Questionable Content 12: Artificial Unintelligence

[georgie_leech]

Same. It's a mild "crosses the line twice" humour: initially offensive, because Pintsize is being an ass, and then funny, when it turns out that Roko has been putting up with it (rather than walking out after the first toast hit her) because it turns out to be merely the second-worst date she has ever had.

Not the best joke ever, but also not entirely unfunny. At least prior to explaining the joke, of course.

GW

More or less my thoughts. Though I think it'd've been funnier if Pintsize was offended at getting second place

[Grey_Wolf_c]

More or less my thoughts. Though I think it'd've been funnier if Pintsize was offended at getting second place

An "I try harder" punchline wouldn't have gone amiss, indeed.

GW

[Morquard]

I still loled at this, I don't know why.

And I kinda hope Jeph makes this canon, and when Faye and Bubbles come home in the evening they find Pintsize and Roko on the couch together.

[Lethologica]

That's not Roko, is it? It's just close enough that with the shifting art style (ugh, stop) it might be her, but I didn't see it until you said something.


Either way, there is literally nothing funny or entertaining about today's comic.

Same skin/hair/eye colors, same build, same face shape, same hairstyle when she lets it down except for having some hair in front of her ears now...not much art style shift required. If anything, this is one of the less shifted character designs.

[Cikomyr]

Please sate my curiosity - what do you know it as?

Literally translated, it comes out as "Gatorade Time"

[Max_Killjoy]

I don't typically read the notes under the comic, they rarely contribute anything to the comic itself, so as far as I knew this was just another of those "um, OK" moments that sometimes pop up.

[Traab]

My guess was this was some sort of strange fetish matchup thing. If people can be sexually aroused by squeaking balloons, getting toast shot at them isnt a stretch. Turns out it isnt as sexy while trying to have a conversation.

[dps]

it turns out to be merely the second-worst date she has ever had.

Yeah, that was the joke, for those that didn't get it. FWIW, I thought it was funny.

[Yana]

I'll take pointless, stupid Pintsize shenanigans that comes out of nowhere over stupid, pointless drama that comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing.

[John Cribati]

stupid, pointless drama that comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing.

What does that refer to?

[AvatarVecna]

I'll take pointless, stupid Pintsize shenanigans that comes out of nowhere over stupid, pointless drama that comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing.

What does that refer to?

Well, it's probably not the way a new super-powerful AI came out of nowhere to solve Bubbles' problems, because that was more something that ended the drama (although its inclusion did make the weeks of drama-buildup surrounding that plotline stupid and pointless). It's also probably not how Jeff brought back the sister and introduced her "studying philosophy/psychology related to AIs" girlfriend and they ended up mostly just existing to briefly discuss the Faye/Bubbles romance without actually discussing it, but that stupid pointless drama was foreshadowed well enough.

I think they're talking about Tiffy, who briefly showed up purely to create stupid pointless drama between Hannelore and her mother - drama that wouldn't exist if this character didn't exist (it's not like the drama existed without Tiffy and Tiffy just happened to be the one informing Hanners of the problem, the plotline centers around Tiffy's existence). But there's enough possibilities in the past few years that I can't be sure what they meant.

[Keltest]

Well, it's probably not the way a new super-powerful AI came out of nowhere to solve Bubbles' problems, because that was more something that ended the drama (although its inclusion did make the weeks of drama-buildup surrounding that plotline stupid and pointless). It's also probably not how Jeff brought back the sister and introduced her "studying philosophy/psychology related to AIs" girlfriend and they ended up mostly just existing to briefly discuss the Faye/Bubbles romance without actually discussing it, but that stupid pointless drama was foreshadowed well enough.

I think they're talking about Tiffy, who briefly showed up purely to create stupid pointless drama between Hannelore and her mother - drama that wouldn't exist if this character didn't exist (it's not like the drama existed without Tiffy and Tiffy just happened to be the one informing Hanners of the problem, the plotline centers around Tiffy's existence). But there's enough possibilities in the past few years that I can't be sure what they meant.

I kind of assumed that they were referring to all of the various uninteresting unnecessary drama for its own sake that weve been getting for a while now, instead of just one event.

[Traab]

I kind of assumed that they were referring to all of the various uninteresting unnecessary drama for its own sake that weve been getting for a while now, instead of just one event.

One week drama is fun. Problem pops up Monday, explodes Tuesday and Wednesday, they figure out the solution Thursday, then solve it Friday. NEXT!!!

[georgie_leech]

Speaking of drama, Pintsize is being uncharacteristically polite here. I am instantly suspicious of his motives.

[geoduck]

A nosering and she's stretching her earlobes out of shape? It's her body and all, but.. Blech.

[Kato]

A nosering and she's stretching her earlobes out of shape? It's her body and all, but.. Blech.

Hasn't she been doing that for a while? also, while neither are things I'm into... discussing this for no reason seems a tad judgemental to me. Are we now regularly commenting on characters' new fashion choices, too?

I feel way more about... NO, PINTSIZE, THIS IS NOT ABOUT RESPECTING KINKS! This is about you probably deliberately deciding to ruin a person's day / evening by doing something you didn't tell them you intended to do and that you know they would not like! She took her time to meet you and you can't tell me you are too dumb to be aware of this. If this is just a case of "Pintsize is a jerk" joke, fine. But if it is about reasonable people respecting this, then no, that's not fine. And no, I don't know why this of all things gets me so angry but it does.

[Vinyadan]

A nosering and she's stretching her earlobes out of shape? It's her body and all, but.. Blech.

Claire is turning into Jeff.

[Max_Killjoy]

Hasn't she been doing that for a while? also, while neither are things I'm into... discussing this for no reason seems a tad judgemental to me. Are we now regularly commenting on characters' new fashion choices, too?

I feel way more about... NO, PINTSIZE, THIS IS NOT ABOUT RESPECTING KINKS! This is about you probably deliberately deciding to ruin a person's day / evening by doing something you didn't tell them you intended to do and that you know they would not like! She took her time to meet you and you can't tell me you are too dumb to be aware of this. If this is just a case of "Pintsize is a jerk" joke, fine. But if it is about reasonable people respecting this, then no, that's not fine. And no, I don't know why this of all things gets me so angry but it does.

I'm sure the robot dating app has a section for kinks.

We know that Pintsize is more aware than he often lets on, and yes, this is far more a case of Pintsize being a jerk than it is about "respecting kinks".

[eee]

These two have an odd, but oddly pleasing, relationship. I am not forgetting that Claire managed to actually frighten Pintsize into respect by offering to download the Library of Congress I think it was directly into his brain and cause him such an agonizing information overload he'd never recover. It was a bluff, but effective. She's pretty scary when she wants to be.

And I have Googled 'Crab Girlfriend" and found nothing under that specific title. Although some interesting hits with just 'crab' 'girl' and 'friend'

Hasn't she been doing that for a while? also, while neither are things I'm into... discussing this for no reason seems a tad judgemental to me. Are we now regularly commenting on characters' new fashion choices, too?

Yes, this has been her look for quite a while now. This seems to be the extent of her cosmetic body modification. So far.

[Kato]

And I have Googled 'Crab Girlfriend" and found nothing under that specific title. Although some interesting hits with just 'crab' 'girl' and 'friend'

While Jeph often borrows from "real" fiction, e.g. the recent Gundam reference, he more often invents his own fictional.. stuff. I think recently there was a Crab Girlfriend poster and some reference elsewhere. My best guess is that it is referencing things like Monster Musume, that is media (especially Japanese) where one part of a couple is not human(oid).
Of course there probably is some manga somewhere that's called crab girlfriend but it's so little known you can only find it on the Japanese reddit page for interspecies romances if you speak Osaka dialect.

Edit: also, South Park has ruined me because I can only say the word Crab Girlfriend in my head as an ominous chant.

[Max_Killjoy]

Yes, this has been her look for quite a while now. This seems to be the extent of her cosmetic body modification. So far.

I've gotten used to it, but at the time it seemed to come completely out of nowhere.

It's a millennial thing, or an urban thing... no one I personally know that I can think of has a nose ring or ear disks... but this weekend at one of the good local restaurants all three of the wait staff we interacted with had nose hardware of some kind.

[Vinyadan]

This is the author (image from Wikipedia):

Spoiler

Show

I think that there was some conversation way back about gross stuff accumulating in that kind of earrings. Looking back, it probably was experience speaking.

[Wraith]

Remember the comic wherein Clinton got a tattoo? Then a few strips later he said that he hated it, but couldn't stop thinking about getting another? That's a real thing. Endorphins are awesome, and piercings get you the same sort of rush.

Completely anecdotally - though I would venture to suggest that there may some science behind it - I personally have noticed a greater correlation of piercings and tattoos among people with alternative lifestyles, especially LGBT+. Someone once tried to describe it to me as a form of asserting bodily autonomy - being gay or trans still, in a great many places, has a stigma attached to it even though it is a built-in preference that cannot be changed. The copious application of body art and modification is a way of manifesting control in the face of oppression; it's *my* body and I can do what *I* want with it, sort of thing.

I don't know if that is true, and of course it wouldn't be for 100% of people, but I'm willing to believe that there is something to it and it fits with what we know about Claire.

[Lethologica]

Completely anecdotally - though I would venture to suggest that there may some science behind it - I personally have noticed a greater correlation of piercings and tattoos among people with alternative lifestyles, especially LGBT+. Someone once tried to describe it to me as a form of asserting bodily autonomy - being gay or trans still, in a great many places, has a stigma attached to it even though it is a built-in preference that cannot be changed. The copious application of body art and modification is a way of manifesting control in the face of oppression; it's *my* body and I can do what *I* want with it, sort of thing.

I don't know if that is true, and of course it wouldn't be for 100% of people, but I'm willing to believe that there is something to it and it fits with what we know about Claire.

I can imagine that sentiment has particular utility for (some) trans people. It reminds me a lot of the coping mechanisms described here. Having accepted that some body modifications are not only okay, but medically beneficial and/or necessary--and having undergone those modifications--may also make the idea of other modifications more comfortably familiar.

[Dorath]

It's Jeph, not Jeff.

[Max_Killjoy]

Remember the comic wherein Clinton got a tattoo? Then a few strips later he said that he hated it, but couldn't stop thinking about getting another? That's a real thing. Endorphins are awesome, and piercings get you the same sort of rush.

Interesting. I've never had an experience that sounds remotely anything like the way endorphins are described.

Completely anecdotally - though I would venture to suggest that there may some science behind it - I personally have noticed a greater correlation of piercings and tattoos among people with alternative lifestyles, especially LGBT+. Someone once tried to describe it to me as a form of asserting bodily autonomy - being gay or trans still, in a great many places, has a stigma attached to it even though it is a built-in preference that cannot be changed. The copious application of body art and modification is a way of manifesting control in the face of oppression; it's *my* body and I can do what *I* want with it, sort of thing.

I don't know if that is true, and of course it wouldn't be for 100% of people, but I'm willing to believe that there is something to it and it fits with what we know about Claire.

That's kinda what I figured too, but I think it's also just becoming more common in general.

[Qwertystop]

Interesting. I've never had an experience that sounds remotely anything like the way endorphins are described.

The "hating it" isn't part of that.

[Max_Killjoy]

The "hating it" isn't part of that.

I understand that.

What I'm saying is that I've never experienced what other people describe the effect of "endorphins" being like. Ever. It was just a sidenote.

[dps]

I understand that.

What I'm saying is that I've never experienced what other people describe the effect of "endorphins" being like. Ever. It was just a sidenote.

Ever ridden in a roller coaster and enjoyed it?

[Kato]

I understand that.

What I'm saying is that I've never experienced what other people describe the effect of "endorphins" being like. Ever. It was just a sidenote.

You never enjoyed anything?

Not much to say about today.. Weird, a little bit funny, but mostly random.
I'm slightly curious what melons shirt refers to but if I search for it I probably better do it later...