Topic: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15 (Read 45201 times)

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

BenRG · « **Reply #1 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.

Kugai · « **Reply #2 on:** 31 Aug 2015, 14:49 »

'The Saga of Alice'

Method of Madness · « **Reply #3 on:** 31 Aug 2015, 21:37 »

Hopefully we find out whose weapon she was.

wlewisiii · « **Reply #4 on:** 31 Aug 2015, 23:04 »

Quote from: BenRG on 31 Aug 2015, 14:46

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.

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #5 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 ?

ReindeerFlotilla · « **Reply #6 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.

Undrneath · « **Reply #7 on:** 01 Sep 2015, 12:06 »

Meanwhile the geyser that is the water pump Ardent touched is flooding the Grove.

Zebediah · « **Reply #8 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

cesium133 · « **Reply #9 on:** 01 Sep 2015, 16:29 »

So that's where Pintsize came from.

Kugai · « **Reply #10 on:** 01 Sep 2015, 17:15 »

I got a baaaaaad feeling about this

Method of Madness · « **Reply #11 on:** 01 Sep 2015, 17:37 »

I'm sure the experiment will involve butts. Somehow.

BenRG · « **Reply #12 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' mean anything to you guys?

BenRG · « **Reply #13 on:** 07 Sep 2015, 23:32 »

New comic up!

Well, we've established the following:

Ardent's 'power' doesn't affect simple mechanical apparatus;
Gavia always wanted to be a undergrad lab assistant;
You can never tell when Alice is serious or trolling;
Pre-Blink literature has survived (at least in Alice's personal library).

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!

Kugai · « **Reply #14 on:** 08 Sep 2015, 15:49 »

"AZIZ! LIGHT!!"

Sometimes, Science can be boring

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #15 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.

improvnerd · « **Reply #16 on:** 09 Sep 2015, 14:24 »

My guess is the difference is the use of electricity.

Carl-E · « **Reply #17 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!

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #18 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 19:19 »

Well that windup bird has some kind of energy to it.

Now it probably has a fowl mouth.

TRIPLE ENTENDRE!

wlewisiii · « **Reply #19 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?

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #20 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 20:26 »

Turn it into a repeater crossbow probably.

BenRG · « **Reply #21 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?

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.

improvnerd · « **Reply #22 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 00:11 »

IF?!?

BenRG · « **Reply #23 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 00:15 »

Quote from: improvnerd on 11 Sep 2015, 00:11

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!

osaka · « **Reply #24 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 02:52 »

Majestic DryBird indeed.

jwhouk · « **Reply #25 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 07:13 »

Welp, now we know what really happened to Yelling Bird...

Zebediah · « **Reply #26 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 08:54 »

Yeah. He got upgraded. Yelling Phoenix.

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #27 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.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #28 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?"

cesium133 · « **Reply #29 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 10:14 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 11 Sep 2015, 07:13

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."

Kugai · « **Reply #30 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 14:07 »

It's alive!! IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Method of Madness · « **Reply #31 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 14:12 »

Quote from: cesium133 on 11 Sep 2015, 10:14

"I Have No Mouth and I Must Fart."

Loki · « **Reply #32 on:** 11 Sep 2015, 22:14 »

I believe the proper term for a cloaca might be quart? A mix from queef and fart?

osaka · « **Reply #33 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

BenRG · « **Reply #34 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.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #35 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 11:47 »

*holds up a lighter*

Woooo! FREEBIRD! WOOOO!

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #36 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

Method of Madness · « **Reply #37 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 13:21 »

The Praeses are the cross between a tree and Hanners's Roomba.

hedgie · « **Reply #38 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 14:15 »

And this is why Internet Protocol over Avian Carrier is incompatible with windows.

Kugai · « **Reply #39 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 14:58 »

The Flight Of The Phoenix

pwhodges · « **Reply #40 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 15:31 »

Quote from: hedgie on 15 Sep 2015, 14:15

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, QoS update, IPv6 update.

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #41 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 23:10 »

Quote from: osaka on 15 Sep 2015, 09:37

NOH. THE MAJESTIC DRYBIRD. IT FLEW OUT THE WINDOW.

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

pwhodges · « **Reply #42 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?

Kugai · « **Reply #43 on:** 16 Sep 2015, 00:19 »

Quote from: SubaruStephen on 15 Sep 2015, 23:10

Quote from: osaka on 15 Sep 2015, 09:37
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?

Verteiron · « **Reply #44 on:** 16 Sep 2015, 08:33 »

Quote from: 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?

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).

Eternal_Newbie · « **Reply #45 on:** 16 Sep 2015, 14:31 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 15 Sep 2015, 15:31

Quote from: hedgie on 15 Sep 2015, 14:15
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, QoS update, IPv6 update.

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.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #46 on:** 17 Sep 2015, 20:25 »

New QC but no new AG

BenRG · « **Reply #47 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.

ThinksTooMuch · « **Reply #48 on:** 18 Sep 2015, 11:00 »

Quote from: Verteiron on 16 Sep 2015, 08:33

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.

BenRG · « **Reply #49 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.

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Author Topic: Alice Grove MCDT - September 2K15 (Read 45201 times)