Green Tiger

This is for Apech. This band is going to be playing here this summer. I'm pretty sure I'm going.

But you make it sound like such a fun experience...

I'm definitely glad I went to the seminar instead. It was never a tough choice. My roommate went, and he told me all about it. Would have been quite an experience . . . not necessarily a good one.

Thanks for the recap, Brian! I really wish I could've been there. I hope to see you at the next one I'm able to attend!

While I'm here: This song is fantastic!

GWAR kept on going a lot longer than we all thought....kept going even though having many members come and go....but I dont know if they can keep going without the main man Dave Brockie. RIP Oderus.

 

Son of a bitch. Next time someone says "hey, let's go see this band that hasnt been around here in forever" I'm just going to go no matter what, because you never know when someone's going to wind up dead. I still kick myself for missing Damageplan right before Dime got shot.

 

It is an era of calamity, I see this with perfect clarity...

 

Well, heck if I ever really listen to the lyrics, most of the time vocals are no different to me than any other instrument in terms of "having words"

 

freakin mondays man, I tell ya.

Damn! They were here last year and I went to a Stillness-Movement seminar that weekend instead. I guess I'll have to experience being sprayed with blood and urine the old fashioned way.

I'm a heavy tea drinker.

I used to enjoy Liptons Green Gunpowder tea, because it had a very strong spiritual effect on me, but they stopped selling that tea.

Why you no help taoist master achieve awakening, Lipton?!

I've been trying to drink more tea lately and less alcohol. I come from a long line of Irish alcoholics and it's something I've struggled with my entire adult life. Recently I decided I was going to quit for 100 days and . . . . it hasn't been going so well. I'm almost to day 50 and I've logged maybe 10 days without drinking.

Yesterday I decided my biggest problem is my friends and family. I was hanging out with a friend yesterday and mentioned that I wasn't drinking and he basically called me a pussy.

I think, for most of the people I know, being drunk is the greatest feeling they can achieve for under $20. Of course, none of them practice standing meditation.

I found some of Andrew J Bacevich's books on American Imperialism/Exceptionalism to be concise and keenly insightful.

 

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

The Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy Since World War II

American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of US Diplomacy

If you want something that does a pretty good job explaining why fiat currency is a joke:

Curency Wars by James Rickards

I used to have some serious-ass pirate problems. Then I got Precious Roy's Pirate Cripplers.

yeah its too bad I lost all mine in that boating accident

Pirates?

curious which one that might be, about how the economy works. because some of them out there are utter made up garbage.

 

if this guy thinks what the fed is doing is good, wholesome, and with anything resembling any sort of history of success with the method, he's got his head in the clouds.

 

ask what precipitated the need for the deleveraging in the first place - so the fed is printing money to fix a problem the government created (and attempted to circumvent by creating the federal reserve in the first place....seriously??)

 

amidst a vast landscape of distortions, a distorter distorts in a direction he desires, so that distortions may be more favorable to him. but dont assume he cares about the symbiotic relationships that actually keep him alive, he's just managing distortions.

 

 

anyone that tries to defend what the federal reserve is doing is either ignorant, or a sock puppet.

Yeah. It did occur to me that he's the president of a company that wants people to feel safe investing their money, rather than buying guns and gold.

I've got a lot of respect for Ray Dalio's opinion. (He's the guy who made that youtube video explaining how the economy works.)

I recently read a short article about him and was surprised by this:

According to Dalio, deleveragings are achieved through four channels: 1) debt write-downs; 2) the transfer of wealth from the haves to the have-nots; 3) austerity; and 4) money printing. The first three channels are deflationary. Money printing is inflationary.

 

How a deleveraging evolves depends on the relative contributions of deflationary and inflationary forces. Because deleveragings occur once a lifetime, policymakers don't know how to manage them. Guided by conventional wisdom, they usually turn to austerity and debt restructurings to bring down debt levels. The result is an "ugly" deleveraging, during which the economic pain is worsened and the debt/income ratio actually rises because incomes fall faster than debts. Policymakers see that their medicine isn't working and turn to fiscal stimulus and money printing to ease the burden. This is what occurred in the U.S. in the 1930s and in Europe in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

 

If authorities balance deflationary interventions with the right amount of money printing, the deleveraging enters a "beautiful" phase. The pain of debt write-downs is spread out. Growth is subdued, as the economy must rely on productivity improvements to grow. The United States is undergoing the most beautiful deleveraging in history, according to Bridgewater. This puts Bridgewater in an unusual camp. Of Ben Bernanke and America's central bankers, Bridgewater co-president David McCormick has said, "History will look back on them as having responded in a way that was both necessary and heroic."

 

Deleveragings take decades to work themselves out. According to this model, we've still a long way to go before short-term interest rates rise.

So does that mean that the current state of apparent growth is real and not built on a house of cards? Obviously we aren't out of the woods yet, but it was nice to hear someone who seems reliable say that what the Fed is doing is the right thing to do and that it's working. Made me feel warm and fuzzy.

EDIT: Bridgewater is Dalio's (insanely successful) hedge firm.

I really like Marblehead and Vortex's metaphorical/allegorical take on this, but I suspect there is some sort of physical analog. Probably something like an OBE. Hard to say for sure though.

Might help if you provide some more context. Like, for instance, what book are you referencing? Is this from Opening the Dragon Gate?

Also, what is the 'mysterious female aperture?' Might want to start there.

I want a diploma, too - but only so I can buy acupuncture needles. Even though I bought them for years, Congress did me the favor of saying I might not know wtf I'm doing and might hurt someone, so here, let me protect you from yourself and prevent you from buying acupuncture needles. I'm sure the acupuncture lobby has only the best interests of all patients everywhere, of course...it is imperative that the rash of pneumothoraxes be stopped! :rolleys: a*holes

There's a big push (and push-back) to require acupuncturists to get more training. Like . . . PhD-level training.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. If they also made it a requirement that all health insurance plans would have to cover it, I might be on board.

"Some blurry youtube videos"?

Well, if you choose to interpret the evidence like that and ignore data (the scientists doing the testing for example) to be able to not question your "Qigong" system that you are following, that's YOUR choice!

I'm not good & idealistic M_P_G who tried to save your asses with force!

I see the situation more like Kostas does...

 

Edit: grammar

Just because a scientist was in the room when the video was being made, doesn't automatically make it "scientific evidence."

That's like saying, "Well, there was this scientist at David Copperfield's show last night and he couldn't explain how he made that elephant disappear, so that's scientific evidence that David Copperfield can make shit disappear!"

The video might be compelling and perhaps even convincing, but to call it scientific is a step too far.

So a scientist who defines the properties of gravity in a specific way on the base of decades of scientific study (of other scientists before him) and disagrees with a hippie who defines gravity in another way according to his personal belief, is he a fundamentalist too?

That's a really nice example of a straw man built into a loaded question, Dorian.

Your analogy assumes too much. Where are the decades of scientific study proving that yin chi can only be collected during grounded meditation? Where are the decades of scientific study proving any claims made by Mo Pai practitioners about their results?

All I've seen were some blurry youtube videos and a lot of anecdotal evidence.

I'm at the point where I have absolutely no clue what's going on with the TG/MPG drama now. Can someone put together cliff notes or something?

I think it went down something like this:

He talked a lot of smack. People complained. Mods got involved. He talked smack to the mods. He got suspended. He had other people relay messages onto the board for him basically saying "please, please, please ban me," so they banned him.

Like so . . .

Because when he is here we get endless posts by him and when he's not here we get endless posts about him.

 

This makes me jealous. Imagine if someone said Apech has been suspended!!! Everyone else : who? what? who cares?

 

"A good traveler leaves no trace."

TTC, Chapter 27

Yes, like labelling libertarians and right-wingers as racist/misogynist FASCISTS.

My curiosity was only strong enough to motivate me to take an online test. I can't really see how knowing your Myers Briggs personality type is any more useful than knowing your astrological sign.

Hmmm, I'm ENFP.

I just took an online version of the test and it said that's what I am too.

I was skeptical until I did a google image search for ENFP and saw this:

Sure his posting style makes for difficult times in public discussions, but that is irrelevant to his particular practices imo.

True, but I don't think disrespect toward him stemmed from people's dislike of his practice. It was due to his posting style.

If John Chang himself started posting on the forum, and acted like a jackass, he would probably get the same treatment.

OMG! I just ate some black liquorish and it is awful!

Thought I'd come crash the hate on Thunder_Gooch party .

 

The More_Pie_Guy fan club would officially like to state that MPG and TG are AWESOME! As I'm sure anyone who has talked with him via PM and/or email can attest to.

 

Sure the posts with the exact same MP vid over and over get old, but he's hoping he'll find some new member/person to share/talk about his passion with. Sure he mocks others at times, but just tell him where to put his opinion (within board policy of course) if you don't like it, or just don't reply. See each time someone replies, well obviously he's gonna debate further .

 

Anyways I find him to be highly insightful most of the time (him and I really don't talk about MP all that much, but even when we discuss neigong), and a good person to talk with. I have learned that to get along well with MPG all I have to do is not try to convert him to my path, and when he tells me the awesomeness of MP (the 2-3 times he has in all the times we have talked), just let him know I'm happy with my path, but not try to change him. I'm sure he's pretty sick of every single person on the boards trying to get him to change paths.

 

I can sort of relate to how he feels sometimes (whether it be accurate or not, it is not for me to judge), when I hit the magic forums, I'm so tempted to post in Thunder_Gooch style sometimes, as it is truly painful to read!!! I've just had more being polite and nice training than he has .

Com'n BaguaKicksAss, let's get real.

Either you want something real, that has been vetted by witch doctors and medical scientists, or you want to continue waving your magic wand around and playing Harry Potter role play.

Your call.

I don't see why all this hate for More_Pie_Guy. He is just saying what he is thinking, it's up to you to decide whether you take it or not- If you know you are beautiful and some dude says you are ugly, you won't be affected. You will only get mad if you are insecure about your looks.

 

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It isn't so much what he says that annoys people, but the way he says it and how often he repeats it.

I really do think his heart is in the right place, but his style of discourse is juvenile.

EDIT: Also, I think he gets more attention than he would otherwise, considering he claims to have inherited the introductory teachings of a rare, well-known, and controversial lineage.