(Oriental Pearl) Premiered Oct. 9, 2025: TOKYO. Is Japan cooked? I (Oriental Pearl) have seen a lot of changes here in the last few years. And things seem to be getting worse.
(Broke But Rich) Feb. 22, 2025: Dive into the dark side of Japan with us as we explore the world of "standing girls" ("sign girls")—infantilized females who wait in public streets to sell themselves. This isn't the typical nightlife scene. Buddhist Japan’s unique culture -- and attitude towards sex (as with the ancient geisha courtesans) -- has created an unexpected environment where this underground trade operates in plain sight. But why does it happen? And what’s the real story behind these women?
Let's begin with a solo exploration of the back country then get down to the valley proper, where the whole family enjoys glamping, getting up early, and glorious hiking up Half Dome.
Yosemite September 2025 Family Trip
The views from Glacier Point, Yosemite
(Take It Outside) Sept. 11, 2025: 🌲✨ Join our family as we explore Yosemite National Park in this month! We start the trip in Yosemite Valley, taking in breathtaking views of El Capitan ("The Captain") and Half Dome from below. Then we drive up to incredible Glacier Point, where the panoramic views of the valley and high country leave us speechless. The highlight of the trip? Tackling the Half Dome hike—an unforgettable challenge climbing up the cables and soaking in the views from the summit, then making the long trek back down.
🏞️⛰️ 📍 HIGHLIGHTS
Yosemite Valley views
Drive up to Glacier Point
Full Half Dome hike (up and down the cables)
Whether planning a Yosemite adventure or just love national parks, this video captures the beauty, challenge, and magic of one of America’s most iconic places. 👍 Remember to like, comment, and subscribe for more outdoor adventures. #Yosemite #Hiking #HalfDome #NationalParks
More chaos at Burning Man! Torrential rains turn Playa [saline salt basin of ancient inland sea] into [alkaline clay dust sludge] mud pit - 70,000 stranded
(Disaster Weather) Aug. 31, 2025: BLACK ROCK DESERT. What began with a sandstorm tearing apart camps [and destroying this year's Orgy Dome] and art quickly spiraled into something even worse.
Heavy rains turned the Nevada playa ("beach") into a seven-mile-wide mud pit, swallowing bikes, stranding vehicles, and forcing everyone to walk and gates to close once again.
One man was airlifted after a suspected electrocution in the flooded desert [from electrical equipment getting wet and people going barefoot], while thousands more struggled through the bone-chilling nights, abandoned bicycles, and mud-soaked shelters.
With all passenger flights grounded, cars stuck axle-deep, and festivalgoers posting desperate updates, Burning Man 2025 is being called one of the most miserable editions in its history.
[This is not an error or accident by Nature, just part of the experience that is part and parcel of Burning Man, flowing with the elements come what may.]
(Breeze Offroad) Aug. 29, 2025: BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada - 🔥 Burning Man is a week-long, radically creative gathering held annually in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. It’s not a music festival, not a trade show, and definitely not an average [basic b*tch] party. Well, then, what is it? —It’s a temporary city built from scratch by tens of thousands of active and creative participants who come to share art, ideas, and experiences. #burningman2025 #burningmanfestival #blackrockcity
Our de facto correspondent (Escaping Normal Life) has gone silent. Are we worried? No. Maybe he's having a near death experience or something life-altering. The show must go on. Readers want to know, so here's the update:
Burning Man has an "Orgy Dome"?
BURNING MAN 2025 ORGY DOME: On August 27, 2025, it was revealed that the desert festival's "Orgy Dome," which had been a popular and active free love party scene at the festival since 2003, had collapsed due to sudden and very strong desert winds [61 ("Burning Man's Orgy Dome has been destroyed")]. It was afterwards announced that the sex tents would be restored [62]. Gates also closed on different occasions due to bad weather, with at least one festival attendee being electrocuted [63]. More
Any relation to Chuck? Why does no one mention that? Is it because all the Mangiones are nuts? We mean talented men full of potential. Americans LOVE guns. Americans hate insurance companies. Americans love bad boys. What did the Buddha teach? The Buddha taught that what happens to us in our lives has a lot to do with our karma (deeds). What is that karma based on? Karma is rooted in six causes: greed (lust), hatred (aversion/fear), delusion (wrong view) or nongreed, nonhatred, nondelusion. If we are not mindful of what roots are growing, what sprouts cannot surprise us.
(CBS News) Dec. 17, 2024: The man arrested in the killing assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month has been indicted in New York on murder charges. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the charges against Luigi Mangione on Tuesday. CBS News' Lilia Luciano and Anna Schecter break them down.
CBS News 24/7 is an anchored streaming news service from CBS News and Stations that is available free to everyone with access to the internet and is the destination for breaking news, live events, original reporting and storytelling, and programs from CBS News and stations' top anchors and correspondents working locally, nationally, and around the flat earth. It is available on more than 30 platforms across mobile, desktop, and connected TVs for free, as well as CBSNews.com and Paramount+ and live in 91 countries.
Naked Bike Ride 2024 was covered by Allison Barr for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Even though the official ride was put on hold this year, a spin-off of theWorld Naked Bike Ride pedaled through Portland on Saturday afternoon.
The ride organizers emphasize that it’s first and foremost a protest against fossil fuel dependency.
Second, it’s a communal place to celebrate being ourselves, exactly how we are.
The “official” World Naked Bike Ride took a hiatus this year. But protesting cyclists still wanted to gather for a ride.
As one of the speakers before Saturday’s ride explained: It’s an effort to bring their qualms with Zenith Energy into the limelight. They also want to inspire others to commute via bike and celebrate body positivity.
Saturday afternoon, hundreds of bodies gathered at Colonel Summers Park in Southeast Portland around 4:00 pm. This was a change from the ride’s usual nighttime slot.
After people painted each other, danced to music blasting from multiple speakers, and delivered emotional speeches into microphones, a sea of naked and nearly-naked people on bikes headed out.
Their plan is to lie down at the Zenith Energy building in Northwest Portland for ten minutes before ending the ride at the waterfront.
As the ride organizer going by the name Spartacus said, “Give yourself permission to know it’s your body. And feel a sense of belonging to your life and your body because your body chooses clean air, clean water, clean rivers.” Source
Allison Barr, oregonlive.com, Sept. 21, 2024 (inspired by Agent Sebastian "Seabass" from The Woody Show, 12/17/24); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Buddhism in the Netherlands: The first awareness of Buddhism in the Netherlands can be traced back to early books [2] with references to Buddhism appearing in 1651 [3], 1843 [4], and 1878 [5], with the first book on Buddhism being written in the Dutch language in 1879 [6]. The turn of the century saw more popular books on Buddhism published in Dutch... More
15 strange and crazy things only found in the Netherlands
We're the original flower people.
(Discoverize) First, what is this poor place in Europe called? It's called both the Netherlands (maybe because it's below sea level and constantly at risk of being underwater) and Holland, which is a coastal region of the country.
Second, this is the land of the Dutch, like The Little Dutch Boy (not to be confused with the Deutsche speaking people of Pennsylvania, who speak "Pennsylvania Dutch," which is German).
Third, welcome to Discoverize, which dives into the most exciting and unbelievable things that the world has to offer. From ancient artifacts to mind-blowing scientific theories, there's never a dull moment on this channel. Join in to embark on a thrilling journey of discovery and wonder about Holland. Get ready to have socks knocked off feet by the amazing things uncovered. Whether viewers are lifelong learners or just looking for a good time, this channel is sure to entertain and educate. Buckle up and get ready for an unforgettable ride!
(The History Lounge) USA.Join Kevin for a nostalgic look back at what summer was really like for kids of the 1970s. (Or skip to the death metal version). In the glorious days before cell phones and social media, North American kids experienced a level of freedom and independence that today's kids would just not understand.
Memories are modified every time we remember
Generation X children were the original latch-key kids. Our adventures began after a big bowl of sugary cereal (full of toxic acrylamides and synthetic flavors, colors, and preservative) in the morning and came to an end when the streetlights came on.
This video has us saddle up on a banana seat of the old Schwinn Sting-Ray for a visit back to the playground, community pool, and roller rink, ending the day with some night games in the neighborhood.
The world was winding down in preparation of an apocalypse (unveiling), the end of the Mayan Calendar, when a song arose that Timothy of The Tim Conway Show really fell for. We were all suffering through Rebecca Black's unexpected hit, but this was different -- no autotune, sassy, tongue in cheek, and if one were to squint and turn askew, cocking the head just so, Double Take was almost hot.
One summer Lana Del Rey covered Sublime's hit song "Doin Time" for her
second summer classic and all the top selling copycats who now do Lana
LYRICS: "Hot Problems"
(Official single by Double Take "Hot Problems" on iTunes)
I'm so hot you'll have to deal with it!
Look at me and tell me the truth/ What do you do/ When people don't know/ What we go through?// They see my blonde hair/ Blue eyes and class/ But they don't know/ I have a really big heart// Please don't get me wrong/ I know that I'm hot/ Textbook perfection really takes a lot/ Weird guys call my phones// And girls call me names/ Like Miley said, "I can't be tamed"// Hot girls we have problems too/ We're just like you, except we're hot/ The world needs to open their eyes/ And realize/ We're not perfect/ And sometimes we lie// I've got the look/ I've got the butt/ But those things don't make me a slut// Boys call me stuck up/ Girls say I'm conceited/ On behalf of all hot girls those comments are not needed// Just cause I'm pretty/ I have to be dumb/ I don't care about which/ I just wanna have fun// People start rumors/ And say things about me/ Funny thing is I didn't go to the party// Hot girls we have problems too/ We're just like you, except we're hot (hot hot hot hot)/ The world needs to open their eyes/ And realize/ We're not perfect/ And sometimes we...// Hot girls we have problems too/ We're just like you, except we're HOT/ The world needs to open their eyes/ And realize/ We're not perfect/ And sometimes we lie/ Why oh why/ Can't you see/ You are all/ Just like me// We make mistakes/ And get in trouble/ Now you know our hot girls trouble// Hot girls we have problems too/ We're just like you, except we're hot/ The world needs to open their eyes/ And realize/ We're not perfect/ And sometimes we lie// Hot girls we have problems, too/ We're just like you, except we're hot/ The world needs to open their eyes/ And realize/ We're not perfect/ And sometimes we lie// Just kidding/ We're perfect.
The song's not ha ha funny, but something's funny about it. It's cheeky, ballsy, not good enough for the radio (except Tim's show on KFI AM at iheart.com), but it is amazing some better singers haven't done a serious version and gotten famous for it by now. Imagine Ke$ha and Lindsay Lohan, or maybe Nelly Furtado and Christina Aguilera. If autotune could fix Britney's vocals and producers could extract something useful out of Cher or FrankenMadonna, someone should have been able to mold these two rugrat frat brats and made them a pair a sorority would accept. It's summer, and the temps are high, so we're hot.
What must our parents have been
up to as summertime teens?
Feel free to share your 1970s memories in the comments so we can all be reminded of those great times when we were kids. (NOTE: As of Sunday, June 16th, early am, comments are occasionally shutting off automatically. YouTube has been contacted for assistance and hope to get this issue fixed ASAP). Thanks, Kevin #1970s#1980s#genx
Kevin, The History Lounge on YouTube, June 15, 2024; Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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
This event is presented by KLOS (95.5 FM) and Synergy Global Entertainment (SGE). This is another kick-ass collaboration between the two juggernauts of entertainment. As for the radio end, LA's only remaining rock station KLOS is proof that radio is back to being a force in the music industry.
Truthfully, online services took a big bite out of the broadcasting industry’s listenership over the years, but radio was partly at fault for their own demise.
The knock for years has been that too many Los Angeles radio stations sounded the same, and the human connection was virtually non-existent -- almost to the point where there was almost no difference between some stations and iTunes.
In 2019, the radio re-connection project is in full effect. One of the leaders on that front is KLOS.
For years, KLOS Program Director Keith Cunningham and his staff have made a very loud point that they need to lead by example and be engaged with the community.
The plan was to provide more than great music on the airwaves. Over the last few years, they’ve partnered with bands, charities, and organizers like SGE to put on some of the most successful and over the top festivals in recent memory.
Now, there’s a collision of all things that are the Southern California lifestyle: Gnarlytown has gone from concept to reality. The event takes place at the scenic:
Along with Nitro Circus, Chris Cole, and Brew Ha Ha, the event is produced by Orange County-based entertainment Goliath, SGE. They’re led by John Reese who has brought SGE to the top of the concert festival totem pole.
The Warped Tour may be back for a few dates this summer. But make no mistake, SGE is the new force for festivals from coast-to-coast and in our own LA/OC backyard. More
The perfect blend of action sports, punk rock, and craft drink tasting, this new one-of-a-kind, family-friendly event brings together thrilling, extreme action sports with motorsports champion Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Circus and pro skateboarder Chris Cole’s Rail Jam Invitational, along with performances from punk rock legends and other top music acts including Pennywise, Rancid, Action Bronson, Off!, and Madball. The event will also feature craft tasting sessions, offering unlimited tastings from some of the finest breweries in Southern California and beyond, including Rancid’s own collaboration with Ska Brewing, Brewstomper for those 21 and up. The festival is ALL AGES. (Ages 5 and under are free to attend the general admission festival grounds with paid adult admission).
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