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Thursday, August 20, 2009
Twitterrhea and Bloggerballs
I am bone weary of all the endless talk on wine blogs about the place of Social Media in the wine business. I'm talking to you, Heimoff. Endless carping about how wineries need to use Social Media, find a way to incorporate Social Media into their marketing plans, must utilize Social Media or risk losing their future customers to wineries that do use Social Media. Well, for those of you still wondering what purpose Social Media plays in the wine biz, I'll tell you--Social Media exists solely to reinforce its own importance. It don't mean crap. Is it just me, or whenever you hear Social Media do you think of what they used to call Social Diseases--syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, chlamydia? Wineries can't wait to get screwed and catch Twitterrhea, Scarfacebook, and Bloggerballs.
The Social Media effect is simply making folks stupider and lonelier and less well-informed. But, hell, wineries pay marketing people a lot of money to try and achieve the same thing. Marketing is about manipulation, just like text messaging. Marketing is about creating a fictitious face for the winery, a Hardy Wallace, just like Facebook is about creating a fictitious persona. Marketing is about simple and dull statements that reach the lowest common denominator just like Twitter. After all, stupid, lonely people spend money, mostly to make themselves feel better, why not convince them to buy your overpriced Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir by taking advantage of that? Tweeters actually want to believe several hundred people give a crap about what they're doing, despite massive evidence to the contrary. Folks on Facebook believe they have 216 friends, which dilutes the meaning of friendship down to the equivalent of Soave Bolla. Text messaging, while requiring great thumbs, makes a mockery of communication, substituting its own little lingo for what we think of as language, and mimics actual relationships with inanity and empty thoughts.
But boy oh boy, the folks who are addicted to Social Media are convinced it will change the wine world--democratize it! What an insipid and jejune opinion. And it's mostly held by the folks that either earn a living directing Social Media, or those that do it instead of actually living. When every winery in California, to stay local, is on Twitter, what possible meaning does that have? Do consumers pick the best Tweeter? (I don't know, but with all this attention barking of lonely humans, it shouldn't be Tweeter, it should be Woofer.) You buy wine because the hired Social Media consultant is a better Tweeter? You feel connected to him because he subscribes to your stupid Tweets about your recent bowel movement or what your cute kitty has done lately to Mommy's hidden sex toys?
Wineries, and lots of other folks, believe Social Media will be the next big movement in the wine biz because they really want to believe it, and every time they turn on their computers they read another stupid opinion that says it will be the next big influence on wine buying. And they want to believe it because they can't sell their overpriced wines at the moment. Wine inventories are bulging like Fred Franzia's eyes staring at grape surpluses. Restaurants aren't buying high end wines, the Las Vegas market has dried up like the Australian wine country, wine shops are just shopping for deals and wines under $15, and wineries really want to think that if they cleverly Tweet, start a Facebook page, kiss bloggers' butts, the cases will go flying out of the warehouse. They believe this right into bankruptcy.
Wine and the wine business are about personal relationships, and always have been. Wines come with a story, for the most part, and the more compelling the story, the more you feel connected to the wine or winery, or to the merchant you trust, or the critic you've come to trust (a tip of my Hose to Puff Daddy), the more likely you are to respond to them. Social Media Stooges think you can establish this kind of relationship through blogging or Tweeting or texting, but, really, even the people who use Facebook know that those 216 people aren't really their friends, they aren't really people they can trust. Most of them are former friends they don't really want to even know any more, or people more important than they are, people they hope will make them seem more interesting. And even Tweeters know no one gives a shit about their Tweets unless it's a link to the latest Hollywood celebrity sex video (seen the Jonas Brothers menage a talentless?). Texting is only about what you have to say, not what others think. So how will this democratization sell wine? About as well as it's selling universal health care.
I'm sure the four people who read this will disagree wholeheartedly. Look at Gary Vaynerchuk! Why he's a celebrity! Like that's praiseworthy. He's an idiot about wine. Great at Social Media, an idiot about wine, and he makes the rest of us look like the Marquis Chimps. But all the folks that will disagree have something to lose by agreeing, either self-esteem or a job. When it comes to the wine business, Social Media is a disease that serves only to reinforce its own
importance, like cancer.
The best wines will endure, the best wines will sell, have no problem selling, with or without Social Media. And folks will not turn to bloggers and Tweeters and Facebookers for wine advice. Unless they have already established their credentials in the same old ways they've always established them--talent, experience, integrity, taste. Do any of those words remind you of bloggers?
30 comments:
I'm lost in the (Rutherford) dust, I suppose. What's social media? I'm afraid to admit I don't know what Wine Two-Point-Oh is, as well.
Many years ago, Richard Paul Hinckle was asked what qualifications one needed to be a wine writer and his answer was a simple one: "A pencil." These days, it might be "a keyboard."
- August 20, 2009 at 8:39 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Anon 1,
Wine 2.0 is their grade point average.
- August 20, 2009 at 8:55 AM
You are right. The alcohol did kill your brain cells. If you had half a clue you'd realize social media IS about making it personal. Instead of focusing on reaching the masses, it's about reaching the individual.
You probably won't reach either.
Anonymous 2.0
- August 20, 2009 at 12:53 PM
- Erin said...
I agree completely, I always thought folks put too many eggs in the Smedia basket.
Folks come to my wine bar regularly because we make the effort to get to know them. That's why my fiance and I were regular customers way back when at the very bar I winetend at: we loved the staff.
- August 20, 2009 at 2:39 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Ah, yet another personal and cowardly letter from an Anonymous. What lovely character Social Media creates.
I don't need half a clue, Anonymous. I have clowns like you proving my point. Twitter is personal? Facebook is personal? About as personal as all the other spam our lives are drowning in. Believers in Social Media rank right up there with Scientologists for logic, brains and personality.
But then there's the lovely Erin, who has a name, and who came to love wine the way almost everyone does, through a personal touch. Erin, I adore you. Stick around, let's talk, have some wine, get to know each other.
Man, lately this blog has been like a Town Hall meeting about health care.
- August 20, 2009 at 3:29 PM
- Ward Kadel - drXeNo said...
Hey there Ron. It's refreshing to see that you are still just as polite, devoid of cynicism and sarcasm and full of just as many happy thoughts as before! Keep up the fine work.
For what it's worth, I am a proponent of social media, myself. I do, however, believe that enthusiasm for wine and smedia could be a bit tempered...it is, after all, just another way/tool to (personally) spread the word about your nifty wine and to meet new people and possible customers.
- August 20, 2009 at 3:51 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Ward,
In a world full of mealy-mouthed bloggers, someone has to have an actual voice and strong opinion. Interesting how on household cleaners now it says, "If accidentally ingested, read wine blogger tasting notes to aid in inducing vomiting."
And now we're calling it "smedia?" Wasn't he Captain Hook's first mate?
I am trying, singlehandedly apparently, to temper the enthusiasm for Social Media and the vastly overrated influence it has on wine and wine sales. Gosh, I guess this means I won't be getting a house full of free wine samples like 1WineDude and all the other smedia titans. Damn, I sure will miss that mass marketed plonk! But I can read all about it when I swallow some Comet.
- August 20, 2009 at 5:17 PM
- Arthur said...
I have also been skeptical of social media, initially seeing it as frenetic and a disingenuous form of friendship. Nevertheless, the general public responds to this mode of communication.
I suppose I still see it as the pet rock or mood ring of this decade, but just the other day I say a young woman (in bell bottoms, I think) talking about her new mood ring with her friends.
So my point is that this phenomenon is likley here to stay - for better or worse. I agree that paradoxically it seems to lead to greater isolation between participants. However, we cannot deny that it also facilitates a lot of off-line interaction.
- August 20, 2009 at 6:16 PM
- Steven Mirassou said...
The HYPE wasn't going to go quietly. It thanks you for your contribution. Good news/Bad news, just spell the name right, etc.
Smedia, SocialM, SocMed, whatever... just a tool that in the best hands, can help to create a sense of story for a brand. Too early to tell whether it will help sell wine.
Science has already told us unequivocally that distributing companies distribute less wine for wineries than the winery did itself in its seminal research paper entitled..."Losing Money on each Case, but we'll Get it back in Volume: Distributing your Way to Wine-world Riches!"
Any way, right or wrong your opinions are flavorfully presented. I feel strangely more alive today.
- August 21, 2009 at 6:39 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Welcome Steven,
Wonderfully distinguished family you're part of, thanks for stopping by.
Yup, smedia (I hate that) is, in fact, just another tool, but apparently such a complicated tool that wineries think you have to hire another tool just to use it. Marketing people LOVE to hire more marketing people, they're like Tribbles, so a Social Media Director is just another lame marketing person who knows how to use the tool of Social Media, essentially a hammer when it comes to marketing tools--doesn't take much talent or skill to use it, just use it often.
And thanks for noticing that I am not concerned about being right or wrong, just about being a tiny bit entertaining--there are a lot of Anonymous dimbulbs (not you Anon 1) who don't quite get that.
Of course this phenomenon is here to stay, there is gigantic money behind it. I don't care if it stays, I just want it to be seen for what it is, impersonal rather than personal, and relatively useless for selling wine. Hell, Wine of the Month Clubs sell way more wine.
And you're the one guy I knew would notice what pants a woman with a mood ring was wearing--probably didn't even notice if she had a blouse on...
Doesn't Social Media facilitate off-line interaction precisely because it is so impersonal?
- August 21, 2009 at 8:02 AM
- Arthur said...
I can't help being observant, Ron. It's one of those traits that get ramped up in med school.
I think it's not the impersonality of SM that is a factor in facilitating off-lines.
I think it's the user.
There has been a great social shift underway for several decades now - and it started when people began to lock their doors during the day.
It used to be chats and IM that connected socially awkward (Asperger's spectrum types) and the shy and horny types in the 90's.
These then, after reaching some level of comfort, would get together - for drinks, hanging at the mall or a tryst.
People are increasingly isolated physically - because of their work schedules, locations, traffic, etc. They connect online and take it offline when they are ready.
Advances in technology - be it more cable channels or Google talk have paralleled these physical isolations so that now you have husbands and wives siting on adjacent couches, watching Steve Colber(t) and IM'ing to each other.
- August 21, 2009 at 9:08 AM
- Arthur said...
As for the blouse, I was too distracted by the leggy brunette who had stripped to her teeny black bikini panties to try to retrieve the Blackberry that fell out of her pocket and down the embankment at the gate to the boat that would take us from Catalina to San Pedro... My son did not notice the mood ring girl at all....
- August 21, 2009 at 9:11 AM
- Steven Mirassou said...
Thanks for the kind words Ron.
The more authentic the interaction, any interaction, the greater the chance the relationship will grow, I think.
We're a small winery; all the tweets, and Facebook postings and blog entries are done by me and my marketing team of one other person. We tell our story in the only way we know how...our way, with our voices. We hope that those voices are attractive enough and the story compelling enough to lead to the actual tasting of our wines...we're very happy to let the wines do all the talking from that point on.
Keep up the good work; I'll be reading!
Steven Mirassou
- August 21, 2009 at 9:30 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
So how many samples of your wine have you sent to bloggers? If you did send samples, how many interesting reviews did you receive, and did they affect sales at all?
Your use of Social Media is understandable and maybe even necessary. My points are aimed more at the delusional bloggers and Social Media "experts" who actually think their poorly written, vacuous blogs are going to lead to a career in the wine business, to them having influence. That's what makes me laugh. One clown, Hardy Wallace, whose blog is abominable, landed a gig with Huckleberry Jackson, and the rest of the wine bloggers think they're next in line for the big bucks. Social Media Consultants? This year's version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
- August 21, 2009 at 10:00 AM
- Fred said...
How often do you see "jejune," "bowel movement," and "Puff Daddy" is a single post? Brilliant.
- August 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM
- Diane said...
Dear HMW,
Your comments are spot-on. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Smedia does have it place BUT it can never, ever replace the "people" factor. Can someone tweet about a new release or blog-it? Surely. Does it sell wine? Not a chance. Most bloggers or tweeters(?) would not know tetrachloroanisole from brettanomyces. And they want to have my trust. News Flash! They all get-off in front of their bedroom mirror with a picture of Robert Parker taped to it.
Excuse me, but when did any reputable wine "organ" tweet or Facebook anything notable? It is "hard" enough for them to legitimize their worth to the wine industry.
The soul of a wine is in the vineyard! Not on a palm pilot, an inbox or iPhone.
My ex-cheap-ass boyfriend sucks-up to so-called wine expert bloggers' every breath. What a fool and how lucky I am.
Your wine bitch,
- August 21, 2009 at 2:52 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Diane Darling, Beloved Wine Bitch,
Where have you been? I've missed you! Glad you're rid of the cheap-ass boyfriend. He definitely cramped your style. He was so tight you could sharpen pencils in his butt and sweep up the shavings for his gerbil.
Nothing works better for selling wine than simple experience, the experience of tasting, of being in the vineyard, of feeling a part of the whole mysterious process. Social Media is the antithesis of that; it mocks genuine experience and connection and makes its frequent users pathetic examples of our species.
Perhaps they'll have the last laugh, but, as always, they'll be laughing alone.
I adore you, Wine Bitch, come see me more often!
- August 21, 2009 at 3:14 PM
- Steven Mirassou said...
I get you. We don't send a lot of samples out anyway but haven't found that group of ink?-stained wretches yet that we want to send our wines to. I have no problem at all with anybody and everybody trying to make a living making/writing/blogging about wine. Wine is a very capacious thing, a taste for every taster and an angle for every writer.
Blogging is so new that the cream hasn't risen yet. There are talented writers out there (I think you're one of them...perhaps a little heavy on the cynicism sometimes...but, hey, if it ain't interesting no one's going to read it, anyway); there are those less talented, too.
Remember, the medium isn't the message. The medium's just a democratizing voice that's messy, less than authoritative, young, did I say messy?, and perhaps will spawn more truly individualistic, focused viewpoints down the road.
- August 21, 2009 at 6:24 PM
- Samantha Dugan said...
I was just Tweeting about this very thing and all my friends on facebook gave me that little thumbs up, "I like" thing when I posted as my status, "Samantha Dugan is so over social media". You have inspired me...gonna go blog about it.
By the way, kinda dig the "grumpy guy" snarl in your voice...rawr.
- August 21, 2009 at 6:38 PM
- Charlie Olken (aka Puff Daddy) said...
Steven Mirassou, I am assuming the younger, not the elder, is posting here, and his eloquence is hard won. He went to college, has written or promises to, write a novel, and just happens to make very good Pinot Noir under the La Rochelle label.
But, Steven, do not confuse Ron's cynicism for lack of enthusiasm. He is very enthusiastic at taking the piss, as the English saym, out of everything and everyone because we in the wine biz are too damn serious. I have been serious about wine writing a long time. Look where it has gotten me. I am reduced to reading the Hosemaster. If you don't escape soon, you too can learn to be cynical.
- August 21, 2009 at 8:49 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Steven,
What's difficult about wine writing, of course, is not only do you have to have the talent to write you also have to know what you're talking about. Some bloggers have one gift or the other, few have both. Unfortunately, 80% of them believe they're in the top 5% when it comes to both.
I'm not actually that cynical in real life. The HoseMaster is just my voice, he's not me at all. But I let him out a few times a week to vent his opinions. I rarely agree with him either.
I'm going to seek our your wines, Steven. It's been a few vintages since I've had any Steven Kent and I've never tasted La Rochelle, but if Charlie says it's good Pinot Noir I have no doubt that it is. Are you at Family Winemakers this Sunday?
Charlie, Puff Daddy,
I'm honestly flattered that you hang around here. And, you're right, I do think the folks in the wine biz take it way too seriously. Reading the vast majority of wine blogs would lead one to believe that wine is the dullest subject imaginable after kitties. The parade of all but useless and indecipherable tasting notes (I include mine in those) is depressing and really just symptomatic of having nothing interesting to say. So the HoseMaster just tries to be interesting. Funny, not so much.
No one is more surprised than me that the Puff Daddy has sunk to the HoseMaster level. Next you'll be reading Vinography.
My Gorgeous Samantha,
Me, Grumpy? I see myself more as Dopey. But I'll be all seven dwarves if you'll be my Snow White. Except Bashful.
I so adore you.
- August 22, 2009 at 7:59 AM
For some reason, with respect to most wine blogs, Facebook and Twitter postings remind me of the phamous philosophical question: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Why is it called "Social" Media when so many blogs and these inane postings (MyFace, etc.) are really "anti-social"?
That Mirassou name rings a bell...wasn't that "Santa Clara-Speak" for "Mondavi" back in the 1970s?
- August 22, 2009 at 8:39 AM
- Steven Mirassou said...
Charlie, there definitely is a time to be serious, and a time to realize that we aren't curing cancer (or I might have just missed the headline?). I tweeted yesterday that going to taste wine out of barrel was like the first day of summer vacation. There really are few things as much fun as surfing the barrels!
This business is galling sometimes, no doubt. But, you know, when someone likes what you make, and takes his/her hard-earned money and exchanges it for a bottle, the dealings with the distributors, and the lack of attention, the profligacy of brands, etc. skulk away...for a while.
Ron, not at Family Winemaker's this year. Made the calculation that being in a room with 400 other wineries wasn't the most efficient use of the marketing time...I do believe their mission is of critical importance to small brands like mine, however. I'd love to get your honest feedback to the La Rochelle wines and the new vintages of Steven Kent. If you get to Livermore, please let me know. I'd love to taste with you.
Anon, I think Mondavi was Napa-speak for Mirassou in the 1970s:) Not that it means anything now, but my grandfather and great-uncle co-signed on the $100,000 loan that Robert needed to start Mondavi after he was kicked out of the family business. No family in North America has been making wine continuously longer than mine. Again, not that that really means anything. All that matters is what is in the bottle, how authentic it is, how delicious.
- August 22, 2009 at 9:52 AM
- Charlie Olken said...
Steven, you are being too serious. Must be the blue, eastern education. Pity about that.
- August 22, 2009 at 11:37 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Let's see, in a room personally with 400 other wineries, or impersonally on Twitter with 10,000 other wineries...
No, I hear you, Family Winemakers is something of a beauty pageant where they don't rule out the ugly ones. I only go because there is something ultimately hilarious about the whole affair, although this year it will probably feel more like the Titanic. The economy is the iceberg.
I would love to taste with you in Livermore! I'll make a point of doing it fairly soon. I'll be in touch.
You started this whole "serious" thing on HoseMaster. You with the blue, western education. Thanks for that. Who next, Morton Leslie? God forbid.
- August 23, 2009 at 8:11 AM
- Steven Mirassou said...
Charlie...I'm still a work in progress.
Ron, I look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks.
- August 23, 2009 at 8:27 AM
- Charlie Olken said...
Stevem promised me a novel a couple of years ago. I am still waiting. Of course, I am still waiting for my novel as well. And as for blue educations, I don't have one. Mine is all red.
Have you been reading this blog for any length of time? If so, are you sure you want Washam anywhere near your winery?
- August 23, 2009 at 9:03 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Can't wait for the publication of your first novel, "Puff Daddy Dearest."
My education, for those who care, is mauve.
Don't listen to Charlie. I come in peace to Livermore.
- August 23, 2009 at 9:50 AM
- Steven Mirassou said...
Even the HoseMaster deserves the benefit of the doubt (one time, of course!). You should come to Livermore too.
- August 24, 2009 at 5:41 AM
- Charlie Olken said...
I have been thrown out of Livermore more times than I care to remember. The last time, I wore sunglasses and a Robert Parker nose. The tasting room lady sussed me out when I told her that I did not use my mood ring to choose wine and her $12 Chardonnay that was four vintages old and had been reduced from $30 was still not worth the time of day. So, now, I try not to get off I-580 when passing through. The police have my picture and I don't want to spend a day locked up at the Wente tasting room. After all, they don't have Gray Riesling anymore.
- August 24, 2009 at 8:20 AM


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For the past 41 years, Steve Stewart has coached the Smyrna Middle School wrestling team to great heights. Now he'll bow out and hand the reins over to a Smyrna High graduate as he is retiring from coaching for the second time in a year.
Stewart retired as the Smyrna High tennis coach in the spring after 38 years.
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In his time as coach, the team went 364-42-3 with 24 undefeated seasons.
Stewart leaves the wrestling team after watching them complete their 10th consecutive undefeated season earlier this year, dating back to the 2001-2002 season. The Eagles will enter their upcoming season with a 109 dual meet winning streak.
A career full of wins
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"One of the proudest moments for me was the 300th career win, which was in 2006 and I received a plaque from DIAA," he said.
Stewart would like to thank the following people for their help over the years: Ron Eby, the Robinson family, the Little Wrestlers program, the Fletcher family, the Barkley family, Andy Gillan, Jody Wilson, assistant coach Jim Hewes, coach Matt Bivins, volunteer coaches over the year including Charlie and Brandon Poffenberger, the fans, parents, community and school administrators.
Bivins named new coach
After spending seven years as a volunteer coach, Smyrna High graduate and SMS social studies teacher Matt Bivins is now the head coach of the wrestling team.
Bivins said he has some big shoes to fill with Stewart retiring but he's up for the challenge. Like many other Smyrna wrestlers, Bivins advanced through the local wrestling programs starting when he was a young boy. He graduated from Smyrna High in 2005 with two team state championships.
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Moving forward
Although Stewart has stepped down, Bivins said not much has changed in the way the team is run.
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Other than hopefully continuing Smyrna's winning streak, Bivins wants to see the whole team succeed this season.
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The Buzzword Bingo forum is a place to post examples of ludicrous, convoluted and meaningless buzzwords and marketing drivel dreamed up by those seeking to sound more important and meaningful than they actually are.
We are developers, which means our job is to simplify complicated and ill-expressed requirements in order to produce something elegant and useful. If you want to impress us then please just tell it to us straight. The less pre-processing we have to do the more we will be interested.
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« Back to people
Daniel Maynes AminzadeFormer Adjunct, Class of
|Courses Taught:
|Mashups: Remixing the Web
Dan Maynes Aminzade is a software engineer at Google's New York
office, where he works on Google Maps. He completed his Ph.D. in
Computer Science at Stanford University, where he developed a computer
vision toolkit and taught a course on computer vision for HCI. Before
coming to Stanford, Dan received his M.S. in Media Arts & Sciences
from the MIT Media Lab, and his B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie
Mellon University. He has spent summers as a visiting researcher at
Walt Disney Imagineering, Adobe Systems, Microsoft, MERL, FXPAL, and
the University of Tokyo.
Dan's interests include web technologies, mobile devices, computer
vision, and tangible and augmented reality interfaces that incorporate
non-traditional channels of input and output. His projects have been
exhibited at CHI, UIST, Siggraph, NextFest, NEXT, Dorkbot, Art
Interactive, and the San Jose Museum of Art, and have been written up
in Engadget, Gizmodo, Slashdot and the New York Times. Dan has also
been profiled on TechTV, Pro7, and in the film "Nerdcore for Life."


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It takes time before cooking for food allergies, intolerances, or sensitivities feels natural.
It takes time before cooking for food allergies, intolerances, or sensitivities feels natural. It requires time in researching where triggers can be hidden, time in the store reading labels, and then time to work through the process of altering recipes or finding new recipes. For those with guests coming in for holidays, the learning curve is steep.
If you take on the endeavor of cooking for someone with allergies or sensitivities, be sure to understand exactly what it is they must avoid. For example, apples could be fine, but it is the sulfites on the skin from the packaging while being shipped that poses the problem. Or perhaps lactose is the problem, but milk proteins are fine. Find out where the triggers can be found.
Ask for recipes or review recipes with them that you are considering to prepare for them. Go over ingredient lists of products that you are using in the recipe. Sometimes it is as simple as purchasing organic or using a particular brand, and the one living with this food avoidance will be able to advise.
Be cautious of cross contamination. We think of cross contamination when it comes to food-borne illness, but it is important to be mindful of this when cooking for food allergies as well. Keep the utensils, cookware, and the work area free of allergens when working with their food. Get an idea of how strict the avoidance should be. If it is celiac, even small traces of gluten could make them sick. Some people in the same room with someone eating peanuts could react.
When building the menu remember you can still have your traditional items without alterations and foods that are safe for your special guests. It might mean a few additional dishes to prepare. Discuss the dishes before the meal with the person avoiding certain foods or food components so they know which ones are safe for them. Working these details out ahead of time before the crowd arrives may be the most discreet and considerate way to provide a wonderful meal for them without drawing attention to the food avoidance.
Although, this is not a complete listing of everything to consider with cooking for those avoiding certain food items, perhaps it will help you in the planning process.


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Bakersfield Christian pulls away in fourth quarter to win by 18
The Taft varsity boys basketball team's roller coaster ride through the first half of the league season ended on a rough note following a 63-45 loss to the Bakersfield Christian Eagles in Bakersfield Friday night.
Bakersfield Christian and Taft battled from the opening tip. Taft had the early advantage by scoring the first basket of the game and holding a 4-2 lead. The Eagles responded with six straight points to overtake the lead. After Taft had whittled the deficit to four, Bakersfield Christian threatened to pull away with a 5-2 run to lead by seven.
Taft clawed back to trail by four with 37 seconds left but Bakersfield Christian countered with a basket with seven seconds left.
The Wildcats narrowed the deficit to four early in the second quarter before the Eagles went on an 8-2 run to increase their lead to double digits at 27-17. Thanks in part to Steven Gee's four points, Taft fought back to get within four. However, Bakersfield Christian outscored the Wildcats 5-2 the rest of the way to lead by seven at the halftime break.
Taft narrowed the deficit to three at 38-35 and 40-37 late in the third quarter but each time Bakersfield Christian countered. The Eagles closed out the quarter with a 7-4 run to lead 47-41.
Bakersfield Christian carried that momentum into the final quarter by scoring 16 points while Taft was held to a jumper and a layup in the first half of the quarter.
Taft will look to bounce back Monday when they host Arvin. The game begins at 6:45 p.m.
To read the full story from Friday's game, pick up Tuesday's Driller.


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Patient RightsPatient Rights - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
What are a patient's rights when receiving care?
If you are unhappy with the home health or hospice care you are receiving, you should take the following steps:
Notify the home care provider's chief supervisor or administrator.
Notify a state health department or Medicare representative.
Notify the Better Business Bureau.
Rights for home health care patients
In addition, federal law requires that all individuals receiving home care services be informed of their rights as patients. According to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), home health care patients have the right to:
Be fully informed of all their rights and responsibilities by the home care agency.
Choose care providers.
Receive appropriate and professional care in accordance with doctor's orders.
Receive a timely response from the agency to his or her request for service.
Be admitted for service only if the agency has the ability to provide safe, professional care at the level of intensity needed.
Receive reasonable continuity of care.
Receive information necessary to give informed consent prior to the start of any treatment or procedure.
Be advised of any change in the plan of care, before the change is made.
Refuse treatment within the confines of the law and to be informed of the consequences of their actions.
Be informed of their rights under state law to formulate advanced directives.
Have health care providers comply with advance directives in accordance with state law requirements.
Be informed within a reasonable period of time of anticipated termination of service or plans for transfer to another agency.
Be fully informed of agency policies and charges for services, including eligibility for third-party reimbursements.
Be referred elsewhere, if denied service solely on their inability to pay.
Voice grievances and suggest changes in service or staff without fear of restraint or discrimination.
Receive a fair hearing for any individual to whom any service has been denied, reduced, or terminated, or who is otherwise aggrieved by agency action. The fair hearing procedure shall be set forth by each agency as appropriate to the unique patient situation (for example, funding source, level of care, diagnosis).
Be informed of what to do in the event of an emergency.
Be advised of the telephone number and hours of operation of the state's home health hotline, which receives questions and complaints about Medicare-certified and state-licensed home care agencies.
Rights for hospice care patients
According to NAHC's affiliate, the Hospice Association of America, hospice patients have the right to:
Receive care of the highest quality.
Have relationships with hospice organizations that are based on ethical standards of conduct, honesty, dignity, and respect.
In general, be admitted by a hospice organization only if it is assured that all necessary services will be provided to promote the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of the dying patient. However, an organization with less than optimal resources may admit the patient if a more appropriate hospice organization is not available, but only after fully informing the client of its limitations and the lack of suitable alternative arrangements.
Be notified in writing of their rights and obligations before their hospice care begins. Consistent with state laws, the patient's family or guardian may exercise the patient's rights when the patient is unable to do so. Hospice organizations have an obligation to protect and promote the rights of their patients.
Be notified in writing of the care the hospice organization will furnish, the types of caregivers who will furnish the care, and the frequency of the services that are proposed to be furnished.
Be advised of any change in the plan of care before the change is made.
Participate in the planning of the care and in planning changes in the care, and to be advised that they have the right to do so.
Refuse services and to be advised of the consequences of refusing care.
Request a change in caregiver without fear of reprisal or discrimination.
Have confidentiality with regard to information about their health, social, and financial circumstances, and about what takes place in the home.
Expect the hospice organization to release information only as consistent with its internal policy, required by law, or authorized by the client.
Be informed of the extent to which payment may be expected from Medicare, Medicaid, or any other payer known to the hospice organization.
Be informed of any charges that will not be covered by Medicare, and the charges for which he or she may be liable, and to receive this information orally and in writing within 15 working days of the date the hospice organization becomes aware of any changes in charges.
Have access, on request, to all bills for service the patient has received regardless of whether they are paid out-of-pocket or by another party.
Be informed of the hospice's ownership status and its affiliation with any entities to whom the patient is referred.
Be informed of the procedure they can follow to lodge complaints with the hospice organization about the care that is, or fails to be, furnished, and regarding a lack of respect for property.
Know about the disposition of such complaints.
Voice grievances without fear of discrimination or reprisal for having done so.
Be told what to do in the case of an emergency.


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Ms trade Jaso to Oakland in a three team deal to bring Mike Morse back to Seattle. Seattle now has 37 OFs on the roster.
I really liked Jaso, I thought he was the best catcher the Ms had last season. It is time for Montero to step up I guess.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nat ... team-deal/


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Lent is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting, special prayer and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. The name "Lent" is from the Middle English Lenten and Anglo-Saxon Lenten, meaning spring; its more primitive ecclesiastical name was the "forty days," tessaracoste in Greek. The number "forty" is first noted in the Canons of Nicaea (A.D. 325), likely in imitation of Jesus' fast in the desert before His public ministry (with Old Testament precedent in Moses and Elijah). By the fourth century, in most of the West, it referred to six days' fast per week of six weeks (Sundays were excluded); in the seventh century the days from Ash Wednesday through the First Sunday were added to make the number forty.
Watch and share our special Lent video!
Read 'Pray your way through Lent' special section (includes PDF)
Free download – Keep Lent Simple: The 1-1-1 Plan
Free download – A Guide to Holy Week
Days of Abstinence: No meat can be eaten on Ash Wednesday and all of the Fridays during Lent. This applies to all Catholics 14 and older.
Days of Fast: Only one full meal is permitted on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday for Catholics between 18 and 59. Two smaller meals are permitted, but the small meals should not equal a second full meal. Drinking coffee, tea and water between meals is allowed. Snacks between meals are not allowed.
Fast and abstinence: Lent's penitential practices
The history and background of fasting and abstinence
Browse and share Lenten recipes on our Pinterest page!
Ask Catholics what they're doing for Lent this year, and they'll probably tell you that they are giving up a favorite food, a favorite pastime or anything else they really love but isn't essential in their lives.
Giving up something for Lent fosters self-discipline and tempers our desires. It is a form of fasting. It is a form of penance. It promotes spiritual growth.
If you're giving up something for Lent, that's great. But think also about the possibility of doing something positive to bolster your spiritual life and make the world a better place. Look for ways that you can increase your knowledge of your faith, strengthen your spiritual life or perform special acts of mercy and kindness at home, at work, in your parish or in your community.
More on making Lent meaningful
Lent and Mercy
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• Begin each morning with the prayer: "Lord, I offer you this day, and all that I think, and do, and say."
• Attend Daily Mass as often as possible.
• Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.
• Make the Stations of the Cross at home or in a parish celebration.
• Read Scripture for 10 minutes every day.
• Pray the Seven Penitential Psalms (Psalm 6, 31, 50, 101, 129 and 142).
• Spend some time in quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
• Abstain from meat for an extra day or two each week.
• Listen to spiritual music or a spiritual speaker.
• Keep a Lenten journal with your spiritual insights, special intentions, people you want to pray for, hurts and disappointments that you want to offer up, and progress reports on your Lenten resolutions.
Telling the story of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus was an important part of the early Christian's experience. In the late fourth century, people began making pilgrimages to the Holy Land, where they would follow the path that Jesus took to Calvary. During the Middle Ages, when outbreaks of war made it impossible for people to travel to the Holy Land, people created a Via Dolorosa, or "Sorrowful Way," in their towns and villages. They erected paintings or sculptures depicting the Passion of Christ along a processional route or inside a church. By the mid-18th century, the number of stations was fixed at 14 and the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross, also called the Way of the Cross, became widespread.
If you haven't gone to confession in a while, Lent is the perfect time to reconcile yourself with God and the Church. Most parishes have communal penance services with prayers and Scripture readings, followed by the opportunity for individual confession (a necessity for absolution of mortal sins). Or you can also make a private appointment with a priest.
Preparation for confession should include an examination of conscience, which means you think back on sins you have committed since your last confession.
What happens during confession depends on the priest and the person. Most people still start with the formula: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been (state the number of months or years) since my last confession."
If you can't remember the words or you don't recall how long it's been, don't worry. Just tell the priest it's been a long time, and he will guide you through the process.
What you will experience is the healing gift of God's love, the chance to start over with a clean conscience, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
How to make a good confession
Pretzels originated in Europe during the Middle Ages. A monk was making unleavened bread for Lent with flour and water because eggs, milk and lard were not consumed as part of the Lenten fast. He twisted some of the dough into the shape of people praying with both arms folded across their chests. He decided it would be a perfect treat for children learning to say their prayers. He called the treats pretiola, the Latin word for "little reward."
Lenten Pretzel Recipes
More Lenten traditions and recipes
More help for making Lent meaningful
Lent offers opportunities to pass on your faith to children. Here are some ideas for making Lenten memories:
Download a Lenten Family Guide
During the 12th century, churches in Europe began re-enacting the Gospel account of the passion and death of Jesus. Many towns and villages had their own plays. There was, however, a dark side to Passion plays because they aroused anti-Jewish sentiments and resulted in violence against Jewish people.
In 1988, the U.S. Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs issued criteria that stipulate that Passion plays must avoid negative caricatures of Jews and accusations that all of the Jewish people opposed Jesus.
Today, parishes and youth groups perform Passion plays and living Stations of the Cross with great sensitivity because "the Church and the Jewish people are linked together essentially on the level of identity."
'Lent: Keep It Simple with the 1-1-1-Plan'
Also check out Busted Halo's video, Ash Wednesday and Lent in 2 Minutes
Giving alms has always been an important part of Lent. For many people, it means giving money to Catholic charities or some other good cause. But the concept of almsgiving goes much deeper. It is our response to the teachings of Jesus that encourage us to reach out to people in need—not just with our money—but with our time and our talents. Today we might call it 'stewardship'.
Lent gives us the opportunity to cultivate a spirit of generosity. It gives us a chance to share what we have and who we are with other people. It puts us in communion with others and helps us understand that we are all members of the Body of Christ. Think carefully about how you will share your time, your talents and your treasure during Lent. Keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
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A 21-year-old Hannibal man faces a drug charge following his arrest Monday night.
A 21-year-old Hannibal man faces a drug charge following his arrest Monday night.
According to the Hannibal Police Department an officer contacted the driver of a vehicle parked in the 600 block of Mark Twain Avenue for improper vehicle registration. The officer also discovered the driver, Michael A. Robinson of Hannibal, did not have a valid operator's license. When Robinson reportedly refused to co-operate with the officer he was placed under arrest.
During a search of Robinson, the officer allegedly located a syringe and small baggy of what is believed to be methamphetamine. According to police, a search of the vehicle turned up more substances believed to be methamphetamine and marijuana. Also reportedly located were several items of paraphernalia and items commonly used in the distribution of illegal narcotics.
On Tuesday, March 5, a warrant was issued by the 10th Judicial Circuit Court charging Robinson with the Class B Felony of Distribution or Attempt to Distribute a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $100,000 cash only. At last report Robinson remained in the Marion County Jail.


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Save More with AMTA
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| To Order 1-888-918-2253
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I purchased the Giovanni Organic Sanitizing Towelettes, put my contact information on a label, attached it to the back of the package and handed them out at a recent 5K Run. The packaging is very attractive and they smell great. Nice little promotional item!
Not only does it smell awesome; it works great. Love it, love it, love it. Also seems very safe for kids to use as well.
Ever since Bath & Body Works discontinued their line of antibacterial towelettes, I've been searching high and low for a replacement. Massage Warehouse's Giovanni Organic Towelettes are just the thing! All 3 scents smell great and best of all, they work terrific.
I love these towelettes...keep 'em in my bag, in the car, good for wiping oil off client's feet after massage, great as gifts. I love that they're organic and scented with essential oils!
Wow! These antibacterial towelettes are not perfumy, but contain essential oils which clean you and refresh your body. Lavendar, Grapefruit & Peppermint are the flavors--my favorites are Grapefruit and Peppermint (not a Lavendar girl). I give these for gifts and always hear great feedback. I stock up on 6 or more bags at a time! I am allergic to all perfumes, etc. but never have had a problem with these towelettes. The BEST!


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Levi's has remained unrivalled in the denim game for well over a century thanks to inventing one of the most iconic jeans of all time. Now the iconic brand release a new range with Topman, featuring Levi's staples such as classic 501s, printed tees, check shirts & denim jackets.
Shop Levi's jeans and more with Topman now.


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Kontron extends its portfolio of low power and high performance AdvancedMCs™ with dual-core, quad-core and eight-core Freescale Power Architecture® processors
Eching, Germany, February 25, 2011 – Kontron today announced support for Freescale Semiconductor's advanced QorIQ® family of communication processors, which deliver best-in-class energy efficiency and a broad range of performance and integration capabilities on AdvancedMC™ processor modules. With these two Power Architecture® based communication processor platforms, designed for networking and control applications with general processing needs, Kontron extends its portfolio of single-width midsize AdvancedMCs both for low-power and high-performance packet processing applications.
The QorIQ P2020 based Kontron AdvancedMC™ processor module AM4120 is scheduled for release in Q2 2011. In addition, upcoming QorIQ® based Kontron AdvancedMCs will enable OEMs and system integrators to take advantage of the highly integrated and scalable QorIQ® processors on MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA platforms. These platforms deliver advanced packet processing capabilities combined with highly flexible processing and I/O functionalities in a commercial–off-the-shelf configuration. Customers benefit from reduced development efforts, optimized time-to-market and scalability for network-centric applications based on modular and standard-based AdvancedTCA® and MicroTCA™ platforms.
"The Freescale QorIQ P2020 extends our low power portfolio of AdvancedMC processor modules for applications that require dual-core performance and low power consumption," said Dirk Finstel, CTO at Kontron. "Additionally, the QorIQ processor family will extend the high-performance multi-core segment of our AMC portfolio. With up to eight cores, the QorIQ processors are extremely flexible and can be configured to meet many system application needs. Comprehensive virtualization capabilities, as well as the ability to independently boot and reset each core, provides the user with significant flexibility in partitioning between control, datapath and application processing. It also simplifies consolidation of functions previously spread across multiple discrete processors onto a single device."
"Built on our high-performance QorIQ processors, the new Kontron AdvancedMC modules deliver outstanding performance, power, reliability, security and quality of service," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager for Freescale Semiconductor's Networking and Multimedia Group. "Developers creating solutions with QorIQ technology also benefit from a vibrant support ecosystem, including optimized tools, operating systems and network protocol stacks to help address the unique development challenges of multi-core architectures and speed time to market."
Samples of the Kontron AdvancedMC™ processor module AM4120 will be available in Q2 2011. Full production is scheduled for Q3 2011. Additional Freescale-based AdvancedMCs™ will be available in Q4 2011.
For more information on Kontron's AdvancedMC™ modules, please visit:
For more information on Kontron's AdvancedTCA™ platforms, please visit: http://www.kontron.com/technologies/advancedtca/
For more information on Kontron's MicroTCA™ platforms, please visit: http://www.kontron.com/technologies/microtca/


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Some of you who came to see my talks over the past month have heard me reference this brilliant routine by Patton Oswalt that says a lot of true things about religion. I found it today on YouTube. Here it is.
SKY CAKE by Patton Oswalt
Some of you who came to see my talks over the past month have heard me reference this brilliant routine by Patton Oswalt that says a lot of true things about religion. I found it today on YouTube. Here it is.
SKY CAKE by Patton Oswalt
Posted by Brad Warner at 7:06 AM
Who loves you Baby?
Why are you so delicious?
That was brilliant routine. I have to admit though, I was totally smoking pot when I watched it. It was very enhightening.
it gets REALLY good right when you read the part about Acclaim!
Anon wrote (previous post), "Brad and Gudo (and Dogen) do NOT say that awareness is caused by zazen."
And Backbone replied: "Ah, well, maybe you don't know Gudo like some know Gudo..."
Yes, 6.36pm, Gudo is now old and what was once "my [Gudo's] supposition" (and only one of his '4 views' of Zazen) has become a kind of mantra.
G has been deliberately avoiding metaphysical speculation about "enlightenment" for decades, yet people insist on collaring Zen Masters for clues as to what it is, and how you get it. I hear G's 'ANS' response to decades of "Roshi, what is ultimate, unexelled enlightenment?...What is true Samahdi...?" as his version of Gutei's one finger, or Rinzai's shout; he's saying, "Don't worry yourself about enightenment; it's all just a fact of your bodymind." I'm a romantic.
But I am not a doctor. Nevetheless, G's theory is based on medical fact.
There's lots of intersting stuff about the relation between our physical state, the cross-legged/straight spine (lotus) 'posture' and our mental state in this talk by Mike Luetchford, one of G's first western students and my teacher, which, if you're interested, will go along way to clarify Gudo's "theory".
But all that, interesting and valuable as it is - is explanation/consideration of zazen - a very different thing from doing it, which Gudo and Mike would be the first, and second - although hardly the very first or second - to point out.
And no, Brad and Gudo (and Dogen) do NOT say that awareness is caused by zazen."
That would be a silly thing to say.
...coz (for some) "enlightenment" and "awareness" are a bit like "sky-cake".
There ya go - relevant after all ;)
Once again Brad your post left me in stitches...When you spoke at the Houston Zen Center last month, I really got the impression that you had that kind of smart ass ironic sense of humor that makes people laugh and really think at the same time. So few people "get" this kind of stuff, like Patton Oswalt, but I really wanted to thank you for giving me a good laugh, I've had a bunch of bad shit go down recently and this made my day.
Hi 108,
There's also the thing that some Buddhists seem to believe that realisation (and I mean real realisation i.e. 'becoming real', not just some shoddy assumption or belief) and balance is only the preserve of people who do zazen in a particular way, as if 'realisation' was of one type or the same 'thing' or metaphysical 'zone' for every unique person... which is a pretty primitive sort of fundamentalism.
Hello Harry,
There's also the thing that some Buddhists seem to believe...
I guess so. But who?
Go on, H - name names!
My only concern is that they know who they are. ;-))
And then Buddhists came along and said, "THE SKY CAKE IS A LIE."
Harry's "a pretty primitive sort of fundamentalism."
is not off base. At the foundation, at the point of balance, at grounding, at the center, there really is one place for each person.
It is a monkey riding in a bowl (vessel). I will post on my blog, later.
Also, Brad's trip to the Euro Zone may be delayed by a volcano.
Nishijima Sensei's thing about the ANS is signifigant to him cos he's into science and physiology and all that coming from the sports side of things.
It's also signifigant to him I think as he considers it takes Buddhism out of the realm of religion and into the realm of philosophy (but that depends on what you consider a 'religion' and/or a 'philosophy') in that the ANS theory offers a physiological rationale for the effects of zazen: in other words, it's no longer 'magic' or 'mysterious' or something that requires 'blind faith' in unknown forces/things.
I can understand his wanting to make that distinction coming from a country where Buddhism was/is widely used as a superficial muttering-and-wand-waving travesty of what it was intended to be and do.
That theortical side of things does seem significant and I find it interesting and all, but it's not really so important to me personally I have to say (and I don't understand physiology enough to really get it anyway!)
It's not the cake, it's the frosting.
It's not the frosting.
It's the no frosting.
It's not just the no frosting, it's the no cake.
But, on the middle path,
It's the no craving for sky cake, frosted or not.
"Nishijima Sensei's thing about the ANS."
I can't claim to understand it because I have not studied his explanation of his use of the term, but my instinct is to stay away from the subject.
As soon as I hear scientific/medical terms being used by people outside the field, my knee jerk reaction is to mutter to myself "Support your conjecture, show me some experimental results".
Another more extreme use of a technical term is Deepak Chopra's "quantum levels of healing". It makes me cringe at the misuse of a good physics word, which has a very precise meaning that is very different from Chopra's use.
To sum up, I am uncomfortable when I see scientific terms recycled in contexts outside of their origin.
No cake, sky or otherwise, at the All Day Sit tomorrow 4/17/10 at Hill Street, Santa Monica
but there will be oryoki
to be included, reservations must be made no later than 8 pm 4/16/10
"As soon as I hear scientific/medical terms being used by people outside the field, my knee jerk reaction is to mutter to myself 'Support your conjecture, show me some experimental results' "
90% of science/medicine is common sense. 10% is study/practice. You obviously haven't achieved the balance that zazen brings to make such an ignorant statement. Sit more..think less.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"90% of science/medicine is common sense."
That you state this does not make it so. For example, before the 1900s, it was common sense to sit grandpa, with consumption, next to the fire so that when he had to spit, he could spit in the fire and the fire would destroy TB - that was common sense. And it was dead wrong.
Spitting into the fire caused an aerosol which filled the room and exposed everyone in the room to an active TB virus.
Eventually reason overtook common sense (e.g. stupidity and ignorance) and anti-spitting laws were passed in an effort to prevent the unlearned from harming others.
More than a decade ago, I had a well-researched book discrediting 'common sense.' Whoever last borrowed it has yet to return it.
One of my physics professors said, "common sense is just the sum of the prejudices you've learned by 18."
Your comment about 90% of science being common sense leaves me deliciously amazed. The counterexamples to that statement could (and do) run into entire libraries.
The whole history of science is overturning common sense.
The earth is flat.
Common sense.
The sun revolves around the earth.
Common sense.
Stars are holes in a bowl over the earth.
Common sense.
Perhaps if you sat zazen a little less and examined the world of science and technology...
By the way, the statement "sit more" is used so often as a put down on this comment section that it has lost what little meaning that it NEVER had.
By the way dear Anon, what is your first name?
"By the way, the statement "sit more" is used so often as a put down on this comment section..."
You might think so, but I can't recall the last time it was said - perhaps I should subject your statement to research...
I just googled "Hardcore zen/should/must/please/sit more" and nothing at all close came up. Perhaps my methadology is faulty? Nevertheless...phew!
I've a feeling Anon's entire, very silly comment was sarcastic - s/he too thinks that's the kind of thing zennies say. I believe there's one annoying anonymous flamer who's been getting his/her kicks like that lately.
If anon was serious, anon needs to get a life.
...I wonder how often that's been said ;)
I am not good enough with computers to do the type of search that you did.
But the generic "You need to sit more" sentiment has been used often in these pages for me to get tired of it.
The implication is that whatever issue the sitting deprived person has, it will be solved by sitting more.
Even used once, its a non-starter.
Polish the mirror....
Bye the way, Anon#108, I'm making a collection of first names. You may have given yours before, so I apologize if this is a repeat, but what is your first name?
As I scientist first, and some one who agrees with almost all that I have read of Brad an Nishijima, His outlook on the ANS balance has a lot of scientific merit. Both halves of the ANS are well understood, as to what they do, in the body. There is also a large body of knowledge as to problems caused when one side or the other becomes too strong.
From what I have been able to find, most of the current research is being done to try to accuratley measure this balance. I have not found any scientific research into whether or not any practice can help to balance it. Mostly they are using medicine to try to do this (unfortunately). But Im sure that it will not be far off when Nishi's concepts will be put to the literal scientific test. I would not be supprised if he is not too far off.
Brad, do you really think that this is truly the long and short of religion? That all the great thinkers & seers of the past were deluded? True, there has always been a conflict between the mystics and the dogmatists, but it did not descend to the level of denying revelation.
I think there is a danger here of short path extremism, and people setting themselves up as arbiters of matters which are beyond all their experience and knowledge. Let's be careful, and more sympathetic - and not insist on such tawdry origins to the great revelations.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"As I scientist first..."
WHAT KIND of 'scientist are you?
For example, most here know I did Electronics/Physics an an undergrad (e.g. 4-year college), Cognitive Psychology in Grad School (e.g. M.S.)... blah, blah, blah.
Chas, Chicken Alphabet Soup
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"That all the great thinkers & seers of the past were deluded?"
Either deluded or eating mushrooms.
This is not brilliant. It was a stupid, shrewd maybe?, vapid, dull witted bit presented by an angry comedian that has had too many nights on the road. Perhaps that's what you identify with.
Come on Brad. When are you going to put the toy dinosaurs or should I say godzilla's away and engage in adult practice.
Hi Alan,
I agree with you that generic "sit more" advice is vacuous advice. I thought that's what I wrote. Did you misread me? I had your back, buddy!
Maybe this blog is permeated with advice to "sit more" and I've missed it, or tuned it out. But it's OK, coz we can give ourselves permission to sit as much or as little as we like. Right?
(If you've read my profile and my comments over the last 4 months you know roughly how old I am, where I grew up, where I live, the College I went to, where and what I studied, some of the musical projects I've been involved with, a little about my career as a paralegal, how and when I got into reading about zen, how and when I started to do it, and who I do it with. You'll also have formed an opinion about the kind of chap I am. But when you need to identify or address me you'll have to make do with "anon #108", I'm afraid).
Nothing personal, you understand.
Nothing personal at all ;)
Come on Brad. When are you going to put the toy dinosaurs or should I say godzilla's away and engage in adult practice.
Adult practice... isn't that what his last book was partially about? If Brad uses Godzilla in his adult practice, I'm grateful he left it out of the book! Some people got upset about Brad's adult practice (forgetting it was his and not theirs), and now Anon @ 4:01 is encouraging Brad to engage in more adult practice. I'm pretty sure, like most of us, he doesn't need the encouragement.
Patton is great. I love the Sky Cake bit!
Mtto, You are like the kettle calling itself black.
A musician living in Los angeles. The most Vapid city in the country. Hollywood/Los angeles is a cult.
Come out and join us. Unless you don't wipe your own ass.
Thanks for the Antaiji link. I haven't read the whole article yet, but I read the first page. It is my position that what we do at Hill Street on Saturday mornings is adult practice (as defined by the article), just as much as the practice at Antaiji.
"Zazen belongs to you." - Brad Warner
Your practice is your responsibility. What does this have to do with what is sitting on the altar? Unless you really are just looking for a taste of Japanese culture?
Brad took his Godzilla with him, so now we have to settle for much smaller dinosaurs on the altar.
Nothing about your comments were negative in any way I could see.
And as far as not giving your name, that's fine. It's just a little game I'm playing to see if anyone else wants to play along.
It's absolutely for me. I have a terrible time remembering real names, so as you might imagine, trying to sort out Anon from Anon is a task that I am just not up to.
So I get frustrated and try to play a little game of asking first names.
Listen to the traffic noise, it's much more important.
His outlook on the ANS balance has a lot of scientific merit.
I'm curious. How would a scientist measure if the autonomic nervous system is in or out of balance? Is it something that can be quantified, or are there only qualitative judgements?
anon #108 said...There's lots of intersting stuff about the relation between our physical state, the cross-legged/straight spine (lotus) 'posture' and our mental state in this talk by Mike Luetchford, one of G's first western students and my teacher, which, if you're interested, will go along way to clarify Gudo's "theory".
I did not find much there. Is it possible that all this talk of Zazen and ANS is just Gudo & Co's version of "Sky Cake"? Sure, there is a little "science" behind it, much like there is some "science" behind many of the arguments of the Creationists about how the world is 5000 years old.
Did God Create Life? Ask a Protein!
Gudo and Sons is just another religious group with some dogma that kind of (doesn't really) make sense. They dig up some "science" to support it, although the "science" really doesn't have much to say on the subject. They even have some idea of the Four Noble Truths that they insist on which no other Buddhist in the world accepts, but it is their dogma.
Gudo asserts
This is the hypothesis that I developed forty years ago from studying the Shobogenzo, and although it did not have the backing even of Buddhist society in Japan I can find no no inadequacies in my idea, no matter how hard I try.
Catvary arya satyani, the four noble truths comprise duhkha-satya, samudaya-satya, nirodha-satya and marga-satya. The traditional interpretation goes as follows:
Duhkha-satya, or the truth of suffering says that all things and phenomena in this world are suffering.
Samudaya-satya or the truth of aggregates says that the cause of suffering is desire.
Nirodha-satya, or the truth of denial says that we should rid ourselves of desire.
Marga-satya, or the truth of the right way says that when we rid ourselves of all desire we will realize the truth.
When I read this traditional interpretation of the four noble truths, I found it so dogmatic and illogical I could not accept it. To say that all the world is suffering seems to me the height of dogmatism. Of course the world often seems to be full of sadness, but the assertion that all is suffering in the world is pessimistic beyond words. And to say that the cause of all this suffering is desire is too dogmatic. I think that fundamentally desire is at the root of our life force. It is impossible for us to get rid of desire and continue living. If Buddhism were to insist that we should destroy all desire in ourselves, then it is urging us to do the impossible. And the last of the truths is not clear. What is the nature of the truth that will be realized? It is said that we should follow the eightfold right path, but no clear explanation of these eight paths existed in Gautama Buddha"s time. What is meant by right? The four noble truths is supposedly at the center of the Buddhist teachings, but it seemed to me impossible to believe in such a dogmatic and biassed set of ideas.
My only point is that Gudo and children are no different than any other religious group with their half baked ideas and theories, and their own "Sky Cake".
Zazen is great, no doubt. Dogen is great, no doubt. Gudo's ideas about Zazen and Dogen, maybe not so great.
Possible, no?
here's this anon's take on it...
impermanence -> ignorance -> desire -> suffering
but at the quantum level, so the suffering is like rope burn
Hi Backbone,
So you read Mike Luetchford's talk and didn't find much there.
If you were looking for scientific proof or evidence to support a theory that the "balanced ANS" exists and can be demonstrated to be the aim, purpose, or result of zazen practice, then yes, you would have been disappointed.
Of course it's possible that Gudo's ideas are not so great. I guess it depends whether you're looking for certainties to believe in or reject. I've certainly found much of what he's written refreshingly free of metaphysics and 'religion', but us 'Dogen Sangha types' don't spend much time wondering whether our Lord and Master has got it 'right' about the ANS - or anything else.
As Harry wrote earlier, "the ANS theory offers a physiological rationale for the effects of zazen: in other words, it's no longer 'magic' or 'mysterious' or something that requires 'blind faith' in unknown forces/things...but it's not really so important to me personally I have to say (and I don't understand physiology enough to really get it anyway!)"
That's pretty much how I feel about it, too. Many of the people who sit with Mike L - and, I imagine, othe DS groups - couldn't give two hoots about the ANS.
If you found nothing else of interest or value in the talk, never mind. Each to his own :)
Backbone sed:
"Did God Create Life? Ask a Protein!"
I asked a protein.
He told me: "Proteins are made up of small units called amino acids."
Amino acids are made up of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. Some examples of amino acids are lysine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan.
There were googles of tons of this stuff just microseconds after the big bang.
The Big Bang is the "let there be light" moment (albeit out of sequence in the biblical accounts - of which there are two).
Here's the Galactic Evolution of Carbon and Nitrogen.
But, to cut to the chase, here is the trial.
Intelligent Design on Trial: Science is "Exhibit A" in a landmark trial on the teaching of evolution. Aired November 13, 2007 on PBS. Watch it HERE
And support PBS - television, but with a brain.
BTW, Brad's posting was so 'right on' that I also used the YouTube clip in a posting called "Just Deserts."
So, Backbone, when you say "Gudo and Sons is just another religious group with some dogma...", I think you're suffering from the misapprehension that folks who sit with Dogen Sangha groups all "believe" the same something or other.
It isn't so.
The Sky Cake was delicious today when some morbidly obese fellow in front of Safeway begged me for a donation to his Xtian cause.
I was wearing my 480 BCE cross.
He didn't know that the cross, and the crucified dying-rising god, predated Xtainity by several centuries. I told him to be there tomorrow and I'ld wear my 100% authentic widow's mite on which is imprinted the Wheel of Dharma.
In ignorance, people suffer.
BTW, Backbone, I think your reaction to Gudo's seemingly dogmatic revisionist ideas is very similar to the reaction Brad had when he first started attending the old boy's lectures. FWIW, it sounded like a load of hokum to me too when I first encountered it.
Having listened to Mike L for a few years and sat with his group, I realise that Gudo's ideas are not quite what I thought they were. But still, I can take him or leave him. I use what's useful and ignore what isn't: a lot of it has proved to be very useful.
Regardless, what matters is just sitting - without expectation, beliefs, dogmas, certainties or ideas.
Patton Oswalt in Ratatouille
BTW, Backbone, I think your reaction to Gudo's seemingly dogmatic revisionist ideas is very similar to the reaction Brad had when he first started attending the old boy's lectures. FWIW, it sounded like a load of hokum to me too when I first encountered it.
108, no need to be so defensive. You sound like someone trying to rationalize their strange belief as "not important to me, but I really want to believe it is true." You may say it is not important, but it is almost all Gudo talks about for many years.
I have been sitting Zazen for about 15 years. I found Mike L's talk valuable in talking how to find a good posture. But all these DL folks are too concerned about posture posture posture as the be and end all. Even Gudo and Mike Cross just fight about posture, and about which posture is the true one. They talk about how to sit right and the effects that sitting in the right posture will bring into the rest of your day. They confuse Zazen with primarily being about posture and not much more. Precepts, enlightenment, all of Buddhism is all in the posture.
That's there dogma, where they find their "sky cake"
I suffer. You suffer. Siddhartha suffered. Jesus suffered. And hard to believe it, Mysterion suffers. No suffering, no Buddhism. Simple.
Could it be at all possible, just maybe...just maybe... that NOBODY knows what the fuck they are talking about? including me? Just imagine...
Hello again Backbone,
You say I'm being "defensive", I'd say I'm explaining, clarifying, and correcting mistaken impressions. Whatever.
So you don't believe me when I tell you there is no agreed dogma amongst DS group members; that "they" are not "concerned about posture posture posture as the be and end all...all of Buddhism is all in the posture...That's there dogma, where they find their "sky cake"" Well OK. You can believe what you like, but on this you're simply wrong.
Perhaps you missed this bit of Mike's talk:
"But everybody is different. We can only do what we can do, so if we never try to sit half lotus we'll never do it, that's for sure. But if we force ourselves, and I've seen some people forcing themselves into the lotus position, and they're so tensed that their posture is pulled over to one side and hunched up. It's much better to sit in the half lotus or five eighths lotus and to be free and balanced."
And there are always people at our retreats that sit seiza or Burmese. They've never been approached to be 'corrected' or shown the 'true way' - by anybody. In fact Mike very rarely corrects anybody's posture, even if (to my eye) they're slumped or leaning - he believes an important part of sitting is discovering your balance, for your body, by yourself.
Your summary is simplistic and inaccurate. It's not true. It's not what happens. Your notion of what "they" all believe - or worse, are required to believe is mistaken. That's all.
Don't like the sound of Dogen Sangha? Fine. Do your thing. I'll do mine ;)
I read very little.
I came across Jinzang's at 2:16 pm: - a great deal of our practice, is in my view about being able to discern "the sum of the prejudices", or our habitual ways of thinking, from what true common sense is.
- This is about awareness, cleanliness of your mind, and clarity of your vision.
This also brings me to another statement I came across here recently: - "Habit is the opposite of awareness". (- I have very little time to glance through the comment section lately, - so I can't even tell if it's worth it) This also has to do with a question Harry has put to Nishijima on His blog recently, - about a discussion of spontaneous action with the use of a saying about Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva as an example. (Shinji Shobogenzo, Book 2, no. 5) There may be the question of what you call a habit, - habits might have to do with bodily blindness, - (as opposite to what you may call bodily awareness) but acquired skilful manners of behavior acquired through practice, - spontaneous action as in the story – which may seem externally much like a habit – certainly could in no way be identified with blindness or ignorance, (see "Mysterion" and others, PO included, - though he has a nice point) or "opposite of awareness".
[At the same time – a habit, even strictly so – can be useful. Otherwise such wouldn't exist.]
Back to Jing: - (a derogatory abbreviated form of "Jinzang") first I would like to relate to Intuition which Nishijima Roshi mentions so much: – I'd say quite certainly that what people call "intuition" sometimes is [intuition] and sometimes is not.
People use the word intuition for both intuitive thinking and instinctive thinking which they are unable to discern.
(I know today's "science" claim to have it that humans do not have instincts. [I'm saving myself one of M's stupid links] But I don't think contemporary science has ever been able to investigate the existence or non existence of instincts within thought.)
Second – this professor's view could correspond to things Uchiyama Roshi says about the ego, it might tell us of the blindness of his own mind – it may perhaps be said that [true] common sense is just intuition, - but this person's words are certainly untrue.
Men of wisdom do not become Professors of Physics. [- with rare and few exceptions in between, perhaps] I studied Math for a while so I met quite e few. [math, mainly – of course. but they're quite the same. Worse than Mysterion. (I mean that, - [!] believe it or not.)]
I think Uchiyama Roshi's words are really interesting. I think it's from his commentary about Bendowa.
I've been very long with regard to just e few words. But that's the way it is. I like to present things in full.
Otherwise better just not touch – generally – it seems to me.
to Harry's question: -
The quote does not have to do with compassion at all.
It is about AB's ability of Functioning. It doesn't have to do with the fact that he is the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Hi BTW,
Do you a live in half a world?
Does your name have no meaning or function?
I thought the video clip was pretty sophomoric and dumb. And I'm only 23 yrs of age. I guess that's what happens when you get old. I like brads books. But I think he's read too many zen books.
"Back to Jing: - (a derogatory abbreviated form of "Jinzang")"
How about "JIZZ"?
108 said
So you don't believe me when I tell you there is no agreed dogma amongst DS group members
Well, you are right. I do not know Mike Leutchford at all. It is really only Gudo Nishijima who professes his version of pseudo-science and creationism, and personal ideas about Buddhism with no historical backing. But as you say, and Brad has pointed out recently, the members of Dogen Sangha ignore each other, and ignore him, and just teach what they want. The fact that Brad barely mentions Gudo's theories on his blog any more, or in his books, shows what he must really think about the theories. Maybe Mike Leutchford papers over them too? I don't know.
It's like looking at the shapes clouds are making, taking them to be significant, and comparing them.
I think that if you've spent a considerable amount of time listening to and interacting with a teacher you've grown to respect, year after year, then that teaching is likely to have a profound effect on you - on your understanding and your practice.
That doesn't mean you've surrendered your will, or lost your capacity for independent thought. A good teacher should enable you to find your own way; to realize yourself; to make the teaching your own.
I'm not really sure what you want to say. [- "H.", a.k.a. Blogger Harry] It doesn't seem like there's anything to it. What I said is very simple. There's no hidden meaning.
It may have everything to do with compassion- just not like we think it does.
At any rate, no koan that is the result of Buddhist realisation was intended to create some false sense of personal certainty or correctness.
Wonderful routine. It's nice when Brad lets someone else issue the satire so we can be sure that its not all about him.
Harry, (@ 12:20 PM, mainly)
I can't see a possibility I was wrong.
No koan [or whatever you call it] is obviously intended to create a false sense of anything.
These stories have a point. (Possibly more than one) - Either you get it or you don't, - or you might be somewhere in between.
But it's not open to interpretation. - It's like a language you might understand or you might not. There sometimes may be different ways of understanding a thing, but it's not normally the case.
[If you don't trust or don't believe what I am saying you might check with Nishijima or your teacher. Let me know if any of them said I was wrong.]
R. (a.k.a. various others.)
Hi Ran,
There is no ultimate authority of 'right' and 'wrong' in Buddhism other than the current situation from moment to moment. That is where meaning is defined and contained, in real actions. 'Meaning' outside of this is just our own thinking of past and future, which is not real-time.
So, putting aside the redunadant notion of whether you were right or wrong, let's go further than the affirmation or denial of some teacher who isn't here:
You said: "It doesn't have to do with the fact that he is the Bodhisattva of Compassion."
I ask you then: In that case, what makes him the Bodhisattva of Compassion?
The teachers are there for you by e-mail if you want.
The notion of right or wrong isn't necessarily redundant. Understanding is different from not understanding. Otherwise what is the use of any discussion?
You are of so and so years of age and you are Irish.
If I tell you that [your] being of so and so years of age has nothing to do with [your] being Irish - do I have to tell you what is it that makes you Irish in order to verify that?
It [Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva] is a great being who have been chosen to serve as the Bodhisattva of compassion in the era in which we live in.
I have not been shared in any discussion preceding, [not that I can remember] equally has my advice not been requested; nor have I been informed in full of the virtues necessary for the appointment in question. (Try 108, maybe they let him in on something.)
I do not find this discussion really worth while.
[This may be one example why Brad does not consider the internet as a right media for teaching Buddhism.]
Hi Ran,
I'm not talking about the notion of right or wrong, and the koan isn't pointing to the notion of right or wrong or to anything in reference to right or wrong.
"It [Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva] is a great being who have been chosen to serve as the Bodhisattva of compassion in the era in which we live in."
Doink! The clash of brass on wood.
Q: What makes him the Bodhisattva of Compassion?
Good luck in clarifying the koan with your life. If you want to really go at it utylising unrestricted sincere effort then drop me a line and we can play all out like big boys who don't need a teacher to pat them on the head.
The teachers are there not to pat you on the head (which I certainly wouldn't, but I might say Gudo does, in a way) but to let you know whether you are right or wrong.
I wasn't saying the koan is pointing to a reference of right and wrong, but that it is possible to be right or wrong with regard to it, and that this rightness or wrongness isn't meaningless.
The quote you quoted could do without, - the point [with regard to your question, which seems silly to me] is in the two preceding paragraphs.
I don't really appreciate you, or your understanding, from what I've read so far. [- Here, at Gudo's, and at Gustav's.]
This is coming to be an ego discussion of who understands better than who. - I neither like nor value that.
If Nishijima [Roshi] or Peter [whom I don't know] would say I was wrong I might look into it.
Ran Kennedy.
(a.k. [in the appropriate circles only] with the humble title of "Mysterion II". (FWIW, or, - FWIN.))
"It is about AB's ability of Functioning. It doesn't have to do with the fact that he is the Bodhisattva of Compassion."
Hi Ran,
I'm not satisfied with your answer, or with your own verification of it. Sorry, but it would be unkind and lazy of me not to attempt to engage it...
Q: If not his function, which is never seperate from/different to the potential or ability to function at this moment, what establishes the fact that he is the Bodhisattva of Compassion?
We can say that his name is irrelevant to his acting at this moment, but this seems impoverished given the nature of our existence, as we can also say that his function at this moment makes his name and gives it substance, truth and meaning.
I don't expect an answer, but thank you for an interesting question.
I generally don't read your posts in great detail, but I find it prudent to keep an open mind on people as they sometimes say things which engage regardless of what I like to think about them, such as your answer engaged me.
I dunno, Harry, but I too have mused that maybe Dogen, from the get-go, is asking 'forget about the compassion thing...just what does Avalokiteshvara do with all those hands and eyes?'
Not that D is deconstructing, examining, or seeking to elucidate "compassion" from an unusual point of view, but that he's deliberately ignoring the usual, assumed attribute of Kannon; subverting our expectations - to talk about something else. That 'something else' might, of course give us insight into what "compassion" might actually be. But to me, it's significamt that he doesn't mention "compassion" (in the N/C translation) once - not his usual style, or method when seeking to examine an abstract notion.
No doubt, I'm very wrong.
And Ran, stop being so rude to Harry...and Mysterion. Tut!
captcha = sumbals
"But to me, it's significamt that he doesn't mention "compassion"
Hi 108,
Yes, I think it's significant too. At the same time, as you say, Dogen never engaged in the superficial, and pointless, negation of words. And he certainly did not mean to negate the fugure of Kannon. If anything he affirmed words and encouraged us to engage them and explore their real meaning and function.
So I should ask Master Dogen: "Is Kannon Bodhisattva lacking compassion?"
sky cake can be related to that promise for eternal happiness in heaven..it's euphoric!
Brad doesn't quite connect the dots like I did on THIS posting.
Jesus giving the Nirbana answer:
And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God comes not with observation: Neither shall they say, Look here! or, look there! For, behold (become aware), the kingdom of Heaven (nirbana) is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)
Gospel of Thomas 113
Jesus' disciples said to him, "When will God's Kindom come?"
"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, God's Kindom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."
So, like other borrowed matter, the local culture (in this case Armenia) had no way to ingest the foreign and imported teaching and, therefore, had to corrupt it to local lore.
Quote 1 allows us to escape our custodial duties as gardeners of the environment. Quote 2 - the more authentic of the two - makes it clear that our custodial duties as gardeners of the environment is part and parcel of being in this place.
I read Harry's @ 4:13 am.
- As far as - "it would be unkind and lazy of me not to attempt to engage it...".
I'm not reading any further.
Hi Harry,
Me: "But to me, it's significamt that he doesn't mention "compassion"...
You: So I should ask Master Dogen: "Is Kannon Bodhisattva lacking compassion?"
I had a think and a ponder...
I believe I get what you're saying (I don't always ;)) - so thanks for that.
Kannon Bodhisattva is
Kuan Yin
and Kuan Yin (a.k.a. Guan Yin) is the Isis, Innana, Ishtar, Virgin Mary all over again.
Except in China, where ancestor worship is/was BIG, Guan Yin had real appeal as a household goddess.
Is she even Buddhist?
I doubt it.
I tend to think so.
Re: Tripitaka:
"They are not, however, regarded as 'sacred', perfect and complete descriptions of the truth. To view any scripture in this way is a form of idolatry. All books, texts, and bibles, however inspired, are human creations and subject to error and imperfection. Buddhist scriptures are to be used as reflections and pointers. They are being used correctly when they stimulate mindfulness, virtue and insight - when they lead to open and receptive states of mind rather than to unskillful mind states, such as greed, hatred and delusion." source
If you are unaware of Buddhist teaching on idolatry, then go find out.
even more
Kannon was worthy of a POSTING over at my blog.
Its cake mother fucker you're dead....ahhhh thats great... Sky Cake, its funny how people still get suckered into this, it worries me..
Here, I do not actually consider it is likely to have effect.


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