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
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
