Cup a Tea and University Education

Nostalgia of Perdeniya Campus



I decided to update this with minimal (there were lot of spellings and grammatical mistakes, which I do not care now) change to the contents, in the name of Nirmal.
 
Intellectuals are persecuted for telling the truth like what happened to Hippocrates.
This was what happened to Nirmal in broad day light.

Pol Sambol, Kiri Bath and and cup of tea were the standard diet of a student, outside the university residences.

Within the university residences we were served, with cheese, butter, Pariipu, beef, fish and Cadju (for the pure vegetarian students from Jaffna) on a regular basis.

No wonder most of the non-resident student would come for Gajai and Wala on weekends when many of us go home to tell our parents that the food in the campus was horrible (a big lie) to supplement our liberal pocket money which were spent on cigarettes, alcohol and once a year gambling during the Perahara Carnival.

One should not take that we did not go to the cinema.
That was my addiction to save the time on reading (Godfather, French Connection, English Classics-not my favourite though)

I used to hit the first day first show since, if somebody tells me the plot I never use to enjoy the film and fortunately most my friends used to find a boarding place near a theatre / cinema and would be in the queue well before me and jumping the queue was not an issue or offence. 
This was the time of decline in English Education in in Ceylon, including Kandy and the crowd that hit the cinema was selective and would accommodate minor idiosyncrasies of out time.

Swapping a seat to accommodate a girl friend was a done thing but they used to go to the balcony and we visited balcony only for our beer during the interval.

Unfortunately some of our professors also used to hit the show on the first day, my professor in particular.

But our modus operandum was changed and skipped the first two days and go to the 9.30 show and that also was only to the gallery for 60 cents and the money saved was well spent on beer and if the show was bad we would leave after a round of beer sometime well before the interval.

Suffice is to say the back row was reserved for us by default for English shows and when we start to move in for a Sinhala film "Market Somes' (city thugs) would move forward leaving the back row empty. 

We used to command respect from even these guys those days and that was the respect for an undergraduate of yesteryear.

To recap good quality Pilsner Beer (we could not come to halls of residence drunk, though--now even booing, smiling and even cracking a joke of political nature is prohibited by Chinthanaya) was Rs.1.80/= and two of us could enjoy a round meal or mixed grill for Rs.10/= which included a liberal tip for the waiter.

I would go home have a little nap and have a run round the lake with my dog till all the smell of alcohol is dissipated to fresh air around Kandy City and I never wondered what my friends would do-may be they went to the gym).

This is the way we kept our friendship and never got involved with private life of others .

We were fiercely independent.

I promised our team which I captained that I would throw a party (lunch) if our team wins the inter-university championship and that was the only encouragement that was needed to lift the cup, beating Colombo on a Penalty shoot out.

I never liked the way Colombo guys reacted to the defeat and they turned down my offer for a round of refreshments on my account (not University).

I still wonder what happens to people when they migrate to Colombo from far away villages and many of them become monsters (or is it ministers), in no time including village politicians.

The cost for the lunch for the entire team wit beer was Rs.110/= and that was raised by me on one day of gambling at the carnival.

Thank god we did not have Casino then but Tombola only in Kandy Lake Club and I never told the guys how I got the money but I made sure I got some extra cash from my mother too, in case guys would double my expenses on beer.

Now my mother is no more, it is more than enough time I kept all these secrets from her which she would only know from heaven.

I believe she still won't believe that her small brat was capable of such feats.

Extra Rs.10/= was the tip for the waiter with left over beer.

What was obvious none of us had the gene for alcoholism unlike our politicians, even when the prize of alcohol was very cheap.

We soon graduated to VSOA (Very Special Old Arrack) and the price was Rs.7.50 at Union Place Grill (with full birds-this was the time cats and dogs meat were substituted for chicken) in Colombo.

Soon afterwards, I was baptized with 6 rounds of beer in a Pub in London and that was the last time I had a drink with that crowd and told to myself, I would never have in excess of a glass of beer and that is also with good company and never with a crowd of drunkards.

But I could not resist myself half a chicken for lunch and another half a chicken at night (free from NHS on days I was on night duty) and liberal amount of fresh milk instead of beer (half that from the NHS).

Now to the present moment and cup of tea in Sri-Lanka.

It was only today, I went out to buy some bananas and the Muslim guy who sells me good banana and runs a tea shop round the corner got little chatty now the Vesak fever was over.

I asked him how many cups he makes from a Kg and told him unless his raises the price of cup of tea he has to close the shop for good.

He was not convinced.

I told him tea has gone up in price even before the election by 100%.

I told him if I put two good blend tea bags in a cup (without water or sugar) it costs Rs. 90/= and the cheapest brand costs Rs. 75/=.

(Needs little explanation here to see how simple arithmetic is used. Two tea bags will cost only Rs.7 to 10 but when it is made in to a cup of tea it is called value added and it is rounded up by ten times-in other word value added means a profit is 10 times.)

It used to be Rs.25/= if one bag is dipped (dipping a tea bag into hot water costs, 10 times) 10 years ago but 50 if two bags were dipped. Now the price of tea has gone up by 100% and if one asks a cup with two bags it costs Rs.100/= or more.

Two years ago, in a reasonable hotel in Kandy (not 5 Star-one needs a decent swimming pool for that classification) the price of tea pot for two was Rs.175/= (before the election-the last time I went there- mind you not Mesna). 

I met one of my colleagues (freshers at the campus) who was a director in an education institution (after about 20 year lapse) and we went for a chat and some tea (the waiter refused to serve a tea pot) and I had to go to the manager to make my order placed.
I tendered Rs. 500/=, my friend almost got a heart attack, and left the balance as the tip, since the waiter who served us was almost slavish after my little intermission with the manager.

Kandy already has lost the trick of the trade, the Kandyyan Hospitality.

Now my friend is retired but works as the vice principal in a private school in upcountry, and his kids are abroad doing well, whenever I meet him with his wife, he used to remind this 'Tea Episode' and I retort, if the president can have a Hopper for Rs. 200/=, I am just helping out our tea Industry.


Gods only know how much it costs now.

But I can assure you that the take away prices of food items have doubled, in this city.

I give a break for my family members (all adults) and stay at home with the dog (cannot afford to hire a watcher and thieves have increased in numbers even in our neighbourhood and practically every house had been broken into either in day / or in night.

I do go for 'take away' regularly and spend and eat out once in a way when friends from abroad visit me, since thing have improved security wise in the night.

The cost of a meal for my dog (including fish for the dog) and me which was Rs.450/= will cost now over Rs.1000/=. 

That was my experience last time round. 

Strangely enough in Majestic City in Colombo a tiny piece of fish is Rs.250= (10 times value added) and a buffe that costs over Rs.650/= per head was so horrible (another place in the Colombo City) none of us finished the meal and went to an American take away and had ice creams of all sorts to satisfy our hunger and drown the anger with delight.

There is something horribly wrong in our hospitality trade.

There is no exaggeration here.

This is the miracles happening in broad day light.

I have to spend Rs.100/= for cup of milk tea (if somebody else make the tea for me) and from 6 cups (in 10 years) I have come down to 2 or three a day and very soon I will stop drinking Sri-Lankan tea.

I have cut it down to one but mind you that cup is virtually a beer mug and my daughter estimates it to be an equivalent of (minimum) 750 milligrams of caffeine derivatives.

In other words three (3) cups of tea.
 
I went on to say for the last one year I do not drink tea in my office, and he was more than convinced.

He still sells his plain tea for Rs.10/= and he has to have 100 to make Rs.1000/= his turn over for a day.

I do not think he gets 30 even though he works 7 am to 7 pm (12 hours).

In my case, I have to make my own cup of tea and stay away from drinking tea while on work.

I told him to make as much tea as possible from his bulk tea strainer for him to stay in business and display the price one (1) Kg tea in a prominent place in Sinhala and let the customer calculates the number of tea one can make from a kilo of tea.

They are very poor in arithmetic's and would blame the Gods or Tamil State Worker for the price but never the present government to which they are immunized and anesthetized.

Coming back to University, the teachers and students should do their teaching and studies without a cup of tea.

We must teach students that tea is addictive and it is good only for foreigners.

For teachers who are asking a pay hike should stop drinking tea and coffee and should drink the miracle water the government promised them before and during the elections.
The miracle water in the university is none other than 'Pol Arrakku'.

If they go for an audience with our=ex president I am sure they will be provided with a different type of miracle drink that would make them to think that the miracle will come in two years after the predicted end of the world and with new world order taking shape where intellectuals are persecuted for telling the truth like what happened to Hippocrates.

History repeat itself!

That is a normal phenomenon.

Linux Update-PixieLive2 and Gentoo--Waste of Time?

This is the second time I downloaded Pixie ( Earlier Version 1) and it took almost one and half days to download with only two or three seeds.
Unfortunately it does not say how to make a bootable live DVD or Flash Drive.
All executable files of dos and sh are there but when they are run on a command line terminal, "permission denied message" comes up.
I cannot one understand why this is done for a Linux distribution unless with commercial intention.
This is the biggest down side of Gentoo too it has live a DVD which goes up to 4 GiB but there is is no script for installing.
It is this psychopathic behavior of some developers that makes Linux commercially not viable n shun newbies.

This is a a verse comment I have made academically (please not not with commercial intent) on a distribution apart from apartheid Linux which speaks for itself and violates the fundamentals of open source spirit of the game of computing.
As far as ordinary user is concerned this no longer an issue since there are over 100 Linux distributions with multi-language capability.
These distribution will be good for nothing or would be destined for the archives and sometimes without even an adverse comment.
How can I make even an adverse comment without experiencing the virtues for a moment?

I beats my guts out!

Newbies do not waste your precious time on these distributions in spite of glossy pages in their home web pages since there lot of nice birds out there.

Or else visit my Linux 100.

Linux Update Pinguy

The recent edition of Pinguy based on Ubuntu is very pleasant.
It has both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

This was one of the DVDs I could download overnight and was over 1.67 GiB and comes under my middle weight or the Chimpanzee category.

Rapid download was due to the availability of large number of seeders.

Seeders themselves speak of it popularity and I need not say any more.

It has Unity and Apple like desktop.
Boots up fast has LibreOffice and Dropbox, Skype and many of the utilities that a first time user may prefer to have in his or her system.

I have no reservation of recommending it to a newbie and Linux savvy should decided for himself or herself.

It has some issues like not being able recognize multiple Linux operation that I have in my hard disk. Grub is is little bit limited and finicky (one does not have to worry about it and let me deal with it myself) in its behaviour.

This comment is short and sweet and I should wind up with my bonobo to gorilla classification of the ape family assuming that we, users not the Linux community descended from apes.

This was something to substitute the boxing category I started with and being interested in biology, environment and biodiversity, I could not resist using our nearest relative (I am not an expert on apes and not even humans and their behaviour especially with the computers) to illustrate how heavy or padded a Linux distribution is.

1. Bonobo is the feather weight category and include all Linux distribution under 200 MiB and fits in to a mini CD. Puppy to DSL to IPcop.

2. Common Sri-Lankan Monkey is the Light weight category and the best in this category are Peppermint, again a Ubuntu derivative and Berry Linux (Redhat derivative).

3. Middle weight is the Chimpanzee category and goes up to 1.5 GiB and Pinguy fits in well to this category. (Mind you mini DVD can fit in 1.4 GiB image and still fit in with your front pocket. I still have few Mini DVDs, I bought for Cricket World Cup,2007 left in my cabinet and a double layered one not used. This is to illustrate the point that I rarely go above Mini CD and standard CD for my work. I am light weight in my approach. Fact that there are DVDs now one need not fill them with junk packages one never uses. Remember Linux used to pack them in Floppies. Do not forget that creative beginning).

4. Heavy Weight ( 3 to 4 GiB) or the Gorilla category is PCLinux FullMonty and Knoppix, the 10th Anniversary edition which is less than 4 GiB and it is my number one).

5. If one wants one can add HaliWandura (Sri-Lankan jungle variety which is less in numbers with a blackish ring around the face and neck) for 700 MiB CD and PCLnux and Ubuntu fall into this category.

I find between 500 to 700 MiB one is limited with many constraints (We are limited by the physical capacity of the disk and not Linux) and going up to 1 GiB does not do justice to the developers, either.
So go for next best that fits in with mini DVD of 1.4 GiB).

One (1) GiB may be good for Flash Drive guys / girls but with Flash drive capacity which has increased now, trying to fit a distribution (KDE) to 1 GIB is not advisable.

So developers it is far better to stick to 4 categories.

1. 50 to 200 MiB
2. 500 MiB
3. 500 x 3 and the 1500 MiB ceiling.
4. 500 x 6 and the 3000 and above category

5. For any glutton use above 4.0 GiB (this is not hitting Debian below the belt punch (boxing terminology) which has the best repository on this planet but to state that packages above the base system should be blocked into either 4 GiB (standard DVD) or may be even 1.5 GiB (Mini DVD) and that depend on how they are used.
It is high time somebody outside the Debian (it become an independent survey) community do an objective survey of the use of various elements in the repository.
Then on the basis of 5-S classification divide into three categories and archive according to that system.
1. Frequently used
2. Less frequently used but generally useful (? Education).
3. Used for a particular purpose but rarely (Science)

Double Density and 8 GiB is a waste of time and it is far better to have two 4 GiB game DVDs instead of one big 8 GIB DVD.
Incidentally I saw a Debian distribution of 20 GiB (? BlueRay) in LinuxTreacker today and I wonder to whom this distribution is targeted for?

Who is the glutton?

Dream-01 and its interpretation form Heaven-Updated

Dreams have been a fascination of man and currently mine too.

Even Lord Buddha has been answering the calls of King Kosol long before Martin Luther King was born.

His interpretation were elaborate and have a vision for the Non-Buddha Era (Abhuddhassa Kala) which we have truly entered into now.

This era starts at the end of 2500 years of Buddha's Parinirvana / Parinibbana, I believe.

There is little confusion here, whether the era starts from Buddha's birthday or after the Parinibbana.

Buddha never celebrated his birthday but his enlightenment was celebrated in heaven and earth and in all celestial bodies with all sentinel beings (not necessarily human or humanoids) participating.

His enlightenment, birth and parinibbana all happened on the same Day or Month on May.

So we have to celebrate birth, attainment (achievements) and death and which element of the three takes precedence is a point of conjecture.

(Just a coincidence my mother died on the eve of my birthday and the 3 months Dhana ceremony fell on the Sinhala and Tamil New Year (I was delighted, this was the first time in my life I had a very good excuse to avoid both birthday celebrations and new year celebrations in one go).

I thank my mother for her excellent timing after 92 years of healthy (may be ninety) life.

If we assume he lived 80 years and had we taken his birth as the reference point we are at least 20 years well on to the Abbhudhassa Kala and Buddha's predictions are taking place right now under our very nose.

If we take the enlightenment as the reference point we are into 65 years of Abbudhdhassa Kala.

If we take the birth we are well into the second century of Abbudhassa Kala.

Which ever way look at it we are well into Abhudhassa Kala and his dream interpretations of Kosol are valid, into this century.

Point of interest here is not Kosol's dreams and their interpretation, since they are adequately dealt with by present Buddhist monks and clergy but how and why my dreams are valid in present context.

That is where with my special connection with Maha's Assisatant, I have forged a web of (email) connection purely by accident.

I think they are valid otherwise Maha Brahma with his kind gesture and keen interest in dreams would not have made some connection with this present world of rapid development, especially Sri-Lanka.

Sit back and enjoy.

One of my dreams (not in any chronological order) that I lost all my hair on my top (what is left after the patchy balding).

This was not a major concern for me because it is age and heavy androgen related biochemistry but since I dreamt many a bizarre dreams, recently this I took it as one in the random sample to be sent to heaven by email for interpretation.

As time goes by in an appropriate time, I will give my own interpretation (what else can one expect in ripe old age other than a good salary increment and a healthy retirement benefits) and since the government is expected to deliver miracle after miracle I have to delay my comments for a future ( retirement) date.

Maha Brahm's interpretation

1. Do not worry man this does not apply to you.

2. Your androgen will remain active till you die.

3. You won't become a monk and the ceiling of 2600 new Buddhist monks have been already made and decided.
No more entries and you are excluded by default.

4. In future male babies will be born with balding with very active androgen at birth and they will be sexually active and procreate faster.

5. There won't be any puberty.

6. Adults males will be very small like what depicted in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters.

7. Size of the phallus will be small but brain will be inappropriately large to deal with the new found sex freedom in the cradle.

8. However females will be much bigger (they are emancipated) and males will be like drones (Afghanistan) or male bees in a bee colony.

On Maha Brahma's Assistant's advice I have dropped publishing the latter comments from 9 to 20 and you have to use your imagination to think about or dream about them.

There is one small reference to me though ,which stated that the hair cut (the special onion ring type on top of my head) will be very popular and they will charge a hefty amount for this style, especially during the I.P.L cricket.

It is better for me to start a barber saloon in my retirement to supplement my meager retirement benefit and think of outsourcing it to India during I.P.L.

Update 17th, The Wesak Poya Day

Casual look at the interpretation is bizarre but if one applies modern scientific tenor, something radical is emerging with genome project well in advance now.

1. Man and many advanced animals have 50 cell cycles in their life time.

2. About 42 to 45 are consumed by about 15 years of age.

3. There is a condition called progeria where babies are born in advanced stage of cell cycle and rapidly age and die young.

4. If we take a somatocyte from (with mutated genome) a case of this condition one can modulate few more cell cycles to be advanced by culturing under correct conditions with sexual maturation and bald head.

5. Presto!
Conditioned mentioned by Maha Brahma is satisfied.

6. I believe aliens who visit us have already perfected this method for their scientific studies in space and using them as guinea pigs for their experimentation.
They do not have to hijack humans now and only a few cells are all that is necessary.
They have more advanced culturing methods in space.

7. There is very interesting genetic analysis that are emerging in America now.

They are studying Gorilla and us the humans and found what is missing in us in evolution.

Gorilla has 48 chromosomes and we have 46.

We have lost a certain receptor for androgen 3 t0 5 million year ago.
When that happened the phallus (penis) became smaller (of the human) and the brain became bigger.

The acquisition of language capability came some millions years later.

We have a living record of a child in the current century (in this country) saying Mahinda Mama in an election rally even before saying da da or ma ma.

The correct conditions are their in some gifted children to learn all three languages even before preschool.

There will be professors earning million of rupees employed by IMF with sexual precocity, economic vision and foreign language capability including Sinhala even before five years old.

We do not want a 62 year prostatic old man to run the IMF then.

Only good thing is the penis of this genius is very small and the brain is very large and unlawful sex act even violent causes minimal damage even to a virgin.

We have to redefine the criminal law then with the exception to geniuses employed by IMF to enjoy their short life (may be 7 years or little more).

American legislators won't be able to send them to gallows for 25 years.

One day in prison cell is OK without opposite sex in a near by cell.

Cell Cycles, Cell Divisions and Prison Cells have to be different then.

I hope I would be gone by then since in my geriatric age there is no place for me except in high heaven, advising the Maha's Assistant to reverse the trend and bring some sanity to earthlings, especially to America, Sri-Lanka and U.N.O.

We can send a kid in place of Bunki Moon until then!

Virtual Email Facility from Maha Brahma

Virtual Email Facility from Maha Brahma!

I am glad to break the news that Maha Brahma has made an extreme kind gesture to me the earthling and allowed a Virtual Email Facility for the entire period of 2600 year Wesak Celebrations.

He was moved by my blog discovery of the lonely Cuckoo without a mate (probably for one year).

He was disturbed by the fact that he always tries all his best to make sure there is some sort of sex balance in nature.

He assured me that he will make some amends next year round and the cuckoo if she is still alive would get the dream date by default.

I must remind you that the Maha Brahma is on a long vacation timed in eons and his assistant is looking after his affairs.

Just to remind you of the past events;

Maha Brahma's dog was a pedigree dog who was with his demented politician till his death in early (90) nineties and had a little argument with Maha for sending him to stay with a demented man who could not remember his (dog's) name in latter stages of his life.

An overnight stay with Maha Brahma made him to realize that he (dog) is going to be a good companion and that friendship is still continuing.

This pedigree dog I have not met in real life.

But the Maha's Assistant was a paraya dog from Kandy whom I knew for some time till his untimely death and got the present appointment by clever manipulation and not by default.

But the problem was moment he assumed duties Maha went on vacation and he is still enjoying the well earned rest.

He keeps communicating with assistant mainly by emails and the assistant in turn used to send me emails once in a way.

But until now there was prohibition for me to send direct emails to heaven.

He was frequenting rubbish dumps in Kandy, near a GP practice and Malwatta Temple and he got sick by eating rubbish dumped by the doctor.

His story is here and elsewhere if you care to browse my blogs in depth.

He was kind enough to ask me the scientific reason for not having enough birds to mate.

I said global warming Sir.

What?
The eggs crack due to heat?

This is different unlike the broiler chicken and eggs.
Chicken eggs are not fertilized for Buddhist laymen to eat but in cuckoo situation is entirely different.
They are fully fertilized but their is not enough nests and brood to lay them.

The crow population has gone down drastically.

Why is that?

In Ceylon there is rapid development after war and they chop trees like sandal wood.
Vast stretches of land is now converted to bare land and some of them even lakes are converted into play grounds, especially cricket.

How come this global warming?

It is this "Carbon Dioxide" build up which scientist say causes global warming.
Trees take in CO2 and mop up the excess and when you fell wast stretches of trees there is build up of CO2.

Is it that simple but I thought it is more complicated science than that.

It is all because scientist in the west especially USA make (mockery) a completely absurd distortion to a simple equation and confuse all and sundry.

Is that so, I thought all the scientist are there in America now.

Yes they are "politrics" scientist not political scientist.

So if you grow more trees to nest and there will be more crows nesting and cuckoo will find a brood and I do not have to get involved in this simple matter.

No, No, you have to get involved.

They are cutting more trees to erect pandols for celebrations and this time it is on big scale.
And every tree fell in the name of celebrations (pandols) there are 10 to 20 more trees are down and god only knows who is collecting them and where they are taken to.

I get your point and I will see what I can do for this cuckoo anyway.

By the way you got a big surprise and Maha has read your blog about why you cannot make wine in Kandy and asked me what is this global warming and why yeast cannot survive above 38 C.

He said in heaven there are different yeasts for different climates and he can send some for experiment on earth.

Please don't Sir, our Buddhist monks are meditating to make global warming a reality and when it pass the threshold 38 they will stop meditating.

They bank an this venture to stop alcohol menace in this country and alcohol free world.

If my guess is correct if the temperature goes up by that margin it will effect whole lot of ecosystems isn't it?

Yes yes but they cannot understand that logic when in meditative mode Sir.
In meditation we concentrate only on one pointedness Sir.
All other points are disregarded to keep focus and concentration.

Well in that case I keep my fingers crossed.

What is the surprise Sir.

Maha has decided to give you a Virtual Email and asked me to forward them to him from the Virtual Site if any of them are related to Wine making.

Why?

He is fed up of the types here and somebody has told him that the best wines come from South Africa, after they lost both Cricket and Football World Cups.

It is true Sir, some parts of South Africa are ideal for wine making.

Can I asked you a favour Sir.

Is it possible for me to get some interpretations of my dreams Sir.

Are you mad?
No Sir.
It is Maha Brahma's hobby now.
Till the next Buddha is born he will oblige you but all the connections have to be on Virtual Email.

Will he publish my dreams on heaven.
I do not think so.
Why?
Does he keeps copyrights?
No No.

He keeps you dreaming all the time for his fun and will definitely delays you coming to heaven and having wine with him.

This American theme, "I have a dream" is not a good idea then for earthlings.
That's right my boy!

Definitely not.

You must not dream Like this King of Kosol or Martin Luther King.

You must select few of your bests ones and send me and I will forward them with a note he is very bad at dreaming so that you won't be inundated with request for more.

That way both of us can discuss some other mundane issues.

Mind you all the interpretations are free of charge and do not tell any other earthlings how to get to me or the virtual Email.

I am waiting for a vacation or retirement but my paraya dog instinct tells me it will not be for eons.

In any case his interpretation are pretty good and they keep me amused too.

OK then I will be posting few of my dreams soon and try all my best to curtail dreaming, perhaps with some wine.

Many thanks for your kind gesture on Wesak.

See you soon with interpretations.
Dream well but less for your own well being!

Finding a Partner for a Lonely (Common) Cuckoo

Finding a Partner for a Lonely (Common) Cuckoo

Not only I observe bizarre flowering pattern of some plants including onions I beginning to wonder whether the unusually warm and bizarre temperature pattern is affecting the birds.
April is the time of the year when common cuckoo sounds the arrival of new year.
One hears them singing in the early hours and late in the evening for the pairs to meet and retire to their resting places.

These birds are very secretive and even though one hears them it is very difficult to spot them.
They are either in tall tree or hidden behind the leaves.
Their singing is characteristic and musical and a treat to hear in the morning instead of Radio Ceylon's opening music.
Every knows about the Koha (common cuckoo) and why one should worry about.

1. Bird population has drastically dropped and dropping rapidly including common village crows and cuckoos.
2. I can recognize a young one's song from old one by their tone.
3. The are rared by crows and once chased out of the brood they have a characteristic nervy cry of a loner for few days.
4. Then they come to term with it and start a new life.
5. This new life is basically of finding a partner.
6. By May they are paired and the cry is more musical and vibrant.

7. Present context
I heard the nervy cry at 3 in the morning.
Luckily I spotted the girly (not a guy-guy has feathers similar to sparrow hawk and is extremely secretive) feeding briefly on the mulberry tree grown to encourage butterflies. They love the caterpillars more than the berries.
Keep on crying for hours on end for the past few days.

8. Conclusion
She has not found partner and very unlikely till the next year.
This one is odd one out and would continue this lonely cry for another year.

I wish with the 2600 year celebrations of Buddhists and Pinkamas there would be one extra guy born (cuckoo) for this lonely cuckoo.

On reflection Buddha was a born environmentalist.
Unlike present day Buddhist monks who build big and palatial residences Buddha left the palace and retired to the jungle except during Wassana (rainy monsoon season).
He was born under a tree.
He attained enlightenment under a pipal tree.
He spent one week gazing at the Bodhi tree (as a gesture of gratitude).
When rain came down and struggling to realize the four Nobel Truths a giant cobra gave shelter to Buddha (this is something who kill snakes should note).
Flowers, birds and monkeys were his constant companion when meditating and concentrating to realize final goal.

In this Kandy City somebody put poison to kill monkeys.
Municipality is constantly uprooting the trees in the name of road clearance and development.
There aren't many pipal trees left in the city.
There aren't many tortoises (two in number) in the lake and the fish are sick and the monitors are devouring the dead.
There aren't any sparrows or pigeons resting in the big upright buildings.
No bees or wasp that used to build their combs in tall buildings.
There are no flower bed that used to be in the center of the city.
Dogs are chased away in the name of rabies.

I am pretty sure the next Buddha to be who is Maithree (kindness probably to animals), assuming Gautama was kind to the mother nature by example and precept, would not choose this city of Kandy for his attainment of Nibbana.
Unless of course we protect our mother nature and trees for resting and nesting for lonely birds and monkeys.

There were more monkeys in this city than humans a century ago when Britishers were reigning and none of them were Buddhists.
My question is how can one attain Nibbana by visiting this sacred city?
In any case Gautama Buddha preferred not to.
Why?
That is also a question that come to my mind constantly.

Note sent to a newbie in Linux

Down below is a note I sent to a Young newbie.

2 GiB is enough (not for graphic intensive windows games) for Linux except for games.
I have only one (1) GiB (4 GIB in my laptop which I use only for testing occasionally).

It is a waste of money going for more RAM with very slow internet in Sri-Lanka.

I only use K-Torrents now and it is currently downloading at less than 5 KB/sec .

Solution is for having at least two computers.
1. For games and videos

2. Simple secondhand computer with Linux for internet (can share with your sister or brother and family members).

3. Netbook with Android when you enter University (not now).

Except my laptop and my daughters netbook all the computers at home are very good secondhand IBM computers (cost less than 20,000 with few updates with RAM but not graphic cards).

Secondhand desktops are good buys if you understand the hardware and look at inside before buying.

I test them with my Linux CD/DVDs before buying and there are lot of Linux utilities to test and Linux will work day and night for 10 years.

None of my computers broke down after I started using Linux (before that 3 new ones on Windows) except few graphic cards and RAM in the learning stage.

They work 24/7 schedule and the UPS battery is very important.

This is one reason I promote Linux and I do not fear viruses now.

Only down side is Games with Linux which I will probably concentrate when I retire and nothing else to do.

I have two game DVDs but I will not give it to anybody since Linux is for real and serious computing and not for games and leisure!

Never buy a secondhand laptop or netbook (I have written about secondhand laptops in my blog site).

Wait till new models come and with long battery life and you need it in the university and the government is unable to pay dons and do not expect them to help you with computers (not in Singapore though) when you eventually enter University.

Another Killer Punch by Microsoft-Owns Skype now!

Skype was platform independent and it had paid service and free service.
When things were getting bad during winter with snow and flights were delayed, Skype was the thing available for communication and twitter for the savvy.
Now that Microsoft acquired Skype, it will terminate it's free service and especially to Linux base.
Linux base Skype was pain in the neck and version 2 while Microsoft version was 5 or above.
So we cannot say it was any loss to solely Linux users.
It was the only vehicle available for Linux guys to communicate VOIP with windows users.
Microsoft will close this window fearing somebody like me talked to a window guy and telling the virtues of Linux.

Oracle did the same thing with OpenOffice but LibreOffice has emerged strongly and implementing Office Work excellently.
I wonder it is possible to rid of all Skype contents form the Linux version and develop a video competent VOIP now.
I think we name it a PingoM.
Pingo Man is the name coined by Sri-Lankan for men who carry a load on his shoulder on a pole. I still have not found a good word in English but will continue to use this name Pingo Man until I find a suitable alternative for the above purpose.
Now the Skype Linux is dead I want to revive the dead man with a heavy load on shoulder to bring open source telephony for windows users.

Ping we cannot use.
Pingus we cannot use, even though I like that name and the game very much.

Anybody can use PingoM for this venture as long as they can say that was my contribution to Linux and free telephony.

There are enough Linux VOIP for free telephony but there ought to be one that can communicate (Linux based) with windows machines now that Skype is dead.
So we need to strip Skype Linux of any Skype credentials and name it by the name I have given Pingo-M.

Alpine is VOIP based distribution which is minimalistic.
I think Alpine should put some flesh and add some office utility (minimum Abiword) and mature into Linux distribution with VOIP and develop a executive file for windows users.
AsteristNOW is another Free Telephony based on Linux distribution from CentOS-5.3- 2.009.

Asterist is a company which manufacture cards for telephony and uses open source telephony with thier hardware. They also can now contribute to the evolution of cross platform Telephony before Microsoft strangle users with their copyright issues.
Other ploy for Microsoft is to compete with Google Talk.

I hope unlike Android which Google use to curry favour with other appliance makers, VOIP should be a platform independent and above all operating system levels.
I do not think human beings are born with integrated circuits to talk and their vocal cords are analogue in operation.

This applies to animals and birds who sing for pleasure.

Penultimate Linux

It is difficult for me to give an ultimatum as far as Linux is concerned.

The innovations that come by every minute of the day prevents me from announcing an ultimatum to Linux way forward and next distribution that will come out of the blue.
enough is said about the Linux 100 and i have gone beyond the hundred by many a mile.
It is time for me to concentrate on Mobile Linux form Mobilin to MeeGo to Android to Unity derivative that might come soon.
Naming my top 10 will cause lot of injustice to that are not mentioned.
Life is making choices, prejudices and making decision at a given point of time which only lasts for that moment of time.
What not mentioned is not deliberate exclusion but a subjective statement with some value added judgment.

I have to go by the gut feelings but not with culinary delights.

1. Number one for me is 10th anniversary Knoppix

2. Number two is Puppy (lupu, quirky and wary). If not for Puppy i would not have come this far.

3. Number three is PCLinux including FullMonty which opened me to Live CD world.

4. Number 4 is Mepis and AntiX (including Taylor Swift) for looking after old computers.

5. Debian is my Number 5

6. Gparted, Pmagic, RIP

7. Peppermint

8. Imagine-OS

9. Incognito and Polippix are new derivatives with a strong political statement.

10. Last but not least Ubuntu, Mint and Unity and all Ubuntu derivatives making the feel of Linux universally available for the ordinary folks (not the Developers) who are taken for granted by the multinational companies hell bent on making money out of a poor product since the other choices are discredited by false propaganda.

If I miss any it is due to personal circumstances for me to use a particular distribution.

To rectify that anomaly I always talk about Linux 100 and not top 10 like a Video / Audio Chart.
Linux 100 and more going to stay like Dalmatians 101 in the web and IT world.
You have lot of choices now.
Go and select your own 10.
Please note I have excluded Games and XBMC due to their craving on graphic intensive hardware requirement and environment which many poor people cannot afford at this point of time.
In 10 years time the story may be quite different.

Phoenix born of ashes-Is it a reality?

When Linuxtracker Organization was attacked by the hackers and was emerging from the catastrophe they used this expression from rising from the ashes of Phoenix "to say they are reborn again" with vigor.

I have pasted the mythological story from Wikipedia below but to me fire was not a major concern till I started recording indoor temperatures.

In that period I have seen guppy fish die due to high temperature and saw flowering of some plants never seen in Kandy and its suburbs.

I have not been to the Botanical garden for some time and I am sure some plants there are dieing due to warm weather.

The Kandy City was known for mild weather for centuries and it was where many come to escape from warm weather of Colombo.

Not any more.

My discovery is that we cannot even make wine in Kandy city now since the yeast the major ingredient in wine and alcohol die above the temperature of 38 degrees C.

And we hit this temperature regularly for the last five years of my recording.

I decided to take a stock of fire hazard in our living rooms, especially because there is a guy who live below our house who habitually set fire to whatever he gets hold of, almost on daily basis and I see ashes in my room and bed room if I keep them open for ventilation.

Besides I fear sometimes my dog's fur would catch fire if he is let out of the house.

My fire hazard registry goes like this.

1. Cloths
2. Bedding
3. Books
4. CD/ DVD and their cases
5. Plastic containers (to avoid dust and ashes) buckets
6. Furniture including the bed and tables
7. All the wires that are connected to internet
8. My shoes
9. Computer utilities, keyboard, mouse and wires connected
10. Empty Cardboard boxes and last year's (remaining) Wesak lanterns.

In actual fact I have nothing except three items that would stand a minor fire.

My inventory was compiled when I was half asleep and the moment I got up I decided to collected all the items not useful and would catch fire to their final destiny, the fire itself.

So I took a leaf out of the guy who does it as a habit.

Set fire to them one by one and it took three hours to finish the lot and I stayed close to the fire till it was safe for the dog.

It was simmering even at midnight and I am pretty sure no Phoenix will emerge from the ashes.

Our electric switch board caught fire three times during the last six months once due to lightening and twice due to sudden surge of Electricity from the Board.

The guys come and say the supply is OK and do nothing inside as far as the checking is concerned and leave us to our own devices even at night.

Thank god we do not have little ones in our house except the dog who does not understand electricity, thunder and fire crackers.

So my obsession to fire is well founded.

Not only that I was very happy we lost the Cricket World Cup and I wish we will never win another world Cup till the Global Warming is taken care by our Buddhist Monks seriously.

Had we won it our guys would have burnt down (fire crackers to begging with and deliberate later) the remaining forest in no time by accident or by design to have free entry into CROWN Land and now the President's Land.

I have made a resolution not to light a lantern for Wesak this time round and I am sure nobody with sane mind would join me in my effort to highlight the global warming and its toll this small country is experiencing now. This does not mean one cannot light electric bulbs instead (with less hazard) but without overloading the system with many bulbs.

I hope if their are Buddhists out there who love this land should think of joining me as a gesture worth portraying without causing any harm to the principles laid down in Buddhism and its spirit of universal brotherhood.

Just think of the wastage I.P.L is making during the 20/20 games when some Indians are not having a square meal.
Make it a point to switch off the TV set during Wesak and think of the poor Indians who are struggling to make ends meet.
After all they are our neighbours (poor Indians) in need of spiritual guidance if rich Indians are neglecting them for a song and cricket.

We owe India the rich heritage of Buddhism and giving them something to ponder about is value added contribution on our part to the poor Indians who need not be poor in wisdom by default.

Fire Risk is there in this country but we do not have a proper fire brigade to cover the entire country and they come many hours after the fire without water and we have to provide them the water.

Fire wins and we lose everything and that is the name of the game.

Mythology
A phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet.

It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.

The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self.

In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (literally "sun-city" in Greek). It is said that the bird's cry is that of a beautiful song.


The Phoenix's ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal, though in some stories the new Phoenix is merely the offspring of the older one.

In very few stories they are able to change into people (who set fire to the entire world).

Mabuntux-Going to be Number One?

Mabantux score is much higher than Ubuntu Unity and it is much easier than Unity itself.
It does a good emulation of Apple.

Score is 1930 more than 600 points above Unity.

This is an indication with some tweaks Ubuntu's Unity will become more popular.

For the time being Pinguy and Ping Eee are the best innovative Ubuntu derivative which is in the market and its score is 2385.

I am going to make a prediction that everybody in IT industry should take good note of.

First of all I am not a fan of Ubuntu and I use it only for demonstrating its versatility (in other words versatility of Linux).

I think Mark Shuttleworth, the visionary in Linux promotion and of Canonical has made a smart move to make Unity Desktop and make the progress of Ubuntu as the number one in computer world.

Time will tell the story.

His critics may not agree with me, especially Linux Old Guard but in the commercial world people who make smart moves at the correct time will succeed what ever the market conditions that may exist at the time of the move or moves.

Unity Desktop was a smart move.

If he introduces a tablets it will be even smarter.

I think he should move fast and go ahead and use a light weight unity derivative for a universal tablet.

Tablets with phone accessory would be something kids would love to have it at home and in school.

I think Canonical can even take Google's Android into second place.

It will be number one in another five (5) years.

May be even early.

That is my prediction and nobody can stop it and the average user with smarter brain would be the accessory of the Canonical.

The community should extend all the help needed to the new converts and the newbies.

Ubuntu's global popularity will serge with the version 11.04 and it is a matter of time, that the rivals will be talking about it in the reverse gear.

I had a live session with it only for five minutes and that five minutes was enough to make it versatility universal.

Yes, it does not have Dropbox, Skype and K-Torrent but that has been rectified by the emerging Mabuntux.

The DVD with XAMPP, EyeOS and PhPMyAdmin will rock the IT world in no time.

Thanks guys / girls for the PhpMyAdmin.

I have been waiting for it to appear in a formidable distribution for ages.

Its Password Universal will have a Universal appeal.

I was about to say good bye to my Linux 100.
You Guys / Girls have sprung a big surprise on me.

I will be watching your success and progress of course from a distance but you have to work hard to get it there and believe that it can be the to Number One, not only in Linux World but in IT world too.

I may have to wait for two or three days (already downloaded Ubuntu and Lubuntu) and I hope lot of seeders will help the download speed of the poor guys and girls in the third world.
Me included.

I am also happy you are not posting any CDs free now.

People should join the community of seeders instead of waiting for a free CD from Canonical.

Go to Linux-Tracker and start downloading it for yourself.

Active participation is essential and I am going to keep two of my computers on as seeders even though I for my own reasons (minor issues not worth elaborating) use many other Linux distributions.

I hope Sinhala Capability also creep in as a byproduct.