Happy Holidays!

Death Stranding

One HCC Drug Study... May not relate to your Uncle's actual diagnosis/treatment

Source
...and yes, these results would not be as optimistic...as 9 months would be the 50% PFS... and it walks all the way down to 10% at 2 years future.

...and the comparison is to a placebo (aka - non-treatment), not a "standard" drug therapy treatment... meaning this particular case shown (may not be your uncle's) is a first generation treatment.

It's Better Now

Miracles of Modern Science

Why I'm optimistic...

...the curve flattens out at ~50%, and the newer study started from a healthier (and perhaps more representative) base.

Who?

Interrogating the White Rabbit...

The aim of the Kubark/ Alice in Wonderland or confusion technique is to confound the expectations and conditioned reactions of the interrogatee. He is accustomed to a world that makes some sense, at least to him: a world of continuity and logic, a predictable world. He clings to this world to reinforce his identity and powers of resistance.

The confusion technique is designed not only to obliterate the familiar but to replace it with the weird. Although this method can be employed by a single interrogator, it is better adapted to use by two or three. When the subject enters the room, the first interrogator asks a doubletalk question — one which seems straightforward but is essentially nonsensical. Whether the interrogatee tries to answer or not, the second interrogator follows up (interrupting any attempted response) with a wholly unrelated and equally illogical query. Sometimes two or more questions are asked simultaneously. Pitch, tone, and volume of the interrogators’ voices are unrelated to the import of the questions. No pattern of questions and answers is permitted to develop, nor do the questions themselves relate logically to each other. In this strange atmosphere the subject finds that the pattern of speech and thought which he has learned to consider normal have been replaced by an eerie meaninglessness. The interrogatee may start laughing or refuse to take the situation seriously. But as the process continues, day after day if necessary, the subject begins to try to make sense of the situation, which becomes mentally intolerable. Now he is likely to make significant admissions, or even to pour out his story, just to stop the flow of babble which assails him. This technique may be especially effective with the orderly, obstinate type.

Lazy Eye

Shroomin'

Last Words

What's Your Story?

Happy Halloween!

Strange Happenings....

The Goal

One Day Like This...

Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off the heavy one
Yeah, heavy like a loaded gun

What made me behave that way?
Using words I never say
I can only think it must be love
Oh, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

Someone tell me how I feel
It's silly wrong but vivid right
Oh, kiss me like a final meal
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight

'Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with you half awake
Stumbling over what to say...
Why, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

So throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year'd we'll see me right

So throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year'd see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year'd we'll sing it right

'Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see you like
'Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light

So throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year'd see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year'd we'll sing it right

On Questing...

Concerto for a Rainy Day

Waiting for the Moment

ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς

To Delight in Accomplishments is the Food of the Gods

Sing to Me....

Lie to Me

Goin' Cuckoo

Starship Troopers

Eighth Grade...

Disconnecting from...

Modern Leadership

Snail Mail Live

Clairo

"Little Fishes"


Mercury makes its way into
The skin of little fishes who
Swim across the vast and murky
Mucky, mild terrain

They make their way onto the dishes
Of men who gobble little fishes
As the mercury settles in
Their soft and supple brains

Gone are the days
Gone are the days
When you can stick your toes in without a second thought
Gone are the days
When you can get your mind wet without the fear of rot
Where did the Pillsbury Doughboy go wrong?
When did blingy little weasels kill the protest song?

When will the youth get on its hind legs?
Is the Golden Goose laying 3D printed eggs?
When will the Easter Bunny come
And hop it all away?

Gone are the days
Gone are the days
When you didn't need WiFi to help you find someone to kiss
Gone are the days
When your brand of genitalia would determine where to piss
Mr. Owl, he cheats to reach the center of the pop
Scarecrow, better hold your breath while Roundup's being doused upon your crops

When will the youth get on its hind legs?
Is the Golden Goose still laying 3D printed eggs?
When will Ben Kenobi come
And saber it all away?

Mercury makes its way into
The skin of little fishes who
Swim across the vast and murky
Mucky, mild terrain

They make their way onto the dishes
Of men who gobble little fishes
As the mercury settles in
Their soft and supple brains

Mercury makes its way into skins of little fishes who...

Balloons of Doubt...

Dancing Through Life

It isn't easy...

Pablo

Greeting the New Day...

Got Wabi Sabi, Kimo Sabe?

Sustained Vibrancy...

Songs of India

Runnin'...

Twinning

h/t - Jen Brill

Altered Realities

Silver Alert!

A Matter of Taste...?

There is an ancient Sufi parable about coffee:

"He who tastes, knows; he who tastes not, knows not."

"He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils)-a nature which in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and-foul to others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven or in earth, or in any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is. This, my dear Socrates," said the stranger of Mantineia, "is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold, and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and conversing with them without meat or drink, if that were possible-you only want to look at them and to be with them. But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty-the divine beauty, I mean, pure and dear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and vanities of human life-thither looking, and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life?"

Plato, "Symposium"
...something to take to the grave.

Shrinking? Violets

Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew,
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head,
As if to hide from view.

And yet it was a lovely flower,
Its colours bright and fair;
It might have graced a rosy bower,
Instead of hiding there,

Yet there it was content to bloom,
In modest tints arrayed;
And there diffused its sweet perfume,
Within the silent shade.

Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility.

-Jane Taylor, "The Violet"

Dreamland...

Courage!!!

Even the most courageous among us only rarely has the courage for that which he really knows.

4 The error of imaginary causes. To begin with dreams: ex post facto, a cause is slipped under a particular sensation (for example, one following a far-off cannon shot)--often a whole little novel in which the dreamer turns up as the protagonist. The sensation endures meanwhile in a kind of resonance: it waits, as it were, until the causal instinct permits it to step into the foreground--now no longer as a chance occurrence, but as "meaning." The cannon shot appears in a causal mode, in an apparent reversal of time. What is really later, the motivation, is experienced first--often with a hundred details which pass like lightning and the shot follows. What has happened? The representations which were produced by a certain state have been misunderstood as its causes.

In fact, we do the same thing when awake. Most of our general feelings--every kind of inhibition, pressure, tension, and explosion in the play and counterplay of our organs, and particularly the state of the nervus sympaticus--excite our causal instinct: we want to have a reason for feeling this way or that--for feeling bad or for feeling good. We are never satisfied merely to state the fact that we feel this way or that: we admit this fact only--become conscious of it only--when we have furnished some kind of motivation. Memory, which swings into action in such cases, unknown to us, brings up earlier states of the same kind, together with the causal interpretations associated with them--not their real causes. The faith, to be sure, that such representations, such accompanying conscious processes are the causes is also brought forth by memory. Thus originates a habitual acceptance of a particular causal interpretation, which, as a matter of fact, inhibits any investigation into the real cause--even precludes it.

5 The psychological explanation of this. To derive something unknown from something familiar relieves, comforts, and satisfies, besides giving a feeling of power. With the unknown, one is confronted with danger, discomfort, and care; the first instinct is to abolish these painful states. First principle: any explanation is better than none. Since at bottom it is merely a matter of wishing to be rid of oppressive representations, one is not too particular about the means of getting rid of them: the first representation that explains the unknown as familiar feels so good that one "considers it true." The proof of pleasure ("of strength") as a criterion of truth.

The causal instinct is thus conditional upon, and excited by, the feeling of fear. The "why?" shall, if at all possible, not give the cause for its own sake so much as for a particular kind of cause--a cause that is comforting, liberating, and relieving. That it is something already familiar, experienced, and inscribed in the memory, which is posited as a cause, that is the first consequence of this need. That which is new and strange and has not been experienced before, is excluded as a cause. Thus one searches not only for some kind of explanation to serve as a cause, but for a particularly selected and preferred kind of explanation--that which has most quickly and most frequently abolished the feeling of the strange, new, and hitherto unexperienced: the most habitual explanations. Consequence: one kind of positing of causes predominates more and more, is concentrated into a system and finally emerges as dominant, that is, as simply precluding other causes and explanations. The banker immediately thinks of "business," the Christian of "sin," and the girl of her love.

--Nietzsche, "Twilight of the Idols"

The Sweet Hereafter...

I'm on My Way

A Drug Called Memories...

Dance?

Tabula Rasa

Mr. Husband

UpTempo Shift

Life in a Kingdom of One...?

Blue Skies Again?

Head in the Clouds....

The Conquering Worm

Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!

That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Conqueror Worm" (1843)


...as for me, life goes on inside the whale. I won't dance the Marxist two-step or the global capitalist jig. Laissez-faire had captured my heart. There's a sense of calm at the heart of the vortex. ;)

Hello?

Light Speed

You can't be pure AND in love...

Bad Guys

Old California

Marcel Duchamp

Retro Noir

I summarized "The Stranger" a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: 'In our society any man who does not weep at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.' I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.

-Camus, (January 1955)

Place Your Bets...

More on "the Bird Streets".

A Fool's Overture...

...reprised
History recalls how great the fall can be
While everybody's sleeping, the boats put out to sea
Borne on the wings of time
It seemed the answers were so easy to find
"To late," the prophets (profits) cry
The island's sinking, let's take to the sky

Called the man a fool, striped him of his pride
Everyone was laughing up until the day he died
And though the wound went deep
Still he's calling us out of our sleep
My friends, we're not alone
He waits in silence to lead us all home

So tell me that you find it hard to grow
Well I know, I know, I know
And you tell me that you've many seeds to sow
Well I know, I know, I know

Can you hear what I'm saying
Can you see the parts that I'm playing
"Holy Man, Rocker Man, Come on Queenie,
Joker Man, Spider Man, Blue Eyed Meanie"

So you found your solution
What will be your last contribution?
"Live it up, rip it up, why so lazy?
Give it out, dish it out, let's go crazy,
Yeah!"

Holi-Weird

So Long...

Diwali

from Wikipedia

Diwali, Deepavali or Dipavali is Hindu and Jain festival of lights, which is celebrated every autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in southern hemisphere). One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, Diwali symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance." Light is a metaphor for knowledge and consciousness. During the celebration, temples, homes, shops and office buildings are brightly illuminated. The preparations, and rituals, for the festival typically last five days, with the climax occurring on the third day coinciding with the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, the festival generally falls between mid-October and mid-November.

In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants will prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces. During the climax, revellers adorn themselves in their finest clothes, illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes with diyas (oil lamps or candles), offer puja (worship) to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth,[note 1] light fireworks, and partake in family feasts, where mithai (sweets) and gifts are shared. Diwali is also a major cultural event for the Hindu and Jain diaspora from the Indian subcontinent.

The five-day festival originated in the Indian subcontinent and is mentioned in early Sanskrit texts. The names of the festive days of Diwali, as well as the rituals, vary by region. Diwali is usually celebrated eighteen days after the Dussehra (Dasara, Dasain) festival with Dhanteras, or the regional equivalent, marking the first day of the festival when celebrants prepare by cleaning their homes and making decorations on the floor, such as rangoli. The second day is Choti Diwali, or equivalent in north India, while for Hindus in the south of India it is Diwali proper. Western, central, eastern and northern Indian communities observe Diwali on the third day and the darkest night of the traditional month. In some parts of India, the day after Diwali is marked with the Govardhan Puja and Diwali Padva, which is dedicated to the relationship between wife and husband. Some Hindu communities mark the last day as Bhai Dooj, which is dedicated to the bond between sister and brother, while other Hindu and Sikh craftsmen communities mark this day as Vishwakarma Puja and observe it by performing maintenance in their work spaces and offering prayers.

GiddyUp!

Hopping on the Bandwagon

Tell Me When You've Reached 'Capacity'

Who's Art is it, Anyway?

kitsch/kiCH: noun 1. art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way.

...a Stranger's Fear

...at the Heart of Love

A Stranger's Love...

FOMO/FOBO/FODA/Hypergamy

Valentine's Day

Oy!

...the countdown to Holi (3/20-21) begins!

Well, Well, Well...

THAT crazed girl improvising her music.
Her poetry, dancing upon the shore,

Her soul in division from itself
Climbing, falling She knew not where,
Hiding amid the cargo of a steamship,
Her knee-cap broken, that girl I declare
A beautiful lofty thing, or a thing
Heroically lost, heroically found.

No matter what disaster occurred
She stood in desperate music wound,
Wound, wound, and she made in her triumph
Where the bales and the baskets lay
No common intelligible sound
But sang, 'O sea-starved, hungry sea.'

William Butler Yeats, "A Crazed Girl"

---
The girl goes dancing there
On the leaf-sown, new-mown, smooth
Grass plot of the garden;
Escaped from bitter youth,
Escaped out of her crowd,
Or out of her black cloud.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!

If strange men come from the house
To lead her away, do not say
That she is happy being crazy;
Lead them gently astray;
Let her finish her dance,
Let her finish her dance.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!

William Butler Yeats, "Sweet Dancer"

Innocence Stolen

Innocence Lost

Der Ubermenschen

O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad.
O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad.
Hi. I'm not home right now. But if you want to leave a
Message, just start talking at the sound of the tone.
Hello? This is your Mother. Are you there? Are you
Coming home?
Hello? Is anybody home? Well, you don't know me,
But I know you.
And I've got a message to give to you.
Here come the planes.
So you better get ready. Ready to go. You can come
As you are, but pay as you go. Pay as you go.
And I said: OK. Who is this really? And the voice said:
This is the hand, the hand that takes. This is the
Hand, the hand that takes.
This is the hand, the hand that takes.
Here come the planes.
They're American planes. Made in America.
Smoking or non-smoking?
And the voice said: Neither snow nor rain nor gloom
Of night shall stay these couriers from the swift
Completion of their appointed rounds.
'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justive is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms. So hold me,
Mom, in your long arms.
In your automatic arms. Your electronic arms.
In your arms.
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
Your petrochemical arms. Your military arms.
In your electronic arms.

Why No Do Over's...?

Getting Better...

No Do Overs!

Zepparella

Insanity...

...is doing the same thing, over and over, expecting a different result.