Where Babies Come From
Hi Moray (44)
also lol at the typo in panel 2, will fix that tomorrow when I'm not sleepy on cold medicine
Comments (133)
I dunno you sure that's a typo? I could see cube town hiring an Ian for the library 🤣🤣🤣
Worst Discord server ever
When you pinch off a loaf that's a green autotroph that's a Moray!
I am so glad that Library Ian has been allowed to make it to publication!
This opens up a whole new way of poking fun at Ians. See one reading a book? Library Ian See one espousing political views? Politic Ian See one fixing your computer? Technic Ian
Science fiction writing and finance Banks Ian
Ian hides between the stacks, constantly shifting books, but never having them found out of place.
...and watches out for those spiders...
I mean, once you understand *why* this is such a mess, you can find a sol- Claire, put that down!
I was hoping that the giant jellyfish was just floating outside the dome, and the Director was gonna be someone off-camera with a PA system
I'm a Library Ian and I completely identify with Claire's experience with her first professional job interview. My first pro job was with one of the three NYC library systems, I interviewed with all three, and they were all kind of weird and had some very peculiar aspects that I really wasn't expecting.
I get Claire’s frustration, but her use of “Weirdos” cuts more than a little deep.
Reminds me of a famous exchange in Doonesbury decades ago. "I hear you're gay." "Yep, and I hear you're Black." "But that's normal!" "Didn't use to be."
Maybe the reason for the dysfunction of Cubetown is diminished Directorial functionality. Each Moray that is extruded requires mass be subtracted from the Director. If the Director is a fancy AI whose processing power (presumably) is distributed amongst the nanobots that make up the 'jelly', and enough Morays have been made (and not re-absorbed) to add up to 44 or possibly more (if X is a special designation), AND the Director does not generate new mass, then that means the Director has been getting goofier with each new Moray that is made. Plus if each Moray is an individual with self-awareness then it might be morally objectionable to the Director and the Morays to be reabsorbed. The Director loves all of their smiley slime-y gelatinous offspring!
Maybe, but I feel like it's more an issue that we have an organization that's put together by someone who is so far removed from the rest of us that communicating exactly what we mean by science is going to be a fairly monumental task. The comprehension of that specific point feels pretty core to all that is wrong with Cubetown. It's not that their goals are bad. They're just not at a reasonable starting point to get there. I feel like the prior paragraph probably only feels like communication to those people who already recognized that distinction, that already understood what Cubetown is trying cannot be achieved the way they're going about it. So, some exposition to try to give some context. There are research studies that try to collect as much data about whatever they're studying that they can, and then figure out what it all tells them. Most of the time, this fails horribly. The issue is, this isn't how science works. There is a place for this exact process within the overall scientific research umbrella, but it is not itself science. Science is a distinctly different process. What these research studies are doing, within the overall scientific research umbrella, is finding things that are interesting to do studies on. It's categorizing phenomena that would be useful to examine and understand. The reason it's not science is because science is asking the question, "What happens if we change this one very specific detail?", guessing at an answer in a particular formal manner, and then running the process hundreds, thousands, or millions of time, sometimes with the very specific detail changed and sometimes without such a change, and collating the results into something cohesive. To be clear, it's permissible to change that one specific detail in many ways in one study. Regardless of how many ways one is looking at changing the thing, one needs to measure very carefully the amount of each change. If one is doing different amounts of the change within the study, each run needs to be sorted into a bucket based on which bucket the amount of change matches. Even if one is doing just one specific change, the amount of that change should still be measured, to ensure that the amount of the change is within the bounds of the study. The amount of the study still needs to be recorded, so that analysis of the study later can validate the study. Without doing this bit, we can talk intelligently about what happens, but we can only guess about what causes it to happen. We can see that things are correlated, but we cannot determine if the one caused the other, the other caused the one, if it's something else more complicated, or simple coincidence. The detail of the data recording can also be used to enable retrospective studies, that look at what the effects are with different buckets for where the changes fall. Retrospective studies, as I understand it, still fall into the 'categorizing phenomena that would be useful to examine and understand', though I feel unqualified to explain exactly why that is. I feel like this very long response might be enough to help some of the readers who don't get what is wrong with Cubetown being so out there. Others will say too long, didn't read. That's OK, I don't think I could have reached them. But still others won't get it. And the Director would definitely be among them. From this comic, I get a sense about how very different their perceptions must be, but I don't think I know enough about their perspective to be able to meaningfully communicate with them in a consistent fashion.
All the people making very clever and totally rational arguments why Claire Is Bad And Cubetown Is Lovely can stop showing their entire asses anytime they want to. The whole idea that Cubetown has no responsibility to be even slightly professional, while Claire is supposed to be a saintly pillar of superhuman patience, is revolting. *Someone from Cubetown was hiding in her room and lied about why they were there*, it should be pretty damn obvious why that was something of a last straw.
100% this.
I love the idea that patrons are going to have an ongoing meme about Library Ians that non-patrons will be entirely confused by any time they encounter it.
Yeah, well, it looks like Jeph opted to dash that dream of yours and let them in on it.
What gets me is that she hasn't talked to anyone relevant to the actual job yet. It's all "people who live in this city are weird." No talks with her possible co-workers, the folks she would report to, the people who would be using her services. Basically meeting a PR flack, a security guard, and a cab driver have made her decide it isn't worth doing her diligence or the interview. She may not be mature and professional enough for the position
I think that's where I struggled to get in the same headspace as Claire, it's hard for me to look at her reactions and responses so far and not see a lack of experience and maturity that absolutely seems genuine to Claire. This is her first job offer in her desired field, right after school, as far as we know she has only had the one part time job at COD. Now if it were my interview I have the benefit of many more jobs, interviews, and many years of experience that would change how I would be reacting in the same situation. Claire's reactions definitely seem very much genuine to her character, but she does come off as ... Inexperienced ... Possibly overwhelmed? not only with the whole interview process but everything else that would come with her taking the position.
An underwater Praeses?
Exactly! Jeph keeps denying QC and AG share a universe, but I’m not convinced.
Mad Scientists got an Igor, odd Libraries got an Ian. It is known!
Or a Rincewind.
Changing your name to Ian is part of the small print on every library contract.
I like to think all the Morays share an office
Or an orifice?
Just watch, when Claire eventually gets a job as a Librarian (whether at Cubetown or somewhere else), she'll have a co-worker named Ian.
Unfortunately, there is no natural law that says people who are different in one way are going to be tolerant of people who are different in another. Indeed, among every disadvantaged population, there are those who will not only stop pushing the moment the window moves to include them, they will actively try to freeze it in place. They're the sort who say, "Hey, I may be a little strange, but at least I'm not one of *those guys*, amirite? I'm one of YOU not one of THEM."
Pull up that ladder after yourself! You don't want to share your new acceptance with THEM. A tale as old as time
GLOOP!
I feel like a Library Ian could be a synonymous term referring to a well known expert. Like Scotty and Engineer.
Or Scotch Tape (TM). I sense a common nationality here.
🎵I'd like to be Under the sea In an octopuses garden With Moray She let's us in Knows where we've been In an octopuses garden With Moray🎵
Jeph, never be afraid to take a good typo and run with it.
Wait, so if 'our' Moray is Moray-21, and this is Moray-44, where are all the other Morays?
Perhaps they're all just extensions of The Director, and they get re-absorbed when their tasks are completed.
So, since the Moray model are a budding of the Director, how does that account of Moray's seeming fear of the Director, and other AI's seeming casual attitude about being in the presence of a deities avatar.
Presumably a bud can be resorbed...
Ian is a cow orker.
No Orcas are descendants of a bear like creature not cows.
Wait, so the Moray we first met was Moray X-21, but this one is Moray-44 without the X. And nobody has spawned any theories about why yet?
At this point, there could be no X because the X was part of a naming convention they thought was cool, but they later decided it wasn't and just dropped it altogether.
is it Library Ian like in Mythic quest - Eye-an? Or Ian like how most people pronounce it - E-an?
I'd give it the Marty Feldman pronunciacion. "It's EYE gore.:
Zo ve meet again.
Library Ian is Claire's facilitator, which leave her free to pursue her real passion of deep-sea big wave surfing
I demand Library Ian become a character
I demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!
Claire, a decade or two ago most people would have considered you a mentally ill weirdo. Today 40% of America believes you are a child molester. Do not be so quick to judge people for being different. The weirdos, dreamers, and those who live outside the gates are the source of innovation and change.
This was painful to read, and even worse to try and fact check only to find that you're probably low on that percentage... The discrimination and ignorance in this country always makes me angry and sad about the state of things. I don't particularly like Claire's choice of words here, It seems a bit out of character for her. My guess is her level of exasperation or annoyance has a lot to do with it.*
BUT SHE DIDN'T! SHE CAME FROM LIBRARY IANNNNNNN
I saw the typo and honestly didn't question it thinking it was the title she decided on 🤣
My brain interpreted it as "Library LAN" and somehow didn't question that.
Oh my GOOOOOOOOODS
The Goo Goo Gods?
Claire just needs to accept her role as Common Sense Particle for CubeTown.
When I see something (like a car) careening out of control, the engineer in me who took Dynamics 101 mutters "Congratulations; you've become a particle". (It's a funny joke, trust me.) I don't know if that's what I want for Claire.
Just wait until we find out that Library Ian is Claire's deadname.
I understand the thought, but this feels over the threshold of what Jeph politely chooses not share about Claire.
I humbly ask for a librarian character named Ian to join the supporting cast in another two or three thousand strips, as the kind of deep cut self-reference joke that Jeph deploys so very well.
So, like a few weeks later, in-world time?
Hey, every library needs a good Ian :-D
no, she's the library LAN, the local access network
This is what I was thinking!
I guess libraryian is better than guybrarian. I personally prefer libraryandy.
I am *still* patiently waiting for the "it's a Moray" joke. [Taps watch meaningfully] Or did I already miss it? 😝
And then I catch it happening in the comments! I am not alone! Someone has finally put words to my earworm! 💜
Library Ian should be Librarian.
No. No it shouldn't.
We’re Destiny exos now?
Does upstairs Moray know where she came from?
She thinks Cubetown found her under a B-tree leaf
Starting to see how this whole house of cards got so wobbly in the first place.
Wow, I guess the readers were right about that whole "tentacles spawning Moray" thing xD
I definitely think "Library Ian" needs to be a thing now.
Feel better soon!
Is this like a metaphor or somethin'?
This is a metaphor that’s like a simile that’s described by all the hyperboles in the known universe.
Moray-44 has hired all of Cubetown's Ians, including Academic Ian, Politic Ian, Theology Ian, Statistic Ian, Magic Ian, Optic Ian, Metaphysics Ian, and Vaudeville Ian, but her biggest coup was when she recruited Disestablishmentary Ian.
Don’t let Disestablishmentary Ian meet Antidisestablishmentary Ian. Boom.
She would much rather be a library Claire.
OK, forget the Adventure Zone’s voidfish, forget Link’s Awakening’s Windfish, now the director evokes me the thing (it has no other designation) from Yoko Tsuno’s “Time Spiral” http://yoko.tsuno.free.fr/index.php/les-albums/?rubrique=persos&id_album=11&id_variable=126&option_rubrique=solo
I can imagine a situation where a Moray can be re-absorbed by the Director so that he can assimilate their experiences and get a better perspective on what's going on above, but all the Morays have come up with excuses to avoid fulfilling that final function. Meanwhile, the Director has been slowly diminishing his cognitive abilities creating more facilitators to try to get a handle on what's going on.
Library Ian the legendary Library created by Ian. Rivals that of the Library of Alexandria. Hidden in a pocket dimension only those deemed worthy can enter. Of course Claire has been deemed worth since she was 15. Visits there often.
At what point does Ian & Alexandria fall in love over an overdue library book turned in and fine paid by Bembo?
YES! Headcanon validated!
Which would explain the explosion on Cubetown when Claire arrived.
If the Cubetown discord is bad, how much worse is the Cubetown Reddit?
or the Cubetown Mastodon instance
I get who Moray 44 is but who’s Library Ian, is that gonna be Claire’s nemesis
Good nemesis material then
I kinda like the typo. Cubetown might have totally wanted Library Ian.
[int. office, darkened. Dusty light slices in through half-closed blinds.] [MORAY-1 sits behind a desk, their face darkened. They light a cigarette.] *slow drag, bubbling noises* “Yeah. I’ve seen some shit.”
Moray smoking would definitely sound like a bong.
Well, she has more boobage than Laridia.
Who will help with a talk so that Claire doesn't walk? That's-a Moray! Who can facilitate so discussions go great? That's-a Moray!
Finally! It's not just me!
More squishy!
When you first see an eye Then a hip then a thigh That’s a Moray
"When the Gloop makes a spore / christened Mark-44, that's more-Morays!"
When the D'rector does a boop, and there's a human shaped gloop... That's a Moray
Still not convinced this isn’t simply an early form of Cupressaceae…
OK, I am without clue here. What has this got to do with cypress trees? Iam guessing it's a reference that's whizzing over my head?
Yes, yes, but Moray-44 is USB Type-C revision 2.1 compatible, which is new
Hah, I read that as "Library Lan" and interpreted that as "Local Area Nerd". Now I really wonder what the text looks like corrected. :)
I was thinking local area network, and wondered if the director was going to plug her in
Library Ian is my new favorite character.
Hello I need an ian to work in my library.
You should get an offspring, name them Ian and coerce them into a library education.
"Everyone I've met so far has been a weirdo"? Oh Claire, don't get judgmental. Remember that we're *all* weirdos. Everyone you know. Including you. Okay, maybe not Marten, but...
We ARE the weirdos, mister.
Redirecting her to another department, via extrusion.
This reads a lot like a frustrating customer service phone call.
"Oh? You haven't enjoyed all the weirdos? Well I think I know how we can solve that problem!"
Loving where this is going.
Rest up and feel better soon, Jeph!! Your comic is one of the few consistent bright spots in a shitty world. Thank you again for your art and your humor, they bring lots of people joy!
Ahh the Director is Ian and they want Claire to be the library!
Directorian.
HOORAY
This goes a long way to explaining things
This is so perishingly close to a rule 34 instance!
“Hi! I’m Moray 34!”
LIBRARY IAN!!! Take care and rest up! Feel better soon
When the gloop doth extrude and further foul your mood, that's a Moray
MY BRAIN
Omg. I was right?! Kinda.
Can’t wait to see if the different Moray has different personalities.
All libraries need their own Ian
Ian is the library
WHO IS LIBRARY IAN
Soon it'll be Library Claire