What can be said about the worst greatest city in the world? It's not like Angelenos walk around not knowing what the megalopolis is really like. We just act that way because we know there is no "Los Angeles" as such. It's just an idea with no center and unclear borders. Long Beach is not part of the OC. It's still in LA, but probably most people do not realize that. The tip of the peninsula that is San Pedro was once an important Indian village. But next to no one even realizes you can drive there because it's beyond the Port of Los Angeles. And the port should be the southernmost point in most cases.
Los Angeles the county is larger in population than 40 of the 50 or so states that make up the USA. (What is the USA, Russia's neighbor facing west, just east of Siberia? Are Puerto Rico, Guam, and more than 1,000 islands in the Pacific part of the pack or not? Indigenous Hawaii is not four or five islands but more than 1,000 atolls and spits and areas that are off-limits to everyone but the military). So what is LAor LA City? It used to be Tovaangar to the Native peoples. Now it's 88 cities and unincorporated areas, neighborhoods, zip codes and area codes, invisible boundaries and real estate redlinings. It's a mess, an expensive mess because everyone keeps coming in search of the dream. Which dream? Take your choice -- cultural diversity, porn manufacturing, magazine pieces, and various industries. Love it, hate it, everyone will visit, so we wrongly say it is the "capital of the world." This video provides a better glimpse thanBeverly Hills, 90210,La La Land, or The O.C. ever are likely to suggest to anyone thinking of visiting. It's A Tale of Two Cities, the illusion and the reality, sometimes fire and other times just smog and haze.
(KTLA 5) April 29, 2025: It's not just federal workers being booted into unemployment. Los Angeles COUNTY employees aren't making enough to keep up with inflation (or Trumpflation as one might call it). So they are on strike, as LA pays $4 billion in child rape and sexual abuse settlement costs from abusing so many children in its care Tens of thousands of workers employed by Los Angeles County continued striking Tuesday, consequently disrupting some public services. The members of labor union SEIU 721 walked off their jobs after 7:00 pm Monday in an effort to negotiate for a new and fairer contract with the county. KTLA's Rachel Menitoff reports on April 29, 2025. Details: ktla.com/news/local-news/abou...
(ReligionForBreakfast) March 13, 2025: Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, celebrates romantic love (as personified by Kamadeva, a kind of Cupid-Eros figure in Indian religions, sometimes representing Mara, the worst demon of all), spring, and the victory of good over evil, but its meaning is deeper than just throwing bright colored powders.
Use code RFBINCOGNI at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: incogni.com/rfbincogni. Join Patreon community: religionforbreakfast. Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters.
It doesn't feel toxic. *Cough-cough*
When is this purnima? On the last full moon of winter (the Indian month of Phalguna), which in 2025 is March 13-14.
Holi (\ho-ly\) is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colors, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and her consort Krishna.
Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, light over dark, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha ("Man-Lion") over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated and is predominantly celebrated on the Indian subcontinent but has spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora. More: Holi
This sounds crazy. "Everyone" knows cholesterol is bad. That's why the body makes it and makes so much of it and uses it for so many things. The fact is, Dr. Joel Wallach (criticalhealthnews.com) has been singing the praises of cholesterol for a long time. The body could not live without it. It makes hormones from it. If we have too much bad cholesterol, that is almost certainly from bad lifestyle choices, like eating fried foods, rancid oils, dead oils, filtered vegetable seed oils, all of which are very harmful. Fats are good, but know the difference between fats that heal and fats that kill. Good oils real olive oil (a fruit), real avocado (the fruit, not the oil), virgin coconut milk, hemp seed oil (a balanced vegan source of essential fatty acids, Omega 3, 6, and 9), borage seed oil, evening primrose oil, rosehip oil, cacao fat, sea buckthorn, and others. Anything in a plastic bottle exposed to light, heat, or air is dead, rancid, and toxic. Throw it out, and do not eat foods made with it or microwaved. One of the worst things a person can do is take allopathic statin drugs, which lower cholesterol -- which the body is making to save itself, to fight free radical damage, to heal from fried, burned/oxidized, bad, rancid oils -- production. If we avoid oxidized (microwaved, overcooked, stale, exposed to heat, air, light and other oxidizers) foods, instead choosing fresh, alkalinizing, greens, fruits, and things in their natural/unaltered state, the body has many fewer reasons to make so much cholesterol.
Jimmy Dore, MikeMacRae.com, Mel K (jimmydore.com); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The word vegetarian does not come from vegetable but from vegetus (life, growth).
.
All non-starchy vegetables and fruits have an alkaline-forming effect on our body's fluids. Potatoes and bananas are slightly more acidic than most other vegetables and fruits.
For this reason, to be alkaline and healthy, non-starchy fruits, berries, and vegetables form the main bulk of our diet.
Fortunately, nature has arranged it so that green vegetables, such as kale and broccoli, are not only very alkaline but also superfoods that are nutrient rich.
Most legumes are semi-alkaline, while whole grains are more acidic. Refined grains (like white rice or milled flour) have an acidic effect on the body.
All animal products -- slaughtered flesh, eggs, fish, dairy -- in addition to extracted, process, simplified sugars have an acidifying effect. Therefore, these foods should be eliminated from the diet or greatly reduced.
Go nonviolent and vegan? Not necessarily. For example, a vegan living mainly on protein bars would end up with an acidic and unhealthy bloodstream due to the sugar and grain, while an omnivore eating lots of fruits and vegetables and a small amount of meat and dairy might stay alkaline and healthy.
The body maintains homeostasis (equilibrium), which means a blood pH level of about 7.35-7.46 to maintain good health. We do that by eating a diet of primarily alkaline producing foods, mainly fruits and vegetables. These foods are also the most nutrient dense foods.
There is no need for paleo folks and vegans to go to war in a battle of words regarding what is right or wrong with an alkaline diet. The facts speak for themselves.
In essence, we can become acidic on any diet if we eat too many acid-forming foods: too much animal protein and fats, too much sugar and refined carbs, as well as too many deep-fried foods.
Whether to be a vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore is, in the end, more a question of ethics. We can be healthy with any label, provided we eat alkaline foods.
So if, on the one hand, one dislikes killing animals, impregnating, imprisoning, and otherwise making animals miserable and instead wants to be kinder to them and the planet, then a vegan diet is the healthiest and most environmentally-friendly.
If, on the other hand, one just wants to stay healthy, then junk (processed) foods and animal foods need to be minimized or eliminated altogether. Whatever one eats, the main bulk of our intake needs to be mainly vegetables and fruits.
Alan Watts via KPFK via Agrippa's Diary, Aug. 4, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Alan Watts seems to have accepted his shadow, dark side, and element of irreducible rascality.
Alan Watts on Carl Jung and the Philosophy of Good and Evil
(Agrippa's Diary) In this insightful lecture [in a lisp that is not Watts' natural voice but modified], renowned philosopher Alan Watts delves into an in-depth exploration of world-famous psychologist Carl Jung's groundbreaking theories and his personality.
I'm no fud-dud Ziggy Freud
Watts, known for his deep understanding and eloquence, beautifully unpacks and contemplates the profound perspectives of Jung, the illustrious psychologist and visionary explorer of the human psyche and founder of analytical psychology (Jungian analysis).
His discussion primarily revolves around Jung's fascinating theories of good and evil, shedding new light on their multifaceted implications and enhancing appreciation for Jung's monumental contribution to the
field of psychology
Western spirituality,
the malice inherent in humor,
self-acceptance
the "element of irreducible rascality" as Watts terms it
or in German one's hintaGedanke (hinter thought, an idea in the back of one's mind, the subconscious).
The late Roy of Hollywood Tuckman left us a great legacy, spirituality on Pacifica Radio Los Angeles (kpfk.org) with great overnight programming that includes Thursdays at midnight and Sundays at 8:00 am. Hear Alan Watts and other Buddhist luminaries on Something's Happening.
There are different interpretations of the same ancient Sumerian story Jews appropriated and abrogated to themselves, which fundamentalists Christians imported and took at face value thereby confounding themselves.
What we didn't know about the Garden of Eden in Genesis - Dr. Elaine Pagels
(MythVision Podcast) Dec. 9, 2023: From the Princeton University religious historian Prof. Elaine Pagels (elaine-pagels.com) whose work, The Gnostic Gospels, won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award comes a dramatic interpretation of "Satan" and his role in the Christian tradition.
With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Prof. Pagels turns Satan’s story into an audacious exploration of Christianity’s shadow side, in which the "gospel of love" gives way to irrational hatreds that continue to haunt Christians and non-Christians alike. #MythVision #Gnostic #ElainePagels
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Becoming a patron of Myth Vision Podcast
01:14 - Interpreting the story of Adam and Eve
02:05 - The testimony of truth and the story of the serpent
02:49 - The serpent in the wilderness
03:36 - Different interpretations of the story
04:25 - The original meaning and intention
05:02 - The meaning of an ancient story
05:43 - The importance of living according to the Torah
06:35 - Following the Right Way
07:18 - Comparative Mythologies
08:01 - Hebrew response to Babylonian stories
08:51 - The role of Orthodox circles
09:37 - Rethinking our relationship with the environment
10:30 - Caring for the Earth and its connections
11:16 - The differences between Gods in different religions
Scenes of Diwali celebration from Greater Noida | Diwali 2023 | Festival of Lights | English News
(MIRROR NOW) Nov. 12, 2023: Times Network ground report brings insight into the celebrations taking place across India on Diwali, the "Festival of Lights," illuminating India with joy and fervor as 1 billion people or more celebrate the triumph of light over darkness. #diwali #mirrornow #diwali2023
India is on the right with "Shakya Land" in grey
It’s also widely celebrated in Nepal, Malaysia, Fiji, and other countries with large South Asian diasporas. Homes, businesses, and public spaces are lit up with diyas, or oil lamps made from clay, and fireworks displays abound.
People gather with their families, eat sweets, and exchange gifts.
Despite its deep religious significance, Diwali today is also a cultural festival observed by people regardless of faith.
Here’s what to know about the holiday.
What is Diwali?
Crowds in Bombay, India, ahead of 11/5/23.
Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word deepavali, meaning “row of lights.” It marks the triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil.
Though Diwali traditions vary according to region and religion, the myths and historical stories behind the holiday share themes of justice and liberation.
When is Diwali?
Are you Indian? - Ha ha, wait, I can answer!
Diwali is celebrated every year in autumn, usually falling between October and November.
The festival lasts five days, with the main celebration occurring on the third day.
India becomes 4th country to ever land on moon (Chandra, Luna, Soma)
(Inside Edition) Aug. 24, 2023: The Chandrayaan-3 Indian lunar mission made history on August 23rd. The rocket’s landed closer to the moon’s south pole than any other landings before it. Scientists believe the south pole could have water and ice deposits. India now reaches not only the moon but also the history books. The USSR, USA, and PRC are the only other space superpowers to reach the lunar surface. Inside Edition Digital’s TC Newman has more.
Why Chandrayaan-3’s moon landing is important to India | WSJ
(Wall Street Journal) Aug. 23, 2023: India became the first country to successfully land on the moon's south pole with its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, just days after Russia’s Luna-25 accidentally crashed in the same region. Both countries launched lunar rockets in recent weeks, hoping to be the first to successfully complete the mission. Why were they racing to reach the lunar south pole? WSJ explains the significance of both missions for Moscow and New Delhi. #Russia#India#WSJ
0:00 India lands on the south pole of the moon
0:53 Why the south pole?
2:37 Why Russia and India want to be first
4:32 New space race
But isn't India backwards?
What celestial (deva) and infernal (yakkha) beings lived among the humans of India in the past?
Redneck News (Family Guy)
The Rick & Bubba Show - LIVE - streamed on Aug. 23, 2023
POLITICS TONIGHT: The Great (Trumpless) Debate | Daily Best of August 23rd. These two down home good ol' boys gear up for the first 2024 Republican presidential debate happening tonight. Fearless Leader Trump won't be a participatin' in the slugfest, so part of us be thinkin' we may as well fall asleep at the start.
COUNTRY MUSIC: Oliver Anthony's decision to turn down $8,000,000 offers from record companies is starting to look like ''twas a good move. He's toppin' the streamin' 'n download charts.
Where is Q (RFK) and why ain't he a talkin?
MOON TALK: India successfully placed a lander on the moon, Chandra, days after a Rooskey lunar landing failed real bad cuz Pres. Vlad Putin is too busy assassinating political rivals in the military fightin Ukraine as mercenaries.
SCHOOLIN' AROUND: A teacher showed up drunk on the first day of school. Back in our day, smelling like beer just meant you were a coach for youth sports.
What about them there GAY frogs, Alex?
Alex Jones says tap water is turning humans and frogs GAY
(IMPAULSIVE Clips) He sounds like a nutty conspiracy theorist, but does BPA (Bisphenol A) cause feminization or homosexual ideation, arousal, or behavior? The U.S. military invented a "gay bomb" that it intended to shoot at human beings in combat situations so that male troops would drop their guns and start [blanking] one another like shameless pandakas (eunuchs), transsexuals, transgenders, homosexuals, child molesters, and LGBTQIA+ individuals gone wild. The bomblet may have contained Atrazine, as Jones is blowing the whistle on. Certainly, plastics do not need to be made with the softener-conditioner BPA, but they are. Why? Accidental poisoning of our waterways and oceans? Intentional attempt to eradicate foundation amphibian species and ruin male potency, or an attempt to increase the frequency of gender confusion? No, instead we all laugh at some nut job married to a Jewish woman, mother of his children, which gives Jones the right to move to Israel like a Zionist while accused by some of being a Neo-Nazi sympathizer, a white supremacist, a Republican operative, a Trump crony, and disinformation agent, a dupe for CIA disinformation, a willing participant in disseminating propaganda and alarmist fearmongering stories, and a crafty salesman out to make millions no matter the veracity of his news items.
► Subscribe to Rick & Bubba's YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/2HB60eE
Early Christians: YAHWEH (the Old Testament God) is actually the DEVIL
(Gnostic Informant) (Wiki) In the Platonic, Neo-Pythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neo-Platonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe.
The Gnostics adopted the term demiurge. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily the same as the Creator figure in the monotheistic sense, because the demiurge itself and the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are both considered consequences of something else.
Depending on the system, they may be considered either uncreated and eternal or the product of some other entity.
The word demiurge is an English word derived from demiurgus, a Latinized form of the Greek δημιουργός or dēmiurgós.
It was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan," but gradually came to mean "producer" and eventually "creator."
The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written circa 360 BC, where the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe.
The demiurge is also described as a creator in the Platonic (c. 310–90 BC) and Middle Platonic (c. 90 BC–AD 300) philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school (third century onwards), the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, but (in most Neoplatonic systems) is still not itself "the One."
In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good.
According to some strains of Gnosticism, the demiurge is malevolent, as it is linked to the material world.
In others, including the teaching of Valentinus, the demiurge is simply ignorant or misguided.
The first and highest aspect of God is described by Plato as the One (Τὸ Ἕν, "To Hen"), the source, or the Monad.
This is the God above the Demiurge that manifests through the actions of the Demiurge. The Monad emanated the demiurge or Nous (consciousness) from its "indeterminate" vitality due to the monad being so abundant that it overflowed back onto itself, causing self-reflection.
This self-reflection of the indeterminate vitality was referred to by Plotinus as the "Demiurge" or creator.
The second principle is organization in its reflection of the nonsentient force or dynamis, also called the One or the Monad. The dyad is energeia emanated by the one that is then the work, process, or activity called nous, Demiurge, mind, consciousness that organizes the indeterminate vitality into the experience called the material world, universe, cosmos.
Plotinus also elucidates the equation of matter with nothing or non-being in The Enneads [9], which more correctly is to express the concept of idealism or that there is not anything or anywhere outside of the "mind" or nous (c.f. pantheism).
The figure of the Demiurge emerges in the theoretic of Iamblichus, which conjoins the transcendent, incommunicable “One,” or Source.
Here, at the summit of this system, the Source and Demiurge (material realm) coexist via the process of henosis.
Iamblichus describes the One as a monad whose first principle or emanation is intellect (nous), while among "the many" that follow it there is a second, super-existent "One" that is the producer of intellect or soul (psyche).
The "One" is further separated into spheres of intelligence: The first and superior sphere is objects of thought, while the latter sphere is the domain of thought. Thus, a triad is formed of the intelligible nous, the intellective nous, and the psyche in order to reconcile further the various Hellenistic philosophical schools of Aristotle's actus and potentia (actuality and potentiality) of the unmoved mover and Plato's Demiurge.
Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God or Supreme Being and the demiurgic "creator" of the material, commonly identified as Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew Bible.
Several systems of Gnostic thought present the Demiurge as antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Being: This being's act of creation occurs in an unconscious semblance of the divine model and thus is fundamentally flawed or is formed with the malevolent intention of entrapping aspects of the divine in materiality.
Thus, in such systems, the Demiurge acts as a solution to (or, at least possibly, the problem or cause that gives rise to) the problem of evil.
(ABC News) Feb. 28, 2023. GMA co-anchor Michael Strahan shares what it is like to travel to the remote Chilean island known as "Easter Island," although that is a misnomer given to it by invaders.
More: gma.abc/3IDyKTb
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