#1368 – Boned
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comics
Sometimes when I’m trying to fall asleep at night I think about what it would be like if I could turn invisible. I imagine it would be some sort of biological ability that would prevent my clothing or glasses from disappearing. What about cavities that have been filled? What about food I just ate? I guess I could accept that if the object were surrounded by my flesh in some way then it would also be invisible. So I could even hold small objects in my hand to hide them from view. I could probably get away with wearing contacts. They are nearly invisible already and it would be pretty hard to notice a pair of them floating around outside.
Today’s Maximumble is ready for breakfast.
It’s amazing how complicated childish ideas become once you put some thought into them.
I think of invisibility as the inate ability to bend light around you. So its an area of effect thing, as opposed to a physical alteration. Breakfast would be hidden.
A good book on that subject is “Things Not Seen,” by Andrew Clemens. It’s what they call a juvenile chapter book, but still a very enjoyable read. A kid wakes up invisible, and… well, you’ll just have to check it out.
Well at least these aliens aren’t boneheads….
Fun fact: If you were invisible you would be blind due to the fact that light would pass right through your retinas, which would never receive any stimuli, therefore would never register anything you have seen.
Science: Ruining childhood fantasies since 1726.
H.G. Welles’ The Invisible Man took care of that. His retinas were still visible (and I guess his eyes’ lenses, though that wasn’t mentioned?). Though that would mean you’d go blind before long if you were outside. You’d always be looking directly at the sun.
Even if it were the ‘bend light aroudn you’ kind of invisible, you’d have problems – all light being bent around, again, you see nothing.
And, when you think about it, thermal radiation is light – so no benefit of radiant heat from outside sources – might get a bit chilly.
Likewise, can you radiate light yourself, when in a bent-light invisible condition? Might be you’d find yourself getting rather warm, instead…
Of course, radiant heat is a lesser means of heat conduction for humans, so maybe it doesn’t matter.
Gaaah! It’s all too complicated! Let’s just be visible again, m’kay..?
All of this is why an invisibility cloak would be handy. It just works, like magic.
There’s a cool book called “Memoirs of an Invisible Man”. Has an interesting take on that kinda stuff. Definitely not a kid kinda book, though.
I think this is the first time that I’ve ever seen Biff without his crazy eyebrows. In any form that he’s ever been in.