My friend Paul Bailey just posted a meme on his blog that was given to him by Alex Shapiro (Alex, after all our online communications, we simply have to find a way to meet). A meme is an idea or concept that passes (virally?) from one person to another. The meme is this:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog (or twitter page)
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (or twitter account)
5. If you don’t have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers

As I responded to Paul via twitter, ”you’re on.“ So here it is, FWIW:

1. I’m probably the only gynecologist who ever contributed to a textbook on game theory. Seriously—I took a game theory course online in business school and contributed two problems to the professor’s then-forthcoming textbook. The problems both related to medicine; I was playing around one day to find some way to decompose gynecology into a game, just like global thermonuclear war, the prisoner’s dilemma (which is a zero-sum game) and other classic game theory scenarios. I think this qualifies as a ”weird fact.“
2. In the same vein (specifically, the cavernous vein), I’m also probably the only gynecologist who has inserted rigid penile prostheses. I managed to scrub into two urology cases during my internship, as the urology fellow was away, and got to insert a rigid prosthesis into each of two patients. Way cool (surgically speaking; it’s not cool in any other fashion, really). And way weird. 
3. I was born in Newark, NJ and lived there through the Newark riots. My wife hates when I admit I’m from NJ.
4. My house is 90 years old and faces the street where Ezra Pound once lived. Someday I’ll have to read his poetry.
5. I used to operate best to Pearl Jam. I swear there was less blood loss whenever we played grunge in the OR. Perhaps there’s a possible prospective randomized controlled trial in there.
6. Some people have reported visual auras, hallucinations and psychotic behavior within a few minutes of listening to my music. In all honesty, a good friend of mine who’s a pianist at Curtis got a headache once after listening to vector music for edward hopper one too many times
7. My wife and I lead a very mundane life.

OK, I’m passing it on to you:

• kel
• dave
• bill
• hugh
• greg
• robert
• j.c.

Pierre Boulez on the music of Charles Ives:

“I’ve also played the Robert Browning Overture and theThree Places in New England. It’s music written by an amateur. You would have to rewrite things because it’s impossible to do justice to the ideas because they’re poorly written. He stayed an amateur all his life and he wanted to stay this way. It was a choice for him.”

Interesting. I suspect Ives would have said the same of Boulez’s music…

And if Pierre thinks Ives’ stuff is amateurish, he’d have a field day with my crap.