Grrl Power #709 – Para-go-on
Cora has been known to help people just because they need help, but she’s like, 80% Paragon, 20% Renegade, and usually has a slightly more mercenary attitude about how and where she applies her talents. Sydney’s entirely altruistic motivations caught her a little off guard.
Of course, it’s easy to be altruistic when you’re doing it with someone else’s spaceship.
People have brought up the question as to how much help these refugees actually need. Fracture Station probably has homeless people living on it, and it hasn’t been established if there’s any sort of social services or support. The fact is, the administrating government of the station is quite well off, but they don’t want to be too generous with social support, because they’re worried it will attract galactic vagrancy. Their solution is to have a jobs program in place. The docks always need workers, and there’s always maintenance. If you can carry stuff, you can find a job. If you can weld or rewire stuff, you’re even better off.
Basically if you get stuck on the station, you can get a grunt work job until you can book passage off the station. They’re not big on long term indolence.
So, some of these Alari refugees would probably be okay. The ones with little kids like this mom here would have a rougher time of it, and if Cora can take them to an Alari planet, they’ll probably do better.
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Single parent families can have a way to make a living: few parents take care of all the children, rest of the parents go to work, and pay part of their earnings to those who stayed home looking after their kids. I believe that is also the case in Deus’ flashback where a girl brings him a painted cup.
I suppose they are aliens, but generally speaking, that wouldn’t work, Matti. It’s been tried before. Communes (prior to marx) and Hareem. It…didnt go well. No matter who was tried, the women neglected the other kids in favor of their own, and those who worked to pay for the lot were either lazy and didnt bring in enough to support themselves, letalone share, or focused all of their sharing on their own kids with bare token efforts for the rest. Thats mostly communes. In the Hareems, the mans largess was supposed to be largely equal, but always ended up being a pecking order.
It works just fine within small groups, the issue is that the idea does not scale well, meaning it functions well enough for groups of 5-10, but not for communes of 30, towns of 1000, or countries of millions. The more people there are, the more complicated things become, which is why things start to fall apart. When the numbers are high enough things become less personal, easier to distance yourself from the problems of others.
Hareems are a entirely different matter, a issue born out of way too many tangled emotions, and lots of people who are historically only there because it guaranteed that their families are well cared for.
Before I entered grade school, I had spent much of my days (NOT nights) along with a number of other children in care of other adults besides my parents. Sort of kindergarten, but in family house instead of in dedicated building. And it worked well enough: food was no worse than what I got from my own parents. It works.
People tend to forget (or never bothered to learn in the first place) that ‘commune’ is where the ‘family-friendly’ modern term ‘Community’ came from
Um….it’s called daycare and it works just fine. Single parent families – and married parents who both work for that matter – all over the world use it. Granted, you can’t actually pay for daycare on a minimum wage salary in most places (at least in the US). Not if you also want to have a roof over your head at night. But still, it’s a thing.
Unspeakable Cuddles.. Well, I suppose if it has horns as sharp as his, those cuddles could be rather unspeakable.
pretty sure that was just a cover name
…I mean, I’ve seen Cuddles used to mean other, far worse things, without being a cover name. Then again, I’ve been to perverted parts of the internet and nothing is sacred to me anymore.
Yes, ‘Cuddles’ is the name of a cloak monster in “YAFGC”, very nice, just lonely
and two Pokémon come to mind, the “embrace Pokémon” that has a giant spike on its chest, and the newer generation has a giant teddy bear pokemon that crushes people to death by hugging them too tight.
“Giant teddy bear pokęmon” calls to mind a teletubby. talk about unspeakable cuddles.
It only wants a hug…one hug…a final…hug
https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/9/94/Bewear_anime.png
Specifically he’s a Cloaker, very dangerous foe for lower level parties. They do tend to “cuddle” one to death…
Thank you, couldn’t remember his specific monster type
It’s an acronym.
The Fel artifact of unspeakable Creatively Unimaginable Death Delivering Laser Envelopment System.
AKA. Cuddles.
Reminds me of the terrifying Freckles and Santa. Caboose is the best at naming things.
Santa is pretty good at slaying.
*presents Pander with a new name by using Claus to write a title in the snow*
“Wordsmith*
D’awwww.
thanks for all your work, its a good comic, hope Sydney get a minion from the refugees.
Sidekick?
What she really needs is a chairguy. Is there a term for that?
Barbarian? Although the chairs tend to be quite distressed when he has finished with them.
If Cora has a “slightly more mercenary attitude about how and where she applies her talents”, one wonders if their is a quid pro quo with Dabbler for finding Sydney.
A bill I’m sure Dabbler will happily fulfill, no doubt.
Or some undercover deal lol! ;)
That would be a bill Dabbler would most happily fulfill, but I doubt she would need a quid pro quo for that.
*if there is
^_^
your just to much.
Sure. She unlocks Sidney as a companion for later missions. Sidney’s pretty low-level now, but she’ll autolevel and the AI is pretty good; by the time Cora needs her for endgame content, Sidney will probably have filled up the basic skill tree and specialized in something useful.
PS: She’s not taking Sidney along on more than the join mission now because Cora prefers ‘romance option’ companions.
So you have a post-scarcity society where people have to work because the rulers are worried about their in practice infinite resources will be leeched off by randos from other post-scarcity societies turning up.
… Ok.
Personally I’d’ve gone with a basic needs program with healthy but boring food, some clothing and basic no-frills housing being provided as needed and everything else requiring work, though I’m having a hard time coming up with what work couldn’t be done cheaper by a robot.
no such thing as “in practice infinite resources”. thats a deluded fantasy.
even if you have a power source that could keep 1 billion powered, fed and watered until the heat death of the universe, its still limited by capacity and still means you are using power for “randos” that could be used for developing a healthy society.
by the time humans have ftl(if its possible) to the point of a station like that being interesting, there could easily be 100 billion humans on and orbiting earth alone, thanks to matryoshka world layers/platelets, and o’neill cylinders. let alone in the rest of the sol system.
if even 1% of that population decide to go bumming off the free handouts, thats still a billions “randos” bumming off of resources that could be used for expansion and invested elsewhere.
what you have, is a serious case of anaplastic trocytomic leftism in your brain, and should limit your sci-fi intake to hard sci-fi novels,and completely cease all exposure to tv sci-fi series as treatment.
Hm, no, i think that is your right-most drive overreacting in your diagnose.
Your other logic is impeccable, though.
^_^
thats likely.
its also possible that im over-reacting after actually taking this same advise to treat my own problem with the same issue.
and ending up with the undeniable realisation that tv sci-fi depiction of post scarcity, can not be described as anything but deluded. due to just how badly script writers misjudge scale and misrepresent human or even natural behaviour or simple economics.
I can’t help but note that your post is long on assertions and insults, and short of any actual calculations to back any of it up.
Hmmm…..
Worth remembering Cora would probably be counted in among your ‘randos’, as would I.
Giving everyone a superpower that allows them to sustain a pocket universe is the only way I’ve come up with to mentain a post scarcity environment. That idea had its own problems but no such thing as perfect.
that too has its limits.
even if you talk about fully digitised societies who have long since abandoned orgainc bodies, and exist after the heat death of the universe by deriving energy from the residual heat in the iron cores of stars, while using the roache limit to maximise processing power, still have limited resources that could be better spent on other tasks that supporting the subsistence of those who just want a free ride.
So who pissed in your Cheerios?
Post-Scarcity is not something that exists, true. There is only a finite amount of matter and energy in the universe. Entropy is slowly shaving energy off the top of the total supply.
The problem is that even with the resources available to us in the here and now? Well, there’s plenty for everyone to have enough with some to spare. But some people are charging more than they should. And others are exhibiting hoarding behavior. Both are symptomatic of capitalism breaking down, as laissez faire economics ruin the sustainability of resources to further drive the price up. This is why capitalism needs some more restrictions.
Unrestrained socialism is also a problem. The math in the theory checks out, but in practice not everyone behaves as they should. Hoarding and artificial scarcity are symptomatic of socialism breaking down. Can’t be so regulated that no one has room for growth.
Problem is that we haven’t had a balance in decades. We’re too far into laissez faire territory at present. I’m not advocating that we take the Communist approach, because we’ve seen that fail multiple times. Hell, even the Chinese aren’t really communists anymore. Still too many restrictions, but they’re not fully regulated anymore.
the problem with either of those ideologies, so long as you accept them as ideologies not descriptive systems, is that they both misconstrue base human behaviour as being more fitting to the needs of their own system. always with a “if only we could just purge the ones that arent acting how we want”.
the millions killed due to grant de-jure vs the millions killed by the greater good.
I don’t remember anything that says this is a post-scarcity society? This is a trading station, so there are obviously things it has that others don’t, as well as a currency of some sort. There’s even a sufficient underground that muggings occur (although they seem a bit dangerous). These Alari are obviously also refugees and probably still in shock/need of support to recover from loss.
Still, I personally would want to support those in need in some official way. I’d rather not have to rely on the generosity of good samaritans like Sydney, but I’m not planning on running any governments soon! Well… except in Civ LXXV.
There are several possible reasons why a post-scarcity society wouldn’t welcome an endless stream of layabout refugees, but the most likely reason is living space. Even if they have a ton of it, it will fill up eventually, and after that overcrowding will set in as more arrive.
The easy solution is to make it clear that immigration is NOT a free pass to a life of luxury. Even if the work is not necessary, work will be found. That way, only those who truly NEED to escape there will do so.
Clearly, even if this place is post-scarcity, much of the rest of the universe is not. If they were to throw open the floodgates, there’d be no shortage of takers. Not even a Dyson Sphere could house them all, and that’s some serious real estate.
^This.
Basic Income works best when population numbers are carefully managed. That requires free access to a variety of birth control measures, as well as incentives both to have and not have children whenever the population needs managing.
…The whole BS of “be fruitful & multiply” clashes heavily with the “be good caretakers of all the other lifeforms” things…because you do run up against hard limits on how many humans a particular region, continent, world, or interstellar empire can sustain. And not just in terms of living space, but in terms of food production & quality, and available critical resources.
Platinum, for example, is useful in high-tech gear here on Earth, but it’s growing scarce, and thus expensive. Helium is also growing dangerously scarce, though it’s desperately needed for high-tech medical scanning equipment. (After finding out about that last not-so-little factoid, I’ve refused to buy helium balloons, because helium is more deeply needed for scanning for internal injuries & anomalies than it ever will be for floaty balloon happiness, imho.)
I would not worry too much about Helium supplies. It can be generated from neutron bombardment of either common Lithium isotope, 6Li or 7Li, in breeder reactors. We will probably end up with an large excess stock of Helium when fusion becomes a thing as we will probably be using the Lithium process to generate the Tritium required for D-T fusion. I would not worry too much about Lithium supplies either as there is supposed to be something like 230 billion tonnes of it dissolved in the oceans as well as considerable supplies in the crust. So if it is in short supply that is a corporate decision, not an actual scarcity.
so far, all scarcity of mineral resources is actually a scarcity of one resource: money. Almost any metal we want is below our feet at some depth. If we want it badly enough, someone’ll spend the money to find it and mine it. Engineering limits us currently to about 2 or kilometers down, but that’s a helluva lotta mineral ore still to be dug up. Also, mining asteroids is limited only by economics and the engineering effort required.
international law also limits asteroid mining. it’s going to take some good lawyers and honest politicians to get humanity off this rock.
Like I said, lack of money. When it’s cheaper to mine asteroids than our own landfills, lawyers and politicians will show up to write new treaties and make it legal to make money in space.
“So you have a post-scarcity society where people have to work because the rulers are worried about their in practice infinite resources will be leeched off by randos from other post-scarcity societies turning up.”
There is no such thing as “a post-scarcity society” it was a made up term to try and cover up for “Handwavium” in ST TOS.
And even in Star Trek there was scarcity, Dilithium crystals? habitable planets? Quadratritakale?
Now i admit the ST & SW universes have a MUCH higher general standard of living on core worlds but on the fringes?? not so much, Why did H.Mudd need to import wives for the miners? Why did the wives need to take the drug( gummies !) to find husbands? Why were there not individual ships for each person to fly about with? “Replicators” still need power to make stuff and they replicators don’t make power…
You’re right, but I think it’s semantic – there’s no such thing as absolute post-scarcity on a planet, because a planet still has limited space by definition – that imposes scarcity of space, if nothing else.
The problem is when you try to talk about post-scarcity on a universal level.
But individual markets can absolutely be post-scarcity. We have a few of those today.
The music industry, for example. We don’t rely on physical objects being made, stored, shipped, and sold anymore… copies aren’t infinite, but they can be produced on-demand at near-0 cost… there are effectively as many as needed at any given moment. No one will ever be unable to buy a copy of “Never Going to Give You Up” because there aren’t enough to go around.
Star Trek was post-scarcity for pretty well all the standard life needs and more (even if they weren’t post-scarcity for living space or energy).
Fracture Station may well be post-scarcity for energy (even if the galaxy at large isn’t).
People who talk as if a post-scarcity society is possible clearly don’t understand humans.
Parkinson’s Law: The resources required to complete a task will expand to consume the resources available.
Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is crap.
A post-scarcity society is impossible because the demand for crap will consume all. (Note: Post-scarcity does not equal infinite resources, but even if it did, you’d simply end up with infinite crap.)
I’m sure this applies to any naturally evolved society. Created societies could probably be constrained, but nobody will want to live in one those; too boring.
So post-scarcity societies cannot exist because either crap will consume all, or because the lack of crap will make them unbearable to live in.
“People who talk as if a post-scarcity society is possible clearly don’t understand humans.”
You’ve only known a scarcity economy, with humans who have only known a scarcity economy. Disbelief in even the possibility of an alternative is to be expected
Of course when something isn’t possible it isn’t surprising that he’s never experienced it.
A century ago we’d have said international economy based on computers making bets in increments of microseconds on the movement of stocks, or the movement of bets on the movement of stocks, or the movement of bets on the movement of bets on the movement of stocks (I.e. derivatives trading) was impossible. If you think the idea of a post-scarcity economy is ludicrous, you might want to start with a harder, harsher look at our current system.
Well I could see humans to robot assembly because some robots might be squeamish to handling robot ‘guts’
Just like Officer Basilisk from J. Jacques web comic: Questionable Content huh?, she’s pretty squeamish too…
Ex-Officer Basilisk, she quit so she could do more good :D
“I’ve watched society cross into ‘post-scarcity’ three times now. Every time we found a new basic comodity we did not have enough of”.
Bristlecone, Schlock Mercenary, 21st April 2017
IThe idea of “post scarcity ” is highly relative. From the perspective of 1000 years ago, we are in a post scarcity society ie: our working poor have multiple changes of clothes and access to fresh fruit and meat and books and lalmost always live past the ripe old age of 50. Or to take it a different direction, in post scarcity Star Trek, not everyone gets a starship, or even gets to ride in one, getting into Starfleet Academy is still a fought over scarcity for the opportunity it provides.
Even if everyone could have their own ship (and not have to worry about crewing it or fuelling it or maintaining it, etc.) doesn’t mean everyone will want their own ship
With post-scarcity Star Trek, people are free to do (or do not) whatever they want, limited only by their own abilities, not whether they can afford the billions of dollars in student loans just to fail some arbitrary final grade and end up forced to work at Space Maccas (“Do you want space-fries with that, Captain Space-Douche?”)
I am still wondering, what happened with all that attackers. Maybe they tried track Sydney, or they just settle on conquered planet for while and after then will search other worlds? And these attackers, are they just pretty normal problem in the Space, like locusts on Earth? Or are they something totally new?
Sydney managed to loose them by travelling away using the orbs. Had they spotted the open wormhole (or whatever the term was that they used) the baddies could have tracked her, the same way Cora did. But the implication was that, once it had closed, they would have no way to follow her.
As to what they are doing it is likely that they would complete whatever they were up to before Halo appeared. So probably mopping up any survivors on that Alari world. Whilst probably searching for Sydney too, as they seemed to have something against her. And after the destruction she wrought, probably quite a lot more too!
Dabbler indicated that the Alari were considered a menace and it was likely that the galactic community would have taken action against them. However she also indicated that these particular attackers were not part of the usual forces which would do that. So our only information is that they attacked an Alari world in a genociadal manner. Possibly that means they will move on to other Alari worlds, if it is them that they dislike.
However it is possible that they are a rogue race or faction which is on a rampage. Possibly picking on the Alari as they were unpopular and less likely to provoke retaliation by others. In which case Earth might also be on their list, as a backwater planet with no fleet to protect it. Whilst the galactic races seem to disapprove of such, apparently they are slow to act. So a response may only occur some time after Earth has been turned into a crispy crater filled twin to the Alari world.
Or, maybe they just took a look at her destination and said… “Nope. We agreed to kill and consume all on defenseless planet X, not to take on heavily defended Dyson Sphere ‘Deathbringer.'”
As an aside, do you think that Sydney enjoys earworm music?! Took my kids to see the @#$% Lego Movie and can’t get that stupid song out of my brain.
You mean this song?
Or this one?
Earworms are going after your brains!
The ones to really beware of are zombie earworms.
” Had they spotted the open wormhole (or whatever the term was that they used) the baddies could have tracked her, the same way Cora did. But the implication was that, once it had closed, they would have no way to follow her.”
Aetherium Causeway was the term:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2994
Thanks.
And less of an ‘implication’, as I said, rather more of an ‘explicit statement’ that there would be no way to trace her once the causeway closed.
Internet black hole ate my comment last page. I’ll rewrite the parts I can remember.
After Halo offers American citizenship to the alari, I’m sure it will be fine. Why? Because I don’t think Dave will go into the territory of ‘helping those who need help is actually a bad idea most of the time’ like reality proves. That would be the muddiest waters possible, and I don’t think the story will go that way.
Whether Halo has the authority to grant this or not isn’t important- General Faulk and Arianna almost certainly DO have that power. If not Faulk, then Arianna does… if not on paper, then in practice. Look at how much negative press she could generate against whoever tells her no. She is the chosen exclusive lawyer/agent to the most powerful team of superheroes with the biggest military and bravado the world has ever seen at its back.
Plus if nothing else, then Cora could contact Xuriel via Halo’s suggestion, to get in contact with the Council, and they definitely could help.
There was a guy I met in high school that came from Kuwait as a refugee. He said his family first went to Jordan since they were allowed to escape to there (on the receiving end) then another country, then fly to the USA. Could be the same situation for the alari, but planets instead of nations.
Oh that’s what else I said.
Halo would have to say the general technology level of The United States, and the cultural lack-of-knowing so they’d have to hide their species in public, but if they were okay with that, then she’d make sure they can stay somehow.
She’s stupidly rich now. She can afford to feed, house, and clothe a couple dozen families until they can fend for themselves on her world. Plus, her personal accountant is a horse, and I’m sure he’d make sure that donation-based tax writeoffs were taken care of and all that without having to tell Sydney any of it.
Sidney is NOT stupidly rich now, and lack of maths like that is why lottery winners have a nasty tendency to be broke again in a few years. She’s just recently gained the income to become well off, but she hasnt even received a single (normal) paycheck yet, let alone had the chance to build up any savings. The advanced paycheck she got was something in the order of what she made last year from the store, bearing in mind the store was losing money. So she was doing ok living alone, but not fantastic. 26 paychecks in a year, typically. So 1 paycheck for each of the couple dozen “families she can easily support” That would keep the familes fed and housed, but they’d be room-mating it up and living on ramen to do it.
Are you sure she isn’t rich?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1826
that and Helping those in need is NEVER a bad thing.
Knowing how to TRIAGE their problem properly is where the problem resides.
I’ve had to explain it a few times recently, so I guess I know what my next topic will be on Youtube.
Let’s go with an example I’ve lived.
Parent is abusive. You try to just survive, do the best you can to keep them from flipping out and attacking more often than they already will.
You’re at a store, and someone calls your abusive parent out on how they’re treating you. They possibly think “that’ll make them realize they’re hurting their child and curb their behavior”. What actually happens is they do whatever they feel like to de-escalate the situation (apologizing, threatening the person so they stop paying attention, who knows). You get home. Now they’ve been holding their embarrassment (which turned to rage) and no longer have reason to keep it inside. You’re REALLY getting it now.
That random person trying to help didn’t. They made it worse.
Whether the Twilight Council could help is irrelevant to whether they would help
And Sydney does not have the authority to offer them a place on Dirt, and she knows it, and if she didn’t, Cora would and would have told her so before meeting the refugees
The refugee Alari may not even be allowed to go to Earth. The Galactic Cowncils rules on pre-FTL civilisation contamination may preclude that option (bloody Holsteins). The Fractures Space Traffic Control would know of the Alari arrival and that information would soon reach the Cowncils ears. Which would end up with anyone involved with the Alari transport to Earth having to face the wrath of the Brangus.
We already have precedence (tourist trade, aliens on Earth in disguise), that this isn’t the case.
Also what galactic council? We saw a Twilight Council of monsters who are in cooperation with an alien tourist board. (Earth only, and no indication they have any real political power over human societies or global control outside of regulating their own people). Although that said, the alien tourist board controlling ALL alien traffic with them seems like a deal that should be renegotiated as the real controlling powers of Earth grow more advanced and powerful.
Other than that, the Xevoarchy appear to be the defacto Galaxy Police of this reality, with members of many FTL civilizations putting a PART of their own militaries in it; likely also resulted in trade regulations..which seems to be the real issue.
Its not about visiting a planet, or living there, or mixing life forms. Its a trade regulation rule (a lopsided one disguised as non-interference in natural development), but still looks to be a limitation on trade based on who can provide equal value in exchange. Which makes sense as your trading partners might not like that the goods they trade with you are being given away in exchange for what to them is worthless baubles, creating political issues; so a standard (equivalent trade agreement) was likely met.
We will trade with you, provided anyone you trade with is someone we’d trade with as well. In other words your trading partners might be a tad upset if you trade machine guns for shiny rocks and those machine guns allow one tribe to easily overpower another tribe; uplifting a civilization is rather different than regular trade.
But no, nothing seems to be segregating species based on their species alone.
The Alari are post-FTL and might have knowledge that is not allowed to a pre-FTL civilisatiion. That is why I said may preclude travel to Earth.
The Galactic Cowncil, (not Council) is a reference to an old tabletop, pen and paper RPG; i.e. a joke. That said, yes the xevoarchy is apparently the Galactic po-po but as Juvenal said in his Satires: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?. Checks and balances, separation of powers, yada yada yada all that political stuff.
Buggrit, millenium hand and shrimp. One of these days I will get these tags to do what I want. The hypertag points to the page where Cora says visiting pre-FTL is restricted, not impossible, just restricted.
With the implications being going through another group (like the tourist board we see with the Twilight Council), and/or what tech they can take with them. As in like the guy talking to Deus the customs wouldn’t have let him take post FTL tech to a pre-FTL world like Earth. Like going to the airport and they won’t let you take certain fruits, vegetables, seeds, and animals to certain countries; only in this case its technology.
Note that it’s often far easier to temporarily visiting a jurisdiction for purposes of tourism than it is to permanently settle there to re-start your life. Or at least, that definitely applies between National jurisdictions on Earth, and I’ve seen no reason to suspect that the same distinction wouldn’t apply between Planetary jurisdictions.
She is obviously a libtard if she tries that and has no authority to get them in the US. Not only that we DO NOT want more immigrunts! Why should hard working Americans pay for them to be housed, fed and medicare? Bet teh libtard wont go in her pocket for them. MAGA, keep the illegals out.
I’m on permanent disability.
So I should go starve to death alone and forgotten on the street, right?
I believe his comment was primarily aimed at those who sneak across borders like a burglar sneaks through a window and not those on disability. Did you also pay a coyote to sneak you across a border with the express intention of taking advantage of the USA’s generous disability system? If not then your comment is merely a nonsequitur – it does not follow.
Only someone who has NO experience with the US “disability system” would call it “generous”.
I’m sure that YOU have tons of experience with, for example, the Mexican equivalent of Medicare for comparison? I stand by my comparison of the disability system in the USA to the countries illegal immigrants come here to escape from until you can cite some valid sources indicating otherwise. And as someone who has been poor enough in his lifetime to have needed food stamps on two occasions I resent the implication that I’m some kind of high society snob.
Um… we’ve already seen that their planet is a dead-husk, now populated only by giant, murderous aliens of unspeakably non-survivable power…
…I’m somewhere to the Right of Attilla the Hun, and even *I* recognize that situation as asylum/refugee worthy.
Hate speech is not welcome!
Using a derogatory pejorative removes any possible credibility your statement may have had. If you have a point to argue, please do so using reasoned arguments and not with insults.
Anyone who uses the term ‘libtard’ is expressing both their hatred of freedom of political expression, and their hatred of disabled people. Do you want to rephrase that?
I resent your efforts to turn this story-line into a platform for your misguided, uninformed, bigoted, isolationist, hypocritical and politically-motivated bovine excrement, you repubnant gobshite. So-called conservative fiscal policies are far more of a threat to the American way of life than all of the illegal immigrants (many of whom support our agricultural industry) put together.
Fact: The States in America that tend to welcome immigrants pay more into the Federal government than they recieve. The States that complain about “immigrant freeloaders” recieve more Federal money than they contribute. The only exceptions to this are Texas and Alaska (oil money).
So who are the real freeloaders in America?
The refugee laws of the U.S, and most other western nations, state: a refugee is a person who meets these conditions blah, blah, blah. The Alari refugees are persons, their being from space is irrelevant. Thus, the refugee laws apply to them the same as any other refugee. HALO, and by extension Sydney, as a government law enforcement agency, has, at least, the authority to take the Alari into custody until they can be transferred to an agency that can grant them refugee status. At worst, HALO could take them until they could hand them over to the Galactic Council.
I wouldn’t count on the Alari being recognized as persons under U.S. law. I can imagine that there are any number of people and political groups who would object to extending the status of ‘person’ to nonhuman sentients. As there is nothing explicitly extending that status to aliens in either the Constitution or in law, their status could get tied up in the courts for ages.
Speaking as someone with years of experience in the effectiveness of charities, they are only a “bad idea” when they don’t actually empower or respect those in need.
An already impoverished country is hit by a natural disaster. If the response is:
1) send loads of free food and clothing. Then the farmers and shop keepers go out of business, they are worse off.
2) send high school students and church groups to rebuild their houses. People live in poorly made houses that cost 5x what they should have. Local tradesmen go out of business.
3) hire locals to do the rebuilding and give low interest start/bridge up loans for local businesses. Everyone is treated as a competent adult, and the place recovers quickly with a boost to the economy from the easy loans.
Helping people is good. Infantilizing people because they are in a crap situation is bad. The two often get confused.
Yup, people in need need a hand-up, not a hand-out
Option 1 isn’t bad if it was the farms that were hit: the farmers are already ‘out of business’ and the shop keepers already have nothing to sell
The farmers are going to need time to recover and the shop keepers are going to need something to sell. It mostly comes down to proper distribution, and that has been seen to fail more times than it has helped (it’s the reason for so many ‘warlords’ popping up like toxic weeds: aid agencies simply drop the aid off without ensuring it gets to the people who really need it)
I’ll bet that Screaming Skull of Karaoke is great at parties :D
You can just see it can’t you? Amplifies voice x400 percent, but provides complete protection against all sonic and shockwave attacks. Compels wearer to vigorously perform Karaoke and cannot be removed until song is complete. Rare.
Components required to craft the artifact Screaming Skull of Karaoke requires:
The skull of a 12th level bard* (musician, not scriptwriter–you put Will back in his grave right now!!);
Sweat or blood from a Scandinavian death metal band;
At least a pint’s worth of sake gargled & spat back out by Japanese Salary Workers;
An amplifier & speaker unit or pairing costing no less than $1,200;
A microphone setup costing no more than $120;
The blood of someone who has sung one of the following songs:
…The Ballad of the Green Berets,
…the National Anthem for their country of origin,
…any Beatles song,
…any pop tune from the 1980s,
…any song from the Lord of the Rings,
…any attempt to sing Nirvana’s Teen Spirit without making the lyrics crystal clear;
and:
Either 80,000 xp
Or:
At least 20 nights of singing karaoke at the local tavern without getting killed.
(*Using the skull of a singing contestant from any (Country)’s Got Talent style show can qualify, but only if they make it to the 2nd round. Please use only skulls that came from those who died of natural causes, blood/sweat/spittle-soaed sake freely given, etc, as you will assume all liability for any costs or illegalities that may occur in the crafting and/or use of this artifact. Author of this Tome Of Unspeakable Artifacts Of Stuff And Things assumes no liability whatsoever. Additionally, using non-freely-given will turn the Screaming Skull of Karaoke into a cursed item that will require the next person within its range of hearing to also perform, and the next, until 20 songs have been sung or the nearest bartender (range: infinite) has made $800 in tips, whichever is shorter. Do not use the Screaming Skull of Karaoke while using heavy equipment. Do not ask your doctor if the Screaming Skull of Karaoke is right for you. Side effects include self-delusion and an utter resistance to all Truth Spells, Potions, Wards, etc, during the performance of your song. The Screaming Skull of Karaoke does not have the rights to perform all songs, and does not protect the singer from legal action should they choose to sing any such unlicensed songs. There is a rumor of a secret phrase that can be used to end the mandatory performance requirement of a cursed Screaming Skull of Karaoke, something about shouting “Thank you, and Goodnight (Location Name)!!” or by being an avid fan of the show Aggretsuko! (haivng watched at least 5 episodes), but these are only rumors and are as yet unverified. User beware.)
Well written. Please note. I may or may not have sung all those songs and others that are deemed to raw/nasty/inappropriate for public consumption and are now banned in the military. I no longer sing as I’ve a death mark against me on every continent of this planet and I suspect for the surrounding arm of our galaxy. You can’t prove I did or did not sing everysingledangoneofthemandjeremiahwasabullfrog…SIGH. Seriously, ain’t nobody getting my blood. Not even for a twinkie,
*Calls up a black market artificer after going through your doctor’s medical waste*
*Buys the Skull and uses it as an interrogation device* Turns out human singing is considered torture by 4,812 alien races…who knew?
Ask the Martians.
It wasn’t the singing, it was the fact we covered so much of our bodies with manufactured pseudo-skins that made them nuts.
Partially correct Adamas, the rest of the species yes. I’ve only ever worn pseudo-skin inadvertently. I just don’t like petroleum on my skin. Gimme the skins of my foes or dead plants any day. SMH, no in my case it really is my voice. :(
WHICH one? The real one, who only has records on paper or in their head. Or the decoys? Who use those silly silicone based EM storage devices? :) BTW, I wouldn’t use anything from the decoy waste…but it is marginally safer than the waste from my real doc. You have to be fast, usually he disposes of it in front of the patient (if they are conscious. Dr. Bombay is the bestest ever.
So, when exactly did Cuddles take over from Croaker as head of the Department of Mysteries?
Well, it IS “unspeakable”.
“Cuddles” … the one thing an Alari might fear.
And bunnies, of course. But even demons are scared of those!
I understood that reference to BtVS.
:-D
I’d still face an army of bunnies before even thinking of facing down the dreaded vacuum cleaner
The deepest, most horrific Hell, below even the great abyssal sea of Hell; there lies the cuddly flower field of dancing stuffed animals and fairies; just as Emperor Freeza.
First Question to Ask: Who Benefits?
If it’s not the person asking for the help, it can throw you off a little for a moment…
Space Mom should have that injury checked out.
As the ship’s Medic is a Woof, hopefully there’s no bad feeling between them and the Alari.
If Sydney gets injured she better make sure to call out “MEDIC!”
Apparently bad things happen to girls who cry “Woof”.
Bad things? Or “bad” things? Maybe Sydney *likes* being “bad”.
“Woof”
“OW!
“Woof”
“OW!
“Woof”
“OW!
“Who let the the Woofs out? Arf! Arf! Arf! bark! BARK!”
You need like a lore book or something where you explain all the stuff you can’t put in the comics, with accompanying artwork.
Kickstarter: Lore of ARCHON, all thoose little details in the world, collected, with scetches and illustrations…or even telephone doodles. I’d back that.
Same.
Grrl Power is now my #1 webcomic…and that means it’s geat out 3x Hugo Winner Girl Genius, Schlock Mercenary, & more.
Inb4 Syndey uses the 37 people to come to Earth, set up a job for them and help them immigrate to Earth so that one crazy chick of the same race doesn’t go whacko crazy saying she was the only one that survived.
If I recall correctly, Sciona didn’t “survive”, she destroyed her new body to release the Alari ghost squadron to head back through the portal.
Technically, she did survive, she made it off Alari Prime didn’t she?
In any case she isn’t the *only& survivor unless the other souls get poached
Maybe they remind her a a certain princess from Alderaan, from a long time ago. Or perhaps some calm, greenish, pointy-eared folks from a more recent re-boot.
Did Sydney lose her glasses in the fight? She’s not wearing them and being someone who has worn glasses nearly all his life I can affirm that when you’re accustomed to wearing glasses they’re reflexively reached for even before your clothes.
She took them off for her ‘session’ with Doctor Woofington
Depends. I’ve worn glasses all my life, but as my current prescription means I can read functionally without them I often don’t put them on until considerably after I get up.
Glad nobody reading noticed that I was pulling the time paradox manoeuvre…
Anyway, I ought to have a short nap about now, before any manure hits a ventilation device.
All of the Doctors had a solid lock on doing what was right. Doc 12 was especially good in this regard.
The Sc reaming Skull of Karaoke has my definite interest. Not because I like Karaoke (I don’t) but because of the TERRIFYING possibilities it presents for interrogation.
The screaming skulls of karaoke actually sound rather horrific.
The two hardest parts in crafting one are getting the Japanese Salary Workers to spit out the sake rather than swallow it (it empowers the spittle splayed during all performances while using the Skull)…and finding a Scandinavian Death Metal Band that isn’t currently lost in the forests of Sweden, Norway, or Finland while trying to do an album cover shoot.
Isnt there a Scandinavian Death Metal musician named Fenriz who was recently made mayor of his city – his campaign was entirely saying ‘DO NOT VOTE FOR ME, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I AM DOING AND I WOULD BE TERRIBLE AS MAYOR. SERIOUSLY DO NOT VOTE FOR ME!’?
So he isnt currently lost in the forest…. his fate is far worse. He’s an involuntary mayor.
The Thorned Crown will slowly devour your brain, but you feel so _relaxed_ while it’s happening that you don’t care.
Interesting bit of Xenobiology to note, evidently Alari’s eyes are linked to their emotional state, similar to humans, but a lot more flashy.
Note the adorable little Troglodyte in panels 1, 4, and 5. When worried/curious, the glowy bits of her eyes are pin-pricks, however, when hearing about the object of demonic snuggles, they expand/light up significantly.
Cool detail!
On a related note, the Alari never developed an equivalent of poker or other card games, and continue to do poorly in galactic trade negotiations.
“they’re worried it will attract galactic vagrancy”
Sigh, even the highly advanced world of tomorrow will be plagued with Conservatives. Where’s the Culture when you need them?
Having seen the latest juvenile tripe from AOC (The Green New Deal) a plague of conservatives would be refreshing.
Meh, eat the rich, problem solved.
You do realize that the poor eating the poor is most common. Followed by the Rich eating the poor and middle classes. There are few or no (none that i can find of the poor eating only the rich) historical examples of the poor eating the rich. Myan,& Aztec have much history of the rich eating the poor and dumping the “Leftovers” for the poor .
That is why there is still a problem. It’s no use to eat the poor, they’re all stringy and tough like old mutton. Whereas the rich are like a thick marinated New York cut T-bone or a tender veal steak or thickly marbled whale meat. Eat the Rich: They’re Yummy.
Plenty of examples of the poor eating the rich, the traditional cry of ‘aux lanternes’ is because you need to hang the meat for a few days to give that harsh bitterness time to dissipate.
Conservatives are like a plaque of locusts.!
“This is a big plaque, embossed with pictures of notable locusts throughout history. It’s surprisingly animated for a plaque, and looks pretty angry.”
Earlier you very appropriately objected to a commentator who used inflammatory and derogatory language. You referred to it as hate speech. Yet here you are using a derogatory slur to dehumanize people whom you disagree with politically. Civility is a two way street, and you cannot credibly object to offensive rhetoric when you are doing the same thing yourself.
A plague of conservatives is a very apt turn of phrase. Not refreshing, just as with any plague, but that goes without saying.
I mostly approve of gridlock and splitting the executive office and two chambers of congress between the parties, but the Republicans have such terrible ideas lately (you know, like global warming being a myth and other absolute denial of facts which can and will kill us all) that I’m currently all for letting the Democrats have all the power for a while despite the fact that if they do achieve that position they’ll no doubt screw things up in their own unique ways.
It’s a good enough reason for me. I’d also accept “Because” and “Why tf not?”
Are…are people seriously bringing their real-world politics to the comments section of a webcomic about superheroes and super shenanigans?
Wow.
On the one hand, I see your point – why bring heavy topics into a light-hearted medium? On the other hand… you’re new here aren’t you? ;) This community actually has had some of the most reasonable political discussions I’ve come across.
Sci-fi is widely recognized as a medium for addressing human cultural issues. Which is precisely why serious topics come up, it lets us disassociate enough from our personal fears to discuss topics that are otherwise overwhelmingly polarizing.
uh, dude? believe it or not, Comics have ALWAYS been a reflection of the world.
Yeah. It’s not like there is plenty of real-world politics in comics, right Magneto?
Previously on a previous comment…
I hate markdown…
Dabbles knows how dangerous Sci-fright is, and now she has a mass of Alari with her?
She would tell Maxi because it would help divert her attention from stressing over Sydney and allow her to focus on doing something
Ya’know Sciona was also reduced to a skully ghost in the process.
Also there is no reason to believe she holds any authority over the others in that group. For all we know HER superiors, or some military or other political authority was also among those in the soul battery escape/hide away pod.
Although some thanking could be in order, between them and these other refugees I am seeing a potential mixed signals reunion between different Alari groups in the future.
Do you understand what you just implied? If the others were Sci’s superiors, then they were the ones who ordered her to Dirt, and now they are on Dirt as well…
and they have bigger fish to fry given the circumstances than Sciona playing super-villain or some back water planet’s extra-genomic mutates with supernatural limitations playing secret society.
they need new bodies, and to get into space, and consolidate their power to determine their next course of action concerning their home world and colonies and this new enemy. Connect with other Alari survivors and exchange information between them.
Yes, using Earth as a secret outpost would be a consideration; but that said, emphasis on (secret), so a threat for later *perhaps*.
And how exactly would Xuriel know Sciona was in that group of skullghosts? We know because we read the comic, Xuriel being in the universe doesn’t have our POV or knowledge of events. To all she knows, Squiddyscout atomised her before spotting the ARC group.
Which is why said “If Maxi knew about Sci-fright…”
Yes, but you implied Xuriel knew that Sciona was part of the floaty skull squad.
You were the one who said that Blondini and Dabbles were looking directly at the cloud
I hate to be ‘that guy’, but “because they need help” isn’t actually a good reason to help. You need a means of helping, else once space pirate sarah gets done helping you move them to earth, they’re stuck in more or less the same position only in a less technically advanced/prosperous situation. The crumbs of New York are better than the heights of central africa/america type situation.
You are conflating (even while mentioning) ‘reason’ with ‘means’
Sydney wanted to help the first time she came across them, butt she did not have the means (which included the simple ability of communication), now she does and more than likely ran her plan through Cora
There’s always altruism as a reason to help. Or like in Star Trek, they help the Klingons, a warlike species, in order to create peace and goodwill for the future between species.
As for just moving them, it’s not necessarily Earth that they’ll be moved to. Could be they’re put on another planet with some sort of replicator/fabricator and say ‘Okay, you have this, and you have people. This should be enough to start a little colony, good luck.’
Or, if they ARE bringing them to Earth (not sure why they would – it’s not like Earth has a refugee asylum program for space aliens), Archon probably could get some use out of them as an informational resource on other species, like the Alari (since Sciona is still out there), or as negotiators (from an already very strong point) between humans and Alari (bad form to still try to conquer a planet whose inhabitants just saved the lives of 37 Alari men, women, children, and babies).
Plus there’s also a high possibility that the Alari have more than one planet and the planet that was destroyed was just their homeworld. They are a technologically advanced species who, according to Scinoa and Dabbler, have conquered other planets. And even if that’s an exxageration (which it might be considering how these refugees seem to be in quite a bit of trouble, which they would be less likely to be if their species was truly a multi-planet spanning empire), it at least does imply they at LEAST have colonies on other planets that are not the Alari homeworld.
In the words of the late, great Robert A. Heinlein- “Pay it foreword”. When you have much and desire to help those in need then do so with the only caveat that they “pay it forward” to others in need if possible. This is one of Heinlein’s axioms that I learned early and took to heart. Anonymous help is also richly rewarding to the spirit. That said, loans for business opportunities and other mercenary enterprises gets recompense and even allowed to bear a reasonable freight.
So this got my internal ‘wayback machine’ going as to when Heinlein first mentioned this concept.
Turns out it was his “Between Planets” which although was one of his so called ‘Juveniles” is still a great read for adults, albeit scientifically dated.
”The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note. “But eat first—a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer.”
His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, “Uh, thanks! That’s awfully kind of you. I’ll pay it back, first chance.”
“Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it.”
Heinlein practiced this throughout his life, one notable colleague, Ray Bradbury, was a recipient of this philosophy and did indeed pass it on to others. Bradbury referenced this in his novel “Dandelion wine” with the passage:
“How do I thank Mr. Jonas, he wondered, for what he’s done? How do I thank him, how pay him back? No way, no way at all. You just can’t pay. What then? What? Pass it on somehow, he thought, pass it on to someone else. Keep the chain moving. Look around, find someone, and pass it on. That was the only way…”
One wonders if Sydney has a Heinlein collection, she’s certainly displayed several of his characteristics. Or… as the owner of a comic book shop, maybe she has Marvel Team Up #126 “What Price Life” as a part of her well read inventory.
Yeah, not sure where learnt that (only Heinlein book have read, which changed how view the world in a different way, was “The Number of the Beast”), butt have long practiced that: usually no way can pay help back (or wouldn’t have needed the help in the first place), so pay it forward: always looking for ways to help to the best of ability, normally it’s just a little bits of knowledge (mostly just where to find better knowledge :P)
One thing won’t do is waste their time (and feel smug in the process) by telling them to ‘google it’. In the time it would have taken to type that message, could have googled it personally and given them an answer they were looking for
I’ve read every book Heinlein ever wrote, including the “Juveniles.”
always pay it forward; its what society runs on. every time folks start doing the me me me thing as a population things start falling apart. consequently when the bright folks in politics started running the government more like a business than a service to the future it becomes a hyper partisan quagmire like it is today. you can see this trend reflected in american history several times. each time the business oriented folks get control, no matter the party things start to go to hell in a hand basket.
so Sid paying it forward for refugees simply makes sense.
I notice these “Fel” have been mentioned twice. Once as something Cora doesn’t want another run in with, and now as something that had an “artifact” they need to secure.
So is this some species we are going to see later on?
Some ancient or power group?
Ascended jerk offs who left dangerous crap lying around (see every other ascended race ever)?
Or some other cultists, government power, ect… that they stole an artifact from but didn’t necessarily originate from?
As already noted, “fel” is a term, often used in fantasy to mean “bad”, usually dangerously so. There is probably no “Fel” race. but there are likely several “fel” races.
The word is “fell”, an almost obsolete English word meaning some thing like “grim and deadly”, as in “fell weapon”, “fell-handed warrior”, etc.
“Already noted”
please state when this was, did I miss a commentary?
That said, when Cora showed up at Alar her comment made it sound like it was a race not a descriptor.
The Karaoke Skull is wearing the Head Massage Crown.
If they remove it for any reason, it starts passive aggressive singing troll songs until they put it back.
They are looking for a place to ditch those at, but the skull is looking for The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Babblefish and vogons not included.
Coincidentally, that is how I play my Shep. Except for Mass Effect 1. I abuse the hell out of the Lorik Qui’in glitch to max out both.
This is a family friendly comic, please keep your “Shep” in your pants. ;-)
*makes “air quotes” gesture with paws*
Your comment reminds me,
odd fact: I have to look at this comic either on my phone, or my barely functional home computer because the local library has this comic marked as “porn” on their filter, and refuses to remove that from anything they’ve marked that way.
Mostly likely your library is using a 3rd-party filter service* like OpenDNS, and this comic definitely falls under ‘mature content’ of some sort or another. Librarians have better things to do than maintain a filter list.
*Which honestly I appreciate in a public space – my entire city/county library system refuses to filter content because the director wanted to make a point about free speech rights. Which a) makes me reluctant to take my young kids past the computer areas, and b) disqualifies our system from federal funding (which we pay into), adding just under $100/yr to every homeowner’s property taxes to cover the shortage.
Point of note, if these civilizations have the level of technology that Dave implies, there would really be ZERO need for grunt labor. In fact, it’d probably be way less efficient. Simple robotics that can move, make simple decisions and follow schematics to the letter would be way more useful in almost any grunt work job except for those that require knowledge of the machinery in question, which you can’t say the Alari refugees would have.
HOWEVER, the fact that they have interspecies translators implies that they have the brain physiology of those mentioned species mapped so that they can convey information directly to their minds. Which means that there’s no reason they couldn’t get a job where they get something strapped onto their heads and have a complete knowledge of the job downloaded into their minds, giving them an instantly applicable skill.
The PROBLEM is that such jobs in a society where robots do most of the grunt work means that those jobs aren’t going to require a lot of them at any one time, which means that they’ll have to find a whole bunch of individual jobs. It also means they’ll displace any existing employees there with the sheer numbers coming in trying to find work, which will create problems and complaints, possibly even violence with the existing employees. Economic shocks caused by refugees are never an easy thing to deal with, even with super technology. But there are still ways of dealing with it if they’re willing to have a job’s knowledge downloaded into their long-eared noggins.
Were I Tamarian I might say, “Taran and the gwythaint at the Eagle Mountains. One day Taran and the gwythaint on Mount Dragon?”
Well I wonder if they do transport the Alari refugees to another Alari world if some those Kaiju will be there too.
Fairly sure they will check to make sure the planet is safe first
Any chance of getting a ‘comic vote incentive’ of Cora in one or more ‘clothing’ modes?
I really like the look of happiness and joy on the little Alari boy’s face when he hears about the Fel artifact of unspeakable cuddles.
That’s not joy!
It sure looks like joy to me.
Mouth open in a smile, eyes all widened.
Besides, if you heard there was going to be an unspeakable artifact of cuddles, wouldnt you feel unabashed joy?
Because if not, you’re like a monster or something.
That’s not a smile, that’s a ‘gaping mouth of horror’
I am seeing an expression of surprise,
totally neutral.
Hey all, I threw together a Grrl Power bookmarklet (a what?) for highlighting new comments made since the last time I got caught up. Wanted to see if anyone else wanted to use it or had suggestions for additional features. My initial goal is to make the comments pages more readable / useful since I’m too
lazybusy to read them all.See the Github repo for the script and usage instructions or to leave suggestions, or reply here.
I will post about this again in a few days (since a new comic is about to drop tomorrow) and will also monitor this post for replies until then. If there’s interest, I’ll also try to figure out how to add a link to the unofficial wiki.
This deserves all the upvotes. ++++++++++++
Alas, not working for me.
Rather than clutter the thread here, leave me an issue writeup on Github. I have several things I know need tweaking already, but knowing what you’re seeing (or not seeing) would help.
Cora does seem like someone who will acknowledge when it’s time to just help.
Though.. possibly when they get settled she might find some.. deals to be made in the future. once the refugees are prospering of course