Pluribus (New Vince Gilligan show on AppleTV)

Cafe Society
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981

I’ll go with the “why can’t it be both?” approach.

HAM:
Compact VHF/UHF Mobile & Digital Suite

  • Crate Size: One substantial crate could hold it all.
    • Dimensions: ~ 50 x 35 x 25 cm (20" x 14" x 10")
    • Looks like: A large tool case or a checked airline suitcase.

So there’s quite of room in that crate for this kit. You can scale up to things with more range, a rotor, bigger antenna, yet I reckon then you’re getting to the limit of that crate (although they could ask the Plurbs for more)

The main thing is Manuosos seemed to be gathering some info from his two rages at the second Plurb. I don’t know if the Plurbs will tolerate a series of tests like that on Plurbs, yet with a HAM setup, he can mess around with the signal, which is coming from one of three likely things:

  • Low Earth Orbit satellites, similar to GPS or those Starlink satellites that Musk is launching.
  • A series of GeoStationary satellites like those used by TV stations to broadcast to the world.
  • A series of ground towers like radio stations, broadcast from, or those atop tall buildings.

With the LEOs, Manu could listen and perhaps interrupt/jam/change the signal they are sending. If that caused something interesting to happen in Albuquerque, I am not quite certain, yet every one of these things flies over a given spot in 90 minutes. Otherwise…

With the other two options (and the first if you have to travel to get all of them), you’re gonna need at least one big truck. I am not up on the latest state of HAM, yet if they work with dish-style, they’d be about 2-3 meters across, or if they need to be the style of HAM antenna my neighbor had in the 70s, about 10 meters tall, and you’ll need to unfurl either style as you travel around the world. Possible if you can nail one of the stations (either terrestrial or in space), maybe that could propagate and not require vast travel. And of course that requires Manu to figure out what makes the Plurbs “tick” and how to shut that off.

As for bombs, the smallest, which likely can do a kiloton (perhaps a few - they don’t publish how-tos in Popular Mechanics), the smallest is the W54 warhead. Dimensions (warhead only): roughly 11 inches in diameter × 16 inches long (≈ 28 × 40 cm) — smaller than an office trash can.

That will certainly take out Carol’s cul-de-sac and leave it a smoking crater and, if you’ve seen the Google Maps of the temporary set, a lot of the area around it. Scale up to a large trash can; you can do 20 kilotons. It won’t do as much damage as the Hiroshima one, as that was dropped and exploded in the air, but it will make life pretty uncomfortable in the parts of Albuquerque it doesn’t vaporise.

She didn’t say Hydrogen Bomb, yet I reckon that would fill that crate (as it would be ignited by an Atom Bomb), and a much bigger boom, but from land level again, just a much bigger crater.

Now, if you buy into a Dr. Strangelove “Doomsday device” that will trigger every bomb around the world for Total Mass Destruction, at least you’ll prevent the proposed radio antenna meant to “spread the gift.”

Whoa, that was long (Sorry!)

982

I hadn’t considered that the other’s carrier signal is technology enhanced, but that does make sense. Humans do generate an electromagnetic field, but it is very weak. Other than in the conveniently named “visible light” spectrum, human sense organs have trouble detecting electromagnetic radiation[1].

Even though human bodies are not good at broadcasting or receiving EM signals, I do really appreciate that the show went for an explanation grounded in known science, rather than just a handwavy “telepathy” that uses magic ether, or some sort of Star Trekish quantum field technobabble.

As for ham gear, the easiest method might be to get up on a hill and use some binoculars to find a house with a radio tower in its backyard.

  1. Maybe also a bit of IR detection, and if you count “sunburn” than UV, too, but “can be damaged by” is not really the same as sensing ↩︎

983

Of course! I had not thought of that. Our neighbor in the 70s had just such a 10-meter tower and could rotate it. His tower was next to a tall pine tree - kind of like how some cell towers try to camouflage themselves. Especially when rotating the antenna, it would sometimes fuzz up our TV.

So yeah, finding a kit already set up somewhere would be ideal. I was going to do a rewatch sometime soon, and I believe Manuosos first episode is about the 3rd or 4th, and only in the wide shot of his place would there be any antennas visible. Other than that, a microphone and headset/speakers, we only see what would seem a fairly modern digital tuner and his old-school notebook.

Even if Carol was told about what Manu was up to, I’d have thought he’d have given Carol a shopping list so he’d have known what was in the crate.

If there is a atomic bomb in the crate, Manu hasn’t really signed onto a suicide pact. Even if so, this thing didn’t come from Acme Corporation, so there’s no remote control “blow-up” switch on it. They have to figure out how to activate it: Impact, settable altitude, however.

Yet perhaps just having it in her Rolls (if small enough - if not, travel in a box truck) would be enough insurance that they won’t take her alive.

ETA: Or perhaps it’s a large enough amount of TNT that would be somewhat safer to “remote control” a blasting cap before setting it all up.

984

They did a good job giving Carol a Spanish vocabulary of someone who took 4 years of high school Spanish 30 years ago. That’s my situation. I could understand everything she said but no more.

985

FWIW, I also appreciated that they didn’t expect us to believe Manousos learned flawless English just by listening to some introductory cassettes. That said, I expect his English will he much better in season 2, thanks in part to nis months of learning through the various books he self-translated.

986

I loved when they were having the fight over the phone and it was translating everything they were saying.

987

Really? Too funny. I’d like to say I called it (post #761) but I was just kidding. He does have a pleasant way of talking, until he starts murdering everybody.

Is the finger snapping thing any less obnoxious in South America? Carol really, really didn’t like that and who could blame her?

988

Nope, even more I’d say.

989

If he got anything like the presents and other things I’ve recently bought, he could speak Nederlande if there’s any assembly required. I’m still of a mind there is HAM gear and maybe good binoculars as echoreply mentioned in the crate, along with some high explosives (perhaps semtex which would be smaller and even carry-portable) and both Carol and Manu can blow her up real good if she’s Plurbed. But that’s not going to happen - even if they make the convert stuff, they’ll know they’re not taking her alive.

Carol’s Spanish was good enough that she might only toss a couple of English words into a sentence that could be understood in context. Manu’s English will get good enough that he too can be 80%+ understood in context.

990

Her response and the look on her face were perfect.

991

Hola!

Buenos Dias!

Swiper, no swiping!

992

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet, but did anybody recognize the actor’s voice who was speaking to Manousos on the phone?

993

It was mentioned, the voice was Tony Dalton who played Lalo on Better Call Saul.

994

Exactement! As the French would say. I fell behind in the commentary.

995

That totally counts. Good call!

996

More sideshow.

997

Finished season one just a few days ago. I love the show.

I do idly wonder if they provided a fission or fusion bomb.

Also, Zosia drives the sweetest Toyota Corolla.

998

Knowing them, they probably asked her for clarification and, if she expressed ignorance, went into great detail on the differences between the two and which one is more destructive.

So my vote would be for fusion bomb.

999

I kind of like this Pluribus T-shirt on Ali Express. (Sorry, best I could do to get image.)

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1000

When Manousos was using the portable ham radio with the other (Rick?), was the radio transmitting or receiving? It seemed like it was receiving since we could hear the signal. I would think that if Manousos was trying to interfere with the telepathic communication frequency, the radio would have been transmitting since that would be a stronger signal on that frequency. From what I understand, radios do produce a signal at the set frequency in receive mode, but it’s much weaker than if they were transmitting. If it was receiving, perhaps he was trying to learn the “language” of the others by hearing what their communication sounds like.

I’d be surprised if the thing in the box was an actual atomic bomb. I’m not sure how a bomb would accomplish their goals of saving the world. If they wanted to neutralize the others, it seems like they could do something, such as capture one and yell at it intermittently to paralyze all the others.