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Cleanin waffle irons.

Something not mentioned.

[Method of Madness]

I don't know, I was in Virginia a month or so ago and it didn't seem that different. To be fair I was only in towns right outside of DC (Alexandria/Arlington) and a college town (Charlottesville), but still.

[Zebediah]

Yes, it can be quite jarring. A year ago I moved from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Accents aside, the culture is rather different here.

Incidentally, the Mason-Dixon line (historically the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland) no longer makes a good border between North and South. It's moved southwards to the Rappahannock river in Virginia. Anything north of that is no longer Virginia, but "Northern Virginia" - or as a former boss called it, "Occupied Virginia". You cannot get decent sweet tea north of the Rappahannock, and forget about biscuits.

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. But upon review, there is no need to edit your post. Carry on.

[jwhouk]

There was a fictional proverb in a book I once read. The proverb said that you can go around the world once without ever noticing how the cultures are changing.

I suppose it's similar to the "water never boils while you look at it" sentiment.

I've heard more than one US person report feeling like they had been been through a discontinuous change when they drove across the Mason-Dixon line.

Or North of Wisconsin Highway 64.

[cesariojpn]

Unless Claire is a closet sub, indulging Pintsize might be a bad idea, acid tears or not.

Look at her face in the last two frames. She does not look as if she is enjoying this.

Right, cause we can infer the emotions of a character with two frames accurately.

[bhtooefr]

When we're talking about two very informative frames, drawn to clearly convey emotion?

[Kugai]

This cannot bode well



For Pintsize.

[Akima]

You cannot get decent sweet tea north of the Rappahannock

You cannot get decent sweetened tea anywhere...

[Storel]

There was a fictional proverb in a book I once read. The proverb said that you can go around the world once without ever noticing how the cultures are changing.

I suppose it's similar to the "water never boils while you look at it" sentiment.

I think it's closer to the "frogs in a pot of water don't jump out as it comes to a boil" thing, because the cultures change so gradually as you move that you don't notice the difference.

That was more true in the days when the fastest way to get anywhere was on horseback, though. Modern high-speed travel makes it possible to get practically anywhere in less than a day, which makes the changes much more noticeable.

[Zebediah]

You cannot get decent sweet tea north of the Rappahannock

You cannot get decent sweetened tea anywhere...

I'm not talking about sweetened tea, I'm talking about sweet tea. 

[celticgeek]

sweet tea

[Tulpa]

sweet tea

I like my tea bitter. But I would take that BLT and potato salad. 

[westrim]

Unless Claire is a closet sub, indulging Pintsize might be a bad idea, acid tears or not.

Look at her face in the last two frames. She does not look as if she is enjoying this.

The third panel makes is her 'exasperated and accommodating a silly request' face. The fourth panel is her default expression.

Holy shit, the look on his face as Pintsize is spanking her ass....fucking classic. I love her as a character, she's a trip.

No, the Fucking Classic comes later and requires golf gloves. But really, must you be so vulgar?

There was a fictional proverb in a book I once read. The proverb said that you can go around the world once without ever noticing how the cultures are changing.
I suppose it's similar to the "water never boils while you look at it" sentiment.

I think it's closer to the "frogs in a pot of water don't jump out as it comes to a boil" thing, because the cultures change so gradually as you move that you don't notice the difference.

While it's a nice idea and to a certain extent true, it doesn't match up with political reality. There's lots of lines in the world that you can cross and end up facing a very different culture from the one a mile back. Then there are enclaves, little pockets of culture within a different culture like immigrant districts or military bases.

[Torlek]

Incidentally, the Mason-Dixon line (historically the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland) no longer makes a good border between North and South. It's moved southwards to the Rappahannock river in Virginia. Anything north of that is no longer Virginia, but "Northern Virginia" - or as a former boss called it, "Occupied Virginia". You cannot get decent sweet tea north of the Rappahannock, and forget about biscuits.

The border moves South the further South you go until you get just South of Birmingham, then it kinda stays there (unless you're in Louisiana, then I think it just keeps moving until it runs into the Gulf).

[94ssd]

Wait...didn't Claire come over to say something important to Marten? Earlier it seemed like she really needed to talk to him.

[Moanerette]

This is why I need to keep a closer eye on these threads, in case of eruption into impassioned and erudite-seeming linguistics debates. Superb tangential riffing.

Late as I may be, I can shed some light on the rootbeer question from a UK perspective. In the 1980s, UK McDonalds did sell rootbeer; it was the only thing I liked about it the first time I ate there (age 10ish, Milton Keynes Shopping Centre, 1982ish). As I recall it wasn't that sweet, which is probably why I liked it. My understanding is that it was phased out of UK branches because it was generally unpopular, and I have heard somewhere that the drink is generally regarded as not suiting the European palate, so there has never been an attempt to mass market a rootbeer drink here. I don't have proper sources for those assertions though, they're just things I 'know'.

I would love it if QC suddenly went in to a paddlin' frenzy and the next fortnight's strips were dedicated to the whole cast catching up on their initiations.  PAP........PAP........PAP........PAP........PAP.......PAP.......PAP........PAP........

[Redball]

With an appearance by Seymour Butz?

[Method of Madness]

Seymour Butz?

(click to show/hide)

The ending so sad they used one of the movies to retcon it.

[bhtooefr]

So, I may have started this discussion in #qc last night...

How much force could Pintsize impart on Claire, and would Pintsize's impacts cause Claire actual pain, or just annoyance?

I started the experiment by hitting myself with the Calibrated Wrist™ (why use a torque wrench, when you can guesstimate with your wrist?). At about 40 ft-lbs of force, it was enough to annoy me. 100 ft-lbs was about right for the sting of a spanking intended to inflict pain. 20 ft-lbs, noticeable, mildly annoying.

I'd estimate that Pintsize is about 20 pounds, based on his size, and the amount of energy storage that would need to be in there, as well as cooling hardware. Claire looks like she's about 5'1" or 5'2", and I used to know someone of her build and that height that was 100 lbs soaking wet.

The paddle is about 2 feet long by 6 inches, and is probably wooden, making it about a pound or so. But, that's not actually important.

See, if Pintsize put 100 ft-lbs into Claire through the paddle, Claire is a much heavier object. Newton's third law... and Pintsize flies across the room, unless he's braced against something much heavier himself.

I'd estimate that Pintsize is putting about 5 ft-lbs into Claire, anything more and he'd lose his balance. That's like lightly tapping her.

</spontaneous nerdy interlude>

[Method of Madness]

You mean lightly papping her. (Although I do think "pap" indicates that the paddle is barely touching her)

[Redball]

From the angle, it looks like it was hitting her on the hipbone instead of her bottom.

[Method of Madness]

Maybe the side of the bottom?

[bhtooefr]

You mean lightly papping her. (Although I do think "pap" indicates that the paddle is barely touching her)

Hell, with a 1 pound paddle of that length, Pintsize has to be careful that he doesn't put enough kinetic energy into it to throw him off the couch just on inertia.

[Loki]

spontaneous nerdy interlude

I called it!

Thanks, mysterious stranger who blinded me with science!

While it's a nice idea and to a certain extent true, it doesn't match up with political reality.

To be fair, it was said in a setting which is far less technologically advanced than ours; imagine medieval with a very light touch of steampunk (while also having a global iron shortage). So, less advanced warfare, less advanced travel.

[Redball]

spontaneous nerdy interlude

I called it!
Thanks, mysterious stranger who blinded me with science!

In the world of science, we should have acknowledged your contribution.

[Loki]

If any of you ever becomes any minister of education, I'll make sure to point out your lack of adherence to scientific procedure.