HlaMin

Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)

  • Rowing 11

    Prime Minister U Nu at RUBC

    1965

    • In 1965, Ko Htain Linn (VP) resigned.
    • Ko Zaw Lin (Secretary) became Captain.
    • Ko Hla Min (Treasurer) became Vice Captain.
    • No EC members were elected for the vacant positions of Secretary and Treasurer.
    • It signaled the beginning of the end of the system for democratically electing EC by the voting members.

    Changes

    The Inter-Hall and Inter-Faculty events now belong to the past.

    On a bright note, female members were admitted. RUBC became a co-ed club. Several will later become RUBC Gold.

    Inter-Institute competitions for men and women were contested keenly.

    Anniversaries

    We attended the 40th Anniversary Dinner held at a Kandawgyi Hotel in 1963.

    In 2013, I served as a Contributing Editor for the 90th Anniversary Issue. I wrote a Prelude for each section. I also wrote three articles.

    In 2019, I attended the 96th Anniversary Regatta of RUBC.

    I met Old and Not so old Members. I talked with several Patrons of the YUBC OMA.

    I learned that the restaurant owner (which had “possessed” the Club House) finally agreed to move out.

    We no longer use the Regatta Island. Probably RUBC no longer has access to the Regatta Island.

    We see lots of current and old members competing, but we do not see many fans, families and friends rooting for the crews.

    We see lots of trophies (may be 28 sets), but there was an unintentional mix up in one event.

    We see new boats and flags, but we wonder how students from the many universities and institutes (some far away) have passion, time and energy to take up competitive rowing without sacrificing their academic achievements.

    Some old members are looking forward to the Centennial Celebrations in 2023.

  • SPZP-2000

    Overview

    The First RIT Grand Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe was hosted by RIT Alumni International in October 2000. It was a formal two day event. On October 29, the Reunion Dinner and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe was held at Embassy Suites Hotel. On October 30, a lunch gathering was held for the sayas, alumni, volunteers and family members.

    Archives

    • Set of DVDs
      Converted from the VHS Tape (recorded at SPZP-2000)
    • Commemorative Issue of “RIT Alumni International Newsletter”
      Chief Editor : U Hla Min
      Associate Editors : U Thein Aung and Henry Lim
    • RIT website : Special web pages for SPZP-2000
      Webmaster : U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ)
      Content Provider and Editor : U Hla Min
    • Countdown to the Reunion
      64 posts by U Hla Min
    • Post-Reunion
      36 posts by U Hla Min
    • Photos
      by official photographers and volunteer alumni

    Organizers

    • RIT Alumni International
      President : Saya Allen Htay
    • Working Committee
      Co-chairs : Benny Tan and Maurice Chee
    • Steering Committee
      Chair : Saya U Nyo Win

    Invitation

    Reunion and SPZP

    SPZ 1
    SPZ 2
    SPZ 3
    SPZ 4
    SPZ 5
    SPZ 6
    SPZ 7
    SPZ 8
    SPZ 9
    SPZ 10
    SPZ 11
    SPZ 12
    SPZ 13
    SPZ 14
    SPZ 15
    SPZ 16
    SPZ 17
    SPZ 18
    SPZ 19
    SPZ 20
    SPZ 21
    SPZ 22
    SPZ 23
    SPZ 24
    SPZ 25
    SPZ 26

    Mechanical Group

    KMZ and friends

  • Checkers, Chess and Go

    Checkers Program

    Arthur Samuel (IBM) was not a renowned Checkers player, but he developed a system (algorithm and data base) to play against human opponents (with rising level of competence). His program remembered “bad” moves and “good” moves. Over time, the program was able to beat a reasonably good Checkers player.

    It was one of the early projects for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    Computer Chess

    Chess Programs

    Deep Blue was developed by IBM to compete against Gary Kasparov, World Champion in Chess.

    Chess has many more possible moves than Checkers, but IBM hired three Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) graduates who developed Deep Thought (Computer Chess Champion that outplayed other chess programs). One graduate designed and implemented a special chip capable of fast multi-level pruning. The other two, who are knowledgeable in Chess, helped with the software (e.g. database of games and strategies).

    Computer History Museum (CHM) had an exhibit on the evolution of Computer Chess and a panel discussion including AI experts and Computer Chess Pioneers.

    Go Programs

    The complexity of “Go” — which surpasses that of Chess — challenged AI researchers (e.g. Deep / Machine Learning) to develop “Go” systems capable of beating experienced human players.

  • U Yone Mo

    by U Wynn Htain Oo (M72)

    U Yone Mo
    Pon Tu of U Yone Mo
    • Sayagyi U Yone Mo is RIT’s first Rector and our Rector.
    • For us he is more than a Rector because he is the father of our Mech72 Kyaw Moe. We treat him like our uncle. He was a very gentle and kind gentleman.
    • One evening during our school days, two of my “notorious” Mech72 friends were joyfully swimming in the Circle Pool in front of the main building, when they were suddenly caught by the Rector. Naturally they were very much afraid.
    • But SAYAGYI just told them, “You young gentlemen, this is not the swimming pool. There is the University swimming pool and if you want to swim please go there” and left. That’s all. You can see how much those notorious Mech 72 friends were relieved.
    • We love our Rector and remember him ALWAYS.

  • Social and Reading Clubs

    Rangoon University used to have Social and Reading Clubs.

    BIT Social and Reading Club

    BIT S & R Club

    In the 1961 – 62 academic year, the Faculty of Engineering moved to the Gyogone Campus and became known as Burma Institute of Technology (BIT).

    U Yone Mo served as Dean of BIT. U Sein Hla served as Registrar.

    Saya U San Tun (M59) provided a photo of the BIT Social and Reading Club (1962 -63).

  • Swel Daw Yeik

    Swel Daw Yeik Foundation

    SDYF
    Founding of SDYF

    Forever Swel Daw Yeik

    SDYF Pamphlets

    Meetings

    • SDYF Meetings were usually hosted by U Khin Maung Tun (T78, President).
    • U Khin Maung Tun led by example. He has donated and/or pledged K1500 (or more) Lakhs.
    • There was an abundance of food. Sometimes, “carry out” was provided to the attendees.

    Annual Medical Check up of eligible RIT Sayas


  • Industrial Revolution

    First Industrial Revolution

    • 1765
    • Steam Engine
    • …

    Second Industrial Revolution

    • 1870
    • Factory
    • Automobiles
    • Air planes
    • …
    Computer Chess

    Third Industrial Revolution

    • 1969
    • Pervasive use of computers
    • …

    Fourth Industrial Revolution

    • Ongoing
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Machine Learning
    • Internet of things
    • …

  • Myee

    None of my four grandparents were around when I was born. So, I cannot directly relate to them.

    “Thar ah chit. Myee ah hnit” goes an old saying.

    • Did not know much about the world when I was young
    • Modern day kids — whether they are born in Myanmar, USA, or else where — seem to be highly intelligent
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is g-and-j-1.jpg
    Two Myees
    • My “Myee Ma” (granddaughter) would say, “I will take care of GP (Grand Pa) a lot. I will help him exercise. Have massage. … I have a doctor’s bag.”
      She is in Fourth Grade.
      Her hobbies include Reading, Writing, Painting, Riding Bike, Singing, Dancing, Swimming, Gymnastics and Taking photos.
    • My “Myee Htee” (grandson) understands both the spoken language and the body language (even when he was a toddler).
      When told to “Nann“, he will kiss my cheeks.
      He has a sense of when we are coming [to visit him] or when we are leaving. He will hug and give a flying kiss.
      He is in First Grade.
      His hobbies include Video Games, Kung Fu, Soccer, Swimming, Playing the Piano and Hiking.
      He is athletic : dribble a basketball for 30+ seconds, kick and shoot football, swing a baseball bat, and race with remote control cars.
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is csn-a.jpg
    Myee Gyi
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is g-and-j-2.jpg
    Myee Lay
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is g-and-j.jpg
    My Myees
    • Perhaps the same can be said of “Myees” everywhere.
      
    • We are somewhat lucky that we don’t have to take care of our “Ah Hnits” 24 by 7.
      
    • As one alumni jokingly said, “Myees should just be Myee [tasted]”.

    Sayama Toni wrote :

    My myees were not around me much, only for visits, but now in their 20s, they care for me in their own way. Myee-ma lay Thitsa got a pay raise recently and ‘ka-dawk-dare’ me with money. She does that now and then. The recent one, I’m saving for grand father’s yearly donation of his death. The myee-yauk-kyar lay, Ye Htut, loves to cook and I used to complain abt my clean kitchen messed up. But, he washes everything and cleans the kitchen. So, I enjoy them in a way. Ye Htut will be here for a couple of months before he returns to college, so I let him do as he pleases.

  • Data Compression

    Rationale

    • In the early days, it was expensive to store and/or transmit data (e.g. text, sound, picture) in raw form.
    • Compression techniques were developed and used to reduce the size of the data.
    • “Lossless Compression” requires that the original data can be recovered without any loss.
    • “Lossy Compression” techniques are used to reduce the size of the data as much as possible (e.g. by stripping off minor details). The original data cannot be recovered fully. The recovered data would have some loss (e.g. in quality).

    Messages

    Telegraph messages (and subsequently SMS messages) have limits on the number of words (or characters). So, it makes sense to compress a message by

    • leaving out some letters in a word
    • combining words into a phrase
    • using abbreviations and acronyms.

    For example, the following were first used by the military to report situations:
    SNAFU (Situation Normal. All Fouled Up.)
    FUBAR (Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition)

    Examples of Data Compression

    • Run Length Encoding (RLE) is a simple and straight forward way to encode characters. A string of repeated characters can be represented by a pair (Character, Number of consecutive occurrences).
    • JPEG and MPEG (e.g. MP3, MP4) are commonly used to compress video and audio files.
    • Sadly, compression of Burmese words — for smart phones and messaging — had been taken to such an extreme that some no longer know or care about the correct spelling and usage.

    U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ) wrote:
    Our good friend Htay Lwin Nyo (EP74, UCC – GBNF), told me when I met him after he moved to SJSU, San Jose State University, that he made some killings either selling or licensing the data compression algorithm. Neither did he elaborate nor did I ask him more details at the time.

  • Data

    Classification

    There are several ways to classify data.

    • Structured Data
    • Semi-structured Data
    • Unstructured Data

    Data Types

    • Private
    • Public
    • Personal
    • Shared
    • Internal
    • External
    • Secret
    • Confidential
    • Classified
    • Top-secret
    • Streaming Audio
    • Streaming Video
    • Image
    • Raw
    • Processed
    • Information
    • Knowledge
    • Encrypted
    • Statistical
    • Census
    • Metadata
    • Mark up
    • Abstract Data Type (ADT)
    • Object
    • Big Data

    U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76) wrote :

    Couple of most sensitive data categorization are ‘Top Secret Ultra’ and SCI, ‘Sensitive Compartmented Information’ as defined in government/intelligent services.

    In the business world, one of the most critical category is PII, Personally Identifiable Information. According to the NIST, National Institute of Standards and Technology, listed quite a few data as PII and possible PII, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personally_identifiable_information.

    People should be careful not to expose his/her as well as anyone’s PII data on Social Media.