Taomeow

One of the main factors being that it was never in existence. "Communism" was something the Soviet Union was supposedly "building." What was operational for 70 years was called "socialism" and the residents asserted they lived in a "socialist" country, which was only dubbed "communist" in the West -- a bit like "eskimo" instead of "innuit," not the self-name. We were only indoctrinated to look forward to the "communist future." Whatever it was, it had the same features of feudalism that I now lovingly recognize in the simpler, more straightforward approach to exploiting the masses known as "capitalism," operational since Sumer and Babylon and to this day pretty much everywhere and for all purposes. The differences, if you take a bird's eye historical view, are minor. Whether the emperor owns the fief overlords or is owned by them; whether the government owns the corporations (as it did in the Soviet Union) or the corporations own the government (as in "capitalist" countries), serfs are still serfs, property is property and serfs still own 1% of all there is to have under "capitalism," are allowed to use a varying percentage of it but usually no more than 1% under "socialism," and control even less of all there is to control -- plus new and improved propaganda spins that blind them to the fact, and a helluva lot of distractions. Of course for a decade or two or three you can find yourself lucky living in the rare and precious period of social well-being happening locally in a particular spot. A kinder emperor, nicer fiefs who have read some social justice philosophy or other. A currently less precarious geopolitical spot. In other words, for a short while, you're Norway. It happens. It doesn't last. Any rewilders out there?.. ...Didn't think so.

“I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” -- Genghis Khan

Heartfelt thanks and profound purrs for all the welcome back greetings. And Rocky, I'm speechless. Thank you for engaging the tianzun in holding the door open for a mere cat (of course, being exceedingly wise, they know that cats have this thing with doors -- all doors have to be open at all times but whether to step out from in or in from out has to follow an inner/outer prompt few cats would be able to rationally explain -- but I could -- but I won't -- meow.) I'm honored and humbled to be the recipient of such a lofty offering.

It's just like riding a bicycle. Welcome back.

你鼓励了我。对此我十分感激 !

Unfortunately for us who went against nature, there's forces of nature that are stronger than market forces (aside from the fact that most of the world presently lives in a fully fledged corporatocracy, and the consolidation of corporate power is only getting more drastic and complete, swallowing up any vestigial market forces in a continuous gulp that is only getting wider), and nature did not create us to rule over billions... or even over more than 120, to be precise. Rule over more people with the help of any forces and you wind up brain damaged. So it's not the "smartest or ambitious or inventive" that end up populating the top -- according to science, it's the brain damaged ones: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/07/power-causes-brain-damage/528711/?fbclid=IwAR3oCqcPUHDKaa2So4ShHi_tjtIPGvKSASWvfNNnRZI5oyEWAhFxP2BIGqw

Introducing my trusty cezve (aka jezve, ibrik, turka). Over 30 years old and used every day, at least twice. I've had many others over the years but keep coming back to this one. You can't see it in the pic but after the widest point the bottom also tapers again at the same angle. It's made in Armenia of something called "German silver" which does not have any silver (being really a copper-nickel-zinc alloy) yet looks indistinguishable from it (but does not tarnish like silver) and exhibits commendable thermal behavior. Yet the main thing about it is its shape (very hard to find), with a drastic slope that forces the coffee (provided you didn't mess up the proportions) to form a grinds-foam "cork" on top, so the brew underneath it heats up to higher temperatures that in most other instances without any of the volatile goodies (the mind-bending aroma, antioxidant-rich oils, etc.) having a chance to escape. It takes a while for the critical temperature inside the main body of the cezve to reach the top and overturn the "cork" with much finer, lighter-colored, yummier foam on the way toward escape -- that's the moment not to miss, you turn it off immediately as the finer foam rises, as soon as it submerges the coarser one completely -- not before and not after. This way coffee never boils (it never should, not for a second) and, if you're careful, the foam never escapes. (No one is this careful, but that's the goal.) It is technically ready at this point, but if you want to be fully orthodox and get the most out of your brew prepared this way, you set it aside for 30 seconds, the foam drops down somewhat, you put it back on, it rises, you remove the cezve from heat promptly, and then repeat once again. This particular item I'm always on the lookout to find a backup for in case something happens to it, and have only seen its twin sister once, on ebay, from a seller of vintage goods in Armenia. But he wanted something like $190 for it so I had to pass, especially considering that the bottom of my cezve has the price stamped into the metal (yup, they did it to every pot, fork, spoon and nearly everything else up until the breakup of the Soviet Union -- prices set by the government were supposed to be forever) and it clearly says, "Price 18 roubles."

Thanks for remembering. I'll probably unlock it if all goes well

What a prudent canine. Better safe than sorry.

Wasn't sure which smiley to choose... we need a sad/funny one, like the Greek tragedy-comedy masks. I've seen drunk people in all kinds of intricate positions where I come from -- in an apartment building where I lived, a neighbor was once trying to make his way to his apartment crawling upstairs -- legs first. Took him a while...

Thank you, Manitou! Once a police detective, always a police detective! Yes, to break out the screen and fall down riding it like Major Kong straddling the nuclear bomb in Stanley Kubrick's Doctor Strangelove -- that's the cat's way, and that's exactly how it happened.

Thank you, guys!

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=PCgjSwaPu0Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8105O5lggs

So, I keep getting PMs after I posted an abrupt farewell in an obscure (not really, but hardly read by most) thread, a farewell I wasn't planning on saying to a habit of 12 years (which is the least that can be said about what TDB is for me), and even though I thought that would be the end of it, those PMs (thank you again, everyone who sent one!) made me reconsider. After all, my friends and thought-mates and worthy adversaries (why of course) of many years, and just plain familiar faces, partners in banter, partners in cultivation, inspirations and challenges and more -- are people I wouldn't want to make feel irrelevant, insignificant, disposable enough for me to just slam the door without so much as a nod of recognition in their direction. And of course I owe them a lot more than that. So, here goes a brief why/wherefore. I did hit the "report" button twice, that's my only culpable act. I didn't do it because I'm "pushy" per ZYD's assessment, but because, not having touched that button in years, I was out of the loop as to whether the report got noticed the first time -- I remembered from my own long moderating years that sometimes the mods had bigger fish to fry, were busy with something else, and folks would report the same thing twice to get noticed, and it was never a big deal, or any kind of deal at all. So, yes, this, I did. Mea culpa. But the rest... The rest was gaslighted to mind-boggling proportions. Triumphant contempt, unfair slander, insulting attacks by two mods (ZYD and Kar3n) in response to my request to rule in a bully who happens to be Kar3n's husband (Jonesboy), a request which, when pooh-poohed by the mods, I followed up by a tongue-in-cheek sarcastic post intending to prove that Jonesboy's insult (calling me "butthurt" on the heels of a barrage of bullying and trolling) WAS indeed an insult by giving a few metaphorical meanings of "butthurt" that could CLEARLY reveal the insulting nature of the term, which was my only intent -- made me reconsider my participation. I found the atmosphere where something like this can be a response to my years of pretty much trying to follow a favorite taoist line about the sage -- not that I think of myself as one, but I strive to emulate one whenever I manage to -- the sage who "comes like the spring, benefitting all beings" -- I suddenly found this atmosphere unhealthy and unbreathable. If it changes, I'll come back. If it doesn't, it's a regretful, tearful farewell. Time will heal this wound, of course, in any event. Much love to all. TM

I love you all, guys. To those whose PMs I haven't answered yet -- I will, with gratitude and hopefully not on the run, as soon as "real life" provides a chunk of time -- it's been demanding lately. The upside of the whole situation is that a treasure trove of human kindness and wisdom has opened up for me -- and my worst fear, to have wasted my qi here without making the slightest difference for anyone, has been mercifully put to rest. I'm grateful for all the feedback, not because I needed kudos but because I needed to know it wasn't a total waste of taomeowing after all. I'm thinking, feeling, and asking my heart -- "are you still in it?" Whatever I decide, I will decide with a lighter heart now. Thank you.

Thank you, Earl Grey! You are always attuned to the energy aspects of the goings-on, that we have in common, and not only that. I don't want to talk about that aspect here though, but interestingly enough, I decided that I needed to distract myself from thinking, writing, and other online stuff by doing something completely unrelated today, and went shopping for trifles and trinkets -- I needed a new flower pot, a bowl to replace a chipped one... wound up at a thrift store (we have a thriving thrift store scene where I live) and what do I see on display? You won't believe it. A taoist ritual Seven Stars sword used for protection, to deflect assorted "energetic" intrusions, and -- well, since you are friends with Miss Wen, you probably know what they are for! And a jade bracelet next to it. I was speechless, and paying. I'll see how it goes... Thanks again, my friend.

Steve, I did not delete them, I just hid my PPD dedicated to the subject (long before now) because I started getting deeper into the territory of indoor stuff and my teacher started reminding me "this is not for sharing" sometimes as an afterthought, i.e. I already wrote stuff and then he tells me, this is not for public disclosure -- and of course I obey my teacher completely, without questioning his judgment, that I do share with traditional taiji disciples. So I hid the main taiji thread in order to review it, possibly put together a coherent unified version -- there was a lot of material there that to my knowledge can't be found anywhere else (at least I have never been able to find it when I looked), and I meant to run this version by my teacher and ask him which parts are OK to share, then reintroduce to TDB (possibly as a link to a blog, which I already started working on.) So, if you ever feel that your meditative practice might benefit from oomphing it with some more taiji, my stuff may be available again by then, improved on, hopefully, while not trespassing into insubordination (which was my concern behind hiding it.)

Thank you, Steve, for the strong support, which I am proud to have earned -- I know you as an uncompromising warrior of justice, something, believe it or not, I sense even when it is wrapped in a warm fuzzy silence! And the clarity of your vision when you do chime in feels positively healing. I have always valued your contributions and your perspective. Love and respect reciprocated! TM

Thank you, Dawei! I remember! I admired your patience, your willingness to put our heads together to figure out what's best for the forum and its most different bums -- what's most creative, least restrictive, most conductive to self-regulation of threads/participants without being in the way of self-expression, least likely to induce unnecessary conflicts... I was happy to contribute as much as I was able. That you still haven't abandoned the idea after the new version has nullified our (chiefly yours of course!) efforts really wows me. Maybe tomorrow is another day... whenever it comes.

Thank you, CloudHands! Truly grateful for the Élan and flavor your posts have brought, and for your appreciation of my humble (and otherwise) contributions. 5 500 more book suggestions is probably more than I have to offer, but some 5 at a time... anytime. Much love, TM

Thank you, BES! Maybe it will change again... TDB has been through many bumps in the road. Maybe it will self-correct... It's not hopeless, although some of it is... but definitely not all of it. Healing and love and power to you. TM

Thank you Zerostao, your clear and courageous (sic!) ability to look reality in the face and call it as you see it truly warms my heart. Yes, moderating takes its toll. A mod who lashes out instead of level-headed moderation may be past the toll booth -- expecting others to pay the fine. Well, cops who run red lights with impunity are not unheard of... and that's why I feel that it's better to get out of the way while a couple of them are at it.

Oh no, I didn't make that "joke." We need to give credit where credit is due -- it was Kar3n who arrived at the conclusion that tongue-in-cheek has sexual connotations. It would never occur to me -- unlike the case with "butthurt." Incidentally, I am a published American author, not a disenfranchised "tsarina" who needs the firing squad to explain grammar, syntax, stylistics and lexicology to me while crushing heirloom china and practice shooting Siberian cats.

Thank you, Silent Thunder, your "thunder," albeit always gentle, has not been "silent" to me, and has not fallen on a deaf ear. I've often admired your heart and your limitless love and optimism even in the face of great adversity. Be well, my dear friend!