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 and five and more in the tiny outdoor garden?

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

Mulberry Tree -මල්බෙරි -ඇඹිල්ල

 

Mulberry Tree

මල්බෙරි

 ඇඹිල්ල is a better Sinhala term.

I have a special relationship the mulberry tree but let me deal with the scientific facts.

The botanical name for the mulberry tree belongs to the genus Morus, in the family Moraceae. While there are many species, the three most common are the White Mulberry (Morus alba), Black Mulberry (Morus nigra) and Red Mulberry (Morus rubra).   These deciduous trees are cultivated worldwide for their fruit and in the case of white mulberry, for silkworm feed. Native to China, often used for silkworms and considered an invasive species in some areas.

Black Mulberry (Morus nigra):

Known for its intense-flavored, dark purple fruit and commonly cultivated in Europe and Asia.

Red Mulberry (Morus rubra):

Red Mulberry is native to North America, known for its cold hardiness and dark purple to black fruit.

Mulberry trees, belonging to the genus Morus in the family Moraceae, are deciduous, fast-growing trees known for their edible fruits and leaves that feed silkworms. The three primary species are white (M. alba), red(M. rubra), and black (M. nigra) mulberry, with mature heights ranging from 10–20 meters. The fruit is a compound cluster of small drupes (resembling blackberries) ranging from white, pink, red, to dark purple-black when ripe. The leaves are often polymorphic (lobed, mitten, or unlobed) with serrated margins. The fruit is eaten fresh or used in jams and leaves are the primary food source for silkworms. The timber is used for furniture. White Mulberry native to China, widely used in silk production is often considered an invasive weed in parts of Australia and the US.

Mulberries are highly nutritious fruits packed with iron, Vitamin C, potassium and calcium. 

They support heart health, regulate blood sugar and improve digestive health due to their high fiber content. Rich in antioxidants like anthocyanins and resveratrol, they reduce oxidative stress and aid in skin and eye health. Mulberries are rich in vitamin C, which helps strengthen immunity. Some compounds in the fruit aid in managing glucose metabolism, which is beneficial for managing diabetes. They contain high levels of anthocyanins, which reduce inflammation and protect against free radicals. With a significant amount of dietary fiber, they aid digestion and help manage weight. They are a source of Vitamin A, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which help protect eyes from oxidative stress.

Nutrient Profile (per 1 cup, raw):

Calories: Low

Vitamin C: High

Iron: Good

Fiber: High

I am a down to earth medical man and won’t listen to American FDA, or for that matter British advice after the Independence. The British had drained off everything and the Tea Plantation had done enormous damage to our biodiversity while driving our elephants in wilderness to the Dry Zone. Our children were malnourished and below par in comparison to Western counterparts. 

We developed our own standards and immunization schedule and they were adopted by the W.H.O in 1970s. My contribution was adding M.M.R. (Mumps,Measles and Rubella) vaccine during Senior Premadasa time in the Private Sector and an astute man Mr. Ranasinghe Premadsa adopted the same in the Public Sector.

Coming back to Vitamin C in mulberry, adding a 50mg tablet daily is much cheaper than obtaining from fruits. 

Vitamin C is sour and got the private sector guys to introduce flavoured Vitamin C, called Chuvette in Negamboo. 

Every waiting child to see me or his or her siblings were given only one tablet chew free of charge.

By the way, 500mg tablets has to be cut to 10 peaces before chewing.

Suffice, is to say, I had a big clientele. 

 

Coming back to the mulberry tree, it was my wife who planted it with another local Ambul Pera (Guava) tree in our backbitten. It grew up to a considerable size in spite of pruning. Without a long stick with a fork we could not reach the fruits while all the birds and squirrels had a gala time. 

The variety of butterflies that attracted it was enormous with that the birds. Local Myna was my favourite but I never saw a Sala Lihiniya all my life in Kandy and in Panideniya.

Additionally, we cared for three palm trees. 

When seeds ripe on the palm trees various birds including crows come on daily basis taste the outer rind. I never tasted any and they ought to be tasty. 

Incidentally, the local chameleon who visits our garden to lay eggs has the habit of eating the tiny black bees who feed on the pollen of palm tree flower. 

No wonder  the tiny black bees are very sweet. 

Like the magpies, they may be eating my stupid guppy fish, too. 

The ground lizard, skinks are also rare to find now at Panideniya.

Gobo Linux UPDATE

This is a distribution that probably came from New Zealand.

I lived in New Zealand 30 odd years ago.

Then I was into Linux.

Windows were non existent and Atari console was the top range.

By the way, I did not like any Linux derivative that came from New Zealand.

Antix and MX Linux repository was a pain.

I tried Gobo Linux in 32 bit Era and as an average Linux User did not like anybody fiddling with the file system. 

It is sacred.

Attempt to look like Window's Folder was a big failure.

I am not sure what the Developers are yeying to achieve.

Is is trying to reinvent the Wheel?

I opened it up in Box Utlity and it is totally blank except for Firefox, Audacious and anothe Utility.

I won't recommend it to a newbie.

VOID Linux with XFCE ( with or without XFCE ) is a better option.

Just compare it with CachyOS it does not stand a Chance.

This is somewhat like but  the TextStar story of PCLinuxOS.

PCLINUX has come of age but still had rough edges. I used it briefly this year.

I am finishing testing any new Linux Distribution and  finalzing my book "Linux Essentials".

I was busy writing a book on Exotic fruits vegetation....of CEYLON... which went up to 550 pages.

It took a toll on me but now it is almost finished and ready for publication.

I am revising the botanical Genera and Families which is not my field at all.

I am trying to put them into familiar Plant Families.

Biofuel Feedback

This piece is based on Linux Freedom.

Anybody can improve it.

I am not going to send by email to my contacts.

Only an occasional visitor to this blog site may benefit.

Since my Linux adventure is finishing with CachyOS there will be less and on less on LINUX.

Less on Dhamma, too.

This idea came while I was finishing with my book on Ceylonese plants vegetables and fruits.

Foreign invaders who came for spices ended up destroying our dependable and sustainable.

Like in the Andes we had a crop for every weather.

We had over 2000 types of paddy seed varieties. Only about 50 is left. I have stopped discussing about rice.

In fact, I do not fancy rice now.

No Copyright on this piece.

I am against Petrodollar.

I am against Nuclear Energy, too.

Both are not environmentally friendly or sustainable.

This piece is related to Renewable Energy.

It is related to a brief dream.

Something like Deja vu.

Recollection of one of my past birth's Bioenergy Work which I could not finish due to old age.

Name was something like Zodiac.

It is not Zorin.

Something like Zindac Project.

It was unicellular.

It was reproducible.

No genomics involved.

Naturally extracted Biofuel both consumable, energy dense and converted into food item not perishable.

I was good in my Biochemistry but I lost interest soon probably due to my past Rebirth work.

I am not going to work on this Zindac Project now or in my next birth.

It is time for young ones to explorer.

It is sun and chlorophyll based but more elegant.

It is somewhat of a symbiosis.

I would stop at that.

CachyOS is compatible with Other Distributions

CachyOS 

Beauty is it has blender but it takes whopping 3GB.

I am going to install CachyOS new edition.

It says it is compatible with other distributions and its new GRUB sort out old problems.

It is going to remain on Top of www.distrowatch.com ranking for ever.

By the way, I installed Endeavour OS but could not install AbiWord.

It is suppose to use only Terminal for Installation which I do not prefer in my old age.

CachyOS OS is now testing the USB image before installation.

Almost finished.

Booting is brisk.

Desktop is KDE but I would install GNOME.

WiFi is smooth.

It is usual Calamara Installer.

It has Gparted.

Octapi I love is depreciated.

Running Python briskly.

I gave only 1 partition of 30GB.

GRUB took over 5 minutes due to 7 other distributions residing in my NUC.

Installation started at 17.09PM.

Installation finished at 17.27PM.

Total 18 minutes out of which 5 minutes for my Long GRUB.

Mind you installation time is taken mainly for downloads. One need to have fast Internet Connection.

1159MB Download Size.

2859MB Installed Size.

Added another 300MB for hardware 

Another 3312MB of 126 extra packages.

All done and time to test.

CachyOS Package System is neat.

Already installed.

AbiWord 

Audacity 

VLC 

Deluge but no GNOME Transmission.

THANK YOU CachyOS and the Large Fonts in the Plymouth boot up is easy on my old age eye.

No upset with my Debian. I have 2 instances.

However, I saved all my latest book editions saved on a USB.

I have now 8 distributions in 320-SATA disk.

That is a record.

It used to be 5, the most.

 

 CachyOS

The CachyOS project has published a new snapshot of its Arch-based distribution. The new release puts a lot of work into iproving the initial install and configuration process: "First, the installer now ships Shelly as the GUI package manager, replacing Octopi. A clean snapshot is now created immediately after the installation has finished and is retained permanently, providing users with a reliable baseline restore point. GRUB os-prober is now enabled by default to detect other operating systems on the same machine. The UKUI desktop has been dropped from the selection, and the GNOME package selection has been cleaned up and modernised. For AMD GPUs, a different Plymouth theme is now used, as the amdgpu driver was unable to render the previous theme reliably on laptops with a secondary monitor attached. Last but not least, a new option was introduced in the installer that sets up MangoWM with DMS shell. CachyOS-Welcome supports DNS over HTTPS for better privacy. The redesigned DNS page lets you test connection speeds, auto-select the fastest server, or add custom ones. We also added a VRAM Management toggle to optimize graphics memory on AMD and Intel GPUs, full keyboard navigation, and sharper, dark-mode-friendly icons."

TrixiePup64 is fantastic

 Puppy Linux has come of age.

Its image is only 1OG.

WiFi configuration was smooth. It had problem with WiFi in the past.

Choice was between AntiX full or Puppy.

Since AntiX has problems with INIT  I went for Puppy Linux.

I am installing Puppy Linux on a 16GB USB stick now. 

It has3 options I used UEFI enabled image

Thank YOU Puppy Linux Team.

It has AbiWord already installed. 

It has Synaptic, and what else one needs.

Thank you again.

PS.

Legacy package manger is still there. 

Cardamon - කරදමුංගු

 Cardamon

 කරදමුංගු 

Botanical names include Elettaria cardamomum (Green/True Cardamom) and Amomum subulatum(Black cardamom).

The family is Zingiberaceae.

Cardamom, known as the "queen of spices,"      is a herbaceous, perennial plant in the Zingiberaceae (ginger) family, commercially grown for its aromatic, pungent seed pods. The primary botanical name for true/green cardamom is Elettaria cardamomum, which is native to Ceylon. It is widely used in culinary, medicinal and flavouring agent. The plant grows over 6 feet tall, featuring leafy shoots and greenish-white flowers. It thrives in tropical climates and requires high humidity. The dried fruits (capsules) are harvested just before maturity, containing 15-20 small, dark, aromatic seeds. It has a warm, camphor-like aroma, containing compounds like terpinyl acetate and 1,8-cineole.           

It is used in traditional medicine for digestive health, and it possesses antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Cardamom is a small seed pod with black seeds inside that extrude its sweet fragrance.                  

It is widely used in various meat curries and yellow rice dishes and is further utilised in making desserts or even added to our evening tea for a bit of spice.

As one of the most valued spices in the world alongside saffron and vanilla, Cardamom truly lives up to its title of 'The Queen of Spice' with its broad culinary and medicinal uses.

Calories18

Fat: 0.4 g

CHO4.0 g

Fiber1.6 g

Protein0.6 g

Potassium64.9 mg

Calcium22.2 mg

iron0.81 mg

magnesium13.3 mg

phosphorus10.3

Antimicrobial ability

Anticancer properties

Anti-inflammatory

Mitigates metabolic syndrome

Antioxidant and diuretic properties help lower blood pressure

Heart Health

Cardamom may help fight bacteria in the mouth, a common cause of bad breath, cavities and gum disease.

Liver Health

Ulcer prevention

Helps to increase airflow to your lungs and improve breathing

Nutmeg and Mace - සාදික්කා සහ වසාවාසි

Nutmeg and Mace

සාදික්කා සහ වසාවාසි

 

The botanical name is Myristica fragrans.

The family is Myristicaceae.

Nutmeg is a valuable, aromatic spice derived from the seed of a tropical evergreen tree native to Indonesia's spice islands. Used in culinary (baking, savoury dishes) and traditional medicine, it is known for its warm taste, containing active compounds like myristicin andeugenol. It is native to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas, Indonesia. Dioecious (separate male and female trees) evergreen, reaching up to 20 meters, yielding fruit for over 60 years. The fruit provides two distinct spices: the seed itself (Nutmeg) and the red, lacy, fleshy covering (Mace), It is rich in essential oils with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. The fruit, which resembles a yellow pear or apricot, splits open when ripe. The mace is removed, dried and sold separately, while the nut is dried for several weeks until the kernel rattles within the shell, which is then broken to extract the nutmeg seed. Originating from the same tree Nutmeg and Mace are siblings in the spice world, nutmeg is the oval-shaped fruit while the mace is the reddish webbing that wraps around the pit. Nutmeg and mace are perhaps most famous for their applications in desserts such as cakes and pies but also find themselves in quite a few savoury applications such as sausages or stews and are notably an essential ingredient for some seasonal Christmas beverages like eggnog.

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is the seed or ground spice derived from the seed of the tree species Myristica. Nutmeg contains variety of psychoactive chemicals including myristicin, elemicin, eugenol and safrole which are thought to be responsible for its psychoactive properties.

It contains;

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Vitamin E

Manganese

Magnesium

Copper

Phosphorous

Zinc

Iron

A Powerful antioxidant

Has anti-inflammatory properties

Antimicrobial properties

Boosts mood