HlaMin

Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)

  • Decline of Trust

    Decline of Trust

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Younger Days

    We were delighted to know that most doors (e.g in some parts of Yamethin) were left open at night. It was an indication of a high level of trust among people.

    Much later

    We saw guarded windows and doors (with multiple locks) in most places. It might indicate a deterioration of trust among people.

    No Exception for USA

    Trust also eroded in the USA. In addition to the locks, there are security cameras and recording systems to deter vandalism and thefts.

    In some places, car windows are broken to take away valuables in the car. Restaurants place signs “Do not leave valuables in your car”.

    Misplaced or Lost Item

    Back in the days of our parents and grand parents, one is sure to get back a misplaced item.

    My friend Patrick remembered that his father left a hat at Rangoon Turf Club and he found it untouched on his preferred seat the following week.

    Trust worldwide

    Around the world, more people lost trust in banking corporations and investment firms after being hit by Ponzi schemes, scams and variants.

    The use of simple passwords has given way to longer pass phrases that are harder to crack.

    Login to computer systems prefer multi-factor authentication (e.g. bio-metrics). The computer sends back a code to be used for verification. Even then, no system that has a “back door” is safe forever. It may be safe for a specified period of time.

    Companies track the activities of their employees. Essentially, no one is to be trusted fully in the modern age with a gazillion of malicious schemes.

    A different view of trust has evolved. People check feedback (e.g. on Yelp) to decide if a product or service is trustworthy. How much does an average person trust a room-sharing service or a ride-sharing service or a friend on an Internet Chat.

    Zaw Winn wrote :

    When the Trust is directly proprtional to Loyalty ;

    When Loyalty is directly proportional to Contentedness ;

    When Contentedness is directly proportional to Sufficiency ;

    When Sufficiency is directly proportional to Abundance ;

    ….

    Trust is readily available.

  • Which -ist are you?

    Optimist

    • looks at the bright side of things
    • sees a glass as half full
    • treats challenge as an opportunity

    Pessimist

    • looks at the dark side of things
    • sees a glass as half empty
    • does not embrace challenge

    Realist

    • performs Reality Check
    • asks if water has been poured in or out before deciding the degree of fullness or emptiness
    • determines which challenges are worthwhile e.g. give a good Return On Investment (ROI)
    • appreciate the Prayer of Acceptance : Grant me the power to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference

  • Heritage

    Meaning

    • Tradition.
    • Property handed over to an heir.
    • Something that is transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor.

    UNESCO

    UNESCO provides grant for sites that have been designated as “Unesco Heritage Site”.

    Yangon

    Yangon City Heritage has recognized Heritage Sites and presented Blue Plaques.

    • SPHS (St. Paul’s High School)
    • St. John’s College (originally called St. John’s Diocesan [Boys] School)
    • Myoma National School
    • MEHS (Methodist English High School)

    USA

    • Some sites and buildings are deemed to be historic (e.g. 150+ years old).
    • Restrictions are placed on how to upgrade them.
  • Heart

    Heart

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    • Heart is a body organ.
    • Heart attacks may result in death.
    • Heart is a suit in a card deck.
      The others are Club, Diamond and Spade.
    • The Heart line is a major line in Palmistry. Others are the Life line, Fate line and Head line.
    • Systems send “Heart Beat” to inform that they are still active.
    • “From the bottom of my heart”,
      “With all my heart”,
      “Heart and soul” and
      “Heart to Heart” are lyrics from the Oldie Songs.
    • We do not like Heart aches and Heart breaks.
    • Heart is a symbol (emoticon) used in Social Media.
    • Hearts is a Card Game.
    • Some Sayas and alumni contact me if they do not receive my “RIT Alumni International News Update” for some time. They worry that I might not be well. I have to send “Heart Beat” saying that my musings can be found in Facebook and my web sites
    • Sacred Heart is a school which is close to St. Paul’s High School. Its alumni include
      Ko Tin Htut (Harry, Mon Yu),
      Ko Tin Aung Win (Oscar)
      Ko Win Boh (Robert) and
      Ko Abdul Rauf (GBNF).

  • Cigarette

    In our younger days

    • In our youth, it was fashionable in the movies and outside to smoke cigars, cheroots and cigarettes.
    • There was no warning that “Smoking could be hazardous to your health”.

    Gold Flake and Ludu

    • Some did not smoke, but they bought used cigarette packs with brands such as Gold Flake and Ludu. Why?
    • There was a campaign from Gold Flake and Ludu that they will give a lottery ticket for the specified number of packs purchased (e.g. 20). The top prize for “Aung Bar Lay Htee” at that time was one Lakh Kyats. If the top winning ticket was bought from Gold Flake or Ludu, the winner received an additional one Lakh Kyats. That was a sizeable amount of money.
    • U Win Thein (M67, GBNF) — the indefatigable organizer — was from the Gold Flake Family.
    • Saya U Hla Myint (Charlie, M65), Ko Michael Lim (C74), Ma Kyu Kyu Lin (“Bawlone”, T75), and Ko San Lwin (EC77) belong to the Ludu Family.
      Ludu had a family band of musicians and vocalists (e.g. Dr. Thynn Thynn Lin) that made public performances at festivals.

    Game

    There was another use of cigarette pack covers. There was a game where players take turns to put up one cover. If the top-most cover matches the cover immediately underneath, the player “wins” the pile of covers. Those who ran out of covers might decide to buy back some covers.

  • Salutation

    • Salutations are context and culture dependent.
    • Many Burmese call older people as “Uncle” and “Auntie” although they are not related to them.
    • At SPHS, we call our sayas without the formal U. e.g. Saya Sein (instead of Saya U Sein)
    • I was reprimanded by a senior alumnus for writing Saya Aung Khin instead of Saya U Aung Khin or Sayagyi U Aung Khin.
    • A visiting Professor from Germany wanted to be addressed as “Professor Doctor” (not just Professor or Doctor).
    • Saya Allen Htay (C58) told us that he could not use “Mr” during his stay in Netherlands. He was asked to use “Ingr” (based on his profession).
    • Early surgeons in the UK were not necessarily doctors, and so they did not force people to address them as Dr.
    • People who have Honorary Doctorates usually put “Honoris Causa” (meaning the degree was awarded for esteem).

  • Vocabulary

    Comfort zone

    • Children are not shy and tend to pick up words — often in multiple languages — quickly and easily.
    • As people grow older, most tend to live within their comfort zone. Such people probably add only 10 – 20 new words a year.

    Necessity and Assimilation

    • My friend’s younger brother and sister are medical doctors from Burma who did not know Chinese. They chose to work in Taiwan. After working there for a year, they felt at ease communicating in Chinese. Assimilation helps improve one’s vocabulary.
    • During the Japanese occupation, several Burmese mastered Japanese quickly.

    Improving one’s vocabulary

    • To expand or refine one’s vocabulary, one could and should take extra effort.
    • In our younger days, we learned from a Reader’s Digest section “It pays to increase your word power” by Wilfred Funk, co-compiler of the Funk and Wagnall’s dictionary.
    • We studied Vocabulary Books which cover a lesson a day for three to six weeks.
    • With the rise of Broadcasting and Internet, it is easy to grow one’s vocabulary. One could subscribe to a program similar to (a) “Word of the Day” by Merriam Webster (b) “Word for the Wise“by National Public Radio (NPR).
  • Practice

    Practice

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Wisdom

    • Conventional wisdom says, “Practice makes perfect.”
    • Unconventional wisdom says, “Perfect practice makes perfect.”

    Horowitz (pianist)

    • If I do not practice for a day, only I will know.
    • If I do not practice for three days, my mom will know.
    • If I do not practice for a week my audience will know.

    Brother Clementian

    • In our Matriculation class, Brother Clementian — former Brother Director who continued teaching — gave a weekly one-hour Mathematics test on Saturdays. We had to answer three questions. With the practice, most of us did well in the examination where we had to answer six questions in three hours.
    • It was an example of “Perfect practice makes perfect.”
    • He would hand out the answer papers on Monday. He would call those who did not do well to a special session after school.

    Thoughts on Practice

    • There are several practice sessions before an event (e.g. Entertainment at SPZP). There may be a Full Dress Rehearsal (final practice).
    • Giving a reasonably good “Prepared Speech” requires practice, but the practice should not involve blind repetition. One should try to remember the main points and the transitions.
    • Practice helps a good athlete to become a great athlete.
    • Dr. Richard Yu Khin (MEHS61, GBNF) wrote about the tough practice sessions given by Mr. Matsuda for ten selected Burmese swimmers.
      They had to swim five 50 yard sprints with one minute interval. The coach helped Tin Maung Ni shine in Burma and beyond.
    • TTC (Teachers’ Training College) had a practicing school.

    Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint wrote :
    And why do qualified doctors keep on “practicing”?

  • Number Systems

    Roman System

    Base Numerals and Values

    • I : One
    • V : Five
    • X : Ten
    • L :Fifty
    • C : Hundred
    • D : Five hundred
    • M : Thousand

    Rules

    If a lesser weighted symbol appears to the left of a larger weighted symbol, the lower value is subtracted from the higher value.
    Examples : IV (5 -1 = 4), XC (100 – 10 = 90)

    If a lesser weighted symbol appears to the right of a larger weighted symbol, the lower value to added to the higher value.
    Examples : VII (5 + 1 + 1 = 7), CXX (100 + 10 + 10 = 120)

    Drawbacks

    Difficult to perform arithmetic operations.

    Not easy to read large Roman numbers. Movie companies supposedly use Roman numbers in their copyright dates so that the audience could not quickly figure out if a movie is too old.

    Hindu-Arabic System

    Digits

    In the Decimal system, there are ten digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and most importantly 0 (Zero).

    “The Dawn of Nothing” emphasizes the introduction of Zero thereby allowing the positional system of representing numbers.

    Advantages

    It has several advantages over the Roman Number System.

    • Compact representation
    • Ease of performing arithmetic operations.

    Number systems in Mathematics

    • Integers
      Positive, Zero, Negative
    • Real Numbers
      Positive, Zero, Negative
    • Complex Numbers
      Real Part and Imaginary Part
    • …

    Bases and Usage

    • Base 10 : Decimal
      Most common
    • Base 2 : Binary
      Used in computers
    • Base 3 : Ternary
    • Base 4
    • Base 8 : Octal
    • Base 16 : Hexadecimal
    • Base 60
      Angular and Time Measure
      Minutes & Seconds
    • Mixed Base
      Old British Measures
      e.g. Mile, Furlong, Yard, Foot, Inch
  • I (Symbol)

    I (Symbol)

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    • 9th letter of the English Alphabet
    • 3rd vowel in English
    • Roman Numeral with the value of one.

    I may stand for

    • Current. e.g. V = IR describes a property of Resistance
    • Information. e.g. IT (Information Technology)
    • Institute. e.g. RIT (Rangoon Institute of Technology)
    • Intelligence. e.g. AI (Artificial Intelligence)
    • Intermediate. e.g. I.Sc. (Intermediate of Science), I.A., I.Com
    • Intra. e.g. IV (Intravenous)
    • Iodine or Iodide

    U Win Myint (UCC) wrote:
    I may stand for I and me, not you.

    Uzin Bobby Myo Tun (A69) wrote :
    (I) Inflates the ego that brings one’s downfall!

    Dr. Nyunt Wai (SPHS63) wrote :
    I may stand for the President post of the world government, if there is one (the dream of Bertrand Russell).

    In medical science,

    I stands for

    • Inflammation
    • Infection
    • Iatrogenic ( disease caused by doctor)
    • Icterus (jaundice)
    • Injury
    • Infarction (localized death of an organ)
    • Incompatibility ( blood transfusion, organ transplantation )
    • Ischaemia (decreased blood supply to an organ)

    Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint wrote :
    And “impotence”

    Dr. Nyunt Wai added :
    Ko Johnny Thane Oke Kyaw-Myint Yes. One of the important image imploding issues.

    Michael Po Saw (M67) wrote :
    I can stand for “idiot” as well!

    Dr. Nyunt Wai added :
    idiosyncratic