July 22, 2004
Oscar Wilde Quotes Emerson's "Whim"
CYRIL. Writing an article! That is not very consistent after what you have just said.
VIVIAN Who wants to be consistent? The dullard and the doctrinaire, the tedious people who carry out their principles to the bitter end of action, to the reductio ad absurdum of practice. Not I. Like Emerson, I write over the door of my library the word "Whim."
The introduction to the edition I'm browsing, "The Oxford Authors Oscar Wilde," edited by Isobel Murray, has this to say regarding Emerson:
"A fair number of Emerson's essays are quoted by Wilde, but it is 'Self-Reliance', with its call for inconsistency and nonconformity in the interests of self-realization, that is outsstandingly influential; it is echoed in many places, including of course The Critic as Artist, and I would argue is a major inspiration for Wilde's essay 'The Soul of Man Under Socialism'.
...
And above all, Emerson is free of the 'earnestness' so prevalent in English Victorian essayists and prose-writers--and he writes with clarity, individuality, and style, coining epigrammatic phrases that Wilde relishes."
Permit me to include here a maxim (from 'A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated') pertinent to weblogs:
"In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public.
Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody."
June 30, 2004
Lisfranc's Joint Asunder: Foot Surgery
I had the pleasure of deciding to slide into 3rd base in the MIT softball league game last Wed. (6/23/04) playing for the library team (Bibliotechs) and promptly sprained my foot.
Actually, it's worse than that (I subsequently learned)... my "Lisfranc's Joint" is out of whack.
I learned from the foot & ankle surgeon specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital that my "Lisfranc's Joint" has suffered a fleck of bone "avulsed" (pulled off) by the cartilage upon the impact. Basically, it's the foot's equivalent of where the finger bones meet the wrist bones; however it's not up at the ankle (my ankle is fine), instead it's located at the top of your foot's instep. My two bones there aren't lining up the way they should.
The not good news is that this very capable surgeon informed me in pretty much certain terms that a "young person like [me]" needed to have this operated on, so that they can go in and insert a screw or two to hold it together so it heals properly. Not doing so invites arthritis and other unwelcome longer term effects re: bone position, etc.
The impact is along these lines:
- Four weeks (possibly bit more, prob. not) in a non-weight bearing, non-removable cast, crutches-only mobility.
- Then four weeks in a walkable (but not removable) weight-bearing cast.
- Then some amount of time (week or two?) in a walking and removable boot thing (like I have right this minute).
- Finally, at about 3-4 months out, they operate again to remove the screw(s).
[Apparently after that operation it does *not* force you back into casts, boots, crutches.]
I'm scheduled for "day surgery" this Friday morning (July 2, 2004).
-------------
Some Googling about on ol' Lisfranc and his Joint:
Bit heavy medical stuff, but I'll paste in below an excerpt
1. http://www.drjcgraham.com/articles/lisfrancfracture_0201.htm
(.PDF) "MANAGEMENT OF LISFRANC’S FRACTURE-DISLOCATION"
Has some "before & after" photos/xrays
2. http://www.travma.org.tr/dergi/download.asp?volume=9&issue=2&pp=145&ord=16
From 1.:
----------------
"There are many scenarios that can cause these injuries. The prominent role is the locking of the forefoot in a plantar flexed or equinos position with the body and midfoot moving past the forefoot in a shearing force. An example would be locking in the foot on an automobile brake and upon impact of an accident, the human body moving forward onto or below the antatarsals (forefoot).
The key to proper diagnosis is clinical suspicion of this rare injury. ...in some cases shows minimal or no radiographic findings. This is usually diagnosed as a sprain foot. A weight bearing x-ray may allow displacement of the disrupted component of the joint enough to reveal this injury.
WR: That's exactly what it was for me: weight bearing x-ray showed it!
The patient, more than likely, will recall a "pop" sensation as in misstepping a curb. There will exist gross swelling and tenderness at the tarsometatarsal joint. ... The "fleck sign" reveals an avulsion fracture of the second metatarsal base in which the Lisfranc ligament has avulsed(a small bone chip) the second metatarsal base.
Accurate anatomical alignment is a must. The integrity or stability of this joint needs to be repaired. This is tantamount to avoid severe foot problems in later life"
---------------------
Lots of fun, for good ol memorable ol summer of 2004, lemme tell ya.
February 25, 2004
Directions and Maps to 47 Kingston Street
=== 4 Internet Maps ===
=== 4 Internet Maps === (I hope these URLs are pasteable & still work (?)) ===
Probably clearest map:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=CuKkjup_0Tr6AuW7f4m9Pbhw.fRIZ4REUHo.&csz=Somerville+MA+02144&country=us
Also pretty good:
http://mapsonus.switchboard.com/bin/maps-maponly/usr=~403cc97c.e4776.38d8.6/c=3/formName=setclickpost
========================================
* DIRECTIONS - MBTA and Walking
========================================
MBTA: Red Line, headed towards "Alewife" (final
station), with Harvard Square stop along the way.
DAVIS SQUARE station (ours) is 2nd to last.
4.5 minute walk from station to house:
- Exit turnstiles, turn RIGHT.
- Up stair, go out door to your LEFT (reads "Meacham Road")
- Proceed along brick pathway beneath arcade of trees (200 feet or so)
- Cross one street, continue straight (pedestrian zone path)
- Come to "intersection" (after about 100 feet) and go LEFT. (big brick
circle in pavement at "intersection")
- The street you walk onto is a little stub of Thorndike Street (100 feet)
- Follow to the RIGHT (this puts you on our street: Kingston Street)
- You're close. We're # 47, on the right, about 7-8 houses down, big beige house (2 condo units), with gambrel roof side of house to street (barn shape).
- Our door is on the RIGHT hand side.
- (617) 491 7126
- See you there!
========================================
========================================
February 14, 2004
Happy St. Valentine's Day
In September, 1995, I proposed to Lorie in this very spot on the Pont Neuf.
When she said, "Oui," ;^) I threw into the Seine my copy of "Why Men Shouldn't Marry."
Paris. "Le Plan de Merian" - 1615
http://www.paris.org/Maps/Map5/map5.f.html
Pont Neuf et environs
http://www.paris.org/Maps/Map5/mapf.cgi/h544?16+11
Pont Neuf, OUR one little spot (!)...
http://www.paris.org/Maps/Map5/gifs.h/17.10.gif
"Cette ville est un autre monde
Dedans, un monde florissant,
En peuples et en biens puissants
Que de toutes choses abonde."
(This city is another world / Therein a flowerful world / Of people very powerful / To whom all things abound)
December 19, 2003
My Unpublished Letter to the Editor (Boston Globe)
Jeff Jacoby's Thanksgiving day paean to capitalism and the free market it espouses ("Giving thanks for capitalism," Nov. 27) no doubt was intended to be a necessary reminder--by means of this utterly textbook explanation--of the impressive and ever benevolent power of Adam Smith's "invisible hand."
Unfortunately, the textbook of choice for the usual praise bestowed on this single, all-guiding principle has once more nimbly declined to address the equally significant market-constraining concept of governmental regulation.
To be sure, we receive rote instruction against extremes in this regard ("No turkey czar sat in a command post somewhere, consulting a master plan"), but not a word deigns acknowledge necessary protections against marketplace exploitation.
Or perhaps one word (surprisingly) does: "inspected." "The [turkey] had to be slaughtered and defeathered and inspected and transported and unloaded and wrapped and priced and displayed." My interpretation reads "inspected" as in government inspections. I can't be sure, but perhaps Jacoby's including the verb had in mind only the private employee tasked with inspecting each carcass for cleanliness and salability. After all, the "free" marketplace would punish the vendor of unclean turkeys and fowl, hence the motivation for private inspection (would claim our friends of Adam Smith).
But there are some things that consumers deserve protection from, without having to first suffer the ill consequences of an unlucky purchase from a less than scrupulous merchant, only subsequently becoming empowered (from their sickbed) to teach that merchant a lesson by voting with her or his pocketbook (never buy turkey there again).
The entire subject is an ages-old argument, I just didn't expect this permitted glimmer of insight from Jacoby's piece: Adam Smith's invisible hand needs to be seen now and again. Reasonable inspection, not complete invisibility, is what our textbooks (and our own experience) ought to teach us.
WILLIAM REILLY
Somerville
December 10, 2003
Sagittarian Laughs at John Harvard Brew
Gregor's entry on his long December 2nd ("black ice Tuesday traffic tangle morning"), mentions moi and at least a couple other just-met Sagittarian types in a healthy dose of beer- & chocolate-induced giggliness, installed in a John Harvard Brewhouse booth, after sundown, over in the wayback (where we like it).
It was fun finding out, piecemeal stabbing sentence at a time, that everyone present was born in late November or non-late December, and (it turned out) that included our waitstaff representative. (We thought for sure there must be a free congratulatory pitcher policy for such a thing, and tried our best to implement one (!). Alas, I think all's we got was a free, eminently shareable ice cream brownie vertical dessert of some dimension...)
Evan, seated next to me in the booth, was in Harvard's employ, a born in NYC South Carolinian astrologer and alternative health kinda mustachioed guy; his father professor expert in medieval philosophy. Evan could do a Texas drawl vs. a Carolina one, and things went uphill from there.
I had to depart before too terribly long, but knew that Gregor was in good hands for at least the next portion of his (still long to go) evening. (See other Trackback from his pal sooz as to where Gregor went next... :^).
Cheers, from William not-too-late December (18th) Reilly.
November 13, 2003
Somerville Spooks 'n Shrines
Gregor J. Rothfuss :: Imagination is key to your dreams coming true
Gregor's got two nice photos of the kind of stuff you see around Somerville (my town), and esp. at Hallowe'en. (Though just you wait for Christmas!).
Wm.
November 07, 2003
Happy 2nd Birthday, reilly2001.info
That would make this 2003, now wouldn't it.
(Oh, and pretend that's two candles, not five, on the cake.) (Image lifted (and badly doctored!) from W3C page "XML Turns Five," Feb. 10, 2003.)
Below, the exciting news from my domain registrar, GoDaddy.com.
See you again in two years for a similar online celebration!
Wm.
Two years ago this fine date I signed up for my first internet domain name.
Time to re-up.
Order Confirmation #8843119 (Automatic Renewal)
From:
To:
Dear William Reilly
Per our agreement(s), we have automatically renewed the following items:
INFO Domain Name Renewal - 2 Years REILLY2001.INFO 19.50
If you have questions regarding your account or billing for this account, please feel free to contact us:
* Online at: http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/support.asp
* Phone at: 480-505-8877
Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com
October 01, 2003
For Phil Wolff: Oakland comes to Boston
As Red Sox fans revel, Oakland cruising on easy
Boston Globe article looks at Boston's mania (over just barely getting into the playoffs?) vs. Oakland's ho-hum response to being there ("been there, done that" - four years running now).
Phil Wolff, from Oakland--but not ho-hum!--is headed to Boston (Cambridge) for the BloggerCon. (His talk: Weblogs Behind the Firewall).
So, maybe this little article a bit of required reading ;^) for inbound visitors from that fine East Bay city, to better understand some of the nuttiness here in Beantown (including escaped gorillas).
Welcome, Phil!
Wm.
"This is the cross Oakland fans have to bear -- not losing, but being out of style."
...
"in Boston, baseball fandom is religion, a manifestation of hope, a test of endurance."
...
"That's the thing. They [the A's] win. To truly understand the joy and suffering, you might just need to be in Boston."
Another "Whim" blog ref to Phil: http://www.reilly2001.info/whim/archives/000031.html, re: "BlogChalking"...
September 16, 2003
Gregor Rothfuss Sporting An Apple Sweatshirt
I'm happy to be hosting Gregor here in Somerville, Massachusetts, for a bit.
And I'm happy to be having a glass of wine with him, as we cavort in Apple and Wyona gear.
Now sitting at each of our Movable Type blogs (he on his ultra-non-Mac I.B.M. Thinkpad).
G'night, all.
Wm.
August 29, 2003
Hiatus to Harrisville (N.H.) - couple'a days...
GONE FISHIN'
American Profile: Harrisville, NH
“Living here slows life down"
(That's the idea)
"Clean, friendly, and best of all, close to nature.”
("Nature and I are two," said Woody Allen once.)
"We all help raise our children, who can pretty much have the run of the place safely—as long as we teach them to swim,” he says, referring to the town’s nine ponds and sometimes-swift river."
(We'll be in a canoe on (in?) the pond)
"Over at the general store, business is brisk again after a seven-year hiatus."
(there's that word, again)
"...homemade soups, baked goods, and deli items scent the air. A café up front is a gathering place..."
(one place in town. nice.)
See you next Thursday! (Sept. 4)
Wm.
August 27, 2003
R21 - The Look
I forget which nation from the far side of the Pacific featured this fun logo, when I went Googling for "r21" pics (that's shorthand for "reilly2001," you see).
So my Java classes can be the shortened: info.r21.package.class ...
and my XML Namespaces can use <xmlns:r21 http://reilly2001.info/whathaveyou>
Oughta work O.K.; not too likely nameclashes, even though I don't own r21.info.
Wm.
August 23, 2003
Meaning of Life Volleyball Party
WiFi pool party fun - just checking in on the 'blog.
See also http://www.wookus.net/party2003/ for "more" on the Meaning of Life. ;^)
Wm.
August 12, 2003
Here with Dad!
Quick blog entry, sitting here with Dad!
(the obligatory "...see how easy it is...")
Met Up
Met four other Boston bloggers yesterday evening, courtesy of movabletype.meetup.com and Sidney's Grill (@ MIT Hotel).
- Beth: mutatedmonkeys.com
- Mike: curiousfrog.com
- Paul: crypticreign.techieswithcats.com
- Leo: themadrussian.net
Beth has put up a picture of we happy few. (L-R: Mike, William, Leo, Paul)
Nice to have met you all! Ought to do it again sometime...
August 07, 2003
2 Fidelity jobs: Info Architect and Interactive Designer (SIMS Jobs)
SIMS Alumni Network: Forums - Jobs
Lots of useful job description language here. Two six-month positions in Marlborough, for "Fidelity Active Trader Pro."
Posted by Nancy Van House.
(Behind user login, I believe)
Cheers.
August 01, 2003
On the fly posting to MT (from Favorites bar)
Gives me the hyperlink to What I Wuz Lookin' At.
Nice!
Wm.
Foist Off
First off, I foist off this whimsical weblog on you. There'll be time later for something more substantive.