Topic: Alice Grove MCDLT - July 2016 (Read 61680 times)

jwhouk · « **on:** 01 Jul 2016, 08:26 »

New Month, New Poll, New Thread.

BenRG · « **Reply #1 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 08:36 »

I'm calling it: We're about to have Jeph's tribute riff to Kerbal Space Program. All the characters are going to be vaguely Kerbal-like (either insanely brave or insanely cowardly) and most of their stuff shakes itself to bits within minutes of clearing the ground. The leaders are, naturally, spookily similar to Werner von Kerman (arrogant, dismissive of all except his genius) and Gene Kerman (enthusiastic, go-ahead and thinks all astronauts are idiots).

Nothing they do works... Until Adrent touches one pile of wreckage and then you have a fully-functional Mk2 Space Plane with passenger cabin, payload bay, robot arm and the works. Something like this:

The villagers name it the Elegant Tail after the great... catboy... himself. Sedna calls it Retribution One and tries to sneak a rack of nuclear ASAT warheads into the payload bay. Alice, being Alice, turns out to be an excellent aerospace pilot. She insists on calling it Freedom One.

Alice demands that Ardent tell her why he disobeyed her instructions not to touch technological stuff without her authorisiation. His response? "Gavia needs to go home to get her nanotech back."

cesium133 · « **Reply #2 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 08:39 »

Is there a kickstarter for your comic idea, BenRG, because I want in.

Zebediah · « **Reply #3 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 10:04 »

Here's my ain't-gonna-happen prediction:

They find a nonfunctional robot at the bottom of the hole. Ardent touches it, reactivating it and upgrading it to Super-Mecha-Pintsize. The giant robot is all "NOW ENDS THE AGE OF MAN."

Then Sedna yells "It already ended, you idiot." Super-Mecha-Pintsize says "It did? Oh well then, never mind. Hey, nice butt!"

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #4 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 11:49 »

What would happen if Ardent touched one of these:

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #5 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 12:44 »

Nothing. Those things are simple counterbalancing levers. During experimentation he touched other things similar and they didn't transform.

FunkyTuba · « **Reply #6 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 12:55 »

The drinking bird uses a refrigerant inside a set of internal tubes to oscillate back and forth... in some ways it's a miniature heat pump, storing heat and releasing it as kinetic energy as the fluid moves back and forth.

Granted it's crazy inefficient (about 1/2 W of "evaporative heat flux" to give a kinetic output of 1/20000 W), but I think it might be just a bit on the other side of the complexity line.

Kugai · « **Reply #7 on:** 01 Jul 2016, 15:57 »

There will be Pokin' Sticks

JimC · « **Reply #8 on:** 02 Jul 2016, 11:26 »

I wonder if the town is in the pit because of hurricanes?

sitnspin · « **Reply #9 on:** 02 Jul 2016, 12:23 »

Living in a pit during heavy rainfall would be a terrible idea.

BenRG · « **Reply #10 on:** 02 Jul 2016, 13:23 »

Unless you have a Struthio (Strange Big Dog)-powered pump to drain it out.

sitnspin · « **Reply #11 on:** 02 Jul 2016, 14:05 »

If that pump could keep up with hurricane level rainfall, I'd be quite impressed.

Skewbrow · « **Reply #12 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 01:06 »

Judging from the scenes from the last couple of days from their travel heavy rainfall in this area is very rare.

Your point about the vulnerability of this layout of the village does stand. Would a trench or a low barrier/dam around the pit be asking too much? A sandstorm or a blizzard would be as bad as heavy rain. But, the inhabitants know more about the local conditions than we do.

BenRG · « **Reply #13 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 01:17 »

From what we've seen so far, the post-Blink human population of the Earth is small and well spread out. Additionally, the Pit doesn't seem to be associated with any significant natural resources for which other groups would want to commit resources to attempt to seize. Their only real asset is their access to pre-Blink technology. From what little we've seen, these aren't greatly in demand in the contemporary world to the point where those who are interested in it are seen as weird or even supernatural.

With regard to natural issues, I don't think that rain is much of a problem; the territory looks like arid badlands like Montana or even Nevada. The parapet of the pit would protect the houses (which are built tight up against the walls) from dust-storms and effective drainage is the first thing any mining operation learns.

JimC · « **Reply #14 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 05:59 »

Quote from: BenRG on 03 Jul 2016, 01:17

... other groups would want to commit resources to attempt to seize.

I *very* much doubt that town layout is intended for defence against human aggression... Don't think defence against dangerous animals would be very good either.

freeman · « **Reply #15 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 09:02 »

Has the boring possibility been touched that the hole at the center of the pit could just be a really deep well and this is a simple water hole & trading outpost that has grown around it?

Kugai · « **Reply #16 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 12:18 »

Plot Twist - They'll pass a faded sign that reads S***Y*AL*

Method of Madness · « **Reply #17 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 21:46 »

I tried to figure out what that means and failed.

cesium133 · « **Reply #18 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 21:47 »

I assumed it was "Shit, Y'all!"

Method of Madness · « **Reply #19 on:** 03 Jul 2016, 21:49 »

Zebediah · « **Reply #20 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 04:53 »

What, does nobody remember the Buffy finale? SUNNYVALE

sitnspin · « **Reply #21 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 05:12 »

Oh shit, they're digging up the Hellmouth.

brasca · « **Reply #22 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 05:16 »

Quote from: Zebediah on 04 Jul 2016, 04:53

What, does nobody remember the Buffy finale? SUNNYVALE

Yes, but when the Hellmouth collapsed it created a bigger hole than that.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #23 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 08:08 »

Ok, you guys haven't said much yet but please no more Buffy spoilers.

cesium133 · « **Reply #24 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 08:17 »

I've never seen Buffy, so I'm stickin' with "Shit, Y'all!"

brasca · « **Reply #25 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 14:29 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 04 Jul 2016, 08:08

Ok, you guys haven't said much yet but please no more Buffy spoilers.

It ended 12 years ago. I didn't think a moratorium on spoilers is supposed to last a decade.

Stoutfellow · « **Reply #26 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 15:26 »

Quote from: brasca on 04 Jul 2016, 14:29

Quote from: Method of Madness on 04 Jul 2016, 08:08
Ok, you guys haven't said much yet but please no more Buffy spoilers.

It ended 12 years ago. I didn't think a moratorium on spoilers is supposed to last a decade.

Once on a mailing list, I saw someone object to spoiling a story written more than fifty years earlier. (One person responded with a post about Rosebud.)

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #27 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 15:27 »

Rosebud was his dog.

pwhodges · « **Reply #28 on:** 04 Jul 2016, 16:02 »

Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has been running for 64 years, and still requests patrons not to give spoilers outside the theatre.

brasca · « **Reply #29 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 14:53 »

Looks like BenRG was right. They're digging up bunkers.

brasca · « **Reply #30 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 14:57 »

Strip is up

And we get to meet a new character, Ellie who seems friendly enough, but possibly incontinent.

Apparently they haven't penetrated the bunker yet, but if Ardent can upgrade whatever digging machine they got they might get through in a day instead of a month.

Either that or Alice will just punch a hole into the roof.

BenRG · « **Reply #31 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 14:58 »

So, the archeophiles are into a set of underground bunkers and are trying to dig up something well protected. Seriously, I think that a pissed-off robotic weapon is more likely than a spaceship at this point (why put a rocket into an extra-tough bunker?) but we'll see.

Meanwhile, it looks like Sedna has her own 'townsfolk' with whom she has regular dealings. Unlike Alice, she doesn't subscribe to the "I am the Witch; don't ask questions, just do exactly as I say" method of getting things done.

pwhodges · « **Reply #32 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 15:08 »

Interesting that Sedna found it necessary to tell Ellie that "the blue one" was from orbit; that could imply that there are other possibilities.

Also it's starting to look as if Jeph is making this a distinctly matriarchal society.

brasca · « **Reply #33 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 15:14 »

Quote from: BenRG on 05 Jul 2016, 14:58

So, the archeophiles are into a set of underground bunkers and are trying to dig up something well protected. Seriously, I think that a pissed-off robotic weapon is more likely than a spaceship at this point (why put a rocket into an extra-tough bunker?) but we'll see.

Meanwhile, it looks like Sedna has her own 'townsfolk' with whom she has regular dealings. Unlike Alice, she doesn't subscribe to the "I am the Witch; don't ask questions, just do exactly as I say" method of getting things done.

Well it's been established that they have different philosophical outlooks to being immortal so this isn't too surprising. Moreover, Sedna probably gets more by trading her knowledge of the distant past for whatever guns they dig up than with Alice's methods.

And it could be the bunkers are adjacent to silos that contain the rockets.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #34 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 15:22 »

You've come to the conclusion of it being a matriarchal society based on.. not even two examples? Alice can be argued that she runs her community. And I'm sure she would argue that she doesn't. But her word is the one that goes there. All we know about Ellie she she knows Sedna. She could just be a ditch digger there, not necessarily the leader. As far as the blue one and the pissed off looking one.. she was just identifying the kids. Maybe there are instances of blue skinned people on Earth. But even if there weren't, why would Ellie assume blue skin means from orbit. Something it seems people don't believe is supposed to happen. If they even know that people live in orbit. Alice and Sedna have more knowledge about such things than most.

As far as rockets in a bunker, that's easy to explain. ICBMs or their equivalent. Surface based technological sites that survived the Blink were probably long ago scavenged for raw materials or fell to the passage of time. An underground bunker there might still be salvageable stuff left. And since a bunker could well mean military, they might be able to find useful information about old tech, even if they don't find any rockets there.

Tova · « **Reply #35 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 15:23 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 04 Jul 2016, 16:02

Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has been running for 64 years, and still requests patrons not to give spoilers outside the theatre.

The key part of the sentence being has been running, in contrast to Buffy, which has been finished for over a decade.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #36 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 16:06 »

Yeah, but Netflix exists, meaning old shows constantly have new viewers. So it's finished as in the last episode has aired, but there's always an opportunity for people to watch it for the first time. Why ruin that on purpose? It's one thing to happen to talk about it, but if someone asks that you not, is it that hard to be courteous?

Kugai · « **Reply #37 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 16:28 »

I really don't think Sedna needed to know that Ellie-May

Bunkers under the camp. Hope there's no Dragons

jwhouk · « **Reply #38 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 19:18 »

Or anyone playing with Portal guns...

Tova · « **Reply #39 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 19:20 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 05 Jul 2016, 16:06

Yeah, but Netflix exists, meaning old shows constantly have new viewers. So it's finished as in the last episode has aired, but there's always an opportunity for people to watch it for the first time. Why ruin that on purpose? It's one thing to happen to talk about it, but if someone asks that you not, is it that hard to be courteous?

You misjudge me. I'm perfectly willing to refrain from spoiling if asked*. Heck, I'm one of the small number of holdouts who waited until Game of Thrones was available on Google play rather than pay extortionate fees to Foxtel, or pirate. I've spent the entire season fervently evading spoilers in social and mainstream media. So believe me when i say sympathise entirely.

In general, though, you can't really expect the world to refrain from dropping references to iconic endings of classic decades old stories just in case, that's all I'm saying.

* Not that it's relevant in the case of Buffy. I've seen in total five minutes of one episode. I didn't care for it enough to bother continuing. And yes I'm aware that's hardly a fair trial, but I've never been motivated to change that.

pwhodges · « **Reply #40 on:** 05 Jul 2016, 23:49 »

Quote from: Neko_Ali on 05 Jul 2016, 15:22

You've come to the conclusion of it being a matriarchal society based on.. not even two examples?

Conclusion? Good grief, no. I am merely noting that we have now (I presume) met three of the "supervising class", "immortals" or whatever we should call them, and all three appear to be female. Whether this has any meaning at all is unknown - it is simply an observation.

TinPenguin · « **Reply #41 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 00:51 »

The mayor dude in Alice's town was not a woman.

Then again, matriarchal classes usually work out pretty soon you have to let the men pretend they're in charge.

brasca · « **Reply #42 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 03:33 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 05 Jul 2016, 23:49

Quote from: Neko_Ali on 05 Jul 2016, 15:22
You've come to the conclusion of it being a matriarchal society based on.. not even two examples?

Conclusion? Good grief, no. I am merely noting that we have now (I presume) met three of the "supervising class", "immortals" or whatever we should call them, and all three appear to be female. Whether this has any meaning at all is unknown - it is simply an observation.

How do you know Ellie is one of the immortals? Yes she's known Sedna for years, but that doesn't mean centuries. Now I do agree that women are far more empowered and apparently equal than their contemporaries living in the 19th century as we knew it.

freeman · « **Reply #43 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 05:12 »

Quote from: TinPenguin on 06 Jul 2016, 00:51

The mayor dude in Alice's town was not a woman.

Then again, matriarchal classes usually work out pretty soon you have to let the men pretend they're in charge.

That's right, she just now went to the person who really is in charge, the wife of the guy who is in charge.

Carl-E · « **Reply #44 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 06:03 »

A direct descendant of Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham?

Kugai · « **Reply #45 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 14:36 »

Not impossible, but Highly improbable considering Hanners aversion to anything related to such activities.

Zebediah · « **Reply #46 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 17:26 »

I'm sure that Dr. E-C is working on technology that would eliminate the need for Hannelore to be directly involved in the production of her own children.

Or, you know, worked on it a long time ago, from the POV of Alice.

Kugai · « **Reply #47 on:** 06 Jul 2016, 23:25 »

There is that.

freeman · « **Reply #48 on:** 07 Jul 2016, 07:38 »

Quote from: Zebediah on 06 Jul 2016, 17:26

I'm sure that Dr. E-C is working on technology that would eliminate the need for Hannelore to be directly involved in the production of her own children.

Or, you know, worked on it a long time ago, from the POV of Alice.

And look, she picked someone with brown yeys as the doner-father.

brasca · « **Reply #49 on:** 12 Jul 2016, 03:29 »

Strip is up!

Hope Ellie isn't actually trying to get tissue samples from Gavia. Poor kid has had enough extracted from her body as it is.

Not surprised that the one that wants all the attention is ignored and the one that doesn't gets all the questions. She might come around if this makes Ardent jealous.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Poll

And what's in the pit?

Author Topic: Alice Grove MCDLT - July 2016 (Read 61680 times)