DaoWaDiddy

I like many of the books/authors already mentioned (Asimov, Herbert, Tolkien, etc.) Here are some other favorites: Spider Robinson - Callahan's Crosstime Saloon and some of the follow-ups. The Stardance books. Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light Neil Gaiman - American Gods Neil Stephenson - Snow Crash. You have to love a book where the main character is Hiro Protagonist. Katherine Kurtz & Deborah Turner Harris - The Adept (and the rest of the series) Talbot Mundy - OM: The Secret of Ahbor Valley and others Harlan Ellison - Damn near anything. He's written a ton of short stories, TV episodes, etc. Some samples short stories: Repent Harlequin Said The Ticktockman I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream William Gibson - Neuromancer / Count Zero / Mona Lisa Overdrive - the Father of Cyberpunk David Drake - the Honor Harrington series Theodore Sturgeon - Again, damn near anything. He wrote amazingly great short stories, wrote my favorite Star Trek episodes - "Shore Leave" - and came up with the phrase "Live long and prosper". Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson - The Illuminatus Trilogy - not quite SF or Fantasy fnord but an amazing read none the less. -------------------------------------------------------------- My favorite SF book is Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein. I first read it as a teenager while attending a very conservative parochial school. One of the things that the book helped me do was to take a look at religion from a very different perspective; it was one of the crowbars that helped me dismantle the box and become the lapsed Daoist that I am today. Read to enjoy and enjoy what you read. Charlie

I left no answer on the poll. As others have said the choices were poorly worded - except for perhaps "Other". The larger problem is that "Religion" and "Science" are such large generalizations that they are realistically meaningless in terms of describing actual behavior by real people.

One book that I enjoyed was Tales of the Taoist Immortals by Eva Wong. It has a version of this story, stories of the other immortals, and tales of Sages, Magicians, Diviners and Alchemests. I found it enjoyable. All the best, Charlie

There are days when I am practicing in the living room and squirrels or the occasional rabbit will stop by and watch for a while through the picture window. Much less drama involved...

Large caliber weapons carried to high places Intellectually, I'm with Scotty. Emotions happen, but it seems more useful to "eat the Chi" from them rather than spray it all over the room. In practice, there are days when I'm a real dick. Charlie

Time Zone? Chi, Charlie

Back to bulbs: How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb? None - it's a hardware problem.

I did several years of Yang style Tai Chi back in the 70's along with a bit of Hsing I. I have recently started training Tai Chi again. It's good to be back... Charlie

Charlie

A couple of things to watch out for with incense: - Some people have a very strong negative reaction (allergy) to scents like incense, perfume, etc. - Burning incense can be fairly pervasive in an open cube farm and your neighbors may not share your tastes. The second hint is when they start taking target practice with squirt guns... In my little corner of the behemoth I've tended to use visual images (Windoze desktop images, printed calendars, etc.) All the best, Charlie

"If God dropped acid, would he see people?" ~ Steven Wright

Beer for breakfast? What was he thinking? You have to stick with the traditional breakfast foods with the stick-to-your-ribs nutritional fortitude that have given so many the strength to made our country great: A Moon pie, YooHoo and some grits - with gravy. All the best, Charlie And maybe some pork rinds to settle the stomach...

I'm another one of the old farts elder statesmen that usually lurks around here on the board. At 56, I seldom manage to empty my cup - rather, when I actually manage to stop and check I discover once again that I'm full of it. AugustLeo (Michael), my wish for you and your bride is that your marriage become an ongoing celebration of what is possible. May you be so profoundly happy/sad/angry/blissful together that you can barely contain it. All the best, Charlie

I recently ran across a pointer to this show over on the Healing Dao Forum. The show is about recent scientific work which seems to indicate that experiences and environmental factors that influenced our ancestors do result in changes that are passed down genetically. The Ghost in Your Genes - Part 1 The Ghost in Your Genes - Part 2 The Ghost in Your Genes - Part 3 The Ghost in Your Genes - Part 4 For having your energetic body access the information you are on your own. Be well, Charlie