Dodger 'Yagi' (GOAT) Ohtani: World Series

• (Search Party) How Shohei Ohtani happened
• What does Shohei (翔平) mean? Shō (翔) means to "soar or glide," and hei (平) means to be "level, in the sense of being calm or peaceful." Hei is also a common ending for male names. His surname's initial character Oh (大) means "great or large" and tani (谷) means "valley." One who glides peacefully in a grand valley (like a stadium)? Source
• He's the G.O.A.T. (the "greatest of all time), we say, which in Japanese is yagi  ("goat").

World Series Game 3 HIGHLIGHTS | Blue Jays versus Dodgers - Oct. 27, 2025

The Greatest of All Time: The Yagi

(SPORTSNET) Oct. 28, 2025: DODGER STADIUM, Los Angeles. In one of the most unbelievable games of professional baseball anyone will ever see, featuring every manner of drama, the Los Angeles Dodgers bested the Toronto Blue Jays by way of a Freddie Freeman walk-off homer after 18 grueling innings, taking a 2-1 World Series lead in the process.

• 0:00 - 1st Inning
• 0:18 - 2nd Inning
• 0:46 - 3rd Inning
• 1:15 - 4th Inning
• 2:06 - 5th Inning
• 2:36 - 6th Inning
• 2:53 - 7th Inning
• 3:21 - 9th Inning
• 2025 World Series Game 3
• 2025 World Series
• Toronto Blue Jays highlights

Blue Jays vs. Dodgers World Series Game 3 (10/27/25) | MLB Highlights

The Fix Is In: Gambling?

The G.O.A.T. Shohei "Yagi" Ohtani was spectacular. But the game lasted seven hours, ending about midnight. Even diehard fans, many of them Proles outside the luxuries of the Inner Party, had to get home and get to work the next day, possibly nursing hangovers from a day at Distraction Ball.

The grind continues, and the Dodgers are down, maybe making this the closest World Series in a long while. What started off with rumors of a sweep, the Dodgers taking the series in four straight wins, diverted and has made them really work for it.

It is possibly all scripted to milk billions in bets with bookies and offshore gambling agents. The fix is in. So don't gamble based on statistics and math. That's how they get a bettor. The best laid plans of mice and men do not pan out or else everyone would bet by the numbers. It's bound to be a counterintuitive ending to make the house the most money. Here, seven hours are condensed into about seven exciting minutes of play without all the milling about and nail-biting.

Best baseball player is Buddhist?

Sorry Ladies and Gents, he's taken.

Wisdom Quarterly has yet to conclusively demonstrate that the Yagi (Japanese for "goat") is a Japanese Buddhist from Orange County, where he played for the Angels. But what is the circumstantial evidence? Let's see.

The all is empty, devoid of self.

Nearly everyone in Japan is Buddhist, at least by tradition as are a great number of Asian Orange County residents, with only San Francisco and Los Angeles serving as home for expat Buddhist communities from Japan (where many were brought more than a century ago to work in building the railroads then unceremoniously locked up in gulags to sit out WW II, where the humiliation of forced internment has not been forgotten. But Japan has more than Zen Buddhism.

Shinto priest bows, placates kami

The older tradition is Shinto or kami (spirit) worship/tending. And the newer tradition is Pure Land faith-based Buddhism usually called Nichiren Shōshū. There are of course colonial remnants of Christianity and modernist agnosticism and atheism, but deep down most every Japanese person adheres to ancient Buddhist tradition along with observance of other spiritual legacies. While it might be wise for Ohtani to keep it a mystery and rake in nearly a billion dollars in his stint with the Dodgers, we bet that just beneath the surface he bows, prays, meditates, focuses Zen-like, and welcomes the help of the unseen world of kamis and blessings wherever he can get them from the Old Country and his new home. After all, he did not succumb to a Hollywood manager-arranged public relationship for the press. He traveled back to Nippon (Japan) and found a traditional wife to accompany him on his rise to stardom and his life as a living legend. Can Babe Ruth or Fernando Venezuela compare?

• 30 Things You Must Know About Shohei Ohtani | IBTimes: He practices Japanese Shinto (polytheistic animism) and calls himself an American Christianity, which is smart.

If we were world-famous bonsai tree growers in Japan, we'd put it out that we were pro-business Ninja Samurai capitalists, so everyone would know we were proud Americans but very open to Japanese traditions like the lore of Bushi warriors. No cents in offending the locals with our brash Americans...and very few dollars.

• OCBC Dharma Message on ‘Shohei Mandala’ Proves to Be a ‘Clean’ Hit
• Shohei Ohtani: All we know about the LA Angels star

The Curse of the Colonel: Avoid dead KFC birds

It might be orchestrated to maximize gambling and drunkenness: Toronto bounces back in Game 4

The Fix Is Still In (B. Tuohy)

What will Halloween in Canada be like? The Dodgers will soon find out. Why? Whoever is writing this sports script would want to stretch out the suspense, sell more tickets, raise more money betting, and making the win more of a surprise with cries of "next year" in case of an upset. It's rudimentary in a corrupt capitalist system of American sport.

How dare anyone question the honesty, integrity, and above-board directness of the MLB and all its players, who would never do anything just for the money. Balderdash! Who could think such a thing or say it out loud?

Babylonian Map of the World (Finkel)

The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel | Curator’s Corner S9 E5

(The British Museum) Premiered Aug. 1, 2024: The Babylonian map of the world is the oldest map of the world, in the world. [In space they have older ones.] Written and inscribed on clay in Mesopotamia around 2,900-years-ago, it is, like so many cuneiform tablets, incomplete.

However, scholar Irving Finkel and a particularly gifted student of his, Edith Horsley, managed to locate a missing piece of the map, slot it back into the cuneiform tablet, and from there set us all on journey through the somewhat mythical landscape of Mesopotamia to find the final resting place of the ark.

And, yes, we mean that ark, as in the stolen story of Noah [appropriated from older cultures and flood myths, namely, the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and Akkadian Atra-Hasis].

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:52 Ancient Mesopotamian Cuneiform Tablets
• 01:48 The oldest map of the world, in the world
• 02:07 What is the Babylonian Map of the World?
• 02:34 The Babylonian Map of the World explained
• 04:13 What are the triangles on the Babylonian Map of the World?
• 06:17 Missing triangle on the Babylonian Map of the World
• 06:52 Edith Horsley - Cuneiform LEGEND
• 07:20 Channel 4 News report on Babylonian Map of the World September 1995
• 08:32 BABY IRVING!
• 09:48 What the missing piece revealed
• 11:39 The ark and parsiktu-vessel
• 13:22 Mount Ararat and Mount Urartu
• 14:18 What does it all mean?
• 15:07 Author of Babylonian Map of the World

Although in the earlier Mesopotamian version of the flood story, the ark is built by Ziusudra. CONTENT WARNING: Contains a baby Irving F., when his beard was not yet white. #curatorscorner #babylon #mesopotamia

• Irving Finkel, British Museum, Aug. 1, 2024; Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How the world comes to be (sutra)

Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), Ariya-sāvaka Sutta ["Enlightened Hearers Discourse"], Connected Discourses on Causation (SN 12.49), "The Noble Disciple (1)" edited by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms

This is the Ariya (enlightened) sāvaka ("hearer") discourse. A sāvaka is a hearer or "learner," (sekha), a "disciple" of the Buddha. In a restricted sense (as ariya-sāvaka or "noble disciple")  it only refers to the eight kinds of enlightened disciples (ariya-puggala).

Sāvaka-bodhi or "hearer's enlightenment" designates the awakening to ultimate truth of a disciple of a buddha, as distinguished from the enlightenment of an independent nonteaching buddha (pacceka-buddha) or a supremely-enlightened teacher (sammā-sambuddha).

(SC 1) Thus have I heard. At Savatthī (sn.ii.78). “Meditators, an instructed enlightened (noble, ariyan) disciple does not think:

• ‘When what exists does what come to be?
• ‘With the arising of what does what arise?
• ‘When what exists do volitional formations come to be?
• ‘When what exists does consciousness come to be?
• ‘When what exists does name-and-form come to be? …
• ‘When what exists does aging-and-death come to be?’

(SC 2) “Rather, meditators, the instructed enlightened disciple has direct knowledge about this independent of all others:

• ‘When this exists, that comes to be’;
• ‘with the arising of this, that arises.’
• ‘When there is ignorance, volitional formations come to be.’
• ‘When there are volitional formations, consciousness comes to be.’
• ‘When there is consciousness, name-and-form comes to be….’
• ‘When there is rebirth, aging-and-death comes to be.’

"One understands thus: ‘In such a way, the world originates.’

(SC 3) “Meditators, an instructed enlightened disciple does not think:

• ‘When what does not exist does what not come to be?’
• ‘With the cessation of what does what cease?’
• ‘When what does not exist do volitional formations not come to be?’
• ‘When what does not exist does consciousness not come to be?’
• ‘When what does not exist does name-and-form not come to be?’ …
• ‘When what does not exist does aging-and-death not come to be?’”

(SC 4) “Rather, meditators, the instructed enlightened disciple has direct knowledge about this independent of all others:

• ‘When this does not exist, that does not come to be’;
• ‘with the cessation of this, that ceases.’
• ‘When there is no ignorance, volitional formations do not come to be.’
• ‘When there are no volitional formations, consciousness does not come to be.’
• ‘When there is no consciousness, name-and-form does not come to be.’…
• ‘When there is no rebirth, aging-and-death does not come to be.’

"One understands thus: ‘In such a way the world ceases.’ (sn.ii.79)

(SC 5) “Meditators, when an enlightened disciple thus understands as they really are the origin and the passing away of the world, that disciple is then called an enlightened disciple

• who is accomplished in [right] view,
• accomplished in [knowledge-and-] vision,
• who has arrived at this true Dharma,
• who sees this true Dharma,
• who possesses a trainee’s knowledge,
• a trainee’s true knowledge,
• who has entered the stream of the Dharma,
• a ‘noble one’ with penetrative wisdom,
• one who stands squarely before the door to the Deathless (nirvana).” Source

World Cup: Iceland, Ireland's 33rd county

Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Producer Clark Boyd (TheWorld.org)

Icelandic bhumi-devi and pop idol Bjork's call for Tibetan freedom at a Shanghai concert unnerves Chinese communist officials (Hannah Johnston/Getty Images/Epoch Times).

  

Kill 'em all in the name of my lord!

It’s nail-biting time for many soccer fans out there -- the World Cup playoffs. Over the next week, national teams will do crippling, brain-trauma inducing, war-like battle to try and snag one of the few remaining tickets to next year's World Cup in Brazil.
 

The smallest nation with a dog still in this fight is Iceland, who plays Croatia on Friday. Now, Iceland has a very small population, and thus a small pool of professional players to choose from. And yet, they have a chance, however slim, of making it to Brazil. That's more than IRELAND can boast.

 

Yay, we have Saint Patrick's blessing! We have Saint Patrick's blessing! (theworld.org)

  

Not my Iceland, Patty, no way! (DMSI)

The Irish national [soccer] team has already been eliminated, and most Irish fans are already looking well beyond Rio. But not Eoin Conlon.

 

Over a drink of yeast-contaminated carbs with a Brazilian co-worker in Dublin recently, Conlon started wondering out loud about throwing his support behind ICELAND.

 

“And we kind of laughed, saying: ‘Well, that’s as close as Ireland's going to get to Brazil. It's only a letter difference. A “c” for an “r.” We might as well be brothers,’” says Conlon. Conlon and his friend work for a digital agency, so they did what comes naturally. They built a website in support of Iceland's soccer team.

 

Then, they started a Twitter feed urging Irish soccer fans to back Iceland. The campaign is called County Iceland. Ireland already has 32 counties. So, Conlon says, why not make Iceland the 33rd?

 

“There are only about 320,000 people in Iceland. So if they were a county in Ireland -- I'm calling them the 33rd county -- it would [be] only the fifth-largest county in Ireland. It's incredible the success they've had. And I hope it continues,” he says.

 

Conlon says the website is just a bit of fun. All a visitor has to do is click a "support" button. LISTEN

The World is on Fire!

Seven, Amber Dorrian, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation, The Fire Sermon (SN 35.28)

Calm, cool, and collected, the Buddha at Ayutthaya,Thailand (Perstephone/flickr.com)

  

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

("Fire and Ice," Robert Frost)

"self" immolates (xfilledwithdoubt-)

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was living in Gaya, on Gaya Hill, together with a thousand ascetics. There he addressed them.

"Meditators, ALL is burning! What 'all' is burning?

"The eye is burning, forms [seen by the eye] are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, and whatever is felt as either pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as supporting condition, that too is burning!
 

But I'm not burning, right? (Megan Fox/ArticMonkeyss/tumblr.com)

 
"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of craving [lust, greed, selfishness], with the fire of aversion [fear, hate, revulsion], with the fire of delusion [wrong view, ignorance, illusion].

"I say it is burning with rebirth, aging, and death, with sorrow, weeping, pain, grief, and despair.

"The ear is burning, sounds [heard by the ear] are burning... The nose is burning, odors [sensed by the nose] are burning... The tongue is burning, flavors [savored by the tongue] are burning... The body is burning, tangibles [felt by the body] are burning...

"The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, and whatever is felt either as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as supporting condition, that too is burning!

"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of craving, with the fire of aversion, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with rebirth, aging, and death, with sorrow, weeping, pain, grief, and despair.

 

The world is on fire -- the whole world known through the senses (winds-of-desolation).

 
"Meditators, when a noble follower who has heard (the Dharma) sees this, one becomes estranged [alienated and indifferent] regarding the eye, regarding forms, regarding eye-consciousness, regarding eye-contact, and whatever is felt as either pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as supporting condition. With regard to all of these, one becomes estranged.
 

Cool (Rzoont/flickr.com)

"One becomes estranged regarding the ear... sounds... One becomes estranged regarding the nose... odors... One becomes estranged regarding the tongue... flavors... One becomes estranged regarding the body... tangibles...

"One becomes estranged regarding the mind, regarding ideas, regarding mind-consciousness, regarding mind-contact, and whatever is felt as either pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as supporting indispensable condition. With regard to all of these, one becomes estranged.

"When one becomes estranged (alienated, disaffected, indifferent), passion fades out. 

"With the fading of passion, one is liberated. When liberated, there comes certainty that one is liberated. 

Nirvana is extinguishing, cooling

Cooling (Rzoont/flickr.com)

"One understands that, 'Birth is exhausted, the supreme life has been lived, what can be done has been done, and there is no more [suffering] beyond.'"

That is what the Buddha said. Those gathered were glad and approved of his words.

Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand ascetics were liberated from the taints by abandoning clinging.

The "World"?
Ven. Nyanaponika Thera ("Karma and its Fruit")

"World" as self (weakonomics.com)

"In this fathom-long body with its perceptions and thoughts there is the world, the origin of the world, the ending of the world, and the path leading to the ending of the world" (AN 4.45).

 

The "world" of which the Buddha speaks is comprised in this aggregate [heap, collection, composite] of body-and-mind. For it is only by the activity of our physical and mental sense faculties that a world can be experienced and known at all. 

The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and bodily impressions which we perceive, and our various mental functions, conscious and unconscious -- this is the world in which we live. 

And this world of ours has its origin in that very aggregate of physical and mental processes that produces the karmic act of craving for the six physical and mental sense objects.

[The Buddha asked:] "Ananda, if there were no karma ripening in the sphere of the senses, would there appear any sense-sphere existence?" — "Surely not, venerable sir!" (AN 3.76)

Thus karma is the womb from which we spring (kamma-yoni), the true creator of the world and of ourselves as the experiencer of "the world."

 

And through our karmic [intentional] actions in deed, word, and thought, we unceasingly engage in building and rebuilding this world and [rebirth in] worlds beyond. Even our good actions, as long as they are still under the influence of craving... More

Jailed Pussy Rioter ordered released (video)

TheWorld.org; Wisdom Quarterly

(LINK)

  

German supporters (Marcus Brandt/AFP/DPA)

The punk collective of female freedom-fighters, "Pussy Riot," went too far insulting Russian dictator Putin, performing in a Russian Orthodox church to shine light on the lack of separation of church and state.

  

They performed their anti-Putin song in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral and got arrested, not for playing so much as for posting an inflammatory video about playing. Two of the members remain in jail.

  

TheWorld.org wants to share the MUSIC of the band over the din of the movement the collective inspires around the world. Their first notable tune was “Loosen up the Paving Stones” about the Arab Spring: “Egyptian air is good for the lungs,” they sing. Like the Occupy Movement they are calling for a “Tahrir Square on Red Square.” LISTEN

• PHOTOS: Artifacts of life on Mars

• Russia remains divided on the Pussy Riot case
• Pussy Riot jailed members get a two-year jail sentence
• Mixed feelings in Russia over Pussy Riot trial
• CARTOON SLIDESHOW: Pussy Riot sentenced

Radio: Burmese Hip Hop (rap music)

The World* (Public Radio International)

Global Hit
Burmese Hip Hop

Finally today -- a story of music and politics. In many countries, musicians are free to voice their political views through song. Not so in Burma (Myanmar). There political repression and censorship are severe. That's something that young Burmese hip hop artists have discovered firsthand. The World's Andrea Smardon prepared this report (mha-music.com).

She found that in spite of the totalitarian government's censorship in Myanmar, Hip Hop has become popular among young Burmese. It's also given some of them a political voice. More »

• Download (1/30/09): Mp3
• Myanmar Hip Hop Association

*PRI's The World is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe. Hosted by anchor Lisa Mullins. Ways to listen: Your public radio station, iTunes, or RSS. Support The World at Amazon.