Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:Laszlo

2015-08-02T14:45:28Z

Laszlo: creating page

I've translated Bleeding Edge into Hungarian. It's due out in October 2015.

User talk:Laszlo

2015-08-02T14:13:22Z

Laszlo: Winnie list

Hi, does anyone know what the Winnie list is? It's on page 45.

Talk:Chapter 5

2015-08-02T13:41:58Z

Laszlo: what's a Winnie list?

Anyone know what a Winnie list is? It's on page 45.

Chapter 22

2015-01-15T16:01:56Z

Laszlo: /* Page 241 */ Deep Net

{{BE PxP Header}}

==Page 239==
'''Adderall''' 
While generally prescribed for ADD, its commonly snorted, and abused as an upper.

'''split for Seattle...hums a few bars of the Darth Vader theme''' 
Reference to Microsoft.

==Page 241==
'''recherché''' 
Choice, refined, exquisite... Also, Sandwichgrrl's comment here brings to mind Gabriel Ice's perhaps not-so-choice wine cellar which is a front for his weird tunnel system.

'''Ride the Wild Surf''' 
A 1964 beach party/surfing movie and a song by Jan & Dean. A play on "surfing the web."

'''summer will end all too soon''' 
''The Endless Summer'' was a famous 1966 surfing movie, continuing the surfing theme from a couple of lines earlier.

'''Robert Moses''' 
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was arguably one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in the United States. His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation. One of his major contributions to urban planning was New York's large parkway network. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses WIKI].

"Robert Moses of the Deep Net": the only occurence of the Deep '''Net''' instead of Deep Web. Editing, again?

'''Gigantic vacuum-tube computers with half-acre footprints''' 
Dinosaurs. This whole section sorta screams, Moloch!

==Page 242==

'''Scope wizards''' 
In the late 1950s, only the military was flying supersonic jet aircraft like the all-weather capable F102A Delta Dagger or "One-O-Wonderful" F101B Voodoo. Nicknames were usually applied to the air and ground crews, using the "Voodoo" theme: "One-Oh-Wonder" for the pilots, '''"Scope Wizard" for the Radar Intercept Officers''' (RIOs, later called Weapon System Officers/WSOs or "Whizzos), and "Witch Doctors" for the maintenance guys. They were a formidable sight, whether taxiing past the alert hangars or taking off in formation.

'''bird colonel''' 
A full colonel in the US Army.

'''ADC from AFOSI Region 7''' 
Aerospace Defense Command [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_Defense_Command (though inactivated in 1980?)] from United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

'''the gulag''' 
The Gulag was the Soviet Union government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, from the 1930s through the 1950s. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of extrajudicial punishment. The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. The term is also sometimes used to describe the camps themselves. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag WIKI].

'''Time travel...you have to do it from inside out, with your mind and body...navigating Time is an unforgiving discipline''' &c. 
The curse of the writer (in the world of Tron).

==Page 243==
'''MKUltra-type programs''' 
Project MKUltra is the code name of a U.S. government covert human research operation experimenting in the behavioral engineering of humans (mind control) through the CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973. The program engaged in many illegal activities; in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy. MKUltra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra Wikipedia entry]

==Page 244==
'''Lacanian''' 
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's intellectuals in the 1960s and the 1970s, especially the post-structuralist philosophers. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacanian WIKI].

'''Alfonsín''' 
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (March 12, 1927 – March 31, 2009) was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization Process. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 1985, among numerous other such recognitions. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonsin WIKI].

'''Menem-Cavallo era''' 
President Menem had already privatized the state telecom concern and national airlines (the once-premier airline in Latin America, Aerolíneas Argentinas, which was later almost run into the ground). The stability Cavallo's plan helped bring about, however, opened prospects for more privatizations than ever. Going on to total over 200 state enterprises, these included the costly state railroads concern, the state oil monopoly YPF, several public utilities, two government television stations, 10,000 km (6000 mi) of roads, steel and petrochemical firms, grain elevators, hotels, subways and even racetracks. A panoply of provincial and municipal banks were sold to financial giants abroad (sometimes over the opposition of their respective governors and mayors) and, taking a page from Chile's successful experiment, the mandatory state pensions system was opened to choice through the authorization of for private pension schemes. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo_Cavallo#The_Menem_administration WIKI].

'''Law of the Father''' 
An important idea in the work of Jacques Lacan, which is relevant since Leopold is a Lacanian shrink. 
In 1897 Freud remarked, on the basis of his analysis of his first patients and his self-analysis, that "The father forbids the child from realizing its unconscious wish to sleep with his mother" (letter to Fliess, October 15, 1897). This first outline of the Oedipus complex, which now appears simplistic, grew increasingly complex throughout Freud's research. In time the Law of the Father turned out to be directed both toward the mother ("You will not reintegrate your product") as well as her offspring swept up by desire. The law is also accompanied by an injunction against cannibalism and murder, and hold up ideals, primarily sexual ones ("Later you will enjoy, like me, a woman from another family"). Once introjected, this becomes the origin of the superego and ego ideal. The repression of drives, their suppression and sublimation, are the principal outcomes of the conflict that connects them structurally to this law. [http://www.answers.com/topic/law-of-the-father]

Bear in mind, though, that the quoted material above applies to Freud's early biology-based thinking. Taking cues from Freud's later cultural/anthropological interests, Lacan maps Oedipus and ego development onto the structures of language ("The Unconscious is structured like [a] language.") and more or less replaces Freud's Id-Ego-Superego mechanics with his own Real-Imaginary-Symbolic orders as his go-to hermeneutic machine.

'''Villa Freud''' 
This is an actual neighborhood located within the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires known for "its high concentration of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, hence its name." See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Freud#Palermo_Norte.2C_Alto_Palermo_and_Villa_Freud WIKI].

==Page 245==
'''Maybe not as bad as getting disappeared''' 
During the last military dictatorship in Argentina, from 1976 to 1983, around 30,000 people got disappeared by the state.

'''''loquesea''''' 
Whatevs.

==Page 246==
'''"What, excuse me, gives you authority here? What happens in your practice, when you want to save somebody but lose them instead?"''' 
Maxine is a Jewish Mother with an ''it's-complicated'' relationship with the Law, whether civil, financial or Lacanian. Is Pynchon giving us a version of Freud/Lacan from the Mother's point of view (who no one ever asks about all this desire and desired object michegas)? Is she condemned to Windust's attentions because she is the Mother? Is she condemned to reading Windust as an abducted little boy who's been shocked and awed into usefulness as an IMF thug? Is she any different in this regard than Frenesi Gates or Oedipa Maas? Is she really Naomi Klein? Stay tuned.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 40

2015-01-05T21:00:16Z

Laszlo: pushka plus moving things to correct page

{{BE PxP Header}}
==Page 450==
'''She's innocent...She's so fuckin innocent''' 
Echos of Britney Spears from [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_7 page 7]? Maybe, maybe not. It's just that at the end of this novel there are so many references to previous happenings that one just can't be sure, can one?
 
 
'''Hypnotiq''' 
Misspelling/typo of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hpnotiq Hpnotiq,] a turquoise liqueur?

==Page 451==
'''''The Geek That Couldn't Sleep''''' 
Playing on the 1939 animated short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gkWB5QtPFQ The Bear that Couldn't Sleep]?

'''bagpipe players, improvisiong grace notes on "Candle in the Wind"''' 
I thought I was going to have to be the one to take one for the team by being the one to annotate this oppressively ubiquitous Elton John song associated with the deaths of Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe, but I'm thrilled to say [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyw1lC7tFLY YouTube] has a dude playing it on bagpipes. Thank you, dude and YouTube.

==Page 452==
'''CMU''' 
Carnegie Mellon University, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Mellon_University WIKI].

'''leading indicator...bagpipe players would get a heads-up before the next one happens?''' 
Little bit of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tyrone_Slothrop Slothrop] here, as well as a bleeding edge?

'''The Montauk Project''' 
Just a refresher, on page 117 March explains "The Montauk Project is every horrible suspicion you've ever had since World War II, all the paranoid production values, a vast underground facility, exotic weapons, space aliens, time travel, other dimensions..."

'''Cue the theremin music''' 
Refers to the theme song of the original TV series ''Star Trek'' (I think?), which used the eerie sound of the theremin. Relates to the extra terrestrial/sci-fi activities at Montauk mentioned a few lines earlier.

It more likely is an allusion to the music from ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''. I don't believe there is a theremin in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRb1OVpat0 the original Star Trek theme]

Two things. One: apparently the vocal style of the ''Star Trek'' theme song really was meant to imitate specifically the theremin, and not just to sound 'spacey.' Two: ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' gets referenced on page [[Chapter_10#Page_100|100.]]

==Page 454==
'''Igor's ZiL-41047''' 
The ZIL-41047 is a limousine built by ZIL of Russia. Production of ZIL models ceased in 2002 due to their previous customer base turning to more modern Western vehicles.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIL-41047]

See p. [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_15#Page_160 160]

'''''shmaravozka'''''

(шмаравозка) Russian slang, "pimped-out ride" (Pynchon's use of the term in a novel set in 2001-02 may be anachronistic.)

'''''pushka''''' (пушка) is Russian for "cannon" but just like cannon in English it is also slang for "handgun"

==Page 455==
'''''govno''''' 
(говно) Russian, "shit"

'''''nichego''''' 
(ничего) Russian, "nothing."

'''''vory''''' 
(воры) Russian, "thieves."

'''Austin Powers ... shagadelic'''<br\>
Austin Powers was a character portrayed by Mike Myers in a series of three action-comedy movies parodying the James Bond flicks. Shagadelic was first coined by him in the 1997 film ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'', the first of the trilogy.

==Page 456==
'''fake barn and silo of Stew Leonard''' 
Stew Leonard's is chain of four supermarkets in Connecticut and New York which ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' deemed "The World's Largest Dairy", with Fortune magazine listing Stew Leonard's as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For". "Anyone who comes from Connecticut or thereabouts knows this landmark chain of grocery stores where mechanized cows sing and roosters crow," according to a writer for the ''Sun-Sentinel'' of Florida. A typical Stew Leonard's store will attract customers from a wider geographic area than a typical supermarket because customers are willing to drive longer distances. The store's fame comes from its innovative in-store marketing, which includes a barnlike wood decor, a winding path for shoppers instead of straight, parallel aisles, and animatronic singing animals perched above the shelving. In 1993, Stew Leonard Sr. was convicted of committing tax fraud through an elaborate scheme including short-weighting to divert more than $17 million in cash register receipts over a ten-year period. He was sentenced to 52-months in jail. Court documents indicated that Stew Leonard Jr. played a role in the tax fraud. However, in the interest of protecting his son and the store, Stew Leonard Sr. pleaded guilty in exchange for an agreement from the prosecutors to not bring charges against Stew Leonard Jr. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stew_Leonard%27s WIKI].

'''... Chimpan Zee bridge. ''' 

The Tappan Zee Bridge.

'''DDT's road anthem "Ty Nye Odin" (You Are Not Alone)...and the soulful ballad "Veter"''' 
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lWulSZIvFQ Ty Nye Odin] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7z0jtmbOC8 Veter] on YouTube. 

Anyone else getting a slight whiff, a silage, perhaps, of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEMiz6rcxc nihilists] from ''The Big Lebowski''?

Formed in 1980, DDT were one of he most popular Russian rock bands of the 80s and 90s. The song "Veter" (The Wind), in particular, would be known to any Russian who grew up at that time.

'''Vladimirskii Tsentral'''

Well-known prison in the city of Vladimir dating from the reign of Catherine the Great and still in use today. (It is, however, very unlikely that petty criminals like Grisha and Misha would have served time there.)

==Page 457==
'''Mohawk for 'firefly'''' 
This [http://winddancer45.tripod.com/MohawkLanguage.html page] says "tewattsirokwas" does mean "firefly."

'''Camp Tewattsirokwas ... the Gimelmans from Cedarhurst'''
The camp and the Gimelmans are, as far as I can tell, fictional.

You will need a lot of watts (a terrawatt?) to operate a server farm and a lot of cooling (Lake Heatsink)

So is it named after a way of producing light without heat, or after Groucho Marx character Rufus T. Firefly?

'''the Schachtman unpleasantness''' 
Max Shachtman (1904 – 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany. In 1938, Shachtman shocked Trotsky by publishing an article in the New International in which James Burnham declared his opposition to dialectical materialism, the philosophy of Marxism. Although Trotsky reassured Shachtman, "I did not deny in the least the usefulness of the article you and Burnham wrote," the issue would soon be revived as Shachtman and Trotsky clashed on the outbreak of World War II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Shachtman]

'''Marching to Astoria''' 
Reference to Archie Bunker's version. Actually Marching to Pretoria, which was sung at many upstate sleepaway camps. http://youtu.be/Hap0jqU0WsQ

'''Zum Gali Gali''' 
a Hebrew folk song

'''aaahhh! Wesley Epstein!''' 
Perhaps one of Maxine's crushes at summer camp?

'''spiel from the Geek's Cotillion''' 
This would be Ice's speech at the Tworkeffx party in [[Chapter_28|| Chapter 28]] (p. 310) wherein he says that the thing to do is "to go north, set up server farms where heat dissipation won't be so much of a problem [...] Domed communities across the Arctic tundra."

'''Ride Wit Me''' 
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtSDWq6HsJE YouTube.] Help the view count pass the 31 million mark.

==Page 458==
'''one of those vircators''' 
A vircator (VIRtual CAthode oscillaTOR) is a microwave generator that is capable of generating brief pulses of tunable, narrow band microwaves at very high power levels. Vircators have been used as electromagnetic (EM) pulse generators and for generating X-rays.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vircator]

This scene sounds like it came from Repo Man [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repo_Man_%28film%29 wiki]

'''''Po khuy''''' 
(по хуй) An obscene Russian expression of indifference, cf. "don't give a fuck" in English. Its usage seems somewhat out of place here. A contemptuous "na khuy" (на хуй) (= fuck it!; to hell with it!) would be both far more common and much more to Grisha's point.

==Page 459==

'''''nyaschetchka''''' 
(няшечка) Russian Internet slang, "cutie pie." (I suspect its use here is thoroughly anachronistic, as I can't find any citations for the word that are older than 2010.)

'''Gaussian blur''' 
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauß (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physical scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, algebra, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy, and optics. Sometimes referred to as the ''Princeps mathematicorum'' (Latin, "the Prince of Mathematicians" or "the foremost of mathematicians") and "greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had a remarkable influence in many fields of mathematics and science and is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss WIKI].

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur Gaussian blur] is a well known technique for smoothing or blurring images using an algorithm based on Gauss' mathematical work (using a 'Gaussian function'). Its effect is to simultaneously make an image appear smoother (and potentially more pleasing to the eye) but also to destroy detail in the process. The idea of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_function Gaussian function] relates to the mathematical distribution of V2 rocket strikes in Gravity's Rainbow.

'''Article 272''' 
This is, indeed, the relevant article in the revised Criminal Code of the Russian Federation adopted in 1997, notable for including cybercrimes for the first time.

==Page 460==

'''Deimos-and-Phobos''' 
In Greek mythology, the twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite. They personify "terror" and "fear" respectively.

'''Overflow exploit, denial of service'''
<blockquote>'''Buffer overflow:''' In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety. Buffer overflows can be triggered by inputs that are designed to execute code, or alter the way the program operates. This may result in erratic program behavior, including memory access errors, incorrect results, a crash, or a breach of system security. Thus, they are the basis of many software vulnerabilities and can be maliciously exploited.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow] 

'''Denial of Service (DoS):''' In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of efforts to temporarily or indefinitely interrupt or suspend services of a host connected to the Internet.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial_of_service_attack]</blockquote>

'''Anasha can do funny things to a man''' 
"Anasha" is Russian for the dried resin exuded by female indian hemp plant, aka hashish

'''HALO... HAHO''' 
High-altitude military parachuting (or military free fall (MFF)) is a method of delivering personnel, equipment, and supplies from a transport aircraft at a high altitude via free-fall parachute insertion. Two techniques are used: HALO (high altitude - low opening) and HAHO (high altitude - high opening). In the HALO technique, the parachutist opens his parachute at a low altitude after free-falling for a period of time, while in the HAHO technique, the parachutist opens his parachute at a high altitude just a few seconds after jumping from the aircraft. HALO techniques date back to 1960 when the U.S. Air Force was conducting experiments that followed earlier work by Colonel John Stapp in the late 1940s through early 1950s on survivability factors for high-flying pilots needing to eject at high altitudes. In recent years, the HALO technique has been practiced by civilians as a form of skydiving. HALO is used for delivering equipment, supplies, or personnel, while HAHO is generally used only for personnel. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HALO_jump WIKI].

'''''praporschik''''' 
A grade of NCO in the Russian army. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praporshchik WIKI]

==Page 461==
'''Spetsnaz''' 
See p. [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_13#Page_139 139].

'''''dzhef''''' 
Russian, "dope." (One of Pynchon's lamer cross-linguistic puns. "Everything (is) dope," of course, makes sense in English. In Russian, it would make no sense at all, as джеф doesn't have the adjectival slang usage of "very good" that "dope" does in English.)

'''Wahhabist bullshit front''' 
See p. [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_31#Page_344 344].

'''hedgehog in the fog''' 
English translation of the Russian animated film [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCsJZV7aCdY ''Yozhik v Tumane''] mentioned on page 273.

==Page 462==
'''The ''padonki'' exchange a hopeful glance.''' 
Padonki (Russian: падонки) is an an underground, nonconformist counter-culture within the Russian-speaking Internet that originated in 1997. It's most famous for using a distinctive slang, known as padonkaffsky jargon or, alternatively, as Olbanian. They pride themselves on their ability to creatively disrupt, question and make fun of mainstream culture. A padonok is any individual who has the ability to detach from social, cultural, ideological, and political norms. The singular of padonki is padonok (Russian: падонок), an intentional misspelling of podonok (Russian: подонок), which means riff-raff, scoundrel, or scum. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padonki]]

'''Do svidanya Maksi! Poka, byelokurva!''' 
"Goodbye, Maxi! So long, Ditzy Blonde!" (До свидания, Макси! Пока, белокурва!) The term белокурва is more than a little obscure, with only a few hundred G-hits, many of which are to dictionaries of slang and jargon. Some of the Russian Pynchon uses in BE is bog-standard for anyone familiar with the language, but it seems probable that Pynchon was also relying extensively on [http://www.russki-mat.net/e/Russian.php this site] for some of the more colorful (and highly improbable) expressions Igor, Misha and Grisha use.

Белокурва is slang for the "dumb blonde" of the jokes.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}

Chapter 40

2015-01-05T19:42:38Z

Laszlo: /* Page 462 */ Белокурва

{{BE PxP Header}}
==Page 450==
'''She's innocent...She's so fuckin innocent''' 
Echos of Britney Spears from [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_7 page 7]? Maybe, maybe not. It's just that at the end of this novel there are so many references to previous happenings that one just can't be sure, can one?
 
 
'''Hypnotiq''' 
Misspelling/typo of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hpnotiq Hpnotiq,] a turquoise liqueur?

==Page 451==
'''''The Geek That Couldn't Sleep''''' 
Playing on the 1939 animated short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gkWB5QtPFQ The Bear that Couldn't Sleep]?

'''bagpipe players, improvisiong grace notes on "Candle in the Wind"''' 
I thought I was going to have to be the one to take one for the team by being the one to annotate this oppressively ubiquitous Elton John song associated with the deaths of Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe, but I'm thrilled to say [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyw1lC7tFLY YouTube] has a dude playing it on bagpipes. Thank you, dude and YouTube.

==Page 452==
'''CMU''' 
Carnegie Mellon University, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Mellon_University WIKI].

'''leading indicator...bagpipe players would get a heads-up before the next one happens?''' 
Little bit of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tyrone_Slothrop Slothrop] here, as well as a bleeding edge?

'''The Montauk Project''' 
Just a refresher, on page 117 March explains "The Montauk Project is every horrible suspicion you've ever had since World War II, all the paranoid production values, a vast underground facility, exotic weapons, space aliens, time travel, other dimensions..."

'''Cue the theremin music''' 
Refers to the theme song of the original TV series ''Star Trek'' (I think?), which used the eerie sound of the theremin. Relates to the extra terrestrial/sci-fi activities at Montauk mentioned a few lines earlier.

It more likely is an allusion to the music from ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''. I don't believe there is a theremin in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRb1OVpat0 the original Star Trek theme]

Two things. One: apparently the vocal style of the ''Star Trek'' theme song really was meant to imitate specifically the theremin, and not just to sound 'spacey.' Two: ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' gets referenced on page [[Chapter_10#Page_100|100.]]

==Page 454==
'''Igor's ZiL-41047''' 
The ZIL-41047 is a limousine built by ZIL of Russia. Production of ZIL models ceased in 2002 due to their previous customer base turning to more modern Western vehicles.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIL-41047]

See p. [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_15#Page_160 160]

'''''shmaravozka'''''

(шмаравозка) Russian slang, "pimped-out ride" (Pynchon's use of the term in a novel set in 2001-02 may be anachronistic.)

'''''nichego''''' 
(ничего) Russian, "nothing."

'''''vory''''' 
(воры) Russian, "thieves."

==Page 455==
'''''govno''''' 
(говно) Russian, "shit"

'''Austin Powers ... shagadelic'''<br\>
Austin Powers was a character portrayed by Mike Myers in a series of three action-comedy movies parodying the James Bond flicks. Shagadelic was first coined by him in the 1997 film ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'', the first of the trilogy.

==Page 456==
'''fake barn and silo of Stew Leonard''' 
Stew Leonard's is chain of four supermarkets in Connecticut and New York which ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' deemed "The World's Largest Dairy", with Fortune magazine listing Stew Leonard's as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For". "Anyone who comes from Connecticut or thereabouts knows this landmark chain of grocery stores where mechanized cows sing and roosters crow," according to a writer for the ''Sun-Sentinel'' of Florida. A typical Stew Leonard's store will attract customers from a wider geographic area than a typical supermarket because customers are willing to drive longer distances. The store's fame comes from its innovative in-store marketing, which includes a barnlike wood decor, a winding path for shoppers instead of straight, parallel aisles, and animatronic singing animals perched above the shelving. In 1993, Stew Leonard Sr. was convicted of committing tax fraud through an elaborate scheme including short-weighting to divert more than $17 million in cash register receipts over a ten-year period. He was sentenced to 52-months in jail. Court documents indicated that Stew Leonard Jr. played a role in the tax fraud. However, in the interest of protecting his son and the store, Stew Leonard Sr. pleaded guilty in exchange for an agreement from the prosecutors to not bring charges against Stew Leonard Jr. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stew_Leonard%27s WIKI].

'''... Chimpan Zee bridge. ''' 

The Tappan Zee Bridge.

'''DDT's road anthem "Ty Nye Odin" (You Are Not Alone)...and the soulful ballad "Veter"''' 
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lWulSZIvFQ Ty Nye Odin] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7z0jtmbOC8 Veter] on YouTube. 

Anyone else getting a slight whiff, a silage, perhaps, of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEMiz6rcxc nihilists] from ''The Big Lebowski''?

Formed in 1980, DDT were one of he most popular Russian rock bands of the 80s and 90s. The song "Veter" (The Wind), in particular, would be known to any Russian who grew up at that time.

'''Vladimirskii Tsentral'''

Well-known prison in the city of Vladimir dating from the reign of Catherine the Great and still in use today. (It is, however, very unlikely that petty criminals like Grisha and Misha would have served time there.)

==Page 457==
'''Mohawk for 'firefly'''' 
This [http://winddancer45.tripod.com/MohawkLanguage.html page] says "tewattsirokwas" does mean "firefly."

'''Camp Tewattsirokwas ... the Gimelmans from Cedarhurst'''
The camp and the Gimelmans are, as far as I can tell, fictional.

You will need a lot of watts (a terrawatt?) to operate a server farm and a lot of cooling (Lake Heatsink)

So is it named after a way of producing light without heat, or after Groucho Marx character Rufus T. Firefly?

'''the Schachtman unpleasantness''' 
Max Shachtman (1904 – 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany. In 1938, Shachtman shocked Trotsky by publishing an article in the New International in which James Burnham declared his opposition to dialectical materialism, the philosophy of Marxism. Although Trotsky reassured Shachtman, "I did not deny in the least the usefulness of the article you and Burnham wrote," the issue would soon be revived as Shachtman and Trotsky clashed on the outbreak of World War II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Shachtman]

'''Marching to Astoria''' 
Reference to Archie Bunker's version. Actually Marching to Pretoria, which was sung at many upstate sleepaway camps. http://youtu.be/Hap0jqU0WsQ

'''Zum Gali Gali''' 
a Hebrew folk song

'''aaahhh! Wesley Epstein!''' 
Perhaps one of Maxine's crushes at summer camp?

'''spiel from the Geek's Cotillion''' 
This would be Ice's speech at the Tworkeffx party in [[Chapter_28|| Chapter 28]] (p. 310) wherein he says that the thing to do is "to go north, set up server farms where heat dissipation won't be so much of a problem [...] Domed communities across the Arctic tundra."

'''Ride Wit Me''' 
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtSDWq6HsJE YouTube.] Help the view count pass the 31 million mark.

==Page 458==
'''one of those vircators''' 
A vircator (VIRtual CAthode oscillaTOR) is a microwave generator that is capable of generating brief pulses of tunable, narrow band microwaves at very high power levels. Vircators have been used as electromagnetic (EM) pulse generators and for generating X-rays.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vircator]

This scene sounds like it came from Repo Man [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repo_Man_%28film%29 wiki]

'''''Po khuy''''' 
(по хуй) An obscene Russian expression of indifference, cf. "don't give a fuck" in English. Its usage seems somewhat out of place here. A contemptuous "na khuy" (на хуй) (= fuck it!; to hell with it!) would be both far more common and much more to Grisha's point.

==Page 459==

'''''nyaschetchka''''' 
(няшечка) Russian Internet slang, "cutie pie." (I suspect its use here is thoroughly anachronistic, as I can't find any citations for the word that are older than 2010.)

'''Gaussian blur''' 
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauß (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physical scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, algebra, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy, and optics. Sometimes referred to as the ''Princeps mathematicorum'' (Latin, "the Prince of Mathematicians" or "the foremost of mathematicians") and "greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had a remarkable influence in many fields of mathematics and science and is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss WIKI].

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur Gaussian blur] is a well known technique for smoothing or blurring images using an algorithm based on Gauss' mathematical work (using a 'Gaussian function'). Its effect is to simultaneously make an image appear smoother (and potentially more pleasing to the eye) but also to destroy detail in the process. The idea of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_function Gaussian function] relates to the mathematical distribution of V2 rocket strikes in Gravity's Rainbow.

'''Article 272''' 
This is, indeed, the relevant article in the revised Criminal Code of the Russian Federation adopted in 1997, notable for including cybercrimes for the first time.

==Page 460==

'''Deimos-and-Phobos''' 
In Greek mythology, the twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite. They personify "terror" and "fear" respectively.

'''Overflow exploit, denial of service'''
<blockquote>'''Buffer overflow:''' In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety. Buffer overflows can be triggered by inputs that are designed to execute code, or alter the way the program operates. This may result in erratic program behavior, including memory access errors, incorrect results, a crash, or a breach of system security. Thus, they are the basis of many software vulnerabilities and can be maliciously exploited.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow] 

'''Denial of Service (DoS):''' In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of efforts to temporarily or indefinitely interrupt or suspend services of a host connected to the Internet.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial_of_service_attack]</blockquote>

'''Anasha can do funny things to a man''' 
"Anasha" is Russian for the dried resin exuded by female indian hemp plant, aka hashish

'''HALO... HAHO''' 
High-altitude military parachuting (or military free fall (MFF)) is a method of delivering personnel, equipment, and supplies from a transport aircraft at a high altitude via free-fall parachute insertion. Two techniques are used: HALO (high altitude - low opening) and HAHO (high altitude - high opening). In the HALO technique, the parachutist opens his parachute at a low altitude after free-falling for a period of time, while in the HAHO technique, the parachutist opens his parachute at a high altitude just a few seconds after jumping from the aircraft. HALO techniques date back to 1960 when the U.S. Air Force was conducting experiments that followed earlier work by Colonel John Stapp in the late 1940s through early 1950s on survivability factors for high-flying pilots needing to eject at high altitudes. In recent years, the HALO technique has been practiced by civilians as a form of skydiving. HALO is used for delivering equipment, supplies, or personnel, while HAHO is generally used only for personnel. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HALO_jump WIKI].

'''''praporschik''''' 
A grade of NCO in the Russian army. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praporshchik WIKI]

==Page 461==
'''Spetsnaz''' 
See p. [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_13#Page_139 139].

'''''dzhef''''' 
Russian, "dope." (One of Pynchon's lamer cross-linguistic puns. "Everything (is) dope," of course, makes sense in English. In Russian, it would make no sense at all, as джеф doesn't have the adjectival slang usage of "very good" that "dope" does in English.)

'''Wahhabist bullshit front''' 
See p. [http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_31#Page_344 344].

'''hedgehog in the fog''' 
English translation of the Russian animated film [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCsJZV7aCdY ''Yozhik v Tumane''] mentioned on page 273.

==Page 462==
'''The ''padonki'' exchange a hopeful glance.''' 
Padonki (Russian: падонки) is an an underground, nonconformist counter-culture within the Russian-speaking Internet that originated in 1997. It's most famous for using a distinctive slang, known as padonkaffsky jargon or, alternatively, as Olbanian. They pride themselves on their ability to creatively disrupt, question and make fun of mainstream culture. A padonok is any individual who has the ability to detach from social, cultural, ideological, and political norms. The singular of padonki is padonok (Russian: падонок), an intentional misspelling of podonok (Russian: подонок), which means riff-raff, scoundrel, or scum. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padonki]]

'''Do svidanya Maksi! Poka, byelokurva!''' 
"Goodbye, Maxi! So long, Ditzy Blonde!" (До свидания, Макси! Пока, белокурва!) The term белокурва is more than a little obscure, with only a few hundred G-hits, many of which are to dictionaries of slang and jargon. Some of the Russian Pynchon uses in BE is bog-standard for anyone familiar with the language, but it seems probable that Pynchon was also relying extensively on [http://www.russki-mat.net/e/Russian.php this site] for some of the more colorful (and highly improbable) expressions Igor, Misha and Grisha use.

Белокурва is slang for the "dumb blonde" of the jokes.

{{Bleeding Edge PbP}}