Kalama Sutta

Followings is the advice by Buddha to his followers in regards to what he preached.

Can these 10 qualifications be applied to our current politicians?

Kalama Sutta 

The Story The people of the small town Kalama complained to Buddha that they were confused by contradictions they discovered in what they heard from various teachers who praised their own doctrines. They asked Buddha, who was staying in the town then, who to believe out of all those who, like himself, passed through their town. "Venerable Sir, some recluses and Brahamins visited this town and praised only their own doctrines, but condemned and despised those of others. And it is common that they do so. Sir, who among them told the truth and who told the falsehood?" Buddha advised them, saying, "Kalama people, it is proper for you to doubt and to have perplexity when doubt has arisen in a doubtful matter." He then, went on to instruct that it is wise to make a proper examination before committing to a doctrine or any teaching. He said that it should be applied to his own teachings as well. 

In Pali, Buddha's reply is recorded thus; 

1. Ma anussavena. 

Do not believe something, just because of its repeated hearing and passed down and retold for many generations. 

2. Ma paramparaya. 

Do not believe something merely because it has become a traditional practice of many generations. 

3. Ma itikiraya. 

Do not be led by rumour, hearsay or common opinion. 

4. Ma Pitakasampadanena. Do not be led by because it is in the scriptures. 5. Ma takkahetu. Do not be led by mere logic or surmise. 6. Ma nayahetu. Do not believe something merely because it accords with the axiom of one’s philosophy. 7. Ma akaraparivitakkena. 

Do not believe something because it appeals to specious reasoning or "common sense". 

8. Ma ditthinijjhanakkhantiya. 

Do not believe something just because of the bias towards the idea or notion.

 9. Ma bhabbarupataya. 

Do not believe something because the speaker´s seeming ability and seeming trustworthiness. 

10. Ma samano no garu ti. 

Do not be led by upon the consideration that he is your teacher. Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "This is unwholesome, this is blameworthy, this is condemned or censured by the wise, these things when accepted and practised lead to poverty and harm and suffering," then you should give them up. Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "These things are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise; when adopted and carried out they lead to well-being, prosperity and happiness," then you should accept and practise them." The Pali text runs like this: 

"Etha tumhe Kalama. Ma anussavena, ma paramparaya, ma itikiraya, ma pitasampadanena, ma takkahetu, ma nayahetu, ma akaraparivitakkena, nid ditthinijjhanakkhantiya, ma bhabbarupataya, ma samanro no garu ti." 

1. Do not accept anything on mere hearsay (repeated hearing). 

2. Do not accept anything by mere tradition. 

3. Do not accept anything on account of rumour. 

4. Do not accept anything just because it accords with the scriptures. 

5. Do not accept anything by mere superficial supposition or surmise. 

6. Do not accept anything by mere axiom (inference). 

7. Do not accept anything by merely by specious reasoning. 

8. Do not accept anything merely because of the bias towards the already held notion. 

9. Do not accept anything merely because the seeming ability of the individual or the preacher. 

10. Do not accept anything upon consideration that the ascetic is a respected teacher. 

But when you know for yourselves ¨these things are bad, these things are blameable, these things are censured by the wise, undertaken and observed these things lead to harm and ill¨, abandon them.

Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity

 Reproduction

Carlo M. Cipolla (15 August 1922 – 5 September 2000) was an Italian economic historian. He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.^[1][2]

Biography

As a young man, Cipolla wanted to teach history and philosophy in an Italian high school, and therefore enrolled at the political science faculty at the University of Pavia. While a student there, thanks to professor Franco Borlandi, a specialist in medieval economic history, he discovered his passion for economic history. 

He graduated from Pavia in 1944. Subsequently, he studied at the University of Paris and the London School of Economics.

Cipolla obtained his first teaching post in economic history in Catania at the age of 27. This was to be the first stop in a long academic career in Italy (Venice, Turin, Pavia, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Fiesole) and abroad. 

In 1953 Cipolla left for the United States as a Fulbright fellow and in 1957 became a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Two years later he obtained a full professorship.

Essays

Cipolla produced two non-technical, popular essays that circulated in English among friends in 1973 and 1976, and then were published in 1988, first in Italian, under the title Allegro, ma non troppo ("Forward, but not too fast" or "Happy, but not too much", from the musical phrase meaning "Quickly, but not too quick").

The first essay, "The Role of Spices (and Black Pepper in Particular) in Medieval Economic Development" ("Il ruolo delle spezie (e del pepe nero in particolare) nello sviluppo economico del Medioevo", 1973), traces the curious correlations between spice import and population expansion in the late Middle Ages, postulating a causation due to a supposed aphrodisiac effect of black pepper.

"The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" (1976)

The second essay, "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" ("Le leggi fondamentali della stupidità umana", 1976), explores the controversial subject of stupidity.

These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Corollary: a stupid person is more dangerous than a pillager.

By creating a graph of Cipolla's two factors, we obtain four groups of people. Helpless people contribute to society but are taken advantage of by it; Intelligent people contribute to society and leverage their contributions into personal benefits; Stupid people are counterproductive to both their and others' interests; Bandits pursue their own self-interest even when this poses a net detriment to societal welfare. An additional category of ineffectual people either exists in its own right or can be considered to be in the center of the graph.

As is evident from the third law, Cipolla identifies two factors to consider when exploring human behavior:

• Benefits and losses that individuals cause to themselves.
• Benefits and losses that individuals cause to others.

Cipolla further refines his definition of "bandits" and "naïve people" by noting that members of these groups can either add to or detract from the general welfare, depending on the relative gains (or losses) that they cause themselves and society. A bandit may enrich himself more or less than he impoverishes society and a naïve person may enrich society more or less than he impoverishes himself and/or allows himself to be impoverished.

Graphically, this idea is represented by a line of slope -1, which bisects the second and fourth quadrants and intersects the y-axis at the origin. The naive people to the left of this line are thus "semi-stupid" because their conduct creates/allows a net drain of societal welfare; some bandits may fit this description as well, although many bandits such as sociopaths, psychopaths, and non-pathological "jerks" and amoralists may act with full knowledge of the net negative consequences to a society that they neither identify with nor care about.

Carlo M Capolla and Five Type of Stupidity

Carlo M Capolla and Five Type of Stupidity

Carlo M. Capolla proposed this theory in 1976.

Fulbright Scholar in 1953.

He was a professor of economic history at University of Berkeley in 1957.

Born in 1922

He died in 2000 at the age of 78.

Books
Guns, Sails and Empires
Decline of Empires
Money, Prices and Civilization
Between Two Cultures

One should apply this principle to both Politicians and to the average voter.

In my understanding our average voter is stupid and he/she is outside the 5 Types of Stupidity of Capolla

Five Types of Stupidity
 

1. Always and invariably we underestimate the stupid people in circulation.

2. The probability of stupidity is independent of other characteristic like gender, race, nationality, colour, age, sex, education level and social standing.

There are lot of stupid monks and priests in Ceylon.
They have become TV actors.

TV / Media Presenters in Ceylon are in this stupid category.

The worse case scenario is Zelensky who has contributed to the death of over 500,000 well trained, well educated and nice Ukrainians.

It is too, late to oust him now.
He thinks he is smart and saviour of global democracy.
In fact, he has destroyed diplomacy, democracy and peaceful coexistence.

There are lot of stupid people in Davos and UNO.

3. Stupid person is a person who causes loses to another person or group of persons, often deriving no gain to himself and often causing harm to himself.

4. Non stupid people often underestimate the loses and damages caused by the stupid individuals.
Non stupid people often forget that they are stupid individuals, all the time or all the places or under any circumstance and to deal with or associate with a stupid person is always a costly mistake.

5. Stupid are the worse type of people to be associated with.

They are worse than bandits.

1. Intelligent People

2. Bandits

3. Stupid

4. Helpless people

Granny Award

Granny Award
This is an old piece rendered to suit current political climate in Ceylon.

I intend to award a ‘Granny Award” in my mother’s name who is in her early nineties (please note she is no more, I thank God for early departure) to any person who comes up with an English Drama based on the stages mentioned below.

The contents are “Open Source” authorized generally under Linux GPL Convention.

1. Originator, unknown Ceylonese author in his late nineties (I claim he is not my father).
2. Rendering by a bookshop assistant who wishes to be anonymous.
3. This edition is by me (mini-me version) and Baba (one of my dear friends who is no more with us) version, Samba, Bimba, Zimba, Sinha Bar (Lion Bar), Ali Baba (Kandy Elephants) and Hora Baba versions or any Ceylonese Unborn Baba version can participate in future development of this animal story (copyleft).

The Big Daddy version is only for private consumption of my friends, especially after a suitable spirit beverage from abroad not with Ceylonese Dust Tea (not Tiger Wood’s illegal TEE).

Currently the “Pothe Gura” is me the current author.

Evam Mesutham Ekam Samyam!

So said and so heard.
 
1. I was privy to a Relay Carnival (passing the buck, really fast, like the hedging deal) in the Animal Kingdom (they are more humane and eats only when hungry).
I was the only Ceylonese selected by an island wide Lottery conducted by Hela Karumaya or Urumaya Surekuma Undertakers (HUKU-SUMU for short).
 
2. I was on holiday in a Forest Reservation (Jungle Habitat) or what is left of it.
 
3. I observe an elderly (prostate enlarged) Peter Rabbit grazing.

4. Jack the Jackal (with financial interests in Ceylon and USA) greedily waiting for an innocent prey.
 
5. Scene of Jackal chasing the Rabbit (both hip joints replaced by bionic prosthesis delivered by a Television Giant of Ceylon).
 

6. Blind Forest Hermit (Herman Hermit) descends from heaven and land on a busy Tri-Way  Junction (Thun Man Handiya).

7. Rabbit approaching the hermit in break neck speed without a crash helmet.
 
8. Rabbit jumps over the hermit visibly shaken up and annoyed.
 
9. Lands a squirt of Holy Water (urine for short) right on the nose and mouth.
 
10. Hermit really thinks that the water is  really “Holy” has come from heaven and ascends to a Lower Jhana.
 
11. Jackal approaches the hermit at the junction with bionic speed and put on breaks and crashes.
 
12. Jackal licks the nose and face of the hermit.
 
13. Hermit attains a Higher Jhana.

14. The angry Jackal then takes a little bite of the forehand of the hermit.
 
15. Hermit is rudely awakened from his Transient Ishaemic Attack (T.I.A).

16. Jackal reprimands the hermit.
 
“Why don’t you stay few feet above the ground”.

17. Well, I was thinking about my Bank Balance of Merit (Pin with a PIN number) in Seylan Bank and settle where I ought to be was his answer.

18.“Well then, did you see a rabbit running this way?”
 
19. Yes, Yes, I heard an animal running past but I cannot say what species he is but I can very well tell you he is a male.
 
20. You say you are a hermit and blind.

How can you see the sex of the animal running fast in your meditative mode.
 
How come?
 
21.  didn’t the master tell you, it is inappropriate and illegal to think about SEX in meditative trance.
 
22. We animals think of sex, only when we are in full flow and not otherwise jackal proclaimed.

23. Can you tell how the blind hermit instantly guessed the sex of of the fast moving passerby?

The rabbit whispered a phrase to the hermit while passing which is what a guy chased by the policeman in Ceylon says in retreat!

Help;
Nothing to do with urine or prostate gland and due to some other reason.
 
Postscript:
Purva-Bhava Connection
 
1. The hermit was a traffic warden, an active member of Hela Urumaya who went to heaven for a short stay and regressed back to earth for more merits.

2. The rabbit was a monk who went in search of emancipation to Ceylon parliament and deposited his hard earned “Pin Keta” money in a private bank.
 
3. The jackal was a Private Banker in Ceylon, better than an American swindler.
 
4. I was the CNN Reporter Assistant (only doing editing) of I-Reports.
 
Corollary
Only a male jackal with large prostate can squirt a healthy vigorous stream while running and a human being cannot.

The rabbit in this story did it due to fear.
 

USA and the Facts I Did not Know

 Reproduction

USA and the Facts I Did not Know

1. 50 fifty states

2. 300 million population

3. 120 million took part in the election

4. How many did not vote, I do not know?

5. 180 million ineligible or Not Registered including minors

6. Minimum age 18 years (migrant workers' right not stated, in the sense de facto or de juro basis)

7. No compulsion or mandatory to vote

8. Mrs. Clinton got little over 600,000 votes above Mr. Trump but got 232 electoral colleges whereas Mr.Trump got 290.

9. Total colleges are 538 and the above tally does not add up to 538 

 

26 electoral colleges I cannot account for

10. It has 9 time zones and four contiguous time zones.

Managing this election was an enormous task and hats off to the federal officers managing it without a hitch.

Having said that the behaviour of the losing party is unbecoming and they have no legal right to do so since president is elected by the electors (electoral colleagues) and not the voters.

Losing Voters have to “eat the humble pie” for another four years.

Reproduction

Thanks to Wikipedia

Eligibility to Vote

Eligibility to vote in the United States is established both through the federal constitution and by state law. Several constitutional amendments (the 15th, 19th, and 26th specifically) require that voting rights cannot be abridged on account of race, colour, previous condition of servitude, sex, or age for those above 18; the constitution as originally written did not establish any such rights during 1787–1870.

In the absence of a specific federal law or constitutional provision, each state is given considerable discretion to establish qualifications for suffrage and candidacy within its own respective jurisdiction; in addition, states and lower level jurisdictions establish election systems, such as at-large or single member district elections for county councils or school boards.

The United States Electoral College is the body that elects the president and vice president of the United States every four years. 

 

Citizens of the United States do not directly elect the president or the vice president; instead they choose "electors", who pledge beforehand to vote for the candidate of a particular party.

Each state gets to choose as many electors as the combined total of the number of U.S. senators and representatives to which the state is entitled.

The District of Columbia gets at most the number of electors it would have if it were a state but not more than the number of electors of the least-populous state (currently three).

There are therefore currently 538 electors, corresponding to the 435 representatives and 100 senators in the House of Representatives and the Senate, plus the three electors for the District of Columbia.

The Constitution bars any federal official, elected or appointed, from being an elector.

The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for film making.

Capital: Washington, D.C.

Dialing code: +1

From GMT to UTC

GMT was superseded as the international civil time standard by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in 1960, when the International Radio Consultative Committee formalized the concept of Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated as UTC.

It is, within about 1 second, mean solar time at 0°.

It does not observe daylight saving time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, but GMT is no longer precisely defined by the scientific community.

Zones used in the contiguous U.S.

From east to west, the times zones of the contiguous United States are:

The eastern standard time zone: (Zone R), which comprises roughly the states on the Atlantic coast and the eastern two thirds of the Ohio Valley.
The central standard time zone: (Zone S), which comprises roughly the Gulf Coast, Mississippi Valley, and Great Plains.
The mountain standard time zone: (Zone T), which comprises roughly the states that include the Rocky Mountains.
The Pacific standard time zone: (Zone U), which comprises roughly the states on the Pacific coast, plus Nevada and the Idaho panhandle.

United States time zones

Standard time zones in the United States are currently defined at the federal level by law 15 USC -260. The federal law also establishes the transition dates and times at which daylight saving time occurs, if observed. It is ultimately the authority of the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination with the states, to determine which regions will observe which of the standard time zones and if they will observe daylight saving time.

As of August 9, 2007, the standard time zones are defined in terms of hourly offsets from UTC. Prior to this they were based upon the mean solar time at several meridians 15° apart west of Greenwich (GMT).

Only the full-time zone names listed below are official; abbreviations are by common use conventions, and duplicated elsewhere in the world for different time zones.

The United States uses nine standard time zones.

As defined by US law they are:

1. The Atlantic standard time zone
2. The eastern standard time zone
3. The central standard time zone
4. The mountain standard time zone
5. The Pacific standard time zone
6. The Alaska standard time zone
7. The Hawaii–Aleutian standard time zone
8. The Samoa standard time zone
9. The Chamorro standard time zone

Z-Linux

Zencafe GNU/Linux

ZENIX GNU/Linux

Zen Linux 

Zen or Meditation concept made me to use it once. 

ZevenOS is a good one I use its latest version.

Alinux and Peanut Linux

Peanut Linux 15 is available for download.

Log in with root keep blank the password.

It is pretty Good.

Brings me all the nostalgia.

I have highlighted the distributions I have tried at least once!

0Linux

2XOS

64 Studio

AbulÉdu

Adamantix

ADIOS Linux Boot CD

AgiliaLinux

All in One - System Rescue Toolkit

Aleader

Alinex

aLinux

AliXe

Amarok Live

Amber Linux

Anarchy Installer

Ankur Bangla

Annvix

AnNyung Linux

Anonym.OS LiveCD

ANTEMIUM Linux

Antergos

Antomic GNU/Linux

Apricity OS

aptosid

Arabbix

Arabian Linux

ArcheOS

Archie Live CD

ArchLabs Linux

Ares Desktop

AriOS

Ark Linux

arkOS

ArtistX

Arudius

AryaLinux

AsianLinux

Asianux

ASLinux

ASPLinux Russians use this Distribution.

Asturix

Athene Operating System

ATmission

Atomix

Augustux

Aurora SPARC Linux

Aurora OS

Aurox Linux

Why I encourage mosquito breeding?

Why I encourage mosquito breeding?
 

I managed to fine a huge book on mosquitoes and won't dish out remedies to exterminate mosquitoes. My fish thrive on their eggs and are very healthy and I do not need to buy fish food.

Mosquito larva is our cesspit cleaner.

Cockroach is our gully cleaner.

The gecko is our pantry cleaner.

Please do not kill any of them with potent insecticides and these poisons kill our bees.

A Gram of fish food is more expensive than Thriposa or Samapoa.

This was something I wanted to write for some time but kept delaying it for many reasons including political. When some issue is taken out of context and used as a political gimmick, even with much discomfort, I tend to refrain from taking the center stage.

Train to think logically and constructively,

I sometime find it difficult to find an audience (group of intellectuals in a forum) to discuss a topic at length. This was something we used to do even when we were just interns.

For an example we were faced with a dilemma of the treatment protocol as interns. On many occasions we were sure we had made the correct diagnosis but the standard treatment did not ensue improvement or recovery. In one of these occasions we decided to double the dose of an oral antibiotic which was only 12 cents a capsule.

We could not double the other agent given I.M and very painful too since with the wrong dose of that,   I have seen a few children die (not any one who was under me) as misadventures.

Most of the misadventures were hushed up even then since the treatment was free and innocent patients were prepared to take some of the gullible lies from the administrators. This has become a common occurrence nowadays let me not digress. When we did increase the dose the patient started responding.

That was good news.

Unlike today we did not rest with that we asked the question why half the capsules were not working

Obvious conclusion was that somebody was introducing dud capsules in the supply chain.

We reported this and the Ministry then had the way to investigate the supply procedure and then caught pilfering from the Medical Supply Division and the substitution of dud ones to replace the same.

This was big news then.

This is a common practice in India even now before they reach our shores.

That was Professor Senaka Bible's time and we were very happy.

Years later I came to Colombo General Hospital and this practice was rampant as nothing constructive to abort this practice was in situ and Professor Bible had died under mysterious circumstances.

The modus operandum was for the guys to come as patients and take month's supply of drugs and unload them at the nearest private pharmacy.

There were many other offences (rice and eggs were meant to for patients were stolen during the Pang Polling days) I discovered as a D.M.O but these things are happening in much bigger scale now and I am still digressing from the major objective.

The point I want to bring out is that there is very poor accountability and the procedure for investigations is hampered both within and outside the health sector.

This is true for correct diagnosis too.

If one looks at a record of a patient who returns home comparatively well or who succumb in both private and public institutions the error rate of diagnosis is around 60% to 80% .

This figure has never been estimated for PMs (postmortems and not prime minister) after the introduction of private practice. Many a times not done in a proper scientific way.

Postmortems are avoided at very convenience of the doctors (I was a trained pathologist, paediatrician and a gaeriatrician). The other issue is that there is no proper consultation among individuals with expertise in other fields and different skills.

This is the salient feature in the practice of medicine in Ceylon. When something goes wrong the the diagnosis that come to the forefront is dengue.

The gullible media also report them without serious investigation.

All what one needs is a platelet count and a slide test that detect antibodies (no distinction from old or new antibodies). The test to show rise in titre is not evident in many cases. There are multitude of other that can lower platelets.

Concrete proof is lacking and impartial objective scrutiny is never done before or after the event. Once it is labelled as Dengue many doctors can have a sigh a relief that they have covered up their inefficiencies and tracks.

Unfortunately it covers up the administrative failures too. When a society is corrupt to the core and in effect the legal and medical systems are not strengthened to investigate and find viable remedies this filters to all the other segments of life including schools and universities and proper conduct of examinations and elections to are left to the undesirable elements.

That is when non-medical people too get involved in detecting virginity when the pertinent question that should be asked is;

Is it consensual (does not matter one is married or not-even in marriage it should be consensual not by force due the fact one is legally married; marriage gives a license) or not?

Every other case of death is buried under the mountain of dengue (we have to formulate strict guide lines).

1. The correct procedure is to have strict guide lines for diagnosis of dengue.

2. Then the next step should be and when the death is contentious (not dengue) there should be a procedure to arrive at an alternative diagnosis.

3. The third step should be to have independent clinical audit that is not practised in this country.

I can give you an incident when medical people failed to come to consensus regarding the increase of kidney disease in North Central Province. They did not have a protocol to deal with the scenario.

The dengue scenario is no different to me.

We are barking at the wrong tree.

Only taking political mileage.

Poor mosquito should not be an escape goat and escape route for our indifference since medicine like books are given free by the government.

All governments are also culpable whether they are democratic or otherwise.

We need a system in place when the system fails everything else fails.

Nobody ask the question why almost 50% did not vote. Simple answer to that is when the system in place has failed the very system that generate credibility is lost for ever and the apathy sets in.

These are not only philosophical points but these are social issues too. Everybody in power, not in power, able, disable, in private practice, in government institutions and in all spheres of activity should have a fare share of responsibility.

We are all culpable either direct or indirect or not in action or out of action or in the thick of actions.

We cannot leave it to the politicians alone.

What is lacking is sincerity and transparency.

As Buddhists we will have to pay our dues for these crimes of inactivity and indifference now not in next birth.

Mosquito Logic

Mosquito Logic 

            1. What is the first thing a mosquito does when it lands on the moon?

It takes the space suit off for the first feed which it missed on the flight.

2. What happens to a female mosquito who lands on a nudist camp.

She does not know where to begin.

3. What does it do when it meets a fellow mosquito in a nudist camp?

Check the sex to mate.

They are not homosexual (unlike human beings).

The following is what happens to the mosquito being after a bite.

4. What happens to a mosquito when it bites President Trump?

She (It) becomes a Megalomaniac.

5. What happens to a mosquito when it bites our P.M.R.W?

She becomes a crook.

6. What happens to a mosquito when it bites our President MS?

She becomes impotent.

7. What happens to a mosquito when it bites ex-president MR?

Her mind becomes small but body gets bloated.

8. What happens to a mosquito when it bites a Catholic priest?

She / he (no sex in heaven) gets an instant email from heaven with a request to be transferred to hell.

9. What happens when a mosquito bites Buddhist monk?

She (It) forgets to repeat its instant buzz of Stanza.

10. What happens when a mosquito bites a Buddhist nun?

It changes it sex to a male.

11. What happens to a mosquito when it bites a Muslim Priest?

She becomes a male and instantly grows a beard but forgets to wear a cap.

12. What happens to a mosquito when it bites a Hindu Priest?

Its colour changes to blue of God Vishnu.

13. What happens to a mosquito when it bites an atheist?

She develops her sense to discriminate believers and feeds only on atheists.

Mosquitoes

There are more than 3500 species of mosquitoes worldwide. 

More than 300 of these species are found in Australia. 

There are almost 100 species of mosquitoes in Western Australia.

Canada has  60 species.

UK has  30 species

Pacific has 200 species

Eggs mature within 48 hours.

500 to 100 eggs per lay.

After larval stage (may be 30 cycles) undergo 20 more cell division cycles and become adults.

From egg to adult is only 10 days.

Male live on nectar for about a week.

The female live 5 to 7 weeks but given favourable living conditions can live up to 6 months.

1. There are about 3500 species of mosquitoes and about 2500 species probably  are in current circulation.

2. I believe, it is the most versatile insect on this planet.

3. Only about 40 species are diseases producing and the rest is an evolutionary store waiting to be discovered

4. All of them start life underwater as multitude of egg types.

5. The larvae are upside down in water and breath through a pair of siphon located in the tail end.

6. Anopheles do not have a siphon and lie flat on water surface and breath trough a pair of holes in one of the segments.

7. Job of larvae are to eat a lot and grow fast.
They are filter feeders.

8. Elephant mosquito larva eat other mosquito larvae

9. Dragon fly larva breakfast is mosquito larvae

10. 4 moults.

11. Emerges as a Pupa.
Trumpets (breathing apparatus) pop out from the head.

12. Some flowers are only pollinated by mosquitoes. 

Males only feed on sugar of flowers.

13. Adult mosquito has navigational tools.

14. Females of only some varieties need a blood meal before laying eggs.

15. Giant mosquito larvae while not blood suckers help to kill other mosquito larvae and control the population explosion.

16. Killing all mosquitoes is not a solution to control mosquito born disease.
Environmentally useful guys are also killed in that process.

More Dangerous Than A Snakebite

Reproduction

More Dangerous Than A Snakebite
with Curtis Cost

April 3, 2023 By Hilda Labrada Gore

What could possibly be more dangerous to your health and life than a rattlesnake bite? Vaccinations. 

Our guest, Curtis Cost, the author of “Vaccines are Dangerous,” explains why shots have more serious consequences than many may have initially realized.

Curtis describes problems, beyond “side effects,” that can arise not only from the covid-19 shot, but from all shots. 

Conditions like autoimmune dysfunction, asthma, allergies, and other debilitating issues that result from injections are often not perceived as triggered by vaccines. 

Curtis connects the dots.

He also goes over why he’s especially passionate about getting the message out about the inherent dangers of these shots to the African American community.

Power and War, An Anaysis

This is to make a statement about all Forms of Wars in human history.

Human history is studded with wars.

Do not go away with the idea that wars are fought on economic grounds.

I have listed below  the five important reasons.

Number one is religion.
 

Ottoman empire is one.
They are called crusades.
Israel is another.

If wars are fought on religious grounds what is the use of a religion?

This question I have raised for many years and no religious convert is willing to answer.

That is why I say religion is an incurable brain virus.

China killed 70 million in Tibet.
Dalai Lama is a peaceful guy nobody stood for him.
 

Come Ukraine Military Industrial Complex was ready and waiting.
 

MIC had armed the Ukraine army to the hilt, out of proportion to its size and needs.
It is clear this was a well designed project and was in the plan for over 10 years.

Pakistan and India had fought wars but they are amenable to diplomatic channels.

India and Pakistan cannot stage cricket in respective countries.

But they still play cricket on neutral grounds,  in Ceylon.

Crowd violence add to the problems.

China and India fought 3 wars.
China invaded Tibet and Tajikistan.

Even Vietnam fought war with China.
Vietnamese do not trust Chinese.

India does not have a border with China.

Kazakhstan
Central Asian country.
Russia to the north and west.
China to the east.
Kyrgyzstan to the south east
Uzbekistan to the south
Turkmenistan to the south west

Kyrgyzstan
Conquered by Russia.
It has oil, gas  and natural resources.
Turkic people slowly replaced and assimilated previously Iranian speaking locals.
 

Alexander invaded it by failed to suppress it.

Part of it was occupied by Ottoman empire.

Macedonia is the old name for present Greece.

Osman the Turkish ruler established the Ottoman (Anatolia) empire now called Turkey.

At least three wars over Middle Ages to the First World War.

Turks of Ottoman empire subjugated Greece but over subsequent treaties Greece claimed its own territories. 

Cyprus though a Greek / Turkish speaking nation is a separate state but part of it is  retained by UK.

Greek Cypriots are the majority and are Orthodox Christians.

Turkish Cypriots are the minority and are Muslims.

Largest Greek island is Crete.


Turkmenistan

Tajikistan
Separated from Pakistan from Afghanistan by a narrow strip of land.
Afghanistan to the south
Uzbekistan to the west
Kazakhstan to the north
China to the east

It was conquered by Soviet Union.


Uzbekistan
Tibet, Nepal, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are buffer countries that prevent direct access of India to China.

Queen Victoria and Elizabeth built an empire with wars fought all over the world.

Afghanistan was the only country who fought to the bitter end.

United Kingdom lost to Afghanistan.

Russia fought for 17 years and lost over 15,000 soldiers.
America fought for 20 years and lost over 20,000 soldiers.

Hitler is a good example of ethnic cleansing.

First and Second Wars were fought on political grounds.
 

Vietnam War was the best on political grounds (communism and capitalism).

All other wars including Middle East wars are fought on economic reason.
For oil resources.

Ukraine war is different.
It is based on Hate.
But other reason is ideology.
Russia is not capitalistic but socialist.
That is the reason for war.

But the main reason is to support Military Industrial Complex of USA and UK.

In other words people take up power or sit on powerful posts to propagate war.

Bertrand Russel failed to elaborate on War mongering in his book on Power.

I think he was against World War I but he supported World War II.

He was ambivalent, I suppose.

In my case, I am against all types of wars but I am not a diplomat to raise the need for dialogue and diplomacy.

Power corrupts humanity and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Humanity has yet to devise a fool proof political mechanism.

I think humanity would be able to move forward albeit slowly.

Internet has given that opportunity to mankind.
 

It is slowly moving forward.

Everybody has to be an active participant.

1. Power of the Church (Priests)

2. Power of State (Kings and Presidents)

3. Power of Identity (Race, Castes and Social Status)

4. Economic Power (Banks, Lending agents like IMF)

5. Power of Politics

All the above power systems have encouraged wars and they will continue in spite of us having the UNO.

UNO is a white elephant.

We are already into the Third World War.

Already 50 countries are supporting Ukraine Proxy War initiated by America and no sovereign country has remained neutral.

China and India are playing a duplicitous game.

China has the biggest Army in the world and getting ready to fight America on Taiwan.

That will complete World War III, scenario!


Totalitarian or Dictatorship.
 

Stalin, Hitler, Francois and Mussolini

Distributed Power
 

Democratic Institutes

Hybrid Power of both Parliament and Executive Presidency
 

Ceylon is a hybrid state that failed miserably.

We do not have oil but our gas resources are yet to be harnessed.

Capitalism
An economic and political system where a country's trade, industry and  wealth is controlled by private individuals for profit.
It is assumes that profits drives the economy forward without state control.
It is not free for all but a self regulating economic instrument.

In theory it is fabulous but in practice much more virulent.

Supply and demand flow can be adjusted in favour of the margin of profit.
Its mechanics are always in upward direction and assume no nose drives.

But when there is a lot of competition invariably nose dives do occur.
When this happens the big sharks gobble the small fish bringing some artificial equilibrium.

The essential feature of capitalism is to motivate individuals and industry  to make profits.

There are exceptions.
Pharmaceutical Industry is the classic example.

Have you ever heard a pharmacy going bankrupt?

Late professor Senaka Bible took a chance and developed the State Pharmaceutical Company. 

JRJ's sister Gladis ruined it and it is functioning as a rudimentary company.


Communism

States owns all property.
There is no democracy, class, religion or private sector.
But it has metamorphosed into Workers (sometimes like slaves) and Ruling Elite.

Marxism
Marxism rejected the egalitarianism on the basis of already existing workers and owners (two distinct classes) dichotomy in the middle ages.

Classless, stateless, money-less and humane society would only emerges when inequality in all levels are reduced to the minimum.

It is a distant dream but worth working for and no human society has achieved that goal.

Marxism was based on industrial society.

Present day society is much more complicated.


Socialism
Socialism is the transitional state between overthrow of capitalism to realization of communism. 

It is a political ideology that gives workers of collective ownership (tools, land and buildings) and it is the responsibility of the workers to manage a particular industry. 

It is not state owned but the state allocates resources to the public on demand basis.

Russia
Russia is an anomaly.
It has shifted from industrial economy to a market or capitalist economy where oil, gases and mining bring lot of money to the state coffers.
The guys and girls managing these industries became oligarchs who started pilfering money to the West (UK and US) surreptitiously.

Putin had to fire them but many escaped to the West.

Ukraine war gave added unexpected bonus to Russia with Middle Eastern countries cutting down production and jacking up oil prices. 

China does not have enough oil and gas for its industry and that made the sour relationship with Russia to mellow down and become trusting allies.

The laxity of control of sanctions imposed on Russia and apparent inability to make it global instrument has caused Russia to bounce back.

Trade Embargoes generally work in opposite direction to what is anticipated.

Scarcity of commodities not only jack up prices but also promote illegal mechanisms.

G20 countries control only 50 countries.
BRICS with more than 70 countries behind them make American sanctions only hurt the five major countries the most, Canada, New Zealand,  UK, US and Australia.

The capitalist hegemony has its own limitations and is slowly crumbling.

Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism believes in greatest good for greatest number of people.

Humanism
Humanist do not believe in god.
Look for alternatives to dogmatism in religion.

Its individual assets include
Freedom
Dignity
Morality
Transcendence
Ethical
Rational
Common good as opposed to selfish motives
Liberty
Human rights
Individual rights
Bound by social responsibility
Law abiding by nature not by force

There are many other shades of social developments.
None has brought perfect balance between rulers and subjects.

Early civilizations did not have religions.
I think the lack of balance in civilian administration lead to moral obligations which blossomed into various religions.

Religions actually did not provide solutions.

It started with good and bad.
The science was late development.

The correct connotation is Right and Wrong and nether Right nor Wrong was only a theory and did not have pragmatic values.

Land and economy took precedence and laws came in to protect the land owners.

Liberation and revolution were only late developments.

Karl Marx of course analyzed it well but was hesitant to throw out ready made solutions.
 

His anticipated utopia has long eluded humanity.

Anarchism
Revolution
Authoritarian
Terrorism

Egalitarian in all spheres including moral, economic, political, legal, racial and gender.

Elitism
Dominance of society or system by elites.
False belief that is the best available.

Simple common sense approach is disposed of in favour of this elite class.

America is good example where neocolonialist community of rich guys behind Biden and White House failed the community of the democratic voters who now take scum out of the dustbin to live.

That is the reality.

Defined by

Notability
Power
Wealth
Skills
Intellect
Interest of a group 

Silicon valley is good example

Xandros was an excellent Edition

I started Linux with Caldera Linux and Debian (along with Books on Linux).

Along the way, I found Xandros which aroused my enthusiasm with Linux. I could not memorize its name for few hours and remembered it as Xandows (X and windows put together).

The correct name is Xandros.

It has X of Linux.

It has Andros as in Android.

It is sounding like Windows.

It has a Delux edition and both are available in Archive Linux site.

Thank YOU guys for keeping a copy and there is true nostalgia.

Xandros, Inc. was a software company which sold Xandros Desktop, a Linux Distribution.

The name Xandros was derived from the X Windows system and the Greek island of Andros. 

Xandros was founded in May 2001 by Linux Global Partners (Will Roseman and Dr. Frederick Berenstein). The company was headquartered in New York City with its development office in Ottawa, Canada.

Xandros Desktop was based on Corel Linux  a Debian based  distribution that was acquired along with the development team behind the product from Corel Corporation  in August 2001 after Corel decided to exit the Linux distribution market.

Xandros was a founding member of the Desktop Linux Consortium and member of the Intercop Vendor Alliance.

In July 2007, Xandros bought Scalix, a Linux-based email and collaboration product, based on HP OpenMail HP OpenMail.

 In July 2008, Xandros acquired Linspire.

In 2013, Xandros, Inc. changed its name to Bridgeways, Inc. and soon after, the Xandros website was taken offline. 

(The Xandros website was last updated in November 2009.).

As a result, DistroWatch listed Xandros as discontinued.

On 1 January 2018, PC/OpenSystems LLC purchased Xandros and Linspire from Bridgeways, Inc., and resurrected the Xandros branding with Xandros OpenDesktop (a commercial release) and Xandros OpenServer (a free release), based on Ubuntu 20.04.

 Xandros OpenDesktop would later be rebranded as Xandros Enterprise Desktop and Xandros OpenServer would be rebranded as Xandros Enterprise Server, and PC/OpenSystems also introduced free versions named Xandros Community Edition (using GNOME) and Xandros Developer Edition (using dwm). 

Learning a Second Language, the Contribution of British Council Library. Learning a Second Language, the contribution of British Council Library.

It is also important to highlight that the Second Language that is not the Mother Language is localized to the Right Hemisphere of the Brain which is the Creative side of the brain. Left side of the brain of a right handed person is the Logical or functional brain which deals with automatic processes.

Reproduction

Learning a Second Language, the contribution of British Council Library.

What is, “Learning a Second Language” has got to do with Long Life?
It may sound ridiculous or not relevant.
Let me untangle the tangled minds.
Suppose in your retirement, you like to visit a foreign country or one of your friends living abroad invites you to visit him/her.
 

Won’t that be a nice to have a working knowledge of English?
 

But if your friend is from Germany or France, would it be enough, knowing only English?

English is the business language of the world and if you intend to expand your local business to a foreign soil, it is vital that you have a team with language expertise to communicate and work with.
One cannot become an efficient ambassador, unless you are an expert and well versed with the language of the local community.

Depending on a translator is a handicap.

It was unfortunate in my formative years nobody emphasized the importance of language except my maternal uncle who was a Buddhist Monk.

If at all they discourage learning English.
I had the common sense that if I were to master science, English was the language of instruction.
The city school I went did not have a proper library. 

For my luck British Council Library was doing a yeoman service to help young readers of our time. 

Because of political indifference and interference, the USIS library closed its operation in Kandy long time ago.

I would close my introduction by saying that a sure way to train a dictator is to make him or her learn only the mother tongue of the local community. We have had enough examples in this small country with ethnic division making inroads and politicians capitalizing on the fringe.
None of the above is my reason for encouraging one to learn at least two languages.

Please read on, to get my point of view.

Learning a language and mastering it is no easy task for most of us. This is especially so when it is learned as a second language. When the mother tongue is not taught properly and its advantages and disadvantages are not highlighted, at an early age, children are at a loss to coordinate their interests and achievements. This is true for learning languages and I am yet to find a child who is genuinely interested in learning a language (for example Sinhala or Tamil) for its own beauty.
They become rote learners and drag along, in a system oriented for examination performances. Rather than bringing the best out of the innate talents of children, language difficulty becomes a stumbling block to progress.
If children are forced to learn a single language, there is no way of unlearning the bad habits.
Single language narrows the interests of young children.
If the quality of the available reading material is poor how are we to instill creativity in young minds?
One of the most interesting feature of leaning a second language is that it should arouse the creativity along with curiosity.
 Learning a language and its intricacies is quite different from learning a language of instruction. 

For an example English is a suitable medium of instruction for science without which vast knowledge base cannot be tapped.
Similarly, learning a computer language is entirely a different exercise altogether.
So language of upbringing (mother tongue), language of instruction (English) and the language of technical communication (Linux) are few facets of the emerging global trends and requirements.
Only few of us have the mastery of all these aspects of communication. 

How we could direct our children without unduly burdening them in early years of their life is the challenge for our educationists and reformists.
 

What is happening is little bit of this and little bit of that and the final chutney (Achcharu) is not of any taste to the child's creative mind.
There is a particular age where children are at ease with learning a second language other than the mother tongue. Beyond this period it is a tedious task for any body. To learn a new language especially the phonetics as an adult is not an easy task. Then there are many other aspects including, grammar, syntax, idioms, expressions and dialects to deal with.

I am no specialist in this game of languages.

As child I was attracted to books initially for the colorful pictures then to the stories. I was in no way attracted to the daily papers except the cartoons. Neither the history nor the literature attracted me but quite unknowingly the science was the theme that interested me.
There was the Russian ‘Sputnik’ and the Lyka the dog going to the outer space in my childhood. Gradually I begun to understand that unless I learn to read English I won’t be able understand all those exciting cartoons (Tin Tin, Denis the Menace and Andy Capp) and science fiction.
Learning English was fun and learning Sinhala was boring, in early years of my life.
For my luck I had very good Sinhala teacher and a very good English teacher. If not for them I would not have gone far. 

Even though, I left the homely village life in my formative years to a school in the city, quite frankly I did not learn much in the city school.

It was actually the British Council Library that provided me with all the books I needed. City school library was not much to talk about. So I learned my second language at my own pace at my own leisure.

The seat of knowledge was the British Council Library.

By the way, my blogging habits started due to British Council Library.

They had a program called WriteClick!

Linus Torvalds

 Linus Torvalds

Below is a phrase cut out from real life history of Linus and his erstwhile  friend.

I won't tell you where it is posted but it is an inspirational piece of writing and how a young undergraduates feels about his/her life in the campus and his/her career accomplishment thereafter and how collaboration works and isolation ruins.

Go and find it yourself.

1. It is relevant here to state how the politicians (whatever the party affiliation that would be) should not ruin the minds of young entrants to the University by propaganda.

2. It is also relevant that a university computer student in early 1990 could not save money enough to buy a home computer. 

Then of course if you have time to read my latest dream and its interpretation and if you are a cricket fan (Indian or Ceylonese) the story is a good sleeping pill for you to drop to sleep standing or seated. 

The way Australians and Englishman disposing our titles in style, the other alternative to watch cricket is to dream. 

I of course switch on our match when I want to sleep on my arm chair (not for dreaming of course). 

I call it instant Sleep neither Instant Cricket (IPL type) nor Instant Coffee. 

You may fall to sleep halfway through my story too but that is an added advantage of visiting this blog post.

Caption

Our studies for the first year ended in May, and in June we both started the semi-mandatory military service but in different places.

I did not see Linus for the next year.

The Finnish army taught me to shut up, stop thinking, hurry up to wait, shoot people at a distance and collect dirty dishes in a restaurant.

My IQ dropped markedly during those nine months.

I did not enjoy the experience.

Caption ENDS 

and the story begins.

Now I always dream about going abroad or being abroad in an airport or in one of my friends home abroad alone while my friend is toiling in his or her office. This disease of going abroad in dreamy state, I acquired while on industrial action over 3 months period and there is no cure for except dreaming of a cure.

The Dream

I had gone to Denmark to visit a friend there who is a professor of Sociology. He is a fan of football and once Danish were the world champions in football  and he still dreams one day in the future they will become champions again. I tell him it is nice to dream when one is old and retired and does not have enough means to support oneself. 

It is all what old people have except of course politicians in power. 

I always tell my friend one should not become a politician young. 

Look at Obama and see how quickly he has become "old looking" in spite of American make up. 

One must become a politician at old age and have your bypass and all other medical conditions attended by the state and one does not need a Health Plan or Insurance then.  He tells me he does not like politics and rush off to work leaving behind an old computer for me to work with. Then he turns round and find me a push trolley to take the computer on my way out, if I decide to go out for a walk. He is scared I get a heart attack carrying a big computer on my outdoor activities knowing very well that computer is now an appendage of my body.

One thing he does not know is that I carry a Pendrive with Puppy Linux.

I was bored inside and loaded the computer into the trolley and was on my way to the railway station as a necessary precaution. In those countries where elderly should not come out at rush hour and old guy would be trampled to death. So with the trolley I get a headway and leeway at rush hour and rush points. Of course I get funny looks from bystanders, onlookers and  fellow beings of fairer skin as I progress along and towards my desired destination..

As I was going down the path to the station to park the trolley (one needs to pay), I met a lady I have known with her blind son and the daughter coming up. We got into conversation and the blind son was figuring to place me in his memory and I was telling him.

Can't you remember that I was talking to your mum over the  phone when your sister got lost in the supermarket and "I baby sat with you" till she alerted the security and the police to locate her and eventually find her.

This was 12 year ago I told him.

Then he came to me grabbed me with emotion and with that emotion, I was woken up. 

This was a nice dream and I was taken up by the big old computer and the lost child and helping to find her. But also annoyed why should one of my friends gives me a big old computer instead of a tablet on my short sojourns abroad?

I can understand a wheel chair but not a racketty old computer and immediately posted an email to Maha Brahma.

He responded quickly and with a saying "old time no see aahh". 

I told him we are back to work and doing some catch up work. 

I told him this cannot be me at the railway station with an old computer and I am now thinking of a telepathic computer chip in my forehead and not a racketty old computer as my companion and I am very futuristic computer-wise.

I may be old in age but my computer is going to be the latest even to my grave I told him.

Son don't be impatient.

It is futuristic, too.

Then I asked him why did you wake me up in the middle and  I would have liked to know all about the future politicians.

Do you want to die in prison?

Perhaps not?

Then he dished out the interpretation.

Interpretation

There are three involved.

1. A politician

2. His putative wife

3. A child under 5

Country origin of the three withheld by the advice of the Interpol (Not coconut pol)

Site A Middle East International Airport.

Modus Operandum

Human smuggling for transplant organs.

Screen action

1. This politician goes on a official visit.

2. His putative wife (real wife in his mother country) joins him with a child under five two days later.

3. Wife come back to airport with the child.

4. Embark for homeward journey without the child.

5. Report the missing child to the politician by phone before the take off.

6. Politician alert the local police.

7. Politician attend his his bogus function (underworld to be precise)

8. In the meantime missing child disappears without a trace from the airport.

9. Whisked away to a Private hospital for donor parts.

10. Money deposited on a Swiss bank in the name of the politician.

This is how the NGOs will operate in future.

See you soon and he disappeared from computer email radar.

About the politician carrying a computer on a trolley is the symptom of them living in the glory of the past who cannot change with modernity and still prefer ballot paper (which can be manipulated at the time of the election) instead of an electronic ballot. His and his retinue carry all the paraphernalia with them when traveling, often in a private jet. They prefer going abroad when things can be achieved with an electronic mail or phone call quite oblivious to the electorate who elected them.

The disappearance of the child is of course is human smuggling. 

Blind person is the symbol of lack and antipathy towards differently abled people who have to struggle for survival and often there is no access to disabled people in public places in spite of huge development plans.

They are taken away and incarcerated with minimal rights, in day to day living.