Heartiest wishes for a Happy and splendid New Year...

Dear Friends,

2009 is finished

Now, 2010 is right up for us to face it….

There may be risks involved

We may need to face roadblocks

So stay alert

Share time with friends

Jump over obstacles

With care

And caution

Face challenges [after all the survivors are called experienced guys]

Remember to laugh

Cooperate

Discover

Make new friends

Above all...be ready for adventure

Stick together

And you will be able to go far

Very far.....

Well, not quite that far....

Always take time to smell the flowers

And finally don't forget to relax, enjoy and also serve the needy too with your love, care, affection and whatever possible on this new year eve and whenever you find time.

Let’s start this day by serving a underprivileged child and hear them silently utter the most precious word ‘Thank you’ from the bottom of their heart in the reflection of their smiles…

Our Heartiest wishes to you and your family for a Gorgeous, Memorable and

splendiferous New Year

 

 

- CheersJ-

- Sree-

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

 

 

 

 
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The Great Buddha of Kamakura

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

The Great Buddha from Kamakura (Daibutsu) represents the Amida Buddha (in Japanese Amida Nyorai), the Buddha of the Infinite Light, the main Deity of the Buddhist Sect Jodo (Pure Land).

 

 

Actually, Buddha is not a name, but a honorific term, like the Christian Mesia. Buddha comes from Sanskrit and it is the past participle of the verb Buddh, meaning “to awaken” or “to know", translated in English as “one who has awakened to the truth".

In Japanese it is also referred as Butsu, hence Daibutsu (written ?? or ??), from ? Dai, meaning Great and ?, Butsu (the On reading), meaning Buddha.

 

 

 

In the Mahayana tradition there are many Buddha. The Historical Buddha (the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism) is one of them and the statues of the various Buddha share common attributes. The Amida Buddha is not Siddhartha Gautama, it is a monk named Dharmakara, who become a Buddha and lived in very old times (or in another realm…). Amida Buddha is usually represented wearing simple monk clothes and the Kamakura Daibutsu is no exception.

 

 

The hair is represented in small spiral curls (Rahotsu in Japanese). This is an allusion to a legend about Prince Siddhartha, who at one moment pulled his hair together into a top knot and cut it. After the cut, the hair spiraled into fine curls and he never needed to cut its hair again.

 

The statue of Amida Buddha must always have 656 curls.

 

 

On the top of the head we can see Ushnisha (Nikkei in Japanese), a bump on top of the head symbolizing the fact that Buddha is all-knowing and also symbolizing a fully developed top chakra.

 

At the front base of the Nikkei we can see a circular object, the Nikkeishu (Nikkei Jewel), which “radiates the light of wisdom":

 

 

Also, on the forehead, we can see Urna (Byakugo in Japanese), symbolic the representation of the third eye, emitting rays of light and symbolizing that Buddha is all-seeing. Usually, on Buddha statues the third eye is represented from a crystal or a gem. On the Kamakura Great Buddha, Byakugo is made of pure silver, weighing 13.5 kilograms.

 

 

 

The elongated ears symbolize that Buddha is all-hearing…

 

 

The hands are represented in the position of Mida no Join (Meditation Mudra), a Japanese specific position, used exclusively for Amida Buddha.

 

 

I will return tomorrow with a more down-to-earth look at this statue…

 

 

 

 

- Sree...

"How deeply you can touch another life, is how rich your life is..."

 

 

 
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Do You Know...??

 

01  —MOPED is the short term for 'Motorized Pedaling'.

02. —POP MUSIC is 'Popular Music' shortened.

03. —BUS is the short term for 'Omnibus' that means everybody.

04. —FORTNIGHT comes from 'Fourteen Nights' (Two Weeks).

05. —DRAWING ROOM was actually a 'withdrawing room' where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix 'with' was dropped..

06. —NEWS refers to information from Four directions N, E, W and S..

07. —AG-MARK, which some products bear, stems from 'Agricultural Marketing'.

08. —JOURNAL is a diary that tells about 'Journey for a day' during each Day's business.

09. —QUEUE comes from 'Queen's Quest'. Long back a long row of people as waiting to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen's Quest..

10. —TIPS come from 'To Insure Prompt Service'. In olden days to get Prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a Box on which was written 'To Insure Prompt Service'. This gave rise to the custom of Tips.

11. —JEEP is a vehicle with unique Gear system. It was invented during World War II (1939-1945). It was named 'General Purpose Vehicle (GP)'.GP was changed into JEEP later.

12. —Coca-Cola was originally green.

13. —The most common name in the world is Mohammed..

14. —The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

15. —The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

16. —TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row ! of the keyboard.

17. —Women blink nearly twice as much as men!!

18. —You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

19. —It is impossible to lick your elbow.

20. —People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

21. —It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

22. —The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

23. —Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history.

—Spades - King David

—Clubs - Alexander the Great,

—Hearts – Charlemagne

—Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

24. —Horse Statue in a Park…

—If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

—If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle —If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

25. —What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? Ans. - All invented by women.

26. —A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

27. —A snail can sleep for three years.

28. —All polar bears are left handed.

29. —Butterflies taste with their feet.

30. —Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

31. —In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

32. —On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

33. —Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.

34. —Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

35. —The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

36. —The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

37. —The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

38. —Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

39. —Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

40. —The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

41. —Most lipstick contains fish scales.

 

CheersJ

Sreenath

 

 
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The unlucky Sparrow Vs the lucky Bull Frog :(

The unlucky Sparrow Vs the lucky Bull Frog

 

Spectacular captures of the American Bullfrog preying on an unlucky sparrow. Growing up to a length of 20 centimeters or 7.9 inches, the bullfrog preys on any animal that it can overpower and stuff down its throat. Their stomachs have been found to contain rodents, small turtles, snakes, frogs including bullfrogs and birds of course. Ambush predators as they are known for, the bullfrog can be seen submerging large preys (in this case the sparrow) into the water to cut their air supply and defense. Check out the whole sequence of the bullfrog and the unlucky sparrow with 5 more pics after the jump........

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Sree...

"Getting stuck is not the problem. Staying stuck is."

 
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World's Tallest Dog

World's Tallest Dog

Standing at nearly 43 inches tall from paw to shoulder and weighing a staggering 245lbs could this be the world's new tallest dog? Pictured here in the parks of Tuscon, Arizona, George, a four-year-old blue great dane, looks more like a miniature horse than a dog.

 

'Giant George' and owner Dave Nasser share a couch together: The four-year-old blue great dane, weighs a staggering 245lbs and measures almost 43ins at the shoulder. The gentle giant, who measures 7ft 3ins from nose to tail, could be a prime contender to take the title from the former record holder, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane who passed away from cancer last August.

 

Now George's owners, David and Christine Nasser, are awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records to see if he has achieved the lofty heights.

 

'He's 42.625 inches at the shoulder,' said David. 'He's very very unique.'

 

According to David, George consumes 110lbs of food every month, and sleeps alone in his own Queen Size Bed.  David and Christine raised George from when he was 7 weeks old, but never expected him to grow so big.

 

 

Magnificent: George measures more than 7ft from nose to tail and tucks away 110lbs of food every month

 

With size comes problems: The giant great dane barely fits in the back of his owner's SUV

 

The couple eventually had to move their aptly named dog out of their king sized bed, when he grew too large for the three of them to share the same sheets.

 

Dr. William Wallace of the Buena Pet Clinic in Tucson, who witnessed the documentation necessary for the Guinness record, said: 'In my 45 years of experience working with giant breed dogs, without question, George is the tallest dog I have ever seen.'

 

David is currently rushing to get that necessary documentation into Guinness as other dog owners are coming forth claiming the record.  As they wait for the results to come through, George is busy occupying himself with his new found stardom and even has a Facebook fan page and Twitter accounts for his adorning fans. It appears as though the sky's the limit for this mammoth hound.

 

 

Paws for thought: George's giant feet dwarf his owner Dave Nassar's hand. Last August the world’s tallest dog, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane, passed away from cancer

Via: Link

 

 

Cheers…Sree

 

 
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