Sunday, June 29, 2014

Is Biting in Football Physiological or Pathological?


Is Biting in Football Physiological or Pathological?

To football referees and pundits it is pathological, especially if one comes from England.
This is especially true since Surez, scored the winner against England.
To me biting is a physiological in every sense, in the animal world including human, the mammal emancipated from animal instincts.

But taken inhibitions out in a moment of state of trance.

In football unlike in cricket, everybody, managers, players and spectators and everybody who is addicted to soccer is in a state of trance (I wish to call it involuntary meditation) for 90 to 120 minutes.

If one watches a spectator in this trance state one may see involuntary movements, the doer does not realize, the reflex action that simulate the player/players he/she watching.

In this scenario, it is an involuntary action but not voluntary.

Is is justifiable to punish for involuntary action?

Only the doer knows it.

In this country we have rugger players biting ears of the opposite players in the scrum or pack without getting caught which nobody can see in camera, unless we have camera mounted down under on the playing field.

This action is voluntary since the doer knows he cannot be caught.

I do not think a professional player will do that in under full media cover.

My objection is one cannot look at a video and decide that as involuntary physiological action or voluntary pathological incident by a panel of football judges.

They are part of the game caught up in this trance state and rules can be bent to suit the panel not the player.

In this scenario, the player like in cricket should confess (did no catch the ball or did whip the bail before the ball was in hand).

Surez antics after the incident may have been collaborative but in that sense he should not be penalized since that was after the fact or the act.

Even a psychologist might not be able to delineate this in a moment of post-traumatic psychoanalysis (drama).
In this case psychologist takes over interpretation, which I am against since he can be wrong 50% of the time.

Lie detector may or may not be useful.
The bottom line is, that the player owns the responsibility of bringing the game into disrepute.
I would have given Surez a suspended sentence in this case not a total ban.
After all in this country Buddhist monks who propagate hate go scot free and rank criminals get suspended sentence!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

LinuX-BBQ-Enjoy the Gourmet

LinuX-BBQ, Enjoy the Gourmet

Below is a review by a Linux User.
It sums up everything, this Linux Distribution is about.

It is pretty good and even a  regular Linux user needs little gray matter to use it.

I LOVE it since it/them, since most of the distributions use few resources and BBQ users all the window managers there in Linux.
It used to be only about 10 when I started Linux.

There are over 76 (excluding, Gnome and KDE) window managers.
What an achievement of Linux which Apple and Windows can NEVER match.
It is all a different ball game, football included.


Softpedia Linux has links to

LinuxBBQ cream and I am trying to download LinuxBBQ,threesome for the last three days and the link to it breaks in midair.

I hope they introduce torrent files, to poor guys like me who has a very poor download speed and Telecoms Service even at night.

 Not my own comment but a Linux user at large.
Thumbs UP the best distribution I have come by during my 10 year or so venture with Linux. The creator seems to never sleep while dishing out new spins constantly and the community is top notch. If your looking for any type of distro this place seems to have it. Hell they got rare minimalist, skinniest, sparse, lean, lean & mean, average, ordinary, unique, unique, big, plump, fluffy, bloated. It's all good. I still got ribs on my plate I ain't even touched and I'm full!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Not The Final Update on USB MultiBooting-Note on MX (4.1) Linux

Not The Final Update on USB MultiBooting-Note on MX (4.1) Linux
 

This is written in in the same style as “not the 9 O' Clock News”, where Mr. Bean started his career (Mr. Aitkinson).
In Linux one should never say final update.
It is ever, improving like in Total Quality Management (TQM), Linux developers, especially the, Debian Developers, never say it is the end of the line, but a new beginning.
Debian is bit too, high for me and I used Mepis and AntiX instead, which are Debian derivatives.
Debian has gone well beyond my old computer, I could not test Debian, Multiboot utility myself.
I downloaded, MX 4.1 today (New name for AntiX), tested its Live USB utility which is very easy graphic utility to make a Live USB.
It is easy as a cheese cake, and I need not elaborate how to make one.
If you are not sure read my other blog posts.
Steps are,
1. Download MX 4.1 (torrent or direct).
2. It is a live CD.
3. Run Live session.
4. Click Live USB (right click will get you the applications and it is in accessories).
5. Insert a USB.
6. Format using Gparted (which is in system when right click at desktop).
7. Locate the live iso and click OK.
It is better to use  Ext 3 file system instead of FAT 32.
I would say why?
I had a Microchip which I could not erase the proprietary boot menu hidden (SONY was the culprit and I paid twice the price of a non proprietary Microchip) in the file system.
I tried it for nearly one month formatting, even with Gparted but it won’t let me erase the 1.8 MB booting code.
With Gparted in MX 4.1, I finally erased everything and made a Live Microchip mounted on a USB mounting Key.
MX 4.1 has UnetBootIn utility which makes a live USB, which was my favorite but it makes only one Live System.
USB Multibooting of Debian lets you remove or add any distribution to your USB, as long as it has the capacity.
French (Ubuntu distribution only) MultiSystem (it could not ease the SONY code) does not allow you to remove.
I am pretty sure they will do that in due course, if somebody translate (My French is bad) this blog piece into French and post it.
Thanks a lot Guys and Girls of Mepis and MX.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Rule of Law, Cricket and Sri-Lankan Armchair Pundits


Rule of Law, Cricket and Sri-Lankan Armchair Pundits

Sri-Lanka arm chair pundits wake up only when cricket is played.

They dare not utter a word (mums the word) when politicians (sometimes in opposition) in power or officials stooges bending down their back to politicians break the rules.

I will list a few for them to wake up from political slumber.

1. when a heroin dealer clears a consignment and when out Minister of Buddha Sasana and PM signs the letter of clearance.
He is innocent.

2. When officers in the Inland Revenue clears a colossal amount of money to bogus importers (for a over a decade), the law does not apply.
Only one officer from a ring is convicted.

3. When spirits are imported in the name of cosmetics, the law does not apply.

4. When police summarily execute an IRC, the law does not apply.

5. When a sitting judge entertain a woman in chamber, in recess, the law does not apply.

6. When a politician is involved in gang rape, the case get prolonged until the sitting judge, retires or elevated to a higher plane.

7. Law applies only a commander orders a pair of night vision goggles.

8. When a sitting judge gives a verdict defending poor Advanced Level students, the judge is convicted of misbehavior.

This is a land of contrasts.

The list is lengthy like Linux Python or the real Python.
I need not bore you with the rest.
Anything is possible in this land including in cricket.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Where are the Gentlemen in Cricket?

Where are the Gentlemen in Cricket?
 
I sometimes feel ashamed to be a Sri-Lankan.


There are hundred of reasons but I will list only a few.

1. Our politicians lie blatantly and what is worse is that they are proud of it.

2. Sri-Lankan including politician do not work on a schedule or on at least a flexible Time Table.


Our politicians only have private agenda.


Good example is our ethnic issue we are prolonging and procrastinating (both sides).

3. We have the most ugly constitution in the world, and generation of politicians who promise to change it abrogate their responsibility.

4. Then, the Buddhist Insurgency (that is how I wish to call it unfortunately), the latest fashion, Buddhist monks have taken over police duty while our policemen will kill suspects not convicted arbitrarily.


The explanation generally is that they were taken to a hide out / dug out and were exploring hidden weapons and the suspect got hold of a weapon and attempted to kill a policeman.


This is kids stuff and explanation.

5. I never thought, cricket will be on this list.


Let me explain why I do not watch cricket now.


One of our ex-minister of sports was known to have used his goons to kill university students.


That was his sports, primitive hunter gatherer mentality.

Another was good at rigging polls at massive scale. 

Rigging vote was his sports.

He also had a penchant for female athletes.

Another one was a thug who suppressed the voting rights of minority. 

Thuggery was his sports.

I have dealt with many other issues especially mass scale corruption in building new cricketing venues and plundering money even in laying Grass not on the cricketing turf but he was a TURF man by default.

Only reason we became proud was cricket.


That was because of winning the World Cup.


I have a prediction, that we will not go beyond quarter final in 2015.

I need not analyze the reasons.

When cricketers become politicians (except Arjuna Ranatunga), they think they can use their influence to win games by hook or by crook.

That was what happened in England.


Win the game by hook or by crook.
He was supposed to be coming from a premier Buddhist School (when we look at some monks this is not an aberration) in Colombo.


He was under scrutiny for his balling action.
He should have been prudent in his selection and choice of activities on the field.


He wanted become a hero and actually became a minion in front of  ardent Sri-Lankan expatriates.
I am not defending the English cricketer.


I am ashamed of the umpires too. 

 
They could have been proactive after the first warning.
They did not.
Many of their umpiring decisions were pretty bad.


Sri-Lankan captain should have been conscious of the fact that his team mate was under scrutiny and he could have pulled him out of the deep end of the pool.
He did not.
He allowed him to sink in disgrace.


One of the reasons, I think is that the Sri-Lankans do not have self belief of winning, even in such a low key match.


The glory of the winning was under the dark sky, just like the typical weather in spring in England.

If they do not have that self belief how can they win the World Cup?


Cricket sometimes is a mind game, the present day cricketing is noted for its lack.


Not dirty tricks under the carpet.

For some unknown reason, I felt he was not ready for the top job and now I feel he is not good at shepherding the minnows (size of the country not the population).


He was predicted as the most valued player in the last world cup.
He could not complete and compete at the last world cup.


He will be in the next world cup.

He will surly burn out well before the final stages of the game.

He comes as a baller and only balls when the conditions suit him and not the team.
He does not believe in his balling.


How can he give confidence to younger players when he himself does not have confidence?

 
That is the bottom line.


When he balls he might get blasted but then as the captain he can withdraw himself easily which option Malinga does not have.


I am not suggesting Malinga is a better choice.

 
Good player does not become a good captain.
Good example is Cook.

 
England is ruining his talent but they have many talented players and during the next few months they will find a good captain.


Unfortunately, we do not have a pool (for captaincy).


Like politicians our cricketers will slit the next one in line and I do not think we play as a team.
 

Every player is trying to secure his place and secure his pocket with money not glory.

I am sorry, Sri-Lankan cricket lovers, for my scathing remarks.


I will not write anymore on Sri-Lankan cricket.
That was my resolve for many years now.


But keeping silent is very bad.


That is why our politics is in ruins (
on the field and outside).

 
I am writing on behalf of the spectators not on behalf of the cricketers.


I do not care for them now.


I would pen down few lines on Chandhimal before writing my obituary (like the obituary on Democracy) on cricket.


Like the comments of South African sport writer Chesterfield (I hope I got the name), I have a query on him.


He queried who is this Chandhimal, before the last world cup?


I was not much interested last time, I wrote a response under his comment thinking it was Chamara De Silva (I thought Chesterfield was not picking up Sri-Lankan player names which are not like Christian names but he had made a mistake but in fact I made a mistake).


That was the first time I knew about Chandhimal.


My current comment is who ruined Chandhimal?


I think it is Sri-Lankan sports writers and Dhilshan.


Dilshan was sent as an opener by one of the cricket selectors to ruin his career.
Dhilshan knew that the AXE was on him and he thrived on the challenge.


What happened was the CHEAP and CHIEF selector had to go.


I think Sanath (chief selector) has to go before the voters oust him in the next election after failing at the next world cup, if he wants to keep his parliament seat with a big pension.


That is what I call a wise counsel (from me to him).


There was a very bad taste in my mouth, when Angelo (them vying for the top post) let Chandhimal get his century, risking a loss in a one day international in England.


When did Chandhimal win a game for us after that.

That was self before the game (both Angelo and Chandhimal).


One was eying for the top post and the other to secure a as a regular player.


Both ploys were bad when there is collaboration.


One succeeded and the other is out of the team.


This is total mismanagement.


What we need is Total Quality Management (TQM).
We do not have it now like the Singer's Punchhewa, who was behind our victory as a non player.


We also need good sports writers like Chesterfield.


We do not have any.


I think Chesterfield is in heaven and I am told by Maha Brahma, they are not allowed to play or watch cricket in heaven.


They only allow Mega Cassino Play, just like in Sri-Lanka.


Our Cassino owners have direct access to Heaven, Hell (for players), Cricket and Sri-Lanka.


Postscript;

Mind you there were three ex-captains on the field when this happened.
The incident ruined their (bad taste in their mouth) image too, especially Mahela who walks out when he knows, he is out.

I think both Mahela and Sangakkara should retire, if they feel their body is out (I call it the burn out syndrome), in style now but not after failing under a bad captain.

I respect whatever their personal goals and decisions and wish them happy life after retirement.

Both of them have done wonders.

I think Dhilshan is already showing signs of burn out and reconsider his options,too.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Tropical Fish-Global Warming-My Exotic Fish.

Tropical Fish-Global Warming-My Exotic Fish.
 

I was expecting a catastrophe.
It surely did come toady.


One day of negligence all but four of my Neon Tetras are gone.
My final diagnosis global warming created by our coal power production.
England has one of the warmest spring currently.
Summer is yet to come.
Thee decade age UK was closing all the mines and decommissioning all the Coal Power units, mainly due to health reason.
In our country, the health minister is obsessed with cigarettes but does not utter a word about coal power and its emissions.
One hour of coal power is probably equal to ten to hundred times the tobacco smoked by all Sri-Lankans.
That is my formula.
 

He has got his priorities mixed up, I believe.

I have talked about coal power, pollution and global warming for decades but when it affected my pet  fish even a few lines on coal power is necessary as a preamble.

Tropical fish survive between  76 to 82 Fahrenheit (24 to 30 degrees Centigrade).
The temperature in my roof top garden is over 95 Fahrenheit (32 degrees) and above and my Guppies were dying by numbers in spite they in the shade.
As a precaution green swordtail (hard to find now) were taken to a shady tank in December.
I had a big problem of increasing there number from a tiny stock (five years of trouble) and they do now breed as profusely as guppy.
My guppies were down to 5 due to global warming 7 yeas ago.
That was an epic that I have recorded elsewhere.
Now I have a  beautiful collection of them outdoors,mainly to control mosquitoes.
(My real interest is water plants with beautiful tiny flowers which bloom almost every day due to warm weather).
They started dying in numbers.
I was not happy and I decided to keep a tiny stock in case the previous epic episode repeat itself and they will be down to five again.
From the day one my tank started giving problems.
I found some exotic plants and the algae invaded my tank. discoloring their leaves.
The guppy stated breeding in their new found water front.
The Neon tetras were outnumbered.
But they remained healthy.
But not toady.
Most of them were dead some were making their last breaths.
I did all what I could but only four survived.
The casualty included one algae eater.
Few guppies were included.
Yesterday, I was out and came late and did not bother to have a casual look at the fish tank.
They would have been showing signs of ill health which I missed.
I am pretty sure the temperature would have gone up to 32 degrees Centigrade, which is the normal outdoors.
Mind you this is Peradeniya only a walking distance from Botanical garden.
I even have noticed they were watering the grass lately.

Not only tropical fish even the tropical plants are dying.

Thanks to Coal Power Mania.

There is no chance for my water plants to survive, if I take a week holiday.

This is not a miracle but man made.