Building Virtual Colombo - A "Cities: Skylines" Experiment, Part 2 The Doghouse podcast

26:13

A frequent problem encountered by journalists is how we can use technology like satellite imaging to provide more depth to stories on environmental degradation. This episode Yudhanjaya and Nadim discuss ways in which these maps can contribute to journalistic storytelling. You can access the maps and get an overview of how we built these maps on ⁠GitHub⁠ . Music and sound effects from ⁠⁠⁠⁠u_5wgfa0ekjt⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠GoldenSound Labs⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay…

The Doghouse

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The Green Death: Part 2 - Tourism and Conservation 22:47

19 weeks之前22:47

22:47

This episode Yudhanjaya and Nadim look at the interplay between the tourism industry and loss of forest cover in Sri Lanka. We look at developments particularly in the "buffer zones" around national parks and protected forest areas. You can access the composite satellite maps and get an overview of how we built them on ⁠GitHub⁠ . Music and sound effects from ⁠⁠⁠⁠u_5wgfa0ekjt⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠GoldenSound Labs⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay…

The Doghouse

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The Green Death: Part 1 - Mapping the loss of forest cover in Sri Lanka 25:12

19 weeks之前25:12

25:12

Deforestation and the loss of forest cover in Sri Lanka is an issue that the team at Watchdog has been passionate about, but how to go about telling this complex story? We needed a better vantage point. In this episode we delve into how we used satellite imagery to build a series of detailed maps covering 2017-2024, the anomalies we discovered, and how agriculture features in this story. You can access the maps and get an overview of how we built these maps on GitHub . Music and sound effects from ⁠⁠⁠u_5wgfa0ekjt⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠GoldenSound Labs⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠Pixabay…

The Doghouse

1
Digitising Agriculture: Introducing Watchdog's Agri Sensor Kit 21:38

23 weeks之前21:38

21:38

Our resident mechatronics engineer (yes, we have one of those), has built a sensor kit for the budding home gardener! Curious about how much light, heat, and moisture your plants are getting? Well then look no further, the Watchdog Agri Sensor Kit is just for you - the catch? You'll have to build it yourself or rope in your friendly neighbourhood electrician. Schematics and a detailed guide can be found on GitHub Music and sound effects from ⁠⁠u_5wgfa0ekjt⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠GoldenSound Labs⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠Pixabay…

The Doghouse

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Introducing Lanka Wiki: Watchdog's how-to guide on growing 70 crops 22:38

23 weeks之前22:38

22:38

This week we're shifting from urban planning to agriculture with the launch of Lanka Wiki , a database we've put together on 70 crops. Each listing includes growing conditions and a difficulty rating. Listen on to find out more. Whether you're a doomsday prepper or a city slicker looking to cut down on food costs, we think you will find this useful. Music and sound effects from ⁠u_5wgfa0ekjt⁠ and ⁠GoldenSound Labs⁠ on ⁠Pixabay…

The Doghouse

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Building virtual Colombo - A "Cities: Skylines" experiment, Part 2 30:55

29 weeks之前30:55

30:55

Why build Colombo in Cities: Skylines? Yudhanjaya and Nadim discuss the use cases for Colombo's digital twin; from road design and the placement of bus stops to ideas surrounding basic urban planning. Download the virtual city and access the wiki on ⁠GitHub⁠ Music and sound effects from ⁠u_5wgfa0ekjt⁠ and ⁠GoldenSound Labs⁠ on ⁠Pixabay…

The Doghouse

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Building virtual Colombo - A "Cities: Skylines" experiment, Part 1 27:01

33 weeks之前27:01

27:01

Why have two of the brightest minds at Team Watchdog spent the better part of the last 6 months playing a city-builder? Welcome to Colombo in Cities: Skylines, our solution to the problems of ideation, visualization, and communication in urban planning for the city of Colombo! Download the virtual city and access the wiki on GitHub Music and sound effects from u_5wgfa0ekjt and GoldenSound Labs on Pixabay…

The Doghouse

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Restructure, Reset, Recover - Is Sri Lanka failing at New Year resolutions? 34:22

2 years之前34:22

34:22

Sri Lanka's economic crisis has caught the attention of international media outlets over the past couple of weeks. Two separate narratives are at play here. One is that China is the biggest obstacle to debt restructuring. The other is that private lenders who own our International Sovereign Bonds (ISB) are to blame. Our resident economist Umesh Moramudali points out that while both narratives have merit, neither are absolute truth. Restructure, Reset, Recover, these should have been Sri Lanka's New Year resolutions going into 2023 but is the country doing enough to meet these goals? We're discussing this and more on the first episode of The Doghouse for 2023. Knowledge is key to understanding, so here's a throwback to our extensive primer on Sri Lanka's debt burden - The Sri Lankan Foreign Debt Problem Follow Watchdog's special reports and coverage of the economic crisis, the infrastructure crisis, and the food & agriculture crisis at www.longform.watchdog.team Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License…

The Doghouse

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Too Slow Too Furious - Understanding Sri Lanka's transport system with Prof. Amal Kumarage 1:20:00

2 years之前1:20:00

1:20:00

All roads lead to doom; that's what seems to best describe transport policymaking in Sri Lanka since independence. On this episode of the Doghouse Nadim Majeed speaks to Prof. Amal Kumarage, head of the Moratuwa University's Department of Transport & Logistics, on his decades of research on the subject. We're covering everything from colonial history to the present day. Consider this a primer to our layman's thesis on Sri Lanka's Transport network available here - Too Slow Too Furious: Inside Sri Lanka's incompetent, inefficient, and increasingly overloaded transport systems . Read it and weep, get angry, or get inspired. Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License…

The Doghouse

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Cherry-picking & Narrative Spin - Co-opting Sri Lanka's economic crisis 33:21

2 years之前33:21

33:21

Sri Lanka's economic crisis has become a favourite case study/guinea pig for parties seeking to push a certain narrative or to cherry-pick issues to discount others. From currency boards and the myth of the Chinese debt trap to the "ESG" spellbinding of the Green elites, it appears that every blue tick has their own narrative spin on what caused Sri Lanka's economic crisis. Despite having debunked these myths and mis/disinformation many times over - here we go again. On this all in one debunking episode of the Doghouse we're discussing the motivations of these myth-peddlers and how woefully misinformed they are. Read our complete deep dive courtesy of Umesh Moramudali, Rehana Thowfeek, and Chayu Damsinghe here - "From currency board to Chinese loans - How accurate are the claims about Sri Lanka's economic crisis" . Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License…

The Doghouse

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The Power to Remain in Power: Sri Lanka's 37 steps backwards 50:25

3 years之前50:25

50:25

Despite promises of lean and frugal government, Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe last week appointed 37 state ministers to the executive branch. The list of appointees reads like a who's who of some of the most controversial figures in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the party of the Rajapaksa's. Former PM and SLPP Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa's son, Namal Rajapaksa, has announced that a new alliance is to be established under his father's leadership. What does this mean for political stability and the democratic legitimacy of the government? What do the actions of the Wickremesinghe government portend for the 'aragalaya', or people's struggle, that drove the Rajapaksa's from power? Has the pre-aragalaya political status-quo been restored? These are the questions we are pondering on episode 20 of the Doghouse. Follow our coverage on the protest movement here - Incident Report - The Mirihana Protest, a Timeline The SLPP Attack on GotaGoGama: a Timeline The Attack on GotaGoGama: The Aftermath The Protest Tracker Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License . Cover art generated through Stable Diffusion…

The Doghouse

1
Have no fear the IMF is here? 36:05

3 years之前36:05

36:05

Sri Lanka has finally reached a long-awaited staff level agreement with the IMF to enter into a 2.9 billion dollar Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program. What does this mean and what happens next? This week on The Doghouse, Watchdog's resident economist Umesh Moramudali, takes us through the next steps vis a vis debt restructuring and economic reforms. We're also talking about the government's interim budget and the recently announced import restrictions. How do these measures track with an IMF sponsored reform agenda? Find our extensive coverage of the economic crisis in Sri Lanka at www.longform.watchdog.team Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License .…

The Doghouse

1
Powerless: Sri Lanka's energy dependency problem 47:00

3 years之前47:00

47:00

Sri Lanka's main coal power plant has suffered yet another breakdown which means power cuts have been extended again. Add to this the fact that electricity tariffs have nearly doubled and it's fair for consumers to wonder if they are being treated fairly by the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). we're discussing the CEB's generation costs, allegations of corruption, and fossil fuel dependency. As one politician put it - "there is a lot of corruption and wastage happening in the CEB and it is unfair to dump all the mismanaged costs on the consumer saying ‘this is how much it costs us to produce a unit of electricity’." This week we're revisiting one of our lengthier long-form investigations into the energy infrastructure of the country to explain why Sri Lanka is powerless and to help our listeners understand the problem of energy dependency. For a deeper understanding of the problem, check out the full investigation here . Soundbites - Face the Nation on TV 1 , aired August 15, 2022 1. Dr. Rohantha Abeysekera - Acting General Manager, CEB 2. Mr. Damitha Kumarasinghe - Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License .…

The Doghouse

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Forced Cremations - The intersection of racism and tragedy in Sri Lanka's COVID-19 policies 47:25

3 years之前47:25

47:25

TRIGGER WARNING - In this episode of the Doghouse we are talking about the grief inflicted upon thousands of victims of COVID-19 and their families by the administration of ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Beginning with retro-active changes to public health guidelines on the handling of the bodies of COVID-19 victims, disinformation regarding the spread of the virus post-mortem, jingoist posturing, and racist dog whistling, the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration denied thousands of people basic human decency and the right to mourn the dead in line with their faith. We're also talking about how even after deciding to allow burials at a specific location, the government foisted the burden of maintaining and operating the cemetery on resettled IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) and the local government authority. Our investigation into the forced cremations policy and the burial site in Majma Nagar, Oddamavadi, can be found here. https://longform.watchdog.team/observations/oddamavadi-no-rest-for-the-dead Download the Watchdog App for Android! Music - Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.…

The Doghouse

1
"Ranilsplaining" 101 - Policy statement without any policies 43:01

3 years之前43:01