I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one around here who hates snakes.

I deal with most snakes that I encounter by chopping them up with a shovel.

ha - seekshelter - awesome memory!

Another one I thought of - but couldn't find - was the Hawaii Five-Oh episode where hippy surfers and beach-bums were doing amphetamines, and there was one dude who was high on speed while driving a motorcycle, but started having an acid-like trip...

Book 'em, Dano!

Alcohol!

My take on the story (and yes - this is my photo...)

He left his life of luxury as a young man to be a wandering ascetic. During that time he tried any number of the things that ascetics do, including "mortification of the flesh," which is reflected in (rare) images of him emaciated.

As for "Happy Buddha" being fat, etc... The Happy Buddha image that we are all familiar with is not a Buddha or "the" Buddha, but rather a beloved and influential Chinese Buddhist monk usually called "Ho Tai" who lived sometime between the 11th and 14th centuries, if I remember correctly.

Really beautiful! I love them!

I have been to a number of these temples. Asia is so wonderful for this sort of thing.

I have a few that I'd add to the list:

Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong Island
Wat Pho, Bangkok
Wat U-Mon, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Panom Rung, Buriram, Thai/Cambodian border
Phyang and Spituk Monasteries, Ladakh, India

He ruined that groovy mustache style for all men forever!

Well, George! That's very kind of you! Thanks!

Fuck 'em.

The earth has several buttholes, one of the primary of which is definitely in Crawford, Texas.

Neat roundup. Needs some tuning by those heathens over at Mental Floss. See you guys in purgatory!