Yep, Mr Randi only needs a quick poit to spill the cash, then shave his head and disappear in a Tibetean monastery for the rest of his days…
Would be so much fun to see…
(I know, Monica would never do that to someone she respects, but it’d be interesting to see whether her view would change of his acts in sight of her new knowledge (of course, the people knocked by Randi are probably real charlatans even in Wapsiverse, so there…))
SUDDEN IDEA: maybe Randi is allied with Brandi and Bud’s MIB to keep the populace out of the loop on the “supernatural”?
Yeah, the charlatans will still be charlatans, even in this setting where magic works. Because anyone who *can* do magic can make millions of dollars easily, without the need to go public to claim Randi’s prize.
Yes, but what exactly would be considered supernatural in Monica’s universe? I mean, we’ve got golems, time loops, and an immortal Gorgon sister with an impenetrable Deep South accent and a career in marine biology…
Same thing happened at Comic Mix near Lake Calhoun a few weeks ago, except it was Paul’s son who spilled milk and almost made me cry because of what was almost spoilt.
LOL, I love that Monica is a James Randi fan – makes sense, she is after all a trained scientist. Ironically she could claim his million dollar challenge prize at any time.
Magician and professional skeptic who has made an avocation (if not career) of exposing psychic frauds and paranormal hucksters. Wikipedia is your friend: James Randi
Randall James Hamilton Zwinge. (I had no idea so I spent the last 10 minutes googling him). I’d never heard of him before today, but so far I like him ^_^
I see the question has been answered quite well, but my 2centimes; I knew him waaaaay back before he was famous 😉 He and another magician were roommates in NYC, with one room set aside for their two pet kinkajous – one was named Gigi – one was missing an eye – I was very young – pre-teen – and adored him and his friend (name retained for privacy) and Gigi too 😉 I even helped in a couple shows as a planted assistant 😉
Ah, James Randi. I think if he was let into the secret he would sort of be like Monica was after she was “defrosted”. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/good-as-new/
The question then is would he make a full recovery or would he retreat back into his septic system and refuse to believe his own eyes? (sort of like Monica here) http://wapsisquare.com/comic/men-in-black/
I think you left a “c” out of a word up there. “Sceptic system” is a belief (or non-belief system as you will). A septic system is where a toilet flushes 😛
It’s not so much as a lack of belief in the unexplainable as it is a belief that everything is explainable without resorting to mythical/religious/paranormal “cop-outs”.
Then again, I believe in the religious and paranormal mumbo-jumbo (to an extent), so I certainly understand your sentiment.
I definitely appreciate the work he and others have done in debunking charlatans. Nothing like stopping snake oil salesmen before they can swindle people out of their money and sometimes lives; It is that most De-bunkers I have known refuse to believe in anything without an instant scientific explanation. They have no sense of wonder in that unknown. That to me becomes septic.
Loving the new posting time for the comic. Also love James Randi but his experiment designs need work, the one I remember particularly only “proved” that the person being tested had a force that wasn’t well contained, not that he was turning pages by blowing on them. If he wanted to prevent the subject from blowing the pages all he needed to do was make the subject wear a dust mask while he did the experiment…
I remember that one – I think Randi did prove that in all likelihood it was his breath. Of course, the guy being tested could explain away any failures after Randi made it impossible to use his breath by saying he was psychically tired, etc. Anyway, what he did was spread small balls of styrofoam on the phone book page the guy (James Hydrick) was attempting to mentally move.
Years later, Hydrick admitted that he was using his breath to move the pages.
Can’t believe that I accidentally put this in the Best Webcomics replies. Paul, delete it if so inclined.
James Randi is the shiznit. I’ve been lucky enough to meet him and go to a lecture. Funny story, for cheap entertainment in grad school, I would mock the evangelist that came to campus every Friday by demanding he explain homosexuality in animals other than humans and earned the nickname, “Gay Monkey Man.” The two people in the lecture hall before me (while Randi was setting up) recognized me and asked me if I were, “Gay Monkey Man.” Randi heard and asked for the story behind it, and he laughed when I told him, which made me feel like a total fanboy
Heh, for some reason this comic is the first to make me feel that Monica has “Leveled up”.
They say that if you keep any hero going long enough that they become a god. This feel a bit like a step along the spectrum. Monica has gone from every woman protagonist to actual famous Hero (in certain circles at least).
The thing is, enough people know about what she did, at least in the magical community, or her to have a rep. Who spilled the beans? Nudge? Phix? Maybe Kukulkan after Tepoz reported in? That last is most likely.
The solution of the calendar reset problem probably caused sufficient ripples in the magic field that those sensitive enough would’ve wanted to know why. And had the abilities to find out.
For that matter, the MIB are probably pretty obvious to the non-mundane community, too. Easy enough to hide from us poor Homo Sap, but if you hang around as long as your typical mythological, and other patterns emerge.
Two side thoughts:
1) What’d the taxonomic genus for Mythologicals? Does it vary per type as much as ‘naturally’ evolved creatures?
2) Related, when was the genesis of the _most_recent_ mythological? Per Z’s comment, M is almost heading that way.
Hell, getting any of these folks locked down to a species would be a nightmare. To qoute an Incredible Hulk comic from the ’90s,
“You people will procreate with anything that isn’t nailed down, won’t you?”
Take Gorgons, for example. Eyrale can breath water, which I guess would be an amphibian trait. She has snakes for hair which would be reptillian, unless they’re simply a really active form of an anti predation display, like the eyespots on a moth. She certainly has several very mamillian traits. Body hair and whatnot. And she has a powerfull defense mechanism in that her gaze can turn a living target to ice.
From her story,(and myth) her sister, a blood sibling, had mutated or varied enough that the same defense turned the target to stone instead.
And she gave birth to a flying horse.
Oh, I forgot limited shape shifting ability.
They resemble primates, but that may be a really convincing camoflage. I’m not sure how you’d file them.
For full impact, though, we’d hope to see the drama of the teetering glass of hot coffee, just bumped by the unaware Monica in her fangirlish gushing… the horror on the face of the bystanders in the background… the subtly-conveyed certainty that a painful YEOUCH is now inevitable…
Everybody handles fandom differently. I don’t really geek out so much as sweat PROFUSELY on my face. Like I have a faucet on my scalp….I’m pretty sure if I met Paul I’d explode. 😛
One year, at our annual Native American Exposition, our celebrity guest was Elaine Miles, and the state celebrity was Coach Kelvin Sampson. When we got to meet them, my brother just brushed by Elaine to shake the coach’s hand. Fame is a relative thing, I guess.
I know what it is to feel like I’m owed a million dollars, if that’s any help.
Yep, Mr Randi only needs a quick poit to spill the cash, then shave his head and disappear in a Tibetean monastery for the rest of his days…
Would be so much fun to see…
(I know, Monica would never do that to someone she respects, but it’d be interesting to see whether her view would change of his acts in sight of her new knowledge (of course, the people knocked by Randi are probably real charlatans even in Wapsiverse, so there…))
SUDDEN IDEA: maybe Randi is allied with Brandi and Bud’s MIB to keep the populace out of the loop on the “supernatural”?
Yeah, the charlatans will still be charlatans, even in this setting where magic works. Because anyone who *can* do magic can make millions of dollars easily, without the need to go public to claim Randi’s prize.
Yes, but what exactly would be considered supernatural in Monica’s universe? I mean, we’ve got golems, time loops, and an immortal Gorgon sister with an impenetrable Deep South accent and a career in marine biology…
Ghosts.
A friend of mine owes me fiddiy dollars. Does that count?
I don’t have ya fiddy dollars so I gots you fiddy cents.
No, no … tree fiddy is the minium.
Dammit you ‘ol Lock Ness monster, I tol’ you I ain’t got no tree fiddy!
Same thing happened at Comic Mix near Lake Calhoun a few weeks ago, except it was Paul’s son who spilled milk and almost made me cry because of what was almost spoilt.
That little stinker just about nuked a few dozen originals. o_O
Oh! I just had a flashback to “Kramer vs Kramer.” The joys of being a daddy… 😀
As they say, “no crying over spilled milk”.
But in that case I would have been sobbing at the sight.
Only 2 comments?! (Excluding me) WOW…
whoops. joe posted before me…
This comic = My reaction →→→ MeGusta.jpg
y u no reply to self?!?
I can’t stop laughing.
Fangirl moments all around in this arc, eh?
Poor Bud. It seems like she’s always stuck doing all the “keeper” work with Monica. Lazy Jin/Brandi/Tepoz. (>^_^)>
Bud gets a kick out of seeing Monica all riled up over a bunch of questions when she’s trying to find answers. LOL
LOL, I love that Monica is a James Randi fan – makes sense, she is after all a trained scientist. Ironically she could claim his million dollar challenge prize at any time.
Yep. All she’d have to do is poit right in front of him. He’ll go nuts trying to figure that one out.
The Lake Calhoun treatment that Monica gave Amanda mught be a convincer?
Sorry. For those of us that are not local, who is James Randi?
He’s a modern day debunker of the bizarre and the unexplained. http://www.randi.org/jr/
Magician and professional skeptic who has made an avocation (if not career) of exposing psychic frauds and paranormal hucksters. Wikipedia is your friend: James Randi
Randall James Hamilton Zwinge. (I had no idea so I spent the last 10 minutes googling him). I’d never heard of him before today, but so far I like him ^_^
Don’t feel too bad. I had to Google him to have any clue why Monica would be a fangirl around him (just like several other people apparently). 🙂
I see the question has been answered quite well, but my 2centimes; I knew him waaaaay back before he was famous 😉 He and another magician were roommates in NYC, with one room set aside for their two pet kinkajous – one was named Gigi – one was missing an eye – I was very young – pre-teen – and adored him and his friend (name retained for privacy) and Gigi too 😉 I even helped in a couple shows as a planted assistant 😉
So they called the one “Gig” instead?
SoWhyMe – I can’t decide whether I should groan aloud, or applaud you silently.
Ah, James Randi. I think if he was let into the secret he would sort of be like Monica was after she was “defrosted”. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/good-as-new/
The question then is would he make a full recovery or would he retreat back into his septic system and refuse to believe his own eyes? (sort of like Monica here) http://wapsisquare.com/comic/men-in-black/
I think you left a “c” out of a word up there. “Sceptic system” is a belief (or non-belief system as you will). A septic system is where a toilet flushes 😛
oops, a typo. But to me they tend to be the same thing. Without belief in the unexplainable, the world becomes far too mundane.
It’s not so much as a lack of belief in the unexplainable as it is a belief that everything is explainable without resorting to mythical/religious/paranormal “cop-outs”.
Then again, I believe in the religious and paranormal mumbo-jumbo (to an extent), so I certainly understand your sentiment.
I definitely appreciate the work he and others have done in debunking charlatans. Nothing like stopping snake oil salesmen before they can swindle people out of their money and sometimes lives; It is that most De-bunkers I have known refuse to believe in anything without an instant scientific explanation. They have no sense of wonder in that unknown. That to me becomes septic.
problem is, if he starts blabbing too much, a Neuralizer may be needed… or him and M are keeping quiet about it…. 🙂
Loving the new posting time for the comic. Also love James Randi but his experiment designs need work, the one I remember particularly only “proved” that the person being tested had a force that wasn’t well contained, not that he was turning pages by blowing on them. If he wanted to prevent the subject from blowing the pages all he needed to do was make the subject wear a dust mask while he did the experiment…
I remember that one – I think Randi did prove that in all likelihood it was his breath. Of course, the guy being tested could explain away any failures after Randi made it impossible to use his breath by saying he was psychically tired, etc. Anyway, what he did was spread small balls of styrofoam on the phone book page the guy (James Hydrick) was attempting to mentally move.
Years later, Hydrick admitted that he was using his breath to move the pages.
Can’t believe that I accidentally put this in the Best Webcomics replies. Paul, delete it if so inclined.
James Randi is the shiznit. I’ve been lucky enough to meet him and go to a lecture. Funny story, for cheap entertainment in grad school, I would mock the evangelist that came to campus every Friday by demanding he explain homosexuality in animals other than humans and earned the nickname, “Gay Monkey Man.” The two people in the lecture hall before me (while Randi was setting up) recognized me and asked me if I were, “Gay Monkey Man.” Randi heard and asked for the story behind it, and he laughed when I told him, which made me feel like a total fanboy
I came – I read – now I can go to bed . Chase the rest of the comics in the morning . Nite all.!!
Heh, for some reason this comic is the first to make me feel that Monica has “Leveled up”.
They say that if you keep any hero going long enough that they become a god. This feel a bit like a step along the spectrum. Monica has gone from every woman protagonist to actual famous Hero (in certain circles at least).
That’s a good step up in rep.
The thing is, enough people know about what she did, at least in the magical community, or her to have a rep. Who spilled the beans? Nudge? Phix? Maybe Kukulkan after Tepoz reported in? That last is most likely.
The solution of the calendar reset problem probably caused sufficient ripples in the magic field that those sensitive enough would’ve wanted to know why. And had the abilities to find out.
For that matter, the MIB are probably pretty obvious to the non-mundane community, too. Easy enough to hide from us poor Homo Sap, but if you hang around as long as your typical mythological, and other patterns emerge.
Two side thoughts:
1) What’d the taxonomic genus for Mythologicals? Does it vary per type as much as ‘naturally’ evolved creatures?
2) Related, when was the genesis of the _most_recent_ mythological? Per Z’s comment, M is almost heading that way.
Just ask the crew at the Sanctuary. Im sure Dr. Magnus and biggie can give you those answers
Hell, getting any of these folks locked down to a species would be a nightmare. To qoute an Incredible Hulk comic from the ’90s,
“You people will procreate with anything that isn’t nailed down, won’t you?”
Take Gorgons, for example. Eyrale can breath water, which I guess would be an amphibian trait. She has snakes for hair which would be reptillian, unless they’re simply a really active form of an anti predation display, like the eyespots on a moth. She certainly has several very mamillian traits. Body hair and whatnot. And she has a powerfull defense mechanism in that her gaze can turn a living target to ice.
From her story,(and myth) her sister, a blood sibling, had mutated or varied enough that the same defense turned the target to stone instead.
And she gave birth to a flying horse.
Oh, I forgot limited shape shifting ability.
They resemble primates, but that may be a really convincing camoflage. I’m not sure how you’d file them.
The flying horse bit might just be that Pegasus was a shape-shifter and his story also got twisted like the rest of the Perseus story.
Well, she was seduced by Poseidon, disguised as a horse. Seems like an odd disguise and makes one wonder about her usual sexual habits.
I think a Scooby swipe flashback just to see what Monica looks like going off in a fan girl fit would be hilarious.
That’s if the Script would allow for such a frivolous moment. 😉
Might make a great outside-the-primary-storyline “filler” for an upcoming holiday… could probably be done in one large panel?
or…
someone could just draw it and share?
Oh we’ve already seen it:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/illberightthere/
and the one following.
For full impact, though, we’d hope to see the drama of the teetering glass of hot coffee, just bumped by the unaware Monica in her fangirlish gushing… the horror on the face of the bystanders in the background… the subtly-conveyed certainty that a painful YEOUCH is now inevitable…
who is James Randi?
{groan} does no one read the comments??
its at the top…. 🙂
Oh. That’s why “The Amazing Randi” doesn’t do shows in Minneapolis anymore.
And Ms. Bloom: clicky the linky.
Everybody handles fandom differently. I don’t really geek out so much as sweat PROFUSELY on my face. Like I have a faucet on my scalp….I’m pretty sure if I met Paul I’d explode. 😛
Euryale, a total Extrovert, gushes uncontrollably when she gets nervous.
I, total introvert, go quiet as I try to figure out what’s going on and take it all in.
I still don’t think I’d chase anyone around a crowded hall to apologize. Somehow I can’t see Euryale doing it either.
bmomk – Just found out Anne McCaffery passed today. I Can hear the wings in the bachground taking her home
Shoot… just started rereading “All the Weyrs of Pern” today during a plane flight. This news brings a definite sadness to the experience…
Yes–she’ll be missed. She was a reliable and good writer.
The Ship Who Sang will sing her elegy with the Crystal Singer.
One year, at our annual Native American Exposition, our celebrity guest was Elaine Miles, and the state celebrity was Coach Kelvin Sampson. When we got to meet them, my brother just brushed by Elaine to shake the coach’s hand. Fame is a relative thing, I guess.
Happy Tryptophan weekend everyone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan#Turkey_meat_and_drowsiness
http://www.collectedcurios.com/SA_0734_small.jpg
Isn’t his real name The Amazing Randi?
Changed his name legally years ago.
Shows that some people are way too impressed with themselves.