Difference between revisions of "ATD 57-80"
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'''Beast Without Shame'''<br> | '''Beast Without Shame'''<br> | ||
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on [[ATD_26-56#Page_36|page 36]]: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast." | Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on [[ATD_26-56#Page_36|page 36]]: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast." | ||
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| + | '''Merle and Dally'''<br> | ||
| + | Merle's family situation (single father, smart aleck daughter, mother who took off) is identical to that of ''Vineland's'' protagonist Zoyd Wheeler. | ||
==Page 69== | ==Page 69== | ||
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'''"some larger plan"'''<br> | '''"some larger plan"'''<br> | ||
May be talking about writing ''Against the Day'' itself. | May be talking about writing ''Against the Day'' itself. | ||
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| + | ==Page 74== | ||
| + | |||
| + | '''Skip'''<br> | ||
| + | Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from ''Gravity's Rainbow''. | ||
Revision as of 05:08, 27 November 2006
Page 58
Michelson-Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment, one of the most important and famous experiments in the history of physics, was performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether. Primarily for this work, Albert Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. Wikipedia entry
Töpler influence machine A machine for producing electrical charges.
Page 60
Roswell Bounce
The mentions of cosmic space, balloons, a US Bureau "in charge of reporting," and his occupation as a photograper seem to allude to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, an alleged alien crash that the US government insisted was a downed weather balloon. Wikipedia entry
Page 61
"Somehow Merle got the idea in his head that the MIchelson-Morley experiment and the Blinky Morgan manhunt were connected."
Vaguely recalls the use of John Dillinger in Gravity's Rainbow (741), insofar as they both read a surprising amount of metaphysical meaning into the death or final apprehension of a notorious criminal.
Page 63
O.D. Chandrasekhar
Perhaps a nod to Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995), an Indian-American physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, known to the world as Chandra, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He calculated and discovered the Chandrasekhar Limit which is the maximum mass possible for a white dwarf star (one of the end stages of stars that have exhausted their fuel) supported by electron degeneracy pressure, and is approximately 3 × 1030 kg, around 1.44 times the mass of the Sun.
Page 67
Beast Without Shame
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on page 36: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast."
Merle and Dally
Merle's family situation (single father, smart aleck daughter, mother who took off) is identical to that of Vineland's protagonist Zoyd Wheeler.
Page 69
"some larger plan"
May be talking about writing Against the Day itself.
Page 74
Skip
Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from Gravity's Rainbow.
