The Monkey's Marginalia, No. 1

I have decided to collect random notes and internet wanderings that are too small for their own blog posts (at least for now) into fewer, larger blog posts. (edit, I suspect that most of these may be wagtails, but they are fun, too!)


1.  On page vii, Eric left a penciled note that Caldeira may have been schizophrenic as per "Bolton (1957)."

Bolton may refer to:

• Herbert Eugene Bolton, American historian who originated the Bolton Theory in which the United States cannot be studied without considering its relationships to its neighbors. He served as chair of the history department at University of California, Berkeley for 22 years.  Despite his death in 1953, his work appeared in books published in 1957. 
• Walter James Bolton was executed in 1957 for poisoning his wife.  He was the last man executed by the New Zealand penal system.  He was 68 years old. 
• Bolton Wanderers, UK football team during the 1957/1958 season.

2.  Eotvos appears in several places (Eotvos wheel & Eotvos Syndrome).   

Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény was a physicist known for his experimental work with gravity.  He worked at the University of Budapest until the end of his life.  The University of Budapest was renamed the Eotvos Lorand University.  His father, Jozsef, was poet, writer and politican. 

3.  Defenestration or the act of being thrown out of an open window is reoccurring event and mentioned a few times as being the mode of death for some of Straka's peers. 

4.  Prague, where it may have all begun, actually has two events in history known as First and Second Defenestration of Prague.  You can read about the events on wikipedia here. 

5. Coriolis is the name of one Straka's books.  It is also the name of the mathematician and mechanical engineer who first described the Coriolis Effect.  

6.  Footnote 2, Chapter 1 (page 8) talks about the fictional prize the Prix Bouchard and Straka's refusal of the prize in 1912 via monkey.  I surprised that no one has mentioned Alfred Nobel, whose primary business was in munitions.  Two companies still bear his name, Akzo Nobel and Dynamit Nobel.  In 1912, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Gerhart Hauptmann (whose novel Atlantis was published in 1912 and later made into a silent film in 1913). 

Only one person ever refused the prize, Jean-Paul Sartre.  Sartre never accepted any official prize or honor.  

7.  Eric noted in pencil about the celebration of the first street lights in Miracle at Braxenholm.  In Edison, New Jersey, Christie Street was the world's first street to be lit with incandescent lights on New Year's Eve, 1879. 

References: 

Hubert Eugene Bolton:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Eugene_Bolton

Walter James Bolton: 

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the-death-penalty/the-last-execution

Bolton Wanderers: 

http://stats.football.co.uk/results_fixtures/1957_1958/bolton_wanderers/index.shtml

Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor%C3%A1nd_E%C3%B6tv%C3%B6s

Gustave Coriolos: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard-Gustave_Coriolis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_Effect

Alfred Nobel: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates

Gerhart Hauptman: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Hauptmann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(1913_film)

Jean-Paul Sartre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre

Thomas Edison

http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/thomas-edison-and-menlo-park

http://dailykenn.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-31-1879-edison-demonstrates.html

(7/31/14 edited for grammar and tags added)