the thought of idllys still makes my stomach turn - and its been 10
years.

My first run-in with official corruption.

Living here in the States gives us a simplistic view of corruption. We
assume that politicians are corrupt, and that bribes & kickbacks happen
behind closed doors with a "wink and a nod". But, things are a little
different outside the US.

I had just spent 24hours on two flights getting me to India. I was
tired, miserable, and totally clueless how things worked, but just the
same I found myself in the Mumbai Customs line. I was standing behind an
Indian guy who was now living in the US. At his turn he casually walked
up to the counter, handed his american passport. The guard thumbed
through it, half mindly, turned half-an-eye to the emigre "Where is your
INL-71 stamp?" This caught my ear because I DIDNT HAVE such a stamp.
Sh1t! What do I do?

Unfazed the emigre said "I dont have one. Where do I get it?"
The gaurd looked annoyed. "I issue it. $100."
The emigre sighed, and plopped out $100 worth of Indian ruppee notes.
The guard looked even more annoyed. "Whats your problem? Do I look like
a bank to you? I dont take these," pushing away the stack of bills with
disgust. "American Notes Only!"

I didnt have $100 on me - I had converted my at-hand cash to Rupees back
in JFK so that I'd have currency when I arrived. Would he take American
Express Travelers Checks? Sh1t!

Unfazed, the guy took back his notes, then gave the guard four crisp
$20s. Pacified the guard returned the passport. The emigre grabbed his
things and went to the exit. Not angry, not suprised, no stamp, just
moved on like it was standard procedure. I then realized that there was
no such thing as an "INL-71" stamp.

"NEXT!" he announced with the same indifferent-annoyance. I shuffled up,
handed my passport. He thumbed through it, more carefully this time. He
searched through the pages until he found the Indian-Visa page. He
examined it slowly, deliberately, and carefully. 'Here comes the
squeeze' I thought. "Proceed" he said and handed back my passport -
indicating all was well.

Go figure! I think the shake-down is done on Indians who choose to live
abroad, but not on regular tourists. In all the countries I have
visited, this was the only one where I got a real taste of corruption.
[Italy was a close 2nd]

Anyone else have similar experiences ?

I attended a wedding in southern India a couple years back. I was
invited to meet the family of the bride (as she invited me to attend)
and they were the warmest people I'd ever met. Just imagine a good
ol'Sicillian family. You show up, you're treated like family. You sit,
someone stuffs food in your mouth. They ask you tons of questions, when
you attempt to speak someone else stuffs more food in your mouth. Eat,
talk, eat, talk.

Her mother served a meal called "idlly" (pronounced 'id-lee') and its a
patty made of fermented rice, served cold with several "dipping sauces".
I ate it, and it was hard to swallow. The sauces were simply not to my
liking, violently disagreeable with my stomach. When I finished, her
mother was quite impressed. Through Jaya (the bride) she complimented me
on eating her specialty, and added that she was going to make me a new
fresh batch! Oh boy.

I ate the second serving, avoiding the sauces, but even so
fermented-rice has a 'distinctive' flavor that says 'no'. I retched, but
swallowed it down. She offered a third serving, and I politely refused.
She plopped down a serving for everyone with a big smile. These idlly
paties are about the diameter of a hockey-puck, and as thick as a
pancake. Not a whole lot to them. I slowly ate it. Nibbling off peices.
She saw my lethargic appetite as a cue to suggest a new round of
different sauces. Some of them were pretty good.

It was now late, and we all said good-night. The next day the family
invited me to join them for breakfast by sending their driver over to
pick me up at the hotel. Like the Italians, you dont refuse an offer of
hospitality. Besides, I never had a 'proper Indian breakfast', and
wondered what it would be like.

Idllys.

Yes. Idllys. Two more servings of them foul nasty dietary-demons.
Everyone at the table ate them. She even packed a couple for my road
trip (I was headed out to visit local sites). I must confess that I did
not eat them, and I feel guilty to this day for not eating them.

Some weeks later, after her honeymoon, Jaya & hubby returned to the
states and the place we worked. She said to me, "Oh Mike, my mother was
SO impressed that you liked Idllys!"

I couldnt hold back, "Jay, your family treated me so warmly, and your
mother treated me like I was your brother. But, if I ever see another
idlly in my life I'll puke my brains out!"

An annoyed look shot through her eyes, "Damn it Mike, why didnt you SAY
something? We hate them too! And because of *you* we had to eat them for
3 days straight!!!"

So I got my boss's "hand me down" as a "loaner". Its a step up from my
own laptop, and I've been spending the day installing software on it. I
do this for a living - I'm a software engineer, and its a pain. Gotta
hunt down the CDs, find the "serial numbers", download patches, find all
my favorite settings for this and that...

I realized, this has got be almost impossible for the non-engineering
person. Ouch - what a pain it must be for anyone else to recover when
they're pc burps. At least I know where to begin, and might be able to
get most of my "old stuff" back - but it must be horribly unfair for
everyone else.

Site is:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/

This site has a bunch of various "projects" you can do with kids for
fun. The stuff ranges from really really easy (like making soap-boats)
to lasers and hacking stuff. The site has new items every day or so. If
you have kids 4 - 39, you'll find something just right.

I found fun things like making little lights with small bulbs & watch
batteries to be "just right" for my 4yr old to enjoy. Not for the
"science", just for the fun of "ooooh it lights when I do that".

I liked it! I watched it last night - resisting it for months because
the last 10 years of Bond movies were, to be kind, crap.

This one was gritty, alot more 'beleivable' than any of the others. I
liked the "fresh" start that this film did.

Your thoughts?

I say there is no Hell. There's no need for it, and no support for it in
the bible. Before you swamp me with passages that have the word 'hell'
in it, do yourself a favor and read the concordance notes - look at the
original Greek and Hebrew words cited. The original words DO NOT have
the same meaning at all as the Romanistic concept of Hell=Hades.

I say the concept of "heaven" is not like the romanistic
clouds-in-the-sky place where 'good ppl' will hang out for eternity.
Where physical reality ends is where God begins.

I would say that that "kingdom of heaven" is really right here. We can
all make life 'heavenly' for those around us, even for strangers. It can
start with a smile, it can easily scale up to caring for the sick,
dying, poor and so on.

Divorce is not a sin.

Its permitted in the Bible for a reason - the rules, regulations etc are
all spelled out. Its there because marrige is sacred. And to keep it
pure, you need procedures to "clean the temple" when its been fouled.

Every major religon has rules for divorce (yes, even the Catholics!),
its there because its obvious that most of us enter marrige with the
best of intentions, and many times it just doesnt work out. Divorcing
for the sake of cruelty, for the sake of self-indulgence - that would be
'sinful'.

Think of the alternative which is worse than 'sin', the alternative is
downright Evil. It is EVIL to emotionally jail two people into a marital
bond when its just not going to work. Its evil because it locks up FOUR
people - the couple, plus two other ppl who may very well be the RIGHT
person for each.

I beleive in the sanctity of marrige, and I beleive the temple must be
cleaned when needed.

Chances are 50/50.

I mean, thats what we all want - right? Its just as likely that the love
we meet in the street one day will turn out to be a jerk as some
stranger from some awful place like Canada.

Sure, its more likely there are creeps/jerks/bozos online, but, thats
just a matter of the concentration.

If you cant take the girl back to your place, then you know its not the
time to be harvesting the goods. When you're on your own, then of course
you can do as you please.

Well Morena, I got an answer to your problem. Date a slightly older man.
I'm available.

The only appropriate action in this dire circumstance is to give the
bay-scallops a chance to re-grow their numbers. An aggressive stance
must be made to defend their habitats - we need action - kill the
Scallop Eaters. Life imprisonment for any Scallop Harvesters. No Mercy.

My turn off is a woman who talks cruely about ppl she doesnt know. "That
one's a ho", or "...that one is just ignorant.." without speaking a word
to the targeted person.

When I was around 17 I had an "nde", I was out with friends, drinking,
and of course, driving. None of us were "sh1tfaced", but it didnt
matter. Around 2am I was climbing back into my bedroom window, using the
tree to get up to the 2nd floor, and dragged my drunk butt in thru the
window - plopping on to the floor. At the feet of my father, who issued
my first "Near Death Experience".

Unforgettable too.

'(70) Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it
forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill
you if you do not have it within you."'

I think he's referring to love-for-your-fellow-man.

I would say that quote refers to Adam. And Jesus is implying that he is
the fullfillment of Adam's promise.

I'd also add that angels are considered 2nd rate citizens in the
heavenly realm of things. God is #1, People are #2, and angels are #3.
Afterall, they can not create life, and they can only 'take' life when
explcitly ordered by God. Sucks to be an angel.

Here's whats missing from the modern cannon of scripture:

http://www.gnosis.org/library.html

I read a good amount of the Nag Hammadi collection of "gnostic" texts.
Interesting. Some are crap. Some are so abstract they're impossible to
grasp. A couple are interesting.

I've also read a good amount of the other gnostic scriptures. They're
interesting, usually more focused on familiar new-testament themes. They
also have some real interesting insights. Despite the crappy movie, 'the
Da Vinci Code' does quote some of the more interesting gnostic texts -
like the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas.

A favorite web site for gnostic texts:
http://www.gnosis.org/library.html

Whoooa everyone hold up a second. The "missing stuff" isnt locked up in
a secret chamber somewhere. Its available - you can buy entire books
with the entire collection of the "missing books". They're boring,
academic, and just as hard to read as the King James Bible ("wherefore
thou are thee to my dearest thine...") Its also freely available on the
web.

Point is, like Gryph suggested, its a fun ride, easy to find, and
occasionally there's a gem of insight.


Red: Your commentary about Lillith exists in the Oral Tradition of the
Pentatauch.