Monday, January 27, 2020

Please DO NOT translate this to SINHALA

Sleep and Biorhythms  

Reproduction

by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. 

 

Updated September 18, 2019

Why a Coffee Power Nap Works

You're tired, but you don't have time to really sleep. Rather than taking a power nap or grabbing a cup of coffee, try taking a coffee power nap. Here's what a coffee power nap is and why it actually leaves you feeling more refreshed and awake than either a power nap or a cup of coffee or even a nap followed by coffee.

What Is a Coffee Power Nap?

You know what coffee is, but it might be helpful to review the power nap concept. A power nap is a short nap (15-20 minutes) that takes you into stage 2 sleep. It's just long enough to stave off some of the worst effects of sleep deprivation or exhaustion, but not so long that it drags you into slow wave sleep (SLS) or deep sleep, which would leave you feeling groggy if you ended it too soon (sleep inertia). Research has shown that even a 6-10 minute nap helps improve concentration, alertness, motor performance, and learning, while a 30 minute nap confers the benefits of a full sleep cycle, markedly reducing fatigue and reversing much of the physiological damage of sleep deprivation.

A coffee power nap or caffeine power nap is when you drink coffee or a caffeinated beverage right before settling down for your nap.

How a Coffee Power Nap Works

The short explanation is that it takes about 20 minutes for caffeine to jolt your system and 45 minutes before it reaches maximum effect. So, the caffeine doesn't keep you from falling asleep, but it's there to boost your performance the minute you wake up.

Here's the longer explanation: When you drink coffee or tea or your favorite energy drink, the caffeine is absorbed into your blood stream through the walls of the small intestine. From there, the molecule travels to your brain, binding to the receptors that would accept adenosine, a molecule that accumulates when you are tired and causes you to feel sleepy. So, about 20 minutes after taking it, caffeine helps you feel more awake because additional adensoine can't find a binding location. When you sleep, even if it's just a quick nap, your body naturally clears the adenosine from the neural receptors. This is why you feel more awake after a nap.

When you drink coffee and take a nap, the sleep clears the adenosine so you wake up feeling refreshed, and then the caffeine kicks in and blocks the receptors so you won't get tired again as quickly. Plus, caffeine boosts your metabolism and gives you all those other great stimulant side effects. It's a win-win situation.

How Do We Know It Works?

Scientists can't get into your brain to see the neural receptors and measure binding rates, but the effects of the coffee power naps have been observed. One study conducted by scientists at Loughborough University in the UK found that tired study participants made fewer mistakes in a driving simulator following a 15-minute coffee power nap. They got the benefits of the nap even if they reported having trouble falling asleep. Japanese researchers found test subjects performed better on memory tests and felt more rested following caffeine naps. The Japanese study also indicated exposure to bright light following a nap or washing your face could help wake you up.
Of course, I advise you to conduct your own experiment to test out the coffee nap for yourself!

How To Take a Coffee Nap

1. Drink coffee or tea containing 100-200 mg of caffeine. Don't add sugar or milk. If you choose an energy drink, go sugar-free or else the surge in blood glucose levels may keep you from falling asleep. Alternatively, you could take a caffeine pill.
2. Set your alarm for 20 minutes. Don't go past 30 minutes because the coffee nap works best if you're awake when the caffeine hits your system.
3. Relax. Sleep. Enjoy. It helps to wear an eye mask or turn out the lights. It's okay if you can't fall all the way asleep. Research indicates even deep relaxation, such as meditation, makes a big difference.
4. Wake up feeling refreshed!

References

Anahad O'Connor, October 31, 2011, The New York Times, Really? The Claim: For a More Restful Nap, Avoid Caffeine, Retrieved Aug. 21, 2015.

Rose Eveleth, Smithsonian magazine, October 24, 2013, What Is the Exactly Perfect Time to Drink Your Coffee?, Retrieved Aug. 21, 2015.

Corrie Pikul, September 27, 2012, Oprah magazine, 6 More Health Myths—Busted!, Retrieved Aug. 21, 2015.

Like this? You may also be interested in whether coffee can really sober up a drunk.

Sleep and Biorhythms

This is in response to a Sinhala Translation of an English article in a weekly paper.

He forgets that mosquitoes are the biggest menace to our sleep and wake cycle.

This is why Ceylonese are very irritant (watch them when they travel in buses and trains, dosing)

Catch Some Extra Z's

My body basically just shuts down when I'm sick, allowing me to sleep way more than the normal seven to eight hours. 
If you're starting to feel run down, one of the best things you can do is schedule yourself a little bit more time for rest. 
"Sleep is my most reliable defense against infection," says David Katz, founder of the Yale University Prevention Research Center and author of Disease-Proof. "Research shows that our bodies need seven to eight hours of sleep in order to stimulate an immune response from our 'natural killer cells,' which attack viruses."

After almost 50 years of medical career both in academic and in practice in various disciplines including geriatrics, I still do not understand fully how memory works and why we need at least (in a 24 hour day and night cycle) 8 hours of sleep.
I love sleep in two breaks (one hour of evening nap and 7 hours of night nap in my full retirement).
I wake up exactly after 7 hours and make a cup of tea and get my cellphone and play kids game until the sun shines and come out to listen to the melody of all the birds in my roof top garden.
They even make nests there and my favorite is the nasty little Munia or the Twitter!
It is a fearless bird!
My biorhythm is FIXED and probably in other human beings, too.
According to the writer (quoted from American research) testosterone is to blamed for all the ills.

BIG NO!

Mind you I do not fully understand how the hormones and nano-molecules change in day to day cycles.

The Growth Hormone and Melatonin are the ones that matter not testosterone.
Mind you working mothers, athletes and female managers also suffer from sleep problems.
They have less testosterone in their system and female athletes have more testosterone and their menstrual cycle can go haywire!
Mind you testosterone is a slight variation of estrogen and all are derivatives of cholesterol which is a very important molecule and treating with statin causes dementia in old age.
Now let me blast the CIA and the Drug industry (by the way, it is not an anti-American strategy).
99% of the Americans are good souls.
They mind their own business and I even begin to like President Trump.
I hated Clintans (he was impeached) and democrats!

In my opinion impeachment of President Trump is a bizarre “Witch Hunt”.


Let me deal with the CIA.
1.They had a university (now closed) that trained assassins, to kill Russian spies (Mind you I think and believe, Russia still conducts these experiments to this day. China had been doing this for ages under closed doors and use and export prostitutes even to Ceylon).

2. Sleeping pills and mood enhancing drugs were the byproducts.

3. The biggest conspiracy was the anti-cholesterol drugs, the statins.
I have written a lot about this and educated even my batch mates in high places.
Cholesterol is a vital agent and lowering it causes dementia.
It is in all the cells (brain included) inside and outside on the cell membrane.
It an anti-oxidant sink in many ways.
It needs receptors to bind it and macrophages (in chronic inflammations) make alternative receptors to bind oxidized cholesterol irreversibly (in chronic inflammation, especially) and depletes cellular recycling.
Macrophages, I believe never die unlike other cell which has 50 cell cycles from conception to death.

4. Do not eat eggs due to high cholesterol had misfired and now they are revising their dietetics.

Egg is a wholesome food especially for children.

Feel Good Factors and Sleep

1. DHEA

Our body naturally produces the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in the adrenal gland. In turn, DHEA helps produce other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen.

Natural DHEA levels peak in early adulthood and then slowly fall as one ages.

A synthetic version of DHEA is available for oral use, as a tablet, and a topical cream.

Often touted as an anti-aging therapy, DHEA is also claimed to ward off chronic illness and improve physical performance.

2. Serotonin

Serotonin helps regulate your mood naturally.

When your serotonin levels are normal, you feel:

happier
calmer
more focused
less anxious
more emotionally stable

What is serotonin?

Serotonin is a chemical nerve cells produce.

It sends signals between your nerve cells. Serotonin is found mostly in the digestive system. It’s also present in blood platelets and throughout the central nervous system.

Serotonin is made from the essential amino acid tryptophan. All essential amino acids must come from one's diet and is commonly found in foods such as nuts, cheese, and red meat.
Tryptophan deficiency can lead to lower serotonin levels.

The deficiency could result in mood disorders, such as anxiety or depression.

What does serotonin do?

Serotonin impacts every part of the body, from the emotions to motor skills. Serotonin is considered a natural mood stabilizer. It’s the chemical that helps with sleeping, eating, and digesting. Serotonin also helps:

reduce depression
regulate anxiety
heal wounds
stimulate nausea
maintain bone health

3. What Is GABA?

The Brain-Boosting GABA

What Is GABA?

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, also known as GABA, is a neurotransmitter that helps send messages between the brain and the nervous system.

It is produced in the brain from glutamate. This process is catalyzed by the active form of vitamin B6 and the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD).

Its main function is to reduce the activity of nerve cells in the nervous system. A good amount of emerging research has found that it could play a role in many conditions, including depression, anxiety and stress.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid is thought to have a natural calming effect and is believed to reduce feelings of of anxiety and fear by decreasing neuronal excitability.

It is often used as a natural supplement to promote sleep, improve mood and ease premenstrual symptoms.

GABA Uses and Benefits

1. Relieves Anxiety
2. Improves Sleep
3. Reduces Depression Symptoms
4. Relieves Symptoms of PMS
5. Decreases Inflammation
6. Improves Focus in ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
7. Increases Levels of Growth Hormone
   

4. What Are Endorphins?

They are responsible for the all-encompassing sense of happiness we sometimes feel.

Endorphins are a category of neurotransmitters that the body uses as an internal pain killer. A 1995 study (Harte et al) published in the Biological Psychology Journal tested the neurochemical release of two groups — 11 elite runners and 12 highly trained meditators — after running and meditation, respectively.

What did they find?

Both groups’ endorphin levels were greatly elevated.

Perhaps even more amazing, meditation's "feel-good effect" scored even higher than running!

Joggers have coined the term "runners high" to describe how wonderful the endorphin rush feels after a nice, long run. This happy, zen-like, alert state of bliss can be a powerful and highly pleasurable experience, going a long way to explain why so many runners are addicted to their sport.

Luckily, this wonderful mind-state is readily found through meditation. Maybe it is time for meditators to come up with a cool phrase for how good they feel after meditation?

What Are Endorphins

Endorphins are the popular term for chemical substances known as “opiate peptides.”

Which neurochemicals qualify as “endorphins,” and what do endorphins do exactly?

Endorphins include enkephalins and dynorphins, substances associated with feelings of pleasure, sexuality/sensually, euphoria and pain relief. Essentially, endorphins promote a sort of “bliss,” providing a sense of well-being.

Low levels of endorphins are associated with the opposite effects: physical and emotional pain (including chronic pain linked to disorders like fibromyalgia), addiction and higher incidence of risk taking behaviors.

When one talks about endorphins, they’re also referring to other neurotransmitters besides opiate peptides, including dopamine and serotonin.

Here’s a quick overview of how endorphins are released?

Medically speaking, we refer to chemical messengers of the mind that cause emotions as neurotransmitters. Endorphins are manufactured by the central nervous system (your brain, spinal cord and nerves that connect to many other parts of your body). Through the production of certain neurotransmitters, the pituitary gland of the brain gets the signal to release particular endorphins depending on the situation, which then bind to neuron receptors. There’s also evidence that the immune system releases certain endorphins based on rising levels of inflammation, which is a mechanism useful for dulling pain.

5. Melatonin

The hormone melatonin plays a role in the natural sleep-wake cycle. Natural levels of melatonin in the blood are highest at night. Some research suggests that melatonin supplements might be helpful in treating sleep disorders, such as delayed sleep phase, and providing some relief from insomnia and jet lag.

Melatonin is generally safe for short-term use. Unlike with many sleep medications, with melatonin one is unlikely to become dependent, have a diminished response after repeated use (habituation), or experience a hangover effect.

What is melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland , a small gland in the brain. Melatonin helps control the sleep and wake cycles. Very small amounts of it are found in foods such as meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables. One can buy it as a supplement.

What does natural melatonin do in the body?

The body has its own internal clock that controls the natural cycle of sleeping and waking hours. In part, the body clock controls how much melatonin the body makes. Normally, melatonin levels begin to rise in the mid- to late evening, remain high for most of the night, and then drop in the early morning hours.

Light affects how much melatonin the body produces. During the shorter days of the winter months, the body may produce melatonin either earlier or later in the day than usual.
This change can lead to symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or winter depression.

Natural melatonin levels slowly drop with age.

Some older adults make very small amounts of it or none at all.

Why is melatonin used as a dietary supplement?

Melatonin supplements are sometimes used to treat jet lag or sleep problems (insomnia).
Scientists are also looking at other good uses for melatonin, such as:

Treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Helping to control sleep patterns for people who work night shifts.
Preventing or reducing problems with sleeping and confusion after surgery.
Reducing chronic cluster headaches.

6. Human Growth Hormone

Benefits of Human Growth Hormone

Human growth hormone can be injected in larger doses to promote weight loss and increase muscle size while a small doses can be used for general recovery, health and ignite the anti-aging process. Presently, there is a growing list of benefits of HGH treatment in children, adolescents and adults, such as:

1. Increased Muscle Strength

Human growth hormone has been known to improve physical capacity of individuals through stimulating collagen synthesis in the skeletal muscle and tendons, increasing muscle strength and improving exercise performance as a result.

In the International Journal of Endocrinology, a study with 14 healthy men at the ages of 50 to 70 were randomized into two groups. Seven subjects were administered HGH therapy with seven placebo subjects, and they were re-evaluated after six months. After six months, there was a significant increase in the leg press responsiveness muscles in the growth hormone group.

Overall, the study concluded an increased muscle strength in the lower body after human growth hormone was administered in healthy men. In HGH-deficient adults, participants who were administered long-term HGH therapy experienced normalization of muscle strength, increased exercise capacity, and improved thermoregulation and body composition.

2. Better Fracture Healing

Numerous of local growth factors and hormones are responsible for regulating mineral and bone metabolism, along with fracture healing. Administration of human growth hormone has been shown to speed up the regeneration of bone, making it a key part of bone healing. Applying growth factors like IGF-1 is known to stimulate the metabolism of bone.

In a study published in the journal BONE, growth hormone was systemically applied to recombinant species-specific rats by subcutaneous injections and was compared to the placebo group. As a result, the local growth factor application revealed a stronger effect on fracture healing than the systemic human growth hormone injection. These observations suggest that the local application of growth hormone speeds up fracture healing significantly without systemic adverse effects.

Human growth hormone plays a crucial role in the repair of wear and tear and expedites healing. Researchers have reported the beneficial effects of HGH in enhancing the healing of injuries and wounds significantly. A randomized, controlled, double-blinded study for six months of HGH therapy or placebo in 28 healthy older men with low baseline plasma IGF-1 was conducted at the University of California’s Department of Medicine. As a result, healthy older men who were administered growth hormone had enhanced collagen deposition during the wound-healing process, helping the healing process.

3. Enhanced Weight Loss

Obese individuals have limited response to growth hormone stimuli release, and after successful reduction of weight, growth hormone responsiveness can be partial or complete. Growth hormone accelerates lipolysis, the breakdown of lipids and involves hydrolysis of triglycerides into glycerol and free fatty acids, and impaired secretion of human growth hormone leads to loss of lipolytic effect.

Dietary restrictions and growth hormone treatment effects on anabolic and lipolytic actions as well as the changes in growth hormone secretions and insulin were investigated in a study published in Hormone Research. Twenty-four obese participants were on a hypocaloric diet and treated with recombinant human growth hormone or a placebo in a double-blinded, 12-week randomized study. As a result, growth hormone treatment caused a 1.6-fold increase in weight loss, with the greatest loss being visceral fat compared to the placebo.

In the placebo group, lean body mass was lost, whereas lean body mass was gained in the growth hormone group. This study suggests that in obese participants who eat a caloric-restriction diet, growth hormone accelerates the loss of body fat and improves growth hormone secretion. Thus, human growth hormone can serve a therapeutic role to help obese people lose weight.

4. Stronger Bones

The pituitary gland stimulates the release of growth hormone and is essential for regulating bone growth, especially during puberty. Growth hormone stimulates the production of IGF-1, which is produced in the liver and released in the blood. With age, human growth hormone decreases and may be the cause of older individuals not being able to form or replace bone rapidly. The IGF-1/growth hormone duo stimulates bone-forming and bone-resorbing cells, leading to increased bone mass.

5. Reduced Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Adults who are growth hormone-deficient have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, leading to decreased life expectancy. In Sweden, 104 patients who are growth hormone-deficient were studied for cardiovascular disease risk. These patients had higher body mass and triglyceride concentrations compared to controls. These results suggest lipoprotein metabolism is altered by growth hormone deficiency, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease.

6. Improvement in Erectile Dysfunction

It’s been suggested in recent studies that human growth hormone is responsible for male reproductive function and sexual maturation while deficiency is associated with loss of sexual erection and desire. Thirty-five healthy adult men and 45 participants with erectile dysfunction were exposed to tactile and visual stimuli in order to elicit penile tumescence in a German study. The increase in growth hormone was greater than 90 percent as determined during developing penile tumescence, followed by a transient decrease afterward. This study suggests that penile erection may be induced by growth hormone through its stimulating activity on human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle, making it a potential natural remedy for impotence.

7. Decreased Obesity

Insulin resistance and visceral/abdominal obesity are common in adults with hormone growth deficiency. Abdominal obesity is prevalent in individuals who show low growth hormone and insulin-like growth hormone serum concentrations as well. Human growth hormone treatment has demonstrated positive results in adults who are growth hormone-deficient in treating obesity naturally.

Thirty men ages 48–66 with abdominal/visceral obesity were treated with recombinant human growth hormone in a nine-month, randomized, double-blind study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Abdominal and visceral adipose tissue decreased along with diastolic blood pressure, and improved insulin sensitivity was one of the favorable benefits of human growth hormone found.

8. Better Mood and Cognitive Function

Quality of life and psychological well-being are restored when growth hormone therapy in growth hormone-deficient adults is administered. A Lithuanian study investigated the changes in cognitive function, mood and concentration from baseline after six months of treatment with human recombinant growth hormone. Eighteen adult patients with HGH deficiency participated in the study, and growth hormone was administered in 12 IU per week.

As a result, cognitive function and mood significantly increased after six months of therapy, according to mood scales. This study suggests that administering growth hormone can be a possible treatment option to improve cognitive function and mood in adults who are growth hormone-deficient.

9. Better Sleep

The majority of the growth hormone pulsatile secretion happens just after the onset of sleep and continues to rise when the first hours of sleep are reached. Individuals who are going through sleep deprivation, such as people who work the night shift or late studiers, can be affected negatively throughout the day. Lack of sleep alters pituitary and hypothalamus function, further altering growth hormone release time.

When sleep was deprived for 24 to 36 hours in a study conducted by the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, human growth hormone release was drastically decreased and noticeably decreased in growth hormone peak values at night. The 24-hour diurnal pulse of growth hormone release became random and more frequent throughout these waking hours. This study suggests that sleep deprivation can reduce growth hormone release the morning after and can severely disturb and alter the sleep-wake cycle.

Human Growth Hormone Deficiency

Signs and symptoms of growth hormone deficiency vary with age, and children can have different symptoms than an adult. Children being significantly shorter than children their age and grow less than two inches per year are common symptoms of growth hormone deficiency. Children with normal levels grow about 2.5 inches a year from age 1 until they hit puberty, when they can grow up to four inches a year. However, a decline in human growth hormone does not have any impact on a child’s intelligence.

Other symptoms of growth hormone deficiency in children include:

Facial features may appear younger than children who are the same age
Delayed puberty, sometimes will not go through puberty
Increased fat around the stomach and face
Prominent forehead
Slow hair growth

Adults may experience a combination of symptoms from human growth hormone deficiency, including:

Depression
Hair loss
Sexual dysfunction
Decreased muscle strength and mass
Memory loss
Lack of concentration
Dry skin
Increased triglycerides
Fatigue
Cardiovascular disease risk
Increase LDL (“bad”) cholesterol
Insulin resistance
Reduced bone density
Temperature sensitivity
Increased weight, especially around the waist

Best Ways to Increase HGH Naturally

1. High-Intensity Exercise

It’s well-documented in various studies that exercise-induced growth hormone response increases HGH secretion. Research suggests that the exercise-induced growth hormone plus endurance exercise associated with load, intensity, duration and frequency are the determining factors in the regulation of HGH secretion.

An exercise intensity above lactate threshold and for a minimum of 10 minutes elicits the greatest stimulus to the secretion of HGH. HIIT workouts are effective in promoting beneficial well-being, health and positive training outcomes, while stimulating HGH.

2. L-glutamine

Supplementing with L-glutamine is known for enhancing exercise performance, maintaining acid-base balance and increasing the storage of glycogen in muscle. In an Iranian study, 30 healthy non-athlete males were randomly divided into placebo and glutamine supplementation groups and put through an eight-week resistance training program. Both groups performed the same weight training program three days a week for eight weeks. Both groups increased in performance, but the glutamine groups showed greater increases in lower- and upper-body strength, explosive muscle power, blood testosterone, IGF-1, and HGH compared to the placebo group.

3. L-arginine

Most studies have shown when administering oral L-arginine to participants, arginine alone increases the resting growth hormone levels at least 100 percent, while exercise can increase growth hormone levels by 300 percent to 500 percent.

4. A-GPC

According to a study in the 2008 issue of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine (A-GPC) might increase human growth hormone levels. Participants who consumed 600 milligrams of A-GPC two hours before resistance exercise had increased HGH levels post-exercise compared to those given a placebo.

5. Laughter

Researchers Stanley Tan and Lee Berk at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., observed that two hormones, human growth hormone and endorphins, were increased by 27 percent and 87 percent, respectively, when participants anticipated watching a humorous video.

6. Normal Liver Function

HGH stimulates the liver into producing IGF-1, which is released into the body to stimulate the production of cells that are responsible for cell proliferation, increased muscle mass and increased energy. An individual would never experience the full benefits HGH has to offer if experiencing poor liver function, cirrhosis, fatty liver and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

7. Vitamin C

Studies have observed the correlation of reduced vitamin C concentration in decreased growth hormone secretion, obese patients, increased waist-hip ratio and increased heart disease risk, which is why consuming more vitamin C foods may help increase HGH.

Dopamine vs. Serotonin:

Their Effects & Key Differences

The endocrine (hormonal) system functions at a slower pace than the nervous system, but the two must work together to maintain internal balance and happiness. There are actually hundreds of different chemicals in the brain we call neurotransmitters or endorphins.

These cause positive feelings, but the two that are probably the most well-known are dopamine and serotonin.

The combination of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and opiate endorphins are often called “the quartet.” Together, they’re responsible for most of our perception of “happiness”.

Let’s take a look at how these chemicals function and play off one another:

Serotonin.

Serotonin is often called the “happy hormone” because it improves your mood and helps beat depression. We need healthy levels of serotonin for mood stabilization, getting good sleep, dreaming and visualization. It also influences many physiological functions one probably wouldn’t expect, such as blood pressure levels, digestion and regulation of body temperature. Adequate levels of serotonin provide emotional and social stability, while low levels of serotonin are associated with various mental disturbances including: depression, anxiety, PMS, sugar/carbohydrate cravings, trouble sleeping, obsessive thinking and addiction to alcohol or drugs.

Dopamine.

(It’s closely related to the hormone noradrenalin, also called norepinephrine).

Dopamine is considered one of the strongest “feel-good hormones” (neurotransmitters) that makes you feel energized, motivated and in control. Both dopamine and noradrenaline are associated with pleasure, motivation, alertness, concentration and euphoria. They are raised by sources of stress, but this doesn’t always mean “bad stress.” Noradrenaline levels tend to be higher in “positive stress” states like sex, being in love, during exercise or doing other fun things like dancing, laughing and listening to music. Low levels of dopamine/norepinephrine is associated with: depression, lack of concentration (brain fog), poor motivation and difficulty initiating and/or completing tasks.

There are other important neurochemicals to familiarize with, that include:

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid): relaxing and calming after experiencing stress, since it has a dampening effect on the central nervous system

Catecholamines: energizers or natural stimulants

Adrenaline (also called epinephrine): strong motivator, stimulating you to deal with and overcome stress

Acetylcholine: improves memory and mental alertness

Tryptamines: help with forming bonds and connection

Melatonin: helps to keep you in tune with the cycles of nature and day/night

DMT (dimethyltryptamine): useful for staying optimistic and seeing “the big picture” when stressed.

7 Benefits of Endorphins

1. May Help You Overcome Addictions

The release of endorphins can be helpful for allowing you to escape addictions, including some that you may not even realize you have — such as overeating/binge-eating or other “normal” sources of over consumption (like dependence on social media). When endorphins or other neurochemical levels drop, you’re more likely to look for unhealthy sources of comfort or reward, including drugs and alcohol. This is why healthy habits like exercise can be powerful for dealing with addiction, depression and boosting recovery.

2. Offer Relief from Stress, Depression or Anxiety

As you’ve learned, serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins all have powerful mood-boosting abilities. Several popular antidepressant drugs (such as Prozac or Zoloft) are called “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,” or SSRIs. They work to decrease symptoms of depression by blocking neurons’ reuptake of serotonin, leaving more available and circulating in the bloodstream. This helps elevate your mood, although artificially. The same serotonin and endorphin perks, although usually to a lesser degree, can be felt from increasing levels naturally through things like your diet, hobbies and sleep (see below).

3. Protect the Heart

Something that might surprise you about the “cuddle hormone” oxytocin is that it seems to improve immune function and even protects your heart from stress.

Consider this another reason to get a massage or hug someone for your health.

4. Make one Feels Sleepy, but Also Fights Fatigue

Endorphins, and especially serotonin, affect the overall moods, level of sleepiness and pain tolerance —all important parts of regulating the internal “clock” called the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm helps one to intuitively know the cycles of day/wake versus night/sleep. This helps to wake up refreshed but feel drowsy before bed and during the night.

Melatonin, dopamine and other chemicals, such as adrenaline, also affect the sleep cycle and send the brain a signal when it’s either time to wind down or rise and shine.

5. Keep the Brain Sharp

Certain endorphins are highly beneficial for cognition, as well as fueling creativity and inspiration. We can thank the release of endorphins and neurochemicals like dopamine for allowing us to stay motivated and intrigued enough to produce great works of art, music and writing, to create scientific formulations and even to experience spiritual breakthroughs.

6. Help to Deal with Pain

Beta-endorphins are a type of neuropeptides involved in pain management, possessing morphine-like effects, according to a report published in Hawaii Medical Journal.

The neuron receptors that endorphins bind to help decrease the perception of pain just like some prescriptions. In fact, certain pain-killing drugs act on the same binding sites that endorphins do. In low doses, the opiates morphine and codeine are actually found in normal cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. However when their levels are dramatically increased, they cause strong pain-killing effects. In normal circumstances without opiates circulating in your system, endorphins take on the role of controlling pain enough to help one carrys on when injured or ill.

7. Help You Feel Connected to Others

Considering humans are a highly-social species, it’s not surprising we feel a natural “high”— thanks to the release of neurochemicals like oxytocin — when we experience a sense of unity with those around us, a deep connection with community or family and a shared sense of life’s purpose. Oxytocin is released during highly emotional moments like childbirth, when you’re in love and also during orgasms. It helps increase fidelity and monogamy in relationships, motivates us to strengthen personal connections, helps us stay honest and facilitates compassion/empathy towards others.

Natural Ways to Increase Endorphins & Feel-Good Chemicals

The amazing thing about the human brain and body is that we are all capable of producing our own “natural highs,” without even taking illegal or prescription substances for help. Positive moods also thankfully work in a cyclical pattern: when we release endorphins following behaviors like exercise or time spent with others, we are motivated to repeat these behaviors again in the future. When we ask ourselves, “What are endorphins,” it’s important to also understand how to naturally boost endorphin levels.
1. Exercise Regularly

A large body of research shows that people who exercise regularly have added protection against depression, tend to deal with anxiety better and also get better sleep. Exercise is one of the most endorphin-boosting things one can do, offering numerous benefits for both our bodies and minds (hence the name “runner’s high”). Studies show exercise even works similarly to meditation to increase well-being. Some of the ways that exercise releases endorphins and therefore improves your mood include:

Increasing self-esteem; we feel good about taking care of our own health
Giving a sense of accomplishment and mastery as one progresses (due to dopamine)
Increasing energy levels and helping to sleep more soundly (thanks to adrenaline and serotonin)
Keeping one motivated to keep trying and improving in the future (due to dopamine)
Leaving one with a more optimistic, positive and energized outlook on life

2. Eat A Healthy Diet

Because your diet is key for creating neurotransmitters, you can view certain healthy foods as near-perfect “brain foods.” Nutrient-dense foods can improve how one feels and thinks, plus balance the blood sugar, which acts as brain and body fuel. Stabilizing the mood with a healthy diet can also allow one to break one's dependency on processed food substances that interfere with normal brain chemistry and deplete the energy over time.

Here’s how to increase the release of endorphins such as serotonin through your dietary choices:

Consume enough protein.
Serotonin is made primarily through intake of tryptophan-rich foods, such as turkey or milk. Almost all protein sources will help release serotonin, including meat, fish, chicken, poultry, cheese, milk and eggs, which are complete proteins.
Don’t skip plant foods.
You can also combine a number of different plant foods, such as beans with sprouted grains, to get the same effects. In general, whole foods like seeds, nuts, beans, lentils, peas, corn or the germ of grains, such as buckwheat and oats, are all good plant sources of amino acids that help increase serotonin.
Even some veggies, such as broccoli, spinach or cauliflower, are relatively rich in protein.
Consume more antioxidant foods.
Free radicals are the major cause of the aging process and also contribute to mental illness, since they attack brain cells and contribute to inflammation. Increase your intake of antioxidant foods by eating colorful plants like leafy greens, sweet potato, squash, citrus, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, broccoli and alfalfa sprouts.
Eat healthy fats.
Fats comprise 60 percent of the brain. Essential fatty acids produce hormones called eicosanoids, which are necessary for many chemical processes within the body. They stimulate the immune system, fight inflammation and support the activity of neurotransmitters, including serotonin. Get healthy fats from coconut or olive oil, wild-caught fish like Alaskan salmon, nuts, seeds and avocado.
Avoid high consumption of alcohol and caffeine.
Using and abusing these substances can lead the body to compensate by building a tolerance due to down-regulation. This makes it harder to quit, requires one to increase one's intake to feel the same mood-boost, and causes side effects of “withdrawal” in some cases.

3. Laugh More!

Laughter is basically a quick-fix for feeling almost instantly better, thanks to the release of endorphins. Studies have even linked laughter with an elevated pain threshold. Try regularly doing something to keep your sense of humor, such as playing with children, watching something funny, recalling a funny moment, sharing jokes, or attending live comedy events.

4. Connect with Others (This Includes Touch, Volunteering & Finding Purpose)

Connection — through means like being touched when receiving a massage or a hug, volunteering to help others or just having a deep conversation with someone you trust — all releases oxytocin and other chemicals that help one to feel calm and comforted. Acupuncture and other hands-on treatments also seem to have similar effects according to some studies. Make time to foster healthy relationships, reach out to others in need, find a sense of purpose and notice how good you feel when you do something nice for someone else.

5. Learn Something New

Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter involved in stimulus-reward-learning, so it can help us learn positive behaviors and stay motivated when used to our advantage. Of course, the opposite is also true: a dopamine release is also triggered when we engage in a harmful habit (such as overeating junk food). This steers us in the direction of wanting to repeat these behaviors again.

Use dopamine's reinforcing ability to one's benefit by learning something new, experiencing something novel, such as new location when traveling or making progress in a hobby or at work. These can all release feel good neurochemicals, making one to want to repeat them. Challenge yourself regularly by finding new sources of engagement, and don’t shy away from taking on difficult tasks that can wind up be rewarding long-term.

6. Incorporate Soothing Tastes, Smells & Essential Oils

Aromatherapy, or simply smelling something that reminds you of comforting times (such as fresh baked cookies) has been linked to the release of endorphins. Essential oil scents such as vanilla, chamomile, rose and lavender can help one actually feel calmer almost instantly. And similarly, consumption of “guilty pleasures” like dark chocolate can bring on a feeling of comfort, thanks to the release of chemicals such as theobromine.

Wondering if the giggly, mellow feeling you might get from alcohol is related to endorphins?

According to recent studies, drinking alcohol may release a small amount of feel-good hormones (especially when you’re having a drink while bonding with friends), but too much will actually cause the opposite effects.

7. Spend Time in Nature & in the Sun

Exposing yourself to nature and the sun for about 20 minutes daily helps your skin absorb UV rays and produce vitamin D, which is important for your mood. Sunshine and nature also seem to help regulate the release of neurochemicals like serotonin and melatonin.

What Are Endorphins?

Final Thoughts

Endorphins are neurotransmitters, or natural opiate-peptide chemicals, that pass along signals from one neuron to the next, causing feelings or emotions.
The release of endorphins is associated with feelings of pleasure, sexuality/sensually, motivation, euphoria, social connection and pain relief. Low levels of endorphins are associated with pain, addiction, sadness or depression, sleep trouble, brain fog and higher incidence of risk-taking behaviors.
Natural ways to release endorphins include exercise, eating a healthy diet, laughing, working on fun hobbies, learning something new and connecting with others.

Total Quality Management (T.Q.M) and my SLEEP

I have not had good sleep for the last one year or so.

There were many reasons.

Fact that I had to published a book on (my omitted) Dreams and their interpretation is an example of that inconvenience.

I only dream when I am down with fever or recovering form a flu episode.

I probably dream a lot but never remember them unless I am incapacitated.

Be that as it is, may be, for the coming year is not a healthy pastime and this years resolution is for me to catch up all the lost sleep.

In fact, I am practicing it for the last few days and it seems to be becoming infectious in the family.

The reason for lack of sleep was my obsession of downloading 100 Linux distributions to begin with but it ended up passing over 200 and not out, which Tandurkar should be bit concerned about.

It was shear perseverance.

Lot of odds!

I wish Tandukar make it this year for the record.

Good luck it will be on your way.

Do not believe on lucky stars but believe in yourself.

My reason for keeping up in the night is that I could never get our telecoms the speed above 5 to 10 bits day time even though I pay for 50 bits/sec.

This is where lack of quality is judged by every minute of loss of my sleep.

Then the electricity breaks down and before the download stream breaks down I have to get up and shutdown the computer and restart again when power is restored almost every other day due to sudden interruption to electricity supply.

That is number two in my list of lack of Quality.

Number three is the water supply.

All of the above three I pay through my nose and I have decided to terminate my Linux adventure soon.

That is after I have downloaded a few Linux gamers for demonstration.

I am trying the Ultimate gamer for the last two weeks and there is still 1 GiB left.

Hopefully without any break I would be able to download it from a point to point server.

Hope they place the image in Linuxtracker soon.

Ultimate Linux 3.0 (without games) I was able to download through linuxtracker in 2 days.

My quality of sleep is interrupted by two or more sources.

Number one is Global Warming and its attendant increase of mosquito menace.

Number two is my dog barking at night.

Number three is the fire crackers which my dog hates.

He does not sleep and so do I.

So to solve my quality problem, I need to bring down the ambient temperature.

With coal power and the rest of the factors contributing to its upward mobility I won't be able to solve it.

I will try my ZERO carbon out put (that means I have to die) and failing which a low carbon output.

I must go into Metta Meditation and the Dream Mode to conserve energy and low CO2 output.

When I do that mosquito attraction is less.

I will encourage the misquotes to bread in my water buckets.

Then add two or three guppy fish when full of larvae.

Water plants of course I cannot use as vegetables but I will try to find a water plant that prevent mosquito breeding.

When I sleep well my dog also sleep well.

The mosquitoes reach me first and then the dog who is under the bed.

I cannot do anything about the fire crackers.

I will put some ear plugs and possibly to my dog's ears too.

I do not think my dog will love ear plugs.

So those are the few steps of quality control I may employ in the coming year.

Mind you I will stop downloading Linux within the next few weeks.

I have enough in my archives now.

Amnesia "Webbo Amnesia"

 Friday, January 10, 2020

This piece is pretty old.

There are many more applications available in new Linux distributions!

Reproduction

Amnesia "Webbo Amnesia"

Please note that this was posted with Incognito Live CD with Vidalia activated!
 
Within 24 hours of posting this my Firefox has deleted all recently accessed sites. 
Thank you Firefox.

You were open source based and you do not have to feed your information to business vultures.
Please make the browser cookie free if one prefers that. I am one of them.
I love this term for a Linux distribution.
It is called Amnesia Live System.

It is a medical term.

We have two terms anterograde and posterograde Amenesia or post traumatic Amnesia and this is "webbo amnesia" that is developing and evolving.

It uses Tor-to Ram utility where the web browser is clean as a slate.
It has no cookies.
It has no search term records.
Access log deleted on shutdown.

Hassle free Browser Iceweasel (which also blocks access denied message) in situ.

If you need a fast browser, this is what you should go for.

All the other browsers have cookies which remember you and your password and on the day you are hacked you are fully naked on the world wide web.

Yes, stark naked, like "Indian bolly" after the world cup win.

If you have personality to protect not a shady one of course this is the one (distributions) for you.

Browse the web in anonymity, yes it can be done with Linux.

It has nothing on the mostly visited column.
It has web mail and tor and no logs of where you have visited.
It boots and connects immediately with the Internet with a green onion on display.

I like this onion saga too.

It has Vidalia Control Panel from which you can view the entire network connected to you with the name of site and IP address.

One name is I-dis-agree (USA), another is trusted (Austria) and lemondrop from Russia.

You can see who is eavesdropping on your computer but they do not know who you are?

You can zoom it up to his door step if your computer has good graphic card.
Similar to Google Earth but with the IP address of the offender.

If the intruder is nasty, you may type some four letter words and exit with a thank you.

This is Debian and with powerful Gnome and Iceweasel.
It has Globby Collaborative editor, open office, Inkscpae, Scribus and a scanner.

Home has bug reports and tail's documentation and nothing else.

This live CD is amazingly good and I wish they add a message that says "catch my tail if you can"-reminding me of that famous film "catch me if you can"

Well done Guys and Girls!

With this utility sends chills down the spines of power hungry politicians.

Beware, you are scrutinized by the seconds, but you cannot catch the voter who is posting this message.

Truth Hunters and New Year Message

 

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Jan 16, 2020

Truth Hunters and New Year Message

I was off the web for quite a long time, simply because all the web browsers except few developed by Linux community are snooping on you even when you are dead.

I thought they were doing that when you fall asleep in front of your TV or Computer.

They save all the information surreptitiously obtained in a server farm for futuristic use and very soon the Artificial Intelligence will take hold of them and send you a drone laid with explosive material.

I think this happened in Iran and the end result was downing of a civilian plane.

This will be a huge impact on Amazon deliveries.

Now I fear boarding a plane managed by autopilot badly configured by Boeing.

I do not think even the Linux community can develop fail safe utilities.

They use Linux in space station to save money for NASA and the civilian airlines are slow to embrace Linux.

Near at home I went for Pizza treat (Thaipongol Holiday) and the guy at the counter could not place an order for nearly half an hour.

He had a problem with his computer and he was engrossed with troubleshooting the Microsoft utility in his terminal, ignoring the customers.

The manager came in but he was not of any help to manage the password crisis.

I politely told the guy hang the computer but go to the kitchen and get my order, instead (he abruptly obliged, surely won’t happen in a government institution, like water board, electricity board or Telecoms).

Once I got the order in my hand I told the manger, it is high time you use SAMBA bind (back end) for the network and use Microsoft as front end (user).

Incidentally, our land phone was out (I take it as a blessing and no annoying gossip calls) for three days.

Thankfully Dialog line was on and I did not miss the CNN and BBC.

Mind you I do not watch any of the local TVs polluted with political messages, in between programs.

Now to Truth Hunters.

1. Microsoft is on top of my list as Big Liars, stating that its software are robust. They never will be and that is why they are using Linux in their Clouds.

2. Facebook is the next American Liar that they do not share Private Information with the government. Now they have a scapegoat- security reasons for divulging information but they cannot prevent terrorist attacks.

I believe now terrorists use hand to hand information not cellphones until such time human beings become honest with themselves and to their fellow beings.

3. Twitter is the third in the line of liars and President Trump and Nancy Pellosi are on top of it.

4. To me the biggest liars are the religious priests (from Vatican to Khomeini in Iran) including Buddhist Political guys in Ceylon and Myanmar.

All religions promise something on next life and for me this life with a quick Pizza is all I need!

5. I have not found a politician who does not lie from Tony Blair (Iraq War) to Marayas of Ceylon.

There are no Devas (Angels) to protect us from airborne drones!

I think we must build bunkers or underground swellings.

That is my new year message.

Linux Experience in a Nutshell

 
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Linux Experience in a Nutshell

My first Tamil and Sinhala New year Resolution is to have a long sleep after posting this.
My next new year resolution is related to the incident I discovered today.
Just today I went to drop a friend of mine to the airport and being new year we arrived at the friend's place in good time. Since I did not have a good night sleep yesterday (I was looking for various Linux gamers to download for the new year) I had a bath and had a little snooze on the arm chair.
I usually carry a book and gossip is not my pastime

I forgot the wine making book I fished out from a secondhand bookshop, unfortunately.
We had lunch and tea and all that but my friend and wife were taking an unusually long time getting ready and I was bit bored dropped into their daughters room to say hello, and found a computer and sat in front of it.
There was a glaring message saying that the hard disk is at risk and blah, blah.
Then she came in with another cup of tea before leaving and she told me that it is giving trouble and could not connect it to Internet.
 

I Looked at the router it was OK looking form outside (no evidence of hit by lightening) but not blinking properly and the outer panels were open pulled out the hard disk and the cable and she had another hard disk and fixed it as the slave and booted a Linux live CD (Peppermint with Google utilities) I had given him earlier.
It took a little time to configure first but in less than ten minutes with 256 RAM, I was up and running the Chromium browser and typed asokaplus and parafox.
 

So router part is OK and my friend was still not ready, I decided to boot the computer (XP, I believe a pirated copy vendor had installed) without the Internet cable not plugged in and I could not find any (I had given her Medi Linux disk, too but did not use it for virus check) problem and it was running well.
I booted again with Peppermint, to show how to use it, this time it quickly configured and it was up and running.
My diagnosis Microsoft secretly spying on pirated copies and infecting the hard disk and giving instructions not to recognize the router with the message I did not care to read.
Router is above the operating system and Microsoft has no right to fiddle it at that level but they are doing it on unsuspecting Sri-Lankans who are using pirated copies.
So my solution is get hold of a Linux live CD and boot it with it and go to Internet.
When using XP (pirated copies of course pull the Internet wire out, a very simple remedy).
I prefer DSL (Damn Small Linux-that is what I have given my wife) with less than 50 MB which boots fast.
If you have enough RAM go for any Live CD I have listed in Linux 100.
 

The second message is to say do not use Microsoft for Internet.
Third resolution is to promote Sinhala Linux for the next 3 months and go into full hibernation so that Microsoft would not be be able to find a trace of me or my old testicles which are still producing enough testosterone to fight any villain against Linux.
 

If you have any brain take a few (5 enough) minutes a day and learn bit of Linux from a Live CD. It does not do any harm to your computer since it is running on RAM and there are enough forums to guide you through the early phase.

Down below is a note I sent to a Young newbie.
2 GB is enough (not for graphic intensive windows games) for Linux except for games.
I have only one (1) GB (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).
I have fallen out with Newtbooks and Tablets 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 were ruined) 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.
Learning Linux is easy if you take one step at a time.
When I started there was nobody to guide me.
I used to read books (This is where English is important) and fast.
That is a technique (reading fast and also digesting the material) I developed on my own.
Give me any big book I will read (not from cover to cover) only what I want to solve a problem (in this case installing Linux) and pick up the important things in 3 to 4 days.

This is something essential in higher studies. One does not read for the sake of reading in science (reading in other fields including philosophy is different).

One focus on why one reads this or that and make one's own personal assessment in the course of the reading.
Early days I used to get bogged down in two or three days without any progress.
Then I take a break and think about the problem deep and somehow get to the point (D.I.Y- Do It Yourself) where I want to make progress.
It naturally comes.
We all have this natural ability but examinations do not make us better but show where we are weak.
After every examination we have to go for a higher level and a more difficult level.
Even though A Level is difficult we make life easy after the 1st year Examination.
Unfortunately 1st year examination is the most difficult for all and problem with English compounding the disability.
This is especially so in maths and IT.
Maths is difficult if one is not in it.
I was very good in my maths including applied mathematics and used to beat all in my class.
Then one day I decided to go for biology in particular (with my reading talent and the fast speed was a bonus) and without any help covered the syllabus myself (D.I.Y).
Rest was history and I never felt big but looked for the next challenge.
When you get bogged down in a mathematical problem do not try to solve it by somehow.
Think, analyze and look at the problem in a different way.
There is always several ways of solving problems and try to grasp the concept.
What I find in my teaching in the University is students struggle to grasp key points an concepts.
Not like our time.
I do not know why?
Other problem is they cannot read a manual and follow instructions according to the manual and instructions.
This is where reading is important.
So concentrate on your mathematics and English.
Rest will follow.
Linux take as a problem and a hobby to take a break from your studies.
Do not make it your first interest.
But keep trying and look at where you go wrong.
This talent is essential in IT.
There is something called fixing bugs.
This is where both mathematical concepts and programming merge.
Even though I do not write programs, I am good looking at bugs.
That probably has come from my analytical skills learnt from pathology.
Try to be a problem analyst.
The term in IT is system analyst.
If a server breaks down one has to find where and when and what has gone wrong?
Without trying to spoon feed I have given you a list or methods that I have used to solve my problem with Linux.
You try all and decide what is good for you.
One is enough at an examination but in teaching (as a teacher I have to cater for different type of students) one has to look at the global picture and focus on different aspects of a problem.
That is the difference between a student and a teacher.
It is sometimes very hard to become a good teacher.
If am given a chance I prefer to be a student.
That is where I always enjoyed.
But having to teach a brighter student is a blessing.
Linus Torvalds, I like him the most because he showed that his professor was wrong.
There are many ways to solve a given problem.
Not one professor given me amethod.
This is how the business world operate and there are Teams and not Lords.

E-Linux

 Wednesday, September 25, 2019
E-Linux
This piece is dedicated to Ian Murdock Debian Developer who is no more
Debian changed my outlook in life in computing.
E-Linux
Before that let me tell you that after two hours of searching, I managed to find find the first Linux Demo-CD which I have kept as a precious souvenir.
I could find  it because I am very well organized even though my memory is failing, now.
It was the very first Live CD (Liuoris is one among a few) difficult to find one in early days.
The first book in print form in Linux came 20 years later.
That is the Joy of Linux.
Years later Linux Bible came in.
Mandraker 7.1 was one CD I used and went I went up to 10.1 (did not boot) and got strangely hitched to PCLinux (only in English and no other language capabilities) KDE (very well organized desktop environment).
 

It (Mandrake- it changed names due to litigation problems and is Mageia now) did not have books but Redhat produces a book from version 7.0.
But there was enormous e-documentation and that is the success of Linux. 
I used to come to Narahenpita to meet a guy who had worked in Singapore who was selling CDs.
Apart from Metta Vihari with whom I could no connect really, this guy was the one who got me Linux CDs (no DVDs then).
I kept all these for my reference and for teaching purposes, if anybody requested me.
Having said that I collected images to create a server for images to dish out freely but could not due to big overhead on me.
But I gave up that idea since Linux penetration was very slow. 
 

Years later www.distrowatch.com was formed and functioning very well now.
 

Below is a html page from a E-Book in Linux.
I get very silly questions from newbies but now have the patient to respond in kindness.
Remember Linux is sharing on an often slow Internet connection with Samba running. 
Sharing Time
Sharing Knowledge
Sharing  Resources
Sharing Space
Sharing in Person and in groups
So do not waste time of others for tutorials.
So before asking any question;
First organize yourself.
Read in depth of the topic one is trying
Before going into terminal and command line probing ask yourself what is the problem YOU try to solve?
Linux is developed on trillions of hours of community spirit.
Do not take it for granted but give respect to others.
See below each new user gives credit to the previous author.
That is how Linux penetrate the NASA and the entire world including talking dolls.
Try to use Linux before trying the command line prompting.
Administration
and Privileged
Commands

Page 1258

intro

intro—Introduction to administration and privileged commands.

DESCRIPTION

This chapter describes commands that either can be or are only used by the superuser, such as daemons and machine or hardware-related commands.

AUTHORS

Look at the header of the manual page for the authors and copyright conditions. Note that these can be different from page to page.

Linux, 24 July 1993

adduser, addgroup

adduser, addgroup—Add a user or group to the system.

SYNOPSIS

adduser [--system [--home directory] [--group]] [--quiet]

 [--force-badname] [--help] [--version] [--debug] username

adduser [--quiet] [--force-badname] [--help] [--version]

[--debug] username group

adduser [--group] [--quiet] [--force-badname] [--help]

[--version] [--debug] group

DESCRIPTION

adduser and addgroup add users and groups to the system according to information provided in the configuration file /etc/adduser.conf. adduser and addgroup automatically determine the UID or GID and place the entity in the password or group file as appropriate.

If necessary, adduser creates a home directory for the new user, copies "skeletal" user files to it from /etc/skel, and allows the system administrator to set an initial password and finger information for the user.

Because it needs to be able to write to such files as /etc/passwd, adduser can only be run as root.

Generally, there are two types of users and groups on a system: those users that log into the system and those "non-user" accounts and groups that exist for various system tasks and projects. Henceforth, user will refer to the login type and system user or group will refer to the type used for system maintenance and projects.

By default, each user in Debian GNU/Linux is given a corresponding group with the same name and ID, allowing people easily to give access to their home directories to others. This option can be turned off in the configuration file, in which case each user is, by default, added to a group called users.

Under Debian GNU/Linux, IDs less than or equal to 100 are allocated by the base system maintainer for various purposes. IDs from 101 to the value specified in the configuration file (1000, by default) are used for system users and groups. IDs greater than 1000 are reserved for users and their corresponding groups.

When invoked with a single name, adduser creates a user with that name. When given two names, adduser assumes that the first name represents an existing user and that the second name represents an existing group. In this case, the user is added to the group.

Page 1259

OPTIONS

--system     Create a system user. This user will be assigned the shell /bin/false and have an asterisk in the password field. Unless otherwise specified, the user will be placed in the group nogroup. Skeletal configuration files will not be copied into the user's home directory.
--home directory     When used with --system, this uses directory as the user's home directory, rather than the default specified in the configuration file. If the directory does not exist, it is created.
--group     When combined with —system, a group with the same name and ID as the system user is created. If not combined with --system, a group with the given name is created. This is the default action if the program is invoked as addgroup.
--quiet     Suppress progress messages.
--force-badname     By default, user and group names are required to consist of a lowercase letter followed by one or more lowercase letters or numbers. This option forces adduser or addgroup to be more lenient.
--help     Display brief instructions.
--version     Display version and copyright information.
--debug     Display a large quantity of debugging information.

SEE ALSO

adduser.conf(5)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright(c) 1995, Ted Hajek, with a great deal borrowed from the original Debian adduser, copyright(c) 1994, Ian Murdock. adduser is free software; see the GNU General Public License version two or later for copying conditions. There is no warranty.

Debian GNU/Linux version 1.94

agetty

agetty—Alternative Linux getty.

SYNOPSIS

agetty [-ihL] [-l login_program] [-m] [-t timeout] port baud_rate,... [term]

agetty [-ihL] [-l login_program] [-m] [-t timeout] baud_rate,... port [term]

DESCRIPTION

agetty opens a tty port, prompts for a login name, and invokes the /bin/login command. It is usually invoked by init(8).

agetty has several non-standard features that are useful for hard-wired and for dial-in lines:

    Adapts the tty settings to parity bits and to erase, kill, end-of-line, and uppercase characters when it reads a login name. The program can handle 7-bit characters with even, odd, none, or space parity and 8-bit characters with no parity. The following special characters are recognized: @ and Control+U (kill); #, Del and Backspace (erase); carriage return and line feed (end of line).

    Optionally deduces the baud rate from the CONNECT messages produced by Hayes-compatible modems.

    Optionally does not hang up when it is given an already opened line (useful for call-back applications).

    Optionally does not display the contents of the /etc/issue file (System V only).

Page 1260

    Optionally invokes a non-standard login program instead of /bin/login.

    Optionally turns on hardware flow control.

    Optionally forces the line to be local with no need for carrier detect.

This program does not use the /etc/gettydefs (System V) or /etc/gettytab (SunOS 4) files.

ARGUMENTS

port     A path name relative to the /dev directory. If a _ is specified, agetty assumes that its standard input is already connected to a tty port and that a connection to a remote user has already been established. Under System V, a _ port argument should be preceded by a _.
baud rate,...     A comma-separated list of one or more baud rates. Each time agetty receives a break character, it advances through the list, which is treated as if it were circular. Baud rates should be specified in descending order, so that the null character (Ctrl+@) can also be used for baud rate switching.
term     The value to be used for the TERM environment variable. This overrides whatever init(8) may have set and is inherited by login and the shell.

OPTIONS

-h     Enable hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. It is left up to the application to disable software (XON/XOFF) flow protocol where appropriate.
-i     Do not display the contents of /etc/issue before writing the login prompt. Terminals or communications hardware might become confused when receiving lots of text at the wrong baud rate; dial-up scripts might fail if the login prompt is preceded by too much text.
-l login_program     Invoke the specified login program instead of /bin/login. This allows the use of a non-standard login program (for example, one that asks for a dial-up password or that uses a different password file).
-m     Try to extract the baud rate the connect status message produced by some Hayes-compatible modems. These status messages are of the form: "". agetty assumes that the modem emits its status message at the same speed as specified with (the first) baud rate value on the command line.

    Because the -m feature might fail on heavily loaded systems, you still should enable break processing by enumerating all expected baud rates on the command line.
-t timeout     Terminate if no username could be read within timeout seconds. This option should probably not be used with hard-wired lines.
-L     Force the line to be a local line with no need for carrier detect. This can be useful when you have a locally attached terminal where the serial line does not set the carrier detect signal.

EXAMPLES

This section shows sample entries for the /etc/inittab file.

For a hard-wired line:

tty1:con80x60:/sbin/agetty   9600   tty1

For a dial-in line with a 9600/2400/1200 baud modem:

ttyS1:dumb:/sbin/agetty      -mt60 ttyS1 9600,2400,1200

Well who can boast of 10 flowers on the rooftop garden

 Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Well who can boast of 10 flowers on the rooftop garden? 

Five and more in the tiny outdoor garden?

Well who can boast of 10 flowers on the rooftop and five and more in the tiny outdoor garden?
Well who can boast of 10 or more butterflies on the rooftop garden and five and more in the tiny outdoor garden?
Well who can boast of 3 pairs of Nectar or Honey birds on the rooftop and five and more pairs of Munia or Battihchas and Suticchas in the tiny outdoor garden?
The Suttichas with a needle like beaks are ferocious if interfered with (tiny but ferocious) and pair of them chased me out of the rooftop garden.
One was feeding on tiny spiders and tiny insects.
The other was searching for a plants (taller than me) with branches spreading under the asbestos roofing for place for nest.
I frightened them since cats are always there to prey on them.
I have a beautiful photo of a tiny nest with our dogs hair as a padding they made when I was away for  six weeks (rooftop garden gone to wilderness).
Our dog is no more but every time when I see these tiny birds they remind me of the good times and bad times.
Well we can have all these even on a rainy day.
That is only if you care for them tenderly.
Not with the idea of selling it to a guy/girl who does not understand plant biology.
It is just like giving a scholarly political book published in academic cycles in the West to a Ceylonese politician?
The ideas won’t filter into actions but only to rhetoric.
Where is liberty, equality and fraternity?
It is only books published after Carl Marx, the greatest critic of capitalism not socialism.

A cooperative society is an antithesis to corporate organizations big or small.
Avant Garden is a good local example.

Singing Birds
I wake up to the sound of singing birds.
I have now faced with a problem.
I try to identify them by their chirpy, chippy, churns but cannot.
Let me list the ones I can identify.
Crows caw, quacks of duck, cock-a-doodle-doo of cocks and few more.
But I hate the whine of mosquitoes.
They keep me up all night.
So, when I am up early with a nasty bite of a mosquito, with raging anger, to calm me and get to Metta Mode, I listen to the early birds.

Probably our domesticated fowl is the first to crack and wake up.
Then the jungle fowl and little later and afterward, there are many more birds whistling which I cannot identify but worth recording on a sonogram.
I can identify the Polkhicha that come and gobble my guppies.
Then the babblers, bul bul and last the Ceylon Oriole and the parrots and musical coucal.
 

I cannot count ten (ducks are not in my neighbourhood but are in frozen state in a deep freezer) and I give up.

Birds in Paradise Lost and the Juvenile Delinquent
This piece was long overdue.
Ceylon used to be a paradise for birds.
Not anymore.
It has many reason as I see them as a bird lover and a bird watcher but I have to highlight some recent developments ornithologist has not studied adequately.
I wrote a piece 2 years ago about a an Indian Oriole pair who did not migrate back for long period of time.
This coincided with the full operation of the Coal Power Plants.
I was obsessed to point out that the wind currents were effected by the commission of the Coal Power Plant and the it probably affected their detection of thermal range and the decision to migrate back to beyond Afghanistan.
They did remain for a prolong period and finally disappeared for good and never returned for the subsequent two years.
I was predicting that they would breed here but that prediction has no credible evidence to support by way of young ones.
Instead more of the local Oriole who prefers jungle habitat started vising our small garden.
Their was an unusual increase of local bird visiting our neighborhood for two reason.
1. Water.
2. The fruit tree they love to visit and partake its fruits (Ambul Pera and Mulberry).
During this period the remaining Bread fruit tree and another jack tree was consumed but they still have limited tree cover.
The other reason was that in the name of development and Eco-tours two remaining Kurulu Kales are being vandalized driving them to move out looking for safer places. (Kurulu Kale-Jungle reserved for local habitat both fauna and flora, in fact what is left of, in and around Kandy city.)
This development is going at full pace and they are even removing an overhead pass probably to make room for the Night Races which I will never watch.
Today story is more to do with the Buttichacha, the tiny bird that has made a point to take over our fruit tree for his delinquent acts.
For his size he is a hero of mine.
One day I was watching he was pecking a young bat who had lost his way and resting on another tree upside down on broad day light, like our politicians.
Their view about nature, coal power and anything scientific to me looks like upside down anyway.
Politics is not a science but a way of life and those guys/girls will never understand science in correct perspective anyway.
Those who cannot understand the value of live and let live and reconciliation won’t understand, science in their day to day life.
The next episode was this little guy has such a macho that he dare attack like a live bullet on the Ceylon Oriole whom I have now an special attraction after the episode with Indian Oriole.
Moment a Oriole comes he is airborne like a bullet and hit the big guy on the tummy with his long beak and the big guy won’t attack in return but shy away like a timid little boy and fly away without partaking any fruits.
When this happened, I went into my investigating gear to see whether he was protecting the young ones or the nest.
My investigation were negative.
He was a loner.
He has not found a bride but his instinct is to wait their for a good match and when he finds one to built a nest for his lover.
He is neurotic without a lover.
His pitch is belligerent and delinquent.
Now the Oriole expects the attack and cleverly avoid and direct hit and he was a peaceful guy and never retaliate.
The Butichcha now goes into pitch of defense (as if protecting the young ones) and as long as the big one is their makes a racketty noise in alarm mode. 
The big guy picks a fruits from the tree and quickly flies away.
The little one goes behind chasing the big guy but unfortunately it cannot catch up the flight of the Airbus body of the Oriole in comparison to the pocket size bird.
It reminds me of the rhetoric of our guys blasting the American.
I can remember in years gone by China used to have rhetoric against USA when its air space is violated by American spy planes.
They go to thousands of warning but the big guy the USA won’t stop the surveillance.
In the world of bird when paradise is lost and a partner is not available for mating what else a little bird can do?
Yelling in high pitch (like our politicians).
This one I am going to send to Maha Brahma asking him to intervene and produce one more (extra) female for this delinquent and boisterous BOY to pair with,
It just need one more egg.
Let him not make it a Buddhist Egg and unfertilized.
When I asked a favor Maha Brahma promptly addressed my call for the lonely cuckoos and I have many pairs visiting the garden now.
THANK YOU.
If you oblige this time, the rackety noise will disappear in no time and his delinquency will be gone for good.
I am not sure our Butchittas come under Swifts or Cuckoos.
Either way he is a personality good enough to enter our parliament and make a big noise without substance like the Hela Urumaya or Hela Karumaya.

Birds birds and birds, where the hell they come from?
This is my comment below a paper article about unusual bird activity
There is something radically wrong for them to come out.
I have been observing this for a while.
I have not nailed it down but In Kandy it is due to clearing of their habitat on the Hantana foothills by guys with political patronage.
They move from East to West which is not normal.
They are now nesting in few trees near our house.
Never seen before except Blue Kobeeyahs (Ash Parrots).
Second reason is they need lot of water (not food) due to unusually warm weather.
Global warming to be precise.
In our case we have a water purification plant and they come there to bathe and drink water.
Leave lot of water for them to drink if not bathe.
They die without water.
Mind you we had two full moons without rain in Kandy.
Third reason is our mulberry tree is full of fruits due to warm weather.
I am trying to make few sapling (very difficult in this warm weather) of mulberry and give it to my friends to encourage their visits.
If not Jam Trees would do.
My guess is without visiting the hinterland, a baaaaaxxxxD with political backing and in the name of development must be destroying the last vestige of their natural habitat.
Pass this message and this news by email to all bird lovers and start investigating without delay.
I have few sketches devoted in my blog-post-Linux 100 and parafox to alert bird lovers of this country.
Try your email in the meantime.
Thanks for highlighting 

Bits & Bytes' of a Journey along the Digital Highway

 Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Bits & Bytes' of a Journey along the Digital Highway

I come from a much older age and I was in UK and the UK government was considering use of the American made Cellphones and was thinking of changing from wired connections to wireless with a higher pay.
I resisted violently for User Pays Strategy and the Caller Pays Strategy should be introduced and we were using bleeper for hospital communication which I hated.
I still use the land phone (read my piece on algorithm) and use cellphone for playing games when I am bored.
Reproduction
Bits & Bytes' of a Journey along the Digital Highway
March 28, 2018, 10:16 pm 
I went through the same but in UK and in New Zealand. 
 

New Zealand had a primitive system and American bought it outright. 
 

The bottom line is those days it was cheap and now it is very costly.
I am in Australia and I have not given a call for over 18 months.
Nobody use emails nowadays.
 
By Nalaka Devendra
I ask: "Alexa, What's my Flash Briefing?"
Alexa - is not human. Rather, it is a small disc-shaped, talking computer, connected to the Internet, wirelessly.
I am not hallucinating; I am not under the influence of any mind-altering drug. I am not even watching a re-run of Arthur C. Clarke’s "2001: Space Odyssey", imagining that I am talking to HAL 9000. 
It is 2018 and I am sitting in my home/office.
Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee myself communicating with a talking computer!
The disc-shaped gizmo is the Echo-Dot 2, and Alexa is the voice activated service. Together, it can search the Internet and read to me, today's weather, headline news, play the BBC World Service radio, solve maths questions and a whole lot more, which I am yet to explore. 
It is a gift from a friend in the US.
In the beginning
Born in 1964, I lived the first five-years of my life, in Trincomalee. I also completed my Montessori education and started proper school, there. 
It was there that I was taught the most basic of communication skills - to talk, read and write.
My father made me a small, shallow box or tray, with dark-blue varnish paper at the bottom covered with a thin layer of sea sand. It became the first writing surface I used. My parents guided my small fingers to form letters, both English and Sinhala. Later, when I started school proper in Grade 1, I wrote on a slate (gal-laella) with a stylus made of slate (gal-koora) to write letters and form words. Writing on paper and books, came later. Little did I realise that I would be using those fingers and stylus half-a-century later, on my Smartphone and Digital Tablet!
A luxury called a telephone
When we lived in the Naval Dockyard (Trincomalee), we had a telephone in each of the houses where we lived. But they were connected to a private exchange (PABX) which belonged to the Sri Lanka Navy. When we needed to call someone within the Dockyard, you lifted the receiver and asked the operator to connect us with the other party. It was the same, when we wanted to call an outside party, in Colombo. Long distance calls were commonly known as 'trunk-calls'. Direct dialing was non-existent. 
The phone instruments themselves were large, heavy and made of Bakelite, an early form of plastic.
We moved back to Colombo, during the latter part of 1970. None of the houses that we lived in, had a telephone. Owning a telephone was a great luxury. Perhaps the owners didn't quite think so, as the entire neighbourhood did not think twice about knocking on the door, asking permission to make a call! 
Whenever we moved into a new neighbourhood, the first thing we did was find out which house owned a telephone and get friendly with them. We need a point of contact, in case of an emergency. We finally got our own telephone in 1978/79, after we moved to Dehiwela. It was then that we experienced the full impact of owning a phone. We had the entire neighbourhood knocking on our door, irrespective of the time of day, wanting to make a call!
After all these years, we no longer need the 'operator at the exchange' to connect us to anyone. Our phones are no longer bulky. So it is ironic that no one even asks me for my home phone number anymore! 
Instead, they want my mobile number, my Skype ID and my Email Address. The new phones are slim and aesthetically pleasing. They fit into your pocket. There are 'hands-free' gizmos which means you don't even have to take out the phone from your pocket to answer it. The next time you see a person seemingly talking to himself, the chances are he is using his hands-free gizmo. Some people have more than one mobile phone - why, I do not know..
International Direct Dialing (IDD) is a basic feature today. It was not so, back then. Not even in the early '90s. I used to go to a 'communication centre' in Liberty Plaza to call my sister (studying in India) and my parents (living in Sharjah). I used to call them at night as charges were low. Even then, I paid Rs. 300 per minute and my wallet was much lighter, at the end of the exercise.
Technology blurred the lines
Thanks to the advancement of telecommunication technology, we don't even have to use conventional methods of talking to one another. We can talk (voice), video chat (live video) with people both within and outside the country, through the Internet. The cost is negligible when compared to the 300/- per minute I used to pay. In fact, you don't even need a telephone to talk to one another - just use your computer. 
My Smartphone, is in fact, a computer!
Today, the line between a computer and a phone is so blurred that it’s mind boggling. In fact, your average Smartphone is both. It's 'computer' component is a thousand times more powerful than the first general purpose computers I cut my teeth on, way back in the mid-1980s.
 My first (proper) job was working at a Government Corporation, where I was the sole employee of the Information Technology (IT) Department. Back then, it was simply called the 'computer department'. This was in 1985. The first computer there did not have a hard disk. All it had was a bank of 8-inch floppy disks. The computer itself, had a random access memory (RAM) of 64KB! The printer I had was a dot-matrix, 132-column printer. But we got a lot of productive work done with the limited resources at our disposal: on reflection, we probably used those computers to its full potential. I seriously doubt, if people use their present computers (including the ones inside smart-phones) for more than 30% of its potential.
Back then, when we wrote computer programmes (lines of instructions to get a computer to do our biding), we did not simply sit in front of a terminal and type away. We had to first plan and draw up a "flow-chart". Then, we had to plan our programme by writing a pseudo-code. It was only then, that we got down to the bare-knuckle typing of the actual code. But that was not the end: then came the programme compilation - a process of converting our typed instructions into a form which the computer could comprehend. All of this took time and planning. There were no short cuts or magic solutions. There were no 'apps and applets' to make life easy. Each and every mundane task had to be clearly spelt out.
My second job was at a company where we designed, developed and implemented turn-key (mostly bespoke) computer solutions for our customers. Although we had a large team of programmers, we had a limited number of computer terminals. As a result, we got very limited 'terminal time'. There was a time-table posted on the door, giving 30-minute slots for terminal-time. No one was allowed to book more than two slots consecutively. Each morning, there was a rush to book time-slots and much begging and horse trading among us to get as much terminal time as possible. For the balance of the day, it was back to paper, writing our code and checking and re-checking the same. Never did I visualize an era when we would have a computer on our tables, at homes or carry it around with you.
Pre 'Internet' days
My third job (also in the '80s) was with an IBM Business Partner. 
By this time, Personal Computers (PCs) were making its presence felt in the corporate world in Sri Lanka: not the sleek and ergonomic ones seen today but large, solidly built and heavy. It was also the era when we came face-to-face with graphical user interface (GUI) and the wonderful mouse! 
We, more or less, kissed goodbye to the 'command prompt' and text-commands.
Some of our customers needed specific and specialised licensed software, for their work. These specialised applications such as CAD/CAM, Statistical Analysis, GIS, Communication Software, etc. None of these were readily available in the local market. We had to place orders with overseas suppliers and wait (often quite a while) for the goods to arrive. 
As always, our customers expected the goods to be delivered, yesterday!
 
As the customer is 'always right', we had to find ways and means of getting the software to them, in the shortest possible time. Our office was located on the top-floor of a three-story building. The Internet was yet to come to our part of the world. The only practical way to obtain these applications was to connect to the supplier's system and 'download' it. Our office did not have an IDD facility. However, luckily for us, there was a 'communication centre' located on the ground-floor of our building. We rigged up a long (very long) telephone cable from our office to the communication centre and connected their telephone (with IDD) to our office and to one computer in our office. The IDD connection to our overseas supplier was not great and the line got disconnected several times. But we always managed to download the software and satisfy the customer. 
All this took place late at night. 
Needless to say we never got much sleep. Today, thanks to the Internet, all what we did, could be done in a matter of minutes. But back then, we had limited resources. But we were more innovative and found solutions in the most unexpected ways. Necessity is, indeed the mother of inventions.
And then, the 'Internet' came
I was there, at the official launch of the Internet in Sri Lanka. Yes, now I sound like a dinosaur. 
There were no dedicated lines (ADSL or Fibre) back then. 
We used a Modem to connect to our ISP. 
It made a god-awful racket while establishing the connection and the speeds were slow. But, we had access to a whole new world! At that time, my wife and I lived in a small flat. We shared a telephone line with our landlord. Before I went on-line', I would inform them, so that my Internet connection would not be interrupted.
Gradually Internet speeds increased and so did the technology. Today, you get high speed connections to your door-step. 
The latest is fibre-optic lines to your home. 
The all important MODEM is now a museum piece.
Soon we also had email and what a wonderful tool it was! We were able to communicate (and share pictures) with our friends and families all over the world. We thought that we had finally arrived. That we were now in par with the rest of the developed world. Boy, were we wrong ! 
Little did we know that a juggernaut called Social Media was barrelling its way towards us.
To my generation I say "We have come a long way baby !"
(The writer can be contacted at nalakadevendra@gmail.com)

Counterfeiting Drugs

 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Counterfeiting Drugs

Below I reproduce an article for the greater good of the poor Patients

Counterfeiting Drugs

Even though, I do not write on medical topics now, this is an issue, I was involved for over 40 years but has not seen any improvement after the demise of late professor Senaka Bibile.

It has got worse over the past 20 years and I never by Indian Drugs for my consumption.

Even if the tender procedures look OK on paper by the time it is shipped from India over 40 to 50 are dud ones (counterfeiting is not the correct term) and that 50 good stuff is filtered and given to pharmacies in India in cut rate.

This happen in Sri-Lanka too.

Almost 50% from the SPC is filtered out and dud ones are introduced.

There is a Drug Mafia running parallel with illegal (heroin) and that is how almost 50% of the black currency is originated.

That is how the democracy works here and in India and perpetrators (because they are in the majority anyway) are protected by politicians.

Americans have woken up but it is too late for the poor patients.

How India's Drug Biz Can Compromise Your Pills‬‬‬‬

In the cutthroat business of generic drug manufacturing it’s the little things that can bolster a company’s bottom line—like fabricating data about quality instead of fully testing products. Some major drug plants in India that exported medications to the U.S., it seems, did just that.

Such shoddy practices can lead to medicine that does not perform as it should or, worse, causes harmful side effects. In recent years these kinds of incidents have prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to place bans on several prominent drug suppliers in India. To follow up, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg is going to India this week to meet with its health minister and industry officials. India’s drug and food programs will be at the top of the agenda, according to the FDA. India is currently the second-biggest drug provider, after Canada, and the eighth-largest exporter of food products to the U.S.

The meeting comes shortly after the U.S. curbed imports at yet another plant belonging to Ranbaxy Laboratories, Ltd., India’s largest drug manufacturer and one of the largest U.S. suppliers. Last month the FDA banned a Ranbaxy plant from producing or distributing drug ingredients for the U.S. market; the firm was caught retesting materials to produce acceptable findings after they had failed the first time around. The company had neither investigated nor reported why the products failed initially, the FDA says.

Since 2008 the FDA has issued four bans against Ranbaxy plants.

At present, no Ranbaxy human drug products are being imported into the U.S.

The company has already pleaded guilty to federal drug safety violations as part of a $500-million settlement with the FDA, after a whistleblower from inside Ranbaxy came forward.

Separately, Ranbaxy has experienced other quality and control lapses, one of which allowed pieces of glass to get into its generic Lipitor tablets in 2012. Ranbaxy is not the only Indian company that has been cited for sending flawed products to the U.S. Wockhardt and RPG Life Sciences have also received FDA admonishments.

Some critics have blamed lackluster FDA inspection practices for the mishaps, noting that although the FDA inspects domestic plants every two years, it only inspects foreign plants about once every seven to 13 years. In fiscal 2009, for example, the FDA inspected 1,015 domestic establishments but only 424 in all foreign countries combined. FDA data indicates that in 2013 the agency performed 111 inspections at Indian drug facilities.

Simply ramping up the number of FDA inspections overseas would not solve the problem, however, says Roger Bate, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the drug market. More unannounced inspections in India, along with testing products these plants send to the U.S. would help, he says, but any watershed changes would need to be fueled by the Indian government. The power to inspect and shut down facilities rests with each state in India, and some states are more diligent than others, he says. He notes that empowering India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization—equivalent to the FDA—to take action would help address the issue.

Commissioner Hamburg’s eight-day trip will apply needed pressure to the Indian government to crack down on the problem, Bate says. Hamburg is slated to take up food and drug safety issues during meetings with the CEOs of major drug and food producers and with India’s ministers for Commerce and Industry, Health and Family Welfare, and the drug controller general as well as state-level regulators.
She will also be meeting with World Health Organization officials and speaking at the World Spice Congress. India supplies nearly one quarter of the spices, oil and food colorings used in the U.S., but an FDA evaluation last fall found that some of the Indian spices were contaminated. Just one of many findings: almost 9 percent of the 1,057 spice shipments from India were laced with salmonella.

(For more data on what’s in your spices check out Graphic Science in the March edition of Scientific American.)

This is the Month of Wesak

This is the month of Wesak

Buddha was Born, attained Enlightenment and Passed away (Parinibbhana) on the full moon day of Wesak.

Coming to the Moon, the roation of it does not align with the Solar Calander of 364 plus few hours.

12 Solar months.

13 Lunar months is around 354 days, roughly 10 to12 days short. 

One has to add an Adhipoya to accommodate the missing dates of the Solar calander once every several years.

Even though, moon rises exactly at the same moment, the observation or perspective is very different depending on what one's location is.

In other words individual orientation is different.

In the Northern Hemisphere it rotated grom right to left.

In the Southern Hemisphere it rotates from left to right.

At the equator its rotation is almost 180 degrees within a single day.

Time is a Concept but not something Real.

For us on Earth, It is determined by our Sun. In effect the time the Earth takes to  Rotate around its own eclipse.

Moon was traditionally used by those around the equator and in CEYLON to determine the dates before print material as a calander was available.

Moon calander or Lunar calander has gone out of fashion.

This is just to state that the perspective is different from where one observes the moon.

Moon face is almost vertical to an observer in the Northern Hemisphere.

It is boat shaped to an observer in CEYLON but me now in Australia it is an upside down perspective.

Left to right almost  vertical moon face.

The location of the observer determines the perspective.

Full moon, crescent or no moon at all.

Do not let perspective cloud the mind of the observer.

That is the Buddhist Outlook.

Uncertainty is the guiding principle of Dhamma.

Moon in fact, is an epitome of Uncertainty Principle.

Without the moon we won't have tides and weather pattern on Earth.

Without moon Earth is a bland and blank place.

On that ground alone we should revere moon as an embodiment of life on Earth.

That is worth reflecting.

This is not the point I want to expand but the important Number 13.

Numbers are named Cardinal, Ordinal amd Nominal.

13 is a cardinal number which every mathematician wants to avoid. 

It is outside the 12 which we were made to remeber 12x12= 144 by heart.

13x13 is 169 it remains an odd number.