Some of the recent generations of yinglets have mouths full of teeth that can do that “chewing” thing though, and it is all the rage for any Matriarch to propagate into their enclaves’ genetic footprints.
Out-of-Placers
A story of inconvenient changes
Support The OOPs
OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
PEOPLE TELL ME THAT IM CRAZY FOR CHECKING MY RSS FEED EVERY 5 MINUTES FOR UPDATES! BUT NOW I CAN BE THE FIRST ONE TO COMMENT THIS WONDERFULL COMIC MWHAHAHAHAAH >:3
srsly though… great work 😀
Man if you crazy it the good kind o’ crazy
Awkward ear-boner.
If Ran had popcorn, he would be munching it idly while humming the comic’s theme song.
Science confirmed ratbird adorability!
I think the appropriate quote here is “Lopin, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” – Kass, Kassablanca
“Why did you have to come to Kassablanca? Zhere are other places.”
Is it just me or is Lupin steadily growing more eloquent ? Also what happened to Kass in panel 2?
That’s just Kass dropping his guard enough to let his personal horrors leak through.
Remember that Kass had been in a war well before all this. One he found unpleasant enough to risk the death penalty for desertion. He likely already had PTSD before the comic started, the fact that he had war flashbacks while sleeping supports this.
That is the face of an ex-man ex-soldier who has seen some shit, and now he’s engulfed in a whole new mental trauma. He’s barely holding on.
Wow, one world-altering revelation and Lopin’s brain seems to have suddenly kicked it up a notch.
So the key to yinglet education is to constantly blow their minds. Which is rather obvious now that I think about it.
Doesn’t seem like a difficult task, either. Though eventually you run into the issue of some things being too big to even start to trigger an epiphany.
Kass has turned into full tsundere mode.
Still makes me wonder how many “changes” will be involved in this story.
If only more science projects had such statuses.
My science project as a kid to train my pet rat to run a maze did.
Wow, what a moment of openness from Kass. Makes me hope there’s some way he’ll become human again.
Tsundere Kass 2muchOP…MUST NERF
Determined Lopin is determined in a very determined way.
A determination so determined that it turns genderswapped men tsundere
Aww man, sad ratbirbs is sad!
P.S.: Vote dammit! 😛
If the yinglet population keep doubling at this rate they will over run the city in no time!
Wow! Lopin is all chivalrous and knightly all of a sudden! Kass better be careful, his subconcious and new mating drive appear to be attracting him to Lopin!
Why just look at the last panel! Their tails being so close like that is common for some species of animals when they begin the mating dance, or fall in “love” …
Zhey are tail-buddies now. We all know what happens next. 😀
… my replies are going to unexpected locations. If this one fails I’m doing a reinstall, cause I know its client end.
Vote Valsalia’s comic top 100!
I saw your prev post TvT 😀
http://topwebcomics.com/vote/7258/default.aspx
Btw very happy I do not have to do that [link] blah blah blah [/link] nonsense to do this heheh
For the vote reward, I would appreciate one of Isher more :3
Though the tulips are appreciated! We are selling tulip bulbs in stores here now actually! 😀
I just left a comment and the same thing happened to me! Going to look into it…
Well At least she has a semi capable servant to help her adjust. Here’s hopping it gets better for her.
Lopin? Semi-capable? The same yinglet that willingly parted with zhe zhing, even though he knew his eyes will be eaten if he did?
How about almost complete screw up, or the era’s Steve Urkel or Lucy Ricardo.
Kass, smart you may be but when it comes to dealing with other yinglets, you got the diplomatic skills of a shoe. Putting down one’s entire race right in their face, just… so uncool.
Actually I suspect that’s the best way to get through to yinglets. Beat them with the blunt end of the stick. They haven’t gotten around to setting up an elaborate song and dance for interpersonal relations yet, so dealing bluntly is dealing with them on their terms – and thus, diplomatic.
Also I imagine yinglets aren’t as dumb as they often seem, just flighty, and lacking someone (like Kass) to hold them to a significantly higher standard than usual they aren’t going to hold themselves to it.
I just get the feeling that Lopin’s just too darn desperate to belong to risk talking back. 😀
~unmanly sounds~ This is adorable and has ominous undertones.
Nope! Possitively clueless. We dont have the discovery channel where I am from. Atlantis :b
I am sure the status of the yinglets in the city, will improve when everyone experiences the adorableness.
My reply did not show up here, but rather somewhat below.
Vote Valsalia top 100 comic!
http://topwebcomics.com/vote/7258/default.aspx
I’m still finding it rather odd that Lopin has accepted the fact that Kass was one human, unlike Vizlet who blew her off originally.
Either way, looking forward to more misadventures with these two.
I don’t think it’s that odd. The Matriarch is much more thinky than most yinglets, and another female to boot — I suspect most males (excluding, perhaps, the council) will accept anything a female tells them without much question.
Also, unlike Vizlet, Lopin actually met him before the tf. I doubt Vizlet knew this particular Ivenmoth grunt before this happened.
I understand Lopin knew her as Kassen, but what I’m getting at is how accepting he was of the notion he was transformed into a ying-lady. Pretty sure (as far as we know so far) this isn’t something that has previously happened, to have him just take her word for it, just seems a little off, that’s all.
Maybe Escher is onto something, he’s just playing along since it’s a pretty female telling him a weird story.
Then again can’t explain away how she would’ve known of the artifact going that way, and how she was the one who bought it.
Best quit over thinking it and just enjoy Val’s story I say.
All good, I do see where you’re coming from. Though Viracroix has also heard rumours of odd things Yinglets have been digging up this low tide, seeming to know where they were. However, we don’t know if they’re more of zhose zhings. Coupled with Patriarch Narklets interest in Lopin, possibly about zat zhing. Or I could just be seeing patterns where there is none. We’ll just have to enjoy more dumb, excitable ratbirds until all is revealed by Vasalia (such a tragedy, right?) Whatever way this goes, zat zhing is driving the story right now in my opinion.
Wow, that went a bit off-tangent. I clearly need to find something to do other than over-analyse Yinglets. Or find a pair of glasses and callyself a less coherent Ran.
dang i want more this is fun!
…Completely overlooking the fact that Lopin’s ‘generosity’ also was him volunteering to essentially go from being an ‘outcast’ to ‘harem of one for zhe pretty lady’.
I just get the feeling that Lopin’s just too darn desperate to belong to risk talking back. 😀
Was pretty sure you were responding to me, did LOL. I usually attribute missplaced comments as human-error, I completely forgot that there are multiple ways to wordpress things!
I was very happy to see OOPs on the first page of TWCs, for a day or so. 🙂 I usually vote for another webcomic once it dissappears deep into the 2nd page.
I can’t decide which one is my favorite. Even Ran is getting great character development.
I’m sure the rest of the cast will appear soon.
Wait, has yinglet lifespan ever been discussed? Maybe I missed something.
I Don’t think yinglet lifespan has specifically been mentioned, but other small creatures (mammals) with a high heart rate don’t tend to live that long. Plus, they are people living in a low technology society who do tend to have a reduced life span compared to what we are used to.
best project status
Alright, folks. Grab a hot cup of coffee and your favorite slide-rule. We’re gonna do some math.
According to allometric scaling laws in biology, the metabolic rates, heart rates, and lifespans of organisms scale like body mass raised to a fixed power. [Ref. 1] We can use these laws to estimate the metabolic parameters of an organism of a known body mass.
However, before we begin, let’s do things right and give these funny-looking rat-birds a proper scientific name. Has one been proposed before? If not, I propose Colobathrarius monodon (i.e. single-toothed stilt-walker).
The equation for metabolic rate in mammals is [Ref. 2]:
(Metabolic Rate in Cal/day) = 70 * (Body Mass in kg)^0.75
The equation for heart rate in mammals is [Ref. 1,3,4]:
(Heart Rate in beats/min) = 186 * (Body Mass in kg)^-0.2
And the equation for lifespan in mammals is [Ref. 1,3,4]:
(Lifespan in years) = 10 * (Body Mass in kg)^0.2
To estimate the lifespan of C. monodon, we need to know the average body mass of the species. OOP#10 gives a good measurement of the height of a typical (?) C. monodon, which appears to be roughly half the height of a typical specimen of Homo sapiens.
Assuming simple isometric scaling of body mass with height, and assuming an average H. sapiens body mass of 70 kg, or 154 pounds, the average C. monodon body mass is (1/2)^3 that of H. sapiens, which comes out to roughly 9 kg, or about 20 pounds.
Based on this body mass, and assuming mammalian scaling laws, we may estimate the metabolic parameters for C. monodon to be:
Metabolic Rate = 360 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 120 beats/minute
Lifespan = 16 years
Note that the same equations, when applied to H. sapiens, give:
Metabolic Rate = 1700 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 80 beats/minute
Lifespan = 23 years
The scaling laws correctly estimate the metabolic rate and heart rate of H. sapiens, but underestimate the lifespan by a factor of three. However, examination of the data in reference [4] shows that H. sapiens is an outlier in terms of lifespan. Most other species’ lifespans fall between 0.6 and 1.5 times the predicted value.
We should also note that the foregoing analysis only provides an estimate of the natural lifespan due to senescence, and neglects other possible confounding factors such as deaths induced by accidents, war, disease, stray dogs, etc. A Species’ lifespan may also be significantly influenced by constraints imposed by story plot, especially if said species is imaginary.
I close with a quote from Mark Twain: “There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”
[1] http://umdberg.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/48318752/Science-1997-West.pdf
[2] http://ucanr.edu/repository/fileaccess.cfm?article=152052&p=VOWQRB
[3] http://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/208/9/1717.full.pdf
[4] http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/longevity.htm
Will she be starting to cycle soon? That will be a surprise especially if they are like some animals that just lay an egg regardless of fertilization. speaking of do they?
Maybe they could have longer lifespans more like birds of the same or much smaller size, rather than a similar mammal, since they do share other avian traits. Many parrots and corvids have lifespans that get close to those of humans, and they have high metabolisms and heart rates.
We could hope that the short yinglet average longevity would be mostly due to misadventures: “Hey, everyone–watch zhis!” In which case, Kass can be more positive…
But in the end, answers await Word of Val.
Kass is stuck in a never-ending misadventure.
Alright, folks. Grab a hot cup of coffee and your favorite slide-rule. We’re gonna do some math.
According to allometric scaling laws in biology, the metabolic rates, heart rates, and lifespans of organisms scale like body mass raised to a fixed power. [Ref. 1] We can use these laws to estimate the metabolic parameters of an organism of a known body mass.
The equation for metabolic rate in mammals is [Ref. 2]:
(Metabolic Rate in Cal/day) = 70 * (Body Mass in kg)^0.75
The equation for heart rate in mammals is [Ref. 1,3,4]:
(Heart Rate in beats/min) = 186 * (Body Mass in kg)^-0.2
And the equation for lifespan in mammals is [Ref. 1,3,4]:
(Lifespan in years) = 10 * (Body Mass in kg)^0.2
(I suppose we can assume yinglets are mammals, based on the anatomy displayed in Prologue #17.)
To estimate the average yinglet lifespan, we need to know the average body mass of the species. OOPs #10 gives a good comparison of the height of a typical (?) yinglet to the height of an average human. In this case, Kass appears to be roughly half the height of Elim.
Assuming simple isometric scaling of body mass with height, and assuming an average human body mass of 70 kg, or 154 pounds, the average yinglet body mass is (1/2)^3 that of a human, which comes out to roughly 9 kg, or about 19 pounds.
Based on this body mass, and assuming mammalian scaling laws, we may estimate the metabolic parameters for yinglets to be:
Metabolic Rate = 360 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 120 beats/minute
Lifespan = 16 years
Note that the same equations, when applied to humans, give:
Metabolic Rate = 1700 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 80 beats/minute
Lifespan = 23 years
The scaling laws correctly estimate the human metabolic rate and heart rate, but underestimate the lifespan by a factor of three. However, examination of the data in reference [4] shows that humans are an outlier in terms of lifespan. Most other species’ lifespans fall between 0.6 and 1.5 times the predicted value.
We should also note that the foregoing analysis only provides an estimate of the natural lifespan due to senescence, and neglects other possible confounding factors such as deaths induced by accidents, war, disease, stray dogs, etc. A Species’ lifespan may also be significantly influenced by constraints imposed by story plot, especially if said species is imaginary.
I close with a quote from Mark Twain: “There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”
[1] http://umdberg.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/48318752/Science-1997-West.pdf
[2] http://ucanr.edu/repository/fileaccess.cfm?article=152052&p=VOWQRB
[3] http://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/208/9/1717.full.pdf
[4] http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/longevity.htm
I’m just testing. For some reason, my comment keeps getting blocked.
Ok, now it’s working.
Alright, folks. Grab a hot cup of coffee and your favorite slide-rule. We’re gonna do some math.
According to allometric scaling laws in biology, the metabolic rates, heart rates, and lifespans of organisms scale like body mass raised to a fixed power. [Ref. 1] We can use these laws to estimate the metabolic parameters of an organism of a known body mass.
The equation for metabolic rate in mammals is [Ref. 2]:
(Metabolic Rate in Cal/day) = 70 * (Body Mass in kg)^0.75
The equation for heart rate in mammals is [Ref. 1,3,4]:
(Heart Rate in beats/min) = 186 * (Body Mass in kg)^-0.2
And the equation for lifespan in mammals is [Ref. 1,3,4]:
(Lifespan in years) = 10 * (Body Mass in kg)^0.2
(I suppose we can assume yinglets are mammals, based on the anatomy displayed in Prologue #17.)
To estimate the average yinglet lifespan, we need to know the average body mass of the species. OOPs #10 gives a good comparison of the height of a typical (?) yinglet to the height of an average human. In this case, Kass appears to be roughly half the height of Elim.
Assuming simple isometric scaling of body mass with height, and assuming an average human body mass of 70 kg, or 154 pounds, the average yinglet body mass is (1/2)^3 that of a human, which comes out to roughly 9 kg, or about 19 pounds.
Based on this body mass, and assuming mammalian scaling laws, we may estimate the metabolic parameters for yinglets to be:
Metabolic Rate = 360 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 120 beats/minute
Lifespan = 16 years
Note that the same equations, when applied to humans, give:
Metabolic Rate = 1700 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 80 beats/minute
Lifespan = 23 years
The scaling laws correctly estimate the human metabolic rate and heart rate, but underestimate the lifespan by a factor of three. However, examination of the data in reference [4] shows that humans are an outlier in terms of lifespan. Most other species’ lifespans fall between 0.6 and 1.5 times the predicted value.
We should also note that the foregoing analysis only provides an estimate of the natural lifespan due to senescence, and neglects other possible confounding factors such as deaths induced by accidents, war, disease, stray dogs, etc. A Species’ lifespan may also be significantly influenced by constraints imposed by story plot, especially if said species is imaginary.
I close with a quote from Mark Twain: “There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”
[1] umdberg.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/48318752/Science-1997-West.pdf
[2] ucanr.edu/repository/fileaccess.cfm?article=152052&p=VOWQRB
[3] jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/208/9/1717.full.pdf
[4] http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/longevity.htm
Being an intelligent fantasy race, it’s probably safe to assume that yinglets are also outliers in terms of lifespan. Assuming the estimate is also off by a factor of three, that would put the average lifespan to somewhere in the mid-forties. A little more than 2/3rds an average human lifespan.
From what we know, their risk of accidental death it’s probably much higher while their chance of death by disease is probably lower.
I find your estimate of mass to be a bit off. I’ve seen house cats that weight that much, and yinglets definitely seem larger and more meaty than a fat cat. I would ball-park their mass to be somewhere around 13-14 kg (30 lbs.), though their partially hollow bones might push that a little lower.
Using my mass and your formula, and the outlier lifespan estimate, I get the following:
Metabolic Rate = 490 Calories/day
Heart Rate = 110 beats/minute
Lifespan = 16 years (x3 = 48 years)
Assuming Kass’s biological age remained proportional (he’d have been… Oh, lets say mid- to late-twenties) and let’s call the human average lifespan about 69 years (23*3) just to keep the math easy. Decimals past the hundredths place not typed out for convenience sake.
So, 25/69=0.36, 0.36*48 years = 17.39, round it down because whatever. 48-17=31 years left, give or take, for a final chronological age of 25+31=56. Lower than the avg human lifespan, but not all that much, and if we assume that the thing about females living longer than males on average is true for yinglets too, he might be out, oh, call it 10 years.
Considering medieval medicine and the fact they are cheerfully using things like LEAD CUPS, and given his lower-class lifestyle before this, it might actually be less: spending more time with the yinglets (who haven’t had time to come up with some of the more… counterproductive… ideas about medicine that prevail in medieval times (those that they HAVE come up with will probably be vetted by vizlet)), and a diet closer to what she’s now optimized to run on (compared to either high-class and dubiously healthy delicacies or undernourishment as a human), Kass may not have lost much at all.
Depending on how the yinglet developmental lifecycle goes- if, as with many species, physical maturity comes proportionally faster than for humans (like, say, if yinglets reach physical maturity at 7 or even lower- mental maturity may never follow, obviously ;>), and if the transformation kept Kass at the same DEVELOPMENTAL rather than chronological age, proportionally, her physical age may now be closer to 10! If so, that leaves 38 years. 38+25=63 chronological years lived. With other factors, that’s not actually much of a difference.
This is a lot of assumptions, obviously, but the point is depending on circumstances Kass might actually live longer than otherwise. And given how things were going at the beginning, and how they’re going now, I think it’s reasonable to say odds of having a family went up.
I agree my mass estimate is not too accurate, but you have to admit you can sweep a lot of sloppy estimates under a 1/5th exponent.
I read a theory that human lifespans are relatively long because humans gained an evolutionary advantage from the passing of knowledge from older to younger generations. The more overlap there is between generations, the more knowledge can be shared. If the same is true of yinglets, then they too should be expected to have longer-than-average lifespans for creatures of their size.
I do not believe I have seen a single yingletvpup in this comic yet … no overlap then? Or secret pup dens?
We see a young yinglet at the end of the ‘Of Ends and Beginnings’ side-story. None come to mind in the main comic but I think Vizlet’s “girls” are probably the equivalent of teenagers.
Females seem to usually recieve some education from the matriarch, especially if they are likely to be the next matriarch. Males seem to be more “free-range” unless they catch the eye of an older skilled male who decides to teach them his trade.
One young yinglet appears in the last panel of page 33.