Diary (August 24, 2020)

Online diary of Karl Jones for Monday August 24, 2020.

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Diary

Legion

"Legion" on Hulu - recommended by Patrick Ladwing.

Soap Opera for Men

Bleak Muzzles - "Soap Opera for Men"

Certain cows

Certain cows must not be burned to death

Tribbles for Ichneumon

"Tribbles for Ichneumon" - one of the Forbidden Episodes of Star Trek. The Ichneumon, an alien ambassador from the "Spock's Bug" parallel universe, is sterile, and will soon die without progeny, threatening the intra-universe treaty between Insects and Humans. In a desperate effort to save both universes from extinction, Doctor McCoy synthesizes an experimental fertility drug using compounds isolated from living tribbles, but The Ichneumon refuses to take the drug unless it can first sting its eggs into a living host, naming McCoy as its host of choice. McCoy is ready to sacrifice himself, but is knocked unconscious by a stunt double play Kirk, who is in turn neck-pinched by the actual Leonard Nimoy, who narrates the episode. During this human-on-human action, The Ichneumon grows increasingly impatient, finally stinging itself.

And thus does The Ichneumon bear its own young, which eat their progenitor and then sting themselves, sub specie aeternitatis.

Compare "Flowers for Algernon".

See also:

• Conway's Game of Ichneumon
• Recursion Hell

Sentient mathematical functions

There are no faster-than-light engines. There are no time machines. These are metaphors of Text-Clock culture.

However, similar effects can be achieved in collaboration with sentient mathematical functions, notably the Gnomon algorithm.

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles