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Chain forwards, junk mail, spam - whatever you want to call them -
most of you who are e-mail literate will join me in my groan of
annoyance! Why people forward such things is beyond my understanding!
There was once a time, when only plain 'forwards' ruled our in boxes
- wonderful snippets of useful information, or touching stories or
something that simply made you laugh - were passed on via e-mail to
friends and family.
But now, the central attention lies not in the actual content of the
e-mail, but rather the very silly end-part of it, which most often
features the most ridiculous statements (which by the way, are often
composed of words that are abbreviated to such an extent, that they are
almost completely illegible to the average human! Example - 'if ur gna
frwrd dis and 2 mor thn 20 ppls'...Excuse me? Where did all the vowels
disappear?
One exceedingly common such statement goes something like this - 'if
you send this to 1-4 people; you are a total loser who's ugly and
unpopular...if you send this to 12-15 people; you rock!
Everyone loves you (Oh and something AWESOME will happen to you in 5
days!)' Seriously, people, is there really any chance that any of those
claims are true? Since when did non-living e-mails obtain the godly
power of deciding your popularity or predicting your future? Another
junk-mail 'specially' is the oh-so-familiar- 'Send this to 20 people in
the next 20 minutes- or the ghost of some dead girl will come and get
you! (A really bad thing will happen to you tomorrow!) Your love life
will soon meet its demise! Wow! Chain forwards make more threats than
the mafia!
If you're really unfortunate, you'll receive junk-mail with not only
mindless statements at the end, but also even more mindless content. One
particular hilariously ridiculous chain forward - is the one that boosts
your ego with a bunch of flattering remarks.
It will ask you either your month of birth, your favourite colour,
favourite number, or some such random thing, and will 'analyze' your
entire personality based on your random pick. It's pretty much like
checking out your horoscope, except this stuff is based on - that's
right - absolutely nothing.
Let's say you pick Red as your favourite colour, it will say -
'You're smart, spontaneous. Will have good fortune in the next 48 hours.
You are funny, people find you attractive...'and so on. So what does it
say when you pick Green? - 'You are clever and good-looking, with a
spicy sense of humour, very entertaining...'Do you get my drift?
Pick anything on the list, and it will say the same thing - only in
different words! The worst part is, many receivers of this junk are so
flattered (and may I add, so gullible) by all the ego-boosting
predictions made by their e-mail, that they actually forward it to the
rest of us!
It really struck me as a curious mystery as to why normally sane
people would pass on to friends and family so much junk, and so I asked
my friends why they find nothing sinister about subjecting my poor inbox
to such a lame waste of kilobytes.
The replies that came were all basically the same - 'Oh we don't
believe in or take these chain forwards seriously. We just forward it
just for the sake of forwarding, just for no reason...'
Er...Okay. So in other words, you know that the chain forwards are a
waste of time and inbox-space and that they are very often plain
stupid-and yet, you send it to all your friends and family, so they can
waste their time and inbox-space on something stupid too? And all that
'just for the sake of forwarding'? Well that makes as much sense as
doing the Macarena with a goat...Yes, it makes no sense at all!
I don't mean to patronise chain-forward-forwarders, with this little
anti-junk protest, but only hope we will all open our eyes a little
wider the next time we set eyes on a ridiculous chain forward on our
computer screens - and for the sake of sanity and all things intelligent
- hit the 'Delete' button, and not the 'Forward' one!
Pass around things that are funny and clever and useful - and just
Trash what's stupid and meaningless - let's keep our inboxes clean!
All comments and hate mails welcome to grandioseidea@hotmail.com (but
please, no junk!)
Shifani Reffai, Dehiwala
I commend Dr. Keerthi Jayasekere for a poignant but erudite discourse
in the Daily News of May 14, 2007.
In reading Dr. Jayasekere's article, I was reminded of the fact that
death has also an intensely compelling social dimension, where in some
jurisdictions, the right of the person to determine and decide on the
steps to be taken when he is dying is legally recognised, particularly
when the patient is not able to articulate his wishes.
This is done through a 'living will' which contains one's written
instructions about what level of medical treatment he wants in the event
that he is unable to express his wishes verbally. For instance, the
person may want all possible measures taken to keep him alive - or he
could instruct that nothing be done to keep him alive.
He could also be very specific about what treatments he wants,
depending on the condition he is in. A 'living will' would also specify
whether the deceased wanted to donate his organs.
Having one's wishes on paper can take the pressure off one's family
members to make difficult decisions regarding one's care.
It's also a good idea for the author of a 'living will' to review the
will to his doctor. The doctor can ensure that he has understood the
choices in the living will and that the instruction directive is
suitable for his own health situation.
Death is the result of birth and life is what happens inbetween. As
Tennyson said of a dead person: "God's fingers touch'd him, and he
slept." Alfred Tennyson (In Memoriam, 1850). That is as much as I could
wish for myself.
Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne
Where is the Animal Welfare Bill that the Law Commission presented to
the President for passage through Parliament? Everybody was agog with
the news that after almost a century of inaction the issue was at last
being addressed! The Law Commission was pressurised to put out the
report, as fast as possible, after which there was a spate of meetings
and much talk. And then as so often happens here silence!
We hear that it has finally ended on the lap of the Ministry of
Health, although the connection is not at all clear.
Certainly, the animal world in this Buddhist land (which awakens
every dawn to the classic call of the Buddha, May all living beings be
happy!) is beset with physical and psychological traumas, resulting from
the unbelievably cruel treatment by humans who, in turn, are affected by
their own abuse, not to mention the fallout on the embittered
environment, containing both.
A sick spectacle indeed! But were we not told some years ago that it
was this same Ministry that promised to implement the Bibile proposals,
that are nowhere still in sight? And if projects are handled on a
first-come-first-served basis, when will our animal proposals, reposing
at the bottom of that ponderous In-Tray, ever see the light of day?
Surely, it would have been more sensible to entrust it to the new
Ministry of Environment which has been showing some surprising ripples
of activity, or at least, rumblings!
Is it not obvious that all our animal welfare and Buddhist societies
should unite to take a stand and demand immediate action? With the
proviso that any shortcomings in the report should be rectified when the
need arises? At least, let it be passed! Does anybody know what we are
waiting for?
PREMA RANAWAKA-DAS, Moratuwa
The Muslim Unit at the Ministry of Education, Isurupaya, Battaramulla
is without telephone facilities.
The telephone No: 2785818 installed at the Muslim Unit is not
functioning. This has caused much inconvenience as the public are unable
to contact the Muslim Division even in an emergency.
The public has to go to Isurupaya spending time and energy to contact
the Muslim Unit even for a small matter. Likewise, the Director of the
Muslim Unit and its officials are also undergoing hardship to contact
the relevant authorities in discharging their official duties. They have
to use their own mobile phones.
The public are unable to contact them as they don't know the private
mobile numbers of the officials.
Over to the authorities concerned to restore telephone facilities at
the Muslim Unit, Isurupaya without further delay.
A. Y. L. U. MARIKKAR, Colombo 12 |
