019-01-04T21:25:04.019-08:00The SteuartRight off the bat, I'll admit a bit of bias, &Co pub and kitchen at the Steuart is one of my favourite places in Colombo, and it's a pity I don't get to visit more often. (And they make a mean Bloody Mary, but that wasn't included this visit 😄)<br />
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&Co has a dark and cozy atmosphere, with the heraldic crests from Scot clans decorating the brick finish walls. Tartan patterns on the place mats add to the Scots Pub atmosphere. According to Wiki, Steuarts was founded by a "British" sea captain, but considering the spelling of Steuarts instead of Stewarts, I think Scottish is probably accurate. There is an outdoor area too, which I am not fond of, for people into that kinda thing. Colombo is warm, and AC is bliss, as far as I am concerned, and the dark, cool, air conditioned interior suits me just fine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Aw-tDCryJxoq7-DoL_mZb16AfO8NxE6daoniCaYtiMHRMSx_oLIjiNQ1zKZUheZjC3lIAX-SYgvSGfQTj2tmLIoEYrZgm_7UVkIno0CMO2ZHZS6StoLL3E37ln_poRfBMHrupdvgVIM/s1600/IMG_9760.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Aw-tDCryJxoq7-DoL_mZb16AfO8NxE6daoniCaYtiMHRMSx_oLIjiNQ1zKZUheZjC3lIAX-SYgvSGfQTj2tmLIoEYrZgm_7UVkIno0CMO2ZHZS6StoLL3E37ln_poRfBMHrupdvgVIM/s320/IMG_9760.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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At this time of year, they had Christmas decor up too.</div>
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Not entirely sure what was on here...</div>
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&Co has a large menu, which is not cheap, but the portions are quite large, so there is value for money. Go with a decent appetite. Also the drinks are quite reasonable for this very touristy area of Colombo. The wait staff is pretty good too, attentive, and they know what they are selling. </div>
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For this visit, I went with an old favourite, Pork Lamprais for lunch, and a good ol' cuppa mint tea to wash it down. </div>
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Steuarts built up their business in the coffee trade and later tea when Sri Lanka transitioned from coffee to tea after a pest devastated the islands coffee plantations, and they still produce their own tea. It's a small thing, but nice touch. The fact that they bring a pot that holds two cups is nice too.</div>
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The lamprais was good, but it was a bit different from last time, where the pork was more of a juicy preparation, where this time it was a dry preparation. Personally I feel the more juicy version is better in a steaming hot lamprais, but this can't be faulted, the preparation is excellent. </div>
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On a complete aside, the pub is also a nice place to take pictures, since the dark atmosphere means that controlling the light is easier, not a lot of ambient to worry about. I look forward to my next visit.</div>
Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-29375670639803065782018-12-11T04:12:00.000-08:002018-12-11T04:12:03.178-08:00The Exchange Pub<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheExchangeRestaurants/" target="_blank">The Exchange</a> is a pretty unique theme restaurant in a crowded theme restaurant space. The premise is to make the transaction like it works at an exchange. Unfortunately, unlike a real exchange, the prices for the orders aren't really based on market dynamics of supply and demand, but rather, just the supply, but hey, what can you do? 😀<br />
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The unique pub is the work of former employees of MillenniumIT, the theme instantly familiar to those of the industry. The location is interesting too, just across the street from the WTC, housing the Colombo Stock Exchange, one of MillenniumIT's first clients. Naturally the CSE is there as the Fort, in the Commercial Capital of Sri Lanka, is the epicenter of financial activity of the country. The choice of location is inspired, in my opinion.<br />
The decor is typical pub, but the screens displaying item prices like a stock market ledger interface is somewhat different. The effect is interesting.<br />
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I landed there in the company of some friends working closeby, the place suggested on whim. The prices are not cheap, but fairly normal for the area near Dutch Hospital. The portions seem pretty generous, specially on the rice my friends ordered. The food seems quite good too, worth a shot.<br />
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My Beef Burger with potato wedges. There actually is a patty in there, tho it seems like some cheese topped with a lot of lettuce 😁 It's not bad, even though I would have liked a bigger patty. Also, the burger bun got quite soggy quite quickly, but there was a decent mix of condiments and patty in there. Worth a try.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-8137732609172566902018-11-04T22:55:00.000-08:002018-11-05T00:12:18.664-08:00De Vos Cafe - Oh for Fox sake!<a href="http://www.devos.cafe/" target="_blank">De Vos Cafe</a>, off De Vos Road in Bambalapitiya, has been creating much buzz on social media, specially after a <a href="https://www.yamu.lk/place/de-vos-cafe/review-238602" target="_blank">Yamu review</a> that it seems not many people agree with. Who ever is in charge of social media at De Vos is also doing a fantastic job with some sharp wit and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BpRVircBnjj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank">a good sense of humor</a>. So much so that I had to check it out for myself.<br />
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Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so no pictures of the place, but I decided to take some food pics off my phone. This wasn't a planned stop, just joining my wife and her friends when they took a break from shopping to have lunch. The place will have to wait for another time (which will happen as I want to try the French Dip Sandwich, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/devoscafecmb/photos/a.2741859442506786/2844196908939705/?type=3&theater" target="_blank">hilariously featured here</a>)<br />
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For now, first thing on the list - English Pub Breakfast<br />
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Made a slight mistake, this comes with toast with butter and jam, but that came after a slight delay and I had already dug into this, so I didn't retake pictures including that. <a href="http://www.pulse.lk/restaurant-reviews/de-vos-cafe-lka/" target="_blank">Pulse has pictures</a> if you want to look into it. This looked way too good to sit around and wait. (I was right about that.) It IS a bit on the pricey side, (Though normal for the Colombo cafe scene) but at least you are getting a lot for your money, so can't really complain. Not something I would order every time (cholesterol is too high to be having all this bacon and hash browns) but it can definitely be recommended as a good solid meal. Going by the pics on Yamu, this has definitely improved in quantity.<br />
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The wife went on a more traditional route, rice and curry, called Lankan Delight. Once again it seems a ridiculous thing to go to a cafe and spend this much money on a rice and curry which can be had for approximately 1/4 of the cost from a place much closer to home, but as an experience, it's good. Quantity, check. Taste, check. Slightly too much spice for my tastes, but my wife is more of a fan of chillie, and she liked it just fine. I will add that there are certain meals worth sweating to eat and this would be worth the sweat from eating the spice.<br />
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I didn't try the other food, which was a chicken taco with penne alfredo and a vege and cheese sandwich, but the reactions were quite positive, and I can tell you, the portions were more than generous. The fries are interesting, they had a flavour I couldn't identify, not sure what it was, but whatever it was, I'm a fan.<br />
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We had drinks, which I didn't take pictures of, but quick summary. I had iced tea, which was nice, came with sugar syrup separately (which I appreciate) and also in rather large mason glass (which is also much appreciated). The girls had some coffee and something called a lemondrop. The one who ordered it apparently didn't read the description and wasn't a fan of the strong lemongrass flavour, but I, who love the lemongrass flavour, loved it and recommend it highly.<br />
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Definitely a place I would stop at to have a tea or lemondrop and read a book when I need to kill some time.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-31636546102353276922018-08-31T05:52:00.002-07:002018-08-31T05:52:44.035-07:00Calorie Counter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I'm not a health nut by any means, but I have heard plenty of good things about Calorie Counter, and since I was working in the area that morning, I decided to drop in at the Ward Place branch and see what all the fuss is about. </div>
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The restaurant is a nice space. I like the decor, specially the large wall mounted menus with accompanying pictures. It's a nice place to sit and work for a while. It does, however, lack WiFi (with signs saying there is no WiFi, talk to each other :) ) and no charging outlets, so it's not aimed at that kind of coffee shop clientele.<br />
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The founder's story board is a nice touch, but it's partially hidden. They should really find a better place for that.</div>
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The menu is quite wide, and I spent a long time trying to make a choice. Fortunately the staff is quite attentive, and the guy behind the counter pointed out the mains, as I had only been looking at the wraps and sandwiches. At that point I saw the Peri Peri chicken and that was immediately my number one choice. </div>
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They did give a nice big hunk of chicken accompanied by vegetables and corn. It was quite good. It was well spiced, and quite sufficient in quantity. It wasn't quite like the Peri Peri Chicken that is found in Nando's restaurants but still quite good. A nice Nando's Peri Peri sauce would make things quite feisty, but then, this was about counting calories. </div>
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Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-9383249355759251072015-01-26T08:42:00.003-08:002015-01-26T09:08:34.260-08:00Outreach - IngressIngress is about 2 things. Taking gaming out of the sitting on your posterior and seeing new things, and meeting new people. This creation of contacts is what led to Operation Bucket List. It was the brainchild of a chap in Denmark called Pascal V, or, as he is known in the Ingress world, Agent @DrKaosDK. The lofty goal for this operation called for the creation of 100 Level 8 portals in 100 different cities in 100 different countries. Creation of a Level 8 portal requires a minimum of 8 agents (players) of Level 8 or higher to gather at the portal and power it up. Powering up 100 was something that would take time, as it would involve travelling to 100 different portals. If more manpower was available, the sensible thing to do would be to split up and cover different areas simultaneously.<br />
No one has accurate information on how many portals are online in the game, but finding cities hosting 100 portals is not easy. In Sri Lanka, it can be done easily enough in Colombo, and it actually has been done, when we executed what we called a P8 Drive, teams of agents in 2 cars following a route starting at Viharamaha Devi park and ending up at a dinner party for a visiting agent from Australia so he could add as many portals as possible to his visited and captured portals statistics. The aim was as many as possible, the result was over 100. However, Colombo already has a large number of standing Level 8 portals, and it wasn't interesting.We weren't sure, however, that the other cities in Sri Lanka would have sufficient portals for us to reach the goal of 100. As luck would have it, Enlightened agents in Kandy confirmed that Kandy had enough portals, and due to relatively low numbers of agents, Kandy portals rarely reached Level 8. So Kandy it would be!<br />
The next challenge was finding enough agents to make the portals. The date set was the 17th of January. The event was turned into a Kandy Meetup for Enlightened, and with that on the cards, agents responded. The Op was a go and off we went.<br />
We all have our mini goals, of course. In my case, I wanted to qualify for my Gold Explorer badge, which is awarded to agents who visit 2000 unique locations. Something plenty of Sri Lankan agents have already done, but it was a landmark on my Ingress journey. I was 12 short when leaving Colombo, and I achieved this goal shortly after reaching Kandy. Impressively, I personally visited 118 portals through the day that I had never visited before, bringing my total tally to 2093 by the time I got home. Others were after other personal goals. Everyone wanted to do their part in creating 100 Level 8 portals.<br />
On 17th January, we set off to Kandy. Initially the idea was to take the train, but I decided it would be easier to go in my jeep, so picking up agents along the route, off I went. The rendezvous was at 10.30am at Peradeniya, and we were only 1/2 an hour late :) We had a slightly worrying moment when a Resistance agent showed up there just before we arrived, but he seemed to have been a random passer by, and he went about his business and we left it alone. Short drives into the suburb of Peradeniya yielded our initial set of Level 8 portals, whereupon we drove into Kandy City and, parking at the City Center, we proceeded on foot. After 50 portals we stopped for lunch, meeting up with Agent @Cyan017 who was on a trip to the temple. After lunch we proceeded to the temple (which had been a battleground in the morning, judging by the reports on Comm, Cyan017 and Resistance agent Yakaa had spent the preceding hours swapping ownership of those portals) and quickly proceeded to make the whole area a bright Enlightened Green. 100 portals completed, we added a few more for good measure and went to a spot overlooking the Kandy Lake called Arthur's Seat for some photographs and refreshing King Coconut.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those still going at the end of the op at Arthur's Seat</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view of the city from Arthur's Seat.</td></tr>
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Operation BucketList2015 was truly remarkable. The countries goal was not met, as most of Africa and the Middle East didn't participate, the game is not played there a lot, probably due to problematic mobile coverage. However, the operation drew participation from 43 countries but over 2675 agents in approximately 140 cities responded, creating some 24,000 Level 8 portal. However, the point of the name of the operation, BucketList, stemmed from agents pointing out at least one portal that agents should visit before they die, and fittingly, Kandy being home to the Temple of the Tooth, the tooth relic of the Enlightened One himself, the Gautama Buddha, this portal was submitted as the Bucket List portal for Sri Lanka.</div>
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The Sri Lankan Situation Report can be found here -<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">over 100 standing Level 8 portals in Kandy.<br />
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The Global operation coordinators released this video showing the world wide effort, called the Exotic Matter Travel Guide The coolest places in the world, shown to you by the coolest people.</div>
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It also includes a map link showing all the cities that participated - <a href="http://goo.gl/2oz29x" target="_blank">http://goo.gl/2oz29x</a></div>
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It was a fun thing to be a part of, and getting to know our Kandy brethren, who showed us around and knew the good eating spots, was a definite plus. City Exploration get-togethers are fun, and I look forward to the next one.</div>
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Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-8545776178270945282014-09-12T00:34:00.001-07:002014-09-14T07:43:45.761-07:00Why do I play Ingress?<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92d1KPz-e6YPFAmcYmrrML43xTtEZsrsSB9zzppirMctjJqfXqNgSNv98VqcZqPLZZCCuoZ72sBKqcMWcWTgxZjTUr4rq9nQAUuXd7f4Ag-7B-l9WHNc4Bfv8vyCKwKmED9KGoJDcTj4/s1600/IMG-20140714-WA0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; line-height: 18.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92d1KPz-e6YPFAmcYmrrML43xTtEZsrsSB9zzppirMctjJqfXqNgSNv98VqcZqPLZZCCuoZ72sBKqcMWcWTgxZjTUr4rq9nQAUuXd7f4Ag-7B-l9WHNc4Bfv8vyCKwKmED9KGoJDcTj4/s1600/IMG-20140714-WA0001.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ingress is a word many in the network world are aware of. The reference is to intrusion into networks. In simple terms, Ingress refers to a foreign presence coming into a space.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The game Ingress, by Niantic Labs, plays with a similar concept. The story behind it talks about a strange energy of unknown origin seeping into our world, Earth. The game revolves around this energy, known as eXotic Matter, or XM. The game utilizes an overlay over Google Maps to turn the world around you into a massive playing field encompassing your surroundings, a technique known as Augmented Reality, where players from two factions battle for control over the future of XM.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ingress has several unique points to it. One is the multi-tiered levels of game play. I’ve described this in an earlier article, so I won’t rehash here, but if you want to read it - http://techwire.lk/ingress-augmented-reality-meets-your-android/</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second unique point: it moves gaming from a sitting proposition, beyond games requiring movement in limited spaces like Wii, into the massive spaces of the real world. There are quite a few real world benefits. It’s a health boost, as the best way to play is by walking, exploring your surroundings more, taking new roads, visiting new sites, discovering places of significance you might have otherwise have never known about, and meeting new people; fellow teammates or rival players.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_PbbVVLeiAjYOI2Rf-qMlBMbaXbputlyLIml86WYJpHVtqarkuJl5XzEeZtG3C8qW_tOgClOFK5UpSEe4iiUDLwUNcl3BXBemjMOlrPlBvnYbQkZw_GiGR26f7-S7thq0WY_qtkZDiU/s1600/CYMERA_20140810_110452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; line-height: 18.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_PbbVVLeiAjYOI2Rf-qMlBMbaXbputlyLIml86WYJpHVtqarkuJl5XzEeZtG3C8qW_tOgClOFK5UpSEe4iiUDLwUNcl3BXBemjMOlrPlBvnYbQkZw_GiGR26f7-S7thq0WY_qtkZDiU/s1600/CYMERA_20140810_110452.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">The Grand Hotel - Nuwara Eliya</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the surface, many people find it dumb that players keep visiting the same locations over and over again. Ingress is just a little more complex than that. For one thing, it’s not visiting the same places. I have personally visited over 1600 locations playing this game, just in my home country, exploring parts of my home town I have never been to, and have been to locations as far away as Kalpitiya lagoon, the temple at the top of Kurunegala Rock, Polonnaruwa, the gates of the Uda Walawe National Park and Galle Fort. While most are places I have visited while doing something else, places like Kurunegala Rock are places I would probably never have visited if not for Ingress. I am even motivated to re-climb Sigiriya, something I had sworn never to do again. I’ve also discovered a number of shortcuts and by-roads which can be used to avoid traffic; side benefits of exploring outside one’s normal routine.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FLnMP1hy02jJsZpy42LcUcxPP00827aXOPf_3it3CG9IYpLOOk3F9q_Aa3vFDcnFU1DuQ1SrCiK6cfwTHele31QQdgP-zwk_gbr3R8UCncZqqBT7eYzMZxBNVMrRHXwGTCvTgzEUuDw/s1600/score_20140728_061954_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 18.3999996185303px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FLnMP1hy02jJsZpy42LcUcxPP00827aXOPf_3it3CG9IYpLOOk3F9q_Aa3vFDcnFU1DuQ1SrCiK6cfwTHele31QQdgP-zwk_gbr3R8UCncZqqBT7eYzMZxBNVMrRHXwGTCvTgzEUuDw/s1600/score_20140728_061954_0.png" height="320" width="216" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UsQKw0s7xBY/U23pB4jjW3I/AAAAAAABJWE/Ap9vucpnyBg/s1600/14%2B-%2B1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UsQKw0s7xBY/U23pB4jjW3I/AAAAAAABJWE/Ap9vucpnyBg/s1600/14%2B-%2B1" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Operations with Global Impact</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, one of the main points of ingress is control of areas by connecting portals using links in order to make something called Fields. This is not always the easiest of things to accomplish in itself, but there are more advanced techniques to be used to maximize scores. In addition, people create fields that can cover whole countries and indeed multiple fields. Recently, the Australians covered the whole continent, and multi country teams covered practically the whole Northern Hemisphere in a massive set of fields, which included a link of a record 6730kms. These fields covered Russia, Canada, all of Europe and parts of the USA. Considering all the rules involved in making fields, this is phenomenal undertaking, involving hundreds of people, months of planning, and actually requiring people to physically travel all over the world to meet the criteria of field creation. We were involved in something like that too, called Operation Mata Hari, a sequence of fields covering most of South East Asia, although SL operatives role was limited to clearing a path so a field could be created between India, Mauritius and Australia.There have been stories of people hiring boats, planes and helicopters, and even parachuting out to reach portals in order to create fields, raising superb adventure stories to be shared.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And shared they are. The other unique point of Ingress is the social aspect of game play. The game is structured in a way that does not reward hero play at high levels. Single players can have huge impact, but to is much more effective to play as a team, and it is this aspect of teamwork and cooperation that can truly set Ingress apart. As of the time of writing this article, I am the highest level agent in Sri Lanka at Level 14, but that has been a byproduct, I will always focus more on helping new agents score as many points as possible, since having more agents is a far more fundamental factor for achieving success than playing lone wolf by myself. I’ve driven many miles burning off my own fuel, and burned the midnight oil to get help my fellow agents, and it pays dividends, creating a strongly bonded team of players who enjoy getting together even outside of playing Ingress. The last push to make me the highest level agent around and first Sri Lankan to L14 was mostly due to the push from my fellow agents, who push, gave up supplies, put their own efforts to level up on hold to make sure that our team would have the first L14 agent in the country. Even a guy I met for the first time gave me keys to make a link to help me to my medals.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Scoring points</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">The opposition making point scoring easy</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UnmJgmBld3cXBT_9Kq6Eu8efd5XiwUmWM82boe7iKjxe7nyc5hdsZy8iXp_zOh1eSX3-DZ8K8M2PBGQKruj-V0TFaSq5VmBXDT0QY_HjMQbjsUbMoEOFAMamMtebjoRWDsfa7og076A/s1600/CYMERA_20140808_141037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.15;">So get in on the action - Download Ingress from Android Play or the Apple App Store and discover it for yourself!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Human Shaper Together Create Destiny - Encoded messages from the Portals for bonus items</span></td></tr>
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Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-57395174945154204552013-10-15T23:00:00.000-07:002013-10-15T23:17:29.085-07:00Ingress<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"You have downloaded what you believe to be a game, but is not. Something is very wrong." The words that greet you in a synthesized female voice that belongs to Ada, an AI that helps you along the way, when you first start playing Ingress..</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ingress is definitely one of a kind. With all the power and money off Google behind it, it offers a huge scope of gameplay. At an interview with CNN, John Hanke, VP of Product Development for Niantic Labs (sub division of Google) states the idea is to get people moving, exploring, and away from the normal stationary act of playing on their phones. Let's get right down to it. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is Ingress? Its kinda hard to put a one word answer on that. To call it a game seems sort of trite. It has become a way of life to some people. In essence, its a massively multiplayer online augmented reality game, where the game play area is the whole world. Estimates put the number of people playing at over 500,000. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, Ingress is still in closed beta. The backstory is still developing. But basically, the game revolves around something called Exotic Matter. This is an unknown substance of presumably extraterrestrial origin. XM for short, it's control is the core point of the game. XM enters our world through Portals. XM and portals cannot normally be seen with the naked eye, however, thanks to technological breakthroughs, you can view them on your mobile device using a pics of software known as the scanner. (If your mobile device is Android based). Now XM is believed to have properties and influence and enhance human creativity when exposed to it, so most portals are centered around public works of art. Statues, murals and places of worship seems to be the most common places. At least, thus runs the backstory. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On starting out (after initial training where you get a briefing to help you determine a side), you are invited to join one of the two sides struggling for control over the XM. The Enlightened believe XM is the next stage of evolution, enhancing humanity, giving new knowledge, and they want humanity to embrace what XM can give is. They are kinda like the X-Men. The Resistance want humanity to remain as is, not change. They are kinda like the William Strykers of Ingress.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Game play is sifted into multiple levels. At the top in the Niantic Investigation Board. Very few people actually visit this section, this is the real sit in your basement brainiac bit, trying to decode puzzles put out by Google. Solve the puzzles quickly enough, and get a passcode that can be redeemed for game play items.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One level below that is the Intel map. The Intel map is a tool that shows the current state of portal alignment, fields, allows access to the in game COMM system to chat with other agents, and lets you see activity (such as players attacking portals, creating links, etc). As such, an invaluable tool in strategic planning.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which is all good, but thats not in line with Niantic’s idea of getting people exploring the world. The busiest, and definitely largest part of the game is run by the field agents. Agents are the people who trudge through the real world, seeking out portals, and trying to control things for their teams. To do this the player needs a scanner (mobile device with GPS and data connectivity running the Ingress software). The scanner shows players an area of around 300-500 meters around them, showing all the XM, portals, links, fields and game objects in the area, on an overlay of Google Maps. Interaction with an object requires the player to be within 40m of an object, presumably due to the inherent inaccuracy of GPS. GPS drift is one of the bigger problems of the game. But I digress.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, XM. Move around so your scanner is within 40 meters of XM (radius shown by a handy circle on the scanner) and it will automatically harvest the XM. XM is most plentiful around Portals. XM is required to carry out just about every action in the game. However, XM is limited. Once harvested, its gone, until it regenerates about 20 minutes later. The XM is stored in the scanner, and how much you can store depends on your Agent Level. Once you have enough XM, you can approach a portal and “hack” it for game play items. Hacking a portal will cause it to eject items like resonators and bursters, which are stored in your scanner. A scanner can store 2000 of these items. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I stated, players must control Portals. Portals are claimed for the team by placing resonators around it. Place 8 resonators and a portal is energized, ready for linking. Also, placing resonators around portals cause the portal level to go higher, which results in it generating better equipment when hacked. Portals can be linked together using objects called Portal Keys (hack portals to get it), causing bands of energy to flow between them. If three links are created in a triangular fashion, it creates a Mind Unit Field. The idea is, an Enlightened field causes people under it to receive the benefits of XM, while a Resistance field protects people from the effects of XM. The number of people who live in the area covered by the field is calculated as Mind Units controlled, and adds to the global MU score for each side.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As briefly as possible, that is the objective of the game. Help your team control the greatest number of mind units by controlling portals and building fields, breaking enemy fields and portals, defending friendly fields and portals. The catch is, aside from the defense of portal (which can be done remotely), all these actions require the player to be within 40m of the portal. So, yes, Niantic’s idea of getting people moving is certainly working out. People are out at all times of day, in the rain, the sun, and the snow, hacking, attacking, defending these portals.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not, however, a lonely activity. As a player progresses, interaction with others, cooperation with others, becomes a must. In order to build better portals, get access to keys, build fields spanning countries, requires a certain level of community interaction. The natural place, of course, is the Google Plus social network. Regional and local communities form, even across factions. And like I said at the beginning, this game all all the power and money of Google behind it. First, there is a weekly show (aired on youtube) called the Ingress Report, basically a news report of various things attached to the world of Ingress. This can range from community and agent news and achievements, to official released information on the game, backstory development, clues, passcodes, hints, etc. This can also drop from portals when hacked in the form of a media file. Google also seems to hire a cast of characters who play the in-game story figures. These characters, in addition to popping up on the Ingress Report, also show up from time to time in the real world and interact with people playing the game. Google spares no expense. The latest event organised by Google (massive real time battles between factions, termed as XM anomalies) called Operation Cassandra, just played out on a global scale, 13 cities worldwide in Australia, Germany, Japan, America, The Philippines and more, over 14 days. This involves hundreds of active agents trying to control the area during measurement times (Need to decode to get the times), and based on the measurements, victory will be awarded to the team. This also means in game characters traveling to those cites, meeting actual players and interacting.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On a local note, the resident Ingress community in Sri Lanka is small, but there are close to fifty people playing on an active or semi active level. Colombo and suburbs alone count over 300 portals. Other dense clusters and be found in Galle and plenty between Ratnapura and Hambanthota. Portals are coming up in Kandy, and even Vavuniya. Dambulla has 5, and there are even portals on top of Sigiriya. New ones come up all the time, meaning new places to visit and see.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rich, active, immersive, Ingress is more than just a game. In some ways, to some people, it is a way of life.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charles Darwin said “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”. For the Enlightened, this is Agent P3ricles. See you in the game.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-0521b348-ca08-6bb5-6845-10281ffb022c">This article was originally written for techwire.lk, the original can be found at <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><a href="http://techwire.lk/ingress-augmented-reality-meets-your-android/">http://techwire.lk/ingress-augmented-reality-meets-your-android/</a><br />
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<br />Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-45149429610530419252011-12-27T01:48:00.000-08:002011-12-27T01:48:02.796-08:00Colombo Night RacesThe Colombo Night Races were held on the night of the 17th December. Just wanted to share some pics I took.<br />
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This Album is the Non-Race pics<br />
<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/112145825437414596051/albums/5687628303329207185" target="_blank">https://plus.google.com/photos/112145825437414596051/albums/5687628303329207185</a><br />
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Few pics of note, some new cars in the country<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxm8LEd-fx9bK_DNIjWww_JPCmHanLQqg_rZhaiKnu37M75jfGymNdbS_J2Ut384InYn9gL72SbXL52QVGAhqHnfVcluqBx8-pNOTyi9iBDrXBOOvbsrjnPiaVp_6c7t-6MsNn9za6IY/s1600/IMG_2692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxm8LEd-fx9bK_DNIjWww_JPCmHanLQqg_rZhaiKnu37M75jfGymNdbS_J2Ut384InYn9gL72SbXL52QVGAhqHnfVcluqBx8-pNOTyi9iBDrXBOOvbsrjnPiaVp_6c7t-6MsNn9za6IY/s200/IMG_2692.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The First Land Rover Evoque in Sri Lanka</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Q7-t0DWXlqHLHUQRVx_eMCiX91V0vVJvv1An-87cKjqwHjHc7X8H9By6_IYUj3zaSAfkepE6oIn6cEfjF3OZ0AHKfsQ2dx21Itx-wMOwtKoQLXKQhqw2-ueGp_8txytXjDeEnJAGX6w/s1600/IMG_2760.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Q7-t0DWXlqHLHUQRVx_eMCiX91V0vVJvv1An-87cKjqwHjHc7X8H9By6_IYUj3zaSAfkepE6oIn6cEfjF3OZ0AHKfsQ2dx21Itx-wMOwtKoQLXKQhqw2-ueGp_8txytXjDeEnJAGX6w/s200/IMG_2760.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new Audi A6 was the <br />official Safety car</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0fDqEhRnz8oxkPZd94FXVRQ9wdg6XmPGpgKjbInFoCh8fZk74HmCe04csTcfIhbuLVL8vO6IjlnfeZQs6k0yEBCU_aYlvPIDtYCWhyOXRwtiuO3jg0PhA7hSRgSk1LXLAciHcFRrxrO4/s1600/IMG_3095.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0fDqEhRnz8oxkPZd94FXVRQ9wdg6XmPGpgKjbInFoCh8fZk74HmCe04csTcfIhbuLVL8vO6IjlnfeZQs6k0yEBCU_aYlvPIDtYCWhyOXRwtiuO3jg0PhA7hSRgSk1LXLAciHcFRrxrO4/s200/IMG_3095.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Porsche Carrera - Unwashed. <br />I had a zoom lens, hence couldn't<br /> fit the frame properly</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcBq1OPZdRcJlaDHwsftYqvvrYAt02Oi_iSU-zvWUIw2F6HFlLAYxZeujeaCsV-5gHtVKD06pTFNh3YQY3aK5LugJgF4RQXgzcK117Jm3TTyIIfeJilP0bC1xFQIZEa-ncS9tFOH_2Yk/s1600/IMG_3578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcBq1OPZdRcJlaDHwsftYqvvrYAt02Oi_iSU-zvWUIw2F6HFlLAYxZeujeaCsV-5gHtVKD06pTFNh3YQY3aK5LugJgF4RQXgzcK117Jm3TTyIIfeJilP0bC1xFQIZEa-ncS9tFOH_2Yk/s200/IMG_3578.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lewis Hamilton's F1 car <br />from an earlier season</td></tr>
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Most of the Race pictures are in this album<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/112145825437414596051/albums/5687645150625473761" target="_blank">https://plus.google.com/photos/112145825437414596051/albums/5687645150625473761</a><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMry4ceh_n3AaMVhUc1e30WJOQmXr7gsYGERuZRor0VBtsDOuCShlU4u2XHVwTNyfNJd0nBb9AuWj68nAV7AjBXuHEzRSBirhMcBAQlhBJUw_B3x27SctoPNWn5OEL2Gc6t4R0oos0o0/s1600/IMG_2955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMry4ceh_n3AaMVhUc1e30WJOQmXr7gsYGERuZRor0VBtsDOuCShlU4u2XHVwTNyfNJd0nBb9AuWj68nAV7AjBXuHEzRSBirhMcBAQlhBJUw_B3x27SctoPNWn5OEL2Gc6t4R0oos0o0/s200/IMG_2955.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Errr... WTF?</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsVgIwuf7OiNnry2G8bBXcR5hi64yQ4NHaT3EH4fLy_y7Qj-9M-wHgAjUqK9r-fZ4oOUOFxE5grVZh_yB23kGZAGCxnXyNsGJHrW2uFkGvb1214SmM8LLU08ypMabRuxJy4KzpHX5-jo/s1600/IMG_3081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsVgIwuf7OiNnry2G8bBXcR5hi64yQ4NHaT3EH4fLy_y7Qj-9M-wHgAjUqK9r-fZ4oOUOFxE5grVZh_yB23kGZAGCxnXyNsGJHrW2uFkGvb1214SmM8LLU08ypMabRuxJy4KzpHX5-jo/s200/IMG_3081.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Had to go Retro for at least on pic :)</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39QdH6eXLOP18jf1iieVRAo5rQjMdlNXrENzdHEq6JUrpSS0OJtV7o9sQ2C0rkzmHw2l5JSskGmGd9re5iY2iDHY3cB6IZaLFJRhIFjWTTpAEMoCEiHntKZNksWf3YYTa8OVdV-Bos1s/s1600/IMG_3248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39QdH6eXLOP18jf1iieVRAo5rQjMdlNXrENzdHEq6JUrpSS0OJtV7o9sQ2C0rkzmHw2l5JSskGmGd9re5iY2iDHY3cB6IZaLFJRhIFjWTTpAEMoCEiHntKZNksWf3YYTa8OVdV-Bos1s/s200/IMG_3248.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And into the wall she goes! <br />Look for the impact clip on youtube</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRqsfc2Nl5MwmysDi2jwFWXRxIOeKRyAawIPTO26MisMBl5DNiY012Tgm9Iuu_DqsCHcwt2xx0q0WS6z1rHeoyL0EbPr9Wjg3fpgGhTDAcxhS69ZpVZLyjdYR6woOJ37K0vv57p8JLD4/s1600/IMG_3558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRqsfc2Nl5MwmysDi2jwFWXRxIOeKRyAawIPTO26MisMBl5DNiY012Tgm9Iuu_DqsCHcwt2xx0q0WS6z1rHeoyL0EbPr9Wjg3fpgGhTDAcxhS69ZpVZLyjdYR6woOJ37K0vv57p8JLD4/s200/IMG_3558.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Motards were quick!<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHgHN7cp6eCO5Nf_yyk6zJSGVKIh6fqWgQJvySYCzZ9blL8S8HMy2d5__DCLlJENpBWNF0VvFogYU_hi-pg6fy9cizGMna-sqbaIVVq3Dklyt-4a12DmQwfCNfEKXvehUx0TjWHuUX8Os/s1600/IMG_3618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHgHN7cp6eCO5Nf_yyk6zJSGVKIh6fqWgQJvySYCzZ9blL8S8HMy2d5__DCLlJENpBWNF0VvFogYU_hi-pg6fy9cizGMna-sqbaIVVq3Dklyt-4a12DmQwfCNfEKXvehUx0TjWHuUX8Os/s200/IMG_3618.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So were these boys!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK6xEBoAyzxKXJ2gqZKNqIq8zlcNQbpM5UG42EYqRqQ4cDDgGVdT4fkfie0D19RP4dwl90X5h4xuOnk1V3rdSo5mjrPk6Aqwh2fzLd8xGz79iyjKVzQRCKFvg0xpXj3VPYBZYyCNvHBd8/s1600/IMG_3745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK6xEBoAyzxKXJ2gqZKNqIq8zlcNQbpM5UG42EYqRqQ4cDDgGVdT4fkfie0D19RP4dwl90X5h4xuOnk1V3rdSo5mjrPk6Aqwh2fzLd8xGz79iyjKVzQRCKFvg0xpXj3VPYBZYyCNvHBd8/s200/IMG_3745.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rohan de Silva was <i>smoking</i>! Literally!</td></tr>
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And the SL-GT and GT4 pics in here. These were the adrenaline pumpers!<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/112145825437414596051/albums/5688188628944471409" target="_blank">https://plus.google.com/photos/112145825437414596051/albums/5688188628944471409</a><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjORjL0oGaDLqAKZx8pEK-ddggu46ZYnvZi7zbAhOf6vftiv_mV73N9g2NvKc5kSMsqZDESt-ltNllOUMtMf5hmyBEJ_2X0SHc3m4LM-XmOmLnWsAgfYFWKsbWruXyTMsJdN8E3P6431K4/s1600/IMG_3314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjORjL0oGaDLqAKZx8pEK-ddggu46ZYnvZi7zbAhOf6vftiv_mV73N9g2NvKc5kSMsqZDESt-ltNllOUMtMf5hmyBEJ_2X0SHc3m4LM-XmOmLnWsAgfYFWKsbWruXyTMsJdN8E3P6431K4/s200/IMG_3314.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dilantha's Porsche rubbing its chin <br />on the pavement under hard braking.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVKXdFF7Sfg7o-6tHHJG97t43C6e8xAW8TxWUxn5KrgJQi38CWtLvIKckPfgurkaPe_ab27LXakPWfMHC9cAT-98Oobo98jnxVA_W_RXLSLR6rumzBbuXB7xkvqTNb5lOygi58wyYSqM/s1600/IMG_3323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVKXdFF7Sfg7o-6tHHJG97t43C6e8xAW8TxWUxn5KrgJQi38CWtLvIKckPfgurkaPe_ab27LXakPWfMHC9cAT-98Oobo98jnxVA_W_RXLSLR6rumzBbuXB7xkvqTNb5lOygi58wyYSqM/s200/IMG_3323.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dilango Racing 350Z!<br /></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD7XOa48LWMnUVaOgss3Ys2cRhy1sNtIoFqHYIIRAupdTY2s6KZqj9AW9TN8QQ3GzUdJJ8igpUcfJu6bamJoapW12vxs1QshEkug1HFC8cTJ5lj39Bex2ZTnsX53TMY6FuBSUOh4uzxz8/s1600/IMG_3344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD7XOa48LWMnUVaOgss3Ys2cRhy1sNtIoFqHYIIRAupdTY2s6KZqj9AW9TN8QQ3GzUdJJ8igpUcfJu6bamJoapW12vxs1QshEkug1HFC8cTJ5lj39Bex2ZTnsX53TMY6FuBSUOh4uzxz8/s200/IMG_3344.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lambo Gallardo in Sri Lanka!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaCq5QlXUqWd9RQnhWpp-fT_24o2NoEePzN7ZLkQ9cRBuO6zkoZJdEXiJcHdA1FjarngQzdO0b9_jzqxjNcZlCZO2yrWnSaRd6rUWI2J3NxUYoPYXt0724rkWZXke2tCbkU-YM_l0if4/s1600/IMG_3438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaCq5QlXUqWd9RQnhWpp-fT_24o2NoEePzN7ZLkQ9cRBuO6zkoZJdEXiJcHdA1FjarngQzdO0b9_jzqxjNcZlCZO2yrWnSaRd6rUWI2J3NxUYoPYXt0724rkWZXke2tCbkU-YM_l0if4/s200/IMG_3438.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">350Z's Brembos glowing under braking</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPll5RUw6ICojqVkqj3mAV3dAfLDMmg_0mz3dUp1-ejUDvt3i32Lq1sqKLoX2U7tnJv2vs7svcKYrNcislxcnup5RkLRr4PTIAwtFUwkxhHsNIk-27H35DQOzA4VN0bZz8PEyFSlGIw0/s1600/IMG_3894.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPll5RUw6ICojqVkqj3mAV3dAfLDMmg_0mz3dUp1-ejUDvt3i32Lq1sqKLoX2U7tnJv2vs7svcKYrNcislxcnup5RkLRr4PTIAwtFUwkxhHsNIk-27H35DQOzA4VN0bZz8PEyFSlGIw0/s200/IMG_3894.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fights all thru SL GT</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRdeMJCdznGdvH2MSUCLzoKCwfOEnrjRWKwAztBBBdCOGf9rrBik1MS7XnLtYnZ7nf3lyVbTEJIc3wuVExodqVq001dc1_GCBSp8agMymZcWOk5LRyWuE35_RH1qr8PlkzolF05sRqZg8/s1600/IMG_4008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRdeMJCdznGdvH2MSUCLzoKCwfOEnrjRWKwAztBBBdCOGf9rrBik1MS7XnLtYnZ7nf3lyVbTEJIc3wuVExodqVq001dc1_GCBSp8agMymZcWOk5LRyWuE35_RH1qr8PlkzolF05sRqZg8/s200/IMG_4008.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone else was smoking too!<br /><br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darin in the STi 10</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashan hits the brakes. <br />Love the detail from the 70-200 f2.8 :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtqwhMf8tfg0ejMGcsnqZVedK2bhYyNvJMFVyGL0SnKIY_5iyW2yCeycY-NDtSq4noI87Pr_7_tTITGsP8C5UsR2dx_4KeALyG2TImi7KV-zEcE7J7KYMu0YzHDUmVHyOgkayKLV9HUeE/s1600/IMG_3977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtqwhMf8tfg0ejMGcsnqZVedK2bhYyNvJMFVyGL0SnKIY_5iyW2yCeycY-NDtSq4noI87Pr_7_tTITGsP8C5UsR2dx_4KeALyG2TImi7KV-zEcE7J7KYMu0YzHDUmVHyOgkayKLV9HUeE/s200/IMG_3977.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr Nigel Perera <br />and his new sponsers</td></tr>
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<br />Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-45645802435730528262011-11-23T22:20:00.001-08:002011-12-21T22:19:52.179-08:00The Proton Persona<br />
Few months ago, dad wanted a change, the Gen2 was over 5 years old, passing 40,000kms, and while the initial devaluation was quite steep, was holding value for some time. So he got a trade in offer from the agents, and swapped the car for a new Persona. Its coming close on 3000kms now, and while dad has done most of the driving, I've done enough that I thought I'd put up an opinion.<br />
<br />
Initial impressions, I like the car. Quite solid. Nice feel. A little less imaginative in the cabin than the Gen2, but pretty nice. Looks wise, it works just fine. Nice touches like cell phone holders. They had included a proper glove box in this, which was good :)<br />
<br />
Now, this particular car was a lower grade than the Gen2, which was full spec. So no leather seats, no cruise control, etc.<br />
<br />
Notable, this car has the newer engine over the old Gen2, the one were the cam profile switching actually works, unlike the old one where the campro was just a name. This is the 1.6l, disks all round.<br />
<br />
My feeling, this car is good. Quite comfortable, less sporty on the suspension than the Gen2, but quite good. Body roll is not too bad, but it doesn't like quick direction changes. It does hold the road quite well on a sweeping corner, but switching sides is not done confidently.<br />
<br />
Brakes are somewhat mushy. Probalby equal to the Gen2. Probably taken from the Gen2.<br />
<br />
Steering is still ESP, but its a lot tighter than the Gen2. One of my main complaints on the Gen2 was lack of steering feel, this at least does help with the illusion of steering feel a little. Dad doesn't like it tho :)<br />
<br />
Other major complaint on the Gen2, gearbox. This is a much, much better autobox. Also they seem to have done away with that daft drive-by-wire throttle control, which is good.<br />
<br />
I think this car is a little heavier than the Gen2, but since the engine is the same, its a little underpowered. The GB is good, so the initial bite and starting to move part is a lot better than the Gen2, but it can't keep on going from there. Or it might just be that they are going for a smoother acceleration pattern rather than savage acceleration. So it takes some time to get to a nice cruise speed, but is a very nice cruiser once it gets there. Sporty overtaking is not its forte, but it is a very relaxing drive. In no hurry, just smooth.<br />
<br />
Now to that bit that all the non-enthusiasts want to know. Close to 3000km, fuel consumption shows 8.2l per 100km. Its done one trip outstation, probably covered 500km. Also that was to Nuwara Eliya District, not town, so lots of low range climibing on slow, twisty, potholed roads involved.<br />
<br />
For those bad at maths, that means its doing better than 12. The Gen2 did slightly less than 10, over 9.5.<br />
<br />
And it has winker mirrors.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0122/2, Dudley Senanayake Mawatha, Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka6.846471854607139 79.8655039072036746.8462253546071388 79.865195407203672 6.8467183546071393 79.865812407203677tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-26170496627730321142010-08-11T02:13:00.000-07:002011-11-30T02:51:04.128-08:00Crazy times in the Lion CityTo my utter shock (and it was quite a disorienting feeling) I actually won the first prize (Or was it second? Who cares?) at the Office Dinner Dance raffle draw, a return air ticket to the Singha Pura, the Lion City (More commonly known as Singapore). It did, however, come with conditions, the most relevant one said "Must be claimed in 4 weeks" or some cock like that. That wasn't happening in the middle of a busy time at office and during the Christmas season! Besides, my passport had expired.<br />
But this is Sri Lanka and times are flexible things. After fuddling around, I asked if they could set up the trip in April (wanted to catch a long weekend so I wouldn't need to take time off from work). Further fuddling (Renewed the passport) and fuddling onwards, the office travel co-ordinators (who kindly took care of the details with the travel agency ppl) calls me up on Friday. I had asked for the tickets to be arranged in such a way so I could leave Friday night or Saturday early morning and come back on Monday evening (long weekend so Monday was an off-day) so I could come back for work on Tuesday. And on the said Friday, when I had given up hope of going, they called and said there is a ticket available on a flight leaving at midnight on Cathay, do I want it? After picking my jaw up off the floor, I decided to go for it.Had a few issues, like packing and figuring out lodging, but luckily I was in contact with my buddy Dilesh, who is a student at the NUS and said I could stay with him in his flat. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I was able to get the info out to him that I was coming after all, and get the address from him, and bothered Nadisha into going home an hour earlier than than the shuttles and giving me a ride home in order to get packed. Of course, fun things happen when you pack in a hurry, which meant I went to Singapore with my laptop and phone, but without my laptop and phone charger :Major FacePalm: Also, even tho I asked for my phone to have sms roaming turned on when I went, it never worked all the while I was there. But I remembered all my camera gear, which was very important! Specially coz it took up most of my hand luggage space. If anyone thought I was travelling to Singapore without my photogear, they are flat out crazy.<br />
<br />
I was somewhat sleep deprived, since I had to be at the airport by about 9 to make the midnight flight (security) and the flight got delayed somewhat (apparently not just a Sri Lankan Airlines problem) and I was somewhat unsuccessful trying to sleep on the plane despite trying (Economy class sucks). But the food was good and I think I managed about an hour of sleep in the three hour flight. And watched some old episodes of Top Gear on the in-flight entertainment.<br />
Anyhoo, landed, got my bags, called Dilesh from a payphone, found a taxi and headed off. The taxi dude apparently wasn't familiar with the area we were headed too. Google maps to the rescue fortunately! Got there with minimum fuss, and apparently Dilesh sleeps late on weekends coz he hadn't had breakfast. Which was lucky for me coz it meant I had company for breakfast.<br />
<br />
I had a plan for this trip. Day one, zoo. Day two, Jurong Bird Park. Day three, shopping and head back home. However, this not bringing my phone charger (which was plugged into a power outlet at office) changed plans a bit. Decided to go and buy a phone first (on my budgeted todo list) and then head to the zoo. So got directions and how to use Singapores public transport system from Dilesh (who very fortuneately had a spare swipe card that let me use the system) and went up to the harbourfront station to make sure I got the hang of it.<br />
<br />
So off I went to the specified station and found the famous Mustafa's looking for a phone. Not an experience I wanna repeat. The most "don't care" sales staff ever. Obviously don't work for commission. But somehow picked up a LG GW620. Not sure if its supposed to not have a CD, but mine came with a CD from some kinda Singaporean teeny bopper pop duo. Also didn't realise that the thing came with a 2Gb memory card and that damn fool salesman didn't tell me so I ended up buying another 8gb mem card.<br />
Anyway, trying to come outta there, I got lost. I'm pretty sure I went under the street to the building on the other side of the road and came out that way. While wandering around trying to find the train station, I found another funky mall, advertised as the first eco mall or something. So since it was there and it was lunch, thought I'd get something to eat. It was ... interesting. There were lots of unidentified meats. Language barrier was a bit of an issue :) But finally settled one some duck rice thing. The conclusion is that chicken tastes better.<br />
Anyway, found the station again, and proceeded upto Ang Mo Kio, where I was supposed to catch a bus to the zoo. Luckily, as I exited the station, I found a zoo arranged shuttle that carts people to the zoo from the station, and was about to leave, so I caught that.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/4743796663/" title="Tiger, Tiger, burning bright, by Preveen, on Flickr"><img alt="Tiger, Tiger, burning bright," height="160" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4743796663_0a0e6f5cf9_m.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" width="240" /></a> Singapore Zoo is a funky place. Thanks to my jaunt around Mustafa's I didn't really get the time to do the full tour, so I really need to go back. Also the fact that I obsessed at the white tiger enclosure and spent an hour at the Elephant show didn't help. Also just missed the Polar Bear show, got there just as it was wrapping up. :( But still, got a few nice photos. That Lion cage was crazy, there is a place that people can view the Lions from that is basically just a glass seperating the cats from the people. Which doesn't look particularly thick. I shudder to think what will happen if a 500lbs lion decided to test its strenght on it! Quite possible if people keep using pocket p&s cameras in there, which was flashing away. Nobody is gonna get a good pic, coz of the flash reflecting off the glass. Hopefully the Lions will ignore it as if it was lightning or something.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/4743797459/" title="Tiger Greeting by Preveen, on Flickr"><img alt="Tiger Greeting" height="160" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4743797459_3df9ba1861_m.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" width="240" /></a>Of note, white tigers are a dream to photograph. Even in dim light they light up so well :) The pic on the left was quite late in the evening. Kitty cats they are not tho, they have mauled a zoo-keeper to death after the man fell into the enclosure. See the wikipedia.<br />
It was somewhat after dark when I found my way back into the campus. Missed the stop and got down at the next one, but found my way back ok. Was a bit worried there, since I didn't have a working phone. Wasn't very sure I was in the right place until I saw the stone rhinos at the resteraunt. Or were they hippos?<br />
<br />
I think I'll cover the next day in another post, this is getting too long. So until whenever I feel like blogging again, the end.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-82490062715793706402009-12-21T06:50:00.000-08:002009-12-21T07:00:02.764-08:00Random thoughts on StyleOne of those oft cliched phrases you hear in photography is “You must find your own style”. Its not something I've generally paid attention to. It sounds like something that applies to serious photographers, people who find Art in photography. Personally, I don't pretend to understand Art. Its too obscure, and isn't logical. Guess its the tech-rat in me. How people can look at a canvas that has what looks like the artist just took a few buckets of paint and threw the paint on and make declarations of how artful the work is always puzzles me. Likewise some photographs.<br /><br />So how does one develop a sense of artistic style without a proper understanding of what artistic style is? I preferred to think of myself as a happy snapper. I take photographs, not develop art. Weirdly, that is a style. Its not my style to set up studios, place lights and try product photography. I don't like tons of post processing. A friend of mine has a style that leaves his pictures with very warm tones. He makes it look good, but its not really for me. Besides, its easy to overdo and leave your pictures looking very yellow. I rarely make my photographs sepia, or black and white. Rarely use the vignette effect for art.<br /><br />But out of these don't, I realized, I was developing my own style. I look through my pictures and realize, my favorites involve movement. I tend to spend more time and and effort on pictures of movement. Fixed poses, group shots, profiles... these are things I don't spend a lot of time or care on. To capture movement, I often spend long moments peering through the viewfinder, trying to find the perfect moment to click to capture a picture that will either freeze the movement, but still convey the sense of movement, so go with a slower shutter speed and try motion blur, like water cascading over rocks. Whatever the technique, its all about the movement. Its also more of a challenge, since you have to grab the right moment, not spend half an hour setting up and capturing one frame. From there, my interests start making more sense. Motor-sports photography is about capturing movement. Wildlife, can go many ways, but my favorites involve animals in motion. Events, I'm not much into people posing. Which becomes apparent when half my pictures from a wedding turn out to be pictures of people on the dance floor. Parties, sports, catwalk fashion, performances, in general, things in motion. Explains my boredom with landscapes and arty wide angles, I guess. Why I like to be in close covering the event, rather than far back taking details or abstracts.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2777946376/" title="Aye Caramba! by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2777946376_00a7ab1100_m.jpg" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2777946376_00a7ab1100_m.jpg" alt="Aye Caramba!" height="240" width="160" /></a><br /><br />Limitation? Possibly. Its also a good explanation of why I like working with guys like Charli and Chamil. But then, by definition, style is a limitation. Its a boundary by which you define yourself. This is my style.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/4088232110/" title="Auspicious signs. by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/4088232110_2cd22cc3e1_m.jpg" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2615/4088232110_2cd22cc3e1_m.jpg" alt="Auspicious signs." height="160" width="240" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2728878274/" title="Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2728878274_366f34d8fd_m.jpg" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2728878274_366f34d8fd_m.jpg" alt="Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS" height="160" width="240" /></a>Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-46676463103932158202009-10-27T09:36:00.000-07:002009-10-27T09:37:45.083-07:00Living with the Atom™Post apocalyptic connotations aside, it might actually seem like a doomsday scenario. The Intel Atom is its low budget, low power consumption series of processors for net books, and due to circumstances, I took the plunge into mobile tech and bought one.<br /><br />Scenario : Home PC mobo burnout. Quite annoying. Also, 18-55 kit lens on my 450D is bust, and I wanted to replace it with a 17-40mm f4<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">L</span>. Also was planning on getting a new phone, keeping an eye on a Google Android powered phone with a full sized slide out keyboard. Also get a 23 inch LCD monitor to help with the graphics work and reduce power consumption at home. That's quite a strain on the old budget. Which isn't even getting incremented. But I digress...<br /><br />So, compromises in order. Compromise one, chuck away the old machine and go for the laptop. I could have gone for the Atom powered desktop (the so called Nettops) at a much lower cost, but went for the netbook instead. Mobility being the key. Also, might give up on the 17-40 <span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">L</span> idea and compromise by getting a Tamron AF 17-50mm f2.8. Kills me to give up on the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;">L</span>, but unless I can get a major raise, its not happening. Also wait for the newly announced Motorola Droid. 3.7 inch touch screen, fully slide out QWERTY keyboard and Android 2.0 OS. The phone is still serviceable so it can stay in service a while more until the finances stabilize, and until this hits the markets.<br /><br />But anyway, Back to the Atom™. I decided to save a few bucks by going for an el cheapo Chinese no-brand model. Well maybe it has a brand, but the lit is in Chinese, so who can say? Headline specs, Intel Atom™ N280 processor, 1 GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 10.2 inch screen at 1024x600, WiFi, on board SD card reader, RJ-45 connector, two USB ports, webcam and mic. All for 45,990! (sarcasm, in case you didn't get it). No Optical device tho.<br />The main reason I went for this was that I was able to get a USB adapter that lets me keep using my SATA HDDs and IDE DVD-RW with it. Not having that was a deal breaker. I wanted plenty of HDD space! Gonna have to buy a couple more HDDs (Ahhh, more strain on the budget. Excellent. But need it to store my photos)<br /><br />It really is a funky little thing. 1.26 KG with the battery, and the batt is most of that. Without the batt it weighs next to nothing. About 2.5 hours battery life on a full charge. Not spectacular, but usable. Beautifully clear monitor. Even if screen real estate is sorta at a premium and its not really a multitasking workspace. But then, its not really a heavy multi tasking processor, so ... Touch pad is something new to me. A little annoying with its limited size, but usable. Very nice tactile keyboard, but a little small. Also some of the control keys are all over the place so that make touch typing difficult, but its quite comfortable to type on. I've typed this entire post on it so far, after all :). But I knew this would be a problem so I gotta full sized USB keyboard and mouse. And made sure to get a keyboard with a USB hub in it so I can connect two more devices to it. This two USB port limitation is somewhat of a pain.<br />WiFi is a little on the weak side. I'm within two feet of my wireless router at home, but still not getting a full strength signal. Still to hit some of the free WiFi spots in Colombo and see the connectivity.<br /><br />Performance is not bad. I know not to expect instant performance. But it quite happily runs Office, Firefox, ACDSee, and Lightroom, which is the most important thing. On XP with Service Pack three and .NET framework. The .NET framework slowed things down immediately, but I needed it to install Paint.NET. In these budget conscious times, best to stick with the freeware as much as possible. I will be looking to upgrade to Windows 7 and Lightroom 3 Beta, but lets see. Like I said, its not earth shattering, but quite reasonable. Boots up pretty quickly, under a minute I'd say. Which is a lot better than my office PC :) Very few issues so far. Quite happily connects to my 19inch LCD at work at 1440x900. Fits quite comfortably in my camera bag. The only real loss is in the gaming department, no more NFS, but older games run fine. I've got Alpha Centauri, Alien Crossfire running quite comfortably. Will probably install Zeus sometime.<br /><br />So in summary, I'd say I'm quite happy living with the Atom™. :)Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-7517297230362765572009-08-30T22:14:00.000-07:002009-08-31T02:18:25.287-07:00Randon ranting<a href="http://hnlk.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/sights-unseemly/">http://hnlk.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/sights-unseemly/</a><br /><br />Good read, this. :) Strikes many chords ... :)<br /> <!-- multiply:no_crosspost --><p class="multiply:no_crosspost"></p>Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-3673276575046895682009-08-13T23:44:00.000-07:002009-08-14T01:20:54.070-07:00BasketBawfulI'm actually working on another trip report, but I came across this on one of my must read blogs and almost choked laughing. Maybe I just have a weird sense of humour, but this just cracked me up. Check it out.<br /><a href="http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2006/03/gatorade-conspiracy.html">http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2006/03/gatorade-conspiracy.html</a><br />And a followup:<br /><a href="http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2006/04/gatorade-conspiracy-part-ii-cover-up.html">http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2006/04/gatorade-conspiracy-part-ii-cover-up.html</a><br /><br />Yes, its old. Yes, its immature childish toilet humour. And its just flat out hilarious.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-18464189751015726412009-07-16T04:32:00.000-07:002010-08-16T05:18:31.500-07:00Yala Trip report July 2009Yala Trip report July 2009<br /><br />It took 4 years to return to Yala after the memorable Tsunami trip, but this time, just six short months after that, I found myself heading jungle-wards once more. This time, with the family - assorted cousins down on SL for the sister's wedding, Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas, etc. Two vehicles needed. Some of us piled into the van for hire, some into Uncle Tissa's Pajero.<br />We were supposed to start at 4am, but in typical fashion, left the house only at 4:30. After stopping at Silver Ray for a breather and refreshments (we had made good time) we had to go thru the Great Roast Paan saga. This consisted of stopping at every eatery and bake house looking joint looking for Roast Paan for Gamunu Maami to have his Haal massa Seeni Sambol with. I think we were well past Pelmadulla when we finally found some. Anyhoo, we had planned to get to Uda Walawe by lunch and see the feeding of the Baby Elephants at the Elephant Transit home at noon, but we got there so early that we just barely missed the morning feeding at 9am! So we toured the area, checked the Lock Gates at the Dam, checked out the temple (still under construction) had some snacks and generally chilled until the next feeding time at noon. I got a couple of good pictures of an Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis indicus) perched on a fencepost. The Uda Walawe elephant transit home is an interesting place. It has this museum with some gorgeous pictures of wildlife on the walls and a mini cinema that shows documentaries every so often. Plus of course, the obligatory elephant stuff to see, including the huge elephant skull. Of course, the highlight is the feeding of the elephants. Its interesting to see how the elephants are trained to come get the milk. Oddly there was a baby wild boar wandering around the feeding enclosure, apparently with something wrong with it coz it didn't walk straight, and kept staggering around like it was drunk. Some of the older elephants didn't like it and kept chasing it around the enclosure. From there, we headed to the Uda Walawe Safari Village for lunch, which was pre ordered. Odd thing was, we couldn't eat the ordered packets there, coz while the cost of the packets was 250 each, staying there to eat it would raise it to 800 per head! We took the packets and left! I'm not sure how it was managed but we stopped at a house of a road side fruit seller on the road besides the electric fence and eat there. Setting out from there, everybody, full of lunch, and drowsing the heat (a/c in the van was intermittent, at best) promptly went to sleep. I only woke up in Tissamaharama where we were stopped for fuel. From here we headed straight for the Yala Village hotel.<br />We were a bit unlucky, in that the extremely dry weather had dried up most of the lake and the closure of the park for long periods had meant that the hotel was in a somewhat shabby state, but hopefully, the influx of tourism from the park reopening will mean the hotel can come back up to its full glory once the funds start coming in. The Yala Village is really quite an interesting concept. The guests are pretty much IN the jungle. The rooms are detached cabins on stilts away from the main reception and dining area, and guests are advised not to wander the grounds alone, specially at night due to wildlife. Sound advise, since the water collecting from the air conditioning unit in our room pools in the play underneath the room and wild boar come there to soak. This family of wild boar roam the hotel grounds freely and were having a drink at the hotel pond when we arrived, causing some excitement among the cousins. There is also an elephant that wanders the gounds, a huge male. We caught sight of it as we came back from Safaring, and it had apparently gone past the Grandmas' room while they were on the balcony! Its not reputed to be friendly. If we needed any further hints that we were in the jungle, we got it when my dad went to take a shower and found it occupied by a pencil thin snake about two and a half feet long. All the while my mum kept calling the reception with a constant stream of complaints (burnt out bulbs, missing towels, snakes etc) I'm sure they were glad to see the back of us when we left, business or no business :) The catering dept, however, kept a high standard of excellence right through our stay. So much so that I overate and ultimately couldn't have the last breakfast due to being sick and suffering a loss of appetite after eating so much! I also got some strange health issues whenever I got into an A/C environment, like the room or even the vehicle. Specifically, I couldn't breathe. Wierd sorta thing. Like being too full of food and no room to breathe.<br />Anyway, Safari was set for 5:30am, and everyone was set on time, we had hired a safari jeep and split the crowd between that and the pajero. This was a bad time of year for safari. It was incredibly dry and dusty, all the watering holes had dried into tiny slivers of water and patches of mud, and animals and birds just weren't there. Quite a contrast to six months ago. Doubly annoying was the fact that we were trailing the pajero in an open safari jeep, and the tracker was in the pajero, and Uncle Tissa was hammering around Yala like he was on some sorta rally. Kinda hard to take pics when you just zoom around without stopping. However, I did manage to take a few shots, including an enormous concentration of crocs at one of the few large waterholes left. There was one huge croc in particular, sitting around with its jaws gaping open with blood stained teeth. There was also a stranded buffalo and a calf in an island surrounded by crocs. Could have done some nice National Geographic style shooting if we stayed. Only managed the pic on the below. As it was a croc launched an unsuccessful attack on a flock of Pelicans while we watched. After poppsing out of the park for lunch at the hotel, we headed back in for round two, scoring some points over correctly identifing a bird near the crocs as a Lesser Adjutant, while Uncle Tissa got it wrong. Boo ya! Victory dance! The days highlight however, came as the sun was going down and we were preparing to leave the park. News of a leopard sighting caused us to rush to Pidurangala where we saw a leopard, extremely far off, almost out of sight, but I was able to finally spot it with the aid of the trusty 55-250mm. The leopard was pretty close to the coast, Which was sorta puzzling. I'd have expected them to be more in the heavily wooded interior. Anyway, with the leopard moving into hiding and a long line of vehicles forming, we cleared the area to resume the hunt, and .... promptly spotted another leopard on the other side of Pidurangala. This one was my sighting, as in, I saw it first, and got the jeep to stop. It was sitting on the peak of the rock, sillouetted against the sky, and obligingly got up and moved around. It too was at least a kilometer away, but thanks to the 12mpx and 250mm, I got some really jazzy shots. Not the quality to print and publish, but certainly good enough for us to see. Finally it moved to a position that left just the head showing and we decided to move. The driver put the vehicle in gear, started moving the vehicle .... and a bear popped out from behind some shrubbery at the lower part of the Pidurangala rock. I almost forgot to keep quiet in my excitement (First to spot it again :) ) and stopped the jeep. I got a series of shots, but another jeep rushing up scared it into moving back into the shrubbery. The parents in Uncle Tissa's jeep missed this one, coz they had already left after seeing the second leopard. We raced a round the park for a little longer in a futile attempt to see something else, but nothing came of it. However, after dropping off the tracker at the Park office, while heading back the last km to the hotel, my cousin spotted another leopard, this one about 10 meters away from the edge of the road. It was way too dark for photography, but I did manage a grainy image that needs a helluva lot of boosting, but manages to show the cat. There was also that Elephant I mentioned above wandering around the grounds of the hotel when we got back. It managed to scare the bejeezuz out of the van driver. This was a really massive male.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/4744436704/" title="Patience of the hunter by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4744436704_a9043a7414_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Patience of the hunter" /></a><br />This was the end of the Safari portion. Praying that another tsunami wouldn't sweep us away, we headed off back to Colombo via the Galle Road next morning (after a sizable breakfast, which once again, I couldn't eat properly due to being sick). Again the Air conditioning on the van was acting very intermittently, so we fell asleep for most of that journey. Lunch break was at Weligama, at Barberyn Beach Hotel. Quite a fast run to get there for lunch! After wasting considerable time there, we hit the road again, heading to Barberyn Reef Hotel, Beruwala for tea, and a bit of splashing in the ocean. From here on, we just puttered on homewards, arriving after 7pm and worn out with all the traveling.<br /><br />Wrap up : Family is fun to travel with, but not safari with. Didn't stop enough for pics, too much noise, and no interest in the uncommon. I much prefer safari adventures with Nilu, Ruwan and crowd, even if they do stop for too long for my tastes. Its a lot better than not stopping and rally racing around Yala! Yala Village Hotel needs quite a bit of work, tho I expect they will find it easier to operate now that tourism is coming back to the area and bringing in the revenue. They are quite actively promoting the place, even online. It definitely has huge amounts of potential if done right. Good enough that I would go and stay there again, and see if they have made progress. I'll give it 4 stars from 5, mostly on its excellent catering, and the fact that most of what needs fixing are minor niggles, which I'm sure will be attended to. Pictures I'll put up later. :)Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-13220474748075121852009-05-30T11:08:00.000-07:002010-02-22T23:43:07.052-08:00The Sri Lankan Crimson-backed Flameback woodpecker.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DJ4rLyuYz_DzvVG8UOQzCNcYFA3XvqgfKmaY7iftWn3tUDNK9j2KLCYXhZcnQrLDMBWs_wE3vtDz60rIdJ7sQQOJityJoe0J8dgaRyGimrpNFJij6S4k6tVdtqE2qtCeS0s5ppNEinw/s1600-h/aBirds_0045.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DJ4rLyuYz_DzvVG8UOQzCNcYFA3XvqgfKmaY7iftWn3tUDNK9j2KLCYXhZcnQrLDMBWs_wE3vtDz60rIdJ7sQQOJityJoe0J8dgaRyGimrpNFJij6S4k6tVdtqE2qtCeS0s5ppNEinw/s200/aBirds_0045.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341681402495580610" border="0" /></a>I’ve always loved woodpeckers, must be that childhood influence of Woody Woodpecker cartoons, so my childlike delight on coming across this fine specimen of a Crimson-Backed Flameback at office when I just happened to have my camera was quite understandable. The jungles of Malabe do have the advantage of having a lot of bird life.<br />It was quite interesting how I saw this one. I was just at this desk and looked up, out the window, and it occurred to me that that dark lump in the tree wasn’t something that was there before. I took a closer look, and viola, Flameback. Luckily my office colleagues are used to me running around with a camera, so no one looked twice as I grabbed the cam and ran out to the balcony.<br /><br />Quite interesting fellows these. They specially look like Woody coz of the gorgeous red plume of feathers on their heads. This chap's plume is quite muted, makes me think its not quite a mature specimen. Possibly an immature male or a female, judging but the wikipedia article at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_flameback">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_flameback</a>. (That article features a picture of the only other time I saw a Flameback. Crappy picture of one on my back wall years ago with a really old fuji digicam. But you can clearly see the spectacular plume of red feathers on that ones head). As noted in the article, it supports itself on its tail feathers, behavior which can be seen in the picture below.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBmflr-PxNJxY4WwTQpKF2oVOyLjpO6kLVRV7m5p1f1ptUH7h_I8en8kt3oMciw-WwhJxE-5jiTqi3h7oT3DSl_gVn2DUAT3ukRo4Y7MTAy6wdQ2XpEmnlaP60hlVpzs2kwt6XXrrNFQ/s1600-h/aBirds_0037.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBmflr-PxNJxY4WwTQpKF2oVOyLjpO6kLVRV7m5p1f1ptUH7h_I8en8kt3oMciw-WwhJxE-5jiTqi3h7oT3DSl_gVn2DUAT3ukRo4Y7MTAy6wdQ2XpEmnlaP60hlVpzs2kwt6XXrrNFQ/s200/aBirds_0037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341681398007391746" border="0" /></a>Now the technical details, the Sri Lankan Crimson-backed Flameback (<span style="font-style: italic;">Chrysocolaptes lucidus stri</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ckl</span><span style="font-style: italic;">a</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ndi</span>) is sometimes considered a Greater Flameback subspecies, sometimes considered a distinct species. Also see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flameback">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flameback</a> for a description of the genus.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-64372618720461912692009-05-19T19:30:00.000-07:002009-05-19T19:39:39.093-07:00Restaurant GuidePossibly the greatest resource ever.<br /><a href="http://www.lankarestaurants.com/index.php">http://www.lankarestaurants.com/index.php</a><br /><br />Well, ok, I might be a little over enthusiastic, but I like to eat, and this thing is damn good. Most of the restaurants are graded, given average pricing, and have a little write up included. They also have a section listing the currently running promotions at the restaurants. Well worth a shout out.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-87106733617409661532009-03-23T22:44:00.000-07:002009-03-23T23:08:26.936-07:00How Sharp do you want it?Just wanted to vent about something that was bugging me. Was following a thread on a forum recently where a guy wanted to buy a new SLR camera, and there was the usual brand debate going on. I have started avoiding these generally, mostly coz it degenerates into fanboy arguements, and also because, to successfully engage in a brand debate, you have to know both sides of the coin. Now I chose to become a Canon user due to various reasons that made it the right choice for me. Might not apply to others, so I don't attempt to force the brand down anyones throat. If someone wants to know something about a Canon, I'll help if I can, if they want to know about a competeing brand like Nikon or Sony, I say I don't know about them and stay out of it.Right now, since I have made my choice already, its just not useful for me to keep up with the products of competing brands. Why waste time on things I can't use?<br />However, this guy got my goat. I mean, he did the posting equivalent of pleading and begging not to buy a Canon on the basis that he hadn't enjoyed his user experience, and claiming it was impossible to get sharp telephoto pictures unless you buy the expensive L series lens that Canon offers.<br />Now, even my last post was an enthusiastic post on the virtues of the L series, but this is taking it a little too far. Plently of people take really good, sharp telephoto pics with non-L glass. Heck people take good sharp telephoto pics with Point and Shoot consumer cameras.<br />This Bee Eater was taken with a Canon Powershot S2 IS p&s.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2497849283/" title="Blue-Tailed Bee Eater (by Preveen)"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2497849283_289eb930e7_m.jpg" title="Blue-Tailed Bee Eater (by Preveen)" alt="Blue-Tailed Bee Eater (by Preveen)" height="240" width="130" /></a><br />This dragonfly was taken with the same camera.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2501595829/" title="Golden Knight (by Preveen)"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2393/2501595829_7ff4c14c8b_m.jpg" title="Golden Knight (by Preveen)" alt="Golden Knight (by Preveen)" height="192" width="240" /></a><br />I don't know by what measure you can't call them sharp, and this is just my stuff, there are plenty of people out there who take much better pics than I do.<br />However, the bone is that Canons cheaper telephoto range doesn't do the job. Alright, I recently bought a budget Canon telephoto lens. The EF-S 55-250mm IS. I took this picture of a squirrel on a tree in my front yard while sitting on my keister on my front porch, pairing my 450D and the 55-250mm. Handheld. Fully extended to its maximum 250mm. There really isn't much in the currently in-production range of Canon telephoto lens that you can get cheaper than this one. You be the judge if it gets the job done.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/3317231650/" title="The proof (by Preveen)"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/3317231650_b45dbd4e8a_m.jpg" title="The proof (by Preveen)" alt="The proof (by Preveen)" height="160" width="240" /></a><br />I dunno what that guy was smoking, but I absolutely love this lens. I took it on safari within a week of getting my hands on it and I've been smitten ever since. If you want to know why, check out these results at <a href="http://preveen.multiply.com/photos/album/29/Yala_Bundala_Ella_Trip">my multiply album of the pics taken on that trip</a><br /><br />Its not that I'm knocking on the L range or saying its not necessary. But I did consider the excellent EF 70-200mm F4L when deciding on a telephoto, and the 55-250 won out, for several reasons. L lens have their place in the world, and they are definitely on my wish list, but to blithely dismiss the non-L glass as useless is just wrong. Even the pro's of pros will tell you, you don't need pro equipment to get good pictures in good conditions. Under ideal conditions, even a phone camera will deliver unbelievable results. Pro gear start showing their worth when the conditions start getting bad, when you need that reliability to make sure you can get the shots that put the food on your table even when the conditions aren't great for photography. But in normal conditions?<br /><br />Well, we'll see. I am planning on getting a third party 500mm f8 manual focus lens. If it delivers then, it really will prove my point. At under $90, this is very much el cheapo. If it doesn't, I'll use it as a paperweight :)Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-34173278091488428882009-01-27T21:00:00.001-08:002009-01-27T21:00:05.002-08:00The call of the "L"<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/3185332008/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3185332008_39fe697018_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/3185332008/">"L"coholic?</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/preveen/">Preveen</a></span></div>Among Canon fans, the "L" series represents a pinnacle. As good as it gets. To have that red band on the lens is making a statement. "L" series lens are made for the pros, who demand the best, and need their gear to work in extreme conditions and still produce outstanding quality.<br />Recently, one of my friends acquired an "L" lens, the EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS (or as it is referred to around office "The Bazooka"). I was playing around with it and got this shot at the full 400mm end. The longest lens I own is a EF-S 55-250mm and the comparison of results, well, lets just say I'm hearing the call of the "L"!<br clear="all" />Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-17066214145650905922008-08-29T12:37:00.001-07:002008-08-29T12:45:39.785-07:00Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2728878274/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2728878274_366f34d8fd_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2728878274/">Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/preveen/">Preveen</a></span></div>Tricks of light and shadow :) Despite it looking like Dinesh Deheragoda's new Mitsubhishi Lancer Evolution X RS is flying by at a good rate of speed, its actually moving pretty slowly on first gear. Low ISO, small aperture and slow shutter speed, used with a panning motion allowed this shot. A little bit of color burn to make the background darker to wrap things up. This was taken during a shoot of the Evo X to show its new sponsor colours.Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-64171548431039069702008-04-21T05:16:00.000-07:002011-09-01T01:35:45.047-07:00Nuwara Eliya - March 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOu9i31aFjeg9NoGDbjoS_GizgbtdnfGqXr7Zto5l8cpJWi_QNF0SVgP26PdFj5BB8EA3YsYBB1BPxQf0XbOGw6BLdtOUa8JSVs_7y6CQ7vuFBnMsTZrKtv1yLX2RmE5DnBxDoCJviSqo/s1600-h/NE1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 117px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOu9i31aFjeg9NoGDbjoS_GizgbtdnfGqXr7Zto5l8cpJWi_QNF0SVgP26PdFj5BB8EA3YsYBB1BPxQf0XbOGw6BLdtOUa8JSVs_7y6CQ7vuFBnMsTZrKtv1yLX2RmE5DnBxDoCJviSqo/s200/NE1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198743570462385458" border="0" /></a>March provided a nice long 4 day weekend (rare even in the holiday country of SL) and we decided to get away from the hot, sticky and unseasonably wet weather in Colombo and head for the cooler climes in the interior of the island. The idea was to leave on Thursday, have a walk around the Horton Plains on Friday and return to muggy old <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Colombo</st1:place></st1:city> on Saturday, leaving Sunday to recover from the vacation before heading to work. Must have been the wisdom of experience, leaving a vacation day to recover from the vacation. <p class="MsoNormal">The numbers were down this time, just Ruwan, Nilu and me heading out, and we started out from <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Colombo</st1:city></st1:place> in the intrepid Aggie (Nilu’s car, I have no idea why its thus named). We were actually on time (which must be why it rained so much) and headed off towards the first stop at <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Lyons</st1:place></st1:city> in Hanwella for breakfast (Strictly speaking the first stop was the ATMs, but lets skip that detail). I was due a number of brain-farts on this trip, and the first was missing <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Lyons</st1:place></st1:city>, definitely a first. Luckily, Nilu saw us passing said eatery while we were driving along, so we were able to put a u-turn and have breakfast. <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Lyons</st1:place></st1:city> has quite a good breakfast buffet going, and after a rather hefty breakfast we were ready to head out again. Heading out again, time for brain-fart number two as I took the <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Ratnapura Road</st1:address></st1:street> from Avissawella, rather than the Hatton road. We were well into Kuruwita before I realized we were going the wrong way. Thank goodness we didn’t aim for Kithulgala for breakfast. Anyway, after a quick discussion, we decided to keep going and head into NE via Balangoda (remembered my mum making a similar goof while taking some people upcountry while I was younger and they took that route). What the heck, we had been on the <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Hatton Road</st1:address></st1:street> already and were in no particular hurry so we would take the scenic route. (ahem)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Traffic was annoying at Ratnapura, but the road opens up into a lovely ribbon of smooth tarmac from there on (the road from Avissawella to Ratnapura is pretty good too, but traffic is heavier). Keeping a sharp eye for cops, we were moved on quite briskly. Stopping at Silver Ray for refreshments, and a call home to check directions, we headed on towards Balangoda. A quick stop at the Cargills, and we moved towards Haputale, were there is a short-cut to Nuwara Eliya, rather than going towards Bandarawela and then turning back. I had noticed Aggie giving some trouble coming up to Ratnapura, but the climb towards Balangoda confirmed that we were having clutch slippage. The slow going and steep climbing from Haputale probably didn’t help the problem. However, she managed to hold up until Nuwara Eliya. I had been hoping to hit a good road, as the road from Haputale was rather rough, but the so called A5 (I believe it goes from <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kandy</st1:place></st1:city> to Badulla thru NE) proved to be a massive disappointment. Especially with an ailing clutch. There quite a long stretch of B road before that what was better maintained.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, we headed into the Hotel without further mishap, tho the climb up the drive of the hotel caused a few flutters. A bit of a steep climb just off the <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Park Road</st1:address></st1:street>. The location was pretty good, and we could see the people in the Victoria Park from the garden. We decided to have a stroll in the park after freshening up and having lunch. Lunch being the term chosen for a meal at 4pm. The park entrance was less than a 5 minute walk from the hotel, so after lunch, we headed off on foot. Being warned that the weather had been uncooperative recently we stopped at a shop near the park entrance and bought raincoats, and headed on into the park.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="margin: -12pt 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;">
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366961944/" title="Oriental Magpie Robin by Preveen, on Flickr"> <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2366961944_3453275432_t.jpg" alt="Oriental Magpie Robin" height="75" width="100" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366127035/" title="Indian Pond Heron by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2366127035_04f6552a4c_t.jpg" alt="Indian Pond Heron" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /></div>Victoria Park in Nuwara Eliya is pretty small as our parks go. It is possible to see every bit of the place in a couple of hours or so, but it is a nice relaxing spot, and there was plenty of bird life around too. Nothing spectacular, but we were able to get some nice pictures of Oriental Magpie-Robins, Red-vented Bulbuls, Bitterns and Indian Pond Herons. However, the light faded fairly early, so we headed back to the hotel.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="margin: -12pt 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;">
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2359818423/" title="Light_and_Glass_0001 by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3166/2359818423_cfe6042847_t.jpg" alt="Light_and_Glass_0001" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /></div>There was a nice fire going in the common room, so we relaxed and took a few pics. Since we couldn't make it to Horton Plains with Aggies clutch, we arranged for a van the next day. Wise move on the whole, since going there with a healthy clutch would have probably meant coming back with a broken one anyway. :) That road is pretty rough.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366963838/" title="Sambur Stag by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2165/2366963838_1f5e063e17_t.jpg" alt="Sambur Stag" height="75" width="100" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366129195/" title="Sambhur Stag by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/2366129195_f7a9140176_t.jpg" alt="Sambhur Stag" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /></div>We were up bright and early for the trip to the Plains. We were there pretty early, which was necessary to beat the rush. Which was crazy for that time of year! It was damn cold, misty, rainy, but we headed on since we expected it to clear when the sun came up. Unfortunately, it never did. On the way to the start of the foot trail, we made a brief stop to take pictures of a tame Sambur, who came right up the vehicle and poked his nose in the window. I guess he was used to getting handouts from travelers. It was raining fairly steadily at the the start of the trail into the park, so we hung out for a while at the Farr Inn, and had some coffee. It seemed like the rain was easing so we actually set out to on the trail clad in raincoats, but by the time we got to where the path divides to head off towards the lesser Worlds End, it was fairly obvious that the rain wasn't letting up. Since the whole point was to take pictures, and we can't do that in the rain without getting the cameras wet, we gave it up and headed back to the van. We then decided to make some use of the trip by trying a visit to Hakkgala Gardens. It was dry when we got there, but no sooner than we approached the ticket outfit, it started raining furiously. Obviously, the Gods were trying to tell us something :) The new raincoats certainly saw some good use. Well, it was kinda disappointing to keep getting thwarted like this, even tho walking isn't one of my favorite activities.
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<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366129981/" title="Bee on flower by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2059/2366129981_cd4853a671_t.jpg" alt="Bee on flower" height="75" width="100" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366130711/" title="Bee in the orchid by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2366130711_ae130e4f5f_t.jpg" alt="Bee in the orchid" height="75" width="100" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366967234/" title="Red-Vented Bulbul by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2366967234_66cfe68e5d_t.jpg" alt="Red-Vented Bulbul" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366968166/" title="Sri Lanka White-eye by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/2366968166_3697a4ddd7_t.jpg" alt="Sri Lanka White-eye" height="75" width="100" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366132667/" title="Ashy Woodswallow by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/2366132667_20665a752a_t.jpg" alt="Ashy Woodswallow" height="75" width="100" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366971612/" title="Grey Wagtail by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/2366971612_f780be4968_t.jpg" alt="Grey Wagtail" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /></div>We got back to the hotel, and had a late lunch in the bower outside the hotel. There were plenty of birds around so we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the grounds and taking pictures. What I like to call the "Birds and Bees" photo session. :) In particular, I got some great shots of a Ceylon Hill White-eye, and finally a decent shot of a Red-vented Bulbul. There was also a nice little Grey Wagtail in the harvested vegetable beds. I got a rather long shot of an Ashy Woodswallow too.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="margin: -12pt 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;">
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2359818427/" title="Light_and_Glass_0002 by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2195/2359818427_4f0f5507a3_t.jpg" alt="Light_and_Glass_0002" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /></div>We headed into town for a bit before heading over to the Grand Hotel for dinner. The food was great, and the whole place has a certain ambiance about it. It is a great photography site. Must make a more leisurely visit sometime to take some pics.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="margin: -12pt 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;">
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preveen/2366972376/" title="Grey Tit by Preveen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2366972376_9c2a247f81_t.jpg" alt="Grey Tit" height="75" width="100" /></a>
<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia220EHTQpkxEFDch0IKp0Zn1w4h5JLgL2AsQFHVinWRTZgZwvBdQJfuJOY8_856q_dQLGKiMI6X1KTdOpf-o1j_gG9cwJ-89XphVHjsZhytY4-Jv7x0lLLRmgip6lYZLdMoWwavRmsjY/s1600-h/NE2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 107px; height: 80px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia220EHTQpkxEFDch0IKp0Zn1w4h5JLgL2AsQFHVinWRTZgZwvBdQJfuJOY8_856q_dQLGKiMI6X1KTdOpf-o1j_gG9cwJ-89XphVHjsZhytY4-Jv7x0lLLRmgip6lYZLdMoWwavRmsjY/s200/NE2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198746465270342994" border="0" /></a>The next morning we headed out towards the Galway National Park. This is a new place, pretty small for a national park, surrounded by the town. It is mostly a bird place, which the odd reptile and other small creature about. It features about 2km of trails in in, and its a nice place to walk around in. Its pretty heavily wooded, and while we could hear the bird life, spotting it was a bit difficult. Besides, the light wasn't great, and the S2 was a bit out of its league unless we found a clearing. I did, however, find some interesting shots to take.
<br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOukV1AYYFgkXuFbDfW_lLblPk3VsL0SPP2H6MNK8gcWzn9_I-2vQ2kbUHFlaLD1BPdMcn4eVtabgKTGHCwL0Ah-Yp06Nsjo2ToXKj2dAwqzdgEEyCk6FXQYEzxp-d7oI0NfsXp3LcTzc/s1600-h/NE3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOukV1AYYFgkXuFbDfW_lLblPk3VsL0SPP2H6MNK8gcWzn9_I-2vQ2kbUHFlaLD1BPdMcn4eVtabgKTGHCwL0Ah-Yp06Nsjo2ToXKj2dAwqzdgEEyCk6FXQYEzxp-d7oI0NfsXp3LcTzc/s200/NE3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198746469565310306" border="0" /></a>And so, after that, we headed back to the city, this time taking the A5 through Kandy. The Ramboda Falls and the tunnel at the Ramboda Pass provided the highlights on this road trip, which was notable for its great driving road. I couldn't play around too much with a car with a slipping clutch, but the fact that is such a great road at least made the driving easy. Stops at the Labookellie Tea Center and at the Royal Mall at Kandy for lunch, and we finally managed to get in to Colombo late on Saturday.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gStWVkAWp8W1tW-47SGW2gtVm4_BJLIjg2HguuE8Ui6E2JChMZQMd5fWUvkqx7XILWRdhruy30hgZHZrNUNaLVOBiAQpg_Ny7wDj9_45DN_R2XjnON7n1ITpCKcGlPS8yRGehBw3tMQ/s1600-h/NE5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gStWVkAWp8W1tW-47SGW2gtVm4_BJLIjg2HguuE8Ui6E2JChMZQMd5fWUvkqx7XILWRdhruy30hgZHZrNUNaLVOBiAQpg_Ny7wDj9_45DN_R2XjnON7n1ITpCKcGlPS8yRGehBw3tMQ/s200/NE5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198746460975375682" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUASD9W7HyDQjimchBY_2Hmb65JgCD3XGUJapLcCX5JaKHGRadhjv8BY0RmS0dmAOBQBZsE69iLPRe8gor0k0RXIaox02iTbkKJeqWRnO2p5LR6EEPvYHljAPOkKxdJD6LBY_WY9K-10/s1600-h/NE4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 74px; height: 99px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUASD9W7HyDQjimchBY_2Hmb65JgCD3XGUJapLcCX5JaKHGRadhjv8BY0RmS0dmAOBQBZsE69iLPRe8gor0k0RXIaox02iTbkKJeqWRnO2p5LR6EEPvYHljAPOkKxdJD6LBY_WY9K-10/s200/NE4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198746473860277618" border="0" /></a></p>Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8527345961619044052.post-10594998453447852722008-04-07T21:25:00.000-07:002008-04-07T22:03:21.724-07:00More on the Fishing hutA colleague of mine has also visited the fishing hut and sampled it charms. They have obviously had a more adventurous time than we had! The weather has cooperated better too. Details of their trip along with pics can be found at <a href="http://www.lakdasun.com/attractions/attraction_02.htm">http://www.lakdasun.com/attractions/attraction_02.htm</a>Preveenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189544039954504924noreply@blogger.com0