Dalai Lama image Courtesy of The News Journal/Suchat Pederson

The Dalai Lama, in a lecture in Philadelphia yesterday, told a group of about 2,000,

Things are not black and white. Things are relative. Things are interdependent. When we look at a situation we have to consider all the factors.

Many world disasters, including war, including the Iraq war, are due to lack of this holistic nature (looking at all the factors). Like Saddam Hussein — ending things for him. Reality is not that simple.

Of course, I have great respect for, in fact, I love President Bush, because he is very frank, very straightforward. His intentions are good, but some of his policy in spite of his sincere motivation and right goal, and some of his method becomes unrealistic because of lack of understanding about reality.

He went on to explain,

“You cannot look in one direction. In order to see reality, (you) have to see in three or four or seven dimensions” and that this applies in the economical field, political field and international relations.”

The Philadelphia talk was sponsored by the Mongolian Kalmyk Buddhist order, which his holiness, the Dalai Lama, said was very close, teachings-wise, to Tibetan Buddhism and to the challenge of maintaining its culture, having left its homeland.

The main message the Dalai Lama presented was the idea of aiming for world peace through inner and outer disarmament. He explained that to reach a point where nations would outwardly disarm, people must first inwardly disarm, by becoming compassionate, not just with friends, but with all people, including those perceived as enemies.

About 2000 people attended the event at the Kimmel center. Upon finishing his talk, he was presented with a large birthday cake which was shared with all the attendees– a Dalai Lama cake.

Dubai has the tallest buildings in the world.

1. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

Batman has won more fights at the last minute than we can count. The singing, the lady — it’s a good metaphor. But we actually mean this one literally. Leave an opera before the fat lady sings, and you know what is over? Your life as anything other than an orphan, that’s what. Learn to appreciate a little culture every once in a while — it just might save your parents’ lives.

2. Never trust a man who smiles all the time.

He is either trying to sell you something or trying to kill you.

3. There are two faces to every friend … and enemy.

Good and evil, friend and foe, life and death — there are two sides to every action, two aspects to every personality. Believe in original sin, but also in original virtue. And remember, most of all, that everybody has the capacity for both.

4. Some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb.

A group of nuns, a flock of ducks, even a marching band — on a pier for crying out loud! Some days it’s as if the whole world is conspiring against you. Keep trying: The solution to your problem may be right around the next corner.

5. Anatomically correct isn’t always actually correct.

The fewer articles of clothing you have with built-in nipples, the better.

6. Always announce your presence.

“I am Batman.” “I am Batman.” “I am Batman.” Let the world know your name … and tremble.

7. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Batman’s graveside vow? “I will rid the city of the evil that took your lives.” Way to make sure you never have a day off, dummy. If you live to be a million, it’s a promise you could never keep, a thought that becomes an action, an action that becomes an obsession, an obsession that becomes a lifetime, a lifetime that becomes a Sisyphusian endeavor. Next time, aim a little lower.

8. Learn to trust.

But don’t just give it away for free. Be somebody’s father, be somebody’s son. Learn to trust at least two people with your life. Bonus points if these people actually depend on your survival for their livelihoods like, say, a butler and a ward. That said …

9. Be self-reliant.

Your ward, your surrogate son, your — excuse us as we strain credulity — Boy Wonder you keep going on and on about? Dude’s got a habit of disappearing when the stakes are highest, sometimes for decades at a time (and when he does show up, he’s Chris O’Donnell). And those girls you keep romancing? Let’s just say it’s probably best that you don’t get too attached.

10. When the Bat’s away, the Cat will play.

Turn your back for one second, and the whole city suddenly needs your help … again! The price of safety is nothing short of constant vigilance.

11. Always have a good alibi.

Strange bruises, a nonexistent social life — these things raise the question: What does Bruce Wayne do with his free time? So always have a good excuse. Note: Playboy Playmates or a boat filled with Russian ballerinas will not work for everybody.

12. Be smarter than your opponent.

Everybody’s got a weakness, even the seemingly unbeatable Man of Steel. Learn your opponents’, and you can be the most feared man on the planet. Also, always carry kryptonite.

13. Make your own luck.

Head’s, I win. Tails, you lose. Life can sure seem like a 50/50 proposition every now and then. Don’t like what you got when you flipped a coin? Flip it again.

14. Remember: The joke’s on you.

That guy with the cackle, the makeup, the cockeyed walk and sideways glance? He wouldn’t have to point out life’s absurdities so much if you would just crack a smile every once in a while. You’re a man in a Batsuit! Even a psychotic, homicidal, nihilistic, anarchistic clown has it right every once in a while: Life is an absurd joke that will knock you dead. Why so serious?

15. Be prepared … for anything.

You never know when you’re going to be dangling from a helicopter as a shark bites your leg. Do you really want to be the one to tell the Dark Knight that you left the Anti-Shark Batspray at home? A utility belt: Learn it, live it, love it.

16. Look to the skies.

Someone, somewhere might be trying to signal you. Be on the lookout for his signs.

17. Embrace your fear.

Monsters are real, evil exists and, at every turn, there really are creepy little nasties ready to go bump in the night. At its best, life is still a terrifying journey. It’s OK to be scared. Face your fears and project them outward. You’ll be surprised at how many things are frightened by us right back.

18. Forgive, but don’t forget.

We’re all products of our environment. What leads one to seek vengeance leads another to seek destruction. The villains we face in life really aren’t that different from us after all, give or take a lucky break here or a tragedy there. Have pity. Let them live. Don’t become what you seek to end. But, by the same token, never forget who they are — and what they’ve done to you.

19. The greatest enemy you face is yourself.

Stare into the abyss long enough, and the abyss stares right back. The Joker? The Penguin? Two-Face? Catwoman? The horrors of the outside world can never hurt you as much as you can hurt yourself; a pain that can lead to self-destruction if you let it. Cultivate an inner-strength.

20. The night is darkest before the dawn.

The universe can be pretty brutal — a collection of accidents in a very busy place. But out of the greatest tragedies can come the greatest beauties. Without the night, there’d be no sunrise. Without bad things, there’d be no reason for hope. Without death, there can be no rebirth. Seek to bring the dawn.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Crowds in Arkansas came for the lure of cage fighting and $1 beer, but police say what they got instead was men ripping each others’ clothes off and kissing — a stunt suspected of being orchestrated by Sacha Baron Cohen of “Borat” fame.

“We had a contract for cage fighting. We were deceived,” said Dwight Duncan, president and CEO of Four States Fair Grounds in Texarkana, where the first of two Arkansas fights raised suspicions last month.

Matt Labov, a Los Angeles-based publicist for Baron Cohen, said he had no comment Monday about the faked fights. One of Baron Cohen’s movies is due out next year.

The day after the June 5 Texarkana bout, Fort Smith’s convention center hosted “Blue Collar Brawlin.’” Fort Smith police Sgt. Adam Holland said organizers told him a character named “Straight Dave” would goad a planted audience member into the ring for a fight.

The two men would then wrestle, rip away some of their clothes and share a brief kiss reminiscent of one between Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell in the film “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

Producers said “there would be a romantic embrace,” Holland said. “They said it was kind of to essentially make fun, poke fun at wrestling — two guys rolling around on the floor, all sweaty.”

An elaborate array of mounted and handheld video cameras caught the crowd of 1,600’s reaction as the two men “went right up to the line” of the city’s morality laws, Holland said. The two men stripped down to their underwear, kissed and rubbed on each other, the sergeant said.

The audience, as well as local fighters drawn to take part in the show, became enraged. “It set the crowd off lobbing beers,” Holland said. “They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually.”

Holland said it took officers about 45 minutes to clear the convention center, as the two actors sprinted away through a specially set-aside tunnel.

Those in attendance were told by several signs on display that they’d be filmed, Holland said, and signed waivers before the event. Convention center sales director Karin Hobbs declined to name the event’s sponsor Monday.

Baron Cohen became a national celebrity after his 2006 hit movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” in which he played a bumbling reporter from the Central Asia nation.

News of the faked cage fights comes as Baron Cohen is in production of a movie titled “Bruno,” named after the gay Austrian fashion reporter he developed for “Da Ali G Show.” Baron Cohen, in the guise of Bruno, often interviewed hapless subjects in the South.

If the cage match visits came from Baron Cohen, it wouldn’t be the first time Arkansas fell for a practical joke. In 2000, then-Gov. Mike Huckabee fell for a prank and congratulated Canada for preserving its icebound Parliament, calling it a “national igloo.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian man who described local police as “scum” in an Internet posting was given a suspended jail sentence on Monday for extremism, prompting bloggers to warn of a crackdown on free speech online.

Savva Terentiev, a 28-year-old musician from Syktyvkar, 1,515 kilometers (940 miles) north of Moscow, wrote in a blog last year that the police force should be cleaned up by ceremonially burning officers twice a day in a town square.

Convicted on charges of “inciting hatred or enmity,” Terentiev was given a one-year suspended term on Monday, Russian news agencies reported.

Free speech campaigners said the ruling could create a dangerous precedent for free speech on the Internet, a vibrant forum for political debate in a country where the mainstream traditional media is deferential to authority.

“This was an absolutely unjustified verdict,” Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the SOVA centre in Moscow, a non-governmental group that monitors extremism, told Reuters. “Savva for sure wrote a rude comment … but this verdict means it will be impossible to make rude comments about anybody.”

The verdict was discussed in Russian blogs on Monday. “I don’t know now if I should be writing here or not,” blogger Likershassi posted on one website.

“The fact that Terentiev got a conditional sentence is unimportant. What’s important is the precedent,” a blogger named Puffinus wrote.

BONFIRE

Contacted by Reuters on Monday, Terentiev confirmed the sentence but said he was unable to make further comment.

The blog entry for which he was prosecuted has been removed from the Internet. Russia’s Kommersant newspaper quoted him as saying in the post: “Those who become cops are scum,” and calling for officers to be put on a bonfire.

After the prosecution was launched, Terentiev wrote an open letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev protesting his innocence.

“It is our duty to take responsibility for words on the Internet but … I did not call for the inflaming of social hatred towards the employees of the police department,” he wrote in the letter, posted at one of his sites.

Most Russians receive their news and information from television stations and newspapers controlled by the state or by businessmen with links to the Kremlin, with opposition voices confined largely to the Internet, talk radio and low-circulation publications.

Medvedev has said he views freedom of speech and a flourishing civil society as essential and that Russia should use a light touch when policing the Internet.

“Thank God we live in a free society,” Medvedev said last month in an interview with Reuters.

“It’s possible to go on to the Internet and get basically anything you want. In that regard, there are no problems of closed access to information in Russia today, there weren’t any yesterday and there won’t be any tomorrow,” he said.