Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!

[Cavelcade]

It's his first name, he's a humanphile. Next page we'll see him creepily hit on Danica, or possibly have an awesome night out with Dr. Brightman, depending on whether Mookie wants to do "Creepy planet owner wants young woman" or "We're so tolerant, any species can get it on! Just like Mass Eff - wait, don't think about that comparison too much. In fact, forget I said anything."

[Traab]

Todays comic, meh, danica is annoyed that SHE doesnt get to be the one to hand out all of the knowledge.

[Kato]

Todays comic, meh, danica is annoyed that SHE doesnt get to be the one to hand out all of the knowledge.

Yeah but... why? Because it's impolite to get interrupted? We've never known Danica to have in any way a fetish for talking, or showing off her knowledge. Or a specific interest in ancient cultures... I mean, this is Mookie but... I would kind of like to know.

[Vinyadan]

People who know a lot about the same subject tend to do so to patronize the other and show that they are better than him. I've seen it done at very high levels; usually, a part yields not to come to a fight.

My problem with this page is the idea that people get better at something because of contact with another people. It's technically true, but such enhancement depends on technology. An archaeologist would say "it is most likely due to technology XY, which is consistently found in Zorp (artifacts of similar kind)".

Why would an astronomer want to know a lot about such stuff, anyway?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Posted for Posterity

Why would an astronomer want to know a lot about such stuff, anyway?

Somehow the scientists on S^6 made a major discovery in this area so it's possible she picked it up after being posted up there. You do tend to learn about your Institution's major victories once you start working there.

As for why, well, everyone needs hobbies, no?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Posted for Posterity


Somehow the scientists on S^6 made a major discovery in this area so it's possible she picked it up after being posted up there. You do tend to learn about your Institution's major victories once you start working there.

As for why, well, everyone needs hobbies, no?

I was a computer science major at Rice, and I probably learned more about buckyballs and buckytubes there than I did about programming.

[Q. Flestrin]

Okay, I'll admit it: I actually like Star Power. It's fun. Stupid, but fun. Which, in addition to my general infrequency in visiting this forum, is why I haven't joined on the mocking train.

But today, I'm confused, and so I turn to the Playground for help. How do modern star maps confirm the accuracy of millennia-old carvings? Wouldn't both the positions and the light outputs of the stars have changed? And why would they use different colours for different light outputs than use different colours for, you know, different colours of star? Or is Dr. Brightman just talking through her hat, and, despite supposedly being a trained astronomer, is using a roundabout phrasing for brightness when she means colour?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Okay, I'll admit it: I actually like Star Power. It's fun. Stupid, but fun. Which, in addition to my general infrequency in visiting this forum, is why I haven't joined on the mocking train.

But today, I'm confused, and so I turn to the Playground for help. How do modern star maps confirm the accuracy of millennia-old carvings? Wouldn't both the positions and the light outputs of the stars have changed? And why would they use different colours for different light outputs than use different colours for, you know, different colours of star? Or is Dr. Brightman just talking through her hat, and, despite supposedly being a trained astronomer, is using a roundabout phrasing for brightness when she means colour?

Welcome aboard

So, here's how this could make sense.

• It is conceivable that a "modern" astronomer could take the star map and the orbit of the planet in question and run a simulation to see if the map would match up to the "sky" on the world at a particular date (or, at least, period of time).
• Stars change "light output" (probably stellar spectra) very slowly. The above simulation would also be able to identify any stars that did change their spectra and see whether the gem was appropriate for what that star would have been at the given local time.

It does posit that the Ancient Aliens had sophisticated telescopes (to see stars that are normally outshone by their neighbors) and a good understanding of astrophysics (we didn't figure this out until the 19th century) but considering how much in the future this setting is, there's a lot of time that could be called "ancient."

That said, we could have built the same map in the 19th century and not put it in essentially an unfinished cave. So either these Ancient Aliens had Schizo Tech (19th century astrophysics, neolithic everything else) or there's not really any reason for anyone to be excited about the scientific achievement.

[Nerd-o-rama]

It is possible, if you are bored or desperate for a doctoral thesis topic, to determine where stars were thousands of years ago based on their present positions and velocities. In fact, FTL travel should make this relatively (heh) trivial. To observewhere stars were X years ago, observe them from a point x light years away. Do some math to pretend you're viewing them from Rokoss, et voilà.

Now the "light output" is just Mookie being unscientifically vague. He's a "writer", not an astronomer, and sadly for this story he's allergic to research.

[Kato]

In Mookie's defense, stars move pretty slowly across the sky in terms of "change in position over millenia". I guess you can claim they used to be exactly where they should be a few thousand years ago, but iirc, the shift should be so small they basically are still there. Unless we're talking about time spans of millions of years. Or stars around there are clustered much closer/moce faster.
About the "light output"... yeah, no idea. I first read it as spectra, which I'm going to assume is what he meant.

It's kind of neat, nonetheless.

[Vinyadan]

Very technically speaking (aka "according to my schoolbook"), the modern age begun in 1492 and ended in 1789, when the contemporary age begun. Modern maps could be pretty old it's wonderful how arbitrary such systems can be. But modernity could really refer to an older time.

The starmap idea is cool, but I think some panels with detail would have shown it better, and given it more time for the reader to appreciate. After all, the attention is mainly on the text baloons, which is a "tell, not show" accomplished while actually drawing the thing. It's amazing.

[guttering flame]

To me it sounds like only visible stars are represented in the cave. The 'not only' is meant to say they also differentiated between the stars using the different colored gems and appraently different sizes. So this could be accomplished by very rich men in the bronze age. On Earth you'd need 2500-5000 gems just to show all the visible stars. To show dimmer stars you'd need a lot more

Scientifically it's less impressive than structures like Stonehenge that show knowledge of the movements in the sky. It's a picture of the sky at a particular time of the year. It doesn't show their movements over time or even the differences in their distances. It also looks distorted, more of a shallow bowl than a perfect half sphere. And these gems don't really show the spectra of the stars. They're natural gems so it's a rough match at best. Rubies don't have the same spectra as Red Dwarf for example.

[Traab]

And why are you assuming they used earth based gemstones? For all you know on their planet they have gems of every possible hue and color combination.

[Oracle_Hunter]

To me it sounds like only visible stars are represented in the cave. The 'not only' is meant to say they also differentiated between the stars using the different colored gems and appraently different sizes. So this could be accomplished by very rich men in the bronze age. On Earth you'd need 2500-5000 gems just to show all the visible stars. To show dimmer stars you'd need a lot more

Scientifically it's less impressive than structures like Stonehenge that show knowledge of the movements in the sky. It's a picture of the sky at a particular time of the year. It doesn't show their movements over time or even the differences in their distances. It also looks distorted, more of a shallow bowl than a perfect half sphere. And these gems don't really show the spectra of the stars. They're natural gems so it's a rough match at best. Rubies don't have the same spectra as Red Dwarf for example.

Even if the gemstones do not show the same spectra as masses of incandescent gas (gigantic nuclear furnaces!) it's still pretty impressive to match spectra to representative stones. As I mentioned, we only figured this out in the 19th century (although Newton was so close in the 17th century) so if a neolithic culture managed to do it, more power to them.

Without that, it's just a static map of luminous objects in the sky which we've been doing basically as long as we've had representational art.

[guttering flame]

Even if the gemstones do not show the same spectra as masses of incandescent gas (gigantic nuclear furnaces!) it's still pretty impressive to match spectra to representative stones. As I mentioned, we only figured this out in the 19th century (although Newton was so close in the 17th century) so if a neolithic culture managed to do it, more power to them.

Without that, it's just a static map of luminous objects in the sky which we've been doing basically as long as we've had representational art.

Except they didn't match them themselves, they were told. On to other things, what's the light-source for this cave? Is it the door? It's the door isn't it? It would be ironic if you could only see the cave wonder during sunny afternoons and the Gemstars of the West were always dimmer than the Gemstars of the East.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I assume in Neolithic times, they lit a fire. And forgot to build a chimney because Mookie designed the room, but really, is this what we're picking apart now?

[Vinyadan]

Maybe I missed it, but does it say anywhere that the thing was built in neolithic times?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Maybe I missed it, but does it say anywhere that the thing was built in neolithic times?

It's actually a lot more boring than I thought.

The Zel Grux are a spacefaring race that landed on Rokkos and built a university to uplift the natives. The native Rokkosians were mostly known for their abilities to wear masks and carve rocks, so naturally the Zel Grux decided to teach them to be better at that.

What all this means is that the Gemstar Map is nothing more than Cargo Cult astronomy. The Zel Grux said "all those shiny spots in the sky are giant balls of gas and they are all different colors" so the Rokkosians said "let's make a picture of that with rocks!"

I hate you all for making me actually comprehend what's going on in this comic

[Hopeless]

Well been a while since I read any of the new pages or posted here, must say enjoyed the new issue so far!
Loved the face of Danica's boss after she was asked to accompany them!
Couple of questions though...

1) That cave might be old enough that Mitch might be able to tally up differences with his records prior to accessing Sanctuary 6's library?
2) Could this mean the source of that power up is a leftover artefact a starpowered hid in their system for that very purpose?
3) Was one of the assassinated starpowered from that system?
Could we find out the Countess overlooked a few Starpowered facilities in her haste to eliminate any of the Star powered wielders?
4) Who thinks this dynasty were survivors of the last Wormhole?

[Vinyadan]

Well been a while since I read any of the new pages or posted here, must say enjoyed the new issue so far!
Loved the face of Danica's boss after she was asked to accompany them!
Couple of questions though...

1) That cave might be old enough that Mitch might be able to tally up differences with his records prior to accessing Sanctuary 6's library?
2) Could this mean the source of that power up is a leftover artefact a starpowered hid in their system for that very purpose?
3) Was one of the assassinated starpowered from that system?
Could we find out the Countess overlooked a few Starpowered facilities in her haste to eliminate any of the Star powered wielders?
4) Who thinks this dynasty were survivors of the last Wormhole?

I think the last wormhole fought against an Empire. It could have been these guys.

I like the idea of the cave being somehow related with the Sentinels. It could be a rifle nailed to the wall (aka Chekhov's Gun).

About lighting the cave: there could have been small tunnels coated in reflective substances ending behind each star, making them glow as if they were a light source, if there were everlasting lamps at the end of the tunnels, or the tunnels were made in such a way, as to receive light at each time of the day.

[random11]

Update

Obviously the loss of memory is an important plot point.
Did they even TRY to connect Mitch again to any database?

Seems like that should be a lot faster than going to a museum, and might give better clues regarding what went wrong.
Besides, if the data was erased from Mitch, why can't it be deleted again just because he learned it not through a direct connection?

[Gez]

So the plot twist for this chapter is that the green lady cheated to get her qualifications, because it turns out that she actually is a condescending jerk?

[Neoriceisgood]

So the plot twist for this chapter is that the green lady cheated to get her qualifications, because it turns out that she actually is a condescending jerk?

I bet she's secretly a racist who's personally responsible for commiting genocide in this particular Dynasty when she was a child.

[AgentPaper]

I bet she's secretly a racist who's personally responsible for commiting genocide in this particular Dynasty when she was a child.

Her crimes are far worse than that. I hear, she likes jocks.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Well been a while since I read any of the new pages or posted here, must say enjoyed the new issue so far!
Loved the face of Danica's boss after she was asked to accompany them!
Couple of questions though...

1) That cave might be old enough that Mitch might be able to tally up differences with his records prior to accessing Sanctuary 6's library?
2) Could this mean the source of that power up is a leftover artefact a starpowered hid in their system for that very purpose?
3) Was one of the assassinated starpowered from that system?
Could we find out the Countess overlooked a few Starpowered facilities in her haste to eliminate any of the Star powered wielders?
4) Who thinks this dynasty were survivors of the last Wormhole?

Sadly, our only image of other SPS doesn't include any Rokkosians as far as I can tell.

I'm betting on the Zel Grux being a secret reserve force of SPS ("Dark SPS") and their "mysterious disappearance" being due to the cataclysm caused by the Eighth Wormhole. Mitch doesn't know about them because information about Dark SPS is intentionally blocked by SPS programming to preserve said secret. His overcharged distress call awoke the Dark SPS AI and, upon further contact, with somehow produce Space Celesto.

[Traab]

Im thinking madame expert lady in the towel is overcompensating. She is jealous of all the attention her former lab partner is getting since the whole star power thing happened, and is trying to show that she is an expert and thus worth having along. She is trying for, "Im an expert here, take me along on your adventures!" But is accidentally hitting, "Im a royal pita know it all! Be annoyed by me!"

[Nerd-o-rama]

Im thinking madame expert lady in the towel is overcompensating. She is jealous of all the attention her former lab partner is getting since the whole star power thing happened, and is trying to show that she is an expert and thus worth having along. She is trying for, "Im an expert here, take me along on your adventures!" But is accidentally hitting, "Im a royal pita know it all! Be annoyed by me!"

Traab's sig is accurate again. This is my theory exactly, mostly because to me she's hitting the "popular extroverted girl who just doesn't know any better" tropes rather than the "hyperviolent dbag who turns out not to be a joke" tropes. Also, she's a nerd.

[Traab]

Traab's sig is accurate again. This is my theory exactly, mostly because to me she's hitting the "popular extroverted girl who just doesn't know any better" tropes rather than the "hyperviolent dbag who turns out not to be a joke" tropes. Also, she's a nerd.

Oh thank god, I was afraid I would have to change my sig sooner or later due to the expiration date on when I last yelled stuff you were thinking.

[Shogo]

Funnily enough, if I'm annoyed by anyone it's Danica and the dirty looks she keeps giving Beena.

Yeah, she interrupted you when you were trying to hand out explanations, but you're a star girl. She's a dynasty girl. Maybe you should just get overself and let her have her moment to shine. You might even learn something new, given that Beena is supposed to specialize in this dynasty and you don't.

[Neoriceisgood]

Funnily enough, if I'm annoyed by anyone it's Danica and the dirty looks she keeps giving Beena.

Yeah, she interrupted you when you were trying to hand out explanations, but you're a star girl. She's a dynasty girl. Maybe you should just get overself and let her have her moment to shine. You might even learn something new, given that Beena is supposed to specialize in this dynasty and you don't.

I agree, literally the only reason I "get" that Beena's behavior is meant to be annoying is Danica's gazes.


In fact at first I thought it was meant to show a character flaw on DANICA's side when she first did it. (lol as if)