“Striking Sparks” — Page Fifty-Three
So it appears Ms. Kaitlyn McKenna had certain professional motivations for using her phone camera during a disaster!
When Max-The-Artist and I visited Los Angeles City Hall to research this adventure, we noticed that there were a number of news vans — complete with satellite uplinks and each representing one of the the local television stations — positioned around the building on a semi-permanent basis. You know, just in case something newsworthy happened. One has to assume that this job, while important, would probably not be assigned to the higher-paid reporters. Apparently one such correspondent, separated from her support team in the panic, was part of the fleeing mob currently holed up on floor 18.
But despite being trapped in a burning building and about to die from smoke inhalation or worse, Ms. Kaitlyn knows a major career-boosting story when she sees one. She’s managed to get through the swamped cellphone nodes and establish a link to her station just as a certain armored hero arrives in a burst of hydrogen flame.
Yeah, she’s going to cover this story if it kills her. And it just may.
Meanwhile, our favorite detective has just pulled a disappearing act of her own!
Oh, speaking of which — new Vote Incentive! It’s Christmassy! Guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart!
More below!
Bobservations
Open Source Tuesday
Happy Cyber Monday! As you all know, this festive occasion began in 1752 when the famous statesman, inventor, and scientist Benjamin Franklin was forced to purchase a “kite upgrade” after his previous version “crashed” during an electrical storm. (Reportedly, Ben was annoyed to discover his previously licensed “key” no longer worked with the Kite 2.0 version.)
Ever since, Americans have spent the Monday after Thanksgiving purchasing new gadgets and appliances requiring the use of electricity. This supposedly bolsters the economy, but mostly just that of China.
However, as I mentioned last year, after you have spent most of your money on cool gizmos, please give a little thought to those online services and behind-the-scenes laborers whose efforts are generally unrecognized. For myself, that’s Wikipedia (I consult it almost daily); Philip Hofer (who created the free Comic Easel software this site relies on and who continues to improve it without getting paid); Akismet and WordFence (the open-source software that keeps hackers at bay and prevents the comments board from being flooded with spam); and a few other apps and plugins that I’ve found useful throughout the year.
Just a few dollars each, but it all helps, and more importantly, lets them know they are appreciated.
If you’ve used a free app and found it useful, downloaded a song that you enjoy, or find Wikipedia an occasionally-flawed but mostly useful resource for settling bar bets, do consider slipping them a buck or two this Tuesday. Spirit of the season and general good karma all around.
Heck, there’s probably an app for that.
Ben would be proud.
— Bob out
what? people were surprised she was a reporter?
I wasn’t.
First, only someone involved in the ‘information industry’ would be grilling a would-be savior at the probable cost of her life.
Second, it was rather obvious she was using her camera phone to record this. Only a reporter would do this, when she could be helping
Nah, there’s plenty of non-information-industry people who would do that. I’ve seen a fair number of real-life videos on the internet where people were cell-phone filming when they should be either A. Running away fast or B. Helping. (for that matter, if they’re in a burning building, even a reporter ought to be helping rather than filming)
Hmph. I thought as much.
(Not meant to be a slam on journalists. I respect them. I really do.)
Mr. Cop better hope “hot cop chick” doesn’t hear about that comment, or a missing ride will be the least of his problems…
Ah. He’s not a cop, just a motorcyclist who happened to be passing the precinct. (Outfit now changed to dark red to help clarify.)
ya he looked like he was swat or something
He’s wearing bike armor. I know many CG artists who commute in this gear- great way to beat the traffic and save on gas.
I didn’t see it before it was red, but I thought it was a firefighter. Why would I think there was a firefighter at the police station? I have no idea! 🙂
I knew that the recording would be trouble. The police already had his masked image from recordings of the previous instances, but they’ll have a hard time identifying him on their own. But now that this is public, the odds of someone who already knows him being able to recognize him – say, from his old unit – are actually pretty high. And if his “I’m dead m’am” line makes it on the air, anybody who knows about his ability to stop and restart his heart might make the connection. A whole lotta trouble ahead!
And regarding the “not coughing while breathing to talk” discussion on the previous page, I think Bob hit the nail on the head when he said Max isn’t having hormonal reactions. That’s right! He can inhale all the irritants he wants, but isn’t going to cough unless the chemical messengers can get to his diaphragm muscles. And since Max’s heart isn’t beating and blood isn’t circulating, those chemical messengers aren’t getting around!
I’d love to spread the wealth, but I just spent WAY too much money on a new tightrope, and cannot afford much of anything else ^~^
Found a fireball thrower for field testing if you’re interested:
http://www.ellusionist.com/pyro-handheld-fireshooter-by-adam-wilber.html
seems legit, also on dudeiwantthat.com for $174 through Amazon.
Hmm, seems to be a four-barrel version of a standard flash paper launcher, such as this: http://www.theatrefx.com/moreinfo_mg01_pyroflash_electronic_flash_gun.html
As such, it seems a reasonable price for a four-shot version with a cooler design.
I have one of the single-shots, it’s fun for a little bit, you can add sparkle powder (zirconium powder) and other small enhancements. It’s primarily used for indoor proximity effects because there’s no noise or smoke. I did make larger ground versions out of Dixie cups that were used in some of my early films when kids were in the scene. It’s about the safest practical fire effect there is.
Keeping in mind that Rick Mercer is all about the silly — he did a bit on the Republic of Doyle set about special effects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cZ2ItZ8oUM
I’d imagine it’s rather grade one to a college student, but I found it amusing. 🙂
Oh, that was well done, considering they can never go into much detail for fear someone will try to copy it, hurt themselves, and sue. But I am all about the practical effects, as shown there. What I use are basically just smaller versions of the same things.
I would think that not much detail is an ideal route for an experimenter to hurt themselves. True experimenters have never been hindered by lack of details. The trick is not making it look easy. if you make something sufficiently complex then you will find 2 types of people the ones who give up, and the ones who say “I bet I can find a better way.”
The latter are found in hacker/maker spaces all over the world. This thought just ‘occurred to me… many if not most really fun things all have some element of risk.
I agree, but I think the idea is mostly to protect the show from legal liability rather than any concern for the audience’s safety.
I’ve only just discovered 3mm in the last week, and now that i’m caught up I’m dying for more! Checking you weekly now, thanks for the awesome work!
Thanks so much for joining us, Nick!
Great to have ya.
AAARRRRGGGG… Well I’ve just read the Whole of your comic…Now I’m sitting here at 3:07 am (having started reading at 11:45 pm) and resize I’m going to have to be patent for the next update…
Sigh…
Love your artwork, love the story..But the best part of the comic is the commentary at the bottom..
So its with mixed feelings that I await your next installment… Impatients, antispitaion, and the knowledge that I can whine and it will do NO good in getting what I want….
So Thank You for both of you in taking time to write (and explode things) and draw.
Thank You
Motherofthehorde