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Someone snagged the rental space they were looking at.

The building actually needs A LOT of work.

Bubbles takes off her armor

Black mold

The spare robot parts spontaneously gain sentience and assemble themselves into a limby abomination.

Each other

[Gyrre]

The refrigerators or the junk yard  owners, Bubbles?

[Akima]

Yes. 

[Case]

Yes. 

Basically, I think that we can say that Bubbles is somewhat neurotic.

[Zebediah]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

[TheEvilDog]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

.

That's cold, dude.

[Thrudd]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

.
That's cold, dude.

If it was then it would not be in the junk yard, right?

[Oenone]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

Nah, I bet they just switch chasses. It'd be too dark to have sentient beings in a dump because they no longer work right. 

[shanejayell]

Two thoughts:

It would be interesting to have someone point out to Dora that she might be overcompensating in helping Faye due to residual guilt. She didn't see how bad Faye's drinking was getting until she crashed & burned, and may still feel guilty.

And it occurs to me that Bubbles may be skitish about making deals with people in general. Considering her last deal got her in near slavery for YEARS....

[miados]

Two thoughts:

It would be interesting to have someone point out to Dora that she might be overcompensating in helping Faye due to residual guilt. She didn't see how bad Faye's drinking was getting until she crashed & burned, and may still feel guilty.

And it occurs to me that Bubbles may be skitish about making deals with people in general. Considering her last deal got her in near slavery for YEARS....

seems like a legitimate concern but i think that creepybot showed her that faye at least cares but at the same time if you feel like you are doing something with someone and they take a huge step without you, even if its not signed yet, it feels like you dont matter.

I understand both of their logic and neither is exactly wrong but neither is exactly right. i suspect dora will talk to bubbles soon based on her current location in the comic world.

[Is it cold in here?]

Faye and Bubbles both have a lot to learn about partnerships. I think they will learn it and their lives will be better for it.

Their future marriages, if any, will be healthier as a result of the experience they get in communication and decision-making.

-----------

Bubbles has shown flashes of leadership qualities, enough to leave us speculating about whether she had a command position in the service.

-----------

Global Moderator Comment

Any objection if I change "CDT" to "WCDT" in the thread title?

[Somebody]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

Nah, I bet they just switch chasses [sic]. It'd be too dark to have sentient beings in a dump because they no longer work right. 

Yeah, where do you think this is? Bedrock?

[Pilchard123]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

Nah, I bet they just switch chasses [sic]. It'd be too dark to have sentient beings in a dump because they no longer work right. 

Yeah, where do you think this is? Bedrock?

Yeah, where do you think this is? America? 

[Storel]

Basically, I think that we can say that Bubbles is somewhat neurotic.

More Positronic to me. #3Laws.

You know, once I found out that a positron is just an anti-matter electron, I realized that Asimov's positronic brains didn't make any sense. Anything you can do with positrons, you can do with electrons much more easily since you don't have to worry about building your computer out of antimatter...

[jwhouk]

Any objection if I change "CDT" to "WCDT" in the thread title?

Not at all. It's been bothering me, TBH.

[Akima]

It'd be too dark to have sentient beings in a dump because they no longer work right. 

Two words: retirement communities...

You know, once I found out that a positron is just an anti-matter electron, I realized that Asimov's positronic brains didn't make any sense. Anything you can do with positrons, you can do with electrons much more easily since you don't have to worry about building your computer out of antimatter...

You mean a SF author employed technobabble that wasn't 100% scientifically accurate!?!?! I am shocked, shocked I tell you! You'll be telling me next that the spaceships in The Expanse should have large heat-radiators...

[Case]

You know, once I found out that a positron is just an anti-matter electron, I realized that Asimov's positronic brains didn't make any sense. Anything you can do with positrons, you can do with electrons much more easily since you don't have to worry about building your computer out of antimatter...

  [1]

[Is it cold in here?]

This is a placeholder that will get merged with the current weekly comic thread, not to replace it, but just to change its thread title.

[Thrudd]

Basically, I think that we can say that Bubbles is somewhat neurotic.

More Positronic to me. #3Laws.

You know, once I found out that a positron is just an anti-matter electron, I realized that Asimov's positronic brains didn't make any sense. Anything you can do with positrons, you can do with electrons much more easily since you don't have to worry about building your computer out of antimatter...

I am not so sure of the correlation of the nomenclature.
It really was handwaving by a really good writer though.

In semiconductor theory, a conductor can be saturated with electrons, and the repulsion causes them to maintain a specific pattern.
A space can exist that has no electron, and it acts as if it is something real with a positive charge. It's called a hole.
There's a whole way of looking at semiconductors where the holes are considered to explain the action of the semiconductor and it refers to "hole current".
This is the 'positronic' system that Asimov was using and a lot of authors and researchers latter on ran with the idea.
Nothing to do with particle physics though the physicists may have absconded with the term for their own use, just like spin, flavor and orientation.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Go on --- Tell us about muons. Just like electrons, but punchier.

So why are the specials apologizing about meat? Last I looked, they were all about blood.
Clearly I need to get out more...

[Case]

Nothing to do with particle physics though the physicists may have absconded with the term for their own use, just like spin, flavor and orientation.

Naw, that's just Asimow who is calling a hole a 'positron'. There's too many high-energy guys working in condensed matter theory to get away with abusing jargon like that. Wrt. e.g. sublattice 'spin' in Graphene, though, you may be have a point ...

As a consequence, at low energies, even neglecting the true spin, the electrons can be described by an equation that is formally equivalent to the massless Dirac equation. Hence, the electrons and holes are called Dirac fermions. (Wiki: Graphene, Electronic properties, Dispersion)

P.S.: OK, it's actually (a k*p - approximation of a tight-binding calculation of Graphene close to the Dirac-points that conveniently resembles) a Dirac-equation in 2D, rather than a Dirac-equation in 3+1 D, but still ...

P.P.S.: Sorry for the geekery - that's actually (part of) my research interest.

(click to show/hide)

In semiconductor theory, a conductor can be saturated with electrons, and the repulsion causes them to maintain a specific pattern.

?

Methinks you rather mean (external) 'periodic potential' (single-particle term) instead of (two-particle) Coulomb-repulsion? Periodic potential => Bloch Wavefunctions (Yeah, Wannier-Schmanier ...) => quasi-continuous Bandstructure. Coulomb is a two-body term in the Hamiltonian:  RPA (or rather the re-summation of the Dyson-Series/the self-energy according to Murray Gell-Mann and Keith Brueckner) works in most 'weakly screened' (semi-) metals with D>1, and allows you to account for Coulomb-repulsion by inserting an 'effective' electron-mass into the non-interacting theory. Hence: Electron Gas.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Susan Calvin : first robopsychologist.
Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham: first robopsychotherapist.

[A small perverse otter]

You know, once I found out that a positron is just an anti-matter electron, I realized that Asimov's positronic brains didn't make any sense. Anything you can do with positrons, you can do with electrons much more easily since you don't have to worry about building your computer out of antimatter...

You mean a SF author employed technobabble that wasn't 100% scientifically accurate!?!?! I am shocked, shocked I tell you! You'll be telling me next that the spaceships in The Expanse should have large heat-radiators...

In this case, I would be very surprised if Asimov himself didn't know perfectly well that he was spouting technobabble. He had a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, and taught at Boston University for many years

[Storel]

You know, once I found out that a positron is just an anti-matter electron, I realized that Asimov's positronic brains didn't make any sense. Anything you can do with positrons, you can do with electrons much more easily since you don't have to worry about building your computer out of antimatter...

You mean a SF author employed technobabble that wasn't 100% scientifically accurate!?!?! I am shocked, shocked I tell you! You'll be telling me next that the spaceships in The Expanse should have large heat-radiators...

In this case, I would be very surprised if Asimov himself didn't know perfectly well that he was spouting technobabble. He had a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, and taught at Boston University for many years

Yes, he was aware that it was technobabble. He says so in one of the volumes of his autobiography. (Sorry I can't remember which volume; I read them both a long time ago.)

[BenRG]

Basically, what it comes down to is that Bubbles has serious anger issues and serious betrayal issues. Both of these are entirely understandable. However, you can't deny the truth of what Hannelore said: Faye really is experiencing a child-like excitement here and you have to give a degree of understanding to that too.

What is needed is for Faye and Bubbles to actually tell each other these things. Of course, neither of them are good with social stuff so I don't imagine something like that would happen quickly or easily.

Meanwhile, they really need to get Bubbles' punching bag back.

[Gyrre]

She had to specify "old refrigerators" because newer models in the QCverse not only have feelings but talk about them all the damned time.

Nah, I bet they just switch chasses. It'd be too dark to have sentient beings in a dump because they no longer work right. 

You might want to remind Dr. Thomas Light and the other citizens of his city about that point.

[Gyrre]

Any objection if I change "CDT" to "WCDT" in the thread title?

Not at all. It's been bothering me, TBH.

Uggh. I didn't even notice it.

Thank you

Bogdamned autocorrect. I have it turned off and it still messes with stuff.

[Storel]

Okay, for those of us who don't know much about fancy coffee, why would punching coffee beans in a bucket allow them to make Turkish coffee? And how the hell did the Turks make it before robots the size and strength of Bubbles were available to punch the beans? I am much confuzzled.

[Case]

Okay, for those of us who don't know much about fancy coffee, why would punching coffee beans in a bucket allow them to make Turkish coffee?

-> http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/turkish-coffee-culture-and-tradition-00645

And how the hell did the Turks make it before robots the size and strength of Bubbles were available to punch the beans? I am much confuzzled.

[Akima]

The beans for Turkish coffee are very finely ground. Traditionally this was done with a pestle and mortar. Presumably Hanners has in mind that Bubbles's fists would serve as the pestle, and the bucket as the mortar.

[Gyrre]

The beans for Turkish coffee are very finely ground. Traditionally this was done with a pestle and mortar. Presumably Hanners has in mind that Bubbles's fists would serve as the pestle, and the bucket as the mortar.

Assuming the bucket holds up. 

I guess this means they've got a copper bricke (sp?) lying around to roast it in.

[Sullivan]

The beans for Turkish coffee are very finely ground. Traditionally this was done with a pestle and mortar. Presumably Hanners has in mind that Bubbles's fists would serve as the pestle, and the bucket as the mortar.

Previous attempts to use Pintsize's head for the bucket had unfortunate results.

[BenRG]

Susan Calvin : first robopsychologist.
Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham: first robopsychotherapist.

She's also a robopharmacologist, based on the effects of her tea!

[hakko504]

This probably merits a new topic, but I'll post it here anyway:
The Kickstarter for QC vol6 is now live at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1677416093/questionable-content-volume-6?ref=user_menu

[jheartney]

"I am concerned that this pattern of behavior will continue. Perhaps this entire venture was a mistake."

Bubbles, you need to be saying this to Faye, not to Hanners. Let Faye know that the whole idea isn't going to happen absent better behavior. Then follow through if she gives you flak.

[Thrudd]

Bubbles, you need to be saying this to Faye, not to Hanners. Let Faye know that the whole idea isn't going to happen absent better behavior. Then follow through if she gives you flak.

And hand her a fresh cup of your Turkish coffee as a very nuanced statement.

On the bucket durability question I would hazard that it would be one reserved to only handle beans in the first place.
If Faye was involved in its manufacture, not only would it be durable but aesthetically interesting.

[TheEvilDog]

"I am concerned that this pattern of behavior will continue. Perhaps this entire venture was a mistake."

Bubbles, you need to be saying this to Faye, not to Hanners. Let Faye know that the whole idea isn't going to happen absent better behavior. Then follow through if she gives you flak.

I think the problem here is that while both Faye and Bubbles are good people, their experiences mean that they also not the most trusting and I think that carries across in how they deal with people. In Faye's case, its acting without thinking by accepting Dora's offer to cosign the lease and in Bubble's case, its storming out and threatening to punch something. And you're right that they do need to sit down and talk about these issues now before they get in too deep and can't get out.

But that's easier said than done when the problem is a rock and a hard-case.

[Case]

But that's easier said than done when the problem is a rock and a hard-case. an armored combat chassis.

[JimC]

Faye really is experiencing a child-like excitement here and you have to give a degree of understanding to that too.

I'm not at all sure that understanding that my business partner was making flawed decisions due to child-like excitement would in any way add to my confidence and security...

[TheEvilDog]

But that's easier said than done when the problem is a rock and a hard-case. an armored combat chassis.

You forget, Faye's the hard-case. 

[BenRG]

Faye really is experiencing a child-like excitement here and you have to give a degree of understanding to that too.

I'm not at all sure that understanding that my business partner was making flawed decisions due to child-like excitement would in any way add to my confidence and security...

I think that you're overstating the seriousness of Faye's social faux pas somewhat. She didn't flush the business down the toilet, she just failed to consult in advance on a completely reasonable call due to excitement.

[Case]

Faye really is experiencing a child-like excitement here and you have to give a degree of understanding to that too.

I'm not at all sure that understanding that my business partner was making flawed decisions due to child-like excitement would in any way add to my confidence and security...

I think that you're overstating the seriousness of Faye's social faux pas somewhat. She didn't flush the business down the toilet, she just failed to consult in advance on a completely reasonable call due to excitement.

[sitnspin]

Bubbles, that is how I feel after therapy much of the time.

[JimC]

I think that you're overstating the seriousness of Faye's social faux pas somewhat.

Think we'd better abandon plans for BenRg & JimC Enterprises PLC, I foresee culture clashes [grin]

[TheEvilDog]

I think that you're overstating the seriousness of Faye's social faux pas somewhat.

Think we'd better abandon plans for BenRg & JimC Enterprises PLC, I foresee culture clashes [grin]

T.E.D. Solutions will be more than happy to enter into a business partnership with you Jim.
You'll gain access to: - Excellent healthcare, because at T.E.D. Solutions, we don't believe in throwing people into volcanoes.
- Minions, like actually competent ones.
- We have cookies. And muffins. And brownies! All your favourite baked goods!
- A great dental plan, after all, what else can we do with these oversized bionic jaws in stock?

All I need is your signature in blood here, here and here and the use of your soul every other Tuesday and every Friday 13th.

[JimC]

Seems fair. If you could just let me have your bank account details we'll get this going...

[Kugai]

[Milayna]

She wasn't running over to tell Bubbles first though. The first person she called was the landlord to agree to the lease. She cut Bubbles out of the decision to get a co-signer. In fact she never even brought it up.

But...that's not what happened. Her phone call with the landlord was not legally binding - that's both obvious, and indicated by the fact that she said she'd send the paperwork (which WOULD be legally binding). And of course she'd check that the idea was ok with the landlord - it would be pointless to bother Bubbles with it if the landlord was going to tell her to get bent halfway through her sentence.

Bubbles isn't cut out of the decision at all. Nothing has been signed. Faye's made sure the idea wasn't a dud, and personally speaking, if *I* was in Bubbles' position that's what I'd want her to do before coming to me, too - I wouldn't want Faye to waste my time with something that she hasn't even verified is feasible.

[TheEvilDog]

She wasn't running over to tell Bubbles first though. The first person she called was the landlord to agree to the lease. She cut Bubbles out of the decision to get a co-signer. In fact she never even brought it up.

Bubbles isn't cut out of the decision at all. Nothing has been signed. Faye's made sure the idea wasn't a dud, and personally speaking, if *I* was in Bubbles' position that's what I'd want her to do before coming to me, too - I wouldn't want Faye to waste my time with something that she hasn't even verified is feasible.

The thing is, Bubbles suggested that Faye should talk to Dora because she knew that Dora would at least have the experience and knowledge of setting up a new business.

She never said anything about anything other than getting advice.

Its the equivalent of sending Jack to market to sell off the family cow, only for Jack to come back with half a loaf of bread. Yeah, it'll feed the family, but its not what you asked for, now is it?

[brasca]

Basically, what it comes down to is that Bubbles has serious anger issues and serious betrayal issues. Both of these are entirely understandable. However, you can't deny the truth of what Hannelore said: Faye really is experiencing a child-like excitement here and you have to give a degree of understanding to that too.

What is needed is for Faye and Bubbles to actually tell each other these things. Of course, neither of them are good with social stuff so I don't imagine something like that would happen quickly or easily.

Meanwhile, they really need to get Bubbles' punching bag back.

Punching bags don't last long with Bubbles.  Remember how many she went through the last time she got angry?

[Penquin47]

Grr. Argh.  Yet another long-haired character chops it all off.