The old phrase, “You’re Never Alone” is supposedly comforting, right?
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Posts Tagged hubris
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Why teddy bears, anyhow? I mean, I’ve heard the stories about Roosevelt and whatever, but… Bears. Man, those things are dangerous!
I got one of those audiobooks of the year’s best science fiction. It had a story in it I liked a lot. Now that I look at this cartoon, I think I liked it more than I realized.
In it, a computer programmer had given her sister a beta-version language translation software suite that was ramped up to account for the fact that her sister communicated in a couple of different Sign Languages. The software would translate sign, and whatever other languages it could recognize, or learn, and display a CGI avatar of the person with a synth voice as though it were speaking American English aloud.
All well and good until, through a series of domestic vagaries, the woman’s daughter finds herself going through interminable conversations with someone while the computer flounders to understand the language of the caller involved. The avatar would repeat “Hello” and “I’m hungry”, but the caller never seemed to understand the responses.
Finally over days, the computer breaks the language and conversations get a little better. And, in the end, as you’ve possibly guessed, the avatar had been randomly assigned to a pet crow. The augmented and advanced language software worked like crazy to understand and translate a language, but the avatar imaging software was only concerned with making lips match American English words, and didn’t have a setting for ‘non-human’ face.
Good story.
Welcome back, Mr. Stuffins!
I’m on that No Call list, but I don’t think that “Bill from Microsoft” (I don’t think his name is really Bill.) has access to that list. Him, or that robot lady who keeps calling saying that she’s with my credit card company. Robot ladies apparently don’t know the name of my actual credit card company.
I can see how architects and interior designers would really like the opportunity to just noodle around on rooms as though they had all the time in the world.
That first panel was kinda fun.
Adjectives that don’t quite fit the nouns are great, aren’t they? “That’s a nice mob they have there…” or “That’s not a vicious mob! That’s a nice mob!” Very fun.
“Last Year’s ‘Fest” is a subjective time frame. It’s “last year” in comic strip/comic book/soap opera time. In real world time? We got old.
I trust that no one is worried that I’m trying to belittle any group’s efforts at social advocacy with this cartoon.
Except the Flat Earthers. That group worries me a little.
I like me some physics.
For anyone who doesn’t get Patreon emails- The packs for new patrons went out. And for all the patrons that have been around for a while- the ‘Season’s Greetings’ packs are, well, late, but on their way.
Yes, that includes the ones to France and Canada! That doesn’t yet include the one to the UK. It’s ready to go, but you’re gonna have to straighten out whatever issue Patreon has with ya- sorry about that.
And if you DON’T get the Patreon update emails, by golly, go click a button and get them.
And if you’re not a Patron through Patreon, by golly, think about it. If everyone who reads Hubris ponied up a buck a month, I’d be forced to add another day’s cartoon every week. And, probably, re-think how to fit everything into my schedule. It’s getting crazy ’round here.
