Wednesday: Hili dialogue

January 4, 2023 • 6:15 am

It’s the first Hump Day of the year (” 험프 데이” in Korean): Wednesday, January 4, 2023, and National Spaghetti Day. Does bucatini count? I prefer it to spaghetti, as it’s a bit thicker and has a hole through the middle to hold more sauce. I was introduced to this hard-to-get pasta by a reader last year, and recommend using it instead of spaghetti, though the Italiians would be upset by that idea:

It’s also Dimpled Chad Day (2 days before Congress certified W.’s election in 2000), World Hypnotism Day, World Braille Day, the eleventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and National Trivia Day. Here’s a trivia question for you:

What was the name of the only painting Vincent Van Gogh sold in his lifetime?  (Answer below the fold):

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this by consulting the January 4 Wikipedia page.

Wine of the Day: I assume that if you like wine, $10 is within your psychological price barrier. And that’s what you’ll pay for this terrific Albariño from Spain, redolent of peaches, cantaloupe and butterscotch, slightly off dry, gutsy, and with a lovely golden color. I’ve often touted Spanish whites like Albariños and Ruedas as great values, and this is one example.  It went well with my simple meal of goat cheese, black Niçoise olives, tomatoes, and a baguette.

If you want value for your money—and who doesn’t?—start investigating the Spanish whites. (Reds, too, though the good ones are pricier but still great value.) Drink it up now—it’s at its peak at a bit over two years old and won’t get much better.

Da Nooz:

*The House of Representatives, now dominated by Republicans, needs to choose a Speaker. It’s not widely known that the Speaker of the House needn’t be a member of the House, but the favorite is Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. But there’s a coterie of extreme right-wing Republicans who don’t want him in charge, and so far they’ve managed to block two votes to confirm him as Speaker. (Here’s a list of those who voted against him.)

As the 118th Congress convened on Tuesday, the election for House speaker devolved into a pitched floor fight, with a mutiny among hard-right lawmakers creating chaos not seen in the chamber in a century.

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, failed to win the speakership on the first and second votes, turning what was to be a triumphant moment for the new G.O.P. majority into a political crisis that exposed the fissures within the party just as it assumed control of the House. And since the chamber cannot swear in members or perform actual work until the speaker is chosen, the nation’s legislative process was at a standstill.

Now there have been three votes without a decision.

The hard-righters, including the execrable Lauren “Glock” Boebert, won’t vote for him unless he accedes to a number of demands. He’s done so for some, but not others:

. . . a core group of hard-right Republicans has laid out a series of demands crucial to winning their support.

As part of a grueling, monthslong negotiation to lock down the support he needs, Mr. McCarthy agreed to some of the demands from members of the House Freedom Caucus — a group that includes Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania — and incorporated them in a proposed package of rules governing how the House operates for the next two years.

They included a rule to allow a vote at any time to oust the speaker, which would weaken the post considerably, though Mr. McCarthy proposed to set the threshold for forcing such a vote at five lawmakers rather than a single one, as the holdouts had demanded.

The package also included the so-called Holman rule, which allows lawmakers to use spending bills to defund specific programs and fire federal officials or reduce their pay.

Here’s one he’s resisting:

  • Promising to hold votes on a series of bills backed by hard-right members, including legislation that would require term limits for members of Congress, a balanced federal budget and fortifying security at the southwestern border.

The fun has already begun! The longer it goes on, the better, because Congress can’t do anything without a speaker.

*Some distressing news from NPR: Tennis great Martina Navratilova has been diagnosed with two types of cancer: in the throat and in the breast. This is not her first rodeo with cancer:

Navratilova, 66, will start treatment later this month, she announced Monday. “The prognosis is good,” her agent Mary Greenham said in an email to NPR. “Both these cancers are in their early stages with great outcomes.”

Navratilova, who works as a tennis commentator, noticed an enlarged lymph node on her neck during the Women’s Tennis Association finals in Fort Worth, Texas, last fall, her agent said. A biopsy revealed it to be stage 1 throat cancer. Then, as Navratilova was undergoing tests on her throat growth, doctors discovered an unrelated breast cancer.

This is Navratilova’s second bout with cancer. In 2010, she announced that she was being treated for breast cancer after a tumor was discovered during a routine mammogram. The tumor was removed surgically, and Navratilova underwent a brief course of radiation therapy.

I don’t know whether these are independent cancers or a metastasis, but stage 1 is a good sign. I hope she’ll be okay.

*According to the Guardian, Thor the Walrus continues his journey north. This is a good sign because two previous walri (LOL) hung around British coastal towns, and attracted such big crowds (and damaged some boats), that they “euthanized” (i.e., SHOT) one of them. Fingers crossed that Thor makes a hasty egress from Blighty, (h/t Matthew)

A large crowd quickly gathered in the Northumberland town of Blyth on Monday lunchtime after a walrus was spotted resting on a wooden pontoon at the yacht club.

It is thought to be the same creature – nicknamed Thor – who stopped off in Scarborough before the new year. On Sunday he was filmed plopping back into the water and swimming off.

Thor, the first walrus ever recorded in Yorkshire, had swum round from the Hampshire coast, where he had been spotted earlier in December. Scarborough council decided to cancel its New Year’s Eve fireworks so as not to cause him distress.

Experts believe the short stopovers have been a time for the walrus to recharge its batteries. Chris Cook, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue charity [BDMLR], said that the creature had needed “time to rest and recuperate before it continues its journey”.

This new sighting coincided with the publication of a report from BDMLR into the walrus’s visit to the Yorkshire seaside resort, which said up to 500 people came to see Thor at any one time, totalling thousands overall.

. . . It added: “At all times the crowd was at least 350 thick. At one point seemingly over 500 people were there, with more bodies continually appearing from all avenues, roads, and even bus trips. It is estimated that several thousand people were in attendance over the whole day, though likely far more.”

The report said: “By 4pm [on 31 December] Thor was becoming slightly more active, and at 4.30pm he sat up, turned around, and promptly slid off into the harbour.

Ceiling Cat speed, Thor, and get the hell out of Dodge before the Brits execute you for being a walrus! Here’s Thor in Scarborough:

*Kurt Streeter wrote an NYT op-ed after the Buffalo Bill’s defensive back Lamar Hamlin collapsed after being hit in a game, and then was revived shortly after his heart stopped (he’s in critical condition).  Streeter’s title: “We’re all complicit in the NFL’s [National Football League’s] violent spectacle.” My response is, “Hell, no: I’m not complicit at all.” I dislike football, largely because of its brutality, have never supported it and the only games I’ve ever been to were those played by my high school. Talk about damning all of humanity!

This is only one of many football injuries this year, including the inevitable concussions, which can produce dementia in later life. I would be much happier if soccer replaced football as the most popular American sport

*The aging Christiano Ronaldo, a soccer star whom nobody could stand, has signed with a Saudi football team for an enormous but undisclosed salary.

Cristiano Ronaldo was presented as the superstar new signing of Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr on Tuesday, with the team’s president saying the Portugal great deserves to be the highest paid player on the planet.

Ronaldo said he turned down “many clubs” around the world to complete one of the most surprising transfers in the sport’s history, which could reportedly earn him up to $200 million a year.

Al Nassr president Musalli Almuammar would not confirm the exact figures in the two-and-a-half-year contract.

“He is the best player in football history so it is normal he will be the highest in terms of cost or salary,” Almuammar said. “This is something that he really deserves, so the amount of money he will take, he really deserves.”

Ronaldo was presented to thousands of fans at Al Nassr’s Mrsool Park against a backdrop of fireworks and smoke machines.

The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus forward will play in the Saudi Pro League after rejecting offers from Europe, North America and beyond.

. . . The Saudis have shown increasing interest in high-profile soccer. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund completed the takeover of Premier League club Newcastle in 2021 despite questions raised about human rights in the oil-rich kingdom and “sportswashing.”

First of all, he’s not the best player in football history. That would be Messi, or, if you want to argue, Pelé (who was buried yesterday).

How much will the arrogant Ronaldo (yes, he was a fantastic player) be making? Well this tweet suggests the salary, which includes endorsements:

500 million Euros! The Saudis are really willing to fork out the dosh to get a big name!

*Finally, for the first time in years, Denmark has had no bank robberies. Why? Because Danes hardly know the meaning of “cash” any more:

For the first time in years, Denmark hasn’t recorded a single bank robbery. There wouldn’t have been much point.

Cash transactions in the Nordic country have become virtually obsolete, with Danes increasingly opting to use cards and smart phones for payments.

The Danish bank employees’ union on Tuesday welcomed the news that 2022 had been robbery-free.

. . .Finance Denmark, the banking sector’s association, said only about 20 bank branches across the country have cash holdings. But then the number of bank branches has fallen from 219 in 1991 to 56 in 2021, it said.

News reports noted that cash withdrawals in Denmark have been dropping by about three-quarters every year for the past six years.

In 2000, there were 221 robberies. Last year: bupkes. Another effect of the pandemic

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili really is hunting, but not outside:

A: Are you hunting?
Hili: No, I’m going to the kitchen.
In Polish:
Ja: Polujesz?
Hili, Nie, idę do kuchni.

. . . And a picture of baby Kulka:

********************

The birth of wokeness, a Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson:

A Bizarro comic by Dan Piraro, sent by Bruce:

. . . and a cat party cartoon by Mark Parisi, contributed by Michael:

God explains why He still tweets even though He’s on Mastodon:

From Masih. Read about Soleimani here; he was assassinated in 2020 by a U.S. drone strike but remains a hero to Iran’s theocracy:

Two Barry: a hamster with its own snack.

And the sound of a giant katydid. It’s remarkable, so turn the volume up:

From Malcolm; I don’t understand why these things work but they do. I won’t remember them, either:

From the Auschwitz Memorial. Look at that expression! He lived two years before he died:

Tweets from Professor Cobb. First, three adventurous guys in wingsuits. What a flight!

Thor is slowly making his way north. He needs to get away from Britain!

And a gorgeous white porcupine. He has dark eyes, so he’s probably not an albino but leucistic.

Click “read more” to get the answer to the Trivia Question:

Here’s the painting: “Red Vineyards at Arles,” painted in 1888 (two years before Van Gogh’s death), and sold for 400 francs. Now it would be worth millions because of the name, but it’s not a great painting.

51 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. On this day:
    1853 – After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.

    1958 – Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.

    1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK.

    2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

    2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history. [Meanwhile, things aren’t going that smoothly for Kevin McCarthy in the House…]

    2010 – The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai.

    Births:
    1643 (NS) – Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1726/27).

    1809 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (d. 1852).

    1813 – Isaac Pitman, English linguist and educator (d. 1897).

    [Two inventors of unconventional notation systems sharing a birthday.]

    1900 – James Bond, American ornithologist and zoologist (d. 1989).

    1940 – Gao Xingjian, Chinese novelist, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate.

    1960 – Michael Stipe, American singer-songwriter and producer.

    Became residents of “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns”:
    871 – Æthelwulf, Saxon ealdorman.

    1804 – Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet (b. 1730).

    1877 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1794).

    1904 – Anna Winlock, American astronomer and academic (b. 1857).

    1960 – Albert Camus, French novelist, philosopher, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913).

    1961 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887).

    1965 – T. S. Eliot, American-English poet, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888).

    1986 – Phil Lynott, Irish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (b. 1949).

    2004 – John Toland, American historian and author (b. 1912).

    2011 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1947).

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      1. You’re welcome! Doing it makes me really appreciate the effort our host has put in to keep posting every day without fail for so many years.

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    2. “(Neh) Nehh nehhhhh, (ne-ne) Nehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (Booommnnn!)”

      ^^^^ any guesses to this obscure and incomprehensible reference?

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        1. Exactly! Well done!

          I don’t know what it is with that song – I guess the _chorus_ carried by a sax (not a “solo” per se) is very unusual, especially with the subdued voice going into the verse, where the title “Baker Street” is. (In my definition of verse abd chorus).

          IOW a very unusual composition sleight-of-hand.

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          1. The solo, for there is one, was done on an electric guitar. If the sax part had also been done on an electric guitar, I would call it a riff. I guess there’s no reason why you can’t do a riff on the saxophone.

          2. “riff” I agree – but in particular, it assumes the role (to my ear) of the chorus – and there is no vocal in that section – not a stand-alone riff that builds up the song.

            Compare the Black Dog riff (Led Zep) is in a call-and-response sort of role. The chorus of that (if it is one) has vocals and a chordal backing – not a note-by-note riff.

            Important stuff!… I am procrastinating of course – time to get back to work…

          3. Yeah, it really is. Though I don’t know where the cutoff is between riff and solo. It’s certainly as memorable and awesome as any guitar riff ever. Meanwhile, the actual guitar solo in the song is good, but comparatively forgettable.

          4. A riff will be a distinct repeated figure, and not very long, like a “mantra”, I guess.

            A solo will appear to have been improvised, a sort of story.

            Of course a solo can have repetition as well.

          5. It is. And one of the most brilliant sax soloes, indeed, one of the greatest of any kind of soloes/riffs in all of popular music. If you ask me.

            After you brought it up, I had to go listen, and then I worked out the riff on the guitar while listening. It’s not as nice on guitar, but it’s good. A-F, E, D-C-D— and so on. Very satisfying.

          6. Agree, an iconic sax solo.

            Another, that I think I like even more, is the sax in Careless Whisper.

          8. [ plays in head some more ]

            … well, not entirely – but the sax “riff”, yes – it’s like the _sax_ is almost the _vocal_, standing as a focal point of the song.

          2. Ravenscroft claimed he improvised it, but it seems that there are earlier demos with Rafferty playing it on guitar.

    3. birthings this 04 January – day

      y1864 – Clara Emilia Smitt, Swedish doctor and author
      y1883 – Johanna Westerdijk, Dutch pathologist and academic
      y1943 – Doris Kearns Goodwin, American historian and author
      y1947 – Marie – Thérèse Letablier, French sociologist and academic
      y1948 – Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, Malian civil servant and politician,
      … … Prime Minister of Mali
      y1956 – Zehava Gal – On, Israeli politician
      y1964 – Susan Devoy, New Zealand squash player

      Dr Maas

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  4. Walruses are safe in Britain, the Odobenicidal regime is Norway, which euthanised one that had previously been in U.K.

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    1. Exactly; beat me to it.

      Matt Ridley has a column in today’s (London) Times claiming that walruses are a 21st century success story. He says that Svalbard had only about 100 in 1978, mostly males, but 40 years later there were 5,500, including many females with pups. No wonder increasing numbers of them are spending their vacations in the South.

      I leave it to odobenophiles to advise on whether he’s right.

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  5. I was amazed but also initially confused at the wingsuit video. The camera is at the end of a stick attached to the helmet, but where is the stick?

    At first I thought the stick was digitally erased, but then I saw the visual artifacts on the helmet itself. The helmet is divided into into four quadrants, with opposite quadrants having the same color. Sometimes the quadrant borders don’t line up exactly.

    Aha, the stick has two cameras filming simultaneously. The video was created by melding those two sources together. In a way, the stick was digitally erased, but not using expensive Hollywood techniques.

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  7. The Saudis are gonna pay Ronaldo a cool €200m per year? For that kinda dough, who’s he gotta bonesaw?

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  8. “This is only one of many football injuries this year, including the inevitable concussions, which can produce dementia in later life. I would be much happier if soccer replaced football as the most popular American sport…”

    I say this as a huge fan of soccer, but the sport has its own issues with brain injury. The debilitating effects of heading a ball (and incidental collisions with other players while attempting headers) may rival that of head injuries suffered in American football, as CTE has now been found in former soccer players.

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/16/can-football-headers-lead-to-dementia-the-evidence-is-growing

    Heading is a big part of the game, but I am now coming around to those who say it should be banned from the game (it is already banned in youth players up to U12 in the US).

    Until heading is banned or severely curtailed in soccer, it is not necessarily a safer alternative to American football.

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    1. When I was at school (what you would call high school) our sports teacher told us a story of an exceptional good footballer who he had once taught. At some point he started getting dizzy spells and went to see a doctor. It was diagnosed as brain trauma caused by excessive heading of the ball. I have no idea how they diagnosed that – this was the late 1970’s – but clearly the problem has been known about for decades.

      I do not want football to replace American football in the USA because then they’d become good at it and probably win the World Cup. That would make them completely insufferable.

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      1. I played quite a bit of football (soccer) from age 6 through my first year of of college. Heading was never a major issue with me as, until late in my teens, I was usually the shortest player on the field and thus was not a threat in the air. I rarely headed a ball in a game, and almost never practiced it.

        That all changed when a late growth spurt hit me at around age 17 (I went from barely 5’8″ to 6’1″). The good news is it afforded me an opportunity to play soccer at a Division 1 university in the US. The bad news is that the coach thought my best position was now central defender. So I went from no heading…to heading away crosses, long punts from the opposing goalkeeper, and being expected to be an aerial threat on our corners and free kicks.

        I did that for one season and then quit. Although I was never concussed or even felt dizzy doing headers (proper technique helps), I did find it uncomfortable. In addition to the realities of college soccer taking away an inordinate amount of study time, I admit that my dislike of heading contributed to my quitting the game competitively. Or at least ever playing as a CB!

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      1. Modern footballs are not necessarily lighter. It is true that the old balls, when wet, would get heavier. But a dry football from 1960 weighed the same as a modern football…this was shown on an excellent documentary about heading hosted by ex-England player Alan Shearer.

        Also, modern balls may be driven at a higher velocity than older balls, thus landing with the same or even greater impact and therefore not really reducing the risk.

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  9. First of all, he’s not the best player in football history. That would be Messi, or, if you want to argue, Pelé

    Ha ha. As I was reading through the story, I was thinking “he’s not even as good as Messi, never mind Pelé or Maradona”.

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  10. The Damar Hamlin incident has once again generated articles in the press about how NFL players, Black by a large majority, are being exploited by the owners for their own profit. The players are sometimes compared to ancient Roman gladiators, who were slaves that put their lives on the line to satisfy the blood lust of the spectators. Dave Zirin at the Nation site writes this about football: “It’s a gladiatorial combat sport dependent on the Black players, Black bodies, and Black minds who make up 70 percent of the league’s players. Denying their humanity is an essential part of the NFL’s brand.”

    I don’t buy Zirin’s argument. In contrast to the gladiators, athletes in any sport play for glory and fame, and on the professional level, for a lot of money as well. Participating in sports, including violent football, is purely voluntarily. Several years ago, the star quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, Andrew Luck, walked away from the game because he didn’t want to jeopardize his long-term health. In today’s day and age, only the most naïve of football players do not realize that playing is fraught with risk. Yet, they choose to play. Players are not victims. They are gamblers. And for those whose luck runs out, I feel sorry for them, but I feel a lot sorrier for those in society that are truly victims of exploitation.

    https://www.thenation.com/article/society/nfl-damar-hamlin-buffalo-bills-cincinnati-bengals/

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    1. What is puzzling to me is why this tackle did anything. It looked like a routine and properly done tackle (by Hamlin), so I was thinking there was possibly an underlying condition that was simply triggered at that moment. But there are some statements that it was blunt force trauma to the chest, and that apparently can induce cardiac arrest.

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      1. As I heard it explained on the CBS News last evening, the trauma has to occur at a specific time in the heart’s motion. At that instant, it can disrupt ventricular electrical signals, leading to ventricular fibrillation (as opposed to the far more common atrial fibrillation, for which you see innumerable ads for anticoagulants on TV) and cardiac arrest.
        But I am not a doctor, at least not one of the medical kind, and you take this for what it’s worth.

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      2. Yeh, it’s called commotio cordis. I remember the days after reading about it at med school the boys (yes, it was only the boys) would hit each other in the chests “trying” to cause it. I was one of those boys. Obviously exceedingly stupid, but it is thankfully exceedingly more rare. The time window is measured in milliseconds and, I believe, every strike in the window doesn’t necessarily result in VF.

        I’ve not read a lot about this incident, so it’s certainly possible if the arrest occurred immediately after the tackle, but most cardiac arrests in young adults are due to underlying heart disease, either structural (eg. HOCM) or arrhythmogenic (eg. Brugada).

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    2. Of course, they also forget that ice hockey is largely dominated by white people and has been grappling with the exact same issues. But that doesn’t fit the narrative.

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  13. Denmark may be going cashless but it will be a long time before the US does. A number of organizations claim it discriminates against:

    — Low income communities, “Participation in a cashless society presumes a level of financial stability and enmeshment in bureaucratic financial systems that many people simply do not possess.”

    — People of color, “The burden of lack of access to banking services such as credit cards does not fall equally.”

    — The undocumented, “Facing a lack of official identity documents, not to mention all the other obstacles mentioned above, undocumented immigrants can have an even harder time accessing banking services.”

    https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/say-no-cashless-future-and-cashless-stores

    Reply

    1. And how would the undocumented ever get paid for working illegally and tax-free if they couldn’t get paid in cash off the books?

      And let’s not forget the drug industry. While it’s true that meth, (stolen) bicycles, and sex are all exchangeable for one another at tent level, the suppliers at some point have to paid in cash to replenish the cycle and reap the profits for the highers-up.

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  14. I spy a Hili imposter!!! No white spot on the nose, no white front footsies.

    That huge katydid was something else. I wonder if they have any predators.

    I’m enjoying the reality TV show that is the GQP’s House of Dolts. What a shit show. First time in a 100 years a speaker wasn’t chosen on the first round of voting. Good going Trumpists!

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  15. Does bucatini count? I prefer it to spaghetti, as it’s a bit thicker and has a hole through the middle to hold more sauce. I was introduced to this hard-to-get pasta by a reader last year, and recommend using it instead of spaghetti

    It is also harvested at a different time of year, so even if the spaghetti harvest fails, you’ll be able to get your pasta cylinder fix.
    BBC documentary (turn colour up!)
    Do kids today get the joke about the “Colour” knob on the TV. And for that matter, never having seen a NTSC television (“Never Twice the Same Colour” – the US standard for colour TV transmission), did they have a control for the saturation of the colours?
    ~~~~

    I don’t know whether these are independent cancers or a metastasis, but stage 1 is a good sign.

    Isn’t the presence of metastasis (metastases) a required part of the definition of Stage 3 cancer? Therefore a diagnosis at Stage 1 implies that the doctors have looked for metastases and can’t find them.
    Is there an oncologist in the house?
    ~~~~

    I dislike football, largely because of its brutality, have never supported it and the only games I’ve ever been to were those played by my high school.

    Ditto on this side of the pond, though probably for different values of “football” (neither of ours allowed more padding than a ball-box and shin pads), but how did the games master force you to watch a game outside school hours?
    Oh, I got it – it was part of the punishment of a detention?

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    1. Here’s a two-fer for G-I.

      1) Early in the days of colour TV, there was a (New Yorker?) cartoon of a middle-aged husband and wife in their living room watching the President give a televised address. The husband is scowling while fiddling with the knobs on their large console set. The wife is admonishing him, “I know you don’t like his policies, Dear, but that’s no reason to make his face switch from purple to green just out of spite.”

      2) If the breast cancer or the throat cancer were metastases from each other, either would be unusual but if so could not be Stage 1, as you say. Stage 3 describes locally advanced cancers that are large or have invaded into contiguous structures or to the regional lymph nodes. Distant metastases implying seeding through the bloodstream indicate Stage 4 in most staging systems for so-called solid tumours that arise in a discrete organ. Lymphatic and blood cell cancers like Hodgkin disease and leukemias behave differently.

      No discussion of cancer staging and its implications for prognosis would be complete without mention of the Will Rogers Phenomenon, so named from his famous observation about the Dust-Bowl migration of Oklahomans to California, that it had the effect of raising the average IQ of both states.

      https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198506203122504

      This classic 1985 article by Feinstein coining the term is still paywalled despite its vintage but it is a well-known explanation of bias from “zero-time shift”. It even has its own Wikipedia page with recent updates.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers_phenomenon

      Reply

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