TikTok satire, Pope Leo, a Photoshop challenge. Plus...my students think podcasts are 'fire.'
Also a sad farewell to Harshana Rambukwella and Panini Edirisinghe
Harshana Rambukwella: 1974 - 2025
Many of us in Sri Lanka mourn the untimely passing away of Harshana Rambukwella on the 21st of April, 2025. A man of many parts (former Director, Postgraduate Institute of English, Sri Lanka) he taught creative writing at NYU in Abu Dhabi. He was also a trustee of the Gratiaen Foundation. I looked up to Harshana as a painstaking researcher, a great writer, and a family man. Looking at his body of work, I realize I had been clueless about some of his interesting scholarly work. Like this book about code switching and what we derisively consider broken English: “Standard English, Cricket, Nationalism and Tyrannies of Writing in Sri Lanka.” His passing is a huge loss for Sri Lanka. Rest in peace, my friend.
Google tries to save face.
In case you had not noticed, the tech bros are on the defence. The Justice department in the US recently called for Google to be split—to sell off parts of its monopoly.
According to this piece in the New York Times, the $1.8 trillion company had broken US antitrust laws to maintain its dominance in online search. Meta is also next, under scrutiny, as is Apple and Amazon. That same week, Google came out with changes to how it will protect minors from nudity on Google searches on Android devices. They will include many settings that parents could change, including sensitive content warnings for viewing and uploading images.
SNEAKY APP?
Google recently installed an app on Androids called SafetyCore on many smartphones running Android, without user consent. It’s very sketchy. I deleted it. Some think it’s a surveillance tool, and/or may violate GDPR regulations.
Not that we could trust Apple, either. The company came under scrutiny when it used ‘Apple Intelligence’ for something it called Enhanced Visual Search. Basically, the iPhone surreptitiously accessed images. The software “privately matches places in your photos to a global index Apple maintains on our servers.”
SEO is so passe. Now it’s ‘GEO’!
There’s a new cottage industry around ‘Generative Engine Optimization Services.’ Quite a mouthful as always when it comes to these nerdy tech matters. But then again AI is all about ‘Large Language Models’ (LLM’s) and algorithms, so get used to being hit up with these newfound acronyms that pundits fling around just to show you that they know their stuff. There’s also PPC (pay per click), and CTR (click through rate) that were big, back in the day.
Hate acronyms? One of my friends told me about a new acronym—TLA. Stands for Three-Letter Acronyms. (How’s that for an acronym for an acronym?)
TikTok and the Pope don’t mix.
Shake well before use. Meaning, shake your head in exasperation. There was speculation that the Simpsons predicted the death of Pope Francis.
“Be wary of social media posts” warned PolitiFact. Socials were claiming that the The Simpsons predicted the death of the Pope Francis. Apparently, a satirical piece using the Simpsons was AI generated for a TikTok account.
But who cares to fact check their feeds these days? Innuendo and speculation spreads like the common cold. This ain’t the first time. Similar debunked stories include the Simpsons predicting Queen Elizabeth’s death, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Habemus Papam!”
Speaking of the Conclave, on Thursday the 8th May, a colleague beaming ‘habemus papam!’ as we passed on the stairwell. It took me a few seconds to realize: white smoke. Pope Leo XIV is just the kind of person we need right now. I love the fact that the former cardinal Robert Prevost has a math degree, and his mother was a librarian. While the media was quick to label him ‘the first American pope,’ what was less highlighted was that until he moved back to Rome in 2023, he obtained citizenship in Peru. Pope Francis must be smiling.
First Amendment rights…for a Chatbot?
This is from “the ridiculous to the sublime” department. An AI company faced with a lawsuit over a young boy’s suicide is claiming ‘right’ for its Chatbot.
The lawsuit is filed by the parents of a 14-year-old (through The Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project). It claims that the child “developed an emotional attachment to a chatbot” which didn’t end well. Google has a $2.7 billion investment in this Chatbot. The chats between the bot and the teenager were manipulations, not hallucinations, as the AI sector like to call them. You can read more about that story here. And if you do have a pre-teen or teen in the family, please be very wary of which app they use and for what purposes.
In 2023, the National Association of Attorneys General wrote to the government—the Senate— with a dire warning that “We are engaged in a race against time to protect the children of our country from the dangers of AI. Indeed, the proverbial walls of the city have already been breached. Now is the time to act. We appreciate your consideration.”
WhatsApp did get hacked.
If you thought encryption was great on WhatsApp, here’s disconcerting news. I didn’t know this but the app was hacked back in 2019
Podcasts are ‘fire’ - apparently
I occasionally make fun of the new words that show up in a high school. Like the word ‘vibe’ that was so overused a few months ago. Kids seem to have moved away from it. I kept hearing ‘aesthetic’ a lot now. Teens seem to love this word. Then other day at least three students used ‘nonchalant’ in a perfectly appropriate way in class. I’m loving how the vocabulary has moved away from ‘cool’ and ‘awesome.’ If you’re a parent, what words show up at your dinner table? I’m dying to know!
(Side note: And then I have these young podcasters this week as I allow them to create their own podcasts. They say they are ‘cooking’ —if you don’t know what this means, look it up! May say their podcasts are ‘fire.’ Cooking and fire. It’s just warming up, ha ha!)
News Literacy: Flashing red lights are on.
I subscribe to the News Literacy Project, and get these shocking reminders as to why we need to teach this. Not just to kids. For instance:
Yes, the red lights are all flashing. Misinformation is rampant. There’s so much work to be done. In the last two weeks of school as we glide into summer break I’m thinking of working on something related. Perhaps a short book, or a children’s book on misinformation.
PHOTOSHOP, ALWAYS A HIT
When I teach digital literacy at the end of the year, I show students how Photoshop works. I’m no expert. I use a clone called Pixlr Editor that has most of Photoshop’s features—layers, cloning and blur tool etc. Their challenge is to design a magazine cover. Here are the best examples:
‘Ben Talks’ - Video
In April, I produced an event modeled on TED Talk. We called Ben Talks after Benjamin Franklin. Among the eight speakers was a documentary producer, a YouTuber with an animation channel, a published Young-Adult author, and those who spoke about history, tragedy, police detective work, and medicine. The video is below.
Side note: I now use Capcut for a bulk of this video editing. It’s quite a slick, intuitive editing app for desktops and phones.
PANINI EDIRISINGHE. R.I.P.
Just before this went out I was informed that my batchmate, Panini Edirisinghe passed away. Panini kept us on track. He was extremely well read, and a huge influence on our lives as undergrads at Peradeniya.
Thank you for reading this far. There are many things more important than a newsletter. Do send me your feedback on any stories you liked.
A short plug: I just published my school newspaper this week as well. They might say I’m ‘cooking.’
