Wapsi Square Forum

Fairportfan wrote:I don't think Monica had ever been inside that Port-a-Pottie before.

She ran into it, then poited back to the coffee shop a few moments later. So she physically moved herself there.

Fairportfan wrote:And how did she manage to get to the sandbar the first time?

Grandpa Sullivan took her.

My2Cents wrote:Or Nudge to the volcano? http://wapsisquare.com/comic/and-the-ho ... oad-in-on/

She was there before, it just wasn't a big lake of lava when she was standing there previously. As she said, it was "the volcano from the island". The geography changed, but the coordinates in space didn't.

I would guess that she had been on the cruise ship at some time earlier on a vacation, and was thus able to drop the snow on it. And that she had either been to the classroom earlier (perhaps clearing things with the teacher ahead of time and getting permission to scare the kiddies), or else was able to home in on Castela somehow.

Well darn! Here I am all ready to go linking to old comics and Catawampus beat me to the island/volcano explanation. (jk)

As for Monica knowing her way around the school, it's possible that Phix/MIB took her on a tour for some 'sensitivity training' after her and Shelly's little romp a few months ago. Make sure she knows who the people are that she could be putting in danger.

To clear up my previous post:

The key to being able to "poit" to a location is that the person in question has to be able to see the place where he/she/it is "poiting" to. That is what makes Monica super dangerous: she can see someone's darkest fears, and "poit" them right into it.

Imagine you run afoul of Monica, and your darkest fear is being trapped out in space - without a space suit. Monica can "see" that, which enables her to "poit" you to the place of your greatest nightmare.

You'd be dead within a few seconds.

jwhouk wrote:To clear up my previous post:

The key to being able to "poit" to a location is that the person in question has to be able to see the place where he/she/it is "poiting" to. That is what makes Monica super dangerous: she can see someone's darkest fears, and "poit" them right into it.

Imagine you run afoul of Monica, and your darkest fear is being trapped out in space - without a space suit. Monica can "see" that, which enables her to "poit" you to the place of your greatest nightmare.

You'd be dead within a few seconds.

*activating pedant mode*

from http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_a ... 70603.html

unconscious in seconds (15 or so - maybe - the example given had a leaking suit, not instantaneous exposure), dead should take more than a minute - closer to two?

anyway, it should be a very unpleasant experience.

Mark N wrote:

My2Cents wrote: Or Nudge to the volcano? http://wapsisquare.com/comic/and-the-ho ... oad-in-on/

True, I would seriously doubt that she had been to a volcanic caldera before.

If I recall correctly, Monica said that the caldera was the remains of the island that M and Jin had been visiting when it went BOOM.

That pushes the question back one round... how did M first poit to the island? Since she and Jin were surveying many islands together, it's possible that Jin did all of the initial poiting.

I think I recall Monica saying that her grandfather had taken her to the sandbar when she was a girl.

So, I don't think we've seen any unambiguous examples of Monica poiting to a place that she definitely had not visited previously.

Dave wrote:So, I don't think we've seen any unambiguous examples of Monica poiting to a place that she definitely had not visited previously.

Possibly, Mucho Mocha's basement with Tina... I'm pretty sure that she had never been there before.

scantrontb wrote:

Dave wrote:So, I don't think we've seen any unambiguous examples of Monica poiting to a place that she definitely had not visited previously.

Possibly, Mucho Mocha's basement with Tina... I'm pretty sure that she had never been there before.

Hmmm. Was she actually aiming for the basement, or was she trying to return them to Mucho Mocha (upstairs) and missed her landing point by 10 or 15 feet vertically? If I recall correctly that was fairly early in her poiting practice and she didn't always land gracefully and precisely...

Was that before or after she discovered the Muneca doll in the basement while looking for Tina? That's when she first manifested the 'eye lights'. (edit: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/see-in-the-dark/)

I believe it was after she found the doll; the poit later came when she and Tina were leaving the Library (and swapped clothes in mid-flight). (YUP! A couple months later: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/hang-of-this/)

I love edits.....

Dave wrote:

Mark N wrote:

My2Cents wrote: That pushes the question back one round... how did M first poit to the island? Since she and Jin were surveying many islands together, it's possible that Jin did all of the initial poiting.

Can Jin poit any more?

Fairportfan wrote:

Dave wrote:That pushes the question back one round... how did M first poit to the island? Since she and Jin were surveying many islands together, it's possible that Jin did all of the initial poiting.

Can Jin poit any more?

Almost certainly.

Jabberwonky wrote:And to add to the toy spider madness...

NOTDilbert wrote:And, for a remote-controlled spider toy with a built-in Nerf gun, google Attacknids....

.....

Grantwhy wrote:unconscious in seconds (15 or so - maybe - the example given had a leaking suit, not instantaneous exposure), dead should take more than a minute - closer to two?

anyway, it should be a very unpleasant experience.

Arthur Clarke wrote a scene into his novel "Earthlight" in which the crew of a damaged spaceship had to be evacuated to another ship, without benefit of space suits. By first hyperventilating thoroughly in an oxygen-ruch atmosphere, they were able to stave off anoxia and remain conscious long enough to make it to he rescue ship's airlocks... between 30 seconds and a minute. The biggest risk was stated to be sunburn (!) and I imagine that skin burns or frostbite from touching metal would also have been a serious hazard.

Anoxia is sneaky, and if you haven't pumped up your blood-oxygen level in advance, 15-30 seconds without oxygenated air is probably a good estimate... you'll pass out without realizing what is happening. A lot of people have died in confined spaces with low oxygen levels (e.g. when entering storage tanks, sewers, etc.) in just that way.

He first used that in a short piece called, i think "Now Inhale" and later in 2001.

However, i'm told that more recent research indicates that the blood de-oxygenates through the lungs rapidly enough to cause problems.

OTHO, i guess you can keep your mouth shut and pinch your nose shut. But that might cause eardrum problems.

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

Oops. "Now Inhale" is an Eric Frank Russell story. DOn't know what the Clarke piece i'm thinking of was, then.

NOTDilbert wrote:Was that before or after she discovered the Muneca doll in the basement while looking for Tina? That's when she first manifested the 'eye lights'. (edit: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/see-in-the-dark/)

I believe it was after she found the doll; the poit later came when she and Tina were leaving the Library (and swapped clothes in mid-flight). (YUP! A couple months later: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/hang-of-this/)

I love edits.....

yeah... i forgot about that one, oh well! win some, lose some... i saw it again after an archive binge just now, and was coming here to correct my post... only to find I've been ninja'd... though i was kinda expecting it once i started reading the comments for today... as Sydney Scoville Jr. says: "Always. Expect. Ninja's..."

scantrontb wrote:i saw it again after an archive binge just now, and was coming here to correct my post... only to find I've been ninja'd... though i was kinda expecting it once i started reading the comments for today... as Sydney Scoville Jr. says: "Always. Expect. Ninja's..."

There's no shame in occasionally being out-researched by other enthusiastic Wapsi readers. Remember, No one expects the Fannish inquisition!

You know, there was a well-known and popular fanzine with that title - um, Jerry Kaufman? - anyway, i once saw a cartoon in someone else's fanzine showing someone looking into his empty mailbox and saying "Darn - I was expecting The Fannish Inquisition."

GuySmiley wrote:Well darn! Here I am all ready to go linking to old comics and Catawampus beat me to the island/volcano explanation. (jk)

I've got a deal with the Ghost of Christmas Future. He tips me off to some of the future comments, so that I can get in ahead of them.

In return, I cook some curry up for him on occasion.

Catawampus wrote:In return, I cook some curry up for him on occasion.

"To curry favor, favor curry."

P.D.Q Bach, "The Seasonings"

According to this, any postulated poit rules such as "must see/visualize", "must have seen (personally or via photo)", and "must have been there before" don't apply. At the very least, they don't apply to Jin.

weeeeellllll.... they could have gone 'island hopping' using a good strong pair of binoculars.... ???