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2021-05-14, 03:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
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Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Welcome to the latest installment of discussion threads for Questionable Content, a M-F"slice of life" comic in which life is defined by coffee, robots, Butts Disease, and spontaneous metal interludes.
You have been warned.
Links To The Past
Questionable Content 1
Questionable Content 2: Espresso With Extra Scorn
Questionable Content 3: Ironically Quite Popular
Questionable Content 4: Attack of the 60-Inch AnthroPC
Questionable Content 5: Suffers Occasional Outbreaks of Butt's Disease
Questionable Content 6: Murder Mode
Questionable Content 7: Will Work For Makeouts
Questionable Content 8: OMG I SHIP IT!
Questionable Content 9: To Kill a Yelling Bird
Questionable Content 10: La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo
Questionable Content 11: It's Like Seeing a Unicorn
Questionable Content 12: Artificial Unintelligence
Questionable Content 13: It's YOU Who Is The Dork!
Questionable Content 14: I Deserve A Fancy Butt Emblem
Questionable Content XVI: Yes, Butt
And now we return to the adventures of Burger Oni and Semi-Naked-Blue-Robot-Chick. They fight crime with watermelons, or something, i'unno.~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
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Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation
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2021-05-14, 03:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2013
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
I kinda forgot she had a new body until this strip reminded me.
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2021-05-14, 06:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2015
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Yeah, and it comes with some rockin' eyebrows.
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2021-05-15, 01:08 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2010
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- Tor zur Welt
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
* my emphasis
http://dmreference.com/SRD/
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
Things that don't kill me make me strong
Things that do kill me leave me dead
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2021-05-15, 08:28 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- The Lakes
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Shame the spreadsheet relies on violating privacy and security for millions of people.
It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
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2021-05-15, 08:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Im not sure that i agree with the idea that one's tendency to pay off their debts on time (or not do so) is private information. Definitionally it is a trend constructed from your interaction with other people or groups.
I do think if you look at a 58 year old person trying to buy a car and go "wow, he has no credit score. Clearly he is a massive financial risk! Dont sell to him!" youre a pretty big idiot though.“Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”
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2021-05-15, 09:11 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2006
- Location
- Maryland
- Gender
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
For every rule, there is someone who has made that rule necessary. Can you think up a situation where lending to someone in the same situation would be a bad idea?
Avatar by Glasswhistle
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2021-05-15, 10:18 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- right behind you
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
If you dont have a credit history then how can anyone considering lending you money not find it to be riskier by far than lending to someone with a 20 year history of making regular payments to debts owed? Its a completely blind gamble. Good credit doesnt make it certain that the debt will be repaid, but it does make it far more likely as they have a proven history of doing so. Thats why its so important to establish a credit history even though everything up till house buying time you have managed to pay out of pocket and no payment schedule needed. Because paying up front is easy. Its being able to make payments long term thats far harder and more important to banks and such.
"Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."
"If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."
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2021-05-15, 01:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2021-05-15, 06:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Yeah, but the thing is, though I had a null score for years, I DO have a decades-long history of, you know, living, paying rent and bills(on time), and being employed (and insured, even.)
Also have proof of down-payment-have, years of direct-deposit-accounts, vehicles paid in full, and a conspicuous lack of black marks on said empty report.
Given all that, all I'd have to prove is that my identity isn't a made-up construct.
But no, I've been robbing the credit cards of their cut by not spending their extra charges on things, keeping my paycheck in my town. Therefore, I must be punished.
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2021-05-15, 07:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2004
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
I have so much I want to say on this subject.
I am not saying any of it because it would all violate the no-politics rule.
Yes, I am in fact posting a contentless post because I am currently feeling martyred.
(I tried twice to write a post that I could look at and not think "that's an infraction waiting to happen." I did not succeed.)Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
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2021-05-15, 08:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- The Lakes
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
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2021-05-15, 08:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2015
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
It's not really relevant to the comic anyway. I brought up the credit report thing as one of the functional mechanisms by which May's specific criminal history (as opposed to just having to check the yes in the 'Have you ever committed a felony' box on applications) impedes her ability to serve as a business manager.
Honestly, I'm just going to say that I really, really, dislike this plotline. It's a bizarre outgrowth of what seems to have been a poorly thought-out joke in the first place (Aurelia embarrassing Clinton with the whole digital cow thing), it makes no sense as a practical matter, it feels out of place with Marigold's personality, and it strikes me as wholly unnecessary.
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2021-05-16, 02:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
I think Hannelore could use a plotline now, to show how she's become. For example, her dad once sent a robo-boyfriend chassis. Now that technology has improved, could a relationship with an AI be viable for her? And what about a human, can she do that now?
It would be a way of showing parts of her personality that were buried by her disease. Or maybe to show that they need development. I think that a cured Hanners having a chance to meet a wider reality - like missing a bus on a rainy day and having to run your way to work while being spashed by passing cars - is more interesting than zen Hanners sitting on her throne in CoD like a videogame innkeeper with no life beyond answering random PC questions.Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2021-05-16, 08:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2020
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
If you always clear all your credit card bills, then you have a history of using your credit card like a checking account for standard transactions. You aren't actually accruing debt, so it's not a history of taking a loan.
By the way, in the US how does student loans affect your credit rating? If you always paid your student loans but have no credit card, how's your credit rating?
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2021-05-16, 03:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2021-05-16, 03:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2006
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- Under Mt. Ebott
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
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2021-05-16, 04:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2020
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2021-05-16, 05:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
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- England
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Credit is stupid, there's not question about that. It's all pretty moot, however. "BurgerOni Incorporated" or whatever it's called belongs to Marigold - its her bank account, her registered address, her contract with Twitch (or whatever it is in QC) and all the rest of it, so any transactions undertaken will be in her name and signed for by her.
Whether or not May can get involved in high-level transactions doesn't matter, because she shouldn't need to. The closest she'll get to it is that she can be a glorified postman or she can drop envelopes containing cheques into the bank's overnight slot, but the only thing she'll need to put her name to is a contract of employment under Marigold. That and a bank account, which presumably she has because even convicts can open chequeing accounts and she needs somewhere to deposit her wage every week.
May's eligibility to get involved with that isn't an issue - it's just a matter of how much her employer trusts her, which is why even the sketchy guy selling weed out of a van couldn't see past the "she stole lots of money from her former boss" angle. I feel that so far it's pretty clear that May is supposed to be a bit of a jerk, but mostly a victim of "the system" and that her failed employability so far has been entirely down to racism and/or discrimination, rather than the complexities of financial law and convention.~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
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2021-05-16, 08:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
And now we iron out the plot holes. The locked-account seems glaringly like a retroactive decision (the at-the-time reason she sold the rare DVD was because Jeph hadn't yet decided this was happening), but it serves the purpose fine.
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2021-05-17, 06:02 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- England
- Gender
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Can you use an unsecured PayPal/eBay account for online transactions? Genuine question; mine are tied to my debit card, so if one stops working (eg, my account is frozen) then so does the other.
I guess they could have just had Dale or Momo do it. The alternative would be that Marigold would have to arrange, and then meet up in person with, a buyer who just happens to be the sort of pervert who would be interested in buying the world's worst hentai and I can't imagine that she would go for that even if she weren't worried about strangers connecting her to the Burger Oni persona.~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
17 Things I Learned About 40k By Playing Dark Heresy
Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation
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2021-05-17, 06:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- right behind you
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
At least its a rational retcon that makes some sense. I could totally see that happening as a random member of society with no extensive knowledge of banking laws and such. I know that certain amounts of money being deposited has to go through paperwork and be reported and so on, and suddenly spending thousands of dollars more than you ever have at once is going to be likely to set off fraud alerts like crazy. I know I have always been told to notify my bank ahead of time if im going to, say, put down a couple grand or more on a new car, just to stop this very thing from going on. I can also see marigold not even thinking about that as its likely the first time she has made a major transfer like that and getting caught out by the security system of her bank. Lord knows the first thing I do when I get a sizeable amount of money is pay off as many outstanding bills as I can. I hate having those floating over my head as my financial life isnt always the most stable so getting rid of debts asap is great. Plus I love the long term benefits of no longer needing to make those regular payments which frees up more money in my budget. Yeah its not buying a new car kind of nice, but extra breathing room is always good.
"Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."
"If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."
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2021-05-17, 07:54 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2013
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
The problem is that we've seen exactly one case of May being actively discriminated against. The rest of her rejections came from her stealing enough money to buy a fighter jet. You can't go from "she stole millions of dollars" to "the system is too harsh on petty criminals who have served their time". In reality, May would still be in prison and would be staying there for quite a few years. May's situation is very hard to be sympathetic for - she wasn't struggling financially prior to her crime, she didn't have a bad upbringing, etc etc. The human equivalent of what she did would be a middle class bank manager emptying the vault because they wanted to buy a sports car.
I had a fun one of these. My father had just moved to the UK and needed money to buy a car, furniture, etc.. So, he does some research and finds a website with a really good transfer rate. Only problem is, he can only do $5000 at a time and there's a $10000 monthly limit. So, he does his transactions before sending me the other half. I do two transactions to his account, and the money is all where he can use it with a minimum lost.
Except one thing - I'm working for a bank at the time. My account is being monitored, and it flags up that I'm receiving and sending out large sums of money in a pattern that exactly fits money laundering. I had a very fun meeting with my manager and the fraud department where they explained to me why they were concerned and I tried to get through to them that I was not some criminal mastermind working for a European drug cartel.
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2021-05-17, 08:13 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Oh, it certainly does, it's just a pretty obvious 'oh shoot, now I have to explain...' situation. Yeah, Marigold fits the situation very well. I've been sitting on my hands during the whole credit score and financial fraud discussions because I've worked in refinance and anti-money laundering, have lots of opinions on the subject, and don't want to be 'that guy' in the discussion, and this whole things sounds remarkably plausible. Jeph put some thought into it and did his basic research (perhaps learning a lesson from the number of subs he gave Burger Oni. if we still think this is an accidental plotline).
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2021-05-17, 08:37 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
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- England
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
I'm not at all disagreeing with you, but apparently Jeff is. It almost seems like his message is that if you have been in prison and completed your sentence, that's it - all done, back to normal, nothing to see here, 'consequences' is just a fancy word that means 'discrimination'!
It would probably help if May had in any way been shown to have been rehabilitated so that we had any indication that she wouldn't break the law again if given the chance. I can only imagine an up-coming story arc wherein May is given the opportunity to steal a chunk of money and then chooses not to, thus proving that she is a better person now. Or at least because she is scared of going back to prison, which amounts to the same thing.
I tried to get through to them that I was not some criminal mastermind working for a European drug cartel.Last edited by Wraith; 2021-05-17 at 08:47 AM.
~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
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2021-05-17, 10:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2006
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Well, I mean that there is the difference between a criminal justice system focused on rehabilitation vs. punishment, because those aren't the same thing at all. And yeah, the argument can be made that if you have a punishment-based system and not a rehabilitation-based one, then the penalty of time served should be the beginning and the end of it, because the goal isn't to change people but to discourage behaviors, and either the punishment is doing that or it isn't, regardless of whether the person has changed or not.
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2021-05-17, 10:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
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- England
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Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
I beg your pardon, I thought it was clear that that line was sarcasm.
~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
17 Things I Learned About 40k By Playing Dark Heresy
Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation
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2021-05-17, 10:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
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2021-05-17, 11:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2004
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
The comic never actually establishes the time frame. However many years you would consider appropriate for such a sentence, unless it's either "life" or "long enough that it would have to be before there were fighter jets," she may well have exceeded it.
Treading lightly...
I suspect Jeph doesn't want to show that prison actually effects positive changes in people because he doesn't believe that. And going to prison, itself, clearly is a consequence; saying that someone who has served their term deserves a blank slate* is not synonymous with saying they should face no consequences...and saying "X deserves to be permanently unemployable" is a roundabout way of expressing the concept "X deserves to starve to death**," which is not the official legal sentence for anything because of cruel and unusual punishment rules.
*Which I should note, on the other side, I think Jeph would choke if he was asked to sign off on that statement for certain violent crimes, anyway.
**And yes, even AIs need to eat electricity apparently, so it's still starving.Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
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2021-05-17, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2015
Re: Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"
Do you mean AI fighter jets here? There should be a number of decades between the appearance of human-controlled fighter jets and the rise of AI-controlled fighter jets, since in our world the first jet fighters arose in the 1940s, while AI-controlled jet fighters are not yet evident.