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Post by todd on Jun 1, 2020 12:41:32 GMT
Do we think someone is about to use the words "timey wimey" to explain how this is possible? Has Dr Who ever been mentioned in canon as a show Kat watches? Tom's stated that he's not fond of "Doctor Who", so I doubt it. |
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Post by todd on Jun 1, 2020 12:45:27 GMT
also, I can't believe that, of all the crazy stuff happening right now, the one thing we're going to discuss is the quartz alternator. It's just a quartz alternator, guys. And it makes tic toc noises. That's all there is to it. I'm not troubled by it myself, but I've noticed that the forum often tends to focus on a minor element and concentrate on that rather than on the major elements of the story. For example, the page where Annie and Jones were talking about Annie's having freed Jeanne and its results while passing through the force field. Almost everybody was focused on "what's that weird purple glow around them?" (the force field) rather than on what Annie and Jones were saying to each other. So most of the readers being more concerned that Tom had invented a fancy technological gadget (and admitted it in the note for the page) than the revelations about the origins of the Tic-Toc Bird and the implication that it somehow goes back in time is nothing new. |
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Post by puntino on Jun 1, 2020 12:54:11 GMT
I wonder how big a quartz we're talking about, if it makes audible sound. I work with microelectronics, and the ones we work with are usually the size of 0.1 inches. Kat shouldn't need too much of a crazy frequency in order to need a huge crystal... or does she? Maybe she's using etheric means to accelerate a clock faster than speed itself, and propel the bird backwards in time, somehow. Edit: Yeah, there's not much point in talking about the quartz alternator thingy, but it's fun nonetheless.  |
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Post by ctso74 on Jun 1, 2020 13:35:52 GMT
But why? I'd be more inclined to think that the quartz would be a power source for an exciter in the alternator for whatever the main power source is, seeing as the Toc would typically be perching on power lines and such. I suppose that it could be a reference to crystal stack and/or flextensional actuators related to the actual movement of the Toc, particularly minute wing shape changes in flight. Dunno man, maybe magnetism plays funky with time travel and Kat intuited she had to get around it  Sweet mercy! The ICP was right! |
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QuotePilgrim
Full Member
Behind my door, there are twelve other doors.
Posts: 142
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Post by QuotePilgrim on Jun 1, 2020 13:43:55 GMT
Why do small uses of technobabble seem like a bigger cop-out than stories that practically run on them? Is it just because the latter don't even pretend to care? I feel like GC runs the gauntlet between realism and suspension of disbelief so finely that small things like this stand out a lot more. If it makes you feel any better, even if it's not a real thing itself, a quartz alternator is most likely based on this thing called a crystal oscillator, that is used in quartz clocks to keep track of time. I had actually assumed this was what Kat was talking about before I saw Tom's comment on the page.
Honestly though, technobabble doesn't bother me at all on Gunnekrigg Court, because it's a fantasy setting, I just accept everything. Funnily enough, it bothers me way more on Star Trek, which practically invented the trope, than on anything else.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 1, 2020 13:50:51 GMT
also, I can't believe that, of all the crazy stuff happening right now, the one thing we're going to discuss is the quartz alternator. It's just a quartz alternator, guys. And it makes tic toc noises. That's all there is to it. I'm not troubled by it myself, but I've noticed that the forum often tends to focus on a minor element and concentrate on that rather than on the major elements of the story. For example, the page where Annie and Jones were talking about Annie's having freed Jeanne and its results while passing through the force field. Almost everybody was focused on "what's that weird purple glow around them?" (the force field) rather than on what Annie and Jones were saying to each other. So most of the readers being more concerned that Tom had invented a fancy technological gadget (and admitted it in the note for the page) than the revelations about the origins of the Tic-Toc Bird and the implication that it somehow goes back in time is nothing new. I have a deep vested interest in technobabble particularly but fiction writing in general, from the perspective of an educated consumer of media if nothing else. I also have a related interest in greebling verbage to make it sound convincing and persuasive, or just to make myself sound cool. Honestly, I can't believe arkadi was surprised. I know he's not new to the internet, he's been on this forum a longish time and I've seen him elsewhere. If it makes you feel any better, even if it's not a real thing itself, a quartz alternator is most likely based on this thing called a crystal oscillator, that is used in quartz clocks to keep track of time. I had actually assumed this was what Kat was talking about before I saw Tom's comment on the page. Honestly though, technobabble doesn't bother me at all on Gunnekrigg Court, because it's a fantasy setting, I just accept everything. Funnily enough, it bothers me way more on Star Trek, which practically invented the trope, than on anything else. Shocking as it may seem, the stuff I was talking about with AluK are also actual existent things.  Seriously though, "quartz alternator" may or may not be an existent thing or reference to same; I'm not sure but I can (and did) think of two possibilities that could be something appropriate for the mechanical bird. |
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Post by netherdan on Jun 1, 2020 14:14:25 GMT
I love how clean this is. Having someone point it out is a lot cleaner than Kat stumbling on it herself. Welp. "Arthur told me" is a lot more plausible than a trans-temporal internet connection or convoluted robo-bird bootstrap paradoxes... hah Quartz crystals are piezoelectric. Supply them with current and they suffer mechanical stress (usually as vibration), but the opposite is also true: deform them and they generate power. Since an alternator just transforms mechanical movement to AC power, if the same movement deformed a quartz crystal cyclically, you could theoretically generate power directly that way (I'm sure Kat has this figured out, should be quite easy for her considering her powers). So you're saying the ticking of the quartz generates an electrical pulse that powers an alternator which in turn tocks the quartz creating another pulse and Kat had essentially solved the problem with perpetual motion machines that creates exponential infinite energy until they blow up? And all that was needed was just a fixed delay? Neat! PS: let's just disregard that Kat made a perpetual motion machine and focus on the neat approach she invented to avoid them going supernova after a few seconds switched on PPS: oh, and whenever the Tic-Toc needs infinite energy (say, for a little time travel) it just need to turn this quartz alternator off and do a little time-hop. The result of it is just that that timeline's solar system gets wiped from existence. But hey that solves the multiple timelines issue, right? |
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Post by DonDueed on Jun 1, 2020 15:19:33 GMT
So, Kat embedded a quartz alternator in a mechanical bird that seems to have the power to transcend alternate timelines, eh?
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Post by liminal on Jun 1, 2020 16:15:48 GMT
A quartz alternator is the part that is used to make the machine maybe one thing and maybe another, maybe both or neither (which is one of my professor's definition of "liminal" and will be familiar to those who have scritched Schrodinger's Cat between the ears). I predict it will be used in the machine that Kat uses to resolve the Antimony Existence Paradox. “You mentioned me?” “You didn’t mention me?” “ ” |
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Post by bicarbonat on Jun 1, 2020 16:31:34 GMT
I wonder if Wandering Eye knows anything about the Thousand Eyes. She wasn't there at the founding of GC, but she's been there for a fair bit of time. (Also, I miss her.)
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Post by Runningflame on Jun 1, 2020 17:54:59 GMT
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Post by speedwell on Jun 1, 2020 21:53:13 GMT
A quartz alternator is the part that is used to make the machine maybe one thing and maybe another, maybe both or neither (which is one of my professor's definition of "liminal" and will be familiar to those who have scritched Schrodinger's Cat between the ears). I predict it will be used in the machine that Kat uses to resolve the Antimony Existence Paradox. “You mentioned me?” “You didn’t mention me?” “ ” I sort of did, sort of didn't. Maybe I did, maybe it didn't occur to me at all  In an alternate universe, I would have picked your username. It had in fact occurred to me a couple years ago, heh. I've been a liminailty surfer my whole life, not fish or fowl or good red herring. An example: "We are liminal", I told my husband while driving from Letterkenny to Strabane, "because we live in a border state". It was a pun and he laughed, but he pointed out that since we actually live within sight of the Donegal/Tyrone border itself, many of the things we do are independent of the national boundaries. This is how two people who are autistic joke with each other. |
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Post by Star Kindler on Jun 1, 2020 22:41:23 GMT
Hm, now I'm curious if Kat is actually going to be the one to send the Tic-toc back in time. I could see a "fling a light into the past" kind of scenario. Or I could see Loup messing with time to send it back. Or or I could see Temporal Affairs possibly stepping in to send it back, because if it doesn't go back all of time and space collapses because Bobby the intern forgot to turn on the paradox neutralization circuit again.
Also interesting, Kat now has a good idea of the cult that the robots have surrounded her with, and she seems super uneasy about it. She doesn't see herself as a genius or revolutionary (even though she very much is), she just makes stuff because it seems like a good idea and it can help her friends. It'll be interesting if she makes the leap to applying herself in a broader fashion.
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Post by Gemini Jim on Jun 2, 2020 5:02:20 GMT
Rose Quartz - For people who believe in crystals and such, a stone associated with love. Also, Steven Universe's mother.
Alternator - a device that converts mechanical energy to alternating electrical energy.
So, a device that converts love into energy?
EDIT: And if you reverse the polarity of the Quartz Alternator, it becomes a device that converts robot energy into love.
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Post by Igniz on Jun 2, 2020 5:03:52 GMT
"[Arthur] told me that the robots have been aware of these robots for a long time. They call it a 'mythical ornithonic'." Kat, did you forget that you were already aware of that? I wonder if Wandering Eye knows anything about the Thousand Eyes. She wasn't there at the founding of GC, but she's been there for a fair bit of time. (Also, I miss her.) Agreed, and the same applies to the forest creatures as well, especially considering that the Tic-toc is "said to be older than the court itself". It would also be interesting to know why Zimmy can feel its stare and why she can't stand it. |
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Post by phantaskippy on Jun 2, 2020 5:20:16 GMT
"supposed" Kat is starting to realize why the robots call her that, but it seems she is still struggling and unwilling to accept it wholly. So looks like she has not yet fully embraced divinehood. I agree... But you might be looking for "divinity." I wonder she's even able to reject something like this, or it doesn't matter since an entire population of beings think of her this way. Interesting concept there (that I'm sure has been brought up). Being made a god against your will. I do wonder why Robot initially thought of her this way, way back then. It all stems from him, after all. If we remember Coyote's secret, quite literally being made a god against your will, depending on the capabilities of the robots. . . which Kat is expanding. I mean, if Robots didn't have the imaginative force to make Kat an angel before, they might be gaining that ability through her efforts. It would be an interesting development indeed for Kat to give the robots the ability to empower her as their angel. With the ability to manipulate reality/time, it's quite possible we will see Kat send something back that will start the idea of her as the angel. I'm now seeing Robot in some 12 monkeys kind of story where he ends up disassembled. Kat's going to break the world. |
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Post by Gemini Jim on Jun 2, 2020 5:26:53 GMT
I just had the horrible thought that she will eventually need to use the archaic robots for their mysterious power source, which would allow her to create Tic-Tocs that would last long enough to do what they need to do.
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Post by atteSmythe on Jun 2, 2020 5:40:59 GMT
Edit: also, I can't believe that, of all the crazy stuff happening right now, the one thing we're going to discuss is the quartz alternator. It's just a quartz alternator, guys. And it makes tic toc noises. That's all there is to it. For my part, I wouldn't have given it a second thought without Tom's comment. Now, trying to figure out what it really is when the Voice of the Author tells you that it's nothing is just sport. |
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Post by hnau on Jun 2, 2020 6:48:32 GMT
If we remember Coyote's secret, quite literally being made a god against your will, depending on the capabilities of the robots. . . which Kat is expanding. I mean, if Robots didn't have the imaginative force to make Kat an angel before, they might be gaining that ability through her efforts. It would be an interesting development indeed for Kat to give the robots the ability to empower her as their angel. With the ability to manipulate reality/time, it's quite possible we will see Kat send something back that will start the idea of her as the angel. I'm now seeing Robot in some 12 monkeys kind of story where he ends up disassembled. Kat's going to break the world. We all expect Kat to master time and space, because of her scientific approach. But the new robots might as well create the eternal tic tocs when they die. Jeanne died, and "we did nothing". Annie was about to die, and a robot mythological creature saved her. |
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Post by pyradonis on Jun 2, 2020 8:39:17 GMT
"[Arthur] told me that the robots have been aware of these robots for a long time. They call it a 'mythical ornithonic'." Kat, did you forget that you were already aware of that? Does Kat look like she is paying attention to what the robot is saying? |
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Post by arcuna on Jun 2, 2020 9:29:07 GMT
Wildspec: Kat only needed one piece of quartz for the Tic Toc, but she had two and couldn't decide which one to use. So she designed an alternator that just rapidly switched out the two pieces, but in such a way that one was always in place for whatever mechanism the Tic Toc needs it for. That's my interpretation and you can't convince me otherwise. Also I 300% agree with arkadi, but how can we not ironically obsess over it after we know for sure it's not plot-relevant? |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 2, 2020 12:17:19 GMT
"Quartz alternator" is too close to actual things relevant to flight irl for me to not obsess over it so I think I'll obsess non-ironically and ironically at the same time. For example, the quartz Kat used is almost certainly synthetic because it can be used to make more precise tools and instruments more reliably, since naturally-occurring quartz can have imperfections and flaws that may not show up before actual use. Synthetic emeralds are made using similar processes so there are better-than-even odds that the insides of the Toc will at some point evidence some greenish Diego-like glow. |
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Post by blahzor on Jun 2, 2020 12:53:30 GMT
I guess that's my point, everything on the rational/Court side of things is firmly rooted in reality and the outliers to that are a variety of refugee magical creatures (Rey, Basil) or otherwise hybrid-magical being (Annie) or device (the golem robots, Anja and Kat's computers). Everything else fantastical there is presented as-is without comment to be accepted by the reader as 'a thing that the Court (or Kat) can do', like the modern robots or mag-lev train network, while never really needing to be nailed down. Everything involving the Forest or the Psychopomps is pure fantasy and is also there to be taken at face value. I suppose a 'quartz alternator' could be an etheric device but this is just why I think a purely technical 'break' feels very jarring. Ah, like those super-real sentient robots, and anti-gravity devices you mean? We accept tht these things exist in the universe, so why is accepting a made-up component like a quartz alternator so hard? I assume it is only mentioned as a reason to explain the tic-toc sounds, which Tom probably introduced early on in the comic because he thought it looked cool rather than with any reason in mind, and now is only mentioning the quartz alternator to stave off any theories as to what the sound means. (Either that or it is a big fake-out and the sound actually is going to be super important later on for some reason) Robot's chip was already special from the start. it could turn out that Kat made his original chip or the thing that made him special |
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Post by saardvark on Jun 2, 2020 13:31:38 GMT
Rose Quartz - For people who believe in crystals and such, a stone associated with love. Also, Steven Universe's mother. Alternator - a device that converts mechanical energy to alternating electrical energy. So, a device that converts love into energy? EDIT: And if you reverse the polarity of the Quartz Alternator, it becomes a device that converts robot energy into love. Or perhaps just clear quartz: from the web: Clear quartz is highly prized for its ability to clear the mind of negativity to enhance higher spiritual receptiveness. It is considered the master of all healing crystals due to its ability to magnify or amplify healing vibrations... so it could convert health into electrical energy(?) That could get nasty... Or reversed, electrical energy into healing... nice! |
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Post by kayback on Jun 2, 2020 17:45:51 GMT
As fun as guessing what a Quartz Alternator is, I'm more curious aboit what Tom is distracting us from.
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Post by arkadi on Jun 2, 2020 19:57:14 GMT
Rose Quartz - For people who believe in crystals and such, a stone associated with love. Also, Steven Universe's mother. Alternator - a device that converts mechanical energy to alternating electrical energy. So, a device that converts love into energy? EDIT: And if you reverse the polarity of the Quartz Alternator, it becomes a device that converts robot energy into love. Or perhaps just clear quartz: from the web: Clear quartz is highly prized for its ability to clear the mind of negativity to enhance higher spiritual receptiveness. It is considered the master of all healing crystals due to its ability to magnify or amplify healing vibrations... so it could convert health into electrical energy(?) That could get nasty... Or reversed, electrical energy into healing... nice! OK, I retract my previous statement: the fan speculations about the nature of the quartz alternator are officially the best part of this thread. And I'm not being ironic ^^ <3(Note: I still believe it's just a plain old quartz alternator, like the ones they use in flux capacitors) |
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Post by blahzor on Jun 2, 2020 22:22:03 GMT
Or perhaps just clear quartz: from the web: Clear quartz is highly prized for its ability to clear the mind of negativity to enhance higher spiritual receptiveness. It is considered the master of all healing crystals due to its ability to magnify or amplify healing vibrations... so it could convert health into electrical energy(?) That could get nasty... Or reversed, electrical energy into healing... nice! OK, I retract my previous statement: the fan speculations about the nature of the quartz alternator are officially the best part of this thread. And I'm not being ironic ^^ <3(Note: I still believe it's just a plain old quartz alternator, like the ones they use in flux capacitors) that she is being told she has abilities, a thing she knows others have and assumed she didn't |
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Post by blahzor on Jun 3, 2020 0:34:33 GMT
oh is it thought by ppl that maybe Kat even made the defense system in the future/different timeline?
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Post by zbeeblebrox on Jun 3, 2020 5:59:15 GMT
A quartz alternator is the part that is used to make the machine maybe one thing and maybe another, maybe both or neither (which is one of my professor's definition of "liminal" and will be familiar to those who have scritched Schrodinger's Cat between the ears). I predict it will be used in the machine that Kat uses to resolve the Antimony Existence Paradox. All it needs is 1.21 jigawatts |
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Post by pyradonis on Jun 3, 2020 7:29:31 GMT
Ah, like those super-real sentient robots, and anti-gravity devices you mean? We accept tht these things exist in the universe, so why is accepting a made-up component like a quartz alternator so hard? I assume it is only mentioned as a reason to explain the tic-toc sounds, which Tom probably introduced early on in the comic because he thought it looked cool rather than with any reason in mind, and now is only mentioning the quartz alternator to stave off any theories as to what the sound means. (Either that or it is a big fake-out and the sound actually is going to be super important later on for some reason) Robot's chip was already special from the start. it could turn out that Kat made his original chip or the thing that made him special Like I said in another thread - I hope not every remaining mystery about the Court will be explained via time travel. |
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In an alternate universe, I would have picked your username. It had in fact occurred to me a couple years ago, heh. I've been a liminailty surfer my whole life, not fish or fowl or good red herring.
