Chapter 39-3 Chemical Reactions

[Red Shirt]

The problem that I had is that everyone keeps making Dr. William Roberts out to be this mad scientist or evil genius that is "cooking up" zombie creations and sending them out into the world........ but, in this episode he does not seem to possess these traits.......

#1 - They call down the code to him, and it takes multiple tries before he can get the code entered correctly.
#2 - Most of his "talking" seems to be him just repeating things that someone else has recently said.

Possibly, but consider people that are affected by any of the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. These are people that one might consider to be "deficient" on one or more areas such as social skills, even to such a crippling degree such that they are unable to care for themselves. Yet many of them have do have skills that are just off the charts of our ability to comprehend. Linguistics, numbers, pattern recognition and the like. Maybe an effect of the zombie haze is that it tips the balance both in the body and the mind. Amplifying certain attributes while subduing others...

as could ALL THIS being bullshit and Michael & co are all in the ward with him.

Nahhh... I think he did go to the Omega party and dropped some bad acid. He's tripping all of this while that girl that brought him is in the corner talking to plants.

[Unit]

So I was thinking a little bit about Ink's dialog, his ability to talk when CJ was trapped in the basement of Dunbar. Apparently he can communicate with the other biters just through a roar/yell or whatever you want to call it. He rallies the troops, sends them out, calls them back etc all through different yells, and they all seem to understand it completely. Why would he bother speaking in english with CJ? He could have simply communicated with them the same way he has been in the past, what made that situation special? And if all the other biters with him were able to understand him, they obviously have retained some of their intelligence and memory as well even if they aren't the 'smart ones'. Does that mean they are able to talk as well and maybe just choose not to? They can yell and roar and growl, and obviously understand English, why don't they speak anymore? Just some random thoughts swirling around in my head haha

[7oddisdead]

Possibly, but consider people that are affected by any of the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. These are people that one might consider to be "deficient" on one or more areas such as social skills, even to such a crippling degree such that they are unable to care for themselves. Yet many of them have do have skills that are just off the charts of our ability to comprehend. Linguistics, numbers, pattern recognition and the like. Maybe an effect of the zombie haze is that it tips the balance both in the body and the mind. Amplifying certain attributes while subduing others...



Nahhh... I think he did go to the Omega party and dropped some bad acid. He's tripping all of this while that girl that brought him is in the corner talking to plants.

its funny, I hadn't even considered that first bit...and some might say I suffer from a slight case of exactly what your saying. (those people are assholes though..). I do question placing a diagnosis such as that on someone like TOWTM. Latlely ive been fascinated by exploring the language center of the brain(broca's area and Wernicke's area both) a very interesting tidbit popped up pertaining to exactly what we have been talking about the last couple pages with inks cognitive function..

receptive aphasia.

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

while im not saying that this is whats going on with pinstripes ol brain(or was, as the case early on) the above article gives some very interesting insight into how the brain works...hell, ill pull a couple quotes for you non-linkers...

"People with receptive aphasia are unable to understand language in its written or spoken form, and even though they can speak with normal grammar, syntax, rate, and intonation, they cannot express themselves meaningfully using language."

"When we want to speak, we formulate what we are going to say in Wernicke’s area, which then transmits our plan of speech to Broca’s area, where the plan of speech is carried out[citation needed]. Wernicke’s Area is located posterior to the lateral sulcus, typically in the left hemisphere, between the visual, auditory, and somesthetic areas of the cerebral cortex. A person with this aphasia speaks normally but uses random or invented words; leaves out key words; substitutes words or verb tenses, pronouns, or prepositions; and utters sentences that do not make sense. They have normal sentence length and intonation but without true meaning. They can also have a tendency to talk excessively. A person with this aphasia cannot understand the spoken words of others or read written words. Speech is preserved, but language content is incorrect. Substitutions of one word for another (paraphasias, e.g. “telephone” for “television”) are common. Comprehension and repetition are poor."

"Patients who recover from Wernicke’s aphasia report that, while aphasic, they found the speech of others to be unintelligible. And, despite being cognizant of the fact that they were speaking, they could neither stop themselves nor understand their own words.[citation needed]

The ability to understand and repeat songs is usually unaffected, as these are processed by the opposite hemisphere. Melodic intonation therapy (MIT) has been pursued for some years with aphasic patients under the belief that it helps stimulate the ability to speak normally. There is some question as to the effectiveness of MIT.[3] But more recent, and more rigorously conducted, research has revealed that MIT can be very effective at recovering language function.[4]

Patients also generally have no trouble purposefully reciting anything they have memorized. The ability to utter profanity is also left unaffected, however the patient typically has no control over it, and may not even understand their own profanity."

[Gnex]

Ah, but isn't he described as having a disfigured hand? Like where Burt may have shot him. I would have to relisten to be sure.

I believe if his hand is disfigured by the encounter with Burt, that was after entering the code to get into the lobby. Burt shoots him twice in the chest in the hallway, then he jumps out the window, the last shot from Burt(after reloading) hits him in the hand.

Also(But I could not be clear about where the cameras are in the tower) Lizzy says something to Michael that I thought was interesting..... Michael is yelling at her, saying "Did you not look at his face?!?!" and Lizzy says something to the effect of "No, he kept his back turned the whole time"

So the question...... Is the reason Ink takes multiple times to enter the code correctly because he is trying to enter it with his back turned to the keypad???? And if so, wouldn't this strike anyone as odd that some guy is standing out in the street where he could get attacked at any minute, and he won't even turn around to enter a code correctly?

[RolandDeschain]

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place or not. I'm a fan of the show and have just started listening to the We're Not Dead podcast which got me thinking a bit. I don't know if they pick their comments up from here or not but I wanted to share them...

Duncan / Skittles - ex radon labs employee or former subject (hence the weirds)? Potentially let Ink in to CJ's (Dunbar?) tower due to recognition?

Randy / The Bearded One
- A guy who could end the plague? Potentially at the water plant when Michael was stranded there, was he trying to fix the system and introduce something to the water as a vaccine?

- A guy who could end humanity?
Former cohort of Ink at Radon labs, sabotaging the water plant for good before converting himself to a smart one?

As one guy said on the podcast, behemoths could be the step in the process before perfecting the little ones - perhaps they are erroneous which would explain why the other zombies would leave them alone, a failed project...

Keratin 18 associated with Hepatitis, an illness that can transfer via blood, just like the zombie plague.

Ink - the DVR playback is in part 3 of episode 2 - convicted of multiple homicides outside of Santa Monica last May, accepted plea of insanity, paranoid schizophrenic. Family devastated.

[Unit]

I know this isn't the Reptrivia thread but just a reminder for everyone, there is a new daily quiz and weekly quiz that started today. Go check them out and see how good your 'We're Alive' knowledge really is

Get a Rep from me if you can pull 100% on the weekly quiz!!!

[scbubba]

Oh good gravy.....



I also hope not,of course...but that's the fun of this story. One COULD easily skew the way one interprets it and it would fit that line of thinking. Once we start introducing any sort of psychosis in any of our major characters, the question of what's real and what isn't is among the first to be asked(or should be)...

Well, that sure would be a Sucker Punch....

[FunkyDung]

my initial thought is that as far as I know most bacteria(??) can be killed off much more easily than a virus. They are a different animal and can be killed off by an anti-bacterial..generally.

True, but what about supergerms, like MRSA? I can confirm from personal experience (photos available for the morbidly curious) that the drugs Tanya gave Saul (vancomycin and clindamycin) are used to treat MRSA, which is resistant to most antibiotics. Some strains may be resistant to all of them. Of possible relevance to a certain location in the story is the fact that MRSA is a germ that originated in hospitals.