Ok Archive 1

ITEM #: SCP-OKOK

LEVEL- 

CONTAINMENT CLASS: EUCLID

DISRUPTION CLASS: (4) EKHI

Included page "component:anomaly-class-barge-source" does not exist (create it now)

A modern computer interface featuring "OK".

Special Containment Procedures: Promote usage of the word "OK" and other Effective Graphemes¹ in written and spoken communication, worldwide, to convey sentiments of affirmation, security and good health. Detect and neutralize threats to the usage of "OK", including developments in vernacular language, mass media, graphic design, academic and journalistic standards.

+ Human Resources

Personnel occupying the following positions shall be contracted to assist in Containment Procedures. These individuals are to be OK'd for Level 1 access to documentation on SCP-XXXX, and granted an annual stipend equal to 20% of their civilian salary:

• Two (2) screenwriters for international childrens' television shows
• One (1) author of a bestselling young adult book series
• One (1) author of a bestselling graphic novel series
• One (1) senior editor at a global news agency
• One (1) international radio talk show host
• One (1) preeminent linguist
• One (1) preeminent researcher in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• One (1) peer review manager at a global academic journal publisher
• One (1) marketing executive at a major soft drink manufacturer

Under Antimemetics Division Initiative "Everything is OK", any and all Foundation Staff and contractors are invited to propose containment strategies to the office of Dr. Olympia Kay. Accepted proposals may be compensated with two weeks paid leave.

Personnel and documentation involved in SCP-XXXX containment must make frequent written and spoken usage of "OK". Field personnel and consultants shall undergo training to visualize the word when speaking or hearing it. Effective Graphemes must be used to express positive or affirmative sentiments whenever possible.

Everyone in antimemetics likes a laugh, but this isn't a joke, okay?
If Containment Procedures falter, we're erased. Don't ever forget that.
— Dr. O.Kay

Description: SCP-XXXX is a pandemic antimeme which rapidly destroys recorded information and human procedural memory during "Manifestation Events". Individuals affected by SCP-XXXX permanently cease all voluntary activity including self-care.² SCP-XXXX is believed to spread through written information and/or representative imagery.³ The severity and range of SCP-XXXX's effects appear to increase in proportion to net volume and distance of information exchange; with the advent of the World Wide Web, a breach of containment is hypothesized to pose an OK-Class "Terminal Ambivalence" Scenario.

SCP-XXXX appears to seek and destroy information pertaining to it.⁴ All primary sources attesting Manifestation Events prior to 1953 are presumed lost, along with most other pertinent records. Documentation recovered from an archive in Oklahoma City, OK suggests containment activities have been in effect for at least 160 years.

SCP-XXXX was originally contained by unknown actors in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Effective Graphemes in English declined to critical levels prior to Initiative "Everything is OK".

+ Addendum 1: Effective Graphemes

Dr. Jia's Mean Effective Grapheme, Revision IV

"Effective Graphemes" are symbols whose perception and use serve to contain SCP-XXXX. They are distinguished by their positive connotations and convergent morphology.

Visual perception of or visualization of Effective Graphemes is observed to have a temporary suppressive effect against SCP-XXXX. As a result of Foundation and Non-Foundation containment activities, all contemporary population centers exchange Effective Graphemes on a regular basis. Research into an "Optimal Effective Grapheme" is ongoing.

E.G.	System	Connotations
OK[ay]	English	Affirmation, Security, Health
真	Chinese, Simplified	Truth
نعم	Arabic	"Yes"
ठीक	Hindi	Just, Correct, Normal
хорошо	Russian	Good
예	Hangul	"Yes" / Affirmation
☥	Ancient Egyptian	Life

+ Addendum 2: [Pre-1953] Record of Containment Activities

The design and promotion of "OK" and other Effective Graphemes predate foundation efforts, with evidence of containment activities independently practiced by a number of organizations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Primary sources regarding these activities are typically absent or incomplete; this has led to speculation that SCP-XXXX may be sentient and capable of conducting targeted attacks on information related to its containment.

This record is incomplete. Foundation members are encouraged to submit any evidence of historical activity to the office of Dr. Olympia Kay.

Origin	Unknown, 03/1839
Activity	The Boston Morning Post prints a satirical article proposing the misspelled abbreviation "o.k." signifying "All Correct" or "Oll Korrect".
Status	Effective
Notes	The joke is adopted into upper-class vernacular in certain locales of the Eastern U.S.A.
Connotations	Affirmation, Stupidity.

Origin	Unknown, 06/1840
Activity	Campaign officials for Martin Van Buren's re-election run adopt the nickname "Old Kinderhook", printing "Vote for OK" and forming an "OK Club" for supporters.
Status	Effective (Historical)
Notes	Substantial increase in references to "OK" during and after the campaign. Negative connotations are noted among Van Buren's opponents during the campaign: "out of kash", "out of kharacter", "orrfully konfused", "oll kwarrelling". References to "Oll Korrect" also increased substantially in prevalence.
Connotations	Affirmation, Experience, Incompetence, Corruption.

Origin	Unknown, 01/1849
Activity	The Magnetic Telegraph Company institutes "OK" as an acknowledgement signal on both private and government lines.
Status	Effective
Notes	The signal became a de facto standard in the telegraphy.
Connotations	Affirmation, Retention.

To prevent all doubt of the reception of messages, no message will be regarded as received by the office to which it has been transmitted until the signal "O.K. has been received acknowledging its reception.
— Magnetic Telegraph Company, January 1849

Origin	Unknown, 10/1881
Activity	A gunfight involving several well-known outlaws in Tombstone, AZ is popularized by the name "Shootout at the O.K. Corral", despite occurring some six blocks away.
Status	Partially Effective
Notes	Extremely widespread media attention and subsequent fictionalized accounts in literature, radio and film further accelerated the spread of the Effective Grapheme.
Connotations	Law, Violence, Valor.

A significant lapse in containment activities is noted between 1880–1939.
Personnel debriefings suggest Special Containment Procedures for SCP-XXXX were in effect as early as July of 1920, but no written records exist to support this claim. Records prior to April 1953 are fragmentary, but suggest a limited understanding of containment principles.

Origin	Unknown, SCP Foundation, 09/1940
Proposal	Persuade Coca-Cola Corporation to adopt the vernacular spelling "Coke" for their popular brand.
Status	Ineffective
Notes	After months of lobbying by an embedded agent, Coca-Cola Co. marketing initiated a campaign acknowledging the alternative spelling. However, "Coke" is no longer classified as an Effective Grapheme.
Connotations	Relaxation, Sweet, Leisure Time. (ineffective)

Origin	Unknown, SCP Foundation, 11/1940
Proposal	Produce a musical drama about the state of Oklahoma, prominently featuring the state's abbreviation, "OK!"
Status	Effective (Historical)
Notes	Funding was provided through a Foundation front company and memetic agents were introduced to enhance memorability and emotional response. The musical was extremely successful, running from 1941 through 1948.
Connotations	Love, Vigor, Independence. (partially effective)

+ Addendum 3: [April 1953] Exploration Log XXXX-1

Dr. Jia, control team and D-Class dispatched to a commune in the Swiss alps to investigate an Unexplained Event which was later identified as SCP-XXXX Manifestation.

Exploration conducted by: D-4041, D-5172, D-2300, D-1808, D-0991, D-1708, 04/14/1953

Mission Abstract: To collect information and samples from the site of an anomalous event. To recover Foundation resources. To determine if an anomalous eigenweapon had been used by a GoI, PoI or military organization.

Additional Information: A previous attempt at exploration was apparently unsuccessful; records for this attempt were lost following an incident with mission command and subsequent quarantine. In order to minimize risk to Foundation assets, several D-Class personnel will conduct the mission independently, with no real-time radio contact to base or one another. Audio will be recorded continuously from insertion through extraction and subject to special precautions.

[BEGIN LOG]

The helicopter can be heard in the background.

00:00 D-4041: D-4041, OK, signing on. I am exiting the vehicle at the insertion point. What? [INAUDIBLE] If I [INAUDIBLE] flare gun.
00:00 D-4041: Good to go.

00:02 D-4041: Heading north from the insertion point.

00:08 D-4041: OK here, there's a road consistent with the charts. Looks unmaintained.
00:09 D-4041: The signs don't make sense. I'll just keep following it.
00:09 D-4041: They're all blank, or [INAUDIBLE] dialect. I didn't think Esperanto *had* dialects.
00:11 D-4041: Yeah, it's not a dialect.

00:15 D-4041: Here we have a, uh, red octagonal sign. Doesn't say… Doesn't say "Halti" like the one we passed on the way in. It says… uh, well. These aren't quite letters.

00:23 D-4041: OK here, all the signs are just blank now I'm further in.

00:33 D-4041: Road is actually in fair condition, considering the locale. Lane lines are faded or gone, though. Like the paint was cheap.

Audible tape hiss grows steadily until 00:45 then subsides. D-4041 can be heard making a few remarks at 00:38 and 00:51, but is unintelligible.

01:08 D-4041: OK here, I've got a building. Small structure. Looks like…
01:09 D-4041: It's a roadside booth with a faded green flag and some signage. Mostly blank.
01:12 D-4041: I've got a workspace in the building. Lots of what might be brochures, documents, dictionaries… But all blank. Or just vague colors. There's a battery-operated radio, but it's dead.
01:13 D-4041: Whoever was here left their lunch half-eaten and their coat on the hook.
01:14 D-4041: Not much more to see here. Everything's erased or wasn't there in the first place. OK, moving on.

01:18 D-4041: Three weeks learning this bullshit language and the only thing to read around here is a stop sign.

Tape hiss audible at 01:23, growing in intensity.

01:29 D-4041: Unlabeled soda cans, stale food [INAUDIBLE] blank paper. [INAUDIBLE] leave it here.

Tape hiss peaks at 01:37 and begins to subside. Inaudible remarks at 01:34.

01:45 D-4041: [INAUDIBLE] been walking? Can't read my watch.
01:47 D-4041: [INAUDIBLE] bad feeling.

02:00 D-4041: OK here, I'm coming up on the perimeter, and I've got a body.
02:02 D-4041: I've looked him over twice and there's no sign of injury. Fella looks like he was drunk — coat's half off, froze to death in the snow if I had to guess. But here? Ten steps from the front door?
02:05 D-4041: Wallet with blank cards… Blank money? Hot damn, why didn't you send me here sooner, Doc? I'm never…
02:05 D-4041: …Never coming back.

02:08 D-4041: Another one. No wounds. No writing.
02:09 D-4041: More around here. I… I'm not sure I need to look at them.
02:10 D-4041: OK here, this is getting to me. This stuff better not still be in the air.

At 02:12, Kay can be heard tearing cloth and swearing.

02:13 D-4041: OK here, I'm going into the central facility. Keeping an eye out for… Oh.
02:14 D-4041: The dossier is blank now. Or, uh, getting there. Good thing I read it twice.

02:19 D-4041: Oh my God. This one's still alive.
02:20 D-4041: Hey, kiddo. I'm OK. How are you?
02:20 D-4041: This is awful.
02:21 D-4041: Subject is approximately six years old. She– I think she's brain damaged. She's awake but can't talk, isn't moving, isn't breathing right. Didn't know there were going to be kids here.
02:22 D-4041: You're going to be OK. You and me. Up you go.
02:22: D-4041 grunts.

Interference renders the recording largely inaudible for 33 minutes, save for the following remarks.

02:30 D-4041: [INAUDIBLE] going to be OK.
02:39 D-4041: Stay with me, OK.
02:43 D-4041: [INAUDIBLE] be OK, little [INAUDIBLE].

02:55: Interference abruptly ceases.
02:55 D-4041: –fully legible and undamaged in the back corner of the library and the archive room.
02:56 D-4041: Hey.
02:57 D-4041: Hey, missy, you awake?
02:57 D-4041: Stay with me, OK. Can you blink again?
02:58 D-4041: (unintelligible singing for several minutes)

03:05 D-4041: She's in really bad shape.

03:08 D-4041: Exploration Log: This is D-4041… Ostara Kay. I'm giving up. I did not locate the targets. I am retreating from the zone early in defiance of my orders. If I make it back, I accept the consequences of my actions.

03:12 D-4041: It's the end for me, one way or the other.
03:12 D-4041: But do what you can for the girl.

03:56 D-4041: OK here, [INAUDIBLE].

04:31 D-4041: [INAUDIBLE] going to be OK.

05:22 D-4041: We'll both be OK.

[END LOG]

Additional Notes: D-4041 fired a signal flare and was located at the extraction point attending to a child affected by SCP-XXXX. All other personnel dispatched into the Manifestation Event Zone failed to return. At the request of Dr. Jia, D-4041 "Ostara Kay" was granted clemency for disregarding orders and re-assigned to SCP-XXXX containment to serve as a test subject and assistant. The child was retained as a test subject.

+ Addendum 4: [Post-1953] Record of Containment Projects

Following the events of Exploration XXXX-2, Antimemetics Division Initiative "Everything is OK" was proposed by Dr. Jia and Ostara Kay, with an emphasis on cost-effective containment.

Source	Research Assistant Ostara Kay, 05/1953
Proposal	Determine viability of rehabilitating individuals affected by SCP-XXXX.
Status	Suspended
Notes	Experimental development of Procedure XXXX-Olympia commenced in June 1953, concluding in April 1978 with a proof of concept ("subject O"). Project suspended indefinitely due to prohibitive expense and unavailability of test subjects.
Connotations	n/a

Source	Research Assistant Ostara Kay, 02/1954
Proposal	Embedded Foundation consultants to begin using the phrase "A-OK" on radio, displacing "affirmative", "all clear" and "good to go" and citing heightened intelligibility. Targets to include military, industrial, aviation, seafaring and amateur sectors.
Status	Effective (Self-Sustaining)
Notes	Cleared for memetic enhancement. Phrase became popular in military and transportation sectors, notably crossing language barriers in South Asia. Phrase received major public exposure beginning with broadcasts from NASA Project Mercury and the televised moon landing.
Connotations	Affirmation, Acknowledgement, Safety. (fully effective)

102:45:40 Aldrin: “Contact Light.”
102:45:43 Armstrong: “Shutdown”.
102:45:44 Aldrin: “Okay. Engine Stop.”
— First words publicly broadcast from the Lunar surface, July 69

Source	Agent L. Tesler, 06/1981
Proposal	Infiltrate personal computer corporations and introduce "OK" into graphical user interfaces as a contingency in case of widespread adoption.
Status	Effective (Active, Self-Sustaining)
Notes	Most successful initiative to date. Agent Tesler infiltrated Apple Computer Corporation and staged a customer complaint in order to replace "do it" with "OK" in the graphical user interface. This design idiom subsequently became an industry standard, requiring only minimal intervention to maintain as of 2001.
Connotations	Affirmation, Acknowledgement, Well-Functioning. (fully effective)

Remember this story. Command thought Tesler was out of order with this proposal, but it wound up being our best insurance plan against the information age.
— O.Kay

Source	Site Janitor Joseph Greeley, 08/1990
Proposal	Gradually eliminate cursive writing among youth in the USA and Europe. Mitigate popularity of script fonts and handwritten communications. Encourage use of typewriters, pagers and personal computers. Tactics to focus on manipulating requirements in public education.
Status	Effective (Ongoing Effort)
Notes	Efforts are ongoing but extremely successful so far. Drastic reduction in ability to read and write cursive achieved over a 10-year period, aided by expansion of personal computing and PDA technology.
Connotations	n/a

Source	Consultant J. Zoltan, 12/1992
Proposal	Persuade a major soft drink corporation to market an "OK"-branded soft drink to Generation X, with slogan "Everything is going to be OK."
Status	Ineffective
Notes	Consultant succeeded in persuading Coca-Cola Co. to design and aggressively promote the product with a nationwide campaign, but results were poor and the product did not advance beyond test marketing.
Connotations	Security, Sweet, Leisure Time

The soda project was a tough lesson for all of us. Going all-in on the perfect plan can be seductive, but launching large numbers of cheap experiments has proven much more reliable.
— O.Kay

Source	Junior Researcher Olympia Kay, 02/1994
Proposal	Mount an opposition campaign against noted linguist ████ ███████ who has promoted the phrase "█████ ████" as a preferable alternative to "OK".
Status	Completed
Notes	Public operations unsuccessful. Subject refused position as consultant. Following amnesticization and neuro-linguistic programming, Subject retracted previous statements and began promoting Effective Graphemes.
Connotations	n/a

+ Addendum 5: [May 13, 1994] Incident XXXX-17:

Dr. Jia has been diagnosed with rapid-onset Alzheimer's disease after attending a symposium. Investigation into a possible Manifestation Event was inconclusive. By order of Antimemetics Division Director █████ ████, Dr. Olympia Kay has been appointed as acting project lead until further notice.

Personnel traveling abroad are instructed to write "Everything will be OK" in a journal once every eight hours.

(thanks for feedback: marinemashup, jaykillbam, tstaffor + others)

Footnotes

1. See Addendum 2 for a partial listing of Effective Graphemes in various languages used to contain SCP-XXXX.

2. Victims will no longer seek food, water, comfort, warmth or breathable air.
The Ethics Committee has designated this condition equivalent to a permanent vegetative state, although noting objections from staff involved with Rehabilitative Procedure XXXX-Olympia.

3. Candidates include anxiety-inducing information sources such as network news.

4. Possible connections with SCP-4656 and SCP-5024 are a topic of ongoing research.