DaoWaDiddy

From A Sand County Almanac Last weekend was Aldo Leopold Weekend here in Wisconsin, with educational events about ecology and land ethics at many towns around the state - that I managed to miss by seeing the notices on Monday. I am not particularly an outdoorsman and am at best semi-literate about conservation. But I find his writing evocative and moving - a reminder of how important the land and wilderness are to us. If you have not yet read it, I recommend A Sand County Almanac. For more info on his life and legacy see The Aldo Leopold Foundation. In particular, check the page on Land Ethics. All the best, Charlie

Ya gotta love a good rant...

The "proper" English term is perineum. Taint is a contration for "it ain't" - as in it ain't your balls and it ain't your ass. Pedantically, Charlie

I've been in a musical mood recently so - somehow - much of this thread reminds me of a song.

OK, I'll bite. I don't know if these are explicitly Daoist, but I like them and find them peaceful: Tao of Healing Tao of Peace Both of these are by Dean Evenson and Li Xiangting I also like Deuter - such CDs as Nada Himalaya - check out the large image of the CD cover - then turn it (or your head) sideways and look for the face Wind & Mountain Of course, if I find myself feeling too yin-ish after listening to these, I can always balance things out with something a bit more yang. All the best, Charlie

Noted NLP co-founder/saint/sinner/trickster Richard Bandler had the thought of working with the placebo effect by branding and marketing a new over the counter medication called Placebo - with each bottle you would get the pamphlet that quotes the scientific studies that show Placebos are effective xx % of the time when used by people suffering from {whatever}. "If it only works 50% of the time, take two." As far as I know, this stayed a thought rather than becoming a product.

Some slightly more old school choices: The Marx Brothers Abbott and Costello Laurel and Hardy Burns and Allen W. C. Fields Bill Cosby Richard Pryor Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, etc.) Steve Martin And for going to a whole 'nother place - The Firesign Theater Laugh long and prosper in the New Year, Charlie

Yes - always be sure to give them what they deserve. I think it may be time to look into having some form of self-employment again...

On the other hand, I have a Libertarian acquaintance who did not pay taxes for about 10 years or so. She had some tough times when the IRS came in and tried to attach everything, etc. However, the IRS lost in court on criminal charges and then also lost the civil case that they brought and had to give it all back - including her commercial pilot's license that was cancelled when the they came after her. I've never had any desire at all to be a test case and so have continued to make sure that I pay my protection money - er, "fair share" - on a regular basis. Charlie

Per this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15717478/?GT1=8717 there is a prediction of more activity than usual around 11:45pm ET. Unfortunately, prime viewing of the burst appears to be limited to New England, eastern New York and Bermuda - which definitely excludes the middle of Wisconsin where I am located.

Todd, You might want to take a look at a forum article that Michael Winn posted here. He talks about the drawbacks of only building chi via qigong and advocates the Inner Smile practice - definitely worth checking out. This hit me at the right time in my practice as I've been noticing some interesting swings in my state. My current model is that that this has to do with deeper levels of unblocking stuck chi that have associated emotional content, etc. - a way to buffer this process and more easily recover my balance will be useful so I will be adding more time smiling. All the best, Charlie

Michelle, Thanks for the good wishes and kind words. Even though I am now of a certain age and find birthdays just a little bit strange - a chance for more introspection than usual and the question of "How exactly did I end up with this life" - I have decided that I will postpone the midlife crisis for another few days and so have cancelled the order for the Corvette. All the best, Charlie

I grabbed a few magazines off the stack: Qi Renaissance Nexus Wired Atlantic

Of course we do. Although "slave" is such a negative word...

Happy Birthday Michael. Be sure to have entirely too good a time today. Charlie

I too have met a few Bahai'ists in my past - as Cameron said, they were nice people Meanwhile, if you look into the history of religious Taoism you will find that at various times it has been a state sponsored religion and a theocracy - among many other things. It seems that human beings are wired up so that they turn most religions into a theocracy at some point - just more mammalian politics as usual. I think it's useful to draw a clear distinction between the individual practice/philosophy of a given "religion" and how the organized whole screws things up. All the best, Charlie

Year: Metal Rabbit Month: Earth Dog Day: Metal Ox Hour: Wood Goat Inner Element: Wood Constellation: Hare Elements Wood/4 Fire/0 Earth/5 Metal/3 Water/0 The element results are interesting as based on an analysis of body/personality characteristics (survey in a book) my strongest element was water. I'll be interested to follow along as Sean passes along more of this.

Sean, The new look is great! I liked the old design - thought it was one of the better looking forum sites around - but this one feels lighter and more open. When I first opened it there was this "Oh, of course! " moment. Thanks for putting in the work with all the little template files and images and color settings... I'm not sure about this one. To me it seems like it might break up the flow of reading down the page from message to message - kind of like the mid-page banners do. Not a major distraction, just a bit of extra scrolling. With the current layout when there is a conversational posting (you post something, Yoda responds, you respond, Yoda...) the redundant information is off to the side rather than interspersed with the main line of the messages. And would you follow the same scheme for the Personal Practice Discussions - which often follow a different pattern (Yoda, Yoda, Yoda, Yoda, Sean Yoda, Cameron)? Just some thoughts for you to throw into the design process. All the best, Charlie

Transforming the Alchemists This article from the NY Times is more about the physical side of western alchemy and how it is currenly being reexamined by scholars.

Congratulations! It sounds as if you managed to have some fun mixed with all of the work that went into this. Was this the final requirement for your Masters? Charlie

I live in a kinda small (ca 25,000) town in the sandy, flat part of the middle of Wisconsin - by way of Milwaukee for quite a while - by way of the Bay area and several other places - by way of the Maryland burbs of Washington DC. back when there was open land between DC and Baltimore. l've really grown to like living in a community this size - there's something to be said for a place where rush hour means that it takes a little longer to turn left on US 10.

Hi, This site has info, articles, links, etc. about religious Daoism and could be a good starting place to find more. All the best, Charlie

You mean, size doesn't matter?

Thaddeus, I agree with you that bare affirmations like "I am skinny" have the strong possiblity of getting an internal response of a slightly sarcastic "Yeah - right..." Instead, try putting it in the form of a question that presupposes the result that you are interested it. Instead of "I am skinny" or "I am getting thinner" it would be something like "I wonder how soon I will notice that my weight is decreasing?" or "How delighted will I be to discover that I am thinner?" This sends our minds on a very different internal search... All the best, Charlie PS - Good luck to you Hagar as you reach the finish.

Wow, David Elsewhere is an amazing dancer. This guy is less amazing but Charlie