Alpinist 45 came in the mail yesterday and Rafael Slawinski has an excellent piece on he and Ian Welsted’s ascent of K6.

So here is a bit of synthesis. In his recounting of the decision to go/no-go after the tragedy on Nanga Parbat he talks about possible futures based on the decisions we make – and each future branching off and occurring or not occurring. He notes that this model fits with the theories of a quantum mechanics and entanglement. Note: he’s a physics professor.

Later in the evening, flipping through Zite – I came upon this article. So… woo-woo. And yet. And yet… I think Pynchon is drawing upon these very post-modern ideas of time and space in Bleeding Edge. Multi-layered and complex. Specifically when referring to the sightings around NYC of people who were killed on 9/11. Pynchon also manages to mix in the Montauk Project … I think he covers every conspiracy theory – which is entertaining for sure.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the character of Maxine as well.  From a gender studies angle, she’s pretty fascinating. My first thought is that she’s “like a dude”. The complex roles she plays in the novel are fascinating. She’s a fraud investigator (“Tail ’em and nail ’em” is the name of her firm), but she also sleeps around, pole dances in one scene, is the primary caregiver to her 2 sons and has a complex relationship with her ex-husband. Lots going on.