Now that we are "off the ground" it may be a good time to update my blog.  I try not to post things until I have something to say. I must admit I have grown used to the more cell phone styles of social media and you can see see me occasionally on Twitter (@john_ruble - mostly on American politics) and daily on Facebook (john.alan.ruble).  If you send me a friend request on Facebook please mention you are from Asgardia.  I'm trying to limit new "friends" on Facebook to people I can vouch for, though I've several that I added years ago for online games I no longer play. But some have become friends.

That is why I switched my posts to "public" on Facebook.  Maybe (hopefully) I have grown past the point of feeling that I must show one face to one group of friends and another face to a different group.  In the end my friends accept me whether they agree with everything I post or "like".  I try to accept them and sometimes find our differences in opinion leads to some thought-provoking dialogue.  There have been a few times I have changed my opinion and once or twice I've had to eat my own words.

So let's try that here - hopefully not the eating my own words part. I will try to get on the forums more as well, though it's like a trip back 30-odd years to dial-up BBSs.

As for Asgardia... I know I will never leave the ground.  I'm a little too old and fat and what-not.  But I really, *really* want to see us Earthlings become Solarians or whatever term gets used for us when we inhabit more than one world. I'm not quite as bad as Harriman in Robert Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold the Moon" but I am prepared to do what I can to make this happen for the next generation.  Western civilization is not as good at thinking beyond the current generation as some cultures are.  We need to adapt, though.

Believe it or not, there are even limitations on wind and solar power.  The first is that those all take mined and fabricated elements.  A good example may be lithium.  It is essential in high-density energy storage but is difficult to recycle.  If demand continues to grow, production will grown.  The previous estimates of 365 years of a refinable lithium supply could shorten to as little as 20 years. Secondly there are geographic limitations and the undocumented impact on local environment of a dense mass of wind turbines or solar panel array.

So it is important for humans to begin making long-range plans for how we will grow and how we will support our population during each stage.  Space habitations may be able to recycle air and water via a hydroponic garden but the initial equipment has to be replaced periodically and most of that will have to be lifted from Earth.  Building materials for growth will also come from Earth until enough asteroid mining is taking place to replace the base elements.  In short, we need to plan and by "we" I do not mean just you and me.  I mean our terrestrial businessmen and lawmakers.  It is going to take applied effort from multiple governments to make the conditions right for this to happen.  Maybe more on that in another blog, though.

Have a good day and look up once in a while.  We are there!

As Civic has explained, we can only apply for one, not all three, positions.  I'll go for Strategist .  There are a couple hundred Asgardians in OKC Metro area and I know I can support that many.  Though one day I would like to reach Trendsetter .

Why "OKC Metro" when Asgardia is a space nation? Because we still have a ground-based notion of representation.  Our peer groups are first geographical, then occupational and philosophical. When we think of problems that space citizens will face, we will inevitably recall local issues like the recent state budget fiasco in Oklahoma. We will want to see solutions in place in our next environment - space - before people begin taking up residence (many years from now).

I'm open to representing other groups, though.  One thing Oklahoma was built on was ethic diversity.  It gives us great strength. Ideas and customs from around the world merged here only a little more than one hundred years ago.  Space will be the same.  People from around the world will join together, a mixing of customs, histories, cultures, and outlooks.  Oddly enough, the values are similar.  We have a lot in common.

I have a lot of life experience to draw from.  My kids have grown up and had children of their own and I strive to be the kind of grandfather they brag about... the crazy, indulgent one that teaches them all sorts of stuff.  My major was History, my degree was in Astrophysics, and my jobs have been in software and information technology.  My garage is stuffed full of power tools, woodworking projects, gardening supplies, longbows and arrows, mixed electronics parts, rocks, and the books that do not fit in the house.

I've been a leader before.  My wife and I were appointed to be in charge of the several hundred people of the local region in a reenactment organization for many years.  That meant several hours a week of administration, representation, and traveling but it was a labor of love for something we believed in.

And that's where I stand with Asgardia.  I am not sure of the direction we are going.  That is why I want to step up and help define and work for that direction.  I see a group of people doing what no one has done before and I know that what we create here will eventually be copied by other people, other groups, other organizations.

The majority of Humanity is never going to leave the surface of Earth but they will need the resources of Space.  They need to take an interest in it, stake a claim, develop the rules of interaction and growth.  Eventually, their children may step forth and create colonies on other worlds or or satellites.  The path we blaze today will be what they follow.