The cities may smell better, but they are also much, much larger and home to many, many more people, who in addition to needing proportionally more food to live, also more or less all use electricity and cars, which requires constantly burning massive tonnages of fossil fuels.
So it’s a question of what you care about – grubbiness at the local level, or at the planetary one.
More people is a feature rather than a bug. And give your fellow environmentalists some credit. Smog is a lot less prevalent then it was 70 years ago. If people are phobic about fossil fuels then the thing to do is build lots and lots of nuclear reactors. Otherwise concern about grubbiness at the planetary level seems somewhat silly. 🙂
Isn’t that more what Gavotte is saying? Pavane is deciding that they shouldn’t die on this hill, which is mathematically identical but philosophically different, I think.
Depends what you call civilized. I always liked the Roger Zelazy definition of civilization/civilized as “nothing more than the art of ring able to live in cities “. 🙂
She was. She was also the left hand swarm. The camera angle switched for some reason. Also it took me awhile to get panel three. Pavane flies out the door and slams it behind her. But I thought she’d attacked Gavotte and been absorbed.
I believe the coloration varies with the density of the swarm.
The nuances in today’s strip are wonderful! The close up of the cups in panel 1 cues the change in POV while complimenting panel 4’s summation of the schism which triggered the swarm in the first place.
I do have to say that I was having some confusion with today’s comic with the side change and the… color change? Density change? Its just a bit disorienting to follow along.
While yes there are a wide variety of in-story reasons to be given here, you are also missing the point. Its hard to follow along as the reader, outside the universe.
Gavotte says Pavane will always be part of her. If she considers herself to be equally part of Pavane, she didn’t say so.
I hadn’t fully put it into words, but I’d kind of noticed this before; from what Gavotte says, she split into two roughly equal parts, but she sees herself as the “original” Gavotte and Pavane as her “daughter”, rather than the original Gavotte being what existed before the split, and them both being that Gavotte’s daughters.
I’d have to go on an archive binge to be sure, but IIRC, Gavotte was originally of one mind, and the difference of opinion regarding what to do about this very problem is what caused the split. It wasn’t a typical “swarm” that happens all the time with bees. Gavotte is still of the same mind as she was before the split, so Pavane would be the descendant, being the part that “changed her mind”, as it were.
Their meeting went bad, it was rough. Pavane ran away in a huff. Their firm disagreement caused Gavotte her bereavement. But will either one keep hanging tough?
Humans fail all the time, but we’re still around. Unfortunately, we are making this planet grubbier.
Debatable. I’m willing to bet cities smell better then they did when horses were the primary mode of transportation. 🙂
“Ankh-Morpork is the pearl of cities!”
…if you had to liken Ankh-Morpork to anything, then it might as well be a piece of rubbish covered with the diseased secretions of a dying mollusc.
But if you haven’t smelled Ankh-Morpork on a hot day you haven’t smelled anything.
For which we are extremely grateful.
The cities may smell better, but they are also much, much larger and home to many, many more people, who in addition to needing proportionally more food to live, also more or less all use electricity and cars, which requires constantly burning massive tonnages of fossil fuels.
So it’s a question of what you care about – grubbiness at the local level, or at the planetary one.
To say nothing of how you can tell a fake art piece by if it has fallout in the paint.
More people is a feature rather than a bug. And give your fellow environmentalists some credit. Smog is a lot less prevalent then it was 70 years ago. If people are phobic about fossil fuels then the thing to do is build lots and lots of nuclear reactors. Otherwise concern about grubbiness at the planetary level seems somewhat silly. 🙂
No, nuclear is not the answer.
Solar, wind, & other renewables, together with storage, is.
Nuclear is too expensive, not to mention the waste problem.
Re: Wallraven: answer to the first act of the All-Solar No-Nukes Electric Rock Concert: “It *is* on.”
Looks like Pavane is an example of what too much coffee can do. 😀
Or she’s an example of what too much youth can do.
AND she tipped over her cup! Rampage!
Pavane, you don’t get to decide for others what hill they’re ready to die on.
Isn’t that more what Gavotte is saying? Pavane is deciding that they shouldn’t die on this hill, which is mathematically identical but philosophically different, I think.
Tea, it keeps things civilized.
https://tinyurl.com/3h8mwvvd
I live in Britain and can confirm that it absolutely doesn’t.
I live in Boston and trust me, it didn’t work here.
I live in neither of those places but I love both those comments.
Judging from that picture, it didn’t work too well in Londinium either.
Depends what you call civilized. I always liked the Roger Zelazy definition of civilization/civilized as “nothing more than the art of ring able to live in cities “. 🙂
Meh. “art of ring” should be “art of being”. I see the true purpose of autocorrect is to help us be more creative in our mistakes. 😀
Look on the bright side… at least your typographical errors are spelled correctly.
Upon such small considerations, great decisions are made.
I like tea.
If I cannot have tea on Lovetron I shall not go.
“On Lovetron, there is no tea / That’s why I’ll stay, you see / And if we’re gone, you see / Back on Earth, they’ll be drinking all the tea.”
I’ll always hear “In Heaven there is no Beer” as a polka.
How shall we sing “On Lovetron there is no Tea”?
As a gavotte. Moderato.
Not to be critical, but wasn’t Pavane the ‘yellow’ swarm? Have I gotten mixed up?
Wondered about that myself … OD’d on hwangcha, mayhaps?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_tea
If so, then we both have.
She was. She was also the left hand swarm. The camera angle switched for some reason. Also it took me awhile to get panel three. Pavane flies out the door and slams it behind her. But I thought she’d attacked Gavotte and been absorbed.
I believe the coloration varies with the density of the swarm.
The nuances in today’s strip are wonderful! The close up of the cups in panel 1 cues the change in POV while complimenting panel 4’s summation of the schism which triggered the swarm in the first place.
The camera angle changed, too, a one-eighty. Yesterday, Pavane was on one side, Gavotte on the other, and today it’s the other way round.
I do have to say that I was having some confusion with today’s comic with the side change and the… color change? Density change? Its just a bit disorienting to follow along.
If the camera angle changed, the lighting angle did as well. that could account for the color change.
While yes there are a wide variety of in-story reasons to be given here, you are also missing the point. Its hard to follow along as the reader, outside the universe.
I, on the other hand, had no trouble following along, simply because of their dialogue.
Interesting choice of wording in the first panel. Pavane’s language is very neutral, while Gavotte’s considers Pavane to be subordinate to her.
I don’t see Gavotte talking to Pavane like a subordinate. She’s just explaining that they cannot “be one again” because they cannot agree.
Gavotte says Pavane will always be part of her. If she considers herself to be equally part of Pavane, she didn’t say so.
I hadn’t fully put it into words, but I’d kind of noticed this before; from what Gavotte says, she split into two roughly equal parts, but she sees herself as the “original” Gavotte and Pavane as her “daughter”, rather than the original Gavotte being what existed before the split, and them both being that Gavotte’s daughters.
I’d have to go on an archive binge to be sure, but IIRC, Gavotte was originally of one mind, and the difference of opinion regarding what to do about this very problem is what caused the split. It wasn’t a typical “swarm” that happens all the time with bees. Gavotte is still of the same mind as she was before the split, so Pavane would be the descendant, being the part that “changed her mind”, as it were.
“There’s just you and me, and we just disagree…”
I like the fact that the cups have flowers on them.
Their meeting went bad, it was rough. Pavane ran away in a huff. Their firm disagreement caused Gavotte her bereavement. But will either one keep hanging tough?
I like the speech bubbles.
“Molly my sister and I fell out…”