WCDT - July 11th to July 15th, 2022 (strips #4826 to #4830)

[Gyrre]

New comic! Would Hanner's Tyler Durden be all of the traits about herself she tries to lock away, or more of the boldness she has within herself realized?

[BenRG]

Alas, I really don't like streams.

I do have to agree with all the guys on the Subreddit who suspect that that this arc is a bit of self-therapy for Jeph in some ways.

[Mr_Rose]

New comic! Would Hanner's Tyler Durden be all of the traits about herself she tries to lock away, or more of the boldness she has within herself realized?

It's her "mother" - poor Tilly was so confused by the yelling argument with the big mirror in her office.

[St.Clair]

Alas, I really don't like streams.

I do have to agree with all the guys on the Subreddit who suspect that that this arc is a bit of self-therapy for Jeph in some ways.

Aren't they all?

[BenRG]

Would Hanner's Tyler Durden be all of the traits about herself she tries to lock away, or more of the boldness she has within herself realized?

One of Hannelore's greatest fears is that there is a part of her that is a reflection of Beatrice's evil behaviour and that, eventually, that side of her will come to control her behaviour. She's had waking nightmares about that one at least two occasions that I know about with differing level of comedy depending on the context. So, yeah, having amnesiac DID and not knowing it is an idea that haunts her.

[shanejayell]

No Marten in the poll? Shame.

Marten: "It's fine. Really. I'll just curl in a ball over here, forgotten."

[Gyrre]

No Marten in the poll? Shame.

Marten: "It's fine. Really. I'll just curl in a ball over here, forgotten."

I don't recall it bring mentioned that Martin streamed so I lumped him under 'other'. I don't recall exactly why Sam was in the market for a high quality mic, but I think it may have been steaming.

EDIT: typo correction

[shanejayell]

Pretty sure Marten at least had a guitar / music blog... 

[Wombat]

New strip

I feel like if I heard what Aurelia said out of context, I would just assume she owned a cow somewhere that she gets milk from. I probably wouldn't think about it that much.

[badbum61]

Is there REALLY authentic German pizza in N-Hamp?
I WANT TO GO TO THERE

[shanejayell]

Yup, you gotta be careful to seperate online and 'real life'...

[cesium133]

Is there REALLY authentic German pizza in N-Hamp?
I WANT TO GO TO THERE

I had a double take looking at that in the comic because I thought it said autoerotic German pizza.

[Gyrre]

Pretty sure Marten at least had a guitar / music blog... 

Ah.

Might have to change this week's poll. Just not to today's strip.

[BenRG]

Okay, maybe someone with more experience than me can enlighten me: Is Aurelia actually clumsily flirting with Marigold or is it a case that she's so socially insecure that her brain-mouth filter is offline and she's spilling out out the first thing that pops into her head without thinking about how it sounds?

[Marco]

Okay, maybe someone with more experience than me can enlighten me: Is Aurelia actually clumsily flirting with Marigold or is it a case that she's so socially insecure that her brain-mouth filter is offline and she's spilling out out the first thing that pops into her head without thinking about how it sounds?

The latter, probably. As I read yesterday's strip, Aurelia has instantaneously adopted Marigold as her new daughter. Embarassing your kids is mandatory.

[Marco]

New comic! Would Hanner's Tyler Durden be all of the traits about herself she tries to lock away, or more of the boldness she has within herself realized?

A "Tyler Durden situation" could explain why those early Hanners apparitions look so out of character.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Is there REALLY authentic German pizza in N-Hamp?
I WANT TO GO TO THERE

Turns out there is such a thing. Google is my friend.
( also google is stupid and thinks i live in an entirely different state )

[Gyrre]

Okay, maybe someone with more experience than me can enlighten me: Is Aurelia actually clumsily flirting with Marigold or is it a case that she's so socially insecure that her brain-mouth filter is offline and she's spilling out out the first thing that pops into her head without thinking about how it sounds?

The latter, probably. As I read yesterday's strip, Aurelia has instantaneously adopted Marigold as her new daughter. Embarassing your kids is mandatory.

It could also be 'exactly what it says on the tin' in panel 4. Separating one's online presence and offline presence can have important implications. And not just for hiding your secret identity as a streamer.

There's plenty of horror stories on tumblr/twitter/[other social media platform] where someone made a joke or refrenced a meme as they would online IRL, then had to awkwardly explain said joke/reference to their parents or other family members.


Also, no, tumblr is not dead. No matter how much some big business types really wish it were. Especially with how much tiktokers steal from tumblr (old and new).

[John Allenson]

Oh yes, the dreaded "That sounded better in my head moment."

As to the Stream, I'd love to see Winslow's.

[de_la_Nae]

Yup, you gotta be careful to seperate online and 'real life'...

okay but hear me out here
no you don't

BECOME THE SYNTHESIS
I CAN ASSURE YOU THERE ARE NO* TROUBLING SIDE EFFECTS TO THE PROCESS

*some

[de_la_Nae]

New comic! Would Hanner's Tyler Durden be all of the traits about herself she tries to lock away, or more of the boldness she has within herself realized?

A "Tyler Durden situation" could explain why those early Hanners apparitions look so out of character.

i know we're just joking around here, but that literally was addressed, and it doesn't require fugue/dysphoria-ing out of your selves

[de_la_Nae]

Okay, maybe someone with more experience than me can enlighten me: Is Aurelia actually clumsily flirting with Marigold or is it a case that she's so socially insecure that her brain-mouth filter is offline and she's spilling out out the first thing that pops into her head without thinking about how it sounds?

she knows Marigold from this facet of her self, so she's stepped into performing this facet of herself. it's pretty normal range of human behavior stuff, honestly. have you ever met friends from one context of your life in a different context? like, for a made up example, someone from your model train hobby group at the grocery store? the often-resulting behavior, it's the same thing, really.

[Gyrre]

New comic! Would Hanner's Tyler Durden be all of the traits about herself she tries to lock away, or more of the boldness she has within herself realized?

A "Tyler Durden situation" could explain why those early Hanners apparitions look so out of character.

That could also be chalked up to early installment weirdness (caution; TV Trpes link).

Turns out there is such a thing. Google is my friend.
( also google is stupid and thinks i live in an entirely different state )

Honestly, that's probably a good thing. Especially with how nosy they are about users' personal data.
[I still use firefox with good reason.]

[shanejayell]

Aww, they're weirdly cute.

[Scarlet Manuka]

I don't recall exactly why Sam was in the market for a high quality mic

She was going to do Let's Plays.

but I think it may have been steaming.
EDIT: typo correction

Keep going

[Gyrre]

New comic

No Cosmo, that's not something you're allowed to do.

[ankhtahr]

Absolutely love the detail of yellow crumbs on Cosmo's nose.

[hedgie]

Oh wow!  Welcome back!

[ankhtahr]

Hi

Can't promise I'll stay, as life keeps getting in the way, but I've never really left this place behind

[shanejayell]

Bad doggie! Bad! *lol*

[Gyrre]

Hi

Can't promise I'll stay, as life keeps getting in the way, but I've never really left this place behind

And that's okay. Life hasa way of doing that at times.

[hedgie]

Back when I was still on Usenet regularly, my home group tended to call that "et by life".  I sometimes wonder how some of those folks are doing, but that particular scene is dead, and no way in fuck am I going to try fæcesbook, even for those whose real names I know.

[badbum61]

Well, now that's just RUDE...

[Pilchard123]

Ankhtahr! Nice to see you again!

[de_la_Nae]

AURELIA!

[Akima]

Has anyone put an orchid in a nuclear reactor? If so, why?

[Mr_Rose]

Has anyone put an orchid in a nuclear reactor? If so, why?

Almost certainly, and "to see what happens" because, occasionally, it's something interesting.

N.B. research reactors and commercial power reactors are very different beasts.

[Pseudowolf]

Has anyone put an orchid in a nuclear reactor? If so, why?

FOR SCIENCE!

[hedgie]

In some circles, one's last words might be things like "hold my beer", or "check this shit out".  For scientists, it's "I wonder what happens if..."

[shanejayell]

Oh wow. *lol*

[St.Clair]

And in the case of the SL-1 experimental reactor, it was probably something like "Rod's jammed again, let me just--"

[cesium133]

In some circles, one's last words might be things like "hold my beer", or "check this shit out".  For scientists, it's "I wonder what happens if..."

"Just hold the two parts apart with a screwdriver, it'll be fine."

[Pseudowolf]

In some circles, one's last words might be things like "hold my beer", or "check this shit out".  For scientists, it's "I wonder what happens if..."

I reminded of Jon Stewart saying that he thinks the last words spoken by humanity will be "Hey! It worked!"

"Just hold the two parts apart with a screwdriver, it'll be fine."

I don't know. That seems more like engineering.

[hedgie]

As Randall Munroe pointed out, "the wiki page for physics major redirects to engineer"[1]

[1] Oblig xkcd

[ankhtahr]

"Just hold the two parts apart with a screwdriver, it'll be fine."

That one took a short moment, but oh boy did it land!

And the next thing you know, somebody throws you a piece of chalk and tells you to mark where you're standing.

[spoiler=For those who don't know: what I assume this is referencing]
The infamous Demon core and the associated criticality incident during the experiment which was nicknamed "tickling the dragon's tail":

[/spoiler]

[Storel]

Just from reading this one page of comments, I've learned far more about nuclear reactor accidents than I ever knew before. (The screwdriver one seems particularly insane.)

Absolutely love the detail of yellow crumbs on Cosmo's nose.

Haha, I didn't even notice those until you pointed them out! 

[cesium133]

Here's another fun one: the Chalk River reactor outside Ottawa, Canada, had a meltdown in 1952, releasing 10 kiloCuries* (informally known as a shitload) of radioactive material. The United States Navy sent a team to assist with the cleanup. One of the members of the team was one James Earl Carter, Jr.

That's right, Jimmy Carter helped rescue Ottawa.

* I tried finding a comparison of this to Chernobyl, but what I found reminded me of what a pain in the ass radioactivity units are. Suffice it to say that Chernobyl was significantly larger, though.

Okay, after realizing the mistake I made in unit conversion, Chalk River was actually much less than a shitload. One TBq is 27 kCi, so Chalk River was about 0.37 TBq. For comparison, the Goiânia incident (which is its own special...) was about 74 TBq. I can't seem to find a reliable number for Chernobyl, but it seems to be a couple orders of magnitude higher.

Edit again: No, I screwed that up again. 1 PBq is 27 kCi. 1 PBq is 1000 TBq, so let me try this again:
Chalk River: 0.37 PBq
Goiânia: 0.074 PBq
Chornobyl: A lot of PBq, probably somewhere in the thousands.

Incidentally, a disclaimer: if you use any calculation on nuclear stuff by me for serious uses you're an idiot.

[Pseudowolf]

Here's another fun one: the Chalk River reactor outside Ottawa, Canada, had a meltdown in 1952, releasing 10 kiloCuries* (informally known as a shitload) of radioactive material. The United States Navy sent a team to assist with the cleanup. One of the members of the team was one James Earl Carter, Jr.

That's right, Jimmy Carter helped rescue Ottawa.

I think everyone should read up on it as it's more incredible. He and his team had to actually go into the reactor. From Military.com:
"Carter and his 22 other team members were separated into teams of three and lowered into the reactor for 90-second intervals to clean the site. It was estimated that a minute-and-a-half was the maximum time humans could be exposed to the levels of radiation present in the area."

[Gyrre]

In some circles, one's last words might be things like "hold my beer", or "check this shit out".  For scientists, it's "I wonder what happens if..."

"Just hold the two parts apart with a screwdriver, it'll be fine."

Oh no~oh!

[St.Clair]

To be... fair? maybe?  while the "demon core" incident seems incredibly reckless in hindsight, I've heard it noted that there wasn't much in the way of alternatives - the state of the art in robotics and remote manipulators in the 40s was not what we'd call great.  One had to do stuff like that up close, by hand or with simple tools, or not at all.  (Yes, "not at all" might have been best, but see above.)  Indeed, the need to handle such materials safely was a big driver in the development of those technologies.