UCC Memories (34 – 37)

by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

Memories of UCC (34)

U Tun Aung Gyaw (TAG)

• For some people, childbirth is not so difficult. The Teoh family raised 15 children named alphabetically from “A” (Albert Teoh) to “O” (Oscar Teoh”).
• For some, childbirth is not so easy. We have read about Saya Dr. Pike Tin’s mother. We will read about U TAG’s mother.

No Breast Feeding

• U TAG’s mother supposedly breast fed her children. Sadly, they passed away.
• When U TAG was born, his mother decided not to breastfeed him.
• U TAG grew up healthy.
• He served as Joint Secretary of RIT Thaing Club with Saya U Tin Maung Nyunt (M60) as President
• He has a younger brother and sister.

Always A Child

• U TAG’s father thinks and treats U TAG as a child — even after he got married and had children.
• Grape vine says that his father visited him while he was volunteering at UCC. At night his father checked if U TAG was tucked up in a blanket.

Phobia

• U TAG’s phobia is fear of being haunted.
• When UCC was housed in Mandalay Hall, there were stories about students. who after being killed in the demonstrations (e.g. 7th July), were rambling as ghosts in and around Mandalay Hall.
• U TAG would ask someone to accompany him to the restroom at night.

Update

• U TAG received his doctorate in Computer Science from UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign).
• He is having quality time with his five children and six grandchildren.
• He is a workaholic.
• He worked full time often on multiple projects.
• He hosted us at Cape Cod where the wedding reception of his younger son was held. We were surprised to learn that he was on call. Too much သံယောဇဉ် on his work.
• Some time back he was at work, when his spouse had a medical emergency at home. It was lucky because their daughter, who had an appointment with her mother, arrived on time to call the ambulance.
• He is retired, but he still gives seminars and tutorials on AI (Artificial Intelligence) and NLP (Natural Language Processing).

Memories of UCC (35)

Veda Kyaung Oke

• U Myint Sein (Bobby, SPHS 64, B. Com 68, BARB, IDEA Astrology, GBNF) is my childhood friend.
• We attended PPBRS (Private Primary Boundary Road School) and SPHS (St. Paul’s High School).
• He became the Principal at BARB (Burmese Astro Research Bureau). He later founded IDEA Astrology.
• He asked me if I can help him to speed up some Veda processes (e.g. generation of a Natal Horoscope, also known as Zartar).
• I had two students — Ko Win Latt and Ko Zaw Tun — who were willing to take the Veda challenge.

Win Latt

• Ko Win Latt owned a computer and was also an excellent programmer.
• Under my supervision and with the guidance of Ko Myint Sein, Ko Win Latt came up with three versions of the Horoscope program.
• He named them WinHoro V3, V6 and V9 (for Versions 3, 6, and 9).
• I am not sure whether he believed in တြင်း (three and its multiples) and နဝင်း (nine and its multiples).
• V3 produces the “basic” horoscope with Yathi (Rasi), Bawa and Nawin (Navamsa). It is also known as “Tri Cekka Zartar” တြိစက္ကဇာတာ referring to the three parts. It takes some time (a few minutes to an hour) if done manually.
• V6 produces a better horoscope.
• V9 produces the best horoscope.
• He later conducted computer classes and managed a computer company called Sysmagic.

BASIC

• BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a programming designed by Professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz for use with the Dartmouth College Time Sharing System.
• Bill Gates and Paul Allen implemented “Tiny BASIC” for the MITS Altair microprocessor kit.
• BASICA (Advanced BASIC), GWBASIC (Gee Whiz BASIC) and APPLESOFT became variants of BASIC for PCs.

Zaw Tun

• One needs expert knowledge to interpret a Zartar.
• Ko Zaw Tun (now in Singapore sharing his time with Programming and volunteering at Singapore Chan Mei Yeik Tha ချမ်းမြေ့ရိပသာ used PROLOG (language for Logic Programming) to implement the Bedin (Astrology ဗေဒင်) Rules.
• He tested his program with several sets of data.
• He was surprised when his program said that “the Two Year Old is a rich person (possibly a Millionaire)”.
• He thought that there must be a bug.
• It turned out that the Two Year Old is the grand son of a wealthy Sawbwa (Saophalong, Shan noble စော်ဘွား), who decided that his grandson should inherit his wealth.

Aung Myint Oo

Ko Aung Myint Oo (EC84, ex-UCC) re-implemented WinHoro using “C” language on the Window PCs.

IDEA Astrology

• After retiring from BARB, U Myint Sein founded IDEA Astrology and served as its Principal.
• Ko Zaw Tun is in touch with some of the alumni of that school.
• For some time, U Myint Sein also taught Medical Astrology at the “School for Indigenous Medical Practitioners (Taing Yin Say Sayas)”.
• Sad to note that my good friend passed away peacefully a few years back. He supposedly had “Si Chet Khauk Swe ဆီချက်ခေါက်ဆွဲ” in North Okkalapa that morning on his final day. He came back home and watched TV. He apparently had a heart attack.
• I met Ko Myint Sein’s son on January 24, 2018. He told me of his “Kan Soe Kan Kaung” experience. He was taking time off from his ship to study for Chief Mate examination when Ko Myint Sein passed away unexpectedly. He was unlucky (Kan Soe) to lose his father, but was lucky (Kan Kaung) to be present at his father’s last journey.

Memories of UCC (36)

Some COBOL Programmers

U Soe Thein (Joe Thein)

• Joe had a disability, but that did not prevent him to have a good life and career.
• He completed training courses from ICL (including COBOL programming).
• He joined UCC as an off-line operator.
• He transferred to the Business Application Division as a prorammer.
• He became one of the COBOL teachers with Judy and Japan Sayagyi.

U Aung Hlaing (Japan Sayargyi)

• He is the younger brother of U Tun Hlaing, Dr. Tha Hlaing and Dr. Nyunt Hlaing.
• His wife worked for the Foreign Ministry and was assigned to Japan.
• He accompanied her and worked in Japan as a COBOL programmer.
• Saya U Soe Paing met him during his training (sponsored by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and implemented by Fujitsu and other Japanese computer companies.
• Saya U Soe Paing asked U Aung Hlaing if he would like to join UCC upon his return to Burma.

Daw Nwe Nwe Win (Judy)

• Judy was a star athlete at RASU.
• At UCC, she would often be the sixth player on the men’s team.
• She used to hang around a lot with Daw Nge Ma Ma Than (Ma Nge).
• One day, some one approached Judy and Ma Nge with two envelopes. He said, “It’s for both of you”. Guess what? Inside each envelope was a “Yee Zar Sar”.
• Judy and Ma Nge remained “twins” until U Myint Swe managed to get the favor of Ma Nge.
• It would take some more time before a young knight named U Myint Zaw would ask Judy to tie the knot.

Memories of UCC (37)

U San Myint Thane (Sammy)

• Sammy asked his brother Dr. Thein Toe Thane in the US to send him books (including the one by Klingman) and a Microprocessor Tool kit for use in his Final Year Project.
• Sammy was interested in microprocessors.
• He and Kelvin Leigh used the microprocessor kit to build a microcomputer system with selected capabilities.
• They ran demonstration programs on the assembled microprocessor system.
• After completing his project, Sammy donated the books to Saya U Kyaw Lwin (EE, GBNF) for using as reference in Saya’s courses (e.g. Digital Electronics).
• Sammy spent some time at UCC while waiting to migrate to the United States.
• Sammy and Kelvin migrated to the US.

Duality

• Klingman discusses “Hardware Software Duality”.
• The concept of Duality can be found in Mathematics and Logic.
• The “Line-Point Duality” says that “Two intersecting lines determine a point. Two points determine a line [which passes through both]”. In this Geometric aspect, Line and Point are Duals.
• De Morgan’s Theorems in “Set Theory” and “Boolean Algebra” are Duals.
• In Set Theory, Union and Intersection are Duals.
• In Boolean Algebra, AND (Conjunction) and OR (Disjunction) are Duals.
• Klingman said that “Any hardware can be implemented in software. Any software can be implemented in hardware.”
• There are trade-offs to consider whether to use hardware, software, firmware or a combination.

Life after UCC

• His mother wanted him to get married and was willing to arrange, but he set the requirements too high.
• The bride must be young, intelligent, and able to play Classical and Modern music.
• Finally, by applying some “Relaxation Techniques”, Sammy became a loving spouse and a caring father of twins.
• Sammy hosted me at his house in Texas, California. He was then an eligible bachelor.
• I met Sammy again at the RIT Alumni Reunion in the East Coast in 2009. Sammy was requested by Ko Nyein Min (C79) to help organize the Reunion.