Zarna Garg (born Feb. 15, 1975) [1] is an Indian American stand-up comedian and screenwriter. CNBC says she is "the zany, outspoken voice of the Indian American woman" [2]. She is also a New York Times bestselling author.
ZG is a "Desi" (a member of the Indian diaspora) comedian at Zarna Garg.com. Desi a loose term used to describe the peoples, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and their diaspora [4], deriving from the Sanskrit देश (deśá), meaning "land" or "country" [5]. It traces its origin to people from South Asia: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and is sometimes extended to include the Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, and Bhutan. More: Desi
Born in India, she lived in Mumbai (Bombay) as a teenager. Her Indian father demanded that she get married the day after her mother died, which was when she was 14.
Why are we Americans overachievers?
Rather than submit to an arranged marriage, she moved out of the house and stayed with friends and family [4]. Eventually, she emigrated to the USA to live with her sister in Akron, Ohio [2][5].
She earned a BA degree in finance from the University of Akron and a JD (Juris Doctor) degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio [6].
After being a stay-at-home mother for 16 years, she was encouraged by her children to try stand-up comedy [7], so we have them to thank. More
The TM corporation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi -- the Beatles', Beach Boys', and other celebrities' own guru -- used to sell "levitation" during meditation, which turned out to be a kind of flipper hopping by flapping the knees, a ridiculous compromise in the way we can bend reality and language to match. Even this wouldn't be "levitation" as we understand it even with the great hang time.
(AS) This "yogic flying" TM style "levitation" is more embarrassing than Heshers' sill trick above.
It only took us two views to see how he's doing it, and we guarantee anyone with the right camera set up can do this tonight, with less stress on his plastic drawers from the pushing.
Buddhism's Path of Purification on levitation
95. Uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and
make it spring up into the air. For this was what happened to the Elder
Mahá Tissa, residing at Punnavallika.
He went to the shrine terrace on the
evening of the full-moon day. Seeing the moonlight, he turned in the direction
of the Great Shrine [at Anurádhapura], thinking:
“At this very hour the four assemblies [Note 29] are worshipping at the Great Shrine!” By means of objects
formerly seen [there] he aroused uplifting happiness with the Enlightened
One [the Buddha] as object, and he rose into the air like a painted ball bounced off a
plastered floor and alighted on the terrace of the Great Shrine.
[Note 29: Four assemblies (parisá) Buddhist monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.]
96. And this was what happened to the daughter of a clan in the village of
Vattakálaka near the Girikandaka Monastery when she sprang up into the air
owing to strong uplifting happiness with the Enlightened One as object.
As her
parents were about to go to the monastery in the evening, it seems, in order to
hear the Dhamma [144], they told her:
“My dear, you are expecting a child; you
cannot go out at an unsuitable time. We shall hear the Dhamma [the Buddha's Teachings] and gain merit
for you.” So they went out. And though she wanted to go, too, she could not very well
object to what they said. She stepped out of the house onto a balcony and stood
looking at the Ákásacetiya Shrine at Girikandaka lit by the moon.
She saw the
offering of lamps at the shrine and the four communities [assemblies] as they circumambulated
it to the right after making their offerings of flowers and perfumes. And she
heard the sound of the massed recital by the Community of Monastics. Then she
thought:
“How lucky they are to be able to go to the monastery and wander round
such a shrine terrace and listen to such sweet preaching of Dhamma!”
Seeing the
shrine as a mound of pearls and arousing uplifting happiness, she sprang up into
the air, and before her parents arrived she came down from the air into the shrine
terrace, where she paid homage and stood listening to the Dhamma.
97. When her parents arrived, they asked her: “What road did you come by, my dear?”
She answered, “I came through the air, not by the road.”
And when they told her, “My
dear, those whose cankers are destroyed [the enlightened] come through the air, but how did you
come?”
She replied, “As I was standing looking at the shrine in the moonlight a
strong sense of happiness arose in me with the Enlightened One as its object.
Then I knew no more whether I was standing or sitting, but only that I was
springing up into the air with the [mental] sign that I had grasped [apprehended], and I came to rest on
this shrine terrace.”
So uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and make it
spring up into the air.
98. But when pervading (rapturous) happiness arises, the whole body is
completely pervaded [like soap powder suffused with water], like a filled bladder, like a rock cavern invaded by a huge
inundation.
99. Now this fivefold happiness, when conceived and matured, perfects the twofold
tranquility, that is, bodily and mental tranquility. When tranquility is conceived
and matured, it perfects the twofold bliss, that is, bodily and mental bliss. When bliss
is conceived and matured, it perfects the threefold concentration, that is,
Of these, what is intended by happiness in this context is pervading happiness,
which is the root of absorption and comes by growth into association with
absorption [145].
CHAPTER IV
The Earth Kasina
100. But as to the other word: pleasing (sukhana) is bliss (sukha). Or alternatively:
it thoroughly... More: Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga)
Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), The Path of Purification edit
Shocking: Bull attacks sexy woman in red at outdoor concert
(Andre Rieu - Espana Cani) Feb. 12, 2022: Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra perform Espana Cani live in Maastricht. This clip is taken from the DVD Wonderful World. For concert dates and tickets visit: andrerieu.com.
Subscribe to Andre Rieu's YouTube channel at: smarturl.it/5ubscribe or follow Andre Rieu on social media. Andre Rieu Productions (andrerieu.com).
The people of Spain are white?
That explains the Casta system.
I remember being shocked. It seems silly now, but then it made sense. When I arrived in Spain, I found that the people were white. They were Caucasian, not mixed, not even the slightest bit tan or all black haired and brown eyed. They were as European as all the rest of the Continent.
Passing through Basque Country and the future nation of Catalonia (Catalan) on a slow train along the Mediterranean ("Middle of the Earth," "Center of the World") coast, where were all the cacti, siestas, ponchos, and sombreros I had been taught to believe were what the Spanish brought to Mexico as gifts during their conquest, invasion, occupation, and migration?
Europe: un-united states (countries) of the EU
That was all wiped away. These people were amazingly vibrant, markedly different than the northerners. I was living in England at the time, often passing through France, and I was not used to California-style vibrancy and fitness. It was suddenly and shockingly apparent like why Londoners winter in the sun-soaked Iberian Peninsula.
No one believed me back home or had never thought about it one way or the other.
Do Eastern Europeans count? Not so some.
"Why wouldn't they be white?"
"They're Spanish (Espanoles); they speak Spanish (Latin-light)!" I argued in vain.
"Yeah, but Spain is Europe."
"Is it?" Oh yeah, I guess it is, as much as the Germans and Scandinavians might not think so; they barely accept Greece and Macedonia as part of the Continental Club, and that's only for the glorious cultural contributions of the ancients.
Otzi the Iceman was dark Turk (slowyarn.com)
If even Turkey and Anatolia can be "Europe," when they were formerly in "Asia Minor," then why wouldn't Spain be? The crowd at the concert above is what I saw, proof that the Conquistadors were not swarthy sailors living and taking wives in the Caribbean then traveling farther west to the Yucatan Peninsula and Mesoamerica to take over all that we now call "Latin America" and a goodly chunk of what the U.S. now claims as its own.
The more southern we travel, the more mixing
We get called Hispanic, white Latin, when we're brown and mixed with Indigenous blood, living here in the salad bowl/melting pot of The Angels (Los Angeles), where it gets confusing, growing up next to Kevin, throwing rocks at our neighbor Robbie Joiner. So this video of Spaniards in Spain out for their two favorite sports, classical music and running around with bulls.
This being the case, who would guess that one of the greatest Buddhist communities in the world is forming in Spain?
Indeed, the cave dwellers will come to know the power of samadhi and glory of insight in time. The foundation is being set and it is already being done. What a world, what a world, what a world...to spin so long in samsara only to come around again. Be nice on the way up; you'll be seeing those beings again on the way down.
Nisei Week Japanese Festival just wrapped up in Los Angeles. Then the Nippon-mania began. Formosa (Taiwan) must be jealous. Player Shohei Ohtani came to the USA to teach Americans how baseball is played. The Dodgers bought him (price tag ~$700 million) to come make millions for Los Angeles. And, boy, is he ever paying off! He high fives his dog, Decoy, hits homers for the massive viewing audience across the sound in Tokyo, Waikiki, and up the way in San Francisco.
LA, like Japan, is in the ring of fire quake zone
Is there still a remnant population of railroad builders and Zen practitioners (Shinto worshippers) in that Central California concentration camp (Manzanar) from The "Good" War (WWII) when Japanese Americans were rounded up, interned, and deprived of earnings and property, dignity and freedom, due process and reparations. Forty thousand fans tried their best, stood in line for a workday, traffic jammed up DTLA to get to Chavez Ravine, and had a bumper party at this devotional tribute to the god/kami that is Ohtani.
Nisei Week (二世週祭, Nisei-shū Matsuri) is an annual festival celebrating Japanese American (JA) culture and history in Little Tokyo, near Chinatown Los Angeles (DTLA).
Nisei means "second generation" in Japanese, describing the first American-born Japanese, a group the seven-day festival was originally meant to attract.
Though named for the Nisei generation, Nisei Week is no longer targeted at Niseis, nor is the festival still contained within a week.
It's time to be cool and go Everyday Zen.
Nisei Week Foundation President (2006) Michelle Suzuki described the festival as "the opportunity for people of all backgrounds to celebrate Japanese heritage and culture" [1].
Festivities are held over one month, though the main attractions are held during the primary two weekends of the festival in the summer heat of mid-August.
Nisei Week draws tens of thousands of participants each year from the Japanese community and Southern California area, mostly to its Grand Parade and specialized festivals. More
Shohei Ohtani homers on Shohei Ohtani/Decoy Bobblehead Night! | 大谷翔平ハイライト
Long lines seen at Dodger Stadium for special edition Shohei Ohtani bobblehead
(KTLA 5)
Aug. 28, 2024: Long lines of excited fans waited outside Dodger Stadium on Wednesday for a chance to snag a special edition Shohei Ohtani Bobblehead.
The sought-after bobblehead features Ohtani smiling in his Dodgers uniform while holding his beloved dog named Decoy. Loyal fans of the baseball star lined up at the stadium hours before the gates opened, hoping to snag the coveted figurine before supplies ran out.
KTLA's Kimberly Cheng reports on Aug. 28, 2024. KTLA 5 News, keeping Southern Californians informed since 1947.
Buddhist nun (Sayalay Aloka, Burma) followed footsteps of brothers who took monk mode.
(Tasty Husbands) Cleveland hates pervert Glenn Quagmire for cheating with his wife on Family Guy
.
If he succeeds, I'll become a Buddhist nun.
I tried to spend a week eating healthily, meditating skillfully, reading wisely, and sweating profusely by running 5K [as tapas or "burning off" the bad by austerity] every day, all while ditching television completely, giving up social media scrolling, and turning my back and not touching alcohol at all.
I failed, but that didn’t stop it from changing my life.
Health trends are 10 a penny on TikTok, from the genuinely dangerous Gallon of Water a Day for 30 Days trend to the brutal 75 Hard Challenge and the ever-popular 12-3-20. And guys are more likely to be influenced into giving extreme ones a go more than women, according to a recent study.
If only Doggone could write, we'd know all about it. He took a challenge with Ananda to "muscle" his way to meditation. Then he doesn't turn in his results write up.
I clearly am one of those gullible men. I wanted to throw myself headfirst into a new challenge. I've tried and failed any number of them. (Over lockdown, I stuck to the 100-pushup challenge for a little while).
But after hitting a bit of a slump at the start of the year, I wanted something that would jolt me out of it. I was exercising pretty regularly, but spending too long trapped in YouTube rabbit holes and not reading as much as I’d like. That’s where “monk mode” came in.
Going "monk mode" was far harder than I ever thought (iStock/Indy 100).
It was great living up at the Mt. Baldy Zen Center above LA as a Zen monk before music fame.
.
First Western Buddhist monk was Irish
It’s a pretty far-reaching term one sees bandied across the internet from time to time, and it can encompass any number of different elements.
There are some challenges listed, including ditching caffeine, which I was afraid to do, considering I was only doing monk mode for a week and had absolutely no intention of giving up my addiction to coffee in the long run, so it didn't make sense.
But in essence, monk mode involves dramatically cutting down screen time by placing a ban on drains like social media and TV.
And it proved to be tough – tougher than I ever imagined it would be. The exercise part was by far the easiest part.
Monks East and West are different. Travel East.
I’m a regular runner anyway, and all it took was upping the level from three 5K runs a week to every day.
It was a bit of a blessing that I went into monk mode after a relatively heavy weekend, which had involved plenty of Guinness [a type of addictive gluten alcohol the use of which is rampant in Ireland and parts of Europe] during a trip to Twickenham, so the no drinking wasn’t much of a problem either.
The challenge taught me a lot about my habit for procrastinating, though. I don’t think of myself as a social media addict, but I found my thumb unthinkingly heading for the Instagram app – out of boredom more than anything else – and I kept having to stop myself. More
I plan to downward dog it all the way to Down Town Los Angeles then rollerskate back home.
'Arroyo Fest' draws thousands to South Pasadena
(KCAL News) Oct. 29, 2023: Thousands of people are strolling, scootering, or cycling on the freeway [that becomes Arroyo Parkway into Pasadena] as part of "Arroyo Fest" in South Pasadena. Tina Patel reports.
The inaugural Arroyo Fest on Arroyo Seco Parkway held in 2003 (Joan Dooley/Charles Lee)
.
Next time, inspired by South Park, the buttbike
REVIEW: It was amazing, running onto a freeway I had driven all my life and had almost died on once in an almost-crash (when I was about to let go of the wheel, give up, and cover my face for the impact) but then things inexplicably went back to normal. Thanks, Kwan Yin, Mary, Mother Goddess! So imagine running onto it -- as thousands are walking, riding, and strolling across lanes.
It's much smaller than it looks at 55 MPH and faster. The concrete and asphalt thoroughfare is the oldest in the West, perhaps the oldest in the country, maybe even the world. It's the first "freeway." Well, there are those Maya roadways under jungle cover in Belize, recently discovered using LiDAR, as we reported. There were families, pro joggers, EVs, bicyclists in too tight shorts and cleats, guys aboard loud contraptions like the makeshift Bike Band Flotilla (who are sure to be playing the 2023 Doo Dah Parade), lots of dogs, and plenty of roller skates. Where was the host of Off-Ramp or Ira Glass? This American Life would have had a field day with interviews.
We yoga stretched along the median separating speeding bicyclists from those out to savor the day, trying not to photobomb all the cellphone cameras, over the river (the Aroyo Seco or "Dry Gulch" into and out of Pasadena) toward the distant DTLA. It feels like LA is mostly flat, but we're in the hills and canyons, ravines and the second valley of this megalopolis. Then the fuzz put the kibosh on our fun and cleared the roadway, along with very nice civilian ambassadors, so that by noon, it was all a dream on a strange day in LA when the beaches are warmer than the inland cities. It's always the other way around, with traffic choked into Santa Monica for the ocean breeze. It was so clear that from the right vantage point, the Pacific was visible, as it is on clear days.
Pasadena is gearing up for a historic and festive event on Sunday, Oct. 29th, when the Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the 110 Freeway, will close to vehicle traffic and open to people walking, biking, or any form of active transportation, for six hours.
The fun event, called ArroyoFest 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the first time that the parkway was transformed into a car-free zone for biking, walking, and exploring.
If one is into running, sign up and arrive early for the “Run the 110” event, a chip-timed 10K point-to-point run. It starts promptly at 7:00 am at the north end of the route in South Pasadena. Runners need to arrive at the starting line by 6:30 or 6:45 am.
ArroyoFest is not just a street festival, but a community movement that aims to reconnect people with the natural and urban landscapes of the Arroyo Seco corridor.
The event was first held in 2003, seven years before the popular cicLAvia series began in Los Angeles.
Prof. Robert Gottlieb, founder of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at (Obama's local alma mater) Occidental College and the Henry R. Luce Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies, relates how ArroyoFest was inspired by multiple factors.
One was the interest in re-envisioning the LA River and the Arroyo Seco Stream as natural and cultural assets, the LA County Bike Coalition’s bike ride along the LA River program, Dennis Crowley’s idea to bike on the Pasadena freeway, and the desire to promote biking and walking as part of a transportation and livability agenda.
“So that led to some discussions with a number of groups about maybe really expanding this agenda of biking and building out ways to put biking and walking in front of the transportation agenda and livability agenda,” Prof. Gottlieb said.
“That led to this idea of doing the bike ride on the freeway and a walk on the freeway. We approached Occidental, and when Caltrans and the Highway Patrol and some of the other agencies that would need to sign off on such an event were approached, they initially really dismissed it as implausible.
“They thought it was almost a joke.”
The transportation agencies were worried about how car owners would oppose closing down the freeway for something like a bike ride, Prof. Gottlieb said. But eventually, with Occidental College stepping in, the skepticism was at least modestly reduced.
Prof. Gottlieb said the planning for the first Arroyo Fest took a challenging two years. He said that they used an inside and outside strategy, involving community groups, elected officials, and leading figures from Los Angeles, South Pasadena, and Pasadena, to persuade them to approve the event.
Prof. Gottlieb’s group also developed a traffic plan, got insurance, and expanded the agenda to include the history and vision of the Arroyo Seco corridor. Finally, the agencies gave the event the go-signal. More
Everything you thought you knew about protein is wrong | Stanford Prof. Christopher Gardner
(ZOE) April 17, 2023: ZOE Science & Nutrition Podcast
Proteins, carbs, and fats…most people understand what the last two are. Carbs are sugars, and [saturated] fat is fat [fatty acids].
It's protein that’s important to our diets, but often misunderstood — by the general public, that is.
Since the 1950s and 1960s, scientists have been measuring:
how protein affects our performance,
how it supports and maintains the body’s structure, and
how best to incorporate it into our diets.
From big slabs of slaughtered flesh to plant-based protein shakes, tofu to amino acid supplements, nuts to lentils, protein is more available now than ever before.
With so many options, surely we’re getting enough protein?
In today’s episode, host Jonathan speaks with a leading nutritional researcher to find out.
Dr. Christopher Gardner is a professor at Stanford University and a member of ZOE’s scientific advisory board. He’s pioneering the movement to redefine how we understand the quality of our protein intake.
Creative genius cartoonist Dan Pirarro draws comics at bizarro.com
00:00 - Introduction
01:20 - Quickfire questions
03:13 - What is protein?
07:29 - Can our bodies make the proteins we need?
08:00 - The mechanism for our bodies creating amino acids.
09:00 - What is an essential amino acid?
10:35 - Crazy study Stanford scientists did to find the Estimated Average Requirement of protein.
15:28 - How much protein should we consume?
18:29 - How much protein do we already consume?
23:39 - Can our bodies store protein?
24:41 - What happens to excess protein in our bodies?
25:39 - Protein Scam Alert!
26:16 - Stanford Study: Does the type of protein we consume affect physical performance?
29:21 - Protein requirements for kids and pregnant women.
32:21 - What is Amino Acid Distribution?
34:27 - Are plants missing certain amino acids?
35:12 - How is AAD like the game of Scrabble?
39:35 - What is the healthiest source of protein?
39:46 - Dr. Gardner’s case for changing the way we define “protein quality” in the US
42:52 - Jonathan’s summary
45:25 - Goodbye’s
46:13 - Outro
If we want to uncover the right foods for our body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get 10% off personalized nutrition program.
Studies mentioned in this episode.
Maximizing the intersection of human health and the health of the environment with regard to the amount and type of protein produced and consumed in the United States: academic.oup.com/nutrition...
Follow ZOE on Instagram: instagram.com/zoe. This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.
CONCLUSION
Love animals: Let them live. Cows are cute.
Kidney damage from too much protein (with daily excess turned into acidic ammonia excreted in urine and sweat, with accumulation of unskillful karma, hormones, pesticides, chemicals, animal wastes like urine, fecal contamination, and toxic foods fed to cows to fatten them quickly, which fattens humans even more quickly.
We all get more than enough protein. This is not the third world. The fear of "protein deprivation" is doing everyone harm -- making us acidic and unhealthy.
Vegans and vegetarians get more than enough, and no one needs to worry about it. Eat a varied vegan diet, and you'll be fine. "Eat beans not beings." And omnivorous professor told you so.
Food combining for the best digestion is much more important than food complementing to get all of the amino acids in a day (as from complementing beans and rice). The latter is not necessary to do, because they cannot be well digested together. Eat them separately (by two or more hours).
If eaten within 24 hours of each other, the body will get ALL of the essential amino acids in sufficient quantity for optimum health without stress or worry. And tummies will be much happier due to the improved digestion (no bloating, no gas, no queasy feeling of overeating).
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