teratoid symbols

Macronaut · 27 Jul 2006, 15:51 · from 2006-July.txt.gz

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From: macronaut at yahoo.com (Macronaut)
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 08:51:56 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) teratoid symbols
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-F16D62D553D2FA9CCFFD67FD75A0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <20060727155156.9997.qmail at web51111.mail.yahoo.com>

B wrote:

> Regarding radiation hazard warning signs, I have
> seen mention of them in the 
> past but I didn't know it was accepted dogma as
> explanation for the teratoid 
> symbols which seem to mark Father Inire's areas. 
> Worth addressing.
> 
> I think the interpretation is a mistake, though
> understandable.  Radiation 
> sources are often referred to as "teratogenic" but
> radiation is only one of 
> a number of teratogens. The terato prefix means
> malformed.  And its roots 
> are from Greek for monster (or portent).

I had a different interpretation -- that the teratoid
symbol, which as I recall appears on the mirror
cabinet of the presence chamber, was a chinese
character.  Some of the more complex, squiggly Chinese
characters can look monstrous, and this interpretation
fits with the other indications that mankind spoke
Chinese during its space/time faring heyday (Kim Lee
Soong, Jonas speaking in a "garbling sing song" etc.).
 Stretching a bit, it also fits with the connotation
of teratoid as portentious and malformed: portentious
because the mirrors seem to reach across time as well
as space, and malformed because they evoke a past
where mankind's domination corrupted him.  I think the
teratoid as chinese character has been suggested
before.

A radiation warning seems to me to make little sense,
given we know that Inire and Domnina stand in the
chamber while it's active, and that Jonas, who is
reasonably frail despite his cyborg body, used the
chamber to travel without any special protections
against radiation. 

Macronaut

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