Respect yourself and others will respect you. --Confucius 

Bhartrihari Sayings

What is the most profitable? – Fellowship with the god.

What is the worst thing in the world? – Company of evil people.

What is the greatest loss? – Failure in one’s duty.

Where is the greatest peace? – In truth and righteousness.

Who is the hero? – The man who subdues his senses.

Who is the best beloved? – The faithful wife.

What is wealth? – Knowledge

What is the most perfect happiness? Staying at home.

- Bhartrihari

Tornado hits valley ranch cowboys indoor training bubble

Bag of weed - Family guy Apr 19th

Stewie: Now everybody gather 'round and listen if you would
When I tell you every person needs a way of feeling good
Every kitty needs a ball of string and every dog a stick
Stewie & Brian: But all you need is a bag of weed to really get a kick
All: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight
A Bag of Weed, A Bag of Weed
Oh, Everything is better with A Bag of Weed
It's the only hope that you'll ever need
Cuz' Everything is better with A Bag of Weed
Stewie: Here you go, you're all getting it now
Ensemble: When Texas people want to feel good,
Stewie: They go assault a queer.
Ensemble: When stupid people need a thrill,
Stewie: They rent The Rocketeer.
Ensemble: When Michael Jackson needs a rush,
Stewie: He humps a guy like me.
Ensemble: Right!
All: But all we need is a bag of weed,
To keep us worry free.
One, Two, Three, HO!
A Bag of Weed, A Bag of Weed
Oh, everything is better with A Bag of Weed
Oh, you don't need meth and you don't need speed
Cuz' Everything is better with A Bag of Weed
Stewie: Have a go, Brian!
Brian: As Mr. H.L. Mencken said, "The common man's a fool."
Stewie: And just like Helen Keller said, "Doof stoo gee nay foo tool."
Brian: But try and use your heads and don't buy into all the fear.
All: HEY!
'Cuz all we need is a bag of weed
To make us wanna cheer!
And One, Two!
A Bag of Weed, A Bag of Weed
Oh, everything is better with A Bag of Weed
You can try and fight but we're all agreed
Because everything is better with A Bag of Weed
(break)
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight,
And One, Two, Three, Four, And A Five, And A Six, And A Seven! HO!!
A Bag of Weed, A Bag of Weed
Oh, everything is better with A Bag of Weed
You're a happy guy but you can't proceed
Because everything is better with A Bag...
Of...
Weed!
Oh ev'rything is better with a bag of weed!!

Booting Debian Installer on AMD64

Note

For information on how to boot the graphical installer, see Section D.6, “The Graphical Installer”.

5.1.1. Booting from a CD-ROM

The easiest route for most people will be to use a set of Debian CDs. If you have a CD set, and if your machine supports booting directly off the CD, great! Simplyconfigure your system for booting off a CD as described in Section 3.6.2, “Boot Device Selection”, insert your CD, reboot, and proceed to the next chapter.

Note that certain CD drives may require special drivers, and thus be inaccessible in the early installation stages. If it turns out the standard way of booting off a CD doesn't work for your hardware, revisit this chapter and read about alternate kernels and installation methods which may work for you.

Even if you cannot boot from CD-ROM, you can probably install the Debian system components and any packages you want from CD-ROM. Simply boot using a different media, such as floppies. When it's time to install the operating system, base system, and any additional packages, point the installation system at the CD-ROM drive.

If you have problems booting, see Section 5.3, “Troubleshooting the Installation Process”.

5.1.2. Booting from Linux Using LILO or GRUB

To boot the installer from hard disk, you must first download and place the needed files as described in Section 4.4, “Preparing Files for Hard Disk Booting”.

If you intend to use the hard drive only for booting and then download everything over the network, you should download the netboot/debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz file and its corresponding kernel netboot/debian-installer/amd64/linux.

ftp://ftp.debian.de 

/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-amd64/20070308etch3/images/netboot/debian-installer/amd64

This will allow you to repartition the hard disk from which you boot the installer, although you should do so with care.

Alternatively, if you intend to keep an existing partition on the hard drive unchanged during the install, you can download the hd-media/initrd.gz file and its kernel, as well as copy a CD iso to the drive (make sure the file is named ending in .iso). The installer can then boot from the drive and install from the CD image, without needing the network.

For LILO, you will need to configure two essential things in /etc/lilo.conf:

• to load the initrd.gz installer at boot time;

• have the vmlinuz kernel use a RAM disk as its root partition.

Here is a /etc/lilo.conf example:

image=/boot/newinstall/vmlinuz        label=newinstall        initrd=/boot/newinstall/initrd.gz 

For more details, refer to the initrd(4) and lilo.conf(5) man pages. Now run lilo and reboot.

The procedure for GRUB is quite similar. Locate your menu.lst in the /boot/grub/ directory (sometimes in the /boot/boot/grub/), add the following lines:

title  New Install kernel (hd0,0)/boot/newinstall/vmlinuz initrd (hd0,0)/boot/newinstall/initrd.gz 

and reboot.

Note that the value of the ramdisk_size may need to be adjusted for the size of the initrd image. From here on, there should be no difference between GRUB orLILO.

5.1.3. Booting from USB Memory Stick

Let's assume you have prepared everything from Section 3.6.2, “Boot Device Selection” and Section 4.3, “Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting”. Now just plug your USB stick into some free USB connector and reboot the computer. The system should boot up, and you should be presented with the boot: prompt. Here you can enter optional boot arguments, or just hit Enter.

5.1.4. Booting with TFTP

Booting from the network requires that you have a network connection and a TFTP network boot server (DHCP, RARP, or BOOTP).

The installation method to support network booting is described in Section 4.5, “Preparing Files for TFTP Net Booting”.

There are various ways to do a TFTP boot on i386.

5.1.4.1. NIC or Motherboard that support PXE

It could be that your Network Interface Card or Motherboard provides PXE boot functionality. This is a Intel™ re-implementation of TFTP boot. If so, you may be able to configure your BIOS to boot from the network.

5.1.4.2. NIC with Network BootROM

It could be that your Network Interface Card provides TFTP boot functionality.

5.1.4.3. Etherboot

The etherboot project provides bootdiskettes and even bootroms that do a TFTPboot.

5.1.5. The Boot Prompt

When the installer boots, you should be presented with a friendly graphical screen showing the Debian logo and the boot prompt:

Press F1 for help, or ENTER to boot: 

At the boot prompt you can either just press Enter to boot the installer with default options or enter a specific boot method and, optionally, boot parameters.

Information on available boot methods and on boot parameters which might be useful can be found by pressing F2 through F8. If you add any parameters to the boot command line, be sure to type the boot method (the default is install) and a space before the first parameter (e.g., install fb=false).

Note

If you are installing the system via a remote management device that provides a text interface to the VGA console, you may not be able to see the initial graphical splash screen upon booting the installer; you may even not see the boot prompt. Examples of these devices include the text console of Compaq's “integrated Lights Out” (iLO) and HP's “Integrated Remote Assistant” (IRA). You can blindly press F1^[4] to bypass this screen and view the help text. Once you are past the splash screen and at the help text your keystrokes will be echoed at the prompt as expected. To prevent the installer from using the framebuffer for the rest of the installation, you will also want to add fb=false to the boot prompt, as described in the help text.

No mention of Mangalya dharanam in old Tamil texts!

Source: jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com

Mangalya dharanam – part 2

One of the popular notions is that Mangalya dharanam or tying of the thaali

was a practice prevalent in Tamil culture only.

This practice spread to the north from Tamilnadu and its adjoining states.

But this notion is not supported by the practices as revealed in Tamil texts.

Nor can it be said that Vedic marriage of the type of Sita kalyanam

was not part of Tamil culture.

Vedic marriage as described in Valmiki Ramayana was also practiced in Tamilnadu.

Thol kappiyam talks about the same 8 types of marriages.

It also talks bout the PuL nimittham –

the sakuna indications as done in Vedic marriages.

From Choodamani nigandu,

we come to know that though marriage types were eight,

the fixing of the marriage was done only by two methods (1)

They were 'ara nilai inbham' and 'mara nilai inbham'

The former is about the marriage of the two

belonging to similar characteristics in terms of age and kulam

and conducted in the presence of relatives and friends in front of Agni.

This is Vedic marriage, the details of which can be read in Silappadhikaram

in the marriage of Kovalan and Kannagi.

The second type is the marriage in which

the groom wins the hand of the bride

by winning some game such as bull-fight or shooting game.

The bull fight was popular in Mullai lands of Tamil nadu

where the Ayar girl married the winner of her bull.

The shooting game was popular among the soldier clan - maravar clan

who had a stake in getting the most valiant person as the son-in-law.

This is similar to Rama's and Arjuna's marriage.

The scene was that of a Swayamvaram –

the girl choosing her groom – but from among the persons of similar traits

who proves himself to be supreme among others.

These two types of marriage mentioned in the Nigandu

were very much prevalent throughout India in those days –

with no regional difference.

This is because, as is told in several places in the Tamil texts,

this entire country was known as "Naavalan theevu" or Jhambhoo dweepa

All the people moved around this Jhambhoo dweepa

and followed the same culture.(2)

In not less than 3 places in Silappadhikaram,

there is mention of Naavalan theevu referring to the whole land mass

of which Tamilnadu was also a part.

The marriage practices were the same.

The religious practices were the same.

For all the people of this Jhambhoo dweepa,

Ganges was the holy river.

The Cheran king, Senkutuvan who went to the Himalayas

to get the rock for constructing a temple for Kannagi

had already gone to the North accompanying his mother

to take a holy dip in the Ganges (3)

The similarities extend to war practices

and social practices too.

Needless to say the marriage practices were also the same –

without Mangalya dharanam!!

Sita kalyanam was a 'Prajapathi' marriage whereby

the duo belonged to the same kulam, gunas, status (in every sense of the term)

and were united in marriage by Vedic rituals facilitated by

the "Prajapathi" or 'Brahma'

who guides and directs the marriage ceremonies.

In any Vedic ritual there will be a senior officiating priest

who is designated as Brahma to authorize the proceedings.

It is because of this, such a marriage is known as Prajapathi.

We find that the Kovalan – Kanangi marriage also was a Prajapathi marriage –

similar in description of Rama's marriage.

Writing his commentary on such a marriage as told in Thol kappiyam,

Nacchinaarkkiniyar justifies Prajapthi marriage as told above.

Such a marriage is praised by all as 'Nonbu' or a tapas that has come true,

because it is so pleasing and joyous to see such a marriage.

The spectators, while blessing the couple with sacred rice

used to think what kind of nonbu or tapas

they must have done to see such a marriage. (4)

Another commentator, Adiyaarkku nallar coins the Tamil term 'voppu'

for this Prajapathi marriage.

This means the marriage is done within the same clan having similar traits.

Since it is 'voppu', it also includes marriage within the already related ones.

Such a marriage described in Silappadhikaram was done in Vedic way

with PAnigrahanam but no Mangalya dharanam.

There is mention of 'ashta mangala' things such as

auspicious things that include water pots (kumba) carried by auspicious women.

There is mention of the vedic practice of growing nava dhanya

(9 types of grains – called paaligai)

There is mention of comparing Kannagi to Arundhathi,

the sacred bath to the bride, the sacred music and so on.

Ilangovadigal used the word "mangalam" in a couple of places

while describing the marriage ceremony (5)

But that was about auspicious ornaments and auspicious decoration.

But mangalya dharanam was conspicuously absent in the description.

Not only in Silappadhikaram, we find mention of simple weddings

with or without Agni in Aga nanuru also.

But whatever description is given, it tallies with Vedic marriage rituals only.

For instance we find in Rama's marriage, the thread ceremony before the marriage.

A sacred thread was tied to the wrist of both the bride and the groom.

This is mentioned in Agananuru wherein it is stated

that a white thread specially prepared from some plants

(the process of preparing is mentioned )

is tied to the bride's wrist by her relatives. (6).

With that, the bride is brought to the decorated marriage platform

and given in marriage to the groom.

The description is indicative of 'dattam' that Janaka did (7)

The auspicious day of the moon joining Rohini as a suitable day for marriage,

seeing Sakuna or Nimittha and

holding of the hands as a mark of the bride being given to the groom in marriage

are found in other texts too. (Kali-th-thogai to mention here)

But in all these descriptions,

the tying of the thaali or the sacred thread around the neck is missing.

There is mention of wearing jewels – auspicious jewels -

but no mention of this specific ornament as Mangalyam.

It will be interesting to know about the love marriages in those days.

The popular opinion in Tamilnadu is that love marriages were common in those days.

They quote the 2 states, namely 'kaLavu' and 'karpu' –

something sanctified by Thiruvalluvar himself in the 3^rd chapter in Thirukkural

and told in Thol kappiyam too.

But they were not like the love marriages of today.

The KaLavozukkam is not about "kaLLam"

It is defined by Parimelazhagar (in his commentary to Thirukkural)

as the relationship between a healthy (no disease and no old age) boy and a girl

who match each other in physical looks, in tendencies,

in financial status, in age, in kulam, in characteristics and in love.

The coming together of these two without the presence of relatives

and friends is known as 'kaLavu'. (8)

The inter-caste marriages are not suggested by this.

The marriage is between the people of same clan

but consummated without the presence of parents.

By this it is known,

that an Ayar boy married an Ayar girl and not someone from another clan.

The mobility was not approved – a trait continuing till today

but the mobility of a girl to an upper strata was approved.

It is because marriage is about the 4 purusharthas, of which

Moksha or emancipation is the Final goal.

Every act in human life is expected to train and divert one

to spiritual growth - towards Realization of the need to get released

from the cycle of birth.

Movement to a clan that was better evolved in such practices was acceptable

But movement to a clan that is yet to incorporate such practices

for Final emancipation was discouraged.

These practices were the same throughout the Jambhoo dweepa

and not confined to one area as to claim that it was Tamil culture or so.

In fact the kaLAvu and karpu of Tamil lands

also have a Sanskrit counter parts in

King Bhoja raja's 'Shrunghara prakasham' as

'sambhogam for kaLavu and

'vipra yogam for Karpu.

We can locate a verse of kaLavu nature in Agananuru (9)

which is about a girl eloping with her lover.

The mother expresses in that verse her wish

that the lover bedeck her in all jewellery.

There is again no mention of thaali

but the girl missing the joy of getting beautified with jewels is indicated.

From this and from other verses on marriage,

it is known that bridal jewellery was part of marriage.

Such decoration is done before the marriage ceremony begins.

But there is no indication of jewels mandatorily added

or gifted at the time of marriage.

If the tying of the thaali is a major event of the marriage as it is nowadays,

then it would have been certainly mentioned somewhere.

But that it is not so, makes us wonder

whether this event was a later addition.

Till Silappadhikaram times,

Mangalya dharanam was not in vogue –

this is something can say with certainty.

According to Silappadhikaram, Madurai was burnt on a Friday

with moon in Kaarthgai star,

in the Krishna paksha, in the month of Aadi. (10)

If this date can be identified,

we can know for sure until what times,

the purely Vedic way of marriage –sans Mangalya dharanam

was in practice in Tamil lands.

Obama's victory

My cousins Suba and Sundari celebrating President Obama's in DC that night.