OFFICE OF THE RECORDS — PATTERN FILE
PATTERN 18-44
ACTIVEDECAY resolving to COMING TO MEET. Filed under: the finished thing spoiled, the unnecessary addition, excess meets its consequence.
INDEX ENTRY — ON FILE BEFORE EVERY INCIDENT BELOW
心多恨悔，出門見怪；有虵三足，醜聲可惡。嫫母為媒，請求不得。
A heart full of regret steps out and meets the omen: a snake with three feet, ugly of name and hateful.
published fragment: Jiaoshi Yilin, c. 40 BC — the entry predates all surviving copies
LOGGED OCCURRENCES
- UNDATED OMENthe three-footed serpent
the three-footed serpent — excess was already an omen with a catalogue number. Filed under the pattern's earlier run.
- c. 323 BCLegs on a Snake
Retainers of a Chu temple steward drew snakes in the dust for a single jug of wine. The first to finish, unchallenged, added feet to his. Filed as ENTRY 011/64.
- 1958THE FURNACES THAT ADDED LEGS TO THE HARVEST
The Great Leap Forward ordered a second harvest from the same fields in the same season: steel. Every village built a furnace. Every household melted its tools. The planting, tending, and reaping was spoiled by the addition. The harvest rotted. The snake starved.
- 2000THE FEATURES THAT BROKE THE NETWORK
The Nasdaq rose five-fold in five years. Investors added valuations for companies with no revenue, no product, no plan. The network could not route around the speculation. In March 2000, the market corrected. The snake shed the legs it had grown.
Cited by card ENTRY 011/64 · Legs on a Snake — The Records, Deck 1.
STILL RUNNING