New Mars Forums

Clark:

I tweaked my version of your flag design a little.  I toned down the red and green, made the border a little more golden in color, and added a small gold dot that represents the City of Euthenia.  The flag has the proportions of a Golden Rectangle and the gold dot is located at a point in the rectangle referred to as ?the Eye of God? (see The Golden Ratio, by Mario Livio, page 85).  One of the nine points of the Sun points toward the gold dot.  See the revised flag at http://www.geocities.com/scott956282743/euthenia.htm

On those really scary nights, when there are monsters hiding under every bed, mothers in Euthenia could tell their children that ?God watches over the City of Euthenia.?  But don?t tell A.J. about this or he might start hyperventilating.

Clark:

You wrote, ?I think on the east coast, people kind of live in a more regimented class hierarchy structure- which seems, at least from my impression, be the assumption you are operating on as for the future of Euthenia.  Might I suggest that you try not to dictate that people automatically live in regimented areas based on cultural identity??

My description of Euthenia includes 92 nationally sponsored neighborhoods and 8 experimental neighborhoods.  The experimental neighborhoods would be composed of people chosen by and from among the members of the nationally sponsored neighborhoods.  I structured the settlement in this way because, with people from dozens of different nations, they might not all be able to speak a common language.  I did not want to propose that people must be able to speak a particular language (e.g., English) as a condition of living in Euthenia.  The people in the experimental neighborhoods might get together with some professional linguists and create a new, uniquely Martian language.  That could be fun!  They might call it Marsperanto.

A.J.

You wrote, ?If I tried disagreeing with you in a respectful manner, I would fail because your notions are inherently loony.? 

You could address me in a respectful manner but you have made the decision to be malicious.  You have derisively referred to me as a ?fruitcake.?  I request an apology.  If you do not have the courage to post an apology then people will see that you are just a coward.

Gennaro:

You wrote, ?We've seen nothing but tricolours for the last 200 years now, spreading to every corner of the globe. It's sooo boring!"

I agree that tricolor flags are boring.  And I am not crazy about the red, green, and blue color combination, but I cannot change the fact that human color vision is based on these colors.

I have often seen U.S. flags that have fringes made of gold tassels.  That gave me an idea for dressing up my phi-proportioned, tricolor design.  I revised the specification for the flag to include a gold border that is one fortieth of the   flag height.  Take a look at the revised graphic.  It is posted at http://www.geocities.com/scott956282743/index.htm.

Byron:

You wrote, ?With all this talk about the economy these days, and the mass confusion it seems to be generating among the U.S. population, I've been wondering if it is really ever possible to fully understand the ?laws? of economics, if there really is such a thing.?

The laws of economics were formulated at a time when people used commodity money (i.e., gold and silver) as a medium of exchange and as a store of value.  Today we use token money (base-metal coins and bank notes that can be exchanged for base-metal coins).  Our money is now a political artifact.   Our money is manipulated by those who control the political process. 

The laws of economics that you learned in your university economics classes are much less true than they once were.  To help you to make sense of what is happening in today?s economy, I offer the following facts and analysis.

About thirty years ago a man said that he would like to be the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board during the final phase of the next Kondratieff Credit Cycle.  He said that he wanted to be in a position to try to prevent the monetary deflation and economic depression that usually occurs during that phase of the Cycle.  He wanted to be in a position to flood the financial system with liquidity in order to prevent monetary deflation and economic contraction.

The man who said that is now the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.  And in the last fiscal year he printed and pumped almost 1,000,000,000,000 additional dollars into the U.S. economy.

The Bank of Japan prints trillions of additional Yen and openly uses those Yen to prop up the Japanese stock markets.  The Japanese accept that sort of government intervention.  In contrast, Americans generally disapprove of such government manipulation of the stock markets.  So the Fed manipulates the markets by proxy.  On a daily basis, the Fed loans billions and sometimes tens of billions of dollars to the ?primary dealers? and the primary dealers then use that money in the futures pits to manipulate the markets.  And, to make a long story short, that is why the laws of economics seem so mushy and downright useless nowadays.

The U.S. dollar is being debased big-time and the financial markets are being manipulated by proxy.  You can protect yourself from that debasement and manipulation by putting your savings into the stocks of Canadian companies that produce gold and silver.  As the U.S. dollar continues to drop against the Canadian Dollar, Canadian gold and silver stocks will appreciate.  Furthermore, because central banks around the world are busily debasing their own token money in order to keep their exports competitive in U.S. markets, gold and silver will be appreciating at an accelerating rate against all of those other currencies.  At this point in the Kondratieff Credit Cycle, buying gold and silver is a no-brainer.

A long, long time ago, the people saw that some stars move across the sky very slowly, changing their positions slightly from one night to the next.  They saw that the wandering stars all moved in the same direction but that one of the wanderers, the reddish one, sometimes moved the other way for a short time.  The people thought that this reddish wanderer was very special.  They decided to find a very tall mountain so that they could climb up and look closely at this most special star. Some of the people went North to find a tall mountain.  Others went East.  A few went South and a bunch went West.  They searched the entire world.  They found many tall mountains but they never got high enough to get a really good look at the most special star.

After many generations passed, the people learned to make glass shapes that could be combined to give them a better view of the most special star.  They looked through their spyglasses and they saw that the special star was a place that they might be able to visit, and then they resolved to try.

The people, whose searching had taken them to all parts of the world, decided to join together to build a new city.  In their new city, they would prepare themselves to travel tens of millions of miles ? the longest journey that they had ever undertaken.  They built their new city and they named it Euthenia.

The people of Euthenia work every day to prepare themselves and their children for the longest journey.  They have resolved that they will not rest until they have climbed the tallest mountain on the most special star and looked up, once again, as their ancestors had done so long ago.

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Resolution of the City Council of the City of Euthenia

Resolved, that the foregoing myth shall be taught in the Euthenia City Schools.

Resolved Further, that the teachers in those schools shall prepare their students to conduct dramatic performances of this myth.

Resolved Further, that such performances shall occur during the time when Mars is in opposition to Earth.

This is to certify that the foregoing Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Euthenia City Council on May 1, 2007.

Signed, L. Tui, City Council Secretary

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Recent genetic analyses indicate that all modern peoples are descended from the !Kung, who still live in small bands in the Kalahari region of south central Africa.  Geneticists believe that about 60,000 years ago some of the !Kung migrated out of Africa and colonized the entire world.  Geneticists have not yet been able to determine whether these migrating !Kung were searching for tall mountains.

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?Myths, legends, and folk tales express cultural beliefs and values; offer hope, excitement, and vicarious escape; and teach lessons that society wants taught.?

Conrad Phillip Kottak, Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition (1982), page 186

Euler:

You asked if I am proposing a ?theocratic government.?  No,  I am not proposing that the City of Euthenia have a theocratic government.  I am not proposing that meetings of the City Council be opened by a religious leader who prays for the guidance and blessing of a supernatural being.  I am not proposing that the City Treasurer issue coins which bear the words ?In God We Trust.?  I am not proposing that Euthenia?s public officials place one hand on a religious text while reciting the oath of office.  I am not proposing that atheists be legally excluded from holding public office.  I am not proposing that children be taught to pledge allegiance to the flag of a government formed ?under God.?  I am not proposing that anyone be required to profess belief in the existence of a supernatural being, not even Euthenia, the Greek goddess of prosperity and plenty.

I am proposing that Euthenians adopt an aesthetic tradition that promotes social consensus and cooperation.

Section 10 of the Draft Constitution of the Provisional Government of Mars established the proportions of the flag of that government.  The height of the flag was to be two-thirds of the flag?s length.  This is a ratio of 2 to 3 or, alternatively,1 to 1.5.

Section 10 has been revised to read as follows, ?The flag of this Government shall consist of three vertical stripes. The stripe at the hoist end of the flag shall be red, the central stripe shall be green, and the final stripe shall be blue. The width of each stripe shall be one-third of the flag length. The flag shall have the proportions of a Golden Rectangle; one unit of height and one and sixty two hundredths units of length.?

An example of a flag with these proportions may be viewed at http://www.geocities.com/scott956282743/index.htm.

A Golden Rectangle has the exact proportions of 1 to 1.618033988749...  The number 1.618033988749... is known as Phi.  The formula for calculating the Phi is the square root of 5 plus one divided by 2.  The square of Phi is 2.618033988749... and the reciprocal of the Phi is 0.618033988749...  Notice that in these three numbers all of the digits to the right of the decimal point are exactly the same.  This is the only irrational number for which this is true.  This fact has inspired Mario Livio the write that Phi is the most irrational of all the irrational numbers.  See The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World?s Most Astonishing Number.

The red, green and blue color scheme of the Martian flag, as promoted by the Mars Society, is based on Kim Stanley Robinson?s trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars.  I believe that it would be better to explain that the flag?s red, green and blue color scheme is based on the fact that human color vision depends on three types of color receptors.  One type of color receptor is sensitive to red light, another type is sensitive to green light, and a third type is sensitive to blue light.  This explanation supports the idea that people all over this world can join together under the Martian flag in order to pursue the objective of transforming Mars into a bountiful and beautiful New Earth.

Clark:

I posted a site plan for a prototype martian settlement on the web.  Click here.

Take a L   k!

Clark:

Conducting an ISO audit is not something that the average voter can do. 

I have worked as the Document Administrator at a chemical manufacturing plant.  In that capacity, I maintained the plant?s ISO documentation.  Those documents were crucial to the operation of the plant.  A small error in one of the documents could result in a valve being opened at the wrong time.  This error could cause the explosion of equipment worth several millions of dollars.  Furthermore, the explosion could kill a dozen or more people.

A number of NASA astronauts have been killed during ground operations.  Working around rockets is a dangerous business and Martians will have to be even more careful than their terrestrial cousins.  On Earth, people can run out of a burning building to escape a fire.  In contrast, Martians will not be able to just run outside to escape a fire.  They will either fight and defeat the fire or they will all die.  I therefore believe that Martian settlements should have very high-quality governance systems that are ISO certified.  I also believe that the curriculum of a settlement?s educational system should include required courses about quality management.

On Earth we say that ?An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.?  Martians will probably tell their children that ?An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.?  The unforgiving environment of Mars will make Martians very safety-conscious and very careful.  For example, before they leave their workshops for the day, Martians will make double-sure that all oily rags have been placed into steel containers that have tight-fitting lids.

A Meta Mars Society

Since the construction of a prototype martian settlement appears to be beyond the scope of the Mars Society, I have drafted a set of Articles of Association that would support the construction of a prototype martian settlement.

[Draft] Articles of Association of the
Society of Sociocultural Systems Engineers

Euthenia - A Good Place that Becomes Better Every Day.

In Greek mythology, Euthenia was the goddess of prosperity and plenty.  Her image appears on the coins of several early Mediterranean civilizations.  I believe that Euthenia is an excellent name for a martian settlement.

The word euthenics is derived from the Greek word euthenein, which means ?to flourish.?  Euthenics is defined by Webster?s dictionary as ?a science that deals with development of human well-being by improvement of living conditions.?

People who live in Euthenia could be referred to as Euthenians.  And if they applied the science of euthenics to their efforts to improve their living conditions then they could be referred to as euthenists.  If they made it their policy to try to continuously improve their well-being and living conditions then their settlement?s motto might be ?Euthenia - a good place that becomes better every day.?

If the Euthenians were euthenists then their society could be referred to as a sociocracy.  Webster?s dictionary defines sociocracy as ?the application of scientifically determined principles promoting the interests o
f society as a whole.?