Category: Concept

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

• Ledi Sayadaw
• Saya Thet
• U Ba Khin
• S N Goenka

U Ba Khin

• First native Auditor General
• Vipassana Teacher
• Founder : IMC

Ledi Sayadaw

• Dhamma Scholar
• Author
• Vipassana Teacher

S N Goenka

• Founder : VRI
• Mentor : U Ba Khin

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

February

• According to “Ripley’s Believe it or not“, a graveyard inscription had February 30th.
• Julius Caesar’s followers took a day from February to make July (named in his honor) have 31 days instead of 30.
• Augustus Caesar’s followers took a day from February to make August (named in his honor) to have 31 days instead of 30.
• February became the shortest month of the calendar year with 28 days.
  It was given back an extra day on a leap year.
• The earth takes about 365.2422 days to revolve round the sun, so the discrepancy between a solar year and the calendar year became 0.9688 day every four years (or 97 days in 4 centuries).
  The first correction was to designate a year divisible by 4 as a Leap Year.
• In Gregorian calendar, a leap year is defined as a non-century year that is divisible by 4, and a century year that is divisible by 400.
  This is more accurate than the first correction

Latin terms for student

• Alumnus means “male student”
• Almuna means “female student”
• Alumni means “male students”
• Alumnae means “female students”.

• In modern usage, the term “alumni” applies to all students.
• We sometimes use alum as a short form for alumni.

Synonym

• Synonyms are words which have almost the same meaning for the given context.
• Since some words have multiple meanings, one must specify the meaning associated with a synonym.
• For example, Dictionary, Thesaurus, Lexicon and Vocabulary are synonyms.
  Their usage depends on the context.
  In general, Lexicon is a body of knowledge (or dictionary) of Latin and Greek.
  At one time, Lexicon is a card game where players create words and score points. It was superseded by Scrabble.

Antonym

• Antonyms are words which have almost the opposite meaning for the given context.
• Since some words have multiple meanings, one must specify the meaning associated with an antonym.
• For example, Love and Hate are antonyms.
• In Pali, the antonyms of Lobha (Greed), Dosa (Anger or Hatred) and Moha (Ignorance of Delusion) are Alobha (Non-greed), Adosa (Non-hatred) and Amoha (Non-ignorance or Wisdom).

Homonym

• Homonyms are words which sound the same.
• Examples
  rain, rein, reign
  air, heir
  throne, thrown
  
• A puzzle based on homonyms :
  “What is the difference between the Prince of Wales and a cricket ball?”
  The Prince of Wales is HEIR to the THRONE.
  A cricket ball is THROWN to the AIR.

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

• 24th letter of the English Alphabet.
• Roman Numeral with the value Ten.
• Unknown. e.g. X-ray
• Check Mark
• In Red written by a teacher means “Incorrect” or “Wrong”
• X and O are symbols used in Tic-Tac-Toe.
  
• Planet X could mean the Tenth Planet or Unknown Planet
• XL — Extra Large
• XML — eXtensible Markup Language
• XP — eXtreme Programming; Windows Operating System
• XS — Extra Small
• XSL — eXtensible Style Language
• XSLT — XSL Transform
• XXL — Extra Extra Large
• XXS – Extra Extra Small

U Maung Maung wrote :
Madam X

U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76) wrote :
There was a joke from one comedian when the movie ‘Malcolm X’ came out. [Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister famous in the 1950s and 1960s and was assassinated Feb 21, 1965.] The joke was that he, the comedian, has been away from the movies for quite some time, he did not know and therefore missed the Malcolm I through IX.

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

It is sad to learn about disasters happening around the world.

Several are natural disasters. A few are man-made disasters.

Despite advantages in technology, there is no reliable and cost-effective system yet to predict and/or prevent disasters.

There are general predictions like “the coming of Doom’s Day”.

Some are serious about “nuclear wars” (and similar scenarios of “Apocalypse”) and spend exorbitant money to order or build underground hideouts in remote places and also extensive “evacuation plans”.

There are some predictions based on past data. e.g. “The next big earthquake is due. You should take extra care since you are living on a fault line.”

A few could not and would not leave their homes even when the authorities issued “mandatory evacuation”. Some evacuated, but they when they returned they found their houses missing or being vandalized.

Disaster recovery is not simple.
The countless lives lost to Cyclone Nargis and its aftermath could have been minimized with proper planning and mobilization of the rescue teams.

Kudos to the individuals and organizations that offer “disaster relief funds”. But, disaster relief is at the tail end.

U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76) added :

Disasters, by nature or man – made, happen all over the world, more so as the so-called climate change and population explosion exacerbated the conditions.

In the US, several governmental, NGO and private/public organizations are stepping up their efforts to educate, prepare, assist and mitigate the people impacted by all forms of disasters.

I just opened up my disaster backpack this morning, in the process of inspecting, refreshing and refilling the contents in there.

There are several websites, ready.gov/kit, Red​cross, FEMA Apps which will explain what items you would need in this emergency kit, survival and medical supplies, food among others.

Some years back, there was a website called threefoldthreeway, explaining these items as well. They initially thought you would need at least three days with off supplies & food before the rescue folks contact you.

Some disasters in the past decade taught us that three days may not be enough in many circumstances, and now recommend to have two-weeks worth of supplies and food.

The region that I live has been overdue for severe, 8.0+, earthquake by the experts.

I do have enough supplies of food and water but I need to collect toilet facilities, like cardboard toilet, shower facilities among several items.

Update

Some Disasters

• Cyclone Nargis
• Earthquake — Sagaing & Mandalay
• Wild Fires — Southern California

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

RUBC

• Rangoon University Boat Club (RUBC) used to maintain logs.
• Every crew lists the boat used, time in & out, the name of the members, and message (e.g. leak).
• The Color Award Team meets after the Monsoon Regatta and Annual Regatta to consider candidates for Half Green and Full Green based on the results at the Regatta and the entries in the Log.
• Winners and Runner Up of events such as Senior Novice and Junior Novice are prime candidates, but persistent members are also rewarded.

Maths

• In Mathematics, log stands for logarithm.
• In our high school days, we had to buy books containing logarithms, anti-logarithms, and trigonometric functions.
  The standard version provides 4 digits. The advanced version provides 5 – 7 digits.
• For the Matriculation exam, logarithm books were provided.
• In Lighter vein :
  At one school, the invigilator ordered to take the logarithm books back. Asked why, she replied, “We had to learn them by heart”.

Slide Rule

• It used the logarithmic scale.
• The multiplication of two numbers is done by adding their logarithms.

• Cartoon Aung Myint has a joke about Slide Rule.

RIT student : Aba, I have bought a slide rule.
Aba : Son, can you add two numbers with it?
Son : Sorry, I can’t.
Aba: Throw away your useless ruler.

Usage

• Some use wooden logs for fire.
• Some fire places simulate wooden logs using electricity & electronics.

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

Analog Photos

• Before the advent of digital cameras and smart phones, it was not simple and cheap to take photos (let alone process them).

Black & White Photos

• In my younger days, I had a Box Camera, and later Yashica Mat.
• Unlike my uncle and a cousin brother who are experts in developing films (in a dark room), I had to pay 25 to 50 pyas per print at a Studio (e.g. Ahuja).

Photographers

• Later, there emerged freelance & professional photographers (e.g. Maung Maung Nhyat & his brothers, Dat Pone San Aung, Dhatu Kyaw Lynn, Maung Maung Soe).
• Only those who won contracts had permission to take official photos at the Convocations. It was not compulsory to take and pay for the photos. Some, who did not order the photos, found their photos being displayed as examples of “Do not walk like this” and similar fun messages.

Captions

• During our younger days, SPHS had Annual Photo Shoots.
• A Group Photo cost One Kyat (without Captions) and K 1.50 (with Captions).
• It is not easy to identify people in photos without captions.
• In most FB Groups, there are individual photos and group photos (e.g. fresher welcome, farewell, graduation, newspaper clippings). Only a fraction has captions and dates.
• Some photos serve as a reminder of those that are Gone But Not Forgotten (GBNF).

Color Photos

• In the early days, Color photos had to be sent abroad for processing.
• Our wedding photos in 1973 were taken with the color film bought by my elder brother during his trip overseas. The film was sent (for processing ) to a friend who was studying in Australia.
• The color photos fade over time.

Advances in Technology

• Kodak (an Industry Leader in Film Technology) went bankrupt.
• Most phones have one or more cameras. Even children can take reasonably good photos. The photos can be edited (e.g. crop, color-adjusted).
• Warning : Some unscrupulous people have doctored photos and presented them as evidence of news.

Htein Win

It took a long time for him to publish books about the Dark Moments in Burma.

First Book

• Took photos of the U Thant Ah Yay Ah Khin mostly from a saya’s house in the Main Campus. Gave photos to some friends and to an organization overseas (for storage).
• With the Pwint Linn era, he was able to get back the archived photos from overseas. Managed to get articles from some of the participants in the Ah Yay Ah Khin. He published the book about the Ah Yay Ah Khin.
• Ko Khin Maung Zaw bought a copy of the book from Myanmar and then mailed it to me.

Second Book

• In November 2019. I was invited to attend the 5th Irrawaddy Literary Festival in Mandalay. Met Ko Htein Win who had a book stall at the Festival. He gave me an autographed copy of the book about 8-8-88.

by Hla Min

Updated : Mar 2026

Alumni

• In Latin, there are four terms :
  alumnus for “male student”
  almuna for “female student”
  alumni for “male students”
  alumnae for “female students”.
• In modern usage, the term “alumni” applies to all students.

Days of Month

• According to “Ripley’s Believe it or not”, a graveyard inscription has February 30th.
• Grapevine says that Followers of two Carsars took away a day each from February to make July (named after Julius Caesar) and August (named after Augustus Caesar) to have 31 days instead of 30.

February became the shortest month of the calendar year with 28 days. It was given back an extra day on a leap year.

The earth takes about 365.2422 days to revolve round the sun, so the discrepancy became 0.9688 day every four years (or 97 days in 4 centuries).

In Gregorian calendar, a leap year is defined as a non-century year that is divisible by 4, and a century year that is divisible by 400.