DaoWaDiddy

I have ad blocker off and as far as I can tell I am seeing all the avatars - it gets more interesting as some people haven't selected avatars... I still am not seeing "Custome member title"

Sean, Did you take some action to change your avatar? I can see it now and wanted to know if it was because I turned off Ad Blocker or if you did something... Charlie

The light just may have dawned! Can you send me the IMG tag (quoted as code) for your avatar? I'm suspecting that Norton Security is being too helpful and the Ad Blocker is triggering on something in the tag. I'll let you know. Charlie

When I go to My Controls>Edit Profile info there is not a field that says "Custom member title" on the page that comes up. In the box labelled "Your personal profile, this section is optional" I see the following entries: Your Date of Birth Your website url Your ICQ UIN Your AOL identity Your Yahoo identity Your MSN Messenger identity Your Location Your Interests Also, FWIW I am not seeing an avatar for you right now. Is this an expected result? Charlie

Sean, This seems to be working rather strangely. For example, take a look at the thread with my birthday wishes. When I look at this, here is what I am seeing for member titles: Sean - Faux Hawk Lozen - Plank Geek TwoTrees - Tao Wizard - with a line at the bottom of the block below the avatar that says Life's Eternal Servant (probably the custom title she posted) DaoWaDiddy - Tao Master - with a line at the bottom of the block below the avatar that says Marxist (definitely the custom title I posted). Is there some difference in personal profile that is driving this? Enquiring minds want to know... Charlie

Thanks to you all for the good wishes. My birthday was great! We went from small-town central WI down to the semi-large city of Milwaukee (until last year we lived in that area) to visit family, go to a wedding and generally hang out. Birthday night dinner was at a very cool restaurant called The Grove where the food is wonderful, they have live jazz playing, and we've gotten to know the owners and had some good conversation with them. But the real treasure of the night was walking in, having my 14 month old granddaughter see me, give a great big grin, walk over and give me the universal "pick me up" signal, and then snuggle into my arms for about ten minutes of just being there without even wiggling. That is beyond price. --- Meanwhile, I haven't seen it and it's becoming clearer that I'm going to have to get Dynamited. Be sure to try in vain to take life seriously, Charlie

Given moderately recent history, I understand your concern. Maybe some type of versioning is the answer - think open source software. Anyone can post a modified version of the software, but unless the core team approves of it the mod never makes the main line. Along that same line, we may want to use a copyleft rather than a copyright on the resulting book. Or, we may not. I just think it will be useful to discuss some of this stuff and come to a common understanding rather than have it bite us on the ass later. Charlie

I think it's much more than site maintenance. You've brought great thoughtfulness to the policies - still evolving - that you set and the atmosphere that you have fostered. Plus I dig the look. Charlie

I haven't tried this yet, but the claims on the site raised my interest and in doing a bit of research I ran across some interesting links - some of which seem to have some basis in scientific research. Pro ORMUS / Article about 'Monatomic Elements' in the science section of 'The Observations Network' Con Fantasies and Misconceptions on the Web Non-nutritional research on Monatomic elements Stiff Monatomic Gold Wires with a Spinning Zigzag Geometry Do It Yourself Gold, mono atomic elements from sea water Note: Taoist reference, radiation warning concerning some other sources. I'm not yet sure what to make of all this. Charlie

"Have you noticed how much they look like orchids? Lovely!" Lazarus Long "I conceal my amazement..." Wish I could remember "Brought to you by your Department of Redundancy Department, and the Natural Guard" Firesign Theater "It's never too late to have a happy childhood" button in my drawer "And the ship went out into the high sea, and passed on into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise. --- But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap. He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said." J R R Tolkien

One of the things that I've been doing in conjunction with my Five Animals/Six Healing Sounds practice is to at least start each animal in the direction associated with the element represented - if I have enough space I will do the entire animal movement in that direction, otherwise I curve it as needed. This has been working well for me as part of the set of associations for an element: color animal sound direction positive and negative emotions Something about the direction feels right... Charlie

I'm the walking proof of that one. I was raised as a lacto-ovo vegetarian (eats dairy and eggs) but did not eat ANY meat until about the age of 20 or so -- I was raised Seventh Day Adventist. We followed this to the point that my Mom would check for vegetable shortning in the products list and wouldn't buy if it wasn't specificly called out. I tell people that it stunted my growth (6'2" - 215 lb.) I do eat meat now, but tend more toward eating only a smaller amount of things like chicken, fish, etc. Some folks see sizzling steak, I see steaming hunk of dead cow... Meanwhile, it seems that the Seventh Day Adventists are on to something - mainly vegetarian, don't drink, don't smoke, etc. Actuarially, they tend to live over 4 years longer than the general population - and this without inner alchemy. On the other hand, the overall lifestyle can be like living in a very small box - I gave it up early in my 20s. Charlie

I recently saw Kung Fu Hustle and now I'll just have to buy a copy of my own. Laughing, Charlie

Or, how about: McTao Tao R Us Bubba's House of Tao Dunkin DaoNuts All seriousness aside, Charlie

Sean, What I am seeing now is a bunch of blogs! Thanks for the magic touch. Charlie

Sean, What I'm seeing is: You have no permission to view the Blogs. Does this perhaps take a separate login since the domain has changed? Charlie

Sean, Thanks for the work that you do on TaoBums and for the thought that you put into improving the site. I appreciate the collaborative process that you are using during this continued evolution. I think the most recent changes hit just the right balance in giving new visitors/lurkers a chance to taste the meal so that they'll want to come into the restaurant and join the party -- it will make them more willing to pay the cover. All the best, Charlie

Sean, I'm not sure that I agree with the proposed structure - I think that keeping unregistered people from reading the "Inner Cauldron" will be counter-productive for having new people register and post. I think this is especially the case if the "Open Bar" or lobby is used just for intros and welcom messages If as a new user I can't see the forum where the meat of the site is located, what would entice me to go through the effort of a registration and an intro? I lurked around for a few months before actually posting something and might not have bothered without getting the flavor of the site through following what people had to say and having a sense of what they were up to. What other enticements would work for getting people to post? My two cents - Charlie

Like Sean, I tend to have several books going at once. The books that I think go along with this site are: The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment My friend Scott gave me a copy of this book back in the early seventies - that was back when the author was self-publishing. Scott ran into this guy on the street in San Francisco and ended up passing on the book to me after he had read it. Unwinding the Belly This is a very accessable introduction to Chi Nei Tsang - I am working my way through the exercises and finding it useful and fascinating. Regards, Charlie

I think this is a very good idea. As an add on to this, it would be useful to set an expectation that a review includes some of the meat of your experience. For example: I've been doing Winn's Six Healing Sounds for four months and have had major improvements in my health. My blood chemistry is much improved - I'm now off of most of the medications. Or I've been practicing retention for 5 weeks, 3 days and 27 minutes and have discovered that the extra power from the heated jing improved my distance by 20 yards when I kick the cat. I also think we should have a glossary/abbreviation page so that newer visitors would know what MCO, WW, ZZS, HT, retention, and some of the other special terms we use refer to. All the best, Charlie

Got Link?

"One post a day" is not a general condition for posting on HT - it was a special condition for someone who was posting a lot of different things that IMO could be charitably characterized as less than on topic. These were not relevant posts. The HT board is a mixed bag but there are enough pearls there that I find it useful to pry open the oysters. Charlie

After a side-by-side taste test this morning with two cups of tea brewed at the same time with the same water, etc. the white tea wins by a bicuspid. However, this was a sighted taste test rather than a blind one so I'm not sure that I can count on my own neutrality. YMMV. Warm tea, warm thoughts, and warm friends to you, Charlie

We bought some Republic of Tea white tea and it was Not Very Good - lacked flavor so thoroughly that it was like drinking hot water with a bit of pale green food coloring. Not recommended. However, a local coffee shop had white tea by Ceylon Teas Inc and we bought a large box and have been pleased with it. The flavor - while more subtle than green or black - is definititely available and it is very smooth. I drink it and my body smiles. Wonderful tea and warm friends to you all, Charlie