Monticello Dam – Northern California

Located in northern California, the Monticello Dam’s is the largest morning glory spillway all over the world. This funnel-shaped outlet, allows water to bypass the dam when it reaches capacity, as it swallows a rate of 48,400 cubic feet per second (1370 m³/s). 

  Google map Link — http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.513167,-122.10469&spn=0.010326,0.019312&z=16

Glass Arts

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** Lord Ganesha **

Lord Ganesha – the Hindu deity in a human form but with the head of an elephant – represents the power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles and ensures success in human endeavors. For this reason, Hindus worship Ganesha first before beginning any religious, spiritual or worldly activity. In Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesha is the first son of Lord Shiva and the Divine Mother Parvati. Their second son is Lord Subramanya and their daughter is Jyoti. As explained below, the portrayal of Lord Ganesha as the blend of human and animal parts symbolizes the ideals of perfection as conceived by Hindu sages and illustrates some philosophical concepts of profound spiritual significance.

Elephant head, wide mouth, and large ears: the large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas.

The trunk and two tusks with the left tusk broken: there is no known human instrument that has an operating range as wide as that of an elephant’s trunk. It can uproot a tree and yet lift a needle off the ground. Likewise, the human mind must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality, wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom and the left tusk represents emotion. The broken left tusk conveys the idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdom to attain perfection.

Elephant eyes: the elephant eyes are said to possess natural deceptiveness that allows them to perceive objects to be bigger than what they really are. Thus the elephant eyes symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets “bigger and bigger” in wealth and wisdom, he should perceive others to be bigger than himself; that is, surrender one’s pride and attain humility.

The four arms and various objects in the four hands: the four arms indicate that the Lord is omnipresent and omnipotent. The left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason. An axe in the upper left hand and a lotus in the upper right hand signify that in order to attain spiritual perfection, one should cut worldly attachments and conquer emotions. This enables one to live in the world without being affected by earthly temptations, just as a lotus remains in water but is not affected by it. A tray of Laddus (a popular snack) near the Lord denotes that He bestows wealth and prosperity upon His devotees. The lower right hand is shown in a blessing pose, which signifies that Ganesha always blesses His devotees.

A human body with a big belly: the human body possesses a human heart, which is a symbol of kindness and compassion toward all. Ganesha’s body is usually portrayed wearing red and yellow clothes. Yellow symbolizes purity, peace and truthfulness. Red symbolizes the activity in the world. These are the qualities of a perfect person who perforrns all duties in the world, with purity, peace, and truthfulness. The big belly signifies that a perfect individual must have a large capacity to face all pleasant and unpleasant experiences of the world.

A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha and gazing at the tray of Laddus: a mouse symbalizes the ego that can nibble all that is good and noble in a person. A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha indicates that a perfect person is one who has conquered his (or her) ego. A mouse gazing at the Laddus, but not consuming them, denotes that a purified or controlled ego can live in the world without being affected by the worldly temptations. The mouse is also the vehicle of Ganesha, signifying that one must control ego in order for wisdom to shine forth.

Right foot dangling over the left foot: as stated above, the left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason and knowledge. The right foot dangling over the left foot illustrates that in order to live a successful life one should utilize knowledge and reason to overcome emotions.

One always starts any prayer, ritual and/or occasion by worshipping our Beloved Elephant God. One of the famous mantras dedicated to Ganpati follows:

Vakratunda Mahaakaaya Suryakotee Sama Prabha
Nirvighnam kuru mey Deva
Sarva kaaryeshu Sarvadaa

Vakratunda	curved trunk
Mahakaaya	large bodied
Surya kotee	million suns
Sama Prabha	with the brilliance of
Nirvighnam	free of obstacles
Kuru	make
mey	my
Deva	Lord
Sarva Kaaryeshu	in all work
Sarvada	always

O Lord Ganesha of Large body, curved trunk, with the brilliance of a million suns, please make all my work free of obstacles, always.

Rarest Items in the World

<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gurlzgroup/join/&quot; title="Join gurlzgroup (www.friendmails.net.tc)” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” style=”color: black; text-decoration: none;”> Rarest Gems The world’s rarest gem is believed to be painite, a gem that most have never heard of. The painite is orangish or reddish brown and was first discovered in Burma in the ’50s. Within the last couple of years, the source of the two original painite crystals was discovered and now a few hundred faceted stones exist. A more well-known (but still very rare) gem is the red diamond Rarest Signature He may have done a lot of writing, but with only 6 of them in existence William Shakespeare’s signature is one of the rarest of all and is valued somewhere around $3 million dollars. Rarest Cats & Dogs Of the rarest cat breeds, the Ashera (pic. left) is the most expensive ($20K+), the Sokoke the most exotic (from the wilds of Africa), and the Egyptian Mau has the coolest history (lived with the Egyptians). As for dog breeds, the one that keeps popping up on all the “rare” lists is the Lundehund, originally bred by the Vikings to hunt Puffins. Other rare breeds include Otterhounds and Stabyhounds. Rarest Stamps According to Wikipedia, the most expensive item by weight and volume is the Treskilling Yellow stamp from Sweden. It has a current estimated worth of $2.3 million. Here’s what makes it so valuable: In 1858, when the currency was known as the skilling, the 3-skilling stamp (“treskilling”) was printed in blue. And an 8-skilling stamp was printed in yellow. But due to a printing error, a few 3-skilling stamps were printed in yellow. Rarest Sea Salt The earliest known sea salt produced by the Japanese may be the rarest of all. Called Amabito No Moshio (“Ancient Sea Salt”), unpolluted sea water is collected from the Seto-uchi inland sea, infused with seaweed to develop the “unami”, and then processed by cooking in an iron kettle, put into a centrifuge, and finally, cooked over an open fire while stirring constantly. The salt is worth over $40 per pound. Rarest Jeans According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most valuable jeans are an original pair of Levi Strauss & Co 501 jeans aged over 115 years old which were sold to a collector in Japan for $60,000 through eBay in 2005. Quite rare indeed considering a new pair sells for $46. Rarest Baseball Cards In February 2007, a “near mint-mint” Honus Wagner sold for $2.3 million, at that point probably the highest sale for a baseball card in history. Then, in September 2007, the same card was reportedly sold again. This time for $2.8 million to a private collector. The card in question, aT206 Honus Wagner, was made by the American Tobacco Company in 1909. It has been called the “Mona Lisa of baseball cards.” Rarest Comic Books One of the rarest comic books still in existence in near-perfect condition is an issue of “Amazing Spider-Man #1,” rare not only because of its singularity but also because of its quality. The comic book sold for only 12 cents per copy when it was published in March 1963, and is now worth over $40K — not an exceedingly high price for comic books — but extremely rare in such pristine condition. Rarest Real Estate At the intersection of location, exclusivity and history you find some of the rarest pieces of real estate. With that criterion, Luxist.com blogger’s pick for the rarest piece of real estate currently on the market is Bran’s castle, the castle in Transylvania that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is expected to fetch upwards of $135 million. Rarest Horses The Sorraia Horse is said to be the direct descendant of the wild Iberian horse but only 200 currently remain living in South Iberia. The Tiger Horse is a rare breed which is said to have existed in Ancient Spain and the beginning of the New World. Rare in terms of its abilities and characteristics, is the Lipizzaner (pic. left). Bred for its military prowess, one of these animals can sell for up to $100,000. Rarest Books There are countless rare books in the world, but by most experts’ standards the rarest of them all is the Gutenberg Bible. It was the first book ever printed back in 1456, and although several hundred copies were originally printed finding a complete first edition would net you $25-$35 million. In today’s market single pages alone go for $25K each, and several years ago just 1 volume (it’s a 2 volume set) sold for $5.5M.

<a href="http://www.ritemail.blogspot.com/&quot; title="Join gurlzgroup (www.friendmails.net.tc)” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” style=”color: black; text-decoration: none;”> Rarest Necklaces In the world of rare necklaces, a couple million dollars doesn’t get you much. Even ten million dollars is cheap for these babies. The most expensive necklace may likely be one built around the Blue Empress, a rare natural blue diamond. The pear-shaped diamond weighs about 14 carats. It is set in 18k white gold and surrounded with white diamonds. It’s estimated to be worth $16 million. Rarest Wine One of the rarest bottles of wine ever sold was purchased by Christopher Forbes for a mere £105,000 ($160,000). It was an unmarked green glass bottle with the inscription of “1787 Lafitte Th. J.” (now known as Lafite and thought to be owned by Thomas Jefferson), found behind a wall in Paris. Rarest Vases In 2006, a 20-inch high blue and white Yuan Dynasty vase fetched over $2 million. That sounds rare but at the end of that year, casino owner Steve Wynn paid even more for a rare vase. The small copper red and white porcelain vase, is a 14th century Ming vase (pic. left) decorated in scrolling flowers. It is from the exceptionally rare Hongwu period and went for around $10.9 million, making it the world’s most expensive. Rarest Coins As a general rule the more rare a coin is the more it’s worth, so what’s the rarest coin ever? It’s a debatable subject as not all experts always agree, but if the Double Eagle isn’t at the top of that list it’s sure near it. Back in 2002 the only Double Eagle coin left to be in private hands (or so everybody thought) sold for $7.9 million dollars. Rarest Food Served in China for over 400 years, the primary ingredient in bird’s nest soup or “Caviar of the East” is saliva nests built by cave swifts. Among one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans it is believed to aid digestion, raise libido, and even alleviate asthma as it is dissolved in water to create a gelatinous soup. In Hong Kong, a bowl costs up to $30. Red version can cost $10K per gram. Rarest Travel Trips What is the rarest trip? There’s no real consensus on this, but Luxist.com blogger Deidre Woodward says that the trek to summit Mount Everest still remains among the rarest trips in the world. But even this has become something that is accessible to more people. In two months and for around $60,000 you can join a group and make the attempt of a lifetime.

Angkor what?

Angkor Wat! I know, funny, funny stuff. Like Sinbad-level funny, and we all know how funny Sinbad is as a comedian. (See also: Gallagher.) And if you don’t, you can probably guess just how funny I think he is based on those last few sentences. And if you can’t guess, I’m sorry. Really, I am. No, never mind for what. Just keep reading, or at least trying to …

Whatever. At long last, I have finished sorting through the many, many pictures I took in Siem Reap (I filled up my camera’s memory card), and have some to post. Thirty-five to be exact, which may seem like a lot, but not when you consider that even after deleting the pictures that were pointless, blurry, or just plain bad, I still have 225 left. I know, that’s a lot of pictures. Slideshow, anyone? I thought not.

Before moving on to the main event, however, I feel like I should say a few words about Angkor, in case anyone cares. (Those of you with short attention spans can just skip to the pictures below. They’re pretty.) (Yes, that was an insult. Although if you have read this far, it probably doesn’t apply to you, so no worries.) The temples of Angkor, which was the name of the town back in those days (Siem Reap is now the closest town to the temples), are a huge collection of monuments built by various Khmer kings from roughly the 9th century to the 14th century. The temples that are now the most famous –pictures to follow, natch–including Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom–were built during the height of the Khmer Empire, during the 12th century and early 13th century. After Angkor was sacked by the Thais–and to think, they all seemed so pleasant–in 1431 (the second time they’d done that in eighty years), the entire place was pretty much abandoned and left to the elements until it was “discovered” by French explorer Henri Mouhot in the 1860s. (At the time of “discovery,” Angkor Wat had over a thousand people living there; it had also been “discovered” by both the Japanese in the 1600s and the Portuguese in the 1500s. And actually it had been “discovered” by a different Frenchman ten years before Mouhot, but he didn’t put pretty pictures in his book so no one paid attention.) (So yes, people were dumb back then, too.)

At any rate, here endeth the lesson. Now it’s time to move on to the new longest post ever, the …

Angkor Phog*
The first place we hit on our first morning was Angkor Thom (Great Angkor, or Great City). This is the south gate. It’s a small picture, but you can see that the gate has four faces on top pointing in each of the cardinal directions. Sort of a theme at Angkor Thom, actually …

These statues line the road to the south gate of Angkor Thom. There’s 54 on each side–gods on one side, demons on the other–and they are holding a seven-headed snake, a naga, which is part of some Hindu myth that I never quite got. I know that it has something to do with an ocean of milk, although, sadly, no chocolate chip cookies were involved, as far as I could tell.

This is the Bayon, a temple in Angkor Thom. From a distance, it looks like a big pile of rubble. Mostly because it is, I guess. Weird.

A closer shot of the Bayon. In this one, you can start to see that it’s actually MORE than just the aforementioned big rubble pile. (Hint: look for faces.)

The faces of the Bayon. There’s 216 of them–four on each of the temple’s 54 towers. All smiling like they know something you don’t. Arrogant bastards.

This is supposedly the face with the biggest smile, although no one knows why. I did ask him “What are you smiling at?” but he didn’t answer. Jerk.

Part of the Elephant Terrace. Basically, it’s a terrace with a lot of elephants on it, like this three-headed one. Go figure.

The entrance of Angkor Wat, which you can see in the distance. Besides being surrounded by a wall, it also has a moat: it makes a giant rectangle that’s over 600 feet wide, and is almost a mile long on each side. That, my friends, is a pretty serious moat.

Angkor Wat, even closer. Yes, it’s that big.

Angkor Wat yet again. I know, the picture looks cool … until you realize it was taken from the designated “stop here to take a picture of Angkor Wat reflected in this pool” spot, and there were about 200 people taking that exact same picture with me. Go tourists, go!

Inside Angkor Wat. The steps are really steep–10 inches high at least and no wider than your foot. As you might imagine, coming down is even more fun. All fours, anyone?

Another view from inside Angkor Wat. In the far left corner, you can a set of stairs. Like I said, steep

One of the many tiny temples that dot the Angkor area. Sort of like a medieval pox in that way, except for cool, not gross and deadly.

This is the entrance to Ta Prohm, now forever–sadly–known as “The Tomb Raider Temple.” Yes, for those of you who actually got that far into the Tomb Raider movie, this was where they filmed the ancient temple part of it. It was actually a good choice, because it was one of the coolest temples–all crumbly and tree-covered, which is the way you expect a thousand year old jungle temple to look. Or at least the way that I expect it to …

More from Ta Prohm. The guard looks excited to see us, doesn’t he? (He’s on the left side of the picture–he sort of blends into the background with his eerie chameleon powers. Or something.)

So up above when I said “tree-covered,” I was being literal: the trees, silk cotton trees from what I’ve been told, literally cover the temple. Now this, my friends, is what I call a jungle temple. Very Jonny Quest, don’t you think? The other amazing thing is how big the trees are. I know this picture makes the tree look small, but it was really gigantic, as you shall see …

The same tree, but with us in front of it. I told you it was big. (For those of who you don’t have the great pleasure of knowing me personally, I’m six feet tall, so that should give you some perspective.)

More twisty trees. This is actually a smaller tree growing over a dying or just plain dead bigger tree. Such is the cruel way of the wild.

Hey, I’m a tree hugger.

Of course, one of the problems with your millennium old temples is that they usually need some fixing up. In the background, however, is a building that has managed to survive the centuries.

Unlike, say, this building, which was right next to the one pictured above. Small, old, and falling apart–or, as a real-estate agent might say, a “charming fixer-upper.”

Cool picture, huh? I thought you’d think so. We all know that what goes up must come down, but apparently the reverse is true as well. Of course, it’s a bit more complicated when the thing coming down is a 1,000 year old stone temple. Hence the numbering of every single stone on the ground, I’d guess. Fun job, I’m sure.

Another problem is that even if they can put things back together, they might not be able to find all the pieces. Oops.

Those of you who have ever been to a tourist site of any kind will not be surprised to learn that there were people trying to sell us stuff everywhere we went. And not just people, but little kids. They would say things like, “Hello, mister. You want postcard?” Then I would say, “No, I already bought postcards.” “But not from me.” “But I don’t need any.” “Okay, maybe later.” “Maybe–but probably not.” “Okay, I remember you mister and you buy from me.”

Repeat this to yourself roughly 7,000 times over the next 48 hours, and you’ll know what it was like.

One of the many sellers coming up to see me. Trust me, she was a lot less cute after the fiftieth time she asked me if I wanted to buy bracelets from her.

One of the ubiquitous naga (seven-headed snakes) at Preah Khan, the “Sacred Sword.” (Sword not pictured.) This is actually one of the better preserved ones–you can even see the hands wrapped around the bottom. (Almost everything is made of sandstone, so the detail isn’t holding up so well.)

Gods holding the naga. Or at least statues of gods. And the naga. Which is good, because it would have been a lot freakier with a seven-headed snake cruising around the place.

Preah Khan was very cool because it was big, hardly anyone was there, and you could climb around almost everywhere. Like here, for example.

Like any self-respecting ancient jungle temple, Preah Khan also had trees everywhere.

This tree, though, needed a little extra help to stay up. (It’s the same tree in the picture above.)

More trees and temples. And Holly in the corner. Although she’s actually just resting, not praying. It was hot. Really hot. Lots of resting was required.

More resting at Preah Khan. Seriously, it was hot. Did I mention that already?

Some dork at Preah Khan. Sit up straighter, Pointdexter …

* phog = photo blog. Learn it, love it, live it, people.