For GunnyG and everyone else who would sign up in a heartbeat to colonize Mars (and leave the non-normie crybabies behind), check out these links.

http://themis.asu.edu/valles_video. This is a movie made by the Jet Propulsion Lab's Digital Image Animation Laboratory. It's available for download in several formats. I downloaded the AVI file for Windows media player and it took about 15 minutes (we're talking 122 Megabytes).

The second link is http://www.google.com/mars/, which lets you roam Mars much like Google Earth lets you roam Earth. The resolution isn't quite as good, but it's better than what Percival Lowell was able to see through his telescope.

There's also a link for Google Moon, http://moon.google.com/. Just don't zoom in too close or you'll find out what the moon is really made of.

For artwork depicting offworld settlements and activities, check out http://www.nss.org/settlement/calendar/gallery.htm. I was so inspired, I actually scratched out a couple of space paintings myself on my Tablet PC. They're not very good, but that's because a.) I need a lot of practice with Ink Art, and b.) I need a lot of practice period.

And if you need a really good laugh, go to http://www.google.com/help/faq_moon.html and click on the link for Google's Lunar Hosting and Research Center, in the answer to Question 4.

And, of course, if you haven't downloaded Google Earth, what are you waiting for? You can get it at http://download.earth.googlepages.com/. When you can see Earth as if from space, it gives you a greater appreciation for how special a place Earth really is. On the other hand, if you zoom and tilt in on places of your choice, you can see just how big Earth is compared to us as individuals--and how empty some parts of it are.

One of my long term projects is to start linking spots in Google Earth to relevant information in various Roadside Geology books so that you can get an idea of the geology underlying the land forms visible at low altitude. I've spent hours "flying" over different parts of the U.S. as if in a small plane. The only thing better would be to do it for real, but that's a bit beyond my means at this point.

Another long term project is to develop designs for largely self-sufficient villages that could be built out in the middle of nowhere, yet be largely self-sufficient, so that we can begin to develop workable (and livable) designs for construction off world, be it on the Moon or Mars, or elsewhere around the solar system. Or, if access to space is denied to us by the crybabies, they could serve as a network of refuges hiding in plain sight.

I'll keep you posted on those projects as I progress on them. Meanwhile, enjoy the movie, the maps, and the artwork.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

Theresa

Now that I've posted Kim Peart's essay, here are my minor nits to pick.

1.) While the overall cost to expand into space is enormous (which thought scares most people off), the cost of the initial step, cheap access to space, is well within reach by private financing--as Paul Allen proved when he invested $20,000,000 into Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne venture to win the Ansari X-Prize two years ago. Since the prize itself was $10,000,000, you could say his actual investment was only $10,000,000. As a result, we now have a partnership between the Virgin Group (Sir Richard Branson) and Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites to produce and fly SpaceShipTwo. Over a hundred people have already signed up to fork over $200,000 a piece for a flight beyond the edge of space, beginning within 2 years. This is "build a little, test a little" in action. The second part of this process is Bigelow Aerospace's work to develop inflatable structures that can be launched into orbit and assembled into one or more orbital hotels, so that when privately funded space craft are developed that can reach orbit on a frequent and reliable basis, there will be a place for their passengers to stay. The point is, as one of my principles of integrated design has it, "Think big, but start small." Also, we need to show how we're already taking the first steps on that journey of a thousand miles.

2.) I have no real objection to Kim's urging to choose the inclusive rather than exclusive ways to space settlement, but I do want to point out that what we're really talking about is the need to change our thinking from the economics of scarcity to the economics of abundance. As those of you who have read all of my blog entries may remember, a long time ago I explained about our Lizard, Monkey, and Angel brains. The economics of scarcity is a typical Lizard brain view of the world. The economics of abundance is actually a typical Monkey brain view of the world. The Angel brain recognizes that the appearance of scarcity is an illusion resulting from the very limited worldview of the Lizard brain, while the appearance of abundance is more accurate because the Monkey brain has a more expansive (though still limited) worldview. People who are Lizard dominant (typically Right-polar non-normies) and those who are Monkey dominent (typically Left-polar non-normies) are still limited because their emphasis is on controlling the rest of their environment. They live in a two dimensional world. The Angel brain recognizes that Reality contains at least seven dimensions and that as physical beings within the tardyon universe, we inhabit four dimensions. We need to learn how to move beyond the two-dimensional world views of both the Lizard and Monkey brains. That requires learning how to interact with Reality logically rather than instinctually or emotionally, and it especially requires that we help our children learn how to do this.

For more about the difference between normies and non-normies, as I've said many times before, check out Jack Thomas' website at www.non-normie.com. You might also (if you have the time) want to check out my Starfield Valley Tales (Phoenix Lady's Nest on the Blog Roll) to get an idea about how we could create a social structure at the village level that helps us learn how to interact logically with Reality and each other, and helps our children learn to do likewise.
 
I've been told my ideas are utopian, but I beg to differ. Utopian views of humankind assume humans can be perfect. Since we have no idea what that actually is, I prefer to start with characters who are as imperfect as I am, with only a desire to find a way out of the pain of their past. While it may not be possible for a non-normie to become a normie on his or her own, it is possible for a non-normie to become a recovering non-normie with the help of fellow recovering non-normies, a recognition that their whole way of dealing with life is not normal, and a willingness to learn--and practice--a different way of dealing with life that is normal and sensible.

By the way, I consider myself a recovering non-normie because my first response to a setback, a criticism, or any other hurt is always emotional rather than logical. I can't just blow off or ignore such hurts as part of life. I have to consciously grieve through them, rather than grieve through them without giving it a thought, like normal folks do. I was lucky enough, however, to have learned ways to do this relatively early in life so I never went on to become a flaming non-normie. Still, I always have to deal with the temptation to be a flaming non-normie, especially when I experience a hurt of some kind. Some of my posts here reflect that.

As a result of my nature as a recovering non-normie, my view of how a society should be constructed is founded on my recognition that I, and by extension everyone else, have strengths and weaknesses, that "perfection" is a term that is essentially without meaning, and that at any given moment, I (and everyone else) am exactly who I am supposed to be, doing exactly what I am supposed to do. A society founded on that understanding must by its very nature accept the fact that all power and responsibility is vested in the individual, and that the shape of the society is a result of the choices of all the individuals participating in it.

Because any society is based on the choices of all the individuals participating in it, in order to survive as a whole, that society must have mechanisms in place to resolve disputes between individuals and it must educate the individuals within it that they are NOT allowed to give up their power and responsibility to any other individual. This is not because the society as a whole has any consciousness or concern for such things, but simply because it is impossible for an individual to give up his/her power and responsibility to anyone else, no matter how much he/she may want to.

As a specific example, take Shrillary's desire to take on herself all the power and responsibility for the well being of us poor schmucks who are too stupid to know, much less do, what is best for us. She wants to make us do what she believes is best for us "for the children." What she really means, as a Left polar non-normie, is what's best for her, in her misplaced anger with her parents, particularly her father, for never giving her the approval she craved. Nothing she did was ever good enough as a child--therefore nothing any of us ever does is good enough for her. She'll never get her father's approval now--and no matter what any of us does, we'll never get her approval. But she'll go on trying to persuade us to give her our power to choose and our responsibility for the consequences--and many of us will attempt to give it to her because we don't know how to choose well and we don't like the consequences of the choices we've already made. Unfortunately, even the choice to have someone else make our choices and tell us what to do has consequences that we will experience, most of which are not going to be pleasant for us (though they may well be for the person giving the orders).

It is for the chance to gather people who are willing to keep the power to make their own choices and the responsibility for the consequences into a society where they can work with each other apart from the blandishments of the Shrillaries and the weakness of those who'd rather not make choices and be responsible for the consequences that I work to enable space development and settlement. That's why I like Kim's definition of space settlement in general, even if I have a few concerns about the specific implications.

That's also why I have a sense of urgency about enabling cheap access to space. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel (note the emotional term rather than the logical one) that if we don't have cheap and reliable access to orbit and beyond by 2020, the window of opportunity will close as the non-normies succeed in tightening their control over the rest of us. That window of opportunity could close even sooner should the polar non-normies of the Left and Right consolidate their grip more rapidly (say with the election of '08 in this country, the actual development of nuclear weapons and delivery systems by Iran, the resurgence of communism in Russia, and the demise of western civilization in Europe under the onslaught of bureaucratic deadweight and the Islamic infiltration). All it would take to stop space development dead in its tracks in this country would be a change in the regulatory environment intended to remove any risk to passengers (even those willing to take that risk). Add a change in the tax environment to soak the rich (and middle class), and it will become impossible to fund private space projects of any kind.

We normies and recovering non-normies have a tremendous amount of work to do if we're to have any hope of saving ourselves from the efforts of the non-normies of the world to destroy everything we and our ancestors have worked so hard to build, particularly in this country. But, like the journey of a thousand miles, it starts with a single step. Learn to identify the non-normies by what they say and do. Teach everyone you know how to do likewise. Start publically identifying the pronouncements of the non-normies as non-normal (i.e. not sensible or logical) at every opportunity, even if you have to make opportunities. Start laughing at the non-normies so they'll go ballistic and reveal their non-normieness to everyone else. Be prepared to defend yourself against any physical attack. Develop networks of friends and families who are also normies or recovering normies and multiply your efforts ten or fifteen fold. Start saving and investing (if you aren't already) so you'll be ready for anything. Support space development and settlement as your means of escape from the non-normies should all other efforts to deal with them fail (and because new frontiers offer new opportunities to build wealth and grow well).

That's what I'm doing, anyway. Please feel free to join me.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

Theresa

Our Space Settlement Advocacy Committee of the National Space Society has been debating a definition of the concept of space settlement. Kim Peart contributed the following essay, which I share with you because it says much better than I could what the whole idea of space settlement is all about. (Disclaimer: I do have a few minor disagreements about how to accomplish some of the things he mentions, but it's the goal and vision that matter here, not the details of how we get there.)

Space Settlement: Expanding human civilization on Earth into the Solar
System and toward the stars.

     Because sizable communities must cooperate to create living space in
space, space settlement will be the movement of civilization rather than the
initiative of individuals.

     Unless our Sun is renamed, then it will also be commonly called Sol.
Would the civilization around Sol refer to itself as Earth? We begin to
define the future today. Don't forget Hoyle's joke, when he mockingly named
the beginning of space and time the Big Bang. It seems to have stuck.

     One day in the decades ahead the good folk of Sol beyond Earth, all
using solar energy for their light bulbs and toasters, might well outnumber
Earthlings, contemplating the first migrations to the stars in their orbital
cities, solar petals stretched out toward the Sun, may merrilly sing of
their achievemnets with their Solar civilization. "Sunar" doesn't quite work
in that context.

     I have puzzled long on the Solar economy (using a capital "S"
differentiates the word and the term from "solar" energy) and suggest that
we can think about the matter quite differently.

     The meaning of achieving a sustainable and self-suffient presence in
the Solar System beyond Earth is to be in a position where no further
resources are required from Earth, with unlimited solar energy, with access
to the raw materials around the Solar System, with automated and robot run
factories than can make anything we instruct them to and able to manufacture
as many orbital settlements as required, even enough to hold the whole
population of Earth in an emergency. The establishment cost is huge, but the
subsequent situation is limited only by the energy of our Sun, the resources
of the Solar System and our ability to survive in space. With this potential
at our fingertips, we are able to think differently about our future of
human civilization, how we organise our society and the opportunities we
create for all Earth's children.

     We moved on from the days of the kings into the age of the democracies.
The demands of securing our civilization in the Solar System may open the
way to a new development in governance, in which all citizens play a direct
role in considering the basic rights and responsibilities of all citizens.

     Designing for security in space may the key to the new way, where we
will either decide to protect ourselves with the violence that can create
more violence, or invest in practical compassion toward offering hope for
all Earth's children, thus diminishing the threat at it root.

     The current Chinese missile strike on a satellite is a clear warning of
the danger we face in space, a threat that could easily terminate the space
adventure for all before we even get off the planet properly.

     We may need to decide if the amazing wealth of the Solar System is
sitting there for the benefit of the few, whether that be a corporation, the
Chinese government, or a combination of the two, or whether we start to
build a future in the Solar System that involves the whole Human family.

     If we choose the inclusive way, the good wishes of many will be with
us, especially when we include the needs of our old Earth in our thinking.
Good attracts good. If we choose the the exclusive way, we could be asking
for terminal trouble, as this path generates the exclusion that can create
an environment of resentment and in resentment are the seeds of terrorism
and war.

     I like to look at the Declaration of Independence and the Charter of
the United Nations and wonder, will there be a third great historic
document, drafted in the Solar System to craft the way for the future of
humanity in space.

          Celestially,
                                Kim Peart

...to every problem. Straight up.

I'm not sure if it was Einstein who said no problem can be solved at its own level. Solutions can only be found at a higher level. But whoever said it was right. If problems could be solved at their own level, they wouldn't be problems.

It's very interesting that we have a number of posts dealing with the interview--and almost an equal number dealing with global warming. At the level of this conversation, there seems to be only the most tenuous connection. Oddly enough, however, from the next level up, the solution to the two "problems" is actually the same--the settlement of space.

The first problem is the battle between the normies and recovering non-normies who do everything they can to be sensible and deal with reality using logic rather than emotion (the grown ups, that is) and the non-normies who refuse to accept the fact that their fury toward life is killing them. (See www.non-normie.com for more about who the non-normies are and how they got that way.)

The second problem is the ever-growing need for energy to do work.

The solution is first to develop inexpensive and reliable access to space (the equivalent level of service we see with the airlines now), then to build, using mostly material from the Moon and earth orbit-crossing asteroids that might otherwise pose a threat, solar power satellites that can beam power to Earth for conversion into electrical power. After all, all forms of fuel we use now (except possibly nuclear) are solar, either fossil or current. Why not go out there and collect it outside the filter known as the atmosphere?

The efficiency level would go way up and eventually would make it unnecessary to burn fossil fuel for power generation. These hydrocarbon resources can then be used for a variety of other purposes which now compete for them with power generation. Things like materials science, for instance. Or we can reduce the rate at which we mine these resources.

Inexpensive and reliable access to space also provides access to all the metal resources we could ever want--and a lot more. We could stop digging big holes in Earth and start disassembling asteroids and comets for industrial and precious metals (to say nothing of volatiles like carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), starting with those that pose a danger to our planet.

The third thing inexpensive and reliable access to space provides is access to so much living space that we could build whole new lands for the warring people of Earth to parcel themselves out into. The Muslims could have their own collection of settlements, the Israelis could have theirs, and on down the list. Because these settlements are, by their nature closed, each group could, if it so chose, restrict entry only to those who toe the party line. (Whether they would survive in the long run is another matter entirely, but that would be their problem, not ours.)

By creating places in space in which people can live and work and play, we relieve the pressure we are putting on Earth with our numbers and our still extremely inefficient use of energy and resources. As we learn more about how Earth works, we can begin to fix the problems we have created here--and we can apply these solutions to our new worlds out there.

So, we can stay here on Earth and keep crying about problems that can't be solved at this level of awareness, or we can move from what amounts to 2-dimensional thinking up to 3 (and even 4) dimensional thinking.

Think about it. Are you ready to make the leap? Check out www.nss.org for what's happening now, and my other blog, Sophia Systems Design & Engineering, for my ideas about how to make the leap, and what cities in space might look like.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!
(To the Stars through our own High Spirits!)

..."We're all gonna die!"

Well, we will all die in our appointed times (unless, of course, we're among the lucky ones to be snatched out of the world before the Tribulation).

It's very hard at the moment to be optimistic about '08, although my husband thinks Hillary won't get the nomination, and that Guiliani might not only get the Republican nomination but win the election as well. He's the logical one. I'm the emotional one. I'll hold off on making any pronouncements because it is still early days in this race.

In one of my darker moments, I came up with the following "doomsday" scenario. I know it's wrong because I already missed the first prediction, that the Republicans would hold onto Congress. But you might find it worth laughing at (I'll summarize it here).

1.) Shrillary becomes President and the Dems dominate Congress to a greater degree than they do now.

2.) The Dems declare the War on Terror won and not only withdraw all our troops from the middle east, but from our other long term postings such as South Korea, Japan, Europe, etc. After all, their primary function is defense, right? So they should stay home.

3.) The Dems gut military spending, raise taxes on everything (especially the rich, cars, and fossil fuels) and pass still more laws enforcing multiculturalism and the rest of their agenda.

4.) The economy tanks. Terrorist attacks on a small but increasing scale occur in this country, helped along by the Dems' decision to do nothing about the porous southern border except pass amnesty laws.

5.) Iraq falls, Iran is surgically nuked by Israel (but that only postpones the day of reckoning a few years), and tribal wars flare up throughout the ME. Israel refuses to give away any more land for peace and focuses on defending itself.

6.) More practicing Muslims are elected to Congress. Shrillary is elected again in 2012 in what is recognized by most people as a fraudulent election based on illegal aliens being allowed to vote and other chicanery. The Muslims get enough representatives (and a few senators) into office to begin influencing the Democratic Caucuses.

7.) The acts of terrorism increase in scale as the administration continues to treat the whole problem as merely a police issue. Smart people who can read the handwriting on the wall have been buying land out in the boonies and moving there for several years by this time. They have created a network of villages that hide in plain sight.

8.) This village network includes a large number of "retired" military of all ranks, many of them demobilized following the "end" of the War on Terrorism. Wherever possible, they took their arms and armor with them. This network has also been buying up and stockpiling "surplus" military gear in places the administration doesn't think to look.

9.) The villages in the network are largely self-sufficient, but trade only with each other, not with the above-ground economy. Since most of the residents made it a point to collect as much precious metal in coins and bars as possible before the economy tanked (and the ownership of gold was declared illegal), they are far better off than the rest of the country, but their wealth is hidden, especially since they don't trade with anyone outside the network unless they must.

10.) By 2014, the Muslims have managed to elect enough of their own to gain effective control of Congress. They start passing laws that begin the process of imposing Shari'a Law on the country. Not all at once, of course, but bit by bit. The villagers, being essentially invisible, mostly ignore them, and concentrate on drawing the sensible into their network one by one.

11.) By 2016, the Muslims have also gained effective control of several major cities. On recognizing that they aren't powerful enough politically to elect their own president, but do have the votes to impeach and convict the president and vice president on high crimes and misdemeanors, the Muslim leaders in Congress make it very clear to POTUS and VPOTUS that if they don't want all their dirty laundry hung out for the world to see, they should resign. This is backed up by the implication that death might find them very easily if they don't.

12.) POTUS and VPOTUS, being the cowards they are, resign in favor of the Speaker of the House, a Muslim, being sworn in as POTUS.

I think you can guess what happens after that, although the village network goes on hiding out in plain sight and biding its time.

Someday I might actually find a way to turn this silly scenario into a novel. Then again, maybe not.

Go ahead, tear it to shreds! Or, if you would like to see it turned into a novel (there's actually more of the scenario, and, in fact, there are about nine chapters of a novel written, but it would have to be totally rewritten because it won't work in its current form), let me have your ideas about what should go into it. Of course, you could also read my Starfield Valley Tales, which deal with an earlier version of this idea from when I though Al Gore might run and win in '04. Thank God he didn't!

Be that as it may, I really do think we normies and recovering non-normies MUST decide whether we're going to stand up and make it clear we're mad as hell and we're not going to take bullying from the world's non-normies any more, or whether we're going to withdraw from the world of non-normies and hide out in the wilderness while the non-normies trash everything we hold dear.

Or, of course, we could all work together to move into space.

There are always at least three possible choices--four only if you call refusing to make a decision a choice.

Think about it.

...oh my!

GregMc, on his blog "Fighting for Our Lives", has an entry called The Brick Wall (1/15/07) that I strongly recommend everyone read. In it, he not only pastes the Left-Polar non-normies in the puss himself, he also has Bill W (of ejectejecteject.com) paste them in the puss not once but twice by including Bill's post called "Tribes." Within that post, Bill quotes at length Lt. Col. Grossman in his intro to the book The Bulletproof Mind.  Lt. Col. Grossman divides people into three basic groups, sheep, who have little or no capacity for violence and may or may not be in denial about the existence of violence in the world, but usually are productive citizens, sheepdogs, who choose to serve and protect the sheep, and wolves, who choose to do everything they can to ravage the flocks and eat the sheep. Those who serve as police and firemen, and in the armed forces, are sheepdogs who have sworn on their honor to protect and defend the sheep against the wolves.

The wolves, both the obvious ones--non-normies who have chosen Crime as their means of venting their stored up anger and resentment--and those in sheep's clothing (and there are a lot more of these than most people realize)--non-normies who have chosen Causes or other selections from the Supermarket of Dysfunctional Choices (see www.non-normie.com for the details, if you haven't already) are evil because they've chosen that path. The sheepdogs are honorable because they have chosen both to cleave to goodness (normieness) and to defend those unable to defend themselves. Their choice allows the sheep who have chosen to be productive to create wealth in other ways, which they can (and do) then share both with other sheep and with the sheepdogs.

I would like to think I am a productive sheep--most of the time. I appreciate the efforts of the sheepdogs to protect me and mine--and I let them know in small ways, a thank you in the grocery store, a contribution to Treats for Troops, a wave at a police officer directing traffic. Like many productive sheep, I do this because I am uncomfortably aware of the violence of the wolves in the world. After all, the wolves in sheeps clothing who abound in the media make it their business to scare the bejeezus out of the rest of us, perhaps in hopes of stampeding us into outrunning the sheepdogs and leaving ourselves completely vulnerable to the depradations of the real wolves.

Gregmc left an interesting comment on my entry "When the Babies Cry..." about how even a sheep, by providing food, shelter, and support to the sheepdogs in times of danger, could earn the undying loyalty of the sheepdog.

In other words, loyalty is a two-way street. We who would be productive sheep need to show loyalty to our protectors, even in the hard times, else why should our protectors remain loyal to us?

Ultimately, though, it comes down to the question of whether we are productive sheep who know our Master and accept the protection and guidance of Him and our sheepdog protectors, or wolves in sheeps clothing who reject all mastery and guidance by anyone else in favor of enforcing our own demands on all others.

If, as Jack Thomas suggests on www.non-normie.com, 15% of the population may be classified as non-normie (I think he means just in the US, but I don't recall that he made it clear), that's still too many, especially since it is their nature to do everything they can to control everyone around them. We can't go around killing them; after all, we productive sheep aren't violent save in extreme self-defense. We can only concentrate on identifying them, publicizing their identity as non-normies (and therefore either wolves or wolves in sheeps clothing), laughing at their pronouncements in public at every opportunity, and refusing to grant them any degree of responsibility for our choices.

We may be too late to change the course of our ship of state, much less that of history (and changing what IS is not possible anyway), but because it is not given us to know that with certainty till the Last Trump, it is our responsibility to keep working toward that end. As individuals, we would do well to show our appreciation to our protecting sheepdogs. As flocks we would also do well to observe each other and determine by their words and actions who among us are the wolves in sheeps clothing. Laughing at their emotional (i.e. crybaby) responses is a first step to driving them out of our flocks, because they'll often leave in a huff on their own. Gathering in sheepdogs to live in our midst to protect us against the violent anger of the more offended wolves in sheeps clothing is a second step. Raising our children to respect the sheepdogs, and if possible become the sheepdogs, is a third step.

There is such a thing, of course, as carrying a metaphor too far, so I'll leave it at that. If you want more detail about what it might be like to live in that kind of flock, check out my Starfield Valley Tales, available through my Phoenix Lady's Nest website (on the blog roll). They're free for download, though eventually that may change.

In any case, we who hope someday to live in a town or city in space need to give serious thought to the problem of how we are to keep the non-normies from ruining our lives out there as they are trying so hard to ruin our lives down here.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!
(To the Stars through our own High Spirits!)

Ever wondered what it would be like to live in a space settlement? Check out this short story.

I have also, as mentioned before, written a variety of novels that touch on life in orbit, on the Moon, etc. But this little tale does a great job of conveying the sense of what it will be like in a read less than ten minutes long.

HT to Al Globus, chair of the Space Settlement Advocacy Committee of the National Space Society, for passing it along.

...the Sensible get to work.
 
Liberal Democrat does a wonderful job of taking the liberal thought process to its absurd extreme. He sounds a lot like my father, a liberal to the core. I'm glad to know LD is a satire.

Still, the fact that there are a lot of libs who really believe what LD says (though he says it a lot better than they do) concerns me. As I've said in other posts, we need a frontier so those of us with any sense have a way of escaping the nuclear firefight all the crybabies in the world are pushing toward.

I don't just mean the Islamo-nut jobs in Iran (and elsewhere) with their designs on wiping Israel and us off the map. I also mean that Mini-Me in North Korea, along with his masters in mainland China, and the sneaky-snake slowly turning Russia back into a Communist state for his own gain, to say nothing of assorted other idiots in power around the world.

We who have even a modicum of sense have two choices (not necessarily exclusive). First, prepare places for ourselves in the wilderness where we can hide from the control-freaks should they actually gain power enough to enact the draconian laws they're currently trying to peddle. Second, do everything we can to support private space development so we can gain access to the High Frontier and build new places in space for ourselves and our posterity, just as our ancestors did when they came to this country to get away from the oppressive socio-political structure in Europe.

If we go on wasting our time and breath on the hysterical control-freaks who hate freedom, then we deserve what we get at their hands. I, for one, have no desire to live as a slave to either the state or a religion founded by a fraud and murderer, so I see no point in wasting my breath rebutting the arguments of crybabies.

On the other hand, if we who are reasonably sensible were to work together to build refuges for ourselves out there, then when the crybabies start flinging nukes in the sandbox, we'll be well out of their reach. But we haven't much time, and we have a lot of work to do. For more about what we can do, click on Sophia Systems Design & Engineering on my blog roll.

As for how to differentiate between the crybabies and the sensible, that's not my problem. If you want to know which you are, go to www.non-normie.com and take the test there. The non-normies are the crybabies, and the normies are the sensible ones.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are always three alternatives--Scylla, Charibdis, and straight up. After all, no problem can be resolved at its own level, otherwise, it wouldn't be a problem. You have to shift your perspective up a level before you can devise workable solutions for any given problem.

Of course, if you'd rather go on wasting time and breath yelling at those who refuse to listen, that's your choice.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

I have no idea what's in space for you. Only you know that. One of the things the Space Settlement Advocacy Cmte of the National Space Society has been working on figuring out how to find out what you think might be in space for you. To that end, I'm including a copy of a survey by Kim Peart of the Tasmanian Space Society (in Australia), along with his contact info. Please take a few minutes to tell him what you think. He'll doubtless share the results with the rest of us--and I'll share it with you.

I left out Kim's proposal for an Earth Citizen's Campaign for Space, through which he would like to get at least 10% of the world's population interested in space, in the interests of keeping this short. If you want to get the details, please email him at the address below the survey.

Survey Questions

Question 1

Do you like the proposal for an Earth citizen’s campaign for space?

Question 2

What should the carefully crafted message include that will inspire widespread support for space?

Question 3

What activities could an International campaign for space include?

As with Al Gore’s campaign, this could include a seminar presentation and a documentary film on the message, as well as a display and a publication on the Earth citizen’s plan for space.

Question 4

What percentage of Earth’s citizens should such a campaign aim to inspire to participate in a Giant Leap for space, to maximise the prospect for success?

The Chinese government could mobilise twenty per cent of Earth’s population for space, if they had a mind to, as well as drawing in the support of many other nations.

Question 5

What banner name could an International campaign for space be best run under?

One possible name is “Free Space”. No organization of this name is found through Google. The name chosen would need to be clear in it’s meaning and inspire confidence in the campaign. The term “Free Space” could work well, because it can imply freedom from harm for all Earth’s children in a Solar civilization, as well as gaining the freedom of space and the stars.

Question 6

What on-going and effective activities could an Earth citizen’s campaign for space promote around the World?

This could include the concept of a “Space Centre”, which would be run locally and connected Internationally, as a way for people in local communities to participate in the vision for space. A “Space Centre” could include space displays, an education space, a gallery of space related art, a café, a large screen for watching live space events and space programs, a space shop, offer internet services, provide information on space careers and tourism, encourage space related initiatives and offer workshops and seminars on space topics.

Question 7

Would you like to participate in an Earth citizen’s campaign for space?

A campaign for space could include the support of individuals, as well as participation by many organizations around the World, who share the view that space offers hope.

A Think Tank may be needed to start crafting the message, planning the campaign and preparing the way for creating our Solar civilization.

Anything may be possible, if we can imagine it.

We live in a World where the impossible now exists,

that was once only imagined.

Kim Peart ~Tasmanian Space Society~

Ph. 61 (0)3 4248 1373

Em. kimpeart@keypoint.com.au

We're also looking at another survey, which I'll pass along next time. And if you'd like me to post Kim's proposal, please let me know. I do occasionally read the comments here (though I've been quite busy lately).

Dennis Prager really set off a firestorm with his column regarding whether a Muslim convert should swear his oath of office as a congressman on the Bible or the Koran.  Read all about it here, but last I checked, there were over 500 responses, so figure it'll take about five hours. I quit after 2 1/2 hours and I hadn't even gotten half way.

I posted the following (long about 520, I guess). So as to save you several hours of searching for it, I'm posting it here as well.

Time Out!

After spending close to three hours trying to catch up--and failing miserably--I now see there are over 500 posts. By the time I finish this comment, there will probably be over 600 (although I'll try to keep this short). Since no one on any of the sides of this argument is likely to convince anyone else to change his or her stance on the issue at hand, let me suggest that it's time to start looking at the third alternative. Separate space settlements for everyone. Imagine a solar system in which the adherents of each religion and/or philosophical approach to reality built a settlement suited to their vision of the best of all possible futures. The Hebrew residents of Israel could have their own asteroid, carved out into a series of beautifully decorated caverns in which they could live in peace with each other--and could even leave the solar system should they have a mind to do so. Likewise, the Shia could have their own asteroids and the Sunni theirs. I don't know if having all the living space they could possibly want and then some will satisfy them--much less whether they would be able to keep from starving to death--but that would be their problem, not mine. Those who consider themselves progressive and enlightened could have their own settlements, while those who prefer to follow the old ways could have their places as well. Even better, if the whole world got together and said "Yes" to space settlement, and worked to open the gates to large numbers of people, the "excess" population would have somewhere to go where energy is cheap and infinite, along with all the resources anyone could possibly need or want. That would take a lot of the pressure off Earth, and those who chose to stay behind could learn to be gardeners, because Earth's biosphere will always be a major source of supply for terraforming those settlements in space. Think about it. Earth is an infinitely tiny jewel against the velvet throat of night as seen from the Moon. You can't see national boundaries, and you can't even see the sliver of land that has occasioned so much bloodshed over so many centuries. Too bad we can't take the leaders of the warring factions to the Moon so they could gain a better perspective on life and reality. Do we really want to spend the rest of our lives yelling and screaming at each other over nothing? Wouldn't you really rather be doing something constructive about the problems that seem insoluble because they can't be solved in what amounts to a two dimensional world? Lift up your eyes and consider following the third way. Straight up.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

I posted the following on Craig Shirley's column about Duck and Cover Republicans.

Alternative Fuels

Sorry, but ethanol as an alternative fuel is more costly than it's worth--and you'll see it in your meat prices before much longer. What most people don't realize is that we've got more oil on land in this country than the whole Middle East. What we need is to take the tax burden off the oil companies (not put it on harder, like the Dims are already talking about doing), the better to encourage them to tap into it. 1.) Developing technology will pull oil out of existing fields that was formerly seen as unrecoverable. 2.) Discovery of new mega-fields in the continental U.S. (specifically Utah) is already underway, and drilling and pumping has begun. 3.) Development of new and efficient methods of extracting light sweet crude from the oil shales of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming (which treasure alone is 12 times the Saudi reserves) is also well underway. 4.) Improvements in deepwater drilling and extraction will soon bring access to more of the oil under the Gulf of Mexico (even if the Chinese are trying to siphon some of it off). 5.) We still have way more coal in this country that could be converted into oil equivalents than almost any other nation--and it is even theoretically possible to tap the burning coal seams in Pennsylvania and elsewhere for geo-thermal energy (should anyone in those areas get smart enough to do something about it). 6.) Anywhere you find oil, you also find natural gas, and we already have the pipeline network in place for it. 7.) Space-based solar power. Most people never think to look up, but in space there's no night (or, depending on the orbit, a very short night), and no atmosphere. It makes more sense to work on bringing the cost per pound to orbit down so we can move into space and build space-based solar power collectors that beam power down to receiving stations on Earth than it does to build large-scale ground-based solar collectors. So why haven't we been doing more with our own fossil fuel resources? Can you spell "environmentalist nut cases?" I'd be the last to say we should just rip the stuff out of the ground, but let's be reasonable here. The environmental nut cases are merely one class of non-normies who demand the rest of us give them total control over every aspect of our lives. (For more about non-normies and how to deal with them, check out non-normie.com.) Personally, the main reason I work toward the development of cheap access to space is with the intent of building places to live in for those of us with at least a drop of the pioneering spirit and the sense of a normie--aka an adult. We can't cure the non-normies at either end of the spectrum (the mostly left-polars in this country and the right-polar Islamo-fascists who want our heads on a platter). It's probably too late to marginalize them, and there are far too many of them for us to destroy in our own defense. So, when you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, the only way out is UP! Think about it, then check out my blog--and while you're at it, also check out http://www.nss.org, the website of the National Space Society. I've had the pleasure of working with the committee responsible for setting up the Space Settlements section. It's now live, so check it out. Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

I've fixed a couple of minor boo-boos, mostly regarding our coal resources.

While I can understand Conservatives mourning the collapse of their hopes that the Republican Party would return to its roots (mourning is good; hanging onto anger and resentment over being betrayed is bad), two weeks is more than long enough. Pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off, and realize that the only real, long-term solution to the squeeze-play being forced on us by the non-normies of the left and right is to do what our ancestors did when faced with a similar crisis 300 years ago--pack our bags and leave for the new frontier.

The good thing about the High Frontier, as opposed even to the Americas, is that it is essentially infinite, and it has far more in the way of resources than we could ever use in 100 lifetimes--or even 1,000. And that's just in this solar system. And getting there isn't really any more expensive or difficult in real terms than was getting to this continent in the days of wooden sailing ships.

We just have to decide it's time for those of us sensible folk of pioneering stock to gather our grubstakes and invest in our passage to the High Frontier, where we will have plenty of room to build our new cities of light based on the conservative principles that have proven to be the only ones that work in the short and the long run.

If you want to know how we can do this, check out my Sophia Systems Design and Engineering blog, here.

I just read the following article:

Will James Oberstar kill the space tourism industry?

by Taylor Dinerman
Monday, November 20, 2006

According to the authoritative Politics In America, back in 1989 Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN), the presumptive chairman of the House Transportation Committee in the next Congress, led an effort to force President George H.W. Bush to intervene on the side of the unions in the bitter strike at Eastern Airlines. His effort failed, but has anyone taken a ride on one of their flights recently? Now as Chair of a powerful House Committee he could help do to the infant US space tourism industry what he helped do to Eastern.

Read the rest of it here.

You can just bet that if Mr. Oberstar succeeds, Virgin Galactic--and probably every other company involved in private space launch--will move somewhere else, such as possibly Australia. As I've said before, the Dems, being the left-polar non-normies most of them are, will stop at nothing to enforce their demands for control on us, all in the name of saving us from ourselves.

We need a new frontier, and the only one left is out there. But to get there is going to require the personal involvement of everyone who still has a drop of pioneering blood and spirit.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to live in a city on the Moon and thumb your nose at the Islamofascists (right-polar non-normies) and the Demo-Socialists (left-polar non-normies) while they waste their time, energy, and money destroying each other? But our window of opportunity to get out there and build those cities is very short.

For more info, go to www.nss.org, or my other blog at Sophia Systems Design & Engineering (on the blog roll).

I'll be posting more such articles as time goes on.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

 ...support Space Settlement?

I posted the following on Ann Coulter's latest column in answer to Red_NC, who says he is looking for a conservative alternative to the Republican Party.

Conservative Alternative

Alas, there is no conservative alternative (in terms of political parties) that has any hope of winning elections, largely because there aren't enough socially and fiscally conservative people left in this country to form a true majority. With somewhere around 50% of the population dependent on government largess (from Social Insecurity on down), all too few people have any incentive to grow up and avoid the temptation to vote for their share (and more) of the public treasury. I hope I'm wrong, but it appears those of us who may be defined as reasonable or sensible are fighting a losing battle against those who are not. That's why I work as hard as I can to encourage people to look up toward the High Frontier--settling the Solar System and beyond--because a large part of our problems, socially and fiscally, are caused by the closing of the Frontier in this country at the beginning of the last century. The only place for those of us with the pioneering spirit to go now is up. Since the sensible, reasonable principles of Ludwig von Mises (economics)and the word of Yahweh (social) are the only principles that will work to enable survival on the High Frontier, where better for us to go and establish a civilization that works? When you're stuck between a rock (Demofascists) and a hard place (RINOs), the only way out is up.

I thought about putting the last sentence as "between a rock (Demofascists) and a squishy place, i.e. quicksand (the RINOs essentially running the Republican party), but that wouldn't have worked as well.

The point is, the only useful alternative to the left-polar non-normies running the Democratic party and the right-polar non-normies professing Islamo-fascism is for sensible, reasonable normies and recovering non-normies like us to leave the planet and build our own civilization out there.
 
It's really not as hard as you might think. And it doesn't require government funding. In fact, it works better if we get together and fund it ourselves. Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, with an assist from Paul Allen (formerly of Microsoft), built a fully reusable 2 stage to sub-orbital space craft for around $20,000,000 to win the X-Prize of $10,000,000. Even better, Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group signed an agreement with Burt to build SpaceShipTwo, capable of carrying tourists beyond the edge of space. More than 100 people have already signed up to fork over $200,000 for an early flight. As this influx of cash funds the building and testing of the next stage, a fully reusable orbital vehicle, Bigelow Aerospace is already building and testing inflatable modules with the intent of constructing an orbital hotel to serve as a destination for those tourists saving for their seats to orbit. And that's just the beginning.

For my part, I've been developing designs for settlements that could be built anywhere, be it here on Earth, or out there in orbit or on the Moon or Mars. You can check them out (along with my proposal for how to fund private space development and settlement) by clicking on Sophia Systems Design & Engineering on my blog roll.

Of course, we also have to keep working to educate and recruit conservative Republicans to oppose the Democrats because the last thing the Democrats want is for us to be able to escape their control. If they have their way, they'll keep us from growing the wealth to build the infrastructure by taxing our investments and income to death, and they'll regulate the development of the infrastructure to death as well. All in the name of the children, of course. (The children they're so happy to encourage women to abort if they're inconvenient!)

For definitions of normie and non-normie, as well as information about how to deal with the non-normies in your life, go to non-normie.com. You'll get a lot of useful ammunition (figuratively) that might help you avoid wasting ammunition (literally) in a revolution doomed to failure.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

...are a good thing for getting your kids and grandkids motivated to learn and do their best to enable the creation of a better future for all.

The following is a letter written by a college student at the University of Central Florida to George Whitesides, Executive Director of the National Space Society.

From: Michael Green 
Date: Nov 11, 2006 11:51 PM
Subject: Conference Remarks and NSS
To: george@nss.org

Dear Mr. Whitesides,

I would just like to personally thank you for coming to speak this
weekend at the University of Central Florida for the SEDS SpaceVision
Conference.  For students such as myself that hope to eventually work
in the aerospace field, having speakers such as yourself is a great
learning experience.

I had the brief opportunity to talk to you about the future of space
settlements during one of the breaks of the conference on Friday.  As
we were discussing, I have been very active in research and projects
relating to future space settlements, mainly due to such programs as
the competition now sponsored by the National Space Society – the NASA
Ames Space Settlement Contest.

If at all possible, would you please pass along my appreciation and
thanks to the rest of the NSS for stepping up and promoting
educational endeavors such as this competition.  It is opportunities
like space competitions and conferences that allow students to explore
specific fields and get exposed in-depth to space disciplines.  At
least in my personal experience, participating the past two years in
the NASA/NSS Space Settlement Contest, on a team and then as an
individual, I certainly learned more than I could ever imagined on
space settlements, the fields of engineering, and space-related topics
in general.  I attended a magnet program at a high school that
actually had an aerospace engineering club, which was organized to
participate in various NASA competitions.  Between your competition,
the (now defunct) NASA Student Involvement Program: Science and
Technology Journalism Competition, and the International Space
Settlement Design Competition (sponsored by Anita Gale and Dick
Edwards of Boeing with contributions from NASA, Lockheed, and AIAA
amongst others), I had extraordinary opportunities and first-hand
experiences that would not be available otherwise.  Even though I did
not win any of these (a combined three time International Runner-Up
and one regional US runner-up finish in five total competitions are
certainly enough for me), I really gained more than just knowledge,
evolving as a person - further preparing me for my future engineering
career.

Between the educational benefits and the advocacy of future space
endeavors to students, competitions to involve students of all ages -
from middle school to college - is a definite must for the space
industry.  Again, I would like to thank the NSS for all of their
student-related projects such as the contest, the involvement with the
ISU, various conferences, an art contest I saw on your website, and I
assume much more.  I hope that involvement by such organizations such
as the National Space Society will encourage others to do the same and
that the NSS does stay as involved as possible with students and
student organizations (especially large student aerospace-related
organizations such as SEDS or AIAA student chapters).  In my opinion,
I believe that it would be in the best interest for the NSS to get as
much involvement as possible with students, especially of college age,
in order to mutually help both the students and the organization
spread.  I am not an expert on NSS, as my full involvement has been
following the site for a few years, but if there was some sort of
national council or board advisory positions just for the student
members, I believe it would only benefit the organization (if there
isn't already one).  This is coming off of the top of my head, and I
apologize for my digression, but any infrastructure for university
students to increase participation would only increase local
involvement.

Thanks again for speaking here at UCF and please pass along my
appreciation to the rest of the National Space Society.  Further
thanks for reading my entire email.  Also, I am attaching a copy of
the engineering proposal for a space settlement that I entered into
the NASA/NSS Space Settlement Contest last year, to further show your
organization of what the competition introduced to me.

-Michael P. Green
University of Central Florida Student / SEDS Member


For more information about these design contests, click here! Both are listed on the navigation bar to the left.

When I get depressed about the state of the world as the MSM would have me believe it is (after all, only bad news sells, and they're in the business of selling ad space to businesses of all sizes), I just look up--and jump back into space development and settlement projects as a way of doing something positive.

Check out The National Space Society and all the other space development organizations through my other blog--Sophia Systems Design on the blog roll. Or, if you've the time and would like to read what it would be like to live in a space settlement, check out my novels, available in Phoenix Lady's Nest on the blog roll.

Now that the political season is over (for a couple of months at least), I'll be pushing space development, including tips for how to educate your Congressman or woman about why it's important to them, as well as to you. After all, that's why I got into politics in the first place, about 14 years ago (gee, has it really been that long?). Over the course of those years, I've educated every Republican elected official I could (I'll leave the Dems to someone who can stand to talk to them) about why space development should be part of their thinking process--not in the sense of throwing money at it but in the sense of removing unnecessary government roadblocks to private enterprise.

Think about what it would be like to live in a world where people no longer felt the sky was the limit. Once you are in orbit, you're halfway to anywhere, and there is more energy available than we could ever use. Not only that, but one nickel-iron asteroid of modest size contains more platinum group metals than have ever been mined on Earth in the history of humankind. A single comet contains all the necessary components for life in orbit or on the Moon or Mars. There is so much space in the Solar System, and so many resources, to say nothing of energy free for the collecting, that there need never be any further concern about limiting human population growth, or the economics of scarcity.

Not only that, but a space faring civilization will be able to protect Earth from stray asteroids or comets like the one that wiped out most of the dinosaurs--and could wipe us out any time now. By taking substantial bits of the biosphere with us for our comfort, we spread it around the Solar System and increase the reserves available to repair Earth should anything bad happen--like a nuclear war.

And because the Solar System is so huge compared to Earth, communities of like-minded folks can develop their own cities in space and not have so much reason to fear those (like the Muslims) who want everyone else to submit to them. So the Democrats and socialists can have their own cities in space, and the Republicans and conservatives (and the libertarians, too) can have theirs. Then we can see whose ideas work best without involving everyone in shooting wars.

Give it a little thought when you feel like you're caught between a rock and a hard place. At times like that, the only way out is up!

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!

Theresa, the Phoenix Lady

...or grandkids with an interest in living in a city in space?

NASA Ames and the National Space Society have teamed up to hold an on-going Student Design Contest.

Check out the details here!

Speaking of which, the Space Settlement Advocacy Committee of the National Space Society (of which I am honored to be a member) has finally completed the Space Settlement section of the NSS website. To check out our work, click here!

I know many Evangelical Christians don't believe we have any business going into space because God will provide (and Rapture us out at the appropriate time). I also know many uber-liberals don't want us going into space until all the world's problems are solved to their satisfaction (i.e. they are in control and the rest of us are their slaves, though of course they would never admit to such a blunt description of what they want).

My take is that God would not have allowed us to grow brains capable of designing and building settlements in space, be they in orbit or on the Moon or Mars, if He didn't want us to at least make the effort to learn how to do so.

It may be that the Evangelical Christians are right, and that those whom God knows personally will be snatched out of the world in some magical way some time in the next 20 years (MacZed says Dec. 22nd, 2012, others, including me, say September 16, 2023), and that will usher in the time of Tribulation, aka Jacob's Troubles.

However, whatever happens, we who choose to walk on the Bright Side of the Golden Rule because we accept Reality and our places in it, have been told to be found doing Yahweh's work. That is, treating each other with respect because we respect ourselves, helping those in need learn how to respect themselves and learn how to help themselves out of need, and in general, being Light and Salt in the world. Or out of it.

Since my choices for Light and Salt over the years have led me into the field of space development and settlement, along with a lot of other people, then I must be doing something God wants me to do. In some of my novels, I've postulated that the Rapture isn't magical at all; it is the work of the Elect to remove themselves from Earth and settle space before a civilization-ending disaster caused by a comet strike. It's not a good idea to keep all of Earth's eggs in one basket. The dinosaurs found that out the hard way. I'd really rather we didn't have to.

Some useful reading in support of my proposed date for the Rapture (if it happens as described by Paul and others) can be found here. If MacZed ever reads this, I'd love to hear from him what links back up his proposed date (which appears to be associated with the Mayan calendar, based on a few other scraps I've heard and read). My feeling is that that date is too early, though of course I'd be happy to be able to go home that soon. Things aren't bad enough to support it. 2023 is somewhat more believable, but, of course, we aren't supposed to obsess over things like that, no matter how tempting the thought of going home.

So, until Yahweh tells me otherwise, I'll keep working on space development and settlement--and I'll keep encouraging you and your kids and grandkids to do likewise.

Ad Astra per Levitas Nostra!