Brain: Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Pinky: I think so, Brain. But where are we going to get therapy puppets AND chocolate covered pretzels this time of the night? *NARF*
Meh, Mr. Green is probably lying about no one being able to call off the attack, just to see if Tip will buy into the lie and give up. Actually, trying to taunt Tip into torturing him is probably just another distraction to keep Tip from at least making an attempt to call off the attack.
Yes he did. As did Peter Sellers in “Dr. Strangelove.” It is apparently part of the system that once the bombers pass their “fail safe point” they cannot be recalled. Not that much different from nuclear missiles, which have no self-destruct capability. “Strangelove” added another layer: the Soviet “Doomsday” device was also unstoppable once turned on (and, of course, the Russians had turned it on without making any announcement, which pretty much defeated the purpose).
In “Fail Safe,” the president ordered the Air Force to cooperate with the Russians in figuring out a way to shoot the bombers down. I suppose Tip could order the A-sig forces to do something similar, even if he can’t countermand the overall order to attack.
We don’t know the nature of “the attack” yet, so it’s hard to say whether it can be stopped or not. It’ll face the Skin-Horse forces, combined with what’s left of the Biomass as well as at least three Anasigma defectors.
It’s a good thing real life is usually different. My readings on the atttack on Pearl Harbor suggest Admiral Yamamoto took care to arrange that he could withdraw the attacking fleet at any point before the planes actually launched. Might’ve had trouble with that, but it’s the way it was arranged.
Presumably you were thinking of Virginia, Echo, and Alpha as your three defectors, and you did say “at least three”, but I thought I’d mention the staff of the airbase has all defected as well.
On the other hand, the nice thing about being the boss is he can delegate one or both of those things to his underlings. He might still want to do the world saving thing himself though.
I’m pretty sure Echo Bravo’s rousing speech of being cannon fodder did the trick. Tip will call up and they’ll loudly proclaim they won’t be cannon fodder, they won’t attack, and they quit.
To which tip will be like ‘Well… That was easy’. And put away his puppets.
I mean, as a psychiatrist, Tip surely knows that torture is not a reliable way of obtaining information. That leaves petty revenge and schadenfreude as the only reasons to do it.
Sorry, I call B.S. on Ira. He’s gone to great lengths to ensure he is always in complete control. So he would never create a situation that would not allow him to retract or change his own orders.
And even if he did create a self-destruct that he could not shut off (by reason of being insane), someone who outranks him as much as Tip does now could still countermand any orders Ira gave.
Ira’s already ordered the attack. Once it’s ordered, they can’t take it back. Not even with torture can head off this scorcher. Oh, the whims of a megalomaniac!
Eh, just kill him (or have him killed in front of you) so you can focus all your attention on saving your friends and the vast swaths of the population that are currently in danger. Letting yourself get distracted by Ira would risk the lives of too many people.
Define “Dark”. Maximizing your friends’ survival chances while literally saving entire minority groups from genocide is good, right? In that case killing Ira (as painlessly as can be done immediately) is the best option for next step, because then Tip can give his full attention to solving the problem.
You do have a point, there, and I’m sure Sweetheart would agree that protocol must be followed. OTOH, there doesn’t appear to be any reason Tip couldn’t just send Mr. Green to the Loyalty Pit until the current crisis is over.
Inconsiderate, perhaps. But there are times when – for the sake of expediency – one must pull rank and take action on an underling without involving their immediate supervisor.
“Never give the Player Character ideas!”. 🙂
Indeed! Sounds like Ira’s kinda looking forward to it…
But how will Tip eat chocolate covered pretzels working therapy puppets?
He now has MIBs at his beck and call who can put them directly in his mouth. He’s got it covered.
Brain: Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Pinky: I think so, Brain. But where are we going to get therapy puppets AND chocolate covered pretzels this time of the night? *NARF*
You win all the internets, Lady E!
Medes, Persians, and Anasigma.
It will give Tip a chance to wear that leather number he’s been hiding in the back of the closet.
mumblemumbletimeportalmumblemumble
Where’s Panini?
If a butterfly can change the past, what about a whole Panini?
That is – pardon my pun – a *deep* cut with the pretzels.
Meh, Mr. Green is probably lying about no one being able to call off the attack, just to see if Tip will buy into the lie and give up. Actually, trying to taunt Tip into torturing him is probably just another distraction to keep Tip from at least making an attempt to call off the attack.
Quite right. If Tip’s busy torturing Ira, that’s time wasted that he could be using to at least try to stop the attack.
Didn’t Henry Fonda run into this problem in “Fail Safe?”
Yes he did. As did Peter Sellers in “Dr. Strangelove.” It is apparently part of the system that once the bombers pass their “fail safe point” they cannot be recalled. Not that much different from nuclear missiles, which have no self-destruct capability. “Strangelove” added another layer: the Soviet “Doomsday” device was also unstoppable once turned on (and, of course, the Russians had turned it on without making any announcement, which pretty much defeated the purpose).
In “Fail Safe,” the president ordered the Air Force to cooperate with the Russians in figuring out a way to shoot the bombers down. I suppose Tip could order the A-sig forces to do something similar, even if he can’t countermand the overall order to attack.
We don’t know the nature of “the attack” yet, so it’s hard to say whether it can be stopped or not. It’ll face the Skin-Horse forces, combined with what’s left of the Biomass as well as at least three Anasigma defectors.
It’s a good thing real life is usually different. My readings on the atttack on Pearl Harbor suggest Admiral Yamamoto took care to arrange that he could withdraw the attacking fleet at any point before the planes actually launched. Might’ve had trouble with that, but it’s the way it was arranged.
Presumably you were thinking of Virginia, Echo, and Alpha as your three defectors, and you did say “at least three”, but I thought I’d mention the staff of the airbase has all defected as well.
Re: awgiedawgie: Yeah, you’re right, I forgot about them—don’t have an actual head count (of those who still have heads).
On the other hand, the nice thing about being the boss is he can delegate one or both of those things to his underlings. He might still want to do the world saving thing himself though.
I’m pretty sure Echo Bravo’s rousing speech of being cannon fodder did the trick. Tip will call up and they’ll loudly proclaim they won’t be cannon fodder, they won’t attack, and they quit.
To which tip will be like ‘Well… That was easy’. And put away his puppets.
Once you bring out the puppets, you can’t put them away before their blooded.
Old proverb. (trust me)
I mean, as a psychiatrist, Tip surely knows that torture is not a reliable way of obtaining information. That leaves petty revenge and schadenfreude as the only reasons to do it.
Well, I would say that, in Mr. Green’s case, it could be considered major revenge, which some might consider a good enough reason.
Having just watched “Reservoir Dogs”, knowing what else may motivate Tip to torture is very disturbing.
*psychOLOgist /pedantry
Your point being?
I mean, you can WANT something without acting on that want.
Extirpate him, Tip! You *know* you want to find out what it means!
“You’ll never take me alive!” “Oh, all right!”
“If you insist!”
Well, Mr Green did smash his hat.
Sounds like a justification for torture to me.
Sorry, I call B.S. on Ira. He’s gone to great lengths to ensure he is always in complete control. So he would never create a situation that would not allow him to retract or change his own orders.
And even if he did create a self-destruct that he could not shut off (by reason of being insane), someone who outranks him as much as Tip does now could still countermand any orders Ira gave.
Ira’s already ordered the attack. Once it’s ordered, they can’t take it back. Not even with torture can head off this scorcher. Oh, the whims of a megalomaniac!
Applause!
Eh, just kill him (or have him killed in front of you) so you can focus all your attention on saving your friends and the vast swaths of the population that are currently in danger. Letting yourself get distracted by Ira would risk the lives of too many people.
Mission more than accomplished….
http://skin-horse.com/comic/precisely-this/
Remember Tip, as power tends to corrupt, absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. Don’t give in to the dark impulses.
But that’s the FUN part.
Define “Dark”. Maximizing your friends’ survival chances while literally saving entire minority groups from genocide is good, right? In that case killing Ira (as painlessly as can be done immediately) is the best option for next step, because then Tip can give his full attention to solving the problem.
They’re discussing torturing Ira, not just killing him.
If you kill an enemy, you lose all hope of becoming friends.
“Waste him!” is such a waste!
He is kind of asking for it . . .
No, I don’t mean the pretzels.
I mean if you’re going to go and gloat about his friends getting tormented, kinda encourages it, no?
Whoops, failed to type out my full name.
You are just so used to being known only as “Agent K”
it just slipped your mind.
Happens to the best of us.
Now that you know, I can’t let you live.
…on an unrelated note could you send me the location of a discrete place you like to visit?
It would be somewhat inconsiderate of Tip to murder Mr Green without at least discussing the situation with his boss first.
You do have a point, there, and I’m sure Sweetheart would agree that protocol must be followed. OTOH, there doesn’t appear to be any reason Tip couldn’t just send Mr. Green to the Loyalty Pit until the current crisis is over.
Inconsiderate, perhaps. But there are times when – for the sake of expediency – one must pull rank and take action on an underling without involving their immediate supervisor.