Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

New years hijinks from the gang

The Bubbles Saga continues

Pintsize!

Holiday adventures with Veronica, Sam and JIm

Science with Raven!!

Tai and Doras wedding

The Origins of Corpse Witch

Hanners enters The Bubbles Saga

The return of Winslow and Meiville

Flying Roomba Adventures

Sathe Ham with Space Pizza and Beer

Brun gets a job!!

Clin-ton and Emily - The Redating

Drinks at 'the Horrible Revelation' with Will, Penny and Jimbo

Purple Monkey AnthroPC Dishwasher

Butts!!

[Kugai]

And the New Year begins - may it be a frell of a lot better than the last!!

[Case]

And the New Year begins - may it be a frell of a lot better than the last!!

Word! The last one was fraked ...

[hedgie]

Not just that, it was utterly fscked.

[brasca]

I'm thinking that we'll probably get a break from Bubbles saga to shift focus to some of the other current story lines or perhaps revisit some of the characters we haven't seen in awhile.   

[BenRG]

Comic Up! (Yes, already!)

The one thing that Corpse Witch could never have imagined: That a human would disadvantage herself to help a group of AIs. People forget that Faye has a lot of compassion in her and, at least when it comes to other people, has very little fear in doing what she perceives to be the right and necessary thing.

FWIW, I still think that the way forward is to make the fighting league legitimate and legal.

[hedgie]

I'm sure they could do it legally if they followed proper safety standards, got permits, and paid tax.  Wouldn't be much difference between that and what us much more mortal humans do when properly sanctioned.

[gprimr1]

Faye has no job, no money, no assets, how the hell is she going to get a loan? Let alone a loan big enough to buy something like the skate park.

She needs to calm down.

[Morituri]

I don't think she could get a loan to buy the skatepark.  At least not by herself.  But she might be able to sell some investors on it.  After all, it's a good risk; It's an already-established business, with an established clientele and employees, and if it goes legit, then shares of it become a legitimate financial asset.  They could do an IPO and sell shares to raise money.

Also, Station might find that it's a worthwhile thing, and Station has more money than God.    So the IPO might wind up with him as a majority shareholder. 

OTOH, she could get enough loan to rent a storage space on her own stick. It isn't that much money, and she (& Bubbles & Jeremy)  are fully equipped (Faye was using her own tools) and fully competent to do robot repairs.  So I see a small repair business, starting with an already-established clientele (the arena fighters who know already that they're good), as a possibility.

A small repair shop could develop in a bunch of directions.  As a repairs-for-the-disadvantaged charity suitable for state sponsorship and/or eligible for tax-free donations, or as a good honest repairs-for-customers-paying-a-reasonable-fee business.

Either way, they might wind up as contractors doing cheap repairs for the parole department, or take state subsidies to provide 'halfway house' employment for parolees, or both. 

There are a lot of possibilities, depending on how they handle it.  There are a lot of different ways to go legit.

[jheartney]

Faye has no job, no money, no assets, how the hell is she going to get a loan? Let alone a loan big enough to buy something like the skate park.

She needs to calm down.

if she got the loan, how would she pay it back? The skate park needs to continue, or there's no money for anything.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of "disadvantaged AIs." I should think that an AI, any AI, represents a significant investment of resources. Further, their physical needs are probably less than a human's (current to recharge and a dry place to do it; their medical needs can apparently be filled by a self-taught metalworker). Someone ought to be willing to employ them, because if there was no need for them, why would they have been created? Unlike humans, there's no sex drive pushing for their conception, and baby AIs aren't cute like babies, and they don't have biological parents programmed to love and raise them. So before an AI gets made, shouldn't there be someone paying for it with a purpose they're meant to fulfill? Shouldn't most AIs have a built-in employment situation?

[Method of Madness]

Yeah, there's no way I'm not fixing that y. (To anyone who looks later, the title of the thread originally contained "JanuarY".)

[Storel]

Go, Faye! I don't really know what she's going to do or how it'll all work out... but I second that emotion!

[Mad Cat]

Well, there's no reason Faye couldn't have guns, the real kind that go bang-bang. If this is an idealized future/idealized parallel present, where lots of societal ills have been successfully addressed, then the political pressures against armed civilians would be gone as well.

Of course, the wisdom of an adult with a history of an adult suicide attempt keeping or bearing arms is a separate issue, but if Ofc. Basilisk can have a fancy futuristic stungun, then maybe, just maybe, smartgun technology can be fictionalized into a working state.

[Kugai]

Nice sentiments Faye, but how ya gonna pull it off?


The only people she has contact with that might even be capable of financing this kind of thing have the surname Elcott-Chattham.

[Is it cold in here?]

First things first, Pugnacious Peach. You have Corpse Witch and the Big Fish to deal with (does that sound like a band name?) before you do anything else.

[Tova]

You seem very sure that Corpse Witch is not the big fish the inspector is after. Why is that?

[Case]

This article puts the fee on a 5 by 5 feet storage unit at 40-50$, and the one on a 10 by 15 feet unit at $75-$140.

(It also states that the median US household has ... 232 m^2 ...   )

Questions:
* Why are we so sure Faye has no assets? She could be a beneficiary in her parents testament - I think I recall them owning a house?
* Do(n't) US houses usually have a basement/attic? I rent a 35 m^2 flat for 335€ and get 3-5 m^2 storage space in the basement as part of the deal. It's rather common over here.

[oeoek]

I notice some personal development; so far, Faye has been coasting, now she seems to have a goal... What I mean is before, she worked at CoD, did some art, and had no idea where she wanted to go (she did know what she NOT wanted, but no idea what she actually wanted to do or be). Fired, Robofights came along, she liked what she did there, but again, it was pretty much going with the flow. As far as I remember, this is the first time she wants to set up something.

As for the loan, she is not looking to rent the whole skate-park, she mentioned a storage space to set up a recharge station for AI's in need. A shelter for stray AI's? Sounds like step one of a robo-repair shop to me...

Let me put it this way; in RL I know some people who work at or run shelters for homeless people, and somehow I notice some resemblance between them and Faye. Here in the Netherlands, quite a few of those places are not run by religious or wealthy charities, but by people who had a close shave with problems themselves. They found a way out, and try to help others do the same.

[pwhodges]

What if Faye tries offering Dora an investment opportunity?  Dora's shown a little regret over her handling of Faye, so she might consider it.

[WoaLG]

What if Faye tries offering Dora an investment opportunity?  Dora's shown a little regret over her handling of Faye, so she might consider it.

Dora may own a fairly successful small business, but she's not super rich. I distinctly remember that she's stressed about money in at least a few pages.

She'll want to help, but I don't think she'll be able to.

[BenRG]

Faye needs to find a sugar daddy, there's no doubt about that. However, I don't think that her or she would come from the core cast. I don't think it's going to be a new character as that would be implausible. I'm thinking though that it would be someone unexpected, possibly from the 'more money than sense' category like Jimbo (a successful romance author) or Sven (a successful composer and performer).

Why them? Someone like Beatrice would see that Faye's 'business plan' is full of holes and has almost no ROI potential that she can see. Jimbo or Sven would be more likely to offer cash on the grounds that Faye is the one who is asking and only ask later if they are getting anything out of it other than Faye paying attention to them for one evening (they think it is a date; Faye calls it an "investors' conference").

[brasca]

Faye has no job, no money, no assets, how the hell is she going to get a loan? Let alone a loan big enough to buy something like the skate park.

She needs to calm down.

Yes this isn't like buying the Multiplex 10.  She'll need to develop a business strategy. 

And even though this doesn't actually take place on New Years Eve it sure sounds like Faye is making a resolution. 

[Radium_Coyote]

Faye has a very unfortunate tendency to make things worse, rather than better.  A direct confrontation with CW will not end well, but that would most likely be Faye's first move.

[Zebediah]

Questions:
* Why are we so sure Faye has no assets? She could be a beneficiary in her parents testament - I think I recall them owning a house?
* Do(n't) US houses usually have a basement/attic? I rent a 35 m^2 flat for 335€ and get 3-5 m^2 storage space in the basement as part of the deal. It's rather common over here.

1. Her mom still owns the house. Upon her death it probably gets split between Faye and her sister, but for now it's Faye's mom's house and so can't be counted as one of Faye's assets.

2. In the north, yes, most houses have basements or attics. (Basements are less common in the southern US.) But Faye doesn't live in a house, she lives in an apartment building, and many of those do not have a storage space as part of the deal. We've never seen one in all the time Marten and Faye have lived in that apartment, so I'm guessing they don't have one.

[Method of Madness]

Faye needs to find a sugar daddy, there's no doubt about that.

...does this mean something else on your side of the pond? Because if not...what.

[BenRG]

Faye needs to find a sugar daddy, there's no doubt about that.

...does this mean something else on your side of the pond? Because if not...what.

I'm using the term loosely and not in strict accordance with its traditional meaning - I am using it to indicate that Faye needs to find a wealthy donor who isn't interested in the usual sort of repayment or even repayment at all. That's how I generally think of the term anyway.

Oh, and let's avoid turning this into another pointless etymological discussion like the one about 'distaff' that totally derailed a prior thread.

[Gyrre]

Just 3 poll options? There's 5 I'd like to see.

[blt]

Granted Faye is angry, says wants to protect her friends and wants to take action now, but the way she is acting just bugs me.

She's going off half-cocked and not REALLY thinking about the consequences of the people she's trying to "help".  And the way she sort of just tramples over Bubbles' distress and reasonable logistical concerns about others' well-being with a "fuck it we'll figure it out as we go... I want vengeance!" just kind of skeeves me out.

[Morituri]

Let me put it this way; in RL I know some people who work at or run shelters for homeless people, and somehow I notice some resemblance between them and Faye. Here in the Netherlands, quite a few of those places are not run by religious or wealthy charities, but by people who had a close shave with problems themselves. They found a way out, and try to help others do the same.

Ditto in the US, at least for people who START the shelters.  Once established they tend to attract religious or other sponsorship, but the people who start them are exactly the same set.  It takes somebody setting the thing up come hell or high water, for the religious and foundation people to notice that there's a real need which they can help with.

And it takes some courage to start things.  Someone always has to stand up to the bullies.  I saw a fine example came from someone who had organized a charity kitchen serving homeless people who had been tent camping in an unbuilt area.  One of the neighborhood association people who'd been trying to get these filthy homeless to Just Go Away came up making trouble because a soup kitchen made it possible for them to stay around, and eventually, in a tone of outrage, asked the guy organizing the whole thing, "Why are you feeding these people?!"

The answer was the second finest shut-up I have ever witnessed:  "Because they are hungry."

[Is it cold in here?]

You seem very sure that Corpse Witch is not the big fish the inspector is after. Why is that?

It's the way I read Detective Basilisk's explanation. It sounded like she was imagining a larger organization than the skate park. If Ms. Witch were a senior organized crime figure it doesn't seem likely she'd spend so much time as manager of one small business.

[gprimr1]

I view the Skate Park as one venue for robot fights. My guess is that the AIs travel to other venues and fight their as well. I would expect that people would get sick of seeing the same robots fight week after week so venues would form a "league" of sorts.

The commissioners of this "League" would be the big fish.

[elvis_in_a_hawaii_shirt]

Can I just point out how amazing the art has gotten? Those expressions on bubbles especially...

Also kind of wondering whether this will be a "Faye redemption arc" or if she will f*ck things up again and only have her character growth afterwards. I sort of hope it's the former, otherwise this is going to be painful to watch.

[Thrudd]

I am seeing everyone proposing the enterprise being done as a capitalist venture.
[ I am thinking too much commercial indoctrination ]

Why has nobody even mentioned that they could go the charity route instead?

- Initial sponsor could be an already existent charity group [ how do the various church groups view AIs? ]
- Taxes are lower to non-existent
- personal income would be marginal to none existent BUT outside ventures could be pursued for that [ Faye - do your damn art already ]
- Sponsors would sign up if only for the tax write-offs and the positive publicity
- Corporate sponsors would be possible to promote their products or showcase new products being put to use / tested
- This would not even require robot fighting to get off the ground [ That could be a spinoff once that goes legit ]
- They could get sanctioning as part of the parole and AI support programs if they ask the right people

[Morituri]

A small repair shop could develop in a bunch of directions.  As a repairs-for-the-disadvantaged charity suitable for state sponsorship and/or eligible for tax-free donations, or as a good honest repairs-for-customers-paying-a-reasonable-fee business.

I am seeing everyone proposing the enterprise being done as a capitalist venture.
[ I am thinking too much commercial indoctrination  ]
Why has nobody even mentioned that they could go the charity route instead?

Just thought I'd point that out.  Carry on.

[Kugai]

The charaty route is not a bad one, but I think for something like the Robot Fight Club it would be a non starter.  For starters, becoming a charity group means opening yourself up to both government and public scrutiny as well as press scrutiny.  For something like the Fight Club,, that's the LAST thing they'd want as it skirts the law as it is.

Then too, the 'Big Fish' are not going to want that kind of scrutiny either, which could lead to them doing something rather nasty to Faye Bubbles and anyone connected with them.

[Zebediah]

Comic's up. Warning: Contains dangerous amounts of heartwarming hugs.

[Tova]

You seem very sure that Corpse Witch is not the big fish the inspector is after. Why is that?

It's the way I read Detective Basilisk's explanation. It sounded like she was imagining a larger organization than the skate park. If Ms. Witch were a senior organized crime figure it doesn't seem likely she'd spend so much time as manager of one small business.

Okay, my archive-fu is lousy, but the only thing I got out of her explanation was that she was after someone who was exploiting someone else. And Corpse Witch is now known to fit the bill.

[Method of Madness]

Even Bubbles knows she'd cry if she could. So how could the rest of us not? :')

[DonInKansas]

Faye is planning to become the Dana White of AIUFC.

[TheCollector]

Okay so this is stupid but it popped into my head and I just had to share.

Faye and Bubbles, sitting in a tree, F A L L I N G first comes the splintering, the the trunk breaks, then comes the tree falling down, because really what was Bubbles thinking going up in a tree.

lol

[Neko_Ali]

Does Marten and Amir still have the storage space that Deathmole practices in? We haven't seen if the band is still going since the time jump. The problem with most storage units is that they don't have power, but the one they were renting must, since they had electric guitars.

If they go after Corpse Witch it's pretty much guaranteed that fight club will be shut down. It might be an open and 'harmless' secret right now, but once word gets out that she's been blackmailing AI into being essential slaves there will be all kinds of government agencies combing over everything. Taking it over and trying to run it legit there at the park doesn't seem likely. Nor would Bubbles want to continue, probably. She's already expressed distaste for the fights.  The FayBles robot repair shop does seem the most likely enterprise for them, if they go into business on their own. Getting money probably wouldn't be a problem. None of the cast are themselves wealthy, it's true. But they know a lot of people who are anywhere from very comfortably well off to more money than they could ever spend. Station or HannerDad might very easily be happy to fund the set up for a shop, just on principle. Either of Marten's parents could possibly be convinced to be a co-signer on a small business loan.

The bigger problem is the fall out of turning on Corpse Witch. It looks like at least Bubbles, Jeremy and Punchbot live at the rink. Who knows how many other fighters we haven't seen do as well. They must have a fairly large staff of fighters to keep things interesting, probably upwards of a dozen. And while yes, they would need someplace to get repairs, they would also find themselves suddenly homeless and jobless. Not the best of clients if you are looking to get paid.

[jheartney]

WRT Bubbles not being equipped with tear ducts, bear in mind that some AIs ARE equipped with them.

[ZoeB]

I've been in the same situation as Bubbles in the middle bottom panel. It's not the tear ducts, it's the heart. Cruelty and opposition I can cope with, I thrive on it, and I bet Bubbles does too. But kindness... seeing just how Good some people are.. especially when they're being good to you.. no defence.

[Squiddlywinx]

Floof.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

WRT Bubbles not being equipped with tear ducts, bear in mind that some AIs ARE equipped with them.

I thank you for sending me back to the best ever part of this web-comic.
(new chassis Momo)

....

Because Google is MaiFrendo, I tried AgisMaze QSE and it barfed at me.
At least Corpse Witch isn't using Triple DES. (I would have lost all respect for her. (Triple DES is an attempt to extend the life of the aging DES algorithm.))

[Mad Cat]

I always knew Hanners was capable of physical affection. It just required a synthetic recipient to be expressed.

[Kugai]

This is going to prove interesting.

[Is it cold in here?]

I always knew Hanners was capable of physical affection. It just required a synthetic recipient to be expressed.

She managed to hug Marten when she got the CoD job.

[Timemaster]

Floof.

Jay, Hanners! 
But she seems to have overcome peak floofy, I think she cut her golden wool in the back since we´ve seen her last. At least since this strip:
http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3247

It´s nice to see that Jeph is taking Hanners and Station into account to deal with Bubbles problem. Once again he seems to listen to the forum. Or maybe it´s simply the most logical course of action for Faye.
But I don´t think Station will take a bigger part in solving this storyline, because this would be a classical deus ex machina and it would lessen the efforts of our main protagonists, especially Faye´s. But nonetheless it would be nice to see him again. The space station arc is still my favourite Hanners story. And it´s got spathe ham. 

TM

[Morituri]

Most beautiful words anyone ever heard, if they want to break encryption.  "A variant of". 

Meaning somebody did their own crypto implementation, meaning unless they are a specialist they almost certainly got it wrong.

You can encrypt something as securely as you want and then exit a routine without clearing a sensitive variable and the key will be stashed right there next to it.  Or use a bad source of randomness and get an easily predictable key.  Or blow the details of an exchange protocol and produce a "nonce" that gives away the state of the random number generator right before the key is produced.  Or fail to clear a buffer and leave large chunks of the plaintext lying around.  Or use the same key twice for a stream cipher.  Or blow the implementation of CBC mode and make it PBC.  (XORing the encrypted blocks with the plaintext).  Or any of a thousand other things.

The minute a security guy hears that someone implemented their own crypto, he knows that 99 times out of 100, there'll be a way to break it.  Crypto is damned hard, the programming languages aren't made to support semantics where it's important what the system *doesn't* do, and almost nobody except specialists ever gets an actual implementation secure. 

[BenRG]

Poor Bubbles! Based on panel 4, she's still not used to spontaneous acts of affection and reassurance, is she? Was it the hug or was it Hannelore calling her 'friend'? Something tells me that Bubbles still isn't entirely used to either!

"I am glad I am not equipped with tear ducts." <-- This is a group hug trigger phrase as well as for Hannelore and Faye to lose control of the units with which they are equipped.