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What does Hanner's first few days home involve

Seeing friends
- 28 (34.6%)
Deep clean her old apartment
- 19 (23.5%)
Clean it AGAIN just to be sure
- 12 (14.8%)
Clean Marigold's place too
- 16 (19.8%)
Look into how to sterilize dogs safely
- 6 (7.4%)

Total Members Voted: 33


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Author Topic: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)  (Read 15695 times)

Nepiophage

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #50 on: 25 Jul 2019, 17:35 »

"Tannelore" is pretty nifty, but I'm still working on a portmanteau with "melanocytes" or "melanin".

"Melanilore", maybe?
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #51 on: 25 Jul 2019, 18:06 »

So it turns out that Hannelore need not have gone all the way to Nepal to hang out with yaks. There are apparently yaks running loose in West Springfield, Massachusetts at this very moment.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #52 on: 25 Jul 2019, 20:03 »

Poor Faye has lost her bearings.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #53 on: 25 Jul 2019, 20:13 »

As long as her marbles are safe.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #54 on: 25 Jul 2019, 20:22 »

So Hanners is still OCD, just has a better handle on it.

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #55 on: 25 Jul 2019, 20:32 »

Exactly
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #56 on: 25 Jul 2019, 20:36 »

So Hanners is still OCD, just has a better handle on it.

Shoveling manure and delivering yak calves certainly helped her overcome her hypochondria, but I'm not sure if there's any kind of immersion therapy that would alleviate this. 
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #57 on: 25 Jul 2019, 23:37 »

So Hanners is still OCD, just has a better handle on it.

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #58 on: 25 Jul 2019, 23:49 »

Hmm... I wonder if the careless someone who left the lid off of the ball bearing jar is a certain pugnacious brunette who has been spending her day with an old friend? In any case, I think that they should get Hannelore a snow shovel and a bucket or this is going to take a long time and likely require moving heavy machinery.

Reading this strip makes me think that Jeph either anticipated all the push-back or decided that he needed to explain things to some people in words of one syllable.
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OldGoat

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #59 on: 26 Jul 2019, 00:02 »

Reading this strip makes me think that Jeph either anticipated all the push-back or decided that he needed to explain things to some people in words of one syllable.
I think by this time he knows us well.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #60 on: 26 Jul 2019, 02:07 »

At least it's not Tyrell corp.  Those things break after the four year warranty runs out.

Built In Obsolescence!

(Bit freaky considering the news about poor ol' Rutger this week    :cry:  )
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #61 on: 26 Jul 2019, 02:30 »

I'm afraid we've gone completely beyond the bounds of credibility here.

I mean, different size ball bearings in the same bottle? I'm sorry, but that just isn't going to happen in any half competent shop.

And, now I think about it, I certainly can't imagine Hannelore putting them all back in the same jar together. They are damn well *going* to be properly sorted.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #62 on: 26 Jul 2019, 02:36 »

At least it's not Tyrell corp.  Those things break after the four year warranty runs out.

Built In Obsolescence!

(Bit freaky considering the news about poor ol' Rutger this week    :cry:  )

Yeah.  I'm horrible, and I couldn't resist.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #63 on: 26 Jul 2019, 04:36 »

One of those rare strips i could clearly hear.
« Last Edit: 27 Jul 2019, 05:16 by Welu »
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #64 on: 26 Jul 2019, 06:03 »

I'm afraid we've gone completely beyond the bounds of credibility here.

I mean, different size ball bearings in the same bottle? I'm sorry, but that just isn't going to happen in any half competent shop.

And, now I think about it, I certainly can't imagine Hannelore putting them all back in the same jar together. They are damn well *going* to be properly sorted.
It's all a matter of perspective.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #65 on: 26 Jul 2019, 06:30 »

In any case, I think that they should get Hannelore a snow shovel and a bucket or this is going to take a long time and likely require moving heavy machinery.

That is such linear thinking. Now think like an engineer.
Q: What are some of the properties of Steel Ball Bearings that we can exploit?
A: They are made of steel therefore we can use a magnet to gather them up.
This eliminates the issue of loosing ones bearings while attempting to gather them up.
As for those that have rolled under equipment, a stream of compressed air will get them back out from under and into the clutches of your magnet.

As for the mixed sizes in one container.
I put that down to a discount supplier of ball bearings who get them from end of production run inventories.
This is where any left over parts used in a production run do not get returned to inventory.
This would be due to very strict inventory and parts control where there is no mixing of lot numbers.
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cybersmurf

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #66 on: 26 Jul 2019, 07:09 »

mixed ball bearings, $17,99/lbs - includes some more expensive ones, and some less expensive ones, but overall a good deal. but you don't know how many of each you actually get.

A lot of smaller steel products like screws and bolts are sold by weight instead of by piece. So in my mind, a container of mixed sizes for a fixed price makes sense if it's not that common sizes you don't need that often.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #67 on: 26 Jul 2019, 09:06 »

Q: What are some of the properties of Steel Ball Bearings that we can exploit?
A: They are made of steel therefore we can use a magnet to gather them up.
Provided they aren't one of the non-magnetic steels, like many of the stainless varieties are.  See also: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-magnets-work-on/
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #68 on: 26 Jul 2019, 16:41 »

So --- were there -really- 5,000 bearings in the jar?

( recalls me sorting mixed nails )
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zisraelsen

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #69 on: 26 Jul 2019, 17:37 »

At my old job, my boss got it in his head to move the bulk of production across a nearby border. The export consultant he hired insisted that our quantities of parts better be dead accurate, as any discrepancy the border agents found would result in a fine of $10,000. I was the only one packing parts and making paperwork.

Cut to several stressful days of counting dozens of different part numbers, including a bunch of different screws, nuts, electrical and pneumatic fittings, and o-rings, each with quantities in the hundreds. By hand. Once that pallet left, I asked my boss very politely to please let me order a fucking counting scale or I quit

We never did get fined. I don't think anyone at the border crossing looked at those parts nearly as closely as I did.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #70 on: 26 Jul 2019, 23:34 »

We never did get fined. I don't think anyone at the border crossing looked at those parts nearly as closely as I did.

On the bright side, your inventory records had never been so accurate!
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #71 on: 27 Jul 2019, 02:47 »

A: They are made of steel therefore we can use a magnet to gather them up.
I'm rather wary of using magnets to pick things up. Need to be very sure that it won't be a problem when they get slightly magnetised.
AIs and magnetism is an interesting speculation. One may assume that Bubbles is well protected against magnetic fields, but not so sure about consumer grade chassis.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #72 on: 27 Jul 2019, 06:47 »

Considering her squad was killed because she was immobilised by a EMP, she can't be protected very strongly.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #73 on: 27 Jul 2019, 07:37 »

The magnetic fields used in, say, a parts picker are likely thousands of orders of magnitude less than a EMP  weapon would use.  If indeed, magnetism would be part of that.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #74 on: 27 Jul 2019, 10:59 »

Plus a steady field does completely different things from a pulsed one.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #75 on: 29 Jul 2019, 07:01 »

The magnetic fields used in, say, a parts picker are likely thousands of orders of magnitude less than a EMP  weapon would use.  If indeed, magnetism would be part of that.
Why wouldn't it? You know the M in EMP stands for "magnetic", don't you?
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #76 on: 29 Jul 2019, 07:23 »

Magnetization of items you pick up with a magnet is minimal at best.
If they do end up with a residual magnetic field there is always the degausser coil to get rid of that.

As for robotics I would hazard that very little if any iron is used, just like in most modern equipment that is designed to be light, portable yet relatively strong.
So various alloys of aluminum, manganese, titanium and the like as well as carbon fibre, ceramics and plastics.
Now CAT equipment is STRONG but is neither light nor portable and that Yellow paint scheme for crushbot suggests heavy duty industrial with stress on the heavy bit.

The actual engineering for the humanoid chassis and their pseudo musculature uses the cutting edge technology of handwavium.

As for the EMP - it is the EM standing for Electro-Magnetic and the two are not separate.
ElectroMagnetics covers everything from your flashlight beam to that to the output of an X-ray pulsar to how the alternator in you car operates to the FM signal your radio picks up.

Now as for Bubbles being rendered immobile. I very much doubt the Military didn't harden her systems against any type of brute strength EM Pulse.
As for a vulnerability of that would allow a bit of nefarious code being injected into her systems? That would be something completely different and would not require crazy amounts of power, just knowledge about the code vulnerability and how best to inject the data through her sensor net.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #77 on: 29 Jul 2019, 08:22 »

Now as for Bubbles being rendered immobile. I very much doubt the Military didn't harden her systems against any type of brute strength EM Pulse.
I'm sure they did, within certain weight and probably other structural limits.  However, there are any number of examples where weapons have been upgraded, causing older weapons/structures to become vulnerable to a planned attack type.  See cannon vs. masonry walls (pre-reinforced concrete) and tank armor vs. anti-tank projectiles in WWII as just two examples.  A weaponized AI is designed and constructed at a point in time and weapon technology is constantly evolving.  Therefore it's likely that an EMP weapon could be produced after Bubbles-type bodies were available (accidentally, or intentionally with a Bubbles-type as target) that would render those bodies disabled, damaged, or kaput.  Bubbles related temporarily disabled but didn't really specify how or what repair (if any) was accomplished.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #78 on: 29 Jul 2019, 09:43 »

Every time I hear or read 'kaput' in English, I'm amused. Never ever would I have imagined "kaputt" making its way from German to English.


"classic" EMP - like from nuclear explosions - mainly render electronics inoperable. Apparently, Bubbles is reinforced against those kinds of attacks, since she isn't broken.
Maybe EMPs of sufficient power create a power surge which needs to be dissipated, or forcing her to reboot. And that few moments may be enough for a machine gun nest to do the damage described.
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #79 on: 29 Jul 2019, 10:37 »

Every time I hear or read 'kaput' in English, I'm amused. Never ever would I have imagined "kaputt" making its way from German to English.
My half English, half German father, born in the '20s in the Midwest, used the word to describe mechanical and/or electronic devices worn or damaged beyond his considerable ability to effect repairs.  (Some guys define their manhood by who they can beat up, some by how much booze they can put away and remain standing.  For Dad it was what he could repair or cobble together.)  My French and German maternal grandmother sprinkled her speech with words and phrases from both languages.  I don't recall her ever asking, "understand?" but she'd always say "verstehen?"
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #80 on: 29 Jul 2019, 10:38 »

The magnetic fields used in, say, a parts picker are likely thousands of orders of magnitude less than a EMP  weapon would use.  If indeed, magnetism would be part of that.
Why wouldn't it? You know the M in EMP stands for "magnetic", don't you?

The most dangerous part of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse is the "pulse."  It typically refers to a sudden spike/pulse of EM energy, which can induce a current in conductive materials, thus overloading sensitive electronics.  Most circuitry is only designed to handle a minuscule voltage or current, and a fluctuating electro-magnetic field can increase those values or generate them where there are none.

The type of magnet you'd use to collect parts on the ground would produce a steady field, and even though you're moving it around, the amount of power you'd generate in a circuit is essentially zero (you'd have to be moving really fast or have a ridiculously powerful magnet to match the pulse of an EMP).

Think of it this way: your phone is susceptible to an EMP, but you'd need a magnet on the scale of an MRI machine to cause damage simply via the magnetic field.
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cybersmurf

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #81 on: 31 Jul 2019, 05:59 »

Every time I hear or read 'kaput' in English, I'm amused. Never ever would I have imagined "kaputt" making its way from German to English.
My half English, half German father, born in the '20s in the Midwest, used the word to describe mechanical and/or electronic devices worn or damaged beyond his considerable ability to effect repairs.  (Some guys define their manhood by who they can beat up, some by how much booze they can put away and remain standing.  For Dad it was what he could repair or cobble together.)  My French and German maternal grandmother sprinkled her speech with words and phrases from both languages.  I don't recall her ever asking, "understand?" but she'd always say "verstehen?"

My sister has been living in Sweden for 20 years now, and she started throwing around literal translations. She only realises she said something wrong by how puzzled the people around look.
Also, now I know, if you want to silence (gag) someone, you need a "mouth cable".
« Last Edit: 31 Jul 2019, 10:47 by cybersmurf »
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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #82 on: 31 Jul 2019, 06:32 »

"classic" EMP - like from nuclear explosions - mainly render electronics inoperable. Apparently, Bubbles is reinforced against those kinds of attacks, since she isn't broken.
Maybe EMPs of sufficient power create a power surge which needs to be dissipated, or forcing her to reboot. And that few moments may be enough for a machine gun nest to do the damage described.
Most Military electronics are shielded and hardened verses radiation and EMPs of the Nuclear variety and then there is that whole inverse square law regarding radiated power that your supposition runs afoul of. I very much doubt that Handwavium-science would be able to circumvent some very fundamental laws of physics.

I will stick to my supposition of a design flaw in the defensive protocols and hardware.
Something that could be cobbled together with off-the-shelf equipment and a bit of basic script kiddy coding.
Just like what happened to Capital One and their single layer of security that was so easily circumvented by a not-so-bright coder.

Security flaws are regularly ignored by government contractors who tend to prosecute people that point out such flaws in their systems instead of fixing them.
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A good pun is it's own reword.
There is a difference between spare parts, extra parts and left over parts.

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Re: WCDT strips 4051-4055 (22 - 26 July 2019)
« Reply #83 on: 31 Jul 2019, 10:51 »

I will stick to my supposition of a design flaw in the defensive protocols and hardware.
Something that could be cobbled together with off-the-shelf equipment and a bit of basic script kiddy coding.

I'm with you on that one. "That's so simple, we're not even going to test that." "We're not getting paid enough to test everything, and this should be covered."
Or in other words: "I know we half-assed it, but it should be fine."


Security flaws are regularly ignored by government contractors who tend to prosecute people that point out such flaws in their systems instead of fixing them.

Probably because it's less work, or more profitable. Maybe even both.
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