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Patrick Willems @patrickhwillems.bsky.social ⋅ 1m
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Josiah Hawthorne @josiahhawthorne.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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Barb O. Saur 
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Joe had to go beyond *spelling it out*
PLUS ULTRA
I wonder if they’ll get it framed
We can hope.
Tracking everyone’s phones would normally be sketchy but given there was an actual kidnapping it probably counts as reasonable paranoia.
I think there’s a line between “has the tracker loaded so they can check” versus “actually checks”. Amber having her friends phones traceable is one thing, actually accessing it is more of an invasion. And that may just be my personal limits, but I do think Amber is a bit over the line here purely because she actually uses the program.
She’s a vigilante and a hacker.
She hasn’t been behind the line since we’ve met her.
Or I should say, she’s not someone who generally respects the line.
The line is a dot to Amber.
It’s like the whole Bat-Sonar plot thread from the Dark Knight if it was improved by having Superman in it showing off his ass for unrelated reasons
Does Joe’s ass count?
Tbh, if I had such a program, I wouldn’t be able to resist checking.
Ironically, the way you make it easier to resist is to put red tape in front of the ability to check.
My husband did OTR trucking for a year, and during that time, he wanted to share his Google Maps location with me as both a trust thing and a safety thing. At first, I found it incredibly creepy and didn’t like checking up on him, but after he started working locally again, it became admittedly pretty helpful for timing when to start cooking supper so it would be ready right as he was getting home. I share my location data with him now, as well, because as a woman carting around a young toddler, having someone who can check my location if something happens is incredibly reassuring.
Consent is, as always, a wonderful thing the impact of which should not be ignored.
Definitely. I’m pretty sure I also hit reply on the wrong person last night, which makes my comment look kind of weird, haha.
Not creepy at all, since you’re both onboard with it.
There are levels of potential suck here, though: Being tracked without your knowledge is seriously messed up. Being tracked and being aware of it, but not having a say about it is not as bad, but still pretty bad in the great scheme of things. Being tracked with your consent is mostly ok, but I’d worry about how that consent was acquired.
When you’re the one taking the initiative to give someone else the ability to track your location, it’s on a different level altogether. It’s not just done with your consent, but on your initiative, and typically for your benefit.
Unfortunately, these days you have so much tracking of your location imposed on you, and made to seem like it’s done on your initiative, for your benefit.
Take most of these services in cars, like OnStar or the one VW uses. It’s a service, and you have to sign up to it to enable it, i.e., get the benefit. What you’re not told very clearly is that enabled or not, it will be tracking you and your location data will be used/sold to other entities.
It’s just that without signing up to it, you have no access nor benefit from it. What you enable by signing up is just your access to the location data that’s already being collected by the system. Which, although a tangent to your post, is something that bugs me to no end.
No, makes sense, and these sorts of caveats with these services are always important to be aware of, too! I have some friends who don’t even like the idea of using Google Maps for tracking. And I can’t say they’re in the wrong. Also, I think I totally responded to the wrong person when I made my post last night..
Also there’s a difference between tracking people in an emergency vs if you’re just wondering, and consentually vs secretly. But oh well, I don’t mind reading about characters who do sketchy things from time to time.
Youve come to the right place.
I dunno. I’m never sure about “it’s fine to have the thing as long as you never use it” arguments, because if you aren’t going to use it, why do you want it? Answer: You want it because you’re going to use it. Maybe you’ll tell yourself that this time doesn’t count because… but you’re going to use it.
Well, in this case, she wants it for another potential kidnapping, which seems like a reasonable time to use it.
But of course once you have it, even if the original reason was a good one, it’s easy to use it for more trivial things.
In the wise words of Sam Vimes, if you do it for a good reason, eventually you’ll do it for a bad reason.
So obviously the solution is to never do things for good reasons.
I think Amazi-Girl would not check it unless it was necessary. Amber is not Amazi-Girl, though. She’s a garbage person, in her own words, and garbadge people would.
Amazi-girl knowing how Amber will use it, and not getting consent from the people being tracked, is Amazi-girl crossing the line.
It could be set up so that each time someone is pinged they also get sent a text containing an innocuous image that they’d recognize as a notification they just got pinged. Like Joyce gets sent a random capybara image. Sal gets “New phone, who’s this?” from a spoofed number. etc.
the dissociative identity certainly doesn’t help
like even if Amber was the type of moral person to pull it off her phone, the moment Amazi-girl takes over and sees it missing she’s gonna put it right back on the phone
Yeah. There were a bunch of abductions around my school in my first year so my parents track my phone with Google maps. Afaik it only gets used when I get in a cab/Uber since, that’s how a lot of abductions happen here
Then again unlike here I gave permission and have to choose to share my location
I used to work as a customer service rep for a major cell phone carrier, and you have no idea how many people would call in asking us to tell them where their lost or stolen phone was because they were positive we could track – in real time – any phone on our network no matter where it might be. And then there were the people who wanted us to tell them how to turn on “the tracker app” so they could keep tabs on their child/spouse/boy or girlfriend without their knowing about it.
That’s NSA kinda stuff. And yes the government can track us at any time with or without a warrant, they back-doored the phone system. I wish that wasn’t me being paranoid, but I have seen too many instances of it happening. And I have also seen where they don’t use it when it would make things so much easier before I realize that the situation wasn’t that important.
Like many species, the Common Joeus Erectus puts on a display to impress potential mates.
This specimen has opted to do The Worm. The female appears unimpressed.
Considering the entire point of “homo erectus” is that they started standing up straight, it’s hilarious to apply it to someone in the middle of a faceplant.
Joe is an example of No Homo Erectus so named for a different part of their anatomy standing upright.
I’m tempted to flag that comment, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but to ensure Willis doesn’t miss it.
It’s still a very rare sight to see Joe face down, ass up
A considerably less rare sight once Joyce decides to try out that “strap on” that was suggested all that time ago.
I think the snowflakes shooting out of his butt kind of undermine the effect.
Amazi-Girl is always watching.
“Aaalways watching, Wabrownski. Aaalways watching.”
I say that so many times my brain had to process if I’ve been saying Mike’s last name wrong all these years and it took half a minute for the information that Joyce’s last name was slid in.
You’re welcome.
Don’t be silly, it’s always been Mike Warnerski.
Mordor/sauron theme in the background
Just like Ceiling Cat?
For a second I thought the snowflakes were stars coming up from his butt.
The Fart in Our Stars.
Now that I see I really can’t unsee it but that’s okay cause it’s funny.
Same.
Eyes up here ladies
I mean in his position, there is no “up here”.
So glad Amazi-girl is active beyond Roller Derby
me too. i miss her.
I’m sure the girls appreciate the attempt, Joey, but you gotta work on your reverse dogeza.
I might need to log off more frequently. I read “dogeza” as a fourth-level Final Fantasy spell that summons doge memes.
Would you still be open to watching streams of it tho?
On a server I made that just happens to be about Dumbing of Age…Streams of Dogeza?
Streams of Final Fantasy! With some rather naughty mods enabled. There’s also a social battery recharge channel filled with Pokemon and Digimon nostalgia.
I’m pretty sure streaming FF14 with naughty mods is a perma-ban on the usual sites.
not if you got your own Discord server
Much incantation. Very mana. Wow.
Something downward horndog something.
Joyce and Amber have a weirdly low key friendship dynamic. Amber might be the dark horse in the battle for Joyce’s soul.
Has Amazi-Girl considered a career at the NSA?
Would her ‘extra curricular’ activities disqualify her from that? i imagine she doesn’t have the best opinion on authority/cop figures to rly join it , even if the nsa doesn’t have the same reputation as ACAB or whatever
I foresee Amazi-Girl as having a future as a private security contractor.
The NSA has a worse reputation than most cops.
Slightly better reputation than the other government intelligence agencies though! “Marginally less evil than the FBI and the CIA” is truly a ringing endorsement.
Depends. Gaiman and Pratchett’s Crowly would say the NSA is doing far more total evil by large volumes of little evils. Possibly we just haven’t yet seen the bit where the traffic jam on the information super-highway results in people being nastier to their loved ones. Then again, reddit *was* down yesterday…
Possibly a reputation for not being as prone to putting their foot in it, i.e., competency, but for just sheer evil, they have them all beat.
I may resent being controlled by dumb evil, but I truly fear competent evil being in charge.
I wouldn’t even be so sure about the competence part. This is an organization whose approach to finding a needle in a haystack is to pile up more hay. Their only true competence lies in the field of avoiding any kind of meaningful oversight or accountability.
I think that’s more to do with being SigInt and not really having ground agents than anything to do with actual morality. It’s hard to run MK Ultra from behind a computer screen.
I’m disinclined to give them a pass there. Even if they don’t have a whole lot of presence on the ground, they’re perfectly happy to provide information to other entities that do. That makes them accomplices before the fact, at best.
Not giving them a pass, ACAB and the NSA are cops, just that being more SigInt lets the foist off blame.
She would have to work for a boss and deal with real people. It’ll be a few more years and probably at least one more crisis.
I see Joe feels all caterpillar-y
Also Joyce looks so good in these panels
I am really loving all the realistic curves in this comic! Big butts, hips, and thighs, unite!
He’s inching his way into Joyce’s heart.
He’s demonstrating a new dance move. It’s called the Wormdo.
*Arnold Rimmer voice* what’s a wormdo?
I’ll tell you once more/Before I get on the floor/Don’t Bring Me Down
Open the door/Get on the floor/Everyone do the Dina.
Everyone? I don’t know how Becky feels about polyamory.
(Ooh-WOO-ooh)
perfect icon is perfect
Today’s Reddit post is ninja related if that interests you: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbingofage/comments/11rli63/dumbing_of_age_headcannon_ninja_rick_is_actually/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Also this marks day 5 of the, “greatest rivals” polls: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbingofage/comments/11ob9xb/greatest_nemesis_type_rivalry_in_doa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Has Ninja Rick even made an. Appearance yet?
Willis has said Ninja Rick won’t show up, as he’s based on a real person. I choose to believe Ninja Rick is a mental health counselor at the school, the one assigned to finally give all the main characters therapy, but they never go see him.
I choose to believe he’s a groundskeeper. We see his handiwork, but we’ll never see him.
Because he’s a ninja.
aww, how did Joe know that she really enjoys his tushy?
So when Dorothy becomes president, will Amber be Homeland Security or NSA?
NSA. Homeland Security does more than electronic surveillance. Not like… usefully more, but they do lots of physical security.
Carla is more suited for DHS.
Amber has extensive experience doing more.
So it’s not f she’s capable, it’s if she’s willing.
Also, Carla would never work at Homeland; there’s no way she’d be a cog in the machine following orders.
She’s freelance all the way.
The only other character with actual security experience would be Marcie.
Do we need to side eye Amazi-girl for having one of those highly unethical computers that taps every phone in the city to gain location data on any individual near a cell phone like Batman had in the Dark Knight?
I remember reading the injustice comics and there was a part where Batman puts a tracker on Black Cannery & Green Arrows child and then he brings it up after he and a few other kids got kidnapped and then he gets chewed out for it.
Sure it was invasive a bit but it came in handy.
I know you meant Black Canary but I’m enjoying the idea of a cannery themed super hero
They have a six-pack.
Yes, absolutely, but also I’m pretty sure this isn’t weird comicbook supertechnology, but an actual app that exists. I distinctly remember reading some tech blog a while back where the blogger was horrifed that he could download this thing and track his girlfriend without her being involved or informed, because supposing she’d dumped him and he’d become a crazy stalker?
But he destroyed it after using it so that violation of civil liberties was OkAyYy
has amber been amazi-girl lately? tho i imagine the first thing a current kidnapper would do is to confiscate if not outright break someone’s phone
It depends on if they are A, smart enough to think about it, and B, want to use the captive’s phone for something like sending a message to verify the person is actually captured or going through their phone for something.
If you’re asking whether the Amazi-Girl personality has driven the body lately, we do know that Amazi-Girl is the personality on the roller derby team. If you’re asking whether she has put on the cape and fought crime on campus, all evidence is that she has not don so since the kidnapping.
I think they either haven’t, or it’s for roller derby solely. I do not think she has performed actual superheroics since Blaine died. Night Guy has, kinda, but even Walky doesn’t seem terribly active with that right now.
Joyce just mirin’ the goods.
Is Joyce thinking DATASS?
She canonically really likes his butt, so, yes, almost certainly.
You know I was thinking about how I let the whole “Amber/Amazi-girl is tracking everyone” thing. I figured it was a safety measure for everyone.
Also gotta wonder if the drink is Joyce making an adjustment to her pill taking method. I approve if so.
I mean hopefully she just takes the pill and washes it down with water at some point but drinking a 2 litre is not optimal solution.
Well it’s probably only something like an extra 600 calories or so everytime she has a pill…
I do love that Joyce doesn’t beat around the bush about her own obliviousness here.
Also Joyce and Amber are cute together.
Yeah tell me about it bruh, Joyce’s figure, in those pink colors, sipping a drink, Amber looking like Pikachu 🥰
Yeah I may have to draw them kissing someday.
https://imgur.com/a/VlJrs6Q
It’s someday.
That is adorable
Bruh you are like the Spongebob of DoA fan pics! Super!!! 🤩
Thank you!
That is awesome. I think Joyce is hot almost as much as you think Jennifer is hot, so it is really appreciated XD
Then I’ll try to draw her more <3
That’s some good artwork there, redacted!
:3
I think a benefit of the presumption she’s autistic is that she is owning some of her foibles more openly, which honestly is probably helping her social life. She’d have been much more defensive about this last semester.
What obliviousness? not quite sure I read that on her in this strip…
Amber asks “oh you sussed it out?” as in “Oh you figured out he’s crushing on you?” and Joyce replies “He literally had to draw me a picture” which is her saying she never would’ve picked up on his infatuation if he didn’t basically explain it to her.
Yeah how thoughtful of Joe! Really! XD
I sure hope someone who has a crush on me can be at least somewhat open about it, if only so I don’t have to play the social cue guessing game too much. *_*
One of my uncles mentioned last year that he and his wife still tracks their youngest adult son’s phone (who is married btw). So people like that do exist.
All is well as long as the tracked party consents to it.
Hard to say whether he still agrees to it or just forgot that they had that from the teenage years though. Not that I am going to be poking that hornets’ nest of questions.
FACE DOWN
ASS UP
THAT’S THE WAY JOYCE LIKES TO
GET JOE TO DO LAUNDRY
Yeah, she got him pegged down*
* Phrasing quite intentional
This is Joyce we’re talking about, no hanky-panky until at least they’re engaged if not married.
And what a picture it is, apparently! XD
Joyce can’t really fault Amber trying to be protective but struggles in the box she feels put in. I feel like Amber could relate if they talked about this a while.
“Everyone’s privacy is being violated equally” The KGB*
*(Insert relevant national security and or domestic intelligence gathering orginzation)
I mean, Joe and Joyce both seem to know exactly what they signed up for. I love that for them.
Aww, i feel kinda bad for Joe. But to be fair he acted like a dick for quite a bit, so it’s probably fine if he’s humiliated for a while I’m compensation
Dorothy sees Joe on the ground and assumes he’s looking up skirts.
She’s (they’ve) pretty much given up on the “secret identity” thing, hasn’t she (haven’t they)?
This is where we need French’s third-person-female-plural, isn’t it. Damn.
(elles: plural she/they)
Both of her said it.
You mean, besides literally taking off the costume in public after a car crash and then yelling about her identity?
I’m pretty sure Joyce knew before the kidnapping, and pretty much everyone involved knows.
Joe might be the only one who doesn’t know, as I don’t remember anyone telling him.
Either way Jennifer will be the last to know amazi girls real identity, assuming she ever does.
Joyce found out *during* the kidnapping, to be more accurate. She was pretty incredulous about it (https://www.dumbingofage.com/hay/ and the next comic)
Well, the focus of her need to be AmaziGirl is gone. I could see that persona losing direction and drive, and gradually being reabsorbed.
As a kid, I never really got what was so bad about the phone hack thing.
As an adult, I see it was INCREDIBLY creepy. And the movie, despite calling it out, justifies it.
RIGHT? have an upvote, Random earthling.
Now I’m wondering how many people have hacked their own phones to lie about their locations?
I’ve been really trying to force myself to see Amber as a likable character again and then she admits she does shit like this. Stop being so fucking creepy Amber.
She really needs her ego checked
Amber isn’t the one who does it.
Find My iPhone and Snapchat’s Snap Map, both blursed in checking where your friends are…
Wonder what’s Joyce sipping?
A beverage, presumably.
If that’s another soft drink on top of the 2 liters of Sprite she downed earlier, she’s going to be bouncing off the walls soon.
I want a caffeinated lemon lime soda so bad…
Quite the bank shot from the ceiling.
I can see this relationship us starting with quiet dignity.
That’s some pretty good hang time if Joe didn’t land until the last panel.
Amber has clearly seen the Walkyverse’s equivalent of JLU:
Question: Peanut butter sandwitches.
Supergirl: How did you…what, you go through my trash?
Question: Please.
I go through everyone’s trash.
Love that scene.
Amber Google, Facebook, goverment, wallmart called they want to know your localization.
I know Google already knows it.
If you are using Maps, it has a history of you movement through all day…
sus
Ohhhh myyyyyy
i love all three of them
I feel like this drawing of Joe is a tribute to another faceplant, but I can’t place it. Maybe I’m imagining it; there’s only so many ways a cartoony character can fall with their face toward the audience
Joyce is chill. I approve.
First, kick-marks on a washing machine; now a head mark on the ceiling in the hallway. Repair tickets getting weirder and weirder.
Is Joe sliding off along the floor like a worm again?
Joyce catching on to Joe and being nonchalant is a nice twist.
Caterpillar-Joe makes me happy
Man, I am just not feeling this plot. Joyce and Joe as a romantic pairing just doesn’t click for me.
Joyce is now picking up Dina’s art; secret sneaking.
i would judge amber but i make my two friends who make very interesting life choices use a tracking app whenever they go out of town by themselves
It seems like Joe knows she’s Amazi-girl. He hasn’t met her on panel. If he’s gone to any of the roller derby, I guess he would have met her then.
I think most people in their orbit knows she’s Amazi-Girl. It’s an open secret at this point.
I appreciate that Joyce is 100% chill with her phone being tracked when given the whole kidnapping rationale, but takes major issue with everyone else’s phones also being tracked
“You go through my trash?”
“Please. I go through *everybody’s* trash.”
Yeah, she basically is The Question, minus the Randian tendencies.