Water Plants, Global Warming and Ecosystem

Water Plants, Global Warming and Ecosystem

This piece might invariably become very big, so I decided to make a personal anecdote.

Of course, it has relevance to Global Warming and the Water Ecosystems.

The first to be effected by the above catastrophe are our domestic inland fish stock who cannot withstand temperatures above 84 degrees of Fahrenheit.

Mind you 84 was the highest temperature recoded in the Nineteen Seventies.

Added to this the algal bloom that is ably aided by our detergent industry and soap that percolate into our water bodies, kill our fish stock, right left and center.

Detergents effects the gills of fish and kill them.

Added to this the toxic agrochemicals that are dished out at lib without any control complete the devastation.

For ages my interest was water plants, not fish.

The Guppy Fish, I keep is my ready made answer to the mosquito problem.

All the Guppy Fish that were released by British, imported from Latin America during Malaria Epidemic cannot withstand the atmospheric degradation, currently.

We always blame British for our ills but always forget their contribution, especially in education.

If not for them there would not have been a science stream in education.

 

Strangely one cannot find a healthy batch of Guppies from an aquarium now.

I have an artificial figure of twenty, as my number for a minimum number of plants that should be in a particular location as an ecosystem, to call it a biodiversity hot spot.

In that sense, my roof top garden is a hot spot albeit artificial!

It is 2 (for binary division) and log one (ideally natural log) multiplied.

I counted the number of my plants by memory and I got stuck at 18.

My memory failing I decided to count them visually and stuck again at 18.

This is on top of the four water lilies I have (my latest interest).

Then I decided to investigate and found the the missing two.

One was barely surviving at the rim of a basin.

I quickly uprooted it and transferred it to my fish tank carefully leaving behind a little strand at its original site.

 I made sure the plant had its tiny pot.
This was a tiny plant I cherished a lot.

After period of hibernation (bad weather, too) this tiny plant is now spreading its outgrowths forming a beautiful carpet at the bottom well away from the Vallisneria outgrowths.

Second one which had a beautiful flower was completely neglected by me.

I divided it, into two lots and placed them in appropriate pots to grow.

Given time a beautiful flower would bloom!

In the midst of this I found another water plant barely surviving.
It has its rightful place now.

The problem is with the dry weather coming, if I do not water them at least once in three days, they would not survive.

The global is taking its toll right  NOW!

Now I come to the main topic of this piece.

It was the Vallisneria Plant.

I could not raise a reasonable stock of this plant.

I had grown it in a special plastic container.

It won't spread out from its tiny pot.

I carefully selected two outgrowths and placed them in the front center of the tiny fish tank.

The expectation was one will grow to the right (the space available) and the other to the left and placed them in such a way but still connected to the mother plant.

Funnily one went in the direction of right, away from the light source.

It hit the glass and stopped not knowing to take a 90 degree turn.

Few weeks later it took a 90 degree turn and every week or so (at regular interval), another vegetative growth, sprouts (as it was measuring the length and breath of the tank).
Original stems grow in height while the advancing front looks for space but the whole (total) growth is coordinated by the original stem.

So my conclusion is never put a Vallisneria plant in a pot, let the plant finds it own bearings.

The other outgrowth never grew.

The one growing to the right inhibited it.

I severed it from the mother plant and placed it halfway between the left corner and the middle of the fish tank.

After about five days of dormancy, it sprouted out a new leaf.

I am watching to see which way it grows.

Right or left.

That will be in my next piece.
You have to wait!
Its growth is still inhibited (stunted) by the mother plant but has four tiny leaves now.

Postscript:

Mind you this is not one year (an annual) of collection.

I can revise the total number to 21 and five out of six varieties of lilies left are not included.

Fifteen (15) years of painful propagation and caring for them.

If I go out on a two weeks holiday and come some will perish or outgrown by others competing for the limited space.

Unlike human they do not kill each other but localize themselves in their own nick of the ecosystem, leaving tiny place for the less aggressive plants.

If you are busy and have limited time, I wonder whether you should try it.

It is far better for the aquarium vendor to visit you at regular interval, if your tank is very big.

Experimenting with a tiny fish tank is more advisable but number of plants in the ecosystem will be limited by the space.

Are Sport injuries justified?

This is a revised edition of an old piece.

Are Sport injuries justified?


The facts which are 20 years old are given below.
 
1. Number one for fatal accidents (death) is riding a horse.
 
Accidents in horse riding exceed motor racing.
(Less strains, sprains, dislocations and fractures).
 
I have seen a ruptured spleen with the horse kicking the rider.  
I would not even mount an elephant (just the respect for this majestic beast), never mind, not in my life a horse.
I prefer, watching horse racing in a racing track and be the doctor in attendance (no betting allowed) for the jockeys and sign their books for a small fee.
That is high fun.
2. Number two is boxing (there is always irreversible and accumulating injuries that culminate in dementia).
  (read my blog piece "Is  boxing injuries justified."
3. Number three is Rugger.
4. Number 4 is martial arts.
5. Number five is soccer
6. Hockey my favorite is number six (I have had one injury as an adult, that was due to a guy who never played hockey before, hit my shin).
Never in my life, I have hit a guy with my stick intentionally but this guy's fingers were squashed by me with a single sharp trick, we use to warn the bad guys on field.
He never came again to play.
Of course, I have broken the front set of teeth of a non academic staff member unintentionally and he never returned but was duly referred to Dental School at Dangolla.
Then there was a beautiful burger lady who attracted (including the two guys mentioned above), the undesirables when (keeping goals, as a reserve player) we were practicing.
I was not a saint when I was young and in competitive sports.
It was true to most of us.  
But there was no criminal intent. 
She only had one go on her solar plexus with a tone down strait from my stick, the ball landing on the middle of her chest (if my aim was bit to the right or left it would have been disaster for her bulging breasts) and we practiced uninterrupted for the rest of the season and we emerged as the champions beating Colombo, in a penalty shoot out.  
She never came to play hockey.  
I thank god for that!

Mind you, cricket comes last in the list of injuries.

I wonder how our ex-captain (I prefer him to be the ex-captain for many reasons) have had many injuries from his first international tournament.

My judgment, for his recurrence of injuries is his laziness and not practicing skills  off play and setting a bad example to the young players.
Other reason is introducing skills not appropriate for the age of the (young) players.

Mind you our players were the worse in fielding throughout his captaincy.

In any case he is too old to practice new skills now, just like, "One cannot train an old dog to learn NEW tricks".

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux

It looks like Puppy Linux that comes from Australia seems to be in a dormant phase from 2015.

The developer is a dog lover and I am both a dog lover and the Puppy Linux Lover.

They were all tiny less than 100 MiB and I could carry them in a tiny Flash Stick.

There are many flavours now with 64 bit version of FatPup.

I had an old Toshiba computer lying idle and decided to update it.

It had both Knoppix and Ubuntu.

I had trouble with Legacy iso but the tahr 6.0.5 PAE iso did the job.

When writing the iso (I did this time with a rewritable CD, to erase it, if it fails) it said the image and the content did not match (even today).

The OLD Knoppix CD also had a broken file and wouldn't boot.

Now all these isos are SO big (not like when Linux was not popular) one cannot boot or install, if you do not have a DVD Driver.

Now that Puppy is migrating to 64 bits versions, the developers should not forget those users with 32 bit computers including Laptops that would be left high and dry.

The way way round is to have a PAE Version.

The bottom line is one should not discard the old hardware that did the donkey work for a 64 bit machine.

My only concern of the old computers is that that they are not energy efficient and consume lot of electricity.

That is why, I dismantled 10 computers for the two 64 bit computers BUT I still keep an old 32 bit computer.

It did the donkey work for me over a decade when electricity was cheap.

Mind YOU I did not donate any of those machines, simply dismantled them but dished out the hard disks and DVD drivers (to save energy!).

Using Portable Disks and old Laptops for Linux

Using Portable Disks and old Laptops for Linux

Over the years I have collected many devices and some of them were not used for many years.
They included a Toshiba Laptop which boot with Old Knoppix and Ubuntu.
It has no USB port  and the CD (no DVD) was without a front end covering or starter knob.
Touch pad was working fine.
They rest were 4 portable hard disks of various capacities and a USB 3 hard drive.
Most of them were filled with various Linux isos.
The newest one I had lot of recent files and it booted with MultiSystem.
I formatted few redundant partitions and left most of the data. 
The second one after recovering useful data reformatted with Gparted 64 version booted.
I used my Debian 9.2 and with its Multiboot utility to install all the recently Linux distributions.
The third one I used French MultiSystem Boot Utility to install only the distributions that could be made into squashfs files.
The fourth one took the longest time and its partitions were not visible and no partition table to mount externally at boot up.
I could not partition it.
What I did was to mount it to a computer internally and used Gparted at as a boot CD (only CD version I have except Puppy Linux) format it it had few Megabites of corrupt sectors that was why it did not boot.
When one uses Linux (unlike windows) those those unusable sectors are sidelined and only the mechanically or electronically working sections are used.
It takes ages to eliminate these bad sectors even though they are only a few Megabites of it. 
Out of 300 Megabites only 2 or 3 Megabites were corrupt.
I was not ready to throw it away.
So I double check after partitioning and put it back under its casing.
Putting inside the casing took lot of time since I screwed the hard disk to the base and try to put the cover. I could not.
It took sometime for me to figure out and took the screws out slide the hard disk and slide the cover and put the screws last.
The tiny gadgets won't align with screws on.
Finally I mounted it and tried to Install Debian 9.2 and the first installation failed since one of the partitioned I had made did not format correctly.
I sidelined it and Install Debian.
Since this took a lot of time, while it was going on, I decided to format the 18 GiB of Toshiba Laptop and install Puppy Linux (No DVD only a CD in the Laptop).
It breezily installed Puppy Linux, my favorite over time much more than Knoppix and Installed squash file persistence.
It needs only few Megabites but I donated it 1 GiB.
The bottom line is Linux looks after hardware very well and detects minor details and failures in your hardware.
ONE NEED NOT THROW PRICED ITEMS SINCE FEW SECTORS ARE BROKEN OR NOT ALIGNED.

Multi Booting with Linux

Multi Booting with Linux

I have had smooth transition to running only Linux in both computers.

This is what I did soon after.

I use the computers sparingly NOW with my tablet in hand doing usual stuff.

However, annual update of my computers takes around November, each year since Linux guys/girls take a well deserved long holiday.

This the time, Microsoft cronies snoop your computers and introduce malaware updates.

This happened to me while (now totally disbanded) updating Windows operating system (I dished them out fully) as a forerunner for updating Linux.

I usually have a USB stick with either Linux OPs running or Knoppix live running.

Another stick with my boot loader (GRUB) for rescue (never happened over the last 15 years) missions.

The third is a portable hard drive with all my favorite distributions running.

I used UNetBootIn for this purpose and lately used the French Multi Booting DVD for the same purpose.

Now I have fully migrated to Debian, I had few problems with MultiBooting.

Debian does not support UNetBootIn but Peppermint (which I dished out few days ago, because it cannot configure my BIG TV screen) does.

With some fiddling I found Multiboot Utility from SourceForge for Debian.

It is almost like UNetBootIn.

Its advantage is, it can be booted in a Linux partition (not necessarily in a fat partition which MultiSystem requires) and any unnecessary distribution can be weeded out (Uninstalled) after installation.

MultiSystem does not support Uninstalling and some distributions does not support squashfs files.

Similarly Multiboot in Debian cannot support DVDs with lot of software (Emmabuntus Ubuntu version NOT the Debian version is a culprit, in a live session without the DVD placed in the disk drive).

Elsewhere, I have written lot about MultiSystem and NetBootIn this piece is brief.

This is an update to say Debian has a revised version of MultiBoot.

Debian the Fall Guy

Debian the Fall Guy

Debian is my “Fall Guy”, what I mean is when everything fails, I fall back to Debian for Rescue.

Recent Microsoft destruction (Indian guys working for Microsoft) of my NTFS partitions (not any of my Linux partitions and my data) made me to revise my options and drop every shade of Windows except Workplaces in Linux.

May be I can call myself fully liberated from the Microsft Monopoly.

I could not have done this without Debian.

Many moons ago, it took almost one year for me to master and boot Debian in a 4 MB of RAM (not GIB) (an old) computer, NOW I can effortlessly boot Debian in many flavours.

Not only that all desktops are integrated to One Installation and one can pick and choose from Gnome Classic to LXDE to xfce and to many more flvous of desktops at boot time.

I love the Workplaces of Gnome Classic. 

They make multitasking easy.

I almost hated Ubuntu desktop, even though it was installed somewhere in my hard disk.

I loved Mandrake (when going was tough with Debian) which was easy to install (it had a Globe Trotter, portable boot up disk) and I am sad about its demise but have a copy of OpenMandriva in my other computer.

Then I migrated to SuSe and its current distribution cannot boot up my other Linux distributions.

But with Debian’s superb GruB file which detects seamlessly all other distributions, I am up and running.

I am going to say Good Bye to Peppermint since it cannot configure graphic of my TV monitor (I use an old TV monitor to ease my eyes with large fonts).

I say Good Bye to Ubuntu for its divergence.

I feel sad for the Ubuntu guys who a left high and dry by Canonical about turn.

This to say Thank You to the Debian’s Guys and Girls for keeping the spirit of Linux and flowing.

Now I can have AbiWord in Debian (it wasn't earlier.

AbiWord is the lightest but most powerful word processor.

Even Knoppix 8.1 the latest DVD has problems.

U.E.F.I Monopoly of Microsoft Sucks

U.E.F.I Monopoly of Microsoft Sucks

This is the first blog post of mine, after I got my two computers working only on Linux, Debian to be precise, without Indians guys/girls working for Microsoft, Meddling with Bogus Updates that really upsets the booting of alternative operating systems.

I did not lose any of my data except the Knoppix 8.1 iso (may be misplaced), the latest.

I found Knoppix hidden in a partition.

But I did make a start up SD Card and the Live DVD.

U.E.F.I. that stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) sucks and is the Monopoly of Microsoft.

It intends to suppress booting other operating systems especially Linux.

This is how YOU nullify these business monopoly on new version of boot up BIOS .

I won’t go into minor details.

First go to UEFI boot up menu (press Del or F2 at boot up).

Find csm and change to other OP systems.

Find the legacy menus and change every options available to legacy.

Go to boot up and change options to boot from CD/DVD.

Go to boot up and change which hard disk to boot first if you have more than one.

There are many other changes you can make but fiddle with one options at a time.

Then save your changes and boot your Live DVD ideally, Gparted and prepare or partition your hard disks to satisfy your liking.

Boot up and install your distribution.

GruB boot loader takes over booting (if Debian Do Not activate at boot up, UEFI even by mistake) seamlessly and YOU own your computer not Microsoft cronies.

This piece is only for Linux guys and girls.

If you have Windows and it sucks do not blame Microsoft, blame yourself for the stupidity.

Read the description below, it a tiny operating system hidden in the firmware and interfere with free software freedom.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification for a software program that connects a computer's firmware to its operating system (OS).

UEFI is expected to eventually replace BIOS. Like BIOS, UEFI is installed at the time of manufacturing and is the first program that runs when a computer is turned on.

It’s not just a BIOS replacement, either. UEFI is essentially a tiny operating system that runs on top of the PC’s firmware, and it can do a lot more than a BIOS. 

It may be stored in flash memory on the motherboard, or it may be loaded from a hard drive or network share at boot.

How to ROM or FLASH an Old Android Tab?

This is a mail I posted to a friend.

How to ROM or FLASH an Old Android Tab?

I did a survey on how to erase the current operating system and install a new version of android and was bewildered by its complexity.

They are bound by rigid protocols of Android and Google Giants.

Unlike computers, the hardware parts are brittle and finding a “patch” for a broken piece is not easy.

Besides, the terminology is funny, and only term I liked was BRICK for a stalled hardware.

Only open source ROM (Kernel should be the correct term) was CyanogenMod but developers had given up developing it and a firm has taken over it. 

There is a Romanian guy who wants to make open source hardware!

But the problem is that there is no seamless integration since OEM guys are reluctant to give up their monopoly.

If one fiddles with the system it may end up as a Brick.

If you find any article that simplify this (Linux Magazine may not do it) minor process, please let me have it.

By the way, having gone for Zeroing I have stop reading big articles, especially political ones.

I have lot of time at hand after "Zeroing In" and sleep well after dropping Caffeine to almost Zero.

Unfortunately, Ubuntu’s Canonical and Firefox have stopped developing an Open Source Phone. 

CyanogenMod is arguably one of the (if not the) most installed Android ROM in the world, and for good reason.

It offers a ton of great features, is available for more devices than most other ROMs of its type, and has the type of polish and support that makes it easy to fall in love with.

We have Kit Kat (version four in this country) in this country and Android is on version seven or higher.

Even the Kindle Tab, a total failure, I believe.

Luckily, I bought a Lenova Tablet in Singapore and it is miles ahead of my Kit Kat Tablet which I want to erase and upgrade but the only problem is its RAM which is limited and it breaks up before a full film is viewed.

I am glad that I got a good laptop for my son and if you have a laptop do not throw it away, in spite of its weight. 

It is pleasing to see a film on a laptop.

One who buys an Apple iPOD is probably stupid or has lot of money to spare.

They are stop making (with a DVD driver) them (laptops).

USB Booting of ANDROID System

USB Booting of ANDROID System

I have tried to boot Android PC version using MutiSystem Utility and it failed.

It did the writing of the sfs file but it won’t boot.

Mind you I used a SD card not a USB Stick.

I have done this with USB stick, in the past, but it all worked but it seems to have a problem with SSD format.

I tried the USB Iso Writer.

It gave an error.

I downloaded UNetBootIn (Debian Does not support this) with Peppermint and currently trying it.

It finished writing but taking a long time to write the Boot Loader.

My gut feeling is that the ANDROID is trimmed down so much, it takes ages for it to come to a PC Desktop.

Multi-Linual Capabilities to Prevent Dementia

Multi-Linual Capabilities to Prevent Dementia

I was doing some search for improving my short term memory (which is failing little by little) and found the following.

Two early signs of DEMENTIA are labile emotion outbursts and short term memory loss.

The second language is localized on the non dominant brain (right side in a right handed person).

This makes one to use, both side of the brain effectively.

I went for a course in French few years ago and gave it up, since it is very difficult to understand the spoken language.

Written language is different from the spoken due to conjugation of sounds and dropping of sounds.

English I is pronounced as E and h sound is dropped.

In other words it is very difficult for an Englishman to learn French and vice versa, even though English originated from French.

Lately, I decided to revisit French with a Sinhala Pronunciation, which worked well.

Sinhala has more sounds than both English and French combined.

This is why we can master any language given the proper introduction early in life.

So our tradition of leaning (after 1956 SLFP) only Tamil and Sinhala is counterproductive and that is why we have IDIOTS in the Parliament with advanced DEMENTIA.

If you have a TABLET there are easy learning packages online.
I am trying them currently BUT still the pronunciations are difficult!

Research has demonstrated a significant delay in Alzheimer’s symptoms in individuals who are bilingual.

It’s not yet understood how or why this occurs. One possible explanation is that somehow the brains of bilinguals are able to compensate for the deficits caused by Alzheimer’s, causing these individuals to function as if their brains had less damage than they actually do. Although some of the research tested those who spoke another language most or all of their lives, it’s never too late to learn a new language. You can take a community education class, go to your local library or find resources online for new language learners. 

Rebirth in Buddhism

There seems to be a sinister campaign to discredit Buddhist values including belief in Rebirth.
Unfortunately, all the writers are well above the age of 80 years and when they are gone for good, there is nobody left to take the Baton of Wisdom forwards.
Most of their writing left in the computer may be erased for good.
In that sense, putting these ideas in the Internet may serve a purpose.
Putting in a paper format, especially in the local media, I find is a waste of time.
So I have reproduced a paper article for the purpose of posterity.
I have of course made my contribution in print and digital form for the sake of the Western Audience.
I have given an Abhidhamma description of mind and rebirth, especially regarding Patisandhi elsewhere in the same blogspot.
 (Buddism Made Simple from Asokaplus at www.wordpress.com)
One should read this in conjunction with that article. 
However, they are only my views and one should not believe them on face value.

I do not like to take any side or dare say I believe all what is written, related to hypnosis.

Reproduction
By Dr. V.J.M. de Silva
It is with interest that I read the article by Dr. Prasanna Cooray in The Island SatMag of 10.09.17. There have been two responses to Dr. Cooray (PC)’s article by persons, erudite no doubt, who appear to be materialists, expressing doubts about rebirth. They are of course entitled to their opinion. A majority of scientists are also materialists. They believe that matter is all there is. As philosopher, Bertrand Russell (1870 -1972), who was a well-known atheist and materialist, once said, "When I die, my body will rot, and nothing of my ego will remain". Buddhists, though atheists, are I believe, not materialists.
Let me start by saying that this article is not meant to debunk any religion or to promote my own religious views. I am neither a theologian nor am I well-versed in Buddhism as PC appears to be. However, I have to confess to having an "itch to write"! In 2010, there was an article in The Island on "Belief in Rebirth in the West", where the writer mentioned the case of Bridey Murphy. At that time I wrote an article titled "The Bridey Murphy Case and Reincarnation" – (The Island Saturday Magazine, 29.05.10).I had then done some research on this subject, and the notes I made are still in my computer. Being an "advanced" octogenarian,to whom writing is now a bit of a hassle, I have made use of the notes I made in 2010 in writing this article.
Some writers on this subject may not place much value on ethical and metaphorical arguments, or appeals to authority and the universality of the belief, in support of the theory of rebirth. They are of course of value to the believer, not the sceptic or unbiased inquirer. The stress is on empirical evidence based on scientific investigations. 
This is classified as:(1) experimental, in the form of hypnosis and (2) spontaneous.
Empirical Evidence – Many people who accept reincarnation today, claim that it can be scientifically proven. They usually base their belief on actual instances of such recall. There are two distinct ways of eliciting this:

 
1. Under hypnosis – during regression beyond the date of birth



2. Children who spontaneously remember a previous life.



1. Under hypnosis – Hypnotic regression started to be used as a "past lives recall" method



in 1952, when Ruth Simmons from Colorado, USA, was regressed "back in time" beyond the date of her birth by Morey Bernstein. It became one of the most celebrated cases and brought the attention of the Western world to the notions of past lives and reincarnation. I can remember reading an article on it in the Readers Digest, when I was a medical student over sixty years ago. It caused quite a stir world-wide. The book "The Search for Bridey Murphy" written on it by Morey Bernstein was an immediate best-seller.
In 1952, in Pueblo, Colorado, US, Morey Bernstein hypnotized Virginia Tighe (VT)(1923-1995), then aged 29, a young house-wife – referred to as "Ruth Simmons" in his book. Under hypnosis VT claimed to be a 19th century Irish woman from Cork in Ireland. She said her name was Bridey Murphy (BM). In subsequent sessions she claimed to have been born in 1798, the daughter of Kathleen and Duncan Murphy. The family had lived outside of Cork, in Ireland; her father was a barrister. She had patronized Belfast grocers, Farr and John Carrigan. They moved to Belfast, where they remained until Bridey’s death at 66 following a fall downstairs.While under hypnosis, she spoke in an Irish brogue, sang Irish songs and told Irish stories, always as BM. There were six sessions conducted by Bernstein over a period of eleven months. Several of the details were correct as verified by journalists who visited Ireland.
It was subsequently shown that VT had Irish connections. Her parents with whom she had lived till age three, her uncle who had brought her up for some time, and finally another aunt Mrs. Marie Burns, who was born and bred in Ireland and well informed about the "Old Country".VT’s early childhood was in Chicago, Illinois, and the newspaper Chicago American reported that across the place where VT had lived as a child, there had been, at that time, an Irish woman named Bridey Murphy Corkell - (the first two names are significant).Bridey Corkell, (maiden name Murphy), immigrated to the US in 1908. Virginia (VT), as a little girl had associated closely with the Corkell family. All this information was in the Chicago American newspaper. The June 25, 1956 issue of Life magazine published a short article "Bridie Search Ends at Last" and a photograph of Mrs. Corkell with her grandchildren.The obituary of Bridey Corkell appeared in the Chicago Tribune, August 10, 1957. – [those interested could see the details in my article in The Island(www.island.lk archives – 29.05.10) mentioned above].
There are several other hypno-therapists who have recorded hundreds of cases of past-life recall and published books. Thus Dr. Arnall Bloxham, some years ago, recounted the interesting story of an English teacher who under hypnosis recalled ten of her past lives, the earliest going back to days of cavemen. She was a furnisher in the reign of George II, a peasant boy in Scandinavia, and the wife of a cobbler and a pickpocket in 1700 – (Who was Ann Ockendon?, 1958). It is claimed that such cases demand paranormal explanations and the most plausible is the theory of reincarnation.
Hypnotism - Hypnosis is a method of inducing an altered state of consciousness, where the subject can mix fantasy with real memories. Individuals in a hypnotized state also show an extraordinary ability to create very convincing stories out of a storehouse of memories. Almost any hypnotic subject capable of going into a deep trance will babble about a previous existence if the hypnotist asks him/her to. Under hypnosis, the subject is ready to accept all kinds of distortions, having his reality shaped according to what the hypnotist dictates as he is very receptive to the hypnotist’s suggestions.
Another compromising factor in getting true "past life stories" is the preparation the subject undergoes before hypnosis. They are informed about its purpose, which induces in them a high expectancy state. All the information they produce is the result of a dialogue between the hypnotist and his patient, in which the questions have to be easy and clear in order to get a proper answer. The conscious desire to know their "previous lives" undoubtedly influences their response under hypnosis.As in most cases the hypnotist (who is often a believer in rebirth), expects a confirmation of the reincarnation theory, or at least expects it subconsciously.
Whether hypnotism can be relied on to create significant proof of reincarnation is itself a controversial contention. There are however other possibilities of explanation.
An Explanation - All things considered, these "past life recalls" provide a classic case of cryptoamnesia – a phenomenon first described by 19th century Swiss psychologist-philosopher-physician, Theodore Flournoy. According to this theory, the human mind is like a library filled with years and years of overheard conversations, pictures, newspaper stories, TV shows, books and songs. Nothing is ever lost; everything seen or heard remains ‘on file’. Though consciously forgotten, these bits and pieces of information and experience can later form the basis of fully blown fantasies that emerge under hypnosis, as personal "memories."
Although there are some encouraging results in using it as a psychiatric healing therapy, it is a fact that hypnosis when used for past life regression can mix fantasy with real memories or even create entirely fictitious episodes. In deep states of hypnosis, some subjects have had out-of-body experiences and claimed to have traveled in mysterious spiritual realms. Others have had a mystical experience of oneness with the universe.In fact Dr. Ian Stevenson himself (author of Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation), has said: "In my experience, nearly all so-called previous personalities evoked through hypnosis are entirely imaginary and a result of the patient’s eagerness to obey the hypnotist’s suggestions. It is no secret that we are all highly suggestible under hypnosis." [(Omni Magazine 10(4):76 – 1988). This was available on the Internet in 2010]
2. Spontaneous Past-life recall by Children- these cases are almost all under ten years. Several have been mentioned by Dr. Ian Stevenson. Here again, these stories can be explained in an alternate way, not necessarily as proof for reincarnation. There is the possibility that these children are contacting ‘external spirits’ through channeling.In this case the medium would be the child, which is not convincing.A better explanation would be the possession of children by external ‘spiritual entities’. This phenomenon is related to channeling, but this time the human person is forced to transmit the messages of a spirit without having any conscious contribution to the whole process. In other words, possession implies that the invading spirit enters the body and takes over the entire control of human consciousness, acting as if a past life personality were manifesting itself.
This explanation is more likely to be valid for the following reason: Almost all cases of spontaneous past life recall experiences are produced by children who manifest them between the age of two and five, when their spiritual discernment is almost nonexistent, especially concerning spirits. This situation makes them easier to be manipulated by external spirits. As the child grows up, the entities lose their power of influence upon him/her, which could explain why the past life memories are lost after the age of 10. All past life memories are generally lost after the age of ten. (Ernest Valea, Reincarnation - Past-life Recall as Modern Proof for Reincarnation)


There have been cases where the possessing spirit enters the child’s body long after he/she was born. In one case, Lurancy Vennum, a one year old girl began to display the personality of Mary Roff when she (Mary Roff) died. This lasted several months, while Mary Roff claimed to have occupied the body of the girl. After this period ‘Mary Roff’ departed, and Lurancy Vennum resumed control – (Evidence for Survival from Claimed Memories of Former Incarnations p 32)
These cases of children are culturally dependent. Most cases are in India and South Asia where reincarnation is fully accepted. The Asian cases are always richer in details than the Western ones – (this is noteworthy). Western children who have such experiences give only poor details that could permit verification.Stevenson admits: "All the cases I’ve investigated so far have shortcomings. Even taken together, they do not offer anything like proof." (Omni Magazine).
Dr. Ian Stevenson(1918 – 2007)– PC has given an account of Dr. Stevenson in some detail in his article. Stevenson published his book ‘Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation’ in 1974. He never suggested that his research was proof. In a lecture given in 1989, for the Flora Levy Lecture in the Humanities, he said: "Journalists have sometimes incorrectly (and unjustly) described me as trying to prove to prove that reincarnation occurs. This allegation is wrong as a descriptive of both my motives and of science. Outside of mathematics, there is no proof in science; scientists make judgements about probabilities, and they rarely express themselves in statements of certainty". Stevenson real aim was to obtain proof of our continued existence after death, rather than prove reincarnation true. He believed that the most promising evidence for life after death "has been that provided by children who claim to remember previous lives". To this end he studied in detail over 2,500 cases across the world, frequently in languages he could not understand and had to use translators. There can be interviewer bias in people in people not trained to avoid just that. He could not test the skills of translators and has therefore, perhaps justly, been criticized on this account.
In opposition to Materialism, it could be said that Buddhism, Christianity (along with other religions) and Psychical Research agree in affirming survival after death. There are areas where these three agree, while there are also areas of disagreement.
Death is not the end of life; life continues after dissolution of the body. Most people would say that there is no proof of the theory of reincarnation. Conclusions about it are at best bound to be speculative. However,the cumulative effect of the evidence is certainly impressive.