StumbleUpon

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/bittersweetroad/stumbleupon/27189mn8lp8bj5s.gif

I have been spending quite a bit of time at StumbleUpon.
The above is a picture from Stumbler Sweet Imogen .


Below is a picture from my own stumblings.

It is one of many paintings about friendship.

Talking to strangers

I looked at an English show today regarding surviving big city life.
One part was an experiment to see whether conversations could be struck up with total strangers in a mall.There was usually a hurried getaway.But one man had an interesting conversation,referring the situation back to India,wherein he said it was quite normal for others to ask to read the part of the newspaper that you may not be using at the time.He was commenting to the presenter that sat plonk down beside him to read the same newspaper in the stranger's hands.A total lack of success was usually the result.But I remembered when I was in Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand,feeling that everyone passing did seem like a total genius,in that they all seemed to find something interesting to say to me.Unlike many who do seem also to break the ice in Auckland New Zealand, the comments were all devoid of smart alec messages.Would Genius be the word for the lovely strangers? Or was it love of people, or was it me?I hear now that people from Auckland get not so pleasant remarks thrown at them in the South.I don't know, have not been there for some time,but Southerners who make their way to Auckland still seem to possess that magic?I personally think that some may just attract the negative energies.Do they even have a face that would attract a welcoming word?
Later, this show had a person lay as if hurt,on a pavement.In the big city London, very few people even took a look.But in the countryside, almost every passerby stopped to see if they could help.I remembered back to my visit to China when Mao Tse tung was still alive.at the trade fair with millions of people streaming by, a sudden dizzy spell was immediately taken notice of by strangers whom inquired as to my wellbeing.Another time, when I was looking to go to Foshan , lots of people came by to egg me on to make the journey of many stops and changes of transport.I made it there and made it all the way back too.A big city does not have to be impersonal.Is the internet personal?I have a myspace thing now.I would say the myspace blog link to Tesla makes for a very interesting three day read.But what was disappointing was to read, at the very end of his life story, that he was similar to Howard Hughes and to Michael Jackson, in that he was a real stickler for absolute hygiene.I think that it is lucky that I have discovered the place of immunity in our lives, and for a short cut to immune intelligence through Transfer Factor Products. Otherwise, what an absolute Genius.

How to cook rice

For the absorption method.If it is white rice,you wash the rice in a pot . Put your hand in and swish through the water .It is lovely feeling the grains of rice coming through your fingers.Dont do this if it is an electric rice cooker pot that has a non stick finish.The coating will probably get sanded off.The Tiger brand has a better finish, but the trouble with many people is that they then put a wet pot into the rice cooker which will severely shorten its life if not blow the fuse there and then.When I have had rice cookers back to get repaired, I see bits of food and oil around the base too.Best to wash the rice somewhere else and then put it into the rice cooker pot.Severe digression.Mind you, electric rice cookers do work on the absorption method anyway.
Actually, the type of rice is important.Even white rices are different.Australian short-actually medium grain-rice needs less water than its long grain counterpart.American long grain needs more water,American short grain rice needs more than Australian short grain, but less than American long grain.Bhasmatti rice from the Punjab region needs even more water than American rice.Sri Lankan samba rice is a bit like American.
Thai Jasmine rice may be about the dryness of Australian long grain.Chinese have a long grain that is very small and very dry.It does not need to be cooked the night before if you want to make fried rice.
After washing the rice till the starch comes out and the water is clear, then you smooth off the rice making a flat surface.The way of judging how much water to put in for the cooking is to put your finger through the clear water and see where the water level is on the joints of your finger.
Australian short grain rice is usually to the moon of your finger nail.Australian long grain may see the water level go a bit higher.Just experiment and change the level next time according to how you would like the texture and fluffiness.A huge amount of water gets you rice porridge.This is popular for morning meals, and you may put meats or vegetables into this.I think it needs chinese pickles too.
Now put the pot onto the stove, and bring it to the boil.When this has been achieved, and sometimes you can leave the lid on to do this, then turn the level of external heat down to a minimum.Gas is quite instantaneous for this, and I hear that Induction cookers will do the same thing.But as for electric element cookers, I guess you may be on your own there.Probably leave the lid off and turn down the heat when it boils, but wait for things to settle down before putting the lid on.
At this stage, with the heat source at the barest minimum, you are pretty safe to go away and prepare the rest of the meal, or just wait the 15 or 20 minutes which will see your rice ready.There is no harm to leave things for even longer as long as the heating is very tiny.So if you are new to this , maybe you better hang around and watch things, at least for the first few times, till you get it right.
People talk of rice cookers, and we have some from China and a top brand from Japan.As for equipment, we also have a Vacuum cooking pot that is like what some people call a Dutch Oven.
Basically, you have and enormous wide mouthed, fairly rugged Thermos into which another pot that is used for cooking can be placed.When both lids are shut, then the not slow cooking begins.Although the cooking is at a fully boiling temperature, the food does not get overcooked. Also, even when cooked, food can stay hot after cooked food is removed to be served.
Apart from an easy cooking style, this method of cooking seems to retain the colour, taste and nutrients of food very well.

Products at Wah Lee: Chinese , Asian, ethnic .

Pictures from Wah Lee Chinese shop Activity.
Wah Lee 99+1 years Fireworks at Lantern Festival, Auckland, put on by BJ...contact him at tophatmagic@ihug.co.nz



Fireworks of the medium size are better in many circumstances, like for a biggish wedding where you don't need or want the fireworks to be half a mile away.Professionals with pyrotechnic handlers licences and appropriate experience are welcome to buy these off us.Give a call to BJ at 027 289 0596 or leave a text message.





Bigger shows will need more time to organise.Permits, insurance,neighbours,civil aviation if really big, a barge if on the water.




Let's get some displays as big as in Wellington.Maybe even as big as in Sydney?That may need a bit more time.
We would request payment before delivery or show please.









Black Cat Fireworks that look very good when you can get back and see the whole display.Recomended for medium to large events like in a stadium with a fair bit of space.



Wah Lee opens most statutory hours.Monday to Thursday from 8.30am to 6pm.Late night Friday.Saturday is still pay and display, but there is not that dreaded clearway from 4 pm till 6.30 pm.Sundays are a restful shopping day from 1pm till 4pm at least, and maybe usually earlier opening and a little later closing than that.We used to go to help a Western Springs college school stadium cleanup for the Warriors League football events.Recommended if your Children go to that school.

Year of Pig and Lantern Festival and a cup of Tea.

So the Tear of the Pig whom does seem to care for people and is open and soft to what you may want from them.Tears years,fears you must have a heart to know these things, and in not being destroyed maybe get stronger.

The Lantern Festival finishes off the New Year celebrations, and in New Zealand was pretty much unknown until the new wave of immigrants from China Taiwan Singapore and Hong Kong started coming in.
Not wanting to support this, initially ,because it seemed natural to reject an identity that was assumed in a meeting that had less to do with race than the moment, and even if it was Chinese or Asian origin products,nevertheless the exchange had to be on mutually understood terms.I really have lots of interest in products from China, yet cannot talk for all the products of China nor all of its practises.Surely people can see what an ernormous place that country is, and that even people in a town may have their own ways of doing things.There is everything from eating dogs to most who do not, as well as a few famously monks and Shaolin whom do not even eat meat.

I hold off from drinking tea,got inspired by some Ezine writing of the virtues and pleasures of drinking various kinds of tea.
But as you know I am writing.So soon, I will have one.I hope this writing is going somewhere.

I think my father's life was shortened because he started drinking fruit juice instead of the copious cups of green tea he also used to offer to lovely customers in our shop.Actually, without that, you could say that his diet was extremely unhealthy,tasty but mostly a BBQ diet.There was Roast Duck,I know you are supposed to rest it, chefs say, but I know what I know when I used to grab some just out of the oven.Then there was marinated roast spare ribs.Yum with marination of Ginger, Garlic, Soy sauce, Salt, and sugar.Ithink sometimes there was plum sauce, other times hoisin sauce, and if rarely there might have been Yenin sauce from a rare Yenin fruit.Oh ah Dark or thick soy, which is a molasses of soy rather than the runny ones can be used if a darker richer flavour is wanted.

In the old shop, 41 years ago, this would be enjoyed with whichever visitors turned up, and eaten in front of an enormous fire.Talk was, I think politics, or all sorts of things done recently, and remarks on foilbles seen in others.I dont know, when the guard is dropped, and respect flows, all sorts of things can be listened to and talked about.Those today, who are so clever just seem to have stopped this ebb and flow of human nature.They will probably have to go back to peace, at an ashram under intensive meditation or some thing.

Tea, Oh yeah.Hot and feeling great.

60's and now

The 60's English made Ford Cortina looked pristine.I asked the customer if it was recently repainted.'No', he said,'I use the Scottish Cleaning Method'.It turns out this was to shammy the car just after a rain.
I had a special coating on my car that specifically forbade the use of a shammy for some reason,but I did use a German Microfibre from our shop.My special coating didn't exactly shimmy off the water,but the cleaner you got the car, the more easily the water did run off it.
The best thin to do at a wash station for cars if you have a special coating , is to dial in the spotless rinse.Just use that with the microfibre.You may have to do this at one side if there are queues waiting though,and the site owner may be unhappy.
What is unusual about that old Cortina looking beautiful, was that it took me back to when I had the same feeling as a young man.I guess when you see beaten up and dull looking Cortinas you just don't feel too much at all.
Lisa computers were an incredibly exotic Apple computer from the 80's.A Lisa was up to quite a few thousand dollars on an auction site the other day.I remember when an architect friend of mine was raving about his, and I was wondering how anyone could even afford such a thing.They were about $20,000 in those days.
Now, I think Power PC's and Macs would eat that alive.
Japanese cooking is also being eaten by those whom lived on Macs of the other sort a little while ago.Some Chinese are drinking at Star Bucks in Beijing which used to be called Peking some time ago, about 20 years.
Whether or not the promises of the Hype y Online Marketers will be drowned out by the softer sounds of those who really do give some service to help you make money there, may be for the future.I think we can see that it is just zealous marketing or outright lies that give the genre a bad name.In any case entertainment value is high, and they invariably give off wonderful though perhaps lazy sod dreams.I think things can be possible, and depending if you get bogged down in info from taking the wrong road may make it easy or hard money, or no money.
I have actually seen some free or cheap sites that do give good information.A Zackery Lim from Singapore, has an E book that does not even have pop ups or affiliate links.Even an auto responder I did myself has some affiliate links.I think he has learned a lot of his craft from a Ewen Chia, also from that country.Ewen has a mixture of products, some free, some paid for, and some with pop ups and some with none.Some also with no affiliate links.I guess we all have to make a living sometimes.
Ewen does offer internet path visions that don't deal with trying to sell other internet information products, but the fact is, that this is the hot product at the moment.When people spin out of this with the knowledge they are supposed to be learning, then all sorts of interesting products could come.
Like Singapore their home country with no minerals, hardly any land, previously very bolshie residents and surrounded by scary neighbours , and a world that would care?But look at how well they have done, and compare the bigger countries and note the very depressed and Xenophobic anti everybody else attitudes that are not necessary in this little bustling country but the bleating mean spiritedness goes on and on.Vanquished natives everywhere awake to anger, then learn and look for the keys.
I think the keys are in the heart.In good service.In letting things go.In looking for the sunshine, in looking forward to the rain.See a few Fireworks, hyperventilate to light some safely.Take the time en mass to get some sense into governing, and look to yourself , not to media.Blog it out , write it down.Spend every living hour by saying hello and goodbye.
In your little conspiracies are you destroying the world, or doing that thing that you should do, and let everyone else catch up?People are asked not to drink and drive...this is alcoholic products children.But are people going to be asked not to steal from houses and or kill people in dark places?
One lady used to bring her little boy into our shop every morning, and he grew up to be a man beaten down by a tiny boy for his Pizza money.Maybe all the laws of a land are most safe aimed at those who believe the governments are right and that this is the essence of maintaining peace.But those that do what your inner self would never contemplate are helped because the country is so small, that criminals know where lawmakers live.There would have to be some very careful treading if laws were going to affect the scary of any land.
So governments, to show they are doing something enact strange hard to understand new edicts.It keeps lawyers in business.
Even so, as in Singapore, we cant blame everything or everyone else for our lack of success.
Try http://BWahLee1.successuniversity.com/new for a western source of positivity and tips and tricks for success.actually, this may not work now.I have had a very good run in this SU but have left it.I am trying on cut down on costs, and although you are said to be able to make money from SU, I have not tried seriously enough to try hard enough or put myself in certain positions to do this.I guess perhaps that is a sideline to my goal as inspired by one of the SU DVDs.

Health Ad

'Health Advocacy' is what I put in as an interest in Bios.
The 'Health Food' and 'Alternative Health' tags just don't seem to be useful sometimes.
Many times, peole who have a chronic condition are just happy to go to see whom they are expected to see.
They carry on,even if in bed and dying.
I guess they feel they have had a good life and are ready to go.
Or,they may relish the kind care and bed side manner of whomsoever is supposed
to be looking after them.
So health is not what they are after?
Also, any sudden compassionate attitudes since the sickness is a bonus.
The nearest and dearest are now giving attention,and who wouldn't like this?
Especially as an opposite atmosphere is what probably brought on the attack
in the first place anyway.
Sometimes, because there are so many products out there.Some old, some you just never heard of
and some quite new.But if as an independent distributor of miracle cures, you do read some
great copy of miraculous results.
Maybe you can verify some of the claims from personal experience.
But is it not frustrating when they wont even accept free product?
I guess people don't want to muck things up.Sometmes also,
a bossy know it all will even get physically violent.
Luckliy those who do try what is not well known in normal, nor in alternative circles either,do keep you going on the right track.
If all hope is lost, and the patient is in bed and maybe 90 years old or over,then they may give one of your products a go.
Once, a couple of Grandmothers were in bed on drips , and I gave some Transfer Factor
in the form of a spray.This product has some silver in it.
Both Grandmothers got out of bed,and one, a year later, is still active.
Once, I gave some to someone in an old people's home.But although he wanted to pay me for the capsules,I did not take the money because he did not take the capsules regularly.It is a pity that the nurses did not help to give the capsules to him.

Power,passion,or cuteness in fireworks?

Lighting fireworks?
Then what you like lighting is important.
If it is a candle,like Shogun Magnolia or even a 10 ball magic shot,then I would almost never hold it.Many amateur fireworks lovers pray deeply that no one aims them either.It is so easy to have things banned,and it is actually very lucky for those who like powerful fireworks to see the marvellous range that there has been available, at least for maybe Wah Lee customers or the various people that help distribute these for them.Even if one in a million explodes out the side, that would be too much of a risk.
Some candles are quite powerful too, now,and the sheer kickback could also make you lose grip .Sometimes it is really nice to hear a big bang or two.But the bang is one aspect of a show, and bangs should be balanced by other different or even silent sounding wonders.Make a rhythm of anything you do.We needn't deaden,by thrashing one aspect of anything.Art is great, and includes an awareness of light and shade.Cleverness and innocence.It should all add up to wonder.
So if you are near an apartment block,and the things explode outside their window, you better hope they enjoy the joke.Equally, if you are near neighbours who don't like them too much,it would not be good to carry on to 3 in the morning or so.This is the thing that gets things stopped.
It might be quibbling to say the biggest and the loudest is not the best firework on the market, but I PERSONALLY like the small and the cute, and have enjoyed being out with the children lighting things that even the most red neck hard core radio talk back whinger would have no complaints with.
There are the Colourful chrysanthemum spinners.So cute, and not too fussy about the smoothness of the surface you light them on.No doubt anything , and not just fireworks, can bring on a disaster, but I would say these would definitely be in the safer fireworks genre.I just love wasting time with these.The way they bounce around, and the colour is nice, as well as the fingers of sparks.A big quantity can be bought with a very little amount of money too.Even with these there are safety tips, and obviousy the young should not play with them unsupervised.Plus you should, as the reigning expert, get a bit of experience under your own belt first.Also they should be lit from an extendable lighter , taper, portfire, punk, or incense stick.
Various other cute fireworks are the massively popular ground bloom firework.Black cat has a particularly violent spin,and it is also not too fussy as to what surface it is lit on.With the NZ age limit raised, above what youngsters used to be able to buy at, it might be useful to point out to parents that this is what they will expect you to stock up on.Dont just give stuff to them please.Are you so busy that you do not take any notice of what your kids get up too?Please join in and only allow them to be lit around your presence .
Back to magic shot 10 balls.Now these have very little sound, and once I saw how magical a deadly boring and criminal producing suburb deathly dark atmosphere place was totally magically transformed by a single and silent but loudly poetic 10 ball magic shot.I think it was quite late at night, but nothing got disturbed, and everything got blessed.
About bangers, and they are things that drive away demons and just bad spirits.You tell me that people who complain about things that others obviously love, with no sense of compassionate objectivity are in a good zone.You need to relax with thunder and lightning or bangers, and you let yourself be cleansed by the sound.Dont fight it.Good luck is supposed to come.
That is getting away from cute fireworks, but there are many others, and definitely not all fireworks are noisy.
Please also enjoy non-noisy fireworks.

Display Fireworks in New Zealand

Display Fireworks are very impressive.They also need more care in handling.In New Zealand we have some very good pyrotechnicians and the history proves this.They should have a sky tower Fireworks competition.Dubai is planning a major Fireworks competition and a New Zealand may get involved.
I have just been to a meeting with some pyrotechnicians of some considerable ability,and there were some worries that cowboys could come on the scene.They do admit newbies could even bring fresh ability,but where is the groundwork, and how many hours have the newbies invested?Where are the subtleties that book learners may not catch sight of?What of the focus and the fine loving hand skills in tying off fuses and making them waterproof?
There is opposition by some groups, and maybe TV3, to shop bought fireworks, but there is not a lot made out of handling display fireworks for events, especially many council ones.The Display Fireworks can not easily be imported unless maybe the ship has other fireworks on board.So if retail fireworks are cut, it may make it impossible to get display ones.One big importer says that he donated $170000 of display fireworks last year.I doubt he would donate a cent if retail was cut.Everybody wants display fireworks, but nobody wants to pay proper safe living wages and expenses .This could be a recipe for cost cutting and disaster.And where do pyros learn about fireworks in the first place/So with pyros just studying to do displays but without a lifetime's history of dealing with them is not very clever.Nevertheless the Fire service anti shop fireworks spokesperson has said on national radio that he has seen a bit too many displays anyway.
So do you look at flowers and enjoy bird calls?What is this life if you can get tired of things.No no no with out a vision.
With restrictions on retail fireworks there is a rush of people getting their big firework handler's licences.The fear is of those with less experience and two days training going out there undercutting prices and being a real danger.We could end up getting out of the frying pan and ending up in the fire.Inexperienced people handling even bigger works makes for a recipe that many do gooders may not have envisaged.
Normally you work with a crew, firstly putting out cones, or digging holes.It would take some time, and the desire is to weed out hot heads,before you would get anywhere near a 5 inch, ten or twelve inch star shell.
At the moment, you would have to be known in the industry, even if you did have a certificate of pyro handling, before you would have anyone sell them to you.
Even some people who would want someone to have a display done for them, should realise, the time needed to get permits, plan the display,check the venue and you should check your neighbours first too.

Fireworks

Well last week it was our chance, and it was for The Lantern Festival.A lot of organising, but un fortunately some troubles on the night.The fireworks were best seen in the park though, because they were all high flying rather than the usual smaller in the Park cakes we normally use.I missed those though, and also it would have been good to do these cakes on the building rooftops near the food street.The budget is usually very minimal though, and never usually covers expenses, for which we are given a plug in the programme.This year we asked for more though, and so our name was dropped.But Barbara McKinnon-Strong has done her last year on the festival and really , she has done very well.I did not want to initially get involved with the Festival, as I felt that it might have given the wrong impression of where our shop was coming from.But She soldiered on and not only masterminded this, but also the Diwali Festival that also got to Iconic Status in Auckland's Cultural Traditions.
I always wonder why Koha is not allowed at these much loved big events.Free is not true.People complain about rates, and quite rightly.But maybe just target those who really want to give freely and whom will give with a credit card or EFTPOS.That would be the easiest way to handle things.
Another hugely popular event was on last night.With so many people,Koha would easily be able to be put in a pot for volunteers, artists, next event,and/or subsidising other events for people to see in the Festival.
Group F,a pyrotechnics team from France using Spanish display fireworks drew an enormous crowd. I think 60000 were expected but I got a text from the park saying that already 200000 seemed to be waiting there.
I was out and about earlier and saw huge numbers waiting for buses and just walking along,and I was just wondering if they were headed for this event?
It did turn out that they were.
A couple of hours later, I walked with huge crowds turning up fairly late.
Sometimes these big events suck out business from cafes and restaurants that are enroute.But last night, there was
a buzz even in these places.
Luckily the experience was almost 100%,but with so many coming and with empty spaces in the middle beckoning,it was probably quite right that my boy wanted to try to filter through the crowds ringed around the edge on the hills.There was no gap left open, and one man yelled out"I'll break your bloody leg!"A man wanting to lie comfortably on his mat undisturbed.
Even given his outburst,there seemed to be a non rough crowd attracted to this event.The Xmas in the Park definitely attracts a seedier rough young gang sort of crowd.And once I had to break up a fight where a boy who was downed was starting to have his head kicked.
This is the negative of organised fireworks as opposed to allowing private family fireworks.In fact, the news the next day talked of a desperate father to be side swiping other cars in trying to get his wife to the hospital on time.It was too late anyway, as the baby was born in the car.It is just lucky that no one gets killed going to or coming back from these events.
There are so many people, and they even take over the roads that cars go on.You see people with feet up and engines turned off, but some drivers still want to drive through the crowds.
Group F had some spacey type music,and the Fireworks display was leisurely with much use of flame throwers as well as usual fireworks.Monochrome gold with profuse gentle fine and bright long toi toi plant spears of light showers/patterns/criss crosses/short/tall...Out of this came a cresendo of star bursts that contained a single exquisite offsetting single star to the side.Some rapid fire sprays were absolutely silent,so they worked in with the contemporary jazz.
The intention of artistically painting with Pyro was new to Auckland, and the audience usually expects a big range of colours perhaps all going off at once,But the audience reaction was favourable.
The finale was of a brilliant white theme, and the sounds of explosions was in the deafening level.THese I guess, titanium salutes would have been heard right around greater Auckland.
A word about helicopters roving around.Apart from a disaster of them banging into each other, or being blown up by a stray starshell, why do they have to go behind the display just as the big flourish happens?A helicopter falling down on to 200000 people would not be a nice sight.Interestingly the Australian World Cup Rugby opening had its Fireworks display
stopped by just such a helicopter with a reporter in the wrong place.In a meeting of Pyros , one said that a low flying Cessna
came into their Fireworks danger Zone even though Civil aviation Authorities had already been notified of the Fireworks display that they had.
The media at least did prove that I had not even really seen the show.There were set pieces and people with Fireworks strapped to themselves that I really could not make out even though I was there.Maybe with 60000 everyone could have got a closer look, a better seat.Big screens obviously could be used if they come again.Or even use Eden Park .
I thought I heard that some who were close up may have got showered with a bit of debris, I doubt if this was anything to complain about.That is a part of Fireworks.

First post on new blogspot place

Managing to get articles in E-zines.Got a book on writing a book in 14 days.It looks like a gimmick but has been full of very good tips.You need a bit of structure when writing and you need to stop writer's block.To do research is not as important as writing from what you already know.With an expert it is useful to say straight out that you don't know nothing.
My city has been visited by many from overseas,
and has a nice few Islands and an english speaking language.Our shop has been gong for 103 years and although is sort of a Chinese shop, it sort of is such for non Chinese mainly, and we have been unusually, for a shop of this type perhaps,been employing non Chinese people.at the moment we have a maori man working for us , and he has been working for many many years.
Although I have been greedy and lazy and trying to make money from the internet.What dreams?But actually , in the past, our shop, which looks like a old traditional corner shop, has always been in the forefront of things.I think we have had to get modern in order to stay traditional.
There are certainly a lot of pressures on a little shop, so if I could get one of those incredible income streams that are sort of promised, it would certainly help the bottom line.In any case, it would be a nice conversation topic in the shop once I come up for air so to speak.
In the past we have had artists,musicians,busy bodies who have become politicians,great ordinary people,great cooks,chinese,martial artists, all sorts of waves of different races before they found their own shop,hippies,different food fad people,home rearrangers, clothes designers until they got too big to buy from us,and a snobby aggressive as hobby type come to our shop.