For a While 2012-08-08

[Fairportfan]

Owie.

[davids4250]

It might be fatal to approach Phix right now, but she still needs a hug.

Nudge is taming care of Shelley, which is good. Bia, I don't care about. But Phix breaks my heart. I have liked her since she first appeared.

[Opus the Poet]

Now that we know Shelly was Phix's granddaughter this has become much sadder. What I'm wondering is how much did Phix know when Shelly first showed up in the Library? I wonder if we will ever find out.

[Atomic]

Hmmm. Take one blood feud, simmer for millenia, reopen wound and stir. Yep - one hell of a recipe. For what, however, I'm not sure.

Is it possible that immortality ultimately makes you stupid? As in unable to learn (vs. unwilling)?

Nudge is taming care of Shelley, which is good.

Apropo typo there! Nudge is taming the wild Sage of the Forest -- "(Her) gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand..."

Ah, I love it when my mind wanders. Often, I go follow it!

[Dave]

Owie.

Owie for certain! I'm not sure I want to know what it is that's dangling from that clenched fist!

I am queasily reminded of an old (Southern?) slang phrase which kept showing up in the Skylark series... "I'll snatch you bald-headed!"

[Fairportfan]

Owie.

Owie for certain! I'm not sure I want to know what it is that's dangling from that clenched fist!

I am queasily reminded of an old (Southern?) slang phrase which kept showing up in the Skylark series... "I'll snatch you bald-headed!"

Blood. She's got her fist so tightly clenched that her nails are cutting into her palm...

[themadkansan]

...off-topic for the current, but I wasn't exactly sure where to ask:

other webcomic forums will hotlink the comic in question so that it appears in the first post of the related thread - is that something that could be considered to do here, or not? the controls for it are right at the top of the box here, you'd just need to get the image info off the main website page (right-click on the image and copy the path for the image), then use the Img template button to put it in.

wasn't 100% sure, so figured i'd better ask first.

[Fairportfan]

Probably Not A Good Idea.

Perhaps Paul will have something to say.

[Jay-Em]

...off-topic for the current, but I wasn't exactly sure where to ask:

other webcomic forums will hotlink the comic in question so that it appears in the first post of the related thread - is that something that could be considered to do here, or not? the controls for it are right at the top of the box here, you'd just need to get the image info off the main website page (right-click on the image and copy the path for the image), then use the Img template button to put it in.

wasn't 100% sure, so figured i'd better ask first.

Yes, it is possible. Wise? Not so much.

Trolls and spammers are attracted to convenience. It would only move the problem to the forum. Keeping the forum apart from the comic makes it (mostly) too much hassle for trolls.
"protection by inconvenience"

I guess that our esteemed mods alréady have their hands full. I noticed the first bots already sniffing-out the forum.

[themadkansan]

Yes, it is possible. Wise? Not so much.

Trolls and spammers are attracted to convenience. It would only move the problem to the forum. Keeping the forum apart from the comic makes it (mostly) too much hassle for trolls.
"protection by inconvenience"

I guess that our esteemed mods alréady have their hands full. I noticed the first bots already sniffing-out the forum.

...There's the rub, though. This is a fully-functional forum with assigned moderators, as opposed to the simple comment section on the comic page that just anyone could spam or grief or troll, with just Paul moderating. Much less garbage gets in initially, and more hammers to bash what =does= get through. 'Bots are a fact of life anymore, just hafta deal with them.

Another forum I read (and moderate when necessary) instituted a context-sensitive question as part of the registration/update process - not just a captcha, but a question based on the forum that had to be answered correctly. It helped cut down spammers and such rather dramatically.

[Dave11]

And now I've been sucked back in...curse my weak will!

Much drama going on here. The Katharine interlude was a much-needed splash of comedy (and cold water ).

Rather than hotlink the comic, perhaps the first poster should put a url link back to it.

[Kaibyo]

Whew! So much is said that is unsaid in the shadow of those wings, the clenching of that fist and the "whatever" that's dripping from said fist. Never piss off a sphinx - they've been around too long and have learned many techniques of defenestration. As Bia has found out. Just not thru a window.

[The Fansheep]

First .. owie .. that looks painful
second.. i still miss to read it all below the comic ;p was a lot easyer but i can see why a forum is a lot better for paul ^^

[Jürgen A. Erhard]

Yes, it is possible. Wise? Not so much.

Trolls and spammers are attracted to convenience. It would only move the problem to the forum. Keeping the forum apart from the comic makes it (mostly) too much hassle for trolls.
"protection by inconvenience"

I guess that our esteemed mods alréady have their hands full. I noticed the first bots already sniffing-out the forum.

Everybody is attracted to convenience. Me? I'm so attracted to convenience. Do I like the internet? Sure, because... it's convenient. Do I like separate (or any) forums? Not so much, because of the inconvenience.

Does inconvenience keep away trolls? Not really. Spammers? Totally not. First day here I already found spam. 4 posts in a thread, 3 were spam.

It's a fact that most captchas are *easy* for bots but hard for humans. Weird, right?

And yes, this is *so* offtopic for this thread. Mods, feel free to move these posts (if possible, I don't know, I dislike forums so much that I never installed one... oh, and I downright hate PHP with a passion, and most forum SW is PHP... )

[Yamara]

Owie.

Owie for certain! I'm not sure I want to know what it is that's dangling from that clenched fist!

I am queasily reminded of an old (Southern?) slang phrase which kept showing up in the Skylark series... "I'll snatch you bald-headed!"

Blood. She's got her fist so tightly clenched that her nails are cutting into her palm...

That's the fist she struck Bia with.

I would say more, but I've been reminded not to talk about Fight Club.

[WilliamCA]

Hmmm. Take one blood feud, simmer for millenia, reopen wound and stir. Yep - one hell of a recipe. For what, however, I'm not sure.

Is it possible that immortality ultimately makes you stupid? As in unable to learn (vs. unwilling)?

Read Greek Mythos, to get a very good understanding of how immortals act when it comes to humans and each other. Being Immortal does not convey omniscience. (all seeing/all knowing) What happens is that as a immortal you can outlive the consequences of your actions especially if those actions deal with mortals. Since you can't die you outlive bad behavior with mortals because they all die eventually, leaving people to either forget or take the mistake to their graves.

Immortals over time develop a very delusional sense of self. They can become megalomaniacs with a god-complex. They begin to think they are wiser and smarter then everyone else because they have lived for so long. They begin to think they have omniscience because they've seen the same events and mistakes repeated by others and themselves numerous times so they begin to feel they can know whats going to happen before it happens. The mistake they make is that they CANNOT see EVERY interaction, thought process, and little unknown things that happen in any event. They make assumptions and in their long lived arrogance assume they know what everyone is thinking.

When an immortal reaches the stage that I mentioned in the previous paragraph they start becoming a stereotypical 'good villain'. They believe they have the right to manipulate the world for the 'greater good'. They create complex, long running, Machiavellian schemes, generally involving a few people at first, but it eventually comes to encompass hundreds if not millions of people over a period of generations. They look at the people involved as puppets, and any deaths or damage is seen as merely collateral and unimportant in the 'greater scheme of things'. Anyone who threatens the plan must be eliminated or dealt with, and this is where things start to go wrong.

When an immortal sees a mortal as merely a puppet who can be destroyed on a whim then the immortal loses perspective and can become very monstrous. The greater good is soon forgotten and the fulfillment of said plan is all that matters. While the mindset of the immortal is still intent on the greater good it is clouded by the desire to fulfill said greater good based on their egos, not on the greater good. Thus the greater good disappears and the plan is merely a ego booster.

Bia is the perfect example of what i am writing about.

[TheDOCTOR]

Now that Phix has embedded her nails into her Palm, which will make her tear up, in walks Monica,slowly, over the objections of Euryale and "gently" removes the 'Thorns from the Lioness' paw' ala Daniel and the Lion. Monica dresses Phixs' hand, Phix looks at Monica,says "Thank You,Pumpkin" and cries on Monicas' shoulder.
What'cha Think, good huh?

[Wdot]

Looks like Sgt. Howard called it right. Do not approach. Do not touch. Hopefully her pressure relief valve works and she calms down to a simmer. Phix is/was Bia's mother-in-law and that can be a touchy relationship. It's kind of funny when you think about it, most of the European wars were family squabbles. Oh, and look who's talking about Nudge having a looney mop of hair!

[MrFireDragon]

I wonder what creative venting technique will Phix use to calm herself down...... I am guessing we are in for a surprise

[Julie]

Angry sphinx is angry.