Why has Catallaxy stopped taking comments? It still has wrong and useless posts, but no more comments. Overall, that's an improvement.
Now just get rid of 95% of the posts, and it might gain a skerrick of credibility as a "centre right" blog again.
Update: all back to it's now standard role - a Facebook substitute for a cluster of Australian conservatives to say obnoxious things they won't or can't say in front of their relatives or workplace. It was just Sinclair having a dummy spit that the group was being too nasty to each other, whereas he thinks they should only be nasty to their "enemies", who haven't bothered showing up there for a decade or so anyway.
Sunday, May 03, 2020
Friday, May 01, 2020
The Buddhists head West - far West
The other night, SBS showed the Buddhist action/comedy movie Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back. (I didn't stay up for all of it, but it's a sequel to what I think was the much better Stephen Chow movie Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.)
The journey the movies (and novel, and TV series Monkey) references is from China to India. But I didn't realise that Buddhists from India had been heading quite far West, even before the time of Christ.
Indian emperor Ashoka apparently sent Buddhist missionaries West in the 3rd century BC, and it appears possible that there were some in Alexandria in Egypt. This Ashoka guy sounds pretty interesting, and he is the subject of a lengthy Wikipedia entry. I've heard the name before, probably, but us Westerners don't pay much heed to anything that was going on in India if it didn't involve Europeans there, do we?
He apparently had a reputation for violence, but converted to Buddhism after getting the guilts over a particularly big war of conquest. From his Wikipedia entry:
Anyway, getting closer to the time of Christ, there was the "Pandion embassy"incident which is well attested:
I find it blackly amusing that it seems Indians had a habit of travelling to the West and burning themselves alive to impress the locals:
Anyway, I'll end by noting that it's been an improbable (probably Theosophical?) idea for a century or so that Jesus headed East before his public ministry and got some ideas from Indian religions.
As it turns out, though, it was the other way around: the East really came to him, or his region, before his time.
Update:
I see that in the Wikipedia entry on the self immolating Kalanos, he is said to be Hindu, rather than Buddhist:
The journey the movies (and novel, and TV series Monkey) references is from China to India. But I didn't realise that Buddhists from India had been heading quite far West, even before the time of Christ.
Indian emperor Ashoka apparently sent Buddhist missionaries West in the 3rd century BC, and it appears possible that there were some in Alexandria in Egypt. This Ashoka guy sounds pretty interesting, and he is the subject of a lengthy Wikipedia entry. I've heard the name before, probably, but us Westerners don't pay much heed to anything that was going on in India if it didn't involve Europeans there, do we?
He apparently had a reputation for violence, but converted to Buddhism after getting the guilts over a particularly big war of conquest. From his Wikipedia entry:
Ashoka waged a destructive war against the state of Kalinga (modern Odisha),[7] which he conquered in about 260 BCE.[8] He converted to Buddhism[7] after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he had waged out of a desire for conquest and which reportedly directly resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations.[9] He is remembered for the Ashoka pillars and edicts, for sending Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka and Central Asia, and for establishing monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha.[10]Now, it would seem that the idea that Ashoka's monks set up shop near Alexandria in Egypt has some pretty slender evidence. I haven't read all of this paper, but it's an interesting one about the identity of a particular religious community. It all seems very up in the air, even though everyone agrees that the occasional Indian is likely to have been in Alexandria at the time, and it wouldn't be completely surprising if at least the odd monk was amongst them.
Anyway, getting closer to the time of Christ, there was the "Pandion embassy"incident which is well attested:
Roman historical accounts describe an embassy sent by the "Indian king Porus (Pandion (?) Pandya (?) or Pandita (?)[citation needed]) to Caesar Augustus sometime between 22 BC and 13 AD. The embassy was travelling with a diplomatic letter on a skin in Greek, and one of its members was a sramana who burned himself alive in Athens to demonstrate his faith. The event made a sensation and was described by Nicolaus of Damascus, who met the embassy at Antioch (near present day Antakya in Turkey) and related by Strabo (XV,1,73 [2]) and Dio Cassius (liv, 9).The problem is, it seems no one is 100% sure if this guy was like your average Indian, Hindu holy man, or a Buddhist.
I find it blackly amusing that it seems Indians had a habit of travelling to the West and burning themselves alive to impress the locals:
Plutarch (died 120 AD) in his Life of Alexander, after discussing the self-immolation of Calanus of India (Kalanos) writes:We all know of modern cases of Buddhist self immolation as a form of protest. These ancient cases seem to be more about how impressing people with how seriously they take their religion. On this topic, I see there is a 2015 paper in the Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies about the matter:
The same thing was done long after by another Indian who came with Caesar to Athens, where they still show you "the Indian's Monument."[16]
The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters Among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic WorldIs he trying to be a bit witty by use of the word "luminous" like that. (I haven't read it yet.)
Anyway, I'll end by noting that it's been an improbable (probably Theosophical?) idea for a century or so that Jesus headed East before his public ministry and got some ideas from Indian religions.
As it turns out, though, it was the other way around: the East really came to him, or his region, before his time.
Update:
I see that in the Wikipedia entry on the self immolating Kalanos, he is said to be Hindu, rather than Buddhist:
Kalanos, also spelled Calanus (Ancient Greek: Καλανὸς)[1] (c. 398 – 323 BCE), was a gymnosophist, a Hindu Brahmin[2][3][4][5] and philosopher from Taxila[6] who accompanied Alexander the Great to Persis and later self-immolated himself by entering into a Holy Pyre, in front of Alexander and his army. Diodorus Siculus called him Caranus (Ancient Greek: Κάρανος).[7] He did not flinch while his body was burning. He bode goodbye to the soldiers but not to Alexander. He communicated to Alexander that he would meet him in Babylon. Alexander died exactly a year later in Babylon. [8] It was from Kalanos that Alexander came to know of Dandamis, the leader of their group, whom Alexander later went to meet in the forest.[9]And the reason for his suicide? Just old and tired, it seems:
He was seventy-three years of age at time of his death.[18] When the Persian weather and travel had weakened him, he informed Alexander that he would prefer to die rather than live as an invalid. He decided to take his life by self-immolation.[19] Although Alexander tried to dissuade him from this course of action, upon Kalanos' insistence the job of building a pyre was entrusted to Ptolemy.[18] Kalanos is mentioned also by Alexander's admirals, Nearchus and Chares of Mytilene.[20] The city where this immolation took place was Susa in the year 323 BC.[13] Kalanos distributed all the costly gifts he got from the king to the people and wore just a garland of flowers and chanted vedic hymns.[21][22][3] He presented his horse to one of his Greek pupils named Lysimachus.[23] He did not flinch as he burnt to the astonishment of those who watched.[14][24][25]Couldn't he just sneak off and drink some hemlock or something? Seems a bit of an attention seeker.
Pretty accurate prediction
Remember how I wrote a month ago that the RMIT economists' urgent book on how to "unfreeze" the economy would say this:
My point a is their point 1.
Their point 2 and 4 is part of my point 1.
I would bet that blockchain turns up in their points 3 and 4.
My point d is bound to be part of their 3.
The only thing I missed is perhaps the point 5 - but it's an old small government trope that decentralising power our of federal government hands always works best. Just like Kansas showed with their failed experiment with Laffernomics, hey?
I think I was close enough to claim vindication. And I did save everyone the time.
PS: I am also reminded of that bit in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy wherein Zapod proposes replacing Arthur's brain with a microchip that just says "What?" "I don't understand" and "Where's the tea?" and no one would know the difference. The three catchphrases for Sinclair would be "Lower Taxes!" "Blockchain!" "Deregulate!" (and an occasional "Free Speech!")
It will be 200 pages devoted to the urgent need for the Australian governments to:Sinclair Davidson posts today the book cover, with this:
a. deregulate everything, as fast as possible;
b. start using blockchain technologies, they're terrific;
c. urgently reduce all government spending on things other than the temporary workforce support, with public broadcasting getting special mention;
d. reduce taxes.
Done and dusted.
My point a is their point 1.
Their point 2 and 4 is part of my point 1.
I would bet that blockchain turns up in their points 3 and 4.
My point d is bound to be part of their 3.
The only thing I missed is perhaps the point 5 - but it's an old small government trope that decentralising power our of federal government hands always works best. Just like Kansas showed with their failed experiment with Laffernomics, hey?
I think I was close enough to claim vindication. And I did save everyone the time.
PS: I am also reminded of that bit in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy wherein Zapod proposes replacing Arthur's brain with a microchip that just says "What?" "I don't understand" and "Where's the tea?" and no one would know the difference. The three catchphrases for Sinclair would be "Lower Taxes!" "Blockchain!" "Deregulate!" (and an occasional "Free Speech!")
Counting the flu
I found a useful discussion of the complexity of assigning cause of death to things like the flu or COVID-19 at an Allahpundit post at Hot Air. Interestingly, he pointed to a post by an American doctor at Scientific American, who pointed out that the number of cases the CDC assigns to the fly is a very rubbery figure itself:
I think it should be clear that the true way of assessing the seriousness of a pandemic has to be looking at "excess deaths" compared to same period, and those figures are not looking good. The Financial Times has been doing good work in that regard.
When reports about the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 began circulating earlier this year and questions were being raised about how the illness it causes, COVID-19, compared to the flu, it occurred to me that, in four years of emergency medicine residency and over three and a half years as an attending physician, I had almost never seen anyone die of the flu. I could only remember one tragic pediatric case.That really blows up the comparisons made by those on the Right who try to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19 by comparing it to (say) 60,000 a year allegedly dying of the flu ("and we don't close down the economy", yells Creighton.)
Based on the CDC numbers though, I should have seen many, many more. In 2018, over 46,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. Over 36,500 died in traffic accidents. Nearly 40,000 died from gun violence. I see those deaths all the time. Was I alone in noticing this discrepancy?
I decided to call colleagues around the country who work in other emergency departments and in intensive care units to ask a simple question: how many patients could they remember dying from the flu? Most of the physicians I surveyed couldn’t remember a single one over their careers. Some said they recalled a few. All of them seemed to be having the same light bulb moment I had already experienced: For too long, we have blindly accepted a statistic that does not match our clinical experience.
The 25,000 to 69,000 numbers that Trump cited do not represent counted flu deaths per year; they are estimates that the CDC produces by multiplying the number of flu death counts reported by various coefficients produced through complicated algorithms. These coefficients are based on assumptions of how many cases, hospitalizations, and deaths they believe went unreported. In the last six flu seasons, the CDC’s reported number of actual confirmed flu deaths—that is, counting flu deaths the way we are currently counting deaths from the coronavirus—has ranged from 3,448 to 15,620, which far lower than the numbers commonly repeated by public officials and even public health experts.
I think it should be clear that the true way of assessing the seriousness of a pandemic has to be looking at "excess deaths" compared to same period, and those figures are not looking good. The Financial Times has been doing good work in that regard.
I have my doubts
Just saw this on Twitter:
and while there are not many comments following it yet, I really have my doubts about the accuracy of that figure for renting in Tokyo.
Why? Because I like to watch the ever cheerful Paolo from Tokyo on Youtube (and his other channel Tokyo Zebra) , and he talked a lot about renting (or buying) an apartment in Tokyo recently, and I am pretty sure it was no where near as cheap as this guy claims. (There are a lot of extra costs that you don't get in Australia, as well.)
I don't have time to watch and check now, but I'm pretty I am right about this...
Update: yeah, I just checked on this video, where he and his wife are looking for a new 2 bedroom rental, and the cost seems to be around $2700 - $2900USD a month. This site indicates you can do much cheaper, but I still suspect that as an average, $1000 a month is just not right, at all.
Why? Because I like to watch the ever cheerful Paolo from Tokyo on Youtube (and his other channel Tokyo Zebra) , and he talked a lot about renting (or buying) an apartment in Tokyo recently, and I am pretty sure it was no where near as cheap as this guy claims. (There are a lot of extra costs that you don't get in Australia, as well.)
I don't have time to watch and check now, but I'm pretty I am right about this...
Update: yeah, I just checked on this video, where he and his wife are looking for a new 2 bedroom rental, and the cost seems to be around $2700 - $2900USD a month. This site indicates you can do much cheaper, but I still suspect that as an average, $1000 a month is just not right, at all.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Speaking of Right wing cranks...
...don't you love the way they like to proclaim they live in a bubble world of narrow Right Wing information as if that's a good thing.
Steve Kates notes:
Steve Kates notes:
His final line is “Television, like most things, seems to be more fun when it’s Australian”. Since the only television I watch is Bolt and The Outsiders, from that perhaps small sample I could not agree more.And, as I have said a million times before - you basically can blame Rupert Murdoch for this, because he found creating a bubble world of "only trust us" was a good way to make money.
Right wing hyperbolic whiner of the day award...
...goes to Andrew Bolt, who wins it probably every second day:
And amongst other Right wing twittery, James Morrow is just so dumb, stupid and transparent here. After obviously advocating for this drug only because he has to defend Trump at every opportunity, he tries to pretend that he wasn't the one politically motivated to talk up an unverified treatment:
Yeah, sure.
And amongst other Right wing twittery, James Morrow is just so dumb, stupid and transparent here. After obviously advocating for this drug only because he has to defend Trump at every opportunity, he tries to pretend that he wasn't the one politically motivated to talk up an unverified treatment:
That's a lot of oil floating on the oceans
Putin has problems
According to this Vox article, the COVID-19 outbreak is getting worse in Russia and Putin acknowledges it.
And in other "so you thought you could do better than America in sorting this out?" news:
And in other "so you thought you could do better than America in sorting this out?" news:
President Vladimir Putin is letting his impatience show with Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, who isn’t proving as grateful for being kept in power by Russian intervention in his country’s brutal civil war as the Kremlin leader needs him to be.
Consumed at home by the twin shocks of collapsing oil prices and the coronavirus epidemic, and eager to wrap up his Syrian military adventure by declaring victory, Putin is insisting that Assad show more flexibility in talks with the Syrian opposition on a political settlement to end the nearly decade-long conflict, said four people familiar with Kremlin deliberations on the matter.
Assad’s refusal to concede any power in return for greater international recognition and potentially billions of dollars in reconstruction aid prompted rare public outbursts against the Syrian president this month in Russian publications with links to Putin.
“The Kremlin needs to get rid of the Syrian headache,” said Alexander Shumilin, a former Russian diplomat who runs the state-financed Europe-Middle East Center in Moscow. “The problem is with one person -- Assad -- and his entourage.”
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
The things you learn
Well, as readers would know, I have been looking at various Buddhist related stuff recently, which is how I found the (not actually Buddhist, but Indian) Spiritual Science Research Foundation.
Some of things I have learnt there are pretty remarkable:
That's handy to know. Next:
Huh.
And as for the spiritual realm and its effect on us all, the pie graphs makes it all very scientific and convincing:
There you go.
Some of things I have learnt there are pretty remarkable:
That's handy to know. Next:
And as for the spiritual realm and its effect on us all, the pie graphs makes it all very scientific and convincing:
There you go.
Just putting it out there
In my experience, the most arrogant, reluctant to help anyone with a genuine enquiry about something they know about, businesses in Australia are body corporate management companies.
They seem to rely on having fixed, multi-year contracts to the body corporate as meaning they don't have to take calls or provide a skerrick of information to anyone (including the residents of the building) other than the current Chairman of the body corporate.
They are terrible.
They seem to rely on having fixed, multi-year contracts to the body corporate as meaning they don't have to take calls or provide a skerrick of information to anyone (including the residents of the building) other than the current Chairman of the body corporate.
They are terrible.
COVID-19 depressing news
Noted this morning:
Update: why are Iranians so prone to the spread of crank rumours?:
Singapore reported 528 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Tuesday (Apr 28), bringing the national total to 14,951.And also on the CNA website:
The vast majority of the new cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary update.
In a later update, MOH said there were 10 cases in the community, of which seven were Singapore citizens or permanent residents; there were also two work pass holders and one visit pass holder who were infected.
Rome: Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 382 on Tuesday (Apr 28), against 333 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the total of people infected since the start of the outbreak topped 200,000.Over in Indonesia, no one really knows what is going on, it seems:
The daily tally of new infections stood at 2,091, higher than the 1,739 recorded on Monday.
The actual number of COVID-19 deaths in Indonesia may be substantially higher than officially reported as several regions have recorded hundreds of fatalities among patients under surveillance (PDPs), who are suspected of having contracted the highly contagious coronavirus.No one seems to understand why the UK has done so badly, too. Now they are worried about kids getting a dangerous condition possibly related to the virus:
Patients under surveillance refer to people with COVID-19 symptoms who have not been confirmed as having the disease, meaning that they are waiting either to be tested or for their test results to come back.
The central government's daily count of fatalities, at 773 as of Tuesday, does not include all PDPs who have died.
More than a dozen children have fallen ill with a new and potentially fatal combination of symptoms apparently linked to Covid-19, including a sore stomach and heart problems.On the upside: it's good to live in Australia, which does not seem to be getting the international attention it deserves for having apparently taken effective action that looks likely to all but eliminate it.
The children affected appear to have been struck by a form of toxic shock syndrome. All have been left so seriously unwell that they have had to be treated in intensive care.
At least one has received extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment, which is used when someone’s life is at risk because they can no longer breathe for themselves.
NHS bosses are so concerned that they have written to doctors alerting them to the emergence of these cases and asked them to urgently refer any children with similar symptoms to hospital.
Update: why are Iranians so prone to the spread of crank rumours?:
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The false belief that toxic methanol cures the coronavirus has seen over 700 people killed in Iran, an official said Monday.That represents a higher death toll than so far released by the Iranian Health Ministry.An adviser to the ministry, Hossein Hassanian, said that the difference in death tallies is because some alcohol poisoning victims died outside of hospital.“Some 200 people died outside of hospitals”, Hassanian told The Associated Press.Alcohol poisoning has skyrocketed by ten times over in Iran in the past year, according to a government report released earlier in April, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As Hillary said "what difference does it make?"
I don't quite understand the Australian bipartisan take on an independent inquiry into the origin of the current pandemic, with its big question mark over the role of China.
Doesn't everyone just take it as a given that the Chinese government is not to be entirely trusted in such matters? It's a fantasy to think they would pay reparations for not disclosing details sooner, or trying to cover it up, or whatever they did. And even if there was something really big to be found (escape of a bioweapon, for example, which no one serious seems to believe), the rest of the world is more likely to discover that via espionage or secret sources that would never expose themselves in an independent inquiry.
It just seems pretty pointless to me...
Doesn't everyone just take it as a given that the Chinese government is not to be entirely trusted in such matters? It's a fantasy to think they would pay reparations for not disclosing details sooner, or trying to cover it up, or whatever they did. And even if there was something really big to be found (escape of a bioweapon, for example, which no one serious seems to believe), the rest of the world is more likely to discover that via espionage or secret sources that would never expose themselves in an independent inquiry.
It just seems pretty pointless to me...
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
The tortilla project
Huh. I was "cooking" (toasting in a dry frying pan) some pre-made corn totillas the other night from a Mexican meal kit, and thinking how much I liked them. I didn't realise that making your own just involves a special cornmeal flour, and water:
Here's a short video by a woman originally from Mexico. They are simple - although it seems salt should be added too:
Of course, I don't have a tortilla press lying around at home. Maybe my next birthday present?
I will report in due course.
Homemade Tortillas Only Take Two IngredientsThis sounds like a cooking experiment worth trying.
Tortillas start with a dough made from regular old tap water and masa harina, a corn flour made from kernels that have been nixtamalized—soaked in an alkaline solution that softens them and makes them easier to digest. Then, those softened kernels are ground into a paste which is dried and sold as masa harina. All you have to do is add hot water to the dried corn to rehydrate—the resulting dough is similar to clay, and it’s quite easy to work with.
Here's a short video by a woman originally from Mexico. They are simple - although it seems salt should be added too:
Of course, I don't have a tortilla press lying around at home. Maybe my next birthday present?
I will report in due course.
An odd Buddhist thing
Here's something that I did not know about Buddhism. (Or some Buddhists.)
I just had someone explaining to me that they would want their death (assuming it is from a terminal illness) to be according to Buddhist principles, which are that a dying person does not have their close family around the death bed, for concern that it makes them more reluctant to give up their spirit (or consciousness, or whatever.) Apparently, the Buddhist way is that it is OK to have a couple of Buddhist people who aren't close to you in the room saying prayers, but the family (spouse included) stays outside. I asked about pain relief, and he said no, Buddhists are supposed to work through the pain as part of the natural order of things. (!) Having a clear mind at the point of death is important as it can affect the metaphysical outcome. So, no morphine for dying Buddhist cancer sufferers, apparently.
I have no time to check today how widespread within Buddhism this view is. I do not know well the person who was telling me this, but he seemed to be well into Buddhist belief. It's certainly pretty unappealing to our Western ideas of the value of close relatives being with their loved one as they die.
I wonder: I am aware that the Japanese medical system, in certain respects, is much less into pain relief than we are in Australia. (Endoscopy into the stomach with no twilight sedation; have to go to a special birth clinic if you expect gas or epidural to give pain relief.) Is this partly because of Buddhist pain stoicism?
Update: on the matter of pain relief, here is an extract from a nursing website discussing it in 2003. The attitude of the person I was speaking to today is very consistent with this:
I just had someone explaining to me that they would want their death (assuming it is from a terminal illness) to be according to Buddhist principles, which are that a dying person does not have their close family around the death bed, for concern that it makes them more reluctant to give up their spirit (or consciousness, or whatever.) Apparently, the Buddhist way is that it is OK to have a couple of Buddhist people who aren't close to you in the room saying prayers, but the family (spouse included) stays outside. I asked about pain relief, and he said no, Buddhists are supposed to work through the pain as part of the natural order of things. (!) Having a clear mind at the point of death is important as it can affect the metaphysical outcome. So, no morphine for dying Buddhist cancer sufferers, apparently.
I have no time to check today how widespread within Buddhism this view is. I do not know well the person who was telling me this, but he seemed to be well into Buddhist belief. It's certainly pretty unappealing to our Western ideas of the value of close relatives being with their loved one as they die.
I wonder: I am aware that the Japanese medical system, in certain respects, is much less into pain relief than we are in Australia. (Endoscopy into the stomach with no twilight sedation; have to go to a special birth clinic if you expect gas or epidural to give pain relief.) Is this partly because of Buddhist pain stoicism?
Update: on the matter of pain relief, here is an extract from a nursing website discussing it in 2003. The attitude of the person I was speaking to today is very consistent with this:
Gee. If I was a Western nurse/doctor, I would probably be a tad annoyed that I had to go to a lot more trouble with a Buddhist patient than just dosing them up with enough pain relief that they stop feeling pain.QUESTION: My patient is a Buddhist with end-stage colon cancer who keeps refusing pain medication. How can I help him manage his pain without infringing on his religious beliefs?ANSWER: Buddhism is an Eastern religion that's taken root in the United States. Its followers have a unique perspective on pain. Buddhists believe that suffering is part of life, to be expected, and that if a person experiences pain calmly, without becoming emotionally distressed, he can attain greater states of being.Preparation for death is an important part of Buddhism. Many religious practices focus on the moment of death and the immediate transition to the next life. Because Buddhists believe the mind must be as alert as possible at the time of death, many may decline pain medication or limit its use.Pain assessment for a Buddhist patient is the same as for any other patient. And, as with any patient, you should understand his pain control goals. A Buddhist patient may wish to withhold or limit the use of drugs that can cause drowsiness, such as opioids, so educate him about pain control choices that won't interfere with his goals. (Explain that drowsiness, for example, subsides after the first few days of opioid use.)Use the World Health Organization pain ladder to step up analgesic therapy for pain control. Using adjuvant medications, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, lets you give lower doses of opioids and so limit adverse opioid reactions, such as drowsiness. Obtain orders for additional pain relief, even if the patient initially declines it. You'll be ready to provide immediate relief if his pain suddenly intensifies and he changes his mind. Be sure to document his statements about pain control interventions and goals and monitor the effectiveness of any alternative interventions used.From a Buddhist perspective, pain can be offered as a sacrifice to benefit all beings and has long-term benefits in reaching a higher state of consciousness. Your patient may wish to perform religious rituals such as quiet reflection, chanting, meditation, and prayer. Allow him periods of time alone for these rituals.Quiet reflection is one of the most important practices for Buddhists. Help the patient create a small space in his room for pictures of religious leaders or ancestors, prayer beads, and flowers. This area helps him focus his energy and can help him manage pain.Chanting involves quietly repeating specific prayers or mantras many times. Other members of the religious community may participate in this practice with the patient. If he can't chant himself, the family may bring in tapes from services, which you can play for him during the day. An alternative intervention is to encourage him to slowly breathe deeply and focus on inhalation and exhalation.Meditation can provide the most satisfying and effective religious expression for Buddhists. Allow the patient quiet time to empty his mind of thoughts, or to visualize specific images, depending on his tradition. If possible, put him in a room away from noisy areas, such as the nurses' station. Document your interventions to show that you're individualizing the patient's care plan. Contact religious representatives as requested by the patient.
Movie reviews you didn't need
From my Netflix viewing:
* tried to watch 1922, based on a Stephen King short story. It got mostly good reviews, it seems, but I couldn't stick with it. My biggest issue was with the lead actor: his Southern drawl was actually hard to understand at many points, and his acting generally seemed to be just "too much". I didn't like the narration, either. As I have explained before, I am, generally speaking, a Stephen King sceptic - it is pretty rare that I find any project sourced in his stories to be anything more than just passable. (The one exception - Kubrick's version of The Shining - King hated.) This movie did nothing to swing my judgement about his oeuvre.
* Johnny English Strikes Again: the first two Rowan Atkinson vehicles were much better than I had expected. The third outing, form 2018, shows that they have run out of ideas, and Atkinson's acting seemed more desperate and Mr Bean than in the previous ones. (I am not so keen on the Mr Bean character, incidentally.) Not offensively bad; just a case of a franchise out of steam.
* Veronica: a Spanish 2017 supernatural thriller, this story of a teenage girl who seemingly has invited a haunting into her apartment by virtue of use of a ouija board with friends is actually pretty good, despite that set up sounding like it owes too much to The Exorcist or various other films whereby teenagers invite supernatural trouble into their lives that way. It's well directed, and well acted by its mainly young cast. (The movie made me realise -I think that Spanish movies often do very well with their child actors. Now that I think about it, it also confirmed another thing about Spanish language films - they have probably the least reluctance of any culture to showing full frontal - adult - male nudity.) The only slight downside is that it was said to be "based on a true story" which was well known in Spain (because of police involvement), but checking later revealed that the movie had exceptionally few actual similarities to the real story. Oh well.
* tried to watch 1922, based on a Stephen King short story. It got mostly good reviews, it seems, but I couldn't stick with it. My biggest issue was with the lead actor: his Southern drawl was actually hard to understand at many points, and his acting generally seemed to be just "too much". I didn't like the narration, either. As I have explained before, I am, generally speaking, a Stephen King sceptic - it is pretty rare that I find any project sourced in his stories to be anything more than just passable. (The one exception - Kubrick's version of The Shining - King hated.) This movie did nothing to swing my judgement about his oeuvre.
* Johnny English Strikes Again: the first two Rowan Atkinson vehicles were much better than I had expected. The third outing, form 2018, shows that they have run out of ideas, and Atkinson's acting seemed more desperate and Mr Bean than in the previous ones. (I am not so keen on the Mr Bean character, incidentally.) Not offensively bad; just a case of a franchise out of steam.
* Veronica: a Spanish 2017 supernatural thriller, this story of a teenage girl who seemingly has invited a haunting into her apartment by virtue of use of a ouija board with friends is actually pretty good, despite that set up sounding like it owes too much to The Exorcist or various other films whereby teenagers invite supernatural trouble into their lives that way. It's well directed, and well acted by its mainly young cast. (The movie made me realise -I think that Spanish movies often do very well with their child actors. Now that I think about it, it also confirmed another thing about Spanish language films - they have probably the least reluctance of any culture to showing full frontal - adult - male nudity.) The only slight downside is that it was said to be "based on a true story" which was well known in Spain (because of police involvement), but checking later revealed that the movie had exceptionally few actual similarities to the real story. Oh well.
Monday, April 27, 2020
Rare sights in Japan
Just stumbled across a site with links to live Youtube feeds in Japan.
This one which I find the most remarkable: a near deserted looking entry to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Just the occasional person walking through what is probably the busiest tourist temple in Tokyo:
There is another live feed, with a nice view of the actual temple area, but I can't embed it. The link is here though.
The relative lack of pedestrians, and depleted vehicle traffic, at the famous Shibuya crossing is also worth a look:
This one which I find the most remarkable: a near deserted looking entry to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Just the occasional person walking through what is probably the busiest tourist temple in Tokyo:
There is another live feed, with a nice view of the actual temple area, but I can't embed it. The link is here though.
The relative lack of pedestrians, and depleted vehicle traffic, at the famous Shibuya crossing is also worth a look:
Consequences
A headline at Vox:
Governors say Trump’s disinfectant comments prompted hundreds of poison center calls
Governors from both parties warn that people take what the president says seriously, even if he doesn’t.
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