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#3326 2024-02-22 18:55:16

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

SpaceNut wrote:

Th what posts do you want moved out of the topic?

Thanks for your interest ... let's not do anything.  The way the forum works, and has always worked, is that an item in a post inspires a member to think about something, and sometimes whatever that is is not related to the topic.  The easiest and most natural thing for anyone to do is to post right where the reply window is handy.

We have so few contributing members right now, I'm hoping they will continue even if they occasionally put a post in a topic that is not a perfect match.  What we ** can ** do is to try to redirect the energy that starts flowing at that point, to a more suitable topic. 

Some topics just catch on, and posts start to flow.

(th)

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#3327 2024-02-22 19:03:02

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,967

Re: Housekeeping

What I was trying to get at was the volume of water 1 cu meter is 1 mT for its size as a cylinder that is 1 meter in diameter and 9 meters tall would carry 63.3 mt or change the values to be the opposite changes the ships shape and what can be brought to mars in a cargo only format 1 way. To satisfy crews long stay on mars that could be as long as 560 days if launched early in the earth window and if returning from mars late the stay increases.

Once you know the max volumes and mass then you can make changes to balance and lower mass and volumes with other options while increasing energy needs.

Do this for each consumed item as if you were camping first and back packing it to the camp site.

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#3328 2024-02-22 19:09:03

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

Thanks for thinking about the possible new Education forum...

SpaceNut wrote:

Some of the topics to move would be in the mar's society folders.

Possible others would be the wiki companion topics.

We might considering copying some content into a new forum.  No need to remove it from the forum locations where it is now.

What I am hoping we can achieve is to invite actual educators (in addition to Dr. Johnson) to build up a collection of knowledge in the new forum.  We have other forums where discussion can continue.

The folks who settle on Mars are going to need lesson plans and defined curricula that matches the intensity of the environment.

History of Earth is an important category, but I don't think anyone in the current forum is qualified to offer an opinion.  That doesn't mean they won't offer opinions.  They most certainly will.  However, the place for those opinions is in the existing forum, not in the new one.

I'd like to see the new forum built up by real educators, either for their own use on Mars, or for those who will take on the thankless task of trying to educate children on Mars so they don't become problems for the society, as so many do on Earth.

(th)

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#3329 2024-02-22 19:11:19

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,967

Re: Housekeeping

There is no topic copy function for this forum software.

There is move and leave a link where it once was as a redirect.

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#3330 2024-02-22 19:30:11

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... Thanks for the reminder in post #3329

What we have now is on the verge of being upgraded to run on modern software.  kbd512 has been busy with work and family, but at the most recent Google Meeting, he reported good news on both fronts, so he may be able to free up a bit of time to work on the repairs.

I expect that a topic copy program is possible, so once we have a working copy of the software, we can investigate.

It is possible that a php file we already have can be adapted to this new function, if it is needed.

(th)

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#3331 2024-02-23 08:32:07

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... this post is about the topics with "government" in the title

Martian government and importance of communication by Big_Al
Martian Politics and Economy    10    2023-09-23 06:43:42 by Mars_B4_Moon

Government of Mars to start on earth by BenVA [ 1 2 ]
Martian Politics and Economy    48    2022-09-03 08:25:00 by Mars_B4_Moon

Corporate Government by RobertDyck [ 1 2 3 … 12 ]
Martian Politics and Economy    277    2022-08-29 05:46:29 by Mars_B4_Moon

Government shut downs by SpaceNut
Not So Free Chat    12    2021-12-04 20:23:08 by SpaceNut

America's Taxation - Taxes the burden of government by SpaceNut
Not So Free Chat    3    2020-01-25 21:50:30 by SpaceNut

World Government Summit 17 Session: A Conversation with Elon Musk by EdwardHeisler
Not So Free Chat    0    2018-02-18 14:03:59 by EdwardHeisler
Pages:1

I was looking for a place to put a report that came in from our correspondent in Alaska....

The best fit appears to be the topic by big_al ....

We don't appear to have a topic for government ...

The closest we have is RobertDyck's proposal of a government run by a corporation... that would definitely work ... there are plenty of examples in human history.

The power in that system would remain with the Board of Directors representing stock holders.  In that configuration, the people on site would be powerless. 

In light of American difficulty with self-government, as well as similar chaos around the world, that might be best.

Never-the-less, the item I wanted to report is that our correspondent just returned from a travel assignment, to survey the population scattered across a large area. Since this is the US, the survey would not have been census related.  It might have been the government of the state itself, seeking information about the needs of it's citizens.

In any case, ** any ** government on Mars needs to know who is present, and both what their needs might be, but what there capabilities might be, and what risks might be associated with each one.

(th)

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#3332 2024-02-23 20:48:04

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re link to KISS paper ....

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 33#p219733

Thanks for the link to this terrific paper!

It seems a very nice fit for Calliban's series on cast iron structures on Mars.

(th)

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#3333 2024-02-24 11:32:38

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re proposal to expand the Index level ...

In earlier correspondence, I have proposed two new Index level forums: Industry and Education

Terraformer took an interest in the proposal. 

Calliban has offered support for the proposal, because it would provide a place for him to develop his concept for a cast iron industry on Mars.

Today, I am back with two more potential Index level forum ideas: Mathematics and Chemistry.

We already have a topic for "physics" in the Science index level. That could be turned into an Index level as well.

Tomorrow we will find out if the forum software upgrade has made any progress. 

(th)

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#3334 2024-02-26 08:19:59

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re counting of reads of posts ....

At present our forum software does not attempt to count reads of individual posts.  Since we now have the forum software in our possession (or more accurately, in the possession of Webmaster kbd512) we have the opportunity to add new features that we might agree are both useful and possible.

The counting of reads is complicated by the fact that the majority of the "Guests" we see in our activity list on the main Index page are spam robots looking for a way into the forum. 

What would be useful would be to know how many reads have taken place by registered members.

The count of robot reads might be interesting but is not particularly helpful.

Update a bit later ....

It may be possible to distinguish between robots and people, and different kinds of robots.

For example, robots that collect information for Google and other Search engines are "good" robots that we want to count.

We might consider a new class of membership: "reader" ... this would be someone who does not want to have to deal with actually posting anything, but who ** does ** want to be counted as a reader of a given post, or of a given author.

This concept might be similar to the "follower" status offered by many (if not all) social media sites.

In fact .... "follower" might be a better choice than "reader" because it is so familiar.

A "follower" could subscribe to a particular author, and receive notice of new posts by that individual.

I'm thinking about this because imgur.com shows a count of displays of images I have placed there. For example, the Cycloid Payload Animation now has 44 Views, which is pretty amazing considering the very limited audience who might be interested in something like that.

Admittedly, I ** have ** notified a few friends that the animation is working, but the count of ** those ** would be on the order of 4, not 44.

(th)

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#3335 2024-02-26 18:19:53

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,967

Re: Housekeeping

Index» Interplanetary transportation
Pages:1 2 3 … 27                                NextPost           new topic

Topic                                                  Replies                                                                    Views    Last post
Sticky: Forty 40 Ton Mars Delivery Mechanism by tahanson43206 [ New posts ] [ 1 2 3 ] 54    1,161    Yesterday 21:50:45 by tahanson43206

New Underhill Forum index topic areas listing:
Prototype Military Forum - New Index Level Proposal
Prototype Mathematics Index Level Forum
Prototype Engineering Forum
Prototype Industry Forum - New Index Level Proposal
Prototype Education Forum - a new forum at the Index Level
Prototype Index Level forum for Agriculture

of course, some of these are self-explanatory as to what goes in them.

We are not a blog so we must try to be respectful that this is a Mars community of dreamers.

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#3336 2024-02-27 07:21:14

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re # 3335

Thanks for engaging with the two items you've included in the post....

First, thanks for the reminder that the forum software already keeps track of reads at the topic level.

My concern there is that the count includes web crawlers, who visit use every day to see what's new.  We don't know how may members have looked at the topic.  In addition, the spammer robots are still crawling our system, trying to find a way in. I suspect that many of the read counts are due to their activity.

We can take another look at this when we have the software running with modern support packages.

Second, after looking at the list you've collected, I think Underhill makes sense.  It's sort of a British way of identifying the outer perimeter of a population center, and it can work, so we'll just make it work.

Regarding what goes into these ... your worry about politics has bled over into my worry that someone will try to bring politics into these new forums. I am most definitely opposed to that idea, and will attempt to prevent it or roll it back if it occurs.

Politics seems to be a highly interesting aspect of the human experience, and there are members who indulge in it.  We already have plenty of forums and vast numbers of topics where folks can indulge in a fascination with politics.  I'm hoping we can keep it out of these new forums.

Thank you again for your summary of the proposals to date.  Your support and endorsement is the key to our eventually implementing any or all of these.

(th)

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#3337 2024-02-27 08:00:18

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re new (proposed) Forums at the Index level...

This is a follow up on your hint about a description that might go with each new forum...

I decided to look at the descriptions the forum creators used:


Meta New Mars
Have your say about this website and forums. All opinions welcome!

Mars Society International
General discussion of Mars Society activities and events

Mars Analogue Research Stations
Current and future activities of the F-MARS and MDRS, as well as other planned research stations

Mars Rovers / University Rover Challenge
Discussion on the various Mars Rover projects being pursued by the Mars Society

Mars Gravity Biosatellite
An artificial gravity project to simulate the effects of Martian gravity on animals, initially the Translife project

Youth Group / Educational Outreach
Discussion of what the future colonists of Mars can do to help the Mars Society now and educational outreach through projects like GenMars

Human missions
Cost, logistics, funding, technology and timeframe for manned missions to Mars

Interplanetary transportation
Present and future methods of spaceship propulsion, e.g. fission, fusion, solar sail

Planetary transportation
Transportation within Mars; rovers, Mars suits, dirigibles, gliders and more

Unmanned probes
Mars Global Surveyor, ESA Mars Express and future probes

Life support systems
The problems of producing food, air and water on Mars

Life on Mars
Discussion of evidence for past and present life on Mars as well as methods of detection. No "image artifact" discussion.

Water on Mars
Was water present on the surface on Mars in the past, and in what quantities? Where is the water on Mars now?

Terraformation
How, when and why (or why not) we should terraform Mars

Pictures of Mars
Paintings, images, photos, videos, animations, movies of all things Mars. No "image artifact" discussion.

Martian Politics and Economy
How should Mars be governed? Should there be a planetary government with constitution? What sort of economic systems should be used?

Civilization and Culture
Discussion on the social, cultural and anthropological aspects of human missions and colonies on Mars

Martian Chronicles
A forum for creative ideas (such as short stories and poetry).

Liberum Olympia
Wiki collaboration forum. This is where wiki users can talk about adding new content and changing things around.

Not So Free Chat
Off-topic discussion of mostly anything and everything, except politics

Science, Technology, and Astronomy
It doesn't have to be about Mars!

Space Policy
Light political discussion relevant to Mars exploration and space; outreach to politicians in the US and worldwide. Refrain from general politics.

Other space advocacy organizations
The Planetary Society, National Space Society, SEDS and others

First Words
Planning the New Mars event for World Space Week (October 4-10th)

Intelligent Alien Life
*All* posts pertaining to this topic should be made in this forum

New Mars Articles
Comment on New Mars articles

(th)

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#3338 2024-02-27 08:07:32

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ....

If you can find a moment or two over the coming week, please write a one line draft description for the proposed new forums.

Whatever you write is a starting point, but the value is in giving our members a sense of your thinking, and a basis for offering alternative wording.

I recommend that all changes at this level should be done with consensus of the four Admins.

(th)

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#3339 2024-03-04 20:08:08

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

We crossed Post #220000 recently.

The Potholes scan revealed just one: Update for Web Automation Report for 03-04-2024 at 09:08:14

ID: 219674

One out of 1000 posts .... not bad at all!

(th)

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#3340 2024-03-06 22:08:31

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut .... the subject of a magnetic field at Mars came up recently, in a post by a NewMars member...

Here is a reminder from NASA that Mars does not currently have a magnetic field:

Mars does not presently have a global magnetic field but had one early in its life, similar to that of Earth. However, Mars does have very strong crustal magnetic fields, more than 30 times stronger than those of Earth.

Mars Global Surveyor Magnetic Field Investigation

NASA (.gov)
https://mgs-mager.gsfc.nasa.gov
About featured snippets

Feedback
People also ask
Why does Mars not have magnetic field?
Is Mars Habitable without a magnetic field?
When did Mars lose its magnetic field?
Why is there almost no magnetic field on Mars?

Possible pothole near post at next scan: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 61#p220161

(th)

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#3341 2024-03-07 08:23:31

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

This post is about measuring or predicting the forces at work on an ion some distance from an object ...

The topic was included in one of Void's posts recently...

An ion in orbit around an  object such as an asteroid will be subject to forces of various kinds.  Most of these will be small.

The gravity of the Sun is always present.  The gravity of the nearby object will be present.  Gravity pulls by major planets will be present.

Moving particles will be passing through the area.

It seems possible that there might be large scale magnetic fields sweeping the location, such as those from Earth.

A magnet located inside or even on the nearby object will have negligible influence on the ion due to the power of the Inverse Cube Law.

Of all the forces in play, it seems likely to me the gravity of the Sun will predominate.

(th)

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#3342 2024-03-08 21:26:43

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... the weekend is here, so I'm hoping you have a few minutes to spare to spend here.

We have a lot of potential topics to develop, and only a few active members.

Our efforts to recruit new members have been less than sizzling in recent years.  That could change. 

There's a lot going on in the space arena, both here on Earth and around the Solar System.

(th)

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#3343 2024-03-09 08:39:43

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,967

Re: Housekeeping

Space rock of any size fall under scientific and unmanned exploration as topics by name as well as location plus materials.

Active members have always been low after Facebook, twitter and other places.

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#3344 2024-03-13 18:23:09

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

Regarding this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p220357

Have you noticed that Finland has come into focus as of interest to Vladimir Putin .... I'm unclear on the news, but get the impression that Putin is thinking about putting troops on the border with Finland.

The folks in that little village might have more to worry about than the amount of sunlight they receive.

That said, thanks for the report on the interesting thermal energy storage idea.

(th)

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#3345 2024-03-14 11:56:10

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut or kbd512 ....

As reported in another topic, I invested in a generator (it may be an alternator but I ** think ** it's a generator).

This unit was sold as a replacement part for a golf cart, so I ** think ** it produces DC voltage in the 6-12 volt range.

The unit has three terminals. One is marked F1, one is marked F2 and the center terminal is marked DF.

I understand the DF terminal is supposed to be connected to the regulator.  A value of ground on that terminal will cause the voltage generated to be maximum.

Would I be correct in guessing that the generator can be turned clockwise or counterclockwise, and the generated voltage will be positive or negative at the F1 and F2 terminals?

A V-belt arrived in the mail today, so I can now build a frame to hold the generator next to the drill press. My plan is to test the generator by turning it with the drill press. 

The long term plan is to implement a compressed air energy storage system.

This forum is ** filled ** with theoretical discussions that go on at great length about how great compressed air would be for all sorts of things, but I haven't seen a single practical idea in any of the messages I've read.  However, I haven't read everything, so perhaps I missed a practical idea.

(th)_

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#3346 2024-03-16 20:20:46

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For kbd512 -- cc:SpaceNut, RobertDyck

In order to try to assist with upgrade of our forum software, I have opened an Azure account for newmarsmember@gmail.com.

In order to set up the account, I had to put my credit card on the line.  However, since kbd512 will be the only one using the account other than me, and since we have a free period of time to try the service, I ** think ** I'll be OK.  The service I think we should use is Linux running in a virtual machine.  If everything works as I am hoping, we should be able to test the updated software using the Azure account. I have a domain name and can point it to the Azure account, if that seems advisable.

(th)

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#3347 2024-03-17 06:49:50

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

Here is what the new Azure account for NewMarsMember looks like .... quote is from a welcome email ...

Welcome to your Azure free account
Inbox

Microsoft Azure <azure-noreply@microsoft.com>
Sat, Mar 16, 10:05PM (10 hours ago)
to me

Microsoft Azure   
Go to the portal >
Important   
You have 30 days left to use your credit. Check your remaining credit >
Welcome to Azure, Thomas
Build your next idea with 12 months of free services and a USD200* credit. Start working in Azure now, with documentation that includes sample code, tutorials, quickstarts, and how-to guides.

Explore documentation >


Understand cloud fundamentals
Learn at your own pace with this in-depth, online course on core cloud concepts.

Take the course >



Get long-term value from the cloud
Set your organization up for success in Azure. Take this short course on estimating and managing future costs.

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*Depending on the country in which you sign up for your Azure free account, you may receive this credit in a specified local currency.

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(th)

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#3348 2024-03-19 19:02:42

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut and kbd512...

Sunday evening's Google Meeting resulted in arrival of the FluxBB package in a zip file.

I unzipped the file and confirmed that the contents were created in a user directory.

This evening was the monthly meeting of the local Linux User Group, and the meeting leader was willing to allow me to offer the FluxBB configuration challenge for the group to work on.  We spent a good hour performing ownership changes to files and folders so that the FluxBB package would have the right permissions when it was installed.  As things stand, we have two positive developments to report, and a remaining challenge to solve.

First, the existing Apache 2 installation is still working with MySQL running the Forum database.  For a while it stopped working, due to ownership changes.

Second, the new forum software is installed in the Apache 2 directory and permissions have been applied there, as needed.

The forum software is not yet running, but I think we are close.... when we enter localhost:/FluxBB/index.php the system branches to install.php.

I assume this happens because index.php tries to run but it encounters a bug ? and install.php launches by default.

(th)

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#3349 2024-03-20 18:21:29

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re FluxBB progress...

While the FluxBB package is not yet running on my development system, it is ** very ** close!

I'd like to add a thought to your collection of items about the future of the forum package.

It occurred to me that once we get the software running, and installed on the Mars Society servers, we might be able to take a look at features we've thought about for many years.  An example is a "like" feedback feature of some kind.  Often our members have indicated the'd prefer to just signal approval of a post, without consuming a post to provide a text message. 

In addition, it might be helpful to know the number of times ** real ** forum members have read a post.  We already have counts of reads at the topic level, but those include the web crawlers as well as the constant  barrage of spammers who are still trying to find a way into the site.

(th)

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#3350 2024-03-20 19:27:35

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 17,325

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut and kbd512....

We are ** so ** close !!!

http://localhost/FluxBB/listtopic.php?id=3

The command above shows that the little listtopic.php script that I've been running for some time works when moved into the FluxBB folder where all the forum software resides.

The script is running, as shown by this output:

Post ID: 36425
Post ID: 126677
Post ID: 36433
Post ID: 78908
Post ID: 78914
Post ID: 80880
Post ID: 80881
Post ID: 80893
Post ID: 80908
Post ID: 80925
Post ID: 83103
Post ID: 85814
Post ID: 85899
Post ID: 88218

However, when I start any of the forum scripts, the result is always a default to try to install using install.php.

I suspect there is only a minor adjustment needed.

FYI.... the procedure needed to get listtopic.php to run was:

1) copy to FluxBB folder
2) Change ownership to match all the other files
3) Edit listtopic.php itself to point to the require.php file it needs to access the MySQL database.

It may be that we need to update a pointer like that somewhere in the forum package.

(th)

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