Cock-A-Doodle Doo

The main reason I haven't posted to this blog in quite a while is illustrated below. Here is a clip of the morning radio show on KOSW-LP 91.3 FM.

When Turning Left, Use Your Blinker

Trey Smith

One complaint I have often received on this blog is my fusion of leftist ideology with philosophical Taoism. I make no apologies for it because we each travel down different paths and I tend to travel down those to the left of center. Therefore, it is understandable that my tao would tend to be a left-leaning one.

That said, I sort of understand how this criticism arises and, with this blog in its winding down stage, I have created a new one: The [Left] Left Coast. I will endeavor to use the new blog as a platform for my radical, left-leaning commentary.

Once I finish posting another 4 - 6 weeks of Scott's insightful contemplations and a few entries of my own here and there, this blog will go on a prolonged hiatus. I'm not saying definitively that it will end -- though it certainly may -- but I'm guessing I will only post to it periodically going forward. I've told Scott that the door here will forever be open to him and the same is true for Ta-Wan, but we've each written about this same overall topic for years and it feels like a good time to turn over a new leaf.

I don't know how often I will post on The [Left] Left Coast, but knowing myself, I'm sure it will be off and on. When it's on, there probably will be a flurry of posts and, when it's off, I may go days without posting anything. But I do plan to move two features from here over to there: Morning News and the Afternoon Matinee (though, maybe, I should jettison the use of the word Afternoon in combination with Matinee). ;-)

Sorry For the Gap

Trey Smith

I wrote a few days ago that I would try to keep Scott's posts coming and then there is this 3 day gap! Suffice it to say, that there has been a lot of turmoil in my life the last week or so. I had a fall and, on the some day, so did my 80 year old father. My fall wasn't that serious, but my dad broke his hip. It was surgically repaired this afternoon.

On top of that, there has been a lot of stress associated with my participation at the radio station. I remain on the Board of Directors of the station, but I am no longer part of the broadcast team.

A commenter on one of my recent posts noted that things seemed to be working out at the station and this proved that I was a malingerer, someone who could be working at a paying job. I didn't feel like getting into it at the time, but some aspects of the radio station weren't working out at all and it again has something to do -- I suppose -- with my deficit in the area of social skills. At some point, I may decide to share my perspective on this ongoing situation.

Stating the Obvious

Trey Smith

Regular readers are aware that something is amiss. This blog -- which used to be updated several times per day -- is now being updated in a hit and miss manner. In fact, I didn't even notice until just now that there was nothing posted yesterday! So, I suppose I should state the obvious: This blog is going on a hiatus. I still have a month's worth of Scott's posts and I will try to get those posted in a somewhat timely fashion, but that's about it.

It's not a case of supreme writer's block for me. I am writing as much -- if not more -- than I used to. I'm simply writing for a different medium: radio. I do the news, sports and weather for our local radio station 7 days a week. I do most of my writing late at night which is when I used to write and format most of the stuff here. When I get home at midnight or later, I'm all written out and ready for bed.

In other words, the curtain is coming down on TRT. It may be permanent or it may not...though I would bet more heavily on the former. We will see what the future has in store.

Slaves to Modernity

Trey Smith

Since I am not currently scheduling posts far ahead in advance as I had done over the past two years or so, the foibles of nature exert a greater impact than before. Yesterday, this blog featured two pre-scheduled posts and that's it. I was unable to log in because we got to experience our first major storm of the season: Copious amounts of rain, 60 mph wind gusts and 25 foot waves.

Needless to say, the electricity went out and remained off for most of the day. So, we sat in the dark, listening to the rain pound and the wind howl. It wasn't a bad day, but there were several definite limitations. You don't realize what slaves we are to modernity...until much of it is snatched away in the blink of an eye.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Trey Smith

For the past 4 years or so, my life has centered around this blog. Rarely would more than a few hours go by that I didn't check-in. I wrote loads and, even when I wasn't writing as much, I was busy formatting Scott's posts -- sometimes Ta-Wan's too -- as well as making sure the various ongoing series were kept up to date and on time.

As I'm sure regular readers have noticed, I have fallen down on the job big time in the last week or so. It seems that my new duties -- I have become the de facto News Director -- at KOSW-LP, 93.1FM are taking up most of my time. Before I joined this all-volunteer community radio station, very little emphasis was placed on providing news, weather and sports. To my way of thinking, providing valuable and timely information should be one of the number one goals of community radio and, since no one else was serving in this capacity (aside from the "morning guy"), I have stepped into the breach to fill this role.

As it currently stands, I go to the radio station a minimum of two times per day -- most days it's three or more times -- to record weather updates that play at the top of most hours. I also contribute a taped 10-15 minute newscast that plays three or four times each morning on the weekends and at least twice each weekday. I'm also working on learning the software program that we utilize to record all of the station's promotional announcements with the idea of taking over this function so that the fellow who has been doing it [reluctantly] can concentrate on what he really wants to do: programing.

If this weren't enough, I am giving strong consideration to hosting a weekend 10:00 pm - 12:00 am left-wing political news and talk show. Ya know, something right up my alley!

With all this going on, I simply haven't had the time to pay much attention to this blog...or even check my email in the past 3 days!

So, what does all this mean? Will I -- like countless people before me -- simply shutdown the blog and move forward to the next chapter of my life? Ultimately, that COULD be the answer. However, I'm not ready to make such a drastic move. There is an ebb and flow to each of our lives and I may end up flowing back this direction...or I may not. Time will tell.

I will make a few changes though. Scott has been writing up a storm lately of his usual fare of interesting and insightful posts. I will move his posts into the 9:45 am slot. If I have any observations to post, they most likely will go in the 6:30 pm time slot. I will try to keep the Golden Flower, Bit by Bit and Afternoon Matinee series going each day (though I'm already a few days behind) and will feature the Morning News a bit less often.

And then we will see how all this pans out.

TRNN - New Orleans Lost Half Its Black Population Since Hurricane Katrina

Morning News

Trey Smith

Since late April, I have been featuring videos from The Young Turks in the 1:30 a.m. PDT time slot each day. I've decided to expand the daily offering by featuring other alternatives news programs as well. Beginning next week (Friday, I think), I will include Thom Hartmann's The Big Picture, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now, Sam Seder's The Majority Report, and The Guardian. In time, I may add others.

That said, the majority of the videos will still be ones from The Young Turks Network. The purpose of this feature is to provide readers of this blog with alternate and generally left leaning perspectives of major news/issues that may or may not be covered by the mainstream media. To view videos you have missed, I have assigned a new label for this feature, Morning News.

Sing Out

Trey Smith

You know, when I first started this meme on protest songs for the Afternoon Matinee feature, my plan was to do it for a month or two and then go back to the usual stuff. But, I gotta tell ya, there is a rich diversity of protest music out there and, 4 months in, I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface. I am now of the mind to feature protest songs in the 4:30 pm time slot for the rest of this year.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of rap and hip hop music -- my favorite kinds of music include rock, heavy metal, pop, folk, Celtic and classical -- and yet I have discovered a wealth of protest music in these genres. For example, I recently stumbled across dead prez, a hip hop duo with some in-your-face political material. You will be hearing from them soon.

The whole point of this exercise is to educate and inspire through music. Not only that, but to do so within a Taoist framework. That is why I am utilizing so many different genres of music. Just as we each must ply our own paths, different styles of music will appeal to different people. One person may be more receptive to country or bluegrass music, while someone else might automatically tune that out. Hip hop might speak to you, while folk might speak volumes to someone else.

As you may have noticed, I am using a broad definition of the word, protest.  While many of the songs featured are defiant, in nature, others simply affirm another way to live and relate.  The tie that binds is that all of these songs criticize certain facets of the status quo or the established order of things.  Many suggest a different road to travel.

I want this to be an interactive project too. If any readers know of protest songs that have not been featured to date -- ones that speak to your heart -- please note the song titles/artists in the comments section or send me an email.

Viva la revolucion!

Protest

For the last two months or so, I predominately have been featuring comedy in the 4:30 p.m. time slot. Today's video will serve as a bridge between comedy and the next focus of the Afternoon Matinee: protest songs. What is featured today is not a song -- it's a humorous story told by folksinger Utah Phillips (who we will hear from again later).

A Diverted Stream?

Trey Smith

Over the next 4 - 8 weeks, I suspect there will be days in which -- other than the various series that run on this blog daily -- my postings will be negligible. I'm certainly not saying this is a hard and fast rule, but my time and energy will be divided. As we work to get Della set up in the White Salmon area while I continue to work here to relinquish the house, I'm guessing there will be days when I'm so tired that I will have difficulty linking together even a few cogent words and ideas.

The again, things might go streaming along as before. You may notice nothing different here at all!

You just never know with me.

Back Or Not

Trey Smith

At the beginning of this month, I had planned to pick up where I left off in the Tao Bible series (The Gospel of Matthew). I wrote a few of the posts and had them ready to go, but then I changed my mind. I can't even tell you WHY I changed my mind; I simply did.

I guess the best explanation I can offer is that -- for the time being -- I'm just not into it. Maybe I'll get back into it in the future...or maybe not.

One of things I've been working on in terms of my being is not to force that which freely is not coming. That is one of the core messages one can pick up from the writings of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Flow is a mysterious force that we can't independently create. It exists of its own accord. Manufactured flow ain't the real deal -- it is a contrivance.

Since the inspiration behind the Tao Bible series isn't flowing of its own accord, why try to force the issue? What point would it serve? While following through with a project isn't necessarily a bad thing, it can be when we try fake inspiration (i.e., pretend that we are inspired when it's quite evident that we are not).

Break Time

Trey Smith

I'm going to take a one, two or three day break from writing as my wife and I crunch numbers and try to figure out our next moves. The regular features will still be here -- Mencius, Afternoon Matinee, Scott and Ta-Wan. I'll be back writing again before ya know it!

A One with Several Zeros

Trey Smith

A few weeks ago I announced that the Tao Bible series was going to take a bit of a hiatus. It was to start reappearing here around the first of September. At about the same time, I was going to launch my bit by bit series of the Zhuangzi. As I suppose you can tell, I'm here to announce that I am putting both off a bit longer.

Sometime this month, we passed the 10,000 post mark on this blog. Since I have written the vast majority of these posts plus formatted all of Scott's post and a good number of Ta-Wan's, I'm thinking it will be nice to take somewhat of a break to catch my breath. While I love working on the different series I present to you each day, in some ways, I have become a slave TO them. So, I've decided to give my brain a rest for a few weeks.

This is NOT to suggest that this blog will go dormant. Far from it. I may end up writing just as much as I usually do, but I'm going to TRY to broaden the kind of stuff I write about. It may work out that way...or it may not. I guess we'll have to see.

Beginning today, I'm going to tweak the daily time slots a tad. Until I start into Zhuangzi Bit by Bit, there will be no posts at 11:11 am. You probably will see posts at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm (Pacific Time).

With the campaign season in full swing, I'm more than confident you will see a lot of socio-political commentary from me. Ooh, now there's a surprise! :-D

Taking a Bible Break

Trey Smith

You may have noticed that I haven't posted a new entry for the Tao Bible series lately. After over 570 posts to date, I've decided I need a breather. So, I'm going to put this series on the shelf for the month of August with the intent of resuming it around the start of September.

One thing I worry about in terms of a long series like this one is the propensity for getting stale. Since the Bible tends to cover the same basic themes over and over again, I don't want to post entries that sound the same as the day, week or month before. I can't imagine that this would make for interesting reading for you and it certainly doesn't make it that interesting to write.

So, my hope is that, by taking a 4 or 5 week breather, I can again come to this series with new eyes and fresher posts.

My New Project

Trey Smith

When you don't have a job, it's important to have projects! Without projects, each day merely melts into the next and it's often difficult for me sometimes to remember what day of the week or month it is.

Of course, this blog itself is a project of mine. Interspersed with the writing and maintaining of the blog, I have reading, gardening and assorted other projects to occupy my time.

This week I decided to try to tackle a project that's been on my mind for some time: I will attempt to take the Line by Line series and turn it into an e-book. Since you can read this series for free on this blog, the e-book will be free as well.

I don't know if anyone would be interested in reading the Line by Line series as an e-book; I simply thought I would make it available in that format in case someone does. If nothing else, it will be good practice. If Scott is interested and willing, we could turn several of his series into e-books as well.

My e-book project will be a time-consuming task spanning several weeks or months. Unlike a lot of blog writers, I don't write my posts in a word processing program and then transfer them here. I write the vast majority of them directly in blogger's post editor. In other words, I don't have saved copies of my writings. So, just like readers, I will have to copy the text directly from the blog!

Due to my technical non-expertise, I am using a two-step process. I am copying the posts and pasting them into a WYSIWYG html editor (I am able to tweak the html, at times) and, once this part of the project is complete, I will paste the entire html code into my open source e-book creation program. Once this is done, I can then spend my time trying to get the damn thing formatted the way I want it.

One decision I have yet to make is whether the Line by Line e-book will be a) one very long volume or b) broken down into three volumes, Verses 1-27, Verse 28-54, and Verses 55-81.

Any suggestions?

What's Going On?

Trey Smith

As I'm sure readers have noticed, something a bit screwy is going on with Blogger right now. Posts scheduled long ago aren't posting at their scheduled times. Some do and some don't. For the third time in three days, I've found that the early morning posts were missing and I had to go in manually to re-post each one.

I don't know what's causing this, but I hope the brain trust at Blogger figures it out!

Visual Calisthenics

Trey Smith

I have gone back and forth about utilizing the word verification for comments tool. My preference is to not use it on this blog, but, whenever I remove it, then we are hit with a lot of comment spam. So, it seems like one of those necessary "evils" of life.

While I understand that it is a bit annoying in whatever incarnation is featured, I must admit that the current version sometimes can require visual calisthenics! I know that I have a devil of a time trying to tease out the jumbled and blurry letters when I comment on other blogs. It is not uncommon for me at all to need to take 3 or 4 runs at it until I am finally able to ascertain the correct letters!

Is it difficult for the rest of you? I often wonder if it's just me. Is it something peculiar to the way my brain interprets visual stimuli?

Ebbs and Flows

Trey Smith

Life is about ebbs and flows. Day becomes night. Winter shifts into spring. New becomes old. Things expand and then decrease. A storm rages, then dissipates.

As you may have noticed, the "Scribe" section in the upper left-hand corner has shrunk from five names to three. Two authors -- Shawn Tedrow and Baroness Radon -- have chosen to leave the blog as writers in the past 3 weeks.

It's part of life. People come together for a while and then one or more departs. It's been that way since the beginning of time and I expect it will continue to be that way.

As an individual who doesn't like change -- it messes up my routines -- it will take a bit of time for me to get used to this. Soon, however, it will become my new norm and I'll be okay with it...until the next change comes down the pike! :-)

But such is life!

The only constant IS change.

Beyond Borders

Trey Smith

One of the wondrous things about the internet is the opportunity to share with people the world over. Like any blog, this one receives visitors from many corners of the earth. Between March 5 - 8, readers from 33 nations (other than the US) visited The Rambling Taoists.

Here's the list: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emigrates and the United Kingdom.

To be sure, some of these folks were just passing by. They followed a link and, when they wound up here, they exclaimed in their own tongue, WTF? But we have many, many regular readers from points all over. For those who access this blog in their own language, I often wonder how our ramblings come across.

Imagine if all of us met in a large room. What an interesting event that would be! (I, of course, would be hiding in the closet -- far too many people for me to handle all at once.) I'm guessing we would be a mixture of young and old, male and female, rich and poor, urban and rural, religious and non-religious.

Unless we had ample interpreters available, a lot of us wouldn't be able to understand what a lot of the others were saying and vice versa! I suppose we would soon devolve into communicating by some fairly universal non-verbal methods - smiles, laughter, handshakes and hugs.

I don't know about you, but that thought gives me a very warm feeling!

(If you are a semi-regular reader from a country different than the US, why not say hi in your own language in the comments section.)