Stephenson:Neal:Cryptonomicon:30:how Epiphyte Corporation came into existence (Alan Sinder)
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This is the Cryptonomicon page for The Epiphyte Corporation
Stephensonia
*Avi Halaby created a billion dollar corporation to free Randy Waterhouse from a conniving and frightened emotional drain? Wow. While Neal may have been making fun of air ferns - the name amuses ...
**This is how Epiphyte Corporation came into existence:
"I am channeling the bad shit!" Avi said.
The number came through on Randy's pager while he was sitting around a table in a grubhouse along the coast with his girlfriend's crowd. A place where, every day, they laser-printed fresh menus on 100% recycled imitation parchment, where oscilloscope tracings of neon-colored sauces scribbled across the plates, and the entrees were towering, architectonic stacks of rare ingredients carved into gemlike prisms. Randy had spent the entire meal trying to resist the temptation to invite one of Charlene's friends (any one of them, it didn't matter) out on the sidewalk for a fistfight.
He glanced at his pager expecting to see the number of the Three Siblings Computer Center, which was where he worked (technically, still does). The fell digits of Avi's phone number penetrated the core of his being in the same way that 666 would a fundamentalist's.
Fifteen seconds later, Randy was out on the sidewalk, swiping his card through a pay phone like an assassin drawing a single-edged razor blade across the throat of a tubby politician.
"The power is coming down from On High," Avi continued. "Tonight, it happens to be coming through me--you poor bastard."
"What do you want me to do?" Randy asked, adopting a cold, almost hostile tone to mask sick excitement.
"Buy a ticket to Manila," Avi said.
"I have to talk it over with Charlene first," Randy said.
"You don't even believe that yourself," Avi said.
"Charlene and I have a long-standing relationsh--"
"It's been ten years. You haven't married her. Fill in the fucking blanks."**
Wikipedia: Epiphyte
The term epiphyte refers to any plant that grows upon or attached to another living plant. The term stems from the Greek epi- (meaning 'upon') and phyton (meaning 'plant'). These plants are sometimes called "air plants" because they do not root in soil. However, there are many species of algae, including seaweeds, that are epiphytes on other aquatic plants (seaweeds or aquatic angiosperms).
**An epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads
Photograph taken by Eric Guinther of epihytes (bromeliads
and orchids)
on a tree branch in a garden
setting in Hawai'i. Released under the GNU
Free Documentation License**
An epiphyte uses photosynthesis for energy and (where non-aquatic) obtains moisture from the air or from dampness (rain and cloud moisture) on the surface of its host. Roots may develop primarily for attachment, and specialized structures (for example, cups and scales) used to collect or hold moisture. Epiphytes are not parasitic on their "host", growing independently and deriving only physical support. A clear advantage is gained over other herbs restricted to the ground (soil) surface where light is less available in the forest and herbivores are more active. However, epiphytes may grow so thickly as to damage the host plant.
The best-known epiphytes include mosses, lichens, orchids, and bromeliads (such as Spanish moss and Tillandsia). Assemblages of large epiphytes occur most abundantly in moist tropical forests, but mosses and lichens occur as epiphytes in almost any environment with trees.
Epiphytes are extremely important elements of tropical plant biodiversity.
The first important monograph on epiphyte ecology was written by A.F.W. Schimper ("Die epiphytische Vegetation Amerikas", 1888).
Epiphyte and Epiphyte2
The fictitious company Epiphyte evolves into Epiphyte2 in Cryptonomicon. At the book's start, ... Epiphyte has no assets other than information -- it is an idea, with some facts and data to back it up. This makes it eminently stealable. ... Epiphyte Corporation, a telecommunications start-up company, is tasked to create the backbone for highspeed telephony throughout east Asia starting in the Philippines. Randy is the first corporate officer on the scene. One idea is Pinoy-Grams. Yet the deeper plan is to build the Crypt which is revealed when we see the latest business plan. The Crypt is a "data heaven" designed to store and retrieve the world's most private information with absolute security. Laying underwater cable for him are Doug Shaftoe and his daughter Amy. Various parties that run the gamut from the insanely litigious to the dangerously criminal pay attention to Epiphyte as the Crypt nears completion.
- More to come*