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Hannelore (she might cut herself and go into apoplectic shock)

2 (3.3%)

Marigold (she'd get into it too much)

1 (1.7%)

Claire (she knoweth not what she wieldeth)

2 (3.3%)

Clinton (he'd try to use it to enhance his AI hand)

1 (1.7%)

Emily (for obvious reasons)

28 (46.7%)

Tai (for the acid trip reasons)

2 (3.3%)

Pintsize (of course)

18 (30%)

Momo (she would take out the entire squirrel population of Northampton)

1 (1.7%)

Marten (he can't even lift it)

2 (3.3%)

Other (your choice)

3 (5%)

Total Members Voted: 59

[Soulsynger]

Am I the only one who had a "is Claire really the best character for a 'powerful sword' joke?" reaction?

No. No you're not. Except I wanted to make that joke. (And then probably get banned for it.)

[Bluesummers]

But doesn't she realize that it's phallic power she's feeling?

Am I the only one who had a "is Claire really the best character for a 'powerful sword' joke?" reaction?

You're not. Except I wanted to make that joke. (And then probably get banned for it.)

GAH.  I knew it would happen...take your penis envy somewhere else, you heathens. 

EDIT: Until Jeph has a character make the joke in the next comic, thereby canonizing and validating your shenanigans. Are you proud of yourself? Look at what you've become.

[Is it cold in here?]

I wonder which of the QC cast I would trust least with the broadsword...

Emily I think...

Mieville.

Deathbot 9000.

Pintsize.

[Soulsynger]

[ ... ] Are you proud of yourself? Look at what you've become.

I WOULD feel bad about myself if not for the dancing parrot in your post. Sorry, mate.

[Border Reiver]

Jeph couldn't put in an obvious Red Sonja joke?

Dammit!  I wanted to make that reference!

[jwhouk]

What's in store for this week?

More Hairy Stories!    1 (1.5%)
WWADD? (What would Azumanga Daioh do?)    4 (6.2%)
Tai and Dora relationship development.    9 (13.8%)
Faye and Angus relationship devolvement.    4 (6.2%)
Something else-ment.    5 (7.7%)
Emily's deep, dark past.    10 (15.4%)
Claire talks about her past.    12 (18.5%)
Jeph goes completely silly on us.    14 (21.5%)
Not that we mind, of course.    6 (9.2%)

Total Members Voted: 65

[Soulsynger]

Considering the poll... tied between Penelope and Jimbo.

[Just Karen]

Am I the only one who had a "is Claire really the best character for a 'powerful sword' joke?" reaction?

I had that gut reaction myself...  but you know what?  It shouldn't be part of our reaction.  We're not that different from "average" girls; there's a wide range of "standard" behavioral patterns we fit.  Would a (cisgendered) woman have that reaction?  A (transgendered) woman might as well.

Of course, I might be biased given that (at my last place) I had a wall dedicated to my collection of melee weapons.

[Valdís]

But doesn't she realize that it's phallic power she's feeling?

Am I the only one who had a "is Claire really the best character for a 'powerful sword' joke?" reaction?

You're not. Except I wanted to make that joke. (And then probably get banned for it.)

GAH.  I knew it would happen...take your penis envy somewhere else, you heathens. 

EDIT: Until Jeph has a character make the joke in the next comic, thereby canonizing and validating your shenanigans. Are you proud of yourself? Look at what you've become.

All of this "Phallic symbolism" stuff is so silly. Yes, I'm sure NASA designs their rockets to explicitly be male genitalia too, not that it happens to be a beneficial shape for their function. 

Besides, she's right. It is power; the violence from which all authority derives. Heinlein in the house, yo!

"Will you never cease prating of laws to us that have swords by our sides?" —Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ..his most illustrious defender of democratic values

[Is it cold in here?]

Smaller groups are an exception. My wife's choir director is very direct in his instructions and doesn't reason with people: his authority comes from voluntary cooperation. Other authority comes from expertise and tradition: I'm going to schedule an unpleasant and embarrassing medical procedure soon because my doctor told me to.

It's when we try to build something larger than a hunter-gatherer band that we need to resort to force to keep things together.

(It is at least plausible grounds for complaint that nobody made that joke when the sword was in the hands of Dora, Faye, or Sam).

[cesariojpn]

Jeph couldn't put in an obvious Red Sonja joke?

Dammit!  I wanted to make that reference!

You could've used others.......I guess.

[Valdís]

Smaller groups are an exception. My wife's choir director is very direct in his instructions and doesn't reason with people: his authority comes from voluntary cooperation. Other authority comes from expertise and tradition: I'm going to schedule an unpleasant and embarrassing medical procedure soon because my doctor told me to.

It's when we try to build something larger than a hunter-gatherer band that we need to resort to force to keep things together.

I don't see how that's an exception. Voluntary cooperation does not equal having authority over someone else. The instant they disagree without setting aside their preferences that cooperation would break down and could not be kept together without power, so the "leader" isn't actually in charge. Now that power could still be "Persona non grata" or such ostracism, but it is still a manner of inflicting negative effects on the uncooperative party via dominant control of resources as a means of maintaining order.

Violence, as the root of all real* authority, is just a fact of life. It's true for democracies and so forth as well. The police are collectively hired violence we use to maintain our self-designated rights to property and so forth, the criminals are the ones opting out of the "voluntary cooperation" and being brought back into line by the real power of violent subjugation.

Quite off topic, though.

*Edit: I previously had "- or percieved - " between these, but that can have real effects too. What I mean is when actually using the first five or so definitions of the word, not straying into abstract adjectives.

[Carl-E]

Jeph couldn't put in an obvious Red Sonja joke?

Dammit!  I wanted to make that reference!

Ah yes, the original chainmail bikini wearer.  I'd forgotten, except in the furtive depths of my subconscious...

No, you really don't want to go there...

[ThinksTooMuch]

As for the current poll: in my opinion Cosette would probably be the worst.  There would be a sudden rash of accidental amputations in Northampton...

[Akima]

"Will you never cease prating of laws to us that have swords by our sides?" —Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ..his most illustrious defender of democratic values

A popular idea... "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - Mao Zedong

On the other hand... "A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." - Lao Tzu

Perhaps this just highlights the difference between leadership and authority.

Anyway... Xena? Really? I can think of much cooler swordswomen, and without a chain-mail bikini in sight.

[Method of Madness]

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." - Lao Tzu

Reminds me, of all things, of Futurama

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

[Valdís]

On the other hand... "A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." - Lao Tzu

Perhaps this just highlights the difference between leadership and authority.

Indeed. An inspirational leader often has a lot less real authority internally and relies on personal loyalty. At any time they could simply desert the movement, provided they're not known to be part of it and in trouble either way. In the latter case then ironically it's the power-structure they're fighting against that is maintaining their opponent's authority via violence. A lesson well-learned by rulers who appreciated the value of mercy, like when Aurelian's streak of mercy in contrast to his regular harsh manner caused the splinter-Empires to be abandoned rapidly.

Although I disagree with Lao Tzu. That may be the case for what conservatives want, but for major progressive rights-issues one has to kick up a massive fight and go down in history loathed at the time and loved thereafter. Just look at Lincoln, whose amending of the Constitution is in quite recent news due to the movie (Which isn't out here yet ). Elitist maneuvering to drag the masses forward against their will. 

[riccostar]

Bwahaha!  I feel all proud for helping spark a poll 

[Method of Madness]

Pintsize, he doesn't have fingers.

[Bluesummers]

Aww, I voted Marten, then thought....Emily. Hands down. Imagine if she went at her hair with that?

Head in a jar.

[cesium133]

I'm disappointed to find I'm the only one who voted Tai. I figured more people would remember the clipper incident.

[Method of Madness]

I...don't remember that. And Claire, those earplugs won't help you.

[jwhouk]

Oh GOD, the sobbing.

[Loki]

I would never have thought that Marten has been working for more than one year at the library 

[cesariojpn]

Jeph couldn't put in an obvious Red Sonja joke?

Dammit!  I wanted to make that reference!

Ah yes, the original chainmail bikini wearer.  I'd forgotten, except in the furtive depths of my subconscious...

No, you really don't want to go there...

Lemme guess......Red Shetland?

[Method of Madness]

I would never have thought that Marten has been working for more than one year at the library 

Marten started there soon after he started dating Dora, so he's probably been there about two years by now.

[Is it cold in here?]

The clippers incident.

[Method of Madness]

I...are clippers an electric shaver?

[westrim]

I...are clippers an electric shaver?

They're a basketball team in Los Angeles, but the idea of them helping to shave her pubic hair presents many difficulties.

[Method of Madness]

I don't know, I mean...the dude can jump over a car.  Surely the necessary skills are similar.

[Akima]

No, hair-clippers are different. And High Tai, like the U.S.Marine Corps, presumably neglected to fit a comb/guard to the clippers... Ouch!

I thought the likes of Yog-Sothoth lurked in the dark corners of every library...

[Soulsynger]

Only in those with non-euclidian geometry, Akima.


Somehow it's a nice thing to see those two engaged in normal conversation like that. It's soothing.

[Shogouki]

Hmm, maybe Marten's presence acts as a sort of SSRI and anti-anxiety on people...  Now if only I existed in QC maybe I could get some effective OCD/anxiety/depression treatment too!

P.S.  Can't decide if Emily or Pintsize would be worse having that sword...

[Pilchard123]

Only in those with non-euclidian geometry, Akima.

Which thanks to the properties of L-space is every library, ever.

[Soulsynger]

I wonder... when it's really quiet in the Smif library at night... could you hear a faint "Ugh" from somewhere between the shelves?

(Damn undergrads and their weird furry fetishes.)

[jwhouk]

...You guys have been reading Wapsi Square again, haven't you?

Do NOT tick off the head librarian of the Bibliothiki, or she'll have you for lunch.

Or rip your face off.

[sitnspin]

...You guys have been reading Wapsi Square again, haven't you?

Do NOT tick off the head librarian of the Bibliothiki, or she'll have you for lunch.

Or rip your face off.

And possibly both. Preferably not in that order.

[Barmymoo]

Um yeah, I didn't see any kind of phallic reference in the sword joke. Maybe it's just that my mind doesn't run on those lines. I wouldn't have seen one had it been Marten holding the sword either.

I think I'm a tad worried about what will happen when Claire's delusions about libraries are exploded.

[Carl-E]

It was just the idea of a sword suddenly making her "feel powerful".  In Faye's case, she was already expressing her power through the sword.  Even in Sam's case, where she's suddenly expressing (or at least trying to express) her power as Skullmaster, it's wasn't the sword that made her feel that way, but the anonymity of the mask. 

At least, that's what I thought when she said that.  The small and weak suddenly feeling powerful just by holding a symbol of violence and domination...

Of course, we don't know how many customers she actually hit with it, either! 

[Mr_Rose]

Swords are not (just) symbols though; they are actual weapons that do multiply the wielder's ability to dispense violence and mayhem. Claire, being of slight build and apparently somewhat timid, probably feels this effect more than others because human perception is fundamentally logarithmic in response.

[Is it cold in here?]

Claire is a college graduate, so she must have a fairly realistic idea of what libraries are like, if not what it's like to work in one. A back-office job might meet her expectations.

[Method of Madness]

Being a college graduate doesn't necessarily imply ever having stepped into the college library.

[DrBear]

"other" vote in the poll:

The Vespa Avenger 

[cesariojpn]

I wonder... when it's really quiet in the Smif library at night... could you hear a faint "Ugh" from somewhere between the shelves?

(Damn undergrads and their weird furry fetishes.)

Ya sure it's not the sounds of a wooden ruler spanked onto a butt by the bespectacled librarian?

[Kugai]

Conan The Librarian

[Is it cold in here?]

Jeph should make that a thing.

[Bluesummers]

...Starring Betty White.

[Method of Madness]

I'm kind of sick of Betty White.

[WAYF]

Hark! I hear a reference to Weird Al Yankovic!

From UHF, 1989
Starring Weird Al Yankovic, Teri Jackson, Michael Richards (pre-Seinfeld) etc.
You're welcome.

[cesium133]

Don't change that channel, don't touch that dial! We got it all on the UHF.