Mystery of the Navajo (Diné): DNA evidence

(Browser Explained) The origins of the Navajo (Diné) Native Americans of the Southwest were never what we thought, not only Asians from Beringia but Australasians: DNA reveals their truth

• American Indian Airwaves (Apple Podcasts)
• American Indian Airwaves (KPFK 90.7 FM)
• Larry Smith American Indian AIAirwaves (Myspace)

Israel just bombed Russia?

The New Age of Sexism: porn AI robots

'The New Age of Sexism' explores how misogyny is replicated in AI and emerging tech

Emerging technologies are reinventing misogyny

Author Laura Bates has 4.5 out of 5 stars with 58 ratings. Misogyny is being hardwired into our future. Can we stop it? We like to believe we're moving closer to equality, riding the wave of technological progress into a brighter, [whiter] fairer future.

But beneath the glossy surface of innovation lies a chilling truth: new technologies are not just failing to solve age-old inequalities―they're deepening them.

In The New Age of Sexism, acclaimed author and activist Laura Bates exposes how misogyny [hatred of females, the counterpart to misanthropy] is being coded into the very fabric of our future.

From the biases embedded in artificial intelligence to the alarming rise of sex robots and the toxic dynamics of the metaverse, Bates takes readers on a shocking journey into a world where technology is weaponized against women.

Author and activist Laura Bates

This isn't a dystopian warning about what might happen. It's a harrowing account of what's happening now and the dangers we face if we don't act.

With clarity and urgency, Bates reveals how these advancements are dragging society backward, reinforcing harmful stereotypes, and jeopardizing decades of progress in the fight for gender equality.

Eye-opening and empowering, The New Age of Sexism is a rallying cry for awareness and action in a world where the battle for equality has entered a dangerous new frontier. More

RAP goes too far: metal Ghostemane

Ghostemane "Mercury" Fleischer Studio TRXSH GXNG ＴＲＡＳＨ 新 ドラゴン

May 17, 2025: NEW from Gho$tmane: Prompto - Victoria's Secret (T R A S H)

If rap is dumbed down, I'll make it TRASH!

So much of rap is stupid, unbearably so. Rock 'n roll was better, not by much but it was making something new of older Black music (blues, guitar driven gospel, jazz). But we're coming around to this rap thingy after a half century. For all the boisterous bluster, some really has kick (umph), the right beat. We're finally seeing it.

• What four young Black men formed and called themselves "Gho$tmane," incorporating death and Black metal into their sound? Here they are:

HARD MIX GHOSTEMANE // BASS TRACKS GHOSTEMANE

White privilege extends into the rap universe?

(Yeah, that guy, Sunny McCalifornia. How could a boy with buckteeth get so groovy he not only develops a distinctive sound but a unique aesthetic from the 1920s?) We have to guess that it's because we mainly hear pop-rap (the cr-p rap the radio plays to death) that rap seems boring and anything but phresh.

But with radio removed, one is now exposed to all the other ways of listening (peer-to-peer sharing, TikTok, underground shows, networks, influencers, curation, recommendations, luck, and social media.

With the censors out and the "filters" on, there's some really good stuff out there. Some recent Buddhist articles we produced got a tremendous response with what looks like hundreds of thousands of views. It's just rap. Rap is old. Hasn't all the hoopla about rap died down already. It might have about the old stuff, but there is much more vital NEW stuff. Who even knew this was rap.

We thought it would be good to hear rap songs done in another genre thanks to the GREAT Richard Cheese (longtime fans since he appearances on the Kevin & Bean Show decades ago). So just tapping in something like death metal rap got an unexpectedly good response on YouTube. What, it's a thing? We thought, what are these suggestions? So clicking on a few of them, not bad. It was just Slipknot when Corey spits bars. We knew about that. We didn't know some of these songs got videos made for them.

Then, skipping down, we tapped the White Album looking suggestion, just to see, and the song that came up was really good or not what we expected. It was rap, not death metal. We were looking for death metal. But then it was metal as rap. Who were these guys? Are there bands of Black youths who listen to black metal (which is called "black" not because of the race of the artists or fans but due to the dark arts discussed by the music, such as Venom, Mercyful Fate, Deicide) and rap about it? No. Who knows? (There's that horrorcore freakshow stuff, but that seems very niche). Everyone listens to everything nowadays. There's no reason to stay in a compartment and limit yourself.

Rock rap with Wes and Limp Bizkit

This was someone smart enough to rap but very dark, but still actual rap, not a parody or imitation. Hey, there's something here. You see, a few months ago, we surfed through a video of Limp Bizkit live in the Netherlands, and before the show, they are getting the crowd amped up and start playing a rap song.

All of the 100% Caucasian audience loves it, starts moving, singing along. "They do know this is not a Limp Bizkit song, right?" was the question that crossed our minds. But it was a rap song, and that was the amazing thing--one that Limp Bizkit knew it, and two that the audience loved it so much. Oh yeah, duh, they are there to see rap-rock. It turns out it wasn't Limp Bizkit but Limp's DJ spinning Ludacris as Wes is standing, holding his guitar, in his briefs, about to noodle.

That's how The Heart Sutra (RAP version) article got written. Real rap is what Ludacris was doing, that old skool yellin and cars and women and other featured rappers on a track.

Who's ever heard of Gho$temane? Apparently, everybody but us because he's already played Coachella, though not with the reception he might have been expecting (during the day, under the desert sun, on the lawn, in the heat, to a smaller audience.

Australia’s drill scene is a war zone | Gangsta rap Int'l - Down Under

How is this guy not in all our faces or in the manifesto of the teen who takes a shot at Eminem in the future? Didn't Megan Fox's boytoy diss Marshal Mathers in a rap only to have it blow up in his face? Who ever heard about MGK? Or Riff Raff featured on Far East Movement's "Illest," Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) or the way mad white rappers The Bloodhound Gang feature him as Robby Winkle, that Australian one-hit-wonder Masked Wolf, where drill (gangsta rap is breaking out) as well as biker gangs.

Eminem said the N word with style in rap battle. - And he managed to finally rhyme with "orange"

The rap trap is some fake cr-p

• Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY, The Future of Musick

It's Buddhist Christmas: VESAK 2025

Full moon appearing to mark the Buddha's life

The full moon day in May is called VESAK and signifies the day Siddhartha Gautama was born, became the Buddha (the "Enlightened One"), and made an end of all further rebirth (by attaining final nirvana). This thrice blessed day all took place on the full moon of the ancient month of Vesakha, roughly equivalent to the Gregorian calendar's May. (It varies every year). This year it falls on the 12th; therefore, most Buddhist temples in America will celebrate it on Sunday, May 11th, to fall closest to it. But in reality it will be celebrated all month long in various Theravada Buddhist temples, monasteries, and nunneries. One of the largest and most well-conceived celebrations happens in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the small town of Azusa (which boasts that it has everything from A to Z in the USA, but the word Azusa is really an ancient place name for a Native American Tongva village, just like Pasadegna, Topangna, and elsewhere all across LA County and beyond).

• 

  Vesak in Long Beach, May 17, 2025

  Celebrations continue throughout the country and world. This Sunday (May 18, 2025) the Los Angeles Vihara, now located in Covina (after being established in Hollywood then moving to Pasadena), will hold a massive cultural program in honor of Vesak (after last Sunday's Uposatha or Full Moon Lunar Observance Poya Day Eight Precept meditation retreat). The Vihara is now the mindfulnessmeditationcenter.org but now distributes the latest information on WhatsApp rather than Facebook or the website. The event is free. Wear white in honor of longstanding Southeast Asian Buddhist tradition, extending back to the time of the historical Buddha.

WHAT HAPPENED?

It was a 100-mile odyssey in a steel chariot pulled by more than 350 horses, too far to walk.

.

We traveled on across Los Angeles (from Pasadena to the Valley over to Hollywood then east and further east) to visit five Buddhist temples in search of holiday festivities, finding three active ceremonies:

• Nepali Buddhist/Hindu Temple (Shree Pashupatinath and Buddha Mandir for Buddha Jayanti) in Norwalk, a city in Los Angeles County on the eastside. From there we traveled north up the 605 Freeway and east to the
• Mindfulness Meditation Center of Covina (the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara, which began on Beechwood under the Hollywood Sign decades ago, moved to Pasadena for another decade or more, then landed in a massive property deep in the San Gabriel Valley with plans for a large stupa monument) to observe the Eight Precepts (Poya Day, Uposatha, for a serious lunar observance, as distinct from next Sunday's more festive cultural event to celebrate the Buddha's birthday, great awakening, and final nirvana) then on to our evening destination:

• 

  Peace Point Meditation at DIMC, Azusa

  Dhammakaya International Meditation Center, Azusa, to sit with 100 Buddhist monks from a dozen different Buddhist countries and at least 20 Buddhist nuns from all over. It is a strange spectacle in a very green forested area. Due to the cooling heat wave, it felt like being at a resort in Thailand, White Lotus style, with giant imperial Roman banners topped by golden eagles hanging in the distance, as if the Nazis had organized the 1936 Olympics only for Hitler's ego to be trounced by American Jessie Owens. So spectacular is the ceremony that it is shown live on TV in Thailand. Dressed in white, we take our seats as the monastics enter two by two in a long line, drone cam and boom cameras catching it all. The mayor gives a speech in honor of Mother's Day, a science professor named Dr. Gautam Somethingorother delivers a short speech on how much meditation has helped him and how depressed and troubled scientists are without spirituality, Vietnamese monks chant in unison, a representative of Hsi Lai (Going West) Buddhist Monastery from the other side of the San Gabriel Valley (hsilai.org), chants in the style of Taiwanese Fo Guang Shan Buddhism, donations are made to the Sangha by special guests (lots of gift-giving all the way around, as is the custom in Buddhist Thailand), then a giant circumambulation around one of two large golden Buddha statues ensues, while chanting traditional Pali language verses. Finally, candles are lit and we repeat words of loving-kindness (metta) led by a senior monk to bless the entire world. All the while, all the Thai women have their phones out to document their spiritual journey with selfies as if these grand dames were teens. Then gifts and snacks are distributed to the hundreds in attendance, who go off into the clear summer-like spring night. It seemed as if the only SoCal Thai monastery not in attendance was Tan Jeff's (American Ajahn Geoff's) Wat Metta because Ven. Thanissaro badmouthed Dhammakaya and doesn't get invited anymore. Ah, that's just like the Tan Jeff we know. More
• Vesak is celebrated all month long at temples across US!

Come celebrate the Buddha's birth, great awakening, and passing into final-nirvana

The inclusive international Buddhist flag

Sunday, May 11 Vesak (Visakha) Day: Come celebrate (open to all) through the lighting of lanterns, meditation, and a candlelight procession. many Buddhist disciples will be dressed all in white and keeping the Eight precepts for the 24-hour period in observance of the most special uposatha (lunar observance) of the year.

• Sunday, May 11, 5:30-8:45 pm PDT
• Dhammakaya International Meditation Center
• 865 E. Monrovia Place
• Azusa, Los Angeles County, California 91702

Vesak Day: A Celebration of the Buddha

Who was this incomparable human being?

Join us at the Dhammakaya International Meditation Center for a joyous celebration of Vesak Day! This in-person event is a wonderful opportunity to honor the life and teachings of the historical Buddha.

On this special celebration of the Buddha, Dhammakaya welcomes more than 150 Buddhist monastics from 12 Buddhist countries and traditions to join together as a united Sangha (spiritual community), including monastics from

• Burma (Myanmar)
• Taiwan
• China
• Tibet
• Cambodia
• Vietnam
• Laos
• South Korea
• Sri Lanka
• Bangladesh
• Japan
• Thailand.
• (Dhammakaya is a Theravada Thai vihara).

Buddhist monks practicing for calm and insight

We will join in group meditation, sangha-dana (offering of necessities to the monastics), light lanterns to illuminate the meditation lawn, and participate in a candlelight walking meditation.

Vesak Day is a time for all to unite and reflect on the profound impact the Buddha has had on the world. Come and be a part of this meaningful celebration!

• Questions? Contact Dhammakaya at (626) 334-2160.

For meditation classes, visit Peace Point Meditation. For more Buddhist events, visit dimc.info.

SCHEDULE

• 5:30 pm - Registration
• 6:55 pm - Procession of international Sangha arrives
• 7:00 pm - The presiding monk lights the ceremonial lantern and welcome speeches
• 7:10 pm - VIP speeches
• 7:20 pm - Sanghas’ chanting
• 7:30 pm - Sangha-dana offering ceremony
• 7:50 pm - Metta or "Loving Kindness" Chanting for Humanity
• 7:55 pm - Meditation
• 8:05 pm - Candlelight circumambulation
• 8:20 pm - Candle lighting ceremony
• 8:35 pm - Spreading Loving Kindness
•  8:45 p.m. End of ceremony

• Peace Point Meditation, Dhammakaya (Eventbrite); Religion for Breakfast; Bhante, Dhr. Seven, Kelly Ani, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Harvest Festival Party, Los Angeles (free)

Mom, you're embarrassing me. Sit down already. I'm going home. They're laughing at you.

Fall is here, and everyone is invited to a be in and gathering at Rhythms of the Village, above Pasadena in Los Angeles. Join us for a multicultural festival of music, foods of all kinds (lots of vegan stuff), crafts, arts, dancing, healing, and more with over 50 vendors, ethnic traditions and kids' workshops. There's a big stage and thousands are expected for this biannual event.

Come cozy up and socialize as things cool, fall sets in, and it starts getting dark sooner. Ananda will lead a group meditation and healing near the main stage, Cody will perform, and Korean dance with vegan Sam (for her plantbasedtreaty.org) and food from the Cosmic Breezeway Cafe and trucks and food stalls, healer Janell, and doula Tori (flowwithtori.com) for yoga amid the massage tables.

• Village Fall Fest & Fashion Show
• Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, noon-6:00 pm
• Rhythms of the Village (BACK LOT)
• 2279 N. Lake Ave., Altadena, LA 90001

DETAILS AND FREE TO RSVP:

• Disclosure Project: Dharma Buddhist Meditation
• Nature Center: Dharma Buddhist Meditation
• PasaDharma: Dharma Buddhist Meditation
• Vendors can sign up at rhythmsofthevillage.com @1rhythmsofthevillage
• Ameca and Anoche (rhythmsofthevillage.com); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradshaw, Dhr. Seven, Keith (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Lunar eclipse of full Harvest Moon (live)

• Lunar eclipse of the full Harvest Moon: the best time to see it in major cities in the US

Rahu in Buddhist Thailand

The cause of a lunar eclipses would not seem to be this planet of plane but another celestial body. Let's see, who else could be out there? (Scientists discover mysterious structures hidden in our solar system).

• New study suggests Earth has several HIDDEN MOONS from collision billions of years ago

Miss Venus, Mr. Mars, Pluto Jr., another Ms. Luna (Earth's new 'mini-moon' will orbit our planet for the next 2 moonths), the Twelfth Planet Nibiru? (Twelfth? One or more was obliterated in a collision that led to the Khyber Belt debris field, according to Zecharia Sitchin). There's another body that gets even less respect than Pluto, and that rascal RAHU, downgraded from planet to a "node." A node? But it is this celestial body that is credited with earth's eclipses, lunar and solar, in Buddhist, Vedic/Hindu, and Jain cosmologies.

• A passing star may have kicked the solar system's weirdest moons into place | Live Science
• Earth once wore a Saturn-like ring, study of ancient craters suggests
• The hidden history of the universe BEFORE the Big Bang
• Why Earth photos from the Moon have starless skies [Because they're hard to photoshop in accurately, so it's better and easier to just leave them out and say they do not show up on film?]

Tonight's lunar eclipse is only partial, so Rahu will only take a chunk out of Soma then release.

Tom Brady is a big fan of Jaggi Sadhguru

The ancient Vedas ("Knowledge Books" of India) have much to tell us, particularly the Ayurveda on the topic of health (important in yoga). Here modern Hindu showman Sadhguru ("true guru") claims that in two hours under the eclipse things like food, which is our body post-consumption, will age and rot. So it is better to fast today, not to eat, to bathe away negativity, and never to watch the eclipse directly as so many space-loving Americans are fond of doing. Everyone in India knows to go indoors and be away from the shadow of the eclipses. It is not just Sadhguru warning people. Of course, his method of "dowsing" with (mala beads or any pendulum like device the hand can unconsciously twitch to move in one direction or another, which is good for divining what the mind knows subconsciously better than what is present objectively) the food for the presence of deterioration, aging, fermenting, rotting, and putrefying is a little suspect. But the claim is that this is subtle and therefore it would be hard to substantiate the claim otherwise. Of course, one imagines the food should spoil, rot, grow fungus and black mats of bacteria in two to three hours if it were the case that the body/food are aging 28 days in just the two to three hours of the eclipse. But be that as it may, we are forewarned and can take the appropriate steps if we wish. It is ancient Vedic knowledge. The Buddha did not accept the Vedas nor regard them as ultimate authorities on spirituality, but that is not to say that they are not valuable sacred scriptures. Many truths must be found within their pages, many things the Brahmins memorizing and chanting in Sanskrit thought worthy of preserving from the heavens (akasha loka) from which they were handed down or composed by seers (rishis) capable of discerning subtle truths our world is usually blind to.

• AI Death Spiral: 'Their capacity to emulate human language and thought is immensely powerful': Far from ending the world, AI systems might actually save it | Live Science
• Partial Lunar Eclipse (video); Vasudev Sadhguru (Ayurveda yoga warning); TEXT SUMMARY: Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Irish Zen or wildlife: booze, tat, sexy piercing

Catholic Irish girl gets tattoo without parents' permission (or St. Paddy's blessing)

Me tit hurts now, Penny. Where's Sean?

(pennzter) Oops... please pray or send positive vibes my way so I hopefully get that footage back [after a fine day of craic/crack and tramping with me mates, Sean and Abby, a male lesbian and me vegan bestie with her tipple pierced eatin a packet of crisps and a gallon of mash with...

Fast forward 10 years to when Penny's a mom

Abby, quit bellyaching. It's time to party!

Mexicanish salsuh, but not too spicey because anythink hotter than a tater burns me bum even tho I, Penny, look Spanish, and I'm so sorry, Mum, for bein a rebel and gettin a light brown trinity of dots behind me ear to show everyone wut a wild child me is. We want nuthin more than to be like our American models of behavior from the telly and theatre via Hollywood.]

This is how we live: A Day in the Life of the National Youth Theatre

• Instagram: vea.via
• Tik-Tok lmaooo: veavia
• Like and subscribe, losers!
• xo

And Now for Something Completely Different: 😁

Meditating with Irish Buddhists in Dublin

Irish Celtic Zen Meditation | album by Zen Méditation Ambiance (Spotify)

Dublin Buddhist Centre (RTÉ's Morning Edition)

Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind

(RTÉ News) In this week's Doors Open series, RTÉ's Morning Edition reporter Aisling Riordan visits the Dublin Buddhist Centre, where Dubliners go to meditate and purify their minds.

They do this not necessarily to become "Buddhists" but to learn to strengthen their attentiveness, develop peace, bubble up happiness from within, and get a taste of the Dharma (Teachings) that drew Irish Buddhists like Laurence O'Connell (U Dhammaloka, the first Westerner in history to ordain as a Buddhist monk) and Maura O'Halloran (Zen Master Soshin or Daigo Soshin Bikuni) to Theravada Buddhist Burma and Zen Buddhist Japan to full-time practice.

Larry O'Connell (U Dhammaloka) is an inspiration

The center is not about conversions or ordinations. Rather, it teaches practitioners in an urban, secular, industrialized environment. Some train to be Dhammacharis (Dharma-acharyas).

Either may marry, be single, have sex, be celibate, practice intensively on retreat or as they get the opportunity with their children and family responsibilities.

Why do punk rockers like Buddhism?

Unlike the lives of Catholic and Protestant officials, who are often seen to lead to hypocrisy and bad behavior completely at odds with Churchly vows, these practitioners use the Dharma to uplift themselves and those around them by their mindfulness, peace, virtue, wakefulness, and clarity.

The Irish Buddhist

It's not "religious" so much as ordinary life but spiritual, following examples from the Wisdom of the East like the Buddha (the "Awakened One") and Avalokita/Kwan Yin (the "Goddess of Compassion"), a kind of "Jesus and Mary Chain" that existed centuries before Christianity.

ABOUT: RTE is an Irish public broadcast service. Keep up to date with all the latest Irish and international news and current affairs with rte.ie/newsnow. Follow on twitter @rtenewsnow and on Facebook rtenewsnow.

• Penny goes wild (Pentzer on YouTube, Aug. 30, 2019); Dublin Buddhist Centre featured on RTE News, 9/16/13; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is it Druid Genocide Day or St. Patrick's Day?

Matt Anderson (valknutmeadery.com.au); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This Day in History: Druid Remembrance Day

Celtic Druid, shaman, seer

On March 17th, we will not be celebrating someone greatly responsible for the cultural genocide of the Celtic pagans and Druids.

Instead, it's more appropriate to celebrate the life and culture of the Druids who were wiped out during Saint Patrick's missionary days.

Make sure to note that this was a "cultural genocide." So it doesn't mean Padraig went around killing all the Druids. Instead, he convinced the kings and leaders of the time to convert to a foreign religion, which meant no one needed Druids anymore.

WHO WERE THE DRUIDS?

Knowledge keeper

Ever since the Indo-European days, Druids were the keepers of the traditional laws, storytellers, wandering poets, priests, the philosophers of the time, astronomers, and king makers.

The name Druid means something like the Sanskrit rishi, "to see" (a "seer," "visionary"). They were the intermediaries connecting the people and the gods.

The word shaman (Buddhist Sanskrit shramana) is related to seer, meaning "one who sees in the dark."

They were the most important people of their time, roughly between 4500 BCE (before common era) to 400 CE.

Secret architecture of the Druids

The Celts, along with their Druids or seers, emigrated from Central Europe west to the British Isles and Ireland, taking their rich culture, art, and traditions with them. The ancient tales of their ancestors and their gods helped the Celts remain a fearless people.

Fearless people are hard to control. Thankfully, the Romans did not occupy Ireland, but their new imperial faith [and their worship of Ceasar's Messiah] did. It was an imposed faith that was used to bring all nations and cultures under the rule of one God.

WHO WAS "SAINT" PATRICK?

Rome's Gay Mafia the Vatican, with its cardinals, bishops and pope, rule the Catholic world.

Newgrange green, Ireland (Getty/Irish Central)

Here are two fun facts about St. Paddy. He wasn't Irish but rather a Roman Brit. He is mostly known for driving the snakes out of Ireland, never mind that there have never been any snakes in Ireland.

"Snakes" seems to have been a metaphor for pagans, because he wanted everyone to view them as evil for their refusal to following the new faith.

The conversions made the old Celtic faith irrelevant. The Romans eventually got rid of the Druids along with the culture of the people. Over time Druids ceased to exist. Written records were uncommon back then. The Druids were not allowed to write down their knowledge.

So all of that cultural history was lost. It had been recorded in the minds of the Druids, so once they were eradicated, their history was too.

Becoming a Druid involved a lifetime of study and dedication. So celebrating the Druids and their rich history is a much better way to celebrate Celtic pride than worshiping St. Patrick. Skål. Source