Shabbat Shalom !

 Hi All,

Israel welcomes more Ethiopian Jews to the homeland of the Jewish people. 

Shabbat Shalom!  

The Wormholes of Tau Ceti and Sol

 Hi All, 

By 2121 Earth is a galactic space power, in terms of Gross Galactic Product, territorial extent, population and military might. Earth also controls the two wormholes known to exist, akin to the strategic importance for trade as the  Suez and Panama Canals back on Earth. 

The first is at La Marais a Department of the French speaking Tau Ceti System, this wormhole will take you to the Andromeda Galaxy.  It and the infrastructure  surround it on both sides  are owned and operated   by the Elharar -Horowitz Interstellar Property Development Company Plc. There are several thousand species encountered so far and several hundred colonies settled,   but the only real power in Andromeda  is that of the Koobe. The Koobe are a Confederacy of many different species and AI, living in vast space habitats. Technologically advanced, their primary philosophy is hedonism. The primary trades are in Earth's vast arts and literature, energy and cuisine. 

The second is actually in the solar system on an Earth  Trojan Asteroid called Cranmer's Rock (the asteroid was initially owned by the Church of England) and is also owned by Elharar -Horowitz Interstellar Property Development Company Plc. It will take you to the edge of  Galaxy IC1101, the largest galaxy in the universe and a Duchy of the Byzantine Empire called Lafendu. This was only discovered 8 months ago, but already trade is picking up. There are colonial opportunities because the actual wormhole is in a small pocket galaxy roughly 45,000 light years in diameter and is claimed by no-one. 

Why is the population of Earth so big?

 Hi All, 

By 2121, the population of the  Earth sphere of influence across 3 galaxies  (as distinct from Lunar and Jupiter humans) is over 100 trillion: 

Human : 80 trillion

Sszoorg: 20 trillion 

Holograms of Hardlight composition  : 1.66  trillion

AI & Androids  : 3.75 trillion  

Alien/Extra Terrestrial : 120 billion

The reason for such a high population figure is three fold ; 

1) After world war three, the population of Earth halved, both as a consequence of the war itself and its aftermath in the Northern Hemisphere of a nuclear winter and nuclear summer as the depleted ozone layer gave Europe, Russia and Canada a climate akin to the tropics, but led to cancerous deaths and mass starvation. When the world government was created and after the 'discovery' of the Sszoorg and native Martians, the planet began to recover creating a massive baby boom between 1976 and 1996. Even well into the 22nd century, humans, especially those of the Northern Hemisphere have much larger families averaging 6.6 children per family as a result of the psychological shock of those years. Like wise the Szoorg  maintain high birthrates, but started from a much smaller base.

2)  The Szsoorg ' Artificial  Cloaca'  was invented by them to increase their birth rate at a quicker pace, it is basically a machine which combines the male sperm and female ova to create their eggs, which are then incubated until hatched. The Cloaca was modified for human use and became known as the 'exo-womb',  except it was initially only available for wealthy women who were 'too posh to push' and who didn't want the scar marks of a caesarean, but today they are widely used by middle class women who freeze and store their eggs and wait until they have an established career before having a family, which is possible because the average life expectancy is now 120 (a middle class woman  statistically can  live 30 years  more than their working class counterparts, who tend to have children at a younger age, and live longer than any other group, aside from the 1%  elite , but don't tell Guardian readers that one as they would have kittens).

3) Exo-Wombs Mark II are similar to their Mark I counterparts, but have a small nano Quantum Portal attached to them. In the event of an unwanted pregnancy rather than abort the baby, the foetus is transferred to the exo-womb via portal and born as any other exo-womb baby.

4) The Growth embryos and Exo-Wombs Mark III- the most controversial. This technology grows an embryo into an adult within 12 months. Initially used by the military to compensate for war shortages, they are now used by companies wherein recruitment for specific roles is difficult and more importantly used as a population boost  for space colonisation . It is actually cheaper for companies to do this than build high cost and high maintenance androids and AI. They are controversial because of issues around corporate slavery and exploitation, however, by 2088 full civil and political rights were confirmed  by the supreme court and written into law by  the 62nd Federal Parliament. 

5) The Emancipated Slaves of  Niagara Falls , Garissa and Olympic. These three are names of colonial ships  which crashed in the unknown regions space, circa 1999. The remains were discovered by a hostile species which we call the Minotaurs because of their resemblance to the creature of Greek mythology. These creatures enslaved the survivors of these three ships, using the technologies and  exo-womb Mark III to create and perpetuate a mass slave population and expand into space . That was until 2109, when they began raiding  Earth outposts and colonies, further  border conflicts began later that year and a full blown war was under way by 2110. In  2111 operation 'Moses'  was undertaken , which saw the mass liberation and exodus of  the  human slaves from the Minotaur Empire, effectively doubling the population of Earth's sphere of influence overnight. 

All of the above helped to fuel the colonisation of systems and planets and the total Earth sphere of influence spread over 3 galaxies is 139,972 systems, 1.3 million planets, 23,455,045 moons and billions of asteroid, orbitals, habitats and space stations. 

Care to comment on? Well no actually I don't

 Hi All,

 People have asked me to write about the Harry-Megan farce. 

Sorry but I switched off when he started complaining about how his 'allowance' (F^ck sake) had been cut off... What? What? A man in his mid 30s with a wife a child and another one on the way,  is moaning to the world that he should have a grant from his dad in order to survive, even though he is one of the world's most famous men and could get a well paid  job tomorrow ?  Actually men  should go and get a job to support their family , not rely on their parents for handouts. 

So no, I'm not wasting time on them pair!

Earth's Trojans

 Hi All,

In any one year Earth travels a distance of 584 million miles around the sun, but also trailing and leading (in front/behind) in this orbit  are several thousand space stations, habitats, industrial facilities and 'space trailer parks' and mined out  meteoroids, clustered together into estates and which have been converted into middle class semis and detached houses . In addition to these man-made objects are Trojan asteroids,  of those populated 12  are leading and 17 trailing, mined for their ice, gas and metal. These are so called because they were first discovered in Jupiter's orbit, wherein scholars names them Trojans and Greeks, after the ancient Trojan Wars. Every planet has a couple of Trojans, but Jupiter has so many because of her sheer size, but Earth's orbit was home to 33 billion Humans and Szsorg and a tiny percentage of extra -terrestrial aliens. 

Earth Trojan 312 is a smallish Earth Trojan Asteroid about the size of Rutland. It's new owners were quite obsessive about exploring this seemingly boring lump of rock. It look six weeks, but a  small  limpet class industrial station was able  attach itself to the rock to do a deep level scan of what was underneath. The scans showed something remarkable : after 1 and a  half a mile of rock , the interior was hollow. Precision tools drilled into the rock finally getting through to the other end, they'd made a gap big enough to put a ruler through width ways. This was just enough to put a portal through the crack, which enabled the team to send through a series of probes and drones. What they discovered was quite remarkable.,..

Floating Ships

 Hi All,

This is a legitimate photo of a ship off Cornwall. No it isn't an antigravity drive or aliens, but apparently a very clever mirage or optical illusion called a Fata Morgana.

Shabbat Shalom!

 Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom!

The Meaningful Vote

 Hi All,

Meanwhile.. back at Lambeth Palace.

Lightning flashed and clouds bellowed. It was a thunder snow storm over Lambeth Palace. 

The Most Reverend Christine Humphrey, 115^th Archbishop of Canterbury slumped in her chair as she placed the receiver back on the phone. It had been another difficult call and another rejection. This time from the Council of 12 Apostles of the Latter Day Saints, who simply couldn’t commit quadrillions of Saint's money to bailing out the Church of England’s colonial property development. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who was visiting the Faithful of Mars, was uncommittable  and Pope Patrick  of Rome, advised in his West of Ireland brogue  that women’s ordination was a stumbling bloc for the Vatican Investment Bank to consider a line of Credit, besides which he wondered aloud why he should invest in a mere 'ecclesiastical community' rather than a 'proper' Apostolic Church ? The Southern Baptist Coalition refused on the basis of ‘so-called same sex marriage’ and the Scottish Presbyterians of the Kirk weren't even answering her calls: like the Methodists and Congregational Reform Church , they'd gone to ground. 

Humphrey been told of the terms of the bailout on offer from Treasury an hour ago. It just seemed too much! Humphrey looked longingly  at the Mini bar and various decanters her predecessor had installed. There was a signed picture of Bishop Spong above it. But now was not the time for a stiff sherry, but a stiff upper lip! 

She called the Royal Bank of England and asked to speak to the Governor; will you really call in our loans today? Yes and you have no choice but to accept the deal!

There was a knock at the door and her Chaplain ushered in the Church accountant, a Partner at one of those prestigious galactic Accountancy and Consulting firms which cost millions, but don't seem to do anything. She quizzed him about a plan b, other than the one that was on offer. He said that the only on on offer was this one and the alternative was bankruptcy, which would be a catastrophe for the banks and the economy. She asked him if they'd done any work on such an outcome? He replied that they hadn't, she insist that they did. The accountant took note and said they would start on it right away. 

Once he was back in his offices at Canary Wharf the accountant contacted his real client, whom he didn't know, but who paid for 'information'. Pleased that his regular fee of £25 million has already been put into his e-vault, he advised his contact of the conversation that he'd just said. 'OK' was the terse reply. Seconds later he got a ping saying £100 million had just been deposited into his e-vault. 'Keep us informed:  bonus due  the moment they tell you to sign off a bankruptcy petition'.

Favours owed. Favours given.

 Hi All,

'So what does everyone think we should do?' Asked Kat as she looked around the table.

'You first' I suggested.

Kat took another gulp of wine, having almost demolished her first bottle. 

The New Maldives

 Hi All ,

The New Maldives, terraformed into a habitable place of  sub-tropical islands and seas, a contrast to the snowy weather of Birmingham in late winter. It used to be one of our colonies, before it became the 157th State 34 years ago, not that we control the politics of this state, but most of its Parliamentary delegation has worked for us at some point or other. Today, we still own 10% of the moons surface.  New Maldives, initially populated by refugees from the old Maldives back on Earth, before it disappeared like Atlantis,  has a Swiss style GDP per capita and a thriving population of 33 million. New Maldives itself was part of 34  moons of a hot Jupiter some 1,000 light years from Earth. There enough heat and light radiated from the gas giant and star that it was relatively easy to terraform.  It cost a lot, but EHC plc continues to make a decent return on the investment. Exactly how you are supposed to start and finish a colonial project. 

Why have a Bishop of Venus in the Church of England and other questions

 Hi All,

1) Some people have asked me about why I have a Bishop of Venus in my story when Venus clearly isn't part of England and someone noted that there 42 Dioceses and not 60. My answer is why does the Church of England have a Bishop of Europe? There's 60 Dioceses because, like Venus, they are extra-planetary. They didn't become part of the 'Anglican Communion' as separate entities, because the Church can't afford to let them go because of their income, trust funds and legacies. For example Venus has always had a tiny proportion of Anglicans relative to its population, about 1 million, but just as  Venus is one of the richest states in the Earther Union, so those 1 million contribute billions to the Church's Treasury. A communicant in the English Dioceses gives on average about £10 a week, a Venusian communicant about £10,000 a week.

2) Why is the currency the pound and not the dollar? The currency is officially  called PFY a combination of the Pound, Franc and Yen, the currencies of the founding members of the Earther Union after world war three in 1962, as America didn't join until 1974 (the Israeli currency was the Israeli pound, Lira is another word for pound  and so did the commonwealth use pounds, New Zealand, Australia  and not dollars except for Canada and the Caribbean) . It's shorthand that we say pounds or use the £ sign. As for understanding prices, divide anything I use by 25, so if your salary is £25,000 it would be £625,000 in 2120.

3) Why Birmingham as the Capital City? Why not.