l_davis

Interesting. Money in the US has "In God We Trust," and it's not inherently religious. So I'm not sure the proclamation makes Thanksgiving religious. The origins might, though. I don't know enough about it to tell, and I'm not sure I care enough to research it. I don't really celebrate it as other than a day off from work though. Travel is a nightmare at that time, and, although this may sound like humblebragging, I try to be grateful at all times anyway.

Could be going down the rabbit hole with this comment, but cancer is an extremely generic term - lots of different organ and cell types. And smoking is also less well defined than one might think - additives to cigarettes and paper are not, I believe, considered in most studies. And not all smokers develop cancer. I had two relatives who were heavy smokers and lived until their late 80s and didn't die from cancer. To summarize, there is lots that we don't know about cancer.

So I would agree that this could be out of the box thinking that could have some truth to it. But I also doubt that research will be done in that direction unless there is some proof that justifies the expenditure. So we're likely to not know for sure, and most will assume it's not true.

Many of the people who participated in these events are realizing the consequences, and trying to hide their actions. Good for these groups for preserving the records.

The larger services engage in predatory practices.

From the article:

"With deep pockets, the dominant app companies have devised ways to put pressure on restaurant owners to sign contracts with them, including downloading menus without restaurants’ consent and then offering their own delivery. Grubhub registered internet domain names of tens of thousands of independent restaurants. Legislators should curtail such anticompetitive practices."

Another factor you're not looking at is long Covid - https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4470 - affects the young, and total consequences not yet known because this is new.

I am sympathetic to effects on the economy, schools, etc. of lockdowns. However, it seems that those that are against lockdowns are also against actions like mask wearing that would limit spread if more universally practiced.

You might want to take a look at hospitalization rates for Covid. Here's data for Virginia, for example - https://data.virginia.gov/Government/VDH-COVID-19-PublicUseD...

Lots of people under 55 hospitalized. If there is more stress on health care, some of these people won't get optimal care and will die.

In my sect of Buddhism, we don't do "contemplation of death" meditation. What we are taught is to consider our last moment before death, so we can approach it (which is the beginning of our existence in death) in the proper way. And that, in my understanding, boils down to establishing the correct foundation during our life.

I was being sarcastic; should not have assumed that would have been understood.

Certainly room for improvement regarding Japan's Covid's management strategy, but I live in the US so shouldn't really throw stones from my glass house.

Not surprising. Haven't seen much if anything of him in the media since he announced Japan's complete victory over Covid 19 right before things started reopening.

Can't tell what his lineage is from what I have read.

The temple that I belong to was founded in Japan. The honorifics we use to describe our High Priest and other priests are never used by then to describe themselves. That posture is consistent in Japanese society in general, not just the sect of Buddhism I belong to. So this does seem very strange to me.

Wow. The author of this book calls himself an arhat. That is, shall I say, presumptuous? Not what I think I would look for in a Buddhist teacher (though, full disclosure, I practice Buddhism with a school I am very happy with so already have some opinions on the subject).

Masks alone are probably not enough. But they do seem to help when combined with other preventative measures.

My impression in the US is that people continue not to take this seriously, which causes us to be lax in the basic measures that could get this under control. Very frustrating.

On the positive side, looks like the R1 for most US states is below 1 - https://rt.live/

As mentioned in the article, there are advantages to face shields. I'm particularly interested in them because I have heard complaints about masks from people who say they have difficultly breathing with a mask.

Hopefully there will be some discussion here.

My two cents (as someone who also has a medical condition, albeit not as life threatening as yours, that is not taken seriously by many and who makes much of their living by writing) -

People don't necessarily believe what others say about their own medical condition. My doctors agree about mine, I have tangible measurable results, yet some people, both online and in real life, don't believe me. Getting spun up over that is not the most effective use of my time and energy and it may not be the best use of yours.

On getting paid, I do get paid enough to live on, but I have worked for hire and haven't put content in the internet and expected that it would get monetized. Maybe finding more ways to work for hire (which iirc you already do)? I don't know much about the Patreon model, but I checked a YouTuber I follow with a very large subscriber base as an example. His Patreon base is much smaller. If that is representative that might not be a good way to get a reliable income.

Some of us don't have the space for a separate home office. That being said, I WFHed part time before the pandemic, so the new part for me is being home 100 percent of the time. My workspace is a table in my (multipurpose) living room. I've made a small tweak or two since the pandemic but it is basically the same as before. My work and personal habits are better since the pandemic started. Several reasons. Part is that it is springtime, and I am much less of a couch potato naturally then. And the other part is that I have been taking the risks of getting sick and the associated issues like the economic problems seriously and making conscious efforts to take care of my health, reorganize my home, take steps towards bolstering my economic security, etc. I think that small distractions are OK (it's actually unhealthy to stay in your chair for too long) as long as they are kept under control.

If you watch the videos by Dr John Campbell (British public health expert), he talks about Vitamin D all the time. He also expresses his frustration that this isn't given more attention.

Japan is doing that - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/from-aben...

Not received very well for several reasons. But I have to say, as a US resident, I am impressed to see that Japanese TV shows politicians and others in public wearing masks now. While it's encouraging that the CDC now recommends use, wearing them is great from normalized yet.

Can you tell us what training/experience was required to become a Reiki master? Is there some kind of exam?

Are you sure it's not taken seriously by those who need need the solution? Do you have any way of knowing how many people have investigated/signed up as a result of your suggestion?

Normalize the user of cloth masks.

If you are going out for an extended period of time, carry an extra mask with you so you can change it if it gets wet.

Homemade cloth masks could supplement social distancing and help prevent asymptomatic people from spreading the disease.

Where I live, we have a long way to go to perfectly implement social distancing. Given the severity of the pandemic, anything to help stop the spread should be considered and implemented.

Ultimately we need to change our nature, but that's most likely off topic here.

Japan's numbers are probably low because of limited testing. Still somewhat reasonable to compare against countries that also have limited testing.

Regarding the presentation of the data, I've seem enough poorly formatted presentations over the years to say that is unique to Japan.

The article didn't mention cloth masks. Not the protection of medical grade masks to be sure, but they do lessen the probability that the wearer will infect others. Which will slow the spread.

I love that - going to share the link on my social media.

I really like that you can see the doubling rate.

Would love to be able to drill down by county but that would likely be a PIA to do as would most likely require finding and integrating lots of different data sources.

If the public used cotton masks, it would help and wouldn't take masks away from health care workers. If this were more normalized, the rate of spread could be lowered.

Gluten free does not escape a negative reputation. There are many people who follow a gluten free diet because it's somewhat of a fad, and there are many others who, as a result, don't take it seriously.

As someone who is gluten free because I can't tolerate gluten, I would add that, for those who don't have that issue, gluten free food is not always the healthiest choice. In particular, gluten free baking is tricky, and gluten free baked goods are generally much higher in sugar.

People often mock gluten free labeling for products that should either be obviously gluten free or are not food. But the range of gluten sensitivity does vary, and there are people who react to gluten in cosmetics (where it can be added). There are also cases where gluten is added to food where it would not be expected.

If you are gluten free because you can't tolerate gluten, that labeling is very helpful.

I practice Buddhism. The primary practice of the sect I follow is to chant.

When I chant, I feel better mentally. I have seen others do the same.

I doubt that a scientific study has been done on this. I have no idea how you could do that and control all the variables.

It's something anyone who wants to can try, though you can only go so far without a teacher and some kind of community. And if you live in a country where religious freedom is limited, there would also be challenges.