Lutonianity

 Hi All,

In my 'alternate galaxy' , there are many religions, mostly followed upon species/ethnic lines: converts are welcome upon it is not demanded as part of that particular religions creed. However there are several religions who are outwardly 'evangelist' or proselytizing because their religion demands it, wherein the religion embraces a universalism in that  all species,  races, gender, ethnicities , cultures fall into the eye of their deity and therefore their particular religion must be followed to be 'saved' or if not are 'damned' in the afterlife. There are 2  of these religions in the galaxy  that are sincere - rather than cynical-  in this regard  and another 2 where  such belief is  the  official stamp of the government , but in reality is a work of fiction in order to keep control of their respective empires. 

Humans produced one of these galactic  evangelising religions, less than 200 years old and indeed 90% of humans don't actually follow this religion , called Lutonianity, the religion of the 'prophet'- to believers the last holy prophet that will ever appear in the galaxy, with his legacy entrusted to the Office of   The Holy Guru,  Derek of Luton (he was actually born in a barn in  Wellingborough), as written down in the Lutonian Bible, a collection of various books, narrating his sayings, miracles, parables and teachings in an around Luton, Bedfordshire and the home counties of England,  the early  history of the new religion , liturgy, philosophy and organisational structure of. 

That most humans don't follow this religion seems irrelevant to extra terrestrial believers, as it is noted in their holy book 'he came unto his own, but his own received him not and now yours is to decided to use the keys of belief or rejection, to decide for  heaven or  hell via belief alone '. Yet 2,700 quadrillion people across the galaxy follow this religion, many states have it as their official religion, whether republic or kingdom,  with both Luton and Wellingborough being important places of holidays and pilgrimage for devout believers. Given that the Lutonian scriptures are written in 20th and early 21st century English and it is forbidden to translate them into any other language, it is not surprising that this form of English is now such a widely spoken interstellar language.  The HQ of this religion isn't based on earth though  and its Guru - the successors to prophet  Derek - reside in its own state on a Moon of  the Tau Ceti System ( 'Whilst his disciples quarrelled during  last orders at the pub about who was going to be the first to get the last pint in for the Prophet, who had been debating the revellers  and the punters since 12... He said unto Raymond of Walsall [ the First Guru]  "you are the Guru upon which I will build my Temple", then he said unto his disciples 'the last pint is the first pint and so shall the first be the last "). 

Will the galaxy have religions?

 Hi All,

Unlike other sci- fi people, I think that religion will actually continue with us to the stars and even when we make 'first contact' with aliens. Atheists may scoff at such an idea, but if you think about it atheists and sceptics have been throwing rocks at religion for at least 200 years and religion hasn't actually died. Indeed the more an atheist (Socialist - which isn't really an atheist socialism state c.f. Socialist states of the 20th century)  state prosecutes a religion, the stronger it gets, because in a way it gives those who follow such x, y, z religion a greater rationale for following and being more devout to that religion. 

The key question for human religions will be the matter of conversion of aliens and indeed whether aliens have a religion. Here a line is blurred between religion and philosophy/ideology. Maybe some aliens are good Marxists  or Woke. Maybe some are capitalists and that's a religion (e.g. Ferengi from Star Trek and their 'divine treasury') . Other religions may exist in the sense of the atheist or Marx's "opium of the people"  critique of them e.g. they exist to exert 'control' on populations ( Star Gate's Gaould System Lords/Ori or Deep Space Nine's Dominion) Or maybe some have their religion because it has become a form of culture, like Liberal Jews. Which reminds me there's a joke in that : 

'What is there difference between a Liberal/Reform Jew and Trump?'

Answer : Trump has Jewish grandchildren, 

 I will of course think about these musings and see if my own sci-fi has any interesting religions. 

Understanding 'faster than light travel'

 Hi All,

In my somewhat futile attempt to explain any faster than light travel across the universe, my bro cut through my waffle and explained it as thus : 

"Put your hand on a hot babe and an hour can seem like a minute: put your hand on a hot plate and a minute can seem like an hour"

True story. 

Tu Bishvat

 Hi All,

Today is the Jewish festival of the trees. 

"And you, mountains of Israel, you shall give forth your branches and you shall bear your fruit for my people Israel, for they shall soon come."

Ezekiel 36:8

"There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month". - Talmud, Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1

Also tonight we had a festive meal and Seder: 

"A feast to sing the praises of Eretz Israel, a country that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates,olive oil and the honey." (Deuteronomy 8.8)

"Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy....Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. “(Ecclesiastes 9: 7, 10)

In the 16th century in northern Israel, in the spiritual town of Tzfat (Safed), the Jewish mystics created the Tu Bishvat seder. They recognized the many and varied dimensions of God's creation and used the fruits of Israel to symbolize their existence. This Seder became a Sephardic and mystical Ashkenazi  tradition .

Barukh ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam, borei peri ha-etz.

[Blessed are You, Source of all life, Creator of the fruit of the tree.]

Amen 

(but not Awoman).

The Election, Part I: The Candidates

 Hi All,

From 'The Times of Mars' (a broadsheet Martian newspaper) .

Earth is our nearest neighbour, but can us Martians really understand our somewhat eccentric and downright strange friends in the Earth Union? It is somewhat strange to imagine a spectacle such as an Earther Presidential election, wherein two candidates arise from a gruelling set of contests they call ' jungle primary elections' from the tribal parties that dominate human politics and their media supporters. On Mars journalists are of course partisan, but we also claim to report matters of integrity and importance without fear or favour, but on Earth it seems that journalists prefer to support their tribal party, whatever the merits of the candidates or positions of the party. 

Take for instance this latest election in their year of 2116: the Red Party (their version of Socialism and left Liberalism ) often decries and calls their enemy party, called the Blue (their Conservative party) , as 'Racist, Sexist ,  Homophobic, Transphobic ,  Xenophobic, RAIHSTLF- phobic' (Robot, Artificial Intelligence, Hologram, Synthetic, Tuber born- Life Forms). Yet it is never really acknowledged or understood by the Reds that the Blues hold the record for the first black African President (no3, President King James of Mankinda), the First female President ( no4 President Thatcher  of the UK ) and the first Lesbian  President (no 15 President Jas Kaour  of India) ; in the 2116  election the Blue Party has elected as their Presidential candidate, a first ever for any political party Colonel Harold Fooorgz, a Sszorg, the original natives of the planet whom we Martians remember well. It is also of note that his 'running mate' for Vice President is Helena Georgia Wells of the Real De Plata, a woman of mixed race, rumoured to be a lesbian, but who is also host to an Onconvar, i.e. an 'alien' to humans. If this 'ticket' were of the 'Red' team then the supportive media would be as the Earth saying goes 'drawling and masturbating ' over such a minority ticket. 

Instead all they can do is critic Wells for her background as a Merchant banker and  wondering if she can even be a candidate given her blended status with an alien and to  find  fake moral outrage when Fooorgz, first  for his efficient methods as  Mayor of his native Johannesburg - which was at the time a cesspit of corruption and brutal crime- an ungovernable mess, cleaned the streets of crime and made it a decent place to live, or later on in his 16 years as President of South Africa, which saw an end to the slums, education for all and an end to water  starvation, leaving office with a 92% approval rating.  Such competent leadership  and a decorated war veteran would make him an automatic candidate in any political party on Mars. And if he joked about feeding  murderers and the like  to his pet T-Rex, we would say 'now you are f'king talkin'.

By contrast the Red Party has selected a 92 year old, Jeremiah Cobb, a veteran of the Earth Parliament ,which has been his sole employment for 72 years. In his role as a 'backbencher' he has done nothing other than support far left and often opposing groups , some terrorist related, anything or anyone that opposed his own governmental system, whilst promoting pure socialism: for some reason he detests Mars favourite Earthers : Israel and Jews,  but it seems this is the case with far left types, despite the constant denials and suggestions only the Blues are racists . But the media and the student types love him as do the activists.

We on Mars have experienced socialism in our past and we know what living under such an odious regime entails and why such an ideology must never get its hands onto power :  we thought earth did as well with her experience of Hitler and Stalin. But maybe not. 

Then there is Cobb's  running mate, 22 year old Alexia Oscar Mendez (AOM they call her) a first time Parliamentarian, who is straight from University and a child and childish in her ridiculous radical student rants, especially against Mars . We are a serious paper, so do not wish to elaborate any further on such nonsense. 

Anyhow it will be an interesting contest and I shall leave it for now. 

Earther elections

Hi All, 

There was nothing quite like Earther elections.

 There are two types of Earthers. Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Humans)  and Homo Sapiens Cretaceous (the first nations of the planet earth,  called the Sszorg , who were almost wiped out 65 million years ago, but survived in hibernation chambers until being discovered in 1970).  Both are full citizens of the Earth Union.

The election for President was decided by an Electoral College, but those Electors were elected by every adult citizen in the Earth Union.  The College had as many votes as there were Members of the Earth Parliament; The upper House the Senate, had 4,950 members, 30 members for each state, so the tiny Caribbean Island of Saint George with 18,000 inhabitants had the same amount of Senators as vast China,  which has a population of 5.6 billion. The Lower house of Commons was  supposed to reflect each state by population and according to law, to have 5 times as many members as the Senate which meant that there were 24,750 members of that chamber. Thus there were 29,700 Electoral College votes and a winner needed 14,851 votes.  All of the votes were cast on the first past the post system, which means that there are two parties, giant coalitions,  of the left and right , called the Reds (i,e the left) and the Blues (i,e, Conservatives) . There are various 'swing states' which decide the winner.

There were 165 states in this Union- 139 within and above Earth ( the Halo collection of asteroids of the Artic and Antarctica and the other asteroids in geo stationary orbit around the major industrial centres of Earth) - and 26 other states, 3 of which were in the Solar System: Venus, Lunar and the Asteroid Belt, the other 23 around the galaxy, including  Northumbria, Mercia, Kolob , The Alpha Centuari Confederation and The United Planets of Orthodox Christianity (Which strangely included what was once called the USSR). There were also two dozen Earth states that also had extra solar elements which were considered integral to themselves, for example Canada had 3 Provinces in outer space in addition to those back on the continental North American Provinces of  Canada. 

Whilst swing states vary via decade, there are usually at least a dozen or so of them. These 'purple' states include France ( metropolitan France is leftist, but France also includes Algeria and Francophone Africa), Persia ( with its majority Zoroastrian population and large Jewish minority , Persia has a very independent polity), Israel (2 Jews, 10 opinions as the old joke goes), Sheba Kingdom, Aksum Empire, Mankinda  Empire ,Rhodesia, the North America USA (Canada is usually solidly left)  and the South American states of New Grenada, Rio De Plata and New Spain. South Africa is also becoming a 'purple state' , because of the influx of Homo Cretaceous, who generally as a people are solidly capitalist and socially  conservative in outlook and mentality (much to the disappointment of the left, who are endlessly looking for minority groups to become victims and therefore permanent voters for them). 

Die beste Werbung für den Brexit

 Hi All,

Enough said  

Also it is interesting that of the 4 factories making the Covid Astrazenca Vaccine , 2 are in the UK and 2 in the EU, yet because the EU plants aren't productive enough, the EU demands that we Brits send us the entire produce of our factories to supply the ENTIRE continent of Europe, before we vaccinate our own citizens - although we've done 10% compared to the EU's 2% .But a day before the EU were threatening to block their factories exports of the vaccine, till the realised that the UK was producing more than their own,  So now it's a threat. The EU, being terrible at procurement and if I remember leftist pro-Euro Union fanatics in the UK chastised the UK government last year for 'going it alone'  on a vaccine and buying it, even the Guardian analysis today really struggles to justify the EU's position, which to British eyes and ears is ' Brits should die to save the EU'.  Hey , I thought Britain with its tiny population and economy wasn't important to the EU and it would be the UK that was destined to be in the poop? Honestly, I am so glad I voted LEAVE in 2016. 

Holocaust Memorial Day

 Hi All,

A day to remember the millions of Jews who were slaughtered in the terrible genocide known as the holocaust or Shoah. Ashkenazi and Sephardic  Jews alike,  from Europe , north Africa and even Iraq  were subject to mass killings, starvation, concentration camps and pogroms.

Never again!

Let it snow!

 Hi All,

Really snowing over where I live ...yippie ! First snow of 2021!

Shabbat Shalom

 Hi All,

Open thread as usual!

Colonies and Territories

 Hi All,

In the 2120s, Earthers are exploring and colonising, but there are various types of territories and rules imposed by 'the interstellar community'. The cardinal rule is that no-one is allowed to colonise a planet or territory which is already inhabited, but trade and cultural contact is permitted. The second rule is that each territory must at first be under the rule of  and or registered to a sovereign state. 

There are 4 types of colonies :

1. State or Crown ; Put simply these are colonies that are funded and under the direct administration of a state. For example Harris Territory (USA territory, waiting to be split up into new US States) , Nouvelle Normandie (a French interstellar department) and Neues Hannover ( a Lander of Germany).

2. Covenant : These are colonies wherein the foundation is adherence to a particular religion or ethno -religion. Examples include Kolob (Church of Latter Day Saints), The Vatican Interstellar Territories (Roman Catholic) , Real Jerusalem (Southern Baptists), New Samaria (Samaritans), The United Planets of Orthodox Churches (Orthodox Christianity), Shangri La (Eastern)  and The Four worlds of Tzimtzum (Judaism) .

3. Proprietary:  Hereditary  or territories owned by rich individuals which are passed down the family or now held in Trust and run by a board of Trustees . Examples include Gate's Moon, Bezos Planet, The Duchy of Sussex Inc t/a Harry and Megan, Buffet's Hedge  and Trumpsylvania. 

4. Corporate or Joint Stock : The most common of all colonies are those owned and run by shareholding Corporations, like the Dutch VOC or the British East India Company of the past, these companies are mega Corporations. There's only about 5 or 6 of them listed on the major stock exchanges of Earth. They came to importance simply because governments, especially democracies, found it increasingly difficult to spend money colonising and terraforming planets, where their local constituencies could see no immediate benefit (as any colonising takes a generation for real investment returns to come back). As noted above colonies have to be registered to a sovereign state and avoiding a large tax bill is always important to big companies, so their colonies are often registered to tax havens. Therefore on paper the following countries officially have the largest empires the Earth has even known: 

1. Ireland (having reduced its corporate tax to 5%)

2. Isle of Man

3. Jersey and Guernsey

4. Cuba (after the overthrown of communism it settled down to become the 'Monaco of the Caribbean')

5. Monaco 

6.  The Virgin Islands

7. The Island of St George and Dragon