"The front of her Mondrian haircut had started to remind her of Bobby Chombo's elephantiasis-of-the-forelock, the result of an ongoing interaction of product with particulates."[...]
"She ran her thumbs along a lambskin seat seam [in the Phaeton]. Like touching the butt of a supermodel, probably"
"Tia Juana sent him walking, crosstown along the 110th, to Amsterdam and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the better to consult Eleggua."
Also see the "Communications Bay" extract (which may or may not be quite what will be published) in this William Gibson Blog entry of Friday, March 10, 2006
Chapter summaries (may contain plot and character teaser / "spoiler" information):
Chapter 17. PIRATES AND TEAMS
Bigend tells Hollis about a covert operation where the CIA, disguised as pirates, were working with real pirates (the best "were out of Aceh, in northern Sumatra") to stop "suspect cargo vessels to search for weapons of mass destruction."In August 2003, one of these teams discovered a shipping container aboard a Panamanian freighter and was ordered to leave the container and not look inside. Since then, the container has been constantly on the move and Bigend believes that Bobby Chombo "periodically knows where that container is." [538 characters]
If a Container is buried under a pile of others, in the hold of a Container Ship (rather than being one of the few actually on deck) it must be difficult to check it properly when at sea, rather than when it is unloaded at a Container Terminal Port.
Piracy on the high seas, is still a major violent crime, and , despite the hype,should not to be confused with so called "piracy" when what is really meant is non-criminal civil tort copyright infringement of music and films etc.
The maritime Automatic Identification System broadcasts by modern seagoing ships over gross 300 tonnes and all passenger ships. AIS gives details of their position (obtained from GPS and other radio beacon navigation systems), name, type of vessel etc., which feeds into various Geographical Information Systems, and is,unencrypted, and vulnerable to interception by people like Bobby Chombo or other military, criminal, terrorist or pirate interested third parties.
House of Commons Hansard 18 July 2006 : Column 264W
- Automatic Identification System
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to tackle the vulnerability of automatic identification systems to pirates. [86263]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department has already advised Masters of UK and Red Ensign Group registered shipping that they may temporarily cease broadcasting automatic identification system signals when in open waters, if they judge that the security of the vessel is being compromised by them. More detailed advice to Masters on this issue is contained in the Department’s counter piracy note issued to mariners, published in November 2005, as Marine Guidance Note 298.
The Department has also reached an agreement with an internet provider of AIS information to introduce a package of risk mitigation measures including a time delay and a reduction in the quantity of information accessible from the site.
See:Marine Guidance Note MGN 298 (M) - Measures to Counter Piracy, Armed Robbery and other Acts of Violence against Merchant Shipping
Chapter 18. Eleggua's Window
As instructed by his aunt Juana, Tito visits Cathedral of St. John the Divine to consult the Santiera Orisha (deity) Eleggua, "owner of the roads and doors of this world. Lord of the crossroads, intersections of the human and the divine" whose stained glass window shows "a man climbing a pole to install a wiretap; another man studying the monitor of a computer."The old man from the park approaches Tito (who reminds the old man of Tito’s father and grandfather) and tells him that he must make another delivery where he will be followed and must lose the delivery to the "them." The old man tells Tito that he will then need to leave the country when the purposely-botched delivery is completed. [698 characters]
This huge unfinished Episcopalian Cathedral of St. John the Divine has a "Communications Bay" stained glass window which depicts printing presses, telegraph, Linotype, broadcasting etc.
Is this the image which William Gibson is re-interpreting through his cyberpunk mirrorshades for his "Eleggua’s Window" ?
N.B. the first two images are adapted from this high resolution image from this web browser crashing webpage from Museum Planet