MD3PAD 622-624

[Otto]

from Douglas Lannark:

MD3PAD 622-624
Whether of importance or not, just for the record: Somehow Pynchon
astrologically either was ill-advised or he simply mixed up and
switched the astronomical data . . . there was no lunar eclipse (a red
Moon) on August 5, 1766 but rather an annular solar eclipse (black
Sun) at 12:45 PM local time visible along most of the MD line.

A partial lunar eclipse visible along most of the MD Line occurred on
Wednesday August 20, 1766 at 02:00 AM local time. One year later there
was another lunar eclipse on Sunday August 9, 1767 culminating at
19:09 local time or shortly after sunset with a "red moon" rising.
Through a lunar opposition to animalistic Mars in conjunction with the
Sun certain inclinations for "kastoranthopy" can be read into the
constellations.

2006/8/15, Toby G Levy <tobylevy at juno.com>:
>         On the full moon of August 5th,  Mason and Dixon take their very
> expensive clock to the visto and time the two hour tree chopping battle
> between the mighty Stig and Zepho Beck, the were-beaver. The rules are
> that if they chop down the same number of trees in the two hours, then
> they will both chop down one more tree and the faster will be declared
> the winner.
>
>         Mrs. Eggslap's prostitutes act as cheerleaders and Stig is still
> posing before them as Zepho chops his way out of sight.  Stig finally
> starts chopping and the first tree to come down hits him on the butt. He
> suffers a sprain, but keeps working. He cannot catch up to Zepho. As
> night falls and the moon comes out, Zepho comes undone because of a
> lunar eclipse. Stig declares the contest void and the bettors are all in
> agony.
>
>         Zhang says that in olden days Mason and Dixon would have been
> beheaded for not forewarning the company about the eclipse.  The next
> evening Zhang tells the company and the Becks the story of Hsi and Ho.
> This really is an ancient Chinese folk tale, that was translated into
> English by Isaac Newton from a French translation of the original
> Chinese rendition.
>
>         Chapter 64, the story of Hsi and Ho, begins on page 623.  On the
> first day of Autumn in ancient times an eclipse occurred that was
> totally missed by royal astronomers Hsi and Ho, who were carousing when
> they should have been studying the skies and making calculations.
>
>         They hurry to the observatory where they are told that they are
> now considered enemies of the Emperor and are condemned to death. As the
> army approaches to arrest them, Hsi and Ho, up on their high platform in
> the observatory decided to try to escape using a gigantic kite.
>
> Toby
>