Toon: "Yet some life-forms are oddly unaffected"

[n2doc]

[HopeHoops]

1. Yes, but the unaffected ones aren't "intelligent" life forms.

They have a striking resemblance to humans, but obviously can't be related.

[ElboRuum]

2. They are pods...

They are not of this earth... really stupid pods... I mean, damn... couldn't we have been sent the smarter ones?... Did we get the best pods we could get, or did we just get these because there was a volume discount?... I mean the pod in the last panel is using words, and it looks vaguely like a language I am familiar with, but what type of two-bit pod would string words together like this? I mean, seriously, even a MEDIUM GRADE pod would have said "all your base are belong to us" and at LEAST I'd have known why they were here. What, did we get the pod-people's "B" ark?

[patrice]

6. !

:rofl: :cry: :rofl: :cry: :rofl: . . .

[tavalon]

15. Yes, I'm afraid we did and yes, I think it was because we got a volume discount

Next time we should go for quality instead of quantity.

[Soylent Brice]

3. sad and funny all wrapped up in one little gift.

[FSogol]

4. k & r n/t

[tandot]

5. No shit. Great toon. Thanks!!! K & R

[FBaggins]

7. K&R... but can someone help me with the second frame?

I thought the photo a few weeks ago of the polar bear trapped on the shrinking mound of floating ice was precious. One of those 1,000+ word images to be sure.

But the reality behind what is hinted at in the photo (no, not GW) and explicitly stated in this cartoon... just doesn't make sense.

Polar bears are REALLY strong swimmers. They can go for scores of MILES without a break. Surely they aren't drowning?

[n2doc]

9. Do yourself a favor and rent the movie "Earth"

Aside from some really beautiful cinematography there is a heartbreaking segment on how the melting ice has made it harder and harder for polar bears to find their usual food, because they need to swim vast distances to find them as the sea ice recedes from land.

[FBaggins]

10. Got it. So why not say "starving" instead of "drowning"?

They're called "ursus maritimus" (sea bears) for a reason. I can believe that they might be having trouble finding food (though the connection is not immediately apparent to me), but I can accept that as stated... not that they're drowning.

[n2doc]

11. This is what he is referring to:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article767459.ece

[FBaggins]

12. I thought as much. From the article:

"The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days later after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. “We estimate that of the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds,” said the report."

That's not at all the same thing as drowning because there wasn't any ice. Polar bears used to swim for miles off-shore before the ice was melting (they didn't change from being "ice bears" to "sea bears" a few decades ago. They don't have weather channels at home to warn them of a storm.

If retreating ice means that they have to swim 20 miles off-shore when they used to only swim five (and I doubt it's anything close to that) they're still going to crown in a storm.

As I said. If their populations are declining (a fact I haven't seen claimed let alone demonstrated) then I'd buy that GW could be related... but not because they're drowning.

[n2doc]

14. Fine. Believe what you want to.

It seems you have a superior knowledge of these issues than others who are directly working on the issue. Or at least you claim to. No need to discuss further.

[StarfarerBill]

8. Yep; a hoax, like evolution...

Isn't it ironic that as many Americans contest the validity of evolution, we're seeing it in action: if we continue to pollute our environment at the rate we are now, Nature may well select us out.

[surrealAmerican]

13. k & r