“I have teh internet! That makes me worldly and knowledgeable about everything, ESPECIALLY what I’ve never remotely personally experienced!” – too many people
I work in IT and am literally paid to google stuff half the time.
The other half is StackOverflow.
Marsh Maryrose
I believe what you meant to say is that you are paid to maximally leverage crowdsourced solutions. Or at least, that’s what you would say in the pay equity review.
Doctor_Who
You’re right. Google and SA make up only a combined 95% of what I do.
The other 5% is bullshit.
Reltzik
…. but you can google bullshit.
Clif
No, the ability to convincingly bullshit on demand is a highly valuable skill in almost any profession and the college courses that foster and provide practice in this ability are worth their weight.
Clif
But add to that a modicum of Google-fu and the ability to pick up things on the fly and you’ll go far in life.
Chris Phoenix
Computer Science grad, here. All my classes taught the opposite. Which classes teach how to bullshit on demand? It does sound useful.
BarerMender
Any class with essay questions on the test.
Yet_One_More_Idiot
So, my degree in maths wasn’t useful for teaching me how to bullshit on demand then? That figures. xD
anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Pretty much all under the Humanities Banner.
Yes even the intro to computers.
Some of us techies took it as an easy bird course and ended up teaching the class AND the instructor assigned to teach it. She tried to give us failing grades right off the bat.
Consternation and a short walk to the Technical Programs Deans office fixed that little runaway ego right quick.
Between the three of us we covered all the shortcuts and hotkeys one actually needed to be productive in front of a computer terminal PLUS we actually knew how the damn things work so we learned how to translate what we knew into something arts/business students could understand.
Sadly the admins pulled the course from the approved list for those in the technical program thereafter.
Such fragile egos pushing personal opinion as facts to be parroted.
Sunny
Bunch of fertilizer websites.
Needfuldoer
Google is tech support’s friend, but it feels like half the “answer” threads I find fall into three categories:
– Many replies, no closure from the OP as to which solution fixed it. No posted solutions work for me.
– OP just posts “never mind guys I fixed it” and the thread falls into obscurity.
– There’s only one reply, and it’s someone else asking for help with the same problem.
It’s even worse with some of the professional video production equipment I support. I wish there was a StackOverflow for this stuff, information is so thin on the ground.
It is the same for a number of other industries.
I find that manufacturers go out of their way to purge the net of any useful information, especially on legacy products.
I have a reputation for knowing stuff and knowing how to find out. Even people who know I often just Google it have told me I’m better at web searches than they are.
The writers were SO ANGRY at that joke. In an interview one of them said “I hated that joke so much… not because of the joke but because I didn’t write it. The funniest thing I’ve ever heard and he improv’d it”
Clif
And I think another cultural reference just went over my head.
I dunno about idle hands, but withdrawal fucking sucks and I didn’t have anywhere near as bad as Billie when I went off my seizure meds. I don’t even wanna imagine.
Hazel
D: I’m glad it wasn’t as bad as Billie’s at least?
BBCC
Yeah, mine was mostly headaches, irritableness, having a hard time sleeping, and forgetfulness (that last one’s not uncommon with the kind of medication). Not the worst thing in the world, but there were days it was not fun to live with me that year.
Inahc
When I went off my migraine meds a bit too fast, I somehow thought a pain in my chest was a broken rib, and then had trouble getting to the doctor because I couldn’t make sense of the buses. Even after we slowed down the tapering it was still bizarre, and the final month was just a weird blur I didn’t clearly remember at all.
BBCC
That sucks. Can med withdrawals just fucking not?
Wafflebob
Billie is in the easy stages. Alcohol withdrawal doesn’t get bad until after hour 12. The tremors and seizures can be controlled pretty well in a professional environment. The hallucinations are where it gets weird.
Joyce can return to her happy go lucky self even after questioning the existence of god and the morality of her parents. Now she just need to respect the private space of others.
It’s not. I guess it is a joke. Caffeine withdrawal can give you a headache and make you tired for a day but that’s it. And you have to drink quite some amount of coffee or be extra sensitive to notice it.
Your coffee genes must be way stronger than mine, if your withdrawals only last a day.
Myth
It is probably a joke, since alcohol withdrawal can be fatal (meaning it is objectively worse), but caffeine withdrawal actually can be quite bad. And it does not necessarily require a high amount of caffeine. The length of addiction matters tooIf someone is drinking alcohol on a daily basis, always has at least some amount of alcohol in their system 24/7, that is very severe alcoholism. But for caffeine users? Quite normal. Some people have multiple cups of coffee a day, every single day, for years and years. It’s a perception thing. Very few people would view constant coffee use as a problematic behavior, while constant alcohol/drug/tobacco abuse is EASILY identified as substance abuse/addiction by the average person. People actually brag about coffee addiction! I personally own a shirt that says “Well Dressed and Coffee Obsessed” on it, though I don’t actually drink coffee – my caffeinated poison of choice is actually soda.
Depends on your consumption level. If you don’t drink much, say a cup or two of coffee or a liter of pepsi a day it will be just mild sleepiness, headache, some irritability. But if you are a heavy drinker… I once tried to quit cold turkey after consuming lots of caffeine I was having real difficulty not falling asleep and no amount of naps helped, I literally felt half-dead.
TheWanderingMist
I used to drink way too much pop, like 3 Mountains Dew a day or so (internal pluralization for extra English credit). Not as bad as coffee addicts with their ridiculous amounts of the devil’s drink, but still bad. Managed to get off the habit by giving up pop entirely for Lent. Which also lowered my fast food consumption along with it, so now I don’t spend nearly as much money and can actually save quite decently. Luckily for me, I didn’t get the backlash other caffeine addicts get since caffeine never really stimulated me all that much.
I’m kind of proud of Joyce for connecting the dots. Like, it’s pretty obvious and almost spelled out, but I feel like she might not have been taught much about alcohol withdrawal even being a thing? As ultimately unhelpful as she’s being here, I find her cute in this strip.
I have never been anything more than tipsy in my life, but I feel like I’d react a lot like Billie here. (I say that even though I love and relate to Joyce a lot. Also, good on her for figuring out it’s withdrawal way quicker than I would’ve.)
The funny thing is it’s clearly the logo of the Cedar Valley Roller Derby of Waterloo, IA. No in-comic explanation. I assume Willis just liked the logo and put it in, but who knows, maybe Malaya is a huge Cedar Valley fan.
134 thoughts on “Uncharacteristically”
Ana Chronistic
“I have teh internet! That makes me worldly and knowledgeable about everything, ESPECIALLY what I’ve never remotely personally experienced!” – too many people
GoblinScribe
Every dude who hears someone has a problem—”Ah, yes, I will solve this for you with my unique expertise. *Runs to Google*”
Doctor_Who
I work in IT and am literally paid to google stuff half the time.
The other half is StackOverflow.
Marsh Maryrose
I believe what you meant to say is that you are paid to maximally leverage crowdsourced solutions. Or at least, that’s what you would say in the pay equity review.
Doctor_Who
You’re right. Google and SA make up only a combined 95% of what I do.
The other 5% is bullshit.
Reltzik
…. but you can google bullshit.
Clif
No, the ability to convincingly bullshit on demand is a highly valuable skill in almost any profession and the college courses that foster and provide practice in this ability are worth their weight.
Clif
But add to that a modicum of Google-fu and the ability to pick up things on the fly and you’ll go far in life.
Chris Phoenix
Computer Science grad, here. All my classes taught the opposite. Which classes teach how to bullshit on demand? It does sound useful.
BarerMender
Any class with essay questions on the test.
Yet_One_More_Idiot
So, my degree in maths wasn’t useful for teaching me how to bullshit on demand then? That figures. xD
anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Pretty much all under the Humanities Banner.
Yes even the intro to computers.
Some of us techies took it as an easy bird course and ended up teaching the class AND the instructor assigned to teach it. She tried to give us failing grades right off the bat.
Consternation and a short walk to the Technical Programs Deans office fixed that little runaway ego right quick.
Between the three of us we covered all the shortcuts and hotkeys one actually needed to be productive in front of a computer terminal PLUS we actually knew how the damn things work so we learned how to translate what we knew into something arts/business students could understand.
Sadly the admins pulled the course from the approved list for those in the technical program thereafter.
Such fragile egos pushing personal opinion as facts to be parroted.
Sunny
Bunch of fertilizer websites.
Needfuldoer
Google is tech support’s friend, but it feels like half the “answer” threads I find fall into three categories:
– Many replies, no closure from the OP as to which solution fixed it. No posted solutions work for me.
– OP just posts “never mind guys I fixed it” and the thread falls into obscurity.
– There’s only one reply, and it’s someone else asking for help with the same problem.
It’s even worse with some of the professional video production equipment I support. I wish there was a StackOverflow for this stuff, information is so thin on the ground.
Tan
https://xkcd.com/979/
anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness
It is the same for a number of other industries.
I find that manufacturers go out of their way to purge the net of any useful information, especially on legacy products.
Tparadox
I have a reputation for knowing stuff and knowing how to find out. Even people who know I often just Google it have told me I’m better at web searches than they are.
Marsh Maryrose
New Nickelodeon reboot: “Joyce Googlesplains It All.”
Zero
Being able to use the internet to quickly learn things, or at least confirm things you’re unsure of, is a useful skill that not everybody has.
Billy probably didn’t need Joyce’s help with it, though.
C.
Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here and it says you could have network connectivity problems.
Mydnyt
The writers were SO ANGRY at that joke. In an interview one of them said “I hated that joke so much… not because of the joke but because I didn’t write it. The funniest thing I’ve ever heard and he improv’d it”
Clif
And I think another cultural reference just went over my head.
BarerMender
Join the club. I hardly get any of them.
Needfuldoer
It’s from an episode of Parks and Recreation.
BarerMender
I’ll use my context clues to divine that’s stupid TV bullshit.
Corey
You need to calm down dude
Deadjolras
yikes
Felgraf
https://youtu.be/LinpRhB4aWU?t=20 What they are referencing!
Clif
Thank you and Needfuldoer
ValdVin
Billie’s not so ill she can’t make a fist.
John
She’s still got a ways to go to catch up to Ruth, who threw an evil dad while in alcohol withdrawal.
Wafflebob
Not yet anyway
Tacos
Joyce. Not. Helping.
Doctor_Who
She’s training for her future career as an Alexa.
Stephen Bierce
*plays “You Be Illin'” on the hacked Muzak*
butts
boundaries
Bagge
“Thing that Joyce does not acknowledge”
Sunny
If she sticks with math she’ll have to eventually.
TemperaryObsessor
That’s not a good way to learn about boundaries because its not a good idea to get as close as humanly possible without touching someones boundaries.
Clif
Everyone should know their limits.
EvilMidnightLurker
Okay, Joyce. Think of Billie’s personal space as a steak, and you as mashed potatoes.
Mra
Withdrawal symptoms, at least this means she is actually trying this time.
BBCC
I said it before and I’ll say it again – withdrawal is the devil’s work.
John
Idle hands go into withdrawal?
BBCC
I dunno about idle hands, but withdrawal fucking sucks and I didn’t have anywhere near as bad as Billie when I went off my seizure meds. I don’t even wanna imagine.
Hazel
D: I’m glad it wasn’t as bad as Billie’s at least?
BBCC
Yeah, mine was mostly headaches, irritableness, having a hard time sleeping, and forgetfulness (that last one’s not uncommon with the kind of medication). Not the worst thing in the world, but there were days it was not fun to live with me that year.
Inahc
When I went off my migraine meds a bit too fast, I somehow thought a pain in my chest was a broken rib, and then had trouble getting to the doctor because I couldn’t make sense of the buses. Even after we slowed down the tapering it was still bizarre, and the final month was just a weird blur I didn’t clearly remember at all.
BBCC
That sucks. Can med withdrawals just fucking not?
Wafflebob
Billie is in the easy stages. Alcohol withdrawal doesn’t get bad until after hour 12. The tremors and seizures can be controlled pretty well in a professional environment. The hallucinations are where it gets weird.
abysswatcher1993
Joyce can return to her happy go lucky self even after questioning the existence of god and the morality of her parents. Now she just need to respect the private space of others.
Ron
Yeah. Baby steps.
Antonio Tyler
I’ve been here before, Billie. Not a good idea to quit alcohol cold turkey.
Still, not as bad as quitting coffee.
BBCC
Certainly not without a doctor supervising, it’s not.
Kyoulkoa
Is caffeine withdrawl crazy bad?
BarerMender
Severe headaches and irritability. More I don’t know.
Lensipensi
It’s not. I guess it is a joke. Caffeine withdrawal can give you a headache and make you tired for a day but that’s it. And you have to drink quite some amount of coffee or be extra sensitive to notice it.
Delicious Taffy
Your coffee genes must be way stronger than mine, if your withdrawals only last a day.
Myth
It is probably a joke, since alcohol withdrawal can be fatal (meaning it is objectively worse), but caffeine withdrawal actually can be quite bad. And it does not necessarily require a high amount of caffeine. The length of addiction matters tooIf someone is drinking alcohol on a daily basis, always has at least some amount of alcohol in their system 24/7, that is very severe alcoholism. But for caffeine users? Quite normal. Some people have multiple cups of coffee a day, every single day, for years and years. It’s a perception thing. Very few people would view constant coffee use as a problematic behavior, while constant alcohol/drug/tobacco abuse is EASILY identified as substance abuse/addiction by the average person. People actually brag about coffee addiction! I personally own a shirt that says “Well Dressed and Coffee Obsessed” on it, though I don’t actually drink coffee – my caffeinated poison of choice is actually soda.
Eldritch Gentleman
Depends on your consumption level. If you don’t drink much, say a cup or two of coffee or a liter of pepsi a day it will be just mild sleepiness, headache, some irritability. But if you are a heavy drinker… I once tried to quit cold turkey after consuming lots of caffeine I was having real difficulty not falling asleep and no amount of naps helped, I literally felt half-dead.
TheWanderingMist
I used to drink way too much pop, like 3 Mountains Dew a day or so (internal pluralization for extra English credit). Not as bad as coffee addicts with their ridiculous amounts of the devil’s drink, but still bad. Managed to get off the habit by giving up pop entirely for Lent. Which also lowered my fast food consumption along with it, so now I don’t spend nearly as much money and can actually save quite decently. Luckily for me, I didn’t get the backlash other caffeine addicts get since caffeine never really stimulated me all that much.
BBCC
Yeah, Billie is not in for a fun day. This is gonna suck.
At least Joyce and Ruth are trying to help.
Wafflebob
Several days, at least.
BBCC
Sure, but it’s gonna start with this being a not fun day.
asingleplum
ThJoyce should change her major to nursing. I think it would suit her.
thejeff
Would suit her instincts. And give her some training so her attempts to help might even be useful.
Yumi
I’m kind of proud of Joyce for connecting the dots. Like, it’s pretty obvious and almost spelled out, but I feel like she might not have been taught much about alcohol withdrawal even being a thing? As ultimately unhelpful as she’s being here, I find her cute in this strip.
ian livs
I have never been anything more than tipsy in my life, but I feel like I’d react a lot like Billie here. (I say that even though I love and relate to Joyce a lot. Also, good on her for figuring out it’s withdrawal way quicker than I would’ve.)
Keulen
What is that thing on top of Ruth’s head in the third panel? I’m assuming it’s a door decoration but I can’t be sure.
Marsh Maryrose
It’s a roller derby logo sticker on the door of Malaya’s and Sal’s room. You can see it clearly here.
Marsh Maryrose
The funny thing is it’s clearly the logo of the Cedar Valley Roller Derby of Waterloo, IA. No in-comic explanation. I assume Willis just liked the logo and put it in, but who knows, maybe Malaya is a huge Cedar Valley fan.
Marsh Maryrose
Also, at the top right of the first panel, you can see another sticker on the door with the logo of Bloomington’s own Bleeding Heartland Roller Derby.
Bagge