My favorite reference is really a tribute.
The exploration badge called "Newsman" is earned by visiting the Theodore Knight building in Faultline. Obviously paying homage to Ted Knight playing Ted Baxter on the old Mary Tyler Moore show.
My new favorite is one of the radio missions that asks you to "Find the P.L.O.T. device"
From Wikipedia:
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A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. In the hands of a skilled writer, the reader or viewer will not notice that the device is a construction of the author-it will seem to follow naturally from the setting or characters in the story. A poorly-written story, on the other hand, may have such awkward or contrived plot devices that the reader has serious trouble maintaining suspension of disbelief; indeed, the devices may even leave plot holes.
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In humor-themed forms of entertainment, particularly those that break the fourth wall in pursuit of comedy, plot devices or the concept itself may be deliberately pointed out to the audience for a joke.
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