OCEANIA ORACLE
ISSUE #20- 01/20/95
No Nonsense New Nation News
- © 1995
ISSUE #20- 01/20/95
No Nonsense New Nation News
- © 1995
INDEX
Now that I have had a chance to use Evergreen for a few days, I can definitely recommend the service. They have proven to be very responsive to my needs. This service covers area codes 208, 303, 505, 602, 702, and 801. Contact sales@enet.net for more information.
With a hospital ship you provide a unique resource, one which takes advantage of the strongest possible political argument, and the largest source of money. Besides, it comes closer to my field (I'm a graduate student in genetics). Should your project expand beyond clinical medicine (e.g. if you can attract private funding for "forbidden" research topics) I would be quite interested in hearing about it. I am glad to hear of the demise of the casino idea. As gambling becomes ever more legitimate, I suspect that many casino owners will find themselves high and dry with nothing to show for it but some well-oiled wheels and a lot of playing cards. (I am not unrealistic enough to think that the U.S. government would EVER willingly undercut such a nice source of income, but for that very reason I doubt that anyone will be kept so separated from gambling as to need to take a long trip at sea to get there) More importantly, gambling is intrinsically a parasitic and not especially pleasant sort of way to make money, while radical new health care is desperately needed. And a portable hospital would have use even if all laws were ended. I suspect your hospital might find some unexpected uses, such as caring for UN troops during one of these little adventures they go on, that you would not expect.Mark Thorson writes:
There was an article a month or so ago in sci.military about plans to rehabilitate the old hospital ship USS Sanctuary. I think its berthed in New Jersey. The article was written by someone who visited the ship to evaluate its suitability. He wasn't very positive about turning the ship back into a full-service hospital. But for you, it might be perfect. The rehabilitation project is likely to fail, so perhaps you could pick it up for scrap value. Just getting one or two operating theaters back on-line would be enough for your purposes. And, it's got a helipad. It's been in mothballs since the mid-1970's.--- Anybody want to write the business plan?
Subject: Economics of Sea Cells Ray Leonard writes: >Many things are technically feasible the question is are they economical?
It is quite possible that the large structures we all envision for Oceania will be developed along the lines of oil platforms, with superstructures well above the sea. Of course, it will be interesting to get some actual statistics on 1,000 year storm wave heights and surges for parts of the Caribbean of interest. One of the prime locations is below 12 degrees latitude, and obviously has much smaller 1000-year waves than Gulf or North Sea oil platforms. Another, the original location still favored by Eric Klien, is below 9 degrees latitude. None of which speaks to the question of whether Sea Cell technology is economical. A similar concept based in concrete is used for bridges, do you say? Excellent! I'm sure Richard will be thrilled. Of course, his concept is also modular, easily fabricated, easily added to, much more readily transported, stackable, easily repaired .. but it is great that the basic idea is accepted by civil engineers as sound. Neither Richard Morris nor I believe the foundation of Oceania will be plastic Sea Cell units based on his original design. Indeed, he has prepared designs for a larger scale version. One of the reasons we want Sea Structures Inc to be a thriving concern is to conduct research in this area. Any engineer will tell you that scaling things up or down is one of the major challenges of any engineering undertaking. Many things resist scaling with a vengeance. However, Richard and I both believe that there is a substantial market for Sea Cell technology. Not everyone needs an island. Indeed, the market for private islands is probably well met by existing marginal real estate currently on the market (e.g., "Little San Salvador" in the Bahamas, a six-mile island with limited freshwater currently offered through Sotheby's for $6 million; it's location in the territory of the Bahamas makes it unattractive for libertarian idealists seeking minimal taxation and other rights). But very many people need boat ramps, houseboats, boat houses, swimming pools, docks, buoys, marinas, piers, and other floating structures. That is where we believe we'll make Sea Structures significant: providing floating platforms for established markets. There is nothing harder, and as a space business professional I have direct personal knowledge, than trying to start a business for an "emerging" or "nascent" market. New businesses do not do well serving new markets. They can, however, make excellent money serving established markets with a new product. That is what we are endeavoring to attempt. Thanks. Jim
When we were in Dallas, you and [the businessman] and I discussed the issues involved in "rite of passage" to adulthood. Your recent update on the Constitution did not adequately discuss the rationale behind the approach we took. As author of _The Atlantis Papers_, I'm obviously inclined to comment on the decision, and since I was there at the conversation, I'm privy to the details.JimIf one sets an arbitrary age for adulthood, one inevitably makes two errors. First, one erroneously categorizes many adults as children. These are individuals who are aware, responsible, mature beings capable of acting on their own behalf, requiring no "entitlements" to get through life, and willing to "take the equal station to which the laws of nature ... entitle them." I have met individuals who have made their equality obvious at ages as young as 9 years. No arbitrary standard can encompass all such individuals, who are most directly harmed by such a standard.
Many of us remember being "children" in the eyes of the law, and hating it. I distinctly recall a period of years spent resenting the double standard, the "child labor" laws, the restrictions on driving, drinking, voting, while still being obligated to pay sales taxes right along with the adults. Clear cut "taxation without representation." No wonder I grew up to be a wild-eyed libertarian extremist.
Second, of course, one errs by making everyone who has reached a certain age, be it 13, 16, 18, 21, 25, 30, 35, or 65 an adult with rights and responsibilities in common with all others. Some of these individuals will remain children in intellect, emotion, or behavior. Personally, I would rather err on the side of including far too many "children" in order to be sure to guarantee the rights of adulthood to all who are eager for them. However, there are clearly individuals who would be harmed by being classed as adults. For example, some Downs Syndrome victims have lived 30 or 40 or more years, never achieving the intellectual development of an 8-year old.
There is much to be said for a "rite of passage." In most societies through history, children have succeeded to adulthood by accomplishing certain feats. In many cases, these rites were open to any child willing to undertake them. In Oceania, the rite of passage should be convincing a jury of adults that one is prepared to accept both the rights and the responsibilities of adulthood, to give up the privileges and limitations of childhood. In my estimation, the burden of proof would rest with anyone challenging the candidate's passage to adulthood. In other words, the presumption would be that anyone seeking adulthood has the characteristics necessary. If their parents or others can demonstrate, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the candidate isn't an adult, then the jury would vote. Perhaps a period of time between candidacies should be set to limit the burden on the system and allow the candidates who fail time to mature. I would suggest the time period between candidacies be set to 1 year.
I concede that I have no children of my own, so my only significant experience of childhood is coming to terms with my own passage out of second-class citizenship and into what I was taught was my birthright. I've been made aware that there are many parents in the libertarian community who have worried over the approach in the Constitution which sets children largely free of their parents' authority at the "tender" age of 13. However, I'm often mindful of Justice Brandeis's dissenting opinion in a long ago case whose citation I don't have in front of me. He said, and I paraphrase, that we need not fear despotic acts by government officials bent on doing harm to the people of America. Rather, we must be on our guard against those who would be benefactors, "... men of zeal, well meaning, but without understanding." Likewise, I am much more concerned about the adults who have to suffer the ministrations of parents who mean well and do things for their children's "own good," than I can ever imagine myself to be about children who must face ill-prepared the manifold ironies of adulthood.
I would like to thank Marc Takacs for his work on building the Gallery. Volunteers like him are greatly improving our web site.
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