A very large prime number can be sold for quite a bit of money in today's economy, and I think that it's interesting that something as mathematical as that has changed from being a tool for a war effort to something that is currently exploited for profit. You can see this difference in L. Waterhouse and R. Waterhouse's motives. Randy call the hacking a game and even "romantic." If something as pure as mathematics ends up being exploited for economic gain, what's next?

I'm sure you all have noticed that the books in this class are what one might call "postmodern." Postmodernism looks at what a traditional text is, and then tries to mess around with the structure and content, right? Well, check out these "postmodern books": Don't try this at home

Okay, so I know this is back-tracking a bit, but with the final paper and all I've really been focusing on Infinite Jest, as I'm sure a lot of you are too.

Have you guys read the companion? If not, I highly recommend it--Burn explains a lot of the ways in which the plot intertwines, and it's really interesting. He mentions a lot of things that I don't remember being mentioned in class--for example, the connection between the ETA kids injured in the Eschaton incident and Gately. Otis P. Lord is the figure in the bed next to Gately with "a box on its head" (890), which I totally didn't get at the time. Burn also talks about the significance of Otis P. Lord's name--Gately has had trouble understanding the idea of a God, and right there next to him is someone who is named Lord and is ultimately in the hospital (in a pretty humurous condition) for "playing God" in the Eschaton game. So in a sense, Otis has failed at playing God, and is really sort of a pathetic Lord. Gately is wondering about why God would put him through all this, while a Lord is lying right next to him with a box stuck on his head.

"The Yanks call this type of plane "Betty," an effeminatizing gesture that really irks him. Then again, the Yanks name even their own planes after women, and paint naked ladies on their sacred instruments of war! If they had samurai swords, Americans would probably decorate the blades of nail polish." (335) That screamed "UNDERWORLD" to me. The last part was particularly amusing. There's nothing wrong with painting on things with nail polish...I do that all the time...On a more serious note, though, I think it's interesting that the American men who painted women on planes considered it good luck, but the Japanese (or at least Stephenson's Yamamoto)thought it was effeminate and a stupid/disrespectful practice. Meanwhile, Japanese soldiers were raping women, sometimes in ways that would serve as a good luck charm and protect them in battle.

I found the section of Yamamoto really interesting. From the reasarch I did, its take on Yamamoto's politics was actually fairly acurate, but what really did it for me was the colloquial thought process and delivery that Yamamoto goes through. I particularly liked his description of the Japanese Army. "... but those Army guys have spent their careers mowing down Chinamen and raping their women and they honestly believe that the Americans are just the same except taller and smellier. Come on guys, Yamamoto keeps telling them, the world is not just a big Nainjing. But they don't get it. If Yamamoto were running things, he'd make a rule: each Army officer would have to take some time out from bayoneting Noelithic savages in the jungle, go out on the wide Pacific in a ship, and swap 16-inch shells with an American task force for a while. Then maybe, they'd understand they're in a real scrap here." (335).

Has anybody read Candide? If you haven't you should. It's a really short, hilarious book that is full of horrible things happening over and over again while one character keeps saying "it is the best of all possible worlds". I was really reminded of Candide with the scene of Goto Dengo in the water after they all had to abandon ship. Here he is, people are bleeding all around him and he has to avoid getting shot even though the oil on his body is making him float, and then he survives the shooting somehow. Then, he starts to swim, with a a bunch of other guys, combating dehydration, sickness, waves, and a crazy shark feeding frenzy which he lives through only by floating motionless.

I've just thought of another way in which all four of these novels are connected. There seems to be a running motif of murder and violent attack, but the kind of attack that's unexpected and unprovoked. Reading about the Digibomber (and the Finn That Got Blown Up) reminded me of the Texas Highway Killer, which made me think of the A.F.R. and other Quebecois terrorists, and, to a lesser extent, the random and violent nature of the V2. Since all of these novels also deal in some way with war, I find all these instances of violence occurring close to home and without warning terribly fascinati

I love the moments when Stephenson ridicules the silly formalities of the business world. This particular moment made me laugh out loud (sorry I have the other edition of the book, so I don't know which page number it is): in his opening speech, the sultan contends that "nothing is more natural than that the present-day Kinakutans should run big fat optical fiber cable in every direction parth into every major national telco within reach, and become a sort of digital bazaar. All of the guests nod soberly at the sultan's insight, his masterful ability to meld the ancient ways of his country with modern technology.

I thought the scene that discussed the messages from Grand Admiral Karl Donitz and Kapitanleutnant Gunter Bischoff was hilarious. Bischoff's messages were funny, but it was the Admiral's responses that were the most interesting:

"Nice work, Bischoff! You get another medal. Don't worry about the Enigma, it's fantastic!"

"Superb, another medal for you!"

"You are a hero of the Reich and the Fuhrer himself has been informed of your brilliant success!"

"You are now officially the greatest U-boat commander of all time" (391).

So. All of this lavish praise, besides being hilarious, got me to thinking about the military and its structure.

can somebody please tell me where in Infinite Jest does it explicitly state that John Wayne doesn't use drugs?