Thursday, February 6, 2014

Elephant Myths-02


Elephant Myths-02

Peeps at Many Lands (Ceylon)
By Alfred Clerk.

When Ceylon belonged (only the coastal areas) to Dutch, the capture of the elephants for sale was one of their principal sources of revenue. The operations were carried out in the south of the island, where elephants then swarmed, over 200 having been captured in a single drive.
The system is still followed not by the Government, and the old Dutch name still applied to it. Elephant kraals are now got up by the Kandyan chiefs (sick), in honour of newly appointed Governors or of royal visitors (sick) to the Island.
The system employed is to construct of tree-trunks (the beginning of environmental degradation, coupled with Tea plantation which the author fails to record) of strong enclosures called kraals into which herds of elephants are driven by hundreds of shouting (sick) men armed with spears, and provided with tom-toms and other noise producing instruments (pathetic).
(Panamura Ath Raja-King Elephant of Panamura was killed by a state member called Mola Mure (he was a heedless and headless, Kandyan chief) who was the speaker, then. 
He died in the speakers chair/chamber (good on him, god willing)).
These men are sometimes engaged for weeks in the forest rounding up elephants till all is ready for the final drive.
Stands are erected near the great gate of the kraal and here ladies (probably psychopathic) and gentlemen, invited to be present (I believe they had to pay for the entrance) sit for hours waiting more or less patiently, while the herd is slowly and carefully brought up. When the great movement arrives a tremendous uproar of guns, tom-toms and human throats (this is how our ancient politicians learnt how to speak in the parliament) is raised and the terrified elephants come crashing out of the forest, pause for one moment at the sight of the stockade and then rush through the gate (of no return), huddled mass of huge black forms, the gate bars (reminder of the Jurassic Park) are dropped behind them and the pleasant, leisurely life of the jungle is ended for most of them.
As soon as the herd is enclosed, tame elephants, carrying men expert in noosing, enter the kraal and one by one, all the YOUNG and SALABLE animals are secured and dragged out. The aged and infirm elephants remaining are then allowed to escape.
(There is no victory parade, though).
The imprisoned elephants are generally too cowed to give any trouble but occasionally an old bull or more often a cow with the young calf (present day Buddhists shoot the mother dead, in our Pollonnarwa District with the patronage of powerful politicians) will show fight and charge the stockade and has to be shot to prevent it breaking through. It is curious fact that the men riding the tame elephants inside the kraal during the noosing operation are never molested by the wild ones, though it would be easy for them to pull the men off and to trample them to death (probably they practice “Metta” to these devil incarnations).
The training of the captured elephants is a simple matter.
They are secured by ropes on fore and hind legs (and staved to fatigue) to strong trees and are left to struggle (exhaustion) till they are thoroughly exhausted themselves (equivalent to American water-boarding).
Many animals kill themselves through internal ruptures of the violence of their struggle to capture (note no escape).
They also suffer terribly from leg sores (fested in no time) caused by chafing of the tether ropes. 
This is how we capture the elephants to carry the casket (only the casket, mind you) of the Temple of the Tooth and decimated the population from 60,000 or more before the British to barely, 2000, now.
200 are killed each year.
The time is running out. 
Historical records indicate from ancient Egypt (5000 years ago, slavery stated in Egypt both for animal and human) to present India and Ceylon they were used for warfare and not for religious (it is mythology) activity.

These poor captive animals (including Pinnawala) have no democratic rights, freedom or choice but only modern day SLAVERY in the name of glorious religion.

My Freedom (Linux) Philosophy


My Freedom (Linux) Philosophy

Let me be down to earth.

People do not value if something is given free.

This is true in Africa, in Asia, and in Americas.

This stupid mentality is very well illustrated in Sri-Lanka.

The government to absolve and justify their stance of not improving the education system over 35 odd years (almost the time of the internal war) or so, give free school books and wash their hands off.

Teachers are ill trained or not trained at all, and there is a thriving industry of Tuition Masters, outside the main stream.

Then there is a leadership training program to inculcate inferiority and subjugation of poor undergraduates.

Add to the above insult there is no orientation program and the level of English is hopelessly poor.

So the undergraduates live a vegetative life (this is not so 45 years ago) for few years and pass out with a degree but without the skills for survival (survival of the fittest).

Their skills in IT (except for few) is inadequate.

Almost 97% of the students do not know there is an operating system called Linux and BSD and “Linux Freedom” gives a very good alternative system and choice of high value.

Above all majority DO NOT play games including video games (I was an addict).

The above preamble,

Is to highlight the plight of Microsoft users (XP and Win 7) and I now have a psychopathic elation to watch their misery.

My inner feelings (state) state that was not my original intention (over the past 10 to 15 years) when I started educating young ones on the philosophy of free software and free operating system.


Everybody took me as a JOKE then. sometimes even my colleagues.


That is the very reason of my current elation.

I knew this was coming.


I have the last laugh and would continue to laugh at the Microsoft (Microshaft guys) guys and girls.


That is because now I enjoy the Linux Freedom.


That is a Freedom one could boast about, even at a time when we are fast losing our democratic freedom and free speech.

Below are two distributions that worth considering as an alternative for Microsoft and Apple.


Even though, I do not use Ubuntu as my primary work horse (there are over 200 distributions, worth trying), I promote it without reservation because the Ubuntu forum/s are good backup resources.



Warnings

1. There are enough Free Linux (there was practically nothing except Linux Bible and Fedora Bible when I started writing introductory books) books to download now.

I have downloaded them and read a few but nothing like Linux Bibles.

I do not intend to update them since, by the time I finish my book, it goes out of date.

Lately even (this was the oversight of Ubuntu, had they introduced books, I would have been one of the first (very few) to buy them) Ubuntu has produced books.

 
Best option is for me to write blog pieces once in a way.


I used to do that once a week when I started.


Most of the Linux guys and girls also have gone through this phase of fatigue, but not me.

I still read the Linux Magazine, waiting for it to come by mail is like waiting for a “love Letter”.

Geeks are doing the magazine and they have the distant vision in their grasp.

When one reads a books the instructions are general and not specific like antibodies to Microsoft.

Microsoft and their viruses will remain for a foreseeable future sometimes deliberately introduced by Microsoft cronies.



2. If one uses a Linux distribution (we call it the default set up) do not try to tinker it.

If the desired outcome is not available please make a forum request.

Unlike Microsoft that take years to find a solution, in three month you will get an update.

That is the beauty.



3. If you like to tinker, go ahead and do it but when you are in trouble ask for help.

There is always few guys/girls who would do the needful.



4. Please be NICE to them; they just do it for fun not as a memorial collection or they are not TAX collectors.

They actually save time and TAX for you. 
To be nice to them is a mandatory requirement.


5. I use light weight distributions, even if they lack some security features.

Even if a hacker come through the back door into one of my computers, I have many computers to fall back.

This happened only twice over the past 15 years.

One.

Stupid guy from India whom I traced back.



Two

I used one my computers as a Cloud Sever as an experiment and it was used almost as a Zombie.

I could not save any of my working files and a mad guy (mad server probably) was using its resources fully leaving me nothing.

I found a way out but that was not to my satisfaction and ultimately come December, 2013 holidays, saved all my data and withdrew abruptly from “Cloud Serving”.



5. In another five years even Linux will be Dead with cloud computing would be taking a foothold.

I have already stated an undesired outcome of cloud computing, above.

So learn Linux by trial and error (Learning curve may be bit steep) and stick to a base you are comfortable with.



1. Peppermint

I use Peppermint but it is minimal and for light work but has all the resources (software) to download.

One has to tinker a bit.



2. Lubuntu

Lubuntu is good enough and light weight but it has few glitches (understandable only a few guys are with the developer/s).

Change is good but changing everything isn't always great. 
Same is true for aging computers and their operating systems. Support is sometimes lost too quickly with a 6 month core release cycle. Graphics & Audio cards and chip sets get dropped along with other miscellaneous functions with programs or drivers that just go missing. We all like having updated software we certainly don't like down time or loss of features and capabilities.

I believe most aging hardware just needs the right system on it, and lets face it, it helps keep a couple bucks in your pocket if you can squeeze a few more years out of your current system; without sacrificing, performance, capability, usability and of course aesthetics.

I decided to take a LTS version of Lubuntu, although not official it was close enough. A nice stable seasoned release from which to build from. I loaded it up with some heavy weight programs to ensure covering all the bases while providing ease of use. I added and updated the software repositories, and updated all the major programs such as LibreOffice, Gimp, Openshot.

Finally I made sure it was beautiful, complete with a new theme coupled by gorgeous wallpapers and drop shadows provided by Compton. I also included a couple unique features like Random Wallpaper, Fast Forecast, Aero Snap and the Conky system monitor layout. I then decided to create both a 32bit & 64bit version of LXLE. They are identical with a small exception. The 32bit version has compton (shadows) disabled by default, it is easily enabled if desired.

The REAL SHORT OF IT is, this is a glorified remastered version of Lubuntu 12.04, with plans for incremental updates until the next LTS release.

Help or support can be achieved through existing (L)Ubuntu Forums, Websites, Channels, Documentation and I'll help by email if I can.



3. Robolinux

Robolinux is pretty impressive but my advice is to use only 64 bit version with at least 4-GB RAM.

My 32 bit, old computer froze in a matter of five minutes.

It did not do any damage, even though Ese, Ctr+Alt, F1 to F7 did not work and I did not have any escape route.


Mind you, short cuts and command line work are the main stay in Basic Linux which this distribution has done away with.

This can be deadly for the RAM (if one is panicky) and the Graphic Card.

I lost one using PCLINUX in last October.



Robolinux is a user-friendly, 100% fully configured, highly intuitive, no-hassle, commercial Linux operating system that installs everything you need in just 10 to 20 minutes.

Robolinux includes dozens of proprietary Wi-Fi and printer drivers, plus it is the only Linux distribution that features an innovative one-click, 10 second Windows 7 and XP virtual machine installer.

For 100% proof watch the video below:




See what Real Users are saying here:






Welcome to a virus & malware free life!