One 75-cent edition of the paperback has a NY Times blurb on its front cover: A bizarre, saturnalian plunge into the underground. "A streamlined doomsday machine."

It is also interesting to note that The Good Times publisher is Trystero.

I have a great deal more, but it’s related to my suspect, so I can’t put it out there as such. But OMG–gold mine!! (My suspect isn’t RG)

I do not know, because I have not read, what would correlation to Z.
I think that’s a classic image that everyone knows about it.(I do not know what means)
However, any approach is valid. I think nothing should be discarded, and everything should be searched.
Marcelo

Hi, Marclean. Yes, that is significant. It is the sign of the muted post horn and signifies the heradling/summonsing of an ancient underground postal/message delivery service. Everyone should wear a button with that symbol on it!

Hey, Morf. Liked your Bigfoot alert at Tom’s site. Who’s your Bigfoot?

Et tu,

Deplorable

I have read it, yes – years ago. Not sure exactly what you have in mind here, though – so it’s a bit hard to offer anything very useful.

Pynchon is vaguely interesting in relation to at least one proposed Z candidate, namely Fred Manalli (but that’s a different story).

On a related topic…anyone know which envelope on which it was that Zodiac printed an acronym / word with each capital letter followed by a period (i.e. S.W.A.K.–although that wasn’t the word). I just can’t seem to locate it, and I don’t remember what the word was. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

On a related topic…anyone know which envelope on which it was that Zodiac printed an acronym / word with each capital letter followed by a period (i.e. S.W.A.K.–although that wasn’t the word). I just can’t seem to locate it, and I don’t remember what the word was. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Zodiac wrote Sorry No Cipher, twice in the form of a cross, on the inside of the Halloween Card envelope. Is that what you are thinking of?

Hi, Seagull. Thanks for your reply.

You know, I thought of that, but that’s not what I’m "seeing" in my mind’s eye. Maybe it was related to Texarkana Phantom or Atlanta Child Murders or Manson Murders or one of those tangentially related. But it was definitely capital letters (acronym) with periods after them. Like: I.D.G.A.F (although that wasn’t it, of course) or F.W.I.W.

Like that.

Poop. This is going to give me insomnia.

atkid? redrum?
CIA
1234567! all mirror imaged
AGCGTH
ATKID was related to the Atlanta child murders

I know what you are talking about! It is the Channel Nine letter envelope. But the initials are not on the inside of the flap, they are in the return address area, I did a post on the letter and envelope and posted images of both in this thread-

viewtopic.php?f=69&t=847

Now you can sleep!!!

Things to ponder…I grabbed this from The Crying of Lot 49 SparkNotes (with my comments, of course–and there are many more associations pertaining specifically to my POI, which I will not mention here):

Thomas Pynchon was born on Long Island, New York, in 1937. He served in the navy and graduated from Cornell, after which he worked as a technical writer for Boeing Aircraft.

**Wing Walker Shoes?**

During this time, he turned to fiction writing and published his first novel, V., in 1963, to rave reviews. He followed up this novel two years later with The Crying of Lot 49

Auction Lot 49 (significant)

a short but extremely complex novel. In a sense, The Crying of Lot 49 was a type of dress rehearsal for his long novel that succeeded it, Gravity’s Rainbow, which won the National Book Award and is perhaps the best-known long novel to emerge after World War II. Pynchon’s fourth major novel was called Vineland,

Just coincidence, I’m sure. I was unable to open Disqus to view this comment, but for
what it’s worth, this is what I got when I Googled a search which brought up this:

What Was Your Favorite Film As a Kid? – The Movie Fans
http://www.themoviefans.com/what-was-yo … -as-a-kid/
May 25, 2011 – … up in the movies; my Dad was a projectionist
at the Grand Theater in Vineland, NJ. … I remember the serials, Captain Marvel,
Jungle Girl, The Perils of Nyoka, …… The Ayn Rand novel was the
perfect vehicle for his talent.

and two years ago, he published his historical novel Mason and Dixon.Through all of these books, with his use of surrealism and creation of vast, varied, and incredible conspiracy theories, Pynchon has remained one of the most original and important of American novelists.

Almost all works by Pynchon are deliberately complex. The plots are often difficult to follow both because of their intricate twists and turns and their sometimes incredibly esoteric subject matter. Pynchon’s characters, furthermore, can be hard to relate to. Pynchon has a tendency to fill his novels not with real characters but rather with facades or brief cameo figures that exist in the novel only for some specific purpose, after which they disappear. Indeed, Gravity’s Rainbow has over 400 of these types of characters. In The Crying of Lot 49, examples of such characters are Manny di Presso and Jesus Arrabel.

The Crying of Lot 49 is thought by many to be Pynchon’s best work. Others surely disagree, arguing that The Crying of Lot 49 is simply Pynchon’s most accessible work, its short length and streamlined (for Pynchon) plot allowing the reader to follow along with less work than his longer novels require. But no matter where The Crying of Lot 49 stands within Pynchon’s body of work, there is no doubt that in its humor, story, and deep insight into American culture and beyond, the book is an American landmark.

THE CRYING OF LOT 49
Thomas Pynchon
←
Summary
→

Oedipa Maas, the young wife of a man named Mucho, lives in Kinneret-Among-the-Pines, California:

"Peek Through the Pines" postcard?

One day, she receives a letter from a law firm telling her that her ex-boyfriend, Pierce Inverarity, has died and named her the executor of his estate. Oedipa resolves to faithfully execute her duty, and she travels to San Narciso (Pierce’s hometown) where she meets the lawyer, Metzger, assigned to help her, with whom she spontaneously begins an affair.

(NOTE TO SELF: Interesting… or maybe a reference to Melvin Belli?)

As they go about sorting through Pierce’s tangled financial affairs, Oedipa takes note of the fact that Pierce owned an extensive stamp collection. One night, Oedipa and Metzger go to a bar called The Scope,

**Zodiac’s overuse of Stamps and Zodiac Symbol?"

where they meet Mike Fallopian,

(NOTE TO SELF: Although George Hodel is not my suspect, he was an ob/gyn,was he not? Performed abortions?)

a member of a right-wing fanatical organization called the Peter Pinguid Society. In the bathroom of the bar, Oedipa sees a symbol that she later learns is supposed to represent a muted post horn. Written below the symbol are the acronym W.A.S.T.E. and the name "Kirby." (– on the wall of the woman’s latrine ‘among lipsticked obscenities.”Neatly indited in engineering lettering it reads: ‘Interested in sophisticated fun? You, hubby, girl friends. The more the merrier. Get in touch with Kirby, through WASTE only, Box 7391, LA.’")

**See A.G.C.G.T,H. on possible Zodiac envelope sent to L.A. station**
**On the topic thread about this letter (on this site), someone posted
a copy of a letter demanding that the Manson girls be released from
prison so they could be free to LOVE, because free LOVE was what it
was all about.**

Oedipa makes a note of all this info before returning to chat with Mike at the bar. Oedipa and Metzger take a trip one day to Fangoso Lagoons,

**Water. Blue Rock Springs? Lake Berryessa?**

an area in which Pierce owned a substantial amount of land. There, they meet a man named Manny di Presso, a lawyer

**Manny di Presso = Oppressed Man? Oppress ‘da Man? Depressed Man? Oppressed of Many? Oppress the many?**

who is suing the Inverarity estate

**Inverarity = Vine Rarity? Rare Wine? Estate**

on behalf of his client, who recovered and sold human bones to Inverarity but did not receive proper payment.

**Death. Hit man? Skeleton**

Pierce wanted the bones to make charcoal for cigarette filters. A member of The Paranoids, a hippie band that follows Oedipa around,

**Like the Beatles?**

points out that Manny’s story is similar to that of the 17th-century play The Courier’s Tragedy. Oedipa and Metzger decide to see a production of the play nearby. The play mentions the word "Tristero,"

**San Francisco Good Times; Vol.2, no.21, May 28, 1969
Published by Trystero Co., San Francisco, 1969
Used / Quantity Available: 1
From Bolerium Books Inc. (San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.)**

a word that fascinates Oedipa because of its placement within the play. She goes backstage to speak with the director, Randolph Driblette, who tells her to stop overanalyzing the play. She resolves to call him back later.

After rereading Pierce’s will later on, Oedipa goes to a stockholders’ meeting for the Yoyodyne company,

**This is significant.**

**From the Web–Spoof on Yoyodyne: Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems

Our Promise
History is-a made at night. Character is what you are in the dark.
At Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, our corporate vision is to produce quality bespoke propulsion and weapons systems, at a reasonable cost,
personally tailored to your evil plan. We don’t morally censure, we just want your money.
We have an extensive client list, from all over this miserable planet. Everyone from Moammar Gadhafi, to Barak Obama buys from us. Many of our
clients prefer to remain, descrete. We also produce quality propulsion systems.
Check out our latest specials, primative monkey men! And return to me my overthruster! Planet 10, we are coming home! *
–Lord John Whorfin, President, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
After going home, all our warranties will be honored via a special agreement with BAE Systems.
Follow us…**
Address
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
1 Yoyodyne Circle
San Narciso, California 92173

a firm owned in part by Inverarity. After taking a brief tour, she stumbles into the office of Stanley Koteks,

THOUGHTS: Stanley Kubrick? Kotex??

who is drawing the muted post horn symbol on his pad of paper. He tells her about a scientist named John Nefastis who has built a type of Maxwell’s Demon,

**Zodiac’s Doomsday Machine?"**

or a physically impossible machine that allows for perpetual motion by violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Koteks encourages Oedipa to meet with Nefastis.

Wanting to learn more about The Courier’s Tragedy, Oedipa gets an anthology of Jacobean revenge plays. She notices that the paperback copy has no mention of the Tristero, however, which puzzles her. She decides to go to Berkeley to meet with the publisher.

Hmmmm…Publisher in Berkeley…who does that sound like (not my poi, by the way, but could be involved)

In the meantime, she stops by an elderly care home that Pierce had owned, where she meets an old man with a ring depicting the muted post horn.

**Zodiac Watch??**

She also hires a philatelist (stamp expert) named Genghis Cohen

Ayn Rand was a Russian Jew who some compared to being "to the right of Genghis Khan," and, oh, a famous philatist

to go through Pierce’s stamp collection. After doing so, Genghis tells her that some of Pierce’s stamps have a muted post horn in their watermark. Oedipa begins to realize that she is uncovering a large mystery.

Oedipa goes to Berkeley to meet with John Nefastis, who shows her his perpetual motion machine. It can only be operated by people with special mental capabilities allowing them to communicate with the machine, and he tells Oedipa that she has no such mental skills.

Oedipa is not a "sensitive" — Very meaningful

He then propositions her, causing her to run out screaming. Oedipa then begins a very, very long night of wandering around aimlessly all over the Bay area. She encounters the muted post horn symbol almost everywhere, leading her to believe that she may be hallucinating. Just before dawn, however, she encounters an old man who hands her a letter and asks her to deliver it via W.A.S.T.E. under the freeway. After helping the man to his room, Oedipa finds a W.A.S.T.E. facility under the freeway, drops in the letter and waits for the delivery man, whom she follows to Oakland and back to Berkeley after he picks up the letters and delivers them. Oedipa returns to her home in Kinneret to see her doctor, who begins shooting at her as she pulls up. He has gone crazy, obsessed with the idea that Israelis are coming to kill him because he assisted the Nazis in World War II. After he is arrested, Oedipa sees her husband, Mucho, and spends some time with him, although she quickly sees that he has become addicted to LSD, making it difficult to communicate effectively.

Increasingly alone, Oedipa seeks out Emory Bortz, an English professor at San Narciso College

Know any professors?

who has extensive knowledge of Jacobean revenge plays. With his help, she pieces together the history of the Tristero, which dates back to mid-16th-century Europe. She learns that Driblette has died, which means she will never know why he included the lines about the Tristero in his production of The Courier’s Tragedy (these lines are not ordinarily included in the play). Oedipa begins to give up as she realizes that she is very lonely and has no real friends. She visits Mike Fallopian again, who suggests that the whole Tristero mystery may be nothing more than a huge, complex joke played on her by Pierce. Oedipa will not accept this possibility but realizes that every route leading to the Tristero also leads to the Inverarity Estate. Meanwhile, Genghis Cohen helps her piece together some mysteries about Pierce’s stamp collection, which is to be auctioned off by a local dealer as Lot 49.

Genghis has heard that a secretive bidder will attend the auction to bid on Lot 49, but he will not reveal himself beforehand. Oedipa goes to the auction, excited to find out who the bidder is, thinking that he may know the key to the Tristero. The novel ends as Oedipa sits in the room waiting for the crying of Lot 49, when she will discover the identity of the mystery bidder.

==========================

Anyway, I am of the very decided opinion that Zodiac was very influenced by this work. There is so, so, so much more. Have at it, and I look forward to your thoughts!

Just made a few edits/additions. Also sent some stuff to SFPD. Feeling mildly hopeful.

Thomas Pynchon was born on Long Island, New York, in 1937. He served in the navy and graduated from Cornell, after which he worked as a technical writer for Boeing Aircraft.

No worries, DPB, we at Cornell have a long and storied history with many a serial killer, and a brain museum to boot, as well as a top law school that works with the Innocence Project. If there was a connection, I assure you our Ivy brains would have seen it.

Unfortunately, it is proof not coincidence that solves cases. Yes, enough coincidence can do it, but this isn’t it. I have felt this and other boards work hard to cybersleuth, and Z had some form of inspiration. This isn’t it, but contributes to our loss of credibility with TPTB.

-Marie