Sunday, October 26, 2008

Buddhist Wedding


Buddhist Weddings are influenced by the Hindu culture which gives prominence to ‘Nekath’, the auspicious times.

The ‘Nekatha' is derived from the horoscopes of the Bride and the Groom which is created based on their dates and times of birth.

Of the many traditional events that take place during a Buddhist wedding, the ‘Poruwa’ ceremony is the most important. Therefore it is strictly guided by Nekath.

The Poruwa Siritha (Poruwa Ceremony) appears to have existed in Sri Lanka before the introduction of Buddhism in the 3rd Century B.C.

Through the ages, many innovations have been introduced to the Poruwa Siritha. By and large, the men and women of present day society realize the value of their heritage and are motivated to protect and preserve something of their past for posterity.

The Poruwa Siritha was as valid custom as a registered marriage until the British introduced the registration of marriages by Law in 1870. Today's Poruwa Ceremony has been influenced by both upcountry and low country customs of Sri Lanka.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

How do Barcldes Work

There are lots of types of barcode, but the common one we all see all the time is called UPC, the Universal Product Code.

Each digit is coded by two black and two white stripes. The stripes have widths of from 1 to 4 units, and the total width for each digit is always seven units.

This code is not quite all there is to it, however. Some digits of the barcode are reversed, so that they read right to left. Part of the code has black and white inverted, so black stripes are white and vice versa. This helps cut down errors and allows a computer to work out if the code was read from the wrong end when it was scanned.