Grrl Power #783 – Cosmic cameo
NdGT isn’t a patron of the comic, but I couldn’t help but think that if someone had traveled to deep space, met aliens and then returned, every goddamned scientist in the world would want to hear all about it. The science community brought out the big guns for this and gambled that Sydney would know who he is and be a fan. He was probably already in town for Dabbler and Cora’s press conference already.
Honestly she should have known who he was the moment he spoke. He’s got this patient cadence to his voice that’s pretty distinct.
Sydney isn’t blabbing anything actually classified here. The stuff she’s not allowed to divulge is how she got into deep space in the first place, that time travel was involved, and that there was a planet killing alien force there. The general news has said that the Alari that were already on Earth were chased off their planet by a hostile force, but haven’t really been able to learn or divulge anything more than that. She is allowed to talk about Fracture Station and her return trip on Cora’s ship, so… she’s in the clear here.
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That IS a security breach. Also I’m AMAZED they didn’t confiscate her stuff.
Still, things got busy, things get forgotten….
How? How is it a security breach? o_O
You saying the great NeilyT cut the line? Or didn’t pay admission fee?
Pix of the station? Loose cannon? Come’on!
Again, how is it a security breach? Mores the point, whose security breach? It’s not like there is an embargo preventing Dirtlings from getting off the planet, else how do you explain Cora
Illegal probing.
Potential Security breach. If NDT had security clearance, he probably wouldn’t let her post that selfie with him and the pick of the station on her phone depending on what exactly has been made public in the 2 months Syd was away.
Granted Neil is probably the most well known astro-physicist in the US currently so it is entirely possible he’s been brought into the fold so to speak. Especially following supers AND aliens being made public knowledge.
Particularly following his well documented (and hilarious) public commentary on providing proof of non-terrestrial life (just Google Neil Degrasse Tyson aliens for pages of great witty commentary from a scientific perspective).
Did NDT sign the NDA?
I expect that Archon went through her pictures and removed those that were considered ‘problematic’.
They should just re-label everything with Top Secret on it as “Spoilers!”.
+1
And then, when you attempt to open the file without authorisation, Alex Kingston loudly says “Spoilers!” :D
Sydney is a walking, flying and talking breach of security. The only time she keeps secrets so far was hiding her balls for a few weeks. They either need to lock her up or make all secrets open. With her, the latter is easier than the former.
She kept her teleport power secret from Max for a few days… and from the rest of the team on an ongoing basis.
She’s capable of keeping secrets. Batman keeps secrets. She can keep secrets too.
But she’s not good at keeping secrets when confronted with celebrity, apparently.
shortly after she signed on, the team hacker got a hold of her phone, he changed all her passwords, set up a password manager, and several other things. If there are any sensitive pictures on her phone. well, hes going to have a rather unpleasant meeting.
How is it a breach when DaveB just explained it’s not a breach below the comic in the paragraph of words posted below each comic uploaded
No, it’s not a security breach. Archon has access to everything on Sydney’s phone (thanks to Leon) and any pictures that are still on there are things they don’t mind the public seeing. Three separate alien space craft has landed, with multiple different alien species on board. The fact that there are the equivalent of alien space ports out there is pretty much a given. Sharing a picture of it doesn’t violate any security interests.
Sydney’s initial response was almost certainly more of a “here’s my excuse to not spend an hour answering questions from a random customer” tactic, not an actual security consideration.
Technically, 1 of those alien craft crashed after being blown outa the sky by Maxima.
“Hey, it’s a form of landing!” – The pilot of the Fel craft, probably
They didn’t walk away from it, so it wasn’t a *good* landing.
That’s because they were dead before the landing
Remember, it’s called a crash-landing :P
No, it landed first.
On the Interdictor’s forcefield.
Then Maxima knocked it off.
Author of comic, talking about what Sydney did and didn’t do: “Sydney isn’t blabbing anything actually classified here.” If you want to have your own, separate head-canon (or head-cannon, depending on local cyber-weaponry ordinances), feel free.
As it stands, I tend to classify statements that put Sydney in the wrong in direct contravention of what Dave draws or states happened off-panel as verses in the Endless Litany of What’s Wrong with Sydney ™, which seems to be an ongoing shared-authorship fanfic in the comments section.
We’re going to rock NaNoWriMo!
Also, I love this description, and am adopting it as my new head-canon for all comments sections everywhere.
+10
Questions of whether it was a security breach or not should first take a look at the author’s comments. Not a security breach. “Sydney isn’t blabbing anything actually classified here. The stuff she’s not allowed to divulge is how she got into deep space in the first place, that time travel was involved, and that there was a planet killing alien force there. The general news has said that the Alari that were already on Earth were chased off their planet by a hostile force, but haven’t really been able to learn or divulge anything more than that. She is allowed to talk about Fracture Station and her return trip on Cora’s ship, so… she’s in the clear here.”
Isn’t it ‘DeGrasse’ with an E?
You know, I’m showing my age, but I would have picked Bill Nye, too bad Mr. Hawkings is dead, he’d have been a good choice too.
Bill Nye the bachelors degree guy isn’t really a scientist.. Just a tv personality
It’s the scientific method that makes you a scientist. Asking questions, forming a hypothesis, then trying to prove them wrong (there is no proving right in real science). Of course, that makes 90% of modern scientists about as useful as Bill Nye.
Honestly, I’d say that what Bill Nye does is one of the most important things for science as a whole- getting people (and particularly kids) interested in science. Science can’t do anything if there aren’t any scientists, and science communication is tricky. It’s hard to make science entertaining and approachable without also being inaccurate, and that’s something Bill Nye is great at. NdGT and Carl Sagan are also in that category of science communicators, but their audiences are/were primarily adults. Getting kids into science early is super important, and that’s where Bill Nye excels. That said, Neil is definitely the correct choice here considering he’s an astrophysicist and would definitely have a specific interest in Sidney’s experiences.
There are those that would argue that mechanical engineering (which is what Bill Nye’s degree is in) is a science. It just isn’t as “hard” a science as astrophysics, or molecular chemistry, or whatever.
Bill Nye definitely talks about stuff beyond his formal training, but there’s nothing wrong with that. And as definitions of hard science go, mechanical engineering is pretty far up there. In fact, there’s a pretty big overlap between mechanical and aerospace / orbital mechanics. Pure astrophysics and molecular chemistry are a little more abstract in that the casual observer can’t see the results, but the math isn’t really that different.
Source: I have a BS and MS in civil/structural engineering, and 70% of my ‘hard science’ classes were also required for mechanical and physics degrees.
Bill’s first engineering job was working for Boeing on the 747 design, so yeah, he knows aerospace.
As much as I hate Bill Nye for his stupid political statements, he has received 5 honorary doctorate degrees. For those of us who actually worked for it, it is insulting. However, like “Prison” Bill Cosby, they can be revoked.
According to DeGrasse himself “You do know that many of the people who have inspired many scientists, engineers, and doctors even today? ACTORS. From DeForest Kelly, James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy, to the the crime scene and forensic specialists on the CSIs. If I don’t hear Star Trek mentioned as often anymore Its because now I’m hearing Futurama or Stewy being mentioned instead.”
That and….well let’s just say watch this… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aGlItIRhmB4
Wait until you see them geeking out about genetically engineering dragons.
You don’t diminish anyone’s degree by honoring someone for their contributions to science and learning. Bill’s upholds the dignity of his degrees infinitely better than someone who “actually works for it” and then becomes a climate change denier.
A degree does not mean someone did something nice.
A degree certiies that the recipient knows certain things and can accomplish certain tasks unaided.
Awarding those same degrees to someone who cannot perform the tasks unaided as required forces people who would employ such people as a shot in the dark. They might be able to perform ascertified, or they might not.
It is absolutely best not to take a chance on them.
Thus, it does indeed diminish the value of the degree.
I am too old to disregard reality for sentimentality.
Name me two people with Honorary Doctorates who have applied for a position requiring a real Doctorate
When I was being employed, I needed to actually SHOW the degree. Presumably, the fact they are honorary is mentioned on the honorary doctorates.
You misunderstand. It does not “diminish anyone’s degree” is not equivalent to saying that any two degrees are of equal value or equally applicable in any situation initally.
Bill Nye is at least as much of a scientist as most of the “mad scientists” on TV and in comics. Basically… he was a television science teacher. That was the big thing about him, that he TAUGHT science to others. Which was cool of him:
https://www.neatorama.com/images/2008-12/mad-scientist-mad-engineers.jpg
He’s an engineer.
No one is claiming, or even saying, that he is a scientist
OUR Stephen Hawking is gone, but he might still be cruising hallways at Oxford/ Comic Con in Sydney World.
Remember, this comic is set in the Obama administration. Hawking should still be alive.
Nye is a mechanical engineer iirc. Not bashing Nye as his contribution to helping educate children in scientific basics is commendable and important. But, if we’re talking about anything space, Neil is definitely the right person to go to.
NDT is an actual astrophysicist. He, or another astrophysicist, is a far better choice to discuss Sydney’s adventures in space than a science commentator. No shade on Nye, but he isn’t an astrophysicist.
He’s not my favorite celebrity physicist/astrophysicist, but he’s definitely in the top 3, after Carl Sagan and Michio Kaku (Michio Kaku is still my favorite).
I guess considering Carl Sagan is dead, that moves NdGT into #2.
Bill’s contribution to a generation of kids interested in science is amazing.
Bill’s contribution to the cesspool of modern pop culture science is a trainwreck into a field of dumpster fires.
I get it, he needs to stay relevant and earn a paycheck, but if he ever does anything as cringe inducing as that netflix show again, he’s gonna be unpersoned so hard that his grandchildren will not be able to legally obtain a social security number.
He’s failing at that.
What Netflix show? I’m curious as to what could evoke such a hugely negative reaction immediately after your prior sentence giving Nye accolades for making science approachable to kids.
He’s talking about “Bill Nye Saves the World”, which ran on Netflix for 3 seasons (very short seasons; the first season had 13 episodes, seasons 2 and 3 only had 6 episodes each).
It’s received a fairly mixed reception; overall, most reviews I’ve seen have given it a 6/10 or 7/10 rating. I’m not sure why Sigurther has such a negative reaction to it, but then again, I haven’t personally seen it, since I don’t have Netflix (or any other streaming service like Hulu).
Probably because of ‘My Sex Junk’ by Rachel Bloom on that show. Or the animated ice cream orgy.
Bill Nye the Science Guy was based on teaching children actual scientific principles. Bill Nye Saves the World is based primarily on political correctness and social justice activism (sometimes to a ridiculously cringy degree – youtube-search “My Sex Junk Rachel Bloom” or “ice cream orgy” if you want to see major cringe).
The fact that Bill Nye hosts both of these shows (the latter of which directly contradicts the scienece in several episodes of the former to the point that Nickolodeon deleted portions of the original episodes so there’s this giant ‘cut screen’ that’s awkwardly placed in the original episode) is because Bill Nye just reads off scripts – he’s an actor, not a scientist, and based on his interviews, he is amazingly ignorant at most scientific principles. But it doesn’t mean his original show was not good at teaching science. Which is probably why Sigurther can say that the former show was beneficial and taught that science is amazing, while the latter is a full-on dumpster fire of epic proportions. :)
Hbomberguy did a good video on this subject.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dklVypazQsA
Bill Nye is a mechanical (aerospace) engineer. Neil DaGrasse Tyson is an astrophysist. Steven Hawking was a cosmologist. At the time this comic is set, Dr. Hawking was still alike. All are/were excellent (IMHO) science educators and popularizers. There is a huge amount of overlap in their understanding of the universe, science and physics in particular, but each would be a little different in their outlooks. As far as which famous physicist should be there to interview Sydney, Neil is as good a choice as many. The logistics of getting Steven to the comic shop would be
To bad Neil isn’t on this forum. There are a lot of us physics & science types here, but getting Neil’s words in here would be awesome! There is a big difference between a BSc (Computer Science Major, Physics Minor) and PhD – Astrophysics as for bringing star power into the comments.
Oops, The logistics of getting Steven to the comic shop would be problematic.
In real life, Bill and Neil are good friends and Neil respects Bill’s knowledge of science enough that Bill often fills in as host on StarTalk when Neil is not available, answering many of the questions posed by the audience. Sure, he graduated with a BSc in mechanical engineering in 1977, but he has kept learning about science stuff ever since. He has been collecting honorary doctorates of science since 1999. He is currently one of major leaders on a non-profit organization that is working to independently launch satellites and deep-space probes.
I think that one of the first things Neil DeGrasse Tyson did would be to poke fun at the cellphone picture Sydney is holding up. The magnetic field of a magnetar would scrub life from that entire station in mere moments, and that kind of inaccuracy is exactly what Neil DeGrasse Tyson enjoys poking fun at. Remember that this is the guy who wrote to James Cameron to complain that he had used the wrong image of the night sky over the Titanic.
Cameron’s response was fairly epic. Something like: Titanic was the highest grossing film of all time at it’s release. Do you know how much more money it would have made if I had gotten the sky right?
The answer to that hypothetical is of course, it would have made zero difference. Only a small handful of people such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson would even recognize that the sky was wrong, and of that number even fewer would have cared enough to write to Cameron to bitch about it. And clearly Cameron got Tyson’s ticket money anyway, or he never would have been able to notice that the sky was wrong…
“The magnetic field of a magnetar”
The fracture, is a rip, in the fabric of Space-Time!!
Or maybe he’d concede that some of the current theories on magnetars are incorrect (when faced with empirical evidence to the contrary, which is a way to disprove a scientific theory), or that aliens have technology to contain even the magnetic fields of a magnetar because they’re technologically much, much, much, much more advanced than Earth is.
If you have the power to contain the magnetic fields of a magnetar, you don’t need to build your space station around a magnetar for power…
Would he be able to tell, just from the picture and Sydney’s overexcited description, what class of object it was in the first place? Bear in mind that she’s not exactly a trained astrophysicist herself (as far as we know), and had rather more pressing concerns at the time than stellar taxonomy.
But WHICH YEAR is it in the story?
At the beginning of the story, Obama was the president, and he had that position from January 2009 until January 2017.
And Stephen Hawking died on March 18, 2018. More than a year after The Bionic Mop took over the Oval office.
ya hopefully we can have a time skip over “The Bionic Mop ” years.. The RL version cased a lot of good people to quit public service. I could totally see Syd walking or Max being ready to to but not quite ashing him…
I would assume that the reveal of other civilizations AND supers would change the priorities of american public enough to elect someone else …
Or polarize and scare the fear mongers even faster. Now he does not have bother blaming the Mexicans and other people who were born American to illegal immigrants, when he can blame the real aliens instead.
Two questions: who was it who built the wall in the first place? and why?
In the earliest pages of the comic, which are set a bit into the future when Sydney has attained the rank of Corporal, we see a state inspection sticker on Sydney’s car that is dated in the year 2011. We then flashback “a few months” to the actual beginning of the story. So it should be sometime in 2010 or 2011.
Bill Nye is barely a mechanical engineer, let alone a scientist. He is a comedian and entertainer, who happens to have a mechanical engineering degree. He was an engineer for only a year or so at Boeing, failed every attempt to try to get into NASA, and even at Boeing, he was not particualarly impressive. He was far more successful as a children’s entertainer, reading off of a script (both on his show and in later shows). His actual scientific knowledge is negligible. Even in interviews, he usually sticks to talking points written for him, because when he doesn’t, he makes rather unscientific and ridiculous statements.
Calling Nye a mechanical engineer despite being a failed one (and had less experience at it than even I have at engineering) is sort of like calling Natalie Portman a psychologist, just because she got a degree in it but never actually was a psychologist for any appreciable amount of time (she co-authored one paper in 2002, I’m assuming as part of her thesis). Bill Nye’s only actual contribution to science (aside from the TV show, which he auditioned for like any other actor would, so I wouldnt call that a contribution to science) is he invented a ballet shoe which includes a toe box to make it easier for balley dancers to do ‘en pointe’ dancing. People claim he also had a patent during the year he worked at Boeing for a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube, but that was actually Boeing that has the patent on it, and he was just part of a team. Sorry Wikipedia – he didnt actually invent that. Just the toe shoe.
I have a BS in biology (and minored in organic chemistry until I changed to pre-law – you have to have a science degree to take the patent bar) but I’m not going to call myself a scientist :). Lawyer? Yes. Scientist? Nope.
There are a few celebrities that have actual careers in the sciences beyond their celebrity – Ken Jeong from the Hangover and Community, who was an actual doctor. Danica McKlellan? Actual mathematician. But Bill Nye? Nope.
And even when it comes to science shows, Beakman’s World was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better :)
FACT! :)
And yes, Neil deGrasse Tyson is an actual scientist, like other celebrity physicists (Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, Steven Hawkings, etc). But I just see a distinction between a scientist who also winds up being a celebrity for his or her scientific achievements and knowledge, and an actor with a degree who gained all his fame from a scripted TV show which had nothing to do with his degree or brief job in engineering.
Pretty close, actually. A Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (by itself) is not sufficient to become a Psychologist. In the US, it requires a Doctorate. In Australia, it’s either a Doctorate, Masters, or a Bachelor’s plus a two-year intensive supervision program.
Many countries have licensing regimes for Engineers that would add a similar amount of time (the +2 year) to the Bachelor’s that Nye has.
Right :) My point being Bill Nye is not a scientist any more than Natalie Portman is a scientist (or any more than I am a scientist).
Also I know DaveB must have watched or at least heard of Beakman’s World because of the first Dabbler’s Corner where Maxima dressed up as Lester the Rat.
Also, technically Steven Hawkings isnt dead in the comic. Obama’s still president in the comic, so Hawkings is still alive.
Their names are Stephen Hawking and Danica McKellar.
Yup, whoops.
Knowing the last 7 digits of the phone number, I’ve only got to try 999 different combinations to try and get in touch with Archon.
The first three are 555.
Most of Dallas is in the 214 area code.
214 (east DFW), 817 (west DFW), 429 (overlay), depending.
Nonetheless, Archon is unlisted/restricted and the number will reroute arbitrarily unless you are an authorized caller.
That may not be a valid last 7 though. It used to be in the United States that phone numbers followed a AAA-XXX-NNNN format, where AAA was the Area Code, XXX was the exchange code, and NNNN was the number within the local exchange. Up until 20 years or so ago, Area Codes always had a 0 or a 1 as the middle digit, and Exchange Codes never had a 0 or a 1 as the middle digit. This was so when you were dialing a number the equipment could tell right away if you were dialing a full 10 digit number or just the 7 digit local number. They did away with the must have a 0 or 1 in the middle on that Area Codes a while back because they were running out of available phone numbers. I have no idea if the no 0 or 1 in the exchange code rule is still in place, but if it is the 606-9001 would be invalid.
A quick cursory search of phone numbers ending in 606-9001, results in plenty of hits on Google. So it’s definitely been completely done away with.
It is not still in place, and 606-9001 wold be a valid phone number under the NANP (North American Numbering Plan).
This occasionally leads to giggles. In National Lampoon’s _Deteriorata_, one line says “For a good time, call 606-4311. Ask for Ken.” A few years back, I noticed a sticker on a Pepsi-owned display case at my local grocery store. It gave the number to call for repairs as 1-877-606-4311.
Jay, I just gotta know. Did you ask for Ken and did YOU have a good time?
And there’s that rumor that a few places around the country unfortunate enough to have the number 867-5309 upon the release of a certain 80’s song got so many people asking if Jenny was available that they got their number changed, and a few phone districts removed the number from their list of usables entirely…
Rhode Island (401) that number is a plumber
In Everquest they released a set of “Tu-Tone” armor which boosted your stats by, you guessed it, +8 +6 +7 +5 +3 +0 +9
One or Two?
As usual, Buttheadicus, you make so little sense that the only point of responding to you is to point out your failing.
One or Two, what? And the word “two” is not a proper noun, so why are you capitalizing it here?
No need for such hostility, Oberon. To me, at least, it’s painfully obvious that he was asking if the Tu-Tone Armor was in “Everquest 1” (released in March 1999) “or Everquest 2” (released in November 2004).
Kinda expected that response from Ohbewrong, expected butt still hoped for a proper answer, the fact he resorted to his usual personal attack shows he had no idea what he was talking about and probably just read it somewhere, not even knowing that there have been three EverQuest games
More than 3, including Lords of Everquest for the PC, and three or four titles for the Playstation 2. But only Everquest and Everquest II, and Everquest Online Adventures, are MMO’s.
Online Adventures was shut down in 2012, and Everquest was shut down in 2013. From what I’ve been able to figure out, the Tu-Tone Armor was added to the game in 2002. Since Everquest II wasn’t released until 2004, that means the armor had to have been in Everquest 1.
As far as an actual Everquest III, the company that owns the IP said just four months ago that “We will definitely do something with the IP. A strict remake? Probably not. Will it embody the EQ spirit, most likely yes.”
P.S., Oberon got something wrong, too. He said it boosted your stats by +8 +6 +7 +5 +3 +0 and +9. That’s seven stats, but there’s only six stats in Everquest. It was actually +8, +6, +7, +5, +30, and +9.
Yeah, was specifically referring to MMO’s, not standalone titles
Umm, EQ1 never shut down, they just celebrated their 20th anniversary, with a new DLC in December: https://www.everquest.com/home
They already tried to do a fourth title a few years back, can’t remember the name offhand, it never really got beyond the design and basic layout build stage
It would have taken Buttheadicus perhaps three additional words to put his post in a context which could not be misunderstood. He made the choice to instead be a terse prick, and then fall back on how terrible it is that I point out his many failings.
It is not my fault that he is incapable of clearly communicating. It is not my fault that he capitalizes words in the middle of a sentence which are not proper nouns. It is not my fault that he insists on misspelling certain words despite knowing how they should be spelled. His failures are not my fault.
Hmm, MSpears was able to figure it out, and, yet again, you resort to petty name calling
The subject of your post was about a game, of which there are currently two versions, you failed to specify which version, contextually ‘One’ and ‘Two’ should have been enough, at least, for anyone who knows that there is more than one EverQuest
Would have been better if used ‘II’ instead of ‘Two’?
I remember hearing that in one of the Los Angeles area codes, that was the number of a particular senior police officer. Make a harassing phone call to that number and the next day you get a visit you really do not want.
It was Dabbler that insisted that the phone number have the sequence ’69’ in it at some point.
@raven. The number you want to use is xxx-555-(any numbers) the 555 exchange is what is blocked out for media use of fake numbers from every area code. The number you currently have on the card is someone’s legitimate number and since this is popular media some idiot will invariably call it to see what’s actually there. There are lots of these idiots out there.
The 555 exchange wasn’t blocked out for media use. It was already in use for phone company diagnostics and test equipment, so any call to it would be by standards blocked or otherwise signal-grounded.
True, though knowing this and thus knowing they won’t wind up sued by someone who happens to have that number getting bothered by people trying it, media has taken to using 555 numbers whenever they need to show a phone number.
Back in the days when the internet was two tin cans and a piece of string, 555-1212 was a place you could call for time and temperature.
The little cattle town (maybe we were a big town because we had two grain elevators) I grew up in had a number hosted by an insurance company that gave you the time, temperature…and a corny joke that always sounded exactly like you would expect to hear in a little cow town.
The 555 exchange is only blocked for North America numbers. Furthermore, most of the 555 exchange is now available for real numbers. only 555-0100-555-0199 are still reserved for fictional use and/or testing
A few numbers (555-0100 through 555-0199) are reserved for fictional use, and don’t forget about 555-1212 (directory assistance) and 555-4334 (national use). The rest of them are available for assignment.
Also, the cinematic release of Bruce Almighty listed God’s number as 776-2323 (changed to a 555 number in the video release). Both 867-5309 and 776-2323 led to numerous misdialed calls in several area codes. “777-9311” by The Time (Prince’s band) used Dez Dickerson’s actual telephone number at the time the song was written, causing his phone to ring off the hook until he had his number changed.
From tvtropes… accuracy may vary…
“”555″ is an exchange number commonly thought to be reserved by the phone companies for use by TV and movies in order to prevent prank phone calls to real people. In fact, only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use, and the other numbers have been released for actual assignment.”
Interesting. I called this number, and a message saying “The call you are attempting to place is not allowed from this line.” I would have expected “The number you have dialed is fictional” or something along those lines.
The Xevoarchy are reallly going to be confused when they finally get around to checking out the Space Cops report on Earth. A planet that is supposed to be pre-FTL and pre open contact, yet everybody seems to know about the Alari and Fracture Station, and they took out a Fel battle cruiser within minutes of its landing on the planet. Clearly there is more to this “Earth” than they had originally thought.
Fits with most Super Hero universes. Aliens learn pretty quick not to mess around with a planet that, while it may be pre-FTL, has native aliens that use the sun as a limitless power source, are gamma irradiated monsters, or have literal gods wandering around as part of their super teams, presumably because they have nothing better to do.
There was a short series where the creme de la creme of the Marvel big hitters went on a raid into the Skrull homeworld. Stark, Strange, Mr Fantastic, Professor X, maybe a dozen in total. While they did get captured, and of course eventually escaped, they did an amazing amount of damage and *almost* got to the Skrull Emperor.
There have also been a couple times invasions were averted when they found out Earth was the only planet anywhere that *ever* beat Galactus. And that they did it more than once.
Technically, they’re not the only planet ever to drive Galactus off; There are other civilizations that have managed it, not by actually beating him, as such, just by making it such a pain that he decides to cut his losses and get a meal someplace else. Generally you’re talking the home world of an interstellar empire when this happens, and it takes an entire armada of war ships that take heavy casualties in the process.
But it does put you in the “don’t mess with” list. At least until the news gets out that you had him dying and saved his life, then EVERYBODY gets pissed at you. “The Trial of Reed Richards”.
What gets me is that they never tried to FIX the problem of Galactus. He needs the bioenergy of living worlds, that’s why they’re usually inhabited. So… what about replicating said bioenergy and creating a renewable supply?
Especially given the hierarchy of needs. Once Galactus’ physiological needs are regularly satisfied, he can progress to needs of self esteem and actualization of self. He could be an active force for good, and not just the seal keeping an even nastier thing locked away.
They did do that in an alternate future story.
There’s also an alternate universe story in one of the Exiles issues where that universe has life arising much more rarely that ours, and Galactus is called the Lifebringer and Seeder of Worlds, and goes around giving worlds the potential to develop biological life, instead of taking it away. That universe’s Silver Surfer rebels after Galactus doesn’t save Zenn-la (because he seeds worlds with new life — he doesn’t interfere with that life if it destroys itself afterwards), and is a homicidal maniac obsessed with destroying the worlds Galactus seeded (because most of the universes the Exiles visit have derailed in ways like that).
There was a main-continuity Ultimates (team w/Black Panther et al, not the alt-universe Justice Leagues expies) story where Galactus was stated to have been let out of the matrix early (he drifted in it for millions, if not billions, of years after the birth of the universe before emerging). They repaired the machine and got Galactus into it, and he emerged as Galactus the Lifebringer, and proceeded to start trying to repair worlds he’d drained. Apparently, he was always supposed to have had the potential to be both a shepherd of life and a devourer of worlds (he’s the axle of the cosmic wheel comprised of Eternity, Infinity, Death, and Oblivion), but the premature “birth” skewed him toward being only his destructive aspect.
There is now a theory that Thanos created Galactus!
No idea what it’s about, just saw a link to it on YouTube
“Gods wandering around as part of super teams, presumably because they have nothing better to do.” Well, maybe a little.
Marvel: Thor: sentenced to serve a term as a human doctor to learn humility and compassion, with his Asgardian memories suppressed. Didn’t remember he was actually the real Thor for a bit after he started out. His mother is Jord, the Norse Earth Goddess and an aspect of Gaea, Mother Earth. So he feels as much at home on Earth as Asgard because the Earth is literally his mother.
Marvel: Hercules: Closer fit for the “nothing better to do,” but used to be a mortal demigod until his apotheosis, so he was born on Earth and has a reason to want to visit aside from just wanting to knock around getting into fights. There is a bit of a slumming vibe, though. No one on Olympus is eager to get into a good fist fight with the Lion of Olympus and favored son of the Father of the Gods, but supervillains are very obliging when it comes to giving Herc a chance to share the Gift of Battle.
DC: Wonder Woman’s patron deities (and/or relatives, depending on if it’s post- or pre-retcon of her origin): Definitely fit, but aren’t regular characters. Hermes hung out with Diana mostly out of boredom in the Perez run (about 1989 or so). Her other extended family show up from time to time, with varying degrees of culture clash involved. I recall an amusing bit in one of the Justice League animates series where Athena is being particularly annoying to Batman, he suggests that she might want to fly outside with Superman and the others, she mentions that she can’t fly, and his eyes cut over to the ejector seat button before Diana defuses the situation.
Well, considering the Alari openly landed in the worse possible country possible, of course everyone with internet access knows about them
And all ‘pre open contact’ means, is the Dirtlings have to make first contact (ignoring the fact it has been playing host to extra-planetary sex tourists for generations)
We-e-ellll, technically, the Fel did not “land”… “Crash” would be a better word. Although that did only happen after Max “shot” it. I mean, they didn’t even get to double-park on the Interdictor!
I hope “NeilyT” comes across this one day.
Let’s just hope that when he does he is cool with it. Public personas like NdGT are a brand, just as much as any corporation is a brand. And it is often necessary to protect that brand. Personally I don’t see a NdGT cameo in Grrl Power as being detrimental to his brand, but his own personal Arianna may see it differently.
Supporting info: Far Side cartoon once referred to Jane Goodale as a “tramp” (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/220817187953846236/) The JG Institute issued a cease-and-desist letter, but when Jane found out, she thought it was hilarious. Source: A PreHistory of Farside, dead tree edition (sorry no link to my living room bookcase).
Just like when Phil and Lem from “Better Off Ted” made a cameo in the comic, I’m sure someone will tag NdGT and he’ll know he exists in a world of Science, Superheroes, and another word that begins with S.
He showed, Superman. A view off when Krypton exploded, once the light reached earth.
(of) Sorry!
Action Comics #14 (November 2012) is where Neil deGrasse Tyson shows Superman his planet’s final day, for anyone interested.
I’m surprised she didn’t immediately bubble the two of them, so she could guarantee he couldn’t get away.
He already has had a Twitter war with Raj on the Big Bang. Maybe we can get him into a fight with another fictional character.
Dave, I don’t recall if I’ve seen you draw a real person before but Neil is immediately recognizable. And Sydney’s reaction is exactly what I would expect from her.
To show a complete Sydney meltdown, all that was needed was to have Bill Nye accompany NdGT.
Well Dave did draw this guy one time…
President of Canadia?
Don’t forget Phil and Lem (who decided working for SmugD was safer than working for “Veridian Dynamics”… which is saying a lot, really)
“President of Canadia?”
You have no idea how close I was to chewing you out for that one until I saw who it was who posted.
Yeah. Everyone knows that Canada isn’t real, however it’s spelled. It’s like France.
HEY NOW! Don’t you go making fun of the best Maple Syrup theme park in the world!
At least you saw that it was intended to be a joke (how do you get ‘Canadian’ from ‘Canada’ anyway? Shouldn’t it be ‘Canadan’? o_O)
Well, most of the world thinks of Canadians as “Americans” since they live in North America – it’s really only the USA and our neighbors who think “American” means only USA-ians. The Arrogant Worms summarize the naming difficulties brilliantly.
USA-ians sounds a little awkward, it just doesn’t roll off the tongue. My dad always called them “Yanks” – and I guess their homeland could be Yankistan.
Real Yankees, come from New England.
-ian is a very common denonym suffix. India – Indian, Croatia – Croatian, Italy – Italian, Paris – Parisian, Egypt – Egyptian, Boston – Bostonian, Florida – Floridian, Canada – Canadian and so on. Wikipedia has over 100 denonyms using -ian as the modifier.
Again, it was a (rubbish) joke
Thought people from Florida were alternately called ‘Gerry’ and ‘Gator-bait’ :P
As for why went for the Prime Minister (or is it Premier over there?), could have just as easily went with Mexico instead of the obvious choice
Thanks!
Though you say in the under comic blurb shes not blabbing about anything classified here the fact of the matter is that Sydney blatantly doesnt know this fact so this is proof that she cant be trusted with anything =).
I was in the Air Force, so I know what happens. The first thing they would’ve done (as soon as they had the chance) would be to debrief her and tell her specifically what things she can or cannot talk about. So she does know this fact.
Remember that they’ve had at least two days since she returned (we’ve seen her sleeping twice). They’ve had plenty of time to make sure she knows what information is to be kept classified.
Neil who?
I had to google him. Seems like he’s the new Carl Sagan, I guess.
Pretty much. There was a parody Twitter feed of him for a while that wrote out the stuff the dude would say if he was stoned off his gourd. It was pretty funny.
How could you not know who he is?
Don’t have any of those Discovery channels or watch science shows, butt still even someone like me knows who NdGT is
Believe it or not, there are people who don’t have or want a television.
I mean, speaking as someone who has never owned a TV and doesn’t expect that to change, I still know bloody well who NdGT is.
We have different reading habits I suspect.
I have evolved from reading about advances in technology to more biographies and cooking. Still a lot of military reading, although wargames cease to hold my interest.
Nobody ever bothers to talk about his brother who made his fortune in the lawn care industry: Moe deGrass Tyson.
You can see him, in a YouTube channel.
Neil who killed Pluto’s status as a planet, deGrasse Tyson? Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York?
No, that was astronomer Mike Brown.Links:
https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=how+i+killed+pluto+and+why+it+had+it+coming&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Then, why is NeilyT claiming that honour? Did you check out that clip someone posted of his guest appearance on “The Big Bong* Theory”?
*not a typo, apparently that show is best viewed stoned, because watching it sober it is crap
Actually… that was just the character Sheldon blaming it on him. From an article on The Verge website:
“Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson . . . argued that he’s been unfairly blamed with the death of Pluto . . . the killer was actually astronomer Mike Brown, author of How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.”
https://www.theverge.com/2012/3/26/2903224/dr-neil-degrasse-tyson-killing-pluto-on-the-verge
Wait, so Smelly Shelly dressed up to look like NeilyT to prank call both Raj and Bill Nye?
That is one seriously creepy smile on Sydney
With all the stuff Archon has going on, they likely either have
1.) A dedicated IT team constantly monitoring the phones they supply to their agents – especially hers, and protocols on what she can/can’t have
– Tbh this would likely mean her phone lost a lot of functionality while off-planet, good thing her camera app still worked
2.) Something better (a pet AI?)
Why do you think the camera app wouldn’t work? Its built into the device and writes to device storage.
There are many places without cell service still once you get out in the woods. This is even more true in countries other than the USA.
To quote the meme: “We got a badass over here!”
I bet Sydney would let NDT touch her orbs…
I’m sorry. But WHAT is wrong with Tyson’s hands !!! Seriously – not only do they just look weird but the shading makes it look like he has FOUR fingers on his right. Seriously! That’s some alien pod people shit right there dude – keep the illusion under control or she’ll rumble you!
Looks to me like DaveB simply took stock images of NdGT and cartoonified them (seriously, do a search and you will probably find the exact same images, have seen those same poses before)
YES, next to last frame, he is missing his ring finger, you can see where it would be but it’s missing… too long to hide behind his pinky and would be weird to be bent to hide behind his pointer finger!
He is not. If you zoom in you can see pinky in front of ring . His hands are cupped in a way you can’t do when you twist your wrist to look at your own hand. It can be done with a mirror though.
Thats just WHAT the POD PEOPLE Want you To Think! Remember – THIS IS A WORLD WHERE ALIENS LIVE ON EARTH! Tyson may just be wanting to ask about his home planet and Sydney Derailed Him !
Yes, it is too long to hide behind the pinky, that’s why it’s not hiding, you can see the top joint over the top of the pinky, unless you believe he has four joints on his pinky
You should totally not check out the DCUO loading page of the Black Lantern Hal Jordan: it seriously looks like he has only four digits on one hand and six on the other
Hun, what I believe is irrelivant. And what I believe is that in this comic Tyson is an alien in disguise and Sydney’s reaction shocked him so much that he almost dropped his camouflage!
Personally don’t feel that what people believe is irrelevant: may or may not be correct, butt not irrelevant
I’m going with an omage to James Doohan. more likely an art mistake. art is hard.
The fingers are all there, I just didn’t color them with enough differentiation between them. Should have put a highlight on the inside of each finger or something.
Also Riff raff ??? I don’t buy that, if only they’d look closer! Would they see an otaku, no, there’s sooo much more to me!!! (Whoops I’m in the wrong musical but the point stands.)
Honestly, every time I go over this strip again and find something new to smirk about.
Such as:
1. Reducing the number of people to be drawn by handing out “people category” shirts reading things like “riff raff”.
2. “DO NOT TOUCH THE ORBS !”. Don’t miss the warning details ! :-)
3. 18k Likes in just about home many seconds after taking the photo ?
…
Thanx, DaveB !!
“Riff” is actually a pretty nice dude, he only gets a bad rep. because of that “Raff” guy who follows him around like a sick puppy.
Also; Not JERSEY SHORE!!! Anything but that!
You know Leon is on this. I am sure he has automated Bots scavenging internet net for Sydney/Halo blurbs and comments…as well as tracking all her posts…
Arianna would of course want the metadata on all followers and also to see who’s interested a bit more than necessary. ie potential rivals and enemies.
Archon did the security for that building. Doubtless someone (maybe even Joel) is watching the live feed at all times. Doubly so when Sydney is on site.
Neil was in for his regular pulls and as luck would have it TMH was making a personal appearance.
Shame he was on Ben Shapiro and is shit on trans issues.
Haven’t listened, but my immediate response was, yeah, science is not particularly PC on that issue.
Well, the science that actually deals with it is- the general consensus in neurology, endocrinology, psychology and so on is basically ‘of course trans people exist, also sex is not a binary so could you stop acting like gender has to be as well?’ It’s just that, as usual, people outside the relevant field(s) aren’t as knowledgeable and have different views. It’s pretty common for scientists who are brilliant in one thing to be a bit cuckoo when they step outside their wheelhouses (looking at you, Linus Pauling).
Just because he’s not an extremist he’s shit?
That’s how things work.
Atheist? All religious fanatics think you’re their antichrist or whatever.
Use the wrong pronoun? How dare you label someone?!?
Make a joke that people misunderstand because of their failure to understand the context, or what words mean? Get ready for your apology tour.
“Use the wrong pronoun? ” In some cases, that is hate speech.
(http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/gender-lines-science-transgender-identity/)
For certain values of the word “is”.
I find it amusing when an otherwise apparently scientific presentation does things like this – “When about 1.7% of the population is in some way affected by cases of ambiguous genitalia at birth…”
…with a link to a study roundup that shows intersex births are at most one in 1500, and ambiguous genitalia are 1 in 4500. Apparently, they felt that the actual incidence needed to be inflated by a factor of 17x to 50x for rhetorical reasons. Who they were thinking about, when calculating “in some way”, is anyone’s guess.
Welcome to 1984
Bear in mind that transgenderism is about literally defying mother nature. Which… is perfectly reasonable, because ALL OF CIVILIZATION is about defying mother nature. If mother nature had her way, we’d all be eating our food raw while squatting naked in trees, and thinking that thirty years is a long time to live.
Me, I look forward to when people can swap genders whenever they feel like it. Especially since the medical technology necessary to achieve that will also provide cures for cancer and… getting old. If you can splice in/remove a Y chromosome in every cell in the body, repairing the damage done by free radicals is no problem.
Is it?
Our civilization is obviously teenager, because that’s the age where people rebel so much they deny their mother is their mother. When it becomes adult, we may finally realize that our intelligence developed naturally, so our whole civilization is completely natural.
“Riff raff ???” Rif Raff, was an Underdog villain, he was a canine.
Nope. I’m a conservative rationalist, and there is a decent level of evidence that there is a physical difference in the brains of trans people that makes them more like the sex with which they identify, than the average for their apparent sex. That does not mean that any of the related political claims and demands and prescriptions are true or scientific or warranted etc, but it’s not just a case of “defying Mother Nature” (or God).
Mother Nature does something odd in the case of trans people, just like it did something odd in the case of Australia, the giraffe, and the avocado. Why should humans be any more “perfect” than anything else?
Some people don’t care about other people’s fetishes, whatever they may be.
Transgender isn’t about fetishes.
It’s a legitimate medical issue.
Read up on Gender Dysphoria.
As for Transvestites… Not touching that. Literally.
“Some people don’t care about other people’s fetishes” — Yep, that’s why, for instance, I don’t feed obvious trolls.
Everyone I don’t like is
Hitlera troll; My book for all occasions.By Woodrobin
Speaking of trolls.
That there are numerous impetus for various fetishes does not make them not fetishes. Of course if you can’t tell the difference between something that is a matter of desires and personal perseption from a biological difference you could always just throw accusations of trollhood around in lieu of arguing a position. Oh wait. You’ve always done that on this forum anyway.
Twisting a False Generalization into a Reduction ad Hitlerium presented as a Strawman Fallacy, spinning into an Ad Hominem false attribution . . . that’s some next-level non-responsive attempted provocation (usually shortened to “trolling”).
Thank you for so skillfully and amusingly proving my point.
To address your ‘point’ here:
Fetish is not a useful distinction, nor is biological vs psychological origin (even assuming that biology vs psychology is itself a useful distinction since the brain is part of the biology in question). Your manufactured distinction seems to be put in place merely to create a false moral hierarchy where one thing is placed above another in a structure you’ve falsely depicted as having objective meaning, using criteria you’ve redefined for the purpose.
I’d be happy to argue your position if you had one that had actual substance. Wandering around through your smoke while you move the mirrors would be feeding into the agenda of, as you so aptly demonstrated, someone who is engaged in trolling.
obvious troll is obvious and using ‘yawn’ because you are not adult enough to use your name is well…cowardly. HAND you are trolling and full of festering bovine bloviating excrement as are the rest of your kind of denialist bolshevik recidivist reactionaries. p.s. yer not to smarts either.
Remember that first panel if you ever consider supporting this guy at a convention.
Please explain
Not OP on this, but my best guess is she/he is choosing to get her/his panties-in-a-twist/nuts-in-an-uproar over the riff/raff/rabble/huddled-mass labels. Implying that that is how DaveB would see his fans at a convention (probably the most uncharitable twisting of that depiction) rather than seeing it as a blend of how an exasperated Sydney is perceiving an endless-seeming throng of people at the counter and a way for Dave to save a little time while being a bit cute with the art (the most likely actual explanation).
The real Riff Raff was on Underdog.
All other Riff Raff are imitations.
Thought Riff Raff was a dogsbody, not Underdog :P
Riff Raff was in Rocky Horror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show
Yes, and one definition of a dogsbody, is a handyman, which is what Riff Raff was pretending to be
Will the real Riff Raff please stand up, please stand up . . . .
^ That.
Also, if I ever do go to a convention DaveB is at (*cough* do FanX SLC, Dave *cough*) I will be sure to gather a group and wear these custom shirts, I bet DaveB would find it hilarious. And even if he didn’t, *I* would and that’s good enough for me.
Don’t get your knickers in a knot, Bawkbagawk. It doesn’t solve anything and it makes you walk funny. Just because Halo sees the fans that way, doesn’t mean that DaveB does.
Here’s a hint: Everyone gets tired of signing autographs eventually. Everyone. Some of them are just a lot more patient than others. Even William Shatner has snapped at fans. Halo’s patience, as has already been established, is very limited.
“Sudden Desire to binge watch ‘Jersey shore'”… That is definitely a most terrifying side effect! Nothing left to do but try to salvage what little dignity would be left by falling on your own sword.
+1
NdGT isn’t a patron – *that you know of*.
https://youtu.be/E0gFBhemEx8?t=65
The orbs are safe to touch.
Super slippery probably.
Cool to the touch except for PewPew which is warm/not quite hot… probably.
One of them bonked Dabbler, and not in a good way.
She’s fine. (Very fine indeed!!)
Other than that one instance we haven’t seen Sydney use them kinetically despite her ability
to move them within her sphere of influence.
Oh…That’s right… There was an attempt to use them defensively against Math.
She also used them in the restaurant fight (HOME RUN!) and to break Sciona’s arm while being held with her hands out of action.
There is a difference between them hitting you, and you touching them
The only time someone has touched them, was Math, and he simply poked one out of orbit
Not sure – I read it as Math did a distractory finger-poke that Sydney blocked with that orb, and with her focused up there he slid her foot out. As for touching the orbs, maybe there’s intent. Maybe Sydney consciously controlling them doesn’t trigger any defenses, but someone touching them without Sydney’s authorization could have side-effect.
I want to see them try this with Achilles, though.
If Bill Nye showed up behind him I would not be surprised if Sydney doesn’t scoop them both up an, ditch the signing and take them both to the station. For a wee visit.
That’d be funny, but considering that her destination marker for Earth in her navigational display on the Fly Ball shows as being static-blurred and snap-crackle-popping, she can’t shortcut back to Earth.
She might be able to navigate back to Earth using the stellar landmarks Cora hooked her up with. But unless/until she figures out (presumably with Dabbler and Cora assisting) why the destination is glitched out, she probably shouldn’t try to end up here, just in case the condition that caused the previous owner’s last destination to be Earth is still pertinent.
So, if she did take them to Fracture Station, she’d have to arrange a ride back. Tyson and Nye could go back through a portal, but The Mighty Halo’s mighty halo means she’d have to avoid them, as Cora mentioned, since her Nth level tech orbs would not go over well with the galactic version of the TSA, if she tried to walk through a portal with them (and she couldn’t walk through a portal without them).
We Rabble gathered in the Huddled masses of Riff Raff appreciate this cameo.
Fan girl = Security leak
If they were still alive you would have a queue of Steven Hawking, Carl Sagan, Arthur C Clarke, Douglas Adams, Isaac Assimov……..
For the time being, NdGT is appropriate. Seriously you should send this page to him.
It might be a problem if Deux finds out she was on the same station where he got his new swag…
“So that’s why that squeal seemed so familiar…”
He would just go “no wonder that sounded familiar”
There is no way that Sydney’s telephone would have not been scrubbed additionally mr. Tyson’s specialization is pontificating on things that are unprovable good job if you can get it. We speak some things that are actually provable or not provable these records not as good. I like to think of me as the Carl Sagan in this generation some people see that as a compliment others not so much it’s up to you.
There is a way Sydney’s phone would not be completely scrubbed.
Archon P.R. wants to release part of Sydney’s adventure.
Not fighting mecha cthulu, but enough to validate her sequestered for training cover story.
Carl Sagan, was the Director, at Hayden. He was a teacher of Neil. Sorry, for the awkward phrasing!
Most people make the mistake of leaving out commas, because they’re lazy or commas are inconvenient on their input device. You could leave out most of yours and be fine. In this case, I think your phrasing wouldn’t have been awkward at all, if you’d left out all of the commas.
I’m surprised she was that calm.
That said I’m sure they already died her pho e and moved some of it off to there almost secure server.
I wonder if she found her rule 34 fanfic yet.
DLed as in downloaded her phone
Seriously they should change the name to auto incorrect
Should be something like “Holy Crap Baskets!” Holy Crap is too restrained for Sydney.
You would think the people in line would be making a bit of fuss about NdgT being there in line with them. He’s sort of a big deal too.
They were probably whispering excitably as he walked past, if Sydney heard the whispers, she probably thought they were about her
He might have clearance. I have seen him around AF installations working on stuff with NASA.
I can confirm that he has Air Force security clearance. How high his security clearance goes, I don’t know.
There are some things he’s not read in on, but only for plausible deniability.
Or because they’re compartmentalized, and he’s not in that compartment. I’ve had arguments with people who think there’s some level above Top Secret. Well, there is, but not in the sense of a “Super Tippy-Top Secret” level.
Essentially, any given document can be compartmentalized. The number of people in that compartment can be as few as two (one of which would be the President, who has the authority to read all Top Secret documents). So you can have Top Secret clearance, and yet not be allowed to read a Top Secret document.
The military does indeed have a final top secret, but it isn’t really much more than dop secret. I believe all the Pentagon and defense department level clearances have alpha numeric designations.
No, Top Secret really is the highest level of secrecy. However, there are two “subsets” of Top Secret.
Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) is, as the name implies, divided into “compartments” which are separated from each other with respect to organization, so that someone with access to one compartment may not necessarily have access to another. The compartments are kept as small as possible, sometimes as little as two or three people.
The other subset is Special Access Programs (TS/SAP), when the information is too vital for even TS/SCI to be sufficient. The names of these programs are classified, so I can’t talk about them (even if I knew what they were). However, the idea is that not only do you need to be part of the compartment, but you need to go through extreme security measures even to access the information. For example, the information might be kept only on an EMP-hardened computer that has been isolated from the Internet, in a Faraday cage, inside an atomic bomb proof bunker under a top secret ultra-secure military base in the middle of the Mojave desert.
TL;DR: TS/SAP is the highest level of security classification in the United States. Examples of what is kept at this level includes information about stealth technology, our nuclear arsenal, and nuclear targeting data. (It is still, officially, “only” Top Secret. Like I said, you can’t get any more secret than Top Secret, but you can make it harder for anyone to see that top secret information.)
ADDENDUM: I should have said that there is currently no level higher than Top Secret. During his tenure, President Obama passed Executive Order 13526, with the specific intent of prescribing a standardized system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information.
Prior to that order, different agencies sometimes had different classification systems, which caused a headache for inter-agency cooperation. So it’s entirely possible that the military did have a higher level than “top secret”, but not under the new classification system.
You forgot to mention the lava moat and the jellyfish mines.
Oh, but those are classified, nvm.
“the President, who has the authority to read all Top Secret documents).”
Not as amny as you may believe, even he is barred, in the name of National Security. As he has a habit of blabbing out Security Secrets, to anyone.
Sorry, you’re wrong. He does, in fact, have authority to read all of them. He even has the authority to overrule the Department of National Security and give a security clearance to anyone… even Vladimir Putin, theoretically. (However, no president has ever gotten involved in granting, or revoking, a security clearance. They could if they wanted to, though; it’s part of their executive function.)
In order to give classified information to another person you need to verify two different things: (1) the recipient must have sufficient security clearance and (2) he must need to know the information. It is the “need to know” that is more difficult to determine than the security clearance.
For most classified information, the person considering delivering it must make a judgment call regarding the recipient’s need to know. This is a determination of whether they can perform their duties for the government without the information in question. It is actually not as hard to do as it sounds and in some cases overrides the security clearance question.
For some especially sensitive information there are Special Access Programs (what I referred to earlier as “compartmentalized”) used to determine which people need access to the information. These programs go by various names and often the names are classified so I won’t go into any more detail here. The point is that they move the responsibility for determining whether a recipient has a need to know the information in question from the person disclosing the information to a bureaucrat determining the recipient’s need to know in advance of the actual issue being faced.
When considering giving classified information to the president the assumption is made that he needs to know everything in order to do his job as Commander in Chief for the country. Some people might want to keep secrets away from the president, but that is contrary to the general notion of the role of Commander in Chief.
Of course, ‘being allowed to read the reports if he asks’ need not mean ‘being told up front about all the reports available’. I would not be at all surprised if there’s a category of Secret that could be summarised as “the President can read this, but he needs to specifically ask about the subject or decisions to which it is relevant”. What you don’t know you can’t accidentally give away, and in some cases the very fact that you’ve considered the question can be informative.
Arianna would give Sydney a very angered fill lecture about that…!
Only if Sydney revealed information that Arianna has already told her she is supposed to keep secret. Take another look at what she says in Panel 3: “There are parts of it I’m not allowed to talk about.” They’ve already told her what she can, and what she can’t, tell people outside of Archon.
Neil needs to be careful… he may ask what she knows about aliens, and after her description of Frix (in true Sydney style), he may run out of the store screaming and never be heard from again.
Soooo…. Sydney sent the photo of Fracture Station to Neil’s phone THEN some guy in line
used Sydney’s phone to photograph them together THEN Sydney posted that photo
to her social media account with a ‘no big deal’ as a tagline?
Could just as easily been Neil’s phone and he sent the picture to her phone, I suppose.
We don’t see Sydney’s left arm much but what we do see doesn’t suggest ‘Selfie’.
It’s almost like the Mars Rover’s selfie where you can’t figure out how it does it.
Poor NDT, who will now be getting 3 AM calls from Sydney about ‘science stuff’
I am wondering if that sign is there because they haven’t tested what happens if someone else touches the orbs, or that they have and saw the horror of watching one of their teammates start binge-watching Jersey Shore? The first shows a restraint I couldn’t have if I was at ARCHON (especially in ARCLIGHT), and the second shows why it would be a bad thing to investigate.
I think it’s more likely that it’s a mostly fake warning placed there because Sydney doesn’t want people just coming up and fondling her orbs. Which is fair. Personally, I at least expect someone to take me out for a nice dinner before they get to do that. :-)
How are Sydney’s ball not bonking NdGT in the head in the last panel? o_O
Because it’s not that kind of comic?
Seriously, though, they do seem to avoid colliding with people next to her in general, usually by tightening their orbit. I recall them being drawn in a tighter circle around/over her head in situation where she’s being crowded in several panels.
Their heads are touching, and his is slightly higher than hers, the orbit should be greater
I would hope his head is higher than hers; it’s been established that she’s pretty short… she’s barely over 5 feet (1.55 meters), if I remember correctly, and he’s 6’2″ (1.88m).
Great. Thanks for the mental Polaroids, Guesticus. ;^)
Since she’s not trying to bonk him the way she was with Dabbler and Math, I’d imagine that it’s a gentle bonking. Like getting your head caught in a ceiling fan set to low speed. (Yes, I speak from experience.)
Michio Kaku would also have been a good choice, considering how much he’s into sci-fi. He even had a show called Sci-Fi Science, where he’s take concepts from sci-fi and apply real-world physics to it.
Michio Kaku is my absolute favorite scientist. He’s really good at taking complex scientific principles and explaining them in a way that the average person can understand. Even something as complex as theories like ‘how did the universe expand faster than light during the Inflationary Epoch,’ or ‘m-Brane theory.’
Neil deGrasse Tyson is good too but he gets bogged down way too often on ‘pop culture’ pseudoscience (there was a good interview of NdGT and Ben Shapiro (a conservative talk show host) where this came up quite a bit, but he didn’t do too badly for most of the interview.
What got MY attention was Dr. Kaku’s likening the current intelligence of robots to that of a retarded cockroach. Not the most PC comment, but effective.