Grrl Power #364 – They like us! They mostly really like us!
By saying “attitudes trend positive” Arianna is obviously glazing over the more extreme fear mongers and other individuals or organizations that garner the majority of their ratings through emotional appeal without regard to any long term consequences of doing so. While some of those people may well have valid points, they also tend to move on to the next scandal or policy hypochondria quickly. Eventually the more relentlessly belligerent voices will need to be addressed, but not today.
The concerns about Dabbler’s origins are the usual conspiracy theories and theistic lamentations. They just happen to be right in as much as Dabbler is not a super human, but is actually a demon, but they’re also wrong that she’s here to swallow our souls. Humans are enormously tribalistic, a word I use to mean that we can find an excuse to hate murder anyone who isn’t in our group, be it race, religion, gender, sexuality, hair color probably. “Methodists? They make Episcopalians look like Presbyterians.” The joke being that few people not actually in one of those groups can identify any meaningful differences, (often many who are in those groups can’t either) yet in years past, Protestants and Catholics over in England, who were almost entirely racially homogeneous and agreed on 99% of everything murdered the shit out of each other for decades. I think one group was more in to Mary maybe? It’s a way less funny prequel to “There’s Something About Mary”
Anyway, that’s why they’re being cautious about outing Dabbler. Probably going to try and wait till she’s saved the world at least once. Besides the whole demon thing, it’s proof of advanced life and civilizations beyond humanity which is actually way bigger news than an official federal super team.
No one there has anything in particular against Kelly Rippa. It’s just fun to watch people unaccustomed to spicy food try and eat something genuinely hot. I like this video, it’s not full of spice noobs, but one guy does eventually bury his face in a gallon of ice cream. Not surprising since they all load up Ghost Peppers (900K Scovilles) with “Satan’s Shit” (1.3M) and “The Source” (7.1M). It’s a little bro-y, but they suffer for your entertainment so it’s ok.
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Syd, got to love that her food basically screams “Burn, Baby, Burn!” at you.
Are you suggesting she name her sauce ‘Disco Inferno’?
It’s retro enough to be trendy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M
Is it bad that I want the recipe for that sauce? (Please let it be real)
No, I’m not a masochist, I just like my spicy food to have more than just heat!
I’ve actually managed over the years to try peppers on the scoville charts all the way up to ghost peppers (served in a sort of hot sauce form), and if my kimchi doesn’t blow up at least one jar while resting, it’s not spicy enough.
My preferred pepper of late for a mildly spicy meal is a habanero.
I’m half Korean, gotten used to eating hot peppers almost from birth.
In otherwords…kids, don’t try this at home.
Try California Reapers, that should sort you out
Last I heard, it was the Carolina Reaper that was the hottest going. Is there a new pepper breed, or did you mistype? Quick research trip All the references I found were for the Carolina Reaper, at 2.2 M Scoville units.
That feel when you almost ask which comic Sydney a hot pepper scale named after her, only to realize it was vice versa.
If I remember correctly, DaveB did not know the significance of the name, when he picked it.
If the Carolina Reaper isn’t hot enough for you, try the Chocolate Bhutlah. It will be the hottest pepper in the world once extensive testing is done on it to figure out how high it actually goes on the Scoville scale, and preliminary testing puts it pretty far beyond 2 million. The Reaper peaks at 2.2 Million. If you’re looking for heat with really nice flavor, though, go with the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, which is one notch below the Reaper, peaking at 2 Million but averaging *only* 1.2 Million.
I grow both Scorpion Peppers and Ghost Peppers. (Container gardening next to my driveway)
As far as I can tell, they are equal in heat, which probably means I’m just getting “average” Scorpion peppers.
But, honestly? That’s okay! I don’t think I really want anything hotter than I’m getting from my plants right now, and since I managed to winter over the plants last year, they’ve gotten big enough that I’m getting more peppers than I can eat.
Also, the Scorpion and Ghost peppers aren’t very flavorful; they’re good for cooking spice heat into dishes but they have effectively no flavor beyond the heat. So, for example, in the meatloaf I made yesterday, I did chop up two Ghost peppers for spice; but then I had to add a Cajun Belle (a Bell Pepper/Serrano cross) just so there’d be some actual nice veggie pepper flavor that you can taste beyond the heat.
That ought to keep the squirrels in check. Mind you, you may need to keep refilling your bird bath every few days.
Obligatory link to Emo Philips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2y_kI_-x1Q
Heh heh, loved how, in the video DaveB posted, the rookie lasted the longest :D
*Sydney goes back for 2nds…*
*Then 3rds…*
And takes whatever is left home in a doggie bag for Yorp.
*Later sees Yorp literally flying down the street, rear end now a rocket engine of sorts…* :P
*vroom*
great I just can’t place the cartoon name about supersoldier dogs who’s leader has superspeed and it was a repeat joke about the small line of fire he left behind as digestive issue.
Road Rovers.
That ain’t no Nyancat rainbow…
What’s the top-right newspaper title? We can see all the other ones, but that one is always out of frameor covered by speech bubbles.
It looks like it might start “KR” …
“Kremlin Announces: Russian Supers are Better than Puny American Supers”
sub-heading: Putin challenges Archon men to bare chested “awesomeness” contest”
He should challenge the women instead… just to make it more interesting.
He would still lose :P
Response, “Achilles challenges Putin to wrestle a bear while only wearing a speedo.”
“Krakatoa nothing next to this!”
My guess: the first word is “Kryptonite” followed by something along the lines of “won’t stop these heroes”.
“Kryptonite, do we have any?”
Perhaps.
“Uh, we have Krypton gas. Does that work?”
Of course, if Superman were vulnerable to Krypton gas, he’d have to avoid fluorescent lighting.
Surprised you went with the Reformation as an example of pointless tribal killing in British history. I mean religious identity had been unchallenged since the Romans finished off the Druids over a thousand years earlier, loyalty to the Vatican was a pretty integral/unshakable part of the entire populations’ everyday life up to that point. In single battles of the civil war like Towton and Bosworth tens of thousands died in hours thanks to the longbow, all over whether a Yorkshire or Lancashire bloke would be best fitted to go and beat up the French a few years later (very abbreviated version I know :P).
I used to work with someone who co-organised the annual Hastings “Burning of the Pope parade”. Err, it probably has some official name. But that is the highlight of the evening, after a torch-lit procession, through the town, and the obligatory fireworks. Which always hit the regional news, as being a very well attended event. Unless political correctness has forced it to be abandoned, they are probably preparing it as we speak.
*sigh*
“Hastings” = “Lewis”
Actually, that would be Lewes. One of the many Sussex Bonfire Societies (and the biggest).
They also burn effigies of other figures, for example Osama bin Laden in 2001.
and tried doing Alex Salmond last year as well. From what I hear its still being prepped for 5th November.
There was a period where the Holy Roman Empire was the government, even over the kings and princes, but it was still far less homogenous than you say. Every region had their quirks and various beliefs, and the there were those pesky plagues. There were all sorts of factions as to why God was punishing them/ending the world/ etc; and what to do about it. Also, wasn’t that also when the crusades were happening?
“There was a period where the Holy Roman Empire was the government, even over the kings and princes, but it was still far less homogenous than you say.”
Yes, the HRE started in 800, when the Pope wanted a protector from the Iconoclasts then ruling in the real Empire, with its capital in Constantinople. The joke was, by 1800, the HRE was neither very Holy, nor was it much Roman, and was built on the strength of German mining wealth.
The reason that it was not supreme, with lots of imposed homogeneity, was that after 535 AD the warmth of the Roman Warm Period went South. That meant that you could no longer grow 3 crops of wheat a year in most of Europe. Since wheat was what supported marching armies, both men and the horses, and the farther NorthWest you went the less wheat you could grow, it was Northwestern Europe that saw the growth of separate nations from about 800 onwards. Their logistical difficulties meant they could not support imperial contenders, nor Imperial armies from outside. Conquest became local and short-ranged.
Then, about 900 AD, the warmth started to return, and by 1055AD the biggest problem between France and England was the drop in income of French lords, because of imports of cheap English wine, made with grapes grown as far North as Lancaster. Wheat grew in abundance in France and the rest of the Baltic Plain. By now, though nations had solidified, and could defend themselves better. This was the Medieval Warm Period, from about 900-1300AD.
“Also, wasn’t that also when the crusades were happening?”
The Crusades started with a letter from the real Roman Emperor in Constantinople, in 1095, asking the Pope to send mercenaries to fight the Muslim Seljuk Turks. The Pope then decided that leading his own army of well-fed Northern European cavalry and infantry would make it easier to re-unify Christendom under his direction. That was why the first “Crusade” was preached, as a reaction to the “Holy War” that the Caliphate had been waging for 450+ years by then.
“There were all sorts of factions as to why God was punishing them/ending the world/ etc; and what to do about it.”
This happened after the end of the Medieval Warm Period, and is called “The Little Ice Age”, from 1300 to 1850. With the end of warm weather came the end of 3 good crops of wheat a year. Kings could barely keep their own kingdoms together, much less afford to go on frequent Crusades. Starvation was common. People believed that God had turned his back on them. They blamed everything from the corruption of the Church to allowing Jews to be bankers.
The Reformation started with Wycliff’s teachings in Oxford in the 1300s, and only began to explode when the printing press became available after 1453, for printing pamphlets and new bibles. Then came the Discovery of the Americas, and we moved towards the industrial society of today as sailing ships began to net the world together, in networks of trade. That exploded after canning allowed food preservation that kept men from starving on voyages around the world.
Technicaly what you’re refering to as the civil war is known as the “War of the Roses” which was A civil war, but THE Civil War usualy refers to the King Charles V Oliver Cromwell series of wars a few centuries later.
Not to be confused with the still later civil war, typically referred to as the American War of Independence. Nor with the subsequent civil war which occurred in those parts.
[silently reflects upon the sad loss of so many brethren from the crown]
I know of the reformation because in an episode of Blackadder, a militant Protestant told Blackadder that cold was god’s way of telling us to burn more Catholics.
I am not a historian.
True story.
“Methodists? They make Episcopalians look like Presbyterians.”
AFAICT, this is more-or-less true-ish, and also fairly value-neutral.
I mean, the Methodists were formed as a reform from the Episcopalian church, attempting to make them more protestant in a personal-relationship-with-God and Social-improvement direction. Meanwhile, IIRC the Presbyterians were protestant in more of a divine-destiny direction, which is not exactly opposite, but kind of. So, yes?
Certainly, it makes more sense than any of the other permutations except the precise reverse order, which is much more true mainly because Methodists and Episcopalians are much more closely related to each other.
You are my favorite person of the day for this. *was raised Methodist and spent a lot of time learning about the history of and distinctions between denominations of Christianity in an attempt to figure out why everyone was pissed at everyone else*
That said, I think (from my experience) the bigger rivalry is between Methodists and Baptists. A) Because Methodists tend to be more liberal (they have female preachers, deacons, and bishops! *gasp!*), and B) because I’ve noticed that their churches are often in close proximity to each other, and it was always a race to let out church first to beat the lunch rush. “Beat the Baptists” was actually a saying in my home church when the preacher would be checking the clock hanging in the back of the church to make sure his sermon didn’t run too long. :P
Kinda weird to be to watch discussions of this. “Religion” as a concept seems to be something I’m doomed never to understand. I could honestly never make it past “an invisible sky wizard runs everything”, without wondering why anyone took the concept seriously. I can’t mentally wrap my mind around, not the concept, but the taking-seriously of it.
Clearly I’m missing something.
> Clearly I’m missing something.
A willingness to base your life on a millenia-old book instead of on logic and science? And, of course, there’s this argument.
Correct. You are. Stop trying to apply laws of Reason to matters of Faith. It doesn’t translate well.
We think time has a start point. That’s pretty well accepted now that the scientists have shed their discomfort with the big bang as being too close to the book of Genesis. So what was the uncaused cause? What got the ball rolling on this big, wonderful universe of ours?
We don’t know and are likely never going to know unless we somehow manage to get outside the universe (good luck with that) or talk to someone who was there. Any opinion on that event is a matter of faith, not science. So we’ve got people saying that they’ve talked to someone who was there and set the whole thing in motion. Mad props if that’s true and probably somebody you should be listening to on lesser matters.
So what brand of faith is attractive to you? Is it the theistic kind, the deistic kind, or the atheist kind? I’ve got my own favorite (ask me about Romanian Byzantine Catholicism) but just about every variation fits this (very loose) framework.
Dude… atheism is not “a faith”. It is a lack thereof. Trust me I’ve seen both kinds of people.
Get back to me when you’ve read “The Dragon in My Garage”. It’s short, and explicit.
Actually, agnosticism is the lack of faith. Think of it this way: How can you scientifically prove that there is no God? To be able to explain things without involving a higher power is *not* a proof that said higher power doesn’t exist. Atheism requires faith; it is the religion of no God.
And here you’re basing your argument on the inability to prove a negative, which is convenient as it’s virtually impossible. See Russell’s Teapot & The Invisible Pink Unicorn for further details.
Anyway all sensible beings know we should revere the Flying Spaghetti Monster (for are we not all touched by his noodly appendage?). :-)
Sydney literally got touched right in her eye by Him yesterday :P
Ramen, to the both of you! :)
(Christian, uniting church, here, but I do love His Noodliness!!
fee on you seek only to the first egg and she who genetically engineered it from the whee fire-lizards. (LOL!) anne mcaffry dragonriders for those that miss the reference. not my actual belief set but an example of the folly of arguing religion based on unproven texts. just be good to one another as is a common theme in near all modern religions/faiths.
Yup. Agnosticism is the acceptance that we can’t know, whether because of lack of information or inability to understand the vastness of the universe (and/or other reasons) and comfort ability with not knowing and no insisting that any one answer has to be right. We choose what to we believe, all the while accepting that we could be wrong and that the true answer is “I don’t know.”
Atheists, like thiests, believe that they know. They need certainty just as much as thiests do, and so they put their faith in the evidence that they understand.
I’d argue that there are two main threads of Agnosticism:
The first consists of people who examine the current state of knowledge on there being a God or Gods, and decide we don’t have enough information to know the truth. They still care about the search, and are willing to get into arguments on it with either side, in hopes of learning something new.
The other consists of people who look at the whole discussion, and declare it pointless because we cannot know the answers. They are willing to accept people who declare God exists are as likely to be right as those who declare he doesn’t, but think we have other issues to be arguing about that are more worth our time.
(So, yes, there is a schism in the group that agrees it can’t know if god exists. Though I’ve never seen them fight over it.)
I just finished reading. I rather liked it, actually. Shows that we can’t argue from privileged access (info that only we have access to) because there is no way to prove to others that such experiences are legit.
Arguments that don’t rely on these privileged revelations, however, like appeals to design in nature or the need for an origin of existence, will need to be addressed another way, like evolution and multiverse theory attempt to.
I would like to correct some semantics, though.
Atheism is a belief in the lack of the supernatural. A simple lack of belief in the supernatural is different. That’s agnosticism. One is a belief to the negative, the other is a lack of belief. It’s nitpicking, I know, but using the right terms can help avoid confusion.
I would almost **** you for ACTUALLY reading that. Not quite, but, the sentiment is there.
Also seriously: “I BELIEVE there is NO Santa Claus”. That is your idea of atheism? I forgot how dense people can be. I’ll be weeping over in the corner.
More than one national post office has had to publish written apologies for failing to properly deliver mail addressed to Santa Claus. And promise to ensure correct delivery in future. Without qualification.
Given that they are considered to be federal agencies, messengers for the crown or or otherwise held in similarly high esteem, plus their confirmation of delivery being held to be proof of receipt in any court, means that he is real, even in the eyes of the law!
When it comes to “belief” in the existence of something, I remember a particular exercise that we had to do in my high school Sociology class. The teacher challenged the class to prove to him that we exist. I told him that I could bring proof the next day.
I brought the payment schedule book for the auto loan on my pickup truck. It’s evidence that that bank believed strongly enough in my existence that they loaned me money to buy it. It was enough proof for the teacher…
:)
That’s easy, you just hit him with a stick until he admits he exists. If he didn’t exists, it wouldn’t hurt.
I like an apocryphal story I’ve seen.
Atheist proffered gets up in front of class and says he will prove god doesn’t exist.
Looks up and says “God strike me down and prove you exist”.
Waits a few does it again.
A marine gets up decks him and says “God is busy looking after my brothers overseas and asked me to take care of your request.”
“Miracle on 32nd Street”
It’s the classic definition of the word. If you don’t get that, you should be weeping for yourself.
That is: If you shrug and say “I don’t believe in God, I’ve never seen proof”, you are agnostic. If you say “God does not exist, period”, you are atheist.
Or let me put it another way, involving science; physics in particular. Some physicists believe wormholes are a possibility. Some believe that it is likely they aren’t a thing. If you were to go to a physics conference and announce: “WORMHOLES EXIST”, everybody present would demand proof. If you were to announce “WORMHOLES DO NOT EXIST”, again, everybody present would demand proof. If you were to shout “I DO NOT BELIEVE IN WORMHOLES BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN NO PROOF”, everybody would shrug and go back to their conversations. This is because the first two statements are significant claims and therefore require evidence- the last claim is basic rational thinking.
Even Bertrand Russell famously said that technically, he was agnostic, even though he functionally behaved like an atheist.
Here is the “classic definition of the word.” Or at least as classic as a dictionary can be considered when providing definitions of words.
As I read this it includes both your definition of agnostic “I don’t believe in God, I’ve never seen proof” == “disbelieves” AND your definition of atheist “God does not exist, period” == lacks belief.
The problem here is that both atheist and agnostic can mean different things to different people, and the strict definitions of these labels isn’t always a good way of distinguishing those differences.
Hell, as you can see just up the thread, some people, mostly religious persons who have had this propaganda fed to them by their religious leaders, believe that atheism and by extension agnosticism are merely different forms of religion. Which is ridiculous, but this is what some people do believe.
No. Here’s Mirriam-Webster, Cambridge, and Dictionary.com’s take:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/atheism
https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheism?s=t
You’ll note that ALL clearly indicate that “atheism” is the status of actively believing that God does not exist. They use the word “disbelief”, and not “lack of belief”, because “disbelief” means the utter rejection of the possibility of belief. It’s not ambiguous like intellectually dishonest persons wish it were.
To sum: the actual dictionaries, as linked, CLEARLY indicate that “atheism” refers to the doctrine of believing that a God or Gods do not exist. Dunno where you got your made-up definition.
Also, Agnosticism is not a religion, and neither is Atheism. But Atheism is absolutely a faith, as it is a belief in an non-provable assertion. That means that Atheism is not, and never will be, a rational stance. Which is why Bertrand Russell said what he did.
Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of gods.
What “ism” is the belief in all isms equally, simultaneously and without bias?
Seriously.
I can’t exactly answer your question exactly, but this seems like a good time to mention that I’m an omnitheist. Only God exists. Everything you think you perceive, including your own left hind paw and the mouth you’re using to chew on it because it itches, is actually God.
I believe you are totally correct. As a sub-set of my belief that also includes God not existing.
It is interesting to see what a difference belief can make.
Yorpism.
Heh, as good as anything I have come up with to date.
It would be nice to have something that was more intuitive though. Half the isms on the list above give a broad hint as to their nature, just from the etymology of the word, even if you are not familiar with the definition.
Ghandi said “There is no higher god than truth.”
Which I believe means as long as you seek to find more truths of whatever nature you are seeking god/enlightenment/apothise or however you call it.
Sounds like Unitarian Universalism.
Fascinating. I did not know that such an organisation existed. Far closer to what I was asking for, than I realistically expected an answer on. Other than naming suggestions.
Sounds like I should try and track down one of their… theologians err plus whatever they have to cover the agnostic and other varied beliefs in their organisation. Probably more like philosophers, if of the “don’t believe in God” side of the organisation.
There’s a chapter in Bethlehem where I used to live with a very nice old church to reside in.
There’s Universalists, and there’s Unitarian, and there’s UU.
Well, it can be, but only if that absence of belief in existence is also accompanied by the presence of a belief in their (the gods’) non-existence. Otherwise, you’re just an agnostic, like every other rational thinker.
Do you believe in Dark Matter? According to physics it’s the most powerful force in the universe keeping galaxies from spinning apart, and yet it’s invisible, immaterial and we can’t seem to find any here on Earth even though according to calculations it should make up 98%ish of all matter everywhere. So even cold hard physics believes in the invisible, unknowable, unfindable thing that holds everything together. They just came up with a scifi sounding name for theirs.
* I don’t think Dark Matter is god. I think necessity of “dark matter” to make physics work is proof of The Creator’s sense of humor.
But it is possible that God is made out to dark matter/energy, yes.
Actually it’s more likely that God is from a higher dimension. ( If I didn’t accidentally use the words)
While they can’t see it, they can still detect its effects on the universe. Same goes for Dark Energy.
I’d like to point out that Dark Matter and Dark Energy are only labelled as “dark” because we explicitly don’t know what they are. We are in the dark about them. Once we discover what bits and pieces of Dark Matter and Dark Energy are, they’ll get proper names one bit at a time until there are none left to properly name.
[2150, in a holographic chat room]
“So, you are still sticking with ‘dark matter’?
“Yup. I don’t care that there is a scientific consensus. I am a traditionalist!”
“Even though you have actually travelled on the Galactic Transportation Network?”
“‘Calling them ‘Nessie Ships’ just sound silly to me! I don’t care how accurate the translation is, from ancient Dinosaur. Besides which, they look dark and it doesn’t matter!”
I just want to point out your first statement depends on the exact definition of ‘faith’ and ‘atheism’. Most here are trying to argue that atheism includes a belief (a belief in a negative, but a belief nevertheless). However, I don’t think it would be invalid to define ‘faith’ in this context along the lines of ‘position on what God or Gods exist’ – and atheism would be a faith under that definition. (As would agnosticism.) After all, if someone asks ‘What faith are you?’ and you answer ‘Atheist’, you have answered their question.
*Sigh*
Atheism is NOT a faith or a religion. Atheism is the absence of faith.
When a person answers “I am an atheist” to the question of what religion they follow, it is a simple shorthand for saying “I do not believe in any god or gods.” This is the absence of faith.
When the waiter asks you what type of salad dressing you would like and you answer “none,” you are not admitting that no salad dressing actually has a flavor. It is the absence of flavor.
Without proof of evidence to deny the existence of gods, then it must be taken on faith that they don’t exist. Atheism IS a religion of faith…That gods don’t exist.
+1
Factual, logical and truth.
Indeed. The closer term for someone who lacks religion would be ‘agnostic’. While ‘atheist’ indicates a clear religious position without evidence, agnosticism answers the question ‘what do you believe’ with ‘I do not know’. This is an indication that the person does not consider belief without evidence to be valid, and is unwilling to commit to a conclusion without proof.
This is both a cop-out and a false statement. That we don’t know now is factually true, but the same could be said for a great number of things including the fact that the Earth rotates around the Sun and not vice versa as was thought for a great many years. Throwing up your hands and claiming that we “are likely never going to know” is not a license to invent and believe in gods in order to sooth your feelings of inadequacy.
And an opinion on the matter need not be based solely on faith. It can perhaps be based on the current body of scientific evidence. As in “I believe in evolution even though there are gaps in the fossil record.” Or it can perhaps be based on an unproven mathematical theorem. As in “this theorem is mathematically sound, and it suggests that our entire universe may be inside of a black hole.” An opinion can be drawn from either of those two sources without any need to delve into matters of faith.
As for me, I’ve got nothing against the concept of Religion & how it’s meant to inspire people to become something better than what they are, but I’ve got a whole lot of apprehension for the man-made Organized Religion for screwing it all up.
Organized religion, the second biggest joke played on Humanity.
The third biggest joke is the concept of “Divine Right to Rule.” The belief that a superior social-standing is an acceptable substitute for actual divinity.
Unless, of course, genuinely granted by divinity.
*wags tail mischievously*
See I just chose 3 sub-christianity sects that seemed like the most inoffensive middle class white person churches. As someone who is not a member of any of those, I know nothing that distinguishes one from another, though obviously it would be trivial to learn if I so desired. (I did grow up in a… Presbyterian church I think, at least until the day I left for college. Never been back.)
Yeah, honestly, that was foolish.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much about religion that could be considered inoffensive, especially on the internet. You could say, “Jesus was an alright dude,” and someone would still throw rocks at you. (Disclaimer: I am not religious, and that was the most inoffensive thing I could think to say.)
“I think one group was more in to Mary maybe? It’s a way less funny prequel to “There’s Something About Mary””
This is my favorite thing I’ve read all day. :D I’m now always going to refer to that period in English history as “the way less funny prequel to “There’s Something About Mary”.”
From memory:
“Oh, so you heard about it too?”
“Dude, I only live seven counties away!”
Is that a Watchmen. newspaper on the screen?
Raises hand.
NO CAPES!!!
No Capes?
NO CAPES!
Crepes for everyone!
and of course knowing syd’s eating habits neither of them are being metaphoric you could load that sauce into a catapult and lay siege to a town for the next century sure the residence won’t be happy that they now have to eat molten lava but it’s either eat the projectiles or surrender and they might be forced to eat the whole pot if they surrender just in revenge for forcing the catapult engineers to endure the sauce
Sydney did leave publicly-displayed evidence of what her eating habits are like. On the floor of the bank just yesterday, the Hazmat Cleanup Crew that handled it can testify, as well as the entire population within a block-wide radius could testify from the olfactory evidence…
Chilli Bees; “We sting your eyes”
Actually the eyes only hurt if you fail the basic pepper rules and do something ridiculous, like, say, rubbing your eyes after handling peppers. People think that washing their hands thoroughly will stop that, but it doesn’t, unless you actually use pumice or something to take the dead skin too.
What actually gets to you, if you’re cooking hot peppers, is the throat and lungs. That business about wearing a gas mask when roasting peppers? And, oh yeah, doing it outdoors? That’s no joke. It’s not uncommon for people to actually pass out because they take a deep breath (or a bunch of shallow ones) and then can’t breathe for as long as they’re conscious. They keep getting the tiny beginning of a breath – like, one hiccup’s worth – and then coughing instead of being able to get any more.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/241
In fact, there are other ways they can hurt your eyes when Sydney is around.
;)
Heh. My nephews (3) and niece from my older sister are all pepper junkies and have been from childhood. A friend with a farm gave then about 10 gallons of habanero peppers and since they couldn’t eat them all they decided to dry them using some kitchen gadget they borrowed from a neighbor. They chased themselves out of the house and one brave one had to go back in and turn off the dryer and open windows.
On the plus side, they made so much dried hab powder that I got a spice jar full of it. That had to have been 5+ years ago and I still have about 3 tablespoons left.
Should ask them for a refill. ;)
Umm, the Catholics and Protestants issue is/was predominantly focused around Northern Ireland, a part of Great Britain or the United Kingdom, of which England is also a part.
No, that’s simply where they refuse to surrender The Good Fight
I agree with everything you say up to the point of the phrase “The Good Fight”. If everyone would give everyone else space to believe (or not believe) as they see fit, then the history of the world would be a much happier place.
Both sides view their side as the ‘Good’ side
That’s why there’s a big monument to three Anglican bishops burnt by Catholic Mary across from the Oxford pub where Tolkien, Lewis and their gang hung out and swiped stories off each other, right?
Four centuries apart is stretching a point. We don’t keep banging on about the Roman invasion anymore either, or the Normans, or the Danes . Moving swiftly on …. :O)
I’m actually more hyped about Sydney’s cooking show than the super hero battle.
I really want to see a few of those nicknames.
Then you’ll have to read the full report, just as Arianna indicated…
;)
The dialogue in the second panel feel clunky. I think you meant to have it say “but they mostly wash.”
Also, I figured she wasn’t going to share those nick-names in an effort to prevent people from going out and horribly murdering the folks who called them that.
The “Catholic vs Protestant” battles in Ireland and Northern Ireland were more about native Irish (Catholic) vs English occupiers (Protestant) than about religious differences. Just in case nobody else mentioned it yet.
I’m actually from the area where Protestants and Catholics “murdered the shit out of each other”
Aside from a few minor differences not worth mentioning, Protestants recognize the King/Queen of England as head of the church, and Catholics recognize the Pope… and divorce is much more acceptable if you are Protestant.
If my history is right, some medieval king of England wanted a divorce and the pope of the time wouldn’t allow it. So he said ok… I’m forming my own brand of Christianity where I can do what I want cos I’m head of the church. Then he tried to stamp out Catholicism in his kingdom and enforce Protestantism…. hence the bad blood between the two sects.
And all because he and the missus weren’t getting along. It makes for a perfect example of the stupid, pointless excuses behind so many long term feuds.
Worse it was because he kept getting girls and he thought a different wife might give him a boy.
I thought that it was only the Anglican Church that held the king/Queen of England as the head. Certainly the Luthrens and Anabaptists didn’t believe that the ruler of England was the head of the church.
Let’s not forget that religious denominational battles were fought in America, though generally on a smaller scale. it was tied up in racism and regional politics. It’s only been in the past 30 years that the various and sundry denominations have actually taken to admitting that the other denominations aren’t going to hell.
Indeed. If I recall correctly the word “Christian” was either coined or at least made popular by a politician who didn’t want to state his particular sect of Christianity because he didn’t want to drive away potential voters. Before that this religion which has as one of its core tenets “love thy neighbor” was ripe with people more than willing to demonize “the other”, even if they differed only in which end of the egg they broke first.
No. You aren’t from Germany.
Weird that no one commented on the South Park movie reference there.
If you’re referring to the headline on the lower right of Arianna’s screen, Lurchi mentioned it back on the first page of the comments…
I see.
I simply “Ctrl+F”d south park and saw nothing, so I assumed.
Should have read, like, the first comment.
I am personally at the point where jalapenos have no real.burn and taste mostly sweet to me.
Wait, what happened to the whiteboard? Is it behind the main screen or something?
You misspelled Kelly Ripa as Kelly Rippa.
Yeah I gotta fix that.
just looking at the newspaper i noticed “who watches the watchers”.
nice reference.
Wow, they are encouraging Sydney to make hot food??
Where’s the nearest nuclear shelter with a basement?
Halo, Goddess of Chaos.
If Dabbler ever learns Super Construction Guy’s origin story turns out to be true, she will propose that Maxima’s title be changed to:
Maxima, Goddess of Erection.
Nah, Sydney’s just a Discordin prophet & pope, not a full-fledged goddess.
(She actually might even know about Discordinism. It seems right up her alley.)
Ahh, lull her into a false sense of security, so she takes a nice big mouthful. Then have the steadicam follow their use of the crash-kit, her trip with the air-ambulance, to the ER finally her treatment in intensive care. All the time capturing each attempt, to revive her, live on air!
Pffffffft! This belongs down there.
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Goddess of erection? You are really trying for that Bingo.
Be careful though, If she finds out then all bets are off and the house keeps the proceeds.
Tempting though it might be to come across as smarter than I am, I must confess that I had not actually considered that. But, checking the bingo scorecard, I see that you are right, it does appear on there. Nicely remembered, or deduced.
“Maxima, Goddess of Erection.”
That’s a nickname I wouldn’t touch with a 10-inch pole…
Will we get to see Kelly burn her face off by Sydney’s sauce?
Hopefully as a vote incentive .
Nah, that’s in comic national news worthy. Particularly if Sydney eats some on camera before Kelly does.
Ahh, lull her into a false sense of security, so she takes a nice big mouthful. Then have the steadicam follow their use of the crash-kit, her trip with the air-ambulance, to the ER finally her treatment in intensive care. All the time capturing each attempt, to revive her, live on air!
This year I grew Red Savino Habaneros, ghost peppers, and Carolina reapers, my goal was to start at the habs, then eat the ghosts then work my way to the reapers, i didn’t make it past a roasted half a ghost. I ended up combining the reapers with red fresnos and red cubanelles to make a sauce, and turning the ghosts into powder and pickling the habs. I’m sure Sydney would burn Rippa’s face off with pure cap and then eat it as if it were nothing.
No she would drop and roll.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/697
A technique, I might add, that failed Sydney twice during just a single day…
lots of people dont have the guts to try out hot foods. though gotta say least its not a challange like in solitary. (btw heres the episode i’m refering too) https://www.hulu.com/watch/5284
United States clip only. But at least they had a nice apology with it.
*Orders entire Empire to raise their hands.*
Just hope this “voting” thing doesn’t give the commoners any dangerous ideas…
See now that is a sensible form of governance.
That’s why I have a clone army.
Or 20.
Or more .
I just got out of 1 of those. Probably fun to command, but not much fun to be in the middle of. Primus alive, am I glad I’m not 1 of those grunts…
One thing has me intrigued. Zephan’s presence. Clearly he needs to debrief them on the Arc-light side of things. Especially their failure to predict the attack, but also including their role in the defence.
Or can he?
We know that he cannot mention the A word here. But will he be allowed to mention the M word? There are recruits and maybe others who are not in the loop. Or are they trusted with one state secret, but not the other?
Will he have to make out that what they were doing (when casting the you-can’t-see-me spell, to cover their intelligence and communications position) was super-powered in nature? Despite the fact that he does not match the super-heroic template. And that such misinformation might have critical consequences, at a later date.
______________________________________________________________________________
A is for Alien. M is for Magic.
Maybe he’s there because of Sydney.
Remember that at the end of the meeting “yesterday” he said he had a few ideas about where her orbs came from and wanted to do a little more research. Maybe he’s stumbled onto some clue that will only raise more questions and have us debating like mad?
Quite possibly. I’ve noticed that does tend to happen around here, lengthy discussions about plot points…
Of course, Zephan might be there because Dabbler’s here too. When Dabbler joined in with Sydney’s “job interview” under Glamour, Zeph also thought about brushing up on his Demonology with closer…study…of Dabbler.
Yesterday (somewhere upstream in this morass) i mentioned my recipe for spicy rice, and offered to share it if anyone e-mailed me.
I got one e-mail, and i thought about it, and i made a webpage with it (and a PDF version).
You can find it on-line here.
If anyone looks it up and tries it, i’d be interested to hear how it worked out, and any variations you tried. E-mail me with such at fairportfan{AT}outlook{DOT}com to share.
Thanks for putting that up, and in a nice environment too. Just thought I would mention that, ironically, your red-text warning is harder to read, as a result of the background. Still legible, but not ideal, for a warning.
The plus side is that the eye is drawn to it, so the purpose is served.
I just spotted something which would affect Harem’s ability to get out of the pressure-prison, if not Opal’s. Namely the fact that if she reduces her number of bodies, she does not just increase her strength, but also her ‘general toughness’ (see panel 5).
If we assume that Harem’s survivability to hostile environments (in this case pressure) or harmful metabolic changes (the bends) is proportionate to her strength increase (which the panel strongly implies), then that cell would be far less effective in containing her.
Thus, if she unteleports all her spare bodies, Harem might, for example, be able to survive, unharmed, at a depth sixteen times deeper than a normal human. Or may be able to surface sixteen times faster yet still avoid the bends.
When did the Portal enemy wind up being harem
Sorry, misinterpreted lol
No probs. I do the same myself, from time to time.
I don’t think the public knows about Sydney’s taste for super hot foods, do they? I mean, I don’t recall it being mentioned during the interview at the bank, the press conference, the live-fire exercise, or any other time when the media were around. So the folks at home know that she’s a fun and quirky girl, but not anything about how she likes her food.
If she does go on TV and demonstrate her recipe, I hope she thinks to offer her audience a warning. Not only might she injure Kelly Ripa, but all the people at home, too! If she ends up putting thousands, maybe even millions of people into the emergency room, our heroine is going to have to lay awfully low for a very long time.
I’m sure most would figure it out when they have to sign a waiver to purchase the ingredients.
There’s also the fact the bank hold-up’s footage was spread all over the net, including the little pepper bees stinging 1 of the bank robbers (yes, I know they weren’t actually there, but the pepper-spray effect still was), as well as the fear-vomit doing the same thing basically. I recon a few smarter Human meatsacks could work out she likes HOT SPICY stuff if her breath has a pepper-spray like effect…
Note that members of the media are probably hunting down anyone who can provide extra data about Sydney noit already covered in press releases, including her likes / dislikes.
Given also that she is not exactly a “low-visibility” person, I’d say Sydney’s fondness of mega-spicy food is probably one of teh first things that will be turned up – various of her favourite eating places will probably be lining up to say she eats there (and makers / suppliers of HOT sauces eagerly vying for her endorsement).
.Probably not front page news (except maybe for those journals that are culinary-inclined) but of interest to someone, surely.
I was just looking at the vote incentive again where Sydney’s done a little skywriting. I thought I might offer my idea of what’s being said there.
Maxima: “Sydney, how did you even do that?!”
Sydney: “Pretty damn well, I thought.”
Heh.
Here is my version again, for anyone who might have missed it earlier in the month. It is best to click on the image, to enlarge it, so the dialogue can be read easily.
Heh, right back at ya!
Maybe this has already been brought up, but it looks like someone’s hand is missing a few fingers. Any idea whose hand that is?
No missing fingers, they are just folded up. As confirmed by DaveB. So no particular significance, other than visual imagery. Somebody had a guess who in one of the threads.
*gestures vaguely with paw*
Lets face it, some reporters everyone wants to see hurt, mauled, burned, or imploded…
I have a recipe for chili. Not unusual considering I’m a Texan. But what differentiates mine is that there are no tomatoes in my chili, nor are there any beans. I slow-stew chili peppers and various other peppers ranging from sweet peppers to habaneros to… others, depending on my mood, to make the base sauce with. I also use a good quality beef which goes in my smoker before going into my chili. It isn’t always Sydney level hot, sometimes I go heavier on the sweet peppers than on the hot ones, but it is not tomato-based, and I refuse to desecrate my chili with beans. At most, if the consumers insist, I can include a bean paste to be added to the sauce itself. You will never find a pickled jalapeño slice out of a can in my chili. You might find stewed fresh jalapeños in the sauce, or perhaps fire-roasted jalapeños chopped up, but never canned crap.
It’s not award-winning by any means, but at least it is always flavorful and tasty. And having seen this comic, it is my new spaghetti sauce.
I kind of want to see what that recipe is now, my dad likes spicy food and I think giving him the recipe might be worthwhile.
Okay, I spent way too long on way too simple a doodle, but I think the folks here will like it, and I’d be completely happy if it found its way into fanart or something.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: who or what is the Archon Squirrel??
https://prototypist.deviantart.com/art/The-Archon-Squirrel-567996986
Great job. I hope it catches DaveB‘s attention. Although it is likely that he is immersed in producing the next comic by now.
I think that members of the public should be warned not to approach the Evil Squirrel Overlord. He should be considered extremely dangerous. After all he was able to survive a full barrage, from Budget Halo, completely unscathed! And he is a known associate of the notorious Vehemence.
I, for one, welcome our Squirrel Overlord.
Some poor rodent in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I feel for ya, fur face. Mind you, after it’s done with the confusion & sudden terror of being lasered at, Rather than run off scared, it gives Budget-Halo a piece of it’s mind…
I’m giggle-squeeing that Dave used the “the harvest begins” pic as a profile for Sydney.
>_<
old old news like from not long after the regular cycling bit got worked out old, or was it the post date, dang nabit my mind aint what it was back then.
Imagine Max and Sydney on a talk show where the host(or hostess) has a surprise for Max…!
“And now to bring out our ‘surprise guest!’ From the Arc agency in Montreal,Quebec,Canada-we bring you…” Sydney notices that Maxima goes from gold to a pale skin tone.
“Josette Michelle Leander!” The song Rencontre Mine starts playing as Sydney’s eyes widen to see the surprise guest who bears an uncanny resemblance to Maxima-save for the RCMP uniform and French accent,jubilantly marching and singing along with that song!
She comes up to Max saying, “Bonjour Ma’selle cousin!”
Imagine Arianna and the rest of the team watching this and amazed that Maxima has a lookalike cousin…! Imagine what they’ll say…!