Darth Fluffy

Some clever wag should be able to turn that into a joke about priests and alter boys. I think that's more than enough said about it.

NP Comic for Saturday, Sep 16, 2023 Nanase seems happy to see The Incredible Wonder Stick, another clue that she hasn't been around him all that much.

"Of course he's a person. He annoys the hell out of me."

Comic for Friday, Sep 15, 2023 Tedd is aware of needing sleep. Kevin is getting credit for this insight, it seems.

Re: "You're singling out individual nutcases." - You presented one example, 'Hillarycare'. Even then, that's not what you're taking issue with, you are citing that Washington State implemented a plan based on Hillarycare, and that Washington State could not make it work. It seems reasonable that what might work at a federal level with a federal level budget and backing might not work at a state level, although Washington State seems like a state that would be solvent. In any case, Hillary's direct involvement was authoring the plan, and perhaps forwarding it - you may have more facts, is it possible or even likely that it was requested? Lots of staffers work in the White House, is it possible or likely that one of them sent it? Under Obamacare (which, if I recall correctly was authored by Mitt Romney for Massachusetts) I was able to continue to receive health benefits through my company. I believe the biggest beneficiaries were those who had no affordable access to health insurance. Is that a bad thing? I applaud the decision to offer free COVID tests and shots, which I believe were Trump initiatives. The more people test and vax, the less it spreads, and the more herd immunity is built up. Therefore, the less likely I and my loved ones are likely to get COVID. Summary: 1) I don't understand your gripe, 2) I don't see that it has much to do with Hillary, and 3) it's one isolated thing, the very thing you mentioned in your first line. This is not a rational, convincing stance.

"But, what's in it?" "If I told you, it wouldn't be mystery meat, would it?"

Which would be odd in that Arthur is kind of laid back, vs Kevin is kind of spastic, although, Arthur in the presence of magic, debating on whether it should change, had a shorter fuse than Tedd or Van. You're probably right, if we get an official W.o.D. backstory.

We've has 'teaching machines' since the 1950s; I have friends that have worked in coding educational software. I have some exposure to old school 'expert system' A.I. None of these gets this meta. The latest 'deep learning' models can, but the performance is erratic. If that was Kevin, he would be less pedantic and would make some noticeable errors. I suppose it's a ymmv issue; it just does not pass the smell test for me. Note, I do not disagree with your statements, they would not be out of place, I just don't see Arthur cramming all of that proactivity into Kevin. A really dark scenario (too dark for EGS) would be that Arthur transferred the psyche of one of his assistants into a wand. It would account for all of the loose ends. Arthur would have been familiar with these. Kevin would not. Arthur would have selected an educational paradigm for Kevin to follow, or perhaps a set, with selection criteria; he would not have left him to his own devices. The secretive nature of Kevin's subject matter does not lend itself to use in a traditional educational setting. I think we can assume he was designed for use in-house in the department, or for a budding agent to use in a private setting (much as Ashley is encouraged to do), or perhaps Kevin was designed for his granddaughter, Jay. None of these lead to a need for an in-depth understanding of colleges and universities, and the lifestyles of college students. As presumably Kevin has always been a wooden stick, albeit nicely painted (not going to the dark scenario mentioned above), he would lack empathy for his students; in fact, that is much of the humor associated with Kevin. 'College students often overextend themselves' is not something he knows - other than, apparently, he does, per the comic. Which is one of a small handful of reasons that I find Kevin particularly annoying. He is not a well designed character. An unfortunate accident around a fireplace could solve this, you know. Did I mention he is EGS's Scrappy?

Stephan on dogs and people - I can't fault his conclusions. He is often in his own comic, but usually in one panel as the others react to his comic; this time he's actually a character.

They are bad news. Difficult to defeat. You probably picked them up during your recent road trip.

NP Comic for Thursday, Sep 14, 2023 Nanase wants to have her pre-change spell back. The way magic changed, I don't think that is possible. She may have a reasonable equivalent if she can narrow it down to a set of features she really needs, but she won't get the whole ball of wax back, the power has been reduced.

Kevin has too much meta-knowledge for his stated function. Why does he know about college studies and human rest needs? I'm sure reasons can be constructed, but it does not flow naturally.

It fits the narrative for Iocaine powder from the movie, though . . .

Ultimately, yeah. I've tried powdered milk, canned milks, long term cartonized storage milks (Dollar Tree had that for a while), fake milks . . . other than maybe outliers in the fake milks that I tried once and didn't like (maybe, because I did not try them a second time if I didn't like them, and I don't recall the tastes), skimmed milk ranks below them all.

Please elaborate. You seem like a generally reasonable guy, yet your political opinion does not track with reality. I would like to know more. The current 'G.O.P.' is not the G.O.P., it is a herd of RINOs who have hijacked your party. People who were the extreme right ten years ago are the shunned voices of reason today, standing out as lights against the utter darkness. "Justice is pushed aside; righteousness stands far off, because truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty can't enter." I hope they can turn it around, because our nation cannot endure much more of this.

First paragraph, nightmare fuel. They are, per the article, not that dangerous, OTOH, anything that looks like a huge spider out of a horror movie is motivation to leave. Second and third paragraphs, there are false equivalencies buried there. I agree, when you are young an naive, mistakes will be made. To continue in those when you are older speaks to the sturdiness of your framework, or rather, the lack thereof. At 40 or 50, you should be able to spot character issues. That said, the best people may not be the best leaders, visa versa. Jimmy Carter was a wonderful person, on many counts. He was not a stand out president (and so, he was defeated in his bid for a second term). Bill Clinton was a philanderer. He has the best record on the economy within my memory. Nixon was a horrible person on many counts; decades after his death he is still hated and is iconic of untrustworthy government. There are few presidents that accomplished more than he did while he was in office.

Supposedly, lead paint tastes sweet, which is why toddles eat the paint chips, which contributes to why they are dangerous. My mom always brought skimmed milk. It is what i was used to. Having options as an chronological adult, I do not use skimmed milk. Usually, I'll purchase 2%. It still tastes like real milk. If I am stuck using skimmed milk, maybe in coffee, it is tolerable. It would be my last choice over any milk and/or cream combo. For cooking, I would want to stick with what the recipe calls for. I think a chowder made with skimmed milk would taste 'off'.

Crossposting Kiwiwriter47's comments on today's Peanuts on GoComics: Back to me . . . Revolutionaries sentence a priest, a lawyer, and an engineer to death. They are using an electric chair. The priest goes first, but the chair fails to operate. The executioner explains, "You are sentenced to death, but the chair did not kill you. You are free to go." The priest thanks God and departs. The lawyer goes next. The chair fails again, and the lawyer is also released. He shouts, "Justice is served!" The engineer goes next. He says, "I think I see the problem. I can fix it for you. Do you have some tools I can use?"

You are aware of Dumpster Fire & cronies indictments, no? The volcano, she be active. You might consider, too, that the Dem presidents within our lifetimes have mostly been on the positive side of the balance sheet. They are not flaming liberals, (which might be better, ymmv), pretty much centrist. Biden in particular is focused on rebuilding infrastructure; you know, making America great again. Most of what you see against them is crackpot conspiracy bullshit with no supporting evidence, or irrelevancies that apply to anyone. Biden is old? . . . Mango Mayhem isn't? He might get dementia . . . ooh, then he'd be eligible to join the G.O.P. You are aware that they've divorced themselves from reality, right? Those members that try to engage the real world get tossed aside. And in terms of dementia, Agent Orange is truly the leader of the G.O.P. He's still clinging to 'I won that election' that his own advisors have backed down on and that his daughter has walked away from. I do have a gripe with the Dems. It seems to me they are too slow to reverse the damage done by their predecessors. Biden should have been more zealous cleaning house. Obama should have taken greater strides to remove us from Dubya's fiascos. They seem like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football when they want to 'work across the aisle' with the nest of vipers.

I have been making an effort to get to bed at a reasonable time (shoot for 10:00 PM) and it seems to help. I don't know precisely how much sleep I am getting, because I never sleep through the night. I wake up two or three times, and require a few minutes of activity to get back to feeling sleepy.

Of course. You're a cat.

This is the first time I can recall that Nanase's mom has actually been reasonable. She embraced Nanase in the hospital, but she discounted discounted what Nanase was saying. She bragged about Nanase to her friends, but not in Nanase's presence, and the context was not entirely positive. I think it is the first time in the comic that Nanase had thoughts worth a bubble. Also note, in the hospital, she had been speaking with Ellen in English.

Ah, I misread that as Noriko, not her sister. I am curious about her relationship with Edward. She seems to care about Tedd, she does not forbid Nanase to visit the household, guessing she has empathy that Noriko left, but I think she somewhat blames Edward for being involved with magic. She aware of the agency and communicates with them in past comics, when Nanase is involved. Perhaps significantly, not with Edward. I believe we've had hints that at some point Adrian tried to recruit her as well. I am curious why she turned him down and is outwardly opposed to magic. She must have some background for this. We know it 'runs in the family', what background are we missing?

Comic for Monday, Sep 11, 2023 Kevin is giving Tedd a lesson from Dan's real life, I guess?

I may have a blind side to this. Martial characters are always popular, how do they suck?