Grrl Power #191 – Super powered frame of reference
As a fellow ADD sufferer, I’ve always been terrible about remembering people’s names. They tell me what it is, and in that same instance I’m thinking about that scene in Dune where the guy says “Mua’dib” while he still has his weirding module on and he winds up blowing up the doorway or something and there’s that close up of Paul while he thinks “My name…. can kill…” and then I’m thinking that more movies should use internal dialog presented in whisper form or at least have a second audio channel as an option on the DVD that has what everyone is thinking or maybe word bubbles on a video overlay like Pop Up Video and more things should have a pop up video option with all sorts of factoids because those are really interesting and what was that guy’s name? Probably Paul. I remember thinking Paul recently.
The simple way to avoid that is to just train yourself to repeat their names right after you hear it, either internally or make yourself say “Hello Mike.” instead of just “Hi.” Of course you have to remember to do that instead of thinking about Batman.
My point is that probably the most unrealistic thing about my comic where superheroes exist, are militarized, recruit some maniac nearly sight unseen and put her on national TV with a few hours of meeting her is that Sydney has remembered everyone’s name so far. Well NO MORE!
BTW in case you missed it, go back a page if you’re looking for a scanable version of Leon’s QR code.
Links ahoy!
Flaky Pastry recently just posted their 500th strip. This is a comic I highly recommend if you like Grrl Power. It pushes a lot of the same buttons; Female leads, humor, zaniness, etc. It’s not super heroes but rather “basically D&D” meaning it’s somewhere between Tolkien-esque fantasy and WoW.
The TGT interview is up. We chat about the comic in general, characters, writing, Patreon, etc. About 47 minutes in I show one of the finished pages and go through the art process a little. Hopefully I didn’t forget I’m on video and start picking my nose or anything. Man I talk fast. Apparently I say “but, um” and “you know” a LOT. Geeze, I need to work on that.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
OMG, DaveB you have ADD, I Have ADHD, frame of reference! :D
I have ADD. Yeay disorder party!
Not a disorder, it’s a condition
Trouble is ‘ADC’ sounds like it might be a dyslexic trying to write out the alphabet.
Or ACDC mangled up and missing a letter. I thought of a band.
Be proud
Check out the ASIN for that product :D
Hahaha :) how did you notice that?
Cherry on top: Asin boobs :)
If disorder is one of the words in the 3 initials making up ADD. then I do believe the technical term is Attention Deficit Disorder. Dalai Lama just doesn’t fit the same.
ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ODD – Oppositional Defiant Disorder
OCD – Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Basic point. getting upset over it being called a disorder and saying it’s something else to make it better doesn’t change the name.
True enough. But although it can lead to politically correct madness, there is a sensible principle at stake. The words we use to describe things really do shape how we think of them. That is why the Spastic society, in the UK, changed its name. The word has enough negative connotations that it shapes the way we think about people with the condition. Likewise referring to people as cripples, as another example.
We are entering an era when science will be able to eradicate anything from the gene pool that it does not like the sound of. It is therefore wise to ensure that those things which have good aspects to them do not get labelled as being bad. Bear in mind that it is typically politicians who make the call on such matters. And they have a tendency to react in a knee-jerk fashion and ignore good science or lobbying by smaller interest groups.
So making sure that the genetic trait, which you believe has positive traits to add to society, is re-named as a ‘condition’ rather than as a ‘disorder’ could someday make the difference when a politician is deciding whether to enact a program of eradication.
The use of euphemisms is both an ilusion and a patch, it just mask the real problem and eventually happens that the new word becomes “contaminated” as well, and it is needed to find an euphemism for the euphemism.
It has its usefulness of course, but I have the feeling that we need to do more efforts to erradicate the negative connotations from our heads instead just move words around.
I am not suggesting a euphemism, but a carefully chosen word. Euphemisms beat about the bush in the attempt to disguise what they are being used for. Saying one thing openly, when they mean another. One generation’s euphemism is the next generation’s offensive slur. Whereas I am advocating accurate words that clearly, but correctly, describe the subject.
Choose it badly, and it will need to be refined. Hence the stupidity of going from: “Cripple” to “Disabled Person” to “Person with Disabilities”. The folks who chose the middle option did not think of the ramifications of their silly term. But the last phrase has a harder time of it though, because people (quite rightly) get fed up with politically-correct folks changing the terms every time you turn around.
Bear in mind that “cripple” is a perfectly clear term, which is still used in the context of having a limb “crippled”. Thereby being unusable or, in other words, useless. But it is the step of applying that word as a label to describe a person, when it becomes offensive. Because it is implying that it is the person who is is useless. With the further implication that loosing the use of a limb renders them of no use to society.
Members of the medical community who invent terms such as ADD & ADHD, should be well enough educated to appreciate the linguistic mistakes already made in their own profession. They have failed to do so. Their thinking is flawed and will not change unless it is pointed out to them. Despite being the ‘experts’ at the subject they are telling the rest of society that this condition is nothing but harmful by the ill-chosen words they selected.
The first step to changing the way we think is to use the correct words when talking about a subject. It is how we get the thoughts from one person to another, after all. No matter how clearly you understand a subject, if you use the wrong word (say euphemism) when talking about it, then your audience will not understand your thinking correctly.
Disorder and condition are an interesting case.
“A medical condition is a broad term that includes all diseases and disorders. While the term medical condition generally includes mental illnesses, in some contexts the term is used specifically to denote any illness, injury, or disease except for mental illnesses.”
“A medical disorder is a functional abnormality or disturbance. It is often considered more value-neutral and less stigmatizing than the terms disease or illness. The term mental disorder is used as a way of acknowledging the complex interaction of biological, social, and psychological factors in psychiatric conditions. “
Funny as “disorder” is seeing as a “better” word itself. As it showed “disorder” is far more precise and put the enphasis in points that are missing in the more difuse term “condition”.
It is true that sometimes the change is due to a better understand of the situation, but mostly it is a matter of political correctness. We are not inclined to use a “worst” word even if realised it is more accurate.
While you are right regarding lenguage morphing thoughts, and I concur with the positive side, there are many dangers as well. In general (not just this case) calling something with the not most accurate term lead to lose the perspective and miss the solution. You can even be tricked to thing there is not a aproblem at all. You can lose the warnings lights.
I am still prefering to bet for maturate.
More than happy to have a better suggestion made than my own. But, as always, I will fight my case until convinced I am in error.
I change the emphasis to point out that it is only a preferred option to very much more negative terms. Whilst that definition indicates it is ‘more value-neutral,’ the ideal I am aspiring to is ‘totally value-neutral’. Obviously that is unlikely to be achieved, but I feel that ‘condition’ gets very much closer to the goal.
Also note from the quoted definition the terms “abnormality” and “disturbance”. If, as fellow commentators feel, ADD & ADHD are actually evolutionary advantages, in the right circumstances, then they certainly are not ‘abnormal’. The only ‘disturbance’ being to people who do not realise how to make use of the advantages it provides.
Whereas if you look at your definition of ‘condition’ the negative terms are put in the right context. Being that it ‘includes all diseases and disorders’ but is not limited to just them. Finally I bring up one more supporting argument. You will note that that definition places equal emphasis on ‘disease’ and ‘disorder.’ Tarring them with the same brush.
Which very much sums up my point that ‘disorder’ is considered a negative thing, despite the other definition attempting to say otherwise. How terms are actually used is what matters. And dictionary definitions will change, over time, to reflect that, not the other way around.
Ok, at this point I agree with disagree :)
I’m holding out hope that eventually people in general will get over the delusion that their sensitivities / feelings are important… and then society can stop wasting time and resources trying its utmost not to cause offense (to anyone important) and just focus on trying to communicate ideas.
And maybe once that threshold has been passed, we can go back to casually using words that right now are considered the height of offense… and rather than believing the words to be inherently horrible, or automatically assuming that someone is trying to be offensive, we can simply realise that most people automatically objectify each other, and have oversimplified views of each other because the human brain can’t maintain much more complicated than that… and are simply using the first reference-word that could appropriately the intended subject from available alternatives.
Ouch. That was a needlessly long run-on sentence. Excuse me.
What I’m saying is that people have to stop being “offended” by mere words, as it is crippling communication-efficiency.
*Distinguish
“that could appropriately distinguish the intended subject”.
Why isn’t there an edit option?
It also makes people less reticent, if they are able to say “I have a medical condition”, rather than “I have a medical disorder”. The former is less likely to cause your job application to be rejected than the later.
* latter
Actually, changing things from disorders also brings the fear that there won’t be treatment for relevant issues associated with something. For example, some trans people were and are afraid that the relatively recent change from a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder to a probably more accurate and less stigmatizing diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria may lead to it not being covered as medically necessary. As someone that probably has ADHD, judging by my subjective experience of being hyper and easily distractible and more as well as outside people like my brother saying I have to have it, I recognize that for some people there are a lot of problems associated with it. Not everyone learns skills to deal with it and the world as well as others like me and for them it’s beneficial to have the medical help there to calm things down enough for them to learn to deal. Although people then abuse it and choose to be “normal” instead of being themselves, but oh wells. Perhaps a better way to change it would be to just call it Attention Deficits and Hyperactivity, essentially just dropping disorder as condition makes it seem negative as well. Incidentally, my primary method of dealing seems to be to do several things at once, which apparently keeps me within a few set things so that they get done, even if I still get easily distracted by other things. I think it feeds nicely into my paranoia too, since I notice everything. … I really need to harness this particular hyperactive spell into writing a story instead of wasting it reading/watching/playing/thinking/eating/etc. …
Your points are all valid and need considering. One useful tip, and hoping that you do not mind, is that if turning to writing, to break up text with the odd paragraph now and then. It makes it a lot easier for readers to follow without loosing their place.
I usually do, but have more trouble in certain episodes where I’d be more appropriately typing in gnomespeak to convey my thoughts. Actually, in gnomespeak that’s written in like six or so layers.
Note to self.
Check out the possibility of Terry Pratchett having gnome ancestry. With his beard, it looks possible. Try photo-shopping a fishing pole into his hands and a floppy red hat on his head.
One useful tip: “loosing” basically means you’re unleashing something.
Not technically the same as “losing”… which is when one no longer has something.
Automatically tried to click checkboxes on all of these…
There aren’t checkboxes.
AD&D?
A related “Disorder” I think…
Frankly, I think “ADD” is just an excuse to try to quantify personality quirks, and doesn’t really…Oooh! Shiny!
Yeah people just need to focus more. I blame the introduction of music videos and the internet for … do i smell cookies? … where was I?
“SQUIRREL!”
– – –
“Hi! My Name Is Rex!”
You have the wrong idea methinks.
AD&D is obviously an advanced form of therapy for minds of all magnitudes. I mean, you get to escape reality as well as do some of the most awesome (and random) stuff at the same time?
Definitely therapy.
G.U.R.P.S. is a way better therapy than AD&D.
Isn’t that kind of like saying board games are better than chess?
They are both therapeutic, but then again they are also good learning tools. But GURPs being more so again. Both teach deductive reasoning, abstract thought, social skills (seeing the world from other points of view*), improve mathematics (simple arithmetic and probability in particular) and, in the case of GURPs, offer a huge range of source books which include a lot with useful real-world information.
The fact that the latter is packaged for a game limits it’s practical use but, on the other paw, it does make it a lot more accessible and understandable. Both of which are good for entry-level knowledge.
* Sadly social interaction being limited to geeks, and often involving less contact with members of the opposite gender, may not be that useful.
I take it you have not been to a game con lately Yorpsie.
*sniff* no.
Why, do they get the top education politician in the country to do a speech on the virtues of GURPs then? With a chorus line of head-masters, singing “Hooray for role-playing games!” *tappty tappty tappity tap*
anyone else do the meow-mix theme saying yorp when they read that?
Not that i know of.
But the last Gen-Con i went to the male-female ratio appeared to be 60/40.
It does not surprise me, the ratio had been gradually improving even when I was last a regular. A typical table would be 2:4 not including the GM. Thinking on it though, female GMs seemed rarer than that.
the ratio also depends on the system and genre
Maybe if you invited more girls to your games you’d see them more *grin* I’m a DM myself, one of my female best friends likes to play, and at least another five of my female online friends play – with several more willing to give it a try but with no idea where to find a game to join.
Sounds like an unmissable experience. Sign me up, if you get a game going and have a place for mans’ best friend.
Although, with my patchy internet connection at the moment, I would probably end up missing more than experiencing. *sigh*
XD I’ll keep you in mind next time I do an online campaign. Might be awhile though, I do a lot of set up with maps and such because my usual players just LOVE to go off on weird tangents.
Cool. Time is in my favour. I have a radio connection to the internet. This is the only time of year when we tend to get any sustained bad weather. Which interferes with my reception. Plus it should not be too long until I can pick up my laptop, and it is a lot easier to find a decent signal from the router with that I don’t fancy moving the PC because it is right next to the fire and I am lovely and cosily curled up by it.
On the contrary, if only females are playing, it’s an unmisterable experience.
why is everyone else using ampersands in ADD?
A play on words. Or, in this case, anagrams.
ADD = Attention Deficit Disorder
AD&D = Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons being the oldest and most successful of the table-top role playing games*. Which went on to inspire hugely successful computer ‘role playing’ games (the lack of acting and social interaction, plus limits on being able to interpret the role you play earns it those quotes) and a whole host of games, in various media and in different genres.
DM = Dungeon Master (the person who runs a D&D or AD&D gaming session, allowing other players to play fantasy characters in an adventure of his or her design or one numerous published versions)
GM = Games Maser (as above but applying to any role playing game generically, the two terms are often used synonymously)
* There was an early pre-cursor by the same company and many early contemporaries, so the history is complex, but as a generalisation this is a fair statement. AD&D or D&D is often used synonymously with ‘role playing games’ to refer to the whole industry. Much as ‘JCB’ might be used for a mechanical digger or ‘Hoover’ for a vacuum cleaner.
I got taken on walkies after posting that. And it was absolute agony, with.more than half an hours worth of “DOH!” and “acronym not anagram!”
Buffy * must have thought that I had gone mad muttering things like that.
* The 14 year old who adopted me three years ago and insists on taking me on walkies every day. And her name really is that, plus is named after the TV character, and no it was nothing to do with me that she was.
Also don’t feel it’s a ‘deficit’ either, but that’s just… pickles!
So, as a vagina haver and a pants wearer I gotta say, canvas pants that follow the contures of the crotch like a leotard would be incredibly uncomfortable. I get that Maxima has thick skin, but damn… I can’t look at that and not wince.
They’re.. Standard military uniform pants, comfort isn’t a priority.
With Max’s abilities i supect most of her gear is not of standered make.
Maxima can extend her tough skin forcefield to include her clothing. So she would be equally protected if fighting in a silk negligee.
*pushes DR. REVENGE forwards with paw*
Go on, you suggest it to her.
I would never be so tacky as to suggest fighting crime in a silk negliee. Now in a leather cat suit, yes I do heartily suggest that.
Woof!
Or… if you are really persuasive you could suggest a more “air friction reduction” suit like the Olympic athletes wear. You can almost tell the guy’s religion in those.
Or there is always the Misstress Max outfit that I do bring forward.
The “Gimp Gag-Ball”-accessory might be a bit much, though – even if chomping on it might help relieve stress…
…& the patent-leather thong is just sending all of the -=*wrong*=- kinds of signals, here…
Would a gimp mask be another way for Sidney to hold another orb? Probably very uncomfortable but 3 powers! And possible spitting PPO bolt/laser/things!
Empowered would give Sydney a hard time for swiping her schtick with the ball gag though.
As Mistress Max she would not wear the gimp mask.
That would be for those she beats.
for what it’s worth, the material they currently make the various services’ utility uniforms is either Rip Stop ™, which is a bit uncomfortable initially but softens quickly, or a cotton/nylon blend which is surprisingly soft and supple. The exception is uniforms which are required to be fire-retardent, for which they use Nomex ™, which can be a bit scratchy if placed directly against… err… more sensitive body parts.
I suspect like most people she wears something underneath the uniform. While I have worn jeans commando I don’t recommend it if they are new or you are going to do anything athletic.
to be honest and somewhat blunt, the pants depicted appear to be rather baggy around her legs and pretty much everywhere but her vag which makes me wonder if there isn’t a stickyness issue at play here. They just look odd. Tho i suppose they could just be horribly designed as well.
‘Stickyness issue’? You saying she got rubbed a little too much for too long? o_O
Sweat is more likely It tends to collect in such annoying areas as the crotch, armpits, and chest region.
Yes, this is definitely what I was thinking…
I think she may have invested in a liner for her more snug strides.
Hehe Maxima’s skin is invulnerable to a high degree. Now the question is, does that invulnerability also affect tactile sensation or not? Does she still feel pain when struck hard enough? Dave? Gotta get the answers from you!
My guess is that she may still be sensitive to pressure, but the lack of physical damage means that she won’t feel pain. The alternative is to exist in a personal “cocoon” of no physical sensation, which would lead to hallucinations from sensory deprivation.
What is up with the comments about Maxi’s vaggie-friction-inducing pants? Where did that come from?
Probably same as me, an acute interest in what’s in those pants. It is relevant to my interests.
What is in her pants is a golden death to any unauthorised access
Damn Skippy! This kind of lady you romance! :D
I like strong women. I’m no tiny weak man, so I like a lady that can keep up or even surpass me. I love all the women of this cast, including Sydney who is strong in her own way. They all deserve some romancin’!
Suddenly, Golden Shower gets absolutely new meaning X_X
*Empties a bucket of icy cold water on the contributors to that thread*
Cold shower, the only cure! And, no, that was not blue ice.
Well obviously, from someone who has worn them and knows about the friction
The court duly recognises the qualifications of this expert witness and deems her evidence to be admissible.
seconded and approved.
I guess from the look of Max’s pants in panel 5. I do not get it, by the way.
It did not strike me that way either, to be honest. They seem baggy with creases indicating that they are not being pulled tight.
Except, possibly, in the key area mentioned. So we may have to defer to those who have the suitable frame of reference to make the judgement.
By the way, she did not seem to be at all uncomfortable with a one megaton explosion rolling over her, so I suspect that she does not suffer too badly from chafing.
Maybe she actually gets pleasure from the chafing
The megaton explosion didn’t effect her clothes, so it is likely her clothes are under the invulnerable shield. Who of us knows what that means about her skin.
But more to the point, it’s not about chaffing the delicate bits, it’s about pinching the joint and hampering movement. If you didn’t have your sinsitive bits all on the outside, or if you wore a pair of canvas pants that were too tight in the leg but had a sufficient cod piece, you’d know from experiance. Now, in Maxima’s case such tightness would result in ripped pants. And since she would likely kill most people here for sexist comments, she’s not the type to wear pants like that. Harem, sure, but not Maxima.
As for comfort, I’d point out the military makes its uniforms these days with moving in mind. And while current cloths may be more stretchy, I’ll point out you never see a picture of any soldier with pants bunching like that.
Anyhow, I just found the drawing of pants like that as an unpleasant distraction. Which was all I was trying to say.
As regards your latter three paragraphs, you argue them all persuasively and well. Whilst I am not averse to flesh being shown, or sexual issues being covered, I do agree that Maxima would not be one to go down that route deliberately.
Given that the theme of the above comic is frames of reference though, it is worth mentioning the differing perspectives here. Knowing that DaveB is passionate about realistic portrayal of females in art, I am sure that he was not being intentionally exploitative here.
Taking your views as being representative of the female readership (lacking any indications to the contrary), we turn to the opposite gender, and note that 3 out of 4 of the male readers were bemused that it was an issue. From my perspective, I can say that it just came across as clothing will be baggy in some parts, and constricted in others in different poses.
Given that Maxima is leaning against the wall, the fabric will reasonably not hang in quite the same manner as when free-standing or walking. So it did not feel odd to me. That said, I am by no means a keen watcher of fabrics, nor do I have any special insights. So purely mention this as a matter of interest, rather than to contest any point you raised.
And in particular we would not want female readers to feel discomfort or unnecessary distraction, so please do continue to provide your insight and feedback. It is both refreshing to ensure that the comments are not overbearingly male in tone, and insightful for those of us who have less insight into the female psyche.
As regards the force-field, on the other hand, it is actually quite a different type to Dabbler’s and Halo’s. It is not a ridged barrier that can only be raised in a single plane (or sphere/hemisphere). Rather she uses ‘zero range telekinesis‘. Which manifests in a wide variety of ways. Including strengthening her skin and atomic structure. And extending to objects she carries and, by implication, wears.
Hence the same reason that the ambulance did not rip apart under it’s own weight when held up by one corner, also lends her defences to her clothes. But likewise her own skin too.
Hmmmnnnn.. I hope you’ll forgive me for being amused at how seriously this is being taken. On a scale of problematic from 1 being a one off slip up and 10 being a disgusting display of harassment, this is a two. It’s generally benign but an annoyance. Rest assured that it doesn’t come across as deliberately exploitive.
It’s actually a consistent drawing problem that I’ve been aware of the entire time reading but this one was particularly grievous. I mean there’s a white triangle pointing at her crotch, and the amount of cloth that has to be folded up in there is just really uncomfortable looking. that sort of folding really only shows up when you’re sitting down.
I can’t really fault DaveB for not having made extensive observations in this. I just hope maybe he’ll make a few. (Let’s just assume all the inappropriate jokes have been made. :p)
XD
Hardest things to draw:
A) Hands. Hands are evil, complicated things.
B) Anything socially awkward to stare at while trying to gain mental refs.
So your nightmare is drawing hands up to things in awkward places?
Ahh, that feels better. Get thee back to hell, politically correct voice!
For me the hardest thing to draw is
ANYTHING
includind stick figuers
Hands, heads, eyes, noses, mouths, backs, 3/4 back angles, low angle shots of the head. High angle shots of the head. Feet. Breasts.
Also anything that isn’t a person. Cars, guns, exteriors, interiors, shoes. Car interiors, motors… Look it’s all hard!
That all depends on where your passion lies. I always thought cars, airplanes, boats, bicycles, motorcycles etc. were lots easier to draw than people, guns not so much but still not as hard as people (ears, drawing realistic ears that were the right size for the heads…).
More than forgiven. I was suffering more than my share of sleep deprivation yesterday. As I was finally nodding off, I realised “the politically correct voice managed to slip out of that pit in hell I consigned it to, didn’t it?” Not to mention lack of sleep driving up the drivel ratio in my comments!
Now that you mention it, someone know if there is something canon about Anvil or Harem having the like to prevent them to rip things apart?
To the best of my knowledge Harem does not have anything like that. Anvil can absorb kinetic energy though. Different power, but same result in terms of chaffing not being a problem for her. The fact that she can re-direct the energy is interesting though. “Eat chafing and itching pants sensation”
Which does make me wonder. My default assumption is that when she re-directs energy it is as a single pulse of kinetic energy, in whatever discreet amount she chooses to release from her stored up battery. But that is not necessarily the case. On two points.
Firstly it may be that the energies do not get into a single battery but have to be used in a similar manner to how they were absorbed. Stop three bullet hits from a hail of machine gun fire, and she can later have up to three shots herself at other targets.
Secondly, the time it was absorbed over might restrict the speed that it can be put back into the environment. So if Anvil puts on a new pair of boots say, that have to be worn in and would cause callouses, she can absorb the irritation gradually over a couple of days until they are comfy. Later, when being trying to stop villains chasing some helpless victim, she can slow one of them down by giving him itching, bleeding feet!
Anvil could curse people with itchiness! And let guys feel just how uncomfortable wearing the wrong cup size can be. ;-)
Going by the cast page, her absorbtive ability is either used to boost her strenght, or it is realsed in a single devastating “touch” attack.
I say touch because none of her icons match any of the others who have ranged attacks.
Granted. Although if she released kinetic energy into a rock, or car, she was holding it would give her a nice projectile attack as it goes flying away from her.
Or it might just be destroyed
AKA getting lots of little projectiles :-D
or dust depending on the objects size
AKA lots and lots of little projectiles.
Bear in mind that unless you convert the matter completely into energy, you will always have kinetic momentum imparted to any impacted object. Regardless of whether it breaks up or not. And those bits will be dangerous to whatever they hit. Unless they are so small and have so little energy that air resistance slows them down and stops them before they do any damage.
If she did enough damage to a car to break it into dust, there would also be massive heat released, so you would probably have the effect of a pyroclastic flow
in the local area. I would not want to be in the path of that!
That is why each and every sci-fi movie where nukes are used to ‘blow up’ asteroids or comets is bollocks. Because the big massive piece of rock will still be coming, in one bit or many. Just about the only option is to divert it’s course. Which, sadly for Hollywood, needs to be done in good time, rather than saved until it is close enough to make good drama.
To throw things… I did not thought about that, I imagined her being able to release a shock wave or something alike.
But if she can “infuse” the kinetic energy into an object as a whole that would be really cool.
How much could someone charge to put a satellite at orbit sparing all the Cape Canaveral stuff?
PS: kidding, it can not work that way
Physics can’t. Super powers can. Even ones that bow to the laws of physics, if you find a way of working around them.
For example, let us assume that her power absorbs incoming energy by putting it in an extra-dimensional region that behaves like a kinetic battery. At the moment it appears that she is limited to just opening up a gateway to that dimension and releasing the energy all in one burst.
But, once Dabbler explains to her what she is actually doing, Anvil could learn to refine her power. Opening the gate slowly, for instance. Only letting out a steady flow of kinetic energy.
Then she can figure out how, instead of opening the gate where her hand is, to attach it to some other object. Such as the bottom of a satellite.
Hey presto, gradual kinetic energy being imparted to an object over a sustained period. Pretty much what a rocket does to get a payload into orbit. She just needs to make sure that she stores enough energy prior to launch to achieve orbit or escape velocity, as required. Leave it up to NASA to figure out how to steer the thing. They are good with attitude control.
I meant that for putting an object at orbit you needs to do corrections on the way.
Of course you can suppose Dabbler amazing brain and her super-super-super computers could predict all atmospheric fuids changes during the going thru lapse, etc, etc. and NASA’s side thrusters, etc, etc, but then Anvil will be having a big cut on her earnings :)
By the way, to be honest I find boring playing God.
I can enjoy Asimov’s way of “I make everything go just as I need to” but I certainly prefer Sir Clarke’s way of “I accept the Universe and sweat my way to goal”. Lots more fun.
I am more into science-fiction myself. But hang around too many science folks and your conversation gets dragged down the mundane paths of what is known to be achievable (speaking in broad terms only, by the way, to make my points in this comment). The folks in fantasy or super-hero environments tend to have less narrow focus. And be more in tune with their artistic side, but that is just a nice perk.
Quite ironic really, given the emphasis that Einstein himself placed on the importance of imagination to science. Yet continually erecting walls around yourself saying “this is the limit of what is possible” is actually stopping you finding out what the real limits are.
I remember one scientist being interviewed and asked about how he made his ground-breaking discovery, and he said he had worked it out during his undergraduate years. But, because it was radically at odds with accepted scientific dogma, he realised it would be career suicide to propose it.
If he fought the case and was wrong he would likely never progress in his career. No matter that the principle of science is that ‘there is no such thing as a wrong answer, even a negative result broadens the understanding of science’. If you champion a crackpot idea, nobody wants to know you.
He considered it again later, when he was a well-established scientist, with a good body of work in his career behind him. But once more, having seen how harshly any of his peers got treated if they went too far from the accepted norm, he realised that he had too much to loose. His grants would dry up, positions would be closed to him and he would be pushed out to the barren wastes of the crackpot scientist.
It was only when he finally earnt tenure that he was able to safely pursue the idea and fight to prove it against a sceptical orthodox camp. Even having to battle those who were, unethically, attempting to have his tenure stripped! Only to gradually receive acceptance as he managed to prove his case. If my memory is correct, earning a noble prize for it.
Humanity lost out on that discovery for several decades because of insular attitudes by those who should be exploring the unknown without hindrance. Yes, it needs to be tempered with ‘how can this be applied in reality?’ But the fist step – just go as far as you can!
Well, I will not to extend it much long. Just let me state that I did not say nothing against imagination or accept the “laws” of a fantasy word. I have as much suspension of disbelief as anybody else.
I just intended to say that if an author creates a world and, like here, defines what happens in that word, I prefer first try and figure out things along with that, instead playing God in foreing realm, adding and patching the artist creation.
Do not get me wrong, I am totally about fanfic and speculation and the such, I enjoy it as well. Just that is not what I was talking about there.
Hey YORP she does have graduale release but only to increase her strength at this time.
I was thinking more about she trying to lift up a car same way Max did with the ambulance.
It seems to me that her kinetic management power is not useful for that.
Indeed. There is a huge difference between being able to move something and being able to control that action well enough to serve as a useful weapon or to perform less destructive maneuvers with it. And keeping it intact is an important part of control.
Whilst DR. REVENGE was perfectly right about the significance of Anvil not having any ranged attack symbol, he failed to support his argument in a conclusive manner. Though there are circumstances where it is useful to fire an inaccurate projectile, which may break up, these are typically restricted to pretty short ranges. Much like a sawn-off shotgun.
Which would not really justify classing such capability as being on par with a typical blaster (able to project fire, lightning or the like, with precision at significant range).
* And I was not about to make things easy for him. Did you know that he sends innocent doggies off to megalomaniac’s laboratories for experimentation!
* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! *
I DID NOT. I just showed them the bag of toxic dog poop that i “found” i Deus’s office.
Regarding the others with super strength I guess Stalwart must have it (“I could have done that”), Super Hiro do not (harness) and Mr Amorphous do not but he could stretch his hands enough.
Like this: Mr Amorphous throwing
The pencils probably looked more convincing, but they got a little screwed up when I was coloring it since this was the first time I had show her pants with the digital pattern on them. Well, it’s technically not, you can see her from the back two pages ago, but I had colored her pants black in that one then decided I wanted to do the digital pattern so I went back and redid them. Messing with a multiply layer for the shadow and an overlay later for the camo I was probably a little distracted from getting the shadows just right.
I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to scare up some pictures of ladies crotches in cargo pants for reference. The sacrifices I make for you guys. :)
He he. Tough job, but somebody has to do it.
If you need to… ebay: women cargo
I must second DaveB‘s recommendation of Flaky Pastry by the way. I had stumbled on to webcomics and had been fairly unimpressed with the selections I had been sampling. Up until I read Page 1 of that comic. And fell in love with it at first sight*. I have been a devoted, if silent, fan ever since.
* Probably one of the funniest punch lines ever written. But do read the linked page before you click, as it is a spoiler:
I’m sorry delicious biped, I think I might’ve stopped listening at “low on cash“.
I blitzed through it in a few hours, now I’m bumbed again because of slow updates :(
i would recommend wapsi square, broodhollow, no pink ponies/marry me, nerf this and dead winter as similarish somehow to this comic? and drowtales, ava’s demon, outsider and our intrepid crew as very pretty. also lots of archives. dont mention homestuck theres no time. im out, pchooooo
Oh, my ‘fairly unimpressed’ comment was purely a reflection of the comics I had found up until that point. Since then I have found others that are better. Although many drop by the wayside over time. But Flaky Pastry is consistently good year in, year out. Crumbly, but chewy.
Plus it never fails to update. Granted, only doing so on Fridays, but a once-weekly schedule has never bothered me. And it provided a nice balance to some other comic that only updated on Mondays.
Thanks for reminding me about the Pastry Flakes, fortunately only had about 20 or so to catch up on :D
Do you hear about UnEarh?
A nice change of air in my opinion.
Sigh… “Did you…”
No i did not. And you cannot prove otherwise.
I see what you did…
Yes. I keep a selection of sites bookmarked for reading at some future time, and work through them as and when I have some time to kill. Oddly enough, UnEarth happens to be at the top of that list right now. Although I have only just started reading it, and had to put it to one side because my internet connection is really poor at the moment. Bad enough that even populating a one page webcomic takes ages. Not the time for an archive trawl.
It’s not a terribly long archive. I just went through it and promptly stuck it in my ‘Monday’ bookmark folder.
Right, just 68 pages, plus it has just a handful comments per page.
Actually I have it scheduled to month start because it is another “slow” comic. Took it around a year to like half an hour comic time :) Well, to be fair that was narrated twice from the POV of two different characters, so say one whole hour per year :)
I have not complaints though, it worth, love the art and the feeling like Jules Verne meets Jane Austen :)
That’s what I do.
I currently have 15 webcomic bookmark folders. 3 for Monday, alone. If a comic routinely updates on a certain day, it’s in that folder. I just recently updated this strip to being in both the first of the Monday folders, and the Thursday folder.
I also have a folder for the ones that update on no set schedule, (I’m talking to you, Piro,) and another for those that, either my own lack of continued interest, the comic quit updating, or has wrapped up, I am no longer following.
I leave myself notes in the properties of the bookmarks in the irregular folder on those days they update, and occasionally check them against a calender to see if a comic needs to be pulled out of there and moved to one of the daily folders.
I just have one problem with my set-up. Google Chrome has a handy feature that it synchronises your bookmarks when you log on from a different computer. Which is fine if you have, say BBC news home as one. Not so good if you bookmark the last page you read on a website (or going back one step so that you are not at the default today’s comic).
Because, when I get my laptop back, I will suddenly find my webcomics folders doubled in size. Where Chrome looks at it and says, “Ahh, you have two different versions of Girl Power in here, I will make sure you have both”. And it takes me ages to work my way through removing the out of date ones.
I would love a button which says “when synchronising two versions of bookmarks with this domain only keep the most recently amended version” (ie tracking when the bookmark was created and/or edited). Sadly I have not spotted such an option.
I knew there was a reason I stick with firefox.
RSS y’all! I use Inoreader. It’s the most Google Reader reader I’ve found since google dashed us against the rocks.
Alternatively I use ComicRocket for going through archives as I can’t blow an entire Saturday morning on an archive run like I used to.
+1 to Comic Rocket: I had a peek in the ‘superpowers’ genre, and Grrl Power was right at the top of the list!
Not quite sure what the various icons running across the bottom are though. Grrl Power only having a kitten.
Grrr Wooof!
But I did notice DaveB‘s normal avatar on several of the comics. I am guessing they mean ‘recommended by’ or ‘recently read by’.
Yes, and even commented a few times :D
I follow it since a while due DaveB suggestion at the sidebar (“If you like Grrl Power Then you might like…”), like it a lot, and it shows a great evolution in the art.
PS: I found almost all the comics in that list in line with my taste.
In the little mini comic at the bottom Max LIES she has to been hit by lighting! We all get hit with that crap everyday! Its horrible!
I am a bad person and should feel horrible for trying to make that funny. But I don’t cause I think its hilarious.
Good catch on the typo :D
I forgot to bring this up last time, but unless you are being excessively formal a Lt. Colonel would just be addressed as “Colonel”. Like in M*A*S*H, LTC Blake and COL Potter were both just called Colonel most of the time. One of the few military things they got correct.
2nd Lieutenants are just Lieutenant, or “L T”. Sergeants, Staff Sergeants, First Sergeants mostly called Sarge or Sergeant. Except for Platoon Sergeants, they get to be “Top”.
Sydney doesn’t know that yet. It’s probably one of the first things she’ll learn at training. So until that, she can’t be expected to be properly formal (also this isn’t a formal occasion)
Sure Sydney doesn’t know it. But it’s come up a couple times before with people who should have known it, like Ariana, or the other officers when they were having the confab in the General’s office.
You also wouldn’t say “My name is Lieutenant etc…” Your name isn’t Lieutenant.
It’s either “I am Lieutenant etc” or “My name is Joe Schmedlap, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army”.
Just a few nits to pick. A rookie like Sydney wouldn’t get it right, but when other people in the comic get it wrong it’s a little jarring to those of us who spent 20 years+ in the military.
Here’s the official Army Etiquette Manual in case anybody cares
https://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/mfp/battlebook/pdf/Chapter%2010.pdf
I do wish that we had a voting system to push useful posts into greater prominence. But here is the best substitute I can offer for now:
+1
In my headcanon, Maxima is using her ridiculous super-speed between frames 6 and 7.
Possibly, or she walked normally over so as not to spook poor Sydney “Fist to the nose” Scoville
In my own (untalented) artistic opinion, pants are hard to draw.
So are shirts.
So are faces.
So are… (I could go on)
Perhaps this was merely an unintended drawing thing that people seized on?
Previous example: Because it’s THERE. -Sydney … That one got changed.
But if it is intentional… RESUME THEORY CRAFTING!
As of now I have set a comic as the new home page for my browser! An extra to the four, more typical webpages, that I routinely open, anyhow. But it is set as the first, due to its utility. And, no, it is not Grrl Power. But it will provide a useful function for it regardless.
https://xkcd.com/now
Yeah, you can’t {spoiler} a link, at least not on this site :D
You think TV tropes is bad at sucking up all your time. XKCD is ten times worse than that.
Naa. Not if you read them as they are posted. The odd one that is too mathematical or ceribral in some other way, I look up on XKCD for Dummmies. Just don’t be tempted to delve further once in there. Or to hit the ‘random’ button.
Of course XKCD What if always has tempting little links. But that just needs strong willpower to not go any further than the one page linked. No, bad – don’t click on that next hyperlink! Stop it! NOOOOOO!
Beyond cool.
And actually somewhat useful if I need to talk to someone out of the country.
Somehow I’ve managed to assimilate that info into my internal frame of reference to the point that when I know where a person I’m talking to is from, I tend to be within an hour of their actual time without having to look it up or think about it…
*sighs* I’m starting to comment too often on these comics. I may have to actually start reading the comments before the next one is posted, but then it’ll take up even more time…
Interesting how far away the New Zealand time zone is placed on that clock though, from the rest of Australia. ;-)
Not really, the east coast of West Island of New Zealand really is around 3 hours behind the rest of NZ
You really are very good at resisting rising to the bait of my implication that New Zealand is part of the Great Barrier Reef. And I did not realise that NZ had such a big time difference within it! Other than that bit around Middle-Earth, obviously.
Here, let me share my Scooby snax with you.
*extends a completely un-nibbled, pristine, Scooby snack*
*takes the Scooby snack, and feeds it to the family guard-hobbit :D
Just remember, unless you are living on a boat in the middle of the ocean, NZ is the first in the world :P
If you mean due the International Date Line it is not anymore since a while.
New Zeland is normally at UTC+12 and in Daylight Saving Time switch to +13.
In 1995 the Republic of Kiriabati, a group of islands on central Pacific that extended across IDL, partially changed its time zones to have all the country at the same date, since then it use normally UTC+12, +13 and +14, they do not use DST. So the eastern part is always one hour before NZ.
In 2011 the Independent state of Samoa changed from UTC-11 to UTC+13, also it switches to +14 during DST at the same time that NZ does, and therefore it is always one hour earlier.
See UTC+14.
Offtopic (because Disquis won’t let me comment on Spinnerette and there are at 2 other SpinnFans here)
Just saw a photo of Prof Templeton at WonderCon 2013 (he is the one with the hat and beak, isn’t he?)
What, no comments on the Darkwing Duck nod?
That show was awesome!
Check the first page, commented on it straight away
Dude, you watched that awful Dune movie by David Lynch, and you’re not complaining!?
It was so terrible! It butchered the book beyond belief!
That scene you’re talking about was supposed to be Paul hearing them shout his name when going into battle, and it was about his realization that they were killing in his name.
gahhhh movie so terrible grahhghhghgghhgggghh
I maintain and continue to express the opinion that Sydney is becoming too caricatured.
Her appearance lacks realism relative to the other characters.
Plus… low-hanging glasses.
Especially low-hanging glasses.
I feel the exact same way. I’m glad I’m not the only one. It makes her stand out and look goofy, but not in a good way. I think the single biggest problem is her bangs. I noticed that I didn’t mind her appearance at the beginning of the comic, and I realized it’s because her bangs fell down the sides of her face and not the front. So they didn’t look like dumb little anime flaps, and they didn’t obscure her face.
Ok, Sydney is still busy coughing, but I totally see her going “Don’t diss The Darkwing!” to Leons comment.
It’s amazing how many frames of reference people regularly use that most people have never actually experienced, like comparing the taste of something to glue or roadkill or dead caterpillars, or the feel of something to intestines. And yet people usually get it. Either we’re good at predicting how those things will feel, or we all tend to imagine them in the same way. Either way, it’s pretty cool.
“Just go with your gut.”
later…
“I didn’t mean literally puke your answer on the reporter!”
I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD nor ADHD, but I can never remember people’s names. Even when I do repeat them immediately! Although I could easily be simply undiagnosed ADD… My biggest “Frame of Reference” issue is trying to describe my main memory deficit to anyone. It’s like everyone in the world automatically has this little alarm function in their brain, and it is missing from mine. (“Absentmindedness” is the closest I have been able to come to labelling it. And I actually am absentminded, which doesn’t help!) I can describe my Central Apnea more easily – my autonomic nervous system forgets to breathe, easy-peasy.
“I am the terror that flaps in the night, I am the scourge that pecks at your nightmares!”