You Tube is no better than Facebook
Good Bye to YouTube
YES, I am going to say Good Bye to YouTube.
You Tube is no better than Facebook
Good Bye to YouTube
YES, I am going to say Good Bye to YouTube.
Now all game boxes including Steam OS contribute directly and indirectly to Global Warming.
Linux was way behind the XBox of Microsoft in games.
Microsoft killed the innovations by enticing young with imaginary
games in the trend of Star Wars and Visual Basics and no line of Code
for creative work, while Linux has grown into 128 million lines in Code
in current Linux 5 Kernel.
Steam OS probably has used this kernel for Steam Deck and Dock
outsmarting Microsoft (would not win the never ending battle of Wits and
Wisdom or even a rematch).
It is cheap and under $400/=.
ASUS Tablet with more punch is $3000/=
ACER is little below $1500/=
Mind you, this is a Standalone PC with a Game Pack.
Incredible price and I hope the RDNA GPU supplies come good by December, if not the ZEN CPU.
I would recommend you to buy the next level of $500/= odd
version for connectivity to NVMe external drives instead of SATA, SSD
and eMMC disks.
SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment which is relatively slow.
All serial as opposed to parallel devices are slow by nature and draw power from the computer (no power jack is necessary).
All my external devices which I paid a fortune including to Imation needed separate power supply.
Companies that produce them are:
1. Western Digital
2. Seagate
3. Samsung
4. Toshiba
5. Adata
6. Sandisk
7. Imation (gone bust I believe)
8. Hitachi
All my hard disks are working (having used many a times, to boot
Linux and for Data and erased many a times in that process using
Gparted of Linux) except one portable Sandisk which I paid a lot. Sandisk's internal connection to USB 3 broke. There
was bad metal connection inside it (with all my portable data Lost),
that connects to the USB 3 connection wire (and then to the PC).
I do not recommend it.
SSD stands for Solid Sate Device with no moving parts for flash memory.
NVMe stands for Non Volatile Memory Express only for PC with PCIe slot in the mother board.
I think MMe means multimedia multiplexing environment and not a hard disk type.
This slot in the motherboard is used in earlier designs of
computers for graphic cards to support faster data transfer but now is
used by NVMe.
In old computers the RAM was limited to 1 GB RAM (32 bit
computers) and graphic was dedicated to a graphic cards to save RAM
memory and did not heat up when running.
Please do not accept a 32 bit computer even, if it is given free.
They are Energy Vultures and consume lot of electricity.
GPU means Graphic Processing Unit.
In old computers only the CPU was running hot and needed a heat sink and fans running, all the time to cool the computer.
When I was running 13 computers (32 bit) in our home network,
three of them caught fire when the temperature was hovering around 85 to
90 Fahrenheit.
Of course few of the Cathode Ray Tubes of TVs caught fire,too.
When these things happened, I started using thermometers for my pet fish tanks outside and they die at 84 Fahrenheit.
I stopped keeping fish in fish tanks altogether.
Wild fires in Canada and Australia are natural outcomes which Oil Ministers all over the globe ignored for over 70 years.
The new CPUs and GPUs are all integrated in thin wafer circuits
all into one motherboard and they consume more energy than old PCs and
without heat sinking measures, they are too hot to handle.
In cold countries with heating bills going up playing a game in a
box is a quick way to go to sleep with warmth (heat) to cushion you.
My PC has only PCI slots.
eMMC means embedded Multi Media Card and the controller system.
All the gadgets in this world contribute to global warming from production line to the user base at home.
Blaming only cars and vehicles is barking at the wrong tree.
The vehicles at least deliver goods.
What is the contribution of computers to the alleviation of hunger and poverty in the Globe (that Coronavirus has exposed us)?
Coming to Steam Deck and Dock.
I have to make a few early observations to counteract, mostly negative remarks.
I played my first game with kids with Atari.
Coming from a generation where children's toys were baby dolls
and motorized cars with hard to manipulate remote controllers, DOS video
games were master stroke in history of children games.
I must say I and my adult friends played them more than the kids.
For kids the games were passing stage of their childhood development.
But Disney Game on Lion King had a lasting impact.
Lion king was a classic film for kids and adults.
Playing golf was painful in.Atari.
Myself a good snooker and billiard player playing a billiard game on cellphone is very painful to say the least.
One needs applied mathematics brain to workout the game strategy
and lot of skill and practice to go with it, to pot a billiard ball (not
pools).
I used to beat British guys in UK and they see this little guy
from Ceylon humble them in billiards and snooker (mind you I did not
play with professional guys or in clubs).
Actually I win my post (out of 60 odd candidates) in a selection
interview by asking the interview board, is there a snooker table in the
hospital.
If they ask why, my ready made answer is I could practice playing
snooker while I wait for a patient to arrive from a distance or kill my
time practising alone till midnight.
Waking up from sleep to answer a call is very annoying and miserable thing.
But I was good at cat naps.
Watching TV or sipping beer was not my way and I never sip a
drink when on call and absolute concentration is necessary in critical
care.
With that background playing games with PlayStation with only two
games with the first buy was sucking dollars and pounds from poor
parents.
My son stop playing PlayStation in less than two months.
My daughter loved reading and that also fiction.
Me a reader in Science and Technology.
I cannot find four partners to play Bridge now but I play Bridge using a cellphone.
I try to improve my game.
Bottom line is boys love playing video games but only a few girls play video games.
The Coronavirus has made girls to join the Band Wagon of video games.
That is a good thing but ignore their comments about Steam Deck and Dock.
Mind you, these guys come from Windows and Apple background and does not know what is Linux.
The current Linux 5 Kernel can handle many graphic cards, if the
O.E.M. guys volunteer their specifications to the Linux developers.
Equally they have some game boxes from childhood that they have
Pathological Attachment (term pathology has disease connotation here) to
those devices.They are all biased in their opinions and they are not
comparative or balanced.
I see Steam Deck 2 coming in the future since old guys like me have visual problems to counter and I prefer a very BIG Display.
Coronavirus has added lot of grannies and grand dads playing Steam Games.
The joystick and touch pads will improve coordination problems,
especially after mild form of stroke and if, I am one of the directors
of the hospital, I would order some Steam Deck and Dock items for both
children and geriatric patients.
So if you are philanthropist please keep my above observation as a reference point.
Steam should focus the global nature of games.
If we can cut down on the pills and if Steam contributes to that
goal, even a little childhood fancy game played by a sick adult is a
bonus to recovery.
It is very big thing!
Back to home for recuperation.
It has a relatively big display screen which is touch sensitive.
This display is not BIG enough for my age.
It has both touch pad and two joysticks.
It has SD card ports to upgrade capacity but playing with SD card is not an option.
SD card slows the system.
It has Linux OS (Steam OS 3) and probably latest KDE plasma, I guess.
Mind you it is coming in December and book now.
There is no crowd sourcing and it has got capital from Steam Machine sales in the years gone by.
Steam Valve is the operating company.
It is a standalone PC for a work desk.
Since it is a PC one can install
1. Windows 10 or 11 with Steam running on top of Windows.
2. It can run on any Linux distribution that supports Steam
(since Steam is Linux almost all Linux distributions support it but one
has to purchase Steam games).
3. Why not run on its own Steam OS 3 and enjoy 50,000 games you will never finish in a life time?
It has Photon which is modified Wine that runs Windows games on Linux box.
It is a Three In One Game Box.
It has AMD CPU Zen and AMD RDNA GPU.
What a nice combination to beat Intel architecture owned by Lenova in China.
It beats, IBM based of Lenova in China by a big margin.
It has ports in the dock for all the connectivity and WiFi connection off the dock.
No need of PS5 of Sony and XBox of Microsoft.
Linux is the winner after all.
The best buy in the market today.
I have a Console of a Cheap Chinese made Copycat in which I could not not play a single game. I paid a big sum in Rupees.
It's keyboard could not type my 18 digit alpha numeric password for WiFi connectivity to download new games.
I tried even in French Keyboard but failed.
So do not buy cheap Chinese stuff.
Chinese alphabet is a graphic design not alphanumeric like the English Keyboard.
Luckily the computer software and hardware are based on the English keyboard for instructions.
It can be hacked but not easily duplicated in China.
That is why they are developing Kline OP in China.
The Chinese are very bad in typing English and Linux Code.
If not for American's base in Taiwan and British in Honk Kong
Chinese ambition to go to Mars bypassing the Van Allen Belt is only a
daydream.
They are number one Copycats on this planet.
According to AI
Here are the specific details of what the CIA built:
The Device: The CIA's system was code named Discus. It was a massive upgrade from their earlier, clunkier 1970s prototype, "Buster," which required a shoe-box-sized base station.
Capabilities: Discus consisted of two handheld terminals small enough to fit in a coat pocket. It featured a built-in keyboard and automatically encrypted cipher messages. It could transmit text data to a second receiving unit (held by a case officer) from hundreds of feet away.
Historical Context: While Discus was a major leap forward for intelligence tradecraft, it was entirely distinct from the cellular networks consumers know today. The very first true handheld cell phone network and cellular calls were independently pioneered by Motorola and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) between 1973 and 1979.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
I do not use a Mobile
Mind you I have a land phone.
Read this in tandem with attention deficit (new syndrome defined by me) below.
This is something I posted elsewhere.
I have 100 or more reasons why I do not have or use a cellphone.
I will list them as they come to my mind but not in any order of priority.
As
an intern, I hated all calls mobile included since it meant, a batch of
new arrival of small kids who have arrived in absolutely appalling
condition.
Some of them fitting due to low blood sugar nearing zero.
In fact, I had 8 to 10 kids whose blood sugar and CSF sugar levels were down to zero.
The
government at that time told the public it was due to encephalitis and I
proved them wrong even before my medical registration completed.
I used to take blood samples to Medical Research Laboratory in Borella and come the next week to collect the reports.
This is during Sirima and NM and Covinn time.
Then in 6 months later when I went to collect my own data they had disappeared mysteriously from, medical records.
Then, what I did subsequently, I have to pen down on a latter date of my life, nearing my death.
One
thing was sure, leaving this messy Health Service and I decided to
leave the Public Health Service for good and I was glad I did that and
if you read Dengue Dilemma elsewhere, in my writings, one can easily
guess it.
It has deteriorated in quality even though, it has expanded.
As a doctor, I hated bad news by telephone.
We rarely hear good news when on duty.
Later in life when cellphone came, I believed in CPP (Calling Party Pays) and flatly refused a cellphone.
It is a public nuisance.
It is a nuisance when the cellphone owner has switched it off when one really need him / her.
When
you travel on a public transport one cannot have a snooze to drown the
inconvenience with frequent telephone interruptions.
I love silence in public places.
Even though, I don’t use it, I have to foot the bill (kid's telephone bills).
No work get done in public officers.
They are busy answering their private calls of nature and it is more frequent than the real call of nature.
It is cheaper to redirect a message by email that should end up as a junk or a piece of gossip.
We use it for gossip not for creative work.
It
is private enemy number one when you own a debt the bank or telephone company a
small sum in arrears and the reminders by them costs more than the
amount you actually own them.
I think you got the picture correct.
I think it is enough for today but I will add more on future date when I run short of a topic to write.
Memory and Gadgets
Attention Deficit Related (Mundane gadgets like tablets) to Technology Addiction.
Many
years ago, I posted an article on the web regarding memory specially in
reference to Buddhist Monks of yesteryear (not today´s TV acting
Maha Mewna Type) and all the points except my assertion on Mediation
Practice (focused attention on the present moment) was copied by an
Author of the Scientific American Publication and most recently by
another author.
This is one reason, I thought of writing a few books before my memory fails by default and due to old age.
It is rather loss of short term memory and now I have coined a fancy Medical Term.
Few
years ago (I still do not take a note or reminder but devised a 24 hour
simple protocol to enhance day to day activity), I noticed lapses in my
memory and got activated.
1. I won´t use the telephone but buy the cheapest cellphone when I go abroad and drop it to a bin at the airport
(this is the biggest handicap and in the middle of your work, one may
give a call with a low priority-gossip related call).
When I
tried to do that long time ago, one of my relatives in Singapore asked
for it and duly obliged. Another one I used for sometime gave it free to
a classmate of mine.
His son had lost his expensive cellphone when traveling to Colombo by bus.
Who Cares for an expensive cellphone.
Thank
God, one can switch off the cell, then what is the use of a telephone,
if it is not doing it's job, simply transfer a message.
I use my land phone at my discretion since I pay the bill.
Not even the Telecom (delay in payment) or the a bank officer can break that law and break into my freedom.
2. Won´t sit in front of the TV and watch web videos unless it is related to animals, especially Elephants.
One Baby Elephant dead was trapped in a tree in this country.
There
is a video of an elephant mum protecting its young baby from hyenas (we
have to protect the young one's from political hyenas and some rabid
monks in saffron cloth).
3. I live with living things, the dog, fish, and plants, including water plants.
All
three will die if I do not have some simple protocol, not so rigid but
to remind me that there are other life forms on this planet, in relation to
me.
Fortunately fish can go on for 10 days without food.
If neglected any longer toxic algae will kill them.
A dog will die within three days without water, if there is no care giver.
Believe it or not Dogs never use telephones even in an emergency.
They only BARK.
My dog in particular will start barking for no reason when I am on the phone.
He wants me to stop talking quickly and he has not got a degree in economics but he knows how to cut my telephone bill.
The garden will go to wilderness in no time.
All
these little things one has to be mindful, however busy one is in day
to day life, even if one has servants to look after these odd jobs.
They will never do them right in my experience.
4. Use the computer and the email productively.
5. Keep in touch with family and family friends in person.
When one sees a friend, just stop for a few minutes and greet them and have some empathy. You may not see them again could even be run over by a vehicle driven by a fast track lumpen with a cellphone in hand.
I
am predicting now with Facebook and low priority web videos, the
present young generation will hit a very low point, in their middle age
with Attention Deficit and I am going to coin the Medical Term,
Attention Deficit Related to (Mundane gadgets like tablets) Technology
Addiction (AD-R-TA- RTA stands for Road Traffic Accidents and some of
these gadgets may trigger an accident on the road too).
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
I do not use a Mobile
Mind you I have a land phone.
Read this in tandem with attention deficit (new syndrome defined by me) below.
This is something I posted elsewhere.
I have 100 or more reasons why I do not have or use a cellphone.
I will list them as they come to my mind but not in any order of priority.
As
an intern I hated all calls mobile included since it meant, a batch of
new arrival of small kids who have arrived in absolutely appalling
condition.
Some of them fitting due to low blood sugar nearing zero.
In fact, I had 8 to 10 kids whose blood sugar and CSF sugar levels were down to zero.
The
government at that time told the public it was due to encephalitis and I
proved them wrong even without my medical registration completed.
I used to take blood samples to Medical Reaserch Laboratory in Borella and come the next week to collect the reports.
This is during Sirima and NM and Covinn time.
Then in 6 months later when I went to collect my own data they had disappeared mysteriously from, medical records.
Then, what I did subsequently, I have to pen down on a latter date of my life, nearing my death.
One
thing was sure, leaving this messy Health Service and I decided to
leave the Public Health Service for good and I was glad I did that and
if you read Dengue Dilemma elsewhere, in my writings, one can easily
guess it.
It has deteriorated in quality even though, it has expanded.
As a doctor, I hated bad news by telephone.
We rarely hear good news when on duty.
Later in life when cellphone came, I believed in CPP (Calling Party Pays) and flatly refused a cellphone.
It is a public nuisance.
It is a nuisance when the cellphone owner has switched it off when one really need him / her.
When
you travel on a public transport one cannot have a snooze to drown the
inconvenience with frequent telephone interruptions.
I love silence in public places.
Even though, I don’t use it, I have to foot the bill (kid's telephone bills).
No work get done in public officers.
They are busy answering their private calls of nature and it is more frequent than the real call of nature.
It is cheaper to redirect a message by email that should end up as a junk or a piece of gossip.
We use it for gossip not for creative work.
It
is private enemy number one when you own the bank or telephone company a
small sum in arrears and the reminders by them costs more than the
amount you actually own them.
I think you got the picture correct.
I think it is enough for today but I will add more on future date when I run short of a topic to write.
Memory and Gadgets
Attention Deficit Related (Mundane gadgets like tablets) to Technology Addiction.
Many
years ago, I posted an article on the web regarding memory specially in
reference to Buddhist Monks of yesteryear (not today´s TV acting
MahaMewna Type) and all the points except my assertion on Mediation
Practice (focused attention on the present moment) was copied by an
Author of the Scientific American Publication and most recently by
another author.
This is one reason, I thought of writing a few books before my memory fails by default and due to old age.
It is rather loss of short term memory and now I have coined a fancy Medical Term.
Few
years ago (I still do not take a note or reminder but devised a 24 hour
simple protocol to enhance day to day activity), I noticed lapses in my
memory and got activated.
1. I won´t use the telephone but buy a
cheapest cellphone when I go abroad and drop it to a bin at the airport
(this is the biggest handicap and in the middle of your work, one may
give a call with a low priority-gossip related call).
When I
tried to do that long time ago, one of my relatives in Singapore asked
for it and duly obliged. Another one I used for sometime gave it free to
a classmate of mine.
His son had lost his expensive cellphone when travelling to Colombo by bus.
Who Cares for an expensive cellphone.
Thank
God, one can switch off the cell, then what is the use of a telephone,
if it is not doing it's job, simply transfer a message.
I use my land phone at my discretion since I pay the bill.
Not even the Telecom (delay in payment) or the a bank officer can break that law and break into my freedom.
2. Won´t sit in front of the TV and watch web videos unless it is related to animals, especially Elephants.
One Baby Elephant dead was trapped in a tree in this country.
There
is a video of an elephant mum protecting its young baby from hyenas (we
have to protect the young one's from political hyenas and some rabid
monks in saffron cloth).
3. I live with living things, the dog, fish, and plants, including water plants.
All
three will die if I do not have some simple protocol, not so rigid but
to remind me that there are other lifes on this planet, in relation to
me.
Fortunately fish can go on for 10 days without food.
If neglected any longer toxic algae will kill them.
A dog will die within three days without water, if there is no care giver.
Believe it or not Dogs never use telephones even in an emergency.
They only BARK.
My dog in particular will start barking for no reason when I am on the phone.
He wants me to stop talking quickly and he has not got a degree in economics but he knows how to cut my telephone bill.
The garden will go to wilderness in no time.
All
these little things one has to be mindful, however busy one is in day
to day life, even if one has servants to look after these odd jobs.
They will never do them right in my experience.
4. Use the computer and the email productively.
5. Keep in touch with family and family friends in person.
When one sees a friend, just stop for a few minutes and greet them and have some empathy.
You may not see them again could even be run over by a vehicle driven by a fast track lumpen with a cellphone in hand.
I
am predicting now with Facebook and low priority web videos, the
present young generation will hit a very low point, in their middle age
with Attention Deficit and I am going to coin the Medical Term,
Attention Deficit Related to (Mundane gadgets like tablets) Technology
Addiction (AD-R-TA- RTA stands for Road Traffic Accidents and some of
these gadgets may trigger an accident on the road too).
Cellphone, Technology, Linux, Cryptocurrency, Politics and Global Warming
17.07.2021
Cellphone, Technology, Linux, Cryptocurrency, Politics and Global Warming
This is a Meditative Nimitta for the Wesak Poya
Part of this is a dream and part of it is not a dream but I won’t tell which is which, one has to figure out which is which.
Let me dish it out.
There was a hermit levitating on a T-Junction in this country.
Which part of the country is a top secret, only the defense establishment knows it.
Denomination of the hermit one has to guess.
By higher order decree I am not supposed to declare. This order is not from Maha Brahma, The Greatest.
This hermit is blind but has a wonderful ear for gossip.
Fortunately the story starts with a rabbit.
He was running and in full flight to escape from a funny fox called Lyon Fox of international repute. This fox is four legged and certainly not two legged variety one sees in our parliament.
He was on full flight and suddenly came across the blind hermit sitting right across his path at the T-Junction.
He took a giant leap and had a direct spray of his number 1 on the face of the hermit in meditation mode. A full blown watery paint packed with androids (which one does not need even a brush to paint).
Jet spray of the rabbit did put the mind of the hermit into ecstasy.
Oh, Holy Water said the hermit.
What nonsense.
This hermit must be totally blind.
Then the rabbit said loudly,
“the fox won’t catch not even my Ata Deaka”.
He, thought to himself.
I am lucky this hermit is blind lest he might reroute the fox in my direction.
In a little later, the fox came in fully exhausted put his Ferrodo Brake in front of the hermit.
Politely asked the hermit, did you see a rabbit coming this way?
I wouldn’t know but what I know is that he is a male, the hermit replied.
What a revelation fox talked to himself.
He sprayed his landmark paint on the hand of the hermit that was stretching downwards, pointing to earth.
Neither to the right nor the left.
The Fox was expecting it to be in the direction of the way the rabbit went.
The hermit said Oh, Holy Water for the second time.
What a a lucky day for me in meditation.
The hermit took a little bit of “not so holy water” from the other hand and applied on his top of his head, thinking that in no time he will be in Jhana or Trance State.
Fox was bemused and looked up and sniffed to realize that the rabbit's urine was on the hermit’s face and not on the ground for him to trace the path of the rabbit.
He moved up confused not knowing that the hermit was blind or gone mad due to the scorching heat.
Then when the hermit was almost in trance state a very prominent Imam came with his hat in his hand and asked the hermit “could you hide my hat for a few minutes”.
Why should I hide your hat
I probably would wear it.
It is very hot know?
That is for you to decide and please be discreet about it.
Why?
There is a Buddhist monk and an army deserter are coming after me.
Why?
Simply, because I am wearing this hat.
What will happen if I wear it for you.
I would not know but please be discreet about it.
Have you got Holy Water with you?
I had two incidents of “Holy Water, sprayed on my face and hand and if I get the third dose of Holy Water, I might even attain a highest level of meditation.
We are not supposed to drink Holy Water.
But you may ask the army deserter who is coming me.
He took his leave and entered the path which the fox took.
Then the army deserter came in and stopped at the T-Junction and asked the hermit, directing his bayonet up “did you see a man wearing a hat”.
He said no.
Don’t con?
I am totally blind but he did come this way and left very quickly.
I see.
Shall I give you the hat?
What hat?
The hat he was wearing?
I do not want his hat.
I want the man, the army deserter replied.
As he was leaving, the hermit asked for Holy Water and the ex-army man, said.
No problem, Sir.
Here is the pouch.
You can have all of it.
Thank you Sir, the hermit said.
Before he could sip a bit of the Holy Water, the monk with his saffron cloth tugged up came in.
Did you see a man wearing a hat?
I would not know?
You Cheat said the monk and proceeded up.
As he was leaving the hermit said,
If you take the path the army deserter took you will have Non Halal Meat.
If you take the path the man without a hat went.
You are sure to get Halal Meat.
Confused the monk took the path which the army deserter took.
Then after a while a Catholic Priest came in looking for his Holy Water.
He stopped at the T-Junction.
Took his hat off.
Exchanged pleasantries and said that he was coming after the ex-army man but he could not keep pace with him.
Which direction did he go.
I would not know?
But I can give you the Holy Water and the Pouch with the Inscribed U.S.A. in the Bottle.
How come?
He told him it was a very successful Meditation Day and he had Holy Water for the third time.
That calls for celebrations, said the priest.
They consumed what was left of the Holy Water and in a little while both of them were in high heaven without any meditative effort.
They parted in a little while and the Catholic Priest thank the hermit profusely for the company and the lost and found inscribed Holy Bottle.
In parting he said I would have lost the Diocese if I did not replace it by next Sunday.
No problem, said the hermit and if you drop in this way please bring some more Holy Water and I do not care in which bottle it comes in.
No problem said the Catholic Priest, shall I bring “Ata Atack” to go with it.
Thank You.
PS.
This I did not want to send it to Maha Brahma but with some hindsight, I did send it for his perusal.
For the first time I had a barrage of questions from him and less of a interpretation.
Questions were;
1. What is this Halal?
2. Why do you wear a hat?
3. What is holy water?
4. What is Ata Deaka?
5. What is Ata Ata?
6. What is inscription?
7. What is T-junction?
8. What is Ferrodo Brake?
9. What is diocese
10.What is Holy Bottle?
And many more mundane questions.
This is the first time I got such a audience from Maha the Greatest.
I decided to include the answers in my book, the third edition of Dreams and not in a blog post.
Only problem is I still have not found a proper cover photograph for the book. After a little soul searching, I decided to put a photo of a Chameleon. That foots the bill in my belief, since as a Sri-Lankan, I have to change my colour instantly depending on to whom I relate my day to day problems.
I am going to wear several hats (not Prof De Bono's Hats) with multi-coloured layers (Skins) and shed layer by layer, like what reptiles do.
Shedding a layer of skin from time to time.