S09.E07 Stradivarius

[OoohMaggie]

1 hour ago, nodorothyparker said:

This makes me realize that aside from little Judith, we haven't seen a single character with a functioning gun since the time skip. 

There are guns, JD had one, Tara has one in the pic on the spoiler thread and I’m sure Michonne was also packing. It just wouldn’t fly that there were no firearms or ammo around. Obviously they should only use them as a last resort, but Sentries and all ‘away missions’ should be carrying a firearm optional all times. 

What is the ‘shelf life’of your average handgun round anyway, kept in the weapon throughout the seasons? 

[OoohMaggie]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

How in the world can they be used accurately to eliminate walkers?

They also have to rely upon the papier-mâché skulls that the Walkers seem to have, every knife goes straight in up to the guard, never gets stuck, slides off or deflects in any way. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Daryl is a resourceful guy, i can't believe he can't come up with a better place to live than just an open campsite. I'd figure he have an elaborate treehouse setup by now, complete with improvised vines for swinging away if necessary. and of course elaborate traps on the ground for dispatching walkers, or flinging them away (see the game Orcs Must Die 2 for trap concepts.)

Yes, it makes zero sense that anyone would be camping out in a tent on the ground. I don't care what kind of traps you have or if you have a dog guarding you, it's just too easy for walkers to get you in your sleep that way.

[FishyJoe]

From everything we've seen, walkers cant climb or swim very well. All they would have to do is build on stilts like they do in hurricane areas and they would be pretty safe. They could use spears to easily dispatch walkers from their perch.

Now that I'm thinking about it, why don't they use spears or pole weapons? Trying to stab them with a puny knife seems like a huge risk if you miss. I could see using a knife as a last resort, but it makes no sense to kill them in the most dangerous way all the time. Not to mention you can get a lot more leverage using two arms and your whole body weight to attack with a larger weapon. The Romans figured this out thousands of years ago. 

[JackONeill]

2 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

You can almost smell the desperation of the TPTB to keep people tuning in: "If we do something all mysterious, like, I dunno - put a big "X" on a few backs, the viewers will be dying to know what it means and will keep coming back, won't they? Won't they??"

A few weeks ago (or 6 years ago) Michonne was sitting on the bed, wiping away blood on her arm. We were shown this in a very deliberate fashion as though it had some major significance. But, well, I guess it didn't. The fake-outs, the cheesy cliff-hangers, the never-explained mysteries - all so trite and tacky but they seem to be working. I won't mention the cringe-worthy, amateurish, artsy-fartsy crap they've inflicted on us.

This is the truly annoying thing—the fakeouts. Although to say it that way sort of implies that TPTB actually had a plan, that they'd come up with something clever to surprise us with. Take the blood on Michonne's arm. Based upon what we knew of Michonne and the scenes they showed us, it didn't take much to figure out that Michonne was probably just blowing off steam. But certainly, there had to be more to it, right? I mean the Hitchcockian way the camera pulled back to show us the blood!!!!!! Maybe she'd switched sides, and was going to hook up with Negan! Or maybe she was preparing to battle with Maggie for some yet undisclosed reason! Maybe she'd been taken over by the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It just had to be something stunning and surprising so we waited . . . and waited . . . and nothing came of it. 

Then there was Glenn under the dumpster. You know, in 20 or so years, someone's going to write a behind the scenes book and it will come out in the open . . . which will probably be a lot of nothing.

Edited November 20, 2018 by JackONeill
Gleen isn't a person, but Glenn is.

[OoohMaggie]

15 minutes ago, FishyJoe said:

Trying to stab them with a puny knife seems like a huge risk if you miss

Especially when you decide to wear a T shirt whilst doing it.

[JackONeill]

2 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I noticed Carol was using a bow and arrow.  If she did indeed set up that dog to be "trapped", I don't think I would trust her to be able to use that bow if the walkers had gotten out of hand.   Too many things come into play, including wind velocity.  She could easily hit Daryl, Henry or the dog by mistake.

 

Plus, if I remember correctly, they were in an area with lots of small trees. And it was night. I wouldn't have trusted Robin Hood to get me out of that mess.

[OoohMaggie]

53 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Yes, it makes zero sense that anyone would be camping out in a tent on the ground. I don't care what kind of traps you have or if you have a dog guarding you, it's just too easy for walkers to get you in your sleep that way.

The shelter was actually on his raft, or boat as Carol calls it, which I’m assuming he anchors in the middle of the river overnight, you might get the odd floater drifting by but it isn’t going to get on the raft, especially with Dog beside him.

Edited November 20, 2018 by OoohMaggie

[JackONeill]

1 minute ago, icemiser69 said:

it seems to me that the protagonist on TWD ought to be able to come up with better weapons than archery equipment and knives.  

 

I think Kirkman likes swords and arrows. I think it appeals to the fanboy in him. So he's probably been champing at the bit to do away with guns and bullets. Now he's in his element. And, oh, hey, let's throw in a sling-shot because, you know, that's super-cool.

[OoohMaggie]

6 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

Carol & Kid leave Kingdom with bow, arrow and a stick, why? So the ambush scene worked, which it wouldn’t if Carol was holding her AK.

I just noticed that when Carol arrived at Hilltop she was sporting a handgun on her hip, so writers, why would she follow Henry into the ambush holding a bow and arrow, when that one gun would have won the day? 

[Nashville]

8 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

Are those X scars on the characters from a cut or burn?  

‘Abraham’ talking about the marks, no spoilers.

https://www.businessinsider.sg/walking-dead-what-is-x-on-michonne-daryl-back-2018-11/

The Xs could possibly be burns from branding, but (purely MHO) they look more like ritual scarification - cuts which were rubbed with dirt to create a specific scar pattern.

 

7 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Slingshots don't have a sight on them.  How in the world can they be used accurately to eliminate walkers?  

When I was a kid, there were two primary types of slingshots - toy and hunting - and hunting slingshots were frequently used to hunt small game, and to good effect.  The only sights needed are your eyes, the ‘arms’ of the slingshot, and enough practice to know how to shoot accurately within the varying ranges of the weapon.

 

Quote

I suppose finding ammo wouldn't be much of a problem.  I would thing ball bearings and glass marbles would be the best ammo. 

Yup.  Steel ball bearings or marbles are ideal - but technically speaking, pretty much anything reasonably aerodynamic and of sufficient heft will do in a pinch.

 

4 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

What is the ‘shelf life’of your average handgun round anyway, kept in the weapon throughout the seasons? 

Depends upon the ammo’s exposure to environmental factors - chief among them being moisture, as the primary aging problem with bullets is corrosion of the primers.  If the bullets are stored in an airtight or air-restricted environment like an ammo box, though, there’s no reason why the rounds wouldn’t be viable for decades.  I’ve shot 50+ year-old ammo my father had sitting in a nightstand drawer without any problem.  :)

 

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Regular bows do have sights.  Or at least you can get them for bows.

In the past 60 years or so, sure; bow sights didn’t come on to the market until the late 1950s/early 60s.  For the preceding 12,000 years, though, archers did pretty well without them in both hunting and warfare.  ;)

 

Quote

 Those slingshots didn't have any sights at all. 

Here’s the thing; sights can be a great optional attachment, but that doesn’t make them a requirement.  A rifle scope or sights on a bow can greatly enhance shooting skill, sure - but the shooter has to have some degree of native skill in the first place, else the attachments are useless.

 

Quote

As for ammo, yeah small stones because of there shape wouldn't be reliable ammo.  At least not as reliable as glass marbles and ball bearings which are round.

Depends on the stone; river rocks, for example, can be great.  :)

[Nashville]

FYI: How to aim a slingshot

[heisenberg]

18 hours ago, maystone said:

Daryl was in a depression because of Rick's death. If I want to go all armchair psychologist on it, I'd say there's a certain amount of survivor's guilt. He left right after the explosion to hunt for Rick's body, then kept looking for months, then just never went back. I think Dog has helped, and connecting with Carol has helped.

I guess he his still looking for "Rick the walker", that is why he had put traps everywhere.

[rab01]

I'm finally caught up with this season and it's generally been a pleasant surprise.  Other than Rick's farewell episode, it's been a huge improvement on the past couple of years' reliance on bullshit, unmotivated actions, bewildering choices, and characters that were obscenely unpleasant.  I also feel like Kang's been playing basically fair with us (again Rick's farewell is the exception) so I'm not treating every little unexplained detail as a teaser/mystery.  I think some of it is just backstory that will be explained when it makes sense for characters to talk about it. 

I like the general lack of gun use.  They have three to five communities all within a couple days ride of each other so the last thing they want is to constantly draw the attentions of wandering herds through casual gunfire.  As for people on the road, like Carol was, she wasn't scared of handling a few zombies but would be of being trapped by a whole bunch so having a silent weapon ready made sense until she realized too late that it was an ambush.  (What I don't like is Darryl "special snowflake" Dixon being allowed to ride the noisiest machine possible just because the actor doesn't want to get on a horse.)  

There is, however, a problem now with TWD, which is that this used be a cross between a soap opera and a horror movie but now it has to become a cross between a soap opera and an adventure movie because zombies are not frighteningly dangerous to characters who have survived 8 years of them.  That problem was masked for two years by the incredibly craptastic problem of figuring out how to shove more fucking Negan monologues into each episode.  Now that that blight has been removed, it leaves us viewers with time to wonder what is the purpose behind the show.  Hopefully, the writers are thinking of ways to transition the story, rather than just more creative ways to put characters into fake danger (like last episode when they had Daryl spend minutes untying the rope around his dog, rather than just slicing it off).

[amazinglybored]

2 hours ago, FishyJoe said:

From everything we've seen, walkers cant climb or swim very well. All they would have to do is build on stilts like they do in hurricane areas and they would be pretty safe. They could use spears to easily dispatch walkers from their perch.

Now that I'm thinking about it, why don't they use spears or pole weapons? Trying to stab them with a puny knife seems like a huge risk if you miss. I could see using a knife as a last resort, but it makes no sense to kill them in the most dangerous way all the time. Not to mention you can get a lot more leverage using two arms and your whole body weight to attack with a larger weapon. The Romans figured this out thousands of years ago. 

 

I think the herds or enough walkers would take out the stilts. In theory. Tree houses would be a better idea, tbh. I don't see a herd taking down large trees even on this show and they've shown people in a dump. Make a little tree community, or a floating one. The tent raft is a decent general idea to expand upon. The walled towns would still have the most potential for growth but whatever. Finding an island in large lake or close to shore would also work. Island + wall = you've got a veritable fortress

 

The Kingdom guards had spears and I think Hilltop has before a well. They'd probably be fairly unwieldy in close quarters but other than that, the walkers are squishy enough that it would be fine. It was always dumb that one guy had a crossbow for so many seasons and no one else thought to look for one or a compound bow. They also didn't care about any kind of armour until we saw the kingdom who still aren't amazing about it and crazy Morgan.

[Nashville]

1 minute ago, heisenberg said:

I guess he his still looking for "Rick the walker", that is why he had put traps everywhere.

That was my guess, given Daryl’s emphasis on “I never found [Rick’s] body”.  Under no circumstances can Daryl tolerate the notion of his brother wandering around out there in the woods as a shambling, decaying zombiefied wreck.

[heisenberg]

21 hours ago, FishyJoe said:

It really bothers me that they seem to be fabricating everything. There should be a ton of stuff they could use that would more useful than the useless crap they build for themselves. The junkyard alone should have enough supplies to make blacksmithing completely unnecessary. There should be a crap ton of building supplies and tools all over the place. I really don't understand why they decided to become Amish. If I see them blacksmithing nails, I'm done. They can't be that stupid. 

And again, what happened to all their guns??? I thought Eugene was a bullet making genius? If any bad guys show up with guns, they are in big trouble. At this point, guns should be almost as important as food and water. 

Alexandria was more advance technologically before Rick and his gang came in.

 

 

They can fill all the roofs of the houses with solar panels,  Fill a couple of places with lithium batteries or even an impeller on the river stick to an alternator and a cable undeground up to the village.  The're is no reason to not have electricity and everything that you can use with it, even charging electric cars.

 

I would like to see for once somebody using a computer to do something useful, there is no reason not to do so.  I would also like to see people watching a dvd on a flatscreen tv or youngters playing a video game. 

 

And People are either using horses or walk to go places...  No mountain bikes? 

 

I could go on forever but I will stop there.

Edited November 20, 2018 by heisenberg

[AngelaHunter]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

If Captain Kirk can find enough random crap on a barren planet to make weapons in order to defeat the Gorn captain, it seems to me that the protagonist on TWD ought to be able to come up with better weapons than archery equipment and knives. 

There's a channel on YT where some geeks/weaponry experts explore with reenactments how well the weapons used on TWD would work to kill walkers. Michonne's katana and Daryl's crossbow and axes would work very well, it seems, whereas knives and regular bow and arrow work not at all and could not pierce skulls - I mean, real skulls and not the silly cardboard skulls of the walkers we see here.

Edited November 20, 2018 by AngelaHunter

[raven]

1 hour ago, heisenberg said:

I could go on forever but I will stop there.

I think about things like this.  There wasn't a nuclear holocaust; there's still infrastructure, building materials, books, electronics, all kinds of stuff lying around.  I mean, we can see that they manage to get new clothes; I'd never seen that blue jean-type shirt Michonne was wearing.

These people are so incurious about the world and what's going that it's really frustrating sometimes.  The time jumps don't help.  Daryl's been in the woods for 6 years??? He thinks he's going to find Rick in the woods??  What??  Daryl's the outside cat, fine, send him off on a scouting trip with someone else who can handle themselves outside.   Go out on the road, see what's what.

I know we're never going to get this in the show, it's probably always going to be the group vs outside threat, but it shows a lack of imagination in the writing.

[mightysparrow]

I think the 'x' on Michonne's back is where Rick Grimes cut her open, sucked out her personality, and sewed her back up again.  That's the only thing that makes any sense.  What I'd like to know is who performed the lobotomy on every single one of the other characters on the show that would allow them to think Michonne makes a good head of security.  She refuses to listen to anybody's opinion. She took a bunch of able-bodied people away from Alexandria on a wild-goose chase to the Hilltop, with a detour to the middle of nowhere to check out the newbies' story.  And this former Warrior Queen thinks it's okay for her daughter to do her math homework with a psychopath.  What the ever-living fuck? 

I'm convinced that tptb are FURIOUS that Danai no longer needs this shitshow.  In fact, she's doing THEM a favour.  They're determined to destroy Michonne beyond all recognition.  I hope Danai tells them to shove their contract up their asses and goes on to the brilliant career that's waiting for her.

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, heisenberg said:

And People are either using horses or walk to go places...  No mountain bikes? 

That’s been bugging the hell outta me.  Bikes don’t need to be fed or watered, they require minuscule maintenance, they don’t get scared and toss you into a busted-ass pile of broken concrete and rebar - ever - and walkers don’t eat them.

[natyxg]

15 minutes ago, Nashville said:

That’s been bugging the hell outta me.  Bikes don’t need to be fed or watered, they require minuscule maintenance, they don’t get scared and toss you into a busted-ass pile of broken concrete and rebar - ever - and walkers don’t eat them.

But if they went around in bikes the show wouldn't look like the old west, which i think is what they want for some reason.

I think I don't even want to know how much food must be required every day to feed a huge ass horse.

[rab01]

9 minutes ago, natyxg said:

I think I don't even want to know how much food must be required every day to feed a huge ass horse.

Can't the horses just eat mainly grass?

[Colorado David]

9 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

They also have to rely upon the papier-mâché skulls that the Walkers seem to have, every knife goes straight in up to the guard, never gets stuck, slides off or deflects in any way. 

so this. as hard as they are plunging the knives in, i'm betting if you're fairly strong you could punch a zombie in its face and either cave it in or knock it clean off. SO if it's me, I'm finding a metal softball bat and going to town.  It won't break, and it's pretty darn easy to clean.

[amazinglybored]

2 hours ago, heisenberg said:

They can fill all the roofs of the houses with solar panels,  Fill a couple of places with lithium batteries or even an impeller on the river stick to an alternator and a cable undeground up to the village.  The're is no reason to not have electricity and everything that you can use with it, even charging electric cars.

 

I’ll give them one thing. I doubt anyone left could work on electric cars. Most of the cars on the show that weren’t the special Hyundai have been older cars that should be easier to work on.

 

Bikes really are the thing they should have a stockpile of.

 

 

1 hour ago, raven said:

These people are so incurious about the world and what's going that it's really frustrating sometimes.  The time jumps don't help.  Daryl's been in the woods for 6 years??? He thinks he's going to find Rick in the woods??  What??  Daryl's the outside cat, fine, send him off on a scouting trip with someone else who can handle themselves outside.   Go out on the road, see what's what.

 

I think Daryl is supposed to be the show playing at mental health. They’ve definitely ineffectually tried to look at where people would be mentally a few times over the years. But, yeah, the 6 year time jump makes it weird and so does the fact that Rick isn’t dead. Someone really should have recognized a problem and grabbed him before he transformed into Shrek with hair. 6 years is a long time to be like “well, the depressed guy is still alone in the woods fixating on finding a body that probably isn’t there. I’m sure he’s alive and well. Let’s leave him to it.” I think it was too much of a time jump immediately after a major event for the show to manage well. They really, really needed an episode or two set close to after Rick died. Good old AMC put the writers in a bad spot with Lauren Cohan leaving at the same time, though.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, natyxg said:

I think I don't even want to know how much food must be required every day to feed a huge ass horse.

Average rule of thumb is a 1,000-pound horse needs about 20 pounds of hay (or other roughage feed) a day to stay healthy; absolute minimum requirement is about 1% of their total body weight (~10 pounds).

 

1 hour ago, rab01 said:

Can't the horses just eat mainly grass?

Hay or pasture grazing would meet the horses’ needs, yes - and suitable grazing land should be available in abundance in post-ZA years.  Only two primary potential issues present:

1. Allowing suitable grazing time for the livestock to get their daily fill - about 8 to 10 hours pasture grazing time for the minimum.  This wouldn’t be a problem at the settlements, but could present as a problem on extended (multi-day) trips - especially on account of issue #2.
2. Keeping the livestock safe from walkers while grazing.

[heisenberg]

3 hours ago, raven said:

I think about things like this.  There wasn't a nuclear holocaust; there's still infrastructure, building materials, books, electronics, all kinds of stuff lying around.  I mean, we can see that they manage to get new clothes; I'd never seen that blue jean-type shirt Michonne was wearing.

These people are so incurious about the world and what's going that it's really frustrating sometimes.  The time jumps don't help.  Daryl's been in the woods for 6 years??? He thinks he's going to find Rick in the woods??  What??  Daryl's the outside cat, fine, send him off on a scouting trip with someone else who can handle themselves outside.   Go out on the road, see what's what.

I know we're never going to get this in the show, it's probably always going to be the group vs outside threat, but it shows a lack of imagination in the writing.

Exactly.

[enoughcats]

10 hours ago, FishyJoe said:

All they would have to do is build on stilts like they do in hurricane areas and they would be pretty safe.

My godmothers home had a summer room built away from the house (think old pre Civil War home) that was built eight feet above the ground on tree trunks that were about 24 inch diameters when I was a child.  The stairs going up were about 45% missing, but I could carry and encourage her yellow lab Mac to go up to the dance floor with me.  
No zombie could have gotten up there, Mac was a handfull and he wanted to go up.  

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, enoughcats said:

My godmothers home had a summer room built away from the house (think old pre Civil War home) that was built eight feet above the ground on tree trunks that were about 24 inch diameters when I was a child.  The stairs going up were about 45% missing, but I could carry and encourage her yellow lab Mac to go up to the dance floor with me.  
No zombie could have gotten up there, Mac was a handfull and he wanted to go up.  

Same with a lot of the older Middle TN farmhouses near any kind of substantial body of water; before TVA came in throwing up dams everywhere, floods were an annual occurrence.  My maternal grandparents’ home was built on the side of a bluff a mile or so from the Cumberland River, and even on a hillside their house sat several feet off the ground.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Nashville

[JackONeill]

16 hours ago, heisenberg said:

And People are either using horses or walk to go places...  No mountain bikes? 

 

 

This!!!!!  (My highlight, BTW.) But really, as much as I love horses (a wanna-be-cowboy), mountain bikes give so many more advantages. And it's so realistic. But it doesn't fit with child-boy Kirkman's view of the apocalypse.

[OoohMaggie]

For those missing GingerNuts,

https://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/video-extras/season-09/episode-07/spoilers-making-of-the-walking-dead-season-9-episode-7

[FishyJoe]

You don't even need stilt homes. There are literally millions of shipping containers all over the place. You can stack and weld them together with almost no work. The containers would be zombie proof especially if you lived on the second story. A lot of people today are building homes with containers because it's so cheap and easy.

If nothing else, a shipping container would make a perfect emergency shelter. Cut some small holes and you could pick off zombies with no risk. 

[CletusMusashi]

On 11/19/2018 at 11:35 PM, Lakebum said:

Correct that it was a non-venomous Snake (looked like a Black Racer, acted more like an Eastern Rat Snake) but that rhyme --like most snake-related rhymes --is NOT reliable. 

For the sake of their meal, I hope it was a rat snake; that would be much meatier than a racer. 

On a show where rattlesnakes and mud snakes are interchangeable, don't try to figure it out too hard.

[AngelaHunter]

23 hours ago, FishyJoe said:

The containers would be zombie proof especially if you lived on the second story. A lot of people today are building homes with containers because it's so cheap and easy.

Those converted containers have a/c and insulation.

 

On 11/20/2018 at 6:37 PM, raven said:

I'd never seen that blue jean-type shirt Michonne was wearing.

That is the shirt of dearly departed Ricky.

[CletusMusashi]

So who did he leave the murder coat to?

[Colorado David]

I feel sorry for the guy doing the bike/washing machine contraption - that's gotta be a punishment of some sort.

[OoohMaggie]

MC talking about the scars,

“We will discover where those Xs come from. It’s a really f—ed up story. It’s a big, really f—ed up thing that happened during that break. At some point, we will find out about it. You will find out eventually what that is. It was bad”

From an interview,

https://ew.com/tv/2018/11/18/walking-dead-michael-cudlitz-stradivarius-907/

[CletusMusashi]

There may not be any turkeys left, but they could always roast Foghorn Leghorn. Not sure if he'd be safe to eat, though. He'd probably keep repeating on you.

Edited November 23, 2018 by CletusMusashi

[enoughcats]

44 minutes ago, CletusMusashi said:

There may not be any turkeys left,

I would expect them to be drowning in wild turkeys.  Those birds are smart, have clutches of ten eggs, and work as a tribe. (Smarter than walkers, fer shure.)

We have acreage and have been watching the wild turkeys for about 25 years and they don't take s**t from a lot of slinking predators, and they know when to take to the air and where to roost. 

[Colorado David]

10 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

All of the years this series has aired, and I don't recall seeing a Thanksgiving episode.  I suppose a stuffed snake wouldn't go very far in terms of feeding people. 

Goes like this (Linus' voice from Peanuts):

"In the year 2018, the Survivors held their first Thanksgiving feast. They invited the great Zombie chief Massivewound, who brought ninety of his brave zombie compatriots and a great abundance of dragging and whispering of 'they must not escape...'  Commander Ezekiel and Sergeant Carol were honored guests. Elder Gabriel Stokes, who was a minister, said a prayer that went something like this: 'We thank God for our forts and our food and our lack of safety in a hostile land. We thank God for the opportunity to create a new world for freedom and justice." 

And they celebrated by shooting the zombie guests, as an ambush. 

nailed it, Gimple style.

[Lakebum]

On 11/20/2018 at 12:23 AM, Nashville said:

It is in the South, where it came from - covers everything but coral snakes.  :)

Still no. And to put an end to your argument: I'm from the South (born, raised and still live in Alabama) and I'm a herpetologist. (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.) I spent years in the Snake removal business. And now I'm part of an online Snake-identification organization... and an awful lot of our time is spent refuting those ridiculous rhymes, and showing pictorial evidence of our explanations. 

In short, head shape is the WORST identifier one can use, in part -- but note solely -- because most snakes can and do change the shape of their heads to make themselves look more intimidating.

[amazinglybored]

1 hour ago, Lakebum said:

Still no. And to put an end to your argument: I'm from the South (born, raised and still live in Alabama) and I'm a herpetologist. (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.) I spent years in the Snake removal business. And now I'm part of an online Snake-identification organization... and an awful lot of our time is spent refuting those ridiculous rhymes, and showing pictorial evidence of our explanations. 

In short, head shape is the WORST identifier one can use, in part -- but note solely -- because most snakes can and do change the shape of their heads to make themselves look more intimidating.

 

My canadian ass has a rhyme for wild snakes.

 

It’s a snake. Being near it would be a mistake.

If there’s a head, you might end up dead.

 

Checkmate, people who didn’t have to google venomous snakes in their country.

[AngelaHunter]

On 11/19/2018 at 10:06 PM, Colorado David said:

Daryl is a resourceful guy, i can't believe he can't come up with a better place to live than just an open campsite. I'd figure he have an elaborate treehouse setup by now,

Well, he certainly looks as though he's been living in a tree for the last six years.

[walnutqueen]

19 hours ago, Lakebum said:

Still no. And to put an end to your argument: I'm from the South (born, raised and still live in Alabama) and I'm a herpetologist. (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.) I spent years in the Snake removal business. And now I'm part of an online Snake-identification organization... and an awful lot of our time is spent refuting those ridiculous rhymes, and showing pictorial evidence of our explanations. 

In short, head shape is the WORST identifier one can use, in part -- but note solely -- because most snakes can and do change the shape of their heads to make themselves look more intimidating.

SCIENCE, BITCH!  [/Jesse Pinkman]  ;-)

18 hours ago, amazinglybored said:

 

My canadian ass has a rhyme for wild snakes.

 

It’s a snake. Being near it would be a mistake.

If there’s a head, you might end up dead.

 

Checkmate, people who didn’t have to google venomous snakes in their country.

I grew up in Canada, but my Australian stepdad killed every damned snake he saw.  Poor little garter snakes!  :-(

[Nashville]

On 11/23/2018 at 8:35 PM, Lakebum said:

Still no. And to put an end to your argument: I'm from the South (born, raised and still live in Alabama) and I'm a herpetologist. (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.) I spent years in the Snake removal business. And now I'm part of an online Snake-identification organization... and an awful lot of our time is spent refuting those ridiculous rhymes, and showing pictorial evidence of our explanations. 

In short, head shape is the WORST identifier one can use, in part -- but note solely -- because most snakes can and do change the shape of their heads to make themselves look more intimidating.

Whatever you say, bud; my family’s only been staying alive in the Tennessee backwoods since before Tennessee was a state, so who are we to argue with your schooling?  I will say, though - if you’re waiting around until the snake is already being “intimidating” before trying to figure out what kind it is, then you’re probably already kinda fucked.  :)

[Mu Shu]

On 11/20/2018 at 7:32 PM, Nashville said:

That’s been bugging the hell outta me.  Bikes don’t need to be fed or watered, they require minuscule maintenance, they don’t get scared and toss you into a busted-ass pile of broken concrete and rebar - ever - and walkers don’t eat them.

I just think a horse would be an enormous liability both to keep fed and healthy, and when you get surrounded.  Plus it looks dumb, like little house on the Mad MX prairie.

Alexandria looks like a planned community where people had electric golf carts.  You can turn a bycyle into a moped with a small motor and minimal fuel. 

[Mu Shu]

On 11/23/2018 at 9:35 PM, Lakebum said:

Still no. And to put an end to your argument: I'm from the South (born, raised and still live in Alabama) and I'm a herpetologist. (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.) I spent years in the Snake removal business. And now I'm part of an online Snake-identification organization... and an awful lot of our time is spent refuting those ridiculous rhymes, and showing pictorial evidence of our explanations. 

In short, head shape is the WORST identifier one can use, in part -- but note solely -- because most snakes can and do change the shape of their heads to make themselves look more intimidating.

 Virginia should have the three pit vipers. Do they have Coral snake?.  I don’t think they occur that far north.  So to open a new “argument “, are timber rattlers, copperheads, or cottonmouths aboreal?    To argue further, I don’t need no head to tell you that wasn’t a heavy bodied cottonmouth, or a fairly brightly marked copperhead, or whatever small ass rattlesnake they have in Virginia. 

[enoughcats]

2 hours ago, Mu Shu said:

I just think a horse would be an enormous liability both to keep fed and healthy

You mean, you've missed looking for the fields of oats that are designated to keep the horses looking as well muscled as they do?  

I'm looking for the pig pens and smoke houses.  And my bullets would have been saved to take down wild boar hogs (and my CG $$ to 'film' a hoard of Walkers attacked by three boar hogs).  

Where I'd have directed the show to go is toward survival in the real land and opposed to surviving with viewership of the desired age demographic.

[OoohMaggie]

18 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

I grew up in Canada, but my Australian stepdad killed every damned snake he saw.  Poor little garter snakes!  :-(

Having come across an Eastern Brown and a Sydney Funnelweb on my Australian travels, I can recommend the ‘Englishman’s’ response to such things, scream loudly and run away quickly! 

Edited November 25, 2018 by OoohMaggie

[Lakebum]

16 hours ago, Mu Shu said:

 Virginia should have the three pit vipers. Do they have Coral snake?.  I don’t think they occur that far north.  So to open a new “argument “, are timber rattlers, copperheads, or cottonmouths aboreal?    To argue further, I don’t need no head to tell you that wasn’t a heavy bodied cottonmouth, or a fairly brightly marked copperhead, or whatever small ass rattlesnake they have in Virginia. 

Arboreal? No. CAN they climb? Yes. 

18 hours ago, Nashville said:

Whatever you say, bud; my family’s only been staying alive in the Tennessee backwoods since before Tennessee was a state, so who are we to argue with your schooling?  I will say, though - if you’re waiting around until the snake is already being “intimidating” before trying to figure out what kind it is, then you’re probably already kinda fucked.  :)

Unless you know enough about snakes that you don't need to see the head at all. Or better yet, know that head shape isn't going to help as much as some people think it is.