Category: Uncategorized

  • Notes (10)

    Teaching and Learning

    Teaching is only one aspect. A teacher learns by teaching and receiving feedback from the students. A teacher should be a life long learner.

    Learning is another aspect. We should not encourage Rote Learning and mindless repetition. “Learning how to learn” and similar courses propose efficient and effective techniques.

    Degree

    Liberal education is usually offered at the Bachelor’s level.

    A university degree was necessary for getting decent jobs. Now, there are some companies that do not mandate a university degree for selected jobs.

    Disciplines

    In the beginning, there were no computers and no Computer Science. Among the computer pioneers were engineers, mathematicians, physicists, psychologists, and linguists.

    Edgser W. Dijkstra, who won the ACM Turing Award (equivalent of Nobel Prize in Computer Science), had to put “Theoretical Physicist” in his marriage license instead of “Programmer” or “Computer Scientist”.

    The same is true for any emerging discipline.

    Research and Development transcends multiple disciplines. It requires collaboration.

    Main Facebook pages

    • For relatives and close friends
    • For not-so-close friends
    • Life Long Learning
    • RIT Updates

    Member of selected pages

    • Old Burma
    • RIT Updates
    • Lifelong Learning
    • Hla Min 2024
    • Myanmar 2024

    I used to be a member of the following:

    • ကံ့ကော်မြေ (ရာပြည့်တက္ကသိုလ်)
    • စကားပရိယာယ်
    • စွယ်တော်ရိပ်ဖေါင်ဒေးရှင်း
    • NorCal RITAA
    • P.B.R.S Group
    • RIT 69ers
    • Team Old School IT
    • YUBC Old Members
    • Buddhism Q&A

    Proper use of “Like” button

    • Some users use the “Like” button indiscriminately.
    • Puzzled to see Likes in an Obituary posting. Shouldn’t one be sad?
    • Before clicking “Like”, check if the posting is current or old, and determine if the contents are really likeable.

    Malware

    • Malicious software industry is responsible for losses (in down time, data corruption, identity theft) in the billions.
    • According to one report, the industry is more profitable and safer than the drug dealing.
    • The penalty of offenders for malicious software is “peanuts” (e.g. little or no jail time) compared to drug dealers (e.g. life imprisonment and death penalty) in most countries.

    Option

    • One should be aware of “opt-in” versus “opt-out” options.
    • Many do not read “fine print”.

    Retire vs. Re-tire

    • U Thaung Sein (Steeve Kay, EC70) is a Multiple Golden Sponsor of SPZPs.
    • He told me, “You should not retire. You may re-tire (as in re-threading a tire). We will try to support you and your projects
    • I am retired from working to make ends meet.
    • I am re-tiring as long as my physical and mental health permit.
    • Took a few on-line courses (for credit)
      Too taxing and slow; Opted to audit 100+ courses (covering many subjects)
    • Listen to one Blinkist every day
    • Listen to Merriam Webster’s Word of the day (WOTD) Podcast every day.
    • Ride stationary bike for 40 minutes every day.
    • Write or revise several posts every day.

    Salutation

    • Context and culture dependent.
    • We call some old unrelated people as “Uncle” and “Auntie”.
    • At St. Paul’s High School, we call our sayas without the formal U. e.g. Saya Sein
    • I was reprimanded by a reader for writing Saya Aung Khin instead of Saya U Aung Khin or Sayagyi U Aung Khin.
    • A visiting German wanted to be addressed as “Professor Doctor” (not just Professor or Doctor).
    • Saya Allen Htay was told not use “Mr” in Netherlands. He was asked to use “Ingr” (for Engineer).
    • Early surgeons in the UK were not necessarily doctors. So they did not force people to address them as Doctor
    • People who have Honorary Doctorates usually put “Honoris Causa” (meaning the degree was awarded for esteem).

    Speed and Scope of Writing

    • A friend said, “You write too fast and too much. Slow down.”
    • A few said, “We have read every post”.
    • One said, “Cover topics of interest to the general reader, not just engineers and scientists”.
    • One can please some readers all of the time, and all readers some of the time, but one cannot please every reader all of the time.
    • I am just disseminating the teachings of Thin Sayas, Myin Sayas, Kyar Sayas
  • M (Symbol)

    • 13th letter of the English Alphabet.
    • Roman Numeral with the value of 1000.
    • Million — e.g. 1 Million = 1,000,000
    • Mega — e.g. 1 MB (Megabyte) = 1024 x 1024 bytes (more than a million). This has roots in using the Binary Number System in computers.
    • Master — e.g. M.Sc. or M.A.
    • Medical — e.g. MS (Medical Superintendent)
    • Medicine — e.g. MD (Doctor of Medicince)
    • Management — e.g. MIS (Management Information Systems).
    • MI — Machine Intelligence; Military Intelligence
    • MIT — Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the USA. Professor Horwood (MIT) came to the University of Rangoon as a Visiting Professor. Sayagyi U Ba Hli proposed the Twinning Program, and Professor Horwood helped implement on the MIT side by accepting Burmese students for undergraduate and graduate study.
    • MIT — Mandalay Institute of Technology in Myanmar. BIT (Burma Institute of Technology) was renamed as RIT (Rangoon Institute of Technology) to allow engineering institutes to be opened in Mandalay and other cities.
    • M&A — Mergers and Acquisitions
    • M&M — a specific brand of chocolate/sweet.
  • E (Symbol)

    • Fifth letter of the English Alphabet.
    • Education, e.g. IIE (Institute of International Education)
    • Engineering. e.g. ChE (Chemical Engineering)
    • Estimate, e.g. ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)
    • Executive, e.g. EC (Executive Committee), CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
    • Exponent. e.g. 1E6 (stands for a million) and 1E-6 (stands for a millionth).
    • e is a Mathematical Constant named in honor of Euler. It has a value of 2.71828…
    • e^x (is the Euler Constant raised to the power x).
    • Differentiating e^x returns e^x.
    • Integrating e^x returns e^x.
    • The invariant property of e^x is essential to the Transforms and Transformations (used for the Analysis and Synthesis in Engineering problems).
    • E : Electrical, Electronic, Electronics, Executive, Exponent, English, Engineering
    • EC — Electrical Communications; Executive Committee
    • ECAP — Electrical Circuit Analysis Program
    • EE– Electrical Engineering
    • EEC : European Economic Commission
    • EI : Emotional Intelligence, Electrical Inspectorate
    • EMR — Electronic Medical Record
    • EP — Electrical Power.
    • EPC — Electric Power Corporation
    • EQ — Emotional Quotient, Equality
    • ER — Emergency Room; Emergency Responder
    • ESL — English as a Second Language; English as a Specialty Language
    • ESP — Extra Sensory Perception
    • ETA — Estimated Time of Arrival
    • ETD — Estimated Time of Departure
    • EU — European Union
    • EV — Electric Vehicle
    • EVA — Extravehicular Activity
    • EWS — Early Warning System
    • EZ — Easy
    • IEEE — Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
    • IEEE-CS — Computer Society of IEEE

  • C (Symbol)

    • Third letter of the English Alphabet
    • Roman numeral with the value 100
    • Celsius — formerly known as Centigrade
    • Central, e.g. CPU (Central Processing Unit)
    • Company, e.g. BOC (British Oil Company)
    • Computer, e.g. PC (Personal Computer)
    • Grade– usually counts as 3.0
    • Co — Company
    • C/O — Care of)
    • Com — Commerce; Company; Communications
    • CA — California
    • CAD — Computer Aided Design
    • CAD — Computer Aided Design
    • CB — Chat Box
    • CAT — Computerized Axial Tomography
    • CG — Center of Gravity
    • CO — Commanding Officer; Chief Operator
    • CRLF — Carriage Return Line Fee
    • CS — Computer Science
    • CT — Computer Technology

  • E (Symbol)

    • Fifth letter of the English Alphabet.
    • Education, e.g. IIE (Institute of International Education)
    • Engineering. e.g. ChE (Chemical Engineering)
    • Estimate, e.g. ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)
    • Executive, e.g. EC (Executive Committee), CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
    • Exponent. e.g. 1E6 (stands for a million) and 1E-6 (stands for a millionth).
    • e is a Mathematical Constant named in honor of Euler. It has a value of 2.71828…
    • e^x (is the Euler Constant raised to the power x).
    • Differentiating e^x returns e^x.
    • Integrating e^x returns e^x.
    • The invariant property of e^x is essential to the Transforms and Transformations (used for the Analysis and Synthesis in Engineering problems).
    • E : Electrical, Electronic, Electronics, Executive, Exponent, English, Engineering
    • EC — Electrical Communications; Executive Committee
    • ECAP — Electrical Circuit Analysis Program
    • EE– Electrical Engineering
    • EEC : European Economic Commission
    • EI : Emotional Intelligence, Electrical Inspectorate
    • EMR — Electronic Medical Record
    • EP — Electrical Power.
    • EPC — Electric Power Corporation
    • EQ — Emotional Quotient, Equality
    • ER — Emergency Room; Emergency Responder
    • ESL — English as a Second Language; English as a Specialty Language
    • ESP — Extra Sensory Perception
    • ETA — Estimated Time of Arrival
    • ETD — Estimated Time of Departure
    • EU — European Union
    • EV — Electric Vehicle
    • EVA — Extravehicular Activity
    • EWS — Early Warning System
    • EZ — Easy
    • IEEE — Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
    • IEEE-CS — Computer Society of IEEE

  • L (Symbol)

    • 3th letter of the English Alphabet.
    • Roman Numeral with the value 50.
    • Inductance or Inductor e.g. RLC Circuit
    • Law, e.g. BL (Bachelor of Law)
    • Litre
    • Sterling Pound
    • Lb — weight in Pounds
    • LCD — Liquid Crystal Display
    • LDL — Low Density Cholesterol Level
    • LED — Light Emitting Diode
    • LLC — Limited Liability Corporation
  • Foundations of Mindfulness

    This is the only way, monks,

    • for the purification of minds of beings,
    • for overcoming sorrow and lamentation,
    • for the disappearance of pain and grief,
    • for reaching the Path,
    • for the realization of Nibbana,

    namely, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

    What are the four? Herein, monks,

    (1) a monk dwells practicing
    body-contemplation on the body,
    ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful,
    overcoming covetousness and grief in the world;

    (2) he dwells practicing
    feeling-contemplation on the feelings,
    ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful,
    overcoming covetousness and grief in the world;

    (3) he dwells practicing
    mind-contemplation on the mind,
    ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful,
    overcoming covetousness and grief in the world;

    (4) he dwells practicing
    dhamma-object contemplation on the dhamma-objects,
    ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful,
    overcoming covetousness and grief in the world.

  • Notes (6)

    Pear

    • Pear is a fruit.
    • Pear’s Soap was one of the soaps we had in our younger days. Others include Lux and Palmolive.
    • Pear’s Cyclopedia is not as thick as the other encyclopedias. It was published by the company that produced Pear’s soap.

    U Hla Thein’s Anecdote

    According to my late beloved father, Dhamma-ka- hti-ka U Hla Thein mentioned the following anecdote:

    “Several people looked at a symbol on the table.

    The first one said, ‘It’s Ka Gyi က”
    The second one said, “It’s Da Dwe ဒ”
    The third one said, “It’s Ya Pa Let. ယ”
    The fourth one said, “It’s Nga Thut. င်”
    Who’s right?”

    There are different point of view. Each one will feel that he/she is right.

    Dr. Nyunt Wai wrote:

    The fifth one, who was directly opposite the fourth said, it’s 3