"Ink," the origin and meaning of his tattoos...

[Witch_Doctor]

A littler longer than that actually...

While I am able to connect to the internet for the moment, I just want to throw this out there. The discovery is a year or t
Many, like myself, thought that Sumer, Babylon and others were among the first in the beginnings in the "Cradle of Civilization." Somewhere in the neighborhood of eightish thousand years ago or so.

A "recent" discovery pegs it at about 12,000 years ago. The Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey is now known to be the oldest Neolithic site in the world discovered so far. It has opened a whole new chapter for discovery of ancient and lost civilizations.

So, what other cultures have been lost but might have passed on their tales without our knowing?

Thanks for the info. Sounds a bit familiar. I think I dozed off listening to a documentary about this. I will certainly check it out.

[LongoriaN]

"Have a good close look at his hand. At first glance it looks like a bunch of convoluted mumbo jumbo. I looked closer and made a few startling discoveries.

At his wrist (and on his pinky finger) are what looks like molecular symbols of a Benzine Ring. More specifically, those found in Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. This specific one looks similar to Chrysene and Benzo(a)pyrene, both of which are known carcinogens. More specifically, the diagram on his wrist, if you flip it over, bears a striking resemblance to Benzo(a)pyrene's interaction with DNA. My guess is that it is another AH/PAH that is interacting with DNA in a way far more complex than cancer.

A great deal of these hydrocarbons are found in coal tar, oil, fossil fuel, ect., the stuff found underground. Did Ink know something about zombie causing chemicals underground and tattoo their symbols on his body?

"It gets better and goes deeper""


You had me up until that point, then when you got to the biblical stuff you lost me, I would stick with a more scientific approach.

The thoughts about the fossil fuels was spot on. Clearly KC has a understanding of science and the scientific process. Additionally, the points about the Hydrocarbons on the hand and the symbols of snakes and bacteria, was spot on. Here are some more scientific explanations.

So....... pockets of gas under the earth, were exposed to the earth's surface when fissures in the crust around Englewood leaked a material. The material that was leaked, could be chemical or biological (I.E. Chemical like hydrocarbons from fossil fuels, oils, and other inorganic compounds within the earth, or Biological compounds like a giant fungus with spores, a bacteria pocket (why antibiotics work), or some life form hard to describe by modern science; like Prions. ) Here is a quote from my facebook explaining the link behind zombies and prions. You can read the links for more details.



"""Do people know about Prions? If there is anything I'm scared of its mad cow disease. Correct me if I'm wrong. Prions are chains of amino acids, that have a chemical confirmation structure with polar regions that bend and form contacted Proteins into Prions. With each contact the material spreads from surface to surface in the brain and spinal column. This collection of material collects and forms vacuoles within the nervous material of the animal. A chemical chain that can reproduce and proliferate. This redefines our concept of life; these chemical chains are just as much living as viruses. Did I mention that the formation of these vacuoles forms a radical shift in behavior and coordination, and that mad cow spreads from organism to organism by the consumption of brains and nervous tissue.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madcow/prions.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_...encephalopathy

Zombies could happen! you need an eotech!"""



Both these biological or the chemical theories are supported by the tattoos, clearly complex organic compounds. These compounds are IDed correctly on the hand; Carcinogens. Carcinogens are chemical compounds that interact with the biological cells, damaging the way the cell reproduces. Once damaged the cell perpetually mutates and reproduces. These dividing cells can cause radical changes in shape, size, wit, design, behavior, and function within an evolutionary world (Like on "Planet Earth" with the fungus that causes ants to climb blades of grass, suicide, and spread more fungus. Biological organisms augmenting behavior of a host, for the benefit of the parasite) . Like "Cheat Grass" the biological organism conquers the world. A combination of traits that is best suited for the environment. Just like Darwin said.


Here's the theory!



"Ink" is the zombie overmind. The overmind is logical, can speak, and solve simple problems(like drive cars, understand the buzzer system at CJs, and can command the zombies). The little ones are scientific concoctions designed by "Ink". These concoctions are numbered and are different combinations of mutated traits(fast, huge, sharp nails, jump, and run fast). Ink is scientifically testing which combination of traits that will proliferate and will eliminate its competition; Human life. It is an evolutionary arms race between humans and zombies. Our weapon wits, their weapon Change.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_arms_race


The stage is set! which of the little ones will wipe out humanity!

BOOYAH!
Nate

[Zombiphobe]

A great deal of these hydrocarbons are found in coal tar, oil, fossil fuel, ect., the stuff found underground.

It is interesting to note that the La Brea Tar Pits are in LA (albeit North of Ground Zero). There we have petroleum seeping up from the earth as oil. The lighter factions evaporate, leaving the heavier fractions behind as natural asphalt.

Pockets of gas under the earth, were exposed to the earth's surface when fissures in the crust around Englewood leaked a material. The material that was leaked, could be chemical or biological (I.E. Chemical like hydrocarbons from fossil fuels, oils, and other inorganic compounds within the earth, or Biological compounds like a giant fungus with spores, a bacteria pocket (why antibiotics work), or some life form hard to describe by modern science; like Prions.

The pockets under the Earth that you mentioned might be an underground connection between the La Brea Tar Pits and the fissures at Ground Zero. The lighter factions that evaporate might also be contributing to the haze that Saul and Victor witnessed.

It is also worth noting that scientists have also discovered new strains of bacteria living in those pits, so there might just be something there.

[GeOsiris]

Chaos.

Ink has a tattoo of the symbol for chaos on his hand.

[Witch_Doctor]

Chaos.

Ink has a tattoo of the symbol for chaos on his hand.

Are you talking about the symbol on his middle finger?



I believe it is part of this veve.
damballa4.jpg

The veve actually out-dates the Chaos symbol.

[Vlarken]

Here's the theory!



"Ink" is the zombie overmind. The overmind is logical, can speak, and solve simple problems(like drive cars, understand the buzzer system at CJs, and can command the zombies). The little ones are scientific concoctions designed by "Ink". These concoctions are numbered and are different combinations of mutated traits(fast, huge, sharp nails, jump, and run fast). Ink is scientifically testing which combination of traits that will proliferate and will eliminate its competition; Human life. It is an evolutionary arms race between humans and zombies. Our weapon wits, their weapon Change.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_arms_race


The stage is set! which of the little ones will wipe out humanity!

BOOYAH!
Nate

The 'zombie overmind' thing is just the main plot of Cell. Also sort of like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Not to say that it would be a terrible thing if that's how it turned out in the end, but I like the idea of Ink being a person endowed with powers by a supernatural force much more than having a scientific explanation.

[Deacon_Tyler]

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...GqXi2QWDwICQBQ

They all look like RNA viruses. If we're going for a purely scientific reasoning for the zombies, an RNA virus is the only type that would mutate fast enough to cause changes on a macro level.

[Witch_Doctor]

Rotate this image 90 degrees to the left and compare it to the images on his hand. Attachment 2173 The star-like symbol at the front of the worm-like thing looks like the star-like symbol at the front of the worm-like thing on both the hand and the veve. That, plus the placement of the little stars and the snakes make these two images far more similar to each other than any single image of bacteria or RNA viruses.

Even though the tattoos can, with a high degree of confidence, be said to contain Voodoo religious symbols, it does not negate the possibility of there being a scientific explanation. Apollo astronauts have been recorded reading from the Book Of Genesis on the moon, but that doesn't mean that they could only have gotten there via angel wings.

[Deacon_Tyler]

You got me, Witchdoctor - that veve thing looks spot on to me! O_O

[Witch_Doctor]

Nah, I can't take credit for finding the veves. This glory belongs to Eviebae. She found it and posted it onto a thread called Chapter 27's Episode Artwork Has Voodoo Images. But I did come across these references to veves and Voodoo beliefs.

Personally, I'm siding with the scientific explanations. Now, it might turn out that the explanation is so far beyond us that it seems mystical, but I think the religious and mystical symbols may play a roll in characters' motivations or the story's symbolic motifs. (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -Arthur C. Clarke)