HlaMin

Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)

  • YTU Scholarship Fund

    Saya Allen Htay & Daw Mu Mu Kin

    NorCal RITAA awards

    Several years back, NorCal RITAA provided financial support for eligible YTU students.

    A photo shows seven recipients. Four received $1000 each. Three received $500 each.

    Volunteers for Selection

    Several RITAA members volunteered to interview the applicants and proposed a short list to NorCal RITAA for the awards.

    Eight members of the Pre-selection Committee are seen together with the seven recipients.

    Donors

    The following donated $500 or more to NorCal RITAA for the YTU Scholarship Fund. Some are repeated donors. The complete list of donations is maintained by the Treasurer of NorCal RITAA.

    • Daw Mu Mu Kin Htay, spouse of Saya Allen Htay (C58, GBNF)
    • U San Lin (M87) and Daw Tin Lay Win
    • U Myo Aung (M85) and Daw Thida
    • U Myint Swe (EP74) and Daw San San (EC74)
    • U Maung Maung Win (Maung YIT, EC93) and Daw Than Htay (ChE92)
    • Daw Yo Shu (Yee Yee Win, EE74)
    • U Tin Maung Win (C76) and Daw Thida Khin Win
    • Gordon Kaung (M83) and Lillian Kaung (EC83)
    • U Kyaw Myint (M83)

    Raffle Drawing and Auction

    To raise the YTU Scholarhip Fund, a Raffle Drawing was held at the 2018 NorCal RITAA Summer Picnic at Coyote Point Park, San Mateo.

    Thanks to the donors of the prizes, to the attendees who eagerly bought the raffle tickets, and to Daw San San (EC74) and Edward Saw (Yu Ket, EC85) for serving as Raffle Masters.

    Gordon Kaung (Kaung Kaung Oo, M83) and Lillian Kaung (EC83) generously donated three iNapa Premium Wine bottles. Each bottle sells for $75 – $80 on the Internet.

    One bottle was put as as the Grand Raffle Prize. It was won by Ma Thandar, the youngest alumni present at the Picnic.

    Two bottles were put on auction.

    • U Sann Naing (M84) and spouse, owners of Burma Kitchen, successfully bid for the first bottle.
    • U Walter Tan (M70) and spouse successfully bid for the second bottle.
    • The sales from the auction $240 also went to the YTU scholarship fund.

  • Cards

    A Deck has 52 cards.

    Suits

    There are four suits :

    • Clubs (Black)
    • Diamonds (Red)
    • Hearts (Red)
    • Spades (Black)

    Each suit has 13 cards : Ace / One, Deuce / Two, Trey / Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King.

    Correspondence

    • The four suits correspond to the four seasons or four quarters.
    • The 13 cards in a suit correspond to the number of weeks in a quarter.
    • The 52 cards in a deck correspond to the number of weeks in a year.
    • The two colors correspond to Ying and Yang.

    Card Games

    Ivan Lee (M69)
    • Bridge uses a deck of cards. Each player is dealt 13 cards. The players then bid or pass. Ivan Lee (M69) is a Life time Platinum Bridge Expert.
    • Some games use two decks.
    • A few games (e.g ရှိုး၊ တချပ်မှောက်) may use a subset. Mg Mar Ga (M72) has written some posts about the RIT Card Players.
    Mg Mar Ga (M72)

  • Memory

    Memory Types

    There are several types of memory

    • Long term memory
      It is analogous to disk (or similar) storage in a computer system
    • Short term memory
      It is analogous to RAM (Random Access Memory)
    • Photographic memory
      Some people could glance at documents and recall them
    • Associative memory
      Facts are easier to recall if they are associated and chunked
    • False memory
      Some innocent people were victimized by key witnesses with “unreliable” memory

    Study of Memory

    • The study of memory transcends medical research, sociology, linguistics, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence.
    • It is often done by a team of multi-disciplinary experts.
    • Aging contributes loss of short term memory or the decline in the ability to retain short term memory.
      My younger cousin sister said, “I forgot what I wanted to say”.
    • One elderly could recall names of his primary school classmates, but could not recognize his youngest grand son that grew up in his hands.
    • Memory loss may be temporary.
      Ko Tin Oo (M87, SDYF, RITAA) temporarily forgot his name, but uttered “I pledged my donation for the YTU library, but I have not made the donation.”
      The memory lapse was attributed to a fall that hurt his back.

    Memory Feats

    Mingun Tipitaka Sayadaw
    • Mingun Tipitaka Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Record for his phenomenal memory that he displayed in the Sixth Buddhist Council held at Kaba Aye (World Peace) Pagoda from 1954 – 1956.
    • He not only remembered 8000+ pages of the Scriptures, but he could also point out the variants of some Suttas while he took the Oral tests for the Tipitaka Examination.
    • He passed the Oral and Written tests for Vinaya (Monastic rules of conduct), Sutta (Discourses) and Abhidhamma (Ultimate reality) with Distinction.
    • Sayadaw became the Grand Custodian of the Tipitaka (Three Baskets) and was the key player in the Sixth Buddhist Council.
    • Dale Carnegie wrote that Harry S. Truman won the presidency because his campaign manager could address 50,000+ voters by their first name.
    • I thought that I should try for 500 or 5000 names.
    • Some trained / developed their memory to compete in memory contests (e.g. recall cards, numbers).

    My Memory

    Hla Min
    • When I was in Middle School, Chauk Htutt Kyee Sayadaw came to our house to give a dhamma talk.
      After Sayadaw returned, I recounted the main points of the talk.
    • I have a built-in recorder and a reasonably good memory, but the use of association, chunking, mnemonics, and “learning how to learn” helped to make my memory better.
    • Not everyone appreciated my memory.
      One person thought that I was dyslexic when I wrote English words and sentences backwards and upside down.
      I also wrote a few in mirror image.
      Another said, “What’s the big deal? You just have to remember patterns.”
    • I often start a talk –tongue in cheek — by saying, “My brain is damaged. It’s easy to remember, but it’s hard to forget.”

  • Memories of a 69er

    • Hla Min (EC69) wrote an article for the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for Shwe YaDu, 2014.
    • Thanks to Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War) & Team for publishing the article.
    Hla Min

  • Mother’s Day

    • In the USA, the second Sunday of May is celebrated as Mother’s Day.
    • Some countries celebrate Mother’s Day on a different date.
    My beloved mother
    Three Mothers

    Mother

    • Mother is also known as Mater, Mum, Mom, Mummy, Mommy, Mah Mah, May May, … and “the hand that rocked the cradle”
    • Mother’s unbounded love is honored in many real-life stories (e.g caring for children during disasters)

    M-O-T-H-E-R (Famous song)

    Sample verse (may have variations)

    M is for the Million things she gave me
    O means Only that she’s growing Old
    T is for her Tender sweet caresses
    H is for her Heart of purest gold
    E means Everything she’s done to save me
    R means Right and Right she’ll always be

    Put them all together
    They spell MOTHER
    A word that means a world to me

  • Fond Memories

    Paying respect to Saya U Aung Khin

    • Ivan Lee (M69) provided his car and gas for the whirlwind trip to Canada and East Coast of USA.
    • Fred Thetgyi (M69) drove most of the trip and also took photos.
    • We visited Saya U Aung Khin (Former Professor of Mechanical engineering at RIT).
    • Saya not only prepared breakfast for us but also gave us mementos.

    Saya U Aung Khin & Saya Allen Htay (GBNF)

    • Saya U Aung Khin gave the go-ahead signal for SPZP-2000
    • Saya Allen is founder and President of RIT Alumni International, which hosted SPZP-2000
    • In memory of Saya Allen, Daw Mu Mu donated saya’s books to YTU Library.
      She also provided financial assistance to eligible YTU students

    Saya U Aung Hla Tun (GBNF)

    • Saya served as Chief Editor of RIT Annual Magazine, Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering, and Resident Elder of the Church of Holy Christ.
    • He published two books. He won National Literature Award for the first book.
    • Despite failing health, he completed the second book and most of his three-year plan.

    My Souvenirs

    • Alumni Appreciation Award
      presented by NorCal RIT Alumni Association
    • SPHS63 Scholarship Winners
      Invitation to attend OPA (Old Paulians’ Association) Annual Dinner
      Photo taken after the Award ceremony at SPHS
    Souvenirs

    • DTM Award received in 2017
    DTM

    • Electronic greeting card was printed by Ko Maurice Chee
      and given to me at the Soon Kwyay gathering at Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California
    • Father’s Day gift from my Myees

  • Life Long Learner

    Hla Min
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ncritaa-award.jpg
    NorCal RITAA Award

    Learning

    I believe and practice the Pillars of Learning:

    • Learning to know
    • Learning to do
    • Learning to be
    • Learning to live
    • (Finally) Learning to let go

    Objectives

    I have published about 3000 posts. I have revised them. You may search using an appropriate category.

    Primary Objective

    Pay back to my beloved land, my alma mater, my mentors and colleagues.

    Secondary Objective

    Provide topics of interest to scholars and historians about Burma / Myanmar

    Tertiary Objective

    Request Subject Matter Experts to join me in the dissemination of knowledge, experience & wisdom.

    My Background

    I am a

    • Jack of all trades and Master of some
    • Lifelong learner
    • Freelance author, editor, translator & interpreter
    • Distinguished Toastmaster
    • Amateur Historian
    • Editor of newsletters & books
    • Software engineer
    • Consultant

    I have studied and/or taught at

    • Private Primary Boundary Road School
    • St. Paul’s High School
    • Rangoon University
    • Rangoon Institute of Technology
    • Universities Computer Center
    • Department of Computer Science
    • Institute of Computer Science and Technology
    • ICL ETC in UK
    • Rice University in USA

    I wrote and/or reviewed articles, translations and poems for

    • National Foreign Language Center
    • Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife
    • RIT Alumni International Newsletter
    • Dhammananda Newsletter
    • Homage to Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa
    • BAPS Newsletter
    • Moe Ma Ka
    • Guardian Newspaper
    • Working People’s Daily
    • Forward Magazine
    • High School Mathematics Project
    • Team of System Specialists
    • Rangoon University Boat Club
    • Set Hmu Thadin Zin စက်မှုသတင်းစဉ်
    • Hlyat Sit Sar Saung လျှပ်စစ်စာစောင်
    • Veda Magazine ဝေဒမဂ္ဂဇင်း
    • Pan Magazine ပန်မဂ္ဂဇင်း
    • Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung စွယ်တော်ရိပ်စာစောင်
    • Swel Daw Yeik Magazine စွယ်တော်ရိပ်မဂ္ဂဇင်း
    • Poetic Art Series
    • U Jotalankara ဦးဇောတကလင်္ကာရ၊ Masoyein Sayadaw မစိုးရိမ်ဆရာတော်၊ Dhammaberi Sayadaw ဓမ္မဘေရီဆရာတော်၊ Beelin Sayadaw ဘီးလင်းဆရာတော်၊ Oakland Sayadaw ဥက္ကလံဆရာတော် …
    • U Aung Zaw (UCC) ဦးအောင်ဇော်

    I have volunteered for

    • Computer History Museum (CHM)
    • San Francisco Bay Area ACM Chapter
    • Toastmasters International
    • RIT Alumni International
    • Saya Pu Zaw Pwe (SPZP)
    • NorCal RIT Alumni Association
    • Tathagata Meditation Center (TMC)
    • Theravada Buddhist Society of America (TBSA)
    • History of Myanmar Engineering Education (HMEE)
    • 2010 Census Count Committee

  • Khin Maung U / Oo

    Khin Maung U (SPHS 63, IM1 70)

    • First in Burma in the Matriculation examination of 1963.
      Had perfect scores of 100 in Mathematics and Chemistry and a score of 99 in Physics.
      Grapevine says that one point was deducted from the initial score.
    • Selected as “Lu Ye Chun” from IM (1)multiple times.
    • Due to changes in the Education System, he had to do his Masters locally.
    • His persistence paid off in getting Fellowships from UK and Australia and an MD.
    • Retired from FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the USA.
    • Volunteered as translator/interpreter for dhamma courses and meditation retreats.
    • Young Khin Maung U can be seen standing from left in the second last row in the photo taken in Std. VIII(A) at SPHS.
    • A newspaper clipping shows the top Matriculates from SPHS in 1963 led by Khin Maung U.
    Khin Maung U
    SPHS VIIIA

    Khin Maung Oo (Ivan, M69)

    • Did his MS in the USA.
    • Completed two PEs (one for New York and another for New Jersey).
    • Successful entrepreneur.
    • Multiple Golden Sponsor for SPZPs.
    • Hosted annual gatherings at his New Jersey home for RIT and UCC Alumni (with Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi and Saya U Soe Paing as Honored Guests).
    • Co-founder and Patron of MASTA
    • See Family Photo
    Ivan
    Ivan & Family

    Khin Maung Oo (Master Mariner)

    • PBRS Alumni
    • Taught in Burma and Malaysia.
    • Lives in Houston.
      He and his spouse Daw Tin Tin Win are helping the Burmese sea men visiting the Houston port.

  • Poetic Art Project

    Collaboration of sayas and alumni

    Poets

    • Tekkatho Moe War : Saya U Moe Aung (EE63)
    • Maung Sein Win (Padeegone) : Class of M72
    • Okpo Maung Yin Maung : Saya U Aung Myaing (ChE72)
    • Maung Nyunt Htay (Ah Htet Min Hla) : Saya U Nyunt Htay (Met73)
    • “Ka Byaung” : U Win Myint (M72)

    Illustrator

    • Bagyee Myat Myo Myint : U Myo Myint (Class of M73)

    Translator

    • U Hla Min (EC69)
    U Aung Myaing & U Myo Myint
    U Moe Aung
    U Nyunt Htay

  • NorCal RITAA in 2023

    Saya U Myat Htoo (C68)

    • He was re-elected as Chair of BOD (Board of Directors) of NorCal RITAA (Northern California RIT Alumni Association) at the AGM (Annual General Meeting) held at Mudita Shwe Kyaung, Hayward, Northern California.
    • He is a founding member of RIT Alumni International and NorCal RITAA and a Core Organizer for SPZP-2000.

    U Tin Maung Win (C86)

    • He was elected as President.
    • He is a Past Secretary. He gave a presentation on the history and activities of Norcal RITAA.

    New Blood

    Several new EC members (Maung Maung Moe Zaw, Bo Ni) are young, enthusiastic alumni who have passion to keep the RIT Spirit alive and well.

    Communication

    The full list of EC and BOD, and details of forthcoming events are provided on the NorCal RITAA web site by the Communications Officer and the Secretaries.

    Thanks to

    Past Presidents: Saya U Maung Maung (George Chan, ChE66), U Kaung Kaung Oo (Gordon Kaung, M83) and U Aung Myint Oo (EC84)

    Past Chair of BOD : Stan Liou (M67)

    Photographer : Richard Khoo (Dhatu Kyaw Lin, ChE76)

    Former EC and BOD

    Sponsors and Donors

    Volunteers and Helpers

    Members— past and present