Hair of the Dog

- 2 - 3 dashes Tabasco
- 6 part Bulldog gin
- 1/2 part fresh lemon juice
- 1 slice chili pepper

Pour gin and tabasco into ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake the ingredients and strain into chilled rocks glass without ice. Garnish with chili pepper.

Madeira Martinez

Ingredients:
- 2 oz Blandy's 5 Year Bual Madeira
- 1 oz Beefeater Gin
- 1/2 Teaspoon: Honey Syrup (1-1 Golden Blossom Honey & Water)
- 1/2 Teaspoon: Al Wadi Pomegranate Molasses
- 1 to 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Garnish: bay leaf

Chill all ingredients yet do not dilute with ice. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with ba leaf. (Cocktail created by: Audrey Saunders, Pegu Club NYC)

Engineer and Manager

A man is flying a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, "Excuse me. Can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man below says, "Yes, You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees N. Latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude".

"You must be an engineer," says the balloonist.

"I am," replies the man.

"How did you know?"

"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."

The man below says, "You must be a manager."

"I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," says the man below, "you don't know where you are, or where you are going, You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault."

Men are better friends!

Women:
A wife was not at home for a whole night. So, the very
next morning, she tells her husband that she stayed at
her girlfriend's apartment over night. The husband
calls up 10 of her best girlfriends, and none of them
confirms that.

Men:
A husband was not at home for a whole night. So he
tells his wife the very next morning, that he stayed
at his friend's apartment over night. So the wife
calls up 10 of his best friends: 5 of them confirm
that he stayed at their apartments that night, and the
other 5 are claiming that he still is there with them!


Conclusion:
Men are better friends!

Blashphemy

In the result of a major housecleaning, I came across a flood of cool stuff I've received from my thoughtful friends. One of 'em is a whole bunch of links about blasphemy and the struggle of freedom of speech and such matters: Blasphemy(definition) and freedom of speech.

And a great example of the long stand off between church and secular art is the quarrel over "Piss Christ":


The picture on the top is Marithé and François Girbaud's ad that parodied the "the last supper" which resulted in a lawsuit against them by the Catholic Church.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

In a series of talks, starting from today, dharma talks in Kannondo is focusing on Suzuki Roshi's book, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind".

I'm going.

On that matter, this is good piece of thought:

Beginner's Mind by Abbess Zenkei Blanche Hartman