The missing pages and the return to normal

Charlotte: A pandemic era local trip

It has been five years since the pandemic was declared. Many posts are resurfacing to recall that weird period in time, the early pandemic. Hopes and fears. It took me four years to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic era. COVID-19 is a name unfair to the year 2019. Sure, the disease started in 2019. But it was not known to most of us until the last two weeks of January. The full impact of the disease was realized only in February with the travel restrictions and then March with "work from home" mandates. People eventually started to return to "normal." For me, 2024 was the first "fully normal" year. A full year with no more work from home. 2024 felt like a natural continuation of 2019. A perfect year. The stories of pandemic feel like a weird dream in the middle.

Recently, Microsoft announced it will discontinue Skype and migrate its users to Teams. No one likes Microsoft Teams. It is bundled with Windows Operating System and admins keep using it when better alternatives are available. As for Skype, its fate is sad. Skype started its journey as a peer-to-peer system. Microsoft acquired it, but still Skype was largely untouched. The pandemic time could have been a good time for Skype to pick up momentum. But somehow it lost that race to Zoom. Skype was a tool we used to communicate with family and friends. Teams was entirely for work. Merging Skype and Teams would be like merging Facebook with LinkedIn. Imagine your Facebook friends are now forced into your LinkedIn, as you have no option but to use the newly merged LinkedIn where you also have your Facebook friends. I can understand Microsoft realized there is no business potential for Skype. However, Skype will leave a gap no app can fill yet. Whatsapp and similar apps are phone-based, where Skype is available to computers across the operating systems as well as mobile phone. There are computer-based video alternatives based on computer operating systems - but they either lack mobile support or do not have the support to add friends. Having friends that you can check to see whether they are online and then calling them is a nice feature which Zoom does not have. Apps such as WhatsApp and FaceTime are also tied to the mobile phone number. Skype gives some sort of anonymity as it just needs an email address. Perhaps, that might be another reason Windows wanted to give up Skype?

Blurred memories of early 2020s

Social media keeps evolving. We had a period of "being nice" that made us all tip even the Starbucks baristas for that take out coffee order. Now, that habit sticks around, incorporating tipping in cashiers and self-checkout machines. Twitter was a refreshing part of our life during the early pandemic days. When the outside world was dark, Twitter gave us some light. Now we are back to normal. Twitter has gone dark and X. It is filled with weird people and bots. Everyone with a blue tick is focusing on engagement to get their cashback. Algorithm is skewed to incentivize arguments rather than happy memories and celebrating achievements. Most of my friends have left Twitter. I am still around although the conversations have either become boring or died down. It maybe time to quit. I am unlikely to quit while I minimize my time there to focus more on the physical world. The world has a lot to offer, and we are so back to normal.

The 3rd year

A seagull facing the Atlantic in Boston

We are reaching the end of January in 2022. The third year into the pandemic. The year seems to go pretty much like 2021. Old pre-pandemic memories are replaced by the lone memories of the pandemic. Let's see how long this goes.

 

A few things that made my 2021 interesting..

Two Arctic seas meeting, a late midnight

2021 is still a pandemic year that often felt like 2020. However, overall, the year was more positive. It was not better than my pre-pandemic best years (2019, 2017, 2015, and 2013). But this post focuses on the happy moments.

1. The Alaskan Arctic, twice - in the peak summer and the peak winter!

Witnessed the Arctic transforming completely with seasons from 24 hours sunlight to no sunrise. Visit Alaska was my childhood dream since 2001. After two decades, visited twice this year, and experienced the taiga and tundra biomes of Alaska.

2. A "Polar Bear Plunge" in the Northernmost Point of Alaska in the North Slope Borough

On a fine summer day, I jumped into the Arctic Ocean at Point Barrow (Nuvuk), where the Chukchi sea meets the Beaufort Sea. Nuvuk and Utqiagvik are now the northernmost and westernmost points I have ever been to. The water was not as cold as I anticipated. But I had to dry myself quickly and put my layers of clothes back on - as outside air in Utqiagvik was cold even in the peak summer, and water on skin makes it feel colder.

3. Witnessing Northern Lights two nights consecutively!

On New Year's Eve and the night of Jan 1st, 2022. The NYE had a magical feeling to it.

Valley of Fire State Park, NV

4.  Exploring the culinary scene of Northern Virginia (NOVA).

A calm Uzbek restaurant in Arlington and a seafood restaurant in Alexandria.

5. Getting stuck in Fairbanks in a historical "Icemageddon."

Canceled and delayed flights lengthened my stay from 4 nights to 6 nights. I handled an extremely volatile itinerary elegantly.

6. Long walks on cold Arctic winter temperatures of -34C, feels like -40C.

The weather app warned frostbites to exposed skin in 2 minutes and asked not to go outdoors. I did. I got a frostnip on my left thumb once too. 

7. Spencer Glacier and the blue glaciers of Whittier and surroundings

A scenic hike and standing in Spencer glaciers, and short walks in Whittier.

8. The view from Mount Evans, high at 4,348 m elevation

It is the highest I have ever been. And the scenic drive with mountain goats in the streets.

9. Arriving at Las Vegas, NV via long dark streets from Kanab, UT 

Slushies in Las Vegas was the weakest alcohol I have ever tried. 

10. The desert landscapes of NV and CA

Licked (!! because, why not?) some salt from the lowest elevations (-86 m) of death valley, and some hikes in the valley of fire, Joshua tree, and Mojave parks and forests.

11. The French Quarter of New Orleans

It has this genuine European charm and nightlife that I haven't felt elsewhere in the USA.

Mount Evans, a Fourteener of CO.

12. Witnessing the bore tides in real-time from the train ride

From Anchorage towards the south, magnificent views of mudflats and glacier-covered mountains of Chugach National Forest.

13. 20 km frequent weekend walks in Atlanta Beltline west and south and Stone mountain trail

More explorations of South and West Atlanta; leisure walks in roadsides of various neighborhoods such as Edgewood, Cabbage town,  and College Park; and interesting mini hikes such as Doll's Head Trail/Constitution Lakes Park.

14. Disconnecting from the world in Charlotte.

Long weekend brief trips are fun. I liked the 7th Street Public Market.

15. EmoryBMI Google Summer of Code - a successful summer as a mentor for two projects and the org admin

Our sister organization caMicroscope had a productive summer too, I learned from their mentors. 

16. The 2 Pfizer shots and the Moderna booster

They gave hope for a year that overwhelmingly felt like a twin of depressing 2020.

Spencer Glacier in summer

17. Crossing the bridge to Camden, NJ from Philadelphia, PA.

Almost summer - but it was rainy and cold. Thankfully, Philly had some nice cafes.

18. Getting soaked in a heavy thunderstorm in Bonita Lakes Park in Meridian, MS.

The town has some ghost vibes, like a haunted town. I won't recommend walking alone there at nights. It is a ghost paradise.

19. Burgers and CBD water outside the Illegal Burger restaurant, Denver downtown
Met some interesting strangers in Denver/Colfax, Idaho Springs, Boulder, and Littleton.

20. Accepted journal papers - a productive year for research.

Niffler at Journal of Digital Imaging (JDI), NEXUS at IEEE Access, and Viseu at Elsevier Computer Networks (COMNET).

21. Regular dentist visits after a decade. It was expensive.

Since I did not spend considerable time with humans this year, my dentist became the person I most interacted with this year.

22. Exploring Washington DC with my former colleague.

It reminded our Atlanta walks pre-pandemic in 2020.

New Orleans French Quarter

23. Discovering Chungha's music and becoming a fan.

INNA, my all-time favorite since 2013 from Romania, also had some great music this year.

24. A colorful view from the apartment in central Portland.

It was a trip-inside-a-trip from Seattle in a serial trip. In such backpacking trips, especially including flights, packing-unpacking-and-repacking, ensuring not to mix the still-clean clothes with dirty/used ones, is an art.

25. Up and downhills of Seattle on rainy Thanksgiving days.

The Chinatown / International District was nice for a good walk, despite the bad weather.

26. Software-Defined Systems SDS 2021 Conference.

Nice to meet my peers, although it was virtual. I was also the technical program committee (TPC) chair.

27. Snow covered Christmas Eve in Anchorage

This was my first white Christmas, everything covered in heaps of snow and snowflakes falling occasionally. Loved that feeling. I used icicles to write Happy New Year on snow. 2021 was easily my most favorite and unique Christmas.

Walking across the frozen Chena River

28. Crossing Chena River on foot from Pike's Landing, College, AK.

To get a selfie with the "Love Alaska" sign on Christmas day. In the winter, this "path" is also known as "Ice Bridge" but becomes an actively flowing river when it gets warmer in spring to autumn.

29. Reading a book outside in the snow by the fireside in Fairbanks.

Thanks to the hotel's library and the beautiful view that the snow had crafted.

30. Dangerously slippery roads of downtown Fairbanks

Walked across the entire downtown Fairbanks on various types of snow, ice, and slush - The good traction for my long boots prevented me from slipping on the heaps of snow with ice layers.

Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous years. :) 2021 was not a bad year, and comparing it with my pre-pandemic years is unfair. It was better than 2020, and it was the best I could achieve solo in a pandemic. I expect 2022 to bring an end to this crisis and bring back happiness to the 2019 pre-pandemic level. I wish you a happy new year. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may read the blog posts of all the previous years as well.

The inevitable evil now known as the Zoom

Alexandria, VA

Zoom fatigue is a real thing. Most people do not realize how it can affect the productivity and overall employee health.

If a zoom meeting ends at 11 am, can you all please:

a1) avoid extending it to 11:05 am? (another meeting starts at 11 am).

 

a2) avoid crashing many things from 10:55 - 11 am? (yes, your presentation timing was bad - you need to work on that).

a3) end at 10:57 am instead? (a short bathroom break before the next 11 am meet).

It is important to finish on time, or rather 3 minutes early - especially those with more than 2 people. If it is just 2 people, we could inform each other and end earlier in case of another meeting coming up right after. But with more people, we are left to:

b1) suffer back-to-back meetings with no breaks for eye strains or washroom.

b2) get late to the following meeting, either missing part of that meeting - or pushing it to start later, making a snowball effect on losing track of time for all the subsequent meetings.

b3) leave the meeting in "the middle" at 10:58 when the meeting goes on 10 minutes out of the schedule, eventually making us lose 12 minutes of the meeting which could contain the crucial aspects of the meeting if you are going crash important things during those last few minutes (refer to: a1).

2021, one isolated year.

2020 had the first 3 months that were quite active and filled with life. 2021 is the year I made the least amount of human interaction: The service industry (waiters, cashiers, ...) and strangers in the streets made nearly 100% of my interaction. Amid the pandemic, these workers provide a human aspect to the isolated humanity. The employers should pay them well. Since everything in the USA is about tipping, when will we start tipping Trader Joe's cashiers? They are the best. I wish Trader Joe's treated them with respect.

I don't know. But this really makes me feel sad.

 

COVID19 uncertainty - when you feel you are not in control of things. Pre-pandemic, the world changed slowly. Nothing fundamentally changed within a few months to years. We moved faster while the world moved relatively slower. That made us feel safe. The pandemic has turned the tables. Now with the pandemic, the world seems to be evolving rapidly than we. We are closer to 2022 than 2020 now as we have past the mid-mark of 2021. It is a one weird year, perhaps less weird compared to 2020. 3 years in Atlanta continuously. I am not sure where and how will this year end and what is next, and is there even a next?

"Perceived Time" is not a linear entity

Playing chess in Pousada do Castelo de Óbidos

"Why time goes faster as we age" is a question often asked to the Google Gods. Just do  Google search yourself and find interesting and satisfactory answers that the perception of time going faster as we get older s universal. The logic is simple. When you are 10 years old, 1 year is 10% of your lifetime so far. When you are 30 years old, 1 year is just 3% of your time so far. So, as you get older, you start to perceive that time goes faster.

Sounds simple. right? But no. It is not entirely true. Perceived time gets extremely tricky. Sad and boring days go slow. The pandemic 2020 with mostly lock down and work from home home-alone felt to be moving in a snail speed. But looking back, it also feels like time went fast. boring periods feel differently when you experience it vs. when you look at it later.

I also kept moving across nations pretty fast between 2012 - 2018, every year living in 2 countries in average. When you arrive in a country, you feel like your life starts from scratch. Especially if you knew no one from the country, you could really redefine yourself. I often feel like a blank white sheet when I arrive in a country for the first time. As I was living a nomadic life from 2012 - 2018, I rarely bought many things. Any stuff I bought, I had to throw away as I moved to another country. Then, we buy new things in the other country that we arrive. It was like getting new blood. But since 2018 June, I am in Atlanta. Almost 3 years with no change in location, even the apartment. With 3 years, my minimalist lifestyle has slightly changed as things accumulate at home. Also, unlike the new blood coming in when you move around, staying in one place makes you gather more garbage. Things break, and we have to buy new things - not because we threw away things when we moved to another country - but rather, things decay - the wear and tear.

The first academic year in Lisboa went quite fast - but also left ever-lasting memories of friendships, romance, smiles, and tears. But I have also reviewed and relived those memories several times. I have gone through those photos repeatedly. I fondly called those times, "those days," especially the first 6 months of Lisboa. The first year of Lisboa - I lived it again and again, every time I returned to Portugal from other countries such as Sweden, Croatia, Belgium, and USA. Now, looking back, the period between 2012 August - 2013 July feels like quite a long time, compared to the rest of time in my life such as 1987 - 2012 and 2014 - 2021.

I used to write weekly blog posts during my first academic year in Portugal. Then, when I moved to Sweden, I started writing monthly posts. Then upon return to Lisboa, I intermittently blogged my life. I resumed the weekly blog posts during the early COVID19 days of 2020, which I later stopped as WFH was normalized and became normal. Especially with the vaccine, now we feel we may get back to normal life soon. The cases still remain high though. Those excitement of weekly posts also brings a perception of long days when I look back at 2012 - 2013 in Lisboa. We don't remember the events. We remember the last time we remembered the events. When we repeatedly recall an event, it starts to feel closer than it actually is.

When I go on a long-trip that lasts more than 2 weeks, the first half goes feels long. But the second half goes too fast. Maybe that the first half is like the 100% of time I have been in that place where the second half is just the 50%? As I am getting used to all the new places, nowadays, once I land on a new city, the very second day I start to feel home even if I am just staying in a hotel.

Things felt differently when I was young. We used to eagerly wait for the annual trips during our middle-school days. We just started with one-day trips to the villages of Sri Lanka, which became two day trips from grade 9 onward. The 2-day trip involved sleeping over in a new village, and got all of us excited. 2010, my trip to Paris for SoCPaR was both my first foreign trip as well as my first conference experience. As such, it felt special. Now, as I have been to 46 countries and hundreds of cities, such an excitement becomes harder to achieve. I have to go to a farther interesting place to indeed feel the same excitement. Still, I surprise myself in a few exciting trips, such as my visits to Panama or New Orleans.

Perceived time is a weird construct. Trying to explain it makes no sense. This is my conclusion. Long live the memories of our young days.

* Embedded music videos are from INNA. I spent the best days of my life since 2012 (from 2012 and ongoing) listening to her music. It is like growing old with her music, witnessing how her music also evolves and matures. Listening to her music from 2012 - 2013 days takes me back on the memory lanes.

Resurrecting my Twitter from a suspension

Porto, days before my Ph.D. defense. 2019.

One fine day in 2020 December, I was roaming the streets randomly. Such randomness brings me happiness on a regular day. But these days are anything but regular. "Quit social media and come to real life." Not many realize social media is real life in the pandemic era. We are actively avoiding social activities due to a pandemic. Social media is the safest bet. When everyone is distanced, the demarcation of online and physical worlds collapses. Nevertheless, I decided to reduce my Twitter usage for 2021 to diversify my free time online. I had informed my Twitter friends too. By early January 2021, I had already reduced my Twitter time to 40% of my 2020 levels. "

When Twitter suspended me, I tried to consider it as the universe trying to help me reduce my Twitter time. There were some challenges, though. First, even if I wanted to reduce/stop using Twitter, I don't want to lose my previous tweets. I made many of those with care and effort. Second, my account's suspension through a mass-report was used as a "statement" by the bullies and the fakes that we were fighting. The fake person (who had apparently reported me with the help of his trolls and friends for "spamming him") had resumed tweeting vigorously on his verified profile. How does Twitter end up giving people with fake qualifications verified status? Doesn't Twitter verify you are who you claim to be before offering you that blue tick? I don't know. Some known bullies were hiding behind sockpuppets to attack me once I was gone - precisely because we were alerting everyone, specifically their victims, about who is behind these sockpuppets. 

 

Dormant bots and sockpuppets

These bullies use the main profile to portray a decent image while using sockpuppet accounts to bully people. Most (if not all) of these bullies are misogynists - if you look into their sockpuppets, most (if not all) of their victims are women. People assume how long a Twitter account was alive as a measure of trust. Not always true. Dormant bots coming back to life to bully after several years is a common challenge. We were also looking at certain trolls repurposing their old bots as new sockpuppets. Some of these sockpuppets are as old as their main accounts. The only difference - they were dormant until recently. Then suddenly, they come back online to defend their main account while fighting the main account's enemies. The usage patterns reveal more confirmation on who is behind the sockpuppets too.

 

Social media companies should seriously consider a Wikipedia-style community moderation, combined with their existing moderation teams. Indeed, people can use VPNs and Tor to hide their identity. But it is implausible that most of the bullies that we were dealing with use those. Twitter should consider locking suspicious accounts from the same IP address and device when they unify to attack someone. It is impossible that a bully and their friend/roommate/sibling are using the same device from the same network simultaneously. Even so, that is a coordinated attack, and that warrants some intervention. Free speech, you would say? Then, all it took for a fakeDr and his bully friends, the number of reports to suspend me on spam accusations. 

 

The aftermath 

Friends recommended me to appeal my suspension with details - which exactly what I did. Some suggested I come back in a second account to handle the bullies who were making up stuff while I was gone. I rejected both - I am not going to use a second profile. If my Twitter account is gone, I will end my Twitter usage with that. I was planning to reduce my Twitter usage anyway. I also don't want to bother replying to those without backbone who use only sockpuppets - and dare not say a word with their main account.
 

But, once my account is gone, my whole Twitter history was gone. Google still showed my images and posts. But when I click, it showed, "This tweet is from a suspended account." That wasn't pleasant. In my opinion, Twitter should lock the account, remove their harmful tweets, and then give the user a choice to either delete the account as a whole or keep the locked account as a record. At least for the first-time offenders. Also, with Twitter suspension, many of my embedded tweets looked weird in my previous blog posts. It gets more bizarre for Trump. Many news articles with his tweets embedded look worse. Fortunately for them, most of them were using screenshots instead.

In the meantime, my friends offered to look internally through their connections on Twitter to un-suspend my account quicker. I made a blog post on my Twitter life and the story behind my suspension. The response from Twitter and how the events unfolded around Twitter following my suspension helped narrow down the cause of my suspension. A fake Dr had reported me for questioning him under his profile as "spam." Often it requires a lot of effort to suspend a bully online. But with the number, Twitter verification, and power, they could suspend someone who poses a legitimate criticism - rather than fixing their problematic behavior. Any suspension mechanism without community involvement will be inefficient and imperfect, especially when dealing with local languages (Sinhala and Tamil).

 

The resurrection 

Twitter restored my account in 5 days. Of course, not a single tweet of mine was ever removed by Twitter before. This was my first "offense" of spam. So Twitter isn't going to keep an account suspended forever for spamming a person who faked his qualifications all the way to reach the top leadership - regardless of the numerous reports he and his friends has made. Once I returned to Twitter, I asked my Twitter friends to connect with me through other means (especially, LinkedIn), as I do not want to lose my connection to them if I lose my Twitter again. I warned my friends who were in similar fights to watch out and be careful about handling our fights - either it is a fight against the bullies, sockpuppets, fake doctors, and diploma mills, or for some other good cause. We don't want to lose our accounts. Repeat tagging the politicians, bullies, and fake people to call them out gives them an easy case to report us for spamming them. We should be smarter when our problems are trickier.

 

There had to be some initial increased Twitter use to tell my friends what happened, what went wrong, how to rectify this, and how to prevent it from happening again. But I am still committed to my decision to reduce my Twitter use this year. I am just trying to see whether I can use more of my free time online for something else while still stuck by the pandemic, with the end in far sight.

The rise and the fall of a Twitter star

Having some sandwich on NOLA roadside

Everything that starts eventually comes to an end. Well, maybe not everything. But social media - indeed do. I created my Twitter account in 2009 March when a leader in my previous company suggested we use Twitter to share what we are working on. I have had some good times on Twitter since then, as can be seen from my various blog posts on my Twitter life.

1. The Facebook Era (2009 - 2015)

Although I kept posting on Twitter since 2009, it was just my monologue most of the time. I rarely had people interacting with me. It was also partly because I rarely interacted with others as well. Facebook was my primary social medium by then. I was quite active on Facebook, and during my peak, if my memory is right, I had almost 2000 "friends" on Facebook. Most of the people were those I have met - at least briefly. My Facebook profile had all my photos until 2015. I decided to deactivate my Facebook account in 2015 (More details on why I deactivated my Facebook account). Interestingly, five years later, I am now writing a similar post for Twitter. The reasons and circumstances have some interesting overlaps and differences.

2. The Gap (2015 - 2016)

When I deactivated my Facebook, I did not know how long I could "live" without Facebook. For that reason, I did not announce on Facebook before leaving in December 2015. However, I successfully kept it deactivated for more than half a decade now. At some points, I had to log in briefly for some reasons, for example, to get some contact details of some friends I have only on Facebook. But overall, every time, I deactivated my account quickly after the conversations (which lasted, maximum, a day or two). I quickly learned to live without Facebook, and even when I went back briefly for a valid reason, I did not feel the urge to stay longer. I started to miss a way to keep connected to the friends I made along the way. I began to use LinkedIn for that. Of course, LinkedIn is supposed to be more professional, and I don't get to see those friends' photos. But at least I had a way to keep in touch. It was also, in a way, more comfortable to ask people I meet in conferences to add me to my LinkedIn rather than my Facebook. Not that I had trouble in adding friends I made in conferences to my Facebook. I use LinkedIn as an extended CV. As such, I never really posted anything there that shouldn't be in a CV or a professional portfolio. Indeed, I often felt the gap Facebook left. But I was also quite busy with my Ph.D. and my life. I had no time to worry about losing a social medium.

3. The Trump Era (2016 - 2019)

Trump's rise from a businessman to the president of the USA was highly attributed to Twitter. In 2016, many people had started to see Twitter in a more positive light. Even many global politicians began to see any publicity as good publicity. By late 2016, more active Twitter users popped up. Even Sri Lankan leaders and politicians started to get involved on Twitter. In 2017, a Brazilian friend echoed my sentiments on how local politicians were trying to replicate the Trump model. Twitter witnessed a sharp rise in interactions. I noticed many of my Facebook friends started to get active on Twitter, ditching Facebook altogether. K-Pop stans started to get popular on Twitter, sharing fancams. Some of them were trolling the politicians (mostly rightwingers) in their own game (More details on K-Pop fancams on Twitter). Still, it was 2020 that made me get more involved on Twitter.

4. The Era of Darkness (2020 - 2021)

2020 brought us a deadly pandemic, followed by travel restrictions. It also forced many of us to live home alone; families separated for various reasons, including travel restrictions and educated decisions on avoiding risky inter-continental flights. We all started to work from home from March 2020 with no end in sight. Except for some occasional trips, roadside walks, and hikes (sometimes with my colleague who lives in the same street), I was home alone 24/7. I rarely had human interaction for the past year (except via the Internet), which was strange. Lisboa had turned me into an extrovert. I like people; I like humans. But for the past several months, I avoided human contact as much as possible to adhere to the social distancing. As my only active social medium, Twitter often helped me make some friendly chats with friends, amid all these lonely months.

Like we come to Twitter to make friends, some trolls come to Twitter to bully others. They create sockpuppets (More details on sockpuppets on Twitter) to harass people with opposing viewpoints. Recently, with the help of my friends, I spotted a vile middle-aged man who created (at least) three sockpuppets to bully and harass successful women. I posted a Tweet warning these bullies to stop - without mentioning the names, but with sufficient information. I noticed he stopped harassing the women after that tweet. Could it be a coincidence, or perhaps, as a Twitter mutual, he saw my tweet and stopped bothering them, fearing I would doxx him? I would not know. Together with some of my friends, I found and reported several such bullies and sockpuppets.

For instance, there was a bully who was sending violent graphic death threats to women online. We reported and took his account down. Later, I learned from those ladies that those death threats were meant as a joke, and he was their friend. Ok, now we are trivializing death threats. OK. In 2012, Amanda Todd, in a saddening public YouTube video, sought help, "I have nobody. I need someone," after being bullied in real life and online. No one paid attention until she took her own life a month later. Someone could have stepped in and at least pointed her in the right direction. Perhaps, made sure no one bullied her?

 

I watched a Chinese movie, based on a novel influenced by some bullying scandals, 少年的你 (Better days, 2019) on a flight. Sometimes, someone stepping in at the right time could save a life. Violent public tweets/posts can be triggering to unsuspecting onlookers. Such insensitive jokes distract those who want to step in to stop legitimate harassment. These jokes also waste law enforcement and Twitter moderation team's resources. Therefore, I would argue against making death threats or violent tweets even for a joke.

5. The End

Twitter suspended my account yesterday after apparently receiving several reports of violation. I never have DM'd anyone except friends (Twitter mutuals) - that too, just friendly chats. No illegal, creepy, weird, violent, or adult DMs. So I could quickly rule out DMs as I never sent any DM of bizarre nature. It must be my tweets. I also use only one profile (@pradeeban). No sockpuppets, anon, or fake accounts. As such, no one could accuse me of creating multiple identities. Sockpuppets are a massive problem on Twitter, and I was fighting precisely that.

I have gone after some fake humans on Twitter. One dude who hasn't even completed his high-school exam has faked a Ph.D. and is holding leadership positions in Sri Lanka. Unqualified people in top posts will be hazardous to the nation. We exposed him. Perhaps, he had a rationale to report me for the repeated tag. As a public figure, he is not free from criticism, which is our responsibility to ask for the truth. But, I don't think Twitter can differentiate these. I also have gone after some fake "influencers" (More details on how these influencers ruin Twitter for everyone). However, it is unlikely that these fake people reported me. I posted the tweets against those fakes months ago. They wouldn't have to wait for months to report me for that. That makes me believe that it should be one of the bullies that we targeted recently.

I have appealed to Twitter on this suspension. Usually, they would ask me to take down the offending Tweets. I will know by then which of my tweets were of the violation that prompted my account's suspension. I never had real enemies on Twitter. I might have earned a few by poking my nose into issues that I thought warrant my intervention. Some of those bullies, sockpuppets, and fake people I offended could easily have formed a group to mass-report me, giving me my own medicine. :)

Now, there is also this very real possibility: I kept posting YouTube videos on my timeline, and perhaps some people found that annoying and reported me for those as well. But those are on my profile. Right? But who knows? We will not know until Twitter gets back to me. If Twitter gives me back my account, I will see you all again on Twitter. Otherwise, thanks for all the good times. If I have ever argued with you on Twitter, it was just I was talking whatever that I believed was right at that time. I don't really consider any of the Twitter humans as my enemies. My sincere and unconditional apologies to you if my arguments or tweets in general made you feel bad or hurt you. It was never my intention. I don't want to be the bully myself while I was trying to fight the bullies, fake people, and sockpuppets online.

ළමායි/சிறுவர்களே, be nice to everyone in real life and online. These are difficult days. We are all bound by a deadly pandemic, and often online interactions are our only human interaction. Everything that starts eventually comes to an end, I mentioned in the beginning. I might not get my Twitter account back. But I am just a worker ant in a red ant colony. My absence will not change our fight towards a kind and fair social media in Sri Lanka, free from bullies and sockpuppets. We are in this fight together. ස්තුතියි/நன்றி.

 

Jan 27th: I have got my Twitter account back tonight after the appeals. (More details on this update).

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 42

Winter in Flagstaff

Most of 2020 was boring. Especially the days when I was home - which is, most of the days since March. 2021 might not be exciting. But I hope to face 2021 with more optimism.

2020 was a boring year. But it went quite fast. Some intermittent activities made 2020 reasonably interesting. Besides, the first 45 days of 2020 was filled with travels. I suspect 2021 could be even more boring. Traveling is fun. The best part of a travel is, coming back home after an eventful trip, full of memories. Memories define us.

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 41

This was a short-week. Yesterday was the last workday of 2020. Cannot believe we have reached the end of 2020. It has gone reasonably fast. So I traversed my 2017 Twitter to see how I handled my challenging days in 2017 so positively, and what do I miss in 2020. I found the secret in this tweet:

Random walk in an Alabama village

Fell down and hurt my knee badly. Could not control my laughter. Life in Louvain-la-Neuve/Belgium has really turned me into a masochist. LOL

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) October 13, 2017

Someone told me: "You work 9 - 5 for money. The real work starts after 5 pm". I was like, "I don't consider sipping absinthe as real work. But if you insist." Anyway, in my opinion, anyone who says "Sacrifice your family/happiness/mental-health for your goal/vision/dream" should never be trusted.

 

When you drink ~140 proof liquors, you are drinking fire. You instantly receive the blessings of the Fire God, as the overproof rum burns your throat as it goes down. oh yes, as long as you don't mix anything; no stupid nonsense into my majestic rum.

 

#Lisboa residents be like "I know a place" and take you to the beaches, Tagus riverfront, Parque das Nações, fado bars, pastelaria restaurantes, churches, museums, and national parks all in a single day. By the end of the day, you will have decided to stay in #Portugal forever.

vancouver tourists be like “i know a place” and take you to a three-hour lineup at cafe medina on a weekend

— Alex Migdal (@alexem) June 29, 2020

I hope I will be able to face 2021 with such energy and positivity how bad the year maybe, as COVID19 is still at large. Fingers crossed.

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 40

This week is the last complete working week of 2020. Next week is a half-week and the work year ends next Wednesday. With the pandemic induced self-isolation, loneliness, and work-from-home for the whole year, this year has seen a significant rise in online interaction - for both job and entertainment and human interactions. "Stay home" is said easier than done when it drags on forever. But most of us did our best to the best of our ability, even separated from families due to travel restrictions.

I talked to my Twitter friend about how our Twitter usage has changed this year - mostly increased.  Twitter is my only active social medium. But until 2020 (the pandemic hit hard), I wasn't as active on Twitter. From my Twitter analytics, I see that I posted and received interactions 10X more this year, compared to last year.

For example, in July 2019 (when I defended my Ph.D. thesis in Lisboa), I had 110 tweets, and in July 2020, it was 889. An 8X increase, although I had much more exciting personal updates during March - August 2019 than March - August 2020.

 With 2020 coming to an end, I consider prioritizing and refocusing things as the pandemic does not seem to end by the end of this year. As a policy, I avoid working more than 40 hours/week, as life has more than working. Pre-COVID19, I wasn't home alone, and I could spend time with family. Even when I am alone for short intervals, I tend to go randomly for walks or random trips. With those significantly reduced (not just for me - for most of my friends), we all ended up spending more time in front of computers. I hope to bring back my 2019 healthy lifestyle (both physically and mentally) this 2021.

 

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 39

This week I received my Ph.D. degree certificate and diploma from my university in Portugal. My Ph.D. is a double-degree from Portugal and Belgium. I already received my degree certificate from Belgium on September 17th. I completed my research by June 2018 before I moved to Atlanta. But my defense got slightly delayed as I continued to improve my thesis with the feedback from my supervisors and the thesis committee. Eventually, I defended it in July 2019 in Lisboa, Portugal, and August 2019 in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Now, after slightly longer than a year, I also have both degree certificates. It took longer than usual to receive the certificates due to the COVID19-induced university shutdowns. Now with both degrees in my hand, I feel happy. It was a good journey. I will continue to extend and apply the findings from my Ph.D. research for the problems of biomedical informatics.

I have named my next project Viseu (Virtual Internet Services at the Edge), which I am working in parallel with Sintra (Self-adaptive Inter-domain Network Transfers for Radiology). Sintra and Viseu are a continuation of the Ph.D. research I completed last year in Portugal and Belgium. They follow my tradition of naming my projects with the Portuguese town names, starting from Sendim (2015), Óbidos (2017), and Évora (2018). Now, I am running out of Portuguese town names to make acronyms or backronyms for my research projects.

The year is coming to an end soon. The coming week is the last full work-week. YouTube Music has made some  summary of the videos that I have watched in this year. I don't think it is accurate as it seems to show only the music that I listened through the YouTube Music App, and not the ones I watched directly on YouTube.com.

Thanks for the music @BrumaOtilia🇷🇴 and @ICE_Gang🇰🇷.💚❤️ pic.twitter.com/vmWAAWs8vd

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) December 11, 2020

 

 

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 38

Festival mood is here

The year is moving on and is also going to reach an end soon. The pandemic of the year is going into next year as well. However, the progress made so far with vaccines seems promising. People keep saying that they already see the light at the end of the tunnel. Despite all the boring events of 2020, I have managed to keep myself overall entertained. It is no surprise 2020 is one horrible year. We have only 2 whole weeks (and another half-week) before the year-end vacation. Some years were quite boring or sad. They felt like an eternity. Some years (2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019) were so exciting, and time flew like an arrow. Then 2020. It is boring and sad. But how can such a nasty year come to an end too soon? Are we in a black hole or something? 

 

We are all optimistic about 2021. There will always be optimism every year!

Moments with Twitter - V

It has been a while since I wrote a post on the series of Moments with Twitter. You may find the previous posts by checking out my blog label,

If you are really bored, just click one of these live cams across the globe and watch things and people moving.. :D http://earthcam.com/mapsearch/

 

 

PORTUGAL is BETTER - https://vimeo.com/124504582 (A nice promotional video on investing in #Portugal).

 

 

A free web site to find Erasmus student apartments - https://studentmundial.com/accommodation

 

 

Going through old papers my dad gave me, I found his map of the internet as of May 1973.

The entire internet. pic.twitter.com/0krvYoRGav

— David Newbury (@workergnome) December 10, 2016

 

"In Liechtenstein’s last military engagement, in 1886, none of its 80 soldiers were killed. 81 returned, including a new Italian 'friend'.”

 

The making of a cinematic linguist's office http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=28924 #Arrival.

 

We guarantee that this small country will make a big impact. You may even fall in love with Porto!
(Jaime Cancella de Abreu) pic.twitter.com/KKa1zyilJ0

— TAP Air Portugal (@tapairportugal) November 10, 2016

 

 Twitter is fun. But it does not get the sarcasm right though.

The things I have been called in the past by those who quickly glanced at a single tweet and misunderstand it (either by missing my sarcasm, or me being not quite expressive due to Twitter character limit and quick-tweeting without paying enough attention): * racist prick * troll