Sunday, September 26, 2010

Q & A

littlelostgeek asked some good questions. I'll see what I can answer...
I have to wonder if textures feel different now than before as well as other things like how hearing/vision has changed.
Yes, things feel coarser, though my sense of touch is otherwise unchanged. My hearing is the same, though I have to be careful, because things close by seem louder, though not to the degree expected. And don't even ask about my sight. My vision is the same as it was, taking into account the different angle, which so upset one eye doctor that he swore at me, called me a freak and an abomination, and refused to study the question any further. I think that if other people hadn't been there, he actually would have attacked me!
Plus I'm wondering if foods tastes different or how much it takes to fill up. Sure she's shrunk a great deal, but she now has even less internal volume.
Everything tastes the same, though, again, the texture is thicker. And liquids are is… weird. The surface tension is much greater. I can still drink, but I usually need to "break" it first.

I do fill up quickly. I only need about two calories a day! I just take a few crumbs from Lisa's food. Unfortunately, 1. She's a vegetarian, and 2. She's very, very weight conscious. She has to be, since she's a model and actress.

But I would kill for a steak, baked potato w/ butter, and a mug of Guinness!
Lisa was actually able to pick you up. This means your mass wasn't compressed, otherwise that would be.. well... OK I'm not sure where the rest of it would've went (or anything else about the transition.) However your apparent jump in strength relative to new size is interesting.
My starting weight was 135 lbs. I am currently 2.2 ozs. During a recent interview I said I was two ounces exactly, but that was a slight… understatement. What, you've never lied about your weight?

Anyway, we don't know what happened to all the extra mass. There was no big pile of goop nearby. I had asked if it could somehow all have converted to energy, but it turns out that would have meant an explosion equivalent to over 1315 megatons of TNT. I think somebody would have noticed.

As for jumping, it turns out the of strength of a muscle is based on its cross-section, which is reduced on the square, and a jump depends on strength versus mass. It still takes getting used to.

Oh gee... you can breath. That's a biggie. The fact your body is able to process oxygen is interesting. i'm not sure how since if everything shrunk then the little sacs in your lungs wouldn't have been able to.. you know.

Yeah, this is just one of the many questions the scientists studying me (I'll talk more about them later) can't answer. I still breathe normally, though the air feels a bit… thicker. Almost like heavy humidity. My blood is… weird.

Another question is body heat. Small animals lose heat more rapidly than big ones. That's why shrews eat a million billion times their own weight every day, and why polar bears are so big. My weight shrunk on the cube, but my skin's surface area shrunk on the square. I should be freezing, but my temperature is what it was before. 99.2 f or 37.3 c. I've always been hot-blooded.
Forget the techno-mumbo-jumbo. I can think of no process that would explain this short of 'a wizard did it.'
That seems as good a reason as any, I guess. I don't remember offending any wizards…

Seriously, I don’t believe in magic. Just because I don't know the answer, doesn't mean there is no answer.

But if it was a wizard, I didn't mean to offend you, Mr. or Ms. Wizard sir or ma'am, and I am very, very, very sorry. I've learned my lesson. Please change me back.

8 comments:

  1. OK wow thanks for sharing and being thorough with responses. I'd known small mammles eat a load more because of body heat issues I didn't want to overload you with questions.

    Your last article was helpful. See I've never been great with math and I'd only really learned about the whole cube root volume problem when looking into debunking the idea of giant insects seen in those old monster movies (they're great for marathons, trust me.)

    So many little quantitative things could be asked, but each in it's own time, and you did say you were being looked at already. I feel bad for your troubles with the eye doctor (seriously, unprofessional and i probably would've been one of the people to try hurting him. You have enough trouble as is!)

    Kinda forgot the mass to energy conversion problem, or rather I didn't even consider how much energy would've been liberated if all the excess mass had just gone up. Uh yea I do believe people would've noticed. Mushroom clouds tend to be noticeable things even if you're not at ground zero.

    I don't really believe in magic, at least not in the 'unknowable unquantifiable bit. I"ts more shorthand for 'I don't know so i'm calling it x until I do know.' It's kinda like the red matter thing from the star trek reboot. Shorthand language rather than miles of technobabble.

    Would be kinda interested to know just how you're able to surf. Assuming some sort of arrangement where you're on somebody's shoulder giving directions. Sucks on privacy (I can't stand shoulder surfers) but at least you can blog?

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  2. I will look forward to learning more about your condition!

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  3. This was an interesting find to be certain, Debby and I'll be following you with much interest and may wish to pick your brain from time to time. (I'm an aspiring author and happen to have a character in my current series who has encountered your exact same unique situation)

    BTW, I think TGI Fridays delivers; so the steak and baked potato you're looking for is only a phone call away ;)

    Best of luck to you, I'll look forward to future posts.

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  4. Current series? Where can we find it?

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  5. Unfortunately it's still not widely available, the only folks who have a copy of the first book are those I've given a copy to. I've been struggling a little with self publishing vs. finding a publisher as I write book 2.

    However, if you're interested in reading it and don't mind correspondence outside of this blog, you can drop me a line at ye old timey America Online.

    Nice to hear from you regardless.

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  6. I wouldn't mind having a look at these books myself. Always up to browsing from other hopeful writers (and others who've tried self publishing.)

    Email me if you like Falcon. If i get the opportunity I'll likely be reviewing your first book on my blog along with a link on where/how to buy.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Hello all, this is the poster formly known as BGFalcon67

    So I hope a shameless plug is OK. I was a little inspired by Small Problem and the responses I got to the mention of my book (thank you Debby and Andrew!) So I've started a blog about my books for those who are interested. Here's the URL:
    http://theavalonsaga.blogspot.com

    Check it out, follow me, enjoy!

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