dunno. I’m usually wrong about such things… but I’m starting to be pulled by the idea that Mr Green might be an alternate Artie. If only one of the characters would say something like, “Whew, we’re safe. No way that we would bump into Mr. Green here!”
Lupin was competent. He even made backups of his tech despite being mad, and managed to keep himself under control enough to go through university (despite the fact that mad scientists usually kill quite a few people when they break through, which would put a bit of a dampener on that). He just had remarkably bad luck (as did his victorian counterpart from the side story).
He broke through as a teenager, which was probably why he was *able* to go to university; by the time he did he’d “stabilised” (as much as you can call a mad scientist “stable”, anyway) enough to get through without any major incidents, because the worst had already passed. Unlike Helen, who probably wouldn’t’ve been allowed back to finish, once word got out about what happened at the bistro…
How does the Dorabella Cipher return any usable pen names? The image of it on wikipedia only shows a bunch of wavy lines. I mean, it’s technically possible, but it’d be too easily spotted as a Dora-cipher name.
Did you read the article? That picture IS the Dorabella Cypher. Nobody knows what it says.
I suppose you can get E, c, u, and n as letters out of that.
That’s where my confusion came from. E, C, U, N, and maybe M are not enough to make a workable pen name, and using the symbols is out of the question because, like he said, obvious.
Strictly speaking, you can’t even get that. There’s only one example of the cypher, and it doesn’t include either ucnEEn or wcmcEnuE . He’d have to actually solve it first.
I thought the idea would be that he had somehow solved it, and would use the same cipher to get his penname. I mean, that assumes he solved a cipher that has eluded people for more than a hundred years, but it is Sergio, after all.
That’s what I thought, but that led to the thread a couple posts up which is all about how impractical those symbols are for anything even remotely resembling an English name.
The Dorabella Cipher isn’t just the transcoding of letters, if it was then simple frequency analysis would decode it. Given that, the symbols don’t matter, they could stand for any letter or combination of letters.
As such, it’s entirely possible to crack the entire thing, then run your name through the part of the cipher that does the meaningful encryption, while stopping short of further encoding it as the symbols.
I was working through my Nook Color, which lacks spell check—not that that’s the best check on one’s spelling. I mean, it *always* tells me my name is spelled wrong…
I hope Shaenon and Jeffrey clarify how is the relationship between Sergio and Mell at this point of time and multiverse…
[WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD]
We know from Lil’Mell that after many time-meddling shenanigans he ended on a timeline in which he still was friends with her, but that might not be this timeline at all.
However, we know that in the main Narbonic timeline, by the time Rosalind is old enough to steal time machines (or perhaps a bit older, even) he is close enough to the family to enjoy a good family meal, and SH seems to be set on the main Narbonic timeline, but who knows if this actually is that universe, now…
If this is the correct time line for Sergio to be friends with Mell, that means that she is either President or Vice-President right now. We saw in a Sunday bound strip that in the alt-universe, Mell was the president, and Sweetheart was the acting president.
However, that scene in Lil’ Mell takes place when Sergio is in a relationship with a dude (Artie?) and Sergio is clearly single here, so maybe Mell isn’t president yet, we are in the timeline where Sergio timetravled, but he hasn’t timetravled yet(and may not, because he has no reason to change history, because he already changed history into a future he’s mostly comfortable with.)
Is Mell President in the future from Li’ll Mell? She’s wearing her business suit, but she starts wearing that when she becomes a lawyer in the main Narbonic timeline. She’s also wearing her glasses, whereas President Mell has contacts.
One can hope that the four of them wound up on their *own* timeline, and not one that was just like it. It’d be embarrassing to return to the Skin Horse offices and find themselves sitting at their desks…
Wait, are you saying the RAE actually does anything other than publishing hilariously out of touch dictionary definitions and validating hideous neologisms?
I’m not sure where else to ask about this. For the last few days, every time I try to go to narbonic.com or any specific strip within it, I get error messages. In Internet Explorer, I get “HTTP 500 internal server error”, and in Google Chrome, I get a large message saying “Error establishing a database connection”. Is this happening to everyone else too, and if so, does anyone know what’s wrong? Actually, even if it’s just me, does anyone know what’s wrong?
Boyo, unless A-Sig has offices in Venezuela, I think you’re covered. You want a cover name, go with Jean-Paul Deaux. Anonymous, and would send any observers to a completely different country.
I keep forgeting he is a mad science person
Never! He’s a mad *humanities* person!
Apparently, if he’s going to write a paper on poetry during a period when the vast majority of the literary output of Venezuela was in prose.
I am beginning to suspect our “Mr. Green” may actually be more of a “Kelly” Green…
Follow the evil… MK RULES!
dunno. I’m usually wrong about such things… but I’m starting to be pulled by the idea that Mr Green might be an alternate Artie. If only one of the characters would say something like, “Whew, we’re safe. No way that we would bump into Mr. Green here!”
WAY out from left field – Lupin Madblood
Too competent, too effective.
Lupin actually IS competent and effective. It’s just that everyone around him is so much BETTER…
Lupin was competent. He even made backups of his tech despite being mad, and managed to keep himself under control enough to go through university (despite the fact that mad scientists usually kill quite a few people when they break through, which would put a bit of a dampener on that). He just had remarkably bad luck (as did his victorian counterpart from the side story).
He broke through as a teenager, which was probably why he was *able* to go to university; by the time he did he’d “stabilised” (as much as you can call a mad scientist “stable”, anyway) enough to get through without any major incidents, because the worst had already passed. Unlike Helen, who probably wouldn’t’ve been allowed back to finish, once word got out about what happened at the bistro…
I know I’ve already suggested that Mr. Green is Home-school Joe from Li’l Mel.
No, I haven’t read the comic where they’re all in college, so I don’t know how plausible that is.
Hell, Mr. Green could even be the perpetually absent Mrs. Hancock.
Oh Sergio.
It seems he is still applying the mediocrity principle to himself.
Remember, there’s two sides to the Dunning-Kruger effect. We’re seeing the high end in action.
Ah, the life of posting to webcomic comments sections.
One moment, you’re discussing early 20th century Venezuelan poets and Dorabella Ciphers.
The next, you’re discussing Enormous Taco Bell Buttsplosions:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/outabout/#comment-1021714
How does the Dorabella Cipher return any usable pen names? The image of it on wikipedia only shows a bunch of wavy lines. I mean, it’s technically possible, but it’d be too easily spotted as a Dora-cipher name.
I think that’s his point XD
Did you read the article? That picture IS the Dorabella Cypher. Nobody knows what it says.
I suppose you can get E, c, u, and n as letters out of that.
That’s where my confusion came from. E, C, U, N, and maybe M are not enough to make a workable pen name, and using the symbols is out of the question because, like he said, obvious.
“U. C. McNeen” seems like a perfectly acceptable pen name, actually.
…or, adding “w”s, I like “W.C. McEnue”.
Strictly speaking, you can’t even get that. There’s only one example of the cypher, and it doesn’t include either ucnEEn or wcmcEnuE . He’d have to actually solve it first.
Though paredolia maybe?
I thought the idea would be that he had somehow solved it, and would use the same cipher to get his penname. I mean, that assumes he solved a cipher that has eluded people for more than a hundred years, but it is Sergio, after all.
That’s what I thought, but that led to the thread a couple posts up which is all about how impractical those symbols are for anything even remotely resembling an English name.
The Dorabella Cipher isn’t just the transcoding of letters, if it was then simple frequency analysis would decode it. Given that, the symbols don’t matter, they could stand for any letter or combination of letters.
As such, it’s entirely possible to crack the entire thing, then run your name through the part of the cipher that does the meaningful encryption, while stopping short of further encoding it as the symbols.
…..He and Artie totes deserve each other.
Perhaps he could publish posthumously—if that’s how that’s spelled…
Heh. Good one! (And yes, your spelling is correct. 🙂 )
I was working through my Nook Color, which lacks spell check—not that that’s the best check on one’s spelling. I mean, it *always* tells me my name is spelled wrong…
It tries to insert a ‘K’?
I hope Shaenon and Jeffrey clarify how is the relationship between Sergio and Mell at this point of time and multiverse…
[WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD]
We know from Lil’Mell that after many time-meddling shenanigans he ended on a timeline in which he still was friends with her, but that might not be this timeline at all.
However, we know that in the main Narbonic timeline, by the time Rosalind is old enough to steal time machines (or perhaps a bit older, even) he is close enough to the family to enjoy a good family meal, and SH seems to be set on the main Narbonic timeline, but who knows if this actually is that universe, now…
If this is the correct time line for Sergio to be friends with Mell, that means that she is either President or Vice-President right now. We saw in a Sunday bound strip that in the alt-universe, Mell was the president, and Sweetheart was the acting president.
However, that scene in Lil’ Mell takes place when Sergio is in a relationship with a dude (Artie?) and Sergio is clearly single here, so maybe Mell isn’t president yet, we are in the timeline where Sergio timetravled, but he hasn’t timetravled yet(and may not, because he has no reason to change history, because he already changed history into a future he’s mostly comfortable with.)
Is Mell President in the future from Li’ll Mell? She’s wearing her business suit, but she starts wearing that when she becomes a lawyer in the main Narbonic timeline. She’s also wearing her glasses, whereas President Mell has contacts.
One can hope that the four of them wound up on their *own* timeline, and not one that was just like it. It’d be embarrassing to return to the Skin Horse offices and find themselves sitting at their desks…
This.^
Now that’s a good taste in poetry. I’m sure the Royal Spanish Academy will bestow him their highest honor
…don’t look at me like that
Wait, are you saying the RAE actually does anything other than publishing hilariously out of touch dictionary definitions and validating hideous neologisms?
Yes (for instance http://www.rae.es/la-institucion/organizacion/premios )
Being “royal” does help
Had to look twice. Thought Sergio had grown a soul patch in panel four.
For you G&S fans… close to the correct day…
A cipher text, a cipher text
a most ingenious cipher text
Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha! ha!
A cipher text.
We know you want to go to ground
To write on poets who are dear
Avoid your own death, stay around
So use a cipher here
We said, “If he could fake his death,
And use a pen name there instead
He’d have no loss of blood and breath
and Mr. Green would think him dead.”
A cipher text, a cipher text
a most ingenious cipher text
Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha! ha!
A cipher text.
Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha! ha!
A para(phrasing) doc.
I’m not sure where else to ask about this. For the last few days, every time I try to go to narbonic.com or any specific strip within it, I get error messages. In Internet Explorer, I get “HTTP 500 internal server error”, and in Google Chrome, I get a large message saying “Error establishing a database connection”. Is this happening to everyone else too, and if so, does anyone know what’s wrong? Actually, even if it’s just me, does anyone know what’s wrong?
Usually errors in the 5XX range have nothing to do with you, unless you’re the one serving the site (which is not the case here).
I just tried to go to Narbonic, and got the same error as you report, so it’s not just you.
Same here; wouldn’t let me click back to this site, either.
It’s very simple. Narbonic Labs has removed itself from the Internet, like any proper mad science lab would do.
With fire and explosions, or by the nearest city being flattened by giant rodents?
(Maybe Helen sent out the Ninja Cable-Eating Gerbil Squad first, and the explosions are Phase 2…)
Like!
Boyo, unless A-Sig has offices in Venezuela, I think you’re covered. You want a cover name, go with Jean-Paul Deaux. Anonymous, and would send any observers to a completely different country.