The search for data entry jobs

After checking out my Google analytics account I found it strange that more people search for data entry jobs more than ways to make money online. Ranking for them doesn't earn me much money but they do provided some authority when it comes to making money online in Sri Lanka. Considering how hard it is to secure a data entry job, especially for someone who has no experience in the field, I personally think it is a waste of time. But just to check out the trends I wrote an article about online data entry jobs in Pakistan. Even though it is ranked around 8-10 in Google it still gets about 15-20 visitors from Google. It would be interesting to see how much traffic it will get if it comes to 1-3 places in Google and how much money this simple page can earn as well.

Social GoodDay at Refresh Colombo

I got an invitation from @rohanvim to join Social Good Day Colombo meet up, and since I was interested in networking with fellow Sri Lankans I attended the event yesterday. The event was held as a part of RefreshColombo, a monthly gathering of tech enthusiasts.
For me the highlight of the event was "Building an Effective Online Marketing Platform" presentation done by Niranka T. Perera of eMarketingEye. Since I'm also interested in online marketing there were some great points to take away from that presentation, and I will try to attend RefreshColombo meet ups as much as I can as well.
Up next was the presentation by Nandasiri Wanninnayake, founder of Horizon Lanka foundation. It was great how a rural village 50-60Km from Anuradhapura managed to overcome all the hardship thrown at them and build a effective Internet portal to the outside world. It is by no means just having Internet, student were thought English via Internet and it has grown to such an level that volunteers from other countries come and teach these rural village children. It is simply amazing how one man managed to do all this without much help from anyone.
Then there was a discussion about how we can use social media to improve the lives of others. It was kick started by Sanjana of GroundViews. I guess the simple message was act upon your tweets, tweeting about social good etc is easy but acting upon them is the hard part. There were some initiatives taken to start a social good movement. I'm looking forward to the ideas that will come up once the forum is set up.
As a whole it was a good experience and a well organized event. @cocoveranda was kind enough to produce some nice refreshments and  any event that starts with refreshments is a good event ;)

Sri Lanka chosen as the second best travel destination by National Geographic Channel

Tourism in Sri Lanka got a tremendous boost when National Geographic channel names it as the second best place to visit in the world. This was a great point to mention in my squidoo lens about visiting Sri Lanka. The great thing is there are some expert opinion about why you should choose Sri Lanka and of course there is the mention of beautiful white beaches and wildlife sanctuaries. Check out the below link for the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WfXSacm84

Randiv Affair and the pussies at SLC

As expected Indian media blew the whole Randiv affair out of proportions. In a country when media themselves organize burning of effigies to get publicity this is understandable but what wasn't understandable was the reaction by Sri Lanka Cricket. For a simple no ball they appointed a committee and did a full investigation and found Randiv and Dilshan guilty. This has nothing to do with upholding the spirit of Cricket it was all about protecting the goodwill between BCCI who happens to be just about only source of income SLC has.This will create a odd situation for Dilshan though because he is a member of Delhi Daredevils which Shewag plays for. Because the incident is much publicized I'm sure the media will do something to remind us of this unique situation in DD as well. I hope Dilshan will be in the opening line up whenever DD plays next because that is just another story waiting to be sensationalized by the media.

The Expendables pretty much as expected

The Expendables was an ok movie although I have no idea how it got an imdb rating of 7.5 when some great movies such as "The Notebook" only has an imdb rating of 8. This was a typical Stallone flick with lots of shooting, cutting and blowing up and nothing else. Although there is a big crew involved in the movie only Stallone and Statham and to some extent Jet-Li plays any significant role. I really couldn't understand the role played by Mickey Rourke although he does tell a long boring story to Stallone. As mentioned before there is not much substance in the story and you never really get attached with any character to give a damn about what happens to them. Anything that could be blown up is blown to pieces and as any Stallone flick there are lots of dead bodies. Only good thing I can think of in the movie is Jason Stathoms acting. The movie is watchable just don't expect a classic with this crew.