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Jul 29·edited Jul 29Liked by Steve and Krys Crimi

I read a book at the Univ of Washington main library around 1980ish. It concerned the Allied search for Nazi tech & scientists during the last days of and post-conflict period just after WW2. Can't recall title or author, but I recall very clearly that a real US military (intelligence) person, who must have been the basis for Major Duane Marvy in Gravity's Rainbow, was referred to in that book as the Marvelous Major (possibly The Marvelous Major, if all caps helps). Anyone out there read it and can recall the title or author, please reply. I called the Help Desk at the library and they said that it is old enough that it may not yet have been digitized, so doing a digital search for that phrase on their books that have been digitized would probably not turn up anything unless a more recent book quoted the earlier one, which is unlikely. The Help Desk might have even done a digital search on their digitized books and turned up zilch-o. Any ultra-specialized specialists out there?

In other news...great take/riff on Pynchon/PKD and The Situation, to use a phrase from "V".

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Thanks for reading. Probably not helpful, but I found this: https://www.sergneri.net/wordpress/index.php/2019/11/14/could-this-be-major-duane-marvey-from-gravitys-rainbow/

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That's article covers the sort of things that were dealt with in the book I read. I scanned the article, and it seems to be mostly about maps/cartography. The book was a bit more diverse. The reason I'd be interested in re-reading it is that I recall a chapter or two that dealt with looking for info on the Germans' atomic bomb effort. The was I recall it is that the team found that a key element in the German array of A-bomb tech involved what was basically a pool of water roughly the size of a community-sized swimming pool...leading them to relax somewhat, understanding that they wouldn't have been likely to get an A-bomb dropped on Allied cities or positions unless the Germans had a REALLY BIG PLANE stashed in some really big hangar somewhere nearby to the swimming pool-sized cooling apparatus. Maybe I'll find the title or author info before WW3 starts and download it (if I'm lucky) from annas-archive.org and check my memory of that passage in the book. Maybe not...but even w/o that, I'm pretty sure I held and read one of the same books Pynchon read while writing GR. I'm not in Carlin's Big Club, but perhaps in a small, more interesting one. :-) Thanks.

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Krys and I were married 37 years and ten days ago by a couple who are Lutheran ministers, friends taking care of a parish around the Black Forest. They took us in 1991 to a museum/church beneath which the bomb was being built. Do not remember much else, except it was in the middle of a town, not where you would expect it, but really, where would one expect such a thing? I still miss the Bavarian pretzels fresh from the baker's.

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I like a good pretzel, but I suspect I'd be more likely to keep those bakers in biz by buying their black forest cakes and bavarian cream cakes. You may already be aware of the clip below, but if not, here's to Swedish pancakes! About 10 days ago I was having lunch at a all-you-can-eat-but-not-a-buffet sushi place in Greenville, NC. Unsurprisingly, the kitchen staff preparing the ordered rolls, nigiri, etc. in a semi-open-to-the-diners food-construction-zone were all Latinos, and they had a great, audible-to-patrons, mixtape of Mexican music going, no doubt permitted in order to keep them in better spirits than Japanese tunes, which would otherwise be more likely found in a sushi place. Some sort of cross-commuting cultural effect that wasn't happening in the time period in which Inherent Vice takes place? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJv6QfgML9k

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Dear dear Crimis, yes, awfulness doesn't rain when it pours.

But the most important line in your post is:

'Then recalling the Greek word for truth is aletheia, remembrance, to not forget what you already have within.'

THANK YOU for that.

Why are we not all getting busy with this Re-membrance - the only and ultimate 'thing' (non-thing) we have/are, not only to get through the roughness that will certainly get even rougher, but crucially to drive what we do afterwards.

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Aug 6Liked by Steve and Krys Crimi

Interesting. I jotted down that sentence also to comment on and you have said it for me. Spot on Enna,

Nice touch Steve, crediting Edward de Verve with the quote from Hamlet. :)

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In appreciation for my perspicacious readers here, and my new favorite writer, de Verve.

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