Please click on the following web address to see pictures of some landscapes of Sri Lanka. All pictures were taken by me. Copy and paste the web address in blue on to the address bar of your browser. Click on the pictures to see an enlarged image. See the 'older posts' by clicking on title 'older posts' in the bottom right hand corner of each web page. Please bookmark this page for easier viewing later.
Philip
http://imagessrilanka.blogspot.com/
This blog is about the entrants in the year 1960, to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ceylon, Colombo. The email address for communications is, 1960batch@gmail.com. Please BOOKMARK this page for easier access later.Photo is the entrance porch of the old General Hospital, Colombo, still in existence. Please use the search box below to look for your requirement.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
'To Sir, with love'
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Words used in English
Interesting History
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & Sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... .
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof...Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & Sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... .
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof...Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until,
when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History was boring!!!
So...get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until,
when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History was boring!!!
So...get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
New blog - images of Sri Lanka. blogspot.com
I have started a second blog to display scenic sights of Sri Lanka. You could view it by clicking on the web address below. Hope you enjoy watching it. I hope to add more pictures frequently.
http://imagessrilanka.blogspot.com/
Please pass it on to friends, especially Sri Lankans.
PGV
imagessrilanka.blogspot.com
This blog will display some of the scenic spots in present day Sri Lanka. The photographs were all taken by the owner of this blog and are his property.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Ragupathy's 40th wedding anniversary celebration photos - Still smiling.
A happy man with his children and grandchildren.
All the best wishes of the Batch of 1960 goes to him.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
email from Bernie
Dear Veera/JB
most of our school/college contacts are past late 60's and their 70's.
we should all be grateful for the more recent confirmation that neuronal replication, was not a myth,but a fact,as many noticed,
but were unable to explain how an old dog ,learns new tricks.
retiring from professions or vocations, forced at age 50-55 was a well known harbinger of death or brain death. Learning to use the less dominant hemisphere, not only taps a vast unused resource,
but also prepares one ,in the event of some neuronal damage,post embolic or other stroke related events. We forget the impact of old injuries,including mild cerebral trauma, manifesting decades later.
The impact of depression, anxiety,panic states mood changes
and other common disorders, including hostility,anger,jealousy,that occur ,but not fully recognized ,diagnosed or treated. They do lead to mental status dysfunction, and most are likely to respond to treatment, early recognition,and when less subject to denial.like I am fine,but I know you are worse, or related attitudes. Early recognition of MCI[minimum cognitive impairment] impacted the care of millions, but is only freely available to a very small minority. Ignorance and resistance,to consider the possibility of impairment,is a great obstacle. Also like in Sri Lanka, the availability of treatment,is a major factor, for the vast majority. Training the brain,will make it better,as JB has explained, but is ignore, we are functionally better ,much better, in most areas of cerebral and intellectual performance. In some areas we are less efficient, like in running,cannot swim 100 fast laps, or lift heavy weights. But we can read ,retain recollect,much more and would surprise some of our old teachers. I used to discuss this with Dr Anthonis,DJ,Daphne[latter 2 my uncle and aunt, and were embarrassed,when addressed them as such,especially after my wife Sheila started the conversation] we recalled so many incidents,
even some variations with Appendectomy procedures[even though I branched out to Psychiatry/neuro psych/forensic psych,many decades ago] most of the conversations were in non medical areas.
remembering old names numbers was one item. We have vast resources now, that we couldn't imagine before the pre Arthur Clark era. We can speak to a computer and or I phone and get the dumb contraption,to talk back and give us the information. We can write or type with errors,and receive auto correction, and the list is endless
future potential ,not even contained by our imagination.We recognized that our genes are immortal after all, and only the physical body is the transient,limiting factor.
Then who cares? Other latent clinical features,emerge,as we grow older, and we do not know how to include these,in our discussions or diagnosis. If we diagnose ,for instance ,with 6 symptoms and signs, what happens if we have only 5 or 5.99 confirmed.Are we allowed to diagnose with conviction? We may have 95% of the symptoms of MCI but remain undiagnosed,untreated,neglected?/
That is the question.
Bernard de Silva
Cincinnati/MT lavinia
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