Just when the summer is getting started after a long, cold spring in Los Angeles, the LAUSD has started classes up again only a month after Independence Day! What gives? Now there's no more summer and no time for our summer school. It's time for Class 3 on The True Nature of Existence with American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi.
Grab some sunscreen [or better yet, alkalinize the body so that it will not be susceptible to burning by acidic reaction to sunlight] — it’s National Bikini Day this July 5th. It’s the perfect opportunity to head to the beach. National Bikini Day celebrates the anniversary of the invention of the two-piece bathing suit. Owing to its risqué design, the bikini was slow to be adopted — but it gradually gained traction when film stars like Ava Gardner and Brigitte Bardot started to wear bikinis on public beaches and in their films. The garment was certainly one of the greatest inventions of all time and, due to the supposed "explosive" effect it had created, it was named after Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific where US warmongers and their suburban drones conducted nuclear testing in 1946. Get ready to celebrate this iconic summer look.
Ban the human body! What do you think this is, the Garden of Eden! God will smite you all!
This was not a one-off event. Let's look back to when Ravey was around.
We're the popular ones everyone looks up to.
What is a PROM? It's some kind of dance at the end of school in the States marking the beginning of summer. Of course, it's more than that -- coming of age, a rite of passage, saying goodbye to childhood during the transitional teens to work or college or both. The All-American ritual was made famous by Fall Out Boy in their hit song "Dance Dance."
What in the world is "homecoming"? Is it the football team (reminiscent of a high school's army) returning after battle on other campuses? When warriors football players get "home" are they coming on account of cheerleaders and other females and select males throwing themselves at them in an ancient ritual of post-war procreation to ensure the country (campus) does not run out of progeny? American sociology, anthropology, and social psychology would be fascinating.
Music by the Spazmatics (a melding of Devo and the Plasmatics)
The Plasmatics couldn't make it, and Devo has a tour, so the show managed to book the Spazmatics:
Fall Out Boy are All-American rejects
A promenade dance or "prom" is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year [1, 2]. Students participating in the prom typically vote for a prom king and prom queen [3] or a nonbinary equivalent.
Other students may be honored with inclusion in a prom court. The selection method for a prom court is similar to that of homecoming queen/princess, king/prince, and court.
Inclusion in a prom court may be a reflection of popularity of those students elected and their level of participation in school activities, such as clubs or sports [4, 5].
The prom queen and prom king may be given crowns to wear. Members of the prom court may be given sashes to wear and photographed together [6].
But whatever happens, sex does not happen and no one spikes the punch with any social lubricant, because if either of these things happens, it could result in teen pregnancy and a sentence of a long, dull suburban life or a sentence in a tenement in one of America's urban jungles. More
You really expect me to settle?! Okay. Tonight.
What is The Woody Show?
Could Lee Ving's FEAR be hired to play next year's prom instead of the Spazmatics?
Fat Menace and slim Sammi (The Woody Show)
There is a smarmy Elon Musk loving and often purposely offensive smart guy surrounding himself with numb-numbs. His name is Sebastian (Sea Bass), aka the Cart Narc. There's a cool gal with nearly nothing to say, Sammi, as she feels out of place or is worried about losing her job under Tyrannosaurus Pecker. There's Gina Grad brown nosing to lap up whatever favor she can. And there's the deplorable mascot moron (who looks amazingly like Woody) named Menace. Oh and a gay traffic and weather guy, Gregory (Greg Gory). Missing is old Ravey because who knows what in the heck happened to her. And there's Morgan, the Daria of the show. They're just back from their cruise and on to Morongo Casino for a big prom, in another desperate bid for ratings. So come party with all of them. DRESS UP. (Note: There is NO dress code, so dress down if you like. It's FREE. Don't gamble or it'll be very costly). "Alt 97" (KYSR FM) is the Los Angeles HQ of the syndicated morning show (iheart.com). The show is pope-unapproved.
(Sunny Beaches) Discover the pulsating energy of Leblon Beach with a captivating LIVE 4K walking tour. 🌴🚶♂️ Immerse in the warm paradise of Rio de Janeiro (when it's not swamped by Catholic Carnival revelers) as the camera takes a leisurely stroll along the golden sands, soaking up the vibrant atmosphere and basking in the tropical sunshine.
From the rhythmic waves gently caressing the shore to the swaying palm trees casting their shadows, experience the quintessence of coastal beauty from the comfort of the screen.
Catch this opportunity and join in an unforgettable adventure through Rio's most iconic beach destination.
Be captivated by the enchanting beauty of Rio de Janeiro in this must-see video, a breathtaking glimpse into the lives of 2,000 stunning women from a vibrant city. Iconic beaches and bustling streets, soak in the allure and charm of Rio and explore its unique culture, sizzling nightlife, and the undeniable magnetism of its people. This visual feast that will leave viewers yearning for an adventure to Rio.
Christians may imagine their Devil at war, killing, harming, maiming, and sending humans to the hells. But it isn't that way in Buddhism. Mara (the Destroyer) is sexy, a gentleman (shapeshifter), Mara Devaputra, more of a deluded Lucifer figure, imagining himself the Ruler of the Sensual Sphere.
In Buddhist cosmology, the universe is divided into three spheres or lokas (worlds), sections of the 31 Planes of Existence. The highest is the Immaterial Sphere (arupa loka), all mind, no form. The middle is the Fine Material Sphere (rupa loka). And the lowest is the Sensual Sphere (kama loka). Where would you, dear reader, imagine the Human World (manussa loka) is located?
We are, of course, smack dab in the middle of the lowest section, the Sensual Sphere, characterized by sense craving manifesting mostly as lust (accompanied by aversion/hate and rooted in delusion).
Mara is not interested in harming anyone. His goal is seduction and keeping everyone within his sphere, reborn in worlds below his plane at the top of the Sense Sphere heavens (superior physical worlds in space). It displeases him greatly if anyone escapes to be reborn in the superior heavens of the Fine Material Sphere.
It is probably unimaginable to him that there are even worlds beyond that, more subtle and sublime than the highest and most rarefied of the Fine Material planes.
While most of depicted as a "demon" (chief of the yakkhas or ogres), Mara has three very alluring daughters, Craving, Ennui, and Lust (aka Tanha, Arati, and Raga).
Three daughters
The Buddha-to-be was not swayed by deceptive lures.
In some accounts of the wander ascetic Siddhartha's enlightenment, it is said that the "demon" Māra did not send his three daughters to tempt. Instead, they came willingly after Māra's setback in his endeavor to eliminate the Bodhisatta's quest for enlightenment and liberation [16].
Mara's three daughters are identified as Taṇhā ("Craving" or "Thirst"), Arati ("Discontentment," a kind of "Aversion"), and Rāga ("Attachment" or "Passion") [15, 17].
For example, in the Samyutta Nikaya's section on Mara (the Māra Saṃyutta), Mara's three daughters are undressing in front of the Bodhisatta, but they fail to entice him.
They had come to him glittering with beauty
– Taṇhā, Arati, and Rāga –
But the Teacher swept them away then and there
As the wind, a fallen cotton tuft [18].
The three daughters of Māra were inspired by Aratis ("Avarice"), a type of feminine goblin associated with sensual craving [19]. More
Sunny Beaches, April 16, 2025; Mara image (jendhamuni.com); Dr. Doug Smith (Doug's Dharma, April 28, 2025); Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
My most brutal wingsuit flight ever | Täschhorn (4491 meters)
(Swiss JoHannes | Wingsuit) After years of dreaming, we finally did the highest possible wingsuit base jump in the Alps, from the top of Täschhorn, Switzerland.
Big hug to Mario for joining me on this mission. I couldn't have done it without him. Thanks, Bro! In total, we climbed for about 9 hours and spent one night at the Mischabeljoch bivouac. It was challenging leaving nothing behind and flying down with all of our equipment.
On the top we have to scramble five pitches to the exit point, belayed gear up. I jumped around 10:30 am during perfect conditions, without thermals (rising heat columns).
But after 40 seconds of flying, my arms were really tired, so I couldn't hold the glide and had to fly more steeply. Unfortunately, it is not getting much better. It is becoming a serious problem as I can hardly feel my fingers holding on.
Now if I could just learn to "fly" on land
Antonia was waiting at the LZ with a cold one. Mario and I landed safely. I don't know what happened to my weak arms... Was it the altitude or the heavy bag? I was exhausted AF and glad we got down safely. What a mission, what a mountain! Source
DANGER: Bikinis are a magnetic distraction to men, who are mysteriously drawn in by them.
.
Clumsy man goes overboard for a red bikini.
Since July 5, 1946, females have been hitting the beaches and pool sides scantily clad in "bikinis" (floss and patches).
National Bikini Day marks the anniversary of the invention of the revealing two-piece bathing suit.
Named after the Bikini Atoll, where the United States military annihilated indigenous land by conducting atomic and nuclear bomb tests, the two-piece bathing suit made its debut in Paris in 1946.
[This was possibly to distract US soldiers with pin up girls while they traveled the world, met new people, and killed them; after all, up until then the Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield posters had too much on].
French designer Jaques Heim wanted to name revealing bits of fabric "atom" [as in atomic bombs falling on Bikini Atoll?], but designer Louis Réard named his piece, revealed on this day (July 5th) in 1946, with the name "bikini" and the word stuck.
By World War II [because war and carnage have an odd way of wearing away at a nation's morals], sunbathers cast aside the chaste one-piece bathing costumes for simple two-piece bathing suits.
Is that Atom Atoll, Mom? - No, it's Bikini Atoll, Honey. - I'd like to wear one. - Me, too.
.
Should I come out, Claudia? - Why, Bil?
However, nothing prepared the United States for the revealing bikini when it hit the beaches on July 5, 1946.
[It wasn't even the Fifties yet, and eyes were bulging out of boy's and men's heads. Then the hippies in the Sixties went from two-piece down to no-piece in their efforts to help the USA wage peace.]
The skimpy strips of fabric were seen as less than a women's unmentionables [britches, panties, undergarments, lingerie].
We prefer modern Jain nuns
While Europe [which is cool with toplessness and has always had nude beaches] enthusiastically donned the bikini after a long and arduous world war, American's sense of [Puritanical] "decency" kept them from accepting the bikini until the 1960s.
[Hippies saved the day again because tooth floss bottoms and eye patch tops were seen as an improvement over pure nudity. Ah, hypocrisy, we're all for violence on TV but T&A? No way! Sex on the silver screen? Maybe, but only with an R, NC-17, X, or XXX rating, but carnage, slasher flicks, gore, sadistic violence? Sure, it's good for the kids. It makes them better soldiers, drinkers, and gun owners when they grow up.]
The model above is stripping off this inappropriate "Buddha kimono" from Buddha Beach.
Well, that's not so bad.
Please avoid Buddha Bikinis, as they are very offensive to the spiritual lives of more than a billion Buddhists in the world today. There are more than a billion uncounted Buddhism in communist China alone, so the true number of Buddhists worldwide is unknown but could be two billion.
And also please avoid places that call themselves Buddha Bar because it is an oxymoron given that the Buddha spelled out Five Precepts, things to abstain from doing:
Okay, now we're offended.
killing
stealing
sexual misconduct
lying
alcohol.
And while, no doubt, some Buddhists drink, it is not in keeping with the rudiments of the religion or the advice of the Enlightened One.
And while we're on the topic of things best avoided, the American habit of standing in front of a Buddha statue to take a picture is in bad form and very offensive to the locals, all the more so if you sit on his lap, put your arms around him, or heaven forbid kiss him.
Tibetan goddess in very revealing outfit
We in the West know what you mean and would love to go dry hump Dionysus in Greece or play grab@$$ with Aphrodite or get super friendly with Bacchus, but the Mediterranean Antiquities Department (MAD) would get really mad if we did. They won't even let tourists graffiti the Colosseum or deface ancient petroglyphs or take home souvenirs of ancient archeological digs like Gobekkli and Karahan Tepe. Go figure.]
Olawale Ogunjimi, Past Chronicles (MSN); CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Researchers find a structure older than humans, which tells us a lot about our early ancestors
You ancestors built that, Douglas. Tell them.
Scientists have discovered primitive wooden tools and structures of about 476,000 years old at a site in Zambia's Kalambo Falls.
This new discovery runs contrary to what we have always been told about the lives of the species that existed before the ancient Homo sapiens.
First, the discovery of these tools, which pre-date the oldest modern humans, is proof that our early ancestors were knowledgeable about construction.
Based on these findings, it's safe to conclude that the unknown hominin species that existed before Homo sapiens were intelligent and resourceful [much like bonobos, gorillas, chimps, orangutans, monkeys, almas, and sasquatches].
Am I your predecessor, modern humans?
They made the best use of their surroundings by harnessing the resources at their disposal to produce innovative results.
According to the research, the wooden structure, which is older than humanity, had "two interlocking logs joined transversely by an intentionally cut notch."
This shows that the species that pre-dated the evolution of Homo sapiens were smart enough to conceive ideas beyond their immediate and tangible environment.
What's more, the researchers also discovered a cut log, digging stick, and other tools that were well-preserved because they were left in a waterlogged area that gave no room for bacterial degradation. More
This is the most revealing bathing suit yet. It's called the ”Guts Swimsuit.” The manufacturer says it is to “show…that you've got guts.” And you'll need them to let people see this much of you, the real you, in the raw more than the buff. Seems that the Buddha's teachings on how to mindfully contemplate the body (kaya-annusati) for liberating insight are finally catching on among fashionistas. One wearer wrote that she wore it at Dr. Von Hagen's "Body Worlds Exhibit" and got many compliments. But that's a figuratively enlightened crowd down at the museum, very broadminded, very educated, appreciative of the arts and Eastern Wisdom, even if it comes through mysticism, which is only whispered about in "scientific" circles.
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