What should I do with my email when I finally kick the bucket?

What should I do with my email when I finally kick the bucket?

I have enormous amount of web writing varying from Bullshit to Buddhism.

My Bullshit is visited by many including Americans.

It is currently at 70,000/= and I think 50,000 of it is my own visits (I have blocked my visits now).

I want it to pass 100,000 before I kick the bucket and you may help by visiting it.

The blogspot is called parafox at Google and mind you most of it is GOO like Guha Goda or Goo Goda in Kandy.

My erudite or better but Buddhist, philosophical and political one's are at Asokaplus at Wordpress.

Type Asokaplus and Buddhism and you get to those contents, hardly a few visit them (Not even me) by accident.

What it means is Web is mostly junk and do not sit in front of your computer like me for hours on end but go and visit your friends.

Till I get 100,000 visits I have decided not to socialize with anybody except myself.

You can get me out of this serious malady by visiting parafox at least once a day not in the morning but before going to bed.

That is the time I open my emails (many in fact) and post blogposts.

I have decided not to do that in the morning since our industrial action is suspended not over yet.

I will finish this bullshit by posing a question which you should help me to solve.

It is a radical and political problem.

What should I do with my email when I finally kick the bucket.

Your suggestions are put in my blogspot (parafox) not in any order of merits.

Ideally one should post a comment here instead of sending me an email.

Booting Netbook with a SD Card

Booting Netbook with a SD Card

I was lucky to find a Netbook with reasonable RAM with hard disk more than 100 GiB.

It also had SuSe enterprise edition to make a good buy in Sri-Lanka.

There was no buyer for it until I discovered it in a shop in Kandy.

Dealer was not a computer expert but a good salesman.

I could negotiate a good price having convinced him nobody will buy it (except perhaps me) with Linux as an operating system and if he has to install Microsoft there will be additional cost for him.

He won’t be able to boot it from a Flashdrive and he needs a USB DVD ROM to boot Microsoft.

That was some additional expense for the buyer.

Then I came home since I did not have spare cash (they stopped the salary for 3 months) because of the strike action.

Three months was a long time and I negotiated a loan from the bank and bought it, a week after initial negotiation.

Having bought tit I left it without using it since SuSe 10 was very old for me with OpenOffice instead of Libre Office.

In addition I could not get any additional software without registering with Novel (just like one register with Microsoft).

this was annoying for me to say the least.

I did not won’t a somewhat Virtual Guy taking control of my Linux Freedom.

Equally I did not want to lose warranty.

Then I realized only a few of the Linux distribution were compatible with Netbooks.

Finally I found Pinguy with all the software (11 series of Pinguy-Ubuntu derivative) including gParted and UnetBootIn and even Ubuntu One.

So one day I eased everything and booted and installed Pinguy.

I of course tried resizing the partition to get some space for Pinguy but it did not boot SuSe afterward..

In any case the partitioning done by the foreign vendor was horrible and did not have any understanding of Linux I believe.

That is the long story and the little story is how i booted it with a SDHC Memory Card.

Again I had to delay this due monetary reason.

Two days after we suspended the strike action I was in full swing and saw a 16 GiB SDHC Card and bought it using my credit card.

Methods and Materials.

1. Netbook

2. Linux image written on a DVD (Pinguy in this case).

3. Couple of Flashdrives.

4. USB Hard drive.

5. SD or SDHC

6. DVD RW Writer, optional.

7. Laptop for getting things ready with a DVD.

8. If not a Desktop. In my case the downloading was done with the desktop and all the Linux images were copied subsequently to the USB Hard disk.

STEPS.

1. Install Pinguy.

2. Using Pinguy prepare either USB Flash Drive (UnietBootIn) or USB hard drive as spare Live systems(Using Live DVD).

3. Boot Pinguy with SDHC card in slot.

4. Use gParted to partition SDHC Card.

5. First partition has to be FAT32 (in my case 4 GB FAT 32,  4 GiB NTFS and 8 GiB Ext4)

6. Run UnetBootIn and I gave the path to where my Linux Pinguy image was (in the USB Hard Disk). Be careful of the nomenclature of the disk names (HDD 1 Sda2, Sda 3 etc) and where it should be installed (in this case SDHC Card).

in about one has a bootable SD Card.

7. Boot it to see whether the installation is right.

8. Follow the same procedure for Flashdrives and test to see whether they work and remove them and place them in a safe place (Use them in case your original system breaks down. It rarely happens with Linux though and in my case never but when accidentally I format partitions with an operating system, I fall, back to the live CD/DVD.

Now it is Flashdrives and SD Cards both of which are environmentally sound as compared to CD/DVDs which are not.

Good luck if you are trying my experiments to get a hang of Linux.

NEMO! Who was he?

NEMO!

Who was he?

I only knew about the Waltz Disney character the Fish but never knew the name NEMO had a long history.

Below is a reproduction of Google’s contribution  to Winsor McCay on his 107 birth day anniversary.

Please Go and Visit Google and Doodle please.

Google Doodle Winsor McCay

The Google Doodle tribute to Winsor McCay

Google has celebrated the 107th anniversary of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland with one of the search engine's most elaborate doodles ever.

The doodle recreates the adventures of the main fictional character from the illustrator's comic strips, which first appeared on 15 October 1905 in the New York Herald.

Widely regarded as one of the great figures in the comics form, McCay's bold and stylistic innovations in the early part of the 20th century redefined what the medium could do and set a standard followed by Walt Disney in decades that followed.

Born in Michigan in either 1869 or 1871 – the date is disputed – McCay received some basic art training while attending business school before going to work in the printing and engraving industry in Chicago. He later moved to Cincinnati, where his first major comic strip series was A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle, which appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer over more than 40 instalments.

Little Nemo, based on the adventures of a boy of around six-years-old, ran in the New York Herald from 1905 to 1911. The strip, which ran only on Sundays, features Nemo's adventures as he tries to reach the Princess of Slumberland, daughter of King Morpheus, who desires Nemo for a playmate.

McCay was hired by William Randolph Hearst in 1911 and went to work on Hearst's New York American, a morning newspaper, as an editorial cartoonist. He also started to experiment with animated cartoons and creating the classic Gertie the Dinosaur as well as a short Little Nemo film.

McCay died on 26 July 1934 of a cerebral embolism.

USB Booting with Linux

USB Booting with Linux

This piece long overdue.

The real reason is our strike and I was doing three times the work I had not done at home and was organizing my living room and workshop.

These were done on a leisurely pace not in a rush as when I was working.

My dog took a lot of time of me which he really enjoyed and the little squirrel is a bundle of energy.

All the same I got all my computers USB bootable one by one.

I have used only two methods.

Method 1

I. UnetBootIn and get the stuff copied to a USB stick.

this has disadvantages.

UnetBootin takes over the flash drive entire and one cannot have storage space except of course home folder.

It uses only FAT partition

One cannot get the GRUB installed with your existing operating systems in the hard drive booted.

The real advantage is one can make any iso image bootable provided that one has enough space in the USB stick and your RAM is at least 1 GiB.

Anything less is not advisable.

Method 2

This is the method I prefer since in an emergency, the hard drive systems can be booted in a breeze or if they are not working one can boot up with the external hard disk and start doing repair work from there if the operating system used in the USB hard drive is packed with Rescue utilities .

One can use Rescatux.

But here I will take PCLInux as an example.

Its USB Creator is now solid and very good (latest download after Texstar took a back seat).

One has to use the PCLinux USB Creator

1. The advantage is it uses Linux Partitions.

2. It writes the GRUB already in the Master Boot record.

3. One has to do the installation once one has finished all the installation in the Internal Hard disk/s.

4. It has storage more space.

5. In my case my archived isos reside on the spare NTFS partitions

6. It is easy carry in your front shirt pocket and one cannot lose or misplace it like the Flash Drive.

7. Password protected and safe with your critical data 

I have not given the details since all that is there in this blog under different titles.

Other reason is to thank the PCLinux team for doing a good job without making a big ha ho.

Thank YOU PCLinux Guys and Girls.

Pooches, poo and "crottes de chien"

Dear Friends.

Since our strike is suspended and in suspensions (not underwear) for now, till the real budget comes in November, let us read some real news.

If we continued with the strike we would have had POOS up to our BRIM not dogs of course and I get the information, they we collecting by the buckets.

Years ago Kandy had Bucket latrines and thank god the Municipality discontinued this procedure.

We had to go to Guha Goda- (I think it was derived from Gu Goda which the British could not pronounce and went as Guhagoda) in our public health appointment and unfortunately when we reached there they were unloading the Municipality products.

That was the first and the last day I went there.

But it was a good opportunity for me to put some insight into practice later when I started as an intern.

At Ratnapura Hospital, The Children Diarrhoea Ward was no different from Gu Goda or Guha Goda.

I requested that it should be cleaned on several occasions but the staff took me as joke, it was never cleaned it continued to be Gu Goda.

I came home for weekend break and returned on Monday in probably five or six buses (all the bridges were blasted by the JVP from Kegalle to Darniegala to BulathKohupitiya).

I gave instruction for it to be cleaned when I return on Monday

I went straight to the  diarrhoea ward to see it was in the same mess as it was on Friday.

I talked to few of the mothers told the nurses to get me some KOSU (Mops were not known) and I myself changed to a short (not a trouser) and started cleaning it from one end to the other.

Then, the laboures came and chased them away saying I do not need them.

This was hot news that day and children were piling up in the main ward not seen by (the other guy who was from Colombo did not turn up on time and came only at 11 A.M.) a doctor.

I only saw the diarrhoea patients till the other guy came.

When I got the news that the other guy came. 

I went to my room had a bathe and a cup of tea.

I used to make my own cup of tea.

I had a brand new electric kettle (these were the time we did not have tooth paste) which my brother brought from UK.

Mind you all the doctors in the hospital had Infectious Hepatitis in that year. except me.

I believe I was the only one who practiced simple hygiene.

This was many moons ago and we would been in a mess, like Guha-Goda, if we continued on our action and could have got Infectious Hepatitis instead of a salary hike.

READ MORE,

Dogs and Digital Tombs

Dogs and Digital Tombs

This is the best feature article I read during Christmas,2011.

Unfortunately it is taken off the main page and I had to search for it today.

I have some extracts below for your perusal.

I have a suggestion for French and People in Paris.

Instead of stoned tombs in the cemetery, they should have a server with DIGITAL TOMB with all the photographs and videos of the dogs when they were alive and well for not so dog lovers or dog loving Sri-Lankan administrators to see.

For the poo ("crottes de chien"), I have suggestion, they must send them to Sri-Lanka as fertilizer for the Banana Plantation we are growing in the thick of virgin forest to feed American entrepreneurs.

We love anything including "poo", if it is foreign but make sure they are scented with French cosmetics for poos, please.

This is good for our City Planners in Kandy and Colombo where dogs are rounded up and slaughtered and some end in dinner plates as "chicken substitute".

It is no point saying all the beings be happy and content like a mantra.

Without them (dogs) we cannot protect our things from petty thieves.

Extracts

The pampered pooches of Paris

By Joanna Robertson Paris

Pet dogs in the French capital appear to enjoy the freedom of the city, accompanying their owners just about everywhere - and even have their own cemetery.

The pampered pooches of Paris

By Joanna Robertson Paris

Pet dogs in the French capital appear to enjoy the freedom of the city, accompanying their owners just about everywhere - and even have their own cemetery.

There are hundreds of thousands of dogs in Paris.

They can be chosen from puppy-shop windows or ordered from countryside breeders.

They are seen traveling about the city, nestled amongst the groceries in shopping trolleys or peering out of handbags.

Dogs perch on the running boards of mopeds - ears flying in the wind - or sit, swathed in blankets, in bicycle baskets.

They are petted on the bus, the tram and the metro and, for a flat-rate ticket costing 5.10 euros (£4.25), the smaller ones can escape the metropolis and take the train to anywhere in France.

Access all areas

When on all four paws, dogs in Paris can choose from 72 gardens to walk in - from formal palace grounds to tiny urban squares.

In between, they can mark lamp-posts, trees, ornamental masonry and the corners of Art Nouveau metro stations to their hearts' content.

Paris dogs snooze under cafe tables and sit politely in restaurants.

They are allowed into shops - even when officially not - and, from time to time, sneak into cinemas, usually for a matinée on a wet afternoon.

Each dog has its own preferred vet and there are hundreds to choose from.

Each vet has a preferred dog diet. Calves liver, braised. A little "blanc de poulet" (white chicken meat) or a slice of rare roast beef.

What goes in must come out, and Paris dogs apparently drop 20 tons (20,000 kg) of "crottes de chien" (dog poo) on the city's streets every day, although who exactly weighs it remains a question that even the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) cannot answer.

From time to time, the city's more creative residents have used the crottes as pavement art, sticking them with coloured flags, photographing and painting them.

My Dear Friends
There is good news for you.
Read the article

Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates

If you eat  lot of chocolate (I am not sure dark / or milky) one day you will be a Nobel Laureate before you even become a professor.
It is a good idea to increase its consumption before the examination.
The secret of success is that you have to share half of the chocolates with me who has send this good news.
My dog will get the Nobel price for Wisdom for sharing chocolates with me daily before my name is proposed for similar purposes.

My daughter and my wife tell me he will get cataract before the nomination day.

But he gets dark chocolate too.

I think mango (Mango Friends) is the best (I think it has more flavonoids which I gave him today for test trial of cognitive functions after a dose of dark chocolates.

He actually talked today and said " ...... This part is withdrawn on the advice of my friends but it starts with M M but not 3 M of Minute Metta Meditation------but one can substitute one’s own original thesis in expectation of Nobel Nomiation (NN for SHORT).

Unfortunately I could not record it.
Keep this as a secret until he and me gets the Nobel Prize before the world ends this year in December 12-12-12.

Rebirth, Recycle, Reality and Politics in Cricket

Rebirth, Recycle, Reality and Politics in Cricket

It is rebirth and recycle of life the fundamentals of Dhamma.

It is fact not fiction in science.

It is fair play and prompt action but not protraction, convolutions and distortion in law.

It is procrastination and distortion and power not prudence and wisdom in politics.

It is money and corruption and not spirit of the game in cricket.

Booting Problems with Linux

Booting Problems with Linux

I have been formatting and updating my IDE and SATA IBM computers lately.

I have come across a booting problem with GRUB Script of Ubuntu and Knoppix.

My problem was not new.

This had been the  case for years and I have found a way out.

I will tell how to overcome this problem in a minute.

Only a few Linux distributions can detect automatically all the other Operating Systems.

Debian is the only distribution that has sorted this out at installation time.

Knoppix even though, Debian derivative thinks there is only Microsoft (Windows) there.

No other Linux distributions exist in this world for their liking or ignore others by defaulting.

It is true with Ubuntu and all the Ubuntu derivatives.

But Pinguy is the only Ubuntu derivative (version 10 and 11) which can easily detect all the operating systems in your computer.

PCLinux too ignores other Linux distributions and gives heavenly regard for Windows.

Then, if there is no windows in your system as in my case but have ntfs partition to store data like what Ihave, these distributions go into panic mode and only guess which is C or D partition in window’s terminology.

I must tell you why I use NTFS partition if I use only Linux.

That is a good question but I have my reasons.

Valid reasons.

Linus is very protective of its partitions and need root or su for access of these partions.

Only Knoppix and Puppy ignore this rule.

Linux boots these ntfs partitions as almost like junk partitions which one can fiddle around.

I store the images of all the distribution which are my favorites in NTFS partitions, which are not protected by Linux rules but easily accessible for writing to CD or DVD.

Other reason is when my home partition is chockablock I empty them to NTFS for safe keeping, (before formatting is due at the end of the year).

Coming back to booting problems, they can only GUESS ntfs' nomenclature, in spite of me making them sda1 and sda 2 when partitioning with another SMALL Debian Utility called Gparted.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why not use a reasonable GRUB script?

My guess is that they ignore other Linux distributions just to promote only one type of Linux, that is only their distribution.

This is a bad PLOY and not in the true spirit of Linux comrade.

GRUB file is very important to be messed UP and it should not behave like Windows 8 UFI.

My solution is simple, if you have as many distribution as five to six as in my case.

Some for testing and some for looking for fancy utilities bundled with the distribution.

STEPS.

1. Install Windows if you want or Apple if you have lot of extra cash.

2. Then install Knoppix.

3. Then Install PCLinux.

4. Then last of all install Pinguy, my current favorite (apart from Puppy and Knoppix).

If you follow this method, you do not need to configure the GRUB file after installation, that can be something difficult and intimidating for a newbie.

Even though I mentioned Debian, my favorite last installation is AntiX or better still, Mepis (KDE with lot  of useful utilities) distribution.

AntiX is light weight Mepis.

So my recommendation for you if you get into trouble is to download Mepis and install it as the last distribution.

It needs two partitions one for root and one for home.

It is one of the distributions that installs very breezily.

That is the third reason for its use by me apart from its utilities which includes sweeper, a cleaning agent for junk files..