AtDDtA1: This Method of Passing Information

[Dave Monroe]

"... Darby Suckling, meantime, went scrambling up the ratlines and
shrouds of the giant ellipsoidal envelope from which the gondola
depended, to the very top, where the aery flux was uninterrupted, in
order to read, from an anemometer of the Robinson's type, accurate
wind measurements, as an index of how rapidly the ship was proceeding,
conveying these down to the bridge by means of a writen note inside a
tennis-ball lowered on a length of line.   It will be recalled that
this method of passing information had been adopted by the crew during
their brief though inconclusive sojourn 'south of the border' ..."
(AtD, Pt. I, pp. 6-7)


"an anemometer of the Robinson's type"

Thomas Romney Robinson, the third director of the Observatory, was a
well-known astronomer and meteorologist, and besides his commitment to
astronomy made experiments in many other fields of science. One of his
most enduring legacies is the Robinson Cup-Anemometer, a device for
measuring wind speed. The design was originally suggested to him by
Richard Lovell Edgeworth, his future father-in-law, and the invention
motivated in 1839 by the desire to monitor wind speed and its
variability with precision, following the destructive Great Wind of 6
January that year.

http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html

A Robinson Cup-anemometer was first erected on the roof of the
Observatory in 1846....

http://www.arm.ac.uk/history/instruments/Robinson-cup-anemometer.html

Drawing of Robinson's original cup-anemometer

http://star.arm.ac.uk/history/ANEMOM.GIF

Robinson's Anemometer, a cup anemometer used to measure wind speed.
In: A Treatise on Meteorology by Elias Loomis. New York, Harper &
Brothers, 1880. Figure 31, page 68. Call Number QC 861 .L66 1880.

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nws/wea00934.htm

Cup anemometer invented in 1846 by Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson.
Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because
of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental
conditions.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25


"pelota games," frontón

Pilota in Basque and Catalan, pelota in Spanish, or pelote in French
(from Latin pila) is a name for a variety of court sports played with
a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat (pala), or a basket
propulsor, against a wall (frontón in Spanish, frontoi in Basque,
frontó in Catalan) or, more traditionally, with two teams face to face
separated by a line on the ground or a net. Their roots can be traced
to the Greek and other ancient cultures, but in Europe they all derive
from real tennis (see Jeu de Paume). Today, pelota is widely played in
several countries: in the Basque Country and their neighbours; in
Valencia where it is considered the national sport; and in rural areas
of Ireland (Gaelic handball), Belgium, North of Italy, Mexico,
Argentina and other American countries.

Recently, some initiatives have organised pelota championships trying
to unify the different modalities played all around the world, in
order to standardise them into two or three simpler modalities, with
fixed ball weights, rules and court sizes. There are, of course,
criticisms on this, since the original traits of each particular
modality would be lost. The matches between Basque and Valencian teams
have always been the most leveled ones, due to the quality and
versatility of their players.

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

Jai-Alai means "Merry Festival" in the Basque language. The term is
used to denote a fronton (or open-walled arena) used to play a variety
of Pelota called Cesta Punta, and, more broadly, to the game itself.
The game is characterized by the fast pace of play, in which a
125g-140g ball covered with goat-skin can travel up to 180 mph. The
ball is placed into play and volleyed by players wearing a wicker
cesta basket with a glove approximately 63 to 70 cm long.

The glove, known as a Cesta-punta (in Spanish) or xistera (Basque),
was invented by the French Basque Gantchiqui Diturbide (also Gantxiki
Iturbide) in the 19th century.

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


"the Interior Ministry of Porfirio Diaz"

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mory (15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915),
Mexican war volunteer and French intervention hero; later President
and dictator; ruled Mexico from 1876-1880 and 1884-1911.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfirio_D%C3%ADaz

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25

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

http://www.bartleby.com/65/di/Diaz-Por.html

http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=336