[1354] Chapter 48: Tall Tales

[Gotolei]

Hm.. Coyote?

[rinabean]

It's an umbreon, obviously

[GK Sierra]

Sounds promising.

[warrl]

The first thing I thought of when I saw that picture is a piece of laboratory glassware called a burette (although it took me a bit to find a picture of one and get the correct name).



Before opening the valve one would presumably put a container under it. And Tom's picture does indeed show a container under the burette, with some liquid dripping into it from the burette.

Now, what sort of lab? A chemistry lab. But laboratory biologists do a fair amount of chemistry. And mad scientists do all sorts of stuff. So, the lab belongs to either Kat, Paz, Zimmy, Red, Jack, or someone else.

[smurfton]

May 16, 2014 7:53:40 GMT warrl said:

The first thing I thought of when I saw that picture is a piece of laboratory glassware called a burette (although it took me a bit to find a picture of one and get the correct name).

[snip]

Before opening the valve one would presumably put a container under it. And Tom's picture does indeed show a container under the burette, with some liquid dripping into it from the burette.

Now, what sort of lab? A chemistry lab. But laboratory biologists do a fair amount of chemistry. And mad scientists do all sorts of stuff. So, the lab belongs to either Kat, Paz, Zimmy, Red, Jack, or someone else.

I see what you are saying, but my bets on clothing. That could be a blue shirt...

SPOILER: Click to show

You're probably right though.

[arf]

The thumbnail, in contrast, contains a swirl of musical notes. This brings John and Margo to mind.
Could we be in for another Queslett Club Social Evening?

[Gotolei]

Re: laboratory equipment, this comes to mind.

[/wildspec]

[philman]

My thoughts were of chemistry lab equipment too, but given the musical notes in the thumbnail, as well as the title Tall Tales, I am leaning towards another night of hijinks with the rest of the dorm crew is also involved.


In terms of the chemistry equipment, this could be interesting we we look at it from a common experimental diagram notation point of view...

The burette is dripping a liquid onto a solid in the bottom of the container, but the container itself is cooled from beneath by running liquid, and is both very deep and has incredibly thick-lined walls, as if they are to contain a massive explosive reaction...

I am assuming this is going to be more metaphorical than an actual lab experiment though, given the stylised drawing, as Tom often goes for more realistic drawings if he tries to depict actual scientific goings on.


Also, for a last prediction, I think this may be the last chapter before they break up for summer holidays, and they can enter year 10 (age 14-15) after this.

[Daedalus]

May 16, 2014 7:01:24 GMT Gotolei said:

Hm.. Coyote?

it's very similar to Coyote's designs, but the wrong color scheme. Here's a mega-wildspec: another god shows up? Or shape shifting shenanigans?

[csj]

May 16, 2014 7:53:40 GMT warrl said:

Now, what sort of lab? A chemistry lab. But laboratory biologists do a fair amount of chemistry. And mad scientists do all sorts of stuff. So, the lab belongs to either Kat, Paz, Zimmy, Red, Jack, or someone else.

Annie's father.

[drdave]

I think i'ts a face, frontal. with some forehead marking like rey's. the yellow half-circle being the nose and the dark greys left and right the eyes.

or not.

[Rasselas]

May 16, 2014 12:39:32 GMT drdave said:

I think i'ts a face, frontal. with some forehead marking like rey's. the yellow half-circle being the nose and the dark greys left and right the eyes.

or not.

This was my first guess, too. Someone from the forest, maybe.

But, I love all the connections with experiments and equipment! I love how everyone here adds a different perspective that I would've otherwise missed. Reading along with updates would be so much less interesting without all the speculation.

And, Annie's father! How didn't I think of that!

[smjjames]

Maybe it's a jetpack, with the white and grey things on the sides being part of the wings and the yellow bit is the nozzle.

[ctso74]

The symmetry of the title page made me think of robot design. Perhaps, a more artistic design from Kat, for a more artistic (musical) kind of robot.
The title, "Tall Tales", made me think of "Faraway Morning". It would be nice to have a funny breather, after the last chapter. No?

[Purgatorius]

Coyote will be singing a tall tale about what happened in a laboratory.

Following the burette line – the black liquid that is dripped into the container turns yellow when i it hits the bottom. Probably because of some chemical reaction with a liquid that is already in the container.
Any chemists who can tell us if any real-life chemicals do just that, with those colours??

[lit]

I guess the laboratory stuff makes sense but I'm totally seeing the nib of a pen. It's not exact, but the shapes are really suggesting that to me.

<<--calligraphy nerd

[Eversist]

May 16, 2014 15:07:14 GMT lit said:

I guess the laboratory stuff makes sense but I'm totally seeing the nib of a pen. It's not exact, but the shapes are really suggesting that to me.

Ohh! I like this interpretation.

[fwip]

The first thing I saw was a view of the Annan Waters. That's probably not correct, though.

[Purgatorius]

Actually, what I first saw was the head of a bird... bleeding from its beak or something?

[keef]

First thought Coyote, second Annan waters, then I saw the music notes and thought Faraway Morning, and now I'm confused. Typical.

[Intelligence]

The yellow kind of looks like a sun.

[lit]

May 16, 2014 16:36:42 GMT fwip said:

The first thing I saw was a view of the Annan Waters. That's probably not correct, though.

Oh! I saw Annan too.

[smutmulch]

I registered here, after years of lurking, just to put in my own wild guess on this one.  The diagram looks almost like some parts of integrated circuit manufacturing, like in this image. 

[mistrali]

Where are the music notes? I just think it's a room or a container of some sort, but I have no idea what the blue or black bits are meant to be.

[warrl]

May 18, 2014 12:59:50 GMT mistrali said:

Where are the music notes?

If you go to "the current page" (NOT any specific page, not even the one that happens to be current at the moment) and scroll down, you'll see a list of all the chapters, each with a small picture beside it. The picture for chapter 48 appears to be musical notes.

[keef]

May 18, 2014 12:59:50 GMT mistrali said:

Where are the music notes?

May 16, 2014 20:54:02 GMT smutmulch said:

I registered here, after years of lurking, just to put in my own wild guess on this one.  The diagram looks almost like some parts of integrated circuit manufacturing, like in this image. 

The wilder the better.

[warrl]

Okay, the posted interpretation of the cover picture that I think could most easily be combined with the thumbnail picture and the chapter title, to form a coherent whole, is that it's a pen.

But there are several proposed interpretations of the cover picture that I find lacking in explaining *the cover picture itself*, and the pen is one of them. It has the same problem as the bird beak: what's the stuff around the sides and bottom? The Annan Waters and face interpretations have the inverse problem: they explain the angular outer part adequately, but what's the black thing with the long curved lines in the middle?

The lab glassware I got (not surprising since I suggested it). I can also easily see a shirt on top of a stack of shirts. And while I'm not familiar with the semiconductor-manufacturing process, I see enough similarity with the picture Gotolei linked to consider it plausible. The challenge with these interpretations is coming up with a sort of story that would have their respective elements *and* the musical notes *and* the title "Tall Tales".

[Gotolei]

May 18, 2014 23:19:06 GMT warrl said:

The Annan Waters and face interpretations have the inverse problem: they explain the angular outer part adequately, but what's the black thing with the long curved lines in the middle?

For the Annan, maybe a certain someone's "mighty paw"?

[mistrali]

Thanks, keef and warrl! I'd never noticed those little pictures before. I'll look out for 'em on reread.