Blind Fish
I volunteered to look after a batch of blind and partially blind fish.
After nearly 20 months only three are left.
One has total visually capacity now.
One is blind in one eye.
The other is totally blind.
It amazes me how it survived.
It more amazing how it detects me.
The moment I sit next to the tank it comes near to the side my chair is kept.
The blind fish knows I am there.
I do not touch anything.
Probably it detects my foot steps and pulling the chair (gently).
I do not feed that tank (to confuse the blind fish in a way) first as a routine but feed the fish in the main big tank.
Moment I start putting the pellets that sink to the bottom, the two clown fish make a mess of the bottom sediment, and then the blind fish hits at the bottom or the floor in a random fashion and finds its food.
That's how it survived.
I believe the other fish, especially the clown fish (scavenger) gives a subsonic message to the blind fish.
They are all in one community.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Firearm Free Society
Firearm Free
Society
It is appropriate to
revisit the JVP and LTTE.
Not of their
achievements but impact they had made in gun industry.
Before JVP almost
all the landowners had a registered gun or rifle.
Government withdrew
all the licenses as a result.
But LTTE with the
help of RAW took up arms.
After a big battle
they were unarmed.
Imagine if we did
not have both those in our history.
We would be like
America.
Police officers getting killed while on duty.
Come April we would
have firearm incidents unprecedented in this part of the world.
Only defense
officers can carry firearms.
In spite of this we
have local mafia carrying illegal fire arms.
We must search and
destroy all firearms not belonging to the defense forces.
Recent incident in
the North is and eyeopener.
They say history
repeats.
That is if we are
not vigilant.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Knoppix 7.7-Magazine Edition
Knoppix 7.7-Magazine Edition
Knoppix Linux 7.7 is fabulous.
It comes in 32 bits and 64 bits.
I had few problems of booting (my fault) it but once running, it was very smooth.
Immediately prepared a Flash Disk with over lay.
You need at least 8 GIB Flash Disk.
I listened to a rare interview with Linus Torvalds yesterday.
He is a genius but very reserved, whereas, Klaus Knopper is both affable as well as genius.
In the May Edition of the Linux Magazine Ask Klaus was missing.
I missed it but he deserves a holiday.
Remember Klaus is the one who introduced the Live CD/DVD and popularized Linux.
I started my Linux with Knoppix.
It is a great DVD.
Knoppix Linux 7.7 is fabulous.
It comes in 32 bits and 64 bits.
I had few problems of booting (my fault) it but once running, it was very smooth.
Immediately prepared a Flash Disk with over lay.
You need at least 8 GIB Flash Disk.
I listened to a rare interview with Linus Torvalds yesterday.
He is a genius but very reserved, whereas, Klaus Knopper is both affable as well as genius.
In the May Edition of the Linux Magazine Ask Klaus was missing.
I missed it but he deserves a holiday.
Remember Klaus is the one who introduced the Live CD/DVD and popularized Linux.
I started my Linux with Knoppix.
It is a great DVD.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Comets and Planet Nine
Comets and Planet Nine
Beginning around 250 to 500 Million years
In this context, evolution of the frogs/toads is very important.
They have gone through all the comet impacts but survived for 300 million years.
Assuming comet impacts were local in nature and the toads did survive in not affected areas, is a simple logic.
But there few unexplained facts.
Amoeba dubia
670,000,000,000
Amoeba proteus 290,000,000,000
Bufo bufo (Frog)
6,900,000,000
Homo sapiens (Man)
2,900,000,000
One of the largest genomes belongs to a very small creature, Amoeba dubia.
This protozoan genome has 670 billion units of DNA, or base pairs.
The genome of a cousin, Amoeba proteus, has a mere 290 billion base pairs, making it 100 times larger than the human genome.
Frogs have much larger DNA.
They accumulated all the genomic features to overcome the adversity is one of my hypothesis.
The second is the ability to hibernate.
Third is the ability to live both in water and land.
The ability to metamorphosis is probably made them survive with mutations.
After tuna fish they stand alone in the evolutionary history of this planet.
There is a little toad in us; at least the five fingers in humans (including writers) have an evolutionary link.
Additionally if they disappear in our nature it is a sure sign of pollution and our soil and water is not healthy for drinking and cultivation.
They are our main bio-indicators.
I suppose Victor Ivan read this at leisure.
When I hear frogs croaking in my neighborhood, I know they are coming to roost and breed on my FREE water tanks.
It is rare to see a tree frog now.
They are the cleanest (compared to rats) to dissect and we used to do without gloves.
Don’t tell the Chinese and Koreans who come here to visit that we have frogs.
In a decade we will exterminate the frog population.
Dogs (Victor is worried about stray dogs) flesh and toads are their delicacies.
Every Kilo of beef we spend 8 to16 kilos of grain which is enough to supplement protein deficiency in our children.
During Sirima's time we designed the Thriposha.
I know one company in this country has taken the lead and produce healthy and nutritious snacks from grains.
We don’t need to kill or for that mater rear goose or chicken.
Chicken is the most unhealthy meat of all stuffed with hormones that cause breast cancer in young females.
Latest
11 Million Years ago
38 Million years
66 Million years
Next
In 16 million years
In my book Ceylon and its Origin, I have used the above information to formulate, the formation of two or three plateaus (peneplains) and the hill country, as a hypothesis.
But I am more interested in our prehistory which our ancient Buddhist monks have deliberately erased (probably by the instruction of the Kings and Queens) by vandalizing and turning the caves into ashen remains or temples.
We have few remains of our prehistoric man.
I believe they were decimated by design of by natural disasters (small pox or even measles brought in by the invaders).
I believe the former since the lack of remains explains the erasing of the ancient history by design.
The ancient man never evolved here (not enough time) but have come by sea.
There was no link to Indian subcontinent then.
From where did they come from?
That is my question to the anthropologists.
In this period we did not have comets to explain extinction.
Comets
Whitmire already showed back in 1985 — when he first started looking into the possibility of Planet Nine-related comet barrages — that the pattern held for at least the last 250 million years. Newer research suggests that these barrages may actually have been happening for as much as 500 million years, and quite possibly longer.
The latest comet shower is thought to have occurred around 11 or so million years ago, around the time of the Middle Miocene mass extinction.
Before that, similar events were thought to have occurred around 38 and 66 million years ago, the latter thought to be the comets that killed off the dinosaurs.
Don’t ring the alarm bells though for the next bombardment. Humankind will likely be dramatically evolved (if hopefully not long gone) by the time Planet Nine passes through the Kuiper Belt again. “Modern man doesn’t have worry about the next comet shower for 16 million years,” Whitman quipped.
Beginning around 250 to 500 Million years
In this context, evolution of the frogs/toads is very important.
They have gone through all the comet impacts but survived for 300 million years.
Assuming comet impacts were local in nature and the toads did survive in not affected areas, is a simple logic.
But there few unexplained facts.
Amoeba dubia
670,000,000,000
Amoeba proteus 290,000,000,000
Bufo bufo (Frog)
6,900,000,000
Homo sapiens (Man)
2,900,000,000
One of the largest genomes belongs to a very small creature, Amoeba dubia.
This protozoan genome has 670 billion units of DNA, or base pairs.
The genome of a cousin, Amoeba proteus, has a mere 290 billion base pairs, making it 100 times larger than the human genome.
Frogs have much larger DNA.
They accumulated all the genomic features to overcome the adversity is one of my hypothesis.
The second is the ability to hibernate.
Third is the ability to live both in water and land.
The ability to metamorphosis is probably made them survive with mutations.
After tuna fish they stand alone in the evolutionary history of this planet.
There is a little toad in us; at least the five fingers in humans (including writers) have an evolutionary link.
Additionally if they disappear in our nature it is a sure sign of pollution and our soil and water is not healthy for drinking and cultivation.
They are our main bio-indicators.
I suppose Victor Ivan read this at leisure.
When I hear frogs croaking in my neighborhood, I know they are coming to roost and breed on my FREE water tanks.
It is rare to see a tree frog now.
They are the cleanest (compared to rats) to dissect and we used to do without gloves.
Don’t tell the Chinese and Koreans who come here to visit that we have frogs.
In a decade we will exterminate the frog population.
Dogs (Victor is worried about stray dogs) flesh and toads are their delicacies.
Every Kilo of beef we spend 8 to16 kilos of grain which is enough to supplement protein deficiency in our children.
During Sirima's time we designed the Thriposha.
I know one company in this country has taken the lead and produce healthy and nutritious snacks from grains.
We don’t need to kill or for that mater rear goose or chicken.
Chicken is the most unhealthy meat of all stuffed with hormones that cause breast cancer in young females.
Latest
11 Million Years ago
38 Million years
66 Million years
Next
In 16 million years
In my book Ceylon and its Origin, I have used the above information to formulate, the formation of two or three plateaus (peneplains) and the hill country, as a hypothesis.
But I am more interested in our prehistory which our ancient Buddhist monks have deliberately erased (probably by the instruction of the Kings and Queens) by vandalizing and turning the caves into ashen remains or temples.
We have few remains of our prehistoric man.
I believe they were decimated by design of by natural disasters (small pox or even measles brought in by the invaders).
I believe the former since the lack of remains explains the erasing of the ancient history by design.
The ancient man never evolved here (not enough time) but have come by sea.
There was no link to Indian subcontinent then.
From where did they come from?
That is my question to the anthropologists.
In this period we did not have comets to explain extinction.
Comets
Whitmire already showed back in 1985 — when he first started looking into the possibility of Planet Nine-related comet barrages — that the pattern held for at least the last 250 million years. Newer research suggests that these barrages may actually have been happening for as much as 500 million years, and quite possibly longer.
The latest comet shower is thought to have occurred around 11 or so million years ago, around the time of the Middle Miocene mass extinction.
Before that, similar events were thought to have occurred around 38 and 66 million years ago, the latter thought to be the comets that killed off the dinosaurs.
Don’t ring the alarm bells though for the next bombardment. Humankind will likely be dramatically evolved (if hopefully not long gone) by the time Planet Nine passes through the Kuiper Belt again. “Modern man doesn’t have worry about the next comet shower for 16 million years,” Whitman quipped.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Renaissance
Renaissance
After reading Victor Ivan’s article I felt like reproducing a piece of a chapter called Plant Watching (written for for elder statesmen).
Since Victor also fall into elder statesman category it is worth for his reading too.
I got interested in water lillies over the past three years and found it extremely difficult to make them flower.
After two years of waiting time, just yesterday, I noticed that there were two of them about to flower.
Mind you I look at them daily when I feed the fish.
The flowering is timed by a weather cycle (including ambient temperature) exacting to nano seconds, is my gut feeling.
They have over 20 odd sensing mechanism,even modern scientists have failed to work out.
We have only five.
Evolution has made us upright but without three mirrors we cannot drive a bus or a lorry.
We can run forward but we cannot run backwards. or turn sidewards abruptly.
I think even elephants so big can turn sidewards if they wanted.
If we believe god had created (which is totally untrue) us he has made lot of mistakes including not being able to understand plant senses.
Without plants this world cannot exist.
They were the first to evolve.
We had over 2000 rice varieties to suit any weather (including probably global warming) in this country.
Because of our wrong agriculture policy we have lost all but 50.
America killed the Philippines Rice Industry and now the farmers (two were killed recently in riots) are fighting for a meal.
Before they killed the rice industry they took away all the genetic material and stored them in super-coolers.
Plant Sense
Plants, unlike animals, do not have ears, eyes, or tongues to help them feel and acquire information from their environment. But they do sense their environment in other ways and respond accordingly. Scientists have shown that plants can detect various wavelengths and use colors to tell them what the environment is like. When a plant grows in the shadow of another, it will send a shoot straight up towards the light source. It has also been shown that plants know when it is day and when it is night. Leaf pores on plants open up to allow photosynthesis during the daytime and close at night to reduce water loss. Plants also respond to ultraviolet light by producing a substance that is essentially a sunscreen so that they do not get sunburned.
Plants can sense weather changes and temperatures as well.
Plants have specific regulators, plant hormones, minerals and ions that are involved in cell signaling and are important in environmental sensing. In fact, without these, the plants will not grow properly.
Here are some examples of plant signaling.
1. Plant shoots grow up and roots grow down because they are responding opposite to the force of gravity. Shoots grow in the opposite direction of gravity (up) while roots grow towards gravity (down). The root cap senses force of gravity, transforms that information into a signal regulated by hormones and ions that the growing region of the root can understand.
Scientists still do not know exactly what the signal is.
This signaling results in one side of the root growing faster than the other, so the root curves downward.
2. Plants also respond to wind or touch.
If plants are in a windy spot they build thicker and tougher wind resistant stems. They can also sense when insects are on them. This can cause them to produce a chemical defense system.
The six authors—among them Eric D. Brenner, an American plant molecular biologist; Stefano Mancuso, an Italian plant physiologist; František Baluška, a Slovak cell biologist; and Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh, an American plant biologist—argued that the sophisticated behaviors observed in plants cannot at present be completely explained by familiar genetic and biochemical mechanisms. Plants are able to sense and optimally respond to so many environmental variables—light, water, gravity, temperature, soil structure, nutrients, toxins, microbes, herbivores, chemical signals from other plants—that there may exist some brain like information processing system to integrate the data and coordinate the plant’s behavioral response.
The authors pointed out that electrical and chemical signaling systems have been identified in plants which are homologous to those found in the nervous systems of animals. They also noted that neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate have been found in plants, though their role remains unclear.
Indeed, many of the most impressive capabilities of plants can be traced to their unique existential predicament as beings rooted to the ground and therefore unable to pick up and move when they need something or when conditions turn unfavorable.
The “sessile life style,” as plant biologists term it, calls for an extensive and nuanced understanding of one’s immediate environment, since the plant has to find everything it needs, and has to defend itself, while remaining fixed in place.
A highly developed sensory apparatus is required to locate food and identify threats.
Plants have evolved between fifteen and twenty distinct senses, including analogues of our five:
Smell and taste (they sense and respond to chemicals in the air or on their bodies);
Sight (they react differently to various wavelengths of light as well as to shadow);
Touch (a vine or a root “knows” when it encounters a solid object);
It has been discovered, even sound.
In a recent experiment, Heidi Appel, a chemical ecologist at the University of Missouri, found that, when she played a recording of a caterpillar chomping a leaf for a plant that hadn’t been touched, the sound primed the plant’s genetic machinery to produce defense chemicals. Another experiment, done in Mancuso’s laboratory and not yet published, found that plant roots would seek out a buried pipe through which water was flowing even if the exterior of the pipe was dry, which suggested that plants somehow “hear” the sound of flowing water.
At least it can sense the vibration.
After reading Victor Ivan’s article I felt like reproducing a piece of a chapter called Plant Watching (written for for elder statesmen).
Since Victor also fall into elder statesman category it is worth for his reading too.
I got interested in water lillies over the past three years and found it extremely difficult to make them flower.
After two years of waiting time, just yesterday, I noticed that there were two of them about to flower.
Mind you I look at them daily when I feed the fish.
The flowering is timed by a weather cycle (including ambient temperature) exacting to nano seconds, is my gut feeling.
They have over 20 odd sensing mechanism,even modern scientists have failed to work out.
We have only five.
Evolution has made us upright but without three mirrors we cannot drive a bus or a lorry.
We can run forward but we cannot run backwards. or turn sidewards abruptly.
I think even elephants so big can turn sidewards if they wanted.
If we believe god had created (which is totally untrue) us he has made lot of mistakes including not being able to understand plant senses.
Without plants this world cannot exist.
They were the first to evolve.
We had over 2000 rice varieties to suit any weather (including probably global warming) in this country.
Because of our wrong agriculture policy we have lost all but 50.
America killed the Philippines Rice Industry and now the farmers (two were killed recently in riots) are fighting for a meal.
Before they killed the rice industry they took away all the genetic material and stored them in super-coolers.
Plant Sense
Plants, unlike animals, do not have ears, eyes, or tongues to help them feel and acquire information from their environment. But they do sense their environment in other ways and respond accordingly. Scientists have shown that plants can detect various wavelengths and use colors to tell them what the environment is like. When a plant grows in the shadow of another, it will send a shoot straight up towards the light source. It has also been shown that plants know when it is day and when it is night. Leaf pores on plants open up to allow photosynthesis during the daytime and close at night to reduce water loss. Plants also respond to ultraviolet light by producing a substance that is essentially a sunscreen so that they do not get sunburned.
Plants can sense weather changes and temperatures as well.
Plants have specific regulators, plant hormones, minerals and ions that are involved in cell signaling and are important in environmental sensing. In fact, without these, the plants will not grow properly.
Here are some examples of plant signaling.
1. Plant shoots grow up and roots grow down because they are responding opposite to the force of gravity. Shoots grow in the opposite direction of gravity (up) while roots grow towards gravity (down). The root cap senses force of gravity, transforms that information into a signal regulated by hormones and ions that the growing region of the root can understand.
Scientists still do not know exactly what the signal is.
This signaling results in one side of the root growing faster than the other, so the root curves downward.
2. Plants also respond to wind or touch.
If plants are in a windy spot they build thicker and tougher wind resistant stems. They can also sense when insects are on them. This can cause them to produce a chemical defense system.
The six authors—among them Eric D. Brenner, an American plant molecular biologist; Stefano Mancuso, an Italian plant physiologist; František Baluška, a Slovak cell biologist; and Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh, an American plant biologist—argued that the sophisticated behaviors observed in plants cannot at present be completely explained by familiar genetic and biochemical mechanisms. Plants are able to sense and optimally respond to so many environmental variables—light, water, gravity, temperature, soil structure, nutrients, toxins, microbes, herbivores, chemical signals from other plants—that there may exist some brain like information processing system to integrate the data and coordinate the plant’s behavioral response.
The authors pointed out that electrical and chemical signaling systems have been identified in plants which are homologous to those found in the nervous systems of animals. They also noted that neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate have been found in plants, though their role remains unclear.
Indeed, many of the most impressive capabilities of plants can be traced to their unique existential predicament as beings rooted to the ground and therefore unable to pick up and move when they need something or when conditions turn unfavorable.
The “sessile life style,” as plant biologists term it, calls for an extensive and nuanced understanding of one’s immediate environment, since the plant has to find everything it needs, and has to defend itself, while remaining fixed in place.
A highly developed sensory apparatus is required to locate food and identify threats.
Plants have evolved between fifteen and twenty distinct senses, including analogues of our five:
Smell and taste (they sense and respond to chemicals in the air or on their bodies);
Sight (they react differently to various wavelengths of light as well as to shadow);
Touch (a vine or a root “knows” when it encounters a solid object);
It has been discovered, even sound.
In a recent experiment, Heidi Appel, a chemical ecologist at the University of Missouri, found that, when she played a recording of a caterpillar chomping a leaf for a plant that hadn’t been touched, the sound primed the plant’s genetic machinery to produce defense chemicals. Another experiment, done in Mancuso’s laboratory and not yet published, found that plant roots would seek out a buried pipe through which water was flowing even if the exterior of the pipe was dry, which suggested that plants somehow “hear” the sound of flowing water.
At least it can sense the vibration.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Why I have stopped writing about Linux?
09-04-2016
I have stopped writing about Linux (this site is named Linux 100) mainly because of the popularity of the smartphones.
Smartphone is a minicomputer and is slowly outstripping the PC Market.
Reason for listing the history is to show how Linux contributed to IT industry and how Microsoft tried to kill Linux by various alliances (Novel included).
1. Android is Linux based (has taken over the place of Apple iPhone).
Microsoft is NOW struggling to enter the phone market.
2. Unlike Apple and Microsoft, Linux has many desktops from minimal to heavy (KDE).
I love Gnome but now Xfce4 is almost becoming the standard due to its low usage (fast) of resources.
3. Server market is dominated by Linux.
4. The cloud can be easily managed by Linux.
5. The story is when one cannot kill, one has to embrace it.
Microsoft is lately doing it to survive in the Cloud Market.
The bottom line is if you have money buy the elegant iPhone.
If you are low in budget or want a second smartphone by an Android and not a Microsoft (you have to pay for every little thing you download).
Of course you have Samsung (again Linux derivative) as an attractive design.
In the meantime F-Droid free software version of Android is building up its repertoire of software.
Linux is all over the place and Microsoft cannot monopolize.
I am one of those guys who used Linux exclusively and pity the guys who pay for a product which is out of date.
History of Linux
Reproduction
1991:
The Linux kernel is publicly announced on 25 August by the 21-year-old Finnish student Linus Benedict Torvalds.
1992:
The Linux kernel is relicensed under the GNU GPL. The first Linux distributions are created.
1993:
Over 100 developers work on the Linux kernel. With their assistance the kernel is adapted to the GNU environment, which creates a large spectrum of application types for Linux. The oldest currently (as of 2015) existing Linux distribution,
Slackware, is released for the first time. Later in the same year, the Debian project is established. Today it is the largest community distribution.
1994:
Torvalds judges all components of the kernel to be fully matured: he releases version 1.0 of Linux. The XFree86 project contributes a graphical user interface (GUI).
Commercial Linux distribution makers Red Hat and SUSE publish version 1.0 of their Linux distributions.
1995:
Linux is ported to the DEC Alpha and to the Sun SPARC. Over the following years it is ported to an ever greater number of platforms.
1996:
Version 2.0 of the Linux kernel is released. The kernel can now serve several processors at the same time using symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), and thereby becomes a serious alternative for many companies.
1998:
Many major companies such as IBM, Compaq and Oracle announce their support for Linux.
The Cathedral and the Bazaar is first published as an essay (later as a book), resulting in Netscape publicly releasing the source code to its Netscape Communicator web browser suite.
Netscape's actions and crediting of the essay brings Linux's open source development model to the attention of the popular technical press.
In addition a group of programmers begins developing the graphical user interface KDE.
1999:
A group of developers begin work on the graphical environment GNOME, destined to become a free replacement for KDE, which at the time, depends on the, then proprietary, Qt toolkit.
During the year IBM announces an extensive project for the support of Linux.
2000:
Dell announces that it is now the No. 2 provider of Linux-based systems worldwide and the first major manufacturer to offer Linux across its full product line.
2002:
The media reports that "Microsoft killed Dell Linux"
2004:
The XFree86 team splits up and joins with the existing X standards body to form the X.Org Foundation, which results in a substantially faster development of the X server for Linux.
2005:
The project openSUSE begins a free distribution from Novell's community.
Also the project OpenOffice.org introduces version 2.0 that then started supporting OASIS OpenDocument standards.
2006:
Oracle releases its own distribution of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Novell and Microsoft announce cooperation for a better interoperability and mutual patent protection.
2007:
Dell starts distributing laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed on them.
2009:
RedHat's market capitalization equals Sun's, interpreted as a symbolic moment for the "Linux-based economy".
2011:
Version 3.0 of the Linux kernel is released.
2012:
The aggregate Linux server market revenue exceeds that of the rest of the Unix market.
2013:
Google's Linux-based Android claims 75% of the smartphone market share, in terms of the number of phones shipped.
2014:
Ubuntu claims 22,000,000 users.
2015:
Version 4.0 of the Linux kernel is released.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Happy People
Happy People
I just got into a happy mood and decided to do a survey of happy jobs.
I have listed two of them and two unspecified jobs.
In my life, I have gone through many jobs mentioned here but none of them made me really happy.
I became happy by leaving an unhappy job and finally became totally happy when I retired.
So one way to be happy is to leave an unhappy job.
You cannot do that if you have kids.
To be single as long as one can manage is another way to be happy.
So when you get married do not expect to get happiness as a bonus.
One thing good about marriage is one can share unhappiness with similarly unhappy partner.
It is actually a good therapeutic to know there are other unhappy people.
Let me give an example when India loses in cricket we become happy knowing there are 2 billion unhappy Indians.
It does not work other way round, since there are only 20 millions unhappy people on this side of the Palk Straight, when we lose.
Small is beautiful in one way or the other.
Come back to my analysis there are no lawyers, judges or bankers in the happy list.
I will leave you to work out why they are unhappy.
One clue is they make happy people unhappy.
1. Judge gives a judgment against you.
2. Lawyer takers the money and make you lose the case.
3. Bankers give you an unwieldy loan, the first time you meet them which cannot be paid in your life time.
If you are in a happy job make sure that you never meet the above three in your life.
Come to think about it, I feel animals are much happier than humans.
1. In my opinion happiness is a relative concept.
2. I prefer the neutral perspective (neither happy nor unhappy).
3. It is a spontaneous reaction of well being related to some volition (action) that makes the mind recharges itself but unfortunately, one wants more and more of it (food, alcohol, nicotine, cigarettes).
4. This urge for more brings in a cycle of unhappiness.
That is why I say happiness is relative concept.
5. There are rearrangements of happy and unhappy networks and chemicals in one's brain.
6. Feeling down is part of the cycle (one should not change with drugs-unless insight is lost) some have long happy periods and short unhappy cyccles.
It is like day and night.
7. Sleep (not induced by alcohol or drugs) is the one that interrupts this cycle and rejuvenate the brain neurotransmitter activity.
8. First five minutes after waking up in the morning, is the most important period, we generally mess it up by going for coffee or tea (some alcohol) or opening up an argument.
9. One should use this five minutes, even while brewing the tea, for moment meditation (react with the water that is cold, boils and makes a fine cuppa) or Metta meditation.
10. If one cultivates the above, on a regular basis, creativity returns to your life.
Every day becomes a happy day at least for five minutes.
That is the beginning.
BUT if you can be neither happy nor unhappy, that is the GOLD Standard.
I think I should list the people who are not in the lists below first.
Not in the List
1. Sportsmen and Women
2. Comedians
3. Cartoonists
4. Satirists
5. Bankers
6. Lawyers
7. Judges
9. Politicians
10. Priests
Happy Jobs
1. Engineer
2. Hairdresser/Barber
3. Teacher
4. Nurse
5. Marketers and PR People
6. Medical Practitioner
7. Gardener
8. Scientist
9. Plumber
10. Personal Assistant
No. 1 Principal
No. 2 Executive Chef
No. 3 Loan Officer
No. 4 Automation Engineer
No. 5 Research Assistant
No. 6 Oracle Database Administrator
No. 7 Website Developer
No. 8 Business Development Executive
No. 9 Senior Software Engineer
No. 10 Systems Developer
Construction worker
Personal assistant
Unhappy Jobs
No. 1 Security Guard
No. 2 Merchandiser
No. 3 Salesperson
No. 4 Dispatcher
No. 5 Clerk
No. 6 Research Analyst
No. 7 Legal Assistant
No. 8 Technical Support Agent
No. 9 Truck Driver
No. 10. Customer Service Specialist
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Gamma Alert-Information
Gamma
Alert
This is an entry
point to counteract the misinformation campaign which we are
bombarded with.
Be that it may be,
from doctors, pharmaceutical company, sales representatives, lawyer,
priests, politicians, media moguls or any prankster.
It very difficult to
filter through this misinformation campaign, whether it is local or
global.
I use gamma because
it can be measured with a Geiger Counter.
My investigations are
mainly on scientific events, like dark matter and dark forces, which
are in plenty in the Universe but scientists have failed to
investigate in full.
Similarly there are
lot of dark forces in this country including in politics, especially in
legal fraternity where only minions are prosecuted but rank mafiosi
elements are protect by default.
What one can do as a
good citizen is to be on the look out for loose ends and be on the
guard, all the time.
I am not expecting
anyone to become an investigator par excellence but to avoid pitfalls
created by guys like Sakwithy.
The word alert is
relevant here.
Be a vigilante
instead of an investigator.
We cannot expect the
media moguls to do this because they are by their very nature are
engrossed in this misinformation and their underworld business interests.
Media is their front
end, the back end is mafiosi operations.
We cannot expect the
police to do it.
We cannot expect the priests to do it.
We cannot expect the
legal fraternity (their business is to protect the hawks).
But unlike few years
ago we have a very potent media.
That is the World
Wide Web.
Having said that WWW
is used most of the time for misinformation.
For example one USA
female writer (either she is mad or part of a big operation) has
listed 20 odd reasons for not drinking tea.
I glanced that web
piece and not a single fact was scientifically proven, only hearsay.
What we can do is to
form small pockets of scientifically inclined guys and girls to form
little social media outlets and share critical information (including
stock market).
Especially, if
misinformation is seen inform the group of the possible links
(Ceylon Tea is an example. Coffee guys are doing it).
I see only by
forming groups of “Good Citizens” that we can counteract the ill
effects.
We proved it at the
last election and we can do it again.
The misinformation
campaign is brewing in political fronts.
One must have the
proper tools, like whistle blowers, insiders, proper analysts and
scientists.
Without these
backups tools if one blows up a piece of information, it generally
falls into the hand of mis-informers.
Do not share any
information which cannot be verifiable.
For example a
particular Meditation Center dishing out “Sovan Certificates”.
I want the people to
be well informed and happy even in a simple case of booking a pleasure
trip.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Truth (Reconciliation) Day
Truth
(Reconciliation) Day
One
of my friends corrected me, when I reminded him that today is the
April Fools Day.
He
said you got it absolutely wrong.
What
we need is a Truth (not Fooling ) Day.
Look
at that big monk lying about a Baby Elephant.
Look
at our politicians (promise of good governance), their bread and
butter is lies and damn lies.
This
is being a leap year we generally lie for 364 days at a stretch.
At
least on the February 29th we could have (that is once in
4 years no lies for 24 hours) declared a Truth (Reconciliation too)
Day.
Rest
of the year we spread racial and religious hatred in this Buddhist
country (where Buddhist monks takes the lead and practice hatred not
Metta).
On a
different note, I am informed all our present leaders and past leaders
were affected by total amnesia after the alien encounters.
I am
also told that lasts for years and sometime for life.
End
results of Total Amnesia;
1.
President has totally forgotten that he was elected by a grand
coalition against the SLFP lead by Ma Ra.
2.
Prime Minister has lost memory of all the election promises, and he jumped the band wagon of Citizen Action Groups.
3.
Worst still ex-president had forgotten that he was a ruthless
dictator, known in our history overshadowing even Prabakaran.
The
next stage of this development is called DEMENTIA including for political
events.
Unfortunately
our voters also has total amnesia for election promises.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
How We Killed Our Science Education
How We Killed Our Science Education
It was a strange coincidence that I took to science for higher education.
There were no mentors.
There were no specialists to introduce it in smaller doses.
If not for the British Council Library, I would have gone astray.
There were plenty of booklets from photosynthesis to life on earth to scientific trends.
The school library did not have anything of substance.
Luckily school times were short and on my return I go to the library and glanced through the science magazines.
They were not for burrowing.
Few years before the government at the behest of stupid politicians decided to change the medium of instruction.
Luckily I had the option to select English as the medium of instruction.
My English was no good but I knew given the time I will pick up the terminology in science.
There were no dictionaries in science.
The science teachers without training in teaching would dish out the notes they collected in their education ladder.
We were the guinea pigs.
But books in the science and magazines in the library kept us ahead of them.
It took more than thirty years for the books published in seventies to be translated and they were outdated before they come out in print form.
This is how we killed the science education in schools.
There were attempt to teach Medicine in mother tongue.
I was a raw hand taken in, to teach and translate.
I craftily made my professors to understand, it was not worth.
Even after three months of deliberations, if one of the members found a suitable word, I would tear it off to pieces with counter arguments.
Finally we decided to call it off.
Higher education was in English but there was option for one to select mother tongue if one wished.
It worked in seventies.
I do not know what the trend is how.
It was a strange coincidence that I took to science for higher education.
There were no mentors.
There were no specialists to introduce it in smaller doses.
If not for the British Council Library, I would have gone astray.
There were plenty of booklets from photosynthesis to life on earth to scientific trends.
The school library did not have anything of substance.
Luckily school times were short and on my return I go to the library and glanced through the science magazines.
They were not for burrowing.
Few years before the government at the behest of stupid politicians decided to change the medium of instruction.
Luckily I had the option to select English as the medium of instruction.
My English was no good but I knew given the time I will pick up the terminology in science.
There were no dictionaries in science.
The science teachers without training in teaching would dish out the notes they collected in their education ladder.
We were the guinea pigs.
But books in the science and magazines in the library kept us ahead of them.
It took more than thirty years for the books published in seventies to be translated and they were outdated before they come out in print form.
This is how we killed the science education in schools.
There were attempt to teach Medicine in mother tongue.
I was a raw hand taken in, to teach and translate.
I craftily made my professors to understand, it was not worth.
Even after three months of deliberations, if one of the members found a suitable word, I would tear it off to pieces with counter arguments.
Finally we decided to call it off.
Higher education was in English but there was option for one to select mother tongue if one wished.
It worked in seventies.
I do not know what the trend is how.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Conspiracies in Science.
I thought I can write a book on Conspiracies in Science.
I thought I could make 10 easily!
It does not look like preset day scientists are bent on conspiracies.
I lost count at EIGHT of course I left out the minor events.
Have you thought about any?
Well I have found 11, NOW.
It is all due to my memory failing.
Conspiracies in Science in my List.
1. Microsoft’s Strategy
Bulldoze other operating systems with Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD).
2. Drug Companies
Demise of Professor Bible
3. AIDS Epidemic
Germans in Mid Africa
4. UFOs
America's Blue Book
5. Big Bang Theory
This is the biggest for me to satisfy the Church.
6. Global Warming
America aided by Oil Companies headed the misinformation campaign
7. Mad Cow Disease
Late British PM headed it.
8. Coconut Theory
America's peanut industry.
9. Chip Conspiracy
Silicon Valley kept the chip technology their copyright.
10. Solar Cells
We could have (96% of the solar energy is wasted) been a better country without coal power.
If Sri-Lankan invested on SOLAR 40 years ago, we won't have power cuts now.
11. Lithium Dry Cell battery
Is the biggest conspiracy.
The dry cell and lithium battery for the electric car was designed in the sixties but Americans shelved it.
I wrote about it many moons ago but I have lost the original references.
I thought I could make 10 easily!
It does not look like preset day scientists are bent on conspiracies.
I lost count at EIGHT of course I left out the minor events.
Have you thought about any?
Well I have found 11, NOW.
It is all due to my memory failing.
Conspiracies in Science in my List.
1. Microsoft’s Strategy
Bulldoze other operating systems with Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD).
2. Drug Companies
Demise of Professor Bible
3. AIDS Epidemic
Germans in Mid Africa
4. UFOs
America's Blue Book
5. Big Bang Theory
This is the biggest for me to satisfy the Church.
6. Global Warming
America aided by Oil Companies headed the misinformation campaign
7. Mad Cow Disease
Late British PM headed it.
8. Coconut Theory
America's peanut industry.
9. Chip Conspiracy
Silicon Valley kept the chip technology their copyright.
10. Solar Cells
We could have (96% of the solar energy is wasted) been a better country without coal power.
If Sri-Lankan invested on SOLAR 40 years ago, we won't have power cuts now.
11. Lithium Dry Cell battery
Is the biggest conspiracy.
The dry cell and lithium battery for the electric car was designed in the sixties but Americans shelved it.
I wrote about it many moons ago but I have lost the original references.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Hot Weather and Early Rise, Why not?
Hot Weather and
Early Rise, Why not?
I do not know about
humans but I know birds change their daily routine on summer months.
They are the early
to rise and early to retire.
Their haemoglobin is
different to ours and they need lot of energy to fly.
They use air
currents to assist flying and rarely fly in opposite direction to the
wind.
Their nests are
built so that when they return in the evening air currents are
towards the nests.
The man with the
superior brain does not use his common sense, to rise early and
finish they day's work by mid day when sun is directly above our
head.
With this extremely
(my fish in the open die due to the heat and I have made alternative
arrangements) hot weather soring to 40 Centigrade, we need a
strategic plan at least for school children.
I saw a little girl
almost collapsing in the bus (Woman PC's kid and she did not realize
it) at 2 P.M.
This girl should
have been at home by mid day the most (12 P.M.).
Why cannot we start
school (appropriately for office hours too) one hour early and close
one and half hours early (time table reduced by half an hour, ideally
one hour-not for teachers)?
There is a problem for children (they have to get up early) commuting a long distance.
The teachers should do a survey of the late comers and probably have a less demanding work in the first hour (Physical training included).
All this can be done if common sense is used instead of rigidity (most teacher from my time are /were rigid, I often wonder how I survived).
We have education
ministers who had not attended school beyond 8th grade or
drug peddlers in the parliament who had not even gone to primary school.
I do not think they
get a brain wave to act.
I think we should
close school early for new year and catch up the missed time when
rain gods (May probably) answer our calls.
I must say my dog is
struggling to survive with its furry coat.
The dogs I feed on
my bizarre routines were not there waiting for me to feed.
All of them were
hiding under a shade, I believe.
Please leave some
water for them to drink.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Happiness
Happiness
I am trying to work
out Sri-Lankan Happiness Index.
Strangely it works
negatively.
For example when
India got beaten by New Zealand we were very happy.
When we see nearly 2
billion Indian unhappy, we become elated.
It is with Indian
and South Asian cricket umpires too.
When an umpire gives
not out, as an out, just what happened to Dilshan, the other day, two billion Indians get
happy.
In this scenario for
all us in Asia to get happy we need simple thing like Donald Trump
makes a slip in his tongue or his slip or fly is open in public rally
would do.
So American can make
us happy by default.
I am trying to think
of a positive thing making me happy like an asteroid hitting a monk
possessing an illegal baby jumbo.
This is because we
cannot depend on our Judges to make jumbos (four legged) go free.
I think they are all
unhappy judges.
That is why they
(judges) always try to make us unhappy.
We become very happy
when we see a high ranking politicians lose an election.
The corollary is
that all our politicians are happy when the citizens are unhappy with
cost of living going up.
So making others
unhappy is in our genes.
So don't come here
looking for happiness unless you too have unhappy genes in your
system, like all Asians.
Happiness Index
Happiness Index
157 countries in the
table.
Syria one before
last.
Burundi the last.
Denmark comes first
but its its happiness is decreasing.
Sri-Lanka one above
India at 117 and happiness going up (probably related the surge in
alcohol sale).
South Africa is one
above us.
New Zealand is on
the 8th position but happiness going down but will go up
if they win the T20 World cup.
Singapore at 22nd
place with happiness going up.
England just one
below Singapore and is going down in happiness.
USA is in the 13th
unlucky position with happiness going down probably due to
presidential campaign.
I am waiting for
someone from happy country to send me one of their not used air
ticket for me to get out, before our April New Year where happiness
takes a nose dive in this country.
Why Science took a back seat in Human History
Why
Science took a back seat in Human History
Biggest
obstacle to science was the religion.
That
includes Buddhism too.
Even
though Buddhism encouraged Scientific Inquiry in “Kalam Sutta”,
it was never taken forward in the Eastern civilization.
When
religion takes its roots dogmas get embedded in human thinking.
But
when we consider how religion originated, the answer becomes
startlingly obvious.
Man
had an affliction to mood elevating drugs from prehistoric time.
Mood
elevating drugs impair critical thinking capacity.
Some
of these psychedelic drugs put man in “Trance States.”
Some
of these guys in the human hierarchy who were addicted to these
potent substances for their existence and survival created bizarre
theories of human origin including God.
On
top of religion there is an another dogma God and his creation.
In
actual fact, it is these psychedelic drugs that retarded critical
thinking and the evolution of scientific thinking.
The bottom line is
the drugs that effect sleep, memory and critical thinking are the
byproducts of chemistry that came with scientific evolution.
In
actual fact science itself is killing its roots.
LSD
is a case in point.
Alcohol too effect memory and normal sleep.
Imagine
an airline pilot or an astronaut who is addicted to mood elevating
drugs.
Would you board on a spaceship man by an addict?
For our critical capacity to work
efficiently, clear mind and perfect memory are vital ingredients.
Our
survival in this century depends on these factors.
Any political leader with paranoid inclination would derail human survival.
Any political leader with paranoid inclination would derail human survival.
I
have summarized by thinking below.
Right
Constitution
1.Scientific
outlook comes first.
2.
Rules of law and fair play and Justice to all living beings (Plants
and Animals) is second.
3.
Democracy as a force and the tolerance to diverse views is the
third.
4.Universal
suffrage without bondage, dogma and external powers influencing
(encourage the internal powers of the mind) the decision making, is
the fourth.
5.
Religion has no place or should reign below the above four
pillars.
If an individual has a certain conviction for solace, be that be so, but he/she should tolerate views of the others including, especially those who want not to be bound by any religious dogma.
If an individual has a certain conviction for solace, be that be so, but he/she should tolerate views of the others including, especially those who want not to be bound by any religious dogma.
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