Be Happy!

I ran into this spam email that a good friend forwarded out of good intention. One of those that requests you to forward it to that many friends and ....
Strangely enough I found this part of the email very interesting:

The five simple rules to be happy:

**1. Free your heart from hatred.**
**2. Free your mind from worries.**
**3. Live simply.**
**4. Give more.**
**5. Expect less.**

Free PDF creator

Excellent Free PDF creator: Primo PDF

My first hand-made bread

Sometimes I decide to experiment and do something so remote to my normal hobbies that it even surprises me. All of a sudden I decided to try making breads, and not with a bread-maker but with my hands. My source of information for howtos and recipes was seraching the Internet. I found this website helpful, whose recipe I followed, yet in half portions. Everything went pretty well, kneading was actually fun, BUT the dough did not rise as I expected. Maybe it was because I used from a machine yeast package which will expire in two months or so, or as some websites suggest too much flour. I was pretty careful with the heat not to kill the yeast.
Anyways, I decided to leave it to rise more overnight. Even in the morning it was not the way I expected it to be. I gave it a shot anyhow and bake it for 45 minutes, and to be honest it rised pretty OK (overall it rised to 1.5 size almost) and here is a picture of it. Yummy ... it is very delicious though.
Some useful websites: How to knead bread dough, good explanation with pictures, whole bread recipe.

To love her so much to be able to let her go

Have you ever loved someone so much, and then you had to be separated because of some uncontrollable circumstance. I happened to be such someone. She is now thousands of miles away, but her legacy still lives. It is so great to have met someone that her love make you think twice, have a better vision, see the world differently, set better goals, be more serious, want more from life, ... Yet be as reasonable, moderate and humble.
And if it is destined that I'll never be with her, I wish her the best of the best. May she meet someone that understand how lucky he is. May God's wish be that she be always as happy!

Greetings in 4 languages: [I hope there is no mistake in this table]

English	Italian	French	Esperanto
1. Hello.	Ciao.	Salut.	Saluton.
2. Good morning.	Buongiorno.	Bonjour	Bonan matenon.
3. I’m John Smith.	[Io] sono ...	Je suis ...	Mi estas ...
4. Are you Bill Jones?	[Tu] sei …? [Lei] e …?	Tu es …? Vous etes ….?	Vi estas ….?
5. Yes, I am.	Si.	Oui	Jes.
6. How are you?	Come stai? Come sta? (polite) Come va?	Ca va? Comment allez-vous?	Kiel vi fartas?
7. Fine, thanks.	Bene, grazie.	Bien, merci.	Bone, dankon.
8. How is Helen?	Come Helen sta?	Comment va-Helen?	Kiel Helen fartas?
9. She’s very well, thank you.	Lei e molto bene, grazie.	Elle est tres bien, merci.	Sxi estas tre bone, dankon.
10. Good afternoon, Mr. Green.	Buongiorno, signor Green.	Bonjour, monsieur Green.	Bonan vesperon.
11. Good evening, Mrs. Brown.	Buona sera, signora Brown.	Bonsoir, madam brown.	Bonan vesperon.
12. How are you this evening?	Come stai questa sera?	Comment allez-vous ce soir?	Kiel vi fartas tio cxi mateno ?
13. Good night, John.	Buonanotte, John.	Bon nuit, John.	Bonan nokton, John.
14. Good-bye, Bill.	Ciao, Bill. Arrivederci, Bill	Salut, Bill. Au revoir, Bill.	Gxis, Bill.
15. See you tomorrow.	A domani.	A domain.	Gxis Morgaŭ.

Bonjour Vietnam

The html-based audio + pictures

Lyrics in French:
Raconte moi ce nom étrange et difficile à prononcer
Que je porte depuis que je suis née.
Raconte moi le vieil empire et le trait de mes yeux bridés,
Qui disent mieux que moi ce que tu n’oses dire.
Je ne sais de toi que des images de la guerre,
Un film de Coppola, [et] des hélicoptères en colère ...
Un jour, j’irai là bas, un jour dire bonjour à ton âme.
Un jour, j’irai là bas [pour] te dire bonjour, Vietnam.
Raconte moi ma couleur, mes cheveux et mes petits pieds,
Qui me portent depuis que je suis née.
Raconte moi ta maison, ta rue, racontes moi cet inconnu,
Les marchés flottants et les sampans de bois.
Je ne connais de mon pays que des photos de la guerre,
Un film de Coppola, [et] des hélicoptères en colère ...
Un jour, j’irai là bas, un jour dire bonjour à mon âme.
Un jour, j’irai là bas [pour] te dire bonjour, Vietnam.
Les temples et les Bouddhas de pierre pour mes pères,
Les femmes courbées dans les rizières pour mes mères,
Dans la prière, dans la lumière, revoir mes frères,
Toucher mon âme, mes racines, ma terre...
Un jour, j’irai là bas, un jour dire bonjour à mon âme.
Un jour, j’irai là bas [pour] te dire bonjour, Vietnam (2 fois).

English translation:
Tell me this name, strange and difficult to pronounce
That I have carried since my birth
Tell me the old empire and the feature of my slanted eyes
Describing me better than what you dare not say
I only know you from the war images
A Coppola movie, (and) the angry helicopters
Someday, I will go there, someday to say hello to your soul
Someday, I will go there, to say hello to you, Vietnam
Tell me my color, my hair and my small feet
That I have carried since my birth
Tell me your house, your street, tell me this unknown entity
The floating markets and the wooden sampans
I could only recognize my country from the war photos
A Coppola movie, (and) the helicopters in anger
Someday, I will go there, someday to say hello to your soul
Someday, I will go there, to say hello to you, Vietnam
The temples and the stone-carved Buddha statues for my fathers
The stooping women in the rice fields for my mothers
Praying in the light to see my brothers again
To touch my soul, my roots, my land.
Someday, I will go there, someday to say hello to your soul
Someday, I will go there, to say hello to you, Vietnam (twice)

Eagle nest webcam

A webcam monitoring a Bald Eagle's nest; the eagles are sitting on eggs.

The first crucial steps in learning a language

It is very easy to quit at an early stage. I myself need to see some results to give me encouragement to continue. Most programs, classes and books focus mainly on grammar and on almost memorizing randomly selected vocabulary. Although this is a major part of mastering a language, the outcome for a beginner is not that rosy.

One needs to be able to first understand, then to somehow communicate one's intentions. The better you are at this the better you know the language.

I learned AAA that way, I used to know the grammar very well and I still can read in an incorrect accent and pronunciation and get some ideas. I am far away from claiming that I know AAA, as my comprehension and speaking skills are almost zero.
I learned FFF almost similarly by attending two language institutes. I got a good grasp of the language though by attending in a short-time complete immersion program. Yet I was not wise enough to focus more on the conversational part of the language.

I had a better understanding of what it really takes to learn a language when I tried to learn Esperanto and to improve my accent to naturalize my second language. I have started to learn III and I am going to put all my experience into it, in addition to what I learned from the books I mentioned earlier. Here is my plan for now:
A) have a basic understanding of the grammar
B) learn some essential phrases
C) Learn important verbs, pronouns, ...
D) Whatever word or phrase I learn, I must have heard it as a native speaker says it.
E) Wisely pick a language audio package and follow it. Do not be tied down in learning every word, rule ... Keep moving in a planned pace
After mastering this level you are a survivor and then can proceed to higher levels.

How to learn a language

Leaning a language requires an enormous amount of dedication and hardwork. Obviously, knowing a language has many levels. General perception of language mastery though is usually put at very low, meaning that but just knowing a few phrases, some people claim that they know a certain language.
Firstly, a non-native language can be either classified as ones second or foreign language. A second language is the one that is not a persons mother tongue but s/he has to use it everyday and everywhere. For example a Chinese living in British Columbia, Canada has English as his second language. If he decides to learn Italian in Vancouver, then Italian is ranked as a foreign language. Obviously, usually a person can achieve a high level of proficiency in a second language. That however excludes the accent. Usually, a person retain his/her accent unless s/he is raised as a teenage is the destination country.
To my opinion a very good book on language learning is "how to learn a foreign language" by Pimsleur. Also, for a detailed study of the learning mechanism, the book "developing second-language skills, theory and practice" by Chastain is recommended.

Esperanto

L. L. Zamenhof created Esperanto based on some amazing dreams about global understanding and ease of communication. Here is a nice quote from him:

Ĉian ofendadon de homo pro tio, ke li apartenas al alia gento, lingvo, religio aŭ socia klaso mi rigardas kiel barbarecon.
I consider as barbaric any offence to a human being because he belongs to a different people, language, religion or social class.
- Ludoviko Zamenhof

The language is a constructed language with standardized and easy grammar. The words are derived from European languages as well as ancient Latin and Greek. Many related words can be built from every stem using different grammatical endings, suffixes, or prefixes. If you know English, French, and/or Italian you are almost half way with learning the language.

The best way to start learning is to use Kurso de Esperanto which has 12 nicely devised lessons.

Here are a list of great websites to get more information:
1) How To Learn Esperanto
2) Lernu!
3) esprento.net
4) Esperanto portal and literature
5) Esperanto-USA
6) Basic courses to learn Esperanto
7) Esperanto
8) Books in Esperanto: project Gutenberg

Glossary/phrases/dictionary:
1) Esperanto-English Glossary
2) Useful Esperanto Phrases

In Esperanto:
1) Ĝangalo
2) Esperanto Radio Arkivo
3) Wikipedia in Esperanto

In French:
1) Gerda malaperis
2) Cours Gratuit d'Espéranto

A Perfect Evening

A windy, but amazingly sunny day! And Wreck Beach is as beautiful as always. Going down Trail 6 coming up from Trail 4. It looks like it is my first time everytime. Oh! Have I seen that breathtaking yellow flower bed in the middle of the cliff. Have the waves always sounded like this, oh man, che dolce sciabordio! Look at the bald eagle, quite a majesty, eh!

Ocean to your left, high cliffs to your right and a sandy/rocky passage of on average 5 meters which goes to zero when it is high tide. And the Sun's reflection there off the Georgia Straight. It is not yet hot enough for people to swamp there (including bums heading down here from downtown) and is mostly used but its true year round users, mostly UBC people.

And the memories of her. Remembered a prayer from the movie Bruce Almighty: "I want her to be happy, no matter what that means. I want her to find someone who will treat her with all the love she deserved from me. I want her to meet someone who will see her always as I do now, through Your eyes."