Grrl Power #306 – Hiring and conspiring
Good luck never doing anything dangerous now that you’re a superhero, Sydney.
Harem has lived with questions about how her powers work all her life, but never at such volume. I imagine by the end of the week she’ll have a shirt printed with a bulleted list of answers to the most common ones on it. Actually if she’s smart she’ll start her own youtube channel. Ask Harem
Fun fact: Joel is wearing red shoes because I forgot to color them in the first panel they appear in. (so you’re just seeing the carpet though them) Speaking of coloring, on Monday I’ll have a video of me doing a little coloring of this page and the next. Just some skin and hair to show how I do it.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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.
I’d volunteer to give Olivia the rundown of what is involved in comics…introduce her to Sunstone, Rat Queens…and a few others…
Sorry, every so often I do make comments like that.
Let me give her the rubdown! Please?
No need to apologise. I feel everyone should be able to express their feelings.
Provided of course they are legal, in nature. No point flogging a dead horse. That would get you two to three strikes in one act.
Well…those who know me tend to know that I tend to advocate for an openly lesbian character in the web comics I love…of course, I don’t have to do that with Spinarette :)
At least I enjoy Grrl Power :) It’s a good series.
Well, for Grrl Power, there is Peggy, who we know to be bi. So part way there.
I am quite the advocate for a lesbian relationship myself. Casting Susy News and Arianna as my favourites. Mind you that was only because of their glances at the mention of the Klingon Kiss. The strong working relationship, which was developing in the news conference, simply giving an opportunity for that to develop, if they both have appropriate leanings.
Not that I would be averse to seeing any girls making out together, needless to say. But those two could have something going for them.
The question here, is if you’d be equally an advocate for a gay relationship? This comic is somewhat notable for having at least as much beef as cheese in its various cakes, would you support man-kisses as well?
[Sorry, longish reply. But not a topic which merits half an answer.]
Ahh, you are asking two different questions there. The first one would be absolutely not. But the second one would be sure.
I have no hypocrisy, well not in excess, anyhow. I am a straight guy, but enjoy lesbian kisses. Mostly because I would hope they are bi, mind. So I would simply be advocating something which I would enjoy. And which suited the tone of the comic.* You will note that, barring a few sighs about lost hopes, I no longer advocate for fully nude scenes. In the main comic, anyhow :)
Obviously gay kissing would not be something I personally felt comfortable about, nor would fancy seeing. Which would not make me inclined to champion that. And I well imagine that Dave would be equally (or far more) uncomfortable depicting the same. Hence elevating my response to ‘absolutely’ not.
I would no more want to embarrass him, in asking for that, out of pure political correctness (which would, personally speaking, be my only potential motive) than I would ask for a nude scene, now that he has indicated that his vision of the comic does not include that.
However, the second question goes beyond what I would want for myself, and asks if I would support that. Clearly I would not be an enthusiastic supporter, given the above, but I would be accepting of others championing it. Hence the ‘sure’.
But I would not apply double standards either. Just as I was concerned that we could alienate readers about the nudity issue, I would have equal concerns about the gay issue. If there were folks arguing as passionately against a gay scene, as we had against the nudity scene, I would certainly have reservations accordingly.
And the more folks protesting, the greater my reservations would be. I value the entirety of our community, and would not want to alienate anybody. So if it was making folks unhappy, and potentially driving them from our community, I would likely speak out and support them. Even if it were a minority, I would suggest that the gay relationships,** should be handled in a discreet way.
Of course, if it turns out that Dave is enthusiastic about the idea, then that is another matter. But I would not want to hang the choice on his head. He is a very politically correct guy, and I would not want him pressured into doing something he did not feel 100% happy with himself.
If you check out my post on sexual harassment, you will see I am maintaining the same morality, on this aspect of the issue, as there.
I feel perfectly comfortable advocating lesbian relationships because we have Peggy as precedent, so know Dave is happy with that. If he wants to introduce gay relationships or snogging, I would be fine with that too.
* Given that Peggy has already expressed a bisexual lifestyle.
** Which I would definitely be in support of, this is a comic set in the real world, as they can, do and should happen.
Pretty much how I feel about it. If Dave wanted to depict males kissing or going farther than that, it’s HIS comic. I wouldn’t like it, but it’s not something that would make me stop reading the comic, because the overall quality of both art & storyline are excellent.
My most profuse apologies if I’m reading your post wrong, but What I’m seeing is the extended dance-club version of “Two girls kissing? HAWT! Two guys kissing? ICK!”
Now, if that’s the case, believe me I know where you’re coming from. But if this old dog can learn the new mental trick of turning the “ick” in to a “meh”, then so can you young pups.
*Shrugs* Unless I’m involved, it’s all “meh” to me.
nnnneh.
Okay It might be a little late but I’m going to weigh in here. I have no problem with gay males in a comic. For me it would add a little more realism as I have run into more than a few over the years. Kissing, groping, whatever Dave B. decides to put in. I do prefer Female nudity and sexy times being at least 95% hetero but I would support any character that acts according to their role. If say Hiro turned out to be gay he would (from what I’ve seen of his character) be mostly on the “down low”. In other words just a normal guy who happens to like guys. I would even be interested if Dave B. decided to do a back story on his coming out. For me the “STORY” is the important part. One of the books I read long ago was the “Marathon Man” and one of the surprises in it was that a certain character was a gay man. This was back in the 70s but it worked well in the book. I wouldn’t ask Dave. B. to add a gay man just to make it more “PC” EVER. But if he did it wouldn’t phase me in the least.
+1
I probably should have split it into two separate replies, even though the questions were both in one post. You have gotten the wrong end of the stick.
1) I would not go out of my way to see two guys kissing. Nor would I ask someone to depict that for me.
2) But I would not object to them doing so. I do not find it ick.
2.1) However I respect that others might object.
But two girls kissing? HAWT!
I agree with CanuckAmuck. S/He gets a +1 from me.
Ok clearly you are having difficulty reading. Because I have re-read my post and cannot see that I say that I am opposed to gay kissing. It actually says the complete opposite!
Q. would you support man-kisses as well?
A. sure
Conclusion:
What I do like is that nobody in the community seems to be finding the proposition to be distasteful. So despite the misapprehension that you have, it sounds like there is no discord.
I have re-read my post and cannot see that I say that I am opposed to gay kissing
Again, I apologise for misunderstanding your OP, but I’m sure you can see where one might have thought that that is what you were saying when you wrote:
“Obviously gay kissing would not be something I personally felt comfortable about, nor would fancy seeing. “
Oh no problems. I realise that it is down to my style. Because I refuse to pander to political correctness, I speak the truth. And don’t do the politicians thing of trying to phrase things in the way which most suits their professed views.
In my case I am very much in favour of LGBT rights, have had a few friends from the community and am very interested in discussing the issues, learning more and making more friends.
But to say I am comfortable with all the issues, first hand, would be both deceiving both myself and others. Some aspects I am very familiar with, and therefore a lot more happy with. Others I am sympathetic with, despite not being personally comfortable around.
Trouble is that I appreciate most folks do not usually also raise the harsh truths, that may seem to contradict their stated principles. I really should have worked harder to separate the two issues there.
Yeah, some people have a hard time changing their basic response to certain things. For me it only took realizing a few basic facts to put things into perspective. They are as follows.
1. I find girls kissing attractive, sure I may not be what they are looking for in a relationship/partner and are probably not available for the heterosexual candidate pool but they sure are fun to watch…
2. Although I don’t find two guys kissing to be very attractive (just not my cup of tea) they are voluntarily eliminating themselves from the ranks of my co-competitors for eligible heterosexual females.Which is something I can totally get behind.. .
Hmmm that may not have been the right way to phrase that, oh well.
But it did earn a LOL.
I do feel sorry that it seems I sparked some controversy here. . .
I will say that I also understand that this is Dave B’s show, so of course it is up to him. I forgot that Peggy’s bi (or I missed it. I…um…forgot this was a M-Th strip and may have missed one going back).
And, of course, I love seeing everyone being included :)
He he. That is so sweet. It is not controversy, it is stimulating debate. As for Peggy, she discussed her preferences in Fusion, the restaurant.
We have since seen her admiring guys, but being more jealous of being on the A team, when in the girls showers.
I don’t know if we have enough to go on to tell if currently she is “beggin’ for a preggin'”, as although Sydney was clearly lusting, Peggy was more restrained. Likewise in the showers I don’t know if she did not fancy any of them or if she was simply being discreet.
I know that straight guys tend to be rather paranoid that gay guys might be checking them out. So clearly discretion is very advisable, in such circumstances.
But do girls tend to be as sensitive about such issues? Or is it more like where they go to the restroom in flocks, to talk about boobs and … Star Trek?
Most of my experience in the restroom amounts to going in, using, and leaving. The few conversations I’ve overheard have tended to be about work. I did once hear a woman compliment her coworker on her new haircut though. In college, it was mostly conversations about the latest homework or lectures…
I know…not much of what the media makes one expect, huh?
So so disappointing.
Just don’t mess with Santa ok?
Since when is TV realistic? -_^
Even “Reality TV” is usually either heavily edited, re-staged for better drama, or both.
I might be more modest than most, but I’d be uncomfortable changing in front of any but my very closest friends, regardless of sexuality. So there’s your answer on that part.
We DO tend to go to the restroom in flocks, but unless there’s something we wanted to discuss away from male ears (birthday party for someone’s husband, ‘was that guy checking you/me out’, etc), it’s generally a continuation of the same conversation we had before leaving if we talk at all.
As a sop to male fantasies, yes, we DO occasionally have boob conversations. They usually aren’t in the bathroom or in the way you might imagine them though. They generally occur when one of the group gets annoyed/frustrated with her own, turns into a group venting, followed by giving each other tips and tricks (This bra brand might not look as nice, but it’s so much more comfortable, you should get one) which often have as much to do with avoiding breast cancer as anything else. And I do mean occasionally; MAYBE once a year, and as a purely practical matter. One assumes guys have similar conversations about jock straps or whatever.
*dodges hail of thrown objects from other women for revealing female secrets*
Sportsmen may, as a practical matter, but beyond that, nope, never . Guy etiquette is you boast about size or conquests, but don’t broach the subject otherwise. Given that I have no particular interest in the dimensions of another guy’s dick, I usually just put an end to that, by telling them that I have to tuck mine into my boot, to avoid treading on it.
And, rather like I disapprove of Harem breaching Sydney’s confidence, I steer conversations away from any conquest boasting. I don’t expect others to keep to the same kind of code I do, so don’t make a thing about it. Especially as it can be endemic in some circles. But it is easy enough to do subtly.
Although once in a while someone gets into their usual self-affirming rut. Usually only if they have mates in earshot, who they need to keep up appearances around. So I have a few comic put downs, that get folks laughing so much that they snap out of it. It usually involves sheep, but it is fun to improvise, based around the conversation.
I have to say this is the most civilized “controversy” I’ve ever seen in a web comic forum! And I say this as a major kudo to everyone involved! I usually avoid forums and comment sections because I REALLY don’t like how disrespectful things can devolve to so quickly. This place is the exception in my experience in that I enjoy how people here approach potentially confrontational subjects with respect, intelligence, and compassion. Thank you!
You must not have been hanging around the right webcomics.
kind of lucky our notable trollers are missing or behaving civilized
To be fair most of our “Trollers” would be the height of civilized debate in some sites I’ve been to.
Doubling down on adamas‘ comment, and adding in that our trollers usually limit their bile to the words/actions of the characters, and leave the author/commentators alone
It is a very enjoyable community to be a part of. This is a very nice corner of the internet. I suspect that the genre encourages it too. Super hero stories have often been used as analogies for rights issues. So people who grow up sympathetic with the principles they uphold will find their morals shaped according
I found a very similar mix of folks in City of Heroes.
I can remember one time there was a girl, who was leaking all sorts of personal information in her chat. She came across as under-age, and had been through some rough times. Plus was alternating acting flirty with being depressed and even, periodically, expressing suicidal thoughts. So I kept a close eye on her and kept her under my wing when I could.
Going on to discreetly discuss her with friends, asking that they look out for her too. But the sweetest thing? It turns out that three of them were already doing just that! None of us were quite concerned yet to feel that the authorities needed to be contacted. We agreed that she was more ‘angsty teen’ than ‘potential suicide victim’.
And City of Heroes was her escape from real life. It is where she could come to let her hair down. The last thing we would want to do is ‘turn her in’, if she was not actively at risk. So we just coordinated watching over her, until she settled down and showed that she had gotten through the phase.
So yea, I love communities like this!
Frankly, as a lesbian I want to see two girls kiss, but not if its done so guys can drool over two girls kissing. Like, I want to see a relationship form because two women are compatible and have it be a relationship for the sake of developing those characters, not for the sake of being hot for guys. Lesbian relationships aren’t performances for men because we… you know… dont like men. I mean, Dabbler would because she’s Dabbler, and Peggy *might* if there was an incipient threesome but frankly she doesn’t seem the type.
I dunno. I’m just a little sick of TWO GIRLS HAWT at this point. Lord knows I get enough of it IRL.
Personally not fussed with male-gay relationships, but then again, not that fussed with straight relationships being a sub-set of Asexuality, but if it is treated the same as straight relationships, then why not?
Gay people, men and women, are no more likely or inclined to hit on or sexually assault anyone any more than ‘straight’ people are likely or inclined to hit on or sexually assault children
In answer to the questions of “should we have lesbian and gay relationships in this comic?”, even though I’m a hetero dude and enjoy a little girl-on-girl action from time to time (no offense to the “real” lesbians in the crowd here), I have to say that yes, same-sex relationships would be cool _if_ (and this is a big if) they were handled as just “two people in love who just happen to be the same gender” rather than thrown in as fanservice. I like the fact that this webcomic seems to be as realistic as possible for a superhero story (e.g. Maxima telling everyone to watch where they throw around their power-punches and energy blasts to minimize innocent bystander casualties and property damage, or the poster in the women’s showers saying “none of the guys have X-Ray Vision, and even if they did, you’d look like a medical drawing to them”.)
It’s not that I’m against fanservice for its own sake (and I figure that if I can enjoy girl-on-girl action once in a while, straight women, gay guys, and bisexuals should also get some hot dude-on-dude lovin’ so they can have their fun too), but too much of a good thing is too much, and in a “realistic” comic/movie/novel/whatever, a little fanservice goes a long way.
Love Spinny, and enjoying the Silver Age arc (can no comment because G-E Krowe hasn’t activated Guest access with his Disquis, and wasn’t able to support them last time on KickStarter because it now requires going through PayPal)
Spinny, Grrl Power, Gynostar… :)
I wish I could support them all, but I’ve got a problem of not having an income right now :(
Have you seen Pixie Trix? https://www.pixietrixcomix.com/
Maybe not as artistic as Grrlpower. More like Archie gone wild. Lots of LGBT stuff there.
Artemisia and I have been part of PixieTrix’s community for quite some time =P
LOL…yes, I’ve been part of the Pixie Trix boards since 2011…almost got banned once….
“Sorry, every so often I do make comments like that.”
Awkward pay-attention-to-me comments?
There’s another kind?
Actually, I made that comment because I know several people here from other boards and, well, I thought I’d be a bit silly since I don’t usually make that kind of comment.
If that was her intention, it must have since you paid attention to her. =OP
I’m a big Rat Queens fan myself.
I love the series too :)
If Olivia is going to be working at the store. . . shouldn’t she get her own bio on the cast page?
If Joel’s there she should be too!
Give DaveB time
Mmm, I must study Guesticus‘s responses to teach me succinctness.
Make it so.
Why? You make great posts
I’d have to agree with Guesticus on this: You do have a way of minimizing misunderstanding, even if it requires to be verbose about it. And you still leave plenty of room for tangential silliness to spice up this place.
Kind of you both to say that.
*sigh*
I still get it wrong though. More than I am happy with. Usually when I ramble. Stopping rambling now.
Awww but we like to her the Yorp ramble! *ear scratch*
*leans head into the scratching and wags tail happily*
“I still get it wrong though.”
Everybody gets it wrong at times, but what you avoid is being ambiguous. And that’s about as far away from Political Correctness as it gets; Political Correctness is all about being ambiguous so that definition & context is all white-washed out & people interpret what they want instead of what is actually meant.
Poor Joel his life is changing to rapidly. First Sydney gets powers now they have a new employee next up will be a nice new location in the spiffy new mall.
Nope, Sydney is all about the “location cubed!” https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/147
next she uses the extra money to make the store bigger, and cube shaped.
We are the Sydney. We will add your name to the Collective lists, your comics will be provided as well as cheesecake and superpowers. Resistance is futile.
Perhaps this will be her next set of wheels.
[I expect this has been mentioned somewhere already.]
Aha! We have now found out where Jeremy Clarkson will be hanging out, whilst he is job hunting!
So, is the Stig coming with you?
DAMMIT! Unmasked!
The Hamster and Captain Slow told me: “You do not… talk… about motoring!”
All that commenting effort… wasted!
*starts weeping into his gold-plated laptop*
I posted something about quantum physics below. Does that mean I’m Stephen Hawking as well? 8-)
You are who you are and that is that.
Nissan Maxima…
If Max drives, big if there when she can fly supersonic without a jet, I wonder if she drives that car.
Of course she does. However, it’s a bit unconventional. She straps on the seat belt, grabs the steering wheel, and then flies to her destination – the car comes along with.
Maybe that’s what one of the inactive orbs does. Go Go Real Estate Enhancement Orb!!!
Location is great and all I’m for it but foot traffic drives sales as well and a mall is really good for that specially if you are getting the space dirt cheap. Also it is better to have the store move into the mall since it is now a target the mall albeit a bigger target has a ready built in super hero defense force.
What malls do you go to? None of the ones near me have a superhero defense force.
The Archon mall the base in the comic has a mall built into it. this is in the lower half of the building. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/694
He may need to set up a spread sheet to keep track of everything that has changed. It is going to be a long one.
I fully expect their new location to be in the same building as Archon.
As far as nasty medical questions go, the question is “What if one of Harem gets pregnant?”
That is a solid question. I assume there would be something special about the biology so that only one of the bodies would keep the fetus, but a very special twist would be that she’d be unable to recombine that particular “clone” until after the birth. “so sorry Harem #4, looks like you are stuck this way for 9 more months! But look at it this way, you did always say you wanted to experience new things ….”
Or, maybe, all five become pregnant (and the one who was ‘in storage’ at the time becomes pregnant as soon as she is brought out, with as much of a ‘lag’ as it took to bring her out)
Or maybe she could pass the fetus around so they all get to take turns.
The thing about Harem is, even if the fetus can’t be passed around they all still get the experience. Because it’s really just Harem, no matter how separate they appear to be. That’s why she enjoys being five people so much, it’s five times the experiences for the gestalt.
I’d say it’s a pretty straightforward consequence of “one of Harem carries pregnancy and gives birth” (assuming she decides to carry full term and not abort) with no particular difference from, like, getting her ears pierced. However, a good question would be whether weight of a baby would count as her own weight or ‘foreign’ weight, because at late term it could inhibit teleportation. Or, uh, lead to some nasty gore, but I hope not.
Well she mentioned that her own weight counts towards her maximum teleport weight so if she wants to teleport more she stores one of her bodies.
The real problem would be “What if Harem was pregnant and she made that clone disappear?” That would be something interesting indeed.
not really, when she was injured during the fight, didn’t she “unteleport” the injured one to prevent that one from being a distracting influence on the OTHER harem’s who weren’t ACTUALLY injured? if that was the case, then combined with Dave’s W.O.G. statement when she unteleports one, that body is in stasis and is not changing in the slightest… that would be one of the weird things that could happen… Harem as Thing #1 gets pregnant, and carries it until say the third month (of 9, for easy math) then puts that body into “unteleport” mode for the next 9 months (now into month 12)… the public would expect for her to have given birth by that point, and showing off a 3 month old baby… but nope, she drags Thing #1 out of stasis at the end of that year, and she should STILL BE 3 Months Pregnant… with six more to go before she gives birth…
I think Dr. Tim was thinking more along the lines of ‘would the baby unteleport too?’.
I would assume so. Her legs, her earrings, and her lunch all unteleport when she does, so whether the baby counts as stuff-that-is-her or stuff-that-is-in-her it should go with.
(Earring on the top of the punky body’s ear, lunch (technically dinner) from right before the supervillains attacked.)
Well, all micro-organisms that inhibit her body go along (which is more than 2 kilograms), so probably
Problem is, a foetus is a living growing organism, what would happen to it while it is in ‘suspended animation’? Namely, to it’s still developing brain
Anyone even contemplating doing tests and slash or experiments to find out should be removed, permanently, from life and all known existences
Knowledge is vital, and there’s nothing wrong with contemplating the experiments so long as one does so in order to determine how/if they might be ethically undertaken. What happens if harem gets pregnant and has a choice between unteleporting and death or other severe consequence?
Far, far better to have given the matter the necessary thought to help decide on an appropriate action.
Furthermore a woman can be pregnant for an appreciable amount of time before being aware of it. There are even cases of a women who go through an entire pregnancy without realising it, though from what I’ve seen of Harem it’s a safe bet that she’s not at risk for this.
Were she planning to abort the pregnancy it would make a lot of sense to unteleport the pregnant body and after the abortion have the fetus examined for abnormalities so that should she later have a wanted pregnancy she’s more aware of the potential risks (if any) and can act accordingly.
AKA if Harem gets pregnant and is not ready for a baby, she can live with one less of herself until she is ready for a baby.
Ah, but then there won’t be a dead fetus to examine. Also I wouldn’t expect anyone to give up 1/5 of their physical self just because they’re not ready to spawn yet. Of course for all we know Harem might be the sort of person who is much happier never having kids.
*shrugs* somehow, though, I get the feeling this isn’t something likely to be explored in the comic itself as it really doesn’t fit the overall tone.
Not the way it has been proposed in this thread no. Personally I am of the view that if one of Harem’s bodies becomes pregnant that it will cause her no problem whatsoever. Only that body would be pregnant. And the foetus would not be at any risk.
Her tattoos do not mysteriously jump from one body to another. They are a part of that specific body. Likewise the baby will stay with the one body.
Harem has not died of malnutrition, so clearly her stomach bacteria are unharmed by either teleporting or being stored. If those are fine, then a baby should be fine too. And, yes, yes I am sure the Doc would be very careful to find ways to check that, rather than just assume it.
But I am confident that the results would be favourable. Because the super powers are nice ones that do not do icky stuff as an accidental side effect.
As such, if DaveB did want to explore the slice-of-life that is pregnancy, and how it can affect a super, Harem would be an ideal candidate. Because only one of her bodies need be pregnant to explore the issues.
And, if it is inconvenient or icky, for a pregnant woman to be involved in a story line (say one involving a radiation leak, which would have nasty implications for an unborn child) that body can simply be teleported clear of the action.
So it would allow the issues to be explored lightly. As opposed to have them dominate the story arcs, as it would if one of the protagonists were to become pregnant.
Although it would be cute to see Dabbler’s baby tucked up in her crib, next to Maxima’s!
Yeah, I agree totally.
Also: as a parent I can honestly say having there were times when having five bodies would have been very handy.
My greatest sympathies go to parents with unexpected multiple births. Individual or staggered births is one thing. But getting quintuplets? EEEEE!
Another light-hearted issue concerns Harem getting some kind of Maternity Leave. Only one of her would be allowed to take leave, but for her, it wouldn’t always have to be the same body that gave birth…But four of Harem would always have to available for duty while only one (any one) could be with the baby.
Unless of course she had five babies.
Mind you, there is a difference between the police and the military, in this regard. As far as I know the former just follow normal civilian rules and rights. Whereas the latter can have the choice taken out of their hands. In situations such as being on active duty in a war-zone anyhow.
If I recall correctly getting pregnant in Afghanistan could have been considered a disciplinary action, for US combat personnel. Archon may very well have similar rules or guidelines. I know most services require that they seek permission before marrying, for example.
Nothing at all happens to the baby, just as nothing at all happens to any of the five Harem bodies while they aren’t manifested. It’s not ‘suspended animation’, cryogenic freezing, whatever. It’s just non-existence or limbo or stasis or whatever you want to call it.
Also, in response to the discussion on whether a Harem can teleport while pregnant, I’d think so. The baby is connected via umbilical to the placenta (which is connected to the mother’s uterus), and this connection is quite a bit different than just picking up someone and trying to teleport with them.
+1
I think the real question is: if she gets pregnant, can she clone the fetus by cloning her pregnant body?
As far as we know from Word of Dave is Harem “stored” a pregnant body of hers it would enter stasis so if she was 3 months along and stored it for 6 months, it’s come out…3 months along.
At least she knows where to get a lineup of babysitters on short notice.
Okay, why is Joel so pissed that they now have an employee? Is it that Sydney did it with out checking with him first? Or that he wanted to hire someone first?
I think it was just the fact that he stepped out for a couple of minutes and suddenly he’s a boss. Literally.
Wasn’t he already a boss? o_O
At one point when they started yes. Currently, it’s just him and Sydney, who are both co-owners.
So if he and Sydney get into an argument over this, does it make it a boss battle?
XP! Look out Joel!
Thankfully he knows her secret weakness’s. Sunlight (open the blinds), Paper cuts (wave a comic in her general direction), Cute guys with abs …….err sorry Joel, as Meatloaf said “two out of three aint bad”
well considering where he was standing when he said that (ie in front of a small lie of reporters.) he should be happy that they aren’t getting swamped with applicants.
Hiring an employee is a big deal. Doing so without discussing it with the other co-owner, with no interview, during an extremely busy day(when there are probably customers waiting to buy stuff) is not good manners.
Add that to how they don’t know if the pickup in customers will last(most of the people here are press and gawkers. They probably aren’t going to be buying much more after today), and you get a situation where this really should be discussed.
Finally, Joel didn’t get to vet the new employee. Many small shops like this want employees to be major fans of what they are selling, so they can make recommendations etc. As it is, Olivia got hired because she happened to be standing there when hiring employees was mentioned.
You are forgetting one important point: she was ‘chosen’ for the same reason that Joel would have had, they know her brother cousin
I can see what you mean masterofbones. After all, there are lots of celebrities who opened their own companies (restaurants seems to be the one I remember most). They become swamped with business, which eventually tapers off as the gawking becomes minimal, and then the company folds because a trickle of customers isn’t enough. You should read up on the “Hollywood stars that filed bankruptcy” to really understand how bad it is.
If Halo isn’t there all the time, then it eventually will not do much for business just because she owns it. The only real thing to note here is the comic shop was in business before she was famous, so it actually has a greater chance of surviving, even with the trickle of clients that come in as gawkers, and therefore supporting Olivia and everyone else. If nothing else, the comprehensive medical plan should also make Joel feel really good.
Please don’t let Sydney end up as a has-been on late night TV doing infomercials for cheesy kitchen products.
“The Turbo-Blend 3000 might not be quite as powerful as my PPO, Wally, but it certainly makes short work of these tomatoes!”
Not so much pissed as surprised. It’s been kind of non-stop with Sydney today.
Is it any other way than “non-stop” with Sydney?
O.o
She couldn’t even get to a full stop when going to bed last night…She just HAD to call up Dabbler too!
Absolutely. Dave just doesn’t bother posting those bits because not stopping bits are more interesting.
and even poor Joel does have a certain “Sydney Antics Threshold”.
From my point of view he was simply surprised she had managed to source and hire a new employee in the time he popped for lunch.
I see we are on a new page of comments, so will repeat my post from the previous page. As time is short.
Looks like Round 1 of the Mix March Madness voting went live a week ago, without us noticing!
Please VOTE NOW.
Fortunately we are allowed to vote for all our favourites. It only comes down to a tough choice if two of them happen to go head-to-head. In this round we are up against “Between Failures”.
Oh, and don’t forget that the regular Top Web Comic vote has also re-set, for the new month. And we are lagging behind in 5th place. So likewise please vote.
Thank you Puppy, rely on people to post reminders for me (shame there isn’t an easier way to vote for people with shorter memory than a goldfish than to scroll up and down)
Heh, the entire North Island is a glowing radioactive waste land, not that they will be missed :P
Thanks. First picks are easy. A lot of my favorites made the seed.
Not sure if already picked up, but Abbie’s choker hasn’t been coloured in in panel three
Yeah I gotta fix that and add the Archon patch to her jacket.
But imagine: what if Harem’s ability to manifest bodies allows her to manifest them unlimitedly, and the ony way to kill her is to kill all five at once, leaving none to exist in physical reality? Hell, what if even that can’t kill her?…
Yeah, I don’t really give much of a crap about ~balance~ and stuff like that. This would be cool. Full stop.
If she can make more than 5 but only have 5 out at once, she could keep some younger ones in reserve and swap every 5-10 years or so. She’d functionally have eternal youth, while also being able to have an older body. Hell, since she’s diversifying the clones now, she could diversify them with age too. She’s 19, so in the future she could have a body out at 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 if she played her cards right. That’d be one hell of a lineup.
Lifehacks. Harem’s got them.
Ooo. There’s a thought I hadn’t considered. She really is lucky, her problem does a good job in solving the old problem of not enough time in this life to do everything you want to.
*her power
The problem with thinking faster than you type…
better than typing faster than you think.
If I think faster than about 35 wpm (words per minute), I can measure my typing speed by mpm (mistakes per minute).
Regarding Dave’s comment, “Good luck never doing anything dangerous now that you’re a superhero, Sydney.” That’s why it’s just a hobby. Something she can do on her free time, maybe couple hours on the weekend. Probably when nobody is looking.
*Plot Twist*
Olivia is just a Villain ;)
*Double Plot Twist*
In an alternative reality ;)
*Triple Plot Twist*
With a goatee ;)
Works well in deep space nine :)
It also worked in Star Trek, what with Spock having a beard & all…
Further Plot twist
Joel is actually an Alien from the future sent to observe the “The one who handles the balls” after they sent the orbs back in time (Think the plot to The Sphere)
The reason they sent Joel back in time is pretty mundane though…The whole Earth undergoes a tremendous upheaval & Sydney is the one who literally saves the world. Before she could succeed though, most of historical records were lost & only hearsay & folklore still exists about this time period. Joel’s mission is simply “Historical Research” of the future’s Legend of Halo.
Is nice to see small bits of “slice of life” about each character, like the Sidney and Joel in the shop. Maybe something with Maxima or Anvil can happens too. :)
Maxi’s ‘slice of life’ involves an apron, pancakes, and Ari, with lots of maple syrup ;)
luckily this is supposed to be a “slice of life” comic the fight was just a needed part to the story.
My question for Harem would be how the information is transferred between her brains. Is there a speed of light lag? If so does it get disorienting if she’s too far apart?
If I remember correctly, Harem’s brains are quantumly entangled, so information is processed by all of her brains at the same time. As far as lag goes, Earth is only .042 light-seconds in diameter, which shouldn’t be enough to be noticeable even if two copies were on literal opposite sides of the planet.
I could be wrong about this but isn’t quantum entanglement FTL as far as we know? It’s like having a single object existing in two places. I mean potentially. I think scientists have only demonstrated it on individual particles.
That’s quantum formalism actually, I think.
Quantum entanglement means not just FTL but instantaneous communication, irrespective of distance – even light years. The quantum states of a pair of particles/photons is unknown until one of the particles is “read”. Then the second particle’s state is instantaneously set by the “reading” of the first. “Magic” as Arthur Clarke would say.
Maybe Arthur Clarke is just arguing the other side of the same idea, that sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Albert Einstein called it “spooky magic at a distance.”
I’m not a quantum physicist, so maybe don’t listen to me. My understanding of quantum entanglement is that it’s like synchronising two clocks and sending them off to two different parts of the world. When someone reads one of them, they know what time is on the other even though it’s far away.
If that’s right, then trying to explain Harem’s power with quantum entanglement feels a bit like explaining Mecha Maid’s robot suit with “transistors”.
Those are very different things.
The two clocks we can and do test and they do not keep the same time. All down to relativity. We do not live in just space, we live in a combined dimension with both time and space. Mess with one and you mess with the other. The act of moving the clocks changes their time relative to one another.
What quantum entanglement does is make two particles behave as if they were one. Regardless of how far they are apart. Poke one and the other reacts in the same way.
Extrapolating that to how a pair of clocks would behave if made up of quantumly paired particles, now that I leave to a physicist to explain. Especially interesting would be how they would describe what would happen to the second hand, as one clock reached say 95% the speed of light, and the other remained stationary on Earth.
….now I want to read Crystal Singer again…*headdesk* I need Harem’s power.
I absolutely love that series. Mind you, that is true of most of Anne McCaffrey’s solo writing.
She is a superb author. i was glad to see that she seems to have done a good job of training Todd to take over on the DragonRiders books, at least.
I just threw that to XKCD What If :-)
Despite what, due to poor science reporting, we have been lead to believe, no.
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/15282/quantum-entanglement-faster-than-speed-of-light
So even if it were, no information could be transmitted because causality violation. But as it has already been established that the Grrl Power universe has magic and superpowers, then of course anything goes. :)
I note that they prohibit cloning, so fine. But nothing in there about what happens if you use them to make a twinned pair of larger objects, such as my hypothetical clocks?
I think that might have something to do with an experiment that was done a few years back…When they determined that, by shining light two different ways through a prism, they found that light is both particulate (photonic) AND energy (visible spectrum) at the same time. There is no real “outcome is determined by the observer effect.” The outcome was always BOTH, but until that experiment, no one bothered to check for both & they utilized only one property or the other.
Up until then they just took my word for it. I have one of those faces…
I’ll have to take your word on that, since we can’t see your face here…
I thought it was more under the lines of space folding. Bypasses the need to reach the or exceed FTL travel and stays within Einstein’s laws of relativity by joining points A and B together and effectively folding the middle bit. The film Event Horizon had a section about that.
Not a fizzycyst, but here’s an analogy:
You and a distant friend have a pair of magic coins. They are magic in one way: they can be commanded to give the same result when tossed (by saying “same”), or the opposite result (by saying “opposite”). However, they still need to be tossed to work.
You hatch a plan to send a message to your friend by you both tossing coins. You say “same” just before a toss to send a binary “1”, or “opposite” to send a binary “0”.
After the message has been sent your friend has a series of heads and tails.
Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to read the message, since the coin tosses are still random to your friend. It’s only by transmitting your sequence of heads and tails (by some other means) to your friend that she can compare both sequences and so decode the message.
So the instantaneous effect does happen, but it cannot be used to transmit information (eg. the time on a clock) faster than light.
Harem is different (she can relay actual information), so she would be able to break causality.
but if you both already know, let’s say Morse code or ASCII code, then those are NOT “random coin flips” to your friend, and information IS PASSED at FTL speeds. to get meaningful paragraphs and other lengthy portions of stuff, you would have to implement an error check and packet size limit, etc, etc.. but that’s basically what Telegraph operators do, and Ethernet does for you… they would establish contact, then the other guy would acknowledge it, then the first one would send his info packet, and the other guy would listen and reply with an “OK i got it” or a “error, resend it” message, repeat as needed to get the full message, then it would go the other way… poof! you now have FTL Internet…
Er, no. Perhaps I missed something out.
Again for clarity:
1) you decide on the bit to send, ‘1’ or ‘0’;
2) you command the coin at your end accordingly;
3) you flip the coin, getting a head or tail at random;
4) your friend flips her coin, getting the same or opposite result as appropriate.
At your end, you get a series of random flips.
At the other end, your friend gets the message you sent, combined with the same series of random flips.
So, the message you sent is in effect “encrypted”, and the key is your series of flips. She has the message, but cannot read it. It just looks random to her.
Maybe this seems unreasonable – how can she have the message in her possession, but be unable to get any meaning from it? Well, that’s the basis of encryption, which is well known to work in practice.
If I read scantrontb’s intent correctly, it is that the result does not matter. You ignore the heads and tails. And just observe that a coin has been flipped. A short gap between flips is a dot. A long gap is a dash. Morse code.
I think the problem being that in order to look at the coin, that very act causes it to flip. So you never know if it is your friend who tossed it, possibly a considerable time ago, and you are just observing the state it was left in. Or if you just caused it to flip yourself, by taking a peek.
The Schroedinger’s cat problem.
What I find odd is the possibility that something can happen to this particle (or whatever the correct term is) and it not have any effect on the outside world. Because if there is any change, of any sort, propagated to the outside world, then that could potentially be measured.
This is an advantage in thinking like a dog. Lacking opposable thumbs, opening boxes is a problem. But all you need to do is take a good sniff to tell if the cat inside is dead!
You do not even need to know what the result was, simply that something has changed. And the instant you can do that, you have yourself a means of FTL communication.
Hmm, a bold reply. That deserves an answer…
Three points:
Firstly, my listed “step 4” says “your friend flips her coin”, implying they do not flip themselves – whether they are observed or not. That goes way beyond my analogy into the actual physics. Naughty pup!
Secondly, scantrontb said “Morse code or ASCII code”, which (to me) implies an agreed channel code of some sort, not exploiting a timing channel to send information. Also, the rest of scantrontb’s comment was all about communication protocols. So I would say that’s your catch, Yorp.
Finally, I deliberately left out the timing issue to keep things simple. Silly me. There was a unstated system of synchronisation at work here. Which is a big problem with this analogy, because it’s hard to fix without (a) allowing a timing channel for communication or (b) invoking more magic.
Anyway, that’ll teach me to do anything except post links to actual definitions 8-)
“Naughty pup!”I was not intentionally twisting the intent of your post. I simply took the gist of both your pairs of comments and tried to find a common ground. Which required stating the reply in terms of my general knowledge.
Despite your counter, I am still happy with the intent I conveyed in my post. It takes the general analogy you stated and re-phrases it in terms that I could follow myself. Sorry about taking liberties with your comment, I did not appreciate, at the time of replying, that it was deviating from your intent as much as it turned out to.
Analogies are still best to use in this area though, simply because I get lost if the terminology gets too technical. Although I can follow it when poring over such articles, trying to replicate those from memory, without using technical terms, slightly, incorrectly would be a pain. If only because folks would then quibble over the technicality, rather than the core of the argument.
Wasn’t your post almost all in bold before? How did you fix it?
It was, but I don’t have a mysterious technique here. That will be DaveB fixing the typo (I had a “/” in the wrong spot).
Many thanks Dave. Sorry to have put you (inadvertently) to the bother.
Yes Quantum Entanglement is a FTL method of transferring information. Because the moment u know the spin of one particle, its quantum entangled counterpart is instantly the opposite. No matter where in the universe it is.
On the subject of t-shirts or business cards for Harem: do NOT give out useful intelligence on your powers that someone else could use against you. This could involve some lying and some evasions. “Can I take anything with me? Nope, not even my clothes. How many of me are there? From one up to a really big number I haven’t worked out yet. How far can I teleport? Try keeping up with me in your sports car.” But don’t give out intel that an enemy can one day use against you.
So far, we have only see her get, and answer, one question, and the answer is hardly any more of an exploitable ‘weakness’ than it would be to anyone else, anymore than Sydney’s weakness to being riddled with bullets is a ‘unique’ weakness (being riddled by Bullitt on the other hand, would depend entirely on the riddles posed :P )
I own a tee brand focused on comics and games…PLEASE let me make that Harem Powers-Questions shirt! Also, Sydney’s ‘WWDeadpoolD’ tee. :)
here’s a few freebies for you:
Pithy Thaying On Nextht Thirt
Life’s a Glitch and then you (error 404, error 42, ‘die’ in binary, etc.)
have a pair of joysticks on the shirt with the fire buttons at the nipple areas, and a caption that reads ‘what guys see’
Printed on the next t-shirt is “Aw, thit!”
How about:
Life’s a Glitch and then you segfault, dumping core
From me to you
My other Car is a BOLO.
Keep calm
and
Loot the bodies.
And you got the ogre 1 wrong its way to small to be an aogre
I’m almost certain that a ‘WWDeadpoolD’ would require a license from Marvel. Not 100% sure about that, but someone who knows copyright law might confirm or deny that.
Speaking as a non-lawyer, but I am absolutely certain that the Deadpool top would require Marvel (or whoever is the copyright owner) to licence it. The WW_D is fine. As is the styling of the shirt, as that is DaveB‘s own work. But incorporating the face is making use of a distinctive likeness, and you can be sure that is a registered trade mark.
Dave can get away with it, because in the comic it is a small part of the whole. And the comic is a parody of real life. So it is covered under fair use exemptions under the intellectual rights laws. But it would be the significant selling feature on a T-Shirt, so would be an actionable infringement of their rights.
Mind you, there is a Deadpool movie out, and Marvel are rather known to licence merchandising. And that is a very striking design. So hassle though it may be, I could still see that being worth the trouble to bring it to the market!
In addition to the not to be sniffed at Grrl Power fan base, there is also clearly the far larger comic and film market. Plus I think it would have appeal to Star Trek fans, as it has a command officer vibe to it too.
Speaking as a lawyer…
To sell shirts like that, yes Marvel would need to allow and license it. Especially since they DO sell WWDPD shirts already, albeit a different design. It would be problematic to get marvel to allow licensing rights for a saying they already put on shirts and license to other clothing companies :)
But to show it in the comic, that is something daveb -can- do without permission because of fair use, which is sonething I have been saying repeatedly :)
Loving the ideas, guys…as well as the free(?) lawyering! I’d also love to do a couple of Grrl Power-specific tees with DaveB’s help, just for y’all. :)
Vitruvian Dabbler, a mashup of Sydney-Halo and Master Chief-Halo, an Archon-crest design, etc.
The question is; how to get DaveB to say ‘OMGJORDANMAKEMEALLTEHSHIRTS!!!’?
First let me say i love this comic Dave, but since you seem tothink things through, let.me point out two things.
1) coffee slingers make good money withtips and she would get a lot…
2) all college kids can stay on thier parents plan until age 26 with obamacare
Not all college kids are under 26, though. Especially if you’re paying out-of-pocket instead of with loans.
And not all parents keep their kids on their insurance. It’s not free, you know. They can “ride along” without having to have an individual policy but there is still a cost for it.
Coffey slingers who are college students tend to find jobs where college students who drink coffee go –and college students are not good tippers in general. She could be making great money stripping, buuut she isn’t so maybe she is more interested in enjoying her working life not working her life for other’s enjoyment.
This assumes her parents _have_ a plan, and since it is not our world maybe they steered clear of the whole Obamacare silliness. Whoops , starting to show a little green scaly-ness –better take my anti-troll meds.
Seriously –the spell checker swaps coffee to Coffey? And then tries to set this one with Sirius as well!
Also this take place in 2011 before the Affordable Healthcare Act. The date has been confirmed … somewhere.
Correct (during 2011 technically) and correct. Good point, that had slipped by me.
“coffee slingers make good money withtips and she would get a lot”
They can make good money with tips, but there’s hardly any guarantee that they will. It depends a lot on the
clientèletype of customers theestablishmentbusiness tends to attract (e.g., college students, as mentioned above, would tend not to tip much).You mentioned harem having a prepared list of answers to questions. I thought y’all might enjoy Robert A. Heinlein’s: https://kk.org/ct2/2008/09/08/heinleins-fan-mail-solution/
Figured the Old man might of had something like that he was lazy to a fault.
I note that he read and responded to every letter up until his death. That is not the epitome of laziness.
Reading doesn’t take much energy I have found, yes I need to pick up the paper or the book but it doesn’t take as much as writing. Being lazy doesn’t mean you don’t do things it means you take away all the complex tasks and make them simple. He actually wrote a short story on it rather fun actually when you read it and go yup I can do that. The story is “The Man Who Was to Lazy to Fail” it is based in part on his time in the Navel Academy. The moral is always look at how you do things and see if you are actually doing them the best way. If no take the time and figure out a faster easier way to do them.
Sounds like efficiency to me. Laziness is putting the letters in the bin. Or saying ‘maybe tomorrow’. And you missed the responding bit. He even eventually managed to refine his technique, such that he was able to write back to everyone individually, rather than just use the check list. Given the sheer volumes obviously involved, that is a staggering workload, on top of his actual job.
Mind you, all that said: “Laziness is the mother of invention.”
And you have hit on the truth I’ve often proclaimed. Humans are LAZY. Almost every advancement has reduced the amount of effort we have to put in to get what we want. And we always want more. When we were hunter-gatherers we put in far less effort to get food but we usually died by 30 yrs old. Now we live far longer lives have far more choices in food, shelter and entertainment plus machines do most of our work.
Two points to remember:
1) Relatively high infant mortality rates greatly skewed average life spans.
2) While a machines might reduce the work it takes to complete a particular task, they also tend to raise the minimal societal standards and thus may actually increase a person’s overall workload.
Simple solution. Employ more robots to cover the increased workload.
Or build robot babies
I have a feeling that you are nothing like Ally McBeal. That does not sound like the kind of thing she would say. Or even have in one of her thought bubbles!
*shakes paw in the direction of America*
Damn you Hollywood, and TV sitcom writers, stop confusing us!
No, I’m nothing like Ally McBeal. I have more success with men, and about 50 percent less hallucinations.
:-D
*raises paw*
How many fingers am I holding up?
I’d have to say zero fingers. Dog’s paws have no fingers…
:P
Human nature being what it is there are a LOT of unproductive members of society now. I’m not talking about the poor or unemployed but politicians and religious leaders (hell leaders of any sort) the 1% and other various non-productive classes. We have let ourselves become sheep when we began much like wolves.
It’s not even the epitome of Lazarus.
I’m not sure I’d call a guy who wrote that many books particularly lazy. Overwhelmed with fan mail would also explain it.
I hate to rain on everyone’s parade, but there is a glitch to this scenario. Sydney said that she can work mornings at the shop and work afternoons as a super (and I don’t mean a janitor). Olivia currently works mornings and takes classes in the afternoon. They both have their afternoons booked. One or the other will need to change their schedule for this to work out. I don’t think Max comes off as the flexible type, and Olivia can’t update her class schedule until the end of the semester.
nah, the way i see it is that Joel just got handed the afternoon / closing shift. Sydney has the opening / morning shift, and Olivia is either going to come in early to help Sydney on mornings and go home at the same time as her, or she’ll be the mid-morning to mid afternoon person who’s shift overlaps both Syd and Joel’s. no big shuffling of schedules required…
The main thing is that Joel doesn’t have to cover Sydney’s shift on the days that she can’t work. If Olivia has a night out of class on the same day that Sydney works mornings, she could cover Joel’s shift.
Actually, I’m wondering if all the bodies sleep at the same time.
No she usually sleeps them in shifts. It does make me wonder how her dreams affect her. Maybe she takes dream suppressing drugs otherwise she feels like she’s hallucinating all the time, or a natural side effect of her power simply makes her able to suppress or distinguish her dreams easily.
I wonder if that means she never reaches the deepest levels of REM sleep if her entire mind isnt ever entirely asleep.
That makes her similar to dolphins. Only half of their brain sleeps. The other half keeps a lookout with one eye (the opposite side to the brain), and handles breathing and other sedentary station-keeping activity.
We could ask them if they can detect the dreams of their other brain half.
What’s that Flipper? *listens intently*
I dream of electronic fish.
I hope they are well insulated.
Yeah but in humans, there are five stages of sleep.
Stage 1 – Alpha and Theta level sleep – it’s sort of like daydreaming
Stage 2 – During which the brain starts producing sleep spindles, body temperature drops, and the heartrate starts slowing down.
Stage 3 – Slow brain waves called delta waves emerge – it’s the transitional period between light sleep and deep sleep
Stage 4 – Delta sleep – when the brain is producing a lot of delta waves, preparing for REM
Stage 5 – REM sleep – when drams occur, increased brain activity, increased respiration, but voluntary muscles basically paralyze in a state of hiberation. Involuntary muscles work as normal, at a slowed rate that started at Stage 2.
If a human being doesnt get to at least Stage 4 on a regular basis, it can become very damaging to them, both psychologically and physically – memory problems, fatigue, etc. If they never reach Stage 5, they’re going to lose cognitive function, their memory becomes impaired (and they in fact start losing long-term memories), coping skills decrease (which would be bad for a superhero I’d expect)
So I’m assuming since Harem hasnt gone completely insane over the past several years of never having all of her copies asleep at the same time (or at least a few of them asleep at the same time), she must be able to somehow compartmentalize when one of her copies sleeps so that instead of it being ’20 percent of her collective brain is sleeping,’ it becomes ‘100 percent of THAT body’s brain is sleeping, and when they join up the regenerative processes will distribute amongst the rest of her copies equally) or something like that :)
Thing is we do not know why sleep is so important. Clearly there is brain maintenance as part of the process. Toxins get flushed out, repairs get conducted, freshly laid down memories get strengthened and so on. Which are all physical things which can account for the problems you listed for those going without sleep.
But how much need the consciousness get involved in the process? One theory is that dreaming is a way of reviewing the days events, mulling them over, and helping to file the memories appropriately. If that is true, then the points you are making are very valid.
However, if that is not the case, then all the housekeeping might be handled by autonomic systems, and not require her conscious presence at all.
But, even without that, I do not see a huge problem with Harem having one body asleep and experiencing the dreams that go with that, whilst the rest are awake. Even with a single mind I can be in a lucid dream. On the edge of consciousness. And can choose to slip fully into sleep, to wake up or to remain in that state, and control my own dreams.
She can just do more. As that brain slips through the deeper sleep cycles the same autonomic responses would kick in as with us. The body would become paralysed, to prevent reactions in dreams from feeding back into commands to her body. Sensory input would shift from the regular senses to the virtual feeds, that the brain sends.
In essence this is no different to one body driving a car, whilst the other is studying. They are each focussed on their own immediate environment and feedback. Doing the things appropriate to that body’s condition. But they are simply all aware of what each of the others are doing simultaneously.
And if that involves dreaming of eating a giant marshmallow, Harem just needs to check that she has not accidentally deployed the air bag!
“Thing is we do not know why sleep is so important. Clearly there is brain maintenance as part of the process. Toxins get flushed out, repairs get conducted, freshly laid down memories get strengthened and so on. Which are all physical things which can account for the problems you listed for those going without sleep.”
Add another recently discovered aspect of sleep. During sleep, your brain shrinks! At least the brains of all other mammal species tested do (procedure kills the subject). That makes the folds in the surface of the brain open up, …in some species as much as 60%. This lets the pulsing circulation of cerebrospinal fluid wash out the amyloids and other wastes far more efficiently. Deprive these mammals of sleep, and you get 3-5 times the number of amyloids, including amyloid beta, present in the cerebrospinal fluid. That’s why people who get regular sleep are less likely to get alzhiemer’s.
Guys… we know why sleep is important.
And there’s nothing conclusive to say people who get less sleep are less likely to get alzheimers. It’s like saying people who use Bounty brand paper towels are less likely to get alzheimers because a lot of people who get Alzheimers use Cottonelle instead. I’m very certain they havent done any type of substantive study to measure sleep patterns of people before they get alzheimers, then correlate it to people who did get it.
All of those sleep studies have spent a lot of money to give us quite a few facts & a lot of conjecture. Before I can figure out what I might say on the subject, I’ll have to sleep on it first…
Um… I’m pretty sure we do know why sleep is important.
You missed the ‘so’. I listed the fairly important stuff, which we do know about, then moved on to the substantive bit, which we do not Namely asking why our consciousness cannot keep going during the process?
My bad for laying it out that way.
This is analogous to our options during major surgery. Nowadays we have the option of having a general aesthetic. Or we can choose to have a local aesthetic/ epidural or even use hypnosis or self-hypnosis. All of which allow the body to safely be repaired, but let our consciousness still operate.
We could even do that with brain surgery, which brings the analogy closer to the sleep situation. Given that we know sleep is carrying out maintenance on our brains.
So presumably it is easier to do that without the need for the consciousness to remain active. But there would be a clear evolutionary advantage to never going fully asleep. As dolphins, and other cetaceans have found out.
So it makes me wonder why even they have to shut down half their brain by sleeping. And why we do not know of other critters which never sleep. Usually if there is evolutionary advantages for two things (brain repair vs watching out for predators), evolution will find a mix of solutions.
Yet, as far as I am aware from my general knowledge (and I take a particular interest in anything sleep and brain related in particular), there are no other animals which do not need to sleep at all.
And pausing to google to confirm that, I find that I am not alone in having these thoughts.
That’s also true of swifts. Once they leave the nest they fly day and night, without stopping for about 3 years (until it’s time to mate and nest). They have to ascend at night and sleep alternate sides of the brain. If any animal could benefit from giving up sleeping, they certainly would (and so would sea mammals). But they can’t do so.
Puts new meaning to sleeping through class –as an early note had Harem taking multiple classes as the ultimate multi-tasker. Kind of makes me wonder how she doesn’t occasionally geek out on Leon with a suggestion of how to “fix” something.
She’s having too much fun making fun of Leon by shoulderboobing him to geek out.
“sydney can take a pay cut equal to the cost of her health care and not even notise it with archon picking up the tab”
“But since when does that mean that she should have to take a pay cut to match the money she is paying out of pocket, completely unconnected with the store, for her health insurance, just because someone else is now paying for it for her?
She and Joel should negotiate something around her new half-day schedule, but since it is her absence which is requiring the hiring of additional help their salary and any benefits should be included in that negotiation.”
Note that Sydney and Joel may not be getting regular pay at all. Many small businesses don’t pay their owners a salary–they just withdraw what they need from their equity accounts*. Not that a business six months from failure would have much equity, of course.
*Doesn’t work if the shop is a corporation.
“since it is her absence which is requiring the hiring of additional help”
Actually, it seems the jump in business due to Sydney’s new celebrity status is what is driving the need for an employee. Previously, the business was not supporting the two owners full time.
Agreed.
No, it’s not the jump in business, which by the way has only been observed by the owners for the past hour or two at most and cannot possibly be relied upon to continue*, which is requiring the hiring of additional help. What is requiring the hiring of additional help is Sydney’s new work schedule.
It appears to take two people to run the store, and frankly that’s probably only because they are not making enough money to stay in business. I don’t believe I’ve ever been in a comic book or hobby store of any kind which had only two employees. And we know that they take vacations, since Sydney found her spheres while on her last vacation. So when one of them is gone the other is probably run ragged just managing the place. Bagged lunch or delivery, bank drop only after hours, and having to rush through even the smallest of distractions such as using the restroom just to make sure the store isn’t robbed while you’re in the back and away from the register and product.
* It might, but to hire someone based on that 1-2 hours would be completely foolish.
Which reminds me that Olivia said she only worked mornings at the coffee shop and had classes later. So really Olivia isn’t going to be of much help, since in the morning there will be all three people in the store and Joel will have to handle all the afternoons alone.
I am keeping my claws crossed that Olivia is on break at the moment. So can help out in the afternoons, until she has worked her two week notice. In the long-term Olivia being on duty with Sydney in the morning.
And Joel will presumably hire somebody else to work in the afternoons. Who we need not be that concerned with, as they will not interact much with Sydney.
If not, yea, it is all a bit mismatched.
Incidentally my local hobby shop ran for many many years, with just the one owner manager and no assistants. Although his wife would occasionally help out. Perhaps she did a lot behind the scenes, but as a regular, I rarely ever saw her. The front-of-shop was very much a one man operation. And it was very successful too.
He had a minion, who I assumed to be their son, but who would only stand in when they were away on holiday. He clearly had his own career, elsewhere, the rest of the time.
Or maybe she can switch to morning classes and work in the afternoon. Since she obviously doesnt have classes in the afternoon every day. Or she wouldnt be in the comic book shop RIGHT NOW.
“* It might, but to hire someone based on that 1-2 hours would be completely foolish.”
BecauseSydney always does things in a well-thought out and reasonable manner, never ever foolishly, in her daily life….
Hey Dave, I was just diving through the archives when I thought of something: Has it been established anywhere how much force Sydney can apply just by moving the orbs themselves? We’ve seen she can move them pretty fast and hit pretty hard with them, but she couldn’t pull them hard enough to get them out from under a car… Just wondering if there was any data on that.
Pretty sure that’s a function of their being active vs inert.
When they’re active, they attune to her thought patterns and she can make them float around etc.
When they’re inert, they exert a natural-law kind of tethering force, making it impossible for Sydney to get too far from them or them to get too far from her.
The tethering force is interesting because it doesn’t transfer inertia from the orbs to her. When Maxima pulled them, it didn’t drag Sydney. The force of the tether was applied entirely to Maxima’s end, resulting in one of the funniest moments in the whole comic.
But it does transfer inertia from her to the orbs. Hence, the tube skittering across the bank.
She may have to have them out of the tube to have the floaty control, and she definitely can’t use the tether force itself to pull a car. If she tries to move out of tether range and the orbs can’t follow easily, the tether stops her as easily and absolutely as it stops them.
The rule for the tether may be “If dragging one of them toward the other takes less than ~4 pounds of force, it’s dragged. If it requires more than that, the other can’t be moved away.”
>When they’re active, they attune to her thought patterns and she can make them float around etc.
This is what I’m talking about. We’ve seen her hit people with them like that, and make them zoom around and stuff. I was wondering how hard she can hit people just by “telekinetically” moving the orbs how fast she can make them go. Is it just like a normal human punch level strength or something more?
Also we know the orbs don’t have to be “active” for her to control them. She did it inside and outside of the bank before she got to archon and woke them up.
Even if we assume the flying orbs to be “unmovable objects”, and so far they pretty much are, their flight speed limits their kinetic energy to about that of a punch, as far as we’ve seen.
In Sydney’s brief skirmish with Math, it looks like she used an orb to stop Math’s finger-punch (which can’t have been very strong to begin with), but this distracted her so she got hit by another orb. She controls them at will, but obviously she only has so much focus.
She can stop one mid-air, but it remains to be seen if she can speed them up. I don’t think they can be sped up much – no point to say having a shield orb if they can spin around her like an electron shell – or if it can be done, it would require similar focus, and they have a pretty short range extending outward from her – no more than say five meters, looks like.
Oh, and the orbs were probably still “awake” when she left home, which means they may have been at the bank, falling asleep sometime after the robbery.
Didn’t syd need to speed up an orb when she used one to knock math on his ass way back when she first met him?
No, that was just the natural speed of her balls and Math not being aware of them at the time (plus he was ‘Hollywooding’ it :P )
Oh no, now you have me imagining her flying around in fights with a Go-Pro HD camera mounted on one of the “unknowns”. Talk about a marketing ploy for Arianna.
“Arcs” the new show about Super Powered Law Enforcement …
(Bad Boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna fo when Max comes for you?)
This goes to prove the (totally rational) theory that the orbs are just really big quarks. It is the strong nuclear force that binds them together, and it actually increases in strength as they are moved farther apart. This explains why they can’t be pulled away from Sydney, the Auntie-quark. Plus, there are 6 types of quarks and there are also, um, OK, there are 7 orbs. Which can only mean that Sydney has discovered a new flavor of quark! Or possibly that the fly ball is a Higgs boson. It controls mass and this could explain how it lets her effectively turn off gravity.
Wow, just one of Sydney’s abilities is to control the God particle!
I do like how you go that to hang together though. Fundamental thinking.
On the plus side, Olivia should have it fairly easy in terms of transition because she’s starting with a store that’s literally almost empty of product.
Thanks, mustache news guy!
He he. Now that is a very good point! Joel is going to be up to his eyeballs restocking. But there is not going to be much in the way of sales, until the delivery vans arrive.
Might I once again suggest getting deliveries via Harem Express?
As magical as that sounds it really isn’t any better, and really is quite worse, than FedEx or UPS or the USPS.
Harem would have to get to the pick up point, which wouldn’t be familiar to her and therefore would involve driving there. Then she’d pick up 50lbs of product and would need a camera feed into Event Horizon in order to TP there. Then repeat, with the possible exception that after a few runs she’d be familiar enough with the pick up point to be able to TP there with a similar camera feed.
Frankly, her being able to TP into Event Horizon was probably pushing the canon on her abilities already.
One advantage that Harem does have, is that in this day and age there is always likely to be a camera crew drawn to any significant event. So, even if they are being sensible and not broadcasting it all live on TV, Leon can hack into their feed back to the studio, and Harem can ‘port using that.
Not to mention the fact that so many folks have smart phones now.
VICTIM (phoning 911): HEEEEELLP! A giant monster has crawled out of the sewer!
OPERATOR: I am just connecting you to Archon. Please turn on your camera and be ready to transmit it live. Help will be with you in a moment.
Victim: Right after I take this selfie!
“Here’s me, being eaten by an alien monster! :) LOL”
The sad thing is that I could actually see somebody, in this day and age, thinking that they were safe, so doing that as a joke. Meanwhile not noticing the beasty getting close whilst they were doing it.
So I could envisage that happening all too vividly. I think I have seen too many clips of folks standing and filming, rather than sensibly running.
https://nypost.com/2014/11/25/hiker-took-cell-phone-pictures-of-bear-before-deadly-attack/
Has already happened.
The Darwin Awards will have a lot of contenders for the foreseeable future.
It’s been a stereotypical delusion among photojournalists that “nothing can hurt me while I’m taking pictures,” but with cell phones nowadays, it’s more widespread of a problem.
Poking at archives, just noticed that Olivia’s her high-five buddy in the very opening game night.
Yup, you think she’s playing Illumina? Their group has the DM, Sydney as Omnigal, two guys and two male characters, and then there’s Olivia (probably).
By tabletop logic Olivia was running a guy character and Illumina was the Pervy blonde nerdboy in back of her angling to ogle Olivia side-boob. Hot girls run guys. Guys often run hot girls so they have excuse to paint figures or draw silhouettes.
Okay wait. Gaming at night usually runs out in the wee hours. She leaves an open comic shop (at night) and drives to her superhero gig ? What is she on, the night patrol?
Not to rain on your theory, but actually I tend to play girls. Then again, the main games I tend to play are Abberant (superhero RPG game) and World of Darkness games (mainly vampire and mage). I played a guy once, though, in a game of Space Opera, and it actually was pretty fun.
You is a girl rules lawyer?
I cry foul! You are only saying that to lower our IQs in future debates!
I is a lawyer. I is know rules. It transfers over to my game playing.
*Waiting the moment of Sidney use the knowledge about Gurps Illuminati to prevent the world destruction…*
Fnord
I had to google this.
You weren’t cleared to do that.
Please dont tell the internet that i did that
Well Pander now that you have learned something you were not supposed to we have 2 choices, kill you or induct you in to the society.
I have spoken with the others and they say you may join, IF you can pass the initiation.
MD if you can please get and bring some more cactus paddles to the next meeting we are running low on them, and they will be needed for Pander.
Also check a round for some entertainment for Pander’s party afterwards, and make sure he’s
big “enough” for Pander.
Now Pander you will need to make your own ceremonial outfit.
It shall consist of a great white shark skin banana hammock , a full body wax, with a salt water bath follow up.
You will also need to bring a donation of 10 kgs of gold to the ceremony.
Dangit, I also had to google what ‘banana hammock’ is. The images.. the terrible images.
Borat everywhere.
PS – I don’t have a banana to hammock.
OK you can go with a basic g-string then.
Or wear the “hammock” with a real banana in it.
How are those mental images coming along?
:D
Harem have to be carfull not to say to muth about her powers. If one of Harems bodies have sex or torture or drugged. The rest of her bodies suffer fedback.
Many bodies one mind is both a great stength and Weaknes. Strength as her ability to co-ordinare with her other bodies must be great. Weaknes as she coud easy be distracted or defeted.
One wrong word and the reporters tell the world her ability
Yup, the wise super plays her cards close to her chest.
I’m pretty sure that her name, Harem, would have more than a few people thinking ‘orgy’
Hmm… the term “Counter Candy” could be considered demeaning by some (Maxima, almost certainly) and yet it remains a sound and effectual business practice.
(Shrug) go fight biology.
With Sydney behind the counter they have been using Japanese candy (bean? melon? Really?)
Try on some American style caramel wrapped in dark chocolate wrapped in white chocolate…
Okay so I just got handed some Easter handouts and the sugar went to the brain.
Ranma we love you, Ranma we do!
Ooooooolkkkkkkk so there was an add for a thing called “girl genius” on the side of the comic… Anyone else seen it? Did you see the striking similarity with halo?
It is probably not co-incidental. Girl Genius is one of the seminal webcomics, which has a profound affect on the industry. It is a Hugo and Nebula award winning publication, and has won more than once. Be sure to follow kitsune9tails‘s advice below and check it out. It is phenomenally good and I would recommend it for anyone to read, without reservation.
And I doubt that it is a co-incidence. Sydney would very much empathise with the heroine, Agatha Hetrodyne, and is a keen cos-player, as we can see from her well-stocked cos-play kit. Plus even her fantasies have a very Girl Genius appearance.
It is my assumption that Sydney chose her current glasses so that she would have a prescription pair, for her Agatha cos-playing. And just found that they suited her for every-day wear too.
Girl Genius is one of two webcomics I would reccomend to anyone who likes mad science, I would also reccomend it to those who like the steampunk aesthetic.
The other comic I would recommend to those who are fans of mad science is Narbonic: https://www.narbonic.com/ Which has finished its run and which I actually think is, in many ways, better than Girl Genius.
Also in my head I’m trying to figure a good way to have Helen Narbon (of Narbonic) and Agatha Heterodyne (of Girl Genius) be related.
And I too can easily imagine Sydney being a fan of Girl Genius.
Girl Genius is also a super excellent comic and everyone should read it also.
Did e ever actually find out whether Harem can teleport ‘through’ Halo’s force field, or was it just an assumption/risk? If not, it could mean that Harem doesn’t actually ‘skip’ the spaces she teleports through, just travels through them very quickly (perhaps in a semi-intangible form, such as an energy particle), or that Halo’s force field covers multiple (spatial?) dimensions.
The truth of that question could impact whether a ‘unteleported’ Harem body is truly nonexistent (relative to this dimension?) or ‘merely’ time stopped.
Harem can not teleport through Halo’s force field. She tried and couldnt when Halo almost got killed by Shadow Boxer
Sydney: “Joel, I’m a supehero”
Joel: Meh, big deal.
Sydney: “Joel, while you were gone for just a few minutes, I hired someone to help out.”
Joel: WTFOMGBBQ! *aneurism*
I actually cracked up reading this comment. Kudos.
:-D
Joel’s reaction does rather come across as angry, but DaveB confirms, on the first page of comments, that he is just surprised, rather than angry. Elsewhere he also mentions that Joel is probably was emotionally numbed by the overload previously and it is taking time to sink in (paraphrasing).
So, whilst amusing, it is not surprising that Joel is now venting. His emotions are starting to catch up. At some point, when the enormity of it all hits him, he might find his knees going a bit wobbly!
Sydney should see if Archon insurance is available for Joel. He needs it more.
Harem’s “your” might have been in the plural. See now this is why I have adopted “y’all”. It is a very useful word and y’all should start to popularise it!
But, for the very reason you just said, I would be surprised if Archon had not taken up Joel’s insurance. Likewise Sydney’s household insurance. And her immediate next-door neighbours’. And her parents’. All these folk are being put at extra risk by having an Archon super, with no secret identity, closely associated with them. At no fault of their own, and with no reasonable means to avoid the risk.
Any ethical organisation would ensure that their actions did not cause potential loss to others. Although the neighbours might just get their insurance subsidised by the increased cost.
Mind you, of course, I am now straying beyond what companies actually do in the real world. And rather stating what they should do. Plus what a few particularly ethical ones might do.
However, even factoring that in, I think it highly realistic that Archon would do that. Given that sooner or later one of those individuals is going to face a super-related loss. And the bad publicity could do irreparable damage. Unless Arianna can step up and say “don’t worry, that is all covered on the Archon scheme”. At which point the story suddenly becomes good PR.
Real world companies can get away with not behaving in an exemplary fashion. Simply because we (society) take it as the norm that they ALL will ignore everything that does not impact on their own profit margins. So any one of them will not stand out as being worse than the others.
But Archon will be under the spotlight from all anti-super or anti-gendarmerie factions. So has to take extra precautions that others might not. Plus they represent the super heroic ideal and, naturally, should always take the moral high ground. Even if they have to fly above it!
This scenario is oddly close to how I got my job at GameStop.
Minus the part where they slice off a little piece of your soul as collateral, right? :)
Yea minus that part, because it wasn’t small and they kept it.
+1
Couldnt you get them to sell it back to you at a highly inflated price?
I need to re up my power up rewards card and trade in two other souls for the bonus credit to put it in my price range. Word yet it’s summer, so no souls are coming out for me to trade in anyway.
*worse
This is why i get my souls off craigslist…
There’s an alternative source over at the Sinfest comic…I hear Mr. D runs a brisk trade in that market (along with a lot of other markets).
Looks like we’re gonna need more cast data entries. And who the heck is Tony?
Tony
“I WAS GONE TEN MINUTES!”
That was your first mistake…..
I wonder if THIS is where Olivia was working?
That link goes nowhere.
[singing] Your’e on a link to nowhere, with nowhere to go.
You see, she’s a girl with balls. The balls to hire behind her partner’s back.
She didn’t use her balls to hire someone, she just has them.
I wonder if her balls are male or female?
Or if they’re Cinderella style? Anyway I can’t figure out what her pumpkin might be.
Olivia is giving up a tipping job for the promise of minimum wage? Business must be terrible where she works; that or her co-workers are intolerable. I think you’d still have to sweeten the deal with sales bonuses for certain stock, so she has some motivation to upsell it.