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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Finding Alaung Daw Kathapa (part 1)

     The year 1997 was a relatively eventful one for me. I began it in the midst of a two-month intensive meditation retreat at Panditarama in Yangon, under the severely critical eye of ven. Mahasi U Pandita (an experience described elsewhere on this blog); about a month after leaving that place I was embarking upon my first super-intensive residence at Alaung Daw Kathapa National Park in northwestern Myanmar; within a month of leaving there I was in Japan, spending most of a rains retreat there at a tiny Theravadin monastery—most of us, including two very senior Burmese sayadaws with the high ecclesiastical title of aggamahāpaṇḍita, were essentially kicked out a few days before the rains retreat ended by the Japanese director of the place; immediately after that I returned briefly to America to see my family for the first time since leaving the country in 1992; and I finished the year in a vermin-infested Burmese hospital, approximately half-dead with my first bout of falciparum malaria, contracted at Alaung Daw Kathapa months previously. In this installment of the saga I’ll describe my finding of the place, and my first journey to and from wun-kya oat-hmin, or “Belly Fall Cave.”
     As I have mentioned elsewhere in these prolonged ramblings, one of my primary inspirations for becoming a monk was the Sutta-Nipāta, a collection of ancient Pali texts composed in an ancient time when Buddhist monks were homeless wanderers. The monks described therein were iron ascetics, or at least made of hardwood; and when I was a younger monk than I am now I had this idealistic, romantic, macho ideal of being an iron ascetic myself—storming the gates of heaven, and all that. The monastery at which I stayed at that time, Taungpulu Kyauk Hsin Tawya, was a relatively rough place, and most monks, especially foreign ones, didn’t last very long there. But even so, I knew where my next meal would be coming from; I knew where I would be sleeping the following night; and although it was not a comfortable place, I felt that it was not uncomfortable enough for my satisfaction during the milder months of the year when the place wasn’t blazing like a furnace. Also, in those days I just wanted to be alone. So I had ideas of taking off and being more like the monks of the Sutta-Nipāta.
     In Burma there is no phra tudong tradition as there is in Thailand—that is, monks who wander from place to place, sleeping under trees in forests, and staying in monasteries only briefly. There are some monks in Burma who live like this, but very few. But I tried it anyway: one cold season I attempted a walking trip from Yangon to the town of Wun Dwin, in Mandalay Division, a trip of more than 300 miles (or 500km). I covered about 12% of that distance before being essentially arrested by immigration officials and military intelligence guys. They took my passport and ID card, asked every silly question they could think of, including my parents’ address in America and my mother’s maiden name, took me back to the nearest immigration office, called one of my supporters in Yangon and commanded him to come fetch me, and even photographed his car when he arrived, to put it in the dossier with all the other information that nobody would read. But even if I hadn’t been stopped by the authorities (and now that the military government is camouflaged if not defunct, the government is probably much less paranoid about foreigners wandering around loose), I probably wouldn’t have made it the whole way to Wun Dwin anyway, since a large, conspicuous “English monk” draws crowds whenever he stops to rest. I stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. So I came to the conclusion that if I were to do any wandering trips it would have to be somewhere very remote, beyond the reach of immigration offices, military secret police, and crowds.
     But a monk can’t live in just any remote wilderness. There are certain specifications that must be met, one of the most important being that he must live within relatively easy walking distance to a village inhabited by Buddhist laypeople, since they are his source of food. There has to be an alms resort. So I began investigating possible Burmese wildernesses.
     In February of 1997, after my escape from Panditarama, I was residing briefly at Mahagandhayone, a huge school monastery near Mandalay where I had lived a few years previously. There I stayed in a meditation cabin staring at maps of Myanmar. I would sit there just contemplating a big map of Myanmar, waiting for something to gel and a decision to make itself with regard to which wilderness I should go to. I had a friend there, a Mon monk named venerable Khemissara (“Lord of Sanctuary”), who wanted to come with me, mainly in order to live up to the Pali ideal, and to get away from a crowded school in town for awhile. Sometimes he would come to my cabin, walk in, and start grinning to see me, as usual, sitting there on the floor staring at the map. I had my choices narrowed down to Kathah, a wildlife refuge near the Irrawaddy River north of Mandalay, and Alaung Daw Kathapa, a large national park in the northwest, in Sagaing Division.
     Intuitively I favored Kathah, despite totally conflicting accounts of the place (some people saying it was dense forest teeming with animals, and other people asserting that it was mostly cut down and ruined by woodcutters), although there was the technical complication that the river boat company insisted upon receiving my fare in US dollars, since technically I was, and still am, a foreigner. U Khemissara, who did the wrangling over such matters, insisted that I had lived in Burma for years, and did not handle money, and that there were no US dollars to be had. (In those days it was actually illegal for a Burmese citizen even to own US currency, since the government wanted all of it.) The ticket officer didn’t care about this, and insisted that foreigners must pay in US dollars or else find some other way of traveling. It was mainly this hassle that started me leaning toward Alaung Daw Kathapa. Shortly after deciding upon ADK, the river boat official relented and said it was allowable for my ticket to be bought with Burmese kyats, but by then it was too late. The decision had been made, and I stared at the map much less than previously. I still stared at it a lot, though.
     Along with U Khemissara there was a young Burmese monk I knew from Kyauk Hsin, U Ñāṇissara (“Lord of Knowledge,” which name henceforth I will spell without the diacritical marks, because I’m lazy). Ven. Kyauk Hsin Sayadaw had sent him to Mahagandhayone in order for him to get some education, but he was a simple village boy who had no great love for book-learning, and he quickly invited himself along on our trip to the wilderness. U Khemissara tended to worry a lot about his health, and was concerned that Alaung Daw Kathapa would be too cold during the cold season, so he wanted to wait until March before we set out. I wanted to get there as soon as possible, though, so we settled on a compromise. Around the middle of February we left for the city of Monywa, where U Khemissara knew some people who might be helpful in our search for a suitable place in the woods.
     We stayed at the local Mahasi center there, where a Shan monk named ven. Paṇḍicca (“Intelligence”) was residing. He had a brother who was a park ranger at ADK, so we had our foot in the door, sort of. The thing was, though, that what I wanted to do was something nobody had any experience with; and the Burmese are not very good at, or enthusiastic about, doing what usually isn’t done. So the people helping me in my quest were a little confused and hesitant, and not very deeply committed to the glorious quest. Except maybe for ven. Nanissara, who was just happy to be away from school, regardless of any other circumstances.
     We began driving around to monasteries in the direction of the national park and asking old monks about where a good place would be. We got plenty of answers like, “Well, there’s big forest there, so it will be difficult. It’s cold this time of year. You’d have to be near a village, but I suppose it’s possible. You might try around Gangaw.” But after about two days of such interrogations we knew hardly any more than we did when we started, and the others in our party were starting to hint that maybe we should just give up. I was becoming frustrated.
     Finally, almost as an afterthought, we went to the national park headquarters, which I hadn’t known existed. By this time the haphazard and ineffectual investigations of my colleagues were inspiring me to be in a bad mood, and I didn’t even bother to get out of the car while the others were inside talking to whomever was in the office. But then, through the open front door, I noticed a huge contour map on the wall; it wasn’t some crummy undetailed map like the ones I’d been staring at for so long, but was a large-scale map made by the British during colonial times that showed everything. I jumped out of the car, climbed onto a chair in front of the map, and within fifteen seconds I knew exactly where to go.
     The national park is shaped like a camel’s hoof, or a hand making the Vulcan “live long and prosper” sign: the main part of the park is roundish, and maybe 40 miles across, with two extensions coming out of the north end in a V shape, following two ranges of hills. The plainly obvious place for a monk was at the base of the V at the north edge of roundish part of the park; national park land lay to the east, south, and west, with a creek flowing through the middle, and two villages full of Buddhists directly to the north. We got back into the car, went back to the Mahasi center, and began making plans to get there. By this point U Pandicca was planning to come along too.
     Between the two northern spurs of the park was a valley called Hseh Ywah Chaung, which means something like “Peaceful Place of Ten Villages.” There were no motor roads leading there in those days, so we rode a sampan up the Chindwin River to a little town called Kheh Daung and started a long hike over the eastern spur into Hseh Ywah Chaung. The first several miles were along very soft, sandy roads, until we neared the boundary of the park. I remember the four of us arrived at a small village to ask directions to the trailhead, which was pointed out to us, and so we immediately cut across an empty field to get there, as that was the most direct route. Someone began frantically calling to us not to go that way, which didn’t make much sense to me, it being just an empty field and the most direct route and all, until I noticed that this particular field was apparently the public latrine for the neighborhood. It was a minefield strewn with human turds. U Pandicca in particular was making guttural animal noises as we carefully picked our way through the field. After that the hike over the hills was beautiful. I love wildernesses, and I had never seen deep, thick tropical forest before. I had made one serious mistake, however: just the day before we left I shaved my head, so that I got a second-degree tropical scalp burn, mainly while riding on top of the sampan. It was one of the worst sunburns I’ve ever had. I still have a little scar from that.
     Anyway, we arrived late in the same day at Hseh Ywah Chaung, where the people were simple, rustic hillbilly types even by rural Burmese standards. The villagers in that area tended to be Buddhists in a superficial or superstitious sense, that is, believing it without understanding or practicing it much. Most of the villages had one monastery each, with each monastery having a total of one resident monk. His job was mainly to be master of ceremonies for rituals that nobody really understood. He was also the resident living idol who provided the simple-hearted devotees an opportunity for earning merit by supporting his more or less idle existence.
     Although few people in that area followed five precepts, let alone meditated or studied Buddhist texts, they revered their monks. There was one sayadaw in one of the villages who had been a taxi driver in Yangon before becoming a monk and somehow winding up in such a remote place as this. He began chafing in the Holy Life, so to speak, and let it be known that he was seriously considering dropping out of the monkhood. But the villagers revered him still and, knowing that he was not a native and not wanting him to leave them, they made him a deal: If he would stay in their village after he dropped out of the Sangha, they would provide him with a house, a field, and a girl. He accepted the offer, and at the time I passed through he was living in his house with his young wife.
     We spent our first night in Hseh Ywah Chaung at a village monastery maybe twelve miles north of the base of the V on the map. We were told more than once that the one person who knew the area best was an old novice called Shin Dhammasiha (“Master Lion of Dharma”), who lived in a small monastery about eight miles north of the bottom of the V, the latter being my intended destination. It turned out that Shin Dhammasiha had formerly been a fully ordained monk, even a sayadaw; but the duties of being a senior monk didn’t appeal to him, so he disrobed himself down to novice rank in order to live his life in peace and quiet. He lived in a little cabin in a little clump of trees at the edge of some farmers’ fields. He had a large bunch of bananas hanging from his ceiling, and spent much of his time hanging out with old village men in white shirts who would come to talk, drink tea, and smoke cigars with him. Almost his only excitement was when monkeys would climb down the cliff face behind his cabin and raid his garden. (As it turned out, this same Shin Dhammasiha had lived briefly at Wun Bo Wildlife Refuge Monastery, years before I ever heard of the place, and had directed the digging of the cave that I subsequently lived in for many years.) The old ex-sayadaw told us that there was a large cave in the area where I was headed, and that he had lived there himself for a short time, but that big rocks sometimes fell from the ceiling of the cave, so that it wasn’t safe. He assured us that his little cabin-monastery was the best place around for Dhamma practice.
     By this time my three companions were plunged far too deeply into the unfamiliar for their liking, and two of them, U Khemissara and U Pandicca, decided to turn back. U Nanissara, determined to stay away from scholarship as long as possible, opted to stay with Shin Dhammasiha, since after all the place was declared by a respectable authority to be the best. So the following morning I continued alone, walking toward the perfect bottom of the V that I had seen on the excellent British map.
     I walked for alms in a village on the way, and found that walking for alms was not a tradition in this area, as the monks preferred to stay in their monasteries and have their food delivered. I received enough food from the surprised, confused villagers for a very rice-oriented meal, however. Another thing I learned was that the people in this area spoke Burmese with such a thick rustic accent that with some of them I could understand only about a third of what they said. By mid-afternoon I arrived at the village of Pwingah—“Open Spread”—the southernmost village in Hseh Ywah Chaung, closest to the sweet spot on the map, located where the narrow gorge of Patolone Creek widens out into a broadish, flat-bottomed valley of arable land.
     I was directed to the village monastery, where I met two monks sitting in the large Dhamma hall drinking tea. One of them was the resident sayadaw, and the other the sayadaw of the nearby village of Hsine Teh. This second one was friendly and curious, but the Pwingah sayadaw was evidently not glad to see such a strange, radical, ascetic foreign monk moving onto his territory. He was a bit gloomy at my arrival, but not exactly rude. I was offered some tea; but mainly because strict Burmese monks don’t drink tea in the afternoon I declined it, being as strict as I could manage in those days. While I was there an old lady excitedly came up and tried to offer me a large comb of bananas, presumably with the idea that I could hang it from a ceiling somewhere, and the gloomy one barked at her, “He won’t even drink the tea! How is going to accept those bananas!” Neither of them knew of any good forest hermitages in the vicinity, and I continued on my way, into the north-central frontier of Alaung Daw Kathapa National Park.
     South of Pwingah the little valley of Patolone Creek was rather steep-sided, and just finding a flat place of ground to sleep on was a challenge. I eventually spent the night lying on the uphill side of a large tree, using the tree to keep me from rolling down the hill in the dark. The next morning I walked back downstream to Pwingah to walk for alms and collect my daily meal.
     Again the villagers were surprised to see a monk walking for alms, especially a foreign one (foreigners are relatively very rare in that area, although I was later told that there was a landing strip in a nearby field for the Flying Tigers during World War II), but I received enough food to sustain me, and left the village, looking for a convenient place to eat.
     On the previous day I had noticed a large stand of trees on the opposite side of the creek from Pwingah, and on the other side of some fields from another village, called Kuzeit. I had wondered at the time why they hadn’t cut it down like the rest of the forest near the villages. Anyway, I decided to eat there and waded the creek, whereupon I realized that the little patch of forest was actually a kind of pagan sacred grove. Later I was told that it was dedicated to a nature goddess called Amei Gyi, or “Great Mother.” Her image, usually kept in the grove in a kind of hutch with the door closed, shows her as a well-dressed female with her hair up and a sword in her hand, and with a tiger crouching beside her. While I was sitting on a shrine platform with my bowl of food two old gents from Pwingah, who had followed me, told me that they knew I had been sleeping on the hillside in the forest the night before (I was a little surprised at this, since I hadn’t noticed anyone noticing me while I was out there), and that if I was looking for a place to stay, they knew of a good one. After lunch they led me to “Belly Fall Cave,” the same place Shin Dhammasiha had mentioned as a place that wasn’t safe because of falling rocks.
     It wasn’t as far into the forest as I had gone the day before, being only about a 30-minute walk from the village. It was at the end of a kind of little box canyon, or box gulley, branching off from the west side of the creek. A waterfall fell over the cave entrance during rainy weather, although at this time it was dry, with a small pond in front of the cave. I call it a “cave” for lack of a better word: Actually it was more of a huge overhanging rock ledge, the interior of the “cave” being about 100 feet wide, 30 feet high, and extending about 30 feet back from the outer edge of the overhang, being largest at the entrance. It was enough to keep the sun off me during most of the day, and the rain off when it rained. It offered shade without being dark; I could do walking meditation at night by moonlight inside it. It was relatively quiet, too, partly because the villagers believed the place was protected by an asaunt, a kind of powerful guardian spirit, a potentially dangerous and scary one. Most of the “cave” was composed of packed sand, not quite sandstone, which was hollowed out by the action of large, roaring waterfalls during the monsoon season; consequently it caved in rather easily, with great sand clods, some of them boulder-sized, occasionally falling to the ground with a thud. The places where cave-ins were most likely were pretty obvious, though, so I wasn’t too worried about being smashed by a collapsing ceiling. The place looked pretty much ideal, so I decided to stay there for some more or less intensive meditation practice.
     I arrived there during the last week of February, and the weather was still relatively cold, as the place, like most national parks in this world, is in the hills (on land unsuitable for farming). Sometimes steam would be rising off the creek in the mornings. I learned to do walking meditation in the “sarcophagus position,” with both hands crossed over my chest to conserve body heat; and taking a bath in the creek took about twenty minutes: despite the morning steam, about seventeen minutes of bath time consisted of me standing there beside the creek looking at the cold water and thinking things like, “I really have to take a bath. Yes. I’ve got to do this. I’m gonna have to get down into that water and do it. Yes. That’s right. Let’s do it then.” Then finally I would work up the nerve to jump into the water, wait several seconds for my skin to go into shock and become numb, and then hastily wash myself off and clamber back out again.
     After the first day the villagers overcame their surprise and confusion and became extraordinarily eager to offer alms food to the strange ascetic forest monk. On my second morning in Pwingah I found a crowd of people waiting for me beside the creek, at the south entrance to the village. Burmese villagers, bless their hearts, are not strong on organization or planning, so I had to take charge and instruct them to line up. Then I began working my way down the line, bowl in hand. But Burmese villagers are also not good at engineering problems, like how much each they can put into a bowl without it overflowing; so long before I reached the end of the line the bowl was full. People toward the end of the line noticed this, and the line rapidly degenerated into a mob scene, with hands thrusting food at my bowl from all directions. Within seconds I was holding the bowl away from my body to minimize the amount of splatter getting onto my robes. Finally I had little choice but to whip out my bowl lid, clap it onto the bowl, and make a quick getaway. Before I could extricate myself, though, a village lady managed to throw an entire comb of bananas onto the bowl lid. It took several days before I was able to instill enough order that I could usually make it all the way down the line, giving everybody an opportunity to offer something. In Kuzeit village sometimes I would count off the nice ladies, one, two, one, two… with the ones being allowed to offer only rice, and the twos offering only curry. Generally it was one spoonful of rice, one spoonful of curry each—although some old ladies would try to cheat by bringing a huge serving spoon or ladle, or balancing something big, like a ball of sticky rice or a whole banana, onto the spoon. This was my first practical experience with crowds at alms rounds, although I experienced it subsequently in other places. Over the years I’ve developed the ability to look at a line of people and intuitively discern how much each they can put into my bowl without the bowl hopelessly overflowing.
     After a few days of settling into a routine, I figured March first would be a good day to start at least one month of intensive meditation practice. The night before, I performed a little ceremony, requesting anyone out there willing and able to help to please do so, and the following morning I endeavored to maintain mindfulness as unbroken as possible. I awoke early, sat in meditation, walked for alms as mindfully as I could manage, returned, ate, meditated some more, and then went down the trail to the creek to wash my bowl, bathe, brush my teeth, fill my water bottles—in short, to “do water things.” (The creek water, incidentally, was greenish and tasted sweet, almost like milk.) While I was at the creek I saw three people coming up the trail toward me: two local villagers and the unscholastic U Nanissara. Instead of meeting me at the creek they continued on up to the cave. I didn’t know what their mission was.
     I returned to find the two villagers clearing some ground for U Nanissara’s sleeping place. U Ñ himself informed me that he intended to stay with me. I nipped that plan in the bud by informing him, with some firmness, that I preferred to stay alone. He accepted this gracefully, understanding my intention to practice Dhamma, and the two village guys then offered to dig me a latrine, which idea I welcomed, as until then I had been crapping on the ground among the trees like an animal. So, they started making a latrine.
     While this work project was going on, two teenage girls showed up with offerings of candles and palm sugar. They were a little shy, and didn’t stay long. But around the time they left an old guy in a white shirt appeared with a pot of tea and some cigars, intending to hang out with me. When I said that I didn’t drink tea or smoke cigars he got a look on his face as though I were a fireman who had just told him that I didn’t put out fires—drinking tea and smoking cigars with elderly village gents wearing white shirts is what monks do. Then another guy showed up with a mattock, and was enthusiastically invited to join the latrine party. The latrine offerers, after constructing an unnecessarily elaborate latrine that I could not dissuade them from building, took a break and settled down to a little tea and cigar party with the white-shirted one.
     By this point it seemed that my freshly started intensive meditation retreat was being promptly derailed by visitors and commotion, and I squatted on the ground in the cave holding my head in my hands. U Nanissara approached me, and I told him in confidence that if everyone didn’t clear out soon I’d take matters into my own hands and get rid of them somehow. U Ñ then kindly offered to move them out for me. The Burmese are much, much better at these things than I am. They know how to do it politely, yet effectively. Within a few minutes all of them, including venerable Nanissara, left with smiles on their faces, and I settled down to resume my first day of the meditation retreat.
     At this point, before recounting the most bizarre event of that day, I suppose I should mention an issue I had been having since the day after my arrival. The local villagers, although materially very poor, were extremely generous, and were very eager to offer what they could. I had few needs from them other than a daily bowl of food, however, so their generosity often took the form of fixing the trail to the cave. The two men who had showed me the place in the first place had already cleared the path sufficiently for me to navigate it without trouble; but on average two or three work parties per day were hacking and digging away at the path, chopping down nearby sapling trees and large branches, etc. I didn’t want a broad, flat avenue leading from the village to my cave, so I discouraged continued trail-clearing. It became a minor obsession for me, and sometimes I would go around doing my business while muttering to myself, “Don’t fix the trail…Don’t fix the trail…” Eventually I even went to the extreme of wrecking improvements, or covering them over with plentiful wreckage lying around (dirt clods, severed tree branches, etc.) and re-routing the trail around them.
     So, after the visitors had gone away I sat down to meditate. My eyes had not been closed for more than about ten minutes before I starting hearing the familiar boom, boom, crash, crash, crash of someone fixing my trail. It sounded nearby, too, in fact it sounded like it was right in front of me. So I swore in English (I’ve never really learned how to cuss well in Burmese), opened my eyes, and saw a villager with a towel turban and a mattock smashing away at the trail about fifty yards away.
     I called out to him, in Burmese, “Stop! Stop! The trail has already been fixed!” But he ignored me, and the crash, crash, boom, boom, boom of digging and avalanching debris continued unabated. So I tried to dissuade him again, and then again. Before long I wasn’t yelling so much because of the distance between us as because I was getting, to put it plainly, pissed off. I yelled at him “Stop!!! Stop!!! Go away!!!” until I was hoarse, with absolutely no apparent effect whatsoever. I shouted until my shouting voice had ground down to hardly louder than normal conversational volume, with no effect, so finally I really lost my temper, ran down out of the cave, fell down, got back up again, ran up the trail to where he was so diligently working, and starting exclaiming in his face to stop fixing the goddam trail and go away, because said goddam trail had already been fixed, several times in fact. The man looked at me with a serene, childlike expression and said, “I’m fixing your trail!” He didn’t say it sarcastically or defensively. He said it as though I hadn’t been yelling at him to stop for the past five minutes, as though I might actually welcome the information.
     So I kept exclaiming at him to stop, sometimes adding, to avoid any confusion, “NOW!!!” At one point while gesticulating in the direction I wanted him to go (i.e. away), my finger brushed against his turban, inspiring a moment of intrusive mindfulness as the anger was transcended and I felt something like, “oh, I didn’t mean to hit his head.” In retrospect I think the thing to do might have been simply to take his mattock away from him, march up the hill with it, and fling it off the steep hillside into the creek below; but at the time I was no longer thinking clearly—in fact I was as at wit’s end as I had ever been in my life. I wanted to gibber like an ape and jump in circles and throw dead leaves in the air. There seemed to be no way of getting this guy to stop fixing my trail, or even to consider stopping fixing it. It was alien, bizarre, a situation that would be unthinkable in a place like the USA.
     Eventually though, with a strange foreign monk almost in tears and hollering in his face, with maybe a little bit of spittle actually landing on him, a tiny light went on in his head, and he started to realize that maybe I didn’t want him to fix the trail. (To some degree there was a culture barrier in the way of this, where it is polite to say the Burmese equivalent of “oh, you shouldn’t bother,” without really meaning it—but this barrier had been passed long since.) He said something, still looking rather serene, like, “Oh, well, I’ll go back now,” but as he slowly walked away he continued hacking at the trail with his mattock, one hack with every step. I followed right behind him, urging him on with continued exclamations of “Stop! Now! Go away! Now! Now! Now!” And then, miraculously, he cleared out.
     I returned to the cave an agitated nervous mess with a shredded throat; and since sitting in meditation was nowhere near to being a realistic option until the adrenaline cleared, I decided to go fill my water bottles at the creek. As I arrived at the top of the trail, where the steep path down to the water things place branched from the main trail, I could hear, maybe a quarter of a mile away, way off in the distance, boom, boom, crash, crash, crash… He had simply moved farther down the trail with his fixing operation. I felt a brief urge to run after him and assault him, but the urge passed, and I went to the creek and filled the damn water bottles. Fortunately, the work parties greatly decreased after that day.

I’m pretty sure that the little keyhole-shaped box canyon, and the cave,
are in that central darkness somewhere (courtesy of Google Earth)

  1. Interesting. I am curious, why Myanmar? Also, did you speak Burmese before you went there or after? Fluent or conversational?

    1. Through karmic coincidence I happened to be ordained at a Burmese monastery in California. At the time I arrived in Burma I spoke practically no Burmese, and at the first monastery I stayed at nobody spoke English, so I communicated with another monk in broken Pali. At present I speak Burmese about as well as a six-year-old Burmese kid.

  2. Wonderful story! The Rhinoceros sutta is fitting -


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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise

Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman Flynet Pictures
  • Nicole Kidman Flynet Pictures

  • MrSmith
    Oct 18, 07:09 PM

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. For five months along, Nicole Kidman sure is doing a good job of hiding her growing stomach. Especially because it seems from these pictures that she#39;s not
  • For five months along, Nicole Kidman sure is doing a good job of hiding her growing stomach. Especially because it seems from these pictures that she#39;s not

  • CS5679
    Feb 21, 08:33 AM
    Anybody know where I can find some logic studio/mainstage tutorials?

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Cruise/Kidman/Holmes
  • Cruise/Kidman/Holmes

  • Intell
    Feb 23, 08:52 PM

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman Isabella.
  • Nicole Kidman Isabella.

  • snebes
    Apr 27, 04:26 PM
    and watch, Apple will ban that app.

    Only because it would be redundant. Did you hear? It will be in a future iOS update.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman rajongói oldala
  • Nicole Kidman rajongói oldala

  • mpossoff
    Feb 10, 08:30 AM
    I still need to call LAN lines for work and A-list for FamilyTalk is now available on the Nation 700 plan. I switched today by calling ATT but online they are not letting it go through yet. They said this will work online soon, but calling 611 they are setting it up today for me. Went from $89.99 to $69.99, saving $20 per month and keeping my A-list!

    One disadvantage I think is if you are not on the 89.99 plan the primary line isn't eligible for yearly upgrade?

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. with ex-wife Nicole Kidman
  • with ex-wife Nicole Kidman

  • kas23
    Apr 13, 11:52 AM
    Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C134 Safari/6533.18.5)

    Actually, I hate to start a flamewar...As for my iPhone 4, it already seems a bit dated and laggy (takes 10 seconds to open Camera, laggy keyboard when searching in Maps, choppy animations in games). I think this is a software problem though. If Apple came out with a much more efficient and smoother iOS 5 (that made my iPhone 4 feel like a new phone), I would be perfectly satisfied.

    What!? I've had my iPhone 4 for seven whole days and I have not had this happen on my phone. Camera takes about 2-3 seconds to open on my phone-I do not have keyboard lag under maps and I have seen some amazing graphics (and no 'choppiness') with some of the games on my phone ('Death Rally' anyone?).

    You might be having some problems with your phone-I haven't come across similar threads with your reported problems. I don't see this as a symptom of the iPhone 4 as being "a bit dated".

    If you havent seen any threads on choppy animations and a lag when opening up the Camera app, you likely haven't been to the iPhone forum. My problems are not unique. And if you think about it, 2-3 seconds to have the ability to shoot a picture is still way too long.

    And besides, your phone is a full 7 days old. It's brand new! Everyone would expect it to be functioning perfectly. Mine is 10 months-old and feels long in the tooth.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Suri and Isabella Cruise
  • Suri and Isabella Cruise

  • daneoni
    Mar 23, 11:46 AM
    Probably saw the writing on the wall with Apple's recent 'Post-PC' direction, even more so with iOS's impending infiltration of Mac OS.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. AND ISABELLA CRUISE AROUND

  • kustardking
    Mar 22, 08:36 PM
    I disagree with the "unless it pays money", not all paying jobs will be good for your portfolio. What you put on your portfolio will limit jobs you can or cannot get the next time around.

    Then don't put it in the portfolio. If all you can do is one thing at a time, then yes a hole will appear. If you're a freelancer, you will NOT BE BLAMED for a company's evil doings. If you ARE blamed, you don't know how to pitch yourself.

    Now picture this, you walk into a very nice office overlooking Sydney Harbor the lobby is paved in stirling silver fixtures while the floor is imported Italian marble, you go into the boardroom for the meeting the table is made of Japanese Maple while there a some very nice high backed leather seats to sit on.

    Never send a boy to do a man's job. Or, in other words, recognize the difference between yourself and what you're getting into. If you can't tell, then sayings such as, "in hindsight," will be in your future.

    You meet the manager, he assures you that whatever you're charging it wont be an issue paying, you then go into the project.

    Now most people hearing that would say "awesome take the job" but in hindsight the organisation politically was not a good company to deal with because it cannibalised the industry in 2001 and had very poor standing with other players. The other players would NEVER take on a person associated with this company due to the bad blood. I am not going to name the company but it was extremely hard to find work having that on a portfolio not to mention leaving it off ran the risk of having a hole on my CV.

    Read: UP FRONT. Bedazzled for the maple table and view of the Meiji-jingu is just that - bedazzled. The problem was your lack of experience. **BUT** that would only be held against you if you couldn't EXPLAIN it. Now if you're talking about getting more work in Japan itself, then you'd better qualify your answers as such, because that is a different business culture.

    What I am saying is taking the money you need to see how that will look on your CV. I now work for one of the largest media companies in Australia as a CD and the best advice I can give is you need to see how your work can limit or expand you career horizons.
    If you're in a position to pick-and-choose, then either (a) you already know yourself, your talent, your work, and you are NOT the kind of person who the OP is, or (b) you need to go through the fire AND know how to learn from and explain mistakes.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman #39;s daughter,
  • Nicole Kidman #39;s daughter,

  • arimp
    Oct 12, 03:38 PM
    What do you think of this...?

    Emulating MacOS X on Windows at G4 speed....for $50

    Too good to be true, me thinks

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Name: Nicole Mary Kidman
  • Name: Nicole Mary Kidman

  • Apple OC
    Mar 26, 08:27 PM
    gotta be a first ... guess the losing bidders are happy

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman Misses Her Kids
  • Nicole Kidman Misses Her Kids

  • hayesk
    Apr 7, 08:23 AM
    There's been reports of battery issues to. I haven't tested it myself, but it seems like I'm getting less battery life since 4.3.1, which is what many others have been saying. I don't know how widespread this isssue is, though.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman revealed in an
  • Nicole Kidman revealed in an

  • JFerrari
    Apr 13, 10:33 AM
    The iPhone 4 is a perfectly fine device. In many ways its still ahead of the competition. Take the outstanding battery life, awesome software integration and the beautiful Retina display- to me those are three big features no other competitor has matched.

    Apple could do nothing for the next year and still have a phone that can be compared favorably with every phone on the market. Manufacturers are trying to compete with the iPhone by producing larger screens and misc. features not many will use- i.e. mini hdmi ports on phones, etc. They lose focus of the overall user experience- Apple has this down pat.

    Apple is essentially a failure of its own success.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. then-wife Nicole Kidman,
  • then-wife Nicole Kidman,

  • steviec
    Aug 29, 07:12 PM
    While not strictly free Garageband offers up a lot of podcast features ...

    Also Quicktime in Snow Leopard may let you do this, not tried so far ...

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman for
  • Nicole Kidman for

  • MaxBurn
    May 5, 09:49 AM
    You restore it first and then jailbreak with redsn0w.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. daughter Isabella Cruise
  • daughter Isabella Cruise

  • Mr. McMac
    Sep 5, 10:28 AM
    Any chance of the original background JPEG?

    Pretty please?:D

    Here it is at 1920x1200

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. tom cruise nicole kidman
  • tom cruise nicole kidman

  • alexandre16
    Mar 9, 06:06 PM
    hello people
    I am developing a website and now I come to the part of the design, so I would like to ask you a good program and easy to work for web design, understand CSS, HTML, ETC but if there is a program very simple to use and that is well they can say.
    I really want is that it is easy to work and may possibly see the code created, because I am
    programming in linux and then design the code that makes the MAC will implement the code site that I have in

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. daughter Isabella Cruise
  • daughter Isabella Cruise

  • dotnsk
    Feb 9, 12:36 PM
    Why is a calling feature tied to a messaging one?

    I'd imagine so it looks like people are getting something for "free" (I'd be willing to bet that most of their customers are already on an unlimited messaging plan, particularly if they're on a family plan) while still maintaining some semblance of profitability for the carrier (messaging plans are generally believed to be pure profit).

    I'm excited about this feature, even if I don't truly *need* it. I'm on the lowest-tiered family plan right now and I have literally thousands of rollover minutes. Most of my friends and family are on AT&T (lots of iPhone users) and I don't call anyone all that often anyway. However, it's always nice to have yet another feature that establishes peace of mind. Plus, I hope this is the first in a long line of steps to reduce the overall cost of monthly service for AT&T users (unlikely, but I can dream...and perhaps a massive deflection to Verizon will help speed things along).

    Plus, it's just another choice for users. I may not use my phone as a phone all that often, but lots of AT&T users do. I bet this reduces the overall cost of a plan for some iPhone users, particularly those on a family plan.

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Isabella Cruise rebels against
  • Isabella Cruise rebels against

  • bousozoku
    Feb 14, 07:36 PM
    In hindsight, I think I may have been high on Vegemite when I posted this. On that note, I'm gonna go eat some Vegemite.

    Could we use that on some of the bad users? I've heard that it can also be used as road and roof patch. :p

    Nicole Kidman Isabella Cruise. Nicole Kidman, Isabella
  • Nicole Kidman, Isabella

  • Sun Baked
    Feb 13, 07:33 AM
    Being a mod doesn't mean I can't still have a sense of humor, which is all I saw that as. No one's going to have a "battle of the 'tars", I'm just messin', which I'm still allowed to do from time to time you know...And all the hazing we can do to you cannot compare to the mountain of spam you're about to be burried under.

    Good luck, you'll need it. :p

    Aug 20, 10:55 AM
    In Toronto at the Sound Academy. Anyone else going? They always put on a good show and the venue is nice and small.

    Dec 3, 09:02 AM
    Here's mine:

    Found it on

    Sep 24, 08:19 PM
    I walked in on mine.

    :eek: I would be scared for life!!! :eek:

    Full of Win
    May 1, 12:12 AM
    The key area of your problem is highlighted in red.

    As I said in a post you quoted...

    Of course this is just opinion.

    Dec 3, 11:02 PM
    Im looking for a Dlink Bluetooth adapter... anybody have one? PM me.

    No comments:

    Post a Comment

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Tired of Facebook censorship? Join Tea Party Community.

Liberals are about control.

And this story is a perfect example of how these power hungry mental midgets go about it.

According to Fox News,

The Mississippi school superintendent who pressed charges against people for cheering at a high school graduation says he plans to make a statement in court Tuesday, but won’t say if he’ll drop the charges.

Senatobia school Superintendent Jay Foster reiterated in a telephone interview Friday that he’s trying to ensure that some families don’t ruin graduations for others by raising a ruckus.

He says he filed misdemeanor, disturbing-the-peace charges against three people because they disobeyed instructions to hold their cheers. Before doing so, he says he consulted with school board members, administrators and the district’s lawyer.

I understand the need to control stupid outbursts. But if you can sue because kids want to celebrate what is supposed to be an achievement, what have we come to. It’s not like they yelled “Fire!” in a crowded theater.

Note that what most irked the superintendent is that they “disobeyed instructions.”

Being disruptive deserves discipline; however, simple celebration is not. At least it used to not be this way, when adults ran things.

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Contact Us

Kanye West and Jay-Z Team Up for Joint EP, Release ‘Monster’

On Friday (Aug. 27), Kanye West kept true to his word and dropped a brand new song featuring Jay-Z as part of G.O.O.D. Fridays — which promises a free track each week through Christmas.

“Me and Jay bout to drop a 5 song album called ‘Watch the Throne,’ Kanye tweeted on Friday, before unleashing the EP’s first single ‘Monster.’ A snippet of the track was leaked in early June featuring a verse from Rick Ross, but the completed song includes verses form Jay, Ross, Nicki Minaj and indie folk singer Bon Iver. West’s following tweet revealed that ‘Monster’ was the second track off the 5-song EP, confirming that at least two songs have been completed, but there was no word on a release date. It is likely that all the songs will be released in conjunction with Ye’s G.O.O.D. Fridays.

News of Kanye and Jay’s collaborative EP comes only a week after the release of Ye’s highly-anticipated ‘Power’ remix, which featured a promised guest verse from his ‘Big Brother.’

Kanye’s fifth studio album, currently titled ‘Dark Twisted Fantasy,’ is currently scheduled for a November release.

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Contact Us

Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum Pick Up 2016 People’s Choice Awards

2016 People's Choice Awards winners
Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

The 2016 awards season kicked off on Wednesday night (Jan. 6) with the 2016 People’s Choice Awards. Country music’s presence at the show was limited — no country acts performed, and none of the trophies in the PCAs’ country categories were presented during the broadcast ceremony — but a few country artists still picked up awards from the event.

Blake Shelton earned Favorite Male Country Artist, while Carrie Underwood received Favorite Female Country Artist, and Lady Antebellum were named Favorite Country Group. Additionally, The Voice — on which Shelton is a coach — picked up Favorite Competition TV show for the third year in a row.

Luke Bryan was nominated for the all-genre Favorite Male Artist award, but he lost out to Ed Sheeran. Country-turned-pop superstar Taylor Swift won Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Pop Artist — two of the four awards for which she was nominated. Meanwhile, Steven Tyler lost Favorite Music Icon to Madonna.

Country Stars’ First Tweets

NEXT: 10 Sexiest Songs in Country Music

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DC Age Switch - Teen Titans to Team Titans and Justice League to Justice Gals

"Wow, it's pretty cool, isn't it?" Beast Boy said. "Us working with the Justice League."

"Yes, indeed, this will be a very interesting exchanging of ideas," Starfire said.

"Man, Wonder Woman's so hawt," Beast Boy said. "It would be pretty awesome."

"Don't drool," Raven said.

"Yeah, don't any of you go crazy," Robin said. "Don't behave like a lot of dumb kids."

"You afraid of us embarrassing you in front of Batman?" Cyborg asked.

"Oh, poor Robin, you are experiencing the blushing of the cheeks!" Starfire said.

"Okay, here they come," Robin said. "Everyone be on their best behaviour."

The door opened to show the Justice League, and suddenly everything shifted.

"Hey, guys," Batbrat said, snapping her gum. "How's it hanging?"

Flash giggled. Cyborg and Changeling looked so hunky up close!

In this reality, the most respect superteam was the adult Team Titans, including Nightwing, Raven, Cyborg, Starfire, and Changeling. And the junior team was the all-girls Justice Gals.

"Okay, we need your help," Nightwing said, glowering at Batbrat, who was giving her booty a shake.
  1. Nightwing says what the problem is (blank)
  2. One of the Justice Gals has a question
  3. One of the Justice Gals is being mischevious (blank)
  4. Someone remembers how things used to be (blank)
  5. Something else (blank)

Page created by: Anzaleth on 2016-11-21 03:53:00.

All Pages in this story.

Interactive Stories Homepage.


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The Ultimate Solution For Senior Care

Ultimate solution in elder and senior care can be found through the resources that are indispensable in the process of providing care for elders, adults and seniors at home. Exhaustive list of products for various uses, expert opinion, medical advice and books on parent care are available which are related to the daily walks in life for elders to provide them a sense of security and boost up their morale for independent living.

The Ultimate Solution For Senior Care

Products for Bath Safety

A whole range of products are available for ensuring safety in the bathroom which is an important place for those aging at home. There are items which ensure proper safety when getting in and out of the bathtub and the toilet which include railings to hold on and toilet safety frame (from $37 at These toilet safety frames are adjustable and are ideal for use over a toilet of standard specifications or adjustable with a toilet seat that is raised. The arm rests provide adequate support for balance and secure hand so that there is no danger of falling. These frames are made of aluminum which is non corrosive and these frames are designed with an aluminum bracket which is easy to attach. These are adjustable according to the leg heights and fitted with arms which can be folded back for transfers and easy cleaning. Toilet safety frame comes of great use in the bathroom for elders who are most susceptible to falling inside bathrooms.

Indispensable Products for Elderly care

 An unending list of elderly care products are available at these resources which are all designed for providing adequate safety and security for those aging at home and for caregivers for enhancing their quality of services. The whole range of elderly care products includes:

  • Commode liners – Toilet bags containing decaying odor and catalyst neutralizer and gelling agent to keep the toilet clean after each use. These liners can easily fit into any standard sized toilet pail.
  • Board insert for gardening – This item is for those elderly persons who love gardening but are unable to do so due to physical inability. These boards allow gardening in small scale such as placing flower pots at window sills and other places inside the room.
  • Blood Pressure monitor with manually operated upper arm – These blood pressure monitors are specially designed to indicate risk factor and can record the date and time.
  • Shampoo for no rinsing – This shampoo is for those who face scarcity of water.
  • Services of care manager – Guidance and answers to typical questions by elders at home are available over a toll free line where experienced nurses and social workers who comprise a team of professional managers for geriatric care provide every type of solution.

With the growing need for elder care these sources are the ultimate ones which are dedicated to serving elders and seniors at home through providing them the care which fulfills their demands and caters to their rights as senior citizens. Parent care has come of high quality through these products and services.


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Thursday, June 01, 2006

Block Party

The Sabres are known for their shot blocking and possibly lead the league for most blocked shots. Apparently, this means the players tend to stand between their goal and a slapshot traveling upwards of 90 mph in order to make their goalie's job a bit easier. Most other players try to steer clear, but for some reason, the Sabres brace themselves for these shots. (The Carolina Hurricanes are also high on the list of blocked shots).

Well, our propensity for shotblocking has inadvertently cost us another injury. Jay McKee, the most valuable defenseman on the team, did not travel to Carolina for Game 7 tonight. McKee has blocked more than 60 shots during this playoff run; one shot during the Ottawa series resulted in a cut on his shin. Today we learn about that cut for the first time, that it never healed, that McKee is out with a serious skin infection. Yet another defenseman is out for the most important game of the playoffs. There is a sort of curse on Buffalo sports teams that I never really believed in, though now it seems a little less ridiculous.

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  • Hatchet

  • About

    Growing up in the San Francisco area suburbs as young metal heads can make it quite likely to take influence from the pioneers of metal that spanned the area in the 1980’s. So it’s no surprise that Hatchet describes their sound as “Pure, Uncompromising, Bay Area Thrash Metal”.

    Since hitting the Bay Area Metal scene in early 2007, Hatchet quickly made a name for itself. They worked hard to gig as often as they could and also not compete with, but group together bands of the like to help strengthen the scene.

    The band’s third release titled Fear Beyond Lunacy was highly anticipated among thrashers and metal heads worldwide. The album features a new Hatchet lineup behind founding member, vocalist, and lead guitarist, Julz Ramos. The new members have injected the band with a surge of raw energy, and fans of Hatchet will be overly satisfied with this revived enthusiasm laid into the recordings. Says Ramos, “the faster, thrashier tracks hit harder than ever before, while the melodic stuff is catchier and we’ve even experimented with some heavier, slower tempos.”

  • Albums

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text:
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Bus Water Show

Trapped and Confused

Take-out Tonight

Rabbit Ears

Possum Finds Heart

Nut Hunting

LuLu Hedgehog

Bird Hearts Deer

These are the Fabric Paintings I sent up to an invitational show in West Virginia called Bus Water. I cant attend the reception, but I know it will be a blast. I can't wait to see pictures of all the other artwork.

lotto philippine result said...

Damu pa kmu to?.. Nano ni klase blog man?

green card lottery said...

Ive read this topic for some blogs. But I think this is more informative.


text:
Monday, June 30, 2014

Flatlay Skills and Birthday Thoughts

because of the lack of outfit pictures and the fact that this still is supposed to be a fashion blog first, i decided to share some of my instagram pictures and flatlays with you.

i LOVE flatlays, lately i'm quite obsessed with them, so what could be more reasonable than to learn how to do them myself. first it was quite tricky to find the right place with the best lighting etc, but then i found out that i have the perfect light on my bed in the afternoon. and cause i'm working from home as a freelancer i can make some free time every now and then and practice.

i have so many beautiful stuff, fashion and accessories, that i want to share with you! but i still have the problem that i have no one to take pictures of me, so this is the best way. there will still be outfit posts, this is just another way to embrace my love for fashion and photography.
some of the pictures are taken by my (crappy old) phone, some with my nikon SLR camera.

here you see some of the items i got for my birthday last week. i turned 29 on tuesday and had a wonderful day with my family. now it's just one year till the big 30.
but hey, i have no problem with getting older. as 40 is the new 30 and growing up with sex and the city, i always looked forward and enjoyed looking back and laughing about the silly mistakes i made when i was younger.
i grew up the last couple of years, and i would never ever want to be 18 again.
i love the advantages of being mature, i've grown through my experiences and yes, also through my mistakes. i learned to forgive, to love myself and go for the things i want. and the most important, i know who i am and what i want. at least most of the time^^

and what i really wanted were this prada sunnies! (haha, jaja, nice bridge, i know^^)
my mum got them for me for my birthday and they arrived some weeks ago. we ordered them online cause it was quite impossible to get them in store. even the prada store was out of stock, and after some research we found them with a good discount online.

since i'm looking for a new wallet for quite a while now i was really happy to find this jobis wallet on sale at tkmaxx, which my father got for me, just like the bag that was a sale find at mango.

the other presents were a lovely sisley sweater i got from my brother and a DKNY bra from my sister.
oh and my favorite chocolate which just came out in germany, lindt intense with strawberry. i first tried it in paris and was on the hunt ever since! my lovely sister found it at karstadt. if you see it give it a try!

how do you feel about getting older? is it just me who gets excited about it?

  1. Loved this post.

    Wow you're so lucky to get those sunglasses! Lovely blog.

    Katie Loves | UK Fashion & Beauty Blog

    BlogLovin' : Katie Loves

  2. Happy Birthday! Enjoy your sunnies!

  3. This pic is so beautiful! Happy birthday, I wish you the best of luck!
    xoxo, Mai ♥

  4. I'm turning 3 0 this less than a month. with all things considering, i'm happy to be getting older.. not too upset about turning 30.. yet..
    happy bday girl!

  5. Your sunglasses are amazing.

    I do not mind growing older. It isn't something I really think about very often.

  6. Tolles Bild! Einfach eine perfekte Zusammenstellung. Die Gedanken übers älter werden kenn ich, aber ich hab da noch ein bisschen Zeit mit meinen 23 Jahren. Die Brille ist echt ein Traum!

    LG, Maria

thank you for taking the time to comment! i do appreciate and read all of them!


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The Buzz Latest News

Ralph Lauren Suits Up the US Olympic Team

Image via Ralph Lauren

Yesterday on The Today Show, Ralph Lauren exec David Lauren revealed the brand's third consecutive Olympic Collection. The ultra-preppy, classic American uniforms will outfit the US Olympic Team during the opening ceremonies at this summer's games.

Lauren told the Today Show hosts that the looks were "inspired by the 1948 Games, which is the last time that America competed in England," and yes, okay: there is some post-war tailoring happening here, but the overall effect is less retro and more retrograde. I mean, what was Ralph Lauren thinking, styling America's strongest athletes and fiercest competitors in berets, the world's most nonfunctional headwear? It's not like the US Olympic team is traveling to London to sit around on a lawn drinking Negronis.

If you want to see these how these starched WASP-y confections move, I've included The Today Show reveal below. It's totally worth a watch: about a minute into the clip, some behind-the-scenes sound engineer cuts in the Olympic fanfare and theme, and slowly increases the volume so that it plays over the gushy morning show blabber.

Enjoy! (And just because I don't approve of these pieces as US Team uniforms doesn't mean they aren't totally cute for the rest of us. Modern day Chips & Muffys can head over to for a little piece of Olympic glory.)

Image via ELLE

[via MSNBC]


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Old May 6, 2012, 09:25 PM   #1
David Hineline
Senior Member
Join Date: December 23, 1999
Location: South Sioux City, Nebraska
Posts: 704
Sutbtek 45 set up on auto rifle

At the Tulsa gun show last month there was a new vendor of a 45 upper that fits a receiver of the AR15/M16 platform, I bought 5 kits. Two of them needed modified with the bolt carrier cut for Sear trip and upper receiver cut for sear clearance. This is the one I did for my gun.

It takes std. grease gun mags in the side and ejects out the std. .223 magazine well.

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Old July 4, 2012, 01:12 PM   #36
Doc Intrepid
Senior Member
Join Date: May 22, 2009
Location: Washington State
Posts: 888
I'm an NRA Instructor, and taught women-only classes for about five years.

I agree with the points made above, with particular emphasis on two specific issues that were extremely important in my experience:

First, the comment above by Glenn regarding women's reasons for attending the class. Nearly 100% of women students over the age of 18 had a traumatic reason to be in my classes. (Some women brought their young teenage daughters with them, and the daughters were less likely to have been victimized.) Adult women had been raped, stalked, assaulted, beaten up, and/or violently threatened by someone. During the "introduction" part of the first night, we went around the classroom and introduced ourselves and described why we were there and what we hoped to achieve in the course. After my first course I routinely placed boxes of tissues on each table the first night - it was not uncommon for students to break down and sob uncontrollably when describing what happened to bring them to the class. The classes were part encounter group therapy sessions, and part introduction to handgun courses. It was part of a process of reclaiming their independence and feelings of personal security. When we handed out certificates at the end of the class, we also presented each student with a long-stemmed rose. My courses were definitely not your run-of-the-mill shooting courses that men would feel welcome in.

Second, women routinely exhibited a tremendous reluctance to appear foolish in front of others, particularly men. They didn't want to perform poorly - in fact, would rather not participate than perform poorly. It became extremely important to be able to ensure the first shots were successful - we fired .22 LR from supported (sandbags) positions at relatively short distances, and nearly everyone discovered that they could shoot well. Once that occurred, and student's hopes and expectations were validated, then we could move on to other exercises.

This could not occur as easily, in my opinion, in front of an audience of men.

My experience leads me to agree with many poster's above that women-only classes have important benefits to offer women shooters. Women students are often simply different from men students, in significant ways.
Treat everyone you meet with dignity and respect....but have a plan to kill them just in case.
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Old November 6, 2012, 08:05 PM   #11
Senior Member
Join Date: July 3, 2011
Location: Upstate,New york
Posts: 307
Update cont.

Here is the bolt face there are no front locking lugs just two rear ones. But for a .22 its not necessary.

Here is the safety/decocking knob. It is similar to a mauser in that it is rotated to the 12 o'clock position for safe and the 9 o'clock position for fire. It also serves as a decocking knob to ease the firing pin forward if not firing the rifle. On a side note the trigger is very very smooth and very light.

Here is the rifle next to my M38 . The Wz. 48 is about 4 inches longer then the M38 but they are both around the same weight. The barrels are also about the same thickness, and sights are the same except the Wz. 48 sights is only graduated from 25-100 meters. Overall the rifle is in excellent condition with just two small dings and some minor bluing wear. I will be going to the range hopefully monday to shoot this rifle an will update accordingly. This rifle will make a fine addition to my rim-fire and milsurp collections.
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Old December 10, 2012, 11:25 AM   #7
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Join Date: February 16, 2006
Location: IOWA
Posts: 6,782
Could be a very good deal

And do you think I will be able to talk him down a little bit? To like $150? Thanks in advance.
Sure Shot has listed some very good points and condition is important. At face value, it's a very good deal and even as a wall hanger, for $150.00, it's a good deal. Remember that you can always part it out and get more than your investment. .....

As far as a bore light, the easiest one to get and cheap, is a "Bobbler" light, from Walmart. You should swab the bore as many that have sat, are loaded with dust. I doubt that the bore will be perfect but luck may be with you and do wish you the best. . ...

Be Safe !!!
'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.
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Old December 29, 2012, 01:24 PM   #25
44 AMP
Join Date: March 11, 2006
Location: Upper US
Posts: 16,067
Either of them are marginally sufficient to handle any varmints that may sneak out of Hanford-
We don't sneak..we drive out at the end of our shift, like everyone else!
All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.
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Old June 23, 2013, 05:48 PM   #1
Senior Member
Join Date: September 12, 2012
Location: Richmond, Va.
Posts: 352
Atlanta Shooting

The shooting was on the 22nd. in Alanta. I won't debate the legalities, but I like how the second shooter spun back to the crowd ready for anything, but the pistol was pointed at his feet and ready for whatever else was going to pop up.
My understanding of the event is another person had already shot the suspect, out of camera view. His SA was spot on in my opinion knowing there were many people behind him, but not knowing if there was a threat there too.

This post is strictly about the tactics on camera.
Member, GoA, NRA-ILA, SAF, NRA Life Member
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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Smell you later

Who doesn't enjoy going into a public restroom after lunch when the office went out for Mexican food? Needless to say, the pervasive smells (and sounds) can be un-nerving to say the least.
It's even worse for guys when they're at the urinals. Don't tell me you've never peed next to a guy who had Corn Pops for me, you'll know. (I'm getting sick as I write this)
There are good smells---perfume, food, your fingers an hour after you've eaten fried chicken, etc. There is also many bad smells out there.
I've often wondered what caused the smells. It was my guess (I'm not a scientist) that the odor particles that were causing the smell were actually made up many smaller pieces of the item that was causing the odor. Thus, when you're smelling Grandma's apple pie, you're smelling the butter in the crust, the apples, etc. Along those lines, when you think you've stepped in Dog poo, and you lift the shoe to your nose to "check," you instantly inhale millions of "little bits of poo." Are you sick yet?
It gets worse. I actually spent 3 1/2 minutes on Google to check my theory. It is correct, but I found much worse. Check out this link, and read to the bottom. You will be thoroughly disgusted. I had never even heard of eyelash mites...and now I've been frantically rubbing my face with the "mumblies." Oh wait...can't do that--I've now passed e coli from my keyboard to my mouth.
Whoever said "knowing was half the battle" didn't know about eyelash mites. Ignorance truly is bliss.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. You can imagine what I qas thinking while I was changing Josh's diaper.

boisebyufans said...

This whole post is disgusting, but the cat picture at the top is right there with eyelash mites. What is it like standing next to a guy who has had corn pops for breakfast?? Is it blue instead of yellow?? I'm a little confused. Maybe I don't want to know!!

The Nemesing One said...

After having a Big Borderitto from On The Border. For two days, my gas smells exactly like the burrito; without variation. It's the most incredible thing. We're watching TV that evening, RIIIIIP. "Oh dad had a Big Borderitto". Now Big Macs are a different story, but I'll spare you and your more "gentle" audience the gruesome details.

Major Undeclared said...

I had honey smacks for breakfast the other day, and i felt like i was having seconds when i used the urinal four hours later. It's amazing that something can go all the way through the digestive system and not lose an ounce of the original smell.

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[08/23/10 - 12:59 PM]
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[08/20/10 - 07:06 AM]
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[08/18/10 - 04:10 PM]
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  [august 2010]

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[01/20/17 - 03:14 PM]
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A&E Network's Emmy-Nominated Series "Cold Case Files" Gets a Reboot Narrated by Danny Glover
The return of "Cold Case Files" will explore compelling new cases that have gone cold for years and chronicle the journeys of the detectives who reopened them.


text:
Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins

It seems since making the Toffee Apple and Almond Crumble recipe I’ve been unable to put down Rachel Allen’s Favourite Food at Home. There are so many great recipes in this book that I had forgotten about (that’s what happens when you own nearly 200 cookbooks, eek). I’m making it my mission during the month of March to try out recipes I have book-marked, but don’t quote me on that, he he! In our home we adore muffins and they make a great breakfast on the run, especially for teenage boys who deny they have time for brekkie in the morning (tomorrow Jake will have no excuse)! These muffins are deliciously moist, sweet and nutty and bursting with flavour. I couldn’t resist adding some Nestle Swirled Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Morsels for that extra scrumptious touch.

Top of the Muffin to ya!

Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins

Makes 12 (I ended up with 17)

275g/100oz plain flour
50g/2oz oats
1 tbsp baking powder
2 eggs
150g/5oz light brown sugar
2 bananas (200g/7oz), peeled and mashed
125g/4½ oz crunchy peanut butter
50g/2oz butter, melted
250ml/8fl oz milk
150g/5oz Nestle Swirled Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Morsels (optional)

Preheat the oven to 190oC/170oC fan oven/375oF/Gas mark 5. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper muffin cases.

Place the flour, oats and baking powder in a bowl, mix together and set aside. In another bowl, whisk the eggs; add the light brown sugar, mashed bananas, peanut butter and the melted butter. Stir to mix, then add the milk and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients and fold in gently, do not over-mix.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin cases and bake for 18-24 minutes, or until the tops spring back when gently touched. Allow to stand in the muffin pan for a minute before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

Dani said...

don't you love when you come across a cookbook where every page is filled with great pics and tasty recipes... i sit down some evenings with no intention of baking, but still read cookbooks cover to cover :)

Happy cook said...

Muffins looks yumm. I don't have any of her books, but i do watch her every saturday in BBC with her baking programme, which i am glued to.

AK Mom said...

I really enjoy sitting down on the couch at night and thumbing through cookbooks. It's one of my favorite pastimes. :)
The Banana and Peanut Butter muffins sound yummy. I love the addition of the swirled morsels. :)

Anne said...

Not a peanut butter fan myself but am sure the beloved would wolf these down!!

Am growing though increasingly jealous of all your pretty dishes! ;-)

♥Rosie♥ said...

I am sat here laughing away to myself about the 200 cookbooks... omg mate we are SO partners in crime with all these books!! *Whisper* hey any new ones I need to know about LOL....

Anyway onto to your "Scrumptious" muffins. They look perfection sweetie and a must try, I have had this recipe also bookmarked but like you say hahahaha all these cookbooks ;0)

Please do pass by my blog and collect some awards sweetie ;o)

Rosie x

Maria♥ said...

Anne, not only do I love cookbooks but I also love pretty dishes, cakestands etc.

Rosie, I knew you'd be cracking up when reading this..hehehe. We are definitely partners in crime when it comes to cookbooks. Btw pre-ordered The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook this week. Release date is 12th March, can't wait! You definitely need this one too ;o)

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.

Reeni♥ said...

Banana and peanut butter are so good together. These look perfect for breakfast on the run or to have with a cup of tea. I love that little dish! The perfect size for a muffin!

Beth said...

I pre=ordered the Hummingbird Bakery book this week. And I ordered another Tessa Kiros book on my lunchbreak. I have a serious amazon addiction

The Blonde Duck said...

I love peanut butter and I love bananas. This seems like my kind of muffin!

Ivy said...

200 cookbooks? OMG, when do you find time to look through them but I guess you do because of your lovely creations.

Maria♥ said...

Thanks Reeni, I have those dishes in other pastel colours too!

Beth, sound like your as bad as Rosie and myself when it comes to amazon! I've had the Humingbird Bakery Cookbook in my wishlist for a while but after receiving this month's edition of Delicious and viewing some of the bakes from this book, I was completely sold! Which Tessa Kiros book did you order? I have all of hers, except Venezia. My favourite Tessa book has to be Apples for Jam.

Ivy, yes I have nearly 200!! What can I say I just love cookbooks and I don't think I'm alone in that...Rosie stop hiding and tell them you have well over 300!!!...hehehe

Thanks everyone!

The Girl said...

200 cookbooks. Good going!

I have loads of things bookmarked that I want to try but never get around to. I had Monday off this week and had a great time - made some cherry and white chocolate muffins, some mint choc-chip muffins and also made an attempt at your mincemeat wedges.

I didn't quite seem to end up with the same result! I did however end up with a sort of mincemeat cake which was lovely! I had no idea I could make cakes! What a revelation.

And for pretty cake stands have you been on There's some fabulous ones there that I'm dying to get for our new flat!

Nicisme said...

Nice to see you making the most of that book. The muffins look so tasty, actually I could murder one right now!

Nickki said...

Mmmmm, I love these muffins! Anything with peanut butter is a winner with me :)