Grrl Power #725 – Phenomenal cosmic knowledge…
It sucks to think about, but if aliens did come to Earth and went to the governments of Earth first, instead of landing in Times Square and being all “What up?” we might learn about aliens through the filter of government press secretaries. At least until general tourism opened up. But there would be the first few months where no one could be sure if they were getting a straight answer, and in fact, a lot of people would assume the worst.
I think the point is, if aliens came to Earth, invest in Panicky Survivalist Futures. Which I assume is a bundle of stocks that cover guns, forest camo print clothes, bottled water, spam, hand crank radios, and school buses that will be buried and welded together to make a claustrophobic and labyrinthine bunker. Also tampons. I mean, if you were the only guy with tampons after the apocalypse, you’d probably be set.
But before the apocalypse? That guy is just a lunatic with a buried school bus full of tampons.
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This might be a dumb question, but why does journalist ask “how common is intelligent life in our galaxy”? Or rather, why restrict it to galaxy? That the technology which allows travel from star to star wouldn’t allow travel from galaxy to galaxy seems like a huge assumption
Give the guy a break. He managed to ask far more questions (and far more intelligent questions) than most reporters ever pull off at a press briefing. And remember just 2 minutes earlier this guy had no idea aliens even existed, so it isn’t like he had days in which to plan out the questions he was going to ask. Out of all the reporters present, this guy managed to stay on target better than any of his colleagues.
It would depend on 1) what you consider a galaxy, and 2) how far away it is. We have a multitude of small clusters that are relatively close to us, such as the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy which is roughly 25,000 light years from our Solar System and is basically sitting on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Or the closest ‘true’ Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, is roughly 780 kiloparsecs away (about 2,544,019.92 light-years). Unfortunately we don’t know if Sydney was still in-Galaxy when Cora picked her up, so we can’t gauge how fast the ship was moving to allow them to have ‘a nap, a meal, and a long hot bath.’
I’m sure there are spacefarers with a level of technology (such as Sydney’s orbs) which make distance relative through the use of wormholes and the like, but Cora suggested that they seem to be somewhat rare.
Distance is irrelevant when you can bypass the intervening space, like an Aetherium Causeway (or spacefold or Chulip or Boom tube).
@AlyxVixen – True, which is why I included it in my addendum. But that being said, we have no knowledge currently in the webcomic as to whether or not there is life, intelligent or otherwise, outside of the Milky Way. As well, Dave pointed out that wormhole tech required either massive ships, an excessive amount of ESP, or technology that is basically ‘space wizardry.’ And lastly, I pointed out that the comic didn’t mention how far away the station was from Earth, only that it was far enough away that it took a fair bit of time for Cora’s ship to get from the former to the latter, so the station is still in the Milky Way as far as we are aware.
‘whether or not there is life’ in a trillion billion stars, there is a lot of chance.. If you believe the decent UFO reports, they are most likely checking the chances that we will blow ourselves up or send out nukes first..
there are just too many people saying ‘what if’ (never mind relying on ancient theories) and forgetting we have barely got to our ‘front doorstep’ space wise.. If we can get a **civilian** moon base going, we may find that ‘previously impossible’ things may start being possible! :)
Possibly.
I’ve seen a couple of Sci-fi settings where local galactic conditions ‘helped’ FTL travel work, so the core FTL options become less effective outside the galaxy.
Schlock Mercenary’s Teraport is probably the most recognized one.
But the Looking Glass series from John Ringo also had the nature of space changing radically outside the influence of a stars gravity well, if that’s the case it’d be fair to expect that there would be another change when leaving the gravitational influence of our galaxy.
Space folding it self also isn’t going to be immune to the laws of thermodynamics. It will take X energy to go Y distance. If we make the Distance really spectacular we might have trouble generating/containing the amount of energy were talking about. Your cell phone runs just fine off its charger, but throwing a million volts at it doens’t make it a better cellphone, it just melts the components that can’t hope to deal with that much juice.
Actually, the ability to bypass intervening space makes distance more relevant, not less. Imagine that you could go to any star system in the sky, Which would you choose?
How many systems might be bypassed as a result?
What did you not discover because of that?
It is, if we assume that the energy cost of creating the fold is constant irrespective of the folded distance. An effective>/b> limit on jump distance (and hence on effective travel speed for multiple-jump distances) could easily be encountered if the energy requirement scales with the distance reached, due to the practical limitations on what power sources can be mounted in a given class of ship.
Energy costs could also be used to set a lower effective limit on jump distance. As the jump distance gets smaller, it takes a tighter space-time curvature radius to bring the two termini adjacent, and in many areas of physics a tighter radius requires more energy to establish than a wider one. So we could well see any given Gating technology having not just a maximum reach distance per jump that increases with the power available, and also a minimum reach distance that decreases asymptotically as power increases. Which would provide an explanation for why one cannot use microjumps in-system to bypass unfriendly encounters, for instance.
Well, maybe — the average distance between stars in our galaxy is 5 light years. The distance from our galaxy to its nearest neighbor is 2.5 *million* light years. For comparison, we can put a human on the moon, which is 240,000 miles away. We cannot yet send a person 120 *billion* miles into space (Pluto being “only” 5 billion miles away). Granted, the technology on display thus far indicates that they can get farther than the nearest star. I’m just saying that “star to star” and “galaxy to galaxy” wouldn’t necessarily entail the same level of technology.
(Note that I had to look up every one of those pieces of information; I am not an astronomer, nor do I even play one on the internet. And I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if someone told me I did the math wrong.)
Well, yeah, 5 light years at a minimum between stars, which means that interstellar travel needs FTL travel. We can’t be sure how FTL travel would work, but there is no reason to assume distance is still relevant at that point. I mean, it may be because most of the SF I read was Asimov, but I personally can’t picture FTL travel as anything other than warping
Is that 5 LY between stars, or solar systems?
Most solar systems* have more than one star.
No, most stars are in multiple star systems. But a majority of solar systems are single star.
Most Star Systems, are binary or trinary.
It looks like we’re doing that “In the real world” versus “In the Grrlverse” thing again. The question shouldn’t be “How far is it in the real world?” It should be “How many different ways does DaveB let us ignore lightspeed limits?” Aetherium Causeways, Stargates, whatever Cora’s ship uses, whatever the Colonial Ship uses…
Comparing star-to-star travel with galaxy-to-galaxy travel is a bit like comparing house-to-house travel with continent-to-continent travel.
In “Have Space Suit, Will Travel” by Robert A. Heinlein, there’s a scene in which Kip and Peewee have to appear in court. The Mother Thing maneuvers out of the atmosphere, then lands the ship – in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. Elapsed time? We don’ need no stinking elapsed time. Then they return Kip and Peewee to the space and time from whence they left – months ago.
Even if the reporter didn’t intend it, the question about how common intelligent life is in our galaxy is very relevant. Unless we’re likely to be commonly dealing with intelligent life from other galaxies, of course. The intelligent life in our galaxy are far more likely to be the ones who already have someone with the deed to the Proxima Centaurii system, after all.
To be fair. He had the questions possibly. knew there was only a short amount of time. had a camera on him and has to say something. at least he did his job
Intergalactic distances aren’t as much of a jump from interstellar as those are from interplanetary, but the nearest galaxy to us that isn’t a satellite of the Milky Way is still 2 million light years away, or over 10 times the diameter of the Milky Way, so travel on that scale is still considerably more difficult
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_185
Maybe because he’s aware that travel within our galaxy is a whole order of magnitude less that even travel to the nearest galaxy… (The Milky Way is 100 thousand light years across, and the nearest galaxy, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light years away)
It is quite pertinent as local conditions are often of more day to day importance to inhabitants. Whilst we can travel anywhere on Earth most of us will spend most of our time within our own country. Likewise we will tend to have exposure to foreigners from closer countries more than distant ones (generally speaking). Obviously exceptions will occur, such as distant countries with close social ties or shared languages.
And there are specific reasons why we would need to know about our local galactic conditions. If sapient life is very rare here then it is reasonable to assume that there will be a lot of stellar real estate that may be free for us to colonise in due course. Clearly, lacking any kind of FTL drive we are restricted to very nearby stars, so conditions elsewhere are much less relevant to that point.
Whereas if it is common, then we will need to emphasise local diplomacy, should we wish to start colonising our galaxy.
As for the possibility of galactic travel, we have not had a hint of that. It is entirely possible that Cora and the other inhabitants of our galaxy are mostly limited to mere FTL drive. Whilst only nth technology capable races may have access to galactic drives. So Halo, and her friends, might want to pick up an extra-galactic hitchhiker’s guide, but it may be of only academic interest to others.
Because…
Everybody lives on a street in a city
Or a village or a town for what it’s worth
And they’re all inside a country which is part of a continent
That sits upon a planet known as Earth
And the Earth is a ball full of oceans and some mountains
Which is out there spinning silently in space
And living on that Earth are the plants and the animals
And also the entire human race
It’s a great big universe
And we’re all really puny
We’re just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney
It’s big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It’s a big universe and we’re not
And we’re part of a vast interplanetary system
Stretching seven hundred billion miles long
With nine planets and a sun; we think the Earth’s the only one
That has life on it, although we could be wrong
Across the interstellar voids are a billion asteroids
Including meteors and Halley’s Comet too
And there’s over fifty moons floating out there like balloons
In a panoramic trillion-mile view
And still it’s all a speck amid a hundred billion stars
In a galaxy we call the Milky Way
It’s sixty thousand trillion miles from one end to the other
And still that’s just a fraction of the way
Cause there’s a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky
Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars
And still the universe extends to a place that never ends
Which is maybe just inside a little jar!
It’s a great big universe
And we’re all really puny
We’re just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney
Though we don’t know how it got here
We’re an important part here
It’s a big universe and it’s ours!
Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.
The stardrive was discovered on a planet in Centaurus,
by a race who built its cities when the Earth was flaming gas.
They swept into the starlanes in the dawning of creation
And a billion years of empire came to pass.
Their successors were a race of mighty insects from Orion.
They didn’t have the stardrive, but they didn’t ever die.
They smashed a dying empire, and settled down to rule it
and another billion years or so went by.
The insects were supplanted when the drive was rediscovered.
They couldn’t halt rebellion when they couldn’t catch their foes.
And the T’zen became the rulers, they were reptiles from Arcturus
And they worshiped the black swamps from which they rose.
But the T’zen are few in number, and the universe is mighty
they felt their domination start to slip between their claws.
Others fought for domination, and the universe was chaos,
and on earth a creature shaped flint with its paws.
Now the first ones are forgotten
And the insects but a memory
The creature called “Man” stands upon the threshold of his fame.
But remember, puny Earthling, there were others here before you,
and still others who will follow in your flame.
– Reminder, by Buck Coulson
It’s really not a big assumption. Star to star you’re talking about dozens to hundreds of light years. Galaxy to galaxy you’re talking millions of light years. And for any galaxy other than Andromeda (or the dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, which are still hundreds of thousands of light years) it’s TENS of millions of light years at least. And if you want to get to anything outside the local group….you get the idea.
What you’re saying here is exactly equivalent to assuming that because we can get to the moon we should be able to get to other stars using the same technology, which is obviously absurd.
most people can’t conceive of the opportunities in our own solar system, much less the galaxy. To most people galaxy, universe, and multiverse are just “space themed buzzwords.”
The Asteroid Belt.
The Kuiper Belt.
The Oort Cloud.
THEN the Stars!
Having read the entire conversation; this question reminds of a weird “argument” I had with a co-worker as they failed to understand I wasn’t disagreeing with them; only that I found their parameter to be unneccesary. In that we agreed there is likely alien life out there. But she kept saying *there are other universes*…ignoring the whole multiverse assumption; I tried to explain how VAST the universe is and that you don’t NEED other universes to exist to believe alien life exists out in space; that our galaxy alone has billions of stars with a mathematical probability of planets in the goldilocks zone pretty descent; in fact we’ve discovered a few already; and even then there are theories that “life” may chemically just be something the universe naturally does, so one form or another may be far more numerous. But she kept thinking I was arguing with her; because for some reason the idea of our galaxy alone being large enough to house numerous potential advanced alien species made no sense…or even our universe entire and for some reason she thought multiple universes were needed…I questioned her definition of a “universe” as I am certain she was grossly mistaken as the conversation went on.
But people can get stuck in one specific thought pattern. it is the ONE (and ONLY ONE THING) I liked in the new Predator movie was pointing out that you didn’t need *deadliest aliens in the universe* as the galaxy is big enough that most species even with many forms of FTL travel will still be in the one galaxy only.
Does the non-com in the beret have a name?
Corporal Estrada, I believe.
can we talk about how the reflection over the mouth of the guard looks like a Hulk Hogan ‘stache?
‘Cause, I can’t stop staring.
You mean Ari’s head? o_O
An extraterrestrial species looking to make first contact with Earth would be smart to observe the geopolitical situations here first, and then avoid any of the major powers and pick a country with an intelligent foreign policy like Switzerland or New Zealand to land in.
Um yah, some governments have a bit of an ongoing beef with Switzerland. Seriously there’s people who see Switzerland as a combined mob bank and cia front. Liechtenstein Weould be considered more neutral if it was not for there use of the Swiss Frank.
An extraterrestrial species looking to make first contact with Earth would be smart to observe the geopolitical situations here first … then make sure to land on multiple places so no single government will have exclusive access to information they will bring.
Another smart things to do:
1) Do not establish first contact unless you have experts on first contact onboard. Preferably ones which already did several first contacts.
2) Make sure to explore all options of talking first before actually landing.
If they were smart enough to know there are multiple nation-states, then they would be smart enough to turn around and never come back without making contact
Why would an alien species give a crap if only one government had exclusive access to information and slash or tech?
Why would an alien species give a crap
Excellent point! Cora certainly doesn’t seem to. She was coming in stealth-mode at Dabbler’s request, but jumped at the first excuse to ignore that plan.
Always though the whole, they don’t contact humans because of governments and beliefs, kind of funny. Because that would require a spy level of contact. Which means they’d have to had already given enough of a crap to infiltrate the local population, learn the languages, adopt cultural normative behaviors, assimilate to study; ect…
but despite what MIT, DARPA, and all them would have you believe, Earth as seen from above is a crap hole. First thing you see? Massive Radio pollution, massive light pollution, exposed cities, exposed power grids hideously draped over the cities; a slightly closer inspection (prolonged observation from afar), would show constant primitive conflict, use of the same basic tech over a prolonged period *from above the vehicles and power grids, housing types, rebuilding the same exact structures and exact materials after each disaster in the same places, Earth looks pretty static and primitive.
It takes a much closer look to see the more subtle tech (entertainment, information sharing) has advanced, but a general glance even over a few years time at this planet would likely not look very interesting or worth contacting to any species capable of traveling between stars with ease. Of course in all honesty a much closer inspection reveals a species that has advanced more through sheer dumb luck and happenstance than cooperative brilliance; and constant back peddling to the point of aggravation. So why even care what chunk of land the locals claim is there’s? Why share anything? There is nothing to be gained, and altruistic behavior could do more harm than good with a species like humans who always want more, and have tantrums when they get used to having their own way when denied anything else. Honestly prolonged contact at this level could tempt certain higher level species to wander if they could do a better job with this “template” and “reset” the species to try and (raise them better).
That too :D
Actually a very smart thing to do would be a good read of “The Sparrow” (Mary Doria Russell, 1996) to understand that maybe no physical contact of any kind should be entertained, EVER, until the local customs and folkore are fully understood.
Not to mention the near certainty that both sides could be mutually allergic to each other. Or could be carrying several deadly diseases just eagerly waiting for new conquests…
Cereally? You claiming a pisshole nation like New Zealand has an intelligent foreign policy? The fucking bitch in charge only got in because she hid her pregnancy from every one except her soon-to-be deputy because he had been trying to be leader for several decades and knew if she was in charge she would hand over the leash to him when she left on maternity leave
Not sure what the leaders internal political maneuverings have to do with their foreign policy?
Maybe the fact the Deputy is the leader of a party who’s preferred foreign policy is if they staid foreign
And they are so scared of Muslim reprisals for the Mosque Murders last week (or was it the week before?) they have cancelled several dozen ANZAC commemoration services because they don’t have enough police to provide ‘security’
Hmm, freelance law enforcement. So they are a spacefaring version of Sam and Max?
more privateer. Privateers sometimes do good deeds, but they’re a polite form of pirate. And one panel indicated they had a statue that had some type of curse involving not hugs but the crew had to say hugs since refugee children were coming on board.
Privateers were officially sanctioned pirates: as long as they raided other nations’ ships (and paid a cut of the booty), they were ‘allowed’ to ply their ‘trade’
Hence why it fits here probably. Also I thought the comic creator talked about it on one of the panels lol
well considering the other term he used, wealth relocation specialists, I’d say privateers sounds about right.
Kind of like Outlaw Star; they called them “Outlaws”, but in that universe the three big powers were the military, the pirates, and the outlaws; with the outlaws being sanctioned pirates pretty much, privateers under a different name that the military and private citizens would hire for outlying areas…and certain tasks best kept under the table.
I was thinking “wealth redistribution specialists” = polite way of saying “thieves” (though there might be some sort of Robin Hood thing going on); “freelance law enforcement” = polite way of saying “mercenaries”…
Yah the q/a given Ariannas previous statement will be interesting. Arianna Basicaly made it sound like Halo was in training, she shows up aparently under the supervision of a team of Aliens who Basicaly just by showing up make the cover story an international nightmare. Wait we have a alien crew training her? Why? No wait how long have we had a covert relationship with aliens? Does Russia know? Or for that matter our friends like Germany or Great britan or Japan know?
“Yes, Sydney was being trained by aliens.” – Arianna
“Why didn’t you tell us this?” – Reporter
“One, I’ve seen your twitter feed. Two, well, have you seen Firefly?”
“I, uh, yeah?”
“You know Inara’s job and how well she protects client personal information? Well that’s basically what this specific alien crew does.”
“They were training Ms. Scoville in sex?”
“No, orb functions, that are still considered classified.”
“Why won’t they train her in..”
*past, soon after finding the orbs. cabins on fire. people running around throwing buckets of water on the flames. brawling cats and squirrels.
“we’ve erased all records we found of that day”
Corporal Estrada is in the booth, behind the glass.
Arianna, Cora, and Frix are standing in front of the booth.
We are seeing Estrada directly, but only the reflection of the other three.
Corporal, dealing with superpowered beings, aliens, and even P.R. people is no excuse for neglecting to remove your cover when indoors.
The wearing of the cover indoors may be part of the uniform of the day for a sentry post, indicating that the troop is on duty.
Dealing with THAT PR person…I’ll give the guard a pass.
She ain’t a Marine, she’s former Air Force, and she was wearing her beret when Sydney was first marched into HQ
Going to be That Donkey…
Statesmen.
Otherwise, really great dialogue.
Welcome home, Sydney.
Hope you survive the experience,
Nooo!!! Why must I read so fast??!! I’ve gotten through this comic in about the span of a day!!! Why does it have to end?
Also, this comic gets almost everything I experience in my day to day life, everything to talking to yourself in the middle of a conversation to getting annoyed at things my brain just decides to do. The Hyper-Focus Mode is actually a thing, if I’m calm enough, my brain goes into a state of hyperactivity and can literally slow down time (Sherlock Holmes Style), t’s really cool! If anyone has any questions about this, just ask, I won’t be able to answer, but I might be able to BS something together tha’s close to the truth.
You’re skipping the comments. Go back and read all the comments this time.
***Sarcastic gasp*** The parallel dimention theory was right! ARCon’s symbol has changed (comparison https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-184-battling-the-future-with-rocks/ ), the rank cheveron things are wrong and REFLECTION WORKS DIFFERENTLY!
Error in Panel 5.
The reflection shows the name tapes are readable, they should be reversed as if they were in a mirror.
Estrada is behind the glass and you are looking at her directly so her’s would be readable
But Frix and all of them in the reflection are not reversed. Unless they shuffled between panels.
Considering we can’t see Altus (who was on Ari’s left), and Ari is still holding her bag over her left shoulder, it’s more likely that, yes, they ‘shuffled’ between panels
That’s some very special security glass there. It shows Arianna in an ARC-SWAT digital camo outfit despite both being a civilian contractor AND wearing a suit in every other frame.
I’m guessing the body shot in that frame was supposed to be Sydney, but Arianna’s face got put on it by mistake?
No it doesn’t, it show’s Corporal Erica Estrada in her Archon uniform, with Ari faintly reflected wearing her grey suit
That’s some very special security glass there. It shows Arianna in an ARC-SWAT digital camo outfit despite both being a civilian contractor AND wearing a suit in every other frame.
I’m guessing the body shot in that frame was supposed to be Sydney, but Arianna’s face got put on it by mistake?
My bad – the digital camo is actually from the security guard. Arianna’s slate-gray dress blends in well enough it looks like she’s being reflected in a uniform, rather than it being the security guard’s outfit coming through.
The desk guard’s face just screams, “It’s another one of THOSE Tuesdays.”
I’m just happy to see someone having what would be considered a normal reaction to this kind of situation instead of just another blasé ‘ho hum more supers yawn’ look on their face.
Is it just me, or does Cora look intrigued by Ari’s comment about parasite’s? o_O
In https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-154-predictably-unpredictable/, Sydney’s shoulder patch is a five-sided emblem.
Then patch disappears for a few pages, then reappears in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-161-cooldown/ with the 6-sided emblem.
So the change happened more than 5 years ago our time, and in story-time long before they went through the portal.
Didn’t see an explanation from Dave, although I didn’t go through all the comments.
I changed the logo at some point. I think because when I designed it, I thought Archon would be the 5th branch of the military, not realizing that the coast guard was already the 5th. Or… maybe the coast guard was the 4th and the Marines are the 5th. Whatever. So I changed the patch and haven’t updated the old comics with it yet.
I think the Coast Guard is number five of the SEVEN uniformed services of the United States.
DaveB said ‘military’, aka the armed forces, of which the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard are considered branches of. Those other two are not members of the armed forces, per the article you cited. Still, I wonder if those other two branches are covered by the UCMJ?
Also, the Coast Guard is a military service, but NOT under the DoD except in war time. They belong to Homeland Security. They used to belong to Treasury.
There are actually 5 branches of Armed Forces, not seven.
1 – Army (and Army Reserve and Army National Guard) – formed June 14, 1775
2 – Navy (and Navy Reserve) – formed by the First Continental Congress, also 1775
3 – Marine Corps (and Marine Corps Reserve) – formed November 10, 1775
4 – Coast Guard (and Coast Guard Reserve) – formed originally in 1790 as Revenue Cutter Service, but was reformed as the Coast Guard in 1915
5 – Air Force (and Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard) – formed in 1947, was part of Army Air Corps before that
6 – United States Space Force (not formed yet but in Grrlpower, probably would be a good next step now that they know aliens exist)
The US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the NOAAC Office Corps are not actually branches of the military, even though they are under military operations. They have no enlisted members. They are part of the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Commerce, respectively. It’s an error to call them branches of the military, which is why those two are called ‘uniformed service’ rather than a branch of the military.
And, when referring to ‘uniformed service’, you are going to have to include police, fire fighters, paramedics, doctors, etc.
Just like they didn’t have the official uniform during the Press Conference, the logo was still undergoing changes, so, no need to change the original :D
Hah, the bottom left panel is a female Hulk Hogan from the reflection
Whacha gonna do when ARCHON lands on you?
Er, I own guns, a hand crank radio, cases of bottled water, easily stored food, and a butane stove. I also live in Tornado Alley.
Now just bury a couple of buses full of tampons, and you’re set.
Nah too many people around here did that
the problem is they leak, and rust, and cave in.
Most people now use shipping containers that are easier to reinforce and with the right hardware and a little work very easy to interconnect.
Don’t forget to deal with the leaks and rust that they are also subject to. Oh and the fact that they typically have wooden floors also brings in rot to the list of underground shipping container problems. Being underground they will be subject to exposure to the water table and the conditions are ideal for fungi and other rotting agents to thrive.
A container full of rotted tampons will not give much in the way of barter value.
Basically those containers are designed for shipping not bunker building. Their life expectancy is far less than one would really want for such an application.
If looking for a structure that will provide a lifetime’s use (something pawey if seeking to survive an apocalypse) it is better to use tried and tested building techniques, rather than quick fixes.
In areas I am familiar with people strap waterproof barrier pads around them and encase them in concrete. They have to have ventilation pipes, but per volume they seem to be cheaper than premade plastic stormshelters.
One would think this would inspire somebody to produce plastic shelters in quantities that would bring the price down below Shipping containers, but it hasn’t happened here yet.
as per the wooden flooring, it’s not so much the wood rotting that will get you… it’s the Toxic Chemicals that will leak out of the wood over time from all the anti-fungal, pesticide and pressure-treatments that PREVENT the rotting from happening in the first place… read more here.
People are commenting on the false error concerning the reflection in panel five, ignoring the obvious easter egg(s)* in panel’s four and six
*not literal eggs
Are you referring to the overwatch security detail?
Why would that be considered an easter egg?
Look closer, notice anything between the two panels?
I’m confused too. Only Arianna, Cora and the security guards in the background are in both panels. What am i missing that is easter egg-y?
Oh so close: the two ‘guards’ in the background, are in the exact same position, even though the view-point has changed
Notice what is missing between them? Even though everything else about them is the same
I believe the ‘guards’ you speak of are at the upper corners of each panel? Note that the seal is not only missing, but they’re closer together, and instead of having a security desk with a turnstile door on either side of it, there are four blue panels. That is, it’s not even the same wall.
My guess is that they are not actual guards, but posters.
Are you talking about the SWAT team behind the glass panels? Or perhaps the seal on the floor, which reminds me of the seal in “True Lies”?
The title of this page is: “Phenomenal cosmic knowledge”
Possibly a riff on the quote from Aladdin:
Which does not seem to apply to anyone depicted on the page, who we are familiar with. Arianna is a corporate executive with many roles (lawyer, public relations and more), so will be well off enough to have a big home. And even if the crew of the space ship do not own homes elsewhere, we know that ship to be spacious, so clearly they can be ruled out.
So it must be referring to the guard houses (taking ‘living’ as a poetic way of pointing out their working conditions). And the main gist of panel 5 clearly is exposing one of them to cosmic knowledge, in a second hand way. Not really phenomenal knowledge, on the grand scale of things mind.
But Archon are having to counter supernatural forces, aliens, magic and other cosmic beings. Vale being an example we already know of, for instance. Whilst it may just refer to the guards having high security clearance, or being very well briefed on the range of threats they must protect against, we do know that not everyone in the building is well informed.
The new recruits for instance were not cleared to know about aliens, and they are used in front-line battles (Jiggawatt being one who managed to get to the big fight in time and was commended for doing so, rather than berated for being somewhere she was not meant to go). So it is not unreasonable to assume that their guards may include someone of similar caliber.
Mentally, I answered the “Phenomenal Cosmic Knowledge” title with “itty, bitty comprehension space” ….meaning the answers would probably blow the reporter’s mind.
Altus is one of the astrogators, and Frix maintains the starship.
I think those two would fit the description as compared to the public on earth.
It’s… referring to Cora and crew, and how they have, compared to most Dirticans, ‘Phenomenal cosmic knowledge’, butt only allowed to reveal an ‘itty bitty’ amount of it to the public
DaveB often takes a quote and changes it to fit the situation, rather than have the situation fit the quote
Scary Thought: Dabbler is probably the closest thing to a unified alien ambassador earth has.
Unified by whom? Which galactic empires or regimes has appointed her or even recognize her?
Has anyone else commented on how Sydney’s balls are, perhaps, covering the ones from another character?
No.
Alien: “We’re kind of surprised you got the importance of 42 right.”
Earth Person: “Oh? Very important is it? Well….Um….We know it’s significant…to a degree….I suppose.”
Alien: “Can’t have FTL without it.”
(Later on the alien starship, while leaving the Sol heliopause)
Chief Alien: “You didn’t say anything about how FTL works, did you?”
Alien: “No. I also led them to believe it somehow needed the Holy Number. They won’t figure it out for years.”
Chief Alien: “Good! That’s….Wait… How is it they knew the Holy Number??”
The Holy Number is ‘3’, not ’42’, so sayeth the python named Monty (Ni!)
More deep thought went into 42.
Better deep thinking than deep probing…
Love the look on the security person’s face :)
but technically with Sydney there, at least one earthling is on ftl time
MORAL APPROACH: “Wow, another sapient race! Let’s make contact, get them up to speed with the rest of civilization.”
PRIME DIRECTIVE/PICARD TARD APPROACH: “Wow, another sapient race! Let’s treat them like animals in a safari tour, and let them spend millennia flailing about blindly in ignorance **because their space ships aren’t as shiny as ours.** That way they can stumble across the truth out in space BY COMPLETE ACCIDENT after they’ve developed FTL– and all the related planet-go-boom technology that comes with it! THAT NEVER GOES WRONG!”
That sounds nice but makes ALOT of cultural assumptions.
one being the side appreciating and adjusting to be cooperative, the other being altruistic for altruism’s sake. You have to question the species that is being let loose among the stars, and also the motive of one that would just give them that capability.
I mean letting them KNOW there are other worlds, civilizations, ect…shouldn’t be restricted, handing them the tech however is another issue.
In one perspective we can say that the experience of developing the tech on their own, having to figure out the harsh realities and challenges of deep space travel and colonization; and the cultural shifts that can go along with those first hand experiencing shaping a species to be more concerned with cooperation, survival, and not on (bottom dollar) or fighting each other. After all if they can’t even get to the next planet over because they keep being held back by abstract concepts and hierarchical power grabs/controls; then they don’t have anything to offer to the universe; and in the long run they will likely; having not culturally shifted to a larger scale mindset; make an even bigger mistake like taking apart and trying to improve the tech they didn’t develop in increments but was handed to them; thus have no idea how even the basic components even work; and thus blowing themselves up, exposure to zombie plague gas, or wormhole into the Far Dark beyond the stars…or they throw a tantrum because they don’t have the newest, shiniest stuff and everyone till now has just handed it to them; so the next big power they come across decides to annex their planet, cull their numbers, bird cage them, or some other (remove this blight from my sight) reaction to the whiny self obsessed human trying to sit at the grand imperial powers of the cosmos’ table.
I’d say the moral approach is to offer them guidance regarding their many and sundry other problems. If they go along with getting their act and planet cleaned up, *then* consider offering them the tech to get into space, weighing carefully all of the knowledge about their species and psychology that you learned while teaching them how to fix their many issues.
But if they’re still fighting wars with other people over resources that they have plenty of, or can’t figure out how to control their population to be able to get along with the resources they have, or they can’t be bothered to deal with their waste even after you’ve given them tech that they can use to do so, you really don’t want them joining you in space.
It’s my guess that some of the cultures have tried that. However, from their experience, they’ve learned that most pre-FTL races react to knowing there’s aliens who have FTL tech by insisting on being given FTL tech.
The moral thing to do is still to treat each new race with respect until you learn they’re putzes. That having been said, few people are perfectly moral (I’ve yet to meet one, to the best of my knowledge.) Going that route takes a lot of patience. Also, there’s probably ways to short-circuit it. For example, I’d personally feel just looking at a few years of our EMF radiation would be sufficient to judge our population Not Worthy of such effort.
And, to be honest, it’s probably better to watch the cultures for a while and learn whether they can be trusted with the tech before handing them anything. That way, there’s no way some member of said race could manage to spy on you enough to learn secrets you weren’t prepared to share, until after you’ve made a preliminary decision that it’s worth the risk.
In a case like ours, where the decision goes the other way? Never let us know there was an option to be uplifted to the stars. Even after we get to the stars (assuming that we do), continue with the fiction, until such time as we’ve evolved past our barbarism.
Tampons have quite a lot of uses for an inventive and resourceful survivalist.
If you really want to show your sincerity in repopulating the earth post-apocalypse, stock Midol and Diet Pepsi with that.
Heh. Doing another archive binge, and only now I have recognized Honor Harrington in panel 5…
The part of her that actually resembles Honor Harrington is her face.
Honor Harrington’s build would be closer to what Max’s was (^before^ she got her distinctive pigmentations) while she was still an active member of her school’s track-team.
While examining the face of the woman behind the window at the Security desk (for a resemblance to Honor Harrington), I couldn’t help noticing the cocked eyebrow when she was looking at Frix. :-þ
The beret in the picture is almost exactly the same as on the cover of War of Honor.
Trying to come up with a CHiPs pun for Cpl. Estrada. It’s not coming.
You know, this strip always makes me remember that archon has infantry outside of Arc-SWAT (the space marines that recover the two ‘robbers’ from the bank heist). You can see them standing guard in the fourth and last panels, and I wonder if we’ll ever get Sydney interacting with them in a meaningful way, hanging around with the grunts.