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Infant potty training essentially means finding the baby's signals for when he has to go and then bringing him to a small toilet for this purpose. You can get European ones just for this. After a few weeks he gets the idea and will hold it until you get to the potty. Downside is that they scream when they do soil themselves as they know they are supposed to use modern santitation. And, it takes some patience the first few weeks. At fifteen months, our son only poops in the diaper when we are driving and can't get him to a toilet. Finally, kids can learn sign language much earlier than they can talk, so our boy can tell us when he's in pain, has to go, wants to eat, car, plane, bananna, and several other things even though he can't talk.
When my wife and I had our baby we decided to do things the natural way and it worked great. Along the way we learned about infant potty training-started our son at 2 weeks and a year later he lets us know when he has to go. This is really the historical method, as in cultures without plumbing one needs to have kids potty trained FAST. I imagine the same thing will happen on Mars.
A gold standard is a check on the government's power to debase currency. It is possible to implement a gold standard today but the moral and political courage is lacking.
The depression was not caused by excessive saving and we cannot "spend ourselves rich" out of recessions or depressions. We cannot create, out of thin air or paper, a viable store of wealth that is indeed contained in gold or any other durable monentary unit. In fact, FDR's depression fixes in 1930 further deepened economic despair. The feds should have done nothing about the depression-sooner.
I am generally in agreement that immigration is a good thing; however we currently do not have the resources to absorb masses from Mexico who will not adopt our language or culture, and further strain our health care system by billions of dollars. We are, however, creating a vast slave labor system with a population shut out of the English speaking world with no better hope for their children.
I will, as president, extend all tolerance and respect for those cultists who wish to worship phi.
Since they will probably encourage, indoctrinate and screen their children for non-violence from birth, I will gladly extend exemption from military service unconditionally and give them bonuses for working in asteroid mining colonies.
Cobra Commander, I'd like you to be my running mate but please change your name to Mr. C. Commander.
-Increasing income tax 4% across the board. In 3 years reduce this tax by 1%. Keep it at that level until the debt is paid off.
-Retire all B-52 aircraft-savings @ $1 billion a year
-Mothball one aircraft carrier battle group-savings @ $2 billion a year
Increase my income tax? I don't think so. I'm taxed to death now and your 4% increase will go into a slush fund to service federal debt.
Your military savings are pocket change compared to entitlement expenditures. Besides, the B-52 has been a pretty good return on our investment all these years.
Considering colonization is probably in the more far off future, developments in VR and BIG LCD screens should enable at least viewing the nature one left behind.
Zubrin brings up a good point in one of his books, that colonists will still have access to news from Earth and entire libraries of music and art-much more than the early settlers of North America.
I’d have my speechwriter make it sound pretty, but my points are:
-Privatize Social Security and Medicare before we can’t afford to send ANYTHING into orbit.
-Decouple health insurance from employment and create a mandatory pay-in for coverage.
-Abolish sanctioned illegal immigration and deny all social services including health care to illegal immigrants.
-Abolish the income tax, drive a wooden stake in the code, bury it under six feet and sprinkle holy water on the ground.
-Implement national sales tax.
-Make all savings tax deductible.
-$10K tax credit for every child a family has. Maybe bigger bonuses for more than two or three children.
-Tax credit for parents who educate outside the public school system.
-Uphold federal restrictions on using embryonic stem cells and abolish federal funding.
-Tax credits for purchasing hybrid cars.
-Sell the space station to private investors.
-Trash the shuttle and don’t build a replacement.
-Tax credits for LEO rocket investors.
-Bonuses for private companies getting to Mars similar to the X-Prize. Smaller cash awards for robotic expeditions, etc. Keep NASA as a public utility for facilitating exploration (communications satellites around Mars, etc.)
The Hutterites are the most successful people on this planet and they are pacifists. They do not spend their time and money building weapons.
Scott, the example of the Hutterites you mention is really amusing. Fundamentalist Christians who have a noted distain for birth control. No one BUT a people with strong moral values can settle Mars. The Hutterites know that a stable society is based on the family unit, a growing population, and separation of church and state. I hope that my fellow colonists have a higher moral authority than the state structure that you espouse.
Frankly, I agree.
Now, how do we persuade such people to try?
Well, I guess the next best thing are the Mormons. They have the same values and the highest percentage of graduate degree holders out of all religions.
I'ld be happier if the saturday night specials were done away with- if you want a gun, why hide it?
Don't poor people have the right to defend themselves?
The Hutterites are the most successful people on this planet and they are pacifists. They do not spend their time and money building weapons.
Scott, the example of the Hutterites you mention is really amusing. Fundamentalist Christians who have a noted distain for birth control. No one BUT a people with strong moral values can settle Mars. The Hutterites know that a stable society is based on the family unit, a growing population, and separation of church and state. I hope that my fellow colonists have a higher moral authority than the state structure that you espouse.
I have drafted a Martian constitution that contains provisions intended to minimize the probability that warfare will occur on Mars.
Throughout human history, we have used warfare to keep human populations at ecologically sustainable levels. Now that we have birth control pills, condoms, and family planning services, we can control our own population without warfare.
This scheme sounds like the pre-WWII Kellog Briand Pact, essentially declaring war illegal. I'm sure your provisions will give the same brevity of peace.
Actually, we don't fight wars to keep down the population. We fight them (at least the West) for the most part, to combat tyranny. Not always successfully or with satisfactory end results, but this is at least the ideology.
Yes, birth control has been very effective at controlling our population. Controlling western populations to the point where we are dying. Take a look at Scandanavia, South Korea, or Japan and you'll see where the US is headed. Want to see the war with the barbarians won without a shot? Let them outproduce us in the bedroom.
And in the future have religions as political parties. Like now I’m paying taxes for some church in what I don’t even believe in.
What country do you live in? I've never heard of having to pay taxes for a church. Unless you live in a Muslim country, where you pay taxes to what might be a theocratic government.
Probably, early colonists will voluntarily regulate birth through fertility control. While it is difficult to prognosticate about infrastructure and life support requirements, I'm referring to the issues of birth control say, when the colony might be several hundred strong. It seems that an economy of scale would develop when building a dome for 1000 inhabitants versus 20 people, bringing down the cost of children significantly.
So, once the INITIAL problems are resolved-the questions regarding giving birth and raising a child in 1/3 gravity, and the resources to support the child from a medical/educational standpoint, the issue of state-regulated birth control might come up.
I'm skeptical that the previously mentioned parties would be very accepting of someone trying to push morality down their throats by regulating or licensing births. I'd also opine that such regulations might lead to a slippery slope (again, referring China) where couples with the unwanted child might be pressured to abort or heavily fined. Finally, licensing births through the government would lead to the typical absurd interference, as officials create complex regulations as to what a "responsible" parent is.
Assuming that at this point martian infrastructure is sufficiently developed, I think it's possible that such regulations might lead to groups founding separate settlements without birth restrictions-the outcomes might be interesting.
I can't imagine that once could force birth control without the sort of draconian measures used by the Chinese government. What about the Catholic and Mormon colonists? Such a concept is against their beliefs. I opine that the idea of a Malthusian meltdown is highly unlikely. Indeed, the rapid growth of children would probably be an incentive for further expansion of the colony more than anything else. (in this regard, I'm referring to infrastructure such as building, greenhouses, exports, etc)
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