TGW-792
Chapter: 26 Alien Encounter
Characters: ambassador Palas, Capt Chardis, capt hrrn'tn, chief hrrkn'sss, deputy shawn, dragonflys, gorilla, kaitana, nita, sheriff ace, t'chaka, venus
Location: Catia's pride, jackson
The Gentle Wolf
A modern adventure webcomic
Why do they offer the deal, Chief? Because they are beings of honor and integrity. Because they are more interested in a long term business relationship than a quick score. And because they are well acquainted with the principle that karma is a stone cold bitch! Your chickens have a nasty habit of coming home to roost so best you cultivate pretty chickens. Likewise it is always wise to be careful when choosing a petard since you might find yourself hoisted upon it.
And, yeah, I know damned well the sentiments expressed above are incredibly old fashioned, even quaint and possibly naive. So be it. If the worst thing you can call me is old fashioned or even naive, I can live with that.
Hiya Old Fashioned Naive Bill. How ya doin’? Well, I hope.
Doing okay, Woodman. Not doing great but it does not good to complain. Ain’t nobody listening anyhow. Had a big blow here about a couple of weeks back. Tree limbs down everywhere. I did a walk around but couldn’t see any roof damage. Then Friday night we had a very hard thunderstorm. Got water dripping in the livingroom. If you look close you can see the seem between two sheetrock panels in the ceiling. I just had that roof replaced 3 years ago. No leaks just a couple of 20 year old shingles missing. Been in this house (built for us finished in 97) 24 years with nary a leak. Now got the homeowners claim plus some asshole rear ended my wife’s Prius 2 weeks ago tomorrow. Damn but my insurance rates are going to go up!
Insurance companies ought to consider “x number of years, fully paid, no claims up to now”. But I doubt THAT will ever happen.
Best of luck to you & your health, your house (& its health), your wife (& her health), and your cars.
Thanks, man. We have a roofer coming out Monday to inspect the damage. On the car front, we got lucky. We have been buying cars from that dealership for a lot of years now. They always take good care of us so naturally we keep going back. Tuesday we went to the dealership to start things moving to replace the now defunct Prius (my wife LOVES Prius – especially the gas mileage). I could not believe my eyes. I have never seen the place so empty. Damned near NOTHING in stock! The auto industry is another casualty of the bogus Covid lockdown. The distribution chain is bollixed up seven ways from Sunday. I watched a video yesterday talking about how screwed up the chip manufacturing chain is. Auto manufacturers cannot get the umpteen dozen ICs that go into modern automobiles. In some cases they’re building the things with analog gauges in others they’re simply not building some models. We got lucky. There was a used 2021 model Corolla hybrid with just 5,000 miles on it. Apparently the people who originally bought it changed their minds after just a couple of months and traded it in for something else. It’s still got all the regular warranty including 1000k miles on the hybrid battery. It wasn’t white, dark grey or Arizona beige (actually it’s a nice silver) and I can fit in the passenger seat so we got the thing. Waiting on paperwork to clear on the Prius and we’ll be getting some cash back from the maintenance contracts on that car. We’re actually going to see a couple grand on the insurance settlement – which is a good thing since our homeowner’s policy has a $1,000 deductible and we for sure have sheetrock damage from the roof issues. If it ain’t one thing it’s another!
Congrats on the “new” car! I loves me some Toyotas, I have a 2000 4Runner.
I’ve been hearing about the chip(s) shortages for automobiles, especially the Ford F150. And I guess if it’s hardship for one, it’s hardship for all.
I wonder if anyone is going to go back to a TOTALLY analog engine system; carburetor, et al. To me, THAT would be “RAD”! And with today’s technology and engineering, an “analog” engine would most likely be better (gas mileage & emissions) then the engines of the past. Maybe not as good as the computerized engines, but when ya ain’t got the chips, ya goes with second best and calls it good.
Maybe for some gauges in some vehicles they can go back to analog but some functions HAVE to be computer controlled. True hybrids like Toyota’s CAN’T go analog. Plus the engine controllers are the reason we get the performance, mileage and low pollution that today’s vehicles provide. Add in the fact that everybody expects to be able to connect their phone and other stuff to their car and you cannot get away from chips. My wife’s 2018 Prius had a CD player in it as does my 2013 Highlander (fully paid for I might add) but the new Corolla Hybrid only has a radio (AM, FM & XM). When my wife asked where the CD player was the salesman (real nice guy, ex army) laughed and said these days everybody stores their tunes on their phones. Hell! The car’s MFD has apps that can be downloaded through you phone! I built the first prototype for the Motorola EEC 4 and was part of a team exploring alternative display technologies to LCDs. Now the whole damned car is electronic. Heaven help us if somebody decides to set off a high altitude EMP weapon! It would be instant 19th century. Even diesel vehicles are all electronic now. My wife drives a school bus and she can step on the accellerator as hard as she wants and no cloud of black smoke. Computer makes sure the engine runs clean all the time. Only work I can do on a car now is change oil and rotate tires. Once upon a time I could rebuild a carb and swap a head gasket. Even swapped an alternator on a vehicle with a serpentine belt. Can’t now!
hehe ,, rotate tires, mom’s 07 tahoe has computer monitored air pressure sensors.. so each rotation they plug it in to calibrate the new tire pressures. or bout 10 min to manually reset..
more like 17th century,, no one has horses. (well almost no one..)
Ahhhh……but we come back to, “how long will the chip shortage last?”
Between the WuFlu and Teh Gooberment interfering in the labor market (extending and augmenting welfare to the point no one wants to go back to work), how long before the supply chains (plural), from raw materials to finished goods, are able to refill their pipelines? AFAIK, it’s not a shortage of materials, it’s a shortage of people to move and manufacture the materials.
I know this because I work as an electronic repairer and assembler (where is irrelevant). We have a large contract (for us) to supply a utility company with what we make and maintain. And we may have to modify the contract because we aren’t able to get some of our vital electronic components in a timely manner.
(damn! time ran out in the middle of my typing. gotta start again)
Again, back to the original topic……
If the chip shortage will last only a short time, then just sit it out and wait.
If the chip shortage is expected to be longer, I would expect the auto makers to want to keep their plants open, their employees busy, and their cars selling. So I’m willing to bet a dollar to a doughnut that engineers are already busy modifying last year’s digital control cars to tomorrow’s fully analog cars – dials and guages, carburetors, the works.
Just wondering. How the HELL does something like that become king? Why would those other guys put up with him? Somehow I suspect Gorilla(?) could take him without breaking a sweat. Hell! I suspect Venus could do it. Regicide, anyone? Regime change?
i would say , before the fall , when he was in shape,. he was a crime boss and was set up by might makes right,, you cross him , he breaks your neck.. then at the fall he was, by happen stance, positioned to take over, because he had what every one needed.. Food.! and drugs,. (you don’t care how bad it is, when you are doped to the eye balls..) . and the man power to defend it .. and during that time, he got rid of the “smart ones” or any bright enough to challenge him.. so now all he has left, is loyal lap dogs. or the few that stay away, an do damage control at the fringes.. and,, once he was “king”.. absolute power corrupts absolutely.!
Call me a cynic, but somehow I doubt his ascending to the throne corrupted him much at all.
😉
I was thinking the same thing. He just presented himself to two people he knows (or should) are armed trained soldiers not loyal to him, and his first action is to give them a reason to kill him if they didn’t already have one? (Even if he didn’t realize what they are, he knows they are able to reach out and touch him as he’s coming through the door.) I would have expected someone he was ‘ruling’ with this style to have already done this a long time ago. I can only assume that people like Sheriff Ace and Father O’Donnel are held back more by fear of the ensuing chaos than for their personal safety. Well, O’Donnel may be guided in part by his limited precognitive abilities.
I’ll give you a hint:
Sheriff Ace’s self image pretty much matches that of a Samurai, with all that entails.
There’ll be more later in the comic, right now my internet is the worst it’s been.
But I did manage to load Friday’s page, at least.
At midnight, after many tries.
PC, do you have access to a phone with hotspot facilities?
If yes, just use that…
I’m, by the way, unsure of the class of mobile phone service you guys have ‘overthere’. My suggestion is based on the belief that you have at least 3G…
No, I don’t have a cellphone. I used to work nights, and when I retired I got rid of it.
I still sleep during the day, and no more wake-up calls about aluminum siding
and extended warranties. I never really make phone calls, mu inactive phone will call 911.
as i sed… cellphone hotspot will not work on high data downloads… it great for light surfing, but not work…
a few pages back i posted what hotspot will cover,, IF it could load (buffer) the 5 gig pic,. it would cost an average of $40 per 5 gig..(which by the way is NOT covered in unlimited data (look it up))..
WHAT? Exorbiant rates in my book…
My 4G-router runs on a plan which gives me 10 Gbytes per month for 49 DKK (somewhere in the vicinjty of 8 USD).
Only data, mind, for that one but my phone with free talk, free SMS and 20 Gbyte just sets me back 110 DKK/month.
And we have these convenient laws about ads and sale on phones (both fixed (= landline) and mobile). No can do 😉
And something called a Robinson-list, which MUST be respected by companies allowed to do ‘phone-sale’. If your phone number is on that list you CAN NOT be called about insignificant trivia as cheap power or cheap newspapers which is more or less the only things allowed.
Jan, we have “do not call” lists over here as well. That does not stop me from getting robocalls trying to sell me vehicle maintenance contracts, home warranties, tech support for my “Microsoft windows computer” or scams about my bank account being broken into or my Social Security pension about to be frozen (this last claiming to be from the government which never does calls like that). The sales calls are always from people with a subcontinent accent so thick you could cut it with a knife. If they will not shut up I flat out tell them they could not sellme a bottle of water at high noon in the Sahara on the hottest day of the year! At that point they usually hang up. 😉
Bill, I’ve tried the MS support call a few times too.
“My laptop is not on at the moment, could you wait a little?”
After some idle talk for a few minutes I tell them it is on now.
They have all kind of programs they need me to activate, which I tell them I can’t find. When they begin to sound slightly frustrated I usually ask them: “Maybe it is because I don’t have a Windoze computer in the house, only Linux.”
>Click<
🙂
Wife NMI! Timeout on the editing 🙁
When some joker calls, I usually asks: Do you know the Robinson list?
Usual response: Sorry, have a nice day, bye. >Click<
Ah, I’ve quoted that bit of Bushido myself recently. Something I can understand, if I don’t feel the same way.
And don’t run up a ridiculous amount of expense to avoid posting late or skipping a few posts. Not one of us hasn’t gone through rough spots, and real life comes first.
I noticed that both Gorilla and Venus are both still armed (and that probably doesn’t include backup guns or knives secreted on their persons). I figured it was just that Chaka got rid of anybody he considered the slightest bit of a threat so long ago and he has been top dog for so long that he has simply gotten sloppy. It is natural for people to let their guard down after a while. Unfortunately for his “highness” he is well within striking distance of two extremely deadly individuals. I’m looking forward to Chaka’s downfall. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving individual.
The King has bodyguards, and he knows nothing about the two.
But yeah, unlimited authority has made him careless.
It’s the little guys who get a lot of practice fighting, though.
and,, if i remember correctly ,. they are part of the Zoo crew,. which means they are psychos. also military trained (legion) fighters..
And I would be highly surprised if the two Crew members walking in openly and drawing attention are the only ones present. They may be crazy, but they’re not suicidal, if it’s avoidable.
I get a hunch that Venus’ and Goriila’s worry about his weight is based on the fact that they might have to carry the dumb bastard some distance later on (when other things in PCs imagination has played out)…