For the moment Cent's Computer is kaputz, suspect that the new system updates were just too much for the old system, either board or proc had given up the ghost. New motherboard is on order and will be here monday, Ill go over and get it installed and if the gods are willing she will be back up and runing. Ill keep people updated as things progress.
Page comes earlier! Awesome! Thank you, Ladies! As far as the Alt Text is concerned, I don't think it's possible to watch too many. With now four NCIS, and multiple CSI, . . well . . .
Poor Galatea; they afforded her no respect. Watching an amount of forensic examinations, the thought o curs to me another reason for the removal of her eyes, might be for a retinal scan somewhere. Depending what a Blue-Cast element, and Uni-Five data port consist of, could those be of use here? Could the chip from her hand could have also been some sort of RFID access module?
My thought is that Andrea must be currently mulling over questions like these.
I did not think of some of those points. I was thinking about the RFID though. I suspect that Cent has thought about them as she did note their removal. Hmmm.
Well, it turned out to be a plus for me. I just happened through, and saw the new page. A welcome sight near the end of an otherwise less than stellar day in a rather less than stellar week. It was a nice pick-me-up. So, thanks for that :D
I was wondering about DNA as well or at the very least facial recognition. Even with no eyes and the skin damage from the enzymes she looked fairly intact. I'd think in that future they could pull an ID from her face.
Gotta agree, one can't undo killing someone or the ripple effect of pain and suffering its about to unleash. Specially in this case in bothe the fans and characters in the world.
One would think that an ambassador from a highly-advanced civilization would either be recognized by the local police. A simple request of Centcom to do a quick facial-recognition should be in order. If Centcom can't recognize an ambassador from the Epiphytes, let alone allow one to be murdered while under HER protection, then there's something seriously wrong.
Also, murdering an Ambassador is -generally- an Act of War...
The vat of enzymes her body was dumped in did serious damage to her skin, and as the ME mentioned, her eyes were removed. However...
I was wondering why Cent-Comm wasn't keeping closer track of her, as an obvious Person of Importance. Now I'm wondering if Galatea specifically asked Centy _not_ to, given her plans for that evening?
"Also, murdering an Ambassador is -generally- an Act of War... "
That was something that I was wondering about. No doubt CentComm is going to have to answer some questions. She's probably on the hook for identifying and finding the perpetrators.
An act of war? Well, yes. For Humans. The Epiphytes don't have the sense of a nation state like we do.
To them an Ambassador is much like a farmer or car mechanic. It is nothing less then a highly paid translator. At least that is my sense of it.
According to Cent, Gal is an honorific. Galatea is really a living memory tribute to Galina from Lunastar. And has not really been needed to perform a real Ambassadors function as Galina had already set up the treaties that everyone operates under when dealing with the Epiphytes. Basically, at this point Galatea is just a highly paid social influencer for lack of better words.
Naturally, the Epiphytes do have a sense of justice and will want her killers brought to justice. Though what that justice is is a little unclear to me.
That's an interesting take on the naming convention. I was unaware, so thanks for that tidbit. Even though Galatea' position doesn't carry the weight that Galina's did, her demise would be noted. She was more public than the mechanic, I would think.
The Epiphytes may not have the nationalism that humans do, but they would still know that they were wronged. I doubt they would just ignore it.
Why does being telepathic preclude the existence of activists? Unless the telepathy is taken to the point of eliminating individuality entirely, can't there exist different perspectives and different opinions about the best future courses of action? All an activist is, fundamentally, is someone who is trying to actively persuade others of the superiority of their point of view -- often for wholly beneficial or benign reasons.
It seemed to me that Cent was stating separate things, not necessarily that telepathy and activism are mutually exclusive. The Epiphytes are a telepathic race, which means, to me, that being connected in this way, more dynamic persuasion isn't really needed, except possibly with other non-telepathic beings. When they came to earth, they needed both help, and a liason. Galina provided both, and worked hard to bring the Epiphytes and humans together in understanding, and helped with their telepathic transmitter, as well as other things, hence 'activism'.
You have had the benefit of conversations with @CentComm, @Haegan2005, while I have not, so I suspect you are right and my conjectures will be wrong. However, I try not to let my inevitable error stop me anyway, since the alternative is to remain mute indefinitely.
I never got the feeling that the Epiphytes have a communal identity -- be it nation, race, etc. -- separate from the notion of a commonality of sentience. In things like Luna Star, they seemed to incorporate a diversity of 'races' within their telepathic gestalt, and their communal decision making was oriented to finding a harmonious solution for everyone so linked. This suggests that many more decisions are based on the specific individuals and situations involved. Technically, if humans can be incorporated into the equation as telepathically capable beings, the Epiphytes would no more declare war on them than they would any other contributing member of the amalgamation. If the humans persist in anti-social and destructive behavior, they risk being reclassified as 'insane', 'diseased', or 'dangerously non-sentient' ... at which point different decisions start getting made.
Ambassadors do perform functions other than negotiate treaties, though. If Galatea hasn't been carrying out any Ambassadorial functions, that doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for her to so do. Just that she has chosen not to.
Speculation is never wrong. And it is openly invited here. The authors adore speculation as it indicates an interest in the world that they have created for us all. Cent does not tell me everything, nor do I ask. Mostly because I too am an avid reader and lover of the comic and I don't want it spoiled for me.
I can not truly say that you are wrong. You went a little more indepth then I did but the end result is likely closer to the truth then what I laid out. How they regard and deal with other races I suspect that you are dead on about. I do get the feeling that Galatea has not performed Ambassadorial functions because she simply has not needed to. The treaties are already in place. The closest thing that she may need to do is issue a warning to the offending party of the treaty. And that may not actually be part of her function.
Right. So, if Galatea is acting as an influencer, she actually is performing Ambassadorial duties.
I thought she was performing Ambassadorial duties when she was giving Athena a ride. She was facilitating making Epiphyte resources (the ship) available to a friendly power (New Troy) — presumably in response to a request — for the purpose of reaffirming friendly ties and relations between the two powers. You don’t need a new treaty for that, just to continue to adhere to the existing terms. But I suspect it is not the case that just any stranger can walk up to any Epiphyte and expect a ship be placed at their disposal. There would (or should) be some degree of formality involved to safeguard all parties in the event of something unfortunate happening.
Actually jealous here gave Athena a ride just for the heck of it there was no ambassadorial or trees she knows she's known Athena for most of her life and she just likes her so Athena asked was on the way there so it's galata so why not
Ah ha! I KNEW it!
ps. Love the River 'Spoilers' meme.
Now I'm having fantasies of Galatea (and a squad of Luna Marines) cornering the thugs in a dark alley, their eyes widening in fear as they recognize her, and her saying "You KILLED me. RUDE! Get 'em, boys! Oh, or wait. Should I hand you over to Centcomm instead? I can't remember, boys, what does SHE do with traitory traitors again?"
This is starting to sound more like a targeted assassination than a regular street crime. Typical street thugs do not normally sanitize the body and crime scene.
Cent had her motherboard and her power supply die last night. We have replaced the power supply and the old one makes a rattle noise like it has loose screws in it. She is ordering a replacement motherboard and CPU for delivery tomorrow.
The rattle might be a part that got warm enough to desolder itself from the circuit board in the PS. Just a guess. The new graphics card likely draws substantially more current than the previous one. Hopefully it didn't hurt the main board.. Best vibes that you get it all back up and running with no further issues.
the new ps is a 1000w ps, and more than enough to run the video card, but something desoldering and spiking the board is not out side of the realm of posiblity and sadly if that happened, it could have taken every thing with it... so starting small and hoping that the protective circutry in the motherboard did its job and protected the rest of the componants...
well.. in defence of the computer gods, it is a 7 year old pc, nearly top of the line when I buitl it for her all those years ago.. it has performed admirably for what it was built for.
@torin3, my recomendation would be start that rma process, I could open it up and find out what is ratteling around but I honestly dont want to void the warenty on it. and woudl rather be safe than sorry when slaping a newer ps in to it after the board repace.
To make it easier on you, I'll email Cent a .PDF of the receipt, that way you can do the whole RMA without needing me for an intermediary. Let me know if you have any issues with it.
It needs to be registered with EVGA, but there is a 90 day window to get it resgistered.
@torin3, thanks Ill make sure Cent gets it taken care of. will be using the old psu on the new board when it gets in today, and goddess willing she is going to do the install her self today as I have prioro comitiments that I had forgotten about that I need to take care of..
As LSI component densities increase, both increased power, and increased heat dissipation are needed. A 1Kw power supply isn't really unusual these days. :D
your not wrong, and its even scarrier that with modern video cards (when runing more than 2, you can need up to that just for video cards alone, runing the math, 2 4080 cards need 745w of power alone, not counting what is needed for ancilary such as usb devices, hard drives, extra ram, and so on. A pc for rendering needs more oomp than most gaming rigs depending on how one builds it out... imagine some of those rendering pcs runing 4 3080, or titans cards then tend to need every bit of that power, I would need to re run the math but 1200w ps for a system whos job is rendering isnt out side of the realm of posiblities. hell I rember when 300w ps was more than adequate and if you were runing 500w people thought you were hot shit.
Oh, Centcomm. :( So sorry to hear your main box is down. :'(
I hope Marcus can get it up and running quickly. The good news is, if you're getting a new motherboard, then it's gotta be faster than the 7-year old one (I hope)!
Poor Galatea; they afforded her no respect. Watching an amount of forensic examinations, the thought o curs to me another reason for the removal of her eyes, might be for a retinal scan somewhere. Depending what a Blue-Cast element, and Uni-Five data port consist of, could those be of use here? Could the chip from her hand could have also been some sort of RFID access module?
My thought is that Andrea must be currently mulling over questions like these.
Well done scene! It raises more questions.
\
Ps. He does look a little like Dr. Mallard (Ducky).
I hope they will find the culprits...
it is a precursor to this one..
Sometimes revenge and/or justice don't provide much comfort. :(
One would think that an ambassador from a highly-advanced civilization would either be recognized by the local police. A simple request of Centcom to do a quick facial-recognition should be in order. If Centcom can't recognize an ambassador from the Epiphytes, let alone allow one to be murdered while under HER protection, then there's something seriously wrong.
Also, murdering an Ambassador is -generally- an Act of War...
I was wondering why Cent-Comm wasn't keeping closer track of her, as an obvious Person of Importance. Now I'm wondering if Galatea specifically asked Centy _not_ to, given her plans for that evening?
That was something that I was wondering about. No doubt CentComm is going to have to answer some questions. She's probably on the hook for identifying and finding the perpetrators.
To them an Ambassador is much like a farmer or car mechanic. It is nothing less then a highly paid translator. At least that is my sense of it.
According to Cent, Gal is an honorific. Galatea is really a living memory tribute to Galina from Lunastar. And has not really been needed to perform a real Ambassadors function as Galina had already set up the treaties that everyone operates under when dealing with the Epiphytes. Basically, at this point Galatea is just a highly paid social influencer for lack of better words.
Naturally, the Epiphytes do have a sense of justice and will want her killers brought to justice. Though what that justice is is a little unclear to me.
The Epiphytes may not have the nationalism that humans do, but they would still know that they were wronged. I doubt they would just ignore it.
I never got the feeling that the Epiphytes have a communal identity -- be it nation, race, etc. -- separate from the notion of a commonality of sentience. In things like Luna Star, they seemed to incorporate a diversity of 'races' within their telepathic gestalt, and their communal decision making was oriented to finding a harmonious solution for everyone so linked. This suggests that many more decisions are based on the specific individuals and situations involved. Technically, if humans can be incorporated into the equation as telepathically capable beings, the Epiphytes would no more declare war on them than they would any other contributing member of the amalgamation. If the humans persist in anti-social and destructive behavior, they risk being reclassified as 'insane', 'diseased', or 'dangerously non-sentient' ... at which point different decisions start getting made.
Ambassadors do perform functions other than negotiate treaties, though. If Galatea hasn't been carrying out any Ambassadorial functions, that doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for her to so do. Just that she has chosen not to.
I can not truly say that you are wrong. You went a little more indepth then I did but the end result is likely closer to the truth then what I laid out. How they regard and deal with other races I suspect that you are dead on about. I do get the feeling that Galatea has not performed Ambassadorial functions because she simply has not needed to. The treaties are already in place. The closest thing that she may need to do is issue a warning to the offending party of the treaty. And that may not actually be part of her function.
Durned it, now I want to ask questions.
I thought she was performing Ambassadorial duties when she was giving Athena a ride. She was facilitating making Epiphyte resources (the ship) available to a friendly power (New Troy) — presumably in response to a request — for the purpose of reaffirming friendly ties and relations between the two powers. You don’t need a new treaty for that, just to continue to adhere to the existing terms. But I suspect it is not the case that just any stranger can walk up to any Epiphyte and expect a ship be placed at their disposal. There would (or should) be some degree of formality involved to safeguard all parties in the event of something unfortunate happening.
It's just that, given WHAT Galatea was, and the capabilities of those who created her, it was a thought that crossed my mind.
ps. Love the River 'Spoilers' meme.
Now I'm having fantasies of Galatea (and a squad of Luna Marines) cornering the thugs in a dark alley, their eyes widening in fear as they recognize her, and her saying "You KILLED me. RUDE! Get 'em, boys! Oh, or wait. Should I hand you over to Centcomm instead? I can't remember, boys, what does SHE do with traitory traitors again?"
If we are activating clone replacements, can smoking boots be far behind? ^_^
Galatea is not dead somehow? That was a clone or a decoy? Or was she really killed and Luna is just going to make a clone? I'm confused.
Galina is my favorite character from the Datachasers Universe, so seeing her daughter get murdered feels horrible, no matter the circumstances. :(
It needs to be registered with EVGA, but there is a 90 day window to get it resgistered.
- That's saying something that modern computers have kilowatt+ power supplies. :O :D
I hope Marcus can get it up and running quickly. The good news is, if you're getting a new motherboard, then it's gotta be faster than the 7-year old one (I hope)!
Also: Oof! Sorry to hear about the computer situation. I hope that gets sorted soon. D=