Attenuate: October 8, 2026

City Words

#Attenuate

if I could attenuate all the databases predict...sherlock holmes pbs bbc

The quote you are thinking of is from the BBC/PBS series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. [1]

The exact lines deliver a slightly different phrasing than your memory, famously replacing the word "databases" with "quivering data" or "data streams": [1]

Sherlock delivers memorable monologues regarding data and predictability across Season 4: [1, 2]

"The Six Thatchers" (Season 4, Episode 1): Sherlock notes that if one could attenuate to "every strand of quivering data," the future would be completely calculable. [1, 2]
"The Lying Detective" (Season 4, Episode 2): He repeats a similar sentiment, stating that anticipating almost anything is possible by attenuating to every global data stream.
(You can find the full dialogue and quotes in the referenced web documents.) [1, 2]

💡 A Fun Fact on the Writing

When these episodes aired, fans on platforms like Reddit noted that the writers used the word "attenuate" incorrectly. While attenuate means to weaken or reduce a signal, the writers intended to use "attune" (to become aware of or bring into harmony). [1]

🎶the episode before, ?, a different one, Sherlock relates a folk story parable...let me go get that...

✨️The folktale narrated by Sherlock Holmes at the beginning of the Series 4 episode "The Six Thatchers" is "The Appointment in Samarra". [1, 2]

The Story
The Encounter: A merchant in a Baghdad market sees a stranger looking at him in surprise, and realizes the stranger is Death. [1]
The Flight: Terrified, the merchant flees the marketplace and travels many miles to the distant city of Samarra, believing Death will not find him there. [1]
The Meeting: Upon arriving in Samarra, the merchant finds Death waiting for him. [1]
The Twist: When the merchant asks why Death looked surprised seeing him in Baghdad earlier, Death replies: "Because I had an appointment with you tonight, in Samarra." [1]
Meaning in the Episode
Foreshadowing: Sherlock uses the fable as an omen reflecting the inescapable weight of past choices—specifically related to Mary Watson's secret history with the AGRA team and her eventual fatal sacrifice at the London Aquarium.
Origin: The story is an ancient Mesopotamian tale popularized in modern times by W. Somerset Maugham. [1, 2, 3, 4]

🎶things catch...that Samara tale is a that, picked up again in Episode 2 with that attenuation observation...back aways, I noted here in the blog as much, "if I could see like Sherlock Holmes...let me see if I can get that that!...bbk...bk

🧐

Next door the room is empty (Tree in the Door is somewhat unique in layout being a converted public shower and bathroom!) and I kept hearing a "beep" like the sound the Grey Squirrels make when they are calling. They sit and do this, their tail going up each time they beep. Some territorial call I imagine. So I hear this "beep" in the moring and think maybe a squirrel is trapped next door, and when I come home late at night I hear it again. "Beep!" I thought to call security to open the room and let the squirrel out, but I remembered the window was open to air it out, and I took the screen out to look inside. No squirrel, but I heard the 'beeep". A mystery. Than I looked at the cieling and saw the smoke alarm...that's it, what's making the beep. They do that when they're battery is low. Oh, if I where Sherlock Holmes I would have figured this out, as there was alway a single beep than a long silence, which isn't characteristic of the squirrels, as they just beep all day long.

I wish I could do that, you know, think through things from smidgen of evidence, the tiniest of clue, and figure a mystery out.

DavidDavid
Tree in the Door
May 20, 2007

🎶hmmph..."quivering data"...Grey Squirrels beep to warn their tribe Bobcat is nearby...that, and sheer panic...see Bobcat and Coyote

https://treeinthedoorvideo.blogspot.com/2008/03/coyote-and-bobcat.html

:)

DavidDavif