Linux is it Convergence or Divergence?

Linux is it Convergence or Divergence?

Posted on September 17, 2010

While Linux had been going on diverse and diverging pathways over the last decade there are significant converging strategies developing in the World Wide Web.  More and more people are using it everyday it has come to stay with the trends of the time.
Telecom’s innovations are coming to its peak that less and less people (except the young) are willing to invest and pay for everything they use or partake.
Ordinary people are more conscious of the price since everything else is going up in prices.

This is where V.O.I.P will take a center stage in couple of years since it is cost effective and one does not have to pay twice for the same article or service.

Similarly Television channels are offered through the pulse line of telephone and slowly but surely everything is becoming digitalized.

Analog years are numbered just as the music turntables of the past.
Similarly Video formats would change.
This is where Linux will and can steam role and go forward faster than our imagination can take us.

In the third world we are not yet ready for this scenario changing but billions of consumers are there in the East in Asia and China.
That is where the profits are going to be.
In time to come everything is going to be computer generated and only Linux can penetrate all these markets.

Linux have to move in different directions while converging on the desktop market. 
Server market and netbooks (rather O.E.Ms).
Live CDs showed the convergence pathway but what about the divergent pathway.
1. V.O.I.P is one pathway.
2. Video Generation (New Fast and reliable web format) and its different formats.
3. TV and Web TV is another pathway.
4. Education and Multimedia is another pathway.
5. Cloud Computing is yet another.
6. Business packages and MySQL is another pathway.
7. Science. Technology and Mathematics is another.
8. Web Utilities (like Google’s Chrome)is another and sports is another.
9. Venture into Government and Universities is another.
10. Sports and Entertainment (Music and Films) is another
11. Web Storage is another since Linux will work tirelessly without breaking the system or the hardware.
There are many more avenues for Linux enthusiasts.
Linux also should have a market philosophy.
Merging with big companies and committing harakiri is not the way forward.
Linux should generate reasonable income to its developers and community.
Just like medical service operates the vaccination and community health should be free but people who get sick with indulgence (alcohol and cigarettes and unconventional life style should pay or should have a reasonable health insurance).
In other words people who can afford they should pay reasonable price for the service.
If one gives something free its market value will go down. 
The best example is Free Books to school children in Ceylon. 
I would have never entered the University on Free Book Service.
That would have killed my interest in reading, especially English books.

This is seen in our country very well. 
We give free education and after 11 years of teaching English they cannot utter a sentence with 10 words clearly. 
This is true for Mathematics and Science and there is no training in IT.

Do not follow this stupid idea in the name cheap socialism.
For Linux workers (like labour laws) there should be some sort of compensation for the time and effort of the community and the developers. 
This can take the form of cooperative movement at Internet level.
If one’s idea is quoted and referred there should be a way of paying some royalty value through a cooperative fund. The fund should be developed from donations and charities. This has to be formulated with some strong checks and balances otherwise one rogue (we have our Sakwithies, here) will drain it overnight.
Then only it will go from strength to strength.
If we have repeated episodes of economic crisis one after another crisis, the community will strangle itself and quietly dwindle it’s human resources (which is natural with the present day youth) and the big companies will jump in for the kill.
Microsoft is waiting in the wing for windfall.
We should not let this happen. 
We should be mindful.

Waterholes and Bird Watching

Waterholes and Bird Watching

This is a reproduction and with climate change taking considerable impact within  five (5) years it is worth reproducing, lest I miss the connections.

The waterhole is no more filled up with soil by developers of new kind and a vehicle that parked on the filled up earth got stuck this Saturday and they could not move it out.

I did come home by stroke of luck bit earlier (it was getting dark anyway) and with the help of two three wheeler drivers and more importantly a crowbar we manged to pull it up.

The vehicle was a brand new automatic (not a 4 wheeler by the way, and driver was a granddad who did not any idea what he was doing).

Yes, I sometimes become a good Samaritan.

The granddad was asking me to push which I did not till I got the problem pictured out and with a likely solution to go with it.

My wife who tried to help ended up with a mild asthmatic attack.

The lesson to learn is “do not help a guy/girl” who in the first instance made a wrong judgment in parking on a private piece of land without asking permission from the owner.

Waterholes and bird watching do not go hand in hand. I believe people frequent waterholes when they are fed with watching birds. But, the connection I have made with waterholes and bird watching is of a different kind.

There was unduly high activity of birds and bees (really there were no bees) in the neighbourhood, for me to venture into investigating this simple phenomenon was spontaneous. The reason of this high activity was the perennial (but infrequent) rain we experienced over the past year or so. There was no scarcity of water except at times when the Water Board decides to divert our water to Kandy Municipality and forgets to turn our pipeline on (to cater to the commercial needs disregarding our needs who live outside the municipality).

The birds that visited our neighbourhood included were Greater Coucal, Common Coucal (Crow Pheasant) and the Red-vented Bul Bul and the increase in number of crows (from two to four to be precise in two seasons).

The reason and the only reason the abundance of rain and water. The birds want survive without the unusually high insect activity and snail population (especially the Common Coucal) which was well supported by the rain. The butterflies and their numbers increased proportionately in the dry periods in between the rainy spells.

Why is this unusual congregation of wild life in our neighbourhood?

To my mind there are two reasons.

We happen to live on their migratory pathway is one reason.

The other was the little waterhole and the water purification unit that stand in front of our house. Birds frequent this place because of the abundance of water certainly, not for food.  I of course do not believe in feeding them because the constant threat for birds from domestic cats. It was on the other night we managed to rescue a King Fisher from a domestic cat. He had one piercing wound on the head and another through the wings and there was bleeding. I did not know how to manage an injured bird. Got my daughter to read something on first aid and advise me until I attended to TLC (tender loving care). Luckily we had a visitor who was a bird watcher and we decided to keep him till morning expecting its demise. Come morning he was still living and quickly handed over the bird to the Veterinary Hospital for necessary care. Quickly had a chat with the Professor (who unlike medical doctors visit the hospital even on Sundays and Poya days) and she assured me that the bird would be released in a few days.

An unusual happening on Saturday was worth a little film (discovery). I was amazed to see a crow chasing an eagle three times as big as itself. The cunning eagle was using the air current to float and the crow behind vigorously chasing behind the eagle was a fascinating site worth a documentary. The eagle floated himself above the clouds and the crow gave up probably with exhaustion and lack of oxygen in the higher stratum.

In a minute about six to ten crows gathered around the sky and signaled the impending danger to the mother bird and the event ended up peacefully.

The young Coucal

Perhaps he may have to wait for the next season for a mate. Crow population has not matured enough to support two young ones.

25th of July 2006

What determines the Flight Paths of Birds?

What determines the Flight Paths of Birds?

The long drawn out trade Union Action gave me some free time to watch bird migration. This year the weather pattern was bizarre and in keeping with that the birds that came in also differed in type if not numbers. Numbers never approached the 30 which I used to count 30 years. Numbers have come down to 3 to 5 and only fluctuation was seen in the migratory birds. Unsusal finding was there were three types of woodpeckers. The common one without a distinct crown feather with a big beak. Another tiny woodpecker (not young ones) and the third was exotic hooded varity very beautiful. All of them were looking for nesting site and were exploring the bread fruit tree for boring holes. They came for about three days and vanished. I am fortunate but (birds are not and their flypath is now interrupted by rapid development and there is no food or water. surface well that the birds came was closed in the name of development and the little stream is dry now.

What determines the Flight Paths of Birds?

We can assume they migrate in search of food, nesting site and to avoid the harsh winter condition but what determines the flypath?

I wondered and wondered. We have not done adequate studies to postulate any firm scientific theory. I developed a theory based on simple observation. All the birds hate rainclouds. Not only clouds interfere with vision but the cold weather fronts and lightening must surely be frightening to the birds. My observation is relate to the movement of clouds. The clouds h the Hanthana range and breaks into basically two paths. One goes towards Kandy and the other towards Katugastota. Usually one dominate the other. If the clouds come down towards Panideniya it is very likely the clouds will go towards Katugastota. If it does not but hit the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens it will move definitely towards Kandy. All these are very simple observation and nothing extravagant and I see them and avoid the rain especially when I do not carry a an umbrella.

There is a corridor of no clouds and the birds often get it right and come well in advance of the rain in this corridor. No rain or thin drizzle the birds are their in numbers. Heavy rain of course no birds and the local resident birds get out of the way well in advance.

This of course is a very simple observation but I really do not know why these birds take a particular pathway. This is something I will study if I find time or in my retirement.

One thing is sure if we make radical change to the tree cover in the name of development the birds I see now will be never seen again on the same route.

 

Cloning, Maha Brahma and American Pie

Reproduction;
June 10, 2011
Note; 
"The Cell Cycle" has 50 "Cycle Limit"
Cloning, Maha Brahma and American Pie
Maha Brahma (really his assistant) was bit confused with cloning and I need to send him a email with some facts.

Maha is good at making something out of nothing and he never had the pleasure of making something out of something what humans are very good at like making profits.

For example the tea dust costs about Rs. 5 to 10/= for a cup of tea but when tea is made into hot cup of tea it costs Rs.50 to 100/= nowadays in the city.

This we call value added and not profits.

When Maha is thirsty he makes wine (one flavour) from nothing and drinks and there is no value adding.

It nice for humans to visit heaven when they perfected a spacecraft now that endeavour is in limbo and see how they make things without any value added or taxes and enjoy it in one flavour instead of many.  
He was in a hurry and (email chat of course) and I could not dispense him all the details.   
We are now doing nothing except industrial action and new entrants-going to be, are doing physicals in army camps, I was itching to let myself go (four weeks of no lectures is not something we are accustomed to) but he was only interested of my dreams and nothing else.
I missed part of my dream also.
I do not know what happened to the clones (two) and what happen to the originals brothers (twins).  
My guess is that clones would have kill themselves and twins would have retired to grave digging.  

Regard to cloning if one wants best results one has to clone the cells at the time of birth from cord blood and not when one is 60 years old with some underlying cancer brewing and waiting to hit the wall / fit the coffin when cells are old like in the Dolly the sheep and will have multiple deficits.  

So if any of the present day leaders including Qaddafi wanting to clone it is too late for the going and must try next birth if he does wish to come back to earth for war games.  
We have 50 somatic cell cycles and we spend almost 40 to 42 by the time of one year.  
From the rest of it, about 5 are spent by puberty and the last of it is all what we have before we drop dead.
In my estimate none of the present leaders qualify for cloning even if they wish.
They know how, was there only over the past 20 years or so and none of the present leaders are under 20.  
This applies to the kith and kin of the present day leaders if the are of eligible age for cloning.

I hear very damning information from WiKiLeaks.

America is making a stockpile of war heroes like Saddam and Bin laden and incubating them for the next world order.
They used Saddam and Bin Laden for best of 15 years and when they go awry makes 10 to 20 times the effort to get rid of them.
 When it happen in Sri-Lanka, they cry “helter skelter oohh’ and cry foul.  
I suppose intended use of our man was not accomplished to their wishes, namely dividing the country to pieces of cake to eat.  
In Middle East, they waited over 20 to 30 years and when oil resource is dwindling, they make a NATO strikes to get rid of oil shieks.  
This is international “War Games’ played according to their timetable and our time table of ridding of Terror made in India Terror is human rights violation.  
There is nothing nothing to beat this duplicity from Bush, to Blair to Obama.  
They are all horrible democrats!
I hear very damning information from WiKiLeaks.
America is making a stockpile of war heroes like Saddam and Bin laden and incubating them for the next world order.  
They are going to plant them in the Muddle East once the uprisings are over and keep the clones in America for safety and if in case any one of them misbehaves he or she is eliminated and the brainwashed clone is instituted.  
That is the next world order coming from America. They are going to clone IMF leaders too.

Summary of Human Growth Hormone Effects on life

Reproduction

Summary of Human Growth Hormone Effects on life

Growth hormone (GH) is a small protein that is made by the pituitary gland and secreted into the bloodstream. GH production is controlled by a complex set of hormones produced in the hypothalamus of the brain and in the intestinal tract and pancreas.
The pituitary puts out GH in bursts; levels rise following exercise, trauma, and sleep. Under normal conditions, more GH is produced at night than during the day. This physiology is complex, but at a minimum, it tells us that sporadic blood tests to measure GH levels are meaningless since high and low levels alternate throughout the day. But scientists who carefully measure overall GH production report that it rises during childhood, peaks during puberty, and declines from middle age onward.
GH acts on many tissues throughout the body. In children and adolescents, it stimulates the growth of bone and cartilage. In people of all ages, GH boosts protein production, promotes the utilization of fat, interferes with the action of insulin, and raises blood sugar levels. GH also raises levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).
Adults may experience a combination of symptoms from human growth hormone deficiency, including;

Depression
Hair loss
Sexual dysfunction
Decreased muscle strength and mass
Memory loss
Lack of concentration
Dry skin
Increased triglycerides
Fatigue
Cardiovascular disease risk
Increase LDL (“bad”) cholesterol
Insulin resistance
Reduced bone density
Temperature sensitivities
Increased weight, especially around the waist

Best Ways to Increase Growth Hormone Naturally

1. Exercise

2. Laughter

3. Healthy Liver ( other words no alcohol)

4. Vitamin C

5. Vegetarian Diet with less protein (Animal proteins in excess divert the Liver Metabolism to alternative pathways and may even cause gout)

6. Less starch in the diet ( Insulin and HGH has antagonistic properties and the diurnal rhythm of growth hormone is disturbed)

7. Meditation does increase feel good hormones including HGH.
8. Chocolates have many feel good chemicals except growth hormone.
9. But best antidote is living with nature including gardening and walking your dog at leisure.

10. Good Sleep (Ideally in two breaks)
 In other words early to bed is the best answer.
It does not matter how long one sleeps, overdose of sleep won't kill you but prolongs life.
About the Sleep
The majority of the growth hormone pulsatile secretion happens just after the onset of sleep and continues to rise when the first hours of sleep are reached.
Individuals who are going through sleep deprivation, such as people who work the night shift or late studiers, can be affected negatively throughout the day.
Lack of sleep alters pituitary and hypothalamus function, further altering growth hormone release time.
When sleep was deprived for 24 to 36 hours in a study conducted by the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, human growth hormone release was drastically decreased and noticeably decreased in growth hormone peak values at night.
The 24-hour pulse rate of growth hormone became random and more frequent throughout these waking hours. This study suggests that sleep deprivation can reduce growth hormone release the morning after and can severely disturb and alter the sleep-wake cycle.

Beat the clock

"Every man desires to live long," wrote Jonathan Swift, "but no man would be old." He was right, but the fountain of youth has proved illusory. And while more study is needed, GH does not appear to be either safe or effective for young athletes or healthy older men.
But that doesn't mean you have to sit back and let Father Time peck away at you. Instead, use the time-tested combination of diet, exercise and good sleep.
Aim for a moderate protein intake of about 36 grams per pound of body weight; even big men don't need more than 65 grams (about 2 ounces) a day, though athletes and men recovering from illnesses or surgery might do well with about 20% more. Plan a balanced exercise regimen; aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise, such as walking, a day, and be sure to add strength training two to three times a week to build muscle mass and strength.
You'll reduce your risk of many chronic illnesses, enhance your vigor and enjoyment of life, and — it's true — slow the tick of the clock.