1. A drop of water…

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    If a drop of water falls in lake there is no identity.
    But if it falls on a leaf of lotus it shines like a pearl.
    So choose the best place where you would shine.

    Sms4smile

  2. Walking away

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    Life is too short.  Look out for yourself.  If someone continuously mistreats you, have enough respect for yourself to leave them.  It may hurt for a while, but it’ll be OK.  You’ll be OK.  Oftentimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to do with strength.  We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth, but because we finally realize our own worth.

    ~MarcandAngel

    http://leelavadeeflower.blogspot.com/2014/08/walking-away.html

  3. Report: Britain IDs man in video of Foley’s death

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    Caption :This image shows a frame from a video released by Islamic State militants on Aug. 19, 2014, that shows the killing of journalist James Foley by a militant who spoke with a British accent.
    (Photo: AP)

    Katharine Lackey, USA TODAY, August 24, 2014

    British intelligence officials have identified the man who killed an American journalist in a brutal beheading video that surfaced last week, NBC News reported Sunday citing unnamed U.K. security officials.

    NBC News said it has not yet confirmed the name of the suspect seen in the video released by Islamic State militants on Tuesday that shows the killing of James Foley, 40.

    Earlier Sunday, British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Westmacott, told multiple media outlets that officials were “close” to identifying the man.

    “We’re putting a great deal into the search,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union, referring to the use of sophisticated technology to analyze the man’s voice. Westmacott also spoke on NBC’s Meet the Press.

    In the video, the man who beheaded Foley is heard speaking with a British accent. United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond acknowledged last week that the militant in the video could be a British national.
    Steven Joel Sotloff, a photojournalist and former University of Central Florida student, remains a hostage of the terrorist group and was threatened with death in the same video.

    On Sunday, another kidnapped American journalist was released. Peter Theo Curtis, 45, who writes under the name Theo Padnos, had been held by the al-Nusra Front, a branch of al-Qaeda in Syria.

  4. AJ and the string beans

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    Seven-year old AJ brought me some string beans, but ate a few of them before handed them over. Then brought back another two! He said he likes the light green one more, but still wanted to bring back with him, both the dark and the light green ones.

  5. This Bulldog Was Stolen, Abused And Neglected, But 8 Years Later, She’s Found Her Way Back Home

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    Photo credit: @azcentral

    The Huffington Post, August 24, 2014
    By Dominique Mosbergen

    The last eight years of Fatcat the bulldog’s life have been hard. In 2006, she was reportedly snatched from outside her owner’s home and since then, she’s lived a life of neglect and abuse, apparently at the hands of people who had used her as a “breeding machine.”

    But Fatcat’s story recently took a wonderful, fortuitous turn — and today, against all the odds, she’s on the road to recovery and back home with her beloved owner of so long ago.

    LaShena Harris says she still remembers the day she lost Fatcat. She told Today.com that she had left the pooch outside her house in Memphis for just a few minutes as she ran in to get the dog’s new collar. When she emerged, however, Harris says she saw a “truck speeding off down the street” and her dog was nowhere to be found.

    “I knew whoever had her would probably breed her, and I would never see her again,” Harris said.

    Months passed, then years; and in that time, Harris moved from Tennessee to Arizona, and at some point along the way, she resigned herself to never seeing Fatcat again.

    That is, until a few weeks ago, when Harris got unexpected news: Her long-lost Fatcat, she learned, had been brought in to an animal shelter in Memphis.

    “The lady’s like, ‘I think I have your dog,'” Harris told Today.com of speaking to staff at the West Memphis Animal Shelter, who had found her thanks to Fatcat’s microchip. “I burst into tears at my desk.”

    But despite the amazing news, all was not well. Fatcat, it turned out, was very sick. Years of neglect, abuse and over-breeding had ravaged her body. She was suffering from heartworm and major dental issues, as well as a slew of other medical problems, writes the Arizona Republic.

    @azcentral

    Considering Fatcat’s condition and that Harris was finding difficulty getting the dog to Arizona, shelter staff floated euthanasia as an option. Harris said she was heartbroken and agonized over the decision. She wanted, after all, to see her furry friend again after all these years.

    But in the end, she didn’t have to make that hard decision at all.

    According to the Arizona Republic, a friend of the shelter’s director offered to drive Fatcat to Harris.

    The pair was reunited earlier this month.

    “I feel like the luckiest person in the world right now. I’m just glad she’s finally home,” Harris wrote on the GoFundMe page that she’s set up to help with Fatcat’s medical bills.

    So far, more than $7,000 has been raised and Harris says she’s been overwhelmed by the support she’s received from strangers around the world.

    “It’s been crazy, insane,” Harris told Today.com. “I’m so appreciative of it. These people don’t know me, they only know my story, and they still felt compelled to help me.”

    Link source

  6. Everybody hurts

    Comment

    Everybody hurts
    One of the songs I love most
    When your day is long
    And the night
    The night is yours alone
    When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life
    Well hang on

    Don’t let yourself go
    Cause everybody cries
    And everybody hurts
    Sometimes

    Sometimes everything is wrong
    Now it’s time to sing along
    (When your day is night alone)
    Hold on, hold on
    (If you feel like letting go)
    Hold on
    If you think you’ve had too much of this life
    Well hang on

    Cause everybody hurts
    Take comfort in your friends
    Everybody hurts

    Don’t throw your hand

    Oh, no
    Don’t throw your hand
    When you feel like you’re alone
    No, no, no, you’re not alone

    If you’re on your own
    In this life
    The days and nights are long
    When you think you’ve had too much
    Of this life
    To hang on

    Well, everybody hurts
    Sometimes, everybody cries
    And everybody hurts
    Sometimes

    And everybody hurts
    Sometimes

    So, hold on, hold on
    Hold on, hold on
    Hold on, hold on
    Hold on, hold on
    (Everybody hurts
    You are not alone)

    The Corrs Everybody Hurts Lyrics
    Artist: The Corrs Lyrics

  7. The Largest Galaxy in the Universe: IC 1101

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    December 27, 2013

    Source: fromquarkstoquasars.com 

    Galaxies. The Universe is littered with them. They have speckled the
    vast darkness of intergalactic space for 13-billion years with their
    numerous stars and planets.

    Galaxies are grouped within three size variations: dwarf galaxies, mid-range spiral galaxies, and gigantic elliptical galaxies.

    Dwarf galaxies – these are the smallest galaxies that have been classified. And they are rather small (relatively speaking; they’re still unbelievably large in “human terms”). Many of these galaxies are only about 200 light-years across, and contain only a few tens-of-millions of stars, weighing only slightly more than a star cluster.

    The second grouping includes the Spiral galaxies, such as our very own Milky Way (more specifically, it’s a barred spiral galaxy). These are the most common galaxies observed in the Universe, making up 60% – 75% of all galaxies ever found.

    Now we approach the largest galaxies – the Ellipticals. They range in shape from nearly spherical to nearly flat, and they can contain as many as a trillion stars.

    Image Credit: NASA

    Let’s get to the feature of this article – IC 1101. Shown in the image, IC 1101 is the single largest galaxy that has ever been found in the Universe. It is located almost a billion light-years away.

    Just how large is it? Prepare to have your mind blown, because this galaxy has a diameter of 6-million light-years and a mass of about 100-trillion stars. It is nearly 50x the size of our very own Milky Way galaxy and 2000x as massive. If our galaxy were to be replaced with this super-giant, it would swallow up both Magellanic clouds, the Andromeda galaxy, the Triangulum galaxy, and almost all the space in between. That is simply staggering.

    Over billion of years, galaxies the size of our own have collided and combined together to form this immense structure. Telescopic observations have also revealed an interesting fact about the stars within this galaxy. Normally, blue-tinted galaxies signal active star formation, while yellow-red hues indicate a cease in the birth of new stars. IC 1101 is giving birth to very few new stars. Unless it continues to collide and join with other younger galaxies, IC 1101 will eventually fade away.

Live & Die for Buddhism

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Me & Grandma

My Reflection

This site is a tribute to Buddhism. Buddhism has given me a tremendous inspiration to be who and where I am today. Although I came to America at a very young age, however, I never once forget who I am and where I came from. One thing I know for sure is I was born as a Buddhist, live as a Buddhist and will leave this earth as a Buddhist. I do not believe in superstition. I only believe in karma.

A Handful of Leaves

A Handful of Leaves

Tipitaka: The pali canon (Readings in Theravada Buddhism). A vast body of literature in English translation the texts add up to several thousand printed pages. Most -- but not all -- of the Canon has already been published in English over the years. Although only a small fraction of these texts are available here at Access to Insight, this collection can nonetheless be a very good place to start.

Major Differences

Major Differences in Buddhism

Major Differences in Buddhism: There is no almighty God in Buddhism. There is no one to hand out rewards or punishments on a supposedly Judgement Day ...read more

Problems we face today

jendhamuni pink scarfnature

Of the many problems we face today, some are natural calamities and must be accepted and faced with equanimity. Others, however, are of our own making, created by misunderstanding, and can be corrected...