ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට ඇසල පෙරහැර සන්නිය වැලදීලාද?

මට පෙනෙන විදියට ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට ඇසල සන්නිය වැලදීලා ඇත.

මෙය පිස්සු බලු රෝගය තරමට අසාද්‍යවෙලා ඇති නමුත් සුව කරන බෙහෙතක් නැත.

ඇසල පෙරහැරේ සංස්කෘතික අංශයේ කොටසක් වන අලි ඇතුන් සක්මන් කිරීම නවත්වන්න පොලු ඇරන් සටනට බැස ඇත.

අනේ අනිච්චන්.

My Linux Applications Priority List

1. High Priority 

Gnome

Firefox 

2 File managers 

Nautilus and Dilphin

2. I cannot do without

Abiword

Audacity

GIMP

VLC

3. Special

Neovim

Notepaqq

Revolt

MVP Player

SMP Player

4. Audio and Video

Amberol

Amarok

Luk

Dragon Player

5. Extra Browsers

Midori

Dillo

Falkon

Konqueror 

Vivaldi

Opera

Brave

Chrome browser

6. List gone into Wilderness

All the 32 bit Puppy Linux Derivatives including Light House Pup

EasyOS

BeastPup

Waypup

Resolute Pup

Trixie Pup

Bookworm Pup

7. What I missed 

Wireshark

8. Low Prioity

Scribus

Inkscape 

9. Physics GALA

Blender

FreeCAD

10. NO, NO and NO

Statistical Packages 

R

PSPP

From Being a Dog Killer to a Dog Lover

Thursday, December 28, 2017
 

From Being a Dog Killer to a Dog Lover

The killing part was painful and I used to take my annual leave and vanish from the site of killing.

This piece is for one of my colleagues who passed away recently.

He took up my post in my absence and I never told him that the day before that I signed the extermination order to satisfy Eurasians and Europeans including guys from IMF with whom I worked.

These were hard times and J.V.P. was ruling the South with vengeance.

It is interesting to note that these foreign guys were not fearful of the J.V.P. that they created with the help of RAW but fearful of the peaceful stray dogs.

Rabies was not known for ages and one of the last specimens of the dog head, I send to M.R.I was not even touched by the M.L.T. guys but was reported as Negri bodies positive by the, then Pathologist (Tissa Vitharana) who was a political guy without any scientific brain (brain dead leftist).

I resigned from my post and went to UK.

One of my wishes then was to bring a lovely pedigree dog from UK but I knew, I never had time for a dog except the stray dogs.

The transition to dog loving stage was spontaneous and infectious.

All the dogs in my neighbourhood and in the town know that I treat them with Metta.

None of them would want to befriend me, knowing very well that I had a bad pedigree (killing them) and NOW I come out of the house less often than it used to be.

The reason for writing this is to say put a stop to fire crackers (to greet these mafiosi guys/girls doing the bogus political campaign) which frighten these poor animals apart form the noise pollution.

My Last Dream Dream

This an advertisement to my book,

Sleep, Dreams and Biorhythms

My Last Dream Dream

The latest dream as far as I am concerned was futuristic.

Reasons I will give below.

It goes on like this.

We had a long drawn out industrial action.

This time students were on strike, just like in 1988-1989. I was getting bored and decided to quit the University for good, which I did.

After 6 months of struggling, I managed to get part of the Provident Fund and I wanted to buy a car for my retirement, now that even walking a few paces was a struggle. Incidentally, for administrative reasons,   part of the entitlement is frozen as intellectual assets. What often happens is the salary is such low,               the individuals takes loans from the university against the Provident Fund.

Generally, the maximum loan amount is up to 75% of your Provident Fund balance, according to Commission Circular No: 433. The 75% limit is re-calculated to account for all other loans you may have previously taken and are still repaying.

The bottom line is, the university authorities did not wish to part with the balance thinking, if I die before the release of the funds, it is gross University Saving.

They wished I would be dead by natural causes.

This is all about Government Duty Free Car allowed. I went with somebody which I cannot remember probably an in law to drive me home. We cleared everything and all of them got into the car and left leaving me behind with a heavy suitcase.

I thought, now that I had signed the papers, they went for a test drive.

I could not leave my heavy luggage for safe keeping and after few minutes of waiting, I decided to stroll down the alleyway. The luggage was so heavy and after a few minutes I sat down under a tree panting and cursing myself, had I some money, I would have hired a three wheeler to reach home.

Then after about half an hour they realized, I wasn't in and came in search of me. By that time, I had gone bananas and with that commotion, I was woken up.

I must tell you why I was happy.

My present Provident Fund saving left is not enough to buy even a three wheeler.

I was visibly annoyed with myself for not waking up lest, I had gone to Anuradhapura in a pilgrimage in this new car with total happiness.              I would have attained even Sovan and I would have dispensed the car for the merits of walking for my own soul and heart.

That is the long and short of my dream but I was intrigued by the heavy luggage.

I sent an email to Maha Brahama and this time there was a long silence before his chat appearance.      

I wasn't least pleased with his attitude to my latest dream.

I asked him was he busy to which he gave a negative response.

Then again, he was dragging his feet and asked me, how the industrial action was taking shape.

I told him we are having deliberations in the courts and I am not allowed to divulge anything.

Then he summoned his courage and said that this dream is not futuristic and dull and no point of discussing or interpreting.

I felt something fishy and asked him, this dream is about me, isn't it?

He paused and said how did you guess?

Do you really need some interpretation?

Why not, we earthling are going from pillar to post looking for godforsaken astrologers who take us for a ride.

We love to hear of our future, even if it is our funeral and specially the things like salary increment we are going to get.

This one is little bad.

You mean to say, we won't get any increment?

No fool it is your final farewell?

Farewell for leaving the University?

No fool your ultimate farewell from this planet.

Or, I see!

You were waiting for the people to come and dump you and push the electric button and they were late.

You were watching from above.

Heaven, I believe.

Can't tell you that now.

In that case can you tell me what was that heavy stuff in the suitcase.

That was your Kusal-Akusala Kamma Load.

Which is more?

Can't tell that, too.

Can you tell me at least the Ahosi Kammas.

You have finished all your Ahosi Kamma by blogging and all in the suitcase were viable Kammas.

That means no Sovan for me, isn't it?

Can't tell you that, too.

You must stop all blogging and stop doing any Kusala or Akulsala Kamma.

Why?

You are then in Kriya Mode and then only you get to dream good futuristic dreams, not event related to your mundane life.

Or, I see.

Less Kusala and less Akusala in your suitcase and more I get to hear good futuristic dreams, from you.

For how long?

That is left to you.

In that case, I have to go on indefinite industrial action.

You won't have any problem with that since the case is in Sri-Lankan courts!

Happy dreaming.

See you soon.

Kap Kapeema is Alien to Me

Kap Kapeema is Alien to Me

"Kap Kapeema" is Alien to me but "Diya Kapeema" at Gatembe is an evolutionary concept to me.

I do not know how  Savithri Gunathilake our environmentalist views this two ceremonies.

Kap Kapeema 

Cutting a young sapling of Artocarpus Heterophylis that is our rice substitute is an alien concept.

This 9s when Rajapaksa goons fell 10 of the 11 jack-fruit trees in our neighbourhood for timber that made me to become a political antithesis to Rajapaksa Regime.

 

To this day that resolve remains.

I initiated a campaign to oust him in which we succeeded but the regime that followed was a total disaster.

 

They were trying to barter part of our country to LTTE. 

Now, Nimal Ranjith Dewasiri is carrying it forward that dream.

I was an environmentalist long before and my book "Living with Nature" at Amazon Books is selling well in America.

 

My major concern was disappearance of our birds particularly the Kottoruwas.

Polos Kottoruwa or the Brown headed barbet, similar to the colour of  bark of jack-fruit tree, is all that is left in the wild.

It would come to my rooftop garden looking for water to drink. 

 

Besides, fruits of our palm trees was their delicacy.

All the exotic varieties including crimson headed variety are gone for good.

Thanks to Rajapaksa gang.

Koss, Polos and Dhel I am missing in Australia.

I remember Arthur Vincent Dias our "Koss Mama" dearly.

It is bounden duty to plant at least one jack-fruit tree and maintain it for life, instead of  Karthacolmbu mango trees.

Jack-fruit tree not only look after our underwater streams but also prevents landslides.

Diyw Kapuma 

Diya Kapuma is an Evolutionary Need of mankind.

Not too little rain.

Not too much rain.

When rulers are Niragamikayos both floods, droughts, disaster and famine are common.

 

This has happened during Kalinga and Maga.

That is what has happened to Ceylon with short "Maha Maga Man" on high chair.

This Curse will continue until this regime is in power.

Only Wimal Weeravansa remains us to take us forwards.

Beautiful Dream

 Beautiful Dream

I was up all night.

I wanted to get my Working Linux System in to Prime Condition.

I am one who believes in Small is Beautiful.

Trial and Error it was 23GB for /root partition..

 

I wanted to add FreeCAD and I ran out of space. 

Still I could get the FreeCAD to open. I could not resize the /root partition since my current 5 working books were in one folder.

 

I quickly made amends and had a cup of tea. 

 

It  is still cold at night in Australia.

 

I slept as much I needed and woke up with this beautiful dream.

Set up wad in New Zealand.

We were in an informal party gathering.

I had a problem regarding a word.

I asked for a dictionary from the lady of the house.

She gave me a Party Candy Box meant for kids and I accidentally opened it exposing a Home Made Candy with a loop on top and a long stick to hold. Stick was not Candy typical Chinese chopstick and I think it was rose coloured.

It was a bit of an embarrassment to guest and the host. 

Children were watching this intently.

 

I had to close this SAGA and I came up with witting endorsement or a catch phrase to enlarge or divert the conversation.

Building an entertaining conversion is difficult but making a blog post is somewhat easy.

I said, you mean to say adults do not like childhood flavours?

We do. 

That is why every party ends up with ice cream.

 

With a but.

 

But by that time all of us have adult onset diabetes.

Rest of this blog post is about

Alcohol 

Rebirth 

Politics 

One can either stop here or engage further.

This is in development phase.

I need to have a cup of tea before that.

.

Coronavirus Morphology

Corrections on few mistakes I may have done when describing the coronavirus. 

By the way, I am not a Virologist like our own Sriyal Pieris who did most of the originals work. In my list of 20 objects to complete before I kick the bucket, a book on virology was one book. I collected big and small books on virology from 1965 (I was a A Level student) up to now.

I gave up this idea and changed my focus to Mosquitoes, Their Value in Our Ecology and not the 40 odd mosquitoes causing diseases out of the total 2500 to 3500 mosquito varities.

My Mistakes.

1. Confusion of its nanometer size to the number of amino acids per its nucleocapsid genome.

Sorry.

2. It is a very complicated virus.

3. There are 30,000 kilobases.

4. There are 10,000 proteins.

5. It is a spherical protein of the size of 100 nanometers and may go up to 200 nanomters. 

I got the nanometer size of the protein also wrong by 100 to 300.

6. Full description of the structure and genome is below.

7. Genome size is 24 to 36 kilobases.

Total Amino Acids of the genome is about 8 to 12. I am vindicated here since the number of amino acids are small enough, so that a Primer can be formed in the laboratory to be linked to the so called Gain in Function Genome for rapid duplication. 

This is the part Anthony Fauci played with Chinese counterparts with lot of exchange of money.

On that ground alone he should be sent to prison. Invoking  and presumption of His Rights to be silent is not valid here in my opinion.

The damage he has done to science is beside the point of his defense.

Coronavirus Morphology

Coronaviruses are large pleomorphic spherical particles with bulbous surface projections.
The diameter of the virus particles is around 120 nm.
The envelope of the virus in electron micrographs appears as a distinct pair of electron dense shells.
The viral envelope consists of a lipid bilayer where the membrane (M), envelope (E) and spike (S) structural proteins are anchored.
A subset of coronaviruses (specifically the members of Betacoronavirus subgroup A) also have a shorter spike-like surface protein called hemagglutinin esterase (HE).

Inside the envelope, there is the nucleocapsid, which is formed from multiple copies of the nucleocapsid (N) protein, which are bound to the positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome in a continuous beads-on-a-string type conformation.

The genome size for coronaviruses ranges from approximately 27 to 34 kilobases. 
 

The lipid bilayer envelope, membrane proteins, and nucleocapsid protect the virus when it is outside the host cell.
 

Coronavirus Replication

Infection begins when the virus enters the host organism and the spike protein attaches to its complementary host cell receptor. After attachment, a protease of the host cell cleaves and activates the receptor-attached spike protein. 

Depending on the host cell protease available, cleavage and activation allows cell entry through endocytosis or direct fusion of the viral envelop with the host membrane.

On entry into the host cell, the virus particle is uncoated, and its genome enters the cell cytoplasm.

The coronavirus RNA genome has a 5′ methylated cap and a 3′ polyadenylated tail, which allows the RNA to attach to the host cell's ribosome for translation.
The host ribosome translates the initial overlapping open reading frame of the virus genome and forms a long polyprotein. 

The polyprotein has its own proteases which cleave the polyprotein into multiple nonstructural proteins.

A number of the nonstructural proteins coalesce to form a multi-protein replicase-transcriptase complex (RTC). 
The main replicase-transcriptase protein is the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). 

It is directly involved in the replication and transcription of RNA from an RNA strand. 

The other nonstructural proteins in the complex assist in the replication and transcription process. 

The exoribonuclease non-structural protein for instance provides extra fidelity to replication by providing a proofreading function which the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase lacks.

One of the main functions of the complex is to replicate the viral genome. 

RdRp directly mediates the synthesis of negative-sense genomic RNA from the positive-sense genomic RNA. 

This is followed by the replication of positive-sense genomic RNA from the negative-sense genomic RNA.

The other important function of the complex is to transcribe the viral genome. 

RdRp directly mediates the synthesis of negative-sense subgenomic RNA molecules from the positive-sense genomic RNA. This is followed by the transcription of these negative-sense subgenomic RNA molecules to their corresponding positive-sense mRNAs.
The replicated positive-sense genomic RNA becomes the genome of the progeny viruses. 

The mRNAs are gene transcripts of the last third of the virus genome after the initial overlapping reading frame. 

These mRNAs are translated by the host's ribosomes into the structural proteins and a number of accessory proteins.

RNA translation occurs inside the endoplasmic reticulum. 

 The viral structural proteins S, E, and M move along the secretory pathway into the Golgi intermediate compartment. 

There, the M proteins direct most protein-protein interactions required for assembly of viruses following its binding to the nucleocapsid.

Progeny viruses are then released from the host cell by exocytosis through secretory vesicles.

Blender 5.0.1 is Available on Debian Forky, BiG Thank YOU

 Blender 5.0.1 is Available on Debian Forky, 

BiG Thank YOU

As from today, Blender my ultimate Peak Utility of Linux application is out from today on Debian Forky Linux.

Equally, my favourite Enlightenment Desktop is depreciated by Forky on some mundane or valid reasons.

 

May be nobody is interested in Enlightenment Desktop  based on old kernel base. 

Nevertheless, I will continue to use Enlightenment Desktop on Trixie

BIG Thank YOU to guys and girls of the Debian Developer Community.

 

I was happy to wait until December but now I can take an early Holiday having done some basic work on Blender.

Besides, I have Blender on Trixie instance.

 

Even though, I gone into retirement as a medical guy, my core interest is Physics.

Unlike Prof Osmond Jayarane our Professor of Physics I did not want be intellectually alone in my twilight years.

So, I chose the easy way.

Biology but ideally Medicine.

I did have rivals but not enemies in my medical batch. 

Some of my batch mates are top class guys. Podi Ale or Alagesan was the brightest. 

He was a top class anesthetist.

 

Anesthesiology is not an easy job.

Then Vasantha Prof of Medicine was an intellectual giant.

For the last 25 years I was promoting Linux without a real base.

Only 32 or 34 guys were using Linux PC Globally when I started.

With Blender coming out Early I can easily say, this is the Year of Linux, 2026.

Well, I would do some 3D graphics instead of simulating Drones and AI technology.

I can finish my book on "Linux Essentials" on a high note.

 

However, I would first finish my book on Sleep and Dreams.

That is my contribution to Linux guys who are cat lovers and the majority of those who keep up all night trying to solve a CODE problem.

There will be a short note on AI in my book.

Well, AI advised me to work only on day time and have a good night sleep.

I was up all night sorting out Modicia 612 kernel which could not Update my GRUB. 

 

Then Commodore Linux 3.1 618 kernel which has an ugly Plymouth Boot Loader. 

I do not blame it since it is meant for old Commodore computers.

 

I started my computer life with a brand new Commodore Computer.

Not with British Sinclairs or Amstrad.

Then I got this pleasant  surprise of Blender 5.0.1 available on Debian Forky. 

I have 3 instances of Debian Gnome and all three have Cellphone Utilities.

Thank you again to hard working girls and boys of the Developer Community.

 

Both Modicia and Commodore are booting well after I got my GRUB file updated.

I am now installing Ultimate Developer edition which is nearly 10GB image.

With 4GB RAM on my laptop it is very slow in installing.

I gave 40GB root partition and it needs minimum of 30GB.

My NUC has 14 distributions distributed among 41 partitions.

Laptop has only 8 with 320GB. 

Revisiting Commodore OS with Positive Sense

I withdraw all my adverse comments, well meant and constructive.

It has a high facelift and I am currently installing it.

It is MX Linux installer which I am familiar with. It made a comment that boot partition of 1GB was not enough and it recommended 1.4GB. Since, I gave 52GB for the / root partition and EFI is over 2GB, I went ahead with instsllation.

Colour selection is pretty good and background animation is excellent.

The Community of Developers have done an excellent job.

BIG Thank You.

This is MATE desktop which I am not familar with.

User and Password is not set.

I believe it is done at boot time.

It is a big image and a little bit of time to install. Sit back or go and make a cup of tea.

It did not detect the WiFi keyboard and I could not activate the Internet.

By the way, Endevour OS is something one should have on a USB. Instead of using Gparted Live session, I used Endeavour OS to preparethe Hard Disk.

Installation is bit faster than the last time.

Erased Modicia which needs about 25 to 30GB /root partition.

It uses APP Image by default to avoid sandboxes and dependency.

AI Powered KIRO Linux- Why I hate AI Built Linux Distributions

Why I hate AI Built Linux Distributions

Good things can be used for bad things especially in Governments like in China.

Not trusting one's own citizens and put them under constant surveillance is a nasty paranoia. 

I can understand, country like Belgium using that technique with their pretty bad use and experience  in West and Central Africa in the past.  

By the way, Kiro is an agentic AI-powered Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and command line interface (CLI) launched by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in July 2025 to streamline development from prototype to production. 

It is built on the Open Source Foundation of Visual Studio Code (Code OSS) and is designed to provide structured,  AI-assisted coding, particularly for complex tasks.

Modicia Simple Linux for Professionals.

Modicia Linux that comes from Italy is  very powerful distribution.

It is based on Cinnamon Desktop which I am not familar with.

It has no limit in creativity.

It is for

Photographers.

For Video Makers

Content creators

Mucicians

Graphic crratots

Ordinary users alike.

It is huge image.

One should download the Live image.

Password for Live Sessionnis "live'.

It needs at least 50GB /root partition.

It has GParted.

Installer is hidden in the System files.

Installer is Calamara.

Sit and enjoy a cup of tes  while it being installedd

Kernel is 6.12 and may have conflict with 6.18.

I gave up using it due to big size and space requirements.

Old kernel and it won't be shown with new kernel of Forkey.

One has to pick it up from the GRUB.

Debian had been using a big chunk of my Hard Disk and I did not use it often except storing Linux Images.

I increased the /root partition from my standard 30GB to 50GB to begin with.

I hope it would not drstroy my GRUB.

I believe it would not.

Modicia gave up on updating the GRUB file. I must find a way to boot it.

Ultimate Linux BootLoader is bit clumsy.

Talking about Linux big images Ultimate Developer Edition of Linux ARCH is 9.6GB.

I had to use my only 16GB USB stick. It needs at least 40GB space. It has everything including AutoCAD.

But I prefer Ultimate Gamer and installed everything including Blender.

Endaevour Neo OS installer

Afterlong time I decided to have a go at Endaevour Neo.

Last time round it could not exist with Debian and the rest in my NUC.

I could not install my favourite AbiWord.

Now, I do not like working on the Terminal to install AbiWord. It is only 311MB and has grown up from 68MB.

It was a commamd line utility now grown into a versatile Words Application.

It is a beautiful distribution but unlike BlueStar it is minimal.

I installed Ultimate Linux XFCE and it gives me only the desktop and nothing more.

With its Gamer Edition which I have I could use Discover install additional applications.

I am trying to download its KDE Developer edition and it takes hours to download.

As expected Endeavour OS installation crashed. That is what I am going to write in my book.

By the way, if you are instslling only Endeavour OS you can run it without a problem but you cannot install additional distributions

Elementary OS 8.1 does more sinisyer thing. Until one pays it takes you round endless circle.

My advice.

Do not use it.

It SUCKS your dollars.

CachyOS, NO Thank You

Thers is a BIG problem with CachyOS, one cannot onstall another distribution after installing CachyOS.

Like Neptune OS GRUB file is FROZEN with root privilege.

So CachyOS is not going to reside on my NUC.

By the way, I tried Endeavour OS.

It ruined my GRUB.

I in the process of recovering my GRUB using a long but comfortable process.

I am trying to download Ultimate Linux KDE Developer Edition.

Download process is in snail pace.

I have Ultimate Gamer without a File manager.

Ultimate Linux Gamer takes all the resources and I cannot install more than two tiny applications.

That includes Dolphin.

I have 13 different Linux instances in my NUC. I had difficulty in getting CachyOS in.

The secret is to install CachyOS last.

That is what I did.

But like Reborn OS instead of two letters, two numbers were introduced to my simple password.

I booted it once and went to sleep.

Today morning when I wanted to boot it, it would not.

Then I detected the problem.

Tested the keyboard response.

Well, I am installing Voyager on top of it.

Of course, I  tested whethet my Debian instsnces had similar logging problem.

They did not.

I stick to AI advice to me.

Do not install at night when you need sleep.

Have a good night sleep and install it during daytime when you are more alert.

That is what I am doing now.

Voyeger in Debian Trixie based.

BEBORN OS, NO Thank You.

I got both Reborn OS and CachyOS on my NUC. The trick is that CachyOS has to be installed last.

I did have problem with Reborn OS installing it on my Old Laptop.

It did not configure the keyboard of my laptop.

I get  number 4 for Key N.

There is no toggling key on my laptop keyboard to change from numbers to letters.

Well, I detected the same problem with CachyOS.

It had two numbers instead of the proper letters of my password.

I could not boot.

I am installing Voyager on top of CachyOS now.

Good Bye to both Reborn OS and CachyOS from my Old Laptop.

කොරෝනා වයිරස් කාලේ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ බලේ හිටියානම්?

කොරෝනා වයිරස් සම්බන්ද හැම ඉංග්‍රීසි ලිපියක්ම මේ බ්ලොක් එකේ තියනවා.

Kumar David මතක් වෙන්න නැවතත් සටහන් කලා.

කිසි කතාවක් නැහැ ඔක්කොම අනාගෙන, ජනතාවටම, බනිනවා සිකුරුයි.

ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හිරිහැර කරද්දී වැඩේ හරියට කරලා හිමින් සීරුවෙන් ඉවත් වුනා.

මුන් හිටියනම්, ඇම්ඹලයෝ වගේ එල්ලිලා ඉදියි. 

දස ලක්ෂ ගානක්‌ කපෝතිත් වෙයි.

WHO Announces Biggest Single Day Rise in COVID-19 Cases Globally

 

WHO Announces Biggest Single Day Rise in COVID-19 Cases Globally

 Reproduction

WHO Announces Biggest Single Day Rise in COVID-19 Cases Globally

By Kashmira Gander

The World Health Organization has reported the biggest increase in coronavirus cases in a single day, with the Americas bearing the brunt. 
According to a situation report by the U.N. health agency, 183,020 new cases were reported in the 24 hours preceding 10:00 CEST, June 21.

The total included 116,041 in the Americas, 20,248 in South-East Asia, 18,975 in the Eastern Mediterranean, 17,922 in Europe, 8,464 in Africa, and 1,370 in the Western Pacific.

Brazil, the U.S., and India reported the most new cases, at 54,771, 36,617, 15,413, respectively. 

In addition, over two thirds of new deaths were reported in the Americas, at 3,241 of 4,743.

Six months since the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, 468,331 people have died in 8,952,428 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. A total of 4,440,000 people have recovered.
As shown in the graphs by Statista below, the U.S. has the most confirmed cases at 2,279,879. That amounts to over a quarter of known cases worldwide. The U.S. is followed by Brazil, at 1,083,341, and Russia with 583,879. 
The U.S. also has the most recorded deaths at 119,977, versus 50,591 in Brazil and 42,717 in the U.K.

However, a model by Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) indicates that Brazil could surpass the U.S. and lead the world in deaths by August 1.
 

Last week, experts told Newsweek the U.S. could soon be hit by a rise in deaths, as cases have recently spiked in the south and west, and fatalities lag diagnoses.

Amanda M. Simanek, associate professor in epidemiology at the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told Newsweek the surge in cases may be the result of lockdown measures being eased too soon and/or increasing testing capacity with more cases getting detected.
"In many states, recent increases in cases are related to outbreaks of COVID-19 in food production facilities and congregate settings such as jails or assisted living centers where there is often rapid spread and a high number of cases detected in a short time frame, particularly when targeted testing is carried out," she said.
However, Peter Drobac, a physician and specialist in infectious diseases and public health at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, U.K., told Newsweek the idea increased testing is behind the rise is not supported by evidence.
"I'm extremely concerned that too little is being done to slow the spread of the virus in states where we're seeing surges," he said. "Political leaders are waving it away as a statistical anomaly. Many testing, contact tracing and isolation programs are still weak or non-existent. People are tired, anxious, insecure. Local governments are headed towards fiscal cliffs. And yet, this is just the beginning of the pandemic."

Sri Lankan runner's 'victory' in defeat!

 Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Sri Lankan runner's 'victory' in defeat! 

Sri Lankan runner's 'victory' in defeat! June 22, 2020, 8:07 pm

The runner was a senior in my village school run by the Church.

Mr. Tommy Arther who was our coach used to say.

"What matters is participation not winning".

Karu took the advice to the extreme by taking an extra lap at Tokyo! 

I only stuck to 100 meters (yards to be precise) where I was successful in the school and later in the University. 

I was my own coach! 

Reproduction

Sri Lankan runner's 'victory' in defeat!

June 22, 2020, 8:07 pm

Sunny Island by Ruhunu Puthra

In the year 1964, the Olympic Games were held in Japan. We were Ceylonese back then.

The best long distance runner of Sri Lanka at the time, R.J. Karunananda ran in the 10,000 metres event (400 meters x 25 laps). Twenty nine athletes from 17 nations participated in the event.

He found that with four more laps for him to run, William Mills of the United States had already romped home. Even after the others had finished running an undaunted Karu, proceeded to run the remaining four laps, with rare courage and firm determination, as a lone runner.

When he ran his first lap, some spectators jeered and at the 2nd lap, the crowd fell silent. Then there was applause, followed by massive cheering. The whole stadium was reverberating with the chant 'Karu Ceylon! Karu Ceylon!'

Finally, he finished the race amidst tumultuous cheering and a standing ovation from 60,000 spectators. On hearing it, the Duke of Edinburgh, who was the chief guest, came out to congratulate 'the most spirited loser' of the Olympic Games.

Soon after the race, he was interviewed by the press. Karu told the reporters "The Olympic spirit is not to win but to take part. So I came here, I took part in the 10,000 metre event and completed my rounds."

He was acclaimed as a hero by the Japanese media. Even though he did not win any medal, he won the hearts of many admirers all over the world and was the true winner of the people.

One would have thought that it was the end of the heroic story. It was not to be. The Japanese Government in its wisdom thought otherwise. His story was made into a chapter in a text book, accompanied by his photograph, as a life lesson in determination, integrity, courage, self-confidence and persistence, for the children.

Karu received a warm welcome when he returned to Sri Lanka.

Born on May 21, 1936, Karu was a soldier in the Sri Lanka Army. 

He continued to serve his motherland as a dedicated soldier when in 1975, he 'drowned' in the Namal Oya Tank.

Ranatunga J. Karunananda is an unsung Olympic hero of Sri Lanka.

Corona Reality and Covid Philosophy

 

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Corona Reality and Covid Philosophy

Corona Reality and Covid Philosophy

Corona reality is that the “ The God is not great” but the Tiny RNA polymerase is greater than the mankind’s capacity to withstand the mother nature’s secrets, which in this world of reality is about 4 billion years and not the stated 2700 years or less of Bible history of concocted nonsense!

I wanted to start this piece “That the Corona, the elder brother went in search of Reality and the younger brother Covid, went in search of Philosophy and neither met afterwards.

But I must say in spite of not knowing the reality did not stop philosophers from asking the right question at the right time.

The point I am driving at is very simple.

Spanish flu was endemic at the time of William James.

Millions died in the pandemic and that had probably made William James to revise his religious beliefs and become a philosopher of note.

The travesty is that hundred years had passed mankind's way and another virus of more virulent and potent has come to surface and man has neither made giant strides in philosophy nor religion.

I reserve my  opinion on science more so NOW not knowing the logics of dark matter and dark energy expanding the universe.

One of them was William James and he was deliberately stopped by the Church hierarchy, be that it may be Pope or Bishops with power struggle within the institution.

His book in 1902 was not allowed in academic institutions (mostly the Church and all the universities including American are vested with Gods, even the current President Trump has vouched to protect God if not institutions of Science) and after 100 years that book is in print and I bought a copy.

He studied medicine and later slanted his efforts on psychology.

I believe he had read Buddhism in some sense and described the mind as a stream that flows (river analogy) but stopped short of expanding into Abhidhamma.

His words like hysterical, pathological and delusional propensities of Bible readers and subsequent editors of Bible and Quran are all psychological connotations that the Church nor the Mullahs did not understand due to dogmatism of that age.

The coronavirus bare the impotency of the derived gods of many kinds including Buddhism and Hindu traditions.

My contribution here is that the aliens who visited here 5000 years or so ago for experiments on us (with a novel virus which the China had secretly copied from a sample inadvertently left at a Pyramid of Egypt -GIZA) did not see that Chinese are better than Japaneses in pirating Intellectual properties of any country.

I think Chinese are currently investigating on the virus that Chandana Jayaratne (not Dilith Jayaweera who has the sole property of current Ceylon News) claims and believes that came from space and in the possession of Colombo University’s archived leaves of Ceylonese history documents, which are older than our Universe.
By the way, I am not happy with the 5% or less of the physical world but the 95% of the dark matter and dark energy.

The ever expanding universe baffles me.

The multi-verses and alternative realities of physics beyond the reach of our physics or "New Science" is yet to materialize.

If it is not within our reality but will it be within the scope of philosophical conundrum?

My mind ponders and it is the biggest mysterious power we all have. 

Do not leave any dogmatism to rein within.

I call it the open mind.

Global COVID-19 cases exceed 8 million

 

Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Global COVID-19 cases exceed 8 million

Global COVID-19 cases exceed 8 million

Global COVID-19 cases exceed 8 million June 15, 2020, 9:20 pm

The overall number of global COVID-19 cases has surpassed 8 million, while the death toll has reached 435,848, according to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
With 2,093,508 cases and 115,732 deaths, the US continues with the world’s highest number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities, agency reports said quoting JHU sources.
In terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 867,624 infections.
This was followed by Russia (528,267), India (320,922), the UK (297,342), Spain (243,928), Italy (236,989), Peru (229,736), France (194,153), Germany (187,518), Iran (187,427), Turkey (178,239), Chile (174,293), Mexico (146,837), Pakistan (139,230), Saudi Arabia (127,541) and Canada (100,043), the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of the JHU figures showed.
Regarding fatalities, Brazil has overtaken the UK in the second position with 43,332 COVID-19 deaths.
The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (41,783), Italy (34,345), France (29,410), Spain (27,136) and Mexico (17,141).
Besides, 432,922 deaths recorded across the globe since the virus emerged in China late last year.
More than 3.7 million recoveries were also reported.
The worst-hit U.S. has recorded over 2 million confirmed cases, with115,732 deaths and Brazil has reported 867,624 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus with 43,332 deaths.
Russia is now in the third position with 528, 267 cases followed by India (320,922), United Kingdom (297,342) and Spain (243,928).
The UK has the third-highest death toll at 41,783, followed by Italy with 34,345, France 29,410 and Spain 27,136, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, Chinese health authorities said on Monday that they had received reports of 49 confirmed new COVID-19 cases in Chinese mainland on Sunday, of which 39 were local transmissions.
No new deaths were reported.
Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December last year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.

Antigen Systems

 Antigen Systems

HLA system

CD System

ABO System

Rhesus System

ABO System

All are oligisaccharides.

ceranide-glu-gal-gnac-gal-fucose 
H-Anigen (H-transferase)

ceramide-glu-gal-gnac-gal-fucose-galnac A-Antigen (A-transferase)

ceramide-glu-galgnac-gal-fucose-gal (B-Antigen (B-transferase)

Rhesus System

CDE/cde but d is not expressed

Bacterial cell wall antigens

Polysaccharide cell wall 

N-acetylglucosamine + 

N-acetylmuramide Acid

Polysaccharide backbone + glycine linkage

gnac N-acetylglucosamine

glac galactosamine

G N-acetylglucosamine Bacterial cell wall

M- N-acetylmuramic acid Bacterial cell wall

Coronavirus and My Resolve

 

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Coronavirus and My Resolve

Coronavirus and My Resolve

It is unfortunate when I started assimilating TRUE KNOWLEDGE and much later teaching in a higher education, I had to dish out my noted from a typewriter.

First things, I bought from my first salary in UK were a typewriter (English) and number of German super cameras.

I was a photographic fanatic from my childhood and I always had a primitive camera in my possession in Ceylon.

I never fathomed digital cameras and have number of outdated film loaded ones in my attic (as souvenirs) and now I have two digital cameras.

I have about 20 odd camera films (not developed) as a reminder of my old black and white printing in a makeshift room as a teenager.

I even bought a colour printer (gave it to safe keeping to a guy who ruined everything including my old Canon camera).

My latest addition was a microscope with digital camera (used by children in America) and the University where I worked did not have one for my research work as a geriatric adult with gray hair.

I hate selfie photos and cellphone cameras.

Sorry for the diversion and the type writer had done me lot of favours.

I use single handed (Ko-Ko System) type writing method with a coffee cup in my left hand (or a hand written note for typing a novel idea, like BSD or Linux).

I am now into BSD since, that is the only utility that can erase proprietary Windows in a flash and boot Debian instead.

So my type writer has helped me to use a keyboard in style while multitasking ideas in my brain.

Coming back to Coronavirus antigen system and antibodies, I found an old note of my genetic lectures for undergraduates.

I will type them below for my future reference.

Antigen Systems

HLA system

CD System

ABO System

Rhesus System

ABO System

All are oligisaccharides.

ceranide-glu-gal-gnac-gal-fucose 
H-Anigen (H-transferase)

ceramide-glu-gal-gnac-gal-fucose-galnac A-Antigen (A-transferase)

ceramide-glu-galgnac-gal-fucose-gal (B-Antigen (B-transferase)

Rhesus System

CDE/cde but d is not expressed

Bacterial cell wall antigens

Polysaccharide cell wall 

N-acetylglucosamine + 

N-acetylmuramide Acid

Polysaccharide backbone + glycine linkage

gnac N-acetylglucosamine

glac galactosamine

G N-acetylglucosamine Bacterial cell wall

M- N-acetylmuramic acid Bacterial cell wall

Coronavirus, the caveat

  Coronavirus, the caveat

I am writing this as a fully retired pathologist, who had seen, malaria,cholera, dengue and leptospirosis as a District Medical Officer in charge of a remote hospital in Kegalle.

I was not a Medical Officer of Health and met a M.O.H in courts briefly where Police Officer, School Inspector, MOH, Gam-muladani (Grama Seavaka) and another guy was charged in a murder case.

The police officer who led the case for prosecution had a cock and bull story to cover up the murder.

He was demoted later and wanted me to change the evidence to look like probably an accidental death (I only lead evidence not conviction) to cover up the blue murder.

I told him if he challenges me in courts, I would introduce more incriminating facts to the preliminary report later.

Not withstanding, he tried to intimidate me in courts and I told the magistrate, this is only a preliminary report and I will give you detailed report and productions later.

The judge smiling asked, the police officer any more questions and he said NO, Sir.

Making a blood film for malaria was mandatory in our time. 

I even diagnosed and confirmed (imported from Malaysia) a case in New Zealand.

I do not curry favour the government who is willing to scapegoat Election Commission (washing government's handling and responsibilities) and the poor Citizen Punchi Sincho to suffer at the polling booth with his old Identity Card, that would be contaminated with a full dose of the virus by the election officials who are not protected by PPE of high standard.

I also do not curry favour the poor health officers who are not really overwhelmed by the work load who are NOW supervised by a retired army officer with putative credentials and star studded uniform.

Universal testing with a 80% specificity and sensitivity is yet to be identified and swabbing and antigenic testing would have more false negative results than positive results.

In serology test ONLY a paired sample will indicate current infection and PCR can be easily contaminated in rapid multiplication cycles currently used in Ceylon.

It is mandatory to test both contacts and the wider population at risk to determine the final outcome which is in my opinion would be counted by years and not by months of surveillance.

Everybody forgets it has (both CHINA and WHO hold liability for not coming out with the full spectrum of symptoms and signs) an enteric mode of spread with long incubation period in a country where water supply is intermittent (rain or no rain) and washing the back or bottoms with left hand is a Cultural Trait and inadvertent rapid spread is fast and involuntary.

It spreads fast where density, mobility and human misbehavior are endemic.

The lockdown has temporary benefits and once the schools are opened (over 50% with no toilet facilities including private tutuories) one contact will infect over 100 or more.

The rain that has come would spread it out of control.

Army cannot control it. 

Our poor health service guys and girls will fall victim, just like in Italy and Spain.

I believe TB vaccination (over 80% immunized unlike in USA) give protection to respiratory symptoms but won't mitigate enteric infection and spread.

This is food for thought for all.

I was in quarantine mode longer than many due to my full retirement, which is a blessing in disguise.

Mind you I have put on weight and my trousers fit well.

I prefer the short now and take a bath with full cloths moment I come out of a light city sojourn, even under the thundering rain in the open.

I finish with a hot pail of water (which my mother long gone gave me after a long village trail in Kandy) a habit I learnt in my childhood.

Reproduction

Coronavirus Can Invade Our Intestines As Well As Our Lungs, Study Finds

By Kashmira Gander

The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can infect and replicate in human intestine cells, according to a study.

This may explain why some COVID-19 patients have gastrointestinal symptoms, Dutch researchers suggested in a paper published in the journal Science.

The coronavirus can invade and multiply in the human gut because the enzyme it uses to enter our cells is found in this part of the body, the team said.

The enzyme, called Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is also present in the respiratory system.

Why Are Some People With the Coronavirus Asymptomatic?

To reach their conclusion, the team took SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus which causes COVID-19) and cells from the human intestine and watched how they interacted in a lab.

After 24 hours, the virus had invaded some of the cells. After 60 hours "the number of infected cells had dramatically increased," the authors wrote.

Next, they examined which genes were at work in the intestinal cells using a technique called RNA sequencing. This revealed genes that fight off viral infections were active in the gut cells.

The project saw the team culture gut cells so they would have different levels of ACE2, to see if this would change their chances of being infected. They found cells were vulnerable whether or not they had high or low levels of ACE2.

Study co-author Bart Haagmans, a virologist at Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, commented in a statement: "The observations made in this study provide definite proof that SARS-CoV-2 can multiply in cells of the gastrointestinal tract.

"However, we don't yet know whether SARS-CoV-2, present in the intestines of COVID-19 patients, plays a significant role in transmission. Our findings indicate that we should look into this possibility more closely."

Read more

The team aren't the first to explore whether the coronavirus not only affects the respiratory system, causing common symptoms such as a dry cough and breathing difficulties, but other parts of the body too.

Last month, a study published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology involving 206 people in China showed diarrhea may be the first or only symptom some COVID-19 patients experience.

An article published in the journal the BMJ involving 96 people with COVID-19 in China found the coronavirus appeared to linger longer in some patients' stools than their respiratory system.

Brennan Spiegel, professor of medicine and public health at Cedars-Sinai and co-author of The American Journal of Gastroenterology study, told Newsweek in April: "I think the main message is COVID-19 is not just cough.He said: "We're starting to learn from our colleagues in China and around the world now that there's a large group of people who may not ever report for care, or at home with digestive symptoms—diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, less so abdominal pain but that too, low appetite—who are struggling to determine if they have COVID-19 or not."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have started in late 2019, more than 3.6 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University. 257,301 have died, and over 1.1 million are known to have survived. The U.S. is the country with the most cases, as the Statista graph below shows.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advice on Using Face Coverings to Slow Spread of COVID-19

    CDC recommends wearing a cloth face covering in public where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

    A simple cloth face covering can help slow the spread of the virus by those infected and by those who do not exhibit symptoms.

    Cloth face coverings can be fashioned from household items. Guides are offered by the CDC.

    Cloth face coverings should be washed regularly. A washing machine will suffice.

    Practice safe removal of face coverings by not touching eyes, nose, and mouth, and wash hands immediately after removing the covering

World Health Organization advice for avoiding spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Hygiene advice

    Clean hands frequently with soap and water, or alcohol-based hand rub.

    Wash hands after coughing or sneezing; when caring for the sick; before, during and after food preparation; before eating; after using the toilet; when hands are visibly dirty; and after handling animals or waste.

    Maintain at least 1 meter (3 feet) distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

    Avoid touching your hands, nose and mouth. Do not spit in public.

    Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or bent elbow when coughing or sneezing. Discard the tissue immediately and clean your hands.

Medical advice

    Avoid close contact with others if you have any symptoms.

    Stay at home if you feel unwell, even with mild symptoms such as headache and runny nose, to avoid potential spread of the disease to medical facilities and other people.

    If you develop serious symptoms (fever, cough, difficulty breathing) seek medical care early and contact local health authorities in advance.

    Note any recent contact with others and travel details to provide to authorities who can trace and prevent spread of the disease.

    Stay up to date on COVID-19 developments issued by health authorities and follow their guidance.

Mask and glove usage

    Healthy individuals only need to wear a mask if taking care of a sick person.

    Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.

    Masks are effective when used in combination with frequent hand cleaning.

    Do not touch the mask while wearing it. Clean hands if you touch the mask.

    Learn how to properly put on, remove and dispose of masks. Clean hands after disposing of the mask.

    Do not reuse single-use masks.

    Regularly washing bare hands is more effective against catching COVID-19 than wearing rubber gloves.

    The COVID-19 virus can still be picked up on rubber gloves and transmitted by touching.