Chapter 39-2 Chemical Reactions

[Osiris]

Good ep, Kc. I have noticed that the eps are . . . quieter. I have to max my speakers to hear the dialogue this season. Not a complaint. Well . . . kind of a complaint. But not really.

[Storm]

Good ep, Kc. I have noticed that the eps are . . . quieter. I have to max my speakers to hear the dialogue this season. Not a complaint. Well . . . kind of a complaint. But not really.

Oh good, I thought I was the only one who found the volume really low. I have to turn up my headset all the way... At least if I want to pay attention to all the sound effects and audio quality... Which reminds me... In 391 when Michael says "just stay in the truck"... was that recorded with a different microphone/later in the process? It sounds like there's been removed just a bit too much background noise.
...Sorry for getting off topic.

[Cabbage Patch]

I've been thinking about the Colony expansion, and it has me worried about that location's safety.

For starters, they've, at least, doubled the size of the Colony. If they did this by expanding the walls to surround the new territory then they have a lot more wall to guard now, and the maximum distance between sections has grown enormously. There aren't any more Colonists to guard the walls, and the only heavy weapons they have are 3 gun trucks (2 x 50 cal, 1 x minigun) and Datu's "Mata Gun" prototype. That's a huge potential problem.

Add to that the un-even quality of the existing perimeter walls, much of which consists of the existing buildings with their windows and doors sealed. The only description I recall of the rest of the wall was of cars piled up to block the cross streets and parking lot entrances. As far as we know the only area that had a serious wall, with guard towers, was the main gate, which now seems to be in the middle of the Colony! There are ways the new area could have been enclosed so that the main gate stayed the same, but only by making the perimeter walls even longer and harder to defend.

Don't get me wrong, I think expanding the Colony was a great achievement, and a testament to amazing leadership by CJ. I just worry that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

[Vlarken]

I would tend to agree with you, but with the greatly lessened amount of biters that are now being seen, it might not be as dangerous to have a bigger area with less security. Of course, if what I think holds true, that is, Ink has recalled lots of his soldiers to conserve force and build an army, then they've been lulled into a false sense of security, and the Colony will be quickly overrun when Ink finally decides to lead an attack. I agree that CJ has done something amazing, but she has bitten off more than she can chew in the past, and she seems a little too complacent about what's going on outside her walls. Michael is the one who actually realizes the danger.

[cupcakezombie]

A few more things to add about K18 - It is primarily associated with the structural integrity of epithelial cells in the body. Note that this is not just the skin (epithelium) but includes linings of cavities of the body, muscle, connective tissue and nervous tissue.
So the rapid increase in all of these tissues will be associated with an increase of K18 need throughout the body to support the rapid growth.
Research also suggests that keratins are involved in signalling pathways that are involved in regulating cell death, cell growth, and movement of various simple epithelial cells (especially in relation to tumor formation). So increases in K-18 may not just be a by-product of the growth, but in an internal feedback loop help continue the growth of tissues in the body.

[7oddisdead]

so....quite a lot to take in this episode, eh? ill go ahead and skip over all the obvious stuff most have mentioned and dig into my "randoms".....

we really did not learn nearly as much in this episode as most seem to believe. did we get some answers? hell yes! did we get THE answers?? not exactly.

what we now know:
-saul and Tanya are different, at least in some small way. (yea, that was a very powerful scene, good stuff.)
-exactly what Tanya was testing, what it was for. what info she gleamed from it.
-diesel is running low
-datu is still awesome, glenn is a good mentor. (those two work well togetherIMO)
-vic and Kelly sound more "married" than saul and lizzie

what WE can gleam from that info:
-the byproduct of turning (excessive levels of K18). this is not however whats causing it, what is causing the change is still unknown.
-tanya never specified what changes took place in wendy (internally), but we can bet that its not life threatening, due to saul/tanyas high level of functionality.
-fuel searches are becoming difficult, either fuel will become a major issue soon...or it won't. perhaps finally we will explore alternate fuels. vegtable oils, bio diesels, or hell...start growing a ton of corn.
-the mata-gun. datus a genius. ive wondered in the back of my mind why potato guns have never been brought up. a simple potato gun (pvc pipe,hairspray, potato, plus a ignitor) they can pack a punch. perhaps not nearly as much as the mata gun. but certainly a deterrant/noisemaker at the least.
vic and Kelly....need I say more? I could listen to those two snark back n forth for hours...makes me happy(and happy to be single)

more poop
its been brought up about keratin being found in scar tissue and fibrosis tissue. a thought that crossed my mind in relation to the behemoths(and rip this apart if im wrong, please). but, I know from experience that when building muscles (big manly muscles, haha) many get "stretch marks". this would be the byproduct of fast muscle increase beyond the size the skin is normally used to. I know I still have them from days when I was far larger than I am now. could the increased muscle capacity/size of the behemoths coupled with whats likely an already abnormally high level of existing scar tissue/keratin level have something to do with what happened to them? if any of what I just said makes sense then perhaps our whole "steroid theory" that's been around for a while makes sense after all.

the scene with saul and Tanya, while kinda heartbreaking it reminded me of something ive brought up before. an episode of the outer limits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_o..._Outer_Limits)

while, no....I don't believe this is actually something alien. I do wonder if we couldn't have a somewhat similar situation happening. in order to avoid the changes taking place that cause the "biter" change, we have to go through a similar, yet different change. what if saul/Tanya are just the first of an entirely new breed of "people"?

and another thing..if the levels of keratin rise to high levels during the change...what happens to it after? if it goes back down, it must be being processed in some way? you cant explain away something like that via osmosis ...or whatever. perhaps that's something we should all explore. RED SHIRT! YOU HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT!

"frog cant turn back into a tadpole, saul." this line sticks with me, one of the most notable changes in the frogs to tadpoles metamorph. is gills to lungs (and legs, and losing the tail, and...) they also change from herbivore to carnivore...so they not only see a physical change but also a dietary change, which in turn leads to a behavioral change. this is a VERY apt comparison in the story.
when we couple the idea of frogs to tadpoles, with the keratin info, and with most of the ideas red shirt brought up earlier (EVERYBODY, REP THAT POST, MAN DESERVES IT) it really does force one to look at the possibility of "evolution/intelligent design"(after a fashion). while most of us would like to think of the evolution of our species being all "enlightened and prosporous and happy" that ultimately is but one of two options. that....or THIS < >

heh, got a bit meta there at the end didn't I?...I honestly just let my brain fart all this out...not much of any research. hopefully I give somebody some ideas....have fun folks...or else

todd out.

[cupcakezombie]

and another thing..if the levels of keratin rise to high levels during the change...what happens to it after? if it goes back down, it must be being processed in some way? you cant explain away something like that via osmosis ...or whatever. perhaps that's something we should all explore. RED SHIRT! YOU HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT!

todd out.

My guess is that once it is bound the levels circulating in the blood decreases, or whatever is causing it to be produced in the first place has run out ... maybe, kinda something... science!

[scbubba]

I've been thinking about the Colony expansion, and it has me worried about that location's safety.

For starters, they've, at least, doubled the size of the Colony. If they did this by expanding the walls to surround the new territory then they have a lot more wall to guard now, and the maximum distance between sections has grown enormously. There aren't any more Colonists to guard the walls, and the only heavy weapons they have are 3 gun trucks (2 x 50 cal, 1 x minigun) and Datu's "Mata Gun" prototype. That's a huge potential problem.

Add to that the un-even quality of the existing perimeter walls, much of which consists of the existing buildings with their windows and doors sealed. The only description I recall of the rest of the wall was of cars piled up to block the cross streets and parking lot entrances. As far as we know the only area that had a serious wall, with guard towers, was the main gate, which now seems to be in the middle of the Colony! There are ways the new area could have been enclosed so that the main gate stayed the same, but only by making the perimeter walls even longer and harder to defend.

Don't get me wrong, I think expanding the Colony was a great achievement, and a testament to amazing leadership by CJ. I just worry that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

I was thinking a very similar thing and thought I posted it last night but, alas, that post doesn't exist....

My thought was along the lines of CJ out kicking her coverage at the Colony. That is, the execution of Colony setup and expansion was good. A lot of progress and quickly. More than double the size and farm land, etc. But the plan wasn't sound. Over reached with their fuel supplies and created a much large perimeter to defend with dwindling resources (fuel and ammo). So CJ had a 180, IMO - great execution of a flawed plan. I'll put out there again that I think we're going to get some bad juju going down at the Colony before long. Might even result in the demise (death or turning) of a named character....

[scbubba]

more poop
its been brought up about keratin being found in scar tissue and fibrosis tissue. a thought that crossed my mind in relation to the behemoths(and rip this apart if im wrong, please). but, I know from experience that when building muscles (big manly muscles, haha) many get "stretch marks". this would be the byproduct of fast muscle increase beyond the size the skin is normally used to. I know I still have them from days when I was far larger than I am now. could the increased muscle capacity/size of the behemoths coupled with whats likely an already abnormally high level of existing scar tissue/keratin level have something to do with what happened to them? if any of what I just said makes sense then perhaps our whole "steroid theory" that's been around for a while makes sense after all.

I always assumed the description of the stretch marks indicated very rapid growth of the body such that the skin couldn't keep up. I'd like to throw out there that it might also be HGH (human growth hormone) that was included in whatever "treatment" the big guys got to become behemoths. Steroids, HGH, or whatever - I think the behemoths were one of the evolutionary/intelligent design steps in the creation of the Little Ones (and anything that might be around after those guys....)

and another thing..if the levels of keratin rise to high levels during the change...what happens to it after? if it goes back down, it must be being processed in some way? you cant explain away something like that via osmosis ...or whatever. perhaps that's something we should all explore. RED SHIRT! YOU HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT!

"frog cant turn back into a tadpole, saul." this line sticks with me, one of the most notable changes in the frogs to tadpoles metamorph. is gills to lungs (and legs, and losing the tail, and...) they also change from herbivore to carnivore...so they not only see a physical change but also a dietary change, which in turn leads to a behavioral change. this is a VERY apt comparison in the story.
when we couple the idea of frogs to tadpoles, with the keratin info, and with most of the ideas red shirt brought up earlier (EVERYBODY, REP THAT POST, MAN DESERVES IT) it really does force one to look at the possibility of "evolution/intelligent design"(after a fashion). while most of us would like to think of the evolution of our species being all "enlightened and prosporous and happy" that ultimately is but one of two options. that....or THIS < >

heh, got a bit meta there at the end didn't I?...I honestly just let my brain fart all this out...not much of any research. hopefully I give somebody some ideas....have fun folks...or else

todd out.

I'll second the request to REP Red Shirt on that post. Go do it, people!

As you know, I'm squarely in the camp of intelligent design - that is someone (human, smart one, alien, whatever) intentionally experimented on regular biters to make the runners, jumpers, behemoths, and Little Ones. These special types of Z are not a direct result of whatever the Z Day cause is. The questions remain: What is being done to make these new creations? Why is it being done? Who the hell is doing it?

Good stuff 7odd!

[LiamKerrington]

Hi.

Two more thoughts:

- Did I understand Tanya right? Is she looking forward to seeing someone turn into a zomb in order to get more data for her research?

- Since Saul and Tanya at least seem to be different, what about this: Months ago I theorized about parallels to the movie of "Doom". What, if Tanya and Saul really have something in common with them zombs, but instead of becoming monsters, they turn into creatures of light? Maybe this could end in an ultra-deathmatch-fistfight between Saul and Ink ... ? I don't think, any of this is gonna happen. But it would be quite an homage to the movie of "Doom", although I don't know, if Kc likes the movie at all (and afaik the opinions about it are very controversial ...).

Best wishes!
Liam