MDDM Ch. 7 a few questions

[CyrusGeo at netscape.net]

jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:

>What's a "Jethro's Tent"? (60.17)
>
>What is the Greek letter given to Mason's "Looking-Glass ... Coefficient of
>Mercy"? (61.5)
>
>Who's the Emerson Dixon is compared to at 61.20?
>
>What is "*Dagga*"? (65.8)
>
>What is the second altitude of Shaula? (71.6, 72.15)
>
>What are "Ridottoes"? (71.16)
>
>What's a "*Nervus Probandi*"? (73.21)
>
>best

I hope the following will help:

1. From http://www.nunki.net/PerDud/TheWorks/Express/TowerBabel.html
"The Bible then describes Moses' exile from Egypt, after killing the Egyptian overseer, and his flight into Sinai where he was sheltered by the Midianite priest, Jethro. There in the safety of Jethro's tent the young Moses married the desert chief's eldest daughter and settled down to the life of a shepherd."

2. It's the letter M (M is the capital), pronouned Mu in Ancient Greek and Mi in Modern Greek. Mathematics often uses Greek letters as symbols or to term coefficients. As the small Greek M is relative to m, it's easy to see how it could be used to term a "coefficient of mercy".

3. From http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/e.html

Emerson, William (1701-82)

"Jeremiah Dixon and his Brother", by H.P. Hollis, Journal of the British Astronomy Association, v44, n8, June 1934, pp 294-9:

There was living at that time at the village of Hurworth, a few miles from Darlington, an eccentric character, William Emerson, whose unconventionality in dress and manners were rather at variance with the fact that he was a man of education with considerable knowledge of mathematics and physics. ... Jeremiah was brought to notice by someone named Emerson who was probably this man; that he was summoned to the Woolwich academy for examination and evidently satisfied his examiners, for they asked him, "Were you at Oxford or Cambridge?" "Neither," he said. "Well then, where did you get your knowledge of astronomy?" "In my pit-cabin at Cockfield Fell," he replied, meaning doubtless in the office at his father's colliery where he was then engaged in some capacity above ground. 
17; Dixon's "old teacher"; Mr. Emerson was a real person, a minor mathematician and scientist of his day who wrote about a dozen scientific books and texts and whom Jeremiah Dixon did in fact know personally. Emerson's mystickal nature may be a Pynchon invention; 73; 98; 215; 251; 268; 317; 318; 423; coat, 500; 556; of Hurworth, 568; 709 

4. Dagga is the Afrikaans word for marijuana.

5. From www.advancement.cnet.navy.mil/products/web-pdf/tramans/bookchunks/14070_ch15.pdf

Because of the vast distance between the earth and
the fixed stars, the difference between the surface-plane                
altitude and the center-of-the-earth-plane altitude is              
small enough to be ignored. For the sun and for planets,            
however, a correction for parallax must be applied to the           
observed altitude (symbol ho) to get the true altitude (h,).
A second altitude correction is the correction for refraction a phenomenon that causes a slight curve in light rays traveling to the observer from a body observed at low altitude.

6. A ridotto is (here) "an entertainment or social assembly consisting of music and dancing." (OED)

7. Nervus probandi: Latin: nervus = sinew, tendon, probandi = of proof. (Somewhat metaphorically, I imagine.)

Cyrus


__________________________________________________________________
Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop at Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/

Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/