New Mars Forums

We submit a monopoly  of force to the State and when that monopoly is used to perpetuate unnecessary violence against a class of people within our social compact, and do nothing, we are all guilty of allowing this to be done in our name. We become complicit.

When a class of people within our social compact universally declare that the very arm of the State sanctioned to uphold our collective safety is perpetuating ongoing and systemic violence, we should collectively pause and examine the system we have in place. To do otherwise is to be complacent.

Be they sinners, godless heathens, or criminals, how we treat our most wretched is a reflection of our own soul, collective or otherwise. To say nothing of the countless innocents who died at the hands of police for being the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But hey, looks like this is all being tied up in a nice bow with the explanations. Good luck.

I did not mean to cite the Bard, but will accept the association. What many here have missed, in my long years lingering have observed, is that our dream of Mars is bereft of passion. So many paint in the black and white of mathematical formula, make chromatic a scientific theory of possibility, outline an antiseptic uncaring image of a world with no connection to history or to emotion.

Will we sail a 100 million miles to create a calendar that commemorates long dead terran scientists for no other reason than to be different from our Terran birth? No. Mars will adopt a calendar that facilitates business, as you identify, but recognizes a meaningful structure based on local conditions. Earth Rise, Earth Fall. If you think me wrong, our own earth calendar is based on the same concept of Sun Rise, and Sun Fall as it dictates the results of a society dependent on agriculture. Mars will be dependent on the Earth for any length of predictable future in the same way.

In a Mars/Earth business relationship, the actual dates are not important. The time lag and the relationship of conjunction is, which again goes back to why Earth Rise (getting closer) and Earth Fall (moving away) is a more critical element for any calendar.

Something to chew on.

Either way, kudos on the commitment to your calendar. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is something that allows people to actually connect. Halves and Quarters are great mathematical constructs, but Friday night is something we all relate to more than Day 5 of 7, Second half, Third iteration of Four in the Seventh Month of Twelve.

Dear TH,

I appreciate your contributions. Your assessment is misguided. Enjoy yourself alone. Plenty of sand on the beach for everyone to have their own sandcastle.

Beware the tide.

Thanks tahanson4306; I'll refer to you simply as TH for short.

What most calendar's miss is that time keeping and date keeping are largely subjective and entirely ego-centric experiences. We frame dates in relation to ourselves and our needs. Thus two book ends to bank on will be a Mars/Earth relationship. A Mars approach to Earth will have a real effect on people living/working on Mars just as a Earth retreat will have a real effect on people. This contextualizes and makes meaningful the date or time period. A calendar has to be anchored to these types of points.  Additional reference points will be local weather conditions that require modification to behavior; seasonal dust storm patterns, solar maximum/minimum values, temps that equate to martian winter or summer that have material effects on hardware or interaction with the local environment result in a more meaningful calendar or time keeping system

June *means* something, inherently, in and of itself. We have shared reference points that allow the calendar to act as a communication tool to express the experience of time.  Every Martian calendar will fail unless it includes this core component.

Second month of the 3rd quarter and 2nd half has no context or reference for a shared experience. Earth Fall, Feb (or Earth Rise, Feb) achieves the same concept of a 24 month calendar that roughly translates to a terran counterpart without over-complicating the terminology.  Just a thought.

Sanity check. How many of you want to play these odds: 1 in 5 you require ICU level hospitalization that you can pick up from handling plastic or carboard? How many of you want to play the odds if you are unfortunate enough to get sick, you have a 50% to 80% mortality rate. This is math folks, not politics. Science. Don't be f*cking clowns and pretend otherwise.

You think you would launch a f*cking rocket with these odds? WTF is wrong with you? You are on a Mars board and this is the level of debate?

We just came online with enough capacity to test existing patient populations, barely. We still do not have legitimate antibody testing. We still do not have any other form of treatment other than, "good f*cking luck". Pretty sure economic prosperity is not found when people are f*cking dying in the goddamn streets.

Yeah, we all have to get this disease and hope to god we survive. But the rationale approach in this situation is to have us all get this disease slowly so the goddamn health system has capacity to care for us when it is our turn to play Russian roulette. This isn't politics, this is being goddamn f*cking pragmatic. Chances of survival are pretty bad to begin with,  but overwhelming the health system makes collective survival rates approach zero.

And you can't quarantine 3% of the population because the goddamn virus attacks everyone. Completely healthy adults without pre-existing conditions are susceptible. If you want to lock up the hypertension, overweight, pre-diabetic crew, congrats, you've locked up a third of US adults. Congratu-f*cking-lations. What the hell do you think economic recovery looks like in that scenario?

kbd512. hoo rah. whatever.

you are an american. so am i. we are fuc*ing demeaned. we can disagree on policy. we disagree, i know, it's cool. but come the f*ck on. Don't sell yourself and your principles for the short term Trump gain. Reject the liberal alternative, but also reject what is categorically a rejection of your core values.

Or not. Whatever.

Space force only plays out one way: Project Thor, Rods from God. the logical conclusion is an administrative arm of the military that oversees kinetic kill vehicles in LEO that can rubbilize  non-nuclear state actors.

All that space, it would be sad if at the end, all our questions were answered.

Check out "We are legion" by Dennis Taylor. It's an easy read, and a novel take on the genre. Speaks directly to your fantasy. I read the series, and while there are some trite conceits, it is good popcorn fare.

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-B … B01LWAESYQ

Dear terraformer, is "clark" my real name?

No. I spell mine with a K.

oldfart for the win, pity the congratulations given the handle

tahanson43206, look elsewhere for your kickstarter. the problem set is different enough to exclude commonality.

also, for the crew: tahanson43206, if you are asking this kind of clarifying question, you don't actually appreciate mars and are probably only here to exploit others.

i choose madness.

reduce material into energy and blast off into interstellar.

I journey to what I cannot reach. I seek what may not be sought.

Yeah void, your reply shows how sad you are.