Via White Crane Institute / This Day in Gay History April 02 Born - HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN,

Hans Christian Andersen

1805 -

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, born, (d: 1875); Forget the silly Danny Gay, um...er...Kaye movie of yesteryear in which Hans sings to inchworms and measures all the marigolds. Anderson was an odd duck, all right, but odd in ways not even hinted at in that Technicolor monstrosity.

The real story, on the contrary, might actually make a good film. One can already see the scene between his poor parents as they realize something is a little strange about the lad. When the other kids are out doing masculine things, like circle jerks and pulling wings off flies, all he wants to do is sew clothes for his dolls. 

Then we can have the scene where he decides to leave his place as an apprentice to a tailor to try to make it as an opera singer. He’s really torn about leaving, because he just loves being surrounded by all those clothes to sew. Then there’s his time of starvation on the road until he’s taken in by two Gay musicians who see to it that the hunky young man is plenty stuffed.

Passed on to a middle-aged poet, and getting a little wiser, he decides it’s much more fun being kept than taking dancing lessons, as he had originally wanted, in return for services rendered. Eventually he makes it big as the greatest fairy tale writer in Europe and the entire cast joins in the great production number, “It Takes One to Write One.”

Via Daily Dharma: Restoring Order During Painful Times

Realizing one is simply part of the machinery, or the music, of the universe, with its resonating structure of wave patterns: this one giving rise to this one, giving rise to this one … to hear this music, piercing as it is, restores a measure of order in the havoc of pain.

—Noelle Oxenhandler, “A Streetcar in Your Stomach”

Via Daily Dharma: What Can Inspire Your Practice?

Experience is the seed of aspiration, the deeply rooted commitment to know. That aspiration then drives one into the difficult and transformative realm of spiritual pursuit, into the realm of practice.

—Adam Frank, “In the Light of Truth”

Via White Crane Institute / RACHEL MADDOW

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Rachel Maddow

1973 -

Today is the birthday of American television anchor and political commentator RACHEL MADDOW. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio. She was also a guest host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Race for the White House.

Maddow now hosts a preeminent nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC and she was the first out Gay anchor to be hired to host a prime-time news program in the United States.  Rachel (don't you feel like you can call her by her first name even if you haven't actually ever been introduced?) earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994. At graduation, she was awarded the John Gardner Fellowship.

She was also the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship and began her postgraduate study in 1995 at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 2001, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University. Her doctoral thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons. She was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.

Maddow wrote Drift, which examines attitudes toward and policies about war. It was hailed by every critic as a concise and well thought out treatise of the subject. Her analysis is on point at every turn. 

In these troubled days she is must-watch television (even if she is annoyingly repetitive and pedantic from time to time…Rachel…hire a good editor!...we love you!)

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - April 1, 2020 💌

"The path to freedom is through detachment from your old habits of ego. Slowly you will arrive at a new and more profound integration of your experiences in a more evolved structure of the universe. That is, you will flow beyond the boundaries of your ego until ultimately you merge into the universe. At that point, you have gone beyond ego. Until then you must break through old structures, develop broader structures, break through those, and develop still broader structures. "

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Notice the Truth of the Moment

Noticing what is taking place—as opposed to what one wishes would take place, or what one fears might take place, or what one grieves over as having already taken place—is a way of life that is completely free of all self-imposed restrictions and conflicting states of mind.

—Diana St. Ruth, “The Way”

Via Daily Dharma: Waking Up on Your Own

The Buddhist prohibition against intoxicants isn’t about bad drugs versus good drugs. It’s about learning to wake up on your own.

—Brad Warner, “The Enlightenment Pill”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 29, 2020 💌

"Each of us is living in our own universe, created out of our projected attachments. That’s what we mean when we say, 'You create your own universe.' We are creating that universe because of our attachments, which can also be avoidances and fears. As we develop spiritually and see how it all is, more and more we keep consuming and neutralizing our own reactivity.
Each time we see ourselves reacting we’re saying, 'Right, and this situation too, and this one too, Tat Tvam Asi, and that also, and that also, and that also.' Gradually the attachments start to lose their pull and to fall away. We get so that we’re perfectly willing to do whatever we do – and to do it perfectly and without attachment. "

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Break the Cycle of Reaction

When there is no attachment or identification with thoughts and feelings, there is no reactive push into action creating more doing, more karma. … We get to the point where our acts are not done out of attachment but instead are just done as they’re done, and no new stuff is being created.

—Ram Dass, “Karmuppance”

Via FB:

Saiu a Modelagem Estatística do Imperial College London para os Cenários do COVID-19 no Brasil

Antes, uma introdução. No começo da pandemia o governo do Reino Unido havia decidido apostar em uma estratégia de “imunidade de massa”, que consistia em não tomar medidas restritivas; em vez de parar o país, deixariam que o vírus infectasse a população de modo que rapidamente as pessoas pudessem ficar imunizadas.

Porém, o governo do Reino Unido desistiu dessa ideia quando uma equipe de especialistas epidemiológicos do Imperial College of London apresentou uma previsão de como se desenrolaria a disseminação do COVID-19 em diferentes cenários de contenção para o Reino Unido e para os Estados Unidos. Para elaborar essa previsão, utilizaram dados de contágio, estatísticas de hospitalização e óbitos vistos em outros países, estudaram como o vírus se dissemina em diferentes ambientes etc..

Como um breve resumo: se circular livremente, o vírus tem a capacidade de infectar cerca de 80% da população geral em um período muito curto. Das pessoas infectadas, cerca de 20% precisam de hospitalização, 5% dos casos são críticos e precisam de UTI e suporte respiratório, e cerca de metade dos casos críticos vêm a óbito.

No entanto, o súbito aumento de casos ultrapassa a capacidade do sistema de saúde, gerando colapso, e disso resulta um número muito maior de mortes — de covid-19, assim como de outras causas — simplesmente porque não há hospital para tratar todas as pessoas que precisam.

Segundo a previsão, se não houver restrições nos contatos, no mundo inteiro seriam 7 bilhões de pessoas infectadas com covid-19 e 40 milhões de mortes neste ano.

Os números previstos por esses estudos fizeram com que governos desistissem das posturas mais relaxadas e tomassem as medidas mais restritivas para evitar o colapso do sistema de saúde e um número muito maior de mortes.

Ontem, no dia 26/03/2020, o Imperial College of London soltou números previstos para os desfechos da pandemia em todos os países, nos cenários sem intervenção, com mitigação, e com supressão.

Mitigação envolve proteger os idosos (reduzir 60% dos contatos) e restringir apenas 40% dos contatos do restante da população.

Supressão envolve testar e isolar os casos positivos, e estabelecer distanciamento social para toda a população.

Supressão precoce – implementada em uma fase em que há 0,2 mortes por 100.000 habitantes por semana e mantida

Supressão tardia – implementada quando há 1,6 mortes por 100.000 habitantes por semana e mantida.

No Brasil os cenários previstos são os seguintes:

Cenário 1- Sem medidas de mitigação:

- População total: 212.559.409

- População infectada: 187.799.806

- Mortes: 1.152.283

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 6.206.514

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 1.527.536

Cenário 2 - Com distanciamento social de toda a população:

- População infectada: 122.025.818

- Mortes: 627.047

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 3.496.359

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 831.381

Cenário 3 - Com distanciamento social E REFORÇO do distanciamento dos idosos:

- População infectada: 120.836.850

- Mortes: 529.779

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 3.222.096

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 702.497

Cenário 4 – Com supressão tardia

- População infectada: 49.599.016

- Mortes: 206.087

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 1.182.457

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 460.361

- Demanda por hospitalização no pico da pandemia: 460.361

- Demanda por leitos de UTI no pico da pandemia: 97.044

Cenário 5 – Com supressão precoce

- População infectada: 11.457.197

- Mortes: 44.212

- Indivíduos necessitando hospitalização: 250.182

- Indivíduos necessitando UTI: 57.423

- Demanda por hospitalização no pico da pandemia: 72.398

- Demanda por leitos de UTI no pico da pandemia: 15.432

Faço algumas observações:

Os próprios autores do estudo comentam que modelaram essas curvas com base nos padrões de dispersão dos países ricos e que nos países pobres os resultados da pandemia podem ser piores do que o previsto. Esses números previstos não levam em conta a existência de favelas, comunidades sem abastecimento de água e/ou saneamento, entre outros complicadores que temos no Brasil.

É preciso comentar que os números reais da pandemia no Brasil, seus casos e óbitos, estarão amplamente subnotificados devido à falta de testes e demora nos resultados. As estatísticas oficiais publicadas pelo Ministério da Saúde mostrarão apenas a ponta do iceberg.

Mesmo nos melhores cenários, lentificando a transmissão e aumentando os recursos do sistema de saúde, deve faltar UTI e respirador para parte dos doentes.

Em resumo, a diferença entre ficarmos todos em casa (supressão) ou adotar uma estratégia mais branda de mitigação e proteção apenas dos grupos de risco pode ser da ordem de MEIO MILHÃO de vidas.

Os diversos relatórios estão disponíveis no site do Imperial College of London: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/news--wuhan-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR0GeexFNu6ezOVclPBVW5x3Z3yOn5N1X6siDO5P7ezUOm_UwOUu31RBoAY

Link para o trabalho “The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression”: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-Impact-26-03-2020.pdf

As tabelas com os números oferecidos constam no apêndice: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx

Robin S - Show Me Love (Official Music Video) [1993]

Via Daily Dharma: Forgive Yourself for Failing

Falling down is what we humans do. If we can acknowledge that fact, judgment softens and we allow the world to be as it is, forgiving ourselves and others for our humanity.

—Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”

Via Insight Meditation Sangha

Firm confidence in the Buddha;

Firm confidence in the Dharma;

Firm confidence in the Community;

Being accomplished in noble virtue.

~ Bhikku Anālayo ~

May you be healthy, happy, safe and protected, and may we all find peace and liberation in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, and in noble virtue.

Via Daily Dharma: Getting Along with People Who Bother You

A Buddhist practices nonattachment to views. If we human beings are going to stick around on this earth, we need to learn to get along not just with the people who share our views, but also, and more to the point, with the people who get our goat. And remember—we get their goat, too.

—Susan Moon, “Ten Practices to Change the World”

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - March 26, 2020 💌

"The universe is made up of experiences that are designed to burn out our reactivity, which is our attachment, our clinging, to pain, to pleasure, to fear, to all of it. And as long as there are places where we’re vulnerable, the universe will find ways to confront us with them. That’s the way the dance is designed..."

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: How to Respond to Anger

If you are angry and you meditate to get rid of your anger, you will only frustrate yourself. Meditate because you are angry, not to eliminate it.

—Mark Epstein, “I’ve Been Meditating for Ten Years, and I’m Still Angry. What’s the Matter with Me?”

One Day More - A Quarantined #BroadwayLipSync

Via the Gay Buddhist Fellowship in San Franciso

“The more closely we contemplate our bodies and minds and the world we live in, the more profoundly we become aware of the fragility and instability. When a crisis like this pandemic lays bare the unreliable and uncertain nature of the world, we are unsurprised. We know that what is happening right now is not a deviation from the norm. It is merely that the covers have been dragged away from truths that most people spend their lives trying to ignore. With a daily grounding in the way things are, we can remain free from panic, anxiety, and depression. We can turn our minds to compassion.

Faced with a suffering of this depth and range, we form the heartfelt wish that all people, young and old, in all countries of the world be free from infection. If they have contracted the virus, may they recover. If they do not recover may they be able to endure their pain with patience and acceptance; may they have a refuge in their heart to turn to; and in their final days may they be surrounded by love and kindness.”

~Ajahn Jayasaro