Cool Down 2012-08-07

[Jay-Em]

There's an immense amount of wisdom and human insight buried in those beloved legends about the gods.

Just look at the way CEO's, Politicians and their ilk high-up detatch themselves from the lower-ranks. Often it's not even malintent. They just get só absorbed in the macro-view, that they completely forget that the numbers and graphs on their desks represent réal people.

It's an age-old paradox: get high-up because You wanted to dó something, but lose one's humanity in the process.

Ask ány high-ranked military-man. Pondering whether to risk 50 men to save a country, or risk a country to save 50 men....

There's a reason I nèver aspired to be anything more than a Marechaussée 1st class. (= Sargeant Military Police) and even thát already involved choices about people that were just numbers on a d-base print-out (yup.. I am thát old)

Bia míght have meant well with her "solutions" but lost the connection with the human condition. Almost like Brandi's lament that people became "chess-pieces". Something about herself that she dreaded. Bia stepped óver that limit, with the ensuing heartache and emotional mess for, said, "chesspieces"

[Julie]

If you read Greek/Roman mythology, you'll find that the gods were not very nice at all and represented the excesses of man. Kinda like the old saw, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Bia is a Titan, an elder 'god.' Effectively immortal and powerful. But remember, she has motives that we don't understand fully yet. Her tactics may be distasteful, but might be necessary in an end justifies the means sort of way.

Bia míght have meant well with her "solutions" but lost the connection with the human condition. Almost like Brandi's lament that people became "chess-pieces". Something about herself that she dreaded. Bia stepped óver that limit, with the ensuing heartache and emotional mess for, said, "chesspieces"

You know, now that I think about it...there's merit in those two lines of thought. The Bia we saw post-chimera was an emotional and concerned (albeit snarky when mentioning the Sibyl) person. I wonder if she "grew out of that" as time went by and she kept waiting for her heir to come make things right. I wonder if she decided to meddle to make that magical heir appear, and rationalized it as "for the greater good."

Even if she's a bitch, I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

[Fairportfan]

Even if she's a bitch, I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

So am i.

Brandi needs a new cat toy.

[davids4250]

Brandi needs a new cat toy.[/quote]

How 'bout Shelley, Phix, and Brandi need a new cat toy?

[Dave]

How 'bout Shelley, Phix, and Brandi need a new cat toy?

Well, re Phix - as far as we know, Phix doesn't have Titan heritage. Inside the Library nothing can harm her, but outside the Library she may well not be a match for Bia.

On the other hand, I have a feeling that Bia may be very reluctant to borrow any books from the Library in the future. If she still has some out on loan, she might not return them, and (as Woody Allen said about dying) would prefer to simply pay a small fine.

[NOTDilbert]

"Thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lion eyes."[/quote]

Normaly I don't lion eyes people just for good pun skill, but that was really a great one. Kudos to you, or the snack cookie of your choice. (c8

[Dave]

Kudos to you, or the snack cookie of your choice.

Thank you! And, here's a cookie right back, for having recognized the other half of that pun. I call it the Reluctant Hero's Problem - "You can't hide, you're lionized".

[Wdot]

There's an immense amount of wisdom and human insight buried in those beloved legends about the gods.


Bia míght have meant well with her "solutions" but lost the connection with the human condition. Almost like Brandi's lament that people became "chess-pieces". Something about herself that she dreaded. Bia stepped óver that limit, with the ensuing heartache and emotional mess for, said, "chesspieces"

See, that's the problem. Sometimes you have to look at the situation as a chessboard. I am glad there are people that have the ability and fortitude to do this. Because if you get emotionally attached you can't do what must be done. Look at General George McClellan, he excelled in creating and training an army, and some would charge, was reluctant to use it. Sometimes you have to be willing to destroy what you've created in order to save something else or build something new.

[Wdot]

How 'bout Shelley, Phix, and Brandi need a new cat toy?

Well, re Phix - as far as we know, Phix doesn't have Titan heritage. Inside the Library nothing can harm her, but outside the Library she may well not be a match for Bia.

On the other hand, I have a feeling that Bia may be very reluctant to borrow any books from the Library in the future. If she still has some out on loan, she might not return them, and (as Woody Allen said about dying) would prefer to simply pay a small fine.

I don't know about that. Bia is Force incarnate. I think like Superman, she can be knocked down by someone or something unexpectedly, but if prepared she wouldn't have budged. She was hit with the full force of the Chimera and was unfazed. I don't think Bia could've harmed Phix in the library so it would've been a stalemate. So I don't think Bia would be reluctant to borrow a library book.

[Yamara]

So if Phix needs to be left alone to work out her sphinx angst*, why does Nudge seek out Shelly, and Shelly seem to appreciate the company?

I don't doubt Euryale: Gorgons and sphinxes were depicted together as temple guardians, and must know one another's foibles. Nudge, meanwhile, seems to have long known the truth about Bia being Shelly's mother.

Since Shelly and Nudge worked together in the Time Forest on young Shelly becoming lost on her visionquest, it stands to reason that Nudge had the motive and opportunity to tell Shelly the truth about her mother.

I suspect that Shellinx refused to believe it at the time, not without proof. The scene we witnessed was Shelly being handed that proof.

Not sure how much Phix was in on coaxing Bia out of her absence, but Bia's lies were not intended to hurt Shelly, but to hide her involvement with Phix's son from Phix.

Nudge just didn't have to play along anymore.


*(sphinxgst?)

[jwhouk]

PUN JAR! NOW!

[bmonk]

PUN JAR! NOW!

Do you have a pun jar angst?

(Would that be a Pungst?)

Drops in a quarter eagle, just in case.
In this case, a small hippogriff.

[Dave]

PUN JAR! NOW!

I assume that's directed at me, and you're quite right... I do owe. Had to hunt around for a while to select the proper offering. Here it is:



It's an ancient "lion" coin from the Lydian empire, and is one of the first (and perhaps the very first) "government minted" coins known to historians. It's made of electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver... according to some histories, Lydia was rich in gold but not particularly notable for anything else.

It just seemed right, to bring out something this venerable and exotic to use as a Pun Jar offering, during this Wapsi period of such grief and angst and regret. As they say, "Mourning become electrum."

[Dave]

There's an immense amount of wisdom and human insight buried in those beloved legends about the gods.

Just look at the way CEO's, Politicians and their ilk high-up detatch themselves from the lower-ranks. Often it's not even malintent. They just get só absorbed in the macro-view, that they completely forget that the numbers and graphs on their desks represent réal people.

It's an age-old paradox: get high-up because You wanted to dó something, but lose one's humanity in the process.

Ask ány high-ranked military-man. Pondering whether to risk 50 men to save a country, or risk a country to save 50 men....

I remember reading something very interesting in the sciences, a few years ago. Each species of animal (humans included) has what you might call a "preferred social group size", and you can predict the size of this group fairly accurately by examining the size of certain structures in the animal's fore-brain. The bigger that part of the brain, the larger the social group - that is, the larger the number of individuals that the animal can interact with socially, while still treating them as unique individuals. If you put that animal into a substantially larger group (e.g. a herd), they can't "remember" all of the other herd members as unique individuals... they either get by in a semi-anonymous structure (e.g. a huge herd of wildebeest) or they break up into two or more separate, smaller groups of less than the social size limit.

In humans, the maximum social group size seems to be in the range of 100 - 120 - e.g. the size of a typical "company" in the military (two or three platoons of 25-50), the maximum size of a single tribe or hunter-gatherer band, the maximum number of employees in a commercial company having a relatively simple management structure, etc.

As you climb the social / political / power hierarchy, and get more involved in the "big picture", this "social group limit" problem is going to kick in. You begin to lose sight of the "little people", because all of the spaces in your (limited-size) social group are filled with other powerful "big picture" players. Group-think and limited perspective become real issues. This has been a problem numerous times in the U.S. government, for example: consider the stumbling into Vietnam by the "Brightest and the best" team under the Kennedy administration, the rather similar "biting off more than we knew or could chew" entry into Iraq during the GWBush administration, and the paranoia and suspicion of the Nixon cabal.

The problem's surely going to be even worse for any immortal, and really bad for a powerful immortal.

[Wolf]

Sadly they will leave Phix alone which is not what she needs. She needs a caring person to sit with her and offer silent support and just listen. Quick someone call Brandi! She's about the only one who could do it and survive.

Agreed. I've been there, and went off to be alone, to think through some very traumatic and life-changing incidences. My late wife followed me up the hill overlooking the city, and just sat there, never saying a word, sitting a couple of feet away by my side - she was just - there. That made a huge difference, a positive difference.

What I want to know what is she squeezing in her hand?

[Julie]

I don't know about that. Bia is Force incarnate. I think like Superman, she can be knocked down by someone or something unexpectedly, but if prepared she wouldn't have budged. She was hit with the full force of the Chimera and was unfazed. I don't think Bia could've harmed Phix in the library so it would've been a stalemate. So I don't think Bia would be reluctant to borrow a library book.

On the one hand, you have a point. On the other hand, the way Phix referenced the Library as "her turf" makes me inclined to think she can overpower anyone who enters if she so chooses (as long as the great Power that we once heard voiced in the Library doesn't object, I'd imagine ).

[Dave]

On the other hand, the way Phix referenced the Library as "her turf" makes me inclined to think she can overpower anyone who enters if she so chooses (as long as the great Power that we once heard voiced in the Library doesn't object, I'd imagine ).

I'm envisioning Phix, channeling Mrs. McGreevy the Bloom County librarian as she appears from out of Binkley's Anxiety Closet waving a blood-stained battleaxe. "119 weeks overdue, dear..."

[Wdot]

I don't know about that. Bia is Force incarnate. I think like Superman, she can be knocked down by someone or something unexpectedly, but if prepared she wouldn't have budged. She was hit with the full force of the Chimera and was unfazed. I don't think Bia could've harmed Phix in the library so it would've been a stalemate. So I don't think Bia would be reluctant to borrow a library book.

On the one hand, you have a point. On the other hand, the way Phix referenced the Library as "her turf" makes me inclined to think she can overpower anyone who enters if she so chooses (as long as the great Power that we once heard voiced in the Library doesn't object, I'd imagine ).

See, this is why I'm glad there is a place to discuss these things! It is interesting to see how you read the "her turf" statement. I wouldn't have read it that way, and it is interesting. I can see why you may feel the way you do about it, and you may very well be right. I see that statement as this is the one place Phix can get away with decking Bia without fear of being uh, "thrashed" would be the term I guess I'd use. Phix is a Head Librarian, she works for The Library. There may be a being in charge of The Library. I have a logical choice in my mind for that position. She had a City-State named after her. She is lower on the pecking order than Bia's boss. So if Bia's on "Official Business" my hypothesis is she can enter The Library unhindered. That is just my reasoning behind my opinion. I like Phix a lot and don't want to see her going through what she is, but what is cool about this comic of Paul's is, you get to see the bad side of everybody. I think, we're seeing Bia's bad side. We may glimpse another side of her yet. If I had tuned in just when Shelly stabbed Monica in the head, I might have thought Shelly was a villian. Context is crucial, Bia may be a *itch, but she may have had a real good reason behind her actions; then again, she could just be a *itch.

[Fairportfan]

What I want to know what is she squeezing in her hand?

Nothing. That's blood - her nails (talons) are cutting into her palm.

[jwhouk]

"I hurt myself the other day..."