New York! New York! New York! (The Empire State)

(I took some pictures at New York, city of the cities, during our trip and I will write the picture stories of the trip in this series. Thanks!)

This is the Empire State building (with needle, right to the sunshine), which is the tallest building in New York City and second tallest building in North America. The Empire State building was opened in May 1st 1931 and it is also currently World’s 9th tallest building in the world. When it is totally finished its construction in (est.) 2009, the Burj Dubai Tower of Dubai, UAE will become world’s tallest building with its height, 818 m; 2,313 feet. Then, the Empire State building of NYC will be in the last number of top ten tallest buildings in the world.

Current Top Ten Tallest Buildings in the World

1) Taipei 101 (Taipei, Taiwan; 509 m; 1,671 ft; 101 floors)
2) Petronas Tower 1 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 452 m; 1,483 ft; 88 floors)
3) Petronas Tower 2 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 452 m; 1,483 ft; 88 floors)
4) Sears Tower (Chicago, USA; 442 m; 1,451 ft; 108 floors)
5) Jim Mao Tower (Shanghai, China; 421 m; 1,380 ft; 88 floors)
6) Two International Finance (Hong Kong; 415 m; 1,362 ft; 88 floors)
7) CITIC Plaza (Guangzhou, China; 391 m; 1,283 ft; 80 floors)
8) Shun Hing Square (Shenzhen, China; 384 m; 1,260 ft; 69 floors)
9) Empire State Building (New York, USA; 381 m; 1,250 ft; 102 floors)
10) Central Plaza (Hong Kong; 374 m; 1,227 ft; 78 floors)


Sources:
The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1985
The New York Times Almanac 2007
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html

New York! New York! New York! (Bell of Hope)

(I took some pictures at New York, city of the cities, during our trip and I will write the picture stories of the trip in this series. Thanks!)

We also visited at St. Paul church where is just right across from WTO towers and this is the ‘Bell of Hope,’ which was situated at the entrance of the church.

Accompanied by an honor guard of British Police Officers, the ‘Bell of Hope’ was presented to the people of New York by the Lord Mayor of London and the Archbishop of the Canterbury on September 11, 2002.

New York! New York! New York! (Statue of Liberty)

(I took some pictures at New York, city of the cities, last week and I will write the picture stories of the trip in this series. Thanks!)

On May 23 Friday, we visited at the Statue of Liberty.

The statue was much bigger than I thought before. According to the World Almanac and book of facts 1985 (page 454), the statue weighs 450,000 lbs (225 tons) and height from base to torch is 151 feet and 1 inch.

The following is an excerpt from the poem by Emma Lazarus:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses earning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

A Night Without Blanket in Hotel

May 21, 2008 (Wednessday)

Today, we stay at a hotel in Pennsylvania. When I see the bed (especially the blanket) in the hotel, I remember one of the nights in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Once, a rich friend visited Chiang Mai and he invited a few friends to have special dinner and to stay in the hotel if we wished. I was living in Chiang Mai at that time. After dinner, it was late and at that night, three people slept in a big hotel room. Since the air condition was being lunched in the room, it was cold (for me). In my life, it was the first time to sleep in a classic hotel room. I did not know if the blanket was in the bed or not. I thought it did not have the blanket. One of my friends who had the same experience also thought in the same way. In Burma, we usually get separate blanket/s in the hotel rooms.

I began to criticize the services of the hotel; how they were daring to let customers sleep without blanket, when it was cold in the room. My friend said to make a phone call and ask to provide the blankets. To make a phone call, I was afraid of because I felt it was too late to make an emergency phone call. Our dinner finished at about 2:30 AM.

Finally, we slept in the hotel room without blanket. Actually, we were sleeping on the blankets. We just did not know how to unfold the blanket or we did not know the blanket was neatly, flatly and systematically folded. We were very cold. We did not sleep well at that night because of cold. Every time we talked about that night with my friends, they always laugh at me.

It was true story and what a pity! You know what? And yet, we all were university students from Burma!


Picture: http://www.sanfrancisco.com/york-hotel/gifs/york_Hotel_bed2.jpg

Izana and GYM

Izana has finished his first gymnastic class on last Saturday (May 17, 2008).

This is part of his classwork. Thanks!

Better Consequences of Goodness

About nine years ago, I have read a letter in ‘Bangkok Post Student Weekly,’ in Thailand when I was a Buddhist monk. The BPSW copied that letter from ‘Dear Abby’ column of the Bangkok Post newspaper. The letter was written by a retired teacher from Minnesota, the United States, about one of her remarkable and historical experiences in her teaching life. I gave a presentation about this letter in my class on last Tuesday, which was the last day of our ‘Library Work Place Skills’ class. Some of my classmates asked to send about the letter to them and they wanted to share this with their children in their family. I rewrite or modify about the letter hereby as much as I remember.

As a young teacher, sometimes she got ‘laughs, noises’ and sometimes, bored behaviors from her students, under high pressures. One day, she decided to do something for fun with the students. She asked the students to take two or three papers out from their notebooks. And let them write every classmate’s name of the class on papers, and to leave a space about two or three lines underneath of each name.

After students wrote all names, she said to write the best things of each classmate in the blank lines under each name. Students thought, smiled and wrote the best things of all classmates on papers. As soon as students finished their writings, she collected all papers and brought them to home. On that weekend, the teacher was busy with cutting papers and making list. She cut every note of each name and make a list, which was a collection of the best things those other classmates said about someone in the class.

On Monday, she distributed all papers to each student. It was often a noisy class but on that moment, the class was extremely quiet because everybody in the classroom was interestingly and excitingly reading about his or her best things those other classmates wrote. About five minutes later, someone broke the silence with a surprise sound, ‘Really?’ Another one exclaimed, ‘Oh my god!’ Another one – ‘Wow!’ Another one – ‘Am I, really?’

The teacher created it to be just for fun in the class but what the impact of that little funny event was unbelievable. You know what? The class became a quiet class. All students’ behaviors have drastically changed. Everybody was nice, quiet, listening to the teacher, smiled, helped each other, love each other. Even she did not need to manage the class too much. It was totally unbelievable. What was the answer for that change, do you know? They all tried to maintain the best qualities those other classmates wrote, thought or believe. Do you see the better consequences of goodness on the others?

The story was not finished yet. Many years later, the teacher retired from teaching. All those students from her class were grown up. Some were high officers; some were professors; some were successful businessmen; some were CEOs, already. One day, she have received an invitation letter to attend to a funeral of one of her those students who was a captain in the United States Army, and died in the Vietnam war. At the funeral, she met all of her former students who were former classmates of the captain. They all were happy with sadness.

After the funeral occasion, parents of the captain invited the teacher and former classmates of their beloved son, to have a dinner altogether in their house, as the captain could wish. Parents, teacher and former classmates of the captain were in the dinner of large and long table. During the dinnertime, father of the captain gave special thanks to his son’s teacher and classmates and he said about his son’s story. They noticed that his son’s behaviors were changed after he graduated from high school. They thought it was his maturity as times went by. But he said that after he found something from his son’s body, he realized about the thing that make change his son’s life and behavior. It was a couple of papers with little handwritings, which was expressed the best things those his classmates wrote about him. The captain carried it everywhere he went, which means he treasured that note more than any other thing of his possessions. Other officers found it from his wallet when he died in the front line.

All classmates of captain cried. While all people in dinner were looking at the papers from the hand of captain’s father, one of them said that ‘I have it in our wedding album.’ And then, one after another said that they all kept those papers in their very important places and they read often, as well. Finally, the teacher, of cause, she cried and cried. Something she did with her senior students just for fun, created the better lives of them. Most of them became such successful and better citizens.

Better consequences always come from giving goodness on the others, and vice versa!


Picture: http://www.drjoyceglasser.com/images/sun.jpg

Independence Day of Austria

Today is the Independence Day of Austria. Austria gained her independence on May 15, 1955 from Germany.

Official Name: Republic of Austria

Area: 83,857 sq km. (32,377 sq. miles)

Cities: Capital – Vienna, Other cities – Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt

Population: 8.4 million (UN, 2007)

Religions: Roman Catholic 78%, protestant 5%, Muslim and other 17%Languages: German 92%

Type of Government: Parliamentary Democracy

GDP: $ 207.9 billion (1999)

Monetary Unit: 1 euro = 100 cents

President: Heinz Fischer

Internet domain: .at

International Dialing Code: +43

Official Web Pages: http://www.austria.gv.at/
http://www.parliament.gv.at/

Sources:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1032215.stm
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2004Picture: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/au-flag.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/au.html

Meanings of the Given Names (I)

Irving = Green River

People often ask me - what does my name mean?
Sometimes, I also ask other peoples if his or her name means something.
These are not important but it is good to know about each other in our cultures of mankind.
For my friends who want to know, the meanings of (Western) given names:Men’s Names (I)

Ian: (Hebrew-Celtic) Gracious gift of God
Ichabod: (Hebrew) Without glory
Ira: (Aramaic) Watchful; stallion
Irving: (Old English) Green river; sea, friend
Isaac: (Hebrew) He laughs, or the laughter
Isidore: (Greek) Gift of Isis, the Egyptian moon goddess
Ivan: (Hebrew) Gracious gift of God


Women’s Names (I)

Ida: (Germanic) Work, Industrious
Ileana: (Greek) From ancient Illum, or Troy
Imogene: (Latin, Celtic) Image, Girl or Daughter
Inez: (Greek-Spanish) Lamb; sacred and pure
Ingrid: (Old Norse) Daughter
Iona: (Greek) Violet-colored stone
Irene: (Greek) Peace, messenger of peace
Iris: (Greek) Rainbow
Irma: (Germanic) Universal
Irvette: (Old English) Sea friend
Isabel: (Hebrew-French) Oath of God, Oath of beat
Ivy: (Germanic) Clinging; from the plant ivy


Picture: http://home.uchicago.edu/~sushux/Chicago/green_river_gleacher.JPG

One passed; many are waiting for!

Today, one of my classes, which is Readers' Advisory has finished after we took the final exam. We read many books (at least 24 books) in this class and learn how to judge a book, how to give an advice about a book to the other readers and many others.
We read. We discussed. We agreed. We disagreed. We laughed. We absolutely had fun in this class.
One class has finished. Other classes in coming semesters are already waiting for me with new challenges.
Special thanks all my classmates and our instructor, Debbie Walsh!
I will miss all of you!


Picture: http://www.nassaulibrary.org/uniondale/database_d/pics/novelistcolor.gif

Quote of the Week: We had all this internal risk!

“Even when we started Google, we thought, “Oh, we might fail,” and we almost didn’t do it. The reason we started is that Stanford said, “You guys can come back and finish your Ph.D.s if you don’t succeed.” Probably that one decision caused Google to be created. It’s not clear we would have done it otherwise. We had all this internal risk we had just invented. It’s not that we were going to starve or not get jobs or not have a good life or whatever, but you have this fear of failing and of doing something new, which is very natural. In order to do stuff that matters, you need to overcome that.”

Larry Page
Co-Founder and President, Google

Source: Fortune Magazine, May 12, 2008


Picture: http://www.spock.com/i/AT1l3mKq5/Larry-Page.jpg

Meanings of the Given Names (H)

Hamilton = Treeless Hill

People often ask me - what does my name mean?

Sometimes, I also ask other peoples if his or her name means something.

These are not important but it is good to know about each other in our cultures of mankind.

For my friends who want to know, the meanings of (Western) given names:


Men’s Names (H)

Hamilton: (Old English) Treeless hill
Harley: (Old English) Hare, woods
Harold: (Old Norse) Army, power
Harrison: (Old English) Son of Harry
Harry: (Germanic) Home, rule
Harvey: (Celtic, Old French) Bitter; warrior; carnage worthy
Hector: (Greek, Gaelic) Defender; horseman
Henry: (Germanic) Home, rule
Herbert: (Germanic) Army, bright
Herman: (Germanic) Army, man
Hilary: (Latin) Cheerful
Hiram: (Hebrew) Brother is exalted; noble
Hobart, Hubert: (Germanic) Mind, bright
Homer: (Greek) A security or pledge
Horace: (Latin) Timekeeper
Hosea: (Hebrew) Salvation
Howard: (Old English) Sword, guardian; hedge warden
Hugh, Hugo: (Germanic) Mind or spirit
Humphrey: (Germanic) Giant, peace
Hyman: (Hebrew) Life

Women’s Name (H)

Hannah: (Hebrew) Grace; God has been gracious
Harriet: (Germanic) Home, rule
Hazel: (Old English) Of the hazel tree
Heather: (Scottish) Of the shrub heather
Hedda: (Old English) Robe
Helen: (Greek) Light
Helga: (Norse) Holy
Hephzibah: (Hebrew) On whom is my delight
Hermione: (Greek) Of the earth; of Hermes, messenger god
Hester: (Persian) A star
Hilda: (Germanic) War or battle
Hildegarde: (Germanic) War, knowledge
Holly: (Old English) Of the shrub holly
Hope: (Old English) Expectation of something desired
Hyacinth: (Greek-Irish) Of the plant hyacinth


Source: Smith, Elsdon C. “Vocabulary of Given Names.” The World Book Dictionary. 1968 edition. 1968.

Picture: http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~maher/air/115-08v.jpg

One Mission Accomplished

At the end of 2007, I had New Year resolutions. One of them was – no drink from January 1st to April 30th, 2008. I am not an alcoholic but the purpose was to reduce one-third of my drinking in 2008.
During the four months (January to April), I had some parties and dinners with wine, beer and whisky. I did not drink at all. One of dinners had Beer Chiang, which is my favorite Thai beer but I did not drink.
I kept my self-promise.
I am very proud of by myself.

Thank you, too.


Picture: http://www.gurusoftware.com/images/GuruNet/Accomplish.gif