Saturday, October 15, 2016
Working on familiarizing myself with new laptop
sometimes it is hard to get used to new things.
10-15-2016
10-15-2016
Friday, October 14, 2016
Royal funerals
so much pomp & circumstance
just to send off
one old crone or drone.
The only royal I liked
was Princess Di--
but she wasn't really royal.
She was more a victim.
I like victims of royalty
such as
Thomas a Becket
Thomas Moore.
K M Kaung
10-14-2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
I like this one--
In 2015, Mahidol University was ranked as one of the World's Top 100
universities at which to study medicine, according to the QS World
University Rankings.
from Mahidol University wikipedia
10-13-2016
from Mahidol University wikipedia
10-13-2016
Who is Zen Journalist--
I have read the book--the blog posts are more sensational.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_MacGregor_Marshall
The book sounds watered down a bit.
kmk
10-13-2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_MacGregor_Marshall
The book sounds watered down a bit.
kmk
10-13-2016
from 1946, NYTs article on death of King Mahidol--
http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/06/10/93128795.html?pageNumber=1
Bhumipol was last person to see his brother alive.
A page and another person were framed and executed.
See--blog of Andrew McGregor Marshall.
10-13-2016
Bhumipol was last person to see his brother alive.
A page and another person were framed and executed.
See--blog of Andrew McGregor Marshall.
10-13-2016
Food adulteration--very bad news from Burma--
formaldehyde, used to preserve dead bodies, in pickled tea.
plastic bottles fried into crispy beans etc.
I have given up eating all these things.
10-13-2016
plastic bottles fried into crispy beans etc.
I have given up eating all these things.
10-13-2016
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Quote of yesterday--
"I am moving, I am moving, while the fire still remains."
Rod Stewart? song lyrics.
KMK
10-10-2016
Rod Stewart? song lyrics.
KMK
10-10-2016
Sunday, October 09, 2016
So sad--now only exhibits--no longer a way of life--
https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/historyculture/indian-village-of-the-ahwahnee.htm
Most horrible quote: Burmese intelligence officer Khin Nyunt: "Very soon if you want to see a Karen, you will have to go to a museum."
Most horrible quote: Burmese intelligence officer Khin Nyunt: "Very soon if you want to see a Karen, you will have to go to a museum."
Yosemite Falls--did not see that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Falls
But disturbed to find out from Yosemite Park website alert that a 74 year old man who set out on a hike has been missing in Yosemite ("yaw sem mittee") since 9-17-2016
which was about the date we were there, and the park is vast.
The search has been called off due to bad weather.
--Safety--
People do not realize nature is very dangerous too-
falls from heights, undertow above waterfalls.
In the Visitor Center we saw a safety video, a first person account by one of two men who were on a hike, and went in for a swim, into water that looked calm, but one was swept to his death--
So if you go anywhere, be safe, and as the safety video says, "Don't depend just on your cell phone."
Many places are out of reach of cell towers.
You should turn your cell phone off in an inacessible area, otherwise it will keep searching and wear down the battery. My "honorary nephew" told me this and turned my phone off for me.
Of course, I don't go anywhere without companions or not in a guided tour.
--The missing 74 year old, now missing for weeks, was described as in excellent condition but only his car has been found.
So go, but always be carefull.
Cell phones and such like did not exist in John Muir's day, but he survived as he was a great naturalistic from childhood, who could read animal behavior and natural signs and had great presence of mind, but even he got many bad diseases like malaria, and nearly died several times.
Besides, in those days, crime was much less??
K.M.Kaung
10-9-2016
But disturbed to find out from Yosemite Park website alert that a 74 year old man who set out on a hike has been missing in Yosemite ("yaw sem mittee") since 9-17-2016
which was about the date we were there, and the park is vast.
The search has been called off due to bad weather.
--Safety--
People do not realize nature is very dangerous too-
falls from heights, undertow above waterfalls.
In the Visitor Center we saw a safety video, a first person account by one of two men who were on a hike, and went in for a swim, into water that looked calm, but one was swept to his death--
So if you go anywhere, be safe, and as the safety video says, "Don't depend just on your cell phone."
Many places are out of reach of cell towers.
You should turn your cell phone off in an inacessible area, otherwise it will keep searching and wear down the battery. My "honorary nephew" told me this and turned my phone off for me.
Of course, I don't go anywhere without companions or not in a guided tour.
--The missing 74 year old, now missing for weeks, was described as in excellent condition but only his car has been found.
So go, but always be carefull.
Cell phones and such like did not exist in John Muir's day, but he survived as he was a great naturalistic from childhood, who could read animal behavior and natural signs and had great presence of mind, but even he got many bad diseases like malaria, and nearly died several times.
Besides, in those days, crime was much less??
K.M.Kaung
10-9-2016
Saturday, October 08, 2016
Quote of the day--book review by John Wilson in NYTs
The
nature lover and conservationist John Muir is at once famous and
indistinct in the minds of most people. Doubtless there are ardent souls
who could give a credible account of his life, but not many — not even
among those who share the passion that led Muir in 1867, at age 29, to
embark on a thousand-mile walk from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico and
drove him to continue rambling hither and yon throughout his long life.
Muir is revered but remote. He needs a substantial biography to bring
him into focus.
Donald
Worster aims to fill that gap. One of the founders of environmental
history, the author of a well-received biography of the explorer and
scientist John Wesley Powell and long a student of the landscape and
history of the American West in particular, Worster brings superb
scholarly credentials to the task. What he lacks is the ability to tell a
story. Readers with a merely casual interest in Muir aren’t likely to
persist. But the doughty ones who stay the course will be rewarded.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/books/review/Wilson-t.html
John Muir deserves his fame--
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Muir-Twenty-Two-Greatest-Adventures/dp/1930238371
I bought this book on my recent trip to Yosemite National Park.
I found that my dear friend does not have so many books after all, just her Bible and religious studies shelves, women's studies and cook books.
Nothing compared to my personal library of art, pol, sci, Burma, Russia, China, literary books.
She did not go into the book store, but her son and I did, and I am so happy I bought this volume.
Muir was the true naturalist, working his way as sheep herder and the guide, to earn his keep as he "botanized" and studied nature.
He also wrote like a dream.
These excerpts were chosen by an actor who makes his living doing Muir portrayals, and most likely read the Muir excerpts in the Ken Burn's video we saw at the Center.
--I wondered what was that burly accent--now I know it is Scottish.
I have only one Scots friend, the daughter of my father's friend, is it not amazing.
--
Today I had a consumer experience, which stands in sharp contrast to Muir climbing up ice cones and getting a ride on an avalanche.
It is amazing how he kept his head.
My consumer experience.
Yesterday, I arrived at the movie theater at 3.48 and thinking I was only 3 minutes late, I asked the atttendant who finally appeared, "Can I still get in and see 'Snowden?"
He said, "It's not here. Yesterday was the last day."
So I saved $10, but was not too happy. Will have to read a book.
So I took the elevators all the way down to the basement, where I have found some good night shirts before. Let's call it Moderately Priced not Upscale or MPNU.
I looked for shirts first in the women's section, but though I took 5 items into the dressing rooms, I could not fit my arm into even one of the rather frowsy looking shirts. Lett oh or armhole too small.
So I wandered around, not too happy, handbags--useless
too pink too shiny too heavy too glitzy.
Don't need shoes, don't need bras.
Finally I found a man's shirt and a woman's jacket.
The flannel shirt was $15 and the jacket was $24, not bad.
But when I got home, I found the attendant or cashier had not taken off the big security plastic clamp, and I was unable to get it off with a knife, so again back to store with my receipt.
There, I got a big shock.
So many shoppers due to its being a Saturday.
For the last 3 decades, I have always been amazed at the amounts of food (usually bad food--like processed foods) and clothes that Americans buy.
I took my cart as I had $18 in coins, which I wanted to change for notes in the bank, but the bank was closed. The coins were very heavy.
I wandered around twice, lost in the store, trying to find "Checkout and returns"--I hate the smell of clothes.
Finally found it and bought another shirt and a scarf, which I thought would match the light mauve hat I bought in LA.
So that is so different from John Muir climbing on a ledge behind a waterfall.
Of course I am too old now to strike out like Muir into the wild, and also we should remember the romantic who tried to winter in an old bus in Alaska and died. (Into the Wild)
One needs serious survival skills, as Muir taught himself, it seems.
However, I can still read so long as my eyes and my brain hold out.
In conclusion, this book The Wild Muir cannot be bought for one cent + postage, and I consider this a good sign.
It's an instant classic and I know where I will put it, right next to Travels with Charlie, by John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck wanted to prove to himself he could still do it, so after the Nobel Prize, he refurbished a truck and went out on the road with his poodle Charlie, once mistaken for a black man sitting next to him.
That was not quite Blue Highways, by William Least Heat Moon, but close enough.
Besides, who cannot not love someone's writing who is named Least Heat Moon?
Copyright Kyi May Kaung.
I bought this book on my recent trip to Yosemite National Park.
I found that my dear friend does not have so many books after all, just her Bible and religious studies shelves, women's studies and cook books.
Nothing compared to my personal library of art, pol, sci, Burma, Russia, China, literary books.
She did not go into the book store, but her son and I did, and I am so happy I bought this volume.
Muir was the true naturalist, working his way as sheep herder and the guide, to earn his keep as he "botanized" and studied nature.
He also wrote like a dream.
These excerpts were chosen by an actor who makes his living doing Muir portrayals, and most likely read the Muir excerpts in the Ken Burn's video we saw at the Center.
--I wondered what was that burly accent--now I know it is Scottish.
I have only one Scots friend, the daughter of my father's friend, is it not amazing.
--
Today I had a consumer experience, which stands in sharp contrast to Muir climbing up ice cones and getting a ride on an avalanche.
It is amazing how he kept his head.
My consumer experience.
Yesterday, I arrived at the movie theater at 3.48 and thinking I was only 3 minutes late, I asked the atttendant who finally appeared, "Can I still get in and see 'Snowden?"
He said, "It's not here. Yesterday was the last day."
So I saved $10, but was not too happy. Will have to read a book.
So I took the elevators all the way down to the basement, where I have found some good night shirts before. Let's call it Moderately Priced not Upscale or MPNU.
I looked for shirts first in the women's section, but though I took 5 items into the dressing rooms, I could not fit my arm into even one of the rather frowsy looking shirts. Lett oh or armhole too small.
So I wandered around, not too happy, handbags--useless
too pink too shiny too heavy too glitzy.
Don't need shoes, don't need bras.
Finally I found a man's shirt and a woman's jacket.
The flannel shirt was $15 and the jacket was $24, not bad.
But when I got home, I found the attendant or cashier had not taken off the big security plastic clamp, and I was unable to get it off with a knife, so again back to store with my receipt.
There, I got a big shock.
So many shoppers due to its being a Saturday.
For the last 3 decades, I have always been amazed at the amounts of food (usually bad food--like processed foods) and clothes that Americans buy.
I took my cart as I had $18 in coins, which I wanted to change for notes in the bank, but the bank was closed. The coins were very heavy.
I wandered around twice, lost in the store, trying to find "Checkout and returns"--I hate the smell of clothes.
Finally found it and bought another shirt and a scarf, which I thought would match the light mauve hat I bought in LA.
So that is so different from John Muir climbing on a ledge behind a waterfall.
Of course I am too old now to strike out like Muir into the wild, and also we should remember the romantic who tried to winter in an old bus in Alaska and died. (Into the Wild)
One needs serious survival skills, as Muir taught himself, it seems.
However, I can still read so long as my eyes and my brain hold out.
In conclusion, this book The Wild Muir cannot be bought for one cent + postage, and I consider this a good sign.
It's an instant classic and I know where I will put it, right next to Travels with Charlie, by John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck wanted to prove to himself he could still do it, so after the Nobel Prize, he refurbished a truck and went out on the road with his poodle Charlie, once mistaken for a black man sitting next to him.
That was not quite Blue Highways, by William Least Heat Moon, but close enough.
Besides, who cannot not love someone's writing who is named Least Heat Moon?
Copyright Kyi May Kaung.
Sanctions on Burma lifted--so now they've got what they wanted for last 15 years--
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-myanmar-sanctions-idUSKCN127262
Of course if you are a business person you will like it.
But what about the other people?
Humans I mean.
Of course if you are a business person you will like it.
But what about the other people?
Humans I mean.
Friday, October 07, 2016
Factoid for the day--from wikipedia--Electricity in the USA--
Principal sources of US electricity in 2014 were: coal (39%), natural
gas (27%), nuclear (19%), Hydro (6%), and other renewables (7%). Over
the decade 2004—2014, the largest increases in electrical generation
came from natural gas (2014 generation was 412 billion kWh greater than
2004), wind (increase of 168 billion kWh) and solar (increased 18
billion kWh). Over the same decade, annual generation from coal
decreased 393 billion kWh, and from petroleum decreased 90 billion kWh.[3]
Thursday, October 06, 2016
Where the Pyu came from--Kokonor (Mongolian) or Quinghai Lake--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinghai_Lake
Nationalistic Burmese won't agree, as if they dropped from heaven, but research shows this.
Nationalistic Burmese won't agree, as if they dropped from heaven, but research shows this.
Hindi alphabet--I did not know they have almost similar sounds to Burmese, though I know Tibetan does, hence Tibeto-Burma languages--wow!
We are all related.
I don't know what the damn fool nationalist monks are talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6GBpd_hf4o
I don't know what the damn fool nationalist monks are talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6GBpd_hf4o
Wednesday, October 05, 2016
Very good article from a very good book, about the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/alexander-litvinenko-the-man-who-solved-his-own-murder
The link will give you another link at The Guardian Bookstore to buy the book.
I hope you read it.
The link will give you another link at The Guardian Bookstore to buy the book.
I hope you read it.
My novella Black Rice--
recently, 3 Karen Elders read this and liked it. Karen is a minority ethnic group of Burma.
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Rice-K-M-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00D0EHGYQ
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Rice-K-M-Kaung-ebook/dp/B00D0EHGYQ
Tuesday, October 04, 2016
New---from July--Suu Kyi goverment attempts to crack down on Wirathu racist monk with "Legal action"--but who do you suppose is supporting him all along--
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/myanmar-government-cracks-buddhist-nationalists-160715151456466.html
Gave up on trying to format a novel on Blurb--
templates are just too complicated.
Went back to Word and Amazon.
Still Windows 10 to contend with.
I don't know when it will ever end.
Tech is supposed to make life easier.
Not the other way around.
KMKaung
10-4-2016
Went back to Word and Amazon.
Still Windows 10 to contend with.
I don't know when it will ever end.
Tech is supposed to make life easier.
Not the other way around.
KMKaung
10-4-2016
Monday, October 03, 2016
Checking out Blurb for self publishing--
https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/212027046-Reflowable-Ebook-Preparation
A friend made some photo books.
It seems to me both better and more complex than my usual way of uploading Word documents on Amazon--
but I have to try one of the novel formats before I can say for sure.
I hate and love the tech--
KMKaung
10-3-2016
A friend made some photo books.
It seems to me both better and more complex than my usual way of uploading Word documents on Amazon--
but I have to try one of the novel formats before I can say for sure.
I hate and love the tech--
KMKaung
10-3-2016
Western journalist shot by ISIS sniper, died instantly--
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/02/middleeast/isis-kills-dutch-journalist/index.html
I don't think it is right to shoot someone who is armed only with a camera--
as happened to Japanese journalist Kenji Nagaii in downtown Rangoon, shot by junta soldier point blank in 2007.
I don't think it is right to shoot someone who is armed only with a camera--
as happened to Japanese journalist Kenji Nagaii in downtown Rangoon, shot by junta soldier point blank in 2007.
Saturday, October 01, 2016
1986 Movie The Mission, screenplay by Robert Bolt--A Man for All Seasons--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mission_(1986_film)
Highly recommended--make sure you listen also to the haunting musical theme.
Highly recommended--make sure you listen also to the haunting musical theme.
My short stories and novellas on Amazon--
https://www.amazon.com/K-M.-Kaung/e/B00JGHSUSW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Read them, you will never be the same again.
Read them, you will never be the same again.
Truly truly amazing--how Dominick Dunne, the father of a murdered daughter, shook loose facts with fiction--
I must say Dunne is one of my great heros.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/10/dominick-dunne-martha-moxley-murder-greenwich
And a strong reason why I will continue to write, and write fiction.
KMKaung
10-1-2016
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/10/dominick-dunne-martha-moxley-murder-greenwich
And a strong reason why I will continue to write, and write fiction.
KMKaung
10-1-2016
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