Child (Safety), Dog and Baby Elephant Friendly Environment (EFE)

Child (Safety), Dog and Baby Elephant Friendly Environment (EFE)

There are thousands of modern items that can kill a child, dog or even a baby elephant in this country.

But I would concentrate only on tiny items that can kill a dog or a child and leave the third item, baby elephants in my book that will be out sometime in 2014.

Thankfully, there are no toddlers in my house but I have a dog that needs looking after.

Soon after the Christmas holidays, I did a survey in my house and found over two hundred teeny weeny items that were literally, not child safe, let alone my dog.

Let me deal with one item to begin with that was bothering me.
 

Year ago, I bought a soft plastic mattress with rubber form inside for our dog since it was too cold and the dog was not eating properly and showing signs of hypoglycemia in the morning.

He refused to sleep on it, in spite of my coaxing and perseverance.

He did not like the idea at all. 
He used to dig on it, until the outer cover was torn apart and the rubber form came out in a piece meal.

Luckily he did not gnaw it but fearing suffocation, I had to remove the mattress, clear up the mess of foam rubber.

So if, I had a toddler at home he or she would have been at a bigger risk of choking and suffocation than the dog.

This is why I say no dogs when you have little kids.

The kids can have a dog only after 16 years of age, when they have finished "O” Level examination and waiting for the result and that will dawn on them that the real world is much more challenging than the school.

Mind you when they start the advanced level examination they do not have time, you will have to look after the dog for life.

I as a dog lover, I was ready to take the challenge and enjoy it, every minute of it including cleaning its “poos” and using them as manure for the outdoor garden, unlike most of my neighbors who make sure my foot path is clearly marked with them, everyday of my adult life. 
 

We actually can have a cross country route for the Lamborghini, in our path.

They should avoid every bit of the “shit” to become a champion.

There are two diversions before I get to the nuts and bolts about “Child Safety” since that part is boring even to me.

This is copied from elsewhere in the web with little editing.

Dog's digging behaviour

1. Digging is used to uncover prey in underground burrows, and is useful to bury food, which is later retrieved and consumed. Dogs also dig to create a cavity in the snow or earth for shelter from the wind and to conserve body heat.

2. In warmer weather, an excavation may keep the dog cool. 

3. Some dogs dig before urination or defecation. 

4. Dominant adult dogs kick up soil with the hind legs to disperse its scent and increase territorial marking. 
Glands in the footpads mark the soil with scent during digging. 

5. Even indoors, many dogs appear to dig in preparing for rest and sleep.

This form of digging behavior is usually not destructive, though over time the carpet may be worn down.

Digging is usually not considered a problem unless it destroys property.

To prevent the dog from digging, one must control opportunities to dig and provide the dog with alternative activities that are equally enjoyable and physically challenging. 
If the dog digs in your backyard, restrict access to that area. Ideally, your dog should not be left unsupervised in your yard, regardless of any misbehavior. 
Your dog will be less likely to expend energy by digging if it is walked at regular intervals every day and has a variety of appropriate physical activities to pursue. 

Dog's Age or the Human equivalent

Senior Citizens                                    Senior Dogs

1. They have homes for the elderly       1. Haven is practically hell for the dogs

2. Some senior citizens by that age become mayors of the holy city 
                                                               2. There is only extermination decree

3.They never give way to juniors           3. Junior dogs take charge of the brood

I have another plea, if one wants to age with the dog please do the following.

1. Take care of a young dog at the age of 43 (when nobody seems to want you including your wife and kids) years.

2. When you are 50 your dog is 7 years old and equal to 50 years of human age.

3. In another three (3) when your dog is 10 he is equivalent to 60 human years and you will be 53 years. 

You are younger by 7 years.

4. In another two years dog (at 12 years) will be 70 and you will be only 55 years.

You are younger by 15 years.

43=0
50=7=50 (only at 50 one can be at the level of the dog age and enjoy with your contemporary to your heart's content and his company prevents you from getting a heart attack, if you delay the dog will get a heart attack).

53=10=60
 
55=12=70 (This is the time you get a bypass operation and  the dog gets a heart attack).

5. Now that you have become the mayor at 55 after retiring from service would you be kind to this dog who is 70 years human equivalent (12 years  of our time) or sent for the Municipality Exterminator.

6. They are just old senior dogs / citizens they do not have a parliament to go but only the streets but unlike you they look after our streets even at night when young, is it reasonable to put them to death?

7. How come if I say all the senior citizens who were ex-parliamentarians and drawing a fat pension and to save money for development they should be exterminated!

Will you pass a bill and vote yes in parliament?

Are we reasonable human beings?

Below is an image from WiKiPedia.

I hope WiKipedia won't pass copyright infringement for taking the side of the dogs against humans.

Since my dog is senior by age (overtaken my age) like any true Sri-Lankans, I take care of him faithfully.

Who will kick the bucket first “The Good Lord only knows”?

I decided to take stock all items that were risky and might cause choking and suffocation.

The List goes like this.

1. Pieces of Rubber form.

2. Over 30 items from Chinese Racing Track, which I bought 20 years ago for my son from the Fort Railway Station pavement for Rs.100/=.

I was working in Colombo then. There were only few items there but now there are thousands of Chinese cheap quality toys.

3. Over 10 cheap Chinese adoption of Scandinavian Lego

4. Plastic yogurt spoons (25 in total and only two measuring spoons for dispensing correct dose of child's medicine or vitamin syrups).

5. Two pairs of plastic Chinese chop sticks with very sharp edges.

6. Metal and plastic clips for securing Ethernet Wires

7. Over 100 message board (English letters were the worse lot, with dots, apostrophe exclamation marks etc) letters in English, Sinhala and Tamil.

I stopped counting after 200 and the things I did not count were

8. Pens, pencils, clips and erasers and the whole lot.

9. Clips for hanging cloths with nasty metal parts.

10. Batteries for torches and calculators.

I can remember a child in UK put a tiny battery inside his nose undetected and a timely X-Ray and intervention saved his life (child who was admitted with breathing difficulty).

I have seen few kids dying as late as 1975 in Colombo Hospital and that was due to a peanut and child was transferred from Galle to Colombo and he died at the doorstep of the General Hospital, in the ambulance.

Simply my house was not child safe and not at all dog friendly.

The list can go on but I stopped counting them.

The teaching aids of preschool kids are of very poor quality, I feel we should go back to slate and slate pencil.

Literally there are thousands of articles in every house now.

I have dealt with only choking here others I leave it to the GMOA.

Thing I have not discussed are

1. Fire crackers

2. Box of matches

3. Tooth pricks

4. Candles including party candles

5. Bottles containing alcohol including methyl alcohol

6. Bottles containing detergents

7. Bottles containing solvents

8. Bottles containing adult medicine

7. Plastic garbage bags (there are no safety holes in them) and sandwich bags

8. Knives, forks, scissors, and other sharp tools in a drawer without a childproof latch

9. Electrical installation within reach of a toddler without safety plastic plugs

The list can go on and easily fill a book which nobody reads.

Jacques Kallis cricketer par excellence

Jacques Kallis cricketer par excellence

It is dream come true to Jacques and tears (of joy) to commentators and joy to cricket lovers, all over.

I was waiting for this moment from yesterday.

He made it in his characteristic calm composure.

The strokes all round the park was like a rainbow.

The “Rainbow Coalition” of South Africa has made it.

It is pity Nelson Mandela could not see it.

I am pretty sure he is seeing it from heaven.

While English were getting a drubbing and Sri-Lankan we becoming sitting ducks in cricket, we see joy in all South Africans of all colors.

They should go ahead and win the next "World Cup in 2015" and I want Jacques to lift it.

While all these happening BBC Cricket was fast asleep.

I have beaten them by a mile or more.

Linux's Contribution in 2013 and beyond

Linux's Contribution in 2013 and beyond
I have reproduced in entirety an article from ZDNet-Tech here.
I was asked by a young guy who asked, are you still writing about Linux?
I said I need not.

This is an example.
There is ample literature, even though the penetration of Linux is just above 1% (using computers) but almost 90% are using Linux without knowing it.
I promote ipods now since Apple has new link with China.
90% of Chinese won't be able use ipad since their English is poor.

It is boon for Asia, except Sri-Lanka in which English language skills have gone even below Bangladesh.

If you are confident in English, go for the Chinese Apple, if you know how to smuggle a few ipods.

Smuggling is our major (Black Money is over 50% NOW) industry. including heroin where politicians are directly involved.

With this black money, I have no chance of promoting Linux.
It is a DEAD END for me.

Please note with STEAM in action, Linux has taken over Gaming Industry, too.
THANK YOU, STEAM Guys and Girls.
Happy New Year and Christmas.

I have removed all the Hyperlinks except for the authors Hyperlink (connection).
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for Linux and Open Source

1. Open source software methodology goes everywhere

It's rare for developers these days not to use or create open source software. Even Microsoft is putting more energy into its open source efforts, such as Node.js, a tool/framework that uses JavaScript as its scripting engine. After all, Microsoft even helps build Linux these days.
But also what surprises me is how major companies of all sorts have united under the leadership of The Linux Foundation to create open source projects to unify their efforts
In 2013 alone, The Linux Foundation brought together the AllSeen Alliance for the Internet of things; OpenBEL for open source biological research; OpenDaylight, for almost all the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) companies; and Open Virtualization Alliance, and Xen Project for KVM and Xen virtualization.
And it's not just The Linux Foundation. Facebook's Open Compute Project has brought open source methodology to the data center. Juniper with Contrail has its own open source SDN take. And, Apache continues to make advantages projects such as Hadoop for Big Data and Lucene and Solr for search.
What all these projects have in common is that they're bringing together old enemies to work together. These companies are doing this not because there's anything magical or politically correct about open source. They're using open source because it enables them to create the best software at affordable rates. Pragmatically speaking, companies have decided it makes better business sense to share unified, open software than to create fragmented, proprietary programs.

2. The rise of the Chromebook

You can argue how popular Google's Linux-powered Chromebooks really are, but here are a few more facts showing that Chromebooks are quickly gaining users.
Dell, the last major OEM to not have a Chromebook, is releasing its first Chromebook in early 2014. Consumer electronics giant LG will also be releasing a new form factor for Chrome OS: the Chromebase. This is an all-in-one (AIO) PC that combines Chrome with a 21.5-inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 full HD resolution.
It also appears that Android is making more of a move to the desktop. According to reports, "PC Plus" machines are on their way. These laptops will include both Windows 8.1 and Android. These first of these will be unveiled at the CES expo in Las Vegas in January.
With Windows 8.x's uphill struggle to gain market-share as quickly as previous versions, and Microsoft with its Surface devices now competing directly with its PC partners, it's no surprise that Linux-based desktop competition beyond hard-core Linux users has finally started to emerge.

3. SteamOS: Mainstream Linux gaming arrives

Nothing underlines this shift in desktops more than Valve, a major PC gaming company, releasing SteamOS. This is a Debian-based Linux that's expressively designed for Linux PC gaming.
Like those other companies that have invested in Linux and open source software, Valve isn't doing this because they have warm, fuzzy feeling about Linux. No, Valve has released its own desktop Linux, and Steam Machines, dedicated Linux gaming consoles, because, "Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space," according to Valve's billionaire chief executive Gabe Newell earlier this year.
As far as Valve is concerned, Linux is the future of computing.

4. Clouds: Linux everywhere

You can argue over the rise of Linux on the desktop, but no one can argue about how influential Linux is in clouds. With the exception of Microsoft's Azure, all major cloud software platforms — including Amazon's EC2 cloud, Google Compute Engine, and the various OpenStack implementations — are all based on Linux and open source software. For that matter, due to popular demand, you can also run Ubuntu, CentOS, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and openSUSE on Azure.
If you're going to be using the cloud for IT soon — and chances are you will be — you're going to be using Linux. It's just that simple.

5. Android rules mobile

What's Hot on ZDNet

Away from the desktop, Linux, in the form of Android, already rules end-user computing. Android has a comfortable lead on smart phones over Apple iOS. And by the middle of this year, share in Android tablets blew past Apple's iPad line. The number one mobile operating system is now Android. The only real question is who will be in third place behind Android and iOS.
Indeed, with the continued decline of PCs, it seems possible that Android may yet become the single most popular end-user operating system on all platforms.
So, there you have it. In a year where there were no "big" Linux stories, Linux and open source continued to grow in every aspect of computing. The coming year will only see more of the same. The Linux Foundation's executive director Jim Zemlin recently declared that 2013 was the year of "Linux on Everything."
He was right, and we're only going to see more of Linux running everything in the years to come.

Nelson Mandela, what it means to be free?

Nelson Mandela, what it means to be free?

It is fitting to end my book with a real story.

It was as usual a dull Sunday and I finished day's quota of work and decided to have an early supper by seven p.m. and retire early. It was not the usual practice since, I go to bed very late specially on a Sunday. As usual our dog also realized the early break and sneaked under my bed, not yet ready for sleep.

I quickly glanced through the web and news and there was nothing except those world leaders who were clamoring to be at the funeral of our real hero, the freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela. It was all strange only after over 48 hours or so, our local papers woke up to the task of posting articles, in his name.

I in fact, made a comment under an editorial, querying whether our journalists were actually sleeping on this news item, 24 hours before.

I for some reason went down to the pantry and on my first step saw a little paddy bird stranded on the steps and trying to flee.

I quickly close the door of my bed room and made sure the dog is enclosed.

He would pounce on the intruder and even a little beetle is his play mate, knowing he will catch in a flash, not to kill but it's the natural instinct, would be deadly. Without much a do I caught the bird and quickly put it in a safety pen to be released in the morning. It was raining and the bird was wet and my guess was it was just out of the nest and was too little to be released in the night.

I showed it to all at home and covered the pen with a piece of cloths and switched off all the lights except the diode night light in my bed room and opened a book to read.

The pen was kept at a safe place close by so that I could hear any signs of panic. Surely it did not want to sleep but wanted to get out and was hitting his head on the sides and on the top. After half an hour I decided to take the pen to my bed room and took the covering cloth off so that it would not bash its head on the sides or on the top.

I watched it for a while it was relatively dry with all the attempts to escape from the prison it was in.

My gut feeling was fellow will be hypoglycemic by the next morning and won't be strong enough to fly to safety.

I decided to release it.

I took the pen to the balcony and opened the window on top to see whether it was smart enough to escape.

If it could not escape on 10 goes, I decided to call off the release till morning.

I had put lights on the balcony and nowhere else, so that the bird could orientate itself to the escape window.

In the fifth attempt, he found the exit window and in a flash disappeared into the darkness.

He was not a tiny tot.

My original guess was wrong.

We are admiring our hero, Nelson Mandela, right at this moment.

I wonder how many “thought moments” he had of thinking of his freedom for over 30 years.

My guess it is more than the current human population.

10 billion or more,I guess.

So it is imperative that all the human race should realize it and salute to him this week.

This message is especially for those tyrants in the making or those aspiring to be.

Poverty

Poverty

We have a population of over 6 billion.

It is going to be 8 billion by 2020.

25% of the world population, equivalent to 1.5 billion earn less than $1 dollar a day.

50% of the world population, equivalent to 3.0 billion earn less than $2 dollar a day.

Most of them (60% in Asia) are in Asia and Africa.

Unfortunately these very same people are subjected lack of sanitation and water which lead to infections.

Worldwide 2 to 3 billion will feel the effect of shortage of fresh water (NOT POLLUTED) in 2020.

This will increase the water borne disease by many folds.

As at present millions die of water borne diseases.

Latest is the contamination of water by industrial affluents which include heavy metals and insecticides.

With all these UNO is only worried about Human Rights of smaller nations.

By their inaction WHO/UNO violates the rights of every child born to this century.

Aids is increasing fast in Africa and Asia.

In Africa AIDS was spread by roaming armies (including in Congo) due to internal conflicts.

In Sri-Lanka when “Pavans” were there administering “Peace” in the North, nearly 1000 Tamils women / a month came to Colombo for abortions.

The killing/ assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was directly related to this.

Nobody has done any study on how many were infected with AIDS with the help of “Pavans”.

My Top 10 Personalities of the last 70 years

My Top 10 Personalities of the last 70 years
 
1. Nelson Mandela
2. Muhammad Ali
3 Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. Patrice Lumumba
5. Wangari Maathai
6. Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs
7. Linus Benedict Torvalds
8. John Fitzgerald Kennedy / Lyndon B Johnson
9. Sir John Kotalawala
10. Arthur Scargill

Only one Sri-Lankan in the list.
He is one who quit politics very early saying that it is far better to do fox hunting in England than engaged in politics in Sri-Lanka. 
He was our third Prime Minister
  
Arthur Scargill of course tried his best against odds in for UK miners and was the only Labour activist of some note.

Failed to make the mark above the top above.
Che Guerra
Fidel Castro
Sukarno of Indonesia,
Jawaharlal Nehru of India,
Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia,
Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt
Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.

Freedom Revisited

Freedom Revisited
I just did a survey of our personal and political freedom from the time of independence and suddenly discovered seven (7) stages.
This can be applied to an elephant in captivity but in the case of the elephant the poor animal has few stages and no political freedom at all.
I will list them first and expand on each stage on a future date.
The reader can have his or her own classification.

1. Stage One-Born Free
That is the stage we enjoyed for over a decade.
Then we went in search of the second stage since the freedom did not filter down to everybody.

2.Stage Two- Freedom Struggle
We lacked economic freedom at this stage.

3. Stage Three- Freedom Fighter-Wasted Time
Never got the freedom we were fighting for.

4. Stage Four-Freedom left to be Abused
This is he stage were politicians (all shades) in the name of their expansion abused our freedom left right and center (they are the only one who gets a pension in five years for doing sweet nothing)

5. Stage 5-Freedom Lost
This is the stage we lost all freedom in the name of new constitution.
Even the judges lost their freedom to politicians whims and fancies.

6.Stage 6-Freedom to be abused by those who are in Power.
This is the most interesting phase where anybody who is somebody with some power (this includes officers)  can become corrupt with impunity with no legal barriers.

7. Last or the 7th stage is Freeing the Freedom from clutches of Power.
Unfortunately  we have not reached this stage since there are enough legal barriers  like 2/3 (two third) majority etc;

We have to go behind a Bo Tree and Pray for Divine Intervention.
Unfortunately foreigners including Indians and Westerners can do sweet nothing since we are a Sovereign State and one has to leave sovereign bars (Gold) in front of the altar of Demo=Crazy.

Elephant Myths-01-The Elephant Corridor

Elephant Myths-01
The Elephant Corridor in Sri-Lanka

It is a myth.
Yala, Wagamuwa, Wilpattu and Uda Walawe are not connected by a corridor for the elephants to move freely, since the rest of the land is densely populated and there is not even a hypothetical corridor.

My calculation is that not even one percent of the land is reserved for the elephants.

If I assume 10% (ten) of the land is allocated in a hypothetical space on this island  as a zoological garden and all the elephants are relocated inside it for the people to see them as exhibits, and only 0.1% of the total population come to the zoo, to see them on one go (again hypothetical) ,there will be one man or woman standing every 10 feet (3.3 meters) of the perimeter and no elephant can move out without touching a human being.

If we get 1% to visit the zoo, one can stand and won’t be able to stretch the hands without pushing and shoving.
 
Elephant will have to trample 10 of them to get out of the perimeter and see the man’s world, which is fully developed.
 
One may wonder, why I used 10% which is high land mass in commercial concepts.
It is very simple.
My estimate is that there should be 35% (it is less than 25% and we will be like Dubai in about 50 years of development from now-we might even have to import water then) of total land to be reserved for rain forest, if we are to maintain at least 10% of the perennial rivers.
So if we roughly have 30% for the rain forest, elephants should take the major share of at least one third of it which will be 10%.

That is why I state that there is not even 1% of land left for our elephants.
So the natural selection will let 500 elephants to survive in the this land and in that estimate it is really endangered species.

Stating that we have 5000 elephants in the forest is a mythical figure concocted by our Mega Media Men (M.M.M) to satisfy the politicians.
I think each elephant is counted ten (10) times in making that mythical figure, sometimes by reputed NGO's.

Development of the man’s world is also a big myth in the same stretch of imagination, since only a very few with patronage will be able to enjoy it.

I have made the calculation confusing and difficult so that politicians won’t be able to understand my logic of it but the figures are below for one to work out.

Human Population density in Sril-Lanka averaged out but in reality it is much more than that because people congregate on socio-economic reasons.

The population density in Gamphaha is more than Decca and Calcatta.
Kandy has 10 times the population density of Gaza Strip.

Beauty is nobody talks about population control.

I have used the total population projected in another 10 to 50 years for my calculation since total square miles is roughly 25,000.

1000 in a square mile
400 in a Square Kilometer
400 x 2.4=1000

Reserve only 10% 2500 Sq Miles(6500 Sq. Meters)
0.1 of population 250,000
 
Every 10 feet or 3.3 meters there is a man/woman standing.

Location   Indian Ocean     Coordinates   7°N 81°E
 
Area       65,610 km2 (25,332 sq miles)
 
Area rank     25th
 
Coastline   1,340 km (833 miles)
 
Highest elevation   2,524.13 m (8,281.27 ft)
 
Highest point    Pidurutalagala
 
Water bodies     870 km² of water =400 square miles (only about 1%)

( If Water body  is 1.5 % it equals to 1000 Km)

Population density   1000 sq miles
Population density  400 km
 
Hypothetical Elephants   population is 1000 and it is exaggerated to 5000 by local media giants (Biggest lie in this country).

Reserve   2500 Sq miles 50x50=2500;10feet
Reserve   6500 Km 80x80 6400:  3.3 meters

I of all “Is”

I, Teach
I,
Not 
The I,
Of Selfish, Self
But
The I of

Injury,

Inflammation,

Infection and

Immunity to

Analyze
Interpret
The Interconnection and Integrations
Implied in pathological concepts
With
Interest and
Intensity
That my students will
Never forget
I of all “Is”

15. Do elephants dream?

 This is a sample of the Elephant Riddles, in my book Elephant talks, that would be out soon at Amazon's.

15. Do elephants dream?

Yes, only baby elephants.
Elephants babies are very naughty and mothers do not have time to sleep. 
So no dreams for them.

16. Elephant mum (nursing a baby) gives you a call and say that she is coming to your home for a little nap (break).

What would do?
Empty the bedroom.
Close the front door.
Leave a message on the front door.
You may push the button.
Mum resting.
No babies please.
Quickly, exit from the back door.

17. You come back in one hour.

What would you find?
 
Front wall collapsed.
Back wall collapsed.
Bedroom intact but baby elephants having a round table conference in the dining room.

18. What happened to the elephant mum?
She has gone to your neighbor’s house.

19. What did you see when you went to your neighbor’s house.
 
Front wall collapsed.
Double bed standing erect in the front with a message hung.
 
I am still resting.
Keep the babies at your house.
 
I will come there soon.

20. Where did you find your friend?

Under the belly of the mum elephant unconscious (fallen flat due to fear but not due to injury).

21. What did you do?

Leave a note on the bedroom.

I am busy babysitting baby elephants.
You look after the mum, please.

Take a very old Elephant in captivity, What are the most likely dreams?

Take a very old Elephant in captivity.
What are the most likely dreams?

The dream would go like this,

I was born free
In the Jungle
I wanted
To be free

I wanted
My friends 
To be free
BUT
I could not
The chains were nasty
The work was nasty
That is why I drank
The wrong spirits
With my mahout

Now the time has come
Let me go
Please do not bring
Those nasty guys
Garbed in white coats

They do not realize
That I hate
 
Pain 
Even it is
From a tiny syringe

Oh, let me go
Before his arrival!

I wish
I should not be
Born Again
An elephant
With tusks

I have done my part
Why don’t you do your part?
 
Let all those
That are already there
FREE
If not,
I wish 
I should not be
Born again
In this 
Island Paradise!

Baby Elephant’s Dream

Baby Elephant’s Dream

I was born free
In the Jungle
To roam about
As any other
Jungle being

Soon it was not to be
My mum was shot at
She was mortally wounded
I was in tears
I wanted my mum
Back again

Not a foster mum?

Yes my aunties
And the rest of the gang
Were of towering help
In my grief
Till it was declared
An “Amnesty” for
My mum’s exterminators

I too was shot at
I felt numb and
I  wished and thought
About my death

But it was a dream!

When I was woken up
I was out of the jungle
In another plane
And another place
With strange people
Around me
Holding something
I had never seen before

There was something
Which looked
White inside
But tasted awful
But I preferred
A little bit of water

Then I was rounded up
Put in a moving object
I felt dizzy
All the same
On this unguided tour
Which I hated

I was taken
To a place where
Many of my kind
Was incarcerated
With very little
Rebellion!
To my surprise
 
Soon I was declared
An orphan
The name of the place
I heard was Pinnawala
 
I wished
And wanted to be dead
Never to be born
Again
In this Paradise Island

Human Equivalent of Elephant Age in Captivity

This is a preview of a chapter in my next book "Elephant Talks" which will be out soon.

Human Equivalent of Elephant Age in Captivity

I sometime get some bizarre ideas.
This is one of them.
I wonder if we equate the age of an elephant to human age where does it stand.
It is not an easy answer since we do not have vocal language parameter to go by.
They certainly can understand our language but but they cannot talk back.
We have to derive some other ploy.
Before I delve into that I will try to age a dog in human terms.
Then, I will use that age to judge the elephant.
The question is who is smarter.
The dog or the elephant?
    We are very close to the canines, it is relatively easy to age a dog in human terms.

Aging a dog in human terms

Below is the relevant information posted in one of my blogposts about chronological age of a dog in relation to human age.

Old Dog Haven and Senior Dogs

There are lot of myths about dogs but here I want to illustrate few human facts that I should communicate with Maha Brahma who was a yesteryear dog exterminated to make room for Perahara Pilgrims that visit the holy city of Kandy. Most of Sri-Lankan end up in hell whereas the Maha Brahma's dog and present assistant of Maha Brahma were dogs from this country.
By clever design they ended up there and for my luck I happen to know the Present Maha Brahma’s Assistant as a Paraya dog in Kandy and I am fortunate enough to communicate with him by virtual email.
First the bad news.
Lot of paraya dogs were cleared up recently in preparation for Perehara and I want a place reserved for them in hell (for the municipality exterminators not the exterminated paraya dogs).
In some countries when they are old they are sent to Old Dogs Haven.
I want the Maha to take them to heaven moment they are exterminated but make a short list of the exterminators and send that list to Apaya (Hell) Server.
I have designed a full proof program to catch dog killers and that is working nicely in Apaya Server currently but the problem is these dog killers live longer  than the dog by many a mile due to cardiac surgery performed.

Senior Citizens                                              Senior Dogs

1. They have homes for the elderly       1. Haven is practically hell for the dogs
2. Some senior citizens by that time     2. There is only extermination decree    become mayors of the holy city
3.They never give way to juniors          3.Junior dogs take charge of the brood

I have another plea.
 
If one wants to age with the dog please do the following.
1. Take care of a young dog at the age of 43 (when nobody seems to want you including your wife and the kids) years.

2. When you are 50 your dog is 7 years old and equal to 50 years of human age.


3. In another three (3) years when your dog is 10 he is equivalent to 60 human years and you will be 53 years.
You are younger by 7 years.

4. In another two years dog (at 12 years) will be 70 and you will be only 55 years.

You are younger by 15 years.

43=0

50=7=50 ( only at 50 one can be at the level of the dog age and enjoy with your contemporary to your heart's content and his company prevents you from getting a heart attack, if you delay the dog will get a heart attack).

53=10=60

55=12=70 (This is the time you get a bypass operation and  the dog gets a heart attack).

5. Now that you have become the mayor at 55 after retiring from service would you be kind to this dog  who is 70 years human equivalent (12 years  of our time) or sent for the Municipality Exterminator.

6. They are just old senior dogs / citizens they do not have a parliament to go but only the streets but unlike you they look after our streets even at night when young, is it reasonable to put them to death.

7. How come if I say all the senior citizens who were ex-parliamentarians and drawing a fat pension and to save money for development they should be exterminated.
 
Will you pass a bill and vote yes  in parliament?
 
Are we reasonable human beings?
 
What I am referring here is not the chronological age but the mental age which is different from the age in years in children’s growth.

It is easy to assess the mental age of a dog unlike an elephant since they live close to us and adopt to our way of life easily.
 
But there is big variation while I believe depends on the pedigree and their upbringing.

Paraya dogs seem to get arrested at mental age of three (3) of human equivalent if they leave the care giver early and were neglected in there upbringing.
That I call the streetwise age which is quite adequate for their survival.
They live in fear and insecurity which a child will inherit if he/she is abandoned by parents and live in a children’s home.
The fear and insecurity give them all essential survival skills.
If the dog is a pedigree dog depending on the type and upbringing the mental age of human equivalent may go up to five.
My dog ranks about seven and he is clever enough to twist my arm t every opportunity without arousing my suspicion and anger.
He is a clever manipulator of the skills of seven year old child.
He always beats me and is very smart.
Enough of dogs this book is about elephants and how we age an elephant in human mental age?
That is a difficult task.
Elephants are with us not by their choice but due to human manipulations.
They are prisoners without a choice.
In this context their mental age is arrested to suit to adopt and live with us.

Aging an Elephant in human terms

My gut felling is that the Elephant age is more than seven as compared to a dog.
It is more likely ten (10) than seven years of age.
I want to raise it to teens, more of 13 or 14 than 16 years of age where in humans concepts develop.
For example we human can develop few concepts call elephants in captivity concepts.

1. The elephants are created by gods for our work.

2. They should be deprived of their place in the jungle hierarchy.

3. They can be trained like dogs.

4. One should use pain as a mode of taming them.

5. They should be chained.

6. They should be used for religious activity.

7. They should be called orphans.

8. They should be a state symbol of the wealthy merchants.

9. There should not be any political freedom for them.

10. They should be governed by human laws and regulations.

11. Then develop the myth that carrying the Tooth Relic of the Maligawa is the highest order that a tusker will attain in this life.

12. In next life he/she will be invariably in heaven.

The list can go up to 100, the pain points under its pachyderm which are used by the mahout to cause pain to this gentle giant so that he/she is subservient to human denigration.
 
I listed them to show how fallacious all of them are.
 
The elephant by being a beast cannot conceptualize that captivity is wrong and I should go back to the jungle.
They become attached to the human bondage and live a life of prisoners of conscience.
That is why I put them to 13 and 14 age of mental age where our teenagers are not acquired full freedom but have to be engaged in a prolonged period of so called education at the end of it have no job security but a minimum wage band which is twice the poverty line.
 
The plight of the teenager is no different from the elephant in captivity.
Unfortunately we cannot send the elephant to higher education in the university but the teenager can aspire it.
Failing which he becomes a downcast or a terrorist.

Orchids and Dedication

This is a note (email) send to a orchid lover
Orchids and Dedication
I hope you will keep your interest on Orchids to my age.
One of my young (he was older) friends who could not go above grade 10 in Education could keep an orchid my father gave him for over 60 years.
My father taught him how to care for it.

It is called the Wesak Orchid.
 
He is almost blind and when I visited him with a little gift, I collected a few of the saplings (is it the correct word) or buds for my rooftop garden.
They are growing nicely.
My friend was an expert on making kites.
I learned how to make a kite and balance it (it is a science) aerodynamically.

He did not understand the physics (which I could) of it and I graduated to become a scientific thinker (prefer to become a scientific philosopher), but he remained a faithful envronmentalist.

I think we need lot of his kind of dedication and less of my kind probing.

Giving the Kitchen a Holiday

Giving the Kitchen a Holiday
 
1. I hate Kitchens.

2. I love Food especially if they are made delicious.

3. I hate sweet foods and cakes.

4. I acquired these habits from my mother certainly not from my father.

5. My father was an Ace in eating Junk Foods.

I acquired both Good and Bad habits inadvertently.

If I eat a Parippu or dhal wade it has to be high in quality and size.

There are two varieties, one small in size for pariahs (they ruin the city in one or two visits-good example is the Perehara) who visit the city and the other relatively large in size (say it in other words, a mouthful) for the noble men (there aren’t any left in the city now) who happen to bypass it like Prince Charles.
 
When it started getting ever smaller with the Mahinda Chintanaya in full swing, I called it a Revert Wade (the guy who makes the wade is paid a meager salary he is so annoyed, he reverts the wade when making, not with the inspired knowledge of the Big Mudhalali, the owner) and that would have heralded the metamorphosis of this age old Jaffna Delicacy.
 
Unfortunately, this has reached the Egg Rotti and Patties (pastry).

One used to get one egg, a Rotti an year ago but it became half, quarter and currently it has metamorphosed to a touch of egg/s (either touch of white or touch of yellow) with the blessings of the Maha Sangha (they say a bit-just like alcohol, of it is good for their/your health, a lot of it is bad, contrary to my own beliefs).
I was listening to a Dhamma Desana from Mahamevna tradition (while I was waiting for a bus and the loud speaker in full throttle relaying it all over the city, more than 30 decibels in magnitude) and preacher was telling one should ascend the ladder through one heaven to the next till one reaches the Thawthisa Bavan, where the next Buddha is having a respite to be born eons from now.

He almost said if one comes to Polgahawela, he could even give a cut rate ticket to heaven.

Sadly no mention about Nirvana, he implied one should delay Nirvana (podi joliyak dhala thamayh eahata yanna onne- one should enjoy the ascent as much as possible like a rocket science predictions).

Sorry for the diversion, I was requested by my family friends that if I make this a major article, I may disappear to Ravana Land by default with Bodu Balawegaya in full swing.

Coming back to my intended conviction that the kitchen should have a holiday, just like the digital holiday I am enjoying currently (but want to continue for little longer, god willing) and that is why my blog post is going low and my email is almost stationary.
 
I have few problems.

As long as my wife is at home, there is no holiday for the kitchen.
Fortunately my wife had to be in Colombo for few days and after 24 hours of cleaning up (servant woman did not turn up as usual) of the Kitchen and the Pantry, I call it a day almost defeated to see it was back to what it was (I won't state why with legal advice pending).
 
Today I had the courage to apply it rigidly for nearly 24 hours.

Presto.
 
Benefits.

1. No cockroaches (mind you cockroaches are my evolutionary friends and I hate to kill them).
 
2. No mice.
This is a discovery.
Even the mice in our kitchen has acquired my taste habits and did not touch the bin which I kept (Metta, Karuna and Mudhtha practiced to high heaven) open for liberal use like our politics now.
 
3. No cats (not the no mice no cat rule but no food no cats rule of evidence practiced by our courts of law interpreted as envisaged by our political old fox, J.R.J).
 
4. Birds in plenty (they visit the mulberry tree)
 
5. No dogs except our dog who has acquired a taste of higher order than me and refuse to eat junk food (devoid of eggs, cheese and taste) and turn his plate of food upside down (I have to clean the mess).

The message from my dog is clear, he is a food taster par excellence and tells me I am/you are cheated by the food vendors (there is no butter, no cheese or eggs or salmon or fish as stated in the display).

You have to do the cooking for me.
 
So if you give the kitchen a holiday, junk food is no alternative, if you have a pedigree dog.
 
Kill your pedigree dog for dog food and go for a real Paraya dog. (metaphorically and not literally) just like the British under Mrs. Thatcher did when Mad Cow Disease was in full swing but refused to acknowledge that it was due to cows fed on disease cows' meat mixed with fodder (this one is for the Commonwealth Guests, do not volunteer help when your own house is in a mess by harboring terrorists and their sympathizers).
 
So my recipe for giving the kitchen a holiday one has to kill the dog and starve.
 
Both of which I cannot recommend in real practice.
 
So eat the junk food.
 
Give the dog the royal food.

This is what will happen when the Commonwealth Conference is held in Colombo.

We will eat Junk Food but the visitors (ONLY) will have royal food.

Even our dogs will have junk food left over by the royal entourage.
Thank You for your visit.
Long Live (Aubovan in Sinhala)!

Aging gracefully or is it not?

Aging gracefully or is it not?

It is interesting to note that we Sri-Lankan are aging fast and adding to the neglected lot.
With each day of adding to the lifetime, the standard of living goes down not by a fraction but by about 50%.
So it is better to kick the bucket early without being a pest to your family unless of course one is a BIG politician with a big family to maintain.

Global Age Watch has published the figures for over 99 countries.

                                                            Rank         Value
Sri-Lanka
1. Global     Position                    36            57.3%

2. Income Security                       67           44.9%        


3. Health Status                           45           55.1%


4. Employment and Education      37           47.9%
5. Enabling Environment              24          74.6%     


It is interesting to note that it is below par in most of the Muslim countries where one believes the family values are the strongest.

Eg.
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Jordan
Bangladesh and India (which has a large population of Muslims).

Russia is as bad as India.
And China no better.

It is an interesting Study.  

Most of the Western countries fare very well.
For me New Zealand is one of the best to get older.
I know it by experince.
I used to care for 80 and 90 odds  (guys/girls who looked very robust).

I am at the moment doing some insightful research on how to become VERY young by almost 50% but when I discover it, I won't give the secrets to any Sri-Lankan politician, even if they offer me the post of Presidency.  

I am almost there please do not ask me how?
No comments under this blog post please.                    

Digital or Print Books my Dilemma!

Digital or Print Books?
Dilemma!

This is a comment I posted to Amazon.

First of all let me say that the introduction of Match Book (I prefer to call it Matchbox) was a great IDEA.

But I could not edit my titles until yesterday since there was no new option available (for already published books) without editing almost the entire title.
 
But yesterday I got a WARNING from you that my book on Meditation would be taken away from the store since the Pricing of the Digital book was higher than the Print version.

I am not in agreement on this issue for number of reasons.

I will enumerate this for your consideration.

Number 1
People on the this side of the world have no access to digital books.
Less than 10% have Internet access (wired or wireless) but almost 90% have cell phones.

Number 2
Even those who have cell phones 80% do not know how to use the phone for digital access and Internet.
This is mainly due to lack of command in English.

Number 3
Due to above reasons I would prefer  to have the Print form less expensive than the Digital form.
Not all Titles (my choice) but a few of them.

Number 4
I am conceptually for Paperless World (save the rain forest) but we are not yet ready.

Number 5
Sri-Lankan government is politically backward and give FREE books to all primary students (I call it a political gimmick) which are about 30 years outdated (more in Science).
 
For example if I ask  students when they entire the university how the Island of Sri-Lanka was formed in a geographical point of view, none can answer.
 
Geography is not taught properly.

They only know what is in the books (PRINTED) given FREE by the government and none of the books are in Digital form and the contractors (I do not call them publishers) will never allow them to get converted to Digital form in a hurry.

Number 6
Unlike India Our Cell Phone Region is banned for Amazon to enter due to political reason (they fear American Influence).
The know it is going to be  a complete white wash in cricketing parlance.

For a trial period I want the Print Form (let me decide) to be cheaper.
 
I have not targeted any book at the moment with Sri-Lankans in mind.
I just write for fun and not solely on monetary value.
 
Number 7
That is why I like the Match Book (I prefer t5o call it Matchbox) since a wealthy reader from US can donate the print form, ideally  to a KID in Sri-Lanka, since he may not need it in his book shelf.
It will ignite a chain reaction of reading habits (in English) in this part of the world starved of good books (strike a match of enthusiasm).

Call it Matchbox, will YOU!

In that context Amazon does not lose much (postage is Heavy if the reader decides to post it to a institution here) on the deal to begin with.
 
I will have few targeted BOOKS of mine  FREE in Match Book, so a poor reader gets a chance to read what a wealthy reader reads in Americas.


On a minor note my download speed was cut down (I used more than 20 GiB of downloads this month and I am punished for my small indulgence ) to 5kb /sec  (I pay for 50 units/sec).

 Visitors here know I download Linux distributions for testing.

I was all up yesterday night updating my Titles and Upload speed is much slower, mind you.

Your 5 day deadline was like a shock to me.
 
Thank god I did (NOT) have a heart attack but I enjoyed every minute of my exercise.
 
I am joking!

Parafox with much appreciation of all what you do in Amazon Books.
 
Thank you Guys/Girls at Amazon.

ZoHo-Writer

This is a document


This is a document worked in ZoHo and imported  with its link.

YUMI-Your Universal Multiboot Installer-Not So Yummy!

YUMI-Your Universal Multiboot Installer-Not So Yummy!

YumI in Japanese is arrows but in Linux is Your Universal Multiboot Installer.

I downloaded both Mini and and Meteor from Linuxtracker.

Mini is over 800 MiB and and the Meteor was of Gorilla size, nearly 4 GiB.

Both work in only on windows.
That was the downside for me.

After three days of trial and error, I managed to get a hang of it but it allowed only a selected lot of multiple Linux distributions and all the old windows operating system including XP.
Some of the latest and my favorites Korora were not there.
Take what is offered and not what I really wanted in my Flash Drives.
This problem was there with UnetBootIn and I figured out how to make best use of it and install what I want.
It can be done in Linux since it only wants the path to the iso file and Flash Drive mounted.The GRUB is taken care of.

It worked well with windows 7.

However it was very slow indeed.

Finally, I decided to install the Linux version of Multiboot which is just over 200 MiB but can be used only on Ubuntu based Linux distributions.

UnetBootIn can be used in some of KDE Linux (not in SuSe) and the USB creators of all the KDE platforms are generally very bad at making a Bootable USB.

So my Peppermint 4 installed it in half an over in its terminal mode.

In initial instruction came in French but with my limited ability in French, I got it running.

Unlike the windows derivative, the work I did in windows on three days was accomplished in one hour.
In fact I erased it, and did it twice to get a hang of it.
So in half hour of work, I  got my first USB with multiple Linux distributions (of my choice) installed.
It let you drop the image into its lower counter of the dialog box and the work is done in a terminal with checking of data and updating the GRUB2.
GRUB2 is the best boot loader currently available by passing dos in windows platform.

I had a Flash drive (Verbatum) which had a file that did not allow full formatting (about 4 MIB of proprietary data) and installing of Grub 2 on its master boot section.

What I did was to install gparted in windows mode (Mini multiboot-v2- YUMI application was used in graphic mode) and booted it with its GRUB file (as a Dos exe file) in  and to my luck, the Multiboot (much faster than UnetBootIn) shifted the boot section to another sector and hid the unwanted file out of sight, which was blocking MultiSystem utility. so that I could get on with the installing, Knoppix, DSL, JoliOS, and EasyPeasy with 512 persistent for Knoppix and another 750 FREE for any data.

So if you have a Flash drive that does not boot due to proprietary files, MULTIBOOT is the answetr both in window's mode (unfortunately windows to begin with and Linux to shift the boot record (in his case GRUB2) to a bootable sector.

All this is done by PENDRIVE Linux and my first bootable (apart from Puppy Linux) was made on Pendrive Linux in 2009 using windows operating system.
I still have that FLASH Drive as a souvenir.

Now that I rarely use windows, thank you very much, Pendrive Linux.

I used Windows 7 (paid copy but never registered) for this work and during this period windows search engine was eavesdropping on my computer and to my annoyance it warned me about 100 times.
Interestingly it downloaded the driver for my old machine which was not available on first boot.
Microsoft should know that I do not violate its monopoly but I have over 300 Linux distributions in my archives.
Over 30 distributions in Flash Drives for demonstration purposes.
With this MultiBoot System of Pendrive, I will be carrying 0ver 100 Linux distributions in Flash drives including XP which will be soon defunct soon with JavA Zero effect.
Mind you the name of this blog site is Linux 100.

They (PENDRIVE) are looking for translators for translating the documentation and please join them and HELP them.

I hope somebody would translate this blog piece of mine (ideally with added details) for those who cannot understand English or do not use English as a first language.

Thanks a LOT Pendrive Linux.

This is posted with a Flash drive (Multboot System) booted with KNOPPIX, one of my favorite Linux Live distributions.

Why it is so painful to cancel an account in a Social Media-This time Hi5

Why it is so painful to cancel an account in a Social Media-This time Hi5
 
I still wonder why social media are behaving like leeches.
They are hell bent on increasing their share in the open but dirty market

1. They start by offering you a free account.
That is the final bait.
In this consumerist world who will offer a free lunch?

2. Then they get every bit of your personnel data which even (probably) government agencies are not interested in.
The governments want to know you are security risk and or a xenophobic.
If you are an average criminal, they are not worried about.
It is a civil matter.
They only want big fish.
In this country of ours, some government agencies actually promote average tricksters and they take them into their fold, get the dirty work done and dispose them unceremoniously like a pulp when it is a liability (we have a police ex-chief and a Sanganayaka involved in plundering archaeological artefacts) to the beholders.
Guys / Girls include those who steal our ballot paper for election rigging.
Some of them steal even the vote of old people in "Incarcerated Homes''
 
They (the criminals) are a wanted commodity come elections.

3. These social media know that the governments steal their data whenever and wherever possible.
Earlier it was done at the airport.
Now they scan you in your kitchen doing daily chores.
They do not have to be on the beat but remain in air conditioned cubicles.
 
What a luxury?

4. This government paranoia for no reason to remain in absolute power has now infiltrated the social media.
They fear a bubble like in the credit crunch.
They fear the  credit crisis.
 
Their profit margin that come free due to technology and that infiltrates into every nook and corner (luckily we have only 10% Internet penetration in spite of the massive drive) one does not have to sweat for one's tasks.
 
These guys also live in air-conditioned living rooms and sit in front of the computer and do not have to travel like the ordinary guys and girls who toil, every day of the week.
 
They have cushy IT jobs.
The network of computers and various search engines do the talk.
They talk tall!

5. Invariable they become the worst pests of this century and of any country
So they fear when a old guy like me want to opt out of their site for an ornamental coffin for the eternal peace six feet under.
 
They make de-registration, the most difficult job on this planet.
Why?
I do not know.
As a doctor, I can say it is an early sign of serious pathological entity not yet defined by the medical fraternity.
I coin the word digital Mafia that metamorphoses to Digital Morphea
 
Getting out of Hi5 was as difficult as with FaceBook.

The details are hidden in the Full Site out of reach of the folks.
 
You have to contact them by email and tag with another entity and a token obtained for one to see the Full Site.
Even after getting there they will ask you various (FUD, Fear Uncertainty, and Doubt) silly questions.

Now they try to keep the data in their server and promote a reactivation scheme.
 
I don't think I can reactivate it from my coffin unless, I take a Tablet with Wireless connection to my final resting (rite's) site, the TOMB.
 
Rest in Piece Social Media.

I have raised this many moons ago.
What happen to my emails when I am DEAD and Disposed?

What happen to it when I am disposed or dispossessed?

Have I got to declare a Dying Dispossession?
 
In spite the technology they are unable to device a full proof method.
That is the case in point.
 
I tell old people please do not use Internet.
 
Visit your friends in person and enjoy a cup of Tea/Coffee or a pint of Larger.

That is more user friendly than social media.

Real people (not digital) need personnel touch.

I now practice digital zeroing when I am on holidays.

I really enjoy my privacy and holiday but enjoy every bit of flavor of food and drinks, I used to enjoy as a young guy (but going up in price for an average citizen).
I practice bit of Moment Meditation, too.
Life is to live.
Not to sit in front of an idiot box.
Creativity comes naturally, then.
See you next time.
I am trying to devise a method to opt out not log out. 
Hope, I will have a Brain Wave when on digital holiday.