I have a theory that it’s not a separate program from Nick, rather it’s some sort of mild brainwashing that forces him to filter himself when speaking IRL.
It would explain why the replacements have become more situationally appropriate as time goes on.
That only works if he was trying to say “hell.” It could have had a mild slip-up due to replacing a separate word, so an approximate rhyme of another word was used.
How many zombies _can_ you cram into a cyborg assault helicopter? You don’t have to worry about giving them room to breathe or account for blood circulation, but you don’t want to overpack to the point where rupturing takes place, especially onto the cats or the human.
Worst case, some of the zombie limbs can be temporarily removed and stowed in a more easily stacked fashion. They land, and after Tip resews one, that one resews one, they resew two, and soon Nick can demand a detailing of his empty interior.
Panel 3: Shaenon is borrowing a line from her own story “Piece Of Cake” that was in the 2007 Marvel Holiday Special. Now expect the line “I smell trouble. I smell danger … I smell bad.”
Wait … is that the story where Spidey is trying to bring a cake to Aunt May’s party and ends up fighting Santa with Wolverine? And then the cake gets destroyed and Logan bakes him a new one? Shaenon wrote that and I didn’t realise??
Daibh: By “Spidey…fighting Santa with Wolverine,” do you mean “fighting beside Wolverine” or “fighting Santa by hitting him with Wolverine”?
With Spidey’s webbing, it could be a Tetherball Special.
–Inquiring Minds Are…Unhelpful
PS: And the English language more so
PPS: Yes, it IS my native language (and my ancestors’ back to the Domesday book and beyond), but that’s no reason to pretend it isn’t a patchwork kludge mashed together out of all the languages whose people fought or traded or smuggled (or snuggled) their way across the Channel.
PPPS: If I’ve made this stupid joke before, please forgive the repetition; in all seriousness I had a series of mini-strokes after my mother’s death last year and now have a head full of random brain curds.
Have you compiled any sort of Shaenonography we could use for a checklist? Probably easier to complete an Asimov or Fredric Brown collection, but it would still be nice…
The fact that Shaenon is still with us helps. I would imagine that she has records somewhere with everything she’s written… if for nothing other than copyright purposes.
Kinda surprised that it was Nick complaining about the smell, rather than Tip. At least Nick can turn off his olfactory sensors – or chemical spectrometer, whatever. Tip has to endure it the entire journey.
True enough, but…. I’ve smelled one rotting corpse of a small animal in an enclosed space (specifically, my garage). That alone would take me a lot longer than their flight to the Habakkuk to get used to. And they’ve got a lot more than just one small rotting corpse, in a space a lot smaller than my garage.
Put simply, I feel really sorry for Tip right now.
Had occasion to drive a cat from my apartment to my parents’ house for a couple of months. At the beginning, she would lean against me and the car window and stare straight ahead. But by the end of it, she was completely comfortable and would wander around the car while it moved. It’s hard to say which attitude was more trouble.
I had occasion to drive three cats – black, but with markings like a Siamese, and claws to match – from their old home to ours. For the first minute or so, they were running around the inside of my truck like they were insane. By the end of the ten minute trip, they had all found some place on my person to curl up and go to sleep.
“…where’d ya get those peepers?”
“Where’d you get those eeeeeyees?”
Okay, now I’m getting horror-movie flashbacks. Tip will not end up with holes in his head where his peepers were, right? Please tell me no.
that’s it, the swear filter has achieved sentience
I have a theory that it’s not a separate program from Nick, rather it’s some sort of mild brainwashing that forces him to filter himself when speaking IRL.
It would explain why the replacements have become more situationally appropriate as time goes on.
…..or he’s just screwing with us.
Virginia spoke of it as a real thing; so did Panoptica.
That only works if he was trying to say “hell.” It could have had a mild slip-up due to replacing a separate word, so an approximate rhyme of another word was used.
‘Cause Antarctica is just around the block!
Antarctica is the block!
How many zombies _can_ you cram into a cyborg assault helicopter? You don’t have to worry about giving them room to breathe or account for blood circulation, but you don’t want to overpack to the point where rupturing takes place, especially onto the cats or the human.
Or the upholstery!
If I recall right, the original plans for the Habakkuk class aircraft carriers called for them to be several miles long. Oughta be plenty of room.
^ I think Bruce was asking about how they all fit into Nick, not the Habakkuk.
Do the revenants have to be *inside* Nick, or are they stuck to various parts of his fuselage?
Worst case, some of the zombie limbs can be temporarily removed and stowed in a more easily stacked fashion. They land, and after Tip resews one, that one resews one, they resew two, and soon Nick can demand a detailing of his empty interior.
Panel 3: Shaenon is borrowing a line from her own story “Piece Of Cake” that was in the 2007 Marvel Holiday Special. Now expect the line “I smell trouble. I smell danger … I smell bad.”
Wait … is that the story where Spidey is trying to bring a cake to Aunt May’s party and ends up fighting Santa with Wolverine? And then the cake gets destroyed and Logan bakes him a new one? Shaenon wrote that and I didn’t realise??
Daibh: By “Spidey…fighting Santa with Wolverine,” do you mean “fighting beside Wolverine” or “fighting Santa by hitting him with Wolverine”?
With Spidey’s webbing, it could be a Tetherball Special.
–Inquiring Minds Are…Unhelpful
PS: And the English language more so
PPS: Yes, it IS my native language (and my ancestors’ back to the Domesday book and beyond), but that’s no reason to pretend it isn’t a patchwork kludge mashed together out of all the languages whose people fought or traded or smuggled (or snuggled) their way across the Channel.
PPPS: If I’ve made this stupid joke before, please forgive the repetition; in all seriousness I had a series of mini-strokes after my mother’s death last year and now have a head full of random brain curds.
Andrew finds that line hilarious, so I put it here as a present for him.
Have you compiled any sort of Shaenonography we could use for a checklist? Probably easier to complete an Asimov or Fredric Brown collection, but it would still be nice…
The fact that Shaenon is still with us helps. I would imagine that she has records somewhere with everything she’s written… if for nothing other than copyright purposes.
I always get JOY over the sight of Captain Bubbles.
They’ve crammed the zombies in,
Even the six-toed cats.
They need a looney-bin
To be their habitat.
Coordinates came from afar.
The pilot is the crew.
The follow-through is deja-vu.
What are they to do?
On the good ship Habakkuk,
It’s a fine rip for the horror-struck,
Where zombies stay
On the manmade ice near Chesapeake Bay.
Captain Bubbles at the helm,
Won’t let troubles overwhelm,
And here they are!
Does it strike you as completely bizarre?
Hipster robot dudes with a jive that’s crude,
Adolescent punning cobra snakes.
If you see too much, ooh, ooh,
They will seem like a bunch of flakes.
On the good ship Habakkuk,
Time for our Tip to be thunderstruck
And sail away
On the good ship Habakkuk.
—from “On the Good Ship Lollipop” (as if there was any doubt), music by Richard Whiting, lyrics by Sidney Clare. Sung by Shirley Temple.
+1
Maybe the animated version of Skin Horse will include this tune.
Bravo!
Kinda surprised that it was Nick complaining about the smell, rather than Tip. At least Nick can turn off his olfactory sensors – or chemical spectrometer, whatever. Tip has to endure it the entire journey.
Human noses can get de-scent-sitized to pretty much anything over time.
True enough, but…. I’ve smelled one rotting corpse of a small animal in an enclosed space (specifically, my garage). That alone would take me a lot longer than their flight to the Habakkuk to get used to. And they’ve got a lot more than just one small rotting corpse, in a space a lot smaller than my garage.
Put simply, I feel really sorry for Tip right now.
If I were Nick, I’d be more worried about whether my brain tank was armored or not.
It’s not altogether clear by what mechanism or whether he can turn it off, but he does seem to have some olfactory sense. After all, it’s been established that Nick can infuse his ventilation system with a fragrance and can regard said fragrance as “homey”.
Shaenon definitely knows cats. Most of them look really spooked – but there’s always that one that just loves rides, couldn’t be more contented.
Had occasion to drive a cat from my apartment to my parents’ house for a couple of months. At the beginning, she would lean against me and the car window and stare straight ahead. But by the end of it, she was completely comfortable and would wander around the car while it moved. It’s hard to say which attitude was more trouble.
I had occasion to drive three cats – black, but with markings like a Siamese, and claws to match – from their old home to ours. For the first minute or so, they were running around the inside of my truck like they were insane. By the end of the ten minute trip, they had all found some place on my person to curl up and go to sleep.
I had to drive two cats from Houston to San Antonio in the cab of a U-Haul box truck. I learned that day that my cats didn’t like Queen.
You’ll notice that cat is also the one that’s on the keyboard.
That’s not fair. It’s not blasphemy for Nick.