March 27, 2009

Travis isn't being quite as rude as he sounds in the first panel: between medical advances, social advances, and his class background, it's quite likely he's never run across an unplanned pregnancy besides in a history vid. So, still rude, but largely out of shock.

I suppose I really ought to do the second-panel references for you worldbuilding maniacs who actually read the notes. So: B.A.R. is the Belter's Allstar Racing League, vaguely similar to NASCAR, except they're racing spaceships through the asteroid belt over a period of a week and the track is, well, not nearly so predictable. (The fan base, on the other hand, is quite similar.) Celefeeds are news channels devoted entirely to the fanatical badgering of various celebrities. Sequence Wars is a strategic immersive gameplay environment, relatively new and supposedly educational (and hideously expensive: Travis really isn't thinking here.) Warbrothers... well, substitute whatever boyband you prefer: the flash has changed, the substance (or lack thereof) not so much.

The sad thing is, I can rattle off all that but I had to go look up the rules to Go Fish.