Comic for Monday, Feburary 7th, 2022
Feb08
Comic! As this is getting close to running late, I’ll keep the blathering to a minimum here.
This isn’t the first time Peter has referred to the dragon as Fluffy, though strangely he doesn’t seem to do that when the dragon is in biting range. In this case he’s in biting range of Kally, so its still a little dangerous, but presumable she’ll prioritize not biting him given the circumstances.
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comic’s gonna be late this week?
I don’t think so. I got a good feeling on this one.
Where are Kally and Peter? They apparently took a train to … somewhere. There appears to be a “Visit” sign in the background that one might see at a border station.
I originally took it to be a restaurant. That doesn’t really seem to fit though. Maybe Peter is removing data from another system? Kidnapping his own head of state this time? Seems odd he would do those things himself though.
It looks like ‘office waiting room decor’ to me, so probably something corporate. The ‘visit’ sign looks like one of those signs that have a number or letter in the middle of the oval beneath the label (though ‘now serving’ would be a more typical message).
Mium is a little short bodied at the moment, recall.
No ambulatory Mium on Malsa currently …
… well, I guess he could hack/commandeer any number of remote-controlled units, like taxis or tanks … unless he’s fresh out of non-military tanks …
… probably not very suitable for covert missions though …
Panel 2 reads: “importing a S.M.A.I. masquerading a human”
Should be: “”importing an S.M.A.I. masquerading as a human”
you are a treasure.
edit; this was supposed to reply to Tgape at the bottom. oops.
2nd edit; also applies to PastUtopia, though.
The ‘reply’ link isn’t working on the main page. It only puts replies on the right post if you use it on the page specific to the update. The rest of the time, it just takes you to the page specific to the update. (Basically, you click reply twice, and it works the second time.)
I think we all have our moments. I’m thankful that Past shares so many of theirs with us. 🙂
“… thankful that Past shares so many of theirs with…”
That explains so much. Past is actually a hive mind.
Probably applies to the last few pages, too…
Hmmm. That is not normally how you “declare” the illegal item and get away with it… because technically Mium never declared himself as the illegal item, then he is in the wrong.
The trick is TO DECLARE the illegal item, but because it looks so inconspicuous and mundane, it gets let through.
So Mium probably should have declared himself… but listed himself as “I am illegal contraband because I am not a regular human”. Which is COMPLETELY TRUE. But you can imagine security would have said – no worries: it’s cool, we know about designer children… in which case Mium would have seen no need to correct their error.
I’m nit picking a bit, but I’m not sure how cool Central’s customs would be regarding designer children coming to or from Central.
I think it’s less a matter of whether or not Mium was right or wrong, and more of whether his paperwork looked to be in order to customs. They were simply not looking for that category of thing at all, as they didn’t believe it was a possibility.
Mium didn’t need to declare himself, because he didn’t look suspicious to them.
Meanwhile, Director Kepler not only set off the metal detectors when he supposedly had no metal on him, but also they’d been given instructions to hassle Director Kepler. So he got hassled.
Could it be in part because Aaron needed to have his arm cut off?
Also Mium didn’t declare all of his illegal goods. Declaring only some of them is not sufficient, now if he said something to the effect of “everything here” while holding the snacks that would resolve the ambiguity while allowing the customs agent to draw the wrong conclusion.
It creates an interesting conundrum, since Malsa has him listed as a citizen and not a thing it would be impossible for him to import himself though immigration with out a present accomplice. As long as he travels alone his personhood status eg. traveling under either a visa or passport should not come up, doubly so if he is traveling under some level of Diplomatic Privileges. The one place Central could possibly get him is performing work in the country without a permit for working on Query, even if Mium isn’t reimbursed. There is a loophole there too if Mium can claim that the mobile terminal was “manufactured” by Peter and Mium is the only authorized entity for repair work.
Laws are fun if you know them well, just remember that police can arrest you (even illegally) for anything, when you go before a Judge you can argue law. Arguing law with a police officer is tricky, you are much better off suing the municipality after the fact.
Mium seems to be somewhat compelled not to lie, but also doesn’t seem compelled to tell the whole truth, something he frequently exploits. He evades answering by omission or distraction frequently, and this is another example of that. He won’t say he isn’t transporting anything illegal, but he also won’t provide a comprehensive list of what it is he is transporting.
I guess responding to queries is fundamental to Query. And Mium has been sticking to that. But what kind of response though … ?
My thought is the enumeration of contraband was limited in either number of characters or total number of iterations, so not all contraband could be listed. However it was accomplished, even Peter does not ask Mium to tell the whole truth as most of it is extremely boring and of little relevance.
Bury the answer in a mountain of documentation.
I must say, I didn’t know Fluffy HAD another name, other than “tactical class magic used as an umbrella” 😀
Dragon has even specifically said, “I am Dragon.” Chapter 14, page 35. I think that was his second verbal response ever, even, so it should be memorable.
It’s possibly not the best name for a dragon, but it is, at least, an accurate one.
https://pastutopia.com/comic/comic-for-saturday-may-25th-2019/
Right on the money!
Sort of? in response to being called a demon he asked what Fluffy was, and was told Fluffy was a Dragon, which we sorta knew already. So What rather than Who really…
Dunno. Fluffy said “I am Dragon”.
On the one hand, you can’t help but hear Helen Reddy singing “I am Woman”. Complete with “hear me roar”, because, hey. Dragon.
On the other hand, if your mother named you Dragon, you might well introduce yourself with “HI! I am Dragon! ”
Also your mother would likely be a very interesting individual.
Actually, the Dragon I know normally introduces herself by saying “Hey. My name is Dragon, and my mother is insane.”
I have not met said mother. Having heard a little more about her, I suspect drugs may be a part of said insanity. It’s unclear to me if the drugs are a primary part, or if they’re a form of self-medication due to the other issues.
Gods, Arron and Mium’s banter is just glorious. Also the exact legalistic BS that has been pulled off here.
Also now I want to know the full story of that paperclip.
I’m wondering if Aaron really dislikes Mium that much, is just generally old and grouchy, or thinks his comments qualify as banter, but I find the whole conversation pretty funny. ^^
I presume Aaron doesn’t dislike Mium so much as the literal walking, talking example of Peter breaking rules he doesn’t like that he is. OTOH, as a fan of Questionable Content, I am quite fond of them (well, some of them. Pintsize is obviously an exception)
I think it is understandable though; their incompetent security has made a big deal out of the undeclared import of a paper clip, while totally missing the walking illegality that not only would admit to his illegality if asked, but actually ticked off that box, thus also ticking off Aaron…
The first half sound like the same sort of complaining everyone has probably done. Why did security take my nail clippers, when you just waltzed right on through with a knife?!
Meanwhile, I can imagine that a significant amount of Peter and Kally’s dating involves things like this. Its just another day as not so secret agents.
Honestly, I think he might be engaging in an information fishing duel with Mium to develop suggestions as to how to prevent a repeat of this ‘disaster’ in the future.
I think he still views Mium as Query. It’s like swearing at your computer when you accidentally delete the wrong file or has an annoying unskippable tutorial or unhelpful application assistant.
Though in this case the computer talks back and just might take it personally by rescheduling your software updates in the most inconvenient way possible.
I don’t think it is dislike. I think it is genuine fear. Aaron doesn’t have the level of trust in Peter that much of the rest of Peter’s family has. Aaron trusts Peter to be moral and not deliberately betray his family, nation, and world. But Aaron also believes Peter will eventually bite off more than he can chew.
Aaron also very much fears unconstrained AI. Aaron doesn’t hate or even dislike Mium. He fears what Mium may become, and doesn’t trust Peter to be able to prevent it.
Agreed. Except I think when Arron is conversing with Mium, he feels firmly that Peter *has* bitten off more than he can chew, and he’s talking to it right then.
I think, like most people, he doesn’t understand that computers process data, and his behavior in response to the computer is data that it will process. That the real problem with SMAIs is that people do not understand this in general, and ask them to do things that they don’t want done without realizing what they’re asking.
Panel 6, Kally’s second bubble: “you’re whole plan” should be “your whole plan”
Panel 2, “…S.M.A.I. masquerading (as) a human…:
What? I know I’m not the only one who reads every comic multiple times!
Panel 3: “never wanted (to) throw someone….”
Legal issues, over a Paper Clip? what the hell is that all about?! at least Peter and Kally are keeping the Dragon on standby, incase they don’t get their flight.
Actually the paper clip bit reminds me of something from The Laundry Files, where it turned out they had very good reasons for tracking paper clips. Very different kind of story-involving-magic, though.
Just because security “gives you hell” doesn’t mean “legal issues” necessarily. Cops hassle people all the time, without any charges being filed.
Depending on the material composition of the paper clip and the current state of alertness that the TSA is operating under… I seem to recall an incident a coworker had on trying to travel while the state of alertness was at the “NATURAL” level of threat (for those who don’t remember the five color code as reported by the SNL news crew, this color corresponds to an enormous risk of terrorist attack).
My coworker frequently flew to Washington DC on business, as the company at which I was working at the time had facilities in Landover. (Prior to this, I thought that was just a place in a fantasy series by Terry Brooks. But it turns out, it’s the very real city where the last known unicorn had been killed in a drunk driving hit and run.)
As this was early 2002, my coworker had replaced their luggage entirely to eliminate all metal. They were under the impression that the only metal they were carrying was in their laptop bag. But, unfortunately, one of the paper clips they had in their briefcase was actually made of steel.
This would have been a non-issue with more advanced scanners that were going to be installed later, but at this early time, they were still using the older scanners. The TSA was a very new organization, and with the nation on high alert, anything out of the ordinary was a major issue, and having a briefcase that tripped the sensors with seemingly nothing inside of concern was a very major disruption.
All of that said, once they finally identified the ping as a paper clip, my coworker was allowed to get all of their stuff back into their briefcase and head for their plane. By that point, their plane was actually scheduled to have already arrived in Dallas, but because of various other problems, it didn’t actually leave the terminal for another minute.
Which basically meant they arrived in time to see their plane start to taxi towards the runway, and then had plenty of time to get their briefcase organized before the flight they were to eventually use to get home took off.
None of this incident made it onto my coworker’s criminal record. It’s possible that my coworker does not even have a criminal record despite this incident and any involvement they may have had in the previously noted car accident.
Disclaimer: Not all of the above anecdote is 100% true. This incident was over two decades ago and I was not an immediate witness to the events, so I’ve filled in here or there where things were a bit foggy. I feel like most of the embellishments are probably fairly obvious. Just in case it’s not clear, one of those was the threat level color, as that was actually TAUPE, just like it’s been ever since 9/11. Link provided for anyone who doesn’t remember the threat level codes.
Having worked for several years in and around Landover, MD, I can attest to its existence. AS for the unicorn, NFC.
Ugh. I should not post stuff when I can’t sleep. I’m specifically annoyed with my having posted that link. It’s all ancient stuff now, but far too political. I’d just wanted a link with the SNL skit, not the other context there.
It could also be worth pointing out that there are a few grains of truth in that post, and one of them was ‘steel paperclip’. Which I found immensely hilarious, as did most of the other people present.
All good buddy.
It was good to take a trip down memory lane. People get wigged out over government incompetence. It’s good to remember that this isn’t a new thing. Government, and other large organizations, have been using design by committee and other advanced techniques to achieve massive incompetence for a long time.