AtD (37) p.1059-1062. Other possibilities,Time Past, silver and a snowball

[Mark Kohut]

Wow!............I feel like a slacker.........Great stuff.

Yea, i was just circling around the notion that silver wasn't too good
an element in TRP's vision..................

"the whitest element" !................White Visitation. Chicago World's Fair buildings............




--- On Fri, 8/1/08, robinlandseadel at comcast.net <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: AtD (37) p.1059-1062. Other possibilities,Time Past, silver and a snowball
> To: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, August 1, 2008, 8:33 AM
> MK:
>           give me 500 words on silver in AtD, cause I need
> 'em to understand.
> 
> Well, first off— Silver wire "sounds"
> "brighter" than copper alloys. Gold? 
> Really only useful in electronics due to its resistance to
> corrosion, 
> thus gold termination on Monstrous cables and suchlike.
> 
> Now silver & Photography/Alchemy—Merle could [and
> should] write a book. . . .
> 
> You want cause & effect, well alright. . . .howzabout
> 815 words?
> 
>           The chemicals and principles to “fix” the
> images on a medium 
>           had been around since the dawn of time, however
> it was not 
>           until Johann Heinrich Schulze, noticed that
> silver salts became 
>           darker when exposed to light that the science of
> photography 
>           took off. Sadly for him he did not think of
> applying this new 
>           found knowledge to photography..but others would.
> 
>           Later Thomas Wedgwood treated leather with silver
> salts and 
>           was able to produce images of leaves which he
> placed on the 
>           leather and exposed to light. But he was not able
> to stop the 
>           darkening process. In pre digital photography
> days we would say 
>           that he needed to “fix” the image.
> 
> http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com/html/history_of_photography.html
> 
> First off, how seriously does Pynchon weigh the debasement
> of 
> metaphysical silver in his distaste for photography?
> 
>           Moon (Alchemical silver):
>           The traditional a strological glyph for the moon,
> and one 
>           of the alchemical symbols for silver. In the
> Hermetic 
>           sciences, the moon represented the feminine,
> liquid, 
>           passive principle- alchemical Mercury. The hieros
> 
>           gamos, or divine marriage, is the combining of
> the 
>           solar and lunar principals to form the divine 
>           androgyne- the highest form of spiritual
> attainment.
> 
>          
> http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/symbols/bldefsmoon.htm
> 
> Note that Merle, the alchemist is taking the photographic
> process to 
> logical extremes and, seeing that silver seems to have a
> life of its 
> own, that life gets more fully examined in the
> integroscope.
> 
>           Physical Characteristics and Uses of Silver
> 
>           Silver is the whitest metallic element. It is
> rare, strong, corrosion 
>           resistant, and unaffected by moisture, vegetable
> acids, or alkalis. 
>           Silver is also resonant, moldable, malleable, and
> possesses the 
>           highest thermal and electric conductivity of any
> substance. The 
>           chemical symbol for silver is Ag, from the Latin
> argentum, which 
>           means white and shining. Although silver does not
> react to many 
>           chemicals, it does react with sulfur, which is
> always present in the 
>           air, even in trace amounts. The reaction causes
> silver to tarnish, 
>           therefore, it must be polished periodically to
> retain its luster.
> 
>           Silver possesses many special physical
> characteristics and qualities 
>           that make it useful in a variety of industries.
> The photography 
>           industry is the biggest user of silver compounds.
> Silver forms the 
>           most light-sensitive salts, or halides, which are
> essential to 
>           developing high-quality photography. Silver has
> the highest 
>           electrical conductivity per unit volume of any
> metal, including 
>           copper, so it is used extensively in electronics.
> Specialized uses 
>           include switch and relay contacts for automobile
> controls and 
>           accessories, automotive window heating, and in
> electrodes for 
>           electrocardiograms.
> 
>           Silver is one of the strongest oxidants, making
> it an essential 
>           catalyst for the chemical process industry. It is
> used in the 
>           production of adhesives, dinnerware, mylar
> recording tape, 
>           and many other products. Silver is the most
> reflective of all 
>           metals, and is used to coat glass in mirrors. It
> is also used in 
>           x-ray vacuum tubes and as material for bearings.
> With the 
>           highest level of thermal conductivity among
> metals 
>           and resistance to combustion and sparks, silver
> is a 
>           valuable material for a range of other industrial
> processes. 
>           The most common consumer application of silver is
> its use 
>           in jewelry. Pure silver, which would be too soft
> to be durable, 
>           is mixed with 5-20% copper in an alloy known as 
>           sterling silver
> 
>           http://www.answers.com/topic/silver
> 
> Maybe Tommy Boy just hates seeing all that silver dumped
> into the waters
> thanks to too many photos snapped.
> 
>            Less Silver Pollution Thanks to Digital
> Photography
>            by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on
> 12.13.05
>            FASHION & BEAUTY (chemical sensitivity) 
> 		
>            We had thought about the potential environmental
> benefits of 
>            digital photography a few times in the past, but
> had forgotten 
>            the idea until recently when a few news items
> about it passed 
>            through the wire. Two articles in particular -
> Swedish Capital 
>            Sees Less Silver Pollution Thanks to Digital
> Photos and Digital 
>            Photography Reduces Pollution - report the claim
> of experts 
>            that digital photography has helped reduce
> silver pollution in 
>            the water of Sweden's capital. "Tests
> have shown that silver 
>            levels have dropped by more than half in five
> years in the waters 
>            of the Stockholm archipelago." More digital
> photography means 
>            that there is less developing of conventional
> silver-halide film, 
>            and nowadays at least 90% of all cameras sold in
> Sweden 
>            are digital. "Helena Parkman of the Swedish
> Environmental 
>            Board said silver ions can be more toxic to
> water organisms 
>            than mercury. Silver in its metallic form is far
> less toxic." So 
>            all you digital photographers out there, know
> that you may 
>            have helped to fight silver pollution without
> even being aware of it. 
>            ::Associated Press via ENN, ::SR International
> 
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/less_silver_pol.php
> 
>           Radiation Shielding 
>           Thin layers of shielding materials such as
> tantalum or silver can be 
>           bonded to other structural metals or components.
> This has been a 
>           cost-effective method of providing radiation
> shielding to satellites. 
> 
> http://www.pacaero.com/pdf/resourcecenter/Data%20Sheet%20-%20Bonded%20Metals.pdf