Well, to be fair there haven't been a lot of references to the Catalog outside of it's tech potential. At least, *I* don't recall anybody mentioning it in the forums, and my memory for this nonsense is almost eidetic.
As for how they got all this crap, I did figure that once the crew picked up Skuld she'd come up with some sort of technosorcerous widget that sucked the local information nets dry and compiled the highlights into an archive, even on the short stops on the Walk.
Which reminds me... here's an ItGWO spamfic running with the idea:
USSR Ptichka, on the road to Delta Pavonis
September 8, 2013
Sora looked at the display. "The culture index?" she asked.
"Man does not live on widgetry alone, Lieutenant," Mal said loftily. "Besides, with this embarrassment of riches there's got to be something worthwhile in here." He poked at the index. "Ha! Here's something!"
On the box display, tinny voices started playing..
"How many Cubans exactly have crammed themselves into these fishing boats?"
"Well, it's important to understand, Leo, that these aren't exactly fishing boats. You hear the word "fishing boat" and it conjures up an image of, well, a boat first of all. What the Cubans are on would charitably be described as rafts."
"I get it. How many of them are there exactly?"
"We don't know."
"What time did they leave then?"
"We don't know."
"Do we know when they get here?"
"No"
"True or false: If I stood on high ground in Key West with a good pair of binoculars I'd be as informed as I am right now."
"That's true..."
"Well that's the Foreign Office's money well spent then."
Sora looked puzzled. "What is that? It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it."
"It's a version of The West Wing from a communist United States, apparently."
"Really? Wow. I don't think they ever mentioned something like *that* when we were talking."
"Enh, they probably didn't stay long enough to notice. I looked up some of the Walk stories, and I'm guessing they only cover the high points of the grand tour, y'know?"
"That's probably true. It's a pity, though; it sounds interesting. I'd like to know more."
"Well, at least we got some primo television out of it. I know what's going in the movie night queue when we get back."
(italicized dialogue taken from the AH.Com timeline Reds: A Revolutionary Timeline by Jello_Biafra. No intent to steal more is implied, so please don't hurt me.)
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
As for how they got all this crap, I did figure that once the crew picked up Skuld she'd come up with some sort of technosorcerous widget that sucked the local information nets dry and compiled the highlights into an archive, even on the short stops on the Walk.
Which reminds me... here's an ItGWO spamfic running with the idea:
USSR Ptichka, on the road to Delta Pavonis
September 8, 2013
Sora looked at the display. "The culture index?" she asked.
"Man does not live on widgetry alone, Lieutenant," Mal said loftily. "Besides, with this embarrassment of riches there's got to be something worthwhile in here." He poked at the index. "Ha! Here's something!"
On the box display, tinny voices started playing..
"How many Cubans exactly have crammed themselves into these fishing boats?"
"Well, it's important to understand, Leo, that these aren't exactly fishing boats. You hear the word "fishing boat" and it conjures up an image of, well, a boat first of all. What the Cubans are on would charitably be described as rafts."
"I get it. How many of them are there exactly?"
"We don't know."
"What time did they leave then?"
"We don't know."
"Do we know when they get here?"
"No"
"True or false: If I stood on high ground in Key West with a good pair of binoculars I'd be as informed as I am right now."
"That's true..."
"Well that's the Foreign Office's money well spent then."
Sora looked puzzled. "What is that? It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it."
"It's a version of The West Wing from a communist United States, apparently."
"Really? Wow. I don't think they ever mentioned something like *that* when we were talking."
"Enh, they probably didn't stay long enough to notice. I looked up some of the Walk stories, and I'm guessing they only cover the high points of the grand tour, y'know?"
"That's probably true. It's a pity, though; it sounds interesting. I'd like to know more."
"Well, at least we got some primo television out of it. I know what's going in the movie night queue when we get back."
(italicized dialogue taken from the AH.Com timeline Reds: A Revolutionary Timeline by Jello_Biafra. No intent to steal more is implied, so please don't hurt me.)
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"