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The Grand Ballroom (with earthside & starside windows!)

1 (1.9%)

The greatest collection of brilliant minds in human history.

0 (0%)

That's what our marketing department would have you believe.

0 (0%)

Killbot with top hat and bow tie!

1 (1.9%)

Double Racist Grandma on the rocks.

4 (7.4%)

You ALWAYS suggest that.

0 (0%)

Little Orange Haired Scientist!

0 (0%)

I have no idea how to talk to any of these people (That's how I ALWAYS feel)

0 (0%)

Francis York

1 (1.9%)

What do you know about Pokemon?

10 (18.5%)

You are the man of my dreams, let's have a reasonable number of babies

9 (16.7%)

...I think you're being a little over-optimistic.

2 (3.7%)

Marigold. HE. IS. FLIRTING. WITH. YOU.

20 (37%)

Dead set on that "reasonable number of babies," huh.

2 (3.7%)

"I'm going to wash my hands. I want a drink waiting for me when I get back..."

2 (3.7%)

"...and they better be at LEAST making eye contact."

2 (3.7%)

Total Members Voted: 47

[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]

Portal 2 spoilers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg
Non spoilery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg

Excuse me, but how can one of your links be spoilery and not the other, given that they both point to the same address?

Copy/paste double fail, since I had to edit to add a space. 
Spoilery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeKMS62GrTI
Non: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg

[Omega Entity]

I'm liking the observations!

I'm thinking last panel Hannelore is her noticing that her dad isn't anywhere to be found, cause he hasn't turned up to his own party.

Cue her going to find him at some point during the party (sometime this week) to have some character-development with her dad.

Isn't that him explaining the new drink in panel 3?

[Sorflakne]

Did anyone else think "Faye and Angus??" when they saw panel 3?

[Near Lurker]

I'm thinking it's just that Velma was the only science major.  Fred is off working management, Daphne a kept woman with a gut degree in English, and Shaggy is trying to pay off art school.

Scooby is locked in a lab back on Earth, subject of a work in progress entitled "Where the Hell My Old Stoner Beard Got a Talking Dog."  Scrappy was there as well, until an extreme adverse reaction to the tests tragically forced her to put him down (she claims).

[Throg]

Things learned today on WCDT: the plural of doofus. 

I thought that was supposed to be Velma and Shaggy.

Wondering if Jeph is going to make use of the inherent contradiction between Hannelore's father -- "I'm getting OLD and need to accomplish so much!" and Marten -- "still haven't found what I want to do."

[Milesb]

Isn't that him explaining the new drink in panel 3?

I thought you were right but something nagged at me so I went back and had a few looks...

Compared to today's comic, Hannerdad as seen here has similar hair, but he has his little soul patch and green eyes.

The dude in today's strip/panel 3 lacks a soul patch and appears to have brown eyes..

It's either Jeph settling in on Hannersdad's character design or it's someone different. Pretty much impossible to tell at the moment I guess.

[Carl-E]

No, J. E-C's eyes are green because that's where Hanners got hers from.  Jeph wouldn't change (or forget) that. 


And he's shorter than Herr Drinksman. 

[Omega Entity]

Huh. Then it's a somewhat poor design choice; to have two new characters look so similar, it's really confusing. A different hair color would have been all it took to make them more discernible - a gray, for example, if he was going for the older guy look, or even simply a different hair style.

[duskirises]

Unless its Hanner's uncle or something.

[Earin]

Also, re:the question of where the rest of Mystery Inc. is, if Ms. Dinckley is aboard: Norville and the dog are raiding the kitchen, of course, and have found the emotion-inducing variant of the scooby snacks. Fred is trying to make time with the Lt, and will shortly be stuffed out an airlock (no one will care because the Mystery Machine is in the docking spine, being upgraded to AI control) and Daphne is tied up in a storage locker because she's Daphne and that's what she does. Velma has arranged all this because, honestly, she's had enough of those doofi.

I actually thought that was Fred standing next to Velma, and then Shaggy on the left receiving explanation.

[Carl-E]

Fred, Daphne and Shaggy didn't survive...




Sorry, I just love that image! 


And damn, the search revealed this cosplayer! 

[snax]

http://achewood.com/index.php?date=10212005

[pwhodges]

Good catch!

[FunkyTuba]

wishing for a hi-res copy of that first panel

[Kugai]

Actually DSL, Fred is now working in Middle Management on Earth - It was discovered he had a fear of extreme heights on his first trip to the station.  It took Spaceship a week and six Jainitorbots to clean up the mess.  Shaggy and Scooby joined a Commune in Montana.

Daphne is there, she's just off setting up the 'Toys' in her and Velma's Quarters for the 'After Party Fun.  Cause, you know, Daph is Velma's Bitch.    


A Wizard is precisely where he is supposed to be and arrives when and where he wills, and is always on time.



I'dve thought Marten would have gone with a 'Moping Indi Relaxer' - Better known as Absinthe on the rocks.

[DSL]

Actually DSL, ... Daphne is there, she's just off setting up the 'Toys' in her and Velma's Quarters for the 'After Party Fun.  Cause, you know, Daph is Velma's Bitch.    .

No reason for our two versions to be mutually exclusive. 

[Akima]

the only beverage he will be permitted during this process is a horrible energy drink endorsed by steven seagal.

I had not heard of this, and of course I had to google it...
<rant> Spoilered for those to whom off-topic Chinese nerd-rage is TL;DR...

(click to show/hide)

Leaving aside the dubious qualities of the drink, this is a fine example of illiterate cultural appropriation. According to some blurb I found: "When Steven Seagal traveled to Asia searching for the ingredients for Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt, he wanted a universal Asian character to summarize it's energy and power. The character known as "CHI" stands for power, and energy in many Asian languages and cultures."  This character is printed on the can:

Chi is one romanization of 气 (Simplified) or 氣 (Traditional) in Chinese. In Japan, they used to use the same character as Traditional Chinese, but changed to the shinjitai 気 in 1946. So while the concept of chi is common to "many Asian languages and cultures", the "universal" character printed on the can is specifically Japanese (and "many Asian languages" are not character-based in the first place, but all Asians are the same, right?). Hanzi and kanji do not "stand for" things any more than words in European languages do, and the blurb is the equivalent of saying that the word dog "stands for" a dog in many European languages and cultures, when it means a dog, but only in English.

Mr. Seagull apparently takes his approach to Asian culture from his namesake bird: Indiscriminately snap up titbits all over the place and crap on everything.

</rant>

[jwhouk]

Transition Week - How much longer will it go on?

Until The Age of Man Has Ended.    - 4 (7%)
This'll be the last week in space. Really.    - 2 (3.5%)
The whole cast is moving up here next week!    - 3 (5.3%)
We will discover Hanner's dark secret.    - 11 (19.3%)
No, it's Station's dark secret.    - 1 (1.8%)
Nope, it's Dr. Case's secret.    - 2 (3.5%)
Marigold just wants a pony.    - 0 (0%)
We want Spathe Ham!    - 3 (5.3%)
The obligatory "Just Along For the Ride" option.    - 5 (8.8%)
Forums crash, everyone cries.    - 14 (24.6%)
"Hm, what does THIS big red button DO?"    - 12 (21.1%)

Total Voters: 57

[wdonohue]

Jeph's recipe for the racist-grandma is a Palmer Cocktail with seltzer: http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/665 (a reasonable variation on the theme, so thumbs up).
Bonus drink: Fallen Leaves is also a cocktail, and an excellent use of Calvados: http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2005/10/02/fallen-leaves/

[DSL]

(click to show/hide)

Mr. Seagull apparently takes his approach to Asian culture from his namesake bird: Indiscriminately snap up titbits all over the place and crap on everything.

I propose Akima's alternative selling of "Seagal" be allowed by the judges in honor of the sheer gloriousness of the quoted sentence.

(applauds, whistles and stomps feet to annoyance of neighbors)

[RyanW1019]

Anyone else think the grey-haired guy in panel 3 looks a LOT like the store owner Dora went on a date with after her break-up?

[Tova]

Hey, does anyone else think that -

Oh, I guess you all do. That's... good, I guess.

[westrim]

Did anyone else notice the nifty little tophat the deathbot had on? Or that it appeared to be giving Hannelore a haircut?

[cesariojpn]

I only came away from today's strip with thoughts of Pokemon and coin collecting. Is that odd?

Also, I didn't know Benny from Black Lagoon worked there. Guess he managed to leave Roanapour.

[WAYF]

I consider myself justifiably intimidated by the really tiny orange-haired lady who, despite her size, is determined to hold back that massive, muscly drunk person.
Kudos, nameless background lady with orange hair.

[TinPenguin]

Is that a very short lady, or a child genius?

[Sidhekin]

Bring your daughter to work day?

... nah, too mundane ...

[snubnose]

Who said Star Trek: The Next Generion would be dead ?

QC has the newest episodes of Geordi LaForge !

Technobabble at its best. 

[WAYF]

Bring your daughter to work day?

... nah, too mundane ...

I don't think that Bring Your Daughter To Work day has gone over very well in AI circles, historically speaking...

[Border Reiver]

Those conversations would be challenging for the non-sciencey type to break into.

I wonder where the head of security is?  It would be expected for him to make an appearance, do the rounds, be seen to have a drink , etc if for no other reason than to give the appearance that the security folks are human as well. 

Of course he could be dealing with Lt Potter at this point as well.

[akronnick]

Or maybe the USAF delegation isn't welcome at the party.

[DSL]

Who said Star Trek: The Next Generion would be dead ?

QC has the newest episodes of Geordi LaForge !

Technobabble at its best. 

Treknobabble was never this funny.

[iduguphergrave]

Bring your daughter to work day?

... nah, too mundane ...

I don't think that Bring Your Daughter To Work day has gone over very well in AI circles, historically speaking...

I'm pretty sure she's a little person. Otherwise Jeph wouldn't bother drawing her with a lab coat to denote her profession (only one other person is wearing one). 'Course, I would believe the child prodigy theory too.

[LTK]

Jeph is subscribed to Science? That's a surprise. Hmm, I vaguely remember that Cristi might have a background in science, is that correct?

[jwhouk]

You ALWAYS suggest that.

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

(click to show/hide)

Mr. Seagull apparently takes his approach to Asian culture from his namesake bird: Indiscriminately snap up titbits all over the place and crap on everything.

I propose Akima's alternative selling of "Seagal" be allowed by the judges in honor of the sheer gloriousness of the quoted sentence.

(applauds, whistles and stomps feet to annoyance of neighbors)

Actually I remember reading someplace years ago that the proper pronunciation of his name is actually close to seagull, but that apparently wasn't special enough for ole Steve.

I'm not entirely convinced glasses girl is Velma, but that guy she's with could be Shaggy with no beard. 

I'm surprised no one has commented on "scientist Sven" in panel two of 2137.

The redhead in panel three made me think of Hester from the comic Blip.   However Hester has green eyes and is quite a bit taller, so this is probably some child genius who is currently working on some project.

[jwhouk]

Do you get the feeling no one in the room particularly notices that HannerDad isn't among them?

[pwhodges]

He's got research to do before he dies, remember!

[Black Sword]

You ALWAYS suggest that.

?

Regardless, the reference is obvious.

As someone who has never seen the show, I'd be inclined to agree that that would be the reference.

[Skewbrow]

Do you get the feeling no one in the room particularly notices that HannerDad isn't among them?

Hmm. So diverse objects of study. While HannerDad may be the leader/host/CEO/whatever of E-C technologies and this station, I don't think that he is personally involved in all the research that goes on. So, no, they haven't noticed his absence.

In at least one piece of sci-fi physicists label the astronomers as a quarrelling bunch. May be there is something to it?

[DSL]

Not hard to imagine ECTech as a think tank, with folks off into their own specialties; we see that at the party.
And scientists are as political (in the broad sense of how-people-get-along) as any, as full of feuds and factions as any workplace. Darwin vs. Pope, Edison vs. Tesla vs. Westinghouse, Newton vs. Everyone, disputing and debunking and rebutting and stealing, scratching and clawing and biting.  John Gribbin's "The Scientists" is a fun read, even if Gribbin occasionally gets a little too impressed with himself as a wordsmith. Sort of a "Desperate Scientists" approach to biographical history.

[Is it cold in here?]

What if orange-haired peacemaker is an AI in an Idoru chassis? It might be OK with Hannerdad as long as she wasn't a _secret_ robot.

[jmucchiello]

I consider myself justifiably intimidated by the really tiny orange-haired lady who, despite her size, is determined to hold back that massive, muscly drunk person.
Kudos, nameless background lady with orange hair.

Hanner's Dad is also holding that big guy back so she isn't doing it alone. (Though I suspect Dad isn't particularly strong.)

Oh, and poor Marigold.

[Throg]

Marigold has *no reason* to resort to that particular complaint -- not when she just spent six hours closeted (literally!) with a fellow otaku. Bonding over anime and munching girl scout cookies, IN SPAAAAAAACE. 

[Loki]

This has probably been mentioned before, but I found cookies to be the ultimate currency among otakus.

[Asterus]

Portal 2 spoilers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg
Non spoilery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg

Excuse me, but how can one of your links be spoilery and not the other, given that they both point to the same address?

Prior to fixing, this was still valid, albeit in a possibly obnoxious way. If you watched the first link first, it'd spoil what happens. If you watched the second link after the first, it wouldn't spoil anything 

[Asterus]

What if orange-haired peacemaker is an AI in an Idoru chassis? It might be OK with Hannerdad as long as she wasn't a _secret_ robot.

It'd be highly amusing if Jeph went with that AND used Hakase's personality as a base (assuming the main characters interact with her at all, and assuming she's the nichijou reference mentioned on his twitter) Imagine, she could deploy her own roll cakes and sweet buns whenever she liked! Shame she would be missing the key to her rocket toe though.

[LTK]

Sure! No reason that Nichijou shouldn't exist in the QC universe; of course people are going to create AIs mimicing fictional characters.

[DSL]

Marigold has *no reason* to resort to that particular complaint -- not when she just spent six hours closeted (literally!) with a fellow otaku. Bonding over anime and munching girl scout cookies, IN SPAAAAAAACE.

Which just begins to make up for a life of ostracism. Largely self-imposed, but nonetheless ostracism.

[Is it cold in here?]

Pre-formed mingle groups, tightly focused on discussing common interests, possibly without the social awareness to say hi to a stranger and invite her to join them?

That's a graduate-level problem in social skills. Asking Hannelore or Station to make introductions would be a good move but we can't expect Marigirl to think of it.