Other parabola

[Ryan Douglas Kuykendall]

There has been quite a lot of discussion on this list concerning vertical 
parabola and the way they relate to Gravity's Rainbow (i.e. opening 
upward = V and opening downward = A, etc.).  Though the discussion on 
this type of parabola is interesting, and has provided many new insights 
to this text, I would like to ask if anyone has considered horizontally 
opening parabola as well (right or left) and if there could be any 
textual meaning in there.
We know from algebra, if we are to consider the equation for the parabola 
y=x^2 that y approaches positive infinity while x approaches positive and 
negative infinity.  Yet when describing the trajectory of a projectile or 
a missile, one knows that the parabola describing the path is bounded 
mathematically as well as physically(by the earth).  The Rocket on the 
pad is visually similar to "1" whereas the crater created by the impact 
of the missile looks like "0".  Thus the behavior of the missile, bounded 
by earth, tears the visual manifestation of the missile (if I were to 
stand at a great distance away from the launch site of the missile and 
its destination I would see the parabola of its path) from the 
mathematical description of the path which is infinite.  Thus perception 
is torn away from the infinite.  Life has broken infinity.

When I think of the symbol used to represent infinity I see a figure that 
looks like the number 8 rotate 90 degrees.  What happens when I break 
this visual representation of infinity?  It depends where I draw the line 
that will divide the the symbol.  I intentionally do the following:


	_______   _______
       /       \ /       \
      (         X         )  Forgive this Crude Diagram
       \_______/ \_______/     

         ___ | ____   _______
        /    |     \ /       \
       (     |      X         ) The Line that I have draw
        \___ | ____/ \_______/  Is the point where I have 
             |                 Broken infinity.
Section A       Section B    

But what do I have left?  Section A (if the diagram had smoother curves) 
would look like or resemble a bounded parabola, which opens to the 
right.  But what else could it mean when I broke infinity?  If I had 
drawn or put a little zero in Section B like as follows:

 	____   _______
	|   \ /     o \
	|    X      ___)
	|___/ \_______/

Would I have a poissonn distribution?  Or would I have a fish that looked 
like a rocket lying on its side, or maybe even a rocket at the apex of 
its parabola, and when I have broken infinity, I have discarded my 
parabola, turned off my engines and reached Brennschluss?

Sorry, I feel like I am playing some trivial game with Pynchon's work 
which was not my intention.  I just trying to make sense of the other 
parabolas, knowing that if one has discarded the bounded parabola, and 
sections it out as a fragment of time, does one discard part of the 
infinite, or belief in an infinite to escape the finite?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Ryan D. Kuykendall