text:
Benefits of ending selfishness
Lecture by Buddhadasa Bhikku
Translated by Santikaro Bhikkhu
5 September 1987
Suanmokkhabalaram, Chaiya, Thailand
In the first talk we talked about the dangers of selfishness and then in the second talk we discussed the cause of selfishness as well as he foundations of selfishness. In yesterday's talk we talked about the extinguishing of selfishness. Today we will discuss the value and benefits of extinguishing selfishness.
When we speak about the fruits or benefits of extinguishing selfishness we would like to bring up one Thai word that ought to be of interest to you. In Thai this word is anisong, which comes from the Pali word ani-sung-sa. The meaning of this word is the 'milk that flows out of' or 'the flowing milk'. When we milk a cow, the nutritious milk flows out from the cow's udder is the literal meaning of the Thai word anisong.
So today we will talk about the anisong of extinguishing selfishness.
The Benefit Of Ending Selfishness Is Happiness
When we talk about the anisong of extinguishing selfishness the simplest way to put it is to say that happiness is the benefit of extinguishing selfishness.
However when we use this word 'happiness' we must be careful because 'happiness' is a very vague and uncertain word. People give it all kinds of different meanings.
We will clarify what is meant by the word happiness. We will take a good look at this word.
Two Kinds of Happiness: Sensual and Spiritual
At first we can see there are at least two kinds of happiness, the happiness of every day people language and the happiness of Dhamma language.
By people language we mean the common, everyday language of people and persons.
In people language, happiness is something we can get drunk on, we can become infatuated with it, go crazy over it, get lost in, and …this is very important… it bites its owner.
This is the happiness of people language. The happiness that is intoxicating, infatuating, very tricky, which in the end 'bites its owner'.
If we look closely, this happiness of people language, this common and ordinary happiness, isn't true happiness. What it really is, is a kind of pleasure that deceives and tricks. It is a kind of entertaining luscious attractive pleasure that deceives.
This most people take to be happiness.
This tricky pleasure, this deceiving pleasure is always ready to become a bait, to catch us and trap us.
So all of the worldlings who are chasing after these deceptive pleasures are being trapped by this bait. This is the state of worldlings being deceived and lured by the bait of worldly pleasures or deceptive pleasures. This is happiness in people language.
This worldly happiness is always something material and physical, it depends on bodies and material objects. It is not a mental or spiritual kind of happiness. Therefore these kinds of deceptive pleasures are very expensive, they are very difficult and a real pain in the neck to acquire and keep. And so they lead to all kinds of busyness, competition and problems for the worldlings who are chasing after this worldly happiness.
The last point to be made about this people language happiness is that it is basis of selfishness. As soon as people indulge in these deceptive kinds of pleasures it becomes selfishness and creates all the problems associated with selfishness.
Dhammic Happiness
Now let's look at the opposite kind of happiness. This happiness is not intoxicating or infatuating, it does not make us crazy and it does not bite the one who possesses it, the one who has it.
This kind of happiness is not a deceptive pleasure, it does not trick or deceive; but the ordinary worldling overlooks it. Common people overlook this genuine true happiness. So let's take a good look at it.
This kind of happiness is not a bait; it does not lure us and trap us. This genuine happiness is pure, bright, clear, calm and it leads to peace. It is not a bait that entraps and deceives.
This kind of happiness is not at all expensive, it doesn't cost any money or involve any material difficulties. There are no hassles and problems associated with this kind of happiness. It is free.
The most important point is this type of happiness does not lead to selfishness. It does not support or nourish selfishness.
Hot Happiness and Cool Happiness
In Thai there is a very nice pun. The word suuk, which means happiness, has two kinds of spellings. One spelling means 'happiness' and he other spelling means 'well-done '. Both kinds of suuk have the same sound and pronunciation but the meaning is different.
We use this to point out the difference between the two kinds of happiness. Genuine happiness is cool and calm, it doesn't lead to selfishness. The false kind of happiness that means 'well-done' is hot.
So the best way to translate this into English is hot happiness and cool happiness.
This hot happiness is dependant on the defilements, greed, anger, delusion and so forth. It needs their help in order to be happy.
Cool happiness has nothing to do with the defilements. It doesn't need their help at all.
For hot happiness to realise its aim, it needs to use and get help from the defilements and this is why it is hot.
Genuine cool happiness is free from the defilements. It doesn't need their help and therefore can be very cool and soothing.
Hot happiness depends on all kinds of material goods and when people become infatuated with this material happiness they set about acquiring possessions, material objects and all kinds of luxuries. This is the kind of happiness of which the world is infatuated in, everyone chasing after various kinds of luxuries, spending all kinds of money, in pursuit of what they take to be happiness, this hot deceptive kind of happiness.
The other kind of happiness, cool happiness, doesn't cost a penny, or a fenning or a mark or whatever currency. It costs absolutely nothing for this kind of happiness. It is a mental, spiritual happiness that has nothing to do with material things.
Mindfulness with Breathing
So when one overcomes selfishness, or when one is able to concentrate the mind correctly, when one practises Mindfulness with Breathing meditation correctly and properly, then there arises this genuine cool happiness that doesn't deceive and trick and doesn't cost a penny.
So if we talk in economic terms, there is the happiness that costs money and the happiness that doesn't cost a penny. Which one are you interested in?
Three Levels of Dhammic Happiness
Now that we have made the difference clear between hot and cool happiness, we would like to focus on the happiness of Dhamma, this cool happiness.
Even though we use the term 'the happiness of Dhamma', there are difference levels to it. There are different kinds of Dhammic happiness with different qualities and characteristics.
So we would like to talk about these different levels of true happiness.
The First Level of Dhammic Happiness: The Happiness Of Non-Harming
The first level of Dhammic happiness is the happiness that comes from non-harming or non-violence. When there is no harm being done, then there arises this first kind of happiness.
In Pali, there is the phrase:
Abya pacca sukham loke pana bhute su samyamo
This means 'non-harming is happiness within this world'.
When we live, aware that we are not harming ourselves, any other people, any other creatures or the environment; when we are aware of a life and lifestyle that is not harming anything; not exploiting or violating anything; then there arises this first kind of happiness.
Genuine Non-Harming
With these words 'harming' or 'non-harming' we have to be very careful because many people take a one-sided view of it.
When we talk about 'harm' there are two sides of it. One side is we can harm ourselves and the other is we can harm others. When there is genuine non-harming neither side is harmed or violated; nobody is being afflicted.
Sometimes we get confused on this and in order to help others we harm ourselves.
Then of course there is often the kind of 'helping oneself' by harming or exploiting others.
In true non-harming, in true non-violence, there is no harming of either ourselves or others. When there is this complete non-harming then there arise genuine happiness.
Harming Ourselves
We would like to say that the more one loves oneself, the more one harms oneself. Or the more one is selfish, the more one harms oneself.
When one loves oneself, this love makes us blind and then we indulge in those deceptive pleasures, which lead us astray. We go through all types of ridiculous difficulties to get some trifling pleasure and this is how we harm ourselves because of this self-love.
The more stupid we are, the more we harm ourselves, and when there is this stupid foolish self-love then we harm ourselves immensely wasting our time on these trifling deceptive pleasures and overlooking true happiness. So the more selfish we are the more we harm ourselves.
Harming Others
When we come to harming others we probably don't have to say too much about it because the world is full of this, of people's selfishness leading to people harming others for their own selfish benefit.
When we selfishly see something as beneficial or advantageous to ourselves, then we are completely willing to go and take advantage of someone else, to exploit or harm another, for our own advantage. The world is full of this.
There is this exploitation all around, underground, above the ground, in small ways and in big ways. So it is some people are trying to take advantage of the whole world.
Sometimes we cut the world into two halves and each half is trying to harm the other half. Or sometimes we try and harm the whole world and this exploitation and affliction starts to think about other worlds, to go over to conquer other planets and other worlds in order to take advantage of those worlds.
This kind of selfish harming knows no limits. It is limitless.
The Four Divine Dwellings: Friendliness, Compassion , Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity
When there is no selfishness, nothing is harmed. Merely by removing selfishness, all violence and exploitation can be destroyed. When there is no selfishness, there is no harming of ourselves, there is no harming of others , even the animals are not harmed. We can even go as far to say even the ground, the soil, the earth is not harmed when selfishness is removed.
When this selfishness is extinguished when there is none of this harming, then it becomes natural to relate to others in terms to what are called the Four Divine Dwellings - Friendliness, Compassion , Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity. This is the basis for Dhammic happiness.
Those of you who value this teaching of the Four Divine Abodes – metta, karuna, mudita and uppeka – you should focus on this one thing of removing selfishness.
If you are interested in metta: universal love or friendliness; karuna: compassion; mudita: sympathetic joy and uppeka: equanimity, then all you need to do is direct your attention to unselfishness or selflessness.
When there is no selfishness then there is metta automatically, there is this very spontaneous love for everything. There is spontaneous karuna, the desire to help, to be of service or compassion. There is spontaneous mudita, joy at the happiness of others; and there is spontaneous uppeka, when it is not possible to help at this moment then with uppeka, it is to wait for the opportunity to help and serve.
Some people understand this last Divine Abode incorrectly. They take uppeka to mean to be indifferent when we can't do anything to help. True uppeka is to observe and await an opportunity to help if there is no opportunity to help right at this moment.
So if you value these four Brahma Viharas, these four Divine Abodes, then focus your attention on not being selfish.
The Spiritual Meaning of 'Equanimity'
This last Brahma Vihara is often a source of confusion. Uppeka means 'to look at', 'to observe', 'to watch'. Some people think it means to close our eyes and not pay attention, to be indifferent. That's silly and of no value or benefit. Uppeka means 'to look at', 'to observe'.
If everyone in the world would keep looking for opportunities to help others, for opportunities to serve others, then there wouldn't be any of these crisis in the world that there are these days.
So please be especially interested in uppeka, looking, observing for opportunities to help and serve.
Insomnia, Neuroses and Suicide Are Caused By Selfishness
We have talked about the basic level of happiness that arises when there is no harming. By neither harming oneself or anyone or anything else there arises this fundamental kind of happiness. This happiness arises when there is no harming by not being selfish.
At first this may seem illogical to you - that by not being selfish there arises happiness. Many people have the warped kind of logic that by being selfish we become happy, that by being selfish we help ourselves. This betrays a fundamental truth about life.
It may sound illogical but by removing selfishness, when there is no selfishness, this is what benefits us, this is to our advantage.
If we look carefully, it is selfishness that burns our minds so even if we are all by ourselves this selfishness is constantly disturbing us so that we can't even sleep well at night. This constantly thinking of oneself, thinking in terms of 'ourselves', this egocentricity , gives us all kinds of headaches, it leads to all sorts of neurosis and it makes us go crazy, even to the point that many people are killing themselves because of selfishness.
This sounds strange to many people but suicide is essentially a selfish act. This is because selfishness in itself it very stupid and it leads to all kinds of ignorant results including suicide. If you study all the suicides in the world, if you look beyond the superficial causes and look really deep, you will see the fundamental cause of suicide is selfishness.
Selfishness leads to not being able to sleep at night, egocentrism leads to headaches and neurosis, and even leads to us harming ourselves in such extreme ways as suicide.
The only way to stop harming ourselves is to end selfishness. As long as there is selfishness we harm ourselves and others. This is something you ought to examine as carefully as you can.
The Second Level Of Dhammic Happiness: The Happiness Of Being Without Lust
Now we will talk about the second level of Dhammic happiness. This is the happiness of that comes from being without lust. When there is no lust; when there is the absence of lust, this is a higher form of happiness. Everyone knows what lust means. To remove lust, to remove sexual greed and sensual greed, is a higher kind of happiness.
In Pali there are the words:
Sukha Viragata Loke Samana Samati Sammo
This means, 'the happiness that comes from being free of lust towards the world surpasses the happiness of sensuality'.
This is a higher kind of happiness. When the mind is free of this sensual lust, then it is even happier, calmer and cooler.
Sensual, Material and Immaterial Lust
This word 'lust' has a broader meaning than most people understand.
Most people think that lust has only to with sex or things related to sex. This is the narrow understanding of the word 'lust' or in Thai 'raka', which can mean lust or passion, a very passionate excited kind of love.
Actually lust has a much broader meaning than that. Sexual lust is only the first level.
There can be also lust towards material objects that isn't so much a sensual lust but the lust to possess or to have material things.
Then there's a third level of lust that doesn't have to do with material things. This is the lust for power, for influence, for fame , for honour and things like this, for immaterial things. This is also a kind of lust.
So please try to understand lust in this broader way and when all three kinds or levels of lust can be removed then there is a very great happiness of being free from these levels of lust.
But even if you can only remove the crudest sexual kind of lust, by being free of that lust is in itself a great deal of happiness.
Selfishness, Lust, Meditation Upon Repulsive Objects
The stronger selfishness is, the stronger lust will be. As selfishness decreases and lessens, then lust also abates and decreases. So the more powerful and strong selfishness is the more powerful lust is and its agitation. By lessening and eliminating selfishness then there can arise the happiness of being free from lust. By lessening and overcoming selfishness there comes the higher level of happiness, which is to live without lust.
Often people teach to way to remove lust is to contemplate repulsive, ugly and loathsome things. So it is often advised to people with a lot of lust to go to a cremation ground or mortuary to contemplate the corpses or the remains of corpses. To contemplate these various quite unattractive and repulsive things are traditional techniques for lessening lust.
That is right in its own way, it is correct, it can help, but the most efficient and powerful way to remove lust is to remove selfishness.
However even going to the cremation ground or mortuary, if that includes any selfishness, still there will be kinds of lust, there will be some lust remaining.
So the best way to eliminate lust is to eliminate selfishness.
If you want to contemplate corpses or other unattractive and repulsive things to help to removing of selfishness that would be a good idea, bit the essential thing is to remove selfishness. By removing selfishness there is nothing upon which lust can stand. Selfishness is the basis or the foundation of lust. If we take away that basis there can be no lust .
This is the best way to be free of lust. To be free of selfishness.
So this second kind of happiness comes when we are free from lust. This is the kind of happiness that arises because the mind or life is no longer disturbed or hassled by lust .
Often we cannot sleep well at night because of lust in a cruder or more refined forms.
Lust keeps us from sleeping well at night and sometimes it prevents us from sleeping at all, and it can disturb us or hassle us throughout the day.
This kind of lust exists and there is also a way of removing it, merely by removing selfishness. Then there will arise this second level of happiness, the happiness of being without raka or lust.
The Third Level Of Dhammic Happiness: The Happiness Of Removing Self-View and Experiencing Nirvana
Now we come to the third or last level of happiness. This is the happiness of being completely free of all selfishness, of when all selfishness is absolutely and completely removed , eliminated , extinguished. This is the kind of happiness that surpasses the world. This happiness is 'above the world', it is not trapped within worldly conditions.
When there is absolutely no selfishness, then there can arise no defilements . When there is no selfishness then the mind is 'beyond the world'. It is no longer caught within the world and worldly conditions. There is nothing in the world that can have influence over the mind, there is nothing in the world that can make the mind greedy, or angry or hateful or afraid or worried or any other kind of defiled reaction.
The mind is free of all these things and this the kind of happiness which is above the world or surpasses the world.
The Supreme Accomplishment or Victory
The Pali sentence that expresses this third kind of happiness is:
Asami manassa vinayo etam ve paraman sukham
What this means is, by removing asami mana completely is the highest happiness – Voi!
We will have to explain some of these words.
Asami mana you have been hearing about, over and over again. This is to regard things as 'I', as 'me', as 'mine', as 'self'. By removing 'self-view' - by removing the idea that there is a self, 'personality-belief' or whatever you want to call it, 'I', 'self', 'soul' or 'ego', whatever name you call it, it is the basis of selfishness - by removing the belief in self, the view of self, this is highest the supreme happiness –Voi!
The word Voi means something like hooray, hoorah; it is a cry of victory, when a supreme accomplishment has been accomplished. When there is the highest kind of victory or success, then in Thai the kind of call would be Voi!.
Removing all self-view is the highest happiness, hooray, but Voi is more than hooray, it is the supreme kind of triumph of victory.
This is the highest kind of happiness: Asami manassa vinayo etam ve paraman sukham. Sukham means 'happiness'. Paraman means 'supreme' or 'the highest'.
This word ve or Voi is a little more than hooray because it is also a challenge, it is like shaking one's fist at selfishness, in triumph at having defeated selfishness.
The Mind 'Beyond The World'
We would like to discuss the Pali word lokutara. Lok or loke means 'the world'. Utara means 'to be above' or 'beyond'. So lokutara means above or beyond the world.
This doesn't mean getting into a spaceship and flying off into space because it doesn't matter where we went, that would still be the world. Anyplace, no matter how far away it is, is still the world.
Lokutara, 'above the world', doesn't have anything to do with our body. This means for the mind to be above worldly conditions.
We Cannot Escape The World
We cannot escape the world, we must live in it. But the mind needn't be trapped under the influence of 'good and bad', 'winning and losing', 'getting and missing', 'positivism and negativism' and all those worldly qualities and values.
While living in the world, even if we are under the ground, the mind can still be 'above the world' , can still exist 'beyond the world'.
This is something mental or spiritual, it is not a physical 'being above', floating around in some spaceship.
The 'Self' Is The World
To make it more simple or short, we can just say that 'I' or the ego is the world. This concept of 'I' or the ego, this is the meaning of the world. To be above that egoistic idea or concept is to be above the world.
Above The Misunderstanding Of Duality
Another way to explain lokutara is to be above the misunderstanding of duality.
The world is full of dualistic things because the world is full of foolish people.
Foolish people understand there are dualistic things – good and bad, winning and losing, positive and negative and so forth. This is a misunderstanding.
In reality all things are the same. Good and bad is the same, positive and negative is the same. It is just a process of the law of idappaccayata.
The Law of Cause and Effect
Idappaccayata means 'because this exists, this arises; because this disappears, this disappears'. More simply it is the law of cause and effect or the law of conditionality.
This process or flow of causes and effects, of idappaccayata, is all there is. There is neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative.
Fools misunderstand this fundamental reality, discriminate things as 'positive' and 'negative' and then are trapped by this misunderstanding
To be lokutara, above the world, is to realise how things truly are, that 'good' and 'bad' is the same thing and then to be free if those dualistic misunderstandings that lead to attachment, indulgence, selfishness and all of the problems we have discussed.
So lokutara, 'being above the world', is being above the misunderstanding of dualism, of duality, that there are pairs of opposites such as 'positive' and 'negative'.
A simple example that should be easy for all of us to understand is the example of hot and cold. 'Hot' and 'cold' are not are dualistic opposites as most people think. If we have learned anything about science we realise that hot and cold are just differences in temperature and that 'hot' and 'cold' are not absolutely true.
For example in a lump of ice there is just a certain amount of temperature. Or in the sun there is just a different level or degree of temperature.
The words 'hot' and 'cold' are not absolutely true, they only have relative meaning. There are really just differences or changes in temperature.
Or 'day' and 'night'. A child thinks 'day' and 'night' are completely different but really 'day' and 'night' is just the same thing, it is just time, just differences in time, 'changing time'.
There is no absolute truth to 'day' and 'night'.
The Middle Way of Seeing Clearly
When someone sees the world this way, instead of getting caught in the dualisms and making things into opposites, one is no longer trapped in 'left' or 'right' and the mind is in the middle, free and unattached. This is the mind or the life that is above the world, to be no longer caught up in duality, no longer caught up in 'hot' and 'cold', 'left' or 'right', and so forth. This is the way of life to be in the middle, to above the world, to be free of worldly conditions. Then none of those conditions can deceive the mind into attachment, selfishness and suffering.
Gaining and Losing, Profit and Loss
Or there is the pair of 'gaining' and 'losing'. This is another dualism that exists in worldly minds, that there is 'gain' and 'loss'. Such a thing does not really exist. There is merely the stream or flow of idappaccayata.
When certain conditions exist then this result arises or when these conditions exist there will be this result or this effect. It all just depends on conditions and causes that lead to certain effects and this process of cause and effects just keeps flowing onward and onwards . There is nothing that is 'gaining' or 'losing'. These are just words, dualities, illusions created within worldly minds.
People say 'this is profit' , 'that is loss' and then they get all excited about these things.
It is really just the flow of cause and effect. Seeing things in this way is to be above the world, to be no longer be trapped in these dualistic conditions.
Laughing and Crying
What about when you laugh and when you cry, when positivism makes you laugh and when negativism makes you cry. Have you ever examined this matter? When we really see things as they are there is no longer these positives and these negatives to make us laugh or cry.
We can just observe whatever takes place without this laughing and crying. Or are you worried that would not be any fun, that it would not be very enjoyable, that it may be boring or something?
Take a good look. This is the happiness that is lokutara, above the world, to not have to laugh or to cry at 'positive' or 'negative'; to no longer laugh or cry about worldly conditions.
Is this the kind of happiness you are interested in?
Nirvana is Unsurpassed Voidness - Empty of All Dualism
When there is no positivism and no negativism, then there is what we call sunnata - voidness.
Voidness is when there is no more positive and negative, when there is no more dualism. When the mind is free of all those dualistic illusions, then there is Voidness or sunnata.
Can any of you fit or classify Voidness as positive or can you classify Voidness as negative?
Sunnata is neither positive nor negative. It is beyond, above, surpassing both positive and negative.
This is the meaning of Nibbana or Nirvana , which is unsurpassed Voidness . Nibbana is the supreme Voidness that absolutely transcends 'positive' and 'negative', that is free, void, empty of all dualism.
Perceiving Voidness and Setting Out On The Path To Nirvana
When the mind perceives Voidness; when the mind sees or realises Voidness; then mind itself is void; because when the mind is realising or seeing voidness it doesn't see anything that it can be attached to as 'good' or 'bad'; there is nothing to grab onto as 'positive' or 'negative' and so the mind then is void as well.
When the mind is void, that is the supreme happiness, there is no happiness that comes even close to this truest most genuine happiness of voidness. This is the happiness of freedom, when the mind is completely liberated from all the things that have power over it, that influence it, that trap it, which push its buttons and so forth.
This is the highest happiness, the happiness of Voidness.
This kind of Voidness does not just happen after many years of practice and training. You probably haven't noticed it yet. In fact in everyone's life there are moments, if only a very short moment, when the mind is free, when the mind is void of any feeling of positive or negative, when the mind is not clinging to anything as 'good' or 'bad'.
This is a free sample or free specimen of Nibbana, of the complete and perfect Voidness. People tend to overlook these free samples, they don't pay any attention because they are too busy chasing after the deceptive pleasures. So please start to pay attention. Be on the look for these moments when the mind is free, when the mind is void of positive and negative.
Once we begin to see, just a split second of this Voidness, when we come to really realise what it truly is, then we turn our lives towards this voidness and set out, truly and genuinely set out, on the path to Nibbana, to a life that is void, that is above worldly conditions.
So don't overlook these free samples of Nibbana that Nature gives to us. Then you will begin to understand this highest most genuine happiness.
To summarise, when there is selfishness then the mind is not void; when there is no selfishness the mind is void and free.
Practicing Concentration and Insight Meditation:Training Yourself To Abide In Voidness
So please start to be very interested in this matter we have been discussing. These moments of voidness when the mind is completely free of selfishness is something to be very concerned with and interested in. These momentary little samples of voidness that occur coincidently in life are generally ignored so we need to pay attention to them. We can learn and practice to be aware of them but not only just these coincidental moments of emptiness.
Through the practice of concentration and insight, through correct mediation in concentration and insight, there will be deeper and further understanding of these moments of voidness .
So please take special interest in this matter of the mind being void of selfishness. Understand what it means to be void, to be empty of selfishness, in a way that doesn't depend on using drugs such as heroin or LSD. There are much more refined ways than that.
Please be very interested in this.
That 'Self' That Wants To Be Happy Must Disappear For The Mind To Be Happy.
Finally we will wrap this up with the rather amusing truth of that 'self', that 'I', that wants to be happy must disappear for the mind to be happy. Until we let go of that self that is trying to be happy the mind will never be happy. By merely letting go of the 'I', the 'person', who wants to be happy, then there arises true happiness.
This may sound quite illogical but we hope you are beginning to understand.
May we ending today's talk on this amusing truth.
The benefits of ending selfishness
A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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4 posts • Page 1 of 1
Re: The benefits of ending selfishness
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
Last edited by bodom on Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
With no struggling, no thinking,
the mind, still,
will see cause and effect
vanishing in the Void.
Attached to nothing, letting go:
Know that this is the way
to allay all stress.
- Upasaka Keep Nanayon
the mind, still,
will see cause and effect
vanishing in the Void.
Attached to nothing, letting go:
Know that this is the way
to allay all stress.
- Upasaka Keep Nanayon
Re: The benefits of ending selfishness
One of my favorite quotes from Buddhadasa Bhikkhu that i find very helpful to my practice: "If you cannot understand non-self strive to understand non-selfishness."
With no struggling, no thinking,
the mind, still,
will see cause and effect
vanishing in the Void.
Attached to nothing, letting go:
Know that this is the way
to allay all stress.
- Upasaka Keep Nanayon
the mind, still,
will see cause and effect
vanishing in the Void.
Attached to nothing, letting go:
Know that this is the way
to allay all stress.
- Upasaka Keep Nanayon
Re: The benefits of ending selfishness
Many thanks, Element. A very enjoyable read.
Kind wishes,
Dazzle _/\_
Kind wishes,
Dazzle _/\_
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4 posts • Page 1 of 1


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See? Complicated!
I don't know about the adult amateur and professional models who are participating in the fashion show, but my four-year-old needs plenty of practice.
Fortunately, we live just a few houses down from a fabulous park, and even more fortunately, we homeschool, and so we can visit this park during school hours.
Why is it so important that we go to the park during school hours?
While I drew a copy of the fashion show runway on the basketball court (a great quad exercise, by the way--at the gym later that night I climbed onto the elliptical, started up, and then was all, "Ow, ow, ow! Why does it feel like I've already exercised these muscles today?"), the girls added some decorations of their own:
Stegosaurus, by Willow
Bunnies, by Sydney
In case you've never modeled in a fashion show before, here's what Syd's runway debut will look like:
She and another four-year-old, who will be modeling a dress crocheted from unraveled sweater yarn, will enter the runway together from the steps at stage right as soon as the stage manager motions them on. They will walk to upstage center and pose:
The girls will then walk to center stage, turn completely to stage left and pose, and turn completely to stage right and pose:
They will walk all the way to downstage right and pose. They will walk back to center stage and pose left and right again. They will walk back to their original mark at upstage center and face the audience again for a final pose (I'm having them blow a kiss, a tactic that I unabashedly stole from Toddlers and Tiaras). And then, and this is actually the trickiest part, they will exit not from the stairs they used to enter the stage, but from the stairs at stage left.
Wouldn't you want to practice that?


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Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na lyrics and translation: Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai
An interesting word used in this is 'khalish', which means 'pain'. In Urdu poetry, it most often refers to suffering of the heart. One of the more prominent Mirza Ghalib ghazals (Yeh na thi hamari qismat) used this word to beautifully distinguish physical pain from dard-e-dil, i.e. khalish as follows:
Yeh khalish kahaan se hoti jo jigar ke paar hota?; translated as:
How would this suffering exist if [the arrow] were through my heart?
Here are the lyrics I transcribed, and alongside it my attempted translation. Here are posts related to the film, including song lyrics and translations, trailers, interviews, etc.
7 comments:
I love this song! the male and female version are so good.
I didn't really knew what it ment.
But now thanks to you, I know it !
Thank you very much!
By the way I'm from Holland ( The Netherlands).
Even through that I'm an Indian,
I was born here and so I don't speak Hindi very good.
I really thank you for this translation!
Much love, Simran.
- Friday, May 30, 2008
- theBollywoodFan said...
Hallo Simran! Glad you found the translations useful. Thanks for visiting and for your kind words. The songs are indeed very good.
I fell in love with The Netherlands when I visited Venlo. Walking through its town center was like walking through the sets of Saawariya! So pretty... :)
- Friday, May 30, 2008
- Princess of Happiness said...
hey hi...thx a lot for the translation...may i know hw can i download this lyric..
- Wednesday, September 24, 2008
- theBollywoodFan said...
Hi Princess: Thanks for your comment. To download the lyrics and translation, just click it to enlarge, then hit 'save' and 'save target as' or 'save link as'. The lyrics alone are also packaged with the audio release. And the songs should be available on iTunes.
- Friday, September 26, 2008
Hi all,
This song really means a lot to me. As I imagine myself in a similar situation. And when the line comes "hai dosti humko yakeen tha, dosti aur kuch bhi nahi tha" tears start rolling down from my eyes. Even I thought initially that its just friendship between me and my friend Amit but then I never realized how it turned out to be love for each other. This song will always remain special to me.
- Thursday, March 12, 2009
- theBollywoodFan said...
Hi Pooja, it's an interesting assembly of words, isn't it? I think it's great when one can relate to art (as in your case, for example). Friendships rule! :)
- Thursday, March 12, 2009
thanks for this :)
- Monday, July 19, 2010


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Please enter your information to send information about this auction to a friend.
Auctions: Thursday, April 5 at 12:00PM (MDT)
Auction Location: 2 Sammons Lane, Buford, WY 82052
Open Public Inspections:
11am - 2pm Friday, March 16, 23 and 30 and 2 hours before auction
Nominal Opening Bid: $100,000
From Cheyenne, WY:
Take I-80 W towards Laramie for 24 miles. Exit at Buford Road, Exit 335. Turn left on Buford Road and proceed under I-80. Turn left on Sammons Lane follow until you reach the Buford Trading Post.
From Laramie, WY:
Take I-80 E towards Cheyenne for 26 miles. Take Exit 335 toward Buford. Turn right onto Buford Road. Turn left on Sammons Lane and follow until you reach the Buford Trading Post.
The Buford, Wyoming auction represents a unique opportunity to acquire an entire town, along with the Buford Trading post, an income-producing convenience and fuel store. Included in the auction are 10+/- acres of land, five buildings, United States Post Office Boxes, inventory, furnishings and tools. Three vehicles and snow plow will sell separately. There is also a Union Wireless cellular tower with lease, and parking area previously used by an overnight shipping company for nighttime trailer switches. The majority of the acreage is fenced with a 2-3 rail wood fence.
Located midway between Cheyenne and Laramie, historic Buford is known as "The Nation's Smallest Town" by virtue of having a single resident and its own ZIP code (82052). Buford's fame has spread around the globe through news stories on CNN, MSNBC, NBC's Today Show, other news programming and Time Magazine. The trading post has capitalized on that exposure through sales of town-related items, including tee shirts, postcards and other memorabilia, in addition to snacks, soda and fuel. The trading post benefits from significant traffic on I-80, with customer counts reaching 1,000 per day during the height of the summer tourism season.
The town's five buildings include the Buford Trading Post built in 2004; a 3 bedroom modular home purchased new in 1994; a school house built in 1905 which now serves as an office; a three and a half stall garage built in 1895 and a 1900s cabin which is now used as a tool shed.
The unincorporated community, the second oldest town in Wyoming, dates back to the construction of the transcontinental railroad and takes its name from one of the heroes of the Battle of Gettysburg, Major General John Buford. Visitors to Buford included Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the outlaw Butch Cassidy.
Buford is at 8,000 feet of elevation, making it the highest town along the coast-to-coast expanse of I-80. Near the town are several points of interest including the Curt Gowdy State Park, Vedauwoo State Park and rock climbing area, the 140+ year old "Tree in the Rock" and the Ames Monument, all contributing traffic to Buford.
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Depends on the State you live in. Asking your State Unemployment Office would give you accurate information. You may be able to e-mail them (I know getting through by phone in almost all States is a pain now). They may also have answers to that exact question on their Website FAQ. I am sure others have had that same question.
But, before you waste too much time, you really have to ask yourself if you like your job.
A lot of people do not know how employers are charged Unemployment. For those who do not, here is how it works.
Unemployment is paid by the State government. Employers pay into a fund based upon the number of employees they have. The State government collects the money paid in and puts it into a trust fund. Unemployment benefits are then paid out from the trust fund. The amount of money (unemployment insurance premiums) an employer pays is based upon their history of payouts. A company that has high numbers of payout will pay more per employee then will a company who fires or lays no one off (like auto insurance - a person with more accidents on their history pays higher premiums then a driver with a clean record). This can range from 0% to 6% of taxable payroll. They also have to pay an Administrative Tax to the State, who has to keep track of the UC Claim and print out the check, etc. This is also a percentage. It gets pretty complicated after that.
That is why employers fight every new Unemployment claim. It is one thing to piss off a former employer (especially if you were fired and never plan to work for them again) and pissing off your current employer. So you really have to be sure the amount of money you can get from your employer in Unemployment is worth the pain they can inflict on you. We all know employers who make life miserable for an employee by giving them the god-awful dictators and QA them to death in order to get them to quit so they do not have to pay Unemployment, and there is no way to prove that.
Hope this helps.
Good Luck.
I left a full-time position at a hospital for another facility who offered more money. The manager at the new facility who hired me told me that I was being hired as a full-time employee, but that I would have to work part-time for 2 weeks until the girl I was replacing left for good. This girl stayed on for another 2 months until she finally left, and then when she did the facility was cutting back on costs. So not only did they plan on keeping me part-time, but they wanted me to work 2 different days at 2 different facilities for 4 hours per day. Each of these facilities was 30 miles from my house (the original one I applied at was in my same rural town), and so between paying for daycare for 6.5 hours a day and the mileage for driving back and forth for only 4 hours, it ended up costing me more to work than it did to look for another job. I applied for unemployment insurance and at first was turned down. But, then I won the appeal because I had printed out all email correspondence where she stated I would be hired full-time within 2 weeks. The unemployment office said it was unfair hiring practices or something like that.
But in the case of working at home, and if you work for the same company I think you do (because I just left a company for some of the exact same reasons), they stipulate that you must meet a quota in order to be considered full-time with benefits. It is extremely unfair if the quota can't be met due to THEIR fault, but I think that's how they get you over the barrel.
IC can be defined differently state to state. Even the IRS cannot come up with a definitive set of rules. You would be surprised how many ICs actually get unemployment in some states. If the unemployment claim form asks specifically if you are an independent contractor, do not lie, but if it does not, do not volunteer it. Let the company prove you are a true IC according to the rules of your state. All you lose is a few minutes filling out the claim form. I would only do it as a last resort. If you can find work fast, by all means go for it, but the way things are now with all the VR and off-shoring, it is a backup if you cannot find work. No one should go hungry because they are afraid to file for Unemployment as an IC.
This is very interesting to know. Maybe it is something to consider when given an option to work as an IC or an employee. If you don't mind me asking, what state are you from?
Please excuse typos in first note. Long day, even longer week!
They said we should apply for unemployment asap but how can we do that if we are still working for them until 7/7?
Also, how much is unemployment usually? I've never been on it. I've heard it is about 66% of your usual pay? Is this correct?
Also... can you apply for Medicaid with unemployment? The COBRA rate is at least $540 for myself and my daughter. :(
My job has not had any work for 2 weeks now. If there is no work, can you file unemployment? Or do I wait until they let me go and then file?
I work for a national that introduced a new platform several months ago that has had problems virtually daily, ranging from bad sound, jobs not showing up on line count, to long jobs actually being "taken away" from someone and given to someone else after the original person completed most, if not all, of the job.
The newest problem it now has seems to be that you can't access work on this program when work truly does exist. However, it's impossible to tell if the program isn't working or if there truly isn't any work. So you never know just what's going on. Tech support can't fix the problem, and if management cares, they sure don't show it. In addition to all this, my account has suddenly been overstaffed, so I'm constantly fighting for jobs. I can't tell if the new person is being played as a favorite, if the program is malfunctioning or if there simply isn't any work. As a result, I can't earn enough money to pay my bills, and this is through no fault of my own.
If I quit under these circumstances, can I collect unemployment (until I can find another job)? Does anyone know?
extenuating circumstances. I quit a job where the boss was temperamental. He would cuss, punch holes in the wall, and scream at us. One of his employees kept making rude and suggestive (more than suggestive) remarks to me, even telling me he was going to rape me. Another employee actually grabbed my shirt and bra right in front of customers. When I complained to the boss about the sexual harrassment, he told me I was a big girl and could handle myself. I quit. I went to the unemployment division, and they said I could collect unemployment benefits, as well as file a lawsuit against the owner for not stopping his employees' behavior and for a hostile work environment. I got offered a decent job less than an hour after that, so I didn't bother. I always think that maybe I should have....
Anyway, I doubt you could collect unemployment in your situation. You need to start job hunting now.
I don't know completely your situation, but a few years ago, I filed for partial unemployment while employed at a service b/c the workload was extremely sparse and did receive it. When I filed, I also went looking for a new job and found one within a month.
My suggestion like others is to start looking now for a new job, but if the workload is low, you could possibly get partial unemployment now until a new job is found. Every state is different, so you would have to check with the unemployment office in your state regarding benefits, insurance, etc. Good luck in your search!


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Since 1638, when John Wilkins published the first serious work on the possibility of space exploration, The Discovery of a World in the Moone, people have been fascinated by the travel beyond the earth's atmosphere. But nearly 300 years passed before any real progress was made toward that dream. In 1926, Robert Goddard successfully launched the first rocket, sending a liquid-fueled projectile just over forty feet in the air. He had outlined his ideas in A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, a paper published by the Smithsonian Institution in late 1919. This thin book, ridiculed by many at the time, is the founding document of the space age. Unfortunately, Goddard's research went largely unheeded at home. German scientists, however, studied his work, and under the leadership of Wernher von Braun, began experiments that led to the development of the V-2 rocket, which rained explosives on London late in the Second World War.
Despite Nazi ties, von Braun was too valuable to leave in Europe after the war. He was brought to the United States, where he played a key role in developing the Saturn-V rocket used to send Neil Armstrong to the moon. After Armstrong and his colleague Buzz Aldrin made the first moonwalks, ten other Apollo program astronauts followed in their footsteps. NASA replaced the Apollo rockets with the current space shuttle in the 1970s. Today, it's hard to imagine the tremendous engineering feat this was. The average desktop PC you are using to read this web page had more computing power than most of the mainframes used to design the Apollo and shuttle vehicles. The two shuttle accidents underscore how dangerous space exploration still is.
The excitement of space travel, the bravery of the astronauts, and the tremendous technical challenges of rocket science overcame have captivated space collectors for two generations. They approach the subject in a number of different ways. People interested in Goddard's experiments seek out the scientific books and papers that led to the development of modern rockets. Other collectors, entranced by space travel as modern-day voyages of exploration, tend to focus on the men and women who made it possible, particularly the astronauts. Signed books and autographs are very popular. In a third class of space collectibles are "flown" items, meaning objects that were sent into space. This includes clothing, parts of spacecraft, and anything else astronauts took with them.
Generally speaking, scientific materials from before 1945 and anything related to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, the Mercury seven astronauts, and the Apollo 11 mission to the moon command top prices. According to Joachim Koch, of Books Tell You Why in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, USA, his customers focus on signed books "by people who have been on the moon." But he said, collecting memoirs by astronauts in unsigned first editions "is still an affordable area." Even autographed first editions by most of the astronauts who followed Armstrong, Aldrin, and their command module pilot, Michael Collins, are relatively inexpensive. For example, signed copies of Eugene Cernan's book, Last Man on the Moon, can be had for less than $150.
Useful References
America in Space: An Annotated Bibliography, by Russell Tobias. Pasdena: Salem Press, 1991. 327 pages.
An Annotated Bibliography of the Apollo Program, by Roger Launius and J. D. Hunley. Washington, DC: NASA, 1994.
Collecting the Space Race, Price Guide Included by Stuart Schneider. Atglen, Penn.: Schiffer Publishing, 1993. Focuses on artifacts and popular culture.
Robert Goddard's A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitude, first published in 1919, suggested that a rocket of sufficient size could leave the earth's atmosphere. In this pamphlet, he explored the engineering practicalities for a multi-stage rocket, the system ultimately adopted to send men to the moon fifty years later. Price: Up to $10,000
This Copy | First Editions | 1946 American Rocket Society Reprint | Modern Reprints
The V-2 rockets used by the Nazis were named after the German word for vengeance. That technology became the basis for rockets and missiles in the post-war era. The first book on the subject, Ballistics of the Future, first appeared in the Netherlands in 1946. $400 and up.
This Copy | First Edition | First U.S. Edition
After David Lasser's very scarce 1931 book, The Conquest of Space, the second book on space exploaration Charles Philp's Stratosphere and Rocket Flight (Astronautics): A Popular Handbook on Space Flight of the Future, Including a Section on the Problems of Interplanetary Space Navigation. It is particularly scarce in a dust jacket. Up to $2,000.
First Edition | Revised Edition
The title of Tables for the Design of Missiles does not refer to furniture, but rather to page after page compiling the results of complex calculations. It's not the most exciting book, but it is important for two reasons. First, portions of the work were prepared by Grace Hopper, a pioneering female computer scientist, and second, the book brings home the fact that most rocket development work to this point (1948) had been done without computers. $125 and up.
Find Copies
The Soviets shocked the West when they launched Sputnik, the first satellite, into earth's orbit in October 1957. Soon books on the Soviet space program began to appear. Soviet Writings on Earth Satellites and Space Travel, edited by Ari Sternfeld, provides translations of popular accounts of the sputniks as they appeared in the Russian press. Under $100
This U.K. Edition | First Editions | First U.K. Editions
Beginning in 1959, NASA began an aggressive series of rocket tests with the goal of putting a man in space. Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet pilot, beat Alan Shepard into space by about three weeks in the spring of 1961. By 1963, six of the seven American astronauts had orbited the earth. We Seven, a book by the Mercury program astronauts, is one of the most popular books on the subject. Nice unsigned copies are less that $75. Signed copies can cost twenty times as much.
First Editions | Signed Copies | Easton Press Edition
Wernher von Braun worked on the German V-2 program and played a key role in the development of the American space program. His History of Rocketry and Space Travel is a good introduction to the subject. The book was issued in a striking leather limited edition ($50 and up) and trade edition, which is quite scarce in a nice jacket ($50 and up).
Find This Copy | Leather Limited | First Trade Edition
Neil Armstrong, the first person to step foot on the moon, has written very little about his experience. Fellow moonwalker Buzz Aldrin was not so shy. Aldrin's Return to Earth, about adjusting to life on the ground after his out-of-this-world experiences, was published in 1973. Signed first editions are under $250. First editions are $20 and up.
Signed First Editions | First Editions
Following the Apollo program, NASA developed the shuttle, a reusable space vehicle. To date, the shuttles have flown nearly 120 missions. Sadly, two of the crafts were destroyed in flight, killing 14 astronauts and underscoring how dangerous space travel still is. The five-volume Presidential Commission report on the Challenger accident is a key document from this period. Scarce complete sets run $600+.
Commission Report
A very popular subset of space collecting is "flown" items, which can be anything (and we mean anything) launched into space and returned to earth. Favorites among collectors include uniform patchesand pieces of spacecraft. Those who love paper can find logbooks, checklists, and even teleprinter reports. From $85.
Find This Teleprinter Report
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The intensifying D.C. dramas this week over Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's fate — both likely to crescendo on Thursday — are overshadowing a much less dramatic win for Congress and the GOP, writes Politico's Sarah Ferris:
"By Wednesday night, both chambers of Congress are expected to have cleared 87 percent of federal funding without a single blow-up, and with days to spare before the Sept. 30 deadline for fiscal 2019. That includes the Pentagon's first on-time annual funding bill in 22 years, a success that would normally be a selling point Republicans would be touting six weeks ahead of a midterm election."
The House on Wednesday afternoon passed a package containing two of the 12 annual appropriations bills and a continuing resolution providing money until December 7 for federal departments and agencies that Congress hasn't yet funded for 2019. Together with an earlier appropriations package, Congress has now approved 75 percent of 2019 discretionary funding. And if President Trump signs the latest legislation, lawmakers will have averted a government shutdown after September 30 without 11th-hour brinksmanship.
In recent years, the threat of a government shutdown likely would have dominated the news cycle, with cable TV countdown clocks ticking down the seconds to the September 30 deadline to pass spending legislation and keep federal offices open. And lawmakers now patting themselves on the back — justified as they may be — for steering back toward regular order on the budget and appropriations process might have been able to score more pre-election attention for an unusually bipartisan process or for funding their partisan priorities.
After all, the $854 billion spending package heading to the president's desk includes wins that the GOP can easily tout, like some $20 billion more for defense and the biggest pay raise for the military in nearly a decade — and plenty for Democrats to trumpet, like additional money for education and health care, including a funding bump for the National Institutes of Health and more spending to combat the opioid epidemic.
Under different circumstances, we might also have seen a more robust debate over the level of spending in the 2019 appropriations bills, given the $153 billion increase Congress agreed to earlier this year, just months after passing a massive tax cut. "Let's stop patting ourselves on the back for adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit in an orderly manner," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "Let's instead work together to stabilize the nation's finances."
But it's an unassailable reality of the Trump era: Scandal, turmoil and drama dominate, pushing the regular business of governing out of the headlines and off our screens. "We would love to be talking about it," one senior GOP aide told Politico of the appropriations progress. "We're competing against a news cycle right now that's pretty unforgiving, and it's hard to break through."
True to form, Trump had injected some mild drama into the September 30 deadline with repeated threats to shut down the government in an effort to secure more funding for a border wall with Mexico. "I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms?" he tweeted last week. "Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!"
But he signaled Wednesday that those threats were mostly political posturing and that, to the relief of many in the GOP, he's willing to put off a fight over the border wall until after the midterm elections. "We'll keep the government open. We're going to keep the government open," he told reporters during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the United Nations General Assembly.
Of course, Trump could still change his mind, especially if the Kavanaugh hearing doesn't go well for him — or at least that's the fear among some in D.C. So we won't say that the shutdown has been averted until the president puts pen to paper.
This article was updated at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 26.


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Actionline NEA
NEA Joins Affirmative Action Suit
The Association and its Michigan affiliate file a brief in support of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action.
The Michigan Education Association and NEA have filed a joint amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in support of the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Michigan's Proposal 2, a ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to ban affirmative action programs used by Michigan's universities.
The case is Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, et al. v. Regents of the University of Michigan, et al. In 2006, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and several other organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court challenging the legality of Proposal 2. In March 2008, a judge dismissed the lawsuit. In December, the district court denied a motion to reconsider the March 18 ruling, hence the appeal to Sixth Circuit.
Delegates will gather July 1 through July 6 in San Diego, CA, for NEA's 147th Annual Meeting and 88th Representative Assembly (RA). The RA is the Association's highest decision-making body and, with over 9,000 delegates, the world's largest democratic, deliberative body.
The Annual Meeting convenes for six days every summer, with the first two days devoted to discussions, conferences, and exhibits. The final four days are devoted to the Representative Assembly itself. During these important deliberations, delegates, including hundreds from higher education, debate issues that impact American public education at all levels, elect top officers, and set policy for the 3.2 million-member Association.
NEA and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) have joined forces to advance dropout prevention efforts, promote high school graduation, and increase public engagement, particularly in minority communities.
"Educators can't stem the tide of dropouts alone," says NEA Vice-President Lily Eskelsen, who spoke at BGCA's National Conference in Atlanta. "We need partners like Boys & Girls Clubs of America that have a proven track record in developing innovative strategies, programs, and partnerships to help young people and their families, particularly high-risk youth, build successful lives."
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel applauded President Barack Obama for making education a cornerstone of his vision for America during his first 100 days in office. Obama has signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help struggling families, public schools, colleges, and states cope with the worst economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression.
He's also proposed making Pell Grants an entitlement, signed legislation giving women the right to fight for fair and equal pay, and extended the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
"We thank President Obama for delivering on his promise," Van Roekel said.


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Yes, Sex Pistols, Soft Cell Members Team Up for the 35th Anniversary of Marc Bolan's Death
The life and music of late T. Rex vocalist Marc Bolan will be saluted during a special benefit organized by the U.K.'s PRS for Music Members Benevolent Fund.
Former T. Rex producer Tony Visconti and band saxophonist Howie Casey will represent the group, while a number of musicians from different genres will perform tracks in honor of Bolan Sept. 15 at London's 02 Shepherd's Bush Empire.
Yes' Rick Wakeman, the Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock, Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, and Culture Club's Boy George lead the night's entertainment lineup, which also includes Alvin Stardust, Danielz and T.Rextasy, Cockney Rebel's Steve Harley, Andy Ellison, and Linda Lewis.
Almond told Vintage Vinyl News, "It's a privilege to be asked to be a part of something so special. Marc Bolan was an amazing artist and person. It will be a fantastic night to commemorate Marc and T. Rex."
The Members Benevolent Fund has been crucial in helping songwriters and composers dealing with illness, disability, older age-related and financial difficulties. Since Bolan's death in 1977, a share of his song royalties have been paid to the PRS for Music Members Benevolent Fund.


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Lumbergh: Milt, we're gonna need to go ahead and move you downstairs into storage B. We have some new people coming in, and we need all the space we can get. So if you could just go ahead and pack up your stuff and move it down there, that would be terrific, OK?
Milton: Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler…
"Milton" was the first short film that animator Mike Judge produced. It featured the character of Milton, dealing with the character who would eventually evolve into Lumbergh in "Office Space". Per Judge, Milton was based on a coworker he had at his first engineering job, who was "kind of an odd guy," with a mail order bride, whom no one at work would speak to. One day, out of curiosity, Judge approached the man and asked him how things were going.
What he got, unsolicited, was a lengthy, mumbling tirade from the man about how management had had him move his desk three times.
The encounter was so memorable to Judge that he featured the character in a series of animated shorts. He entered the shorts in a Dallas animation festival, where they got picked up by Comedy Central. Eventually they would air on Saturday Night Live. The next year, Judge would create Beavis and Butthead, and his career as an animator was underway.
A little over five years later, with "King of the Hill" to his credit as well, Judge was ready to make the move to live action. He decided to return to the characters that he got his start with, and the inane world that they lived in.
The world of corporate America.
"Office Space" takes a look at the world of corporate cubicle farms, and exposes all of their worst characteristics. From the absurdity of stop and go traffic, to the frustration of malfunctioning office equipment, to the weekend sacrifices demanded by management, "Office Space" touches upon it all. Corporations that outlay cash hiring consultants, and then downsize employees. Multiple bosses making an enormous issues out of minutiae, like TPS reports. The special level of Hell that is experienced in sitting across from a receptionist. Corporate platitudes such as "Is this good for the COMPANY?"
"Office Space" champions people with pointless tasks, kept in sedentary stations in fabric covered cells, beset with banal coworkers, and smothered in pointless, annoying, corporate regulations.
In the film, Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is an enormously put upon individual. He's acutely aware of the fact that his job is draining the soul out of him, and it's tearing him apart. He's subservient to heartless bosses, working on pointless tasks, and dating a woman who cheats on him. It's made him despondent and depressed.
One night he attends a session with an occupational hypnotherapist, who puts him in a trance and convinces him that his concerns about his job are no more. He puts Peter into a state of total relaxation, but then dies suddenly before he can snap Peter out of it.
Peter is left in his state of "Deep Relaxation".
He wakes up with a new attitude, to say the least.
He begins by blowing off reporting to work on the weekend. Then he blows off showing up on time on Monday, choosing instead to ask out the waitress he has a crush on (Jennifer Aniston). When he drops by work (in order to jot her number down in his book), he decides to keep a meeting with the consultants who have been retained by Initech to downsize the company. In fact, he enthusiastically attends.
And offers them a completely honest assessment of the company.
He proceeds to act completely as he wishes at work, showing up when and if he wants, openly playing video games, knocking down his cube wall. He becomes completely dismissive of his boss. It becomes completely obvious to everyone involved that Peter is playing by his own rules.
The thing is, he finds his rampant disregard for the rules being wildly rewarded. The girl he finally has the courage to approach is now his girlfriend. Instead of being reprimanded at work, he's promoted. Once he sheds his inhibitions and begins to act as he pleases, that's when his life begins to improve.
But, although Peter has changed, the corporation hasn't. He may be reaping rewards, personally, but he discovers that his two best friends at work are about to be let go. Something needs to be done.
The Heist is on.
As bank software programmers, Peter, Michael (David Herman), and Samir (Ajay Naidu) are in a unique position to perpetrate theft. They write a code that affects a "Superman III" scheme, depositing interest which would typically be rounded off into an account that they control. Designed to siphon fractional, unnoticeable amounts from numerous accounts over a long period of time, it should eventually reap enormous amounts of money for them.
When it doesn't perform as designed however, the three are faced with decisions to make.
Do they fess up and turn themselves in? Or roll the dice and hope they don't get caught?
"'Fight Club' would be the movie that Peter Gibbons, in his head, he thinks he's in," – Ron Livingston
The movie plays like a cubical dweller revenge fantasy. Teeing off on the faulty office machines, telling the boss exactly what they think, literally busting down the walls of their cubes. Flipping the boss off. A fraud is perpetuated that robs the company of a lot of money. Someone eventually burns the office down.
It's a wish-fulfillment fantasy film for everyone who's been a captive in a cube, wishing they could be someplace else. Or just simply people who hate their jobs.
Which is why so many people have latched on to it. Whether or not you work in an office, everyone can relate to hating work. Everyone has had a boss they'd like to give the finger to. Who doesn't want to come and go as they please, never have to bite their tongue, and yet never pay the price for it?
"Office Space" was a flop during its theatrical run, barely recouping its $10 million budget at the box office. But it caught on like wildfire on home video, and has since become a cult classic.
It gave us such memorable characters… Lawrence the unpretentious, unassuming blue-collar neighbor, Lumbergh the terrifyingly soulless boss, Milton the vengeful persona non grata. The Bobs. Samir Naga… Naga… Naga… Not gonna work here anymore, anyway. It's put numerous phrases and concepts into the pop culture lexicon. "Pieces of flair", "PC Load Letter errors", "TPS Reports", "A Case of the MONDAYS". Everyone knows who you're referring to if you say "I celebrate the man's entire catalogue".
Prior to this film, Swingline was no longer making red staplers… the production team for the film custom painted some in order to make them stand out visually onscreen. After "Office Space" caught on, requests were so numerous and so many knock offs appeared online that the company put them into production officially.
It became their top selling stapler.
It's an extremely funny comedy that speaks to people's inner, unspoken frustrations. It's every bit as applicable today as it was upon its release in 1999. It's become, rightfully, a cultural touchstone for office drones everywhere.
It's definitely a "Movie That Everyone Should See"


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Mideast unrest powers influx of newcomers to Maine
By RANDY BILLINGS | Portland Press Herald, Maine | Published: December 1, 2013
When he was 18 years old, Ali Farid, an Iraqi, signed up to be a combat interpreter for the U.S. military.
He helped the military get critical information and supported its efforts to win the hearts and minds of locals. He found himself crammed into a Humvee while soldiers waged gun battles and cleared roadways of bombs.
But when U.S. troops withdrew, it became unsafe for Farid to stay in Iraq.
"People over there tend to ask questions. It's not difficult to figure out you worked with the U.S. Army," Farid said in an interview over Turkish coffee and Iraqi pastries at his Westbrook apartment. "(Insurgents) follow you. They know where you live. The next day – you're gone."
Farid, now 25, is one of the increasing number of refugees – Iraqis in particular – who are finding refuge in Maine.
More refugees have resettled in Maine in the last year than at any time over the past decade. The spike comes at a time when housing and jobs are hard to find, especially in Portland, where the vast majority are resettled.
During the 2013 federal fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 350 primary refugees – those who came directly from a refugee camp – and 16 special immigrants were resettled in southern Maine by Catholic Charities, which is contracted by the U.S. State Department through the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help people in war-torn countries.
That's up 37 percent from the previous year, when 231 refugees were resettled. The vast majority of those refugees – 83 percent – were resettled in the Portland area. The rest were settled in the Lewiston-Auburn area.
Nationally, nearly 70,000 refugees were resettled during the last fiscal year. That's up about 17 percent over each of the previous two fiscal years.
Not only are more refugees coming to Maine, but the demographics are changing.
Over the past decade, Somalis made up the lion's share of Maine's refugees. Last year, 158 Iraqis – including refugees, those granted asylum and those first resettled to other states – were resettled in Maine, topping Somali immigrants for the first time.
"The Middle East is one of the hottest points in the world," said Tarlan Ahmadov, the program manager of refugee and immigration services for Catholic Charities Maine.
Resettling refugees is always demanding, because of differences in cultures and languages. But today's refugees are faced with additional challenges – they're coming at a time when housing and jobs are hard to find.
Meanwhile, Ahmadov said, refugees struggle to take advantage of skills and education from their native lands.
"This is a big limbo for us," Ahmadov said. "They're not qualified for the lower (level positions), but they cannot also go to the same level as in their country. It's the biggest issue to make sure these people are certified so they can transfer their skills to the U.S. market."
Ahmadov said more refugees were admitted last year partly because the federal government became more efficient at conducting the interagency background checks required by law. The process had been proceeding so slowly that refugee numbers fell short of both national and state allowances.
For example, the national ceiling for refugees was 80,000 in 2011 and 76,000 in 2012. But only 56,384 were admitted in 2011 and only 58,179 in 2012.
In Maine, Catholic Charities' quota ranges from 250 to 300 people, Ahmadov said. However, only 197 and 231 refugees were resettled here in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Ahmadov said the agency has been cleared to resettle 350 more refugees this year. Some of those refugees may come from Syria, which is embroiled in a civil war.
"This year we may see some Syrians, but it won't be a big number," Ahmadov said.
Many refugees – especially those from remote African villages – have little experience with electricity, grocery stores or running water. Many come from warm climates and have never seen snow.
Ahmadov said refugees often need to be taught the basics of indoor heating and plumbing, and how to work a stove.
In addition to one-on-one education, all new refugees are required to participate in a group cultural orientation.
The agency also offers educational and employment services.
Abubakar Eisa, 23, came to Portland in May 2012 to escape the violence in Sudan, spending two years in a refugee camp before resettlement here.
Eisa was among a small group of refugees learning about educational and employment opportunities in Maine at a recent informational session at LearningWorks, a nonprofit education center for immigrants and at-risk youth. He has a diploma from Sudan and dreams of going to college to become a computer programmer.
Before he can do that, however, he must improve his ability to speak English and get his Graduate Equivalence Degree, or GED.
At LearningWorks, he learned that he could do both – while also earning a certification in basic construction, painting, culinary arts and more – at the center on Brackett Street. The center pays some immigrant students a $100 weekly stipend if they have good attendance and do well in school.
"You can get paid for going to school. It's a pretty good deal," said Carlo Bufano, a Jobs for Maine Graduates career specialist with LearningWorks.
Sumia Yousif was among those who agreed. She filled out an application to LearningWorks as soon as the presentation was over. The 21-year-old has a high school diploma from the Sudan, but must first get her GED and sharpen her English skills before she can go to college.
Yousif, who is a singer and dreams of becoming a dentist, arrived three months ago by way of Eqypt. She came to Maine to live with her aunt and uncle.
Ahmadov said roughly 80 percent of Catholic Charities' resettlement activities are family reunifications.
"Maine is beautiful. I'm happy here," Yousif said with a smile.
A mentor program is one way Catholic Charities helps refugees adjust to their new lives in Maine.
Josue Ntimugura is a native of Congo, an African country still plagued by violence stemming from civil war. When he came to the United States in 2010, he could barely speak English.
Now, Ntimugura, 25, is a relatively fluent second-year student at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, where he is studying engineering. He is also studying to become a U.S. citizen.
On a recent morning, as sleet and snow fell outside, Ntimugura met with his mentor in a small conference room at the Walker Memorial Library in Westbrook to discuss a long-range project to help his home village, which does not have electricity.
Ntimugura is working on a report about his village, which he plans to present to nongovernmental organizations when he solicits them for help.
He is currently figuring out the best way to help his village. His dream is to bring electricity to the village, but that might not be possible without first building up the economy. The village is supported by agriculture, he said. Primary crops include corn, beans, potatoes and cassava. Villagers also keep livestock – cows, oxen, sheep and goats – but they plow the fields by hand, rather than putting the oxen to work.
Ntimugura's mentor is Tom Luna, a 50-year-old physician who moved to Maine with his family after retiring from a 26-year Air Force career.
Luna helps Ntimugura with a variety of tasks, including school work, filling out financial aid applications and registering with classes. He also helps him adjust to American culture by taking him to baseball games and on hikes. This winter, Luna said he plans to introduce Ntimugura to cross-country skiing and take him to the winter carnival in Quebec.
Ntimugura's native language is French, which will come in handy up north, Luna said. "I don't speak French, so that works out well," he said.
Luna previously lived in Texas, which resettled 5,905 refugees in 2012, more than any other state. Other top resettlement states were California (5,167), New York (3,525), Pennsylvania (2,809) and Florida (2,244).
Luna said refugees in Maine have more challenges, especially when it comes to employment. In Texas, most immigrants speak Spanish, so many employers have learned how to communicate with them, he said.
It's different in Maine because refugees and immigrants come from more than a half dozen countries and speak a variety of languages.
"By far, the biggest hurdle is language," Luna said.
Despite the challenges, Luna said he gets as much out of the mentorship as Ntimugura.
"You really learn a lot about another culture. You really appreciate the challenges these refugees have," he said.
For Ntimugura, having a mentor like Luna helps when he begins to feel overwhelmed.
"He is all the time encouraging me," Ntimugura said. "Sometimes you start with no strength and you end up with strength."
Catholic Charities helps only those immigrants who are here legally. Refugees receive federal assistance for food and housing for up to eight months.
Since 1975, Catholic Charities has resettled 8,500 refugees in Maine, including 2,180 refugees in the past 10 years.
By far, most of the refugees who come to Maine are primary refugees. The group also helps resettle people who have been granted political asylum and people who have been granted a Special Immigrant Visa, a new category for natives of Iraq and Afghanistan who have helped America wage the war on terrorism.
Last year, nearly half of the primary refugees and all of the special visa entrants in Maine were from Iraq.
Ahmadov said Iraqi refugees generally have more education and training than other new Mainers. Many hold college degrees and doctorates, he said, or had professional jobs back home.
"Iraqis are one of the populations that are the most educated," he said.
In 2010, 154 Somalis and 95 Iraqis were settled in Maine. Last fiscal year, those numbers practically reversed, with 158 Iraqis and 85 Somalis resettled.
Farid, 25, the combat interpreter from Iraq, came to the U.S. on a special immigrant visa in 2011. He left behind his mother, father, brothers and sister, as well as an upper middle-class life that was supported primarily by his father, an engineer.
Last year, 303 of Maine's primary refugees, including all Iraqis, were resettled in the Portland area. That's up 47 percent over the 206 refugees that settled here in 2012 and up 87 percent from the 166 refugees in 2011.
The rest were resettled in the Lewiston-Auburn area. Last year, 63 refugees were settled in Lewiston-Auburn, compared to 25 in 2012 and 31 in 2011.
Finding housing in Portland, where residential vacancy rates are estimated at roughly 2 percent, has become increasingly difficult, said Ahmadov, of Catholic Charities. That has forced the agency to seek housing in South Portland and Westbrook and as far south as Saco and Biddeford, he said.
In order to comply with federal rules, Catholic Charities must find housing for refugees within 90 days.
The agency has a three-bedroom apartment on Forest Avenue for refugees who do not have apartments upon their arrival. When that temporary apartment is full, Catholic Charities turns to hotels.
"Years ago it was easier," Ahmadov said.
Farid's first home was an old, one-bedroom apartment on Grant Street. When he was reunited this summer with his father, his mother, Dunya Alobaidi, and his brother, Nizar Farid, the family relocated to Westbrook because they had trouble finding an apartment in Portland. They now live in a modest two-bedroom apartment on a quiet side street.
It's not only a lack of housing that is challenging, Ahmadov said; refugees lack a rental history, personal references or a job. So the agency works with about a half dozen landlords in Portland and Lewiston who are willing to give the refugees a chance, while waiving application fees, which can often be a barrier to housing. Oftentimes, a little help can go a long way.
In May, Farid graduated from the University of Maine School of Law's Master of Laws Program, a pilot program designed for foreign students with law degrees from another country. The degree is in addition to the degree he earned in Iraq while studying and riding in military Humvees.
Farid said he'd like to be a source of strength for others. He now volunteers with Catholic Charities and dreams of working for the State Department.
"I see myself conducting humanitarian missions. I see myself as a human rights advocate," he said.


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She used to prepare the curry using a mud pot.It gives additioinal aroma and taste to the curry.This curry is flavourfull,as we are adding drumstick.Whenever I prepare this curry, my memories go years back.This curry goes well with rice,idli,dosai and even for roti. Enjoy this curry friends.
1.Prawn - 1 pound
2.Drumstick - 1/2 cup
* When the tomato is mashed ,add the veges and give it a toss.
* When the veges are partially cooked,add the prawns.
* When the prawns are semi cooked,add chilli pwdr,turmeric pwdr and give it a toss.
* Let the raw smell of the chilli pwdr escapes.
* Now add tamarind juice and required water.
* Let the curry boil well.
* Turn off the curry and garnish with cilantro.


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Music award is Deadly for duo
MUSIC duo Busby Marou have another trophy to add to their collection.
The Rockhampton boys were given a Deadly Awards 2012/Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) award at the Deadlys in Sydney on Tuesday night.
The award is inscribed National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment And Community Awards. APRA Song of the Year, Biding My Time.
A Deadly Awards spokeswoman said the award goes to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander songwriter whose work has been performed the most across Australia and who has earned the highest APRA earnings for an indigenous songwriter.
However, neither Tom Busby nor Jeremy Marou picked up the award in person, with Marou citing fatigue from a very busy schedule for missing the ceremony.
"We've been in the studio at Byron Bay recording our new album," Marou told The Morning Bulletin.
He said they also performed at the Intrust Super Cup Grand Final on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium.
Marou said they hope to release the new album early next year.
They will be touring North and Central Queensland next month.
"We are going to play the new songs and see how they feel," Marou said.
He said he found out about the award win through Twitter at home.
"There's no better place to celebrate than in Gracemere with family," Marou said.
- APRA award for Blues and Roots Work of the Year in 2012
- Indigenous Award at Brisbane's Q Song Awards in 2010
- A Deadly for Most Promising New Talent in Music in 2010


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Whether or not they're supposed to, by the looks of many Facebook and Twitter profiles, Christians are not only reading their horoscopes online but sharing them with their friends.
What does the bible say about horoscopes and astrology?
Do not be tempted to worship or serve what you see in the sky – the sun, the moon, and the stars. –Deuteronomy 4.19
I make fools of fortune-tellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness. -Deuteronomy 44.25
If Jesus is Lord of your life, look to Him alone for wisdom and guidance.
"But it's just for fun. It's no big deal."
That's the first step down the path that leads to all deadly entanglements. "It's just a few pictures." "It's just flirting." "It's just one hit."
Isn't the goal of your spiritual journey to move closer to God each day? If so, does your horoscope do that? Does it get your mind thinking, "Let me see what God has in store for me today?" Or, "Hmmm, I wonder if that's what my horoscope was referring to?"
Where does your light point?
But, let's just say you're relationship with God is so awesome it really is no big deal for you. Do you think that's the case for every one of your Facebook friends? Every one of us has friends online who don't have a relationship with God yet. We have friends who are in challenging circumstances and are looking for guidance. Do you want to lead them to a false god of a horoscope? Or do you want to show them that the real God of the universe loves them and wants to guide them to a remarkable life?
I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plant to bring about the future you hope fork Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me and I will answer you. you will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29.11-13
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. -James 1:5
Lead your friends to the Light rather than to the stars!
Edit: While I hope you'll share this post on Facebook and Twitter, if you have Christian friends who are sharing horoscopes on Facebook and Twitter, instead of publicly condemning them, consider sending a link to this post privately with a short note saying something like, "Hey, I know you love God and want to honor him with your life, so I thought you might want to check out this article that talks about the bible's view of horoscopes. Let me know if you have any questions or want to talk more about it."
How have you responded to Christian friends who share horoscopes on social media? How about friends who are not Christians? Has it provided opportunities to discuss spiritual things?


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Flavors of Summer
The long spell of hot weather that was hovering over the Pacific Northwest has broken now. The skies are bright and brushed with wispy clouds and the morning air feels cool against my skin. That cooler air beckons me back into the kitchen. Still the heat is simmering in my mind, especially as I stir my kitchen memories on a quiet Monday morning.
When I was a child something was always happening in the kitchen, no matter the ambient temperature. Even on the hottest of summer days there was food to prepare and people to be fed. We all know that to make a cake you have to break a few eggs and, of course, that's true not only of cakes but almost everything that people like to eat and think of fondly as they contemplate the flavors of summer. Fried chicken takes a skillet of hot grease to transform it into crisp tender mouthfuls of southern perfection. Corn on the cob takes a kettle of boiling water to bring out it's bright color and juicy sweetness just as pasta or potatoes for a summer salad must take their turn on the stove top.
Even the fluffy lightness of many a dreamy summer dessert that comes to mind as "cool" or "tart" spends some time in a hot oven. Think of Baked Alaska, or the mountains of foam piled invitingly high on top of a Lemon Meringue Pie. Even such refreshing desserts must be baked to set those golden peaks. The alchemy of the kitchen is almost always hot work! To delight and nourish family and friends, someone has to do it. When I was a girl that someone was my Aunt Hen.
|Pages from my Family Heirloom Cookbook
Kitchen Alchemy
Of course there are dishes that can both feed a family and avoid the heat. These days if you can't stand the heat there is no shame in getting out of the kitchen but when I was a girl such options were fewer. Produce from the garden needed to be cooked or preserved. Having grown up on a farm during the depression, and ever thankful for its abundant fresh produce, my aunt was reluctant to let food go to waste. Besides take-out and deli selections were pricier than home cooked, and harder to come by, and relying on what are now common alternatives to cooking an evening meal were then thought to reflect a lazy character or a lack of thrift. I think my aunt considered them beneath her dignity for much of her life. My uncle worked hard and when he was alive my aunt saw it as her responsibility to feed him well with hot home cooked meals, regardless of the season. She took pride in her skills in the kitchen and the pleasure others took in the food she prepared.
Later in life she had my brother, my dad and I to feed and she still took her role as the family cook seriously. Even after my brother and I moved away from home, summer visits to Aunt Hen's house would often find her standing in her fragrant, steamy kitchen stirring something over a hot stove, sweat rising on her brow as a box fan at the periphery of the room blew a scant breeze her way.
On one such morning she offered to make a pie for me to take to my grandfather's house later that day. As she cooked she carefully showed me how she made a meringue topped pie. We cooked the filling and smoothed it into the waiting pie shell. Then we beat the egg whites until frothy and followed one of her favorite recipes to create an impressive meringue that she confidently told me, "Would Not Weep!"
Avoiding Tears
I guess I never took the problem of weeping meringue seriously back then. I wasn't much of a pie eater really and I didn't think too hard about what made a pie perfect or what caused it to be a disaster. Apparently though, weeping meringue is an age-old problem and a real challenge to some bakers, especially when it is humid, and there are few places more humid than my aunt's house, near the banks of the Ohio River, on a summer's day. No one likes a damp sticky layer between pie filling and topping, and no one likes sticky beads forming on top of a pie, especially when they are the one who has cut in the butter, rolled out the crust, stood over the filling as it cooks, or whipped the meringue to stiff peaks.
My aunt had an answer for that, a tip she loved to share well into her eighties and even after she had moved to a nursing home. Even then she would call me and direct me to her cookbooks asking me to look up the recipe she treasured and eagerly wanted to share with her new friends. With a smile, and my heart melting in my chest, I would lovingly open her old cookbook and read her carefully handwritten recipe to her over the phone:
Meringue That Won't Weep
From page 13 of Aunt Hen's "Favorite Recipes" (the blue volume)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons sugar
½ cup water
3 egg whites (preferably at room temperature)
6 Tablespoons sugar
Place cornstarch, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium low heat until clear. Set aside.
Beat egg whites until foamy and beginning to peak. Add cooled cornstarch mixture.
Continue beating the egg whites while gradually adding 6 Tablespoons of sugar. Beat until very creamy.
Pile meringue on pie spreading it to touch the edge of the crust all around.
Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees, or until the top is kissed with a golden brown color.
Serve with confidence and enjoy!


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Salwar kameez is the traditional Indian clothing for women. The fashion of salwar kameez in India is not new. Since the past many few centuries, women have been wearing this wonderful attire that is absolutely decent to wear and also lends a graceful look to its wearer.
It is comfortable outfit consisting of three key pieces. The long tunic, called the kameez (or kurta), is worn on top of the loose pair of trousers called salwar. The ensemble is paired with a flowing scarf called the dupatta or odhni.
The salwar kameez is available in many different varieties. Saree Sargam has the latest collection of all types of salwar suits like Party Wear, Punjabi Salwar Suits, Casual, Churidar salwar kameez sale online. Let's make it more beautiful by wearing buy salwar suits online.


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Supporting All Students:UDL - Offering Multiple Means of Representation
- Start Date:
- 2/8/18
- End Date:
- None
- Duration:
- 3:30 PM CDT 4:30 PM CDT (Time Zone Sensitive)
- Type:
- Webinars
Presented by Lynda Hartman, Assistive Technology Facilitator, NSSED***Are your students learning what you are trying to teach them? Are your lessons meeting the needs of your diverse learners? Technology tools can engage students and support their learning. Tools can also provide supports for the learner variability that exists in every classroom. The challenge is to decide why and when you want to incorporate technology and what tools to use. In this webinar (part 3 of 4 in the series, recordings available), we will briefly review the need for and importance of UDL in today's diverse classrooms and the 3 principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We will then examine the UDL instructional planning process, how to thoughtfully incorporate technology and explore technologies (Chrome and iOS) that can support access to instructional materials by offering multiple means of representation. Participants will be provided with resources to help begin/continue on their UDL journey.
Permanently Archived
Registration: Please click here to register.


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Drought now affecting two thirds of Texas
The Lone Star State can't seem to stay out of the heat. In a new drought report by the Texas Water Development Board, the state saw worsening conditions that now affect two thirds of Texas.
About 25 percent of the state is suffering under "extreme" or "worse" drought conditions and two-thirds of Texas suffers from "moderate" or "worse" drought conditions.
Just four months ago, 46 percent of the state was dry enough to qualify as undergoing at least a "moderate" drought. The percent has risen to 67 percent today.
The northern and northeastern portions of the state are getting hit the hardest, and much of the state has seen less than 50 percent of normal rainfall.
The drought is slowly taking a toll on the state's reservoirs. By the end of March, storage levels were 472,740 acre-feet less than the same month last year.
Look at the photos above to see the current conservation storage levels (how much water each holds in comparison to its capacity) of some of Texas' major reservoirs and how the numbers compare to almost 20 years ago, when the state was going through a one-year drought that brought record economic and agricultural losses.


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by Cassie J.
(Jonesboro, AR)
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