Mason & Dixon questions

[Saurio]

At the end of chapter 62 of M&D (page 617) a certain Colonel Bouquet is
mentioned and that "his scheme is to tessellate across the plains a system
of identical units, each containing five squares in the shape of a Greek
Cross, with each central square radiading from it", etc.
Captain Zhang suggests about this scheme is "A Prison. Settlers moving West
into instant Control"
Capt Shelby adds that dozen of such schemes appear each year and that they
all fail, Zhang concludes "Bringing closer the day when one of them
succeeds".

Well, maybe I´m misinterpreting but this scheme sounds like some kind of
phalanstery. Is about this what Pynchon is writing about?

A phalanstery, for those who doesn´t know is some sort of utopical close
community, something like a building-city, a huge architectonic structure
for people to live in and never go outside because all their needs are
satisfied within.

Similar idea had the famed Le Corbusier when he designed the monoblocks (I
don´t know is these buildings are called this way in english, maybe is what
you call "projects"): self-satisfying buildings-comunities.
Of course, if monoblocks and projects are the same you know what really
happened with them, what turned out to be. Not the creme of society lives
there nor they are self-suficient structures.
Damned utopians!

Another question, sillier, about this chapter.
It begins: "In the Conoloways, on the Twenty-second of April, - the first
point of Aries (...)"
Being an Aries myself I know that April 22 is not Aries but Taurus.
Did I read bad and "the first point of Aries" means something different or
Pynchon doesn´t know his Zodiac?

And
Does anybody know if the mentioned Jesuit Telegraph was an actual device or
just a Pynchonian invention?
And how does *exactly* works?

Zanks!
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                              SAURIO
                     saurio at cvtci.com.ar
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