Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

Tags: By Moggs Teeth, wotta babe!, A pixie is a Pixel, Pretty in Pink!, Her clothes come off!, Toldya she wouldnt listen, Lava skinny-dipping?, Shiver me timbers, wardrobe malfunction, crossing the great divide, Where can she keep her sword?, Comment by Brooke. Add Tags

Comments (223) Jump to Comments Form

Margueritem said, 2 months ago

Ah Satori, we knew you couldn’t stand idly waiting around.
I hope this does you no harm.
StradMan37 said, 2 months ago

9CL:

Edda strikes an extremely familiar pose, while reading the paper.

Hmmmm-a, Hmmmm-a…………..
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

Sweet Satori is shedding pixels and clothing with equal reckless abandon!
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

Pib We see what’s going in… boy do we see what’s going in. Now the question is, “What’s going to come out?”
StradMan37 said, 2 months ago

“Sweet Satori” has a lovely way of pixellating………
John Reiher, Jr said, 2 months ago

He has her on backup, so there’s no loss… I hope.
Fairportfan said, 2 months ago

Ummm - are Satori’s pants disappearing as she goes through the portal?
StradMan37 said, 2 months ago

Ummm - yes.

She’s already lost her shirt……..
Urquell said, 2 months ago

I don’t think we can photoshop this
Fairportfan said, 2 months ago

UncaAlby:

The military can’t figure out how to make true robot war machines; they always need a human in the loop in real time, and they expect that they probably will for the foreseeable future.

I really think you are underestimating how fast a decision tree could multiply in space-mining conditions.

And chess computers may use heuristics, butonly in, as i said, a fully deterministic environment, which even everyday life here on Earth isn’t, much less meteor mining in outer space.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

wouldn’t it be awful if it were just a random pile of pixel blocks on the ground…

I would guess Satori is going to come out as herself, probably in the nude. She may well save the two Eggs from having their shells blackened.

Or she might come out in the Eggs’ home, since Roger’s computer was hooked up to Spitty’s system. (I’m assuming the Eggs are roasting in Spitty’s place, rather than at home). Wouldn’t that be a good one. Mom having to deal first with a demented Teddy Bear and now an unclad computer valkyrie…
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

oooooh – the portal turns out to be a Nudifier!

I want me one of those!
steelbladeoffury said, 2 months ago

Oh my! (speechless all of a sudden).
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

I rather worry about the ashy trailings from her blackened and oddly twisted fingers, however….
Willhelm said, 2 months ago

Look at her hands, they are turning black. I suspect she is a demoness that was trapped in the game.
Fairportfan said, 2 months ago

Forcing myself to look more closely, i don’t think Satori herself is pixilating.

SO Roger and Lena already have to explain to Mom how come Roger’s room is full of blazing lava - and soon they’ll also have to explain a gorgeous magenta-haired babe with no clothes on.
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

I fearlessly predict…that two divergent plot lines are now about to come together…

from The Convergence of the Twain
(by Thomas Hardy)

“Alien they seemed to be:
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,

Or sign that they were bent
by paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event,

Till the Spinner of the Years
Said “Now!” And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.”

Of course, if caught or captured in a mistake, as always, my secretary will disavow all knowledge of my actions…
steelbladeoffury said, 2 months ago

What will Satori look like when she is all the way through, providing that the program doesn’t delete her if the flames don’t destroy that monitor where Roger and Leena are, right now.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

If she turned out to be a demon, one Egg would be delighted and it wouldn’t be Roger…
Ira Nayman said, 2 months ago

It may also be possible that Satori, while not a demon, is moving from one realm (the virtual world of the computer) to another (the magical). Magic may allow her to exist outside the computer, although in what form we shall have to wait and see…
Gweedo Murray said, 2 months ago

From yesterday:

The Old WolfGenius_badge said, about 13 hours ago

Snakket Inshadowz: > My own mental activity would not have been possible to present in writing using any known alphabet or vocabulary.

One must resort to pictographs in such cases.

Caption

@Gweedo Love the picture! The only difference is that I capitalize on my age, rather than try to hide it…

Caption
.
Gray is good.
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@Fairportfan said, 2 minutes ago

The military can’t figure out how to make true robot war machines; thay always need a human in the loop, and they expect that they probably will for the foreseeable future.

That’s Ok, we have plenty of time. More time than money.

I really think you are underestimating how fast a decision tree could multiply in space-mining conditions.

You don’t mine the rock with the robot – you just go get it.

How large can a decision tree get to throw a plastic net around the sucker and start slowly towing it?
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

This reminds me, of course, of “The Big Goodbye”. If Satori is just a part of Suzerain, she won’t make it out. If, as many have suspected, she’s “something else” that has been trapped in Suzerain, she may come out looking like something none of us have yet imagined.

I know what I’d like to see, but, uh, ah…

Oh hqiz, never mind.
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

…Not only is she blackening at least in part, but the part of the portal she’s plunging toward is pitch-black, too. Is this because of pyroclastic flow-induced flame in Roger’s room, or is it something more ominous, like the Smoke Demon that turned Oognat into Teau-Teau?
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@The Old Wolf said, 2 minutes ago

I know what I’d like to see, but, uh, ah…

DOWN boy, DOWN!
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@Sisyphos said, less than a minute ago

Is this because of pyroclastic flow-induced flame in Roger’s room,

Whoa – say that three times fast!
♠Lonewolf♠ said, 2 months ago

I do like the awesome artwork and I am researching the story-arcs to see if I can catch up!!
Gweedo Murray said, 2 months ago

UncaAlby said, 4 wags ago

@The Old Wolf said, 2 minutes ago

I know what I’d like to see, but, uh, ah…

DOWN boy, DOWN!
.
That tail is wagging awful hard. Wait ! Do humans even have a tail ?
.
The fairport, Alby debate is fascinating. A real time decision tree at work.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

Speaking of artificial intelligence: True sentience is probably centuries beyond us. For one thing, for all our studies, we don’t understand the fundamental nature of consciousness.

Why, for example, do people who survived hydroencephalitis as kids usually have average or higher IQ’s, some with only a very thin shell of brain left? Why do some with minor injuries to the brain come off unscathed and others develop severe problems like amnesia or lose the function of a limb?

While evolutionists talk about brain size, in practice, it doesn’t seem to matter. Why does a horse, with more chromosomes and a larger brain mass than a chimp, seem to have less intelligence? Or a tiny dog be just as smart or dumb as a large one? Or two dogs of equal brain size and one is smart and the other is dumb.

Every one of the ten billion neurons in the human brain is hooked into dozens to hundreds of other neurons, both chemically and electrically, each dendrite-axon pair sending many, many messages at once. (Which is why drugs like LSD should scare the heck out of people because it can and occasionally has permanently messed up the neurotransmitters in people’s brains).

When someone blithely says our computers will get to that complexity soon, it’s almost a joke as we have two main types of computing- linear and parallel. Neither even remotely reaches the complexity of what goes on in an organic brain.
Margueritem said, 2 months ago

Hi, Terry. You’re doing it the right way.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

Never head of Flame-broiled Eggs. Wonder if that is a new breakfast food.
waycyber said, 2 months ago

It’s Bouncing Day
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

As in Tee Eye Double-Guh- RRR Spelling Tigger?
waycyber said, 2 months ago

Sartori in a state of un-de-rez
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

BC’s explanation of how the Wolf got it’s name:
http://tinyurl.com/ll3uau

they started the series on the wuff yesterday.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

Captain! We have a transporter error! Something tried to beam up and it’s… er… a pile of ones and zeros…
Saskfan said, 2 months ago

Risitas said, about 11 yards ago, yesterday:
Definitely, American-style football & English-style rugby are the roughest team sports for an individual to play.

Anyone care to differ???

Yup: Australian rules football. Rugby players eat their dead; I suspect without evidence, that AFL players eat Rugby players for breakfast. American (and Canadian) football is for wusses in comparison.
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 2 months ago

Cannibalism among football players?
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

@waycyber Oh! Ah! Bad! Splut!

(This, by the way, is to be interpreted as high praise).
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

@Nab Wow, I didn’t know wolves had cheek pockets like that… funny stuff!
waycyber said, 2 months ago

Will we witness sartorial elegance?
The Old Wolf said, 2 months ago

@saskfan From what I’ve seen, Gaelic football matches the Ozzie variety for sheer brutality…
waycyber said, 2 months ago

Garlic football - like Gaelic football but all the teams stink!!
mjolnir 9 said, 2 months ago

I’ll bring Snacks later, but for now, to get thoroughly pixilated along with Satori, let’s have a few rounds of:

Satori Cosmos!
(A ‘saketini’ version of the ‘Cosmopolitan’)

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 oz Sake

3/4 oz Triple Sec

1 oz (fresh) Lime Juice

3/4 oz Cranberry Juice

DIRECTIONS
Pour the sake, triple sec, cranberry juice and lime juice into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

While it has a much lower alcohol content than your ordinary ‘Cosmo’, the Satori Cosmo should nonetheless treated with respect and consumed in moderation. Overindulgence can cause Zen moments of revelation and enlightenment, which unfortunately mainly consist of hallucinatory visions, in which you see naked women with swords, careening madly from one universe to another…
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

Interestingly (?), I have a fanatical rugby follower-friend in New Mexico, and an Aussie Rules (team-specific) fan-friend in The Land Down Under, who frequently post about their respective preferences on a social networking site….

(EDIT: corrected state name.)
Saskfan said, 2 months ago

Risitas: US and Canadian football players TALK about killing each other, and yes, they do hit very hard. But when they actually manage to break the other player, all thoughts of competition go out the window. I saw (a long time ago) a TV clip of someone’s lower leg bones at a 45 degree angle as he was tackled, and after they landed, the tackler levitated off him while screaming for assistance. They don’t really want to hurt each other; it’s all testosterone.

On the other hand, I’ve watched an Aussie Rules footie game where one player accidentally gave his team-mate a concussion. The unconscious player was removed on a stretcher, WHILE PLAY CONTINUED around them.
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago

How many days will Honorable Master let the Egg sibs hang fire whilst other performers work their respective magics? All week? We could still look in on Geoff and Pib and Maurice, or on the Game Show Manikins of the ladies, or Oognat/Teau-Teau, or even Igor and (unseen) Mom Egg [the latter, perhaps, doing her best imitation of KalahariNight, trying to extinguish the pyroclastic flow]….
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

Talking about intelligence, and how much we know or don’t know about it – –

I recall seeing one show which demonstrated a little “intelligent” robot that was able to seek out any light source.

It’s “intelligence” consisted of wiring a solar collector on the left side to the drive wheel on the right side, and vice-versa.

So what this did was, when the light came from the left, the collector on the left got more light, creating more juice, which made the wheel on the right spin faster, which would turn the robot to the left – until the left and right sides equalized.

What’s more, you could put obstacles in its way. When it drove into a shadow, it automatically turned in whatever direction was brighter. It could actually maneuver successfully around several obstacles placed in its way.

And the really weird thing about it is this – we know that the mechanism is about as simple-minded as you could ask – but it’s behavior looked intelligent!

(After I saw that, I happened to think – our eyes are cross-wired – the left eye into the right side of the brain – hmmmmmm)

Imagine a system where every conceivable question and ordering of questions is written down, and an answer thought up for it. All the computer does is match your question to its database, looks up the answer, and gives it to you. It’s about as simple-minded as can be – very extensive database, of course – but it would seem intelligent. With a sufficiently large database of question-answer pairs and combinations, this simple-minded construct could, in theory, pass the Turing Test for Artificial Intelligence.

I also remember some time ago some links to how “smart” is a simple house-fly. When you try to swat it, it sees your hand coming from a direction, and “smartly” jumps in the opposite direction. What if that’s simply a wired reflex? The fly sees – something – coming from a certain direction, and that certain direction wired into a certain foot that, when sprung, will just happen to launch the fly in the direction most likely to avoid the something coming at it.

Clearly such a mechanism, simple as it might be, would have a survival benefit.

People look at its amazing reaction time and precision jumping and compare it to humans, but they don’t stop to think that, one, humans see something, then analyze it. Is that a threat? Is it food? Is is a beautiful member of the opposite sex? Hmm? Oh, it’s a threat. Now, do we fight? Or run? This takes time.

Then two, we have miles of neurons that have to fire, even after a decision has been made, before our bodies can start moving in our decided direction. The fly has only got mere millimeters to traverse.

So the fly’s “amazing” feats may in fact be very simple-minded.

So, you might ask, what’s the point of all this rant?

I dunno.
ejcapulet said, 2 months ago

Thank Heaven! The couch! (Kisses floor - avoiding the nuclear coffee spill). I just spent the last week moving. If I try to describe it in any detail, I’ll get myself flagged. Suffice it for me to say that it wasn’t fun.
UncaAlby said, 2 months ago

@ejcapulet the best way to move is to buy/rent a new place, leave everything that’s not personal behind (you know, take your diplomas and family pictures and stuff), and everything else buy new for the new place.

After all, no matter how heavy it is, when you buy it new, they’ll deliver it!

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About Pibgorn

A fantastic saga of adventure both high and low, of forbidden passion and iambic pentameter, of fays, fools, organists, demons, accordions, heaven, hell and Shakespeare, Pibgorn follows the whims and flights of its eponymous fairy heroine as she plies her conviction that there must be more to life than depositing dew drops on dandelions and sleeping under mushrooms.

© 2009 Brooke McEldowney - All Rights Reserved.