WINGED

And yet — in fact you need only draw a single thread at any point you choose out of the fabric of life and the run will make a pathway across the whole, and down that wider pathway each of the other threads will become successively visible, one by one. — Heimito von Doderer, DIE DÂIMONEN HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1299

There is a tale of a winged predatory known as the Cat-a-Mountain in the accounts of Marco Polo (1254- 1324). This beast supposedly had the body of a leopard but a strange skin that stretched out when it hunted, enabling it to fly in the pursuit of its prey. This Cat-a-Mountain is most likely an imagined — a predatory feline imagined as a large or a predatory feline imagined as a large with flaps of skin enabling it to glide. Winged cats of and legend were often demonic creatures with “feathered” wings and were liable to swoop down on humans, who were liable to be terrified. Later authors would use Polo’s term to describe a wildcat and by the 17th Century it would have been abbreviated to Catamount and would be being used as a synonym for the American Mountain Lion, Cougar, or Puma. CATS WITH WINGS

ESSENCE IS BLUR. SPECIFICITY, THE OPPOSITE OF ESSENCE, IS OF THE NATURE OF TRUTH.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1657

Job van Meekren, a Dutch physician, described a Spaniard, Georgius Albes, who was able to draw the skin of the left pectoral region to the left ear, or the skin under the face over the chin to the vertex. The skin over the knee could be extended half a yard, and when it retracted to its normal position it was not in folds. A similar skin disorder in cats may account for at least some of the tales of cats with wings. CATS WITH WINGS

ESSENCES ARE FUZZY, GENERIC, CONCEPTUAL; ARISTOTLE WAS RIGHT WHEN HE INSISTED THAT ALL TRUTH IS SPECIFIC AND PARTICULAR (AND WRONG WHEN HE CHARACTERIZED TRUTH AS A GENERALIZATION).

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1667

The Royal Society of conducted a sheep-to-human blood transfusion experiment. (remarkably, the human survived). PALEONTOLOGY THE SCIENCE OF 1667 CATS WITH WINGS

Johann Homilius delivered a dissertation DE MONOCEROTE criticizing all who doubted the existence of unicorns, pointing out that this animal had been described in the .

YOUR GARDEN-VARIETY ACADEMIC HISTORIAN INVITES YOU TO CLIMB ABOARD A HOVERING TIME MACHINE TO SKIM IN METATIME BACK ACROSS THE GEOLOGY OF OUR PAST TIMESLICES, WHILE OFFERING UP A GARDEN VARIETY OF COGENT ASSESSMENTS OF OUR PROGRESSION. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! YOU SHOULD REFUSE THIS HELICOPTERISH OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL PAST, FOR IN THE REAL WORLD THINGS HAPPEN ONLY AS THEY HAPPEN. WHAT THIS SORT WRITES AMOUNTS, LIKE MERE “,” MERELY TO “HISTORY FICTION”: IT’SNOT WORTH YOUR ATTENTION.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

Gaspar Schott’s PHYSICA CURIOSA, SIVE MIRABILIA NATURAE ET ARTIS LIBRIS XII. COMPREHENSA..., printed at Würzburg, relied on the imaginative zoology of the engraver’s teacher Athanasius Kircher: HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1842

June: Henry Thoreau visited Gilian Baker’s farm in Lincoln near Walden Pond to see the “winged cat” that resided there.1

WALDEN: Many a village Bose, fit only to course a mud-turtle in a victualling cellar, sported his heavy quarters in the woods, DOG without the knowledge of his master, and ineffectually smelled at old fox burrows and woodchucks’ holes; led perchance by some slight cur which nimbly threaded the wood, and might still inspire a natural terror in its denizens; –now far behind his guide, barking like a canine bull toward some small squirrel which had treed itself for scrutiny, then, cantering off, bending the bushes with his weight, imagining that he is on the track of some stray member of the gerbille family. Once I was surprised to see a cat walking along the stony shore of the pond, for they rarely wander so far from home. The surprise was mutual. Nevertheless the most domestic cat, which has lain on a rug all her days, appears quite at home in the woods, and, by her sly and stealthy behavior, proves herself more native there than the regular inhabitants. Once, when berrying, I met with a cat with young kittens in the woods, quite wild, and they all, like their mother, CAT had their backs up and were fiercely spitting at me. A few years before I lived in the woods there was what was called a “winged cat” in one of the farm-houses in Lincoln nearest the pond, Mr. Gilian Baker’s. When I called to see her in June, 1842, she was gone a-hunting in the woods, as was her wont, (I am not sure whether it was a male or female, and so use the more common pronoun,) but her mistress told me that she came into the neighborhood a little more than a year before, in April, and was finally taken into their house; that she was of a dark brownish-gray color, with a white spot on her throat, and white feet, and had a large bushy tail like a fox; that in the winter the fur grew thick and flatted out along her sides, forming strips ten or twelve inches long by two and a half wide, and under her chin like a muff, the upper side loose, the under matted like felt, and in the spring these appendages dropped off. They gave me a pair of her “wings,” which I keep still. There is no appearance of a membrane about them. Some thought it was part flying-squirrel or some other wild animal, which is not impossible, for, according to naturalists, prolific hybrids have been produced by the union of the marten and domestic cat. This would have been the right kind of cat for me to keep, if I had kept any; for why should not a poet’s cat be winged as well as his horse?

CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

“HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE” BEING A VIEW FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME (JUST AS THE PERSPECTIVE IN A PAINTING IS A VIEW FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN SPACE), TO “LOOK AT THE COURSE OF HISTORY MORE GENERALLY” WOULD BE TO SACRIFICE PERSPECTIVE ALTOGETHER. THIS IS -LAND, YOU’RE FOOLING YOURSELF. THERE CANNOT BE ANY SUCH THINGIE, AS SUCH A PERSPECTIVE.

1. A similar cat has been observed in West Virginia in 1959. Now that we are aware that genes can be transferred from species to species by viruses (not to mention, by pipette), we find we do not have so great a difficulty in believing what our eyes tell us. It is entirely to Thoreau’s credit that he was able to observe and notice even before the existence of a theory which would legitimate his observation! —May we all develop such skill!

There is a report on winged cats, that mentions Thoreau, at: http://www.messybeast.com/winged-cats.htm Although this is possibly the earliest report of a winged cat, an undated, but old, winged cat was stuffed and mounted in the Niagara Valley, with bony structures near its shoulder blades covered with flaps of skin. The specimen seems genuine, but what the bony structures are is unknown (possibly they are extra limbs). There are around 138 reported sightings of winged cats, in 28 of which there exists physical evidence. There are at least 20 photographs and one video. The impression of “wings” can arise in pet Persians and other longhaired breeds due to fur that mats if the pets are not being adequately groomed by their owner. There also is a rare hereditary medical condition called Feline Cutaneous Asthenia (FCA) that is related to “elastic skin” conditions documented in other animals, and in humans. The skin on the cat’s shoulders, back, and haunches, is abnormally elastic. Even stroking the skin can cause it to stretch. The stretching skin forms pendulous folds or flaps which sometimes contain muscle fibres, enabling them to be moved. They cannot be flapped like a ’s wing since the flaps do not contain any supporting bones nor any joints. Cutaneous Asthenia literally means “weak skin” and refers to the fragility of the skin. It is also called “dermatoproxy” and “hereditary skin fragility.” There are similar conditions in humans, dogs, mink, horses, cattle and sheep. In cattle and sheep the term “dermatosparaxis” (“torn skin”) is used. In horses a similar condition is called “collagen dysplasia.” It is also known as “cutis elastica” (“elastic skin”). The human form is called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and occurs in several different forms. Elastic-skinned people have exhibited themselves as freaks, demonstrating the condition by stretching handfuls of their hyperextensible skin away from their bodies. Arthur Loose the “Rubber Skinned Man,” whose cheeks and jowls hung in pendulous folds 8 inches long, and James Morris the original “ Rubber Man,” who could pull his elastic skin 18 inches from his body, may well have been examples. As the term dermatosparaxis implies, the skin is also abnormally fragile. It tears at the slightest contact with anything sharp — rough surfaces, or even the cat’s own claws when scratching or grooming itself. Like the rest of the cat’s skin, the wing-like projections are covered in fur. If they incorporate sufficient muscle fibres, they can be raised up and down. An interesting aspect of this condition is that the flaps of skin peel off very easily, usually without causing bleeding. This could explain some of the reports of winged cats who suddenly “moulted” their wings, but whose mats were not due to matted fur. The pieces of stretched skin simply slough off. In mammals, the skin comprises two principal layers. The outermost layer, the epidermis, is relatively thin. Below the epidermis is the dermis which is thicker and contains connective tissue. The dermis provides support and packing as well as containing nerves and blood vessels. The dermis consists largely of fibres made mostly of a protein called collagen. Collagen binds the cells of the dermis together. Mammals with Cutaneous Asthenia have defective collagen in certain areas of the skin, this makes it incapable of functioning effectively as tissue packing. As a result, the is extremely flexible and fragile in the affected areas. Most usually affected areas are the shoulders, back and haunches and the stretching gives the appearance of wings sprouting from these areas. Where the defect occurs in regions containing sufficient musculature so that muscle is included in the flaps of skin, the wings can even be moved slightly, providing an explanation for the reports of cats able to lift or move their wings. Even where the wings lack musculature, they would naturally bounce up and down as the cat ran, and give the impression of flapping. A recessive autosomic (non-sex linked) variant feline cutaneous asthenia, which in the homozygous state is apparently lethal, has been discovered in cat breeds with Siamese ancestry. CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1868

2d edition, posthumous, of James Robert Ballantyne’s grammar of Hindi.

There was a report from India of a strange mammal that had been shot by Alexander Gibson in the Punch Mehali, described as a flying cat and termed a pauca billee. The dried skin of this trophy, exhibited at a meeting of the Bombay Asiatic Society, was noted to be 18 inches on a side and rather more squarish than oblong. CATS WITH WINGS

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1894

August: Robert Louis Stevenson’s “My First Book: TREASURE ISLAND” in The Idler.

A report of a winged cat appeared in the Independent Press. A live cat with wings resembling those of a duckling was being exhibited in the neighborhood by Mr. David Badcock of the Ship Inn, Reach, Cambridgeshire, England. The year-old cat had only revealed its wings after being somewhat roughly handled. The owner was charging 2 pennies for callers in the daytime to see his winged cat and had begun to take it around neighboring villages in the evening. Several days later, the Cambridge Weekly News carried a similar account, presumably of the same cat. At the same time as this 2d report, Independent Press reported that the “remarkable cat” had been stolen. CATS WITH WINGS

CONTINGENCY ALTHOUGH VERY MANY OUTCOMES ARE OVERDETERMINED, WE TRUST THAT SOMETIMES WE ACTUALLY MAKE REAL CHOICES.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1896

George M. Gould & Walter L. Pyle’s ANOMALIES AND CURIOSITIES OF MEDICINE offered the following description of human cutaneous asthenia: Abnormal Elasticity of the Skin In some instances the skin is affixed so loosely to the underlying tissues and is possessed of so great elasticity that it can be stretched almost to the same extent as India rubber. There have been individuals who could take the skin of the forehead and pull it down over the nose, or raise the skin of the neck over the mouth. They also occasionally have an associate muscular development in the subcutaneous tissues similar to the panniculus adiposus of quadrupeds, giving them preternatural motile power over the skin. The man recently exhibited under the title of the “Elastic-Skin Man” was an example of this anomaly. The first of this class of exhibitionists was seen in Buda-Pesth some years since and possessed great elasticity in the skin of his whole body; even his nose could be stretched. [The bearded man] represents a photograph of an exhibitionist named Felix Wehrle, who besides having the power to stretch his skin could readily bend his fingers backward and forward. The photograph was taken in January, 1888. CATS WITH WINGS

THE TASK OF THE HISTORIAN IS TO CREATE HINDSIGHT WHILE INTERCEPTING ANY ILLUSION OF FORESIGHT. NOTHING A HUMAN CAN SEE CAN EVER BE SEEN AS IF THROUGH THE EYE OF GOD.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1897

June 26, Saturday: A winged cat in Matlock, was described in a local newspaper, the High Peak News, as “an extraordinary large tortoiseshell tom cat with fully grown pheasant’s wings projecting from each side of its fourth ribs” (in fact, male cats having tortoiseshell fur are almost but not quite as rare as Appaloosa unicorns). According to eyewitnesses state the cat used its outstretched wings to increase its speed as it ran: Extraordinary Capture at Winster: A Tomcat With Wings. The most interesting item in natural history, so far as the Matlock district is concerned, transpired this morning (Friday). Our reporter learns that Mr. Roper of Winster, while on Brown Edge near that village, shot what he thought to be a fox, which had been seen in the locality some time previously, on Mr. Foxlow’s land. Thinking he had missed his aim, Mr. Roper gave up the quest, but returning later he found he had killed the animal. It proved to be an extraordinarily large tomcat, tortoiseshell in color with fur two and a half inches long, with the remarkable addition of fully-grown pheasant wings projecting from each side of its fourth rib. Unfortunately, the climate having been so excessively hot, the animal was allowed to putrefy, and after being generally exhibited all round the district the carcass has now been interred. It was seen by Mr. Joseph Hardy and ample witnesses, so that there is no doubt the museums have missed a most curious animal. Never has its like been seen before, and eye- witnesses state that when running the animal used its wings outstretched to help it over the surface of the ground, which it covered “at a tremendous pace.” CATS WITH WINGS

“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1899

November: The Eastern Telegraph Company brought the initial submarine cable to St. Helena. The far end of this cable was at Cape Town, and this represented the 1st stage in a link north to Ascension Island — and thence to the targeted market, and England.

London’s Strand Magazine reported a “winged cat” or kitten in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England. The cat appeared normal in every way except for two fur-covered growths sprouting from either side of its mid-back. These flapped about like the wings of a scurrying chicken whenever the cat moved. The animal was able to lift up its wings. CATS WITH WINGS

NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1934

June 9, Saturday evening: Mrs. Hughes Griffiths in Oxford, England observed a black and white cat unfurl a pair of long black wings sprouting just in front of its hindquarters, to jump a “considerable” distance onto a beam. Curator W.E. Sawyer and managing director Frank Owen of the Oxford Zoo captured the animal with a net. It was on display for some while, and was photographed while on a leash. Its wings were 6 inches long. CATS WITH WINGS

NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1936

A winged cat described as a white longhair with one blue and one red eye was found on a farm near Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, . Its wings were flaps 6 inches long and 3 inches wide on its back and were said to rise when the cat ran and “fold down into her side” when she rested. This is consistent with the behavior of large mats of fur or loose flaps of skin which would rise or flap about when the cat was in motion, but rest hanging down under their own weight when the cat stood still. CATS WITH WINGS

CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1939

A black and white male winged cat was purchased from a Mrs. M. Roebuck of Attercliffe, , England for exhibit in a Blackpool museum of freaks. The animal had a 2-foot wingspan and was able, if and when it desired to, to raise these wings above its body. CATS WITH WINGS

WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1949

June: The largest recorded feline “wing-span,” of 23 inches, was described in a 24-inch-long, 20-pound winged cat that had been shot in northern . CATS WITH WINGS

LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1950

A tortoiseshell cat with “wings” was exhibited at a carnival in Sutton, . CATS WITH WINGS

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.

May: porter Juan Priego’s gray Angora cat grew a pair of large fluffy wings. CATS WITH WINGS

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1959

May: A winged Persian cat was found near Pinesville, West Virginia by Douglas Shelton and exhibited on local TV. The wings persisted for two months, and fell off. The “wings” were retained as curiosities, but seem to be nothing other than extensive mats of fur which had eventually been shed. CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1966

In Alfred, Ontario, Canada, a winged cat said to be attacking other cats and farm animals was exhumed several days after being shot, for examination at the Kemptville Agricultural School. The “wings” were found to be merely matted fur — the cat had been rabid. CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1967

October/November: In an issue of The Cat, Cecily Waddon wrote “May I appeal to anyone thinking of having a cat, not to choose a long haired one unless they are prepared to spend about ten minutes a day on grooming throughout the cat’s life? I recently had brought to me one with fur not only matted solid all over its body, but with felt-like wings the size of my hand, growing outwards.” The two photos here show a Persian with the beginnings of “wings” caused by felt-like lumps of matted fur. When the cat moved, the wings did indeed flap! CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1970

J.A. Sandford of Wallingford, Connecticut observed an orange-and-white longhaired winged cat that was “positively waddling due to large wing-like growths hanging from its midsection.” The fur was matted forming rectangular pads about 5 inches long by 4 inches wide. CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1975

The Evening News published a photograph of a winged cat which had lived in Banister Walton & Co builder’s yard at Trafford Park, Manchester, England during the 1960s. The cat had a pair of 11-inch fluffy wings projecting from its back and the skin of its tail had flattened into a broad flap. According to some of the men working in the yard at that time, the cat could even raise its wings above its body, suggesting a deformity which contained muscle as well as flaps of skin. CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1986

A winged cat (just like in WALDEN) was reported in Anglesey, Wales. Shortly after being photographed, it moulted its “wings.” CATS WITH WINGS

Translation of Thoreau materials into Portuguese in Brazil: WALDEN, OU A VIDA NOS BOSQUES. Coleção Armazém do Tempo. Introdução e tradução de Astrid Cabral. Contém em apêndice “A desobediência civil.” São Paulo: Global. 331 pages. Reed. Aquariana, 2001 (346 pages.); Novo Século, 2007 (288 pages.). TIMELINE OF WALDEN

Richard O’Connor, the author of “The Irish Shanties at Walden Pond” in the Thoreau Society Bulletin for 1986 (182:7), informed Professor Walter Roy Harding that this dead horse of WALDEN had been disposed of, not in one of the natural sink holes in Walden Woods, but in the old cellar hole which Thoreau characterized as “some homestead of the Stratton family.” Refer to the JOURNAL for January 11, 1857:

WALDEN: There was a dead horse in the hollow by the path to my house, which compelled me sometimes to go out of my way, especially in the night when the air was heavy, but the assurance it gave me of the strong appetite and inviolable heath of Nature was my compensation for this.

WALDEN: Farther down the hill, on the left, on the old road in the PEOPLE OF woods, are marks of some homestead of the Stratton family; whose WALDEN orchard once covered all the slope of Brister’s Hill, but was long since killed out by pitch-pines, excepting a few stumps, whose old roots furnish still the wild stocks of many a thrifty village tree.

JOSEPH STRATON

FIGURING OUT WHAT AMOUNTS TO A “HISTORICAL CONTEXT” IS WHAT THE CRAFT OF HISTORICIZING AMOUNTS TO, AND THIS NECESSITATES DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE SET OF EVENTS THAT MUST HAVE TAKEN PLACE BEFORE EVENT E COULD BECOME POSSIBLE, AND MOST CAREFULLY DISTINGUISHING THEM FROM ANOTHER SET OF EVENTS THAT COULD NOT POSSIBLY OCCUR UNTIL SUBSEQUENT TO EVENT E.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1995

April: Martin Millner saw a fluffy winged tabby-cat in Backbarrow, , England. CATS WITH WINGS HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

1998

Beau W. Rowlands et al’s THE OF ST HELENA: AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST (British Ornithology Union).

A black winged cat was observed in Northwood, . The wings were 2 to 3 inches back from the shoulder blades and were about 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and an inch thick. They flapped as the cat ran. CATS WITH WINGS

THE AGE OF REASON WAS A PIPE DREAM, OR AT BEST A PROJECT. ACTUALLY, HUMANS HAVE ALMOST NO CLUE WHAT THEY ARE DOING, WHILE CREDITING THEIR OWN LIES ABOUT WHY THEY ARE DOING IT.

Winged Cats “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others, such as extensive quotations and reproductions of images, this “read-only” computer file contains a great deal of special work product of Austin Meredith, copyright 2016. Access to these interim materials will eventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup some of the costs of preparation. My hypercontext button invention which, instead of creating a hypertext leap through hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems— allows for an utter alteration of the context within which one is experiencing a specific content already being viewed, is claimed as proprietary to Austin Meredith — and therefore freely available for use by all. Limited permission to copy such files, or any material from such files, must be obtained in advance in writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Please contact the project at .

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.” – Remark by character “Garin Stevens” in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

Prepared: February 27, 2016 HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

GENERATION HOTLINE

This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by a human. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested that we pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of the shoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What these chronological lists are: they are research reports compiled by ARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term the Kouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such a request for information we merely push a button. HDT WHAT? INDEX

WINGED CATS WINGED CATS

Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obvious deficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then we need to punch that button again and recompile the chronology — but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary “writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of this originating contexture improve, and as the programming improves, and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whatever has been needed in the creation of this facility, the entire operation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminished need to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expect to achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring robotic research librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

First come first serve. There is no charge. Place requests with . Arrgh.