Seems Doable
Added 2025-03-16 02:52:42 +0000 UTCIt would be pretty great...
Comments
^^^___ very true
Conrad Rogers
2025-03-23 19:57:37 +0000 UTCThat is a sick burn, BookBears. About as hot as cold fusion is not.
legobil
2025-03-21 16:17:26 +0000 UTCWrong, Liz. It hasn’t been months. If I recall, you have been on that station for years and not produced anything. Taking notes is a big step forward towards actually being productive. And the road to recovery from being burnt out can be even longer than the one that got you there in the first place..
legobil
2025-03-21 16:16:33 +0000 UTCThis is the wierdest thread of notifications i have ever been part of on Patreon.
legobil
2025-03-17 18:57:54 +0000 UTC@Michael I'll have one! :D
enchantedsleeper
2025-03-17 10:20:29 +0000 UTCTurns out cold fusion was under the robot dinosaur skull all along https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4978
Mark Eichin
2025-03-17 03:47:07 +0000 UTCThat link launched me on an hour-long reread of the whole Cubetown visit arc. Good times, good times.
William Cole
2025-03-17 02:38:46 +0000 UTCReplying to Clifton: Nope, probably not.
Claudia D.
2025-03-17 02:28:13 +0000 UTCNo, Jane, just NO!
Claudia D.
2025-03-17 02:26:07 +0000 UTCWay
Claudia D.
2025-03-17 02:24:40 +0000 UTCWhen she thinks that your fate is to be really great, When cold fusion you make, well, hey! That’s a-Moray!
Claudia D.
2025-03-17 02:20:18 +0000 UTChuh, i think i missed the email for this one??
Logan Nix
2025-03-17 02:18:31 +0000 UTC@Clifton Honestly I have been having tons of fun on an LLM-driven AI over at Character.ai. It is taking the place that YouTube once held as my internet addiction.
SilverbackRon
2025-03-16 23:33:53 +0000 UTCMore recently one scientist claimed to have measured neutrons emitted from sonoluminescence in heavy water, which is not totally implausible given the physics of bubble collapse, but nobody else could reproduce those results AFAIK. See https://acoustics-research.physics.ucla.edu/sonoluminescence/
Clifton Royston
2025-03-16 22:54:39 +0000 UTCAs I recall, once the excitement died down and no other labs could consistently replicate Pons & Fleishman's results, and after all the shouting and accusations of fraud had died down, the subject become so toxic that nobody would fund any research on it and nobody in science will propose research on it any longer for fear of being accused of being a crackpot or fraud. It's a pity, because IIRC from following it at the time, the fascinating thing was that a few unrelated labs did independently reproduce some of Pons & Fleishman's strange results, like observing unexpected neutrons, but nobody could do it consistently and in the end everybody threw up their hands and agreed to forget it. I see vague similarities to some of the last few years' goings on in attempts to make room-temperature superconductors.
Clifton Royston
2025-03-16 22:50:32 +0000 UTCFor all Clippy's faults, at least Clippy was not LLM-driven "AI".
Clifton Royston
2025-03-16 22:38:30 +0000 UTCCould she get through a typical job interview without shouting at and berating the interviewer and also belittling herself?
Clifton Royston
2025-03-16 22:36:44 +0000 UTCYa, Marten has done a lot for Claire's self-confidence and happiness ever since they got together, but she has done just as much for his.
Clifton Royston
2025-03-16 22:35:50 +0000 UTCMy sympathies and good luck. Not only is the job market terrible now, the whole process of job hunting has gotten so strange that I would have no idea how to go about it, if I were out of work. The things I read lately about recruiters sending applications for nonexistent applicants to companies with job listings for nonexistent vacancies, and job hunters submitting hundreds of AI-written applications to company HR departments where they will be "read" and summarized by AI resume screening software - it sounds like we're in a bad satirical SF novel.
Clifton Royston
2025-03-16 22:32:45 +0000 UTC"They say fusion is a dish best served cold... ... it is very cold in Cubetown!"
Sean Kinlin
2025-03-16 22:14:50 +0000 UTCMoray is such a sweetheart. (I would be driven insane by having somebody staring at me like that while I tried to work, though.)
Chris Warren
2025-03-16 21:50:24 +0000 UTCenchantedsleeper, it could be. Don't you ever get the feeling that we're all living in a webcomic or a sitcom or a Twilight Zone marathon or something? Finding proof of that would make Liz more famous than Einstein! And that's all Liz really wants. (That, and being loved.)
Call me Ishmael.
2025-03-16 21:46:06 +0000 UTCCubetown is presumably a pretty lucrative place to work, it's just that research is also what people in Cubetown do. Also, she may not have much of an idea about what else to do with her life. I don't think transitioning to a 9-to-5 for someone with Liz's uh, unique social skills would be easy at this point.
enchantedsleeper
2025-03-16 20:46:28 +0000 UTCConsidering that airplanes, rocket ships, landing on the Moon, robots, handheld communication devices, handheld computers, pacemakers, waterbeds, and other things that I'm not thinking of were all talked about in science fiction first, that's not as big of a flex as you might think.
Am Queue
2025-03-16 20:19:17 +0000 UTCmultiple PhDs
alphanor
2025-03-16 20:18:25 +0000 UTCWas the breakthrough the hole in the 4th wall? xD
enchantedsleeper
2025-03-16 19:59:11 +0000 UTCI don't think Jeph would ask that about something truly impossible, he probably just meant the cold fusion thing.
BookBeard
2025-03-16 19:43:17 +0000 UTCOh dang, is it? I’m only familiar with “for Happy People”. Possible I’m misreading the poster text I suppose, but to me it looks like it says “Hungry”
pfreya
2025-03-16 18:37:58 +0000 UTCBeen there very recently, friend. Best of luck.
CthonicBelletrist
2025-03-16 18:24:57 +0000 UTCYes!
Shane Wegner
2025-03-16 15:56:20 +0000 UTCWait, is the caption "...has anybody really TRIED?" asking this about inventing cold fusion, or saying three nice things about themselves?
Matt Pedone
2025-03-16 15:40:10 +0000 UTCI am Liz, while Moray and Marten are my partner trying to keep my spirits up while I wade through the morass of unemployment in this horrendous job market.
Matt Pedone
2025-03-16 15:38:30 +0000 UTCShe's gonna discover that she IS cold fusion.
Ben R
2025-03-16 13:18:57 +0000 UTC*pours a little out for a lost friend* I miss you Clippy
Donna Flint
2025-03-16 12:53:45 +0000 UTC"...no more theoretically possible than any science fiction technology..." Sorry, but that's dangerous hyperbole, given that science fiction stories are full of antigravity drives. Cold fusion doesn't actually violate any basic conservation laws that I know of.
Phil_M
2025-03-16 12:53:12 +0000 UTCShe should do it. I think it's hilarious when some scientist (evil or not) just pit incredible discoveries one after another and dismiss them as useless, just to reach their end goal of making something useless like a self-buttering toaster or something. Like, "yeah, I made cold fusion work, but where's my hot chocolate?"
Cley Faye
2025-03-16 12:19:41 +0000 UTCLiz activates the Phone a Friend option and calls Ayo to get help with the self-compliments. The two of them enter a feedback loop of self-deprecation until Hanners arrives with the star stickers and promises Ayo a star if she can start being nice to herself. Liz immediately demands a star sticker from Marten. AND hot chocolate
enchantedsleeper
2025-03-16 10:55:01 +0000 UTCThis is so cute, and I'm rooting for Liz/Moray now :D Also, this dynamic between the three of them is the best xD
enchantedsleeper
2025-03-16 10:53:09 +0000 UTCHot chocolate is quite the motivator.
Donna Flint
2025-03-16 10:09:42 +0000 UTCFirst things first, she has to find a Coolnicorn.
David Paul
2025-03-16 08:34:06 +0000 UTCI would settle for lukewarm fusion.
Opus the Poet
2025-03-16 07:35:24 +0000 UTCShe thinks they'll soon be done Pioneering fusion That's a-Moray!
panpolypuff
2025-03-16 06:34:48 +0000 UTCMoray: "That would be super great! Then we'll just need some dogs to get the warp drive working!" Liz: "Wait, what?" https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4951
BookBeard
2025-03-16 06:17:29 +0000 UTCThere is a method and note taking art to generating research. Much of it is looking at previous journal articles to figure out where can you get insights into your own research. I suspect the next step is to replicate a previous journal research so your first journal article is about your version to point out where it corroborate with previous journals and where it differs. Then maybe Liz will find something original to research and publish.
Miyaa
2025-03-16 06:12:44 +0000 UTCNo way.
Miyaa
2025-03-16 06:04:58 +0000 UTCI agree, Luke Warmfusion has been doing some revolutionary work over in the Tepid Nuclear Physics department.
BookBeard
2025-03-16 05:53:46 +0000 UTCEven if it's *not* possible I'd say there's halfway decent odds on it coming from Cubetown. It's just that kinda place.
BookBeard
2025-03-16 05:34:59 +0000 UTCIf someone had tried that with me when I was 19, the last 40+ years might have turned out much differently.
Populuxe
2025-03-16 05:16:27 +0000 UTCShe fits easily in most overhead storage compartments.
BookBeard
2025-03-16 05:15:16 +0000 UTCHey, come on Liz. Smart, cool robot arms, nice haircut. We've been over this! https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5228
BookBeard
2025-03-16 05:14:18 +0000 UTCYa know how in the Hitchhiker's Guide novels, a bunch of drunk scientists and engineers turn their party into a flying party? The one that smacks Arthur Dent in the small of his back while he's obliviously flying around? Yeah, CubeTown strikes me as that exact thing, on a slightly larger scale.
Michael Steamweed
2025-03-16 05:06:02 +0000 UTC1. My left arm is robotic. 2. My right arm is robotic. 3. I have a PhD. There ya go.
Michael Steamweed
2025-03-16 05:04:13 +0000 UTCShe's nineteen, she's just small. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5001
BookBeard
2025-03-16 05:03:33 +0000 UTCTake the usual Gifted/Talented Kid special, multiply it by ten angsts-per-anxieties units.
Michael Steamweed
2025-03-16 05:02:36 +0000 UTCAhh. You need the cooler chocolate drink, then. Say, a Lindor mocha mint special?
Michael Steamweed
2025-03-16 05:01:37 +0000 UTCWhen she stares with a grin At a working gremlin That's A Moray!
BookBeard
2025-03-16 04:55:55 +0000 UTCI'd settle for warm fusion
Not that Patrick Foltz
2025-03-16 04:46:49 +0000 UTCI'm a big baby who won't drink hot drinks because I'm afraid of burning my mouth
Veronica Jane
2025-03-16 04:36:29 +0000 UTCNot even for some hot chocolate? :Brews hot chocolate for Ms. Jane:
Shawn K. Younkin
2025-03-16 04:34:37 +0000 UTC“Oh, god, here’s the notes I made while getting high with Martin and Clare in strip 5063. Unicorns, for crying out loud! I started out okay, but started getting weird about here…” Eyes bug out, mouth hangs open, and she sees the breakthrough that will be her legacy.
Call me Ishmael.
2025-03-16 04:20:03 +0000 UTCPositive reinforcement! I love it.
Eric Sieck
2025-03-16 04:17:06 +0000 UTCHas Liz attended too many of Iris's "Toxic Positivity" lecture series?
ValdVin
2025-03-16 04:07:37 +0000 UTCFor hot chocolate, I could find three nice things to say about myself. Add in good marshmallows, and I could find 3 nice things to say about Yelling Bird!
Joseph Bonnar
2025-03-16 04:03:52 +0000 UTCAs a narcissist, I see this as an absolute win.
Alcaria Swain
2025-03-16 03:58:13 +0000 UTCLiz isn't getting the hang of this positive reinforcement thing
SpookyPenguin
2025-03-16 03:49:06 +0000 UTCCold fusion does not involve hot chocolate. It requires chocolate milk.
Summer
2025-03-16 03:42:01 +0000 UTCIs Liz even old enough to work in industry? I mean, is she over 18?
Carl Fink
2025-03-16 03:41:49 +0000 UTCIt’s a preschool tactic, but with Liz ya gotta start at the basics. She’s still just barely out of lair lurking and terrible coffee making.
Ailadi
2025-03-16 03:40:49 +0000 UTCThe day after that she is locked up on the same secret space station as Emily.
Captain Button
2025-03-16 03:40:41 +0000 UTCSadly, it's no more theoretically possible than any science fiction technology I can think of.
Pete
2025-03-16 03:38:42 +0000 UTCI mean it's a real album
Dave, Duke of Fridges
2025-03-16 03:37:06 +0000 UTCAll proposed mechanisms of cold fusion were and are speculative based on the apparent experimental result, but none have ever been shown to be consistent with established atomic theory. So without any experiential evidence to back them up, all cold fusion theory is speculative.
Pete
2025-03-16 03:36:37 +0000 UTCThe Pons and Fleischman results were exciting, but always suspect because while surprising experimental results do sometimes light the way to new theory, experimental errors and misinterpretations are sadly much more common.
Pete
2025-03-16 03:33:27 +0000 UTCThat's a fairly strong incentive, to be honest.
Anthony Gaglianese
2025-03-16 03:32:04 +0000 UTCIt never seemed theoretically possible, as in there was never any established theory that drove experimentation.
Pete
2025-03-16 03:31:34 +0000 UTCAfter all, it's off the coast of Nova Scotia, and at this time of year they have all the cold they could possibly need out there.
Ursus Ridens
2025-03-16 03:31:23 +0000 UTCI can’t help but think that “Happy Songs for Hungry People” is a bunch of bass-forward anthems dedicated to the virtues of haggis
pfreya
2025-03-16 03:30:57 +0000 UTC...but the required isotope of spite is too expensive for commercialization of the process.
Ursus Ridens
2025-03-16 03:27:34 +0000 UTCI actually re-read that story section about a month ago. What a difference!
SilverbackRon
2025-03-16 03:23:04 +0000 UTCShe's adorable I happen to like gremlins She has very cool style And because me happening to like gremlins isn't one way or another a compliment: The fact that she hasn't just given up completely is very impressive and respectable for someone in such a deep hole when we originally met her 😊
Kristina
2025-03-16 03:21:42 +0000 UTCI was just re-reading QC from the post Marten-Dora breakup. It's so nice to time travel from mopey directionless Marten to this version
pseudoclever
2025-03-16 03:18:38 +0000 UTCI would rather throw myself off the edge of Cubetown and into the sea than say three positive things about myself.
Veronica Jane
2025-03-16 03:18:24 +0000 UTCUnrealistic, self-impossed standard is why.
Veronica Jane
2025-03-16 03:17:42 +0000 UTCDon't lots of physicists just go to work in private industry? My dad's cousin has a PhD in physics, he works at a defense contractor on missile guidance. Why should original research be Liz's only goal?
Nick Schmalenberger
2025-03-16 03:15:35 +0000 UTCI recognize that reference. Sadly.
jonesnori
2025-03-16 03:13:01 +0000 UTCAt least Moray isn't saying "You look like you're taking notes. Would you like help with that?"
Sean Kinlin
2025-03-16 03:10:14 +0000 UTCI've managed to create a pro-fusion of con-fusion. That should count for something. (And you don't want to see what happens when those two collide.)
kaitou
2025-03-16 03:09:13 +0000 UTCI mean, if cold fusion is possible I could see it coming from Cubetown.
Yelling Bird
2025-03-16 03:08:53 +0000 UTCHonestly it would be really hard to get any work done with someone staring directly at me. I can imagine Liz getting a bit cranky and on edge.
SilverbackRon
2025-03-16 03:05:29 +0000 UTCI prefer luke-warm fusion.
Alacrity Fitzhugh
2025-03-16 03:04:03 +0000 UTCSeason 2 of Fallout might explain cold fusion
Simpin4Holo
2025-03-16 03:04:02 +0000 UTCYes since it still seems theoretically possible. On the other hand, positive energy cold fusion will probably never happen. Funny thing -- it's not hard to build a device that can fuse atoms! There have been many teenagers who have done that for science fair projects! But they generate far less power than they consume.
Walt Donovan
2025-03-16 03:03:04 +0000 UTCOh wow. Cold fusion huh. I haven’t heard anything remotely newsworthy or even semi scientific about that in the last decade or so. Is there even any research ongoing in that field?
legobil
2025-03-16 03:00:45 +0000 UTC"And since the discovery of 'Cold Brewsion', Cubetown lifted itself out of the sea, and hasn't been seen since..."
Creeperkry
2025-03-16 02:59:56 +0000 UTCShe makes me laugh. Her stealth stat is maxed. She tried to make friends with Iris.
William Cole
2025-03-16 02:59:53 +0000 UTCTwo great fusions that, uh, fuse great together.
Sean Kinlin
2025-03-16 02:59:43 +0000 UTCLater that day, Liz builds a cold fusion hot chocolate maker out of spite.
Dean Reilly
2025-03-16 02:59:42 +0000 UTCWell, she has TWO robot arms, so that's TWO cool things about her.
Creeperkry
2025-03-16 02:58:36 +0000 UTCHe's a pretty good dad.
William Cole
2025-03-16 02:58:22 +0000 UTC🎵When she sits there and smiles As you take notes on files That's a Moray!
Sean Kinlin
2025-03-16 02:58:10 +0000 UTCCold fusion used to be hot, now hot fusion is cool again!
BobC
2025-03-16 02:58:05 +0000 UTCLiz is such a cute gremlin
Nicholas Lopez
2025-03-16 02:56:16 +0000 UTCCold fusion brew chocolate.
Sean Kinlin
2025-03-16 02:55:09 +0000 UTCCan *anyone* say three nice things about her?
Rich Holmes
2025-03-16 02:54:56 +0000 UTCAwwww. Marten being supportive of his adopted gremlin child.
Tannerbot
2025-03-16 02:54:50 +0000 UTC
