Pages 167-174

This page-by-page annotation is organized by sections, as delineated by the seven squares (sprockets) which separate each section. The page numbers for this page-by-page annotation are for the original Viking edition (760 pages). Editions by other publishers vary in pagination — the newer Penguin editions are 776 pages; the Bantam edition is 886 pages.

Contributors: Please use a 760-page edition (either the original Viking edition with the orange cover or the Penguin USA edition with the blue cover and rocket diagram — there are plenty on Ebay for around $10) or search the Google edition for the correct page number. Readers: To calculate the Bantam edition use this formula: Bantam page # x 1.165. Before p.50 it's about a page earlier; as you get later in the book, add a page.

Finally, profound thanks to Prof. Don Larsson for providing the foundation for this page-by-page annotation.

Page 167

"And the crowds they swarm in Knightsbridge, and the wireless carols drone, and the Underground's a mob-scene, but Pointsman's all alone" [sung to the tune of the Kinks' "A Well-Respected Man" ... "And he gets up in the morning, and he goes to work at 9, etc etc"]

page 172

the white riders
Death. American [Arizonian; some sources say] Folktale. The White Rider[[1]]

Page 173

babies born...also following a Poisson Distribution
births parallel the rockets of death.

Christmas bugs
Waterbugs... that are "agents of unification". Pynchon likes Christmas and creatures in the 'Low-lands'. These bugs were in History's most famous 'manger'....a tranquil world.