Thursday, October 10, 2024

Linux History

Linux History

Chronology

1991:

The Linux kernel is publicly announced on 25 August by 21-year-old

Finnish student Linus Benedict Torvalds.

1992:

The Linux kernel is re-licensed under the GNU GPL. The first Linux

distributions are created.

1993:

Over 100 developers work on the Linux kernel. With their assistance, the kernel is adapted to the GNU environment, which creates a large

spectrum of application types for Linux. The oldest currently (as of 2015)

existing Linux distribution, Slackware, is released for the first time. Later

that same year, the Debian project is established. Today it is the largest

distribution community.

1994:

Torvalds judges all components of the kernel to be fully matured: he releases version 1.0 of Linux.

The XFree86 project contributes a graphical user interface (GUI).

Commercial Linux distribution makers Red Hat and SUSE publish version 1.0 of their Linux distributions.

1995:

Linux is ported to the DEC Alpha and the Sun SPARC systems. Over the following years, it is ported to an ever-greater number of platforms.

1996:

Version 2.0 of the Linux kernel is released. The kernel can now serve several processors at the same time using symmetric multi-processing (SMP), and thereby becomes a serious alternative for many companies.

1998:

Many major companies such as IBM, Compaq, and Oracle announce their support for Linux.

The Cathedral and the Bazaar were first published as an essay (later as a book), resulting in Netscape publicly releasing the source code to its Netscape Communicator web browser suite. Netscape’s actions and crediting of the essay brings Linux’s open source development model to the attention of the popular technical press. 

In addition, a group of programmers began developing the graphical user interface KDE.

1999:

A group of developers began work on the graphical environment GNOME, destined to become a free replacement for KDE, which at the time depended on the then proprietary, Qt GUI toolkit. 

During this year, IBM announced an extensive project for the support of Linux.

2000:

Dell announces that it is now the No. 2 provider of Linux-based systems worldwide and the first major manufacturer to offer Linux across its full product line.

2002:

2004:

The media reported, “Microsoft killed Dell Linux.”

The XFree86 team splits up and joins with the existing X standards body to form the X.Org Foundation, which results in a substantially faster development of the X server for Linux.

2005:

The project openSUSE begins free distribution from Novell’s community. In addition, the project OpenOffice.org introduces version 2.0 which then started supporting OASIS Open Document Standards.

2006:

2007:

Oracle releases its own distribution of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 

Novell and Microsoft announce cooperation for better interoperability and mutual patent protection.

Dell starts distributing laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed.

2009:

Red Hats market capitalization equals Suns, interpreted as a symbolic moment for the “Linux-based economy.”

2011:

Version 3.0 of the Linux kernel is released.

2012:

The aggregate Linux server market revenue exceeds that of the rest of the UNIX market.

2013:

Google’s Linux-based Android claims 75% of the Smartphone market share, in terms of the number of phones shipped.

2014:

Ubuntu claims 22,000,000 users.

2015:

Version 4.0 of the Linux kernel is released.

 

I have posted here the Debian releases which were missed by the Statistics of Ubuntu version distributions for France.

My belief is Ubuntu sources deliberately suppressed the information of Debian.

2021 Linux kernel 5.10 L.T.S

32-bits PC (Intel x86) operating system

    Mageia 8 (DVD) Linux 5.10 (Release 28 February 2021, end of life 31 august 2022)

64-bits PC (AMD64) operating system

    Mageia 8 (DVD) Linux 5.10 (Release 28 February 2021, end of life 31 august 2022)

    Please do not confuse Debian Version with Kernel version.

Debian Version 11 in August 2021

    11.0.0-live/ 2021-08-14 22:21

    11.0.0/ 2021-08-14 22:21

    11.1.0-live/ 2021-10-09 22:53

    11.1.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.2.0-live/ 2021-12-18 21:44

    11.2.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.3.0-live/ 2022-03-26 22:21

    11.3.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.4.0-live/ 2022-07-09 18:33

    11.4.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.5.0-live/ 2022-09-11 00:59

    11.5.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.6.0-live/ 2022-12-17 20:06

    11.6.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.7.0-live/ 2023-04-29 22:47

    11.7.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.8.0-live/ 2023-10-08 01:37

    11.8.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.9.0-live/ 2024-02-10 23:07

    11.9.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

    11.10.0-live/ 2024-06-29 22:46

    11.10.0/ 2024-06-29 22:46

Debian Version 12 in June 2023

        12.0.0-live/ 2023-06-10 15:57

        12.0.0/ 2023-06-10 15:57

        12.1.0-live/ 2023-07-22 18:50

        12.1.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

        12.2.0-live/ 2023-10-07 22:24

        12.2.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

        12.3.0-NEVER-RELEASED/ 2023-12-10 18:29

        12.4.0-live/ 2023-12-11 01:45

        12.4.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01

        12.5.0-live/ 2024-02-10 21:12

        12.5.0/ 2024-02-19 19:01



Myths, Mirage and Marriage

Reproduction

Read My Book on Amazon Books

Myths, Mirage and Marriage

 It is said married life with kids (not without) prolong one´s life of existence.

I reproduce here posted in asokaplus at wordpress where no one visits.

I cannot remember when I posted this or whenever had I written this, being a married man.

All the same it is worth repeating with some editing and formatting.

The 3Ms here have common ancestry.

None of can be achievable and each one of them is shrouded in mystery.

For example one who is lost and disorientated in desert sand would not know for certain whether he is arriving at a water hole or not.

Myths of can be expanded to any direction or dimension one who is seeking the miracle go to any extent to believe what in reality is not achievable and where the reality is the major casualty.

Some common practices and beliefs merge into day to day life sometimes almost imperceptible to reality.

Marriage is an institution that has gained such a reputable credence that writing anything against is amounting to desecration and sacrilegious.

That is the myth I am going to expose and explode.

There is no intention of disrupting any healthy harmony that may exists in any relationship or institution.

Healthy relationships can exist and lasting friendships can be developed without this institution existing its power over individuals but when something is institutionalized and when it is bound to the common law and practices and finely tuned with ethical and moral practices of a culture aforesaid myth and mirage also will get entangled with it.

Idea here is to disentangle certain myths associated with marriage.

1. Marriage is a perfect union

2. Marriage works because of give and take

3. Marriage is a stable institution

4. There is freedom in marriage

5. It does not grow old but remain live

6. It gives security

7. It has common goals

8. It makes life complete

9. Without this institution human relationships cannot be developed

10. Everyone must commit to this institution at one stage of his or her life


This list can go on but suffice is to disentangle the entangled myths.

These arguments are not for one who is already entangled since with the wedlock there is a legal deadlock.

This is for one who leaps into deep water without addressing his or her own issues.

The first casualty in war is truth.

Similarly the first casualty in marriage is freedom.

If you love freedom and lot of hobbies thinks twice before taking the plunge.

1. The first casualty is your hobbies.

2. The second casualty is your friends.
If you have lot of friends and love their company think twice.

3. Third casualty is one’s finance (unless both are bankers with good investment funds for life like the Murdoch).
If you cannot manage finances alone two of you will not mange it better
.

4. Fourth myth is the stability and security.
There are no institutions in this world which is stable and secure.
Even the best banks can bust. 

The Uncertainty Principle rules.

In marriage finances would bust first, especially when the kids come home.

5. It makes life complete is the biggest myth of all.
It makes simple life more complicated in marriage life and you never complete the set targets or your obligations, even if you live beyond 100 years.

That is why I have set my target at 80. 

Living beyond 80 is a burden to this planet.

6. In marriage more you give in more you have to give and less you have to take. 

One never get a chance to take in, if you are the giver.
It is like putting water into a bucket with hole in the bottom.

7. Marriage does not get old.
It is not true it is the institution that gets older by the minute.
Moment you tie your nuptials and finishes the honeymoon it is old enough to be called a marriage.

That is why we have so many marriage jubilees from its inception. 

This is written with the impending royal wedding in mind.
You know what happened to Diana.


As long as you are a commoner please do not do what royals do.

Remain a commoner for life and you may advise the royals (couples) in trouble.

Better still you become a divorce lawyer.

Hope the royal couple reads this one day after the honeymoon (too late by then).

I wish Good Luck to them all the same.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Dementia Research In Heaven

Dogs and Dementia Research In Heaven 

I have never been to Heaven and what is told here is only a hearsay and not a heresy. 

I had some connection with the Heaven for a very short period of time when one of my dog friends ended up in heaven and that story for completeness sake is told, as an addendum elsewhere, when the current and the latest story is told for public consumption. 

That dog is no more and has attained Nibbhana by stroke of luck and a very clever strategy. It is not divulged here but you have to read my book on dogs.

He has extinguished his life flame in the way of Buddhist Tradition.

My connection to Heaven is through email facility, which the Maha Brahma granted me while the dog who “Exited” was acting as the Maha Brahma’s Assistant

I still have this connection and there was no email facility in Heaven, at that time and with my Linux connection, I established a Server in Heaven to assist Maha Brahama who is on eternal holiday.       

Nobody can contact him direct when he is on holiday but emails can be forwarded for perusal whenever he decides to return. 

Before my inadvertent contact and Establishment of Linux Server, Maha Brahma had to remember everything by simple rote memory and that was a gigantic task even in heavenly terms.

By the way, my interests are not on Heaven but on Hell where I was told by our Paraya Dog that manipulations of sentences in Hell are made by surreptitious mechanism by Ceylonese Lawyers who entered there by default Karma

This is of course relating to the sentences to our politicians who invariably enter Hell.

The lawyers continue the habit of rearguard action for unfortunate politicians.

I have gone into to depth unlike our judges and to ease my work I have written a software in Linux to screen all applications made from Ceylon to both Heaven and Hell

All the acts of vandalism caused by Lawyers currently in Ceylon and those Lawyers who entered Hell have being aborted by this software.

Apaya Server is very well maintained.

I am Acting Director of Apaya Server, until I kick the bucket from this existence. Maha Brahma himself requested me to take up the post before, he went on a long vacation. 

The Establishment of this Server 24/7 Schedule made Maha Brahma to avail himself of leave.

The current agreement is, I will hold the Acting Capacity until I exist from here and I am only interested in meting out justice to our current politicians who are ace manipulators of our affairs. That post would fall vacant after my demise and a new guy would be elected at the discretion of Maha Braha himself.

I have no interest in continuing in that post, since the Server and the Software I created would last aeons and aeons, since it is made out of Linux Code.

 

Let me deal with the heaven in general.

All the Gods have a good time when they are there but descend to lower realms the moment they exist. They know it very well and that is why they want us to give them live wire as merits when we dish out Dhana when one of our guys or girls do exit from this planet earth.

I have no intention of letting lose any of my merits left. 

Similarly, I have no intention of coming back to earth as a lowly animal.

I wish something better.

I wish to have the full exit, just like our Paraya Dog.

 

But there is a caveat here.

Our dog Zimba is supposed to be in heaven and I wish to see him at least once or twice because he was  such a good soul.

I lost my “temper tantrums” thanks to his demeanor while he was with us.

 

That is my entry point to this book about current dogs. 

It is said that all dogs go to heaven and very few humans go there by default. 

The dogs who go there also realize their plight when they do exit from heaven. 

When the time is up it is also dicey for them too. 

Nobody has any control our Rebirth Protocol which is automatic and instantaneous, even for Maha Brahma.

He has no say but to store the Karma capacity of all subjects of hell and heaven.

What Maha Brahma tries to accomplish is to allocate the remaining merits (Kusal) or demerits (Akusal) in accordance with Cause and Effect Principle and nothing more.

It is not a laborious task but a boring task.

Nevertheless, he enjoys the sequence of events and he lives longer than the other gods to see things in Evolution of the Rebirth Cycle.

In other words, he has more merits and he does not wish to extinguish his life flame as the boss of all gods. 

This is where bit of rivalry happens in heaven but that is not the topic of this book. 

He is interested in Dementia in humans.

There is no Dementia in Gods, they do remember everything big and small. All what Maha Brahma (no vetting at all) does in heaven is monitored by other Gods who wish to take his place, when he exits to a lower plane.

This has created some issues to Maha Brahma who wish some of his cohorts develop some form of Dementia so that he can get on with his activities without any snooping by other Gods.

Gossip is prevalent in heaven.

He is considering some form genetic manipulations in a few of his aspiring God candidates without any malice. 

I have been working with children all my life except for a brief period in New Zealand where I had to deal with geriatric patients. For the first time, I saw lot of them with Dementia and had developed some interest in preventing dementia which is not a problem for the victims but to their non demented kith and kin.

I have to make some reference to Dhammapada here and it is relevant. 

It rare to be born as a human and do not waste that instance with mundane affairs. That is where the “Exit” dog put a stamp of approval of Buddha’s Teaching.

This dog who was frequenting the Temple in Kandy had heard some wise sermons in his time as a dog. 

Rest of the dogs including Pedigree dogs only realize their plight only when they have reached the mighty heaven.

My interest in Dementia is ongoing until, I succumb to it.

Story of The Three Dogs 

If it is successful a portion of its proceeds would be donated to Independent Dementia Research on Dogs in this world of our own.

There are so many demented guys in American politics, I consider using them as my research data base after their retirement from politics (i.e; after two terms in office). Ceylonese politicians are excluded since they are in advanced stage of Dementia Documentosa Stage III for any benefit to their souls.

They are better off dead for a long rein in hell.

For the sake of their young (USA citizens) family members wishing to take up politics in the future, I am going to have a Secure Linux Database (SLD for short) in Hell.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The Menace of Microsoft UEFI

The Menace of Microsoft UEFI

This is an Old Piece.

Debian is on again in my Laptop

I inadvertently erased my Debian Distribution in my Old Laptop.

I had problem installing it without Internet connection.

It is all due to this UEFI boot loader of Microsoft incarnation, in fact, trying an incarnation in reverse gear, on my laptop which I erased 5 years ago.

It (boot loader) does not let me install Linux without Windows.


The records in the UEFI haunted me.


Thanks to BSD but specifically TRUE OS I erased the UEFI, boot loader.


I had a installable DVD in my archive made in 2017, December.

Other DVDs I have shy of erasing the UEFI boot record.


Finally Endless OS erased it but won't let me, dual boot Linux.

 

This is how to do it.


1. Boot TrueOS and install it.


2. Boot Gparted and delete the tank root partition.


3. But leave the ESP made by TrueOS untouched.


4. Boot Debian 10 latest CD1 (you do not need other Debian.CDs).


5. Install Debian in the free space by deleting tank partition.


6. Again do not touch ESP made by TrueOS.


7. Install Debian and let it do its partitioning.


8. It takes the remaining space for a huge /home partition.


9. I delete
/home partition and resize it and make also a /boot partition for safety.


10. BIOS partition does not function in this scenario.


11. Debian install its base system and once it is over, it lets you select from the Taskel. the desktop types.


12. I select all except web server.


Hit install and it takes a bit of a time and I either sleep or browse my emails.


But remain nearby.


It stops and asks a few options for you to confirm including root password, user passwords and a few more questions.


Say NO to them since you are not connected to the Internet.


It wastes your time and your first DVD has everything you need.


It installs and eject the DVD.


Thanks again to TRUE OS developers.


Do not try Ubuntu or any other Linux distribution they hide behind UEFI,  even though they claim UEFI compatibility.


This is true to Peppermint.and Mandriva.

I tried all of them and only Debian succeeded.

Thanks to Debian and Debian developers please take a leaf out of BSD overtures (by default) and do NOT feel shy to erase UEFI.


The U or Unified is not TRUE, it defies Unification logic.

Monday, October 7, 2024

Albert Schweitzer on Peace

Albert Schweitzer

Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (German: 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German-born, French polymath from Alsace.

He was a theologian,

organist,

musicologist,

writer,

humanitarian,

philosopher and

a physician.

As a Lutheran minister, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of the historical Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view.

His contributions to the interpretation of Pauline Christianity concern the role of Paul's mysticism of "being in Christ" as primary and the doctrine of justification by faith as secondary.

The Problem of Peace

Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 1952, accepting the prize with the speech, "The Problem of Peace".

With the $33,000 prize money, he started the leprosarium at Lambaréné.

From 1952 until his death he worked against nuclear tests and nuclear weapons withAlbert Einstein, Otto Hahn and Bertrand Russell.

In 1957 and 1958, he broadcast four speeches over Radio Oslo, which were published in Peace or Atomic War.

In 1957, Schweitzer was one of the founders of The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy.

On 23 April 1957, Schweitzer made his "Declaration of Conscience" speech; it was broadcast to the world over Radio Oslo, pleading for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

His speech ended, "The end of further experiments with atom bombs would be like the early sun rays of hope which suffering humanity is longing for.

Medicine

At the age of 30, in 1905, Schweitzer answered the call of The Society of the Evangelist Missions of Paris, which was looking for a physician. The committee of this missionary society was not ready to accept his offer, considering his Lutheran theology to be "incorrect". He could easily have obtained a place in a German evangelical mission, but wished to follow the original call despite the doctrinal difficulties. Amid a hail of protests from his friends, family and colleagues, he resigned from his post and re-entered the university as a student in a three-year course towards the degree of Doctorate in Medicine, a subject in which he had little knowledge or previous aptitude. 

He planned to spread the Gospel by the example of his Christian labour of healing, rather than through the verbal process of preaching and believed that this service should be acceptable within any branch of Christian teaching.

Even in his study of medicine and through his clinical course, Schweitzer pursued the ideal of the philosopher-scientist. 

By extreme application and hard work, he completed his studies successfully at the end of 1911. His medical degree dissertation was another work on the historical Jesus, Die psychiatrische Beurteilung Jesu. Darstellung und Kritik [The psychiatric evaluation of Jesus. Description and criticism] (published in English in 1948 as The Psychiatric Study of Jesus. Exposition and Criticism. 

He defended Jesus' mental health in it.

In June 1912, he married Helene Bresslau, municipal inspector for orphans and daughter of the Jewish pan-Germanist historian Harry Bresslau.

In 1912, now armed with a medical degree, Schweitzer made a definite proposal to go as a physician to work at his own expense in the Paris Missionary Society's mission at Lambaréné on the Ogooué river, in what is now Gabon, in Africa (then a French colony). 

He refused to attend a committee to inquire into his doctrine, but met each committee member personally and was at last accepted.

Do we, the Mankind need a religion in the 21stcentury?

 Do we, the Mankind need a religion in the 21st Century?

Strangely, an incident of recent origin, in West Coast made me to blow up mildly.

Real details are withheld.

We were about to get into our car and three women one White, one mixed African descent and one of Chinese stock approached us, in reality bold incursion, wanted to recite the Bible to us.

They did not ask what our religion is, which should be the correct protocol of any bold incursion.

They kept on reading the Bible ad nauseam.

After a while, I said "It is time up" and we are Buddhists and we do not believe in God (did not say your God).

Then the Chinese one in turn, asked who is your God and I turned a sarcastic gesture and said, "I can be Nasty'' and they disappeared.

What had happened to “Freedom of Thought" in the 21st Century?

Are we still slaves to dogma, faith, belief, a mad conviction to a band of religion or War in the name of Pseudo Gods, in the Middle East?

Do we, the Mankind need a religion?

My simple answer to that is a big NO.

Before I enlarge upon this topic, I need to bare some neurological facts.

There is  No Religious Center in the brain but there is a Language Center in the Cortical brain.

I tend to believe that the appearance of Hair on the Head (this is unusual compared to other mammals) and  Language Skills and Prematurely Born Infant (needing prolong breast feeding) facilitated communication skills of humans from birth. 

Brain is neuro-ectodermal in origin and association of hair on head is nothing but a simple association.

Religion divides people and it was a creation of mankind somewhere around 3000 years ago, in the rich and fertile Middle East.

The time scale of three thousand years is statistically insignificant, if the man’s current estimated evolutionary diversion, if we assume, it had taken place 50,000 years ago.

Drastic genetic change occurred around 3 to 5 million years ago and it took minimum of two and a half million years for establishment of humanoids.

In that sense 3000 years is nothing.

From the time man started counting millenniums, 3000 years had become historically important. 

I believe it was the time of resurgence of the idea or the need for some form of arbitrary religion for  human exploitation.

After 40,000 (10,000 years ago) years from that point, the agricultural civilization beginning to emerge (in which part of the world, I would not guess), man had ample time to create new ideas.

Religion was one of these ideas.

 Agricultural adventures could have been anywhere, given the evolution of grasses to the present day grain producing wild cereals.

This estimation goes haywire, if we assume humanoids were galactic explorers, in the style of    “Star Wars” and visitors from the outer space or aliens.

My classification during this period of 50,000 can be simplified.

1. Man hunted by the beast.

2. Man hunting the beast including woolly mammoth. 

The woolly mammoth coexisted with early humans, who used its bones and tusks for making art, tools and dwellings.

This species was also hunted for food.

It disappeared from its mainland range at the end of the Pleistocene Era, 10,000 years ago, most likely through climate change and consequent shrinkage of its habitat or hunting by humans or a combination of the two. 

My gut feeling is tuberculosis did intervene to decimate the woolly mammoth and the early humans. 

The elephants contracted it from the humans.

Isolated populations survived on St. Paul Island until 6,400 years ago and Wrangell Island until 4,000 years ago.

3. Gatherer

4. Trader

Around 5000 years ago trading elephants hunted from North Africa. 

They were supplying war effort of Romans before their decline. 

These traders coming from Middle East, probably did not have a religion.

5. Current civilization was seeded around Egypt. 

Sumarians laid the foundation.

6. Theory of God emerged somewhere around 3000 probably nearer Israel. 

This may be after alien visitation and aliens were considered as Gods.

7. Explosion of religions in Indian subcontinent except in Russia and China, 

It is also related to alien visitation.

The hidden literature in Vimanas is a living monument. 

8. The current working religion is Money.

There is no place for any other religion other than Money.

Whichever way one looks this scenario, the final working philosophy is to Generate Money.

The concepts of Capitalism or Socialism does not mater, if they are weighed with money.

My analysis is based on right and wrong principle. It differs from the good or bad principle of all the religions. My definition is completely different. 

Right is neither good nor bad or neutral.

Coming to current world, the might is right.

Its appropriateness is to the current needs and not to the past needs.

If a Muslim can kill another as an infidel and say it is godly thing and good, there is something radically wrong.

Killing or War is not the right way.

It is the beastly behavior in our gene makeup expressed at random.

In the 21st century we need our animal genes to be suppressed.

The religion originated in the name of God and Good but it has not delivered its key concepts to the current needs of the mankind.

Christianity and Muslim Divide started the Bible War. 

Judaism in the Middle East and the Oil needs of America instituted the ongoing terrorism and War in the Middle East

The way UNO drew lines in the world map quite arbitrarily after the World War II and made countries to it's whims and fancies of UK, USA and France (Italy, Germany and Japan, the losers were left out) and they left  Palestinians to their own devices.

It is not rectified to this day.

So it is time for the UNO to declare “A day for People Without Religion” (in other words people without division) is timely and appropriate.

China did not have a religion for over 5000 years. 

Buddhism reached there about 1700 years ago and was established there for nearly 1400 years and over the last 1000 years it gradually disintegrated.

For some reason or other, they hated Buddhism and MaO Se Dung did the finishing touches. 

I reason this out on the basis that Chinese eat any animal species including dragons.

Does it mater to Chinese citizens?

Russia did not have a state religion for the last 150 years, after the demise of the Tsar and Rasputin, the devil in the Church of Russia.

Does it matter to Russians?

According to one of my Indian friends, there are 1 billion Indians and one billion gods.

Does it make an Indian free of abject poverty.

The whole African continent did not have a religion until Muslims from the North and Christianity from the South, almost by force (Belgium was the biggest culprit) converted them.

Does it mean now the Africans are liberated?

I suppose Nelson Mandela (astute vision) never declared his religious status.

For him humanity was more important.

The right thing is to decimate terrorism be that it may be, white supremacists, black activists, JVP,  LTTE, ISIS, Mossad, Nazy Hitler or any other dictator.

In fact, we got rid of one dictator in Ceylon by popular vote but he is waiting in the wing for another fling, his God willing.

I sometime think, this tiny country was the breeding ground for radicalism and terrorism.

It is the minority in each religion who rules the majority.

Even in this country, Buddhism has fallen prey to politicians with ulterior motives and corrupt monks trading elephants.

This country would become a better place if we declare once a months a holiday for people without a religion, just like the Poya (including Satara Poya for Buddhists), Friday (for Muslims) and Sunday (for Christians).

Unfortunately there is no day for Hindus and they are all peaceful beings.

If one set off 12 days for the above and another four the Tamils we still have 14 days left.

We must reserve at least one day a month (before these 14 days are grabbed by various extreme sets of religious or political groups) in the coming Constitution for the non believers of religion and specially for the non believers of our politicians and politics.

On that day, the government should keep all liqueur bars open for only non believers (believers should be restrained in their own houses or in the Church, Mosque or Temple).

Come to think about and looking at the budget figures of alcohol sale, I am convinced believers (all religions combined) drink much more than the non believers. 

The non believers although in the minority should contribute to the state coffers by enjoying a drink once a month.

For some in this country democracy is as sacred as religion but we find a way to send only the corrupt people to the parliament by default.

For me, it is one fool out 100 non fools who makes the decisive vote (49 against 51). 

He is often the most foolish of the lot but ends up as the leader of the country.

This is why, I never registered for the vote (for over 40 years) come elections and feel proud that I am liberated from not only religion but also from DUD political leaders of this country. 

In other words, I am emancipated by default, not out of convention, contention or context or conviction.

I suppose all the other guys and girls consider me gone nuts. 

It does not matter to me, this country is full of nutty people and they are in one asylum called august assembly or the parliament.

There is a section in the Apaya International reserved for them when they demise. I wish I become the Director General there, since our Solicitor General always sees lines between lines in the interpretation of our law and set free all the culprits.

It is called transparency.

Our Minister for Justice say hooray to this mediocre guy in the name of non interference. Strangely, he happens to be the Minister for Buddhism. 

I think he is trying to attain Sovan or higher sublime state during his term of office.

I hope he will give up the post when that happens.

An average citizen until then should bite his/her teeth (not in he courts of law, he will be prosecuted and charged).

 

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Ornamental Threatened Fish in Ceylon

Ornamental Threatened Fish in Ceylon 

I was a avid fish keeper with over 20 to 40 little and big glass tanks and two cement ponds. 


Gouramis and Zebra fish were my interests.

I thought we had only a few endemic fish types.

Giant Danios in Hantana Stream and Rosy Barbs in Matale and Galagedera streams in Upcountry were the one two I did know.

I am told there are over 100 endemic species in the West Zone.

Quickly I became an Environmentalist and strongly opposed fish vendors selling local species except for those who are empowered to breed them and release them back to the wild.

I turned only to water plants especially lilies and Guppy fish.

I use guppy fish to control mosquitoes and periodically release them to the local streams.

Guppy fish is not an endemic species.

The biggest danger to guppy fish is the use of Washing Machines which releases large quantities of toxic material which are toxic to the gills (breathing apparatus).

Once the gills ate damaged there is no recovery.

I forgot to put an entry in Road Maps for Ceylon, on our ornamental fish. I am going to rectify it immediately.

Saving our Endemic Ornamental Fish

The biggest danger is the Fresh Water Aquariums and foreign species of Scavenger fish. 
They either escape from aquariums inadvertently or are released deliberately (feeding them with guppy fish I abhor) due to economic reasons of not being able to feed them.

With economic downturn keeping ornamental fish is a luxury in Ceylon.

When the imported fish food went up, I moved to guppy fish who need minimum of care and they rarely become carnivorous.

Before I left Ceylon I put a couple of beautiful guppies in a plastic tank with lot of water plants expecting the plants to retain water (I was expecting to return home in 3 months) in the tank without drying up.

I think the tank may have dried up in no time.

The plastic tank or box was the one I used to care for injured birds and animals.

With air fare going up an election covering the holiday season, it is Good Bye to Mother Lanka.

I honestly, do not believe there going to be any recovery in a foreseeable future.

Politics in not my domain but philosophy is

I am currently working on a book of  "Betrayal of Philosophy".

I could not find the book on Das Capital by Carl Marx after 10 years of searching.

Strangely, an incident yesterday in West Coast made me to blow up mildly. 
Real details withheld.
 
This incident does not warrant a single blog piece.
We were about to get into our car and three women one white, one mixed African descent and one of Chinese stock approached us, in reality bold incursion, wanted to recite the Bible to us. 

They did not ask what our religion is, which should be the normal protocol of any bold incursion.

They kept on reading the Bible ad nauseam.

After a while, I said "It is time up" and we are Buddhists and we do not believe in God (did not say your God).

Then the Chinese one in turn asked who is your God and I turned a sarcastic gesture and said, "I can be Nasty' and they disappeared.

I suppose this is a good entry point to my book on "Philosophy Betrayed".

What had happened to "Freedom of Thought" in the 21st century?

Are we still slaves to dogma, faith, belief, a mad conviction to a band of religion or War in the name of Pseudo Gods, in the Middle East?

Friday, October 4, 2024

Tragedy of Philosophy, War the Ultimatum

 Tragedy of Philosophy, War the Ultimatum

We are going through a critical period.

The emerging trend is not at all good.

Changing dynamics or uncertainty is not new to humanity. 

My worry is certain interest groups like Bilderbergs are trying to manipulate the underlying currents to their advantage. 

The proxy war in Ukraine is only the front end, the nefarious back end is to create crisis within the crisis

War brings poverty, disease, disengagement and displacement of large communities including children.

Child abuse, child labour, prostitution, illegal organ farms, use of mood altering drugs and abuse of conscripts in the name of saving the nations are the front end.

The back end is more sinister.

Large stacks of money is stashed and exchanged in cyber-crimes worldwide, outside the main monetary system.

That is the human dimension.

The philosophical dimension is very subtle

Woke culture, disregard for cultural norms and mass human migration looking for the utopia or presumed freedom from social ills are the philosophical dimensions.

Unlike the "New Age Era" when the dynamics of change was subtle but the current crisis is global due to Internet Misinformation Campaigns brought on by media like CNN, Fox News and the BBC.

Media output is doctored by the groups created by the subsidiaries of Bilderbergs. 

The penetration of the Alternative Media Coverage is not adequate. 

 

Bilderbergs are not visible in the front end. 

They always remain invisible in the background.

 

Banking crisis is not visible and the stock market does not reflect the underlying trends.

It may take sometime for the BRICS to mitigate the Rich and the Poor Divide.

Millions will succumb to starvation and social inequality. 

Not being a guy from economics, I cannot predict the trends. 

I have tried a very simple scientific analysis and my analysis which is not full proof goes like this;

1. Tragedy of Philosophy is its inability to grasp the current trend and direction.

2. Inevitable human tragedy is disregarded as inevitable.

3. Impending disintegration of the society is considered to be a natural phenomenon.

4. The emergence of Artificial Intelligence is going at a hectic phase.

5. The machines could do things better, the tasks that man had being doing for ages is taking a groundswell.

6. The ability of machine to displace both skilled and non skilled labour is enormous.

7. The engine of mankind, the creativity takes a backseat to the robots assembled at random.

8. Good example is the modern warfare where drones take the hype. The man or woman who launches the missiles has no fear, since he or she is hiding in a deep bunker.

9. In this type of warfare respect for the other party does not exist.

10. Mutual Destruction is Assured.

11. Man becoming a machine is an antithesis to human intelligence.

12. Right or wrong or neither right not wrong does not exist in this type of society.

13. Might is right is the catch phrase.

14. Hidden Gem of Humanity is fast disappearing.

15. We are at a stage where technology (Atomic Bomb) would supersede and Wisdom would disappear.

I am becoming pessimistic and not optimistic.

Linux Torrent has no Seeders

Even though, most of the new distributions release their images to Linux Tracker most of them (90%) them have no seeders. 

Only Gparted and Tuxedo-Os have seeds to download.

I do not encourage point to point downloads since, any break in file make the iso file void.

Monday, September 30, 2024

Not the Diplomat

This is a subtle advice to President Anura Dissanayake.

Nicolle Machiavelli, the Diplomat

Machiavelli had two paths for success for a prince.

Mind you these are all against
Dhamma Principles of Buddhism.

Path one is of absolute ruthlessness.
King has to a be an ace liar.
He has to be miserly to his subjects.
He has to be very lavish for his retinue.
He should be harsh to the people.
He should have an army.
He should purge powerful military men.
In other words he should murder the Generals when Italy was fully conquered.
Italy was divided into three, Florence, Naples and Roma and headed by vested interests.

He should not trust flatters.

He should be surrounded by wise men. 

If there any left in Ceylon, I doubt.

Other path is diplomacy.

For diplomacy to work there should be laws that control the commoner or his subjects.


Subjects should fear him.
Subjects should honour him.


Only after satisfying the above two provisos, he should show kindness to some of his favoured subjects.


Always guard against the flatters.

In Human history, the
Fear was the base for power.
Fear of death, disease, disability and old age are natural to humans.
 

The slogan is these natural tendencies should be harnessed to remain in power.

Rulers are
King first
Army second


Law and order the last.

Democracy never works.

War is common in human history.

Diplomacy was rare.

Nicolle Machiavelli, I believe was a classic example of how diplomacy was created in the medieval history having subdued all opponents by any mean including fear of death and punishment.

These are all real and perceived threats.

Whereas as the threats created by Church are not teal but man made concoctions.

There were 3 elements in history.
King
Pope
Army


Councillors were non existent.

All my life I did not know who was Machiavelli.

An old lady whom I used to see on medical grounds, when I visited her, gave me a book in Sinhala, called Prince. 

This lady is no more and she lived well past 80.

She was
a real political character and there were no political overtones in my simple consultations.

The paradox was that she claimed that she followed
Buddha Dhamma.

I refused, since its content were political but on second thought accepted it. 

Once, I tried to read it but got bored instantly.

Today, Google enticed me with several YouTube presentations.

This is an attempt to relive his attempts on diplomacy.

He was called prince of political philosophy.

To begin with politics has no philosophy.

Politics is the manifestation of greed and power.

The three who manifest this greed are obvious.

Depending on the Power of  the Pope and his greed for territorial claims and dominance Wars were created by design.

Pope was the greediest of all.

Once war is started even Pope cannot intervene since there are many sectors including
Orthodoxy.

We need a modern Machiavelli of high repute.

I do not think we would find one until, 
Ukraine is decimated in full.

Do not put the blame on President Putin. 

He is prepared to drag this war until the presidential election in US is over and done with.

Then only, a suitable diplomatic entity should emerge.

I do not think Donald Trump has understood the extent and he will invariably be controlled by the Military Industrial complex, when he comes in to power.

I do not think President Putin should trust any American and their one sided diplomacy until he has reached Odessa and a real corridor of defense is established..

Zelensky is an American Baby Doll, an Untrustworthy Soul of Hate.

He thrives on Hate of Russians.

There is something called Zelensky Curse, anything he touches burns to ashes.

It is TRUE.

One has to accept the American Defeat (of the Military Industrial Complex) and the Americans have to swallow the bitter pill.

Biden wanted Putin changed and it would turn out to be that the opposite of what he intended would materialize.

His own downfall is certain. 

Biden and his policies would be changed without a single gun fired towards America.

Already 5,000 Russian soldiers are dead.

Ukrainian death toll is estimated to be over 500,000 and a ratio of over 1 to 10.

Russians stood up to the Nazis, the current Nazis are in the Democratic Party. 

Democratic Party should be ousted to begin with.

I do not know how many are displaced and how many are permanently wounded in Ukraine. 

Probably that runs in to millions and much more than the second world war casualties.

Killing fields should be stopped that include Kursk in Russia, initiated by the NATO Guys.