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Boaty McBoatface II

5 (13.5%)

Float 'n' Chill

3 (8.1%)

Lady Claire

5 (13.5%)

My Other Boat Is A Tin Bathtub

2 (5.4%)

Gone Fishin'

0 (0%)

Queen Faye's Revenge

7 (18.9%)

Don't Judge Me, Kids! You'll Be Here Soon Enough!

2 (5.4%)

Pintsize's Excellent Adventure

3 (8.1%)

To Have and Have Not (Yes, a literary reference for Claire's sake)

4 (10.8%)

I Survived Jaws!

1 (2.7%)

Other (please specify in comments)

5 (13.5%)

Total Members Voted: 35

[shanejayell]

 

And I wish I could override my hangovers.

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, new person with a good question!

[cybersmurf]

If being able to encrypt one's own memories is a common/normal thing then why did bubbles have to rely on corpse witch?

Maybe it's some corporate scientist or military contractor upgrade (remember, they had an emu with a friggin' cloaking device).
Or they only can only encrypt from point A to point B, all or nothing. Bubbles wanted something rather specific, that probably spanned over a longer period of time, and not everything of that. Or encrypting makes you relive/remember in a way Bubs couldn't handle at the time.

[Penquin47]

Hypothesis: Memories have to be encrypted as they're happening, so once they leave the short-term memory they're gone until you use the password.  Bubbles didn't set up her own encryption and can't do it retroactively.

[BenRG]

Like others, I'm pretty sure that there is a world full of jealous fleshies who wish that it was as simple as opening Task Manager and instructing it to stop the process 'Hangover'. Just another way in which the Synthetics have so many natural advantages!

So, if Jeph goes by usual habit, this is the last regular strip until the new year. We're going to just have some random fillers from guest artists and Patreon for the next two weeks. This is a curious place to leave things, isn't it? I think that I will spend my whole time wondering precisely what happened that the only way that Millifeulle could handle it was to lock out those memory sectors behind password protection. I wonder if she also wrote: "You don't want to unencrypt these" on the mirror?

My guess is that something horribly embarrassing happened. Maybe something like these?

• Dora was so impressed with Tai and Millie's butts that she married both of them on the spot (thanks, Steve!)
• Jones got really annoyed with Millie's increasingly and indiscriminately flirty behaviour that he told her off and walked out; that hurt and Millie would prefer not to remember the look on his face; was it heartbreak or disappointment?
• It's actually a function of the Drunk app - All memories from within the activation period of the service are automatically encrypted and all records of the password deleted apart from a physical off-line copy; don't want to remember what you did whilst drunk? We've got you covered!

I've got a feeling that Dora and Tai have made a new friend. I also think that they're going to learn just what Marten went through all that time he's had to referee their relationship drama!

[Wingy]

I've got a feeling that Dora and Tai have made a new friend. I also think that they're going to learn just what Marten went through all that time he's had to referee their relationship drama!

And maybe married Tai gets to be part of a "thruple" after all.

[cybersmurf]

Hypothesis: Memories have to be encrypted as they're happening, so once they leave the short-term memory they're gone until you use the password.  Bubbles didn't set up her own encryption and can't do it retroactively.

I like that one, and it makes sense either as technical necessity, or design choice, and leaves room why you'd need skills to do it afterwards.

[Gus_Smedstad]

Why would you even install hangover.exe? And if I did discover it had managed to install itself, I'd root it out immediately. With an anti-malware package if need be.

[Thrudd]

I would hazard that Hangover.exe is part of the Intoxicated,exe suite.
This is a series of nested files where once you push past a certain level of inebriation that, and encryption.exe, are both enabled.
Why? Because at those levels you can and will do some stupid things and this will protect you from the initial impact as well as a warning that a new stupid.exe algorithm was generated.

[Dngrsone]

I would hazard that Hangover.exe is part of the Intoxicated,exe suite.
This is a series of nested files where once you push past a certain level of inebriation that, and encryption.exe, are both enabled.
Why? Because at those levels you can and will do some stupid things and this will protect you from the initial impact as well as a warning that a new stupid.exe algorithm was generated.

The encryption is a feature to simulate a human blackout.  I wonder if they have to issue a number for simulating a series of drinks imbibed, or if it's randomly generated?

[cybersmurf]

The RNG probably will be busy slurring speech.

[Wingy]

Wait, why would robots have drugs in a bathroom?  I mean, they could just uninstall headache.exe...

[TV4Fun]

Why would you even install hangover.exe? And if I did discover it had managed to install itself, I'd root it out immediately. With an anti-malware package if need be.

Why would you voluntarily drink alcohol?

[Gyrre]

Why would you even install hangover.exe? And if I did discover it had managed to install itself, I'd root it out immediately. With an anti-malware package if need be.

Why would you voluntarily drink alcohol?

In small amount is okay on a regular basis. Some drinks/food have miniscule amounts of it naturally (like kombucha) and aren't consumed for their alcohol content.

EDIT: typo fix

[Torlek]

On the encryption, there can be varying levels.

Millie probably went for the most basic type of encryption that any script kiddie could crack in less than a minute.
Bubbles probably wanted something that made 256-bit AES encryption look like the simplest substitution cypher (she's a military AI, she probably has/had military-grade cryptographic subroutines).

[hedgie]

Why would you voluntarily drink alcohol?

Personally, I like the taste of a fine whisky, or even a good stout or porter.

(IICIH OCD fixed quote tags)

[oddtail]

Why would you even install hangover.exe? And if I did discover it had managed to install itself, I'd root it out immediately. With an anti-malware package if need be.

Why would you voluntarily drink alcohol?

Because alcoholic drinks taste good to many people, and alcohol's effects can be pleasurable, not to mention facilitate social situations for many people.

Neither drinking for the taste nor drinking for alcohol's effect has much to do with having a hangover (as in, a hangover is not REQUIRED for either). And getting a hangover definitely isn't the *goal* for any drinkers, and if they can avoid it, that's great. I'm not even sure what you're implying with your question.

That's like responding to "I had a snowball fight and I caught a cold, I wish it wouldn't happen" with "Why would you voluntarily have a snowball fight?". Well, certainly not IN ORDER to catch a cold.

[cesium133]

On the encryption, there can be varying levels.

Millie probably went for the most basic type of encryption that any script kiddie could crack in less than a minute.

ROT13.

[Is it cold in here?]

ROT13 has vulnerabilities with the usual implementation as a single round so I recommend using a full 16 rounds.

[Mr_Rose]

Conveniently, the algorithm to do that can be simplified such that you can get the same result in only two steps, saving processing time.
Though, recently, someone at the Chaos Communications conference announced that they had developed a way to achieve the same result by exploiting a file system level flaw and a simple change of the file attributes.
They said it “was even easier than breaking the private key on the PS3 once we knew what we were seeing.”

[Perfectly Reasonable]

When Triple DES isn't enough...

[Gyrre]

Why would you voluntarily drink alcohol?

Personally, I like the taste of a fine whisky, or even a good stout or porter.

(IICIH OCD fixed quote tags)

A strong sweet licqueur, schnapps, Jćgermeister, or a good whiskey (usually just a shot) for me.

Otherwise "fru-fru" mixed drinks like Seaside Sunrise or a Cosmopolitan, but only to the point of buzzed.

[Tova]

If being able to encrypt one's own memories is a common/normal thing then why did bubbles have to rely on corpse witch?

My take on this is quite different from this thread's.

It wasn't the encryption that Bubbles needed to rely on Corpse Witch for. It was the partitioning of old memories.

I speculate that sealing memories from the night before is straightforward, but sealing off old, traumatic memories that are tangled with many memories of events since would be a lot more difficult, requiring the work of a skilled technician.

Whatever the QC equivalent of AES is ought to be freely available and not require a skilled technician in its application. It would be orders of magnitude more straightforward than AI. I doubt Millie would be agonizing over forgetting the password if the algorithm used were that easy to crack.

[BenRG]

Normally, spoilers from Patreon are forbidden but I feel okay providing this one: Next week isn't going to be exclusively filler strips.

[Gyrre]

Why would you even install hangover.exe? And if I did discover it had managed to install itself, I'd root it out immediately. With an anti-malware package if need be.

Why would you voluntarily drink alcohol?

Because alcoholic drinks taste good to many people, and alcohol's effects can be pleasurable, not to mention facilitate social situations for many people.

Neither drinking for the taste nor drinking for alcohol's effect has much to do with having a hangover (as in, a hangover is not REQUIRED for either). And getting a hangover definitely isn't the *goal* for any drinkers, and if they can avoid it, that's great. I'm not even sure what you're implying with your question.

That's like responding to "I had a snowball fight and I caught a cold, I wish it wouldn't happen" with "Why would you voluntarily have a snowball fight?". Well, certainly not IN ORDER to catch a cold.

A hangover is usually indicative of overindulging alcohol. Especially if not enough water was consumed whilst drinking.

EDIT: oof! I was really out of it when I posted this. I'm trying to adjust to "normal people" hours for the holiday break. (I work nights.)

[pwhodges]

Especially if enough water was consumed whilst drinking.

"Especially if NOT enough water was consumed whilst drinking" you mean!

[sitnspin]

Spacing your drinks out sufficiently and staying hydrated makes the chances of having a hangover fairly minimal.

[Theta9]

Spacing your drinks out sufficiently and staying hydrated makes the chances of having a hangover fairly minimal.

That's been my winning strategy for about a decade now.

[bhtooefr]

Probably wouldn't be the worst of ideas to make sure electrolyte levels are up, too, not just water.

(I found that out the hard way recently - I suspect I drank too much water without replenishing electrolytes, and flushed them out.)

[BenRG]

Poll Results Post
Name the Reed Boat!

1. Queen Faye's Revenge - 7 (18.9%)
=2. Boaty McBoatface II - 5 (13.5%)
=2. Lady Claire - 5 (13.5%)
=2 . Other (please specify in comments) - Other (please specify in comments) - 5 (13.5%)
5. To Have and Have Not (Yes, a literary reference for Claire's sake) - 4 (10.8%)
=6. Float 'n' Chill - 3 (8.1%)
=6. Pintsize's Excellent Adventure - 3 (8.1%)
=8. My Other Boat Is A Tin Bathtub - 2 (5.4%)
=8. Don't Judge Me, Kids! You'll Be Here Soon Enough! - 2 (5.4%)
10. I Survived Jaws! - 1 (2.7%)
x. Gone Fishin' - 0 (0%)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, if there's any lesson to be had from this poll it is that there are a lot of people on this forum who can see Faye as a pirate haunting the waters of the mighty Connecticut River! Additionally, we obviously have a lot of imaginative members when it comes to naming stuff!

I am disappointed though that no-one thought to vote for the name suggested by Bing and Satchmo for the very purpose for which Marten and Steve want a boat...

[Theta9]

Did Jeph rewrite last Friday's strip? The bit about the locked memories and the invisible_emu password has been replaced.

[Dngrsone]

Strips 4160 and 4161 have been rewritten to close a plot hole.

[Jank]

Strips 4160 and 4161 have been rewritten to close a plot hole.

Whoa, didn't expect that kind of response to my first post here

[Theta9]

Strips 4160 and 4161 have been rewritten to close a plot hole.

I didn't see the original 4161 before the rewrite then.

[djhash]

Original 4160:


Original 4161:


Looks like the plot hole was using a password to encrypt memory.

[Roborat]

I think I liked the original version better.

[TV4Fun]

...
Looks like the plot hole was using a password to encrypt memory.

Why did Jeph change it‽ The original was fine, and a lot funnier. I hope he's not gonna start going back and re-editing all of his old comics for continuity. Quick, everyone save a copy of the archive now and keep monitoring what's online for changes. We might have another George Lucas here.

[Dngrsone]

Jank pointed out a plot hole: Bubbles' PTSD could have been solved if she were able to simply encrypt the bad memories instead of having Corpsewitch go in and partition them off.

Therefore, encrypting memories at will is not allowable and so Jeph fixed the last two comics to accommodate this canon.

Strips 4160 and 4161 have been rewritten to close a plot hole.

Whoa, didn't expect that kind of response to my first post here

It goes to show you that Jeph pays attention to his fans.

[Tova]

Pfft. I thought the original was perfectly explainable. Oh well.

[Case]

It goes to show you that Jeph pays attention to his fans.

I have no proof that he never pays attention to any fans ever, but he has assured us multiple times that this hypothetical group of fans he pays attention to does not include us.

[TV4Fun]

Jank pointed out a plot hole: Bubbles' PTSD could have been solved if she were able to simply encrypt the bad memories instead of having Corpsewitch go in and partition them off.

Therefore, encrypting memories at will is not allowable and so Jeph fixed the last two comics to accommodate this canon.

It goes to show you that Jeph pays attention to his fans.

Pfft. There were plenty of perfectly serviceable fanwanks provided for that in this very thread. Jeph was just overthinking it.

[DSL]

It goes to show you that Jeph pays attention to his fans.

I have no proof that he never pays attention to any fans ever, but he has assured us multiple times that this hypothetical group of fans he pays attention to does not include us.

Man, and even after some of us got together and made a guest comic for him?

[cesium133]

How did I end up on the credits for that? 

[jwhouk]

How did I end up on the credits for that? 

You posted in the thread. That was considered helping.

[Gyrre]

Jank pointed out a plot hole: Bubbles' PTSD could have been solved if she were able to simply encrypt the bad memories instead of having Corpsewitch go in and partition them off.

Therefore, encrypting memories at will is not allowable and so Jeph fixed the last two comics to accommodate this canon.

Strips 4160 and 4161 have been rewritten to close a plot hole.

Whoa, didn't expect that kind of response to my first post here

It goes to show you that Jeph pays attention to his fans.

Less plot hole and more of a potential inconsistency that could make things a pain from THAT sort of "fan".

From Jeph's twitter:
"One thing I've learned is that it's generally better to rewrite than handwave, when possible, and I'd rather have slightly different jokes than a conflict in the logic of my worldbuilding."

EDIT: just saw the tweet.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Well, hurrah for Jeph!

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Man, and even after some of us got together and made a guest comic for him?

Reviewed that comic ... It mentions 'Tannelore'!

[BenRG]

Coincidence or unimaginably long-term foreshadowing? With Jeph and his dodgy long-term memory, you can never be sure!

[bhtooefr]

I forget if Jeph came up with Tannelore or the forum did, but it's a reference to 2300: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2300

Edit: I think it's the forum, although Jeph may have come up with it independently and nearly simultaneously, given that he avoids the forum. This was posted at 6:44 AM Eastern time after the comic came out, and Jeph posted this 19 minutes later.