BANGKOK, July 16 (Reuters) - Thailand and Cambodia moved on Wednesday to ratchet down tensions on their border where hundreds of troops faced off over a disputed ancient temple.
Senior Thai and Cambodian officials were trying to negotiate an end to the stand-off, triggered by Thai protests against the the listing of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site earlier this month, Thailand's Supreme Commander, Boonsrang Niumpradit, told Reuters.
"Please be calm and patient. We are talking with the senior people in Cambodia and we hope the situation will ease up in a few days," he said.
However, tensions might get worse on Thursday when Thai protesters plan to rally near the border "to protect our sovereignty", a protest leader said. About 200 Thai soldiers and 380 Cambodian troops faced each other a day after three Thai activists were detained for several hours after trying to plant a Thai flag on the temple site.
Angkor Watt in Cambodia
In December 1997 - January 1998, I attended the Fifth International Conference on Buddhist Women organized in Phnom Penh by Sakyadhita (http://www.sakyadhita.org/index.html). Although I was carrying a Canadian passport, I was told to be discreet and careful because Vietnamese are still hated and despised by the local population.
So of course, on the bus taking the Conference participants to visit Angkor Watt, I started asking our tour guide all kinds of difficult questions.
Q : Why do you hate the Vietnamese? A : Duh! They are our hereditary enemies! Q: Didn't they deliver you from the Khmer Rouge?
A: Yes, I have to say that I am glad they invaded us and removed the Khmer Rouge.
Q: So why do you hate them? A: They invaded our country and took our lands. Q: But that was centuries ago. And the Thai also invaded your country and took your lands. And so did the Burmese. Why aren’t you mad at them? A: Uh..uh.. well... Q: The Thai invaded your country as recently as during the 60s. [In 1962, Thailand invaded the same Preah Vihear temple that they are now trying to take over.] I remember King Sihanouk having to go to the International Court of Justice to force the Thai to give back the land. The Thai also claim that Angkor Watt belongs to them. And didn’t the Thai remove the Emerald Buddha from Angkor Watt and take it to Bangkok? Why are the Vietnamese your hereditary enemies, but not the Thai? A: Uh… We are going to stop at this farm for a demonstration of rice cultivation.
Emerald Buddha at Wat Phra Kaeo in Bangkok
Update - 18 July 2008 : Video clip (in French) about the conflict (from Le Monde)
For some reasons, I tend to attract female friends whose behavior is... shall we say, unusual. I've already told you about my friend from Ottawa. I have another friend who's in the same category, i.e. a citizen from Coocooland.
S. is Chinese. I met her when she first came to Montreal to study, some twenty odd years ago. She was penniless then and my future ex and I helped her out a lot. We sorta drifted apart with the years, but recently she got back in contact with me.
S. loves to tell the same old tales of secret agents, spies and mysterious K.G.B.-ish people that are part of her life. If you listen to her, you'd think the whole Chinese community is a network of spooks. She tried to get a job at my workplace, a UN specialized agency, but was unsuccessful and became very bitter about it, so now our conversations are always on the same subjects: the entire Chinese delegation is spying on her and all of the Chinese section's translators and interpreters are incompetent because they were recruted for their loyalty to the party and not for their language skills.
So I tend to avoid her a bit. But the other day, she called me and said that she's got to see me, because she has something very important and urgent to tell me. How could I say no? I suggested meeting her for lunch, and she told me to meet her at noon sharp at the corner of X street and Y street in Chinatown. Let's say noon-ish, I suggested, because I can only leave for lunch at noon and it'll take me 5-7 minutes to reach Chinatown. No, no, she said, at noon sharp. All right, I said, I'll sneak out 5 minutes earlier. She didn't arrive until 12:25. This is not the first time she's late at our appointments, so I was already resigned to waiting, but she must have seen some trace of reproach on my face, because as soon as she got near, she reached out and patted my stomach and said: Hah! Are you 6 months pregnant?
Now I must tell you that I am absolutely impervious to any criticism about my physical appearance. First, because I used to be quite a beauty in my youth (I know, it's hard to believe, looking at me now, but I have photos and witnesses still alive) so my self-confidence is pretty strong. And second, I'm at an age where I really don't care what most people think, because I'm convinced that I'm surrounded by assholes. So normally I would have just laughed at her jab at me, except this time, I can see, as clear as the sun, the meanness behind her words: it wasn't a joke, she meant to hurt me. But like most people, she didn't have the courage to be openly insulting.
"I know what you're doing", I said to her, looking her straight in the face until she looked away. "You are embarrassed because you are late, it's a loss of face. So to cover your embarrassment, you are attacking me, to avoid having to apologize for your rudeness." She pretended she didn't hear me.
- Look, I brought you some food that I just cooked for you. - What? I thought we're going to a restaurant. Isn't it why we're in Chinatown? - No, I went to a restaurant here with my son the other day and he got sick, the food was so dirty! - Well then, let's not go to that restaurant, let's go to another one. - No, no, they're all dirty. The food I made you is very clean. - I don't doubt that, but I'd rather go to a restaurant.
She dragged me to one of those office buildings near Chinatown and we sat at one of the picnic tables the offices provide for their staff. Then she took out from a plastic bag a yogurt container full of dumplings, a cold boiled egg with broken shell because it was at the bottom of the bag and a lukewarm soft drink.
- Here, here's your lunch. - Uh, thanks, and what are you having? - Nothing, I've already eaten. - What? WTF are you doing? You dragged me here for this? - I am very careful about the yin and the yang and the seasons when I cook, you know. This food I brought you is very good for you, very healthy. - That's it! I'm going back to the office. - You don't want the food? - S., I didn't come here for the frigging food. I brought my own lunch, but I left it at the office, because I thought we would be going to a restaurant cause you asked me to meet you in Chinatown because you had something important to tell me. So what is it you wanted to tell me? - Well, you know the Chinese delegate. His wife is trying to find out all about me and she asked about me with the nun who's teaching my son... - That's it! THAT'S IT! No more, S. It's the same nonsense you told me last month, and the month before that and every single time we met. It doesn't concern me at all, it's about your community. If there is something I can do to help you, tell me exactly what you want me to do. Now! Tell me now! If not, I'm sorry, but I cannot do this anymore. I do not want you to cook for me, I do not want to spend time listening to the same old stories. Don't call me for the next six months. OK, S.? Have a nice summer.
The entourage of the Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has an unusual secret weapon. Her security team defends the head of the government with umbrellas. Not ordinary umbrellas, but unbreakable fighting umbrellas.
And here's a secret video clip of James Bond's combat training:
"A Satirical Presentation of this election and to find HUMOR in it. For Hillary, For Puma, & For all who will stand up and fight for Democracy. All Music & Images & Clips are Copyright to its original owner(s), including the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by New Line Cinema."
Les chats sont intellectuels, subtils, nobles, réservés, introvertis, susceptibles et dédaigneux. Ils sont aussi plus spirituels que les chiens (voir preuve ci-après). Ce sont les Bac Ky du monde animal.
Chat priant les dieux du frigo
Les chiens quant à eux sont s'enfoutistes, jouisseurs, sportifs, extravertis, gourmands, généreux, tolérants et clowns. Ce sont les Nam Ky du monde animal.
Chien se la coulant douce
Voilà ma thèse. Vous pouvez m'envoyer mon diplôme par la poste, svp? Je suis trop paresseuse pour aller le chercher. Je suis une chienne sudiste.
For my son Asparagus' birthday, I promised him an iPhone, so on Thursday, the eve of the iPhone launch in Canada, I went to a Rogers store to reserve an iPhone. The dealer laughed in my face :
"We don't take reservation, Madame. People will stand in line, some will camp in front of the store tonight, and it will be first come first served."
I warned Asparagus : I will go to the store before work in case they open early, but if not, I will not be standing in line and I will go during my lunch hour, so if they run out or something, I'll try again some other time, OK?
So at noon, I went to the store and lo and behold, there was nobody! I told the saleswoman: "I'm here to fend off the crowd and try to buy an iPhone, please", but irony was lost on her. And then the circus began.
First of all, since I'm already a Rogers customer, I'm screwed : the iPhone is for new customers only, meaning that I cannot upgrade Asparagus' account with a regular cellphone to an iPhone account, meaning he would have to start a 3-year contract with a new cellphone number.
Second, since I have a contract with Rogers, I'm doubly screwed, because they will not let me cancel Asparagus' old account without heavy fines. Eventually, it turned out that Ive been a Rogers customer for so long that there was no contract, a little bit like being President for life.
Third, Asparagus had to be present, because he had to sign the contract. I offered to sign for him, they said no. I said: you will see me sign my son's name in his place, but neither Rogers nor Apple have to know. I'm not trying to defraud you or anything, I just want to give you my money. They said no. I said: OK, then, I will open the new account in my name and give him the phone to use. They said no, because you will not be able to cancel your other account. That's when my patience ran out. I started raising my voice: "What the frig does Rogers care whether I have ten accounts with them or zero account. I'm here to buy your product, do you want my money or not, friggady friggadoo?" The whole store became silent and everyone turned around to stare at me. As we know, Orientals are not used to public scenes and confrontations.
So I calmed down and called Asparagus: you have to be here, or they won't sell me the iPhone. By the time he arrived, the staff were still apologizing to me: we understand how you feel, it's not us, it's Rogers' and Apple's policies, etc..
Turns out, it was a good thing Asparagus was there, cause there were so many choices and decisions to be made, I wouldn't be able to conclude the transaction anyway.
My faithful readers (all three of you) know how much I love Indian/Pakistani dance video clips. So imagine my delight when my favourite TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" decided to feature Bollywood as one of their dance style choices.
I couldn't resist "borrowing" from Ultrabrown (http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/robot-gopis), an Indian blog, these two videos: first, the SYTYCD rendition of a choreography of a song from the hit film Om Shanti Om, then the dance sequence from the film itself. Enjoy!
So You Think You Can Dance - US Edition
Dance Sequence from Om Shanti Om
I made a mistake. The Indian clip above is not from Om Shanti Om, but from the film Amrapali (1966). The song used in SYTYCD sequence is from Om Shanti Om. Are we clear?
Bonus: Bollywood dance style from So You Think You Can Dance - Australia Edition
I would love to help Hillary Clinton, but I am not a US citizen, so I cannot contribute. If any of my readers is, can I ask you to contribute and get the Tshirt (size L) and I'll buy it from you? Thank you.
La nuit dernière, j'ai fait un rêve bizarre, un peu lugubre, mais aussi très rassurant. Non, il ne s'agit pas d'un meurtre prémédité comme dans le roman de Garcia Marquez. Non, j'ai rêvé de ma propre mort... Je vous raconte.
Je suis dans une chambre inconnue, complètement dans le noir. À mesure que mes yeux s'habituent à l'obscurité, un peu comme les personnages du premier film de la série Saw, je me rends compte que je suis seule, recroquevillée dans un lit. Je vois de la lumière sous la porte de la chambre. Je ne suis ni enchaînée ni ligotée, mais je n'arrive pas à bouger. Soudain, je SAIS, avec certitude, que je suis en train de mourir et la panique me saisit. J'ai peur, non pas de mourir, mais de mourir sans comprendre pourquoi et dans quelles circonstances.
Je me mets à hurler, toujours recroquevillée : HELP! HELP! HEEEELP!! Il me semble que je hurlais depuis 20, 30 minutes, quand soudain la porte s'ouvre et je vois sur le seuil la silhouette de mon fils aîné, Asperge. Il entre, toujours en silhouette noire, parce que je suis aveuglée par la lumière éblouissante du cadre de la porte. Il s'approche de mon lit et met sa main sur ma joue. Il me dit: It's OK, I'm here. Puis il grimpe sur mon lit, s'étend tout contre moi en me tournant le dos, prend ma main et amène mon bras par-dessus son corps pour que je l'enlace. Je sens la chaleur de son corps contre le mien et je COMPRENDS alors, avec certitude, qu'il est là pour m'aider à mourir et une grande paix m'envahit.
Et je me réveille, le visage et l'oreiller inondés de larmes.
Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, né Llhamo Döndrub (Tibetan: ལྷ་མོ་དོན་འགྲུབ་), was born on 6 July 1935 in Qinghai (China). He is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, honorary Canadian citizenship in 2006, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.
Mes rapports avec mes compatriotes ont toujours été empreints d’ambiguïté. Autant j’admire le Vietnam pour son esprit indépendant et son passé «glorieux», autant je trouve les Mit (raccourcis de « Annamites », sobriquet que les viet kieu se donnent, équivalant au nigger pour les noirs américains) exaspérants dans leurs petitesses, leur superficialité et leur autoritarisme.
Jeudi dernier, j’ai reçu la visite d’une bonne amie d’Ottawa. Elle venait à Montréal pour visiter ses enfants dont le dernier fêtait son 25e anniversaire ce jour là. Le plan était que j’irai la chercher à la gare d’autocars, je la ramenerai chez moi jusqu’à l’heure du souper où on irait rejoindre ses enfants à un restaurant, je la ramenerai ensuite chez moi pour passer la nuit et la déposerai à la gare d’autocars le lendemain avant d’aller au bureau.
Cette courte visite, plus les souvenirs d’autres rencontres brèves, me suffiront pour démontrer le bien-fondé de mon allergie aux Mit.
Esprit de contradiction : peu importe ce que tu dis, c’est non d’office Elle me emaile avant son arrivée : Tu viens me chercher à 5h15 à la gare d’autocars? Je réponds : Oui, c’est ce qu’on avait convenu. Elle répond : Non, on avait convenu d’un autre restaurant… Ma réaction : !!??!?!?1
Je voulais lui parler de mon plan d’affaires au Vietnam et lui offrir d’y participer, mais j’avais oublié qu’elle était une personne très timorée et très négative. À chacun de mes arguments, elle présentait le pire scénario : ça ne peut pas marcher, ils vont te voler, je connais plein de gens qui se sont fait rouler, etc.. À la fin, exaspérée, je lui dis : Écoute, je sais que tu ne veux pas participer, it’s ok, mais tu n’arrêtes pas de me poser des questions, you’re trying to pick my brain but you’re not even interested in the project. Elle se vexe : « Tu penses que je vais te voler ton plan d’affaires? ». « Non, lui dis-je, personne ne peut me voler mes idées, je suis la seule à avoir les compétences nécessaires pour réussir le projet. Mais tu as déjà décidé de ne pas y participer, et pourtant tu continues à me poser des questions et à contredire mes réponses. Tu n’es pas intéressée par mon projet, mais tu veux tout connaître, par pure curiosité. »
Je m’en fous de tes choix, voilà ce que je veux À peine assise dans la voiture, elle m’informe qu’elle n’aime pas l’air climatisé (elle arrive en plein juillet vêtue de chandails et d’un manteau long jusqu’aux pieds). Donc il fallait éteindre le ventilateur dans la voiture et la clim dans la maison. Mais on ne pouvait pas non plus laisser la porte de la cuisine ouverte à cause des mouches et des moustiques. Il y avait plein de choses qu’elle n’aimait pas.
NON!
Tout ce que tu fais est mauvais et je tiens à te le dire Les Vietnamiens que vous invitez à la maison ne sont pas de simples invités. Non, ce sont d’abord et avant tout des inspecteurs et des critiques experts en tout. Dès qu’ils arrivent, ils font le tour de la maison et vous énumèrent tout ce qui ne va pas chez vous et vous disent quoi faire pour rectifier vos erreurs et vos carences. Voici quelques raisons (parmi tant d’autres) pour lesquelles ma maison n’a pas leur sceau Good Housekeeping : le feng shui est tout faux, sans parler des couleurs des murs, du choix des meubles, etc… Ma chienne est sale et ses poils sont partout. Mes plantes, c’est pas ça. Les chambres sont drôlement petites. On ne peut rien trouver dans ma cuisine. Ma collection de statues de kwan yin en blanc de chine, je dois la placer sur des étagères, sinon ce n’est pas respectueux. Comment se fait-il que je n’ai pas d’autel des ancêtres. Pourquoi est-ce que j’ai de vieux meubles alors qu’il y a des entrepôts de meubles orientaux pas chers du tout… etc. Avec ma copine d’Ottawa, c’était une plante en particulier dont le pot était trop petit.
Ma collection de kwan yin
Je suis ton invité(e), mais c’est moi qui décide dans ta maison Une fois installée à la maison, la copine a un petit creux. Comme il restait plus d’une heure avant le rendez-vous au resto, je lui propose un petit snack vin-fromage, qu’elle accepte. Je sors le fromage, je prends les assiettes et les verres et je la vois en train de découper le fromage à même le comptoir de la cuisine. Je luis dis, en plaisantant à moitié : « M’enfin, attends que je mette la table, on n’est pas des sauvages, tu as si faim que ça? » Elle refuse absolument : Non, non, pas de chichis. Je pense, sans oser le dire tout haut : Et si je te jetais le fromage par terre, tu pourras le manger sans chichi par terre avec la chienne? « Je ne veux pas que tu me serves » dit-elle. Ah, parce que toi, tu veux m’impressionner avec ton absence de chichi à la con, moi, je n’ai pas le droit de manger dans une assiette, comme une civilisée. Finalement, quand on commence à manger sur le balcon, elle me dit que mon pain est rassis (voir Tout ce que tu fais est mauvais etc..).
Plus tard, alors qu’on se prépare à sortir pour aller au restaurant, elle essaye de faire le tour de la maison pour éteindre tous les ventilateurs. L’idée que je puisse avoir une opinion à ce propos ne l’effleure pas une seule fois l’esprit.
Tu es trop conne pour planifier tes propres affaires et on décidera pour toi Un jour, j’invite deux très bons amis vietnamiens à venir passer la journée avec moi et, comme je devais partir pour Québec ou Ottawa – je ne m’en souviens plus – cette nuit là, je les avertis que je ne pourrai les recevoir que jusqu’à 7 heures, pensant bêtement qu’en leur donnant toutes les informations à l’avance, je leur permettais de faire leurs propres plans pour la soirée. Grosse, grosse erreur. Ils arrivent, on passe la journée ensemble, puis à 5 heures, ils décident qu’ils vont partir pour ne pas me fatiguer avant mon voyage. Ce dont ils se foutent : j’avais fait mes plans sur la base de leur départ à 7 heures et si j’avais su qu’ils partiraient 2 heures plus tôt j’aurais fait d’autres plans. Ce qu’ils ont décidé à ma place : je suis trop faible pour monter dans l’autocar et y passer 2, 3 heures avant d’arriver à destination, et je suis aussi trop conne pour savoir que je serais trop faible pour voyager en autocar sans me reposer 2, 3 heures au préalable. En d’autres termes, je suis comme une enfant qui a de vagues plans et eux, sont les adultes qui décideront pour moi quoi faire et quand. Demander mon avis ou me laisser décider, ce serait me témoigner un respect qu’apparemment je ne mérite pas.
Même chose pour mon amie d’Ottawa. Alors que je lui ai dit à maintes reprises que je me réveille tous les jours à 6h30 pour sortir la chienne et qu’on aura amplement le temps de prendre le petit déjeuner avant de partir pour la gare, elle décide que je ne suis pas fiable. À 6 heures, elle entre en trombe dans ma chambre, toute habillée avec son long manteau d’Il était une fois dans l’Ouest, et me secoue : Réveille-toi, tu vas être en retard pour le bureau!! Je me réveille en sursaut, pensant : Merde, mon réveil n’a pas sonné!? Et elle reste là, comme un fantôme derrière mon dos, alors que je fais mon lit. Mais vas t’en, je lui dis, laisse moi me préparer. Elle sort, enfin.
Lorsque j’arrive à la cuisine pour préparer le petit déjeuner, je constate qu’il n’était que 6h15. Je le lui dis, sa réaction : Hihhihihi! J’ai mal lu ma montre, vas te recoucher!
Hihihihi, je me suis trompée une fois de plus, mais j'ai toujours raison
On prend le café-croissant sur le balcon. Elle me dit que mon pain est rassis (encore) et que mon lait est yechh, qu’elle préfère de la crème. Et que je ne sais pas m’y prendre avec le café parce qu’il va devenir tout amer (voir Tout ce que tu fais est mauvais, plus haut). Le principe à comprendre avec les Mit (à moins que ce ne soit cette copine en particulier) c’est que s’ils se réfrénaient une seule fois de critiquer tout et n’importe quoi, ils perdraient leur joie de vivre. Super bonus, si la critique est marinée dans de la mauvaise foi. Par exemple, ma copine dont la maison abrite une ou deux plantes desséchées et poussiéreuses critique ma plante touffue et plantureuse, tout en passant sous silence mes innombrables orchidées en fleur, mes grands bambous verdoyants et mon balcon fleuri. Cela ne l’empêche pas non plus, avant de partir, de récolter dans un sac en plastique mes piments forts et mes herbes fines vietnamiennes sur le balcon.
Conclusion — La fin du rêve vietnamien Avant que vous n’ayez la mauvaise impression, je tiens à vous dire que j’aime mes amis. Malgré leur vietnamitude, ce sont des personnes qui ont du cœur et de la décence (au sens anglais du mot). Toutes ces choses qu’ils font et que j’ai décrites découlent de « bonnes » intentions, ils le font pour mon bien, parait-il.
Un de mes rêves est de finir mes jours au Vietnam, près de la mer. Avec mes expériences auprès des Mit, je crois que je vais y réfléchir encore un peu. Je repasserai…
*Update - 10 juillet 2008:
Un lecteur m'a convaincu de changer le titre de ce billet, qui devient: "Pourquoi je ne peux pas piffer la plupart des Vietnamiens".
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Checkout the things that you can do with it.
FIRST Subject: Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of yourmobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number, 112, can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.
SECOND Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car lately?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at home press the unlock button, holding it near their cell phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone that has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).
Editor's note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over the cell phone.
THIRD Subject: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell phone battery is very low. To activate, press the keys Star 3370 pound (*3370#). Your cell phone will restart with this reserve power and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery power. This reserve will get recharged when you charge your cell phone next time.
FOURTH Subject: How to disable a stolen mobile phone
To check your mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: Star pound 06 pound(*#06#). A 15 digit code will appear on the screen.This number is unique to your handset. Write the number down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use or sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
FIFTH Subject: Information calls (for those of you in the US)
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory around in our pocket or vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial (800) FREE 411 , or 800-373-3411 without incuring any charge at all. Program this into your cellphone now.
The Heart Sutra is the best known and most popular sutra among Buddhist practionners.
(From Wikipedia) The Heart Sutra describes the experience of liberation of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara, as a result of insight gained while engaged in deep meditation to awaken the faculty of prajña (wisdom). The insight refers to the fundamental emptiness of all phenomena, the five aggregates of human existence (skandhas) — form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), volitions (samskārā), perceptions (saṁjñā), and consciousness (vijñāna).
Heart Sutra by Taiwanese artist Hung-Chih Peng
Avalokiteśvara famously states that "Form is emptiness (Śūnyatā). Emptiness is form" and declares the other skandhas to be equally empty — that is, empty of an independent essence. Avalokiteśvara then goes through some of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings such as the Four Noble Truths and explains that in emptiness none of these labels apply. This is traditionally interpreted as saying that Buddhist teachings, while accurate descriptions of conventional truth, are mere statements about reality — they are not reality itself — and that they are therefore not applicable to the ultimate truth that is by definition beyond dualistic description. Thus the bodhisattva, as the archetypal Mahāyāna Buddhist, relies on the perfection of wisdom, defined in the larger Perfection of Wisdom sutras to be the wisdom that perceives reality directly without conceptual attachment. This perfection of wisdom is condensed in the mantra with which the Sutra concludes.
The "Wisdom Path" in Hong Kong is the Heart Sutra (心經) carved on wooden posts and placed in the shape of infinity. One post near the top of the arrangement is blank. It symbolizes the concept of "emptiness".
The Heart Sutra has been translated into many languages of course, but the mantra is always recited in the original Sanskrit, because it is believed that sounds have their own powers, transcending the meaning of words.
So the mantra for the Heart Sutra goes: Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bhodi Svaha (meaning: Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, Praise the awakening).
The Heart Sutra has been put to music or integrated into songs:
American composer Lou Harrison set Esperanto language texts translated from the Heart Sutra to music in his 1973 cantata La Koro Sutro.
The Band Akron/Family set the English version to music entitled Gone Beyond on their album, Meek Warrior.
Peter Rowan incorporated a musical setting of the Heart Sutra in the chorus of "Vulture Peak" on his 2001 album Reggaebilly.
Cantonese new age musical arranger Imee Ooi also performs electronic versions of Buddhist sutras, notably the Heart Sutra, in Sanskrit, and Mandarin.
Chloe Goodchild, British singer and composer, completed a version of the Heart Sutra on her album "Fierce Wisdom"
American Hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan has included the Heart Sutra in their album the 8 Diagrams. It was performed in Mandarin by Shifu Shi Yan Ming in the last track titled "Life Changes" as a tribute to the late Old Dirty Bastard.
When I was young(er), one of my favorite films was High Noon, with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. My readers are probably too young to know or to even have heard of that film (sometimes I feel like I'm the oldest person in the world).
From Wikipedia:
High Noon is a 1952 western film directed by Fred Zinnemann, about a newly married town marshal who is forced to face a gang of killers by himself.
Will Kane (Gary Cooper), the longtime marshal Hadleyville, has just married Amy (Grace Kelly), turned in his badge, and is preparing to move away to become a storekeeper. Soon after, the town learns that Frank Miller, a criminal Kane brought to justice, is due to arrive on the noon train. Miller had been sentenced to the gallows, but was pardoned due to a technicality. In court, he had vowed to get revenge on Kane and anyone who got in his way. His three gang members wait for him at the station. The worried townspeople encourage Kane to leave, hoping to defuse the situation... In the end, Kane faces the four gunmen alone. He guns down two of Miller's men, though he himself is wounded. Amy chooses her husband's life over her religious beliefs and kills the third gunman by shooting him in the back. Miller then takes her hostage and offers to trade her for Kane. Kane agrees, coming out into the open. Amy, however, claws Miller's face, causing him to release her. Kane then shoots and kills him. Then, as the cowardly townspeople emerge, Kane contemptuously throws his marshal's star in the dirt and leaves town with his wife.
In 1989, High Noon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", entering the registry during the latter's first year of existence. The film is #27 on the American Film Institute's 2007 list of great films.
Anyhoo, somebody did a remake of the climax scene: the final shootout, by turning the bad guys into robotic aliens, and creating another masterpiece.
I love to post YouTube videos of Indian songs with crazy subtitles from Buffalax. For example, the infamous Benny Lava.
But as I was having my innocent fun, someone accused me of racism for mocking Indian music. I didn't have a reply to that smear, until today, when I went to Jesus' General's site (http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/) and found this:
I still like Indian/Pakistani music videos, with or without Buffalax substitles. Check out this reply video to Benny Lava:
Sources at the [Congressional Black Caucus] meeting said that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, a Clinton supporter, expressed the desire that Obama and his campaign would reach out [to] the millions of women still aggrieved about what happened in the campaign and still disappointed that Clinton lost.
Obama agreed that a lot of work needs to be done to heal the Democratic Party, and that he hoped the Clinton supporters in the room would help as much as possible.
According to Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Obama then said, "However, I need to make a decision in the next few months as to how I manage that since I'm running against John McCain, which takes a lot of time. If women take a moment to realize that on every issue important to women, John McCain is not in their corner, that would help them get over it."
Come on, ladies! Get over it! I don't have time to deal with your issues!
Where to start? Well, I guess with some caveats: this is by Jake Tapper, with some atrocious editing. But it does have named sources (including my Congresswoman, Clarke), so at least it's not an anonymous hit piece.
So, if we can assume that Tapper has reported Clarke's comments correctly, and Clarke has reported Obama's comments correctly, then where does that leave us?
With a candidate who's STILL Not Quite Getting It. Here's what he's not getting: the women who are angry about the way that Clinton was treated during the campaign, and about Obama's silence -- what one British writer aptly termed the "malign acceptance" of misogyny -- are not under any illusions that John McCain is better on women's issues than Obama would be. The relative positions of the parties is beside the point. What they don't want to hear is what Obama's saying here: I don't have to deal with your silly issues, which I don't consider to be important or central, because where else are you going to go?
I've been paying attention to the people who are fed up with that line, and I can say one thing: that's just not going to work anymore. They've heard this for decades now, and nothing gets any better, because the party knows they have nowhere else to go. It's not about McCain being some champion for women's rights; they know he's not. What it *is* about is Obama, and the Democratic Party, and the fact that Obama is running to be President on the ticket of the Democratic Party, which is ostensibly supposed to champion women's rights. But this year, that was revealed to be an expedient lie. And the people who are fed up with the lies want to give the Party a wakeup call, and to let the party -- and Obama -- know that they expect action, not just promises and lies.
Because really, what has the Democratic Party done for women lately? It hasn't stood firm on Roe; instead, it's allowed our reproductive rights to be chipped away so far that even contraception is threatened now. Roe has had only one use for the Democratic Party in the past 25 or so years -- as a club to beat women with every four years. Because they have nowhere else to go, right?
Fair pay? Health care? Domestic violence? Where has the Party been on those issues?
But the laughs don't end there, folks! Obama wasn't finished; pay careful attention to this exchange (emphasis mine):
Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., a longtime Clinton supporter, did not like those last three words -- "Get over it." She found them dismissive, off-putting.
"Don't use that terminology," Watson told Obama.
Clarke did not react the same way.
"I, personally, as a Hillary supporter, did not take that as something distasteful," Clarke said. "Nothing like that."
But, Clarke said, Watson "latched on to those three words."
In Clarke's view, Watson thought Obama had just told her to "get over it." She didn't appreciate that, and she told him so and emphasized that it was a heated campaign and lot of healing remains to be done.
"I agree," Obama said. "There's healing on both sides."
Obama then said two sources at the meeting said that he'd held his tongue many times during the campaign against Clinton in the interest of party unity and sensitivity. Clinton and her allies had suggested he was a Muslim, had said he wasn't qualified to be president.
Did you see what he did there?
The discussion started off being about women and their reaction to the way Clinton was treated. Obama turned that around to sniffling that Hillary was mean to him, and he could have said something, but didn't.
Well, first of all, suck it up, pumpkin. You're running for office, and politics ain't beanbag. Second, are you still repeating that "Hillary said I was a Muslim" smear? That's been thoroughly debunked (and by the way, you might want to reconsider the idea that being called a Muslim is a smear. Muslims are Americans, too, yanno). And when you run for President after eight years as a part-time state legislator and less than a full term in the Senate, your qualifications are very much fair game, so you need to find a way to deal with the experience issue other than whining about it and trying to pin all the blame on Hillary. Because the Republicans? Would have noticed this all on their own.
Which, again, gets us back to you Not Getting It. Instead of making it All About You, and trying to blame Hillary instead of taking responsibility for your own shortcomings as a candidate, maybe you could listen to people like Sheila Jackson Lee and Diane Watson and perhaps find a moment in your busy, busy schedule when you're not dealing with John McCain to find out why there are so many people who feel slighted by you and by the party. Because you're now the putative head of the Democratic Party, and therefore it's on you to deal with these problems.
You want to know who you should ask about this? Hillary Clinton. Because she Gets It (emphasis mine):
But the Clintons’ frustration with Obama’s people pales beside the simmering anger they harbor toward the media. And in this they are not alone. For months now, my e-mail box has been full of messages from women across the country, explaining what Hillary’s run meant to them, why it was so important. The reasons vary depending on age and race and region, but the one element almost all my correspondents express in common is a furious resentment at the press for what they see as blatant misogyny in the coverage of Clinton.
When I mention this to Hillary, she laughs and exclaims, “I’d love to get a look at your e-mail!” And then, more soberly, she goes on, “There’s a reason for the resentment. The level of dismissive and condescending comments, not just about me—what do I care?—but about the people who support me and in particular the women who support me, has been shocking. Shocking to women and to fair-minded men. But what has really been more disappointing to me is how few voices that have a platform have spoken out against it. And that’s really why you seen this enormous grassroots outrage. There is no outlet. It is rare that you have anybody on these shows or in a position of responsibility at major publications who really says, ‘Wait a minute! What are we talking about here? I have a wife! I have a daughter! I want the best for them.’ ”
Clinton is fairly worked up now, but she’s far from finished. “I didn’t think I was in a position to take it on because it would have looked like it was just about me. And I didn’t think it was just about me. So the only time we took it on was in the thing about Chelsea, which was so far beyond the bounds, I mean, what planet are we living on? But nobody said anything until I made it an issue. So I just want everybody to really think hard about the larger lesson here. I know you can’t take me out of the equation, because I’m in the center of the storm. But it’s much bigger than me. And women know that. Because if it were just about me, those who sympathize with me would say, ‘I’m so sorry.’ But instead it’s, ‘Wait a minute! This is not just about her! It’s about us! And when are we going to see somebody stand up and say, What are you doing here?’ ”
Oh, Saigon is a 2007 personal documentary by Vietnamese American director Doan Hoang about her family that is separated during the Fall of Saigon and her attempt to reunite her family after years of separation. Oh, Saigon was executive produced by Academy Award and Emmy winner, John Battsek. Oh, Saigon won prestigious film grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, ITVS, the Center for Asian American Media, and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development. (from Wikipedia)
The film received an 8.3 rating (over 10) from the IMDB.
A few years ago, the Prime Minister of Vietnam came to Canada for an official visit and during a press conference was asked about human rights abuse, especially about the persecution of the gay community. His answer was: "Pshaw! There are no abuse because there are no gays in Vietnam! Next question?"
"No one is quite sure where, how or why the fashion craze started, but for the past few months, youths in the capital Hanoi have turned their bicycles into mobile works of art, the more extravagant the better.
Teens have beautified small two-wheelers with glitter and plastic flowers, giant silk butterflies and teddy bears, Christmas tinsel and paper parasols and, yes, feather boas, in an anything-goes creative arms race.
Youngsters have rigged blinking lights, MP3 players and batteries to the frames to blast techno and hip-hop down previously tranquil tree-lined streets, earning them both amused smiles and reproachful looks from their elders."
I bought some T-shirt designed by the genius KCA. Here's what one of them looks like.
Review: The T-shirt is supposed to be a Large size, but it's actually a medium. I like my T-shirt roomy, so it's a bit annoying, but at least it didn't shrink after being washed. Other than that, it's OK I guess. The price is OK, about 20 bucks, but the shipping fee was 12-13$, which is outrageous!!! So if you buy (and I recommend you do), buy lots of them or pool with your friends. You can order them here: http://www.zazzle.com/khongcoai
Verdict: 4 stars out of 5.
I bought these new Concord shoes in Chinatown for 80$. I cannot resist red shoes, so I had no choice. Review: They're shiny and very comfortable and I get compliments from everyone when I wear them, so what's not to like? I bought the last pair, so no point in giving the address.
On Generals Testifying Before Congress A Mash Note - April 14, 2008
Whenever I see that some dismal general will testify to Congress regarding the war against Iraq, I imagine the first paragraph of his Power Point presentation:
“All metrics show a downsurge in the violence in Iraq, and a continuing improvement in indicators of the production of a better life. Next slide. The Iranians are aiding the enemies of America, and must be bombed. This is a recording.”
What solemn, fraudulent, emetic mummery. Congressmen will—do—ask the General puffball questions, after which they will do whatever the President tells them to do. I can make no criticism of this. It is the American way. Still, may I suggest a few questions I would like to see the General, any general, asked?
1) General, five years ago the Commander in Chief said that combat operations in Iraq had ended. Since this isn’t true, the Commander in Chief was either lying, delusional, or simply a fool. Which do you believe to be the case?
2) You have said on various occasions that Iran is meddling in Iraq, that it is supplying weapons, fighters, and training to the warring factions. Others have charged that the United States is meddling in Iraq, that it is supplying weapons, troops, and training in Iraq. Which of these assertions do you believe to be the more accurate? Have you seen any evidence of American involvement?
3) You have expressed a commendable admiration for our soldiers, saying that they are the finest young men of our nation. Would you let your daughter date a black Pfc. with a GED? A kid named Gonzalez with tattoos?
4) Permit me a personal question, General. Have you ever said anything but “yes” to anyone who could affect your chances of promotion? Can you give us examples?
I have received a letter from a squad leader in Baghdad who suggests that always saying “yes” qualifies you as a streetwalker but not as a soldier. I am sure this isn’t true. That is, I am sure you could be a soldier as well. Will you explain to us why the sergeant is wrong? Can you give the Congress a reason to believe that anything other than your career matters to you?
5) Excuse me, but I have a question concerning your health. I know the sun is very bright in Baghdad. Might it be that when you were putting suntan lotion on your face, you somehow missed your nose? It seems much darker. The country cannot lightly afford to risk skin cancer in its officers.
6) General, years from now, when you loll in some sunny clime writing your memoirs, perhaps having served as a handsome and chiseled Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, tens of thousands of enlisted men will be living with colostomy bags or white canes or missing legs or the ruins of faces. Does this in any way bother you?
On second thought, I withdraw the question as irrelevant. Pardon my foolishness, General.
7) I assume that you must have many qualifications for administering a counterinsurgency operation in the Middle East. Here I mean things other than being photogenic or a wizard with Power Point. For example, I am certain that you speak Arabic well, as do the Commander in Chief, President Cheney, and Condo Rice. For the record, will you confirm this?
8) Let me drop for a moment into the dry details of soldiering. No doubt this will be boring shop talk to many in this chamber, but I believe we can spare a moment.
A constituent who served in Viet Nam wrote me with the following account of someone who has “taken a round” (that is the military phrase, I believe?) through the face. He says that teeth shatter, the jawbone dangles from the head with white stuff showing where it was attached, blood spurts from the arteries in the top of the mouth, one eye bulges out from the concussion, and the man jerks his arms strangely and says “Kuh-kuh-kuh” until he dies from drowning in blood. This takes a few minutes, the sergeant says.
Do you believe the Public Affairs Office of the Pentagon is right in saying that squads should carry plastic bags for covering the man’s face? So that reporters don’t take pictures and give the public a misleading idea of the war?
9) Critics of the military say harsh and, I am sure, unjustified things, such as that generals are simply hired murderers and have no more honor or morality that hit men for the Mafia. I want you to understand that I do not for a moment believe this. I am sure that you would not kill thousands of people you don’t know on command of some nonentity, and then accept strange-looking medals for doing so. To rebuke those voices that say such ugly things, would you give us an example of a country you would not attack if ordered to? Name something you would not do for another star?
10) Will you explain the surgical use of a five-hundred-pound bomb in a densely populated suburb?
11) General, if an Iraqi army attacked your home state in an endeavor to impose democracy on the United States, killed thousands of your fellow citizens, and left your daughter of seven years screaming as she died of burns, what would you do? Would you accept Islam with gratitude and embrace democracy? Or would you fight the invaders? Would you spend the rest of your life trying to kill as many of them as you could, in any way that you could? Just curious.
12) Some of your critics, sir—misinformed, I am sure—say that you send kids from small Southern towns to die while you work on your Power Point presentations. To put this foul canard to rest, would you tell us how much time you have spent in combat as compared to a rifleman on his fifth tour?
13) Finally, General, can you estimate the number of veterans in wheelchairs, blind, gutshot, lacking genitals, on crutches, having nightmares of when Jim Dog took a round through the lungs north of Vung Tau — guys of that sort, in the Disabled American Veterans, in expat bars around the world, in upcountry Thailand and the middle of Mexico — who hate men like you with a dark intensity that makes them pull the arms off chairs when they think about it, so that even their friends back away, a hatred that would make it most unwise for you to be near?
Just asking. And thank you so much. For your testimony, I mean.
Young man, there's no need to feel down. I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground. I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town There's no need to be unhappy.
It's fun to stay at the y-m-c-a. It's fun to stay at the y-m-c-a. You can get yourself cleaned, you can have a good meal., You can do whatever you feel...
Young man, are you listening to me?
I said, young man, what do you want to be? I said, young man, you can make real your dreams. But you got to know this one thing!
It's fun to stay at the y-m-c-a. It's fun to stay at the y-m-c-a.
You know how it feels to be a girl, but with the mind of a boy? It's the same as being an Oriental with an education of a Tây/Farang. You're always on the outside looking in. You want to belong, but you don't know where and no "side" will really accept you anyway, cause you speak like whitey but you look like a gook...
It must be really frustrating to be Hillary Clinton, so smart and so knowledgeable, and having to deal with morons who can hardly hide their contempt for her, simply because they have a dick and that makes them superior in this world.
When my father first came to Canada from Vietnam, he was too old and too non-white to get a decent job. So he ended up being an usher in a movie theatre. He would tell us about his work, how he was surrounded by pipsqueaks who would push him around and bully him to get the best shifts or the best floor (the lower ones). Once, he told me : "They laugh at my French, but they don't even know who Pasteur was!"
Why am I telling you all this? Oh yeah... There's a new sheriff in town and she kicks butts!! This new hero is an autistic girl who learned martial arts by watching Tony Jaar in Ong Bak and Tom Yum Kung. I know! How cool is it!!! Here's the trailer:
900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia 
Angkor Watt in Cambodia
Emerald Buddha at Wat Phra Kaeo in Bangkok
