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The colourful and attractive stamps are always an impetus to the hobby of stamp collecting. So are the stamps from Tanzania, a country in Africa shown here. We all know that some of the African countries are abound with many species of wild animals. The stamps of the trapezium format depict some (4) of those animals. ‘Animals’ theme is much popular among collectors and the shape of the stamps makes them more popular. The purpose of the stamps is to call for them to be added to collectors’ albums. The new stamps are being issued constantly by many postal administrations according to a well-set programme drawn up for the purpose. We see that in this very important task that there are two distinctive purposes for which the new stamps are produced. One purpose, as well all know, is to defray the expenses incurred by the postal authorities to keep the service going without hindrances. It must be said that, our postal rates are comparatively low when compared with the rest of the world, but we still see that the position is well maintained. That is to say that we all must agree our postal service is doing a very responsible duty by the people at a minimum cost to the postal customers. The net purpose of the issue of stamps is as important as the purpose mentioned earlier. We observe that, many countries, especially the developing countries have taken up to the production of stamps as a means of finding additional revenue for their countries’ development schemes. At the same time, they are also attending to the needs of the worldwide collectors who are anxious to add to their collections some extraordinary types of stamps such as the stamps shown on this page. The trend of the collectors towards the hobby is going on and it is this aspect that we wish to stress as important for a positive consideration and action for the welfare of the hobby and the generation of young people whose hopes and aspirations have not yet been fulfilled fully or even partly. The suggestions can be made by anyone, but the difficultly is to activate them so that the maximum results are obtained. On behalf of the children of our country, through the columns of this page, this writer vouches safe to offer free, a workable programme in which our Motherland will benefit in finding foreign exchange through a systematic production of stamps and at the same time to create a child population of full contentment as far as the hobby of stamp collecting is concerned. We cast no aspersions on any person of establishment for drawbacks of the past. What is urgently needed is to start what can be easily geared on and to serve our Motherland in good faith. Folk tales of Sri Lanka: King Kekille’s judgementOnce a robber broke into the King’s Palace and collected many valuable gems, gold coins and royal jewellery.
“So you had the audacity to rob any palace!”, thundered the King stamping his feet on the ground. “Take him out now and cut off his head,”, the King ordered. Before the robber was taken out of the palace, he mumbled, “Your Majesty, I’m not guilty. “What? Then tell me who is guilty of this serious offence.” “Your Majesty, the mason who built your palace is guilty of this offence,” the robber said. “How’s that?” “Sire, he hasn’t built your palace properly. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to break down the wall and enter the palace.” The King thought for a moment and ordered his guards to bring the mason. When the mason was produced before him, the King asked him whether he was guilty of putting up the palace with inferior material. “No, Sire. Please don’t punish me for this. My assistant who mixed cement and sand had used more sand and less cement. So, Your Majesty, he is responsible for putting up a wall using more sand.” “Go and bring that fellow. I’ll teach him a good lesson”, the King ordered two of his able guards. When the mason’s assistant was produced before the King, he asked whether he was guilty of the offence. “No Sire, when I was mixing cement and sand, a beautiful girl was walking on the road. She distracted my attention.” The beautiful girl too was produced before the King in no time. “Now, prepare to die. You have distracted the mason’s assistant’s attention when he was mixing cement and sand. “Your Majesty, I am not guilty of this offence. If not for the goldsmith who delivered my jewellery on the due date, I wouldn’t have passed this way”. “That’s also true. Bring that goldsmith forthwith”, the King ordered. “You are the culprit. Why did you give jewellery on time to this girl?” “Sire, I have not committed any offence. “I dismiss your plea The executioner will cut off your head,” the King said. “Your Majesty, I’m a very thin man. I have no flesh in my body - only bones. If the executioner try to cut off my head, the sword will break....” “So what do you suggest?” “Your Majesty, there’s a butcher in my village. He is very fat and your executioner can easily behead him. “That’s a valid argument,” said the King and ordered his guards to produce the butcher before him. “I know, you’re guilty of this offence”, the King told the butcher in a stern voice. “But, Sire..... I haven’t done any wrong. Please don’t punish me.” “Enough of your pleadings!” said the King and looked at the executioner. The pot-bellied butcher was dragged out of the palace and put to death. The robber, the mason, his assistant, the girl and the goldsmith heaved a sigh of relief. For your book of facts Why do mirrors reverse left and right?The image you see in a mirror is not real - quite obviously so since it will have a watch on its right arm if you have a watch on your left arm! It is what is called a virtual image. Your brain interprets the light reaching your eyes as having travelled in a straight line from its source, when in fact it has travelled along a ‘crooked’ line it has been reflected from the surface of the mirror. So your brain ‘sees’ an image the same distance ‘inside’ (or behind) the mirror as you are standing from the mirror. The fact that the reflected light is interpreted as having travelled in a straight line from ‘inside’ the mirror is what change the handedness of the image your brain ‘sees’. Before the mid 1950s, scientists believed that nature was ‘mirror symmetric’ - that the laws of physics should not have an intrinsic handedness. In other words, they believed that if you were viewing an elementary particle interaction in a darkened room, you could not tell whether you were viewing the real process, or the image of the real process in a mirror. However, evidence emerged to suggest that one of the four fundamental interactions between elementary particles, namely the weak interaction, could in fact distinguish left from right. An experiment confirming this suspicion was carried out in 1958 by a female physicist, Chien-Shiung Wu. Prior to the experiment, the Nobel Prize winning Italian physicist Wolfgang Pauli had stated, “I do not believe that the Lord is a weak left-hander, and I am ready to bet a very high sum that the experiments will give symmetric results.” He lost his money! Young Scribes:The silent night Except the crickets croaking The twinkling stars look down on earth When the sun begins to show Raveena Amani Weerabahu10 yearsGateway CollegeColombo************ Henry JayasenaHe was born in Bendiyamulla, Gampaha on July 06, 1931. Now he is 76 years old. His father was a teacher and mother, a housewife. He had four brothers and a sister. His wife was Manel Jayasena. He is one of the greatest artistes in our country. |
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![[Aunt Mali’s Children]](Children.jpg)
However, before he could get away, the King’s guards arrested the
robber and produced him before King Kekille. 
