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1. erin 🏳️‍⚧️ (bitchfox@mastodon.lol)'s status on Friday, 08-Jul-2022 03:53:18 UTC erin 🏳️‍⚧️

   • Elizafox and Nvidia at Tegra

   @Elizafox isn't that just a US Military Base or no?

   • Elizafox and Nvidia at Tegra (elizafox@social.tulsa.ok.us)'s status on Friday, 08-Jul-2022 03:53:14 UTC Elizafox and Nvidia at Tegra

     in reply to

     @bitchfox this is a reference to DS9 which features a space station that's basically a combination war outpost and space mall

   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Friday, 08-Jul-2022 03:53:14 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to

     • Elizafox and Nvidia at Tegra
     @Elizafox I think @bitchfox is suggesting that DS9 being a mall and military outpost isn't so different from any US military base.
     
     I think it's a bit different though. The mall at your US military base is mostly for the benefit of the base and then the public may or may not have access too.
     
     (my only personal experience with this is not having a connection to the US military and buying the equivalent of some chewing gum or a backpack at or near military bases in Puerto Rico and the Philippines)
     
     DS9 isn't just a trade outpost under military protection and it's not just a military outpost with commercial supply lines, it really is run as a trade outpost and it is run as a military outpost.
   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Friday, 08-Jul-2022 04:02:39 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to
     I'm trying to think of the term for the semicircle of civilians that trails a traditional military campaign. Nobody is officially contracting them, they're just hanging around for commercial opportunity.
     
     Like you have the infantry, behind them the cavalry, behind them the artillery, and then a bit further behind you have a society of cooks, prostitutes and drug stores on wheels.
     
     It's "camp followers" or something like that? What's the term?
   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Friday, 08-Jul-2022 04:08:30 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to
     Uh, turns out that's the exact term. For some reason it didn't feel quite right but it was spot on.
     
     en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_fol…
     
     My point being that Quark et al aren't just that. If DS9 weren't a strategic point for the Federation to guard against and the Gamma Quadrant it would still be a strategic point for trade, right by the wormhole.
     
     It's not a tiny Guam, it's a tiny Hong Kong.