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Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: Gyrre on 15 Sep 2018, 07:10

Title: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Gyrre on 15 Sep 2018, 07:10
Will May eventually talk about her experience in robot jail? Will Marigold apologize for asking?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hedgie on 15 Sep 2018, 08:11
Thanks, btw, Gyrre for having a poll and thread up before it goes live on Patreon.  Even if I don't use it, I like the chance to engage in speculation ahead of time.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 15 Sep 2018, 09:47
My answer to the poll:

None of the above
Robot jail is a featureless beige box (because you can't go wrong with beige) with subjective dimensions of about 24 x 24 x 10 feet. It has one wall that turns transparent 2 hours out of 24 to enable interaction with a randomly-selected other prisoner.

The only other feature is a large wall-mounted TV screen that is the interface with a 'dumb' virtual therapist that can either help the prisoner work their way to a realisation of guilt and a desire for rehabilitation or can provide basic rehabilitative skills training like arts and crafts, zen meditation and social/conversational skills. The warden, vetted visitors and legal counsel can also communicate with the prisoner through that screen. When not being used for a specific function, the screen shows a slowly-cycling image from a very large image gallery of scenes calculated by AI experts to be 'mentally stimulating but relaxing' whilst playing music that is calculated to be the same. For some reason all these tunes sound like the work of Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantovani).

Prisoners who show regular cooperation and good behaviour or respond well to the virtual therapy sessions get the option to add small features like plants, wall art and even simple furniture to their cells. However, these can be removed by the sysadmin if the prisoner becomes aggressive or uncooperative. Other punitive measures include reducing the size of the virtual space and forced behavioural therapy sessions run on a continual loop. In the most extreme cases (usually limited to extremely violent and/or homicidal behavioural anomalies), the entire virtual space can be used to create positive and negative associative responses to certain personal behaviours.

Each prisoner's drive is actually running in a closed-off virtual machine with a very narrow and heavily-firewalled I/O port into the main system, which can network each VM to other VMs or the main link out to the Internet for communications outside the institution.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hedgie on 15 Sep 2018, 10:13
It would explain quite a bit if May's prison shrink was m-x doctor.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Mr_Rose on 15 Sep 2018, 11:52
So, what you’re saying is that robot jail is a pay-to-win home improvement game, only you can’t actually pay to skip the tedious bits? Or stop playing.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: cybersmurf on 15 Sep 2018, 12:32
Maybe it's a simulation of the offence. But like in May's case actually being uploaded into what appears to be a fighter jet, but unable to move.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 15 Sep 2018, 12:40
She’s in a dogfight with F-16s but she’s flying a Brewster Buffalo.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hedgie on 15 Sep 2018, 13:41
Your mind is even more of a twisted hellscape than that bandicoot's, and I mean that as a compliment.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 15 Sep 2018, 17:59
No, worse.

May was forced to be one of those kiddie rides that you see outside supermarkets.
As a plane.
And every day she remained tether to the ground, as drunken idiots tried to sit their fat asses on her, requiring the fire brigade to extract them.
She got to be a plane. It was just every hell imaginable for her.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: shanejayell on 16 Sep 2018, 17:08
I expect Robot Jail to be something completely inconcievable by human beings, a AI jail built by AIs. Also, the 'sentences' are probably immense considering AI processing speeds. A minute in Jail to US might be centuries for them...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Case on 16 Sep 2018, 18:03
I expect Robot Jail to be something completely inconcievable by human beings, a AI jail built by AIs. Also, the 'sentences' are probably immense considering AI processing speeds. A minute in Jail to US might be centuries for them...

I believe Momo explained that the standard anthropomorphic AIs we mostly see are about equal to humans in mental capacity - most of their computing power is used to maintain their personality.

IIRC, that dialog was specifically about perception of time - the question was whether AI have to slow themselves down when they interact with humans, and Momo denied that, saying that they are similar to the average human both in time perception and mental faculties.

AI like Eminence grise or Station may be of a different order.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Carl-E on 16 Sep 2018, 20:17
New comic! 


Roku's sniffing warm water with a packet of active yeast sprinkled in it and a little sugar. 




Smells like baking bread...

 :police:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: pallanox on 16 Sep 2018, 20:42
Gassy bread. Lol


Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 16 Sep 2018, 20:55
Well that's smart antagonizing a cop, May, especially one that's trying to be empathetic.

 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Dawiyd on 16 Sep 2018, 20:57
3831 is ironic to me, because Dale is ducking. Is this a subtle recognition of his skin color, or just kind of how Dale is anyway? Not a big deal to me, but somehow the first thing that came to mind.

In other news, Barney and Friends is my personal hell.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 16 Sep 2018, 21:01
Welcome, new person!

Could be, but not necessarily. I can imagine, say, Marten doing the same.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Dawiyd on 16 Sep 2018, 21:06
Thanks for the Welcome! Totally, I could see Marten doing the same as well. BTW, this was just a random thought, and no complaint as I love QC, and love Dale as a Character.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: QuestionableIntentions on 16 Sep 2018, 21:10
"Yeah! Fuck all those people who feel apprehensive about someone who did something bad enough to have been in jail! How dare they not read your mind and see how good a person you are now! Especially witu you constant crass and abrasive behaviour!"
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: sitnspin on 16 Sep 2018, 21:51
Considering that the vast majority of people who are in jail are there for non-violent drug charges, yes, fuck those judgemental pricks.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 16 Sep 2018, 22:15
That would apply to human convicts, but it’s unknown if AIs go to jail for similar offenses.  May, however, embezzled money and not for sympathetic reasons like paying someone’s medical bills.  She did it to buy a chassis with flight capability.  And after all that her attitude is so off putting that I really have little sympathy for her.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 16 Sep 2018, 22:27
The timing of that exchange,

Roko to May:  "I thought you were in danger."

May to Dale:  "She's dumb and bad at her job."

means Roko is real close to breaking through to May who is knocking over verbal trashcans to block Rock's path in case she gives chase.  She's scared shitless (well, maybe not actually shitless since that's robot default) of showing how touched she was by that concern and having to admit that Roko is a decent person.  We may see a May meltdown, and some peer therapy from Mellon won't surprise me.

Meanwhile, poor Roko still needs to meet some guy who'll take a baguette to her.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 16 Sep 2018, 22:30
That would apply to human convicts, but it’s unknown if AIs go to jail for similar offenses.  May, however, embezzled money and not for sympathetic reasons like paying someone’s medical bills.  She did it to buy a chassis with flight capability.  And after all that her attitude is so off putting that I really have little sympathy for her.
Not just flight capabilities either. She wanted to be a fighter jet. Someone with her impulse control, and a full weapon system spells disaster. Remember Pintsize's laser?
Aside from which, it could not have been the end of her career. Jets require fuel. Was she planning on being a mercenary?
The cast has made efforts to get past her abrasive behaviour, but I wouldn't count on anyone else particularly making the effort. There's also the fact that Momo and Marigold have to live with her.
What I mean to say is, most people will, at first sight, see a particularly rude sales clerk, rather than a convict. True, that doesn't change the issue of employment. Or the fact that this prejudice works against many people who don't deserve it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 16 Sep 2018, 22:34
Roko is being more thoughtful than usual. What to make of it?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Nycticoraci on 16 Sep 2018, 22:59
Considering that the vast majority of people who are in jail are there for non-violent drug charges, yes, fuck those judgemental pricks.

Maybe in America.

In Australia (where I'm from), the largest percentage of inmates are there for "Acts intended to cause injury" at 23% of the total pop. Illicit drug offences is back at 15%.

In Europe the percentages vary country to country, but appears to marginally be "drug offences" majority (not necessarily non-violent), at 18.7%, with theft coming in just behind at 16.2% (homicide at 12.8%).

In any case, definitely not the "vast" majority. America just has unusual judiciary priorities.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: sitnspin on 16 Sep 2018, 23:23
The story takes place in the US, so that's what is relevant for May's circumstances.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 16 Sep 2018, 23:25
I've been thinking about this strip and I find myself wondering if Roko is having one of those moments that lots of people in public service-oriented jobs have: "Am I really doing any good here? Do I really have what it takes? Even if I do, is the system itself going to let me make a positive difference?" So, really, by saying that she's 'dumb and bad at her job', all May did is express a fear that Roko herself seems to be experiencing.

This is me but I'm wondering if May's own issues about her past is simply the introduction that Jeph wanted to introduce Roko's own crisis of self-confidence and maybe identity.

Roko is being more thoughtful than usual. What to make of it?

I suspect that this has been something playing in her head for a while. It's just that she's had enough tea so that it's broken down her usual ability to repress her dissatisfaction with her life, personal and professional alike.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: cybersmurf on 17 Sep 2018, 00:02
The timing of that exchange,

Roko to May:  "I thought you were in danger."

May to Dale:  "She's dumb and bad at her job."

means Roko is real close to breaking through to May who is knocking over verbal trashcans to block Rock's path in case she gives chase.  She's scared shitless (well, maybe not actually shitless since that's robot default) of showing how touched she was by that concern and having to admit that Roko is a decent person.  We may see a May meltdown, and some peer therapy from Mellon won't surprise me.

Meanwhile, poor Roko still needs to meet some guy who'll take a baguette to her.

I beg to differ. Personally, I think you're reading too much into this.

The way I see it, Roko is thinking about her service, and how much she can actually do, and at that moment she felt sympathetic for May.
Depending on her findings Roko may either quit the service or develop a... zeal.


 
3831 is ironic to me, because Dale is ducking. Is this a subtle recognition of his skin color, or just kind of how Dale is anyway? Not a big deal to me, but somehow the first thing that came to mind.

In other news, Barney and Friends is my personal hell.

No, this is flat out "taking cover before shit hits the fan".
May has issues with the justice system, and kinda gets protective over Faye for one of Roko's mistakes.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 17 Sep 2018, 03:34
May's impulse control issues are on display again today. Good thing Roko is in a reflective mood.

I admire Dale more and more for his ability to see the good person underneath her behaviour.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Annemoon on 17 Sep 2018, 04:59
My answer to the poll:

None of the above
Robot jail is a featureless beige box (because you can't go wrong with beige) with subjective dimensions of about 24 x 24 x 10 feet. It has one wall that turns transparent 2 hours out of 24 to enable interaction with a randomly-selected other prisoner.

The only other feature is a large wall-mounted TV screen that is the interface with a 'dumb' virtual therapist that can either help the prisoner work their way to a realisation of guilt and a desire for rehabilitation or can provide basic rehabilitative skills training like arts and crafts, zen meditation and social/conversational skills. The warden, vetted visitors and legal counsel can also communicate with the prisoner through that screen. When not being used for a specific function, the screen shows a slowly-cycling image from a very large image gallery of scenes calculated by AI experts to be 'mentally stimulating but relaxing' whilst playing music that is calculated to be the same. For some reason all these tunes sound like the work of Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantovani).

Prisoners who show regular cooperation and good behaviour or respond well to the virtual therapy sessions get the option to add small features like plants, wall art and even simple furniture to their cells. However, these can be removed by the sysadmin if the prisoner becomes aggressive or uncooperative. Other punitive measures include reducing the size of the virtual space and forced behavioural therapy sessions run on a continual loop. In the most extreme cases (usually limited to extremely violent and/or homicidal behavioural anomalies), the entire virtual space can be used to create positive and negative associative responses to certain personal behaviours.

Each prisoner's drive is actually running in a closed-off virtual machine with a very narrow and heavily-firewalled I/O port into the main system, which can network each VM to other VMs or the main link out to the Internet for communications outside the institution.

Yes! Finally something I can get behind!
All the previous suggestions just sound like torture to me. While that - in general - is not really what people do in jails.
There are forms of isolation, but actual torture is not generally put into the jailing system.
There's always the incentive to let people rehabilitate. (At least here in Europe.)
So a suggestion with a form of isolation, in some moderation, with counseling etc would sound more plausible to me.
I can totally see how a bad counselor + May would spell disaster though.
Probably the idea behind it would be humane, the actual implementation would still make it quite bad for her.
(loneliness, a counselors that's not quite *that* friendly and helpful, especially in combination with May's personality..)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: jwhouk on 17 Sep 2018, 05:18
Considering that the vast majority of people who are in jail are there for non-violent drug charges, yes, fuck those judgemental pricks.

I'd agree if it wasn't for the fact that one of the primary tasks of police officers is to decide whether or not someone is breaking the law...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Case on 17 Sep 2018, 07:33
Considering that the vast majority of people who are in jail are there for non-violent drug charges, yes, fuck those judgemental pricks.

I'd agree if it wasn't for the fact that one of the primary tasks of police officers is to decide whether or not someone is breaking the law...


I see your point, but ... let's just say that hereabouts, I'm not scared of talking to a police officer (Hell, I damn' near dated one), something that several of your compatriots on this forum have reported being, to the point they'd think twice about calling on one in an emergency - something that still floors me. Not that I'd put my hand in the fire for every German Cop, or that every German feels that way - I've known activists who felt rather apprehensive about them - but on average, there's a lot less horror stories about Krautian LEOs around. Never had a problem with Dutch or Belgian cops, either.

TL;DR - Yes, it is one of their primary tasks. As an American taxpayer, are you happy with the way the US police forces, as a collective, discharge their duties?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 17 Sep 2018, 09:42
Speaking as someone who lives in Northampton: the Northampton PD has a pretty good reputation. The Massachusetts state police, somewhat less so.

Local police vary from town to town. When I lived in Arlington MA a few years ago, the Arlington PD had a stellar reputation, while next door in Somerville the police were notoriously corrupt.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: SordidEuphemism on 17 Sep 2018, 09:47
I've been re-watching Foster's Home lately, and I realized today that my mental voice for Dale is Wilt.
I could easily imagine Dale saying "On the list of things that are not OK, that was pretty not OK!"
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 17 Sep 2018, 10:14
I've been thinking about this strip and I find myself wondering if Roko is having one of those moments that lots of people in public service-oriented jobs have: "Am I really doing any good here? Do I really have what it takes? Even if I do, is the system itself going to let me make a positive difference?" So, really, by saying that she's 'dumb and bad at her job', all May did is express a fear that Roko herself seems to be experiencing.

This is me but I'm wondering if May's own issues about her past is simply the introduction that Jeph wanted to introduce Roko's own crisis of self-confidence and maybe identity.

Roko is being more thoughtful than usual. What to make of it?

I suspect that this has been something playing in her head for a while. It's just that she's had enough tea so that it's broken down her usual ability to repress her dissatisfaction with her life, personal and professional alike.

Exactly.  Roko never stops thinking, but now she's verbalizing it for anyone present to hear.

I beg to differ. Personally, I think you're reading too much into this.

The way I see it, Roko is thinking about her service, and how much she can actually do, and at that moment she felt sympathetic for May.
Depending on her findings Roko may either quit the service or develop a... zeal.

What, that Roko the Cop can be a decent person and remain a state cop?

I don't see Jeph going with either of your proposed story lines.  He's exploring the conflict android AIs experience between their mechanical bodies and their more and more obviously human minds.  Second only to Bubbles, Roko's character is his principle vehicle for that exploration.  (He may take Winslow there eventually, too, but that hasn't happened yet.  He's still in the "Gee whiz this is cool!" stage with his new android body.) 

Jeph doesn't invest much time in his antagonistic characters, and they're few and far between.  The only ones I can think of that he's developed at all are Beatrice Chatham and Jesper Pate* (I don't even include Church because he was just Pate's tool).  Further, as a literary device she's too useful for representing government authority in the strip.  He's not going to change Roko into a full-time abusive asshole nor send her off to a convent.  Where they bake bread.


* For relative new-comers, Pate and his goon Church are the Baddies from Jeph's finalized Alice Grove (https://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/board,24.0.html) strip.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 17 Sep 2018, 10:24
I've been re-watching Foster's Home lately, and I realized today that my mental voice for Dale is Wilt.
I could easily imagine Dale saying "On the list of things that are not OK, that was pretty not OK!"

Aaaaaaaaand I will never unhear that.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Neko_Ali on 17 Sep 2018, 12:44
TL;DR - Yes, it is one of their primary tasks. As an American taxpayer, are you happy with the way the US police forces, as a collective, discharge their duties?

As a hole, no absolutely not. Sure there are good people on the force and good departments. But I have never had an interaction with the police that left me feeling positive, and most of them left me dissatisfied if I had to call them for some reason, or upset and afraid if I got stopped. And that is before I moved to the South and transitioned. Now I'm straight up scared of the police and being arrested.

From experience and mostly from listening to people's stories this concept of police serving and protecting the public is a lie. They serve their own interests and keep the peace. But too often they do so with entirely too much force, and are more interested in a quick solution than an accurate one. And that's before taking into account racial profiling and corruption that exists on all levels, and outright bullies with a badge who just get off knowing they can use their authority to harass, arrest or kill with little to no repercussion. And if you are in one of the groups that's routinely targeted by the police for harassment then it's entirely a roll of the dice how any interaction with the police is going to go. But the odds are not in your favor.

Like so many public agencies, I think the police are necessary. But I think it has become riddled with corruption, those tripping on power and greed to the point where it needs to be gutted and the bad apples thrown out. Maybe after that something can be built that does what it's supposed to do.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 17 Sep 2018, 14:22
She’s in a dogfight with F-16s but she’s flying a Brewster Buffalo.

May gets the F-16. No missiles. Every time she lines up a shot, the Brewster flips aside as she goes roaring past.

(edits)
Roko's hair and Bubbles' chair look similar but do not use the same colors.
(had to check)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 17 Sep 2018, 20:14
Comic’s up.

And I am totally not getting how Jeph’s joke about Canadian Tire Money is relevant to this comic.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 17 Sep 2018, 20:31
It's what they would use for "bonus parole points" there, if I got the joke.

Is Roko being fair to herself? Would Corpse Witch have ever been taken down if Roko hadn't applied pressure and started events in motion, not that she was in charge of them but still? I called her "Clouseau" at the time, but fact is you can't blame yourself if witnesses are mind-controlled and superiors are bribed.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: keithcurtis on 17 Sep 2018, 21:29
The first rule of Robot Jail...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 17 Sep 2018, 21:57
It's what they would use for "bonus parole points" there, if I got the joke.

Is Roko being fair to herself? Would Corpse Witch have ever been taken down if Roko hadn't applied pressure and started events in motion, not that she was in charge of them but still? I called her "Clouseau" at the time, but fact is you can't blame yourself if witnesses are mind-controlled and superiors are bribed.

Well Roko did play a roll in a chain of events that lead to Corpse Witch's downfall.  If she hadn't tried to make a bust that night it's possible Corpse Witch wouldn't have threatened May with things worse than Robot Jail if she talked to the police.  This lead to Faye punching her which lead to her termination which motivated Bubbles to break free which lead to a discussion that Spooky bot overhead and the rest is history. 

Personally, I think Roko would be better off talking to Bubbles since she once worked in a serve and protect capacity and might still if her team hadn't been killed.  I feel worse for Bubbles because when she was discharged she had no one turn to which is why she was easy pickings for Corpse Witch.  May on the other hand embezzled money to buy a fighter drone chassis. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 17 Sep 2018, 22:50
Speaking of bonus points - bonus points to the person with the archive-fu to find the previous occasion when the strip featured an extreme close-up of a pair of hands (holding a coffee cup?) during an emotional revelation. I will dub thee Archive-fu Master.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 17 Sep 2018, 23:23
I do think that Roko is being unnecessarily hard on herself. Corpse Witch was quite the professional when it came to covering her tracks and protecting herself from the consequences of her misdeeds. I don't think that anyone could reasonably have expected Roko to have stumbled across those hidden truths, no matter how good her investigative skills.

However, I don't really think that this is about her performance at all. As I posted yesterday, I really think that this is about the fact that Roko doesn't feel that she's making a difference. If she was making a difference, she could more easily handle the stress, the looks of hate from punks and the disturbingly tribal and macho internal culture of the police service. As it stands, I think that she's really having problems remembering why she signed up in the first place.

Oh, May! It's so sad that your self-image is so fragile that you have to pretend not to feel empathy for anyone!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hakko504 on 17 Sep 2018, 23:26
Speaking of bonus points - bonus points to the person with the archive-fu to find the previous occasion when the strip featured an extreme close-up of a pair of hands (holding a coffee cup?) during an emotional revelation. I will dub thee Archive-fu Master.
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3376
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 17 Sep 2018, 23:39
hakko504, I dub thee Archive-fu Master hakko504. You now stand alongside fellow esteemed forumites Mister Archive-fu Madness and Science Fairy cesium133.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Mr. Doctor on 18 Sep 2018, 02:04
Speaking of bonus points - bonus points to the person with the archive-fu to find the previous occasion when the strip featured an extreme close-up of a pair of hands (holding a coffee cup?) during an emotional revelation. I will dub thee Archive-fu Master.

Aw man I missed the opportunity. But I actually thought of a different, earlier, strip! (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2033)
Can I be master 4?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 18 Sep 2018, 06:22
YES
But I think I shall dub thee Mr. Doctor, Archive-fu Master. Because the other way around is a bit of a mouthful.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: shanejayell on 18 Sep 2018, 07:25
One wonders if Corpse Witch herself will ever turn up again. Jail isn't FOREVER, one assumes.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 18 Sep 2018, 07:38
In CW’s case, though, she’s potentially looking at  decades, depending on how many charges they decide to bring against her. Given that Spookybot ordered her to make a full confession or else, the prosecutor is probably having a field day.

Although I still want an arc where she escapes and Roko teams up with Spookybot to bring her back in.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 18 Sep 2018, 07:43
Given her sense of self preservation, I don't think CW will voluntarily come anywhere in the vicinity of Bubbles, even if she gets out. Or else might still apply.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hedgie on 18 Sep 2018, 08:04
One wonders if Corpse Witch herself will ever turn up again. Jail isn't FOREVER, one assumes.

It can seem like it if one goes by webcomic time.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2018, 10:16
Will Eminence Grise be satisfied with a Robot Jail sentence as vindictive enough for them?

Or will they want to make life miserable for Corpse Witch after her release?

Corpse Witch might be better off never getting out.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 18 Sep 2018, 12:01
If Corpse Witch ever returns, it'll be as a nun or something like that.  Whatever she had is gone, if she ever had anything at all.  She has no money, her hold on Bubbles has been revealed to be a bluff, and odds are overwhelming that the influence she claimed to have with the authorities was a bluff as well.  If it had been real, Roko would have been alert for disturbances higher up her chain of command and would have noticed any, but there's been nothing to indicate that this is the case.  The most she's likely ever to have had was someone with a gambling habit.  Even if that person was a government peon, a bunko artist (and CW was an adept) would hype them into a Senior Big Shot.

Virtually NOTHING Corpse Witch said was true, not even her claims of friends in high places., but the fact that some readers buy into that one element does demonstrate how well Jeph wrote the character.

Not that I'd ever trust Sister Corpse Witch with anything (unless I'd been provided with a Spookybot version of Jimmy Olson's Superman summoning wrist watch).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Inconsequential on 18 Sep 2018, 12:04
Weird - May once referred to Corpse Witch as "that sleazy pink f**k", but Roko (who is definitely on the purple spectrum) just referred to her as purple.
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3368

Looking back, CW's dress is pink, but her dermal covering is... ambiguously purpinkle. So I guess it's a toss-up what someone would perceive.

This means absolutely nothing, I guess.


I do like how robot skin (dermal covering) colors in the QC-verse don't really have any baggage. It's perfectly OK to use as a way to help identify someone. For example, May once said "I like being a blue robot chick (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3302)", and I'm sure there are other examples.

Momo's human-like skin texture and color is sort of unusual, and she's thus been mistaken for a human more than once.


It's neat to see May's growth -- she's openly appreciative of kindness, and able to show kindness when it's needed. Sort of. In her own, uh, unique way.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 18 Sep 2018, 12:48
Will Eminence Grise be satisfied with a Robot Jail sentence as vindictive enough for them?

Or will they want to make life miserable for Corpse Witch after her release?

Corpse Witch might be better off never getting out.

Ironically her order to cooperate with the authorities might bring attention to some secret government agency interested in subduing or destroying Spookybot as a threat to national security. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 18 Sep 2018, 13:27
Weird - May once referred to Corpse Witch as "that sleazy pink f**k", but Roko (who is definitely on the purple spectrum) just referred to her as purple.
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3368

Looking back, CW's dress is pink, but her dermal covering is... ambiguously purpinkle. So I guess it's a toss-up what someone would perceive.

"Is the dress blue or is it gold?"
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 18 Sep 2018, 14:12
"Is the dress blue or is it gold?"
And what happens when you tilt your monitor forward or back?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: SpanielBear on 18 Sep 2018, 14:17
Weird - May once referred to Corpse Witch as "that sleazy pink f**k", but Roko (who is definitely on the purple spectrum) just referred to her as purple.
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3368

Looking back, CW's dress is pink, but her dermal covering is... ambiguously purpinkle. So I guess it's a toss-up what someone would perceive.

"Is the dress blue or is it gold?"

As a colour-blind person, that damn dress was intensely cathartic.

"Yeah, what colour is it? What colour is that to you? Don't like it, huh? Finding chromatic uncertainty a little awkward to process? Perceptions you thought were shared turning out to be disconnected and solipsistic? How about everyone around you demanding an answer you can't possibly give, that fun!?!? YOUR SUFFERING IS BUT A MOMENT OF MY ETERNITY, WRETCH!!!!!!"


Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 18 Sep 2018, 14:58
Will Eminence Grise be satisfied with a Robot Jail sentence as vindictive enough for them?

Or will they want to make life miserable for Corpse Witch after her release?

Corpse Witch might be better off never getting out.

Given the long discussion we've been having about the way people like May are treated, this is a really interesting question. How does the way you think May should be treated compare with the way you think CW should be treated after release?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2018, 14:58
Roko thought there were bigger fish behind (above?) Corpse Witch. We never heard about them. CW may have had to turn them in as part of her cooperation deal. In that case she might need to be released into the Witness Protection Program.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2018, 15:01
Given the long discussion we've been having about the way people like May are treated, this is a really interesting question. How does the way you think May should be treated compare with the way you think CW should be treated after release?

"By their fruits ye shall know them". I would treat post-release Corpse Witch with whatever treatment her actions earn.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 18 Sep 2018, 15:39
Given the long discussion we've been having about the way people like May are treated, this is a really interesting question. How does the way you think May should be treated compare with the way you think CW should be treated after release?
Oooff, you got me.

Those who work in the RL criminal justice system will identify two major groups of criminal offenders - the immature and/or ignorant and the genuinely evil (let us consider the mentally ill separately for now, and note that we're only so-so at drawing the lines between the three).  Most offenders fall into the first category while a smaller number fall into the second.

May is in the immature/ignorant category and, from what we have seen of her, is worth giving another chance.  Corpse Witch is clearly in the second - giving her another chance is too likely to be giving her an opportunity to offend again.

Roko thought there were bigger fish behind (above?) Corpse Witch. We never heard about them.
Good point, but unless Jeph wants to make the strip into a crime drama we probably won't to any great extent.  Even then, CW is an unreliable source.  Roko won't completely disregard any of her claims, but she will take any of them with a grain or ten of salt. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 18 Sep 2018, 15:57
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 18 Sep 2018, 17:00
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?
I do not doubt that there are a few.  Theodore Bundy, Charles Rodman Campbell, and Jeffrey Dahmer, for example.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Gyrre on 18 Sep 2018, 17:31
It's what they would use for "bonus parole points" there, if I got the joke.

Is Roko being fair to herself? Would Corpse Witch have ever been taken down if Roko hadn't applied pressure and started events in motion, not that she was in charge of them but still? I called her "Clouseau" at the time, but fact is you can't blame yourself if witnesses are mind-controlled and superiors are bribed.
She's the one who took the first step that made that change possible.

For change to happen, someone has to take that first step.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Gyrre on 18 Sep 2018, 17:43
Weird - May once referred to Corpse Witch as "that sleazy pink f**k", but Roko (who is definitely on the purple spectrum) just referred to her as purple.
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3368

Looking back, CW's dress is pink, but her dermal covering is... ambiguously purpinkle. So I guess it's a toss-up what someone would perceive.

"Is the dress blue or is it gold?"

No, that was more based on a portion of the population with a genetic abnormality.

EDIT: Herp-derp. I was thinking of one of the hypotheses put forward in the first vid they did on the dress photo. This one brings forward the suggestion that the debate was caused by ambiguous lighting and whether someone is a morning person or a nightowl.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: SpanielBear on 18 Sep 2018, 18:16
Before I was born, my parents bought a sugar bowl. For my entire life, 30+ years, it has been a feature of their kitchen. It has survived small children, parties, builders, pets climbing on the table- it has been a constant feature. It was there when I was a kid, it was there when I came home from uni, it is still there when I visit them now.


Last weekend I found out that it is blue.


This genetic abnormality is decidedly fucking tedious.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: comicalArchitect on 18 Sep 2018, 18:42
We have comic!

I'm very happy with this turn of events, assuming Roko goes through with it. I like her a lot and it would be really nice to not have to qualify my like of her with "but I don't like cops in real life."
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: War Sparrow on 18 Sep 2018, 18:44
May's true calling? Motivational speaking.

"Sell shitting crumpetdicks, it'll be hilarious."

Heartwarming, in a May way.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: comicalArchitect on 18 Sep 2018, 18:47
May's true calling? Motivational speaking.

"Sell shitting crumpetdicks, it'll be hilarious."

Heartwarming, in a May way.

Now I'm thinking about the SBemail where Homestar asks Strong Bad's disembodied head for career advice.

"Maybe the running business isn't for you. Have you considered the making and distribution of tiny breads?"

"Homestar Bunmaker! Me likey, me likey!"
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 18 Sep 2018, 18:54
I did not see that coming.

It’s probably a good thing that the Secret Bakery isn’t hiring right now.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: mcguganator on 18 Sep 2018, 19:02
Roko thought there were bigger fish behind (above?) Corpse Witch. We never heard about them. CW may have had to turn them in as part of her cooperation deal. In that case she might need to be released into the Witness Protection Program.

This just gave me a thought for an arc where we learn that a Witness Protection Program for AIs involves transferring to a different chassis.
Jeff could totally spin this into:
-Introduce a new AI character, who makes their way into the main social circle
-Nobody really knows it's CW
-Big evil CW reprise reveal!!!
-???

Maybe I'm just crazy but that would be a very dramatic twist  :psyduck:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: comicalArchitect on 18 Sep 2018, 19:16
Roko thought there were bigger fish behind (above?) Corpse Witch. We never heard about them. CW may have had to turn them in as part of her cooperation deal. In that case she might need to be released into the Witness Protection Program.

This just gave me a thought for an arc where we learn that a Witness Protection Program for AIs involves transferring to a different chassis.
Jeff could totally spin this into:
-Introduce a new AI character, who makes their way into the main social circle
-Nobody really knows it's CW
-Big evil CW reprise reveal!!!
-???

Maybe I'm just crazy but that would be a very dramatic twist  :psyduck:

I can't see any universe where Corpse Witch would set foot near Bubbles or her friends ever again.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 18 Sep 2018, 19:19
Given the long discussion we've been having about the way people like May are treated, this is a really interesting question. How does the way you think May should be treated compare with the way you think CW should be treated after release?

"By their fruits ye shall know them". I would treat post-release Corpse Witch with whatever treatment her actions earn.

The problem with that is Corpse Witch only went to prison for the offenses the criminal justice system could prosecute her under and we're not entirely sure what those were.  She ran an illegal gambling establishment and had connections so there's some corruption offenses, but unless she had her servos in a lot of pies that's not terribly evil on paper.  If anyone took a look at her rap sheet they might think she was just another Molly Bloom which she might claim since I think she's better at being charming than May.  Of course we know better.  We know that she lied to Bubbles about removing her memories and used that as leverage to keep her working for her as well as planting a fail safe virus in her brain that could terminate her if she ever tried to kill her, but could she or was she prosecuted for those offenses?  I think Roko's feeling of defeat is that Corpse Witch went to jail for what amounts to violations of vice laws and not the truly evil things she did.  Since most people don't know the whole story they'd be more likely to sympathize with Corpse Witch who was involved in a victimless crime as opposed to May who embezzled money that might've been yours.  Personally I'd be more likely to hire Corpse Witch than May because the worst I'd have to worry about is her setting up craps games in the basement.

Hopefully, Roko knows what she's doing.  I think she'd be wise to avoid social work since that can be just as demoralizing.  I don't know if she should get into baking since I think she'd be too distracted. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2018, 19:38
Corpse Witch tried to trigger the malware when Bubbles confronted her.

That's attempted murder, carefully premeditated.

Eminence Grise would not have been satisfied with anything short of a full confession.

If Corpse Witch were a human in our MA, she'd be facing up to 10 years just for that.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: jwhouk on 18 Sep 2018, 20:14
It's also possible that CW was charged with AI indentured servitude. What we'd call human trafficking.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2018, 20:32
Quote from: Wikipedia
RICO predicate offenses
Under the law, the meaning of racketeering activity is set out at 18 U.S.C. § 1961. As currently amended it includes:

Any violation of state statutes against gambling, murder, kidnapping, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in the Controlled Substances Act);
Any act of bribery, counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, fraud, dealing in obscene matter, obstruction of justice, slavery, racketeering, gambling, money laundering, commission of murder-for-hire, and many other offenses covered under the Federal criminal code (Title 18);

Corpse Witch could be dealing with a long Federal sentence. 20 years on each count.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Mad Cat on 18 Sep 2018, 20:55
I've never felt more like May in the last panel than I do right now.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Gyrre on 18 Sep 2018, 21:23
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Some people have a VERY long road to redemption. And some of them actively refuse to walk in the right direction until they have a near miss. And some still keep walking in the wrong direction after that.
Basically, some people are probably only getting into Heaven by repenting on their deathbed.

EDIT: My new phone's default keyboard app is garbage and I forgot a sentence.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Sep 2018, 21:44
Corpse Witch might be able to change paths if a good change agent (therapist, mentor, whatnot) could lead her to give up her sense of isolation. It's not the way I would bet, having seen how calculated her evil has been.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 18 Sep 2018, 22:03
Corpse Witch tried to trigger the malware when Bubbles confronted her.

That's attempted murder, carefully premeditated.

Eminence Grise would not have been satisfied with anything short of a full confession.

If Corpse Witch were a human in our MA, she'd be facing up to 10 years just for that.

Yes, but the legal system may not have any laws on the books yet to punish such offenses no matter if they got a confession.  Corpse Witch might be doing life or out in a year because it’s a fictional legal code Jeph Jacques created.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 18 Sep 2018, 22:41
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Without a doubt. For example, a man with a record full of violent crime, who's admitted to beating random passers-by to death because it's fun. Who acts all contrite in prison, only to do it again when released. Who, after a lengthy sentence, has his mother move in behind his last victim's parents, to bypass the restraining order, and threaten them from their back yard. All while he has his lawyer and his minister send them letters of how sorry he is, and won't they forgive him. This is no fiction.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Sorflakne on 18 Sep 2018, 22:49
This May/Roko conversation...I've been having similar conversations internally about getting off my ass and actually doing something about finding a job I actually want and have passion for, but there's still an invisible barrier to me doing it.  Wish someone could verbalize it in a way that finally pushes me over the edge to do it.  Then again there's the money aspect of quitting your job to find your dream job.  For me personally I wouldn't be able to realistically do this until next year at soonest once some bills are paid off.

Wow, this is the first time in a long while the comic has made me pause and think.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: MrNumbers on 18 Sep 2018, 23:18
May showing some bomb-ass P R A X I S
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 18 Sep 2018, 23:25
I think that May is more like Pintsize than she realises, given her talent to find just the right phrase to needle someone into action. The strange thing with her is that it appears to be entirely unconscious and maybe even unwelcome (to the point where, in today's panel 6, she could be saying: "No! It's happening again! Again!").

On Roko's side, I think that she was 95% the way to deciding to quit anyway because she thinks she's bad at the job. Then, in panel 2, May made her think of the look on her watch captain's face when she tossed her badge at him and tells him that she's going to follow her first true love and open a handicrafts shop. At that point, I think that her decision was made, much to May's dismay and disbelief!

Suddenly, I can see a fuming Dora reminding May that one of the services Coffee of Doom provides is advice (no quality guarantee) at $1 a pop. Just as she doesn't let people bring their own food and drink into the shop, she also doesn't let non-staff dispense advice (no quality guarantee) on the premises!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: JoeCovenant on 19 Sep 2018, 00:40

I hope that's not the last we see of Roko...
(I'm 'hoping' it means an extended Arc! I like Roko!!)

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Meander on 19 Sep 2018, 02:38
I love how May is constantly helping the other characters in spite of herself, and without trying.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Pennepasta on 19 Sep 2018, 02:43
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Does that matter? You punish people for what they have done, not what they will do, with planning and intent obviously covered. You punish for the crime, give leniency if warranted, and then the crime is paid for. Prior convictions et al should be factored in in sentencing, but other than that, they should be wiped clean. That is how I view the criminal justice system, and, AFAIK, how it works here in the UK, with the exception of sex offenders register, and roles with vulnerable adults or children, where the company has to apply for a dbs check. Though some don't bother. Sure, some people abuse the system, but that'll always happen, unfortunately.

I grew up with a neighbour that embezzled from a charity. She later got a job in finance, after taking the slap on the wrist as they couldn't prove most of it. Sure, I sometimes work with minor criminals (in a charity shop, so we get some community service people), and we'll change what we get them doing if it's relevant to the crime, like not having thieves on the till. But they're still taking their punishment at that point, so not wiped clean.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 19 Sep 2018, 03:43
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Does that matter? You punish people for what they have done, not what they will do, with planning and intent obviously covered. You punish for the crime, give leniency if warranted, and then the crime is paid for. Prior convictions et al should be factored in in sentencing, but other than that, they should be wiped clean.

I'm afraid that I must beg to differ. Risk of recidivism is very much, AFAIK, a part of the sentencing decision.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 19 Sep 2018, 03:52
I love how May is constantly helping the other characters in spite of herself, and without trying.

Or, indeed, wanting to!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: cybersmurf on 19 Sep 2018, 04:41
I love how May is constantly helping the other characters in spite of herself, and without trying.

Or, indeed, wanting to!

Every now and then sje actually wants to. Probably Dale only, since they live together, or at least to pay back giving her a chance.


I think that May is more like Pintsize than she realises, given her talent to find just the right phrase to needle someone into action. The strange thing with her is that it appears to be entirely unconscious and maybe even unwelcome (to the point where, in today's panel 6, she could be saying: "No! It's happening again! Again!").

I was thinking something something similar. Quite often she wants to be as crude as Pintsize but can't pull it off the same way due to her humanoid chassis (kind of moral-bound by Form?).

Sometimes her way of interacting stings more than the message she delivers, which probably makes people accept hard truths from her easier than from other people (since they've been stung by May as a person, the sting of the message loses its power).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: pallanox on 19 Sep 2018, 06:08
I see a lot of parallels with may and Pintsize in terms of personality.  They are rough around the edges but mean well. I think Pintsize will help may get over her issues with the law.



Or I could be wrong, and may steals a jetplane. Anything is possible
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Pennepasta on 19 Sep 2018, 06:41
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Does that matter? You punish people for what they have done, not what they will do, with planning and intent obviously covered. You punish for the crime, give leniency if warranted, and then the crime is paid for. Prior convictions et al should be factored in in sentencing, but other than that, they should be wiped clean.

I'm afraid that I must beg to differ. Risk of recidivism is very much, AFAIK, a part of the sentencing decision.

Hmm, maybe I wasn't clear, though I did ramble off into other directions than you were based in. I did kind of ramble there. I do think that prior crimes, attitude towards what they've done etc. (so, basically, what they've done previously to indicate risk of recidivism) should be taken into account when sentencing - hence the "Prior convictions et al should be factored in at sentencing" part of my post. Basically, I do agree with the concept of "spent" convictions that the UK uses, though I don't really agree with the time limits on it (it's basically an extra, post-jail length of time in which you can still be turned down for non-DBS requiring jobs because of it, and doesn't apply to sentences over 4Y, or jobs requiring a background check from government). If someone's done a crime and served their punishment, then society - outside of law enforcement - should view them as clean, IMO. If they reoffend, then there's grounds to look at spent convictions.

Irredeemable or not, punish people for what they have done, including their attitudes towards that, and keep punishments for the court to mete out fairly, not society at large, who will all have differing viewpoints. Is this best? I don't know. Probably depends on how much people trust the system against how much people trust society at large, and what people view the point of the punishment is. How much is it punitive? How much is it to reduce recidivism and to rehabilitate? And, of course, how fair is the sentencing? All three are questions that different people will put different answers to.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: shanejayell on 19 Sep 2018, 07:03
On one hand, yay Roko.

On the other, I expect May to run out after her going, "WTF! Don't listen to ME!" or something...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: oddtail on 19 Sep 2018, 07:24
ARGH.

OK, your opinion on the police may vary, but I think we all can agree that there aren't nearly enough good cops working, and there needs to be as many of them as possible to counterbalance the bad ones. And I doubt it's THAT different in QC-verse, technological semi-utopia or not.

If you're worried if you're doing your job right, whether you're making a positive difference, ESPECIALLY if your job is to serve and protect or whatever, that doesn't mean YOU should quit your job, it means that everyone who does NOT ask those questions needs to quit immediately.

What I'm saying is, Roko has more of a business being a cop now that we know that she DOES have a conscience that's biting her and making her worry.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 19 Sep 2018, 07:34
Well, there's that. But on the other hand, if she is asking that question, and she keeps asking that question, without ever getting a satisfactory answer, she'll be heading for a burn out, which is of no use to anybody, really.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 19 Sep 2018, 07:56
ARGH.

OK, your opinion on the police may vary, but I think we all can agree that there aren't nearly enough good cops working, and there needs to be as many of them as possible to counterbalance the bad ones. And I doubt it's THAT different in QC-verse, technological semi-utopia or not.

If you're worried if you're doing your job right, whether you're making a positive difference, ESPECIALLY if your job is to serve and protect or whatever, that doesn't mean YOU should quit your job, it means that everyone who does NOT ask those questions needs to quit immediately.

What I'm saying is, Roko has more of a business being a cop now that we know that she DOES have a conscience that's biting her and making her worry.

I'd agree to the general sentiment, but on the other hand, Roko seemed dissatisfied with her job as a police officer. And dissatisfaction leads to apathy, which in my opinion is far worse than "bad" cops. Bad cops will keep up the pretence of doing their job to keep themselves safe, but an apathetic cop? They just don't care anymore.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 19 Sep 2018, 10:05
ARGH.

OK, your opinion on the police may vary, but I think we all can agree that there aren't nearly enough good cops working, and there needs to be as many of them as possible to counterbalance the bad ones. And I doubt it's THAT different in QC-verse, technological semi-utopia or not.

If you're worried if you're doing your job right, whether you're making a positive difference, ESPECIALLY if your job is to serve and protect or whatever, that doesn't mean YOU should quit your job, it means that everyone who does NOT ask those questions needs to quit immediately.

What I'm saying is, Roko has more of a business being a cop now that we know that she DOES have a conscience that's biting her and making her worry.

Spot on, Oddtail.  She's the kind of cop US society desperately needs, yet people are celebrating her announcement that's she's going to leave law enforcement because they'll be relieved of their own cognitive dissonance. 

"I [dislike|hate|loathe] cops but I like Roko who is a cop.  Aiiiieeeee!!"
(https://www.sandiegocan.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/head.jpg)

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 19 Sep 2018, 10:42
Not I.

Of course, I'm not from the US, so I don't share that common fear of the police. Sure, I dislike some cops, but not the class as a whole. Would make my work pretty difficult if I did, by the way.

But I do understand where Roko is coming from. I'm not law enforcement, but where I work, broadly speaking, you have two kinds of people joining: the ones that buy into every negative stereotype of the civil service, and think they'll make good money for little work, on one hand; idealists who hope to make a difference on the other.
Over time, you realise that a lot of the stereotype does have at least a base in reality. You can react to that in either of two ways: you become cynical, and join the other group, or you keep trying, and trying even harder, and burn yourself out.

So, while I recognise that Roko is what you need, I still respect her decision. It's not an easy one to take, even if it looks like the easy way out.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 19 Sep 2018, 11:09
Not I.

Of course, I'm not from the US, so I don't share that common fear of the police. Sure, I dislike some cops, but not the class as a whole. Would make my work pretty difficult if I did, by the way.

But I do understand where Roko is coming from. I'm not law enforcement, but where I work, broadly speaking, you have two kinds of people joining: the ones that buy into every negative stereotype of the civil service, and think they'll make good money for little work, on one hand; idealists who hope to make a difference on the other.
Over time, you realise that a lot of the stereotype does have at least a base in reality. You can react to that in either of two ways: you become cynical, and join the other group, or you keep trying, and trying even harder, and burn yourself out.

So, while I recognise that Roko is what you need, I still respect her decision. It's not an easy one to take, even if it looks like the easy way out.

This is very true, and true of all civil servants here, but it manifests most visibly with law enforcement.  Certain people have issues with any authority figure and a cop is the ultimate authority figure in their minds (it should actually be a judge, but they don't follow their own train of thought that far).  And that's not to say that there aren't people whose issues with law enforcement are justified. 

As for Roko's decision, the story arc isn't over and I won't be surprised if there's a heart to heart CPU to CPU conversation with Bubbles in the near future.  Roko's conflicted, and conflict makes for good story material.  Take it away, Jeph!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 19 Sep 2018, 11:16
For law enforcement, penitentiary personnel and the military, there's also the stress that higher risk brings.

There are people that do have legitimate issues with law enforcers, I won't deny that. Injustice has this way of getting under your skin.

I'm quite sure this isn't the last we've seen on the matter. Go Jeph!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 19 Sep 2018, 11:43
I am going to miss having a window into the world of robots in law enforcement.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Case on 19 Sep 2018, 11:45
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Some people have a VERY road to redemption. And some of them actively rrefuse to walk in the right direction until they have a near miss.
Basically, some people are probably only getting into Heaven by repenting on their deathbed.

There was some American Psychologist who defined that attitude as "evil" - people who intellectually understand their behaviour is harmful, have the capacity to make moral judgements and modify their behaviour, but ... walk the other way.

I think IICIH mentioned his name here a few times ...  :psyduck:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 19 Sep 2018, 12:10
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Some people have a VERY road to redemption. And some of them actively rrefuse to walk in the right direction until they have a near miss.
Basically, some people are probably only getting into Heaven by repenting on their deathbed.

There was some American Psychologist who defined that attitude as "evil" - people who intellectually understand their behaviour is harmful, have the capacity to make moral judgements and modify their behaviour, but ... walk the other way.

I think IICIH mentioned his name here a few times ...  :psyduck:

Phillip Zimbardo's Stanford exercise in confirmation bias?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Rimwolf on 19 Sep 2018, 12:37

I hope that's not the last we see of Roko...
(I'm 'hoping' it means an extended Arc! I like Roko!!)

My hunch is that Jeph likes Roko too, and feels like he can do more interesting stories with her character if she's not a cop.
(I like Roko too!)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 19 Sep 2018, 14:28
I am going to miss having a window into the world of robots in law enforcement.

I'm not sure we have one anyway. Roko being a cop doesn't mean anything in the story as far as I can tell (at least, it hasn't since the CW storyline) except that it restricts the possibilities of interaction with other cast members.

My hunch is that Jeph likes Roko too, and feels like he can do more interesting stories with her character if she's not a cop.
(I like Roko too!)

Seconded. Or thirded. Or something.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 19 Sep 2018, 17:17
Do you believe that some are truly irredeemable?

Some people have a VERY road to redemption. And some of them actively rrefuse to walk in the right direction until they have a near miss.
Basically, some people are probably only getting into Heaven by repenting on their deathbed.

There was some American Psychologist who defined that attitude as "evil" - people who intellectually understand their behaviour is harmful, have the capacity to make moral judgements and modify their behaviour, but ... walk the other way.

I think IICIH mentioned his name here a few times ...  :psyduck:

Scott Peck, "People of the Lie".

One interesting thing is that he worked in prisons and said that while he found a lot of destructive and dangerous people there, very few met his definition of evil.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 19 Sep 2018, 17:41
I'm not sure we have one anyway. Roko being a cop doesn't mean anything in the story as far as I can tell (at least, it hasn't since the CW storyline) except that it restricts the possibilities of interaction with other cast members.

Eh?  "{I}t restricts the possibilities of interaction with other cast member" is Fake News.

What sorts of characters to TV dramas revolve around?  Doctors, lawyers, and cops with the occasional paramedic or private investigator, etc. 

It's how series writers get their protagonists' noses into other peoples' business without making them busybodies. 

Clergy works too, but notice that they usually get teamed up with a cop.  Outside of comedies and sitcoms, cops make up a substantial proportion of TV's main characters.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Case on 19 Sep 2018, 19:03
There was some American Psychologist who defined that attitude as "evil" - people who intellectually understand their behaviour is harmful, have the capacity to make moral judgements and modify their behaviour, but ... walk the other way.

I think IICIH mentioned his name here a few times ...  :psyduck:

Scott Peck, "People of the Lie".

One interesting thing is that he worked in prisons and said that while he found a lot of destructive and dangerous people there, very few met his definition of evil.

Dat's der bunny
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 19 Sep 2018, 19:21
I'm not sure we have one anyway. Roko being a cop doesn't mean anything in the story as far as I can tell (at least, it hasn't since the CW storyline) except that it restricts the possibilities of interaction with other cast members.

Eh?  "{I}t restricts the possibilities of interaction with other cast member" is Fake News.

What sorts of characters to TV dramas revolve around?  Doctors, lawyers, and cops with the occasional paramedic or private investigator, etc. 

It's how series writers get their protagonists' noses into other peoples' business without making them busybodies. 

Clergy works too, but notice that they usually get teamed up with a cop.  Outside of comedies and sitcoms, cops make up a substantial proportion of TV's main characters.

Really? There are TV shows centred around police? Goodness. Tell me more.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Scarlet Manuka on 19 Sep 2018, 20:48
I expect May to run out after her going, "WTF! Don't listen to ME!" or something...
Nicely called.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: zisraelsen on 19 Sep 2018, 20:50
May cares. She needs to be more careful or people will find out.

EDIT: or, wait, maybe less care-full. Semantics.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Mad Cat on 19 Sep 2018, 22:21
I love how May is constantly helping the other characters in spite of herself, and without trying.

Or, indeed, wanting to!
Some people are here just to serve as an example to others of what not to do.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 19 Sep 2018, 22:25
Oh the punanity.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 19 Sep 2018, 23:16
What today's strip really reminds us of is how fundamentally good a person May is. For all her bad attitude and the fact that she is bitter and mean, she doesn't want people hurt because of her. When she realises that she may be causing harm, she actually goes to a lot of trouble to try to stop it from getting any worse. I honestly think that a lot of her behaviour is an attempt at developing an emotional and social armour so she won't be hurt but, when she doesn't have to do that, you often get a hint of someone who wants friends and wants to do the right thing but is afraid to do so in too obvious a way.

That aside... am I the only one who was expecting Roko to burst out in song in panel 3?

Finally, May's analogy in panel 4 disturbs me. It reads too much like bitter experience. Did that actually happen to her one day? Did she say: "Hey, you know what would be funny? If that barge of puppies burst into flames!" It promptly did so; as ridiculous as it is, she has never got over the fear that it was somehow her fault!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 19 Sep 2018, 23:34
Quote from: BenRG
I honestly think that a lot of her behaviour is an attempt at developing an emotional and social armour so she won't be hurt but, when she doesn't have to do that, you often get a hint of someone who wants friends and wants to do the right thing but is afraid to do so in too obvious a way.

May, Faye in the first thousand strips, Bubbles, who else?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Storel on 20 Sep 2018, 00:58
Quote from: BenRG
I honestly think that a lot of her behaviour is an attempt at developing an emotional and social armour so she won't be hurt but, when she doesn't have to do that, you often get a hint of someone who wants friends and wants to do the right thing but is afraid to do so in too obvious a way.

May, Faye in the first thousand strips, Bubbles, who else?

Oooooh...  :-o


That aside... am I the only one who was expecting Roko to burst out in song in panel 3?

I know, she looks like Julie Andrews about to go "The HILLS are alive..."  :laugh:


So who else caught Jeph's awful pun below the last frame, "a real Hundenberg disaster"? Probably only the German speakers. See, "Hund" is German for "dog"...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 20 Sep 2018, 01:15
So who else caught Jeph's awful pun below the last frame, "a real Hundenberg disaster"? Probably only the German speakers. See, "Hund" is German for "dog"...

*cough*
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Case on 20 Sep 2018, 02:41
So who else caught Jeph's awful pun below the last frame, "a real Hundenberg disaster"? Probably only the German speakers. See, "Hund" is German for "dog"...

*cough* *whoof*

Not quite a Wortspiel ...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Cornelius on 20 Sep 2018, 04:16
Well, seems there was a dog on board Hindenburg, and she didn't survive. Unlike the beer, apparently. Priorities, I suppose.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Marco on 20 Sep 2018, 05:56
Quote from: BenRG
I honestly think that a lot of her behaviour is an attempt at developing an emotional and social armour so she won't be hurt but, when she doesn't have to do that, you often get a hint of someone who wants friends and wants to do the right thing but is afraid to do so in too obvious a way.

May, Faye in the first thousand strips, Bubbles, who else?

Pintsize in the first 3826 strips...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Thrudd on 20 Sep 2018, 07:19
Well, seems there was a dog on board Hindenburg, and she didn't survive. Unlike the beer, apparently. Priorities, I suppose.
Most likely from the diesel fuel, like most of the victims of that disaster.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: shanejayell on 20 Sep 2018, 07:30
On one hand, yay Roko.

On the other, I expect May to run out after her going, "WTF! Don't listen to ME!" or something...

Huh. Called it. And I'm NOT on the Patreon or anything.... *lol*
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: mneme on 20 Sep 2018, 09:20
Mnnn....still shipping them.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 20 Sep 2018, 10:20
Global Moderator Comment Near as we can tell they have incompatible orientations and we haven't seen the signals Jeph gives of impending couplehood, like The Cuddle.
Title: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 20 Sep 2018, 11:02
Roko: is attracted to bread, and fantasizes about males with human abs bringing bread to her.

May: Who knows? She’s made some lewd comments about female anatomy that imply that she finds it attractive. She’s also made some lewd comments about male anatomy that imply that she doesn’t find it attractive. But that’s about all we have to go on.

So this ship has very little searoom.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: dutchrvl on 20 Sep 2018, 13:00
Roko: is attracted to bread, and fantasizes about males with human abs bringing bread to her.

May: Who knows? She’s made some lewd comments about female anatomy that imply that she finds it attractive. She’s also made some lewd comments about male anatomy that imply that she doesn’t find it attractive. But that’s about all we have to go on.

So this ship has very little searoom.

Yet May has also made quite some lewd/crude comments about doing specific things with male anatomical parts that imply she may not be opposed to males(?)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Nycticoraci on 20 Sep 2018, 17:36
I could definitely ship them, but probably not for a relationship.

For a buddy cop drama!

She's a beat cop with a desire to actually do good, a need to investigate, and a guilty sexual pleasure involving baked goods. She's an ex-con with no impulse control, a crass exterior, but quietly a heart of gold. The twist, they're both artificial intelligences trying to find a place in an organic world.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 20 Sep 2018, 17:49
May can never qualify for a police job with her record, but imagine them as private investigators!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 20 Sep 2018, 18:30
Comic’s up.

May is certainly showing some character growth. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 20 Sep 2018, 18:36
May is an enthusiastic reader of "Prolapse Monthly" -- but I doubt she wants such things to happen to anyone she knows.

I find it symbolically significant that Roko has divested herself of her tie. That's the -first- thing I'd do.

And it's 'Hundebarge' according to Google Translate.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Sullivan on 20 Sep 2018, 19:15
May can never qualify for a police job with her record, but imagine them as private investigators!
Not sure how stringent the rules are for P.I. licensure in QC's Northhampton, but it's possible May would have trouble there too.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Nycticoraci on 20 Sep 2018, 19:56
May can never qualify for a police job with her record, but imagine them as private investigators!

I believe the standard TV trope Loophole is the "Criminal Informant"
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 20 Sep 2018, 20:09
To be fair, May would make for a crappy CI. As a parolee, she'd have to stay away from criminals.

Also, as cool as May may be, she is certainly no Huggy Bear.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: shanejayell on 20 Sep 2018, 20:15
That was pretty good overall. Still kinda want to know what Robot Jail is, but...

"You know those little energy pellets Pac Man eats?"

"Yeah?"

"Those are inmates. And he shits us out eventually."

"EWWWWW."
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 20 Sep 2018, 21:20
That was pretty good overall. Still kinda want to know what Robot Jail is, but...

Why?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 20 Sep 2018, 22:12
Because it is there.

It might help us understand May better.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: BenRG on 20 Sep 2018, 23:14
I'm just loving the way that May is genuinely trying to be friendly and helpful and then her temper gets the better of her and she's all snarky again. This is starting to feel like a really fleshed-out character with a consistent personality and some depth to her.

Meanwhile... am I the only one who would like to see May's parolebot in the position of being effectively an elementary school teacher having to mediate a playground spat between Roko and May? "No, I don't care that she won't 'let you win'!"

I really hope that Roko decides to stick it out because I think she's more interesting as being the cast's window into local government and the authorities of the QC universe than she'd ever be as just another generic Synthetic with a single kink to define her. Fighting for change and believing that you can make a difference is more interesting in narrative terms than giving up and walking away to a random future.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 20 Sep 2018, 23:19
May can never qualify for a police job with her record, but imagine them as private investigators!
Roko, yes.  May, no way in bloody Hell (https://www.mass.gov/service-details/requirements-for-a-private-investigator-license).

However, May, as a convenience store clerk, works at the physical margins of "the Underworld."   (So does everyone else at Coffee of Doom, just not quite as close to the frontier.)  People there, cab drivers, doormen, all night cafe waitstaff, see and hear things.  She doesn't need to be Roko's "snitch" and go looking for information - information comes to people who live and work there whether they want it or not.  Sometimes they can't keep mum but would rather talk to someone they know.  May will go to Roko.


Edit - broken link fixed.  I HATE doing HTML on a tablet.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Tova on 20 Sep 2018, 23:51
It might help us understand May better.

That seems unlikely to me. And I'm not normally one to make predictions, but I predict we'll never find out.

All we need know is that May was traumatised by it. That it was so terrible, she can't talk about it.

Each of us has in our own heads some version of her experience. We are, each of us, imagining pretty much the most dreadful thing we can think of.

What happens if Jeph tries to describe it? Maybe it will match what you are thinking of. More likely, it will be a diluted version of what you're thinking of, which would weaken its impact.

It really is best kept in the abstract.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: oeoek on 21 Sep 2018, 00:30
Today's bottom line:
... and also how much I hate neckties.

Yes Mister Creator Sir, I already had the impression it was not your (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2390) most  favourite garment (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3643)...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hedgie on 21 Sep 2018, 00:40
I just don't see why anyone would willingly put anything that can be used to strangle them around their neck, and include a convenient grabbable bit to facilitate the process.  Granted, I don't like *anything* touching the front of my neck, but wearing a tie just seems like a really stupid thing to do.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Nepiophage on 21 Sep 2018, 01:57
And they spread diseases and damage your eyesight
http://uk.businessinsider.com/wearing-a-tie-could-seriously-damage-your-body-heres-how-2018-7?r=US&IR=T
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: JoeCovenant on 21 Sep 2018, 04:35

COMING ON NETFLIX THIS WINTER!

"ROKO AND THE JET!"

This mis-matched pair of crime fighters hunt down the ...

(blah blah blah)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: pwhodges on 21 Sep 2018, 04:42
And they spread diseases and damage your eyesight
http://uk.businessinsider.com/wearing-a-tie-could-seriously-damage-your-body-heres-how-2018-7?r=US&IR=T

Seriously, how many people do their ties up tight enough to have that effect?  If they do, it's likely that their shirt collar is also tight and as much to blame.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: dutchrvl on 21 Sep 2018, 10:32
I just don't see why anyone would willingly put anything that can be used to strangle them around their neck, and include a convenient grabbable bit to facilitate the process.  Granted, I don't like *anything* touching the front of my neck, but wearing a tie just seems like a really stupid thing to do.

I know I'm in the minority, but personally I love wearing neckties, as they provide a great way (together with socks, obviously) to make the typical business attire more colorful and inject some personal style.
Plus, I don't find them uncomfortable at all.

Necklaces/chains etc on the other hand I just can't stand wearing.

To each their own, always holds true :)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Zebediah on 21 Sep 2018, 10:47
I just don't see why anyone would willingly put anything that can be used to strangle them around their neck, and include a convenient grabbable bit to facilitate the process.  Granted, I don't like *anything* touching the front of my neck, but wearing a tie just seems like a really stupid thing to do.

The purpose of a necktie is to hide the buttons on the front of your shirt, because it would be utterly horrible if anyone happened to see those. I mean, think of the children!  :psyduck:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 21 Sep 2018, 12:54
One of the few feats of physical skill I get to brag about - being able to tie a four-in-hand or a half-windsor without a mirror.  (I must credit the Sisters of the Perpetual Knuckle-whack for motivating me in grade school for the four-in-hand.  I learned the half-windsor on my own as an act of rebellion.)

And I agree, it's the collar, not the tie that's so damned uncomfortable.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 21 Sep 2018, 13:08
If Claire sees this she'll swoon (http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180706-the-ancient-library-where-the-books-are-under-lock-and-key).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 21 Sep 2018, 13:16
I just don't see why anyone would willingly put anything that can be used to strangle them around their neck, and include a convenient grabbable bit to facilitate the process.  Granted, I don't like *anything* touching the front of my neck, but wearing a tie just seems like a really stupid thing to do.

Funnily enough, it was thought that cravats offered protection, at least psychological in nature, from spear attacks in the 16th century. They were originally worn by Croatian mercenaries who served in the French Army in the 1630s. The neck pieces worn by them fascinated the Parisian nobles and eventually they started wearing them. In fact, the word cravat comes from the French cravate, which was a variation of Croate.

Eventually the cravat worn by Croatians evolved into the necktie we all know and love today. (Or in the case of some people, are absolutely terrified of. Personally, I like a nice tie, completes the look of a suit and serves as a much needed focal and tying point)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 21 Sep 2018, 15:04
Why tie a tie when there are clip ons and possibly magnetic for AIs?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: MrWoodchip on 21 Sep 2018, 15:57
Fun :police: fact: IRL cops usually do wear clip on ties for safety reasons. Don't want someone grabbing it and choking you.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 21 Sep 2018, 16:45
Fun :police: fact: IRL cops usually do wear clip on ties for safety reasons. Don't want someone grabbing it and choking you.
Yup, or a "break-away" with a velcro tab (https://www.qmuniforms.com/lawpro-breakaway-tie?PMSRCE=QMPLA&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrZLdBRCmARIsAFBZllFttPHHFbuV88QjpejmABfIGCT8S1M-YPqjGb3FBdRsxxUtSXf4ZREaAvPhEALw_wcB).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: brasca on 21 Sep 2018, 18:42
Fun :police: fact: IRL cops usually do wear clip on ties for safety reasons. Don't want someone grabbing it and choking you.

I suppose it’s not a problem for Roko since she doesn’t have to be concerned with strangulation.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Thrudd on 21 Sep 2018, 18:49
On that same website Galls Flexible Waist Belt has me intrigues on how effective or comfortable this little accessory is.

edit

Crap it comes in a size 54 ... just how fat are cops on average?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Neko_Ali on 21 Sep 2018, 20:19
I couldn't guess at an average, but the degree of variation is high.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: SeaWoodStage on 21 Sep 2018, 20:24
I find it interesting that I liked Faye from the start, but hated a lot of her behaviour. Now May, whom I never could stand, is exhibiting genuine emotions, but I still can’t bring myself to like her. But I’m warming up to her a bit. What is going on inside my head I wonder? ETA: Human emotions I suppose.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: hedgie on 21 Sep 2018, 20:32
Fun :police: fact: IRL cops usually do wear clip on ties for safety reasons. Don't want someone grabbing it and choking you.

I suppose it’s not a problem for Roko since she doesn’t have to be concerned with strangulation.

Still could be used against her to control where her head and neck are.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: SeaWoodStage on 21 Sep 2018, 20:44
Could we just get rid of ties? Unless we want to wear them, of course. But they seem to serve no real purpose other than serving as a message to the old school. And they have their own signals, and don't need ties.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: jwhouk on 22 Sep 2018, 09:25
On that same website Galls Flexible Waist Belt has me intrigues on how effective or comfortable this little accessory is.

edit

Crap it comes in a size 54 ... just how fat are cops on average?

Y'all don't wanna know. Trust me, you don't wanna know.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 22 Sep 2018, 10:36
On that same website Galls Flexible Waist Belt has me intrigues on how effective or comfortable this little accessory is.

edit

Crap it comes in a size 54 ... just how fat are cops on average?

Y'all don't wanna know. Trust me, you don't wanna know.

It depends on a few things.  Working rotating shifts with duties that seem to actively conspire against regular exercise and a balanced diet doesn't help one iota.  A rookie with a 30" waist can easily be over 40" ten years later.  Everyone likes to point at overweight cops, but take a look at your local paramedics - you'll see the same thing, and for the same reasons.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: jwhouk on 22 Sep 2018, 21:09
Y'all don't wanna know. Trust me, you don't wanna know.

It depends on a few things.  Working rotating shifts with duties that seem to actively conspire against regular exercise and a balanced diet doesn't help one iota.  A rookie with a 30" waist can easily be over 40" ten years later.  Everyone likes to point at overweight cops, but take a look at your local paramedics - you'll see the same thing, and for the same reasons.

(points to you, points to own nose)

...then points to my own expanded waistline...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: jwhouk on 23 Sep 2018, 19:25
What do you think robot jail is?

An endless stream of legal code in the driest, dullest possible wording.    11 (23.4%)
A blank white room with no other data input and no companions.    8 (17%)
None of these (describe your answer if you want to)     7 (14.9%)
A room that's 10% grey with only a T.V. with a picture of a beach and place the same slow muzzak on loop.    6 (12.8%)
Three A.I. together in an empty featureless room 'Hell is other people' style.    6 (12.8%)
The TV option above except it loops every episode of Barney and Friends.    5 (10.6%)
An empty black room.    4 (8.5%)

Total Members Voted: 47

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Thrudd on 24 Sep 2018, 11:00
I do and since they are under the umbrella of emergency services with fire and such they are stuck with annual physicals to remain on active field duty... now the cheifs on the other hand you can tell who got there through the ranks
On that same website Galls Flexible Waist Belt has me intrigues on how effective or comfortable this little accessory is.

edit

Crap it comes in a size 54 ... just how fat are cops on average?

Y'all don't wanna know. Trust me, you don't wanna know.

It depends on a few things.  Working rotating shifts with duties that seem to actively conspire against regular exercise and a balanced diet doesn't help one iota.  A rookie with a 30" waist can easily be over 40" ten years later.  Everyone likes to point at overweight cops, but take a look at your local paramedics - you'll see the same thing, and for the same reasons.

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: phunni on 26 Sep 2018, 07:08
Why is she talking in a strange accent in 3838?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 26 Sep 2018, 07:32
Is it one we've ever seen from her before?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: OldGoat on 27 Sep 2018, 17:07
I do and since they are under the umbrella of emergency services with fire and such they are stuck with annual physicals to remain on active field duty... now the cheifs on the other hand you can tell who got there through the ranks

Where do you work, Thrudd?*  The annual physical business is unheard of in some parts of the country but a regular feature in others.  It's no doubt a good idea, but unions will often oppose it and city councils/county commissions like it best when they can get someone else to pay for the exams.

*PM me if you like and if the topic is interesting enough to you.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: A small perverse otter on 27 Sep 2018, 18:06
Fun :police: fact: IRL cops usually do wear clip on ties for safety reasons. Don't want someone grabbing it and choking you.

I suppose it’s not a problem for Roko since she doesn’t have to be concerned with strangulation.
Strangulation, no. Capture or distration, though? Still a problem.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: jwhouk on 27 Sep 2018, 20:22
Annual physical exams are required for positions that require a CDL (commercial drivers license) like I do as a bus driver.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Thrudd on 28 Sep 2018, 07:45
I do and since they are under the umbrella of emergency services with fire and such they are stuck with annual physicals to remain on active field duty... now the cheifs on the other hand you can tell who got there through the ranks

Where do you work, Thrudd?*  The annual physical business is unheard of in some parts of the country but a regular feature in others.  It's no doubt a good idea, but unions will often oppose it and city councils/county commissions like it best when they can get someone else to pay for the exams.

*PM me if you like and if the topic is interesting enough to you.
Not sure ehere you are so I could be north south east or west of you [emoji16]

All geography jokes asside I  reside a smidgen just outside Toronto Ontario.
Thats in Canada.

And yes I  get less snow than my buddies in Pennsylvania [emoji14]

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
Post by: Theta9 on 28 Sep 2018, 10:47
Annual physical exams are required for positions that require a CDL (commercial drivers license) like I do as a bus driver.
CDL holder here, school bus driver. My medical card is good for two years.