How we Lose our Simple Mathematical Skills (SMS for short)

August 28, 2011

How we Lose our Simple Mathematical Skills (SMS for short)
The other day I was asking a group of second year university when one buys a Mobile Phone what are the points one should consider, none of them came out with a comprehensive answer.

This is a mathematical skill with practical use.

A bit of knowledge of physics is needed to get one’s calculations right.

Now they do not study physics in detail when entering Biological streams and I believe one who has no competence in maths except counting the money they earn enter the biological streams.

They probably do not have understanding how to invest hard earned money too.

I listed my priorities even though, I am the only one who does not carry a mobile in my academic community.

Elsewhere I have penned down my reason but in that entry  I forgot to mention how many major and minor accidents are related to use of mobile on the drive or on crossing a driveway.

This I call S.M.S (simple mathematical skills)

My reasons.

I carry a mobile when I travel and go abroad.

1. A light weight mobile.

2. Carry case and a collar and string to put round my neck so that I won’t lose  it when I am switched O.F.Fed. (On FITS of Fantasy-in other words Shopping Spree).

3. Battery which lasts at least 8 hours and overnight.

4. Processor not dual core but light and not heavy on the battery.

5. Possibly two (2) sims (one for the country of domicile one for the country on visit).

6. Possibly a radio to get local news and weather

7. Camera

8. Utilities with minimal graphic (low on battery) inputs

9. Email and connection to twitter (if I miss a flight to contact the airline)

10. All Cs- Calendar, Calculator and Currency Converter

The shopping list can go on but I will stop at 10.

Coming back to Simple Mathematical Skills (SMS not short message system which I hate) which many of us lack when one visits a supermarket.

When I enter a supermarket whether here or abroad, I say to myself the stupid computer in this supermarket is slow and always record wrong data entry, I better check every entry, every point or number printed on it.

This I practiced for a time immemorial when I realized that the Indian shop keepers – I better put Asian without specification of the country of origin-in Southall who were open after hours,  put extra items which I did not buy, when keying in, (knowing very well English guys cannot count well) and caught a few of them and said I will report in threatening gesture and nobody had cheated me ever since even on long sojourns.

Then little later I realized English guys and girls cannot write  (not speak) in English too, which was very funny to me and I used to take Mickey out of them.

This malady of the English and Americans have invaded our country with lot of cash machines and calculators in all our shops.

If you do not calculate mentally what you purchased and what you paid for it is invariably you are paying a hefty amount in hidden cash to the supermarkets which you cannot recover.

I am not telling that these sales girls or boys cheat you but they are overworked and key in wrong and/or key in twice when the machine or the Internet connection is slow.

Unlike in some set up abroad they (sales person) cannot take home the wrongly keyed in items and the management or the computer never check with the stock balance in shells and refund the money if mistakes are made.

Somebody who manages the computer and stocks would be (my guess) are taking home the big items wrongly keyed in or when the next delivery comes some items are not loaded as per delivery note where the stock balance states something different.

There is noway one can check this unless one scans items against the number of items in the printed bill at the outlet.

It is the onus of the buyer and not the seller.

There are no laws to enact to effect (not even in over vote counting to balance the sheets) 100% accuracy and computers cannot do this but computer programmer can balance it by surreptitiously deleting or substituting few ones and twos.

This must be happenings in big scale in government institution who have gone completely e-commerce.

If you do not check before you leave you are the loser.

The other point is the print is very faint (to save the toner) and fade away in one day and one cannot read it.

Why we make so many mistakes in this country.

It is our training in mathematical skills is poorer than the English skills for so may years and it is getting worse.

Mental exercise is never taught but getting the answer is the only outcome tested.

All our good teachers with mathematical skill and with working knowledge in English have left this country and the Education department did not train any for so many years.

So you better improve your mathematical skills if you need to save and avoid unnecessary losses.

I have seen this happening daily and that is why I thought of writing this.

If I start doing SMS mistakes I should retire and say Good Bye to this world since I have not trained anybody in my household to do my mathematics.

By the way our politicians including the election commissioner were the worse in mathematics and that is why some candidates get more votes than the registered number of votes.

Unfortunately due to fiddling and multiplying (three votes for an individual on the Manapa Pora or the Preferential Vote the errors are of multitudes and not on simple arithmetical proportions.

Maha Brahma and Higher Order Discipline not in Higher Education!

 July 29, 2011

Maha Brahma and Higher Order Discipline not in Higher Education!

My virtual connection with Maha Brahma (yesteryear Kandy dog now the Maha’s Assistant acting on his behalf of, on leave of absence on a long vacation, Maha, the Proper Chief) was a blessing in disguise.

1. Maha tells me to dream even though the dreams never come true, like the dreams we had prior to the elections that disappeared into thin air.

For example healthy salary hike and retirement benefits (even the bonus interest for senior citizens who worked hard without going aboard for greener pastures was nullified within hours of re-election) we dreamed of are no longer valid even after lengthy industrial action.

2. Then he tells me to not to do any Kusala or Akusal Karma and only do Kriya or actions to suit the day to day living.

He says if I do that I will dream futuristic dreams which he can interpret for our consumption which is his hobby.

3. Then he tells me not to be a voter (de-register) and remain anonymous in the electoral list, so that I won’t go to hell and can remain as the Apaya (The Hell) Web Master General’s earthbound and worthwhile adviser and software engineer.

The last point I was practicing for the third decade but has not produced any tangible results but pain.
The second point I had to practiced for sometime now almost 2 decades because of the war and I cannot agree killing anybody for any cause as a true Buddhist.
There is no justification of any Killing from America to Middle East to Ceylon.

The first point of dreaming I was not comfortable till lately and was never a true dreamer in any sense.

In actual fact, I never had a dream except when I am sick and running a temperature especially as a kid, as a result of hallucination due to overdose of aspirin given by our own GP.

I was very realistic and did not expect any favors or miracles from anybody, even from heaven but my association with Maha through virtual email has opened up another hidden aspect of the ability to dream futuristic dreams like King of Kosol.

The third point above is the most outstanding realization of how democracy works here, there and currently.

In heaven there are no political parties Maha tells me.
Work is done with consensus and there is no room for compromise.
 

He tells me all the voters which ever party they belongs to end up in Hell and even in Hell they fight and had to be put in special cells for managing affairs in hell.

There is a proposal under study in Apaya to ban all political parties and their activities until the current server can transfer data to another super computer.

He tells me that giving political freedom to the poor Tamils in the North and East was wrong and many will end up in hell in future (as much as 50% who voted) unlike the time when Praba was running the show and many ended up in heaven due to no political activity or affiliations in them.

All these opened a new dimension in my thinking, just like lateral thinking of Professor De Bono’s.
If we ban political parties most of the division in society in disappear. 

That is his bone of contention and is not mine.

I was in fact, thinking that we must ban all four major parties and re-organize our thinking on a scientific basis and form Citizen Groups of interest, just to represent pressure groups.
In other words make another political dimension and to which the Maha objected and asked me, if that fails like the other four parties what are you going to do?

I was speechless and his point is whichever the way we look at it, the democracy is as fallacious as it could be and never works.

Then I asked him shall I make a computer program to which he said Indian will find a way to manipulate it, like the IPL cricket.
 

Anyway go ahead and do something will you.

So I thought of a simple way to elect a President.

1. We give each human a ID nowadays and we can enter all the IDs into a computer (20 million data pieces for Sri-Lanka) server.
 

2. On the election day everybody keys in.
 

3. Computer selects the President from by random number generation protocol from ones who keyed in.
He becomes a President for three years irrespective of his intelligence or integrity.
 

4. The Vice President is selected with random number generation like before but with a slight difference. It has to be of the opposite sex of the already chosen President.
 

5. Cabinet is selected similarly with equal sex ratio and balance and all the relatives of the President and Vice President are ineligible for selection. Nepotism is rooted out.
 

6. One person can run in for three terms but never consecutively and if he or she is selected on two consecutive periods by random chance he or she has to skip the immediately subsequent period and let the Vice President takes over the mantel and after he/she finishes takes over without any election for the third period (save election expenditure).
 

7. If the President elect is incapacitated or dies of natural causes (if unnatural re-elections for both President and Vice President), there will be no President and a figurehead sort is, made of clay and the physical object becomes the President for the lapse period. 

This is the only period where voters (after the election one automatically becomes a voter even though he was a candidate just for a while) are not bothered by rulers and the Constitution and the Chief Justice takes over day to day running.

8. First priority of the first President is to re-structure the Constitution and make all existing constitution redundant.
 

10. The other important role is to arrest all the central bank administrators and their statisticians on charge of treason and make US dollar the currency circulating depending on the gold sovereign left in the bank if not stolen by thieves.

I do not know whether Maha will agree to this but in any way I am posting it as an email for his perusal and refinements.

Criteria for Defining Suitability of Linux Distributions

July 22, 2011

Criteria for Defining Suitability of Linux Distributions

With Gnome 3 and Kernel 3 in the horizon and tablet in the market and Ubuntu making a radical changes to desktop with Unity already arrived, I have decided to award a point scheme for all the distributions active now and write an update for all the Linux distributions I have downloaded so far.
That means moment, I post an update on a distribution, my old writing here probably become obsolete and would be taken out without any notice.
I would be grateful, if you post any errors of omission or commission on those post already here.
That means future posting will be slow to come and try my best avoid any errors.
I will keep the point scheme close to my heart and won’t publish them here but on a future date if necessary may do that for completeness sake.
Points are given on quantitative as well as qualitative reasons.
Lowest mark is 10 and the highest mark is 300.
For an example I give 10 marks if it is only in French and 100 marks for multi-language capability.
I will give 300 marks if it includes Sinhala and multi-language capability.

Similarly Ubuntu Unity gets 300 for its innovative approach and as a teaser for loyal fans who hate the new approach. I would include the total points for the old version as well as new version.
This analysis is with desktop users in mind and server editions won’t get any additional mark but I would state that server is avable.
I will start with Linux Mint, since it has O.E.M version, codecs version with minimal multimedia support and almost pure without any software infringements and full version with additional software.
It is a complete desktop and laptop friendly and currently is the top most downloaded at distrowatch.
It has both 32 and 64 bit versions.
I am going to stop stating that PCLinux is the Gold Standard of live CD to eliminate my personnel bias on that distribution but have a Hypothetical Gold Standard defined by criteria below and with a point award of 2500.
So anything that approaches 2200 for CD version and above is potential Gold Standard and you are free to try it.
Nobody will get 100% assuming that no distribution has reached its peak and would be trying to achieve that gold wit constant improvement an bug fixes.

For DVD the point award is 3500 points and anything that tops 3000 is a good value with 90% to 95% of all software.
I am a believer that “small is beautiful” and would figure out a way to award points and my guess is Puppy will come on top but there are equally good small utilities like SliTaz, 4MLinux, gParted and pMagic.
You are welcome to critically analyze my future writing with feedback but there is no attempt to compare with Microsoft and Apple Mac and in the next 5 to 10 years Linux will be way ahead of both of these distributions and I am not the one who need any pep commercial talks. In this period of course Linux guys and girls have to make 1000 and 1000 of tiny games and blockbuster games to invade the market in style.
They are already there on mobile phones and they have to mature with the hardware specially tablets in mind.

Criteria
A. Use
1. Live CD installable
2. Light Weight
3. Mini to LXDE to Standard

B. Internet
4. Easy Access to Internet
5. Automatically Configure Internet
6. Browser (ideally Firefox) Capability
7. Other browsers- 5 for each additional browser
8. Email Capability-Thunderbird
9. Google gadgets but not essential
10. Torrent Down Loader
11. Skype or alternative
12. Cloud-Dropbox
13. Cloud Other

C. Productivity
14.Office Package -Abiword
15.Office Package -Other Open office
16.Office Package -PDF Reader
17. Scribus
18. CD burner (ideally K3B-50)
19. CD burner (10 others)
20. LightScribe/LaCie (100)

D.Graphic
21. GIMP
22. Blender
23. Inkscape
24. Digicam
25. Tuxpaint
26. Special Graphics
27. Others

E. Audio
28. Mixer
29.Alsa
30. Others

F. Video
31. Imagination
32. VLC Player
33. Miro Internet TV
34. Cheese
35. TV Card
36. Others
37. Media Players including ability play itunes and divx

G. Essential Utilities
38. Stable Grub Configuration
39. Partitioning tool is essential(ideally GParted)
40.Ability to clean up the temporary file at boot up
41. Updates and Package management

H. Archiving
42. Ark
43. File Roller

I. For Children
44. Light Weight Games
45. Children Version (150)
46. Gcompris

J. Subjective
47. Reliability (most of them are)
48. Speed at start up (most of them are slow except YOPER)
49. Quick installation
50. Portability
51. Type of Desktops (Genome/KDE)
52. Down loader that start from where one has left / stopped earlier
53. On line updates
54. Infrequent Cycles of Change
55. Downloads available for Libre Office,Open office, Skype (25 for each)
56.Speed at Start Up

K. Linux Fundamentals
57. Separate administrator in addition to normal user
58. Reliable Package Manager
59. Multi-Language in addition to English (5 for each Language-Total-100)
60. Sinhala Language Capability (200)
61. Terminal

L. USB Boot Up
62. UnetBootIn
63. USB Creator
64. Live CD creator

M. Emulators
65. DOS
66. Wine
67. Oracle VM
68. Apple Emulation

N. Games
69. Light Weight
70. Advanced Games (25 for Each)

O. Educational
71. Google Map
72. Tux Guitar
73. Tux Maths

P. Special and Development Utilities
74. Gambase
75. Web editor
76. PHP Admin
77. Scientific packages like statistics

Q. Access to Information
78. Home Web Site
79. Essential information including installation password etc
80. The facility for registration and writing reviews

R. Special Attributes
81. Less than 50 MB
82. Less than 200 MB
83. Less then 500 MB
84. Innovative approach GOBO and YOPER

S. Finances and Printing
85. Gnumeric
86. GnuCash
87. Printing

S. Very Special
88. Religion
89. Language
90. Kernel Version
91. Version Number
92. New Desktop Type
93. Innovative Changes
94. 32 bits only
95. Both 32 and 64 bits
96.O.E.M.Version
97. ORCAS-Visually Handicapped
98.
99.
100.

My answer to Ubuntu’s Unity Desktop Critics

June 30, 2011

My answer to Ubuntu’s Unity Desktop Critics
My answer to Ubuntu’s Unity Desktop Critics
It looks like Ubuntu Linux has given lot of heartaches to its fan base.
I only use Ubuntu for demonstration of Linux versatility.
I am bit different compared to other Linux uses.
When I demonstrate Ubuntu I always say “Linux is not only Ubuntu”.
My point is to state that there are over 100 lovely Linux distributions for one to try.

Unlike the majority I strongly support the canonical new move to Unity.
I will only state one out of the many reasons.
Because of the smart move by Microsoft to give XP to OEM guys with netbooks, practically free, Linux could not penetrate netbooks.

If Ubuntu does not penetrate emerging tabloids market another opportunity will be lost..
Linux will be ahead of both Mac and Microsoft (Like the Android of Google) because of this move of Unity.
It is a smart move by the Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth.
Only smart people will survive in this game.

I think ones who had come from Microsoft base will spread this negative publicity with hidden agenda but young and newbies will embrace Unity without reservation.
Time will be best judge whether what I say will materializes.

Ubuntu has to do one small thing right to shut the negative campaign.
Give them both options in a single DVD (two images for the prize of one, old and the new Unity) and I am sure they also will embrace Unity in no time.
I believe they already give this option and if there is any problem Mint is there to fill the void.

Having said that Big Brother or the Good Father Debian will be  there to take the free open software to another level without anybody noticing it.
That is why I support many distributions.
For example Porteus (SLAX) base has done a excellent job without much funfair.
It is one of the best (KDE, LXDE) little distribution that has hit the market.
It is a little gem.

Linux Games I Love to Play

 August 17, 2011

Linux Games I Love to Play
Linux Gamers Live, the Arch derivative is top of my list and Linux Ultimate Edition is close second and Knoppix 2008 December edition comes third and i could not find a new version of games in spite of Knoppix 6.7 was out and looks fantastic. Knoppix cannot be installed on hard drive.
Why I choose Linux Gamers Live was simply because its front end just looks like Apple front end and ready for games with icons instead of names.
It also can be installed into hard disk now.
Now instead of trying to outscore these three edition which have done a lot for Linus games, I will list my favorites below.

Even PCLinuxFuillMonty thought they have place for Linux guys and girls.
Indirectly FullMonty comes fourth.

1. Number one is Super Tux 2 and I enjoyed playing hours and hours.
2. Close second is Pingus and its environmental theme is commendable.
3. Number three is Extreme Tux Racer which is sweet and relaxing
4. Number 4 is SuperTuxCart (this is for the racing addict)
5. Number 5 is Tuxcart (This is for the training on racing)
6. Number 6 is Frozen bubble
7. Number 7 is any of the 100 of tiny games
If any of the Linux distributions fail to introduce any of the top 5 of mine selection i thought of giving them minus marks in my rating in future.
Mind you with Wine and getedit one can play windows, DOS and Atari games of the yesteryear.

Why I do not use a cell phone

 January 8, 2011

Why I do not use a cell phone

I have more than 100 reasons why I do not have or use a cell phone

I will list them as they come to my mind but not in any order of priority,

As an intern I hated a call since it meant, a batch of new arrival of small kids who have arrived in absolutely appalling condition. Some of them fitting due to low blood sugar nearing zero.

In fact I had 8 t0 10 kids whose blood sugar and CSF sugar zero.

The government at that time told the public it was encephalitis and I proved them wrong without even my medical registration completed. Then in 6 months later when I went to collect my own data they had disappeared mysteriously from, medical records.

Then what I did subsequently, I have to pen down on a latter date of my life nearing my death!

One thing was sure leave I decided to leave the Public Sector Health Service and I was glad I did that and if you read Dengue Dilemma elsewhere in my writings, one can easily guess it.

It has deteriorated in quality even though it has expanded in number.

As a doctor I hated bad news on telephone. We rarely hear good news when on duty.
Later in life when cell phone came I believed in CPP (Calling Party Pays) and flatly refused a cell phone.
It is a public nuisance
It is a nuisance when the cell phone owner has switched it off when you really needed him
When you travel on a public transport one cannot have a snooze to drown the inconvenience with frequent interruptions. I love silence in public places.
Even though I don’t use it I have to foot the bill (kids telephone bills)
No work get done in public officers. They are busy answering their private call of nature and it is more frequent than the real call of nature.
It is cheaper to redirect a message by email that should  end up as junk or gossip.
We use it for gossip not for creative work
It is private enemy one when you own the bank or telephone company a small sum in arrears and the reminders by them cost you more than you actually own them. I think you got the picture correct.
I think it is enough for today but I will add more on future date when I run short of a topic to write.

Pelican Story

February 2, 2011

Pelican Story
He was an ex-income tax officer who was seen as good choice for help for Mahanabrahma’s Assistant not only as a Flying Officer but also as a delivery man. Pelicans are known to deliver babies to mums at least when the second one arrives unexpectedly and the first one born asks the silly question from where the hell the second one came.
The pelican come into operational requirement of mothers often in the West but not so much here in Sri-Lanka.
In this context as a delivery man he does not have to deliver babies but all what he has to do is to drop baskets full of documents to sea often containing false declarations made by expectant candidates for their next round of birth and to get favours from Mahabrahma’s Assistant.

When he thinks something is cooked up especially coming from Sri-Lanka, the assistant delvers them to the pelican to be dropped to sea so that the ink and all the forgeries are wiped out by the ocean currents ( the ocean can take any rubbish come what it may).

On his return pelican has to pick few of them back to heaven and the assistant checks to see if any merits are left tangled with the soggy paper and if not delivers them straight to Appaya (AI) International with a tag number for prompt action.

At AI the soggy paper is irradiated with UV light and then a special black ink is sprayed and that is when all the Papa Karmas are exposed for my equation to take cognizant and automatic reprisal by Apaya authorities.

Unlike in the heaven my equation has to be modified when new crimes like that are committed by American investors and speculators are discovered.

Very severe scrutiny is done unlike the Federal Regulators of USA.

The pelican is the go between the Apaya and the Heaven.

In some cases when the documents are landed on high ground or floating ice there is a chance some might escape the sea currents and get a respite but if they are discovered on a subsequent birth it is not the pelican who is punished but the holder of the certificate.

Pelican has no jurisdiction in matters of merits and demerits but only a go between and a mechanism of delaying merits or demerits so that backlog is prevented at the  entry point be that it may be Apaya or Heaven.

Pelican navigation skill are considered to be complimentary to the operational mechanics.

How he became a trainer Flying Officers was purely an accident by meeting our crab and the tortoise at the lake side. 

He was offered foreign currency initially by the Air Marshal but when he decided to pay that in Sri-Lankann equivalent of Rupees he really got annoyed since neither Apaya nor Heaven recognize Sri-Lankan Rupees.

That is why he deserted the Flying Operations in mid air.

I have suggested to remedy this situation soon with a plastic card that automatically converts itself of the credit balance to the currency type moment the airspace of the country is entered but there are few navigational glitches / hitches when the pelican decides to stay in border zones like Palk Straight and the likes.
It is currently worn around the pelican neck and it has dual responsibility of location guide and a currency convertor. Once it is tested to Apaya satisfaction it will be used by our pelican and he may decide to return to his substantive post on Earth but that is all at his discretion.

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie is no more.

October 18, 2011

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie is no more.
We have lost two outstanding personalities within the space of 3 weeks.
Mr. Steve Job of Apple Mac is one of them.
The other one is Mr.Dennis Ritchie.
He coauthored with Mr. Kernighan “The C Programming Language” (popularly known as “K. & R.).
That was the beginning of modern computing.
He (Mathematician) was the principal designer of the C programming language and co-developer of the Unix operating system, working closely with Mr. Ken Thompson (Electrical Engineer), his longtime Bell Labs collaborator.
His father, Alistair, was an engineer at Bell Labs.
He was recruited by the Sandia National Laboratories, which conducted weapons research and testing.
in fact making A Bomb.
He left Sandia National Laboratories and Joined Bell Labs and remained there till 2007.

Thank god he left lab testing weapons of mass destruction.

Linux we use today originated from UNIX he pioneered.

It is strange coincidence that when cloud computing is on the horizon and tablet becoming  a universal utility both of them passed away without seeing their dream products.

There are two others that matter.
They are Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds.
These two will oversee that these products are within the reach of every human being with Amazon bringing the price of Kindle down.
There going to be a sea change.
We have to turn back and reflect on these gentlemen’s achievements.
It was all collective responsibility.

Finding a Partner for a Lonely (Common) Cuckoo

 May 15, 2011

Finding a Partner for a Lonely (Common) Cuckoo

Not only I observe bizarre flowering pattern of some plants including onions I beginning to wonder whether the unusually warm and bizarre temperature pattern is affecting the birds.
April is the time of the year when common cuckoo sounds the arrival of new year.
One hears them singing in the early hours and late in the evening for the pairs to meet and retire to their resting places.

These birds are very secretive and even though one hears them it is very difficult to spot them.
They are either in tall tree or hidden behind the leaves.
Their singing is characteristic and musical and a treat to hear in the morning instead of Radio Ceylon’s opening music.
Every knows about the Koha (common cuckoo) and why one should worry about.

1. Bird population has drastically dropped and dropping rapidly including common village crows and cuckoos.
2. I can recognize a young one’s song from old one by their tone.
3. The are rared by crows and once chased out of the brood they have a characteristic nervy cry of a loner for few days.
4. Then they come to term with it and start a new life.
5. This new life is basically of finding a partner.
6. By May they are paired and the cry is more musical and vibrant.

7. Present context
I heard the nervy cry at 3 in the morning.
Luckily I spotted the girly (not a guy-guy has feathers similar to sparrow hawk and is extremely secretive) feeding briefly on the mulberry tree grown to encourage butterflies. They love the caterpillars more than the berries.
Keep on crying for hours on end for the past few days.

8. Conclusion
She has not found partner and very unlikely till the next year.
This one is odd one out and would continue this lonely cry for another year.

I wish with the 2600 year celebrations of Buddhists and Pinkamas there would be one extra guy born (cuckoo) for this lonely cuckoo.

On reflection Buddha was a born environmentalist.
Unlike present day Buddhist monks who build big and palatial residences Buddha left the palace and retired to the jungle except during Wassana (rainy monsoon season).
He was born under a tree.
He attained enlightenment under a pipal tree.
He spent one week gazing at the Bodhi tree (as a gesture of gratitude).
When rain came down and struggling to realize the four Nobel Truths a giant cobra gave shelter to Buddha (this is something who kill snakes should note).
Flowers, birds and monkeys were his constant companion when meditating and concentrating to realize final goal.

In this Kandy City somebody put poison to kill monkeys.
Municipality is constantly uprooting the trees in the name of road clearance and development.
There aren’t many pipal trees left in the city.
There aren’t many tortoises (two in number) in the lake and the fish are sick and the monitors are devouring the dead.
There aren’t any sparrows or pigeons resting in the big upright buildings.
No bees or wasp that used to build their combs in tall buildings.
There are no flower bed that used to be in the center of the city.
Dogs are chased away in the name of rabies.

I am pretty sure the next Buddha to be who is Maithree (kindness probably to animals), assuming Gautama was kind to the mother nature by example and precept, would not choose this city of Kandy for his attainment of Nibbana.
Unless of course we protect our mother nature and trees for resting and nesting for lonely birds and monkeys.

There were more monkeys in this city than humans a century ago when Britishers were reigning and none of them were Buddhists.
My question is how can one attain Nibbana by visiting this sacred city?
In any case Gautama Buddha preferred not to.
Why?
That is also a question that come to my mind constantly.

E-Governance and white lies

January 24, 2011

E-Governance and white lies
Please note that this is an update for a post on parafox and it is very easy to find a daily topic to write daily unlike in the West but it is very difficult to find a true story and I have decided to write a few of my fantasies related to my work with Apaya and Heaven. I have not decided whether to join Apaya or Heaven but like a true diplomat I prefer to shuttle in between them not knowing whether it is a fantasy or a real lfe situation.

I am bit confused but following is a true story and factually correct about E-Governance and downloading for a fact.

Uploading is no better.

Comment I wrote for a National Daily not published due to its banal content.

It is very difficult to differentiate a lie from a the word E-governance in Sri-Lanka.

I prefer E-Governance  for a white lie because it is like WiKi Leakes very difficult to differentiate whether an American (for that matter any European diplomat) diplomat is talking through his Mouth or MOUSE or ASS.

I think they are trained not to talk from birth but to lie by all means.

Unlike our diplomats who do not know how to lie like Goerge Washinton in his prime and if they do lie it looks just like plain truth and nobody including Bun Ki Moon belives it a lie or not  a lie.

Whereas our politicians are trained to lie from birth and it is that their birth right.

If one cannot lie he or she is not good enough to be in the parliament or President House. Average Buddhists except Colombo 7 elite do not lie as a habit but only on demand by politicians at election meetings and political rallies.

Our national papers for their own survival lie on a regular basis like our George Bush they do not know how to tell the truth in plain English or Sinhala. We  are now portrayed as the heaven on Earth but if one goes to Batticoloa or North East the plain truth is evident in abundance.

This is just a big joke. i.e. E-Governance in Sri-Lanka is a plain lie but what I state below is truth and nothing but truth.

It takes almost 7 days to download 1.1 GB of Kororoaa of out of 1.5 GB and god only knows how long it takes to finish.

I was down with a miner flu and for three days I managed to download Light House Puppy of 223 MiB through Firefox and in spite of the computer being on overnight for three days. I am trying to download PocketWriter-Salix and it is stuck at 280 MiB currently and Saline was disconnected without completing three times.

Now I am talking about Saline like Predient Reagon our Health minister could not say the difference between a truth and a lie.

Our Health Statistics is the Biggest Lie of all which the WHO is very fond of exaggerating!

It is 3 am in the morning and I got up to empty my bladder.

Checked to see K-torrent is working (do the downloads only after midnight).

NO.

I stopped the normal download to read the English daily but Apache at their site is broken.

I have 250 paused downloads for the month of December (for updating current Linux distributions which I do at the end of each year).
K-torrent is inactive.

Firefox download speed is below 5KB per seconds.

I pay over Rs.7000/- to Telecoms and Rs.10,000/- electricity.

If I save three months of these bills and buy a ticket to Singapore I can download all these in the airport lounge for nothing but in triple not double quick time.

It is a shame that a National Paper not highlighting how Buddhists are downloading porn at Nanasalas.

Even we have 10,00,000 NanaSalas without English we cannot progress in IT industry.

All the alphanumeric characters are in English not Sinhala.

Progress does not come from data or rhetoric.

They come through hard work, dedication and concrete actions!

All my downloads are inactive at 3,30 am and bare bone facts speak for themselves.

How come a Pelican becoming a Flying Trainer in Ceylon

January 26, 2011

How come a Pelican becoming a Flying Trainer in Ceylon
The pelican was his annual pilgrimage to Ceylon to avoid harsh winter and got trapped in the Batticoloa floods and was waiting to devour some unfortunate sea fish that have come ashore. When he was about to partake the first mouthful of fish in came the Tortoised Chief Minister (TCM) from nowhere and warned him not to do so.

He was puzzled.

I have been eating fish all my life how dare you intervene in my cuisine.

Brother do not be annoyed.

Be calm.

I will tell you the reason.

They are poisoned by accident and not by purpose or design.

We got a consignment of food for flood victims from UNO and in the transport of it on a vehicle with fertilizer by some strange coincidence the bags’ label changed from UNO to USA and a certain politician in Colombo decided that they were no good for human consumption and not even for animals.

Then the local politician requested that they were to be dumped into sea.

The transport man designed a coup. 

The food items were quickly changed hands with a label UREA and UREA was changed to USA by substituting S for EA. Then only a few UREA bags that contained deadly cadmium were dumped with political acumen to the sea in front of starving residents and they were asked to go fishing in troubled waters!

So you may now go fishing in troubled waters!

The pelican was visibly annoyed.

I traveled over 8000 miles to land hear on my holidays and you guys spoil it for me.

Don’t you people advertise come here and tither?

Sorry for the misadventure it would have been a different story if the weather gods did not intervene.

The TCM said in a quiet voice.

You may go down further and find another island he suggested.

There are no islands till Antarctica and I haven’t got the strength to fly that far. 

Then he asked are you good in navigation.

Yes of course and if I may ask you why you raised that question? 

Even though I am here I still have some connection with the Air Force Top Brass and I can fix you a job with them till spring with full on board service.

He was not happy but picked the crab instead and took to flight and landed on a tree top.

He tried hard to pierce the shell bone but could not and in with anger dumped the fellow down but it landed with a thud and turned upside up downside down and side tracked safely to water.

This he has never seen before and went back to the now friendly TCM and asked how come the shell of a Sir-Lankan crab is so hard?

Elementary my dear!

He was in charge of my armed car when in service.

He was also in charge of making service to my vehicle with three quotation in hand which is the usual practice.

He was given the bullet proof metal sample for verification.

He without my knowledge changed the specification to inferior quality metal and hid the real metal sample under his helmet and pocketed out the contract extras.

Then in the final blast of which we all died in an unfortunate accident the metal got stuck to his skin.

He is a hard nut in any case and was difficult even for me to pierce his intentions!

In that case I say yes to your offer with some reservation.

That was how the pelican was made a the flying trainer for healthy remuneration.

You have to wait why he quit and deserted the post for my next edition on web.

Keep counting the SiRs please.

Good bye!

Please note even though these stories are quite akin to Buddhist stories and anthology, they are not designed for Dhamma sermons and any recitals without my implied consent will be strictly prohibited.

PS.

The chief minister who took over from the TCM was mildly hurt when in a routine test a bullet pierced the serviced part of the vehicle and went inside. It was an indirect hit; that is why the injuries were minimal.

He quickly dumped the vehicle to junk and bought a new one from the fresh quota allocated to him. He did not forget to send a telegram to the ex-officer thanking him for his service acumen.

I had to deliver it through my special courier service in conjunction with Apaya International.

Flying Officer Grounded

 January 25, 2011

Flying Officer Grounded
You may think that the war efforts are accomplished that most of the flying officers are grounded and not flying any more.

Nothing of that kind but a flight record of a blackbox conversation of the final 5 to 7 minutes of ill fated flight of SL (UL-Usually Late) named P.P.P.

Thank god it is not a civilian flight but a training flight with only two involved one surviving and the other succumbing to injuries ending at Maha Brahma for another round of life cycle.

I have to put the middle of the story first (but the beginning will related briefly in the flight record) to make it brief and interesting and I may have to go for another record for how Maha Brama (his assistant-that part would be interesting) dealt with the emerging crisis.

Flying is a pastime for some (politicians on our money and government coffers) and fantasy for many Sir-Lankans. Many a Sir-Lankan young blood wants to become a flying officer but never get a chance to get there.

I remember I wanted to become a volunteer officer many moons ago but even though I had all the qualifications and the paper work my application never got to the scrutiny table when Public Service  Commission was in operation.

In my case, I was able to make amends and fly almost once a year or more on my own money never a red cent reedemed from the Government and one of my posts  abroad down under was almost a Flying Doctor on distress calls (not me in distress but with adrenaline high and mood elevated)

It is a different story now that the Chief Minister decides the fate of everybody.

In this story Chief Minister also has a fair share of involvement.

Sit tight and listen to the flight recorded data.

The conversation is between a pelican (Flying Instructor) and the flying officer in training.

You may wonder what the hell the pelican doing in the cockpit.

He was not trapped in air but he was the trainer in white suit with beautiful avian stripes to adorn.

Yes he was the trainer.
Then who was the trainee?

The trainee was a typical Sir-Lankan man who went up the ladder by being a yes man all his life without any decoration or qualification to boast about

He was somewhat similar to Bun Ki Moon who is a yes man for the big nations and red bully for small nations.

I hope you got the picture.

If he say yes to big shots he will be sure of another term in UNO.

Our man of course did not have applied mathematics but a forged certificate to say he passed the “O” Level in mathematics applied and general.

The conversation went on like this rudely terminated in mid air.

Hello Sir!
You are my trainer?

Yes is there any problem?
No Sir have I got to Sir you.
It depends!

If you end up passing with flying colours yes but not otherwise.

He was bit confused but continued to say SiR to which the pelican with good senses did not object.

He was wanting to count how many times he Sirs him during the first flight.

Sir, you have a big beak but no hands.

So Sir, how are you going to help me with the joystick?

I have good eyes and a small brain and that were enough to navigate from Europe to Sir-Lanka to escape from harsh winter believe me I can navigate you if you listen to me carefully instead of saying Sir.

He firmly ascertained his navigation skills.

Besides you have too hands, don’t you?

Now nose up, flaps up and raise off the ground.

Yes Sir.

Now they were in flight in the first few seconds and the flying officer was inquisitive  enough and wanted to find the loop holes in his flight instructor’s credibility to get some bonus in the first flight itself.
Sir how you come you become a trainer in Ceylon (In heaven they still call it Ceylon coming from Cinnamon Garden).

It is easy any foreign joker or a bird can get a job in Sri-Lanka even in supermarkets without knowing the  food habits of locals. You just put a label for export and that works.

I had a export label tagged from my childhood he said.

Sir who appointed you and turned his head around to the right and the plane  the two seater veered to the left?

Look what you  are doing get the nose straight not your butt.

OK Sir!

It is your Chief Minister who appointed me and it is a long story.

But Sir, I would like to hear more, thinking one day he might become a trainer himself by getting in good books with the Chief Minister and twisting his arms.

But your ex-chief Minister is a tortoise now.

How come Sir, I thought he went to heaven by the celebration we had after his death.

He never got a chance. The way he abused official vehicles and the way he drove with the entourage annoyed the Maha and he decided to pace him down to earth and made him a tortoise.

Sir my goodness will the Maha makes me also a tortoise in my next birth Sir!

In the first place you have to die!
Are you ready for that.

Yes Sir!

This answer pleased the pelican very much since he knew he did not have to train this guy for long.

Where did you meet this Tortoised Chief Minister, SiR?

Near a lake flooded in Batticoloa with a water crab with him.

The water crab was his escort Police Officer. on entourage who could always bend the law of the country for his master’s favour in real life in Sir-Lanka.

But he could not prevent the premature death of the entourage who met with a fatal accident.

SiR why he was made a crab

Two reasons.
It is a delicacy in Sir-Lanka.
This officer could never walk straight with the law he always side stepped and went horizontally instead of straight.

By birth right he had to be a crab in next life.

SiR will I become a crab in next life.
This was too distracting for the pelican that the plane was in full speed now in turbulent weather.

He said autopilot now!

My friend in excitement put the nose down.
He was only educated in Sinhala and could not read the English word autopilot and he pressed the button right under his nose without reading it in the first place.

Pelican was very happy now that his flying lesson would end abruptly.

Pelican opened the cockpit door and before making a nose dive himself said, your first and the last flying lesson are over.

Good bye and slammed the door closed.

To which our yes man said.
Yes Sir!

The rest is history and the blackbox is the only evidence we have now.

Incidentally this plane was taxied from Hambantota and landed nose down in the newly build port at Hambantota.

The blackbox was traced within minutes since the water level of the harbour is deep enough to see even a blackbox from above and our pelican friend hovered around it as if he was looking for a dead body of fish that helped the Navy very much.

Unfortunately the body of the victim was never found and the air force is still looking for the deserted officer in flight training and the flight trainer.

Our flying officer trainer, the pelican disappeared from his post.

I will tell you the rest of the story if you could count correctly the number of times this unfortunately grounded officer said Sirs in his first flight lesson instead of concentrating on flying and why the pelican deserted his post!

Flight P.P.P stands for Paksheta Pashsha Pora and I hear even the Pakshaya is having a nose dive now!

Please note even though these stories are quite akin to Buddhist stories and anthology, they are not designed for Dhamma sermons and any recitals without my implied consent will be strictly prohibited.

P.P.P can  even stands for Paksheta Patata Pakshapatha (Pora)

Spacesuit and its Occupant

 February 9, 2011

Spacesuit and its Occupant
Mind this is an introduction for anybody who is running short of an idea to write about in WordPress blogging site.

This is an idea I hit upon by reading a blog writing of a experienced civil pilot not a fighter pilot.

Have you ever thought of the 50 thinks that the spacesuit occupant in space won’t share with his body soul?

You probably have not but I was one who was very much interested in this in my school days and in early days as medical student.

I cannot remember what I wrote then but this is an attempt to revise some of those physiological constraints not in particular order or in any order of merits.

Suffice is to say, I get a sickly feeling when I think of space (occupied especially by alien elements).

Imagine yourself trapped in a escalator without illumination (light) and the computer circuit controlling it up and down movement gone haywire and it is going up and down in an erratic fashion.

That is a the feeling I get moment I put on a spacesuit for travel.

That is one thing you must consider when paying for, an enormous amount for a single trip in space.

Is is worth the experience and the money?

Probably not but having said that I have tremendously high regard for those guys who trained for years end on to go to space. They are a dedicated lot and give them the due respect they deserve if you happen to meet anyone of them.

They were the human guinea pigs on space.

I often wonder how many times they felt sick and vertiginous even in their sleep.

Probably many many times and uncountable and that is the feeling I get if I am invited to wear a spacesuit and come hither for a go.

I will list the feeling inside my head with little imagination and some understanding of my own physiology if not of another being.

1. I hate the space constraint. This is the feeling one gets if one has to stay in a tiny hotel room in Singapore overnight due to some delay, cancellation or transit. I have had that feeling once or twice before traveling by cheap air flights. When you fly on a good aircraft and not on a budget or Mihin (Hemin) Lanka.

2. I hate heights. Imagine you are in a hotel overnight on the 21st floor room due to flight cancellation. You are well away from a fire exit and there is a blackout and fire drill. You don’t have a pen torch. If you are one floor above you can think of jumping out and breaking your legs but not on 21st Floor. That is why rooms are cheap as you go above. Please pay a good some and ask for a room down below. It is better even if you go to Colombo taking a pen torch with you with these high rising development projects. Born to this earth with feet firmly grounded and ample space to breath pristine air (not now even in Kandy) as an embodiment, getting into a spacesuit is the luxury I do not want to avail myself not even in my incarnation.

3. Now about the daily routines I enjoy. Sleep to begin with. I think I can manage sleep upside down on space inside a spacesuit since there is nothing else I can do there except dreaming coming home. I can do this since I have learned how to sleep standing on an express bus plying from Kandy to Colombo on a Monday morning. I believe all Sri-Lankans are good at this. Only if you do not have money in your back pocket. There are plenty of pickpockets in this country including politicians who pick our vote without our knowledge. They are called pickvotters or even better pickpotters (stuffing the ballot boxes).
These two are new words, I have coined for the Oxford Dictionary with local elections due now).

4. What about food. I want enjoy the high calorie, high protein dehydrated food fads of space travelers especially they are floating about and not placed on a plate with a well laid out nice table. My worry is not the quality of food but how I to partake them in a more sociable way. Not empty them to my mouth from paper carton after paper carton.

5. Coming to spirits (if they are allowed like a commercial flight) and drinks. When I suck (not drink them) a little, I want them to stay a while in the mouth and oesophagus and stomach and not go flushing down like a vacuum cleaner on full throttle to the colon in one go..

6. After meal I want to brush my teeth as my good dental friends tell me with a tooth brush floating in air and the toothpaste all over the face with me trying to reach as far as it goes to the third molar.

7. That also I can manage but how about a quick spend a penny in the loo with my prostrate pushing hard on the correct track inside but the squirt getting between my spacesuit and the underwear. That is my major worry since I will never master my physiology how ever much I train on earth and mid air.

8. Then the master job of course I have decided one last one here and never in the shuttle till I come home and take some constipating medicare one a week before the departure. I do not want my smelly secrets floating in air and taking pictures of me in flight.

No thank you.

9. Last but not least I fear the algae and the fungi I have been accustomed on earth and living with me with mutual understanding all along my life for years taking advantage of the flight and growing all over me. In nails, wind pipe, mouth and all of my privates.

10. Last of all I love scratching my skin, just for fun and any other accessible point from my crown to the rump. With these fungi floating around and waiting for a breach, I won’t be able enjoy that luxury.

11. As for the rubbish I collect on flight no problem. We are trained to drop at any advantage point in the town and the Municipalities never clean them. I just open the window and drop it down when we are centering round Sri-Lanka with a note stating “coming from space shuttle in orbit no valuables dropped but destined for Sri-Lankans, war heroes included”.

This is why when President Obama invited me for a flight in space, I refused and gave 0ver 100 volunteers from our parliament elected and wanting to get elected. He of course refused nay parliamentarians after the Health bill was bailed out.

Cell Cycle and Maha Brahma

Cell Cycle and Maha Brahma 

Casual look at the interpretation of this dream is bizarre but if one applies modern scientific tenor, something radical is emerging with genome project well in advance now.

1. Man and many advanced animals have 50 cell cycles in their life time.

2. About 42 to 45 are consumed by about 15 years of age.

3. There is a condition called progeria where babies are born in advanced stage of cell cycle and rapidly age and die young.

4. If we take a somatocyte from (with mutated genome) a case of this condition one can modulate few more cell cycles to be advanced by culturing under correct conditions with sexual maturation and bald head.

Presto!

The conditioned mentioned by Maha Brahma is satisfied. 

I believe aliens who visit us have already perfected this method for their scientific studies in space and using them as guinea pigs for their experiments. They do not have to hijack humans now and only a few cells are all that is necessary. 

They probably have more advanced culturing methods in space.

There is very interesting genetic analysis that are emerging in America now.

They are studying Gorilla and us the humans and found what is missing in us in evolution.

Gorilla has 48 chromosomes and we have 46.

We have lost a certain receptor for androgen 3 to 5 million year ago. 

When that happened the phallus (penis) became smaller (of the human) and the brain became bigger.

Interestingly. the acquisition of language capability came some millions years later.

We have a living record of a child in the current century (in this country) saying Mahinda Mama in an election rally even before saying da da or ma ma.   I believe, the correct conditions are there in some gifted children to learn all three languages even before preschool.

There will be professors earning million of rupees employed by IMF with sexual precocity, economic vision and foreign language capability including Sinhala even before five years old. 

We do not need a 62 year prostatic and prostrate old man to run the IMF.

Only good thing about this precocious man is that the penis of this genius is very small and the brain is very large and any unlawful sex act even violent, causes minimal damage even to a virgin. We have to redefine the criminal law then with an exception to geniuses employed by IMF to enjoy their short life (may be 7 years or little bit more). 

American legislators won't be able to send them to gallows for 25 years.

One day in prison cell is OK without opposite sex in a nearby cell.

Cell Cycles, Cell Divisions and Prison Cells have to be different, then.

I hope I would be gone by then since in my geriatric age there is no place for me except in high heaven, advising the Maha's Assistant to reverse the trend and bring some sanity to earthlings, especially in America, Ceylon, Russia and the U.N.O.

Cell Cycle Events

 Read this article in parallel with Leonard Hayflick

Leonard Hayflick and 50 Cell Cycle

Cell Cycle Events 

1. Man and many advanced animals have 50 cell cycles in their life time.

2. Up to 42 cycles are used up by the age of 18 months of age.

3. About 42 to 45 are cycles are consumed by about 15 years of age.

That means for puberty 3 cycles are used up.

4. After puberty one is left with only 5 cycles.

3. There is a condition called progeria where babies are born in advanced stage of cell cycle and rapidly age and die young.

4. If we take a somatocyte from (with mutated genome) a case of this condition one can modulate few more cell cycles to be advanced by culturing under correct conditions with sexual maturation and bald head.

Box Utility of Debian Gnome

Box Utility of Debian Gnome

I have been testing all my Linux images in store and used BOX for live sessions. 

It took two days and to free my download folder started deleting them for good except a few of Arch Linux derivatives (in case somebody asks me about Arch Linux, I am not fan of ARCH Linux).

before taking about BOX let me dish out some comments.

I have written few lines here on this blog site on each of them.

1. ELive Linux has a very beautiful desktop effects.

2. Batocera images cannot be booted from a USB, lacks ESP partition.

3. GParted cannot be booted from USB.

4. Getting Puppy Linux images is difficult and with trial and error and searching Archive Linux site I have now collected over 20 old Puppy Linux images. All of them boots with box utility and all of them have Abiword, my favorite.

5. One should have Stacer Utility installed to test how your system works.

Yes I used Stacer to make some comments about BOX utility.

6. Notepadqq is a good text editor.

7. If one does not have packages use GDebi package Installer. All these can be downloaded using Synaptic Package manager.

8. Ubuntu is in panic stage but do not get caught to their advertisements ploys On has to pay for advice, even tiny.

9. If you want to get the feel of Ubuntu download Vinux-5.1-64 bit image from Archive Linux. It has a lovely graphic graphic installer. Run it live and get the feel of Ubuntu. It is a Ubuntu derivative. It can be used by visually handicapped person. Hope some body revive this distribution. Do not get confused with Wlinux (4.8GB) which is a hopeless distribution coming from windows guys. It is as bad as Wbuntu. Do not try them.

10. Do not listen to YouTube guys, coming from Windows background and spoil your taste.

11. Linux has already reached 10% (my unofficial results) and I wont be talking about Linux a lot from now onward.

My Linux Essentials would have most of the fine details including formatting of the disk.

12. Best option is to dual boot the system with whatever the operating system one uses. Apple's ARSHI Linux is hopeless, even to try.

Box Utility

It is a Virtual Box by default.

It needs at least 8GB RAM, the minimum.

Even testing Puppy Linux (20 or more images) it took almost 3.5GB of memory. 

If you are testing any distribution over 4GB it might freeze.

Box utility takes up lot of cashe.

Use it in parallel with Stacer.