They don’t have to understand anything; they just follow orders. So the orders tell them to project sound to certain rooms that seem unoccupied – no problem.
Nah, the rooms don’t seem unoccupied to them… reality blindness just means that Sweetheart barks instead of talks, they see UNITY as being a normal person (ie, no stitches, skin tone differences “explained” as skin graphs, etc), and Nick isn’t a walking-talking robot.
It’s official. I just talked to someone who I know doesn’t read any webcomics, much less this one, and he asked about “this Canadian dog doing musical theatre”. It’s going to be the next best thing. We should be hearing from Venus next about using for interplanetary diplomacy.
Another possibility is that the “Spirit” only has audio feedback. Thus listening to something as improbable as Unity works fine, but when Sweetheart turns up in person she can’t communicate. Would also explain why they don’t realise they have the wrong room, or recognise Nick right off the bat.
It’s been a plot point in Skin Horse before, too. During the Rampage storyline the animal control people couldn’t perceive Sweetheart talking, and thought the bears in trenchcoats were people.
And it turned up in the Skin Horse filename story — the last test Tip had to go through before being hired was talking to Sweetheart, just to make sure he could hear her.
:wearily: Damn it, Shaenon. I’ve been holding out since this webcomic started.
:ahem:
When a bureaucratic canine’s verbalizing (verbalizing)
As a black op isn’t working out as planned (out as planned),
We may worry about your dog’s brutalizing (brutalizing);
While we fail to hear its spoken-word commands.
Our senses we with difficulty smother,
Since talking-dog nonsense we must shun –
Oh, take one consideration with another (with another)…
A min-i-on’s lot is not a happy one.
ohh-OHHH-ohh
Since, talking-dog nonsense we must shun (we must shun)
A min-i-on’s lot is not a happy one (…happy one)
It’s to The Policeman’s Song from Pirates of Penzance, although it can so totally be to Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer because of That’s Awesome. The former is what Sweetheart is singing in today’s strip, which made my morning.
Nick speaks for us all. Because there is no situation which cannot be improved by patter songs.
“I am the very model of a pissed-off agent Federal,
My ears are flat, my hackles rise, I might just bite your femoral.
You think I’m only growling, when I’m speaking quite exasperatedly,
And so instead I make poor Nick, the drone, speak with you all persuasively.”
Obey his orders without pause, and answer when he questions you
Or I shall seize your jugulars and shed a hairy mess on you.
Though you may doubt my sentience, don’t challenge my authority:
I am by far the toughest bitch in this sorry sorority.
I may have just perpetrated evil there, since the Chorus then have to pronounce:
“I am by far the toughest bitch in this sorry sorority [X2]
I am by far the toughest bitch in this sorry sorori-rori-ty.”
…there’s still the last 3rd of the verse to go. Anyone?
I’m not quite sure where this left off, so I just went to the final verse:
“You know, I’ve stared down lions, tigers, bears and swamps with sentience,
I’ve fought zombies and agencies and werewolves without hesitance
I faced off robots toting nukes and won with puppet therapy
And sat through union meetings that drive others to hari kari
I’ve loitered in non-loitering zones and caused many a coffee spill
To break up union strikes I’m willing to chew upon a Speak and Spell
So stop trying to call me off, why think you are be the boss of me,
When in fact I work for a giant swarm of freakin BEES?!?!
So if you try to mess with me I will in a sense literal,
Tear all your limbs into pieces more fit for bits and kibble,
So you see in matters social, professional and personal,
I am the very model of a pissed-off agent federal”
(TUNE: “The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring”, Gilbert & Sullivan)
The Spirit of WhimsyCorp goons (bow wow!)
Were parked in a sound truck outside!
They don’t really care for cartoons (and how!)
When Sweetheart converses or croons,
Then, in spite of their ears open wide,
What they’re hearing, their brains have denied!
And that’s what will happen whenever you find
The folks who are blinkered, reality-blind!
They hear nothing odd, oh,
When I sing Mikado!
Some folks are numb and dumb!
I think we’re all missing something important here.
Consider what this sounds like to the two reality-blind people…
“Call off your dog, lady!”
“Can’t you do that?”
(They look at Nick, surprised at this response – but glad that Sweetheart’s not savaging them. They’re about to point out that no, they can’t call Sweetheart off, when Nick says…)
“Get out. Not even a little?”
(They begin to wonder why Nick answered before they said their denial. Reality-blind or not, the obvious question arises in their heads… does Nick read minds?)
Maybe there’s multiple layers of mundementia operating. The Skin Horse team are somewhere in Mundementia 2, sadly unaware of the REALLY weird stuff underlying the sentient swamps and chain-smoking robots.
To those two, Sweethearts notions, though many, are not worth a penny. Or perhaps they just have difficulty wrapping their minds around a paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox?
Yet more proof that the greatest threat to the Narbonicverse is sane people. You know, I keep telling people “Never get a sane man to do the work of a madman”. Also, it’s nice to see the whole Reality Blindness thing again. I love how it makes sane people look stupid.
(TUNE: “Behold the Lord High Executioner”, Sir Arthur Sullivan)
Behold the phony ghost of Whimsy Corp!
Two persons who have no motive that I see.
I wonder who sent them to Little House
Whose fate is now particularly dicey.
Ask them, ask them,
Why they spoke last night to Unity.
Ask them, ask them,
Who they really are, why they came this far,
What they know of Princess Collodi!
Discussion (67) ¬
Me too.
Woah, reality blindness! Haven’t seen that in a while. So… Why would a couple of reality blind guys in a sound truck want to save Whimsycorp?
What’s more, why would reality-blind people think the “Spirit of Whimsycorp” gambit would work?
In order to see the problem, they’d have to be aware of reality blindness.
They don’t have to understand anything; they just follow orders. So the orders tell them to project sound to certain rooms that seem unoccupied – no problem.
Nah, the rooms don’t seem unoccupied to them… reality blindness just means that Sweetheart barks instead of talks, they see UNITY as being a normal person (ie, no stitches, skin tone differences “explained” as skin graphs, etc), and Nick isn’t a walking-talking robot.
What makes you think these people are trying to save the Little House? I think it’s more likely they’re trying to kidnap the princess.
I’m pretty sure we all do, Sweetheart.
It’s official. I just talked to someone who I know doesn’t read any webcomics, much less this one, and he asked about “this Canadian dog doing musical theatre”. It’s going to be the next best thing. We should be hearing from Venus next about using for interplanetary diplomacy.
Next (*big*) thing, not best thing. Sorry, I mistyped.
They’re calling him “lady”, even though the Spirit of Whimsy knows him as Nick Zerhakker.
These guys should really read their briefings more closely (on pain of extirpation, probably…)
Maybe they think Nick is short for Nikkie or something?
I think that they think that Nick is a Nickname for Nicole.
Another possibility is that the “Spirit” only has audio feedback. Thus listening to something as improbable as Unity works fine, but when Sweetheart turns up in person she can’t communicate. Would also explain why they don’t realise they have the wrong room, or recognise Nick right off the bat.
Seeing reality blindness brought up again makes me joyful for reasons I don’t understand.
Have we seen it before? I can’t remember.
It was a plot point in Narbonic.
It’s been a plot point in Skin Horse before, too. During the Rampage storyline the animal control people couldn’t perceive Sweetheart talking, and thought the bears in trenchcoats were people.
And it turned up in the Skin Horse filename story — the last test Tip had to go through before being hired was talking to Sweetheart, just to make sure he could hear her.
I love how people didn’t notice that you were making a joke about reality blindness.
(You were making a joke about reality blindness, right?)
:wearily: Damn it, Shaenon. I’ve been holding out since this webcomic started.
:ahem:
When a bureaucratic canine’s verbalizing (verbalizing)
As a black op isn’t working out as planned (out as planned),
We may worry about your dog’s brutalizing (brutalizing);
While we fail to hear its spoken-word commands.
Our senses we with difficulty smother,
Since talking-dog nonsense we must shun –
Oh, take one consideration with another (with another)…
A min-i-on’s lot is not a happy one.
ohh-OHHH-ohh
Since, talking-dog nonsense we must shun (we must shun)
A min-i-on’s lot is not a happy one (…happy one)
That was worth waiting for. How about “Poor Wandering One” from Pirates of Penzance:
We’re Whimsy Corp.
We’re looking for a princess
Thought Unity . . .
But it’s not she
Poor Whimsy Corp.
Now we want Nick
He can find Collodi’s scion
But this damed mutt
Just bit our butt!
Poor Whimsy Corp.
Now we are cryin’
Once I’d remembered the tune, I cracked up at your setting of the word “princess”….
Is it a terribly awful sign of my upbringing that I read this to the tune of “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” rather than its intended?
…That is AWESOME.
Okay, color me sleep deprived (better sounding than stupid LOL): What’s the tune?
It’s to The Policeman’s Song from Pirates of Penzance, although it can so totally be to Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer because of That’s Awesome. The former is what Sweetheart is singing in today’s strip, which made my morning.
Thank you. I guess I’m semi-uneducated as I have never seen the Pirates of Penzance. Really have to now. It’s going to bother me!
Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as being I am about to have something very nice happen to me. 🙂
Oh, Moe. What would the other Morons(tm) think of your filking habit? Heh, I won’t tell.
:raised eyebrow: Tell who you like.
I swear Jeff and Shaenon write some of these strips specifically to make filks happen.
Someone less weirdness blind must have hired these clowns…
Sweetheart is the very model of a pissed-off agent federal.
You win the Internet for today, Prodigal.
Nick speaks for us all. Because there is no situation which cannot be improved by patter songs.
“I am the very model of a pissed-off agent Federal,
My ears are flat, my hackles rise, I might just bite your femoral.
You think I’m only growling, when I’m speaking quite exasperatedly,
And so instead I make poor Nick, the drone, speak with you all persuasively.”
Suitable for comedy and tragic partings.
Obey his orders without pause, and answer when he questions you
Or I shall seize your jugulars and shed a hairy mess on you.
Though you may doubt my sentience, don’t challenge my authority:
I am by far the toughest bitch in this sorry sorority.
I may have just perpetrated evil there, since the Chorus then have to pronounce:
“I am by far the toughest bitch in this sorry sorority [X2]
I am by far the toughest bitch in this sorry sorori-rori-ty.”
…there’s still the last 3rd of the verse to go. Anyone?
I’m not quite sure where this left off, so I just went to the final verse:
“You know, I’ve stared down lions, tigers, bears and swamps with sentience,
I’ve fought zombies and agencies and werewolves without hesitance
I faced off robots toting nukes and won with puppet therapy
And sat through union meetings that drive others to hari kari
I’ve loitered in non-loitering zones and caused many a coffee spill
To break up union strikes I’m willing to chew upon a Speak and Spell
So stop trying to call me off, why think you are be the boss of me,
When in fact I work for a giant swarm of freakin BEES?!?!
So if you try to mess with me I will in a sense literal,
Tear all your limbs into pieces more fit for bits and kibble,
So you see in matters social, professional and personal,
I am the very model of a pissed-off agent federal”
This thread? This, right here? This is why Skin Horse fans are some of the best.
Many thanks to everybody, especially for the lyrics. 🙂
(TUNE: “The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring”, Gilbert & Sullivan)
The Spirit of WhimsyCorp goons (bow wow!)
Were parked in a sound truck outside!
They don’t really care for cartoons (and how!)
When Sweetheart converses or croons,
Then, in spite of their ears open wide,
What they’re hearing, their brains have denied!
And that’s what will happen whenever you find
The folks who are blinkered, reality-blind!
They hear nothing odd, oh,
When I sing Mikado!
Some folks are numb and dumb!
I think Shaenon and Jeff put that line in there just to see how many filks show up. There are so many possibilities in that repertoire….
Heh, called it. I still think Tip is the chosen one
I think we’re all missing something important here.
Consider what this sounds like to the two reality-blind people…
“Call off your dog, lady!”
“Can’t you do that?”
(They look at Nick, surprised at this response – but glad that Sweetheart’s not savaging them. They’re about to point out that no, they can’t call Sweetheart off, when Nick says…)
“Get out. Not even a little?”
(They begin to wonder why Nick answered before they said their denial. Reality-blind or not, the obvious question arises in their heads… does Nick read minds?)
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
A wonderful, insightful analysis. I am in awe.
Yessssss! I was thinking just the same!! XD
“And she wasn’t even looking at us! She was looking at the dog the whole time, so she couldn’t have seen that we were about to speak!”
lol… that look on it is awesome. Wonder if Shaenon had it planned out that way…. 🙂
I’m not sure – Dave’s brother didn’t seem to notice Dave and Zeta’s side conversations with Artie and the robots.
Can you get a handicap tag if you’re reality-blind?
You get one automatically, but no one with reality blindness can see it so you don’t actually get to park in special spots.
Man, the lengths Sweetheart will go to for a good night’s rest.
It could be worse, they could have Mundementia One.
I wonder if that’s actually possible in this ‘verse. It would be awesome.
Maybe there’s multiple layers of mundementia operating. The Skin Horse team are somewhere in Mundementia 2, sadly unaware of the REALLY weird stuff underlying the sentient swamps and chain-smoking robots.
Where can we find a handy werepoodle for these two?
To those two, Sweethearts notions, though many, are not worth a penny. Or perhaps they just have difficulty wrapping their minds around a paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox?
You are MY FAVORITE AUTHORS right now. This is WONDERFUL.
Yet more proof that the greatest threat to the Narbonicverse is sane people. You know, I keep telling people “Never get a sane man to do the work of a madman”. Also, it’s nice to see the whole Reality Blindness thing again. I love how it makes sane people look stupid.
Well, lets face it – they often are.
With doglike tread, (THUMP)
Them on their way I prod (THUMP)….
Tarantara!
(TUNE: “Behold the Lord High Executioner”, Sir Arthur Sullivan)
Behold the phony ghost of Whimsy Corp!
Two persons who have no motive that I see.
I wonder who sent them to Little House
Whose fate is now particularly dicey.
Ask them, ask them,
Why they spoke last night to Unity.
Ask them, ask them,
Who they really are, why they came this far,
What they know of Princess Collodi!
This is for science, of course.