Are You Missing Out on Life While Checking Your Smartphone?

This is a beautiful piece.

Read it in conjunction with my blog piece "Why I do not use a cellphone?".

I practice moment meditation at work and Metta meditation when completely relaxed.

 Real Life Story

One day I  was fully focused, "On  casualty duty" with a serious facial injury with heavy bleeding.

It was serious enough to take the injured to the "operation theater".

Could you guess what happened?

When I wanted the "Casualty Surgeon" on call he was practicing meditation having  switched of his SMART phone.

We could not get him down.

I got hold of one of my SUPER students by phone from home and three of US attended to the patient.

Thankfully we had very cooperative patient and we finished the job in one hour under local anaethesia (not a bit of gas used)

 Corollary (it should be one choice but this has three)

1.When one is on call one should not switch off the cellphone.

2. It is improper to practice meditation (become more selfish) when on duty.

3. Doing wrong thing (even meditation was wrong here), in the wrong time is a crime that cannot be pardoned.

My response was sweet.

I wished that this person should not be one of my working "consorts" in next life (and this life too).

I decided not to make a complaint (professional misconduct on my part) and this is the first time I am baring it in public.

Are You Missing Out on Life While Checking Your Smartphone?

By Alex Busson

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
“Yeah…Uh huh…Uh huh…Yeah…No way! Uh huh.”
This was the response I got when talking to a friend the other day. I could tell he wasn’t really listening, because he was browsing Facebook at the time.
Why was his smartphone more important than me? It didn’t used to be this way.
I know I’m at risk of sounding out-of-touch and technophobic. But I really do think this is a much bigger problem than we perceive.
We’re talking about our lives here. Do we really want to dedicate them to an iPhone?

Another Smartphone Shocker 

The other day I saw a man on his Blackberry during an entire meal with his family. He was with his wife and young children (although they’ll be adults before long).
How rare are moments like this? How precious are they?
Yet, the man let this moment pass him by forever. If only he’d brought his attention to the present moment, he’d have experienced something far more valuable than anything displayed on a three-inch screen.
And is there any joy in a stroll through the park or along a bustling city street?
Last year I roughly counted one in five people glued to their phones while walking. And this was on New York’s 5^th Avenue—one of the most exciting, alive, beautiful streets I’d ever walked on.
Was it really so mundane to these people?
Let me be clear. I’m not suggesting you throw away your smartphone and communicate with telegrams. The smartphone is an extremely useful tool, no question.
What I’m saying is this: bring attention to the moments when you reach for your smartphone.
There are three questions I suggest you ask yourself every time.

Question 1: What’s the emotion behind this decision?

I work from home most days, and this wasn’t easy at first.
I spent a good couple of years completely addicted to my email account. If there was an opportunity to check my inbox, you can bet your best socks I’d have taken it.
But once I began meditating, I became much more aware of my emotions.
I soon realized I didn’t check my email to check my email. I checked my email because I wanted fulfillment. I wanted somebody to praise me for good work, send me a dream brief, or tell me something fascinating.
As you check your smartphone, try to pinpoint the emotion behind your decision.
Is it anxiety? Boredom? Or are you subconsciously putting off something more important?
Once you know the emotion, ask yourself: Can this emotion be fulfilled by something else?
I realized I got the same feeling of fulfillment from writing. So I stopped checking my email first thing in the morning and would write for two hours instead. Since I’m a copywriter, this was doubly beneficial, because it made me better at my job.

Question 2: What value do I place on this present moment? 

If you show gratitude for the present moment, you might think twice about using your smartphone.
Riding the bus is a common place to start checking Facebook. The bus is, admittedly, quite boring. You follow the same route every day and not much seems to happen.
But what if riding the bus became a wonderful in-the-moment experience? Rather than grab your phone on instinct, notice the passing scenery, the feeling of movement, and the different people who hop on and off.
This is a moment in your life. Never forget that.
If you need to check your phone, the bus is a good time to do it. But if you don’t, why not experience the journey?
Also, remember, if you’re with a friend or relative the present moment has twice as much value. You have someone else to consider.
Personally, I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to check your phone in someone else’s company. (Unless you have something very serious going on in your life, of course.) Show people how much you value them instead.
As Thich Nhat Hanh said, “The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”

Question 3: Can my smartphone really add value to the present moment?

Before the smartphone, we had something very precious indeed—the unanswered question.
Your smartphone can answer any question in a couple of seconds. That’s true. But don’t you find it’s the unanswered questions that spark the most interesting conversations.
Unanswered questions start debates. They enrich friendships.
The other day I mentioned that the author Jack Kerouac was Canadian.
“You’re wrong,” a friend jumped in. “He was American.”
“Are you sure? I swear he was from Quebec,” I replied.
“I’ll find the answer,” another friend said, withdrawing their smartphone. Presto! Two seconds later, the conversation was over.
Another time, at dinner, a group of us wondered who composed the Lord of the Rings score. All sorts of interesting topics popped up along the way—from Hans Zimmer to John Williams to Star Wars and back to Lord of the Rings again.
“I’ll find the answer,” someone said. And again, it was a smartphone that killed the conversation.
Unanswered questions are uncomfortable.
Reaching for your smartphone is understandable. Perhaps it’s even human nature. But it’s important to stop, reflect, and question what might happen when you do.
I believe mindfulness is more important today than ever before. Unless we take control of ourselves, our gadgets will take control for us.
Notice the present moment. Understand it. Be grateful for it.
And if you decide it’s not a good time to use your phone, please resist the urge. You’ll feel much happier.

Privatix Live-System

This is posted with Privatix Live session.
It has Open Office 3.0 which was my love (I did my thesis on Open Office) till it was hijacked by Oracle, which tried to destroy it.
Now in the hands of Apache is making a strong comeback and Debian's favorite probably due to light weight(lighter than LibreOffice).
Mind you this distribution is based on Mandrake which was my favorite of yesteryear which died a untimely death in France.
Mageia is in place now.
Its strength is that it is encrypted and even signing my email was allowed after (i had almost forgotten) secret word.
it made me to revise or reinvigorate my memory, which showing some signs of failure.
I lost one of my credit cards.
Did not lose any money, though.
Now I do daily memory training.

Privatix Live-System 

Free portable encrypted system on an usb flash drive or an external hard drive for safe editing and carrying along of sensitive data, for encrypted communication and anonymous web surfing

Not everyone who finds privacy important while using the internet and communicating or is editing sensitive data always has their own computer with a safely set up operating system and the required tools at their disposal or want to carry it with them.

That's why we created the Privatix Live-System (based on Debian GNU/Linux). It is an easy to operate safe and portable system that can be booted from a cd-rom, an usb flash drive or an external hard drive and ensures your privacy and confidentiality while using the internet and communicating or editing and encrypting sensitive data.

Therefore standard applications such as browser, email client, word processor, image viewer and most importantly numerous data protection and encryption software are integrated.

Private data and settings, documents, e-mails, or pgp-keys are not saved on the computer that you use but instead those are saved on the encrypted usb flash drive or on the encrypted external hard drive. In case of loss or theft of the data medium your personal data is going to stay protected by a password.

No free storage space is required, no system needs to be installed or any specific operating system or other programms are necessary on the computer that is used because the whole system and all other applications are loaded from the usb flash drive or from the external hard drive.

This way you can use unknown computers without having to rely on the security of the installed operating system that might be infected with trojans or software keyloggers and without requiring tools to be installed and despite of this mobility preserve high data protection standards or you can create a separate secure environment for very sensitive data or communication (e.g. collective bargaining, online banking, whistleblowing and e-mail encryption) on any external medium in addition to your regular operating system installation.

Dog Sense and My Worst Fear

Dog Sense and My Fear

Sunday generally my sphere of activity is wide and uninhibited.

Come Esala Festival it shrinks by design and by default.

I did not think, the sphere of activity shrining for dogs and applies to Kandy dogs.

My general impression was that there are lots of people visiting Kandy and lot of foods thrown away, dogs would have a Gala time, especially the Paraya dogs.

I have been obsessed with a relatively more important topic (I'll come to that in a moment) regarding dogs, I actually never gave a thought to the sphere of activity of dogs.

I did not see any of the entourage of dogs that loiter in our neighborhood today.

I had a very limited agenda today and I went for my “Banana Treat” first.

No Banana.

The Ramazan is over and no demand I thought.

Then I looked round to see the dogs I feed and one already missing and the other one hiding in a corner.

I had to coax her to come for the treat.

There used to be several others dogs whom I do not feed, not really Paraya but with known owners.

My specialty is the Paraya Type.

With my observation of the old dog with one canine and the policemen, I decided to have a special observation tour.

Everywhere, I went, the numbers were small.

The first one I saw was at the Lawyers Office, (as I went in, to take some cash from the till), one healthy one came and marked the entrance with a healthy “pits-burger'.

I recorded it as a lawyer, in previous life, making his routine visit to the court house.

He was brief to the point and in a flash, disappeared.

Then the second one was in poor shape emaciated and was almost hiding in a very low profile.

I saw only one more, worse off than the one before limping (hooryfied, too) and trying to cross the road, taking the shortest route (avoiding the pedestrian crossing, further up) possible.
It almost got knock down by a passing vehicle.

That's it.

Only three for the day.

Immediately, I went into my thinking mode.

My Reasons.

1. Rain NO

2. Firecracker NO

3. Traffic Increase Very unlikely

4. Taken a little Vacation / Holiday- Schools are closed

5. Well Fed Most unlikely

6. Increase of Police Presence Yes

7. Municipality Dog catchers Yes

The last point rekindled my worst fear.

Yes they are rounded up and dressed for foreigners, especially for Koreans as dinner treat.

My previous investigation have discovered that this is the evil period for Kandy dogs, some of them end up as dinner.

I went to the supermarket and bought two leashes (very expensive) for my dog.

Dog lovers keep your dogs leashed for at least two weeks.

Evil doers come at night.

This was what happened to my cat.

It was poisoned with two other dogs.

They collected my cat but not the two dogs, that were poisoned with strychnine.

Kandy municipality has a supply of it.

I know it.

I used to give the order to kill dogs on the behest of my foreign partners.

That was part of my service agreement with them.

I give the order to my PHI and take two days leave.

I do not sleep on those two days.

That is the reality.

Yes, I was a dog lover at home and a dog killer by design.

Sixth Mass Extinction of Life

Sixth Mass Extinction of Life

 

Below is a reproduction of random pieces of writing of a South African Doctor.

I have omitted, the most important piece of his advice, he dished out (deliberate vandalism of his train of thinking).

His article even though brief was illuminating!

Just to illustrate the point that the Web Information (especially cut and paste writing) can be disjointed if one is a casual browser, like the social media.

Just pick one out of the five phrases you like most and do some soul searching, yourself.

For me the sixth mass extinction is one that comes on top within a short time, nine (9) billion people will be on this planet.

The tipping point and WHO does not care for a Family Planning Program, globally.

in 1975 it was there obsession (after the 1973 Middle East War)!

I also believe, this mass extinction in the beginning will be engineered by petty wars.

Who will decide who will be eliminated is just happening in the Middle East and Banki Moon has a tight lip and he may be having the other end lose due to his thinking about his next appointment.

This is true to Navi Pillai, too (unfortunately, like the doctor above, is South African).

Both their terms end in September (transitional period in world politics and there is transitional justice to American propaganda at lib).

1. There have been five great mass extinctions through the aeons and some scientists believe that we humans, in addition to killing ourselves, are causing the sixth mass extinction of other life forms by our unprecedented wasteful utilization of resources.

2. As omnivores, humanoids are able to eat and digest not only plant foods and meat, but everything, ranging from seeds and roots, fruits and sedges, to eggs and milk.

3. This versatility not only helped to ensure a better chance of survival than the exclusive herbivores (plant eaters-elephants included) and carnivores (meat eaters-tigers and lions included), but also boosted the growth of our brains.

4. I also realized very clearly when we returned to the recreation area, and saw what a restaurant was serving a group of students, that we may soon lose our vitality as a species if we don’t stop eating fast, high-fat food at every opportunity.

5. Each student was served a hamburger with chips and a cold drink for lunch – refined carbohydrates, liquid sugar, artificial colours and flavours, and loads of fat!

Dog sense and Mine (observation)

Dog sense and mine

Dog has astute sense.

I do not have that sense but I have the power of simple observation.

I was walking down the road and all the Paraya (stray) dogs were agitated and barking.

All of them know me well.

All of them including the Yorkshire Terrier (abandoned by the master) were very friendly with me.

I just say hello to them, even the most "horryfied" (not the English meaning but the Sinhala translation for horry-the unwelcome skin disorder of all Paraya dogs) one get my attention.

I paused a bit and looked around but saw nothing unusual.

My fifth sense ignited, an extra diligent observation was warranted.

No strangers (dogs kind) have ventured into the area inadvertently.

Then the intensity of the uproar increased and I saw two policemen coming down from a nearby steep foot path.

The oldest dog with one canine missing, with his back to the policemen (in case of aggression by the intruder) was barking at full pitch and volume and cunningly, its frontal (face) partially hidden with the remaining canine clearly visible to the policemen.
The message was clear, "I got one tooth lost and the remainder (canine) has its biting power reduced but I am 80 years old" (human age-the dog age is 16 plus) respectable and wise enough to know a human from a vulture.

I could not stop laughing to myself, since I cannot show my bare back to any XUxx, with or without a hat.

Then when, I reached the bus stop there were two policemen in the boutique, where I usually have a "banana treat" and feed the two adorable dogs who welcome in style and kind.

I looked around to see them.
They have vanished.

Corollary
If you are a foreign visitor and if you do not see stray dogs, please avoid that area.
There is some inherent danger.
Either police or thieves.

So I avoided entering the boutique and reached Kandy to see an altercation of an old man and two women constables both without identity badge (one probably was a reserve).

He was refusing to show his identity card to the officer supposed to be without a badge.

I told myself not only dogs who hate police but vagabonds, too.

My approach toned down the altercation and he paced up away from the two WPCs.

I paced myself to him and gave a friendly advice in a soft but affirmative manner.

This is the period, one sees more policemen than average visitors to the city.

Some of their behaviour is atrocious.

I have seen a policeman urinating in the open, right in front of a mixed school, fortunately (for the policeman) or unfortunately (for me) I did not have a camera.

This is a city some of our Paraya dogs cross the road only at pedestrian crossings and school children are like the policeman mentioned above.

I think (children) they have taken a cue from the law officers.

I avoid the city or find a short cut, if I do visit.

Generally, I avoid the city for the entire duration of the festival.

It is a welcome change to my routines but you will miss many of my observations on the RUN or on the FLY.

Sorry for that.

One more joker (in police parlance) less in the city is better for the ambiance.

Thousand and Two reasons why our Wild Elephants would become extinct

Thousand and Two reasons why our Wild Elephants would become extinct

As I stated in the previous blog piece that I wanted the Elephant Saga to be my 1001th piece and it should coincide with the annual Esala Perehara (Kandy Pageantry).

What I wanted write here was inspired by a wooden craft in display at bargain price.

It was given at half price.

Why?

It originally had three pieces (three elephants).

The tusker, the mother and the baby.

What was left?

Two and one tusk missing.

Mother had been taken away forcibly (stolen)

It ashamed me, just the pity look of it, probably a Sri-Lankan kid had done this damage to a  wonderful piece of Kandyan craftsmanship.

My guess, he could have been a son of a Ganga Grower, who has visited the city with ill gotten money with his son unsupervised (or supervised to see that there was nobody on the floor, so that he could practice, a broad day light break in and stealing) who accomplised the ruthless task of disfiguring a figurine in display. 

Having seen his father doing that in the jungle, he was probably practicing, the skills on a dummy.

The father and the Jim-band would have been proud of his skill.

I have another pray for this season.

i want it to rain for ten days (there are draught stricken regions in this country). the entire period of the festival.

One and only one reason.

Poor elephants (babies) burn their feet on hot tar roads.
I want the rain to cool their feet and body.

Elephants love water, it is their play mate.

Thousand and One reasons why our Wild Elephants would become extinct

Thousand and One reasons why our Wild Elephants would become extinct

I want my blog piece of 1001 to be on elephants, not the domesticated ones but the wild and neglected lot.

Unfortunately, I was looking for a blog piece I made for www.wrteclique.net but this site has been vandalized by a rival party.

To be precise, I think it is the Sir-Lankan government.

I was looking for a little piece, that I copied from somewhere (probably from a book) that illustrated how American Banks cheat their little tiny toddler customers.
It was about a young guy who wanted to open an account from his Piggy Bank, collection.
I cannot remember how much the bank costs the young customer in charges to open an account but the dad had to supplement over $100/= dollars for the ordeal.
In this part of the world toddlers are cheated by both the bank and the politicians.
 (This was well before stock market crash).

Good example was how my daughter was cheated and that money was utilized for bribing voters in a presidential election.

This is a miracle producing country.

After two hours of sifting through my archives, it turned out be blank and a blind episode with 10 blind men describing an elephant (affair).
But with a welcome stroke of luck, I managed to find the first draft of my writing on pachyderms.
 I tuned to my writing at www.wrteclique.net.
I stop writing at www.wrteclique.net  many moons ago, since its web master, stopped my writings getting, to the top ten.

I had hit even, 10 out of ten.

They used my age as a bar, which is blatant violation of fundamental rights, on age basis (this piece of legislation is still not there in UK).

This site meant for young writers but entry was free for all.

At the beginning, there were writers like Jean Arasanayagam, contributing.

She actually gave the introductory speech.

I was not into writing fray then, in any way and it was the pronged university strike in the university that made me to pen a little verse, to ease my boredom, if not anger.

It became infectious and here I am writing about elephants, now.

My annoyance with the web master was that he should have informed me (I could have under-aged myself, in that case) of his concern.

I was one who was vociferous about the poor standard of English in school then, and this was an idea I discussed with the Director of the British, Council Library.

The other obsession was my life time obsession on computers, in this case computers for children for fun and education.

At that time there were no computers in school in Sir-Lanka and the first five computers for young members were given by the British Council of Colombo but with little persuasion, they came to Kandy, too.

Thank you British Council for the pioneering work, in Sir-Lanka.

This is long before “Nana Sala” which is used for political agenda, now.

My real reason of dissociation with British Council was a different one.

The British Council, with pressure from British Writers Association, decided to close the Library and then decided to teach (it became a language Center) English.

That was my bone of contention.

No Library to visit browse some technical and academic stuff, not English literature.

They charged exorbitant amount for the course and used that money to pay the local staff.

That was naughty and that contributed to more decline in English standard in Sir-Lanka.

Only the rich could pay principle was applied.

There was no benevolence for learning English as a second language.

That did not tally with my Free Software and Linux mentality.

So writing skills are partly the result of boredom and partly the result of British Council investing its money on English for foreign students.

Coming back to the Elephants with this long preamble is necessary, since my writing investment in elephant welfare dates back to Price Charles visit to Sri-Lanka.

I wanted him to be aware of the real plight of our elephants and his father, Duke of Edinburgh is the Patron of the wild life society.

There was a conference in London in the beginning of this year.

I am glad Crown Price William has taken, the traditions and the interest.

Elephant poaching and ivory is a global issue.

I was indirect privy to nefarious activities of our ganja (hashish) growers who kill our elephants in the name of, “they are destroying their vegetable (hashish) gardens in the jungle”.

175 to 200 them are killed each year.

Some of them are for ivory and with political cover.

In Monaragla range there supposed to be 5 elephants of The Majestic (Suthdhantha) Genealogy, sited before 2009.

There is only one sighted now and it has become a killer (just the survival instinct) by default and not by design.

We are having elections there NOW and I am pretty sure Ganga (Hashish) Growers and their masters will win a resounding victory.

About 180 baby elephants were (perhaps more) were captured and over 100 had died in about the same period, according to wild life imprecise records.

In today’s. Ravaya paper, it is mentioned that a Sir-Lankan, judge had in possession, an illegal baby elephant.

That is how the law and order is maintained, in this blessed country.

There was prolonged Amnesty for these Elephant Dealers.

I am made to understand, baby elephants captured in Pollonnaruwa are smuggled to east coast and auctioned in the sea.

That may be one reason, Indian Fishermen are caught, in the sea.

This country has become a “Paraya State for Elephants”-four legged variety to be precise.

Facts can be put in a nutshell, and that was the reason for a long preamble.

Postscript
There are more than 20 ways used by these poachers to kill our elephants.
I wanted to include them in my third book but fearing the methods might shoot up to even "fifty ways of killing an elephant", I would not write, them in print or digital forms.

Instead my third book will be on Elephant Myths.

One myth propagated by Sri-Lankan Politicians and Buddhist monks is there are 5500 elephants in the wild (this  an enlarged and bogus figure) instead of culling, domesticate them for religious functions (second myth, inside a grandiose myth) but they are used for money spinning on a daily basis.

Poor animals are used for commercial activities (one in vogue is weddings).

Yarn
I should state a little yarn, we used to utter when we were kids.
There was a big elephant with a Big Penis.
He always traveled with a young monkey.
One day, he met a teenage she elephant on his routine patrol .
He was to mate impromptu and without any wedding ceremony and his Penis became Plump.
The monkey in his curiosity landed on the dangling object.
The master was annoyed.
Then the monkey said,
"Mama Ussala Denna Hadewe"- 
I was trying to lift it up to the entry point (hole), the English translation.
Then the Elephant said,
No THANK YOU,
I have done it before and I can do it again.
If you do not land on my back QUICK, you will be inside a big hole or or warm cave, My dear.

My corollary, for Sri-Lankans who use elephants in weddings is as follows.

If you do not have a big penis do not marry!
Elephant Penis is too big for this occasion (wedding) and for the bride who is a virgin (it is not necessarily true for a whore), even if the bridegroom  has lot of money in his purse.

Money cannot by erections (just like the Etha above) but it is spontaneous.
Sign of virility not money.

Life

Life
 
Life is a series
Of steps / stages,
Each step is different
From its predecessor

Every stumbling block
That comes across
Should be made into
A stepping stone
That lays the foundation
For more difficult
And enduring
Steps to follow

But,
The steps
That preceded are gone
For good
The step to be taken
Has not yet come

Hence,
What matter most,
Is the step
In motion
That focuses
The mind
To be still for
A moment
Of its vagary
And deception

23rd Monday,2009

13. Elementary Logic

13. Elementary Logic
This is something I posted on why Facebook is rich, doing almost nothing except connectivity.

It is very simple and elementary my dear.

People who sweat a lot at work and home (like my dad and mum) are always poor.

But people who dish out advices (psychologists) and do sweet nothing (politicians too) are rich by default.

The people who invest others money like bankers and speculators (get off free plundering others money) are always richer than anybody else.

Facebook is no different, just connect people to cheat each other.

I am one who is promoting Linux and Free Software is left to lament like you!

This is what we called the 21st century, sadly cheating is the way forward for many.

11. How to forward a dead man's (women excluded) email

11. How to forward a dead man's (women excluded) email

Internet is a bustling with activity and it has spawned new avenues for recreation. 
I have been specially appointed from both Apaya and Devlova (Heaven) to coordinate activities and I have been asked to formulate a formula to prevent Apaya MySQL Web Server getting jammed.

As an initial remedy I have instructed them to have new server for Sri-Lanakns but Apaya does not want to vandalize limited resources on Sri-lanka and that is why they need a special formula.

Since I am in regular contact with Sackra's assistant which I have from the time of registration of Hela Urumaya as a political party (that appointment was to give a resume of all Hela Urumaya voters who gets a call of nature through Devaleys before their demise).

Sacra himself handles the party stalwarts and he does not believe their own well cooked up resumes leave alone any comments that I have made about them in web publications. 
Unlike Apaya. They have enough memory in all the servers with my good offices I have made an arrangement to provide a server on IMF loan facility to Hell which can be paid back while in hell to Apaya accounts.

You may wonder how I got the appointment. 
On merit and that is due to my intense interest in Linux and the number of publication in the web by any Sri-Lankan. 
They have just typed asoka and linux and lately asokaplus and got hold of my web counting. 
Then they have looked at the impact it made in Sri-Lanka which was almost zero and connected me wirelessly to ask why this discrepancy.

I promptly said I publish only in English to which they said why don't you make an attempt to improve English. I said Sir I am doing it right now  by writing  and that is the reason for me posting in the web.

They were quite happy with my answers but said your extensions will be based on your daily writings and that is why I have to post at least one a day at wordpress.

When I was at writeclique it was once in three days and at Google once in 2 to 3 days and now once a day like a poor National  News Paper Editors.

I am told by the Web Administrator of the Apaya (Hell in English) a new super powered Server to handle the demand for Sri-Lankans was installed this year (immigrants specially from Colombo 7, Hela Urumaya type who sell electricity for an exorbitant price -they have a special sub-system for Hela Urumaya).

Nobody can contact the President and the Head of Apayas since he is 24 hour on call and cannot sleep.

He was elected recently unanimously without a contest and he can go for re-election at lib.
 
His crime was sleeping while on call  duty at President's Office and giving false promises to the visitors and giving false statements to a judicial inquiry (perjury not punished here).

You may wonder what is the difference between becoming head of Apaya or Devlova.

Sackra has four hours of sleep and he can delegate some of activities to the assistant and the assistant can delegate it to me. It looks as if one becomes a President of this country he can easily take up a position in Apaya since there are no delegated activities now in Apaya and super-computers have taken over mankind (beingskind- a new word coined by me for Apaya use) there.

My duty is ease to forward dead man's emails either to Apaya or Devlova or safe house in between for scrutiny. 
By doing that all email holding companies will benefit by releasing their precious space for new comers.
I am currently doing the test run on the formula I have developed on Senior Ministers' profiles (I am due bound not to disclose test runs to the person while they are alive) on my computer and it got stuck due to overload and may have to update the RAM and speed. 

Unfortunately I am not paid any allowances even though I requested 10% on testing and another 50% on running.

If you have any suggestion please forward it to me without any delay so that I can include them on the revised version. 
I have decided  not to make the formula public since the Central Bank of Ceylon (Now SIRI LANKA) and IMF would get bright ideas to change roles and divest their energies in Apaya Investment Limited (newly formed company by me).

Mind you there is a vacancy for-How to forward a dead woman's email post- any man or woman can apply bypassing me. 

Details are at Apaya Investment Limited website, if it is in operation without any untoward attack by Sri-Lankan Government.

Mind you I did not tell the Apaya Web Admin that there is cloud computing on the offing thinking that they might reserve space on cloud farms for future use and we might not have anything left for poor souls like me.

9.We are all at Sea when Clouding

9.We are all at Sea when Clouding
Even though I am very supportive of Cloud Computing as a concept and also would not like to be negative in response at least in the early stages of implementation, I have at least 3 reservations.

It is time for me to pen them now since necessary precautions can be implemented from the very beginning of its general use.

Number one is as regard to children. 
With a Google Chrome OS children are given license to browse the internet without supervision or safeguards. 
This is the same reservation I raised with Linux for Kids live CDs. 
These educational Live Linux CDs let one browse the internet without any record or a trace of the places browsed in the internet.
    If that is not bad enough the children lose their identity or the identity may be hijacked and children could be lured using word like play and fun. 

Somebody else (not the adults intended) may use netbook (child) under the pretext of the owner.
The data that is stored outside of the personal computer even though encrypted can be used for commercial activities and government can access them under the pretext of security and one loses the privacy.
These three points alone should be deterrents for children to have netbooks without parental and or teacher control.

When  we design Cloud Computer Atmosphere that should be within intranet not widely link to the internet as primary precaution in school environment.

8. Small is beautiful

8. Small is beautiful

This country is going through what I called the Mega Mania Memorabilia Syndrome or the 3 M Syndrome. 

It reminds me of a famous American company who markets little medical equipment and utilities including steristrips and steritapes (sterile material that could be taken from a pack and use directly (wrapped cleanly) without any fear of contamination) which I used to bring from abroad and introduce them here some years back.

One cannot find them, even in a good pharmacy in this country now.

In actual fact one cannot find a sterilized dab (swab) of cotton wool leave alone a sanitary towel (sterilization can be easily accomplished by UV light) for females for a reasonable price. 

This company in addition to doing small things right produce an array of stethoscopes for doctors. 
I should remind you doctors are minority in any country but doing small things right this company makes healthy profit year round.

We can presently do the proper sterilization only in a major hospital and send the packs to the periphery in unhygienic condition and by the time it reaches the user it probably needs re-sterilization.

Come this country we cannot find any good product (except coconut coir) with coconuts or rubber (it used to be Ceyesta, the combination of coconut coir and rubber that was almost number one in the world) but - fiesta should be its revival name for researching back to the roots of our inventions in the past.

We seem to be not doing small; things right.

When we fell a tree 4 trees should be planted to take its place.

What we do is we fell 10,000 trees a day and plant one tree a day on a tree planting day and never look after the sapling till next important birthday to come and clean the same pot hole and replant another.

This is country known for looking after a Bo Tree for over 2500 years ( in the last 100 years by putting milk on a Poya day we destroy the roots of that Bo Tree very well looked after for 2500 years) and cannot care for a sapling for one year and that is also left to school children on a particular day not on a daily basis like when we were kids. 
We used to grow with the trees and that metaphor was with us in our entire life that is why I am still a naturalist and an environmentalist to the bone marrow of my thinking. 

It is not like that in our children and politicians.

They are good at rhetoric!

I can go on and on but suffice is to say we have to do small things right before we think of Mega Mania.

We must stop becoming 3 Ms but look at how the 3M company come to stay and remain there, ever since.

It may be one's spouse or head master or the all powerful boss at work place but the companion /worker/cohort should shed his or her fear of the boss and do little thing to make the others life happy.

Equally the all powerful boss should stop dishing out rhetoric and do at least little thing to make one's subordinate happy.

This is what we call in business management keep one's internal customers happy, then the external customers get a good deal for money.

This is a country where in the private sector did not increase the minimum wage for over a decade under the pretext of on going war.

We talk of sympathy and empathy but it is all bunkum!

 

7. Why I do not use a cell phone?

7. 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 have arrived in absolutely appalling condition. 
Some of them fitting due to low blood sugar nearing zero. 

In fact I had 8 to 10 kids whose blood sugar and CSF sugar zero (exactly 40 years ago).
 
The government at that time told the public it was encephalitis and I proved them wrong without even my medical registration completed. 
Then when  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 in a latter date of my life nearing my death.

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

It has deteriorated in quality even though it 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/her.

When you travel on a public transport one cannot have a snooze to drown the inconvenience with frequent interruption. 

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 offices. 

They are busy answering their private call of nature and it is more frequent than real call of nature.

I think it is enough for today but I will add more on  future date when I run short of a topic to write.

5. Addiction

5. Addiction
 
There are many  addiction in our lives.
 
And that addiction varies from person to person and my addiction is if not computers it is certainly Linux. 
It based on innovation and knowledge.
It is also has strong political and social motives. 

It is copyright and exploitation. 
 
If I say I am not politically motivated it is not true. 
Any social activity has political roots, so is mine.

It used to be an addiction (not me) of our voters to go and vote and upset the apple cart of power brokers. 

It is no more any more.
 
The area basis and proportional representation has changed the electoral system and body politics upside down.

Almost 48% did not vote at the last general election.

And many more won't turn up this time around, allowing the people who manipulate voting to have a field day, including the counters doing the counting.

Even we have and electronic system of voting the followers of the  powerful parties will find a way to engineer something marvelous to get the result they anticipate well in advance of the day of the elections. 

Even the polling of surveys could be engineered  the way one asks the question and present the data,

With all these facts the voters are beginning to ask the question is it worth the exercise?

The answer is in the negative.
Then who is addicted with polling and elections?

There is a very simple answer.

It is the one who is elected.

It is he/she who gets the image bloated.

Voter get deflated soon after and the promises disappear into thin air,

The vicious cycles begins another round.

This time it has come to spoil the Cricket World Cup.

Average voter want some escape route. 

I am pretty sure it won't be acceded by the powerful and the one who wields the clout.

It is another “Merry Go Round” in this country in which people have lost humour and ability to laugh at the selfish self-oneself.

4. Temptation

4. Temptation

It is time for me to approach the internet activity in totally different perspective.

I was one who was hooked to the computer over the past 18 months to promote one single addiction of mine.

That is to promote Live CDs except Ubuntu (nothing against Ubuntu and it is doing a yeoman service to Linux and the Open source Community).
 
My antipathy for Ubuntu is based on few basic infrastructure details which are fundamental to Linux.

One is root logging. 
That is dropping the root (administrator protocol) and using sudo instead. Having used to old ways of Linux with solid security management, this I consider still a big oversight. After seeing WiKiLeaks and the security leaks and leeches I am more than  convinced my reservation is well founded and substantive now than before.

It can be corrected easily with few changes in the scripts and tool kits and libs and I hope in the coming year the Canonical will look into my grouse.
Having said that it is not the intention of this piece of writing.

The intention is far more academic and contemporary.
 
For a starter internet is basically for luring and attracting the kids and the young. 
Old people because their inability and resistance to change are actually not reaping the full benefits of it especially in the East.

Its content is not scrutinized according to the age and maturity.

It becomes a way of life and an addiction.
It gives way to a deprivation syndrome and people tend not to read or critically analyze contents with the false belief that, it is in the web and it got to be true.

I can go on and on but I think my point should be clear without any more elaboration.

My intention here is how we can resit the temptation not to indulge in excess and make creative ways to make the user understand the logic of its use in moderation.

My next piece will be on intuitive ways to make the kids collaborate with my philosophy but it will be useful to adults too.

3. An Advertisement

3. An Advertisement
 
For an advertisement to be taken note of,  it has to be only 3 words of some impact, nothing more or nothing less.
 
Either it is,
I love it
Or
I hate it, with some superlative starting with letter F....

Otherwise what one pays for is waste and goes down the gutter!
 
That is why people hate internet advertising and why internet is not contributing to productivity in a sustainable way.

Thing about it in the coming year.

Internet has lot of traps and I have discovered many daring omissions and this has made me to focus on few more aspects in the coming days and weeks, if there is time I can spare and write.

2. Twitter

2. Twitter
 
One should be able to send a message in 140 characters which will fly fast in the internet.
 
I try it hard but sometimes fail but then I still try harder to get my message across.
 
If one cannot get the message in time and 100 characters it is lost.
 
Brevity and light weight (Flash and Media are heavy and slow and insult to human intelligence) is the key if one wants to keep pace with one's computer and the fast moving world of action.

1. Email

I am going to serialize few items of archived writing for posterity, since I have gone beyond 1000 pieces (they were not included, by accident)

1. Email
 
If one has less emails to open and more to redirect or forward, I consider that one is starting the day with flying colours. 
But if you fail to say even Hi (send a reply note) if not Haaih or Cheers  and reply immediately, I feel one has failed in true inner connectivity.

Email is not a dustbin but a powerful media that we misuse and reuse.

I get thousands of emails and developed a good technique of filtering and answering which I learned as a kid in school which were were taught to us by our teachers.

Never fail to answer a friends call lest you lose him for good.

Now I see some of my friends after decades of hibernation in foreign soil come back and try to re-establish connections which were strong while we we here.

Moment one goes abroad he/she learns the bad habit of selfishness (Western value) inner attachment.

The stock market crisis is the manifestation of that selfishness and greed.

Dragon Fly my Exotic Visitor, Now

Dragon Fly my Exotic Visitor, Now

On the days, I am off (yesterday being a working holiday, for me) I do a morning check up of the days events in my roof top garden.

First the number of flowers, especially water plants.

It is strange even the water plants flower when there is scarcity of water or from the roots/shoots that are terrestrial.

Even the flowers are different, when blooming under terrestrial conditions.

Probably because, the Co2 content is higher in air than in water.

Then, I look at the birds.

Not really their scat or droppings.

They bring exotic plants to my experimental roof top garden.

I love the scat.

I remember I had a direct hit from crow's ballistic dropping on my vertex with very little hair, knowing very well there is BO (papal) seeds in them (in fact there was one), I carefully embedded the white and precious (due to BO seed) dropping between two layers of tissue paper (I carry this not to wipe my face but to collect seeds that lands on my vertex) and brought it home and planted it in a special pot.

But my experiment was failure of first degree.

Perhaps my intention was in direct violation of BBS protocol, their shit coming from frontal end, though.

I did not give up but have retrieved two papal saplings and they are potted with Japanese method.

I am going to plant one of them, on the burial site of my dog, since my dog will be venerated by that act and he will look after it from heaven (I am pretty sure his upward movement is always godly, and never Sir-Lanka).

All my previous dogs are, in heaven and one of them is Maha's (Chief of Gods) assistant who is looking after his interests, currently

By the way, real Maha is on a long vacation of eons.

Then after the dropping or the scat is / are carefully scrutinized, I venture into the exotic guys.

Dragon fly and their newts are my favorite.

Butterflies are now about five.

But dragon fly only an occasional blue one.

Toady, I noticed a brown black dragon fly with a fringe of white around in its wing, at the periphery.

It was a beautiful guy.

It overshadowed, the grasshoppers and giant mantis, who visit my garden in the late evening.

They come to mate and lay eggs on my mini water garden.

That was an exciting news for my 1000^th blog piece.

Thank YOU, Google for your generosity.

Most of my Yahoo emails are tampered by default.

God only knows by whom?

I think the goons employed by the government, mostly Chinese who cannot understand my English with idioms.

But the real top guys come from India by Minhin (Hemin and Horen) Lanka from Seychelles, during presidential elections.

They know how to crack the jackpot of election's digital material.

It is called Gil Mart PLC, a Public Limited Company of Sir-Lanka, with very high stock market rating.

If you have money, and is a computer hacker by profession, please invest your ill gotten money on this Public Private Venture capital.

You need not do hacking afterward.

Give the job to a Linux guy like me.

By the way, Kali (new version) the Devil Queen is out just now for guys who are paranoid, in the opposition.

Linux without a TV Card Functionality.

Linux without a TV Card Functionality.

Linux has done everything possible in the IT World but it has failed me in one thing.
I have many TV cards working on Linux.
It may be due to various countries not providing the channels and band widths.
It is also due to OEM guys not giving the hardware specifications.
Now I use the TV Box (not the card) directly attached to the LCD monitor.
I do not use Windows and that is the only option I have in this pat of the world.
I am not sure how TV cards behave in other parts of the world.
I hope a Linux Guru or Linux Magazine or Linux Format write an article on this important issue.
I actually do not watch TV in my country.
None of their programs interest me but almost 99% of the guys and girls are TV addicts.
I even do not watch cricket but mind you I watched all the 69 football matches.
Who says, I am not a sports' crazy guy, even in my twilight years.
I am no crazy with politics (even though I pen my frustrations at times here) but our politicians who are capable any lie under the sun has ruined our interest.
It is true for ant average citizen but the crime of not getting interested in politics is the rig the elections left, right and center and the stupid opposition is impotent in mounting a revival, reversal or reprieve of the ailing system.

What does 'DSLR Linux' mean?

What does 'DSLR' Linux mean?

DSL remake or "Digital Single Lens reflex".

My choice is the latter, being a pathologist, having used outdated monocular microscope to digital microscope in my life time a Linux Distribution with a name tag Lens attached, if not outrageous, is a welcome change.

In the same sense I love the name Google Glass for a camera which is the other end of the Lens architecture and nomenclature.

Other reason is it is based on DSL, Damn Small Linux, under 50 MiB.

I love small is beautiful concept.

Then my favorite I Puppy Linux.

I entered into Linux in my twilight years unlike Linus and Knoppix.

I also believe that the teacher learns more from the student, rather than other way round, especially at the University Level, if not in the kindergarten.

DSLR is two steps forward from DSL and Puppy and the developer has done extremely clever integration into a single iso image all the utilities to start Linux from scratch.

Linux from scratch is in its 7.5 version is not a iso image but the full technical know how to build a Linux distribution from scratch.

That is the third step.

Mind you this is for developer guys but a normal user can start getting a hang of make up files and Linux.

Documentation is succinct and useful.

Other important issue is it is built on 64 bits.

I have not tried it since, I still use an old computer.

I will be migrating to 64 bit to save energy and electricity bill but that will be in my retirement endeavour.

It is not going to be small as DSL but it is small enough to be called light weight.

I think any guy or girl interested in Linux should give it try and write a thesis or blog piece of one's experience.

Hats off these clever guys who always think differently.

They a not reinventing the wheel.

They are really investing on the huge Linux base.

Thank you guys and girls of Digital Single Lens Reflex.