Talk:Cryptonomicon

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SAS[edit]

Throughout the novel the British Special-Air-Service is referred to as RAF (Royal Air Force) and fly-boys. The SAS are an army unit. They were based on the long-range-desert group which used jeeps in north africa to raid behind enemy lines - the idea being that if anyone was captured or a spy heard of the SAS it would be assumed they were parachuting - a detachment 2702 type endeavor! Is this an error or a deliberate joke? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.7.127.253 (talk) 03:42, 3 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Qwghlm redirects to Cryptonomicon[edit]

... and Cryptonomicon links to Qwghlm under "see also". Not sure if there used to be a Qwghlm article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.170.1.79 (talk) 08:02, 11 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There was once such, with an edit history back to 2004. I'll take out the see alsoDankarl (talk) 13:35, 11 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There's a similar issue with Kinakuta; also mentioned in this article, also used to have an article of its own, also now redirects to this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Merpius (talk • contribs) 18:39, 12 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unlinked. Should the gist of these 2 go into this article as subsections?Dankarl (talk) 20:36, 12 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think they should to at least some extent. Kinakuta for sure since it plays a much larger role in Cryptonomicon than it does in Baroque Cycle. Qwghlm perhaps should go in the Baroque Cycle and be linked from here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Merpius (talk • contribs) 20:42, 24 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

qwghlm had a pretty biggish article for a while. If it was considered significant enough to get its own article back in the day, seems like it should at least get a section here. If for no other reason than so people know why they were redirected. . . 131.151.26.211 (talk) 21:13, 13 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Qwghlm definitely needs a section here, especially because Mary Smith is referred to twice as "Qwghlmian," which has to be extremely confusing to anyone not already familiar with the term. Maybe it doesn't need a whole article (although that would be great because I think it's hilarious), but some reference somewhere on Wikipedia is definitely in order. Baleener (talk) 18:58, 1 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm getting sick and (expletive deleted) tired of seeing "non-significant" articles related to this series of bestselling, genre-changing novels deleted with false redirects, without any serious review, while every species of celery or centipede Tolkien, Rowling or Lucas dreamed up get their own wiki-shrines! Bridgman (talk) 02:36, 28 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well, firstly, new posts should go at the bottom of a thread. Secondly, there are numerous dispute resolution processes available. Have you attempted to have your concerns addressed through any of these? If not, it may be worth pursuing. Cheers. Doniago (talk) 17:43, 28 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the advice. Bridgman (talk) 19:20, 11 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Speculation on Character names[edit]

Some suggest that the character Dr. Günter Enoch Bobby "G.E.B." Kivistik - is actually Neil's hidden reference to the book Godel, Escher, Bach (GEB), in addition to other references to it in the book. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.7.19.34 (talk) 10:21, 16 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That contention was in the article at one point; it needs a reliable citation before it can go back. Dankarl (talk) 12:04, 16 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mary cCmndhd[edit]

I restored Mary to the list of characters, as her absence left a subsequent mention unclear. However the entry states "Mary cCmndhd (pronounced "Skuhmithid" and anglicized as "Smith")": I think the anglicization is in the novel but I am less sure of the pronunciation being there. Anyone know where this contention came from? Does it need a citation?Dankarl (talk) 13:56, 18 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Found it in the book. I was enjoying the reread too much to remember to note the page number.Dankarl (talk) 14:38, 14 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It's on page 550 in my copy. In "Courting", the section with the graphs of productivity. No precise pronunciation given.
"... incoming mail ... addressed to someone named cCmndhd. ... Rod and Mary are Qwghlmian! And their family name is not Smith — it just sounds vaguely like Smith."
—WWoods (talk) 21:10, 14 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Currently she is duplicated between the WWII and both storylines sectuions. This is illogical but the location of the section leads to confusion when characters are mentioned before they are identified. Possible solutions would be to move the both storylines section to the top of the section, or to put the characters into the sections where they mostly figure or are first introduced, possibly with a cross reference in the other section. Comments?Dankarl (talk) 20:28, 19 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'd almost say the characters should be listed in order of apperance in the story regardless of the timeline in which they appear prominently; that information can be included in the character's description. Not a qualified opinion, though. As for the anglicization...if someone has to look it up anyway, wouldn't hurt to provide a page number if they find one. (smile) Doniago (talk) 15:35, 20 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

John Vincent Atanasoff[edit]

Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse appears to be partly a fictionalization of Atanasoff who also went from Iowa state (inventing arguably the first computer) to the Navy. Should this be mentioned somewhere in the article? Thanks, Shahar Goldin (talk) 19:43, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not unless it's mentioned in a reliable source. Doniago (talk) 20:07, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, I didn't remember this from the prologue (found when looking for sources):
When not marching back and forth on the flood plain of the Skunk River making loud dinging noises, Lawrence was majoring in mechanical engineering. He ended up doing poorly in this area because he had fallen in with a Bulgarian professor named John Vincent Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, who were building a machine that was intended to automate the solution of some especially tedious differential equations.
The basic problem for Lawrence was that he was lazy. He had figured out that everything was much simpler if, like Superman with his X-ray vision, you just stared through the cosmetic distractions and saw the underlying mathematical skeleton. Once you found the math in a thing, you knew everything about it, and you could manipulate it to your heart's content with nothing more than a pencil and a napkin. He saw it in the curve of the silver bars on his glockenspiel, saw it in the catenary arch of a bridge and in the capacitor-studded drum of Atanasoff and Berry's computing machine. Actually pounding on the glockenspiel, riveting the bridge together, or trying to figure out why the computing machine wasn't working were not as interesting to him.
I do think this should be mentioned in the article.

Shahar Goldin (talk) 15:37, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I still don't think it's appropriate unless a third-party source took note of it or Stephenson has stated so himself. Either way a source other than an excerpt from within the obviously fictitious text is necessary. Doniago (talk) 16:12, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I added this into the Category: 1990s science fiction novels Transcendentalist01 (talk) 20:15, 2 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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