HlaMin

Category: Concept

  • Quotient

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    A Quotient is a measure.

    Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

    IQ is determined using standard IQ tests with objective & definite answers.

    Emotional Quotient (EQ)

    • It determines one’s ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions.
    • EQ tests vary with approach and content.

    Adversary Quotient (AQ)

    • Ability to deal with adversaries

    Spiritual Quotient (SQ)

    • Depending on how one views religion, SQ may have different definitions.
    • Sayadaw U Pandita (GBNF) mentioned SQ in his dhamma talks. There are no formal tests yet to qualitatively and quantitatively measure one’s understanding and practice of Buddha’s teachings.
    U Pandita
  • Jew

    Jew

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Usage

    • Member of the Jewish people and the Jewish Community
    • One whose mother is a Jew
    • One who had converted to Judaism
    • Usually believes that he is related to the ancient Hebrews led by Abraham
    • Probably speaks Yiddish
    • Can be orthodox, liberal or irreligious
    • May study the teachings of the Talmud and the Torah
    • Can be misunderstood by others (notably the Nazis)
    • May be stereotyped as greedy (e.g Shylock the Jew in “The Merchant of Venice”) or stingy
    • Can be a descendant of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust

    Russian Jews

    • Many Russian Jews were told to leave.
    • They had to relocate to Israel or other countries (including USA if they had sponsors).
  • Deep

    Deep

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Measure

    We express the depth of a physical object or an idea as Deep or Shallow.

    In computer applications, we use “Deep copy” or “Shallow copy” of objects.

    Deep Thought (CMU)

    • Chess Machine (hardware and software) developed by Ph.D. students at CMU (Carnegie Mellon University).
    • A Ph.D. student designed and implemented a special purpose chip to implement multi-ply search.
    • Two Ph.D. students, who are Chess experts, designed and implemented the algorithms to play championship level chess.
    • Two more Ph.D. students provided feedback and assistance.
    • Deep Thought beat the competitors to become World Computer Chess Champion.

    Deep Blue (IBM)

    • IBM recruited three of the five Ph.D. graduates (who worked on Deep Thought) to develop Deep Blue and challenge Gary Kasparov (World Chess Champion) to a Best-of-five match.
    • Kasparov prevailed in the first encounter, but made a costly error — a prime example of “To err is human” — to lose in the second encounter.
    • IBM made intensive preparations. It hired several Grand Masters to study Kasparov’s games and techniques.

    Deep Learning

    • It is a form of Machine Learning.
    • It has become a core subject in AI (Artificial Intelligence) courses.

    Deep Sleep

    • There are numerous studies about Sleep and Insomnia.
    • Most people need about seven hours sleep. Sleeping more than eight hours may be detrimental to one’s well being.
    • The quality of sleep (e.g. Deep sleep) is important.

    Indian Word

    • Deep is an Indian word meaning Light. The extended meaning is Wisdom.
    • Several Indian names have “Deep” (e.g. Deepak).
    • Deepavali is the Indian Festival of Lights. Some call it Diwali. During our younger days, Hindu friends would give us Indian sweets as part of their Diwali celebrations.
  • AAA

    AAA

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Association

    AAA stands for American Automobile Association.

    In California, the AAA branch is called CSAA (California State Automobile Association).

    The benefits vary depending upon if one is a regular member or a premium member.

    Services include

    • Towing
    • Jump start
    • Lock out
    • Out of gas
    • Maps
    • Battery replacement (Optional)

    Battery

    • AAA is a battery size.
    • AAA batteries are smaller than AA batteries.
    • The price and quality of the battery varies with the manufacturer, technology and intended usage.

    Computing

    In computing, AAA stands for

    • Authentication
    • Authorization
    • Accounting

    Authentication may be based on

    • What you know (e.g. password or pass phrase)
    • What you have (e.g. special token for login)
    • What you are (e.g. fingerprint)

    Authorization may be based on

    • Role (e.g. Administrator)
    • Time / Period (e.g. working hours only)
    • Types of allowable resource (e.g. sensitive data)

    Accounting may be based on

    • Paid subscription
    • Pay as you go
    • No charge
    • Discount
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Trust

    Trust

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Background

    • Back in the days of our parents and grand parents, one is sure to get back a misplaced item.
    • Ko Patrick Thein Naing remembered that his father left a hat at Rangoon Turf Club and he found it untouched on his preferred seat the next week.
    • In our younger days, we were delighted to know that most doors (in some parts of Yamethin) were left open at night. It was an indication of a high level of trust among people.
    • Later, we saw guarded windows and doors with multiple locks in most places. It indicated a deterioration of trust among people.

    Decline / Erosion of Trust

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

    Authentication

    • 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.

    New View

    • 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?
  • Calamities

    Calamities

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Classification

    One classification states that there are three kinds of calamities :

    • Due to scarcity of food / Famine
    • Due to deadly weapons / War
    • Due to diseases / Epidemic / Pandemic

    The degree of severity may vary with place and time.

    COVID-19

    The past few months saw the intrusion and destruction of an invisible enemy in many countries.

    An old soldier who survived the gunfire on D-Day (in June 1944) recently succumbed to COVID-19.

    The casualties in the USA has topped 100,000. A newspaper devoted the whole front page and several pages for 1000 representative obituaries from around the USA.

    The history / nature of the Pandemic is still not known fully.

    There are many unanswered questions:

    • In two neighboring countries, one has a high number of cases while another has very low number of cases. Why?
    • Trade off between loss of lives (by not following social distancing) and economic loss (e.g. due to lock down, shelter in place, circuit breaker)
    • There is a study of the effect of prayer (by practitioners of different religions / faiths) on the recovery of patients
    • A short time frame to come up with effective vaccine