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What is the answer to the mind/body problem?

The physical world is just a product of the mind
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The mind is just a process running on CPUs in the physical world
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There's no real distinction among manifestations of vital energy
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They are equal and distinct
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Something beyond human understanding
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Author Topic: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)  (Read 23240 times)

Tova

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #50 on: 12 Feb 2019, 14:00 »

Regarding Renee. The behaviours that have led people to label her an arsehole were all, if I recall correctly, instances of her looking out for Brun.

I don’t think that makes her an areshole. Overprotective maybe.

There’s one other piece of evidence often cited. I’d be asking myself whether judging someone based on another’s opinion is just.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #51 on: 12 Feb 2019, 14:04 »

I'd also like to add that the way Brun is discussed sometimes makes me a bit uncomfortable.

I am on the spectrum. Many of us do understand how life works. Many of us also don't get anywhere near enough credit for how sarcastic we're being because people expect us to be socially stunted, and we cannot read Brun's tone (I'm willing to bet Renee can't always either).

Also, at the risk of seeming contradictory - we only have our observations of Brun to lead us to believe she's not neurotypical anyway.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #52 on: 12 Feb 2019, 15:54 »

It is possible that I'm over-identifying based on how many times I've had to say something like "I don't understand what just happened". I think my life would have been improved if I'd had a roommate with a social protocol database. Brun is making her way in life but she does seem determined to understand human interactions better than she does.

If Brun is not on the spectrum I think she could be very empathetic to people who are.

Good point, Tova, about the number of criticisms of Renee that came from her protecting Brun. I can think of only one exception, which was the incident with Elliott that was arguably sexual harassment.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #53 on: 12 Feb 2019, 16:27 »

So it occurs to me—we've now had, as major characters, a highly promiscuous straight dude (Sven), a highly promiscuous gay girl (Tai pre-Dora), and now seemingly a highly promiscuous straight girl (Renee). We need a highly promiscuous gay dude now, to complete the This Character Fucks square.
Marten's boss back in the early days, before he went to work at the Smif Library. 
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #54 on: 12 Feb 2019, 17:03 »

Wasn't he in a monogamous relationship?
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Tova

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #55 on: 12 Feb 2019, 17:55 »

Good point, Tova, about the number of criticisms of Renee that came from her protecting Brun. I can think of only one exception, which was the incident with Elliott that was arguably sexual harassment.

That's a good example that I'd forgotten about. I'd agree with that assessment (minus the word 'arguably'), albeit not in the worst category of sexual harassment.

In her defense, I will point out that she was quick to acknowledge that what she'd done was wrong once it was pointed out to her, which doesn't strike me as arseholish behaviour. However, her failure to recognise it as such in the moment is certainly a character flaw.

I also agree that we have no direct evidence that Brun is neuroatypical, but I would argue that much of our discussion hinges on observed behaviour, not on whether she is actually neurotypical or otherwise.
« Last Edit: 12 Feb 2019, 18:12 by Tova »
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #56 on: 12 Feb 2019, 18:17 »

I still think there’s a lot of room for Renee to be aneurotypical as well — she really vibes to me as someone with adhd
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #57 on: 12 Feb 2019, 18:33 »

If Brun is neurodivergent it will be yet another success of Jeph's at being inclusive of someone different from average.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #58 on: 12 Feb 2019, 19:23 »

c o m i c

So Brun's totally gonna move in with another character, right? Maybe Clinton's moving out of the dorms?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #59 on: 12 Feb 2019, 19:27 »

Or Elliot?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #60 on: 12 Feb 2019, 21:17 »

No, she's definitely going to move in with the fairy and her reindeer.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #61 on: 12 Feb 2019, 22:01 »

What’s a laundry card? Every apartment I’ve lived in with communal washer/dryers were coin operated.

Is the card for accessing the wash room, or have all the machines sprouted credit card readers?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #62 on: 12 Feb 2019, 22:22 »

My guess is that it's some kind of a stored-value card.

You would presumably use a separate vending machine to load value into it, either using cash or a credit card. The laundry machine and dryer would then deduct the appropriate amount whenever you use the card to do your laundry.

Saves you from having to carry exact change or a credit card. And the laundry machines don't need to access the credit card network.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #63 on: 12 Feb 2019, 22:55 »

All I remember about Marten's old boss is that he planned to use his severance package for a vacation with his boyfriend (they could have been poly of course, but that wasn't mentioned IIRC).

Edit: Two Scott strips, thanks to the QC wiki

87

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I stand corrected!
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #64 on: 12 Feb 2019, 23:12 »

Saves you from having to carry exact change or a credit card. And the laundry machines don't need to access the credit card network.
Also, from the landlord's perspective,  any coin operated machine WILL be broken into sooner or later and the contents of the coin box stolen.  Then the machine is out of service and isn't making any money until it's repaired - and that's an additional expense.  The cost of a card reader system starts looking pretty reasonable.  No cash in the laundry room make it safer for your tenants, too.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #65 on: 12 Feb 2019, 23:22 »

I think that today's entire strip can be summed up just be looking at panels 4 and 5. Brun has, during her time staying with Renee, learned something important: As difficult as it is to deal with other people and their weird perspectives and figurative interpretations of reality, it's still better than being alone. I think that Brun doesn't want to be alone again, something that I think she's been for most of her life in one way or another.

So Brun's totally gonna move in with another character, right? Maybe Clinton's moving out of the dorms?

That's certainly one possibility, although I think Jeph will be aware that people will start drawing comparisons with Marten and Faye in terms of the romantic tension between them.

However, IMO at least, Questionable Content works best when it's set around The Odd Couple, their romantic travails, their odd neighbours and their quirky workplaces. It's possible that he's trying to recreate this around The Secret Bakery character group.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #66 on: 12 Feb 2019, 23:59 »

her track team "friends" had encouraged her, a first year, to go for the top at the competition instead of deferring to the third years, which was apparently a huge faux pas. Then those same "friends" told the third years who were pissed that they had told her to be more respectful, making her look terrible. and leading her to wall herself off.

I couldn't even understand the scene at first, and even after getting the japanese cultural parts explained to me, I still can't figure out "why". I've decided to just shrug and chalk it up to "they decided to bully her, that's just a thing that people do sometimes".

So the characters in question weren't exactly bullying, or at least not trying to. They were just being spineless: they told the first-year to do her best because they wanted to be encouraging and seem like good, friendly people, but as soon as their encouragement ended up getting them negative feedback from the older students they denied having done it so that they wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of admitting what they'd said.

It's a cultural thing in that specific context, but it's not a phenomenon unique to Japan. Plenty of sycophants around the world.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #67 on: 13 Feb 2019, 00:01 »

Renee is serious since she’s using Brun’s full first name, but not her middle name so she’s not angry.

People have speculated that Clinton or Elliot could be her new roommate, but maybe Hannelore has come along on her personal journey she might be willing to experiment with a roommate. 

There’s also Roko.  She might need some help with her rent.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #68 on: 13 Feb 2019, 00:05 »

Brun will move in with her harpoon, who, we will soon discover, has actually been an AI all along.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #69 on: 13 Feb 2019, 00:20 »

I still think there’s a lot of room for Renee to be aneurotypical as well — she really vibes to me as someone with adhd

Hmmmmh - What makes you think so? I don't feel that any of the cast vibes with my experience of ADHD. Though that doesn't need to mean much, given how varied the symptoms can be, how much the presentation can change in adulthood, or my complete lack of medical qualifications.

I'd say Emily and Hannelore sometimes appear 'hyper' in a way that pushes social norms, but IIRC "stuff I read in passing, years ago" , that's something that exceptionally gifted children/young adults wrestle with, too.

None of the cast appear to have any of the difficulty with executive functioning that are typically associated with all three subtypes (I'm a 'type I/predominantly inattentive' myself, though .... an adult one who had plenty of treatment). Difficulty starting or finishing tasks - or the flipside: Hyperfocus/perseverance on tasks that are enjoyable - I don't recall any of that ever being mentioned so far (Which, again, doesn't need to mean anything at all, really)

If Jeph would acknowledge that one of the cast lives with ADHD, my money would be on Sam (as a hyperactive/impulsive subtype) - though anything she does that appears unusual to me could IMO just as well indicate "healthy, alert 21st century Tomboy, type I"
« Last Edit: 13 Feb 2019, 00:46 by Case »
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #70 on: 13 Feb 2019, 01:16 »

FWIW, I think that Renee is a perfect example in QC of a 'normal person'. She can be thoughtless and selfish sometimes. She can cause trouble by acts of nearly-childish mischief. However, in the end, given a choice, she'll always do the right thing by her friends and even acknowledge fault (even if only by muttering it to herself). She's no saint but which of us are?

As with Marten, in some ways, Renee's mundanity is what makes her interesting. She has no glaring non-neurotypical traits and no Deep Dark SecretTM in her past. She is simply an ordinary person with ordinary hang-ups and ordinary flaws. Seeing how that fits into Jeph's increasingly fantastical universe of sentient machines with human-like life issues (and some very non-human ones too) and other remarkable personalities is one of the things that is interesting to see.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #71 on: 13 Feb 2019, 04:41 »

her track team "friends" had encouraged her, a first year, to go for the top at the competition instead of deferring to the third years, which was apparently a huge faux pas. Then those same "friends" told the third years who were pissed that they had told her to be more respectful, making her look terrible. and leading her to wall herself off.

I couldn't even understand the scene at first, and even after getting the japanese cultural parts explained to me, I still can't figure out "why". I've decided to just shrug and chalk it up to "they decided to bully her, that's just a thing that people do sometimes".

So the characters in question weren't exactly bullying, or at least not trying to. They were just being spineless: they told the first-year to do her best because they wanted to be encouraging and seem like good, friendly people, but as soon as their encouragement ended up getting them negative feedback from the older students they denied having done it so that they wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of admitting what they'd said.

It's a cultural thing in that specific context, but it's not a phenomenon unique to Japan. Plenty of sycophants around the world.

Nah, it was bullying. Transcribed from discord:

"Ok, so, there's 3 years in japanese high school. And it's expected that the younger students will let the older ones take the more prestigious positions in clubs/teams and whatnot, both to improve their chances for potential university applications, and also out of respect for seniority. But Hinata's "friends" basically told her to ignore that and go for it, telling her that it would be fine and nobody would care. Turns out that they did care, and it turned her basically into a social pariah. And then, when she expected them to have her back, they basically said to the older girls that it was all her idea and all her fault. So they betrayed her twice over."

Another one:

"Clubs in japan are a huge deal
There's a reason you see them so much in anime
Being in a club is basically required, socially
It's culturally treated as a way to train for your eventual office job
Learning responsibility and how to be an adult
Sports clubs included"

and

"She has an exceptional trait (good at running), and probably made the other girls in her team jealous and such that she'd "flaunt" it
In Japan there's this thing with competitions where the final year of their teams is a very damn big event
So crashing it like that by taking advantage of her naivete is colossally dickish"
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #72 on: 13 Feb 2019, 05:05 »

I'm not sure "being an asshole comes naturally to him" is the improvement over "deliberately being an asshole" you seem to be suggesting it is here. xD
If the effects are the same, surely "no particular intent" is preferable to "deliberately trying to be an asshole"? At the very least, there's more hope that they can be trained out of it.
I'll probably have some nay-sayers here, but I would argue that there are those people to whom one simply must be an asshole to in order to get one's point across. Though, this is largely situational.

'{S}imply must' as in 'there is no other way to go about', not as in 'it is the most natural and/or expected response'. Though, there are also those people for whom the latter also applies.

EDIT: Had to change the bracket type around the upper-cased 's' to get rid of the strikethrough.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #73 on: 13 Feb 2019, 06:49 »

Laundry Cards are RFID cards that you store money on for doing laundry. A lot of places are switching to them because you can deposit money via credit or check card and there's no money to be stolen.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #74 on: 13 Feb 2019, 07:38 »

Keep in mind that Angus and Renee dated, and they didn't break up on good terms. 
Wait, what?
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #75 on: 13 Feb 2019, 08:22 »

Theta9: Here is the reference.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #76 on: 13 Feb 2019, 09:35 »

I think that today's entire strip can be summed up just be looking at panels 4 and 5. Brun has, during her time staying with Renee, learned something important: As difficult as it is to deal with other people and their weird perspectives and figurative interpretations of reality, it's still better than being alone. I think that Brun doesn't want to be alone again, something that I think she's been for most of her life in one way or another.

I'm getting that impression as well, especially Brun's whole "comically missing the point" line in the last panel. Yeah, she enjoy's Renee's company, and doesn't want to move out. The problem is, Renee presumably has a one-bedroom apartment (or Renee would be in the other bedroom) and likes her privacy, for her internet hookups if nothing else, so I guess those two are gonna need to pool their money and get a two-bedroom apt...

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #77 on: 13 Feb 2019, 09:48 »

Renee is serious since she’s using Brun’s full first name, but not her middle name so she’s not angry.

People have speculated that Clinton or Elliot could be her new roommate, but maybe Hannelore has come along on her personal journey she might be willing to experiment with a roommate. 

There’s also Roko.  She might need some help with her rent.
Both Hanners and Brun are scrubophiles, so they might get on quite well.  However, depending on Hannelore's level of recovery (or healing?) upon her return, Brun might remind her too much of her former self for comfort.

Roko?  I don't know.  I see her as pretty frugal and not without personal savings to fall back on, and AI's physiological and safety needs are somewhat less than us meatfolk.  A secure location to downcycle and recharge is quite adequate, and an actual apartment is only necessary if one has possessions to protect.  Roko's previously kept an apartment, but she's in a period of major change.  She could decide to try minimalist living.

But, this IS QC.  Brun and Roko sharing space makes two reasons for Clinton to come around.  Que romantic comedy.  (I'm still shipping Roko and Clinton.  Clintko?  Naw, sounds like a discount store.  Clintro?  Rokton?)

Love Brun's Li'l Orphan Annie eyes in panel 4.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #78 on: 13 Feb 2019, 12:29 »

When Angus and Renee broke up, what we know is that Angus' friends were happy about it. Nothing more or less.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #79 on: 13 Feb 2019, 13:40 »

Friends that were never on screen and who we know nothing about.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #80 on: 13 Feb 2019, 14:09 »

Exactly. Faye and Angus and Renee are not the most emotionallly settled people in the world.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #81 on: 13 Feb 2019, 14:24 »

Friends that were never on screen and who we know nothing about.

To be fair, we've never seen or heard anything about Marten's friends from California.

I imagine Angus' friends were belonging to a comedy group or something, not necessarily ones he'd mix with Faye or Marten.

Alternatively, they left town shortly after Angus and Renee broke up. After all, when he had those auditions in New York, he was crashing on a friend's couch.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #82 on: 13 Feb 2019, 16:37 »

"Housemates". We do not know whether this means Marigold and Momo. He may also have been exaggerating about their reaction.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #83 on: 13 Feb 2019, 17:21 »

The idea of Marigold and Momo throwing a party is amusing, given where they both were at the time. This was before Marigold’s introduction, so she was still basically a shut-in. And Momo was still in her chibi chassis. So the party would have been just the two of them.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #84 on: 13 Feb 2019, 17:26 »

"Housemates". We do not know whether this means Marigold and Momo. He may also have been exaggerating about their reaction.

He'd just broken up with her. That's not the most objective viewpoint. His housemates might genuinely be corroborating his viewpoint, or they might just be acting highly sympathetically with his. Or they might just have hated her because she wasn't right for Angus.

That Angus rebounded straight to Faye, that Renee and Faye were deemed similar in at least one respect in another strip, and that Renee was set up as Faye's doppelganger all suggest that the attributes that Angus deemed to be strongly negative also exist in Faye.

So I'd be interested to know whether the people who dislike Renee feel the same way about Faye.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #85 on: 13 Feb 2019, 19:16 »

berf
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celticgeek

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #86 on: 13 Feb 2019, 19:28 »

Happy Saint Valentine's Day to Renee and Brunhilde!!
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SmilingCat

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #87 on: 13 Feb 2019, 19:33 »

I can see Marigold and Renee really not liking each other without it having anything to do with Angus.
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Oenone

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #88 on: 13 Feb 2019, 19:49 »

Renee and ADHD:
Tbh it’s a little vain, because I see myself in Renee and I have ADHD. The way she has a routine that WORKS for her that she reflexively tries to impose on others, the way she’s sometimes TOO MUCH in her emotional responses to others, and her ability to track Brun’s literal but nonlinear thinking all are traits I see in myself.

Renee and Marigold:
Wasn’t Renee the ex who Angus felt was judgmental of how him and his friends treated Marigold? Or like, wanted to help Marigold or something? I’m prob wrong because I can’t find it in the archive at all.
« Last Edit: 13 Feb 2019, 19:56 by Oenone »
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Milayna

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #89 on: 13 Feb 2019, 19:54 »

d'awwwwww

Well, some people in this forum called this comic already. Maybe they were patreons or just read it better than me. I thought it was mostly inertia keeping Brun at Renee's place, and an inability to see that she was kind of getting in the way a little bit. I didn't think she'd be especially into the roomies thing itself. I figured Brun would end up doing the "independent living" thing again.

Not that they didn't like each other, obviously they do, but it seemed to me like Renee also would prefer "independent living". Especially since Brun kinda crashed at her place unexpectedly after a desire and then just...didn't leave.

Or maybe that is it from Renee's side, but she's attached enough to Brun to easily change her mind and upend her own situation on a whim in order to be more tolerable to the both of them? Accepting less than ideal, for Brun's sake?

Hmm. At any rate I'm surprised, I didn't think the 2-bedroom scenario was all that likely.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #90 on: 13 Feb 2019, 20:01 »

Renee gets "not-such-an-asshole-after-all-at-least-not-all-the-time" points.

I think the last frame is the first time Brun has made eye contact with us through the fourth wall.  I didn't realize Jeph usually draws her looking off to the side.  Nice bit of detail there.
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shanejayell

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #91 on: 13 Feb 2019, 20:19 »

AWWWWWWWWWW.

"Berf"

:D

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #92 on: 13 Feb 2019, 20:47 »

D'aww
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #93 on: 13 Feb 2019, 21:01 »

I want to coin the phrase "Berf out!", but it sounds negative and this is a happy moment.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #94 on: 13 Feb 2019, 21:52 »

I want to coin the phrase "Berf out!", but it sounds negative and this is a happy moment.
How about "I am berft"?
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Neko_Ali

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #95 on: 13 Feb 2019, 22:13 »

Berf indeed.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #96 on: 13 Feb 2019, 22:40 »

I really like Renee in this. She’s sympathetic, calm tone, she immediately stops when Brun has more to say. Not saying she should be acting differently, of course, but nevertheless, this is good.
Heh. Puts "Oh. Am I not good to live with?" "You're fine." in a new light.

I also like how Brun puts it. “I like living with you. I feel safe with you. I know if you get annoyed with me, you’ll still understand me. I feel good coming home to that. I trust you, and I’ll find another place.”
Strong sentiments, well put. Honesty is important, many people are bad at it, A+.

With Renee, I do not think she is making a sacrifice here. Again, “You’re fine.” Followed by (paraphrased:) “But you should have an actual living space! With your own bed! Don’t you miss having a place for yourself?”

I think Renee genuinely enjoys Brun’s company and living with her. She didn’t realize Brun felt how she did, and now she’s touched and wants to reciprocate.

I think it’s mutual. Not unwanted, not unwelcomed, just happy, and surprised, and mutual.

(Edited because I accidentally put too much space at the bottom of my comment xD)
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Dandi Andi

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #97 on: 13 Feb 2019, 22:57 »

I am very late to this party, but I had a few things to get caught up on.

Eh, if someone deserves being mean to, then go for whatever hurts most, which in the case of someone like that guy, is probably his dick. Also pencil-dick is a pretty average insult, a bit less hurtful but less lazy than ["birch"]. So I'd say Renee got the slight upper hand there.

Also, the president*'s fingers are short, hurr hurr.

It isn't about what hurts Peter. It is about the splash damage. Not mocking somebody's body is about not contributing to a culture where the size and/or shape of a person's genitals is a source of shame or pride. I have made great effort lately to not use my common go-to insults because they mock appearance, cognitive ability or language skills. While me calling someone "gammon faced" seems trivial, I am increasingly uncomfortable with suggesting that being unattractive is something worth shaming someone for, even if they're being an ass. Her recognition of this was very timely for me.

As for Thrillho pointing out that Brun may be far more sarcastic that we give her credit for; absolutely yes. I work in a grocery store. A large portion of our bagging staff are somewhere on the spectrum. One thing you learn about people on the spectrum (if you take the time to get to know them) is just how vast the spectrum is. Frequently, new hires have to be given some guidance on interacting with them because they understand far less about interacting with the neurodivergent baggers than those baggers understand about interacting with the rest of us. "Sara is totally non-communicative. Just put her at a register and let her bag. Be nice and say hello, just don't put too much pressure on her to make small talk. Mark is really into schedules, so he'll probably remember yours better than you do. It helps him feel in control if things are steady and predictable and it gives him something to talk about. Bella hasn't quite got the hang of small talk, so she's going to tell you all about what she had for lunch. Tell her about yours and give her a high five and she'll be the sweetest person you ever met. Ted? Ted was just fucking with you. It's just a little harder to figure out his sarcasm voice. You'll get the hang of it." They run the gamut form very high to very low function socially. But when you learn to stop seeing them in terms of their position on the spectrum, you can almost forget that they're on the spectrum at all.

Brun, if she is indeed on the spectrum, reminds me of Ted (his name has been changed just in case). He understands sarcasm perfectly well, it just isn't intuitive to him. He has to think about it. And he knows that most people assume that he doesn't get sarcasm and he uses that to his advantage. He's the sort of person who will make someone explain a racist joke just to make them feel bad for thinking a racist joke was funny. I think Brun may have been poking a little fun at Renee for her habit of giving people anatomical nick-names. And I think it worked precisely because Renee would assume Brun was being serious.
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BenRG

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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #98 on: 13 Feb 2019, 23:15 »

I've never really been able to shake the possibility that Brun was essentially lonely and miserable up to that fateful night when she met Clinton for the first time. Oh, she'd found a balance point where she could function and survive with a modicum of independence but it's clear that she wasn't in the nicest of places in terms of how those she had to work with and/or around treated her. Nor does it seem that she had many friends beyond Renee.

The fact is that, despite its challenges, Brun likes her current life a great deal more than she liked her previous life. She'd really prefer not to go back to the way things were before, thank you very much.

So, here we are and the fact that Moving Day for Renee and Brun is on the horizon. I'm wondering how that may develop going forwards and whether having her own private space may lead Brun to seize certain opportunities, so to speak.
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Re: WCDT Strips 3936-3940 (11-15 February 2019)
« Reply #99 on: 13 Feb 2019, 23:34 »

Isn't that kind of difficulty with metaphor common among people on the autism spectrum? Any idea that Brun might be neurotypical seems to be getting remote.
Often, though it differs by situation and person. I can usually follow straight metaphors, especially when the dimensions are absurd (a dick shaped like a pencil) or the situation is like that. But with exaggerations, slang especially, or internet memes, or situations where speech isn't denotative but rather structured on mutual intrinsic understanding (think of situations where a couple dudes might do a complicated fist bump and clown around speaking incomplete sentences), I'm often lost. I didn't pay enough attention to the other students in my spec ed classes to really evaluate their responses, much less that I'd remember after 11 years.

*snip*
It definitely varies. While it's a common hallmark of autism, it's not a prerequisite. I have more trouble with people not being very specific when they talk. "That" "this" "those" "it"  can be pretty frustrating for me. Especially when the person talking isn't pointing at whatever or doesn't describe it beyond "there" when pointing.

I'd also like to add that the way Brun is discussed sometimes makes me a bit uncomfortable.

I am on the spectrum. Many of us do understand how life works. Many of us also don't get anywhere near enough credit for how sarcastic we're being because people expect us to be socially stunted, and we cannot read Brun's tone (I'm willing to bet Renee can't always either).

Also, at the risk of seeming contradictory - we only have our observations of Brun to lead us to believe she's not neurotypical anyway.
Would we technically be 'dead-pan snarkers' when we do that? Most people have trouble telling that I'm being sarcastic unless I'm gesticulating more than normal and over-emphasizing words.

BTW, from what we've observed of Brun, I'd say it's pretty clear she's neurodivergent. But that could just be my personal biases.
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