Outsider page 157
Added 2019-05-31 06:11:02 +0000 UTCThat is one smooooth poker face, Alex.
Comments
Can't wait for the nosy Loroi to catch sight of it and to say "Tell me Enzin what is Porn?"
Bee
2019-07-02 21:10:34 +0000 UTC"Porn" can also be a clickbait trap, clicking on the icon can cause something else entirely.
Michael Pettersson
2019-06-05 05:02:59 +0000 UTCAs someone who was in the Navy for 10 years, let's see... Ship's systems are closely monitored, and porn (and really any private, recreational browsing, unexplained connection) is forbidden on them. That's like "Come on dude, you know I have to check the web logs, and you know I can't not report violations." It makes sense, porn sites might have malware. PRIVATE laptops and tablets, on the other hand, are the Sailors' own business. Out to sea, you'd best believe people are trading thumb drives and external hard drives to build up the spiciest collections they can find, it's like a mini-game of social currency if you're known to have good stuff to trade. I've even, uh, heard of guys setting up little offline LANs to help facilitate maximum data throughput. Leadership usually looks the other way with the understanding that we're all human, as long as we can be adults when it comes to discretion and not causing any problems. Working 12-16 hours a day underway is its own special brand of "fun", and having some ways to unwind and let of steam is part of surviving it. Underway has a bit of work hard, play hard mentality, with some slack cut as long as we can all handle it. Sometimes someone you might expect to be all tough about it can be surprisingly cool. "IS THAT PORN?" "Y-yes Chief/Sir." "Hand it over. Huh, not bad. Lemme borrow this for 24 hours wouldja?" "S-sure." It's a fine line. The problem is a minority of folks (probably men) losing control of their better natures. In Vietnam, sexy swimsuit calendars used to be hung in say, tool shops and that was the culture. The problem is, that can seem like legitimizing seeing women as pieces of meat, and we have many women Sailors in now. It's about a 1 to 6 ratio for females, and I'm worried pretty much every woman Sailor has been leered at, propositioned, subjected to unwanted comments and disgracefully maybe even touching at some point during her career. Sexual assault in all military branches is still something they're keenly interested in stamping out. Let's say 98/100 servicemembers can handle being professional, then you get those 2 creepers who do something disgusting like place a mini webcam in a female toilet or commit a sexual assault. No commander wants to answer questions about if they were tacitly tolerating a climate where that might be permissible by looking the other way on porn. The idea is to understand and project to subordinates that there's a line, on the private side, enjoy yourself, on the other of that line, is where we get into uniform and maintain a high degree of professionalism. As long as everyone understands and can handle that, we can continue to have nice things, are we clear? "YES CHIEF". "Good." They've probably gotten a decent handle on that all the more in the future. The Scout Corps probably has a similar underway culture of "we're damn far from home, do what you gotta do as long as you keep it professional on the clock" likely hasn't changed much. The last thing would be if those tablets are ship property, personal, or maybe some grey area where they're loaners. "Just don't connect to dirty sites (not that there are any in deep space), turn it back in the way you found it. If you've got any hot FMF threesome videos we should swap thumb drives sometime."
Shane Wegner
2019-06-02 07:39:47 +0000 UTCI don't know what the current US Navy practice is, but I don't see any rational reason (aside from tradition and prudishness) to outlaw it. If you have a coed crew on a long voyage, denying them the outlet that porn provides would, it seems to me, do far more harm than good.
Arioch
2019-05-31 19:39:15 +0000 UTCI don't know much about deployment of personell in, say, the US Navy, but would porn be "allowed" on ship. I mean, I realize in years past, it'd be hard to catch any print material being smuggled in, but in the modern services, would there not be some filtering/blocking/scanning done, or do commanding officers pretty much let it go, sailors being sailors?
CJSF
2019-05-31 19:34:23 +0000 UTCNice save, Historian!
tadboz
2019-05-31 17:07:25 +0000 UTCJoke- If so, she might be worried Jardin needs "mating encounters" more than she's letting on. Actual- it's likely the construct checked the power on logs and confirmed that no one had turned it on before Jardin. Since it has the ability to read/alter memory of powered off devices, it may have selected that datapad for having the property of not having been inspected by the Loroi.
Shane Wegner
2019-05-31 15:31:44 +0000 UTCWait, if Beryl's turned that pad on before wouldn't she be able to recognize that there's a new icon on the display?
TSH
2019-05-31 14:00:51 +0000 UTCThere is one really dangerous thing about these Historian agents, narratively speaking. Having Jardin narrate his story, up to now, always had me assuming he was giving his story to a tribunal of admirals, having against all odds made it back to human space. NOW, however, he could just as likely, actually FAR MORE likely, be narrating his story to a Historian agent on the eve of his execution for knowing too much. "I am sorry, Jardin, but this agent cannot intervene to save your life. I do, however, promise to smuggle your final testimony back to Earth unchanged, so you may make your recommendations about alliance with the Loroi and tell your story."
Shane Wegner
2019-05-31 10:27:18 +0000 UTCFrom Beryl's point of view, her spycraft side probably sees this as an opportunity to read candid notes Jardin writes in it. She's undoubtedly learned written English by now, and might assume he hasn't entirely picked up on that.
Shane Wegner
2019-05-31 10:26:31 +0000 UTCIt's smart. I was thinking he could play the sentimentality card and say "Some of my friends have e-mails from the days before their deaths, I'd like to keep them around". But playing the Porn card will raise even fewer questions, especially given what Loroi and predisposed to think of humanoid males. Speaking of, I wonder what her plans were/(are) if Jardin had said "I must have mating encounters at least once each day or I will become irrational". He mentioned some time had passed, several days or even weeks?, since he first got picked up. He may not be Loroi, but I'd be feeling pretty pent-up by that point. Being locked in a small space with lots of attractive space ladies could prove interesting.
Shane Wegner
2019-05-31 10:24:24 +0000 UTCLOL! I'm willing to bet that sooner or later she will ask Alex what the alien icon and "PORN" means and will insist on seeing it when Alex tries to explain as diplomatically as possible, and that the Historian program will actually display porn, if someone "unauthorized" clicks the icon, I mean, it appears to have understood the concept well enough. I'd love to see Beryl's face in that case :D
Valdis Trautmanis
2019-05-31 08:17:52 +0000 UTCi bet if she would click that icon, she would just get to see some porn and not the historian 8)
markus baur
2019-05-31 07:38:48 +0000 UTC"This construct has selected the lewd images that most fit your personality profile."
TSH
2019-05-31 07:38:21 +0000 UTCSo the historians are aware of what humans consider improper behaviour regarding use of company/Department electronics? Interesting.
Jericho
2019-05-31 06:41:08 +0000 UTC
