When to use the Title Doctor?

Reproduction from New York Post from ?2011

Many topics come up repeatedly in reader comments and e-mail messages to After Deadline. Unfortunately I’m not able to offer a direct response to each comment (truth be told, After Deadline is a sideline for me). But one thoughtful reader suggested that I compile answers for some of the most common questions.

Here’s a start in that effort. I’ll add other topics as they come up, and I’ll link to this item from each week’s column so readers can find it easily.

[UPDATED on Nov. 14, 2011; newest item on top.]

•••

Why Do Plural Abbreviations Have an Apostrophe?

A number of readers have complained after seeing plural abbreviations like M.D.’s and M.R.I.’s in The Times. They say the apostrophe is wrong — that it indicates a possessive and should not be used in a plural like this.

In fact, style rules at The Times (and some other publications, including the Chicago Manual of Style) do call for using an apostrophe in the plural of abbreviations that include periods. The idea is that a combination of uppercase letters, periods and a lowercase “s” is confusing at first glance, and that the apostrophe helps a reader see that the “s” has been added to make a plural.

Here’s the relevant portion of The Times’s stylebook entry:

Use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations that have capital letters and periods: M.D.’s, C.P.A.’s. Also use apostrophes for plurals formed from single letters: He received A’s and B’s on his report card. Mind your p’s and q’s.

But do not use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations without periods, or for plurals formed from figures: TVs, PCs, DVDs; 1990s, 747s, size 7s.

‘None': Singular or Plural?

Should “none” be used with a singular or a plural verb?

Some readers of The Times and After Deadline insist that “none” must always take a singular verb. They argue that “none” means “not one,” and so is inherently singular.

But as I’ve pointed out before, most authorities, including The Times’s stylebook, disagree. Here’s our entry:

none. Despite a widespread assumption that it stands for not one, the word has been construed as a plural (not any) in most contexts for centuries. H. W. Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) endorsed the plural use. Make none plural except when emphasizing the idea of not one or no one — and then consider using those phrases instead.

‘Like’ or ‘Such As’?

After a discussion about the use of “like” as a conjunction, several commenters took issue with a different use of “like,” including instances from The Times’s stylebook.

These readers object to the use of “like” as a preposition to mean “including” or “as for example”: Anyone else with an earned doctorate, like a Ph.D. degree, may request the title …

The objectors contend that “like” in this construction should mean “similar to” — so that this example, strictly speaking, would be referring to doctorates similar to a Ph.D. but not including a Ph.D. They would change this phrase to “such as a Ph.D. degree.”

Editors have long been divided on this point. But “like” is widely used, and recognized in all dictionaries, in the sense of “as for example.” Many writers find it more natural and less stilted than “such as,” at least in some contexts.

Both versions seem acceptable to me; The Times’s stylebook tends to favor “like.”

Are Split Infinitives Acceptable?

The aversion to splitting infinitives is strongly held in some quarters, but weakly supported. Here’s what The Times’s stylebook says:

split infinitives are accepted by grammarians but irritate many readers. When a graceful alternative exists, avoid the construction: to show the difference clearly is better than to clearly show the difference. (Do not use the artificial clearly to show the difference.) When the split is unavoidable, accept it: He was obliged to more than double the price. Note, however, that compound verbs are an unrelated issue: they should usually be separated (as this one was) when used with an adverb.

Should a Sentence Ever Start With ‘And’?

As I’ve noted before, another pet peeve of some After Deadline commenters is the use of “but” or “and” to begin a sentence. I don’t see any basis for their objections.

It shouldn’t be overdone, but using coordinating conjunctions this way can provide a handy and very efficient transition. “But” is certainly preferable in many cases to the stilted “however,” and “and” is simpler than “in addition” or similar phrases.

Along with the split-infinitive complaint, this objection falls into the category of “Miss Thistlebottom’s hobgoblins.” That’s Theodore M. Bernstein’s term for the overly fastidious rules and usage myths a grade-school English teacher might invoke to keep her pupils’ prose on a very narrow path.

Can a Person Be a ‘They’?

No. Miss Thistlebottom was right about this one. In careful writing, we continue to use “they” as a plural pronoun that should have a plural antecedent.

Often writers resort to “they” after a singular noun to avoid using a gender-specific pronoun in a general case. Here’s an example I cited in After Deadline last month:

When a person enters search terms for a product or service, the search engine may display links where they can get a discount coupon from a retailer or coupon aggregator.

In many cases, the problem can easily be avoided by starting with a plural noun: “When customers enter search terms …”

Is Data Singular or Plural?

Yes.

The Times’s stylebook allows “data” with either a plural or a singular verb. Here’s the entry:

data is acceptable as a singular term for information: The data was persuasive. In its traditional sense, meaning a collection of facts and figures, the noun can still be plural: They tabulate the data, which arrive from bookstores nationwide. (In this sense, the singular is datum, a word both stilted and deservedly obscure.)

And here’s an earlier After Deadline discussion of this point, along with some other disputed points of usage.

Where’s the Comma?

Many readers complain about what they view as a missing comma in a sentence like this: He bought apples, pears and bananas.

Style guides for book and academic publishing generally would insist on another comma after “pears,” the so-called serial comma. But news writing has traditionally omitted the serial comma — perhaps seeking a more rapid feeling in the prose, or perhaps to save time and effort in the old days of manual typesetting.

We do use the additional comma in cases where a sentence would be awkward or confusing without it: Choices for breakfast included oatmeal, muffins, and bacon and eggs.

Why Nascar, Not NASCAR?

Auto racing fans chafe at our rules on acronyms. Here they are, from our stylebook:

acronyms. An acronym is a word formed from the first letter (or letters) of each word in a series: NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization; radar from radio detection and ranging. (Unless pronounced as a word, an abbreviation is not an acronym.) When an acronym serves as a proper name and exceeds four letters, capitalize only the first letter: Unesco; Unicef.

We limit the uppercasing to four letters because longer strings of capitals are distracting and tend to jump off the page.

One of Those Things

To my surprise, many readers insist that I’m wrong to call for a plural verb in sentences like this: He is one of those teachers who refuse to allow laptops in class.

I don’t necessarily expect to win over the doubters, but I’m not budging. Here’s a more detailed explanation from a previous post.

Who’s a Dr.?

Our continued use of courtesy titles — increasingly rare in the news media — prompts many questions. Rules on the use of “Dr.” in particular can lead to confusion, for readers and unfortunately sometimes for our writers. Here’s our stylebook entry:

Dr. should be used in all references for physicians and dentists whose practice is their primary current occupation, or who work in a closely related field, like medical writing, research or pharmaceutical manufacturing: Dr. Alex E. Baranek; Dr. Baranek; the doctor. (Those who practice only incidentally, or not at all, should be called Mr., Ms., Miss or Mrs.)

Anyone else with an earned doctorate, like a Ph.D. degree, may request the title, but only if it is germane to the holder’s primary current occupation (academic, for example, or laboratory research). For a Ph.D., the title should appear only in second and later references. The holder of a Ph.D. or equivalent degree may also choose not to use the title.

Do not use the title for someone whose doctorate is honorary.

Stodgy Traditionalist or Permissive Panderer?

I take no sides in the philosophical debate between descriptivists and prescriptivists on usage questions. As I explained in this post last year, I’m just a newspaper editor. My goal is lucid prose that is polished and literate without being stuffy.

‘After Deadline’ Correspondence

I read the comments that are posted each week, which frequently give me ideas or fodder for future installments. You can also send e-mail messages to nytnews@nytimes.com; please put “After Deadline” in the subject line so the message will be forwarded to me.

Can I Get The Times’s Stylebook?

The print edition of “The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage,” written by two esteemed former colleagues, Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly, can still be bought online and in some bookstores.

I oversee an online version that includes many changes and updates since the book’s publication in 1999. Unfortunately that version is not accessible to the public, though we have discussed the possibility of making it available in some form.

Is It Daylight Saving Time Again?

Some readers complain that the After Deadline logo looks too much like the clock we publish to remind people of the time change.

I didn’t devise the logo, of course. We actually use a different one for the in-house version — a thick red pencil line circling the title, like an editor’s mark. It was deemed a bit too old-fashioned for the online edition, I believe. In any case, if it’s not March or November, assume that the clock means After Deadline.

•••

In a Word

This week’s grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

•••

DETROIT — The Transportation Department said Monday it would seek a $16.4 million fine against Toyota, the largest allowed, because the company had failed to promptly notify the government about potential problems with accelerator pedals.

Don’t omit “that” after a time element in a construction like this.

•••

Rescuers [in China] knocked on and shouted into the pipe, and they sent down glucose, a phone, pen, paper and letters of encouragement inside a plastic bottle.

“Dear fellow workers, the Party Central Committee, the State Council and the whole nation have been concerned for your safety,” one began. It ended: “Hold onto the last.”

This is presumably a translation; it should be grammatically correct. Make it “Hold on to the last” — “on” is an adverb that goes with “hold.”

•••

[Online caption] A harp seal pup lays on the ice in 2008 near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

“Lies,” of course. Or if we want past tense, make it “lay.”

•••

The characters, including the inevitably valiant warriors who aide Perseus during his computer-assisted adventures, are as predictable as the action scenes, which is what some companies want when they manufacture global products of this type.

Make it “aid,” not “aide.”

•••

But it does not appear that the foundation has addressed how Ms. Harris, going forward, would keep her roles from overlapping.

A colleague notes that this phrase is usually redundant. We should avoid it, going forward, in the future. (Also, I see no reason for “would”; make it “will keep.”)

•••

Sheila Stainback, a city housing authority spokeswoman, said Morrisania Air Rights was thusly named because it was built above Metro-North train tracks, but she was not immediately sure about the “why.”

“Thus” is an adverb; thus, there is no call to add “ly.” In any case, “so named” would probably be better here.

•••

Weak Rules on Toxins and Safety

Nobody can be sure, though. The science is not far enough along, partly because our regulation of toxins is so limp.

As we noted here not long ago, “toxin,” properly used, refers to a plant or animal poison. In this column, we meant “toxic chemicals” or something like that.

•••

M. Sunil Kumar was a 25-year-old reporter at a local newspaper in the provincial town of Warangal. His older brother Anil had dropped out of high school to run the family’s mutton shop when their father died so that Sunil could go to college.

Watch where you put that clause. The father, of course, did not die so that Sunil could go to college.

•••

Yesterday, Decoder came across a rare site in the wilds of Manhattan: A happy publishing executive.

Even for a blog post, this was a little too Web-oriented; make it “sight.”

•••

While speaking to television writers in January, Mr. Sutherland said of the torture sequences: “It’s a television show. We’re not telling you to try this at home.”

He also refuted claims of a political slant to “24.” “One of the things that I was always so unbelievably proud of our show is that you could have it being discussed by former President Bill Clinton and Rush Limbaugh at the same time, both using it and citing it to justify their points of view,” he said. “That, to me, was incredibly balanced.”

In careful usage, “refute” means to prove something false, not merely to offer a counterargument. Here, we needed something like “rebut,” “reject” or “deny.”

•••

After Deadline examines questions of grammar, usage and style encountered by writers and editors of The Times. It is adapted from a weekly newsroom critique overseen by Philip B. Corbett, the associate managing editor for standards, who is also in charge of The Times’s style manual.

Whither Covid-19

The “Ceylon epidemic” as it used to be called, has been extensively studied, and in the 1950s the British epidemiologist George MacDonald used the Ceylon case study in developing the first application of ‘basic production number’ (or rate) for epidemics, the celebrated R0 (R naught or R zero). R0 represents the number of additional infections that one infected person can generate in a population. MacDonald has used estimates of 7.9 and 10 as R0 the malaria epidemic. Based on these numbers the herd immunity (R0-1)/R0) for malaria without DDT would have been around 90%.

Imagine if the Coronavirus was carried by a Mosquito Vector

R0 for Covid-19 is considered to be between 2.5 and 3.5 ( depending on countries and locations), and that would suggest a herd immunity threshold of 60 to 70%,i.e., 60 to 70% of the population will have to be infected before virus transmission can be stopped. Until a vaccine arrives on the scene, social isolation and lockdown measures are the only tools available to reduce the value of R0.

Virus transmission ends when R0 is reduced to being less than one, but that is not the end of the virus.

There is optimism that a vaccine breakthrough might come as early as January 2021. There is ‘ethical’ potential for a new therapy in Remdesivir, a "broad-spectrum antiviral medication" with established safety profile which has been previously developed as treatment for SARS, MERS and Ebola. These efforts may or may not come to fruition, and in the desired short time line, according to experts. The same experts also acknowledge when nothing else is working against the coronavirus it is natural to be enthusiastic about every new development that is going on.

Whither Covid-19

Outside South Asia, the general assessment is that the first wave of the virus is now over, the transmission has either stopped or is significantly slowing, and the affected countries can begin to ease up, while being fully prepared for the next wave.

For South Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, there is no certainty as to whether or not the first wave is past them, and there is no clarity about what is ahead in the next few weeks and months.

There were 600 cases in India, when the Modi government began the lockdown, on March 25. Now, just over a month after, the cases have multiplied fifty times and the total is past 33,000 and the number of deaths is upward of 1000.

The stories in Pakistan and Bangladesh are not any different.

Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 numbers - less than 700 cases and seven deaths - are mercifully lower than what would have been the daily tally during the malaria epidemic. The low numbers should be a cause for cautious optimism, and the country should be in a position like New Zealand. The island country of five million people has about 1000 cases and 19 deaths, and it is confidently returning to normalcy but fully prepared for the second wave of the coronavirus. New Zealand’s much larger neighbour, Australia, an island continent, is almost equally well placed.

In Sri Lanka, there is no certainty or assuredness about what lies ahead.

The country is under a prolonged curfew to enforce social isolation.  As many people are in custody for breaking the curfew as have been tested for Covid-19, or sent to quarantine without being tested. Every time there is an announcement of relaxation, there is a spike in the number of cases and the curfew is extended. And the most recent spikes in cases are among the custodians of Covid-19 quarantines – the armed forces.

There is growing skepticism about even the Covid-19 statistics that are put out by the officials.

In yesterday’s Island, Dr. Vinoth Ramachandra called it strange that after six weeks of lockdown, "the ‘official’ deaths have remained static for the past two weeks and ‘official’ infections are miniscule in comparison with other countries."

He went on to ask the officials "is there another purpose that the lockdown serves?"

But my assessment is doctoring data for political reasoning and advantage!

The Alliance of Independent Professionals have been raising similar questions in their periodical ‘statement of facts’ on the Covid-19 crisis. Is testing being deliberately kept under capacity to keep the case numbers low?

Are clinical case definitions being ignored or tampered with where Covid-19 testing is not available?

Are patient deaths being properly recorded with causes prior to cremations?

It is unethical and illegal to tamper with official data or their collection. Where data involve helpless patients, it is also heartless and immoral to tamper with them or destroy them.

And monkeying with data involving Coronavirus will boomerang spectacularly, because without reliable information there cannot be a plan to break the chain of transmission of the virus.

Death After 4th Dose of Coranavirus Vaccination Exceeds 5000 for a Month of May

Death After 4th Dose of Coronavirus Vaccination Exceeds 5000 for a Month

It seems like there are more deaths after 4th dose of Vaccination in UK.

 Normal death is around 850 for months and total death exceeded 6000 in May 2021.

NHS does not give an overal estimate for a year or six months.

It provides raw data on monthly basis for the ignorant public to calculate.

This is the biggest public health disaster.

I was a victim but luckily my upper centers remained intact, so that I could write a book and report on daily basis.

I had a stress ulcer in my forearm.

Prudently I refused all subsequent vaccination.

It is my right.

I am doctor retired from both private and public service.

I think President Biden is culpable his gross mismanagement of the CDC and its Cohorts.

My book is selling very well in America if not in UK.

Biorhythms and Mood Altering Drugs

This piece is an addendum to my theory of one gravity and one brain human beings. 

I am writing this as a non medical man and not as a shaman.

There are lot of bogus shamans on the Internet and this piece is a direct antithesis to some of them.     

Of course, I am against claims of some Citizen Scientists. 

Beginning of this piece has minimum physiological facts and I will end up with psychological output at the end with Ayahuaska aka mushroom as a base (in my book).

Unfortunately, I could not include these physiological facts, in my book on alcohol. 

In that book, I have enumerated six levels of alcohol poisoning.

I would end up with the Buddhist attitude to Meditation of Priti and Sukka realms.

This piece is relatively short but the content is very intense.

We are Guys and Girls of 24 Hour Cycle.

This cycle varies from hemisphere to hemisphere and being a guy from the tropics, I feel the difference acutely and it took nearly 3 months for me to get my biorhythm  acclimatized to Australia.

Coming to biorhythm, it is basically divided into three phases in my life rhythm.

1. Sleep or hibernation phase.

2. Eight (8) hour biological meal cycle (light breakfast with lot of sugar and tea).

3. The intellectual activity of "New Physics" going beyond one gravity and one brain level (aliens included) and including Rebirth Concept.

Let me come to the physiology base.

We have to keep our blood sugar at very narrow limits and thankfully our pancreas and insulin save us from tragedy. If one is a diabetic, I pity him or her but this piece will let a normal control one's own physiology within the safe limits and may even avoid adult onset diabetes.

The base line is the Sugar Level and maintaining one's Citric Acid Cycle.

Light Breakfast with Tea is mandatory.

Piece of Banana does the rest.

Banana has lot of different sugars including fructose. There are hexose sugars and banana also has pentose sugars which are good for nucleic acid metabolism.

Banana, has lot of amino acids.

My recommendation is at least one banana a day, if one is following one meal a day. 

If one takes two main meals two banana a day is my recipe.

What banana does is, it maintains blood sugar within safe limits, in between meals.

There are no insulin swings and no hunger episodes and the satiety cycle is well maintained.      

This regime is for the tropics and for colder climates and for winter months, a  better protocol is necessary. 

If I stay longer in Australia, I would device a mean for myself.

Most animals have brown fat in their system and can hibernate in winter months. 

Humans have lost both brown fat and hibernation ability.

My advice is to move to tropics during winter months for those who can afford, it. 

For the rest without gas from Russia and economic downturn one has to bite the teeth and grin with anguish.

Glucose is a taboo for no valid reason in the West for normal adults and most sugars are metabolized by diastase enzymes in the gut. 

The major culprit of long term brain damage is alcohol and its associated hypoglycemia. 

Any form of alcohol upsets the sugar metabolism.

One dose of alcohol causes ketosis in the liver (fatty change) and  upsets the sugar and fat metabolism within the next 24 hours. 

Alcohol also, upsets the melatonin induced biorhythm which is related to daily exposure to sunlight.

Alcohol is no good for sugar metabolism.

My belief is, that alcohol induced hypoglycemia has some relationship to euphoria that it brings to the partaker, at the onset of the binge. This effect of euphoria wanes off almost immediately and brings the urge to drink more.

I have enjoyed wines in my life and I did not realize I was a low grade unconfirmed addict. 

I have successfully weaned myself off.

Good cup of tea is my antidote!

Tea has lot of antioxidants, and I have enumerated, the Goodness of Tea an Banana in my book “Vegetarian Saga” which is coming out soon.

It is in final editing stage.

The best is virgin chocolates, the fat and sugar in chocolates are not healthy.

Dark chocolate is expensive.

Virgin coconut oil is the best to avoid dementia in old age.

Mental Stages

1. Euphoria

2. Ecstasy

3. Illusion

4. Delusion

Above and the Ayahuaska I will deal later in this book.

I need to replenish my level of tea in my system, before I could enlarge upon those themes.

I am a skeptic of euphoria induced by any drug including alcohol. 

Euphoria induced by any form of drug is temporary and leads to addiction.

Any form of addiction including tobacco is harmful to health.

Let me be brief about neurophysiology.

To begin with our understanding of neurophysiology is still at primitive stage, medically speaking.

Pain is in one end.

Happiness is the other.

Neither pain nor happiness is the base of homeostasis.

Balance or homeostasis is necessary for heart, kidney, brain and liver.

This homeostasis is managed by our brain.

Meditation is not a therapeutic option.

My bone of contention is any drug induced euphoria or ecstasy upsets the ability of the brain to bring homeostasis to the entire system, including brain itself.

I am not a psychiatrist and I refuse to delve into esoteric realms and psychiatric problems.

However, I have no objections for psychiatrists using these esoteric drugs for patients, having followed proper clinical studies.

But I have my reservation about the inability to reproduce these benefits in clinical settings.

These experiences are not objective but subjective. 

I sympathize with the individual cases but I pity for their addiction.

If one can avoid any extraneous support it is the best one can achieve. 

In my case, I have never given these substances (sedatives) to adult patients except preoperative preparation.

Having said that sometime a simple dose of voltaren makes people with renal colic worship me in clinical setting.

I think even voltaren has addictive properties.

Regarding Ayahuaska, I have given a good account in my books on alcohol and mind.

One may refer them for in depth analysis.

My summary goes like this.

1. It is related to its dose.

A little bit brings in calmness.

Large dose brings in ecstasy bypassing state of euphoria.

Ecstasy for me an overboard experience.

One becomes godly.

Overtly loving and feeling of artificial oneness is humanely unnatural. 

This is seen especially in Hinduism.

There is no inter-phase of euphoria as seen with alcohol.

Often, it is the hard drug addicts who seem to benefit from Ayahuaska.

Its use for ordinary guys and girls is dangerous.

These citizen scientists have no role in the wider world.

That is my opinion.

Even authentic scientists should be vary and beware of the unintended pitfalls.

They should use astute judgement when giving opinions on substances.

One level of Ayahuaska may be medical.

The other level or the next level is spiritual. 

Shamans use this dose level for induction of entry level guys.

With that goes the monetary benefits.

With or without monetary benefits addicts are created.

That is no good.

The perceived higher level of conscious is an illusion that ends up in delusion.

Illusion and delusion are antithetic to Buddhist view of Reality.

I would end up with Buddhist outlook.

Ayahuaska is an antithesis to Buddhist teaching.

Alertness.

Awareness.

Objectiveness, are fundamental to Buddhist meditation.

Priti and Sukka may be addictive to the final goal of Upekka or equanimity.

Seela

Sati

Samadhi

Pragna are the four steps to the final goal.

 

Ayahuaska has no place in Buddhism.

Buddhism is not based on addiction but on understanding of the human predicament based on "Uncertainty Principle".

 Addiction is an impediment to goal seeking nature and behavior  of Buddhism.

Metta

Karuna

Muditha

Upekka are fundamental to Buddhism.

CoviD Fiasco-23-03-2021

CoviD Fiasco-23-03-2021

As an academic I keep a record of scientific material.

That is my habit and I do not believe in digital material.

This has helped me in writing books.

Two books I have delayed writing are one on Mosquitoes and the other on Viruses.

There is no hurry.

I have five more years to go.

This is how I recorded the CoviD Fiasco in point form.

1. Wuhan province in China in September 2019

Endemic becoming Epidemic.

Chinese denial of Bat to Human Transfer in the Wet Market.

2. Nearly 10,000 in China.

Satellite Images confirming large number of deaths.

3. Chinese built a massive building covering the cemetery.

4. The guys involved in the burial were burned to death under another building that collapsed while building it.

The front line workers were decimated.

5. Delay in reporting until 31st of December 2019 (the mandatory deadline of WHO).

6. Brief announcement of that epidemic in January 2020.

7. WHO delaying it reporting till March, 2020 as an International epidemic.

The ploy was for the Chinese to give 6 months of "Covering Time" to hide the factual data.

8. The WHO abrogated their bounden duty.

9. Between March, 2020 to June 2020 CDC had used Genetic Engineering to break down or Synthesize a New Viral Product.

10. International collaboration and over 200 countries participated.

Countries were short listed from 220 to 40 to 20.

11. Multiple Vaccines were artificially generated by Recombinant technology and Micro-array Assembly. 

12. Astra-Zenika only producing an interim report.

13. Emergency Use Authorization Protocol which was not globally accepted.

14. Competition among companies especially in United Kingdom.

15.  Russian producing Sputnic

16. China producing Covax.

17. Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson joining the band wagon.

18. Vaccine was used for front line candidates.

19. Prioritization of Vaccine Schedule

Vaccine was given to MPs in Ceylon!

20. The militarization of the Vaccination Program..

Military backed off and started diverting attention to Environmental Issues related to burial and cremation protocols.

Lot of people were dying including young guys (after vaccination).

I was a victim of global muscle damage after the first dose.

21. We over ran the china's total of reported 90,000.

22. In Ceylon deaths were not correctly reported and the Medical guy who assembled these data was shunted to another  department.

23. Finally cremation strategy was instituted.

24. Human Rights Case / Recent Violation of Human Rights cases started surfacing

25. Government debts and spiraling cost of living and food prices.

Added today

26. Mass protests throughout the country.

 

Update On Corona Virus-Edited-2020

Updated Global Assessment of Corona Virus Pandemic

Chicken, Broiler Chicken in particular.

Chicken Flu

These three words and phrases are synonymous with Corona Virus for nearly 3 decades.

Currently it is pig or piscine flu.

Historically Piscine or Pig flu is relevant and that is why Muslims and Jews in Israel do not consume pork (pigs) but all other varieties of meat available on this planet earth.

In Ceylon they even eat elephant meat.

Broiler Chicken Food Chain in my opinion, is central to the spread of the current epidemic and I have inadvertently missed that point.

Pigs and Chickens are part of the super spreader chain by way of Food Chain Transmission (F.C.T).

Only way to avoid transmission is to rear your own chicken or pigs in small scale and not on commercial scale.

WHO will never venture into these domains.

There are few more points of interest.

CDC head is a cunning "Smooth Operator" and his only desire is to hang on to his post for life and that itself is a disaster ominous.

I call him the "Pass the Buck Man”,not the Olympic Batten Style,  and all the American Institutions are well greased and ingrained in this philosophy of passing the buck up or down (Donald Trump Impeachment headed by Nancy Pelosy is a classic example and she is very good exponent of this ploy).

Ultimately it gets to the Commander In Chief.

To our amiable Joe Biden.

He should get rid of these smooth operators from the main stream, starting with CDC Head, if we are to turn the corner, in this pandemic, spreading relentlessly.

America unlike China has enough resources to bounce back in economy.

Rest of the world may sink including UK but not America by any stretch of imagination.

America's biggest problem is it’s open borders policy from Mexico to Latin America to India and China.

Biden is embroiled in this open borders strategy, not by his design but by Democratic party's long term desire to keep it's vote bank appeased and I agree with Trump's "America First Principle" for a particular period of time in American history, at least temporarily, to get rid of the budget deficit and keep  the economy under proper monitory control.

Corona Virus Pandemic should be turned into a stimulus, if they can close the borders on health grounds for at least three years to begin with. I think President Biden under pressure from the left is bending his back on first principles.

Do not listen to the vote bank but listen to the opponents. 

Every wrong move is a step towards Republican Victory.

Lot of guys and girls will give dead ropes including CDC Head, but I am sure President Biden will overcome those distractions and should not look for the next election for policy changes necessary, in this moment of time.

If he ignores the election (let the Republicans worry about it), I believe he can come back for a second term victorious with much more sustainable American Economy.

I think the Democratic opposition to President Putin will backfire, since President Putin is targeting the American consumer psychology long before the election and the price at the pump station will be very decisive. 

His attack, on oil, gas and the capitalist economy in general will bite hard on American consumers both Democratic and Republican.

The longer the war in Ukraine drags it is bad for the American consumer but a good time for the American War Machinery. 

President of Ukraine  open handedly dragged Ukraine into American orbit with no sign of compromise once one is dug in a protracted war. 

That is the plan of President Putin and he has many tricks under his sleeve.

President Biden’s foul mouth uttering or saying words like butcher and regime change have galvanized Russian opinion and that is all what President Putin wanted from America for his political success in the next round of election.

Besides, I believe war was a tactic to divert his failure of Control of Corona Virus in Russia. 

The death in the front line is better than dying of Corona Virus doing nothing at home drinking Vodka for boredom.

But the bigger danger is the fall of Russia politically is ultimate big gain for China. 

The Americans won’t be able to negotiate with China, let alone Russia who is an ally of China.

If America lets China to sneak in, it is going to be a Global Disaster unlike the Muslim and Afghan crisis filtering into India and its neighbors. 

China covertly supported Afghans to undermine America.

That ploy should be stymied now not later.

There are two other equally devastating results of the Corona Virus Pandemic.

1. Food Crisis.

2. Nutritional Crisis

3. The above two determine total Death Rate.

4. Without High Protein Diet one cannot respond to the Vaccine or the Wild Infection.

5. That this Vaccine will solve the current problem is a fantasy created by Drug Companies.

An average American living on food stamp is a total disaster. 

Food stamp is for sustenance and not for total immune response or recovery. 

A total stimulus including Good Diet is mandatory.

We went through this in 1970s and currently we are on the verge of total disaster.

An average child is surviving on manioc.

Powered Milk is out of stock and we cannot produce enough fresh milk.

The fresh milk is expensive and the supply depends on good weather.

A sustained period of dry or drought will kill our cows or reduce productivity below 10% and it is not a viable industry, at a time when economic and food crisis are looming.

We are looking down the barrel and current government is taking advice from a Gnana Manio (Mother with Vision), a Bogus Woman with image bloated sky high.

There are lot of Bogus Manios in this country.

Pani (honey), Nool (silk or thread), Death Traps (unless one pays the sooth healer a bloated sum) and Pooja Vattis (trays for offering flowers are bribes to the Gods) are the modus operandi operational at every doorstep in Ceylon.

I am doctor in full retirement who did almost kicked the bucket due to proactive Moderna Vaccine Jab (MVJ).

I am probably recovering from the Jab Related Myocarditis (J.R.M) and my life was touch and go for several months.

I do not fear to kick the bucket by the Wild Virus (but I hate to give the infection to a third party, not even to a cat or a dog) but I do fear death by the faulty Moderna Jab.

I was probably given a vaccine containing, 6-six times the required adjuvant  and with very little Corona Virus antigen in it.

My mental make is sharp at present and this is to  preempt any catastrophe to my higher centers in the coming months.

Google under no condition should  remove this piece or suppress it.

Visitors to this blog are less than 70 a day or 1500   a month, so it does not cause any alarm to the health agencies world wide.

My assessment are based on at least 40 years of continuous work except for six months, which I took a break to spend time with the family without any medical ha hoo. 

The six months break was children's request first and my volition on the second count.

I was never involved in politics except for a brief period to oust a corrupt regime, long time ago.

I resigned from G.M.O.A, since they failed to protect my rights in spite of my written request very early in my career. An appointment I deserved was given to a stooge. But I won my rights on my own legal representation.

After that, I resigned from government service never to join it again and I have a WAOP number but I have not received any entitlements.

I am a Ceylonese and I have No DUAL Citizenship.

I have traveled from Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere alone, just within 24 hours on my own money to see the Sea Lions. 

In other Words, I have seen the World, on my own account.

For the last 20 years I did not register Under the S.L.M.C.

My degree is MBBS (Ceylon).

I have postgraduate qualifications.

My writing here is as a lay person and should not be interpreted as a medical jargon or any valid  information for research work.

It is certainly not gossip or spinning yarns.

All my observation are from September 2019 onward.

Purely academic to begin with but little bit vocal. 

I think this may be my last, Corona Virus, blog piece, unless lot of sub-comments follow this piece at least to defend my stance politely.

Culprits of the Pandemic are only 3 or 4.

1. Mainland China and Wet Farms.

2. Singapore Airlines.

3. WHO

4. Cover up agents paid by interested parties including Drug Companies.

5. Austria's sky resort dilemma added as a little spice.

But the main cause is under par airline safety protocols.

A) Theory of Lab escaped Virus of high probability.

B) Piscine Borne infection.

C) Delay in investigations for the cover up to take effect.

I have some outrageous suggestion like the mRNA is so tiny, a mosquito can harbour, it and carry it for months apart from infecting pigs.

It is an enterovirus by design that changed it's transmission mode to respiratory mode purely, by accident.

It is only 20 to 30 nanometers and probably cannot be killed by the current detergents.

It keeps on living or replicating given the suitable environment, using its ingenious methodology.

Let me take a different point of view.

This virus had traveled from North Pole to South Pole in less than a year.

No country in the world is free of its contamination, if not death  and that contamination will continue for another 20 years unless we Stop the Food Chain Transfer (FCT) and the free virus mobility on meat products.

It is my belief, that the  Control or Mitigation of the Food Chain Transfer will never happen.

It is very difficult to arrest since entry point to the food chain is numerous and uncontrollable. 

People will starve to death if we interfere with the food transfer chain. One ship trapped in Sues Canal recently is a case in point.

Economic consequences will outlast the 20 years (plausible prediction) of spread of the disease.

If this is a natural virus (most unlikely and a successful virus never wipes out its subjects) it's determination is to control the world population for the benefit or health of the planet.

In the event, if it is an alien design (for a very long period they would have been  masquerading as humans on this planet of ours, i.e; the inhabiting and invading alien beings) for them to get established (in that scenario it is a virus adopted by the aliens for their propagation and they are manipulating it's spread so that the immune aliens have an advantage in survival on this planet) surreptitiously, on this planet.

You can bear with me, I am not sparing any random thoughts.

1. Number one this virus had traveled with man and it's food chain.

That is why it spans the globe.

2. Singapore Airline was the pandemic breaker.

It is the only country with the lowest number of deaths and confirmed cases.

Why?

I do not believe their records and knowing it as the super spreader, at the beginning stage of the pandemic, it is cooking up its numbers to avoid future litigation by foreign civil agents, if not WHO.

This scenario can go bizarre, if the vaccination program causes more vulnerabilities including myocarditis.

Just like China, Singapore is not a fully fledged democracy but it's richness gives it a bit of a cushion and an international clout.

Mode of transfer are Ships and Mighty Long Haul Vehicles with wet foods produced in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taipei.

My theory of mass movement of food products in the food chain helps to spread the disease holds true here.

Traveling  and Shipments are banned for North Koreans and it has probably the lowest cases per capita, probably, lower than Singapore.

All of them are of Chinese descent and wet market entrepreneurs.

Can you see that the jigsaw puzzle is fitting in nicely.

The final piece is WHO who were bribed to delay reporting the pandemic till December 31, 2019 (WHO deadline for that year).

My Conspiracy Theory is right at heart.

Aiding and abetting is visible and obvious.

It is possible to Genomically Tag it’s Origin but my mosquito and piscine theories make this more difficult.

Mosquito transfer is very unlikely apart from hospital (India and Africa are good candidates) spread related to housefly, a viable but a plausible passive transfer of the candidate virus.

The human race is responsible for this and 30% of the failure is of the administration and the other 70% is the incorrigible humans.

We are in a mess and we all have to get out of this mess. 

It is a global problem and not a national problem anymore.

Individual countries and companies stocking up the vaccine is not the way forward. 

It is somewhat, blind expectation that the 70% vaccination will get US out of this problem.

A fanciful imagination.

Lot more efforts and much more vigorous actions have to be in place. 

There are lose ends in this article and I won't try to hide or whitewash.

It is for the young guys to look at this problem globally from all angles. They should  resist the temptation to depend only on health infrastructure.

Spend the resources only on hospitals, vaccination centers and rely on pharmacies to support their efforts, may bounce back both on economy and well-being of mankind.

I have my deep sympathy to the first responders but I am bit skeptical of the efficacy of the vaccines. 

Too, true to be good and one vaccine almost killed me.

 

Kwin and KDE

I have decided to revisit KDE experience from Gnome setting and say only Good things about KDE.

I know it is slow to respond (from my NUC) from Gnome base but I think I am missing a lot of Utilities from Rhythm Box to K3B to Gemini suite.

My advice for a guy or girl who comes from Windows background is to go for Kwin Window Manager and KDE Desktop. 

If YOU are in Gnome Go to Synaptic Package Manager and select Kwin and KDE utilities and select the application you need after completion of KDE install.

Everyhing is configured for you and one need not bother or fiddle with configuration files.

IF you need lot of rendering, Tiling and Stacking, one has to go for a good Graphic Card, not necessarily of the new generation.

I did not like Kile.

Dolphin is pretty Good.

Discover is pretty good.

What about Kdenlive.

What about Spectacle.

Super Tux and Tux Racer.

One could install Gnome utilities too like, Brasero , SMP Player, Celluloid, MPV, Clapper and many more.

It has a graphic installer from which one can pick and choose additional applications and uninstall that are duplicates (having the same function).

The application is Discover and there is no Krun.

Dolphin file manager is pretty good.

All about KDE Desktop of Plasma

What ever YouTube Guys say about KDE and Plasma Desktop is it is very heavy. 

It is as heavy as LibreOffice and takes about 3 minutes to boot with or without file checking.

KDE is by design immutable and cannot be changed.

Worse scenario is when mounted one cannot even format a USB stick.

Even if you want to view the files in a USB one has to give the root password as permissions. 

One cannot write an image.

Guys who are praising KDE should give its UGLY side, too. 

However, I have one instance of KDE as Netrunner to test it and compare with Gnome.

But KDE is getting better and the best current Linux distribution with KDE is Netrunner. 

I am reinstalling it again, after my mishap with Ubuntu Unity and Cinnamon corrupting the GRUB boot loader. 

The real problem with KDE is it is immutable and there is no repository to install additional Linux Utilities.

This can be overcome if one installs Kwin and KDE at the same time on top of Gnome.

Netrunner beats the other guys including Gentoo by having Synaptic Package Manager.

Installer is Calamara and installation is over. 

I am rebooting now.

Additionally Netrunner has both User and Root facility one of the basic features of Linux base.

There is no clutter in the desktop but on the right hand side the applications are nicely arranged.

The kernel seems to be old and it integrate well with Gnome 11 version desktop which I love. 

Applications are alas arranged in an alphabetical order and one need  or has to remember the applications one uses on daily basis.

Ragata OS of SuSe has the best KDE desktop and unlike other KDE clients Ragata is able to format a USB and I believe it can write Iso image, if needed.

There other distributions that support KDE.

1. Debian

2. PCLinux

3. Neptune

4. MXLinux

5. Manjaro

6. KDE Neon

7. KaOS

8. Nitrux

9. Suse

10. Kubuntu

11. Fedora

12. EndeavourOS

Linux History of Window Managers

 I was wondering why Kwin (KDE and Plasma were given up by me long time ago) is popular among YouTube guys.

It has the most number of Visual Effects and Appearances.

Looking at the history Enlightenment Desktop was one of the earliest which I have tried in the past. Then to KDE of SUSE and ultimately Simple Gnome Desktop of my choice.

I am one who is promoting Small is beautiful!

For me Gnome Desktop is enough without effects of Tiling, Staking and Compositing coming from the X11 background of Puppy Linux.

I would not have discovered any of these if I did not intend to write a book on Linux Essentials. The book I intend to finish in 100 pages has gone up to 300 pages now. It took the longest time for book and all the same worth the trouble.

It is on editing stage with lot of typos.

Metisse

Metisse is a 2.5D X window manager with many features that set it apart from the traditional 3D "cube" workspace. Windows can be turned three-dimensionally in any direction, enabling the user to fit more windows onto a screen, and they can be scaled,   all the while remaining fully operational.                    

The development team has avoided such effects as wobbly windows, giving functionality and productivity higher priority than eye candy.

Metisse was available for Mandriva One 2007, PCLinuxOS 2007, Sabayon Linux, Arch Linux as well as FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Metisse is free and open source software subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Sawfish

Sawfish is a window manager for the  X Window System. It aims to manage windows in the most flexible and attractive manner possible. It is able to match a window by multiple criteria such as application, size, role and based on this, it can change the window's position, appearance, or behaviour.      This allows for highly customised window handling such as web browser windows opening in full screen without borders on a secondary monitor, a default terminal emulator window displaying full screen at the desktop level and all dialog box windows under             a certain size opening on the lower right corner of the main monitor while larger ones are centered.

Sawfish uses a Lisp-like scripting language, repository, for all of its code and configuration, making it particularly easy to customise or program many kinds of behaviour, responding to window creation, deletion, or any other changes.

There is a GUI configuration utility for users who do not wish to edit configuration files directly.

Sawfish was first called Sawmill. The name was changed because another software program had the same name. It was the standard window manager of the GNOME desktop environment until it was replaced by Metacity in Gnome 2.2.

Metacity

Metacity was the default window manager used by the GNOME 2 desktop environment until it was replaced by Mutter in GNOME 3. It is still used by GNOME Flashback, a session for GNOME 3 that provides a similar user experience to the Gnome 2.x series sessions.

The development of Metacity was started by Havoc Pennington and it was released under the GNU General Public License. Before the introduction of Metacity in GNOME 2.2, GNOME used Enlightenment and then Sawfish as its window managers.

Although Metacity was designed to integrate into the GNOME desktop, it does not require it to run, while GNOME can be used with different window managers provided that they support the part of the ICCCM specification that GNOME requires.

Metacity uses the GTK graphical widget toolkit to create its user interface components, which makes it themeable and makes it blend in with other GTK applications. Originally, Metacity used GTK 2 however as of version 3.12.0 it has been ported to GTK 3.

Metacity's focus is on simplicity and usability rather than novelties.

Its author has characterised it as;

"Boring window manager for the adult in you. Many window managers are like Marshmallow Froot Loops. Metacity is like Cheerios."

People in favour of Metacity say that it is aimed at new computer users who do not need the abundant options and functionality of Sawfish or Enlightenment.

Havoc Pennington wrote an essay explaining why he wrote Metacity and simplified the GNOME desktop.

Despite the incomplete state of Metacity theme development documentation, many themes have been written for Metacity. A popular theme engine is Clearlooks, which was the default in GNOME from version 2.12, until the release of GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell.

Mutter

Mutter is a window manager initially designed and implemented for the X Window System but then evolved to be a Wayland compositor. It became the default window manager in GNOME 3, replacing Metacity which used GTK for rendering.

Mutter uses a graphics library called Clutter giving it OpenGL capability. "Mutter" is a portmanteau of "Metacity" and "Clutter". Mutter can function as a standalone window manager for GNOME like desktops and serves as the primary window manager for the GNOME Shell, which is an integral part of GNOME 3. Mutter is extensible with plug-ins, and supports numerous visual effects. GNOME Shell is written as a plug-in to Mutter.

Muffin

Muffin is a fork of Mutter by the Linux Mint team for their Cinnamon desktop environment. Cinnamon's shell, a fork of GNOME Shell, is written as a plugin for Muffin.

Sway

Sway is a tiling window manager and Wayland compositor, inspired by i3 and written in C. Sway is designed as a drop-in replacement for i3 using the more modern Wayland display server protocol and wlroots compositor library. Sway works with existing i3 configuration files and supports most of i3's features while providing several new features of its own.

Sway's default controls for manipulating windows are similar to Vi. Window focus is controlled by a combination of theSuper-Key and one of the keys h, j, k, or l. Window movement is performed by the same combination of keys with the addition of the shift key.

Like i3, Sway can be extended and manipulated using its Unix domain socket and JSON-based IPC interface from many programming languages.

Sway's first stable release was on March 11, 2019 after 3.6 years of development.

Sway replicates several of i3's features:

Configuration is performed via a plain text file.

Window tiling is handled manually, rather than dynamically.

Windows can be split horizontally or vertically.

Windows can be arranged in a tabbed (horizontal listing) or stacked (vertical listing) layout.

Windows can be floated similar to a floating window manager.

Tiled and floated windows can be resized or moved using both the mouse and keyboard.

Sway can be completely driven from the keyboard.

Sway also provides several unique features.

Supports multiple non-modifier keys when assigning key bindings.

Windows on the same workspace can be split into multiple containers, such that one set of windows might be arranged in a tabbed layout while the other windows on the workspace might be tiled normally, floating or arranged in a stacked layout.

Handles input, output, and wallpaper configurations instead of relying on separate programs.

KWin

KWin is a window manager for the X Window System and a Wayland compositor. It is released as a part of KDE Plasma, for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its own or with other desktop environments.

KWin can be configured by scripting using QML or QtScript, both of which are based on ECMAScript.

Version 5.0 was the first release based on KDE Frameworks 5 and Qt 5.

5.12 Released February 2018, KWin/X11 got features frozen, meaning no new X11 specific features will be added.

Martin Flöser stated that new features are easy and straight forward with the Wayland back-end, but require considerably more development to add the same feature to the X11 back-end.

There are many window decorations for KWin, including the current default Breeze, the previous default Oxygen, Microsoft Windows like Redmond, and Keramik.

Currently available compositing backends include OpenGL 1.2, OpenGL 2.0, OpenGL 3.1[11] and OpenGL ES 2.0.

It include many Effects and Appearances

Inverts the colour of the desktop and windows

A screen magnifier that looks like a fish eye lens

Magnify the section of the screen that is near the mouse cursor

Makes the entire desktop look sharper

Helps locate the centre of the screen when moving a window

Display a mouse cursor locating effect when activated

Magnify the entire desktop

Appearances include;

Make windows explode when they are closed

Make windows smoothly fade in and out when they are shown or hidden

Fade between virtual desktops when switching between them

Close windows fall into pieces

Highlight the appropriate window when hovering over taskbar entries

Smoothly fade to the desktop when logging in

Desaturate the desktop when displaying the logout dialog

Simulate a magic lamp when minimizing windows

Animate the minimizing of windows

Allows you to draw lines over your desktop

Animate the appearance of windows

Make modal dialogues smoothly fly in and out when shown or hidden

Slide windows across the screen when switching virtual desktops

Sliding animation for Plasma Popups

Display window thumbnails when hovering over taskbar entries

Display window thumbnails on the edge of the screen

Make windows translucent under different conditions

Compiz

Compiz is a compositing window manager available for usage without leaving familiar interfaces such as the ones from GNOME, KDE Plasma or Mate. One of its plugins called Grid allows the user to configure several keybindings to move windows to any corner, with five different lengths. There are also options to configure default placement for specific windows. The plugins can be configured through the Compiz Config Settings Manager / CCSM.

Compiz is a compositing window manager for the X Window System, using 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. Effects, such as a minimization, animation or a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins. Because it conforms to the ICCCM conventions, Compiz can be used as a substitute for the default Mutter or Metacity when using GNOME Panel, or KWin in KDE Plasma.

Internally Compiz uses the OpenGL library as the interface to the graphics hardware. The Hardware requirements are very specific. Initially, Compiz only worked with 3D hardware supported by Xgl.               Most NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards are known to work with Compiz on Xgl. Since May 22, 2006 Compiz works on the standard X.Org Server, by using AIGLX. Besides Intel GMA graphics cards, AIGLX also supports using AMD graphics cards using the open source radeon driver which supports GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap since fall 2006.

NVIDIA's binary drivers support GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap on standard X.Org server and AMD's binary drivers do since version 8.42.

By the early 2000's, both ATI and Nvidia drivers became increasingly common on Linux. Advanced OpenGL development was no longer restricted to expensive UNIX workstations. Around the same time, Xgl, Xegl and AIGLX gave Xorg the possibility of using OpenGL for transformation and effects on windows surfaces. With the foundations finally available for tinkering xcompmgr pioneered the features of a compositing window manager.

Beryl

Beryl was the project name for the quinnstorm branch of Compiz, announced on September 19, 2006 after Compiz developer Quinn Storm and the development team decided that the fork had come too far from the original Compiz-vanilla started by Novell. After the Novell XGL/Compiz team refused the proposition to merge the Quinnstorm changes with Compiz-vanilla, the decision was made to make a real differentiation.

Among the differences to Compiz, Beryl had a new window decorator named Emerald based on cgwd along with a theme manager called emerald-theme-manager, used a flat-file back end instead of gconf and had no GNOME dependencies.

Luminocity

An effort called Luminocity began with some GNOME developers to make use of recent developments. In March 2005, the Luminocity project already featured effects like "wobbly windows", "physics models for window moving", "live updating workspace switcher" and "alpha compositing". Given that Luminocity was mostly a prototype, its development soon was abandoned but some of its effects and behaviors were later implemented by Compiz.

PCLinux Update

Its images probably come from Netherlands, Brazil and Turkey.

Image is 3.2GB but had a problem of downloading.

WiFi is smooth.

KDE desktop is sleek.

One does not get to their Web Page since I do not register with any.

Browser is Firefox.

It has lot of FREE Audio and Video  applications but no VLC.