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Messages from Earth Mystery

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OK,

I have never really understood this, and I realize its a nit-pick, but I don't usually nit-pick so once in a while its fun. :) Besides, watching the DVDs again always renews my interest. Here we go:

At the start of "Messages from Earth" Susan gets a "bacon and eggs" delivery from Marcus. Garibaldi goes on to say how he hasnt had a fresh egg in years and that he can get just about ANY food out to B5 but that eggs spoil because its so far away.

In this SAME episode, we learn that Earth is only a 2 day trip in Hyperspace.

You mean to tell me that companies couldn't ship eggs and that they wouldnt survive a 2 day trip? I dont think so.

:)
 
My personal response to the lack of eggs available on Babylon 5 is why? Babylon 5 is a five-mile long space station. That is a fairly large hunk of space. I wouldn't think it too unreasonable to actually set up a hen house there on the station and keep some chickens and actually produce eggs right there for them. With eggs being a great source of nutrition that is fairly renewable (as long as the chickens are producing), it seems to me that keeping some on station would make sense. Importing fairly large quantities of chicken feed would also be easier than importing the eggs themselves.
 
Maybe one of the alien races residing on the station reproduces through egg laying and would find it very offensive for sentients to eat eggs. ;)

Of course that's opposite of a race I made for one of my stories. The species reproduces by egg laying but also lays eggs to be a food source for the young - and thus in civilization a source for the entire society. :)
 
Good idea! It could mean jobs for lurkers! They could raise the chickens in down below, and instead of importing chicken feed, they could eat the bugs living in down below, since bugs are chickens' favorite food. Give a lurker a chicken, and he eats for a day, teach him to raise chickens, and he eats for life!
And by the way, I prefer my eggs hatched...
 
The time it takes to travel seemed to always change...to me atleast. One time it takes weeks to get to the rim, the next time it's 9 days...

I still like the theory about JMS having something against chickens... :p
 
I haven't watched that episode lately..but was it not the Whitestar that needed 2 days to get to earth? The Whitestar would travel at several times the speed a transport would .. but .. nevertheless, it is a good, valid nitpick :eek:
 
I haven't watched that episode lately..but was it not the Whitestar that needed 2 days to get to earth? The Whitestar would travel at several times the speed a transport would .. but .. nevertheless, it is a good, valid nitpick :eek:
Click to expand...

A valid nitpick, but also a valid point here. The White Star is faster than most warships, and the cargo haulers are slower than most warships. Also, don't forget shipping and handling on both ends of the system. The eggs have to be cleaned, packaged, shipped from the farm to the launch pad, taken into space, and loaded onto the transport. Then, if the eggs are coming from Earth on a slow cargo ship, they have to make the long trek out to Io and the jumpgate -- which could be a problem, especially if Io's on the other side of the sun. Then several days in hyperspace, possibly with a few transitions in normal space (which again would add time).

As to why no chickens on B5... well, that's harder to explain, but I expect it has something to do with limited funding (plenty of space to keep the chickens, but who pays for the chicken feed?). Remember that growing coffee was considered a luxury and therefore a misuse of station hydroponics. Also remember that B5 is a military outpost; the fare will be pretty Spartan.
 
Have any of you guys ever SMELLED a chicken house or coop??? It smells worse than a dead, bloated Pak'ma'ra. My uncle used to farm chickens for a living and you could smell those things a mile away. The air recycling system on the station would have a very hard time cleaning that smell out of the air (if it could do so at all). Would you want visiting dignitaries from a hundred different worlds to have the smell of chicken crap as their first impression of Earth culture??? :eek: ;) No, raising chickens on B5 just wouldn't be prudent.
 
Have any of you guys ever SMELLED a chicken house or coop??? It smells worse than a dead, bloated Pak'ma'ra.
Click to expand...
That explains the chickens.

But what about bacon? It's already cured and chock full of preservatives. It certainly could be shipped frozen, and packed in dry ice. Garibaldi seemed to hint that it would be even harder to get bacon than eggs. :confused:
 
Yes it would seem strange that they cant get those sort of food stuffs out,surely cargo hauler would have some sort of refrigeration onboard.Perhaps it would be too expensive to buy so its not worth the effort to transport such items.
 
But what if Zargs like chicken?
Click to expand...

Then again, what if chickens like Zarg???

I'll bet they're only at the top of the food chain on their home planet because there are no chickens to keep the Zarg population in check.

Score one for the chickens!!!
 
Notice that there aren't any animals on Babylon 5. That's because it costs much more money to feed and take care of a farm animal than a whole acre or so of plants. Not to mention the sanitation requirements (whereas plants actually help to recycle oxgyen. Although the station is five miles along, the section where the farm animals need to be kept (to graze, among other things) is smaller. Babylon 5 is a commercial station under military command--it's supposed to be self-funding. With the thousands of people on station to feed, having a few farm animals around for the occasional egg or milk is a luxury that the bean counters at Earth Central would disallow, especially when a cheaper, synthetic substitute can be used (which is why Ivanova "illegally" grows fresh coffee).
 
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