Grrl Power #697 – Space high
See, the Hack Buddy incident started off as Cora actually wanting to be able dance better, but due to a series of humorous misunderstandings, the controller wound up in the wrong hands, and there was a big long line to dance with Cora, and everyone had to take a number like in a deli.
No one will ever accuse me of being a visionary futurist, because my idea of Space High School is exactly the same as a modern Earth high school with lockers and obnoxious cliquish cheerleaders and all that. If I actually gave it more though than just the minimum required to establish a setting for a gag, then instead of lockers, they might all have pocket transporters, and instead of books or tablets, they’d have holographic screens that pop up and have transparent backgrounds because that looks futuristic but in reality seems like it would be really obnoxious to work and try and read on.
Someone asked why, if Cora lives in an advanced society, why they couldn’t just clone her new limbs, and the truth is someone probably could. That technology existed on her world, but, Cora grew up relatively poor, and whatever world she lived on had an American approach to healthcare, where only wealthy people can avail themselves of elective procedures, and everyone else can fuck off. Instead she was issued a clunky, basic model prosthesis frame, and it barely worked most of the time and kept breaking down. The wait to get it fixed was usually unacceptably long, so instead of scraping along with one working leg or trying to get dressed with one hand locked into a fist, Cora started fixing it up herself. This started her down the path of engineering, computer programming, and later, physical sciences and applied carnage.
She could easily get new limbs cloned and surgically attached now, but her artificial limbs are a considerable boon to her adventuring career, and she has full tactile sensation through them. They even self heat so when she touches someone else it doesn’t feel like she’s just pressed a cold spoon to their neck.
BTW, I know “quadriplegic” isn’t really the correct term to describe Cora’s condition. I thought quadriplegic meant either paralyzed of missing, and I think some people use it interchangeably, but a dictionary definition of the word simply refers to paralysis. “Amelia” is the absence of one or more limbs. I don’t know if “quadrameliac” is a real word. Apodal is a more accurate description, but I guess just saying “limbless” would work as well. Maybe I should go change it on the previous page for clarity.
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Limb suit hacks.
That’s a paddle’n.
I just started cracking up when I read ‘space tango.’
Well at least it’s not the “Forbidden Dance” of the Lambada!
If it weren’t for her cup-size, I’d bet she could Limbo like nobody else could.
There’s no such thing as the Lambada in space.
It’s called Space Lambada.
If that’s what the hacker is into, Dabbler would do it willingly. Unless part of the kink is her objecting to taking part.
High school socks no matter how advanced the society. Immaturity in absolute for young people.
Interesting uniform extras…
House specific or just the same for the whole school?
Can see why Cora and Dabbles became friends: Dabbles hates bullies (and young Cora was cute :P )
I can see why Cora became best friends with Dabbler after the fact that this was probably Dabbler’s response to all the bullying too.
Also both adventurers who like to tinker.
they most likely met up in shop class and tinkered with each-others things.
I would guess Cora is partly responsible for Dabblers rail gun, just as Dabbler is responsible for the teleportation system.
I think no matter how advanced some things would still be a constant, and have been in Earth societies, like a closet with a door to put stuff in, if in public it has a lock on it. No need to get all fancy and high tech; especially if its a capitalist society *a major draw back to innovations where a cheaper alternative is available*, just *here is a closet, here is a lock* the lock part is most likely to be the most advanced part, padlock, combination lock, key card lock, retina scanner, voice recognition, DNA unlock, ect…
and the clear back 3-D hologram looks cool in movies, but as many an engineer has pointed out would be a dud trying to market or even utilize for any constructive purpose other than to look pretty. Decorative yes, functional no.
The closest thing to a real world ‘hangs in the air see thru display’
is that electromechanical clock with a rapidly moving stick
that has 7 LEDs at the tip.
As the stick rapidly moves left right left the LEDs form numbers and
letters that seem to hang in the air due to persistence of vision.
I’ve stacked two black videocassette cases behind mine to make
the display useful.
The floating displays we see in SciFi should have an opaque backing.
Precisely, they would be visual hassle to work with or rely on.
I rather like Tenchi Muyo’s solution (among a few sci-fi series), these thin plastic like sheets thinner then paper that could be rolled up, bent, and everything, but also functioned just like tablets.
DaveB, I’m pretty sure that quadriplegic IS the right word both situations, actually. I asked my brother who’s a doctor just to make sure and, after asking me why the heck I was asking about that, he said yes, quadriplegic can refer to someone who’s arms and legs are either paralyzed OR missing. Basically it means any medical situation in which someone lacks the use of their arms and legs.
Also sort of surprised how mean teens on Cora’s planet would be, beyond namecalling. The equivalent on Earth would be something like kicking the crutches out from under a handicapped kid or stealing the wheels off a wheelchair. Eek.
Basically, ANYTHING which causes the loss of the use of both arms and legs falls under quadriplegia. There are multiple medical conditions that can cause it, and there are multiple real life accidents that can cause it too. I mentioned this in a response yesterday to someone but just wanted to repeat that here.
Having gone through the American education system (makes another note to never reincarnate on this planet again as a human), I can guarantee you that children are little sociopaths; especially giving into each other’s peer pressure.
How many times I saw things like *kid in wheel chair turn to corner*, kids picking on the disabled kid, making fun of them, stealing someone’s glasses or hearing aids, ect…
it wasn’t as bad (against easily recognized as disabled and thus more likely to receive social backlash) in high school as elementary. But I found there were still those asshole kids who would anyway, and ones who would pick on or torment others if they thought they could get away with it.
Yeesh, Feels like something I’d more likely see on a Saturday Afternoon special about bullying. Yeah. Totally little socipaths I guess.
the stolen power pack brings back horrid memories for me….
i grew up with an analog behind the ear hearing aid. that meant my volume knob was clearly visible from behind, and front to back raised the volume. this fascinated the little twerps no end, and had the bonus of being completely unseen by any adult. in short.. its a myth that kids are innocent.
You would be surprised how mean teens can be. It all has happened and has been done. It also helps that Cora is not impaired much as long as her suit works. We also don’t know how the social norms of her society work, it could be acceptable behavior.
I suddenly feel very grateful that my school had pretty nice students.
My high school was very different at least for guys. I think it helps when one of the coaches was a former marine who grew up with a brother with special needs. He absolutely would not tolerate bullying and made it clear that he not only expected his students to not participate but also to put a stop to it if they see it. The JROTC was given the same expectations. Imagine being the victim as I often was and seeing the bully who followed you from middle school confronted by several guys bigger than him and told to stop or else. He tried anyway when he thought he could get away with it but the little things become so much more tolerable. The other student followed the jocks’ example though jock is a poor term since at least half were either A students or advanced placement.
Yeah some are lucky never to have run into the psychopaths either. I had one come after me from behind with a hatchet. Good thing my friend had my back. That was in jr high. that little a-hole did not not need a school jacket but a straight jacket.
Where the heck are you people going to school? o_O
Well for me it was Denver, CO, suburbia in the late 70’s. it has gotten worse since.
Whilst I would absolutely love that clarification to be correct, because it would mean my understanding of the word was correct (i.e. “missing or unusable limbs”, albeit that I never realised it literally meant “paralyzed limbs”), the googling I have been doing is not finding any corroboration. Which is what I was looking for, in order to be able to rest easy and back you up.
Rather each of the definitions, from the most credible sites, supports it as being specifically relating to paralyzed limbs. Only public defined answers to queries tend to use the terms in the context I understood them to mean.
The closest I got to matching it covering the full range of impairment was the wiki definition “Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury that results in the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso”. So I thought “aha, so it does include injured limbs”. But the headline sentence is misleading. When you read on it specifies that the injury is to the spinal cord which results in paralysis.
Although I must point out that my reply is solely based on googling and then only up to my boredom limit on such. So I still hold out hope that your brother might be able to point us to a more definitive source.
Ironically though your follow-up definition matches those thrown up by Google (as it does not include mention of lost limbs, but just loss of use of the limbs):
“So I still hold out hope that your brother might be able to point us to a more definitive source.”
Honestly I just take the fact that he graduated top of his class from Columbia and has several clinics and pain management centers as my main source. It sort of makes sense, since there are many ways in which someone could lose the use of their limbs, and ‘quadriplegia’ means ‘quadri = four’ and ‘plegia = stricken.’ Four limbs stricken. It makes sense that quadriplegia and tetriplegia would be catchalls, while someone who had their arms and legs removed and was not born that way would be a quadruple amputee, and someone who was born without arms or legs could be phocomelia or OTHER medical genetic conditions. Phocomelia, by the way, is ACTUALLY where the baby is born with limbs that look like flippers. it’s a specific rare TYPE of quadriplegia, largely due to thalidomide-induced birth defects. But thre are also children who are born without arms and legs that do NOT have phocomelia, but are still quadriplegics.
And I am assuming that when they said ‘loss of use of the limbs’ it’s because it’s a catchall term. :)
Actually, all it takes is that you trust his judgement, to convince me. Not to mention it overlapped with my understanding. Sod the dictionaries, they always lag behind actual usage (naturally enough)!
It did take considerable effort to reply to you, and a couple of other posts, that the bug on my PC was preventing. Much to my frustration.
This reply brought to you by laboriously pecking at my tablet, with a single claw!
But y’all are worth it, even after a 13 hour shift.
*wags tail contentedly*
Awwwwww:)
Have some yorpie snax :)
actually to be born without 1 or more limbs is called “Amelia (birth defect)”
Amelia (from Greek ἀ- “lack of” plus μέλος (plural: μέλεα or μέλη) “limb”) is the birth defect of lacking one or more limbs. It can also result in a shrunken or deformed limb. The term may be modified to indicate the number of legs or arms missing at birth, such as tetra-amelia for the absence of all four limbs.
I can think of a reason why this wouldn’t be used in general use and end up broad stroking another term….
Amelia is also a girl’s name.
Which basically means the opposite of the medical condition :P
Again, Amelia is another form of quadriplegia.
How can a limb be paralyzed, if there is no limb? o_O
As I keep saying, quadriplegia is not just paralysis. Its any loss of the use of all limbs, including smputation, paralysis, and being born without limbs. Its a catchall term.
Its like if you say someone has cancer, then another person tries to correct you to sound smart by saying “he doesnt have cancer, he has leukemia.”
Leukemia is a type of cancer and the second person has managed to be correct and wrong at the same time. :)
So, you are saying that someone who has limbs butt can’t use them is the same as someone who doesn’t have limbs at all? o_O
Or maybe, someone who has an wart on their nose is the same as the one who has an inoperable brain tumour? And that the one with the wart should get the same health benefits as the one with the brain tumour? Because they are both types of tumour
This might be the weirdest and most pointless internet debate i’ve ever been in :) which is saying something.
I am saying, and medical definitions are saying, that if you do not have limbs, then you cannot use limbs. The reason why doesnt change how a catchall term is used.
A rapist and a batterer and a murderer are all violent criminals, but that doesnt make them the same thing. They get different sentences, just like the wart and brain tumor get different treatments, or a a spinal injury might have different options than a quadruple amputee. With the criminal example, it just means they all fall under the catchall term ‘violent criminals.’
This is how words work:)
Sometimes using the correct term confuses people. “Healthful” rather than “Healthy”. “Therianthrope” rather than “Lycanthrope”. Is the person using thaumaturgy, divination, conjuration, etc?
You know, it’s not like other countries spring for the best stuff either, so she’s stuck in a limb suit either way. (Though, talking economics, in a free enterprise system, prices tend to fall as early adopters fund development of cheaper processes to Chase’s after that sweet sweet middle class cash. Like TV’s and smart phones)
> inb4 “but muh American medicine is free enterprise” look up how much medical spending is federal and then look up free enterprise (and then get back to me)
Fine, I won’t be lazy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-much-does-federal-government-spend-health-care
https://hctadvisor.com/2015/11/3-4-trillion-2016-us-healthcare-spending-category/
I think you need to recheck your numbers :) They sort of put private medical research in with federal research in that taxpolicycenter.
My numbers come from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services via the US government.
Sorry I mean HCTAdviser, not taxpolicycenter put private and federal research together.
Off the top of my head, I seem to recall that the Fed spends 1.1T$ on medicare and aid. Fast and dirty numbers put a national health insurance system at about ~1.6T$ (Canadian per capita expense * USA population), for a total difference of .5T$. Now, tax dollars go toward four groups of people’s health care: Medicare, Medicaid, Gov Employee benefits, and people Gov agrees to take care of for various reasons.
Gov Employee benefits would include everything from Tri-care to general employee benefits. While the military is going to keep their in house mobile medical services, some of the VA and Tricare could probably be dumped into the general setup. Depending on setup, if you’ve got a copay or equivalent, using the VA medical budget for that seems reasonable so I don’t think the 60B$ that goes to the VA should be counted either way. I don’t know how to calculate all of the different state and local budgeting, but a national system would absorb those expenditures as well, meaning your state/local taxes could be adjusted downward.
Promised would include things like prisoners, diplomats and other such things. It’s mostly there as a catchall for anything left over.
These ignore the pricing benefits of a single payer system, where bureaucratic overhead is hammered because everything is dropped down to one set of paperwork, the elimination of various legal issues namely insurance companies not suing each other and passing the costs onto the payer as well as the reduction in judicial expense.
JoeScmhoe “These ignore the pricing benefits of a single payer system”
Is that a serious comment? No one is ignoring the pricing benefits of single payer, because there literally are NONE to ignore. Multiple studies have come out showing that everything the government does costs between 30% more and 100% more than the private sector. having the government do it does not REDUCE the bureaucratic overhead, instead it INCREASES it massively. Some estimates on welfare are that up to 70% of the money is spent on bureaucratic overhead. No private company could possibly stay in business with a 70% management overhead. Only the government can be so inefficient. The oft cited “advantage” of single payer, where prices will magically go down is nothing more than a budgeting gimmick where politicians predict prices will go down so they can pretend they can possibly pay for the new program without massive tax increases. None of those predictions are based on anything approaching reality. They are simple politician promises and therefore not worth the paper they are printed on. You may as well believe in santa clause and the tooth fairy as believe that government taking over health care will lower costs. I think a fat man flying around the world using reindeer is a LOT more reasonable than the idea that politicians are telling the truth about government making things cheaper.
Um… HUGE advantages of single payer. For starters, the fact that in our current system we pay several times more for drugs than other countries do – price gouging to an unbelievable degree. In other words, the “magical” way that prices will go down is because the pharmaceutical companies will be prevented from saying, “oh, you want this life saving medicine? Yeah, we just hiked the price… again… pharmabros for life!”
Then there’s the insurance companies. People who have worked in the medical industry (i.e. not those who are parroting what conservative pundits have told them are facts) are well aware that we already have “death panels” in this country. They’re called… insurance companies. You’ve never seen a kid die of curable conditions because the parents’ insurance company had a standing policy of “deny all claims for one year, and see how many withdraw by then.” I also doubt that you’ve ever contributed to a gofundme for someone who needed to pay their medical bills… who had insurance and the insurance company essentially said “lolololololol sucks to be you hahahahah we got your money see ya!”
Lastly, the ad hominem attacks about Santa and the tooth fairy… that’s… actually rather hilarious, given how incredibly wrong so much of what you’ve claimed is. (Especially the bit about “70% of welfare funding being spent on overhead.” That’s only true because we actually spend more money on welfare fraud investigations… we spend more money on making sure nobody gets too much welfare money than we do on the welfare money itself)
Including Medicare and Medicade, 1.1trillion dollars are federal-spending. Without Medicare and Medicaid, only about 100 billion is spent by the Federal government on American medicine actually.
Over 2/3rds of medical spending (the overwhelming majority actually, especially when you remove medicare and medicaid from the equation since it skews things and have almost nothing to do with medical research) in America are private companies. (about 2.4-2.5 trillion dollars per year).
There. I got back to you :)
But removing Medicare and Medicaid from the equation is like removing the exponent from a large number. It totally changes the results. And you can’t argue that Medicare and Medicaid are not government healthcare spending.
If you really want to decrease healthcare costs in the United States what you need is a “loser pays” tort reform where in a frivolous lawsuit the person who brought the frivolous lawsuit will end up paying the legal costs for the doctor.
currently the doctor has to pay his lawyers even if it was a frivolous lawsuit and his costs for malpractice insurance go up. if loser pays tort reform was implemented then his malpractice insurance wouldn’t go up as much. malpractice insurance is the primary driver of Increases in a doctors fees since he has to pay his malpractice insurance before he can pay for anything else since you can’t practice medicine without malpractice insurance.
That wont work; there are many safeguards in the existing system that protect the providers… the plaintiff has to find a medical professional of an appropriate specialty who will attest that the care was negligent. That’s a pretty big hoop to jump, so there are very few suits that are facially frivolous. The real problem is when there was apparent negligence by one doctor, a horrible outcome, but everyone gets sued and the jury chooses to assign liability to bystander professionals for some amount, but they end up on the hook for the whole amount.
I have a brother in law who’s an ER doc that had that happen. Some woman went to a cut-rate plastic surgeon, afterwards went into septic shock, and he and his team identified what was happening and saved her life. Absolute standard of care, no mistakes, bloody brilliant work.However, the cut rate guy had no malpractice insurance. They sued everyone, the jury found the ER doc 10% liable..no medical basis, just “i wanna”… and up goes his rates.
To handle this sub-issue, there’s a simpler fix.
1) If a provider is less than 20%-30% responsible for a medical injury, then they (or their malpractice provider) is only responsible for paying the damages allocated to them.
2) An individual that provides standard-of-care cannot be found liable or negligent. (i.e. if they did what they were supposed to do, then the adverse outcome cannot be charged to them.)
3) The jury shouldn’t be allowed to know who has pockets to cover the bills.
4) Perhaps – doctors should have the right to choose to separate their trial from others …if they want to pay the costs. Having this ability would help in negotiations with plaintiffs, because without all the horrible and obvious stuff from the other doctor, the second jury would have been hard pressed to assign any negligence to the ER doc.
You just explained why it would work: the plaintiff doesn’t have to prove negligence, which is why there are so many frivolous lawsuits
The problem is, even if the doctor has been proven not guilty, they still have to pay out, which means their insurance goes up, which means they end up charging more and the patients end up either paying way too much for some stitches and a bandage or miss out on medical care entirely
That might effect maybe 10% of the cost maybe. Truth is our for-profit healthcare system is the real problem. Most hospitals are for-profit and the suppliers and drug companies all charge whatever the market will bear. Add in the insurence companies who seek to pay out only 50% of what they bring in and you might start to see why we rank 37th in healthcare but pay the most. Also Doctors aren’t exactly without sin in this. Rarely see a Doctor driving a Carolla or doing pro-bono work. It does happen but probably on the same incidence as Lawyers.
Anything that isn’t for-profit winds up being a sinkhole of graft, inefficiency, and waste. The more power the not-for-profit has (usually tied directly with how much it is either part of the government or how mysteriously big its not-for-profit pocketbooks are and how much is funnelled into special interests and campaign contributions), the more likely it is to be a cesspool of cronyism.
This doesn’t automatically fail to apply to for-profit entities, either, but they tend to be more graft-laden the more they’re in bed with the government and the more they are in support of regulations and controls to “protect the consumer.” Such things are expensive to meet, and the bigger you are the more you can both afford to meet the standards and afford to bribe the inspectors to both pass you and hold your smaller competitors to, generously put, “stricter” standards. Such big-pocketbook organizations also get to use the PR of “protecting the consumer” when they spend big bucks getting punitive (for any new or smaller competitors) rules put into place that are relatively easy for them to manage.
IT’s no coincidence that, as government has gotten bigger, a trend towards massive mega-monopolies has been increasing. THey’re NOT an efficient way to do business, but they ARE an efficient way to collect enough money together in one place to buy favorable rules and regulations.
Our medical system is no different than any other business, except that the government has been messing around with it for so long that it doesn’t even resemble a free market anymore. “Insurance” these days is anything but. That started with wage caps during WWII, when businesses started coming out with benefits packages (this is also where we got things like “company cars” and even houses bought by companies for their employees) that included health insurance. Since it wasn’t being paid for directly by the customer, services that covered or partially covered non-emergency, entirely predictable health care started cropping up. It ceases to be insurance when you know you’ll pay it out; the company providing said “insurance” MUST charge SOMEBODY the full amount it will cost them. (Insurance only works because not everybody who pays for it will use it. The less likely you are to use it, the less you pay for it.)
When people started thinking of health insurance as something you use for doctor visits and the like, rather than just catastrophic, emergency care that costs more than they could afford (e.g. like homeowner’s insurance is only used when your house catches fire or the like, not to repaint your house because it’s faded and needs a touch-up), it distanced the customer from the cost, making there be less pressure to shop for good prices and less pressure, therefore, to OFFER low prices.
Then the government got involved, particularly in the 90s with Hillarycare. IT never passed, but the FEAR it would pass led to the creation of all sorts of weird insurance and health benefits plans that were trying to get ahead of it.
Medicare and Medicaid are also serious problems, and a big reason why hospitals charge stupid amounts for things like band-aids and cough drops: those government payers often simply don’t pay, or pay pennies on the dollar, and make it illegal NOT to provide service. The health care facilities need to make that up somewhere, and so they hit up insurance companies for it through their customers who ARE paying with ludicrously high fees on every provided item or service.
Nevertheless, where the American system IS free market – where the rich have the privilege of paying for the best of the best and determining their own medical care setup – is where American health care is leading the world in technical skill and equipment. Developing new drugs, techniques, and devices is ridiculously expensive (and made more so by the numerous hoops they must jump through, the licensing they must buy, and the palms they must grease), and then they need tort insurance on top of that because no amount of disclaimer nor meeting federal guidelines nor passing any sort of tests will shield them from ambulance-chasing lawyers. So when they come to market, such new things that make it through all of that cost so much that, yes, only “the rich” can afford them.
Not because the for-profit companies are greedy and want to deny care to the poor, but because their resources are limited and they have to recoup their sunk costs (not to mention costs expended on failed efforts) in order to keep producing the new thing. Take that away, and nobody can afford to invent new technologies and techniques, and we have no advances in medical care.
The American system is the best on the planet, and could be better if there was LESS government involvement. It wouldn’t be ideal – ideally, nobody gets sick and we don’t need medical care at all, ever – but nothing ever is. Without post-scarcity, resources are limited, and must be allocated somehow. “Everybody gets whatever they think they need” doesn’t work; there isn’t enough to go around. Rationing based on population just leaves you with corrupt and corruptible death panels that decide whether you’re “worth” living or not. At least profit motive takes the money-seeking out of the shadows and gives everybody an open and honest picture of what is necessary. There aren’t hidden “who you know” games of power in clandestine government agencies where you can use that power to determine who lives and dies as well as to demand graft.
Seriously, in a “universal” system? THe rich still get more and better care. THey just do it by bribing the powerful to put them at the head of the list, rather than by openly and legally buying the best care available. In a free market system, the profit motive attracts more providers, and thus increases supply, ultimately lowering prices and making more to go around. In a “universal” system, shortages magnify and explode due to nobody really being attracted to providing it. Why should they, when it’s a lot of hassle and not a lot of reward?
This reads like Stockholm Syndrome with a hostage going through massive mental gymnastics to justify why they are being held.
I live in Australia, we have universal healthcare (despite what our ironically named Liberal Party did to Medibank), there are also private hospitals running parallel to the public system.
Both public and private are legally required to provide emergency healthcare free of charge to the patient, the difference happens with elective (non life-threatening condition) surgery: if you have private insurance (or be very wealthy) you might be able to have it done quickly, with the public system you might have to wait a few months to have it done and go on a waiting list.
Because of the associated PBS (pharmaceuticals benefits scheme) neither private hospital charges nor prescription medications are expensive enough to compete with being able to eat and pay rent, to make desparate people resort to doing a kickstarter to either not die immediately or go homeless and starve. The costs associated with both are regulated/moderated through the PBS.
I think you will find the situation similar in the UK, Canada and most EU countries, they all have a universal public health system and none have the ridiculously inflated costs that you have in the USA.
Emergency rooms in the USA are ALSO required to give grr emergency care to anyone. I don’t know who told you otherwise, but they were wrong.
I don’t know why autocorrect changed “free” to “grr” there. I hate autocorrect.
I believe you’re willfully ignoring the major point here: Costs are way too high in America.
To the point where one medical emergency can easily bankrupt someone and further costs severely limit their ability to seek further treatment.
Stupid autocorrect changed free to grr for some reason.
Nice summary, Segev!
You get both a “Like” and an “Informative”
Just letting you know that I’ve saved this comment in my collection of noteworthy internet quotes. Its a good explanation of why universal healthcare is inferior to market-driven healthcare.
There is a good reason why no one else will choose our for profit, market based health care system. We are top of the line of what is offered, but way down the line on access. What good a health system that is too expensive to use? Libertarians would have us die for our lack of vision and earnings. So it would seem some Republicans who agree with that though they would not say it out loud.
Just want to mention with lawyers that, in most states, lawyers have a REQUIRED amount of pro bono work they need to do each year, depending on how long they’ve been a member of the bar and which state they’re in. In New York, as of 2012, we’re required to do 50 hours of pro bono work, although that’s taken at a pro rata basis depending on how much we’ve actually worked that year.
Like…. if we only worked half the year at our jobs, we have to also do 25 hours of pro bono work. If we took a year off from law and didnt work at all, or if we did some sort of law work which is NOT actual attorney work (ie, document review or Alternative Dispute Resolution or teaching law), then we have no pro bono requirement that year.
Lawyers is one of the only professions that has a (usually) mandatory pro bono requirement. Doctors don’t but hospitals DO have to accept anyone that comes into their ER. It’s a requirement for the hospital, not individual doctors and their practices.
PS – I’m a lawyer, and yet I drove a 2011 Hyundai Elantra until last year. But if I was a doctor and had to pay $400k on mandatory malpractice insurance, I’d probably want to splurge on a nice car as well.
HiIlarious, Gamesman.
1) MOST hospitals are nonprofits or not for profits… especially once you include all the teaching hospitals. Beyond those, most of the remaining for-profit medical organizations are either boutiques for various elective surgeries, mills for recurring maintenance items like dialysis, or doc-in-the-box-type clinics. The clinics charge less than the big nonprofit hospitals for the same minor procedures. There is just no viable argument claiming that nonprofits do anything cheaper – it’s just wrong.
2) By law, medical insurers have to spend 80% or 85% of premiums on the covered services (which percentage depends on the characteristics of the coverage.) Whoever told you that 50% number is willfully ignorant.
Um…. only a little less than half of hospitals (about 2900 in the US) are registered as not-for-profit 501c3 businesses. The majority are for profit businesses, but because of certain laws, have to put aside money to make sure they can accept any citizens to their ER for a set period of time before moving them to a not-for-profit clinic. Most of the hospitals you’ve seen in TV shows, btw, tend to be representative of how a for-profit hospital works. Sacred Heart on Scrubs, Princeton PLainsboro Teaching Hospital on House MD, Eastman Medical on Doogie Howser, Seattle Grace on Grey’s Anatomy. The reason they have a board of directors AND shareholders and have episodes about needing to make a profit are because they’re for-profit businesses.
Source – my brother works for hospitals frequently both as an individual and from his clinics, and I’ve gone over their business contracts.
Removing medicare and medicaid from the equation is not removing the exponent from a large number. Medicare and medicaid contribute almost nothing to medical research. The OVERWHELMING majority of medical research (literally over 95%) in the United States are from private businesses. Which is why I said what I said. Health care and ‘medicine’ can mean vastly different things, depending on whether you’re referring to R&D, which the federal government has almost no real investment in, at least in the US (and yet the US has more and superior medical R&D than almost every other country – mainly because there’s a profit motive involved, which sort of makes sense – it’s just a lot more expensive as a result).
Most if not all countries don’t pay for the high-end stuff as standard.
What the level of quality is for the standard or basic stuff does change.
On the NHS you’d get a reasonably high standard of basic care, as it is highly funded and performs a lot of research.
So in a case like Cora’s you’d get somewhat inexpensive yet innovative limbs, updated at reasonably regular intervals.
Whilst other countries would only pay for the cheapest, older design of limb and updated them only when necessary as their standard.
Wow, y’all ready did get back to me.
neat.
Commenters here are good that way :) We’re chatty cathy’s.
Specially when issued a challenge like that :P
Indeed! We take ‘get back to me’ as a personal challenge!:)
Don’t change what Cora said, pass it off as either that’s what she believes it to mean, or the translator is glitchy and chose the best word that Sydney would understand
You could even have Sydney ask if they had to remove her limbs (if Sydney is smart enough to realise that quadriplegics still have their limbs, they just don’t work) and Cora could explain further, and Sydney could do a quick search on her pip-girl and go “Oh, you mean Phocomelia!” (or tetra-amelia depending on what result she gets)
If Cora was completely missing all four limbs, that would be tetra-amelia, the partial absence is meromelia
Doing that little bit of Knowledge-gathering (mostly the auto-wrecker), turns out that the girls’ name “Amelia” means ‘work’, which is kinda ironic (maybe?) when the medical condition refers to limbs that either don’t work or can’t work (because the limbs aren’t there to work)
Maybe it’s because it’s the word “melia”, meaning limbs, prefixed with “a-” (“an-” before a vowel or h), meaning without. E.g. septic and aseptic, moral and amoral, hydrous and anhydrous, typical and atyipical, etc.
Which suggests that the name “Amelia” _actually_ means “Lazy” or “unwilling to work”. Which would be kinda funny.
Actually, “Amelia” is more literally translated as “industrious”, which is what someone missing a limb or two would have needed to be in a time before prosthetics.
Um…. phocomelia is still quadriplegia or tetraplegia. It’s the paralysis OR loss of all four limbs and/or torso. Phocomelia is just a much more specific description of her type of quadriplegia. Sort of like how if you were in a war and had your arms and legs blown off, that’s a different form of quadriplegia. Being born with phocomelia – also a form of quadriplegia. Or if you fought your former Jedi master and lost the high ground. :) Now you’re also a quadriplegic.
Okay yes i know, Vader only lost 3 of his four limbs but if he lost the fourth one he would be a quadriplegic as well. I’m betting they had to remove that last arm anyway.
The arm left was already cybernetic from the wrist or so up, since the climax of prequal 2. Must have been a while since you last saw the 3rd one, because it’s stressed visually that the robotic prosthetic saves his life. That and his iron willpower I guess. It’s actually a fairly large bit of dramatic irony, that Anakin was already giving up his humanity before all of that started going down, that he was probably adept enough in his time’s equivalent of engineering to repair it himself from the get go. I could go on but I won’t.
Pretty sure they were doing so much work on him they might have well have thrown him a replacement limb for whatever damage the lava did to the original cybernetic components.
I’d say something about the medical terminology but I’d only ask after something dumb like etymology.
Umm, no, Wikipedia doesn’t mention anything about paralysis
Quadriplegia is the paralysis of the limbs, not the loss, you are thinking of “quadruple amputee”
Except amputee is actively removed not never there.
Was referring to the comment about Little Orphan Space Annie
Man, I feel for writers naming sci-fi things.
I think the reason it is confusing in Coras case is that human medial science now has no real definitions for the problem she had. ‘Amelia’ is the more accurate definition (born with one OR MORE limbs _missing_ at birth) ‘Quadroamelia’ would be more accurate (if there was a word like that)
‘Tetra-amelia syndrome’ is not quite the same thing either. (the ‘syndrome’ part is a specific GENE that is damaged)
The issue with both of those name is it also describes the _reason_ it happened (;nerve damage in the spine, genetic issues etc) not just some of the visible results of the reason it happened.
The word ‘Paraplegic’ is probably the closest definition we humans have to describe it that everybody knows the approximate definition of. Again: ‘plegic’ is not quite right either since that means ‘existing but paralyzed’ you might feel it but have no control over it.
The definitions would have to be redefined to separate the result condition from the cause of that condition in the case(s) of separate species/race/genetic/molecular biology base to be more accurate. (I don’t even know what the technical naming convention would look like)
I can give a personal real world example: I know of two people who had Polio like problems with their arms (atrophied muscles/limited usage). One was caused by Polio, and one was caused by a surgical complication. Neither was caused by genetics – eg similar results but two different reasons.
1) It’s ‘loss’ not ‘paralysis’ only.
2) Don’t rely on wikipedia.
Quadriplegia is the loss of the use of both arms and legs. That can be paralysis. It can also be loss. It can also be being simply born without arms and legs, for a variety of medical genetic reasons.
As you said, it’s a “catch-all”, which catches too much
‘Terran’ is a catch-all for all life on Terra, does that mean a turtle is the same as an albatross? o_O
It doesnt “catch too much.” It catches just the right amount. All.
Its a catchall. It catches everything in the general sphere of ‘no use of arms or legs’
There is a huge difference between ‘not being able to use an arm or a leg’ and ‘not even having an arm or a leg’
Not as far as naming the catchall it isnt
Also if terrans refers to all life on earth, and not all SENTIENT life on earth, then yes that woyld be a catchall. Like the ferengi trying to interrogate captain archer’s beagle, porthos, because it is a terran creature.:)
And you don’t see how stupid that is? o_O
Nope. Because both humans/primates and dogs/canines can be classified as terrans or even more broadly, organisms or creatures, if sentience isnt part of the definition. So no, it’s not stupid depending on context. I used ferengi because its the example taken from the perspective of something that is, under any definition, not terran.
As opposed to good socialist countries where you can’t get healthcare in a timely manner (because “more important people” get put ahead of you in line) or there is no health care at all (anybody wanna go to Venezuela for their next procedure?). When healthcare becomes a state authority, the State will make all the healthcare decisions- including if you “need” care at all, or if you should just be “allowed” to suffer/live with it/die.
Think of the politician yo most dislike. Do you really want that person making your medical treatment decisions?
Don’t believe the rubbish in American press about countries with health care systems. The stuff they publish about the NHS is utter lies but really quite funny. The truth is that the UKs health system produces better results than most (usually ranks about 5th) Plus there is nothing stopping you going private if you can afford it.
Feel free to research your own country’s ranking. America usually comes about 30th. Except cost of course. Ranks 1st for that :/
That’s a bit like saying “You can afford anything if you have enough money” or “anyone could fly if not for physics.” That’s the whole point of medical (or any) insurance / care system, private or nationalized – most people can’t afford treatment beyond basic care (if that), especially if living paycheck to paycheck, so you spread the cost out and hope to beat the odds. The fact that anyone needs to go private shows that the system isn’t able to address their needs effectively.
Personally while I’m against nationalized health care (live in USA, have lived in UK), it’s more from the fact that putting the government in charge of anything is almost guaranteed to be the most expensive and least effective way to do it. I have friends who couldn’t possibly make it without subsidized health care though, so I support the idea of grouped coverage because I see the need on a personal level. Even though pre-Obamacare I had insurance that cost 1/10th what it does now (for major emergencies only), and would’ve preferred to keep that and save for a rainy day. That goes double for social security vs private retirement accounts.
I happen to be doing okay financially and have a job that provides nearly all of my medical coverage, and while my expenses are still not “cheap” by any means, without insurance I would’ve been ruined forever (or at least bankrupted and set back a decade while that played out) by the 7-digit bills for my NICU twins. Instead I paid out around 2 months salary and got on with raising them instead of getting another job or two. I still don’t love paying my premiums or deductibles, but I’ll never pay in as much as it’s already saved me. And my family gets routine care more-or-less on demand, instead of waiting months on a list or paying separately for out-of-system care.
Apparently you’re not aware of this but we already do have people making healthcare decisions for us including if we really need it or should just have to suffer, live with it, or just die. Americans suffer throughout the country and die because those HMO (that you can’t sue if they kill you) that were supposed to ‘cut waste and reduce costs’ are operated by people whose bonuses are based on how much medical care they deny you. The point of universal healthcare is to NOT have people deciding your medical coverage based on profiting themselves, which is why we so badly need universal healthcare in the US instead of those privately run ‘death panels.’
You can most definitely sue an HMO if their decisions directly cause death.
Source – I am an attorney. Also I have seen the movie “The Rainmaker” based on the John Grisham novel :). Which was actually surprisingly accurate in most places. Except the parts with Danny DeVito.:)
Yes, this is very true, Pander. However… you’ve still got a dead person. And just because you CAN sue them for the wrongful death doesn’t mean you’ll win. Not to mention that nobody wants to win a lawsuit over a wrongful death because their loved ones died in agony while the insurance company denied coverage for lifesaving treatments. They want their loved ones to live.
My brother was almost blue when he was born… And my parents would NOT have been able to pay for any treatment. He’s not a BIG brute with grown kids.
My father had a double bypass operation, and later, cancer. He’s still pottering about working as a technician for a non-profit radio. (His hobby after he retired)
Here in Norway most cancer forms have a 80 or even 90% survival rate if found early enough.
Some types of cancer, such as testicular cancer is considered ‘routine’ work,
(King Harald had it, he’s still going strong. Yes, he got the same treatment as everyone else with the same diagnosis. He wouldn’t have accepted anything else)
Only real issue we have is that certain US medical companies are suddenly hiking up the prices of medicines, after they should have recovered the development cost, and of course, the queues.
If the wait for your procedure at the local hospital is too long you can get it done at another where they have spare capacity. or you can go private. Nothing stopping you from it.
What is really important, though, is that with state-owned hospitals, it’s the state that decides where to place the hospitals. If medical practitioners got to decide all by themselves, most would be in the largest and richest areas. Which makes sense in a financial sense, but is rubbish for a medical treatment view. (Ask an EMT what the ‘Golden Hour’ means. ) It also means that equipment and sometimes even staff can be easily moved around.
One time when the hospital in Bodø had all their heart/lung machines in use, and needed a portable spare, they called around, the hospital in Trondheim had one they could loan them. Another call to a military airbase, and half an hour later it was loaded into the ‘luggage pod’ of an F-16 heading north.
When you need something fast, don’t UPS it, RNoAF it!
“Decides where the hospitals are placed”. Probably true in most of the USA. A proposed hospital needs to get a “certificate of need” instead of just opening up, then rise and fall on their own merits.
Who’s on the panel besides government bureaucrats? The OTHER hospitals in the area. Who DON’T want competition!
Actually certificates of need requirements differ from state to state and only universally apply to 501c3 hospitals. For other types of hospitals it depends on the state and specifics about that hospital (too nany specifics to list here on a comment board with my phone).
That being said, in some states you are right snd its very skeevy and goes against basic free market principals, and I am not sure why its legal for the government to make CON requirements for it. But whatever the reason, I suspect lobbyists were involved.
Principles. I hate writing on an iphone.
Somehow i think the author had countries of similar development level in mind (eg Western Europe) not places like Venezuela.
That aside this idea that the state controls your lives in such countries in bunk peddled by fox et al because it keeps their sponsors happy. It’s a deliberate conflation between the effects of the healthcare system and the legal system as well as implying that cases concerning minors apply to adults as well.
The UK has quite a different attitude (and has done for 100+ years) when it comes to how much freedom parents have over what they do with their children, generally it’s more restrictive regarding what would be considered child cruelty and the court battles actually surround this with the parents desire to keep a near vegetable alive clashing with doctors oaths about not doing harm.
None of that applys to someone capable of providing informed consent. It’s also nothing to do with money, the NHS often ends up spending millions more keeping the child alive than they would have done simply letting the parents take the child.
It’s a particular irony that certain US republicans jump on these cases when they often involve working class families who’d have been unlikely in the USA to have the insurance to cover them long enough to get any kind of crowdfunding traction.
TimP36 “None of that applys to someone capable of providing informed consent.”
Actually it does. The UK NHS will knock old people out with drugs (that also cause brain damage) and then withhold food and water till they die. Look it up, its called the liverpool care protocol or LCP. They will put you on that without your consent and without informing your next of kin. They will do that even if all you have is something easily curable. Some of the patients put on the lcp still wake up and beg people not to kill them. your image of the NHS is what you WISH to believe of it, not what it really is.
Also, working class families in the USA can always get treatment. It is a myth that the USA does not have universal health care. We do. There is medicaid and medicare for those who cant pay. Hospital emergency rooms are also required to see you even if you cant pay. In addition to all of that there are charity hospitals that are privately funded and will treat anyone who cant pay for free. probably the most famous of these is st judes childrens hospital, or primary childrens hospital. Finally you CAN go the crowdfunding route, which I will remind you is DENIED to UK residents. In the UK both charlie guard and alfie evans GOT outside funding but the NHS refused to allow the children to be treated.
The fact poor people need to crowd fund in the first place is the problem.
“Look it up”
How about you source your frankly ridiculous claims.
“It is a myth that the USA does not have universal health care.”
No it’s not because we genuinely don’t have such a system in place.
Blonk : “How about you source your frankly ridiculous claims.”
Ok, and I hope you have a strong stomach because frankly some of the stories down in the comments section are really gruesome. Like this one:
“My Mother has just been put to death by St Ann’s Hospice in Manchester. She went in for two weeks rest but they put her on Terminal Sedation without our permission. ”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161869/Top-doctors-chilling-claim-The-NHS-kills-130-000-elderly-patients-year.html
“we genuinely don’t have such a system in place.”
If we don’t have universal health care than NAME THE GROUP of people who are too poor to pay for their own health care, but unable to go to medicare, medicaid, the emergency room or a private charitable hospital. I know of literally NO ONE that cant make use of at least ONE of those options.
“The fact poor people need to crowd fund in the first place is the problem.”
This is kind of ridiculous. Are you saying you don’t want poor people to ask for charity? Why? Since you are suggesting a system where poor people would ask for charity how is YOUR method of asking for charity better than any other? Is going to a government owned building to ask for charity really better than just asking people directly? If so why?
So you have all of one Daily Mail article with the claims and personal experience of one doctor. Stacked against the claims and personal experience of dozens of other doctors(this is even quoted in your article): ‘The Liverpool Care Pathway is not euthanasia and we do not recognise these figures. The pathway is recommended by NICE and has overwhelming support from clinicians – at home and abroad – including the Royal College of Physicians.
‘A patient’s condition is monitored at least every four hours and, if a patient improves, they are taken off the Liverpool Care Pathway and given whatever treatments best suit their new needs.’
“If we don’t have universal health care than NAME THE GROUP of people who are too poor to pay for their own health care”
Nearly a quarter of Americans, which is atrocious;
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=4509618&page=1
https://thinkprogress.org/americans-uninsured-affordability-problems-health-coverage-5e357e236f19/
“how is YOUR method of asking for charity better than any other? Is going to a government owned building to ask for charity really better than just asking people directly? If so why?”
It is objectively more reliable and effective.
I think the premises for braking bad tells you all you need to know about the US health care system.
ukezi “braking bad tells you all . . .”
I think the fact that ANYONE thinks a fictional television show is a good way to learn ANYTHING tells us all we need to know about the sad state of schools in whatever town you grew up in. Tragic, just tragic.
Sorry to break it to you but “breaking bad” is a TV show. Nothing in that show is real. its all staged.
Walter in breaking bad is a teacher. Not only do teachers unions secure for their members VERY generous salaries, but they also get some of the best benefits you can get. This includes PENSIONS This is the real point of the show, as walter is not dealing drugs to pay for cancer treatment, he is doing it to leave a retirement income for his family after he dies. Those benefits also cover health care quite comprehensively. The idea that a REAL teacher in the USA would be so destitute for either retirement income or health care as to justify dealing drugs is flat out a lie. Hollywood made that up to give themselves a plot device to start their story. Oh, and normally benefits also include LIFE INSURANCE. Which would have taken care of walters family just fine even in the absence of a pension, which he certainly also has.
Depends on the fictional TV show actually:)
But yes, Breaking Bad (while a great show) was primarily BS:):):)
I just have a question, why is getting a ‘limb-suit’ a reasonable treatment for quadriplegia? Wouldn’t it be easier just to fix whatever was wrong with her spine/neurology/etc. that kept her limbs paralyzed?
There could be many reasons for the quadriplegia, including being born without arms and legs, which other people have already said ONE of the specific medical term for it (there are other genetic conditions which can also cause it as well)
Plus it might just have been too expensive to fix the problem for Cora’s family vs a limb suit, if it was paralysis. Or Cora’s society’s technological advancements could have been a lot better in robotics than in genetics, or there could have been some sort of political reason for why her society had more about robotics than genetics (ie, on Earth, eugenics was a rather popular subject among intellectuals…. until the nazis in world war 2), or her society might have worried about genetics causing a sort of ‘GATTACA’ situation so just outright banned genetic research in an overreaction.
As Cora’s family was poor, she had to make do with what her planet’s version of the NHS would provide. The limb suit cartel’s lobbyists did a better job of buying politicians than the cloning cartel. Thus limb suits are the legally mandated solution.
There could also be another reason too. growth spurts etc. eg. it is simpler to rent/lease cheaper less ‘sophisticated’ methods until your body has reached a certain stage of development to fashion/implement a more permanent solution. It would be more ‘creepy’ if she got a ‘used/male/tentacle/patched up’ frame or something weirder combo that was not designed or approved for her species.
this- I wasn’t even offered an in the ear aid until i was over 21, because growth affects even the shape of your ear. fun fact- those annoying Eustachian tubes change from infancy to adult hood- thats why kids get ear infections easier. (especially with binkies)
Half wondering if said bullies are currently even alive.
Definitely would be disturbing if ‘pouring freezy drinks down someone’s cleavage’ earned said mean girl death.
True, also death doesn’t seem to be satisfying revenge. I prefer something like an outburst or a trap that leaves the bully humiliated for their attitude and clearly says that you can no longer be messed with.
Kill them you’ve just got corpses and trouble with the authorities. Leave them alive you get the terrified look on their face every time they feel your attention on you, knowing that you could do it, you could take your revenge at any time.
With Cora’s position, and if I was wanting revenge, I’d probably get that mean girl marooned in an icy climate for maybe a month or so.
See how she likes getting Frostbitten, everywhere!
If you are meticulous enough, you won’t have any corpses left.
I’d think Cora wouldn’t be that vindictive but a freezy shake enhanced atomic wedgie is definitely within the realm of possibility
I prefer Deus’s method of revenge. Living well.
Waste disposal technicians about Cora’s ship would be my guess.
+aboard -about
And probably something like second- or third-class technician at that.
The lowest rank on the ship with the robots of the crew higher ranks (because they have a better Union)!
Nah, those bullies showed they have no class :P
Actually, we should ask if any of those bullies suddenly found it difficult to hold onto there own limbs.
Frozen drink girl is alive and well and currently has a lucrative career as a “Head in a Jar” for the local circus.
Please, tell me the next page will be her getting payback on them; you can’t show a page like this and not show her getting payback.
Well that certainly answers the economic side to my question.
Thanks for listening DaveB
No wonder her “ordinary” ordinance is so messy. If I was her I would think I’m owned some catharsis too…
I THOUGHT that robot in the last panel looked familiar and then it hit me – it’s Boo from “Mighty Orbots”!!! Although, honestly, her sister, Bo, would probably be the one more likely to be in that situation.
Came to comments strictly to give a shout out to that rather obscure orbots reference. It’s fantastic. And you’re right, Boo should be there.
:D
I thought she looked familiar!
Can’t help but notice it’s a Salarian holding the Hack Buddy…
PSA from Tetsuwan Atom and Bender J. Rodriguez:
Whoops, it’s Philip J. Fry and Bender B. Rodriguez. That guy must have paid someone to do the court-ordered PSA for him.
I come to you from the ancient time when floppy disks roamed the prairies in trucks marked “USPS” and “FedEx”.
My son doesn’t understand why I hate loose magnets so much. Seeing them on the fridge gets me a bit twitchy-eyed, but I tolerate it best I can.
I still eject and wait for external drives to spin down before disconnecting and moving them even whne they’re USB. I also power down monitors before disconnecting them. Basically I don’t trust any possible voltage spike on any computer connection.
Ah, the infamous ‘zap’ issue. At work one time we had a printer that when plugged into any PC (old parallel port) would fry the parallel port of said PC.
IIRC someone _designed_ a usb device that would fry a PC/laptop it was plugged into. eg a high voltage capacitor charge and release device. when oh when will they design optical-isolators on these bloody external ports?
From the logs of real life tech support (my brothers)
User was wanting some data. So my brother put it on a floppy disk and user picked it up.
Later got a call from user that “the floppy disk was blank”, so figuring maybe the media was damaged (happened a lot with floppies) he made another of the data on a new disk and the user picked it up again.
Later got a call again from user that “the floppy disk was still blank”, so this time he copied the data again to a brand new floppy from a different box, double checked it read off the disk and hand delivered it to the user.
User thanked him and promptly stuck it to the side of his monitor with a magnet.
Where have I seen that ‘I can’t dance I need something to
move my arms and legs so no one at the big dance will know’
thing before?
(It works at first then malfunctions.)
(That’s oddly specific.)
Phienius and Ferb?
As long as it’s not boots…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhPvJOnHotE
The Goodies. Back in the days of Black and White low resolution television. One of the Early episodes.
Yup, Phineas and Ferb did it, iirc the episode was titled “Nerdy Dancing.” Jeremy was gonna be on a dance competition type show, maybe with Candace (I don’t remember if it was pairs or solo), but can’t dance, and it turns out that Ferb is an amazing dancer (he can apparently moonwalk up a tree) so they rig up a system that Ferb dances and it controls Jeremy’s body. Hilarity ensues.
Was there also somewhere ‘I can’t fight like a martial artist’ version? The Jackie Chan Superspy supersuit? A different movie/cartoon where a dance BECAME a fight?
You mean “The Tuxedo”?
Good movie :)
Only bad Chan movie, was “The
Kung FuKarate Kid”, butt that was no fault of hisCapoeira? The original fighting style disguised as a dance due to martial arts being prohibited.
There was also an extremely surreal Star Trek: DS9 episode where Worf helps Quark score with a hot Klingon babe and no he doesn’t understand why he agreed to help with that either and then they had to do a fight scene where Worf is remote-control puppeting Quark through a honor duel — just roll with it, man– and then Worf scores with Dax and at that point Dr. Bashir starts screaming TOO MUCH INFORMATION because he has to treat the aftermath of all of this Klingon-alien sex and I don’t dare watch the episode again because it probably won’t be as gloriously screwed up as I remember it being when I watched it all unfold in real-time.
Will there be a cameo by a certain alien from the planet Melmac,along with those puppet kids from Outerscope, a segment of an obscure 1970s educational tv series known as Vegetable Soup?
And she isn’t a villain because…?
Perhaps because she was lucky enough to make friends with Dabbler at the right time?
As a succubus, she had ready access to all the physical therapy she needed, and didn’t even have to pay for it. She also got to choose the provider.
(notice- no males shown tormenting her)
Cora isn’t a succubus
(your notice seems to have missed mister Space Tango)
wow. I was wrong on all counts there. I need an app that refuses to show a keyboard until my blood caffiene level is high enough.
I thought about that, but it probably went down like Cora had finally geared her mech bits up and was ready to deliver some retribution, but then during a field trip to low orbit on a space elevator, the class was taken hostage, because the bitchy cheerleader is the daughter of a space senator, and Cora saved everyone.
Maybe she is and just has really good press? I mean she gleefully murders the thugs. I’m not felling like a bit of bloody carnage would stop her getting what she wants.
Not all victims of bullying turn bad themselves. Sometimes the bullying causes the victim to develop a hyper inflated sense of justice. The victim chooses to become hero rather than heel.
Why would she?
I just have trouble with the concept of a Hutt dancing the tango.
I hope she trod in his tail anyway
That… wasn’t his tail she trod on :P
and with the way he’s acting, i still hope she stepped on it the whole time…
He is now living a happy life as a sub to a giant millipede :P
She’s like a Space Action Captain Super Violent Person now…melting bones is “mild violence” to her…that blonde and purple hacker dude….are either dead or living in constant fear….or her repeat appearance villains…. not the main villains, like the side villains.
Not like He-Man VS Skeletor
more like He-Man vs Evil-Lyn and Trap Jaw
Cant wait for the revenge page, where we get to see her revenge against the bullies! Or revenge as in growing up to be a sexy badass space hero, and all the old bullies try to add her on Spacebook with half-hearten apologies and asking if they can come to their space birthday party.
Im also assuming this will end with Sydney crying and hugging Cora for being a kindred spirit, and she shows a small backstory when the bullies (tried) to bully her. (So many live were lost when they tried to bully her) *Vietnam War Flashback*
Please tell me she becomes friends with their “nerd” group who help her not only enhance her suit but get a little revenge. Like tryout for the cheer squad and blow away the competition then say “No thanks just wanted to see how hard it was (big yawn) not worth my time. I’ll let the bubbleheads pretend they’re athletic” in a very dismissive manner. Of course she’ll help the nerds get their revenge too. Maybe compromising pictures or videos. Maybe thrashing bullies or pranking their expensive vehicles. Fun for all and perhaps they joined her when she went into the military. Lots of sidestory possibilities.
Dave…
Anything special for #700?
Too soon for Sydney to be home.
Sydney sees a space-duct taped together spaceship and thinks it’s
Cora’s at first? “You came in that? You’re braver than I thought!”.
Cora points at her nice ship. Sydney likes it but it isn’t very tropeish.
The page kind of snuck up on me, but I should do something special at some point.
If you’re taking suggestions, how about Dabbler teaching Harem (all five of her) the proper way to bake cookies.
Do another Dabblers Science Corner
As much as I like a good fan service page, I have to admit that this is a better suggestion than the one I previously made. There’s all sorts of things in the comic that could use additional elaboration.
Possible subject matter….
– What are Atherium Causeways?
– Pros and cons of Hi Tech Prosthetics v/s Cloned Biological Replacements, and the state of the art for each.
– Who are the Xenoarchy exactly, and how did they come to be?
– What actually happened to Daphne when she went through Sciona’s Portal?
– History of The Fracture.
I can see where Cora got a yearning for lethal options.
Nope, reading glasses didn’t help – what did they write on the back of Cora’s limb suit in Panel 1? It looks a little bit like ‘RECALL ME’, but only a little bit.
Recycle Me it looks like
Heh, I was able to guess, without even looking back at the panel. based on the text of your query. It reads:
“RECYCLE ME”.
What you need to do is use your browser’s zoom in option.* For Chrome it is found in the three vertical dots, underneath the close gadget, in the top right hand corner of the screen. Which allows any zoom level up to 500%, which is enough for most but not all details you may want.
There are a few comic pages which only become clear using the patreon double sized version (with full zoom). Fortunately that is a very rare occurrence, so folks unable to contribute need not feel disenfranchised. But I expect patrons can make out the above image fine on their enhanced version, even without zooming. So they do get tangible benefits for their generosity.
* Or if it lacks one switch to a browser which allows such on your device, as you will often want to see small details in this comic!
Or even easier on a desktop, zoom by holding Ctrl and scrolling with the mouse wheel. Or Ctrl and +/- keys. Ctrl + 0 to reset.
Holy Frickin’ Crap!! that’s awesome!!… it does that in Firefox as well… i learned something new on the first day of the new year!
Thanks both.
*wags tail appreciatively*
Yorp – In Chrome, ctrl and “+” or “-” are shortcuts for the Zoom function as well. Has come in handy many a time. :)
Mmmm like the page with Dabs Cookie hypno-butt
“Recycle Me”
Yeah, high school or it’s equivalent is full of assholes.
My mother had polio as a child. Through seventh grade she was taunted, crutches stolen, rocks thrown at her. That spring the braces came off, she spent the summer riding horses and throwing bales of hay. In eighth grade she beat the living *&^% out of every one of her tormentors. She likes to say “Payback’s a b!tch, and I’m that b!tch.”
Your mom sounds like a hoopy frood.
I hope you got some of that.
Woot woot, go Alan’s mom!
I am so beautiful! They call me Jabba Da Hutt! (Insert picture of Pewdiepie and Edgar) this was the first thing to go through my head when I saw Jabba. Am I broken?
Never give too much credit to public school for being innovative. They do things to maximize employment and get bigger budgets, like any other government agency. So we can be zipping around the universe in a few centuries from now and public school will still be mandating everyone show up and sit in a classroom and get all their information from paper books and taught lessons with chalk boards. Gotta keep the book printer and chalk makers employed – they vote after all. The only difference is that there will be way more admin roles in the future, only because that’s what schools usually spend budget increases on.
After talking to some parent that have kids in school today, I’m surprised they can teach at all.
I mean some schools did not even have text books or even the newest text books but just ‘copied handouts of old text books. Plus with them teaching to the lowest common denominator,. Mandatory testing which does nothing but tell school boards which which students to move to another school because it hurts their funding/status. Forced busing… I could go on and on. *sigh* hell I went to school and never had to think about metal detectors or drugs.
I may not know the entire solution, but I know the system is seriously fucked up.
Man I think ‘Surviving High School without major psychosis’ should be a life achievement. Next one is sorting out said psychosis and ‘Gained +12 chrono-dragon social armour defense’
Well well it seems like Cora had plenty of Reason To Learn Every Witch Way to make people go bye bye. I wonder what’s going on specs on her current cybernetics are
A society advanced enough for limb suits and mag empellers, but schools still too cheap for advanced tech? No I’d believe that.
Not sure why Halo hates the term “limb suit.” What would she rather call it?
Something that doesn’t bring to mind a suit literally made out of limbs?
Even if it’s just trying to help?
At least Cora didn’t say anything about something’s “mouth feel”.
Third leg, think gimp suit for lesbians. At least that’s the most likely thing in my opinion.
Unless it’s something comic savvy reference like for example does Earth worm Jim have limbs or is that the suit?
Earth Worm Jim is just an ordinary earth worm, in a suit
Are the images we’re seeing what actually happened, or what Syd is imagining, based on Cora’s description of events? If it’s the latter, then it makes total sense that she’d just assume a basic high school.
That’s a very good point. This is probably Sydney’s ADHD fueled imagination filling in the details in her story.
Not only is this Sydney’s imagination generated vision of Cora’s high school victimization, it is also a flashback within a flashback. Lots of opportunity for Sydney’s brain to paint its own picture of events.
Well so long as the comic doesn’t go full Frankenstein on the flashback levels we should be fine..
This is a letter to my sister about things a man is telling me about his life, filled with instances of others telling him about their lives.
Wow. So her being robbed of her bodily autonomy and made to do close body-to-body dances against her will is just a “humorous misunderstanding’? Disappointed in you, Dave.
The “humorous misunderstandings” bit was the series of events that led to the controller in the wrong hands, not what happened to her as a result.
Yep, dissapointed in todays comic aswell. Did not expect rape jokes like this in here. And REEEALY creeped out by the line in description “and there was a big long line to dance with Cora, and everyone had to take a number like in a deli.” She is crying! No one did anything to help?
Worst page of this comic yet.
I very strongly believe that you are reading too much into this. Dave was not using a euphemism, as you have taken it. Dave is plain-speaking, so they were literally taking turns with the controller to make Cora dance how they chose. Had there been any rape, or untoward behaviour, beyond what was depicted, he would have said so unambiguously.
So having to dance with a leering Jabba-the-Hut-like individual will have been the absolute low point, of the evening, which stuck in Cora’s mind over the years.
Not that it is my intention to downplay how nasty and immoral that (and the other bullying depicted) was. Cora though has managed to rise above it, and thrive, as an adventurer. As this is her retelling of this, it is her right to spin it whichever way she chooses.
So summing it up as “It wasn’t too bad usally” and then recounting the scenes taking a funny angle is a good way to show her new acquaintance that she is does not brood on past tragedies, and is a fun person, at heart!
quick shout-out to DaveB for the soaked cloth detail in frame 4 – outstanding effect!
In space no one can hear you get swirlies! Mean girls are everywhere it seems.
Tetra-amelia syndrome or tetraamelia is the actual term you are looking for someone born without limbs.
Is that Boo!!?! Someone else knows who the Orbots are? I thought Jim Francis over at Outsider and my little brother were the only people besides me who actually remember one of the coolest 80s cartoons. The animation quality was right up there with Centurions and Galaxy Rangers.
I remember it too! Then again, I *AM* old for having grown up (ages 5 through 15) through the 80’s after all… :)
Dave, anything is a real word if it’s used like one.
QUOTATION:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
Don’t forget, TWO can play the “words mean what I want them to mean”!
“Oh, you say you want to give me your car?”
“No!”
“Oh, and your stereo, too. How generous!”