Up close with Alex Dukalskis

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/04/camspotlight.htm

Interview of Alex Dukalskis, Coordinator of IUT First Bangladesh Open 2007

Interviewed by Mahdin Mahboob and Feeda Hasan Shahed

SC(Star Campus): Please describe for our readers the event in brief the participating teams, the debate format and other such things?
AL(Alex) :I think there were around 24 teams, and the teams are two persons each and there was a mixture of high school students and university students some of the high school debaters looked very promising and one can only wonder what status they’ll reach once they are in the universities. There were participants from two countries, Malaysia and Bangladesh, although the students from Malaysia were from different countries, including Sudan and other Middle Eastern countries.

SC :This debate, unlike most of the other debates held in this country, was in World Debate Format. Tell us a bit about this format.
AL :Ya, there are different kinds of debate formats, usually debate formats are one team against one team..

SC :Like Parliamentary Debates?
AL :Ya, exactly… However, here the emphasis is on a bit more subtlety, where the final two teams need to bring something new to this debate, so they have to support their side of the house, but in a different way.

SC :How is it different?
AL :In this format you are actually competing against people by arguing for the team points, but in a better way. You have to show that you are better by adding something new, which is like reaching the same end but in a different path. And it’s modeled after the real world, parliaments, where there are coalitions; two parties might have the same end but different means to get there.

SC :Do you think this will pave the way for more such world debates here with participation from more countries in the future?
AL :Well, its certainly a possibility all these things start very small, the first one is always a trial run even with the first national World University Debate in US, there were only four or five countries. So, these things start small, and grow gradually. The progress of the internet and communications things move quicker these days. So I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years you see a really big, more diverse type of event.

SC :What is Bangladesh’s scenario in perspective of the World Debate?
AL :I saw a lot of potential in Bangladesh’s school kids and I won’t be surprised if I see Bangladeshi debaters doing very well in an international tournament. A guy from BBC is teaching the debating skills to younger ones, who one day will teach even younger ones, so its like a snowballing effect. I went to Aga Khan School this morning and saw 40 students who have not done debate before but are interested and tomorrow I am going to the BIT school and it’s the same situation there. Its very important because whenever we think of debate, we tend to think of it as an academic sport but it also includes critical thinking, the way young people look at the world, and the things they are interested in. The organization I work for encourages critical thinking and civic engagement this can lead to things like effective democracy and other benefits. These are important things, not only for developing countries, but also the developed world.

SC :What were the themes of the different debate sessions in this tournament?
AL :We had topics including environment, independence of Kurds in Iraq, space exploration, terrorism, multinational business and their responsibilities, human rights students are encouraged to be well versed in a variety of topics.

SC :I think that pretty much rounds up the discussion. Thanks a lot Alex.
AL :Thanks to you too.

Tasnim’s comments….
Tasnim…(Student of ‘Islamic International University, Malaysia, originally from Sudan ))

SC :How was the event did you like it?
TS :Tournaments like these are very good exposure for people. You learn a lot, you get a lot of new arguments coming from different perspectives. If you only debate within your own society, the same ideas are being passed around. But the moment you get to the international level, the moment you get to debate with Bangladeshi or Malaysian people, you get a lot of new perspectives and ideas.

SC :What do you think about Bangladesh?
TS :It’s nice – I’ve been here for about four days, and it’s so sad that our trip has to be so short, and most of our time is at the tournament. We couldn’t do much sightseeing but went to Jamalpur, where our trainer, Abdul Lateef, who’s from Bangladesh, took us to his home.

SC :Do you plan to come back to Bangladesh?
TS :Of course! I hope this will be an annual event so that we can come back here more often.

Cyclone Sidr- What we can do

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/04/feature_cyclone_sidr.htm

Just when we were starting to slowly recover from the monsoon floods in the northern parts of the country, Cyclone Sidr has ravaged 22 districts of Bangladesh as one of the worst natural calamities to have happened in the nation’s history. Sidr has been described as a category 4 Cyclone (deadlier than Katrina) and has raged its severest onslaughts packing winds of 240 km/h (150mph) on the southern coast of Bangladesh from about 5:30 pm, Thursday 15th November to early Friday (16th November). After that, it weakened into a tropical storm and moved across the country to the northeastern part into India.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated thanks to localized early warning systems in place (using microphone canvassing, radio bulletins etc) and so a huge number of lives were saved. Airports suspended flight operations and sea ports ceased operations. When the Cyclone struck communications and electricity supplies were snapped across the country. Most parts of the coastal region were virtually blacked out during the night. The capital Dhaka had power and communications link cut off as driving rains flooded some streets and strong winds sent billboards flying through the air. Buildings and roofs were shaken by fierce winds during the night, and that by morning power and water supplies had been cut. However, the power and other utility systems in Dhaka and most of the areas were brought back to a normal level within two days.

But before leaving, Sidr had managed to ravage the lives of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of the coastal region death toll currently stands at over 3000 and the Red Crescent has estimated that it can reach up to 10,000 or more in the end. The cyclone left its mark of devastation on 133 upazilas (in 22 districts), 962 unions, affecting a population of 3.144 million of about 88,700 families. The storm killed 242,000 livestock and completely destroyed crops on 23,122 – acre land including 600,000 metric tons of Aman Rice. According to an estimate, 273,000 houses were totally flattened, with 58 km roads totally destroyed and another 1,363km damaged.

According to reports, the total damages came close to 450 million US Dollars!

It has been reported that already 25 million US Dollars have been pledged by different foreign organizations as aids to help the cyclone affected people. But a huge amount of money would still be required to get things back into shape. All of us, from all walks of life should involve ourselves in this rehabilitation and aids process in any way we can. Maybe a little less shopping this season, maybe a little less lighting and extravagance in our social functions, a little less dining out perhaps and that can make all the difference.

Here is a list of ways how you can make a change:

For People living in Bangladesh and all over the world

Those who wish to help, may remit cash directly to the following account:

Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund,
Current Account No. 33004093, Sonali Bank,
Prime Minister’s Office Branch,
Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
SWIFT Code: BSONBDDH.

For People Living In Canada
Those living in CANADA and wishing to help, may please send bank/postal draft, cheque to be drawn on any of the following bank account:

Prime Minister’s Relief Fund,
Account No. 00236-5077441,
Royal Bank of Canada,
99 Bank Street, Ottawa, Canada,
C/O – Bangladesh High Commission,
Ottawa. SWIFT Code : ROYCATT2.

If you are sending bank/postal draft, cheque , etc., you may also send it to Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa (275 Bank street, Suite-302, Ottawa, ON K2P 2L6) for deposit with the accounts.

Please also note that at the special request of the High Commission, some money exchanges/remitting agencies owned by Bangladeshi expatriates in Toronto and Montreal have agreed to remit money to any of the above relief funds free of charges or commissions.

You can visit

http://www.bdhc.org/new.htm for further details.

For People Living In Australia
Bangladesh High Commission, Canberra
Account Name: Relief Fund
Account Number: 032729 199161
Bank: Westpac Banking Corporation
Branch: Manuka, ACT

You can visit
www.bangladoot-canberra.org/PR_HighComm_ReliefFund.pdf
for more information.

For People Living In Usa
Individuals or organizations desiring to make donations may send their contributions directly to the Chief Adviser’s Relief Fund in the following address:

Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund
Current Account No. 33004093
SWIFT Code: BSONBDDH
Sonali Bank, Prime Minister’s Office Branch
Tejgaon, Dhaka

Individuals or organisations may also send the donation to the relief fund by money transfer agencies. If the donations are sent through the Sonali Exchange Co., USA, no additional fees for transfer will be required. In that case, the amount should be directly paid in cash or through cheque (payable) to Sonali Exchange Co. Inc. USA. (Please mention ‘For Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund’ in the space for ‘Memo’) The Sonali Exchange will send the money to the Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund within the next business day and will issue a confirmation receipt in favor of the donor. ‘Placid Express’ has also announced that donation to the ‘Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund’ can be remitted without any transfer fee.

As for sending relief materials, the Government of Bangladesh would prefer receiving food grains, water purification tablets, water purification units for the rehabilitation works. However, the cost of shipment will have to be borne by the sender (s) of such relief materials.

For any clarification on the procedure, please contact Bangladesh Consulate General in New York directly or speak to Mr. Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, Consul at 1-212-599-6767 ext 15/10/21 or 212-687-5368.

Please visit www.bdcgny.org/archive/instructions_flood_donations.html for further information.

Also, information about donating specifically to aid Bangladesh cyclone victims will be available on:

http://www.worldvision.org/

http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/07/07111602/index.asp

http://www.savethechildren.org/newsroom/2007/pr-super-cyclone-bangladesh-2007.html

Many young people do not have bank accounts but are interested in donating. You can simply use your cell phone for the purpose. If you have a Bangladeshi cell phone connection, simply type ‘help’ and send a SMS to 1010 – every time you do that, the respective company will give an entire 10 Taka from your balance to the Chief Adviser’s Relief Fund. It should be noted that all the six cell phone providers in Bangladesh – Grameen Phone, Banglalink, Aktel, Citycell, Warid Telecom and Teletalk are offering their facilities in this process.

Most of the universities and colleges (especially in Dhaka) are launching campaigns for helping the cyclone hit people. Try to find what’s happening at your institution and help them in an way and every way you can money, dry food, clothes, essential medicines or even volunteering for the cyclone donation programs and going in person to the effected areas to understand what the people are going through!
I’d personally request all the respected readers of Star Campus, to avail any of the methods mentioned above and help the poor, distraught people of the coastal regions who have practically lost whatever they had. Please feel free to post the online version of this article (http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/04/feature_cyclone_sidr.htm) into your blogs, Facebook notes or any other place for more publicity so that more and more Bangladeshis (and well wishers of the country) can come forward for this great cause.

News Room : Dr. Zafar Iqbal visits BRACU Residential Campus at Savar

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/03/newsroom.htm

Dr. Zafar Iqbal, eminent scholar and popular author and activist, and the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, recently visited the Residential Campus of BRAC University at Savar. There, he delivered a lecture on Bengali Literature for the 200 or so students attending the Residential Semester this time. After the lecture, Dr Iqbal answered questions about many different topics, asked by the students, many of whom are big fans of his writing. Members of the BRAC University Computer Club (BUCC) led by two senior members Mahdin Mahboob and Choudhury Md Zahid organized a presentation titled BRAC University Residential Semester at a Glance. There, Mahdin spoke about the many different benefits that the students are getting by attending this Residential Semester. He also spoke about the picturesque campus at Savar. Fahd Bin Haider, Md. Ashraf Hossain, Md. Eftakhairul Islam and other BUCC members volunteered for this event.

Seminar on ‘Academia-Industry Linkage’ held at BUET

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/03/feature_BUET.htm

Aseminar titled ‘Academia-Industry Linkage for Education and Research in Bangladesh: Views from the Private Sector’ was held at the Seminar Hall, Civil Engineering Building of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The Keynote Presentation was done by Engr. A.K.M Shamsuddin, Chairman of E-Zone HRM Ltd and Ex- Managing Director of Aventis group (Aventis Limited, Fisons Bangladesh Limited, Hoechst Marion Roussel Limited). In his speech, Mr. Shamsuddin elaborated on statistical data about Bangladesh’ performance on the R&D (Research and Development) sector, how the lackings in this sector can be overcome and why the linkage between the Industry and Educational Institutions is of utmost importance to the socio-economic development and technological advancement of a country.

After that, established professionals from the industry spoke about their personal experiences in their respective fields the hardships they had to face initially and how they eventually overcame them.

The speakers included Engr. A.S.M Quasem (Chairman of Newage Group of Industries and Ex-President, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Engr. A.M. Yahya (Chief of Optical Fiber Department, GrameenPhone), Engr. Rabiul Alam (Managing Director, Energypac Power Generation) and Ar. Mubasshar Hussain (CEO, Assoconsult and President, Inst of Architects, Bangladesh).

A.M. Yahya spoke about the success story of Grameen Phone and the role that the two-line optic fibre of Bangladesh Railways played in it. He informed that Bangladesh Railway is one of the first Railways in the world to utilize Fiber-optic communication much before the other Railway system in this region. He urged the future engineers of the country to think out of the box in order to leave a mark in the field.

Later in the seminar the Vice-chancellor of BUET AMM Shafiullah, the chief guest of the event, spoke about the role universities play in shaping the minds of the young professionals. He compared university level education to a football field, with the exception that there are many goalposts instead of just two. He talked about the research opportunities present in BUET and how it can be further increased keeping in pace with the current demands.

This seminar also marked the inception of the BUET Alumni Association who organized this seminar to mark 60 years of Engineering Education in Bangladesh. Proffesor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University and President of the Alumni Association spoke at the end of the Seminar. He emphasized on identifying the obstacles we have towards establishing a strong relation between academia and industry. He also talked about how BUET, and other universities could play a big role in this regard. The concept of an ‘Engineering Research Council’ was also brought in his speech. Prof. Jamiluar Reza Chowdhury, while concluding his speech and the seminar, mentioned about the upcoming website for the alumni association and an open house symposium to be held in BUET in December this year.

Tech Wise [18th November 2007]

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/03/tech.htm

Official Nokia N82 Product
Photos Published

This one’s for all the Nokia lovers. Here are some pics of the upcoming sensation in the world of cell phones the all new Nokia N82. Enjoy! It sure looks to be a market winner with features like: a 5-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss Lens and auto-focus, 3G, 30FPS VGA video capture, secondary video camera, 2.4-inch screen, GPS, FM radio, TV-Out, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0.

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Helium Balloon Lights!!!

The Helium Balloon Light consists of 35 ‘ultra strong’ diodes suspended from a helium balloon. There are two versions of the device available a limited edition cordless version powered by rechargeable batteries and a basic corded version. And just how much would you expect to pay for a technological marvel such as this? How does $1000 (BDT 70,000) strike you? Apparently, buying some cheap helium balloons from the street and a 200 bucks torchlight sounds like a far better alternative to me!

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This Is What Lamps Look Like In Hell

Chances are that if you have $45,000 (BDT 3,150,000) lying around to waste on a lamp, you probably did something shady to get it. So a Fall of the Dammed lamp depicting a Dante-esque decent into hell would perfectly fit your living room. Thanks to a sophisticated laser sculpting process, owners can now enjoy an extremely expensive reminder that when the apocalypse hits, it would be really hard to find people to save them from Satan’s wrath.

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Cubicle Stepper Combines Work and Exercise at the Desk!!!

If sitting in an office cubicle all day wasn’t bad enough, Gamercize wants you to throw a workout into the equation with their new GZ PC-Sport Power Stepper. The stepper itself is similar to other products on the market, except this one hooks into your computer via USB and shuts down your keyboard or mouse when you start slacking off. According to the product page, using the GZ PC-Sport can burn up to 400 calories per hour with a effort level that is equivalent to a “brisk walking pace.”

Author Profile : Derek Walcott

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/02/autprofile.htm

Derek Alton Walcott, popularly known as Derek Walcott in short, is a West-Indian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. Born in 1930 Castries, St Lucia, he later moved to Trinidad in 1952. The experience of growing up on the isolated volcanic island, an ex-British colony, has had a strong influence on Walcott’s life and work.

His work, which developed independently of the schools of magic realism emerging in both South America and Europe at around the time of his birth, is intensely related to the symbolism of myth and its relationship to culture. He is best known for his epic poem Omeros, a reworking of Homeric story and tradition into a journey around the Caribbean and beyond to the American West and London.

Walcott founded the Trinidad Theatre Workshop in 1959, which has produced his plays (and others) since that time, and remains active with its Board of Directors. He also founded Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University in 1981 with the hope of creating a home for new plays in Boston, Massachusetts. Walcott continues to teach poetry and drama in the Creative Writing Department at Boston University and gives readings and lectures throughout the world. He divides his time between his home in the Caribbean and New York City.

Walcott has published more than twenty plays. The majority of these plays have been produced by the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, and have also been widely staged elsewhere. Many of them deal, either directly or indirectly, with the liminal status of the West Indies in the postcolonial period. Epistemological, ontological, economical, political, and social themes make regular appearances in Walcott’s plays.

In his 1970 essay on art (and specifically theatre) in his native region, What the Twilight Says: An Overture (published in Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays, Walcott bemoans the lasting effects of over 400 years of colonial rule. He reflects on the West Indies as colonized space, and the problems presented by a region with little in the way of truly indigenous forms, and with little national or nationalist identity. He states: “…we are all strangers here…. Our bodies think in one language and move in another…”. In this manner, Walcott shifts his poetic language between formal English and patois to highlight the linguistic dexterity of the Caribbean people. While recognizing the profound psychological and material wrongs of the colonial project, Walcott simultaneously celebrates the hybridization of Antillean cultures. His epic poem Omeros exposes the complex cultural strains that converge in his native St. Lucia, celebrating at once the European, Amerindian, and African heritage shared by the islanders.

Walcott probes the colonial dialectic in his two-hander Pantomime. In the play, Walcott revisions the story of Robinson Crusoe / Man Friday in an effort to destabilize the colonial power constructs. Reversing the roles of master / servant, Walcott temporarily lends to Trinidadian Jackson, a guest house factotum and calypso singer, the role of Crusoe, with Harry, a British ex-patriate and owner, the identity of “Thursday,” thus resetting Daniel Defoe’s legend in pre-colonial days.

Walcott writes in English, the language of Trinidad, but he also makes full use of the local dialects, or what Barbadian writer Edward Kamau Brathwaite calls “nation language,” and portrays Jackson as code-switching throughout the play to reveal his culture’s linguistic dexterity. Walcott’s plays weave together a variety of forms; including those of the folktale, morality play, allegory, fable, ritual and myth; as well as using emblematic and mythological characters to address issues in non-realistic ways.

Sources : nobelprize.org & wikipedia.org