Meditation Research and Pseudoscience

I am in the process of finalising a book on "Commercial Enterprise" of Meditation (Not the exact Title).

I am a medical guy (pathologist in latter stages) retired and I have no commercial interests except Roylaties on my books on many fields including Linux and Dhamma. 

I have over 35 books published at Amazon Books. This is not an advertisement to those books.

I have never taken part in meditation but have been invited as an observer on many occasions. 

My response to Meditation has always being neutral.

Today, I found an article in GOOGLE that distorts facts, possibly to attract money to the said Institute.

1. 20 subjects

2. 7 Day Retreat

3. Multiple behavioral Inputs (not described)

4. Neuronal study (controversial part)

5. Using blood or serum containing thousands of Interleukins.

I have a book on Interleukins published during Corronavirus pandemic. 

6. Drastic concludions which I do not agree

Commens

A single high dose corticosteroid after 8 hours could produce these effects.

By the way, low dise Asprin has over 22 biochemical actions and is safer, cheaper and effective than 7 DAY PAID RETREAT.

No ststicsl data

Sample is inadequate

No peer review

I am not going to use this article as a subject matter in my book since that gives CREDIBILITY to  the said claims.

I am winding my blog pieces here and no more communication on this issue.

ජංගි අරගලයේ නායකයා කවුද?

ගූගල් වෙබ් හිදසින්, මගේ සමුගැනිම සදහා, එම ප්‍රශ්නය උචිත යයි සිතමි. 

Down the Memory Lane

Why I won't have another Dog?

I have got only a very few photographs of our dog Zimba.

It was just nearing 15 when he died.

Exactly, one months after the family returned from a Tour of India on the 31st of July, 2018. 

He would have come home, in 2003 (I did not keep a record).

I thank Zimba, that he avoided me going to India which, I hated.

I still hate India and Indian cricket.

India ruined the Gentleman game for good. 

I was a cricket fanatic from Richie Benaud, Brian Booth, Bill Lawry, Neil Harvey, Norman O'Neil and Ted Dextor and many more yesteryear cricketers. 

In fact, I perfected Neil Harvey hook as a school boy.

End Result.

Lot of softballs lost which Gopal, the groundsman could not find.

Tony Greg tops the list for me. 

I have a photograph of my son with Tony Greg commenting in the background.

I have had two more dogs and the campus dog Ranger as my room mate in the final year. 

Mr. Campus the campus dog by that time had passed away. All due to Campus Rampus and many industrial actions in our first 3 years.

Of course, I took adequate preventive actions, asking the Vice Chancellor to not to release money in excess of Rs. 100/= without a valid purchase receipt for any student activity. 

We had a long period without disruptions of activities in the Peradeniya Campus.

The point I want to bring out here is, it had taken at least 3 years for me to recover fully, from the depression.

My Fujifilm camera is the living memory of the recovery period.

I have become a fish keeper and water plant and water Lillie enthusiast.

I bought the camera in 2009. 

I had two other cheap cameras one of the was a Panasonic.

Secrets of Long Life

I have a book on Amazon Books by the name of Life Hacker International.

I am a global citizen and my writings are for everybody.

I was with a highly intelligent Ceylonese Crowd in a Huge Birthday Party. I did not know anybody who attended and I kept a very low profile. 

I only knew the family of the Birthday Boy with his 3 other siblings. 

They knew me well enough that I could sit with them on the flow for the final photograph. 

I avoid taking photographs of children of even known people. They are not objects but livimg beings belonging to families and parents. That is my paediatrics training in UK and New Zealand. 

Nobody identified me as a Doctor. 

Incidentally, I had a messy Head Hair Style that would have categorized me as a partilly demented Guy. 

That was neither intended nor camouflage but was a simple coincidence.

However, I enjoyed the fish curry and the coconut bean (polkiri) curry.

I met only one guy with some casual telationship who was an Engineer at IMMI but he was much Senior to me at IMMI. 

I joined this institution at tail end of the last 9 months pending massive rechenment. 

It was closed due to DJVP insurrection. 

86 odd DJVP guys who invaded our privacy and removed the ID cards of the entire family, for no valid reason.

That was the harbinger of the impending RAW staged crisis. 

I was 3rd or 4th in the Death List of Indian RAW.

The reason of my intended killing was due to me working for Americans.

The very Indian guys are buddies of Amercans now wanting to forcefully acquire Mihintale and Sigiriya for American AIR Bases.

American Bully Donald Trump might even declare ownership of CEYLON. 

I introduced myself and made it a point to to take a photograph of him with my professional camera. 

I was the only one who had a reasonble camera.

The rest were cellphones. 

It was a family photograph.

I was prepared with 5 points in a Mini Lecture but I did not have any formal invitation.

The secrets of Long Life are:

1. Chocolates without milk and sugars.

Dark chocolates have over 300 micro ingredients.

They are cardioprotective.

One piece in 3 months does the job. 

I did not know chocolates are a liver poison for dogs. Our dog developed cataract due to my improper feeding of him. 

2. Tea is cardioprotective and not coffee.

It has lots and lots of antioxidants.

It has to be rationed.

One strong cuppa first thing in the morning.

Light cuppa with lot of milk at bed time.

Milk protects the stomach.

3. Bananas in between meals.

This I call the Jaffna Trick.

It has plenty of antioxidants.

It has hexose and pentose sugars which do not upset the Insulin protocol in nondiabetics.

Good laxative.

Everyday of the week is my Recommendation.

4. Greek Yougert

Once in 6 weeks.

Control the bioflora.

5. Lot of veggies and fruits.

Look after Hypertension and Potassium control. 

Potassium relaxes the cardic muscle.

 

6. To this one should add good night sleep and brief catnap during working hours. 

One who does this no longer needs a Organized progrsm of Meditation.

More details in my book on sleep and biorhythms coming soon at Amazon Books.

7. Regular Exercise depending on the life style and the individual.

An aveage person can digest only 50% of the above facts, possibly 3 points and any elaboration above 3 to 20 points is redundant. 

Lost in Thai Meditation Practice

Thailand is a country that sells Buddhist Meditation and Prostitution in one single advertusement.

Tourist who go there come out confused.

Some of the scams skims the life long saving of the elderly of the Western countries. 

Do not go there for an easy life and end up in one of their many trikeries.

The Thai Law protects the locals and scams are perpetual.

Think before you book a holiday which on surface looks promising.

Stay where you are and enjoy your Own Hospitality at a higher cost.

This piece is to highlight monasteries and Thai Meditation Masters who lure tourists and leave them stranded without inculcating Dhamma Principles.

Read my book on "Meditation (Weaponized) Commerialized", coming soon at Amazon books.

This book was long ovedue. 

I postponed publishing, it mainly due to a few of my family members were involved in Buddhist Meditation, not as monks but as lay people. 

Daryl Ankar come to my mind and he has gone nuts. 

I had seen at least 6 guys over 55 with problems after attempting Meditation in their Retirement. I referred them to a psychiatrist who was a friend of mine. 

I was his best man in his wedding. 

By the way, I had performed this task 13 times and I quit this ceremonial function abruptly after the 13th event.

The last one was with a Doctor a few years younger to me. 

He ended up as a biochemist in U. S. A. He was an Anandian and was a crook. I was to to go to U. K. at the end of the same year on "No Pay Leave" and this guy somehow knew this and approched me one day and asked me whether I could become his bestman. 

I said Yes without any hesitation since he was my deputy when I captained the University Hockey Team. He did all the organizational work of matches and I had only ti come and play. 

He was very good organizer. 

The understanding was that he would spend money for my 3 piece suit that would be useful when I vusit UK. 

I did not bother to select the material and the colour. 

Of course, my look alike opposite Left Wing man was (I was Rught Wing) with me to guide me with the instructions on the day of the wedding. He was a parallel batchmate of him from the Science Faculty and he had the Wedding Schedule. 

From 9AM in the morning delivering the invitation bouquet, till 630PM in the evening Wedding Photograph we were running from one place to another non stop. We were promised lunch at his home but we did not get even a cup of tea or a soft drink. 

Afterall, we could sacrifice a meal for a friend. 

After the photograph, I told my cohort "his job is done" and I would not come for the wedding ceremony. If I remember right, he had his own car and I asked him to drop me at the Colombo General Hospital. 

I told him, I need a good bath and a drink at the  3rd floor Grandpass Grill and  Bar located near Hyde Park Corner. 

He should proceed to Hotel and If asked about me, say that I was dropped at the hospital.

I made it a point to invite all 13 of them      (most of the already left CEYLON) but none who remained came to our Wedding except my friends (left in CEYLON). 

The excuse they gave me was that JRJ had come to KANDY for an official function (I wasn't invited by JRJ) and they attened that function. Then, I said they could have slipped away for a moment and rejoined the official function. Also said, do not expect any future engagement with me official or otherwise. Those who came had a Field Day at Swiss Hotel, Kandy as far as refreshments were concerned. 

In 10 days we were in Northern Island.

Hotel Swiss was closed for practical purposes and I made it a point that Billiard Room was open for me to play a game weekly. This was extended to Mahaveli Reach for official functions of the University and an occasional billard game for me. I believe late Professor R. G. Banabokke had shares of this hotel. The entire family was gone including his wife and he did not have any friends to call and I was his mental buffer. By the way, I haven't played a Billiard game since I arrived in Australia. The last occasion in Phillip's Island, the Table was occupied by kids. I did not bargain for a game,  since as a real sportman, I should see that the  next generation of players should be trained instead of an all coger like me with poor colour vision hitting the wrong ball and making the opposition guy wins. If I rember right I never lost a game in England.

I only lost to Mr. Banda (from whom I learned the game as a medical student) who was our Faculty Boy and Marcan Marker who was our Faculty Club boy to where I went with Laxman Denipitiya to play almost a daily game. Laxaman is fabulously rich dental surgeon in America.

He is the only guy who as the bestman in his wedding kept an amiable relationship. 

I made it a point to invite him as a Guest Lecturer in one of our Symposiums in Dentistry.

Coming back to "Bestman Saga" all 13 of them were significantly different from the other 12 and there is "No Standard" as such. I behaved like a puppet and that job is ideal for master puppet like me. 

When the bridgegroom started coming on elephant tops, I had fully retired and already married with kids. I made it a point to refuse all wedding invitations (except the last one), knowing very well that there is an upper ceiling at 250 in most of the hotels, now.

Mr. Rajanayagam

The suit I was given was of poor quality and was disposed of immediately. 

This is where Mr. Rajanayagam came to my help. Good suit materials were hard to come by, then. 

I told Mr. Rajanayagam our Chief Technician my predicament. 

Don't worry, Doctor was his usual expression. 

He found me a good piece.

Sad part was when I came home on holiday with a present he had passed away. I met his wife still residing at the Government Quarters at Colombo 7. 

She said that he had not saved anything for himself and she was fighting eviction from the quarters. 

He did not have any children and I lost touch with her subsequently.

Of course, first thing I did was to buy a Marks & Spencer 3 piece suit for £100/=. 

Later, I tailored, a made to measure suit by London main street tailor for £110/=.

I was obsessed with dressing from underwear to the top.

I donated both those suits and I have only one suit left for any formal occasion. 

My hacked two suits were left in CEYLON for good. 

I love my pijamas now and I have one sarong left made of pijama cloths in my tiny traveling bag.

 

Zebra Fish Experiment

Zebra Fish Experiment

I bought the zebra fish with an intention of crossbreeding them.

They are easy to breed but one need an elaborate tanks to separate the eggs from the parents and also have adequate quantity of infusoria.

Infusoria

Infusoria grows naturally in most tanks, particularly those with live plants. However, there may not be sufficient quantities to sustain a full hatching of fry.
The term infusoria is an old one that has changed in meaning over the years. 

At one time it referred to just about any microscopic, or nearly microscopic, organism that lived in fresh water. That use of that word long ago became outdated in the scientific community.
However, the term infusoria is still used by many within the aquarium community, even by younger fish enthusiasts. To aquarium enthusiasts infusoria refers to many small organisms in water that tiny fry can feed up upon.
Although it's not feasible to name every organism that could be in an infusoria culture, some of the primary ones include, algae (volvox), amoebae, euglena, paramecium, rotifers, stentor and vorticella.

Therefore, it is helpful to culture your own infusoria to ensure having an adequate amount.

Zebra Fish Breeding
Nature has lot of surprises for you and me.
I was trying to raise a Guppy fish with swordtail for ages.
It was easy in good old days when the brood was wild.
They did not have the present sailtail (Sary Guppy) then.
But with the breeding of exotic and the emergence of the sail-tail or sari-tail varieties of guppies one cannot find guppies with the narrow short dorsal end of the tail with a broader and longer ventral end.
I have been screening the tails of guppies and found one with the suggestion of a swordtail and I mixed that one with the wild (not really wild) looking with light featured female guppies but there is no success yet.
They breed less in the glass tanks.
I am waiting for a miracle to happen.
But toady, I was doing my daily routine of mixing different batches of guppies to interbreed and quite casually looked at the fortuitous zebra breeding tank to see whether the water quality was OK.
This plastic kitchen sink type of container was designed to put zebras to lay eggs and in my opinion it was not ready yet to put the adults. But as a conditioning routine I load it with the first portion of outlet water bucket from my main tank with zebras. Idea was to build the infusoria for the young ones, if they lay eggs by any chance. These eggs are very small and not visible to the naked eye. Most of it is eaten by the adult males and adult males are necessary for the fertilization of eggs.  

They lay over 400 to 1000 eggs but rarely a few survives in the tank. 

By removing water at the bottom by siphoning, I expect few eggs by chance to remain trapped with fortuitous black fungus (which appear like a tuft of leaves when fully grown).
Fish do not eat this black fungus probably it has nasty taste or alelopathic chemical.

Then in the main tank to clown fish do the cleaning up of the eggs no sooner they are laid. 

I have been doing this religiously for the last one year but without any luck.
My first batch of zebra (breeding) was discovered accidentally in a bucket with water plants left to nature.
I had about 20 odd young ones and introduced 16 to the main tank leaving behind only four in the original bucket. 

That was a shear intelligent decision the ones introduced to the tank (fairly big) were eaten by the adult in one night.
They are very good at population control of their kind.
I wonder how they survive in the nature.
Probably the adult die soon after breeding with endemic parasitic diseases.
To my surprise there were six young one in the plastic container that survived the natural population control. Now I cannot put siphoned water to this tank for at least six months since they (young zebras) will eat all the eggs. 

I have to leave them in series of buckets and I have no room in my rooftop garden for any more buckets. So my zebra breeding will have to be done on makeshift containers. I cannot put the six young zebra fish to the main tank with zebras (they will be eaten) or to the other tank with live bearers. 

Young zebras will eat all the live-bearers’ young ones.
It is a paradox and reproducing nature is only an ad hoc experiment.

In a different note, I have a fabricated rainfall detector (modified fish tank) and it recorded half an inch of rain for the last one week. 

That I think is 25% of the usual rainfall and my predictions are we will have a drought by next April.

Albino Tetras

 Albino Tetras

Toady, I received a batch of albino tetras free of charge from a dealer, whom I knew for two decades.
The idea was for me to look after them (confirmed disabled) sympathetically until they die.
One of them died on transit due to shock.
Rest went into panic state the moment, I introduced them to my main tank.
I sat there and watched their agony for half an hour.
Only two recovered in half an hour.
Most of them were partially blind or an eye was totally missing.
One was totally blind and took the longest to recover.
After one hour all of them could balance and swim in a comical manner.
They had two problems.
 

One was blindness.
 

The other was balancing.
 

I believe these strains are poisoned in their breeding.
They must be using very toxic material.
There is unsupervised breeding programs in this country.
These chemical are hazardous to humans and other animals and are slowly percolating into our ground water.

Who is allowing these materials to be imported?
 

That is my big question.

 

Zebra Fish and Black Guppy

Zebra Fish and Black Guppy
I have reason to believe there is unhealthy practices of Fish Breeding.
I may have briefly mentioned this sometime in the past. 

I cannot trace the piece of writing.
In any case there seems to be new developments.
There is a guy who breeds albino zebras.
He has now introduced a pink strain.
I have an obsession on the topic of pigmentation, especially in regard to Guppy fish.
 

I wished as a kid, I could see a Guppy black like a black molly.
A guy in Thibirigasya, actually accomplished it.
 

He deserves a Nobel Prize.
 

I do not know how he accomplished it but to see a Guppy with band of black is common now.
These Guppies are robust, healthy and of reasonable size.
 

But all the variants of Zebras were tiny.
 

They do not grow to adult size in spite of proper feeding.
They do not mix in the shoal with normally colored zebras.
In other words they were unhealthy.
  

Goby Fish

Goby Fish

Goby fish is an ugly fish. 

Small in size similar to Guppy fish but live in both fresh and sea water. 

I have not seen one live. They type that live in mangroves slide into tunnels made by crabs on mangrove roots with the sliding tides. There are tiny octopuses who feed on these fish. 

The ecosystems in mangroves is unique. Our mangroves in the Negamboo, Ceylon is fast receding.

 

Blind Fish

Blind Fish
I volunteered to look after a batch of blind and partially blind fish.
After nearly 20 months only three are left.
One has total visually capacity now.
One is blind in one eye.

The other is totally blind.
It amazes me how it survived.
 
It more amazing how it detects me.
 
The moment I sit next to the tank it comes near to the side my chair is kept.

The blind fish knows I am there.
 
I do not touch anything.
Probably it detects my foot steps and pulling the chair (gently).
I do not feed that tank (to confuse the blind fish in a way) first as a routine but feed the fish in the main big tank.
 
Moment I start putting the pellets that sink to the bottom, the two clown fish make a mess of the bottom sediment, and then the blind fish hits at the bottom or the floor in a random fashion and finds its food.
That's how it survived.
I believe the other fish, especially the clown fish (scavenger) gives a subsonic message to the blind fish.
They are all in one community.

 

Guppy Fish

Guppy Fish

I have a life long relationship with Guppy Fish.

I grew up with them.

 

They taught me biology without having to read a textbook.

 

What I discovered was Guppy fish suffers from a disease called Guppy Disease.

I have a healthy batch of almost wild Guppy stock. 

They are in my big outdoor fish tanks.

 

Those tanks are meant to control mosquito population. 

 

Guppy fish love mosquito larvae even though they do not kill other fish.

They are called community fish since they live in harmony with other type of fish.

Most important thing one has to do is to quarantine the new batch of fish.

 

I have a quarantine tank.

 

They are kept there until they breed. 

Breeding is a good sign of healthy fish.

The new shoal is transferred to a new tank and once they are big and a sample is put to the outdoor tank.

Since, I follow this routine regimentally, I never had an episode of Guppy Disease.

 

I used to release some of them to the streams nearby.

 

I stopped doing this die to a good reason.

 

We tend to release washing machine discard to our stream.

 

The chemicals used in washing cloths cause gill disease and 90% fish released die. 

That was not acceptable to me.

Humans are the ones who poison our environment on daily basis.

Guppy Disease

 Guppy Disease

 Guppy fish used to be my favorite but now my interest is water plants especially water lilies.
But one cannot have a pond without fish.
 

The mosquitoes would take over in no time.
 

Guppy fish is the only solution.
 

But over time the fish lose their bright colours and become the wild type. 

The wild type is resistant to disease.
 
Just to introduce some colours I bought a batch of bright coloured guppies.
 

Knowing very well they are incubating guppy disease I introduced them to the stock tank.
I added few of my wild guppy to interbreed.
In no time one by one all the guppies started dying.
Not other fish types.
 

It was evident that the guppy disease was the cause.
 

I believe it is a virus disease and over time they become resistant.
 

But unfortunately my fish in the main outdoor tank started dying.
I made sure there was no contact or contamination.
 

I was puzzled and worried the fish food was the cause.
 

I need to work on this.
 

The vendors treat these disease fish before selling.
Within 24 hours they show the signs of disease and start dying.

 
If you buy a new stock do not introduce them to your main tank.
 

Observe them in a hospital tank for at least a week.
Treat them if necessary and introduce only the healthy ones.

 
Ideally the next generation of young fish.

 
If they are healthy they breed and breed fast.
 

You have a healthy batch then.
 

I now think even contaminated fish food carry disease if not guppy disease (viral) but by bacterial disease.
 

Fish do not have a well developed immune system and succumb to diseases especially bacterial.
 

So keeping the tanks in good healthy condition is a priority.
 

My Fish with Scoliosis

Tuesday, September 1, 2015
My Fish with Scoliosis
 

Fish physiology is very complicated.
Even though the life started in water, unlike terrestrial organisms they are at tremendous odds.
They never sleep.
They have to be under constant vigilance.
 

Lately, I had been watching deformed fish.
 

The first lot was blind.
Out of 11 four are still living.
Most of them died due to poor water quality.
Once I improved the water quality they adapted well.
Strangely, they instantly sense my presence near the tank.
How they do that I do not know.
 

Even in that set up the partially blind fish attacks the completely blind.
 

The blind one cannot survive outside, in the wild.
 
Coming back to the fish with scoliosis it makes a tremendous effort to swim if not float.

It is an ugly sight to see it swim but when tired rests on top of the air pump.
I put some floating plants so that it can rest and have the benefit of oxygen at day time.
Funny part is other fish also take advantage of the plant nest.
It is a cool resting place for them.

My Ultimate Linux Recommendations

Puppy Linux is my favorite and I always carry at least two versions in 2 USB sticks.

My Vision for Linux is that before I kick the bucket it could reach 10% of the Desktop Use without any commercial push or any form of advertisement. Statistically speaking, I call the the Natural Growth (not natural log curve).

It has surpassed 5% already and given the current rate of growth it would reach 10% by 2030 long before Next Olympics, when I am ready to quit this Planet and go on to a another World System with 4 or 5 dimensions. I have no intention of going to the 13th dimension mathematically possible. My simple reason is going by the current brain size and 140 I. Q. that I may possess now, the brain has to expand to the size of an elephant to grasp 13 dimensions without the use of a computer or AI enhancement. I envision without CSF and more cortical matter I should be able to enter dimension 5 and that is far as I intend to go in my next life. I have no intention of reaching Buddha level of computational power but if I could reach our dog who is now in heaven with that brain size and power that would satisfy all my needs and aspirations. I wish not have a computer or a LINUX desktop environment.

 

Let me start with the distributions one should AVOID.

1. ZORIN OS coming from Island.

It us a commercial organization and it contributes nothing to free software foundation.

It's governance is secret and opaque.

I never tried it.

2. UBUNTU 

This is again a commercial organization run by a dictator.

I gave it up long time ago and won't spend my time testing its latest releases which are at least 5 years behind in many areas.

SECURITY concern is only a catch phrase 

3. Sparky Linux

This comes from Poland and I have a suspicion that it is funded by CIA for covert activity.

Somewhat similarly to TENS or PLOP OS.

I suspected it from its Sparky Linux Game Over distribution

Never used it.

4. Manjaro Linux

I think Mosad of Israel uses it for its covert activities.

I leave it at that.

I do not use it but I have tested it extensively

5. Linux Mint not Debian Mint

It uses proprietary code by default.

I used it during 32 bit era but not since.

6. Upcoming KDE Linux

It uses FLATpak and has lot of security vulnerabilities which seems to be not patch up property.

My Recommendations are

1. Debian GNOME

Absolutely no problem.

I have used it for over 30 years without a loss of a single file.

2. ARCH Linux

I am new to ARCH

CachyOS is fabulous and it tops the www.distrowatch.com ranking.

BlueStar Linux with very beautiful KDE Desktop

Endeavor OS which is minimal but expandable

3. MX Linux

It is based on Debian but SLOW to adopt upcoming changes.

It has its own applications which I rarely used. I used it in the past but it lacks glamour in its Desktop appearance.

4. SuSe Linux

5. Fedora Linux

6. Consider GNOPPIX from Singapore

Both Free and with Subscription. 

7. Elive Linux

Unusual desktop effects

But I prefer using the Enlightenment Window Manager instead. 

What I HATE

Kali Linux

If you have SECURITY concerns use PARROT Linux.

Home Edition

Security Edition 

Bit slow in UPDATES.

My School Cricket Career, if any

Since, I am winding up this blog rants, it time for me to say Good Bye to CRICKET, too.

I was good in Softball Cricket.

I was regular member of the Ampitiya Team and we ended up as unofficial champions of Kandy beating Kingwood Boys.

We did not have a ground in Ampitiya to practice. Main Tar road was our practice ground. During off season paddy field was our play ground. 

I used to make my own bat with planks that anchor wooden shipping boxes.

My father hated cricket and old type of sports. But he used to admire championship (athletic) cups

He did not know our secret plans.

I love making and flying kites.

Next attraction was balloons made by Uncle Ferdinando.

All these acts made me a good physicist in real time.

It is strange, I ended becoming the Hockey Captain in my 4th year in the University.

I was not given a chance to play hockey by the sports master in school but he gave my place to his brother who was hopeless.

I invited the school team and beat them 14 nil in a friendly. I scored the last goal since 13 was considered a bad number to close my career in hockey.

I told him never think of coming back for a friendly  He ended up as a Principal close to our home in KANDY. 

I was told he passed away before I left CEYLON. 

Incidentally, he was related to my mother distantly.

Regarding our final match of the unofficial championship:

We scored 36 all out.

Our plan was to get them out under 30.

I told our captain we could do it but plan the strategy.

They were all out 31 and they gave us a mighty fight. 

I was the best fielder and I may have saved 10 runs and involved in 2 or 3 runouts of the opposition.

That was my last game and I never played for that team headed by a guy from St. Sylvester College.

Reasons are blurry. 

May be two or three reasons.

Dress code of the captain and his brother IVAN was dirty and unkempt.

I was the best dressed boy.

I wanted to keep the wicket but I was never given a chance.

Their English was putrid.

I was an all rounder by all accounts at that level.

Then, I joined Dharmaraja College where 

G. S. Ratnayake was a sensation.

40 balls for a century. 

T.B. Kehelgamuwa just gone overage for the school.

G. W. Sebanayake scored 182 against Nalanda.

Rest I cannot renumber except G. Mendis who entered university Engineering Faculty but never completed the university career.

At schools I was the "Pol Addiyar" of the class. I perfected the Neil Harvey stroke on the leg side.

The end result the softball lost within the first two overs I faced and I had to pay Rs. 5/= for the replacement. Worse part, I had to go to Tennis Club of Kandy and wait for hours to get a used ball. 

We never saw a new ball.

By the way, Rs. 5/= was a huge some those days.

Gopal the ground boy could not find the ball in the abyss down the ground.

 

Subsequently, I deliberately hit the ball to the wood so that I can go back to the classroom and tidy up the school work. I refused to pay for the replacement and that ended up my school cricket career.

I left home at 7.30AM and reached Ampitiya College by 8.00AM on foot to save 10 cents. This fee went upto 30 cents returning home from Dharmaraja Hill through Ampitiya college boundary. 

Half a cup of chickpeas was 15 cents. Only one guy spent money on chickpeas and the others saved the money as pocket money. 

A cream bun was 5 cents at Mendis Bakery. 

Salgadu Bakery was famous in KANDY.

Elephant House, White House, Devon, Chinese Hotel and Matara Bake House were popular in Kandy city.

There was an unsolved murder at the Chinese Hotel and was kept closed for many years. We used to go there to listen to English Music. 

Coin Jockey was the main attraction.

Toilets were hopeless.

There was a secret plot to oust me from the Class Team which I got to know 2 years after my full retirement from the university. I gathered all the names and addresses of my classmates and gave a call to confirm the facts and left the list with a guy from KANDY before leaving Ceylon. 

He is the one who told me there was a plot to stop me playing cricket which I did not realize, at that time.

Ajith Gannoruwa.

SAD

W??? Played for the school cricket team.

I thought I was no good in Cricket.

I told him I joined in to enter University and not to play Cricket. 

The teachers were the worst except Morris Perera. 

There were  guys and girls called M.D. Banda and Mr and Mrs. Samarasinghe who hated me. 

I challenged Bumiputra or Harischadra (he stole the copyright material of the University and piblished them as his own) who gave one lesson in chemistry over 3 months and the Rajanayagam guy who only knew how to draw amoeba.

The challenge was if I get pass the A Level none of them would continue to teach in any form. 

I kept that promise.

There is many more including Principal who was a relative of mine and Amaranayake who was the Vice Principle. Amare thrashed me until the Watahiriya pole (Gliricidia sepium) was in pieces for not taking part in cadetting. I never joined the march past.

I only took part in the final march past as the captain of my home/ house team.

I went to Diyrgalwas three time in junior cadetting at Ampitiya College. 

Last as the team captain and we were 3rd in the overall championship behind Ananda and Nalanda.

 

My intention was not to enter army.

However, I dreamed about becoming a airline pilot.

Panamaldeniya our School Inspector was the on who helped me to enter University.

Mr. Samaranayake helped me in Biochemistry practicals.

Mr. Viydyaratne who was doing his Teacher Training helped me in Botany and Zoology in Advanced Level.

How I manged practical in Botany and Zoology is a topic for another fay.

I stop here since the topic was on Cricket.

 

Tribute to My Professors

I did not want to hold the post of or become a professor in my twilight years even though, I possessed all the academic qualifications and more. 

I did not want to become a guy with a photograph hung on the walls of my Ulma Mator.

In other words become an empty  silhouette. 

Of course, my photographs which are plenty belong to my extended family. 

I was a photographer from my school days but I am not a video guy.

I hate videos and cellphone photos.

The cellphone killed the Art form of Photography. One of my photographs was published in Common Wealth Today, magazine.

I got a pavement of a Guinea.

I was budding photographer.

That is the bottom line.

This attitude to image or photographs probably comes from my Dhamma attitude or Anatma Principle.

I was an empty phenomenon by default. 

I never said this to my students and colleagues albeit I would be labelled as a psycho on a bright daylight.

Though, I won't line up Buddha as a professor of all professors, he is my Ultimate Teacher from whom I wish one day I acquire the ultimate Wisdom.

By the way, l did not emulate any of the physical features from any of them but tried to assimilate qualitative wisdom that transpired

This piece is to give tribute to all of them except 4 who did not leave any academic impact on me. The first two are not my teachers but contemporaries in different fields of expertise.

1. Professor B. N. R. Mendis 

Dean and UGC Chairman

Man with a Golden Heart

2. A. D. P. Kalansuriya 

Professor of Philosophy

Outside the box thinking was his line of approach in thinking to think.

3. Professor Win Gomes

One with gentle touch with kids.

4. Professor Senaka Bibile

Man with a Global Vision

5. Professor Thambipillai Varugunam

He possessed ample Gunam or qualities

6. Professor Barr Kumara Kulasinghe

Man with principles and won't let his son enter medicine unless he clears the academic hurdle.

His son ended up as an undergraduate in Agriculture.

7. Professor Eugene Wickramanayake

My student advisor

8. Professor A. D. P. Jayathilake

The guy who drived me nuts in Anatomy but all the same a very simple man 

9. Professor George E. Tennakoon 

My mentor in Pathology 

10. T. W. (Tommy) Wicramanayake 

One who introduced me to genomics

He was the founder of the Nuclear Medical Unit in Peradeniya 

Honorary Mention

Sarath Wicramarane who was a senior lecturer in Agriculture. He left the university to do gem business in Singapore.

He was the one who made me to realize that sports in conjunction with academic activities make a complete adult.

He corrected my grip of the Hockey Stick so that I get more advantage in a good and soft scoop. 

Mind you, I was not allowed to play hockey in my school by the sports master. 

He gave the post, I deserved to his brother  Nepotism in play. 

I became the Captain of University Team and beat our own school team 14 to nil. The last goal was by me and I did not want to close my career with the number 13. 

I do not think 13 is a bad number but I can count up to 5 times of it to 65.

13

26

39

52

65

In bridge there are 52 cards and I can now play a good game of Bridge.

Our hockey team was unbeaten and we won against the National Youth Team (under 24) in a friendly game.

I forget the names of my team mates but I have framed photograph of our team.

All left in CEYLON.

Old Cricketers of CEYLON

Old Cricketers Except D.S, the undesirable

This bit is a "gossip", I made to a local paper.

I do hesitate to write anything about present cricketers except Mahela (not necessary for Sanga, with a big wag) for posterity.

They are our Rohan Kanhai and Kallicharan duo.

There is no one who  looks like  Vivian Richards on record in Ceylon.

Cricketers (all good cricketers should do that) used to walk away (like Mahela) if they felt they were out without leaving the agony for the umpires to guess.

Our cricket Board is corrupt to the core like our politicians.

Politicians (even after heroic victory) and board officials (big mess in cricket stadiums - the grass they used to overlay to cover the corrupt practices- milking every benefit possible) never resign.

1. Kehel I knew him well in cricket and police.
 
2. Daya (Sahabandu) used to ball SIX different ways in an over.
He was the worst fielder we ever had.
He (probably) never caught and balled a victimn in an international.
Somebody had to be in the Circle or Ring to catch for him.

It was very nice cricket anyway, without a hype.
 
3. We had a guy called Ben Navaratne who whipped the bail by his tongue and the umpire could not catch the trick.
If he became a politician with his wagging tongue (not the tails of present parliamentarians), God only knows, how high he would have gone up.

4. Micheal Tissera was the best we had, he could have achieved more, if not for the fact, his buddy (best man) eloped with his wife to Australia.

Collection of these writings should be there in the Web, preserved as archives, for the young ones to browse. 

දේවාල කපු මෑණියන්

දේවාලේ කපු මෑණියන්ගේ සිහිනය කපුවා අතහැර වෙනත් මිනිහෙග්ගේ ඇඟේ එල්ලිලා යන එකය 

දේවාලවල කපුවන්

දේවාලේ කපුවන්ට කපු මෑණියන් හිඟාවී ඇත 

වැඩි හරියක්ගේ බඩේ ඊලග කපුවන් බිහිවන ලක්ෂණ පිහිටීම නිසා මෙය සිදුවන බව මගේ නිරීක්ෂණය ය.

ලාංකික මහනුන්

මුන් ගැන කියන්න මම ජයරත්න පතිරආරච්චිට බාර දීල තියෙන්නේ 

මට පව් නෑ 

ජයරත්නටත් පව් නැත 

ලාංකික ගැහැනුන්

ලාංකික ගැහැනුන්ට නිවන් මග පෙන්නුවා වගෙයි 

මීවනපලානේයා කොන්ත්‍රාත් එක ඇර ගෙන ඇත 

මගෙ මව මූ එන්න කලින් එලොව ගිය එකට මම පින් දෙනවා 

අපේ අම්මා මෛත්‍රී බුදුන් දැක නිවන් දකින්න ඉන්නේ.

මට එච්චර කල් නම් බලන් ඉන්න බෑ.

Origin of Zero as a Concept

This is my Final Mathematical Concept with "Dhamma Context" entangled.

I had 10 problems to solve including Singularity, Strangeness and Dextro Rotation and Laevo Rotation in biochemistry.

Pythogorus and Archemedius had lovely discussion around Zero or Emptiness but the Chruch dominating the authority, the Science of Zero could not caprure the imagination of humanity.

I am going to be Zeoroing my Blog Presence but that does not mean I am gone or nonexistent. 

My nullness means more to me than the guys and girls observing me here, on Linux Ranting. Linux Ranting will end with the publication of "Linux Essentials" which is nearing 560 pages.

Zero or nullness is one of the mathematical problems, I did not probe deep.

Zero goes back to Babylonians and Mayans calender.

It was man's secret obscession.

I may have involved in these discussions in my previous life and hence my talent in mathematics (especially in physics which needs minimum of 140 I.Q.).

That fact, infact was a CURSE and I cannot grasp the concepts of Sunatta, Anatta and Animitta in Dhamma.

This piece is dedicated to my alcoholic friend who is in CEYLON probably desparately ill due to many reasons.

I hope he achieves Sunnata in one of his Alcoholic Binge.

I could not make him sober.

In fact, in all my medical life, I could not wean off anybody inflicted with this melody except myself.

Wijeratna Banda was addicted to both cigarette and alvohol. He was our faculty messenger boy.

I could not wean him off.

He may be dead now.

I was in fact, helped an alcoholic guy to heavon by prescribing a drug that I used in children under complete supervision in hospital setup with severe athma. It is used both, in asthma and heart failure. Sheila MacKenzie my boss did some research work to caliberate the strength of the infusion and monitor its cardiac complications which included fatal ventricular arrhythmia. I was not her assistant but another Ceylonese undercut me to get the job (Colombo guy who did community work in Ceylon). I asked her why I was not called for the interview. She said I need you here look after neonates. The conversation ended there since I knew she trusted me better than the other guy. I was covering the hospital alone. The other Jewish Guy Terry Matthews was more interested in his private practice and I still remember the little girl Rubecca (surname which I still remember is withheld) with no clinical problem was admitted repeatedly to the same cubicle. Annoyed, I told the mother this girl has no problems and is malingering and the problem is YOU and do not come in when I am "on call". I need to spend time on much sicker kids. My boss did not like my direct approach and fearing, I may leave the job did not reprimand me. 

I moved to another job with the help of the lady boss. Except lady Shackleton all the females bosses I worked in UK including O'Neil who was a handful trusted me in my clinical judgement. Shackleton in Macclesfield was hopeless in her clinical judgement and had a very bad tempor. One day she fell flat on the floor of the main ward, on "High Heels". Fortunately, I was behind her and I could enjoy a hearty laugh without her noticing. She was so bulky, I did not volunteer any help. I lasted only six months with her. My father died during this tenure and I used all my leave to avoid working under her. 

Only "Triple Delivery" I enjoyed in UK did occur under the male consultant. He whisperer to my ear, I have some bad news while I was helping the third baby's delivery. I said "hang on" let me help this baby to breath who was flat. I put him on the Ventilator and set all the parameters and said O. K. Let me hear the bad news.

He said your father expired this mornings and you are free to go from this moment. Within 48 hours I was in CEYLON at the mortuary and my friend Nandasena Kodagoda who is no more "held on" without proceeding with the cremation. 

This was the only funeral I was on 3 piece suit with the tie loosened, as a gesture of respect which he deserved.

Incidentally, during the 10 day Dhana my mother bared that I had "fits" as a kid under 5. It was considered Epilepsy those days. But in my days in paediatrics we worked out what is Epilepsy and what is Febrile Convulsions. I almost became an expert in childhood epilepsy including temporal lobe epilepsy.

Whar a rant to end ZERO Concept.

My alcohol weaning came only after retirement.

That is due to Relative Poverty.

Relative Poverty in retirement was a blessing in disguise and I have very little needs except a Good Cup of Tea and Banana Bread.

It is strange, I have "weaned off" of chocolates, too.

They are very expensive.

This is the penultimate entry before expanding on CEYLON TEA on my last Piece. It is in fact an advertisement on CEYLON TEA.

Naturally CEYLON TEA-Positivi-TEA

This is about CEYLON TEA, the best Tea in this World  which Queen Elizabeth enjoyed and endorsed.

I am not sure of the stance of King Charles III.

Every Australian Hotel has English Breakfast Tea which hides the fact, it is CEYLON TEA.

Our Tourist Board is at fault.

Why promote British Interests in CEYLON TEA?

They should advertise that the Tea leaves come from Dimbulla, Nuwara Eliya or Hantana in Kandy.

Hantana had a lovely Tea Factory which I used to bring young British and make it mandatory to climb the Hantana Hill from the University End or from "Kurulu Kale".

 

Yes, I am a bird lover as much as much as Australian love dogs. 

I managed to help to select a name for the latest Puppy acquired.

 

This is my latest Puppy Linux entry and I hope PUPPY LINUX would survive without my endorsements.

Coming to CEYLON TEA.

1. Early Grey is my favorite 

2. Naturally CEYLON Tea is the latest addition

3. Ceylon PURE GREEN TEA is my wife's favorite 

 

I think my children do not hate tea but drink it in moderation for their antioxidant and rejuvenating properties.

4.  JASMINE Green Tea

5. PURE CHAMOMILE TEA

Deliciously fragrant

6. CEYLON Original Breakfast Tea

7. MESNA Dimbulla Tea 

8. My Number one is CINNAMON TEA they dish out at KATUNAYKE Airport.

Please visit the Mesna TEA Center in KANDY for invigorating cuppa with either cheese or banana cake.

 

I miss Mesna TEA.

They have a counter in the AIR Port, too.

Do not let Indian Merchants (Merchants of Venice) ruin our Tea Industry with DUST Tea from India.

The GAMPOLA Muslim Clan add TEA dust Tea to our Tea before export. 

Gampola Going under water is part of the CURSE of Mother Nature which is ideally placed for Good CEYLON TEA.

Re-plantation with environmental protection envisaged by RANIL Senanayake is the need of the day.

 

9. But the best Cinnamon Tea is made with Cinnamon Essence  in a particular place in Kandy, which I  won't declare here to preserve it becoming innundated with no Tes Lovers.

 

10. To this is add another place which I visited only once and I forget the name.

It is up in the hill country which is not Nuwara Eliya.

 

I remember that place well since one of my classmates who was rank alcoholic was working there. I wonder how he obtained a significant rank there without formal education. He may have cheated with forged certificates which he was capable.

When, I saw him last in Kandy City, from a distance, I could diagnose, a large Fatty Liver closing on for CIRRHOSIS which was one of my a favorite topics.

I can affirm you TEA won't help any with cirrhosis citing him as a magic case study.  

 

11. Then, there is another case of a Tea Factory where the last guy who owned the factory became an alcoholic addict.

He ended up as an assistant to a Cement BASS  who was again a rank alcoholic.

Current problem in Ceylon is all these destitute guys are managed by Developer guys who make them drug addicts.

IRONY is these developers RUN the DRUG INDUSTRY in Ceylon and pull the payment back in double quick time and these guys become permanent slaves of this industry,

That is the bottom line. 

Reoroduction to say I tried it in 2017 and failed but not this time with a big bully running current affairs in America.

 

“Going Digitally Zero”

 
I  decided to Go Zero Digitally (No Internet) last December but found it a daunting task having been an Internet Addict for over 15 years.
 

I must say, it was the Education potential that  led me in that direction but lately it was the Intellectual boredom that kept me in the Internet.

Blog activity was natural transition and I made it a point to  “post unedited pieces to my friends”  via emails expecting them to make some comments.

Feedback was good 10 years ago but it started declining when I took politics, religion and science by the head and tail and started questioning the rigid dogmas.

Mind YOU my original idea was to promote Linux and the site's name is Linux 100. 

 
When I realized only 1% of the population use Linux (most of them were most likely / probably  were more advanced than me in Linux environment), I slanted my activity to politics and last of all to satire.

I believe a lot did not like that change of character.
 
People want to hear one or their side of the way of thinking.
 
“Yes Men” mentality of politicians is an antithesis to my liking.
 
There is no alternative to “Thinking to Think”  or “lateral thinking” of Professor De Bono’s philosophy.
 
My last post denounced all the institutions of rigidity as a preparation to “Go Digitally Zero”.
 
You may not hear from me (I am hibernating digitally) in the year 2017.

That does not mean I am dead and gone and my email is censored.
 
It only means I am in full retirement (Internet wise) gear.
 
Real reason is when (I am not a criminal, an ordinary guy) I realized, CIA, KGB, FBI, NSA, MI5 are snoozing on everybody’s (not only mine) email and social media activity, one is becoming a part of that clandestine scheme is not at all healthy for my soul.

If Internet is for the Secret Service I do not want to be a part of it.

I prefer a “Virtual Cloud” and my clientele is not big enough for such an activity.
 
My guess is millions of ordinary well versed people will join me in no time and would device alternative channels for communication (The Big Companies have already done it or are setting up their "Virtual Worlds”).

Read the content below which is 5 years OLD.
 
It has not improved but declined in quality and spirit.

A comment I copied from New York Times, 5 years ago.

My writing by accident coincided by good grace!
 
In the course of the volume the Internet is characterized as a cesspool, a porn store, a form of pinkeye, a raunchy fraternity, a graffiti–filled bathroom wall, a haven for sociopaths, and the breeder of online mobs who are no better than “masked Klan members” in their determination to “interfere with victims’ basic rights.”
   
Start with a little citation from Scientific American (Freedom in 2011 as opposed to 10,000 years back in evolution)

Big Caveat:

More freedom does not necessarily equal more happiness.
In fact, more choices may mean more confusion, mistakes, regret, even despair.
 
That is the irony at the heart of Jonathan Franzen’s latest novel Freedom (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2010).

I need to be brief in this essay.

If I do it as a lengthy academic or scientific exercise this piece has little currency in today’s world.

Yes you have the freedom to browse but how do you set about it in the first place?

One must ask a few questions from oneself before the click happy (instead of the trigger happy old world) finger of yours takes over your senses or in this current year 2011, your touch happy finger dictates your impulses.
 
Why I am browsing?

The list can be in the hundreds but one must chop it down to 3 or 4.
   
1. Is it for inspiration (that is my first choice)? 

2. Is it for game (occupy the free time you have in a constructive and enjoyable way)? 

3. Is it the reflex action (routine) you have become a slave of?

Let me explain my first choice for clarity.
 
We are a country which is emerging from a bitter conflict of prehistoric value and still have not got rid of the ancient and vibrant hate philosophy (my creation of a concept – how hate operates and perpetuates hate into all spheres of activity and faculties) and failed to be actively engaged in this present moment of welcome freedom (all sides to the conflict are to be blamed) constructively.
 
So as an escape mechanism to avoid internalization of the conflict and forgive and forget philosophy to take root, I used the Internet constructively to promote Linux (Live CDs mainly).
 
Then I scanned the statistics to see only 1% used Linux (it is less than one 1% in this country) in the year 2010. 

Can this 1% have an impact in changing world?
 
The answer I leave it open for the time being and I want to raise this question again few years later.
 
I put my experience first.

The one 1% of Linux enthusiast contributed more than I wished for in the year 2010. 

At the year end, I was very happy I had ample time to explore new frontiers.

Writing of this piece is a valid endorsement of that fact.
I am inspired in spite of the small percentage points in statistics.

So inspiration is a relative thing, the problem comes when one tries to assess it quantitatively instead of qualitative empowerment.

Even at worse of times, one can achieve the targets if the target is simple. 

Enthusiasm is the driving force.

It is getting lengthy and I am off the target a bit but this preamble is necessary to summarize the plausible approach to resist the Internet's preoccupation and temptations. 

One should have few questions set, before you press the finger on Enter button. 

The questions should be relevant in age, time, place and person. 
 
If the browsing habit does not give correct yes or no answers to the questions, set out in the first place, it is the onus of the free individual to resit the temptation and switch off the computer.

Without over reacting.
 
This is not easy.

It has to be practiced everyday like meditation till the habit gets into the system code of one’s brain.
 
This has to be done  in early ages and in school.
 
I browsed somewhat restricted sites (Linux mainly and in this specialized area also there are hackers who invade one's privacy and install scripts to hack a system. 

I detected this about 9 months ago which was a rude surprise to me and alerted the web administrators within hours and it has come back again in the New Year with MoonOS to haunt even innocent Linux newbies.

Even a veteran can be trapped into deep waters, if one is not guarding one’s temptations with foresight. 

I have not found a single tool in the entire web world (except the advice to parents and users) that let a child or kid would not enter into deep water. 

This can be accomplished in a game like manner when one is entering the underworld of Internet.
 
I have some devices thought about that would work on a child friendly and inspirational way.
 
This is not the place to write more about that but to state firmly that it can be done without much a do, if the adults are ready to take leadership in this arena. 

But I should end up with a warning for adult over 55 years (let me say early retirees who are looking for part time jobs or some pre-occupations) they can be gullible target audience for insinuation and luring to porn sites. 

They are waiting there for you to register at a site and with your e-account (can be used for blackmail ploy, if one is married or is engaged). 

Some teenagers are using the same tactics to lure children and bully them, too. 

If an adult get caught, I have no sympathy. 

You ought to have been wiser but we should not let Internet destroy some of our unsuspecting kids who are using their natural instinct of exploration to expand their inner world.

I say we should actively develop mechanisms instead of dishing out only warning and advice.
 
Comment I copied from today’s New York Times.
 
My writing by accident coincided by good grace!
 
In the course of the volume the Internet is characterized as a cesspool, a porn store, a form of pinkeye, a raunchy fraternity, a graffiti–filled bathroom wall, a haven for sociopaths, and the breeder of online mobs who are no better than “masked Klan members” in their determination to “interfere with victims’ basic rights.”.

 

In fact, "Devil Incarnation".