Grrl Power #722 – It’s like wrangling a super powered cat with ADHD
Kind of weird that Arianna didn’t offer her own last name in that exchange but it will derail the page when Sydney hears it so I’m saving it for later. Cora’s last name is apparently Zylstra, at least according to a doodle on an old piece of art I had. A quick a-google tells me the name is old Dutch for “one who lives near a drainage sluice.” That tells me that the original Zylstras had very little going on if that was the only way the town had to describe their family.
This should be an epically huge moment in human history. Sure, the Alari beat Cora’s crew to the punch, but they’ve been sequestered in and around their ship over in Deus’s corner of Africa and haven’t been taking interviews. The press is right here with three aliens standing ten feet from them. Sydney’s presence creates something of an oddity buffer, but while the world will still want to know her story… there’s three aliens – who speak English BTW – right there! If I was any of those reporters, I’d be machine gunning questions at them. Heck, I would have googled “things scientists would like to ask aliens” to make sure I covered some important topics and didn’t get hung up on stuff like “Who is the most popular actress in the galaxy right now?” or “Omigod, did you see what Fnib’la wore to the Space Grammys? Sure, she has three butt cheeks, but… >tsk< like, tacky….”
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Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Smartest thing said all day. Still, I hope she kisses the Woof Man goodbye. We need a nice distracting scandal.
She did, repeatedly, i several different places…..
She’s going to be flossing hair out of her teeth for weeks
Yeah imagine that picture on the news all over the world. Sydney have secured her place in history as the first case of public xenophilia.
First case of non-imaginary xenophilia
Outside of certain clubs…
With the alien sex tourism there already are plenty of unwitting xenophiles.
Dabler’s partners have that covered though I suppose it may not count if they don’t know.
is singing, “She’s got galactic fever! She’s got galactic fever!”
Sydney, Sydney, Syndey. Never change, please.
+1 +1 +1
That comment reminds me of a recent page in the Questionable Content webcomic…
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3947
Preach it friend
Oh, oh no. Every second with the press is a minute of cleanup and a hour of night terrors recovery for her.
Sydney please get at least 3 minutes in with the presses it’s fun to see her squirm.
I like the way you think…
The Supers are getting decent money, I’d imagine Arianna is too, having to herd cats like Max and Sydney, least Sydney could do is make sure ARCHON is getting their money’s worth…
I mean, she has a job that’s more time-intensive and demanding than is represented in the panels of the comic. She’s technically doing more overall work hours than most of Archon. All of this is just loading more onto someone who’s already overburdened. It’s legitimately unfair.
When they aren’t deployed they’re training, going to events, sunbathing, teasing sexual tension. Arianna’s working.
Susie News likes to see Arianna squirm too. But not in public.
This is as close as it gets to that.
OK I could ship them.
Has something been hinted at or is it just fans being fans?
fans being fans
the closest you’d get is the fight they had under the rage spell at the restaurant fight.
But they were sparking there.
“Trading Klingon kisses”
[Yorp]:
Agreed.
Doubtless because of their tussle in the parking-lot.
[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-279-high-risk-reversal/]
Arianna is actually the highest paid member of the team, for good reason.
Yeah. apparently she does have a super power even if it’s not one that we would expect. It also explains her referencing Spider-Man as the two of them seem to have a specific sensory based superpower
I have developed kitty-herding. The ability to get kitties to go precisely where you want. I guess that counts as a super power too?
You just gave an idea for a new super. “The Cat Lady”, she wears a mumu and house slippers and she guides dozens of feral cats to fight crime in the big city.
There is a guy in (Super Redundant Heroes) who has telekinesis that only works on cats.
Well he managed to lift a cougar as well she didn’t look too happy about it and her black dress so the definition of cat is fairly loose.
LOL, yes. Never understood why he dresses like a monkey, but I like him. Wish he and his buddies appeared more often.
Wait, you’re the inventor of the laser pointer?! *bows in respect*
I think you need Cat-a-pult then, from League Of Super Redundant Heroes
You would be Freya, she whose chariot is drawn by cats.
I prefer when Dabbler’s Porno Sense tingles…
I dunno, maybe being next to a convenient sewer was a good thing back then? The Zylstras could have been “Yeah, no dumping the chamber pot in the street for us, WE have a sluice!”
Drainage sluice, not sewer. It’s a thing for managing water levels in a piece of land.
Exactly. And, in a country that is, on average, at sea-level, being responsible for managing the water level (keeping the feet dry), was somewhat important…
This is a very good point.
Zylstra — Roughly translated as ‘the family that has the option to drown you in your sleep tonight’ otherwise known generally as ‘those you do not piss off’.
Or: Zylstra (Dutch: Zijlstra):”Those-Who-Must-Not-Be-Pissed-Off”?
‘Or-Pissed-On’ :P
Right after Heath offers Cora a pretty flower. Dandelions preferably. :)
Next up? Selfies!
Sydney and Frix out for a night on the town. Dinner, a Show, maybe some dancing… and about 3000 paparazzi and tabloid reporters taking all the romance out of the evening.
A couple of good questions to ask them would be: What preventative measures do you use to prevent viruses & diseases spreading across the galaxy and onto any unprepared alien worlds? and how do they stop any of Earth’s sicknesses from been taken off-world?/b>
Cause Earth has had a hard enough time dealing with plagues such as Smallpox or The Black Death, we don’t need any alien viruses running amok, and they would want any of our diseases as well, a cold might be harmless to us, but could be worse than Leprosy for them
I doubt that diseases that have evolved on other planets than Earth will be any threat to Eartian species. Alien AI and Earthian computer networks, now that may be a problem.
Well Succubi, at the very least, can breed with humans. Ego there is a certain amount of ecosystem interaction to justify caution.
Plus, in a galaxy where hundreds (/thousands/millions?) of different alien species routinely interact, possibly over billions of years, don’t you think it plausible that some organisms will find a way of predating on them, in a disease-like way, but which does not require specific compatibility with DNA or its various alien equivalents?
No, because using the host’s body to replicate itself is what causes the disease to become damaging.
Benign organisms which coexist with the host exist already. We don’t generally call them diseases.
So a transmissible organism which used the body’s materials (tissues, fats, etc) to feed, breed and aid in spreading (hitching rides on spaceships for instance), but not bothering with learning how to read their DNA would not be damaging?
I think if their mechanisms were more efficient than our native bacteria and virus’s techniques for doing the same, then they would be far far more dangerous. We would not have evolved ways to defend against such, yet they will have adapted to many other species techniques. So even our advantage of using technology might not help in time!
Of course whether we call it a disease, a parasite or coin some new term is still debatable. But dangerous? Oh yea, I stand by that!
To kinda back up Yorp’s point, who’s to say that a benign organism for an alien species wouldn’t be a deadly plague to another species? All it would take is a virus or bacteria to adapt and evolve the ability to survive and breed within all carbon-based lifeforms for instance. Doesn’t matter where you’re from, if your carbon-based, it can infect you. And then it’s descendants can adapt to your genotype’s DNA to really be nasty.
On Earth we have lots of examples of those. Everyone has symbiotic bacteria in their guts but if you get someone else’s strain of the same bacteria you get sick.
You mean a “parasite” like a worm or a fungus or a scavenging bacterium or a prion or a meme?
If one hadn’t evolved naturally, someone has most likely engineered one because “people” are assholes.
There ARE larger issues than virus and bacteria. There’s a lot of parasites that live in fur, drink blood, burrow into their host and so on…
True. Also some invasive and very adaptable species may simply be really good at taking advantage of Dirt’s resources. Some Mean Green Mother spores may cause a lot of trouble.
War of the Worlds. The Martian Invasion is only stopped by Terran micro-organisms. So I think there would be a risk.
Actually, the martians may have not had any, or had eradicated them thousands of years ago. Then they had forgotten the diseases ever existed, and then invade aeerth, without checking to see if there were any on Earth.
Well in several sci-fi Earth is considered a Hell world due to our various germ and virus abundance. Look what happened in War of the Worlds.
Their answer would probably be to laugh and say ‘We don’t have any pathogens AT ALL and our augmented immune systems won’t tolerate yours. Don’t worry about it.”
I think any scientits worth his money would just go..
So…… ENTROPY?
I once wrote a story in school where i adressed that. It was standard in this group they all had a nano machine baisced artificial immune system that bacily nuked anything thats not in there bio profile that tried to come into there bodies.
This was actually part of the seldom mentioned ‘back story’ in Roddenberry’s Andromeda.
There was a long history of biowarfare, and ‘gray goo’ scenarios ‘in universe’
and at the point the story starts, everyone had 2 immune systems.
The regular biological one, and a nanotech one, to protect against both natural
And artificial diseases, as well as hostile Nanobots.
Even starships like the Andromeda, As well as inhabited planets,
supposedly have dedicated Nanobot Immune systems
to defend against hostile Nanobot Attacks.
The woman who becomes first officer, Beka Valentine, mentions in the pilot
That she got a special nanobot set that allowed her to change
the color and length of her hair at will For her 16th birthday.
“Well, Earth has a very long history of being a vacation spot for aliens seeking anonymous sex tourism, so they have a general all-purpose shot for any diseases that they might get from humans. They also had a shot which prevented any alien diseases to contract to humans as well but they only realized they needed that after we found that a human had contracted the common cold from a species from Dimidium-2. Our bad. Sorry. But in exchange we did wipe out the disease that killed the last of the dragons before it could species-jump to humans, so we figured it’s a fair trade.”
Arianna: Sydney, you never talk to the press about a mission until after you’ve been debriefed.
Sydney: How did you know Frix got in my briefs?
Every reporter nearby: Miss Scoville!!! Miss Scoville!!! Who’s Frix? Are aliens invading to impregnate our women?
Pretty sure they already did sometime in the distant past, end result, the “elder” races that make up the Twilight Assembly…….
I could be wrong of course, Earth HAS been know to spawn some INCREDIBLE stuff.
I recently read that scientists found extremophile bacteria living in semi molten rock 7 miles down, surviving on nothing more than the heat and chemical processes occurring in such conditions.
Probably not the best line to introduce the press, and thereby the general public, to the existence of the Twilight Council. ;-)
No, Arianna, Cora didn’t mean THAT kind of “interesting”.
Least not with HER.
Frix on the other hand……..
I read Arianna’s understanding of interesting as mostly annoying/hilarious.
I read it as, “you’ve been locked in a confined space with this individual for an unknown quantity of time, you have my deepest sympathy.”
Why aren’t the press people taking pictures like mad? Camera or phone, they would be historic.
Dave only has time to draw so much stuff. Those people are the front-of-camera peeps. The ones wielding the cameras are out of frame (to our left, in the final panel). They will be capturing every second of this occasion, and their producers will be opening up live feeds around the globe, interrupting regular programming.
I was really hoping that wasn’t what I was seeing her doing.
I noticed the dabbing too. =)
Sydney’s strongest superpower may actually be to unintentionally cause chaos and undoing plans and strategies.
Chaos aura: Drains WIS from nearby players
The vampire leader of the Twilight Council has already proposed something very similar to that. And Maxima gave it serious consideration!
*places thinking bowl on head*
sounds like Ivan from the Vorkosigan books “not only is he an idiot, but he creates a jamming field that makes people around him idiots.”
This. I can’t recall Ivan ever being so succinctly described…
Well, yes, but Ivan actually *chose* to be an idiot. Consider what his position is in line for the throne…and just how badly he DOESN’T want the throne. In “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance,” we learn that he’s motivated by comfort, which he would never get if some crazy rebels decided to use him as the figurehead for some kind of royal coup. Think of all the responsibility involved in being a ruler! No, better to be thought an idiot and squash any thought of putting him on the throne.
But being thought of as an idiot could have the reverse effect with some groups, as in the ‘perfect’ ‘figurhead’ for a pupet government. The seamingly perfect pawn to have sit on the thrown, appear to be in charge, while the possibly evil sneaky ones are really running the place. Those types want idiots who woul not be a threat to them and not be smart enought to go against. Hmmm, sit on the throne, bask in the benefits, while some one else does all the real dicision making. Of course that also means being the fallout scapegoat if something goes wrong.
Sounds like a plot for a movie.
Let’s star Danny Kaye.
Those types want controllable idiots. I haven’t read the books, but if he’s creating a jamming field that makes people around him idiots, then I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be one of the controllable sort.
I bet when given a tour of the ship, Arianna might like to see the tentacle room… XD
This new piece of alien technology must be studied further. For science of course.
That depends; did Sydney ever remember to send those hentai links to Arianna?
A bonus page needs to be made of just Arianna’s face as she responds to that email
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-88-restraint-generally-not-a-word-used-to-describe-her/
Here is the link for you Squirrel
She did and if you read the bottom portion of the comic which is canon. Dabbler requested that link for herself.
So…. why haven’t Max, Hiro, and Harem used their super-transit abilities to respond to the spaceship that just set down right at their headquarters with no warning whatsoever? I mean it’s a false alarm, but there should still be some ALARM, right? Like maybe klaxons blaring from the building? Or are they not surprised and just decided to punk Arianna by not giving her a heads-up?
Depends on speed of descent, and capabilities of cloaking tek.
As an alternative – the flight path was transmitted and the flight permit was issued – but Arianna wasn’t informed simply because it all was so routine that everyone assumed it’s a part of her plan.
Arianna has indicated that Cora’s existence (and thereby her ship) were already known about, and that it was planned to bring her down. So not shooting at an allied vessel’s approach is actually a sign of good internal communications, not bad.
The fact that Arianna had her phone set to ‘silent’, whilst in her press conference shows good foresight as a public relations person, but poor planning as a ranking member of Archon, needing to stay in the loop for any last minute changes of plan.
Arianna surely knew about the ship incoming – but only ETA, perhaps, not the precise timestamp.
As for the phone silencing – that I can easely believe.
I’d mention, though, that this is precisely why layered priority schema exists and is implemented – whitelist alpha-line for triple-ex situations like this – and voila; also – for the sake of St. Phuk, Arianna, “pseudo-sentient external real-time data-stream filtration device” is a mouthful, of course – but this is why they are called “interns” on the planet Erf.
Which is why the press seeing Cora’s ships is Arianna’s fault, not Sydney’s. Having an outdoor press conference beside HQ on the same day as Sydney’s return was a terrible idea. The PR people shouldn’t be putting up additional obstacles to the safe return of their soldiers.
Eh, a question of not enough paranoia.
Also, PR people shouldn’t, really, count on their returning soldiers improvising an orgy with blackjack and hookers during their return trip. Nor on them continuing said orgy during the ticker tape parade.
To cut the length – less blame shifting, more problem solving.
Sydney talking to reporters,what is Arianna going to do???
What will Maxima say about this?
I’m waiting for Sydney to cross paths with Dabbler, and she knows. Nobody told her, she just [i]knows[/i].
HTML tags, not BBCode.
Barring “spoiler”. For some odd reason that uses the square parenthesis, rather than the angled ones.
Curious.
And strange indeed.
On a related note – I can’t seem to be able to utilize underline tag – or, at least, to see results of its utilization.
Oh, well – I guess italics and bold would have to suffice.
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Probably tell by pheromones, and the drastic contradiction of currently-sated Sydney-tantric-energy to previous encounters.
Incidentally, Sydney managed to hook up with a guy that doesn’t mind that she hasn’t shaved her legs/privates in a while! Bonus score! (I’m expecting ‘fives’ from dabbler).
HOW DO YOU DO THAT
I̟͔̦̘̲͇̤̹̜̪̣̯̍̈́̑̅̓̎͘͜t̢̛̬͔̟̭̯̦̙͙͑ͮ̑ͭ̃̿ͥ͂̀͞ ̶̡̞̲͇̳̫͓͔̦͓̳͙͎ͨ̎͗̾̑̓̏̿̂ͥ̾̎͌̄ͮ̚ͅm͋̐̏̆ͧ͋͒ͤ͏̵̤̱̟̼͇̙̤͔͔̼̰a̵͔̮̘̦͕̱̬̲̱̹̭̹̟̩̲͍̳ͯ̈̂͂͗̏̇̊͌ͩ̀͂̒́͘͢y̨̹͕͔̝͇̠̖̦̲͍̻̲̮̗̱͊ͦ̒̾ͪ̓̋̋ͮ̈́͂͂͊ͮ͘͢ ̵̴ͪ̐̽̎͆́̏̆̚̕͏̡̤̳̫͕̬̱̦̫̘̫͚͖̠ͅͅb̸̛͍̯̙̹̟͉̺ͭ͌̈̽̽̓͊̓͜͡ę̛͚͔̘̮͓̞̲͇̻̰̩̖̠͚ͯͧ̒̾͛ͬ͒ͤ̂̅ͦ́̄́̈͘͟ ̸̡ͣ͊ͣͩ̓̽ͬ̆̑̒ͧ́̚͏̸͚̹͚̜̖̼̭͔̬̱͍͚̖̣̗͈͈ͅa̽͌̉̐̀ͯ͆̈́͋̇́̒ͣͨ͗ͦ͂̚͏̵͍̤̬̗͎̯͕͓̮̦͈̥͎̠̰̀͢s̢ͬ͂ͯ̑̔ͮ̚̕͏̼̱͉̥͎̥̲̞̯̥̲̬̯̦ͅ ̡̰̤̖̠͎̺͇̈́̄́͆ͨ̒ͦ͐̿̑̚s̫̞̱̲̱̲̲͚͈͓ͩ̇̑͒̎̑̃̆̈́̏̎̄̈́̆̋̑ͫ͗̾͘ǐ̡̙͚̝̠͇̖̭͂̈́̊ͥ̈̄ͫ̎́͆̐̅ͤ͗̅̽̐̀̚m̷̲͓͕̳̫͆ͩ͒̀ͩ̆̍ͥͦͧ̓͆ͪ͊̍͜͠p̷̸̡̼̜̠͍̩̮̱͓͍̹̝̫͚̹̏͆͆͆̃͟͠l̵̠̺̭̜̳̦͈̝̣͉̳̲̝̻̼̮̳̀ͧ̌ͯͤ̂̋ͫ̓ͮͦ͒͗͋͘͟͞e̵̵̸̫͙̣̥̱̍̋ͮ̓̅̌̓̋̎̐ͣ͢ ̵̨̱͖͇͇̪͍͎̥̟̹̭̩͓̬̟̼͈̆͒ͫ͐ͦä́ͬ̋͑̒̔ͣ͑҉҉҉̩̻̩͇̳s̒̐̏ͧ͑̈̀̍͊ͬͮ͏̷̩̪̰͍̣̹̖̯̫̻̩͎̺̠͢ͅ ̸̠͉̤̉͆͊ͬͧ̍̌̽͒͌͝t̴͎̟̭͇͕̘̤̝̥̳̠̦̖͍̣̮͇̀̄̆ͬͪ̔̓̾͛ͭͩ͗̆͘͢ͅḩ̢̨͙̱̞̠̘̜̬̫̭̯̜̓̔͗̔̿̓̽̐͌ͨ̎ͦ̌ͨͬ̐͐̀͜i̢ͦ̆̒ͯ̇̏͌͆̋ͫ͆̋̚̕҉̛̩͇͖̺͓̱̙͔͚̦̰͇̥ŝͮ̉ͥͧͮ̋̍̋́̾ͦ͆̃́҉̛͎̝͔̫͈,̷̤̙̺̹͍͇͚̯̦̲̬̺̤̺͙̦̼̑͒ͫ͋̾̓̓̐̓ͯͦͬ̀͠ ̢͉̯̟̼̘̣̝̻͕̙͉͚̞̺̼͙ͭ̊̌͆͆̄̉ͨͨͭ̇̍̑̾͑ͫͤ͋̑́͢ŗ̷̛̰̪̻͍̙ͮͥ̉̋̂̃͂ͫ͌̽ͩ̍̉̽͝ḛ̵̸͍͖̼͕̫̘̖̫̞ͦͧͤ̑̔ͦͮ̎ͬ͆̒͠a̶̧͖̼̻͇͎̩̰͇̜̠̦̱͍̳̪͊̃͌̀͊͘͡ͅl̸̢̲̦̜͔̰̭͇̤͖̲̝̫͉͕̻̦ͮͭͨͯͧ̈̔̓̿̈́̉ͬ̍ͫͥ͘l̨̾̍̇̿͗̓̀́̿̾͛͒ͮͣ͑҉̰̯̜̣͘͞͠y̒̍̔̅̇ͫ̔͋̐ͯ̄ͭ̂ͬ̋̋͐̆͠҉͘͠҉͕̪̟̱̮̺̖̲͈̲̖̮̤̬̲̗͈.̶̸̺̙̠̰̥͇̤̣̗̯̋͐̾͛ͮ̇́̌
Being incomprehensible eldritch abomination from beyond the boundaries of Space and Time also helps, usually.
Just use this website and copy and paste your results in a comment.
Spoilsport .
On a related note – similar sites can give you an option to post not only text with unsupported attributes – like underline and strike-through – but a way to post random nonsensical ☿ symbols ☽ which ⊕ can ♀︎ be ♂︎ pain ⚳ in ♃ the ♄ ass ☉ to ♁ input ♅ without ⛢ a ♆ bit ⯓ of ♇ esoteric ⯔ IT ⯕ knowledge ⯖.
Well THIS will end well. Sydney is a walking heart attack for Arianna.
Arianna probably thinks of Sydney as a self-ambulatory, chronic hemorrhoid…
Yeah, probably.
Dave…
Dave.
Have some class, damn it.
Fnib’la sure was great in the last remake of “Stellar Holliday”, but everyone knows Quar the Third is still the best serious actor around.
And you may call me an oldfangled septagon for that – it’s still true, see if I care.
And besides, Finb’la was one of the major factors in getting humanity to convert to using the 3 shells (and now we know why there are 3!) – we owe her a cultural debt!
I wonder how long Sydney has been without her meds?
I wonder if the autodoc cured her of her need for them as a matter of course?
Ahh, and fixed her strange sexual inhibitions too?
ADHD is not something to be “cured”. It is only a problem in a society where you need factory and office drones. Hunter gatherer and herding societies value folks with ADHD more because they notice and act on all the details of the world around them.
Why is Sydney taking the blame for landing an alien spaceship in front of everyone? Based on Cora’s and Sydney’s conversation, I feel like that was Cora’s decision, but it seems Sydney is the one in trouble? I dont get it.
Because Sydney is the local
Because Arianna has no authority over Cora but has some over Sydney, and probably also expected Sydney to instruct Cora on where she could and could not land the ship. (Though shifting that blame to Dabbler as the go-between ARCHON and Cora might be more fitting.)
Arianna can yell at Sydney.
Dabbler might be the one actually responsible, but yelling at Dabbler always ends with convincing herself that she’s not a lesbian while staring at hypnoboobs.
When that happens, Arianna’s mind turns away from the PR nightmares & wanders dreamily into her other great love, marketing potential.
So Hypnoboobs ® falsies for the Dabbler action figures?
It seems to be implied that Cora and Dabbler could send messages to each other, so why didnt they just warn them about the situation and tell them to land stealthy as planned? I feel like this is just poor communication and to many people would assume Sydney would not be distracted enough to tell Cora to land in the designated landing spot.
Who knows maybe Dabbler and Cora discussed it and Dabbler decided they should have some fun.
To quoteNarbonic, this is a bad time for the irrational behavior to kick in, Doctor.
Dabbler’s secret plan was to allow aliens to become known so she doesn’t have to be in disguise all the time.
Never underestimate the the power of lingerie.
Gonna be some fascinating debriefings of the Alari, there. One guy, reading off technologies in front of a bemused Alari teenager, while engineers watch eagerly from the back room. “Dark matter? Room-temperature superconductors? OK, you had those… they taught those at what grade? High school physics? Thank you. FTL communicators? Only the bigger ships? OK. Nanotech? Rampaging AI? Not since the Protocols, right. Where are those Protocols described in the database?” — and so on. Just telling us what *can* be done will do a lot, there.
You make a lot of assumptions there, the primary of which being teaching teenagers beyond masters level sciences as opposed to preventing them from eating the intergalactic version of tide pods.
I could reasonably assume a modern teenager can tell me that diseases are caused by germs, the earth moves around the sun, all of that stuff of his needs electricity (you know, lightning), guns use gunpowder, this is how to do simple math using Arabic numerals, and other cutting-edge innovations of the late Medieval/Early Renaissance period (which is roughly where we are in comparison to the Space Empires). I don’t expect the kids to remember the theories, but they should at least be able to remember some of the lab demonstrations. :)
But the worst and concepts that human understand are insufficient to explain the tech in a useful way. XKCD has a bit where they explain technical things with only the 1000 most common words.
https://xkcd.com/1133/
Re: modern electricity, it can all be summed up as: it plugs into the wall. (Great sketch).
Which is why you desperately need one of these if you ever time travel and want to become a tech overlord.
” modern teenager can tell me that diseases are caused by germs, ”
Too many adults, are incapable, of learning that.
Just because the technology is commonplace doesn’t mean it’s common for people to know how it works or even know how to use it beyond a surface gloss to fit their needs. How many teenagers do you think could describe how to repair a washing machine without having one present in front of them?
Fewer than there should be, more than you’d think; but, to use your example, the first step of making a washing machine is *to have the concept of the washing machine*. In the Grrl Power universe, right at this very moment, EVERY SINGLE GROUP interested in FTL propulsion is getting cold calls from people now eager to fund them. Why? Because FTL is clearly possible, which means that if you throw enough money at the question you’ll get an answer. Hard light? Somebody will be working on that tomorrow. Never heard of it before, but it obviously works. Can’t be that hard to suss out, with enough resources.
Primitives ain’t stupid. They won’t be building starships within the next year, but even having somebody who can tell them little things like ‘I think that in the old days they threw nukes in the engine, maybe?’ will be a big boost.
A very late twentieth century and twenty-first century assertion.
I didn’t say repair a washing machine, or even be able to describe the parts with one there. I said describe how to repair it without having one present. I could strip and rebuild one when I was 16, but I couldn’t tell you the steps in detail without one in front of me.
I believe this falls under the heading of “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
In the case of Tenshi Muyo GXP, the picture IS a washing machine. Still totally useless.
Not to mention, modern washing machines, like cars, have more computer components than they use to, even machines as early as the 80’s or 90’s
Well given that I have torn apart both washing machine and dryers, they don’t need a ‘computer’ at all. older dryers have a simple wheel with various contacts that engage and disengage servos/motors etc. when it turns. like those simple fisher price phonographs that the records are a groove (one per note) and the ‘head’ is just a lot of little fingers that do the notes.
I ‘repaired’ a dryer by using a 24 hr power control (home security thing) it worked for 20 years+ with that. I just set the ‘dry’ type and the wheel on the power control I setup three times ranges, and bing working dryer.
You’re assuming that the refugees, you appear to be their cultures equivalent of peasants, had access to decent education. Dabbler once described their species as recidivist. If they were run in some kind of Noble House might makes right space feudalism with a strong focus on military strength, but all of the Nobles probably escaped intact in luxury yachts while the peasants were left to burn or escaped as refugees. In this situation there is a very good chance let those refugees have very little in the way of advanced technical knowledge. Just enough to fire a gun, die for their masters, or pull a lever working a factory job. So I don’t think the engineers are going to get much useful information out of a bunch of space gardeners and the occasional space maid.
nobles rarely know more then your average peasant on how things work.
they have money to throw around they don’t need to know how things work. the middle tier people are the ones that know the most while peasants learn by doing.
Good girl Sydney, those reporters will be needing another soundbite to support your historic previous utterance.
You may wag your tail. See Arianna is already viewing you as a superior canine species, and she does not even know about your furry activities. Perhaps now is a good time to introduce your new boyfriend?
*demonstrates pleased tail wagging*
Is Sydney dabbing? *zooms in* yep that’s definitely a dab
Looks like.
Awesome.
If it wasn’t for the providence of your avatar, that would make a good replacement
Her left arm isn’t in front of her face though…
Looks more like she is just gesticulating towards the sky
Sydney, again, just because there is an Alien ship in Africa, and they are talking about them on the local news, does not mean you can land in the middle of the fucking city without getting fucking clearance!!
Check with your damn handler (no, not Frix)
No, Sydney is coming across as being an arrogant bitch right now, specially just going up to the damn press and telling them how she started an Interstellar War with the ones who near-wiped out the Alari (a species hundreds of degrees more advanced than Dirticans)
I think you may have missed the point that this is a comedy comic bud?
So, Sydney can do anything she wants, as long as it is funny? o_O
Her first bubble isn’t funny, it is arrogance: “Because we saw it on the news, we decided to ignore protocol and land on the front step without getting clearance, because I Am The Mightay Halo, Bitch!!”
“So, Sydney can do anything she wants, as long as it is funny?”
Err, yes. Kind of the point of a comedy, to be funny.
Which is not to say that Sydney does not suffer consequences. However she can get away with a heck of a lot more than an average person, simply because of her unique circumstances and, as it happens, her oddball personality. Push it too far and the consequences could be severe, such as being fired or even going to prison. But within a range of forgivable behaviours, Sydney is likely to find such.
Don’t forget that she had been abandoned, alone, on a world under genocidal attack. Simply surviving that, and making her way back to Earth, will have earnt her a mountain of forgiveness points, with everybody in the know. And, for everybody else, she is just ‘Halo being wacky again’.
Basically, if they are not in the loop (that she was not meant to do what she just did), then as far as they will be concerned, all she has done is introduce America to its first alien visitors. Quite an accomplishment, in fact!
And, because it’s a comedy, readers aren’t allowed to be upset (for lack of better words) by her actions?
Cue the laughtrack and sigh while saying “Oh Sydney!”?
Of course you are. Its a shame though, getting so invested in the realism of a situation, to not be able to chill out enough to enjoy the humour for what it is. There are a whole bunch of TV shows which would be very hard to get the most out of if taking the serious side too … um … seriously all the time. ‘Sgt Bilko’, ‘Fawlty Towers’, ‘I dream of Jeanie’, ‘The Addams Family’ just to name a few classics.
Although then you do get the very serious ‘M*A*S*H*, but having ridiculous comedy to offset it (but even then with a chilling feel that ‘stuff like this may have happened). But that is rooted in a very real historical conflict, and drew upon real heavy things for inspiration. Not the route Dave has gone down.
Not leading up to any particular point, just some rambling observations.
Except, don’t find what Sydney did here to be funny nor endearing, other times, sure, just not this time
Definitely assuming a lot, there. It’s Cora’s decision as captain where to land her ship, and Cora…has already demonstrated she has a grasp of things like staying in the proper lanes (foot-traffic versus flightpath, which could translate over to “file a flight path with the proper Terran local authorities”)…but she has also demonstrated arrogance (“Oh, that wasn’t heavy ordinance I used in this alley fight”) when she feels she’s in the right and has the right to use her metaphorical or literal firepower (she’s on a ship that basically has more bells and whistled than a Google self-driving car, whereas Terran vehicles are the equivalent of soapbox derby constructs, in terms of sophistication).
Second, we don’t know what Sydney is babbling about to the reporters. As someone else pointed out, she is dabbing in that last panel, and for all we know, she’s dabbing because she’s simply boasting that “Yeaaaaah, baby, I am indeed an official spaceship rider!!”
Sydney knows (whether or not she remembers in the excitement of finally being home is up to DaveB, but she knows) that the contents of her mission were top-secret. But obviously she’s arrived home in a spaceship (which, I’ll remind you, keeps her space-traveling abilities secret, if she focuses everyone’s attention on the spaceship stuff)…and honestly, to officially be a space-traveling human who has successfully (*cough*) interacted peacefully with several alien races is defintely a dab-worthy thing.
Sydney may not have the cleavage of a typical superheroine, but she now has some of the cred and/or clout of an atypical one.
Sydney’s problem is that she only seems to think before she acts when she’s in a fight. Otherwise she’s as impulsive as a toddler, and that’s even when she has had her meds, which she’s probably been off now for hours. Sydney’s a nice person but I think in real life most people could only handle her in small doses.
One would need the patience of Joel.
“In the not too distant future….”
That’s pretty much how a lot of ADHD’s act…mine is way,way milder than Sydney’s
But when stressed I often can focus like a laser on my current project…
But remove the stress point and I can bounce around from subject to subject
Like a squirrel who as just chugged an entire case of jolt.
This frequently confuses/annoys any people I’m having a conversation with,
Although it does tend to make the breath my knowledge base(if not necessarily the depth)
To be extremely wide, since I end up studying pretty much everything I come in contact with.
Speaking of a squirrel chugging an energy drink…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-eMdMsMgCU
Small talk is actually a good way of breaking the ice. That topic is not likely to trigger “whoa, I’m not allowed to talk to primitives about this stuff”, whereas “please tell us how to crack fusion power” is, as we know that there is an embargo on giving high technology to humans. The more info that can be obtained before risking a clamming up the better.
This isn’t really relevant to anything, but I wanted to make sure you had encountered this story:
https://www.thisisinsider.com/nasa-hubble-telescope-gault-asteroid-spinning-apart-images-2019-3
What did you do to that poor asteroid?
Did they have to call it the YORP effect?
Yes. But it did require swapping around team members until they could get the perfect acronym.
I live in hope that at least one is a reader.
I wonder just how much damage Sydney could have unleashed, before Arianna’s interruption? I’m guessing she would only be able to get out a couple of sentences.
She only needs a couple of sentences to describe Grakz and its aftereffects.
A couple of sentences is all Sydney needs to create total chaos. She has a secret superpower: Chaos Magnet.
Can’t wait to see how Dabbler reacts to Sydney doing it doggie style. Assuming she can sense all that without Syd actually telling her.
Pretty sure that Arianna asked the reporters to hang back for a few moments first, since Arianna has more authorization from Archon (aka the government) to greet offworld arrivals than they do, and probably added that shouting questions at beings whose culture is very different might be considered highly rude, so just give me a moment to go make sure these aren’t those sorts of beings…
“…Then suddenly, Sydneyyyy!
Is right there for interviewwws!!”
(*to the tune of “Suddeny Seymore” from Little Shop of Horrors…)
let’s just hope that a verdant version of the Screwship from the Alari homeworld doesn’t show up and start singing:
I’m a mean, green muthah from outer space and I’m Bad!
(Space marine chorus) He – is – bad!
I’m a mean green muthah from outer space, and you got me fightin’ mad!
I’m a mean green muthah from outer space, gonna trash your ass, gonna rock this place,
’cause I’m mean and green…and I….am….BAAAAAAAAD!
SYDNEY! How was your visit offworld?
WELL, I fought several giant Cthulhu AND WON, learned how to make a wormhole, had the spiciest food in the galaxy that made me POOP FLOATING GLOWING THINGS, and then I screwed the pooch! *pause* All in all, good trip, 10 out of 10.
She definitely will not mention the glowing floaty things.
I think it’ll be interesting to see what Sydney actually did tell them, and I suspect it’ll be a lot less compromising than y’all think… and a lot more compromising than she expected.
Sorry, I’m not likely to ever respect Arianna. She is best moved to marketing Archon bobble heads and plushies.
Arianna fulfils her job perfectly!
She is the “straight guy” to be foiled constantly by Sydney, Max and Dabbler.
So, how was Sydney supposed to know about Arianna’s “plan”?
Common sense and an abundance of caution. Her last orders, on the subject, were that “aliens are secret”. The fact that Cora’s ship detected one in a remote African continent has not changed Sydney’s orders. As one of the ranks it is not her job to set policy. So even if she considers it likely that the policy will change, she must stick to the old policy, until new orders are issued.
Which she could have attempted to fulfil by requesting Cora to activate her cloaking device, or otherwise make a discreet landing. Or even just contact Dabbler to get advice on how to proceed. The latter being the optimum path for a recruit to do. When not in contact, get in contact.
Have you forgotten that this is a comedic comic?
Not at all. It is Arianna’s expectation that Sydney would behave as indicated above (working on her assumption that Sydney would have paid attention to her training) which makes her righteous anger so strong. That, in turn, gives a perfect counterpoint to Halo’s behaviour of ignoring that. Hence the comedy, in Sydney doing the unexpected (to Arianna).
Not only did Cora’s ship detect it, they picked up a broadcast news report about it. The genitals were completely unveiled.
Lots of drainage sluices in the Netherlands. A name like that would be almost like an English family named… oh, I dunno… Overstreet…
*sigh*
See below for my reply.
*sigh*
Never come across that one myself.
Mine, on the other paw, is quite common. Although most of my (extended) family prefer to use the formal titles, such as Police Dog Rex, rather than following the traditional English name structure.
Test
I missed Ariana so much!
Don’t feel bad about the Dutch meaning of “Zylstra”. I remember a conversation with Sarah Sutton, who played Nyssa on Doctor Who, in which she relates the tale of telling her grandmother about her role on television. When she says her character’s name is “Nyssa”, granny starts to laugh. It turns out that “nyssa”, in her childhood language (I think Dutch, though it might have been Finnish), means “bathroom” or “outhouse”.
Probably Finnish. It’s not Dutch, ‘çause that’s my mother language and it’s not familiar at all. But it certainly looks Finnish.
I can confirm ‘nyssa’ is not Dutch…
Nyssa is a feminine name with many meanings, including “goal” or “beginning” (Greek), “sign” (Hebrew), “friendly elf or fairy” (Scandinavian), “woman” (Arabic) and “end” (Latin).
I think it would have been even funnier if Arianna looked over to see Sydney having an animated chat with the media, with one arm around the waist of her alien boyfriend.
Frix was Sydney’s alien one night stand.
And she has way too many books…
She already told Frix that his tongue is worth a second date. ;p
No confirmation that its a one-night stand, especially when she has her own means of transit…
So… Arianna just said out loud that Dabbler was in contact with Cora. In front of lots of people with microphones. I take it that they already admitted that Dabbler is from off-planet, then? Maybe told the press that they wanted to establish her as a hero first but were planning on the reveal later.
Simple: Dabbles is the one in charge of communications
What is going on with Arianna’s lips?
She’s subconsciously mirroring Cora.
The only thing ‘off’ about her lips, is her trademark ‘Bite Me Red’ lipstick
ROTFL!
Is… is Sydney… dabbing?
[DaveB]_Re_[A quick a-google tells me the name is old Dutch for “one who lives near a drainage sluice.” That tells me that the original Zylstras had very little going on if that was the only way the town had to describe their family.]:
=====Normally I’d agree, but remember that most of the Netherlands (by DEFINITION!) is BELOW SEA-LEVEL, & the proper drainage of water takes on a whole new level of importance. Most likely, they lived near the sluice because it was their job to MAINTAIN it, which means that their community relied upon them to protect everyone from getting flooded.
While I do agree that this family deserves more respect than DaveB’s comment suggests…
Given the likely consequences of failing at their very important job, having living descendants suggests that they did their job well. It’s quite likely that took a lot of their time. As a result, they probably had very little else going on…