IVIV (12): 195-197
Robin Landseadel
robinlandseadel at comcast.net
Tue Nov 3 08:50:42 CST 2009
On Nov 3, 2009, at 6:04 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> In Michael Moore's latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, he gently
> brings up the idea that there's nothing inherent to technology or
> work that makes it necessary to treat workers like garbage. It's
> master-slave, boss-worker, corporate board-work force that distorts
> the workplace. Once could (only in theory of course!) imagine a
> work place where the workers owned the high tech-factory, set the
> work conditions, etc., where technology wouldn't be oppressing the
> worker. Or one could imagine (less theoretical)the same factory
> where workers are coerced into long hours, in horrifying conditions,
> paid slave wages, etc. I think Pynchon's against technology (and
> photography, and electricity) only when it's in the wrong hands
> (which it usually is).
>
> Laura
"My names 's Doc and I'm a private gumshoe or —nowadays
more like gumsandal. I used to work the traditional Hollywood
type of P.I. gigs, setting up drug busts for parties and divorce
cases, helping the cops out with their many shakedown
schemes and so forth but . . .
Since I've moved out here to the beach I've been more into the
smaller tickets, less karmic hassle*, less guilt tripping . . .
*Image of black cat "randomly" appears among other scenes of Manhattan
Beach . . .
His name is Thomas Pynchon ["R", not "H"] and he used to work for one
of those giant military industrial behemoths, writing articles for the
house organ, giving advice and warning on how to avoid getting killed
in the process of transporting one of the company's killing
machines . . .
Togetherness
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Aerospace Safety
December 1960, pp. 6-8.
Thomas H. Pynchon [sic],
Bomarc Aero-Space Dept., Boeing Airplane Co., Seattle
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Airlifting the IM-99A missile, like marriage, demands a
certain amount of "togetherness" between Air Force and
contractor. Two birds per airlift are onloaded by Boeing people
and offloaded by Air Force people; in between is an airborne
MATS C-124. One loading operation is a mirror-image of the
other, and similar accidents can happen at both places. Let's
look at a few of the safety hazards that have to be taken into
account when Bomarcs are shipped. . . .
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In the July 1960 issue of Aerospace Safety, mention was
made of the second Air Force-Industry conference on missile
safety; and of plans to create Air Force-Industry Accident
Review Boards. If future emphasis is to be placed on such joint
action, much can be gained from a positive, realistic -- above
all, cooperative -- approach to safety problems.
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Cooperation is even more important where the problem
area is double-ended: where both contractor and military
personnel perform the same job and are subject to the same
safety hazards. Therefore, in the following discussion of one
such area -- that of Bomarc transportation -- any references to
slip-ups on the military end of the airlift are meant to be strictly
non-partisan and objective. As long as there have been near
accidents, it's better to use them as a guide for future safety than
to pretend they never happened.
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As this article goes to press, the safety record of Bomarc
airlifts can be summed up in four words: so far, so good. You
may recall, however, the optimist who jumped off the top of a
New York office building. He was heard to yell the same thing
as he passed the 20th floor: so far, so good.
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This is not to imply -- necessarily -- that IM-99A on and
offloading crews have been living on borrowed time. Nor --
necessarily -- that the end of the winning streak, when it comes,
will be as tragic as impacting against a concrete surface at 175
or so mph. But then again . . .
http://www.themodernword.com/Pynchon/pynchon_essays_together.html
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