Terror Island

Strip #331

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:32:21 -0700

Ben's Comments

411redpiranha is named after Zee's girlfriend, not the other way around.

Lewis's Notes

If you want these comments to be funnier, Ben has to work faster at making the comic. (Note: Ben does the lion's share of the work in making the comic, which means Lewis does the lion's share of waiting around. Together, we form a powerful lion.)

Strip #329

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:30:58 -0700

Ben's Comments

Sam and Fuzzy has been pretty great lately. Don't you agree, Lewis?

Lewis's Notes

I'd like to remind people of our new Kingdom of Loathing guild, Terrified Islanders. I didn't even have an account there before the guild formed, but now I'm a level seven seal clubber. Now that's savings!

I wrote Lewis's comments today. -Ben

Strip #328

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:56:12 -0700

Ben's Comments

Terror Island has an in-game clan for Kingdom of Loathing now, called Terrified Islanders. If you're reading these comments, you're welcome to join. Or get whitelisted in so that you can switch back and forth between this and some other clan that you have more history with. With which you have more history.

Lewis's Notes

I am starting to do some apartment hunting this week. So if you are an apartment, look out!

Strip #327

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:21:42 -0700

Ben's Comments

Just a reminder: next week we're going to be in San Diego for the Comic-Con. We won't have a booth or merchandise, but if you happen to see me walking around and want to pay five bucks for a sketch, I'd be up for that.

Lewis's Notes

This has been on my mind a lot lately, so I'm just going to come right out and say it: I don't think operas count as real musicals.

I wrote Lewis's comments today. -Ben

Strip #326

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:05:30 -0700

Ben's Comments

The diamond is worth a whole $15 because it's so big. I wouldn't have paid that much for it, though, because it has the annoying property of looking completely different when the lighting changes, as in panel four above.

Lewis's Notes

I have a new favorite Wikipedia quote: Finally, there is a complex bit of business involving the knocking off, dropping, picking up and exchanging of hats. Determining the source of this quote is left as an easy exercise for the reader. Attempting to compose a quote which further drops the ball on conveying anything important about the subject, while still being entirely accurate, is left as an exercise in futility.

Strip #325

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:27:54 -0700

Ben's Comments

I just saw an article speculating that Dominica might be the next Terror Island. Well, Lewis and I had a good run.

Lewis's Notes

Ben, I think there's enough room in the modern world for more than one Terror Island.

I wrote Lewis's comments today. -Ben

Strip #324

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:04:59 -0700

Ben's Comments

I'm not sure what all Florian and Gavriel did during those five minutes, but I'm glad their narrative is going well.

Lewis's Notes

I am sure what all Florian and Gavriel did during those five minutes, but I am unhappy that their narrative is going well (they are ostensibly on the side of villainy after all).

Strip #323

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:46:06 -0700

Ben's Comments

(It is not an observation of any interest that a theory of arithmetic cannot prove that horses are four-legged.)

Lewis's Notes

The incompleteness theorem does not imply that every consistent formal system is incomplete. On the contrary, there are many complete and consistent formal systems.

Strip #322

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:04:57 -0700

Ben's Comments

Another aspect of the second incompleteness theorem that needs to be emphasized is that it does not show that S can only be proved consistent in a system that is stronger than S. To say that S is consistent is not to endorse the axioms of S, and a proof that S is consistent need not use the axioms of S itself.

Lewis's Notes

Ben is not at a philosophy convention the way I am, but he's lazy enough that his comments are being brought to you by a Torkel Franzén quote anyway.

Strip #321

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:48:23 -0700

Ben's Comments

Lewis is off at a philosophy convention right now. Filling in for his comments is a quote from Gödel's Theorem: An Incomplete Guide To Its Use and Abuse, by Torkel Franzén.

Lewis's Notes

This idea that Gödel's Theorem does not have an ordinary mathematical proof seems to be based on a specific misunderstanding of Gödel's original proof of the first incompleteness theorem: the mistaken belief that Gödel's proof, which shows a certain arithmetical statement G depending on S to be unprovable in S if S is consistent, also shows G to be true.

Strip #320

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:28:35 -0700

Ben's Comments

Fans of Aorist and Bizarro Aorist may want to see yesterday's Request Comics.

Lewis's Notes

You may recall that back when the Czar elections were taking place, a fan with a sense of (fiction-oriented) civic duty did cast a vote for Blueteen. While his vote didn't count because (as we all know) Czars aren't elected, it did win him a place in our hearts. Geography City's only registered Mason asked us to pass along his plea, and in the true spirit of Terror Island, I now pass that plea along to you, despite not really having any idea of what he is on about:

I have a little problem. It's a long story, but I'll sum up: I'm trying to organize a bake sale to help out a debt collection agency. I want them to sue me for the debt they think I owe them, but they are reluctant. I think because they are worried about legal fees. I feel like I need to help them out, since I am involved in this, and since it looks like they are having trouble working this out on their own, it feels like the neighborly thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I'm doing this in some part for my own self interest. I mean I want to see resolution as much as they do. So, long story short, I'm organizing a legal offense fund for them so that they don't have to worry about the court costs when they sue me.

The thing is, I don't think they know how to bake, and I know for sure that I can't... so I am looking to see if there are any volunteers. I don't expect Terror Islanders to actually BAKE anything, I'm not that silly, but you guys do have a reasonably large following. So I was wondering if Blueteen could, you know, get the word out. Just let people know that I'm looking for volunteers.

Strip #319

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:29:53 -0700

Ben's Comments

Here's how the division of labor breaks down at Terror Island: Lewis is the one who comes up with Ned's origin story involving an epistemology machine shooting out a ray of dentist knowledge, and I'm the one who decides that that ray is purple.

Lewis's Notes

This comic is quasi-autobiographical, though I myself tend to work in the metaphysics lab, where the Ontologizing Engine is used by metaphysicians and metaphysicists to create new fundamental categories of being.

We are up to about 15 now.

Strip #318

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:20:53 -0700

Ben's Comments

I kind of worry about attempting sight gags in Terror Island, since my photography isn't always up to the execution. But I think this one turned out pretty well.

Lewis's Notes

Today's comic is a subtle political allegory, much like a political cartoon. Unlike political cartoons, we don't mollycoddle our audience by explicitly labeling the characters with the concept or group they represent. Readers are encouraged to debate and/or speculate as to the content of our message in the forums.

Strip #317

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:39:11 -0700

Ben's Comments

A lossy process involves discarding some information. For example, some methods of compressing image files will result in multiple similar inputs giving the same result, ideally one that looks so much like all those inputs that you won't notice much difference.

The JPEG format we use to make Terror Island is lossy, which is one reason that I keep the original photos around in addition to the strips as you see them. The other reason is that I compulsively hoard data in general.

Lewis's Notes

The thing that's great about Wikipedia is that no matter how ridiculous of an idea I come up with, they have beaten me to it. For example, tonight, I was talking to Ben about the Four Color Theorem, and how some people propose bizarre attempts at counterexamples. I mentioned that it would be more interesting to read someone who, in earnest, kept trying to point out that mapmakers have access to many colors, and even the poorest of map-makers could easily have upwards of ten or twenty colors at their disposal, making the whole question moot.

Suffice to say, Wikipedia was way ahead of me on this, and has already taken to treating these very serious concerns. There should be some sort of award for being the best at systematically missing the point. Something like, "Outstanding Achievement in the Use of Tree-spotting to Avoid Forest Observation".

Strip #316

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:46:30 -0700

Ben's Comments

Wikipedia has some useful information about triangulation, but fails to warn that it won't work with magic arrows.

Lewis's Notes

Before you complain that 'magic' isn't a good answer for why triangulation won't work with the arrow, ask yourself why you would accept 'magic' as a good answer to the question of why it would be able to point at the location of the diamond, when ordinary arrows don't point at the location of the diamond.