15: In which a real live rocket launches (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.8-1.13)

Discussions of Pavlov bookend interdepartmental conspiracy and pseudo-domesticity. Meanwhile Slothrop, like Benny Profane and Herbert Stencil before him, ventures into the sewer. Makes you miss the alligators!

Next time—I misspoke in the episode!—Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.14-1.16 (not through 1.17), or pp. 94-139 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. 

Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social. 

Show Notes:

“Lavarand,” the physical cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator I couldn’t remember in the episode. It’s lavalamps! 

Related, “Generating Random Numbers With A Fish Tank,” by Tom Nardi via Hackaday.

Scans of “The Kenosha Kid,” by Forbes Parkhill via Archive.org. 

Our previous episode on “Mondaugen’s Story” in V. 

“How to pay for genocide: Namibian victims of German colonialism want a say,” by Shola Lawal via Al Jazeera. 

“Namibia’s Blue Book of record: Part one,” by Catherine Sofianos via Mail & Guardian.

“Little Albert study,” entry by Ronna F. Dillon, PhD and Amber D. Dillon via Ebsco

Ariadne entry via the Encyclopedia Britannica 

Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, genocide, animal abuse, pedophilia. 

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Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long.

Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social).

Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.