The Art Of Happiness : A Handbook For Living

by Dalai Lama XIV (Bstan-'dzin-rgya-mtsho) and Howard C. Cutler, published by Riverhead Books, 1998.

The buddism views of His Holiness was presented by a psychiatrist, after a series of conversations and various sessions of public talks, in a way for every modern human easy to understand. It's a combination of East and West, Ancient and Modern, Science and Religion, Evidence and Belief, an eye-opener, which provide some very simple but not simplistic methods for one and everyone to achieve happiness.

Here are some examples.

"The very purpose of our life is to seek happiness."
"Happy life is built on a foundation of a calm, stable state of mind."

It's, indeed, "a handbook for living."

Cradle and All

by James Patterson, published by Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

A suspense novel about a strange virgin pregnancy at the turn of the mellennium, a struggle between good and evil.

The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brian Tell Us About Our Kids

by Barbara Strauch, published by Doubleday, 2003.

This is the first book ever published to provide a comprehensive discussion of the new scientific discoveries about the teenagers behaviors: their mood, their sleep, their love, and most important, their brains still in the process of development towards maturity, how the society, the parents, the school and techers, the politics and policy makers, should ajust to it accordingly.

Four Cinquains

1. Sheng

Sheng likes snakes, sharks and steaks.
Horses hope hospitals hold hawks.
Eight elephants eat Eskimo pies.
Noisy Nira is noisy.
Gorilla goes to get a giant girl.

2. TREE

TREE
GROWING, TREE
TALL, GROWING, TREE
BIG, TALL, GROWING, TREE
GREEN, BIG, TALL, GROWING, TREE
TREE

3. Spider

Spider
Scary, Spooky
Lay big eggs
Gross, Bite people, Bad
Spider

4. Aaron

Aaron
Friendly, Tall
Smart, Playing, Blonde
Happy to be friends
Aaron

by Sheng Y. Li, 4/2003.

I Am Talented And Giving

I am talented and giving
I wonder if I will be the best artist
I hear my paintbrushes
I see millions of drawings
I want to be happy for what I am
I am talented and giving

I pretend that I am the best painter
I feel happy for every good deed that I do
I touch happiness in people
I worry that people might get hurt
I cry when I draw something sad
I am talented and giving

I understand that it will be a long time to be what I want to be
I say I have to train hard to become a sculptor
I dream that I will have a good life
I try my best to become what I want to be
I hope that I am good at being a drawer
I am talented and giving

by Sheng Y. Li, 5/2003

Nut Cracker (a tongue twister)

How many nuts can a nut cracker crack if a nut cracker crack nuts?

by Sheng Y. Li, 2004.

The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems In Ways Liberals And Conservatives Can Love

by Mattew Miller, published by PublicAffairs on September 2, 2003.

A solution, satisfactory to all sides, takes only two pennies out of every national dollar. The book analyzed the current situation, explained where the money would come from, how it would fit in the reality we have now.

A Bad Bad Beat

A bad beat is when a poker player made a hand so big, such as 4 of a kind or a straight flush, which is almost invincible, and get beat. When this kind of situation happens, in most poker room there is a Bad Beat Jackpot for the players involved in the hand and at the table to share.

A player, who was seriously stuck for the day, made a King high straight flush in the 3/6 holdem game, only to find it was beat by the royal flush, then the table thought they hit the jackpot, but was informed by the dealer and the floor superviser that one of the player has to use both hole cards to be quanlified for the jackpot. Then the player made the King straight flush was informed that his 4/8 holdem seat is opened up. So he picked up all his chips and left the table. Soon after he left, another player sit down and processed to win a huge pot. Right after that, the previous player came back, he has just found out that there were no seat open in the 4/8 holdem game, the floor had made a mistake.

So the guy not only lost his money, lost his King high straight flush, lost the jackpot that he thought he hit, and also lost his seat in the poker game for a chance to get his money back.

That was a really a Bad Bad Beat.

Skill No.1 for Survival

If you want to survive in casino, the first thing you have to learn is how not to loose, instead of how to win.

This is also, in my belief, applicable to life in general.

Without reservation : the making of America's most powerful Indian tribe and the world's largest casino

by Jeff Benedict, published by HarperCollins, 2000.

A novel-like documentary details the making of the Foxwoods casino, an eye-opener for how the American legal system works: the making of the law, who are those indians, its impact on the american future.

WHAT’S IN WRITING

What I saw....
What I heard....
What I did....
andWhat I think.

Lao Zi - Dao De Jing Chapter 1

The Dao can be talked about,
but not in the ordinary way;
And the Names can be given,
but not with the ordinary sense.

Nothing is used
to name the origin of heaven and earth;
And Something is used
to name the birth of all things.

Then, ever with Nothing,
it is to observe its wonderful essence;
and ever with Something,
it is to observe its superficial phenomenon.

These Two are out of One,
though differently named,
they both can be described as Mystery.

The Mystery and the Mysteriousness of it
is the doorway to all the wonders.


《老子》第一章　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。
无名天地之始；有名万物之母。
故常无，欲以观其妙；常有，欲以观其徼。
此两者，同出而异名，同谓之玄。
玄之又玄，众妙之门。

A science odyssey : 100 years of discovery

by Charles Flowers, published by Morrow, 1998.

A must read for those who want to understand where we are: the era of advanced science and technology.