Global Warming and its Effects on Cloud Formation

This is a tiny bit from my (probably) last book "Living with Nature".
I would concentrate on Linux which is 25 years Young!

Global Warming and its Effects on Cloud Formation
There is a distinct change in cloud patterns with global warming taking its toll on weather, especially the rain clouds. 
Nimbus and cumulus cloud formation are distorted but cirrus formation is promoted, are my beliefs and of course are reinforced by my routine observations.
This is especially so when the wind currents are slow and there is no obstruction to the movement and flow from the mountains. 
With the North East monsoon that blows inward from the East of the country the clouds break into two and move in two  directions when they hit the Hantana range.
One goes towards Kandy and other lifts up the hill and raises towards Katugastota. 
That is the normal pattern it used to be. 
If the cloud come low down to the Hantana range it usually rains in either in Kandy or Katugastota. 
But with a warm air currents below over the landmass the clouds remain high and they do not form into cumulus and later nimbus rain clouds. 
In other words the clouds do not increase in height or mass.
Instead, they become flatter at the bottom and as they become flatter they lift up as they move towards the Kandy city and the grey or dark colour of the cloud changes to fluffy and white. 
The Kandy city which has lost its tree cover is warmer and that is the very reason the clouds that are normally destined to become nimbus or rain clouds turn gradually to cirrus variety.
 
At a distance at the same level away from the hills one sees the cirrus clouds and no nimbus clouds.
 
There is a distinct lack of breaking of the cloud mass into two. Even, if it breaks and move towards Katugastota, those clouds will remain high due to comparably warmer Katugastota landmass.
 
If I summarize the events from Hantana Range to Herassagala, it goes like this.
 
1. Cloud that reach Hantana range from Gampola are cirrus with a touch of cumulus ans nimbus (for description cirrus should be taken as High level clouds, altostratus should be Mid level and cumulonimbus clouds are Low level rain clouds). 
That means clouds have to gather more water for them to become rain clouds.
The word cirrus means curly or cotton wool and stratus means thin and layered and cumulus means heavy or thick clouds.

2. By Heerasagala within about 20 to 30 minutes and a distance of only 3 kilometers (without heavy winds) the clouds break into three to five fragments.
 
3. This is what happens next.
The clouds breaks into pyramidal lumps as they rise up slowly. As they rise up the pyramids change into the shape of (similar to fuel exhaust tail of air planes) thin tails.
In other words cirrus becomes thin tails.
One never sees more than three pyramids or three tails, simply because, in no time tails disappear and the pyramids change to tails and no cumulus clouds reach Kandy.
So we have to go to Maligawa and invoke blessing from unseen current Devas. 
Buddha having attained Parinibbana would not interfere with human affairs until the next in line Metta Buddha appears in time measured in eons. 
By that time Kandy becomes a concrete jungle and the only way to have some respite is to sneak to city center before 8.30 P.M. before air-conditioning is switched off.
Coming back to clouds away from city dwellings;
The rain that is used to come by 3 P.M. or late in the evening never comes. Mind you temperature at 3 P.M. is 90 degrees Fahrenheit and it falls to 84 at mid night. 
If it rains it is well past midnight and towards the morning and the showers are light since they have not become cumulus by the constant warming effect of the landmass. 
The delay of few hours make the cloud to move towards the sea which is cooler and the rain lands on the sea or perhaps in India.
So Ceylon has less rain and some parts of India which never has the same amount of rain gets downpours.
These rain clouds hold much more water due to the higher temperature that preceded their formation.
It does not rain but it pours.
I have not watched the South West monsoon but my gut feeling is that this pattern would repeat itself albeit in a minor degree. The reason being, the South West monsoon produce bigger clouds and the atmospheric temperature is little lower during this season.
If the temperature remains as high as 90s my guess would be there will be less rain even in the South West monsoon.
The landmass has to cool below 78 degrees Fahrenheit or below for the precipitation to occur and the temperature is usually above 80s during the North East monsoon.
We are really seeing the effect of global warming.
One of my exotic flowers bloomed and there were two tiny fruits. I forgot to water for three days and the stem which was green is now gone brown and it is bent down and does not have the turgidity to remain erect. 
That is the end of the formation of the fruit.
This is the second time this happened in two seasons.

At 18 years old, he donated a kidney. Now, he regrets it.

Reproduction

One should read this fully.

His claim that he was not "fully informed" is a chilling tale.

I wish him all the luck in this world and his Metta would protect him in this life and the next.

He is a brave guy and he will become a good physician one day.

My only advice is do not regret and believe in his mum who was a great lady producing a kid like him.

 

At 18 years old, he donated a kidney. Now, he regrets it.

When I was 18, my stepfather’s brother had been on dialysis for just over a year. He was thin, he exercised regularly and he seemingly was in perfect health, but inexplicably his kidneys began to fail him. Although I was just about to leave for college, I’d heard enough about the misery of dialysis to decide to get tested as a possible donor. In the back of my mind, I knew that the chances of our compatibility were incredibly low because we were not related by blood. Perhaps that made it easy for me to decide to get tested.
When we received the results, I was stunned to find out that he and I were a match. The transplant team gave me plenty of opportunities to back out of the donation, and it put me through countless evaluations, physical and psychological. Much of my family was steadfast against my becoming a donor. Looking back, who could blame them? Their son-grandson-nephew was going to undergo a major operation with no benefit to himself.
However, I continued to be confident in my choice. I relied on the one fact that would be repeated to me many times: “The rate of kidney failure in kidney donors is the same as the general population.” Why wouldn’t everyone donate a kidney, I wondered.

[New approach to organ transport: Instead of ice, a little warmth]

My mother was the only one to — reluctantly — support my decision. She accompanied me to San Francisco, where the surgery took place, and we settled in for the weeks that I would spend recovering. On the day of the surgery, anesthesia flowed into my arm and the world swiftly slipped away. Then, just as quickly, it seemed, I awoke, nauseated and confused. So much preparation for such a short nap. The anxiety I’d felt about the surgery was now gone — as was one of my kidneys.

  Michael Poulson regrets giving that kidney away. (University Photo)

An uneventful recovery came and went. I returned to college and resumed a normal life. Likewise, my step-uncle did very well and is living a full and healthy life, as is my donated kidney.
Five years after the surgery, when I was 23 and getting ready to go to medical school, I began working in a research lab that was looking at kidney donors who had gone on to develop kidney failure. For that research, I talked to more than 100 such donors. In some cases, the remaining kidneys failed; in others, the organ became injured or developed cancer. The more I learned, the more nervous I became about the logic of my decision at age 18 to donate.

Content from JaguarAfter these rogue moments nothing was the same again

Journey through the moments in time that shaped the way we live our lives now.

And then in 2014, a study looking at long-term risks for kidney donors found that they had a greater risk of developing end-stage renal disease. Another study that same year raised the possibility that they may face a heightened risk of dying of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality (although this point remains controversial).
Other studies and surveys, though, suggest that the risk, while greater, is still fairly small.
The truth is, it is hard to get good numbers about what happens to donors. Hospitals are required to follow them for only two years post-donation, which does not catch such long-term complications as chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular issues or psychiatric issues. There is no national registry for kidney donors or other large-scale means of tracking long-term outcomes.

[So many people are dying of drug overdoses that they’re easing the donated organ shortage]

The result is that we know neither the denominator (the total number of kidney transplants that have occurred over the decades) nor the numerator (the number of donors who have gone into kidney failure). And what we do know is incomplete. Yet the need for donors remains great, as the number of Americans needing a kidney transplant has steadily increased — to more than 120,000 — while the number of transplants performed has remained relatively steady — at about 30,000 per year.
Donors are lauded for their altruism and bravery for what is promoted as a benign procedure with low long-term risk. We are told about neither the reality of donation risks nor the scarcity of data that’s available.
As a medical student and soon-to-be physician, I’ve come to better understand the imperfections in the idea of informed consent. We work with the data we have, and patients aren’t always told that it may not be that solid. At the time of my surgery, I thought the system was designed to protect me as a donor. Yet, now, more than eight years later, I am angry that I was never fully informed of the lack of research or the unknown long-term health implications for me.
Mostly I’ve come to terms with the increased risks of being a kidney donor. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t get anxious about it. I feel vulnerable. Sometimes I can think of nothing but my remaining kidney. I’ll feel pressure on my ribs, and I think, “Is that my kidney acting up, or simply back tension?” Or I’ll wonder: “Should I be feeling this lump? Am I going into kidney failure?”
Being a kidney donor has become a part of my identity. Some people — particularly in medical school — have put me on a pedestal for my altruism and bravery. But often I find myself hiding the fact that I donated, which I’d like to think of as an act of modesty. The sad and difficult truth is this: Knowing what I know now, I regret donating in the first place.

Read more:

Here’s what would happen if Americans were paid to donate their kidneys

Popular heartburn medicine linked to chronic kidney disease

Kidney disease? I was only 33 years old, and I felt fine.

Researchers: Medical errors now third leading cause of death in United States

Currently there are over 120,000 people in need of a kidney transplant; 3,000 are added to that list every month. Yet in 2014 there were only 17,000 kidney transplants performed with a third coming from living donors. The need is real, as is the push to attract more living kidney donors.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes
This is a prescription of remedies I proposed an old lady on the web, which she was probably looking for.
 
This discussion has even stimulated writers of the Scientific American, to write about mosquitoes.
 
I have subjected myself to extensive examination by all types of mosquitoes (they actually research on me and my behaviour rather than I do on them-I am the Guinea Pig) and I will roll out my own (not proven but very probable) theories too.

I hate cats and mosquitoes but unlike a cat I can kill mosquitoes.
 
Currently, I believe in control rather than killing of them.
The reason of that statement is that the larvae of mosquitoes have a biological role which we still do not understand yet.
I am going to write how to control them in detail in my blog post when I find time but for you I give some tips.

1. There are over 400 varieties (I am going by my memory and not by any search or research).
 
2. Only few of them carry diseases like Dengue and Malaria.
 
3. So I do not believe in WHO strategy of spraying and killing all the other insects too.
 
4. Do not believe WHO for a dime (most illiterate of doctors do research for WHO and most of them come from American Drug companies) but I believe in the clout dollar has on world economics including China.
 
5. Mosquitoes have remarkable property to adapt (probably the best genetic make up to resit and survive killer drugs within one year of its spray, much better than the fruit fly)
 
6. With global warming, they will migrate from tropic to temperate regions
 
7. They have elementary but properly developed sensors to find an unwilling prey and make a hot meal (37 C) at midnight when everybody is trying to drop to sleep.
 
Control
1. One must get the name/s of the mosquitoes in your neighbourhood.

2. Know their life cycle
 
3. If the life cycle include larvae in water, the control is easy.
 
4. Breed some fish in the water and the Guppy fish will do fine.
You must choose a type of fish which survives in winter. In the case of Guppy one can raise them indoors in winter and release them come summer to the pools.
They are easy to breed and very hardy fish and also very colourful.
 
5. My recent finding vary with WHO.
 
They breed in the cesspit and they love that feature.
 
If one is a scatologist this is for you.
 
Larvae thrive on residue of human feacal matter, which is mainly  a cocktail of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.
 
It has some fine biological tuning here (not the adult mosquito and that is why I consider they have a biological role).
 
If we look at how much rich Americans eat a day, a cesspit won’t last even a few days, if not for the ability of the mosquito larvae to get involved in bio-transformation and production of bio-gas, the pit will be full in no time.
 
I am a believer Americans can produce enough bio-gas from their faecal matter to supply even China (just for record they eat one pig in three years and one bull in 10 years -from 5 to 10 cows/bulls before they turn (50) fifty.
 
Things that one can do is to cover the commode when not in use. 
Mosquito laying eggs is prevented.
 
Look at where the cesspit is located and cover all the exit holes from where the adult mosquito escapes including the pipe that releases bio-gas (with a mosquito net and a rubber band).
 
You must tell all your neighbours to do the same and 
I can assure you it will cut down the mosquito population to 85% of the population.
 
With fish I have cut it down to 95% and the rest if they come to my bed room is of criminal intent and procedure.
 
No spraying for me, since they kill other insects except cockroaches.
 Cockroaches are resistant and survived even dinosaurs!

If all this fails move to a higher ground with  cooler temperature where they do not breed.
 
Over 5000 ft and what matters is not the height but the average temperature below 65 F.
 
Activity
    When we are active, mosquitoes do not approach us.
    May be our movements hinder their ability to home in or focus on the target chemical.
Our bodies produce chemicals which have diurnal variation (steroids) of waste metabolites.
    
Drinking beer:
    The reason isn’t exactly clear, but mosquitoes are more likely to be attracted to you after you’ve had some alcohol or beer.  
I have two chemicals, the ketone and urea in your breath.
    But most plausible is they get a little more kick out of a meal with pure alcohol.
    Alcohol is a social attractant even in the insect world. 
Dirty Feet: 
    Mosquitoes are attracted to our toe-jam (smelly feet) but not mine. 
Body heat:
    Mosquitoes have sophisticated heat sensors, that is why they target our ears first and then target our breath
    When we are down with fever mosquitoes make sure they are around to provide background music to entertain our recuperating souls. 
Moisture: 
    The moisture we exhale in breath and sweat in perspiration (urea and CO2) attract mosquitoes. 
Relative darkness: 
    Mosquitoes are attracted to relative darkness, evenings and early morning and they hate bright lights (may be dry heat switch off the heat sensors) and within seconds of switching the lights they emerge from under the bed or from roof.
Blood type:
    People with O and A type blood are more likely to attract mosquitoes and especially if they’re young. This is a conjecture and I am blood group A and my son is AB and they do attract me more than my son.  American Scientists.
    They are discovering various sensors with micro-imaging and gene technology.
    They try to transplant gene segments of mosquito to Fruit Fly at various stages of (larvae) development and study the effects and the details are too heavy for a blog site like this.

My Analysis of "Metta"- Loving Kindness

My Analysis of "Metta"- Loving Kindness
 
We had a little gathering.
 
The reason being we pulled out few wine bottles (bought few years ago with old prices) off VAT from the attic.
 
Why pull out the old?

Yes we got a few replacements from abroad “Duty Free”.
 
They will go to the attic till another replacement comes by our way.
 
About the prices one reflection would suffice.
 
Good old days we could buy a good “Thambili Wine” (small bottle) for Rs.275/=.
 
You know the current prices, one pays Rs. 200/= (half 
a peg or 50 grams) and they do not dish out less than 150 grams nowadays (Rs.600/= in total).
 
By the way VAT added.
 
We had many good ideas but I would pen only one.

What good we achieved during the last 20 years?
 
I thought that was a good one because that was the period SLFP (minus two years) was in power.
 
We went round the table.
Answer went like.
None.
None.
None.................
 
And finally it got to me.
 
I had to do the closing comment.
 
I said minus.
 
Why was the question?

I was in UK and New Zealand 20 odd years ago.

I did not have hate problem.
 
I did not have a nationality problem (I was a "Worldly Being")

I had piece in my mind.
 
The family was happy.
 
I came to this blessed country to SERVE.

What did I get.
 
War.
War and more War.
 
Why do you say minus (Question again)?
 
There hate is inbuilt in me NOW.
 
I have to go into "Metta Mode" every time I see a politician on the TV especially the “Wira Wansa” and “Gon (Hol) Man” Pilla type.

The “Metta” was innate in me twenty years ago and after 20 years of SLFP,  I have to remind myself that there is something called Metta.
 
But every time I see the President (he is half Metta and half political Hate=Neutral).
I cannot say that with Prime Minister.
He is never with the better half or the “Maithree”.
I think he should come out with her once in away to show he has bit of Metta in him.

World with many Views but Mind Neglected

World with many Views but Mind Neglected

Intention
There is an attempt to use meaning of Dhamma for political needs (Constitution) in Ceylon.
 
This is in perspective of an apprentice meditator in mind.
 
Advanced meditator won't get involved in academic exercises.
 
However, I need to get the core idea across and work on purifying the Mind (not get involved in phenomenology or the mechanics).

Dhamma
The word Dhamma in perspective of an apprentice in meditation found wanting.
It needs total detachment of academic exercise.
In that sense some qualifying tenets are attempted.

Dhamma has no parallels in philosophy, politics or science.

It is boundless and timeless and permeate all human mental activity.

It is not an institution in a religious sense.

It does not belong to a particular country or race or a constitution or an individual.

It belongs to the human mental capacity untapped.

Having said that it does not disregard existence of the right of other living beings.

It accepts the presence of extraterrestrial beings of higher or lower order to human beings.

It is a way of life with special attention to mental purity (getting rid of defilements).

It has a very simple moral code of self realization even though, self as an all abiding entity is precluded.

It has no rigid rules and bylaws but focuses on attention depending on the individuals intelligent capacity.

Above all it is open to Question or Inquiry (but not at global sense) but at Individual Level while working through the mental cultivation of purity of thinking.

That is why it should not be taken as religious practice but as a simple way of 'life experience' for every individual with an iota of intelligence.

However, It does not exclude the mentally weak and that is why it emphasizes the “Sardha” or the Devotion and reverence to the exalted one for absorbing the core mental culture.

If all all the above qualifications are taken into consideration, it should be "Above of All the World Constitutions" and not within a structured articles of intent, (be that it may be United States or Ceylon).

Constitution
Constitution in brief is a piece of paper article to govern weak subjects by supposed to be powerful and the elite by coercion or rigidity of laws and bylaws.

It took almost 2500 years for the Human Rights Charter to be declared (only on paper but violated left, right and center depending on the declared sovereignty of a state or government).

We cannot do without a constitution even though few countries have no written constitution.

It is the political will of a set or group or collection of people.
It got to be simple to interpret.
It should have a practical value.
It should have the political will to harness harmony and disengage discrimination.

On all the above grounds it cannot be called a perfect article of faith.
It is a near enough document but since it is not perfect it should be scrutinized, restructured, revised on a regular basis.

Dhamma does not need any of the above revisions and that is why it should be kept above all constitutions.
That is a point of view. 

By putting Dhamma on paper called constitution won’t achieve any objective, except some a cosmetic value.

The above said won’t apply to Christianity and Muslim religions since they are invariably bound by power, politics, commerce, money and may be even conspiracies to cover up corruption.

In exalted ones and the ones who are on the path of Dhamma are completely detached from power, money and corruptions, conspiracies of all kinds.

Dhamma is for the Mind and not for an Institution.

That is why Buddha did not appoint a successor and let the boundless Dhamma takes it own course.
It does not mean Dhamma could survive on its own since there is always room for distortion within and from without.
That is the very reason these thoughts are penned down here to save its status of universality.

Dhamma is boundless and timeless.
It permeates all reams and universes (There is no one world but many worlds).
Four abodes of the enlightenment or the sublime states are;

Metta (Loving Kindness)
Karuna (Kindness)
Muditha (Sympathetic Joy)
Upekka (Equanimity)

Way forward is Meditation either;
Samatha Bhavana-Concentration or Focused Attention to the Present
Samatha Bhavana, the development of mental tranquility with concentration, is accompanied by three benefits; it gives happiness in the present life, a favorable rebirth, and the freedom from mental defilements which is a prerequisite for attainment of insight.

Vipassana Bhavana-Insight Meditation
Vipassana bhavana is realization of the three signs of being, anicca, dukkha, and anatta,

The focus of attention be given to Metta Meditation and Moment Meditation,too.

Do not throw away rice to birds

Do not throw away rice to birds
Why I say so?
 
1. First reason is animals not domesticated (except perhaps cats and dogs-even that I may be wrong) eat raw food or ripened fruits.
 
2. There digestive enzymes are able to deal with grains unlike hours.

3. Birds scatter seeds (not rice) helping the ecosystem.

4. Cooked rice get contaminated with bacteria because of the high content of water.
 
4. One of the nasty one is Bacillus cereus (means coming from cereals)
It causes under 24 hour illnesses (within 2 hours vomiting or food poisoning or after 8 hours infection with diarrhoea).

5. Infectious one was named Cholera cereus decades ago why they gave a respectable name, I am puzzled.
 
6. The toxins are heat resistant and mild heating does not destroy them.
 
7. They form endospores which are also heat resistant.

8. Cooling and reheating encourage spore formation and these spores can contaminate other food items in the fridge/freezer.
 
Rice uncooked can be preserved in dry condition for ages.
 
Cooked rice can be kept only for two hours the most.
 
So eat your rice and do not throw away the rice to rot and then  expects the birds to eat.
Bird do not eat the stale rice but the ant do take them and store.
 
9. You have more ants in your pantry or back garden.
My advice is to cook only the desired amount of rice or if you are lazy buy a rice packet.
 
10. Birds prefer the seeds and better still watch them split the husk before eating.
House sparrows (extinct species) were very clever at that.
Their bills are built for that purpose and for building nests.
If you watch how a parrot takes the bean out of the pods one by one, you will never throw rice at them.
The bottom line is, the stale rice is very unpleasant sight and awful.
Why do want your pantry smelling?

11. Mind you our gecko loves cooked rice (apart from all the insects) and they grow in numbers and are very active at dusk.
 
I hate gecko specially their smelly droppings but not so much the cockroaches. There is a nasty venomous snake that love geckos as food.
Otherwise we can never exterminate them.
You may have t breed the deadly snake (Thel karawala or the Ceylon krait) instead.
 
Below is a American lady’s experience with rice. 
Yes Americans do eat rice.
Reproduction
4 Signs Your Cooked Rice Has Gone Bad
Rice is one of those pantry staples that seems to have an indefinite shelf life. And while this is mostly true with uncooked rice (the exception being brown rice), cooked rice has a limit to how long it will last. You've done the sniff test, but are you still not sure? Maybe you can't remember how long it's been in the fridge? Here's how to make the call on when to toss it.

As for how long cooked rice lasts, it can vary, and it largely depends on how the rice is cooled and stored. But it's generally a good idea to call it quits if you've had it for three to four days.

Most foods offer telltale signs that they've gone bad, but with rice it's not always quite so obvious. You also need to rely on other (less obvious) signs that your rice has gone bad.

1. It's super hard and dry.
This is your visual clue that the cooked rice in your fridge has reached the end of its days. Leftover rice will dry out more each day it sits in the fridge. But once the grains have become super hard, dry, or even crunchy, chances are that it's been in the fridge well over a few days. Rice is best when eaten a few days from when it's cooked. Any more than that and it's safest to just toss it. Maximize the shelf life of cooked rice by storing it in an airtight container.

2. It was left unrefrigerated for too long.
It's best to minimize the time cooked rice is left at room temperature. The moisture-rich environment offers ideal conditions for bacterial growth. And while refrigeration doesn't stop that growth altogether, it certainly slows it down.

Uncooked rice can contain spores of a bacterium known as Bacillus cereus. Even after cooking, these spores can still survive. When the cooked rice isn't handled, cooled, stored, or reheated properly, the bacteria can cause food poisoning.

So, if you left cooked rice sitting at room temperature for more than two hours before stashing it in the fridge, it might be better to cut your losses and toss it in the compost or trash.

3. It's been cooled and reheated multiple times.
It's best to minimize the number of times rice (and most foods, for that matter) are cooled and reheated. This presents an ideal environment for bacteria to grow. A good rule of thumb is to reheat leftover rice no more than once. After that it's safest to toss any additional leftovers.

Instead, if you find yourself with more rice than you can eat in a meal or two, go ahead and freeze the leftovers for another time.

4. It has an unpleasant smell.
If there's an unpleasant smell coming from your rice, it's a clear sign that it's time to toss it immediately. By this time that rice has certainly been in the fridge for more than four days, and it's no longer safe to eat.

The Green Thing

 Reproduction

The Green Thing

I wanted to write about good old days and by some stroke of luck this came in today in my email.

It save me writing another.

Even in my twilight years I practice some of them but at a leisurely pace unlike when I was young.

This is a reproduction!

Please consider the environment… do you really need to print this e-mail?

I SAY PRINT IT IF YOU CHOOSE TO SHARE W/ A NON-COMPUTERIZED PERSON!

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. 

Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. 

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. 

But she was right. 

We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. 

We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. 

We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 

But she’s right. 

We didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. 

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. 

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. 

And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart young person.

Remember: Don’t make old people mad.

We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to pi= us off.

Constitution, Dhamma and the Lullaby.

Constitution, Dhamma and the Lullaby.
 
I am sorry for repetition but this has a political impact.
I hate the use of Buddhism as opposed to Dhamma.
Let me make some qualifications.
 
1. Dhamma has no parallels in philosophy, politics or science.
 
2. It is boundless and timeless and permeate all spheres of human mental activity.
 
3. It is not an institution in a religious sense.
 
4. It does not belong to a particular country or race or a constitution.
 
5. It belongs to the human race.
 
6. Having said that it does not disregard existence of the right of other living beings.
 
7. It accept the presence of extraterrestrial beings of higher or lower order to human beings.
 
8. It is a way of life with special attention to mental purity (getting rid of defilements).
 
9. It has a very simple moral code, “Live and Let Live Principle”.
 
10. It has no rigid rules and bylaws.
 
11. Above all it is open to Question or inquiry but not at global sense but at Individual Level.
That is why I say it is not a religion but a simple way of life for every individual with an iota of intelligence.
 
12. It does not exclude mentally weak and that is why it emphasize the “Sardha” or the Devotion or reverence to the exalted one.

If you take all the above qualifications it should be Above of All the World Constitutions and not within a structured articles of intent be that it may be United States or Ceylon.

Constitution in brief, in my opinion is a piece of paper article to govern weak subjects by supposed to be powerful and the elite by coercion or rigidity of laws and bylaws.
 
It took almost 2500 years for the Human Rights Charter to be declared (only on paper but violated left, right and center depending on the declared sovereignty of a state or government).
We cannot do without it.
It is the political will of a set or group or collection of people.
It got to be simple to interpret.
It should have a practical value.
It should have the political will to harness harmony and disengage discrimination.
On all the above grounds it cannot be called a perfect article of faith.
It is a near enough document but since it is not perfect it should be scrutinized, restructured, revised on a regular basis.
 
Dhamma does not need any of the above revisions and that is why it should be kept above all constitutions.
That is my view.
By putting it on paper called constitution won’t have any impact on the state or the corrupt people in service or politics, except as a cosmetic exercise.
What I said above won’t apply to Christianity and Muslim religions since they are invariably bound by power, politics, commerce, money and conspiracies to cover up corruption.
In exalted ones and the ones who are on the path of 
Dhamma are completely detached from power, money and corruptions, conspiracies of all kinds.
 
Dhamma is for the Mind and not for an Institution.
That is why Buddha did not appoint a successor and let the boundless Dhamma takes it own course.
It does not mean Dhamma could survive on its own since there is always room for distortion within and from without.
That is the very reason I have penned down my thoughts and the constitution lobbyist (Lullaby) would find a way to insinuate and lower its status of universality.

Repetition below is a previous piece.
 
Dhamma is boundless and timeless.

It permeates all reams and universes (There is no one world but many worlds).

Four abodes of the enlightenment or the sublime states are;

Metta
Karuna
Muditha (no proper word in English nearest is “Sympathetic Joy”)
Upekka

Way forward is Meditation either;
Samatha Bhavana-Concentration or Focused Attention to the Present
Samatha Bhavana, the development of mental tranquility with concentration, is accompanied by three benefits; it gives happiness in the present life, a favorable rebirth, and the freedom from mental defilements which is a prerequisite for attainment of insight.

Vipassana Bhavana-Insight Meditation
Vipassana bhavana is realization of the three signs of being, anicca, dukkha, and anatta,

My Focus are

Metta Meditation

Moment Meditation or Living in the Present Moment (admittedly very difficult poor memory and attention span)

Memory is redundant in my belief and mere reciting and memorizing Dhamma won’t get one nowhere. It had a historical value passing down the ancient wisdom but in digital age there is abundance of textural messages but very little practice.
That is why I highlight meditation (detached attention) as the only way forward.

One needs a good teacher not BOOKS.

All Life Forms be happy!

 All Life Forms be happy!

Mind you, Dhamma is for insightful realization (wisdom guide) and not an academic exercise.

Sabbe satva anatta
 

All life forms (higher or lower reams) are impermanent.

What is Dhamma not;
Greed-Loba
Hate-Dhosa
Deceit-Moha

What is Dhamma is;

No greed-Benevolence
Metta-there is no proper English translation for this Pali word.

Wisdom or Self realization there is no permanent Soul or Self.

Dhamma is boundless and timeless.

It permeates all reams and universes (There is no one world but many worlds).
 
Four abodes of the enlightenment ones are

Metta
Karuna
Muditha (no proper word in English nearest is “Sympathetic Joy”)
Upekka
 
Way forward is Meditation either;
 

Samatha Bhavana
Samatha bhavana, the development of mental tranquillity with concentration, is accompanied by three benefits; it gives happiness in the present life, a favorable rebirth, and the freedom from mental defilements which is a prerequisite for attainment of insight.
 

Vipassana Bhavana-Insight Meditation
Vipassana bhavana is realization of the three signs of being, anicca, dukkha, and anatta,


One needs a good teacher not BOOKS.

Read Francis Story (his site) for details

I believe this phrase “sabbe dhamma anatta” is introduced by design by other faiths to discredit Dhamma (meaning non existing Dhamma)

A subtle way of destroying the teaching.

Flowers

Flowers are the most beautiful things in the world, so here, we are offering the most beautiful things in the world to the Buddha.
 And when they fade, it is also a reminder that things of the world also fade – so it’s reminds us of the teaching that
“Whatever is of the nature to arise is also of the nature to change”.

What is changing is impermanent
life is is a state of flux or ever changing!
It does not say it ceases
There is Sansara with rebirth.
The word reborn is wrong since its connotation is one is born with “repairs”
 

Merits take one up the reams of life.
 

Demerits takes one to lower forms


Read the following that I extracted from another site with some reservation.
 
Mind you, Dhamma is for realization (wisdom guide) and not an academic exercise.

The Meaning of sabbe dhamma anatta
So what does this phrase mean?

    sabbe – means “All”
    dhamma – means “things” – specifically it means phenomena experienced through your 6 senses
    anatta – means “not Atta” – not Self or not the Atta or not the Atman – not me, not what I am, not my self

In the Pali language, the words “Sabbe dhamma” are synonymous with the word “sabba” which means “All” (which the Buddha himself defined as the 6 sense spheres in the Sabba Sutta).  

So “sabbe dhamma” or “sabba” means “all things” or “all phenomena”.
 

The phenomena are related to the mental accompaniments of all sorts.
 

And “sabbe dhamma anatta” does NOT mean “There is no self”.

What it means is, “All phenomena are not Atta (Self)”.  All things (all of the phenomena that you perceive through your 6 senses) are not you.  So this applies to everything within the sensory realms – that’s the limit to which sabbe dhamma anatta applies – this is crucial to understand because it does NOT apply to anything beyond the world of the senses.

Finding a Tortoise (not Nemo)

Finding a Tortoise (not Nemo)

A Reproduction
Finding a Book on Turtles / Tortoises
Turtles / Tortoises are now classified in the same species category.

I used to feed tortoises daily.
They were in plenty in Kandy Lake.
One day bystander told me not to do that.
Why?
If you do that the our Kassipu /Toddy / Illicit drinkers will take them and eat them was the answer.

His prediction was right in 1973 when food was scarce and children were dying of hunger our population of tortoises vanished.
 
This the Buddhist heritage city and that was how we practised Metta to all animals.
 
Other reason probably was the pollution of its water.
All the cesspits were opened to it with the waste water.
Then they (once the species was exterminated/genocide) pass a law stating it is a protected species.
We are good at closing the stable door once the horse has bolted.
We no longer practice Buddhist virtues.
Animal are food material and then they started catching dogs and cats for food during Perehara festival.
 
Vanishing species is not FOOD for THOUGHT anymore.
 
Below is a reproduction from elsewhere for your perusal.
Conservationists have declared 2011 the Year of the Turtle in an effort to raise public awareness of the precarious state of turtle populations around the world. 
Nearly half of all living turtle species are considered to be threatened with extinction. 
Of the well-known animal groups, turtles are disappearing the fastest.
We are in the midst of a worldwide decline in biodiversity. 
A staggering 12 percent of birds, 25 percent of mammals and 30 percent of amphibians are threatened with extinction.
Sadly, turtles offer no exception to this trend towards species loss. 
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization that maintains a comprehensive list of the status of the world’s species, categorizes 47 percent of all living turtle species as Threatened.
Turtles first appeared in the fossil record more than 200 million years ago during the Triassic Period. Since that time, they have changed little and today’s turtles bear much resemblance to their ancestors. Despite their long evolutionary history, turtles are now in danger of disappearing due to a variety of threats including habitat loss, over exploitation, pet trade, hunting for use in traditional medicine, by catch, invasive species, disease and climate change.
Many of the threats facing turtles are derived from human activities. Conservationists look to this fact with optimism—if man can create these threats, we can also reduced or eliminate them. They suggest a number of actions that can help ensure a more secure future for turtles. These actions include protecting rare turtle species and the habitats on which they rely, looking after common turtle species to ensure their populations remain healthy and managing crisis situations such as saving critically endangered turtle species and responding to emergencies such as oil spills.

Majestic Elephants

Reproduction
Majestic Elephants
 
This is a country run with Mega Mania Memorabilia (3 Ms) but unable to look after our majestic elephants.

Three years ago one of the tuskers was dead due to negligence and dehydration after a so called majestic pageant that paraded the hill country.

Then recently a giant tusker was dead in captivity and the popular story circulating round is he was let to die to get the tusks for ornamentation in high office.

Then comes the floods in the East.

A young dead elephant is trapped in a tree.

First of a kind of news item and quite relevant in context.

That tells the sorry story of our majestic heritage and how we care.

It is an eye opener for the world if not for this blessed country.

We had 90% forest cover at the beginning of the last century and had over 60,000 elephants.

By mid last century the estimate was 6000 in the wild.

I do not believe we will have 600 left in the wild now and the the forest cover is less that 20% not enough to sustain vegetation let alone elephants.

We are going to commission two mega coal power units in the near future. The forest cover will be reduced to 10% within a decade of their operation due to acid rain and the environmentalist are hiding behind the saffron clothed M.P.s.

Very soon we won’t have a place in the jungle to meditate in quiet solitude.

Mega mania development will sacrifice the rest of the trees in the name of development efforts. Very soon we have to import coconut timber with coconuts on top.

Last tsunami a few people survived by climbing on top of coconut trees.

We have mega floods after 53 years in the East and there are no coconut (palms) trees grown for 6 years after the tsunami to climb onto.

But we have election after election to elect representative who ruin this country.

Mega Mania Memorabilia at its best!

The carnival goes on!

Making Sense with CO2

Making Sense with CO2

I wanted to make the title of this  “Zeroing with CO2”  as my own simple attempt to contribute to Zeroing with CO2 but it makes very little sense scientifically.

The alternative title was to make 20 or more statements on beauty of nature. 
That itself is a daunting task.

Could I make 10 for CO2 to begin with.

Let us see.

Let me try the Zero CO2 emission.

1. I have to kick the bucket immediately, so I want breath out CO2.

But my dead body will rot at burial site or if cremated by my immediate family producing enough CO2 in the process and many other ozone depleting products.

Even at my death there is no zeroing.

2. If I do not travel by motor vehicle (I boycott Colombo as a way of zeroing on CO2 and only visit there if there is a desperate need. Last time when I visited Colombo, the long one and half hour delay at Kaleniya bridge contributed more to CO2 emission.

I told the driver to switch off the engine have a nap on the wheel.

I abandon my car and  walk only, still I am not zeroing.

3. If I do not procreate (I have to try it, in the next birth, better still not have another life) but I have not kept that promise.

4. I cannot resist burning all the paper and plastic since there is no recycling machinery in this Buddhist city called Kandy.

That produce more unwanted products both solid and vapour.

5. Worst even in my sleep and dream state I produce CO2.

This zeroing of CO2 is an insult to science in particular and even worse than a political statements of Mahinda Chinthanya converts.

They play a lip service but trade more and more CO2 with more coal power installed.

In any case Mahinda Chinthanaya was never a scientific endeavor.

I give up and announce lost in the battle of CO2 after 5 statements, unlike a politician, my tongue does not bend to adversary.

This CO2 scenario is bunkum and purely hypothetical.

But on a second thought, my water garden does a better job mopping off CO2, the algae problem, I am trying to stop is winning by a big margin but taking CO2 in.

I give up.

Let me try the nature statements.

Keeping Pet Fish-02

 Keeping Pet Fish-02
1. I said do not put your finger into the fish tank.
Why?
Our hands are the dirtiest possible (as far as the fish is considered).
Fish does not have an advanced immune system.
They do not have neutrophils to kill bacteria.
If there are leftover food and if we introduce our nasty pathogenic bacteria into the fish tank, the fish are dead within 24 to 48 hours.
 
2. You should not touch the food with fingers especially to grind them to tiny pieces (to feed young fish). Every time you do that one adds a unhealthy dose of bacteria to the food. Use a tiny spoon and put some silica gel into the fish food container. 

3. Buy only good quality food and in small quantities, perhaps to last two to three weeks. Do not buy them in bulk. Cheap food are always contaminated and processed badly.
Check to see whether the food has not gone stale, every time you feed.
 
4. Have lot of water plants including floating plants with roots. The fish would eat the leaves and the plants support a lot of infusoria (one cannot see with the naked eye) as they grow.

Infusoria

These are very small organisms that are ideal for feeding newly hatched egg laying species. 

5. Leave fish without food for at least one day in 7-10 day period.
Why?
Fish store part of their fats as brown fat (that have high energy content) in their tissues for use during long periods of starvation. This fat is not used when the fish is well fed (like gold fish who become bloated and ugly).
Brown fat is especially abundant in newborns and in hibernating mammals. It is also present and metabolically active in adult humans, but its prevalence decreases as humans age.
Its primary function is thermoregulation.

Brown fat produces heat by non-shivering thermogenesis.
6. Healthy fish can last two weeks without food if they have sufficient amount of brown fat. Unfortunately not all of your fish will have adequate stores to last your vacation.
 
7. When changing water one must make sure there is no chlorine in water.
The chlorine will kill your fish within 20 minutes.
One must leave water for at least three days for the chlorine to escape.
My recommendation is minimum of 10 days.
How do you do that.
 
8. Have a separate water tank which can hold three times your requirement for one change.
 
9. When changing water each tank should have separate tubing (do not interchange) to tug into the main pipe that comes from your storage tank. 

10. Do not use soap or detergent to clean hands or utilities. 

Detergent affects the gills of fish and their breathing.
Detergents can have poisonous effects in all types of aquatic life if they are present in sufficient quantities, and this includes the biodegradable detergents. 
All detergents destroy the external mucus layers that protect the fish from bacteria and parasites; plus they can cause severe damage to the gills. 
Most fish will die when detergent concentrations approach 15 parts per million. Detergent concentrations as low as 5 ppm will kill fish eggs. 

Surfactant detergents are implicated in decreasing the breeding ability of aquatic organisms.

How we kill our fresh water fish?

How we kill our fresh water fish?
We dump or divert detergents into the rivers or the Kandy Lake!

But mosquito larvae somehow survive.
 How I do not know.

Detergent affects the gills of the fish and their breathing.
 
Detergents can have poisonous effects in all types of aquatic life if they are present in sufficient quantities, and this includes the biodegradable detergents. All detergents destroy the external mucus layers that protect the fish from bacteria and parasites; plus they can cause severe damage to the gills. 

Most fish will die when detergent concentrations approach 15 parts per million. Detergent concentrations as low as 5 ppm will kill fish eggs. Surfactant detergents are implicated in decreasing the breeding ability of aquatic organisms.

Are you willing or unwilling partners in Conspiracy?

Are you willing or  unwilling partners in Conspiracy?
 
I think we all are due to many reasons.

My book on “Conspiracies in Religion, Politics and Science” was written with that in mind.

When I write a book, I prefer the digital version (it saves trees) since it is going to outlast my life.

This book was an exception, I deliberately avoided the digital version.
I want it to be somewhere (unlike my other books) in a library, school or "parts of it reproduced", even on newsstand or pass the book from hand to hand.
 
I have only scratched the surface.
 
Idea is for it to used to base more elaborate studies.
 
If not the rot we had been in will continue for another century.
 
Initial idea was to expose the medical profession and how drug companies conspire to hoodwink initially doctors and later through doctors the worldwide masses.
Late Professor Senaka Bibile’s death was the beginning.
Upali Wijewardane’s death may be another (I am not sure), the chocolate industry.

For the  40 years we have not produced any outstanding personalities in this country.
Why?
There is illegal organ transplantation (I have not discussed this in my book) and illegal drug trafficking are the issues I have deliberately ignored in this book.
Those are two areas nobody will venture to write a book.

But when I realized that conspiracy is universal, even in rocket science (in science, religion and politics) and in human genes, I feel my effort was worthwhile. 

That was not the original intention.
 
I want the malpractices in medical field exposed.
I can now say “we are not alone" (medical guys), the phrase that is used to indicate the existence of alien life.
 
The next question that comes to my mind, are the aliens conspire or the aliens learned it from us, especially USA.

Keeping Pet Fish-01

Keeping Pet Fish

I will list few of my priorities.
1. No kids under 12 at home.
 
2. It is one man job and no delegation unless absolutely necessary (on holiday or on a meditation course).
 
3. Minimum intervention, that you never but your finger to see whether water is too warm.
 
4. No smoking!
 
5. No cats or dogs (one item is enough, why you make your house a zoo).
 
6. One should have several simple thermometers in your household.
Find the coolest room not freezing dungeon!
Fish can tolerate cool weather better than very warm summers.
 
7. Adequate light either natural or artificial.
No point keeping them in a dark corner.
How can you see their beautiful colours?
 
8. No artificial chemical sprayers at all, including personal perfumes.

9. Adequate ventilation to the room and a minimum of one air pump (compressor) and a spare in case the working one goes bust in the night.
 
10. If you do not have 5 minutes in the morning and 
10 minutes in the evening to spare, please do not think of starting this exotic hobby.
 
When I was in the United Kingdom (we did not have all the fancy stuff coming from China now in Ceylon then), I bought all the stuff except a glass tank and never started this hobby while there.
 
No sooner I was back in Ceylon, I was in full swing.
 
One thing good about British stuff was they would last 10 years (unlike the Chinese stuff) solid no leaking, no electric shocks and basically no complaints (this 1980s).
 
Good solid equipments and a firm stand to place the heavy tank is of utmost importance.

Now I will tell you why the above priorities.
No fish should die under my care except for old age and born invalid.
I have kept a gold (I called it the Clown Fish) without air bladder and several blind ones (one left currently).
My best advice is do not start, if you love your freedom.
Children lose interest within six weeks.
Just do not blame them that is there simple nature.
Do not make your kid to do the dirty work.
Let them be free too.