This storyline just got more awesome. I thought it wasn’t possible, because Nick driving the robot was the coolest thing ever! but clearly you guys are so much more smart than I. I love this!
Bugs, Bees, insects of all sorts. Along with being worried about other super-secret Black Ops agencies, you always have to be careful about where you buy your coffee.
I dunno how you guys did it, but somehow the Violet Bee drone shell looks male to me with Nick piloting it. I have to remind myself it’s a female body, which is some kind of weird gender-disconnect I don’t even know the word for.
She got rid of the eyelashes. Standard facial differentiation between male/female characters in manga. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick is skimping on the mascara in any event, so….
Shaenon is really good at drawing nonverbal identifiers, as a result of drawing so many different people out of their own bodies in Narbonic and the Victorian story. Nick’s posture and mannerisms are very masculine.
To reduce the number of omniscient beings, I tried believing Gavotte was Alpha, but she’s not gerbilly enough to be a Narbon. Then again, the Emily Post Slime Mold wasn’t gerbilly, either. Lots of non-gerbil Narbonic projects.
I bet Gavotte would like the Emily Post Slime Mold.
the same way a cockroach uses a typewriter it involves building up a lot of momentum to hit each key of course with the modern electronic keyboards this is a lot easier i wish i’d had one of these in my younger days my head still hurts signed your friend archy
A really sensitive overlay keyboard, perhaps? Or some variety of motion sensor interface? Or even speech recognition, given that Gavotte can, rather improbably, speak perfectly comprehensible English…
Tiny little gnats can flick commands at my HP touchscreen desktop, it’s that sensitive. They’re not even trying. A swarm of bees would have no problem.
Considering that this is the Government, she could well have some sort of custom terminal interface dating back to the 1970’s—what I find myself wondering is mainly whether developing it would be funded by the general office budget or by some special disability grant (‘differently abled’ is actually more apt, but wouldn’t have been the term back then).
It’s not just the standard input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc.) that are horribly suboptimal for a swarm of bees, CRT screens should also be no joy (since insects have a different threshold for flicker than humans).
I never thought about it before, but “differently abled” actually makes sense for the Skin Horse world rather than being the politically correct claptrap it is in real life.
Plotting over coffee and a muffin …
Coupons were, it seems, just a MacGuffin!
Our leader, we will call
An annoying know-it-all!
I bet that she will find us out tomorrow!
[CHORUS:]
Secret … coffee break!
Secret … coffee break!
If you want to keep your brains in,
Better not say “coffee cake”!
Questions we all have, concerning Skin Horse …
In this chapter, we’ll find out, in due course!
Who manages Gavotte?
Doctor Lee is mad? Or not?
Will Ira find his way to work tomorrow? [repeat CHORUS]
I think you mean, “when she eventually lets us know that she’s known all along”, Sweetheart.
you are so right!
This storyline just got more awesome. I thought it wasn’t possible, because Nick driving the robot was the coolest thing ever! but clearly you guys are so much more smart than I. I love this!
have they scanned for bugs (i mean bees) yet?
Bugs, Bees, insects of all sorts. Along with being worried about other super-secret Black Ops agencies, you always have to be careful about where you buy your coffee.
Trust me.
So, basically, Gavotte wants them to investigate the hidden questions of Skin Horse without getting her *own* pollenprints over everything.
Note: I am not disapproving.
I dunno how you guys did it, but somehow the Violet Bee drone shell looks male to me with Nick piloting it. I have to remind myself it’s a female body, which is some kind of weird gender-disconnect I don’t even know the word for.
Kudos.
She got rid of the eyelashes. Standard facial differentiation between male/female characters in manga. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick is skimping on the mascara in any event, so….
Jonathan Fisher
I didn’t even catch that! Nice eye.
Shaenon is really good at drawing nonverbal identifiers, as a result of drawing so many different people out of their own bodies in Narbonic and the Victorian story. Nick’s posture and mannerisms are very masculine.
There is a word for it. and that word is genderf**k.
Just wait for the gender fender bender.
Gender/FORD/
Genderfnord
To reduce the number of omniscient beings, I tried believing Gavotte was Alpha, but she’s not gerbilly enough to be a Narbon. Then again, the Emily Post Slime Mold wasn’t gerbilly, either. Lots of non-gerbil Narbonic projects.
I bet Gavotte would like the Emily Post Slime Mold.
How exactly does a swarm of bees use a computer?
Voice recognition perhaps? 508 compliance is likely to be quite helpful to SkinHorse.
the same way a cockroach uses a typewriter it involves building up a lot of momentum to hit each key of course with the modern electronic keyboards this is a lot easier i wish i’d had one of these in my younger days my head still hurts signed your friend archy
But a swarm of bees can touch-type and use shift.
Give my regards to Mehitabel, next you see her.
A really sensitive overlay keyboard, perhaps? Or some variety of motion sensor interface? Or even speech recognition, given that Gavotte can, rather improbably, speak perfectly comprehensible English…
Her computer runs BeOS.
Tiny little gnats can flick commands at my HP touchscreen desktop, it’s that sensitive. They’re not even trying. A swarm of bees would have no problem.
Considering that this is the Government, she could well have some sort of custom terminal interface dating back to the 1970’s—what I find myself wondering is mainly whether developing it would be funded by the general office budget or by some special disability grant (‘differently abled’ is actually more apt, but wouldn’t have been the term back then).
It’s not just the standard input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc.) that are horribly suboptimal for a swarm of bees, CRT screens should also be no joy (since insects have a different threshold for flicker than humans).
I never thought about it before, but “differently abled” actually makes sense for the Skin Horse world rather than being the politically correct claptrap it is in real life.
(TUNE: “Secret Agent Man”, Barri & Sloan)
Plotting over coffee and a muffin …
Coupons were, it seems, just a MacGuffin!
Our leader, we will call
An annoying know-it-all!
I bet that she will find us out tomorrow!
[CHORUS:]
Secret … coffee break!
Secret … coffee break!
If you want to keep your brains in,
Better not say “coffee cake”!
Questions we all have, concerning Skin Horse …
In this chapter, we’ll find out, in due course!
Who manages Gavotte?
Doctor Lee is mad? Or not?
Will Ira find his way to work tomorrow?
[repeat CHORUS]
Oh Ed, I don’t know which is the funniest thing on the intarweb today: this filk, or your earlier ‘archy and mehitabel’ ref. Well done!
There is nothing in the universe more smug than a self-satisfied beehive.
We don’t know the exact means Gavotte communicates between her parts to form the hive mind in the first place.
Perhaps she uses Bluetooth.
ZigBee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZigBee), of course!
Wait, she’s brave enough to monitor and block Nick’s internet usage?
Well, after all, she’s got more than a hundred brains to work with.