SciFi Question of the Day: How would your current set of skills and talents fit into the needs of a burgeoning space colony?
Facebook Answers:
Michael R. Underwood 1) Offer dance lessons 2) Organize social events to keep up morale 3) Conduct ethnographic research to chronicle development of the colony’s folklore
Lori Munnoch Gaudet I can schmooze online with the Earth dwellers.
Matthew B. Tepper There are plenty of young people more energetic than me (and who weigh far less, at that) who could fix the computers, so that’s out. And I don’t think they’ll need music historians, so I’ll just have to win lots of money and buy my way in.
William J. Teegarden They would be dead without me.
Gawain Ouronos There is never a shortage of need for some of my skills and talents: counselor, part-time massage therapist (in a field I like to call phisiopsychology – the combining of massage therapy and psychological treatment). Gamer and entertainer, added to these skills, would make me a perinial (sp?) Morale Officer… the good kind.
Tony L Vissoc I could be the local jester.
Geri Bressler I’m learning machining – manual and CNC – so I can make stuff!
Al Hartman I could plug leaks in the hull with my body…
Tony L Vissoc I can make funny fart noises.
Juno Suk I feel I can never contribute as much as the female with the triple surprise from Total Recall. In any case, I will do my best to fulfill my role as token Asian engineer, holed up in some anti-social nerd bunker until duty calls me to unleash martial arts hell on the indigenous alien species.
Al Hartman Tony L Vissoc: I can make funny fart noises.
Especially useful during airlock drills!
Al Hartman I can also throw myself into the path of any invading alien intent on eating the colonists… They will have ample time to escape as they eat me, and then fall to the ground sick with “Hartman’s Revenge!”
Mary-Anne McDermott I have training in psycholgy, espscially in crisis interevention and counsellling. So I could help people adapt to there new home, talk down those who have cabin fever and deal with everyone crawling up the walls in boredom.
Tony L Vissoc I’m so glad that my skill can be considered a talent. Or, is it that my talent can be considered a skill…
Juno Suk I can also help with the exponential population explosion of our space colony. I can even help create alien human hybrids, as long as the physiology is somewhat compatible. Their biological distinctiveness will be added to our own.
Tony L Vissoc Juno = Borg?
AmyBeth Fredricksen Didn’t you see Juno ‘s previous tweet? He’s Asian, not Swedish…
Juno Suk For a time, I was tempted to become Swedish. 0.68 seconds to be exact. And for an Asian, that is nearly an eternity.
Tony L Vissoc Meatballs and fish. I’d be tempted for at least 1 second.
Sean Key My background is I was a volunteer fire fighter, boatbuilder, long range surveliance paratrooper, construction worker, musician and finally a business man in multimedia. When the chips are down I am the man in a crunch with a little song and dance.
What I actually would like is to be the trainer for the spacewalkers that do repairs and emergency management outside of the colony.
Tony L Vissoc I can make funny fart noises.
Pony Horton I can fly any hunk of junk you give me. And maybe even the ship!
And I can make all the other-than-fart noises. And do impressions. And I’m good with a gun. Or a whip. I’m also good with animals, so any alien critters will make friends with me before trying to eat the rest of the crew. How’m I doin?
AmyBeth Fredricksen I know there’s YouTube proof of Pony ‘s whip skills, but I don’t know about flying a spacecraft…
Pony Horton Hey, I’m not such a bad pilot myself! We don’t hafta sit here and listen…
AmyBeth Fredricksen The only “proof” I’ve seen of your piloting skills included a three armed alien sitting next to you at the helm!
Pony Horton Yeah, and I’m SO BITCHEN that HE needed THREE arms to do what I could accomplish with TWO!
Al Hartman Tony L Vissoc: It’s known that every culture in the universe has a food just like Swedish Meatballs. There is no need to become Swedish.
Daniel Beard Let me see. I start with my mechanical engineering. Then my skills in electrical engineering, as well as my Electromechanical engineering (robotics and control systems). and my experience of getting things done in a governmental bureaucracy. Where would I fit?
Ginny Morris Someone’s gotta keep track of the money… guess that’s where I come in. :o)
Mike Perry village idiot. Het, every town needs one.
Charles Root Jr Comp. Sci ! Most needed for a burgeoning space colony, on the other hand the most more likely scenerio that society is going to collapse in to a Mad Max type of place, I’m not so useful.
AmyBeth Fredricksen OMG Daniel you got something DONE in a government bureaucracy?
Daniel Beard Chester bridges open a week ahead of schedule | Vermont Business Magazine
Vermont Agency of Transportation today announced the re-opening of two bridges along Route 103 in Chester. In order to rehabilitate two structurally deficient bridges in a rapid reconstruction process, bridge # 9 (near Benny’s Sunoco)
Daniel Beard Even better, we got something done quickly.
Emily Becker Priest hmmm… I guess my Horticulture knowledge would be helpfull 😉 not to mention I love working with kids so plants = food… and childcare/teaching… could be useful.
Zoe Derri they wouldn’t I’m crap. I’d be left behind 😦
AmyBeth Fredricksen That’s OK Zoe , we’ll have you dress up in the mascot costume every time we have a ball game against another colony!
Daniel Beard Worst comes to worst Zoe, they have use for you in hydroponics.
Google Plus Answers:
Jared A.J. Chiddix Fry cook.
AmyBeth Inverness Does that mean you’re a UFO specialist?
Juan Ochoa Filter scrubber. No use for a graphic artist in a burgeoning space colony.
michael interbartolo mission operations.
Brent Stires Assuming we can breathe the air and the water isn’t acidic and whatnot, I’m a very good swimmer.
Jared A.J. Chiddix People are gonna need decent Bacon Cheeseburgers.
” Pass the damn Ham please!!! ” ~Scout, after Falling out of Boo Radley’s apple tree.
Juan Ochoa “Pass the reconstituted yeast “ham” please!”
Linda Horne Technically, agriculturally, general fix-it and problem solver. Hey, I’m almost more valuable than the poop bucket!
AmyBeth Inverness My facebook friends are discussing who makes more entertaining fart noises…
Christopher Clark Then…. are they really your friends….
AmyBeth Inverness Yes, they are. Some of these people I actually see in Real Life.
Miaka Kirino Well, I’d probably make a decent housewife at least. Also with my background in massage therapy, I can certainly assist with muscle pains and other rudimentary medical needs.
I’m not much good at growing things, but I can take raw foodstuffs and turn them into tasty meals. Also I have a lovely singing voice, so I can help with entertaining people after the day’s work is done. Or something.
Thomas Sanjurjo Jack of all trades. Valuable beyond belief, don’t fit one role, I’ll fill another. Computer programmer, electrician, hydroponics, linguist, educator, etc.
Most reasonable skill to have personally: Survivalism (make do on little for a long time.)
Tiffany Marshall I can educate the children and am also proficient at animal care. AmyBeth Inverness There’s one company planning to fund their colony by making it into a reality TV show. They don’t even need to add drama since that’s already built in!As a writer, I could write fiction based on our real experiences, and sell that back to earth, proceeds to benefit the entire colony.
Charles Moore I work with computers. While I’m no expert, I can use a soldering iron and a wide range of power tools. I’ve got useful skills!
However, dragging along sufficient diabetes supplies (insulin production equipment, syringes, pump supplies, blood glucose monitoring supplies, etc.) to keep me alive is probably more costly than I’m actually worth.
Linda Dean :lists +Charles Moore as Jerky on the Hoof:
😉 j/k Charles…
I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.
The previous SciFi Q of the Day is Neanderthal Temples
The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-O2
The next SciFi Q of the Day is Ships Named Enterprise
AmyBeth Inverness 
You know in Star Trek there’s always an extra that gets killed first? Yeah, that’s me. I’m the token character that gets killed so everyone else — the main characters — don’t have to die. Otherwise, if allowed to survive the night, I make a great assistant. “Here, extra chick, hold this.” or “You, extra chick, go get me some coffee.” or “Extra chick, I need you to research this for me.” Bad ass, I am.
LOL! At the end of the week, I’m going to be working on the set of Bread and Savagery, filming a classic Trek episode! I’m working with scripts and continuity. Not likely to get killed off!
As for getting into a space colony, I think my best chances are to wait until I see Michael Interbartolo getting ready to board, and I’ll just casually walk onto the ship behind him, telling the man with the official-looking-clipboard “I’m with him.”
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Future questions:
Would you rather visit Ringworld or Diskworld? Where would you rather live?
Future question: Which crossover would you rather see with Star Trek: Phase II: Cathulu, _____, or Downton Abbey?
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