Blame Nimitz...

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

cthia wrote:1. That would imply that Annachie's notion about targeted nanotec en masse is certainly attainable.

Not exactly targeted to a single person or a handful of them, but a population. That's not very far from our technology today, so I imagine it's been available in the Honorverse for a millennium. But the problem with attacking a population is that the virus will likely contaminate other people before the target and their illness will be quickly diagnosed.

Targetting a small group of people has the difficulty of the delivery vector. You'd have to make a lot of people carriers without showing symptoms, which makes things more complex. And it might still be detected, given good healthcare monitoring.

2. If Beth's exact genetic makeup is classified for the reason you stated, then the Admiralty should have been able to come to grips with what was happening with the nanites more easily. At the very least, put the pieces together sooner, since the very possibility is the motivation behind keeping her genetics secret.

It would be nice to know the concentration and absolute dispersion of genies throughout the Galaxy. I know at least one planet which kept track of that type of thing. Censuses in the Honorverse must be a copper-plated Ransom for planets which maintain that type of data.

Late edit: Corrected link.

Targetted viruses that make people sick are one thing. Nanotech infections that can control people's bodies are quite another. That was the jump that was difficult to accept.

Plus the fact that no evidence was found on Meares or Hofschulte. The Havenites did catch that there was something weird on Grosclaude's blood, but didn't know what it was.

I'm pretty sure she meant the "population" of Wintons, which someone calculated as ~5500 people.

The delivery vector has already been solved. Some type of spray, mist, atomizer, perfume or what was used on Torch. There are no symptoms of a nanite infection until activated. And if they can be infected en masse, can be activated en masse.

And, even if the method is possible but imperfect, I hardly think the MA would care if there is a small, or large, % of collateral infections. There would simply be extra people jumping off a bridge or out of a Tower window when ordered.

TFLYTSNBN wrote:One should not presume that in the Honorverse, women such as Allison who are described as " Asian", have small breasts. Obviously; women from India and Turkey do not necessarily fit the stereotype of Chinese or Japanese women. While the Gausian distribution of bra size in Japan might be severely skewed to A-cup or smaller, there are outliers. More importantly, it is reasonable to presume that 2,000 years in the future, the gene pool has been stirred vigorously, especially for colonies.

I have a realtor whose mother was a Japanese exchange student and her father was an African-America. In spite of her dark complexion, her facial features are very Asian. As to other attributes, she looks like a young Pam Grier.

You don't have to convince me, my family is the poster child for scatter points. One of my five sisters has olive skin with blue eyes. Two sisters with white skin greenish eyes, depending on lighting. The one sister had a hell of a time trying to explain her blue eyes before contact lenses were developed. The other recent cases in my family are simply dismissed by onlookers as contact lenses. They won't believe otherwise.

My father was half black (British West Indies) and half white. My mother was half American Indian and half white.

Four of my five sisters appear to be, as white as my mother appeared to be. And every one of my mother's sisters save one. Six aunts who are thought to be white. All five of my mother's brothers were thought to be white.

Everyone thought I was adopted in school, and many thought I was dating one of my sisters because we are so close and she was thought to be white and I'm, other. She was bumped up two grades from JR. High and ended up in one of my classes in HS. Many classmates refused to believe she was my full sister, they thought she was my gf instead. To everyone who didn't personally know my family, thought I was adopted, since I have brown/olive skin. They wouldn't accept anything else. The older sister that was already in school with me would pretend to be my girlfriend behind my back when she didn't like my choice of girls. I hated when she did it, because I had a hell of a time convincing the girl she was my sister before I could invite her home with me. At one point my parents sent my sisters to private school to keep them safe in a racially charged environment and era.

When people ask my ethnicity, which is weekly, I simply say a box of crayons. Just today I finally bit the bullet and went in for a flu shot (hate needles) and a yearly exam. I had to fill out forms which included contact people. The woman demanded an answer to her shock. "What??? Isn't he the Chief of Police in. . ."

"Yes, and no I'm not adopted, and he's not white." I didn't add, and we have the same mother and father. At least God was kind to my parents and gave all of their offspring either one or both of the family tree's birthmarks.

BTW, I've got olive/brown skin and we all have Indian hair.

One of my brothers is dating a Chinese girl with so much "junk in her trunk" we tease her that she stole it from some black girl who's searching for her ass.

So believe me, I know. God has a sense of humor.

This certainly makes me feel at home.

drothgery wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:One should not presume that in the Honorverse, women such as Allison who are described as " Asian", have small breasts. Obviously; women from India and Turkey do not necessarily fit the stereotype of Chinese or Japanese women. While the Gausian distribution of bra size in Japan might be severely skewed to A-cup or smaller, there are outliers. More importantly, it is reasonable to presume that 2,000 years in the future, the gene pool has been stirred vigorously, especially for colonies

... though IIRC, Allison was described as being almost purely "east Asian" (which typically means Chinese, Japanese, or Korean to Americans).

Allison is of mixed ancestry. Remember her maiden name is Benton-Ramirez y Chou

saber964 wrote:Allison is of mixed ancestry. Remember her maiden name is Benton-Ramirez y Chou

Regardless of names, she is repeatedly described as nearly pure east Asian. The Benton-Ramirez part could be from 20 generations back - in fact, we know at least the Benton part is because that was the name of her ancestor that led the relief efforts after Earth's near-extinction experience.

Galactic Sapper wrote:

saber964 wrote:Allison is of mixed ancestry. Remember her maiden name is Benton-Ramirez y Chou

Regardless of names, she is repeatedly described as nearly pure east Asian. The Benton-Ramirez part could be from 20 generations back - in fact, we know at least the Benton part is because that was the name of her ancestor that led the relief efforts after Earth's near-extinction experience.

In UH Alison's mother is described as being the same height as Alison, inferring that she is of Eastern Oriental stock.