Monday Quickie

If you've never used your brain before, then you don't need to use AI. It's definitely not gonna make you seem any smarter.

A Pager? You Mean He's Durable and Reliable?

June 9, 1967

I think Brutus is more at fault than Veeblefester and his paddleball. That's barely a foot and Brutus Thornapple'd it.

Yeah, "fast-paced world of AI". Is it fast-paced if you have to correct what AI has messed up every other week?

I would give Brutus a raise and a promotion if he wasn't using AI for work.

Amazon? Yes, ma'am-azon!

The Amazon. The answer to both questions is the Amazon. Typically, we use 'largest' to mean 'longest', which in that case, the Nile is the longest river. Who bases rivers on actual size or basin area?

I'm going to use this strip to comment on the notion that I worry about Chip using AI for his comics. I first felt my Spider-sense going off in this strip where the art is just a little off. But I can chalk that up to a bad ink/coloring job that slipped through. But it really started to hit me here, the 3-part Wilberforce/Money saga, and these speech tails. And, lastly, this seems like a strip he used AI for. Saying the Amazon is the largest/longest river in the world is a mistake AI would make. Is AI being used to help write the strip and touch up the art? I hope not. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky about today's strip.

20% Less Sucky

March 22, 1967

How did Jonny's sister get in the mailbox. I imagine Jonny helped push her in. This tends to happen with brothers and sisters. Or so I'm told.

Leave it to Brutus to use A.I. and it actually helps and isn't just a big pile of steamy shit. As much as I'm disappointed that Veeblefester is using A.I., I'm not surprised. Veeblefester would happily replace all the employees he has to pay a salary and benefits to for one computer program with a yearly subscription.

I guess now is a good time to mention that I hate A.I. and don't use it. A.I. can't do what I do. I tried. It gave the Thornapples a cat.

Thursday Night Death Slot

I love that the first update Google gives to Blogger in, like, a decade, is just adding AI to it. Well, I will never use AI to make a post here. Everything comes from my dumb brain.

How come Google doesn't attempt to compete with Substack and the other newsletter sites and turn Blogger into one of those? Writing a newsletter is basically like blogging anyway. Yeah, I said it.

November 22, 1966

I guess Gladys didn't paint this painting. Or maybe she did. I don't know.

How is it hung upside down? Do I need to put the painting over the fireplace in the center of everything? Was this a regular everyday trope back then?

Five networks and nothing but Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. And 3 different shows about firefighting.

I don't really begrudge people for what they watch on TV, but it strikes me as weird that as streaming became more popular and people began looking for new ideas, network TV became more formulaic. I guess they figure, why change what works for them.

O...K...?

I am against AI. No one is stopping you from creating anything, just start creating. Oh, it's not good? Well, keep working at it and you'll get better. But I'm also against AI helping us learn things. ChatGPT isn't a search engine and it will just make things up. The screenshot to the left is a list of 10 "lesser-known facts about Snoopy". Clearly, much of it is gathered from AI. It was posted to one of those non-official random Facebook Pages that anyone can create and no one was calling it out despite being weirdly incorrect about a lot of it. Let's go through it, shall we?

1. Snoopy doesn't have a full name and if he did, it wouldn't be "Snoopy Von Peanuts" as Schulz was not quiet about how much he hated the name "Peanuts".

2. While Snoopy was inspired was Schulz's dog, Spike, Spike was an English Pointer. Spike (drawn by Schulz) actually appeared in a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" comic about being able to eat nails. Andy, Schulz's favorite dog, was a mixed breed.

3. Snoopy wasn't always a dog? He was, but clearly the AI got confused because Snoopy originally started out as a regular dog who seemed to roam the neighborhood. It took awhile to establish that he was really Charlie Brown's dog and even long to turn Snoopy into the character we all know today.

4. Snoopy does have an entire family. You may have seen his family tree popping up around the internet. Snoopy's family consists of siblings Andy, Olaf, Rover, Spike, Marbles, Molly, and Belle. Belle also has a son, giving Snoopy a nephew.

5. Snoopy's favorite food, at least based on appearances in the strip, are chocolate chip cookies.

6. It's weird that the most complicated fact is also the most correct. The World War I Flying Ace is probably Snoopy's most famous alter ego having appeared in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". But is it a "lesser-known fact"?

7. Another correct fact. Peanuts first debuted on October 2, 1950, with Snoopy making his first appearance on October 4.

8. He's a global icon. Yeah, this is also correct.

9. The Peanuts television specials began in 1965 with "A Charlie Brown Christmas", but the first Peanuts feature film was "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" in 1969. "Snoopy Come Home" was the second.

10. While Snoopy is shown typing on top of his doghouse trying to write the great American novel, "expert in typing" is odd phrasing. What is his words per minute? How accurate is he?

May 26, 1966

Ugh, why is that water fountain so close to Veeblefetzer's office? Just so he can harass his employees? Seems like a very specific bit for someone who has "Don't Tread on Me" written on his door.

I looked this up and nothing was helpful. I just want to point out how pissed off people get when it looks like our sports are being rigged. Pine tar. Deflategate. Doping. Pete Rose.

I've Always Been Wary of Echo Point

After catching the Black Fox, Doctor Doom shows up wanting the old man for some reason. Spider-Man then tries to protect the Black Fox but it doesn't go well.

Also, Peter is reunited with Uncle Ben.

Check out my post on Amazing Spider-Man #350.

September 3, 1965

I absolutely hope that he is showing his boss his film, slides, whatever, and now his boss is making out with his wife in the dark. I doubt that's what's going on--it looks like a daughter or something which honestly is just as bad, maybe worse.

Special guest commentary by ChatGPT: In today's "Born Loser" comic strip, we find Brutus venturing into the technologically enhanced wilderness of Echo Point. But wait, what's this? A sign proudly proclaiming, "Now enhanced with AI." Well, isn't that just what we all need? Even our scenic overlooks are now getting algorithmically upgraded. Because nothing says "nature appreciation" quite like knowing there's a computer somewhere crunching data to enhance your view of a tree. Congratulations, Echo Point, you've officially been digitized. Now, if only they could enhance Brutus with a bit of common sense, we might actually have something worth celebrating.

ChatGPT really hates Brutus apparently. If ChatGPT knew that Echo Point didn't have a guardrail, it'd probably tell Brutus to continue walking. Anyway, now AI is stealing our voices when we yell into the abyss so I think we've entered the eighth circle of Hell.