History Fridge / QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger

* More on the What kind of company would make such Death trap in The Coldest Equations? Dilbert's company would make such a death trap. Take a close look at the [[http://rhjunior.com/QQSR/QQSR0000.html#Comic=124 Transit.]][[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-01-15/ General.]], Doesn't he look like the Pointy-haired boss? It also shows just what kind of damage a company like Dilbert's could do for money. Though Gal-Tech is not an independent corporation. It's federalized. The "boss" in question is the Transportation General, a government official and something akin to the Attorney or Surgeon General. Basically what you're looking at here is the transportation equivalent of the communist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward Great Leap Forward.]] In addition, it certainly explains how such a law about stowing away would come into existence, not to mention why refusal to space the stowaway would be considered to be conspiracy to commit piracy.

* More on the What kind of company would make such Death trap in The Coldest Equations? Dilbert's company would make such a death trap. Take a close look at the [[http://rhjunior.com/QQSR/QQSR0000.html#Comic=124 Transit.]][[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-01-15/ General.]], Doesn't he look like the Pointy-haired boss? It also shows just what kind of damage a company like Dilbert's could do for money. It should be clarified that Gal-Tech is not an independent corporation. It's federalized. The "boss" in question is the Transportation General, a government official and something akin to the Attorney or Surgeon General. Basically what you're looking at here is the transportation equivalent of the communist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward Great Leap Forward.]]
** In addition, it certainly explains how such a law about stowing away would come into existence, not to mention why refusal to space the stowaway would be considered to be conspiracy to commit piracy.

* More on the What kind of company would make such Death trap in The Coldest Equations? Dilbert's company would make such a death trap. Take a close look at the [[http://rhjunior.com/QQSR/QQSR0000.html#Comic=124 Transit.]][[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-01-15/ General.]], Doesn't he look like the Pointy-haired boss? It also shows just what kind of damage a company like Dilbert's could do for money. It should be clarified that Gal-Tech is not an independent corporation. It's federalized. The "boss" in question is the Transportation General, a government official and something akin to the Attorney or Surgeon General. Basically what you're looking at here is the transportation equivalent of the communist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward Great Leap Forward.]]

* More on the What kind of company would make such Death trap in The Coldest Equations? I give you one answer, Dilbert's company would make such a death trap. Take a close look at the [[http://rhjunior.com/QQSR/QQSR0000.html#Comic=124 Transit.]][[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-01-15/ General.]], Doesn't he look like the Pointy-haired boss? It also shows just what kind of damage a company like Dilbert's could do for money
** It should be clarified that Gal-Tech is not an independent corporation. It's federalized. The "boss" in question is the Transportation General, a government official and something akin to the Attorney or Surgeon General. Basically what you're looking at here is the transportation equivalent of the communist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward Great Leap Forward.]]

* More on the What kind of company would make such Death trap in The Coldest Equations? I give you one answer, Dilbert's company would make such a death trap. Take a close look at the [[http://rhjunior.com/QQSR/QQSR0000.html#Comic=124 Transit.]][[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-01-15/ General.]], Doesn't he look like the Pointy-haired boss? It also shows just what kind of damage a company like Dilbert's could do for money

** Even scarier is the fact that the entire species appears to be in a state of severe monoculture, something that the author indicates is only possible in the future through [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00010.html an extreme totalitarian government.]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld Which makes you wonder what their homeworld is really like.]] The [[Franchise/StarTrek Federation-like]] {{Expy}} is indicated to be socialist, [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or at least claims to be...]]

* The Coldest Equations chapter takes all of the fridge horror of TheColdEquations story, and turns it into a court case: What kind of a society would impose a death sentence penalty for stowing away on shuttles with zero security, allows literally no margin of error for said shuttles, and cut the shuttle's operating parameters to the point that there literally wasn't even room for a co-pilot? The space shuttles used by the Parodians would not, by 20th century standards, be cleared for flight about 1,000 feet!

** The crew of the Glorious Undertaking sit idly by and watch as a comet strikes a planet full of sapient (but Bronze Age tech level) sophonts. They made no effort to aid, evacuate, or rescue the inhabitants... and they cite the Prime Directive as the reason why they didn't make a move to aid anyone. Now, feel free to go try and watch any episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration where The Prime Directive is a major theme without cringing, because this very closely mirrors more than one episode where the Prime Directive hindered the crew of the Enterprise in helping less advanced races in surviving situations that would be an extinction level event.
*** The crew of the original Enterprise would have likely attempted to divert the comet: the Prime Directive prohibits direct interference in the development of a sentient species, but it does not prohibit stopping an outside force from causing the annihilation of a species (in this case the gigantic comet). However, by the time of the Next Generation, the Federation had flown so far up its own philosophical arse that Picard and his staff spent days debating on whether or not they should save a planet full of sapient creatures from exploding or whether that would be thwarting the grand cosmic design. Meanwhile, Cisco would have blasted the comet, even if ordered not to (this was the guy who once knocked Q flat on his omnipotent backside, after all). Janeway would have found a way to destroy the comet twice if she was ordered not to, but she was just awesome like that.

*** The crew of the original Enterprise would have likely attempted to divert the comet: the Prime Directive prohibits direct interference in the development of a sentient species, but it does not prohibit stopping an outside force from causing the annihilation of a species (in this case the gigantic comet). However, by the time of the Next Generation, the Federation had flown so far up its own philosophical arse that Picard and his staff spent days debating on whether or not they should save a planet full of sapient creatures from exploding or whether that would be thwarting the grand cosmic design.

* The Coldest Equations chapter takes all of the fridge horror of TheColdEquations story, and turns it into a court case: What kind of a society would impose a death sentence penalty for stowing away on shuttles with zero security, literally no margin of error for said shuttles, and cut the shuttle's operating parameters to the point that there literally wasn't even room for a co-pilot? The space shuttles used by the Parodians would not, by 20th century standards, be cleared for flight about 1,000 feet!

*** The crew of the original Enterprise would have likely attempted to divert the comet: the Prime Directive prohibits direct interference in the development of a sentient species, but it does not prohibit stopping an outside force from causing the annihilation of a species (in this case the gigantic comet). However, by the time of the Next Generation, the Federation had flown so far up its own philosophical arse that Picard and his staff spent days debating on whether or not they should save a planet full of sapient creatures from exploding or whether that would be thwarting the grand cosmic design.

** The crew of the Glorious Undertaking sit idly by and watch as a comet strikes a planet full of sentient (but Bronze Age tech level) sentients. They made no effort to aid, evacuate, or rescue the inhabitants... and they cite the Prime Directive as the reason why they didn't make a move to aid anyone. Now, feel free to go try and watch any episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration where The Prime Directive is a major theme without cringing, because this very closely mirrors more than one episode where the Prime Directive hindered the crew of the Enterprise in helping less advanced races in surviving situations that would be an extinction level event.

*** The crew of the original Enterprise would have likely attempted to divert the comet: the Prime Directive prohibits direct interference in the development of a sentient species, but it does not prohibit stopping an outside force from causing the annihilation of a species (in this case the gigantic comet). However, by the time of the Next Generation, the Federation had flown so far up its own philosophical arse that Picard and his staff spent days debating on whether or not they should save a planet full of sapients from exploding or whether that would be thwarting the grand cosmic design.

** The crew of the original Enterprise would have likely attempted to divert the comet: the Prime Directive prohibits direct interference in the development of a sentient species, but it does not prohibit stopping an outside force from causing the annihilation of a species (in this case the gigantic comet). However, by the time of the Next Generation, the Federation had flown so far up its own philosophical arse that Picard and his staff spent days debating on whether or not they should save a planet full of sapients from exploding or whether that would be thwarting the grand cosmic design.

** The crew of the Enterprise would have likely attempted to divert the comet: the Prime Directive prohibits direct interference in the development of a sentient species, but it does not prohibit stopping an outside force from causing the annihilation of a species (in this case the gigantic comet).

** The crew of the Glorious Undertaking sit idly by and watch as a comet strikes a planet full of sentient (but Bronze Age tech level) sentients. They made no effort to aid, evacuate, or rescue the inhabitants... and they cite the Prime Directive as the reason why they didn't make a move to aid anyone. Now, feel free to go try and watch any episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration where The Prime Directive is a major theme without cringing, because this very closely mirrors more than one episode where the Prime Directive hindered the crew of the Enterprise in helping less advanced races in surviving situations that would be an extinction level event.

** The crew of the Glorious Undertaking sit idly by and watch as a comet strikes a planet full of sentient (but Bronze Age tech level) sentients. They made no effort to aid, evacuate, or rescue the inhabitants... and they cite the Prime Directive as the reason why they didn't make a move to aid anyone. Now, feel free to go and watch any episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration where The Prime Directive is a major theme without cringing, because this very closely mirrors more than one episode where the Prime Directive hindered the crew of the Enterprise in helping less advanced races in surviving situations that would be an extinction level event.

* FridgeHorror: The Cosmic Being that keeps the Federation in working order keeps an entire race under the delusion that they are not TooDumbToLive; An entire race has been reduced to some Cosmic Being's pet gold fish.

* [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Alternate]] FridgeHorror: An entire species that is just too idiotic to realize that, when a NighInvulnerable, [[AGodAmI God-like]], cosmic entity with unimaginable wisdom at it's disposal tells you that you really need to make some changes to the way they have been doing things, you should probably do so. The Cosmic Being literally devotes nearly all of it's spare time just to keeping their absolute mess of a [[SerialEscalation government/educational system/legal system/EVERY FREAKIN' POSSIBLE FACET OF THEIR SOCIETY AND CULTURE]] from collapsing in a fiery heap of shame and failure. Again. The only change that has occurred in their society in 400 years of interstellar exploration is that the smart ones actually have an opportunity to leave their steaming failure of a society before it finally self destructs.
** The scariest thing about the entire scenario is that, the higher up the command chain you go, the greater the incompetence of the people in charge. Looking at the crew of the Glorious Undertaking, and their entire civilization, is like looking at the [[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} The Dilbert Principle]] in action: the most incompetent people have been elevated to the highest offices, while the most competent are stuck at the lowest levels.
*** This is most likely due to the fact that those who support the flawed ideals of the ruling regime are the ones who decide who gets promoted, so those who support the ruling regime are the only ones who get promoted. And since only an incompetent idiot would fail to see that the system is not working, only incompetent idiots get promoted. [[AlmightyJanitor Meanwhile, the failing system is held together by the incredibly competent people who spend their entire lives at the bottom of the ladder.]]

*** not really a leap of logic, there. socialism always leads to totalitarianism, by default and by nature.
* FridgeHorror: The crew of the Glorious Undertaking sit idly by and watch as a comet strikes a planet full of sentient (but Bronze Age tech level) sentients. They made no effort to aid, evacuate, or rescue the inhabitants... and they cite the Prime Directive as the reason why they didn't make a move to aid anyone. Now, feel free to go and watch any episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration where The Prime Directive is a major theme without cringing, because this very closely mirrors more than one episode where the Prime Directive hindered the crew of the Enterprise in helping less advanced races in surviving situations that would be an extinction level event.

*** not really a leap of logic, there. socialism always leads to totalitarianism, by default and by nature.

** Even scarier is the fact that the entire species appears to be in a state of severe monoculture, something that the author indicates is only possible in the future through [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00010.html an extreme totalitarian government.]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld Which makes you wonder what their homeworld is really like.]] The [[Franchise/StarTrek Federation-like]] {{Expy}} is indicated to be socialist, [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or at least claims to be...]]

*** This is most likely due to the fact that those who support the flawed ideals of the ruling regime are the ones who decide who gets promoted, so those who support the ruling regime are the only ones who get promoted. And since only an incompetent idiot would fail to see that the system is not working, only incompetent idiots get promoted.

*** Even scarier is the fact that the entire species appears to be in a state of severe monoculture, something that the author indicates is only possible in the future through [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00010.html an extreme totalitarian government.]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld Which makes you wonder what their homeworld is really like.]] The [[Franchise/StarTrek Federation-like]] {{Expy}} is indicated to be socialist, [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or at least claims to be...]]

** The scariest thing about the entire scenario is that, the higher up the command chain you go, the greater the incompetence of the people in charge. Looking at the crew of the Glorious Undertaking, and their entire civilization, is like looking at the [[{{Dilbert}} The Dilbert Principle]] in action: the most incompetent people have been elevated to the highest offices, while the most competent are stuck at the lowest levels.

* [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Alternate]] FridgeHorror: An entire species that is just too idiotic to realize that, when a NighInvulnerable, [[AGodAmI God-like]], cosmic entity with unimaginable wisdom at it's disposal tells you that you really need to make some changes to the way they have been doing things, you should probably do so. The Cosmic Being literally devotes nearly all of it's spare time just to keeping their absolute mess of a government/educational system/legal system/[[BeyondTheImpossible EVERY FREAKIN' POSSIBLE FACET OF THEIR SOCIETY AND CULTURE]] from collapsing in a fiery heap of shame and failure. Again. The only change that has occurred in their society in 400 years of interstellar exploration is that the smart ones actually have an opportunity to leave their steaming failure of a society before it finally self destructs.

*** Even scarier is the fact that the entire species appears to be in a state of severe monoculture, something that the author indicates is only possible in the future through [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00010.html an extreme totalitarian government.]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld Which makes you wonder what their homeworld is really like.]] The [[StarTrek Federation-like]] {{Expy}} is indicated to be socialist, [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or at least claims to be...]]

** The scariest thing about the entire scenario is that, the higher up the command chain you go, the greater the incompetence of the people in charge. Looking at the crew of the Glorious Undertaking, and their entire civilization, is like looking at the [[{{Dilbert}} The Dilbert Principle]] in action: the most incompetent people have been elevated to the highest offices, while the most competent are stuck at the lowest levels.

** Alternately, the Federation is hiding behind the protection of that Cosmic Being so they don't have to change elements of their civilization that are just plain ''broken.'' [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00041.html Which is just about everything.]]

** Alternately, the Federation is hiding behind the protection of that Cosmic Being so they don't have to change [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00042.html elements of their civilization]] that are just plain ''broken.'' [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00041.html Which is just about everything.]]

** Alternately, the Federation is hiding behind the protection of that Cosmic Being so they don't have to change [[[[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00042.html elements of their civilization]] that are just plain ''broken.'' [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00041.html Which is just about everything.]]

** Alternately, the Federation is using the protection of that Cosmic Being so they don't have to change elements of their civilization that are just plain ''broken.'' [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00042.html Which is just about everything.]]