In End of the Peach Forest

In End of the Peach Forest

Tao Yuanming (the Eastern Jin Dynasty)

In the middle of Taiyuan of the Jin Dynasty, there was a Wuling man, who caught fish for living. One day he went on by a boat, sailing along a stream for a long time and neglecting how much distance he had traveled. Suddenly, in front of his eyes a peach forest was extended hundreds of paces on both sides of the river and without any other trees scattered. In the forest, the fragrant grass was fresh and beautiful and a lot of fallen flowers were spread on the ground. The fishing man was very strange, and then he went on again, intending to make a thorough investigation of this forest. The forest was ended at the stream source. He caught sight of a mountain，which had a little entrance, seemed to have some light in it .And then, the fishing man left his boat and went into the entrance.

In the beginning the entrance was extremely narrow, just able to pass through a person, and continually walking tens of paces, suddenly became bright open. The ground and soil behind the mountain was flat and vast, and the houses and sheds all set out in a neat order. In the place, having the fertile lands, clear pools, white mulberries and nice bamboo and so forth, and also having the crisscross footpaths between the fields, the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs were within hearing of each other. People planted with rice, cotton and vegetable and worked hard to and fro in the fields and their clothes were as same as the outsiders. The old men with their hair，which had been yellow transmitted from grey and children with hair's tufts in front of their head all looked very pleasant, contented and self-enjoyed. When in sight of the fishing man, they all got frightened and asked where he was come from. The fishing man replied to these questions according to the fact. And then the villagers invited him to home, butchering cock and heating up wine for him as food. Other people heard that there was an outside man in the village, they all came to visit and inquire him about the events happened outside. The village people told him, for avoiding the chaos caused by the war of the Qin Dynasty, their ancestors along with their families and county colleagues came to this sealed place, and did not go out again. Therefore the people in the village were separated from the external people up to now. Asking what the Dynasty was nowadays, since it is in the case of being not aware of the Han Dynasty, of course they also could not know the Dynasties such as Wei and Jin later. The fishing man told them what he had heard one by one. Hearing those, the villagers all sighed and felt pity very much. The others repeatedly invited him to their house and offered him with wine and other cooked food. After several days, when the fishing man took leave the village, the people in the village said to him: “There is no need to tell the situation here to the external people.''

Having gone out from the village, the fishing man got his boat. Along the incoming road, where he marked some symbols to every important location. Turning back into the Wuling County, he called on the prefecture chief and spoke out all that he saw and heard. The prefecture chief dispatched men going along with him to search the symbols which he had marked; unexpectedly they had lost the way and couldn't find the place that the fishing man found.

Liu Ziji in Nanyang was a respectable scholar. Hearing this information, he went to search the end of peach forest with pleasure by himself, but no result was obtained. Before long，he died of illness. Later there was nobody to make inquire into this event.

A Parable

A Parable

Buddha told a parable in a sutra:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

Temple & Lama(monks)

Lemon Ginger Ice in Sugared Lemon Cups

Coffee Cheesecake

London for less

“How can you visit London cheaply? It’s impossible! Everything is expensive,” declares John from south-west England. We meet him in the British Museum cafe, where he has just paid ￡1.65 for a mug of tea. He is visiting a friend in London and cannot believe the prices here. Like many museums in the capital, the British Museum is free—but eating and drinking certainly are not. “You have to have deep pockets,” John warns, adding only half-jokingly, “I have to go home now. I can’t afford to stay on in London.”

London is Europe’s most expensive city, but bargains are easy to find if you know where to look. Guidebooks and specialist websites offer plenty of information for budget travel. The key to cost saving is preparation and information. At a Starbucks in the City, Gerald Kern, a business student from Austria, is studying his travel guide. “When I first looked for a room, it was terrible—around ￡80 a night,” he says. In the end, Gerald found a small room at a hotel in King’s Cross for ￡36. Like many people, he booked online to get the best deal. He could have paid ten pounds less, but that would have meant sharing a dorm with five other people.

London food prices were also what Gerald had expected. “Last night, I went to a restaurant in Soho—a nice place, but nothing special,” he says. “I had a pizza and two small beers for ￡17. That’s pretty expensive, probably just because it was Soho.” However, Soho also offers low-cost buffet meals for as little as ￡5.

A common problem is that visitors go straight to the well-known spots around Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Piccadilly. Few people make the effort to visit the rest of the city, says Garth Jackson, 27, who runs St Christopher’s Inn, a hostel in Borough High Road. “London is a fantastic city, but if you head for the tourist areas, you’re always going to get ripped off,” he says. “London can be cheap if you look in the right places. For example, if you go to Brick Lane or Angel or to Chinatown and look about, you can find cheap eats.”

London’s diversity certainly helps the traveller who wants to save money. Many members of ethnic minority groups live on below-average incomes and need to eat, drink and dress inexpensively.

Lisa Kirby, a 20-year-old backpacker from Melbourne, for example, has developed her own strategy. She recommends sandwich lunches (England is, after all, the home of the sandwich) and eats evening meals at the hostel (only ￡3.50 for guests). She shops for clothes at low-cost designer outlets like Topshop in Oxford Street. Other travelers at the hostel give her even more ideas. “Everybody has tips,” she says.

Lisa is one of more than 16 million visitors to London every year. But what about people who live in London? Matt Lary, 26, is a social worker who lives in Wood Green, north London, with his girlfriend Gen (Genevieve) Clemens, 25. Matt was able to buy their small flat only under a shared-ownership scheme for key workers. The average house in London currently costs around ￡270,000, which is far too much for most first-time buyers. After housing, travel is the single biggest cost for Londoners, especially during peak hours. Although Gen and Matt live only a minute away from an Underground station, Gen takes the bus to work in central London, and Matt uses his bike. Since the 7/7 bombings, bike sales in the city have risen by a third.

Like most Londoners, Matt and Gen shop, meet their friends and go to restaurants in their own borough. “We can’t really afford to go into central London,” says Matt. Instead, they enjoy meals at a vegetarian restaurant in Wood Green market for ￡3 and have their cinema evenings on Tuesdays, when films at the local multiplex cost ￡2 less. Many London reductions and free events are available in the middle of the week. Going out then is one of the best ways to save money.

The pair of jeans Matt is wearing cost him just ￡3 from a Primark sale. He paid only ￡6 for his haircut at Mr. Topper’s, a cheap and cheerful chain of barbers. (Gen, as a woman, had to pay ￡10.) For Matt, saving money in London clearly has an element of fun and challenge to it. Visitors can follow his example. London is always an enriching experience. You don’t have to be rich to enjoy a visit.

Japanese Women Hunt for Husbands as Refuge From Deepening Slump

When Yumiko Iwate’s pay was cut last year, she and her female colleagues all agreed there was only one thing to do: find a husband.

“I want to get married soon, hopefully by the end of this year,” said Iwate, a 36-year-old employee at a mail-order retailer in Tokyo. “The recession made me realize I’m not going to make as much money as I expected, and I’d be more stable financially if I had double income to fall back on.”

Women the Japanese call “marriage-hunters” are looking to tie the knot as companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Sony Corp. fire thousands of workers and the nation heads for its biggest annual economic contraction since 1945. Marriages surged to a five-year high of 731,000 in 2008 as wages stagnated and the unemployment rate rose for the first time in six years.

“Financial concerns are a major reason for the increase in marriage-hunting,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Women are motivated more than ever to find a financially sound partner.”

The trend marks a reversal for women who put careers over families after Japan implemented equal labor rights 23 years ago. The number of marriages in the following decade slid 4.5 percent to an annual average of 746,000 compared with the decade before. Despite equal rights, women still make 43 percent less than men, giving them more reason to seek a partner during recessions.

‘As Good as Men’

“I know women before my generation worked so hard and pursued their careers so they could prove they’re just as good as men,” said Reiko Kubo, 25, who bought a good-luck charm at Tokyo Daijingu shrine. “They didn’t have to depend on men and that’s cool, but it’s not the path I want to follow.”

Tokyo Daijingu has come to be known as the marriage-hunters’ shrine, and the number of visitors has risen about 20 percent in the past year, said priest Yoshiyuki Karamatsu. For 5,000 yen, he will conduct a ritual to ward off bad spirits; the purification ceremony includes drinking sacred sake.

Recessions have encouraged the Japanese to wed before. Marriages rose when an asset-price bubble burst in the late 1980s and again after the technology crash in 2001. Analysts say the trend is gaining traction because the current slump is expected to spur record-high unemployment.

Economists at Dai-Ichi Life Research and JPMorgan Chase & Co. expect the jobless rate this year to surpass the postwar peak of 5.5 percent in 2003. Unemployment in January was 4.1 percent. Wages have slumped for three months, and the economy contracted an annualized 12.1 percent last quarter, the biggest drop since 1974.

Civil Weddings

Marriages are also increasing in other countries as recessions spread around the world. The number of civil weddings in London’s Westminster Register Office, the city’s most popular, rose 8.5 percent to 1,684 between April 2008 and February 2009 compared with a year earlier, according to Alison Cathcart, the superintendent registrar. “We certainly feel a lot busier,” she said.

Japan’s husband hunters are pursuing relationships the way they might search for jobs: They interview at agencies -- dating agencies, in this case. They attend networking parties or just let friends know they are ready for commitment.

Iwate started her quest in December by writing New Year’s cards to 170 acquaintances from junior high school classmates to fellow dancers at salsa lessons, asking for help finding an eligible bachelor. Her five co-workers are in on the hunt, introducing each other to potential partners and putting sticky notes on the most useful pages of the “Complete Guide to Marriage Hunting” from “an an” magazine, a weekly publication for women in their 20s and 30s.

‘Looks Shouldn’t Matter’

The issue included articles telling readers that, while it’s acceptable to choose a husband by occupation, “looks shouldn’t matter because they’re not essential to leading a married life. You need to consider men you normally wouldn’t date.”

It listed character traits by job type: “Traders tend to be adventurous and forward-looking; pharmacists conservative and stable; sushi chefs patient and creative.”

It also cautioned against playing hard to get: Being coy “is strictly forbidden; men want to seriously date women who act natural.”

Business is booming at Green, a marriage-hunting bar in Tokyo’s nightlife district of Roppongi. Men pay 11,340 yen ($115) per visit to have waiters set them up with women, who get in free. The bar is booked solid on weekends, and membership is up 26 percent this year, according to owner Yuta Honda.

Dating Agencies

Interest in O-Net, Japan’s largest dating agency, is also rising. The number of people requesting applications jumped 10 percent in the past year, according to spokesman Toshiaki Kato. Shares of Watabe Wedding Corp., a wedding-planning agency, are up 55 percent since September, while the broader Topix index has slumped 30 percent.

Marriage hunting has even attracted the attention of policy makers, who have been trying for years to increase Japan’s birthrate. Women give birth to only 1.34 children on average in their lifetimes, government data for 2007 show, well below the 2.07 required for a stable population.

A government panel charged with increasing the population met last month and invited academics to discuss the trend. Until now, efforts were focused on people with children, said Yuko Obuchi, 35, the minister in charge of the project, who is expecting her second child in September. “Marriage hunting underscores the importance of addressing unmarried people as well.”

Meanwhile, Natsuko Ono, 25, is sparing no expense to find a man. She said she’s spent 370,000 yen so far, mostly for a professional portrait and registration at a matchmaking agency.

“It sounds like a lot of money, but if you consider that it’s a way to find a husband, it’s a reasonable investment,” she said while scoping men at Green.

Canadian Workers Occupy Auto Parts Factory

On Tuesday, March 17th, a group of workers in the industrial town of Windsor, Ontario, occupied the Aradco auto parts plant. The 80 workers at the plant, along with workers from the neighbouring Aramco plant were told on March 9th that they should not report for work. This occupation marks the re-awakening of the occupied factories movement in Canada and is an important turning point in the ongoing crisis of the North American auto industry.

Aradco and Aramco produce motor mounts and other metal parts almost exclusively for Chrysler. The news that Chrysler planned to terminate its contract with Catalina Precision Products, the parent company of Aradco and Aramco, led to the closure of the factories. The workers by law are owed back pay, vacation pay, termination and severance pay totalling an estimated $1.7 million. In a criminal move, the workers were offered a paltry $205,000. The workers, represented by the Canadian Auto Workers union rejected this offer by 64%.

Chrysler, in the wake of the plant closures, applied for and received a court injunction which allowed it to remove parts and equipment from the plant. On Tuesday, March 17th, about a week after the workers were first told not to report for work, Chrysler made its attempt to seize its property. However, the workers were not having any of it. As a truck showed up at the gates on Tuesday about 30 workers, whose lines had swelled to around 100 with the arrival of support from the Chrysler assembly plant, formed a blockade preventing the truck and Chryslers security vehicles from entering.

A few hours after blocking the attempt of Chrysler to remove parts and equipment the workers took the initiative and fought back. In a bold move they entered the closed plant and welded the doors shut. While a section of workers remained to maintain the lines around the plant, a detachment entered the plant to begin the occupation. Before Chrysler would be allowed to seize its property, the workers moved to seize theirs. Shortly before 6:00 pm a group of half a dozen workers appeared on the roof of the factory, and planted the CAW local 195 flag on the roof, announcing that the workers had taken control of the factory.

The events around the plant closure, and the attempt of the company to take the monies it owes to the workers, left the workers with very little in the way of options. "They're stealing our money," said one 17 year veteran of the plant, “I'm ready to retire; luckily I don't have small children. But, for many of my brothers here, this job is all they have. This is like a little funeral.” Ali Hammoud, an 18-year employee, said "I've got three little ones at home. We need our money, so we can move on with our lives. That's what we're telling Chrysler now if they need their parts and tools they must put pressure on Catalina so we can get our money."

The workers struggle went beyond the demand for payment of the money owed to them. The workers began to demand legislative changes to enhance unemployment benefits and rules that would guarantee that workers receive their severance money before the banks and other creditors in the event of company bankruptcies. "They feel as though the law isn’t working for them," said Mr. Farnham, the President of the local, "They are prepared to fight that fight for all workers, union and non union."

At a rally of over 500 on the afternoon of March 18th, Ken Lewenza, National President of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), announced that a deal had been reached with the bosses. “We just struck an agreement not less than two or three minutes ago that we have in writing that provides some support, not all the support, for the membership,” said Mr. Lewenza. Details of the deal will be released at 11am, March 19th to go to a vote of the workers. In the meantime the occupation has been ended. If the occupation had continued, Chrysler production would have ground to a halt at a number of plants in Canada and the United States.

For a brief period the workers at Aradco in Windsor took matters into their own hands, and showed that the traditions of militant struggle in North America are not lost. Although the demands were initially over severance and back pay owed by the company, which it illegally refused to pay, quickly they became about more than that. They stood for all workers, not just themselves.

It remains to be seen what kind of deal Lewenza was able to negotiate. It won’t be the first time that the current leadership of the CAW has signed deals that do not meet the needs of workers. Maybe the workers should have maintained their occupation until they had a chance to read the small print. Gerry Farnham, president of CAW Local 195, also commented that, “It’s bittersweet because our members are still out of work.” Even if the workers get their settlement, they are still out of a job during the start of the largest recession since the 1930s. The workers need a strategy to not just get what is owed them, but to save their jobs and livelihoods.

Whatever the result of this struggle, it has showed that militant tactics work and can beat back the bosses. This struggle got significant media coverage and millions of workers who will find themselves in the same position are listening. Eventually, workers will not just demand their back pay; they will demand that their jobs be saved. Chrysler is threatening to shut down all of its Canadian operations and the entire industry is in crisis. These plants have the highest productivity in the world, and yet the capitalist system is destroying them. This system makes no sense for working class people.

The only solution to the loss of jobs, loss of livelihood and communities, and the crippling economic crisis which the bosses are demanding that workers pay for, is the end of the capitalist system. The workers are learning that factory occupations are the only tactic that works against factory closures. The next demand is to bring the factories and shops into production under workers control, and nationalize them to save jobs. That way we can end the crisis in manufacturing and re-tool production to meet the needs of the whole of society.

But along the way to the final goal every step forward, every small victory, must be celebrated. While the workers may only be struggling for severance, the logic of capitalism will not leave them alone. Each militant action is a revival of the memory of the working class, and its traditions. Out of the crisis of capitalism, workers are learning that the solution lies in their own hands and their own power.

British Library mislays 9,000 books

More than 9,000 books are missing from the British Library, including Renaissance treatises on theology and alchemy, a medieval text on astronomy, first editions of 19th- and 20th-century novels, and a luxury edition of Mein Kampf produced in 1939 to celebrate Hitler's 50th birthday.

The library believes almost all have not been stolen but rather mislaid among its 650km of shelves and 150m items – although some have not been seen in well over half a century.

One item, an essay entitled Of the Lawful and Unlawful Usurie Amongest Christians, by 16th-century German theologian Wolfgang Musculus, is valued by the library at £20,000, and has not been seen for almost two years. Others are precious only to a specialist market, such as a set of tables of 1930s London cab fares, or the 1925 souvenir history of Portsmouth Football Club.

Although the library has not listed any value for thousands of the books, a quick Guardian tot-up of the market price of nine collectible volumes came to well over £3,000 – including £1,300 for a first edition of Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1891, missing from the library's shelves since 1961.

The library records all of these items as "mislaid" rather than gone for ever, still less stolen. Despite well-publicised recent cases - such as that of Edward Forbes Smiley III, convicted in the US three years ago of stealing more than 100 maps from institutions including the British Library, and Farhad Hakimzadeh, an Iranian collector jailed in January for cutting maps, illustrations and pages from priceless volumes in the British Library and other collections - the library is convinced that almost all the missing texts are still somewhere within its walls.

Jennifer Perkins, the library's head of records, said that books and other items were usually identified as mislaid when a reader requested them - more than 3.5m items are delivered to the reading rooms every year - and the book was not on its correct shelf. Other losses were revealed in rolling audits of the enormous collection.

"There are a number of reasons why collection items may not be at their correct shelf location: they may have been misplaced on the shelves, the shelf mark label may have become detached from the spine and the item is being checked and reshelved, or the catalogue record may not have been altered to reflect a changed shelf mark," said Perkins.

"The library takes the security of its collections very seriously and has a range of measures designed to protect collection items from inadvertent or deliberate harm."

Keith Rathmill, of library security firm SA Secure, said he was surprised the list was not longer - one small library which consulted his firm had lost about a fifth of its collection in four years. "It is a huge collection and no building is secure," he said. "There's theft from all libraries, but the British Library can think itself lucky it isn't in a worse situation - it doesn't attract the dregs of society."

The library's greatest treasures, priceless documents including Magna Carta and the Lindisfarne Gospels, are kept in a special gallery with rigorous conservation and security controls. For the rest of the collection, identified by barcodes and shelf numbers but not by microchips or any technology the library fears might prove ephemeral, a rolling audit gives priority to the most valuable and heavily used items, a spokesman said.

Perhaps significantly, many of the losses are recorded just before or after 1998, the year the library moved from the British Museum to St Pancras.

Most of the losses are 19th and 20th century texts, including first editions of novels by Charles Dickens and John Updike, although many older books have also vanished, including a 1555 edition of 12th-century Jewish scholar Moses ben Maimon's Letter on Astrology, missing since 1977, and a 17th-century guide to Rome.

Missing treasures

• Wolfgang Musculus, Of the Lawful and Unlawful Usurie Amongest Christians, 1556. Missing since 2007. British Library valuation £20,000.

• Moses Ben Maimon, Letter on Astrology, 1555. By 12th-century Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar. Missing since 1977. Nothing comparable on market.

• Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891. First edition missing since January 1961. Valued by Bookride at over £1,300.

• Ezra Pound, Canzoni, 1911. First edition of poetry collection, described as "balderdash" by contemporary reviewer, missing since 1999. Copy on Amazon at £425.

• Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1876 illustrated edition. Missing since 1976. Valued at £350 by Abe Books.

Garlic and onions may reduce cholesterol gallstones: Study

Consumption of garlic and onions may reduce the incidence of cholesterol gallstone formation by as much as 40 per cent, says a new study from India.

Consumption of a cholesterol-rich diet led to the formation of cholesterol gallstones (CGS) in mice, but supplementation of this diet with garlic and onion reduced the incidence of the gallstones, according to findings published online in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Researchers from India’s Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR) in Mysore also report that garlic and onion increased activity of two enzymes involved in cholesterol metabolism: cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase and sterol 27-hydroxylase.

Eighty per cent of gallstones are cholesterol-related. They occur when cholesterol hardens and this then blocks bile ducts, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health. Symptoms include pain, nausea, and clay-coloured stools.

A diet high in cholesterol is reported to be a potential cause of gallstones. The Indian researchers, led by Satyakumar Vidyashankara, found that feeding mice a diet containing 0.5 per cent cholesterol for 10 weeks did indeed promote the formation of gallstones – a so-called lithogenic diet.

Mice were divided into groups – one group was fed the lithogenic diet, and the others fed the lithogenic diet supplemented with 0.6 and 2.0 per cent garlic and onion, respectively.

The incidence of gallstones in the latter group was found to be reduced by 15 to 30 per cent, said the researchers. Moreover, blood and liver cholesterol levels were reduced in the garlic and onion fed groups, compared to the group fed only the lithogenic diet.

“Dietary Allium spices exerted antilithogenic influence by decreasing the cholesterol hyper-secretion into bile and increasing the bile acid output thus decreasing the formation of lithogenic bile in experimental mice,” concluded the researchers.

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The AP Stylebook has become the de facto standard for news writing in the United States.[citations needed] The AP employs the "inverted pyramid formula" for writing that enables news outlets to edit a story to fit its available publication space without losing the story's essential meaning and news information.

The decline of AP's traditional rival, United Press International, as a major American competitor in 1993 left the AP as the only nationally oriented news service based in the United States. Other English-language news services, such as Reuters and the English language service of Agence France-Presse, are based outside the United States.

Sweet Slices of Pi: 20 More Awesome Geek Cakes

Even geeks have got to eat, and when pizza’s just not enough, there’s cake. Not just any cake either - the surest route to geek satisfaction is a slice of pi. Pie, that is. The first twenty artistic and geeky cakes uncovered more sweet servings then you could shake your Wii at, so sharpen up the knives and prepare for sugar shock from scrumptious Super Mario to sacrilicious Barack Obama!

(image via: GayGamer)

Geeks come in many varieties: gamers, techies and fanboys just to name a few. A roll of the 12-sided dice points to the gamers, who lead off with the above classic Mario Cake. Save some for Luigi!

(image via: WoW forums)

Mario may be one of the original game characters but many geeks have moved on to more adult-oriented pursuits. No, not those pursuits (though the cake possibilities are enticing); more advanced games such as World of Warcraft. The above cake is sure to make anyone, regardless of their level, go WoW!

(image via: Eden Cakes)

Here’s another World of Warcraft cake but for this one, you’d better be working overtime at the gold mines. Eden Cakes charges $350 for this repro WoW building but at least it provides 25 servings… do hardcore Warcrafters have that many real friends?

(image via: Eric Vass)

Interactive games like Guitar Hero are getting more geeks out of their chairs, only to get them back there once its time for dessert. This groovy Guitar Hero cake was made by Eric Vass for an Engadget design composition, in which he finished second. It’s made using a real, working Guitar Hero controller. His Mom might be less than pleased but at least Vass got to eat the cake.

(image via: Rufus50)

Nintendo’s smash hit Wii game system has spawned more cakes than you can shake your Wii at, but Wired’s faux Martha Stewart cover takes the cake (never mind that it’s a cardboard prop). Geeksugar (an appropriate source for this post if there ever was) provides this image of the prop and beside it, the real deal from Flickr user Rufus50, a guy whose cake-decorating talent rivals even mahvelous Martha.

(image via: Rufus50)

Rufus50 designs cakes for geeks and non-geeks alike, but the, er, organic Brain Cake at above top left was made for the ultimate uber-geek, a brain surgeon.

(image via: Choconancy and Kimmyskakes)

Geeks do get married - at least, those with a Gates-ian knack for turning their obsessions into cash have a much better chance. Even run-of-the-mill, “Beauty and the Geek” types can find their match though the magic moment may have happened in an online chat room. The above wedding cakes pay tribute to guys & gals who have broken the stereotype of Geekdom, preferring to procreate rather than procrastinate.

(image via: Blog Wired and CakeWrecks)

Speaking of procreation, the cake creation at above left salutes the miracle of birth, well, pre-birth - in true geek style, thanks to the edible ink photo. Who else would celebrate with an Ultrasound Cake? Says the proud papa, “We thought this was hilarious (if slightly creepy, in a good way).” Just to the right is another example of edible ink photography that completes any celebration of successful potty training.

(image via: Yumsugar)

Not so hilarious and more than slightly creepy is this cake by British sugar artist Michelle Wibowo. The following high-speed video features Wibowo herself creating the baby cake, accompanied by disturbing techno Flight Of The Bumblebee background music.

Michelle Wibowo at work

(image via: Cakesuite)

Sports are thought to be an obsession of jocks, but even sports fanatics can go all geek-tastic on over-the-top cakes - like the Yankees and Mets stadium cakes shown above. It ain’t over til it’s over… or until the fat lady gobbles up the last crumb.

(image via: Strangesports)

Both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium are soon to be no more, but we’ll always have Kyle Field - depicted here in miniature (though the term is relative) above images of the actual stadium. Kyle is where the Texas A&M Aggies play, and this cake looks big enough for the entire school cheerleading squad to jump out of!

(image via: KQED and Snarkygurl)

Good cake tends to make everyone pig out, so why not go with the flow? The Ham and Bacon cakes above look deliciously wrong.

(image via: Alvin Robina and About The Cake)

The Cockroach and Dung Beetle cakes above are just wrong, period, unless they’ve been made especially for a budding young scientist. Even so… a dung beetle cake??

(image via: CakeWrecks)

Artistic license doesn’t stop at imitating the wonders of the insect world. Feast your eyes (and one ear) on these Van Gogh Starry Night cakes.

(image via: Cake Italy)

Van Gogh is famed for his haunting self portraits but the ultimate geek homage has to go to those world leaders who make themselves the object of their nation’s adoration. What better way to do that than with a cake? Created by Yuri Shabelnikov in the late 1990s, the life-size Lenin cake above was (unlike the late Soviet leader) quickly eaten by onlookers shortly after being put on display.

(image via: Wonkette)

Will this year’s presidential candidates fair any better? If the tasty selection of Barack Obama cakes above is any indication, the personality cult is more than a half-baked idea. So, does Obama have the geek vote? If cakes are the barometer, he sure does - McCain and Palin cakes are about as rare as lipstick-wearing pitbulls - and that’s one cake we’d all like to see!

Is There a Reverse Network Effect with Scale?

The Internet economy has been built on the network effect(i.e. the effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product for other people). Investors and entrepreneurs have treated this like Moore's Law. But just as Moore's Law hits physical constraints, network effects have a limit in many types of online communities. Indeed, in some cases, a reverse network effect may exist: as new people join, others are motivated to leave. This dramatically affects the length of the competitive advantage enjoyed by these ventures. In this post, we'll look at which ventures suffer from reverse network effects, which don't, and which may suffer depending on the strategy they choose to adopt.

Signs of Reverse Network Effect

Real human social networks (as opposed to the tools that facilitate online communication between people in a social network) have an obvious reverse network effect. If I have too many people in my social network, I cannot pay enough attention to each of them, and without attention, relationships fade.

Back in September 2007, we looked at social motivation in the real world, specifically the two distinct types of motivation. One is, "I want to communicate better with the people I already know and trust". The other is, "I want to increase my visibility so that I can connect with more people."

Both have clear limits. The number of people I can really know and trust is limited, because knowing and trusting take time and attention. Increasing visibility, whether by blogging or tweeting or advertising or PR, is less limited. But when visibility goes beyond a certain number of people, it becomes no more social than broadcast media or spamming. The personal touch is gone. The real community spirit is gone.

As Groucho Marx remarked, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." If it is an exclusive club, the membership has to be limited. If it is not exclusive, is it really "social"?

eBay is the classic example of a network that lost its community spirit after reaching a certain scale, as the comments on this post vehemently demonstrate. This loss opened the market for eBay alternatives, such as Bonanzle. It is unclear whether these alternatives will face the same issues when they get to scale.

Etsy will be an interesting case study. It looks like it may avoid the reverse network effect by being focused entirely on handmade goods. That focus may limit its eventual scale, as not everybody wants to make or buy handmade goods, but it will still be able to build a business more than big enough to satisfy even the most demanding dreams of avarice. That focus on handmade goods will act as its social glue. It will grow as eBay would have had it decided to remain focused on the global garage sale, not getting lured into selling mass consumer goods. I suspect if eBay had done that, its core business today would be smaller but ultimately more profitable and sustainable.

Networks Without Messy Human Interaction Are Immune

eBay the corporation owns two businesses that have almost perfect network effects and do not suffer from any reverse network effects: PayPal and Skype.

PayPal works for consumers because merchants use it, and merchants like it because consumers like it. The fact that everybody likes it won't make me like it any less.

Skype gets more useful with each new user, and each new user promotes Skype, consciously or unconsciously, for his or her own reasons. Even better, the cost of providing the service goes down with each new user, and that is really unusual (a function of Skype's P2P architecture). Google and PayPal also benefit from each new user, but they still have to service that user, and that costs money. In the case of a video service such as YouTube, the servicing cost is significant. So Skype really is in a league of its own when it comes to network effects, and that is why it may become the world's largest telephone company and the biggest economic success story of the Web 2.0 era. (Google Voice, having just thrown its hat in the ring to battle Skype, will be interesting to watch. My bet is on Skype.)

The difference, though, is that we do not look at these services as communities. They are simply enablers of commodity transactions: payments and phone calls.

What About Social Networks?

Does Facebook still feel special now that it has 175 million users and is growing at a rate of 600,000 per day? That is a sincere question for Facebook users. I am one of the few people who do not use Facebook. For whatever reason, I never got into the habit. And I have no compelling reason to start now. This has made me a bear on Facebook for a long time. As a non-user, I miss what makes Facebook special and why it grows so fast.

The network that I use is LinkedIn. I use it to connect to people who my contacts know. As far as I am concerned, it is a utility in the same way that the phone or my email/CRM system is a utility. Do I care that LinkedIn has 7.7 million users now? Does that make it more valuable to me? No. Is Facebook 22 times more valuable to me than LinkedIn because it has 22 times more users? No.

Here is the theory:

In a social network, the value for existing users of a new user joining the network plateaus once users have most of their own contacts in that network.

Of course, the social network grows in value as a business as more users come into it because the network then has more eyeballs to sell to advertisers. But that is different from network effects. As a LinkedIn user, I do not benefit when more strangers join. I already have about 90% of my contacts in there, and the remaining 10% may remain hold-outs; and I don't really care anyway, because I can always reach them outside of LinkedIn. When I meet somebody in business, I look them up on LinkedIn and connect if they are on it (I cannot recall anybody recently who was not on it). I do that to keep my Rolodex updated, which is a very valuable utility for me. But my actions are not growing the network. If I joined a new network, I would spam all my contacts asking them to join, but I have zero motivation to do that.

As a long-time Facebook user, do you care when more strangers join? Does it make any difference to the value you get from Facebook?

So, it is possible that the network effect has a natural plateau.

A Plateau Is Okay, But a Steep Downward Slope?

Whether that plateau turns into a downward slope depends on the monetization strategy adopted by the "owners" of the social network. And in the social networking business, a downward slope can very quickly become a steep slope or even a cliff. Trust tends to be binary; viral can work both ways; and switching costs are minimal. That is why I put "owners" in quotation marks. You can never really own a social network or community. You can provide services and extract rent for only as long as the community wants those services and is willing to pay the rent.

This is where the incredibly high valuations of businesses such as Facebook and LinkedIn may become problematic. If these businesses get too eager to monetize to justify those valuations, they may create the reverse network effect.

There are only two ways to monetize: ask for revenue from users who regard the service as a utility (like paying for the phone company), or ask for revenue from vendors that want to sell something to the people using the service. Thus far, all the major social networks have taken the latter fork in the road. They don't want to become utilities because that wouldn't justify their lofty valuations. So they have to sell more to those who use the service. At that point, the reverse network effects may kick in.

Craiglist

Craiglist chose a different path by not taking on external investors. It has no valuation to justify. It can leave masses of money on the table without any worries. So Craigslist won't suffer the reverse network effects that come from over-eager monetization. Its model of allowing lots of free listings will sustain high growth and is clearly impacting eBay's business.

Twitter an Interesting Case Study

Once again, Twitter is the interesting one to watch. The ease with which one can add and delete who one follows makes its size self-regulating. As a real-time search tool, its value goes up with each new user. As a communication tool, it goes up as new people join who might be interesting to follow. Its openness may prevent the reverse network effect.

The other reason Twitter is an interesting case study is that it has not yet disclosed its revenue model. If the revenue model it does adopt involves selling to its users, the reverse network effect may kick in. Twitter would become classic MBA case study material, a fact of which management must be well aware!

10 ways techs can make extra cash

If you’re searching for opportunities to supplement your income — or you’re in between jobs and need some work to tide you over — the tech field offers a number of possibilities. Erik Eckel runs down some of your options.

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The economy’s tough. Many technology professionals are facing furloughs, or even worse, layoffs. Fortunately, several avenues are available to help generate cash. Here are 10 ways IT pros can earn extra dollars.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Subcontracting

Hire yourself out on a project basis. While full-time jobs may not be plentiful, project work is common. Consulting groups frequently need technicians to deliver qualified service onsite at client locations.

Many small businesses are actually performing well. Headlines incessantly tout draconian layoffs at large enterprises employing tens of thousands of staff, numerous smaller businesses (from gyms to used car dealers to family-focused activity stores) continue marching along, with many experiencing sales increases.

These outlets continue to require computer, networking, and software support. Consulting groups frequently service these organizations’ needs, but smaller IT shops often find it difficult to locate qualified, professional contractors to fulfill those services.

Contact these local IT consultancies if you’re seeking extra income. Rare are the consultancies that don’t appreciate adding qualified names to their Rolodex, and these projects often turn into full-time gigs.

2: National account work

Many national companies serve as subcontractors for large hardware vendors. These companies accept work from the manufacturer and then pass a portion of the payment to the local contractor who actually completes the project.

Consider signing up as an authorized agent for these national providers. While few consultants make a living fulfilling such national account work, resulting projects can help fill scheduling gaps.

911mycomputer, Gurus2Go, and OnForce are three examples of national service providers that send IT consultants small jobs and other projects. All such organizations need techs in the field to complete these projects.

Just be sure you’re working with reputable vendors when you accept assignments. Most national service providers are solvent, but some have experienced trouble paying their subcontractors. Research national providers before signing a contract. If a Google search of a prospective organization reveals payment complaints, avoid establishing a relationship with that partner.

3: Database consulting

How often do you hear about businesses and nonprofits having to “do more with less”? A Google search of that string generates more than a million hits.

Organizations everywhere are trying to master client relationships and communications and squeeze every last bit of revenue from customer and contact lists. Databases, often customized to meet proprietary needs, frequently play a critical role in the process.

Yet many organizations don’t have the budget necessary for maintaining their own database creation and administration skills. The knowledge/needs gap presents opportunities for database programmers and engineers who want to moonlight or provide these services on the side.

4: Teaching

Layoffs across numerous industries are sending many back to school. As government agencies, nonprofits, and other organizations become increasingly dependent upon computers, networks, and systems, it’s a safe bet technical skills will remain in demand. In fact, the 2009 Robert Half International Salary Guide predicts IT will be among the top three fields to yield promising careers in the next year.

Consequently, students will seek the training required to enter the industry. Many schools, training centers, and colleges will need qualified candidates with proven experience to lead technical classes. Since many classes meet after regular business hours, interested IT pros may be able to supplement their day jobs with a teaching role.

5: Software training and instruction

As an independent technology consultant, I’ve been surprised at the number of clients requesting one-on-one software training. Demand exists, particularly among small businesses, for basic training covering such programs as Act, Access, Word, Excel, photo editing applications, and QuickBooks, not to mention Windows.

IT professionals need not be all-knowing gurus to lead training sessions covering these programs. They simply need to be able to review application fundamentals, provide walk-through demonstrations of an application’s features, and answer user questions.

6: The digital living space

Most technology professionals enjoy securing their own wireless networks, solving myriad Windows video codec issues, and memorizing the differences between HDMI, DVI, and VGA technologies. Most homeowners don’t.

So as discretionary income trends toward family-focused or “nesting”-related investments, the need for technology professionals to assist in such projects is increasing. Families spending two or three thousand dollars on a new television, streaming media devices, and/or media center PCs will think nothing of paying another few hundred dollars to a technology professional to ensure the devices are properly equipped, connected, and configured.

7: Telecommunications

I’m one of those “computer” consultants who has resisted providing clients with “phone services.” However, I’m rethinking that strategy.

Why? For one thing, clients are increasingly inquiring about telephone support. And as VoIP gains steam, telecommunications are increasingly crossing over into the network administration arena. Even Dell is now selling phone systems on its Web site.

Considering that organizations of all sizes are flocking to VoIP technologies to reduce costs, there’s ample opportunity for technology professionals to add telephone installation and support services to their skill set. Telecommunications services add an entire new niche to a technology professional’s arsenal that can generate significant new revenue streams.

8: Financial software consulting

The word is getting out. Intuit, which markets the popular QuickBooks line of financial software, is weathering the economic downturn rather well. Demand for its products, from its point-of-sale software to its enterprise financial management platform, is growing.

Again, business owners everywhere are seeking to do more with less. That means most companies are working to obtain the utmost productivity and efficiency from the programs in which they invest.

Intuit’s QuickBooks software provides many opportunities for business owners to do just that. And Intuit’s ProAdvisor certification program presents IT pros with a well-structured program to not only obtain instruction and training but to tap into Intuit’s considerable lead-generation capabilities.

9: Security/DVR integration

Just as telephones used to be differentiated from PCs, servers, and networks, so did security and alarm systems used to be viewed as wholly separate from IT. But that, too, is changing.

Many security systems consist of digital video recorders (DVR). Essentially, these devices are nothing more than Windows XP systems with a special video card installed. Cables run from cameras mounted in various locations to that video card, and the captured images or video is then stored on the system’s massive hard disks. Included software tools make it possible to even access the security footage using a Web interface.

As companies further seek to cut costs, reduce shrinkage, eliminate burglaries, and otherwise secure their operations, security system sales are likely to grow. Adding these services to one’s repertoire offers yet another potent opportunity for generating extra cash. Best of all, most of the technologies involved (desktop systems, Ethernet interfaces, and hard disk data storage) are right in line with the other skills technology professionals typically wield.

10: Online expert

IT consultants seeking additional clients can grow their reputations online. Fixya.com and CrossLoop.com are just two Web sites in a growing category that pay technology experts to either answer users’ questions or provide opportunities to answer user questions and receive advertising space in return. While these projects aren’t likely to generate significant income, combined with other initiatives, becoming an online expert can position a consultant as an expert and help drive new client calls.

North Borneo Railway

North Borneo Railway is the oldest running steam train in Sabah and Borneo. The nostalgic romance of an old steam train relieves memories of a bygone era. Passing through villages and coastal towns, paddy fields, rainforests and plantations of rubber and coffee, a ride on North Borneo Railway is truly a journey of rediscovery into the heart of Borneo.

The North Borneo Railway is a joint venture project between Sutera Harbour Resort and the Sabah State Railway Department (Jabatan Keretapi Negeri Sabah), signifying a historical collaboration between the private sector and the state government. The primary goals of the project are to enhance existing infrastructure as well as help in efforts to promote Sabah as a destination for domestic and international tourism. The North Borneo Railway was officially launched on 22nd January 2000 in honour of Kota Kinabalu achieving city status on 2nd February 2000.

The North Borneo Railway offers passengers an opportunity to experience the bygone era of British North Borneo while transporting passengers along the lifeline of Sabah. Refurbished to recreate the nostalgic romance of people travelling by steam train in the days of the Chartered Company and the British Colonial Office, both the exterior and interior provide an environment that would have been typical of stepping onto a train in the 1900s.

The exterior utilises the traditional deep green and cream of the original North Borneo Railway, with carved brass logos showcasing the original design of a tiger holding a rail wheel, standing on the royal crown. The interior highlights the natural woods of Sabah and unless the train is fully booked, passengers are offered free seating on one of the five colonial-style passenger train carriages.

Precious Guideline Indicating True Road of Patriotism

Pyongyang, November 28 (KCNA) -- "The road of defending independence is a road of patriotism."

This aphorism of General Secretary Kim Jong Il means that defense of independence is the only true way for the country and the nation.

Love of one's motherland and nation finds intensive manifestation in treasuring their independence.

The independence of the country and the nation is immediately Juche character and national character.

True love of one's motherland and nation lies in adhering firmly to Juche character and strictly preserving national character in the revolution and construction.

The DPRK is today displaying its dignity and might as an independent socialist state firmly maintaining Juche character and strictly preserving national character in the construction and activity of the state.

All these are a brilliant fruition of the sublime idea and leadership of President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il.

The President blazed the path of the independent development of the Korean revolution by founding the great immortal Juche idea and guided the people to consistently maintain the principle of Juche in the revolution and construction with his tested leadership.

Upholding the noble intention of the President, General Secretary Kim Jong Il put it forward as the fundamental principle in accomplishing the cause of socialism to hold fast to Juche character and national character and maintain the line of independence and fully embodied it, thereby building up the DPRK as the most prestigious and dignified independent state.

If one threw independence away, one could not evade the disgrace of a colonial slave and the existence and prosperity of the country and the nation are unthinkable apart from independence.

The Korean people will hold tighter the arms of Songun and demonstrate the dignity and might of the socialist motherland more forcefully under the Songun leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea.

How to Say I Love You in Sign

Step1

letter i in sign language With your palm facing away from you, put your hand into a fist। Open up your fist to show just your pinky standing up. This is the sign for "I", which looks like the alphabet letter I.

Step2

letter l in sign language With your palm facing away from you, put your hand into a fist। Open up your first to show just your index finger and thumb standing up. This is the sign for "L", which looks like the alphabet letter L.

Step3

letter y in sign language With your palm facing away from you, put your hand into a fist। Open up your first to show just your pinky finger and thumb standing up. This is the sign for "Y", which looks like the alphabet letter Y.

Step4

i love you Combining the I, L and Y letters makes up the I Love You sign in Sign Language.

ESENCA SUTRO POR SAĜO-PERFEKTIGO

　　Bodisatvo sankta Avalotekiŝvaro, praktikante profundan saĝ-perfektigadon, konstatis ke ĉiu ekzistaĵo estas konstruata el kvin elementoj. Plie li penetris ke la naturo de l’ elementoj estas tute senenta.

　　Ŝariputra, en tiu ĉi mondo, ĉia materia fazo estas senenta, kaj pro la senenteco, ĝi formas materion. La senenta fazo ne ekzistas sendepende de materia fazo, same, ankaŭ la materia fazo ne ekzistas disde senenta fazo. La naturo de substanco estas senenta, kaj la senenteco formas ĉian fenomenon. Egale ankaŭ sento, percepto, intenco, kaj scio ne havas sian enton. Ŝariputra, en tiu ĉi mondo, la naturo de ĉiu ekzistaĵo estas senenta, nek malpuriĝas kaj neniom konsumiĝas nen pliiĝas.

　　Tiel, Ŝariputra, ĉe la fazo senenta, nenie estas materio, nek orelo nek nazo, nek lango nek korpo, nek volo. Formitaĵo videbla, sonoro aŭdebla, odoro flarebla, gusto gustumebla, objekto palpebra, kaj celo intencebla, ĉio ne ekzistas.

　　De la videbla amplekso ĝis la sciebla amplekso, neniu ento ekzistas.

　　Nenie oni trovas trankvilon nek iluzion, sed neniam perdos la trankvikon nek liberiĝos el la iluzio. Fine oni atingas ataton kie ne estas kadukiĝo nek morto, sed ne liberiĝas el ili. Tie oni ne trovas suferon, suferamason, subpremadon kaj subpremvojon. Nenion oni scios, nenion oni gajnos.

　　Per la sengajneco, oni trankviliĝas konfidante bodisatvan saĝ-perfektigadon, kun sia koro ne kovrita de iluzia nebulo. Tiam oni timas nenion, kaj vivas en eterna paco, sinliberiginte el renversita iluzio. Budhoj estintaj, estantaj, kaj estontaj atingas la plej superegan vastan versaĝon per la saĝ-perfektigado.

　　Do, vi sciu, ke la granda mantro de l’ saĝ-perfektigado, la granda versaĝa mantro, la superega mantro, la senkompara mantro subpremas ĉian suferon, kaj ĝi estas eterne vera ĉar malfalsa. La mantro estas jene predikita en la saĝ-perfektigado.

　　Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

　　Atinginto, atinginto, purbordon-atinginto, purgbordon-elatinginto, versaĝo, hura!


　　Jen fino al la esenco de l’ saĝ-perfektigado.

After 10 years of leader's heroic struggle, pizza comes to North Korea

Oliver Burkeman in Washington, Monday 16 March 2009

For millions of undernourished North Koreans, the notion of eating at a restaurant belongs strictly to the world of fantasy. And so there is only the grimmest humour in the news that, for the country's ruling elite, Pyongyang's dining options just got a little more impressive: the country now has its first-ever pizzeria.

An obsession with pizza stretching back at least 10 years prompted the isolated nation's dictator, Kim Jong-il, to authorise North Korea's first Italian restaurant, which opened in December, according to a pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan. "General Kim Jong-il said that the people should also be allowed access to the world's famous dishes," the restaurant's manager, Kim Sang-Soon, was quoted as saying in Choson Sinbo, a Tokyo-based newspaper seen as a mouthpiece for the regime.

Those dining at the restaurant are reportedly treated to pizza and pasta made with wheat flour, butter and cheese flown in from Italy. They are also presumably reaping the benefits of a years-long effort by Kim Jong-il to bring the perfect pizza to his famine-plagued totalitarian state.

In the late 1990s, he summoned a team of Italian pizza chefs to Pyongyang to instruct army officers. One of the chefs, Ermanno Furlanis, later recounted how the Italians underwent x-rays, brain scans and urine and blood sampling on arrival, before being sequestered in a marble palace. One of the officers Furlanis was training asked him to specify the precise distance at which olives should be spaced on a pizza, he recalled.

Kim seems to have taken a personal interest: while the pizza-making sessions were under way, on a ship anchored offshore, he was apparently witnessed arriving to inspect his officers' progress. "I am not in the position to say whether it really was him," Furlanis later said. "But our chef, who had no reason to fib, was, for the space of several minutes, utterly speechless. He said he felt as if he had seen God, and I still envy him this experience."

The training seems not to have met Kim's expectations. According to Choson Sinbo, subsequent efforts to reproduce Italian pizza in North Korea were a process of "repeated trial and error", and last year the dictator sent chefs to Naples and Rome to learn more. Finally satisifed, he authorised the restaurant.

North Korea, one of the world's poorest countries, was hit by devastating famine in the mid-1990s, with up to 2m people dying, primarily from pneumonia, tuberculosis and diarrhoea.

But Kim's passion for fine food is legendary: he is said to be a connoisseur of cognac, French wine, shark-fin soup and sushi. One of his former chefs, writing under a pseudonym, recalled travelling to Iran and Uzbekistan to fetch caviar, flying to Denmark for bacon and China for melons and grapes. He defected, he wrote, by offering to source sea urchins from Japan, from where he never returned.

Quoting North Korean defectors, the South Korean news website Daily NK said Kim "does not eat much, but enjoys picking at various kinds of food, as if just to taste".

prajbaparamitahrdayasutram

oj namo bhagavatyai aryaprajbaparamitayai |

aryavalokitewvaro bodhisattvo gambhiraj prajbaparamitacaryaj caramano vyavalokayati sma pabcaskandhastajwca svabhavawunyan pawyati sma |

iha wariputra rupaj wunyata wunyataiva rupaj rupanna prthak wunyata wunyataya na prthagrupaj yadrupaj sa wunyata ya wunyata tadrupamevameva vedanasajjbasajskaravijbanam |

iha wariputra sarvadharmah wunyatalaksana anutpanna aniruddha amala avimala anuna
aparipurnah |

tasmacchariputra wunyatayaj na rupaj na vedana na sajjba na sajskara na vijbanaj na caksuhwrotraghranajihvakayamanajsi na rupawabdagandharasasprastavyadharma na caksurdhatur yavanna manovijbanadhaturnavidya navidyaksayo yavanna jaramaranaj na jaramaranaksayo na duhkhasamudayanirodhamarga na jbanaj na praptirnapraptih |

tasmacchariputrapraptitvadbodhisattvasya prajbaparamitamawritya viharatyacittavaranah |
cittavarananastitvadatrasto viparyasatikranto nisthanirvanapraptah |

tryadhvavyavasthitah sarvabuddhah prajbaparamitamawrityanuttaraj samyaksajbodhimabhisambuddhah |

tasmajjbatavyaj prajbaparamitamahamantro mahavidyamantro 'nuttaramantro 'samasamamantrah sarvaduhkhaprawamanah satyamamithyatvat |

prajbaparamitayamukto mantrah |

tadyatha gate gate paragate parasajgate bodhi svaha |

ityaryaprajbaparamitahrdayaj samaptam ||

How to Cook Instant Healthy Noodles?

Everyone who eat instant noodles before knows how it looks like. It is very easy to cook it instantly by putting the noodles into the boiling water and add in those MSG packets, together with your other ingredients like eggs or vegetables. However, have you ever wonder whether is this the correct way of cooking it? When you first took out the noodles from the packaging, you will notice that the noodles are joined together nicely as a piece. Do you know that in order to make the noodles joined together nicely side by side needs some form of wax coating in order to achieve a presentable instant noodles in front of us. Many people who enjoy eating instant noodles frequently did not really bother too much of it as it seems very normal to everyone to have it nicely displayed in front of us. However, research have shown that the layer of wax coating on the noodles is quite harmful to our body and we should not consume it too frequently. It is advisable to have a break of 2-3 days before we start to eat another packet of instant noodles as our body need about 3 days to clear that layer of wax coating away from our body system. Do you know the danger of having too much wax coating stored in our stomach? It will lead to CANCER if it is stored in our body system for a long period of time.

2 Keys Points to Take Note While Preparing Instant Noodles 1) Wash the instant noodles with warm water first, stir it and pour away the water containing the wax coating. 2) Repeat Step 1 and try to stir the noodles again to wash away the wax coating on the noodles before cooking it in a new pot of water.

If you have eaten other type of noodles, you will notice that the store vendor will normally wash the noodles in warm water first to prevent the noodles from sticking together and for the case of instant noodles, the wax coating in the noodles itself is preventing the noodles from sticking together. It is very important to wash away the wax coating while preparing a meal as we do not want our body to be in danger as it will directly impact on us.

Importance of not eating too much instant noodles It is very important that we should follow the key points while having our meal of instant noodles. It is very easy to cook instant noodle but we must take note of the harm it may cause to our body if we consume too much of it. Imagine having too much of that wax coating in your stomach... omg I Don't Want To Take Too Much Of That.. as it may cause cancer if it stuck in our stomach for a long period. Hope this article will let more people have self-awareness of the hidden danger of instant noodles and thus eat safely and stay healthy.

Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi

THE HEART OF PRAJNA PARAMITA SUTRA

When Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the Five Skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty.
　

Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So too are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.

Shariputra, all Dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure; and they neither increase nor diminish. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or Dharmas; no field of the eyes up to and including no field of mind consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, and no Way, and no understanding and no attaining.

Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva through reliance on Prajna Paramita is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana! All Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi through reliance on Prajna Paramita. Therefore know that Prajna Paramita is a Great Spiritual Mantra, a Great Bright Mantra, a Supreme Mantra, an Unequalled Mantra. It can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. That is why the Mantra of Prajna Paramita was spoken. Recite it like this:

Gaté Gaté Paragaté Parasamgaté

Bodhi Svaha!