The Boatswain Mr. Higgs, and a "string theory" of sorts?

[Heikki Raudaskoski]

Good to know Tim! (It would be hard to maintain your high standard,
though.)

In this case, however, Bill Millard got there first. I had forgotten it.
I did audit his Snovian paper at IPW 1998. You remember Bill, Tim? This
scholar-musician. A nice guy indeed. I must have first heard about the
Higgs boson joke from him, and probably learned the pronunciation of
boatswain at the King's College too.


Heikki

On Wed, 4 Jul 2012, Tim Ware wrote:

> To anyone who is shocked to discover that something they've known or discovery about a Pynchon novel is NOT in the wikis, I suggest you register and add it yourself.
>
> That's why I made them wikis. Why should I do all the work :-)
>
> Thanks for any contributions you may choose to make.
>
> A-and a happy 4th to y'all....
>
> Tim Ware
>
> On Jul 4, 2012, at 2:40 PM, Dave Monroe wrote:
>
> > On 7/4/12, Heikki Raudaskoski <hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi> wrote:
> >
> >> They are in the southern Latitudes at last, hence the need for
> >> Awnings,? the shipboard routine settl'd into, the Boatswain, Mr.
> >> Higgs, turning ev'ryone to upon the Project of tidying up the work of
> >> the Riggers at Plymouth, who've left far too many Ends untuck'd for
> >> this Deck-Tyrant, born under the sign of Virgo, so obsessive about
> >> neatness in Knot-work, as to provide a source of Amusement for the
> >> Captain, who finds him an ideal Subject to practice being insane upon.
> >> "A Phiz of Doom! we can't have this! Worse than idle Whistling!" Mr.
> >> Higgs obliges
> >>  the section not on Watch to attend Instruction in Lashings,
> >> Seizings, the art of making a Turk's Head that might fool a Harem
> >> Girl. "You may think no one'll get close enough to see it, but a
> >> Thousand details, each nearly invisible, all working together, can
> >> mean the difference between a ship that goes warping and kedging in to
> >> a Foreign Port, and one that Makes an Entrance. And which will the
> >> Scoundrels think of meddling with first, eh? Now I want to see each of
> >> ye hauling me taut a Matthew Walker, that England shall be proud of,"?
> >> implying that somewhere there is a Royal Museum of Splices, Hitches,
> >> and Bends, where their Work may one day lie upon Display. (MD 54-55)
> >
> > ... astonishingly NOT annotated on the wikis:
> >
> > Boatswain's Pipe
> > 26; (pronounced "Bo's'n")
> >
> > http://www.thomaspynchon.com/mason-dixon/alpha/b.html
> >
> > Boatswain's Pipe
> > 26; (pronounced "Bo's'n"): a two-note whistle used to announce senior
> > officers coming aboard.
> >
> > http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=B
>
>
>
>
> ___________________Tim Ware / HyperArts___________________
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>