"ZHP Sparky, the 5th" (e30s2k)
05/19/2016 at 17:42 • Filed to: None
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"ZHP Sparky, the 5th" (e30s2k)
05/19/2016 at 17:42 • Filed to: None | 3
| 12 |
Dear Oppos, as some of you may have seen (although understandable if you haven’t, news coverage is very minimal on this side of the world) – Sri Lanka (my home, where I grew up – although I now live in California) is being pummeled with historical levels of rainfall as a result of what has now become Cyclone Roanu.
*All photos from Sri Lanka Red Cross, not mine.
Hundreds are dead or missing from landslides at this point and upwards of 300,000 are displaced due to flooding. They are expecting more strong rains over the next few days which will worsen things.
Please help in any way you can
– even small amounts of $ goes a long way out there, or even just spreading knowledge, sharing via social media, and positive thoughts helps a lot.
Here’s a great local site in Sri Lanka with constant updates of how things are and ways to help-
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
The Red Cross takes online donations (link in above site or here - !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) and is probably the easiest way to help from outside the country.
It’s a wonderful tropical island with lots of kind (mostly poor) people, beautiful beaches, and lush forests – but sometimes, especially with recent erratic weather patterns, things go uncontrollably sour. The tsunami in 2004 was horrible, and the country is just beginning to flourish after the end of a long civil war as well, so this is just horrible timing.
Anyone who can help, I’m happy to answer any questions you may have or provide local information or contacts to the extent possible.
RallyWrench
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/19/2016 at 18:33 |
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Wow, what a tragedy. It’s really a shame it’s not covered to any meaningful extent in US media to build awareness. Poor country can’t catch a break.
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> RallyWrench
05/19/2016 at 18:44 |
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Very true - something I find very unusual about the news here, believe many non-Americans in the US feel the same. Even CNN covers a lot more global news anywhere else outside the US...but here it’s all silly local political bickering for the most part and next to zero coverage about everything else going on in the world around us. Really helps perpetuate oblivious attitudes, I think.
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RallyWrench
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/19/2016 at 18:54 |
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I agree. I read a bit about the Tamil Tigers last year, in addition to some of the backhanded land deals and strong arming that went down in the aftermath of the ‘04 Tsunami in the book Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Really depressing stuff.
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> RallyWrench
05/19/2016 at 19:15 |
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Yes, certainly. The previous president was a crook that got his family and buddies in to government and ran the country like it was his personal piggy bank. So much aid money after the tsunami disappeared and got misused. He gets a lot of praise for ending the war, but he’s a racist nationalist prick. The tigers were a ruthless horrible organization, but he helped perpetuate so much hatred and racism towards the tamils too, and clearly showed a lack of concern for the lives of innocent tamil people caught in the middle.
The current president seems to be the opposite - he’s turned down all the perks of being a president and is trying to remain a simple man and run the country with dignity, devolving some presidential powers (like the previous guy having changed the constitution so a president can have an unlimited number of terms), and trying to bring equality for the various races and groups (which some Sinhalese aren’t taking too well because they see the others as less than worthy newcomers- really interesting how so many countries go through similar issues). Sadly tragedies like this don’t help though, given how few resources the country had to start off with, but at least in a sense brings people together in realizing they’re all the same.
Rarely read non-fiction, will have to check that book out.
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> RallyWrench
05/19/2016 at 19:25 |
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PS - unrelated, I didn’t connect your username to your posts I’ve seen before. Looks like you live in the San Francisco area as well? I tried getting a mini local Oppo group going on wheelwell about a year ago, but then got way too busy with work and getting married, so it completely fell off my radar. Now we’re considering moving out of the area, so I doubt I’ll be able to reignite it.
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RallyWrench
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/19/2016 at 19:32 |
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I’m glad to hear the new president is trying earnestly to turn things around, I hope it works out. Like I said before, that poor country can’t catch a break. The news is never “Everything is cool in Sri Lanka!”
I pretty much only read non-fiction with the exception of the occasional Sci-Fi series I get hooked on, and Shock Doctrine is definitely worth reading for a variety of reasons, as are her other works.
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RallyWrench
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/19/2016 at 19:37 |
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I’m down in San Luis Obispo, but I get up to the Bay with some regularity. I lived in Los Gatos and worked in Fremont for a year about a decade ago for and decided I can’t stand city life.
awmaster10
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/11/2017 at 18:21 |
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Another sri lankan oppo here
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> awmaster10
05/11/2017 at 18:24 |
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Haha pretty old post, how did you even find this?
Where are you located?
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> awmaster10
05/11/2017 at 18:24 |
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Haha pretty old post, how did you even find this?
Where are you located?
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awmaster10
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
05/11/2017 at 18:26 |
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Yeah I figured but I saw it on the sidebar of your m3 post and figured id comment. I am born and raised in PA but my parents are both from colombo
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> awmaster10
05/11/2017 at 18:29 |
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Ah nice. I grew up in Colombo, was in the SF Bay area for a while, now in Portland OR.
I remember seeing some of your posts – quite interesting stuff!