he had just spent considerable time offloading(sure that wasnt the appropriate term)

tens of thousands of words written about David Foster Wallace(DFW) into Word

he was a fan

and while he offloaded he recognised several of the essayists used Roman numerals I II III etc to divvy up their writing

these were recent pieces

 

published in 2011(MMXI)

he wondered if DFW would have been keen

then pausing  he puzzled knitted his brow tried to remember the last time he used Roman numerals  puzzling complete

he recognised the last time he did was in grade school learning how to write a term paper create a thesis organise research its evidence then effectively and competently communicate

an outline was required for every paragraph of the paper he intended to submit for his course grade 

                                                                                 outlines

footnotes and a bibliography(what a bite in the ass)

Mr Carter his English teacher was going to make damn sure he made college material out of him   if it killed him

because Mr Carter didnt much fancy Americas Vietnam War he fought in the British Army during World War II he didnt care for Americas preferential conscription its red white and blue banter its wholesale belief selling the war as an existential threat

Mr Carter believed  near religiously  he could keep the boy(and other boys) from the killing fields if he could manifest a singular viable option to it to play the game and qualify him(the others) to attend college

he wasnt as an academic

he was athletic

 

and that particular aspect drove Mr Carter he advised the boy his physicality wasnt a bargaining chip with the local Draft board to keep him from Service he knew members of the board they consisted of Republican self-anointed patriots believers who endeavored(Imagine  Endeavored  said Mr Carter) to keep the Red Communist dominoes from falling beyond Indochina(Arseholes)

he told the boy they were preposterous  but 

                                    Laddie if you dont know it  I do

Youre not fit to take orders  From anyone

fortunately for himself and Mr Carter

he excelled at English

his Roman numerals were numerous  his outlines more than sufficed 

 

later in high school he asked his freshman math teacher why Roman numerals didnt figure in their studies

his teacher was perplexed briefly  then he realised the boy was serious wasnt pulling his leg

Im sorry 

       The Romans didnt use the numerals for math 

 

We use the algebra and algorithms of Al-Khwarizmi  He lived long ago in Baghdad(when Baghdad was Iranian or rather part of the Ottoman Empire)  He introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Europes mathematicians Although also very influential and critical was Aryabhata who was an early Indian  of India  an astronomer

He effectively introduced astronomy and its mathematics to the Persian Empire

The Romans didnt use zero

I believe you didnt either  under the heading of zero  list any paragraphs and subtitles or evidence on the English paper you mentioned  Famously Aristotle youve heard of Aristotle correct refused to agree to either zero or infinity  Neither he believed provided down-to-earth results

Its all very curious huh

It was curious then  as now

MMXVI

 

Super Bowl L  

            read that it was going to be called 50

probably a little fearful of its winners holding up or wearing World Championship baseball caps fixed with a capital L on them  readily achieved by hands pressed to foreheads thumbs perpendicular to their indexfingers(Loser)

but ya gotta suppose America has its reasons to maintain Centurion embellishments

   

0101,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  27  1. 16

0056,  Thursday,  28  1. 16