Himalayan-like floods hit Grand Canyon

(NBC News) BREAKING: More than dozen people feared dead, Grand Canyon flash floods

(Robyn Adele Anderson) Jazz cover of this disaster: Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction"

(nacoco music) This is a serious metal song by real Satanist Dave Mustaine

First Hawaii, then Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayas, and now Utah is swelling, and Arizona's Grand Canyon is getting wiped out as torrential floods sweep through in a symphony of destruction over the weekend, as wildfires burn in California and Texas.

Grand Canyon secrets exposed*

On Saturday, August 29, 2026, at approximately 2:30 pm (MST), a major flash flood surged through Bright Angel Creek inside Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

The flood killed at least 1, while about 15 are reported missing, and 62 have been rescued.

In 2025, the Dragon Bravo Fire destroyed vegetation on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and had dried the land into an impermeable, clay-like surface incapable of absorbing water.

The flood occurred during a convergence of various environmental conditions, including the Arizona monsoon, Super El Niño, a marine heatwave, Tropical Storm Iselle, and a heat dome pulling storms eastward, resulting in atmospheric moisture levels being 5-15% higher than average.

• VIDEO: One hiker found dead and at least 14 others missing as desperate search continues after flash floods rip through Grand Canyon (Daily Mail)
• PHOTOS: Flash flood warning in the Grand Canyon
• Sudden flood tears through the heart of the Grand Canyon: flash flood turned dangerous deep inside the Grand Canyon Saturday afternoon. Floodwaters surged through Bright Angel Canyon near Phantom Ranch, washing out bridges, damaging trails, and cutting people off

How will evidence of giants in U.S. survive?

Hours before the flood, two smaller storm systems and several rounds of rain moved into the North Rim, with rains of up to 1 inch per hour being observed [1]. At the time of the flood, the downpour had intensified to two-thirds of an inch in a quarter of an hour [2].

The heavy rainfall combined with the steep, rocky canyon terrain caused water to funnel down into the narrow Bright Angel Creek [3], water levels rising to over 5 feet in within 10 minutes [2].

Tourists in the area variously described witnessing heavy rainfall, the creek rapidly overflowing, cascading waterfalls, 15-foot-tall floodwaters, and buildings and vehicles being washed away.

The flood also incited several secondary hazards including rockfalls, landslides, and mudslides [3, 4, 5]. More

Even the Buddha had a grand canyon like his hometown's Band-e Amir National Park

Forbidden History Revealed (GenSix Prods)

*For the first time in history, here is an eyewitness account to the fact that Egyptian-style artifacts and giant skeletons were pulled out of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and stored in secret, underground Smithsonian warehouses. This investigative documentary by Steve Quayle (no relation to VP Dan Quayle) explores the following:

• Why are the landforms in the Grand Canyon named after Egyptian deities?
• Why are DNA samples from giant mummies and skeletons being extracted by the militaries of the world?
• Was a live 21-foot giant captured in 1877 with the most unusual features ever noted?
• Will the giants of yesteryear become the "super soldiers" of tomorrow?

This is yet another great Smithsonian cover up. Forbidden History Revealed, Ep. 1 (DVD)

Industry Puppet Katy Perry: How to be a star

HOW TO BE AN INDUSTRY PUPPET: THE KATY PERRY STRATEGY

(Jay Diggs) How to be an industry  puppet: the Katy Perry (Catty Purry) strategy. "Rusty Brandy, Baby, what is a Faustian bargain?" - "I want a divorce!" - "O.K., Hubby, but what is it?"

How did she get her record contract, and how do I get the same deal?

Bauhaus "Party of the First Part" (animated music video)

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What is a Katy Perry?

"The Party of the First Part" as explained by Bauhaus using this cartoon animation.

I just wanna be Kate Hudson again

Katy Lizzy Hud's Son (Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, born Oct. 25, 1984), known professionally as "Katy Perry," is a Hollywood product, an American singer, songwriter, and goofy TV personality.

Known for her influence on pop music and her camp style, she has been dubbed the "Queen of Camp" by Vogue and Rolling Stone.

At age 16, Perry released her unsuccessful gospel album Katy Hudson (2001) under Red Hill Records. After moving to Los Angeles, she signed to Hollywood's Capitol Records and rose to fame with the pop rock album One of the Boys (2008).

Its lesbian bisexual anthem and lead single "I Kissed a Girl" topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Perry's moist, disco-influenced pop record Teenage Dream (2010) became -- ka-ching! -- the only album by a woman to spawn five U.S. number-one singles:

1. "California Gurls"
2. "Teenage Dream"
3. "Firework"
4. "E.T."
5. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"

Momma, don't preach. I don't need your and Dad's stupid religious beliefs holding me back.

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It helps having really big boobs, huge like these

Its sugarcoated reissue, subtitled The Complete Confection (2012), produced the U.S. Number 1 single "Part of Me."

The dance-inspired Prism (2013) yielded two U.S. Number 1 singles, "Roar" and "Dark Horse."

Perry's subsequent albums, Witness (2017), Smile (2020), and 143 (2024), were mostly duds and met with varied critical and commercial success.

Now mostly a laughingstock, Perry is still one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 151 million records worldwide. She has seven diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America.

The world's highest-paid female musician in 2015 and 2018, she was named by Billboard one of the greatest pop stars of the 21st century. As proof, her accolades include:

• 20 Guinness World Records,
• 5 Billboard Music Awards,
  5 American Music Awards (including the Special Achievement Award),
• 1 Brit Award,
• 1 Juno Award, and
• 7 MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award).

Perry was the first artist to have multiple videos reach one billion views on YouTube.

With an estimated net worth of $360 million, she is among the world's wealthiest musicians.

I told you I literally sold my soul to the Devil.

Outside of music, Perry released an autobiographical documentary titled Katy Perry: Part of Me in 2012, voiced Smurfette in The Smurfs film series (2011–2013), launched her own shoe line Katy Perry Collections in 2017, and flew into space aboard Blue Origin NS-31 in 2025.

She served as a judge on American Idol from the 16th season in 2018 to the 22nd season in 2024. She is an advocate for LGBT rights and women's rights, and she was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2013.

Her philanthropy and activism focus on children's education and HIV/AIDS awareness. More

• Jay Diggs (video); Bauhaus; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

How to win by losing? (Tao☯️Vedas🕉️)

(Taoist Diary) Why being "Nobody" is our greatest power: Taoist secret

Becoming Nobody: Ego Death by DMT?

Ego Death by DMT with Alan Watts and rockstars Avenged Sevenfold (Wisdom Quarterly)

Satyakāma Jābāla (सत्यकाम जाबाल)

The Brahmin Vacchagotta demanded the Buddha answer yes or no. The Buddha was silent.

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What does a Hindu sage see?

In the Vedas, Satyakāma Jābāli is a Vedic sage, who first appears in the fourth prapāṭhaka (chapter) of the ancient Vedic text, the Chāndogya Upanishad [1].

As a boy, in order to become brahmachārī (celibate Brahmin student), Satyakāma enquires about his father and his family from his mother Jabālā. His mother tells him that she went about many places in her youth attending to different people devoted to their service and did not know his lineage.

Therefore, she tells him that in this world, all that she has is him and vice versa, so he is called Satyakāma Jābāla.

Eager for knowledge, he goes to the sage Haridrumata Gautama, requesting the sage's permission to live in his school for to be a Brahmacharya. The teacher asks, "My dear child, what family do you come from?"

Satyakāma replies that he is of uncertain lineage because his mother does not know who his father is. He tells the sage that as to his lineage, his mother named him Satyakāma Jābāla.

Seeing his innocence and his strong wish to learn, the sage declares that the boy's honesty is the mark of a "Brahmin (brāhmaṇa), a true seeker of the knowledge of Brahman" and accepts him as a student in his school [2, 3].

• The Buddha redefined the label "Brahmin" from a biological lineage -- as the Brahmins taught of their own descent from God's mouth -- to a meritocracy, stating that one is not a Brahmin (high caste) from birth because of one's parents but because of one's own actions (karma, "deeds").
• In Buddhism anatta (no-self) means "selflessness"
• SUTRA: Is there a Self or not? (Wisdom Quarterly)
• Satyakama, the Seeker of Truth (Upanishads)

Will Satyakama Jabala know how to help us?

The sage sends Satyakāma to tend to 400 sickly cows and to come back when they multiply into 1,000 [3].

The symbolic legend or allegory then presents Satyakāma's conversation with a bull, a fire, a swan (Haṃsa, हंस), and a diver bird (Madgu, मद्गु), which respectively symbolize Vāyu, Agni, Āditya, and Prāṇa [1].

Satyakāma thereby learns from these creatures that the form of Brahman is in all of the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west), world-bodies (earth, atmosphere, sky, ocean), sources of light (fire, sun, moon, lightning), and in humans (breath, eye, ear, and mind) [2].

Aummmm, the cosmic sound of the universe

Satyakāma returns to his teacher with 1,000 cows and humbly learns the rest: the nature of Brahman (the ultimate, metaphysical reality behind all of the illusions of maya).

Satyakāma graduates and becomes a celebrated sage, according to the Hindu tradition.

A Vedic school is named after him, as is the influential ancient text Jābāla Upanishad – a treatise on Sannyāsa (a Hindu sannyasin or renunciate's life) [4].

Upakosala Kamalayana was a student of Satyakama Jabala, whose story is also presented in the Chhāndogya Upanishad [5]. In the end, Satyakāma Jābāla's teacher the Sage Gautama gives him the name Patan. More

Berkeley Zendo on Vipassana insight?

Linda Galijan is the Berkeley Zen Center’s first female abbot (Facebook)

"I never get lost because I don't know where I'm going" - Zen Master Ikkyū, 15th century.

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At the BZC altar (Nathan Dalton)

BERKELEY, California - Saturday, August 29, 2026: The Berkeley Zen Center's Abbess Linda (Shinchi Linda Galijan Rōshi) will set off for a monthlong vipassana (Buddhist four-dimensional insight as sati) retreat under her root teacher Gil Fronsdal.

Her other root teacher was BZC Founder Mel Weitsman, a direct transmitted disciple of Shunryū Suzuki, who also founded two affiliated temples, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and the San Francisco Zen Center). For the weekly Saturday Dharma talk, Abbot Linda as she is referred to, extolled the virtues of Theravada Insight Meditation, also known as vipassana, stating that while it is different than Zen's shikantaza, it is just the same. That is to say, they coordinate and aid one another to bring about the same realization (kenshō) or “clear seeing.” Vipassana literally means “special or clear seeing.”

Is satori “insight”? Not quite but not altogether different, both being a kind of iteration of wisdom (prajñā), clearly seeing into the true nature of experience -- directly perceiving what is ever-present but usually unseen: The Three Marks of Existence.

• BZC chooses first female abbot in 2026 (berkeleyside.org)
• RETREAT: 28-day (Aug. 30-Sept. 26) Insight Retreat for Experienced Practitioners with Gil Fronsdal assisted by Ines Freedman:  Silent mindfulness retreat for experienced yogis that includes alternating sitting and walking meditation, instruction, Dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussion with teacher. insightretreatcenter.org

Prof. Jason Arday (anglicanmainstream.org)

These weekly Dharma talks, and we've attended a few now, generally amount to nothing, doing nothing, accomplishing nothing, but seeming very deep for their Taoist-style nothingness or pointlessness. It may just be that they land later, filled with wisdom and no rush to make any obvious point. Last Saturday (8/22/26), an elderly Zen abbess from Santa Cruz, a long-time professor at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC.edu), gave a wonderful talk about social suicide, literally. She discussed her intimate familiarity with plagiarism and academic scandals in the social sciences as brought up by the tragic case of an accused person-of-color at Cambridge University in England. Accusations by a right-wing troll led to an investigation of Black Prof. Jason Arday (RIP), who was humiliated by the accusation and chose to end his life in ignominy. This is tragic, our Zen speaker explained, because far worse is done by seasoned senior white professors who weather the storm, which usually comes to nothing, no retraction, no dismissal, no punishment. It seems to be the way of hubris and academic progress. She would know because she sat on many a committee to deal with such issues as well as being part of the peer-review process, which even when it turns up plagiarism by professors usually comes to naught.

• AUDIO: The questions Prof. Jason Arday's life and death raise for academia (Consider This/NPR)

Bodhisattva Dolly Parton passes away at 80

But this talk was different, better, more substantive, less fluffy white rice, more solid and gomashio-sprinkled tofu, as it were. Why?

The jokes keep coming, little nudges about this and that, never getting too heavy to "stink of Zen," but at the end of it was a reverie about the newest, latest to be recognized bodhisattva, The Dali Parton. Abbot Linda praised "Buddhist Rebecca Solnit." Who knew the feminist woman who can't pronounce "women"* was a Buddhist? News to us.

• In praise of Dolly Parton, 1946-2026, our Goddess of Kindness (meditationsinanemergency.com)

The enso in Zen is like a zero, circle

Everyone giggled and enthusiastically nodded along in recognition of the recently passed country music star, humanitarian, lover of humankind, and philanthropist. This is in accord with the local NPR affiliate in the Bay Area playing the first of a 9-part Radio Lab (by the great Jad Abumrad) series on Dolly: Creator of 'Dolly Parton's America' podcast discusses her life and legacy | KALW

• *How to correctly pronounce "women": /wih-minn/

What's so great about Buddhist insight?

What's the point of Buddhism, Dick Gere, insight? - Why not just worship His Holiness, Lisa?

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When one knows-and-sees, the heart lets go.

Then a longtime member of the sangha asked, "What do they do in vipassana meditation?" Abbot Linda perked up and outlined the fourfold setting up of mindfulness the historical Buddha talks about in the two Satipatthana Suttas, the greater and shorter "Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourses." One make the heart/mind serene by sitting and attending to the breath until it is concentrated [and absorbed or in a zen state called jhana if possible. Then one emerges and turns attention to other aspects of the body]. One then progresses, turning attention to feelings (the three categories of sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral). Thereafter, attention is placed on mind.

No, Bart, just sit! Don't you dare have a goal!

Finally, one gives one-pointed attention to dhammas or mental phenomena usually categorized in Buddhist lists like the Five Hindrances and Four Ennobling Truths. [This is generally the way vipassana is understood, cultivating liberating insight by clearly seeing these four categories of "things." For in seeing them clearly, it is very difficult to identify and remain attached to the wrong views of self, satisfaction, and permanence. One instead sees things as they truly are -- hurtling towards destruction, unable to ever satisfy or fulfil, and utterly impersonal. In seeing this, the heart/mind lets go, stops clinging and grasping at ephemeral phenomena, and arrives at release, sometimes glimpsing the awe-inspiring freedom of nirvana. That's satori, that's kensho, that the first stage of enlightenment the Buddha called stream-entry.]

Sitting with Gil Fronsdal

How to see? Stillness and silence

This September 2026 vipassana retreat offers an experienced Zen and Insight (Vipassana) meditators a period of intensive residential practice guided by Gil Fronsdal. The teaching and practice orientation will be “Shikantaza Through the Support of Insight,” Shikantaza or “just sitting” being the core Soto Zen practice. The schedule will include mindfulness in complete noble silence with morning, afternoon, and evening formal sitting (zazen); formal ōryōki mindfulness meals (taking the least amount of food); work periods; and daily meditation instructions and nightly Dharma talks. There will also be formal and informal meetings with teachers. Participants commit to stay on for the duration (except by arrangement or emergencies). The retreat includes a 30-day sesshin (接心, lit. means “gathering heart/mind” but is usually translated as “Silent Zen Retreat Intensive”).

• “Gil Fronsdal” – Insight Meditation Center
• “To a mind that is still, the entire universe surrenders”
• Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu (369–286 BCE) — “Still water reflects truth.” Calm reveals clarity. Turbulence distorts perception. Stillness mirrors reality. Quiet minds understand deeply. Peace stabilizes wisdom.
• Insight Meditation Retreat: A Path to… | Spirit Rock Meditation Center
• Zen Buddhism symbols 35,963 high res stock photos
• Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

The Dali Parton: Dolly the Bodhisattva?

Goddess of Compassion Dolly Kwan Yin, female Avalokitesvara (gettyimages.com)

Dolly Bodhisattva (art by Stacie E Williams/Kiya Heartwood/FB)

She was smart with many great quotes like, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." lol

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The Backwoods Barbie Doll Dolly 

At dollypartonsamerica.com, thanks to Jad Abumrad of Radio Lab, there is a 9-part series of interviews on America's favorite bra owner, The Dali Parton, Goddess of Kindness, a kind of cultural icon and bodhisattva (a "being destined for enlightenment/awakening" by the marriage of compassion and wisdom) for the benefit of us all. Feminist, activist, Buddhist Rebecca Solnit says it quite well:

• In praise of Dolly Parton, our Goddess of Kindness

• The greatest bodhisattva (savior being) in Buddhism is the all-lovable Kwan Yin (Guanyin, Chenrézik, Kannon). Because she's wise? No. Because she's compassionate.
• Why we will always love Dolly Parton | The Criterion Collection
• ‘A new world is being born’: author Rebecca Solnit on the ‘slow revolution’ the far right cannot tolerate : r/Fauxmoi
• Nina Simons: What a gorgeous honoring of the magnificent... | FB
• a tale of two dollys - by Jenn Romolini - extended scenes
• Dolly Parton posed for Playboy in 1978 and inverted its entire formula | Thought Catalog
• Dolly Parton made Playboy history with her iconic 1978 cover (Men's Journal)
• Beyond Rhinestones: The True Story of Dolly Parton (Untold Stories of Amazing Personalities) by Sophie Hill

Who cares about this American singer? She's just a singer! Or was she much more? (FB)

In praise of Dolly Parton, 1946-2026, our Goddess of Kindness (Rebecca Solnit)

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Dolly Parton, the "unicorn of unicorns"

Jad Abumrad on Dolly Parton: "The Unicorn of Unicorns"

How many authors can capitalize?

His Holiness is ready to return in the body of a hot Western woman like he said: Dolly Lama?

• NPR remembers Dolly Parton (Bay Area KALW.org)
• Dolly Parton's American Podcasts (wnycstudios.org)
• Dolly Parton “used...[boobs and humor] The New York Times Opinion Section | Facebook
• VIDEO: Dolly Parton (1946-2026) - General - lines
• Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What happened in Nepal-Tibet? Not rain

A tsunami did not go up, a burst dam came down

(BBC News) Did a glacier collapse trigger Nepal's deadly floods, killing tourists? | BBC News

Massive tsunami higher than Himalayas in 2012 (2009) - Earthquake to flash flood — wild 2012

(GeoOrigins) A wall of water hit Nepal with no rain. Here's what actually fell

• The horror: Floods 'n Fires: Nepal, Hawaii, Europe, LA
• Bias-adjusted satellite based rainfall estimates for flood prediction: Flood prediction in the Central Himalayas of Nepal (Mandira Shrestha)
• Nepal suffers devastating flash floods from glacial lake outburst (Diginode)

Fear? What must it have been like for 1,000+ victims just before they died?

The Impossible 2012 | Tsunami Clip 1 Tom Holland - Giant wave wipes out entire city | Paradise

Hollywood: "Fear is our business"