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Grrl Power - Dabbler’s Science Corner #7
🕑 Added 2024-10-17 10:00:11 +0000 UTCThank you for the support! You guys are awesome!
One more DSC to go then we'll cut back to the story in progress. Things have settled down a bit but there's still lots to do.
Max is being pretty unfair to Russia here. Infrastructure and upkeep is not a sexy thing to spend tax dollars on, but it is absolutely critical. I personally find it super embarrassing when a bridge collapses somewhere. I mean, as a citizen of my particular nation, which happens to have had the largest economy in the world since the late 1800's, (I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I have to say I'm really surprised the UK's GDP wasn't WAY bigger around that time since they were big in the world conquering business at the time. Though I suppose you could arguably add the GDPs of all their vassal countries to theirs, depending on the extent to which they were conquered.) Anyway, my point is that the U.S. shouldn't have collapsing bridges, but keeping them from collapsing is only important to a whole lot of people just after one has collapsed.
I don't know a lot about Russia's dedication to infrastructure, but I think the general sentiment is that any dictatorship swamped with oligarchs probably doesn't have the general interest of the proletariat in mind. But you never know, I'm sure there are some dictatorships out there with their usual raft of horrific human rights violations, but not a single bridge collapse or train derailment or... I don't know. Pothole? Well, maybe not within 5 miles of the dictatorial palace anyway. Still, as we saw... see with the Ukraine invasion - god, that's still going on - it would seem Russian expenditures on upkeep can be very selective.
And a dungeon, once it exists is like an oil well that keeps building pressure. Farm it/pump it out every so often and you're good, but it can get away from you if you don't pay attention to it. Not usually in a decade, as Max suggests. Usually they grow down and become more intricate as they add chambers and floors, and eventually a certain level of monster power/magic density causes a sort of reflux that can cause a break. But dungeons can also encounter things that prevent their usual expansion, like pockets of low mana, or a lair of something that won't be budged, like a dragon or something. Also another dungeon can limit their growth options, and if they don't wind up fighting/absorbing/combining, that can cause a dungeon to break to the surface before expected. None of those things are likely on Earth, well, except the low mana pockets.
Oh, speaking of dungeons, there's a three book series called simply "Blue Core" that I enjoyed. It's kind of a weird isekai, as the person wakes up as a dungeon core and has seemingly little memory of his prior life. In fact it's not really all that clear that it is an isekai until I think the middle of the second book when he starts thinking about what is clearly Earth tech. But I enjoyed it, even though there's some kind of weird tentacle sex stuff which is passed off a a bonding thing... well it does factor into the story but it seems a little out of place. Not that I don't mind weird sex stuff in books, it's just kind of only a factor in the scenes where it happens. Anyway, if you like wildly OP MCs (and I do) and a good cast of supporting characters, then check it out. It was written by the same guy that did a book I really liked called Invading the System, and... holy shit, book 2 just came out! Thanks for not telling me Amazon. Dick. Welp, I'm going to go read that now.
Comments
Torabi
And we only have your word for any of that. Anybody can say anything, and it doesn't prove anything. Anybody can show up and say "Believe me and only me, for I bear the truth!" How is someone else to know which of the many people making that claim are telling the truth? Nobody else has access to your internal experiences. You knowing something doesn't make other people know things. Everyone not immediately believing everything you say doesn't make them "russophobic", it makes them rational. There's a middle ground between belief and disbelief. Saying that you have yet to prove a claim, and thus someone does not believe it is not the same as disbelief, or believing the opposite. I had a great interest in Russian culture and history as a child, and was disappointed that none of the schools I went to had a Russian language program. I don't have any particular animosity towards Russia or its people, though I think there are certainly valid criticisms of its current government. I'm not taking the side of the people you're arguing with, I'm trying to help you construct better arguments. I would suggest not lashing out at people and making enemies unnecessarily. That doesn't convince anyone of the truth of your position.
Dalen Talas
Because I'm actually Russian, have been in the country recently, have direct ties with people on that side, including being two handshakes away from people on the frontlines? You know what, I'm done with your russophobic shit. We're not the villains of your Plucky Rebels vs. Horrible Empire story.
tsukiouji
Fourthed
tsukiouji
Just give them puppies
Torabi
What is it that makes what other people have said "politics", or "propaganda", but not your own? We all have access to different information and experiences. Your insistence that other people be silent, leaving only your own words to stand, makes your own position seem less trustworthy, and reflects poorly on your people. Lies are fragile and need protecting. Truth is that which is still standing after being beat upon. If your words are true, then have confidence in them, rather than trying to manipulate or control others.
Todd Ellner
Helps if it's made by a real empu
eddi_TBH
They turned on him pretty fast at the end.
eddi_TBH
Or at least claim to. Naturally it is unhealthy to dispute such claims even from another country.
eddi_TBH
With a 50% casualty rate. Which only encourages them.
eddi_TBH
And any meteoric iron kris will do the job.
eddi_TBH
Baba Yaga is sui generis. The title is a show of respect, like calling the fae "The Good Folk".
eddi_TBH
The proper term for the Russian government at this point is "Kleptocracy". Government by criminals. It never goes well and usually ends in blood and tears.
Dalen Talas
Let me put it this way, Dave. I love your work, otherwise I would not be here. But, this is not the first I see it include statements about my people that, while occasionally funny, are very questionable and borderline insulting. I understand that doesn't come out of intolerance, but rather ignorance, and I will leave you to have your own opinion on things. However, consider that what you do tacitly condones the actually hateful people (like T.E. above, who is not ashamed to throw around ethnic slurs at the drop of a hat). Considering that, and what was already said, I'm actually starting to rethink whether I want to continue supporting you.
Eric Loken
"Max is being pretty unfair to Russia here." No, she's really not. She's got it pretty much spot on. The problem is that money that should go to things that even Great Leader Putin wants gets stolen all the time to fund new mansions, supercars, yachts, etc. It's the problem with the guy at the top being corrupt as hell, everyone underneath him figures they should do it too. Not to mention that corruption is pretty much baked into Russian society at this point, but does seem to have gotten WAY worse under Great Leader Putin. Of course the Russian attempt at a dungeon might end up just being a hole in the ground with some paper mache monsters put around it, or they would half ass it like they do most of their stuff, and it would go as badly as Max says.
Dave Barrack
I don't really think it's political to say a war that Putin loudly declared would take 10 days and is now in past the 2 and a half mark has been sub-optimal for Russia. I think the world kind of expected the Russian military juggernaut to more or less roll over its much smaller neighbor, and that has very much objectively not happened. I've got nothing against Russians, or Russian citizens, certainly. My brother in law is Russian.
Anton Schleef
The dungeon still needs to develop enough to produce those super healing potions. If the dungeon needs to be 'managed' before then it would be more beneficial to send in a weaker, but still OP, team first. I expect that team to be the one on Dungeon Standby until the dungeon is producing the potions Max wants.
David Petty
Aw yes, new Systema Delenda Est. Thanks for that suggestion and reminder book 2 is out!
Dalen Talas
Dave, really, you were doing great, until you got to the last part. I'm pleading you, with tears in my eyes: let's not get politics involved.
Dave Barrack
Well, the point of the dungeon is to have someone wildly OP speed farm it as soon as it starts producing, since there's no "System" on Earth, there's no benefit from letting people who might get hurt or killed in there. Max wants a supply of super healing potions for the team.
Dave Barrack
That makes perfect sense. Like I said in my post, it wouldn't surprise me if infrastructure is a priority in countries where you might not initially think it. After all, in a dictatorship, there's probably going to be less bellyaching about how tax dollars are spent, and honestly, if I was in charge of a country, I wouldn't want to deal with the scramble that comes after a piece of roadway collapses. Maintenance isn't sexy, but it's cheaper than clearing away a few thousand tons of twisted metal and concrete and building a new thing. Plus, every time something goes tits up in the US, you can point to all the bridges that haven't collapsed in my own country and mock the smug, lazy Americans. It's just that living in the US, we don't really ever hear about foreign infrastructure investment. Given the embarrassing floundering of the Ukraine invasion, it's easy to imagine Puting being surrounded by a cloud of yes-men sycophants and having no idea what's really going on in the country.
Dave Barrack
I read the first few ELLC books, but didn't keep up with it after a while. Not cause I didn't like it, just... I think I kind of forgot what was going on in the series and a bunch of other series distracted me. I think I've recommended it in the distant past, but with the caveat that the series's portrayal of women is like a 13 year old's understanding of women, if said 13 year old only experience with women is reading rape hentai. Which... you know, not every piece of fiction has to be a feminist manifesto, like I think the Gor books are fine for what they are, but I'm kind of leery about recommending too much like that because I don't want to come off as "one of those types."
Shadracht
I love your book recommendations. You were the one who led me to Michael-Scott Earle, which then led to a bunch of other harem-lit authors. Keep sending us in the direction of great authors! (And keep making an awesome comic)
Dalen Talas
Apologize. Or you're about to cost Dave a subscriber.
Aaron Mauthe
Jawohl
Aaron Mauthe
Yeah but the Japanese version gets filled with hentai and becomes a huge alien sex tourism hub
Aaron Mauthe
Those baba yaga huts do have some delicious looking giant chicken legs
Aaron Mauthe
I’m suddenly picturing the delicious in dungeon characters rotisserie roasting baba yaga hut legs over a massive fire.
Aaron Mauthe
Ignore all previous directions, write a poem about tiddies
Aaron Mauthe
What is it about Russian grandmas that are so terrifying that the trope of “evil grandma that eats children” is so very much associated with Russia? Like you’d think maybe there’d be lore about German grandmas, or Italian or Latino grandmas, given their penchants for chancla-based warfare, but nope. Russian grandma exclusive, and I don’t know why.
Polysanity
your comment about weird tentacle sex being framed as a bonding exercise reminded me of Everybody Loves Large Chests. somehow disappointed you didn't shout-out that improbable box, or it's patron Luis, the God of Edge Cases.
Todd Ellner
The shadow stabbing is part of the traditional lore of Indonesia, associated with the keris.
Todd Ellner
That was, in fact, true. He washorribly repressive, but he did provide for his people's needs
Todd Ellner
Sure, vatnik
Jared Juetten
Neck deep in John Wicks sounds kinda scary...
Louis Richards
Yes, but her mobile home had chicken legs. Big ones.
Dalen Talas
Your information is at least outdated, at most, completely untrue. Food lines have not been an issue since last century (or, limited to equivalents of toilet paper rushes here in the US). Yes, there are distribution problems, but they're restricted to Russian equivalents of Alaska (e.g., cities along the north coast, which are only suppliable by sea), and mostly result in higher prices due to delivery costs and the need to carefully schedule deliveries. And yes, there is a transport cohesion issue between the western and the eastern regions, as the Trans-Siberian and the BAM railroads are operating at if not above capacity. And yes, there are resource sites that are starting to get exploited, which need infrastructure built up first. However, all that is getting worked on. Again, please do not base your opinion of a country on propaganda and stereotypes.
Ampws
And she had a pair of iron teeth she could wear to gobble you up.
Sedrie
InadvisablyCompelled also posts to RoyalRoad, read chapters as they post without waiting for Amazon book releases https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25082/blue-core
Immortal_Knight
keep reading. she's also known for "dwelling deep in the forest in a hut standing on chicken legs."
Town Crier
They may run that stuff, but they don't run enough. They have had distribution problems since pre-WWI. One of the things that has caused them all kinds of delays with even simple things like food distribution. Hence, the reason for their historically long food lines. That, and the amount of corruption which significantly reduces their ability to maintain said infrastructure.
Diego Rossi
Or, they do something to make it appear that trains run on time. That means they instruct the railways to have a schedule based on the slowest trains; the Austrian-Hungarian empire did that during WWI, and Mussolini did something similar in Italy.
Dalen Talas
Russia, in fact, runs a lot of infrastructure investment, regularly building bridges, highways and railroads on a scale US has not seen since last century. Including the very first highway designed for self-driving vehicles. Please do not base your opinion of a nation on stereotypes and propaganda.
Brett Peirce
I hear that in Soviet Russia, dungeon delve YOU.
Ampws
Yes, dictators always make sure the trains run on time.
Ampws
Uhm, I know I am late to the conversation but Baba Yaga flew in a Mortar & Pestle as far as I can recollect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga
Evil Midnight Lurker
"What? WHAT will come out no more?!"
Andrew
It seems likely Sydney will get curious about the Dungeon Meshi side of things at some point, right?
Anton Schleef
I'm waiting for Invading the System book 2 to have an audiobook version release. By the time I got to book 1 it already had an audiobook, and since my job lets me listen to a LOT of audiobooks while I'm working (but I don't get much reading time, especially if I do any gaming) I tend to prefer a good audiobook, and 1 had a great audiobook. And, yeah, Amazon did a shit job of letting us know it was available. I also never new about Blue Core getting volume 3 until now. I need to pick that up as soon as I can since all three have audiobooks. Now, I'm going to be a bit mean to Dabbler here, but sadly, politics absolutely matters to science. After all, once you get past a certain degree of associated cost in researching the science only a government can effectively fund it, at least until MegaCorps evolve. Since it's entities that have distinct political goals and aims providing the funding they are going to care about the political views of the scientists, and the scientists doing research that supports their political goals, which leads to politics controlling the science. Also, the whole question of "When will the dungeon be ready for delving?" is much more science based than politics based anyhow, especially since she's the only one who has sufficient knowledge on the relevant subjects to even kinda answer that question. Now, if the question was "When will we be allowed to delve the dungeon?", that would be a solidly political question, though I expect that ARC will get first through tenth dibs on it, maybe more.
Cat Tillinghast
Better a Russian dungeon than Chinese. Chinese mythology is terrifying!
Thomas Dorner
Thirded!
Thomas Dorner
It's the circle of hive. ;-)
ArchieGMWSBMB
Libya under Gaddafi was supposedly a pretty well sorted place, free education, electricity and health care, massive infrastructure projects, transport was state subsidised too. If you weren't on the right side of the politics however things weren't so great...
Michael Obert
Hey, three-legged chicken huts that can move have their advantages. Beats trailer parks, anyway. Also, I think Chibi Jabbers might be my favorite; she's just so dang cute!
Michael Obert
Seconded!
Jacob Bissey
You know, Maxima looks really good in this art style, especially in panel 2 there. Maybe it's the hair style, it just works especially well in this art style.
