Point Of Entrance 2013-04-05

[TheSkulker]

Only in a comic could they survive a fall of that magnitude. The people who built the receiver should have put a backstop in it in case some bird girl on the wing happens to enter the transmitter end at pa-ting speed, pushing her companion out the other end with her momentum. Also, lucky the tourists aren't around.

To say the least!!! Kath is showing the invulnerability and healing powers that are right up there with Justin.

The height of her fall from the temple top has to be at least 50 to 70 maybe feet. But that is nothing compared to what she has already survived and recovered from:

• She survived an explosion (undamaged), with enough force to instantly accelerate her to become airborne.
  
  She survived a "landing" (in an unprotected mining cart), with enough speed to pierce four layers of rock ceilings/floors that had been stable for centuries.
  
  She survived four 1 foot thick (min) layers of rock falling on her (plus a kick in the face for dessert).

From the view of the scene at the mesa (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/feet-first/), and subsequent strips, the distance between the mine "exit" and the Anasazi apartments has to be measured in miles. Assuming an optimal 45° initial trajectory angle, the "muzzle" velocity required to cover just one mile (cut in half by the "whee" roller coaster dip in the middle), is 200 mph! Even for a total distance of only 1/4 mile (two city blocks), the "muzzle" velocity is 100 mph. Since what goes up must come down, said "landing" would be like slamming into a brick wall at 100 to 200 mph - without seat belts or air bags!

A remarkable woman indeed!

But as remarkable as that may be, it is overshadowed by her mental capabilities:

• In addition to being an accomplished archaeologist, she must also be a very capable astronomer in order to recognize and interpret "star charts" in a completely foreign notation and to correct for the movements of the stars since the (unknown), date and time the star chart represents.
  
  In the space of an hour or two, she recognized, deciphered and translated the "math" of the Mayan vigesimal numeral system (which has no fractions), compensated for the imperfect oblateness of the Earth using a memorized geodetic datum and calculated the "entrance" coordinates to 5 decimal places with the aid of (at best), only a four function calculator and GPS display of a non-connected cell phone, all under extreme duress. Hell, how many of us could even REMEMBER two 6 digit numbers accurately?
  
  And add to that, she is good looking and sexy to boot!

I wish I lived in the Wapsiverse. I'd sure give her pursuit a try.

[TheSkulker]

And speaking of Mayan mathematics, perhaps we should ask Tamara [memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=58] about the significance of her avatar's head dress - Mayan thirteen, a possible zero (shell), symbol, and the other large symbol which looks remarkably like a wrapped up baby doll.

Tamara has been sporting this avatar for a long time. Is she prescient or just have a direct line to Paul?

[Fairportfan]

You forgot to mention that she immediately recognised that Atsali had a dislocated shoulder and knew exactly how to pop it back in.

As i said, it's obvious that her PhD is from the Dr Henry Jones jr University of Making-It-Up-as-You-Go.

Back in 1985, after building the sales fixtures for a shop he and his girlfriend were opening from scratch (including a movable wall/room divider with a pegboard front and a workshelf at waist height on the back*) using minimal tools (saber saw, drill, hammers, mostly) from scratch (with no plans or drawings), a friend and i had buttons made declaring ourselves graduates of the Indiana Jones Institute of Carpentry.

============================

* Six years and three tenants later, that movable wall was still there and still in use - having been the backdrop for the altar of a storefront church and a work-surface/display wall for a t-shirt-printing company...

[RunningBull]

When she deciphered the code in the "triangular alcove", it is possible she may have used the cell phone to search the internet for answers. At least in that sense she may have had some help, heck she could have called someone who is better at deciphering it than her.

[zachariah]

The way Kathy looks in the last panel makes me wonder. Someone told Tina, I think Phix, that another set of demons had managed to become a single entity. Could it be Kathy? She's slowly been changing her appearance through this arc and we've been thinking it is related to the spider woman. What if it isn't?

The other demon fusion was Shelly's companion (AKA Creepy Girl or Connie)

Actually that has never been confirmed by anything. Shelly forced those demons into one and imposed her image on them thus creating a conscience. Tina is doing it herself as the demons merge to become one being. The lack of memory about their past was due to their crime. It is possible another memory loss would occur when they complete the merge. This is a possibility and can explain how Kathy has taken all this damage and bounced back so quickly. Tina's group got the body up off the slab in the morgue and walking. The original Tina died and left the group and that implies a fair amount of damage the demons had to get fixed before they could walk it out of the morgue. It also accounts for her changes in appearance we've been seeing in her during this.

[shadowinthelight]

Actually that has never been confirmed by anything. Shelly forced those demons into one and imposed her image on them thus creating a conscience. Tina is doing it herself as the demons merge to become one being. The lack of memory about their past was due to their crime. It is possible another memory loss would occur when they complete the merge. This is a possibility and can explain how Kathy has taken all this damage and bounced back so quickly. Tina's group got the body up off the slab in the morgue and walking. The original Tina died and left the group and that implies a fair amount of damage the demons had to get fixed before they could walk it out of the morgue. It also accounts for her changes in appearance we've been seeing in her during this.

During Shelly's and Connie's chat it was all but stated with absolute certainty that Connie is the smashed together result of Shelly's demons+Tina's soul. I don't see how this applies in any way to Katherine without inventing some complicated backstory that has never even been hinted at. Also, Nudge undercover as a demon got Tina's body up and moving, not her actual demons. Tina stated she had to go get her teeth fixed afterward. I am confident in saying you can chalk up visual changes like her black wings or demonic hair to us readers having privileged access to seeing her true demonic nature, not that she is shapeshifting in a way that is visible to most of the world around her.

[KnightDelight]

I wish I lived in the Wapsiverse. I'd sure give her pursuit a try.

Might be too late even if you did. Her heart may already belong the the guy who helped save the fartastic Oscar from lactose poisoning.

[NOTDilbert]

I notice from the Google Earth pics of Palenque that the dig has actually uncovered only a fraction of the site: There are lineaments and right angle corners all through the jungle surrounding the 'cleaned up' tourist site. Straight lines and right angles usually mean people - or tool-users of some kind.....

[shadowinthelight]

There are lineaments and right angle corners all through the jungle surrounding the 'cleaned up' tourist site.

Cleaned up tourist site is a good description. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but there didn't seem to be much of a presence beyond the tourist area. I think there were a few signs saying something to the respect of do not cross this point but I know I could very easily have snuck into the jungle to explore on my own. It is not a nice thought thinking what may have already been destroyed by careless adventurers.

[TheSkulker]

When she deciphered the code in the "triangular alcove", it is possible she may have used the cell phone to search the internet for answers. At least in that sense she may have had some help, heck she could have called someone who is better at deciphering it than her.

I don't think so. That is why I said "non-connected" cell phone. Out where they were waaay out of range of any cell towers!

No internet. No calls for help. Not even a charger.

[TheSkulker]

I wish I lived in the Wapsiverse. I'd sure give her pursuit a try.

Might be too late even if you did. Her heart may already belong the the guy who helped save the fartastic Oscar from lactose poisoning.

Damm. You're right. There's always competition!

[KnightDelight]

Ya know, eventually Kath will have to go home and the MIB/FBI is going to find out she's alive. Heck they may come to that conclusion from the fact there are no remains at the crash site. Surely, there would be something left of the pair if they actually were killed. She will then be a wanted woman (along with Atsali). Destruction of that much government property isn't likely to be taken too lightly. Plus, it won't help Kath's case to have Atsali stay with her in the future. Something I think most of us are hoping will happen. Maybe she can plead insanity. Oh wait, that won't help either. Her only hope may be to find she is yet another powerful immortal of some sort. Like Shelly, she can make up her own rules then. That, or other powerful immortals like Monica intercede on her behalf. Of course, if this is all part of Brandi's plan, then she would be responsible for everything and Kath would be off the hook.

[TheDOCTOR]

You know, IF Katherine has enough 'juice' in her phone and IF she can locate a tower / get a signal out, She MAY be able to call Monica and ask her for a "Ride Home".

[Jabberwonky]

You know, IF Katherine has enough 'juice' in her phone and IF she can locate a tower / get a signal out, She MAY be able to call Monica and ask her for a "Ride Home".

Have Rigo and Marta give them a lift to the airport?

[RunningBull]

You know, IF Katherine has enough 'juice' in her phone and IF she can locate a tower / get a signal out, She MAY be able to call Monica and ask her for a "Ride Home".

Have Rigo and Marta give them a lift to the airport?

Ugh, you posted a link! I have to go to work, but suddenly I have to read all these strips about these two characters I completely forgot about!.

I'm gonna be a little late.

[TheSkulker]

There are lineaments and right angle corners all through the jungle surrounding the 'cleaned up' tourist site.

Cleaned up tourist site is a good description. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but there didn't seem to be much of a presence beyond the tourist area. I think there were a few signs saying something to the respect of do not cross this point but I know I could very easily have snuck into the jungle to explore on my own.

I don't know when you were here but according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palenque, only a small portion of the site has been excavated.

• "By 2005, the discovered [Palenque] area covered up to 2.5 km² (1 sq mi), but it is estimated that less than 10% of the total area of the city is explored, leaving more than a thousand structures still covered by jungle."
  ...
  "In the last 15 or 20 years, a great deal more of the site has been excavated, but currently, archaeologists estimate that only 5% of the total city has been uncovered."

It is not a nice thought thinking what may have already been destroyed by careless adventurers.

Although about 7000 "end-of-the-world" tourists did extensive damage to a site last December, none can even come close to the damage one misguided Catholic priest did to the entire Mayan culture in the 16th century. Diego de Landa's one-man inquisition destroyed their entire written language and science as well as torturing and killing thousand's of Mayans in his attempt to forcefully convert them to christianity. All but four of all the many thousands of Mayan books (codices), were burnt including entire libraries. He was megalomaniacally intent on wiping out any trace of their culture.
[See http://religionvirus.blogspot.com/2008/ ... ntire.html
and http://www.ancientscripts.com/maya.html

It is only recently that the hieroglyphics preserved in stone have been deciphered and their ancient history rediscovered.

It really upsets me to read about these atrocities carried out in the name of "religion". Whether they are perpetrated by the Taliban or by Christians is irrelevant. To me it is just another example of the mindset that is motivated by the need to control and to destroy anything that resists or is a threat to that control. Someone (Mark Twain?), once said:

Without religion evil men would do evil and good men would do good. But for good men to do evil, that takes religion.

And is uniquely human. I have never heard of any religious animals.

[TheSkulker]

An interesting tidbit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palenque]: +

• "Juan Galindo visited Palenque in 1831, and filed a report with the Central American government. He was the first to note that the figures depicted in Palenque's ancient art looked like the local native Americans; some other early explorers, even years later, attributed the site to such distant peoples as Egyptians, Polynesians, or the Lost Tribes of Israel."

Is this another example of Paul's detailed research and is he on to something?

[sheik]

You forgot to mention that she immediately recognised that Atsali had a dislocated shoulder and knew exactly how to pop it back in.

As i said, it's obvious that her PhD is from the Dr Henry Jones jr University of Making-It-Up-as-You-Go.

Back in 1985, after building the sales fixtures for a shop he and his girlfriend were opening from scratch (including a movable wall/room divider with a pegboard front and a workshelf at waist height on the back*) using minimal tools (saber saw, drill, hammers, mostly) from scratch (with no plans or drawings), a friend and i had buttons made declaring ourselves graduates of the Indiana Jones Institute of Carpentry.

============================

* Six years and three tenants later, that movable wall was still there and still in use - having been the backdrop for the altar of a storefront church and a work-surface/display wall for a t-shirt-printing company...

And in an interesting coincidence, it turns out that Harrison Ford made his living as a carpenter/cabinet maker between gigs before he made it big as Han Solo/Indiana Jones.

[jwhouk]

I'm going to make a WAG right now:

They're going to turn around and find Suzie standing there with more people, saying something like, "Lily told me you guys were going to be here. Now, do you need help or what?"

[Fairportfan]

You forgot to mention that she immediately recognised that Atsali had a dislocated shoulder and knew exactly how to pop it back in.

As i said, it's obvious that her PhD is from the Dr Henry Jones jr University of Making-It-Up-as-You-Go.

Back in 1985, after building the sales fixtures for a shop he and his girlfriend were opening from scratch (including a movable wall/room divider with a pegboard front and a workshelf at waist height on the back*) using minimal tools (saber saw, drill, hammers, mostly) from scratch (with no plans or drawings), a friend and i had buttons made declaring ourselves graduates of the Indiana Jones Institute of Carpentry.

============================

* Six years and three tenants later, that movable wall was still there and still in use - having been the backdrop for the altar of a storefront church and a work-surface/display wall for a t-shirt-printing company...

And in an interesting coincidence, it turns out that Harrison Ford made his living as a carpenter/cabinet maker between gigs before he made it big as Han Solo/Indiana Jones.

Well ... yeah. That was part of the gag; i forgot to mention it.

The scar on his chin is from a construction accident, i think.

(One of Brian Daley's three "Han SOlo" novels actually wrote in an origin for the scar...)