posted August 26, 2006 06:18 AM         

Thank you for the picture.
I have always loved this one, Tesla in Colorado.

posted August 26, 2006 03:39 PM         

ELAN means:
Noun 1. elan - a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a kind of religious zeal"
ardor, ardour, zeal
avidity, avidness, eagerness, keenness - a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something
2. elan - distinctive and stylish elegance; "he wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer"
dash, panache, flair, style
elegance - a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste
3. elan - enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness; "a performance of great elan and sophistication"
sprightliness, liveliness, spirit, life - animation and energy in action or expression. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/elan

ardor: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a kind of religious zeal"
dash: distinctive and stylish elegance; "he wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer"
enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness; "a performance of great elan and sophistication"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Another unfamilar word to some folks:
KOAN....means:
Definitions of koan on the Web:

A paradoxical, and often senseless, question posed in Ch¡¯an Buddhism to aid in meditation. ¡°What is the sound of one hand clapping¡± is a well known koan. www.reasoned.org/glossary.htm

(Japanese) A technical term used in Zen Buddhism referring to enigmatic or paradoxical questions used by teachers to develop students¡¯ intuition. Also refers to religious problems encountered in daily life. www.thebuddhistsociety.org/resources/Glossary.html

the "Zen problem" or a Zen "story" or a theme of Zazen to be made clear. The word "koan" literally means "public document or case" www.hyattcarter.com/coming_to_terms.htm

(Japanese) A paradoxical anecdote or story; used to bring Zen students to realization and to help clarify their enlightenment. www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/glossary_fk.htm

a type of riddles used in Zen Buddhism in the form of questions or statements that defy conventional logic. Their purpose is to defeat the conditioned mind and open us up to one's original "Buddha nature" -- enlightenment. www.storytellingmonk.org/ref/glossaries/k.htm

A riddle with no logical answer used in the Rinzai sect of Zen to confound the conscious mind and allow the aspirant to achieve spontaneous insight. (Japanese)
members.tripod.com/hungahungas/glossary.htm

In Zen, a koan is a sort of word puzzle, assigned to students by their master. Strictly speaking, koans are not riddles, in that a riddle is a word puzzle which can, however tortuously, be solved rationally. Koans are intentionally beyond the power of the mind to solve. Their purpose is to force an intuitive leap which carries the student beyond the rational plane to an enlightened state, even if initially only for a moment. ... www.zoofence.com/define04.html

A seemingly paradoxical riddle or statement that is used as a training device in Zen practice to force the mind to abandon logic and dualistic thought. www.geocities.com/mokuraibozu/buddhist_glossary.html

(jap.) - In Zen a Koan is usually a part taken out of a Sutra, a talk about the Zen Experience or an episode out of the life of ancient masters. The heart of each Koan is the Paradoxon that goes beyond the normal way of thinking. The Koan is no "riddle" and cannot be solved intellectually; a solution is only possible when reaching the other shore www.khm.de/~fabian/ensoenglishglossar.html

In Zen Buddhism, a question that cannot be answered logically; a technique used to test consciousness and bring awakening.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767420438/student_view0/chapter4/glossary.html

a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

A koan is a story, dialog, question, or statement in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to Intuition. Koans are often used by Zen practitioners as objects of meditation to induce an experience of enlightenment or realization, and by Zen teachers as testing questions when a student wishes to validate their experience of enlightenment.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan

K¨­an is the reading of two different Japanese eras, each using different kanji. The First (ºë°²) lasted from 1278-1288, while the second (¿µ°²) was an era of the Northern Court lasting from 1361-1362
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan_(era)

K¨­an (ºë°²) was a Japanese era name after Kenji and before Sh¨­¨­ and spanned from 1278 to 1288. Reigning emperors were Go-Uda and Fushimi.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan_(first)

K¨­an (¿µ°²) was a Japanese era of the Northern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after Embun and before J¨­ji and lasting from 1361 to 1362. Reigning Emperors were Go-Murakami in the south and Go-K¨­gon in the north.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan_(second)

Find definitions of koan in: Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Dutch English French German Italian Spanish all languages

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&defl=en&q=define:koan&sa=X&oi=glossary _definition&ct=title

posted August 27, 2006 10:19 PM         

I like weird too. Love the trout baying at the Moon.

How's this one?

posted August 28, 2006 02:50 AM         

Yes, The Tesla Picture is for real!

THANK YOU!

posted August 29, 2006 03:05 AM         

(just kidding, of course.)

posted August 29, 2006 02:11 PM         

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

posted August 30, 2006 12:48 AM         

The red-haired gentlemen with the Falcon...
why couldn't I find a picture like that for you? (I tried). Something about it. Seems very You, Fayte.

Here's another one I liked, and thought you might too

posted August 30, 2006 01:41 AM         

Not ignoring everybody- school commences tomorrow night, and I've finally started looking for a place of my own to live! So...the past few days and the next couple of days I probably won't be online often enough to catch up with you ladies...but I'll try, and hope I'll be back soon!

Take care

posted August 30, 2006 10:27 AM         

D for Defiant Your own place! Good news!
And Good luck!

posted September 05, 2006 02:03 AM         

Hi. My current schedule is still quite hectic...I hope I'll get back to all of you as soon as I can. Thanks fayte- indeed, it's good news, isn't it? But finding a tiny little personal living space with a kitchen can be so very hard...I just couldn't believe what I had heard and seen. Just cultural differences here in Taipei from those of Britain and those of New Zealand, I suppose But I'll try settling down with a satisfactory suite or even a single room anyway

Lia, thanks for your encouragement- I have yet to find time to reply to you more thouroughly. My personal perceptions about Free Will and "God's will" are not two absolutes...hopefully I'll be back for more in time.

HSC, thanks for being kind to folks here at LL, we need your spirit here. I'm not sure if this is the best place to get back to you (I just saw some new threads started by yourself)- but I would like to say that I don't really want to make things such absolutes, and I think I met a guru of mine 3 days ago, and what happpened made me decide to re-read a book that introduces the theories of Jung (I recall that you made a reference about Jung somewhere else here at LL), and "The Conversations with God" trilogy- at least I can start with Book 1, I think. I became bitterly against the trilogy and virtually all the concepts presented in those books because I had always firmly believed that the concepts about death discussed in those books precipitated one of my drug-overdose suicide attempts, and the most fatal one among my six attempted suicides- I nearly died. I stopped breathing. I was that close.

I've been thinking recently that, maybe some books or teachings on life and death issues are well-intended and helpful to a certain extent, but to my mind, very often they could be very dangerous for suicidal individuals or depressed people who are prone to suicidal ideation.

More later.

posted September 07, 2006 11:11 PM         

LOL cute!