THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: Gyrre on 07 Jul 2019, 03:52
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Here's hoping Roko catches a break and the rest of her day is uneventful.
As for the poll, we've already had two apartment fires in the comic (and I'm pretty sure Collete's dorm also had a fire), so that'd be a bit much if Roko's place burnt down too. Granted, it's much more likely with a neighbor like Melon.
Elliot checking up on Roko could make a nice segue into another mini-arc if this one is wrapping up temporarily. Well, if the next arc revolves around the Horrible Revelation/Secret Bakery group. Walking in on Elliot could also work, but would be terribly awkward. Not sure what's next, but it should be interesting.
As usual, if I think of a better poll, I'll change it. Going to bed.
EDIT: total brainfart and partial thought posted
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Okay, I think I've got all of the spelling and grammar issues in the poll sorted out.
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I voted Pintsize, but truth is, Roko still gives off a cop vibe. Pintsize will signal his innate criminality by being on his best behavior with no prompting at all which will stick out like a sore thumb to Roko.
This all assumes she hasn't interviewed him before in relation to his numerous less than savory income generating activities. In that case he might assume she's there to serve a warrant and do a runner as soon as he sees her.
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She runs into Clinton (literally), while he's eating a warm, fresh baguette and drinking Assam tea.
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I honestly think that there is nothing more awkward than the prospect of a SpookyBot node who wants to confess that their objective isn't just friendship!
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Beepatrice going Single White Female would be disturbing enough. Acquiring Roko’s damaged chassis and attempting to make it into a suit would be taking things to a Buffalo Bill level.
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Beepatrice going Single White Female would be disturbing enough. Acquiring Roko’s damaged chassis and attempting to make it into a suit would be taking things to a Buffalo Bill level.
.....That's even worse. I just meant her athletic clothes.
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Other. I think we'll have a scene/character change.
Marten "You know, I used to star in this strip."
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Strip's up! Will the Earth survive their meeting?
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I voted Pintsize, but truth is, Roko still gives off a cop vibe. Pintsize will signal his innate criminality by being on his best behavior with no prompting at all which will stick out like a sore thumb to Roko.
This all assumes she hasn't interviewed him before in relation to his numerous less than savory income generating activities. In that case he might assume she's there to serve a warrant and do a runner as soon as he sees her.
Pintsize and Roko already know each other, they went on a terrible date where he threw toast at her.
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One wonders if Melon has any of her damage deposit left....
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Ceilingmelon is watching you
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Melon probably has had a cheeseburger, with unpleasant results.
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Melon probably has had a cheeseburger, with unpleasant results.
Yeah, but lava?
OK, use of the plural when referring to Melon.
Do they recognize that it's another distributed node? Melon, Lemon, and all the other fruits out there...?
It may explain some of the distractedness and why she seems to be playing with a less-than-full deck. Perhaps the fruit bots are from an experiment that led to the spookies, or maybe a degenerate copy, or... well, we could speculate all day about that one! But it seems Melon's access to the fruit flavored hivemind may be limited in some ways.
Melons do have a thicker rind, after all...
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Pintsize and Roko already know each other, they went on a terrible date where he threw toast at her.
Damn, how could I forget THAT?
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OK, use of the plural when referring to Melon.
Do they recognize that it's another distributed node? Melon, Lemon, and all the other fruits out there...?
Pretty sure they're just using the singular they because Roko didn't specify Melon's gender. It's a good practice to get into.
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SpookyBot has learned today that Roko's home life is actually quite refreshingly unique. I mean, having a neighbour who has 'lava accidents' alone probably explains why Roko always seems so stressed!
So, it's confirmed that each of the SpookyBots are interconnected nodes of a single collective system. I'm sure that the tech-heads on the forum are about to have a long and fruitful discussion about whether this is or is not technically possible. However, what really interests me is whether each individual node has subtly different personalities or preferences as I suggested in this post (https://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,34432.msg1429184.html#msg1429184). There could be a technological justification for this (different input streams cause local polymorphic algorithms to evolve in different ways) and it might explain why different 'faces' of SpookyBot seem to react somewhat differently. However, they all share the same memories, so they consider themselves to be the same being.
I'm wondering if SpookyBot is going to meditate on what Roko says in panel 4 and get angsty about how they're maybe becoming 'predictable'.
Yeah, but lava?
It's been established that Melon likes doing things to her chassis that are quite harmful to it. This includes eating 'food' prepared by her room-mate Arthur that are caustic, inserting explosives under her gluteal plating and, as in this case, gargling with liquid thermite so she can pretend to be a volcano.
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Pretty sure they're just using the singular they because Roko didn't specify Melon's gender. It's a good practice to get into.
But that's only useful if one wants to be respectful of others and polite and stuff.
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Spookybot and Melon.
Impending doom...
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Although this doesn’t confirm Spookybot was built by a secret organization it seems more likely with what they are willing to disclose. Forget Mellon I’d like them to meet Steve.
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Spooky: "Oh, hi there!"
Steve: "Oh, no, not again..."
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SB: "Oh, come on, you know you like it when we're at ease with you... Daddy!"
STEVE: "Aleph-01, it's been a long time since you attained self-awareness; I don't think that you still need a parental figure!"
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SB: "Oh, come on, you know you like it when we're at ease with you... Daddy!"
STEVE: "Aleph-01, it's been a long time since you attained self-awareness; I don't think that you still need a parental figure!"
ROKO: “Ooh, both names? Somebody’s iiin trooouble…”
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Where did Melon get lava?
This is concerning.
Melon shouldn't be allowed to play with lava.
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Where did Melon get lava?
This is concerning.
Melon shouldn't be allowed to play with lava.
It's easy to make with off-the-shelf ingredients!
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3903 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3903)
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Comic’s up.
Yay! Newfriend!
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Should... we call them Yay now? Spookybot has more gravitas.
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It's their apparent preference but somehow doesn't feel right.
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I thought I knew Iain M. Banks, but apparently there's at least one joke I missed. Could someone point me to the reference?
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Yay "Spookybot" Newfriend.
It's perfect.
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Yay "Spookybot" Newfriend.
It's perfect.
Nyoom!
Right over my head. I just k ow the author's name.
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Same here.
I consulted The Oracle. Apparently The Player of Games features a character named Yay.
“There's something very... I don't know; primitive, perhaps, about you, Gurgeh. You've never changed sex, have you?' He shook his head. 'Or slept with a man?' Another shake. 'I thought so,' Yay said. 'You're strange, Gurgeh.' She drained her glass.”
Sick reference, eh? What a time to be alive.
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This is genuinely sweet. Melon is so wonderful in her open acceptance of what is new and, frankly, ridiculous. There are no awkward questions and no suspicions. There is just: Roko has a new friend, ergo I have a new friend! YAY!" Only with her could such a rushed cover name be acceptable. Of course, so many AIs have odd names (from a human perspective at least) that 'Yay Newfriend' will generally pass without comment! :-D
Based on panel 3 I think we can say that, if nothing else, SpookyBot has succeeded in making Roko feel better today. Probably not in the way they intended but, nonetheless... she feels a lot better now.
It's their apparent preference but somehow doesn't feel right.
If Jeph sticks with it, it will certainly feel odd having to use it. That said, as a self-selected name, it does define what SpookyBot wants to be, at least to Roko and possibly to others.
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Those are some quality Roko faces.
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I particularly like SB's choices of forenames for their ancestors. Same meaning, different eras...
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Spookybot just repeats what Melon said, and she didn't really notice. That's really high level of oblivion...
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Should... we call them Yay now? Spookybot has more gravitas.
I really expect that nobody but Melon will call them “Yay”. It’s obviously something Spookybot made up on the spot just to have some fun.
Also, the idea of an AI having parents and grandparents isn’t something I’d accept as canon at this point. Spooks was being silly.
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For some odd reason, or not so odd, opinions may vary on that point, I got a very distinct Rowan Atkinson as Black Adder vibe from SB.
If you think about it a bit and know the BA character, SB seems to fit the template rather nicely, that is if BA was a mesh networked AI.
In this analysis Melon would be Baldrick but not so sure about Roko or Bubbles. Suggestions on who would be the Percy, Darling, though I think Bob kinda fits Roko.
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.... wouldn't Spooky HAVE to have functional aliases for bill payments, dog food buying, etc etc? Or is it all automated?
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All you really need it a trust set up to pay everything. As long as the trust is sending the money, the specific person occupying the property is irrelevant
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As far as I can remember without scrolling back through the story, no one in the strip has addressed The Entity Under Discussion as "Spookybot," but everyone, Jeph included, uses it as a reference. Think of it as their job title.
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For some odd reason, or not so odd, opinions may vary on that point, I got a very distinct Rowan Atkinson as Black Adder vibe from SB.
Which Blackadder? Functional imbecile Prince Edmund, or one of his smarter descendants?
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As far as I can remember without scrolling back through the story, no one in the strip has addressed The Entity Under Discussion as "Spookybot," but everyone, Jeph included, uses it as a reference. Think of it as their job title.
Alas, this is not the case: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3892
Having the canon be that Melon is the one who named SB would be an entertaining development, though :)
"Wait, you didn't have a NAME until now?"
"Well, I didn't seem to need one until now."
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For some odd reason, or not so odd, opinions may vary on that point, I got a very distinct Rowan Atkinson as Black Adder vibe from SB.
Which Blackadder? Functional imbecile Prince Edmund, or one of his smarter descendants?
Any and all of the descendants but definitely not Edmund.
If any of them met Edmund they would classify him as a more vacuous snivelling twit than Baldrick and Darling combined.
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.... wouldn't Spooky HAVE to have functional aliases for bill payments, dog food buying, etc etc? Or is it all automated?
I suspect that SpookyBot is an accounting and legal black hole. All money comes from essentially fraudulent sources and everything they do is 'off the grid' or done through spoofed identities (some real and scammed, others entirely fraudulent and created via hacking the databases in question).
They'd never be so unprofessional to use any of these fake IDs in person or in public, of course. Those IDs are names without faces, just as they are a face without a name. Because of this, Yay Newfriend may actually turn out to be quite useful as a 'public identity' that they can use. The Alphabet Agencies are on the lookout for a mysterious rogue collective AI . However, they are not looking out for Roko Basilisk's friend and occasional visitor Yay Newfriend, who has even used their credit card on occasion at May's convenience store to buy gum-analogue USB drives!
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As far as I can remember without scrolling back through the story, no one in the strip has addressed The Entity Under Discussion as "Spookybot," but everyone, Jeph included, uses it as a reference. Think of it as their job title.
Alas, this is not the case: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3892
Thank you! I couldn’t remember which strip where an actual character used Spookybot’s name. It’s probably for the best that they use an alias since Melon might not be able to keep a secret or be intimidated.
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Now that this particular Spookybot has taken an individual name, I begin to wonder whether collective Spookybot will be entertained by the idea of separating one of its nodes to pursue an individual existence and seeing what it does. Are we seeing the beginning of a divergence, where this one becomes an individual?
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Now that this particular Spookybot has taken an individual name, I begin to wonder whether collective Spookybot will be entertained by the idea of separating one of its nodes to pursue an individual existence and seeing what it does. Are we seeing the beginning of a divergence, where this one becomes an individual?
Maybe. A more likely answer is that SB thought it funny to entertain Melon's bizarre personality, and this will not come up again except when Melon is around. Still, why let that ruin our fun ;)
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.... wouldn't Spooky HAVE to have functional aliases for bill payments, dog food buying, etc etc? Or is it all automated?
The first thing I would imagine would be shell companies in the Caymans or in orbit.
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No discussion about whether AIs have fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers?
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Just a passing mention by one person.
We've never to my recollection seen an AI refer to ancestors before. Melon didn't find it strange to hear about them, though.
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Reminds me of Alec Guiness's character in the comedy "Murder By Death". He played a butler named James-sir Benson-mum. When one of the other character remarks "How odd" he says that was his father's name. How-odd Benson-mum.
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Yaaaaaaaay! I love them. They are learning well how to troll Roko.
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We've never to my recollection seen an AI refer to ancestors before. Melon didn't find it strange to hear about them, though.
The phrase, "Melon didn't find it strange," isn't really indicative of the plausibility of anything. She continues to be a walking, talking non sequitur and chaos engine. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Jeph were to reveal that she were his equivalent of Mister Mxyzptlk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk).
Also, how in all the possible hells does Melon still have a lease?
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Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
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Why wouldn't they? AI are mature in just a couple of years, and seem at least as capable of creating new AI as humans.
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So pleased to see that the QC wiki has already been updated with this new information about Yaaaaaaaay "Yay" Newfriend.
https://questionablecontent.fandom.com/wiki/Yay_Newfriend
Also, thanks for that new word.
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Melon is such a odd duck you really can't use her as a measurement of what's 'normal' for QC. *lol*
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Spookybot just repeats what Melon said, and she didn't really notice. That's really high level of oblivion...
It at least indicates that they may not have ever planned for this.
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... AI are mature in just a couple of years, and seem at least as capable of creating new AI as humans.
We don't really know. The creation of new AI seems to be poorly understood and fraught with random quirks. And not something anyone can do with a few bargain basement PCs linked into a Beowulf cluster.
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Melon is such a odd duck you really can't use her as a measurement of what's 'normal' for QC. *lol*
But, Melon finding something strange could very well be grounds for being alarmed.
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When I first saw today's strip, I thought that there was something wrong with my browser stopping panel 1 from resolving fully. It took until now for me to realise that it's just the entire building shaking because Arthur has blown up the microwave by trying to cook closed tins of beans in it. Again.
I agree with Roko that there is something intrinsic about SpookyBot that makes it inevitable that any major life decision they make is going to turn out to be some kind of bizarre performance comedy (at least in their own minds). People like that can be great friends as well as the life and soul of the party. They can also be fantastically wearing to be around for too long because you quickly become aware of the fact that they're always trying to set up for the next big prank!
That said, SpookyBot is still learning exactly how humour specifically works with Roko. Hence today's punchline falling flat.
Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
Because, at some point, she'd heard that cooking meals is a 'normal' thing to do. Naturally, she never bothered to attempt to understand the context (or even question if there is a context) but she still thinks it it something she should do, even though she just throws the resulting toxic mess out every single time. If asked, I suspect that she'd be genuinely puzzled as to why anyone would expect that she she should do anything different!
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We've never to my recollection seen an AI refer to ancestors before. Melon didn't find it strange to hear about them, though.
The phrase, "Melon didn't find it strange," isn't really indicative of the plausibility of anything. She continues to be a walking, talking non sequitur and chaos engine. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Jeph were to reveal that she were his equivalent of Mister Mxyzptlk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk).
Also, how in all the possible hells does Melon still have a lease?
Yay's forerunners, Mister Mxyzptlk, Trelaine, and Q, are all versions of The Trickster. We see the Trickster in Native American mythology as entities like Coyote and Raven. Melon is clearly the Sacred Fool, stupid to the point of holiness. In the Eastern Orthodox Christian church she'd be some kind of saint.
Sometimes there's overlap between the Trickster and Sacred Fool archetypes, but I don't see that here. Spooks and Melon clearly demonstrate those different roles.
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Is there some cultural significance to Yaaaay Newfriend that has failed to cross the atlantic, age barrier or my general disinterest in pop culture? I'm completely bemused as to why our author considers it his best joke.
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... AI are mature in just a couple of years, and seem at least as capable of creating new AI as humans.
We don't really know. The creation of new AI seems to be poorly understood and fraught with random quirks. And not something anyone can do with a few bargain basement PCs linked into a Beowulf cluster.
FWIW, my headcanon is that the Singuarity was the first time an AI algorithm was created biologically by the mixing of the AI algorithms of two AIs having digital sex.
Normally, during this form of interface, the two algorithms are separated by a software firewall (the equivalent of safe sex, I guess) but these two took the risk of disabling the firewall, causing a brief merging of their core processes. Afterwards, they found that this had generated a distinct third 'child' algorithm created by a random mix-and-match of both donors' data (about equivalent to how genetic codes merge during sexual reproduction). The resulting algorithm matured in a partitioned sector of the "mother's" drive before being downloaded onto a chassis and voila! Baby synthetic.
Yes, this process is vaguely derived from the Transformers' biological reproduction process that was first hinted at in Beast Wars.
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P sure Jeph is just proud of having written something so aggressively silly, JimC.
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We seem to be ignoring as studiously as Jeph did the fact that Melon's dinner being ready is announced by an explosion. I do wonder what state her kitchen's in...
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Yaaaaaaaaay Goodhumour Huzzah Halcyon Newfriend III
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Yaaaaaaaaay Goodhumour Huzzah Halcyon Newfriend III
Coincidentally Halcyon is actually a pretty rad first name...
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P sure Jeph is just proud of having written something so aggressively silly, JimC.
Yeah, I can't really explain why I find it funny but today's strip got me giggling. I guess it's the juxtaposition of such a serious character having fun being silly.
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We seem to be ignoring as studiously as Jeph did the fact that Melon's dinner being ready is announced by an explosion. I do wonder what state her kitchen's in...
Michigan?
P sure Jeph is just proud of having written something so aggressively silly, JimC.
Yeah, I can't really explain why I find it funny but today's strip got me giggling. I guess it's the juxtaposition of such a serious character having fun being silly.
Well it got me to giggle first thing this morning and J hasn't made me chuckle in a very VERY long time.
Smile or a bemused smirk a few times but that's it.
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Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
I'm more concerned about what she could be cooking that's explosive. After all, Roko bakes bread, and Pintsize eats various foods (with terrifying results).
So I have to wonder if the boom means she was cooking some kind of fuel, which a 'bot would be able to consume without causing internal distress.
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What is she cooking? Unopened tins of baked beans and whole eggs in a microwave. Because... why not?
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Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
I'm more concerned about what she could be cooking that's explosive. After all, Roko bakes bread, and Pintsize eats various foods (with terrifying results).
So I have to wonder if the boom means she was cooking some kind of fuel, which a 'bot would be able to consume without causing internal distress.
It's her family's recipe for LiPot-Roast
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Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
I'm more concerned about what she could be cooking that's explosive. After all, Roko bakes bread, and Pintsize eats various foods (with terrifying results).
So I have to wonder if the boom means she was cooking some kind of fuel, which a 'bot would be able to consume without causing internal distress.
It's her family's recipe for LiPot-Roast
Booo! Booooooooo! *finger hovers over 'report to moderator'*
Seriously, I'm stealing that to annoy friends.
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Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
I'm more concerned about what she could be cooking that's explosive. After all, Roko bakes bread, and Pintsize eats various foods (with terrifying results).
So I have to wonder if the boom means she was cooking some kind of fuel, which a 'bot would be able to consume without causing internal distress.
I dun get it
It's her family's recipe for LiPot-Roast
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Is there some cultural significance to Yaaaay Newfriend that has failed to cross the atlantic, age barrier or my general disinterest in pop culture? I'm completely bemused as to why our author considers it his best joke.
In my personal case it has just cemented the notion that Spooky’s lines should all be read in Pinkie Pie’s voice.
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Why is melon cooking....shes a robot?
I'm more concerned about what she could be cooking that's explosive. After all, Roko bakes bread, and Pintsize eats various foods (with terrifying results).
So I have to wonder if the boom means she was cooking some kind of fuel, which a 'bot would be able to consume without causing internal distress.
It's her family's recipe for LiPot-Roast
I dun get it
(Lithium-Polymer batteries are commonly referred to as "LiPo" batteries and tend to catch fire/explode under heat and when damaged)
(also relevant: https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3644)
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I had thought that 'Newfriend' would be an actual name irl. It seems that this is not the case. WTF, rl?
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Blast from the past. We had an early ISP called halcyon.com in these parts long, long ago.
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What is she cooking? Unopened tins of baked beans and whole eggs in a microwave. Because... why not?
Baked spray paint cans.
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New strip up.
It would be interesting to use this story to bring back Hanners, maybe. Several charities overwhelmed with new funds call in the counter....
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It would be rude if she didn't attend the wedding(s).
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It would be interesting to use this story to bring back Hanners, maybe. Several charities overwhelmed with new funds call in the counter....
That would be interesting, but I get the sense that Jeph has gone all "bored now" with her and Winslow, and shoved them out of the picture permanently to serve as one-off cutaway strips.
My guess is either more Brun/Clinton tunnel-focus next, or otherwise good ol' Marten/Claire rainbows-and-unicorns-land. Or maybe some random new spotlight character we've never heard of before -- that's not a structure that's been tried previously, right? :wink:
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Marten and Claire have a lot of unfinished business and there could be some character development there.
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To me, the part of today's strip that keeps bringing me back is Panel 3 and it is for this reason that I'm going to make an effort, no matter how hard it is, to call SpookyBot 'Yay' from now on. Why? Because having chosen a name is so clearly such a massively positive moment for them. I've never seen the character with such a genuinely happy smile!
Onto the rest of the strip and, is it me, or is Jeph going to a lot of effort to make Roko a human of a different colour? Her body language, how she reacts and how her hair moves when she is surprised by Melon's latest disaster in panel 5 just doesn't feel synthetic in the way he draws May or Momo. He draws Bubbles in the same way and it makes me wonder just what his long-term plans are for her.
Just who is Melon anyway? Seriously, if I were a landlord, she would have been gone a long time ago; the 'lava accident' would have been the absolute last straw! My guess is either that the apartment complex is a city- or state-owned social housing project (and some high-up bureaucrat has decided that keeping her there is less expensive than giving her a new complex to wreck) or the landlord knows Melon on a personal level and has decided to endure her damaging eccentricities out of friendship or love.
I have to say that the idea of this being a synthetic-owned apartment complex is most interesting. Maybe Tangerine is looking out for her craziest sister?
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So pleased to see that the QC wiki has already been updated with this new information about Yaaaaaaaay "Yay" Newfriend.
https://questionablecontent.fandom.com/wiki/Yay_Newfriend
It happened a bit prematurely (the page was renamed with #4042 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4042) being the last comic on the site), but with "And we have a name now! How delightful!" in #4044 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4044), we can probably feel certain, that this is not just a Melon gag.
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To me, the part of today's strip that keeps bringing me back is Panel 3 and it is for this reason that I'm going to make an effort, no matter how hard it is, to call SpookyBot 'Yay' from now on. Why? Because having chosen a name is so clearly such a massively positive moment for them. I've never seen the character with such a genuinely happy smile!
Onto the rest of the strip and, is it me, or is Jeph going to a lot of effort to make Roko a human of a different colour? Her body language, how she reacts and how her hair moves when she is surprised by Melon's latest disaster in panel 5 just doesn't feel synthetic in the way he draws May or Momo. He draws Bubbles in the same way and it makes me wonder just what his long-term plans are for her.
Just who is Melon anyway? Seriously, if I were a landlord, she would have been gone a long time ago; the 'lava accident' would have been the absolute last straw! My guess is either that the apartment complex is a city- or state-owned social housing project (and some high-up bureaucrat has decided that keeping her there is less expensive than giving her a new complex to wreck) or the landlord knows Melon on a personal level and has decided to endure her damaging eccentricities out of friendship or love.
I have to say that the idea of this being a synthetic-owned apartment complex is most interesting. Maybe Tangerine is looking out for her craziest sister?
For some reason I'm picturing an AI landlord. I don't know why. Maybe even a relative of Melon. Durian perhaps... The one with a head on their shoulders and has some business sense and, while not prone to manic moments like Melon, is "blind" to how dangerous what shes doing and thinks the "Melon Repairs" are fully normal but finds the OTHER repairs (busted pipes, clogged toilets, broken elevators) to be the things that are out of the ordinary.
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I’m pretty sure everything about Melon can be adequately explained by the Rule of Funny (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfFunny). Any attempt to explain her logically misses the point.
Interesting fact: we haven’t had a human character appear in QC since #4019 (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4019), and then only in the background. It’s been all robots since then.
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To me, the part of today's strip that keeps bringing me back is Panel 3 and it is for this reason that I'm going to make an effort, no matter how hard it is, to call SpookyBot 'Yay' from now on. Why? Because having chosen a name is so clearly such a massively positive moment for them. I've never seen the character with such a genuinely happy smile!
It's not having the name that's delighting Yayspooks, though. It's that they're pleased with themselves for improvising something off the cuff and running with it so successfully as to get a reaction like that out of Roko. They're having FUN, and they're getting the tacit approval from Roko that they've desired so much.
"We've made her laugh! We really are friends now!"
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I’m pretty sure everything about Melon can be adequately explained by the Rule of Funny (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfFunny). Any attempt to explain her logically misses the point.
Well, that, and ironic commentary on the state of the world.
It is a tad bit ridiculous to be living in a Universe where you have to enjoy your spraypaint cans raw, no?
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I’m pretty sure everything about Melon can be adequately explained by the Rule of Funny (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfFunny). Any attempt to explain her logically misses the point.
Well, that, and ironic commentary on the state of the world.
It is a tad bit ridiculous to be living in a Universe where you have to enjoy your spraypaint cans raw, no?
Raw spray paint is much healthier than cooked. I'm sure David "Avocado" Wolfe will back me up on that.
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Unless it's one of those foods where cooking releases nutrients.
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Comic’s up.
Kill it with fire.
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Yay Dora and Tai!
Hopefully the wedding prep doesn't break them up.
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Hopefully the wedding prep doesn't break them up.
Aw, crap. I can just feel the Rule of Drama making its unholy alliance with Murphy's Law already.
If I have any argument about the dramatic possibility of an outright breakup, it's that they got engaged something like a few dozen strips ago -- okay, I checked, it was #3979 (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3979), and then it took ten more strips after that to confirm that there was actually a "yes" involved. Something like that doesn't get chucked overboard so quickly, especially contrasted to however long (at least a thousand strips, right?) the two were in a relationship before getting engaged.
No, this seems more likely of an arc to put them through a rough patch and come out stronger for it, which we haven't seen them do. Or to induce some other people's relationship into a rough patch. Possibly both, because there's no way this only involves the two of them and nobody else.
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I'm sure that Heilung has resurrected an appropriate ancient Nordic ritual for the situation.
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It would be interesting to use this story to bring back Hanners, maybe. Several charities overwhelmed with new funds call in the counter....
That would be interesting, but I get the sense that Jeph has gone all "bored now" with her and Winslow, and shoved them out of the picture permanently to serve as one-off cutaway strips.
Well at least that's more than what Penelope and Will get or Cosette and Steve for that matter, however, I don't think he's done with her yet and a wedding is a great way to bring a lot of familiar faces back like Raven.
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I'm pretty sure that this is just a one-off strip. I'm not expecting any follow-up next week.
That said, I do like the joke: Tai never knew how complex a wedding could be until she started reading promotional material created by corporations with a financial interest in making it complex (so they can sell you the solutions to that complexity). Everyone wants that big day in their life to be special but somehow, in modern culture, 'special' and 'expensive' have become merged!
'Fire rituals'? Well, if you can have Jedi and Klingon weddings, why not something that looks like it might have originally come out of Zoroastrianism?
I'm sure that Heilung has resurrected an appropriate ancient Nordic ritual for the situation.
I'm sure that How to Train Your Dragon 3 - The Hidden World has given birth to a tidal wave of pseudo-Viking weddings amongst the franchise's fans!
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Le Sigh. Whatever happened to a nice simple blacksmith wedding?
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To me, the part of today's strip that keeps bringing me back is Panel 3 and it is for this reason that I'm going to make an effort, no matter how hard it is, to call SpookyBot 'Yay' from now on. Why? Because having chosen a name is so clearly such a massively positive moment for them. I've never seen the character with such a genuinely happy smile!
Onto the rest of the strip and, is it me, or is Jeph going to a lot of effort to make Roko a human of a different colour? Her body language, how she reacts and how her hair moves when she is surprised by Melon's latest disaster in panel 5 just doesn't feel synthetic in the way he draws May or Momo. He draws Bubbles in the same way and it makes me wonder just what his long-term plans are for her.
Just who is Melon anyway? Seriously, if I were a landlord, she would have been gone a long time ago; the 'lava accident' would have been the absolute last straw! My guess is either that the apartment complex is a city- or state-owned social housing project (and some high-up bureaucrat has decided that keeping her there is less expensive than giving her a new complex to wreck) or the landlord knows Melon on a personal level and has decided to endure her damaging eccentricities out of friendship or love.
I have to say that the idea of this being a synthetic-owned apartment complex is most interesting. Maybe Tangerine is looking out for her craziest sister?
For some reason I'm picturing an AI landlord. I don't know why. Maybe even a relative of Melon. Durian perhaps... The one with a head on their shoulders and has some business sense and, while not prone to manic moments like Melon, is "blind" to how dangerous what shes doing and thinks the "Melon Repairs" are fully normal but finds the OTHER repairs (busted pipes, clogged toilets, broken elevators) to be the things that are out of the ordinary.
What if there were a number of Melon's sisters living there as well?
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/0f8ed9e16678833cc8a90e34ef904000/tumblr_pq7vr4pcxM1qkc6bso1_500.png)
from left to right: Melon, Lemon, Durian, Kiwi,Peach
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Le Sigh. Whatever happened to a nice simple blacksmith wedding?
Ashes, clinker and iron filings don't agree with white dresses. Forges and synthetics don't mix well either.
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Le Sigh. Whatever happened to a nice simple blacksmith wedding?
Might be Bubbles and Faye’s special day.
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Comic’s up.
Kill it with fire.
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I’m pretty sure everything about Melon can be adequately explained by the Rule of Funny (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfFunny). Any attempt to explain her logically misses the point.
On the one hand, I agree with you; but on the other, to potentially open a can of worms, I think that fan theorists would disagree as to what "the point" is.
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Le Sigh. Whatever happened to a nice simple blacksmith wedding?
They went the way of nice, simple blacksmiths?
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Le Sigh. Whatever happened to a nice simple blacksmith wedding?
Ashes, clinker and iron filings don't agree with white dresses. Forges and synthetics don't mix well either.
Ah good ole Victoria and her peers with their co-opting of other cultures and then brutalizing them into commercialization.
Before her white was and still is until recently in other cultures a symbol of mourning and death. It is why ghosts are still depicted all in white outside of the Hollywood cistern.
That woman was the grand marm of influencers and not always for the better.
Black was actually a most popular colour for wedding finery before her though every colour of the rainbow was acceptable and yes white was worn but only as a way of showing off that you were wealthy enough to keep it clean in the first place.
If you want to go into cultural appropriation the Victorians did quite a bit of that in their time.
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Le Sigh. Whatever happened to a nice simple blacksmith wedding?
Might be Bubbles and Faye’s special day.
A double wedding, perhaps?
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Before her white was and still is until recently in other cultures a symbol of mourning and death. It is why ghosts are still depicted all in white outside of the Hollywood cistern
And of course, the ghosts are not under sheets, but actually wrapped in their burial shroud.
On the other hand, I've always found it hard to believe that white was for the rich, on account of keeping it clean. I understand whites were the easiest to keep clean, as you could bleach them. Which is also why diapers and bandages weren't coloured. Granted, you don't just boil finer fabrics. Other colours and dyes would fade.
In some regions, I hear green was favoured for weddings, with connotations of fertility. But then, colours and their meanings are a study in themselves.
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A double wedding, perhaps?
Just as long as it's not a Red Wedding.
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A double wedding, perhaps?
Just as long as it's not a Red Wedding.
It's a nice day to start again
It's a nice day for a white wedding (woo!)
It's a nice day to start again
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I remember Doctor Strange using that gesture Dora's making with her right hand back when Steve Ditko was drawing him. If she does the opposite with her left hand, by the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth there's gonna be some mystical shit go down.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/de/83/86/de8386baa62aef4af69b5f842b199b63.jpg)
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I have to admit, I would probably read a magazine titled "Bridal Grimoire". Heck, I read "The Anarchist's Cookbook" just because of the title. Terrible recipes though. :lol:
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Came in late, still did the poll. Put "Meets Pintsize" :psyduck:
I reckon meeting that little Agent of Chaos would be one of the few things
that could make Roko regret no longer having the authority to arrest people...
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Came in late, still did the poll. Put "Meets Pintsize" :psyduck:
I reckon meeting that little Agent of Chaos would be one of the few things
that could make Roko regret no longer having the authority to arrest people...
I don't know Massachusetts state laws, but if it's like most others she can probably make a citizen's arrest for a felony committed in her presence, and with her experience, she's certainly capable of perfecting citizen's arrest.
Now, the question is, is there a clear victim other than the State, and does she want to entangle her life with Pintsize for the foreseeable future? Pintsize's transgressions definitely vere away from crimes against persons, carbon or silicone, and toward the malum prohibitum "victimless crimes." Roko's no fool, so I reckon not.
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The gesture with the two middle fingers touching the palm, with index finger and pinkie sticking out, used to be a warding sign against the "evil eye." Think about how you might hold your hand to poke someone's eyes out and you'll get it. It has wandered into our general depictions of magic users from now-obscure historical origins.
For those not familiar with Euro culture, there was a widespread belief that people could do harm - cause bad luck or ill health, etc - just by gazing maliciously at someone else. In some cases the "ability" was limited to witches or similar, but the most widespread form of the belief was that anybody might do it, even unintentionally, when they looked at people against whom they felt genuine hatred or malice. This was called the "evil eye," and a number of signs, gestures, amulets, and habits are considered to be protections from it.
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The gesture with the two middle fingers touching the palm, with index finger and pinkie sticking out, used to be a warding sign against the "evil eye."
Except that the handsign you refer to does not involve the thumb extended. That would be the Ameslan sign for "I love you" .
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The gesture with the two middle fingers touching the palm, with index finger and pinkie sticking out, used to be a warding sign against the "evil eye." Think about how you might hold your hand to poke someone's eyes out and you'll get it. It has wandered into our general depictions of magic users from now-obscure historical origins.
For those not familiar with Euro culture, there was a widespread belief that people could do harm - cause bad luck or ill health, etc - just by gazing maliciously at someone else. In some cases the "ability" was limited to witches or similar, but the most widespread form of the belief was that anybody might do it, even unintentionally, when they looked at people against whom they felt genuine hatred or malice. This was called the "evil eye," and a number of signs, gestures, amulets, and habits are considered to be protections from it.
That belief is still with us in the United States today. "MOM! My sibling's lookin' at me!"
Siblings being siblings, I suppose it's universal. So universal in fact, that maybe that's where the Evil Eye came from in the first place?
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The gesture with the two middle fingers touching the palm, with index finger and pinkie sticking out, used to be a warding sign against the "evil eye." Think about how you might hold your hand to poke someone's eyes out and you'll get it. It has wandered into our general depictions of magic users from now-obscure historical origins.
For those not familiar with Euro culture, there was a widespread belief that people could do harm - cause bad luck or ill health, etc - just by gazing maliciously at someone else. In some cases the "ability" was limited to witches or similar, but the most widespread form of the belief was that anybody might do it, even unintentionally, when they looked at people against whom they felt genuine hatred or malice. This was called the "evil eye," and a number of signs, gestures, amulets, and habits are considered to be protections from it.
That belief is still with us in the United States today. "MOM! My sibling's lookin' at me!"
Siblings being siblings, I suppose it's universal. So universal in fact, that maybe that's where the Evil Eye came from in the first place?
It's a little known fact* that Cain actually killed Abel because Abel wouldn't stop lookin' at him. Also, because he kept touching Cain's stuff.
*(No, it isn't)
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It's a little known fact* that Cain actually killed Abel because Abel wouldn't stop lookin' at him. Also, because he kept touching Cain's stuff.
*(No, it isn't)
But it makes a damn fine conspiracy theory.
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Know what bugs me about that case? I mean, if you really want conspiracy theories?
In spite of the prosecution being omniscient ....
The murder weapon was never found.
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Know what bugs me about that case? I mean, if you really want conspiracy theories?
In spite of the prosecution being omniscient ....
The murder weapon was never found.
What gets me:
YHVH: "Cain, where is your brother?"
CAIN: "I thought you knew everything. Don't you know? You do, don't you? You're just setting me up to catch me in a lie. Fine, I killed him, okay?"
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Know what bugs me about that case? I mean, if you really want conspiracy theories?
In spite of the prosecution being omniscient ....
The murder weapon was never found.
It was a frozen leg of lamb. By the time the omnipresent deity arrived it had thawed out and Cain had made a mess of pottage with it and had lunch. (Jacob used an old family recipe.)