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Ramis and Maturin · Oct 30, 02:34 PM

Dr. Ramis inclined his head to one side, narrowed his eyes and lips, and said, “How can [emotion] be measured. It is a notion; a most valuable notion, I am sure; but, my dear sir, where is your measurement? It cannot be measured. Science is measurement—no knowledge without measurement.”

“Indeed it can,” cried Stephen eagerly. “Come, let us take our pulses.” Dr. Ramis pulled out his watch, a beautiful Breguet with a center seconds hand, and they both sat gravely counting. “Now, dear colleague, pray be so good as to imagine—to imagine vehemently—that I have taken your watch and wantonly flung it down; and I for my part will imagine that you are a very wicked fellow. Come, let us simulate the gestures, the expressions of extreme and violent rage.”

Dr. Ramis’ face took on a tetanic look; his eyes almost vanished; his head reached forward, quivering. Stephen’s lips writhed back; he shook his fist and gibbered a little. A servant came in with a jug of hot water.

Was a passage I liked.



  1. tetanic: Of, relating to, or causing tetanus.
    — Caterina    Oct 30, 02:43 PM    #

  2. Welcome back Stewart! Some of us never lost hope; I actually kept your site bookmarked all this time.

    I’ve noticed a disconcerting trend when good bloggers start businesses. They stop blogging. Yourself, Caterina, Mena Trott, and now ole’ Andy Baio even seems to be slowing down his voluminous output.

    Let’s hope you can eke out a very partial-but-continuous slice of attention for this blog. We love you!
    — Marcus    Nov 1, 02:38 PM    #

  3. welcome back.
    — ryan king    Nov 1, 03:51 PM    #

  4. go deep!
    — lance    Nov 1, 09:05 PM    #

  5. You’ve been hard at work in America. Good on you! Do you still own Beach Ave? Will you ever come back?
    — Ewan    Nov 1, 09:57 PM    #

  6. Welcome back!
    — j david    Nov 2, 08:36 AM    #

  7. feed link appears to be broken.
    — Thomas Hawk    Nov 2, 11:06 AM    #

  8. feed link fixed. Thanks.
    — Thomas Hawk    Nov 3, 01:07 PM    #

  9. Welcome back. It is good to have your voice in from the wilds.
    — vanderwal    Nov 4, 08:17 AM    #

  10. i [heart] more Stew in my life.
    — neb    Nov 7, 08:56 AM    #

  11. Good to see you again, even if it is virtually and all. Remember the last time I saw you, I was following you through Yaletown? I wanted to say this, “Congratulations!”
    — Dethe Elza    Nov 9, 10:03 PM    #

  12. Hey Stewart, not sure you care, but you are publishing some of your flickr photos through your RSS feed for this blog but those same photos don’t seem to actually show up at the blog itself.
    — Thomas Hawk    Nov 25, 10:44 AM    #

  13. The Patrick O’Brian novels have to be some of my favorite books of all time, I can’t recommend them highly enough!!
    — lukem    Dec 3, 05:44 PM    #

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