On Fri, 24 Nov 2023 11:21:35 -0500 Alvin Starr via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote: <snip>
Possibly you could capture a unicorn. from tvtropes.org:
One of the most archetypal and well-known traits of theUnicorn <https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Unicorn>is its affinity for virgin women. In legends where unicorns were characterized as either fierce and untamable or as incredibly elusive, a virgin maiden was said to be the only one who could tame the beast or draw it out of hiding. In works where unicorns are epitomes of benevolence and purity, virgin maidens are the only ones the creatures allow close to them — or, in certain cases, to ride them.
Eish! Alvin, thank you so much for creating, in my mind, the many new images of virgin maidens riding unicorns.
So you just need to find a virgin.
Those still exist and are not that challenging to find, unicorns on the other hand seem to be extremely controversial. So much so that many people over the course of history, actively tried to make all mention of unicorns, everywhere, just disappear. (So many 'powerful' people never really bargained on the Internet though) Among the many print first editions (books) I have access to is Grimm's Fairy Tales (T. Nelson & sons, Ltd) - and many of the mentions of unicorns are adapted/changed/altered/deleted. For example, in the story about "The taylor and the giant" the unicorn portion of the 'oral' retelling of the story, is replaced with a talking nut craving dancing bear. (how they thought this would be more reasonable, or palatable, than a unicorn with a horn stuck in a tree, fully escapes me) Unless this could be explained by repeated human error or some other hectic event(s) it indicates that publishers and editors at the turn of the last century decided that unicorns are so weird that they should not even feature in Grimm's Fairy Tales :) (just to be fair: human error also do promote unicorns, for example when the King James Bible did just that in the "wild ox" scandal) anyway, google allows us, currently, to read about unicorns (lucky us) and what is really cool are the results when you google "penguin unicorn images" - clearly the concept of linux and/or penguins and unicorn affinity is not even close to an original idea :) Clearly Unicorns, themselves, have gone through many cycles, from complete denial/deletion, in print, to over publication. And except for what you already mentioned about works where unicorns are epitomes of benevolence and purity, some modern/recent takes on unicorns (and lore) have them involved with zombies, being evil creatures and doing all sorts of phallic more horn (and even corn) related stuff.
But. Your looking for a tech-unicorn... A Tech virgin?
That is going to be hard to find these days. I once heard someone describing the fact that once upon a time the chair was a new technology. So this opens a whole discussion about how virginal you need to be to attract a unicorn.
hmm, after "doing my own research" (hehehehe), I am not so convinced that unicorns are attracted to virgins after all. I am also not so convinced that unicorns are "kings of the horses" - in fact, after studying some grainy images in Google Image search, I am not more convinced than ever that unicorns are closely, VERY closely, related to DRAGONS~! If this proves to be accurate, I do really just happen to know where to find a dragon... so I will shortly be setting out on a dragon hunt. Once I have waterboarded the dragon, I am somewhat certain now, I will be able to get that pesky tech-unicorn. Again thank you for the image(s) of virgin(s) riding unicorn(s), I will sometime check what plethora of images chatGPT can come up with. Anyone in need of a slightly used horse with half a horn stuck on it's head can send me a DM via pigeon post. Although, since the pūteketeke became the bird of the century (due to the fat thumb of John Oliver), the once thriving and useful columba livia domestica has been mostly relegated to obscurity, so good luck with that.