AtDDtA(16): If any Sinister Meaning was Hidden Here

[Dave Monroe]

   "'Heroes of the Sands Discover Lost City!'" (AtD, Pt. III, p. 435)


"a little more karmically advanced"

According to karma, performing positive actions results in a good
condition in one's experience, whereas a negative action results in a
bad effect. The effects may be seen immediately or delayed. Delay can
be until later in the present life or in the next. Thus, meritorious
acts may mean rebirth into a higher station, such as a superior human
or a godlike being, while evil acts result in rebirth as a human
living in less desirable circumstances, or as a lower animal....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma#Western_interpretation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm


"we do try aboard this vessel to ignore the rivalries going on above
us whenever we may,  and anyone that's after our results is more than
welcome to them"

Tres scientifique, non?  Politically disinterested, committed to the
free circulation of
information (at least once the results are in) ...


"archiepiscopal homilies"

Main Entry: ar·chi·epis·co·pal
Pronunciation: "är-kE-&-'pis-k&-p&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Medieval Latin archiepiscopalis, from Late Latin
archiepiscopus archbishop -- more at ARCHBISHOP
: of or relating to an archbishop


"shaved ice by the ton"

http://snow-cones.com/history.htm

http://shaved-ice.com/history-1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_ice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_cone


"never-failing fountains of vintage Champagne"

Wines from the Champagne region were known before medieval times.
Churches owned vineyards and monks produced wine for use in the
sacrament of Eucharist. French kings were traditionally anointed in
Reims and champagne wine was served as part of coronation festivities.

Kings appreciated the still, light, and crisp wine, and offered it as
an homage to other monarchs in Europe. In the 17th century, still
wines of Champagne were the wines for celebration in European
countries. The English were the biggest consumers of Champagne wines.

The first commercial sparkling wine was produced in the Limoux area of
Languedoc about 1535. Around 1700, sparkling Champagne, as we know it
today, was born. There is documentary evidence that sparkling wine was
first intentionally produced by English scientist and physician
Christopher Merrett at least 30 years before the work of Dom Perignon
(person) who, contrary to legend and popular belief, did not invent
sparkling wine

[...]

The leading manufacturers devoted considerable energy to creating a
history and identity for their wine, associating it and themselves
with nobility and royalty. Through advertising and packaging they
persuaded the world to turn to champagne for festivities and rites of
passage and to enjoy it as a luxury and form of conspicuous
consumption. Their efforts coincided with an emerging middle class
that was looking for ways to spend its money on symbols of upward
mobility.

In 1866, the famous entertainer and star of his day, George Leybourne
began a career of making celebrity endorsements for Champagne. The
Champagne maker Moët commissioned him to write and perform songs
extolling the virtues of Champagne, especially as a reflection of
taste, affluence, and the good life. He also agreed to drink nothing
but Champagne in public. Leybourne was seen as highly sophisticated
and his image and efforts did much to establish Champagne as an
important element in enhancing social status. It was a marketing
triumph the results of which endure to this day.

In the 1800s Champagne was noticeably sweeter than modern Champagne is
today with the Russians preferring Champagne as sweet as 300 grams per
litre. The trend towards drier Champagne began when Perrier-Jouët
decided not to sweeten his 1846 vintage prior to exporting it to
London. The designation Brut Champagne, the modern Champagne, was
created for the British in 1876

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_(wine)#Origins


"jewel-studded Victoria Crosses"

The Victoria Cross (VC) is a military decoration awarded for valour
"in the face of the enemy" to members of armed forces of some
Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross

The Victoria Cross

http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/vcross.htm

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/victoriacross.asp


Monsieur Fabergé

The House of Fabergé was a jewelry firm founded towards the end of the
first half of the 19th century in Imperial Russia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faberg%C3%A9

Peter Carl Fabergé original name Carl Gustavovich Fabergé (May 30,
1846–September 24, 1920) was a Russian jeweller, best known for the
fabulous Fabergé eggs, made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but
using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane
materials....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Carl_Faberg%C3%A9

Fabergé: Jewelry since 1842

http://www.faberge.de/


"appealing though they be or, shall I say, as they are"

... Toadflax first correctly uses the subjunctive, "appealing though
they be"; the choice of mood says he is making a speculative
statement, something like "however appealing they are imagined to be."
Then he rephrases—changing the meaning of his statement—to the
indicative mood, "appealing as they are," saying that the pleasures
definitely, factually are appealing. The contrast of subjunctive and
indicative is becoming archaic now, but it wasn't archaic or even odd
coming from an educated speaker in the early 20th century.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_429-459#Page_435


"If any sinister meaning was hidden here"

Is one or, shall I say, any?  Or ...?  Help!