OFFICE OF THE RECORDS — PATTERN FILE
PATTERN 5-48
ACTIVEWAITING resolving to THE WELL. Filed under: latent talent, the pierced container, self-selection.
INDEX ENTRY — ON FILE BEFORE EVERY INCIDENT BELOW
珪璧琮璋，執贄見王。百里甯戚，應聘齊秦。
Bearing jade discs and scepters they present themselves to kings: Baili and Ning Qi, hired by Qi and by Qin.
published fragment: Jiaoshi Yilin, c. 40 BC — the entry predates all surviving copies
LOGGED OCCURRENCES
- 7TH C. BCBaili Xi, bought for five ram-skins; Ning Qi, hired off an ox-horn song
Baili Xi, bought for five ram-skins; Ning Qi, hired off an ox-horn song — talents that filed themselves. Filed under the pattern's earlier run.
- SIEGE OF HANDAN, 257 BCThe Awl in the Bag
Nineteen retainers selected for the Chu mission by pedigree; subject Mao Sui selected himself. Challenged — a true awl pierces any bag — he replied he had only now been placed in one. Filed as ENTRY 006/64.
- 1905THE EXAMINER EVERY FACULTY HAD DECLINED
A patent examiner third class in Bern, passed over for promotion and unplaced by every university he had approached, published four papers in a single year: the quantum of light, the reality of atoms, the relativity of time, and the equivalence of mass and energy. Within three years the faculties that had declined him were citing him to each other. He had asked only for the bag.
- 1997THE FOUNDER WHO RETURNED INSIDE THE PURCHASE
Apple Computer, twelve years after its co-founder left in a boardroom struggle, purchased his unprofitable company NeXT for its operating system. Steve Jobs was carried into the building as part of the assets. Within nine months he was chief executive, and the acquired software became the foundation of every product the company would ship for the next two decades. The company had thought it was buying a bag. The awl came with it.
Cited by card ENTRY 006/64 · The Awl in the Bag — The Records, Deck 1.
STILL RUNNING