THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Comic Discussion => ALICE GROVE => Topic started by: Detachable Felix on 31 Aug 2015, 14:43

Title: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Detachable Felix on 31 Aug 2015, 14:43
I realise for most of you it's still August for a few hours but eh. Lets get this show on the road!

What are your predictions for this month in Alice Grove?




(will put up a more appropriate poll when I can think of one
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 31 Aug 2015, 14:46
I'm expecting at least a little Alice back-story although I don't think that she's distraught enough to give up all her secrets. There might also be a risky plan hatched to 'disarm' Ardent. After all, the Night Walker eats nanotech...

I'm wondering if we might also have an interlude that will introduce us, at least as speaking shadows, to the villains of the piece.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 31 Aug 2015, 14:49
'The Saga of Alice'
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Method of Madness on 31 Aug 2015, 21:37
Hopefully we find out whose weapon she was.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: wlewisiii on 31 Aug 2015, 23:04
I'm wondering if we might also have an interlude that will introduce us, at least as speaking shadows, to the villains of the piece.

I would love this but I do not expect he will, alas.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: FunkyTuba on 01 Sep 2015, 11:15
ok... this seems relevant

where does Ardent poop? if he had been the one to clean the outhouse would it have converted into a Heinlein-style 'fresher ?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: ReindeerFlotilla on 01 Sep 2015, 11:23
Actually, that's one experiment down. An outhouse is shack, nominally over a hole in the ground. Arent's nano either doesn't exist via the GI tract, or it can't tell the difference between a hole, and a hole with a purpose, just like it doesn't seem to know the difference between a stick and broom or pitch fork.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Undrneath on 01 Sep 2015, 12:06
Meanwhile the geyser that is the water pump Ardent touched is flooding the Grove.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Zebediah on 01 Sep 2015, 16:21
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS (Project Ardent Touches Things):

Rocking chair: null
Outhouse: null
Broom: null
Water pump: Super high-capacity water pump
Sawmill: Electric sawmill
Wind turbine: Boy, that was a bad idea
Margaret Wheelwright's butt: CENSORED
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: cesium133 on 01 Sep 2015, 16:29
So that's where Pintsize came from.  :-o
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 01 Sep 2015, 17:15
I got a baaaaaad feeling about this
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Sep 2015, 17:37
I'm sure the experiment will involve butts. Somehow.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 01 Sep 2015, 23:33
"For the good of the townsfolk and to help you two kids... we're going to try SCIENCE!"

Does the phrase 'hilarity ensues (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HilarityEnsues)' mean anything to you guys?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 07 Sep 2015, 23:32
New comic up!

Well, we've established the following:
Now, is Jeph telling us something about Alice given that she's reading Moby Dick? Is Captain Alice hunting her white whale sentient trees? The need for revenge can blind you, after all!

Additionally, one wonders if Alice has suggested the items Ardent has been testing with or if this is an elaborate attempt on her part to get into the kids' heads by leaving the matter to them and seeing what things they would choose!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 08 Sep 2015, 15:49
"AZIZ! LIGHT!!"



Sometimes, Science can be boring
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: mustang6172 on 08 Sep 2015, 19:24
Maybe Ardent will turn Moby Dick into an ebook.

A positive displacement pump isn't much more complex than the ring and pinion gear on the egg beaters.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: improvnerd on 09 Sep 2015, 14:24
My guess is the difference is the use of electricity.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Carl-E on 10 Sep 2015, 11:23
I think you're right about that one - gotta have something for the nano's to feed on, after all. 

Don't know that there's any electric tech in Alice's shack, though.  She probably has something sitting around to test, but it probably needs to be plugged in, or have live batteries. 


Oh, wait - in the bedside table's drawer...  Ardent will turn it into an electric jackhammer! :evil: 
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: mustang6172 on 10 Sep 2015, 19:19
Well that windup bird has some kind of energy to it.

Now it probably has a fowl mouth.  :claireface: :claireface:

TRIPLE ENTENDRE!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: wlewisiii on 10 Sep 2015, 19:57
Yep. Some kind of Potential Energy is necessary. I doubt that the nano's "feed" on it because they'd need too much more that was present to make the change. What I would guess is that they use the presence of Potential Energy as a triggering event for their transformations.

I wonder what his nano's would do if he touched a bow that was at full draw with an arrow nocked?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: SubaruStephen on 10 Sep 2015, 20:26
Turn it into a repeater crossbow probably.

(http://www.benkepple.com/Images/helsing.jpg)
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 10 Sep 2015, 23:37
YIPES! Did Ardent's nanobots just turn a clockwork hopping bird toy into a sophisticated robot companion-pet? Is that even possible? Where the hell would it get the extra mass to increase in size and complexity like that? :-o

Just a note in advance: If Alice decides that she's going to keep the robo-phoenix and calls it 'Philomina', then I predict that this entire story is going to have a weird climax.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: improvnerd on 11 Sep 2015, 00:11
IF?!?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 11 Sep 2015, 00:15
IF?!?

Well, Ardent and Gavia may take it with them when they go home. Additionally, there are lots of alternative names that Princess Celestia Alice could give to it!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: osaka on 11 Sep 2015, 02:52
Majestic DryBird indeed.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: jwhouk on 11 Sep 2015, 07:13
Welp, now we know what really happened to Yelling Bird...
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Zebediah on 11 Sep 2015, 08:54
Yeah. He got upgraded. Yelling Phoenix.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: FunkyTuba on 11 Sep 2015, 09:38
Probably overthinking it:

The pump is electric. It presumably was fed from a wire or something that attaches upstream to the wind turbine generator or some other power storage thing.

Why didn't Ardent's nanotech follow the wire and upgrade all the way upstream?

I guess the reason it didn't work could have been that the wire was cut and so the nanotech could only go upstream so far.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Neko_Ali on 11 Sep 2015, 10:09
How do we know it didn't? We haven't seen the windmill since the first couple of pages.

Next page: There is a rapping on the roof. Everyone goes outside and stares up at the now mobile windmill, who looks down at Alice. "Are you my mommy?"
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: cesium133 on 11 Sep 2015, 10:14
Welp, now we know what really happened to Yelling Bird...
He got upgraded to a robotic cloaca. Cloacae, however, have no voice box, so Yelling Bird could no longer yell. Disappointed, he decided to write his life story, titled "I Have No Mouth and I Must Yell."
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 11 Sep 2015, 14:07
It's alive!!  IT'S ALIVE!!!!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Method of Madness on 11 Sep 2015, 14:12
"I Have No Mouth and I Must Fart."
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Loki on 11 Sep 2015, 22:14
I believe the proper term for a cloaca might be quart? A mix from queef and fart?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: osaka on 15 Sep 2015, 09:37
NOH. THE MAJESTIC DRYBIRD. IT FLEW OUT THE WINDOW.

What will fulfill now our needs for majestic nanomachine enhanced pets :(
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 15 Sep 2015, 11:11
I'm sort of wondering just how long Alice, Gavia and Ardent had been futilely attempting to capture that thing, running around the cottage like idiots!

That shine it has though... that thing is definitely a phoenix.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Neko_Ali on 15 Sep 2015, 11:47
*holds up a lighter*

Woooo! FREEBIRD! WOOOO!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: FunkyTuba on 15 Sep 2015, 13:05
So Ardent's power is that anything he touches crossbreeds with a roomba?

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1557
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Method of Madness on 15 Sep 2015, 13:21
The Praeses are the cross between a tree and Hanners's Roomba.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: hedgie on 15 Sep 2015, 14:15
And this is why Internet Protocol over Avian Carrier is incompatible with windows.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 15 Sep 2015, 14:58
The Flight Of The Phoenix
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: pwhodges on 15 Sep 2015, 15:31
And this is why Internet Protocol over Avian Carrier is incompatible with windows.

For those few who are unaware, here are the Internet standards that this refers to: Original (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149), QoS update (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549), IPv6 update (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6214).
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: SubaruStephen on 15 Sep 2015, 23:10
NOH. THE MAJESTIC DRYBIRD. IT FLEW OUT THE WINDOW.

Very pretty, but what's its air speed compared to that of an unladen swallow?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: pwhodges on 15 Sep 2015, 23:13
Doesn't matter; it could be that we now have an uncontrolled vector for the spread of the infecting nanomachines.  How will Alice manage to deal with that?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 16 Sep 2015, 00:19
NOH. THE MAJESTIC DRYBIRD. IT FLEW OUT THE WINDOW.

Very pretty, but what's its air speed compared to that of an unladen swallow?

African or European?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Verteiron on 16 Sep 2015, 08:33
Doesn't matter; it could be that we now have an uncontrolled vector for the spread of the infecting nanomachines.  How will Alice manage to deal with that?

Yes, we're going to find out real quick now whether or not the power is viral.

As for the limits of the power itself... Gavia says nanobots need a guiding intelligence, but they're obviously capable of interpreting directives like hand motions or possibly the thought of their user; she makes fireballs, lights, and slices up her apple without any obvious commands. Ardent may be carrying a strain that interprets his desire to be helpful and uses his mental image of what the target object should do to guide their modifications.

If I were Alice, I would next present him with a device sufficiently complicated to activate the 'bots, but that Ardent doesn't know the function of. Maybe something like a phonograph or a mechanical calculator. Or blindfold him, and see if the power still works on things even if he doesn't know what they are.

If it doesn't work in those situations, that means Ardent's strain is a tool that reads his intentions. It would also mean the ability probably isn't viral, since the Nice Birb isn't likely to know what other devices are supposed to do. However, if it does work in those cases, that means the 'bots themselves are AI-powered (and Gavia was misinformed by the Praeses about the nature of nanotech).
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Eternal_Newbie on 16 Sep 2015, 14:31
And this is why Internet Protocol over Avian Carrier is incompatible with windows.

For those few who are unaware, here are the Internet standards that this refers to: Original (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149), QoS update (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549), IPv6 update (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6214).
I recall when a test of IP Over Avian Carrier in South Africa proved to have greater bandwith, speed and reliability than ADSL. Of course that says more about the service from RSA's telecommunications monopoly than anything.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Method of Madness on 17 Sep 2015, 20:25
New QC but no new AG :(
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 17 Sep 2015, 23:17
The second Alice Grove strip of the week is usually Friday afternoon or even Saturday morning, depending on how Jeph feels.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: ThinksTooMuch on 18 Sep 2015, 11:00
Yes, we're going to find out real quick now whether or not the power is viral.

As for the limits of the power itself... Gavia says nanobots need a guiding intelligence, but they're obviously capable of interpreting directives like hand motions or possibly the thought of their user; she makes fireballs, lights, and slices up her apple without any obvious commands. Ardent may be carrying a strain that interprets his desire to be helpful and uses his mental image of what the target object should do to guide their modifications.

Well called.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 18 Sep 2015, 11:01
No! Bad Ardent! No attempting to rewrite your sisters genes and/or synapses! You don't know what the result could be! You could turn her into a Mary Sue!

FWIW, I think that Alice is exactly wrong. It isn't that the payload is directed by his subconscious, it can only work when his conscious mind (and, possibly, the synaptic electrical discharges caused by conscious thought directing intent) isn't interfering with its function. Basically, it only works when he's drawing a blank, mentally.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Welu on 18 Sep 2015, 11:57
Jeph's comments are brilliant. Now I want a bread.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Loki on 18 Sep 2015, 12:01
Basically, it only works when he's drawing a blank, mentally.

So what you are saying is it works all the time  :evil:
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 18 Sep 2015, 12:33
Well, that answers a few things

And it wouldn't be Gavia if she was nice
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Zebediah on 18 Sep 2015, 13:04
Next time: The nanobots misunderstand Ardent and turn Gavia into ice.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: jwhouk on 18 Sep 2015, 18:37
And a theory emerges: the Praeses actually sent Ardent down to Earth because they got tired of him "accidentally" changing things Up There.

And they sent Gavia to find him because she was just being majorly annoying.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 18 Sep 2015, 23:56
That's probably a sucker bet jwhouk
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Skewbrow on 19 Sep 2015, 23:37
Interesting to see what further tests will reveal.

And I really want to see what happens when Ardent's nanos meet the Nightwalker. Some possibilities:
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: DSL on 20 Sep 2015, 18:44
  • The NanoPhoenix is just one gulp to the Nightwalker, but will break out of its digestive track - Alien style.

... Shouting obscenities, Yelling-NanoPhoenix style.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: FunkyTuba on 22 Sep 2015, 12:01
And this is why Internet Protocol over Avian Carrier is incompatible with windows.

For those few who are unaware, here are the Internet standards that this refers to: Original (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149), QoS update (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549), IPv6 update (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6214).

There was an implementation of RFC-1149 by the Bergen Linux User Group back in 2001:

http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/

Here's a log of the ping session:
Code: [Select]
Script started on Sat Apr 28 11:24:09 2001
vegard@gyversalen:~$ /sbin/ifconfig tun0
tun0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol 
          inet addr:10.0.3.2  P-t-P:10.0.3.1  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:150  Metric:1
          RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0
          RX bytes:88 (88.0 b)  TX bytes:168 (168.0 b)

vegard@gyversalen:~$ ping -i 900 10.0.3.1
PING 10.0.3.1 (10.0.3.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=6165731.1 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=3211900.8 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5124922.8 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=6388671.9 ms

--- 10.0.3.1 ping statistics ---
9 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 55% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 3211900.8/5222806.6/6388671.9 ms
vegard@gyversalen:~$ exit

Script done on Sat Apr 28 14:14:28 2001

Worth it to poke around all the pictures... the captions are priceless

I wonder now nanoPhoenix would do as an Avian Carrier under this protocol. If Ardent were thinking of it in this way, would nanoPhoenix turn into a router?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Jakk Frost on 23 Sep 2015, 06:07
Ok, so I finally had to register so I could comment on the current comic, so Hi Everyone!   :-D

Ardent ~ "I guess it wanted to be a real bird"

Sooo, would that make Ardent the blue fairy?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: hedgie on 23 Sep 2015, 07:56
Meh.  I'll stick with the green fairy.  After all, absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 23 Sep 2015, 12:38
Well, he isn't a Smurf
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Method of Madness on 23 Sep 2015, 13:55
Isn't he, though?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 23 Sep 2015, 20:11
Welcome, new person with appropriate cultural reference!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Jakk Frost on 25 Sep 2015, 00:08
Many thanks :)

In a really strange bit of coincidence, (or what Alanis Morrisette would call irony) I just this minute noticed the stickied/pinned post titled "New comic this Thursday, 25th Sept", and upon checking my calendar, thought at first that it was referring to Jeph posting the next page today (I only looked at the date, not the day).  Then I read a little further and realized that pinned post was made exactly one year ago.

So I guess what that means is; Happy First Birthday, Alice Grove!
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: jwhouk on 25 Sep 2015, 04:18
89 comics (plus one "fan filler") over 52 weeks. Not bad for a Patreon "extra" comic.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 25 Sep 2015, 14:15
Has Jeph said when the next comic will appear?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 26 Sep 2015, 15:30
Probably next week sometime.  I think he may be going back to 'Your Regularly Scheduled Program' sometime in the next week or so,
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: FunkyTuba on 29 Sep 2015, 09:26
Confirmed:
[tweet]648895730724306945[/tweet]
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: FunkyTuba on 30 Sep 2015, 17:05
Doh! he snuck one more into September!

so is this a Chekov's Talent? Will show up in a future tense situation as a deus ex Argent?
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Thrudd on 30 Sep 2015, 19:33
Isn't he, though?
A smurf is 3 apples hi ... not to be confused with macintosh
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Kugai on 30 Sep 2015, 21:11
She'll have to put him on a short leash.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: BenRG on 30 Sep 2015, 23:37
I just love the ways Gavia uses her levitation abilities. The mid-air crossed-legs is a really cool trick!

Like Gavia I wonder where the phoenix went. Alice doesn't seem worried, though. Given how paranoid her original reaction to Ardent's powers was, that's interesting in some ways. I guess her attitude is that one biomechanical bird isn't going to be altering much. Or, maybe, there are already enough biomechanically-altered life-forms on the planet (possibly including her) that one more won't matter much.

Yeah, Gavia's right about Ardent's impulse control. However, I do wonder if the test will come when one of the locals is in trouble and the only way Ardent has to help her (because you know it will be a damsel in distress) will be to Upgrade something and then try to control it.

Quote
"With great power comes great responsibility."
-- Ben Parker
-- Spider-Man
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: Jakk Frost on 01 Oct 2015, 08:36
Yeah, Gavia's right about Ardent's impulse control. However, I do wonder if the test will come when one of the locals is in trouble and the only way Ardent has to help her (because you know it will be a damsel in distress) will be to Upgrade something and then try to control it.

What I wonder is if Alice has considered the possibility that the Upgrades (is that what we're calling them as a whole?) are contagious?  Stationary water pump, not much of an issue.  Highly mobile rainbow phoenix with at least the flightspeed of an unladen swallow?  Yeah it would be safe to say the (potential) contagion is airborne.
Title: Re: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15
Post by: cesium133 on 02 Oct 2015, 09:16
Ardent's ability is a huge problem, especially if it's contagious. It turns out that
(click to show/hide)