Butterflies

Published on October 27, 2015

Music
* Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth’s Modesty Blaise score.
* First up is “Adultere bourgeoise,” a piece from Paul Misraki’s score to A Double tour.
* Then we’ve got a piece called “Night Time Talk” by Stephen J. Anderson.
* We hit For the Trees by Matmos a couple of times (the bit after: “the facts were these,” or whatever I say)
* Frank Durr’s theme is P from that first LaBradford album, all those years ago.
* The score for the House of Butterflies is called Fragment II by Library Tapes. It comes back again toward the end.
* We also hear Invidia, by Deadmaus. That’s the one we finish on.

Notes
* Several essays were very helpful in researching this. Among those were:
–http://pittmed.health.pitt.edu/jan_2001/butterflies.pdf
–http://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead/
–http://www.wired.com/2013/01/looney-gas-and-lead-poisoning-a-short-sad-history/
* I found William J. Kovarik’s Dissertation, The Ethyl Controversy: How the News Media Set the Agenda for a Public Health Controversy over the use of Leaded Gasoline, 1924-1926, completely fascinating.
* I relied on a number of papers from the W.H.O. when researching the health effects of lead and ozone depletion.
* Here’s the New York Times original expose about the House of Butterflies.
* Finally, Thomas Midgely, IV’s biography of his grandfather, From the Periodic Table to Production: The Life of Thomas Midgely, Jr., inventor of Leaded Gasoline and Freon Refrigerants, is, while unsurprisingly hagiographic, both well-researched and highly readable.