Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Dora

4 (5.4%)

Sven

1 (1.4%)

Faye

4 (5.4%)

Tai

3 (4.1%)

Marigold

12 (16.2%)

Hanners

10 (13.5%)

Mieville

1 (1.4%)

Raven

3 (4.1%)

Veronica

1 (1.4%)

Jimbo

1 (1.4%)

Jim

0 (0%)

Padma

0 (0%)

Princess (Sven's cat)

1 (1.4%)

Pintsize

0 (0%)

Yelling Bird

1 (1.4%)

Shame Orb

1 (1.4%)

Harriet

3 (4.1%)

Turkeys (male)

1 (1.4%)

Turkeys (female)

0 (0%)

Other (specify)

2 (2.7%)

OK, Fine, Claire

3 (4.1%)

Oops, forgot Marten

5 (6.8%)

And Momo

11 (14.9%)

Let alone Emily!

6 (8.1%)

Total Members Voted: 69

[Method of Madness]

That was his original hand.

[Valdís]

She also seems to be missing the strand of hair that always frames her face.

I sure hope not. I've tried to pull off that "Ponytail + asymmetrical side" thing a few times since then, but I think my hair is a bit flimsy and straight to stay like that on it's own. Ends up more like a regular side of hair after a while than a single bundle.

Also it's so darn windy these days that it more or less constantly ends up on my shoulder anyway. *Grumble*

Well, in the hand's defense, it does have other modes. 

I can't imagine it's particularly good for that, given that he doesn't use the protective covering and it seizes up completely due to water.

[St.Clair]

Produce, definitely.  Deli items - by which I'm figuring, meats and cheeses - don't have the right form factor or, most critically, the crispness or resistance to offer a satisfying 'snap'; compare, e.g., broccoli.

What?

[DSL]

Go to the right deli and they might let you have a turkey neck.

[ZoeB]

Go to the right deli and they might let you have a turkey neck.

Somehow I'm reminded of this scene....

[Method of Madness]

WE MUST NOT ALLOW A TURKEY NECK GAP!

[cesium133]

Go to the right deli and they might let you have a turkey neck.

Somehow I'm reminded of this scene....

Robotic hand, turkey neck, and nuclear weapons?

Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!

[KOK]

  At some point presumably someone is going to let things slip such that a third party knows about both sides, and then has angst over whether to mention it to either or both of them.

Seeing how protective Clinton is, I don't think he will talk to anyone about this ever.

[Valdís]

Somehow I'm reminded of this scene....

Oh gosh. *Sings along*

Seeing how protective Clinton is, I don't think he will talk to anyone about this ever.

Yeah, Clinton is a Víðarr-tier sibling. <3


(Y'know, like "God-tier", but with the God of Silence and righteous Vengeance, to be relied on in times of difficulty~ )

[TimO]

At some point presumably someone is going to let things slip such that a third party knows about both sides, and then has angst over whether to mention it to either or both of them.

Seeing how protective Clinton is, I don't think he will talk to anyone about this ever.

It's more that we now know that Claire remembers it, so she may discuss it with someone else.  Prior to this, there was the risk that she may have thought it was just a dream, or simply didn't recall any of it due to half asleep dopeyness.  Of course, we've little evidence of her confiding in any else, aside from Marten, who wouldn't be much use as a confidant in this context.

[FunkyTuba]

So, Lazarus Long now has another Cat on Tellus Tertius.

They're calling it Tellus Tardis now.

[bhtooefr]

I almost wonder if this is setting up a conversation between Clinton and Claire, about any potential feelings that Claire has for Marten.

We already know that Clinton dislikes Marten, despite him being perfectly nice to Claire.

Much comedy could result from Clinton trying to talk Claire out of it. (Even if she's not actually into him at all.)

[Is it cold in here?]

Do all cyber-hands come with a murder-mode? Clinton doesn't seem the assassin type, so... it's a standard feature?

There have already been an alarming number of cases of military robotic equipment showing up in the civilian market. Maybe this is just another one.

(Yes, I know there's only been one case. One is an alarming number when the case is Pintsize.)

[Drostan]

I almost wonder if this is setting up a conversation between Clinton and Claire, about any potential feelings that Claire has for Marten.

We already know that Clinton dislikes Marten, despite him being perfectly nice to Claire.

Much comedy could result from Clinton trying to talk Claire out of it. (Even if she's not actually into him at all.)

I don't exactly think Clinton dislikes Marten, as much as he is over-protective of Claire, and doesn't want to see her hurt, considering Marten's one of the only people that knows she's trans

[Valdís]

Welcome, new person! Also yeah, I agree. Clinton has said Marten's alright with him. Even if he was in a mood when saying so.

[Boiled Dove]

Do all cyber-hands come with a murder-mode? Clinton doesn't seem the assassin type, so... it's a standard feature?

There have already been an alarming number of cases of military robotic equipment showing up in the civilian market. Maybe this is just another one.

(Yes, I know there's only been one case. One is an alarming number when the case is Pintsize.)

Wasn't the Vespa Avenger's Vespa a combat robot?

[ankhtahr]

No, that was an ordinary Vespa. Even the current models have these features. 

[GarandMarine]

Annnnnnnnd we're back to the drama! It's like jumping from the sauna of comedy into the icy lake of "feelings n' stuff"

[Masterpiece]

Wasn't there a DEATHBOT something, that Pintsize annoyed on a forum? I can't for the love of god remember his name and when it happened, but it must have been pre 1000s.

[cesium133]

DEATHBOT 9000 RUNS ON OPENSOURCE SOFTWARE! DEATHBOT 9000 IS ROUTINELY MODERATED +5 ON SLASHDOT!

[HeavyP]

Deathbot 9000 has no concept of an indoor voice!

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=642

[FunkyTuba]

Clinton likes Marten well enough, I think. But he's also in hyperprotective mode and views anyone who could hurt Claire with suspicion.

The interesting part will come when/if Claire gets hurt during the course of a standard interaction (i.e. a "normal breakup") and Clinton has to react to that. I think it'll be hard for Clinton to separate out a normal breakup from "you broke up with her because she's trans" which could result in much comic drama and poignancy should Jeph decide to Go There (with Marten or with any potential suitor)

[Soulsynger]

Annnnnnnnd we're back to the drama! It's like jumping from the sauna of comedy into the icy lake of "feelings n' stuff"

In this day and age it's called "feels".

[Method of Madness]

"feels"

Ugh. I can't explain it, but that usage just bugs the shit out of me.

[HeavyP]

Understandable.  My coworkers have, unfortunately, figured out that usage of the word "Cray" makes me homicidal and take the opportunity to insert it in conversation at ever opportunity.  Someone is taking a stapler to the face soon.  : /

[Method of Madness]

"Cray" is acceptable in one song and one song only. (Also I should point out that even in that song where I'm pretty sure it originated, Kanye often, but not always, actually says "crazy" but just emphasizes the first syllable).

[Pilchard123]

So a particular manufacturerr of supercomputers is not the best thing to mention in your presence?

[Method of Madness]

Not since Dell bought them.

[Pilchard123]

Eh...I don't know what you mean. When did Dell buy Cray?

[bhtooefr]

I'm trying to figure out who Dell bought that was in supercomputing.

(Seriously, Dell buys a lot of stuff, and I don't pay attention to all those e-mails.)

(Disclosure: Dell is my employer. Or, as they recommend, #iwork4dell.)

[Sidhekin]

The only thing I'll never forget about Crays is that at least some of their compilers had sizeof(char) == 32.  And if I recall correctly, that was the byte size (size of the smallest addressable memory unit) as well ...

... UTF-32 ready?

[pwhodges]

Why have just one byte size?  The EELM KDF-9 had a 48-bit word which was divided into eight 6-bit bytes for characters and six 8-bit bytes for instructions!

[Masterpiece]

a year or two ago, I would not have understood what you just said.
YAY MY TUITION FEES ARE NOT A HUGE WASTE OF MONEY!

[Method of Madness]

Eh...I don't know what you mean. When did Dell buy Cray?

Apparently they just partnered up for something and Dell sold some Cray hardware through their site. I guess I just assumed it was an acquisition, especially since Dell bought Alienware. Also can someone translate the previous 3 posts for me?

[HappyHavoc]

Yes I think it is.

[bhtooefr]

And then you get things like HP calculators.

Let's see... the 41C and 1xC families had the most advanced variant of the original processor design... 56-bit registers, 16-bit addressing, 10-bit instruction words (although, before the Saturn processor used in the graphers among other things, HP calculators were Harvard architecture - Saturn switched to a von Neumann architecture), supporting 8-bit chars for some ASCII work, optimized for 4-bit nibbles of BCD data, but being a bit-serial processor inherently. (And, the original implementation, in the HP-35/45/55/65 and 70/80 was 56-bit registers, 8-bit addressing, 10-bit instruction words, no 8-bit support, 4-bit BCD optimization, and bit-serial inherently.)

In any case, the bitness refers to how many bits make up the inherent smallest unit that the computer understands. That said, a 32-bit word that is the smallest addressable unit isn't horribly weird - I mean, most modern processors are doing 32 or more bit loads anyway, and you just do operations on that 32 or more bit register to get the 8 you want. A byte is normally 8 bits. Different word sizes depending on instructions or data is much weirder, especially if it's a von Neumann architecture machine.

Guess I need to explain Harvard vs. von Neumann architecture. Harvard architecture, the machine has two completely different pathways for programs and data. This isn't really used much nowadays at a whole system level, but elements of it are used here and there. von Neumann architecture, you have a bunch of memory, and programs and data can be anywhere in it.

[Masterpiece]

and your overall performance is really dependent on the pathways that connect memory and processors (the Neumann bottleneck)... ah yes, some bits stuck

[Akima]

But he's also in hyperprotective mode and views anyone who could hurt Claire with suspicion.

Decent brothers tend to be protective anyway, and pissing off one possessed by in possession of a murder-hand could be unwise.

Murder-hands should wear tight black leather gloves. As ZoeB points out, it is traditional.

[GarandMarine]

But he's also in hyperprotective mode and views anyone who could hurt Claire with suspicion.

Decent brothers tend to be protective anyway, and pissing off one possessed by in possession of a murder-hand could be unwise.

Murder-hands should wear tight black leather gloves. As ZoeB points out, it is traditional.

All brothers posses murderhands at the right level of anger, Clinton's just happens to be made of metal.

[mtmerrick]

All brothers posses murderhands at the right level of anger, Clinton's just happens to be made of metal.

100% true. The older of my two little sisters (the one who's going furry on me) is at a point in her life where guys are starting to notice her, even though she's not there yet.
I've had to stay my murderhand once or twice.
Guys can be assholes.

[Bedrock]

But he's also in hyperprotective mode and views anyone who could hurt Claire with suspicion.

Decent brothers tend to be protective anyway, and pissing off one possessed by in possession of a murder-hand could be unwise.

Murder-hands should wear tight black leather gloves. As ZoeB points out, it is traditional.

All brothers posses murderhands at the right level of anger, Clinton's just happens to be made of metal.

Agreed!

[Zebediah]

It works with uncles too. My niece has been having some relationship issues recently, and I keep having to remind myself that A. she's a big girl and B. her jackass of a husband is in U.S. Army Special Forces and could easily kick my ass.

[Masterpiece]

I always thought that it was best to let your sister do whatever she wants to do. My sisters are both very confident and powerful women and have never seen the need to ask me for my help. Sure, I'll be the last to look away if someone hurts them, but unless they specifically ask for my intervention, I will not get involved in my sisters matters, because they live their lives and I live my own, and they are not interfering in mine either, unless I ask them.

[mtmerrick]

That's true (to an extent) of they're all grown up. But when your kid sister is, well, just a kid, yeah, you'll be overprotective.

Also, the phrase "the only one who can make her life hell is me" is not that rare

[Bluesummers]

Finally, a use for all that beef trachea I bought at the county fair...

[Sassafras]

I don't know if it's possible Jeph was going for this, but just speaking from experience, my own family has pretty much accepted me as a woman, but get squeamish/freaked out/pissed off at the mention of me dating. Like it's less real if I'm not getting laid or something. I wonder if that has anything to do with Clinton getting so angry and Claire being so uncharacteristically meek about it.

[K1dmor]

  I don't think so. I take it as Clinton feels...responsible for Claire? He doesn't wanna see something bad happens to her, so he's always in "Alert Mode", just in case. It's not about the dating thing, but the possibilty of someone that know her condition and treat her in the wrong way for it.

[Mordhaus]

My hand is stuck in Murder mode.

"Whoa, thats a good song title" - Nathan Explosion

[Storel]

I agree that Claire seems confused and embarrassed about what happened, not sad or upset. I think the embarrassment is probably because she's not into Marten, and so she hopes he doesn't know about it because otherwise he might think she is.

I would like to believe that somewhere in the application process for cybernetic enhancements, is a check-box for whether the individual has a sister or daughter.  And that murder-mode is standard if they check yes.

Wouldn't that be pretty dangerous for the sister or daughter? I'm pretty sure that when I was a kid, there were many more times when I felt like murdering my sister than protecting her... 

We're talking about robots in the QC universe. Are you actually surprised?

Edit: I should probably clarify before I get accused of speciesism... a lot (most?) of the robots portrayed in QC have been at the very least dangerously mischievous - Pintsize has been portrayed as normal for an AnthroPC.

Waitwait WHAT??  Pintsize has never been considered "normal." Remember when Marten told the story of how he met Pintsize originally? As soon as the test indicated which AnthroPC was supposedly the most compatible, the salesclerk blanched and said something like "THAT one? Are you SURE??" and then started nerviously talking to Marten about insurance coverage and how her company was not responsible for property damage. If that's how she reacts to a supposedly "normal" AnthroPC, I'll eat my shorts. Momo and Winslow are much more typical AnthroPCs.

[pwhodges]

Remember that early in QC Pintsize's parties were depicted, and all the anthroPCs present were models like him.  It was a while before Jeph started widening the concept.