text:
Long seeking it through others,
I was far from reaching it.
Now I go by myself;
I meet it everywhere.
It is just I myself,
And I am not itself.
Understanding this way,
I can be as I am.
Long seeking it through others,
I was far from reaching it.
Now I go by myself;
I meet it everywhere.
It is just I myself,
And I am not itself.
Understanding this way,
I can be as I am.
Very sweet. Thank you.
A masters handiwork cannot be measured
But still priests wag their tongues explaining the Way and babbling about Zen.
This old monk has never cared for false piety
And my nose wrinkles at the dark smell of incense before the Buddha.
by Ikkyu
__________________________________________________ __
I like this one, its a good reminder for me!
I like Ikkyu too - just recently picked up a book of his poetry:
Crow with No Mouth
I really like
we live in a cage of light an amazing cage
animals animals without end
Not that I know what it means! :wink:
With thoughts now, often
I go to open my mouth--
gone! like startled birds.
Out there on the ice
the game is playing the game:
nothing's quite like it!
I think I've posted this elsewhere here, but I really like it.
It's by Charles Simic, the poet laureate of the U.S.
I think it captures the simplicity of our sitting and the possible role of rituals, robes and rites.
Go inside a stone
That would be my way.
Let somebody else become a dove
Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.
I am happy to be a stone.
From the outside the stone is a riddle:
No one knows how to answer it.
Yet within, it must be cool and quiet
Even though a cow steps on it full weight,
Even though a child throws it in a river;
The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed
To the river bottom
Where the fishes come to knock on it
And listen.
I have seen sparks fly out
When two stones are rubbed,
So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;
Perhaps there is a moon shining
From somewhere, as though behind a hill--
Just enough light to make out
The strange writings, the star-charts
On the inner walls.
The other day after zazen, as my son slept I sat gazing at the most beautiful blue sky and big puffy white clouds, and I thought;
Sipping afternoon tea
Watching white clouds, blue sky
The clouds taste nice
I'm no poet and granted this thought was probably influenced by a lot of Thich Nhat Hanh, but it's what popped into my head. Today the sky's a bit grey. It'll probably still be grey after zazen, but that's ok. The clouds still taste the same.
TS Eliot's thesis on a Cat's Zazen!
from The Naming of Cats
"...But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name."
now if I can find a poem describing how a cat mindfully eats... Or I may have observe my Chloe and write one myself!
This is awesome guys. Good idea. Poetry corner.
This is from a teacher Ven. Shikai Osho from white wind zen sangha:
Green porcelain tiles
flecked red, gold.
yellow forsythia
caress azure sky
birds chatter and
under the walkway
old men and women
their cigarettes whisper
of the twenties,
the susurrus of their cloth shoes
echo the rythms
Isn't this fun, Thanks to everybody for posting such great stuff.
If anyone listens to Writer's Almanac on NPR, you heard this one today, but it just floored me.
Keys by Nancy Henry
When things got hard
I used to drive and keep on driving
once to North Carolina
once to Arizona
I'm through with all that now, I hope.
The last time was years ago.
But oh, how I would drive
and keep on driving!
The universe around me
all well in my control;
anything I wanted on the radio,
the air blasting hot or cold;
sobbing as loudly as I cared to sob,
screaming as loudly as I needed to scream.
I would live on apples and black coffee,
shower at truck stops,
sleep curled up
in the cozy back seat I loved.
The last time, I left at 3 a.m.
By New York state,
I stopped screaming;
by Tulsa
I stopped sobbing;
by the time I pulled into Flagstaff
I was thinking
about the Canyon,
I was so empty.
Thinking about the canyon
I was.
I sat on the rim at dawn,
let all the colors fill me.
It was cold. I saw my breath
like steam from a soup pot.
I saw small fossils in the gravel.
I saw how much world there was
how much darkness
could be swept out
by the sun.
Do you recognize this one?
the fool on the hill
sees the sun going down
and the eyes in his head
see the world spinning round
Shodoka: Song of Freedom
by Yoka daishi (Yongjia, d. 713)
translated by Yasuda Joshu roshi
and Anzan Hoshin roshi
Have you ever seen one of the Way?
Beyond action and beyond learning,
one is at ease,
not struggling against delusion
or grasping after the truth.
One sees the nature of ignorance
to be itself Essential Awareness,
and the illusion of ones own body
is the Realm of Reality.
Completely realizing
the Realm of Reality to be objectless,
one finds oneself the source of all things
and ones own nature to be Awake Awareness.
The five aggregates arise and decay like
aimless clouds,
the three distorted orientations come and go
like bubbles on water.
Realizing Suchness, neither self nor things exist;
in one moment cause and effect are liberated.
If anything I say is untrue
may my tongue be pulled out for countless eons.
In a single moment of direct awakening
to the Zen of Reality as a continuous presencing,
the six perfections and countless skillful means
are complete.
The six realms of existence are a dream,
in waking they are nowhere to be found.
No error, no happiness, no loss, no gain;
you wont find these in the Actual Nature.
Having given up wiping dust from the mirror,
its brilliance is completely seen.
Who is it that thinks of
notthinking and nonexistence?
The Unborn is realized
within the born.
Can a wooden puppet attain Buddhahood
by its practice of notthinking?
Without grasping at the four elements of this body,
drink and eat aligned with the Actual Nature.
Appearances are empty, all is impermanent;
this is the complete view of the Those Gone Into Thusness.
As a true monk I speak the truth.
If you dont agree with me, lets discuss it;
but remember that the Way of Awake Awareness
aims for the root
and is not tangled in branches and leaves.
The wish-fulfilling pearl is not recognized by beings
but here it is
within the matrix of Reality as a continual presencing.
The functioning of the six senses are neither
"is" nor "not,"
and come from luminosity neither
formed nor formless.
Clarifying the five kinds of vision
brings the five powers.
When you experience the truth
you are without speculation.
You can see your reflection in a mirror;
but can you grasp the moon
reflected in the water?
We always walk alone;
yet those who have attained all tread
the same Way of liberation.
Following this ancient Way, have a light heart.
Wild looking, bones hardened,
no one will notice you.
The poverty of a child of the Buddha is obvious,
but this poverty doesnt include her Zen.
Patched robes show ones poverty
but the mind of Zen is beyond all value.
This priceless jewel can be used without hesitation
in caring for beings and ripening potentials.
The three facets of Experiencing and four wisdoms are complete
in this treasure;
the six subtle perceptions and eight liberations are marks
from this seal.
Excellent students go right to the source.
Fair and poor are hesitant to reveal
and give up their soiled veils,
and are proud of their external struggling.
If folks argue and slander you, let them:
they are playing with fire, trying to burn the sky.
When I hear them, their words are drops of nectar
and show me that this moment is free from conception.
Abusive words are disguised blessings
and my abusers good teachers.
This mind has room for slander and abuse
and is itself unborn compassion and patience.
Penetrate both the Transmission and the teachings,
practice harmonization and radical insight with brilliance,
unclouded by notions of "voidness".
I am not alone in this attainment
which Buddhas numberless as grains of sand
have displayed.
Ill freely speak the lions Roar of Reality
which strikes fear into the hearts of beasts.
As the elephant flees, forgetting his pride
the heavenly dragon listens silent and joyful.
In the past Ive crossed mountains and rivers
searching for masters and teachings in Zen.
Now I know the path of Caoxi and
my realization is beyond birth and death.
Dont lose your Zen whether walking or sitting,
be at ease in speech or silence, moving or staying,
Be calm even when facing a sword
and your clarity will never be poisoned.
Our teacher Sakyamuni met his teacher Dipamkara
only after practising patience through countless eons.
Birth and death follow each other ceaselessly.
Awaken directly to Unborn Reality
and be free from joy about fame
or sorrow over loss.
Stay in hermitages
in mountains and valleys amongst the pines.
Practice joyfully in vacant cabins.
Live free from complexity.
Understand Reality and your actions are without effort
unlike the actions of the usual person.
Charity given within conditions for heavenly reward
is like shooting arrows into the sky.
When its force is spent, the arrow falls
just as beings go up, then down.
The realm of conditionless action is not like that:
it is a direct leap into the realm of Those Gone Into Thusness.
Go to the root, leaving the branches.
It is like the bright moon reflected in a crystal.
Understand the jewel of liberation
and use it to benefit yourself and all others.
The moon rises over the river,
wind moves in the pines
all through the night. Purity. Calm.
What does this calm mean?
Vividly see the precepts of Essential Awareness
and the seal of the mindground.
Dew, fog, clouds, mists
are the true robes of our bodies.
The monks bowl that subdued dragons,
the staff that calmed fighting tigers
with the sound of its hanging rings
are not just relics from some old fable
but symbols of the Thus Come Ones precious Teachings.
Dont seek truth or avoid delusion:
both are wholly empty, without form.
Neither empty nor formless,
this is the body of the Buddha.
The luminous mirror of Knowing reflects all shown it,
its vast brilliance pervades numberless worlds.
All that is, the ten thousand experiences,
arise as this luminosity beyond within or without.
Dont grasp at "voidness" and ignore cause and effect;
such reckless confusion leads only to suffering.
Rejecting the truth and grasping at entities is
also a mistake,
its like jumping into a fire to avoid drowning.
To reject delusion and grasp at the truth
suits perfectly the mind of like and dislike.
Students who practice this way,
its like mistaking a thief as your own son.
Ignoring the treasure of Reality and losing the merit
to Awaken self and others
is due to the eighth, seventh and sixth consciousnesses.
With direct insight into these, practice Zen
and realise the Unborn with Radiant Intelligence.
Be strong and use the sword of insight.
Its blade is sharp and bright as the vajra,
it severs confusion
and the pride of shining beings and demons.
The thunder of the Reality rolls:
beat the drum of the Teachings,
spread clouds of compassion
and loose the rain of nectar.
"Dragons" and "elephants" arise to benefit countless beings
and lead the five types of students through
the Three Aspects of the Teachings.
The milk from the Himalayas is pure and rich,
it makes the ghee that I enjoy.
One nature pervades all natures.
One thing holds all things.
One moon is reflected in all waters,
all these reflections are one moon.
The Realm of Reality of all Buddhas is my own nature,
my own nature is all the Thus Come Ones.
One stage of practice contains all stages,
without form, without thought or action.
In a finger snap eighty thousand doors are open
and three great eons vanish in an instant.
Names and categories and being without them
have nothing to do with Perfect Knowing.
It is without praise or blame,
It is without boundaries, like space.
It is wherever you stand.
It is free of struggle and searching.
It cannot be held or released.
Give up the search.
It is here.
Its silence speaks, its speech is silent.
Its great giving opens the door wide.
If you ask me what doctrine I teach
Ill tell you its Vast Awareness.
No one can agree or disagree with this
and even the shining beings can only speculate.
Having practiced this for many years,
I have no choice but to tell you the truth.
"Raise the banner of the Teachings,
proclaim the teachings of the Lineage."
Such was the Buddhas command to Caoxi.
In the Indian records, Mahakasyapa was the first
to receive and transmit the Lamp
and then down through twenty eight Ancestors.
Through the First Ancestor Bodhidharma
the Teachings of Reality came east to the Middle Kingdom,
through Six Ancestors who received the robe,
and then to countless who have realized the Way.
Truth does not stand alone, the false doesnt exist alone.
When ideas of being and nonbeing vanish
all is empty.
The teachings about twenty emptinesses
are intended to disentangle you;
All are the display of this one body
of the Thus Come.
Mind arises with experiences as its objects.
Subject and object are dust on a mirror.
Free of dust, the mirror shines.
The Actual Nature is known
when mind and things do not arise.
In this Age of Ending and this sad world
suffering beings resist the truth.
The time of the Buddha is long gone and confusion is deep.
Delusion is strong, practice is weak,
fear and hatred increase.
Hearing the Direct Way of the Thus Come,
some regret not being able to smash it to pieces.
Craving gives rise to suffering.
Dont blame others for your own actions.
If you dont want to live in suffering
do not slander the Teachings turned by the Thus Come.
Only sandalwood
grows with sandalwood.
Lions rest in dark groves, wander alone and at ease
where no other birds or animals are found.
Lion cubs follow the elders
and even a three year old can give the roar.
A fox, even if he trails after the king of the Teachings,
can still only yelp in vain.
The radical Direct Teaching is beyond sentiment;
there is no room for doubt or hesitation.
This monk doesnt say this to create divisions;
its just that you should know
about the trap of permanence and its opposite.
Right isnt "right," wrong isnt "wrong;"
yet an inch of deviation leads a thousand miles off.
A girl of the dragon people who didnt stray from the source,
at once realized Buddha,
while Sunaksatra was reborn in the hells.
In my youth I collected knowledge,
reading the Discourses and commentaries.
I fell into name and form, which makes as much sense
as trying to count the sands on the ocean floor.
The Buddha was speaking about me when he said,
"What gain is there in counting anothers treasure?"
I realized how for many years I had gone astray
and wandered lost.
Due to crooked inclinations and wrong views
the Thus Comes Direct Perfection is misunderstood.
Men of the Narrow Path practice without compassion,
worldly scholars have knowledge but no wisdom.
Foolish, with wrong interpretations,
they miss the pointing finger of the empty hand.
Mistaking the finger for the moon
their practice is confused
and they fabricate complexity with senses and objects.
When not one thing is seen, this
is the Realm of Reality as a Continual Presencing
and one is truly the Sovereign Seer.
Understand the truth, and all conditional hindrances
are nowhere to be found;
not knowing true emptiness you worry
about debits and credits.
This is like a starving man turning down a
feast for a king,
or someone ill refusing the physicians prescription.
Practice Zen in this world of desires
like a lotus blossoming in the midst of flames.
Even Pradhanasura, although he broke the grave precepts
woke up to the Unborn and achieved his realization of the Buddha.
Having heard the Lions Roar, the fearless teaching,
what will become of those who obstinately waver?
Breaking their precepts, losing their wisdom,
they ignore the open door to the Thus Come.
Once two monks, one who had committed sexual misconduct,
the other had taken life,
were condemned by Upalis flickering wisdom.
The great being Vimalakirti erased their doubts
like the sun melting frost and snow.
The inconceivable power to liberate beings
has activities numberless as the sands of the Ganges.
Making the four kinds of offerings,
even a thousand gold pieces would not be enough;
reducing bones and body to dust could not repay
words ensuring a leap over numberless eons.
This is the supreme Sovereign Reality,
the experience of countless Thus Come Ones.
Understanding what this precious jewel of mind is
I now transmit it to any who will receive it.
Seeing clearly, there is not one thing,
not man, not Buddha.
The worlds of the universe are like froth on the sea,
sages and wise men appear like lightening.
Even with a hot iron wheel burning on ones head,
great realized-practice will not be stirred.
Even if demons can cool the sun and heat the moon,
they cannot obstruct the truth of these words.
When an elephant drawn carriage moves
can a praying mantis block its passing?
Elephants cannot fit into a rabbits tracks,
enlightenment cannot be circumscribed.
Dont abuse the ultimate with narrow views.
If you are not yet clear, this Song gives the key.
This is my favourite teaching, The Song of Mahamudra. The great sage Tilopa is teaching Naropa. These are the ancestors of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. See if you can see the similarity to Shikantaza.
The Song of Mahamudra
Mahamudra is beyond all words
And symbols, but for you, Naropa,
Earnest and loyal, must this be said.
The Void needs no reliance,
Mahamudra rests on nought.
Without making an effort,
One can break the yoke
Thus gaining Liberation.
If one sees nought when staring into space,
If with the mind one then observes the mind,
One destroys distinctions
And reaches Buddhahood.
The clouds that wander through the sky
Have no roots, no home; nor do the distinctive
Thoughts floating through the mind.
Once the Self-mind is seen,
Discrimination stops.
In space shapes and colors form,
But neither by black nor white is space tinged.
From the Self-mind all things emerge, the mind
By virtues and by vices is not stained.
The darkness of ages cannot shroud
The glowing sun; the long kalpas
Of Samsara ne'er can hide
The Mind's brilliant light.
Though words are spoken to explain the Void,
The Void as such can never be expressed.
Though we say "the mind is a bright light,"
It is beyond all words and symbols.
Although the mind is void in essence,
All things it embraces and contains.
Do nought with the body but relax,
Shut firm the mouth and think of nought.
Empty your mind and think of nought.
Like a hollow bamboo
Rest at ease your body.
Giving not nor taking,
Put your mind at rest.
Mahamudra is like a mind that clings to nought.
Thus practicing, in time you will reach Buddhahood.
The practice of Mantra and Paramita,
Instruction in the Sutras and Precepts,
And teaching from the Schools and Scriptures will not bring
Realization of the Innate Truth.
For if the mind when filled with some desire
Should seek a goal, it only hides the Light.
He who keeps Tantric Precepts
Yet discriminates, betrays
The spirit of Samaya.
Cease all activity, abandon
All desire, let thoughts rise and fall
As they will like the ocean waves.
He who never harms the Non-abiding
Nor the Principle of Non-distinction,
Upholds the Tantric Precepts.
He who abandons craving
And clings not to this or that,
Perceives the real meaning
Given in the Scriptures.
In Mahamudra all one's sins are burned;
In Mahamudra one is released
From the prison of this world.
This is the Dharma's supreme torch.
Those who disbelieve it
Are fools who ever wallow
In misery and sorrow.
To strive for Liberation
One should rely on a Guru.
When your mind receives his blessing
Emancipation is at hand.
Alas, all things in this world are meaningless,
They are but sorrow's seeds.
Small teachings lead to acts;
One should only follow
Teachings that are great.
To transcend duality
Is the Kingly View;
To conquer distractions is
The Royal Practice;
The Path of No-practice
Is the Way of Buddhas;
He who treads that Path
Reaches Buddhahood.
Transient is this world;
Like phantoms and dreams,
Substance it has none.
Renounce it and forsake your kin,
Cut the strings of lust and hatred,
Meditate in woods and mountains.
If without effort you remain
Loosely in the "natural state,"
Soon Mahamudra you will win
And attain the Non-attainment.
Cut the root of a tree
And the leaves will wither;
Cut the root of your mind
And samsara falls.
The light of any lamp
Dispels in a moment
The darkness of long kalpas;
The strong light of the mind
In but a flash will burn
The veil of ignorance.
Whoever clings to mind sees not
The truth of what's Beyond the mind.
Whoever stives to practice Dharma
Finds not the truth of Beyond-practice.
To know what is Beyond both mind and practice,
One should cut cleanly through the root of mind
And stare naked. One should thus break away
From all distinctions and remain at ease.
One should not give or take
But remain natural,
For Mahamudra is beyond
All acceptance and rejection.
Since the Alaya is not born,
No one can obstruct or soil it;
Staying in the "Unborn" realm
All appearance will dissolve
Into the Dharmata, all self-will
And pride will vanish into nought.
The supreme Understanding transcends
All this and that. The supreme Action
Embraces great resourcefulness
Without attachment. The supreme
Accomplishment is to realize
Immanence without hope.
At first a yogi feels his mind
Is tumbling like a waterfall;
In mid-course, like the Ganges
It flows on slow and gentle;
In the end, it is a great
Vast ocean, where the Lights
Of Son and Mother merge in one.
Dear Bruce and Jordan,
Thank you very much for posting those translations of the Song of Freedom and the Mahamudra. Ah, they don't write stuff like they used to anymore!
I would like to underline just a few lines that echo some of what we have been talking about around here (of course, the way I put things is much less beautiful) ...
Such good stuff! Gassho, Jnot struggling against delusion
or grasping after the truth.
One sees the nature of ignorance
to be itself Essential Awareness,
and the illusion of ones own body
is the Realm of Reality.
Completely realizing
the Realm of Reality to be objectless,
one finds oneself the source of all things
and ones own nature to be Awake Awareness. [Jundo]
--- [From the Mahamudra]:
Do nought with the body but relax,
Shut firm the mouth and think of nought.
Empty your mind and think of nought.
Like a hollow bamboo
Rest at ease your body.
Giving not nor taking,
Put your mind at rest.
Mahamudra is like a mind that clings to nought.
Thus practicing, in time you will reach Buddhahood.
Realizing Suchness, neither self nor things exist;
in one moment cause and effect are liberated.
If anything I say is untrue
may my tongue be pulled out for countless eons. [Jundo]
Dont lose your Zen whether walking or sitting,
be at ease in speech or silence, moving or staying,
Be calm even when facing a sword
and your clarity will never be poisoned.
I think someone could make a lifetime examining the song of freedom.
Glad you appreciate it.
Ive never really written any poetry, but this one sort of popped into my head while thinking about Nishijima Roshis analogy of a pearl on a razors edge for describing our freedom of choice in the present moment. Anyway, for what its worth...
A blade of grass in the wind,
a withered leaf on a tree.
Seemingly bound,
yet perfectly free.
A pearl on a razors edge
no place to abide.
How, what, where, when?
Only you can decide.
sitting with a cake
iced with brightly burning flames
one big breath and ..... pouf!
changing on the fly
motion flows into motion
in pursuit of pucks
Part Two XII
"Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Pour yourself out like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.
Every happiness is the child of a separation
it did not think it could survive. And Daphne, becoming a laurel,
dares you to become the wind."
by an other
Urug 8)
How do you know there is grass under the snow if it's unseen?
Or is it metaphorical?
all one, yet boundaries?
now if it weren't for precepts
I'd never find them
This came to me while I was running awhile back.
A Runner's Haiku
Running three miles
For the first time
The trees give high-fives
This is one of my favorite poem
I do not cease swimming in the seas of love,
rising with the wave, then descending;
now the wave sustains me, and then I sink beneath it;
love bears me away where there is no longer any shore.
-Al Hallaj-
Down on the Zafu
The world will reveal as one
Who does the breathing?
As for the precepts:
when do I truly mind mine
if I mind others'?
How is a haiku defined? I always thought it was 5 syllables, than 7, than 5. But I see many here and in other places that do not follow this structure.
Does a Haiku have set 'rules', or is it ultimately beyond set definitions?
Is this yours Keishin?Originally Posted by Keishin
I like it very much.
I second that.Originally Posted by DontKnow
Why, thank you kindly--Kelly and Bill
Yes, I did write it.
There was another which arose at the same time:
I don't need others
to keep the precepts for me
after all, they're mine!
but of the two, I liked the first one better.
anyway, when the brain synapses get something out, it's pretty cool...rare, but that's what makes it so cool.
I am blown away by the wonderfully talented, creative, artistic folks here. A little might be rubbing off on me (I've only been doing haiku since blogging here).
Yes, thank you Harry, for the lesson in haiku. I'm telling you--if I stick around here long enough, I just might end up with an education!
Hello Kelly and others here:
I actually like to work with the 5, 7, 5 constraint. Getting a thought to fall within it is a bit of a challenge. English is awkward and doesn't easily lend itself to it--but that's precisely what I like about it. I like to discover the seed of the thought, just as it 'germinates.' To me, it is bonsai prose/poetry: small, yet complete.
Having the 5, 7, 5 form requires me to work with the thought a bit--when the lines find themselves, it's a little like putting a puzzle ring back together--taaa daaaa!
I agree, I have a couple other Haiku, but they just don't seem complete yet, not until I reach the 5-7-5 outline. That is not to say I 'grasp' for such conformity, but I kind of like the challenge of complying with it.Originally Posted by Keishin
I've never really been one for poetry, but recently Haiku have been popping into my head (or at least the seeds from which to grow a 'complete' haiku). These tiny poems fascinate me a bit. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and yet a handful of carefully constructed words can paint a vivid picture.
I also find that some of the haiku here, such as your last couple Keishin, remind me a little of Koan, which also intrigues me.
The sky and I laugh
at the grass.
The grass and I laugh
at the sky.
The sky and the grass
at me.
In each case, I laugh
at myself.
In each case, I laugh
at nothing.
two thousand and eight
is three hundred sixty five
one by one by one....
happy everyday,every day, this new year!
All phenomena are impermanent
our emotions bring pain
there is no inherent existence of things
there can be nothing to gain
Buddhism is beyond culture
but practised by many human beings
their traditions are the cup
that holds the true teachings
Look beyond the words
look beyond the robes
look beyond the rituals
Dharma is also a verb
The mind is the Buddha,
the Buddha is the mind,
Beyond the mind there's no Buddha,
beyond the Buddha there's no mind.
From the Bloodstream sermon attributed to Bodaidaruma
Will could probably make a rather fly house-mix out of that! Hey Will?
Thanks for the idea. 8)
Is Bodaidaruma: Bohdidharma in Japanese?
Gassho will
Yep!Originally Posted by will
When you understand,
reality depends on you.
When you don't understand,
you depend on reality.
When reality depends on you,
that which isn't real becomes real.
When you depend on reality,
that which is real becomes false.
When reality depends on you,
everything is true.
From the wake-up sermon attributed to Bodaidaruma.
In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?
-Rabia al Basri-


text:
World Flora Online – project update October 2012
The United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) set as its Target 1 for the updated Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) "an online flora of all known plants" by 2020. The GSPC was first adopted in 2002 by the international community with the aim of halting the loss of plant species by 2020. In 2010 a revised series of specific targets were adopted, including the call for the completion of this World Flora. This target must be seen in the context of continued loss of plant diversity where ca.100,000 plant species, about a quarter of the world's total, are known to be currently in danger of extinction in the wild. There is currently no comprehensive and scientifically valid over-view account of the world's plant diversity available that can be used to monitor conservation efforts or as a basis for determining future priorities in botanical research and conservation. The Missouri Botanical Garden, as a global leader in botanical systematics and conservation, has committed itself to promote this community effort and facilitate the completion this massive task.
The World Flora Online will be an open-access, Web-based compendium of the world's plant species. It will be a collaborative, international project, building upon existing knowledge and published floras, checklists and revisions. In addition, it will also require the collection and generation of new information on poorly know plant groups and plants in unexplored regions. The World Flora Online is conceptualized as a ten year project implemented in several phases.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli in for Terry Gross.
Another 2013 interview we're happy to repeat in this end of year look back is Terry's conversation with comic Amy Schumer. Her Comedy Central series, "Inside Amy Schumer," will return for a second season next year, and she's currently on a U.S. comedy stand-up tour that runs through the spring.
When Terry spoke to Amy Schumer in June, the first season of "Inside Amy Schumer" was just about to conclude. Her TV show is a mix of stand-up, sketch comedy and interviews. But her comedy persona on stage is that of an attractive, middle-class, educated, single woman who's a little slutty.
As her executive producer Dan Powell put it, she can say the most filthy, obscene things in the sweetest manner. She won't be sweetly obscene in this comedy with Terry, but it is an adult conversation about her comedy and there may be some punch lines that you won't want to explain to young children.
Here's an example of Schumer's stand-up comedy from the first season of "Inside Amy Schumer."
AMY SCHUMER: I'm a little sluttier than the average bear. I really am, a little sluttier. I can be honest about that. Like I'm no stranger to Plan B, I'll say that. I'm not like what is that, like I know what that is. It's the morning-after pill. You can take it the night before if you're feeling amped, you know, just like walk by a mirror, catch a glimpse of yourself in a new tube top, like whoa, pop, you can do that.
You feel like such a dirty whore buying Plan B. It is so embarrassing because it's over-the-counter, but you have to ask your pharmacist. And they know what you want, but they make you ask. They're looking at me; I'm like you see where my eyeliner is. Just give it to me.
SCHUMER: The staring contest. What, do you think I'm here because it's allergy season, really?
That's Amy Schumer from her show "Inside Amy Schumer." Amy Schumer, welcome to FRESH AIR.
SCHUMER: Thank you for having me.
GROSS: My sense of responsibility as a journalist requires me to say you really can't take Plan B the night before, so...
SCHUMER: Oh yes, uh...
GROSS: I just want to make sure everybody knows that that's a joke and that they don't try that, so...
SCHUMER: It didn't even occur to me that someone would take that as actual advice. Wow, I should really have more ownership over that. But I like that that was one of the cleaner clips that you found to play.
GROSS: Yes, exactly, exactly. So I just have to ask you: Do you really think of yourself as a slut?
SCHUMER: I often wonder how attractive I am and how slutty I am. That's something I'm back and forth on. But I think I have been promiscuous, and I think a lot of women have. So I like to talk about it as a way to maybe make those other women feel less alone and less strange and dirty about their own actions.
GROSS: Tell us more how that became your comic persona.
SCHUMER: That wasn't on purpose. I started out very much set-up, punch line. And I think, you know, I started when I was 22 or 23 years old. So I've always been sexual. I've always been a sexual girl, but it just, it was coming out more and more in my stand-up. So it wasn't a conscious decision, but then I was getting ready to film my hour special for Comedy Central, and they said, you know, it's a lot of stuff about sex. Can you maybe mix it up more, maybe some racism or something else?
SCHUMER: And I said, well, I said why don't we just call it "Mostly Sex Stuff." And so it was kind of like a lazy decision, and that was really when I realized wow, this is, it is a lot of stuff about sex. But I didn't grow up hearing any women really delving into that side of themselves, and so I thought OK, maybe I can be this person for women and for men just to hear the woman's perspective in a, you know, a like less apologetic, honest way.
And I don't know if I'm going to veer away from that or what, but I've been trying to keep it pretty natural, just stuff I'm interested in talking about.
GROSS: So a lot of male comics talk about sex a lot onstage.
SCHUMER: Yeah.
GROSS: More than your average female comic does. What did you take from that male approach to sex comedy, and what did you reject from it?
SCHUMER: Oh, I don't know that I could really generalize the male approach to comedy and sex, but I do know that I'll get offstage, and the club owner will be like that was a lot about sex. And they would never say that to a male comic, Dave Attell or Jim Norton would never get offstage and have a promoter of a theater or a club go over, like, you like to talk about sex.
You know, so it's just this - that was made such a - that there's such a stigma with being a woman who talks about sex, and there's just sort of no repercussions, I think, if you're a male comic that talks about sex. They wouldn't label you that way, I don't think.
GROSS: So you do talk a lot about sex onstage, and you do use the word vagina a lot onstage. Were you always comfortable talking about sex in front of a microphone and using that word? Because I think a lot of girls grow up feeling, like, so uncomfortable using any word that describes the sexual parts of their body.
SCHUMER: I'm glad you asked that. Yeah, I - well, one thing is my mom, other than - I have a joke where I say she - oh, I'm going to bring her to a soccer game because I want to show her what boundaries look like. I just grew up in a house where things weren't that taboo to talk about. And my mom when she was teaching us how to say our different body parts taught me how to say vagina the same that she taught me how to say ear.
I think she wanted us to be able to tell her if we were ever molested without being embarrassed. And so there wasn't this sense of shame, and I was running around naked to an age that probably wasn't appropriate and just never was made to feel embarrassed or ashamed of my body or think anything was wrong with me.
You know, and to a - probably to a fault because now if I do a photo shoot, and - I'm a comedian, but if any woman shows up to a photo shoot for a magazine, it's usually, you know, they sexualize it. And so they'll be like well, what about with your shirt off. And I'm like sure just because I don't think of that as a big deal. But as I'm getting older, I'm learning to put more value and value my privacy more of my body and some of my personal information.
I definitely am an over-sharer, and I'm trying to get better with that. As I'm becoming more well-known, I - it's more important for me to keep some of my information private.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is comic and actress Amy Schumer, and her show on Comedy Central is called "Inside Amy Schumer."
So you do some interviews in your shows, and in one set of interviews you're interviewing people on the street about whether they sext or not and whether they like being sexted. And I - do you ever do that?
SCHUMER: Do I sext? Oh, you mean have I ever sent like a sexual message to somebody over text?
GROSS: Yes, or a picture of yourself?
SCHUMER: Oh yeah, definitely. I - you know, now that I'm more well-known, I can't put my head in them.
GROSS: But now, I've definitely over the years, yeah, I've been in long-distance relationships, and it's definitely happened. Yeah, I have definitely engaged in sext messaging and received and sent dirty photos. What about you?
Who, me?
SCHUMER: Sorry, I just, I couldn't help myself.
GROSS: So one of your sketches ends up with - I forget whether you're sexting or what, but it ends with you turning on the end of like an old black-and-white like 1930s or 1940s movie where like the romantic finale is the kiss.
SCHUMER: Right.
GROSS: And it's so chaste and romantic compared to all the sexting and everything. And do you think that that's the kind of split that you sometimes have in your own life of, like, doing all this, like, explicit stuff but loving, like, the romantic fantasies of, say, old 1940s movies?
SCHUMER: Yeah, I think so, and the scene where I'm sexting, I'm sitting there, and a guy doesn't know where he's catching you. He's like what are you wearing. And I'm sitting there, and I'm wearing a T-shirt with a cat on it, wearing a bonnet that says Downton Catty. And I'm eating pasta with my hands. And so I wrote that scene, and I thought what if I wrote back what I was actually thinking, which is, you know, he's like what do you want me to do to you, and I'm like tell me I'm safe in my apartment.
SCHUMER: Tell me what all the remotes do. And then also trying to navigate what does this guy want me to say. You know, like just I don't know. But yeah, like just, that girls - I still do want that romance and to be adored by someone, but then there's also this high demand to be super sexual, and that's being asked I think of a lot of women more and more now. I'm assuming with the younger generation, the sort of sexual demands are so much higher now.
And so I just - I think that scene is just showing a real girl just trying to navigate this new territory.
GROSS: I worry about those sexual expectations.
SCHUMER: Sure.
GROSS: You know, I think for some young women, the attitude is, well, now that we've all been through feminism, now it's safe to be sexual objects again and to learn how to strip for our boyfriends and become pole dancers.
SCHUMER: Right.
GROSS: I mean, do you find that disturbing at all?
SCHUMER: Yeah, I think it's totally disturbing. I feel very lucky that I grew up before Facebook and before Internet porn. I - it's such tough territory to navigate now. And I'm just dealing with guys that came up on the end of it, where they just were exposed to it. You know, they're in their 30s, and some of them have a lot of trouble with it. And there's new addictions because of it and these new expectations on these girls.
Like I didn't feel any pressure when I was younger to be overly sexual because there wasn't that much exposure to it.
BIANCULLI: Amy Schumer, speaking to Terry Gross in June. More after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
BIANCULLI: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli in for Terry Gross back with more of Terry's June 2013 interview with comic Amy Schumer. We're replaying it as one of our favorite interviews of the year.
GROSS: So there's another sketch I want to play, and this is - this is a real girl thing. It's a sketch about how girls handle compliments from other girls. And this sketch starts with two girlfriends running into each other on the street, and Amy Schumer enters the scene a little bit later.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Oh my God, Bree(ph), you died your hair. It looks amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (as Bree) Oh no, you're just being nice.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) No seriously, it looks great.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (as Bree) No, I tried to look like Kate Hudson but ended up looking like a golden retriever's dingleberry. But you, look at your cute little dress.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Little? I'm like a Size 100 now. Anyway, I paid like $2 for it. It's probably made out of old Burger King crowns. I look like a whore locked out of her apartment.
SCHUMER: (as herself) Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Amy, hi. Hey. I love your hat.
SCHUMER: (as herself) Are you drunk? I look like an Armenian man. People are trying to buy carpets from me.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Excuse me, when did you start working for NASA? You're weightless.
SCHUMER: (as herself) (Bleep) you. I'm a (bleep) cow. Indian people are trying to worship me. I sleep standing up in a field.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Fancy meeting you girls here.
SCHUMER: Of course I see everyone when I look like Susan Boyle's toothbrush.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (as Jessica) You look so pretty.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Ms. Jessica(ph), congrats on your big promotion beeatch.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (as Jessica) I'm going to get fired in like two seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character)No.
SCHUMER: (as herself) I'm legally retarded. On my SATs I just drew a picture of a house on the first page and ate the rest.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (as Jessica) Lindsey(ph)...
GROSS: That's a sketch from "Inside Amy Schumer," and Amy Schumer is my guest. I recognize that, I really do.
SCHUMER: Well, good.
GROSS: That sense of, like, if somebody says something nice to you that you have to somehow answer it with a self-insult, with something like really self-derogatory.
SCHUMER: SCHUMER: Yeah, I think a lot of it...
GROSS: Why is that? What is that about?
SCHUMER: I don't - I have some ideas. I think it might be because we're afraid of jealousy from other women, or it might be from actual self-hatred, but I know that every girl I know does that. And - but I think that scene, it kind of - it went viral, you know, whatever that means. A lot of people watched it and responded to it. And especially women, of course, and they - everybody just recognized that behavior in themself.
And I think it has affected the women that have seen it. It's affected me because you catch yourself doing that. We just noticed we were doing it around the writers' office and to a ridiculous degree. We just thought let's shine a light on this, and we do that as much as possible on the show, but I'm glad that that one resonated with people.
GROSS: So this was women in the writers' office doing that?
SCHUMER: This - well, I mean, we all - every scene wound up being a big collaboration, but yeah, it was the women in the office doing it. The men, I've never noticed men doing that. I'll be like that's a great shirt, and then the guy will just wear that shirt all week.
GROSS: So if somebody compliments you now, instead of like putting yourself down - now that you're aware of this syndrome, do you just say thank you, how nice.
SCHUMER: I really tried but I still struggle with that. I still will catch myself. I do it. Yeah. But I think I probably do it half as much now that I - but there's a lot of my standup that I will say and then recognize that behavior in myself that I still do it. I think a lot of comedians do.
GROSS: One of the things you say in one of your stand-up routines is that every woman has probably been a little bit raped. What do you mean?
SCHUMER: Let's get into it, Terry.
GROSS: Yeah. Well, what do you mean by that?
SCHUMER: Most women I know, that I'm close to, have had a sexual experience that they were really uncomfortable with and that if it wasn't completely rape, it was something very similar to rape. And so I say it's not all black and white. There's a gray area of rape, and I call it grape.
And it's the guy you went home with in college, and you said no, and then he still did it. Or maybe you woke up, and it was somebody you were dating, and they were - you know, there's just so many different things that can happen. And so it's not always this, well, you're going to jail, you know, and that's it.
There's other stuff where it's like wow, it would be so - it would be so much work, and it would be such a life-changer for me to - for me to press charges or take any action against this person. But every girl I know has had some experience that is kind of like grape.
GROSS: Do you get a big response when you say that?
SCHUMER: Yeah, the women all laugh. And then the men look to see if they're allowed to laugh, and then they laugh. And I wondered when I first started that, and then when everything happened in Steubenville, I wondered oh, should I stop saying that. But it just really still struck a chord in people, and it was a powerful response of just yeah, that's true. It was just another yeah, this is something that happens.
GROSS: So are you at all concerned that making jokes about being, you know, quote, slightly raped will, like, diminish the importance of talking about rape and of taking it seriously?
SCHUMER: No, not the way I'm saying it. If anything, I hope it will raise more awareness and make people feel more comfortable having a conversation about it. If you listen to the whole - that whole joke, I say someone sleeping, that's a no. Because I say that at a certain age, men take a woman sleeping as a suggested no. And I say that's a no. And I say there's this other area, and I say everyone has been a little raped.
I think I'm bringing the conversation to the table so that people will feel more comfortable to talk about it. I'm in no way - my intention is not to minimize how serious rape is, and I don't think I'm doing that, and that's not the response that I've gotten to that joke. But I - and I do take more responsibility now over my material and the reaction to it, and I was especially careful with that, with that subject.
BIANCULLI: Amy Schumer speaking to Terry Gross in June. More after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
BIANCULLI: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianaculli in for Terry Gross back with more of Terry's June 2013 interview with comic Amy Schumer. We're replaying it as one of our favorite interviews of the year.
GROSS: You've done some very high-profile roasts, like Charlie Sheen and Roseanne Barr - who she really complimented you at the end of that roast.
SCHUMER: I know. I started crying.
GROSS: Oh, seriously?
SCHUMER: It was so nice. Yeah. I was so moved by that.
GROSS: I think that was a first time I ever heard your name, in fact.
BIANCULLI: You don't think...
GROSS: You know, I turned onto the end of the roast and Roseanne Barr is saying: And that Amy Schumer, she was so funny. And I thought oh, Amy Schumer? Who is - I don't know who that is. Who is that?
SCHUMER: Oh, that's awesome. Roseanne plugged me and made you discover me. Yeah. That was such a special moment. And, yeah, I was really not expecting that. It's a roast, it's such, you know, everyone's claws are out, and then to get a compliment like that from someone I just grew up loving and thinking was so hilarious was...
GROSS: And from somebody who just had every insult in the books thrown at them in a comedic fashion.
SCHUMER: Yeah. I think the comedians really - that's such a place for comedians to shine. We just know that there's no venom and it's just we just appreciate each other constructing jokes. And I did my best to be careful. I'm more careful with women at those roasts, just I think just not to - I wouldn't want to say anything that would actually offend.
GROSS: Why are you more careful with women?
SCHUMER: There's just more territory that I feel like it's you can't say certain things to women. I think attacking a woman's appearance is - I just know how wounding that is and I don't think...
GROSS: Too much like daily life itself.
SCHUMER: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Just too many people just every day will say something, just a backhanded compliment, or just a flat-out insult. And maybe they don't even realize that - they think it's something that you've accepted or, you know, and they'll just hand you a new insecurity, and I would not want to be someone to do that.
So I definitely, you know, said hard jokes but I wouldn't say anything about a woman's appearance that I thought might hurt her feelings.
GROSS: Have you said anything at a roast that you've regretted?
SCHUMER: No. I have not said anything a roast that I regretted. Yeah. No.
GROSS: You did say one thing about Ryan Dunn from "Jackass" after he died...
SCHUMER: I guess you regret me saying it.
GROSS: No. I have no position.
GROSS: I didn't even - I didn't hear the roast, I just, you know, read about it but...
SCHUMER: Right.
GROSS: A lot of people were very offended by what you said. And you've said that you even got death threats afterwards.
SCHUMER: Yeah.
GROSS: And that's kind of scary to think about - that you're at a roast where it's like your job to say really insulting things, but then people could get so angry that they threaten you.
SCHUMER: Yeah. That was really surreal. It was - the joke was I said: Steve-O, one of the "Jackass" guys, his friend - one of the other "Jackass" guys had just died in a drunk driving accident. And so I said: Steve-O, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend Ryan Dunn. I'm sure you must be thinking it could've been me. And I know we were all thinking, why wasn't it?
So the joke was sort of, I felt like, the formula of any roast joke. It takes something that you're not supposed talk about and then twists that into an insult. And I thought it was very typical and didn't see anything that was too much about that. I'm also used to playing with comics and just we go after each other so horribly.
One of my friends at the Comedy Cellar, you know, they post the lineup of what comedians are performing, and one of them works under an alias because too many fans show up. And the alias he chose was the name of one of our other friends who works there, his stepfather who used to beat him up.
Who used to beat him so, you know, just to mess with him. So we all just go after each other's jugular all the time, and I just didn't think that that joke was a big deal. I didn't think it was a joke about making fun of somebody who died. I thought it was a joke making fun of Steve-O. And, yeah, and then people's reaction to it, I was really surprised because that joke wasn't a big deal in the room.
At the actual roast, there wasn't a huge reaction to it. But the way it was edited, they cut to Steve-O and he looked so sad and I'm sure if I saw that I would've thought, oh, gosh, that was too much or something. But the way it happened in his reaction and, you know, I've spoken to him since. He's a friend.
I knew what my intentions were saying that joke and I just - I never felt like I'd made a mistake. And I'm not - I've made several mistakes in my life and I don't think I'm above it, but I don't think that was one of them. I stand by - I stand by that joke.
GROSS: When you were in high school you were voted Class Clown and Teacher's Worst Nightmare. I think this was in 1999. What were your reasons for being voted Teacher's Worst Nightmare?
SCHUMER: That was an award that I won. And half my teachers, like my English teacher and my history teacher were shocked. Because if it was a class I was really interested in I would just listen and be attentive and was a good member of the class. But if it was a class that I struggled or I felt wasn't, you know, like business law, I remember, those are the classes I would kind of act up in.
And I've always just - I would say the funniest thing I could think of. I still am the same way with - like the other day I was on an Amtrak train and the train broke down and so the conductor came back and he was talking to our car and he said, you know, the train was not working and we're going to switch trains. And people are saying, well, do you know what time - people were asking questions.
And I just raised my hand. I'm like who do you think is going to win "The Voice"? Just, you know, I just started asking the most unrelated, worthless questions.
SCHUMER: And it's the same stuff I was doing in high school. So it was just me making dumb jokes.
GROSS: So when you did this on the Amtrak that was recent?
SCHUMER: Yeah. That was probably a month ago.
GROSS: Weren't you a little concerned that somebody would go that's Amy Schumer and then tweet about it? And...
SCHUMER: I'm still...
GROSS: Yeah.
SCHUMER: I'm still not at all - I guess I'm in denial about that still. Like, I - people will call my name now and it scares - it just scares the life out of - I just (gasps). I gasp every time. I am not used to that at all. And, no, so that didn't occur to me.
And, yeah, that is true. I think that will hinder my being an idiot in public. I really do. And that is something I will really miss, you know, should this path continue. You know, there's always a chance that I will slip back into obscurity.
GROSS: Amy Schumer, it's been great to talk with you. Thank you so much.
SCHUMER: Thank you.
BIANCULLI: Amy Schumer speaking to Terry Gross in June 2013. One of our favorite interviews of the year. Season two of "Inside Amy Schumer" begins next year on Comedy Central and in the meantime, Amy Schumer is spending the spring on a nationwide comedy stand-up tour.
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Jon D'Amore thought his cousin was giving him a great 22nd birthday when he sent him to Las Vegas back in 1975 and told him to open a $25,000 credit line.
D'Amore was in Los Angeles at the time, and hung up the phone wearing a big grin.
"I thought it was a big party," he said, not realizing until later that he was being drawn into the underworld, something straight out of The Godfather and something from which his closest family members had been shielding him.
"I was a musician before, during, and after that," he recalled during a recent interview prior to his return to Hudson County for his second book tour, highlighting his book, "The Boss Always Sits in the Back," which recounts what has become the adventure of a lifetime. It is a tale in which he learned the meaning of "family," not merely in the mobster sense, but also what it means to be loyal and true to those people who share his blood and genes.
A family adventure
D'Amore grew up in Hudson County and lived in Union City, until he moved to Secaucus when he was 12.
His father, Carmine "Rocky" D'Amore, served as president of the textile union for two decades, in a county and time where unions often equated to mob-connected. Union City was the place where the murder of Jimmy Hoffa – a national union leader – was allegedly plotted.
But D'Amore's father and others wanted their children to escape the scourge of a life of crime.
D'Amore, who had a number of talents, pursued music, and became a member of the Union City Beatles – following in the footsteps of the Fab Four, who he still adores.
This led him to a career as a session musician, and while he was in Los Angeles, his cousin's call steered him back into the world his father hoped he would escape.
His book recounts the adventure and its aftermath, giving details about a major gambling scam that eventually went sour.
"When we got caught, they drove me out to the desert," he recalled. Although nothing happened, it could have.
Much of the money that came from the operation in Las Vegas flowed back through Hudson County, feeding the mob operations here. Although at first D'Amore's cousin handled the cash deliveries, at the end, D'Amore did so himself, dropping off cash in Secaucus that eventually made its way to operators in Bayonne.
While the tale has a more or less happy ending for D'Amore, some of the people involved in the scam did not fare so well, including one Bayonne mobster whose body was later found floating near a marina in Carlstadt.
"The scam ended in October, 1977," D'Amore said.
"When we got caught, they drove me out to the desert." – Jon D'Amore
Part of this had to do with his being caught and part of it had to do with legalization of gambling in New Jersey. The passage of a referendum in 1976 was promoted by then-state Senator and Union City Mayor Bill Musto and the establishment of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
By June 1977, new regulations curtailed schemes like the one D'Amore was involved in and led directly to the end of the scam in Las Vegas.
But for D'Amore, there was a larger lesson in all of this that involved his relationship and his trust in his family, and how he learned to respect these people despite their chosen profession. His book is largely about the process of learning this lesson and his special relationship with his cousin and godfather. He calls it a story of love, honor, respect, and a young man's loss of innocence.
D'Amore is returning to Hudson County for a second book tour and has been invited to several private functions as well as book signings in towns were he lived or grew up. On Nov. 7, due to popular demand, D'Amore will speak at the Bayonne UNICO chapter. A day later, he will hold a public event as the Secaucus Public Library, 1379 Paterson Plank Road at 7 p.m.
On Tuesday, Nov. 13, he will appear at The Dante Alighieri Society in for another private function, and then he will be at the Bayonne Public Library, located at 697 Avenue C, on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.
On Nov. 15, he will be appearing at a public event at the William V. Musto Cultural Center, located at 420 15th Street in Union City at 7 p.m., and then on Nov. 16 he will do a book signing at the Tachair Bookshoppe, located at 260 Newark Avenue in Jersey City, at 7:30 p.m.
On Nov. 18, D'Amore will return to Weehawken to the Nutrition Center, located at 201 Highwood Avenue, at 2 p.m.
"I went to school in Weehawken for four years," he said. "It'll be like going home again."
But with screenplay on the horizon and a possibility that the book could be picked up by a major publisher, D'Amore will also be making other appearances in the area as well as visit to publisher and radio shows.


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I'm a huge fan of Howard Devoto and all his work with Buzzcocks, Magazine, Luxuria, solo etc. Feed the Enemy is my blog set up to promote this. I make no money from the site nor is it linked officially to Howard or any of the related bands or individual members. It is just a fans blog, nothing more. If you don't like any of it. Well, that's your loss, not mine.
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EBC Exercise 11 gpio Polling and Interrupts
Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder
In the previous exercise (EBC Exercise 10 Flashing an LED) we saw how to interact with the general purpose I/O pins via the command shell and the sysfs files. These are rather easy ways to work with gpio; however they tend to be slow and require a lot of the CPU. In this exercise we explore using sysfs via C. We also see how using interrupts can greatly reduce the CPU usage and increase our max output speed.
gpio via C and sysfs
Since /sys/class/gpio/gpio60/value
is just a file, we can read and write it from a C program just as easily as from the shell. Example of GPIO access from within a C program is a nice example of how it's done, but the page is gone. I've cleaned it up a bit and put a copy called togglegpio.c in exercises/gpio. If your git repository is set up just:
beagle$ cd exercises beagle$ git pull beagle$ cd gpio beagle$ gedit togglegpio.c &
(Follow the instructions EBC_Exercise_05_Getting_Exercise_Support_Materials if you aren't set up for git.)
It's presently hardwired to use gpio130. Later you will get to make it work with any port.
- Compile and run it. Does the correct waveform appear on the oscilloscope?
- Use htop to measure the CPU usage.
- Try different periods. Make a chart of the input period vs. the measured period vs. CPU usage.
- How stable is the waveform? Look at several cycles. Are they always the same length. Explain.
This program is really interrupt based. When the usleep command is run, the process suspends until the correct time has elapsed. Other processes are allowed to run. When the time is up the CPU is interrupted and our process is allowed to continue.
gpio via Interrupts
Next we want to write some code that will read one gpio pin and copy its value to another. We could modify togglegpio.c to continually read one pin and write it to another, but that would wither be slow at responding to changes (a usleep is used between reads), or it would take all the CPU time (always reading in case a change was made).
A better approach is to let the OS tell you when the input has changed. In a traditional microprocessor one would set up the input pin to interrupt the processor when its input value has changed. We'll do something similar here.
The folks at RidgeRun have a nice example of how this is done.
Look over the example. The first part should be familiar. The new stuff starts here. It describes how to use the poll() command to wait until the gpio pin has changed. Your process will block (i.e. let other processes run) while poll() waits for an interupt to occur.
I've put a modified copy of gpio-int-test.c in gpio. Get it. Study it. Compile and run it. You'll need to setup an input signal. Use the switch from a previous exercise. It is on gpio7. Try it. Does the program respond correctly?
Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder


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10 Matthiola Iron Apricot More
Freshness guarantee | Fast Delivery
Matthiola Apricot 55cm 10 stems, courier deliver to mainland UK.
We guarantee all of our floral products to last min 7 days (if less will be stated on the product description) 14 days for flowering plants and 1 month for green plants but with proper care and attention plants can be enjoyed for years to come. If something isn't quite right, contact us and we will go the extra mile to make it perfect
Unfortunately, due to the fresh nature of our products, lengthy periods of time spent in transit can cause the quality of our flowers to deteriorate.
We regret to inform that we do not deliver to the following postcodes:
INVERNESS HS1-8, IV41-49, IV51, IV55-56 ISLE, ISLE OF MAN IM1-9, IM99 ISLE, KILMARNOCK KA27-28 ISLE, OBAN PA20-33, PA35-38, PA49, PH36-39, PH49, PH50 ISLE, OBAN PA62-72, PA74-75, PA80, PA40-41 ISLE, OBAN PA34, PA41-48, PH42-44 ISLE, OBAN HS9, PA61, PA73, PA76-78 ISLE, OBAN PA60 ISLE, ORKNEY KW15-17 ISLE, SHETLAND ZE1-3 ISLE TRURO (Scilly Isles) TR21-25 ISLE. JE, GY (CHANNEL ISLANDS), AB, DD3-DD11, DG3-16, EH35-46, TD1-14, FK14, FK17-21, G83-84, ML11-12, KA6, KA18-19, KA26, KY9-10 KY14-16, PH3-18, IV1-28, IV30-32, IV36, IV40, IV52-54, IV63, KW1-14, PH6-35, PO30-41
Please note: If the item you are ordering is in stock and available you can select next day delivery by courier on most of our flowers/plants. Alternatively, you can pre-order/purchase your item and select a specific date from thecalendar availability at checkout. You will receive an email with a tracking link when your flowers/plants have been dispatched on the evening before delivery. Your flowers/plants will be delivered between 8am and 8pm, by ournext day courier delivery service, Yodel. Delivery is available Monday–Saturday on orders placed before 5pm, (unfortunately we do not deliver on Bank Holidays at the moment, but are working on it). Yodel has an SMS service whichwill update and advise you with a 2 hour delivery window on your delivery day.Approximately 98% of our deliveries will be received the next day (if ordered before 5pm), or on your chosen date, on rare occasions your delivery may be made the following day.In case of a non-delivery we will resend a fresh order at the earliest possible date or we will refund you in full, please note, you can select either option, but not both. Due to the perishable nature of our products we are unable to accept returns.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tax-free shopping on the Internet could be in jeopardy under a bill making its way through the Senate.
The bill would empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.
Under current law, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state. As a result, many online sales are essentially tax-free, giving Internet retailers a big advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.
The Senate voted 74 to 20 Monday to take up the bill. If that level of support continues, the Senate could pass the bill as early as this week.
(More: In October, Arkansas Business looked at how brick-and-mortar retailers in Arkansas have been dealing with online competitors who face no sale taxes.)
Supporters say the bill is about fairness for businesses and lost revenue for states. Opponents say it would impose complicated regulations on retailers and doesn't have enough protections for small businesses. Businesses with less than $1 million a year in online sales would be exempt.
"While local, community-based stores and shops compete for customers on many levels, including service and selection, they cannot compete on sales tax," said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation. "Congress needs to address this disparity."
And, he added, "Despite what the opponents say this is not a new tax."
In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales tax when they file their state income tax returns. However, states complain that few people comply.
"I do know about three people that comply with that," said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the bill's main sponsor.
President Barack Obama supports the bill. His administration says it would help restore needed funding for education, police and firefighters, roads and bridges and health care.
But the bill's fate is uncertain in the House, where some Republicans regard it as a tax increase. Heritage Action for America, the activist arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, opposes the bill and will count the vote in its legislative scorecard.
"It is going to make online businesses the tax collectors for the nation," said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. "It really tramples on the decision New Hampshire has made not to have a sales tax."
Many of the nation's governors — Republicans and Democrats — have been lobbying the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from onlinesales, said Dan Crippen, executive director of the National Governors Association. Those efforts intensified when state tax revenues took a hit from the recession and the slow economic recovery.
"It's a matter of equity for businesses," Crippen said. "It's a matter of revenue for states."
The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the U.S. totaled $226 billion, up nearly 16 percent from the previous year, according to Commerce Department estimates.
The bill pits brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart against online services such as eBay. Amazon.com, which initially fought efforts in some states to make it collect sales taxes, supports it too. Amazon and Best Buy have joined a group of retailers called the Marketplace Fairness Coalition to lobby on behalf of the bill.
"Amazon.com has long supported a simplified nationwide approach that is evenhandedly applied and applicable to all but the smallest-volume sellers," Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global public policy, said in a recent letter to senators.
On the other side, eBay has been rallying customers to oppose the bill.
"I hope you agree that imposing unnecessary tax burdens on small online businesses is a bad idea," eBay President and CEO John Donahoe said in a letter to customers. "Join us in letting your members of Congress know they should protect small online businesses, not potentially put them out of business."
The bill is also opposed by senators from states that have no sales tax, including Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Baucus said the bill would require relatively small Internet retailers to comply with sales tax laws in thousands of jurisdictions.
"This legislation doesn't help businesses expand and grow and hire more employees," Baucus said. "Instead, it forces small businesses to hire expensive lawyers and accountants to deal with the burdensome paperwork and added complexity of tax rules and filings across multiple states."
But Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the bill requires participating states to make it relatively easy for Internet retailers to comply. States must provide free computer software to help retailers calculate sales taxes, based on where shoppers live. States must also establish a single entity to receive Internet sales tax revenue, so retailers don't have to send them to individual counties or cities.
"We're way beyond the quill pen and ledger days," Durbin said. "Thanks to computers and thanks to software it is not that complex."
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or distributed.)


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NFL Football 2013: 5 Things We Learned From Week 9
Week 9 of the 2013 NFL season illustrated that no lead is safe, and no outcome is a given. Here's what we learned on Sunday:
NFL Head Coach Is a Stressful Job
The Denver Broncos and the Houston Texans each suffered the temporary loss of their respective head coaches this weekend. While Denver was on bye when John Fox was taken to a hospital after suffering light-headedness while playing golf in the Charlotte area on Saturday, the Texans (2-6) led 21-3 over Indianapolis (6-2) at the half when Houston head coach Gary Kubiak collapsed on Sunday night. He was taken by ambulance to an area hospital with a diagnosis pending. The Colts rallied past the Texans in his absence, escaping with a 27-24 win. The health issues that both Fox and Kubiak suffered in mid-season illustrate the toll that the job takes.
The Chiefs Are Undefeated…and Lucky
Kansas City (9-0) trailed 10-3 in the second half and was backed up to its own goal line when Bills' undrafted rookie quarterback Jeff Tuel made a dreadful mistake. He missed the wide open Stevie Johnson, but hit Chiefs' corner Sean Smith right in the hands with an interception that was returned 100 yards for the tying score. Buffalo (3-6) seemed to have the game very much in command before the pick-six, but Kansas City rallied afterward, ending up with a 23-13 win. No one doubts the Chiefs' talent, but wins like this affirm their good fortune, too.
Nick Foles Is the Eagles' Quarterback
After faring poorly before leaving a loss against Dallas with a concussion a few weeks ago, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles seemed to have played his way out of the starting job with Philadelphia (4-5). On Sunday, Foles restated his case with an NFL record-tying seven touchdown passes against the Raiders in the Eagles' 49-20 win over Oakland (3-5). Foles victimized the Raiders' secondary for 406 yards, while completing 79 percent of his passes. So far this season, Foles has thrown 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. It's hard to imagine anyone — including head coach Chip Kelly — making a case for Michael Vick to return to the starting job once his injured hamstring is fully healed.
The Jets Only Win on Odd-Numbered Weeks
When Cincinnati blew out the Jets (5-4) last week, it seemed to hint that New York's run of good luck in 2013 might be over. No problem: the Jets relied on their skill to breeze past New Orleans (6-2) on Sunday, 26-20, as former Saints' running back Chris Ivory victimized his former team for 138 yards and a score. The victory was New York's fifth on an odd-numbered week; the team has lost on all even-numbered weeks in 2013. The trend makes Rex Ryan's team destined to be mediocre. Even still, the Jets remain in the AFC playoff hunt.
The Seahawks Are Only as Good as They Need to Be
Despite possessing the NFC's best record, Seattle (8-1) hardly seems like a juggernaut. For the second consecutive week, the Seahawks narrowly escaped a loss when they rallied from a 21-0 deficit to beat Tampa Bay (0-8) on Sunday, 27-24, in overtime. Pete Carroll's team has developed a propensity to play to the level of its opposition, but a team with Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch shouldn't need overtime to beat a Buccaneers' team led by quarterback Mike Glennon.


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text:
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders broke ground on fewer homes in November after starting work in October at the fastest pace in four years. Superstorm Sandy likely slowed starts in the Northeast.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders began construction of houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 861,000. That was 3 percent less than October's annual rate of 888,000, the fastest since July 2008.
Still, the decline follows months of strong gains. Housing starts remain on track for their best year in four years, and the housing market overall appears to be sustaining its recovery.
An encouraging trend was that applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, rose to 899,000 in November, the most since July 2008.
"Growth in housing starts was extremely strong in the prior three months ... so some giveback is not a concern at this point," said Robert Kavcic, an economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Housing starts fell 5.2 percent in the Northeast from October to November. Starts in the West fell 19.2 percent. Over the past year, housing starts have declined nearly 26 percent in the Northeast, the only region to record a year-over-year drop. That suggests that Sandy slowed construction in the region.
Thousands of homes destroyed by the storm will likely be rebuilt in coming months, economists say. But the increase in construction starts won't likely be noticeable on a national scale or in any single month.
Patrick Newport, a housing economist at IHS Global Insight, estimates that about 40,000 destroyed homes will be rebuilt over the next three years. The rebuilding will boost housing starts by 16,000 next year, 16,000 in 2014 and about 8,000 in 2015, Newport estimates. Next year, housing starts could reach 900,000, so the rebuilding from Sandy will scarcely move the national data.
The overall slide in construction in November was due mostly to single-family homes. Builders began work on 4.1 percent fewer single-family homes than in October. Construction of apartment buildings, which tends to fluctuate sharply, dipped 1 percent in November.
Housing starts were 21.6 percent higher last month than in November 2011. Housing starts are far above the annual rate of 478,000 touched in April 2009, the recession low. They're still well short of the roughly 1.5 million annual rate consistent with a healthy market.
But numerous signs suggest that the housing market is picking up. Builder confidence rose in December for a seventh straight month to the highest level in more than 6½ years, according to a survey released Tuesday by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo.
The index of builder sentiment rose two points to 47, the highest since 2006. Builders are more optimistic, in particular, about current sales and buyer traffic, the survey found.
Readings below 50 still signal negative sentiment about the housing market. But the index has been rising since October 2011, when it was 17.
More people are looking for a new house or apartment, encouraged by modest job gains, a gradually improving economy and mortgage rates near record-low levels. At the same time, fewer homes are available for sale. The low supply is helping lift prices.
Sales of previously occupied homes rose 2.1 percent in October. New-home sales fell slightly that month, slowed by steep declines in the Northeast from Superstorm Sandy. But they were still 17 percent higher that month than in the same month a year ago.
Sandy struck the East Coast on Oct. 29, disrupting businesses and cutting off power to 8 million homes in 10 states.
Though new homes represent less than 20 percent of the housing sales market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to data from the homebuilders association.


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In October 2011, Edward Bond's seminal play Saved returned to London for the first time since 1984, provoking questions about the nature of violence in our society.
Violence is a controversial subject. It exists in a range of guises, from global, large-scale wars to trivial domestic disputes; however, it is continually present in our society. The reasons and excuses for violence are manifold and discussions about the nature of violence are ongoing. It is not easily explained but neither can it be ignored.
British playwright, Edward Bond (b. 1934), offers some enlightening thoughts on violence in the preface to his play, Saved (1967). Though the primary focus of Bond's understanding of violence is that "the cause and solution of human violence lie not in our instincts but in our social relationships." Bond rejects the idea that violence is ingrained in humankind and argues instead that its expression always relates to social injustice and threats to human dignity. This is a view later echoed by other critics, such as prison psychiatrist, James Gilligan, who states in his writings on violence that he perceives it always to be "provoked by the experience of feeling shamed and humiliated."
Bond's play, Saved, famously contains a great deal of violence: there is a notorious scene involving the killing of a baby by a group of boys, which was enough to get the play banned outright on its release. The Royal Court produced the play regardless and it became one of the productions instrumental in ending theatre censorship in Britain. The boys in Bond's play belong to a social system that they feel no connection to; they are disenfranchised and vent their frustration through aggression and anger. Bond suggests that the structure of capitalism is built upon this cyclical violence: the violent behaviour of the underclass provides justification for the ruling classes to further deepen the social divide. This injustice is then the foundation from which aggression grows.
Saved has not been shown in London for almost 30 years but this October the play will run at The Lyric Hammersmith in a new production directed by Sean Holmes. It is impossible to avoid the significance of this timing. London is still gathering itself after the onslaught of the August 2011 riots and there is a sense of bewilderment about the violence that sprang up, seemingly unprovoked. In the preface to Saved, Bond speaks of an "unidentified discontent" that plagues the young men in the play; it is a term not unfitting for the riots. The reasons why each of the individuals involved in the riots acted as they did are perplexing, and sometimes puerile but, as Holmes identifies: "The reason it was so disturbing was because it told us something about our society." And it was something that we hadn't necessarily realised was there; an "unidentified discontent."
There are clear parallels with the play, but Holmes is adamant that the socio-political content has meaning that transcends the riots: "The relevance of Saved is highlighted by the riots, but its relevance has always been there." What is unsettling about the scene with the boys and the baby is that it forces us to ask questions about the society we live in, in the same way as the riots shook the foundations of what we understood as society. However, the themes of the play are not reserved for these extraordinary events, when the anger rises to the surface, but instead demonstrate the inherent violence in the system. Sean Holmes is more interested in the rest of the play, which he suspects people may have forgotten, as he hopes it will surprise people and connections will be formed between all scenes and the famous scene. Simply remembering that scene out of context does not offer the same profound insights as the play complete: violence is, in fact, far more everyday, it exists in the very fabric of our social structure. "The play is full of acts of violence. Whether it's leaving the baby to cry in scene four and ignoring it; or whether it's Harry cutting the bread in scene 11 or the threading of the worm onto the hook at the beginning of scene six."
The violence in the play is pervasive but also, with some exceptions, fairly banal. It is a difficult play, with its inhumane moments, but there is something very solid and very familiar about it: "On one level it is about cups of tea and the absurdity of arguing over whose teapot it is, and at the same time that argument is about something incredibly profound and human and difficult that we all recognise and understand." It is a play that asks questions of the audience and even Bond continues to question the motives and intents of his characters. Speaking passionately about the dialogue that has emerged between the parties involved during the rehearsal process, Holmes comments: "It has been brilliant having Edward in the room: the questions he asks and the questions we ask are very stimulating about why the characters behave in the way they do."
Edward Bond is often, perhaps unfairly, portrayed as an "uncompromising artist" and his work has been more welcomed on the French stages than the English over the last decade. However, he did retain a partnership with the Birmingham-based Big Brum Theatre in Education company, for whom he wrote a number of different plays targeted towards a younger audience and there looks set to be renewed interest in his work with The Lyric's Edward Bond season. Saved is the first of a set of four plays being produced by the theatre, and it will be followed in April by Chair (originally written for radio and broadcast in 2000), Have I None (2000) and The Under Room (2005) (both originally written for Big Brum). Have I None will be directed by Sean Holmes, whilst the other two will be directed by Bond.
Unlike Saved, these three plays are set in the future world of 2077 and deal with the possibilities of society: "With Saved you see society as it was then; with the later works you are looking at the potential for it, what it might become." Despite the often grim reality of Bond's plays, there is a glimmer of hope offered: the end of Saved suggests redemption, or at least optimism, with the fixing of a broken chair. Chairs feature in all the Bond plays showing at The Lyric and Holmes explains how they demonstrate Bond's ability to "give very ordinary objects extraordinary stage presence and power."
If the riots across Britain were symptomatic of a growing disillusionment with society and a lack of community engagement, then Bond's plays throw this into relief. His works explore the relationship between young people and authority and offer political commentary. The showing of Saved and the other plays at The Lyric will open up a dialogue around these topics, forcing questions that should have been asked long ago. The Lyric Hammersmith maintains a strong connection with its community and runs Free First Nights to all its main house shows for those who live or work in Hammersmith and Fulham. This community-minded approach proffers something of an antidote to the social discontent demonstrated by the London riots, and the production of a play like Saved urges the audience to examine society more closely, in order to better understand the violence that lurks beneath the surface.
Bond identifies the heart of this comprehension: "In Saved the young men commit their murder in the park in order to regain their self respect. Anyone who does not understand this cannot understand the contradictions and torments of living in a modern city, or write meaningfully about the play, or teach it usefully to students, or understand their own society or even properly understand themselves. And in particular they cannot understand the recent riots – or know where they will lead." Bond is not suggesting that self-enlightenment is offered by the play, but rather that in recognising, or at least trying to recognise, why his young protagonists act as they do, we can learn something fundamental about our own society.
Saved ran at The Lyric Hammersmith from 6 – 12 October 2011, followed in April 2012 by Chair, Have I None and The Under Room. www.lyric.co.uk
Bryony Byrne