Bleeding edge help

[Protomen]

Hi, most of these look like they need more context but,


"Chapter 12: she went to Julia Richman High—well, she could’ve been on the natch once or twice—" is a pun on the school being called "Julia Richman High" (I think it denotes "high"schools), so you wouldn't have to take the aside literally, though many a 'normal person' like you call them was a regular doper back in their school days,

"Chapter 38: 'edge' is she talking about? And what is a "mail-room scrambler"?" - edge is an abstract notion here but given that she's talking to some digital "ghost" person it's probably referring to some edge between "life" and the void beyond. [Scrambler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambler) , the point being "I'm not a 100% legit spirit"?

"Chapter 26: extra dimensions,” - dimension in [this sense](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_(esotericism)),

"chapter 31: "Diminishing returns" " - no clue, possibly just means "not worth the effort".




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Bleeding edge help
Local Time: 6 novembre 2016 3:04 AM
UTC Time: 6 novembre 2016 02:04
From: izverizverizver at gmail.com
To: pynchon-l at waste.org


Hi everybody, I'm new on this list, currently I'm reading "Bleeding Edge" and I'm not a native speaker of English, so there are a couple of sentences that I really don't get. Can somebody please help me out?


For example, chapter 31:

One day Maxine finds Eric in the spare room with a 27-ounce spray bottle of Febreze, spritzing his dirty laundry, item by item. “There’s a laundry room in the basement, Eric. We can lend you detergent.”
He drops the T-shirt he’s holding on to a pile of already-Febrezed laundry and remains pointing the bottle at his ear, as if about to shoot himself with it. “Does it come with Downy April Fresh Scent?” Diminishing returns. But he also has a worried look.

-What does "Diminishing returns" means in this context?


Chapter 26:

“Your husband tends to run to extra dimensions,” Maxine supposes.

-I completely miss the meaning of this one :(


Chapter 38:

“Igor Dashkov said you talked about trying to seek some kind of asylum in DeepArcher. Is this who I’m really talking to now, Igor? Misha, Grisha?”
“Don’t think so, I say ‘the’ too much.”
“All right, all right. Assuming there’s still an edge somewhere. And beyond it a void. If you’ve been out there—”
“Sorry. Just a mail-room scrambler here, remember? You want prophecy, sure, I can do that, but it’ll all be bullshit.”
“How about at least letting me bring you back up. Whoever you are.”

-What 'edge' is she talking about? And what is a "mail-room scrambler"?

Chapter 12:

Maxine is no stranger to the Upper East Side, though it still makes her uncomfortable. As a kid she went to Julia Richman High—well, she could’ve been on the natch once or twice—over on East 67th, rode crosstown buses five days a week, never got used to it.

-Does this mean that couple of times she's been to school while not being high? It certainly reads that way, but wouldn't it bee a bit too hardcore for more-or less normal person that she is?

Many thanks in advance!
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