Not the Diplomat

This is a subtle advice to President Anura Dissanayake.

Nicolle Machiavelli, the Diplomat

Machiavelli had two paths for success for a prince.

Mind you these are all against Dhamma Principles of Buddhism.

Path one is of absolute ruthlessness.
King has to a be an ace liar.
He has to be miserly to his subjects.
He has to be very lavish for his retinue.
He should be harsh to the people.
He should have an army.
He should purge powerful military men.
In other words he should murder the Generals when Italy was fully conquered.
Italy was divided into three, Florence, Naples and Roma and headed by vested interests.

He should not trust flatters.

He should be surrounded by wise men. 

If there any left in Ceylon, I doubt.

Other path is diplomacy.

For diplomacy to work there should be laws that control the commoner or his subjects.

Subjects should fear him.
Subjects should honour him.

Only after satisfying the above two provisos, he should show kindness to some of his favoured subjects.

Always guard against the flatters.

In Human history, the Fear was the base for power.
Fear of death, disease, disability and old age are natural to humans.
 

The slogan is these natural tendencies should be harnessed to remain in power.

Rulers are
King first
Army second

Law and order the last.

Democracy never works.

War is common in human history.

Diplomacy was rare.

Nicolle Machiavelli, I believe was a classic example of how diplomacy was created in the medieval history having subdued all opponents by any mean including fear of death and punishment.

These are all real and perceived threats.

Whereas as the threats created by Church are not teal but man made concoctions.

There were 3 elements in history.
King
Pope
Army

Councillors were non existent.

All my life I did not know who was Machiavelli.

An old lady whom I used to see on medical grounds, when I visited her, gave me a book in Sinhala, called Prince. 

This lady is no more and she lived well past 80.

She was a real political character and there were no political overtones in my simple consultations.

The paradox was that she claimed that she followed Buddha Dhamma.

I refused, since its content were political but on second thought accepted it. 

Once, I tried to read it but got bored instantly.

Today, Google enticed me with several YouTube presentations.

This is an attempt to relive his attempts on diplomacy.

He was called prince of political philosophy.

To begin with politics has no philosophy.

Politics is the manifestation of greed and power.

The three who manifest this greed are obvious.

Depending on the Power of  the Pope and his greed for territorial claims and dominance Wars were created by design.

Pope was the greediest of all.

Once war is started even Pope cannot intervene since there are many sectors including Orthodoxy.

We need a modern Machiavelli of high repute.

I do not think we would find one until, Ukraine is decimated in full.

Do not put the blame on President Putin. 

He is prepared to drag this war until the presidential election in US is over and done with.

Then only, a suitable diplomatic entity should emerge.

I do not think Donald Trump has understood the extent and he will invariably be controlled by the Military Industrial complex, when he comes in to power.

I do not think President Putin should trust any American and their one sided diplomacy until he has reached Odessa and a real corridor of defense is established..

Zelensky is an American Baby Doll, an Untrustworthy Soul of Hate.

He thrives on Hate of Russians.

There is something called Zelensky Curse, anything he touches burns to ashes.

It is TRUE.

One has to accept the American Defeat (of the Military Industrial Complex) and the Americans have to swallow the bitter pill.

Biden wanted Putin changed and it would turn out to be that the opposite of what he intended would materialize.

His own downfall is certain. 

Biden and his policies would be changed without a single gun fired towards America.

Already 5,000 Russian soldiers are dead.

Ukrainian death toll is estimated to be over 500,000 and a ratio of over 1 to 10.

Russians stood up to the Nazis, the current Nazis are in the Democratic Party. 

Democratic Party should be ousted to begin with.

I do not know how many are displaced and how many are permanently wounded in Ukraine. 

Probably that runs in to millions and much more than the second world war casualties.

Killing fields should be stopped that include Kursk in Russia, initiated by the NATO Guys.

Products of Uncertainty Principle

Products of Uncertainty Principle

A. Number One is the Slot Machine

1. Opportunity

2. Unpredictable Rewards

3. Repeatability

4. Endless Captivating Loop

It plays 16 games a minute.
 

B. Financial Institutes and Stock Market

Stock market with thrives on this principle. 

There is no better example.

Products
C. Gambling

Already mentioned in the slot machine but buying and selling Lottery Tickets with unfathomable odds is a money making and working industry.
 

D. Social Media

All social Media works on this principle and the advertisements behind these Media Moguls make a fast buck including Google.
 

E. Dating Applications

I have no working experience on Dating applications.
 

F. Gig Economy

One can see these products coming from China like mushrooms.
The have a large population to entice and few of them become global.
 

G. Blogging
My Blogging Activity is a good example.

However it has matured into a good platform for Linux and base for my books. 

I do not run short of ideas, even though, I shun political commentaries, I make random political analysis to keep the visitors to my page entertained.
 

H. Evolutionary Behavior

Yes uncertainty is an Evolutionary behavior.

If not for that human civilization would not have devolved in to present day catastrophe.

It is like Pigeons pecking for food.

Hunter gatherer did the same thing in finding food. 

Searching for food when hungry was natural but a
random event.

Finding new type of foods was the end result.

Points of View

 Points of View

1. Blood pressure treatment does not prolong life.

2. The effect of treatment of blood pressure on elderly patients over 65 years is flimsy.

3. Treatment itself causes hypotension and also postural hypertension and confusion. 

Postural hypotension is common in the elderly.

4. That does not mean one abruptly stops medication for blood pressure. One would end up with rebound blood pressure rise, heart failure, organ failure or even death. 

This has happened to one of my friends.

5. Around 95% of the cases, the cause of blood pressure is unknown, hence it is called "Essential Hypertension".

6. Blood pressure treatment slows heart failure and organ failure including kidney failure.

7. It prevents strokes but not heart attacks.

8. Heart attacks are mainly caused by thrombosis.

9. We really do not know why thrombosis does occur in the elderly.

10. Thrombosis can be prevented by Low Dose Aspirin and that is why it is in my list.

I tend to use it sublingual route and that is also once in 10 days. 

The effects of single dose of aspirin lasts up to 10 days.

11. Blood pressure treatment should be complimented with Aspirin to prevent both strokes and heart attacks.

12. Aspirin slightly increases the risk of haemorrhage into the brain which is much worse than a simple stroke. 

After accidental injury one who is on Aspirin may continue to bleed.

13. Excessive bleeding is a medical emergency.

14. Aspirin known to lower the risk of cancer and how it works is not clearly determined.

15. Now to my crunch point, the vital cholesterol. 

Cholesterol is a vital biochemical with vast array of actions, including probably scavenger function of free radicals.

16. The reduction of Cholesterol does not prolong life.

17. Its treatment with anti-cholesterol drugs causes much debilitating dementia.

18. These drugs cause liver damage and myopathy. 

Heart is a muscle and myopathy may effect the heart.

19. Healthy life style, 

exercise, 

adequate sleep, 

meditation and 

adopting a vegetarian diet are probably better options for prolonging life than taking a pill that causes myopathy and liver damage.

20. Eat chocolates and dish out chocolates to your friends which has lot of feel good chemicals that are secreted during meditation.

21. Meditation increases the release of feel good hormones and probably benefits the ones with a good liver.

22. Feel good hormone that prongs life is "Growth Hormone". 

It is an internal product which act through the liver.

23. Abstinence from alcohol may have substantial benefits.

24. Coconut oil is good for your heart and brain. 

Do not succumb to the gullible lies of the American Companies.

I call it, the Coconut Conspiracy.

25. Coconut oil and its products are a good supplement for patients with dementia.

26. Alcohol in any form is bad except for its transient  vasodilator properties and hot flushes.

27. Smoking is the biggest killer, world wide.

28. Chocolates do not have growth hormone

29. Meditation practice for one hour tends to elevate feel good hormones and reduce the cortisol levels.

30. I will end up by saying that do not take all medical advises as "Gullible Truths" be that it may be Eastern or Western. Additionally, the Web Gurus dish out lot of nonsense and Web is a “Virtual Junk Yard”.

Star is Born, Kamindu Mendis

Yes a star is born.

His greatest asset is he helps his fellow players blossom.

Kusal Mendis was having a rough patch and he getting a century with Kamindu Mendis approaching 200 epitomize his love for the game.

Keep it up.

Uncertainty Principle

This is not about Buddhism but Economics.
Buddha' s Economics of Singalovada Sutta I will brief you at the end.

This is dedicated to one whom I befriended in my late years of retirement.

He has a long name but I call him Mana Wadu (means carpenter - wood or metal does not matter).

I used to go for my daily loaf and some Wine but sit with them for a tea (Rs.25 a Cup) never alcohol since,  I hate Arrack which smells awful.

He sits with his friends at the Bank of Ceylon till 2.30 P.M. and looks at the (spinning wheel, I call) the video display and makes his assessment and bets.

I come at 2.45 P.M. and pull them for cup of tea which I never sip (awful taste) but some sweets and yoghut drink (not for gastritis which I never had) as a base for my stomach since I DO NOT have RICE as a my lunch.

The bar which I go opens at half past four (only once I went to the Kandy Bar but it did not have my favourite Wine).

I always have a book in my hand and if I come early, I sit there and flips the papers of my book and ponders over the next topic for a blog piece, usually politically slanted.

So I asked my senior friend to teach me economics and he was a Graduate of Economics, couple of years senior to me of the same University.

We never met as undergraduates, since he had a day time job somewhere not as a teacher, probably in a bank or a private book keeping joint, somewhere. I did not bother to ask where (he had given up his teaching job) and he was trying to prolong his job.

He however, passed out of the University after me.

He finally ended up as Senior Accountant in Government Service and had lot of good contacts.

He had a very old cellphone and a typical government servant's handbag.

His footwear and cloths were archiach! 

He was a confirmed bachelor.

I gave him my Notebook for 20% cut rate and told him to dress nice and present himself smart at any point of contact.

That is the way about Business Dealers.
The business dealers do not have brains but they talk and present as super smart, I told him. Otherwise one is treated as an old cogger.

I go for my alcoholic chocolates daily and he always gets one free from me but I never offered alcoholic stuff to him.

Mind you by this time, I had insight that I was a mild but smart alcoholic and chocolate with spirits (liqueur) was my attempt at weaning myself off.

It takes time but insight to say to yourself, that YOU are an alcoholic.

All my life I was never been able to wean a guy from alcohol or cigarettes.

I stopped smoking at 33 and I knew I have the mental skill to drop alcohol just like I stopped eating rice (different reasons).

We had a another guy who was an oragami specialist and he too joins with his daughter. I thought it was nice for me to invest on a another skill i.e., oragami but never progressed since it taxes on the finger skills trained for tiny surgical skills for infants.

We progress on a common but a lovely theme with some  chocolates.

This guy had an absence attack and he did not tell me but after probing I knew what had happened and told him to take some aspirin EOD, every other day and please do not worry. 

Please do not consult a doctor but me.

The bottom line is all the money of this guy had was plundered by his elder brother and his extended family and grandchildren.

He used to take some chocolate for the grandchildren and one of them scalped the Netbook that I gave him.

By the way he did not take aspirin (Because of my nice and simple ways, he did not believe me. I told him the lapse episode will come within a year, if YOU do not take aspirin). Sure enough he had a lapse and he was taken to hospital (I ask the origami friend to follow his progress) and he was made "a life time sick guy" by the private doctors he consulted.

The extended family wanted his Pension for Eternity and sort extra medical attention which killed him like the proverbial duck who laid golden eggs.

I never saw him again and this was long time before Coronavirus pandemic. I was told he passed away, 6 months after his demise. He may have succumbed to Coronavirus and one who was inadvertently exposed to it during putative and unnecessary investigations. I followed the Coronavirus Pandemic carefully and avoided exposure well before it was declared a pandemic and my original guess was that the Public Bars which were kept opened helped to spread the disease in early stages.

Besides, it helped me to wean myself off of all alcohols including Wine and liqueured chocolates.

I think he never sent any government officer on punishment or sacked due to inappropriate behaviour, in all his years of auditing. 

Either he made them to retire before full inquiry was over or made them to move to another branch without financial activities.

That is how the Government Service operates, never a guy is thrown out.

My early investigation in 1980s was if we punish government servants for alcoholic offenses, 90% of them would lose their jobs within 10 years of service. 

One form of bribe (including doctors and consultants) is to bribe them in or out of office with alcohol and some prominent political monks were caught red handed. 

I used to dish out all the "Duty Free Alcohol" to my friends in Private Sector, never Public Sector. 

I was offered alcohol in my internship and first job as DMO (Police officers to begin with) and never accepted any. I had a supply at the quarters always VSOA and Mendis Special and Gin and Tonic (even after my retirement).

I could never play a good game of Billiards or Snooker without a top up. It took a long time and "Buddhist Insight" for me to understand my predicament. 

I think / guess my friend Mana Wadu also had a drink with his family mates.It was to induce him to write off the piece of land he had near the Panidemiya Railway Junction. A Prime Land. I politely requested this land but he refused.

By the way he never answered my telephone calls (I believed confiscated by his elder brother).

I never got the chance to learn or master economics from this guy but with some probing I got the key concepts into coherent assembly which is given below.

1. Uncertainty
2. Speculation
3. Panic
4. Buying and Selling
5. Certain Collapse

Next Cycle starts after a Prolonged Recovery.

Printing money makes no difference to this cycle.

It is NOT based on logic but on simple speculation.

Simple term for this is Industrial Gossip.

Now Ceylon politics also thrives on Gossip but one cannot be a good a Finance Minister by gossip mongering.

When the economy collapses wise guys start buying BUT idiots start selling their last silver.

China is buying and we in Ceylon are selling at cut rate level.

It is all cutthroat transactions nothing but.

Communists have become ultra-capitalists and that is the paradox of communism.

Top Chinese have billions (building palaces in London) and the bottom has minions and the cellphone to browse the world in virtual reality.

It is an illusion of grandiosity.

Does not matter one is capitalistic or communist, the greed and selfishness rule the world.

Now a word about neo-capitalists (Elon Musk) in space not the philanthropists  of Microsoft.

Unless human kind master the space and have a strategy to communicate with galactic civilizations with higher intelligence and simple economic values we are frogs in a deep well and the third extinction is well on its way to destroy the current ecosystem.

It has happened before and more than likely to repeat itself with vengeance.

Uncertainty Principle rules the World.

Linux Lot, Some Gone Defunct

Reprodcution

Linux Lot, Some Gone Defunct

Beware Linspire and Freespire that Microsoft Guys/Girls try to use for destroying interest in Linux newbies!

It is time for me to narrow down the first Five Linux Live CDs  only. 

I have no intention of giving points or put it in any order except alphabetical.

However criteria for selection were based on few important qualities.

They include the followings.

 

1. Stable Boot Loader preferably GRUB.

2. Ability to live with other Linux distributions side by side (not only with Windows).  

Black Track4 fails on this issue. 

I cannot installed it, along with other Linux distributions,      so it is available to me only,  in an emergency.

3. Good Partition Manager (which include other OS types) or an editor which does not cause problem with many other partition tools available in Linux.

4. Installation process easy and compatible with other distributions.

5. Security tools and Firewalls and parental control.

6. Availability of Root and User options (unfortunately Ubuntu fails on this issue).

7. Availability of commonly used general purpose utilities or the ability to download them as an open option.

8. Attractive but light weight (tone downed KDE would do).

9. CD burner ideally KDE.

 

10. An assortment of light weight games (including card games) or one single high features game everybody loves.

Unfortunately all of the Live CD/DVDs fail on this feature.

1. Knoppix
2. Mepis
3. PCLinux
4. Puppy Linux
5. SuSe

I have all installed in my 80 GB hard drive.

6. Linux Mint
7. Fedora Linux
8. Vector Linux
9. Berry Linux
10. Zenwalk

For specialists and Newbies with special interest.

11. Arch
12. Chakra
13. Granular
14. aLive / aLinux ? Peanut Linux
15. AV Linux
16. Yoper
17. GoBo Linux
18. Linvo
19. Dream Linux
20. Ubuntu / Lubuntu / Kubuntu / SuperrOS and the lot

Then the Light Weight beauties.

21. Adios
22. Imagine.
23. Peppermint
24. Element
25. gOs
26. Paldo
27. Unity
28. Untangle
29. Chameleon
30. Slax
31. Igelle
32. Myah
33. Leenux
34. Netrunner
35. Exodus
36. ELive
37. ViperOS

Commercial
38. Mandriva
39. XandrOS
40. ? Linspire ? Freespire

XandrOS was the first Linux distribution I installed along with Windows.

It was Debian based and went commercial subsequently and changed hands. Now dormant but an Iso copy can be obtained from Archive Linux site.
 

I have not include the educational distributions like Scientific Linux, Fermi Linux, QIMO, Knoppix for Kids and Kids Linux.

I have also not included the middle weight or the heavy weight like. Sabayon, Monomax, Openmamba, Calculate Linux, ALT Linux, Epidermic and Genitoo.

 

My Tech History

This is my last blog piece and I am going back to my Writing Mode.

ASUS Laptop (2009) was the last thing I bought and it is gathering dust. 

It has Endless OS installed.

For our generation technology was brand new.

Making a microphone from a Kiwi shoe polish tin was our discovery. 

I think I made a tiny One Crystal Radio but without a good antenna I could not receive a radio message. 

The tuner was not good enough.

Only Long wave and short wave available then but no FM.

I gave up my experiments very early unlike Bob Lazar in America of the 1980s.

I was good in my physics and got a distinction in physics but decided to do medicine instead. 

Only one of my friends ended up as a physical engineer. 

I used to visit him at Chandrika Weva in Balangoda and all my Engineer friends ended up suffering from Malaria. 

He is no more. 

I can still remember they were feeding a tiny crocodile in a tiny water tank.

I said, beware!

I was their medical consultant.

Symptoms of Malaria was not typical then and it was very difficult to distinguish from Dengue.

There were no pocket calculators or pocket radios then.

I upgraded myself to mini TV, Radio and Cassette Deck having walked all the way up the Tottenham Court Road. 

I migrated to a mini Cassette Recorder for dictation of Clinical Records from the bulky Cassette Recorder.

But my real interest was Cameras and had 20 odd mini to major Fuji, AGFA and Canon cameras in my possession.

Currently, I have Fuji Digital Camera, bought 15 years ago and I have not yet mastered all its functions, yet.

I bought a Peterson's Colour Photographic Development Kit but could not proceed without a proper Dark Room. 

I did some Black and White photography (Processing) with my brother as a school kid. 

We formed a Photography Society but our teachers we less encouraging.

 

I had few of my photographs published one in the Commonwealth Magazine.

 

I ended up buying a Digital Microscope (which children use in America) for my Thesis (University did not have a Digital Camera Microscope).

I ended up writing a book on "Microscopes" including its development history.

Fast forward, I bought a portable double deck cassette recorder and Radio Amplifier.

Amplifier was a novelty to me.

I had to cut down on my expenses after marriage but still went to Radio Shack outlet in Manchester to look for gadgets but I did not by any of the Fancy Radio Kits. 

If I remember right Radio Shack was going bust (bankrupt).

During early stage of marriage, 3 piece kit was the "ultimate top range" which we could afford from a Manchester Warehouse with a fancy name (which I cannot remember the name). 

If I remember right it was called "HiFi Mania" not WiFi Mania.

Most likely this outlet may have gone busy.

The combination of Double Cassette Deck, Radio and Amplifier were (of different Models) called a Setup. 

It is a rack one on top of the other.

A Single Model Setup was very expensive. 

The TV was the cheapest second hand Sony and no Video Cassette Deck.

There were no TVs in Ceylon then.

All these were before 1982. 

I returned home in December, 1984.

It cost me a lot bringing them home and TRICO was very helpful (TRICO guy bought ARPICO, later).

The Table Top, Fridge, Freezer and Dryer were the items we had to possess and doing everything at home (DIY) was the norm.

 

Saying Good Bye to Dry Cleaning was the end result.

Of course Computer was my addiction.

I used to assemble my own PC and had 15 unit Network at home and I have now migrated to NUC Basic, while having a mini barrel shaped Radio Receiver that accommodates USB and SD card for Audio play. 

I do not use Apple or Microsoft Windows and the various Linux Distributions from Xandros to Mandrake to Suse to Redhat to PCLinux  were my driving forces during 32 bit days but now full time Debian User (64 bit Version 12).

DOS to Sinclair to Atari to Commodore 64 Computers (but NO Radio Shack) were my introduction to computing.

I did not like BBC Basic but did a bit of basic computing including machine language on a cassette. 

Those days making a computer List of Contacts with addresses was big deal.

Dot max printers I hated but I have huge Sony Drum Printer which I used for my (Thesis) Printing Work. 

I have had several Tablets and the current one is Samsung.

I was busy looking after sick children before I migrated to sick elderly and I finally migrated to my bread and butter medicine which was Pathology (after the fact, full investigation).

The current Monitor is huge which I need for easy reading. 

I haven't watched a film for over six months and I hate Talk SHOWS, YouTube and Facebook.

I made only One YouTube (digital) presentation in my entire life and that is also on Linux Usage.

Currently my cellphone with Android 13 version is the Daily Driver and this piece is made on my cellphone which has a good Google Spell Checker.

Editing was done subsequently on my Intel NUC computer.

For all purposes Cellphone is a Mini Computer.

I did not spend huge on a car which is a depreciating asset but bought a second hand Peudeau car which I dispensed with, when the spare parts were hard to come by.

Postscript

With Microchip industry at its peak it is not worth investing on tech gadgets. 

If I am given the chance, instead of a Raspberry Pie, I would have made my Mini Computer on a Simple Keyboard by integrating the CPU and RAM of NUC. 

Just stick the NUC circuit board and mini RAM to a Keyboard. Instead of a TV monitor Wireless  Liquid Crystal Display Tablet would function as my digital reader cum monitor. It is possible and would be much cheaper but these Corporate Giants will never consider such a venture. 

Their target is profits.

I started with 4MB Video RAM and 128MB RAM to begin with. 

By the way, I am in full retirement.

Unscientific Ceylon and American Politics

Reproduction

Unscientific America

With Mr. Trump coming into power, it is obvious that the word Science has come into prominence.

I did some search (not research which is my bona fide) of America in preparation of a brief visit to New York.

It never materialized.

It ended up me writing two fiction books (not my forte) obliging to a request from my family members to write a few fiction books.

I love writing books on Real Science (not scientific fiction of Sir Arthur Clark's) as an antidote to Arthur's fiction.

The catch phrase in my book was “Ten days in America, I am already broke” which I got printed (fictionally) in my uppers not pants, to avoid all the muggers.

America has few suckers and lot of ordinary people.

My search culminated in writing a book on conspiracies (entire world including Vatican City) which is available on Amazon.

Like America, Amazon is a wonderful organization much better than “Sewing Facebook' and “The Faked News Agency” authored by many unsuspecting guys/girls.

Authoritarian news agencies did not fare well fueling the Faked News.

The reason for writing this piece is to make you read a few books on America.

1. Unscientific America (about how scientific knowledge filter down to the masses).

2. House of Lies (How the business world operates)

3. Third book I have misplaced and cannot remember the Title, is very good and academic.

It is on the line of “The Matrix of American Population Dynamics”.

I am sorry I cannot give the correct name.

Of course that made me to write a book on Ceylonese Dimensions from “Freedom to Anarchy to War Mongering (That is not the name of my book).

It was titled  “Reflections”, a personnel perspective of Ceylonese Politics with corruption.

 

In a Matrix of seven or eight levels.

Mind you I am not a politician but a passive observer.

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:
 

The 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 (he is called R-Thana 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.
 

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.