November 26th, 2007
You carry on
News just in – I think I might have gone a little too geeky with this one… nah, there’s no such thing as too geeky… right?
In other news, Steve, creator of Transplant Comics has turned up… he’s OK, but he won’t be running the site from now on. We’re glad he’s not dead.
In more other news, my computer is very much on its last legs at the moment (I know, I blamed the scanner yesterday – now it’s being all ‘offish’ with me), or at least the operating system is… time for a fresh install and a bit of an upgrade. Hopefully I’ll be done in time to get my comic online…
And finally, the not so bionic cat.
Sean on 
Maddie on
that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside
Of course there’s no such thing as “too geeky.” I don’t really understand this comic, but that’s okay. I think I can safely attribute at least some of that to the fact that I’ve never taken any sort of advanced biology class. (The teacher at my school is a bit of an idiot; one class last year had to explain to him what a chromosome was, but he refused to believe them.)
I agree, no such thing as too geeky. And I didn’t learn about these either in my college-y.
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/techtalk/
This site will help you out with all your tech needs, great site, I use it all the time.
After the pregnancy scares I have had, esp the one at the start of this month, I would love to be this way imperfect. I am even considering being surgically altered to be like that.
Congrats to Steve for surviving thus far!
Ben, I recommend the surgical alteration. Best decision I’ve ever made. (I realize it’s not for everyone, but there are great arguments for permanent birth control from ecological, developmental, and human genetics standpoints. Nurture is primary enough, and the human gene pool narrow enough, that adoption is so similar to ‘having your own’ as to be practically the same.)
Thanks Ben, that link saved my skin.
…and as a result I’m now back on line and finally stable.
Well, my machine is. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get away with describing myself as ’stable’.
The thing with perfection is it’s too uniform. Imperfections offer individuality
and character. Perfection is improved by imperfection, artistically speaking.
Someone PLEASE explain why this comic has caused Roo and Ben to start talking about permenant birth control?
hmm…interesting topic actually. i should probably be against it, considering i am basically against abortion. But i have no problems with the idea and practice of contraception…is that a bad thing? i don’t know. but considering i’ve written at least 2 essays on abortion and gone from being firmly against it to not really knowing whether to be against it or not, i think it probably makes sense for me not to mind birth control.
Damn my own persuasive nature. i convinced even myself to change my mind with my R.E essay…
Huh, seems an odd thing (abortion) to have such firm opinions about at such a young age. Is there religion involved? And why do you see a link between contraception and birth control?
Hit me up by email, if you feel like/want to talk about it. (It’s on my blog profile.)
Eh, we study medical ethics in R.E at school.
plus i…did have a really strong opinion about it at one point. I don’t know why, but by my age everyone knows about it anyways.
*blinks* ok, that’s just me being stupid. contraception and birth control aren’t the same thing?
gees, do they teach me anything in school?
Well, religion isn’t involved because that just draws the line at sex before marriage, so i doubt i’ll ever get the chance to try be pregnant, let alone get it by accident.
they seem to be teaching you just fine… Contraceptives and birth control are the exact same thing.
Birthcontrol pills = oral contraceptive
therefore they’re the same thing right?
I’ve got a website where I help people with their sex questions/problems/issues, and then have a mailing list on the site where I give out daily sex facts…
I’d feel pretty silly if I’d been giving out false information for the past year
and I’m all for safe sex, if you’re gonna have sex, and don’t want a kid, the obvious solution is to get on the pill, and wear a condom…
I hate it when people don’t want to wear a condom and so they don’t… figuring that if she gets pregnant, oh well, there’s always abortion…
I’m kinda on the fence about the abortion issue, I don’t agree with it when a girl’s 17 and had 4 abortions because she can’t tell her boyfriend to wear a condom
but I’m all for it if the girl’s 13 and was raped, she’s not mentally or physically capable to have the child… or if it’s a rape/incest pregnancy…
I’m gonna shut up now… I probably should have quit a few paragraphs ago… don’t mean to offend anyone if I did… you’re entitled to your own opinions of course
Exaclty. My basic opinion on abortion is that I am against it UNLESS there are extreme circumstances, eg, as you said Rachelle, rape, incest etc.
And Roo…well…I’m not sure I understand why I SHOULDN’T see a link between abortion and birth control.
but i do mainly because my mate, at a time when i had firmer opinions abut abortion than i do now, asked why i wasn’t against birth control as well. she is really majorly against usuing contraception, she takes the view that sex should only happen when a child is wanted.
But i don’t have that view. Partially because abortion and contraception are just not the same thing at all. As i said, one saves any pain but allows the fun, the other causes more pain than the fun is worth. And also, taking a slightly religious tilt here, I also believe that if God gave us the ability to have sex instead of produce like the funghi in the cartoon, giving us the capability to have sex purely for enjoyment, then why shouldn’t we? if we’re careful, and do it at the right time etc. then we’re simply enjoying what God gave us.
“…if God gave us the ability to have sex instead of produce like the funghi in the cartoon, giving us the capability to have sex purely for enjoyment, then why shouldn’t we? if we’re careful, and do it at the right time etc. then we’re simply enjoying what God gave us.”
Ah! I wish more people over here would take that view. There’s some pretty crazy religious fundamentalists over here: refusing to sell emergency contraceptives, abstinence only sex education, et cetera. It’s a mad house.
It’s odd that I’ve gotten involved in this thread, actually. I usually try to stay out of abortion issues talks, because I’m a male and all. I figure, it’s not an issue I’ll ever have to face in the same way, if you see what I mean. I have recently fallen in with some pretty hard-core feminists, however, and have been made away of a real undercurrent (at least in the US) of sexism, that would cause serious problems for any “only in exceptional circumstances” abortion programmes. I think that until we can completely eradicate all traces of sexism from our culture, the only fit person to decide what “exceptional circumstances” are, or if that ought to be the criteria, is the pregnant woman. Otherwise we face much worse ethical consequences.
I think the other reason I got involved was that the thread surprised me. The whole thing took a much more conservative swing than I was expecting. Obviously I’ve been hanging out with too many anarchists lately.
Well. I will still not have sex before marriage, but my views stop me from being prejudice towards anyone else doing what they want.
And oh dear.
*goes very, VERY red* it’s just hit me that Roo is a guys name…My eyes actually doubled in size when i read your comment, mainly form embarrassment…I hope you’re not insulted…but I could’ve sworn from our comment conversations that you were a woman…
that’s really bad, isn’t it?
Oh yeah, and about the pregnant woman calling the shots thing- I partially think that as well, where abortion is concerned. I mean, come on, the baby is in her womb, she has to lug around for 9 months and then give birth to it…and if she feels she can’t cope, anf that her circumstances are extreme, then they probably are.
there’s a horrible thing going on in England at the moment that one pregnant lady had to flee from her county to save her baby, as the authorities want to take it away within 30 minutes of it being born. As a teenager she had depression, but is fine now (I think she’s about 25 now) surely we would be wanting to keep a mother and child together where possible?
Hahahaha! Too many feminists in my life, I guess. It really just goes to show you, though, that gender is a social construct, rather than a “real” thing. You can’t tell, because inside, we’re all the same, save the differences that culture imposes on us. Or something like that, that makes more sense. If it helps any, Roo is an affectionate shortening of Andrew, though I’ve been going by Roo so long now I’d have no idea who you were talking to if you said “Andrew into a room occupied by no one but me.
Also: that’s ridiculous about trying to take that woman’s child away! Flee the country? Child Services over here is so under funded and under staffed that you have to be really f***ed up before they’ll step in to do anything. There’s some… somewhat painful personal experience in that department I’m a little bitter about, but we won’t get into that. Suffice it to say: governments and families never seem to intersect well.
Oh, thank goodness you see the funny side of it. I suppose though, you are right. but remember, men and women have different hormones, which makes them slightly different peronality-wise.
Oooh, weird. congratulations, you’re now the second person i know called Andrew who has a nickname that is A) also a name for an animal/part of a name and B)one that you know so well, you don’t tend to respond to Andrew.
I have a…mate..i suppose technically he’s an Ex, but we won’t go into that…Called Panda. and i’ve always known him as Panda, most people know him as panda. he knowns himself as panda. but is actualy name is Andrew. however when we first met, i said “is panda a nickname?” and he said “I don’t know..i can’t remember if i have a real name or not” it was pretty amusing.
Yeah, it’s fairly f**ked up that they want to take her kid away. Ah, but she didn’t flee the country, just the county. she moved counties because then her local authorities weren’t local enough to take her baby, but it looks like the new local authorities are going to try take it away as well
Funny, I knew a kid named Jimmy that went by Panda for a while. Real neat guy: ska/punker, got a 2-year photo-journalist degree from the local community college, and is now touring the country by way of the punk sub-culture, going to shows, living with the gutter-punks, eating out of dumpsters, etc., all the while collecting photos for the book he’s planning to publish on the punk sub-culture. I’m looking forward to that book, oughta be a neat “inside” look. Cool kid, that Panda. Name must supply some good karma or something.
I hope it all works out for her. Can you link an article or two, if you have them?
Wow, your Panda sounds awesome!
Mine…awesome, but complicated.
After a quick Google search, i found this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=495304&in_page_id=1770
which is basically the full story on her case. i was wrong, she’s 22. but still, it’s unfair what they’re trying to do.
Ah, “involvements” are always complicated, aren’t they?
That story is the definition of heart-breaking. I really hope it turns out all right. It seems like the press should help… nothing like a public out-cry to force political bureaucracy into behaving.
Yes *sighs* why is everything so complicated? “involvements” only seem to end up hurting me. and i am too young for guys to think i’m not worth the effort. damn it, i need a hug!
i hope it goes ok, and i expect the press will help, yes. people won’t leave it unattended to, something so unfair.
*HUG*
*hugs back*
thank you
Roo, have you got msn? or are you too grown up for it? :p
I use AIM and iChat, werdnusboo and avandegrift@mac.com, respectively. I’m really only ever on while I’m at work though… so many hours in front of a computer here, I don’t want to spend more at home!
I have heard of…let me see…ooh, none of those. what about skype?
I spend most of the time i spend at the computer at home, in ICT lessons i tend to do more written work somehow…weird..
I thought skype was more of a telephone-like thing…
I’ve been meaning to put the time into figuring out how to make Pidgin work on the Mac anyways, maybe I’ll try to get that running tomorrow (it’ll let me use an MSN account, which I think I still have floating around somewhere). I’ll let you know if I get it running.
Haven’t heard of AIM? AOL Instant Messenger? That makes me feel really old.
Oh, AOL…i knew that..
skype is like a telephone thing yes, but you get free calls via your computer to other peoples skype accounts, and there’s an instant messenger like msn on it as well. so skype is pretty cool
Any one who may be interested in contacting me, can follow the link to my website, and from there, I think you can find my MSN and facebook links.
Just, you know, if you wanna chat.
Ah! I got Pidgin (actually I used Adium) to work on my Mac! And I dug up my old MSN messenger account and added it. The ID is ROOSTER at VT dot EDU. Hit me up some time.
I’ve added you..although your code -like way of writing may have confused me to write it wrong. but hey, finger crossed, it may have worked.
Shizche! I meant “abortion and birth control.”
Because the comic is about asexual reproduction. =)
Also, there’s an important ethical difference between abortion and birth control (no matter what form that takes), at least in my mind: abortion can be seen as the killing of a life form, whereas birth control simply prevents that life form from taking shape.
Also, I had this notion that contraception and birth control was the same thing, and Roo’s comment really confused me, so I looked up the definition of contraception and it’s birth control. So I’m not losing my mind. Which is good.
Yeah, that’s basically what I think…birth control saves a lot of pain but still allows fun, abortion causes more pain than the fun is worth.
Oh. so i’m not stupid then. Roo, you’ve officially confused me.
Many apologies for the confusion… It was getting late over here.
Wow, I disappear for an evening and suddenly you all get heavy-weight on the issues.
I think you’ve all done a good job with having a conversation about a notoriously tricky topic… and a conversation is pretty rare in this case. It usually comes down to a shouting match between the two opposing sides.
I am perplexed though, Maddie, that they teach ethics as part of religious education – especially medical ethics. I still think that should be taught in the absence of religion… perhaps in biology, or at least on neutral ground. The reason being that I can’t think of that many religions that would sanction birth control, let alone abortion… Take the catholic church’s stance on using condoms – especially considering their influence in Africa where HIV is still on the rampage.
Oh, I am disappointed though, that no one picked me up on the awful pun-orientated title. Especially you biology boffins.
Hey hey, I got it
Eucariotes right?
I think I did pretty good on that one, especially for failing bio 1 the first time.
Yay, you got it.
Congratulations on getting your computer fixed. Always remember to keep everything backed up, just in case.
Oh, indeed – save early, save often – it applies to backing up too.
I use a paper-based system for my drawings coupled with a filing cabinet storage solution.
For the site… I do a complete back-up once a week – to CD.
That said, I still get back-up paranoia… what will I do if my back-ups fail? Maybe I should make back-ups of my back-ups? … … I can see myself getting sucked into a fractal-like black hole of data safety.
Hey, good news with Transplant too, does that mean AT is due to move soon?
Probably. I should post a question about it in the forum. I’ll be starting some new strips tomorrow after “One Monkey Short” concludes, in any case.
Ah, see that’s the thing. we learn about medical ethics, technically, in Biology.
but in R.E we do “christians views on” particular medical ethics. it just happens i like R.E a heck of a lot more, so i listen more. and we only do christian views because, well, we know more about christianity than any other religion in a school like ours. other schools do other religions.
But we study basically everyones views. the pro-life, the pro-choice, the church of england (Which, by the way Rachelle, has basically your view: “Abortion is an evil, but sometimes it is the lesser of two evils”).
the way they teach us stuff at school is interesting. but the teachers-well, you’d be greatly saddened by my biology teacher. she’s nothing short of an idiot. she yammers on about how her children gave her mumps or whatever for half the lesson, teaches us about 5 minutes work of work then gets us to do questions that should take ten minutes in about 30 seconds.
I ask, is that really the way to teach restless, bored and irritable teenagers? I think not!
Ok, sorry to bring birth control and the attached subject of abortion into this thread.
However, being that both issues are a large part of my life right now, I will comment on my views.
I think pro-choice is a very very good thing. Bringing an unwanted child into the world is not fair on anyone. Using abortion as a form of birth control is a bad thing.
I want to get snipped, I find that condoms are not reliable, girls lie about the pill, the morning after pill isn’t so good, so getting snipped is the best option I think.
I have had a few close calls and a number of my female friends have had abortions, it has never been an easy choice for them. I have spent countless hours with several of them, talking to them and supporting them, so I feel that I have a decent understanding what the choice involves.
I hate the trend in America of “Just say NO!”. It doesn’t work for drugs or sex and it extremely irresponsible and lazy of the mature public to support this stance. I believe that education and support is the only valid option.
As for the religous aspects of this thread, I won’t comment, except to say that no one has the right to influence the descision of some one in that position.
Ah, “just say no!” I had kind of almost forgotten about that. I remember in 5th grade or so when they made us take “drug education” we had to practice what we would say if someone tried to peer-pressure us into doing drugs. That was such a waste of government funding.
And I agree that no one really has the right to make that kind of decision other than the person who it immediately effects. It’s rather ridiculous to believe that you can understand the ins and outs of the situation without actually being in that situation yourself. Actually, I think that’s true for a lot of things, not just abortion.
Ah, the wonderful “just say no” to drugs thing. we had that. funny thing is, the only reason i would ever be interested in taking drugs is because i know so much about them from school that i know which ones have the least side effects etc. so, thanks to school, instead of knowning not to take drugs, i just know which ones are safest to try.
i may be the only person who finds that amusing. but it means i can secretly laugh at the education system for pshce, so i’m happy.
maddie, i know exactly where youre coming from there. everything they teach me at school is doing just that, telling me as much as i would need to know if i wanted to take drugs and get away with it. amuses me as well.
Haha, mine, too! It was basically like, “If you want to sniff paint, the metallic ones give you the best buzz and you can buy them at department stores but you shouldn’t and if someone asks you to JUST SAY NO.”
Did I seriously just post department stores? Oh, my. I guess I’m finally losing it. That should read HARDWARE stores. Department, hardware… there’s kind of some approximate rhyme going on there, right?
Oh of course Easca. don’t worry. some of us have already lost it *points at self exxageratedly*
Yeah, schools are a bit stupid. I know the best way to:
1. Get drunk
2. Do drugs, and which ones
3. smoke without harming yourself as much
thanks to the education i get at school. Great PSHCE (or PDP, depends what you call it) teaching there, school curriculum. now if you don’t mind, i think i shall get stoned before school tomorrow and thanks to my great education, i know how to cover up the fact i am! congratulations, school. you’re slowly killing the children with your bubble wrap. Public Suffocation Helping Children’s Education in getting stoned issit? cleverrrr.
Ha, like in my government-required Driver’s ed course, where we spent the first half discussing the fact that, statistically speaking, driver’s ed does absolutely nothing to improve driving ability. “So why are we here?” we all ask. “Um, yeah, I dunno, you really shouldn’t be, but I guess the government wants you to waste your time here, so here you are!” was the encouraging response from our instructor.
well you know, approximate rhyming is the ONLY way to rhyme!
Well, obviously.
awhatimate rhyming?
It’s where two words kind of rhyme. Like “car” and “door.”
Pretty much the only kind I can handle. (=
Ah, half-rhymes.
so what happened to this steve guy? are we allowed to ask?
Steve moved on to other things… he’s OK, but he wasn’t able to help run the site anymore.
Fortunately he handed it over to Joseph from Ataraxia Theatre and we’re currently re-building and re-branding.