h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As advertised, commencing a NaPoMoJo project for Nov 2017.




Since DG is suggesting experimentation with the Peer Review system for NaJoPoMo, I'll be doing that, besides keeping a record on my own machine.

I personally Like the PR system for its capacity to allow revision, since I am myself a non-linear thinker.

With respect to the record here, in my Journal, the NaJoPoMo entries will be entirely under this journal entry.




On thematics, I'll be warming over last years' uncompleted NaJoPoMo theme, “The GMO Jungle", a scifi short tour of an asteroidal space colony of the 24th century, populated with GMO animals that do not occur in nature.




I've another theme on Space Colonialism generally, a critical treatment on Space Colonialism concepts in the popular media focusing on the practical demands of it as distinct from popular misconceptions, whîch I intend to develop into a primer, "Space Colonialism 101".

Though time demands on this one will extend beyond November, I'll be starting this month in context of NaJoPoMo, working on form for articles that be developed into chapters for the evisioned book.



Bills to pay today, medical work plus a 200 mile/320 km round trip drive tomorrow & hopefully will be picking up the pace Friday.

Continuing NaJoPoMo, journal for Th 2 Nov 2017:

Up this morning at 2:00am medical, appointments this morning at the VA 100 miles/160 km from home, paperchase all afternoon, everything I set out to do accomplished, home again, 6:55pm now, having a light supper to buffer my evening meds along with a soft drink.

At this point I've had about 3 hours sleep in the last 24 hours and still have a medical letter to complete tonight or tomorrow before dawn so as to fax it to my primary care physician before the working day begins tomorrow.

Will be putting some solid hours on NaJoPoMo tomorrow (F 3 Nov 2017).

Pournelle's Law: Everything always costs more and takes longer than the original estimate.

Spent most of the day octopus wrestling with a new software update for my fax app.

Wearisome.

However:




>>>>>THE GMO JUNGLE









Standing on a balcony, leaning against a railing over an informally landscaped garden area, savoring a deliciously cool and moist evening breeze,/ as the light faded, Robert was puzzling over a distant sound.

Finally he turned to his host.

"James, is that foghorns I hear in the distance?"




James got up from a lounge where he'd been reading, over a mild evening cocktail, went to stand next to his guest, listened attentively a moment, then smiled.

"No, Robert, those are not foghorns, what you are hearing is the giant electrical bullfrog."

James chuckled.

"You're here for a tour anywway. I'll take you by to see one in action tomorrow."



Robert returned to his chair, resumed sipping his own cocktail, a mai tai.

"A giant electrical bull-frog?" He said, enunciating carefully and inquisitively.




"You're wondering how it came to be here?" James chuckled again.

"I can give you a basic run down on how it was created." James resumed his seat, taking up his own cocktail again.

"The basic raw material was, of course, the common bullfrog, lithobates catesbeianus.

To induce giantism, the recombinant DNA staff here took advantage of the natural metamorphic processes of frog growth.

It was noted that the common leopard toad, amietophrynus pantherinus, undergoes a preliminary metamorphic stage in which it is very eel-like, or at any rate eel-larvae like, so they overwrote the metamorphic development of the bullfrog with instructions for that eel-like stage, borrowed from the leopard toad, then overwrote with the growth regimen of the electric eel, electrophorus ellectricus, reinforcing the electrical trait.

When the eel-like larva maxes out at the size of a mature electric eel, as the metamorphic regimen borrowed from the leopard toad phases out, that from the bullfrog kicks in and the eel-like form grows a bulbous, tadpole 'head', or actually, 'body', with growth regulators borrowed from the leopard toad and the bullfrog fixing the proportional size of the 'body' with reference to the eel-like part of the body.

Next, the growth regulators borrowed from the bullfrog take over again and the new tadpole continues to grow until its increase in tadpole size is proportional to that of an actual bullfrog, all this with more reinforcement of its electrical traits so they're retained in the tadpole form and carried over to the final post-metamorphic frog-like form in an exercise of induced neotony.

Even then, they never quite stop growing though the rate eventually almost levels out on an asymptotic curve, one that over time approaches a limit indefinitely closely without ever quite reaching that limit.

Its eggs, by the way, are no larger than those of the common bullfrog."




"But I thought the electrical eel was a catfish, not an eel at all thought with a build about like a moray eel."




James chuckled again. "True enough, but that makes little practical difference."<<<<<

...to be continued...

I am not sure my way of thinking is the same as yours as I am an audio visual musical sort, slightly dyspraxia but will endeavour to keep up with you, in between this and that.
Spotting the differences between ese y esto

I am 60% fluent in Spanish according to Duolingo

Do not forget to fax the physician

A little egg on my face, having failed to copy/cut/paste from here except a pdf copy I can't post from, now moving to peer review.

See you ther!