Pershing Square is perishing. Many Angelenos (people living in the megalopolis of the "City of Angels" aka Spanish Ciudad de Los Angeles) have visited downtown’s Bradbury Building, but not everyone knows about the nearby Biddy Mason Memorial Park located on the south side of the building, between Broadway and Spring Streets.
I'm smiling because I'm finally free!
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born into slavery in 1818. Not much is known of her early life, but by the time she was a young adult she was enslaved in the household of Robert Smith.
In 1847, she traveled, mostly on foot, from Mississippi to Utah with the Smith household. The household lived in Salt Lake City for two years, then resettled in San Bernardino, California in 1851.
California was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free, non-slave state, which meant [human trafficker] Smith was holding Biddy Mason illegally. Mason fought for her freedom in court, with the trial ruling confirming her freedom in 1856.
Money is a good servant but a cruel master
As a free woman, Biddy Mason settled in Los Angeles with her children and found work as a nurse and midwife.
In 1866, she purchased a nearly one-acre site between present-day Broadway (then Fort Street) and Spring Street, between 3rd and 4th Streets.
The Black female owner of Los Angeles
On this, the present location of the park, she built her homestead. Throughout the years, this pioneering Black woman purchased more property. And as the value of her [real estate] holdings escalated, she eventually became a relatively wealthy woman and a tireless philanthropist.
VIDEO: How Biddy Mason changed LA forever: Biddy Mason’s story is one of the most powerful hidden chapters in American history. Born into slavery, she fought for her freedom and went on to become one of the first Black women to own land in Los Angeles. Through real estate, business, philanthropy, and founding First A.M.E. Church, she helped shape the city we know today. How did she build her legacy, inspire generations, and truly become "the woman who owned LA"?
This mini-park was designed by landscape architects Katherine Spitz and Pamela Burton. The artwork Biddy Mason Time and Place is an 80-foot-long poured concrete wall by artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville.
The wall is a timeline of Biddy Mason’s life, illustrated by impressions of objects such as agave leaves, wagon wheels, and a midwife’s bag, as well as simple text and images such as an early survey map of Los Angeles and Biddy’s freedom papers.
The history begins at the right (northernmost) end of the wall with the text “Biddy Mason born a slave,” and progresses in time to the inscription: “Los Angeles mourns and reveres Grandma Mason.” More
SLAB CITY, also called "The Slabs," is an unincorporated, off-the-gridalternative lifestyle community [1] consisting largely of "snowbirds" [2] in the hot Salton Trough region of the Mojave Desert in Imperial County, California.
Let's not argue. Let's live in peace.
It took its name from concrete slabs that remained after the World War II U.S. Marine Corps Camp Dunlap war training facility was torn down [3].
Slab City is perhaps best known for attracting oddly colorful and wonderful people who want to live beyond mainstream society [4]. More
Remember, not all who wander are lost. Some are just out of money or sick of wasting it by handing it over to The Man for permission to simply exist on earth in peace, human dignity, and freedom.
(Yoonj Kim) They put their plan to empty Los Angeles' most affordable (rent control) buildings on their website. Want to become a real estate mogul like Don John Trump and his racist German dad, F. Christ Trump (his real name)? The way is to join a literal conspiracy of robber barons (either including his son, Barron, or other aspiring billionaires
Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Say it slowly, Awakened One, so we can hear it.
The Buddhist term "floods" (ogha) is a name for the four influxes (the āsavasor "taints, corruptions, cankers, outflows, intoxicating biases" as in DN 16 the Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta, Paṭisambhidā-magga, and Vibhaṅga).
What are these four great dangers? The flood or influx of:
I want to hear this to be free from future dangers
A list of three, omitting the influx of views, is possibly older and occurs more frequently in the sutras (e.g., in MN 2, MN 9, DN 33; A.III.59, 67; A.VI.63). The Vibhanga (Khuddakavatthu Vibhanga) mentions both this threefold and fourfold division.
The fourfold division also occurs under the name of "floods" (ogha) and "yokes" (yoga).
Through the first stage of enlightenment (the path of stream-entry), the flood of [clinging to wrong] views is destroyed.
Through the third stage (the path of non-returning), the flood of sensual craving is done away with.
Through the fourth stage (the path of arhatship, full enlightenment), the floods of craving for eternal existence (endless rebirths in samsara) and ignorance are stopped. Craving can be brought to cessation?
The Samaññaphala Sutta (MN 2) shows how to overcome these four floods, namely, through:
For a commentarial exposition, see Atthasālini (Tr. I, p. 63f: II, pp. 475ff.)
Khīnāsava is "one whose corruptions are destroyed" or "one who is free of cankers." This is a name for an arhat, a perfected person, a Buddhist saint, completely liberated person who has awakened and experienced nirvana in this very life and lives out the remainder of life in complete certainty of liberation (moksha) and freedom (vimutti).
Can an enlightened person surf over the floods?
This state of arhatship is frequently called āsavakkhaya, "the destruction of the floods." Discourses concluding with the attainment of arhatship by those who hear them, often culminate with the words:
"During this utterance, the hearts of the [meditators, listeners, hearers] were freed from the floods through [letting go] clinging no more" (anupādāya āsavehi cittāni vimuccimsū'ti).
California coastal flood chaos! 🌊 Massive waves flood streets, vehicles stranded in Newport Beach, OC
Whatevers. I ain't afraid of no coast. Who needs it? We'll just buy more sand from Mexico.
(Storm-HQ) Southern California coastal flooding turns streets into rivers on October 9, 2026, as massive waves, swells, and unusually high tides overwhelmed ritzy Newport Beach (OC) and Long Beach (LA), battering Surf City USA in Southern California.
Floodwaters surround vehicles across the Balboa Peninsula, while powerful surf damages multimillion dollar beachfront homes and coastal defenses in Long Beach.
With Tropical Storm Rachel approaching, emergency officials warned that more dangerous flooding could follow.
Newport Beach, California, became one of the hardest-hit communities as seawater surged into residential streets across the Balboa Peninsula. Flooding affected approximately 15 to 20 blocks, leaving vehicles surrounded by corrosive seawater and reaching nearby properties.
Officials reported that the morning tide rose roughly nearly two feet (20 inches) above its predicted level, creating dangerous conditions for motorists and residents.
The City of Newport Beach declared a local emergency as coastal floodwaters spread through vulnerable neighborhoods.
Emergency crews deployed pumps, opened drainage valves, and worked to rebuild protective sand barriers.
Toxic sewage about to swamp LA, OC
WARNING: Residents and visitors are urged to avoid flooded streets while authorities respond to the rapidly developing coastal flooding emergency.
Long Beach, in LA County (home of the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose), are also suffering significant storm damage as massive waves batter the Peninsula and break through sections of a protective coastal barrier.
The Beach Boys and their Woody vehicle popularized the myth of a perfect, ever-sunny SoCal
.
We're fine on sunny days. Let's clean up!
Seawater flooded nearby streets, damaged beachfront properties, and threatened homes along Seaside Walk. Building inspectors declared some structures unsafe to enter, while one severely damaged beachfront home faced the risk of collapsing toward the ocean.
The destruction extends beyond flooded neighborhoods. Powerful surf is damaging the access road to San Onofre State Beach near the Orange County and San Diego County boundary.
Coastal erosion, damaged infrastructure, and dangerous waves are raising concerns across Southern California as residents prepare for additional high tides.
Tropical Storm Rachel added another threat to the California flooding emergency. The approaching Pacific storm prompted a rare tropical storm watch for coastal San Diego County, including San Diego, Oceanside, Carlsbad, and Chula Vista.
Forecasters are warning of possible strong winds, heavy rainfall, dangerous surf, and additional coastal flooding over the weekend.
[SoCal is suffering a massive heat wave during Indian Summer 2026, but over the weekend it'll rain before things heat up again.*]
Flood watches far from the beaches also cover inland communities across San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Palm Springs (the high desert), Coachella (site of the massive annual festival), Indio (with its inland Salton Sea), Big Bear Lake (home of Jackie and Shadow, the most famous eagles in the world), and Lake Arrowhead face the possibility of flash flooding as tropical moisture approaches desert valleys and mountain communities.
These locations are under weather alerts rather than confirmed reports of widespread flood destruction.
Coastal flood advisories extend north toward Malibu, Ventura, San Francisco, Monterey Bay, and Big Sur, where elevated tides and powerful waves threaten low-lying roads, beach facilities, and shoreline neighborhoods. (Goodbye, Gilroy, "Garlic Capital of the World," and your festival).
Authorities warn that dangerous conditions could continue through the weekend and into the following week.
This video covers the Oct. 9, 2026, California floods, Newport Beach flooding, Balboa Peninsula flood damage, Long Beach coastal flooding, Tropical Storm Rachel, massive waves, flooded streets, vehicles surrounded by water, damaged beachfront homes, coastal erosion, and severe weather across Southern California, West Coast, USA.
The confirmed flooding and property damage described in this report occurred primarily in Newport Beach and Long Beach. Other California locations face flood watches and coastal warnings, with additional impacts dependent on changing weather conditions.
For official California flood warnings, coastal flood advisories, and tropical storm updates, follow the National Weather Service, NOAA National Hurricane Center, and local emergency management authorities. And don't say we didn't warn you. #CaliforniaFloods #NewportBeach #CoastalFlooding
Anton LaVey (born Howard Stanton Levey, 1930–1997) was an American Satanist, writer, musician [2] and is said to be Taylor Swift's real fatheralong with his other daughter Zeena. He was the founder of the Church of Satan and a philosophy called LaVeyan Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible... More
Jewish UK PM Kier Starmer claims to be secular unlike his Jewish wife, so how could he be pro-Zionist Israel or fund and defend its genocide in Gaza?
We're here to help any way we can.
British Prime Minister Starmer says he's an atheist not a religious Jew and has chosen to take a "solemn affirmation" (rather than an oath) of allegiance to the British monarch [390]. He has said that although he does not believe in God, he recognizes the power of faith to bring people together and is raising his children in the Jewish faith [391, 392, 393]. Sure he goes to temple for the Jewish Sabbath, but it's only to accompany his Jewish family to services at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in North London which is hardly even Jewish really [388, 394]. Starmer is a keen footballer, make Sport sort of his God, maybe even wishing he could engage in football hooliganism for his team but not as PM... More
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