The Immortal Game

Tags: chess kasparov deep blue

I just listened to an interview with David Shenk the author of The Immortal Game on ITConversations.

Here Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with David Shenk, about how chess influenced the first computer scientists, and how Garry Kasparov dealt with being beaten by a computer.

listen to the MP3 here.

Winter

Tags: winter fall

Winter has come. However, for some trees it still seems fall.

World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979

World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979


This is something very interesting. A competition held in 1979 to find the fastest bowler in the world. The greats of that time compete with each other. The feared bowlers of this time include Jeff Thomson, Denis Lillee, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Michael Holding etc. These are all time greats and most feared fast bowlers of each time. However, the test is a revelation. Except for Thompson who achieved a speed of 147.8 kmph the rest achived speeds in the 130s or below. It was a disappointment since with these names I had associated sheer pace which modern day bowlers cannot match. It seems the present day bowlers are much faster. Brett Lee consistently bowls at over 145kmph and often above 150kmph. Akhthar being no different. Bowlers of the calibre of Harmison, Shane Bond, Ntini all seem to be faster than most these guys. Even our own Lasith Malinga and Dilhara bowls faster than most.

So the question is why are these guys considered greats and so feared by batsment in their era. I can still remember world series games in Australia where the pace attack led by Holding, Garner, Marshall and Roberts terrorized Sri Lankan batsmen. There could be many reasons here're some possible reasons:

1. The speed radar used here could be flawed. It's technology 27 years ago so this is possible.
2. Those days pitches had more grass and more lateral movement and had more bounce than the batsman friendly pitches of today. So accuracy, aggression and decent pace made it difficult for batsmen.
3. Batsmen did not wear helmets so always feared getting struk on the head.

Golden moments of Sri Lankan cricket

Sri Lanka's 1st ever Test Cricket Match 1982 Day 1

I found this rare video on youtube. This is the first day highlights of Sri Lanka's first ever test with England. I was 7 years old at that time and still remember the event. We did not have a TV at that time; most people didn't and people followed cricket on radio. Have a look you will see a skinny Ranathunga, likes of Wettimuny, Mendis and Madugalle battling against Willis and Botham.



Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup Victory 1996

14 years later (10 years ago) we won the world cup. Enjoy the highlights.

Buddhism and science

I thought of putting more into this blog and post daily (at least try to do so) .

Here's a great mp3 by Ajahn Bramawamso that I would recommend anyone interested in looking at Buddhism from a scientific point of view. He derives insight from his past as a theoretical physist at Cambridge before becoming a monk.

Weather in California

California is known as a sunny state. That was my impression of California before arriving here. Here in Bay Area it has been far from sunny during the past few days. The temperature is dropping as we approach the winter and sky is cloudy and it's dark and gloomy.

Right now at 9:55p.m the temperature outside 7 degrees Celcius. FYI it's 45 degrees Farenheight.
I still find it difficult to think in F as I'm used to C.

The following weather report was generated by Yahoo.

Hike to San Bruno park

Went on a hike to San Bruno park last afternoon. Climbed the hills and it gave a very good view
of San Francisco city.

OrangeHRM is in Sourceforge top 50

OrangeHRM 1.2 was released last week. This has a cool new web installer which makes the installation such a pleasurable experience. Already there are more than 500 downloads of the product and it has reached the top 50 in sourceforge for the first time.

First week at Carnegie Mellon West

Today we (team: iCan) submitted the deliverables for the 1st task of Foundations of Software Engineering. Being the first assignment of the course there were a lot of unknowns but we worked as a team and accomplished the task in time. Since we planned properly there was no undue stress towards the latter part of the week.

Yesterday we had our first meeting with VP of Marketing of ND System Solutions the virtual company we will be working for during the course. I visited the campus early and took a few photographs of the campus and Moffet Field.

Hunting for books in Mountain View

I walked to Mountain View (40 minute walk from Los Altos) to buy the books recommended by Carnegie Mellon for the Masters programme. Looked in 4 book shops but could not buy a single book. Only "Extreme Programming Explained" was there in one shop but that was the 2000 edition. I need to buy the 2004 edition of the book.

Bought a map of Silicon Valley and a travel book on San Francisco Bay area. Took a bus back to Los Altos.

Took some pictures in Mountain View:

Stroll in Los Altos

Feeling bored I went on a quick stroll to Los Altos town a while ago. There was a park (Lincoln Park) mentioned on the google map. So I thought of taking a few photographs. Well, there wasn't much to take. Anyway the photos I took are below.

Guest Lecture at University of Moratuwa

The topic of the lecture was: Test First Coding.

This was done with the aim of explaining the value of test first coding and a practical development session was done for further clarity.

Presentation Slildes

I signed the Agile manifesto

After being an evangelist of Agile Software Development Processes for the past 4 years. I took some time and signed the Agile Manifesto. I should've done this a long time ago.

My Signature in Agile Manifesto

Workshop on Agile Processes and Software Patterns at University of Peradeniya

Continuing our contribution to the Sri Lankan Universities, hSenid Software International conducted a workshop on Agile Processes and Software Patterns at the University of Peradeniya on 30th June 2006.

The audience was from Computer Engineering department of the Engineering Faculty. The event was a success.


Presentation Slides

Winning - by Jack Welch

Started reading "Winning'. It's facsinating. When you read it you feel as if the book was written with your organization in mind. So far I have read 5 chapters.

How to Run Successful Projects III - The Silver Bullet

I am halfway through this book and am impressed by the Approach. Although I knew about this approach and the PSI calculation before I started reading the book now I have a much deeper understanding. It is my intention to complete reading this and do a presentation to the hSenid project management team to get their feedback about implementing this.

Trip to Mahiyangana - Badulla - Buththala

Day 1 - Saturday 29th April

We left Colombo early in the morning at 3:30a.m. and headed for Kandy. Reached Kandy within 3 hours. Dalada Maligawa in Kandy was our first stop. Since we had a lot of time at our disposal for the day we spent a lot of time at the Maligawa. Also, visited the museam there.















We had breakfast in Kandy and left Kandy at 9:30 in the morning. Our next stop would be Mahiyangana. We decided to take longer but more picturesque route to Mahiyangana along Victoria, Randenigala and Rantambe tanks. As expected we could see the tanks for most of the length of the journey.




























We stopped at a few places to take photographs. Near the dams taking photographs was prohibited.




























The trip took longer than expected. We reached Mahiyangana in the afternoon.






























After settling down (at Hasalaka) we went for a bath in a nearby stream.






























We headed towards Mahiyangana town and the temple in the evening. It was dusk when we reached the temple. A few photographs were taken in the fading light.

















Day 2 - Sunday 30th April

Day 2 started from Mahiyangana.















We were about 1 hour late than we planned. Left Mahiyangana at about 7:30 in the morning. We reached Badulla within 2 hours. Our first stop was Muthiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya.











































Lord Buddha had visited this place in the 8th year
after enlightenment with 500 arahants.




















We also had breakfast at Badulla.

Our next destination was Maligawila near Buththala. We had to decide on a route. The well known way from Wellawaya would be longer. So based on the map we decided on a route through Passara. This route was very scenic as it wound through tea plantations in the Namunkula range of mountains.





























It took us less than 2 hours to reach Buththala. From Buththala we went past Okkampitiya towards Maligawila. There were 2 colossal statues one, the famous Maligawila Buddha statue and another Bodhisatva statue.















On our way from Maligawila we stopped at another temple named Dematamal Viharaya in Okkampitiya. This temple was the place prince Saddatissa had hidden from prince Dutugemunu in their battle.















On our way back we stopped at Buththala and had lunch. The next stop was Buduruvagala which is a huge rock with carvings of Buddha stautes and Bodhisatva staues.



















The Buddha statue here is supposed to be the tallest standing Buddha statue in Sri Lanka.






































The next stop was the Handapangala tank.












































Although we had plans of bathing there we were advised by the villagers not to as it was dangerous. This area is also well known for elephants however, we did not see any.

One our way home we took the difficult route through Wellawaya just to see Diyaluma falls which is the second tallest in Sri Lanka.




















It was dark when we left Diyaluma which was the final destination of our trip.

Inter Clubs Chess Championship 2006

Defending champions, Passed Pawns Chess Club with 18.5 points came 2nd in the annual Inter Clubs Chess Championship organized by CFSL. Paul Morphy Chess Club won the championship with 21.5 points.

Passed Pawns Chess Club team comprised:
(1) Thushan Wickramarachchi
(2) Prasanga Dissanayake
(3) Luxman Wijesuriya
(4) Marlon Fernando
(5) Himath Dissanayake (c)
(6) Arjuna Jayadarshana
(7) Saminda De Vas Gunawardhana

Results of rounds:
(1) Beat Kandy Chess Club 4-2
(2) Beat Paul Morphy Chess Club 3.5-2.5
(3) Lost to Royal College Chess Club 2-4
(4) Drew with Nf3 Chess Club 3-3
(5) Beat Dharmapala College Chess Club 6-0