Grrl Power #301 – The dumber your question, the more it’ll cost
The logical continuation from the previous page. Is it just me or is Robin’s outfit (which Joel is wearing a near-miss version of) basically the most humiliating superhero outfit ever? Sure there are intentional spoof costumes that are worse, but it’s tough to get past the green scale-mail speedos and the bare legs. Yes, all the modern variants have leggings included, that’s not what I’m talking about. Those leggings are there for a reason nowadays.
I found a webcomic I rather enjoyed, in that I read through the whole thing in two sittings despite needing to get on with the drawing, which I haven’t done recently. It’s different than Grrl Power in a few significant ways so I wasn’t sure about recommending it, but I figure the audience here is big enough that there are sure to be a few people who will appreciate it. The humor isn’t as zany and there are some more serious themes and it even has emotions besides “wacky” and “punch.” Anyway, it’s called Think Before You Think, and it’s about a girl who meets a guy with telepathy. (That doesn’t spoil anything, he’s enormously bad at hiding it. Also, you know, the title.) Obviously that premise could go a lot of routes, fortunately the comic plays it for laughs for the most part. Try not to take down the site you animals.
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.
What’s wrong, Sydney? Don’t want to beat up more bank “Robbers”?
She’s probably just concerned that people would leave if she left the comic shop.
Nah, she just wants to spread the experience :D
Where as in Dabblers case there is a whole other range of spreading experience going on :p
speaking of spreading I am craving a peanut butter and Jam sandwich (jelly to the folks across the pond)
Still reads as a PB&J, so it’s all good. Hope you are using extra chunky PB.
ofc to the extra chunky. Never could get into the smooth even as a kid (Funny enough I didn’t try PB&J until I was an adult)
“Jam” is still totally a thing people here say, too. The main difference is that jelly is strained, while jam isn’t. But even if most people don’t know that specifically, they will see jam as amother word for “spreadable sandwich fruit”.
What the rest of the world calls ‘jelly’ you call ‘Jell-O’, it is a dessert that wibbles and wobbles, not spread on toast :P
Wanna bet?
You might actually be amazed then by what people do spread on toast.
You do remember the fried PB and Banana sandwiches right? Now add marshmallow.
Then there is the Raisin Bread toast with PB, Marmalade and Cheddar.
Shall we go on?
As a kid I used to love peanut butter, cheese and jam sandwiches. Nowadays I prefer to split that into two different ones. I just like my peanut butter with salt, black pepper and Aromat, on steaming-hot buttered toast.
You mean “As a pup…”.
Bleat!
Ahem, sorry, just practising my foreign language skills. I meant:
Woof!
I grew up with a dog in our family & even after getting married, we had dogs in the family. I always enjoyed watching how they eat peanut butter…
:D
Peanut butter and bacon on toast!
Yes Yes Yes!!!! Especially when the bacon is still warm and a little chewy!
And the toast was warm when the peanut butter was put on, so the peanut butter is a little melty.
With some sharp cheddar cheese also.
Drool
Drool
Try some Chedder Cheese that had strong pickled onion flavour infused into it as well.
I’m not 100% certain, but I think you’re confusing jelly, jam, and preserves… Jam is basically strained preserves. Meanwhile, jelly is basically fruit flavored horse hooves, in jiggly form.
and it’s still better than vegemite.
ANYTHING is better than vegemite (or Marmite if you are British) it really is true, you either love it or hate it.
Nooooo Vegemite is awesome T_T why you go hating on vegemite :(
Also… PB and Honey is awesome on toast!
Just the smell makes me dry retch dude, and yes PB and honey is awesome on warm toast along with some traditional Anchor Butter on the toast first of course, then the PB and drizzle the honey on top
“fruit flavored horse hooves, in jiggly form”……..why does Dabbler pop into ones mind at that thought ?
I think Sydney has forgotten she left her car at the bank.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/267
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/396
as she most likely flew home last night
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1628
as such she would probably be the better choice
to go to the bank again.
Flying home would not preclude Halo from picking it up. The tentacle is capable of lifting a small car!
Yeah but 3 am me doesn’t remember to do much of anything but sleep
Oh yea, no argument. The girl could not even stand upright! I expect the car is right where we last saw it. It just tickles me that Halo could do that, if she chose.
Although I am guessing that Sydney will have some serious training as regards flying, in general, and carrying slung loads, in particular. It is actually a high risk activity. One that only highly trained helicopter pilots are rated to perform.
Its probably the whole being an unfixed non-swinging end of a pendulum.
I’m not sure that Sydney *did* fly home. She couldn’t find her way after having a good night’s sleep. Do you think she could at 3 am?
The only alternative I can see is that Max or someone else took her home. They could have taken care of her car as well. It’s mundane stuff that Dave might have skipped in the comic.
Even if the tentacle could lift her car, it would be interesting to see if the flying orb was strong enough to lift both her and her car at the same time. However, imagining a dozed off Sydney flying while carrying a 1 ton car… well, WATCH THE SKIES!
You raise a good point. I very much doubt that Sydney would be up to night time aerial navigation, by eyeball alone. Especially as the Archon HQ was presumably an unknown starting point for her. She will not have kept her bearings in that flight to it with Maxima.
However last night she did have a working pip-boy, with it’s GPS. And it’s user interface seems pretty sophisticated. So she probably just had to put in her home address and follow the directions home.
Sydney would know her bank address too (and would have documents in her pocket, even if she could not remember). So she could have even gone there by that means too. Although I doubt it.
That said though, when initiating the ‘time to go home’ activity, especially when dead tired, you will do what is familiar. Her normal routine would be to get to the car, then go home. She may well have done that last night.
Perhaps later Sydney might see some minor TV news report complaining about a car flying around at 3am, almost hitting things! Which could trigger her memory.
There is the risk that the car might not survive the experience. If I wanted to practise lifting cars with superpowers, I definitely wouldn’t use my own.
Poor Joel!
Kid Cold Legs…
You know somebody is just dying to take that for their hero name now.
With the power to freeze enemies his legs. Fear the ice cold kicks of justice!
and from the looks of his legs, he isn’t a “Veet Virgin”
Story of his life, methinks.
If Joel’s going to wear that costume, he’s gonna have to start shaving his legs.
…I wonder if he’s got the pain tolerance for waxing?…
:P
Why wax when you have access to lasers or the pew pew if Sydney can dial it down enough.
Have at thee follicles, mwhahahahahahahahahaaa!!!!
She can’t dial it down. Remember that she said that it would be a bad idea to try it indoors.
Yea. Although can’t is not necessarily true. She just has problems controlling it and has had a serious disaster which burnt down a forest. So presumably will have been wise and avoided risking a second one. As such her practice with the PPO is probably lacking, compared to the other four known orbs.
Which would explain her making that comment. She simply does not know how to tone it down yet. And would still be afraid of catching the building on fire, even if she could.
Hopefully, once she has had the opportunity to practice in a safe environment, it will turn out that she does have flexibility in using it. Although, I suspect, it will always require a concerted sustained effort to initiate the blast. That appears to be a safety feature, to prevent accidental, or ill-considered usage.
If I were Joel, I would attempt to get Sydney to make all the bank runs. The more the walking weirdness (now occasionally flying weirdness) is away from the store, the less chance it messes with operations.
She leaves. Clientelle leaves. Back to tumbleweed time. Not sound business se –er he co-owns a comic book shop… nvm
1 post-it note = 1 sale. Sales = enough post-it notes to overflow a drawer. Each one marked up by $50 above normal price and guaranteed extra sales (where authorised) via question answering.
I think he needs her there, more than himself!
That’s the cash register drawer that she is trying to stuff money into.
Heh, I missed the clip, above her hand. Which goes to prove that you are right. Mind you, that makes the point even more. Society normally placing higher value on money than post-it notes.*
And does kind of make sense about Joel’s statement, for that matter. Journalists’ questions would not be something I would rate as being worthy of going into a safe. :-D
* Unless said post-it note has a cheque written on it,** or a legally enforceable IOU, or the cure to cancer, or next week’s winning lottery numbers. Maybe a few others too.
** Yup, you could even cash it at a bank, if it was properly formatted and signed!
And that’s just cash, most of them would pay by plastic.
Those are business cards with questions written on the back. MWAHAHAHAHAHA! -The Detail Nazi.
Still, that is a lot of business cards. Some of those reporters have a lot of questions; and some of those reporters have a large expense account; and some of those reporters are serious nerds, with lots of questions and large expense accounts (or rapidly dwindling personal bank accounts).
Unfortunately Max will now know which reporters to kill.
Why do you say ‘unfortunately’? o_O
Unfortunately for THEM not for Max. Maybe though the measurements they want are her IQ or how much she can bench press (the Americans have this “you lift bro?” culture I believe).
Having an OCD for details I would like to know DaveB what the Telepathy one actually says.
I believe it says “Is Archon using telepathy a violation of privacy?”
well seeing as Sydney also mentioned the NSA watching Google (real life as well) they could use the same mantra of “to protect your best interests” or “you only should worry if you are hiding something” etc
I definitely could see Max voluntarily giving her boot size, also begrudgingly her height and hat size. Probably not her weight and definitely not her 3-size.
that info is between her and her quartermaster
Her weight is actual variable; that is how se flies.
“…Max voluntarily giving her boot size…”
Yeah, right up where the sun don’t shine, most likely.
:P
Sadly there are likely some in the world who would actually pay for that kind of kind *shudder*
Hey, consenting adults in their own privacy…
:/
Well, they didn’t specify what measurements. In addition to your suggestions of IQ and bench press stats, and Peter’s boot size, I suggest height, bicep size, and hand grip strength. Let them get the impression that if you sleep with her, it’s death by snoo snoo.
Good snoo snoo! though the comment of her flicking a bank robber across the room and the thought of her flicking something else…….I think I would prefer to go with some one a tad more “cooperative”
Be sure to read “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”.
Involuntary muscle contractions when backed by super strength…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_of_Steel,_Woman_of_Kleenex
https://www.astro.umd.edu/~avondale/extra/Humor/SexAndLove/SupermanAndSex.html
In Max’s case though, it’d be more like “Woman of gold, man of play-dough.”
Hey, I resemble that remark!
:-D
“Puts in a call to animal control “
Does this mean we are getting Yorp Neutered??:P
I sense the influence of the Evil Squirrel Overlord! He is always after nuts!
mmm extra crunchy
That Evil Squirrel Overlord sure does get around a lot…
https://www.henchmenonline.com/?p=757
Besides humans are far more destructive. They even found a way to melt Antarctica. No Penguin ever did that.
(Cats are the exception as they are true agents of chaos)
According to my 12 year old daughter they are no longer called “cats”. They are now to be referred to for all time as “Carpet Demons”.
Spoken like someone who really knows
catscarpet demons.A freind of mine prefers the term “Carpet Shark”.
Ha, i’d still go with demons though… we had a carpet demon that, as a kitten, accidentally got dosed with some drug sweating it off their skin, i think somebody said it was LSD??, whatever… apparently, they had it in their system and she was licking the sweat off of them while they slept it off on our couch. after that she always was a bit wacky… she would constantly run FULL tilt down the hallway and head-butt peoples legs/ankles when they were sitting on the living room couch, and then run and hide under something on the opposite side of the room just to watch their reactions. it was especially funny one time when we had a guest over and was sleeping on the couch when she did that to his hand that had fallen off the edge… the screams about demons under the coffee table at two in the morning were hilarious (no that guy WASN’T on any drugs…) we still miss her, passing on after a happy 12 years.
Friends of mine have a cat with a cute habit, passed down from it’s mum. Which is that it will always seek to climb on my shoulders, and even head. Curling around like a combined hat and scarf, and licking my face and rubbing up against me, to say hello!
The fencing along their property is the ideal height for that activity. So I am used to seeing a black and white streak, balancing along the top, and when close enough, stepping over onto it’s porter.
It invariably does that any time it sees me. Which is strange, given that it does not do that with anyone else. Other than the wife, in that family, and then only rarely, as she has an allergy to cat fur. Which, doubtless, explains why it does do that with her!
“…and licking my face…”
Seeing how you’re talking about a cat, my best guess is that it wants to check how you taste before plotting your murder…
;)
Send out the hostage bait!
I mean really. Day 1 hero shows which store she part owns and which bank she uses, Villain wannabe cases the store –busy as all hell– snaps a pic of who else is behind the counter and then proceeds to bank for the inevitable confrontation or taking of hostage…
Day 2. We see the robber begging to be locked up after Sydney came back with spicy takeout.
Yeah, don’t send Sydney to the bank again; that’s how this whole mess got STARTED.
Mess + Profits > Orderliness + Possibly having to close the store in six months
…most of those questions wouldn’t be the priority for the media….wait, I forgot what era I’m in for a second there.
*purchases something that costs around $100*
“MS. SCOVILLE! WHO HAS THE BIGGEST BREASTS IN ARCON? AMERICA WANTS TO KNOW!”
*gasp* I found Waldo!
Congrats…you are only the fourth person to make that comment.
So…are you a human who is in the Marines? (if so, thanks for your service. I was in the Navy myself transporting your butts around) Or are you a human who is also marine life? (if so, how is Aquaman and is he a gay fish?)
Don’t you just hate it, when somebody manipulates your name, to make a joke?
Yorp.
Can I help you Honey?
Norp.
Here Comes a good un.
Actually, your name reminds me of a friend’s in City of Heroes. He called a character “Along Came A”. Which, in isolation, does not make too much sense. But, in that game, your heads up display would list a character’s name and their archetype. Shortened in some cases. For him it displayed as “Along Came A Spider”!
When he invited me to join him, and create a character on that server too, I decided to keep to his theme, and chose “Along Came B”. She was a really cute bee! With a perfect bee-like look. Except for the bipedal humanoid basic form, but she bore that handicap bravely.
Her catchphrase was borrowed from Ali. “I float like a Butterfly, and Sting like a Bee”. At the hit of a single button, she would recite that and transform into her fighting form. Exactly the same cute bee, but wearing boxing shorts, boots and gloves, and sporting a champions belt.
And she had a punch to match her looks!
Come to think of it, I bet that happens to you, on an industrial scale!
You have no idea…basically every time I introduce myself I either get “Where’s Waldo?” “I found Waldo!” or “Is that your real name?” Which it technically isn’t, but I’ve had the nickname for so long that aside from legal documents and my immediate family, everyone calls me Waldo. I figure better that than some other nickname that could be have connotations that make me cringe. At least this one is tolerable and people remember it 10 minutes later.
Actually, my sympathies truly lie with your sister, Dildo. Parents can be so cruel.
Could be worst, they could be from a town in Newfoundland that is called Dildo.
Or even any guy who’s a native of the Greek island of Lesbos…Literally a “Lesbian trapped in a male body.”
I have no sister. Waldo is an only child. Though I am dating Carmen Sandiego…when we can find each other.
“Gives Waldo a box of signs to hand out”
I actually used to have a box of business cards that said “You’ve found Waldo!” that I gave out every time someone said “Where’s Waldo?” within earshot of me. I went through 500 in the first week and decided it wasn’t worth the money for the funny.
When you have Enquirer, and all the other rags out there plus all those shock journalist who get paid to raise your ire or titulation, you are bound to get some really off the wall questions.
Psh…CNN, FOX, and NBC would be asking half of those questions….we don’t even need to get into the tabloids.
“Self-edit” (read: “Do I actually LISTEN to what comes out of my mouth?”) is the first thing that all journalists of that ilk lose. I suspect there is some kind of outpatient surgical procedure involved.
More likely its done in the editors office and involves an ice pick.
“AMERICA WANTS TO KNOW!” ?
You really don’t know what era you’re in.
“AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW!”
Biggest breasts? I would think that would be obvious if one thinks about it:
Mr. Amorphous
Your logic is undeniable. Dabbler may be able to make a bigger illusory chest, but illusions are not quite the same as real, stretchy flesh.
My thoughts exactly. I just did not want to be the one to go there…
Lets face it, where Dabbler is concerned you wont be the first, last or 15th to go there :P
You have gotten the wrong hero there. And Heatwave would teach you a fiery lesson if you dissed her man, in the same way!
He also has the longest dong if I’m right.
So he’s the source of all those “girls of dual nature” scattered about the interwebs!
DaveB, why are you putting the comic out an hour early?
a: because he is awesome
b: because he had a slow week and could draw a lot more
c: because he felt like it
d: because after the fight scenes those look WAY EASIER and faster to do
make your pick hehe
pickle3719: why are you complaining? were you trying to get the #1 posting spot? o_O
Daylight savings time in america
To get technical, it is ‘saving’ without the extra ‘s’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time
But if you want the real story, top secret research has shown that having that extra hour of sunlight per day is the real reason behind the cause of global warming.
Because he knows some of us start holding our breath an hour early. DaveB is a kindly person, who does not like to see doggies die of asphyxiation!
Course now you’ll start holding your breath TWO hours early.
I was actually surprised Yorp held it for 2 minutes to be honest.
Actually I can hold mine longer than that, even when exerting myself. Just waiting at a keyboard, I could last considerably longer. I can quite honestly say I would outlive the majority of people, in the world, in the unlikely event that breath holding was critical to survival.
Because thats the only way that i would give him the antidote to the poison…
She had those powers before she went to the bank. And anyway, I don’t think there are “sidekicks” in Archon.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure most of those questions will go unanswered, even if she tries to find out. I’m pretty sure the least awkward way to get answers would be to bring the stack of cards to Arianna, tell her what they are, and leave the rest to her.
As for everything she does in this page, she’s following her shirt pretty well.
Depends on what her conditions were: one of them could have been that she gets a sidekick of her choice :D
Math could be her sidekick. Don’t most sidekicks have no power?
Math is an expert at sidekicking. And frontkicking. And knifekicking.
But, would actual sidekicks be listed as interns or apprentices?
or minions if applicable.
*holds up paw*
Me, me. choose me!
*wags tail excitedly*
If it was up to me, you would get the job :D
But, what about your hired Walker?
If Sydney can have Yorp as a sidekick, then that gal can be Yorp’s Side-Walker.
Go on Yorp! Fetch the orb, fetch the orb! Good boy….
Like, Sydney’s going to be able to toss it very far…
:P
Sydney could play ball with me any time she wanted to. I also like tummy rubs.
It wouldn’t happen to be the proximity between those two body parts that you’re hoping for, is it?
:P
Yeah but we only knew that cause this is Sydney’s story we are following so closely from the start. What if the story had followed his story we’d have seen the powers he is hiding? Something so odd he wants to hide it for even more reasons than Sydney’s general paranoia…
Maybe he has X-ray vision! I wouldn’t want people knowing I could see through clothing (and flesh) either!
he is …the Filmer!
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/91
okay sydney you can do much better costume wise.
otherwise i guess they better hire someone else for the shop at this rate… and well the bank account will be full enough for that for sure. until they realise she knows nothing…nothing at all (insert papa shultz voice)
anyone else has the feeling her meds stopped making effect faster this time due to the situation? lol
You now have your own superpower, DaveB. I hope you will use it wisely.
Also, love Sydney’s not-quite-evil grin in panel 4!
I was totally going to say “well you’re the one who linked to it, so it’s on your head.”
Ahh. Judging by her imagination shot, Sydney has not yet learned the mantra of “NO CAPES!”
At least Joel doesn’t shave his legs :P
Joel, there’s a Superhero in this store. Noone’s going to try to rob you
Especially not if they have seen footage of her Tongue-Fu!
Or her 7-10 Split maneuver…That would be quite discouraging to most robbers.
Not to mention her pre-superheroine rap sheet.
And ‘the List’.
Arianna is gonna get a lot of business cards with questions on them. I wonder if Sydney will remember to double bag all those cards, when she goes flying, or else ther may be a weird blizzard happening as she blazes across the sky. I can see Sydney proudly handing Arianna an empty and torn plastic shopping bag, and then distracting Arianna for several hours, until Arianna has no idea why she has this torn, empty plastic bag stuffed in her desk drawer.
…Such a shame it would be if all these pertinent questions just happened to be misplaced in an accident like that.
About Robin’s outfit: He debuted in 1940 – in a comic book that cost a dime. Enough said.
And that outfit lasted until somewhere around the 80’s or 90’s if memory serves.
It comes down to his origin story, as one of the worst secret-identity schemes in history – family well known for wearing costumes die, one survivor. (young male) New hero appears (young male) wearing exactly the same costume, plus a tiny black mask.
It’s like if Peter Parker became a successful professional wrestler called “the Spider” for a year before Uncle Ben died, and then just added a mask to his costume.
Just as I excepected :-( At least, partly.
Yeah, I remember his origin story, and agree, and was going to write what you did – but I needed to get some sleep first.
I’m lucky, the comic updates at noon in Germany, I can have a look during lunch time. :-)
It may be a bit unfair, but what can I do, except refrain from posting until midnight…
That works for me, thanks for your support. ;)
I expected someone to mention it by now, maybe it happens while I write this comment…
Dick Grayson was a circus artist, expected to have very defined legs and arms to show off, and AFAIR the Robin-costume somewhat resembled his artist costume (not sure). Spandex would have worked, but given the circumstances, why do it?
Did they even have Spandex in the 40’s? o_O
No, but they did have tights/leggings. Just not made of spandex.
We’re men, we’re men in tights.
We roam around the forest looking for fights.
We’re men, we’re men in tights.
We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that’s right!
We may look like sissies, but watch what you say or else we’ll put out your lights!
We’re men, we’re men in tights,
Always on guard defending the people’s rights.
High pitched:
Tight tights!
Manly men!
To answer some of those questions:
-only if they super-misbehave
-Harem doesn’t date, she goes directly to home base
-I could tell you, but Max would kill you
-Dabbler is.. many things. God is, as always, anybody’s guess.
-logos are cool.. and profitable, talk to Adriana
About the god question: Agreed.
But you could play off this question many ways:
#1 Proof of one does not prove the other, God needs his own proof.
#2 The complete lack of proof for God for the last 2,000 years has got believers into the habit of arguing for faith as proof of God. The argument goes something like this: “I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.” If Dabbler being a demon did prove God wouldn’t that prove God is nothing?
#3 Even if the existence of Dabbler did prove God she has four arms. Wouldn’t that prove the God is Kali, a Hindu god not the christian one?
#4 If proof had any effect on believers in the first place the existence of fossils would have them all believing in Darwin long ago.
#5 And where are others I could list if I wanted to go on.
Here’s a hint: don’t start. You want the Christian answers, search answersingenesis.org.
As far as the succubus thing goes, Dabbler is one. In this world, “succubus” or “demon” may well be a kind of space alien, which she has also stated as what she is. In other words, Dabbler being a demon does not prove one way or another for the rest of the question.
It never hurts to question and discuss scripture. Jesus himself did that, on the temple steps. And mundane theological resources do not answer the really interesting questions anyhow. If there are aliens out there, have they had parallel religious experiences? Are there analogues of Jesus visiting each world. Or does God hold Earth to be unique and special for some reason?
Are descriptions of demons a way of warning of us of a particularly evil race, actually out in the galaxy? Where those who listen to the warnings, will be forewarned. Are the descriptions of angels the best way that a benign species of human-friendly aliens could be described by pre-technological prophets, to a similarly primitive society? And it certainly does not answer the question of “Does God grant super powers?”
Well, it does, if you consider miracles to be kinda like super powers. But it does not give any hints as to whether she might give me X-Ray vision. See, all of the really important stuff is missing!
For the evil aliens, have you read Arthur C. Clark’s “Childhoods End”?
Doubtless, as a pup. I know I read as many of his books as I could get my paws on. But, as I only have one of his, in my collection, and that is a (very good) children’s’ novel, I know that it will have been from the period when I was reliant on public libraries to feed my reading addiction.
As such, I will not have re-read it in a long time. Not that I would be likely to remember it by name, anyhow, given my problem with those. But the interesting themes, and so on, will doubtless still be churning around in my grey matter, in one form or another.
I know I have read more than a few, exploring the issues I commented on, but it doubtless helped feed the curiosity. And I was, sort of, alluding to at least a couple that I half-remembered, which had those as plot lines. If his was one, then well picked up on. You recalled it better than I did.
When I wrote “Don’t start,” I was referring to some of his more questionable statements, such as that the existence of fossils proves evolution and/or a very old Earth. It most certainly does not, as discussed on said site (the theory being that, in short, most fossils were formed about 4000 years ago). There is no lack of proof of God, but depending on what you believe in, you may see it differently.
As far as your thing on space aliens, C.S. Lewis states in Miracles that if there are aliens, they may have had similar religious experiences, but the events involving Jesus are unique to this earth. They may instead have some other saving miracle, but our saving miracle of Jesus’s death and resurrection is unique.
My position on super powers and other mechanics in comics is that for that universe, God may have decided to try it out. That is, super powers are as much a part of the Grrl Power universe as gravity is a part of this universe (which is an appropriate comparison because neither is really understood. For what I mean, check the alt text in the comic.
Aha, thanks for clarifying your intent there. Yea, there were too many points raised, to be able to answer them concisely. And I am trying to limit my walls of text. Plus they were stated in a very ‘case closed’ manner. I would not want to impose on somebody’s religious belief, if they did not invite debate on the matter.
Ultimately all proofs require a judgement call. If one trusts the source(s) one might make that one way, if sceptical, one might conclude the other. At the end of the day, the biases inherent in each of us might sway our judgement, regardless of the quality of the proof. Short of first hand witnessing of an incontrovertible miracle, for instance.
The ultimate arbiter is one’s own belief system.
However, my personal philosophy places equal acceptance on each view in such arguments (and not just those two camps). In my, admittedly unusual, way of seeing the world ai_vin‘s belief can simultaneously be true, and valid, in all respects, with yours.
So, on one paw, the universe was created by the big bang, the Earth’s geography shaped over billions of years, dinosaurs ruling the Earth for hundreds of millions of years, for the purpose of laying down fossils to confound creationists* and it is all run by E=MC² and it’s cousins.
Whereas, on the other paw, God created it all in six days. And the fossils are her joke (or his if you insist on traditional gender assignment to divinity). Err or folks can look up the site, you quoted, for the consensus explanation. And, needless to say, God is omnipotent, omnipresent and probably glaring at me right now. Apologies for my flippancy, Holy One.
Interestingly enough, there are arguments which can be drawn, from either camp, to support the simultaneous existence of both. Not that they are watertight proofs, just intriguing ways to view things differently.
[Wall of text detector activated! Lengthy examples redacted.]
Ok there are certain perks to each. In yours, for instance, you get the prospects of a nice afterlife. His is… well presumably rather more dusty and empty. But, at least he need not fear Hell. Unless he has a last-minute conversion, and does not earn forgiveness, of course.
Personally I am shopping around for one which is dog-friendly. Although being reincarnated as a dog, in this world? Not too appealing. For all to many “a dog’s life” is not to be envied.
* Just kidding. They are there to confirm the atheists’ religious beliefs.
I’m sorry, but I cannot see how that’s possible. The different worldviews contradict* each other.
To me, you can’t have that accommodation without simply ignoring all the differences between them. It’s one thing to accept a diversity of others’ beliefs (an attitude I support), quite another to contrive a way to make them all simultaneously true.
* There are countless ways to demonstrate this. For example, one side says “everything was created 6,000 years ago”; the other can point to the measured age of meteorites (formed at the same time as the solar system) clustering around 4.55 billion years. That’s a colossal discrepancy.
Oddly enough, my conclusions do not stem from a basis of tolerance, ramped up to the ultimate extreme. Despite how it may appear. So my philosophy does not
I (accidentally) made a simple observation about a fundamental underpinning of life, the universe and everything. And have spent a few years following that basic fact to it’s various conclusions.
One of which is this seeming contradiction. However, despite your assertions to that end, it is not actually impossible. Once you can look at reality without the filter of the preconceptions we have built up around ourselves.
It is simple enough, at it’s core that it is possible to reverse engineer my discovery, from the comments I have made within this forum. If you can filter out my general gags and zaniness, from such, anyhow. However, I am still hesitant about unleashing the meme on the world, in case there is something I have failed to consider about it.
As y’all might guess, I do some pretty deep thinking on just about every aspect of life. As a matter of choice. But also to ensure that I do not do more harm than good. Potentially dropping too many hints might release it prematurely. However I think I have covered all the major issues, and as best I can see, thus far, the good outweighs the bad. So if i gets out, it gets out.
Mind you, there is no such thing as a new idea. So I am not taking too much of a risk.
Others have had similar base discoveries in the past (possibly identical ones, but they may have come to different conclusions to me, or simply dismissed it out of hand). My brother even came across somebody who started down the right path, and took it as far as my early work did. But then floundered.
However if somebody does manage to do that reverse engineering, and correctly re-construct that logic path, from basic premise, to the above conclusion, in the same manner that I did, then I will be happy to confirm it matches my own logic. But I will not if it has flawed elements, such as the incomplete theory I am alluding to above.
Otherwise, satisfying your curiosity, will just have to wait until I have concluded all my pondering. Although I am pretty keen to get it out into the world. Not having to wage war on the other guy’s religious beliefs (or lack of them), because they contradict your own? That is just one of the incidental perks.
There are just as profound implications in areas outside of theology. Including physics.
And that is your last hint, should your curiosity be piqued enough to attempt it. Hard though it may be for me, I will have to resist dropping more, or providing 20 questions style answers ,to narrow down of the options. Mind you, once you are enlightened, you will not need me to confirm it. It will be blindingly obvious. Such things always are, in hindsight.
Thanks, and good luck with the pondering.
Darn it.
*sigh*
One day the bait will tempt somebody worthy! Possibly. Ho hum…
I dunno. Stick a sword in a stone, and every Tom, Dick and Harry will come and tug on it, until they turn blue in the face.
But challenge them to free their minds from the stone…
*sustained sigh*
Laughable. AiG will lead you astray.
4,000 year-old fossils found embedded in 400 million-year-old rock… really?
My family has a way of explaining this (which we don’t typically discuss with others) in that since God created a mature Adam, couldn’t he have created a mature Earth? That is, the rock may seem old by radiometric dating, but it’s not really that old. Same with asteroids and whatnot (like light from very far away). In addition, conditions assumed for radiometric dating may not have been as constant as the scientists would like. Radiometric dating depends on nearly constant conditions. Maybe there was a lot less radiation in the past? At any rate, you won’t find the answers to history by discounting everyone who disagrees with you. Yorp has a point.
I find that entirely plausible.
Whilst I am prone to debunk things, I do so when they fail to be consistent. Yours is a robust enough argument that detractors have to resort to ‘flying spaghetti monster’ counters, in an attempt to undermine it.
Needing to debate by ridicule, rather than showing a way to convincingly disprove a proposition, shows a debater who is failing to acknowledge a basic flaw in his argument. An honest conclusion would be as follows:
“I have been unable to disprove your view, despite all my attempts to the contrary. But I choose to believe that mine is the correct one. Even though I have no definitive proof, to that effect, either”
I take it you are talking generally here. I haven’t mentioned atheism at all – I’m simply arguing against young-earth creationism, due to its incompatibility with the evidence.
Besides, on other threads you have talked about the early history of the Earth, the dinosaurs, evolution of birds, ice ages etc. Lucario (and much more so, the mentioned website) would deny all of that actually happened. Does that sit well with you?
I am talking generally, in terms of the defences against such arguments. But specifically as regards the specific family theory mentioned.
That particular approach is unassailable. If 4,000 years ago God chose to make the world and, for reasons of her own, chose to make it in a mature state, with a depth of apparent history to it, then there would be no detectable difference between that world and the one that exists because of the Big Bang.
Sitting here today I would have no way to distinguish between the two worlds. Plus both arguments have an equally plausible starting points, when viewed within their own structures.
Does it sit well with me? Mmm, I grew up as “I would like to believe, but have my reservations”. And scientific thinking does dominate my thought process and default way of seeing the world. So it does not sit easily with me, I have to be honest.
But I also realise that a lot of that is because of the way I was brought up.
Somebody who grew up in the age of the natural philosophers or when alchemists were the learned men, to be consulted on matters of state, will have their mind-sets locked into those ways of thinking.
After they had been exposed to the clearer thinking of scientific methodology, they would only gradually accept the new way of thinking.
Even Einstein took a while to warm to the ideas of quantum theory. Despite the fact that his own early work actually had an anomaly, which pointed to it.
Whereas those who have grown up under a more developed way of thinking will not have those same hang ups.
Even understanding the mechanics of how both systems can be simultaneously true, I can find myself slipping into thinking in the patterns and habits of a lifetime. It can be hard to be fully accepting of a world view that does not match the one you are most familiar with.
Of course, should there be a generation who grows up and is educated in how such ,apparently incompatible and mutually contradictory, universal mechanics can simultaneously exist, then they will not have such a hesitation.
Don’t you think it would be nice for your children to grow up knowing that it is not necessary for someone else’s world view to be false, in order for yours to be true?
Both systems are right. And they are not the only ones.
Particularly regarding the dinosaurs, I just read an article on the site about that. Basically, dinosaurs have existed on the earth, and when food supplies diminished, they died off. We know of other species that have died off in recorded history (dodo bird, etc.), so why not dinosaurs? Also, the term “dinosaur” is pretty recent. In Job, there is a creature described (that Job is clearly familiar with) that closely resembles a description of a dinosaur (maybe something like a brachiosaurus?). However, the term “dinosaur” did not exist back then, and it is instead referred to as the “leviathan.” Other terms which may refer to dinosaurs include “beast” and “dragon.”
My apologies for the tone – just pointing and laughing is not classy.
But anyway:
If God wanted us to understand this creation, why make it appear to be far more ancient than the Bible says? It’s like He wants to deceive us into making the wrong judgement. Why do that? Why create a world and universe that we can understand, but it’s all designed to trick us?
Two points: “not as constant” is totally plausible for small differences – but not for a difference of about five orders of magnitude. The laws of physics would have to be very, very different in the past, and the evidence points away from this.
Secondly, a “lot less” radiation? That’s backwards: to make radiometric dating go wrong in the way you suggest implies much faster decay in the past – so much so, the radioactive elements in the Earth would produce enough heat to keep it from becoming solid.
Of course not – the useful answers will be found by listening to and understanding (if only at a superficial level) those that have the ability and dedication to dig into the evidence all around us and deduce what actually happened.
Not by listening to those who would bend the evidence to fit a predetermined scheme, just because that scheme is mandated by scripture.
Ooh ooh. A chance to play God’s advocate, rather than devils advocate! Let me have a stab at it, in addition to whatever Lucario may wish to add.
To allow us to explore a rich and deep universe. Thereby allowing us to learn more about ourselves, due to the challenges faced in discovery. Also in getting to know the universe, we get to better understand the mind of God, behind it.
What point would there be in telling Moses about the formation of the Milky Way, or other subjects, which it would be down to generations not to be born for thousands of years to explore? He, and those others enlightened, were told what was relevant to them, in their day and age, for them to pass on in ways that they understood.
Why tell them to say “Universe” not “World” when nobody would understand the distinction? Likewise explaining that time is a construct of the human mind, and does not really exist, would not be the highest priority to farmers, herders and fishermen.
Not when there were much more important points to be conveyed to them, such as the purpose of life and the right way to live it!
I am liking this game.
*wags tail*
Aww. The radiation thing is just too easy. No where near as much fun as the previous point!
:-(
If you create a universe in a mature state then everything in it will be in that mature state, as if time had passed previously. Even it it had not.
Think of it like a saved simulation. You plug in your equations into your model, let it run through until you have the model in the state you want it to, and then save it. When you re-open that file, everything will continue in a manner consistent with that previous behaviour.
Which would include radioactive decay etc. Blah blah.
But, to make it exactly analogous to Lucario‘s explanation, the simulation is not arrived at by running it to a set point. So it is more like getting a game with a specific scenario, created to emulate a particular time period. Once you start playing it, it is indistinguishable from a saved game, which had actually run up until this point.
If made by an infallible, omniscient being who can handle such tasks, with no difficulty.
God has just created the universe in that state, as if time had elapsed previously, put humans in it, and provided us with a players guide.
Which lets us know that the game itself is not as important, as the way we play it.
Home base is kids with marriage.
Not since they invented the pill it ain’t.
Hey Dave, try saying Sydney’s dialogue in panel 3 and see if it makes sense to you. Either the “since” or “so” needs to go.
This – it’s pretty jarring (and I’ve made the same mistake in the past – it’s easy to start typing one thing, then change your mind and edit it but forget to edit out part of it).
It’s something that people wouldn’t even blink over when hearing, especially from someone like Sydney who changes thoughts mid thought. But reading it is a bit more jarring.
Let’s be honest here, Robin’s outfit is there so he’s easy to spot as a distraction…
I forget which webcomic it was in, but “Target – the boy wonder,” a definite parody of Robin, was much more honest.
Sounds like “Super Redundant Heroes”
No, that’s “Dodo”.
“Target” was from “Bad Guy High”, IIRC…
Haven’t read “SRH” in a long time, but can remember their Batman’s sidekicks had targets for their symbol, and he tended to go through more than a few of them :P
Robins costume is based on his circus costume, thats why it look like that
Now for the brand new adventures of Ballgirl and her trusty sidekick Joel!
No not Joel, Kid Cold Legs!
Is that “The Hammer of Grabthar” on her costumes belt?
And nipple chain on the outside?
H with a halo for the cross bar.
That was an…interesting…image.
Perking up the A team?
Well we know Peggy, at least, does not currently sport one. Despite having the Suicide Girl image. And Sydney’s mind seems to go more to tassels. So I suspect that might not be comfortable with that.
I was going to mention that the H(o) logo was simply the wrong placement/sizing, due to this very obvious effect. Either the H has to be taller, thus dragging the halo down a bit, or the whole thing should not be that particular width. Did Dabbler design that?
Maxima is gonna have kittens (and perhaps someone’s head)… I’m not sure what Arianna will think since technically while Sydney did technically break protocol, it couldn’t be considered a security breach.
She hasn’t been trained on protocol yet, so she can probably be forgiven for that.
She also handled it relatively profesional. She may not have directed them to Arianna directly, but the effect is the same (plus a full cash register)
I don’t know about that. Sydney only promised that she would try to get answers. She’s doing a lot of leg work for Arianna finding out which news outlets want which information.
It’s not Sydney’s legs getting worked here, it’s their cash register that’s getting bulked up…
No protocols broken, regarding the questions on the business cards, as Sydney only promised to “try to find out” answers, leaving her plenty of outs for not answering certain questions, and if she passes them all on to Arianna, then Sydney has done her due diligence, providing she follows up and makes sure that Arianna is actually addressing the questions, which has, probably, already been mostly done. It is not all that difficult to predict what banal questions will be asked by our current generation of journalists. True investigative journalism is a rarity now-a-days.
Virtually dead. My Dad was a printer during the old school newspaper days, when reporters actually tried to be truthful first and foremost. He stayed in printing after that of course. Anyway I learned to recognize good reporting at an early age. Can’t say that I’ve seen any signs of it in decades though.
It’s rare to even find a reporter who can put together an entire article with proper grammar and spelling. And copy-editing (which I did for my high-school newspaper) is definitely a lost art.
Especially these days as they press constantly use the word “alleged” and “a source told us” instead of saying “we just make up this BS and you all lap it up like the dogs you are!” (no offence Yorp)
Is it just me or is anyone else getting a Blankman vibe from Sidney’s imaginary outfit?
I like the logo on Sydney’s shirt.
H with a halo as the vertical line, very simple and very effective
Vertical lines go up and down; horizontal lines go parallel to the horizon, hence the name.
What’s really fun is people messing up row and column. I’ve had that three times in the last 6 months.
I have a friend who is wired up the wrong way for “left” and “right”. Yet, somehow, he has no problems with “port” and “starboard”. So, if he has time, he simply converts one into the other. Without that though, navigating for him can be a real art form.
“No, no! Your OTHER left!”
Especially when dealing with roundabouts. He has been known to go the wrong way around those!
Heh, I have a friend who mixes up the two as well. He’s a fursuit builder and made mine (Yes I’m a furry and I have a full wolf costume). The feet of my fursuit are helpfully marked with “L” and “R” on the inside. Nauraly the right foot is the one marked “L” and the left foot is marked “R” :P
I did ask Santa for a pair of really furry slippers last year. Previously I had a pair that looked like gorilla feet, and they really help keep the paws warm. Especially at the times of winter when there is not snow deep on the ground, and you want to save fuel, just in case it does turn nasty.
Santa came through with a pair of Bulldog slippers, which do the job nicely. So much so that I refuse to remove them, even if answering the door. Which has alarmed a few of the locals. Mind you, having gotten past my dragon, I would have thought they should be prepared for anything!
Where’d you get the dragon? I want one!
I (honestly) can’t remember. It was a long time ago, in a place far, far away. He is awesomely cute though. If you can get past the glaring.
You know I checked that twice in my mind, and still messed it up.
Damnit brain, get your act tougether
Cashier: “Please tell me you didn’t eat spicy again”
Sydney: “I knew I forgot something.”
Cashier: “Deposit the money before you do. Please?”
The Adventures of Halo!
And her sidekick: Kidd Spleen !!!
Bad idea, in that case they need a third person to man the shop.
You do remember what the Spleen’s power was right?
Pull my finger!
Oh and THE BEST put down line ever from Baby Bowler. “Spleen, there’s just not enough beers in the world, I’m sorry”
OK, what guy tucks his graphic tee in like that? that looks ridiculous
People who don’t care whether others think they look ridiculous for tucking their shirt in like that.
People who own a business and don’t want to look like a slob when potential customers walk in. Though I wonder why you don’t have the same complaint about Sydney who also has her paterned tee tucked in. And the WonderWoman tee from all of the preceding comics except for the just waking up one…why the double standard? Seems like a lot of those are coming out in this page.
It does not strike me as odd personally.
As regards double standards though, they need not come into it. Some people have the right build to pull off a look, whereas others do not. Joel is particularly lanky, so I can well see how somebody would find the bulging effect not go suit him. Whereas Sydney does have just enough curves for it to compliment her.
Guys and girls do have physical differences. If this happens to be down to a point where that, in itself, makes a difference to the aesthetics, I do not feel such to be a discriminatory issue.
Although such arguments do have a limit, beyond which it does become a problem. For instance if someone were to hold that “untucked shirts are slobby”, but only apply that to one gender, yet not the other. Then that is a sexist attitude.
In this case Deadmedic‘s comment would seem to follow the latter vein, but it need not necessarily have been the intent. Whilst ‘guy’ is usually taken to mean males, it is not necessarily the case. And speaking, or writing, in a gender-neutral style is not normal in English. As such it is neither easy or natural* to do.
So I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt, in such circumstances.
* As in ‘if talking casually, without being paranoid that a feminist will take it the wrong way’, as opposed to ‘talking in a gender neutral way is unnatural’.
Joel doesn’t make the cut as a sidekick. He has a bald spot and has a decided lack of full, pouting lips.
So full face mask with cute little robin hood hat? (whatever those triangular things are called)
If you’re confused about what that kind of hat is really called, you’re not alone.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081013135802AAPJaxw
So, who coloured this one? Looks like DaveB still.
Robin has not shown his face yet. I guess that is down to his hoodie. But now I notice he made no mention of any leg coverings. Was the hoodie just a red herring?
If so, why was Robin wearing a fish on his head?
So they had to change clothes just to make a bank run?
=OP Just waiting to see if someone takes this comment seriously….
Well if Joe’s outfit doesn’t make the bank run, nothing will.
+1 lol
Does anybody else get the impression that Sydney has pictured herself as Agatha Girl Genius, at some time? Just going by the goggles and tool-belt here. Sydney gets the glasses free. Although the base part of the outfit does look like the kind of mechanic’s clothing that a spark would wear.
Of course, Sydney’s idealised self-image may have been tweaked, somewhat, since the orbs came along. I don’t remember Agatha in a cape.
Cloak maybe, or what was traditionally viewed as a cape before Superman started leaping buildings
Yes but what self respecting Geek doesn’t have a set of steam punk goggles regardless of Hetrodyne influence?
HEY!… I resemble that remark … [haughty sneer]AND, i’ll have you know, that MINE are even ANSI-Z87.1 Rated!!. [/haughty sneer] :D
seriously though, if i wanted to i could where them at work and be legal, they really ARE rated.
ye gawds!… i can spell correctly, Honest!… WEAR, not “where”
HA-HA.
She does look like a wannabe Girl Genius. First thing that occurred to me when I saw her outfit.
Anyone have a clue as to what that dingus is on Sydney’s belt in the last panel? It has the quarter-bend handle and med length shaft.
And she has goggles, because goggles.
Looks like some sort of climbing pick/hammer held in a loop.
It may be best if Joel went anyway. Sydney doesn’t have her car and she got lost on her way to the store. Which she goes to every day, I think. Can’t imagine how hard it would be to find her way to the bank.
She will be fine, provided she is not harassed into flying off to a place she does not recognise. Not having been there everyday, she would not know where to go. Strangely enough.
So long as she keeps to following landmarks which she does recognise, she should be able to follow her normal route. Plus, if she has recharged her pip-boy, that does have GPS capability, so can assist her, if she takes a wrong turn and does happen to get lost.
I’m not so confidant. She even said on the page where she was lost that she thought she WAS following the road she normally takes. :P
Landmarks look different when you are a few hundred feet above them. Anything less and you have a chance of hitting high tension power lines. The towers are visible but at 60mph the wires don’t show up until you are at them.
I am very spacially aware i remember turns not buildings. Unlike google earth the ground does not have grey lines with words printed on them. Not even Google Glass managed a street level overlay of road names for where you are looking.
Wait… are you agreeing with me or yorp? lol
I know all of that, and that’s exactly why I was saying that if she got lost on her way to the shop (which she goes to almost if not daily), she’d likely get lost on the way to the bank which I don’t think she goes to daily.
My phone does that, forget glass.
Streetview app, set to gos location and to orient according to gyro + accelerometer.
Supre it only shows you the image from the nearest streetview snap, but it’s not half bad.
Glass should be able to do it even better, if there was someone actively working on an app.
20 bucks says Joel gets kidnapped before the week is out.
Check back in 2020 then. ;)
I don’t think it will be that long. Introductions always take a long time, and fight scenes are the kind of things comics specialize do, so of course it was long and drawn out. I’m certain that once we move back into the more daily/mundane stuff things will pick up the pace.
You are right. This book is scheduled to be spread out over weeks, of basic training, as opposed to just a single day. At two updates per week, rather than the one day, which most of the previous book was written in, that means it should cover that in two to three years. Assuming that the books are about the same size, which need not necessarily be the case.
Once past basic training, future stories could well be more erratic. Leaping forwards, say if there is a quiet lull of months. Where the villains are quietly modifying their sinister plans, of world domination, to take into account the new phenomenon of Archon.
And then compressing, as those schemes come to fruition, and major story arcs reach a critical tipping point, and hours and minutes become important.
Joel has nice legs.
And he’s not ashamed to leave them un-shaven :D
um… correct me if I’m wrong, but unless he’s a serious competitive swimmer or body builder or a Drag Queen (not judging, just pointing out a possibility)… what male EVER shaves his legs? those are about the only three scenarios that i could see as a reason for him to even WANT to shave… so why would he be embarrassed to NOT shave?
now imagine him un shaved and dressed as “The Spank” from SRH.
ok and now try unseeing that :P
I’ve known at least one guy who shaves his legs because he doesn’t like body hair.
And while my legs are hairy, I sometimes wax, um, areas. I want to be a model ^_^;
And even then, most male swimmers (at that level) will wear skins.
Except for ultra-hardcore competitors.
Harem’s probably the hardest to date. Say what you want about how intimidating Max might be. you’d have to keep everyone of Harem’s bodies interested. Call Tyrant he has experience with that.
Then Harem should meet Jamie Madrox…
;)
And give Harem ideas? o_O
Well, yeah. One of those ideas involves Harem, for the first time in her life, actually dating several copies of the same guy for each of her own copies!
Who says you’d have to keep all of Harem interested? When you’re dating someone, do you have to keep all aspects of that person interested? No, not in my experience.
Is it me or is the grammar of in the third panel?
It is both.
It’s off – I’m sure it’ll be fixed once Dave notices.
To be correct, she needs to lose either “since” or “so.”
To be Sydney, eh…
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Sydney forgot that she actually had a car as she can now fly everywhere? A month later she gets a bill for towing and storage…
She drives her car in the intro.
True. But that is still ‘several months’ away. So the scenario could play out, as scripted.