Prog 2338: The Great Nort Run

[norton canes]

This one? Tried merging the two sides but my phone doesn't recognise it

[nxylas]

This one? Tried merging the two sides but my phone doesn't recognise it

No, mine neither.

[Grush]

Oh gosh. That's a QR code, well done for spotting it, but it needs all the rounded corners squaring off. Good luck to someone with that!

[Funt Solo]

Good luck to someone with that!

Tempting...

[nxylas]

I tried doing it using DALL-E, but just got weird, random images, as usual. And they say AI will take our jobs.

[Funt Solo]

I'm not 100% on the context here, but I managed to get the QR translated enough to actually be decipherable, but the resulting message is rather obscure (perhaps all the more so because I haven't read the strip yet).

It's Biblical...

[broodblik]

Yes its rather biblical or doomsday but anyway thanks for the translation Funt

[norton canes]

I managed to get the QR translated enough to actually be decipherable

Nice work! How did you manage that?

[Barrington Boots]

I thought Rogue was brilliant this week. Exciting and sobering all at once. I didn't like Rogue's 'whore' line either, it seeemed out of place, but I don't feel strongly about it. Fantastic stuff though.
Azimuth is also brilliant, not been so excited about a strip for a while!
I agree with everyones comments on Durham Red, and I did like the line where it's pointed out that her killing bad guys isn't cool or sexy but brutal and disgusting. I was confused when the villain was all like "one day you won't be able to resist and you'll be the monster!" though when we've already explicitly seen her be the monster? Unless there's a longer term bait and switch going on and Red didn't murder a load of innocents, I'm still checked out on this.

[nxylas]

Well done, Funt. A rather apocalyptic message, as you say. I was worried that they were just going to Rickroll us.

[norton canes]

I was worried that they were just going to Rickroll us

That would have been absolutely fantastic

[Dash Decent]

Even better if they Rickrandom-ed us.

[Funt Solo]

I managed to get the QR translated enough to actually be decipherable

Nice work! How did you manage that?

Laboriously, manually. I tried some online solutions, but that didn't work. So, this is the starting point (which has been turned into a square, because the comic version wasn't square enough):



The next step was to get rid of the thick black outlines, which are just getting in the way of the visible data. For this, Paint.net's recolor tool did the trick - giant brush, adjusted tolerance. Result:



Now, we have to realize that all the dots and squiggles are just boxes or gaps. I created a new layer and drew a little box on that plus sign pattern in the mid-left (above the sort-of swastika shape). Once I'd figured out the correct size of little box to cover up those four dots, it was just a case of slightly adjusting the dimensions of the bottom layer to line everything up, then a lot of copy-pasta of the little black box. It's 7*7 pixels, btw. This is the QR layer partly transparent on top of the previous image:


Ditch the base layer and Bob's your auntie's live-in lover:



It's an hour of my life I'll never get back, Dabnett and Bettin - you beautiful maniacs!

[broodblik]

Thanks Funt it was only 5 seconds of my life to QR scan it

[norton canes]

I managed to get the QR translated enough to actually be decipherable

Nice work! How did you manage that?

Laboriously, manually. I tried some online solutions, but that didn't work. So, this is the starting point (which has been turned into a square, because the comic version wasn't square enough):



The next step was to get rid of the thick black outlines, which are just getting in the way of the visible data. For this, Paint.net's recolor tool did the trick - giant brush, adjusted tolerance. Result:



Now, we have to realize that all the dots and squiggles are just boxes or gaps. I created a new layer and drew a little box on that plus sign pattern in the mid-left (above the sort-of swastika shape). Once I'd figured out the correct size of little box to cover up those four dots, it was just a case of slightly adjusting the dimensions of the bottom layer to line everything up, then a lot of copy-pasta of the little black box. It's 7*7 pixels, btw. This is the QR layer partly transparent on top of the previous image:


Ditch the base layer and Bob's your auntie's live-in lover:



It's an hour of my life I'll never get back, Dabnett and Bettin - you beautiful maniacs!

A positive triumph, Funt. I was thinking of doing it by overlaying a grid, but I couldn't work out one square's worth.