ATDTDA (14) references p 387 (beta)

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

Joaquin the parrot - pynchonwiki has
Parrot Joaquin
Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi was 
the first novelist in Latin America. 
His most famous work is El periquillo sarniento, 
translated to English as The Mangy Parrot. 
(link to Wikipedia article which I didn't regret following)

right out of pynchonwiki:
pendejo
Spanish (slang): idiot, stupid.

huevon
A Mexican obscenity, meaning literally 
'to have big testicles'; roughly translates as 'lazy'.

'Double refraction'
Once again the theme of dual natures.

psitticide
Parrot-murder.

from Wikipedia:
Zacatecas - "inhabitants of the land 
where the grass (zacate) is abundant" in the Nahuatl language


-- I like this bit: "Giving in at length to
parrot hysteria, sinister in its prolonged indifference."
("indifference" carrying a Deleuzean tinge?)

in addition to awaiting silent Tristero,
I await a good explication of the parrot's screed.
Murky ideas fill my head (but anybody likely to
be reading this knows that)

"Kid engineers!  All alike." examples?
- Frank. 
- Kit later (spoiler) after he abandons
pure math and digs the heck out of flying in a plane...
- Franz Poekler
- the cast and crew of the 40s smash hits, "Peenemunde" 
and "Los Alamos"

here's another turn of phrase:
"El Ñato grew evasive, or, as he would have termed it,
self-conscious."
paranoia, nicht wahr?

robbing the Mint
Mexican mint website has a link for an English
version http://www.cmm.gob.mx/cmm/html/english.html
but it's "under construction"
(I can't help but feel all that revolution is
tough on the infrastructure)

anyway, the Knife wants to have Frank blow up
the Governor's Palace as a diversion while the
"tropas" rob the Mint.