Grrl Power #80 – She used this spell to scan a hotdog once. Once.
Don’t put too much time into thinking about the power origin types that Gwen names here, I haven’t quite codified it all, chances are I may sneak back in and update that particular word bubble at some point in the future. But as you can see, there are a number of ways to attain super powers in this universe. The most common is simply designated as “super.” That’s the kind where you just develop powers while growing up, like Harem and Anvil. It doesn’t snap to adolescence like mutants in Marvel, and there’s a reason they don’t use the word mutant here, but I’ll get into that later.
I’m not sure why I imagined the tube getting opened in front of a panel like a job interview instead of in the middle of an action scene involving lots of speed lines – other than it’s kind of cliche, but now that it’s nearly upon us, I realize the huge flaw in the set up is that if this building has any sort of security, there’s no way Sydney would have gotten this far into the building without having to have opened it. It obviously didn’t register anything on the metal detectors or whatever machines they use in the lobby, and maybe Max vouched for her, but… still seems unlikely. Let’s just pretend I never brought it up.
Gwen’s spell is supposed to have a few little jokes in it (using the term loosely I assure you), but it’s eye-scarringly small. If you really hate your eyes you can probably make a few out, but I guess it’s incentive to buy the book once that happens.
Thanks so much for the all the topwebcomics.com votes throughout February, we managed to stay in the top 10 nearly all month! Considering the top few do 20K+ a month, it’s impressive that our little operation here has managed so well. Check back on Thursday or Friday, I’ll try to have a new vote incentive/bonus art ready.
Did you include a couple of tweets in Gwen’s spell?
*Zoomed in to read them* :P
Yup. They’re just barely readable at this size. There’s also a weather forecast in there.
And a pony.
There is a pony in this comic.
Sydney would be ashamed.
Cue the Brony stampede! :D
she has the MLP theme song as her ring tone!
when I zoomed (via firefox) it got too grainy to see much. Could make out a few things, but less than what’s noted in this subthread.
Probably your resolution I use Firefox and can make it out even on my laptop which is only 1440×900. Try using a higher resolution.
She’s a technomancer. Multitasking is her specialty. I am surprised she didn’t have a full screen and keyboard layout. I suppose though for just a precursory scan on someone you wouldn’t want a lot of other junk and data in the way.
She can’t be a technomancer she has no data jacks! At least not a cyberpunk technomancer.
Like she’d just show her data jacks to just anyone? What kind of girl do you take her for?? :D
They are usually located in your temples for easy access to your brain. So you can hack the system personally.
A proper technomancer needs no rigger deck. They can jack in any place there’s a wireless signal.
Wireless is too dangerous! Do you really want everyone to have access to your BRAIN?!? You are a hacker and you know anyone can get hacked wires are FAR more secure.
it took me 3 fragging years to build my perfect deck, you think I’m gonna just toss it?! Besides, nobody bothers protecting against old-style programs anymore ;)
Well I;m not a hacker but I don’t have internet so I’m leaching wireless. It’s surprisingly easy to do. I can actually access the router but my scruples won’t allow me to. What can I say I’m weird, Anyway wireless IRL is much less secure than wired, any hacker could basically access any wireless signal with a little effort.
You do realize that a Technomancer CONTROLS technology, and has a mental capacity that far exceeds the normal human brain right?
Seriously, the only way a Technomancer COULD get hacked is IF she/he had a physical jack-in type of device and IF he/she were completely out of it, adn IF the one doing the hacking were an equally skilled Technomanncer.
Think about it, the human brain is basically the most powerful computer in existence…
…and this girl can channel it, control it, and use that power to control external tech, and she is smarter, faster, and more skilled than a normal human.
IOW she is unkackable EXCEPT by an equally or more skilled technomancer.
I wouldn’t worry about updating the text concerning power types, I read it as if she would be able to go on for another five minutes if Maxima hadn’t interupted her. Also I finally switched to Google Chrome this last week but the website still showed up wonky at 8 this morning (about 3 am East coast time). working now though.
correction 2 am East coast time.
I’ve been using Firefox and haven’t had a single problem with the site.
I can confirm no problem with Firefox.
In 2007 I had Firefox crash two computers in a row. I can’t remove IE since to access government websites for work I have to use IE. And Firefox reacted violently with it.
As Mozilla is a non-profit company it makes sense that it would react violently to governmental systems. Kinda like mixing slimy politicians and people like Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Opposites attack. Try dumping ans acid into an alkaline for a demonstration.
My computer has both Firefox and IE on it and I have never had any problems at all.
I’ve been using Firefox for longer than that and never had Firefox itself crash a computer. I’ve had an occasional webpage give me an infinite loop error, though it’s extremely rare I have to shut down the computer to take care of the problem, but it has always been an issue with a specific website and not Firefox itself.
given that every windows computer has IE on it in some form or another, firefox reacting badly to it is a weird thing.
also, i still do not understand why so many official type places which handle sensitive and/or personal data set themselves up so they cannot be accessed with anything other than IE. (not sure about currently, but for quite some time it was pretty much The least secure web browser, along with intentionally not following standards.)
Because most buyers for such places are as ignorant of the flaws as a 2 day noob. All they know is prices and he won’t ask the tech guy because he’ll want expensive stuff.
because it’s in the contract that the government buyer/rep signed that they won’t use anything except “genuine windows” products… and that means they’re locked into using IE. as well as the fact that the IT guys only have one copy of the HDD Image that whenever there is a problem that’s too big to fix manually they just re-format the drive and put the properly licensed image back on it… and M$ paid out big bucks in lobbyists to get the lock on the government contract. However, there is a slight ray of hope out there, i have seen computers that had FF ox them that were being used as their web browser, it may have only been a command authorized program, and not government-wide, but at least SOME people were worried enough, or didn’t want to pay more for the IE tech support and just used something free… time will tell.
The whole Marvel Mutants thing has never made any sense at all, especially the whole human/mutant antipathy which, well… let’s just say the marvel writers must have flunked high school biology en masse.
As for security, if Max is willing to vouch, they probably aren’t going to argue.
Ok, why would the Marvel writers have needed to flunk highschool biology en masse for the human/mutant antipathy to make any sense? If you look at history that type of mass hate is actually rather normal for humans whenever encountering another group who is obviously different from themselves. Quite frankly I think the Super Robot Wars universe might actually have it right that the only way this planet will ever be truly united is with some sort of extraterrestrial threat that the only way we should be able to survive it is to band together against it.
Because the justification given in the Marvel universe is that Mutants are a threat to humanity since they will supplant them. Which is stupid because mutants are humanity. They are interfertile with humans and produce mutant or human babies by chance. Except that a good chunk of mutants or sufficiently weird that I doubt their ability to reproduce, which in the long term will make mutants less viable than humanity in the evolutionary sense.
I’m not saying the hatred and fear are stupid, I’m saying the fact that no one in the Marvel universe brings up the point that they are not in fact a different species from humanity is stupid.
And frankly I’m with you the alien thing. I think the best thing that could happen to us would be an invasion by incompetant aliens.
The source of the tension is not ‘mutants will supplant humans’. It’s much simpler than that: they’re different. The whole human/mutant thing is based off of the black/white racial tensions, coupled with the general thought of ‘how *do* you stop someone with super powers if they decide to go bad?’ question.
When human are willing to kill over minor differences in religion or skin color is it really farfetched to imagine antipathy towards a genetic difference? The human capacity for good or evil is infinite. Most heat is driven by fear and the unknown is what we fear the most because we can’t define it.
The problem with that is that humans don’t exhibit the same biases regarding other superhumans as they do mutants, and barring a genetic scan it’s impossible to distinguish between “got his powers because he’s a mutant” and “got his powers because he was bitten by a radioactive pangolin.”
A super with pangolin powers.
Want. To. See.
Dave: doooooeeeetttt.
The other origins don’t go around calling themselves “homo superior” and organizing into exclusive private militias that don’t allow any other “race” in. The Avengers are a grab bag of gods, mutants, androids, and normal humans with gimmicks. Even the Fantastic Four sometimes recruits people with different origins.
Neither do most mutants.
Heck, the Brotherhood of Mutants wasn’t anything more than Magneto and His Four Semi-Loyal Minions for years. They didn’t really do anything worse than any other super villain team, yet they got saddled with a much worse reputation.
I think the whole Marvel business of ‘Mutants Are Bad, But Other Supers (/Robots/Aliens/Mythical Figures/etc.) are OK’ never made any dern sense at all.
Fear / Prejudice is never that selective (post-911 made that extremely clear), and there have been quite a few definite NON-mutants in Marvel who have been very villainous indeed.
@7thsealord: For the most part I have to agree with you about the anti-mutant antipathy in Marvel not making much sense with how many other power sources there are. There is one note of exception though, how easy is it for someone whose powers originate from a different source to attempt to blend with ‘normal’ humans? In the Marvel setting mutants whose powers don’t trigger a permanent transformation have the easiest time blending in, and the other thing is that their powers suddenly awaken in their teens so you have kids with raging hormones and new super powers that can devastate city blocks that they don’t know how to control. Basically the mutants are more feared not because they are more different, but because without a DNA scanner it’s effectively impossible to tell who is a mutant and until the shit hits the fan you don’t know how ‘safe’ it is to have them attempt to protect you (many times a ‘new’ mutant has harmed people they were trying to protect, the other supers have rarely had that happen). It doesn’t make much sense, but who said that fear is rational?
In response to that, there have been non-mutants like The Hulk who, at least in the Good Old Days (dunno about lately), spent at least as much time being a menace as a hero.
The Hulk is like a grenade, if no one pulls the pin (pisses him off) he is no threat at all so my take is society gets what it deserves.
Just don’t forget that Dr. David Bruce Banner is a top level scientist an he can think up ways of ruining your life you would never think of or expect.
Humans (in the real world ) exhibit bias toward anyone who isn’t exactly like them so why should a subspecies expect or receive any better? Hell I’ve seen hatred against people who excel in sports, academics, literacy or even tech. Most people seem to look for reasons to hate others (especially the less educated or intensely religious).
If it was an anti-superhuman bias, it would make sense. Arbitrarily targeting a specific type of superhuman that people shouldn’t ordinarily be able to tell from the rest of the bunch doesn’t make sense.
Exactly. Well said.
Ask black people about “passing”. Someone with a different religion will look exactly the same but people still hate them. People hate gays even though they can’t tell them apart from heteros. It is the perceived difference that drives the hate.
heat =>hate
PLEASE ADD EDIT FUNCTION !!!!!
The source of the tension, and the rationalization for acting on it, are two different things. And the rationalization is so stupid I saw through it when I was sixteen. After that I stopped reading X-Men, and have gradually given up on Marvel altogether.
I’ve pretty much cut down my comic book reading to Powers and The Boy’s, comics myself.
The DC handling of supers via mutants and via external source are better handled, especially with the catch all of metahuman.
Marvel, fun as that may be, it is clunky with the mutant hatred and could use refinement. If there’s had been a world with just the source of powers as Mutants, genetics. It might work better. But the clunkiness makes it hard to swallow at time. I just haven’t given up on Marvel yet.
The ‘mutants will supplant humanity’ rhetoric has always been presented in Marvel (in every occasion I’ve seen it, at least) as a line used by anti-mutant bigots to make their bigotry easier to swallow.
true give us humans something else to kill, other then ourselves and we are going to. It just the way of things
Catholics and Protestant were at each other’s throats way back when, and they pretty much believe the same stuff. Sure to them the differences are significant, but to an outsider, it sounds like they’re arguing over what Christ had at the last supper. Same thing with Sunni and Shi’a. Human beings need very little provocation to hate each other.
Yep, there is a religion that states that they should make war on their neighbor if they were of a diffrent religion than their own, and to lie to a unbeliver is a good thing.
So there are a lot of people out there who will look for any excuse to hate thy neighbor.
yes and that is very sad really.
It’s easier to move the mob with hate than love and all that.
its easier to move with the mob in general; being social/herd animals it comes naturally to us.
God Loves, Man Kills, X-Men graphic novel with Chris Claremont as writer.
Part of the matter is envy, which leads to hate, and if the chain is not broken, ends in pain, suffering and death. Marvel’s “2099” comic line near the end of its run had Captain America re-appearing (the remaining agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had put him back ‘on ice’ when it all went to heck), telling how all the other empowered were killed. The non-powered took the position “if it flies, it dies” and wiped out everybody: heroes & villains alike. Sadly, I see all too much of this chain in the news around the world.
And then there was a line in EXILES where the Sentinels locked all humanoids with “non-standard” DNA in nazi-style concentration camps.
Well in the early X-Men comics, Professor X argued that since all humans were the result of billions of years of constant mutation, the Sentinels’ only hope to protect humans from mutations was to remove the source of most of the mutation on Earth…Solar radiation.
The Sentienels then promptly bought this argument and all flew into the sun. Problem Solved.
…. At least until the Sentinels were written back in again. And again. And again.
When you have a ‘good’ idea you will see them again. Just like nuclear weapons. Some may be changed a bit but they will still be doomsday to those it is used on. So would the Sentinels. With different programming. But then if all humans show mutations, an we do, then the Sentinels would logically arrest or destroy all humans. (All they would need is a full run down on genetics, evolution an adaptions.) Stupid prejudices would take down the flat heads an those they hate.
The difference between the Catholics and the Protestants was in various details of how they worshiped Christ. And for that alone the worshipers of a ‘God of Love and Mercy’ were willing to burn people at the stake. Not to be harsh or anything but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if all of the various religious groups that have worshiped an ‘evil’ (since some are just vilified) god have killed fewer people than those who have worshiped a ‘good’ god, all in the name of religion (and actually I think the Holocaust alone could probably guarantee that as accurate). Sadly, in the modern world it is the pagans who tend to be the most tolerant of religious differences, and they are the most despised for their religious beliefs.
[Morrisette] “And isn’t it ironic, doncha think?” [/Morrisette]
Catholics: “If you’re happy and you know it, that’s a sin! If you’re happy and you know it, that’s a sin!”
Also: “If it feels good, stop”.
Pretty much everything I took away from 18 years of Catholic upbringing. These days, I figure if there’s a God, He hates us and the least we can do is hate ourselves. Then, if we’re wrong, at least we’ll know what hell is like and find no surprises in it to follow.
There is a God, you can see it in the beer.
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”
Benjamin Franklin
god exists and she has a cute laugh. has trouble being corpeal in time for a date though
It’s what she’s laughing at that worries me.
That there is only one perfect one and no one has it?
I wonder wich country she went to, and for what reason?
She obvously got the things in the tube from there, but why did she go there in the first place?
Vacation,buying rare comics and the quest for the ultimate hot food.
I can understand the hot food part. The only way she could be buying rare comics would be in Asia somewhere. Cool Idea. I was thinking South America, but Asia has a certain appeal.
Well, if it was in search of hot food she would have gone to India. They have a certain chili “fruit” which you cannot take with you on a plane, because you would be considered armed and dangerous. Also India has a loooot of mysticism and ancient ruins in which to find mysterious artefacts.
However I believe she bought the tube in some strange little china shop and the tiny ancient chinaman just laughed creepily as he sold it to her, then closed the shop and went back to watching soaps after having fulfilled his dalily spread of chaos/misery.
Good Grimlins refrence.
She obviosly went to Japan! It’s geek paradise!
The most logical thing would be that she went to Canada (for a comic convention or such) or Mexico (as a vacation) multipe times for some reason. Some of the more exotic ideas that have been posed are nice too though as a part owner of a comic shop I doubt she’d have the cash to make several trips to exotic and far away destinations. Anything is possible though.
I don’t know why, but for some reason I thought she went to Egypt to see the Pyramids… went through the back-issues, and… nothing. No reference other than she showed up with the tube “back from vacation”
Why should she not have been to other countries? Is that unusual over there in the states?
Since (except for Canada or Mexico) we have to fly or take a boat both expensive options yes. Most people don’t travel abroad because of time and money constraints but we have a whole continent to explore with more undeveloped area than most.
That, and having a$$holes grabbing your wedding tackle, squeezing your buns, and kneading your chest.
You forgot the walk through nude-o-vision option and the “how much can we embarrass this person who makes more money than we do” bag search. Really the bag searches are random (yeah right).
That and the language problem. Many countries in Europe have their children speak three or more languages, whereas here in America we usualy only speak english and if we’re lucky can understand spanish as well.
the part that makes that really sad?
the USA is larger than Europe.
yeah.
But thanks to the U.S., most of Europe doesn’t have to speak German.
Well, I would actually like it if I could just speak German everywhere.
Well English does have a lot of Germanic words. I was watching the original “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” with English subs and could often tell when the translation was different. Yes I know it’s not the same language but they are very similar and I did take German in H.S. (many many moons ago).
If I remember correctly, wasn’t GwDT in Swedish? The same probably applies: we’ve been invaded so many times by people from both those parts of the world, and every time a bit more of the language got mixed in. And then, turning it round, many modern/tech words in other languages are very similar to the English original.
It’s usually more like “countries that don’t have English as the first language really push it as something kids should learn”. British schools do usually have one language as compulsory for the first four years of secondary school, but most students barely remember any of it by the time they start fifth year. In contrast, many of the foreign students in my university class speak better English than the natives!
This is true of many people, if they learn a second language in school they learn the proper way to speak it. If you learn it home you pick up an accent and a lot of bad habits.
I see that her spell contains a head shot of Rainbow Dash, and a Weather Forecast (Current temperature of 57°, and it looks to be cloudy all week.)
I referred to the top part of her spell as a “widget rainbow” and the idea struck me to have Rainbow Dash in the last widget, like it sweeps through the rest of it when there are updates.
I swear peru was mentioned a while ago, though I could be mixing up my comics
She couldn’t detect anything, because Sydney emptied her stomach, else she would have detected at least the chemical weapons she had for lunch.
and is that a game of cards on the right…
I was guessing origami
Looks like an old flow-chart like they used back when computers had drives measured in megabytes to write programs (yes I’m old). :)
Commodore 16 & 64 & 128″Tape Drive” :O
I still have it. Love to play the original 2 player “CANNONS”!!
There is not much older, unless you were hanging with the “Boys” in the garage. ;)
Used to laugh at my brother. He had a TRS-80 (trash 80 we called it) which would not let you backspace when writing basic so if you made an error you had to rewrite the whole line but even the old VIC-20 had an edit function. My favorite old computer had to be the C 64 with the game port and I even had a hippo drive (one of the first floppy drives) whirr clunk whirr so much better than the cassette drive! :D
BTW if you want a touch of nostalgia watch this and try to identify the various old computers in the video. Plus you’ll probably recognize the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE :D
technically before my time, but my Dad did teach me to encode FORTRAN onto punch cards (and showed me real-life why it was important to number your cards) when I was 7…
my first actual computer was an Atari 800 with a tape drive in 1982. 3 years later, we invested in a 10Mb Percom Hard Drive and were surfing bulletin boards at 300 Baud, but it pissed off my mom because she couldn’t use the phone while we were on the modem.
My brother had to learn to use punch cards in college (80’s) because many companies still used them. He had to use TRAYS of them like half a tree for one program.
nice tatoo,, remind me of the tatoo from the”heroine” of the movie: Carrie 2,The rage!
Maybe whatever”s in the tube did its “you don’t want to open me/ignore the tube” mojo….
Just your garden variety Nothing’s Here spell. Keeps those pesky mages and sorcers from grabbing up all the magical artifacts for themselves.
The problem with those sorts of spells is the ‘blank’ space left in the detection field… which if you’re looking for something is a big honking clue that there is something making the hole. (It’s a lot harder to hide a thing while presenting the normal things [air, water, ground, etc.] that should be in the area you’re hiding it.)
I know, thats why you hide the magical objects where you would expect nothing to be.
It’s also a good idea to put some low level magical item nearby, possibly with a trap attached to keep away theives.
Kind of like the US’s ‘Ohio’ class SSBN (nuclear ballistic-missile-carrying sub for those who don’t know ;) ).
When it first went into service, this sub was supposedly TOO quiet – would show up as a kind of ‘dead zone’ against the normal oceanic noises.
Makes sense to me. The outside of subs is coated with sound absorbing tiles so ANY sound around them would be deadened.
yeah but there is always SOME sound. Hell a dropped wrench could possibly point out a sub like a neon sign and instead there’s a freaking black hole? AHA!
You might be surprised how much sound there is underwater. So if something deadens the sound you might notice. Like in the woods if all the birds go quiet you know danger is near.
I know. but IIRC aren’t sonar techs also trained to listen for non-enviromental sounds when using passive sonar? Hence the “wrench-drop” metaphor :P
True and they have probably the most sophisticated acoustic equipment to help discriminate sounds but everything in a sub is padded, muffled and acoustically isolated. One of the most interesting places I’ve worked (in my many jobs) was the sonar dome of a Los Angeles class sub (access was VERY small).
You have some objects that might literally be anything, and they don’t bring them to Dabbler’s lab?
I’m actually expecting Sydney to bump into her at the vending machines. The two hit it off and eventually the boss(es) find the two of them off in some obscure corner of the base playing Pokemon and devouring sandwiches no human should ever attempt.
The objects belong to Sydney.I don’t think they can perform any examinations on them,without her consent or a search warrant.
Expecialy her consent. If they try to take them away from her they may act on their own to protect themselves and their owner.
She seems to act like they have a will of their own, so I’m inclined to belive that they are inteligent in their own right, but have to bond with a person to be able to interact with the world.
Patriot Act says different.
Super powered tube contents that may *actually* be strong enough to blow up the city if you try, say that human laws do not actually apply.
Or at least telaport away. If your lucky, it could shred you and anybody it thinks is a threat in it’s vicinity.
As the saying goes – “NEVER kick a skunk”.
The contents of Sydney’s tube, as far as ARC-SWAT knows, have (so far) been benign in nature. Whilst trying to understand it better (in case it might BECOME dangerous) is entirely rational, caution in doing so.is at least as rational. “Don’t Make Me Angry”.
At the very least, being POLITE to Sydney and the Tube is a good first step. For all ARC-SWAT knows, the Tube could be housing some awesomely powerful pandimensional paracosmic alien entity who happens to think Sydney is entertaining.
And they look like lab mice. ;)
Nice Hichhikers refrence.
It is a normal human feature to attribute intelligence and will to animals, weather, and objects that may even be inanimate. Look up Intentional Stance.
“She used this spell to scan a hotdog once. Once.”
And then she never ate hotdogs again! :D
If you knew what was in a hotdog you probably wouldn’t eat them again except under extreme duress as well. Very few of us who know what’s actually in them can still stand to eat them (I am one, but there isn’t much I’m not willing to try and if it’s edible and keeps me going I’m not going to nix it just because the ingredients aren’t so appealing).
Just think, all those preservitives in the hotdogs keep you looking younger, and living longer.
Nah, they just keep your body from decaying for slightly longer after you die. But, as you’re dead, what do you care?
You become a more durable breed of zombie.
YES!
A speedy Zombie, who the hell wants to be a shambler, I want to be fast so I can NOM on some people.
I’d be the one that’s waiting in the back seat of your car after you made your pit stop and had just let your guard down.
The only reason I avoid hotdogs is because of how much sodium they have in them, but when I find a street vendor with a cart selling kielbasa with grilled onions and load it up with spicy mustard, blood pressure be damned.
Ahh… kielbasa Polish soul food. Gowumpkis pierogis sauerkraut all that stuff yumm. :)
If you ever want to gross yourself out, look up the FDA’s “allowable contamination” in various products. This is not what goes in on purpose like the stuff people worry about in hotdogs. This is far worse; hint, there is an acceptable amount of rodent droppings allowed in multiple food types. For beer drinkers if I remember right there can be up to 10,000 aphids in a sample of hops. mmmmm crunchy beer
The aphids are filtered out along with the other solid ingredients. They just add Flavor to it.
Since the comic is now staying in the top 10 you should probably upload the banner to TWC.
While it’s true that the “allowable contamination” list may seem gross if you read it all in one chunk, keep in mind that in the first world, and the US especially, we’re afforded the cleanest, healthiest food supply in all of human history. Sure too much sugar and salt and whatever, I’m talking about your chances of getting salmonella from the veggies you buy at the grocery store or some old or infected meat. Restaurant caught with some roaches in the kitchen? I would pay money to eat there before eating at “some stand in a market I found while backpacking through Bangladesh.” No offense to anyone living in Bangladesh. I’m sure your immune system is considerably stronger than mine.
They don’t call it Montezuma’s Revenge for nothing.
All very true and we (the industrialized nations at least) have some of the safest foods available compared to any other time in history. That still doesn’t change the fact that there might be rat turds in your hot dog. In the words of comedian Richard Jeni “If I had to describe my reaction to this in one word that word would be WTF! I don’t think any amount of rat droppings are “acceptable in my hotdog.”
Just a little side note. If you ever find yourself in a 3rd world country never order a hotdog.
You just might get one.
I was reading Grantville Gazett and in one of the stories that happened. They specilized in American food.;)
“Rat’s…Rat’s on a Stick!”…. or how about Escargot -la’ BBQ Sauce?
Certain parts of your food industry operates on the principle: Cheap labour is more profitable than good labour.
There are books written on the subject, some of them even a good read.
While the food may be clean and uncontaminated to begin with it may not stay that way. How long has that hot dog been sitting on the rollers and how hot are the rollers or how many hands have touched that muffin in the self serve bin and were they clean? There are horror stories any food worker can tell you. Even fresh produce gets handled a lot yet no one washes their hands or uses gloves.
Here in Germany we just had a large hygienic scandal in one of the largest industrial bakeries Müller Brot. I haven’t followed it much, because I prefer bread from a local and much smaller bakery.
There was talk about roaches, flour worms, mouse droppings and so on. After three weeks cleaning now it is still not clean enough to restart production.
Marketing people say Müller Brot will not recover. The name is burned and competition too tough.
Well the could always make dog biscuits! lol :D
Fair point. Cleanliness in first world countries is first rate, but the amount of preservatives known to cause cancer in rats is much higher in first world countries than third. And as a cancer survivor (for the moment) I would much rather be poisoned with bacteria than carcinogens. My body is designed to adapt to bacteria, not carcinogens. Best example I can think of is a local orange grove. I live in Florida, right in the middle of supposedly the best groves in the world. Turns out laws allow orange juice to be stored in giant air-tight vats for up to seven years at a time, and it can still be called fresh-squeezed. By then, of course, the juice is colorless and basically a mass of sugar-loaded pulp. So the orange juice industry throws in medicated “flavor packs” creating the orange color, consistency, and flavor that we are accustomed to. It also contains more carcinogens than being exposed to a leak at Fukushima for a smoke break. But since the storage process allows the orange grove industry to maintain supply, the FDA allows it.
Bottom line. If you want to eat healthy, raise it yourself or starve, because this planet’s too f—-ed up to allow genuine altruists.
And you don’t really want to know what some people feed their livestock. The mad-cow thing happened because they were feeding cattle processed remains of diseased cattle.
The same could be said for most restaurants or stores where you buy prepared food. If we knew half of what happens to the food we eat a lot of us would lose whatever we ate last.
Watch the movie Waiting, it’s more true to life than you want to imagine.
Since I work in a restaurant (not a cook) I can tell you that you are right on that point. And like Ryan Reynolds said “Don’t f-ck with people who handle your food.”
i am a cook,,, and i can say that at least here in canada,, with the MAPAQ(gouvernement) looking over our shoulders we got so many legislations and regulations about food now you cant even keep fruits at room temperature for more then 1 hour before they consider it a risk,,,it gone to the point of overaseptysation , overdesinfection,or whatever,, and dont even get me started on regulation about cooling and reheating,, they are mental
In America the regulatory agencies are so underfunded and undermanned they are laughable.
And then there are the ones that are on the take.
by which, of course, you mean all of them, except possibly the ones which weren’t needed in the first place.
If you haven’t already, you folks MUST see a movie called ‘Battle Beyond The Stars’. One of the various movies to come out right after Star Wars (the original) made it big.
Well worth watching, with a short but funny hot dog scene more than a little appropriate to this particular thread.
All right.. somebody else remembers Nestor!… that was actually a really good movie, low-budget of course but the story was good.
@GOTHWENCH:MY BOOT SCAME IN:@MUMMY WITH BEES: WHOS CLUBBING TONIGHT?
Aparently she uses her spellware to text.
This becomes an issue later….
Nice backtat on Gwen by the way.
I want to see the whole thing preferably when she’s standing in front of a mirror. ;)
Seconded ;P
Finally, a comment to our author. It does in a way make sense that she hasn’t had to open the tube yet. Remember, Maxima told Sydney that she doesn’t have to tell them what her powers are if she doesn’t want to. As such, since the contents of that tube are connected with her ‘powers’ that makes the contents inherently classified, and security doesn’t normally have the clearance to see classified items or documents. In addition this building has several ‘supers’ (as you’ve pointed out, many different power sources in this setting) in it, and it is probably a standard security measure that whenever a new, and potentially dangerous, ‘super’ is in the building trusted supers have to stay nearby, as only they would be capable of handling anything that individual did. Going by all of that, so long as there are at least two ‘supers’ in the room when she opens the tube fore the ‘interview’ it would work for both how you wanted to tell the story and for satisfying government security requirements.
Oh, I forgot to mention, but normal military intelligence is considered an oxymoron by us civvies (and even a few GIs) for a reason, and you’ve just done an excellent job of displaying why.
Though you know that they use the word “intelligence” instead of data or information since that is what they collect. I don’t like it but there you have it.
Gwen reminds me of Heatwave, she has a similar ditzy attitude about her. I still like both of them, though.
And I can see Gwen get on great with Sydney. They both seem experts at winding up people (think “Hippie says what?” line, still one of my faves).
And are those Cirth runes on the bottom right? I can’t find the 6th one in the table though, so I guess I’m wrong. Cool touch.
I just did a google image search for runes and used whatever looked cool.
A couple of them look like Tolkien’s Dwarven runes to me.
Looks to me as if the right-hand rainbow’s-end has Nordic/Tolkien runes in it, and the left-hand one has another script that I recognise but can’t place. Unfortunately, I don’t have my Dad’s copy of the Hobbit handy (it has a transliteration guide from Tolkien runes to Latin alphabet), so I can’t transcribe it at the moment.
At a guess, something sanskrit related.
Scratch that, I wasn’t looking very closely.
On a bit of looking around, it seems like the best fit is Tolkien’s Cirth (not actually the script used in The Hobbit!). However, even then there’s one character that doesn’t quite fit (on the far right).
My transliteration, via Wikipedia’s article on the Cirth, reads “& a aa ch ee k gw n”
I’m guessing that the last two characters might be Gwen’s name, perhaps with the unknown character being en instead of the n which is the closest match in standard Cirth. Characters 4, 5, and 6 seem to run together as “cheek“. Given Gwen’s technomantic tendencies, I’d wager she’s retasked & as @. Not sure what “a aa” could equate to – maybe she just likes Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song! But what it all adds up to, only Dave can say.
if I had to take a stab at it, the bottom right ones look like a derivative of the elder futhark, one of the versions that have more than 24 runes to it (don’t have my reference book handy). The ones on the left I’m less sure of, but they vaguely look like a cross between enochian and the zodiac/elemential symbols, possibly from the mystical side of the Kabala…
I’m guessing Gwen is where Harem got her idea to dress up one of her bodies as a goth girl.
I guess she copies the style of dress of those around her to fit in better.
She might also be working in Gwen’s section also, she would make a great spy.
No, don’t think so. She has the powers for it but not the temperament.
Depends on what you need her to do.
She’d be great for undercover work. She’s loud, extroverted, carefree, and capable of acting in various ways. She won’t look like a typical agent with those traits, she’d just be one of the group.
Yeah, who looks at the party girl as a spy? Read something by John Ringo where a girl code named Cottontail went that route. Didn’t end up well for her.
O man dave been reading for a long time now and really tougth you would introduce your villian and syd’s power at the same time. Well to each there own i take it. Thought we all kind of know what they are cause you gave us that little cheat sheet in the cast section. I do really want to know what that last symbol mean thougth. GOOD JOB as ALWAYS MAN
If you are talking about the last symbol on Sydneys who’s who page, I think it means telakinisis.
the only symbol i havent identified for sure yet is the closed fist one,, altough i think it mean super strike,, tough i wonder why harem would have it,, i can see anvil having it for her ability to store/release kinetic energy and dabbler for her martial art training,, but harem,, well maybe its artial art to
That’s fighting skill, or martial arts training.
wouldn’t Syd’s be a tongue in a fist?
O its an anvil being held up DUUUH thanks
be careful with that fortune cookie talk, ben & jerrys can tell you that it doesnt end well
please explain.
B&J’s released a flavor ‘Taste the Lin-sanity’ at the Harvard store in honor of Jeremy Lin, a vanilla with honey and fortune cookie chunks. A bunch of people got butthurt about it, yelling racism and other BS and such.
Which is really weird since fortune cookies are an American invention, not Asia.
Of course it’s an American invention, but most people don’t know that, seeing how you can only get them at Chineese restrants.
There’s a good case made that fortune cookies are based on a sort of Japanese cookie from the Kyoto area.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/dining/16fort.html
I once saw something on the History Channel about them. It said something diffrent.
If its 57 degrees and sunny out, why is Sydney not wearing a coat or jacket?
It might be around March when this takes place. After a long winter 57′ would seem like nice weather to me.
57 and sunny is a lot warmer than 57 and raining plus your car is warm (greenhouse effect). Sunlight=radiant heat energy.
with her metabolism, she probably doesn’t need a jacket/coat all winter…
yeah,, all she need is 5 daily dose of spicy food :)
High metabolism people like syd and myself tend to get cold real easy. Burning off the protective fat tends to do that.
Really depends on your core temperature. If your core temp goes down people with slower metabolism would recover slower.
Man I live in South Dakota, 57 degrees is short-sleeve weather, we don’t get the coats out till it hits 35.
I think this comic is based around the Dallas Fort Worth area, because that’s where DaveB lives.
I live (and grew up) in Maine now but when I lived in Virginia I used to laugh at the people who would wear winter coats in 60 degree weather. My manager (an 80 yr old from N. Dakota) had the same reaction. We kept the AC or heat at 68 in the store and people complained it was cold in the store.
My family is from Texas, it reguarly gets up to 100+ , My mom went to Minasoda once and it was almost 80, they were in their shorts and t-shirts saying that they were about to die it was so hot.
Mom bust out laughing.
I don’t like anything over 75. When I left Va. it was 103 and 98% humidity. But when I was in Va. I watched them panic any time snow actually hit the ground.
If they ran the tube through an x-ray and it came up as empty (and if the thing in the tube can stop a spell, it can probably fool an x-ray) they probably WOULDNT make her open it. Thats what the x-ray is FOR after all. Searching every bag as it comes in is slow.
And this is clearly not the kind of top secret place that doesnt even let you wear digital watches, so an x-ray search is probably considered sufficient. And hell, like the Avengers (I think) said: human level security isnt about stopping supers level threats. Its about keeping curious fans from hurting themselves. The base’s residents are its best security against supers level threats, and for that, you generally want the threat INSIDE the base, where it will do less collateral damage :)
Confucius say: Cute goth girls should never look in Sydney’s tube!
I practically drenched my screen in soda from laughing when I read that.
I would accept that they don’t open the tube. Maybe they saw 12 Monkeys and thought better of it? I did a similar visual joke in Mallville Rules book 1 (plug) where Iron Matt’s read outs include the inscription from the ring in Lord of the Rings. No one has ever commented on it.
GWEN: “I thought we were taking turns being unprofessional?”
ZEPHON: You already had your turn when you came in here with a top that had your boobs hanging out. And the illusion spell to cover up your nipples.
GWEN: >:P
I joke because I love this comic. ;)
well its classic gothlolita look shirt,,, maybe just not as frilly as most in fact
Is it just me, or does onr of the runes in the left semi-circle look like an upside-down cock and balls?
During my career, I’ve been in a fair number of secure facilities. Your handling of security is fine.
The first layer of security is mainly there to ensure that only those with access to the building are allowed in and to prevent obvious theft.
Sydney would be in the “public” part of the building at the moment. This is the place were meetings with visiting officials and contractors would take place. Nothing should be located here that would require a search of her belongings as she enters or leaves. In addition, she is being escorted/watched at all times.
There should be other security check points deeper in the building to protect the secure stuff, like Leon’s office. Those checkpoints are the ones that start to get more invasive about checking briefcases and poster tubes.
We might add that so far we have been shown no real reason for security at all. Of course government, the military in particular, doesn’t need a reason, but they don’t seem to have vital information, such as how to make more super-heros. And the very fact they are using a tall, easy to damage, building argues they are not expecting a serious attack by some other group of supers. and…
I am arguing from the lack of evidence, which is routinely weak, but it seems quite possible that real security here is on the “don’t bother me” level, not to keep anything hidden or secure, and so glaring holes in security are not just tolerated, but encouraged when serious security would just be a bother.
So is it just me or is Gwen the Deanna Troi of ARC?
Nothing in that tube so maybe whatever is in there is deliberately preventing itself from being detected… yes pretty much what maxima was thinking.
So magic can’t detect it, what next?
Ooh I see what you mean about that top… can’t believe I missed that!
look fine to me,, i have a few goth-loklita friends,, and am a bit goth meself,, and i can say its normal for the genre
I like Gwen’s outfit, except the skirt looks twice as long as it should be, IMHO.
I googled goth lolita or something and what she’s wearing is a conglomeration of some of the designs I found there – even though that top of hers looks like a dyed black version of a German serving wench outfit. The whole gothic lolita thing seems to be more into an adherence to certain designs than it is about raw sexuality. Personally I’d like her skirt either to be way shorter or longer, I think the knee high dresses common to that subculture are cut to that height to show off their expensive boots. I admit that I don’t know what I’m doing when to comes to fashion though – I don’t have to worry about Square Eenix coming to recruit me for outfit designs any time soon.
You Googled ‘Goth Lolita’? I assume you had Safe Search on, because that could have gone *very* badly!
Well I didn’t do it at work. And I assume by “badly” you mean “awesomely.”
Remember Gwen said “less than nothing” which means there would be some kind of trans-dimensional aspect to whatever is in there. In Maxima’s debrief an what they saw on TV they know something is up with Sydney an it isn’t usual. (This is normal for her, just not us.)
Like I said earlier, It’s a Nothing Here spell.
maybe it something that absorbs all sorts of energy to power itself. like a black hole. you can’t see it or detect it directly, only by the distinct lack of something there…
@gothwench?
It occurs to me now that I should have checked to make sure those weren’t real twitter handles. Surprisingly @gothwench isn’t. @mummywithbees is an obscure reference to a Jhonen Vasquez comic, so I it probably isn’t as well.
I agree with Max, Gwen was remarkably little help.
She should get a super wedgie as punishment.
Hee hee hee hee…
Now I am hungry for fortune cookies.
Since the tube contents reveal should hopefully (barring any more stalling :P) be happening real soon, how about a quick post contest to come up with the most humorous possible contents. For an artificial limit lets say 3 suggests per post. Here are mine:
a) Sqweeky dog chew toys
b) Smurfs
c) Maritial aids
Yeah we’re getting close. I haven’t mapped it exactly but I think it’ll be before page 90. And I’ll have a joke or two about what people think is in there.
1.) The end of the movie. Just like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.
2.) Sydney’s Brain-to-mouth filter.
3.) Ken doll heads. Decapitated and staring both judgementally and forlornly.
By the way I feel that upon closer inspection of the side of the tube that we NEVER see, it should be revealed that the tube has a ‘Bad Mother@#$&er’ sticker on it. Since I’m in a Pulp Fiction mood.
1) Posters! (it is a poster tube) :P
2) Hot Sauce! (she never leaves home without it)
3) An Oscillation Overthruster! :D
1) Troll dolls
2) Rare Beanie Babies
3) stray parts from broken video games
4) nuts bolts washers gears etc metal mechanical parts she thought were “Neat!”
5) Chocolate covered Jalapenos (they do exist)
She is a comic geek so here are my thoughts
1) A HALO ring
2) Nano super suit
3) Comics that she can absorb the powers from
I have super powers your argument is invalid =)
1) Another tube
2) Nac Mac Feegles
3) Another Sydney
Nac Mac Fegals would be a scary thought. Although all you have to do is give them a bottle of Jack and they would probably not hurt you too much.
1) boring rocks – maybe with little sparklies inside (syd: “ooh – shiny!!!”)
2) good quality copy of Batman #2
3) a red Swingline [tm] model 747 stapler (a copy of which is proudly on display upon my desk)
That’s MY stapler!!! :)
And if I don’t get it back I’ll burn down the building! Thanks for reminding me of Office Space Gamesman :).
You didn’t even have to see the movie to get the reference but I did. Even WOW had a tie in.
a) The ONLY person to be placed on Sydney’s List THREE times.
b) A complete set of sonic screwdrivers
c) A fully-functional Klingon Bat’leth
The tube contains nothing. It’s the tube itself that’s granting her powers.
Gotta love Gwen’s line in panel 7.
Its Schrodinger’s Shielded Tube of Quantum Uncertainty. Basically the cat is nekkid and doesn’t want to be looked at.
And you win 1 Internet!
lol my co workers said Gwen looks like a slutty nun.
Or maybe even a slutty maid.
More like a slutty German gothic barmaid.
I was wondering why perspective seemed kind of wacky in panel six, and then I realized she’s actually scanning Sydney through the wall.
You haven’t figured it out yet? Sydney doesn’t ACTUALLY exist… she’s a construct made by whats in the tube to use as a SEP field. J/K. No clue what’s in the tube, but i’m guessing it might be related to wonder woman (in an indirect not naming specifics so nobody gets sued way). Syd has been wearing a wonder woman logo shirt all day.
However since Dave seems to be a fan of the GD comics, I’m figuring it might have something more to do with that world. Perhaps sydney’s vacation was to pay a visit to Gina Diggers while she was on a dig. Never know.
Whatever is in the tube if in fact it isn’t the tube itself in some kind of camouflage itself that is.
Looks like futhark runes above Gwen’s right hand and angelic script over her left. Cripes I’m an occult nerd…
And here I am replying to myself because no one else will. I’m that damn lonely. :(
The ones over her left hand are actually from Diablo 2. :)
Never played the game, but I can see the symbols for Sammael, Michael the Archangel, Lucifer the lightbringer, and Ha’Satan the adversary. It’s mostly translated from “A Dictionary of Angels,” which contains excerpts from earlier works considered evil by the Church. They were meant to summon angels, but since it gave honor to beings other than God, it was considered Satanic.
Diablo 1&2 are well worth playing but fair warning I actually wore out a mouse playing 1 and learned how to clean them on 2.