Ancient sacred lake unearthed in Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed the site of a pharaonic-era sacred lake in a temple to the Egyptian goddess Mut in the ruins of ancient Tanis, the Culture Ministry said

recently.

The Ministry said the lake, found 12 metres below ground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in Egypt’s eastern Nile Delta, was 15 metres long and 12 metres wide and built out of limestone blocks. It was in a good condition.

It was the second sacred lake found at Tanis, which became the Northern capital of ancient Egypt in the 21st pharaonic dynasty, over 3,000 years ago.

The first lake at the site was found in 1928, the ministry said.

The goddess Mut, sometimes depicted as a vulture, was the wife of Amun, god of wind and the breath of life. She was also mother of the moon god Khonsu.

 - Reuters

A student called up his mum one evening from his college and asked her for some money, because he was broke.

His mother said, “Sure, sweetie. I will send you some money. You also left your economics book here when you visited two weeks ago. Do you want me to send that up too?”

“Uhh, oh yeah, O.K.” responded the kid.

So his mum wrapped the book along with the checks up in a package, kissed his dad goodbye, and went to the post office to mail the money and the book. When she got back, dad asked, “Well how much did you give the boy this time?”

“Oh, I wrote two checks, one for $20, and the other for $1,000.”

“That’s $1020!!!” yelled dad, “Are you going crazy???”

“Don’t worry hon,” said mum kissing him on the top of his bald head, “I taped the $20 check to the cover of his book, but I put the $1,000 one somewhere between the pages towards the last chapters.

********

Waiter, do you have frog’s legs?

No sir, I’ve always walked like this.

****

Waiter, there’s a caterpillar on my salad.

Don’t worry sir, there is no extra charge.

Why was the headmaster worried?

Because there were too many rulers in school.

****

What do you get if you cross a kangaroo with a skyscraper?

A high jumper!

*******

November 22

A.Ratnayake, a former minister (1948-1956)and president of the Senate (1966-1971) died in 1977.

Mae West,Hollywood actress died in 1980.

Charles De Gaulle, a former president of France (1948-1949) and (1958-1969) was born in 1890.

Mary Anne Evans, English writer who wrote under the pen name George Elliot was born in 1819.

John F.Kennedy, a former American president (1960-1963) was assassinated in 1963.

November 23

Sri Satya Sai Baba,religious philosopher in India was born in 1926.

Borris Karloff, English actor was born in 1887.

Vladimir Paulson, Danish engineer who invented the tape recorder was born in 1869.

Billy the kid(William H.Bonney),American folk hero was born in 1859.

November 24

Ian Botham, a former English cricketer was born in 1955.

Dale Carnegie,American positivist writer was was born in 1888.

A.M.A.Aziz, a former principal of Zahira College,Civil Servant and member of the Senate(1952-1963) died in 1973.

November 25

Ven. Induruwe Uththarananda Thera was born in 1909.

Leonard Woolf, a former Government Agent of Hambantota District-1908 and a writer(The village in the Jungle) was born in 1880.

Imran Khan, a former Pakistan cricket captain,was born in 1952.

Augusto Pinochet, a former president of Chile was born in 1915.

Ven. Palane Sri Vajiragnana Mahanayaka Thera was born in 1878.

November 26

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan,a barrister (freedom fighter) died in 1930.

Madugalle Adigar and Keppetipola Adigar, leaders of Uva rebellion were beheaded in 1818.

Somaweera Senanayake,novelist and playwright was born in 1944.

Tina Turner ,American singer was born in 1938.

November 27

Eugin O'neill, American playwright died in 1953.

Vishwanath Prathaph Singh, a former Indian Prime minister,died in 2008.

Gunasena Galappaththi,Sinhala dramatist died in 1984.

Bruce Lee,Hollywood actor,martial arts specialist was born in 1940.

November 28

William Blake,English poet and artist was born in 1757.

Friedrich Engles,a German political thinker was born in 1820.

Alberto Moravia,Italian writer was born in 1907.

Enid Blyton, English author of children's books(The Famous Five series ) died in 1968.

November 22

Lebanon National Day (gained independence from France in 1943.)

Ceylon Planters’ Society formed in 1936.

Colombo Municipal Council was established in 1865.

"Namo Namo Matha" composed by Ananda Samarakoon was accepted as the national anthem in 1951.

November 23

Department of Labour was established in 1923.

A severe cyclone in the Eastern province caused extensive damage in 1978.

Ruwanweliseya pinnacle laying ceremony was held in 1939.

November 24

Foundation stone for the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) was laid in 1970.

Origin of Species,by Charles Darwin was first published in 1859.

November 25

Suriname National Day (proclaimed independence from Netherland in 1975.)

Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel in 1867.

International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

November 26

World Thanksgiving Day, this day was announced by the United State first president ,George Washington in 1789.

November 27

First aeroplane landed at the Ratmalana Airport in 1935.

Sir George William Anderson, was appointed as the Governor of Ceylon in 1850.

November 28

Mauritania National day (proclaimed independence from France in 1960.)

Sir James Emerson Tenant, was appointed Colonial Secretary of Ceylon in 1845.

Provident fund scheme was started for employees in 1958.

Ninth space shuttle mission-“Colombia 6” was launched in 1983.

Albania National day.

Compiled by W.A. Rusiru JAYASURIYA

Spread of Swine Flu:

Protective measures introduced in schools

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha last week directed countrywide Provincial Educational Directors, including school authorities to be alert about the spreading of Novel Influenza A/H1N1 (commonly known as Swine Flu), among school children.

It has been reported that nearly 207 people including school children in the country have already been infected with this disease, however most of them have shown a remarkable progress after obtaining medical treatment from Government hospitals.

According to the latest statistics, issued by the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health, only three persons, including two children and a pregnant woman have died so far due to the disease.

Speaking to Junior Observer, Education Minister Premajayantha said he personally paid special attention about preventing the spreading of Swine Flu among school children, after a few students from an international school in Colombo and one from a school in Kurunegala, contracting it.

Minister Premajayantha also directed school authorities to make special health care programmes within their school premises to detect students with symptoms of the disease and also instructed them to take immediate measures to send any one affected by it to nearest Government hospitals.

"The Health Department has provided necessary medicine to almost all hospitals in the country to treat patients with Swine Flu,".

He said hospitals in the country have medicines, not only to treat patients with Swine Flu, but also for other epidemics.

Meanwhile, when contacted by the Junior Observer, Senior Epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health Dr. Sudath Peiris, requested people not to panic over Swine Flu.

"It is not fatal like dengue fever which has already claimed around 140 lives in the country," he said.

However, people must be on the alert over dengue too as it has already spread to many areas in the country and latest Health Department statistics reveal that nearly 10,000 cases are reported from various places.

Speaking further about Swine Flu, Dr. Peiris said that those who are running slight or high fever, must seek medical advice from the nearest Government Hospital, to find out whether or not they have contacted the disease.

"Thereafter, if necessary, patients will be directed by hospital authorities either to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) at Angoda or one of the few Government Hospitals, which have been identified to treat Swine Flu patients," he said.

Dr. Peiris also said Government hospitals are fully equipped with the necessary drugs and trained manpower to handle any suspected Swine Flu case.

Talking about the symptoms of the disease, he said fever, cold, cough, pain in muscles and spinal cord, failure of the respiratory system, headache, and irritation in the throat are the main symptoms.

Asked about the precautionary measures to be taken to stop the spreading of the disease, Dr. Peiris said to keep infected persons separately from others, request the patient to use a handkerchief when coughing, not to give water bottles, cups, plates and clothes used by the patient to others and also to wear masks, covering the mouth and the nose, when in contact with affected persons. It is also very important to wash your hands thoroughly prior to eating anything.

Henry Jayasena:

Veteran actor bids farewell

The final curtain fell on November 11 on Henry Jayasena, the veteran actor, dramatist, script writer and novelist who was famous among children as Sudu Seeya in the teledrama Doo Daruwo.

Henry Jayasena, born on July 6, 1931, passed away at the age of 78. He began his acting career on stage as a schoolboy performing in the drama Manamalayo. He later not only acted, but also wrote scripts and directed many dramas.

He is famous for directing and acting in Hunuwataye Kathawa, an adaptation of Bartolt Bretcht's Caucasian Chalk Circle. Some of his popular plays are Janelaya, Ahas Maliga, Diriya Mawa, Makara and Apata Puthe Magak Nethe.

He also played the role of Piyal in Lester James Peries' Gamperaliya and other films such as Handaya, Beddegama and Hansa Vilak. He also acted in several teledramas.He was educated at St. Lawrence College, Gampaha and Ananda College, Colombo.

A royal award for royal talents

Microsoft names Royal College as one of the best innovative schools in the world:

by Rohana JAYALAL

Royal College, Colombo, was selected by Microsoft Corporation as one of the world's best innovative schools recently. The selection was made from among hundreds of schools from different countries around the world. Upali Gunasekara, principal of Royal College told the Junior Observer.

According to the principal,Royal College is listed among 30 schools in the world with the best innovative practices. The schools were judged on academic success, culture of innovation, leadership development, community learning, strategic development planning and the innovative use of information and communications technologies.

In July 2009 Royal College had submitted their application to the Microsoft Corporation for consideration. Microsoft had evaluated the achievements of the school in the above areas.

Selection of Royal College as one of the best global innovative schools proves that the school's achievements in all of the above areas received utmost recognition of the panel of evaluators who consisted of eminent educational professionals from leading educational institutions in the world.In May 2009, a local competition was organised by Microsoft Sri Lanka in co-ordination with the Education Ministry to select five most innovative schools in the country. Royal College took part in this competition and was selected together with another four schools to represent Sri Lanka in the global competition.

For the past few years Royal College has been launching a lot of innovative practices, most of them technology-related. Royal College and the 29 other schools have been asked to come up with more innovative practices during the next 12 months, and at the end of the period, the school's performances will be evaluated, said the principal.

"This is a continuing process, now we have to keep up with our best practices. We are hoping that students, teachers, parents and old boys will all pitch in to help the school come up with more innovations", Gunasekara said.

According to the principal, now Royal College is a Global Pathfinder School in the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network. The students will be able to connect with other schools around the world and share their experience.

Principal Gunasekara participated in Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Schools Forum in Brazil held from November 3 to 7 and he accepted the Pathfinder School award for Royal College on November 6, 2009.

The other Schools that were listed along with Royal were from Australia, Britain, Canada, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Singapore, Russia, the Philippines and several other European and Asian countries.