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Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: shanejayell on 21 Jul 2019, 18:58

Title: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: shanejayell on 21 Jul 2019, 18:58
The week begins! And news of Hanners return begins to go out too.

Added poll.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Mr Intrepid on 21 Jul 2019, 20:08
I'm guessing she'll give her apartment a good cleaning, but not going operating room sterile.  Her breakthroughs may be enough that she won't feel it's absolutely necessary.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: DSL on 21 Jul 2019, 20:52
Sterilizing dogs and other domestic animals is a fairly routine procedure these days -- but that's not exactly what the poll is talking about, is it?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: BenRG on 21 Jul 2019, 23:03
So, it appears that Claire is being tossed on the horns of a dilemma! It also looks like she is at risk of suddenly wearing out her welcome with her mother! Cosmo is Mrs A's Good Girl, not Claire's. The solution is obvious, of course: Marten is going to have to get Claire her own dog as a graduation present!

Meanwhile, a comment on Patreon makes me wonder: How well does Claire know Hannelore? She'd know her as one of the baristas at CoD but Hanners seems to have stopped just 'dropping in' to Marten and Faye's apartment before Claire moved in, so I'm wondering if it is a case of "Marten's friend who has become my friend through mutual connection".
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Eternal_Newbie on 22 Jul 2019, 01:29
Sterilizing dogs and other domestic animals is a fairly routine procedure these days -- but that's not exactly what the poll is talking about, is it?

I suspect it's about how clean can you actually get a dog without harming it.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: DSL on 22 Jul 2019, 03:17
Sterilizing dogs and other domestic animals is a fairly routine procedure these days -- but that's not exactly what the poll is talking about, is it?

I suspect it's about how clean can you actually get a dog without harming it.
Indeed. (https://flic.kr/p/237M1UU)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: DashaBlade on 22 Jul 2019, 11:22
Disinfecting a dog is damn near impossible, but disinfecting a cat... you take your life into your own hands if you even think of trying.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cesium133 on 22 Jul 2019, 12:34
Sterilizing dogs and other domestic animals is a fairly routine procedure these days -- but that's not exactly what the poll is talking about, is it?
Autoclaving a dog may get you in trouble with the Humane Society.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: TV4Fun on 22 Jul 2019, 18:38
Are people still hollering about Faye's T-shirt? It's been a little while.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: snufflebottoms on 22 Jul 2019, 19:42
Are people still hollering about Faye's T-shirt? It's been a little while.

legit made me laugh
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: shanejayell on 22 Jul 2019, 19:44
New strip up.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. :D
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Case on 22 Jul 2019, 21:26
yessssssss ... and now wiz ze little hatsssssss, please ...
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: BenRG on 22 Jul 2019, 22:44
There are two things that I deeply admire in today's comic: Firstly, Jeph using Faye to officially adopt the fanon nickname of 'Tannelore'. Second is Faye and Bubbles's ability to interpret Hanners's unspoken request so accurately. Hannelore's issues may prevent her from ever enjoying (or even wanting) physical intimacy but that doesn't stop her from enjoying it from second hand. The fact that Faye and Bubbles are just being silly may only add to how heartwarming this is!

Am I the only one who has noticed that Faye and Bubbles have become one of those couples who unconsciously mimic eachother?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cybersmurf on 22 Jul 2019, 23:34
Today's comic may make my heart melt.

Or it just may be the heat.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Bollthorn on 23 Jul 2019, 00:26
Adorable  ^.^
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Welu on 23 Jul 2019, 06:00
D'aww
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cybersmurf on 23 Jul 2019, 06:15
There are two things that I deeply admire in today's comic: Firstly, Jeph using Faye to officially adopt the fanon nickname of 'Tannelore'. Second is Faye and Bubbles's ability to interpret Hanners's unspoken request so accurately. Hannelore's issues may prevent her from ever enjoying (or even wanting) physical intimacy but that doesn't stop her from enjoying it from second hand. The fact that Faye and Bubbles are just being silly may only add to how heartwarming this is!

... After the Handelore incident? He might have found the same pun himself.
Also squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Gyrre on 23 Jul 2019, 06:45
I imagine she'll continue checking in on old cast members her friends. And maybe get Winslow some therapy so he doesn't become a hikikomori.


EDIT: typo fix. 'Winslow' not 'Winzlow'
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Inconsequential on 23 Jul 2019, 06:50
Yes, all the squeeeeeee. HEAD SMOOCHES!

I, for one, am 110% on board for any Faybles strip with PDA.


"Tannelore" is pretty nifty, but I'm still working on a portmanteau with "melanocytes" or "melanin".

"Melanilore", maybe?


And yeah, poor Winslow might need some help. Or at least a break from traveling. When he first got his new body, he seemed to start worrying about silly things and Hannelore was concerned he might have picked up some of her neuroses.
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3545
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: DSL on 23 Jul 2019, 20:07
COMIC -- and Bubbles is almost in squee mode.

Yep, sometimes the li'l animals need help coming out into the world.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: shanejayell on 23 Jul 2019, 20:26
Well, Hanners' aversion to bodily fluids IN GENERAL is probably now less.

0_o
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: mahlernut on 23 Jul 2019, 20:45
Brings to mind All Creatures Great And Small   :laugh: :-o
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: TV4Fun on 23 Jul 2019, 21:38
I'm so glad Hanners got rid of all those pesky personality traits. All that OCD and nervousness was just giving her way too much uniqueness. She's much more relatable as someone without any character flaws.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: OldGoat on 23 Jul 2019, 22:15
Bubbles' expression in frame 4 is excellent.

I'm so glad Hanners got rid of all those pesky personality traits. All that OCD and nervousness was just giving her way too much uniqueness. She's much more relatable as someone without any character flaws.
Geez, give Jeph a chance to tell his story.  I promise you, he'll give her plenty of quirks.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: BenRG on 23 Jul 2019, 23:39
I think that I'm beginning to see what happened to Hannelore: First, she gets to know the cute little Yak-lets. Then one of the cows needs help because of a breech presentation birth (a serious problem with ungulates from what little I know of  them) and Hannelore was the only person available to help. She couldn't let the cute widdle baby die! So, she had to drive herself completely out of her comfort zone and keep going, even though her brain must have been screaming (and she might have been too) to save a cute little life.

I think that there could easily be a funny consequence of this anecdote. At some point in the future, one of Hannelore's friends (Cossette, maybe?) goes into labour in CoD and Hannelore tries to take charge. It turns out that most of the lessons she learned in Mongolia do not cross over the ungulate/primate boundary very well.

Well, Hanners' aversion to bodily fluids IN GENERAL is probably now less.

Oh, I think that they are probably worse but she's proved to herself that, if properly motivated, she can power her way through them. She then probably needs to be pressure-hosed all over at least ten times to be clean again. She'll do it to herself if no-one else will do so out of this silly concern that it will tear off her skin!

Brings to mind All Creatures Great And Small   :laugh: :-o

Yeah, the travils of bovine assisted birth in that book are really good for wiping away any illusions you may have about the romance of the farmer's life!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Bollthorn on 24 Jul 2019, 03:03
Frame three is just precious ^_^
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Mr_Rose on 24 Jul 2019, 05:42
Brings to mind All Creatures Great And Small   :laugh: :-o

Yeah, the travils of bovine assisted birth in that book are really good for wiping away any illusions you may have about the romance of the farmer's life!
Personally, I was thinking of the TV series, which never shied away from the, ah, messier aspects of the job. In living colour no less.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Timemaster on 24 Jul 2019, 09:16
Well, Hanners' aversion to bodily fluids IN GENERAL is probably now less.

Plus: maybe her aversion is to human body fluids. Those of an animal may be a completely different thing. Someone who can‘t stand a human touch can maybe cuddle an animal without any problems.

TM
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: mahlernut on 24 Jul 2019, 09:27
Brings to mind All Creatures Great And Small   :laugh: :-o

Yeah, the travils of bovine assisted birth in that book are really good for wiping away any illusions you may have about the romance of the farmer's life!
Personally, I was thinking of the TV series, which never shied away from the, ah, messier aspects of the job. In living colour no less.

Me too.  I remember more than one occasion (maybe incorrectly...it's been a long time) of Harriot "shoulder deep" in an assisted birth.  Does that count as method acting?

And now I can't get the theme song out of my head.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 24 Jul 2019, 11:42
It just might be that that Hannelore was the only person available with suitably small and dexterous hands...

Now even more Awesome...
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Zebediah on 24 Jul 2019, 14:49
Brings to mind All Creatures Great And Small   :laugh: :-o

Yeah, the travils of bovine assisted birth in that book are really good for wiping away any illusions you may have about the romance of the farmer's life!
Personally, I was thinking of the TV series, which never shied away from the, ah, messier aspects of the job. In living colour no less.

Me too.  I remember more than one occasion (maybe incorrectly...it's been a long time) of Harriot "shoulder deep" in an assisted birth.  Does that count as method acting?

And now I can't get the theme song out of my head.

Multiple occasions, yes. But I can’t say for sure if it was a real cow or a realistic prop - we only saw the back end of the cows in those scenes, and they were all pretty dimly lit, so it’s possible that the prop department had just made something that could pass for the real thing without requiring the actor to shove his arm up inside an actual cow.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: brasca on 24 Jul 2019, 14:58
If a combat veteran like Bubbles is disgusted while Hannelore is unaffected then she’s truly come a long way.  I hope she at least wore gloves because regardless of how gory it is the real danger is cross contamination.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: War Sparrow on 24 Jul 2019, 16:19
If a combat veteran like Bubbles is disgusted while Hannelore is unaffected then she’s truly come a long way.  I hope she at least wore gloves because regardless of how gory it is the real danger is cross contamination.


Eh, I definitely know vets who have shrugged off dead bodies (human and animal), falling into sewage, vomit, and the like-but who cringe at saliva, mould, and various other grossness. I mean, she's come a long way for sure, but combat vets are just people.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: shanejayell on 24 Jul 2019, 18:58
New page up.

Foot in hand box? *chucks*
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Scarlet Manuka on 24 Jul 2019, 19:02
Eh, I definitely know vets who have shrugged off dead bodies (human and animal), falling into sewage, vomit, and the like-but who cringe at saliva, mould, and various other grossness. I mean, she's come a long way for sure, but combat vets are just people.
Reading the first half of this, following the All Creatures Great and Small discussion above, I initially parsed "vets" as "veterinarians", and it wasn't until I got to "combat vets" that I realised you meant "veterans". Then I had to go back and read it again and it did make a little more sense that way :)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: brasca on 24 Jul 2019, 19:51
If a combat veteran like Bubbles is disgusted while Hannelore is unaffected then she’s truly come a long way.  I hope she at least wore gloves because regardless of how gory it is the real danger is cross contamination.


Eh, I definitely know vets who have shrugged off dead bodies (human and animal), falling into sewage, vomit, and the like-but who cringe at saliva, mould, and various other grossness. I mean, she's come a long way for sure, but combat vets are just people.

Yes, and she may have some kind of personality quirk like Roko who gets light headed at the sight of AI surgery. 

While it will be nice to see Hannelore in story again perhaps she should thing of a new line of work.  Her job was never about money, but just forcing herself out of her comfort zone.  She's gone way beyond that in the last few months so perhaps she's outgrown it.  Maybe she'll get involved with Roko's charity organization.  She's certainly more organized than Beepatrice.  Of course just about everyone, but Melon is too. 
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 24 Jul 2019, 22:26
A while back she was pondering how to make a meaningful contribution with her advantages.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: BenRG on 25 Jul 2019, 00:47
You know, today's strip tells me just how 'small trader' Union Robotics really is. They keep boxes of random second-hand spare parts, broadly categorised according to description. No packaged and branded items (these could be ordered, I suppose, but only with a few days' lead time and advance payment). No shiny and complicated diagnostic tools. The closest they likely come to that is hooking the customer into Faye's laptop! Faye and Bubbles are right at the bottom of the pile and that's why they struggle (and, as Bubbles pointed out, Faye is not always eating full meals). Half of their working day probably involves working out what of their random boxes-o-bits actually fit their customers!

However, more than anything else, today's strip tells me that Jeph has visited Northampton and learned that his former hometown has become ever-more hipster!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Zebediah on 25 Jul 2019, 04:30
Northampton actually reached peak hipster-ness years ago. We had a recent spike with the opening of the first legal weed shop in western Massachusetts, but that’s not going to be sustainable. Our excess hipsters have been spilling over into Easthampton, attracted by lower rents and an abundance of converted old textile mills (which make outstanding artist and yoga studios.)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Wingy on 25 Jul 2019, 04:37
Foot in hand box? *chucks*
Yep.  Drags a right foot out of the box and tosses a left foot next frame.  Were there two feet in the hands box?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Akima on 25 Jul 2019, 05:13
I eat quite a lot of beans and rice myself, though not always at the same time. Namaste _/\_
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Near Lurker on 25 Jul 2019, 05:44
And they tell me veganism is a luxury, when I started making my habits of poverty formal.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: OldGoat on 25 Jul 2019, 09:49
This is no fantasy.  Those small, non-corporate repair shops are where you find scarce parts for models of all kinds of victims of planned obsolescence, some of which are actually still quite serviceable.   It's the kind of place you go when you're not particularly geeky and don't want to climb the learning curve with a new computer and the cat knocked your beloved laptop off the kitchen table shattering the shit out of the screen.

You've been turned away from place after place with, "They don't make those anymore," and finally hear those lovely words, "Yeah, I have one back here someplace." from the proprietor of a very local place.  It may take them a few days to find it, but when they do the repair takes maybe an hour.

They are saviors to the not-so-wealthy.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: hedgie on 25 Jul 2019, 09:56
When my laptop took a nasty spill earlier this year, I needed to replace both the screen, and the upper part of the chassis.  I knew that all of the internals were working, after plugging in an external keyboard, mouse, and display, so I figured that was worth saving.  Only one repair shop in town would even touch it in the condition that it was in. 
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: dutchrvl on 25 Jul 2019, 10:42
Foot in hand box? *chucks*
Yep.  Drags a right foot out of the box and tosses a left foot next frame.  Were there two feet in the hands box?

What makes you think it's a left foot in the last frame? Seems like the top of the same right foot of the 3rd frame.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: OldGoat on 25 Jul 2019, 11:46
They need a nemesis competitor, something like "SP* Robotic Repair."  There are dark rumors about androids going there for help and being maimed, with body parts attached in the wrong places. 



*I was going to suggest "Sid's," but that might get Jeph sued by Disney.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: hedgie on 25 Jul 2019, 12:19
At least it's not Tyrell corp.  Those things break after the four year warranty runs out.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: St.Clair on 25 Jul 2019, 17:26
(What Spookybot has not yet told anyone is that if this scenario does come to pass, 0.1% of the population are projected to have the opposite reaction, becoming psychotic tattooed cannibals.  Who still do yoga.)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Wingy on 25 Jul 2019, 17:30
Foot in hand box? *chucks*
Yep.  Drags a right foot out of the box and tosses a left foot next frame.  Were there two feet in the hands box?

What makes you think it's a left foot in the last frame? Seems like the top of the same right foot of the 3rd frame.
I was interpreting the pattern below the toes as the ball of the foot as seen from the bottom (no toenails), which would then make that a left foot.  If you interpret that as the top of the foot instead, then yes, it's a right foot, probably even the same righty as seen in panel 3.  I suppose either interpretation is supportable, as the panel 3 foot clearly shows no toenails on the top of the foot.

Now that I think about it, does Bubs even have toes?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cesium133 on 25 Jul 2019, 17:32
(What Spookybot has not yet told anyone is that if this scenario does come to pass, 0.1% of the population are projected to have the opposite reaction, becoming psychotic tattooed cannibals.  Who still do yoga.)

Of course. Who do you think causes the extinction by eating all the blissed out people?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Nepiophage on 25 Jul 2019, 17:35
"Tannelore" is pretty nifty, but I'm still working on a portmanteau with "melanocytes" or "melanin".

"Melanilore", maybe?
Jeph has beaten you to it https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2300
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Zebediah on 25 Jul 2019, 18:06
So it turns out that Hannelore need not have gone all the way to Nepal to hang out with yaks. There are apparently yaks running loose in West Springfield, Massachusetts (https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/07/after-yak-attack-in-bearhole-reservior-west-springfield-mayor-tells-residents-to-beware.html) at this very moment.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 25 Jul 2019, 20:03
Poor Faye has lost her bearings.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Tova on 25 Jul 2019, 20:13
As long as her marbles are safe.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: shanejayell on 25 Jul 2019, 20:22
So Hanners is still OCD, just has a better handle on it.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Gyrre on 25 Jul 2019, 20:32
Exactly
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: brasca on 25 Jul 2019, 20:36
So Hanners is still OCD, just has a better handle on it.

Shoveling manure and delivering yak calves certainly helped her overcome her hypochondria, but I'm not sure if there's any kind of immersion therapy that would alleviate this. 
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Tova on 25 Jul 2019, 23:37
So Hanners is still OCD, just has a better handle on it.

(https://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/everybody_got_that_spaceballs.gif)
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: BenRG on 25 Jul 2019, 23:49
Hmm... I wonder if the careless someone who left the lid off of the ball bearing jar is a certain pugnacious brunette who has been spending her day with an old friend? In any case, I think that they should get Hannelore a snow shovel and a bucket or this is going to take a long time and likely require moving heavy machinery.

Reading this strip makes me think that Jeph either anticipated all the push-back or decided that he needed to explain things to some people in words of one syllable.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: OldGoat on 26 Jul 2019, 00:02
Reading this strip makes me think that Jeph either anticipated all the push-back or decided that he needed to explain things to some people in words of one syllable.
I think by this time he knows us well.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: JoeCovenant on 26 Jul 2019, 02:07
At least it's not Tyrell corp.  Those things break after the four year warranty runs out.

Built In Obsolescence!

(Bit freaky considering the news about poor ol' Rutger this week    :cry:  )
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: JimC on 26 Jul 2019, 02:30
I'm afraid we've gone completely beyond the bounds of credibility here.

I mean, different size ball bearings in the same bottle? I'm sorry, but that just isn't going to happen in any half competent shop.

And, now I think about it, I certainly can't imagine Hannelore putting them all back in the same jar together. They are damn well *going* to be properly sorted.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: hedgie on 26 Jul 2019, 02:36
At least it's not Tyrell corp.  Those things break after the four year warranty runs out.

Built In Obsolescence!

(Bit freaky considering the news about poor ol' Rutger this week    :cry:  )

Yeah.  I'm horrible, and I couldn't resist.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Welu on 26 Jul 2019, 04:36
One of those rare strips i could clearly hear.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: DSL on 26 Jul 2019, 06:03
I'm afraid we've gone completely beyond the bounds of credibility here.

I mean, different size ball bearings in the same bottle? I'm sorry, but that just isn't going to happen in any half competent shop.

And, now I think about it, I certainly can't imagine Hannelore putting them all back in the same jar together. They are damn well *going* to be properly sorted.
It's all a matter of perspective.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Thrudd on 26 Jul 2019, 06:30
In any case, I think that they should get Hannelore a snow shovel and a bucket or this is going to take a long time and likely require moving heavy machinery.

That is such linear thinking. Now think like an engineer.
Q: What are some of the properties of Steel Ball Bearings that we can exploit?
A: They are made of steel therefore we can use a magnet to gather them up.
This eliminates the issue of loosing ones bearings while attempting to gather them up.
As for those that have rolled under equipment, a stream of compressed air will get them back out from under and into the clutches of your magnet.

As for the mixed sizes in one container.
I put that down to a discount supplier of ball bearings who get them from end of production run inventories.
This is where any left over parts used in a production run do not get returned to inventory.
This would be due to very strict inventory and parts control where there is no mixing of lot numbers.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cybersmurf on 26 Jul 2019, 07:09
mixed ball bearings, $17,99/lbs - includes some more expensive ones, and some less expensive ones, but overall a good deal. but you don't know how many of each you actually get.

A lot of smaller steel products like screws and bolts are sold by weight instead of by piece. So in my mind, a container of mixed sizes for a fixed price makes sense if it's not that common sizes you don't need that often.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Wingy on 26 Jul 2019, 09:06
Q: What are some of the properties of Steel Ball Bearings that we can exploit?
A: They are made of steel therefore we can use a magnet to gather them up.
Provided they aren't one of the non-magnetic steels, like many of the stainless varieties are.  See also: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-magnets-work-on/
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 26 Jul 2019, 16:41
So --- were there -really- 5,000 bearings in the jar?

( recalls me sorting mixed nails )
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: zisraelsen on 26 Jul 2019, 17:37
At my old job, my boss got it in his head to move the bulk of production across a nearby border. The export consultant he hired insisted that our quantities of parts better be dead accurate, as any discrepancy the border agents found would result in a fine of $10,000. I was the only one packing parts and making paperwork.

Cut to several stressful days of counting dozens of different part numbers, including a bunch of different screws, nuts, electrical and pneumatic fittings, and o-rings, each with quantities in the hundreds. By hand. Once that pallet left, I asked my boss very politely to please let me order a fucking counting scale or I quit

We never did get fined. I don't think anyone at the border crossing looked at those parts nearly as closely as I did.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: BenRG on 26 Jul 2019, 23:34
We never did get fined. I don't think anyone at the border crossing looked at those parts nearly as closely as I did.

On the bright side, your inventory records had never been so accurate!
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: JimC on 27 Jul 2019, 02:47
A: They are made of steel therefore we can use a magnet to gather them up.
I'm rather wary of using magnets to pick things up. Need to be very sure that it won't be a problem when they get slightly magnetised.
AIs and magnetism is an interesting speculation. One may assume that Bubbles is well protected against magnetic fields, but not so sure about consumer grade chassis.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: sitnspin on 27 Jul 2019, 06:47
Considering her squad was killed because she was immobilised by a EMP, she can't be protected very strongly.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Mr Intrepid on 27 Jul 2019, 07:37
The magnetic fields used in, say, a parts picker are likely thousands of orders of magnitude less than a EMP  weapon would use.  If indeed, magnetism would be part of that.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 27 Jul 2019, 10:59
Plus a steady field does completely different things from a pulsed one.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Theta9 on 29 Jul 2019, 07:01
The magnetic fields used in, say, a parts picker are likely thousands of orders of magnitude less than a EMP  weapon would use.  If indeed, magnetism would be part of that.
Why wouldn't it? You know the M in EMP stands for "magnetic", don't you?
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Thrudd on 29 Jul 2019, 07:23
Magnetization of items you pick up with a magnet is minimal at best.
If they do end up with a residual magnetic field there is always the degausser coil to get rid of that.

As for robotics I would hazard that very little if any iron is used, just like in most modern equipment that is designed to be light, portable yet relatively strong.
So various alloys of aluminum, manganese, titanium and the like as well as carbon fibre, ceramics and plastics.
Now CAT equipment is STRONG but is neither light nor portable and that Yellow paint scheme for crushbot suggests heavy duty industrial with stress on the heavy bit.

The actual engineering for the humanoid chassis and their pseudo musculature uses the cutting edge technology of handwavium.

As for the EMP - it is the EM standing for Electro-Magnetic and the two are not separate.
ElectroMagnetics covers everything from your flashlight beam to that to the output of an X-ray pulsar to how the alternator in you car operates to the FM signal your radio picks up.

Now as for Bubbles being rendered immobile. I very much doubt the Military didn't harden her systems against any type of brute strength EM Pulse.
As for a vulnerability of that would allow a bit of nefarious code being injected into her systems? That would be something completely different and would not require crazy amounts of power, just knowledge about the code vulnerability and how best to inject the data through her sensor net.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Wingy on 29 Jul 2019, 08:22
Now as for Bubbles being rendered immobile. I very much doubt the Military didn't harden her systems against any type of brute strength EM Pulse.
I'm sure they did, within certain weight and probably other structural limits.  However, there are any number of examples where weapons have been upgraded, causing older weapons/structures to become vulnerable to a planned attack type.  See cannon vs. masonry walls (pre-reinforced concrete) and tank armor vs. anti-tank projectiles in WWII as just two examples.  A weaponized AI is designed and constructed at a point in time and weapon technology is constantly evolving.  Therefore it's likely that an EMP weapon could be produced after Bubbles-type bodies were available (accidentally, or intentionally with a Bubbles-type as target) that would render those bodies disabled, damaged, or kaput.  Bubbles related temporarily disabled but didn't really specify how or what repair (if any) was accomplished.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cybersmurf on 29 Jul 2019, 09:43
Every time I hear or read 'kaput' in English, I'm amused. Never ever would I have imagined "kaputt" making its way from German to English.


"classic" EMP - like from nuclear explosions - mainly render electronics inoperable. Apparently, Bubbles is reinforced against those kinds of attacks, since she isn't broken.
Maybe EMPs of sufficient power create a power surge which needs to be dissipated, or forcing her to reboot. And that few moments may be enough for a machine gun nest to do the damage described.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: OldGoat on 29 Jul 2019, 10:37
Every time I hear or read 'kaput' in English, I'm amused. Never ever would I have imagined "kaputt" making its way from German to English.
My half English, half German father, born in the '20s in the Midwest, used the word to describe mechanical and/or electronic devices worn or damaged beyond his considerable ability to effect repairs.  (Some guys define their manhood by who they can beat up, some by how much booze they can put away and remain standing.  For Dad it was what he could repair or cobble together.)  My French and German maternal grandmother sprinkled her speech with words and phrases from both languages.  I don't recall her ever asking, "understand?" but she'd always say "verstehen?"
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: rtmq0227 on 29 Jul 2019, 10:38
The magnetic fields used in, say, a parts picker are likely thousands of orders of magnitude less than a EMP  weapon would use.  If indeed, magnetism would be part of that.
Why wouldn't it? You know the M in EMP stands for "magnetic", don't you?

The most dangerous part of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse is the "pulse."  It typically refers to a sudden spike/pulse of EM energy, which can induce a current in conductive materials, thus overloading sensitive electronics.  Most circuitry is only designed to handle a minuscule voltage or current, and a fluctuating electro-magnetic field can increase those values or generate them where there are none.

The type of magnet you'd use to collect parts on the ground would produce a steady field, and even though you're moving it around, the amount of power you'd generate in a circuit is essentially zero (you'd have to be moving really fast or have a ridiculously powerful magnet to match the pulse of an EMP).

Think of it this way: your phone is susceptible to an EMP, but you'd need a magnet on the scale of an MRI machine to cause damage simply via the magnetic field.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cybersmurf on 31 Jul 2019, 05:59
Every time I hear or read 'kaput' in English, I'm amused. Never ever would I have imagined "kaputt" making its way from German to English.
My half English, half German father, born in the '20s in the Midwest, used the word to describe mechanical and/or electronic devices worn or damaged beyond his considerable ability to effect repairs.  (Some guys define their manhood by who they can beat up, some by how much booze they can put away and remain standing.  For Dad it was what he could repair or cobble together.)  My French and German maternal grandmother sprinkled her speech with words and phrases from both languages.  I don't recall her ever asking, "understand?" but she'd always say "verstehen?"

My sister has been living in Sweden for 20 years now, and she started throwing around literal translations. She only realises she said something wrong by how puzzled the people around look.
Also, now I know, if you want to silence (gag) someone, you need a "mouth cable".
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: Thrudd on 31 Jul 2019, 06:32
"classic" EMP - like from nuclear explosions - mainly render electronics inoperable. Apparently, Bubbles is reinforced against those kinds of attacks, since she isn't broken.
Maybe EMPs of sufficient power create a power surge which needs to be dissipated, or forcing her to reboot. And that few moments may be enough for a machine gun nest to do the damage described.
Most Military electronics are shielded and hardened verses radiation and EMPs of the Nuclear variety and then there is that whole inverse square law regarding radiated power that your supposition runs afoul of. I very much doubt that Handwavium-science would be able to circumvent some very fundamental laws of physics.

I will stick to my supposition of a design flaw in the defensive protocols and hardware.
Something that could be cobbled together with off-the-shelf equipment and a bit of basic script kiddy coding.
Just like what happened to Capital One and their single layer of security that was so easily circumvented by a not-so-bright coder.

Security flaws are regularly ignored by government contractors who tend to prosecute people that point out such flaws in their systems instead of fixing them.
Title: Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
Post by: cybersmurf on 31 Jul 2019, 10:51
I will stick to my supposition of a design flaw in the defensive protocols and hardware.
Something that could be cobbled together with off-the-shelf equipment and a bit of basic script kiddy coding.

I'm with you on that one. "That's so simple, we're not even going to test that." "We're not getting paid enough to test everything, and this should be covered."
Or in other words: "I know we half-assed it, but it should be fine."


Security flaws are regularly ignored by government contractors who tend to prosecute people that point out such flaws in their systems instead of fixing them.

Probably because it's less work, or more profitable. Maybe even both.