Octapus Genome is Richer in Proteins

Human genome proteins 20,500.

Octapus 33,000

Caenorhabditis elegans has 20,000 proteins.

King Cobra-Naga Naja

 30-04-2011

King Cobra-Naga Naja

on King Cobra-Naja Naja

This is not something to alarm you but to point out how man has neglected the use of cobra venom for therapeutic use.

In addition there is a paucity of knowledge how venom evolved in animals and how some animals are resistant to smaller doses of venom.
 

I teach that it is the venom that is produced in our body after the bite that kills us not the cobra venom (to illustrate the fact that cytotoxins have multitude of actions).

 
For example bradykinin that causes pain is the product of our own tissues.

Snake venom is a modified saliva and we really do not know whether these are produced in evolution for digestion of the prey or to immobilize or anesthetize (humane to the dying prey). 

None of the points I have raised have been addressed conclusively and potential for the use of the modified venom molecule for treatment of leukaemia or cancer cells or as antithrombotic activity have not been discussed in scientific journal adequately..
Why?
The answer is simple.
Once they discovered that antivenom as a cure, everybody forgot about the biological role and what system they act and why, when where and how they modify the homoeostatic mechanisms.

 
Moment the commercial activity of preparation of antivenom starts the scientific investigation of biological nature takes a back stage.
That is very unfortunate.
 

There lot we can learn from these cytotoxins.

Coming back to cobra (baby cobra-are as poisonous as the adult), I killed a young cobra with a ruler when I was as young as the tiny cobra who was under my bed.

When that little fellow made his hood and kissed the death I fell heroic and also very sad.

 
Then in another incident when I jumped over huge cobra in a big compound and looked around to see he was as frighted as I was and showed his hood with a warning and quietly slipped away to his safety, I wondered why fear an animal who is on his routine search of his food or prey.

I still say the jumped I made that day worth an Olympic record if somebody made an accurate measure on that day. 

Unfortunately I missed an Olympic record since officials were not there to record it. That would have changed my life completely but the day that completely changed my mind was another ordinary day.
 

I was walking along a stream with the intention of catching guppies and I had a stone in my hand (we used to play marbles those days unlike today’s kids) and I saw a water snake (harmless creature) quickly swimming across in fear.

I took an aim in a moment of irresponsible stroke of mind of ill will and thought, threw the stone at the poor creature and it landed right on his neck.

It was like a bulls eye shot but the agony of the creature who succumbed in a long drawn out 5 minutes of death dance made an impact in my mind never to hurt (reflecting my killing in fear of the young cobra) an animal in either fear or sport.

Then on one night (2 am in the morning) in darkness a Ceylon Krait landed on my right shoulder and I brushed it with my left hand gently and put the light in a flash to see creature landing on the cement flow with a thud and my dog charging at it, I was then a man thinking of three lives my dog, myself and the poor creature who ventured at night.

 
Mind you Ceylon Krait is the deadliest of Ceylonese venomous snakes.

I watched the creature and it quickly disappeared into crevice wide open due to rotten timber of the bathroom door.

I did not have any cement to seal and went to the kitchen an took some American flour (who says American flour has no place in this country) and sealed the hole with the dough hastily made since the price of flour was very cheap (cheaper than the cement) then.

Suffice is to say I flushed the hole with water before I did that and slept on the settee fearing a few more in my bedroom.

After three days it emerged (none elsewhere) from the kitchen floor cracked and we caught it and released it to safety.

Of course, I had to cement both holes in the bathroom end and the kitchen end.

The key point here is that animals fear us more than we fear them in this modern world where we are encroaching on their habitat with blatant disregard to biodiversity.

I have had two more COBRA incidents, since then.

1. Touched the belly of a cobra inadvertently, while going to fetch the Sunday Parer or letters in the letter box. I took my hand in an instance and it slithered away. I could not see its front end.

2. Then when I was feeding my pet fish (in a huge tank behind our house) and turned around, to see a huge cobra behind my back, I made a huge jump downwards (5 steps) and almost broke my right leg.

I was blocking its exit path and it waited patiently till I was safely away, and disappeared in a flash. 

It would have been 20 feet long, no exaggeration.

They come to drink water from the open tank during the dry season.

For some reason there are no frogs, except the big Tree FROG that visit us annually to lay eggs in my tanks. 

Perhaps the snakes are coming in the night and polishing the things.

One of my class friends, who had a pond was complaining to me he has a problem with frogs.

I just ask him did you kill the cobra?

I did not have an answer.

At least let the rattle snake or garadiya to vist your lawn.

Dog Life In China

Reproduction 

Mind YOU Chinese and Koreans eat dogs! 

Dog Life In China

When you approach the iron gate of Laifu Yard, located in Dahuichang Village off the west Sixth Ring Road in Beijing, you are greeted by dozens of enthusiastic dogs, some with obvious disabilities but they all look frantically happy to see any visitor. The gate is reinforced with boards, bars, and locks so that it is not pushed open by the hyperactive canines. Though most of the dogs here have experienced pain and abandonment, they have no idea that the world outside the gate is still a hostile one.

Laifu Yard is in trouble.

Founded in 1998 and one of the largest stray dog shelters in Beijing, the 0.4 acre yard now houses around 400 dogs and 200 cats, far beyond capacity. For several years, the villagers have been complaining about the noise and bad smell, quite reasonable considering households are in quite close proximity, and the complaints are coalescing into hatred. This year, the village committee is officially evicting Aunt Li, the founder of the shelter, and her dogs.     Most NGOs concerned with stray animal welfare in Beijing, like Laifu Yard, are facing a similar situation: a shortage in funds, hands, and space. They keep moving farther from the city, all while taking on more and more animals from the careless metropolis.

In Chinese cities, the pet industry is advancing at a stunning speed. In 1993, there was only one brand of dog food in China, Mars; however, by 2014, the dog-care industry had boomed so rapidly that it is became a 900 million RMB a year venture.

However, much like many other industries, the pet industry is growing staggeringly and grotesquely, causing new problems along the way.

Like anything else, there have been trends in Chinese people’s preference of dog, trends often defined by popular films. Labradors became all the rage on Beijing’s streets in 2004 with Quill and Lassie in 2006 made rough collies popular. Eight Below made Alaskan malamutes and huskies the most desired pets for a while, and Shiba won the hearts of Chinese people in Hachiko.

A Dog’s Story in 2009 (and of course the internet fame of Doge). However, as each trend came and went, Chinese dog owners realized that getting  a dog is not exactly like inviting a friendly angel into your home; with each trend saw a new peak in abandonment for that breed.

“Those films are not truthful representations of the dogs,” Angella Zheng, companion animal project officer at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), explains. “After the screening of Eight Below, a lot of people were lured into the fantasy that, if they didn’t own such a smart dog, they wouldn’t live the happy life of the film’s protagonist. However, you cannot really live a film. Huskies can howl like a wolf that resounds around the whole block if they are not given proper training. Alaskan malamutes are born to exercise extensively, and when they are confined to the limits of an urban apartment, their pent up energy may lead to extreme destructiveness.”

Currently, the Bichon Frise-Shih Tzu mix (Shichon) is the preferred breed in China, a small dog also known as a “teddy”.

“Although there have been various trends in the choice of dogs, it’s the first time one single breed has become this popular,” Doctor Yin from the Saijia Animal Hospital says. He has been practising since 1998 and is one of the most acclaimed vets in Beijing. “Of course the phenomenon has its causes. The Shichon looks cute, and as a descendant of the poodle, it is also very intelligent. It doesn’t shed much hair, it’s small, and it is domestic by nature and doesn’t need to be walked a lot. In this respect, it’s almost perfect for Chinese urban residents in dense communities.”

However, Yin is concerned about the health of the dogs. “It’s a relatively newly-imported breed. Now that it has won Chinese people’s favor, it is multiplying in all Chinese dog breeding farms, but it is hard to tell the risks. It is already showing signs of hereditary diseases. Because of hip defects at birth, a lot of the Shichons I receive here suffer from necrosis of the hip joints. We will need to wait for another 10 or 15 years to see if it develops other hereditary defects.”

“There used to be more mongrel breeds in China,” Yin points out. “However, with the progress of urbanization and the dog breeding business becoming highly commercialized, most people purchase their dogs from markets instead of getting puppies from friends. Mostly, you can only see purebred dogs.”

Purebred dogs tend to have a much higher chance of hereditary diseases due to a lack of genetic diversity and inbreeding, and they are not as healthy as mongrels in general. While this is a fact all over the world, in China the situation is worse. “In China, the dog breeding business is extremely greedy. It is centred on self-interest only, instead of the dogs’ health,” Yin says. “That makes Chinese purebred dogs unhealthier than those abroad.”

“A Dog’s Life” is a feature story from our newest issue, “Military”. To read the whole piece, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the iTunes Store.

Linux penetration of the Desktop PC

It looks like Linux has reached my target of 10% already and AI (server domain) which is a derivative of Linux itself is shy to accept this fact.

No Linux guy visits my blog post and only when I post a political piece that it hits over 4K. That is the reality. I just posted a political piece naming all the big political big shots. I would report, in a few days.

 

Linux penetration of the Desktop PC (AI Generated)

 

As of July 2024, Linux had a 4.45% share of the global desktop operating system market. This is an increase from 3.12% in July 2023.
 

Explanation  

Microsoft Windows is the most widely used operating system for desktop computers and laptops, with a share of 73%.

Apple's macOS is the second most popular operating system, with a share of 14%.

Google's ChromeOS is the fourth most popular operating system, with a share of 1.9%. 

 

The remaining 6.4% of the market is unknown, but is thought to be Linux.

Linux is an open-source operating system that runs on a variety of computer architectures, including mobile phones and supercomputers. 

Because it's open source, developers can quickly update the code to improve security

Faked Bills (Economy), Faked News (Politics), Fucked Up Medicine (Drug-Mafia) and Faked Dharma

 

Faked Bills (Economy), Faked News (Politics), Fucked Up Medicine (Drug-Mafia) and Faked Dharma

For two solid 48 hours (not due to meditation practice) the TV was switched off fully and Dhamma Sermons (Faked Dharma probably Buddha never uttered) were banned electronically.

I think we are fucked up fully by politics, economy, medicine and religion.

This is my final encounter in blog world, which I have been considering for over three years (could not keep this promise).

Finally, the curtain is down for good, from today. 

I have to confess but I am active again because of the election. 

I would hibernate once the election results are declared.

 

By the way, I am in Australia.

I do not want to be a part of this fucked up Web with Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram and Viber.

For me Viber tops the list and Twitter is close second and Facebook, never again.

I took up Twitter (twit twit of the Munia bird is my favorite bird song) seriously with President Trump's powerful message in his campaign for election in 2015.

He won the Battle with Russia in doldrums until Coronavirus took a tall in all three or four Western countries, in style.
 

My bone fide or bone of contention is that this virus will spread fast in the Western world like AIDS where homosexuality is legal from ? 1984 or so. 
 

It has no colour barrier unlike violence in USA currently.
 

Racial prejudice (no genetic evidence of difference between Tamils and Sinhalese and we are a homogeneously mixed up race with English and Portuguese blood diluted by intra-breeding over the past 70 years) with questionable, "bloody variability"  is widely prevalent in this part of the world where Indira Gandhi created L.T.T.E to incite violence in already divided and violent nation.
 

By the way, India and Ceylon have no immunity to Coronavirus and it will last a decade or more.

Coming to the Title, number one is faked bills of the current government.
Electricity bill, Water bill and more importantly Telecom bills are artificially inflated to pay the salary of large government (three or four officers for a single post and none works and like a merry go round the buck is passed around in eternal cycles) sector.
 

Coffers are empty and I pay a handsome (not a single cent from Ceylon) amount to support the failed economy and the failed country.

Faked news is the Election propaganda of aspirations that were never delivered for 70 years.

We are a failed city and nation owned by a guy who is a Singaporean!
 

Fucked up medicine is endemic and Vitamin C tablet is over Rs.25/= per tablet and important eye drops are not seen in pharmacies and soon lot of elderly citizens will go blind (blind in politics,too) due to lack of Medicine.

On top of these are Buddhist monks advising the PM and the President and giving dead ropes in broad day light on this "Poson Paya Day".

Predicted rain by our meteorologists never materialized and the only bright spot was the Full Moon with rain clouds surrounding it making its brightness ever so beautiful.
 

It was a good photo-opportunity to which my wife beat me by narrow horse neck.

By the way, lotteries were not sold due to the curfew and not due to Poya.

Selling lotteries which S.W.R.D introduced Violate Buddhist Principles.
 

Very soon Buddhist monks will start selling them (lotteries) to fill the empty coffers!

Single Meal

 Single Meal

Single most important principle in Buddhist Practice is its alms (Dhana), the giving away one’s possessions, without expecting anything in return.
This is something of an antithesis to modern world, where, self, image and one’s possessions are dear and belonging.
How it should be practiced by a Buddhist monks is discussed here briefly to make a novice monk adapt to modern trends in a demanding world.
A Buddhist monk ought to be light in baggage and belongings.  A monk could have only two cloths (Chivara), one for wearing and another for change. How it should be made is also under strict and elaborate instructions.
The eating habits are also under strict code of practice.
I would discuss that in detail here.
When it comes to eating, if one ignores the morning meal, which is very light indeed, a monk has to survive on a single meal and that has to be taken in the early evening, in the modern day practice.
You may wonder why I took some interest in this.
This examination is scientific in nature.
There are many reasons, and I would state only a few.
If monks in the West practice this according to the strict code, it is a severe test for them, adopting this regime in the winter months. Equally, I have seen some monks who try to adhere to the regime rigidly and religiously have ended up sick and malnourished. If one becomes a Buddhist monk in adult life who had enjoyed somewhat a liberal life, changing to a single meal is a severe restriction on his / her diurnal habits.
One’s hormonal status, glycogen storage and status of the acid secretion in the stomach are habituated by ones daily routine (lifestyle). Changing abruptly, having become a monk should be done on a staggered basis, giving time for the body to adjust. Additionally, many of them do not have an understating of what is a balance diet.
Over years, I have seen many Buddhist monks suffering from food related diseases, especially diabetes mellitus. This is something not welcome and unexpected for my own liking.
I have no intention of going into how one becomes a diabetic but for me somebody on a single meal getting diabetes mellitus was something of an enigma.
In this context, having thought about it, I put the blame squarely on the layman.
Hope, one is not amazed by this statement.
I should go into this briefly.
The upper and the higher middle class families are the ones who get quota for the alms (Dhana) for the residential monks in the city. Their, idea of a meal is a lavish one. Many of them are also diabetic because of their over indulgence.
The offer of alms (Dhana) is not done on a regular basis.
So on the day, all the sugary, starchy, heavy but nutritionally unbalanced is offered.  These alms (Dhana) days also happen to fall on weekends and holidays.
The monk has no choice.
He consumes a diet heavy in carbohydrates which stimulate their pancreas to the limits on weekends and practically having an austerity meal, in the rest of the week. My theory is, this up and down (erratic) stimulation of the insulin status, make them prone to diabetes mellitus, in the middle age. This may be aggravated by lack of exercise and having sugary drinks (tea) to counteract, the late evening hypoglycemia.
It is the duty of the layman to look after their welfare on a regular basis instead of a lavish feast once a month.
Medical education is in its prime stage now, especially on nutrition, the doctor should advise the upper middle class families what is a balance single diet for a monk who are practically at the mercy of the rich laymen who impart their inherent diseases on the clergy, unwittingly and unwillingly.
I would give some advice later regarding what to be offered and what ought not to be but for now let me digress a little.
I wanted to test myself whether I can survive on a single meal. I am more than convinced that it is possible and healthy.
But it takes time and it cannot be practiced overnight.

Prehistoric Time -15,000 to 30, 000 ago

Having proved it to myself that I can sustain on a single meal, I delved into man’s prehistoric period and how man survived in adverse climatic conditions and food scarcities.
Hunter gather never had three meals a day.
At best he had only a single square meal, never three meals. He mainly survived on a big game, in a community life style.
He was omnivorous and supplemented his diet with fruits and nuts. He probably did not suffer from diabetes mellitus and his teeth were strong, the enamel was thin but the dentin was thick, hardly had any caries. In times of food shortages and diseases there were signs of enamel deficiency and bone diseases.
These changes are recorded in prehistoric fossils which date back to 15,000 to 30,000 years.
Until such time he became nomadic, milk was in short supply.
Only milk supply was maternal.
The average woman was thin, and she only had children once in four years or so.
It is now believed that when a woman was thin -prehistoric women, had to work hard, almost equaling man’s efforts, like modern day women athletes, in whom the ovulation does not occur, regularly. Additionally, prolong breast feeding without weaning suppresses ovulation.
The man probably was sturdier and taller but comparatively thinner since he had to work hard in hunting exercises. He probably lived a shorter life than a woman (45 years), probably 35 years or so / died not of modern day diseases but as a result of injuries sustained in hunting.
As for prehistoric man is concerned the existence on a single meal was not a fantasy but a fact.


Paleolithic Period- 5000 to 13 000 years

Why man became an agricultural man is a mystery but available evidence suggests dramatic changes in climate at the end of the ice age and the population expansion contributed. With the emergence of the nomadic life and man’s entry into agricultural endeavors, he entered into a sedentary life style.
However, he never gave up game and hunting until such time he domesticated adequate livestock.
I would like to figure out that he was never a pure vegetarian. 
The Asian wolf became associated with man around 13,000 years ago probably scavenging around man’s domain. The dogs and wolf can live on a single meal perhaps even longer and with the loss of mammoths and huge game, wolf also found living difficult but drifted with the man for game. His eating pattern, scavenging to begin with which our present day dogs inherit and illustrate by scavenging city dumps, is a reminder that even this period the man existed (present day practice of feeding a single meal to a pedigree dog, which I do not agree) on a single main meal.
Even though, the agricultural practices were extensive, failure of crops was common phenomenon, the demise of Maya Dynasty was a true example of catastrophe in history. In spite of extensive agriculture, food was not in plenty and the food preparation from harvest to meal was labor intensive and man continued to supplement meal on animal and animal sacrifices.
In this period population expanded probably because women becoming comparatively fatter and fertile (it is interesting to note that when a woman is too fat, like in the present day, fertility drops) and their body composition was ideal for reproduction.
But with success there was impending catastrophe too.
Famines were common due to reduction of crops, failure of rain or floods.
The man became shorter and less sturdier due to sedentary life.
We may be able to surmise that even in this period man ate a variable diet, characteristically a single meal which was supplemented by animal, fish, shells, fruits and nuts.
How and when man discovered use of salt and spices is open to question, probably towards the latter stage of Paleolithic time.


Contemporary History from 5000 years to 2500

During this period man was eating mixed diet containing milk (animal), sugar, salt, spices and animal and fish products. In spite of agriculture man never ceased to consume animal food, in fact it became a major constitute, judging by the tribal and religious practices from 5000 to 2000 years.
This is probably the period where single supper or a single meal changed to multiple meals especially the upper classes but slaves and lower classes subsisted on an average single large meal.
The longevity and average health increased proportionately probably doubled compared to the prehistoric period.
Most of the sages and philosophers except hedonists lived an austere life while recommending the same to the masses.


2500 and the emergence of the Vegetarian Life

Even though, some Jainers advocated vegetarian life, it was with the emergence of the Buddhist way of life in India that preceded the current wave of vegetarian (purported to be healthy) food fads.
Neither, Ten Commandments, the Jesus Christ’s sayings nor Muslim Koran abhors sacrifices of animals.
The vegetarian life is comparatively new, probably only 2500 years old in the history of mankind and that is why, there are so many misconceptions. Unlike monkeys, baboons and gorillas who are mostly vegetarians, from which man originated in an evolutionary point of view, the man had always been a carnivorous mammal.
2500 years is a small time in evolutionary time scale, a healthy dialogue on vegetarian diet is mandatory in the present context.
Our intestine and teeth bear different relationships to tree dwelling mammals, some are morphological in nature (genetic) and some are based on the diet (environmental) we eat.
As far as the growth and development of children are concerned my view is that single diet is not adequate.
That is my entry point to discuss another point of view.
Can a young novice monk who has not gone through puberty be sustained on a single diet?
This is a question, I find it difficult to answer even though, I have stated my gut feelings above.
This is one reason, out of the many, I do not agree and defer on ordaining young underage monks. Apart from lack of psychological maturity, to go on an austere life as prescribed by Vinaya is asking too much from a child.
Parents should have a say on these issues.
They should not force a young one into priesthood in their tender years.

American Pie

As a comparison, I thought of writing something relevant. Comparing an average American’s eating habits with our´s is a revelation by itself.
An American eats a cow / bull every ten years.
In every American there are at least 5 cows in him by the time he is fifty. If he has not got mad cow disease or Alzheimer’s disease what he eats in the rest of his life is any American doctor’s guess.
He eats a pig every three years.
He eats at least 50 chickens and one turkey a year.
Some Americans of course eat much more than this.
My worry is every cow/bull he eats, at least an equivalent of 8Kg of fodder is needed to support its life to obtain 1Kg of beef. If an American stops eating 1Kg of beef he is saving about 8Kg of grain for a poor soul in Africa or Bangladesh.
Out of the tons of grain produced half is spent on animal feeds and some American cows are better fed than African kids.
Only to be sacrificed as human food.
The current Pope should give due consideration to these facts and he should give a hearing to this fiasco and if the grain saved by saving the poor cows / or bulls is multiplied by the factor of eight by 1000 (well fed cow’s weight) there is an excess grain in this world to feed everybody.
Equally FAO should take this into cognizant.
Looking by some of Sri-Lankans who lavish on food I cannot say there is any difference to American mentality, here in Sri-Lanka (especially who visit here to take a break from the winter).
Coming back to a single meal, if an American or Western guy sacrifices a single meal a week, like our Buddhist monks who live on a single meal a day, we would be able to feed some hungry children in Africa and Asia without any problem or NGOs.
WHO also should take this fact to their cognizant.
I don’t believe in what our agriculture minister who says, that food prices have gone up because of biofuels. The production of biofuels had been going on for over 25 years.
One should realize that the ancient man and his closest friend the dog survived on a single meal in spite of their aggressive hunting skills.
What should an average Dhana (Single Meal) should contain?
The physiological effect of an average meal should last 18 hours (that is the time when the glycogen storage starts to become depleted) of its intake. The diet should not have high sugary (dessert) components that stimulate surge of insulin and late dumping syndrome due to insulin surge at the time of the meal.
The vegetarian diet has no problem since the fiber makes the release of dietary sugar gradual.
The best dessert for the monks is not ice cream but fruits.
Out of the fruits, the best is bananas which releases its sugars slowly without insulin surges and maintaining a stable blood sugar.
Milk and curd are preferred, since they give ample supply of fat for starving intervals.
Missing ingredient is nuts.
Not only that they contain short chain fatty acids which supply energy for starving intervals, they are rich in healthy vitamins.
I would encourage the young monks to go liberal on fruits and nuts.
A supply of nuts (no aggalas, jaggery or sweets), fruits, papaw, banana and proper breakfast cereal containing millet (Kurrakkan) should be the breakfast for the monks.
Somebody should invest and develop a proper breakfast cereal for our kids. The same breakfast cereal can be used by young monks in their growing years (assuming they are ordained young).
For the monks in the West a Buddhist dietitian with knowledge in Vinaya practice should investigate how their midday Dhana should be constituted.
My belief is many of them are having an inappropriate diet for winter conditions.
I hope a good breakfast cereal will emerge from there for the monks on a meager diet.
My prescription for priesthood is entirely different.
When I see young monks in the TV giving emotional speeches rather than mature sermons, I become sometimes terrified.
Even my twilight years, I sometimes reserve my judgment or giving advice on certain issues.
Never over the telephone.
Only, when I can have an eye to eye contact with the person concerned when I can have an immediate assessment of the person’s psychological makeup and the reactions, I give some advice with lot of reservation.
One can do more damage by volunteering advice not appropriate.
My advice goes as this.
Let the young one follows a simple observational life.
In other words train them to observe in a simple and logical fashion. 

Teach the scientific facts in simple doses as they tend to make mistakes, in distinguishing, facts from fiction.
 

Children prefer fiction in the early years and they should be allowed to change gradually into scientific way of thinking. Even at 16 years of age (formative thinking is established) many find it difficult to grasp scientific concepts clearly.
They have the philosophical views embedded in their brains. Encourage them as much as possible.
This is why they always asks mommy why?
Encourage the philosophical views at an early age, even though, we do not have ready made answers, to their questions.
Training them in “Thinking to Think” is the most appropriate method.
Then only, they should be allowed to think of a religion or religions in their life.
What I stated above is very important, if we are to stop, young ones being taken into terrorist or religious cadres and indoctrinated with fanatic ideas.
That is the only way out.
That is the very thing we are not doing at present and ignoring.
We are slowly encouraging and allowing young militants being made out of innocent minds because of our failure in commonsense education.  Some religious and militant groups know very well, the best currency to propagate their rigid views is the young mind.

The Experiment

I was the subject of the experiment.
Not by design but by default.
There was no conviction, compulsion or any consideration for my health.  The circumstances had lead me to the experiment fortuitously.
Take it or leave it principle of mine.

I did plunge, unprepared.

Skipping the major meal for good.

I was on probation and I was working alone even though, I was given freehand by my superior. I had to develop my division and had to do research as well as teaching. I did not take it as a big deal but the time table was not to my liking.
The only day, I could concentrate on research work was on Wednesdays and to this day I use Wednesdays exclusively for my work and nothing else. I had to come home for lunch and rush back to work at 1 P.M. My wife was working full time and my elderly mother in law had to prepare meals for us. I did not want to make it very punctual but that meant I used to get back late and being on probation that was not a good omen.
Nearly two and a half hours lost in transit and without enjoying the lunch.
So when the work was heavy I used to skip the lunch.
I used to subsist on bananas and milk.
Milk was essential since I used to get early peptic ulcer symptom by skipping the lunch.
Fortunately banana and milk were cheap and were in liberal supply then.
To this I added Dhal Waddai.
Nuts were eaten in liberal doses and jumbo nuts were cheap then.
Still later I added chocolates, not necessarily dark chocolates.
That was the regime and in about six months, I was very comfortable and no dumping syndrome associated with rice.
I did not lose weight but did not feel any ill effects.
The gastric symptoms which was a worry disappeared spontaneously.
My work output increased tremendously since there were two additional hours to my work schedule.
I did not give much thought to it, till lately.
Come to think about it, when I was working in UK, on many a days, skipped the lunch, only a snack to fill the tommy, lot of coffee, which was the usual thing to do, even in the thick of winter.
Then have a very heavy supper.
This was not a big deal in tropical Sri-Lanka.
Of course this habit has now gone into a much bigger thing.
I decided to stop eating rice altogether, the reason for which I would not state or discuss here.
I have celebrated three years without rice!
It was difficult to begin with and I had to eat junk food since most of the alternative food items like couscous, spaghetti, pasta had gone up in price and some of the replacement items were horrible in taste, to say the least.
But I survived on a variety of diet except manioc for over a year to begin with (and still continuing).
Within six months, I started losing weight but I continued on a single main meal.
Then I did some background study to realize that the best way to lose weight is to stop eating rice.
The reason is that we generally eat three times what is required as calories on a rice diet. Because it is lacking in few amino acids (not total lack but relative deficiency), we make up the lack by eating an excess of rice.
Unlike manioc one can live on a rice diet without malnutrition but one tends to get obese in the long run.
The extra starch is invariably converted to fat in adipose tissues and they remain there happily unless we go on a hunger strike.
A few leafy vegetables, eggs and other grains can make it a balance diet but with a major problem. 
With a huge increase in calorie intake.
We put on weight unlike the ones who do manual labor.
The manual worker of course, can utilize this load and easily burn them for extra calories.
So, final conclusion of the experiment is that one can survive on a single main meal, provided that it is a balance diet without losing weight, but if one wants to lose weight one should cut down on rice by at least two third´s of one´s rice portions.
I of course cut rice down to zero (completely) but enjoy liberal amount of chocolates, nuts and junk food and wine too.

Uncertainty of Human Nature

Uncertainty of Human Nature

I woke up with this notion.

It is actually a reflection of mine at the turn of this century, 25 years ago.

I have changed the context, though.

On a rainy day, I reflected that water drops that fall on our ornamental palm tree leaves would not be the same, even if eons of time have elapsed.

It was something like that I have not recorded a piece, here regarding that contemplation.

Todays contemplation was different.

The number of nano droplets of my exhale breath and the droplet themselves would not repeat again, even if eons and eons of time elapse.

 

I have added another context, today, the carcinogenic dust particles I inhale every breath cannot be mitigated by 3 hours of Metta Meditation in a forest reserve of Ceylon.

The particles have manifestly increased in spite of the clean campaign of the new regime. 

What it really does is move one particle of dust from one position to another position of uncertainty.

Only rain militate it to some degree, so pray for rain gods, instead.

Whether, Putin, Trump, Xi Jing, Modi or AKD or regime change has no impact on the current world today.

 

However, getting rid of R.W. was blessing in disguise.

 Reproduction with minor editions.

Raindrops on Coconut Palm

I asked some of my students to list 10 important points about coconut tree as a creative thinking exercise and I couldn’t get anyone of them to think it as related to mother nature.

Then, I told them we are the only animal species on this planet earth who behave like aliens.

The coconut tree purifies the water and present us a drink superior to saline that we inject as a life support in an emergency. 

In the second world war it was used as a saline substitute when things were in short supply.

It gives us water to drink.

It clears the carbon foot print of ours by taking in CO2 and releasing out O2.

The two most important things animal life needs for its survival but yet we forget to mentioned them but obsessed with coconut milk and coconut oil.

By the way, coconut oil is antiviral and antibacterial.

Coconut milk is the best for demented guys and girls 

Why?

We tend to think we are the only important living animals on this planet.

We are the only selfish animals on this planet.

That is true and will remain true for the current century unless we open ourselves to creative thinking and awareness of our mother nature.

We build houses.

We build roofs to protect us from rain and sun.

If we take the plant kingdom.

The story is different.

It lives by the day under sunlight but rest by night but never sleeps.

It takes rain as survival god never complains if there is snow or frost.

They are in constant touch with nature and the air currents of change and wind.

They are in harmony with all physical elements.

Remain and stay put for another day come sun or rain what it may.

When rain drops fall on the roof and runs through the gutters it makes a constant and a big racket and and I even  find it difficult to sleep at night.

But when rain drops falls on tree tops and leaves there is no rackety pitch.

We only hear the wind blowing but raindrops hardly make a noise. 

They gently touch the leaf surface and trickle down gently to the soil. 

No big gush and the roots soaks in as much so that the water that seeps through is clear.

But on a rainy day in a city we see all rubbish and mud that comes out of the gutters and finally minor floods all over the place, till the rain ceases.

There are no tress with roots in the city of Kandy, to soak the extra water.

Coming back to coconut tree it leaves take the water in a peculiar way not sen in other smaller leaves. The peculiar way it handles water makes it and excellent covering for roofs and thatched coconut leaves that used to cover the village huts did not make a big racket on a rainy day but the asbestos sheets that cover us now are totally different and alien to mother nature.

Mind you the coconut tree takes all the shocks of thunder and lightening, too.

The way it leaves turn the high wind up (as a physics guy I studied this from childhood) and let only the gentle breeze to the ground is an amazing trick of nature. 

We have decimated our coconut plant in the name of development and for high rising buildings.

If not for coconut trees, many of us would be dead as a result of lightening.

The golden rule was not to rest under a tall tree in a thunder storm.

None of these came out of my students’ creative thinking exercise.

What the hell the education system is doing to them in schools and in the university?

I do not know.

It is said that even in America in the first two years in the university they do not gain any extra incites or creativity.

Why?

Education is now a money spinner.

No more creativity left, in it now.

Make money when going is good but leave the students without opportunities.

I am glad I am no longer in the University, teaching these dud ones carrying the latest cellphones.