Walking Dead

[Merusk]

2.) Not terribly hard to fabricate helium if you know the science.

Is there a practical way of 'fabricating' helium that doesn't involve liquid natural gas or slowly capturing helium from decaying uranium?

No. That's why it's a problem the US is selling it off like it's not as rare and valuable as it is. Once it's gone, shit's gone and we need it for things like MRI machines.

I believe he was thinking of Hydrogen.

[jgsugden]

My mistake on the helium fabrication: Harder than I thought.  I was off base there...  They "make helium" at my wife's school as a science project, but I just looked up what they do and.... it is not making helium.  My bad. 

However, regarding hunting/finding helium tanks: Every grocery store with a floral department, every card store, etc... have them.  Off the top of my head, there are at least 8 places within a mile of where I'm sitting right now where I know they have helium.  Is there anyone reading this that couldn't put their hands on a helium tank within 10 minutes if your life depended upon it?  If so, you wouldn't make it to this point in the zombie apocalypse anyways. 

[Evildrider]

Anyway. I swear I'm starting to recognise some of the zombies. Wife & I had to go back and re-watch the last episode of last season because we'd forgotten wtf was going on and there was one zombie in particular who was gnawing on the window of the car that Daryl & the bloke from Ah-Ha were trapped in that I just know I've seen in it several times before.

They hire like 2-300 people to be zombies before the season starts and those people go to zombie school.  So it is generally the same zombies all season long.  I am sure some people have come back for multiple seasons as well.

Also I can go to my grocery store and they sell those balloon party pack things that comes with a helium tank and a bunch of balloons for parties.  Something like this:

[Ironwood]

Damn fine start.

[apocrypha]

Y'all are far too serious.   

And totally agree that it showed up just how lackluster FTWD was.

[Tebonas]

That massive Zombie horde almost looks like a "Fuck you Fear the Walking Dead, THATS how you use them."

Loved this episode.

[Setanta]

Episode 2 just upped the ante. Pretty damn impressive.

[taolurker]

Really liked this episode, and definitely    worthy.

[Bunk]

I'll be vague enough to avoid spoilers.

Apparently that person left early last episode (I'd have to go back and look) and we've seen people turn almost instantly at times lately, so who knows.

I'm just trying to decide in my head what sound carries further, an air horn or pistol shots. That horn sounded awfully loud in episode 1.

[taolurker]

[Threash]

[Evildrider]

[Hayduke]

[Evildrider]

[jgsugden]

[Bunk]

You're right, I'd totally forgotten about that. So another character who is going to be wracked with guilt. Yay?

[Ironwood]

Good episode, but too much of it was 'off' for me to enjoy it properly.

 

[Hayduke]

I just find Morgan annoying.  I like the actor and wish they were using him better, but the character just seems so impractical and contrived.

[Evildrider]

I just find Morgan annoying.  I like the actor and wish they were using him better, but the character just seems so impractical and contrived.

Until we get his back story where he runs into Mr. Miyagi who teaches him how to defend himself with a staff and implants some "life is precious" mantra onto Morgan.

[Velorath]

I think part of the problem with Morgan is that in some ways it's retreading what they did with Tyrese (and it got old pretty quick there also).

[Setanta]

I find it hard to reconcile this Morgan with the season 1 Morgan. I really wish they'd flesh characters other than the untouchables out a bit more.

[HaemishM]

Well that escalated quickly. Despite the criticisms, I think it was a really good episode. The one thing they didn't do right was give us a better sense of how much time is passing between scenes. It all felt a bit disjointed and oddly paced, with Morgan getting back in time but no one else. The attack was over too soon, but I figure it's just a probe anyway instead of an actual attempt to take the place over.

Morgan's reluctance to kill must have some basis though we haven't been told what. I think it's a bit forced to create conflict with Rick over the course of the season because clearly Morgan needs to see that leaving these dinks alive is going to come back to bite them in the ass.

[Ironwood]

I would imagine Rick kept people to deal with the actual Walkers, knowing Carol was back at home.

She's Carol.  She's got it covered.

So, just send Morgan.  It'll be cool.

[DevilsAdvocate25]

I would imagine Rick kept people to deal with the actual Walkers, knowing Carol was back at home.

She's Carol.  She's got it covered.

So, just send Morgan.  It'll be cool.

In the previous episode, he told Morgan to go back to the base and tell everyone what happened with that guy that got his face bit off. So, Morgan was already on his way back when the horn started honking.

Well that escalated quickly. Despite the criticisms, I think it was a really good episode. The one thing they didn't do right was give us a better sense of how much time is passing between scenes. It all felt a bit disjointed and oddly paced, with Morgan getting back in time but no one else. The attack was over too soon, but I figure it's just a probe anyway instead of an actual attempt to take the place over.

One thing they pointed out in the Talking Dead is that the attack started when Carol put the casserole in the oven and set the timer. It ended when the timer went off and Carl (I think) shut off the timer and pulled out the casserole. All told, it was 45 minutes of mayhem.

[Ironwood]

That only makes my explanation more plausible.  There were hundreds of walkers heading towards the town.  Rick would have needed everyone he had, especially considering Daryl and the two suicides were busy.

[jgsugden]

If w bother to look to see if the story lines up, Rick and company could be a couple miles away.  That air horn, blasted against a wall that faces the herd, could be herd from quite a distance under the right conditions.  I was curious and did some research and found that the horn should easily have been 110 decibels or more, which could be heard miles away under the right conditions.  Conditions play a huge factor in how far sound travels (obstructions like those trees, wind levels, humidity, heat) can make a noise that sound muffled after a few hundred yards or allow it to carry five or more miles.  If there are less trees closer to Alexandria, no wind, a hot day and a lot of humidity.... Sure. 

Regardless of whether the horn should have been heard, the quarry was not right next to Alexandria and they were not moving the heard towards Alexandria, although it looks like the bunch in the front of the herd was traveling along a road that wasn't aimed away from Alexandria anymore - likely running north south instead of East and away from Alexandria. .  In any case, they started out moving away from Alexandria.

Walkers seem to amble at 'up to' about 3 miles per hour (no faster, but most travel slower).  That seems to indicate that ~ 45 minutes would be the minimum it'd take for the herd to reach town.

Episode 3 will likely show the people outside the walls in the 45 minutes between when the horn sounds and the herd reaches Alexandria.   

[Hayduke]

Guns are a lot louder than 110 db though aren't they?

[Evildrider]

Guns are a lot louder than 110 db though aren't they?

140-190 but there are truck horns that also go above 140.

[jgsugden]

Guns are a lot louder than 110 db though aren't they?

140-190 but there are truck horns that also go above 140.

^This: A cheapy truck horn is 110, but they go much higher - which is why I said easily 110 or more.  If you've ever stood near one of those horns when it was sustained, it gets very loud.

Also, percussive short sounds and sustained tones work differently - primarily because of the timing of the sound.  If I hit a drum or shoot a gun and you stand next to it, the sound you hear is a quick burst followed by vibrations in the drum skin or the ringing of the metal in the gun (not easy to hear for hand guns, but fire a canon and you can feel the metal vibrating...).  If you move away, the snap becomes less focused and you lose the ability to hear that softer following vibration.  If you go far enough away, the percussive sound lasts much longer as it diffuses before it reaches you.  If there are echoes involved due to walls, hillsides, etc... the percussive sound fades before it overlaps with an echo.  However, a horn that blares and persists goes on long enough that all those echoes to overlap....  Making a 110 db horn potentially sound a lot louder than a 180 db gunshot at longer distances.  When that horn blared right next to a large wall....

[HaemishM]

[jgsugden]

Sorry... forgot my audience.

HORN LOUD. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

[Hayduke]

I actually appreciate the explanation. Movie or television magic says that guns aren't very loud and I was willing to accept that pretense until you guys brought it up. Figured with the guns being so much closer they would attract more zombie attention, but I had thought of the wall as well and was unsure.

[HaemishM]

You don't have to go into the decibel level of the gun vs. horn to understand why that scene worked the way it did. The horn was loud and SUSTAINED. A gun shot is going to be a series of pops (loud or not depending on the caliber) that might distract for a minute. However, zombies are easily distracted especially when the location of the sound is loud, sustained and unmoving (or moving slowly). The 2 suicide watch drivers in the car have a better shot at drawing at least some of the zombies away with their car horn than firing repeated gun shots.

[apocrypha]

I suspect most of you are putting more thought into this show that it's writers do.

[jgsugden]

I suspect most of you are putting more thought into this show that it's writers do.

I suspect you have not watched Talking Dead or read interviews with the writers and show runners. 

They put this much thought into the show.  They're not perfect, but they try.  I don't think it was an accident or coincidence that the horn was blaring up against a wall.  I don't recall them hearing the gunshots that came before the horn either - and if that is correct, I do not think that is an accident, either.