Copenhagen - Chapters 5-8

[LooNEY_DAC]

Dunno who exactly started it here on Earth, and there are geological mechanisms able to release some oxygen, I'm told, but yes, we don't know of any way to maintain a noteworthy amount of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere short of an up-and-running ecosystem constantly replenishing it.

Well, short of that planet being a gas giant made of only oxygen and noble gasses, maybe. In particular, no hydrogen (BOOOOOOM). Frankly, I'd rather bet on us finding a dodecahedron-shaped one.

...And the problem there is that it would have to be voiced by Mel Blanc, instead of Kurt Russell, not that any of you'll get both of those references.

[Róisín]

Please do explain the references! Knowing you it is likely to be funny.

[LooNEY_DAC]

Please do explain the references! Knowing you it is likely to be funny.

Frankly, I'd rather bet on us finding a dodecahedron-shaped one.

In Guardians of the Galaxy II, Kurt Russell (still alive and working) played Ego, the Living Planet. In the Chuck Jones-directed animated version of the Phantom Tollbooth, the late (so unavailable) Mel Blanc voiced the character of the Dodecahedron.

[NightMareMage]

277 - 287
Page 278, so do people have any theories on what was wrong with the radio? Or did I just miss something obvious?

Same page (278), third panel. I think I have seen eye shadow edits to this and other images, but I think the eye shading often looks a bit like eye shadow already. If I recall correctly, this got more distracting for me as A1 wanted on. Though I don’t recall having this problem in A2.

Page 280, easy to miss, and I forget if it come up earlier, but Tuuri brought the pot with a hole in it because she just grabbed things without much thought while packing, and the candle crate was given to them in a mix-up caused by Emil throwing the tank mirror blindly after he accidentally broke it.

Page 283, in the last panel, Sigrun talks about the idea of surviving off the land, “Like dirt and stuff.” Sigrun knows about hunting uninfected animals, and it does not read to me like she’s telling a joke here.

Page 284, I completely forgot that Sigrun did not know how binoculars worked. I am just going to take this as a throw-away gag because nothing about that really makes sense. (She would have noticed. Why wouldn't anyone say anything?)

Page 286-287, Reynir is here, and our team is complete!

[Róisín]

LooNEY, thanks for the explanation!

[LooNEY_DAC]

277 - 287
Page 278, so do people have any theories on what was wrong with the radio? Or did I just miss something obvious?

On pg 228, Mikkel tries to send a message and is drowned out by the Black Noise, which we suspect is made by trolls (or ghosts). The translation of Lalli's runos on pg 278 tell of him first asking nicely, then threatening the spirits involved, capped off with the TUM!! and clear airwaves. Lalli exorcised whatever was making the Black Noise.

[Jitter]

Already back in the train we see the intercom(?) radio(??) system getting hit by black speech when trolls are close.

But whether it’s caused the flesh and goo trolls, the remnants of spirit within the flesh and goo trolls, or something more spiritual that hangs out in the Silent World, perhaps close to trolls in particular, we don’t really know.

[tehta]

Small comment: Sigrun's 'dirt and stuff' comment makes sense to me.

It's not exactly a joke, but she tends to be flippant and exaggerate a lot, even (especially) where matters of survival are concerned. I see this as a morale-boosting move -- if she creates the impression that things are not serious, or even amusing, then the others are less likely to panic. (But that's just my interpretation, of course!) And of course she knows about hunting and fishing, but I suspect that finding clean animals is not always easy, and sometimes you'll be stuck eating roots and leaves for some days. That's pretty much dirt and stuff.

[Róisín]

I agree with tehta - Sigrun must know basic survival skills or she wouldn’t be in the military. And she can be flippant especially when trying to keep up the morale of her team. I would expect foraging in the environment depicted to be difficult but possible, and Mikkel and Reynir at least are farm kids and Lalli is a scout from an environment of lakes and forests, so I would expect them to know at least the basics. Obviously the Minnaverse is the author’s creation so we can’t know the conditions with certainty, but I do have enough experience with our-world foraging and survival skills to work out things they might try. If any of you know my fanfic stories (I am Tanist on Archive of Our Own) you may have noticed that I often include such information in my tales.

[dreki]

If you ARE a Siberian shaman, go ahead if you feel like it, but don’t give any specific instructions here.

Hopefully a Siberian shaman has been trained in how to do it correctly, should the need arise.  I like learning to forage plants but I do not touch mushrooms. I just absolutely don't trust myself to identify them correctly.  I'm aware there are plants that can kill you viciously if you ingest them - but, well, it's a lot easier for me to identify raspberries than different mushrooms.

On pg 228, Mikkel tries to send a message and is drowned out by the Black Noise, which we suspect is made by trolls (or ghosts). The translation of Lalli's runos on pg 278 tell of him first asking nicely, then threatening the spirits involved, capped off with the TUM!! and clear airwaves. Lalli exorcised whatever was making the Black Noise.

This is my assumption as well.  It brings up interesting possibilities for unknown colonies that just can't get radio signals out.

It's not exactly a joke, but she tends to be flippant and exaggerate a lot, even (especially) where matters of survival are concerned. I see this as a morale-boosting move -- if she creates the impression that things are not serious, or even amusing, then the others are less likely to panic. (But that's just my interpretation, of course!) And of course she knows about hunting and fishing, but I suspect that finding clean animals is not always easy, and sometimes you'll be stuck eating roots and leaves for some days. That's pretty much dirt and stuff.

Humor is a common coping mechanism.  I don't know how much of it is intentional - but ultimately the end result is the same.  She also grew up in the military so loads of stuff are things she's grown up hearing about in a matter of fact way when people outside the military tend to hear about it as scary stories.

There's an episode of Firefly where two characters are being tortured - the war-hardened captain and the decidedly softer pilot (who objectively had no business being there and twisted the captain's arm).  The pilot is not trained to withstand torture so the captain ends up basically ignoring their torturer to continue an argument they'd had before because getting the pilot pissed at him helped give him something to focus on so he could keep his head.

[NightMareMage]

On reflection, Sigrun telling a joke does make the most sense. I just don’t recall her having a dry sense of humor, and when she joked with/about Mikkel earlier in the comic, it was blatantly delivered (once even with a wink and a nudge). I guess there is no reason she can’t ever deadpan even if that is not her usual style.

[Jitter]

Hopefully a Siberian shaman has been trained in how to do it correctly, should the need arise.  I like learning to forage plants but I do not touch mushrooms. I just absolutely don't trust myself to identify them correctly.  I'm aware there are plants that can kill you viciously if you ingest them - but, well, it's a lot easier for me to identify raspberries than different mushrooms.

Dreki, my point exactly. They know. We don’t know. There was a little about the preparation method in my source material and I almost put the description here because I know there are people here who are interested, as well as sensible enough to not actually try it.

But then I remembered that there are others who just read, and whose potential level of sensible is unknown to us. So, better err on the side of caution than inadvertently get someone poisoned because they think the little description is all that is needed. Or at least ”well, how bad could it be? Let’s taste anyways.” Perhaps I’m overly cautious?

Also the Forum is pg-13 and something that could be interpreted as instructions on how to prepare mushrooms to travel to an altered state of consciousness might be not the cleverest idea

[Róisín]

Which is why I also did not share that information. I learned it from a Nordic rather than a Siberian source, but I expect the techniques are similar. There will always be those foolish enough to just do random stuff they read about on the internet.

[tehta]

I don't see what Sigrun says as a deadpan joke, but as humorous exaggeration, which I remember her using a lot. (Although it's possible that she's often unaware that she's being humorous?)
IIRC, she also refers to carrots as "garbage food". Referring to foraged meals as "dirt" doesn't sound so different to me.

[dmeck7755]

I don't see what Sigrun says as a deadpan joke, but as humorous exaggeration, which I remember her using a lot. (Although it's possible that she's often unaware that she's being humorous?)
IIRC, she also refers to carrots as "garbage food". Referring to foraged meals as "dirt" doesn't sound so different to me.

Maybe Minna did not like veggies?

Though the tops and peelings could go in compost or you can make soup from the peelings

That could be why Sigrun thinks dirt