Namaste!

As many of you know, I am a new Moderator for Asgardia, so I spend my time roaming around and reading various posts. Somewhere along the line I got into a discussion on communications. I had mentioned that I had seen flexible technology that was already being developed. Well, here it is!

These bands would be practical for someone living in space. They are tethered to your wrist, so as not to fly away in weightlessness. They are not bulky. With a stylist pen, they could be worn on the outside of a spacesuit for emergency texting in case of communications failure. Or, in an emergency when you have to suit up quickly, the suit can go right on over it.  It tied into our currency, like home banking, you might also be able to tap your wrist against a pad to make purchases. Sort of like how some machines dispense products if you tap your cell phones against them.

Thoughts?

https://www.facebook.com/futurism/videos/860331414146059/ Facebook post

http://www.flexenable.com/ Website for Flexenable

Namaste!

Today, I started a memory journal about my adventures in Asgardia! We are creating a new Nation,  and we, are it's Founders! It is important to keep a record of this process for future generations of Asgardians. I strongly encourage my fellow Asgardians to write one as well from your viewpoint. This way we will have the viewpoints of several First Generation Asgardians,  from different vantage points and views. Record everything!  The good and the bad. The laughter and the sorrow. Yes, even your frustrations!  This is not an easy process! So, please write down your thoughts and things that happen, for the future!

Namaste!

I have been busy lately, working hard for the citizens of Asgardia.  Here is an update on what I am doing.

1. I am running in the New York State (USA) area as a Strategist candidate.  If you are in the 5000km range, which covers New York State ... then some and you have not voted for a Strategist candidate yet, I would like to represent you. These are local elections, not parliamentary!
2. I am a volunteer!  Yes, that is right, I have volunteered my time and services to Asgardia.  I spend 1 or more hours as a Moderator. I read posts, make comments and occasionally have to point out the Code of Conduct.  So, behave ... we are watching!  lol ;-)
3. I am I responsible citizen. I vote. I have voted for the Constitution, the National Symbols and a Debutant running in my area. Have you voted ?  Please do so!
4. I Blog. Please feeling free read my posts and comment if you wish (no Flaming ... I am a Mod! lol )
5. I am making friends and finding out what my fellow Asgardians have to say! :-)

I am doing my best to serve.  I hope I see you all out here doing whatever you can to make our dream of Peace in Space come true.

~Tal

Namaste!

Volunteerism, is a very important aspect of our Nation and one that everyone can participate in right now!  Email a request to Civic Asgardia, with a resume and ask how you can help! volunteers@asgardia.space  Someone will get back to you!

I am a Strategist candidate in New York State, USA.  Since I haven't talked any of you fine folks into voting for me yet , I decided to volunteer and become involved in Asgardia!  I have the honor to now serve you as one of your newest Moderators! ;-)    You too can get involved!

I look forward to seeing you around!

~Tal

Namaste!

I, am an information junkie!  I love to learn, meet new people, and see new things!  This no doubt comes from working at a Reference desk in a public library for over 10 years!  People ask you questions and it makes you think about all kinds of different topics, cultures and very odd things!  lol

It will be important to future generations to know "How" this all got started. "Who" are the people who started Asgardia.  (I strongly recommend that my fellow Asgardians keep a Memory journal, whether digital or in a paper book, on why you became an Asgardian. What you see, hear and feel about this process. What you are doing or have done. Are you running for Office, how is that going?  Were you elected? Etc.)

In the Future, we will need Libraries, both digital and physical (Computers can go down, so physical manuals, etc. need to be written! If the power on a Station or Colony goes out and you have only a few hours to restore it, you will want a hard copy of the manual to refer to! This is WHY libraries are still needed!) Libraries can also serve as places to preserve physical documents, like Memory journals, historic documents and historic objects.

Museums are also necessary, to house Cultural objects to show where we all came from. I can see someone in the future looking at a leather wallet on display and can here them talking!

"What is that?"  "Hmm...the code reader says that it is a mid 21st century, personal item used to carry currency and identification cards."  "Carry currency?"  "Yes, apparently they had physical currency that they traded for goods and services. Now we have the Solar and we just tap out band against a reader and  it is deducted from our accounts. They actually carried pieces of colored paper and metal 'coins' around."  "Strange...  What is it made of?"  "Interesting.  It is made of leather." "Leather?  I have never heard of that."  "According to this, it is made from animal hide."  (laughter) "Seriously?"  "Wow, that seems so primitive!"   lol

Then, there is art. Art must be displayed.  Looking at a picture is nice, but it isn't the same as seeing it up close, in person! The colors, the brush strokes.  for me, it is like looking at the sky. You can see a sunset in a picture and say, "Wow, that is beautiful!"  But, if you had been sitting on the beach when someone took that picture it might have brought a tear to your eye.  Perspective, is the key.  I can take a picture of a statue and even if it was in 360 surround, it is still not the same as seeing it in person.  I think of all the historic artifacts that ISIS has destroyed, and I weep. All that is left, are pictures, sketches and memories.  Those artifacts and that culture will go the way of the Library of Alexandria or the Colossus of Rhodes, or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It is not the same to read an account of what they were like.   It is not the same, to see a sketch or even a photograph!

Then, there is the ARK Project, which is also vital. To preserve, not only humanity, but animals and plants as well. for future Terraforming or in case something catastrophic happens to the Earth and Humanity.  It must be very secure and also contain the knowledge and equipment (upgraded as time goes by) to genetically recreate from the samples the original patterns of life from Earth.  Why?  Because it is the theory of not keeping all our eggs in one basket.  Should something happen to Earth, then humanity might be restored. If Climate change destroys species and plant life, it may be returned, instead of wiped out.

Knowledge is important, not only for ourselves and our children, but for future generations hundreds of years from now.

~Tal

Namaste!

Part 2 of the article, "What's new in Asgardia?", has been posted in the Asgardia News. It deals with the Constitution, petitions, privacy protection and UN recognition. If you have not read this article yet, I urge you to do so!  Informed citizens are effective citizens!  You need to know what is going on!

~Tal

I was playing around with the temporary symbols.  This is what I came up with!  I do not like the Temporary Flag, so I won't use it.  The Coat of Arms is not too bad, though I do not care for the Crown on top.  Monarchies make me uneasy.

~Tal

Namaste!

If you don't read the Asgardian News, you should!  Today, there is an article entitled: "What's New in Asgardia?" This is Part One, with a Part Two to follow.  I found it to be very informative.  Every Asgardian should read it and stay informed! :-)

Namaste!

Greetings Western New Yorkers!!

I have changed my candidacy from Debutant to Strategist for Western New York.  This is for our local elections, not Parliament!  A Debutant, is sort of like a mayor who is in charge of a City.  A Strategist is a District level position in charge of Several Cities in a District. I think of it as being like a County Executive, to give you an idea of the scope.  I would like to be Western New York's representative in local matters concerning Asgardia.  Please take a moment to look at my candidacy post, Blogs and Forum posts.  You will see that I am very involved and active. If you like what you see, please cast a vote for me. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me and ask!  I can't represent you if I do not know your concerns and if you do not vote!  there are too few of us in this area for voter apathy!

Thank you. Please be involved and vote. If not for me, then for someone else in Western New York!  We need to have a voice, we need to have representation!  I encourage you to be Debutants!  Want to be in charge of Buffalo? Dunkirk? Rochester? Syracuse?  That is how to do it!  That goes for Jamestown and smaller cities as well!

Let me hear your voices people!!

~Tal

,Namaste!

Everyone is wondering about how 4th level verification will work and about how we will get our IDs.

No one has a set answer at the moment, nothing is set in stone, all of this is still in the decision making process!  At the moment, it appears that 4th level verification will require a citizen to go to an Asgardian Embassy in their country and produce their Identification in order to receive their ID cards.  If there is only one Embassy or Consulate in each represented country getting there could be difficult for some people.

So, while I was on the Forum reading various posts, something interesting popped up:

Rebekah listed what theses things we are running for, are!

Debutant -- A City Level leader with a singular focus on a city government, (Like a mayor)

Strategist -- A District level leader. (Like a County Executive)

Trendsetter -- A National leader, representing a Nation.

Ambassador -- Representing one of 6 Regions

None of these positions are Parliamentary positions!  Elections for Parliament are something different and how that will be happening is yet to be decided.

So, I am running for a Debutant position, a "mayor" as it were. If I was an elected official of Asgardia, wouldn't I be able to do the verification of Asgardians in my area or city? Likewise, I live in Western New York, USA, so I am going to pick on Buffalo, NY. Lets say our Strategist lives in Buffalo. Two hours North of were I live.  His/her governmental level would be similar to a County Executive; our County Clerk's office here issues passports. They take down your information and give you the forms,  then those forms go to Albany, NY, Albany issues the physical passports and then sends them back to the County Clerk Office, all you have to do is pick it up at your County Clerk's office. For me, my County Clerk is less than 20 miles away! Even, if it had to go through Buffalo, that is a 2 hour ride, I could go up there for that!  Now, if there is only one Embassy and lets say they put it in New York City near the United Nations.  That is close to a 12 hour trip from where I live and NYC is an expensive city!  If you live in Los Angeles, you would have to fly clear across the country to reach NYC.

Not all Americans are rich!  lol  Myself, I'm considered poor and so just running to New York City, would be out of the question.  I would let the local representatives of Asgardia do the verifications, send them on to the issuing level, have the cards sent to the local representative to be hand issued to the citizens.

Thoughts?

~Tal

Hello, Everyone!

This topic is Waste management. There are No landfills in space or oceans were you can dump your waste and you can not just jettison unusable junk into space!  Things will need to be recycled, reused, or incinerated (or elsewise destroyed safely in the future. I realize at this stage of the game, open flames on a Space Station, would not be a good thing!)  Some stuff that we get from Earth, will be prepackaged, most likely in plastic, we will have to be able to do something with extra material that we can not use, both Solid and Biological waste (yes, the poo stops here!), as well as medical waste and perhaps nuclear waste as well, depending on how a future Station is powered.  Outside of making as much as we can to be recyclable, one should think about standardization items were we can too. I need this here, but can also use it over there, sort of thing.   One standard size box of nuts and bolts, as compared to dozen dozens of boxes of different sizes.  Not everything will take the same size of course, but if many things are it would cut down on storage and things might be more interchangeable. This pump can work here, but it can also work here...this pump is no longer good, but we can salvage parts from it and reduce scrap/junk, etc.

We can't ship our excess back to Earth, so this is something we would have to deal with on a Station.

~Tal

Namaste, Asgardians!

My topic for today is why we need a place like Asgardia.  Warning, I might get controversial here. Your comments are always welcome, I just ask that you keep them civil!  This is a dialog and friendly discussion.

As most of us know, this world is in a major crisis. We have two idiots, one in Washington and one in Pyongyang, threatening to blow each other up with Nuclear Weapons, we have extremist terrorist groups (that do not reflect the peace loving people of the same religions -- these extremists are hate mongers and pretty dictators), wars, droughts, disasters and climate change.

Greed, Hate, Stupidity, Intolerance and Power, are literally killing Humanity!

Now, more than ever, a concept such as Asgardia is sorely needed!  Even if it takes another hundred years before we are living in space, the concept, the idea and Core beliefs the Asgardia are very much in need on this Planet!  Over 100,000 of us; from different backgrounds, countries, cultures and beliefs, have said, "NO!, this can not go on as it has been!" We are saying that right here and right now we refuse to let Hate and Fear, Intolerance and Bullying rule our lives! No one is above me and no one is below me!  We are equals , striving for the good of everyone !  We, the people of the Earth, united , are fed up with this nonsense! So, we are forming a new Nation and if you are lucky, we might take you with us!

I always thought that perhaps I was strange. I don't hate anyone, I never have. I don't care where you're from, the language you speak, the color of your skin, your culture or whether you are LGBTQIA!  Nope, I don't. What I ask myself when I meet a person is, are they kind?  Are they compassionate? Do they have a sense of humor? Do they try to help others? Do they stand up for what is right, just and fair? That's my measuring stick.  Be nice to me, and I will be nice to you.  Instead of getting all upset, learn!  Example: I am fascinated with Japan and their culture! It is very different from my own. None the less, I would love to learn more about the Japanese people!  I am an anime fan, like some of there foods ... might try some others ... nope. lol If I visited a Shinto Shrine, I would be respectful, I think they are beautiful and I wouldn't dream of offending my Japanese friends!  That is how it should be. Learn about each other. Do not be offend when a tourist does something you find offensive. Politely tell them what is wrong and I am sure they will apologize! Help out a tourist when they are trying to pay for something and don't understand the currency! Be courteous!

We need to all shake hands and smile, not build stupid walls and say you stay over there and we will stay over here!  It will take all of us if we are ever to build an new and better world!  If you want to hate on someone ... here I am, take your best shot!  I am: Female, a lesbian/asexual, a Druid Bard.  Hate all you want, I have heard it all before!  But instead, I would rather you use these labels: She is helpful, caring, compassionate, trustworthy, loyal, and funny!  Oh, look, she has similar hobbies!  she writes, she sings, she is a P!nk fan ;-), she like RPG games, she reads, she loves music, she loves growing things, she is and information junkie and love to learn, and she loves travel!  Yes, I would much rather you think of me in those terms .  I am a nice person, all you have to do, is get to know me.  I am equally sure, my Reader, that you are a nice person too!  I just have to get to know you.

~Tal

Namaste, fellow Asgardians!

I should be getting a percentage or royalty for all these ideas!

As we know, Earth does not have the Resources for such a massive project as the Space Station and Colonies that we are envisioning! We have done enough damage to Earth as it is!  So, here is another idea and future Asgardian job!  Space mining!

The Asteroid Belt is full material from with we might extract building materials, which would make us independent of Earth, and give Asgardia a Trade good with Earth!

First, would be sending out a Refinery ship with a crew and return Hauler ship.  The Refinery ship should also have a small fleet of those Space Tugs I mentioned earlier.  Like prospectors of old, find an asteroid with minerals or gems and then use the Tugs to maneuver it back to the refinery. Break it up and sort the materials (even the dust might be good for making concrete (I hate waste!)) Gems to one side and metal baring rocks to a smelter.  Once the materials are made into ingots or whatever; then they would be loaded on the Hauler that takes the mining crew back on rotation.  The Goods are distributed where needed. A Mars colony, the Moon our Stations and Work Yard (for building ships and more Stations!) The rest could be sold to Earth at fair prices.  Most likely we will have a monopoly on such recourses until the rest of Mankind catches up to us!  Once the Hauler is emptied and new mining crew boards with supplies going back out to the Refinery.

I love Earth, but would not like to see us dependent on the governments and corporations of this world!  Otherwise space would become like Earth, the rich, power corporations rule and the governments of Earth could attempt to dictate to us how we live.  Not to mention, right now the governments and corporations could dictate or extort monetarily us for the materials we need.

There is wealth out there... if we just go get it!

~Tal

Namaste, Asgardians!

It is no surprise when I say that Space is a dangerous place!  A future job on Asgardia Station, might well be a Telepresence Operator, such as in my picture. Let's face it, the Space station or stations we envision are massive in scope!  We are not talking about something the size of the International Space Station, but rather, a miniature world! Robots and Space Tugs with human operators can assemble Asgardia Station on the outside and in other dangerous areas, such as a decompressed area that needs repairs.

Tele-operated Space tugs can be used to move larger panels into place, move cargo in a cargo bay, as emergency rescue pods for Space walkers and as perhaps a means to deflect/push meteors away from Earth.

Beyond Asgardia Station, such technology would be useful in setting up colonies on the Moon, Mars and in mining the Asteroid Belt for building materials.

Thoughts?  Ideas?

Namaste!

As a writer, I picture things in my head, twist, poke and prod them, and then try to put ideas on paper (or Blogs).  So, at the moment I am musing on what communications will be like on a future Station.  Bare in mind, I am not an expert!

So, one:  You would need 2 or 3 dedicated systems with backups.

A) Civilian: Internet, Tv/Video, email, phone(or whatever the means is to reach out to others).

B) Station: Only for Station systems with many redundancies and safeguards with very limited access.

C) Government?

So you are sitting in the living area of your apartment/housing unit and you want to contact someone. is it a monitor on the wall that you just speak to? "Call Ivan", Ivan is on my friends list, so it calls him. Nice, but what if you are watching an Asgardia Now newscast?  A wrist phone/cell phone or something like a HUD display?  I have seen these thin phones/displays that are flexible enough to wrap around your wrist.  That would be nice and practical.  If you had to suit up quickly, it would not interfere.  Also, practical if you are at work on the station or shopping, etc.  There is no reason why there wouldn't be some version of the internet or cellular service.  If you add satellites, then you could phone Earth!

Station, would have to have it's own carefully monitored system, with redundancies! A closed system that only the technicians can access.  We want the air to keep circulating! lol  We also don't want people getting into or having access to that system for a verity of reasons.  The information should go to a command center and a back up center and locations where you enter for repairs should have security (which should take into an account if the repair person is in a space suit.).  As afar as I am concerned, you could not have enough backs ups to this Station system, as everyone's lives depend on if it is functioning correctly.

Government/banking and emergency communications: There would be things you don't want to be hacked, such as the Bank of Asgardia and Elections/Voting.  Somethings the citizens need access to, such as bills and petitions, voting records of members of Parliament, official news. And then a few, with access to emergency communications in case something serious happens and the other systems are out.

These are just a few of my current idle thoughts. A potential platform to build on.  Certainly not anything technical!

Does anyone else have any visions of future communications?  Both on Station and to send back to Earth?

~Tal

Namaste!

This article is for the Ladies of Asgardia. ;-)

After reading the Chronicle article on the Women of Asgardia being a major minority at the moment, I decided to create a Forum topic area under General Topics, for the Ladies. It is entitled "The Women of Asgardia".  Hopefully it will be a gathering place where the Ladies can post their viewpoints and ideas collectively.  It is crucial that we Ladies are heard from in the shaping of this Nation!  So speak your mind!!

~Tal