or that I haven't done anything on an essay that's due in a few days.A few days? That's plenty of time!
Once in a blue moon I'll have a dream where I'm back in university, and realise I haven't been to certain classes in months, or that I haven't done anything on an essay that's due in a few days.I have the same dream quite frequently, although I graduated years ago. I guess I was frequently behind schedule.
I'm expecting Marten to ask Tai, only to have her freak out when she realises she doesn't know, and hasn't been to a class in monthsIt is a possibility. AFAIK, Tai has never mentioned her studies. Either she has dropped out (and the System is not aware of it yet), or she is hard at work, studying whenever she is not at the Library or with her friends. Either way, she does not want to involve her friends in this part of her life.
It's cute how concerned Claire is about not getting to work with Marten any more.Yes, but I guess this is the prelude to some shakeup. Tai may graduate and find another job (or be fired because she dropped out of her studies). Without Tai to protect him, Marten will be fired because he is not really qualified for his job (unless Claire gets Tai's job and continues to employ Marten). But I really think it is time for Marten to try to find another job. Then he could also start dating Emily :-D
I suspect that the job description likely requires a bachelor's degree in a related field, and his is not related.
Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Well, that has interesting implications about Dora.
Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Well, that has interesting implications about Dora.
Dora is also Marten's alter ego. So is Faye. Everyone in QC is a figment of Marten's imagination. Marten has actually been in a coma in a hospital in Sacramento for the past ten years and QC is just a dream he's having.
The final QC shows Vicki crying over her lost love as the family debates whether to pull the plug. :psyduck:Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Well, that has interesting implications about Dora.
Dora is also Marten's alter ego. So is Faye. Everyone in QC is a figment of Marten's imagination. Marten has actually been in a coma in a hospital in Sacramento for the past ten years and QC is just a dream he's having.
Dora is also Marten's alter ego. So is Faye. Everyone in QC is a figment of Marten's imagination. Marten has actually been in a coma in a hospital in Sacramento for the past ten years and QC is just a dream he's having.
The final QC shows Vicki crying over her lost love as the family debates whether to pull the plug. :psyduck:Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Well, that has interesting implications about Dora.
Dora is also Marten's alter ego. So is Faye. Everyone in QC is a figment of Marten's imagination. Marten has actually been in a coma in a hospital in Sacramento for the past ten years and QC is just a dream he's having.
The final QC shows Vicki crying over her lost love as the family debates whether to pull the plug. :psyduck:Tai is actually Marten's alter ego Fight Club style.
Well, that has interesting implications about Dora.
Dora is also Marten's alter ego. So is Faye. Everyone in QC is a figment of Marten's imagination. Marten has actually been in a coma in a hospital in Sacramento for the past ten years and QC is just a dream he's having.
QC IS NOT ST ELSEWHERE. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/StElsewhere)
Now, stop that.
I'm not sure that's even a pun. One Claire out of five. :claireface:
Dora is also Marten's alter ego. So is Faye. Everyone in QC is a figment of Marten's imagination. Marten has actually been in a coma in a hospital in Sacramento for the past ten years and QC is just a dream he's having.
Oh god, I just looked at that and apparently he actually works at Smith College. I wonder if the Smif shirts are just a jokey thing even in-universe and it really is Smith!IIRC Jeph explained that Smif is the QC-Verse equivalent of Smith. So In-Universe there is no Smith.
Oh god, I just looked at that and apparently he actually works at Smith College. I wonder if the Smif shirts are just a jokey thing even in-universe and it really is Smith!Apparently calling Smith College "Smif" is so common in the real world that if you do a web search for "Smif College" you get results for Smith College, and if you go to Wikipedia and type in Smif it takes you to Smith College with a notice:
Oooorrr they don't fire Tai because she has been completely competent.
I find it interesting to see how employment laws in different countries shape people's attitudes towards Marten's job. Here in the UK, you can't just fire someone because you've decided someone else would be cheaper and equally competent.
Oh, it gets "better" than that. A lot of times, they'll just force people to quit so they don't have to deal with paying unemployment. So they'll do things like schedule people for hours that they can't work, or cut hours to the point where the employee would starve if they didn't start working somewhere else, and *then* initiate a scheduling conflict. At more than one job I've been fired from, near the end, I'd get calls from the mangler saying that I was "an hour late", despite not being scheduled until three hours later, or suddenly changing the schedule after it was printed out so I'd get canned for "not showing up".
Ah here in the United States we have "At Will" employment. Competence has nothing to do with anything -- it all comes down the whims of the person that has the authority to hire/fire. This leads to some mighty F-ed up companies as you get the wrong sort making the decision and blamo.
More like The Gradubaked, eh Tai?
Tai's position has been left ambiguous all along. She's referred to being a TA, which would normally mean she was a grad. student working on a Master's, but at the beginning at least she was living in a dorm. So who knows what "graduation" she's talking about?
With regard to qualifications, let's not forget that Marten is a graduate, though not in Library Science. He has a degree in Music History & Critical Theory (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=276).
Speaking of art style, I like how Jeph carefully kept Tai's left elbow out of camera, so he didn't have to draw the star tattoo.
I don't even want to know how Liefield would draw Faye. :psyduck:The universe is not large enough.
There are, however, some things you can't do to get rid of someone in the US. For example, a manager at a company I used to work for found out the hard way that you can't fire someone for taking too much sick leave when the sick leave was due to an on-the-job injury. Or at least, if that's why you're firing them, you shouldn't put it in writing. Which this idiot manager did. The company's lawyers advised settling the resulting lawsuit for a generous sum.
Oddly enough, the manager kept his job.
A lot of times, they'll just force people to quit so they don't have to deal with paying unemployment.This tactic is quite popular in Australia too, despite our employment-protection laws. Basically it boils down to a "paperwork arms-race". Employers need to document your "failings" to avoid veering into "constructive dismissal" or "unfair dismissal" territory, and you need to document their unreasonable behaviour. Often, once you demonstrate your determination to, for example, photograph the schedule before you go home at the end of your shift every night, they go and find someone else to fire. It is the old "I don't need to outrun the bear; I only need to outrun you" situation.
I've wondered before and I wonder again: Are we to understand Marten's degree to be in Music History & MUSICAL Critical Theory?Good question. Marten's never been one for literary references much. I don't know to what extent Critical Theory is/has been applied to music as well as literature. Then there is the difference between what you study, and what they put on your diploma/degree. Insofar as "early Marten" was, to some extent, based on Jeph Jaques himself, we should consider that he holds a degree in Music.
Yeah, but 691 has "Smith College" on the sign. Other than apparel (which like I said could be an in-universe joke), is there any canon mention of the school actually being called Smif?Oh god, I just looked at that and apparently he actually works at Smith College. I wonder if the Smif shirts are just a jokey thing even in-universe and it really is Smith!IIRC Jeph explained that Smif is the QC-Verse equivalent of Smith. So In-Universe there is no Smith.
I remember first finding the forums, and seeing SMF at the bottom of the page, thought "Smif" was a reference...SadoMasochism Forum :veronicsface:
Hmm. :?
Any fellow male here who would actually pass on looking at a cute ladies behind if they get an offer like that ?
If that could cause awkwardness, the piercing studio already would have.
Hmm. :?
Any fellow male here who would actually pass on looking at a cute ladies behind if they get an offer like that ?
Any fellow male here who would actually pass on looking at a cute ladies behind if they get an offer like that ?I do not get such offers, so I don't really know. That aside, Marten has seen Tai's private parts before (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1247). As Tai for obvious reasons is not on Marten's list of potential sexual partners, I guess he is just not very interested. If he wants to look at butts, the Internet is readily available.
Another question is why Tai is happy to flash her private parts in front of Marten. Tai is supposed to be exclusively lesbian, so why is she comfortable doing it?I've known a few women who were quite comfortable with casual nudity around men they trusted. Some people just have looser boundaries than others.
Another question is why Tai is happy to flash her private parts in front of Marten. Tai is supposed to be exclusively lesbian, so why is she comfortable doing it?
Another question is why Tai is happy to flash her private parts in front of Marten. Tai is supposed to be exclusively lesbian, so why is she comfortable doing it?I think the more important question is why you think nudity, or even bare skin, is inherently sexual enough that being so around someone who isn't of the gender you fancy should be enough cause for a third party to question your orientation?
Tai was in a dorm early on but the place she took Dora looked like a house.
Yeah, but that was her friends place where the party was at/
I think it's more likely she crashes at Doras place now.
I am not sure I understand your argument. My assumption was that a lesbian would not be comfortable with causing sexual arousal in a male. It may be because Tai and Marten are good friends, and Tai thinks he is not sexually interested in her. Still, Marten is a hetero male, and may think otherwise. Just check strip #1250 (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1250).Another question is why Tai is happy to flash her private parts in front of Marten. Tai is supposed to be exclusively lesbian, so why is she comfortable doing it?I think the more important question is why you think nudity, or even bare skin, is inherently sexual enough that being so around someone who isn't of the gender you fancy should be enough cause for a third party to question your orientation?
Hmm. :?
Any fellow male here who would actually pass on looking at a cute ladies behind if they get an offer like that ?
Someone who...is trying to eliminate gender-laden pronouns from their speech altogether can try to rely on the word "they", but they will find themself in quite a pickle as soon as they try to use any reflexive verbal construction such as "the writer will paint themselves into a corner", and what's worse is that no matter how this person tries, they'll find that they can't extricate themselves gracefully, and consequently he or she will just flail around, making his or her sentence so awkward that s/he wis/hes s/he had never become conscious of these issues of sexism. Obviously, using "they" just carries you from the frying pan into the fire, as you have merely exchanged a male-female ambiguity for a singular-plural ambiguity. The only advantage to this ploy is, I suppose, that there is/are, to my knowledge, no group(s) actively struggling for equality between singular and plural. - D. Hofstadter
"her" day off.
OTOH:QuoteSomeone who...is trying to eliminate gender-laden pronouns from their speech altogether can try to rely on the word "they", but they will find themself in quite a pickle as soon as they try to use any reflexive verbal construction such as "the writer will paint themselves into a corner", and what's worse is that no matter how this person tries, they'll find that they can't extricate themselves gracefully, and consequently he or she will just flail around, making his or her sentence so awkward that s/he wis/hes s/he had never become conscious of these issues of sexism. Obviously, using "they" just carries you from the frying pan into the fire, as you have merely exchanged a male-female ambiguity for a singular-plural ambiguity. The only advantage to this ploy is, I suppose, that there is/are, to my knowledge, no group(s) actively struggling for equality between singular and plural. - D. Hofstadter
"her" day off.
If it is bad grammar, which I don't THINK it is, but if it is then it's normal everyday bad grammar.It is, and it is.
If it is bad grammar, which I don't THINK it is, but if it is then it's normal everyday bad grammar.It is sad to see people still whining about the singular use of "their". It is not a new thing. Shakespeare used it, and so did Jane Austen. Presumably the historically-myopic grammar-police think they know better.
Yes, if it risked making the whole relationship awkward.Yes, right.
Wouldn't it be a potential sexual harassment situation?How so ?!? She offered.
I do not get such offers, so I don't really know.Well ... neither do I.
They gave me a temporary full time position, but no one bothered to tell me.LOL
Please, do not turn this discussion into grammar details. I would like to point out that there are several variants of English. Regional differences and slang often cause misunderstandings. Also, several of the Forum participants (myself included) do not have English as their native language. All languages change over time and across regions or social groups. There are no universal truths in grammar.If it is bad grammar, which I don't THINK it is, but if it is then it's normal everyday bad grammar.It is sad to see people still whining about the singular use of "their". It is not a new thing. Shakespeare used it, and so did Jane Austen. Presumably the historically-myopic grammar-police think they know better.
Maybe Tai is just being "protective" of Marten. I've had people from friends to cow-orkers, to exes try to "protect" me from people they didn't think would make a good fit.
Which means that she's the one potentially sexually harassing Marten.Wouldn't it be a potential sexual harassment situation?How so ?!? She offered.
Wouldn't it be a potential sexual harassment situation?How so ?!? She offered.
OTOH:What's wrong with some singular-plural ambiguity? English already has that in the second-person pronoun "you" (which originally was a plural that had a double usage as a formal singular.)QuoteSomeone who...is trying to eliminate gender-laden pronouns from their speech altogether can try to rely on the word "they", but they will find themself in quite a pickle as soon as they try to use any reflexive verbal construction such as "the writer will paint themselves into a corner", and what's worse is that no matter how this person tries, they'll find that they can't extricate themselves gracefully, and consequently he or she will just flail around, making his or her sentence so awkward that s/he wis/hes s/he had never become conscious of these issues of sexism. Obviously, using "they" just carries you from the frying pan into the fire, as you have merely exchanged a male-female ambiguity for a singular-plural ambiguity. The only advantage to this ploy is, I suppose, that there is/are, to my knowledge, no group(s) actively struggling for equality between singular and plural. - D. Hofstadter
OK, let me summarize: The problem is that English has no distinct singular gender-indeterminate pronoun. The old rule of using the masculine pronoun for a gender-indeterminate pronoun is no longer acceptable to many people. Various people have proposed new pronouns as solutions to this, but none of them have caught on. Meanwhile, many English speakers have chosen to solve this problem by adopting the plural "they" as a singular gender-indeterminate pronoun. This practice is becoming so widespread that efforts by traditionalist grammarians to stop it are probably doomed to failure.Yes, I know. I'm arguing that there's nothing wrong with this practice.
In short, Tai spoke in this comic the way lots of people actually speak. Whether it is grammatically correct or not is beside the point.
It is sad to see people still whining about the singular use of "their". It is not a new thing. Shakespeare used it, and so did Jane Austen. Presumably the historically-myopic grammar-police think they know better.
Various attempts to "impose" pronouns by this or that advocate have come across as thought-control attempts.For "this or that advocate" I read "advocates on either side", and with that proviso, I concur.
Heh. You think there are issues referring to the gender of someone trans* like Claire now
Heh. You think there are issues referring to the gender of someone trans* like Claire now
There are no issues referring to the gender of someone like Claire. She's female. You use female pronouns.
(IICIH speaking. I have sent this person a PM asking if he or she is Million Dollar Belt Sander.)That was my first thought on reading that bucket of misogynistic dirty water.
As long as we understand one another, there's no need to correct anyone's language.
...dresses are nerdy now?
This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zelda_png.png) dress, maybe...
...dresses are nerdy now?
This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zelda_png.png) dress, maybe...
Some of us are going to a bar tonight.Finally, we are getting out of the library. I look forward to this. The question is, who are going?
CoD surely isn't open ALL the time, Cosette may well not be there but surely she won't be working. Do we actually know what time the shop opens and closes?I do not think we have ever seen the opening hours. I would guess they open early (around 6 A.M.?) in the morning on weekdays, to cater for the coffee-thirsty people going to work. Then there is another rush during lunchtime, and finally when people are finished at work in the afternoon. But do they keep open in the evenings? I cannot remember seeing a night-time scene at CoD, but my guess is they would keep open until 10 P.M. or thereabouts.
CoD surely isn't open ALL the time, Cosette may well not be there but surely she won't be working. Do we actually know what time the shop opens and closes?I do not think we have ever seen the opening hours. I would guess they open early (around 6 A.M.?) in the morning on weekdays, to cater for the coffee-thirsty people going to work. Then there is another rush during lunchtime, and finally when people are finished at work in the afternoon. But do they keep open in the evenings? I cannot remember seeing a night-time scene at CoD, but my guess is they would keep open until 10 P.M. or thereabouts.
During week-ends, I guess they would open around 9 A.M, and stay open until late, to cater for people going home from restaurants or cinemas.
...dresses are nerdy now?What?
This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zelda_png.png) dress, maybe...
Interesting, I guess I'd see pubs as filling those needs (evening opening times) but they don't really exist in the USA.*cough* We have plenty of pubs *cough*. Granted, most of the good ones are in Irish neighbourhoods, but even now, I can still claim to have a good local (even though their whisky selection kinda sucks, which forces me to go to another pub). The main downside to the town I live in now is that bartenders aren't given comp tabs, so I don't get as much free booze as I used to in SF.
I can still claim to have a good local (even though their whisky selection kinda sucks, which forces me to go to another pub).
@cesariojpn: Impressive archive-fu. Thank you.
Well, I usually just drink ales or Bombay Sapphire tonics, since I rarely have the money for good whisky. My local *does* have a decent variety of the Irish whiskeys and bourbons, but since I'm more of a fan of the Japanese or Scottish stuff, on the rare occasions that I have the dosh, I basically have the choice of Laphroaig 10 or migrating.I can still claim to have a good local (even though their whisky selection kinda sucks, which forces me to go to another pub).
If you have to go to another pub to get a whiskey you like, then that isn't a good local.
Well, I usually just drink ales or Bombay Sapphire tonics, since I rarely have the money for good whisky. My local *does* have a decent variety of the Irish whiskeys and bourbons, but since I'm more of a fan of the Japanese or Scottish stuff, on the rare occasions that I have the dosh, I basically have the choice of Laphroaig 10 or migrating.I can still claim to have a good local (even though their whisky selection kinda sucks, which forces me to go to another pub).
If you have to go to another pub to get a whiskey you like, then that isn't a good local.
Can I come? I suddenly find myself pining for the fjords.Do Norwegians pine for the fjords too, or just the fir-riners?
My experience of Oslo is, I admit, somewhat limited, but I did not see any fjords when I was there.
A fjord is a narrow inlet on the coast, most commonly formed by receding glaciers after an ice age. Basicly it's a narrow valley which is partially submerged. Most fjords are in arctic regions, and they're very common in Western Scandinavia.
A fjord is a narrow inlet on the coast, most commonly formed by receding glaciers after an ice age. Basicly it's a narrow valley which is partially submerged. Most fjords are in arctic regions, and they're very common in Western Scandinavia.
All credit to Slartibartfast; the man did good work.
And dead parrots rather like them.
The Oslo Fjord is probably more like a Förde then. Kiel lies at the end of the Kieler Förde, which was created by the ice age, but is not geologically considered a Fjord, same as the Oslo Fjord.
The Oslo Fjord is probably more like a Förde then. Kiel lies at the end of the Kieler Förde, which was created by the ice age, but is not geologically considered a Fjord, same as the Oslo Fjord.