කෙහෙළිය | Keheliya

An Oompa Loompa of Computer Science. Rejoices in making people's lives easier, better and happier using technology. Loves boxes with blinking lights. Blogs at http://galpotha.wordpress.com Tweets at http://twitter.com/keheliya

[keheliya]

My talks at AIware Bootcamp '24 on AI Agents and RAG

I was recently invited to share my thoughts with a great group of academics and software developers about two exciting topics that have really caught people’s attention lately. The 6-day event, AIware Bootcamp, was held in Queen’s University Downtown Toronto Campus. I talked about agents and RAG (Retrieval augmented generation) in the context of foundation models such as LLMs. Agentic…

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[keheliya]

Steam Deck review after two years

Steam deck 256GB LCD version with a Bluetooth gaming controller and JBL Vibe 200TWS earbuds I just realized I’ve been using the Steam Deck for two years, and this is a good time to reflect on my experience. This post is a mixture of thoughts about the device itself and a few notes I realized along the way about my gaming habits. Stream deck is an excellent combination of hardware and software.…

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[keheliya]

Kindle Scribe: A Review

As part of my job, I have to read many research papers (distributed as two-column PDFs with fixed formatting). I like reading other books in my free time as well. To relieve me of the burden of carrying a lot of physical books around and not having to take out the laptop when I want to quickly refer to a document, I thought of getting an eInk reader. After looking around for what’s available, I…

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[keheliya]

I visited Buenos Aires, Argentina in May 2017, and it was very different from the cities I have visited earlier. I stayed in the old barrio of San Telmo but was able to visit few other barrios such as Recoleta, San Nicolás, Monserrat, Puerto Madero, and La Boca.

In the San Telmo neighborhood, you can walk along the cobblestone streets admiring the architecture from the Spanish colonial times. The area has beautiful large houses, or ‘Quintas’, built for elite families in the 17th century. Due to a yellow fever epidemic in 1871, the upper classes have left the area and moved to Recoleta. So these houses were converted to Conventillos which were rented to poor European immigrant workers. It is said that in the central courtyards of these overcrowded urban housing schemes Tango was born. Pasaje Defensa, or the house of the Ezeiza family, is one such house we got to visit. Calle Defensa from Plaza de Mayo to Plaza Dorrego is closed to motor traffic on Sundays and turns into a flea market. You can walk along the side streets enjoying the tango dancers, antique shops, and hand-made jewelry vendors.

Other interesting places we visited in San Telmo are the Mafalda monument (a tribute to the famous cartoon character) and Mercado de San Telmo (the indoor market). The best meat empanadas I had were at a small shop inside the market (200 pesos) and at a bakery (Panadería Confitería) called ‘La Nueva Independencia’ (180 pesos). For meat-based fast food like Chorizo or Bondiola sandwiches, I recommend Nuestra Parilla near the market.

In the Monserrat barrio, the main attraction was the Plaza de Mayo named after the May 1810 revolution which led to Argentina’s independence from Spain. A bit north of the plaza is the cultural center where we attended a nice concert by the National tango orchestra. The admission is free for this. But you have to get tickets during the day.

If you walk few blocks northwest of the Plaza de Mayo, you reach the Obelisco, the famous landmark. There was a big protest against wage limits going on here when we visited. But with the firecrackers, drums, and chants, it appeared more like a carnival rather than a protest. Apparently, this kind of protests is a very common thing in downtown Buenos Aires.

We took a 6-pesos bus ride from San Telmo to arrive in the La Boca barrio. This neighborhood has got the name because it is at the mouth (‘Boca’) of the Matanza-Riachuelo River. We visited La Bombonera, the home ground of the famous Boca Juniors football club. Then we walked through the Caminito, with the colorful houses and local artists selling their paintings on both sides of the road. With their murals everywhere you will soon understand how important are Evita (Eva Perón), Carlos Gardel, and Maradona as cultural icons in Argentina.

Puerto Madero is a failed port project by the local businessman Eduardo Madero in the 1880s which was redeveloped in the 1990s to have luxury hotels, apartment towers, offices and universities along the waterfront. Highlights for me in the area were Presidente Sarmiento museum ship and Puente de la Mujer (‘Women’s Bridge’) designed by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava to resemble a couple dancing the tango.

Travel Tip: Although I did not come across any problems walking at night in San Telmo or Monserrat, I heard one of my colleagues got robbed using the notorious white-paint-squirt-on-bag trick. The locals advised us not to go off the well-known tourist routes in La Boca and San Telmo. It will be very useful if you can speak Spanish when you walk around.

Popular Local Beer: Quilmes

Obelisco de Buenos Aires

the Matanza-Riachuelo River

Evita (Eva Perón), Carlos Gardel, and Maradona in La Boca

la bombonera

monumento a mafalda

Puente de la Mujer

Obelisco de Buenos Aires

Photo Credits: Eduardo Coronado-Montoya

Here are some articles I found useful to answer the questions I had after visiting this interesting city.

Why do Argentina, and South America in general, have had so many political and economical problems in the recent past?

How did the Matanza-Riachuelo become one of the most polluted rivers in the world?

Travel Diaries – Buenos Aires, Argentina I visited Buenos Aires, Argentina in May 2017, and it was very different from the cities I have visited earlier.

[keheliya]

I visited Tokyo, Japan in March 2017. It’s a huge, beautiful city and you cannot cover everything  awesome in few days. I spent 4 nights in Tokyo and 5 nights in Kamakura.

Travel Tip: Tokyo has a great train network. But they are operated by different companies like JR, Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. Make sure you buy a prepaid IC card like PASMO or Suica at the airport to avoid wasting time at ticket booths every time you transfer between lines. Also, make sure are looking at the correct train network map when you’re planning the trip.

In Tokyo, I stayed in a hostel near the Asakusabashi station because it’s in the center of several attractions such as Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara and Ryōgoku. In Asakusa, I visted the Sensō-ji Temple. It is a colorful, ancient, Buddhist temple.

If you’re a fan of anime, manga, board games and electronics, you should visit Akihabara, the geek town of Tokyo. In Shibuya, you’ll find the busiest intersection in the world, the Shibuya crossing, and the Hachiko memorial.

Edo-Tokyo museum, situated near the Ryogoku station, provided me with a concise view of the Edo period and the recent history of Tokyo. The kids will love the hands-on exhibits and photo-ops as well. There are free traditional magic shows and other cultural events in the weekends as well.

If you are interested in a more in-depth tour covering the history of Japan and Buddhism in Asia, make sure you check out the Asian gallery of Tokyo National Museum, in Ueno. The highlight for me was the large collection of Buddhist sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta periods. Tip for the history buffs: Ueno area is the home to several other museums as well, National Museum of Western Art, National Science Museum, and the Shitamachi Museum.

In Kamakura area, the highlight for me was the Great Buddha Statue (Daibutsu) at the Kotokuin temple. I also visited the Hase-kannon Temple and the Hachiman-gu Shrine in Kamakura. In Japan, shrines are built to worship elements from both Shinto and Buddhism, while temples are dedicated to Buddhism.

I tasted some special food items in Tokyo as well. I tried Kibi dango and Ningyo-yaki (snacks made out of rice flour and redbean paste) at the Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa. Then there were delicious sushi and sashimi at some local restaurants. Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake that can have a mix of ingredients. Travel Tip: If you want to taste some authentic Japanese food for cheap for one last time before leaving Tokyo, there are some good restaurants at the Narita and Haneda airports.

Great Buddha in Kamakura

Sensō-ji temple

Akihabara

Tokyo National Museum

Hachiman-gu Shrine

Hase Temple, Kamakura

Hachiko Memorial in Shibuya

Sushi near Ryogoku

Shibuya crossing

Sensō-ji Temple, Asakusa

Variety of sugars and salts

Travel Diaries – Tokyo, Japan I visited Tokyo, Japan in March 2017. It's a huge, beautiful city and you cannot cover everything  awesome in few days.

[keheliya]

Must Watch Talks to catch up on Software Engineering Research

Must Watch Talks to catch up on Software Engineering Research

This is a post in progress. I will be using this to bookmark interesting talks, as I find them, on Software Engineering research which summarizes the work done in the past decade (roughly) and therefore will be useful for new students like me.

What We Actually Know About Software Development, and Why We Believe It’s True

by Greg Wilson

This talk was done in 2010. So kind of old,…

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[reddragdiva]

URGENT: get the hell off Apache OpenOffice, it's insecure and not worked on any more. LibreOffice is better in literally every way.

you know OpenOffice, right? free substitute for Microsoft Office which is basically just as good, but free.

well, it’s not as good. and is in fact actively dangerous to use.

the security hole: HWP files can be exploited and pwn your PC. obscure minor format, no problem … except that if you get a HWP file with a .DOC extension - say, what appears to be a MS Word file emailed you by anyone - you can get pwned by that.

they’ve known about this since april 2015 and haven’t fixed it. they have distributed over 8 million known-vulnerable copies of AOO since 27 april. (and the 143 million vulnerable before that.)

the fix is, literally, remove one file from the installer. they haven’t got it together to do this in five months.

tell everyone you know. tell your writer friends. tell your family with that old copy.  tell anyone you see running OpenOffice. get LibreOffice, it also originated in OpenOffice but is actually developed and they show the slightest sign of caring about their end users. LO 5.0 is really very nice. much faster to use than 4.4 too.

so what’s going on here:

Sun Microsystems (mild yay) ran OpenOffice from 2000 to 2010. it was imperfect, but it was good enough and free and open-source. it accumulated one heck of a famous brand name. (“we need an office program” “how about that openoffice thing”)

Oracle (boo hiss!) bought Sun in early 2010. OpenOffice development stopped as they reassigned developers.

a bunch of non-Sun/Oracle developers went “bugger this” and forked it (‘cos it was open source) in late 2010. thus, LibreOffice, which immediately became stupidly better.

Oracle had a snit and shoved the corpse of OpenOffice at the Apache Foundation in mid-2011 at the behest of IBM, who wanted to do it their way.

Apache OpenOffice had nothing worth the trouble, but got downloads because of the famous “OpenOffice” brand name.

IBM gave up in late 2013. since then, AOO has literally been sixteen ex-Sun devs squatting the name and doing bugger-all with it. their reasons are unclear.

they insist they still have a product, even though what they’ve actually achieved has been to put over eight million downloads that they knew were vulnerable on people’s PCs. possibly your PC.

instead of fixing it, by removing one file from the installer, they post excuses for not doing stuff.

(if this sounds like a fascinating tale, feel free to check the extensively-cited history sections of the OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice articles on wikipedia, which i mostly researched and wrote.)

Apache OpenOffice’s lack of developers since IBM gave up is extensively documented. many have expressed concerns over the BLATANT SECURITY HOLE. in late august a Red Hat developer posted an open letter urging them to just give up the pretense and redirect the end users (that’s you) to LibreOffice. this had wide impact, and quite a pile of others concurred that they need to stop making life actively worse for the end users. the AOO people posted numerous comments making excuses … but they still distribute their known dangerous software and just won’t lift a finger to fix it.

tl;dr: get the hell off OpenOffice, get everyone you know the hell off OpenOffice. get LibreOffice, it is strictly superior in literally every dimension, and they actually give a damn about you the user and fix the security holes.

this text is CC-0 public domain. please spread far and wide. 

[keheliya]

[thenewmetropolitan]

[the-frozen-city]

Gives me life

[keheliya]

:-D

[onethingwell]

[keheliya]

Shellshock (CVE-2014-6271, CVE-2014-7169, CVE-2014-7186, CVE-2014-7187, CVE-2014-6277) is a vulnerability in GNU’s bash shell that gives attackers access to run remote commands on a vulnerable system.

You can use this website to test if your system is vulnerable, and also learn how to patch the vulnerability so you are no longer at risk for attack.

[keheliya]

All in a knot

When a non-English speaking, sarong-clad, konde-wearing rustic dared to reach for his dreams By Roger Thiedeman

This article appeared first on The Sunday Times

One morning in August 1952, a shy, nervous man arrived at the Ceylon Air Academy at Ratmalana Airport for his first flying lesson. Aged in his mid-forties, he was considerably older than most other would-be flyers. But that was not the only thing unusual about this man. Speaking Sinhala only, he was attired in the traditional garb of the unsophisticated village mudalali: shirt, coat and sarong, with hair tied at the back of his head in a konde (knot).

Almost without exception, the world of private flying was then populated by more 'refined' folk from wealthy aristocratic families, educated at so-called 'good' schools. So, not surprisingly, this aspiring aviator and his 'country bumpkin' demeanour attracted disbelieving stares and derisory comments from sundry onlookers. Who, some sniggered, did this sarong-clad gamarala with a konde think he was by climbing into the cockpit of a trainer aircraft, the hallowed preserve of only the rich and well-bred?

But even if Attanagalley Wickramarachchi Millawalage Don John Paulis Appuhamy understood such comments, he pretended not to hear. He was, after all, made of sterner stuff. One day not long before that August morning, Paulis Appuhamy (also nicknamed 'Ukku Mahathmaya') went to Ratmalana Airport with his eldest son Vijitha Kumara, who wanted to watch the aeroplanes taking off and landing. Soon, Paulis became fascinated by the thought of flying those machines, and diffidently approached one of the flying school instructors. Speaking in Sinhala he said, "Sir, I would love to fly a 'plane. Can you teach me?"

The instructor turned to him in surprise and replied, "But how can you fly with your hair in a konde?" In those days, instructors and student pilots wore close-fitting leather helmets with built-in headphones for communicating with each other in open-cockpit aircraft like the de Havilland D.H.82 Tiger Moth. Obviously, such headgear would be difficult, if not impossible, to fit over someone's head with a tonsorial protruberance at the rear. However, Paulis was not dissuaded. Proudly caressing his konde he insisted, "I have no problem with my konde, sir, so I would still love to fly."

But the instructor had further concerns. Apart from the added discomfort-not to mention safety hazards-that someone might encounter in a cockpit whilst wearing a loose, flowing sarong (instead of 'streamlined' flying overalls), it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a trainee who spoke no English to absorb instruction both in the air and in the classroom; not to mention reading the theory material that all pupil pilots had to study.

After taking the man on a brief joyflight, it soon became apparent to the instructor that this man of simple, 'rural' appearance was an enthusiastic individual who was determined to learn how to fly an aeroplane. Moreover, he seemed to have an intimate knowledge of technical matters. So, he was introduced to the flying school's Chief Flying Instructor, Captain C.H.S. Amarasekera, and another instructor, Susantha ('Sus') Jayasekera. Unlike the other scoffers and 'doubting Thomases' at Ratmalana, Amarasekera and Jayasekera saw the potential in this callow villager and to their credit-decided to take a chance on teaching him to fly.

What they did not realize at the time was that Paulis Appuhamy, despite his 'native' bearing and inability to speak English, had a proud family heritage and was a talented and respected person in his own right. Born on December 21, 1905, in the Attanagalla area, as a young boy Paulis discovered an aptitude for all things mechanical. Despite his village upbringing, he was fortunate to attend Ananda College, Colombo, thanks to the support of a family friend, Mr. D.C. Senanayake.

Later, Paulis inherited his father's bus transport business. At its prime, the modestly successful private company boasted a fleet of 36 buses operating to such destinations as Colombo, Kandy, Kurunegala and Hanwella.

Sometime around 1940, the prosperous 'bus mudalali' married a 17-year-old girl, many years his junior. Today, Paulis Appuhamy's widow-who is alternatively known by her maiden name of Annette de Saram or Mrs. Wickramarachchi-remains in residence at the family's Attanagalla walauwa 'Siri Medura', not far from the Colombo-Kandy Road. A formidable, intelligent lady with sharp memory recall, this matriarchal figure has her finger firmly on the pulse of all matters concerning the family's estate and fibre-milling business.

Annette de Saram blushingly recalls the early days of her marriage: "Though we were well-developed physically I was only a child. Because of that, even after marriage, my father wanted me to stay with my parents for another two years." In time, her union with Paulis Appuhamy was blessed with two sons and two daughters.

As his public transport business prospered, Paulis continued applying his mechanical talents to the operation of his buses, the family's motor cars, as well as to the fibre-milling machinery. He also acquired a keen interest in, and talent for, photography, while building up an impressive collection of rare and expensive cameras.

With his mastery of mechanical matters, it was hardly surprising that when the time came for Paulis to learn flying, he took to it with ease. 'Sus' Jayasekera was impressed by the fact that this non-English speaking pilot wearing a sarong (attire hitherto unheard of in an aircraft cockpit!) with his hair in a konde proved to be a keen and competent pupil. For his part, Paulis Appuhamy is reported to have said: "Guwan yana padhaveemeydi mata kondaya bhadavak vuney nehe." ("While flying a 'plane, my konde was not a hindrance.")

Returning to 'Siri Medura' after his first flying lesson, he told his wife, "Menike, I'm not afraid to fly. I will somehow get my licence." And indeed he did. After the usual course of instruction, during which he sometimes flew with bare feet on the rudder bar (pedals)-another unconventional practice, A.W.M.D.J. Paulis Appuhamy was issued with Private Pilot Licence No. 139, on October 5, 1953. Faithful to Sinhalese custom, he presented his instructor with a bulath atha (betel leaf sheaf) as a mark of gratitude and respect on that momentous occasion.

After gaining more experience, Paulis progressed from the Tiger Moth biplane to the Academy's newly-acquired and more advanced de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk monoplane. Now qualified to carry passengers, he would often take his son Vijitha Kumara on joyflights. One day, he lost his way but had the good sense to make a precautionary landing at the Puttalam (Palavi) airstrip. Just as the people at Ratmalana Airport were preparing to send a search aircraft, Paulis and his son returned in the Chipmunk, much to the relief of everybody, not least his wife Annette.

But Mrs. Wickramarachchi continued to worry about her husband's new love affair with airplanes. Her concern was not eased when she witnessed the fiery, fatal crash of a Tiger Moth one day when she had accompanied Paulis to Ratmalana for his lesson. Yet, she remained supportive of his aviating activities, and in 1953, at a special function for Academy pilots who had made their first solo flights, Annette de Saram was chosen to greet the chief guest, Sir John Kotelawala (then Minister of Transport & Works; later Prime Minister of Ceylon), with a bulath atha.

Although Paulis Appuhamy enjoyed his freedom as a private pilot, he did not neglect the running of his bus company. But later, he gradually scaled down his aeronautical pursuits and, around 1954/55, eventually stopped flying altogether.

On January 1, 1958, all private bus companies in Ceylon were nationalised by the Bandaranaike government, to form the Ceylon Transport Board (C.T.B.). Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, whose ancestral estate in Horagolla is also in the vicinity of Attanagalla, had been friendly with Paulis Appuhamy since their younger days. But the sudden loss of his family bus transport business-for which he received no compensation-was a bitter pill for Paulis to swallow, and his relationship with the Prime Minister was soured as a result.

Around 1963 Paulis Appuhamy suffered a stroke, and continued to battle its debilitating effects for another ten years. He passed away on February 23, 1973. Today, even in death Paulis is revered with affection and pride by his widow and their children-not least for creating Sri Lankan aviation history by successfully rising above prejudice and discouragement to become the nation's first (and probably to this day the only) non-English speaking, sarong-clad, konde-wearing private pilot.

(With acknowledgements to Mrs. Annette de Saram-Wickramarachchi, Capt. G.A. Fernando, Mrs. Ivy Fernando and Capt 'Sus' Jayasekera for their invaluable assistance in the preparation of this article.)

[dayvmattt]

[keheliya]

Not *ALL* men

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/15/5720332/heres-why-women-have-turned-the-not-all-men-objection-into-a-meme

https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/467050255922376704/photo/1/large

[keheliya]

Visual Guides turned 1 today!

[keheliya]

Is artificial intelligence real intelligence? Perhaps not, just as an artificial pearl is a fake pearl, not a real pearl. “Synthetic intelligence” might be a better name, since, after all, a synthetic pearl may not be a natural pearl but it is a real pearl.

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~poole/ci/ch1.pdf

[keheliya]

කෙහෙළිය | Keheliya turned 5 today!

[keheliya]

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

It was the latest day in history to end with a lower human population than it began with, if I recall correctly, there have only been a small handful of such days in the last hundred years, including the 6th of August 1945 (The only such day in WWII). reddit

[keheliya]

I don’t know what the hell is going on. Neither do you, and neither does any one else. We’re all lost and improvising, making things before we know what they do, and breaking stuff before we know what replaces it. We’re all tinkering and speculating, listening to see if our shovels hit something hard while we’re digging. I suppose that’s what world-building is, though, so let’s get used to it. We need to learn to tolerate ambiguity. We are consistently between two things. Welcome to the borderlands.

Frank Chimero

http://frankchimero.com/blog/2013/03/big-ideas/