Seconded.Deuce wrote:I see nothing in this comic to indicate Jessie knows about the Jacob and Atsali date, only that she knows of Jacob, and that he is a satyr. She simply seems pleased for her brother.
Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Moderators: Bookworm, starkruzr, MrFireDragon, PrettyPrincess, Wapsi
Forum rules
When two threads are posted for a day's comic, the thread posted first becomes the starting post. Please delete the second thread and add your post to the first thread. When naming the thread: Comic Name YYYY-MM-DD
Thanks guys! This keeps the forum nice and neat.
When two threads are posted for a day's comic, the thread posted first becomes the starting post. Please delete the second thread and add your post to the first thread. When naming the thread: Comic Name YYYY-MM-DD
Thanks guys! This keeps the forum nice and neat.
- MerchManDan
- Posts: 1674
- Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:40 am
- Location: Somewhere else.
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." - Nim the chimp
Animation courtesy of shadowinthelight (thanks again!)
Animation courtesy of shadowinthelight (thanks again!)
- jwhouk
- Posts: 6053
- Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: The Valley of the Sun, Arizona
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Sing it with me:
"If you won-der how he eats and breathes
And other science facts (tra-la-la)
Just tell yourself, 'It's just a show,
I should prob-ab-ly relax'..."
"If you won-der how he eats and breathes
And other science facts (tra-la-la)
Just tell yourself, 'It's just a show,
I should prob-ab-ly relax'..."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
- AnotherFairportfan
- Posts: 6402
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Of course. The rest of that is plot mechanics, all part of the setup.captnq wrote:Chlorine. This is the sticking point for you.AnotherFairportfan wrote:Well, apparently she can tolerate chlorinated pool water when she goes full fishie (which, if we were talking a real critter with real gills, would be ludicrous).
Ignoring she's a polymorphic fish woman who can apparently bitch slap the laws of conservation of matter and energy until they do what she wants.
Lets skip over the fact that They have the ability to teleport all over the world like you or I would catch a bus.
Ignore that fact that if she was half fish, then she should at least age like a fish and become a full adult in about 6 months.
Just forget that all these paranormal kids are dating different SPECIES and if the paraschool continues to exist for any length of time and allows uncontrolled interbreeding, it's only a matter of time before everyone is a bunch of Cronenbergs.
No no no... it's the chlorine you're having a problem suspending disbelief over.
However, good writing says that, in fantasy, you pay attention to the Real World anywhere you don't specifically establish that Things Are Different.
There is a fantastic series - quite popular judging by the reviews on Amazon - that i dragged my way through two or three books of, just to see if the truly poor writing improved. (It never did.)
But when i finally gave up in total disgust was when the McGuffin of whichever was the last book i read, the reason that Somebody Evil was trying to drive the Crusty Old Homesteader and hi Plucky Daughter off the Family Farm (well, the nearly-played-out Family Coal Mine) was the rich lode of diamonds in the Appalachian coal country (i'd suspect that the setting was the State of Franklin, except i suspect that the author has no idea what that was).
There are only two places where diamonds occur in North America - and neither is anywhere near Appalachia.
There CANNOT be diamonds in that region.
When i mentioned this fact in a review (though not so clearly phrased, because spoilers) on Amazon, i got several responses, all of them basically "Hey - it's fantasy; anything can happen. Stop being so picky."
Well, certainly, in badly-written fantasy written by and for people who don't understand that if anything can happen for no reason than the author thinks it's a good way to get out of the corner she's written herself into, that's true. In good fantasy (or any other fiction) it's not true. A story where there are no set rules is not worth writing or reading.
So, to get back to the chlorine - unless and until Paul comes up with a reason for and an explanation otherwise, that pool has chlorine in it and the question is how a gill-breathing creature survives immersion in it.
An explanation for that that sounded halfway-believable under suspension of disbelief (as opposed to disbelief hanged by the neck until dead) would be an interesting thing to come up with.
Like my explanation as to why passing spaceships in"Star Wars" make noise...
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
- Opus the Poet
- Posts: 2456
- Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:24 am
- Location: Surrounded by Hell
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
We all have our limits, for some people it's biology, for others it's bending the laws of physics, for the rest of us it's the coffee at Mucho Mocha.captnq wrote:Chlorine. This is the sticking point for you.AnotherFairportfan wrote:Well, apparently she can tolerate chlorinated pool water when she goes full fishie (which, if we were talking a real critter with real gills, would be ludicrous).
Ignoring she's a polymorphic fish woman who can apparently bitch slap the laws of conservation of matter and energy until they do what she wants.
Lets skip over the fact that They have the ability to teleport all over the world like you or I would catch a bus.
Ignore that fact that if she was half fish, then she should at least age like a fish and become a full adult in about 6 months.
Just forget that all these paranormal kids are dating different SPECIES and if the paraschool continues to exist for any length of time and allows uncontrolled interbreeding, it's only a matter of time before everyone is a bunch of Cronenbergs.
No no no... it's the chlorine you're having a problem suspending disbelief over.
I ride my bike to ride my bike, and sometimes it takes me where I need to go.
- GlytchMeister
- Posts: 3733
- Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
- Location: Central Illinois
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
I don't think it's so much a sticking point like that. I feel it's something we have a hope of figuring out, so we pick at it until we do figure it out, or we decide it's something we won't get without additional information.
We haven't got a hope in heck of figuring out how Jessie got all that extra mass beyond broad, unconfirmed and unconfirmable theories: it's all an elaborate illusion, or its wormholes, or something.
Poiting and Golem's Excemption from Newton's Third Law and all that seems to be widely attributed to wormholes, but that's as far as we can get.
But chlorine tolerant gills? Hmm. We might find a good solution to that.
We haven't got a hope in heck of figuring out how Jessie got all that extra mass beyond broad, unconfirmed and unconfirmable theories: it's all an elaborate illusion, or its wormholes, or something.
Poiting and Golem's Excemption from Newton's Third Law and all that seems to be widely attributed to wormholes, but that's as far as we can get.
But chlorine tolerant gills? Hmm. We might find a good solution to that.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
- Sgt. Howard
- Posts: 3332
- Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:54 pm
- Location: Malott, Washington
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Been in surgery since '77- been exposed to many segments of health care as a result.Catawampus wrote:I wonder if merfolk prefer to add bath salts to their water, or if fresh water is just as comfy to them?
From what I've heard from gay friends of mine, that's pretty much what many people think of gays anyway. "He's gay, so he must be super-promiscuous!" I'm not quite sure how they reach that conclusion. The other kids at school might take it for granted that Daniel and the satyr would hook up, or that they already have.captnq wrote:I suspect that she's embarrassed her brother is dating one of "THEM" I mean, ohmighod! My brother is going to get such a reputation as a slut after this. UGH!
FACT- any new variation of a venereal disease to hit a given area will infect the gay/bisexual male community FIRST in MASSIVE NUMBERS before showing up anywhere else... at least, until HIV/AIDS hit the streets- after that, condoms became quite popular.
FACT- Gay bath houses are designed for men- gay men, bi men, bi-curious men. It was common at one time (and STILL not uncommon) for a patron to go into such an establishment and not know HOW MANY or WHO his sexual partners were... or care.
FACT- HIV/AIDS made condoms prevalent, but did NOT change the behavior- gay/bi bath houses STILL exist, STILL have a thriving business and STILL cater to males engaged in promiscuous sex.
FACT- There is no equivalent for lesbians, and STRAIGHT sex clubs (which never were near as numerous as bath houses) dwindled severly by the end of the '80s.
As a segment of society, gay/bisexual males ARE FAR MORE PROMISCUOUS than gay women or straight males and females. I am NOT saying that they are "to a last specimen" nothing but sex-hungry hard-on driven beasts- but there is a whole industry devoted to providing gay/bi men a place to "get it on" with WHOMEVER they choose that DOES NOT EXIST for straights or lesbians.
Politically correct is all well and fine... until it obscures the truth...
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
- Sgt. Howard
- Posts: 3332
- Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:54 pm
- Location: Malott, Washington
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
They coat them with spar varnish- THAT will keep out the chlorine...GlytchMeister wrote:
But chlorine tolerant gills? Hmm. We might find a good solution to that.
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Or use an Ozone water purifier...Sgt. Howard wrote:They coat them with spar varnish- THAT will keep out the chlorine...GlytchMeister wrote:
But chlorine tolerant gills? Hmm. We might find a good solution to that.
Don't let other peoples limitations become your constraints!
My Deviant Art scribbles
The Atomic Guide to Basic GIMP Stuff
My Deviant Art scribbles
The Atomic Guide to Basic GIMP Stuff
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
I was thinking "symbiotic bacteria in the gills". There are some biofilm-forming bacteria that are quite resistant to chlorine and which survive quite well in pools with ordinary levels of chlorination.GlytchMeister wrote:But chlorine tolerant gills? Hmm. We might find a good solution to that.
Or, for all we know, mermaids (being paranormal) may have really weird metabolisms that can actually metabolize modest levels of free chlorine, or other nasties like hydrogen sulphide. They might not be entirely dependent on oxygen alone to fuel their energy cycle.
- GlytchMeister
- Posts: 3733
- Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:52 pm
- Location: Central Illinois
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
I'm liking the microbiome theory. It could be something like when Merpeople started to need to integrate into society and society started using chlorine all the time, MIB made a gill spray that would start a colony of pool bacteria that was altered to exist symbiotically with mermaid gills.
I don't think it would have come about naturally, as merpeople didn't really need to deal with chlorinated pools back in ancient times. Chlorine pools are, on the timescale of evolution, very recent.
OOH! What if merpeople already had a similar bacteria that let originally freshwater merpeople live in salt water? Then all that would need to happen is an alteration to that preexisting species of bacteria that let salty/freshy merpeople live in chlorine water!
I don't think it would have come about naturally, as merpeople didn't really need to deal with chlorinated pools back in ancient times. Chlorine pools are, on the timescale of evolution, very recent.
OOH! What if merpeople already had a similar bacteria that let originally freshwater merpeople live in salt water? Then all that would need to happen is an alteration to that preexisting species of bacteria that let salty/freshy merpeople live in chlorine water!
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Well AFAIK chlorine was NOT mentioned in the comic...
- AmriloJim
- Posts: 1190
- Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:47 pm
- Location: 35ºN 101ºW (for the GPS-challenged, that's Amarillo TX)
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
True. The pool's infrastructure was not germane to the storyline.illiad wrote:Well AFAIK chlorine was NOT mentioned in the comic...
- AnotherFairportfan
- Posts: 6402
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Yeah. With a good storyteller (i seem to recall one of those has been spotted around here occasionally) always assume that anything not specifically established as differing from the boring old reality we live in is not different.AmriloJim wrote:True. The pool's infrastructure was not germane to the storyline.illiad wrote:Well AFAIK chlorine was NOT mentioned in the comic...
Until Paul establishes that the school pool isn't chlorinated, we can and should assume it is.
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Why do you assume it's water? Why not liquid fairy dust?AnotherFairportfan wrote:Yeah. With a good storyteller (i seem to recall one of those has been spotted around here occasionally) always assume that anything not specifically established as differing from the boring old reality we live in is not different.AmriloJim wrote:True. The pool's infrastructure was not germane to the storyline.illiad wrote:Well AFAIK chlorine was NOT mentioned in the comic...
Until Paul establishes that the school pool isn't chlorinated, we can and should assume it is.
Don't let other peoples limitations become your constraints!
My Deviant Art scribbles
The Atomic Guide to Basic GIMP Stuff
My Deviant Art scribbles
The Atomic Guide to Basic GIMP Stuff
- jwhouk
- Posts: 6053
- Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: The Valley of the Sun, Arizona
- Contact:
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
(Hands Atomic a pack of Occam's Razors - "For the simplest shave yet.")
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Careful with those, Atomic. Don't use 'em anywhere around a Spanish barber, or you'll end up owing a hospital a lot of money. He'll be enraged at losing your business, and will attack you with his pair o' ducks. You'll be facing a terrible bill.jwhouk wrote:(Hands Atomic a pack of Occam's Razors - "For the simplest shave yet.")
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Occam's Razor really doesn't apply to fiction.
But fiction, as Twain, Clancy et al have noted, has to make sense. And while within the established setting, chlorinated water does, liquid fairy dust doesn't.
But fiction, as Twain, Clancy et al have noted, has to make sense. And while within the established setting, chlorinated water does, liquid fairy dust doesn't.
perl -e 'print "Just another Perl ${\(trickster and hacker)},";'
The Sidhekin proves that Sidhe did it!
The Sidhekin proves that Sidhe did it!
- AnotherFairportfan
- Posts: 6402
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Actually, it does apply - it's the principle of parsimony - assume no variance fro consensus reality that the author has not established.Sidhekin wrote:Occam's Razor really doesn't apply to fiction.
But fiction, as Twain, Clancy et al have noted, has to make sense. And while within the established setting, chlorinated water does, liquid fairy dust doesn't.
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
- AnotherFairportfan
- Posts: 6402
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
Because Paul hasn't said so. Until he does, it's water and probably chlorinated.Atomic wrote:Why do you assume it's water? Why not liquid fairy dust?AnotherFairportfan wrote: Yeah. With a good storyteller (i seem to recall one of those has been spotted around here occasionally) always assume that anything not specifically established as differing from the boring old reality we live in is not different.
Until Paul establishes that the school pool isn't chlorinated, we can and should assume it is.
There have to be rules; if there aren't, you're not telling a story, you're just throwing random ideas against a wall hoping some stick.
And some people like that.
I go somewhere else for my stories as soon as i recognise that sort of "storytelling".
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
Re: Favorite Brother 2015-04-21
That's not Occam's Razor.AnotherFairportfan wrote:Actually, it does apply - it's the principle of parsimony - assume no variance fro consensus reality that the author has not established.Sidhekin wrote:Occam's Razor really doesn't apply to fiction.
But fiction, as Twain, Clancy et al have noted, has to make sense. And while within the established setting, chlorinated water does, liquid fairy dust doesn't.
perl -e 'print "Just another Perl ${\(trickster and hacker)},";'
The Sidhekin proves that Sidhe did it!
The Sidhekin proves that Sidhe did it!