(CalWild.org)
LANatureForAll 📢 RSVP:
Come and attend the LA Roadless Rule Town Hall on Monday, May 18, 2026.
Come learn about the recent threats to roll back the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (also known as the Roadless Rule) and how the rule protects public lands.
Give a spoken or written public comment. Make your voice heard to help protect nearly 60 million acres of Angeles National Forest public land from private logging, mining, and other extractive industries.
First anniversary commemoration of the Eaton Fire starts at 4:30 pm, Wednesday eve.
.
Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster
Firestorm (Jacob Soboroff)
This hardcover -- released January 6, 2026 -- by victim and author Jacob Soboroff has 3.0 out of 5 stars (with 4 reviews) yet is somehow already a #1 Best Seller in Natural Disasters on Amazon.
Why? [It is] A "gripping, unshakeable firsthand account" (San Francisco Chronicle) of the firestorm that consumed Los Angeles, from the MS NOW reporter and New York Times bestselling author of Separated, who covered the fires on the ground as an LA native.
"Read[s] like a sci-fi thriller.” — Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles reporter Jacob Soboroff
[One year ago,] on the morning of January 7, 2025, a message pinged the phone of Jacob Soboroff, a national reporter for MS NOW. “Big Palisades fire. We are evacuating,” his brother texted within minutes of the blaze engulfing the hillside behind the home where he and his pregnant wife were living.
“Really bad.” An attached photo showed a huge black plume rising from behind the house, an umbrella of smoke towering over everything they owned. Jacob rushed to the office of the bureau chief. “I should go. I grew up in the Palisades.”
Pacific Palisades: 'They let us burn!' protest
Grocery Outlet of Altadena has been a hub for events since the Eaton Fire
Soon he was on the front line of the blaze—his first live report of what would turn out to be weeks covering unimaginable destruction, from both the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, in Altadena.
In the days to come, Soboroff appeared across the networks of NBC News as Los Angeles was ablaze, met with displaced residents and workers, and pressed California Gov. Gavin Newsom in an interview on Meet the Press.
But no story Soboroff has covered at home or abroad—the trauma of family separation at the border, the displacement of [NATO's] war in Ukraine, the [CIA's] collapse of order in Haiti—could have prepared him for reporting live as the hallmarks of his childhood were engulfed in flames around him while his hometown burned to the ground.
But for Soboroff, questions remained after the fires were controlled:
What had he just witnessed?
How could it have happened?
Is it inevitable something like it will happen again?
This photo is very misleading because two LA fire departments stood down and let it burn.
.
New date and location: Jan 11, 2026
This set Soboroff off on months of reporting—with firefighters, fire victims, political leaders, academics, earth scientists, wildlife biologists, meteorologists, and more—that made him keenly aware of how the misfortune of seeing his past carbonize was also a form of time travel into the dystopian world his children will inhabit.
This is because the 2025 LA Fires were not an isolated tragedy, but rather they are a harbinger—"the fire of the future," in the words of one senior emergency—management official.
Firestorm is the story of the costliest wildfire in American history, the people it affected, and the deeply personal connection to one journalist covering it.
Eaton Fire burned LA foothills
It is a love letter to Los Angeles, a yearning to understand the fires, and why America’s new age of disaster we are living through portends that—without a reckoning of how Los Angeles burned—there is more yet, and worse, to come. More
Who's to blame? - Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom
Jacob Soboroff (book); FOX 11 LA News; Grocery Outlet of Altadena; Gary and Shannon, Michael Monks (KFI 640 AM); compiled by Ken W., Paige, Editors, Wisdom Quarterly
The lawyer Watts laid out the case as if those present, many of whom were in the mainstream media with cameras rolling, inside a special seminar room in Lake Avenue Church. Attorney Boxer, son of former Sen. Barbara Boxer, was present. The utility Edison is guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, as the judge in Family Guy would say. The evidence is overwhelming. Whether Edison loses is not in question. How it loses is. If Edison presents itself as a competent and responsible company that made a mistake, it is eligible for 80% reimbursement for its legal losses (estimated to range from between 20 and 23 billion due to the Eaton Fire). However, if it is shown to have been incompetent and irresponsible, it will have to cover the entire amount from its own coffers. We were shown pictures of a grounding wire that was not in place but only jerry-rigged and held down with chicken wire, unable to serve its function of grounding electrical surges (into the ground as intended). There is film footage of the derelict "zombie" transmission tower maintained by Edison sparking (electrically arcing) and setting the forest ablaze. The most damning evidence, however, comes from Edison's own records of urgent work orders never completed to correct these issues to prevent such a disaster. Those records say it is a fire hazard; therefore, Edison had every reason to know what the danger was, what their incompetence would cause, what in fact their negligence did cause. They tried to hide all of this, but LA Fire Justice dug for it and found the evidence. The firm claims to have over 500 clients harmed by Edison. There are thousands more distributed among other lawyers, many who have rushed to the area to set up shop and cash in. They do not have the experience or skill to win big but winning in any way will likely make their move profitable.
Eaton Fire justice is LA Fire Justice's mission. Get started: INTAKE FORM
. Then the real-life Erin Brockovich took the stage with a command of the facts and gravitas, siding with LAFireJustice.comagainst Edison. She has decades of experience dealing with corporate irresponsibility, and this is a blatant case of it. This makes Edison worse than PG&E, which itself caused one or more infamous fires by not monitoring and shutting down aged electrical equipment. Corporations privatize profits and socialize costs; it's an age-old problem. This is why they have to be held accountable.
Brockovich emphasized that the cleanup is not being done correctly, meaning that toxic heavy metals are spoiling the area. So in ten years or so, there will be a new wave of lawsuits to deal with that shortsightedness. Just today the local mainstream media is reporting how the City of Pasadena below the burn area has closed two baseball fields. They are unsafe due to elevated lead levels from the fire (from homes painted with lead-based paints when they were legal in the forties and fifties).
Community activistBrooke Teal Robbins was present with her parents, who were harmed and displaced by the Eaton Fire. She was promoting another LA Fire Justice "public awareness presentation." It is on Friday, April 25, 2025, at 5:00 pm at 221 E. Walnut St., Suite 100, in Pasadena 91101. It is becoming the new hub for community for Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre.
Event details
Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich is a Julia Roberts film about a real person named Erin Brockovich (née Pattee, born June 22, 1960). She is an American paralegal, consumer advocate, and environmental activist who was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination in Hinkley, California for attorney Ed Masry in 1993.
Their successful lawsuit was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film, Erin Brockovich (2000), starring [American Hindu] Julia Roberts as Brockovich and Albert Finney as Masry. Since then, the real Brockovich has become a media personality, hosting various TV series. More
Now she's aligning with LAFireJustice.com in Pasadena, California, to fight Edison for causing the massive Eaton Fire in 2025. See her live at The Eaton Fire Town Hall Meeting with Erin Brockovich and attorneys Doug Boxer and Mikal Watts. Free pizza!
Brockovich: "I am so sorry for what you are going through right now. I know this wasn't just your home. It was your community and your way of life. I am sure you are asking yourself, where do I go from here? How do we even begin to recover from this disaster? Throughout my career as an advocate, I have talked to thousands of families that have had these same questions and have gone through what you are going through right now. I am here to tell you that we will get through this. And we will get through this together. Our team will be here every step of the way to help guide and support you through this challenging journey. We are ready to take on the fight to hold Southern California Edison accountable and get you and your community the justice you deserve."
Refreshments will be served. Catering provided by Pinocchio's Pizza. Families are welcome. Standing with residents of Altadena, Sierra Madre, and Pasadena
Tara Harris claims one Bigfoot told her and her paranormal investigative team that they are called "Ayloyn," not "Bigfoot," which is derogatory and insulting to them. Ayloyn is both their name and where (the dimension) they are from and where they return at will. More evidence comes from all of the Native American tribes (First Nations) in this country.
"Sasquatch knows that these humans don't mean to be bad. They're just ignorant, and he's disappointed in where they are as a species. He wishes they would evolve, but at this point he can only watch, so he stays in the dark and out of sight" (cbc.ca).
All of the American tribes are aware of these Ayloyn ("alien"?), these "nature protectors," and each has a special name for them, considering them a fellow tribe of intelligent humanoids, not just animals.
The Salish tribe dubbed them Sasquatches (se’sxac or “wild men”). Brazilian/South American tribes in the Amazon know them as Mapinguari. High strangeness often accompanies contact. Or, maybe, it's all one big misunderstanding, and that's why the world has so many specific names for them:
It must be said that, as witnesses report it, ogresses (yakshis) are fiercer and more deadly than males (ogres), with perhaps the exception of male adolescent troublemakers in heat or not yet raised to understand to stay away from man. (The most famous Bigfoot, from the Paterson-Gimlin footage, was a female with large breasts, though there are others accompanying her in the background brush not visible in degraded versions of the film but visible in the original. British poet Rudyard Kipling (The Jungle Book) observed this sexual dimorphism in temperament in his famous 1911 poem:
The Female of the Species
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husbands, each confirms the other's tale --
The female of the species is more deadly than the male. More
Another interesting fact is that most places in the U.S. that include the word "devil" are actually referring to sighting of these monstrous creatures in the area, usually along natural ridges
These names are in addition to their names for neighbor animals (pandas, gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, bears, bonobos, outcasts, demons) and what individual tribes call them in their indigenous languages and dialects. They are remembered in lore, legends, petroglyphs, and private relationships.
(Jack Links) Now that we found them, how can we commoditize them?
(A Flash of Beauty: Bigfoot Revealed) Nov. 14, 2024: Tara Harris was never sure Bigfoot existed, but she knows ghosts are real. One day with a friend in the woods in a special spot suitable for paranormal work, she was approached by one (able to read aura-like energy fields around the human head) and ended up learning a lot about this class of creature and another accompanying spirit that makes knocking sounds in the woods.
Recorded vocalizations such as howls, screams, moans, grunts, whistles, [whoops, yelps, and mimicking of human voices and tones], and even a form of language have been recorded and reported [183, 184].
Some of these vocalization recordings have been analyzed by individuals such as retired U.S. Navy cryptologic linguist Scott Nelson. He analyzed audio recordings from the early 1970s recorded in California Sierra Nevada mountains Ron Moorehead dubbed the "Sierra Sounds" and stated:
"It is definitely a language, it is definitely not human in origin, and it could not have been faked" [185].
Survivalist Les Stroud spoke of a strange vocalization he heard in the wilderness while filming Survivorman that he stated sounded primate in origin [186].
A number of anecdotal reports of "Bigfoot" (cryptid) encounters have resulted in witnesses claiming to be disoriented, dizzy, and anxious.
Some Bigfoot researchers, such as paranormal author Nick Redfern, have proposed that Bigfoot may produce infrasound, which could explain reports of this nature [187]. More
Lloyd Pye had hours of forensic evidence to present. Some of the most significant was this simple fact: Assume it's a hoax. There are over 20,000 plaster casts of oversize footprints that exist to be examined (surely made by wooden carved feet used by redneck hicks) from around the world, and the one thing they never tell us is that they have unique fingerprints. So we are to believe that hicks and hayseeds took the time to carve prints into their wooden carvings on 20,000 samples around the world? Moreover, from time to time, a deformed foot makes the print and a podiatrist can confirm that that's how it would have healed, something no hoaxer would know. These yaksha/rakshasa creatures in Buddhist lore are found around the world. The ones near the Caucasus region of Georgia (country) are called Almas, which differ from other varieties. The U.S. government is well aware of their existence and cannot control their comings and goings. When one is shot, when a body is turned in, it does not see the light of day. It must all be discredited to conceal other facts the government does not want to disclose. There is published science by veterinarian Melba Ketchum to establish its existence.
Most convincing encounters on camera
(Dark Matter) June 18, 2024: From a giant Australian "Yowie" filmed on thermal (heat-detecting camera), to a juvenile "Sasquatch" performing incredible speeds, watch some of the "most convincing Bigfoot encounters caught on camera..."
Independence Beach: Celebrating our American freedom from swimsuits
You only live many times (Ariana Viera)
(Wonderhussy Adventures) Welcome to Wonderhussy Adventure #809. Date: July 2, 2024, pre-Independence Day, spending the Fourth of July at Wonderhussy's favorite clothing optional beach, celebrating our independence from bathing suits. Website: Wonderhussy.com. Support: wonderhussy. Help fuel next trip: paypal.me/wonderhussy,cash.app/$Wonderhussy.
CREDITS: Theme song by Michael Saint-Leon switchyardstudios.com. Fluffing a Duck by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Cattails - Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Why didn't Buddhist ascetics go naked like Jains and yogis?
Jainism has two sects, white-clad and sky-clad, whereas Buddhism has saffron robes for all.
.
Ah, nudity is great. - What about white robes?
It was hot in proto-India in the Buddha's time. Pointing the way to freedom and final liberation or moksha was as free as the deer, wandering where they list in search of (alms) food. But there were obstacles. The Awakened One, the Buddha, had freed himself. Now it was time to make known the Path to Freedom, the Dharma. But how long would that knowledge last in the world? It had gone out before and was sure to dim again.
We shramanas existed long before the Buddha
He realized he needed a spiritual community of successful practitioners, a Noble Sangha, where "noble" means "enlightened" (Ayran) and Sangha means "spiritual community." There are various stages of enlightenment, from four kinds of stream entry to arhatship. They are detailed in the Path to Freedom and condensed in the Path of Purification. This Sangha would have them all.
To keep it going and to preserve the Teachings, the Buddha laid down rules in a Disciplinary Code (Vinaya Pitaka), with explanations for why each rule was instituted. The monastics recited about 227 core rules, the Patimokkha ("Path to Liberation"), each fortnight. If followed, they would ensure the long life of Buddhism (the Dharma), enlightened beings on earth (a Noble Sangha), and inspire confidence in new practitioners.
The Guru is naked (Jainism)
How was it going to look if monks and nuns went around naked? It was not unheard of. The Jains led by contemporary teacher Mahavira ("Great Hero"), the Nigantha Nattaputta, had already accepted females into the monastic community. That was a first. The Buddha always intended to, as he knew that his Sangha would not be complete until there were the four kinds of people (male and female monastics and laypersons).
This whole business about extra rules for nuns or not wanting to accept women is very suspect and seems more a conspiracy by male monastics to keep their all-boys club or wrest control of it from any kind of actual democracy. The Buddha had set up the first democratic rules, pre-Greece for its governance. See the scholarship of Ayya Tathaloka for evidence in the Bhikkhuni Vinaya of the later appearance of the garudhammas or "eight additional rules" and their unlikely back story.
Naked Mahavira: We don't need Five Requisites
The Buddha explained exactly why he allowed Five Requisites for Buddhist wandering ascetics -- robes of stitched cast-off garments, ceramic bowl, allowable medicines, shaving razor, needle and thread -- and the kinds of accommodations they were permitted. Rather than hairy, disheveled, wild men and women wandering around the hillsides naked and covered in ashes, he foresaw a better way, the perfection of the "pure life" of blamelessness for intensive practitioners wishing to make a quick end of all suffering.
Nude is not all it's cracked up to be, but the view at night in the Sierra Nevada, it's awe inspiring!
Nirvana was here. And now a means of enlightenment and attainment of the bliss of nirvana had arrived with the Buddha. Many made use of it and so, even today, the world has arhats and those on the path to full enlightenment. And Buddhism became the first universal missionary religion spreading far and wide, outside the subcontinent into neighboring countries and lands. The rules made that possible. Hooray for the Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya). And people, if they want, they can go about naked.
Wonderhussy Adventure #809, Summer 2024, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
.jpg)
