I am thankful

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I AM THANKFUL: FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT、 BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME、AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE. FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO、BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS. FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME、NOT ON THE STREETS. FOR THE TAXES I PAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED . FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTYBECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS. FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT. FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING,WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING,AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME . FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION . FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM. FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR. FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR. FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD. FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE. AND FINALLY、FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME. SEND THIS TO SOMEONE YOU CARE ABOUT. I JUST DID. Live well、Laugh often、& Love with all of your heart! --

Condolence to the Chan Family

One of our Dharma brothers, Mr. Sing Chan, the father of Irene just passed away today at 10:45am in Toronto Grace Hospital.

Our condolence to the Chan family.

We are dedicating our upcoming Wednesday practice to Mr. Chan.

May Mr. Chan be reborn into a realm that is full of Bodhisattvas and Dharma.

May the Triple Gems be with him always.

Boundless blessings...

--

Computation Earth Week Event 2009

Computation Earth Week Event 2009

presented by: Computation Ltd.

Starts: April 18, 2009 10:00 AM
Ends: April 24, 2009 07:00 PM

Cost: Free

Looking for an environmentally sensitive and privacy ensured method to dispose of your unwanted computer equipment? Leave it with Computation for FREE.

Hours:
10am-7pm Monday through Friday
10am-6pm - Saturday and Sunday.

Businesses and individuals with large quantities and those that require a pick-up should contact us. All information present on systems will be securely destroyed.

For more information contact:
Phone: 416-629-5667

Address:
Computation Ltd.
Jane & Ardagh Street
Map to this event

TTC: From Jane subway station, take the #35 Bus north to Ardagh Street.

www.computation.ca

April 18, 2009 Free Computer Recycling Drop-off for GTA Residents

Dell Free Computer Recycling Drop-off for GTA Residents

presented by:
Dell Canada

Starts: April 18, 2009 10:00 AM
Ends: April 18, 2009 03:00 PM

Residents of the GTA can drop off any make or model of computer, notebook, monitor, printer as well as peripheral devices including computer speakers and mice to be recycled free of charge. Only computer-related equipment will be collected at this event. This is a safe and secure way to recycle electronics.

For more information contact:
Phone: 416-758-2365

Address:
Dell Canada
155 Gordon Baker Road
Highway 404 and Finch
Map to this event

TTC: From Don Mills station, take the #25 Bus to McNicoll Avenue, then take the #42 Bus to Gordon Baker Road.

www.dell.ca

April 18 & 19, 2009 Conference on "Buddhist Training in Japan"

In case you are interested:

The University of Toronto/McMaster University Numata Buddhist Studies Program
invites you to a conference on

"Buddhist Training in Japan"

University of Toronto
Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Avenue, Combination Room

April 18-19, 2009

This conference will explore the issue of Buddhist training in Japan. “Training” will be taken in its broadest sense, including, but not limited to, formal monastic training, sectarian University education, ascetic practices, growing up in a temple, parishioner study groups, and meditation retreats. We will consider a variety of texts and practices across a wide range of historical periods with an aim to move past categorical distinctions such as elite/popular, doctrine/practice, text/ritual, and monk/layperson. For example, in the formal and informal training of a Japanese priest in the present day, we can see the ways that doctrine is “practiced” as well as the specific texts that form the basis of that practice. A focus on training provides an excellent opportunity for comparative work both within Buddhist studies and within the larger field of Religious Studies. Participants will be encouraged to consider aspects of training that could be seen as uniquely Buddhist and those that would be more fruitfully viewed in broader cultural and political contexts.


CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Saturday April 18

Breakfast 8:30 - 9:15

9:20 - 11:00 Panel One - Codification, Orthodoxy, and Training

Michel Mohr (University of Hawai'i) - Spiritual Energy in Action: The Dynamics of Training According to Tōrei

Mark Blum (SUNY at Albany) - Revisionism or Revitalization? The Rebirth of Jōdoshū Samādhi Training in the Edo & Meiji Periods

John LoBreglio (Oxford Brookes University) - Standardizing Lay Training in Meiji Sōtō Zen

Discussant: Duncan Williams (UC Berkeley)

11 - 11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 - 12: 30 Panel Two - Training as Context and the Context of Training

Heather Blair (Stanford University) - Burying the Dharma in the Southern Mountains

David Quinter (University of Alberta) - The Mother of Awakening and Buddhist Training: An Investigation of Jōkei’s and Eison’s Monju kōshiki

Discussant: Juhn Ahn (University of Toronto)

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 2:45 Panel Three - Monastic Regulations, Training, and Identity in Japan

Gina Cogan (Boston University) - The ‘Kanbun 4 Regulations:’ Morals and Manners at a Seventeenth-Century Imperial Convent

Paul Groner (University of Virginia) - Jitsudō Ninkū (1307-1388) and the Education of Monks through Debate

Discussant: Griffith Foulk (Sarah Lawrence College)

2:45 - 3:15 Coffee Break

3:15 - 4:30 Panel Four - Buddhist Training and the Marginal

Mikael Adolphson (University of Alberta) - Menial Workers or Monks? Dōshu in Japanese Medieval Monasteries

Lori Meeks (University of Southern California) - Women’s Monastic Training at Thirteenth-Century Hokkeji

Discussant: Ian Reader (Manchester University)


Sunday, April 19th

Breakfast 8:30 - 9:15

9:20 - 11:00 Panel Five: Education and Buddhism in Modernity

Steve Covell (Western Michigan University) - Training Little Buddhas? Buddhist Kindergartens in Japan

Mark Rowe (McMaster University) - Producing Expertise in Post-War Japanese Buddhism

George Tanabe (University of Hawai'i) - Training for America, Americans in Training: Priests and Ministers in Japanese-American Buddhist Temples

Discussant: Victor Hori (McGill University)

11 - 11:10 Coffee Break

11:10 - 11:30 Concluding Remarks

Helen Hardacre (Harvard University)


Event Organizers: Juhn Ahn, University of Toronto; Mark Rowe, McMaster University

Event Hosts: Juhn Ahn, University of Toronto; Mark Rowe, McMaster University; Frances Garrett, University of Toronto; Amanda Goodman, University of Toronto; Neil McMullin, University of Toronto (Emeritus); Shayne Clarke, McMaster University


For more on the Numata Buddhist Studies Program, see http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/buddhiststudies/numata/index.html

For more on Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, see http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/buddhiststudies/

----- The content of this message does not represent the views or opinions of the University of Toronto.-----

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

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What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing about so much. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.

--

How many is a billion?

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This is too true to be funny...

The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,

but one advertising agency did a good job of

putting that figure into some perspective in

one of its releases.

A.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B

A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C

A billion hours ago our ancestors were

living in the Stone Age.

D

A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.

A billion dollars is only

8 hours and 20 minutes,

at the rate our government

is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...

let's take a look at New Orleans ....

It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator,

Mary Landrieu (D)

is presently asking Congress for

250 BILLION DOLLARS

to rebuild New Orleans .. Interesting number...

what does it mean?

A

Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans

(every man, woman, and child)

you each get $516,528.

B

Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in

New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C.

Or... if you are a family of four...

your family gets $2,066,012.

Imagine, now $700 billion bailing out banks in the US . That's enough to fund complete medical care for every man, woman and child currently alive in the US for 11 years!!

$50 billion to bail out the auto industry???

Washington , D.C.

&

Ottawa ON.

<>

Are all your calculators broken??

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

CDL License Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax , Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel Permit Tax

Gasoline Tax

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax

Inventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Liquor Tax

Luxury Tax

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property y Tax

Real Estate Tax

Service charge taxes

Social Security Tax

Road Usage Tax (Truckers)

Sales Taxes

Recreational Vehicle Tax

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)

Telephone Federal Excise Tax

Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax upon Tax

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax

Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax

Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax

Telephone State and Local Tax

Telephone Usage Charge Tax

Utility Tax

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft Registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

Income Tax

Everything Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY???

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...

and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt...

We had the largest middle class in the world..

and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?

Can you spell 'politicians' ?

And I still have to

press '1'

for English.

I hope this goes around the

US & CANADA

at least 1 billion times