Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Dhamma, Religion, Science and ME



Dhamma, Religion and Science


None of the above is infallible.


This word is often used to describe human capacity for error — no one is infallible.


In that context only science accept capacity to error.


Neither Dhamma nor religion accepts that they are prone to error.


It is easy to dispense orthodox Church's dogma that god is the creator and the essence of the beginning.

If God created the world, who created God is the next pertinent question in science.


This was the question I used to pose as a kid when not even 7 years old.


I have not found an answer to this question all my life.


So my mind worked itself to science without any hindrance.


I was good at asking the most demanding question, in the class and I was thrown out of the class by my Christian rather the Catholic teacher.

He did not realize that I made my fellow mates to ask even more probing questions in my absence.

The end result was that all the so called Buddhists by descent were thrown out eventually.


We enjoyed games while my fellow Christian mates were indoctrinated with the dogma or the current expression “God Delusion”.


I subsequently stopped going to this school (there were many other reason including not teaching elementary science) to my father's annoyance.

To my disgust I never found a good science teacher in the city school, I subsequently joined.

I was born with scientific thinking and that was not a problem, thanks to books from the British Council Library.

I was reading Scientific American very early in my life.

Coming to Dhamma, I never had a teacher who could make interesting introduction to its basics.

Jataka Katha was an antithesis to me.

I should relate a particular incident.

We had a Poya Dasa Sil program in my village school as an antidote to our rebelliousness in the Christian school.

One of my mates asked a simple question from the Buddhist monk.

His question was (based on merit and demerit principle or the good and the bad moral principle) related to Buddhist decorations with Buddha's image littered all over the streets soon after Wesak Poya.


Is it good or bad to litter the streets with Buddha images?


The monk did not answer that question to my satisfaction.


I do not know what my mate's gut feeling was and I never discussed it with him.

This had a remarkable impression on me.


It seeded the interest in environment at a very early age.
Live and let live principle and do not litter the mother earth.

Our capital city Colombo is a classic example of living every day with litter.

The recent floods had made the city fathers to wake up from slumber. 

Even the Colombo crows (cravens) decimated due to garbage menace and polythene (cause intestinal obstruction and death).

The crows did a better service than our city fathers and mothers.

I never liked any religion including Buddhism.


I never declared my inner feeling to anybody including my parents but pretended to be a very religious person (which was trues as far as good habits were concerned and I was a visible conformist from outside).


I probed into Dhamma well past my adulthood.


I found Dhamma very tricky especially the Rebirth. 


However, Kamma was not my bete noire, in the way of cause and effect.


Buddha deliberately avoided controversy.


He strictly forbade the inquiry into the universe and the world of science.

He said they were the deterrent and superfluous to the eightfold pathway he preached.

Kalama Sutta was the red herring which later scholars got hold of it by the wrong end or the tail of it, to say Dhamma is scientific.

He used his qualifications for systematic inquiry in Kalama Sutta to verify his basic teaching of Eightfold Pathway of life.


His Dhamma was a way of life and a mental culture in pristine form.

There is no science in Buddha's teaching.

Any rendering outside his teaching is a viscous dogma (science included) which he specifically forbade.


What he tried to convey is that “the universe is within you” and not from outside or any alien forces.


Nibbana or the four sublime forms were the goals to target and not scientific methodology.


The bottom line is I am yet to find a Buddhist monk or layperson who reached these goals.


In my case, I am not at all interested in those targets and in that sense I am not a Buddhist, at all.


I am very much happy with what I am and my goals are very simple and mundane like, good night sleep, good holiday, bit of wine, a piece of cupcake with some chocolate chips, a good science book to read or detective story to ponder and never a melodrama.


If one has not worked out who one is, it is simply a burden to the mother earth, which gives oxygen to breath, water to drink, fruits (food) to eat and gravity to pull oneself into an erect homo sapien who has not evolved to his full potential, yet.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Cancer and Cellphones

Dr Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California,
USA), overall Chairman of the Working Group, indicated that
"the evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to
support a conclusion and the 2B classification.
The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and
therefore we need to keep a close watch
for a link between cell phones and cancer
risk."
"Given the potential consequences
for public health
of this classification and findings,"
said
IARC Director Christopher Wild,
"it is important that additional research
be conducted into
the long term, heavy
use of mobile phones.
Pending the availability
of such information, it is
important to
take pragmatic measures
to reduce exposure such as hands free devices
or texting.
"The Working Group considered hundreds
of scientific articles; the complete list
will be published in the Monograph.
It is noteworthy to mention that several recent in press scientific articles resulting from the Interphone
study were made available to the working group shortly
before it was due to convene,
reflecting their acceptance for publication at
that time, and were included in the evaluation.
A concise report summarizing the main conclusions of
the IARC Working Group and the evaluations
of the carcinogenic hazard
from radiofrequency, electromagnetic fields (including the use
of mobile telephones)
will be published in
The Lancet Oncology
in its July Publication.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Elephant Myths

 In Sri-Lanka sitting judges and cunning monks steal baby elephants from their mothers in the wild.

They do not consider it asa crime!

Elephant that sparked petition dies in Japan zoo

Image caption Hanako was kept caged and alone for most of her life


An elephant that was the focus of an international campaign to improve its living conditions has died in a zoo in Japan.
Hanako, which means "Flower Child", was 69 and the oldest elephant in Japan.
The elephant was a gift from Thailand when it was two years old.
Last year a petition was launched to improve the animal's conditions, but Hanako was deemed too old to move back to Thailand.
A spokesman for Inokashira Park Zoo on the outskirts of Tokyo said Hanako was found lying on her side on Thursday morning and efforts to raise her were not successful. She died in the afternoon.

The war on elephants

Have we fallen out of love with elephant rides?
Image caption The zoo said Hanako was too old to be moved
Hanako was a popular attraction in the zoo, but the elephant, born in the wild, spent most of her life caged and alone in a concrete enclosure with little greenery.
Last year a Canadian blogger wrote an article about the elephant's enclosure, describing it as a "concrete prison".
That prompted the petition, which led the zoo to provide new toys and make other changes.
However, the zoo said she was too old to be moved and an independent US wildlife expert said staying in a sanctuary with other elephants would bewilder Hanako after living so many years alone.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Man Made Disaster and Floods


Current Floods in Colombo is a Man Made Disaster.
 Irregular land reclamation and filling up "Flood Plains or low lying areas that drains excess water (by political big wigs under Ma Ra) was the biggest reason.
I am very unhappy the parliament did not go under water (it is built on the flood plain by JRJ).
Rain gods are only unkind to the poor not to the legislators who use abusive language (Including CMs) as a gut reaction.
I only wish with the next cyclone the parliament should go under water six feet high and bury them alive.

 Reproduction
සැබවින්ම, අදාළ නාය යාම් සහ ගංවතුර තත්වය කාලයක් තිස්සේ රටේ පරිසරයට කළ විනාශයේ විපාක වේ. පරිසරය කළමනාකරණය කිරීම සඳහා රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අපට නැත. ඇත්තේ තම මඩිය තරකර ගැනීම සඳහා සැකස් කරගත් කොමිස් ප්‍රතිපත්තියකි. තනතුරේ හැටියට කොමිස් මුදලේ ප්‍රමාණය තීරණය කර ගනිමින් ගසා කෑමය. එක්තරා ගුවන් හමුදාපතිවරයෙක් තම බංගලාව තනා ගැනීම සඳහා සුන්දර වනයක් වැනසූ ආකාරය අපි දන්නෙමු. රටට අයත් මුහුදු සීමාවේ සිට පිදුරුතලාගල කන්දේ මුදුන දක්වා වූ රටේ සෑම තැනකම මේ ආකාරයෙන් සිදු වූ දෑ බොහෝය. සැබෑ ඉතිහාසය මෙයයි. වැදගත් වන්නේ මෙම ඉතිහාසය වෙනස් කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් මත පිහිටා කටයුතු කිරීමය. එකිනෙකාට අවංක වීමය.
කලෙක පයිනස් වවා එහි ඇති ජල උල්පත් විනාශ කළහ. තව කලෙක කඳුවල පාංශු ඛාදනය සිදුවීමට කිසිඳු ප්‍රතිකර්මයක් නොකොට මහා ජලාශ තැනූහ. ඒවා රොන්මඩින් සහ පෝෂ්‍යදායක පාංශු සම්පත්වලින් පිරී ගියේය. වැස්සට ජලය ආරක්ෂා කරගැනීමට ඇති ධාරිතාව ක්‍රමයෙන් අඩු වී ගියේය. මුල් ජාලාශයේ ඇති ගැටලුව විසඳිමකින් තොරව ඊට ඉහලින් තව ජලාශයක් තැනුවේය. මේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය කෙලවර වන්නේ වලාකුළු උඩත් ජලාශ තැනීමට උතසහ කිරීමෙන් මිස, රටේ සැබෑ පාරසරික ගැටලුව විසඳීමෙන් නොවේ. මේ නිසා වැස්සට ගංවතුර සහ නායයෑම; නියගෙට බීමටවත් ජල පොඳක් නොමැති තත්වය උදාවීම සැබෑ “ඉරණම” වී තිබේ. මෙතරම් මනරම් පරිසරයක් ඇති දිවයිනක් ආලපලුවන්ගේ අපහරණයට ලක් වීමෙන් උදා වී ඇති තත්වය මෙයයි. සංවර්ධන ව්‍යපෘති ඉලක්ක කර ගත යුත්තේ මෙවැනි දෑය. මෙම මූලික ගැටලු නොවිසඳනතාක් දුරට තත්වය තව තවත් උග්‍රවීම හැරෙන්නට, කිසිඳු යහපතක් රටේ ජනතාවට සිදු වන්නේ නැත.
කෙසේ වෙතත්, මෙරට සාමන්‍යය ජනතාව රටේ විපතට පත් වූ තම සගයන්ට පිහිට වන ආකාරය දැකීම සැබවින්ම ආඩම්බරයට කාරණයකි. මෙවැනි විපත් වලදී දක්වන සහයෝගය, එකමුතුව, සහ ඉන් ලබන සංතෘප්තිය වූ කලී මෙරට ජනතාව අතර පවතින සැබෑ ගුණාංග වේ. මෙවැනි දෑ වලින් සෑම විටම වාසි ලබා ගැනීමට උත්සහ දරනු ලබන්නේ බලය වෙනුවෙන් පොරකන පිරිසය. ජෝර්ජ් ඕවල් විසින් රචනා කළ “ඇනිමල් ෆාම්” හී එන නැපෝලියන් වැනි ඌරන්ගේ භූමිකාව රඟපාන ඔවුහු, ඕනෑම කටයුත්තකදී සැබෑ ලෙස දුක් විඳින සහ කැපකිරීම කරන අයවලුන් අභිබාවා පෞද්ගලික වාසී සඳහා නිරන්තරයෙන් පෙනී සිටින්නන් වේ.

;

Space Sickness

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Linux Guru Jon Hall


Reproduction
Jon Hall and Peter Parfait were my Linux Gurus.

I read a book by them called "Joy of Linux" in the same Style as "Joy of Sex".

Having read that I got rid of the "Fear Psychosis" I had on Linux.
I am reproducing on of his "Wisdom Thoughts" here.
I am using Linux utilities and figuring out to put his photo here.
Hope I will be successful.
The Raspberry Pi computer has rekindled interest in tinkering with hardware and created a market for products combining the tiny computer with customized software. 
By Jon "maddog" Hall



The format of the Photo was not accepted by Google, unfortunately.
 
Those of you who know me know that I designed electronics circuits in high school and then studied Electrical Engineering at Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Unfortunately during that career I was almost electrocuted by 13,600 volts and 800 amps (twice!). Fortunately I found software as much fun and a lot safer, other than paper cuts from ripping printouts. Back in those days electronic components were very expensive (US$ 128,000 for 64KB of core memory), so I took the software route and let someone else pay for the hardware.
I continued to be interested in hardware, and I even assembled my own computer from chips and prototyped digital circuits with the use of breadboards, sometimes with wire-wrapping. Soldering tens of thousands of pins perfected my soldering technique, and you really don't want to know about the wire-wrapping.
About two years ago, I became involved with the Arduino, which has been a lot of fun, but my time with it was limited, and to me it was not a "real" computer because it did not run GNU/Linux.
Then I heard about the Raspberry Pi (RPi). This was what I had been waiting for: a US$ 35 computer that ran a real operating system and allowed you to tinker with electronics just as you could with the Arduino. In fact, people were using the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino together, which was even cooler.
The founders of the Raspberry Pi Foundation are modest people who thought that only 1,000 very low priced computers would be enough for the world, and in doing so, they unfortunately created an imbalance between supply and demand. (Alas, many great visionaries underestimate their influence.) In fact, they took 100,000 orders before they shipped a single Raspberry Pi, and for many months, people who wanted them could only order one at a time with a 12-week delivery lead time.
Last September, just before Campus Party Europe in Berlin, I contacted the Raspberry Pi Foundation and asked if they would be willing to attend and perhaps give a talk or two about their wonderful machine. Not only did they send Alan Mycroft, one of the original founders, but they sent three enthusiastic graduate students and lots of RPis and breadboarding gear, and they even gave three hands-on workshops. I attended one of them and worked with a young "Campusero" from Spain who I thought was going to go berserk over the fact that his software could make an LED blink Morse code. Then, I taught him that pushing a button was not as simple as he thought when the button has key bounce.
Over the past several months, I have had the privilege to work closer with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, learning more about their history and dreams for the computer. I have seen people create the most interesting projects with it, and in some cases move beyond projects to selling actual products based on a Raspberry Pi with some customized software (e.g., a three-person ERP system for small companies).
At Campus Party Brazil, I also met another of the product's founders, Pete Lomas, whose tales of bringing the RPi to market reminded me a lot of my days back at Digital.
I also gave two talks at Campus Party Brazil on the RPi: one about the RPi in general and another about how to make a media center out of the RPi from really inexpensive components. Attaching an RPi to a VESA-equipped monitor could create a very powerful, low-cost thin client/media center for digital inclusion. It has no fan noise, uses very little electricity (3W when idle), and has no moving parts to wear out.
Most refreshing was the real desire to keep the price of the RPi as low as possible yet still deliver enough compute power to students who want to experiment. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has now shipped more than 1 million units, and they are set to deliver another million this year; however, I think they might need to manufacture 2 or 3 million.
Another thing I like about the RPi is the number of different Free and Open Source operating systems that have been ported to it (including Firefox OS) and the number of cottage industries that are building up around it – cases, an online magazine driven by the community, bread-boarding packages, and other add-ons.
Every once in a while there is a "step function in fun" for computing, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation has hit a home run. If you have not investigated it, particularly if you are part of a school or university, I suggest you visit their website.


Sunday, May 8, 2016

Elephant Myths and Tragedy

The reporting below is a BIG LIE!
They were electrocuted by Electric Fence hit by Lighting.
It is the Electric Fence that killed them.
They have built electric fences to protect Hashish Growing farmers.
Please do not believe Sri-Lankan Media and politicians and Ganja Growers.
The figure 7000 is also a BOGUS Figure.
They are endangered, may be less than 2000.

Under previous government there was big Baby Elephant Trade, Buddhist Monks and Local mafia included.

There is even fisticuffs and cheating (in counting votes in debates) in our parliament.
We send politicians (mafia agents) without fifth standard education and they cannot even count the 10 fingers.

 Reporting
Four elephants, including two calves, were killed by lightning in northern Sri Lanka in one of the worst wildlife tragedies to hit the country in years, officials said Sunday.
A female elephant, aged about 25 years, and two of her calves, aged 10 months and two years, and an eight-year-old female were found dead Sunday just outside the Wilpattu wildlife sanctuary, an official said.
"Villagers from neighbouring areas alerted the authorities and we carried out autopsies," wildlife veterinary surgeon Chandana Jayasinghe said. "The deaths were caused by lightning."
Local villagers in Mahavilachchiya, 250 kilometres (156 miles) north of Colombo, had reported heavy rains accompanied by thunder and lightning in the shrub jungle area on Friday when the elephants were thought to have been struck.
It was the worst natural disaster involving elephants since February 2011 when four baby elephants drowned in a major flood in the north-east of the country.
Elephants are venerated in the mainly Buddhist country and they are a highly protected species. Elephant deaths must be investigated and death certificates issued before disposing of the carcasses.
Despite tough conservation laws and the elephant's association with Buddhism, nearly 200 jumbos are killed each year by villagers after accidentally straying onto farmland, while the animals themselves kill about 50 people each year.

Sri Lanka's elephant population has reduced to just over 7,000, according to a census five years ago, down from a population of over 12,000 at the start of the 20th century.

 Cheating in the parliament

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, MP, yesterday said that it was the responsibility of party leaders to ensure the participation of their members in parliamentary proceedings.

Speaker Jayasuriya said that in case members skipped sessions it would be the responsibility of the respective leaders to take punitive action against them. The former UNP Deputy leader is on record as having said that a single day’s parliamentary sittings cost the Sri Lankan taxpayer Rs. 4.6 mn, and, therefore, MPs should bear in mind their responsibilities.

The Speaker was responding to a query by The Island whether he could take disciplinary action against those who hadn’t been present in parliament on Thursday (May 5) afternoon when a vote taken at the end of a debate to give approval for a supplementary estimate of Rs 55 mn for the government revealed only 62 members out of 225 were present.

The parliament was told 33 members voted for the supplementary estimate and 31 voted against. Both the Joint Opposition and the JVP strongly objected to the result. Alleging vote rigging, they demanded a recount. After several recounts, the Secretary General of Parliament and political party representatives agreed that there had been 31 votes each for and against the supplementary estimate.

Had members of the UNP-SLFP coalition been present on that day, the supplementary estimate could have been passed without any issue, Speaker Jayasuriya said.

The UNP parliamentary group comprises 106 members plus one SLMC MP.

The SLFP group backing the UNP comprises 46 members. The rebel SLFP-led UPFA group comprises 49 members, including former President and Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Speaker expressed serious concern over continuing low turnaround at parliamentary sessions. Parliament meets eight days a month. According to him, the situation at some Provincial Councils was worse for want of a system to ensure participation.

Asked whether the offending members could be dealt under the code of conduct for the members of parliament, Speaker Jayasuriya said the draft of the proposed code of conduct had been made available to all members of parliament. Once the members state their positions, the proposed code of conduct could be adopted, the Speaker said. In respect of attendance, the draft proposed: "Every member shall attend every sitting of the House and meeting of the committee of which he or she is a member, in accordance with practice of the House, except with reasonable excuse, or in the case of extended absence, if excused in accordance with the practice of the House."

Political sources pointed out that the TNA rescued the government by voting for the supplementary estimate.

Most of the Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers hadn’t been present at the time the vote was taken. At the end of the debate Chief Opposition Whip JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake called for a division.

Having campaigned against the previous administration, the UNP obviously didn’t expect JVP leader Dissanayake to cause an unnecessary crisis by calling for a division. Many an eyebrow was raised at the JVP backing the Joint Opposition against the government.

The Yahapalana government conducted various lessons for members as well as parliamentary staff recently to improve their participation in the process.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, MP, yesterday said that it was the responsibility of party leaders to ensure the participation of their members in parliamentary proceedings.

Speaker Jayasuriya said that in case members skipped sessions it would be the responsibility of the respective leaders to take punitive action against them. The former UNP Deputy leader is on record as having said that a single day’s parliamentary sittings cost the Sri Lankan taxpayer Rs. 4.6 mn, and, therefore, MPs should bear in mind their responsibilities.

The Speaker was responding to a query by The Island whether he could take disciplinary action against those who hadn’t been present in parliament on Thursday (May 5) afternoon when a vote taken at the end of a debate to give approval for a supplementary estimate of Rs 55 mn for the government revealed only 62 members out of 225 were present.

The parliament was told 33 members voted for the supplementary estimate and 31 voted against. Both the Joint Opposition and the JVP strongly objected to the result. Alleging vote rigging, they demanded a recount. After several recounts, the Secretary General of Parliament and political party representatives agreed that there had been 31 votes each for and against the supplementary estimate.

Had members of the UNP-SLFP coalition been present on that day, the supplementary estimate could have been passed without any issue, Speaker Jayasuriya said.

The UNP parliamentary group comprises 106 members plus one SLMC MP.

The SLFP group backing the UNP comprises 46 members. The rebel SLFP-led UPFA group comprises 49 members, including former President and Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Speaker expressed serious concern over continuing low turnaround at parliamentary sessions. Parliament meets eight days a month. According to him, the situation at some Provincial Councils was worse for want of a system to ensure participation.

Asked whether the offending members could be dealt under the code of conduct for the members of parliament, Speaker Jayasuriya said the draft of the proposed code of conduct had been made available to all members of parliament. Once the members state their positions, the proposed code of conduct could be adopted, the Speaker said. In respect of attendance, the draft proposed: "Every member shall attend every sitting of the House and meeting of the committee of which he or she is a member, in accordance with practice of the House, except with reasonable excuse, or in the case of extended absence, if excused in accordance with the practice of the House."

Political sources pointed out that the TNA rescued the government by voting for the supplementary estimate.

Most of the Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers hadn’t been present at the time the vote was taken. At the end of the debate Chief Opposition Whip JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake called for a division.

Having campaigned against the previous administration, the UNP obviously didn’t expect JVP leader Dissanayake to cause an unnecessary crisis by calling for a division. Many an eyebrow was raised at the JVP backing the Joint Opposition against the government.

The Yahapalana government conducted various lessons for members as well as parliamentary staff recently to improve their participation in the process.

Linux Magazine is FAB!

Newbee Guys and Gals
 
Below is how an Indian tried eavesdropped on my computer, many moons ago!
Culprit was early SimplyMepis, a hybrid with Microsoft.
I cannot remember, exactly.
I stopped using it, anyway.

NOW Microsoft 10 is cohabiting with Ubuntu bash shell and trying to find its "Lost World" or the Jurassic Park!

I NEWER USED Ubuntu only for TESTING its weaknesses.

Bottom line is even, Linux especially Android can be HACKED.

That is why F-Droid, derivative of FREE Software (Foundation) has come into being.

Current state is discussed in Linux Magazine which has many interesting articles.
Next one is on security features.
If you have enough saving or spare money SUBSCRIBE.
Blog Piece below (it is not here go and look for it) is related to Androids.
Android Kernel is vulnerable, that is why I do not cellphone for critical work.

Best bet for security is TOR in Linux (Linux Anonymous)

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Mayhem


Reproduction
Below there is a list of journalists who were killed.

Premakeerthi, Richard Zoyza and Lasantha stand tall among them.


ප්‍රේමකීර්ති ද අල්විස්

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පෙලපාලියෙ මුලින්ම ගිය පීටර්
සටන් පාඨ කොඩි සේසත් අරගෙන ගිය පීටර්
මැතිණිගෙ පින්තූරෙ පපුවෙ පැළඳ ගත්තු පීටර්
මැතිනි අපිට අපි මැතිණිට කියා නටපු පීටර්

බණ්ඩරනායක මැතිඳුගෙ ගුණ ගී කියු පීටර්
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුවෙන් තෑගි දිනපු පීටර්
ශ්‍රී ලංකා මීටින්වල කතා අහපු පීටර්
අපි අතටයි අත අපිටයි කියා කියපු පීටර්

ඡන්දෙ දවසෙ නිල් ඇඳගෙන ඡන්දෙට ගිය පීටර්
මෙදා පොටෙත් අපි එනවයි ඔට්ටු තිබ්බ පීටර්
අපි කැපුවත් නිල් පාටයි කියා කිව්ව පීටර්
UNP දින්න දවසෙ කොළ ඇඳලා පීටර්




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Career

De Alwis father wanted him join the railway department but de Alwis was attracted to radio broadcasting. De Alwis joined the Visithura magazine, part of the Davasa group, in 1966 as a feature writer. He started working for Radio Ceylon as a freelance announcer on 17 December 1967.
He became a permanent announcer in June 1971 and was promoted to programme producer.
He became a Grade Two announcer in 1974 and afterwards presented programmes such as Sonduru Sevana, Serisara Puvath Sangarawa and Shanida Sadaya on Radio Ceylon's successor Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).
He later joined the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, presenting programmes such as Anduna, Ayubowan and Sampath Rekha (National Lotteries Board).
De Alwis was a prolific lyricist, writing hundreds of songs. He wrote his first song, Hada Puda Asune Senehasa Bendune, in 1969 for Rupa Indumathi and Malkanthi Nandasiri.
In the same year he wrote his first film song, for Lokuma Hinawa directed by K. A. W. Perera.
He wrote songs for more than 150 films.
He wrote songs for numerous singers including Mohideen Baig, Malini Bulathsinhala, Milton Mallawarachchi, J. A. Milton Perera, Mervyn Perera, Victor Ratnayake, Freddie Silva and Priya Suriyasena.
Popular songs written by de Alwis include "Aatha ran viman thulin", Aaron Mama, Adaraneeya Neranjana, Adare Ran Bingun Nesu, Beri Bara Hindai Daruwan Dunne, Eda Re Guwan Thotupoledi, Eka Gini Koorai Mulu Gedarama Thibune, Kurullanta Gee Gayanna, Ma Ekkala Amanapawa Wee Dabara, Mannaram Piti Welle, Me Nagaraya, Mudu Parama Supiwithuru, Oba Dedunna Akasaye, Raththaran Menik Muthu Mokatada Ewa and Sanda Midulata Enawa.

Assassination


Assassinations of Journalists

during the Sri Lankan Civil War


  • Nadarajah Atputharajah
  • Premakeerthi de Alwis
  • Richard De Soyza
  • Thevis Guruge
  • Balanadarajah Iyer
  • Aiyathurai Nadesan
  • Mylvaganam Nimalrajan
  • K.S.Raja
  • Taraki Sivaram
  • Relangi Selvarajah
  • I. Shanmugalingam
  • S. Sivamaharajah
  • Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan
  • Rajani Thiranagama
  • Lasantha Wickramatunge


During the 1987–89 JVP Insurrection de Alwis received death threats allegedly from the Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya, the armed wing of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), but as a socialist he did not take them seriously.
At around 8.30pm on 31 July 1989, armed men, allegedly belonging to the DJV/JVP, stormed into de Alwis' home in Homagama.
De Alwis tried to escape through the back door but more armed men were waiting in his back garden.
His wife pleaded with the armed men and they assured her that they only wanted to question de Alwis.
They dragged him outside and shot him dead.
His bullet ridden body was later found 200 yards from his home.
His remains were cremated at the General Cemetery, Kanatte on 7 August 1989.
A member of JVP was found guilty of the murder on 17 December 1992 by the High Court of Colombo.
In July 2014 a part of Independence Square Mawatha, the road leading to the SLBC headquarters in Colombo, was renamed Premakeerthi de Alwis Mawatha.