As to whether Tip is playing the game right, his first move was equivalent to Step One of almost every troubleshooting guide (“Check whether the appliance is plugged in”). Ya’ try this _first_. 🙂
No, step one is determining if there’s actually a door to be opened. We already have somebody or something — presumably GODOT — employing controlled pareidolia to communicate; it’s just a small step from there to assume that they cannot trust anything they perceive on the St. Charlie.
First, we had Phillips as the sacrificial red-shirt.
Now, we have Tip as Kirk, reprogramming the Kobayashi Maru test.
And, of course, we always have Sweetheart as cranky Bones.
Fascinating!
If that doesn’t work, maybe asking again not that politely may work too. I wonder who would win in a fight, Ruby or Unity? My bets are on Unity, but Ruby was made for combat too.
Reminds me of the ROTC exam where the students are given a list of manpower (a platoon) and a list of all sorts of materials available to them and told they must write out the orders necessary to construct a bridge over a 30′ wide stream using those resources. All the other students wrote blue books full of step by step instructions. My buddy wrote one sentence…and turned in his blue book.
“Sargent, use those men and materials to bridge that stream.”
The Capitan in charge of the course wanted to fail him…
….his Master Sargent co-instructor changed the grade to a B+, explaining that while his answer was the correct one, sometimes humoring higher command was a needed part of an officer’s duties.
Reminds me of the movie “Labyrinth” …
“None may cross this bridge without my permission!”
“Well … may we have your permission to cross the bridge?”
“Um … yes?”
(TUNE: “All I Have To Do Is Dream”, The Everly Brothers)
A metal wall … a solid door,
I think we’ve all … been here before!
If we would gain access, all I have to ask
Is “Please …
Please, please, please?”
Our goal is just … an open gate!
GODOT we must … outwit, but wait!
The simplest solution is to say to you,
“Oh, please …”
This is just test!
Show our team is best
Anytime, day or night!
So what will I do?
Ask you!
But you say I’m not playing ri-i-ight!
WIthout a fuss, without a fight,
I’ll solve it thus: I’ll be polite!
I’ll use the absurdly simple magic word
Called “Please”!
I see Tip remembered to pack his invisibility skirt. Good thinking, Tip! Now either turn it all the way up or all the way down, because that’s not helping.
The only thing worse than Visible Panty Line is Invisible Panty Line. Well, maybe Invisible Party Line is worse: that’s where you’re supposed to follow a set of principles without variation, but no one will tell you what they are.
Better than Inaudible Party Line. If I’m paying five times as much to call three people together as it would have been to call them separately, I want to hear them, by gum!
My problems at work can be solved by mechanical means, my problems outside work all involve social solutions, so to me Tip has taken the right tack: ask the mechanical woman to help solve the problem. Now if I could just master my grammatical issues…
So GODOT is an AI, while conveniently Violet from the A-Sig team (who may be an AI herself – albeit in a humanoid body) is still “sleeping in” (yeah, right).
Ever since Unity’s discovery of the changing graffiti I’ve been wondering if there’s a connection with Violet – especially considering the Gold Bug incident…
He’s playing it impressively well, actually.
And if by some miracle that ‘Depowered’ bit is actually correct, then powering up GODOT probably isn’t the best idea. What’s the bet it happens?
No, you’re not playing it well, Ruby! You’re supposed to say something like “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that”!
Sorry, Dave’s not in this strip
How can you be sure?
As to whether Tip is playing the game right, his first move was equivalent to Step One of almost every troubleshooting guide (“Check whether the appliance is plugged in”). Ya’ try this _first_. 🙂
No, Step One here is checking to see if the door is locked.
No, step one is determining if there’s actually a door to be opened. We already have somebody or something — presumably GODOT — employing controlled pareidolia to communicate; it’s just a small step from there to assume that they cannot trust anything they perceive on the St. Charlie.
First, we had Phillips as the sacrificial red-shirt.
Now, we have Tip as Kirk, reprogramming the Kobayashi Maru test.
And, of course, we always have Sweetheart as cranky Bones.
Fascinating!
That leaves UNITY as Spock after the neural tissue incident.
Let’s face it: in the scenario where asking politely really is all it takes, you’d be really embarrassed afterward if you never tried it.
*Note*: So this thing has been displaying some signs of sentience, but no one thought to just be *nice* to it? – Dr. Aridorn
Searching for that name brought me to one of the oddest sites I’ve ever encountered.
But in a good way, right? I really love the SCP Foundation. I’m in a rp centering around the Red Pool. 😀
Skin-Horse fans seem to overlap in the strangest places, although the Foundation seems the likeliest of unlikely places.
If that doesn’t work, maybe asking again not that politely may work too. I wonder who would win in a fight, Ruby or Unity? My bets are on Unity, but Ruby was made for combat too.
It’s Tip. Ruby is female. At this point, the door opening to let him in is a foregone conclusion.
Reminds me of the ROTC exam where the students are given a list of manpower (a platoon) and a list of all sorts of materials available to them and told they must write out the orders necessary to construct a bridge over a 30′ wide stream using those resources. All the other students wrote blue books full of step by step instructions. My buddy wrote one sentence…and turned in his blue book.
“Sargent, use those men and materials to bridge that stream.”
The Capitan in charge of the course wanted to fail him…
….his Master Sargent co-instructor changed the grade to a B+, explaining that while his answer was the correct one, sometimes humoring higher command was a needed part of an officer’s duties.
Reminds me of the movie “Labyrinth” …
“None may cross this bridge without my permission!”
“Well … may we have your permission to cross the bridge?”
“Um … yes?”
(TUNE: “All I Have To Do Is Dream”, The Everly Brothers)
A metal wall … a solid door,
I think we’ve all … been here before!
If we would gain access, all I have to ask
Is “Please …
Please, please, please?”
Our goal is just … an open gate!
GODOT we must … outwit, but wait!
The simplest solution is to say to you,
“Oh, please …”
This is just test!
Show our team is best
Anytime, day or night!
So what will I do?
Ask you!
But you say I’m not playing ri-i-ight!
WIthout a fuss, without a fight,
I’ll solve it thus: I’ll be polite!
I’ll use the absurdly simple magic word
Called “Please”!
Ed, that’s exactly where I went as well – I love that movie just for bits like that.
What is on the back of Ruby’s pants in panel 2? A gear? A tail?
I think she has her hands clasped behind her back.
Personally, I’m more interested in why I can see the wall THROUGH Tip’s ass.
…Er, not that I was staring at Tip’s ass.
The dress just happens to have a wrinkle there. It’s called a tangent and those are accidental 95% of the time.
The other 5% of the time, they’re SCIENCE!
Speak “friend”, and enter….now where’s Fleig so I can do that right?
“Mellon.”
Technically correct is the best kind of correct.
I see Tip remembered to pack his invisibility skirt. Good thinking, Tip! Now either turn it all the way up or all the way down, because that’s not helping.
The only thing worse than Visible Panty Line is Invisible Panty Line. Well, maybe Invisible Party Line is worse: that’s where you’re supposed to follow a set of principles without variation, but no one will tell you what they are.
Frankly, I’d prefer Invisible Party Line to what we actually get in politics these days, so…
Better than Inaudible Party Line. If I’m paying five times as much to call three people together as it would have been to call them separately, I want to hear them, by gum!
“A strange game. The only winning move is to get someone else to touch the electrified, corrosive, radioactive game pieces.”
My problems at work can be solved by mechanical means, my problems outside work all involve social solutions, so to me Tip has taken the right tack: ask the mechanical woman to help solve the problem. Now if I could just master my grammatical issues…
So GODOT is an AI, while conveniently Violet from the A-Sig team (who may be an AI herself – albeit in a humanoid body) is still “sleeping in” (yeah, right).
Ever since Unity’s discovery of the changing graffiti I’ve been wondering if there’s a connection with Violet – especially considering the Gold Bug incident…
Now that I think about it, the text of GODOT and Goldbug do look kind of similar.
Generally Obtrusive Demon of Testing? As opposed to Specifically Obtrusive?
I have a joke that “Asking Politely” is a completely legitimate first move. Social Engineering works way more more and better than it should.
Given that this strip features an AI-controlled door, I’m a little surprised that nobody’s made any Hitchhiker’s Guide references.