In the sci-fi classic "The Gods Themselves", author Isaac Asimov creates a parallel universe in which the sentient life form is actually comprised of three sexes. There is the rational sex, the emotional sex, and the parental sex. If you've had kids, this will make perfect sense to you. :)
What was always intriguing to me about the tri-sex premise was that when all three sexes hooked up together, their soft bodies allowed them to actually merge into one harder body.
Once they had matured enough, they would remain as a "hard one" and complete their life cycle in that form. [source]
This merging of the three "soft ones" into one "hard one" always intrigued me, especially with the appearance of celebrity deaths that always seem to come in threes. It's something of a cultural expectation nowadays that when news comes of the passing of some celebrity, two other famous person obituaries are sure to follow.
Is everybody really just a third of a triad and when we die, the other two follow? It's something to think about, so let's take a look at some of the possible "triads" amongst those passing away during the year of 2007. [source]
January
E. Howard Hunt, 88, agent who organized Watergate break-in.
Yvonne De Carlo, 84, played Lily on "The Munsters."
Alice Coltrane, 69, jazz pianist, spiritual leader and wife of John Coltrane.
February
Molly Ivins, 62, Texas political columnist.
Anna Nicole Smith, 39, famous for being famous.
Joseph E. Gallo, 87, winemaker who turned to cheese.
March
Arthur Schlesinger, 89, historian of power.
Bowie Kuhn, 80, former baseball commissioner.
Calvert DeForest, 85, Larry (Bud) Melman on "Letterman."
April
Kurt Vonnegut, 84, novelist who caught the imagination of his age.
Don Ho, 76, entertainer who defined the Hawaiian image.
Boris N. Yeltsin, 76, first freely elected leader of Russia.
May
Walter M. Schirra Jr., 84, early astronaut.
Jerry Falwell, 73, leading religious conservative.
Charles Nelson Reilly, 76, Tony-winning comic actor.
June
Jim Clark, 84, segregationist sheriff in Selma.
Kurt Waldheim, 88, former U.N. chief.
Liz Claiborne, 78, designer who founded a fashion empire.
July
Beverly Sills, 78, all-American diva.
Lady Bird Johnson, 94, eased a path to power.
Tammy Faye Bakker, 65, emotive evangelist.
August
Richmond Flowers, 88, Alabama attorney general who challenged George Wallace.
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, 80, a converted Jew who led French Catholics.
Michael Deaver, 69, shaped Reagan’s image.
September
Jane Wyman, 90, star of film and TV.
Luciano Pavarotti, 71, tenor of his generation.
Marcel Marceau, 84, renowned mime.
October
Arthur Kornberg, 89, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist.
Porter Wagoner, 80, country singer.
Vincent DeDomenico, 92, an inventor of Rice-A-Roni.
November
Igor Moiseyev, 101, Russian choreographer.
Paul W. Tibbets Jr., 92, pilot of Enola Gay.
Evel Knievel, 69, legendary daredevil.
December
Ike Turner, 76, R&B singer and former husband of Tina Turner.
Dan Fogelberg, 56, soft-rock star in the 70s.
Benazir Bhutto, 54, former prime minister of Pakistan.